ANOTHER ADDITION OF LAST WEEKEND

Welcome to another addition of "Last Weekend"...

1. We celebrated Chelsey's win in our family NCAA basketball tournament challenge. Winner got to choose the restaurant (Sizzler) and everyone had to pay for the winners meal. Good job Chelsey. I hate you Kansas. You suck! Which is obviously why I shouldn't have picked them to go all the way. Losers.

2. Kace ate too much ice cream (wuss) and got (by "got" I mean pretended) sick. Once I started taking pictures of the inside of his nose he was fine.
3. We took a trip to Walmart where we spotted the world's longest (or tallest) butt-crack (gross) and Alien Man (see post below). Another successful day at the mercy of Sam Walton and Wal*Mart.


4. Celebrated Brandon's birthday where he got some new stuff...
... and some OLD stuff. Cort was soooo nice to give Brandon his old pants and shirts as a birthday gift. Hey Cort! Remember that time (2 years ago) that you gave mom your "too-late-to-return-so-now-it's-mine-for-the-low-price-of-$30 plus-bucks" redbox movie rental!?!

5. Got a dirty-death glare from Cort. If looks could kill...
6. Booked our tickets to here (Oregon Coast) for Memorial weekend. We are driving the coast from Oakland, CA to Portland, OR. If you have done this and have anything you recommend that we stop and see or do please let me know.

7. Booked tickets here (Hawaii - baby) for September/October. Can. Not. Wait. Going to Oahu, but thinking about going to Kauai for a bit...maybe. Picture below was taken by my good friend, Bonnie on one of here vacations here years ago. She titled it "Leap of Joy". Fitting. Love it.

SIGNS

REMEMBER THIS MOVIE?...

REMEMBER HOW THEY WORE TINFOIL HATS ON THEIR HEADS TO WARD OFF THE ALIENS?(or something like that)...

I THINK THE ALIENS ARE COMING BACK.

WE SAW THIS GUY IN WALMART LAST SATURDAY

(picture courtesy of cell phone...old cell phone)

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY...

WOW!

SERIOUSLY WOW!

A FEW GOOD MEN

Yes it is true. There are a few good men left in this world. I married one and I work for the other. I can honestly say that the reason I have stayed at Icon so long is because of my boss. He treats me well and is an honest and just man who will stick up for his employees. I wish I could say that for everyone in this company. My husband also treats me well. Never thought it was possible to marry someone who could treat me so good. Was I ever wrong.

April 21st was Administrative Assistant Day. I scored these lovelies...

Beautiful flower arrangement from Clayton. It included tulips. May favorite.

Bromeliad from the boss. Beautiful. He knows how much I love all things tropical and warm. I think this was his way of bringing some of it to me. I'm excited to paint on a green thumb and watch it grow.

Thanks to all the others who brought me chocolates and candy. I do work with some great people! It's nice to be appreciated. The only other time I feel appreciated is when I go on vacation and come back and see that they can't survive without me. Seriously if the printer isn't printing did you check to see if it was out of paper?!! Or how many engineers does it take to change the toner in the printer? At least 2-4.

CRUMB BROTHERS

CRUMB BROTHERS

My first experience with this bake shop was at the Cache Valley Farmer's Market Clayton and I frequent each Saturday morning in the summer. Crumb Brothers has a stand where they have small bread samples in jars. I'm talking like 15-20 different samples. For me the moochie sample queen that = heaven. But the idiots behind the stand conveniently put the samples in jars where I can't fit my fat fist/hand in. Isn't there a clever saying about if there is a will there is a way? Keep that in mind Crumb Brothers. Some of us aren't as polite as my husband who feels bad taking more than 1 or 2 samples. There is also a clever saying about never turning your back on the ocean. Let it be known, CB's that if you turn your back on me I will open my pie-hole (that's my mouth mom) and pour those bad boys down my mouth like it they are milk. I'm just sayin'...

