WICKED and then some

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2009 Yesterday, Judy and I flew to San Francisco and saw Wicked at the Orpheum Theater on Market Street. I enjoyed it a lot though I couldn’t understand what they were saying a couple of times at the beginning. Between that and wanting to relate it to the surprise ending, I would like to see the start of it again. We stayed at the Parc 55 Hotel which wasn’t too far away but just far enough and cool and windy enough that Judy decided to take the taxi to and from. Before the show we went to a large nearby mall and looked around. We also went to Macy’s and Crate and Barrel. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel. Expensive but, oh well! We tried to come home on a seven something flight this morning but the earlier flight canceled and everyone was “protected” on our flight so we ended up on the ten o five flight. At least on that one we got first class seats. The earlier one didn’t have a first class section.

EGGS-STRAVAGANZA

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2009 A few days ago when Niki had the flue, I was taking care of Alexa and Gavin so she (Niki) could get some sleep. I was making scrambled eggs to feed the kids. Two and a half year old Alexa was at the island counter on a chair next to me and when she saw me crack open the first egg she asked if she could do it. I told her yes and she carefully cracked open one egg and handed it to me to finish opening and drop its contents into a bowl. She did this three or four times, each time as perfectly as I would have done it. I had some cheese to mix into the eggs but Alexa ate most of it before it made it to the frying pan.

BUSY DAY

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009 Judy flew to Minneapolis this afternoon to see her mother. She is coming home Sunday morning. To facilitate this, I drove her to work this morning, babysat Alexa and Gavin while Greg and Niki went to Greg’s great-aunt’s funeral then drove back downtown, got Judy and took her to the airport. When Niki told her she was leaving, Alexa threw a fit. I even suggested perhaps she should take her with, but they weren’t gone long when Alexa announced, “I’m not sad now” or was it “I’m happy now!” (I forget which.) At any rate she was good the whole time her parents were gone. She fell asleep twenty minutes or so before they came home. Gavin didn’t wake up until 11:40 or so. Niki was sure he would be awake around 11:00. He was happy-smiley the whole time. I fed them Mac & Cheese though Alexa decided she wanted cottage cheese instead and ate a good helping of it. Gavin didn’t eat a whole lot. This evening I did an hour in the neighborhood pool, the first time I have done any exercise to speak of for a month or so, thanks to bad weather, my being out of town a lot and sometimes just not getting around to it.

YUCKY POO--SHE HAS THE FLU

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2009 Yesterday Corey was in Las Vegas and Stacey had to work so I picked Jayden and Bailey up after school and we drove to Niki’s to visit with Alexa and Gavin. Bailey especially was good with the kids. Jayden was more interested in playing video games. Niki had an upset stomach. At 5:30 this morning, Judy woke me up, said that Niki had the flu and wanted me to take care of the kids so she could get some “real” sleep. By the time I got there she had added a migraine to the problem. I took care of the kids, played with them and fed them. I also unloaded the dishwasher and did another batch. I also did a batch of laundry—towels. I had a 9:40 doctor appointment so I had to excuse myself early. Hope everything is OK! OH! Today is Stacey and Corey’s wedding anniversary and as I said he is out of town so he arranged for me to get her some roses. When I showed up with them she was certainly surprised and delighted. Everyone will be home from Vegas tomorrow.

"WHERE THE GEESE and the ANTELOPE ROAM"

Monday, April 20, 2009 When I was returning home from running a few errands, there were exactly twenty antelope in the field on the north side of 400 South near Saratoga Road, in other words just two blocks or so from the house. Tuesday, April 21, 2009 See yesterday. This evening there were approximately thirty geese in about the same location as the antelope I saw yesterday.

