Bee's Game

Tonight we got to go to a Bee's game! Howie's Dad's company rents a suite every year in August so it's the one Bee's game we get to go to a year. We get hot dogs, soda, fruit, and snacks galore. It's a lot of fun. Howie didn't get to go last year so I took my friend Christina. This year he was able to make it!The Bee came into the suite next to ours. We were kinda hoping he'd come into ours, but no such luck.We invited our friends Eric and Alyssa to come along. They were more than happy to join us!Here is Eric and Alyssa. All smiles at the ballpark!
It was nice to get out and do something different with family and good friends. I like to take at least one trip to the ballpark a year. We've got to support the Bee's somehow! They lost to the Las Vegas 51's by 5 points. I don't think I've ever been to a Bee's game where they've won. I guess I'm bad luck.

Get Excited!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

I was so excited to attend the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple today. And although it turned out that I had to attend it alone, it was still a neat experience. What a wonderful group of men we have leading our church today. I admire and love them so much. The story President Monson told about the family in Tonga really touched me. We are so blessed to have so many temples conveniently located. I consider myself lucky that I don't have to travel via bus or plane to attend a temple. I also liked the story Sister Allred told about the family in Argentina. She spoke of a couple that traveled a few days to attend their nearest temple and be sealed to their kids and on their way home they lost both of their children. They couldn't make the journey home. But the couple felt peace in knowing that they would be with their children again someday and that all they would have to do on their end is keep the temple covenants that they have made. I enjoyed listening to all of the speakers during the dedication service. I am so excited to have another temple to attend right here in the Salt Lake Valley.

Wasatch Woman Love Your Body 5K Walk

Today was the blessed event that I've been waiting for for two months now! This is the first walk/run I've participated in...EVER. I was so excited to do it. I've always wanted to do something like this. We've decided we're going to make this a tradition to do every year. We had a lot of fun. Here is Barbara, my mother-in-law, and I waiting for the race to start.This is Dottie and her daughter Jaci. Dottie is in my ward and I told her about the race and she was totally interested! We're so glad they could come along.The event had over 1,300 people register to run or walk so, there were tons of people. Here is everyone waiting for the race to start.More people waiting for the race to get going.And....we're off! We all signed up to do the 5K walk, but next year we fully plan on doing the run. It's only two laps around Sugar House Park. We can totally do that!I got the BEST bib number! What better number to give someone that is always number 1 but...After the race, they provided all kinds of refreshment for us. They had mini-fat boy ice cream sandwiches, bananas, oranges, bagels, water and juice.They also provided FREE MASSAGES! We totally took them up on that! Even though I didn't do anything strenuous, it was still nice to get a rub down after it was all said and done. Hopefully we'll be able to get more people to do this with us next year. Most of my friends bailed out or had other things going on, so it was just us four that went.

They had a thing called "Diva Night" the night before. Boy, was that lame. I had hoped for a lot more than that turned out to be. I guess I expected way too much. It was just a hotel event room with a bunch of little booths set up for vendors. It was mostly vendors that wanted to help us "loose inches off your waist!" and lame crap like that. Boooooring. But the race was a lot of fun. Who knows? Maybe we'll even do the 10K next time. The girl that won the 10K did it in 40 minutes and 10 seconds. Can you believe that? That's crazy! I'd have to really train to get up to where she is. Six miles in 40 minutes. Wow.