Ok so I don't really harbor bad feelings for CB's like it implies above. I just would like them to make my "free" breakfast a little easier. Anyhoo...So last Saturday Clayton and I hoped on the tandem bike and road over to Crumb Brothers. Neither of us had been to the actual bakery before and have never tasted one of their sandwiches. So we ride, we order, we get ready to pay and...no cards excepted! Don't we live in the 21st century where you can pay for EVERYTHING with a card? They tell us they will get our order ready while we scout out an ATM. Luckily there was one a few blocks away next to the local bar. We go through the drive through on the tandem (being next to a bar it is probably not unusual for people *drunks* to go through on their bikes) and bike back to CB's. Apparently CB's felt bad that they made us find an ATM so they gave us a FREE apple turnover (SCORE), $5 off our next purchase coupon (DOUBLE SCORE), and a FREE loaf of Raisin Walnut Bread (TRIPLE SCORE). Well worth it! I take back my previous comments about CB's being frugal with freebies/samples. As for the stuff we did pay for...they were pretty good. We got a turkey-avocado sandwich on Ciabatta bread and chicken salad sandwich. The Ciabatta bread tore the insides of our mouths up with it's hard crust. However, a hint of blood with your sandwich is a good source of iron right? ok it wasn't that bad. I really wanted to try one of their croissants (I hear they are something to rave about ), but they were out. Next time I guess...with our $5 off coupon!

LAST WEEKEND...

1. We had awesome Chicken-Alfredo Pizza made by Kami and Erik and then drove to Park City to feed my obsession for Frozen Yogurt at Yodipity. Yodipity is a new frozen yogurt place in Utah. Thank Heaven's Utah is finally coming around to the FroYo craze. Yodipity likes: consistency of the yogurt, flavors (white chocolate macadamia nut and the red velvet flavors were awesome...dare I say that their red velvet was better than *gasp* Yogurtland's red velvet), the really nice employee let us in even though it was 10 minutes to closing and she had just cleaned up and (score alert) she also gave us 25% off. Yodipity dislikes: not many flavors to choose from, the nice employee was the one who got our samples for us (usually at these places we ask for sample cups and then go to town loading up on froyo), toppings were just ok, price 39 cents/oz (typical for UT).

Not quite sure why I wore that...probably too lazy to change in to "real" clothes and my legs were cold (hence the long socks). Moving on...

2. Kami and I rocked out to her "Saturday's Warriors" soundtrack. So proud that I still know most of the songs by heart... "Why Wally Kessler you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I've given you the best years of my life..." To see how Clayton enjoyed mine and Kami's singing and the music period look below...

However, we all know he really enjoyed it like this...

3. We picked our our next Subaru purchases while getting Subie 2's fuel valve removed. I am pleased to announce our "one day other than our dreams" Subaru Forester. We will name him GUMP. Get it Forrester Gump? No?

Ok let's try the next one... Please meet our one day Tribeca. We will call it Alex. Get it? Like the dude on Jeopardy.

4. I realized Clayton is ... well crazy.

CLAYTON: I have a confession to make. I kinda like Lady Gaga.

HEIDI: That makes me want to puke.

CLAYTON: Her music is kinda catchy.

HEIDI: uhhhh...she is wierd.

(couple of minutes later we get in the car and drive. Clayton proceeds to flip through the radio. Which I thought was odd because we always leave it on the same old station)

HEIDI: Why are you changing the station...oh wait you are trying to find a Lady Gaga song aren't you!?! Oh gross...
CLAYTON: (with sheepish expression on his face) yeah.

Please don't hold anything against my husband for his hatred of Saturday's Warriors and his love for Lady Gaga.

5. We celebrated this cutie's birthday. Happy Birthday Chloe Faye!

6. I watched Claytonita put Chole's dress up jewelry. hmmm...I have no words for this.

7. Last weekend was a good weekend. peace out.

OLDIES???

BACKGROUND: Each Sunday, Clayton and I go to Church. Church is good. We like Church. We have been attending the same ward since we got married back in 2005. At the time of the marriage Clayton was a student at USU (I had graduated back in December of 2003). Like most married students do, we chose to go to a married-student ward. Clayton graduated from USU in 2007. We stayed in the ward. We lik it and we don't like change. We probably should be kicked out, but they haven't done it yet so...we stay. Like many married-student wards ours has a huge turnover rate because of University school year. During the last year or so we have started recognizing how old we are. You see, the average age in our ward is probably 23-24. We are 29. There are only 2-3 people older than us in the ward. A couple of weeks ago in Sunday School someone made a comment about Girbaud Jeans. About 4 of us laughed and the rest asked "What are Girbaud's?" WHAT!?! How can one not know the "tag on the fly" status symbol that decided if you were cool or not!

