HELP WANTED...PLEASE

Husband vs. Wife Depate

Clayton often tells me that I make our marriage sound so perfect and so fairytale-ish on this blog.  So get ready for the shock of a lifetime as I set the record straight (you might even want to sit down for this).  Our marriage isn't perfect.  We have our arguments and problems just like any other normal couple  (because YES having disagreements in a marriage is NORMAL).  However, I choose to not parade them on this blog as I like to keep it as a positive as I can and when I look back I would rather look at all the good memories instead of the bad.

That being said why don't I share one of our latest debates.  MUSIC.  Clayton thinks he is the king of music.  He plays the bass and was in a band in high school.  Not the high school band (cus YES there is a HUGE difference)...but a real, deal wannabe rockstar band.  Therefor he knows it all.

Me on the other hand...well my upbringing consisted of listening to Q92.  Ahhh..the soft rock, adult contemporary station (read: mom station).  To draw the picture even clearer, for awhile I would listen to the Casey Kasem countdown each Sunday night.  There would be cassette in the tape player and I would have my finger hovering over the "record" button waiting for Byran Adam's "Everything I Do I Do it for You" to come on so I record it onto my tape (yes TAPE) and listen to it over and over and over again...anytime I wanted.  My other musical knowledge came from all the cd's I ordered from Columbia House for 1 penny (never mind the huge bill that came later...that is beside the point.  I would let my mom deal with that one).  One of my first CD's was that of Sir Elton John.  Like I said I had excellent taste in music.

So yes I think that all of this pretty much trumps Clayton's musical expertise.

Back to the debate:

The other night we were talking about Monster Ballads and what songs would be considered a Monster Ballad.  We came to two songs that we completely and utterly disagreed on.  Disagreed so much that Clayton said (with a ton of confidence), "Why don't you post this on the blog and see which song people think is more likely to resemble a Monster Ballad."  It is a rarity that Clayton tells me what to post.  Therefor I will seize the day and ask you all to help us settle this debate.

I won't tell you who choose what song so that the vote isn't swayed.  Please also don't say that both of them are Monster Ballads.  Choose one or the other.  If you think that they are both, then tell me which one you think is more of a Monster Ballad.

SONGS

Depeche Mode - "Somebody"

OR...

Aerosmith - "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing"

Please, Please, Please vote so that Clayton will have to kneel before me and say the words, "You Were Right" (just kidding).  Seriously though even if you don't know me, but read my blog anyway COMMENT which song you think is more of a Monster Ballad.  I am really curious to see what people think.

LET THE VOTING BEGIN

VALENTINES WEEKEND - CLAYTON EDITION

GIRLS DAY AT THE BOYS CLUB

...was the theme Clayton choose.

The weekend was supposed to be full of stuff that girls like to do on "Girls Night Out" and things that boys like to do on "Boys Night Out".  Except there would be no other boys and no other girls.  Just the two of us.

I started out choosing the place we were going out to eat from a hat that Clayton gave me.  Don't worry with as much as I wear hats you will see it on this blog in no time.  He had 4 restaurants to pick from in the hat, but neither of us felt like any of them.  I had a coupon card to Angie's (dad would be so proud) and we hadn't been there in forever so that is where we ended up.

Not my best picture, but what do you do?

After dinner we went home to build a fort in our front room...cuz boys like to build forts.  Remember the Great and Spacious Gingerbread House of 2011 that we (by "we" I mean Clayton) built?  No?  Let me recap.  Clayton (we were supposed to be a team, but somehow my help wasn't very helpful so I was left sitting on the bench while he tried to create our masterpiece) wanted to built a mansion that would out shine the other 2 houses that were being built (keep in mind it wasn't even a competition).  Anyway just like the Great and Spacious Building, our gingerbread house came tumbling down.  I remind you all about this story because it will help you understand the...

Great and Spacious Fort of 2012.     

