HAPPY BIRTHDAY #15

Happy Birthday Lil' Brudder!!

You're 15!
You know what that means?
It means your 15!

Willie, you are a good boy. I'm excited that you're 15 today, but all that does is make me feel really old. I was 14, almost 15 when you were born. I'm sorry for dropping lotion on your head when you were 2 days old and I'm sorry for banging your head into the wall on your blessing day. I promise I didn't mean to do it. It was just an accident. Mom was plenty mad.

It was a little strange, I have to admit, when Annie and I found out you were coming, but I'm glad we kept you! You are smart, talented, responsible, a good basketball player, a good student, and good young man. You also sing quite well, but I don't know if you want anyone to know that. Just remember to stand up straight, use the glass, keep hitting your free throws, and keep being a good uncle (or an aunt if this next one is a girl). And remember, it doesn't matter how tall you are, I can still take you!

Happy Birthday from your favorite shorter sister!!

Bear Lake With The Binggelis

James's mom and dad invited us to their timeshare condo at Bear Lake after Christmas. They are staying for the long week, but we came up Monday and are headed home today. Everyone has had fun playing on the snowmobiles and sledding down the hill at the Sinks, up Logan Canyon. I, of course, in my weakened condition have not participated on the roller coaster snowmobile activities, but have actually gotten quite a bit of school work done as well as taking these lovely pictures.

Thanks LaRon and Mary for a great time!

Christmas 2009

So Christmas has come another year. Even though we are still celebrating the Christmas Season. We thought that we would give you the blog world a moment in time, of how we celebrate Christmas.

Here is a slide show of the different parties.
ENJOY and we hope that your Christmas is going as good as ours

Cute foot, but that's all we get.

We'd like to introduce the blog world to Baby Bing's left foot.

James and I went in for our big half-time ultrasound yesterday. Our baby has all it's vital organs, including 2 kidneys, a stomach, a bladder, and a heart (that does beat). It also has all of the important parts of the brain that it's supposed to, as well as 2 arms and 2 legs.

The baby, however, does not have a gender, or at least doesn't want us to know what it is. After an hour of looking for a variety of things and measuring other more complicated things, neither the ultrasound technician nor the parinatologist would say what the baby is. Boy or girl? We think it's a girl and they think it might be, too, but they wouldn't say for sure. We definitely did not see any boy anatomy, but couldn't rule out the possibility that it was there either. What we do know is that everything else is in tact and we have a modest baby who keeps its legs together and its ankles crossed.

Until next month.

Student Career Goals

Today in Algebra B, I was unsuccessfully trying to motivate some less motivated students. One of these students is a nice kid, but special ed., and has an attention span of less than 2 seconds. The only thing he concentrates on for longer than that is his daily gum distribution to the rest of the class. It drives me crazy that pieces of gum get thrown around the room at the beginning of every 3rd period, but at least it's a positive experience for him. The other kid is also a nice kid, not special ed., but could probably qualify, and is really, really slow, both academically and socially. He failed last term because he left school for 2 weeks to go deer hunting and never quite got caught up. He can appear to concentrate but has no memory and can't really apply what you did in problem #1 to problem #2.

So what happened today? I told them that they needed to do their work. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Ok, let's get going. Open your book. Let's try a few of these. Let me help you.
Kid 1: I don't need math. This is pointless.
Kid 2: Ya, I don't get this either. It's dumb.
Me: But you need to graduate from high school, right? You need some basic skills, right? Even McDonald's would rather hire you if you had a diploma.
Kid 1: I don't need a diploma. I write lyrics. I can rap.
Me: How are you going to pay for things before your first song gets recorded? What are you going to eat while your waiting to hit it big.
Kid 1: My cousins have a studio. Rappers make . . . . like $12 million.
Kid 2: Ya, I bet rappers make a ton of money and they don't have to graduate.
Me: I doubt your cousins make $12 million.
Kid 1: Well, they probably make $100 or maybe $100,000 or something. They drive nice cars. They'll let me use their studio and I won't have to pay nothing.
Me: So what are you going to do for money in the meantime? What will you eat?
Kid 1: I'll mooch off my mom until I'm 18. I got 2 years.
Me: Then what?
Kid 1: It doesn't matter. I don't need math.
Kid 2: Wait! I need math for what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do some work now.
Me: What are you going to do?
Kid 2: I'm gonna be a heart surgeon. They make like $350,000.
Me: Ok. You keep working on that math, then.

