Biggest Cantaloupe Ever!

This cantaloupe came from a garden on the farm. It's the biggest one either Scott or I had seen! And that's saying something, seeing as Scott was raised in Cantaloupe Capital, NV.

Olivia's 1st Cake

What's this thing in front of me?

I guess I'll eat it.

Hey, it's not that bad!

The telephone is ringing... Hello?

Whopee!

Look at me, everyone!

I know this isn't a cake one, but I couldn't resist.

Case Closed!

Overall, my time in jury duty was quite interesting. It takes way more focus than I realized, especially for a five day case. I had to pay rapt attention and take notes for ~7 hours a day, learning intimate details of the Plaintiff's life. Being wholly consumed by the information presented, it was an additional trial to not talk about it to anyone! (Not even my fellow jurors.) By the end of the week everything was reminding me of the case, I would dream about the case, I would constantly be thinking about it. After it was done I decided to type up a summary of the information presented to purge myself. If you're interested in reading about it, check here.

Here are some things I learned during jury duty:

• Judges look bored most of the time, not avidly paying attention, like on TV.
• Lawyers really are just actors who are hired to fight someone elses argument, at least in my case.
• I think I would get depressed if it was my job to convince 9 people that the witness is a pathological liar. Who would want that as a job?
• Jury duty can be really fun if you get along with your other jurors. I think our jury was exceptional. Seven out of nine had at least a college degree, or were working towards it. Everyone was friendly and talkative. Every time we had a break, we would find things to laugh about. Sometimes we would all enter the court with grins on our faces. The lawyers must've thought we were crazy.
• When focusing on somewhat depressing things for hours on end, the strangest things become funny. I had to refrain from laughing several times during very serious discussions, just because of a facial expression or a gesture, or a completely unrelated thought in my head.
• If you care anything about your health, pack your own snack food.

Court is now in session

On Monday I was called in for jury duty! There were about 40 of us in the selection process. I was juror #20. First we filled out a two page questionnaire asking general questions, and then questions about our automobiles and car crashes and our feelings about people who sue. When the judge came in, he asked a lot of questions about our biases, and our magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Then the lawyers and judge called in each juror individually to expound upon their answers from the questionnaire. All in all, the process took almost five hours. The judge reminded us that in some states (i.e. California) the selection process can take weeks!

Well, I was selected to be on the jury. The opening statements were given 45 minutes after the jury was selected. I can't say anything about the trial because I'm commanded to not form an opinion until I've heard from all the witnesses. But I can say that jury duty is kind of a neat experience. I've also decided I never want to be a lawyer, not that that was on my agenda anyway. I can also say that the jury room is loaded with junk food! Today, day three, I finally gave in and ate some... I had at least a little of each the following just today:

Skittles, Nutrigrain Bar, Red Vines, Starbursts, Werther's Original coated in chocolate, string cheese, Cheetos, cheddar-flavored Sun Chips, Triscuts, and frosted animal cookies with sprinkles.

Yuck. I plan on having better self control tomorrow.

Look, Mom, Look!

I got these new shoes yesterday, and when I wear them they make me run faster! And jump higher! They're like super shoes!

Don't you love new sneakers? They make me feel like a little kid again.

Company Loyalty?

I have had the same credit card for over six years. I've really liked the company and I haven't had any problems or complaints until now. First of all, know that I pay my bill every month. I think in the six years I've only had three or four late payments, but only one in the last four years. I always pay off more than the minimum balance. Every once in awhile I get a "notice of policy change" in the mail, but they are almost always dealing with increased punishments for late fees, blah blah blah, which don't really affect me.

I got one of these "notice of policy change" envelopes last week. It told me, basically, that since the economy was constantly changing and interest rates have been on the rise for awhile, they were going to more than double my APR--as a policy change. What? Of course, they gave the option that I could "decline these changes and close my account." I can't decline them and keep my account. Is something wrong with this? I could close my account and open a new account with the same company and get 0% APR for a year, but I can't keep my old, good credit account for less than 20% APR.