He had it all planned out in his head.  With ropes and sheets it wouldn't be any old fort, but it would be a mansion.  As a kid we used couch cushions, chairs and blankets.  However, this was not "kids" game.  He strung the ropes all over the house...shut one in the front door, one in our closet door, tied them to the couch legs, etc.  There were ropes EVERYWHERE.  Meanwhile I sat on the couch and watched and waited for very little instruction on what to do (instruction example, "you can go get sheets").  Anyway to make a long story short, the fort did not work out.  The plan was to sleep in it and watch Breaking Dawn.  We needed the fort to be facing our tv and high enough that we could see it.  So just like the Great and Spacious Building from the Book of Mormon fell because of pride our fort also fell because it was set facing our pride (aka our tv).  If we would have built it facing the Temple it would have been solid.  I wasn't about to admit defeat so we took the ropes down and started the old fashion way...TOGETHER...with chairs, sheets, and couch cushions.  And guess what?  It worked!

    p.s. I thought it was very sweet of Clayton to try and build me a fort mansion.  He was so excited, like a little boy at Christmas time and it was very cute. 

Once the fort was constructed we set out to Casper's in Providence to get a shake.  FYI - Casper's in Lewiston/Cove is waaaay better.  I was pretty disappointed in the "chunkage" of my Cheesecake Brownie shake.  Not only did it lack chucks, but I couldn't taste any cheescake at all. 

On to the fort and Breaking Dawn.  Obviously a girl activity.  Having read the books I knew what was going to happen.  I can honestly say that the movies are not my favorite.  And I just don't get the fascination with Robert Pattinson (Edward).  People! He is not cute.

I am just now realizing that this post is sounding extremely negative.  Let it be know that even though there were disappointments I. loved. every. single. part. of. the. night!

The next day brought about another boy activity.  We headed out to Newton Dam to shoot guns.  To be honest guns scare me to death.  I have only shot with Clayton one other time and had a surprisingly good time.  This time was no different.  He had a couple of different guns that he had borrowed from his dad.  The pistol was my favorite.

Later we did another Girl activity and saw...

  I had high hopes for this movie...which is maybe why I was a little disappointed.  Don't get me wrong it was cute, but knowing what I do now if I had to do it all over again I would have waited for it to come out on redbox.

Lastly my favorite activity of all was Spa Night.  This was definitely a girl activity.  Clayton totally pampered me with a massage, bubble bath and hand & foot wax thingy (which was amazing by the way...I don't think it did anything and am not quite sure what it was supposed to do but it felt awesome).  He had mud masks all set out and stuff, but after the bath I was wiped out and fell asleep.

A special THANKS to my wonderful husband Clayton for coming through on Valentine's Weekend.  Everything planned was just what I needed and I loved every second of it!

P.S. Just to update you on winterBINGO

Spa Night - CHECK

Build a fort in your house - CHECK 

Soak in the Tub - CHECK

Movie night - CHECK

Oh yeah and a few months ago the lady from the ENJOY UTAH blog emailed me saying that she had seen my winterBINGO list on my blog and asked if I would give her permission to feature it on her website.  She had to change some of it because I didn't get it emailed to her until after Christmas and obviously there are a lot of Christmas Activities on there.  Also, I'm not sure where she got the name Heidi "McCube" from.  Interesting.  Check it out HERE.

SLC 2002 ONE DECADE LATER

2002 SLC Winter Olympic Games

pic taken from Google images

I'm sure that no one that reads this blog has any regrets, but I definitely do.  Back in 2002 Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympic Games.  At the time the fact that I didn't volunteer to help and didn't attend a single event didn't bother me at all.  Maybe it was lack of money that me, the poor college student had...yeah that was probably it.  Why the fact that I could miss over 2 weeks of school didn't entice me to volunteer I will never figure out.

Now a decade later I have regrets.  I regret not attending a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I regret not getting out of school to help volunteer (to be honest going to class during the Olympics was kinda a waste of time anyway because we didn't do much if I remember correctly).

However, my roommates and I did head down to Salt Lake during the Olympics to check things out downtown.

