Rich 'n' Rach

should old acquaintance be forgot?

2012-01-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

my answer to that question is a firm "no." at least when it comes to old buddies

like the bates.

when we heard that our favorite ohana would be coming back

to the mainland for the holidays we jumped at the opportunity of getting the old gang

from our former sacred student ward back together (minus a few key players like the

geddes's, who had family in town, and the bishopric). we literally had this day of fun

planned for months - almost five hours of driving seems like nothing when your besties

live on an island!

the day started with just us and the bates taking it easy at richard's parents' house (while

the whole family was out and about). it was so fun to meet adorable little jenna, and catch

up with sam & melissa! the coleman's met us a bit later, and we headed to cafe rio for

lunch. next it was on to an amazing park where our numbers grew even more when the

stevensons showed up.

the park is amazing because it has toys that even us big kids can play on...

you can't really celebrate without something sweet, so we made our way to

menchie's, where we sampled the flavors until we were full, and then went on

to buy large tubs with ample toppings to make sure we were completely stuffed.

i have to thank katie for introducing me to menchie's in seattle - my love for

self-serve frozen yogurt has grown tenfold.

the morgans caught up with us at menchie's, finally making it a real party.

there were a couple of precious hours until the bates had to get back to their

family, so we decided to spend it like we did in the old days...playing some

wicked rounds of around-the-world-ping-pong, of course.

jenna and i became fast friends

we were sad to see them go, but so happy that we got to spend the day with them!

it was a special feeling having all of our friends back together for a day, and fun to

see and hear how things have changed over these last two years (almost). the babies

are getting bigger, the husbands are getting funnier and less hairy, and the wives

clearly look better than ever.

i'm so thankful for the time we spent in the university 1st ward, where we made

friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. we said "aloha" to the bates, but

will hopefully be saying it again on a cruise in 2013!

ho ho hold the presents, please

2012-01-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

a few years ago we decided not to give each other gifts anymore, which

makes us sound like the grinch before his heart grew three sizes, but our

gift-giving history wasn't a pretty one, so it made sense to us to "give" each

other a trip that we'd both enjoy rather than crappy presents that do nothing

to increase anybody's holiday cheer.

this year, however, we bought a house (which we should've just counted as

our gift), so we decided to designate a small budget to gifts for each other so

we could open something on the day. we were quickly reminded why we decided

never to do gifts, but more on that later.

the christmas season at least started off on the right foot...

we made some goody plates to deliver to our buddies in ogden, which

is where these minty mallows made their debut.

we rode the train down to slc with my fam to do some christmas-y things.

first we ate dinner at z-tejas, where i'm convinced i ordered the

worst item on the menu. luckily everyone around me let me taste

their delicious selections. for some reason people just walked around

me while i stood under the mistletoe at the entrance. richard says it was

the crazy come-hither look on my face.

a porter photo shoot wouldn't be complete without truly flattering shots.

my mom had the genius idea of skipping temple square lights, since none

of us wanted to pretend we like the freezing weather that comes along with

christmas, so we headed to the grand america hotel for a little scavenger hunt.

this giant g-bread house was pretty impressive, but i didn't see a single cheeto.

even more impressive were the fancy-schmancy bathrooms.

clearly we don't go nice places very often, because we spent

the majority of our time playing in here.

we also enjoyed hob-nobbing in the lobby.

somehow, we miscalculated the train schedule and ended up booking it

to the station. i almost had an accident in the middle of 5th south after mom

nearly face-planted it, and dad perfected his speed-walking so as not to do

the same thing. we made it. barely.

i had friday off, so i invited natasha and ashley to ogden to see our new place

and to eat at roosters. we had a grand time stuffing our faces and gossping

like pros. then we went to the mall so they could finish shopping. and i could start.

we went to my parents' house for our traditional christmas eve

clam chowder dinner and a movie. not sure why we didn't document

that, but it really did happen.

christmas morning came, and since richard didn't feel like waking me up

at the buttcrack of dawn, i did it to him.

our disappointment in the gifts given to us pretty much started immediately.

although i was certain that richard would love this sweater after he tried it on

and saw how good he looked in it, he assured me that he should have female

genetalia to wear anything with a collar that "swoops" the way this one did.

and, i do realize that we were in need of a new lint brush and kitchen rug,

but for some reason i just wasn't thrilled to see that those were the things for

me under the tree.

there were a few successes.

very few.

but things started looking up when we got out to west point.

mom was crazy about her boots and pickled asparagus.

and dad loves being able to protect his family from the

zombie apocalypse.

this lively bunch was thrilled to open more gifts at gma and gpa porter's.

all the excitement tuckered them out in a hurry, though.

hork!

we then made our last stop of the day at the shepherd compound, where

saw even more presents.

and darth vader.

as annoyed as we both were with our crappy presents - and the fact that

after being married 5 1/2 years we still don't know what each other want for

christmas - it was good to be reminded that christmas is really about the savior

and spending time with the people you love.

merry christmas!

we bought the farm

2011-12-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

well, really we just bought a house, but it might as well have been a farm.

my mom says my grandpa has a saying that goes something like, "you just

tied your fanny to a tree." i don't even know what context that comes from,

but i'm pretty sure it applies to our situation.

we've been married almost 5 1/2 years, and in that time we've lived in an apartment

where we didn't once turn on the heat all winter (little did we know that we were

probably only saving like $12 a month, but we were broker than joke and just living

on love), lived in a mortuary for 2 1/2 years...a mortuary. where i had to do very

little, but richard had to retrieve the deceased at all hours of the night to pay our rent.

as much as we complain about that period of time, we have such great memories of

living so close to our best friends, and again, living on love. most recently we lived

in a basement apartment (right across the street from the mortuary) under some other

good friends. every once in awhile we'd talk about buying a house, but then a great

trip would present itself, or we enjoyed not having the responsibility of owning a home.

this summer, we finally decided to face our commitment issues and start looking.

after a couple of failed short sale attempts, we found the perfect house. richard knew it

was perfect long before i did, but eventually i came around. once i did, this is how

it all played out:

we worked with our amazing realtor, joel carson, to make it ours.

this is us at closing. he was the greatest and we'd recommend him to

anyone. plus, he has a pig for a pet, so that's like 50 bonus points.

after closing we went to order our carpet. then we went to lunch, and the

whole thing started to sink in a bit. at this point i thought richard might throw up.

but my enthusiasm rubbed off just enough to keep it down.

the next night, after we'd gotten the keys, we went to the house to open

the couple of house-warming gifts we'd gotten from richard's co-workers

and joel.

that weekend we cleaned like we've never cleaned before. we had some

amazing friends show up to help. and my dad deserves a medal of honor for

all that he did for us that weekend. my energy was about spent until jenkins

and myself started pumping the jams whilst cleaning away. snow white was

right, whistling/singing and dancing while you work is just the ticket to getting

the job done without wanting to kill someone.

i didn't take one picture of moving day. that's how busy we were. but

eventually we got all of our stuff into our new place. since the carpet wasn't going

to be installed for another week we had to pile (yes, pile) everything we owned in

our front room.

it felt a little like we were squatters or something, but it didn't last long.

this is the carpet that was on our stairs.

big surprise that we didn't want to keep it. richard and scott

ripped it out before the carpeters came, so we didn't have to

pay for them to do it.

we eventually got organized enough to have a few visitors. scott and megan

jaunted the rest of the way up on their trip to happy valley to check out our new

digs. kaycee and the rest of the anderson crew popped in for a little visit, too.

once the carpet was in we could move everything in the front room to its

rightful place in the house, and there was finally room for our charlie brown

christmas tree. i wouldn't say it was like pulling teeth to get richard's help with

the tree, but something close to that would be accurate.

there are so many things we love about our place:

its in ogden (5 1/2 years ago that wouldn't have been true)

its brick

the yard isn't too big or too small

the ward is amazing

covered parking...lots of it

minor fix-ups required (for richard)

that richard wants to do the minor fix-ups (for rachel)

there's plenty of room to invite people over

that we can't touch the ceilings without stretching

storage space...we've never seen so many closets!