Jax, The Destroyer

Our cat is driving me nutty! I love the little guy, but I've never seen a cat do this! Jax has recently decided that he LOVES the taste of our carpet. I kid you not. He literally EATS our carpet. He never did this when we first got him. Every once in a while he would tear some up just to get our attention, but lately he's gone crazy on it and has started to eat it. So, I finally called a vet because the last thing I want him to do is digest it and it not come out the other end. The vet said he wasn't showing signs of an animal with any internal blockage (thank heaven). He gave us some home remedies to try. The first was to buy a product called Feliway. Feliway is a product that you plug into your outlet and it emits a calming pheromone for the cat. Basically, it calms them down during a stressful situation. This is what it looks like...I asked the vet if it's a good idea to have this constantly going and he said it would be just fine. He says it's a very natural product and would not have any negative side effects whatsoever. The next thing the vet suggested, was to spray our carpet with something that would make it taste nasty and bitter to a cat. So, we went to Petsmart and bought this spray called "Yuck!". It's supposed to keep cats from stratching or chewing on non-edible surfaces. We sprayed some down the first night we got it and it didn't help as much as we were hoping. Jax didn't like the taste of it, so he wouldn't eat the carpet, but it didn't stop him from ripping it up. I don't need bald spots all over my house so, we tried the last suggestion the vet gave us. Apparently, cats don't like the shininess or sound of tin foil. So, he said to lay down tin foil on the areas that the cat focuses on the most and eventually he will become uninterested. Jax only really focuses on the areas where our carpet ends and the tile begins so, we put it down in those areas. Mostly between our dining room and living room and the entry way tile. He's intrigued by the tin foil, but he has been avoiding it. He hasn't even tried to move it. The first time I laid it down he kind of laid on it, but he hasn't really tried to touch it since. He even side-steps around it. We're hoping he will stop this bad habit in time. As for now, we'll just have to keep the tin foil down till he decides to stop. Howie thinks we need to get a second cat for Jax to play with. He thinks Jax is bored and that's why he's engaging in such activity. We'll see. I think Petsmart has another No More Homeless Pets event coming up so we may pop on over to see what they have. If it feels right, we'll do it. If not, we won't. I just worry that the two cats won't get along. We don't have room for any cat fights!

Imaginary Friends

I found this story and thought it was interesting. All of the kids in my family had imaginary friends, so no wonder!

"Parents, don't worry: imaginary friends are good for children's language skills and may also benefit their performance at school, according to a New Zealand study.

The study, by University of Otago associate professor Elaine Reese and researcher Gabriel Trionfi, investigated the language skills of 48 boys and girls aged 5-1/2, of whom 23 had imaginary, or invisible, friends.

The researchers found that the children who played with these make-believe companions had more advanced narrative skills than children who did not engage in this type of play.

"Because children's storytelling skills are a strong predictor of their later reading skill, these differences may even have positive spinoffs for children's academic performance," Reese said in a statement on the university's website.

The children's language skills were assessed by measuring their vocabulary and their ability to retell a fictional story to a puppet, and then a realistic tale based on an outing or family event. While children were not found to differ in their vocabulary levels, those with invisible companions told higher-quality stories, both about fictional and real events.

"Most importantly, the children with imaginary friends tailored their stories to the task. For fictional stories, they included more dialogue. For realistic stories, they provided more information about time and place compared to children without imaginary friends," Reese explained.

This storytelling advantage was apparent for children with imaginary friends regardless of their birth order, she says.

"We believe that children with imaginary friends may be getting extra practice at telling stories. First, they may be creating stories with their imaginary friends. Second, because their friends are invisible, children may recount their escapades to interested adults," Reese added.

The study was published in the recent issue of the journal Child Development."

So, don't think you were odd as a child! It helped you out in the long run.

Fun Weekend

This weekend was so much fun and I didn't take a single picture the entire time! I took my camera every where we went but do you think I ever stopped to think "I should take a picture of this"? Nope. Not once. But it was fun none-the-less.

On Thursday, I went with my best friend, Genelle, and played Bingo In The Park. Midvale was celebrating their township so they were giving away all sorts of prizes during a friendly game of Bingo. When we did this last year (or the year before?) we didn't win anything! We thought it was so lame. This year, not so lame! Not only did I win at Bingo, but I won the raffle drawing, too! I'm such a lucky duck! The raffle winnings weren't great. It was just a grab-bag from Zions Bank. It had golf balls, golf tees, a towel, mints, and chapstick in it. But my Bingo winnings were much more interesting! I won a $25 gift certificate to Joe Morley's BBQ, a free frosty from Wendy's, a free shake from Arctic Circle, free bagel and shmear from Einstein's Bagels, $10 in cash, and a FREE snowboard or ski rental from Ski 'N See! I won big! Genelle and her Mom didn't win anything. I felt so lucky!

