24TH OF JULY

Timeline of Heidi's 24th of July Trenton activities

Age 6: Got to ride my bike in the parade. Parade went around the block TWICE. Had crate paper woven through my bike spokes. cool.
Age 8: won 2 liters of Sprite, 1 liter of Root Beer, and 2 liters of Orange Crush at the pop toss. Got sick and started hating pop.
Age 11: was dunked in the dunk tank. Wet white t-shirt and no bra not a real good combination.
Age 12: Dad made us an All Dogs Go to Heaven float. We had our Pound Puppies with us. Pretty sweet. Again...went around the block twice.
Age 14: Had mom take me to the Trenton Dance at the park under the pavilion. Watched all the 18 year old boys that I had crushes on dance. (NOTE: All those boys now have 4 kids, a gut and are balding).
Age 16: Drove MYSELF to the dance. Still watched the boys. None of the asked me to dance. Sad. Vowed to toilet paper their houses later.
Age 18: Was put in charge of the fish pond. Boooooring. Starting cheating and giving kids more winnings then they were supposed get so I could finish early and play in the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Realized the reason I didn't make the HS basketball team.
Age 21: Ran in the 1 mile fun run. Won! ok so it was me and a handful of 14 year-olds. Still victory was sweet. Stopped going to the pathetic dances.
Age 23: Love volleyball. Played in the 3-on-3 sand volleyball tournament. Lost.
Age 24: Played in the 3-on-3 sand volleyball tournament. Lost again. If only the Merrills weren't 8 feet tall.
Age 25: Played in the 3-on-3 sand volleyball tournament. Came close to winning. Vow to slash the Sharp's tires next year.
Age 26: Played in the 3-on-3 sand volleyball tournament. Clayton couldn't play because he had to work. Played awful. Vow to work on serves.
AGE 27: Played in the 3-on-3 sand volleyball tournament. We...

(I'm sure that was some sort of awesome dig preformed by yours turly)

WON!

Your 2008 Trenton 24th of July 3-on-3 Sand Volleyball Champions. Cort, Clayton and I. Ok so the competition wasn't real steep this year! But still...

Clayton and I participated in the Hoppidy Hop competition. I didn't post my pic because there is a serious underwear shot. woops. Thought pretty highly of myself because I won the Hopidy (sp?) Hop GOLD medal in Lewiston Elementary 5th Grade Olympics. Needless to say my performance this year was a disgrace to my title.

5 year old nephew Kace did awesome climbing the rock wall 28 times. I think it was the Spiderman shoes.

Clayton, myself and Cortney at the top. I think I have a fractured toe.

Cort you are just sick and wrong. Ladies he is single.


Cristen, myself, Brandon, Rachel and Cort all participated in the home run derby. Luckily, I was able to pry our new bat out of Clayton hands long enough to use it for the event. Cort was the only one who hit the ball over the fence (I did hit it over the fence but it was a foul ball...a looooong foul though). If the batting cages didn't keep eating our money maybe we would go back so I could practice.

TUNA AND EGGS IN THE MICROWAVE

Sick. I'm not one to knock down someones weird food combinations because I have a few of my own (bbq sauce on potatoes, dipping pizza in milk, etc), but seriously Erik TUNA AND EGGS IN THE MICROWAVE!?! That is just w-r-o-n-g. I guess the man with the Uncle Jessie boots likes his protein warm and smelly. Don't worry Erik you are not alone...Clayton likes warm and smelly things too. Remember this...?

Erik's sisters, Kathrin and Laura came up to take Kami's bridal pictures on Saturday. They are the ones who shared this fascinating culinary tidbit about Erik with me. While we were waiting for Kami to get dressed, Kathrin (who is also the amazing photog that took Kami's pictures) did a little pre-bridal picture modeling for us. Pretty provocative. There is nothing like a good veil model. A good photographer can work the camera behind or in front.
Kami dress has a turquoise sash on it. Out of the five girls out the house, Clayton was the one who had to tie the sash on Kami. Such a crafty man I married. I'm sure that when we have girls he will be the one curling their hair and putting in their bows.
After the pics we went to Cafe Sabor for dinner. If you are asking yourself "why is Heidi wearing sun glasses in the dark?" you are not alone. I had a rare high maintenance moment. After not wearing makeup all day (which really isn't a rare occurrence) I got self conscious and had to put on the glasses. My apologies. I will never let it happen again. Promise.

Thanks for coming up Kathrin and Laura. You can come up anytime. Remember the hidabed is always open...unless I am using it!

