HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS

These two L-O-V-E-L-Y people

would like to with this guy (the one with gray hair one not the kid with his mouth wide open) a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Today is Pop's birthday. Pop's is a pretty cool guy if I do say so myself. He now may be old enough to get the senior citizen discount at Shopko, but he still acts like a kid. He wrestles the grandkids like a 20 year-old, yells at the refs like a 17-year old and causes mischief at girls camp or youth conference like a 13-year old.

Pops has always made family a priority and has taught me to do the same. Countless times would he leave his chores on the farm early to come to my softball, basketball and soccer games, knowing that he would have to work late into the night because of it.

Pops loves ice cream and sudoku contests with mom (I hope mom let you win on your birthday).

Aunts and Uncles don't stand a chance to play with the kids when pops is around. He is the favorite playmate.

He keeps his house at a cool 64 degrees and wonders why his sweatshirts disappear when the kids come to visit.

He has been a BYU football season ticket holder since 1981 (or was it 1980?) and often attends away games as well.

LOVE YOU POPS!

Enjoy your Maui caramacs, poster filled with candy (from Kace), Apples to Apples game and hopefully mom will get you that new ice cream maker you hinted about.

ps. Remember that one time when you told me about your new diet plan? One bowl of ice cream with your dinner instead of two!?! funny...

I NEED PADDED BIKING SHORTS

Yes, yes I do. I was under the impression that padded biking shorts were for men and men only. You know because...well anatomy...small seat...makes "things" more comfortable...ummm getting awkward. However, after Clayton and I got the "brilliant" idea to get our mountain bikes out, dust them off and ride our little hearts (who am I kidding we have huge hearts) out to Trenton my impression of the "male only" padded biking shorts quickly vanished. My. Butt. Was. Sore.


The ride was probably about 15 miles. Not too bad. Once we got out of Logan we were able to ride side by side and talk about important things like how to avoid the roadkill or what would happen if Clayton steered me into the various cess pools of filth ...aka pools of stagnant, murky, green water just off of the road (by the way if he did that I would be forced to take him down with me and hold his head under the filth and make him drink it till his eyes turned green) or my favorite conversation was if vegetables got married who would the carrot marry (I'm going with celery).


Here are the highlights of the trip (in no particular order)

1- the llamas

2- being chased by a dog that was foaming at the mouth. I really thought it was out to kill us. It probably would have if it could have caught up to us thanks to our super human lightening quick legs.

3- Passing 86 road kill in 3 varieties: skunk (most common), muskrat, and one pet cat (almost ran over it and "almost" peed my pants. Probably would have if peeing didn't make my butt didn't hurt so bad)

4- Kicking Clayton's arse up a hill. Spanked him like there was no tomorrow. Thanks again super human lightening quick legs. Bless you quads and hamstrings.

5- Thinking I was hearing rattle snakes off the side of the road when all I was really hearing was my bike helmet strap flapping. Freaked. Me. Out. Real. Bad.

6- The "intense" conversations listed above.

7- Wishing (during those moments when conversing with Clayton was limited due to traffic) that I had my ipod to rid my head of the song from Les Miserables that I don't even know the name of or the words too...just the tune. I know...annoying.

8- Wondering if all the bugs I was eating would contain enough protein to help my hair not fall out when I shower and look shiny like the girl's hair on the Pantene Pro-V commercials. Pretty hair.

9- Planning various future vacations in my head and figuring out how to get them for free. Still working on this one.

10- Missing the old "Trenton is a Hill of a Town" t-shirts and wondering if I could find one on ebay.

AND FINALLY...

11- Running over something 30 yards from our destination ('rents house in T-town) causing my tire to go flat instantly. Thankfully it happened so close to the house because we were not prepared with a patch kit. Bikers we are (ok wannabe's), Boy Scouts we are not.

