The Bethanator

One of my best friends, Beth came out to visit this past week. It was so fun to see her.


Here is the cake I made for Beth's visit to Arizona. I hope this is a more pleasant picture to look at than the rattlesnake. I have always called her "The Bethonator" for no real reason at all other than it just stuck one day.


Of course we had to make a trip to the mall. We made two trips actually. Beth is a great mall buddy because she never pressures me to hurry and make any rash decisions. She is good at entertaining herself while I take my dandy time.


Yahtzee is one of our favorite games we use to play when we were roommates back in the day at BYU. No one can play Yahtzee for as long as we can with out getting bored. The tissue in Beth's nose is because she had a cold and her nose was dripping nonstop.


I look a little annoyed because I am annoyed. I had lost eight games out of nine. I always win when Zac and I play, so I wasn't use to so many upsets. The saddest part about it is that I was seriously getting frustrated.

The few days she was here were so fun. I love having friends come to visit. Thanks Beth for coming to hang out with me.

Consider it a friendly gesture...

Day hike gone bad!!

About a week ago I had an afternoon off and debated what I wanted to do with my day. I've been wanting to hike this little mountain near our home for a while, but never do because I am too afraid to do it alone. You see I have this intense fear of snakes. I think my mom passed it on to me, but even seeing them at the zoo makes me cringe. The thought of running into one horrifies me. After much contemplation including phone calls to other friends who hike alone and my husband's reassurance that I will be fine, I decide to go. I am going to conquer my fear at last. As I am driving to the site of where my destiny awaits me I am feeling a bit uneasy. Thoughts are rapidly flooding my head with worst-case scenarios. As I arrive I notice there are not mnay hikers out, granted it is Thursday about noon. I say a little prayer that I will be safe and not have any snake encounters and head up the mountain. I decide to listen to my IPOD, quietly so I can still hear any rattlesnakes within a ten-foot radius. About fifteen minutes into my hike, low and behold, there is a sprawled out rattler across my path. I came about six inches from stepping on it. Just as I stepped close to it I heard the rattle and the tale kind of did a little swivel thing. From what I saw, the snake was about twoa nd half feet and two inched apart, but that was only part of the body. I din't see the head, darn!
I remember Zac telling me, "If you do see a snake, which you won't, just back up slowly and go the other way." Luckily I remember this wise counsel and I start to creep back a few steps before I book it down the hill as fast as I can. I wet my pants and rolled both ankles a couple of times, but I made it down alive. I was praying out loud that I would not run into another predator and that the one I just interrupted would forgive me.
When I called Zac to tell him the news, he didn't believe me. I've cried wolf so many times in our marriage that he thought I was just kidding with him. After much convincing and nearly yelling to get him to believe me, what does he do? He laughs, and laughs, and laughs. He thought it was hilarious and said, "Well consider it a friendly gesture of the snake to warn you that he was there."
What did I learn that day? Don't listen to your husband when it comes to overcoming fears. I should listen to my gut feelings and they were telling me the whole time not to go.

Oh yeah, since this experience I swear I've seen a hundred snakes in the road while driving, walking and I even thought I heard one under my bed.

Unfortunately the news on TV is a little too late because in the past couple of days I have seen three reports of people getting bit by rattlesnakes here in Arizona. They say it is snake season. That would have been nice to know a week ago.

The 16 Hour Visit

I got to see Sarah twice in a two-week period. This doesn't happen very often, I feel so priviliged. She just recently got engaged on April Fool's, so of course we had to have an engagament party upon her arrival to Phoenix. We went to kind of a random place for dinner that I heard was suppose to be really good. Turns out it was a full on sports bar with 30 plus big screen tv's decoraitng the walls. Big mistake to take three men here for dinner (Dustin, Isac, and Zac). We still had fun despite the "not so intimate" environment. We just had to use our playground voices in order to be heard.



After dinner we ventured over to what has become a tradition each time Sarah comes to visit, a trip to Wal-Mart. I had to think of a good reason on the fly in order to convince the guys it was a necessary stop. As you can tell in the picture below they were starting to have their doubts.



