Reminiscing

As some of you may know I was quite the little equestrian for the majority of my life and have just recently taken a sabbatical from it. I was just thinking back how much I loved riding, grooming my horses, mucking stalls (I know you wouldn't think that would be possible but it is satisfying), traveling to shows, competing, taking lessons and the long drives out to the barn where I got to think about my day. Riding was a very therapeutic activity ever since I can remember. When I was little and upset by something I would just run down to the pasture hop on one of the horses go for a ride and when I was done the world was all better again. At night I would lay down on the back of my horse and look up at the stars breathing in the hay, dirt and fresh air. I spent more hours at the barn than I did at my own house growing up. Instead of long summers playing with my friends, swimming in the pool, I had spent my summers at horse camps, showing, getting up at the wee hours of the morning to get to the barn to ride before it got too hot. Over my 20+ years of riding I broke 5 different bones, dislocated my shoulder, sprained my wrists and ankles a handful of times, been rolled over on, stepped on, slammed into several walls, thrown into fences,kicked and bitten but with all of that I still managed to learn about hard work, responsibility, patience, perseverance, how to handle disappointment and even how to run a business all just from riding a horse. It was a lot of work and sometimes a lot of pain but well worth it in the end. Hopefully one day at least one of my children will have the desire to ride horses and they will have the same wonderful experience that I did.

Best Lunch Around

Costco by far has the best deals in town, or anywhere for that matter, on affordable tasty food!! I can never get enough of a big fat polish dog with sourkraut, onions, spicey mustard and relish with a drink for a whopping $1.50. Jesse and I can eat there for under $10 and that is with 2 polish dogs, 2 drinks (unlimited refills for those thirsty days), slice of pizza and yes 2 churros all for under $7. Then I am full, Jesse is full and my pocket book is still full!!! What more can a penny pinching person ever want? Nothing I tell you nothing!!! So rush out to your local Costco and try some of their tastiness!

Temple Square

My parents have a boy from Thailand staying with them for 2 months who is a member and he had wanted to visit the Salt Lake Temple. Since today lured us into a false sense of hope that it would be a warm and sunny day my mom and I headed up with Ben to do a little sight seeing at Temple Square. Although the weather tricked us and it was cold and overcast in Salt Lake we had a lot of fun. Ben did not want a tour although we were offered many of them instead he thought my mother and I would suffice in our slow and loud talking to make sure he understood what we were saying. Overall, we did an exceptional job and he seemed to really enjoy himself. We learned some new things about the temple and he got to learn a lot more. We also were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie which was well done and I actually stayed awake this time so I was able to enjoy all of it instead of bits and pieces. It is amazing what you learn if you stay awake!!

Forward This

I love email forwards mostly becuase it is something that breaks up my day of staring at the computer and working on documents. They also get me thinking about all the crazy things out there and all the many things that I don't know. Like these past few forwards...

1) Sit down in a chair and lift your right foot and turn it clockwise and then try to draw the # 6 in the air, your foot will automatically change direction to turning counterclockwise. Try it you cannot make it stop from changing directions.
2) This amazing artist paints huge 3-D murials on building walls. Eric Grohe is his name and he has an awesome talent that is just shocking. Check out his website to see more of his amazing work. Below are just two before and after pictures of his work.








3) Color test: You are given several screens that have a word that is a color and are colored a different color that the word. You have to click on the answer that is what the word is colored as not what you are reading, harder than you think. It took me twice to get a 100% and some others I know 3 times. Give it a whirl and give your brain a workout today!!

Goal for This Week

Coming back from being gone for 3 weeks somehow causes disarray in my house. It may be becuase I have left Jesse home to leave things around and the dirty laundry in nice piles on the floor and the dishes still in the sink or becuase I have dropped all my luggage on my floor and am slowly unpacking every day but my house is a MESS. I hate organizing, cleaning and figuring out what should and shouldn't be thrown away. I have some weird attachment to inadement objects in that I think I MAY need it sometime in the near future even if it has been sitting in a box for 3+ years, now that I know it is there I am sure I will use it. Yeah you would think after doing this numerous times with the same items I would catch on that I am NEVER going to use the item and I can throw it out or give it away but no it somehow conviently slips my mind. But spring is coming back and it will be time for another garage sale so I guess I should just make a big garage sale box in the garage where I won't have to look at it and be tempted to bring that junk (someones treasure) back inside the house!!!

Catching A Little Shut Eye

I wish this little gadget would work for me so I can catch a few more hours of shut eye at work! I suppose it would be a bit difficult when I sit directly across from the Boss!! My body is fighting the transition to getting less than 8 hours of sleep each night.

Thailand Summary

Thailand was great!!! I had a wonderful time and the weather was hot, hot, hot just how I like it!! It was a lot of fun getting to see my sister and get to spend a lot of time with her. Our guide Spencer, was an indespensible asset to have along. It truly makes a difference traveling to a foreign country with someone that is fluent and knows the ins and outs of the country. I took soo many pictures while I was there that now I can just pretend I am there while I am looking through my hundreds and hundreds of pictures!!! Here is a list of some of my favorite things that we got to do.

- $3 massages (they were so nice I even had two sometimes)
- Delicious Thai and Esau food (Papaya salad, satay, fried pork strips and so much more!!!)
- Eating Ice Cream out of a hot dog bun with sticky rice.
- Riding on the neck of an elephant in the river and washing it
- Floating in the ocean
- Driving a scooter all over and getting lost
- Seeing the malls (they are HUGE, and really nice)
- Standing to pay tribute to the King before watching a movie in the theater.
- Riding in brightly colored taxis and Tuk Tuks.
- Visiting some of the hill tribes and playing with the kids.
- Swimming in the Mekong River.
- Outdoor showers

Pretty much I loved everything and wish I was still there!!!