In other news, I just finished my first semester of my Master's program and paid the tuition for my second semester (why does USU make you pay before you start?). I crunched some numbers and I figure it will cost around $10,000 for my Master's Degree over the course of 2 years. I have no idea where we'll get $10,000 total, but semester by semester, seems doable. (It helps that I am teaching on my prep this year and in addition, the State of Utah likes to give math and science teachers little bonuses, even in difficult economic times. It also helps that my husband is in the military and his much-higher-than-mine tuition doesn't come out of our savings.)

Anyway, if I graduate on time, my pay increase will take place in my 9th year of teaching. According to this year's salary schedule, during the 9th year of teaching, the difference between the lane I am in now and the Master's Lane is $2735. Assuming that rate stays the same (which it won't), it will take 3.6 years of that additional salary to pay for my degree, not considering taxes or inflation. Interesting.

So, in my profession, it takes 5.6 years of working to increase your pay through furthering your education (2 years of school + 3.6 years of continued work). I don't know what my point is in all this other than I'm weird and was just wondering what all this costs. Hmmmm. You can draw your own conclusions.

My mom says that money is only relative and the more you have, the more you think you need, even though you could do just fine on less. I agree with that and have found it to be true. I think it is also good, though, for me to expand my mind and further my education. Am I doing it just for the money increase, though? No, but it is an added bonus, I guess. If I am not doing it for money, shouldn't I make sure I'm really enjoying it and getting something out of it? Am I? I don't know.

What I do know is that I have no idea what I'd do with $12 million nor do I want to be a rapper. So for the time being (at least until tomorrow), I'll keep my day job.

I'm sorry. I'll try to work on it.

What does it mean when your good husband, who generally doesn't complain much at all about you, yet you constantly nag and complain at him says,

"Haley, you know I really like you, but right now you are driving me crazy."

Later on, I said, "Am I still bugging you?"

All I got in return was a wide-eyed eyebrow raise. No comment. Not sure what that means either, but at least he said he likes me.

Deja Vu

One whole year ago I posted this picture. It's was finals week and school was sucking away the life from James.

It's now almost one year later. Here is James. It's not quite the end, though, since finals week isn't until next week. I hope he makes it to Christmas. Wish him luck!

He Hates Me!

Willie just texted me from the Utes v. Michigan game (a win for the Utes, I might mention). The text said:

Just saw a guy with a red shirt that said max hall hates Me


I googled it and there are several hits. Ha. Ha. Ha.

You can buy one on Craigslist from someone in Boutiful.

U-Fit

This semester, James has been involved in a service learning project with the U-Fit program. Each Friday night this semester, he has spent a couple of hours with special needs kids, swimming and playing games around the HPER at the U.

He was originally assigned to one little kid named Blake. Blake was four and autistic. Blake's mom got frustrated with the disorganization of the program and stopped coming, so then James would work with whatever kids were there that needed a buddy.

He won't admit that he enjoyed it and and he was also frustrated with the lack or organization. Plus, he didn't understand how this connected to his nursing schooling. I, on the other hand, think that it was really good for him. He got to hang around a population of people that he otherwise wouldn't have been involved with. He also got to hang out with kids!

Last night was the final activity. James is relieved that he's done. He even got a new red t-shirt out of it. I, however, still have a big question left. What does "live vicariously through yourself" mean. Hmmmmm.

Cry Baby!

Disclaimer: This post is long. I ramble. It's not my best writing. I don't want to fix it. Read it if you want.

