Weekend w/ Mom

This Saturday my Mom came up to visit. She got here Saturday afternoon and with cheese curd in hand, we started off our weekend. Honestly, we didn't do too much with the weird weather and Victoria's weird fever. Seriously, she ranged from 101-105 at one point in the middle of the night. That was all she had though, so we just gave her ibuprofen to help the fever and kept an eye on her.

But Monday, we had a plan for the day. We woke up to more snow - shocker! Victoria was staying home from school and Chris took off from work to stay with her so my mom & I could head up to Logan.

You see, Mom is an AVID quilter - seriously...she is always sewing something. So the purpose of our trip was to get her Bernina machine serviced. We got up there around 10 am, which was actually pretty good considering the snowy roads going through the canyon. The guy there was so nice! He took her machine right in & got to work. He knew she had come from Cedar so he gave her priority so we didn't have to come back home in between & back again.

We spent almost a good hour in there just looking through fabric. I resisted the temptation to buy any. We then took a walk up to see the Logan Temple. We were hoping to be able to go through a session but had found out that it is closed all day on Mondays. So we just walked around and took some pictures as we chatted.

We then headed off to have a little lunch. We stopped at the Copper Mill Restaurant in town. Yummers! They serve raspberry jelly with freshly baked rolls - every time! (They actually seated us at the very same table that Chris & I sat at when we were there last year celebrating our anniversary. What are the odds of that?)

After a delicious lunch we headed back to pick up the machine & then head back. We had seen a little honey store on our way into town, so we decided to stop by there on our way home. It was such a cute little shop! They even had a honey tasting station. I ended up getting a bucket of cache valley honey and a honey bear with Pomegranate flavored honey. It was so good. We are going to see if having local honey helps alleviate the bad allergy symptoms that Chris & Christianna get. I will let you know!

Will it EVER stop snowing??

Right after we had the garden tilled and ready to go - it snows. Crazy! It has been snowing/raining since...or at least it seems. So, we will have to keep you posted if we ever get anything planted!

Victoria says...

I was just reading through every ones blogs & was reminded about something that happened the weekend of our Vegas trip.



Like I mentioned, the girls stayed with my parents in Cedar for the weekend. We got down there late Thursday night, slept over & then Chris & I headed the rest of the way to Vegas. Well, on Sunday we returned & got an earful of the happenings for the weekend.



My Mom relayed a conversation she had with Victoria. This is the funniest thing!



Grandma says,"What should we have for dinner?"

Victoria replies, "What's on the menu?"

"I don't have a menu....I am not as organized as your mom..."

With a sigh, a shake of her head & most likely a little eye rolling, Victoria says, "Grandma, sometimes it is hard to think that she is even your daughter."



Can you believe that??

Backlogged....AGAIN!

Ok, my fabulous followers...I know it has been a bit lacking with my posts & I admit that I was well behind. Geez, you take off a couple weeks & your blog goes to pot! Well, I am experiencing some blogger regrets and I have spent most of my evening updating. I had alot to report! Some posts even ended up in my "older post" section. Turns out I hadn't downloaded a few things from early February!

Oooohhh - we have a garden!!!! (Almost)

You don't even know how excited I am to have my very own garden! It's not that we are just following the fad of recession gardens...I have always wanted one!!! I have waited so many years for this!!! Luckily, this year - we actually have a house, that came with a decent yard where we can have a garden.

We spent most of Saturday preparing our garden plot. We first had to figure out where the sprinklers were located - that was a pain. The pipe actually goes right through our garden! We are going to try to make that to our advantage & add water spout things so it can water our garden too. Our FANTASTIC neighbors, Heather & Aaron were SO MUCH HELP!! They were borrowing a tiller from her parents & we were able to borrow it as well. We decided on an area in the back east corner of our yard. (Chris really enjoyed spray painting the area dimensions. I told him that he should get some green & just spray paint the entire dead looking yard!)

Well, he tilled & tilled & tilled until his entire body shook all on it's own. Just kidding - he had no idea that it would be so much work. So, I made him fresh lemonade to help ease the disgruntleness of it all. I kept pumping him with it until the task was over. We have the most monstrously THICK grass ever.

I worked the rake in between all the tilling to get out all the clumps of grass. I know it doesn't sound like too much compared to the tilling, but I was seriously close to a blister on my right hand! And I don't care how ridiculous I looked in my hat. At least I didn't have a beet red face the next day. Besides, I am in the market for a really BIG BRIMMED one.

