5 Years

Happy Anniversary, Howie.

I absolutely love you more and more every day.

Candlelit Dinner

There are some dinners you come home to cook and you just go through the motions.  

You cut up the chicken.
You put the rolls in the oven.
You cook the corn.
You cook and mash the potatoes.
Your goal is just to put a meal on the table.

All the while you are reflecting on the day at work you've had.  You're thinking about all the things you need to do the rest of the week.  Errands you need to run.  Frustrations that exist.

There are some dinners like this that end with two people scarfing down the meal to get on their way to other things that need to be done and then there are dinners like the one we had last night.  After preparing said meal above I called Howie to come and eat.  He didn't respond.  Frustrated in thinking that he fell asleep after I had worked and slaved over a hot stove, I went looking for him.  He wasn't in our bed.  He wasn't in the spare bedroom.  I notice the master closet light is on and so I open the door.  In the closet I find Howie putting the finishing touches on his Sunday best outfit.  Tie and all.  Instantly I smile and say "What are you doing?"  He smiles back and says "Getting ready for our special dinner you've made."  His choice of words are humorous to me since I didn't consider anything necessarily "special" about our dinner.  I was putting a meal on the table.  That was all.  He then asks "Do we have any candles?  Some music maybe?"

Our everyday, mundane meal instantly turned into something romantic and needed.

It's easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget the importance of bonding with one another.  This simple gesture from Howie made my heart absolutely swell for him.  He is the sweetest man and I am so lucky to have him in my life.

Trip to Vermont and Canada

From May 25th to the 31st we took a little trip to Vermont.  We had such a good time.  Some people ask us "Why Vermont?  Do you have family there?"  Nope, sure don't.  We had just never been to Vermont so we decided to go.  And Vermont is super close to Canada (specifically Montreal) so, we went there one day, too!

Day 1 we were supposed to go kayaking, but Vermont had some massive amounts of flooding the day we arrived so, our guide said we couldn't.  Instead we went and toured the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont.

We toured the factory and then got a free sample of ice cream when it was over.  The sample was called "Better Than Chai".  Good stuff.

After Ben & Jerry's we went and watched a live presentation of glass blowing.  It was so neat to see how they do it!  They sell blown glass art all over the state.  It's very popular there.

 

Day 2 we spent most of the morning walking around Stowe, Vermont.  Stowe was a short 20 minute drive from where we were staying and it was the cutest little town.  I refer to it as the "Park City of Vermont".

They had a recreation path you could take through the city and so we walked it for a bit.  The scenery was very pretty.  After walking around Stowe we headed to Stowe Mountain Lodge for a spa day.  This was the highlight for Howie.

We got massages, swam in their pool, and sat in their hot tubs.  In the bathrooms they had saunas, steam rooms, and a big hot tub.  Howie and I each spent time in those on our own, too.  We had heard of spa days, but never experienced them until now.  Loved it.

Day 3 we drove the two hour drive up to Montreal, Canada to spend the day.  Beautiful city!  We decided to do a hop-on-hop-off city bus tour to see as much as we could in our limited time there.

I couldn't wait to see the beautiful St. Joseph's Oratory.

 

In the gardens they had the stations of the cross.  All twelve of them.  Very cool.

We also did a tour of the Notre Dame Basilica.

It was gorgeous inside.  Very pretty building.

Before we left we had to try poutine.  It's a Canadian dish that consists of fries, gravy, and cheese curds.  Sounds odd, but it's pretty good.

We met up with my in-laws who were also vacationing in Canada and had dinner with them.  (I wish I would've taken photos of them!)

Day 4 was a little bit of a disappointment.  This was the day we decided to explore Burlington, Vermont a little more.  We had flown in to Burlington, but didn't get to see very much since we were staying an hour away.

NEWS FLASH: There is nothing to see in Burlington!

Such a let down.

We walked down their main street, Church Street, and saw their big open mall.  We asked locals what there was to see there and everyone just kept asking us if we'd been to Church Street yet!  Lame.  We tried to just pass time until our boat tour on Lake Champlain.

Then I got a voice mail from the boat company letting me know that they had cancelled our boat tour due to lack of interest. Grr!  Burlington, why do you suck so bad?

 

So, we went down to the pier and looked out at Lake Champlain.  It is lovely, but I wish we could've seen it some more.  There were no other boat companies running since we were there a week or so before their full summer season officially started.

Day 5 was fun.  We took a little road trip south of where we were staying and headed first to Montpelier, the capital city of Vermont.  We toured their state house.

This is where all of the state of Vermont's legislation is made!

After that stop we continued on to Joseph Smith's Birthplace in Sharon, Vermont. 

This hearth stone is from the Smith's original home.  The missionary that was in the visitors center said she believes there is a good chance Joseph was born near it since he was born in the month of December.

This monument was erected in 1905 in Joseph Smith's memory.

Here are some photos of the "notch road" that we had to drive on to get into Stowe, Vermont.  They call it the "notch road" because it was literally driving through the notch of the tallest mountain in Vermont.  It was just a gorgeous drive and I'm glad I took some photos along the way.

We had a blast!

My Dad

Today my Dad went in for his third back surgery.  I should probably give a brief history on why he's having to do this.  My Dad has been a Mechanic for pretty much his entire adult life.  Being a Mechanic is not good on your back.  He has had nothing but problems with it.  It doesn't help that he has also inherited my Grandma's back issues, as well.  I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but my brother, and both of my sisters suffer from back problems, too.  I had a slight instance with mine back in 2004, but a quick trip to the chiropractor and days of doing lower back stretches solved my problem.  I still do those back stretches when I feel it coming back, but aside from that I've been fine.  With each of my Dad's surgeries they have appeared to only offer a temporary relief for him.  It doesn't take long before he's back to being in pain again.  Eventually his back pain turned into an even worse problem.  My Dad found out he had a pinched nerve in his lower back that was causing the blood flow to his left leg to lessen.  His left leg is now considerably smaller than his right leg, he has problems lifting it, and it no longer grows hair.