among other things...

i can confidently say that richard's favorite thing about our house is that he

has his own band room. a room that is strictly designated for his instruments

(which are all under same roof he is for the first time in about 7 years) and

rocking out. they jammed on christmas eve, and the day after christmas, too.

i think we can expect plenty more of this.

some things we won't miss:

the tile downstairs. its now covered by the cushiest carpet our money

could buy.

scraping ice from our windshields. already, on more than one morning as

i've driven to the gym, i've snickered at the suckers who have ice frozen to

their windows. never. again.

i don't think i'd trade our time spent living in our other apartments, because

we really have so many awesome memories from each one. i'm so grateful for

all of the places we've called home, and especially for this new one.

thanksgiving: starting like a smith, ending like a porter/shepherd

2011-12-28T19:53:00.000-08:00

we had a great thanksgiving, celebrating just like i'm sure the pilgrims and

indi-...i mean, native americans did at the very first thanksgiving...

we started the day out with a turkey bowl.

our version is played inside with a basketball.

we cared for the young in our group.

and when i say "we," i mean richard. somehow, while i was watching

eli he got his head and arm stuck in the hole-y back of a chair. he

wanted next to nothing to do with me the rest of the weekend, but richard

and his viking-esque beard calmed his nerves almost instantly.

whatever. the girls won.

the boys showed their gratitude for technology by immersing themselves

in the world of smash brothers. i guarantee they didn't even know i

was taking this picture.

we all showed our gratitude for liz's beautiful and delicious

homemade pies by devouring them like savages.

that statement is probably offensive after having referred

to native americans earlier...but that's how we did it.

we stuffed our faces, and enjoyed every minute of it.

i was completely free from any and all cooking duties thanks to our

ambitious little r.m., heidi. she made the stuffing, sweet potatoes,

and biscuits. they were all huge hits. thank you, uruguay.

after years of living in fear of playing rook with the smiths, i finally caved.

during the week leading up to the holiday, richard was my diligent rook coach.

i wouldn't say that i'm a pro, or even a smith when it comes to rook, but at

least i'll join the game, now.

we played lots of rook. and to reward myself for overcoming such a feat i

treated myself to many s'mores by the firepit.

richard knows the way to my heart:

a giant s'more.

our time in st. george was well-spent, but eventually we made our way back

to ogden. the thanksgiving festivities would continue the following weekend

with the traditional shepherd family gingerbread house jamboree.

at some point during the week, richard couldn't take the rate at which his

facial hair was growing and decided to end no-shave september, october,

and november. what started out as painful stubble when our faces met, had

turned into this frighteningly soft, paprika-colored face warmer.

i actually liked it. he lets me do what i want with my hair, why shouldn't

i show him the same courtesy? especially when he's still such a babe.

at the end of the week, gingerbread houses were finally made.

after i was accosted for using all of the orange sticks by chelsa, who

is a fierce g-bread house architect, richard took over where i left off.

the orange stick debacle put me in such a funk that i didn't even blink at

the fact that our back side was completely made of cheeto's.

richard heckled kody...all in good fun.

they were his cheeto's.

sarah turned into syd the sloth. mvp.

i turned my frown upside-down by singing songs with my guys.

my dad was on the other side of me, and something about singing

'hey jude' with that man can bring me out of any doldroms.

although our smiles are a little forced, we eventually made up.

what a guy. he's a lifesaver...

and a professional tickler.

he gets me every time.

my cup runneth over

2011-11-30T22:53:00.000-08:00

with things to give thanks for.

here are just a few of them, in no specific order.

adventures that i get to have...

on my own

with my family

and with my best friend

holidays

really good, loud, live music that i get to enjoy with my favorite people

that i still get to play volleyball...

in the park

in the mud

in the freaking middle of the night

america

for this guy, who...

is the only person that grandma b remembers and truly loves

loves his family

can still throw a mean fastball

and looks smokin' hot in baseball pants

is a mad hot ballroom dancer...now

makes me laugh harder than anyone else

good food

good friends

good in-laws

the craziest and best family in the world. hands down.

a famdamily that wouldn't be what it is without:

a dad who knows all things from correct grammar and historical facts

to movie trivia and any kind of handy-man skill you could need.

he'll do just about anything to make you laugh/stop crying

(if you're his daughter), including but not limited to learning a song

you like on the guitar and making animal noises

(elephant is his specialty).

also note, he knows how to have a good time and he's the funniest guy

i know. he's the reason girls try to find husbands just like their fathers.

at least for this girl, anyway. i got lucky.

a mom who knows how to laugh at truly funny stuff, crappy situations,

her family, and herself. she's the reason our family is so in love with

each other, and the reason any of us ever see the glass half-full.

she makes the best chocolate chip cookies and clam chowder in the world,

and she can accurately predict the end of any movie within the first five minutes.

she's so loving that we "don't even know what yelling is."

but really, i want to be just like her when i'm a mom.

parents who love their family and each other.

i hope that richard and i can be like them when we grow up.

sisters. its hard to put into words how i feel about these girls.

our personalities are as different as our hair/skin colors, but they're

two of the best people i know.

the probability of laughing to the point of tears, peeing my pants, or having

my drink shoot out of my nose is higher when i'm with them than anyone else.

this one is a lover and a fighter. she doesn't know it, but she makes me brave...

i see the way she follows her heart without hesitation i'm trying to let

that rub off on me. now, if only her god-given no-exercise-necessary muscle tone

would rub off on me, too.

i envy this girl's wit and charm - she's funny and beautiful and doesn't

take any crap from anyone. i still feel like i'm figuring out who i am, but

i swear she's got it all figured out before she's even 17. i want to be like

my littlest sister when i grow up.

there is beauty all around.

m.f.e.o.

2011-11-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

my first semester in college i was cursed with the worst roommate

in the history of the world. her name was hillary and she did laundry

once the entire time we lived together. oh, and did i mention that

one night i woke up to her and a complete stranger making her unwashed

sheets even dirtier? yeah. that happened.

although i didn't much care for my roomie, i was crazy about the two

girls who shared the bathroom with us. katie and monika. mostly katie.

i don't remember exactly what it was that we first bonded over - probably toilet

paper or an aversion to hillary's aroma - but it happened and my true college

experience began. there were four of us: katie, rachel, ashley, and monika.

we made a mix cd and called it KRAM. we thought we were geniuses.

obviously we were. we went to frat parties and house parties, and when there

wasn't a party to go to we just had our own in the dorms. we even made a habit

of making music videos, which didn't win us many friends during finals week.

needless to say, we had a very good time together.

one weekend, katie and i were left in the dust while monika was horsing around

(she rode show horses) and ashley went to some sorority soire with our buddy russ,

so we took advantage of two facts: 1) my grandmother lived very close to us,

and 2) 'twas the season for dyeing easter eggs. we headed out to shirl's house, which

was completely empty, and colored us some eggs. we stumbled upon my cousin's

also empty band room and decided to do what we did best...make complete fools

of ourselves. proof:

my cousin and his friends came home to hear us pumping the awesome

jams and busted through the door to embarrass us the second i turned off

the music. made this moment that much more memorable and hilarious.

anyway, katie and i only got closer - i visited her in seattle for her birthday

the summer after that first semester and we talked on the phone every single day.

we got to be very best friends, and we even moved into an apartment together

off-campus in the fall. things changed a bit because i met richard and started to

go home a lot on weekends. she ended up moving back to seattle after school

ended, but we remained super tight.

long story short: things really changed when i turned into the dog-faced girl

who was bridezilla and blew up at her best friend. i ruined one of the best

friendships i've ever had, and it didn't take me very long to realize what an

idiot i'd been. my temporary wedding insanity quickly became the single greatest

regret of my life, and it took nearly four years for us to even start speaking on

a regular basis again. it was by far the worst break-up i've ever gone through. but

we started texting occasionally, and then writing hilarious emails (which was a staple

back in our college days), we caught up on each others' lives, and had lunch together

when she was in town two summers ago. things really were getting back to normal,

and i couldn't have been more thrilled. until she invited me to visit!

