Flashback Friday

I know it has been some time since I wrote a post, and especially a Flashback Friday post. I was playing a game on Facebook and I just started thinking about Steve. Since he is at work, I miss him. I've been thinking about the day (and moment) I realized I wanted to marry him. We have already shared the story about how we met and our whirlwind courtship. But I don't know if he even remembers this one.

Around the time that we met Angela's husband Erik joined the Army, active duty. Of course this meant selling their house and moving out of state. They had two kids at the time, Alek and Ethan. I believe that Alek had just turned 2 and Ethan had just turned 1. If my memory serves me correctly, their house had not sold by the time Erik had to leave for boot camp. One Saturday, when we didn't have a competition, Steve and I went over to help her pack, clean the house, and take care of the kids.

We took a break and Steve and I were reading stories to the kids. I believe that Alek was on Steve's lap and I was holding Ethan. At some point, I glanced at the TV in front of us. I could see our reflections and it truly was as if time just stopped. I sat in amazement as Steve was so involved in the story he was reading. I saw us together and it just fit. I wanted to cry but decided that wasn't a good idea, so I held it back.

After that, I had no hope. All he had to do was say the words and I was his. To this day, whenever I watch him with kids I am amazed and I feel the same way. He's not worried about whatever is going on in life. He is involved in the moment and he is a kid himself. It makes my heart melt every time.

I love the moments in life that happen and things become crystal clear, such as this one. Last week I had another. I won't go into too many yucky details, but last Friday I ended up in the emergency room. I was bleeding uncontrollably and in a lot of pain. I had been trying to deal with it on my own since Wednesday night with some luck here and there but Friday it just got worse and I couldn't take it anymore.

I was at work and ended up having a co-worker take me. Steve had worked the night before and I knew he was supposed to be sleeping. I didn't even know if he would have his phone on or not (he typically turns it off so he it doesn't wake him up when people call). I had called from work and he didn't answer because he didn't recognize the number. A few minutes later I called from my cell phone, in the car on the way. By this point I was in tears, and he had only been asleep for an hour. As soon as he heard me crying he was up. Within 10 minutes he was dressed and to the hospital to be with me.

Throughout the day, everything he did was for me, nothing else mattered. It didn't matter how tired, hungry or thirsty he was. He was going to be there with me whenever possible. He called work and let them know he would not be able to make it in that night. He wasn't going to leave me by myself. Luckily, at one point they had to take me for some tests and he was able to get some food. My dad came to the hospital about half way and stayed with us the remainder of the time. He also took Steve to pick up my car after I was home. I think that helped Steve as much as it did me.

We definitely have our moments, times that we just go with the flow. But I am grateful for those moments of clarity. The expressions of pure and simple love.

I love you Steve!

Flashback Friday - Fun pics

We have someone at work who is retiring this month and part of my job is "party-planner". I have a bunch of pictures from past events and so I was assigned to look through my pictures to find some of her for a scrapbook. During the course of my search I found some of family members who have come to different fun events we have had at work.

Fall Festival 2006

Family Fun Night 2007

Double Feature - Pioneer Day & Flashback Friday

I have decided to write a double feature blog. Since it is Friday it is Flashback Friday, that was inspired by my Pioneer Day fun last night.

Pioneer Day

Before anyone else decides to ask me, no we did not go to the parade. Steve worked the night before and I slept in. The parade is not a tradition for us so it doesn't usually even cross our mind. If it does, we very quickly decide we would rather sleep in. As I was contemplating actually getting out of bed, Amanda called me and asked me if I could watch Zack. They had a friend who needed some help and didn't feel that they could take him with them. I hesitated slightly, only because I knew that Steve would be sleeping and I didn't want to wake him up. But of course I said yes. How can I resist an opportunity to play with any of my nieces or nephews?

So Zack came over and spent the day with me. Zack LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and he got a new video while we were on vaction. He knows nearly all the names of Thomas and his friends but there are some new friends on this video. Zack will frequently play the "Who's that?" game. He asks "who's that?" and then answers his own question. He was playing the game and asked about the yellow flat bed truck on the front of the video case but he couldn't remember her name and Amanda couldn't either. So, we had to watch it. In case anyone wants to know, her name is Isabella...

Unfortunately, Steve's boss called him and woke him up during Thomas and then he heard us. My only consolation is that we weren't the ones who woke him up in the first place. We are just the ones who distracted him enough that he couldn't go back to sleep. So Steve got up and spent a little bit of time on his computer in the office waking up a bit.

After Thomas, Zack wanted to watch Bee Movie, but when we opened it up he said "oh no! All gone!" So he chose Cars. I hadn't ever seen all of Cars so I was okay with it. Besides, it's a Pixar movie. How can you go wrong? I had seen the beginning so I decided to get some of our massive pile of dirty dishes done while Zack watched and played and then joined him. Steve eventually joined us and we ended up nearly rolling on the floor watching Zack. He was quoting the movie and singing and dancing during the songs. It was a lot of fun!