IN NEED

So I am using the www in order to find a new hair stylist in Logan. For some reason I chase all my other hairdressers out of state. First there was Jana. We built a solid relationship for 6+ years. Moved to Texas. Then there was Kari. After a year of togetherness she up and moved to NY. Something about her husband and his job. I don't buy it. Now I am alone and abandoned.

With roots growing out (sadly black is not my natural color...dark brown is) and dry, split ends bearing their ugly presence on the bottom of each strand I need help. I am calling to all of you blog readers and stalkers to help me out. Do any of you know a good hairdressers in Logan? I would like them to be in Logan because I don't have time to drive all over. Lots of times I end up going on my lunch break. I'm not difficult. I'm a nice girl. All I need is a cut/trim and color.

Please Help!

CLIMBING TO NEW HEIGHTS

I guess he didn't want me to see him pee his pants.

Sunday, while everyone was out doing chores on the farm I was reading a stupid, stupid book which I refuse to reveal name of. Let's just say that males cannot write books on love. Enough said. As I was reading in agony the house phone rang. I ignored it. I don't live there anymore so it can't be for me. Also, the phone was upstairs and I was downstairs. That was my laziness and just had a big, BIG bowl of ice cream side kicking in. If you know me then you know that I hate phones. I am not a phone talker. That gene went completely to my sister Rachel. Anyway after the phone stopped ringing my parents cell phone started ringing. Ignored it. Then the house phone rang again. By this time I was going to teach this caller a lesson by not answering the phone. Stupid caller let the phone ring 38 times. Must have known I was home. Slowly patience for phones is wearing thin. Must be strong though. Immediately after that Clayton's cell phone started ringing. Refused to get up from couch. Then my cell phone started ringing the same time the house phone started ringing again. Ughhhh. By this point I am ready to pull a Naomi Cambell and start chucking the phone at things (or people in her case). It was Cort. Clayton wanted me to come down the farm because he had climbed the 90 ft. harvestore. This was quite a feat for Clayton. He doesn't like heights and has wanted to climb it 2 other times but came back down after the 5th rung on the ladder. His excuse to climbing it this time was that I wasn't around so he had no one to fail in front of (except my mom, dad, Brandon, Cortney, 4 Hispanic workers, 600 Holstein cows and 8 annoying stray cats). "Near, Far wherever you areeeee." Trying to do the Titanic pose. "Never leave me Jack. Promise you will never leave." All you hoochies yet your eyes off of my husbands butt.
waving because your photo obsessive wife makes you pose for a picture after every 4th rung.
ya there is supposed to be a ladder there.
dust, pigeon poop and other unknown objects cover the ladder rungs.
90 foot climb in milk boots. Impressive.
As you can see Clayton brought his WHITE work shorts to work again on the farm. I'm really hoping the basketball short/milk boot look catches on. It is quite a fashion statement.

SHOWER POWER

Let the wedding shower season begin. Saturday, Rachel and I threw a bridal shower for Kami in Salt Lake. I will start with the most risque pictures first (you have been warned).

When I was shopping for first night necessities for Kami, Clayton found this house coat that he thought would be the "perfect" lingerie. It does look more comfortable.
Kathryn (Erik's sister) gave Kami this naughty negligee. That will get them going. Personally I think it would look very sexy under the housecoat.
...Still thinking the housecoat looks more comfortable.
Amanda "you are the best Mary Kay lady ever" and Kami.
The three sisters. Nope, none of us have the same hair color. For a million bucks...can you guess whose hair color is natural?
Candy (shout out to my sister from another tribe), Trixie and Stephanie. Sweet plate. Can I have one?

Things I learned about my future bro in-law from this shower

1. Erik will be doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry and yard work. Oh and he will be giving daily massages as well. Wishful thinking on the DAILY part Kami.

2. Erik was once in line to be prophet, then when he was 14 he did something (can't remember what) mean, but now he is back in line again I think.

3. Erik is the owner of a pair of Uncle Jesse (from Full House) boots. Saweet. Maybe Kami can wear them with her housecoat. Say it with me people, "S-E-X-Y."

At 7pm we had another shower in Kearns put on by Erik's family. However, between the showers Clayton and I went to view the Bat on IMAX. At IMAX you get to choose where you sit when you order. I had thought that I had ordered us 2 seats on the back row. This was not the case. Apparently, I had got us 2 seats on the FRONT row. Talk about your neck kinker. I have used my "mad" paint skills to make a drawing to show you how we sat during the entire 2.5 hours.

As you can see from this art piece in order to see the movie semi comfortably (semi I use loosely) we had our heads on the bottom of the seat, our butts hanging off of the seats and our feet on the railing. Not your most comfortable of positions. Clayton was good and didn't complain while I moaned and groaned during the entire movie. One other major downfall of the movie before I give my review. I was told that a preview of "Twilight" was shown before the movie. Oh No! Not in the IMAX theatre. They only show previews of movies that will be shown on the IMAX screens. Discrimination at its finest.