After the tilling was done, Christ took a trip to the hardware store for some manure - yummy, right? Then he tilled just a little bit more to mix it all together.Christianna even helped out a little with the raking. I found it funny how the rake is positioned in the second picture!

Now all we have to do is actually plant stuff!!!

World Music Benefit Concert

We had a great time Friday night! My very good friend, Kayla and her husband were putting on a benefit concert in Salt Lake. The girls and I headed over around 7. All the proceeds will be used in early April to put in two bore holes which will provide sanitary water in two remote villages in Ghana, Africa. This will help between 300-400 women and children in Alantaso and Krobidawisakyi villages get clean water! All means all too - all the performers donated their time, the place where it was held even donated it - so there was absolutely no overhead!

(One of the performances were a belly dancing group. One of my secret passions is to learn how to be a belly dancer and totally ROCK at it.)

I had talked with Kayla only a little about what they did - but after checking out their websites & the video - I am TOTALLY amazed!!! They are both amazing people & I am so glad to be counted as their friend!

I tried to download the video right onto my blog, but it wouldn't work right....So - Check out the YouTube Video about the projects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k3z_sjbTqc

Also, check out their website - there are African drums and other awesome stuff for sale to help the foundation and if you scroll down a little - it includes their personal story and their efforts in setting up their foundation.

Top of the day to ya'!

In full St. Patty's Day style - I finally took down my valentine heart decorations out of the windows...at about 10:00 am TODAY!

You know - looking at it now...you wouldn't think it took me about 40 minutes to color that on our windows. But sad to say, it did! I am very pleased with it & I am hoping it brings a smile to any Irish & Irish -at-heart walking past our house today!

Here is your dose of Irish Folklore for the day:

Leprechauns

Very small sprites who sometimes live in farmhouses or wine cellars. They are known to aid humans and perform small labors for them. Sometimes they ask humans for supplies and furniture, for which in return they give objects which bring luck and fortune. Leprechauns are called fairy cobblers, for they make shoes for elves (but always one shoe, never a pair). They are seen quite often by humans and are described as merry little fellows gaily dressed in old-fashioned clothes; green, with a red cap, leather apron, and buckled shoes.
When they finish their daily tasks, leprechauns like to organize wild feast, during which time they are referred to as cluricauns. These (often drunk) cluricauns can then be seen riding in moonlight on the back of a dog or a sheep.
According to popular belief, a leprechaun possesses a treasure (usually a pot of gold) which a human may obtain if he succeeds in capturing one, which is extremely difficult. Even after capture, a person may not take his eyes off of him for an instant, for then he will vanish. Leprechauns are mainly found in Irish folklore.

Good luck to all you Leprechaun catchers out there!

Go n'eiri an t-adh leat

(Good Luck!)

Las Vegas: The Fun Never Ends!

Hello sin city!

This weekend marked our annual exodus to Vegas.

Not the Vegas you know? Well, this is about an hour and a half west of Vegas, actually. This is where MY story begins. (But I will get back to me in a moment.) Chris participated in the Baker to Vegas Relay Run. That is, Baker CA to Las Vegas, NV it covers 120 miles. The stretch is divided into 18 legs. Chris had his leg in Pahrump again and it was 5.3 miles long. (Enough to kill me, if I had tried to run it!)

It really was beautiful, in a totally desolate kinda way! Let me introduce Angie. She is pictured below with me. We were driving partners. You see, the team had a bunch of last minute cancellations & they apparently needed runners and drivers - so that is how we both came to be a part of this. (Chris was also supposed to be an alternate but was assigned to run.) So we both got roped into more than we bargained for - Angie & I had a "shift" of about 12 hours. That was the time leaving the hotel to the time we returned. Normally - if I go, I am there for support....as in "Go babe! You are doing AWESOME! WAHOO!!!" While I sit comfy in the back of the support van for about a half hour or so.

After a short discussion about my ability to get car sick with the slightest things, I was designated official DRIVER. YES!! (I really like to be in control.) Angie was labeled the "HELPER." She was in charge of writing down individual stats, manning the short-wave radio and occasionally a water passer. (The writing/reading thing would have made me hurling in no time.) Now, my job was to do the following: drive the van behind each runner - not too close, but pretty darn close, keep an eye out for upcoming runners, straddle the white line on the far right, come up on the side of the runner periodically to check on them so they could get water etc. and while doing all that - make sure I didn't run into any other vehicles or people! It is harder than you think - trying to maintain the steady speed of approx. 6 miles per hour with a runner on the side of you, making sure you keep pace and do not drift away or into them so they can hand water bottles in and out effortlessly - is truly a learned skill. Fortunately, I did AWESOME!! I didn't even run into any reflector poles on the side of the road. (Unfortunately, the driver before me did! She totally scratched the crap off the right side of the van!)

