japan

We have been thinking of going to Japan for many years. Dave has been thinking of it a lot this past year and sprung the idea on me after Christmas. How about we plan a trip for this year? We could go right away and go to the snow festival, or we could go later in the spring when the weather would be better. I couldn't quite get my head around it that quick. It is kind of fun to plan and anticipate such a big trip for a while. But after going through calendar obligations, we decided that February would be the easiest month to clear our schedules, so we RUSHED to plan our trip to Japan!
We are planning to go to the famous "Yuki Matsuri"(snow festival) in Sapporo. There is an expected 1 million visitors over the 10 or so days of the festival. When you wait until 3 weeks before the event to book a hotel room, there are none available. NONE. We ended up with a reservation at a resort 20 miles away.
However, before we did that, we found a last minute hotel deal. We found it so suddenly that we figured it was a cancellation that we came across right at the right moment. We were becoming familiar with the yen to dollar conversion and figured we should look for a hotel that was not over 17,000 yen ($140). So we found a room online for 17,000 and grabbed it right away. It was a perfect location, a half block from the festival, a large hotel, lots of amenities. Then it started looking too good. WAY too good. We then realized we had just reserved a Presidential Suite for $17,000 American dollars for the week!  Luckily we saw that now, not after our credit card was run (as if they could run that amount on our card).
As it ended up we couldn't stay in Sapporo, we stayed at Jozenkai Onsen outside of town for the first 3 days.  The only room they had was a Japanese style room. I don't know what that means, but I looked at every single photo on their website and yes, it was decorated very traditional Japanese, but the amenities all looked very normal and the beds looked comfy. When we walked into our room, there was an entryway to take off our shoes and then a traditional sliding door that opened into our room. I looked around and immediately asked - "hey, where is the bed?" Then we found it FOLDED UP IN THE CLOSET!

Yes, that is right - we booked a very expensive resort hotel room and had to sit on the floor to use our table, and slept on tatami mats on the ground!  The resort itself was very beautiful and provided a huge (and interesting) buffet both morning and night but the sleeping accommodations were more like summer camp sleeping bag.

Cleaning out my phone

Sometimes I just like to remember funny conversations I have over text and facebook.

Melanie: "Look what I found in the garden today. It's a big ol' caterpillar. I looked it up, it's a Carolina Sphinx."
Me: "I can't believe you picked that up!"
Melanie: "It was kind of squishy. I will probably become one ugly moth. I made a home for it in the back yard by the yellow bush. I've named it Horace."
(When I got home, she wanted to show me. Unfortunately, it had escaped the beautiful home Melanie prepared)



Melanie at the bank - "Those suckers on the counter are not even good, so don't be tempted by them. I just ate one last time to be nice. It tasted like medicine. A cough drop on a stick."

(telling me about being asked out on date)
Melanie: "How old are you?"
Random man she recently met: "30, is that too old for you?"
Melanie: "I don't know, do you wear dentures?"

Some funny things from facebook:

Me:
How many days does it take for raw meat in the oven (forgotten meatloaf) to manifest itself?
Day 1-4 nothing.
Day 5 "did someone forget to take out the trash?"
Day 6 "oh my heck - did something die in our house?" (I think tomorrow the fumes might have killed us in our sleep).
Deb Holli: LOL. Did a similar one. Bought ribs and they made it to the basement, but not the freezer. Eeewww!
Helle Brand: Mine got left in the car--and your count of days is just about right!
Myrenda Ramirez: My mom left leftover Red Lobster in her trunk. That stink is a beast.
Me: Myrenda, our car is a year and a half old. Occasionally I can still smell that "new car" smell. I know the day that we leave Red Lobster leftovers in it, or spill some milk . . . that will be the beginning of the end. I'm dreading the day.
Chris Opel: We did the same things with steaks, we purchased for our anniversary dinner. Left them in the back seat of our mini van.
Nancy Adams: My mom once forgot that she cooked two turkeys for Thanksgiving. Left one in a turned-off oven to serve later. The oven was out in her Arizona room. I think the discovery was in February.
Roxanne: Why was there raw meat in an oven that was off mom?
Me: Because after we ate those meatballs for Sunday dinner, I put the rest of the meat into a pan to cook after dinner. Then I had to run off to a meeting and I remember thinking - I hope someone smells the meat while I'm gone and takes it out before I get home. Well apparently no one smelled it because the oven didn't get turned on.
Roxanne: Ahhh that makes sense!
Kelly Currier:  I once left a mini cooler- the kind that fits a six-pack or a couple packages of hot dogs in my trunk . . . with a couple packages of hot dogs in it after 4th of July.  Can't remember how long it took to make the discovery, but my car smelled like there was a body in the trunk by the time we found it. The car was about 1 1/2 years old and never smelled like new car again after that.
Marianne Evensen:  We forgot a potato salad in my old VW. The whole bowl slid under the passenger seat and I didn't find it for a couple of weeks. That was not a pleasant smell either.