Now 10 years later Salt Lake is having all sorts of festivities in honor of the 2002 Olympics.  Because of this I thought I would post some pictures of my roommates/friends and I during this time which is my own way to remember 2002 I guess.  Jenn and Julie don't be mad at my posting these pictures.  You guys looked fabulous compared to me and that "what was I thinking" hat.

We were excited walking around Temple Square thinking we ran into some athletes (looking back I'm not really sure if the guys in this photo were athletes or not) from some country (which country I can't remember).

 Temple Square usually turns off their Christmas lights after New Year's, but they left them through February for the Olympics

 

One thing I don't regret is not purchasing one of those 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympic berets that all the USA athletes wore.  At the time I thought they were so cool.  But now an entire decade later I have come to my senses and am so thankful I didn't waste any money on those hideous things.

both pics were taken from google images

Happy 10 year birthday Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games!

VALENTINES DAY HEIDI EDITION

Holidays that fall in the middle of the week just suck.  Like take the 4th of July this year...it falls on a Wednesday.  Go to work for two days and then get the false impression that the weekend is here and then realize that yep you have to go back to work.  That is two Monday's in one week.  Someone tell me how that doesn't totally blow.

Anyway back to Valentines Day 2012...

A few weeks ago I told Clayton that I would take care of Valentines Day on February 14th if he would take care of celebrating Valentine's Day this coming weekend.  He agreed and I got planning.  I found this idea online about giving a small gift on the 14th minute of every hour (get it? 14th because of February 14th).  So that is what I did.  Starting at 7:14am and ending at 5:14pm (times which we weren't together) he opened a gift each hour from his gift bag.  The gifts were super small and cheesy.  For example, the 7:14am gift was banana bread molded into a heart and attached to it was a card that said, "I go banana's for you."  Like I said super cheesy.  Another gift was some jerky that said, "Thanks for loving me even when I'm being a bit Jerky."  His 9:14am gift was a cheesy poem that I wrote about our 7 years together.  I won't post it because I don't want anyone to gag.  12:14pm was a gift certificate to Old Grist Meal where we would meet up for a little lunch date.  Anyway you get the idea.

Later in the afternoon I asked my boss if I could leave at 4pm because it was Valentine's Day and I thought maybe I should make Clayton something for dinner that wasn't cereal or a sandwich.

So Clayton got a romantic dinner of taco salad.  We ate by candlelight...in our sweatpants.  We are classy like that.  

For dessert we ate cream cheese chocolate dipped strawberries.  Trust me they tasted waaaaaay better than they look.

I will end the night there

And because I didn't get a singe picture of us on Valentine's Day, here is one from the summer.  It is a photo booth picture from a wedding we attended.

 

Oh yeah and I found these Newlywed game questions online that we answered over dinner.  I thought they would be fun to share.  However, I know how some of you feel about long posts so if you want to read the questions and our answers read the post below.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

NEWLYWED GAME QUESTIONS

Questions Clayton had to answer about me:

1) IF YOUR WIFE COULD HAVE UNLIMITED ACCESS TO ANY STORE, WHAT STORE WOULD SHE CHOOSE?

Clayton's answer: Swell, Dogfunk (online stores), or Yogurtland

Result: CORRECT

2) WHAT WOULD YOUR WIFE SAY IS HER FAVORITE FEATURE OF YOURS?

Clayton's answer: my sense of humor (but that isn't a physical "feature" so I made him come up with something else) my smile.

Result: CORRECT...he has this "gummy" smile that I just adore.  I also like his Frodo feet and his eyes, hair, etc., etc., etc.

3) WHAT IS YOUR WIFE'S FAVORITE COMFORT FOOD?

Clayton's answer: bread and/or soup

Result: CORRECT...kinda.  Bread=yes, Soup=no.  Does ice cream count as a comfort food?

4) IF YOU COULD TAKE OVER ONE HOUSEHOLD CHORE FOR YOUR WIFE FOREVER, WHAT WOULD SHE WANT YOU TO DO?

Clayton's answer: "Well I already do it.  Clean the bathrooms and fold the whites."

Result: CORRECT.  I absolutely detest cleaning the bathroom and I would 10 times more rather fold the colors or towels than the whites.