Ok. I'm not one to jump on bandwagons when it comes to my blog posts. I didn't even blog about Michael Jackson when he died, for goodness sake. I am no sports expert and I don't claim to be. Plus, it doesn't matter how many football games I have watched in my lifetime, I still don't understand all the rules and all the penalties (although I have a theory that many of the players don't either, but that's a post for another day). What I do know is a thing or two about the University of Utah and I know a thing or two about this thing called a rivalry.

How do I know this? I bleed RED! I cringe at the color blue. My grandpa played football for the University of Utah, back in the days of leather helmets and wooden pads (or something like that). Two of my uncles have played football for the University of Utah. I even have a cousin who swam for the the U for a season. My mom and dad have taken me to Runnin' Ute Basketball games since before I could walk. My dad even cried during the halftime honoring 100 years of Runnin' Utes. I can't count how many Utah v. BYU games I have attended in various sports (and even a handful of them in Provo). On top of all this sports hoopla, my parents both graduated from the great school on the hill, as did my sister and I, and soon my husband. If my count is correct, 21 of my immediate family members have graduated from or are currently attending this fine institution of higher learning, several earning degrees beyond a bachelors. That's why I am writing this . . . because I can!

So what I am writing about? Max Hall: the "classless" man of the moment.

Here are his lovely comments from last evening after . . . ahem . . . you WON the football game. Not only are you a terrible loser, Maxie, but you have proven you are also a terrible winner.

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them — I hate everything about them," said Hall.

"I hate their program. I hate their fans. I hate everything. So, it feels good to send those guys home. They didn't deserve it. It was our time, and it was our time to win. We deserved it. We played as hard as we could tonight, and it felt really good to send them home and to get them out of here, so it is a game I'll always remember."

"Do you really want me to go into it? I think the whole university and their fans and organization is classless. They threw beer on my family and stuff last year and did a whole bunch of nasty things. I don't respect them, and they deserve to lose."

Did Utah fans really throw beer on your family? I don't doubt it. Fans can get very rowdy and very often drunk during Utah games. Sorry. That sucks. There is no excuse for that.

But, what bothers me so much is that BYU fans are the worst! I have never seen a group of fans boo and taunt their own players and coaches like cougar fans do. It's absolutely terrible. BYU fans are the absolute worst people to watch a BYU game with. Rather than encouraging a cheering, they boo. I'll never get it.

BYU players are always some of the cheapest players, too. Do you remember Chris Miles giving Andrew Bogut a cheap shot to the back. Yeah, you go little freshman. That'll stop him. I remember Alex Jensen had to leave a Utes game and get stitches when a BYU player clocked him in a basketball game. BYU is great for recruiting bruisers like Bruiser Araujo who's only job is to take players out.

BYU fans are great at joining the bandwagon. Are they winning, "oh yeah, I'm the #1 fan." Are they losing, " BY-who?" Zoobies come out of the woodwork when teams are doing well. (Yes, you could say the same for Utah fans on that one. Why else has Rice-Eccles Stadium sold out most of their games during the last few years after years of empty seats? Ok, I can still complain abut BYU, though, because it's a RIVALRY and I don't like them, generally speaking.)

What else don't I like about BYU? Once we were at a football game and the BYU fans were throwing tortillas onto the field.

What else? I think the comment that bothered me most about Max Hall was that they "deserved" to win. Yes, Maxie, you did. You scored more point than your opponent. You deserved to win. But, anything else that is deserved stops right there. Why do you think you are so high and mighty that you had the right to win a football game before you ever stepped on the field? I don't get it. What ever happened to "It was a tough game, I'm happy for our team that we pulled it out!" You could have stopped right there. That would have shown some "class" and sportsman-like conduct.

