Southern Utah Vacation Day Three In PIctures

Before driving home we went for a small hike at the Red Cliffs Park. 

If Austin does it, so do the girls.

There were some pretty big crawdads in there.  We sent Austin in to try to catch one. FAIL!

This is not a place you want to be during a flash flood. 

Reflection of the sky and Austin in one of the pools.

Me and my friend Robyn

I have only been home a week and I am ready to go back.  Next time Robyn and I will hike The Narrows in Zions.  I guess I better get in shape.

Southern Utah Vacation Day Two In PIctures

 Zions National Park  

Hiking to the Emerald Pools

 I forgot to grab the good camera, so these were taken on the cell phone.

 

 

I have no idea who those people are...I just like the tree.

Sis with her best friend (my friend's daughter) at the upper Emerald Pool.  The stud without his shirt would be my son.

Took this while laying on my back with my feet cooling off in the pool.

A handsome kid on a rock.

Southern Utah Vacation Day One In PIctures

Utah Territorial State House in Filmore.

Austin and my niece Sissy at the Territorial State House.  Goofing off in the jail cell.

At Cedar Breaks National Monument

They look like brother and sister.

 Focus on the adorable Sissy and beautiful scenery.

Sis trying to take a picture with her "brother".  All weekend, she called me Mom and Austin her brother.

From the Cedar Breaks Visitor Center outlook.

Love my handsome boy.

Sis becoming a Cedar Breaks Junior Ranger.

Do you know the difference between a National Monument and a National Park?

It's a MIracle...

I woke up this morning and could see perfectly.  I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and thought I was dreaming.  It took about 10 minutes to realize I was wearing my contacts. No miracle. On the bathroom counter, my contact lens case was sitting open as if I were getting ready to take them out or had just put them in.  I have no idea which one happened.   I was exhausted when I went to bed and didn't get up at all during the night (that I know of).  I could have started taking them out and forgotten what I was doing or I could have gotten up in the middle of the night and put them in for some reason.  I also had a book next to me in bed and don't remember reading before I went to bed.  Did I mention I was exhausted?

I blame it all on missing my morning caffeine fix yesterday.  I tried drinking Caffeine Free Pepsi and pretending there was caffeine in it but it didn't work.  By the time my son came home from school and brought me some black gold, it was too late, the day was not going to get better. 

When I got in the car after water aerobics at about 9:30 last night, I thought of my friend Andrea and how I should invite her water aerobics with me. Then it hit me: I was supposed to pick her up at the airport at 7:30.  I had a grundle of missed calls and a few messages from Andrea asking where I was.  I quickly drove home, changed out of my swimsuit and headed to Salt Lake.  By the time I got home I was falling asleep on my feet. The last think I remember was taking a shower before I went to bed.  I really could have left my contacts in. 

I was disappointed that I was not granted a Opthamalogical miracle and I am sure Andrea will never again ask me to pick her up from the airport but I've learned that I must keep a supply of Coke in the refrigerator.  

The Scream Heard Around The World

This morning was me. I am stranded without any Co  Cola in the house. I still have not had my caffeine fix and am patiently waiting for my son to get home with my car. 

He drives sooo slow...

I Said What??? Vol. 2

In a conversation with my son and nephew about what we would do with a few extra thousand dollars:

"I would go to Vegas and do...crap I can't remember his name..."

Dead silence and jaw dropping from the two teenage boys.

"Richard Petty.  I would do the Richard Petty Driving Experience."

If you don't know NASCAR.  The Richard Petty Driving Experience gives the average Joe or Jane a chance to drive a NASCAR car at a NASCAR track.  So it is a little more involved than that.  You can do a ride along for a little over $100 or you can actually drive the car and the cost is between the $450 to $3500. 

Word Verification

I just posted a comment on another blog.  I caught myself writing "chuckly" instead of "chuckle". I may have ended up leaving it as chuckles.   The word verification was "rumpot".  I take this as a sign to go to bed. 

"Having stayed up late for work, Amy became a bit chuckly, as if she had tipped back the rumpot too may times."

Been gone...

I have been away from blogger for a week or so and now I can't catch up on everything.  I have a lot to write about but not tonight.  I need to get the pictures off the camera and then I can blog about it all. But tonight just isn't the time.  Hopefully it will happen before the week is out.  But time gets away from me.