richard was happy to send me to seattle for my birthday last month. it was rachel

and katie's reunion weekend full of adventure:

the first day we hit the duck tour

it was a huge hit, mostly thanks to our fantastic driver!

she was a riot. clearly.

saw some cool stuff

cheesed it up

and almost wet myself when we sailed past the "sleepless in seattle" house.

its one of my very faves.

katie doesn't watch gray's anymore, but she was nice enough to walk

me by seattle grace hospital...which is actually the local news station.

and of course we took a trip to pike's place.

probably one of the greatest highlights of the weekend was the fabulous

drag show we saw at a bar called julia's. picture, if you will, the hottest female

musicians being impersonated by drag queens. now picture me, singing the night

away with them and rolling in the aisles. it was wonderful.

my favorites were ms. celine dion

and cher. this was the costume that had me completely amazed.

how does a drag queen get away with ass-less chaps?

i do not know!

we were loving every minute of it!

the following night we went out to dinner with some of her girlfriends.

jamie was my favorite. then we went back to her place and watched a

scary movie. ok, it was 'the stepfather' with penn badgely, but it scared

the crap out of us. we both had horror movie flashbacks. 'house of wax'

with paris hilton is also scary to me. and not for the obvious reason it should be.

my last day in seattle we went to a little place on the beach and stuffed

our faces with a three-course meal. because it was cheap.

enjoyable at the time, but we pretty much had to roll ourselves down the

beach afterward.

taking in the view.

and we spotted this little guy on our way back to the car.

some lady told us not to go any closer (about 20 feet before we got to

this point), so we stopped because she said it like she was gonna ground us

if we didn't. then we realized that we're adults and don't have to listen to

complete strangers just because they sound like our mothers.

we got closer and got this awesome picture.

so there.

we ended the weekend with a celebratory photo shoot, highlighting our

matching name necklaces. just like carrie's on 'sex and the city'...we've obviously

grown up quite a bit.

i'd love to say it felt like we hadn't skipped a beat, but there were four

rough years in there where we obviously did. you can't undo the past, which

makes me incredibly grateful to whoever invented forgiving and forgetting.

after a successful reunion weekend, i'm happy to say that rachy and kstew are

together again. it was inevitable, though, because we were m.f.e.o.

(in the ridiculous case of confusion over the acronym please slap yourself for not

knowing 'sleepless in seattle' by heart like i do)

soul sisters

2011-11-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

it feels like high school was just yesterday...

but clearly it wasn't.

there are some friends that you go months or years without seeing, and then

when you bump into them again it can feel a little awkward and the conversation

is forced. not bad, but just not the way it used to be. i'm pretty sure that's normal.

then there are friends who you don't see for the same amount of time, but when

you get together you're laughing and talking like you haven't skipped a beat.

that would be my relationship with these 4 girls.

i met jackie, ceara, and syrie in the 6th grade. i didn't even know what best friends

were until they came into my life. we stayed connected at the hip through jr. high where

we picked up heidi after bonding over a deep dislike of fellow classmates and

a love for revenge via toilet paper vandalism. our dynamic changed a bit in high school,

like friendships often do, but not enough to break the bonds of our soul sisterhood.

7 years later, here's the proof:

we had a little reunion about a month ago, and we picked up right where we'd left off...

laughing loud enough to force my dad into hiding, talking about boys, and making total

fools of ourselves dancing in the basement.

we may be "grown-ups" now, and not see each other on a regular basis,

but i have to say that its comforting to know that there are

friendships in life that can't be touched by all that real life garbage.

it only happens once...or does it?

2011-11-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

i'm 26 years old.

that is the very age that both of my parents were when i was born. i got

to thinking that its kind of cool to be exactly half of their age, and i mentioned

it to them at some point during my birthday week. they thought it was kind

of interesting, too, but then my mom pointed out that its not the only time i'll be

half their age. for instance, when they're 64 i'll be 32. that's not actually true at

all, but it took us all a minute to figure it out. sad, but true. and it gave everyone

a hearty laugh, so i'm glad that the math was wrong.

i began planning for my birthday about 2 months in advance when i booked a

flight to seattle to visit my friend katie stewart. "friend" is a pretty weak description

of what she actually is to me, but i'll explain all of that in another post that will be

strictly dedicated to our recent adventures. the trip was the weekend before my

birthday, and it was a big, big hit. the best start to a birthweek i could've asked for.

or given myself.

the night before my birthday, jenkins took me on a rachel-rachel date to

see the new footloose. it literally took every fiber of my being and ounce of

willpower that i had to keep from dancing in the aisles. especially during this

scene. thanks to a loving heavenly father we got to enjoy kevin bacon in the original,

but i seriously loved this movie and can't wait to own it so i can

learn all of the dance moves in my living room. not all remakes are garbage.

point in case.

i had to work on the actual day. comes with being a grown-up, i guess.

but i did treat myself to a pumpkin pie blizzard from dq on my way to

watching this athletic specimen play some flag football in a work league.

hate to see him go. love to watch him run away.

we went out to the johnson's lovely new abode for a birthday feast after

the game. thanks to pinterest, michaela was inspired to enlist jeremy in helping

her whip up a culinary masterpiece. it was fancy and delicious and i loved it.

we all did. and jenkins even made a pumpkin-flavored dessert that knocked all

of our socks off.

that night richard surprised me with a present, which was a fun surprise

seeing as how seattle was kind of a huge one. he must love me or something.

the day after was a friday, and i got to spend it having a sweet reunion with

some of the best friends i've ever had. i met 3 of them in 6th grade, we picked

up a 5th member in 9th grade, and the rest is history. there will also be a post

dedicated to this hilarious night.

when richard asked what i wanted to do to celebrate my birthday, only one

thing felt right: the drive-in. we got take-out from my favorite ogden eatery

(sitara india) and cuddled the night away in the back of the kia while watching

some cheap flicks, with our buddies only a car away. the johnsons joined us

again, and i'm so glad they did. good food, good friends, good cuddling - that's

all a girl really needs on her birthday.

and family. a girl needs her family, too.

i forgot to mention that my mom and sister chelsa were out of town on my

actual birthday. i knew they would be gone, and that they probably wouldn't

have cell phone service since they were roughin' it, and i was ok with that. or

so i thought. if i hadn't talked to my dad that day i probably wouldn't have lasted

as long as i did, but as i was driving to richard's football game i started thinking

that this would be the first year of my entire life that i didn't talk to my mom on my

birthday, so i tried to call her. it went straight to her voicemail, and i began to leave

her a message. before i knew it i was bawling into the phone, having my first totally

pathetic moment as a 26-year old woman.

a few hours later, after we'd stuffed our gourds with michaela's fabulous dinner, my

phone rang and it was my mom. i ran to the other room so everyone wouldn't have to

witness the tears of relief and happiness when i talked to the woman who lovingly pushed

me out of the birth canal and into the charmed life i now lead those 26 years ago.

just goes to show you that no matter how old, a girl needs her mom.

a week and a half later we wrapped up the birthday festivities by celebrating

with my extended family. the presents were great, and totally appreciated, but

my favorite part of the night was watching this:

birthdays tend to be a time of reflection. about your life up to that point, and

maybe where you go from there. 25 was a good year for me - i resolved my

greatest regret in life (see the upcoming seattle post for details), i crossed some

things off of my bucket list (was part of a flash mob, joined a book club, took a

ballroom dance class with richard, went to hawaii with richard), started a career

that i love in my field of study, and got to visit my favorite place in the world

multiple times (nyc, duh), among other things.

i'm still convinced that age is relative and i can't possibly be this old. i don't feel old.

at least not until i actually think about how many years ago i graduated from high

school, or see how many kids my friends have already. being old is for the birds.

making 26 the best year yet is for m.e.

running amuck amuck amuck amuck on halloween

2011-11-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

i had great plans for richard and i to dress up in a fabulous couple's costume

for halloween this year, but like many of my plans often do it went up in flames

and this is what we ended up with:

a mexican hermaphrodite...