FYI-this is neither mine or Clayton's belly...mine has more hair on it:) Sadly I never owed a pair of Gibaud's. I was not cool. But at least I knew what they were! I did, however own plenty of ENUF, Gimmie, B.U.M. clothes. Anyway our moment of feeling older was made even more of a reality during one of our fellow ward members talks in Sacrament when he said that he got home from his mission in 2008. In a family ward...no big deal. You have all ages in a family ward. In a student ward where you (Clayton) got home from your mission in 2001...BIG DEAL. After that Clayton and I made useful time out of the rest of Sacrament meeting by penning this little questionnaire.

SHOULD YOU BE IN THE 57TH WARD

(answer "Yes" or "No")

1. Do you know what Girbaud Jeans are?

2. Can you name all 4 Ninja Turtles?

3. Do you recall the Reagan administration?

4. Have you lived through more than one war in the Middle East?

5. Did you ever lace your shoes with 2 or more laces per shoe (bonus points if one was a fluorescent color)?

6. Did you peg your pants?

7. Did you live during a time when MTV actually played music videos?

8. Did you ever go to high school w/out your cell phone?

9. Does the name "Zack Morris" ring a bell?

10. Has TGIF been more than a common acronym or restaurant to you?

11. Do you recall TAPES being replaced by CD'S?

12. Did you or someone you know seriously think bib overalls with one strap undone was not only cool, but fashionable?

13. Do you know who or what ALF is?

14. Have you ever played an Atari?

15. Was there a time in your life when the Internet was the sewn in underwear of your swimsuit?

16. Did anyone in your family die of Cholera or Dysentery on the Oregon Trail?

17. Are you older than the Simpson's TV show?

18. Do you know who "Jesse and the Rippers" are and remember a time when Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen did not look like crack whores?

KEY:

add up the number of questions you answered "Yes" too.

13-18: Holy Crap! You are old! Maybe a Geriatric Ward would be a better fit.

9-12: Eh... you can stay, but you are a little stale.

5-8: Good Fit!

0-4: Now we're talkin'! A PERFECT fit for the 57th ward.

An now because no post is complete without pictures, here are some family pictures of the McMurdie clan taken last fall.

EASTER EGGTRAVAGANZA

WARNING: This post contains a lot of bed head (one word or two?) photos.

I absolutely, positively love holidays. I think I get it from my mom. In years past Clayton asks if we are getting each other anything for Easter and I say, "no." Well duh, I don't get him anything the Easter Bunny does. I guess that after 5 years he finally caught on. I had to work late on Friday (late=5pm...on a Friday that is unacceptable) and when I got home he had my Easter Basket ready and waiting...A SPOTLESS HOUSE. Total surprise. By spotless I mean laundry done, floors swept and vacuumed, toilets and tubs scrubbed, counters wiped down, sinks cleaned out, etc. It was the ultimate cleaning job. Best. Basket. Ever. Seriously there was nothing more that I wanted (especially since I was going to make us get up bright and early on Saturday morning and do it).

Sunday we woke to find that the Easter Bunny had come. Clayton was delivered a note that said, "Go to where your clothes get clean." On top of the washer was a carrot (just to state the obvious, bunnies like carrots) with a string attached. Clayton was instructed to follow the string.

Found the carrot. Ready? Set? Go!

Followed the string throughout the house...

...outside the house...

...made a pit stop to pick up the mail and shove it down his shorts...

...back inside the house...

...back outside the house...

...and inside the garage where the end of the string was tied to our Easter Basket in the trunk of Subie 1.

Us and our Basket.

Basket Goods include

- Bananagrams game (special thanks to the Holmgrens for introducing us)

- Lion House cookbook (special thanks to Jessie for telling me about it)

- 2 cans of Nivea shaving cream (the kind they are discontinuing...curse you Nivea!)

- one can of Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcake Mix (score!)

