Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Today

Remember that time Justin came home from work early and said he was leaving for Iraq the next day?

Well that was yesterday.




(the trucks they loaded their bags into)


Last family picture for awhile

I'm doing okay now, glad the hardest part of good-bye is over. Goodbye was HARD. Owen has been keeping Justin & I happy the last couple days whenever we get sad, so I didn't see his reaction coming. He was SO sad when Justin walked away from the car. And was saying, "My daddy! My daddy! I don't want him to get on the airplane" for about 10 minutes. He calmed down though and when I asked if he felt better, he said yes, that he got his crying out. But he was wanting to go pick Justin up all night. Please let the next 7 months go fast!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Last Person To Do This

Seven Random Things

That you might not know about me…

  1. I handle the money in the house.
  2. I’m 28 and I still get zits. And I have gray hairs. Those 2 things shouldn’t be present at the same time.
  3. My favorite movie isn’t “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” anymore. It’s “The Sound of Music.” I LOVE it.
  4. Whenever I’m in the soup aisle I can never find the Cream of Chicken soup. I can find Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken & Mushroom, 99% Fat Free Cream of Chicken but not just plain old full fat Cream of Chicken soup. I think they move it every time just to make me crazy.
  5. I want to be a really good cook. I have to have a recipe to cook anything. I want to be one of those people that can add a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it turns out awesome. I liked what my cousin Jessica said when someone asked if she was a good cook: “I can follow a recipe but sometimes there are bad recipes. That’s not my fault.” That’s me. Except sometimes it IS my fault.
  6. I would rather pay a babysitter than trade babysitting with someone (i.e., not a big fan of babysitting). Maybe it has something to do with being the oldest of 8 kids.
  7. I like black licorice.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Family Pictures

Just when you thought I was done talking about our vacation... I got the rest of our family pictures in the mail. So if you want to see some more click on the picture above. I'll never know if you don't look!

We got them taken the morning before we checked in for the reunion. We met Kelly at a duck pond on the BYU campus. She took our pics but then Drew was getting fussy and Owen just wanted to be chasing the ducks so I asked her if she knew where the Provo Bakery was. She did and thought that sounded good, too, so we followed her there and she took some more pics. They were both a lot more happy eating donuts.

And ya that place is good. Just a little rinky-dink shop. They were out of the orange rolls I had heard about but they had raspberry rolls that were delish. My mom and Justin liked the apple fritters the best.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Vacation Finale

Finally you're saying huh?

After we checked out of the mansion we went to Bridal Veil Falls. So pretty. Justin & Rachel hiked to the mid-level and Justin made it up one more level but not to the very top.
Can you see them?

The rest of us watched.



And then Dad treated us to shaved ice. We began and ended our trip with that stuff :)

Then we drove up to Sundance and rode the ski lift. I keep saying everything was so pretty but this place was my favorite as far as prettinness goes.

Brent and Errin were ahead of us.

Mom, Dad, and Rachel behind us.

And us! We were both scared Owen & Drew were gonna fall down so we couldn't totally relax but it was still cool. My dad took this video of Drew saying hi on the lift. I tried to count how many times he said it but I got bored. It was nonstop!


After we finished at Sundance we were off to the airport. So sad! Ashley & Jared met us there to pick up their car. Then we got to wait forever cause the SLC airport is a lot smaller than Phoenix so we got through lines fast. We had a red-eye with 2 layovers. And it was rough! Owen & Drew slept most of the time but once Owen woke up cause he was uncomfortable and was screaming for like 20 minutes. This was around 2AM. We got into Jacksonville at 9AM and made it to church at 1 cause Elder Bednar was going to be there! He was vacationing with his family at Topsail Beach and so lucky us got to hear from him. He spoke most of Sacrament Meeting and it was so cool. We couldn't last all of church though - I conducted Primary Opening Exercises then we went home to rest. I think Owen & Drew slept 13 hours that night and I got 12. Ahhhhhh.

Vacation Part 4: Reunion in Provo

Day 1
Check in to Northgate Mansion.

The place is huge and sleeps like 50 people... has an indoor play castle w/slide, theater room, pool table, etc.

Lots of pool time


We helped my family with dinner that night.

And then Melanie (my cousin) and her husband put on The Price is Right. Owen was a Barker's Beauty in his undies.

Day 2
20 of us hiked the Mt. Timpanogas Caves. Ya I hiked, are you impressed? Burned off some of that food. I definitely brought up the rear, though. Justin was pulling me by the end. It was such a pretty hike.

And the caves were cool. Literally. As in they were cold. And cool.

We stopped by Bajios on the way back to the mansion just so I could replenish any calories I'd burned. Mom & Dad kept Owen & Drew which was such a good thing. They would not have enjoyed that hike. Here we are playing with grandpas while we were gone.