Dave and I walked to the movie theater tonight. It was all well and good until the movie was over and Dave was trying to remember where we parked the car. He was a bit disappointed to realize we had to walk home too.



Wish I had my camera at the mall today. I saw a fully costumed Elvis, circa 1973, waiting in line to get a pretzel. Then on my way to my car, there was a 40ish year old man, chubby, balding, frumpy grey t-shirt and jeans wearing the most amazing pair of silver studded 4" stilettos.
What is the correct protocol for snapping pics of strangers? I walked by a few minutes later and Elvis was sitting all by himself at the food court. I so wanted to take a picture but it was kind of sad too. I think if you plan on a full out Elvis costume, you should find some friends to tag along as groupies.

Mexico. Day One. Port One. Minute Two. Got stopped by the drug sniffing dogs. (Apparently the pear I had in my hand from breakfast is illegal contraband to bring into the country)

Me: My 91 year old father-in-law is a sign reader. That may sound benign, until you realize HOW MANY billboards and signs are in Phoenix!!
Becky Cook: I miss spending time around that man! You guys are lucky!
Me: Yes, Becky, we are lucky. And, on the upside of the sign reading . . . I'm actually aware of some businesses he has pointed out around town that I was unaware of.
Geri Chase: I have a friend like that. She reads Every. Single. Sign. from North Phoenix all the way to the airport.
Me: Yes, Geri . . . EVERY SINGLE SIGN. Billboards, stores, ads on trucks, street signs, stop signs, yield signs, license plates.
Lynn Wagner:  LOLOLOL Apparently, I am a sign reader too. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. I guess I drove Mark crazy driving across the country. It did take a couple days until I realized he was no longer responding to my comments. I just could not believe he was NOT noticing what the signs say. HAHA I have taken steps to deal with my problem now.

Me: I opened the front door of the car and called for my dog to hop in and go for a ride. She made a flying leap faceplant into the closed back door of the car. She missed the open door by about 8 inches. What the heck Lexi!??
Melanie: Hahahahahaha sucker. She needs her smart mother back home to guide her into proper leaping techniques.
Madeline: Perhaps it is time for that eye exam!

From Madeline:

overheard during the holidays

While playing a game:
(trying to guess the word LEGOS)
"Building blocks for boys"
"Hey, girls can like them too!"
"Either way it hurts when you step on them."

(trying to guess JOHN WAYNE)
"That's a terrible name for a cowboy"
"Really? you use a Jackie Chan quote to guess John Wayne?"
"That's all I know!"

While decorating gingerbread houses:
"That looks more like a swastika than a star."

Marshmallow snowman with the gingerbread house.
"What should we name him?"
Melanie:  "Stanley.  Stanley the Snowman. I will call him Stanford for short."

"We need more snow on the bottom, there's a gravitational pull."

"This is all one roof -- you can't sub-divide it!"

"That is the ugliest snowman I've ever seen."
"Hey! He's got potential"

"Look at this one squiggly - the bottom half of it looks good."

"I'd hate to be an Oompa Loompa."

Jonny (building the gingerbread house with 2 girls):
"You are the one who hired me. I'll lay the red brick wherever you want."

"If this were real, it would be hard to keep your workers honest - they'd want to eat everything."


While opening gifts:
A HUGE box of chocolates:  "Oh Mylanta!  Oh Diabetes!  and Dont touch it!"

Brady with a big unopened box on his lap, everyone guessing
"It's a pogo stick"
"It's a razor scooter"
Brady: "Don't you dare get my hopes up!"

Brady, with a big bluetooth speaker system: "Now I can listen to all my math tutorials through this bad boy"

Godiva chocolates: "Let's have a moment of silence . . . I'm going to melt it and bathe in it."

Dave's new soft sided tool box with a handle:
"It's a 'Murse', a man purse."
"I think the standard purse for a man IS a tool box."

Gift of Hot sauces named:
Yule Regret It
12 Days of Fire and Ice
Fa La La Jalapeno,
Elf Elixer

Dave's chocolate orange, 10 minutes after getting it out of his stocking.
Rachel: "Are you going to share your orange?"
Dave: "um. . . no. . . There is no more."

