Vernal Holly Days

So, everyone came out for Thanksgiving this year. Dad had to work so he wasn't there, and Ryan and Jenna went to her parents but they came over to visit us. It was a lot of fun to see everyone.
The day after Thanksgiving Vernal does a Holly Days celebration and they have a lot of free activities. I thought that it would be fun for the kids and decided that we should go. Everyone agreed with me so we bundled up and away we went. These are the pictures that I was able to get.


Playing fireman!
Jaiden had more fun then Austin. He wouldn't get in with out Grandma.


















Riding in the fun cars/tractors provided by the Fire Department.
Anna wouldn't ride any one but the pink one. When we got there another little girl was already riding and kept riding. Finally they had to call a switch so that she would get off. Anna wanted to wait. It was funny.












This was a dinosaur that moved and would open its mouth if you pet it just right. Every one got to ride it. Obviously, Austin felt about the same about riding this as he did sitting in the fire truck. Jaiden and Anna loved it.



















Waiting for the parade of lights. We sat the kids on top of the cars so that they could see. Jaiden thought that the police cars were the coolest things. Everyone had a good time. We were going to try to see Santa after but before the parade started, the kids were getting really ornery and so we decided to go home after the parade. I think Santa might work better next year.

So I had a bad day...

Every once in a while I have to remind myself what it is about being single that I enjoy. By doing this I feel a little bit better about my situation. One thing thing that I really enjoy is going to singles wards. I don't necessarily enjoy singles wards, I just like how quiet they are. Most of the time you can hear a pin drop. I like that. I have a very hard time going to family wards because they are so loud. Anyway, sometimes the people in singles wards forget the quiet rule and very rudely talk during meetings. It drives me crazy. If you want to talk, go to church with your parents. Well, one Sunday I was having a particularly bad day and was looking forward to the quiet that sacrament meeting offers. But, lo and behold, two rows behind me were people that forgot that they are old enough to sit quietly through a meeting. For the first ten to fifteen minutes of this meeting kept talking and telling a story loud enough that I could hear them quite well. It made a bad day worse. So, being the very blunt and not so very tactful person I can be, I turned around and said in my most motherly voice, "This is fascinating, but I didn't come to church to listen to you talk." I know, not very mature of me, but I have to say, I have wanted to tell a lot of people that and finally I just did. It was a very quiet meeting after that.
Later that night I drove over to Roosevelt for an Institute fireside. The people sitting right behind me also forgot the quiet rule. I was very close to telling them the same thing. The thing that bothers me the most is that this isn't a required thing. I'm ok with using them as an excuse to see people, but if you feel like you have to talk, go sit in the hall, or find an empty classroom. Don't make everyone else suffer because you are not grown up and respectful enough to keep your mouth shut.
Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean for this to be a vent. I just wanted to give some background. After Sacrament meeting the branch presidencies wife's all came up to me, (they were sitting in the row behind the noisy couple), and asked if I was ok. One of them just gave me a hug and said, "Amy, I love you." I responded by saying, "why, because I'm ornery?" It was just a bad day.
The next day I went to work and when I came home there was a note on my door from the flower shop. I had to go back to work for a training so I left a little early and went to pick up these flowers. One of the wife's sent them to me. It was very nice of her and it made me feel a little bit better.

Pumpkin Blow 2008

Once upon a time, I lived in Logan. It was a happy time for me. While living there I had a roommate named Jessie. She was from a small town in Idaho. The first weekend in November she invited me up to her parents house for what she called the Pumpkin Blow. I had to work or something and so regretfully I told her I couldn't go. Time passed and she met Mike. They got married. Happy for them, sad for me. But other good things were coming for when she moved out, her sister Emily moved in. Once again November rolled around and I was invited up to their parents house for the Pumpkin Blow. Once again I had other commitments and couldn't go. Another sad day for me. Finally another November came around and I was able to go to the Pumpkin Blow. Let me just say that except for the fact that I got really sick latter that day, it was awesome. The redneck part of me really connected with this. Then Emily met Mark and they go married. Another happy for them, sad for me.
Let's forward ahead another year, I was no longer living in Logan, in fact, I had just moved back home to Vernal. November rolled around as did the annual Pumpkin Blow. But due to circumstances I was once again unable to go. So sad :-(.
So, let's forward one more year to November of 2008. This year I cleared my schedule and made the 4 1/2 hour trip to this small town in Idaho to attend the pumpkin blow. My Redneck self rejoiced. It was so fun to see friends that I haven't seen in a while and enjoy the peace and serenity of this small farm and loving family. Thanks for letting me in on this experience!