This seems to be a trend with companies lately. They give no credit to loyal customers. It's always the new customers that get the deals and discounts. Scott and I have seen it with our cell phone service, too. We like the company and have no complaints about the service. We've been with them for more than 4 years. But every so often they come out with great deals for new customers. We called once or twice to see if we could benefit from these deals, but each time we've been told it's only for new customers.

This trend also includes employees. Who's going to be a loyal long-term employee of a company when there is no pension, no long-term benefits, and the company's livelihood depends on such a changing economy that if it doesn't recycle employees, it could collapse?

I like being able to trust. I like being loyal, but it's getting harder to find institutions I can put my faith in. It's just a scary trend. So there is my little soap box.

Less than a week...

Is anyone as excited for this as me? It's Harry Potter month! Scott and I went to the midnight showing of Order of Phoenix last week and it was a visual feast. I think I need to see it again to fully appreciate it...

Independence Day

For the 4th Britta and I took our neighbor's daughter to see the hot air balloon dawn patrol for the Freedom Festival. We really enjoyed the early morning excitement and massive balloons as they were inflated, airborne, and competed in several "games". These games included a target toss and balloon jousting. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

White Enchiladas

Nettie, from one person who "lives to eat" to another, this recipe is for you. This is the one we talked about in VA.

White Enchiladas

1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp pepper
2 tbs margarine/butter

Cook these in saucepan over medium heat until onions are tender. Stir in:

3 tbs flour
8 oz. sour cream
2 cups chicken broth
4 oz. diced green chilies

Stir frequently until thick and all ingredients are blended well. Remove from heat and stir in:

1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese

You will also need:

1/2 cup more of Monterey Jack cheese
2 cups cubed or shredded chicken
flour tortillas (10-14 depending on the size)
sliced black olives (optional)
chopped green onions (optional)

Reserve half of the sauce. Roll tortillas with cubed chicken and a spoonful or two of sauce, and arrange in 9" x 13" pan. Pour reserved half of sauce over rolled tortillas in the pan. Sprinkle remaining cheese, black olives, and green onions on enchiladas. I've also sprinkled chopped tomatos on top and it was good.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

My 7 Favorites

Since apparently these lists of favorites don’t include people, I will leave them out. This is probably a good thing because people might fill my whole list otherwise.

Doing things well
This precludes everything. If I can do something well, it becomes my favorite, either temporarily or long term. And if I do that same thing at another time and it doesn’t meet or exceed my expectations, I don’t like it. Call me a perfectionist, but I love doing things well. Isn’t there a quote like “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.” It’s something like that. That’s probably the unconscious motto to my life. I want to do things well, and when I can, I’m happy.

Warm Things
This one is true especially when I am cold, which is frequently. Some of my favorite warm things are cozy sweatshirts, hot tubs, slippers, soft blankets, warm husbands to cuddle with, hot cocoa, puppies, just a little bit of time basking in the sunlight, my bed, fresh baked bread… this list could go on and on.

Lindstrom
Alisha has Lake Tahoe, I have Lindstrom. My grandparents own a cottage on a lake in Minnesota which has long been the refuge of every one of their children and grandchildren for pleasure, good company, but foremost for relaxation. Being there is almost like a drug. It’s completely addictive. It has the power to make you believe you don’t have a care in the world.

Good Music
I can completely lose myself to good music, it doesn’t matter the genre. My love if it can border on obsession. I crave certain songs. When I’m listening to a particularly great song, I stop everything I’m doing and revel in the chord progression, the lyrics, the passion, the excitement. Sometimes I sing with it, sometimes I dance. It can get to the point where I’m annoyed if someone tries to talk to me during one of these trances. A few of my current favorites include: Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” Ella Fitzgerald’s “Blue Skies” from her album Pure Ella, Mika’s “Grace Kelly,” Coldplay’s “Shiver,” and Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor by Tchaikovsky.

A good yoga class
Normally it’s better when I’m not teaching it so I can focus on my breathing, but I’ve had several really good classes that I’ve taught, too.

Learning
Sometimes I feel like a fish out of water because I’m not in school anymore. I have a question and the only way to answer it accurately is to research it, right? I rent books and books on random topics of the week, month, day… whatever catches my fancy. I’ve even found myself outlining essays on my topics. I’m currently enthralled with political topics. I’m reading George Washington’s biography “His Excellency,” and a textbook about the constitution, and I’m writing an essay (yes, I’ve actually started it, but my chances of finishing it are probably slim since there is no point to it but my own entertainment) about generational apathy, specifically in voting and political involvement. Yes, I’m a nerd.

