AIRBORNE

I remember the first time I ever flew on an airplane.

I was 16 (or 17).  Sophomore in High school

I had super short hair (emphasis on the super)

This was probably the year that I thought white eyeliner was cool.

Pretty sure I packed my sister's plaid skirt for this momentous trip.

I was going to Washington D.C. with a group from high school to something called Closeup.  I earned most of the money on this trip by going to different business and asking them if they would like to donate.  I think that the effort it took me to get outside of my comfort zone and ask strangers to donate made this trip more memorable (of course a big thanks to pops for asking some of his farm business friends as well).  I had a great time in DC. 

But that is not what this post is about today. 

This post is about

PLANES

The excited feeling (whether it is to go somewhere cool or to fly) that I felt on my first plane ride to DC, I still feel whenever we turn onto I-215 to the airport...although sometimes that excited feeling is suppressed by a hurried/stressed feeling that too often accompanies us to the airport.  I get most excited for the take off.  I love to sit back, relax, and close my eyes and feel the nose of the plane lift higher and higher (oh yeah and sometimes I disregard what the flight attendants say and lay my seat back during the take off when they aren't looking).

One of my favorite people is a pilot.  I sure do love Kizna.  You may or may not remember, but she was the one who flew us on Clayton's birthday in 2010 (go HERE to read it).  Kizna is hands down one of the nicest people I know.  I have never seen her face without a smile.  I love how she gets so excited over the smallest things.  Her impersonations of people make me crack up every time.  This girl had drive and ambition.  We have a goal to run a marathon in Greece together.   

Kizna has been wanting to take Clayton and I up in the University's twin plane for some time now.  When the weather was good the dates weren't.  When the dates were good the weather wasn't.  Finally after almost 3 weeks we were able to go up, up, and away.

Clayton and I and our favorite pilot 

Clayton likes to use the headset as a nose picker

jk

Some call it the plantation.  We call it the farm.

Andrew Dairy lookin' good.

ps Kizna tells us that her favorite place to do maneuvers is over our farm.

Newton Dam and Trenton Hill (NOT Little Mountain).  Look closely and you will see the "T"

Thanks Kizna!

FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD We did go see Harry Potter last Friday night.  Clayton was too excited to wait so he got us tickets for the 10PM showing.  Yes you read that right...TEN 'O CLOCK PM...PM as in the night time.  PM as in time heidi has been asleep for almost 2 hours.  And yes I did fall asleep like I told him I would (almost fell asleep on the way to the theater).

FOR THE RECORD we went to the aquatic center last weekend and I swam across the deep end without coming up for air.  Not a major accomplishment for some of you, but to me it was huge.  Oh yeah and Clayton took lots of self portraits with the GoPro.

 

Speaking of the pool...FOR THE RECORD I love this after sun lotion.  Not only does it feel good on my skin, but it smells like oatmeal cookies.

 FOR THE RECORD I am addicted to the HGTV show House Hunters & House Hunters International.

FOR THE RECORD I am totally making totally making this dessert below soon.  Let me just tell you the ingredients.  24 Ice Cream Sandwiches. Whipped Topping. Fudge Topping.  Carmel Topping.  1 package Oreo Cookies.  4 Skor Candy Bars.  

Wow! 

FOR THE RECORD I have permanently sore legs.  Doesn't matter how much I stretch they still hurt.  It also might be known as old age.

FOR THE RECORD I love weddings.  I am so happy that I have a few to go to this summer.  I love the abundance of Love.  I love the sealing/ceremony. I love the pictures.  I love the wedding videos.  I love all the pretty dresses.  I love taking time off of work to attend.  I love the cake.  I love the tossing of the bouquet.  I love decorating the car.  I love receptions.  I love the nut cups at the reception. 

All good receptions have a nut cup (or an ice cream bar).  I can do without the Sprite slush drink.

FOR THE RECORD expensive tuna fish is a billion times better than the cheap tuna.