WHIRLWIND CALIFORNIA TRIP

Sunday, April 19, 2009 At 6:45 this evening I arrived home from the Stars California Regional competition in Valencia, California. I drove from about 5:45 this morning Pacific Time though I did make stops along the way. Thursday at about 7:30 a.m. I left home driving to California. I refueled in Mesquite and continued on to Primm, Nevada where I stayed the night. I could have continued on but I needed to pick Judy up at the Burbank, (Bob Hope) Airport at around 9:30 Friday morning and the hotels are cheap in Nevada Sunday through Thursday nights. I had prepaid for a room online for $38.98 including tax at the Primm Valley Resort and Casino. It was not the classiest place I have stayed in but not the worst either. I went to bed fairly early after a soak in their hot tub and asked for a 5:30 a.m. wake up call to get to Burbank on time for Judy arrival. How did we ever get along without GPS navigation? I hardly had to think except for the one glitch. When I programmed in the Burbank Airport my TomTom directed me to Downtown Burbank instead. After finding my way back onto the I-5 northbound, I watched for the signs to direct me to where I needed to go and everything was OK. I was only a little late for the pickup and Judy needed to make a pit stop anyway. The competition seemed to go well. Judy mentioned one minor glitch in the computer program and quickly got it straightened out thanks to a phone call to Loretta. I worked admissions with Holly’s mom and Dad and of course helped set up and tear down. Friday noon, after a visit to Stars Headquarters in Santa Clarita, Judy and I ate barbecue at Rattlers near the studio. That night and again Saturday after it was all over, we ate at Claim Jumper. I had never eaten there but Judy, Corey (and his companion) and Niki had when Corey was on his mission. Both places had good food and generous proportions. We stayed at the Embassy Suites Friday and Saturday. It was a really nice hotel with a “living room” and a bedroom. Saturday before going to bed we hit its hot tub also. On my way home I was already getting tired by the time I reached Primm. I had to make a stop at the hotel and retrieve my pillow I oopsed and left Friday morning. I had made a phone call, they found it and had it waiting for me at Security so it was a quick in and out today. By the time I reached Mesquite I was really feeling it (grogginess). But after refueling and a chicken wrap at Popeye’s I continued on. By the time I reached St. George I knew I was in trouble and half way between there and Cedar I pulled off the road for about an hour and nodded on and off for a while and then slept for a good half hour solid. I needed it though I was still not in the best of shape. In Cedar I got a chocolate shake at Arby’s which helped slightly. In Beaver I stopped at another Arby’s (I got out of the car and went inside at that one) and got an Italian sandwich and a medium diet Pepsi and after fifteen minutes or half an hour I perked up and was good for the rest of the drive home. Quite the whirlwind trip!

SUSHI and LIBERTY LAND

Monday, April 13, 2009 Corey called and asked if I could be with Jayden and Bailey while he went to an appointment. The kids are out of school all this week for spring break and Stacey was at work at FedEx Kinko's on 12300 S. in Draper. We, along with Jim, Greg and Danny Palmer met at Simply Sushi for lunch. Jayden was very adventurous with the raw-fish sushi as well as California roll etc. I was a little hidden from Bailey so I’m not really sure what she ate. I drove to Simply Sushi with Jim in his new Honda Civic Hybrid; really nice. It is black with tan interior. He got it a couple of days ago. I drove back with Corey and the kids in Corey’s new Toyota Tacoma; again really nice. He has had it for a week or so. On the way back to Wendy’s in Lehi where I had left my Camry, we stopped at Quality RV and looked at trailers. It would be fun to own one. At one point Jayden was getting bored, wanting to get to Liberty Land, and declared, “I’m a real man. I want to live in a tent!” At Wendy’s, Jayden and Bailey got into my car with me and Corey went to his appointment on Fifth West in Lehi. The kids and I went to Liberty Land on Third West where they rode on the roller coaster (Jayden only, Bailey was afraid.), Bumper boats, miniature golf, lazar tag, go carts, airplane ride, ship swing ride, Merry-go-round, rock wall climbing, frog hopper etc. They both fell in love with rock wall climbing and did it over and over. Both of them struggled but both persisted and a couple of times reached the top and rang the bell/pushed the buzzer. Bailey conquered a lot of fears today. I took Jayden to Liberty Land a week or two ago but only for a short time and he didn’t get to do much. It was also cold and rainy outside. Ever since that time both he and Bailey have been on my case, reminding me I promised to that them there again. Promise kept!

HODGEPODGE

Saturday, April 11, 2009 Several days ago I went to the lab and had blood drawn. Today I received the following from my doctor/nurse practitioner. “Fred, You are looking Great! Keep up the good work. Shelly” That is a complete 180 from the first of the year. Good for me. Today was the dress rehearsal for the ward choir’s Easter performance. It went well and afterwards, as always everyone and their families came over to our house for a brunch and as always there was a ton of food left over even after a lot of the people took their dishes home with them. All of our family except Stacey who had to work came over to eat after everyone left. In fact Chris, Jim, Corey and Niki came early to help with the brunch so that when the ward showed up everything was ready to eat. I guess Sierra, and perhaps Austin and Molly helped too. Later we lit the candles of a birthday cake for Austin and he got a few gifts. He will be fifteen tomorrow. We also put $.25 in each of a bunch or plastic Easter eggs as well as candy and hid them in the basement for the kids to find. Chris jokingly put $500.00 in one egg and made sure Sierra got it. You should have seen the look on Austin’s face when he saw the money. Sierra was in on it and gave the money back to her dad. Chris installed the new kitchen facet that Judy bought several months ago and has been behind the door in the laundry room forgotten. As a chance I happened to think about it today and Chris jumped right on it. It looks nice. Thanks Chris