Rachel received a gift card to Hobby Lobby
Kyle: "Yay! we can get a snow globe!"
Rachel snatching it back: "NOOO it's for our lamp!"

Dave receiving a blue plaid flannel shirt much like the one he was wearing:
"But it's a blue-er shirt."
"There is no such thing as blue-er."

"Hmmmm . . . Fireworks!"

"Now THAT'S got to be a big ol box of chocolates!"


Brady, opening a gag gift, a horrendous silk printed shirt:
"I can see you wearing that out to dinner."
Brady "Yeah, me. . . and me alone."

"I don't see any more presents for dad."
Rachel: "Oh! I forgot to wrap one, it's in my car. pause please."

Kyle, receiving a brain teaser puzzle of metal pieces.
"You have to take the metal pieces apart"
"They are already apart in the packaging"
"It's like someone opened it, solved it, and put it back on the store shelf"
"There are no instructions inside"
"That's the brain teaser, you have to figure out what it's for"



Random:
(to Melanie, referring to a necklace she is wearing) "Is that Mom's necklace?"
"She either lent it to me or I took it. I don't remember, I've had it a long time."

At the dinner table "Lefties have it hard"

Melanie (on the phone from the MTC): I can't really dance here. I have to sneak in small dance moves like when I'm opening a door or something.

Talking about the Vernon's salsa treat to us each year:
"We should have a specialty that WE take to everyone. We could make a specialty pie or something." "We could call it Hale Merry."

overheard on a road trip

I think someone had a little crush on Brady:
Aleah:  "Somebody looked at me."
Chelsea: "Who?"
Aleah: "That boy."
Chelsea: "Brady?"

Aleah: "I'm threeeee."
"Brady is Twenty Six."
Aleah: "Then I'm Twenty threeeeee!"

We just got back to the house, Aleah didn't want to lay down for a nap. She wanted to go back to the kitchen to get a drink.  "That boy didn't look at me.  He has his ear phones on"  (she didn't want a drink, she wanted to see Brady)

Melanie, shopping for shoes in a Utah mall: "I don't know what size these shoes are. Size 39?? Do they use the metric system in Utah?"
Salesman: "It's European."
Melanie: "I think they just want girls to feel fat."

Apparently someone has built teeter totters in the streets of Utah. Drive with caution.

"This is weird, I've seen 2 different people vomiting on the side of the road in one hour"

Who is selling my car seat covers?


The highlight of our trip was hanging out with this family:

family photos

Thanksgiving Day, 2014. We decided it would be a good day to take some family photos for our Christmas card this year. It is hard to get 8 busy adults together. Even though we all live here in the valley, we are spread out over 20 miles and 2 colleges, and 8 jobs, and 4 wards. So we begged a friend to come take some pictures, (thank you Jordan). I knew we'd be short on time from a late Thanksgiving dinner, to clean up, to getting ready for photos, to late in the day lighting issues. So we opted for an office complex a few blocks from our house. It is the 3rd time over the years we have used this location. 

Here are the 4 of these kids today, and again on the same rock 7 years ago. 

Dave and I on a similar bridge in the complex, now and a few years back.

 One thing I've noticed at this complex is that they have moved to more low maintenance desert landscaping around their fountains. You can see the difference in the vegetation just between the two pictures of the kids. But like I said, we have used this same place 3 times. Here is what it looked like 5 years earlier in 2002.  The photo below is just on the backside of the fountain of the photo above.  Nevertheless, the fountains are still pretty, the koi fish seem to be happy and it is close by in the neighborhood. (And I realized Jordan's mother, Lezlee, took this picture for us so many years ago.)

As we snapped the picture of our four kids, I immediately realized it didn't feel right. We don't have 4 kids anymore. We have 6 kids. This picture is much better! Love these guys. It is fun being parents of adult children. We had such a great Thanksgiving day as they all brought their talents and efforts and cooking skills to the table today to prepare an amazing and delicious Thanksgiving meal. 