FOR THE RECORD I am super pumped for football season to start.  If only it didn't mean the end of summer.  Pops says the cougars are going to be really good this year.  (side note:  he says that every year).

FOR THE RECORD I still don't have a facebook page.  Pretty sure I'm the only one in the entire world who doesn't.

FOR THE RECORD my sister called me twice today in the space of a few hours.  Both times I was busy and told her that I would call her back when i had a second.  When my morning finally slowed down I called her and she was too busy uploading her pictures to facebook to talk to me.  rude.  just kidding sister.   

FOR THE RECORD I am excited for a looooong weekend after a loooooong week.

peace out!

THE LETTER

My husband has been very excited for this movie to come out



Me?

Not so much.

Movies about magic, fantasy, weird creatures, etc are not really my thing

Movies about love, mystery and comedy with no weird or abnormal events/people?

Now we are talking!

So therefore I haven't been on the edge of my seat about to pee my pants from excitement to see this movie.

However, I do love my husband so I will see it with him.

On Sunday Clayton decided to take matters into his own hands.

There was an article in Ogden's Standard Examiner about how to win tickets to a special screening of the Thursday night showing of PART 1 & 2.  All you had to do was send an email telling them why you deserve to go.  they had like 40 something tickets they were giving away.

Clayton decided to enter.

Here is his email:

Standard Examiner,

After reading your article about you having Harry Potter tickets, I decided to share with you why I deserve a pair:

So here's the deal... I LOVE MOVIES!!! Ten years ago, I went with deep skepticism to a movie called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.  I didn't know anything about it other than a lot of people were saying it was an awesome movie based on an incredible book. Wizards and Sorcerer's, dragons, magic... all that was pretty much at the top of my "what makes a movie terrible" list.  Well, since I'm the type to never ruin a good movie by reading a book, I went to the film just to see what it was all about.  I LOVED IT, and so began my becoming a fan of Harry Potter.

Fast forward four years... I meet the girl of my dreams and get married.  Long story short, she HATES Harry Potter!  Had she been aware of me being a fan, our wedding may have never happened (good thing we got married between Harry Potter 3 and 4 and my love for the movie flew under the radar).  My wife is somewhat kind about going  to the movies, but there are certain conditions which need to be met... the movie can't be over 2 hrs long, it can't start past 7:00pm, and it CAN'T BE HARRY POTTER!!!  Oh, and the most critical condition: It must be a chick flick!!!  You can imagine how wonderful my movie going experience has been since getting married.  We joyfully go to movies like 'Sweet Home Alabama', 'Bride Wars', '27 Dresses', and 'The Proposal'.  Yet it's like pulling teeth to get to 'Transformers', 'Spiderman', or 'Dark Knight'.  Getting to Harry Potter DOES NOT HAPPEN!!!

Here is the potential loophole in my situation.  Though my wife is an adamant Harry Potter hater, she absolutely CAN NOT pass up something that's free.  It doesn't matter what it is, nor does it matter how little she needs it, if it's free... it's NEVER passed up!  I can't tell you how embarrassing Saturday trips to Sam's Club can be! If my wife was allergic to a free sample, she would suffer the trip to the E.R. just because she can't resist something FREE!

Free tickets to Harry Potter is the only way I am getting to this movie... plain and simple.  If you help me with these tickets, maybe (just maybe) I will finally feel avenged for sitting in line 2 hours early on opening night to get good seats for 'TWILIGHT'!!!

Clayton McMurdie

Pretty good, huh.

We did not win.

Personally...no big deal...to me

Clayton...is a little distraught...but he will survive

ps...you have been privileged with 6...YES SIX posts today.  For some reason Google or my computer has been acting up by not letting me upload any pictures.  I about took a baseball bat to my computer, but lucky for it I was able to upload today. 

FHE: BURGERS AND BALL

The Andrew Family (with exception of Kami and Erik who were dearly missed) congregated in Elwood on Monday night for a little thing us Mormons like to call

Family Home Evening

Tonight's event consisted of Burgers and Ball and...

a Kitty

sad day...Tydon learned to say kitty

confused?