Here is my view of the pumpkin blow. Sorry that it is so shaky, I was trying to hold my friends cute little boy at the same time. :-) But, I hope that everyone who watches this will have a little bit of the redneck in them come out. Enjoy!



This has become something that a lot of the community comes to and everyone brings their Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns to add to the pile. After it was over, there wasn't a single pumpkin left and only small pieces of the little house on top. Good times were had by all but the little baby in front of me who didn't like having his ears plugged. ;-)

Ok, you asked for pictures.....

Ok, so everyone was like "Amy, now that you have a camera, post more pictures." So I took some and then never sat down to post. I finally decided that I needed to stop being lazy and just do it. I am just warning every one now that they requested this. :-)
This is a picture of what my room looks like after a long and busy week. I know that it is shocking to some and not so different to others but here it is.











This is a picture of how I like my room to look but considering that I usually have long and busy weeks, it doesn't look like this often. Plus, I'm not much for making my bed. It takes more time then I want to put into it in the morning. If I have to decide between making my bed and sleeping an extra five minutes, I guarantee that sleeping wins every time.:-)









Don't you just feel better looking at the second picture?

These are some fall colors from October 31 in Salt Lake. I love fall and all the vibrant colors that come with it. Sorry about the cars, I was in a parking lot.

Endo conference and camera

So, this weekend I had an endoscopy conference for work. It was in Layton and started at 7:00 a.m. So the endo nurse and I drove out Friday night and stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn that was connected to the conference center. It was fancy. The beds were probably the most comfortable beds that I have ever slept in. It was a little piece of heaven on earth.
Anyway, we got up and went to the conference. About two hours into it they had a 45 minute break in which time we could go and talk to some of the vendors that we deal with regularly and also some that we never deal with. I think I got about nine free pens, a water bottle, a mouse pad, lotion, soap, cleaning wipes, and a bean bag stomach. It is quite funny and I wont run out of pens for a while. :-)
After our break we went back for another two hours of lectures before lunch. Lunch was wonderful! While we were eating one of the reps came around with a camera. He was doing a drawing for it after lunch. We hadn't signed up for it before because we didn't know about it. So, after eating we went over to his booth and signed up. Then we went back to the lecture room where they did the drawing. He pulled the paper out and every one around me kept saying, "well, that one isn't mine because I didn't fold my paper like that." I thought, "That probably isn't mine because I never win anything, but I did fold my paper like that." Well, he read the name and guess what?! It was mine!!!! YAY ME!!!! I won a camera. This picture is of the actual camera that I won. And it is blue. How much better does it get then that? So, now I can stop borrowing my parents camera every time I need/want to take pictures. Lets just say that I was shocked beyond measure but very excited. Because if you will note on a previous post, a digital camera was on my list of wishes! See, dreams do sometimes come true, now for those other items....
In addition to the camera the conference was really good. I learned a lot of cool things, a lot that we don't deal with in our hospital, but a lot of good information.

Apples

Today my mom and I picked apples to make apple pie filling. I don't know how many of you have had the chance to try my mom's apple pie filling, but it is delicious! Anyway, our apples have a lot of worms in them, but if you get up high, there were some really good, beautiful apples. So we climbed up to the very top of the ladder, used an extender arm, and picked some beauties. It was fun.
Last summer I discovered baked apples and became a huge fan. I don't have a specific recipe that I use every time but I decided to make some for dessert from some of these beautiful apples that we picked this afternoon. Since I don't have a set recipe I decided to just wing it and see what we came up with. I was going to put it on the food blog but I don't know if I can and I don't know how. So, you get it on my blog. Here it is, Amy's baked apples

I only made two and I only have rough guesstamates of what I put in so experiment and be creative. Also, I forgot to put nuts but baked apples are really good with chopped pecans or walnuts. I highly recommend adding them. They are good with out nuts too, but better with nuts.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Take apples and use a melon baller to core the apples, leaving a little bit of apple at the bottom. Try to get all the core out while leaving as much of the apple as possible. Remove a strip of peel arond the middle of the apple.
Place the apples in a baking dish.
In a small bowl mix about 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg.
Fill the hole in the apples with mixture. Sprinkle any remaining mixture around apples on bottom of the pan. Place about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of butter on top of mixture in each apple. Pour enough water in pan to cover bottom and wet mixture in the pan.
Place in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until apples are tender.
Remove from pan, scoop out remaining mixture from pan and place on apples. Eat warm and enjoy!
They are very tasty. It is a nice, easy fall treat.

Crazy Eights

Ok, so the only reasons I'm doing this is because Amber tagged me and because it has been a while since I posted. But, like Sara, I'm not going to tag anyone. So, if you want to do this, have fun, if not, that is ok too.

