Home alone, again

Helena is in Idaho with Crystal and Jeff. They are going to raft down the Salmon River. Will is at Youth Conference. Bill is, of course, at work.

I am home alone, again.

I have realized that I will be very grateful for my job when the kids are grown and gone. The house is a lonely place to spend too much time in!

I am off to the gym!

Eating out

Bill took me out to dinner for my birthday. Originally we were going to go to Tucanos, since I have a birthday coupon. Bill asked me to choose where I would really like to go, so I chose to go to La Vigna, a local Italian restaurant that I enjoy immensely. THEY WERE CLOSED! I am sad, but not really surprised. I knew they couldn't compete with the new Olive Garden that was built in the same shopping complex recently. Olive Garden is the WalMart of Italian dining. A massive chain with instant name recognition. People are willing to put up with long lines and wait times to eat there.

Since La Vigna was no longer an option, we ended up joining the masses and went to Olive Garden. Bill got off work quite early, so we were there before the crowds and were seated right away.

As the booths around us filled, we began to notice that everyone else around us was receiving more prompt service than we were. In fact, the girls right behind us received their food, ate it and left before we even got our food!

Bill and I were both frustrated and it must have shown on our faces, because our waitress kept apologizing and brought the manager out to see us. Though we hadn't made a scene about it, he apologized profusely and offered to cut our bill in half to make up for the delay. In the end our dinner ended up costing no more than eating fast food!

That brings me to another thing. Every time we eat at a sit down restaurant, we end up meeting the head chef, the manager, or the owner! Every time!

At Carraba's, the head chef came out to meet the family that ordered the mussels appetizer because it is such a rare order and his personal favorite!

At Texas Steakhouse, both owner and manager came out to greet us and assure us that they would see to our order personally. Why? Because Bill requested a gluten free menu and it rattled them. They had only been open for less than a week and he was the first special diet need they had encountered. They wanted to make sure their staff didn't screw it up.

Most of the special attention comes from Bill's special dietary needs. I am not complaining! We have seen a great upswing in personal attention and service ever since his diagnosis. So, if you want special service in a restaurant, claim a food allergy!

Happy Birthday to me

It is my 39th birthday today. Yippee.

I stopped celebrating my birthdays a long time ago. I think birthday celebrations are a childhood thing. I guess.

Maybe I just live in a family that doesn't do birthdays well.

Besides, who wants to celebrate getting another year older when getting older just means you are getting old? As a child, each year gained brings new adventures, new horizons, new possibilities! As an adult, each year passes more and more quickly until you wish you could grab hold of time and slow it down! Each year brings you closer to an end. The end of your youth. The end of your beauty. The end of the time your children look to you as their first and foremost confidante and advisor. The end of the time your children live with you and can be called truly yours. The end of life.

Boy, what a depressing birthday blog post! I am not down. I am having a lazy, relaxing day, that is going to turn into a fun night with my husband and son! Life is good and I am truly blessed to have it so easy!

Many happy returns of the day, everyone!

The last gasp of summer

Here we are, facing the last week of summer. I made a goal last week to go to the pool every afternoon/evening until summer vacation is over. So far I have kept that goal. The pool is absolutely packed with people trying to escape the heat, but there is a local's secret to uncrowded pool time and easy access to lounge chairs... Wait!

Most people go to the pool in the middle of the day when the sun is strongest and the heat intense. When dinnertime approaches, they pack up their kids and sunscreen and go home. THAT IS THE MOMENT! For those of us just a block from the pool, dinnertime is pretty fluid. Eat a little early or eat a little late! Either way, the pool is much less crowded and available lounge chairs easy to find. The fact that the sun is less intense (so we are less likely to burn) is an added bonus.

Murder on a grand scale, hopefully

Lately, we have been having problems with spiders in the basement. I know, hard to believe, huh? Not the basement! (if you can't hear the sarcasm, you don't know me very well)

When Bill and I had our room downstairs, we trekked through all the unfinished parts of the basement and turned a not so blind eye on all the spiders. Live and let live was the unspoken motto.

Now that the kids live down there, it is a different story.

First of all, there are no longer any unfinished parts to the basement, so there is no spot where spiders would be remotely tolerated. It's not like it used to be when I thought to myself, 'that's okay, that corner is dark and creepy anyway, if they stay in that corner, they can live.'

