And the Nightmare Continues...

After this I will save you from the frightening mental images....

Whenever I go to the gym there is this older man, meaning probably in his 50's that really must think he is something special. Or in other words he must think he is quite the "hottie with a naughty body" but oh boy is he wrong! He walks around in skin tight and short tight fitting black biker shorts during his work out. I mean really! It makes me want to spill my cookies just thinking about it! I see him all the time and it makes me just roll my eyes and look the other way.

Do people just honestly have no conscience these days? Since when is it okay to let it ALL hang out?

The only thing I can say positive about spandex is this: it embraces everything from the good, the bad and the ugly! And as of the last week or so, it's definitely embracing the UGLY!

Ugh, Here We Go Again...

I must have some kind of tendency to seeing things that are quite unpleasant lately.

I took the boys to Wal-Mart today for our weekly trip to the grocery store (which I always spend way too much) and the trip went really well. I buried Hunter in the grocery cart with groceries to the point that I HAD to take him out because it wasn't fun anymore. He was MUCH improved with his mood when I did take him out. It wasn't until the end that I saw her....

I was walking with Hunter holding one hand in to the parking lot and one hand on my grocery cart (filled to the brim including the baby in the cart seat) and saw this middle-aged lady that when I saw her from the side, and looked between her waist and her knees, I swear I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between her gut and her butt. Bless her heart, she looked like a giant basketball with legs. The only thing was that she had the guts to wear black shiny spandex pants, and a black and white striped t-shirt.

Yet another image welded in to my brain..... oh joy.

Jogging Just Shouldn't Be Traumatic

This is my 3rd post today but I just HAD to mention this because it was so gross!

I am jogging each day in order to build myself up again for the 2 forthcoming 5k's that I am going to run next month. If you want to join me just let me know!

Anyway I was jogging around my neighborhood when I came across a man that was in his late 50's or early 60's and looked to be about 14 1/2 months pregnant who decided to strike a pose while bent over in his garden wearing daisy duke denim cut-offs! (that's a serious run-on sentence but I just had to get it all in there!) So I nearly tripped over my own two feet when I saw this, while also doing a double-take. I don't know WHY I felt so inclined to look twice but I think it was more or less the shock of it all! I am shocked that I am not blind from this! Heaven's to Betsy that is a nasty image forever seared into my brain!

California Livin'!

The total love of my life and I on the pier!

I have to say that our trip was an amazing one. I got to see the hundreds of wonderful reasons why people love living life in sunny Southern Cali! The beautiful mountains and beaches, the spectacular climate, the FASHION, the flowers and trees. Well, just about everything California.

Saturday was when we were left to ourselves to kind of drive around and see everything. We ended up taking I-5 up past LA to Hollywood and coasted up and down Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd and even driving down the famous Rodeo Drive where all the celebs shop. As I stated below Sunset and Hollywood Blvd's were nothing spectacular by any means. But Rodeo Dr was beautiful. It was also the place that the GAYDAR was roaring out of control. Brandon was driving and said that it seemed like there were a bunch of gay men couples walking around. I said that just because two men are seen walking together doesn't mean they are gay. Then I took a closer look, and YUP there were couples everywhere of both sexes. All I could think was that's not something you often see in Utah! I wasn't very bothered by it, because I don't judge people like that, but it was just something I wasn't used to seeing. Then we passed a store just outside of the shops that was called "Love Connection" with yet another FREE HIV TESTING neon sign and couldn't help but think of the Hillcrest part of San Diego, or the Montrose part of Houston!

We just had a fantastic time and I am thankful to have had the chance to go. We came back refreshed and ready to tackle anything!

HAHAHA oops! We came out on the other side from underneath the pier only to find this sign! (for those of you that REALLY know me, this SO should not surprise you!)
Walking under the pier was a little creepy, but also very cool to hear the water crash between all the wood posts! Oh and there was a million oysters that had super-glued themselves in little colonies on all of the posts!
This was taken REALLY closed to the pier and I just thought it was a little funny.
Funny thing that this incredibly good looking guy came up to me and asked me to take a picture of him! ;) The Santa Monica Pier!

This is the Santa Monica beach! It was an absolutely spectacular day!


This was a neat fountain on the temple grounds! One thing that is for sure is that the Church doesn't hold back in honoring the Lord with such incredible but simple beauty!

I really liked this picture!
More pretty flowers!
It's not every day either that you come upon a freakin' Rolls Royce in a temple parking lot!
I loved these flowers so much I had to take a picture!
We took a turn down Santa Monica Boulevard and without even trying to look for it, we came up on the LA temple! It was huge! I loved it and the grounds surrounding it!

I thought it was cool that we came across the classic Beverly Hills sign! Needless to say the area was absolutely beautiful! I loved the trees and what few homes we actually saw! Oh and every other car was seriously a BMW, Mercedes, Range Rover, Lexus, VW, Hummer, etc.
We came across this store and just HAD to take a picture of it. I thought the name was hilarious but then took a second look at the "FREE HIV TESTING" neon sign. It's DEFINITELY not everyday you see that. All I could think was "welcome to California".