About 2:00 Amanda sent me a message and said she forgot to tell me about his nap and asked if I had put him down. Zack was in such a good mood that I totally spaced nap time, it did not even cross my mind. I was even going to take him shopping with me. Whoops! I put him down right then and then Steve took a small nap on the couch while I went to the store.

Amanda and Aaron came to pick him up about 5:00 and he was still laying down. Amanda and I went to wake him up and he was already awake, he just hadn't come out of the room. He got very excited to see mommy and when she asked him if he had fun he said "No, go home!" I had to laugh, we did too! He really was a good boy and we had lots of fun playing. They left to finish getting ready for the barbeque Britta was having for the family at her house. Steve got ready for work and after he left I finished getting ready to go as well.

Britta covers everything pretty well, so if you want details about the barbeque, go to http://nunleyfam.blogspot.com/2008/07/pioneer-day-barbeque.html.

Flashback Friday

While I was at Britta's for the barbeque last night I was able to see her nearly finished back yard. She has a hill in the back (on purpose) for her kids to play on. This is the inspiration for my Flashback Friday.

My parent's have a small hill in the front yard that we grew up playing on. The reason I say on purpose above is simply this: to this day, my mom hates that hill. It was there when they bought the house and she has tried several times to get rid of it. I don't know if we always talked her out of it or if other things just took priority, but it is still there.

Personally, I am glad. We had SO much fun playing on the hill growing up and the grandkids have fun now. I told Britta last night that she was missing something on her hill, the pot holes. She apparently decided that, regardless of how much we used them, she didn't want them in her hill. I do understand why because we destroyed the grass in that area by using them for our witches brew, which I have previously posted about.

In addition to witches brew the hill provided safety while playing tag, a castle for the frequently overturned king of the hill, a stage and many more. We rolled down the hill, we ran through sprinklers on the hill and sprained ankles on the hill. The fun was endless and still is. And lucky for us, if we had too many people and our hill was too small, we ran next door to the park. We always had plenty of space there.

In my adulthood, I am always reminded that I had an amazing childhood. Sometimes it is hearing how difficult someone else's childhood was and sometimes it is just spending time with my family and following the eternal memory lane. I am grateful for the family I have and I love you all!

Family vacation - part 2

Picking up where I left off...

Thursday morning when we got up I was a little worried about how I was going to feel that day. My back was hurting and my stomach didn't feel great either. But I decided to do everything I could to get it to calm down (in addition to a blessing the previous night) and by the time we left I felt good. We got on the road to San Francisco. But before leaving I had to take a picture of this little food shack that made me laugh.

On the road to San Francisco, we saw a sign for another drive-through tree. We decided to stop and this one looked a lot more like we were all envisioning. We had a blast here because there was another log that was hollow and I could stand up inside it. I got a great picture of me and all the kids and Aaron decided to climb on top of it. I even got brave and climbed up. I'm afraid of heights so this was a big thing for me.

We visited the gift shop for a bit and got back on the road. It was a 4 hour drive to San Francisco from Garberville and we wanted to be able to eat lunch on Fisherman's Wharf. When we got to the bridge we noticed that it got a bit colder than we were getting used to. It had been so hot the last few days that we were all sweating by the time we got loaded each morning. The temperature said it was 64 and it was foggy. Many of us didn't bring jackets and were now regretting it. We found a place to park, walked to the Wharf and found a place for lunch. We picked a place that looked like it would have decent options for everyone which ended up being a place called Tarantino's. We just picked and we lucked out. This place was great! We had a great view of the fishing boats on the Wharf and the food was great.

When we left the restaurant we discovered it had gotten significantly colder than when we went in. We headed to Ghirardelli Square and luckily found some nice, inexpensive hoodies on our way. Nearly everyone bought one in a variety of colors and styles. We were now much more comfortable. One thing that I remembered about Ghirardelli Square from when I went years ago was the fun fountain. Amanda and Ranna went a few months ago and said it was under construction. I was hoping that the construction was done so we could all see it.

After Ghirardelli Square, we headed to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and to get some ice cream. There is of course a lot more to do at Pier 39 than these things, but we didn't really have the time. Unfortunately, it is the off season for the sea lions and there was only a handful there. I was so bummed because that was one of my favorite things last time I was there. So, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to the vehicles. We decided we didn't want to drive down Lombard St. but we at least wanted to see it. So we drove by it and then headed out of town. It took us 2 hours to get to the Bay Bridge, traffic was a mess! When we finally got to the bridge, we discovered it was because they were doing construction and it went down to one lane. Hello, who thought this would be a good idea? While in traffic we got separated, and long story short version, we all decided to just meet at the Oakland Temple. These grounds are so pretty and I love the walkway on top of the temple with all of the foliage. We took a group picture in front of the Christus in the visitor's center and headed to the hotel. It was something we all needed to end the day.