This is a video of Chris running. You can hear that stinking radio going off - can you imagine that for 7 hours in the van? All the support vehicles had the radios so they could communicate where runners where and when it was safe to pass, you know - in case your runner passed theirs. We had about a half hour of quiet - until we realized that Angie was sitting on it & that the batteries had died!

I know that I probably broke a handful of traffic laws to get that video - but I knew how much it would mean to all of you! Did I mention that I had 2 other cops in the car with me?? He, he...

And this picture was actually in the Deseret newspaper in Salt Lake!! He had just finished up his leg. Pictured from left to right: Police Chief Chris Burbank, my Chris and Steve Winters heading into his leg.

In case you were wondering...the team placed 10th in their division again. (The team picture will be posted once I get one.) The girls were spending the weekend with my parents and pretty much, besides the race...we barely left the hotel! We didn't even go anywhere on the strip. You know what? I was REALLY ok with that.

Christianna's Spa Moment

Every week Christianna gets a little container of fruit or veggies to bring home as a snack. I like the program because she has tried lots of different things. Well, last week she came home with cucumbers. I think she ate at least one & then today - she laid down on the floor & I found her like this!

The things kids pick up, right? I am pretty sure this one is thanks to High School Musical 2. Her only problem with her "spa" experience was that they kept sliding off her face! Probably didn't help that she couldn't stop laughing!

Thank you to today's "SPA MOMENT" sponser: Northstar Elementary.

The new products are here....

And they are fabulous!!!

The day started as any other day - but it just kept getting better & better!!

First, Chris was off - so we were able to spend some wonderful time together. After Christianna got home from school, the 3 of us got some groceries. Then after Victoria got home, they went to play with their friend - she had been on vacation for a week & just got back the night before.

Now it really gets good - about 4:00 pm a WONDERFUL local Girl Scout called & dropped off my COOKIES!!! Bring on the Thin Mints & Samoas, baby!! Really, my day could have ended right there and it would have been great.

About that same time, I got a call from the sweet lady who will be watching the girls for us Saturday night while we attend a Ward dinner. YES!

Now here is the finale - I had an open house/boutique in my house from 7-9. There were shoes - yes SHOES, Lia Sophia Jewelry & ....the new Spring Pampered Chef Products! My favorite has got to be the new Pineapple Wedger! Think of the apple wedger we have & just think - BIGGER, LOTS BIGGER! It is fantastic! The great thing about the open house is that people came! I honestly think that it was the shoes that drew them here, but it is all good. It turned out to be a fun night with some great friends!

I am including a demo of that wedger so you can see the awesomeness for yourself!

(If you want to check out that pineapple wedger & the other new stuff - check out my website! I am taking orders for the show until Wednesday. www.pamperedchef.biz/nicolefairall)

Shouldn't have bragged...

Well...not too long after that fantastic weather, we woke up to this. Granted, it was beautiful to see the icy trees during my morning walk with Minnie! I got the camera out as soon as we got back and snapped a few outside.

This time of the year is always interesting and- may I say- CRUEL?? Teasing us with capri wearing weather, just to throw in a little ice & snow. "Just kidding there folks....get out those hats, mittens & scarves - we are not done YET!" Oh well...it will soon get warmer and warmer and eventually too stinkin' hot to even go outside. Then I will be hoping for some snow! I know - I am looney. I do love all the seasons, even though I am a little complainer right now.

One more bummer with this flip-floppin' weather is that I always get sick! It is just my throat right now, dry & coughy. I just tend to get bronchitis when it's like this. Seriously, I get like this 2 times a year - when the seasons change from hot to cold and back again.

It's 55 degrees & it's going to get better!

It is BEAUTIFUL outside...a little windy - but GORGEOUS!!

Don't you love it when it warms up a little so you can open some windows to get out that stuffy house stink?? I have a few open and a nice breeze is blowing through. It is supposed to get up to 65 DEGREES today!!! Just thought I would let you know!