Pet Peeve #9 - Thanks for turning...

Don't you just love sitting at a stop sign and watching people go by? These are some of the things that typically make my day.

• drivers that totally lean into their turn
• drivers that are either talking to themselves or talking to the little people in the backseat that your can't see
• people that let their pets sit on their laps while they drive
• couples that aren't talking to each other
• families that are clearly having a great time together, even in the car
  
• older men that are wearing their "grandpa" hats and can barely see above the dashboard
• women that talk with their hands
• kids making faces at you from the backseat
• any amount of singing
• mom passengers that have their seat-belts off and are completely turned around attending to their kids

For the most part, I like driving and being in the car. Some of my best conversations have been from behind the wheel. Truly, I have only one peeve and it really only bugs me when I am in a hurry.

Pet Peeve # 9

I'll bet many of you can relate to this peeve. You are at a 2-way stop and are about to cross through the intersection or make a left hand turn. You have to wait for the perfect break in traffic because most drivers do not give fair warning (or warning at all) as to whether or not they are going to turn or go straight. Sometimes it's car, after car, after car, especially in the morning. It really makes me crazy when they get right up to the intersection and look like they are going to go straight but then turn their signal on last minute, usually while they are making the turn. This typically happens seconds before you could have made it through the intersection and then the whole thing starts all over again.

Eggtremely Delightful, Potentially Painful

Like my brother Matt, I love the Cadbury Creme Egg. Unlike Matt, I am very grateful that they are not available all year or my body would look just like one!

I did a little research (Wikipedia) on the birth of this little Easter pleasure and here are a few interesting facts...

• originally released in 1971
  
• the eggs are manufactured at a rate of 1.5 per day and that is just at one location
• in the UK, over 200 million are sold during "egg" season, that's 3 per every person living there
  
• the original, released in the UK, weighed in at 40 grams and had 171.6 calories
• today's egg weighs 39 grams, with a calorie count of 170
• you can get them in a 48 pack!
• advertising on TV used a bunny that clucked like a chicken... remember?
  
• 53% of people bite the top off, lick out the "creme", then eat the chocolate (that is me)
• 20% just bite straight through
• 16% scoop out the middle with their finger

The last fact and the one that I intended to blog about, is the lovely little foil wrapping it comes in. There are at least 3 known ways to unwrap a Cadbury Creme Egg.

1. Delicate Peelers - to achieve a considered, methodical, & subtle eat
2. Stage Peelers - they unwrap just enough to keep the "creme" off their fingers
3. Quick Discarders - carelessly rip off the foil because they just can't wait to eat the egg

I have to say that I was #3, and just this morning. However, I didn't get all the foil off and found out the hard way. Apparently the Cadbury Brothers did not have metal fillings because if they had, these little bits of heaven WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN WRAPPED IN FOIL!

Ouch... How could something I love so much, hurt my "fillings" so badly?

It won't keep me from eating them, but I will definitely have to learn to become a "delicate peeler".

Guitar Hero

Jill has always been interested in learning the guitar. Just this morning I asked her if she had looked through the "Guitar for Dummies" book I got her for Christmas. She told me she had and it was pretty confusing.

Tonight at the store "Why? Sound", there was a benefit concert to "Build a Home in Mexico" put on by the Interact Club at Logan High. Jill decided to go and meet up with some friends. There was a $5 cover charge and then raffle tickets for $1 a piece. Jill bought 5 tickets. Between sets (amateur musicians playing folk and rap music) there was a drawing for cupcakes, Costa Vida and Jamba Juice gift-cards, etc.

It must be a sign... Jill won a guitar!

On a side note: It would appear that Frodo likes to have his picture taken.

Photo Friday #8 - Silly Dax Underpants

My son Dax is a nut. After getting out of the tub tonight, he asked if he could wear part of his ninja costume as underwear. I laughed and laughed when he came out of the bathroom and asked him if I could take a picture. He said, "What are you going to do, put it on your blog?" The kid knows me all too well! There were a few better pictures (one without the towel, one from behind with the string you-know-where, and another with Jace slapping his butt ) but he told me I couldn't use those...

I think Frodo in the background adds a nice touch, don't you?

Broken Bones

The apartment complex I lived in when I was in Elementary school had a neat little playground. It was where I spent most of my summer playing. It had big tires to climb on, these really cool wood towers that looked like totem poles and 4 swings. One week into summer vacation, I had a little accident.