Friday we headed into Sacramento. Seth needed to take some things and pick up some things from the mission office and so we all drove to Old Sacramento and we decided that Seth and my parents would go take care of that while the rest of us wandered around. We pretty much headed straight to the train museum. Zack was a big driving force behind this one because he LOVES Thomas and all his friends. He can name them all. Just as we were finishing up there we found out that the mission office wasn't even open and wouldn't be until about 2:00. Seth was so bummed because he wanted to see the museum and missed it for nothing.

By this time I was really dragging. I was not feeling well at all and had absolutely no energy. When we met up with my parents, my dad mentioned that my mom was concerned that she had strep. I started thinking...yup, those are the symptoms I was experiencing. We found a gorgeous place for lunch and we ate in the courtyard. Again, some place we just found and lucked out. The kids had room to move and play without disturbing other patrons and from what I'm told, the food was amazing. I didn't have enough of an appetite so I ordered the cheapest salad I could because I could see wasting money on something I wasn't going to enjoy just because I didn't feel well. I would love to go back and try it another time, not to mention there was so much of Old Sacramento we still did not see.

After Old Sacramento, we headed to the Sacramento Temple. This is a newer and smaller temple, but the grounds were amazing! It is close to a waste plant and it was cool to see where the temple grounds started and the difference in the vegetation. Ranna and I decided that it was dark and spooky versus bright and happy. They also have a park area with bathrooms, drinking fountains, sand pits and benches as part of the grounds.

At this point, we separated. People in my parent's van (me included) headed to the mission office and the other vehicles headed to Lake Tahoe. Not too much exciting to report at this point, but by the time we made it to Tahoe I was feeling better. They beauty of pain reliever! We didn't stay long, because it was getting late and the young kids had already been playing for about an hour and were basically done. They did have a lot of fun though.

We headed to our final hotel in Carson City and luckily it was only a half hour away. Some people went swimming and dinner kept getting later and later. By the time people were ready to go my energy was gone, so I just went to bed. Saturday we got up and got on the road a little later than the other days, but we didn't have any stops planned. We just headed home and by this time Britta and I were very anxious to make it home to see our sweethearts. At one of the rest stops we found a Native American couple who had set up a bunch of jewelry for sale. We all had fun looking and several of us bought something. Other than that, our long road home was pretty uneventful. I felt somewhat icky but mostly okay for most of the trip and boy was I glad to make it home and sleep in my own bed.

Flashback Friday - Family Vacation, part 1

I am finally getting around to posting about my vacation. I have been waiting, hoping to get some of the pictures other members of my family took. I decided I had better not wait anymore, because it is already a "flashback". I mean, it's been a week!

Let me preface this entire blog with this...vacation is much better when illness is not a part of it! My stomach, back and ribs acted up the night before we left, so I really didn't get much sleep. We wanted to leave my parent's house by 8:00 a.m. (we run on Putnam time, so this means earliest 8:30). I was in pain, so I called my chiropractor, hoping to get in early so that I didn't throw things off for anyone else. Luckily, due to Putnam time, I didn't. Steve and I dropped all my stuff off at my parent's and got it loaded and headed to the chiropractor while everyone else finished up. We got to the office around 8:15 or so and was done just after everyone left the house at 8:30. Everyone met Steve and I there, since it was in the general direction we needed to go anyway and wasn't too out of the way. I said good-bye to Steve, gingerly climbed into Britta's Jeep and off we went!

I rode most of the day with Britta, with a few hours with my parents when I decided I really needed a nap. I couldn't get a nap riding with Britta because I was on kid duty - changing movies, getting books or toys, getting snacks, etc. After some rest I really started to feel better and kid duty was ok. I did find the Nevada/California state line quite interesting. The scenery became a lot more interesting very suddenly!

Monday night we stayed in a town called Grass Valley in California. It is off of I-80 about a half hour and the drive into town was absolutely breath-taking! We chose Grass Valley because it was in the general area that we needed to go anyway and Britta and John lived there for a summer for John's internship. My parent's found this fabulous place to stay which completely spoiled us. We all loved it, especially the memory foam beds and the pool. They were just what we needed after the long day of driving we just had.

Our cute hotel the first night

Tuesday was a busy, busy day. We started by having a trip down memory lane for Britta. She wanted to show everyone where she and John lived for that summer. It was maybe 5 minutes from the hotel. Then we headed toward Yuba City and did a little bit of backtracking through Marysville to Beale Air Force Base for me. That is where Steve was born and since he wasn't able to come I wanted to go there for him. We took some pictures and Zack and Abby especially liked looking at the plane. On our way back through Marysville, we stopped at Wal-Mart, for Britta's sake. Her DVD players stopped working. It was only the 2nd day of a huge road trip with a 3 year old and a1 year old. She didn't want to go the rest of the trip without it...

After our shopping we decided it was time for lunch. We found a great park close by and stopped. It had a great pond and a bunch of ducks and geese that Abby truly enjoyed feeding. I'll tell you what though, those geese sure were pushy. You could even say they were the bullies of the bunch. When they found out that the ducks were getting food that they weren't, they charged right in and pushed the ducks out. It was very interesting to watch.