The rest of the day was spent being sore. Brent & Errin arrived that evening. They were the only other married siblings to come. Tami's kids decided to get pink-eye. Karen & Derek are losers.

Day 3
I took Tami's place in Leisel's card-making class.
(Rachel and cousin Jamie)

Owen did Aunt Suzanne's cooking class for kids.

They made pita pizzas,

apple smiles,

and hedgies (hedgehogs based on a book Suzanne read while they were baking). So cute!
Water-balloon fight/games/activities in the afternoon. Justin didn't win this high jump. But he did win the long jump!

That night we had a family talent show. Rachel represented the Martindale's by singing a song from "Little Shop of Horrors." All my Grandpa's living siblings came for the program. This is Owen and Owen, my Grandpa's oldest brother (who is named after his dad). Great Uncle Owen has a son named Drew. His son named Drew also has a son named Owen. Family names anyone?

Those famous Utah Creamies (popsicles) for treat.Sam, Jason, and Owen

Jason and Owen were together a lot.
If you ask Jason who his favorite person in the world is he says, "Richard Simmons."
If you ask Owen if it's nice to hit he says, "Yes."


Day 4
Group picture, clean up, and check out!
It was so fun! Good food, no drama, and we got to see lots of long-lost relatives!

Thanks to my mom for being the organizer!

Vacation Part 3: Lagoon

We met my family at Lagoon on Tuesday (July 10). My dad isn't a fan of roller-coasters so Justin and I went on a couple until Justin couldn't handle anymore. He's not a big fan either.

My mom and I loved the Spider Ride...
Justin CAN handle the ferris wheel...

My Space picture!
That's what Rachel calls the ones you take of yourself. We were waiting in the hour-long ride for the new Wicked ride. It was so short but it was awesome.

Kiddie Rides!

Drew fell asleep while my mom was pushing him at Lagoon-A-Beach.

Vacation Part 2: Logan/Cache Valley

Troy brainwashed Owen into calling him "T-Bone." I told him that was the dog's name on Clifford but it didn't phase him. Our first night there Justin's parents took us out to Firehouse Pizzeria. That is my new favorite pizza... this kind called Ratatouille with onions, peppers, and FETA cheese. So good. Oh ya and the pizzookie!

That night was.... more fireworks!

And more fireworks! Logan does theirs July 3rd for some reason. So we went to a hill over looking the college stadium to watch. Or not watch, if you're Owen. Really everyone liked them.

Then the REAL Independence day, we did... yep more fireworks! At home once again. This is the last of them I promise.
I just like this picture for Mema's face in the background.

July 5th we took a day trip... First we stopped at a little river to climb around for a minute. It was FREEZING. I believe this is where Justin cut his big toe which has since become nastily infected.

Then on to Bear Lake. My camera decided to stop recognizing my memory card so I used Justin's Dad's (hence the date on the pictures).


Justin's mom made friends with the people next to us (realizing their daughter lived near to them). And lucky for us they had a boat! A little speed boat, but a boat nontheless. And they offered to take Justin skiing (double skis, but skiing nontheless). He has never been in his life and he got up his very first try for like 10 minutes! I did it too, and I haven't been since I've been married. It made me so happy. And sore. No pics of how silly we looked on the skis, sorry.

Before we left we made sure we got a world-famous fresh raspberry shake from a stand there.

That night we went to the Willow Park Zoo.

One of my not-so-great ideas was to do a few stops from the Cache Valley Food Tour. One stop was Cox Honeyland where they advertised we could watch honey being made. In my mind I envisioned a big plant where we could walk through how it's made from start to finish. And this is what we got:
Inside a mom & pop shop full of little trinkets. That lasted a whole 2 minutes. So we didn't do any more food tour stops after that. The morning before we went there I told the girl who was cutting my hair my plans and she was dying laughing at me at how excited I was. Now I know why!

Saturday night we went to the big Cache Valley Cruise-In, which is a parade of fixed-up antique cars. It was pretty cool. And I think the whole city was there. They had leather couches reserving spots like a day in advance!

They have really clean streets there in Logan.

Monday, July 9 was our last night in Logan. We celebrated Justin's mom's birthday a day early with dinner at Olive Garden and later on... Home-made pizzookie! The candles wouldn't stand up in it so Justin had to hold them.

Other Logan/Cache Valley events not pictured:
- Lots of games of SORRY! (where Troy and Justin always ganged up on me which meant Owen won)
- Swimming at the Logan Aquatics Center. That is the best city pool ever!
- Swimming at the pool for the housing community
- Shopping (DownEast had so much cool furniture I wanted to steal)
- Church (when they sang "hello" to Owen in Primary he stood at the podium. They have a permanent primary pianist - wow what a thought!)
- Cafe Rio w/Justin's mom and Owen after the cruise-in.

And I'm sure lots more I'm not remembering. But ya this is long enough for now. Do you like how I mention like everything we eat?