Second of all, neither of the kids is lion hearted when it comes to spiders, even when the spiders are little ones. The spiders we have been dealing with the past couple of weeks are not little. Nope. These are on the big side of scary. Helena found one on her bed and wouldn't sleep on it for the rest of the week. One afternoon we killed four largish spiders within 30 seconds of coming down the stairs. Will found one on his clothes hamper in his closet.

It was time for action.

Fortunately, I had some Raid foggers in the cupboard upstairs. We set four of them off in the basement and left the house for the day to let the killing fog work its magic! After lunch at McD's, some work in my classroom, some shopping at WalMart, a visit to Kirsten, and some relaxing time at the pool, it was time to assess the damage.

I vacuumed up at least 10 dead spiders, and I hope there are many more in places less accessible! If nothing else, it has restored the kids' sense of security in the basement... for the time being!

Uinta National Forrest

On Sunday afternoon, we took a family outing to Uinta National Forest in the Diamond Fork of Spanish Fork Canyon. Bill had gone on a mountain bike ride up (or down) this trail the day before and really wanted to share it with the rest of us. The plan was to ride bikes, but Bill ended up being the only one to ride, the rest of us hiked the 2 miles to the falls and hot springs. The photos look great, but they can't convey the heat and sweat of the climb up, the smell of sulphur at the hot springs, or the pain in my knees on the hike down! Did you know that sulphur smell remains in your skin even after you shower?

It was really fun, though, and we are hoping to go again when the weather cools down. Wouldn't it be awesome to sit in hot springs when the air is cool?

Helena at the hot springs

Helena didn't want to go on this family outing. At all. We had to bribe her with Wendys for dinner. At the outset of the hike, a horse fly was biting and harassing her. She was adamant that she was DONE and would go wait in the car, thank you very much! Fortunately, Bill offered to have her ride on the back of his bike, and that cheered her up. The passenger situation didn't last long, and the crash that ended it left a scratch on her shoulder, but I think Bill's kindness uplifted her and made her want to try to make it for her dad's sake.

Once we got there, she had a great time!

Will at the hot springs

Will is an excellent hiker! He out paced us the whole way up and would have on the hike down, too, but I asked him to stay with us. He enjoyed playing in the water, too.

at 5th water

While we stayed at the hot springs, Bill and Forrest spent a lot of time reinforcing the walls of the 'hot tub' and channeling the water. You can control the temperature of the tub by diverting the cooler water from the falls into the basin to mix with the hot water from the spring. The water at the surface was quite hot, but the water below the surface was cool. It was very weird! The boys managed to increase the water depth by about 4", too!

The upper falls

After we had spent a couple of hours at the lower falls and hot springs, we agreed to go with Bill to see the upper falls, which were a triple fall. Along the way, there were more hot springs on a side trail. We followed them and found these hot springs to be occupied by a group of naked men! Nudity is not prohibited on National Parks land, but the sign at the trail head encourages 'discretion' since families and scout troops often hike to the falls. Amazing to find public nudity so close to home!

There was not one else at the triple falls, though. I think it is probably because they are off the beaten track and rather difficult to get to...the trail was steep and slippery with scree. It was a beautiful place! So secluded and lush! It really didn't look like Utah at all! In fact, from the pictures, you could almost imagine we are in Hawaii or something!

All in all, it was an amazingly fun family outing, one that we hope to do again soon!

Scenic hike images

Bill wanted the family to go on a bike ride up to a hot spring and waterfalls up Diamond Fork of the Spanish Fork Canyon. He loaded up the bikes and we set out (against Helena's wishes). When we arrived there, however, it became quickly apparent that Bill would the the only one riding a bike that day. The trail was too difficult for a bunch of greenies like us.

I took lots of scenic shots. Boring for other people to look at, I suppose, but fun for me. It helps me remember the beauty, and not just the heat, smells, and sweat of the climb.

Testing the underwater feature of the camcorder

As you can see, the underwater feature works great! The water has to be really clear, though. This shot was taken in the local swimming pool. I imagine that sparkling tropical water would work, too! I can't wait to try it out someplace exotic!