 It will be fun to continue our family photos as our family grows and grows from here on out.

my cars

I got through high school without a car. Mostly because I had a staggering income of about $45 a week, supplemented by an occasional babysitting job. I also survived without a car because we lived within walking distance of work, church, school and bicycling distance of friends. Some of my friends were luckier than I and had a car that I took advantage of as a passenger. I also survived my first year of college without a car. My parents were kind enough to drive me to a neighboring state and drop me and my bicycle off in a dorm room and again everything was within walking or bicycling distance. After my freshman year of college, I spent the summer in Phoenix to work and save money for the next school year and obviously to get around in Phoenix, I would finally need a car. My brother-in-law Kevin, took me around to some used dealerships and although I fell in love with a little orange Fiat, Kevin wouldn't let me pursue that purchase because he said the repair costs of a foreign sports car would be expensive. I didn't know why he would be worrying about a silly thing like that. (Little did I know how much repair costs and labor would be a part of my life in the coming years). Anyway, we found a Toyota that was a good little car to get me around Phoenix for my summer job and back up to St George Utah for my second year of college. This was the only car I can remember washing and waxing regularly and kept so very clean and polished. The fun of that quickly wore off and a more moderate level of car care became the norm. I bought this first car with a significant down payment for a young college student, but also carried some debt. If I remember right the payments were $78 a month for 30 months. It was a difficult payment, but since I was finishing school at ASU, I had to have a car for the regular route between school, work and home. This beauty, although mechanically sound, had no Air Conditioning. I drove it in Phoenix for the 3 years I attended ASU in Tempe. I lived in Phoenix. I'd go out to my car after school in the afternoons, open the door to the car to let the 190 degree interior air escape, and then drove home in the 115 degree air all the way to Phoenix, sweaty from head to toe day after day. Good times!

When I graduated from college and was looking for my first "real" job, my dad was involved in a car dealership in northern Arizona where he lived. I was looking for a good car, he found a good deal and I bought a brand new Toyota that my dad picked out for me -- sign unseen. I'm not sure this picture is exactly the same model I drove, it seemed to me to have had a more dramatic slant down the front hood, but it did have pop-up headlights (or retractable halogen headlights) which I loved. 

Knowing what I know about debt now, I probably should have kept the first car for another year or two until I had been employed for a longer period of time, but I think I got this one fairly soon after graduation. I also carried a debt on this. I don't remember anything about the original cost, or the payment plan. I do know however, that as we drove this car when I got married, I had a husband that dented and dinged it up more than once (I use the word "ding" loosely. He wrecked it!) Anyway, we had a baby and I stopped working full time, we were poor, and our insurance rates got increased once too many times and we had to get away from a cute sporty car with payments to an old boat of a car with no payments. So in 1987, we bought a 1976 Mercury Marquis and drove it for the next 4 or 5 years. Fancy right? I'm remembering that it often didn't have air conditioning either. Dave said it did at first, but all my memories are of having to keep babies cool in the hot back seat of this car. Rachel was in kindergarten when we started looking for a new car. I remember Rachel expressed embarrassment at driving the Mercury. I must have really been in bad shape by then. 

 Then we slipped into a 20 year period of driving mini-vans. One after another after another. A red one, a white one and a silver one - all used, and the red one had a full engine overhaul at one point. Dave did it himself - hundreds of pieces of engine laying out on our driveway and put back together in proper order and the car ran. I remember in the middle of that project, our bishop happened to walk up our driveway to our house. Dave had gone inside and Brady was out there alone in the middle of the hundreds of engine pieces laying around. He said "Does your dad know you did that?" (haha) Come to think of it, I think Dave rebuilt the engine of the Mercury at one point too. He was a Super Hero during those years keeping our cars running. 

 This one is a google search of a similar white van to what we owned.

The only picture I have of our actual car is this one. Our kids wrapped it around a telephone pole. You might think the wrecked body is the main thing to see in this picture. But it's not. The other significant thing to see is that this van had blue flowers down each side of the car. I don't actually know why. They were there when we purchased it. Actually when Dave purchased it. I think I would have nixed a van with flower power on it, but Dave bought it for us while I was out of town. It was a one of a kind vehicle, so people would constantly say "I saw you at the Library," or "I saw you at the intersection," or "I saw your van at the church" etc etc. I had no anonymity around town. Although it was a scary situation for our 3 kids involved, I was kind of glad to get another van. 

Which was the reason we needed to buy one more, and in a hurry. A used 2003 Chrysler Town and Country Mini Van. 

 Last year, after 9 years of loyal service, our beloved mini van was squawking and making all kinds of crazy noises that were alarming to me and to nearby motorists so we finally made a decision to move on.  We ended up with a Durango, which as I evaluate the features, it is as close to being a minivan without being one. It still has the 3 row of seats if needed, it still has a lot of cargo space when the seats are folded down, it still sits up a little high off the ground. But it feels more grown up than the mini van of years gone by. Someone asked me recently why we bought a Dodge. I don't know. I had a list of interior features I wanted and I wanted a blue car so we started shopping from my checklist.  In the end, I have been very happy with it. We purchased it with the intention of keeping it for 10 years. I hope I still like it at the 9 1/2 year mark. 