DRAPER TEMPLE

A few weeks ago Clayton and I went to the Draper Temple open house with the McMurdies and my sister, Kami. You might remember this post from last year when Clayton and I drove up to the Temple during the construction. Remember all those "big" houses I mentioned in that post that surrounded the Temple? Well they are all (slight exaggeration...most of them) for sale. Hmmm...

Anyway as was expected the Temple was gorgeous. Even though at the time it wasn't dedicated there was such a reverence there. It truly is the House of the Lord.

MARCH MADNESS 2009

I'm still in denial that Clayton beat me last year so we are going to try this again...

Welcome to March Madness 2009. I recreated our march madness group from last year... so sign up, join and fill in your bracket. Last year prizes kinda fell through (sorry about that Clayton and Mark) so there are no guarantees for prizes this year. However, if I am feeling generous the winner may get a prize. This "prize" will probably range from sending Clayton to clean your bathroom to pride (most likely pride will win out). Who knows. If your excuse for not doing a bracket is that "I don't know anything about college basketball" know that the people who usually win are those that know nothing about the teams in the tournament. That's why this year I am going to kick some butt this year...haven't been following it at all. Invite your friends, your mom, your neighbor Bill, but not your cat (I hate cats. Hence the reason for liking ALF).

Go to ESPN.com and join our group.

GROUP NAME: mcmurman

PASSWORD: gocougars

If you don't have a signon you won't be able to join our group. If that is the case follow this Link from last years contest and it will show you how to do it.

Remember games start THURSDAY so have your picks in by then.

That's all.

ALF AND MANGO BREAD

Saturday night we watched this show

While eating this bread

Saturday. Night. Rocked!

P.S. Thanks for the Mango bread recipe Jodie! It turned out great...although not as good as yours.

WELCOME TO HELL

I am a firm believer that heaven and hell do in fact exist. Let me get a little Sunday School on you, okay? I have never seen heaven, but I have faith that it does exist.

I expect Heaven to be a white Hawaii or Fiji or Tahiti with lots of angels singing and playing harps. Oh yeah and I expect that in Heaven you can eat all the chocolate and ice cream you want without gaining a pound...maybe even lose a pound or two from eating it. Wouldn't that be a.w.e.s.o.m.e!

However, I may have not been to Heaven, but I have been to it's opposite...HELL! Hollywood has depicted Hell as an excruciatingly hot place where people burn. Once again, Hollywood has portrayed something incorrectly. Shocker, I know. It is actually a place where people freeze not burn. People let me tell you about my experience in Hell. I live in Hell. You thought I lived in Logan, Utah? No, no you are right, I do. Some call it Zion, but between November 1st and March 31st it is known as Hell in my book.

In the world of Heidi (a strange, strange world no one should ever visit)...
-Hell is a place of torment and misery.
-Hell is a place that is cold (then again I think that anything under 75 degrees is cold).
-Hell is a place where you get your hopes up and wear slippers because it is 50 degrees outside and then those hopes are dashed the next day when a foot of snow comes tumbling down upon your already fragile state.
-Hell is a place where you hold in your pee because if you don't your butt will freeze to the porcelain toilet seat (not that you could get off of your seat on the couch anyway under 50 lbs of blankets).
-Hell is a place where you use both the a/c and the heater in the same day (sometimes the same hour).
-Hell is a place where you eat soup after soup after soup just to stay warm which results in your bladder exploding adding to the "butt frozen on the porcelain seat" problem listed above.
-Hell is a place where even bears hibernate for months at a time because it is so miserable.
-Hell is a place where you shovel your driveway for hours on end just to have the snowplow come by and throw all that snow back on your driveway. idiots!
-Hell is a place where you stand under the light bulb to just get a small glimpse of what the sun looks like.
-Hell is a place where you have to start your car 1/2 hour before you leave so that it will be bearable when you have to get in and drive.
-Hell is a place where March doesn't mean spring it means MORE SNOW!

Yes my friends I live in HELL!

Anyone want to come visit?