5) WHAT GROOMING PRODUCT CAN YOUR WIFE NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Clayton's answer: blow dryer and tweezers

Result: WRONG!  I can live without my blow dryer, hair can air dry just fine.  However, I can not live without shampoo.  My hair is super fine and gets extremely greasy.  I can NOT stand greasy hair.

6) WHO MADE THE FIRST MOVE WHILE YOU WERE DATING?

Clayton's answer: me (meaning him)

Result: CORRECT.  He initiated the first handhold, but it was totally me that got the kiss going (by the way both the hand hold and the kiss happened on the same night).  The kiss is really a pretty funny story.  You will have to ask him to tell it sometime.

7) WHAT WILL YOUR WIFE SAY IS THE NICEST THING YOU DID IN THE PAST WEEK?

Clayton's answer: "I would have said back rub but you still think that I had ulterior motives in giving you one."

Result: ???  He helped me clean the house and cleaned both bathrooms.  He then folded a gazillion batches of laundry while I tried to take a nap. 

8) WHAT WAS YOUR WIFE WEARING ON YOUR FIRST DATE?

Clayton's answer: khaki pants

Result: CORRECT 

9) WHERE DID THE TWO OF YOU GO ON YOUR FIRST DATE?

Clayton's answer: driving range, dinner at a Chinese restaurant and a movie.  Afterwards we talked in the car for awhile.

Result: CORRECT.  It's funny though because we both detest golf and neither of us are huge Chinese food fans anymore.

10) DURING WHICH OF THE FOUR SEASONS WILL YOUR WIFE SAY SHE FIRST FELL IN LOVE WITH YOU?

Clayton's answer: fall or winter

Result: CORRECT.  I realized that I liked him in the fall and then came to the realization that I loved him in the winter.

Questions I had to answer about Clayton:

1) WHAT WOULD YOUR HUSBAND SAY IS MOST DIFFERENT ABOUT THE TWO OF YOU?

My answer:  I'm trying to keep this blog clean so therefor I can not repeat my answer.

Clayton's answer: CORRECT.  Again keepin' it PG here.  Just know that I got it right.

2) WHERE DID YOU SHARE YOUR FIRST KISS?

My answer:  Slammed up against the front door of the house I was living in at the time.

Clayton's answer: CORRECT

3) IF YOUR HUSBAND WON $5,000 WHAT WOULD HE WANT TO SPEND IT ON?

My answer:  This one is too easy.  He would invest it. Boring.  But smart I guess...but still not fun.

Clayton's answer: CORRECT

4) WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S DREAM JOB?

My answer:  We both have the same dream job.  We would like to have a show on the Travel Channel where we travel to all sorts of different places and cross things off of our bucket list or a Travel blog where we travel and show people things to do in different places.  Anyone out there got any connections??? 

Clayton's answer: CORRECT

5) WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S FAVORITE CANDY BAR?

My answer:  Reece's Peanut Butter Cub

Clayton's answer: CORRECT.  Although when he was younger he would have said whatchamacallit

6) IF YOUR HUSBAND COULD BE ANY AGE, WHAT AGE WOULD HE BE?

My answer:  24 or 25

Clayton's answer: "DON'T KNOW.  You are probably right". 

7) WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S FAVORITE MEAL THAT YOU COOK?

My answer:  Does Banana Bread count as a meal???

Clayton's answer: sadly he couldn't think of an answer.  This is a tough one though because usually when we cook we cook together.  Rarely does one of us do the cooking alone.

8) WHAT WAS YOUR HUSBAND'S FIRST JOB?

My answer:  farm worker or lawn mower at La-Z-boy

Clayton's answer: CORRECT.  He says that he probably mowed lawns at La-Z-boy first.

9) WHAT IS YOUR HUSBANDS FAVORITE TV SHOW?

My answer:  if we are talking comedy then definitely Modern Family.  If we are talking drama then Parenthood.

Clayton's answer: CORRECT.