- Hershey Coconut Kisses

- Special Dark Mini Cadbury Eggs

-Reece's Peanut Butter Eggs

- Lindt Lindor Easter Limited Edition Truffles

ps. conference weekend means . . . 1. fat pants 2. no make up allowed 3. quick wipe of the deodorant ... if we feel like it (you are lucky you can't smell pictures) 4. eye buggers (don't look too close) 5. unruly, uncombed hair 6. No shaving for either of us (come Monday morning one look at my legs and Clayton's face and the shower will be begging for Drain-O).

We watched the Sunday sessions of conference at the 'rents house. Celebrating holidays never gets old there. As usual Mom and Pops hid eggs (those finding them ranged in age from 24 - 29...you are NEVER to old to go on an Easter Egg Hunt) and also as usual Pops couldn't remember where he hid all his eggs. He takes pride in his egg hiding abilities. Somewhere there is still one egg hiding in the house. Don't worry they don't start smelling until they break. Know this from years past. Remark of the day came from Pops. He hid one egg in Brandon's shower behind his lufa. When Brandon was in the shower he grabbed his lufa and the egg fell and cracked. Pop's said, "The egg only feel because seeing you in the shower probably scared it to death." HaHaHa!

Clayton took advantage of our new Kitchen Aid and made this Red Velvet Easter Bunny Cake using two 9" cake pans. My mom used to make this and I wanted to revive the tradition.

HAPPY EASTER!

THE MOST EXPENSIVE PINEWOOD DERBY EVER

Last post of the day I promise...or do I???

Clayton claims that he didn't get competitive until he met me. I know different. Whether he admits it or not he has always been competitive. So when our ward held a pinewood derby I knew that we were in trouble. Bless his heart he is a one upper...even if it means one upping himself. Last year we were 57th ward Pine Wood Derby Champs. Our car was hollowed out and had lead melted and poured into it. This year Clayton had other ideas...

Price of Derby car = $4

Price of 2nd and 3rd Derby cars after husband breaks the 1st and 2nd ones = $8

Price of cheap, black spray paint = $0.99

Price of sand paper, emery cloth, etc = $11.00

Price of graphite = $5.00

Price of hours spent away from wife to work on car = $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (take that national debt)

Look of enjoyment on husbands face = priceless

Hello blog world. Meet Magnum PIne Wood. Clayton wanted to grow a mustache, wear a Hawaiian shirt, and khaki shorts...but he didn't.

I like to call our car the Silver Bullet, seeing how those are silver bullets weighing down the car. Sadly we did not win. The car did good, but not good enough. See the car in the picture below with the airplane propeller on it? It was remote controlled. Obviously it won.

NEW WHEELS FOR POPS

Pop's turned 50-something last week. I would do the math, but it is Friday and it has been a long week and I just don't want to. Big party was held in the rockin' town of Trenton. Here are the highlights...



1. Cort was assigned ice cream. A few years ago he was also assigned ice cream and he brought "sugar FREE" ice cream. Sugar free and ice cream are food for the devil. My family is ice cream junkies and we like our ice cream loaded with tons of fat and calories. Why Cort who is an Andrew by blood did not know this I do not know. However, he has not been able to live it down. Many a family parties were held where conversations were centered around "Remember that one time Cort brought sugar free ice cream?" Some lessons are learned the hard way I guess. So you can imagine that we were all holding our breaths when mom assigned him ice cream. Thankfully he came through with 3 different kinds loaded with all the fat and calories one could want.


2. Andrew Family version of "Happy Birthday" is . . . loud, obnoxious, off-key, annoying, and freaking AWESOME. Watching the horror each time we sing on Grandmas face is also a delight. You would think that after listening to us sing it year after year after year she would get used to it.




3. Watching Tydon blow out Pop's candles while were were singing. They boy has no patience. But when you are that cute guess you don't need any.


4. Pop's got some new wheels. Watch out wild streets in Trenton.

5. Arm wrestling competition (not to be confused with Brandon's butt in the background). I think Cort won. He is strong because he "lifts once a week guys!". Although Brandon won the leg wrestling competition between him and Cort. No girls participated. Last time we had one of these competitions I arm wrestled mom and she kicked my butt. AND I lift TWICE a week. It must me those heavy buckets of milk she lifts every morning and afternoon. Talk about a gun show.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS!

WE LOVE YOU!