Spring Break Fun

Josh is on Spring Break right now. Yesterday, I took he & Emmett to Idaho Falls. I dropped them at James' apartment & they hung out with him while I did some actual work, in the form of three inspections. We all met up for lunch, and then the boys went to see Percy Jackson & The Lightening Thief. Not having any interest at all in that movie, I took myself to see The Last Song. I have to say, I loved it. It is a movie I will be watching again & probably buying on DVD. It was a sweet love story, a father/daughter story that I found extremely personally touching, and really, could he be any more adorable????

Emmett's a goof



So after the movie, we went to this candy story called Sarah's Candy Cottage. The store is entirely devoted to candy. I hadn't been there in awhile & I knew that neither Josh or Emmett had ever been there. We walked in the door and there were shelves of candy EVERYWHERE. Josh & Emm's eyes got wide and they got these huge smiles on their faces! They were so cute picking out their candy choices and charming samples of just about everything from the lady who was helping us. The size of these lollipops made me laugh!


And since I had some grocery shopping to do, we ended our day at Wal-Mart. I swear, walking through the door turns Josh & Emm 5 again. But they make me laugh so hard. They head straight to the toy department. After playing a little bit of baseball with the bouncy balls, they found a couple of little kids who were willing to play with them. I think it's fair to say that Josh & Emm lost & the little kids won.







This was the two of them in the car on the way home. How do they always end up asleep at the end of a trip?

Have you ever seen horses like this?

I've been doing some traveling for work. I know, big surprise! I ended up traveling 3 days this week, which I don't normally like to do, but it was needed. Tuesday, I was in Ogden. They are apparently having some big rodeo there this summer & they had these really cool horses all over down town. They are all painted with different pictures on them. I thought they were so cool, I had to drive around the block about 6 times to take photos of them all!

Lizaology

I saw this on someone's blog & thought it was kinda fun! Let others know a little more about yourself, re-post this as your name
followed by "ology"

FOOD-OLOGY

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Kraft Tuscan Italian or blue cheese

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
So many to choose from! I love Olive Garden though!

What food could you eat for 2 weeks straight and not get sick of it?
ice cream--does that count as a food?

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
pepperoni or Canadian Bacon and pineapple

What do you put on your toast?
Butter or home made jam

TECHNOLOGY

How many televisions are in your house?
4--family room, my office & two of the bed rooms

What color cell phone do you have?
It's got change-able face plates, so the color can change, but I usually have either the red or the aqua--they're the prettiest.

What does the first text message in your inbox say and who sent it?
I know this is going to sound crazy, but I actually don't text!

Who was the last person to call you?
Cindy

BIOLOGY

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Left

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
Nope

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
The turkey that we cooked today for the farewell party we had at our house--nope, no new missionaries here--a neighbor's daughter is leaving.

BULLCRAPOLOGY

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
I don't think so. While it would be nice to be able to make sure that everything in my life is right before I go, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be doing that anyway, and I wouldn't want to have that hanging over my head all the time.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Oh man, if anyone had asked me that when I was 8, I could have come up with 100 answers, but now I like my name.

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
I think I'd say I would, but I don't think I'd be able to actually follow through.

DUMBOLOGY

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
One

Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
That would be when I was pulled over around Christmas time in 2007. I couldn't possibly have been going as fast as they said I was!

Last person you talked to in person:
Kathy

Favorite Month?
December

CURRENTOLOGY

Missing someone?
Not really, but there are people from Melaleuca that I miss seeing every day!

Mood?
Exhausted

What are you listening to?
My I-tunes

Watching?
Fox News is on in the background, but I'm not paying much attention

Worrying about?
Oh, there are always a million things I worry about.

RANDOMOLOGY

Whats the last movie you watched?
FireProof

Do you smile often?
Every day--Josh cracks me up regularly!

Do you always answer your phone?
No way! I hate the phone.

Its four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
See above....I don't really do text messaging

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
Just make them more bluer...

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic?
Cherry

Do you own a digital camera?
yes

Have you ever had a pet fish?
no--I have a hard time considering a fish to be a pet. But Josh had one until he killed it.

Favorite Christmas song?
I have a few songs but mostly Breathe of Heaven by Amy Grant

Whats on your wish list for your birthday?
Ok, this is weird. I really want a new cookie scooper to use when making cookies. Mine broke & I haven't yet found one I like!

Can you do push ups?
how many?

Can you do a chin up?
Definately not.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
In this economy, NERVOUS!

Do you have any saved texts?
Nope

Ever been in a car wreck?
Unfortunately, I have been in several

Do you have an accent?
I don't think so.

What is the last song to make you cry?
Christmas Shoes. That song kills me every time.

