Flashback Love Story Version 2

I’ve never typed a single word on this blog however I guess it’s time I chime in for once. I want to tell Brandie, and I guess the world how much I love and appreciate her on our 17th Wedding Anniversary. To say my wife is beautiful would be an understatement we all can see that, but one thing most people don’t see is how beautiful she is on the inside. I don’t think there’s a more compassionate, forgiving, loving, or understanding person on the face of the earth. Brandie said that I’m her right hand, I guess if that’s the case she’s my right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, and well you get the picture. She is the glue that keeps this family together and strong. I want everyone to know that I never thought it was possible to love a woman as much as I love my wife. There’s not a single woman on the face of this earth that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. If there was ever a proper definition of Soul Mate it’s my wife.

I love you babe and I can’t wait to spend the next 17 years with you.

I think my neighbor is insane

On a day like today, when that sneaky little mother nature was kind enough to lay a foot of new snow at our doorsteps we all have the same reaction, don't we? Oh crap, I have to go out and shovel again. Well, I have found a diamond in the rough if you will. One who not only gets up at the ungodly hour of 6 AM to shovel his driveway, but has also been known to stay up until 12 midnight to do the same. He can be heard quite easily from my bedroom window so I am a very good witness to his insanity.

Today was a very special day for him. Not only was the snowfall above and beyond his expectations, but then a neighbor loaned him a snowblower and he was happily traipsing around the neighborhood for most of the day blowing snow hither and yon. Now I don't want to seem like a sourpuss, because he did manage to get rid of the 3 foot high speed bump I had left at the end of my own driveway. I am indeed grateful for that. But right at this moment he has surrendered his precious loaner, returned to the shovel and is currently removing the snow from the neighborhood basketball court. Just in case someone feels like shooting some hoops in 20 degree weather.

Last week was a slow one for him seeing as the weather was too warm for the white stuff. He spent his week shovel in hand, moving the snowbanks from the side of the road to the middle of the road so they could be efficiently squashed by oncoming cars. Do you see where I'm going with this?

The upside to his insanity is that he loves to make the biggest tubing hill in his front yard because he happens to live on a hill. I am indeed guilty of sending my kids out the door, dressed like Ralphie from 'The Christmas Story' and saying to them, "Don't come home until you have been up and down that hill 20 times or at least an hour, whichever comes first." I have often told the kids that they should really make that nice man a card to show him their gratitude.

I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures to accompany this rant. I believe I may get in a bit of trouble for that. (HIPAA law or slandering or something of the nature) Have a nice day and shovel on.

Flashback Love Story

On this, the 17th Anniversary of my wedding I find myself reminiscing about the love Wade and I have shared together. To say that I love my husband would be a bit of an understatement. I love my dog, I love chocolate, but I could give either of those things up with no repercussions. My husband though is literally my right hand. Sure, we have had some crappy times in our marriage. We made it through those times by finding some middle ground to meet on and never giving up. We always have each others backs (and fronts to if you know what I mean).

When I think about what life would have been like without him I literally cannot go there. My life would cease without him. He is my best friend, my lover, my partner in parenting, my soul mate, and believe it or not, sometimes my girlfriend if I really need it.

I know that in the last 17 years I have changed a lot. I have had 3 children move in to my body, take up residency for 9 months, only to move out and leave behind a little luggage. My husband still manages to make me feel like the prettiest girl in the world. I am secure in the knowledge that he will never trade me in for a younger model, and I hope he has that wisdom also.

I want to express to him this day how much I appreciate all the little things he does. Like going to work everyday, playing board games with the kids when i'm wiped out, remembering to not splash the bathroom mirror with toothpaste, sending me flowers unexpectedly, and most of all teaching our boys how to become men like him someday. I love you more than life, and hope you will never forget it.

We have had alot of 'our songs' in our romance, but this was our first.

Star Spotting

This month for 'Lindsay Day' we decided to go to Park City during the Film Festival to have some girl time and see if we could see a few celebs in the mean time. We started at the outlet malls and did some mad shopping for a few hours, then we moved on downtown for the craziness. I have never seen so many people dressed in black in all my life and I'm a Mortician's wife! Apparently everyone in Hollywood has a little something to hide beneath their slimming black outerwear.
This is my favorite picture of the swarm of paparazzi swirling around Paris Hilton. We were standing on the sidewalk when about 10 guys sprinted past us yelling "We've got her, here she comes!" Well, naturally we followed to see what all the hub-bub was all about and low and behold it was Queen Hilton herself. Hamming it up for the flashbulbs. Truthfully I felt a lot of sympathy for her, being followed like that, but then I remembered she drives a Bentley and quickly got over it. (No you can't see her in this pix. Just everyone else looking at her)

After all the excitement died down we posed for out own red carpet pictures. Some foreign guy offered to take it for us and made such a fuss that people were actually walking by saying "Do you know who those girls are?"

