4 Phones

I own 4 phones. FOUR! That is craziness. When I got the fourth deposited on my desk, I just felt this was too crazy not to share. Do your remember, once upon a time, when your family just had a house phone? If you weren't there, someone left you a message, and there wasn't anything else they could do about it until you got home to check it. Then came those huge car phones. I remember when my dad got one for work. It was so cool.

Now, we don't even have a land line at home. And surprisingly neither do my parents. However, I seem to be extra blessed in the phone category, because as mentioned earlier I have 4 phones people can reach me on day and night. I even have photographic evidence...

These are my two landlines at work. The one on the right is the original phone in my office ... the one where Megan transferred my calls to if someone happened to call me on our main number. The one on the left is the newest addition ... It's going to do something fancy so our entire company can act as if we are all in one office, even though we are across the country. Amazing technology. It will even email me wav files of my messages. Unfortunately the bugs aren't worked out yet. So it keeps telling me I have two messages, but I can't check them. Amazing, since no one has the number except the IT guy who set it up. Always a problem.

Then come my cell phones. My personal cell is on the left. LOVE IT! And I won't ever be able to give it up. I've had the same number since college ... and "in" minutes are a life-saver. I can talk and text Jeff and my whole family as much as I want. Even my grandma has "in" minutes on her cell phone. Who would have ever thought? That communication is priceless! My blackberry and I have a love/hate relationship. I love that I am instantly connected to every call and email ... but it also can be annoying - as you can imagine :)! But I literally live by that thing ... and do more work on it than my laptop (I talk on it a lot for work!) ... and Jeff is constantly trying to beat the Brick-breaker game when we are at home.

So that is my highly-communicative life! Who would have ever thought one phone wasn't enough!

Seven Peaks

So this Saturday we went to Seven Peaks with the fam'. It was really fun! We only went for the last few hours (which is more than plenty of time there) and rode a few of the big slides. Our fave was the Cave In because it was dark and really fast.

We totally didn't like the Lazy River ... which is usually one of my favorite parts. But I have stepped in mountain streams warmer than this thing was! And it was like 2 ft. deep ... so you couldn't really relax in it anyways.

Please keep in mind these are "after" pics. We were on our way to a deliciously greasy dinner at Burger Supreme ... one of my local faves. They have amazing fry sauce. I didn't even know what fry sauce was before I ate there. But it is pretty yummy!

Overall, it was really fun ... and followed by a relaxing Sunday! Great weekend!

A Little Break ... In Salt Lake!

Friends of ours once told us that they sometimes like to go on mini-vacations close to home. So we decided to take one this last weekend! I came home from work on Friday beat after a long (albeit fun) week ... and Jeff surprised me with a hotel booked and plans for Saturday! (We forgot our camera, so you are just going to have to use your imagination and put us in the picture on the left :)!

First we went to the SLC temple and did a session. It was a really neat experience, and the best way to end a long week. The temple is always beautiful ... but I think I am especially partial this time of year, because it's when we got married :)!

Then we went to dinner at Red Rock. It is really good ... if you are ever in the area we recommend it! Afterward we walked around the Gateway and watched the water fountains as it got dark. On a warm summer night I just love watching the water ... it's really relaxing. The Gateway is such a cool place. It feels very urban (except for the fact that everything closes at 10 ...).

Sunday morning we went to Red Butte Gardens - they are so pretty! We have to confess, our favorite garden was the Children's Garden. It is adorable, with all these cute tunnels and water features. We also fed the ducks. We're sure it was actually fish food in the dispenser, but the goldfish were way too slow to get any from the ducks. They were really fat though (maybe why they were so slow?) so we weren't too worried about it. But our favorite spot overall was a swing under the shade of some vines. It was fun just to sit there where it smelled good and watch people.

We went back to our hotel to swim before checking out. We haven't played in a regular pool in ages - I had forgotten how fun it can be :)! You know it's funny ... we did things I wouldn't normally ever think to do, like play in the pool or feed the ducks ... but those are the things that made it relaxing and memorable ... and different.

We had such a great time ... and weirdly enough we felt like we were a world away from home (but in a good way)! We highly recommend it!

This one's for MY girls!

So the last few days have been all about me hanging out with my favorite girls! Saturday I went to see Mama Mia with my mom, sister, aunt, cousin and a family friend. We went to Brick Oven and then to the movie. It was so fun!! The movie is adorable ... and I totally recommend it ... as long as you understand they are going to sing a lot. I really only knew two Abba songs going in to it, but still loved it. It is a funny, touching story about love, family relationships and following your dreams ... and it is set in the beautiful Greece (it is on the must visit list!)! We had SO much fun ... I'm glad they are all here to hang out with ... and am grateful for the opportunity to have them all close!

Last night was another fun night! All my college roommates got together. They are such fantastic, fun girls - I have totally missed them! Becca lives in Tennessee with her husband Peter and their little girl Lindsay (more on her later!) and they happened to be in town ... so it was cause for a reunion! We got Cafe Rio take out (yum) and had rich, delicious desserts and sat around for hours talking, reminiscing and laughing.

We covered pretty much every topic ... from old boyfriends to future plans. We have all changed so much, but it is funny how we all just meshed like we did back then as if it were yesterday. And I happen to think we have gotten better with age ... like we have more to give to each other and less to prove.

I certainly can't really tell what was really talked about ... but I will give a brief update on what each lovely lady is doing: Missy and her husband Lance live in Lehi and are expecting their first little girl - yay! She's an amazing teacher ... and I know she'll be an even better mom. Veronica just got home from a mission to Oakland, California a few months ago and now works with missionary visa's for the Church. We always knew she would be saving the world :)! Becca, Peter and Lindsay have left us to live in Tennessee where Peter just finished up Law School (congrats Peter!). They are such a cute family! And Becca has inspired us all with her mom stories and her adorable Lindsay. Lindsay was hilarious! She loved Ellie ... and kept saying "puppy" to get Ellie to play and follow her around. At one point we looked over and she was sitting on the floor in front of Ellie's bowls throwing the food and water up in the air. Ellie just stared, very confused and trying really hard to eat it as fast as it was thrown. It was SO adorable and funny! I seriously almost died laughing. So cute!

Overall it was a late night ... but I wouldn't have minded if it lasted a lot longer! It was really fun ... these girls are good for my soul!

Rockin' with Martina!

Jeff surprised me with tickets to the Martina McBride concert last Friday! He is wonderful isn't he?! It was SO, SO much fun!! And it appeared to be our lucky night. We were getting comfortable on our lawn seats when a guy approached us offering up free upgraded seats .... he was Keith Stubbs from the Eagle ... and I totally work with his niece! So after discussing the coincidence Jeff and I happily moved into our new seats.

Martina sang for 2 hours strait! It was amazing, AMAZING! And she is so little ... I just don't know where all that power comes from. She easily has the best voice in country music, and probably one of the best in the world. She basically sang her entire greatest hits album, some of her newer stuff ... and some classic rock. We were on our feet singing (okay, screaming) at the top of our lungs most of the time. I swear every song is my favorite :)!

Thank you, Jeff for being so sweet, and for going and singing with me! I had the best time EVER! Love you :)!