Cooking
Some people eat to live, and some people live to eat. I’m one of the latter. There is so much junk out there that really doesn’t taste good. Cooking my own fresh food has become a favorite thing of mine. Sometimes I lose a little motivation when I don’t cook things well (see number 1), but I keep trying.

Comments on my blog
I know this is number 8, but I had to include this. Sometimes I write blogs just to see how many comments I can get. Our record number of comments was on one of those blogs back in December. Remember the discussion about Hollywood couple nicknames? If I have continual access to the internet after I write a blog, I check hourly to see if anyone has read it yet. Comments make me feel like people care! I’m not a very good commenter, but I’m so happy when I get them. Thank you all for your comments!

So those are my seven favorites. Now I want to hear the seven favorites of Kristen, Nettie, and Brianne, when you have time.

One of my greatest fears

On Sunday I pinpointed one of my greatest fears. It's definitely not top on the list, but it's probably in my top ten. This fear made Scott laugh, and frankly, I probably would laugh if this was someone else's fear, too. My fear is that I will cut my fingers while peeling potatoes. I want to make it clear that I don't fear peeling potatoes, just cutting my fingers while peeling potatoes. This fear results in my taking four times longer than anyone else to peel potatoes. I can do it fine, but I'm very slow and meticulous with every single peel to make sure my fingers are far out of the way.

I just thought I'd share that with everyone. In the future, if I'm at your house and you need me to peel your potatoes, just know what your getting in to.

Home Means Nevada

I love Fallon. I love it even more now that I have lost the major reason for returning as mom and dad have moved to UT. I now get to choose to remember the best things about Fallon and have sweet sentiments of a place where I spent my formative years.

Some of my favorite things about Fallon are:

Tumbleweed Road. I mean, c'mon! Is there anything which screams dusty small desert town more than a dirt road named "Tumbleweed"? I recall a neighbor of ours making a 'tumbleweed' man one winter for Christmas when Fallon had no snow.

The view from the top of Rattlesnake Mountain. Really I just get a kick that something like this can be called a 'mountain'. I have spent many hours up here just staring out onto Fallon. Sometimes the view is more picturesque than other times, depending on the time of year.

Historic Maine Street. From my recollection, Fallon's main street is one of very few in the nation spelled "Maine". I'm not sure why, exactly. Perhaps everyone just really liked lobster. Anyhow, I love the theater and going there with my friends for midnight screenings of the newest release and wondering why the theater didn't look like the pictures of the historic theater they had on the walls.

Lizards. There were always lizards on the back wall of the house if you knew where to find them. This one was really easy to find once everything was out of the way. He was a big one, too: about 6-7" long head to tail.

Most of all . . .

I loved home in Fallon.

However, there are some things I won't miss about Fallon:

The cartoon high school mascot. (I think I can joke about this for a lifetime)

Rotten-egg water. Enough showering in essence of sulfur.

Burn-my retina-and melt-my-hair hot August sun. I know we get this just about everywhere, but sometimes it seemed especially bad in NV.

Smoking and mini-casinos in every business. I'll never forget the old Raley's and Safeway markets when we first moved in and needing to hold my breath to get through the doors on the way in and out because of the fog of cigarette smoke. (Now I get to ruin my lungs with the blessed inversions every winter instead!) It caught me off guard again last weekend to see slot machines and video poker in the airport and the gas stations. I had forgotten about them.

Oh well, despite all this, I will miss you, Fallon.

Poetry Corner

In light of all this Paris Hilton media frenzie, I found a poem that I can sympathize with:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?
Are you—Nobody—Too?
Then there's a pair of us!
Don't tell! they'd advertise—you know!

How dreary—to be—Somebody!
How public—like a Frog—
To tell one's name—the livelong June—
To an admiring Bog!