and a bearded pregnant nun

the holiday wasn't a complete bust, though (thank goodness!)

because we got to spend it with some of our favorite buddies from

our old married student ward:

tmnt a.k.a. todd, lacey and max geddes

the jex beekeeper and his lovely honey-bees

the stevensons were peter, wendy and tink

and dave was just full of happy thoughts!

isn't jovi the cutest little cruela you've ever seen?!

and we'd have had no excuse to dress up had it not been for these

swashbuckling hosts:

bro and sis smith

sis and bishop hansen

its hard to believe we've been out of our heavenly fake ward for a year

and a half! i still love all of our friends just as much, and the bishopric and

their wives still feel like family. as torked as i still am that the ward was ever

abolished, i have to say that i feel so lucky that we were ever in it in the first place.

it was a real life-changing blessing for us and will always be one of those special

times in our life and marriage that we will never forget.

there were some key players missing this year (boyers, nielsens, bates

colemans, etc.), but we have plans for a christmas party and new year's

rendezvous, so this was just the beginning of an incredibly enjoyable

holiday season.

fighting the foo

2011-10-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

earlier this month, richard's cousin john invited us to go to the foo fighters

concert with him and his wife jen. we don't only own one foo fighters

album between the two of us, but we love john and jen (and a free concert),

so of course we said yes.

we met at their house, with just enough time to rile up their kids

before the babysitter came over, and then headed to the show.

the husbands aren't allowed to be the only planners anymore because

apparently we were supposed to all have dinner together, but i never got

that memo and ended up making dinner before we left. jen and i will

be checking in with the masterminds for any future plans.

the tickets we had were for one of the luxury suites, but we started the

night down on the floor. the opening act was ok - nothing to write home

about. although, dave grohl did play drums for them!

we eventually made our way up to the box seats.

jen is really this tall.

we ended up knowing a lot more songs than we thought we would, just

like with U2 and kenny loggins. we had a rockin' good time.

dave grohl is amazing. they played about a million songs,

just like he promised they would, and he did a lot of screaming,

but you really couldn't hear it in his voice until the last song.

also note, he dances like a muppet.

they fought the foo until almost midnight, which means they played for

nearly 3 hours! it was a great show, but i think its safe to say that we

were all about ready when it ended.

the ericksons know how to have a good time, and we are so glad they

took us along for the ride!

bienvenido, hermana smith. adios, harry potter.

2011-10-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

richard's youngest sister, heidi, has been serving an lds mission in uruguay

for the last 18 months, but she is safely home in st. george once again.

we went down to see her arrive at the new st. george airport with the rest of

the family. we were so busy getting the house, welcome home banner, her

requested dinner, etc. ready that we missed her landing! her flight landed a

little early, and we got there right on time so she had to sit and watch the elder

she flew home with be greeted by his family while she waited for us. luckily it

was just a few minutes. we all felt so bad! but it was still a very sweet reunion.

here is heidi reintroducing herself to little araya.

heidi and megan's reunion was fun to watch - they are so close!

all of the siblings, minus austin who is still on his mission.

so, not all of the siblings, but a large majority.

the family. blood family, that is. scott and i married in, so we stayed

behind the cameras to catch all the action.

we had so much fun with the family (even though the little ones were

puking up their guts every five minutes). we loved hearing heidi talk

about her experiences, and having her pray in spanish. i'm sure there

is going to be plenty more to come that i don't understand between her

and richard. and austin when he gets home, too!

we went back down south the following weekend to hear heidi's

homecoming talk in church. it was wonderful! but you won't be seeing

anymore family pictures, because even though everyone believed that

was the main event taking place, tyson and i knew better. we both read

the harry potter book series (and i watched the movies) for the first time

this summer. tyson patiently waited for me to finish the last book, and then

he took me on a little date to see the final movie. i have to admit that there

were a great deal of tears shed during the last 2 books, and the last

movie...even though i was extremely disappointed in most of the movies.

all i have to say is that i've been a little lost since i finished the books. i'm

sure i'll recover. what a fun summer adventure i had, courtesy of ms. jk rowling!

god bless the u.s.a....and roosevelt, ut

2011-10-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

i was at phillip vaughn's house, waiting for him to give my friend

marissa and i a ride to school when i saw the plane hit the second

tower. and then we heard bits and peices of updates that day at school.

but the thing i remember most about those weeks and months after the

attacks is watching the news in tears with my parents as families posted

signs with pictures of their missing loved ones, or waited

for them to be found in the rubble. heartbreaking.

this year, on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,

my family took a trip down to sandy to visit the "healing fields."

it was a touching experience, and i was glad that we could pay our respects

and honor those who lost their lives, loved ones, livelihood, or sense of safety

on that day, which will also live in infamy.

hard to believe today that we also found and/or gained some things on 9/11...

a renewed sense of american pride

patriotism (regardless of your political party)

god

a love for our public defenders/employees

hard to believe because in only ten years we've forgotten that although we

got into a war that we didn't all agree on, we were able to get over

ourselves for half a second to work toward the greater good of our country.

i digress...

this was a good day. even though we were remembering something

horrible. hopefully we'll be able to learn more than violence from

our past. because i tend to think that if we continue to live in a world

where the villains with money face no consequences and our politicians continue

to win with campaigns promising that they'll vote "no" no matter the issue just

because the guy who proposed it is represented by dumbo rather than an ass

that history will probably be repeating itself somewhere down the road.

i have hope that things will change, because for awhile there they did.

a few weeks after our trip to the healing fields, i took a little trip

to roosevelt, ut. not because its the number one tourist attraction

in the beehive state, but because i needed to spend a little quality time

with this lovely lady:

mrs. kaycee blake anderson, my dear best girlfriend from the good old

days of high school and club volleyball, where we wreaked for days and

sang our conversations to the point where we nearly lost all of our other

friends.

its funny (and sad, sometimes) how things can change between friends

after high school. but i have to say that this is one friendship that has only

gotten stronger. not because its been easy...we haven't lived within 3 hours

of each other in over five years, but that's what the phone is for!

we're still in pretty different life phases of life, too, but that's how you know

its true love!

i went out to roosevelt to spend the weekend with her, her husband and little

boy, and the other little guy who is due to arrive the day after my birthday.

it was great - watched a bunch of youtube videos that made us laugh until

we cried, we spent money our husbands will never know is missing on antiques,

she made some delicious food for us to devour, and we watched

the U wipe their behinds with the byu football team. what more could a girl ask for?

well, i thought nothing until i saw that the leaves were starting to change color

on my drive home (yep, i risked my life to take this picture out of my car window

rather than pull over. smart.).

the real start to my favorite season reared its beautiful head,

and then my perfect weekend was complete.

cutting in foot loose in the danger zone

2011-09-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

one night a couple of weekends ago, we were heaven-blessed with free

tickets to see one mr. kenny loggins live in concert at the layton city

amphitheater. the night was beautiful - jacket weather is my favorite! -

and we got to sing and dance the night away. who could ask for more?

waiting for the show to start...

we had some fun conversations

and when the lights came on we took a little trip to pooh corner...

made the most of the fact that we were in the danger zone

and cut it footloose

and when the show was over we celebrated ourselves home, reminiscing

on the perfect night to end a pretty fantastic summer, and to ring in what is

shaping up to be a pretty epic autumn.

i tend to think that i would've enjoyed myself at this show even if i was solo,

but i know for a fact that being part of a duo with richard made it far better.

an equation worth memorizing:

richard smith + kenny loggins (in layton, ut!) = the night of a girl's dreams

a labor of love

2011-09-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

this was labor day last year:

fast forward 365 days and we have little elijah morgan front and center.

last year we were all spending the holiday weekend at richard's parents' house

when megan went into labor - it was seriously one of the most exciting nights ever!

this year we went back to celebrate eli's first birthday in style.

we spent some time at the farmer's market

played in the park

tyson and i took a quick trip to the ministry of magic

and then all but queasy richard took a spin on the carrousel.

took a nice dip in scott & megan's heavenly pool

congregated around the fabulous firepit that dale gave himself for

his most recent birthday...happy birthday to us!

and then got down to business with the presents...

i think he liked ours the best.

we loved spending time with the smith side of our fam for this monumental

occasion. eli's first year on earth was a hit, and scott & megan's first year

as parents was a huge success. we couldn't possibly love the 3 of them

any more than we already do.