Read HERE

I will now be giving out the MVP awards

MVP with the best 4 year-old swing:

TYDON

MVP for the "Better back up losers because I'm gonna hit it over your head" lookRACHEL

The MVP for making your grandson cry goes to

MOM

(just kidding mom)

MVP for best all around player

ME

(it's my blog and I can post false info if I want to)

This next picture has 2 MVP's

1) MVP for "if this picture was blown up your could definitely see the definition in my 4 year-old calves"TYDON

2) MVP for most likely to get schooled by a 4 year-old

POPS

MVP for most likely to be caught scratching his butt while on 1st base

CLAYTON

(just kidding it was more of a "I think I just pulled a muscle" massage)

as long as we are on the topic of scratching...

MVP most likely to scratch their next during an "intense" game

RACHEL

MVP for the fastest all around player because of his huge stride

KACE

MVP for the person who is most likely to be caught showing some serious leg

CORT

MVP who needs to keep her eye on the ball

MOM

(haha just kidding mom...You did have 2 great hits right before that strike)

MVP for strangers who randomly place themselves in our game

1) KID ON LEFT,

2) GIRL IN THE BACK IN PINK SHORTS

3) SHORT KID IN FRONT

MVP for most likely to use his arms as wings to fly himself into 3rd base

CLAYTON

MVP for other grandparent who is most likely to make their grandkid cry

POPS

(again...just kidding) 

MVP for grandparent who is most likely to turn that crying grandson's frown upside down

POPS

And that concludes our awards.

You will all be receiving trophies within the next few days.

If they look like my old dance trophies do not be alarmed.

The night finished up with this...

BIG TRUCKS & CARS IN IMAX 3D

TRANSFORMERS (#3) :DARK OF THE MOON

on IMAX

and

3D

These boys were pumped like a high school girls on prom night

 This girl was pumped as excited as a baby is to eat mashed peas

 This guys hair is similar to a tennis ball on steroids

that has nothing to do with the movie, but i thought it was important to note

(again please notice that girl is expressing all sorts of excitement)

 These guys were stoked to be wearing these 3D glasses

(they felt like celebrities...who else wears glasses indoors)

These guys (with exception of girl) were also embarrassed to get their picture taken in public...in the theater...after the movie 

(but they love sister so they were happy to oblige)

Girl thinks that movies over 2 hours long are toooooo long

However...girl did enjoy movie and that husband of hers puts it in his Top 5 movies of all time list.

TROPICAL DREAMS

Remember how we went to

Tropical Dreams in Kauai

and were soooo excited to find out that their only mainland location was in Salt Lake City?

Well 1 Groupon and 2.5 months later we finally made it.

(Don't worry Jess we will definitely go again so we can go with you)

It wasn't as good as it was in Kauai, but it was still really good.

Maybe the fact that we were in KAUAI made it taste better!?!

BEAR LAKE...FINALLY

So the other day I was talking to someone who had recently moved from Iran.  I was asking her what she had done/seen around Logan.  I really have deep pride for this beautiful area I live in (between the months of May - October that is).  One of my absolute favorite places is Bear Lake so naturally I asked her if she had been there yet.

She replied with sort of a scared/confused look on her face.

I continued to talk about its beauty and the fabulous raspberry shakes.

She still looked a little scared.

I talked about the mountains surrounding it.

still looking a little fearful

Now I was getting confused.

Finally she said, "Are there a lot of bear's there?"

I cleared that up quickly.

It is no secret that Clayton and I hit "the lake" (aka Bear Lake) on a regular weekend basis in the summer time.  Usually by this time we have been there close to 7-8 times.  Thanks to all the blasted rain we have only been there 2...TWO times this year. 

TWO!