On Friday it was Sara Lee's Employee Lagoon Day. Howie got us all day passes along with a food ticket for dinner. Sara Lee does this every year and then after everyone has eaten they give away AWESOME prizes to EVERY employee! The prizes are at least a $75 value per employee so, that's pretty generous considering they have a ton of people working there. We won a HD Digital Camcorder. It's pretty shnazzy. It does video as well as takes 8mp pictures. Not too bad! After the prize drawings we just went and rode some more rides. We had to swing by the Wicked and Bumper Cars before leaving. I also have to ride on one of the haunted house rides so we went on Dracula's Castle. It was a fun day. I took the day off of work just to go.

Saturday we had a few things going on. In the early afternoon we had the Curtis Family Reunion. This is my Mom's side of the family. We met up with everyone for some yummy food and fun. Most of the grandkids just played games and the adults checked out some of the photo albums that people brought. They also played a recording of some of our ancestors talking. It was interesting to hear.

Later that night we went to my brother's and sister-in-law's for their Kearns Days Celebration. They call it Fire 'n Ice. Everyone had to bring a side dish and Jason provided the meat. He made up some super yummy ribs! Then we had hamburgers and hot dogs, too. I found a new recipe online for a delicious Orange Cream Fruit Salad. I mixed it up in hardly no time at all and it was a huge hit! The bowl was completely empty when I went to take it home! That's what I want to see! It was a lot of fun talking to people and just hanging out. Around 9:45pm the fireworks started and they were glorious! We can see them from my brother's backyard really well. My BFF, Genelle, and her husband, Steve, were able to make it out for the fireworks show. I was so glad they were able to come! Fireworks are always more fun with friends.

Then today we had the Van Cott Family Reunion. My Dad's cousin, Evelyn, was in town from California so we decided to get the family together. We hadn't seen her in a long time so it was nice to visit with her and look through old family pictures. My Dad's side of the family is much smaller than my Mom's so we didn't need a huge park to get everyone together. We just gathered at my parents house. My Aunt Patty's family came out and all of her kids. It was a great way to end the weekend. That's all for now! Sorry I don't have any pictures to share, but it was just one of those things. Thanks for reading!

Park City Fun - Happy Birthday Angie!

On Friday I went to a birthday party for a friend of mine. A group of us headed up to Park City and took a ride down the Alpine Slide. I swore I'd never been down it before, but I had total deja vu the whole time we were there. I think I may've been on it before. Here we are on the tram ride up!Here is Megan(left) and Angie(right) getting ready for the slide! Megan was a hoot. She had me laughing almost the whole time. Nice girl. Really cracked me up.After the Alpine Slide, we headed over to Main Street for dinner. We had no idea there was an arts festival going on so that was an added bonus. I've never been to an arts festival in Park City so it was cool to see. All kinds of funky stuff to behold.We were running late for dinner so, we didn't get to stop and look at too much stuff. After dinner we all went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I was asking for trouble just walking into that store. I couldn't leave without a cashew cluster. Cashews are good for you! They have protein! Is it so bad that they just so happen to be dipped in chocolate, too?

Anyway, a lot of people that went stayed the night in a condo that was rented for Angie's party, but I decided not to spend the night. I headed home around 11:30pm. It was a fun night though and I'm glad I met the people I did. We had a blast!

New Bedding Set

I love our new bedding set! We used to have a green duvet cover and down comforter on our bed. I went to wash the duvet cover for the first time and for some reason it came out with tons of holes ALL OVER IT! I don't understand why that happened?! So, I told Howie we had to go find a new set. I have a ton of coupons to Bed, Bath & Beyond so we headed on over. We got an AWESOME deal on this set! We got everything for one price. The shams, bedskirt, comforter, sheets..everything was included. Then we were able to use our 20% off coupon so we ended up getting the entire set for $110. If you've shopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond you'd know that that is an amazing deal. Our first bedding set was from there and I spent a ton more for that one. I was so excited! It just adds so much more color and texture to our room.
It looks perfect with our furniture in our bedroom, too. I'm actually glad that the old one got ruined because this one looks so much nicer. Funny how things happen that way.