...and the livin's easy

2011-09-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

summertime.

its officially over, but here is some proof that it actually happened:

the sheep-herding side of our family had some visitors from tex-ass last month,

so we decided to welcome them on the high seas of jordanelle, like the pirates

we are. it seemed fitting since the best week of all of our lives happened together

on a cruise 3 years ago. we were missing some key players (richard, in particular),

but we were still able to have a helluva good time.

although we have varying shades of skin (and hair), we do in fact come

from the very same gene pool.

so do they. for a good time, you can still call my mother and her sister, dayna.

chow is so adventurous. she jumped right off the boat...

but then had a hard time getting back on...

so, being the oldest sister, i took it upon myself to help...

no matter what it took.

don't worry, she got over it real fast.

georgia and shirl run a tight ship, but they're a good time, too.

like mother, like daughter.

even though you might not be able to see it.

the love in our family crosses barriers everyday.

i wouldn't enjoy sitting next to just anybody in byu apparel.

just my grandpa.

another greatest hit of our summer was finding a prime spot for two of

our favorite pastimes (snuggling and watching movies, of course)...

the drive-in

this summer marked our very first trip to the riverdale motor-vu,

but definitely not our last!

feliz cumpleanos, ricardo...bailamos!

2011-09-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

richard had a birthday so long ago that it seems like he's practically

29 already. not really, but this post is long overdue.

its only taken me a little more than 5 years to say this with complete

confidence, but on august 2, 1983 richard smith greeted the world

with a face that probably looked something like this:

i don't know why, but until recently i kept thinking he was born in '82.

dumb. i know.

anyway, his birthweek started out with pizza for dinner and a ksl special:

his very own secondhand nintendo gamecube. he looked a little worried

when we had to travel to a sketchy part of ogden to pick up his "surprise,"

but it was worth having him think that his wife had become a

drug-runner for ten minutes.

on tuesday - the actual birthday! - i gave him yet another surprise:

ballroom dancing lessons. kidding? not even a little bit. here is the

voucher i bought online with a groupon (with no consent from richard):

and here is the bloody toe you'll get if you do the same thing to your

husband on his 28th birthday.

it wasn't really that bad - we both loved our 6-week class! our teacher's

hips moved like gumbi's, and we made some fun new friends. not to

mention, we now have samba moves that will shock and amaze everyone

who knows us. it was so fun to get out of our regular routine and learn

something new together! plus, it's pretty sexy being able to really dance

with your husband - he's a regular gene kelly...only straight.

we did other little things throughout the week to make richard's birthweek

a special one (his big present from me was an i-pod touch!),

and we ended things on saturday with breakfast at the

ogden farmer's market. delicious crepes enjoyed right in the park.

and we washed them down with the best mint limeaide in the world.

i've always been one to enjoy a birthday, whether its my own or making

it fun for someone else. and i have to say that when you love someone as

much as i love my man, it makes you wish you had enough money to make

it an entire birthmonth. happy birthday, richard - 28 never looked so good!

a toast...to two-slice hilly

2011-09-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

i'm sure my book club wasn't the only one to read 'the help' before

the movie came out last month, but i'd be willing to bet we were the

needle in that haystack that dressed to the nines in our southern-est

60's attire, held a jr. league meeting luncheon, and then went to see

the movie after.

i've spoken fondly of our themed book club before, but this has been

the best so far. i raided my mom's closet to borrow my great grandma's

old jewelry - real pearl necklace, giant earrings and broach - and my

mom's old cat-eye glasses (classic!). not only was it fun for the bc meeting,

but it was great rummaging through all that history with my mom.

here are the girls. rachel's little sister dressed as our maid, and she even

spoke in a southern accent all night (my friend rachel is 2nd from the left.

i haven't started speaking in the 3rd person).

and don't you just looooove karen's hair?

it was a hoot to find actual recipes from the book's author to make for

our meeting...

minnie's caramel cake (that isn't even spoken about in the movie, but is

a pretty big deal in the book). i bought the cake stand just for bc.

deviled eggs...with paprika.

and lavender lemonade (not from the book, but i'd been looking for an

excuse to make it after buying the lavender at the farmer's market...

totally worth it!)

and the infamous chocolate pie...without minnie's secret ingredient!

as silly as this whole thing might seem, i'm having a riot.

as for my thoughts on the book and the movie:

i loved them both. read the book twice, and i've seen the

movie three times now, and each time i loved each one more.

there were certainly differences between the two, but i wasn't

at all disappointed in them. celia foote was my favorite character

in both book and movie, and i couldn't bring myself to hate hilly holbrook

in either of them. i don't think she was right, but i think she believed that

she was, and that's what was sad. the movie made me love the relationship

between aibileen and mae mobley even more, and they are what made me

a sobbing mess at the end. i'd recommend the book to anyone, and even

richard liked the movie enough to see it twice.

so, a toast: to themed book clubs, and two-slice hilly!

you can visit me in the heights

2011-09-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

when we move to brooklyn. i've decided that when we live in new york,

that's where it will be. specifically in brooklyn heights, which is where we

spent our last morning in the city. i fell in love. we both did.

we were both pretty wiped, but not enough to waste the few precious

hours we had left. after richard peeled himself off of our delightful harlem

bed and pulled himself together we headed to the heights.

ever seen 'moonstruck' with cher and nicholas cage? no?

well then, snap out of it! its a classic, and in my opinion one of the few

(very few) great nicholas cage films. anyway, this is the house that cher's

family lived in in that movie.

we weren't sure if the fallout shelter signs are up to date, or

remnants from a time gone by, but either way they made us feel

both safe and worried at the same time.

we had brunch at a lovely cafe just around the corner from

cher's old house/my future home. it will be our weekend tradition.

richard was pretty hungry...

and so was i...

but he ate his food, my leftovers, and the rest of the breakfast dessert

that we just couldn't resist trying, and i think he regretted it just a little bit.

we walked it off on the brooklyn heights promenade, which is in so

many movies! this was one of richard's recommendations, and it was

a big, big hit!

our little camera might not be much, but richard can still make it do some

pretty tricky things. like how i'm in this picture twice? magic.

that view is one of the reasons i'll be living on this side of the greatest

bridge in the world. you can't see that from the middle of the city.

my sister was nice enough to support our habit of returning home from

our trips super late at night. who wants to come back to reality earlier

than absolutely necessary? no one, that's who.

although we were sad to come home, we are sure grateful for the reality

we have that allows us to go have great weekends like this!

another thing i'm grateful for is this guy:

not only does he understand my love for lots and lots of

cheese (clearly), but he is a major reason that i have so much

fun traveling (especially to this city!). he is my best friend, and

i think if you can say that you're married to your best friend

then you've pretty much got it made. even if you don't live

in new york. yet.

what do michael jackson, saurkraut, and the wonder wheel have in common?