This blog post really is just ramblings. I won't turn it in for a grade or anything.
The bottom line, though, is that it's a RIVALRY. Feelings build up, you get into the game, and you want to win. It's a rivalry because it's the team you like the least, or maybe even "hate." However, your comments to the media on television were the most classless act of the whole game. If you're really better than all the "nasty" things Utah fans do, rise above it, Maxie! Keep your mouth closed. Your kind isn't any different.

Thanksgiving Report

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was very enjoyable.

It started Wednesday since James and I both had the day off. We slept in, ran some errands, and headed out to Grandma's around 1:00 (with Parker). We had gone out there to set the tables and chairs for dinner. Grandma was going to have around 40 people this year. Her newest count for all total in the family is 52! When we got there, Grandma was pretty distraught because Jackie hadn't contacted her all day long to let her know what was going on with the turkey. We finally heard from Jackie around 2:30, got her garage code, and hurried to rescue the frozen solid turkeys from 2 of 3 refrigerators in her house. It was a little scary, but the turkeys did eventually thaw.

On Wednesday night, we were supposed to do a FHE at the Rocky Mountain Care Center. We had prepared a rip roarin' program consisting of me playing some "thankful" hymns alternating with James reading a Thanksgiving poem and telling the story of the first Thanksgiving in Utah with the pioneers. Unfortunately, the FHE didn't really happen. The people at the care center weren't expecting us and hadn't wheeled anyone in. It was a little bizarre. After wandering around for 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, we decided to talked to the one lady who was there and then call it a night. The lady we met was Sister Merkley. She was playing "You Are My Sunshine" on the piano and then grabbed a hymn book. Before leaving, we asked if we could share a thanksgiving message with her before we left. She told us sure, told us a bit of her life story, James shared a poem and then we left. She was 94 and her husband had been dead 9 or 27 years from a brain tumor. Her daughter had been to visit her the day before. She had a son die at Guadalcanal (which didn't exactly add up, time wise, but oh well). She told us she would like to crochet us a blanket if we brought her some yarn. She also told us she served as RS President 3 different times. She was still pretty with it and actually played the piano quite well, also.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We headed back out to Grandma's around 1:00 again to finish meal preparations. We ate a little after 3:00. It was a good day!

After that, we headed to Garland to visit James' family - Mom, Dad, Alicia, and Amber. They had already eaten, of course, by the time we got there, but they waited for us to dive into the pie Alicia made. When everyone finally got a piece, it was, well . . . . not good (so I heard). Everyone ended up throwing it away. Alicia said she thought the recipe was a little strange since it didn't call for any sugar. Hmmm. A little while later, LaRon went out to the trash to grab the can with the recipe. Sugar was listed as the first ingredient. Oops.

We stayed at the Binggeli's and went to bed just before 11:00. Departure time for Friday morning was 3:00 a.m. sharp! We made it and were in the car by 3:04, headed to Logan. We shopped at Kohls, Smiths Marketplace, and back to Kohls (with a walk through the entry way at KMart, only to turn right around and leave). James and his dad also went to Sears and Alicia and Amber also went to Sports Authority (where Amber won a $100 gift card).

After shopping and FREEZING (I swear Logan is close to the North Pole) we headed to Angie's for breakfast. It was yummy! We headed for home, but stopped at Smith and Edwards to wander around for a minute before making the last leg of the journey home. I didn't last for much of the ride and James said he got a little dozy. Eventually, though, we made it safely home and both of us passed out for a little while.

Finally, to wind down our Thanksgiving, we were invited to see "Blind Side" with my mom, dad, and Willie. The movie was good and I didn't realize it was a true story until the end. The only downside of the movie was Tim MickGraw and his fake hair, but other than that, a good show. We ate at Red Robin for dinner and then finally home.

We are both very tired, but had a great holiday!!

Tomorrow? . . . Utah v. BYU game (Go UTES!). Put up Christmas decorations at our house and finish some laundry. Put up Christmas decorations at Grandma's.

What are you thankful for?

