Holy Colee!

The update, as promised.... he forgot to show up. This time, neither he nor his company has tried to call to apologize or reschedule. It's really best that they don't.

Today Summer officially started. How do I know? you ask. Well, I got my first pool time. I know that my Condo's little pool isn't anything spectacular, but I love that it exists and that I can just have a spot to sit in the sun. It is supposed to be stormy for the next week, so I was super excited to just get out side and enjoy the day. After work, of course ;)

My garden is growing :) I think my spinach is ready to be picked and replanted....but, how do you know when spinach is ready?

So... I realize about once a day that I have become a terrible blogger. I attribute it to a couple of things. 1 - I spend too much time on facebook. 2 - There's really nothing going on.
I DID buy a new kitchen table and chairs this weekend. Yep, that's as exciting as it gets. Oh, I also started going to a new ward this week. I decided it was time to transition before they kick me out in August... So far so good. Tomorrow I am meeting with my 3rd window sales guy. He's rescheduled twice already, so if he doesn't show tomorrow, I am going with one of the others. I figure he'd better give me a pretty darn good deal for being such a scheduling nightmare.

I know, now, that you'll be wondering - so I'll keep you posted ;)

Today we will use our blog to say good bye to someone we did not know long, but cared for very much.

Cannon had been asking for a puppy forever - literally. When Nugget had pups, Mom finally gave in. For mom to give in, Sadi had to be special. The preparations were made and we brought her home. Cannon and Steven built her a house. She was too excited to learn to fetch, she would go after the stick or ball, but but bringing it all the way back was harder ;) She loved to go for walks and play with anyone who would stay outside with her. Sadi was a puppy. In every sense of the word. We will miss having her jump every time we opene the door.

It has been an absolutely fabulous weekend :) My mom came down on Thursday afternoon. Friday I took the day off and we just spent the day wandering around whatever store we wanted to. We took our sweet time and just... yeah. Today we woke up late... well, I did. Mom was up a couple of hours before me and she is never lazy, so she cleaned my little house while she waited for me to join the living. Have I mentioned how cool my mom is? We had a slow morning, but it was all leading up to a glorious afternoon. We went to the much anticipated "Wicked."
It was amazing, awe inspiring, exceptional... how many more ways can I say awesome?
I have seen the show before, but it doesn't make it any less inspiring. If you ever have the chance - take it. Definitely take it. I love the pieces that tie it into the Wizard of Oz, but even minus those, the story is great, the music is awesome, and the costumes, show, etc... there is a reason the show sold out in 5 minutes.
After the show we went to dinner and now we are kicked back at home enjoying some home time.

Life really is good.

This week I am spending the week in Dingle. I came home on Friday by way of Aaron and Kristen's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony. Saturday they had their reception - it was a full out back yard BBQ. They were blessed with a nice day, except for the wind. But I think they were pleased they didn't have to move it to the back up - in door - location.
Sunday was Easter. I love Easter. What a glorious time to remember not only the ultimate sacrifice, but the ultimate gift that has been given to all of us. A special day set aside to remember that He lives! and because of that each of us will also live again.

It was a good day. After church and a very tasty meal (Thanks Kel), we spent the afternoon learning more about the history of the early saints. It was a book written from the perspective of Emma Smith. We only got about 2/3 of the way through, so I am going to have to find some time to go finish it.

Today was my first day back to work since March 30. All of the big things were cared for very well. What I learned is that there are all kinds of little things that are hard to train people on. You know, the stuff that you just kind of learn as you go, but you forget unless you have to think about it? But I was very pleased with the work my team did. And, I think they are pleased to know that I am not going anywhere for that long again anytime soon.

Tonight we got to spend some time outside - Spring is so fickle - we must enjoy it while we can, in however small or large a dose as it allows :)

Today we went back to Oldham. I am officially done picking up random things to keep the kiddies back at home happy. After an afternoon of searching for trinkets and treats we dropped it all off and went back to Spring Inn. It is the pub, that is just about a 10 minute walk from here. We had a great meal. For starters I had my first pate. For my main course I had steak and ale pie with chips and veggies. For my sweet I went with the Treacle tart. OH MY GOODNESS. I may have to look for that recipe. John's sweet was the Banoffee (banana and toffee) pie. In honor of Dav, today's pictures will be of dessert :)

As promised, we went to church this morning. I had to laugh though. We started at church and ended the day at the pub. In the middle we went bowling. It was a good day. Not very Sundayish, but a good day. I could have talked him into 2 churches, but it's Conference Weekend, so no LDS services. We did drive past the ward house though- if that counts?
Anyway, here are a few more pictures from today.