2011-09-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

day 3 was a good one, filled to the brim with things we'd never done

in the city before. like i said before, you can go a billion times

and each one will be totally different!

we decided to explore the neighborhood in harlem that we stayed in.

not bad, definitely not scary like everyone always makes it sound, but

definitely different than what we're used to. i just wish i'd gotten a shot

of all of the wig stores - there were a plethora, all with faceless heads

that had horrible wigs on them. i also wish i'd bought one of them for

myself on the weekends. or at least halloween.

you could see the apollo theater from the roof of our apartment building.

in case you're wondering why this theater is so great, it helped a few

semi-popular stars get their start...michael jackson, lauren hill and stevie

wonder are just a few who got their start at the apollo's amateur night.

lots of cool art work on the sides of buildings.

we trekked it down to the lower east side to take a tour of the

lower east side tenement meuseum. we got to walk through the first

tenement/apartment building that was built in manhattan. made me think

a lot about the show "who do you think you are" and the movie "far

and away." we weren't allowed to take any picures in the meuseum, but

the bakery - baby cakes - where we bought a pre-breakfast snack was

more than happy to let me take a photo with the golden girls.

after we walked about 50 feet from the bakery, we spotted a great

little place that was serving beautiful crepes, so we stopped for our

actual morning meal.

after the meuseum, we saw things in chinatown that we didn't even

know existed. cool things. i have got to read a real book about

manhattan because my guide book just doesn't cut it. which is weird

because you'd think a guide book would have the complete history of

a place, right? i know, i'm a genius.

we (I) then spent far too long looking for ny mets hats to wear to the game

as we cut through little italy to get to soho and to a train station that would

take us to the outskirts of brooklyn and finally to citifield.

richard got a little tuckered out and had to reboot with a slice.

this one definitely rivaled grimaldi's from our second vacay.

yes, it really was that cheesey.

after a long train ride we finally got to the game...at the end of the

first inning. but we did find some $5 hats right outside the gates...

the cheapest, worst hats in the world, but the penny-pinching gene that

is the strongest link in richard's frugal dna strands was more than happy

with the bright blue top-hat, and it was my fault we were late, so i didn't

argue for even a second.

richard didn't want to look at the camera because his nose was bleeding...

not really. but seriously, we were pretty stinking high.

thank the lord for saurkraut. especially on major league hot dogs.

the mets lost, but they had a pretty good comeback so it really was fun

to watch. i'm sure it would have been more fun watching the yankees play

(win or lose), but they were out of town that weekend. next time.

after the game, we headed to the one and only coney island. which is pretty

much a glorified state fair that is stationed at the southern tip of brooklyn all

year round. it took us 2 hours to get there because of subway line changes, but

it was totally worth it for the following reasons:

1. we got our fortunes from zoltar & scary grandma.

we both got literally the exact same fortune. from two different

machines, and two different highly trained professionals.

shocking.

when i said scary grandma, i meant it.

2. richard said he didn't want to go on any rides (he gets motion sick walking

down the stairs to our apartment), but i talked him into riding in one of the

swinging cars on the wonder wheel. he regretted it almost immediately.

i, however, think its one of the greatest things we've done as a married couple

and that our love is that much stronger because of it.

words don't even begin to describe our ride.

but the looks on our faces do.

3. richard smith was crowned mr. muscle after wrestling this greasy

character's arm to the table. that's right ladies, he's all mine.

4. and even though we'd been eating all. day. long. we had to try a coney dog

from nathan's, home of the annual hot dog-eating contest. the cheese fries

were also very enjoyable!

now, we've had some shotty luck when it comes to weather on a few of

our vacations (see nyc trip #1), but we literally missed hurricane irene by

only 4 days...coney island and the surrounding areas were evacuated for

that drama queen of a storm, and i am not even a little bit sorry that we weren't

there for that. i love me some coney island!

days like this...

2011-09-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

are why we'll keep going back again and again.

i started the day off kissing central park trees right on the lips.

richard made some new friends in the subway.

we enjoyed a stroll around bethesda fountain.

made our way to the loeb boathouse to eat brunch, but were accosted by disgruntled

employees on strike who would pretty much not let us in.

i was p.o.'d, my friends. and that's putting it lightly. i was not kind to the stupid

employees, but that's where richard balanced our little marriage out that morning.

he was very kind and rushed me to the nearest eating establishment in the park.

it's amazing what a little food can do for a girl's attitude.

happy wife, happy life.

we then made our way back to the boathouse (avoiding the picket line so that

i didn't have to go to the slammer for murdering someone on our vacation) to

rent a boat and set sail on the lake.

richard was a natural. kind of.

if you don't look too closely at the water, it really is beautiful!

we'd walked around the lake on our first trip, but it was so fun

to see everything from a different perspective.

i only rowed for a minute because i was getting us absolutely nowhere,

but it was a blast just to be out on the water laughing and talking with

my best friend.

it was sure nice of the city to have these watering holes around the city

seeing as it was bloody hot and insanely humid. pretty sure i didn't stop

sweating the entire time we were there.

slice #2

my first, but not my last, cannoli.

we just missed the opening of the new world trade center memorial, but we did

make a trip to the tribute gallery at ground zero. it was a very touching and

emotional experience, and it was like stepping into a time machine that took us back

ten years.

there was a timeline that included quotes of people and victims involved in the

attacks, as well as video being played of what things were like at the trade centers

before 9/11. it was kind of crazy to walk through this little museum with strangers,

crying with them. we didn't talk to each other, but i felt close to them because of what

we were experiencing together.

some things that were found in the rubble - much of it was from gift shops, stores,

and offices in the towers. everything still had ash and dust all over it.

part of one of the buildings

do you remember in the days after the attacks how people would make

posters with their loved one's information on it because they were missing?

i remember watching people just waiting at ground zero, looking for their friends

and family members, crying with my parents while we watched the news.

they had walls and walls of those posters in the gallery.

fdny uniform

there was a room that held small tributes made by friends and family for the victims

of the attacks. lots of pictures, letters, mementos. all of it was very touching.

oragami cranes that were made and sent to nyc from school children in another country

to tell the community that they cared about their hurt.

i'm really glad that we got to experience and learn more about that big

part of our nation's recent history.

found some sweet sculptures around the corner.

made our way to chinatown where we tasted a bit of fried plantain

and octopus from a street vendor. it pretty much just tasted like

old fry oil.

mosied over to little italy for some pastries from my favorite bakery, ferrara's.

then headed to our go-to hole in the wall, sal's...

where richard enjoyed one meal to stay...

and one to-go.

we jumped on the train to brooklyn to go to coney island, but the minute we

got there black clouds rolled in with some killer wind and rain, so they closed

the place down. perfect timing.

so we got on the train back to manhattan and found ourselves seeking refuge

from the storm in a trendy little chinese restaurant that we had absolutely no

business being in. remember on date night when tina fey and steve carrell go to

that restaurant where they stick out like sore thumbs? that was us.

and just like in the movie, we loved every minute of it!

they asked if we had reservations. no. so they showed us to the corner ha!

the lights were super low, and red! and the music was crazy loud w/ lots of bass.

people were ordering some crazy drinks from the bar that you can see right behind me,

but not us. we stuck w/ water, which i'm sure is why our waitress loved us.

or maybe it was the fact that we only went there to order an appetizer. hmmm...

the food network has a show called 'the best thing i ever ate,' and on one episode

they showed these egg rolls that were mucho crunchy and wonderfully delicious.

well, we liked them a lot, but we loooooved the lobster cream cheese

sticks to the left better.

much better.

while we were inside the snooty-patooty brasserie, the weather gods

smiled on us and the rain stopped. so we headed down to walk across

the brooklyn bridge.

the perfect end to a fabulous day and night in the greatest city in the world.

new york state of mind...or i'm just crazy

2011-09-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

when i saw airfare to nyc from slc for $128 roundtrip in a travel newsletter a couple

of months ago, i thought to myself, "welp, it's been approximately 6 months since our last

visit...yeah, it's about time for another vacation." so i booked the tickets, and then told

richard the good news. and things worked out great because he was able to get the days

off of work, and he was thrilled...after a bit of convincing on my part.

we had a grand time on our third spin around the city - there was never any doubt in my

mind that we would. this trip was not only enjoyable, but eye-opening in multiple ways:

1 - after watching our home videos, we've both decided that i'm a little, how do you say, loco?

2 - we stayed in harlem - not scary, but a different experience than we've had in chelsea &

times square.