Now summers do not get really, really hot in Edmonton however, this day must have been a little different. I was at the playground and I was swinging. There were 2 cool things about the swing-set. First, the seat was not the black rubber you typically see, but was about 2 feet long and metal. Second, there was a little hill behind the swing that was really fun to jump on to. If you got swinging high enough, you could even jump and hit one of the apartment walls. Anyway, I was swinging away and got ready to jump... because it was hot outside and I was wearing shorts, my butt stuck to the swing and instead of going forward, I went straight down. Naturally, I braced my fall with my arms, then lifted my head only to have the swing knock me from behind. Ouch, right? I cried all the way home and my mom tells me that even though our apartment was a ways away, she could hear me screaming. She also said that I was holding out both my arms like Frankenstein. If you don't get the picture...

I don't remember much after that, except my mom telling me to "get over it" and "it can't be that bad". She warned me that if I didn't shut up, she would really give me something to cry about! Kidding mom...

That night, I woke up around midnight and told my parents that my arms really hurt. They decided to take me to the emergency room. X-rays showed that I had broken my right arm and
had a hairline fracture in my left. I came home much later with a cast on one and a bandage on the other... To this day, my mom feels pretty guilty for not getting me to a doctor sooner. Makes me wonder then, how sympathetic were you mom?

Cousin Jaimee & Family

I moved to Canada when I was 4 years old and I did not have the opportunity to build solid relationships with my cousins in the U.S. I saw them for short periods of time once a year and because it was my vacation I think I probably have more memory burns of them than they do of me.

My cousin Jaimee accepted my brother's 365 day blog challenge and I have learned more about her and her family in the last 93 days than I have in the previous 25 years! For that reason, I am so happy that I accepted Matt's challenge. It is good to be able to get to know your extended family; to see what traits and quirks have been passed down through the generations and to enjoy each others differences.

Blog Family - Me, Jaimee, Matt & Kristy

Tonight, Jaimee and her husband, Daniel, and their kids, Matteah and Casey came for a visit all the way from Colorado Springs, CO! They have spent the last few days in Utah catching up with friends and family and we were blessed to have them to ourselves for a few hours. Matt, Kristy, Logan and my mom were all here ,and honestly, it was like we were all old friends. I have often commented on Jaimee's blog that I wished they lived closer so that we could hang out and have more time together and tonight just magnified that. It was fun, fun, fun. Our kids are almost the same age and got along wonderfully.

Matteah, Logan, Dax & Jace

Blurry, but cute!

Casey

We laughed and talked non-stop. Jaimee and Daniel are the cutest couple and obviously love and respect each other. Their kids are adorable and after just a few minutes made themselves right at home. I want to thank them for making a special trip to Logan and I look forward to continuing to build this relationship. I also want to say that when she called me this morning to make plans, I was a little taken back by the fact she sounded like an adult, I seriously was expecting her to sound like she was 13 because that is how I remember her!!!!

Daniel, Jaimee & Casey

One quick memory burn about my cousin Jaimee... Every year on vacation we would spend a few days with my Aunt Julie and Uncle Jerry and cousins, Jeremy, Josh, Jaimee and Jordan (yes, that is a lot of "J" names, much like my own family). I remember visiting them in Orem, Utah and Greeley, Idaho and I remember that Jaimee, the only girl, liked to follow me around. Everywhere I turned, there was this little girl. Now, I don't remember minding at all because I didn't have a little sister of my own and I imagine that she liked the idea of having an older sister. Anyway, Jaimee has these amazing, beautiful, large, brown eyes (and still does) and I remember when I was 15 or 16 (she would have been 7 or 8) she wanted me to do her hair. So I would get out my curly iron and sit and do her hair. I don't know what we talked about but I remember thinking it was cool.

Being the social person that I am, I would love to be able to get to know and spend time with all my cousins. I think that I will make this another one of my "before I die" goals.

YMCA

We spent a week of July in Lake Powell this year with Justin's family. On one of the nights we had a lip-sync competition on top of the houseboat. Let me tell you, it is no easy task to find a song that involves 5 people, especially little people.

We were up against some steep competition but I think the fact we looked so much like the Village People must have sealed our victory... or maybe it was Jill's killer Napoleon Dynamite dance moves... or Dax's "this is some serious business" attitude... or was it Jace covering his head with his construction hat... maybe the mustaches? Whatever it was, we won and had a fun time doing it! Dax still likes to sing the song and Jace will start head bobbing and chime in with a little, "A, B, U, C".