Denver or Bust

This past weekend Matt had to fend for himself (poor fella) while I took a quick trip to Denver to visit my friend Shauna.... & see Kelly Clarkson!! I found tickets for $33 each way, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit her and attempt to see this concert... for the THIRD time! That's right, third times the charm. The 1st time I tried, I had a death in my family... the second time I tried, Kelly cancelled due to illness. Needless to say, I actually managed to see her this time - and she was so good!!


On top of it all, Shauna and her family gave me the grand tour - downtown Denver, Coors Field, the Mint, the local scene, etc. Here are some illustrations...





(Coor's Field -- looking serious in the dugout, Shauna's about to make a call)

Cheesecake Factor Dinner - before the concert

Shauna's Massage Office - and us before the concert!

"I Found Faith through Mary Kay"

Let it be said, you can find wacky people of all different religions all over the world. However, it just so happens that there are a lot of LDS people in Utah, so it naturally makes for a greater concentration of LDS "wackys" in the state. Although the individual who prompted this post happens to be LDS, she didn't need the religious component to inspire a post (i.e. she was talking about MK makeup products and how they compared to European cosmetics: "I don't know if you know anything about Europe, but, everything is like $100 there"). The other night, Hillary and I were able to spend an evening with one such special person... please enjoy the following as I relate an encounter with a Mary Kay consultant:

...in the middle of her story of how she came to be a MK Consult....

"...are all of you LDS? *she glances around the room to see everyone
agreeing* OK, then you get the whole Faith thing then. I thought I
understood Faith before, but I truly learned what Faith was after joining Mary
Kay...."

I could go on and on about how this is so wrong on multiple levels, but I'll spare you my commentary! Let me just say that my jaw was dropped and I could feel Hillary trying to get my attention as she also stared in shock and shared disbelief of what we were hearing.

It's O.K. Mary Kay Ash (rest your soul), I will not blame you for this monstrosity.

I may have not gained a new testimony of faith through the MK business tonight,

but I did get a cool tube of lip gloss & this great picture. Rock on.

P.S. this only scratches the surface of the entire experience -

for additional details, please see Hillary's blog!

Drive/Walk At Your Own Risk

Saturday, October 20, 2007

3:31 PM

We decide for sure that we are not going to the BYU Game due to the lame excuse for a match and the crummy weather. We head out to run some errands and do some shopping.

6:17 PM

After several stops, we end up at FYE (like Media Play) and find several movies on sale that we've been looking for. We get in line to check out only to discover it is snowing like crazy outside!

6:19 PM

Matt is driving , idling through the parking lot on our way to the exit. It is a white out - lots of traffic moving slowly, terrible visibility... suddenly I see her, a blue hooded silhouette running across the road. GASP "Matthew!". It's too late. We hit a pedestrian.

6:20 PM

We both jump out of the car into the weather and run to assist the victim. She is lying in a heap on the asphalt, complaining that her leg hurts and she cannot stand. Matt picks her up off the ground and carries her in to Joann's like a baby. A Joann's employee calls 911.

6:24 PM

While waiting for the authorities, the family accompanying the victim begin to make jokes to lighten the mood... at first this is somewhat endearing, but soon turns annoying as the joke is on us. Ex: to the customer leaving Joann's: "hey! don't get hit by a car! hahaha". Right. Paramedics and police arrive.

6:31 PM

Paramedics assure the victim she is just fine and make light of the injury, "don't slip on the wet floor!". It becomes quite clear that we've been injured worse than this while rough housing. The policeman tells Matt he isn't going to cite him considering the conditions - and probably also the fact that the victim admits she was 'probably just as much at fault' as we are.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Matt calls the woman to check on her... she is sore, but no bruising. Whew! Relieving, but still so traumatic!

Present day:

I believe the best part of all of this has been telling people the story... and discovering that this is more common than we ever knew! We've now learned that one of my brothers has hit a woman and a man, Matt's coworker hit a 6 year old, my co worker's brother has hit three people, and my friend's sister was hit once. So, consider yourself cautioned: YOU could be NEXT!

Below: A picture of me in the grocery store about 20 minutes after it happened...

I look pretty pathetic if I do say so myself! Who knew that hitting a ped would take so much out of you?

Southern Style

Matt's Mom & Aunt Lovie came to visit us the other week & we had SO much fun! We shopped till we dropped (and couldn't possibly fit any more in the suitcases), probably gained 5 lbs each with what we ate, & toured the state -- Salt Lake, Utah Valley, Midway, Park City, and even St. George. Everywhere we went people would ask, "now, where are you two from?" We suppose the accent gave them away :) Kay & Lovie even spoiled us one night with an authentic southern meal - chicken & dumplings, cornbread, pinto beans (w/bacon grease, of course), fried (battered and fried) squash, and last but not least, strawberry pie! Mmmm mmmm mmmm. Here are some pictures from the week taken at various places - Park City, Salt Lake/Temple Square, St. George, and Zions National Park!

You're only as old as you feel...

Matt mentioned a few weeks ago that he had never been to a circus before (don't ask me how this topic came up), so when I heard the advertisement for the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey, I knew instantly that we had to go. It was a struggle, but I managed to keep it a secret and I am quite convinced that he didn't have a clue where we were going that night.

Of course, I was obsessed with the animals... I don't know how they train them to do what they do... and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

Backing up a bit

Here is a quick tribute to the BYU Football season beginning: rain, sleet, snow, winning, or losing - we'll be there.

Singing Moon, Wine Moon, Elk Call Moon...

Most likely unbeknownst to the general public, these are many names of the Harvest Moon... which is the Full Moon closest to September 23rd (or around that - the autumnal equinox). Thanks to Ellie, we learned of and ended up going to the Harvest Moon Lift Ride at Sundance! The funniest part for us was watching/listening to the lifts that were passing us in the opposite direction - people trying desperately to cuddle on an awkward lift & others having some random conversations (someone was using the word 'arbitrary' in a very matter-of-fact way while talking to their date - very romantic, etc). So, Matt made a game of coming up with some elaborate, fairly nerdy sentences to throw out as people passed us... haha, needless to say, even if the other lift didn't think it was funny, we got a kick out of it. Unfortunately, it was near impossible to get a picture, so this following sentence will have to suffice as a description. It was really cool. I highly suggest that anyone in the area check it out... next year, because Thursday night was the last ride for 2007. http://sundanceresort.com/