It's Spring!

I love Logan.  And I love the Logan Temple.  It was a beautiful day on Saturday to be in Cache Valley.

Carly is pretty adorable in her pigtails and daisy sundress. 

We Need a Little Christmas - Right This Very Minute

I am really negligent about taking pictures.  I always encourage other people to snap photos at family gatherings and then nag them to send their pics to me.  Maybe it's not the best system.  But I have some pictures I want to share from Christmas 2012.  As the Sesame Street gang would say, "Keep Christmas with you all through the year."

I would proudly claim that our reading of Luke Chapter 2 was probably the world's least authentic nativity.

 The sippy cups and cereal I get.  But bowling pins?  Really?  And we never could figure out why Tyler felt he had to roll up his pants when he put on Grandpa's "shepherd" robe.

 Now that is Christmas.
Also, Tay, I am getting you new socks.  Quite possibly today.

 The Originals. 

PS - I love my sisters-in-law.  They seem to be behind the camera in most of our Christmas shots. 

I will work on that.

 Family togetherness.  Sorry Ty, couldn't resist.

 I love that both Tanner and Lauren are clutching candy canes in our Christmas photos.  The rule in our family is that if you don't hang on for dear life to the candy in your stocking, it gets taken away from you and Aunt Traci eats it.  Not really.  But the kids seem to think that's the way we roll. 

Things I'm Excited About

There is a new Indian restaurant in downtown SLC.  It's a little pricey for lunch.  But the chicken tikka masala is probably the best I've ever had.

Also, after a 16 month detour, I have been asked to teach the CTR-6 Primary class.  This is the calling I not-so-secretly wanted after I left my Young Single Adult ward.  I like that in primary we get to eat treats, sing songs, and talk about how Jesus wants us to be kind to one another.  It's kind of a nice change from being in charge of Relief Society activities, where we get to have six-course dinner parties and talk about how, done properly, centerpieces can be celestial.

The Road Less Travelled

Does anyone else miss the good old days when the speed limit on the Frontage Road between Centerville and Farmington was 50 mph?  I don't know what population threshold we crossed that made it necessary to decrease the speed to 40.  But 50 mph is clearly the appropriate speed limit for the Frontage Road.  You just want to avoid the Frontage Road completely when you can't drive at a decent speed.
PS - Yesterday I had my two cutest passengers, Lauren and Elmo.  We were going about a block, so it was vitally important that Elmo be buckled in for the ride!

Not Again, Part 2

Well, I seem to have lost another week of my life to kidney stones.  I want to thank everyone who drove me to the doctor, brought me juice, and called or texted to check on me.  Hopefully you remember who you are because I, sadly, do not.

I want to apologize to the Urgent Care nurse who took it personally when I interrupted her introduction.  She was saying she was a nurse and not some person off the street and I may have responded, "I don't care who you are if you have Toridol."  Just a little kidney stone humor, but I could tell it didn't play well. 

I do NOT want to apologize to the three pharmacy techs at the IHC Clinic in Bountiful who clearly don't know how to do their jobs.  A couple of training issues.  1) The purpose of the "prescription drop off" process is that sick, angry people should not have to wait in line with other sick, angry people for 45 minutes.  2) Sometimes ER doctors will prescribe a higher dose of a medication than what has previously been prescribed by a primary care doctor.  This is called an "override."  Learn how to enter it into the computer.  3) Do not even consider telling someone with multiple kidney stones that you will be unable to fill their prescription for pain meds for another 10 days.  The patient will be dead in 10 days - and so will you.

I'm grateful to be back among the land of the living today.  I also am probably going to need a new pharmacy, if anyone has any recommendations.

Not Again

You know when you're going to Tai Pan Trading, but you accidentally take the wrong exit, and before you know it, you're driving towards the security barricades at Hill Air Force Base, where you know from past experience that they're going to treat you like a terrorist and not some silly girl who got lost and drove onto The Base?

10 Years and 5 Hours

Ten years ago today was my first day at American Insurance.  I'd answered a newspaper ad for a "document specialist" with excellent communication skills, survived a random interview process, and hesitantly accepted my first full time, grown up job.  I remember making the rounds and being introduced to my new co-workers, then walked into an office with a typewriter, a ginormous dictation machine, and a desktop in 80's mauve.  I wanted to run screaming out the door. 

Ten years later, I've moved out of "the pink office" and outgrown my Document Specialist title.  I sit in a comfortable office with dual monitors and a color laser printer I love, decorated with expensive artwork from a gallery in Park City and some of my favorite children's books.  I like my work, and that I'm good at it, and that I have skills that are depended on by others in the office.  I still threaten to run screaming out the door an average of once a week. 

The typewriter is gone now.  I may have thrown it in the downstairs dumpster in a fit of rage after I'd been passed over for a position I wanted.  Oh, the memories.  I bring my peanut butter bars in for birthdays.  I once lost my skirt in the parking lot.  I regularly answer the phone "Good afternoon, American Insurance" at 8:30 a.m. and hope the caller is from another time zone.  I earned my insurance license, my CISR and my Masters degree.  I no longer think of my job as that thing you do until you get married, and I make responsible decisions about health insurance and taxes.  I've learned to balance my emotions with my 401(k).  Sometimes.

I've learned that people who work on commission are cranky in high pressure situations.  They're nicer to their clients than they are to their co-workers, unless their co-workers learn to stay calm, cheerful and determined that they're not going to take any crap.  I'm Mormon in an office where it's easier to be neutral, and I'm ok with that.  I've learned to ask for raises and budgets with a solid list of reasons why these changes are justified and long overdue.  I weathered a recession, golfed at the company party, and learned you can just show up for dinner at the company party if you say you have fair skin and not that you don't like to golf.

Did I think I would work at American Insurance for 10 years?  No.  Will I be here 10 years from now?  I don't know.  But I'm here now and I work hard to contribute every day.  And I guess that's good enough.

Screwtape Letters

I keep meaning to blog about the play "The Screwtape Letters" that Tricia and I saw performed at Kingsbury Hall.  People speak so highly of the book by C. S. Lewis but (I'm going to be honest here) I've never read it all the way through.  It's kind of didactic and perhaps a bit boring?

However, it works great as a play.  The announcer who warned us all to turn off our cell phones got to say "Welcome to hell" in his intro.  Which is always a good way to start a stage production.  And the staging was funny, the lighting intense, and the dialogue thought-provoking.

“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”
- C.S. Lewis

Easter Sunday 2013

Twin Falls

Ashlee and I spent a much needed Girls Night in Twin Falls.  (Which is beautiful this time of year, in case you were wondering.)  Friday night we watched "The Great and Powerful Oz," went to Target, and stayed up visiting way too late.  Saturday we had Mrs. Powells cinnamon rolls for breakfast, went to the temple, had lunch at Chilis and hit the Magic Valley Mall.  Pretty much a perfect overnight trip.  Thanks Ash!!!