This is the best picture I could score of Nick Cannon giving an interview on a balcony. My zoom sucks. He was waving to the crowd and everything. We also sneaked a peek at Wesley Snipes signing a scooter for cancer research, Paul Giamatti walking down a side road all by his lonesome, and Dominic Cooper from Mama Mia. Quite an exciting little stroll!

This was our dinner at Cisero's. Yummy Italian food, flirtatious waiters, and most of all a warm place to sit for a bit. (Haley wasn't quite warm enough yet)

We of course had a total blast once again. Thanks girls and see you next month!

Ok losers, it's time to gloat

The post-game celebration

The battlefield before the showdown

Family joke (They called to tell me they just had dinner at the "Hustler". The sign says 'relax... it's just sex')

Street Fair



Wade and Luke are finally home from their excitement filled trip to the 'Big Easy' so it's time to talk about how astronomically good that game was. Now, I am quite willing to admit that going into this game even we were a bit nervous about how our Utes would perform against the awe inspiring Crimson Tide. After all, when you have a reputation that precedes you like they do, you're bound to be a bit gun shy on the trash talk. Well, not only did Alabama not live up to their reputation, but they barely even showed up for the game! After the first 3 Utah touchdowns in the first quarter I was literally pulling my hair out while sitting in some crappy hotel in Orem. At the same moment in time my boys were standing, jumping, screaming, and cheering on our team from the SuperDome. They report that not one Ute fan sat down for the entire game. To say it was incredible would be the athletic understatement of the year.
Some highlights from their trip are when the clearly enubriated Bama fan tried to pick a fight with Wade in the parking lot, when the clearly enubriated female Ute fan declared "we won the Super Bowl!" after the game, and when the local gal tried to tell Wade she could get Luke a fake ID so they could come into her 'special' club. He said there were about 10 bars to each restaurant so it was very hard to find nourishment unless you wanted it in the barley and hops liquid form. Obviously not the best vacation spot for the fam. Here is a video to make you feel like you were there, and some photo's to make us all jealous. The only thing he wanted me to include in this posting was this....

EAT IT COUGAR FANS! YOU SUCK!!!!!

Brandie in Real Life Day 4

Since this is the last day of my pathetic little vacation, it will also be the last day of this pathetic little journal. Must fill you in on the remainder of last night though. I was asleep at the decent hour of 11:00 only to be woken at 1:00 by Zac talking in his sleep, and 3:00 by Zac dancing with the floor lamp. Don't know what that kid ate before bedtime, but it's a no no. The game ended stupendously as you all know. My BYU friends know who they are and know if they owe me an apology. Ha Ha. I will post on the game when Wade and Luke get home with all their surely fabulous pictures.

Day 4 - Slept in a bit, grabbed our crappy continental breakfast, dealt with family emergency over the phone for a few hours, then hit the road. Our goal was Jumping Jacks in Springville for our final hurrah. I knew I needed to be prepared for that kind of insanity, so I grabbed some coffee at the Art City Coffee shop and a good book to take with me. Apparently it was white trash day at the Jumping Jacks (ha ha, I accidentally typed that Humping Jacks and had to go back and fix it) ((lonely wife syndrome)) because I have never seen so much camo and butt crack in my entire life. I grabbed the cleanest possible spot on the couch, away from all the snot-nosed brats bullying other children and hid beneath my pages. I courageously made it through 2 hours, the kids were done, so we headed home. Can I just jump on my soap box for a minute and say "For the love of god, could you please check on your kids occasionally as you while away your weekend at the local jumping place!" I don't know how many times I had to grab some BYU shirt wearing, dirty faced, holes in socks kid and tell them to not steal the balls that my son had just paid for to play basketball with! Arghhhhh! There I'm done.

When we arrived home from Orem which had absolutely no new snow, I was welcomed by about 6 - 8 inches in my driveway. I told Jake he was the man of the house and to get started. He didn't buy it so I had to gas up the old snow blower and do it myself. Oh, poor me. I realize how completely snotty that sounds. At least I have a snow blower. I am very grateful for it.