However, they were two times that we really enjoyed ourselves

Now if you haven't been there lately let me tell you that the water is HIGH (again thanks to the rain).  Like NO BEACH (at least where we usually go) high.  Last I heard it was up 11 feet and still rising (again that is just here say).  I tried to capture pictures that show how high it is. 

Here is a picture of us from 2005

Until now the water level hasn't gotten much higher than this (if at all) since then.

The waters edge from the road is probably 1/8 of a mile or so.  Usually you can take your car down on the beach and park.  No so much this year.   

 I am practically on the road in the picture above

In the picture below the cars are parked in a little pullout just off of the road. 

 We used to have miles of sand leading up to the water and in the water.  Now we have rocks and weeds.

Clayton and I have found away around the no beach dilemma so that we could have our own private island/beach. 

1. Hook the raft to the paddle board

2. Paddle as far into the water as we want

3. Drop anchor

4. Hang out

Its beautiful.  Such a smart couple we are.

One time we were paddling our raft out and Clayton didn't think he needed to put his leash on.  Well when he jumped on the raft his paddle board took off the other way.  If you know anything about Bear Lake your know that getting in the water is death (aka freezing).  Being the hero that I am (and the fact that I was still on my paddle board) I took off after it.   

Well I saved it, but now what?  How do I get it back without falling into the below freezing water myself?

SOLUTION: One foot on each board and paddle.

NOTE: this was way harder than it looks.  By "way harder" I mean not possible if I didn't want to injur myself by doing the splits and falling into the water. 

 I eventually did figure it out and was able to save the day.

With all the weeds in the water, Clayton was kind and made me this beautiful ring.

 Excuse the look on his face...he is not drunk just tired.

Good times at "The Lake"

Looking forward to many, many more!

FREEDOM FEST MCMURDIE STYLE

4th of July Weekend

On July 4th most Americans were exercising their freedom to light (newly legal) fireworks and scream for candy being hurled from a John Deere tractor in the local parade (only in Utah do we call a tractor a float...oh and maybe Montana).

We exercised our FREEDOM's as well.

All. Weekend. Long.

 

Freedom to eat dessert before dinner

 Freedom to stay up late and watch fireworks

which leads me too

Freedom to get so involved in an episode of Dateline NBC that you decide to skip out on said fireworks and finish the episode (days later we remembered that neat little feature called dvr that could have allowed us to accomplish BOTH activities).

which leads me to

Freedom to admit that we are getting old!

Freedom to go to the local Farmers Market and sample all the good stuff (again and again and again with the occasional purchase to help us not feel so guilty about mooching)

Freedom to take time out of the day to go to Bear Lake 

Freedom to watch the Cache Valley Cruisin' Parade

which leads me to

Freedom to admit that you are so tired from the lake that dragging chairs out in the hot sun and watching old cars with the occasional jacked up jeep or lowered Honda Civic (not sure why/how they are considered "classic" either) does not sound like fun at the moment.   Solution: Skip It. 

which leads me to (again)

Freedom to realize for the second time in two days that we are getting old.

Freedom to get a milkshake at Charlie's with anything and everything I wanted in it

Freedom to watch this movie while I devoured said milkshake

ps we both really like it

 

Freedom to teach sharing time in Primary for the first time ever and not pee my pants or throw up (trust me you have no idea how scared I was.  Teaching Sunday School and Relief Society are cake compared to this)

 

 

Freedom to get up at 6am and pull weeds while everyone else was sleeping in before they went "parading" (verb for going to parades).  As you might have realized this was not my idea of a good time.

 

 

Freedom to say "I quit" to pulling weeds, load up the Kayak and head out to Benson Marina

 Freedom to use my lady muscles to paddle the kayak while husband plays on his cellphone (he may or may not have been checking out Transformer 3 showtimes)

WAIT...

That sounds more like characteristics of a Communist society.

hmmm...

Hold on to your cellphone...into the weeds we go 

 Freedom to eat a delicious buffalo burger on the deck at the White Owl

Freedom Weekends Are Awesome!

period

now we need to work on not being so old...