Holy Colee!

Sunday was a super pleasant day. After church my friend Bri came to visit. I haven't see her since 2 kids ago, so it was fun to meet her 2 new little ones. I love knowing that there are some people who never change. I mean really, how do you improve on perfect :)
Sunday night I met Matt at a fireside. Elder Featherstone entitled his talk "The Abundant Life" which I have decided is a good title when you want to just talk about stuff. He covered about 15 topics in his 45 minutes. It was really interesting, and most interesting, is how many poems, jokes, quotes one person can have in his head and share with out writing anything down.

For a Monday, yesterday was not soo bad. Work struggled a bit. It seems like everyone ends up having computer and reporting issues all at the same time. But while I was listening to the radio, waiting for the last of the reports to come in, I totally won Bees tickets for last night's game. So, Monica and I hopped on trax and went to the game. Barry met us there and we enjoyed watching the Bees win against Fresno 8-0.
When I got home my birthday parcel from England was waiting for me :) It made me with October was closer. I am still looking for anyone with a stellar hook up on tickets to Manchester. Anyone? Anyone? Bhueler?

Well, it's official. I am the age that when you tell people how old you are, they wonder if you're lying. Seriously, what is the deal with "29" I say that in the same breath that I say I've decided not to have any more birthdays - just lots and lots of anniversaries of birthdays :)

It's been a pretty quiet week. Monday I went to the store, ran some errands, had food I hadn't had for a long time. Super exciting birthday :) Tuesday was even more exciting. I don't even remember what happened on Tuesday. Except Matt came to visit, so that was a pleasant thing. Wednesday, my work friend Nathan came into town. He needed to find a See's Candy store, and it was easier to show him than tell him, SOOOO I have now tried See's chocolates. They really are pretty tasty. I wouldn't fly across the country to get them, but being in town, I would probably make the trip to the mall to pick them up :) Tasty ;)

So, Friday was a little disappointing. My stake had organized a star gazing night at the top of Emigration Canyon. I had actually been looking forward to it for a while. I am kind of a geek like that. I like stars. I like them even more when I know what I am looking at, which there were people there to tell me just that. I spent the week trying to track down someone who could actually tell me how to get to "the top of Emigration Canyon." Which, by the way, is not- drive up Emigration Canyon, if you start coming down you've gone too far :P Anyway, Monica and I got there, and there were about a dozen other people there and a gaggle of telescopes. The disappointment is, the only thing we could see in the sky that night were clouds and lightning. We stayed for about 20 minutes, until it started raining. I guess I will have to wait for next year's.

Saturday I woke up with a strong desire to do as little as possible. So, I decided it was time to read Harry Potter. I've had the book for a month now, I just hadn't gotten around to it. I made a pretty good start. If I had nothing else to do, I could probably finish it today, but I think it will probably be Monday or Tuesday. Oh, I also got my laundry done and went and spent my grandparent's birthday money. I probably should have saved it for something practical, like these lame Dr bills I am starting to get, but it's BIRTHDAY money. Birthday money should not be practical. So, I bought a new shirt :) I figure it's semi practical, since I gave half of my wardrobe to my mom. I wanted to get new pants, but alas, I need a few more pounds to go before I can drop the 2 full sizes I want. Right now it is only a size and a half. So, I will keep wearing the baggy ones.

Saturday night Monica and I drove to Springville to go to her cousin's wedding reception. Then we decided to have my birthday early so we went to dinner at a random little place called David's Kitchen. It is a super serious hole in the wall. From driving past the front you would wonder if it was really even open. It is attached to a bar called Gino's. So the sign just says "Gino's David's Kitchen" Mostly up until now I had just been confused as to why you would have two names with out an "&" in the middle. I am not altogether not confused now, but apparently they are 2 different businesses. Kind of. ANYWAY - It's a Chinese place. They still don't serve Tiny Spicy Chicken, but what they do have is really good. It appears they are famous for their pot stickers. Which, I had never had before. It was all actually very tasty. After dinner, we went to see Stardust. If you like fantasy/witches/good triumphs over evil kind of movies, I suggest it. It's very predictable, and there are lots of people dying and stuff, but it's a lovely story and I left feeling happy.