Today ended up being a pretty quiet day. We've pushed the city onto Monday or Tuesday instead. We ran a few errands back in Oldham and went to Asda (yes, even in England I can find my way to a Wal-Mart). Tomorrow is Sunday and John has promised to take me to church. I am including a picture of the church that is on the end of the street. We took a wander around it yesterday, it's actually very lovely and literally, a 3 minute walk.

Hellooo :) I thought I had better stop a moment to tell everyone what a wonderful week I am having. On Tuesday I got on a plane and came to Manchester to see John. Wednesday morning, h met me at the airport and brought me home to Rochdale. We dropped off my bags and went for a walk down to the garden center, Gordon Riggs. Yes, really the garden center :) Ok, really it was just on our way down to the grocery store. It was interesting. Some things are very similar, some a different. By the time we were done wandering, I was fading fast. (I didn't so much actually sleep on the way over). John let me off easy and we came home.
Thursday, we went into Milnrow. We wandered around the shopping center and ran some errands down to his work and such. When we got back to the center we saw Sean Wilson (aka Martin Platt) from Coronation Street, standing outside the McDonalds having a Big Mac with his kids. Ok, so it really didn't do anything for me either, but apparently he's a big celebrity here. Everyone in the square was pointing and whispering.
Today John and I went to Hollingworth Lake. It is a pretty little lake near the South Penines in the North west of England It was absolutely gorgeous, and the day could not have been anymore lovely. Infact, my face is actually sunburned. I didn't know you could actually get a sunburn in England? We got proper fish and chips and a 99 with a flake and walked around the lake. There were families everywhere, flocking to the lake on such a pretty day. John says it will be super busy tomorrow on a non work day. We also peeked in on a tea room, but since we had already had our meal and our sweet we decided not to stop. I really can't get over just what a lovely day it was.
I've been in England for 3 days and it hasn't rained yet. That is supposed to change tomorrow, which is why we are planning a day in Manchester.

I am including pictures from our walk today. I hope you enjoy them.

Tomorrow morning I leave to go to Manchester, UK. I am pretty bloomin excited... really. That's all there is to say :D

I know - I'm behind...this is what happens when I watch with out a computer

Matt - Fun. Just different enough

Chris - I liked this one quite a bit. Not a real stretch except at the end, but quality.

Scott - I did not enjoy this at all. The arrangement was ok. I didn't enjoy him performing it.

Megan - I get what she is trying to do. I just don't know if I like it. It sounds like she is just off key.

Anoop - Too much falsetto. When he was lower it was better.

Michael - that's churched up???

Lil - I had higher expectations

Adam - Interesting, not tear worthy, but very well done.

Danny - Maybe they should have shown a different clip? Or he could have done what he was told and said he would do....

Allison - I like her. I think. I have never really noticed her before.

Lil – It was ok. Nothing to write home about. It felt just a little off for me.

Scott – That was a Michael Jackson song? By the time I am writing this, I have already forgotten what the performance was like.

Danny – Apparently I don’t know my MJ like I thought I did. Either way, I don’t like the song. He did a decent job with it.

Mike – That song I do know, and I really didn’t like it.

Jasmine – I like her. I like her a lot. She’s cute and she can sing well.

Chris – good times, nothing fabulous, but good.

Allison - Enter the rockstar.

Anoop – I have issues with him going by Anoop Dog, but the performance was good, not one of the stronger vocals.

Gorge – Did he break into Spanish?

Megan – I am not sure what to make of her... KAW KAW

Adam – I think Simon had it right. He was really good

Missed his name (even in the recap) - enjoyable

Alexis – I missed most of it, but what I heard, I liked

Why do they insist on putting one old unpopular unhealthy guy on every season of Dancing With the Stars? And should we all feel bad for the poor girl who draws them as a partner?