3 - we've now been to manhattan 3 times, and every time it has been a marvelously different

trip. sure, we hit some of the same spots, but this city has so much to offer that i don't

think it will ever get old.

we took about a trillion pictures (slowly but surely catching up w/ our nation's debt)

so here is just thursday/day one of our latest romp in the big apple:

richard had to renew his licence just days before we left.

this is my face when he told me that he'd forgotten to bring his passport in case

they wouldn't accept his temporary paper id.

even at the buttcrack of dawn he loves to tease.

my spirits were lifted after i'd procured the airport's breakfast of champions.

god bless cinnabon.

trying to sleep on the plane.

there was at least one screaming child on every flight.

birth. control.

this was our first time flying into la guardia.

we took the bus from the airport to our new home in harlem.

here i am anxiously waiting w/ my fare in hand.

we checked into our place (found here on http://www.airbnb.com/) & chatted w/ our hosts

for a few minutes, but we wasted very little time before hitting the town.

we were starved, and richard was craving some frrrrozen hot chocolate, so we

made our way downtown to serendipity 3. here's richard striking a pose in

columbus circle.

we put our names on the waiting list and went for a walk.

richard thought it'd be a good idea to get a slice of pizza as an appetizer.

please ignore my greasy

i've-been-traveling-all-day-but-don't-care-how-nasty-i-look-because-i'm-finally-back-in-nyc

face.

richard and his delicious omelette.

believe it or not, i put up a bit of a fight over this dessert.

richard's perfectly honed passive-aggressive skills won out in the end, however.

which is fine because i thoroughly enjoyed it, but this is the first evidence in our

video that i'm a little unstable...i went from making a stink about wanting an elaborate

ice cream sundae, complaining about how disgusting and gross i was sure the frrrozen

hot chocolate would be in one shot to: "mmmmm this is so good!" as i slurped that

hot chocolate like my life depended on it.

crazy.

the smile of a winner.

day one: a success.

summer sun, somethin's begun

2011-08-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

so, i was just thinking about how last summer was pretty epic...when

sir paul mccartney played a big part in it how could it not be?

but this summer's been ok, too.

not epic, maybe, but educational for sure.

here are just a few of the lessons i've learned this summer:

lesson #1 - shakespeare? not so much.

my uncle was in a production of shakespeare's "the tempest," which

i attended w/ my best guys. it was here i learned that a) my uncle tony

has a memory like rainman, and b) i may not really like shakespeare all

that much. i mean, i love romeo & juliet because i am really familiar with

the story, and the first time i saw any presentation of it a young leonardo

dicaprio was front and center.

i give my uncle two thumbs way, way up! as well as his cast. but

let's just say i won't be reading a sonnet any time soon.

lesson #2 - my gag reflex is still fully intact

richard and i met my dad in downtown slc for one of the twilight

concerts. it was great - we rode frontrunner down so i could read

harry potter on the way, we had dinner w/ my pops, and then headed

to the park, so things were off to a great start. didn't last long because...

a) there were hookers everywhere. i'm talking serious working girls here.

you can see my father wasn't quite as disgusted as i was.

b) as i was in the middle of deeply enjoying my bear country cookie,

the girl sitting next to me decided to lean towards me and toss some

nasty cookies of her own. no joke. laid right on over and hurled in the

grass.

i immediately commenced gagging while dragging the boys to a different

spot on the lawn. in my mind that girl was a hooker, too, because she

screwed me out of finishing a perfectly delicious cookie.

my sister sarah showed up and gagged when i told her about my

traumatic experience, so that made things a little better.

she has that effect on most things.

more sarah = more better

lesson #3 - richard is a rockstar...and so are my parents

of course, i'm talking about richard's musical ability when i say

this about him. he's been able to play some shows this summer,

and is almost done recording his own acoustic album.

he's simply wonderful.

and when i say this about my parents, i'm referring to the way that

they always show up to support richard at his shows, baseball games,

etc., etc., etc. (i know that's not correct. if you don't know 'the king & i

then that's your problem). i know it means a lot to richard, and it means

a lot to me, too.

i also learned that i'm not a big fan of zuppa's.

other than their desserts.

my book club is better than your book club

2011-07-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

hands down, that is the truth.

you might be asking, "but rachel, how can you possibly know this when

you know nothing about my book club?"

let me tell you...

exhibit a:

our first meeting was a tea party book club.

karen, the host (and genius whose brain child the club was) made

a plethera of fancy tea party treats, and also supplied hats and

gloves for all of us to wear.

this was the first sign that i 1) would love these girls and the club i

was joining, and 2) was about to have the time of my life once a month.

exhibit b:

the book we decided on for our first official month of book club was

beauty: a retelling of the story of beauty and the beast, by robin mckinley.

(worst book i've ever read, but i'll get to that later)

as we were discussing the book, and the club in general, someone had the

idea to not just have a tea party every month, but to make the meeting a party

with the theme of whatever the book was that we just read.

this meant that our next meeting would have a princess theme...

the wheels in my head started turning, and tears came to my eyes as i

began to think of the fact that i would now have an excuse to bust out

my old prom dresses and have some real fun.

not only did we dress up for this meeting, but karen (once again) went to great

lengths to make this a top notch gathering...the walkway was lined with candles

and roses (like in the book!), there were beautiful chandeliers hanging from

the trees (from the trees!), and someone had even painted a castle for a backdrop.

also note, karen had a culinary spread worthy of royalty (which we were that night).

we started the night as perfect ladies...

dressed to the nines, and enjoying every minute of it:

and then our true colors started to shine through the tule...

richard told me i make this face a lot.

i don't even know what to say about that, other than this: i only make that

face because of things that other people do. it's not my fault.

i twisted jenkins' arm so hard to wear that dress (and am very thankful she did),

but she did it in true jenkins style...with jeans underneath and a sweater over the top.

she makes this face a lot, too.

the hit of the night was karen's "too much chocolate cake"

which i like to call "bruce bogtrotter's chocolate cake"

like brucey, i could've eaten that whole thing!

and then we got down to business...

i seriously did not care for this book one little bit, but i still looked

forward to book club all month just for the dressing up and hanging

out with these fabulous women!

i know the idea of a themed book club is silly, but that's what i love about it!

this is an excuse to check out of being a "grown up" and be the girls

we truly are...vivacious, fun-loving, and always down for a good time.

i'm sure you can find each of our names on a bathroom stall somewhere...

which should probably be the new requirement to get into the club.

TyMo

2011-07-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

richard's younger brother tyson (middle name moroni, hence the nickname "tymo")

is 17 years young, and while he's been out of school this summer he came up

to hang out with us for a couple of weeks. he did dishes just about every day, is

hilarious, and gave us an excuse to eat out almost every night, so we were more

than happy to have him crash on our couch this long.

we watched lots of movies and ate lots of yummy food, and i even got him to

start reading the harry potter books with me. he has now left me in the dust on

#4 - he's starting #7 today! i love this boy.

here are some of the highlights from his visit:

numerous dinners out on the town...

here we are @ javier's

and @ rovali's

el matador

mikado...biggest mouthful of sushi ever ha!

porter family 4th of july extravaganza...

5k & red velvet cupcakes for breakfast. waiting for the west point parade

to start. best parade ever. except that old naked guy didn't make an

appearance this year. very disappointing.

i left the boys for a few hours to play some volleyball w/ my peeps.

sadly, they didn't take any pictures of what they did while i was gone...

they shaved tyson's head. bic'd it.

after richard broke his nose he needed to recuperate...so they went to the

driving range. i guess he thought he needed some extra protection after

his accident. to be honest, i'm surprised he's not wearing a helmet with a face mask.

a little happy gilmore action.

and then a stroll around our old stomping grounds (the mortuary) before

dale dragged tyson kicking and screaming to st. george.

tyson, we love ya, buddy! we're so happy you came up to

add a little somethin special to our summer.

young @ heart

2011-07-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

i tend to think that it was fate that brought rachel jenkins and i together

those 3 summers ago. we hit it off right away - within minutes of meeting

each other we were having deep conversations about the very important things

in life, including but not limited to: the gilmore girls, one tree hill, the orthodontist

we both despised, etc.

we only worked together at the spa for a couple of months, but here we

are 3 years later with a friendship just as strong (or stronger) than those with

pals i've known my whole life. it was fate, i tell you.