Today is Sunday. We have church at 11, as the other ward in our building is having a back to school welcome Sunday. Other than that, it should be a pretty quiet day. Tomorrow I turn 29. I have decided not to throw a party, but I think I SHALL go buy a cake. How else can I have cake for breakfast the day after - it really is a fabulous tradition ;)

First a comment - it is 9:30 at night and still 86 degrees outside. Gotta love August.

Ok, so today has been kind of a bleh day. I couldn't for the life of me make myself want to be at work. I still got lots of stuff done, it was just one of those days.

After work it got better. I got to chat with John. That's always a good thing. I also had to weigh in, which can go either way. But, having surgery and a cold is apparently a good thing. I lost. In fact, I lost enough that I have now earned my 10% ring (i actually earned it before the surgery) AND this week I earned my 25lb award. What that means is that this time around, I have lost 25 pounds - ok, so that doesn't take a genius to figure out, but what it also means is that since I started this whole feel better, be healthier gig, I've now lost 49 pounds. So, 49 is kind of random, but oh well, I am celebrating it. Just like I will celebrate 50.:P The goal this week is to lose, even though it is my birthday week. It's totally doable.

Also tonight was bowling night. I bowled a 136! While that is not all that fabulous of a score, my lifetime high is 145, so I am also feeling pretty good about that.

Anyway, the summary version is that tonight was much better than today. Now... if I can only find out where the stargazing party is tomorrow night.........

So here are the pictures from the rest of the fair. One of my favorite parts was the kids tractor pull. Basically,they got the kids on pedal tractors and put weights in the back. As the kids moved forward, the weights did, too. Thus making it harder for them to pull.







Then on Saturday night, to wind things up, they had a REAL tractor pull. It was interesting. I am not all that into horsepower and noisy trucks, but it was pretty cool. I would definitely go again...





I also got my hair done this week. It was time. I am still not sure how I feel about the blonde, but, well, it's something different. Shahna finished the look by giving me her same hair updo as well. I call it cowgirl hair. I am pretty sure you'll never see it again, so I figured we'd better document it.



Ok, that's all I have for now. I am back in Salt Lake and working from the office again ;) I suppose that's a good thing. I must admit, working in Bear Lake is my preferred option.

I love county fairs. Incase you missed that in some previous posts. Tuesday night we went to the demolition derby. The fact that people will put so much money into modifying their cars just so they can spend the night ramming them into other cars is fascinating to me. White trash fascinating. There were 2 heats of cars, then they had an ATV race to kill some time. The ATV race, let me explain - pairs of riders on 4 wheelers (one driver, one rider per machine)drive around in circles, while the riders use baseball bats to try and pop balloons that are taped onto the other riders' helmets. Yes, truly, they drive around in circles beating each other up with baseball bats. And they do it voluntarily. After the ATV race, anyone of the cars who can get started come back into the arena and try to bash into each other again. The last car standing wins the derby.

The question is - which is worse, the people driving or the people who spend money to watch.....

This week I am hanging out in Bear Lake. Let's face it, it's more fun to recover in a place where people will feel sorry for you, at least a little ;) It's also the county fair this week. I like the fair. It's fun to watch the kids with their 4-H animals and projects and such, plus we get to do all the white trash stuff - rodeos and demolition derbies and the like. AND how can life be complete with out a little fair food? Seriously, life with out grilled onions on a big ole hamburger and weird little biscuits deep fried and covered in sugar glaze - is that any kind of life at all???

I am attaching random pictures that I just got. They are old, but I still like 'em.

My mom and I hung out at the hospital today. I had a lithotripsy. They basically shot my kidney with sound waves until they broke the stone into small enough pieces to move out. They said they found a second stone, so they broke that one up, too. Now I get to hang out at home and enjoy my lortab until all the pieces decide to leave my body. I am very blessed that my mom is in town this week. I am not sure how that all worked out, but I will just be greatful. If one more person tells me to drink lots and lots of water - I will probably have to pour the bottle over their head.

