JACKPOT!

Well, my radio contest obsession finally paid off, and Adam and I are going to see GEORGE STRAIT on Friday! What a perfect birthday gift to myself, he he. I have always loved George Strait's music and can't believe I actually won the contest. Here's how it played out:

I was driving home from the bank and heard the cue to call KBUL 93 for a contest called "Guess the weight for Strait". I dialed the number once and got a busy signal, of course, so I thought "I'll try one more time". It rang and rang and rang and finally someone said, "Hi, what's your name and where are you from?" Since I've had experience with driving/refereeing screaming children/trying to concentrate on a contest, I pulled over, turned off the radio, and shushed my kids. I gave the DJ my requisite information and prepared to guess the weight of some random object.

Joe Johnson is the fat one...he he he.

Eventually, they asked me "How overweight is Joe Johnson?" (he's one of the DJs). My options were a)82 lbs. b)53 lbs. c)3 lbs. I had seen a picture of him years ago on T.V. and he was fairly portly, so first I thought the answer must be A. However, they quickly blurted out that he's only 5'6", so I guessed B. It was the right answer and I went crazy! When Joe said, "Yeah, I really do need to loose some weight," I responded, "Well, if your being overweight comes at the expense of me winning these tickets, be as fat as you want to be!" Now that I think about it, that was a pretty mean thing to say, but...oops! I was too excited to think straight, and now we're on our way to see Mr. Strait. Hooray!

Here We Go to Idaho

At 3:00 on Thursday afternoon, as we swam in our backyard, my mom called to see if we wanted to go to Rexburg in 15 minutes. We agreed, jumped out and dried off as fast as we could, threw some stuff into a suitcase, and before I knew it, my kids and I were strapped in her Suburban and on our way to the land of my childhood. I was excited to see my grandparents, the Liljenquists and Rydalches, to eat frozen yogurt at Millhollow, and to show my kids all my favorite places from when I was younger.

First, we made a stop at ISU in Pocatello so my sisters could hear their friends' concert on the quad. It was fun to see my old buildings (Liberal Arts and Social Sciences) and to let my kids run down the hill I had to climb every day to get to class. Then, we drove to Rexburg and crashed at Grandma Marge and Grandpa Vern's house.

The next morning, we ran errands, I visited Wal Mart which is the biggest store in town, and as much as I hate to say it, I was again reminded of how much I can't stand Rexburg now that I'm grown. Don't get me wrong...I loved growing up there and I have lots of dear friends and family in the area. I couldn't EVER move back there. It's just not my kind of place, you know?

After all the errands were finished, we loaded up and headed for Heise Hot Springs. This was my place of employment for six years and I love it! We swam for a bit and it was fun to see that my friend Brennan, with whom I worked all those years, and his wife are now managing the whole Heise conglomerate. Amber loved the water slide and she was like a little fish. I had to drag her out of the water when it was time to leave.

Angela and Courtney saved the day; they took Amber down the slide at least a dozen times!

The cold pool was still just as cold as ever...but it felt great on a 90-degree day. Rex liked having his feet in the water, but not much else.

Karli wasn't really interested in swimming that day, so she hung out by my mom and worked on her tan.

After swimming, we drove back to Rexburg and I began the arduous task of getting my three overly-tired children to bed. It took me four hours to finally get them all to sleep, and I felt so bad for my poor grandparents who couldn't get a moment of peace and quiet that whole night.

On Saturday, my cousin Greg married the darling Jen in the Rexburg temple and I attended the ceremony. I'd never been in that temple and it was so fun to see how beautiful it is! Also, I recognized every single worker there, which was kind of cool and creepy at the same time. After the many, many Mormon wedding proceedings, my grandparents Liljenquist met us at Porter Park so the kids could ride the carousel. It's a classic Rexburg attraction and went through a major restoration when I was 10 years old. I loved being able to take my kids for a ride on it and they had a blast!

Karli prefers the stationary benches, but Amber and Rex liked the tiny horses that moved up and down.

Rex made a new best friend: my Grandpa Vern. Every time Grandpa walked into the room, Rex ran to him and tried to climb up his legs to be held. It was adorable! Grandpa took Rex on the deck to swing, played hide and seek with the coasters, and offered about a million hugs to my little boy. They were darling together!

The very best part of the trip was when my Grandma Marge offered to make ebelskivers, a Danish pancake that is round and divine. Our family's ancestry is from Denmark, so these are a special treat in the Liljenquist family. When I was younger, we'd go to Grandma's house for a heritage lesson and to enjoy some of her yummy Danish cuisine. I've always wanted to learn to make them (it's a process!), so I had a lesson from the master chef herself. I even made an entire batch all by myself and they turned out to be delicious. I found a pan and brought home the recipe, so I'm all set to make them for Adam. YUM!

Ebelskivers...the best breakfast I'll ever eat.

Despite bringing home runny noses and sore throats and trying to function on my mom's schedule with three small children, it was a wonderful trip. Perhaps I'll go back in another six months when I forget again how much I appreciate living elsewhere!

Wow, I Really DO Have a Life

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted last; I completely feel like an old lady when I say, "Time is going by too quickly!", but it really is. We've had a fun summer so far with visits from Adam's sister and her delightful family, Adam's parents, my sister and her cute family, and lots of swimming. All this, plus lessons, birthdays, doctor visits and the like have left me reeling but having a great time. Hopefully I'll be more devoted to documenting these events for my posterity's sake!