My son started his junior year of high school today. I think it is hitting me a little hard that my boy is becoming a man and will soon leave the nest.  After he leaves there is no one else to focus my attention on.  It will just be me.  I don't know what I will do when it happens.  I know worrying now when it is a couple of years down the road is pointless but I worry none the less.  I don't want to be a mother who can't let her kid go.  I need to focus on getting a life of my own so that when he ventures out into his, I am not left wondering "What the hell?". 

This is all a little deeper than my brain wants to dive.  So I will end this pointless post and be back soon with more upbeat news to share.  Now I will go soak in the tub with my Sherrilyn Kenyon book and turn the brain off.

One is the loneliest number...

This was going to post on Sunday but I got distracted but better late than never.

I had a weekend all to myself.  This has not happened since May... before moving in with Grandma.  I was a little excited.  I could do anything I wanted.  Right?  Wrong... Turns out I am no longer used to being completely alone.  I wanted to go fishing.  No one to go with.  I wanted to go shooting.  Again, no one to go with.  I wanted to go to a movie.  Went by myself.

Austin wasn't going to come home until Monday but I went and picked him up on Sunday.  I was tired of being alone.  Grandma came home a few hours later and I was glad.

I did get something done over the weekend but mostly I was lazy.

My brother replaced the radiator fan assembly in my car.  It took a little while to figure out exactly what the problem was. Then once we replaced the fan and fan motor it still wasn't working.  We were both shaking our heads.  Finally he went home to bed and came back Saturday morning.  After a frustrating hour he finally gave up and we headed to the parts store to return a part we didn't need and get something he needed.  While there I picked up a Haynes Manual for the PT Cruiser.  Once home, Roger took a look in the book, fiddled with something, told me it was working and handed me a fuse.  Yes. A fuse!  When the fan motor blew it also blew a fuse but not the fan fuses.  A different fuse.  Sheesh.  Now the car works great again.

While my brother worked on the car, I worked on my project: staining an outdoor swing.  On Friday night, I had to scrub off the algae, old finish, and dirt with a scrub brush and bleach water.  When I was finished I looked like I had gotten into a fight with a swamp monster.  My legs were splattered with green goop.   Saturday morning I was able to sand and put on the finish.  


Prior to this, the swing looked the same as the fence.

Monday morning I showed the swing to Grandma.  She was pleased to see her swing looking so nice. Today when my son and I returned from the store, she asked: "Did you paint the swing while I was gone?"  It breaks my heart a little every time her memory lapses.  I just gave her the same spiel I gave her yesterday when I showed it to her. 

The weekend made me realize that I need to get used to be alone again.  My son starts school on Monday and will be spending he majority of his time at his dad's or my sister's house since he is going to school about 30 miles away.  Grandma will be going to my aunt's house for a week, if not longer.  This gives me too much time on my hands.  One really is the loneliest number...most of the time.

Yo! Crew Chief...

Me thinks I need to take a wee little break from watching NASCAR Sprint Cup Racing.  Case in point....

This is how the conversation went (or something like it):

Me: "Hey Mike.  It's Amy.  My car is overheating.  I was driving on the freeway and it was just fine until I came up to stopped traffic.  Then the temperature suddenly skyrocketed.  I pulled to the side of the road and let it cool off.  I drove the back roads the rest of the way and the temp stayed normal until I stopped or had to slow down a lot."

Mike: "Sounds like your electric fan isn't turning on.  You can bring it in tomorrow. "

This is how it played out in my head:

"Come in Mike.  This is the driver of the oh-one Chrysler.  The water temp goes way up when she comes upon lapped (slower) traffic or catches up to the pack.  She's good out in clean air though.  What do you want me to do? Over"

"Driver. Sounds like a fan problem. Keep it out in clean air and avoid lapped traffic if you can. Pit road is closed so stay out and do the best you can.  Over."

Need I say more?  I am starting to think I need my own pit-crew.

I said what???

Every now and then something comes out of my mouth that is not intended to be funny but sends my son into hysterics.  He then repeats it to everyone who will listen, so before he gets a chance I thought I would do it for him.  These gems were with in a two day period. Enjoy...

In the car on our Adventure Day: "We're going to have an adventure.  I probably should have brought my gun."