Yesterday was an adventure. I finally decided to go to the instacare for some severe back pain I have been experiencing. I was diagnosed with kidney stones. Not excited. She gave me pain meds and said if it got worse to go to the hospital. So I faked the rest of the day, even went down to visit my grandparents. The pain meds made me sick and didn't help the pain. Needless to say, it got worse. About 11:00 pm, my mom and I drove to the hospital. They were super nice, they gave me morphine and a ct scan. Apparently I have a 10mm stone sitting right in my kidney, too big to get out on it's own. So, they gave me a referral to a urologist and different pain meds. We got home about 3 am. Not bad for an ER visit.
This morning I met the urologist, and he set me up with an appointment for an outpatient surgery tomorrow to send sonic wave blasts into my kidney to break up the stone. The best part of the whole story - is that after all this - I STILL have to pass the fragments. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry, so I am going to stop now.... Ok then, now you know, probably too much.

Saturday we went to see Hairspray. If you like musicals at all- SEE THIS SHOW. I was dancing the whole time. I didn't expect the show to actually have a purpose, but it does. And John Travolta as a woman - it was well worth the money spent. The man can dance no matter what shoes he's wearing. Again, a movie I will have to add to my library.

This week I am hanging out with my mom. I am pretty sure she is bored off her gourd during the day, but hopefully we can find some things to stay busy during the evening. Tonight we went to dinner at the Jenkins' home. It was super tasty. Tomorrow we're going to see the grandparents, because I am pretty sure they will disown me if I don't get there soon. After that, I am not sure - does anyone know what there is to do in Salt Lake on a Wed or Thur night?

Next week I am gonna go home for a week and work from the hospital annex's basement. I like working from the library better, but it's not open early enough to work from for a whole week. The cool part is that it is fair week next week :) YAY demolition derby!

First of all - Happy Birthday Mom!!!! My mom is 47 years young today. I am super excited because tomorrow she is coming to stay with me for a week! YAY:) So she'll probably be super bored all week, because I still have to work, but I am way happy she's coming down.

So the last little while I have been thinking alot about water. Christ called himself "living water". The human body is approximately 60% water. 80% of the earth is covered in water, 97% of the water is salt water, 2% is frozen in glaciers leaving only 1% drinkable.Water is life and death. Water makes things grow. It is necessary for survival. If it comes at the wrong time it will take life. It can destroy homes. We pray for rain, at the same time as people a couple of states away are pumping water out of the streets. I drove home in a torrential downpour tonight and loved every minute of it. But I have spent the last 48 hours trying to figure out why my house is flooding and once we knew why, how to fix it. Water is cleansing and yet causes mudlides. We have 8 wildfires burning in the state of Utah, but in the part of the state that is not on fire, we have hail the size of quarters. Frozen water can be as sweet as popsicles, or cause accidents as black ice. Water can knock out power lines, cause flash floods, or cool the head of fevered child.

Ok, sorry, like I said, I've been thinking about water lately. I didn't say I had come up with anything profound :P Anyway... now that I have rambled on a while, I think I shall go to bed. Staff meeting at 6:30 comes plenty early.

So, the reunion was pretty cool. Friday night I saw fire flies for the first time. They are not very common in Idaho, so it was pretty neat. Saturday morning the rest of the Skinner clan converged on the camp ground. Well, not technically "the rest." We had about 120 people of the 260ish that should have been there. It was fun though, normal family reunion stuff, food, games, talking, and lots and lots of wet kids.

Now I am back in Salt Lake. Life is pretty quiet. Monica is in Kenya on a service trip, so I leave the TV on for noise :) I have the new Harry Potter book sitting on my table, still in the box. I am afraid if I open it I won't be able to put it down. I haven't quite gotten to the point where I want to do the extra work I should be doing, but I have a guilty conscience.

Now you know, in case you were wondering, I am strange like that.

Today was a much better day than yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days where everything is just a bit off and nothing turns out like you think it should. Work, home, roads, people... everything just seemed a bit off. Today things went pretty much like they were supposed to. Except for the ear infection my mom woke up with. We woke up, got stuff ready, went out to the campground, chatted, ate, got eaten alive by mosquitos, came home. It really is a simple life. I only got pulled in to work stuff for about an hour. The water issue at my place seems to be resolving. Really, a simple and happy day.