After lunch Seth pretty much ran the show. This was the day spent in his mission area and there were a lot of people he wanted to visit and some places he wanted to show us. Most of us stayed in vehicles when he went in but in Orland we were able to stop at a park so the kids could play. We ended up eating dinner pretty late and by that time the kids were ready to be done. After getting to the motel in Corning some of us went swimming, some of us went to bed and my parents and Seth went to visit more people. My stomach acted up Tuesday afternoon but swimming helped a lot.

Wednesday was the day for the Redwoods. Unfortunately for us, to get there from Corning, we had to drive up and over the mountain. This meant a lot of twisty roads, and quite a bit of car sickness, which lead to a lot of passenger swapping. I was already feeling slightly off so I got quite sick where I normally would not have. By the time we actually got to the Redwoods I could barely move, but got out of the car anyway. I wasn't about to miss the redwoods in the Avenue of the Giants.

The first place we stopped was the Immortal Tree. This massive tree has survived lightening, floods, pests and the axe. They even have year markers for each event. We spent a good amount of time at the gift shop there and I found the perfect gift for Steve, aside from the fun shot glass to add to his collection. We got back on the road and found a place for dinner in a gorgeous grove with a picnic table. It was here that I realized we did not have nearly enough time for the Redwoods. There are so many trails and other sites off the main roads that days could be spent in just the Avenue of the Redwoods. I laid down in the van for a bit before getting up to eat. I needed a chance to rest without being in a moving vehicle.

My parents chose to visit this specific section of the Redwoods because we all wanted to see a drive-through tree. We couldn't see one on the map, but the internet stated we would find one. We decided to turn around and go ask someone at the visitor's center where we could find one. They said it was off the main road but there were signs on the main road. We just didn't drive far enough. We found it and it was so much fun! I could not believe the size of these trees. The drive-through tree was large enough that Aaron could even drive his big truck through (Seth was actually driving, Aaron directed). They also had some play houses and a children's walk-through stump. Everyone had a blast, especially the kids!

The cute tree houses

Silly, silly Seth Sack - in the cute tree house

Aaron with Zack on his shoulders in the walk-through tree
Perspective - Aaron is about 6'8"

Anna in the walk-through stump

Getting out of the car was actually the best thing for me, and by the time we got to our motel I was feeling pretty good. We stayed at a tiny motel in Garberville, a small town just south of the Avenue of the Giants. We got to the motel Wednesday night much earlier in the evening than we did any other night. We went swimming before dinner and really had a good time. We planned to go to a smoothie place we saw as we came in, but when we got there we discovered they were only serving the fire fighters that were fighting the mostly contained fires on the mountain. So, we kept walking until we found an open place that looked family friendly. Overall dinner was a lot of fun. It stopped being fun when half of us got our food and finished it and still no pizza for the others. Luckily, the kids were still in good moods. Some of us headed back with the kids and some stayed to take care of getting the pizza to go (which was now free) and taking care of paying. Aaron brought the pizza back, but unfortunately not before Abby went to sleep. Don't worry, she didn't go to bed hungry. She had chocolate cake at the restaurant! Britta saved her a piece for the next day.

This is about all I am going to post for now. I will finish blogging about the trip later. Check back for more pictures...

Flashback Friday - Life Story question

Steve and I have been planning to continue our story because we had fun doing it. We've been told that some people actually enjoyed reading it too. Here is our dilemma. We don't really see each other much during the week. In fact, this week it really has been very little. We usually have all day Saturday and Sunday, and this weekend we don't even have that. So, I am going to do something else for this week and then we will try to work on something during the week so that by Friday it will be ready to post.

I decided to cheat a little this week and pull a question out of my Life Story jar that would work for my Flashback Friday. The question is "Tell about any conditions surrounding your birth that you are aware of. Tell any interesting stories about your beginnings (how your name was chosen, any close calls)." Boy what a gem this is!

When I was 11 my mom wrote me a letter as part of a mutual project. It shares some about when I was born, but not all the really good stuff. But, I would like to share a little of it because it is in her words.

"I would like to tell you a little bit about the day you was born. It was a bright, sunny, early spring morning - March 26, 1977. We already had 2 little boys and were hoping to get a little girl. We were, of course, very please when we found out you was indeed a little girl. We were a little bit scared at first because you wasn't breathing right away, but it sure didn't take long to get you breathing. Once you started breathing, you started crying. What a set of lungs! You have been very quiet since then! Just kidding." (She really isn't kidding. I am a self-admitted loud-mouth!)

"You was one of the prettiest babies ever born at the Valley West Hospital in what was then called Granger, Utah. Things have really changed so it is now Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City, Utah. The nurses made a fuss over you because you had so much long dark hair. At one time Dr. Astle, who delivered you, said, "One day she'll knock some young man for a loop." He thought you looked like you would really be pretty some day."