• I am thankful for a good husband who tolerates my weirdness.
• I am thankful for extraordinary parents and grandparents who have taught we well and raised me right.
• I am thankful for education and knowledge.
• I am thankful for my two favorite nephews and my big little brother.
• I am thankful that I have the means to go out and buy some new clothes to fit me.
• I am thankful for our new little one that will come in May.
• I am thankful for the leaves falling on the ground.
• I am thankful for computers and e-mail.
• I am thankful for the gospel and the opportunities it provides.
• I am thankful for basketball season.
• I am thankful for cheeseburgers.
  
  

Failing Notices

Failing Notices are due tomorrow. We send them out 3 times per term. It's only 2 weeks into 2nd term, but the first round is due tomorrow. I have 210 students. I have to send out 77 failing notices. That's 31% of my students. I think that means tha I am failing. I don't know. I only have three assignments put in so far for most of the classes and if they've missed 1, there goes the grade.

I'm tired. It's late. I did my USU homework a day late this week. Oh well. I'm not sure what the ramifications of that are. I think none, but we'll see.

I just finished checking off some late/absent assignments and put the grades into the computer. A student complained today that her assignment took 5 pieces of paper to do and I'll I'm going to do is look it over and put a check mark on it. She didn't think that was enough recognition for all of her work. I started thinking . . . If I graded every problem on every students' paper . . . let's say an average assignment is 25 problems and it takes me 1.5 seconds to look at a problem and mark it right or wrong . . . 210 students x 25 x 1.5 = 7875 seconds per day. Add on to that 5 more seconds per student to write them a meaninful note and record their score . . . 210 students x 5 seconds = 1050 seconds per day. 7875 + 1050 = 8925 seconds per day. That equals 148.75 minutes, which equals 2.48 hours.

Two and a half hours every day just simply grading papers? That doesn't include recording their scores, let alone planning, going to meetings, helping kids before and after school, helping kids all class period long. It's midnight thirty. I don't know how to keep up with all of this.

Good night.

On a lighter note - it's FRIDAY!!!

Thanks for your concern.

This e-mail was sent out today from our vice principal:

Teachers,
I know this may seem like a small matter, but we are trying to avoid the spread of any viruses or bacteria in our school. In addition to other good hygienic practices, we are asking you not to lick your finger tips as you are passing out papers to students. If you need a rubber finger tip, see J., and she will order one for you to use.
Thanks for helping us.
D.

A little while later, this one was sent from the office secretary:

finger tips should be in on Monday, if you want one-call first to make sure they have arrived then come on down

Thank for you concern about the education and safety of our students and staff. Finger-licking will cease immediately.

Election Day

Ok, so my blog is really boring lately . . . and sparse. Tonight's exciting headline:

Election Day is tomorrow

- Tuesday, November 3rd -

It's not too late to get informed and vote!

What's on your ballot?

If you live in Salt Lake County, you can find out here.

If you live at my house, your ballot will look like this.

A First

Today was a first for James and me. We actually went to a University of Utah football game. For some reason, we have never been to one of these crazy events in our married life.

I grew up going to these games and sitting on old wooden bleachers in "Rice Stadium." My grandpa played football for the U and 2 of my uncles played football (or at least stood on the sidelines) for the U. I remember my sister puking at a game. I remember just my mom and I going to a BYU game when my mom was pregnant with Willie. We had to stomp down 8 feet of snow to be able to sit down. It was at least 50 degrees below zero. It was crazy. I remember another BYU game when their stupid fans were throwing tortillas on the field. Idiots.

Why has it taken James and I so long to go together? I have no idea. We've been to oodles of basketball games, just not football (not that I'd much rather watch a Utes basketball game anyway). James has been to a game with my dad and Willie, but not me.

Hmmmmm . . . . anyway, today was a first.

Utah is struggling. Alicia was at the game in her Air Force blue. We kept looking over at her and at one point she was dancing beneath the scoreboard. It looked promising for her, but luckily the Utes pulled it out in overtime. It rained a downpour for a while. We were not quite prepared and got wet. Oh well. We dried. We went to Litza's afterward for some foodings. Yum!