About two weeks ago his left leg started to go numb and by last Wednesday or so he had lost all feeling in it.  He woke up to a paralyzed leg.  He has fallen twice as a result of this; once at the doctors office and once in the shower (yikes!).  He is now seeing a neurosurgeon at the University of Utah to try to regain feeling in his leg.  We feel confident that this surgeon will be able to fix him.  Hopefully the damage is not too far gone.

This feeling of my Dad becoming dependent on things like walkers to help him walk is very foreign to me.  I don't like seeing him in pain or needing to see a doctor for anything.  In my eyes he is just supposed to be healthy and able because that's how he's always been to me.  My whole life I have relied on him to be the strong one.

He's the one who always:
..came to save me when my car was stuck in a snow storm
..fixed my car when repairs were needed
..helped me move all my heavy furniture from one place to the next
..opened the cans I couldn't open
..shoveled the driveway
..mowed the lawn
..picked me up when I fell down

Now it's my turn to do for him what he did for me.  Getting old sucks especially when you're too young to be considered old in the first place (he's only 57 for crying out loud).

I'm praying that this surgery helps.

Struggling to Update

This is probably the longest break I've taken with blogging.  Except maybe when I first started it, but that was because I wasn't sure I wanted to do it.  Our holidays were wonderful.  Full of joy and all that good stuff.

Back in November Howie and I got a room at the Zermatt Resort and went for a swim in the crater.  It was so much fun and we talk of that fun little weekend often.  It was the same weekend that Salt Lake got it's first major storm for the season and we felt practically snowed-in.

It was beautiful.

December was full of the usual holiday traditions.  Zoo Lights, Temple Square, etc.  I am thrilled that the candy windows have returned to downtown Salt Lake City.  They provided the greatest wave of nostalgia.

So far, January has only given me snow storms galore, the start of a new semester at the U, and my first taste of sushi...ever.

Is it sad that I'm a woman in my 30's and had never had sushi before now?  Well, my co-workers sure thought so.  So, they took me out for sushi.

It was as expected...gross.

Sorry, but I just don't do fish.  Especially uncooked fish.  The only one I even semi-liked is the one in the top right corner of the picture above.  But, hey, I tried it!

Here's to 2013 and a good year full of good things.

Witches Night Out

On Saturday October 27th I got a group of ladies together and attended the annual Witch's Night Out at Gardner Village.

Mom, Miranda, Mercedes, and I.  My Aunt Opal was there, too.

My BFF also accompanied us.  We all met at Zupa's for dinner then headed over.

Her and I rode Trax to the event because Gardner Village was a mad house.  So many people!  We had a blast this year.  In fact, this was my favorite year.  Everyone had a good night and we danced and danced.  If you're lucky enough to be FB friends with my Mom you got to see a rather hilarious video clip of me dancing.  Classic Tara thing to do.

The Clothesline Project

When I decided to go back to school at The University of Utah I figured that I would go all out.  This semester I took on more responsibility by joining a group called The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS).  I was invited to join and took them up on their offer.

It's been very interesting so far.  In order to be officially inducted into the group you need to fulfill a list of criteria.  I need to attend so many guest speaker events, join a group and get together with them every couple of weeks and talk about goals we've set, attend a training day, and do at least five hours of community service.

Last night I did some volunteerism for The United Way down in Orem.  I helped out at an event called The Clothesline Project.  I had never heard of it before.

This event was formed to raise awareness all over the nation of violence towards men and women.  You can go to this website for more information.  They have victims or friends/family of victims design a t-shirt to display.  They are not censored in any way.

Here are the meanings behind the shirt colors:
White = in memory of individuals who died as a result of violence
Yellow = survivors of physical assault
Pink, red, or orange = survivors of rape or sexual assault
Blue or green = survivors of incest or childhood sexual abuse
Lavender or purple = survivors of attacks suffered due to (perceived) sexual orientation
Black = for those disabled as the result of an attack, or assaulted because of a disability
Grey or brown = survivors of emotional, spiritual, or verbal abuse

I helped the group take the t-shirts down and put them away in boxes for next time.  I was able to read a lot of them and let me tell you...it's sad.  You want to believe that most people are good deep down inside and treat human life with respect, but that is not the case.  Some of the people that did these unspeakable acts were friends, lovers, and family.  The kind of people you would normally trust most.

It's really sad what lengths people will go to to fulfill their own wishes and desires.

Just as an FYI:
     * An assault is reported every 10 to 12 seconds
     * Someone is sexually assaulted every two minutes
     * Three to four women are killed by their intimate partners each day
     * Only 40 percent of rapes/sexual assaults are reported to the police, and only about 6 percent of rapists will ever serve a day in jail
     * A woman is more likely to be injured, raped, or killed by a current or former partner than by any other person

Anthropologie

Last night I took a solo stroll around City Creek.  Yesterday was beautiful and this was the perfect way to cap off the night.

Can I just say, Anthropologie is simply my happy place.  I love walking through that store.  They have some of the most interesting trinkets.  There is just something about that place.  It's like I want to make a house that is completely Anthropologie and live happily ever after in it with my floral bedding, monogramed hand towel, intricate door knobs, fashion/design coffee books, and set of colorful ceramic measuring cups.

 

The gem that I picked up in there on this visit was a Q&A book.

The concept is quite simple, really.

Every day this journal asks you a different question and you answer it.  You answer the same question a year later and so on for the next 5 years.  Isn't that the neatest idea?  It will be interesting to see how my answers change over the years.

I plan on starting January 1st.