So I actually really enjoyed this movie. Heath Ledger did an incredible job. The way he walked, talked and even the little mannerisms of the Joker were unforgettable. The thing that I liked about the movie the best (POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT) was that it didn't end in typical "hero saves girl, hero is loved" fashion. The ending was not predictable in my book at all. In all movie was very good and I think Clayton cried.

Next up shower #2 in Kearns. It was fun to meet Erik's family. They are all so nice, incredibly cool and it was good to finally meet them.

PINEWOOD DERBY

I'm not a cheater. I may have married one, but as for me I am not...well except for select games of Phase 10, Skip-Bo, Chutes 'n Ladders, Uno, Gestures, Mafia, Match, Guess Who? (preferably the superhero addition that my 5 year-old nephew has), Mall Madness (early 90s baby), pictionary and my spelling test in second grade (spelling is hard). So as you can see I am a very honorable person. However, as soon as Clayton heard that our ward (shout out to all the 57th ward members) was doing a pinewood derby he called his former maintenance BFF and asked to borrow his pinewood derby car. You see back in the day, Clayton helped Cole "build" this car for Cole's son's scout pinewood derby. When I say "build" I mean hollow the car out and fill it with lead. The car has to weigh at least 8 lbs.

Surprise, surprise our car won. But, it did have a few close matches. Luckily we didn't get disqualified because there were no weight restrictions listed. The boys. Let's be honest a pinewood derby is really for the men. The only thing that the women care about is the color of the car which will determine if the car is "cute" or not.

ROUND 1: Hell's Satan (the name of our car) wins.

ROUND 4...i think: Championship round. Hell's Satan wins. Woohoo for cheating.

Since our car was weighted other cars taped on some weight. This car taped on Clayton's drill. Hell's Satan still won.

Sorry mom but cheaters DO prosper!

The winning platform. I find it quite appropriate that the platform was made out of Hymn books. Sweet is the Work or How Firm a Lead Foundation would be appropriate songs. McMurdie's Hell's Satan 1st place, Browns 2nd place, Hylton's 3rd place.

DARK NIGHT...err KNIGHT

Seriously what is the obsession with this movie?

I realize that by saying this I have probably offended 98% of my blog readers, my dear husband included. Please don't come in mobs and burn down our house. I like Batman. Really I do. In fact my first movie crush that I can remember was Michael Keaton in the first batman. And Kim Basinger (aka Vicky Vale the journalist) wore this green dress in that movie that to this day I am still in love with. Unfortunately green isn't really my color. My cousin told me so when I was 8. Has scarred me for life.

So as I was saying I like Batman, I am excited for Batman, but I don't have sleepless nights waiting for the Bat movie. In fact I could probably wait for a month to see it. Has my love for the Bat dwindled because since Batman Begins came out I have been forced to watch it weekly keeping me from watching reruns of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Family Matters? Maybe. Is it because sometimes I hear Clayton call out for Bruce Wayne in his sleep? Disturbing and yes. Is it because I have caught my beloved climbing on top of our house and trying to fly off of it while saying, "don't worry people of Gotham City I the Batman will save you."? Ok-so maybe that is a stretch, but I guarantee you he thinks about it.

So is some of the obsession/buzz about this movie because of the death of Heath Ledger? Did he get so into the Joker role that he had to subscribe to pills which he eventually overdosed on? So much has been made of this. So many differing opinions. Even Clayton and I disagree. All I know is that the TRAILERS scare me. But I'm a wuss. Yep I am.

Don't get me wrong, I will go see this movie. In fact because I am a loving wife (I am I promise) I ordered 2 tickets to the Saturday showing at the IMAX theater in Salt Lake. When Clayton found them I thought he would cry. It was so cute...and sad.

BIG FISH

Let's describe a typical summer Saturday in the McMurdie house, shall we. Wake up, go to the pool, go to Pita Pit, watch tv and go to bed. Seriously this is how we spend 90% of our summer weekends. However before you judge us (you know who you are) know that we don't go for the same reasons as the 80lb, overly tanned high school girls. We go because Clayton is a fish and I also enjoy the water and being outside in the sun no matter what we are doing. Let me paint a picture of the conversations we usually hear at the pool:

HSG1 (HighSchoolGirl 1): Can you believe that Johnny like asked out Sarah? Totally NOT cool.
OTHSG2 (Overly Tanned HighSchoolGirl 2): Seriously!?! Sarah has like BIG thighs. She has got to weigh at least 110 lbs. BTW do you think that my tan is getting any darker?
HSG1: Totally. You are like totally black. Are you still like going to the tanning bed everyday in addition to going to the pool like everyday?
OTHSG2: yeah.
HSG1: Cool. Do you like know how many calories a carrot has?
OTHSG2: It has like has 20 or something.
HSG1: Oh my gosh that is like sooooo many calories. I would have to workout for like 8 hours instead of 7. So not worth it.
OTHSG2: Look at Monica. She like sooo needs to re-highlight her hair. Look at all the regrowth!?!
HSG1: eww gross! Ohh...there's Jason. Let's go talk to him. He's sooo hot.