Willie's team also won today. They've got one more game next week. The BY is getting killed by TC's at the moment. Ha! Ha! Ha! That's enough football for one day, though. Is it basketball season yet?

Needed a Breath of Fresh Air

Sometimes life gets a little crazy and you just need a breath of fresh air. It has definitely been crazy around here lately and tonight I got a little taste of that fresh air. James agreed to go with me when I bought some show tickets a while ago to see this new band called the WPA (Works Progress Administration).

The band is a compilation of people with lots of experiences in other areas - Glen Phillips of Glen Phillips and Toad the Wet Sprocket & Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek. It wasn't necessarily the best show I've ever been to, but it was the best show I've been to in quite some time because, well . . . we haven't been to a show in quite some time and this was really good.

I love music. I love live music. I love it when people are talented and play their instruments well. It was also good because the place we went to - the State Room - still has seats like it did when it was the Salt Lake Children's Theater years ago. I'm glad I didn't have to stand the whole time and was able to just sit and enjoy.

Good music. Good night. Thanks, James, for going with me!

You should check these guys out if you are interested in talented, entertaining, acoustic/eclectric, folksy, wuss-rock type stuff.

(We also went to the Rio Grande for dinner. Yum!)

Utah Game

this is the next game that the U will play

Hello Mutton Chop

I'll probably be in trouble for what I'm about to post, but I can't resist. The photos below are part of some ritualistic male-nursing-student-facial-hair-growing-contest. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Conference Weekend

Movie scenes help

While writing a lesson plan for a USU class assignment, I needed to find a movie clip of a "gallery scene" that could build on students' background knowledge of art galleries or museums. The only thing I could think of was the art gallery scene in Ferris, but it turns into a kissy scene and I wouldn't actually want to use that in school. My mind went blank.

Can you think of any other similar scenes from other movies? Let me know.

(Yes, I know all my posts are school-related and really boring. Can you tell what's on my mind and consuming my time?)

I love days off!

Today, I have a day off! Yes!! I slept in until 8:30 and I actually have time for a blog post! I still have unfinished USU homework and I had to bring home a second bag from school yesterday because all of the papers I am behind on grading wouldn't fit into my main bag. But, I have a day off!

On Sunday, my brother-in-law Ross said that kids in Utah get too many days off from school and that teachers have too much time off. Ummm . . . I don't know about that. I think we have the same 180 days as usual. I know that we start a week or too earlier than other areas of the country and maybe things just get spread out more. Maybe Ross is jealous because he's in a field that doesn't get days off. Maybe one of the huge reasons I chose the field I did was because I like to take days off! Your not going to ever hear me complain about my salary because, well, I only work 9 months out of the year and I can't really imagine a job where working during the summer was required. That's why some people are suited to some jobs and others are suited to other jobs. I appreciate that there are people like Ross you do the type of work he does and I appreciate that there are people like me who do the crazy work we do!

It's useless to argue, but it did get me thinking. I like teaching. I don't know if I "love" teaching. If there were a word somewhere between "like" and "love," that's how I would feel about teaching.

Occasionally there are moments that are very rewarding, too! It feels good when parents tell me their kid is doing better in math this year than they ever had. It feels good when kids tell me that my class is their favorite class. Now, I'm not trying to win any sort of popularity contest, but it does feel good. It also makes me feel good when a student walks away grumbling because, no, they can't turn that assignment in from 3 weeks ago. Sorry. Don't drop the ball next time.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I have amazingly high test scores, but I do tend to stay right in line with other teachers who are mean an ornery. Most of my students have learned that I will help them whenever. I don't have "office hours" and I don't have "contract time," which is probably why I'm the last teacher to leave in the math hall and I still have a separate bag of papers to grade on my day off. Oh well.