Luckily in the knick(sp) of time I thought of something brilliant. Why it didn't come to me earlier, I don't know. We were going to each pick something out for Sarah in order to celebrate her new future with Paul, her fiance. We only had fifteen minutes and what we came up with was rather creative.



Sarah was able to keep herself entertained by winnnig this awesome bunny in one of those lame little vending machine games at the entrance of most Wal-Marts. Don't feel bad if you don't recall noticing them on your way into the store, mostly just children under the age of five are distracted by temptations. Needless to say, I was there by her side the entire time coaching her with my best strategy to win. She says she owes it all to me, but I don't know if that is completely true.



So here are the products of what each of us gave her as a result of our mission to Wal-Mart:
Zac: a light dimmer
Isac: a measuring tape key chain
Dustin: A candle representing an eternal flame
Becky: a handkerchief b/c everyone says you should go into a marriage with your eyes wide open and once you are married, half shut. I figured this could represent a blindfold. I also got her a packet of sunflower seeds that represents their new life that is about to blossom into something even more beautiful than deemed possible and lastly, a small candle indicating their flame they make together. Dustin and I were on the same page on that one.

Anyways, sorry this turned out to be such a long blog, but I am just so excited for Sarah. She is one of my closest friends and for a long time I worried she would never find anyone worthy of her love. I am convinced Paul is the one for her just by the excitement she exudes whenever she talks about him.

CONGRATULATIONS SARAH!!!

My trip to Califronia

This weekend I got to go down to San Clemente to hang out with two of my dearest girlfriends, Missy and Sarah. It was a blast. Some of the highlights:


We had to make a trip to the Rainbow sandal factory so Sarah could pick up a pair of cute flip flops.


We spent a lot of time just reminiscing our college days and getting caught up on our lives.


We ate at a really good Italian restuarant called Selma's. We had to wait a while for a table so by the time we sat down we were starving. It was totally worth the wait though.


I have an addiction to Golden Spoon and of course there is nothing like it here in Arizona so I slipped out each night to satisfy my craving. Why there is no good frozen yogurt joint in the middle of the dessert is beyond me.

It was a really fun couple of days. Missy was kind enough to let us stay at her adorable new place. She is a great host providing us with yummy Trader Joe's snacks, great tortilla soup, blueberry pancakes and anything else we could find. Her baby, Avery is so cute and makes the sweetest face when you look at her. I didn't capture it unfortunately, but she definitely takes after her mother. I am so grateful I was able to reunite with such great friends for weekend.


After I met up with my parents our first stop was straight to the driving range. My dad is a bit obsessed with golf and tries to get the rest of the family involved with his passion. Kudos to him for trying right? He has provided all the necessary equipment for my mom, Carli and Justin to golf on the PGA tour. They have the custom fit gloves for Carli's short, stubby hands, shorter clubs and a fancy orange bag. Justin hits one in forty balls and my mom gets, well, a little frustrated when my dad tries to coach her. It is actually quite an exciting and borderline comical event. In fact, after two large baskets of balls, my dad slipped me a $20 and told me to hurry up and go buy another big basket before my mom reallized what was going on. He could golf all day long if we let him.



After spening a couple of days at Missy's I ventured over to my family's house for the rest of the trip. This is what I got to wake up to, Carli singing on the piano. Does Carli sing or play the piano? The answer is a simple NO!! She is totally tone deaf and she thinks the harder she presses on the keys the better she sounds. Poor Carli, at least she is really happy with her talents.


I, on the other hand, am extremely musically talented. Wait no, I am as bad as Carli. My dad wasa trying to show me how to play guitar one morning. It was pretty comical. Even he couldn't believe how bad I could be. He did not believe me when I told him I don't know how to read music. I have a new goal, learn how to play a few songs on the guitar.


On Sunday, Carli, my mom and I, all came downstairs in pink, not even planned. Of course I had to take a picture.


Some people think my dad and I look alike. What do you think?


Yes these are all my sisters and yes they are all pregnant. Sarah and Christy are due any day and Holly and Bethany are due in September. They are all having boys. It must be the season for boys huh?


Some of my nieces at the end of our dance party. They are a bunch of crazy girls.

The four days I was there went by way too fast, but I had a blast. It is always so nice to come home to a needy, lonely and deprived husband though. He always worships me for a few days after my arrival. I love it.