I have to say that compared to all the glitz and glamour that is portrayed as Hollywood Blvd, the real thing is really nothing special. There were many of the regular everyday stores that you see in any other state. But it was kind of cool to see the Kodak Theatre.
I think this is Hollywood Boulevard. There were tons of people. We realized that there was a long line of people camped out on one of the sidewalks waiting to buy New Kids tickets!
I saw this building (notice the all too classic California graffiti beneath) and had to take a picture! Too weird!
Coasting along the Interstate 5 we saw this so I had to act quick to take a picture!
One of our first glimpses of downtown LA. It had some really cool buildings! And we were lucky to never get stuck in what is the infamous traffic!

At the Huntington Beach Pier! It was VERY cold and windy! We couldn't believe there were people surfing and swimming! Luckily the days after this one were much warmer!

Right before we got to the HB pier, there was this artist that could do some of the coolest spray paint art I had ever seen. He did different things in just a matter of minutes. It was awesome!
The giant advertisements in Cali were not something that we were used to seeing!
This is one of the first pictures we took while in Huntington Beach, CA. It was so funny! "brandon coming out of the closet".

Vegas Baby!

We decided that in heading to California we would take an extra day to split the driving time up. We were able to use our time share and stay a night in Vegas. We left Tuesday afternoon and arrived late in Sin City. We srove through the strip to see the lights, and made it to our hotel. The next morning we took the time to see the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. Being non-gamblers/drinkers/smokers and seeing the sights in Vegas we were able to enjoy the architecture and beautiful buildings. Someday I would love to have the opportunity to see a cool show in Vegas because that is really the only thing I would do there! The only thing I would have changed is not having to breathe in all that 2nd hand smoke in the casinos. It gave me the biggest headache! We had the time to go to the forum shops to look around, but we didn't really go in to any of the stores. The only two stores I dragged Brandon in to were the Gap and Tiffany's. I LOVED the beautiful jewelry there!


My hottie of a husband! Man how I love him!

I loved this mosaic tile motif in the casino.




I saw this lady bug and immediately thought of my sister who loves them!

This is the garden room of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. It smelled wonderful and unlike anything I had ever smelled!

Happy Birthday Katootie!

Today is my sister's 30th birthday! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

I love my sister. She is one of the funniest, goofiest, and loving people that I know. Hanging out with her is absolutely NEVER boring! One of the things I love about her is her spunk, and how I don't know anyone else like her. She calls a spade a spade, and doesn't possess any qualms about telling you so. She has a way of saying things with her own twist on them that will have you rolling on the floor but also you'll find her own wit and wisdom woven in. One thing I will tell the world is that shopping is almost always fun with her, because Katie has great taste in clothes and would never let you buy something that would allow you to walk around looking like a moron. She'll tell you if something looks cute, or if it really does make your butt look big. (in my case it's always the latter!)

So there it is Tootie! I hope you had a great birthday!

Judgments

God gave me the opportunity to learn something valuable today. I think He knew I needed a swift kick in the pants when it comes to humility and not jumping to conclusions about some things in life.

I have found that I am one of those people that though I try very hard and definitely know better, I tend to make judgments about situations, people, or things that I see going on around me, or happening to me. One thing I know realize now more than ever is that I am undoubtedly, very fallibly and completely human! I used to be worse as a teenager but as I have gotten a little older I have become a little wiser.

So getting back to God kicking me in the patootie....

In my life both as a foster mom and having worked as a full-time interpreter, I have been able to meet and greet many new people. There are those people I would meet before interpreting appointments that I just knew they had a history or interesting story that made them who they are. Then there were the clients that I must admittedly say I was glad that I only ever met them once. As a foster mom I have gotten to know case workers, family advocates, etc. And today I got to know an incredibly brave person who shall remain anonymous, but who inspired me a great deal. This person taught me to not "judge a book by its cover". I now firmly believe in that dumb old cliche of not judging someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes. I have learned also that I have absolutely NO right to assume anything about someone because there is so much more underneath who they are or what they look like.

I also would like to say that I have had the wonderful privilege of reuniting with an old friend in the last couple of months. This has also taught me what I have mentioned above. I have found myself becoming a more loving, understanding, and forgiving person because of both of these situations and people. How much better life would be if people could just love one another unconditionally and without judging one another. This old friend of mine is very quickly becoming once again the best friend they once were to me. I absolutely adore her for the person she is, and the person she is becoming. She is also one of the bravest people I have ever met.

I can only hope that I will have these experiences as a gentle and reassuring reminder that I will go through life just loving people for who they are, and take the time to know them.

LA Here We Come!

Since the Utah Men's Basketball team did so well at their tournament in Seattle they earned their bid for the National tournament in Anaheim, CA. Originally we had planned that Brandon would probably fly out for that weekend, but plans changed about 2 or 3 weeks ago and I haven't posted anything about it yet!

Brandon and I were talking about his trip one evening after the boys were in bed, and as we got to talking he asked me if I wanted to go! Any chance at all of me going would entirely depend on being able to find what is called Respite Care for the boys. The foster care system recognizes that just as regular parents sometimes need a break to themselves on occasion so do foster parents when caring for foster kids. For every month that you have children in your home, you earn one day of "paid" days of respite care. Basically the boys are going to be left in another licensed foster home for a few days while Brandon and I take off for his tournament! I have already talked to the other foster mom and we are going to meet them some time this week to introduce the boys to her and her husband. We are super excited about this, and really hope it works out.

Some people might be thinking that we have only had the boys for 4 months and that I shouldn't be asking for respite care this early, but really, this whole thing has been overwhelming at times and I simply would just really like to be able to go and support my husband and his team, AND get the chance to go to my 2nd favorite state!