At the Burger King drive thru: Me: "What do you call those little hash brown things?"  Drive thru lady: "Um. Hash browns."

How embarrassing there was another one but it has completely slipped my mind.  But I will leave you with this: Over heard at the supermarket, "I ran into your wife the other day."  Followed by a grumpy older gentleman pushing his cart around the corner mumbling "The old bag." 

Adventure Day

I admit I stole the term Adventure Day from my cousin Cynthia at Creative Chaos but I couldn't think of anything more suitable as my son and I had an Adventure Day today.

I woke up determined that we were going to hike up to Timpanogos Cave (on the paved trail) and go on the cave tour.  I was sure I could aside my claustrophobia and fears of being trapped in the cave by a catastrophic earthquake.  I wanted to leave at nine but darn that National Geographic channel.  Austin turned it on and we were both entranced as we watched Texans fight a plague of fire ants with flies.  We ended up leaving at ten instead.  We stopped at the gas station for water, Coke, and snacks then made our way to the canyon.  The sign at the fee station read "4 hour wait for cave tours".   We paid our $6 recreation fee and the attendant suggested we visit Crystal Springs if we did not want to wait for the cave tours.  She handed me a map, our pass, and we were on our way.

I have never been to or heard of Crystal Springs so this was to be a true adventure.  There was a bike race happening in the canyon and we dodged bikes as we made our way up the canyon.  Windows down, sun roof open, and music playing. 

We found our way to Crystal Springs and began our walk/hike along the paved trail and boardwalks.  I was pleasantly surprised at what we found. 

I think this is a Monkshood flower.

Thistle

Austin at the beginning of the trail.

Crystal Springs

The springs come out of the glacial rocks.

 

 

After leaving Crystal Springs, we took a decently maintained dirt/gravel road to Heber and Midway.  The road comes out at Soldier Hollow which was a venue for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

View from the road to Heber/Midway.  The reservoir in the picture is where Mixer Man and I went fishing on Friday.  The road we took home is on the far side of the water, follows the shoreline and goes over the dam.

I hope all of you find a little adventure this weekend.

Terrible Morning...Beautiful Evening

I can barely remember the last time I was as angry as I was on Friday morning. I won't go into it too much detail because it involves a lot of personal information.  But there was yelling, tears, preventative measures and a line which my son finds absolutely hilarious.  It went something like this, "Slow the hell down.  You don't know how to speak English, and I can't understand a damn thing you are saying."  I believe the gentleman was Indian. Not Native American Indian but India, Indian.  I know this because I talk to them almost everyday at work....although this was not related to work.


Finally, I asked myself:  "Is there anything else I can do about the problem right now?"  The answer was "NO" and I resolved to put the crappy morning behind me and enjoy the rest of the day. 

I repaired the caulking around the bath tub and bathroom counters.  Then Mixer Man and I met up for an evening of fishing in the mountains.  Few things relax me as much as the mountains, fishing, and Mixer Man.  Even though he frustrates, annoys, and confuses the crap out of me most of the time, he has a relaxing presence. I will NEVER tell him this though. 

Our fishing spot.  Just a small section of a large reservoir.

Looking in the other direction.  I love the reflection of the mountians on the water.

Mixer Man trying to free my line from a snag.  I couldn't get a shot with his face.  He hates the camera unless he is showing off an animal he just hunted or he is on his snowmobile.

My GIANT, two inch fish.  I caught two of these.  Austin says I am well on the way to  solving world hunger.  Mixer Man made sure he was holding it away from himself so that I would not get him on camera.

A couple stopped by our spot as we were getting ready to head out.  As fishing people do, we exchanged our bad luck stories and started walking back to our cars.  During the short walk, I learned that they are from Texas and are stationed here with the Air Force.  They love NASCAR and fishing.  The woman and I both have black and pink fishing poles and her husband and Mixer Man are huge Tony Stewart fans.  They both have the die cast cars, jackets, etc.  As we parted ways, Mixer Man thanked him for his service to our country and we wished each other a safe trip home.  I regret that we didn't get their names or spend a few more minutes talking to them.  I think this is a couple I would have liked to get to know better. 

So while the day started out terribly, it ended beautifully.  Watching the sun set on the water.  Meeting interesting people.  And of course fishing.