What got me thinking about all of this on the morning of my day off, was an e-mail I received just this morning. It is from a Tooele student. This particular kid had me for two years in a row and I don't think he passed a single term. He was so far behind on credits that I thought he had pretty much given up on any chance of graduating. He also told me (and our class) that he sabotaged teachers who he didn't like. He peed on Miss Twitchell's hall pass and he peed on Mrs Sneed's couch. As much as I expressed disapproval, I never had the heart to actually turn him in. Plus, he promised me that he hadn't done anything like that to me and if he did, he would tell me. He was a friendly kid with more knowledge about music and musicians than me and he had a lot of potential, but just didn't care about school all that much. I was totally surprised when I got this e-mail:

Hey, this is Eric M. ...I don't know if you remember me or not...well, honestly I'd be kinda of mad if you forgot about me!! Haha, no I'm just joking.I just was bored and was going through Tooele's faculty thing where they've got this whole like mini bio set up and it made me wonder what was going on with one of my favorite teachers!! Well, I'm graduated now Class of '09 and I don't know if you've heard about the new high school in Stansbury Park but a lot of teachers left for it and Ms. Twitchell left somewhere...no one really knows...but anyway I was just stopping by to see how you were doing how Murray is treatin' ya. I hope you haven't elaborated any stories to your students about my body fluids and hall pass vests and a certain teachers couch...lol. Hope that didn't ruin your day...maybe it made you laugh a little lol. Hope everything is going well. Sincerely, Eric

Of course I sent him an e-mail back telling him that I was proud of him for actually graduating and that I wondered what he was doing now to be productive. I'll keep the blog posted if I hear anything, but until that time, I would not recommend eating at the Pizza Hut in Tooele.

Yes, I may get a lot of days off, but it's worth it if you can make a small, positive impact on a kid's life! Plus, don't forget, even with the day off I have ALL those papers to grade and they are not going to grade themselves. The end.

Governor's Day

Saturday was Governor's Review Day at Rice-Eccles Stadium. All of the Utah Army and Air National Guardsmen (and women) march into the stadium and line up to be saluted by Governor Herbert. I've been around James now for 4 Governor's Days and I have never attended one of these. Usually it has been because James doesn't like participating in it, tells me it is stupid, and that I shouldn't go. I thought it was pretty cool, though, and I think I'll make it a point to go every year.

The most interesting part of the whole morning was that the service people kept passing out. I guess standing at attention for nearly an hour in a hot uniform on a really warm day can do that to a person. I felt bad for them, but it actually became comical. "There goes another one," we'd say as we watched sink holes appear in the perfect formations. A couple of them even required a stretcher. This poor little boy behind us was quite concerned, "Mommy, are they really dying out there?"

After the Governor's Day celebration, we went to lunch an Noodles & Co. and then to the Utah State Fair. It was a long, hot day, but fun!

Um . . . I don't think they want you to go there.

So, we all do dumb and stupid things sometime, but I just had to laugh last night at some other lady's stupidity.

I stopped at the gas station by my house to fill up. It's a Conoco station with doors on both sides of the building. Two windows and the glass door on one side are all boarded up. It looks as if someone tried to break in through the glass or something and they are waiting for the repair work to start. (I wouldn't be surprised since we've had a slew of break-in's in our neighborhood . . . but anyway.) Not only are the door and windows boarded up, but there is caution tape strung across that whole side of the building and big orange cones placed about every 5 feet. I'm pretty sure that the gas station people don't want you to use that entrance.

So I'm standing at my car, filling my tank when this woman in big sunglasses drives up to a pump. She gets out of her car and walks toward the building. Without hesitation, she lifts up the caution tape and stoops beneath it. She walks to the boarded up door and pulls the handle to open it. It doesn't open. She pulls on the handle a second time. It still doesn't open. She looks around as if looking into the windows for some assistance, but the windows are boarded up. She grabs the deadbolt on the door and taps it. She tries the door handle again. Nothing.

She gives up and walks back to her car.

Bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a quick overnight getaway to Snowbird.

We had a great time!