STILL MOVING IN...still haven't closed...hmm

Friday, April 10, 2009 This is Jim’s weekend to have Austin and Molly, and since it is Easter, Sunday, there was no school today so he picked them up last night and brought them out. This morning Niki called and asked if I would go to her new house and put away clothes. There were, and still are bags and bags of clothes in the house and in the garage to be gone through. We put on hangers and hung up a bunch of Greg’s shirts and pants and some of Niki’s stuff. Sorting through Alexa’s old clothes, we made a major pile of things she has out grown; I would say there was at least enough to fill up two large black garbage bags. Alexa is now a 4T. Tomorrow there is a Deseret Industries drive in their area so we made a big pile on their front porch. I hope they do come to pick it all up. There is still a lot of stuff in their garage including ten or so large bags of clothes yet to be sorted and taken care of. Molly went over there with me and baby sat which took a lot of pressure off Niki and me so we could do the work. The mess in the upstairs playroom was driving Molly nuts so she cleaned it up on her own. Alexa was asleep when Molly and I left (she chose to take a nap on her own) and when she woke up and discovered Molly was gone she started bawling. Niki called and put Alexa on the phone with Molly and I guess that alleviated the trauma somewhat.

PIPE DREAM?????

Tuesday, April 07, 2009 Feeling sorry for myself. Here I sit broken hearted Came to poop and only…well, you know the story. The other day my Jim and I were in Brent Brown Toyota in Orem looking at hybrids. Jim is badly in need of a car. While we were there the salesman showed us a 2002 Toyota Avalon; mint condition-drives like a dream; only 80,000 something miles on it, driven by an older gentleman who traded it in on a new car. I went back in today and talked to Bob Sanders, one of the head salespersons. With my Camry as a trade-in I could get it for $7,000-7,500, an absolute steal. It is much nicer than the Camry and should last twice as long. The only problem is coming up with $7,000-7,500 plus tax and license. I really SHOULD get it but how? It is such a nice car. Alas!

MOVING DAY NUMBER ONE

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 Niki and Greg have yet to close on their house. They thought it would be as early as last Wednesday but they keep having it pushed back on them. It is now looking like tomorrow or Friday. At least they got permission to move their stuff into the place. They need to return the truck and trailer this afternoon. Problem number two The carpet layers were, as of today still laying carpet. They had said it would be finished Monday, the day before yesterday. In their defense there have been just the two of them, James Bjork and his helper. Today as they frantically labored they were both covered in sweat. So, we moved everything into the garages, one double garage and a single attached garage. That means this weekend and, I am sure, through the following week and probably later they/we will be moving stuff into their individual places in the house proper…Moving day(s) number two. The hugemungiously big-heavy office desk which, thankfully only has to go into the room which is just off the front door, is going to really be a chore. I recommend renting two, four-wheel dollies, placing one under each end of the desk and wheeling it out of the garage, down the driveway, down the sidewalk that goes along the front of the house and down “their” sidewalk to their front door and from there, manhandling it into the foyer, around the corner and into the office. Whew, that makes me tired just typing it. On a lighter note it was wonderful to see Greg and Alexa reunited after the week and a half or however long it has been they were separated while Greg was in Queen Creek getting ready for the move. Greg’s father Dave flew down and helped him the last few days and put his back out when it came to moving the previously mentioned heavy desk from the Scottsdale office to the trailer. The truck was the biggest one U-Haul has plus the trailer plus what I brought back in our van a couple of weeks ago. Whew again! Niki, Alexa and Stacey made a pizza run to Little Caesar’s and diet or no diet I ate a couple of pieces. In total there were the following helping with the move-in; Greg, Jim, Corey, Stacey, Bryant Llewelyn, Danny Palmer and me. I hope I didn’t leave anyone out. It was funny in a way. Everyone had their cell phones and they kept ringing with work stuff from their fellow employees and clients and it chewed up a lot of time but I am glad business is going so well that, that was necessary.