The next paragraph I am leaving out because it is very personal, but she mentions having health issues before and after I was born. When she was 4 months along, she started having contractions due to an asymptomatic urinary tract infection. This was obviously way to early to give birth so the hospital did what they could to stop the contractions. The way that was done at that time was through an alcohol drip. Yes, my mom got drunk due to this alcohol drip, this explains everything! She was a difficult patient and kept trying to get out of bed (very unlike her, she is a nurse and knows better), but in the end it worked and I was born only 3 weeks early.

Just after I was born they were not sure what my name would be. They knew my first name would be Mary because they wanted me to have that family name (it goes back to my great-great grandmother). Their inspiration for my middle name, what I would actually go by, came from an interesting source. When I was born, they still had shared hospital rooms and she was sharing with someone who also just gave birth to a little girl and also had a little boy. When her son came in to visit he was disappointed. He said "I wanted you to have a boy so we could name him Charlie Brown." They decided that would be a cute name for a girl, except as Charlene. So, I am named after Charlie Brown and I did not learn this until my friends gave me the nickname of Charlie (against my wishes) which ended up as Chuck (which I was okay with...go figure). Ironic.

What they didn't know at the time I was born was that part of the placenta had scarred next to the uterus due to the premature contractions. Since that part stayed behind her body didn't get the clear signal that she was not pregnant anymore and her milk did not come in. Therefore, I was not breast fed like my 7 siblings. I personally find this curious as I am the one in the family with the most health issues. It simply re-affirms to me the importance of breast milk. Anyway, about 5 weeks after I was born she started having issues due to the part of the placenta wall left behind. She ended up in the hospital with severe bleeding and the doctors gave her until a specified time to pull out of it or she would have an emergency hysterectomy. It looked like it was going to happen, but she was blessed and a half an hour before the determined time she pulled out of it and did not need to have the surgery.

She had 5 more children after that, all with very little or no complications. So, I say that I started out as a problem child and unfortunately I don't think much has changed. But I can say that I am truly grateful my mom was able to have more children for all the siblings I have. I would have been the youngest child and the only girl and if that had been the case I would have been a spoiled brat - no questions!

I have an amazing family and I am so blessed to be a part of it. I consider some of my siblings among my best friends and I can not imagine my life without them.

Flashback Friday - Our first date

The next few Flashback Friday installments will be about Steve and I meeting, dating, etc. And, for extra fun(at least this week), it will be told by both of us.

Charlene: Steve and I met over the internet. Not on any dating site, just by Yahoo! messenger. Steve decided one night, while he was working, on Valentine's Day, to look up profiles. He sent me an offline message, I happened to be out with a boyfriend for Valentine's Day.

Steve: Actually, I had seen her profile about a dozen or so times, I was just ticked off because my log time girlfriend and I had broken up.... about 6 months ago. So, there I was on 'single-awareness day' having to work. I was bitter. Very bitter. (big shock, right?) I was the supervisor out that night and I didn't want to work, so I assigned all the patrol work to the patrolman and I sat in the DI parking lot (4700s 4000w) and cruised the internet in my car. I think the message I sent her went somthing like "Hey, I'm Steve. Saw your profile and decided that since I'm such a freakin loser who is working on Valentines Day I would send ya a message. Hope to hear from you soon." Smooth arent I?

Charlene: I wish he was kidding. For some reason, I used to get quite a few offline message from guys commenting on my profile picture. I would respond to each of them and only about 1/4 of them would ever respond back. Steve was one of them. Now, let me remind you, I had a "boyfriend" at the time. I should not have been with this guy(anyone will tell you) and I knew it. We knew we weren't going to get married so we agreed we could date other people. So I did. Steve and I wrote on Yahoo! Messenger for several weeks before he asked me out to lunch. I didn't really want to go. See, Steve is several years younger than me, along with a few other things I didn't really want to deal with. The first time he asked me out I actually couldn't go. He wanted to go to lunch and I had to stay at work. The second time he asked me out I had a date scheduled for that evening, I looked cute and I was in a good mood. I figured why not. It will at least get him off my back.

Steve: If you know anything about me, you know that I'm determined to get my way and stubborn as a mule. My rule was 'if at first you don't succeed, carpet bomb em till they submit!' The second time I asked her to lunch, it was spontaneous. I am NOT a spontaneous person. To my utter surprize- she agreed. She gave me the address to her office and I headed off that way. I was excited. I had just left the gym and had my entire paycheck in my pocket because I didn't REALLY believe in bank accounts back then.

Now, mind you, I made my living responding to house and business alarms. I am pretty good at finding places. Yeah, couldn't find her office. Could not for the life of me find that place. I think I called her 3 or 4 times asking 'Ok, now where is it again?' I felt like a dope.

Well, I finally find it and I park. Then it hits me. Dude, you JUST left the gym.... after a 40 minute cardio, and hour on the weights and 15 minutes of more cardio. I'm sweaty, stinky, wearing blue Nike warm up pants, Basketball shorts, a grey tank top, and a ball cap. Oh crap!