Saturday, we decided to leave the pool and the highschool girls behind and embark on a new sunny adventure (don't worry it still involved water). Tony let us borrow his canoe (thanks Tony), so we got up bright and early and headed out to Cutler dam. Cutler is nothing to look at until you get up in the canyon area then it is absolutely beautiful. It is also a small dam so it was us and our canoe and 6 boats pulling wakeboarders.

Clayton tried to caputre us "oddballs" with our canoe amidst all the boat trailers in this picture. Doesn't subie look good with a canoe on top!?! I felt all Native Americanish (I am part Cherokee ya know) and in my element canoeing. Boy scout Clayton also felt in his element dreaming of the good ol' canoeing merit badge he received in scouts. He constantly reminded me of this by saying, "Remind me Heidi, when did you receive your canoeing merit badge?". Hello Clayton! Little Running Dear (a.k.a ME) is Native American and doesn't need a merit badge to tell her she knows how to canoe. It is in her blood!

The first part of our journey consisted of spotting dinosaur fish (they were huge I tell you), sneaking up on them and trying to hit them with our paddles. After the messing around for a bit we got down to business and reached the dam 2 hours later. We hung out on our raft which we had towed behind us for awhile and then headed back.

Funny story on the way back...so we have this rock bag that we used as an anchor to keep our canoe and raft from drifting. When we were ready to paddle back we deflated the raft and it was ready-set-go. About 30 MINUTES later we noticed that we were going somewhat slow...30 MINUTES LATER. It was then that I noticed that our anchor was still in the water. After us, the idiots pulled the anchor in the canoe we cruised back to shore...so fast we could have pulled one of the wakeboarders behind us.

Check out those biceps. You're jealous aren't you!

happy that we finally reached the dam and hoping that we don't get sucked into it.

the dam

just hangin' out on the raft.

an islander wannabe

RISE AND SHOUT

Growing up in Trenton we got A LOT of crap for cheering for BYU. Supposedly we were in USU Aggie country and we were supposed to cheer for the continuing losing football team known as the Utah State Aggies. I think the Aggies have won as many football games in the last 15 years as BYU won last season. My parents have held season football tickets since 1980 or 81 (can't remember) and often go to 2 or 3 away games a year (does someone know where to submit for Fan of the Year?)I remember coming home from games as a kid where our lawn or house was painted by some punks (young and old) out of hatred for the Y. Good times!
Anyway in anticipation of this new year my dad had some decal work put on his Milk silo. Try to paint over that you jerks! My dad is so excited for this new season that he signed my mom, sisters and myself up for the 2008 BYU Football Womens camp. No I am not kidding. Hey I get a t-shirt and I might learn how to tackle Clayton. Can't go wrong there.

PS we are not they Y fans who believe that if you don't cheer for the Y you will go to Hell. However, we are the Y fans who believe that if you do cheer for the Utah Utes you WILL go to Hell. JK

CRUSIN BLOCKERS

Dear Purple Car People,

Clayton and I just wanted to thank you for helping us get rid of our homebody status even if it was for one night only. You see Saturday night was the Cache Valley Crusin. Clayton and I have the perfect seats...we can watch the classic cars go by out our front window while enjoying the comfort of our couches in our somewhat ventilated house all while eating potato chips. However, when you PARKED on OUR lawn you BLOCKED our view forcing us to get out and socialize on our gravel driveway in the hot HOT sun. Why were we on our gravel driveway you ask? Because you were on our grass in the front and someone else was on our grass on the side, which leaves us, the ones that pay for the property to sit on the gravel where there is very little shade. But hey as long as you are comfortable, right? Also, even though you saw us drive in to the driveway before the crusin started and you saw us come out (or forced out) we know that you are thankful even though you never told us. We hope you enjoyed the cruisin from the comforts of our lawn and the shade of our trees. Please don't be offended next year when we pop your tires.

Love,

Clayton and Heidi

NOTE: jacked up new jeeps and jacked up new Toyota Tacoma's are NOT classic cars!