Plans tonight?
I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed early tonight!
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
All the time

Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
chicken food, paint, and a paint brush

Have you ever been given a rose?
yes

Current worry?
Money

Current hate right now?
Money

What song represents you?
Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Sleeping

What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
Crap! Do I really have to get up?

What color are you?

How fun! I saw this on Shamae's blog & had to try it!

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Hey, you gotta try!

This website is offering a chance to win a free handbag. They are super cute. You don't have to put any information except your first name and email address. Give it a try! http://www.handbagplanet.com

How Fun!

I saw this on someone else's blog & thought it looked fun!

The Great Melaleuca Picnic

So, today was the great annual Melaleuca Family Picnic. My company has a picnic every year for it's employees and their families. My company has about 2,500 employees, and let me tell you this...they know how to put on a party for their employees!!! We have our picnic at Mountain River Ranch, which is a beautiful ranch north of Idaho Falls. MRM puts on a fantastic BBQ for us. Then we're talking Melaleuca brings in great entertainment! There's climbing walls, carnival rides, trampolines, those big blow up games, volleyball nets, a water zone, and a dunk tank. There's cotton candy, slushies, popcorn, drinks, etc. All of this is provided as a free benefit for employees. What can I say? I love my company! How many companies provide this kind of benefit for their employees?? So, of course, to make Jenni happy, I have taken tons of photos!




So, let me explain this picture by saying that James' preferred mode of transportation is sleeping while someone else is driving! Since MRM is just over an hour from our house, James was asleep within about 5 minutes. Had to save his energy for all the fun he would have once we got there, I guess! Josh, on the other hand, prefers to spend the travel time playing games on his i-pod.

So, we got there early to secure our usual, primo place in the shade. As fantastic as the picnic is, MRM can get very hot this time of year. But, if you secure a place under the trees, then you are in the shade for the whole day & there's usually a fantastic breeze. Today was the usual & it was wonderful under those trees! In the distance you can see the tents they set up for people to camp out under(it's always hot under those tents) & even further in the distance, you can see the inflatable toys & rides & jumps that Melaleuca brings in.

So the photo below was taken from our primo spot...you can see the fantastic shade...we had that all day! Anyway, this is one of the tents with the cotton candy & slushies. You can see my friend Misty with her darling little boy, getting a big ol' helping of pure sugar in the form of cotton candy!So I guess I failed to mention that in addition to all the great games & toys that the company provides for it's employees, they also have this HUGE prize drawing for us. They have everything you could possibly want! I mean we're talking trampolines, grills, tents, i-pods, phones, digital cameras, games, cookware, kids toys, basketball hoops, airline tickets, trips, tools, and I can't even think what else. You can't see all the prizes clearly, but here's a photo of part of the prize table. The president of our company is like a kid at Christmas when it comes to the prize drawings! He is always the one who announces the winners. He just loves it. How many large corporations have a president & CEO who is as involved as ours? He's a terrific guy. Below is a photo of the masses of employees gathered around during one of the prize drawings. Believe me, this is just a small portion of the employees there today!
Ok, so one of the best parts of the picnic is that there is a dunk tank!! The dunkees are members of the Senior Management Team who are nominated by their employees. While I love watching the dunk tank, I am always glad that I am a step below this group & get to be a dunker rather than a dunkee! Below is my old boss, Nate, taking his turn in the dunk tank! This was his first year & as always, Nate was awesome about it. Except for the fact that when he saw me standing to the side laughing at him, he kicked enough water on me to drench me! Lucky for him, the camera was fine--his wife is expecting photos!
So, my good friend Shauna is in HR, who puts on this picnic for us. Somehow, someone chose her to be in charge of the hose during the dunk tank. Not smart...she got a little heady with the hose power & as a result, between her & Nate, I was almost as wet when I left the dunk tank area as I would have been if I'd been IN the dunk tank! However, I found out later that James vindicated my soaking...while he & his friend Nick were at the dunk tank, they wrested the hose from her & completely soaked her. Gotta admit though--it was hot enough that the water felt really good!One of the fun things about the picnic is the fact that Frank, our CEO, takes the chance to mingle with his associates. He's so busy throughout his regular schedule that he doesn't get to spend all his time at the office & doesn't get to know the associates the way he did when the company was still really small. It's great to see him wandering around the picnic, talking to a lot of associates, getting to know them a little bit. Below you can see him in the green shirt, visiting with a group of associates.The picnic is nothing but fun. But all that fun can really take it out of you! Josh had such a great time, he had to take a break & take a little nap!
After another terrific time at the picnic, we got nothing but happy & slightly tired campers on the way home. How lucky am I to have not only a great family, but a great work family & the opportunity to work for as great a company as I do?!?!