So, I did what any sane, rational, and fashion oriented person would do. I popped the trunk PRAYING that there was somthing there I could wear. As a testimant of my luck, all that was there was one of my old waist long western jackets. This one was green on top, black on bottom and had a southwestern pattern trim where the colors meet. 'Screw it! I'm here.' So, I popped that jacket on, zipped it up half way, pushed the sleeves up, twisted my ballcap around backwards and in I went. Bravely going where no man (or anyone else should) has gone..I marched on in to the office!

Charlene: Oh boy, what a first impression he made! By the time he actually made to the office I was already not impressed. The office building is located directly on 4500 South. How can you miss it? When he walked in he looked like the biggest dork. I gave a glance to my co-worker and told her I would be back. I couldn't believe I was actually going to go to lunch with him. Lucky for me, I didn't actually notice he had been sweating. The jacket did the trick. Of course, I was probably too distracted by the backwards baseball cap.

Steve: Now, I decided we would go to the American Grill at the Cottonwood Mall. Mostly because it was close and I was cheap. It just so happens that I used to work there and my dad was the mall Operations Manager.

So, we get on the road and we're making small talk and my phone rings. It's my dad. See, he's a diabetic and forgot to pack a lunch. His bloodsugar was getting low and he needed to eat. He asked me if I was in the area and if he could borrow a few bucks for a lunch. I figured 'well this date is shot to hell anyway' "Tell ya what, I'm on my way to American Grill. Why don't ya just join us?"

"Hey, my dad works at the mall and forgot his lunch. He'll be joining us."

Charlene: What?! How bad can this date get? Now I'm going to lunch with his dad too? What I didn't know at the time, is Steve's dad is the man of a thousand jokes. The same 2, 500 times. And if he doesn't know a joke for a situation, he will make one up. The other thing I didn't know, don't laugh, it encourages him. So as we are sitting at lunch I've got Steve's dad telling jokes non-stop and Steve trying to learn something about me. Needless to say it didn't go so well.

Steve: Didn't go well? Well.. there's the UNDERSTATMENT of the year! On top of everything else that went wrong, they sat us right next to the grill. So, it's about 9000 degrees and I've got a COAT ON! I was sweating like a pig at a bacon farm! My dad, whom I love dearly, is telling the most awful jokes, I'm dying of heat and my brain is not functioning. (obviously. If it was, I wouldn't have asked her out after the gym!) Finally, I lose my appetite. I simply cannot eat. All I can do is drink copious ammounts of water and pray she finishes her meal soon or I am just gonna upchuck right there on the table.

Well, Charlene finishes and I tell my dad we need to go. Guy had us married off right then and there. No joke. We get back in the car and Charlene asks me the oddest thing I think I have ever been asked on a date.

Charlene: By this time, I was pretty sure I was never going to see him again. We were driving by the bank, so I asked him if he would stop so I could cash my paycheck, which I had received just before leaving for lunch. I know,bad move. But that was my plan. I didn't want him to call me back...ever! He took me back to the office, I said thank you, and I nearly ran back into the building. Man was I glad I had another date with someone else that night to make up for this one!

Steve: 'Well THAT sucked!' I drove back home to North Ogden kicking myself the entire way. '..what kind of idiot goes to a date dressed...UGH!' I was glad when that day was over. It was one of my rare days off and I was happy to be in bed during the night rather than working.

When I woke up, somthing odd happened. I opened my eyes and the spirit in the room was almost the strongest I have ever felt it. It also happened to be one of the few times that he whispered to me and I listened. I sat straight up and said audibly "Ok. I'm going to marry her."

Flashback Friday - Life long friends

The other day a co-worker of mine asked me if I still keep in touch with any of my friends in high school. For me that answer is absolutely! Not very many of them, but I do have some that I do. I have two good friends who have been around for 15 years or more.

Buffy I have known since we were about 5, so about 25 years or so. I don’t ever remember not knowing her, I just have the knowledge that I didn’t always. She is probably one of the few people I have never had a disagreement with. But our relationship is odd. As long as I can remember we hang out in spurts. We would hang out a lot and then suddenly stop for a while. We didn’t have any tension or disagreements of any sort. We just took a break for a while. It is like that still. But I always know that if I need someone to talk to she is there. We often talk about some similarities between our husbands, especially in temperament, which we find very interesting.

Angela I met in high school. At the end of our junior year we became nearly inseparable and I started referring to her as my other hip. She has basically been an additional sister and is part of the family. On the flip side of that, I am part of her family as well. I was over for dinner one night when they had the missionaries over and he introduced me to them as his adopted daughter. Anyone who knows Angela’s dad knows this is not a common occurance. I know that I could go to her parent’s house anytime still and be welcomed right in. One of the funniest things is her teenage sister, Leah, has asked for my help on several occasions, such as getting ready for a dance and dying her hair. She got married several years before I did and got pregnant pretty close to right away so we have not been able to hang out as much as we would really like to since then and her living out of state does not help much either.

