We all walk to the beat of a different drum or whatever...

Seriously folks - these guys are so amazing! I hadn't even noticed that they were playing the drums they are all so dang cute! My friend Elaine (Blinkin) sent this to me. I would suggest you play this late at night when everyone is asleep and see how long it takes to wake everyone up. It only took about 8 seconds to wake up Del... try it and let me know how it goes. This is posted for my favorite Nick who returns home from his mission in Switzerland today - great job Nick! The Swiss Army Drum Corp..... I say we need a calendar of these guys eh?

http://www.biertijd.com/oudbruin/content.php?article.668hp?article.668

and when I'm really brilliant at this I'll figure out how to download it so you won't have to paste it into your http - sorry. Just beat it..... ya beat it....

Positions Filled

Winkin - Me
Blinkin (er Drinkin) - Elaine
Nod - Betsy - sorry Grandma June you acted too slowly, Huh?
Partae...

Then I found this - and thought it would be nice to rattle the brains of the senior citizens that read my blog. Remember this? (I don't) (:

~Winkin', Blinkin', & Nod~

Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe;
Sailed off on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three.
"We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea.
Nets of silver and gold have we," said Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song as they rocked in the wooden shoe.
And the wind that sped them all night long ruffled the waves of dew.
Now the little stars are the herring fish that live in that beautiful sea;
"Cast your nets wherever you wish never afraid are we!"
So cried the stars to the fishermen three - Winkin', and Blinkin', and Nod.

So all night long their nets they threw to the stars in the twinkling foam.
'Til down from the skies came the wooden shoe bringing the fisherman home.
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed as if it could not be.
Some folks say 'twas a dream they dreamed of sailing that misty sea.
But I shall name you the fisherman three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes and Nod is a little head.
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies is a wee one's trundle bed.
So close your eyes while mother sings of the wonderful sights that be.
And you shall see those beautiful things as you sail on the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three - Winkin', Blinkin', and Nod.

If I were a camel...

Seriously folks, Bethany talked about her eye twitch a while back and the past two weeks I've been feeling her frustration. I know that stress is not listed here - but I promise you that I have a stock pile of it. Just when I thought it was subsiding, today - the other eye started up. I actually had someone at work tell me that I had a cute wink. WHAT? Please, get over yourself! So I think that I want to be a camel today, they have an extra eyelid, so if the outside eyelid is twitching nonstop, the inner eye will still be normal. Remember the old nursery rhyme, "Winkin' Blinkin' and Nod"? Any takers on Blinkin' or Nod? We could take it on the road! (Wink Wink)


Eye Twitching, or Blepharospasm, is involuntary eyelid twitching. It is also referred to as an eye muscle spasm. The term blepharospasm really applies to any abnormal blinking or involuntary eye twitching of the eyelids caused by uncontrolled contractions of the muscles around the eyelids. Sometimes people experience the twitching under the eye and others may experience the twitching in their right eye or twtiching in their left eye. In simple terms it is a blinking disorder. One type of blepharospasm, Benign Essential Blepharospasm or BEB is a blinking disorder that is not life threatening and has an unknown causes.

I call that 'disorderly conduct'...

We Be Ski Bums

Well someone had to go out there and ski those hills and since none of you stood up and said "We will!", we did! Ashley had the day off so she decided to come and join us for a day of skiing and snowboarding. Our room was totally beautiful, amazing, and freaking breathtaking to look out of the window...

Then we cornered some sucker to take our picture before the
bruising of the day started... thank you total stranger!

Let the games begin! There was complete confidence as the day started but it took a couple of Diet Pepsi's before the real courage set in...

There are posts that would frighten small children if I posted them about the 'early hours of learning' and certain language which could not actually be heard but lip reading would give all of the secrets away of the pain of 'the fall' - but I did capture a few clean cut and precious moments of great desire to complete the task of - snowboarding. Now let me remind you that these are two Engineers - one designs the rocket motors and the other makes the stuff that blows them up and they both are trying to do an analysis on the angle of the mountain and the texture of the snow and the velocity of the wind and so on - but all in all I was quite proud of their progress... of actually boarding and riding and eventually exiting the lift without the employees stopping the entire lift to help them off - or pick them up after they had fallen off upon exiting. Seriously folks - here's what I had to work with....

Well I decided to take the kiddies on the tram - not to allow them to ski down - but to see the view. Ashley had never been to the top and Del had only been to the top the day he actually won the prize (this ski trip). So we flashed our smiles for the camera....

I left them on the tram to find their way down - and I skied down and met them as they came off - thus indicating why you don't see any pictures of me skiing because no one was skiing where I was (tee hee - dang I had fun). I found some very old oats that needed sowing.

I was quite proud of the team as they progressed throughout the day - if anything I heard more laughter and squeals of delight than most people hear on any Christmas morning! This was at noon - but later on there were no falls, no snow covered snowboarders, and serious smiles of accomplishment....