8 TV shows that I love to watch (I don't really LOVE to watch any of them, so this is a list of TV I occasionally watch when I have a few minutes or my brain hurts from doing homework.):
1-Biggest Loser
2-CSI Miami
3-Law and Order SVU
4-News
5-Cartoons, most of them
6-Cold Case
7-The Amazing Race
8-Friends, when I can find it still on.


8 Favorite Restaurants:
1-PF Changs
2-Olive Garden
3-Texas Roadhouse
4-Pita Pit
5-The Corner Roost (Ok, this really isn't a favorite restaurant, but being the cafeteria at work, I eat there enough that you would think that it was my all time favorite!)
6-Costa Vida
7-Chilis
8-Cheesecake Factory


8 Things that happened Yesterday:
1-I woke up late for the second day in a row. Dumb alarm clock
2-I drove to Salt Lake City
3-I went to Body Worlds
4-I ate lunch in cafe at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building
5-I went to the Joseph Smith movie and cried my eyes out again
6-I went to the mall and bought white chocolate popcorn
7-I went to Applebees for dinner with my family
8-I saw "Into the Woods" at the Hale Center Theater with my family
It was a busy day!

8 Things that I am looking forward to:
1-Moving out of Vernal
2-Getting out of debt
3-Finishing school
4-Buying my own house
5-Christmas
6-My birthday
7-Wicked in Salt Lake City
8-Halloween and the Nash family annual pumpkin blow!

8 Things on my wish list:
1-To travel the world
2-A digital camera
3-A new heating blanket
4-Cute black shoes
5-A three digit sallary to afford most of the other things on my wish list.
6-My own house
7-A truck
8-My pre-pregnancy body and a little extra up top...WAIT! This is my pre-pregnancy body and I have a lot extra up top!!!

A bee story...

This evening I went up the canyon for a friends reception and on the way back down I had an interesting and somewhat freaky experience. The air conditioning in my car is not working right now so I drive around everywhere with my window rolled down. While driving down the canyon today I heard a bug hit my car and then I felt the splatter from it. (Yuck!) I was really grossed out. Then I looked down to see if it had splattered on my white sweater. Luckily it hadn't but I did notice that the bug, a bee, had landed on my lap. It was still alive but it was missing a wing and you could see where it's guts were coming out. I was still about a mile from home so I paid very close attention to it so that it didn't sting me and finished my drive home. As soon as I arrived home I opened my door and swept it out. It was kind of shocking to me. So, the moral of the story? If your ac doesn't work, get it fixed!

A little bit about me!

A lot of people that I blog stock have been doing this so I decided that I would do it too. Besides, it has been almost another month since I last blogged and decided I needed to let everyone know that I am still alive.
My first name:My middle name:My last name:My age:Place I'd like to visit:Favorite place:Favorite animal:Favorite food:Favorite Color:Bad habit:
By the way, these aren't just shoes. These are chocolate shoes! :-)
First job:
Favorite restaurant:Where I was born:
Where I grew up:Where I live now:
What I am doing now (or should be doing now but am obviously not because I am blogging):So there you have it. A little bit of a twisted look into my life.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of our trip.

The Hawaiian Temple. It was beautiful.

We got smoothies in pineapples at our Luau. They were really good but I didn't think I would finish it was so big. But don't worry, I didn't let that little bit of heaven go to waste.

These are four ladies that we kept running into. We decided to get a picture with them after climbing Diamond Head together.

I got a bad rash on both of my arms from surfing. As I paddled out my arms scraped against the board. It hurt bad but I was having too much fun to stop.

slacker me

Ok, as Emily reminded me, it has been over a month since I last posted. But, I didn't have a whole lot to tell. But now I do. So, here are some pictures from my most recent adventure.

Palm Trees
Near the blow hole. We didn't get a picture right by it because it was closed. Sad.
Our hot waiter at Hard Rock Cafe who spit on me! :-)
I think that I should move to Fiji because the boys are hot!
Driving around the island, stopping to take pictures.
We went on an ocean canoe ride and caught some waves! Fun!
Snorkling Fun!
We also tried, but didn't get pictures of, kayaking (almost died), Surfing (I got up twice! Yea me!), and the Dole Plantation maze (we got rained out:-(. ) We climbed Diamond Head, Visited Pearl Harbor, and went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We took a Catamaran ride off the coast and watched the fish and turtles. We tried swimming with the dolphins but got there too late. Oh well, we had a ton of fun any way.

So no, I didn't die. I was just off having a party!