These two friends are a very small sample of people who have truly made a HUGE impact on my life and I could go on and on.

And to those I consider a friend, thank you for being in my life!

Flashback Friday - Colorguard

I was trying to think of what to do for a Flashback Friday and brought up my profile to listen to while I work on it. The first song that came up was Flood....this reminded me of colorguard.

Britta did her Flashback Friday on soccer. I was very involved in soccer through my sophmore year of high school. I was also on the colorguard that year and soccer and colorguard had some big conflicts. There were three of us on both teams that year. Even though soccer had been my activity for many years, colorguard took my priority. I fell in love with it immediately! We weren't very good, but we enjoyed ourselves, especially when it came to Winterguard.

In the fall we had to deal with the band, the football field, the cold, etc. In the winter, it was just us on the basketball floor, INDOORS! We could choose our music for what we wanted to do, not what the band director chose...which was usually pretty lame!

I remember all the shows we did except for fall show my sophmore year. It was probably so bad that I blocked it out. We had these black dresses that we used for Fall show and Winterguard for two full seasons. We just adapted things slightly, like adding a sheer sparkly skirt, a cape or a silver sequin vest that made us look like a disco ball. I hated that dress, but it is great for Halloween!

My junior year I was a squad leader and my senior year Angela and I were the flag captains. Basically it meant that I could tell people what to do when the captains weren't around. My junior year Kearns got Michele James for the advisor for Winterguard. Things really started to turn around and by the next year we were kicked out of B class (the lowest class) because we were too good! My senior year was the only year she spent in A class before moving the guard to Open. My sisters were all so lucky for this!

After high school I was on the colorguard at Snow. I co-wrote the show my freshman year and was the President of the Colorguard Club my sophomore year. That year I also helped Angela who was the advisor for Copper Hills High School. I continued to go to the competitions and support my sisters who were doing shows I only dreamed of.

Several years later, Michele left Kearns and went to American Fork and this left the guard in bad shape. Ranna was a senior and she and her best friend were the captains. They asked Angela and I to come and help. This was a fun year and why Flood reminds me of colorguard. Part of the reason it was so fun is the time I was able to spend with Ranna. She and Latecia were fabulous captains and I built a relationship with my sister that I wouldn't trade. Since we are 6 years apart we hadn't had much of an opportunity to spend a lot of time together. She is the one person in the family that truly has any physical similarities to me. We have the same build and even sound similar, especially on the phone. We have even had people in the store ask if we are twins....

The year after Ranna graduated I continued being the advisor at Kearns but left mid-year due to many conflicts with the new band director (Howie decided he didn't want that job anymore), school staff and parents. I did not have the support from any of these groups of people that I had the previous year and I decided that it was not worth my emotional health. Since then, the only involvement I have really had was going to the colorguard competitions every year starting in February.

This is such a brief overview of my life in colorguard....I could write a blog for each show. And, one of these days I will have my own colorguard gym for everyone who wants to come play!

Flashback Friday - stupid college stuff

The inspiration for this week's Flashback Friday is not necessarily happy, but it has been on my mind. Several times over the last few months I have woken up in a great deal of pain (see previous blog - my rude awakening) and Monday it happened again. I decided to go to a new chiropractor, one that my friend Josie recommended. He did a nerve test and x-rays, but didn't want to adjust me untill he could look at the results and know what he was doing. So, I went home and slept most of the rest of the day. Amazingly enough, my muscles calmed down enough for me to enjoy Christmas.

We went back on Wednesday to review the results - I'm broken! Almost every nerve at the top of my back and neck are severely affected and my back and neck are all out of whack. At one point he asked what I did to get like this. I didn't think of what it was until later.....

My first year in college the institute was having some sort of get together and all my roommates and I decided to go. For some strange reason, a few of us decided to climb in the back of Christy's truck, standing. She turned onto the street for the institute and I saw some of my friends and was saying hi, not paying attention to the fact that she found a good parking spot in front. She turned, I realized what was going on, and made the quick decision to jump rather than fall on my head. I was wearing sandals with absolutely no traction. I promptly did the splits and to this day have matching scars on the inside of my ankles and my knees from scraping the asphalt - those socks were shot! Someone took me home to get cleaned up although I don't think I really did a good job. Those sores on my ankles got very infected.

A few weeks later (I believe it was Easter) I was home and we were having a family get-together and my aunt Denise's restaurant. I really noticed having issues with my back that I don't ever remember having prior. When I went back down to school I started going to the chiropractor. I went for the rest of the year, and most of the next year. He was the only one in town and, looking back, I wonder how much he really helped me because I have had issues since then.

I guess the moral of this story is don't do stupid stuff like stand in the back of a moving truck.

Flashback Friday - Christmas Traditions

My sister Britta posted her Flashback Friday and it was so complete I asked if I could send people to her blog. She said "Sure, you can even copy and paste it if you want." So I did, with a few changes. Thanks Britta!