End of trip. End of Mother of the Year Week. Back to the bitter old woman I normally am.

Brandie in Real Life Day 3

First a few disclaimers. The reason there are no pictures to accompany these posts is because the camera is with the boys in New Orleans. They better be making good use of it. Secondly, after re-reading my midnight posts from last night I realized they might have a bit of a negative tone. My suspicions were realized when Wade called me first thing this morning and asked me if I was OK! I am much more mentally stable today, so here goes.

Day 3 - I finally got a bit of sleep last night, about 4 hours, so with good use of my laptop I came up with a game plan for the day. We headed off to the Lehi Legacy Aquatic Center. This place is awesome. Slides, lazy rivers, lap pools, basketball hoops, hot tubs, the works. All for $3 - $5 per person. We got so prunie we had to take a lunch break to let our skin return to its previous condition. We stole 4 hours of entertainment from them. That's about $1 per hour. Nice!

By the time we got home we were pretty bushed. I caught a 30 minute power nap while the kids played quietly (right, whatever) with their Nintendo's and PSP's. We had a nice dinner at Chili's and then retired to our room to watch the Sugar Bowl. Currently the Utes are ahead 21 - 10. Go Utes! I just hope they haven't peaked too soon. Men sometimes have that problem. Pace yourself boys. Slow and steady wins the race.
We're still tossing around a few ideas for tomorrow, the last day of our staycation. I'll keep you posted.

Brandie in Real Life Day 2

Ok so the speakers on my laptop just decided to blare out an Aerosmith song. Kids still asleep. crisis averted. It is now 12:45, still not tired.
Day 2. The kids requested some time at Chuck e Cheese before checking into the hotel so off we went, Emetrol in hand. They had $40 worth of fun and after a few crappy trinkets they were satisfied. We go to check into the hotel and I am informed that the pool is closed. What? You have to be kidding me right chubby red-headed boy posing as a concierge. That was my savior for hours and hours of effort free entertainment! I wanted to jump over that counter and lock him in a room with children for 3 days. I told him I would ask the kids what they think and let him know the verdict. They were tired of being in the car (it had been a whole 10 minutes) and wanted to stay. Their decision. (ps. dog is currently crying in her sleep) After about 2 hours of exhausting every toy they had brought along they were bored. Me too. We decided to move our day 3 activity up to day 2 and catch a movie. We went to dinner first (of course the place I had planned to go was closed. Who closes a restaurant on New Years Day?) We then went to see Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler. Normally a filthy mouth but somehow he reigned it in for the Disney bucks. Their favorite part was when the dwarf kicks Sandler. Go figure. None of the message hit home. We were back to hotel by 9 pm. bedtime. Here I sit trying not to wake my little princes with my typing. If you have any bright ideas to get me through the next 2 days comment them my way. I am running out myself. Must try to catch a few hours of sleep.

Brandie in Real Life Day 1

If you're bored read on, but please keep in mind that its 12:30 in the morning and I am on night 2 of insomnia.
Once in a while I get an itch to be that poster board mother. While Wade and Luke are out of town for the next week I got a hair-brained idea to take Jake and Zac on a little kid staycation to help pass the time. I thought I had covered all my bases by hunting down the best possible hotel in the area, the one with the indoor pool. Here's a recap of my last few days.
Day 1 - New Years Eve was spent planning out the perfect ring in the new year celebration for the little guys. Friends were secretly invited, games were picked out, junk food was stocked, video was picked up. I had the rest of the day to put away my Christmas decorations which I swear have been mating and multiplying in my basement. I have always taken pride in my 1 hour holiday decor. This year it took me 4. I have become my mother. Anyways, being the type A crazy I am, I simply couldn't just allow that faux tree to stay up for another week, so I enlisted the help of a neighbor boy to help me haul it to the basement. He escaped with only a few minor scrapes and bruises. Suck it up kid.
On to the party. The friends arrived on time and the kids were pleasantly surprised. They quickly wolfed down the 6 hours worth of junk food I had purchased and moved on to the 3 dollar package of 50 glow bracelets. Little boys can turn anything into a light saber. (ps. one of the boys just farted in their sleep) All my planning for time consuming activities were tossed aside for the war between Jedi's and Clones. Oh well, at least they were happy. We rang in the new year trying to light a few dud fireworks in the Spanish Fork wind. I then spent the remainder of the evening fighting off a stomach owie brought on by a bad crab ball.