-Emily Dickinson

curly2/curly + straight

Scott has been growing out his hair because he can, but now he's getting sick of it and wants to buzz it all. Before the big buzz, though, we asked Sarah if she would straighten it for him just for a night. Here is the before picture:


Now please vote on your favorite after picture. This isn't a very good angle, but this is the Kevin Bacon Do (it really looked like Kevin Bacon's hair from Footloose):


This is the Christian Bale do:


This is the Boarder Do:

A Good Hike

Today Scott and I went on our first hike in a long time. We went on a trail we'd never been on or even heard of. It started on a very steep uphill. The path was really fine dust and was surrounded by mountain oak that looked like old bony arms reaching towards the sky. Slowly the landscape started changing until we were mostly surrounded by aspens with a grassy floor. It was a very pretty trail. Here the path was a little more rocky, not as dusty, and we saw several wildflowers. These little orange butterflies were everywhere.


Suddenly the aspens opened up into the large meadow in the first picture. There was a little creek to the east running parallel with the trail. It was pretty cool. On our way back we took a different fork of the trail and found ourselves surrounded by tall pines.


I think my very favorite part of the whole trip was the head of the trail. We parked by this little reservoir, which was very crowded with eager fishermen, but very charming. I want to go back again tomorrow. I think I've found my favorite place in Utah.

Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters

I feel so spoiled this month because I got to see all my sisters. First, my parents came to Utah for my nephew's baptism, so Scott and I went out to visit, too, seeing my parents and my sister's family.


Then I went to MD to visit Amber. Here we are singing to calm down Sofie, who was sick and tired.


Then last weekend, my oldest sister Kali flew in for the weekend, so Tauna drove out and we spent some time together. With everyone spread out all over the country, I really revel in the time that we do get to spend together. Now if there's some way to see my brothers before the end of the month, I'd have everyone covered...

Vacation!

What a fun trip! Scott and I spent the third week in May in Maryland and Virginia to visit family and the nation's capital, which neither Scott nor I had visited before.


The first few days were spent in Maryland with my sister and her family. She has two adorable little girls, which none of my pictures do justice to. With them we visited Ellicott City, Annapolis, and the DC temple. I'd been told that when you approach the temple from the freeway belt loop, the temple is striking, but actually seeing it was breathtaking! The freeway is surrounded on both sides with trees that are 40-50 feet high, so you can't see any buildings or houses. For a few miles before you can see the temple, all you see are trees. Then as you reach the top of a gentle slope in the freeway (cue angels singing) the temple is straight in front of you, rising above the trees.



This is my sister with her family on the temple grounds. Scott took a picture of me taking their picture.

We only had one day to spend in DC and we tried to cram as much into that day as our feet would let us.


Before lunch we went around to the monuments. I was amazed at the spirit that was present at every monument. They evoke respect and a sense of national pride. I had never read Lincoln's whole "Four score and seven years..." speech until we visited the Lincoln monument. I was so moved by it I almost want to frame a copy and hang it on my wall.



After lunch, we only had two hours left to visit the Smithsonian museums. We only got to the Natural History and Air and Space Museum at warp speed. Unfortunately, our camera battery died on us, so we didn't get many pictures. The one below is a neat one that Scott took.


For the second half of our trip, we went to Virginia Beach with Scott's family. The first night there we stood on the beach and dipped our feet in the icy ocean water as we watched dozens of dolphins swim just several yards off shore. It was a neat experience. Later than night, the sand was crawling with little and big crabs. The next day was our only really good warm beach day. Scott got to play beach football with his brothers and we both got a little boogie boarding in, despite the cold waters.



It was great to see the whole family. It makes me sad we don't live closer to everyone. But we plan on visiting the DC area again whenever we can.

Fun with photo booth

Food for Thought

My mom sent this video to me and I thought it was very interesting, especially if you have kids, are a student, or are a teacher.

Reasons why I love yoga

1. It makes me stronger


2. I have more control over my thoughts and my body


3. I can push myself farther than I ever thought I could


4. I'm way more flexible than I've ever been after two years of regular yoga (I have never been flexible before)


5. It makes me happy


6. The philosopy of yoga keeps everything in balance, for example, every workout after working your muscles hard, ends with lying on the floor and doing nothing for 5-10 minutes