Dave has a separate and distinct story of his vehicles over the years. He has had old cars and old trucks, and finally a decade ago bought a big brand new Chevy truck for work which is now quite old, but he loves it dearly and I think he would consider rebuilding it before getting another one. 

I'm trying to decide if 7 cars over a 34 year period of time is excessive or if it is normal. 

work trip to idaho

Dave and I bought a house. In Idaho. (fyi--that is not the house in the background of the above picture) It's Dave's childhood home and we are hoping to get it up and ready for rent. However, it has been occupied by an elderly man (Dave's dad, or course) who in his later years had not kept it up to par as he did in his younger years. We needed to go get it cleaned out and up to code, update the bathrooms, plumbing, clean up the lot that had been vacant and uncared for for a couple of years etc. I went through the house and cleaned out drawers and cupboards and 'stuff', and Dave cleared up some problems outside the yard (caving in an old root cellar, cleaning up weeds and debris around the property etc) as well as updating one of the bathrooms. Anyway, we tried to make it an enjoyable trip. As I am writing this months after the trip, I found some notes I took during the trip.

There is a fine balance between speakers in the car turned to the drivers side so Dave can hear his audio book and volume balanced on my device and earphones so I can enjoy my music. It is almost a scientific equation.

We bought a brand new GPS for this trip. Apparently it had been sitting on the store shelf for a LONG time, the maps were so outdated!

We do some fire safety service in a building in Tuba City. It is a small service, but it is part of a chain of services we do in other parts of the city/state. It is definitely not financially equal to a separate trip for such a small service, so every year we make a stop in Tuba City to do some inspections on our way to Utah.

We drove through St George in southern Utah. I only lived there 2 years, but there are so many fond memories.

The speed limit on parts of the freeway in Utah is 80 mph. Love it!

I dropped a paper between the seats in car. I reached down to get it and my fingers went into a very ripe plum I brought and forgot about and apparently lost down beside the seat.  Gross surprise.

Got in the car to run into town and the GPS was set to "french" language. I guess that's one way to learn a language.

There was a text message conversation regarding the old toilet at Grandpa's house with Melanie:
Melanie: "Wow, I didn't know you guys were remodeling so much. but good thing. I always thought that bathroom smelt funny. It was probably the carpet."
Me: "Yeah, I haven't stepped in there barefoot for years. We're putting in new faucets, one new sink, flooring, fresh paint and a new mirror. It will be exciting to use that bathroom again."
Melanie: "I hope you took before pictures to show how awesome your renovation is."
Me: "I took pictures during, but we'll have to just remember the funky carpet, the two different paint colors, the 1960's floral wallpaper, and all the random nails and hooks to hang towels on. AND . . . the supporting wood under the toilet was rotten. Any one of us could have fallen through to the scary crawl space under the house!"
Melanie: "Oh my gosh, if that happened to me I would literally crap myself. That bathroom was so sketch! Thank you for giving that Oval Office some dignity.

We bought plenty of groceries to get through the week, then chose to go out to dinner almost every night.

We found so many odds and ends in the cupboards. It makes me wonder how and why I place things around my house.

We found a stash of plastic bags. I know there is a system in every house to save plastic or paper grocery bags. But we found a stash of decades of bags, both in the house and in the garage. I realize everyone needs a plastic bag occasionally, but wow - an unusually large number of bags! (as well as plastic bottles with lids (empty and saved) and ice cream tubs (empty and saved), LOTS!

We found a water color set in the hall closet. I'm not sure if Delos or Betty was dabbling in art, but the paint set had Delos' name on it. It would be more logical if Betty was the one painting.

The original house was built with well planned and thoughtful workmanship and high quality building materials, then everything since was pieced and patched. It seems like a weird thought process to see nails, strings, patches etc holding things together.

There is no internet in the house so we were doing business without our computer, only with our phone.  It mostly worked but we needed to read and sign documents for a real estate transaction so we had to go into town and do work for an hour at Office Max.

We made two trips to the Eastern Idaho State Fair (20 minutes away). Once we went because Dave just wanted to go down memory lane. He attended that fair many many times growing up. The second time we went, a missionary that used to serve in our area, Jeremiah Heneger, was there and we wanted to have a quick visit with him. It's always fun to catch up with friends.

Potato on a stick and batter dipped fried bacon!

We also visited with Delos (living with Brent and Vee now), Brent and Vee, Derek and Tristina, Annalyn and Warren, and their exchange student, Sam.  We also stopped to see Chelsea and the kids on the way home.

It was a very productive trip, We got a lot done and had a little fun on the side.