It was time to call it a day - and so we peeled Ashley off of the slopes and drug her sore and bruised bones back to the room. As I look at these pictures I realize that even though the weekend was free - we probably could have received a 'special needs' discount by the looks of us!

So - I guess you'll have to see the rest of the pictures on Ashley's blog. Later on that night we told Mike (Ashley's hubby) to come and join us for dinner. May we suggest the Mexican Restaurant at the Cliff Lodge for dinner? Killer Chips and Salsa. For breakfast we hit the Fork Lift and dined on some exquisite omelets and whole wheat blueberry pancakes. To end it all we wanted to thank X96 - The Radio From Hell show for this amazing weekend - and for Snowbird for the amazing accommodations, and mostly for mother nature - for making it unforgettable in every way. Good times. Wait - you think the story stops here? NOT - I had to listen to the achey breaky hearts of pain for the next 24 hours - ouch this - and ooowwwwie that! I just had to laugh - one is twice my age (?) and I'm twice as old as the other one - and well, hum, ya - I know - no brain - no pain. To top it off - we came home and went to the Utah Jazz game where we had continued luck as they FINALLY won a game! Thanks Mandy and Ryan for the tickets!! Perfect weekend. Perfect memories. Then there's that little thing about wondering if our jobs will still be there on Monday.... well, there's always skiing!

I'll be away from the office....

PLUS



EQUALS

3 DAYS, 2 NIGHTS, 2 DAY TRAM PASSES
Please don't wake me from this dream.

Del and I are headed to Snowbird to put to good use the Grand Prize from X96 we won in the fall of 2008. Ashley has decided to cash in on the fun and join us - well actually we needed someone to video tape Del Snowboarding for the first time. Darn, guess I'll have to put to use the new skiis that American Express purchased for me at SNAGRAB. I used to ski every single day of my life many years/prechildren ago. Time to bite into the mountain again. Hey Beaver Mountain Buddies, I'm baaaaaaack! Let's see..... need to remember to pack the skiis, stuff for sammies at lunch, crock pot full of clam chowder, warm fuzzy slippers, camera, chains for the car, (really painful that there will be 10 inches of new powder....)(AND what a long trip - traveling the entire 15 miles from our front door to get to Snowbird - painful), swimming suit (poor us, we are going to be forced into the hot tubs....), and oh ya, Advil, BenGay for the sore joints, and the phones set on speed dial on 911 for when we all break our legs. What a way to go. Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow. Thanks X96 - oh ya, and thanks Del for FINALLY listening to me after a couple dozen guilt trips and nag jobs to get you to actually go and enter the contest and ride the tram that day - AND a friendly reminder that "I" am actually the BFOP, never ending listener, master voter of the boner awards, supporter of the 'ask a' feature, fan of "Ya? What?", and queen of things that must go.... you're welcome. Please pass the thermal underwear....

Who's your role model?

Just received my weekly e-mail from my Missionary Man - Elder Hillary. What a man - love him so much. I've read his e-mails so many times I've worn out my computer screen I swear. His requests are so simple - that everyone knows he loves them, and how he appreciates the letters from everyone. Today his request was for his Joseph Smith ring. I'm taking the 'curse of the giver' off of it and sending it to him - he said "I want it to remind me of my role model, Joseph Smith." The ring is a reproduction of the ring that Joseph Smith used to illustrate the eternal nature of man and which he wore to his martydom. It appears on his hand in several paintings done in his lifetime. Ryan's journey in life has been very lonely, too frequently. He found solace in the teachings of the gospel and of the Prophet Joseph. Mandy asked me this weekend about genetic traits vs socialized traits (or something like that), and we talked about it for a while. But since then I have thought about it nonstop. I just want to thank my kids for grasping all they can about the gospel. Their courage to 'stand for something' proves that they will not 'fall for anything' as the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley quoted. I'm sure that genetically they are pretty loaded in the wonderful department - but our family has spent a lifetime obtaining traits from the gospel that assures unbroken promises from Heavenly Father if we do our part. I need to say that with the opening of the new Draper Temple - many eyes have been opened, many hearts touched, and many lives have been changed. I have hoped that many questions would be asked, answered, and many goals could be set - to make sure that you love your family enough to want to be with them forever and not just for this lifetime. I wanted to share the testimony of President Hinkley - he, just like those before him and President Monson today echo the message of the Book of Mormon.

So I add my testimony to President Hinckley's, and add that this is the reason I sent my son Matt to Taiwan for 2 years and Ryan going to Mexico for 2 years. The reason that my son-in-laws served, Mike in Chile, and Ryan M in Texas and my brother Eric in Argentina, and his son Brandon to Canada. 6 of the best gave 2 years of their lives to share this word. Are you listening to their message? If you have, what are you doing about what you know? I would invite all of my friends to visit the new Draper Temple - you can get information at wwwld.org/reservations. I'll even come and pick you up.... be right back, gotta go mail a ring...

Missing: nana's baby

ok - party's over - bring Andrew back

i miss him and I want him back