So, ever since I started playing on facebook, I have become a slacker blogger. I mean, my life is ever so exciting, so I should EASILY be able to update 2 different places... uh... yeah.

So for the past 3 weeks I have been doing a bit of traveling. Kansas City is starting to feel like home away from home. I think, it is probably best that I don't have to travel often. I am not very good at it. One trip I forgot to make my hotel reservation, and on another I had my flight booked for the wrong day. It's probably best for everyone that I stay home for a while.

After I got home from the most recent trip, I had a new furnace installed. My old one was not broken, but it was 30 years old. In furnace speak - that means it was only a matter of time. I decided it was better to have it replaced off season and in a non emergency. YAY for tax returns. Now I am trying to convince myself that new windows are more important than a new laptop... being grown up sucks the fun out of everything ;)

I missed most of American Idol last night because being with real people is better than being with pretend people. Now you know :P

This morning, I was supposed to be on a flight at 8:20. I am still one of those dorks who tries to be at the airport 2 hours early. Partly because I just like being able to take my sweet time, and partly because I worry about getting stuck in security. An 8:20 departure time meant that I needed to leave the hotel about 6 which means waking up at 5. So, I set my alarm... completely forgetting that my alarm was still in Mountain Time... Yeah, I woke up at 5:40 CST. I still managed to leave the hotel about 6:05... not so awake or prettied up as I would like to have been, but I got to the airport with time for breakfast... I love KCI and the 2 minute line at security.

My family enjoys a good murder mystery... but they enjoy it even more when they get to dress up and pretend we can act :) James and Heather gave me a murder mystery game for Christmas last year (don't worry, we're still going to do it in SLC, too). This is what happens when you tell my family to come in their 50s attire :)


Chubby Cheddar and Tiara Diamond



Chubby Cheddar and Bobby Sox



Ivan Spudnick, Tiara Diamond, and Barby Q



Johnny Angel and Peggy Sue



Dan Dragnet and his date :)


My Mom and Me :)



Our Cast

YAY for having something to blog about.... Ok, really I have some pictures to post from our murder mystery dinner, but I haven't up loaded them, so probably later this weekendish.... In the mean while you get
AMERICAN IDOL ala Colee

Jackie Tohn – I am sorry, I couldn’t stop being bugged by her pants long enough to listen to her

Ricky Braddy – I like him. I could listen to him for a while.

Alexis Grace – The song was a little too big… bit showy. She handled it ok, but not as good as they thought she did.

Brent Keith – lol, I think this song was written in Bear Lake ;) Seriously, do they sell White Rain in the real world? Do half of you even know what White Rain is?

Stevie Wright – the song was in the wrong key, or she was.

Anoop Desai – gawky and awkward on the stage, but pleasant to listen to

Casey Carlson – meh

Michael Sarver – missed it

Ann Marie – missed it

Stephen Fowler – better than California

Tatiana – needs to go… regardless of her performance, I am tired of her in general

Danny Gokey – I liked his auditions better than tonight

There has actually been some stuff going on, but I am officially terrible at blogging. Last Thursday Mom brought Mac and Cannon down and we went to the Jazz game. It was loads of fun. We totally kicked butt, and there were a slew of empty seats so Mac and I totally cut down and sat by the other 2... Shhhh don't tell.
The only bummer part is that because it was a late game, Goliath wasn't there doing the pre and post show. So we weren't able to get his autograph.
Friday morning we took the kids to the Draper Temple open house. It was beautiful. It is amazing to see how the most beautiful things from all over the world come together to make a simple and awe inspiring building.

After that I came home with everyone else. I am chillin in Dingle this week. Unfortunately, the internet is down, so I am still commuting to work... I am thankful for a hospital with free wi-fi... and tasty food ;)

What a good today as been:) Church was pleasant, as it usually is, and then I was invited over to dinner at my cousin Danaca's house. She is probably the cutest girl alive. Her parents are flying to London tomorrow to start their mission, 18 months as ordinance workers in the London temple. It was really good to see them and share the afternoon with Dana and Hev and Terrel and Denise. I truly should take more opportunity to spend time with the family I do have close.

Most of the day I have just been thinking about how truly blessed I am. The people I love are happy and healthy, and making choices that will make them happier.

It really is just a good day :)