10) WHICH OF THE TWO OF YOU WILL YOUR HUSBAND SAY IS THE BEST AT PINCHING PENNIES?

My answer:  him

Clayton's answer: CORRECT.  Although in my defense I don't think that I am bad at that either.

HAWAII DAY #10

LANAI DAY #4

On our last day we stopped by the local farmer's market and picked up a healthy breakfast of Malasadas and Banana Lumpia.  Fried food=breakfast of champions.

 We decided to spend our last day at Hulopo'e Bay in hopes of seeing the dolphins that we heard frequent the area a lot.

 We were not disappointed!!!

 This is our "we just swam with a ton of dolphins" smile

This is one of my favorite pictures (Rachel you will want to show Kace this).  See the circle in the top dolphin?  That is a bite mark from a Cookie Cutter Shark.  Don't believe that there is a such thing as a cookie cutter shark?  Google it! 

 Clayton also grabbed these other pictures while we were snorkeling.



Lanai was such an amazing experience.  We definitely want to go back.  I definitely recommend this quiet, beautiful island to anyone and everyone.  You should all go...and take us with you.

HAWAII DAY #9

LANAI DAY #3

Day 3 was the busiest day we had on Lanai.  We woke up bright and early and hit the Munro Trail.  The Munro Trail is a one lane, 7-12.8 mile (depending on what website you look at) dirt road that takes you up and along the ridge line of the mountain.  At the highest peak you are at 3,370 feet in elevation.  On a clear day (which it wasn't when we were there) you can see 5 of the Hawaiian islands: Maui, Molokai, Kahoolawe, Oahu and the Big Island. 

 This trail is very dangerous if it has been raining within the last two weeks.  We were only able to make it 6 miles before we...well pretty much almost died (by died I mean almost got stuck in a huge crater of a puddle).  It costs $350 for them to pull you out and we didn't feel like forking that kinda cash over so we turned around.  Some of the potholes were massive.  Like this one.  We were driving into the sun and somehow missed this pothole.  We were definitely being watched over on this drive.  Horrible things could have happened numerous times.

 Here is Lanai City

 Shipwreck Beach

There are two shipwrecks just off of Lanai.  The first one I posted about on day 2.  This is the more well known one.

 So the whole time Clayton was taking this picture I thought he was making it look like the ship was on my back.  Like I was carrying it.  While he was taking the pictures he couldn't stop laughing.  Finally I got tired and went to see what he thought was so funny.  As I soon found out and as you can see below he has the shipwreck coming out of my butt.  He thought it would be hilarious the next time I got upset (which lets be honest never, ever happens) to say "What's wrong with you?  Got a shipwreck up your butt!?!"

 We then went to check out these old ancient petroglyphs.  Apparently ancient Hawaiians drove trucks.

 Our journey then took us to Lopa Beach.  This was my favorite beach.  Not a sole was around and it offered an amazing view of Maui.  Another reason I loved this beach was because as soon as we sat down I saw a whale come out of the water about 100 yards from where we were sitting.  Amazing!

 I had to capture proof that there are palm trees on Lanai.  You don't see them very often. 

 On our way back to town we stopped at  Keomuku which is an old, deserted fishing village

 Our last adventure of the day was Kahekili's Leap. 

Kahekili's leap is where King Kamehameha's warriors would prove their bravery to him by leaping 80 into the ocean below.  What makes it even more brave (or stupid, you decide) is that the rocks at the base of the wall you are jumping off of extend about 15 feet outwards and the water is only 10-20 feet deep.

 There is also and old Hawaiian Heaiu by Kahekili's leap.

 You didn't think I was going to go an entire post with out mentioning food did you?  So this night we ate at Canoes Lanai.  We heard that their burgers are coveted all over Hawaii.

 This is Clayton's.  Mine was the same, but without the egg.  These burgers did not disappoint they were amazing.

 Since the only ice cream shop on the entire island was closed for the month of January (just my luck) I was in some dire need of sugar.  We headed over to the restaurant inside of Hotel Lanai where we ate the most delicious bread pudding...with ice cream on top.