Ok... I am off to bed. We have to get up early to go back out to the campers.... I'd much rather get up early and take a lovely warm shower than sleep on the ground and smell of yesterday's bug spray all day. I love that they camp about 30 minutes from Mom's :)

I give up, officially. I am supposed to be leaving town for 4 days in an hour and I have just discovered that there is water seeping from the ceiling around my cooling vent. Someone please remind me why I wanted to become a homeowner.... please.....

AaaaAAaaaaaAAA is really all I can say about that.

My neighbor is going to keep an eye on it and call the HOA's handyman to figure out if it is my cooler or water from the upstairs unit. I am blessed to have good neighbors. I will have to remember to make cookies ;)

Between July and August I think I celebrate half of the birthdays in my life. Ok so probably not half, but it seems like a lot all very close to each other... Kelly, Matt, James, Mom, Kym S, Heather, Daniel, Shahna, Trista, Me, Riley, Alice, Kym W and I am pretty sure I've missed some.

This is me remembering to say- Happy Birthday, in case I forget.

I get to go home this weekend. I am going to Clark's reception on Wednesday and then I have a family reunion on Saturday. I know I was home a couple of weeks ago, but I am still excited to go back. If nothing else it's an excuse not to answer my cell phone, but it's better than that, cuz I get to chill with the fam. If anyone is in Bennington this weekend, take Hunter Lane til it ends and come find us! We welcome all :)

Today was a good day. First of all, I got to chat with John. That always makes me happy. Second I went to WW and not only did I lose all the weight from my business trips and vacation time, but a little bit more. Third, I broke 100 on both games of bowling, and Barry was even there to see it so I didn't have to send him pictures ;)

Ok, so maybe I am being a bit simple, but really, that's all it takes to make me happy:)

So, for Matt's birthday we went to see Harry Potter 5 last night. I say go. It was fabulous. They left a lot out, but well, you kind of have to when the book is that long. But they followed the story better than normal AND they finally cut Harry's hair. If I had my d'ruthers the twins and Luna would have had bigger parts, but that's just me. Anyway, it's worth th 8 bucks to see it in the theater. And it will be a definite add on to my collection.

Anyway - Happy Birthday Matt!

I am officially going through withdrawls. Fortunately, work is extra busy to make up for it... or maybe that's what I get for thinking I could actually take that much time off. My next goal is to take 5 days consecutively. LOL, guess I should get some training done.

There are a couple of things that are helping keep my brain busy. The first is planning a trip to Manchester... the other is getting ready to go to Cancun. I am not sure how or why, but somehow I get to go to Cancun with work. I am super excited about it. The coolest part, is I get to bring my mom and just pay her air fare! That's freaking awesome.

In the meanwhile, I am looking for random projects.... any ideas?

This is John at his first baseball game :)



Over looking Park City, getting ready to go down the Alpine Slide



Welcome to Bear Lake!



We tried and tried to take a picture at the fireworks, but for some reason John couldn't keep his eyes open for the flash. We gave up, this picture just makes me happy.

Yeah, so... lots of stuff...John survived meeting my family. I think Cannon actually likes him, so that's a good sign ;) Cannon took him bowling, milking, and thru the Oregon Trail Center Museum.

John also survived as a Brit celebrating Independence Day in America. We did the fireworks show in Logan on Tuesday, just so he wouldn’t think we were all crazy. About the most exciting part of the actual holiday was watching M Hill light on fire from a rogue firework.

We got back into Salt Lake yesterday morning. Everything we tried to do didn’t really work out, even bowling with my friends, none of them showed up. So, we went to dinner instead.

I left him at the airport this morning. That sucked a lot. October has never looked quite so far away. Fortunately, I have plenty to keep me busy between now and then. Most of which I found out about when I got back to work today ;) But I am also going to Cancun in September (yay) I am not sure how I got put on the list, but I am not going to complain. I also get to take my mom. She totally deserves a vacation, and I’ve never been to Mexico, so it should be an adventure.

My internet at home isn’t really working so much, but when it does I’ll upload the rest of the photos. I know you can hardly wait :P