not only did we like the same trashy tv shows, but we have the same name,

and we both love birthdays. especially our own. being the occasional

attention-whore is yet another thing we have in common. this is what we did

for jenkins' big 2-4:

i caught her off-guard by arriving promptly to pick her up for our birthday date.

i'm usually late, but not for important things like birthdays.

i presented her with a few options for dinner, and she chose biaggi's

at the gateway since neither of us had ever been.

the service was horrific, but the food was delightful.

big cheesy portions...just how we like it!

and heavenly cannoli's to top things off.

we then strolled around to window shop (which is never as

fun as it sounds), help our dinner to settle a bit, and to

buy miss jenkins a new book to add to her collection.

i'm proud to say that i introduced the joy of reading for

pleasure to my dear friend. she has repayed me with an

addiction to grey's anatomy.

after our stroll, we headed to the theater to watch the latest and

greatest feature film, monte carlo starring the one and only selina

gomez. before you judge us, you should also know that we also watched

and loved the hannah montana movie, which we rewound numerous

times to learn the hip-hop hoe-down. we may be adults, but we won't

allow youth to be wasted on the very young who think those things

are stupid. they're simply missing out.

we considered the cannoli's part of dinner and stopped for dessert

at rocky mountain.

good friends are one of life's greatest blessings.

especially the ones like rachel jenkins.

right in the honker

2011-07-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

one week ago today we were at richard's baseball game in brigham city.

he was playing left field, and by the 4th inning had already made a few great

plays - including a sliding catch that would take your breath away.

during the 5th inning tyson (richard's brother) and i were both enjoying our

fabulous spot in the shade, and my attention was more focused on the current

issue of city weekly in my lap then on the game until i heard someone on the other

team hit a solid ball and tyson say "oh my gosh..."

at this point i looked up to see richard kneeling in the middle of left field with his

face in his hands and his entire team running toward him. my stomach jumped into

my throat, and i jumped to my feet.

before i knew it i was in left field looking at richard with a shirt being held over his

face by a teammate, and his hands full of blood. i didn't say one word. i just braced

myself for when they would pull the shirt away and his eyeball would be hanging out

of his face...luckily it was just his nose. i still didn't say much because the insane amount

of blood was messing with my gag reflex.

when i finally did talk, richard said "rach, did you grab the camera?!" ummm...no!

his stellar teammate took care of him while i got the car and drove it out onto the field

to pick him up and take him to the instacare.

here's the mvp getting in the car

soooo much blood. dag, dag, dag.

poor guy waiting for the doc.

he broke his septum. this can happen when you catch a ball

with your face.

he could still breathe, but was super swollen - he and tyson are

pretty much twins, so you can see how swollen.

over the next few days, the swelling went down, and the black eyes

got more colorful.

the black is turning green now, and the swelling is all gone.

but my baby is still mvp.

dirrrrrrty girls have more fun

2011-07-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

its funny to think about how much older i am now than i used to be. duh.

seriously though, i can literally catch myself laughing out loud at the thought

that i'm an adult...married almost 5 years, graduated from college, grown-up job

getting ready to buy a house (yikes!), etc...but these things make me laugh

because most of the time i just feel like a little kid still.

especially when i get to play in the mud with my friends.

this is the second year that we've played in the mud volleyball tournament

for south ogden days. we didn't win, but we sure did have a good time losing.

i love these girls. i love volleyball. and i love playing in the mud.

growing up's not so bad.

praise to the man

2011-07-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

My grandpa (Hyrum Smith Shumway) passed away earlier this year due to failing health. He was a great man and will forever remain one of my heros. His absence has been felt by all who knew him, but we know he is in a better place now, and his suffering is over. He overcame much adversity in life, as he was blinded and seriously injured in WWII. He created an unparalleled legacy and achieved more in life than most of us ever dare dream even without half of the disadvantages he faced. His funeral ended up being more of a celebration of his life and turned out to be a wonderful family reunion.

Here we are at little america taking a break from the road.

My grandpa received full military honors at his funeral.

Even after living in a mortuary for over two years and attending many funerals, I had never seen anyone do what we did at my grandpa's funeral. After the military honors were done, words were shared, and the grave was dedicated, my aunts bought markers so we could all write a little message to grandpa on his casket. It was probably one of the most touching experiences of my life - watching as everyone took their chance to write something special then go back around to read what had been written by the rest.

Somehow, my cousin Noah convinced me to let him bic my head. I'm pretty much bald anyway, so he didn't really have to prod much. We had fun, and to be honest, I would probably let him do it again.

Choco tacos were the cherry on top or icing on the cake if you will:o)

sister wife

2011-07-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

i knew there was something going on between richard and my great grandmother (grandma b.)

from the very beginning. when we were first dating i took him to meet my extended family

and when we left, she laid a big wet one right on his lips...in front of everyone. she's a little

trampy like that.

this was over five years ago, and things have only gotten worse. for example, she getting to the

point where she's kinda losing it, but for some reason she can always remember richard.

at every family function she only laughs at his jokes, talks to him, or is nice to him for that

matter - its like none of the rest of us are even there. and when she does acknowledge my

presence, its to ask him "who is that girl with you?" so funny, i know! and you know

that richard loves it and only eggs her on.

well, not too long ago she decided she wanted to reactivate and go throught the temple for

her endowment. the minute i heard this i told my aunt dayna,

"its probably so she can be sealed to richard."

i was right.

as soon as the session was over, while standing in the celestial room with my family, someone

came over and told us that granmda b. was going to be sealed to grandpa (who's dead) and

their daughters. only moments later, my mom's cousin lynette came over and asked richard if

he would be proxy for grandpa. i laughed far too hard and loud than what is appropriate in

the temple. but so did my parents. richard was thrilled. so was grandma b. i knew it.

the sealing was so funny because richard was milking it - holding her hand, puttin his arm

around her, touching her face - and she was loving every minute of it. the sealer had to keep

reminding her that she was being sealed to my grandpa and not to richard. classic.

i hate to say i told you so, but...

here's the happy couple:

grandma b. and her daughters - my fabulous grandma shirl is on the far left.

she's the greatest.

the whole fam damily

i'm mostly joking, you know. i really do get a kick out of the special "relationship" that

richard has w/ my grandma. they are so funny and cute...and a little weird. i mostly

just love the wonderful man that i married. and i knew how wonderful he was the first

time he met my family, and he didn't pull away or wipe his mouth after grandma b. was

finished with him.

here's to my new sister wife.

carpe this beautiful diem, baby!

2011-07-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

i don't know how she does it, but jenkins always seems to get the hook-up

when it comes to music. including concerts.

the latest example of this lucky ability was the fact that she scored us $20

tickets to see U2 just a couple of days before the concert.

my dad was sitting w/ me when she called to see if i wanted to go, and it was

really his excitement that made me want to go. i honestly couldn't think of

that many U2 songs that i even knew, let alone was crazy about, but a cheap concert

w/ my old man and best friend? i wasn't gonna turn that down.

boy, am i glad i didn't...

stopped for sustenance at paradise before the show.

thank the gods for those chocolate chip cookies.

waited for eternity to get on the trax, then squished in w/ strangers,

who now feel like close friends.

watched a real trooper get the wave going in that great stadium.

it was a grand time-killer.

i kept saying how stupid the stage looked...

and why would bono spend so much on something so dumb?...

and how it was the weirdest thing i'd ever seen...

then the show got started, and i still thought it was weird...

but then they started playing music, and my mind was totally blown.

i really did know lots of U2 songs!

and i'm not sure if it was the fact that it was live, but i LOVED all of the songs

i didn't even think i liked that much.

eleVATION!

dad had to bundle up to stay warm...

i was dancing all over the place and didn't need my jacket until the last 3 songs.

i take back all of my stage doubts and criticisms.

every. single. one.

jammed out with my pops.

yes, he joined me in all my dancing glory.

you can pretty much see my brains through my nostrils in this one, but i think

it further demonstrates how extremely happy i was to seize the day with two of

my favorite people in the world.

p.s. look up "rockstar" in the dictionary. you'll see bono in leather pants.

and the edge is my boyfriend. don't tell richard.