On Christmas Eve night, we always read the story of when Christ was born. All season, my mom had her nativity figures on the piano, but she kept baby Jesus hidden. As we read the story from the scriptures, we would put the baby in the stable, to symbolize that being the night of his birth. Then we had family prayer, picked a spot on the furniture for our stockings, then went to bed. Now, going to bed was not necessarily going to sleep. The excitement was always tremendous. One year, Britta and I couldn't sleep, and we decided to both sleep on the top bunk - my bed. This became our little tradition for a couple more years, until we were too big and it was too uncomfortable.

My mom is a nurse, and she almost always worked on Christmas Eve until 7 am Christmas morning, but she usually didn't get home until closer to 8. We weren't allowed to look at our presents until she got home. Until I was about 10, we had the presents in the living room, which you could see from the stairs coming up from my room. So we had to stay in the basement. Around my 11th birthday, my parents added on to the house, building a room above the garage. This made it easier to hide the presents, but until we were a little older, we still had to wait downstairs because it was too tempting to take a peek behind the blanket covering the doorway. My youngest brothers were escorted downstairs to wait with us until she got home. I remember meeting in Amanda and Ranna's room to play games and peeking out the window watching for our mother to come home - Britta and I shared a room which was in the back of the house. Dirk and Eric were old enough to want to stay in bed as long as possible, but the rest of us would huddle together, squealing with excitement. Even when she got home we had to wait a few minutes for mom and dad to hug and kiss and for them to come down and tell us it was okay.

One of our favorite things on Christmas morning was breakfast. We all got to pick our own box of cereal to eat that morning. The entire box was our own, and we only shared if we wanted to, which we frequently did. It was always a big decision to make when my mom asked what kind we wanted. As soon as my mom got home, we broke open the Christmas cereal, and ate as a family. This was my mom's sneaky trick to make sure we ate something healthy before attacking the candy. Thinking about these breakfasts brings back many fond memories. There was rarely a time besides Christmas morning with quite so much laughter and love in our house.

Me, Britta (in front), Ranna (in back), Amanda, Mom

After everyone was done eating, we lined up, oldest to youngest. We waited while my dad took the camera upstairs, exclaiming over the wonderful surprises, teasing us with his new knowledge of what Santa brought. We'd finally file upstairs when the blanket was removed, and rushed to our stockings. There was usually one present from Santa under the tree (Santa always left his unused wrapping paper in the kitchen for us to finish off next year), but the rest was unwrapped next to our stockings. Oooing and ahhhing over our gifts and showing them off to everyone else took several minutes. Then we gathered around the tree to find some more treasures. We would grab one gift and wait for everyone to have one, then open them all at the same time.

Dirk, Eric, Britta, Me

Mom, Joel, Me (the dark hair hiding behind the chair), Britta (in the stripes), Amanda (kneeling), Seth (hiding behind the tree)

We always drew names, then went to the mall together for Family Home Evening one night before Christmas. My mom split us up as best she could so she took half and my dad took half as we searched for the perfect gift for the person we drew, without letting the person in question see what this perfect gift was. This sometimes took some creativity because it didn't always work out perfectly when splitting in 2 groups - we frequently had triads. The triads required meeting in the middle to swap people. These gifts were under the tree, and were often some of the favorites.

After everything was opened, we played with our gifts for a while before heading off to Grandma's house. We usually went to my mom's parents' house in West Valley first for a while, then drove to Coalville to my dad's parents' house. By the end of the day, we were exhausted, but content. And we had the day after Christmas to look forward to, when we ate more cereal, candy from the stockings, and played with our new gifts most of the day.

This was at my mom's family Christmas party 2 years ago. We have added 4 kids since then! The adults were still expected to sit on Santa's lap until just a few years ago.

I have very fond memories of spending Christmas with my family. I love them all dearly and look forward to seeing them all in a few days for another Christmas together.

Flashback Friday - growing families

It's time for my first addition to my Flashback Friday blog. I've been thinking quite a bit about what to write about over the last week and didn't have anything...until tonight while I was babysitting my nephew Zack. He is my sister Amanda's son and just turned 2 last week.

I started thinking about the other nieces and nephews I have. I didn't have any until Steve and I got married and then all of a sudden I had 5 nephews and one on the way, all on Steve's side of course. At that time, only my sister Britta was married and they didn't have any children yet.
A month after we got married, my brother Dirk married Sarina, and we got Anna. Anna was 2 when they got married, and seemed to take to our family very quickly. This was a fun time as there were no other grandchildren, so Anna was very spoiled!

We have been married for 6 1/2 years now and Steve's parents have about 16 grandchildren, all boys except for 2, and my parents have 8 grandchildren, 4 boys and 4 girls. As my sister Britta pointed out, this matches my parent's 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls. Some of Steve's siblings are done having children while others are really just starting their families. The oldest grandchild on his side is in high school while the youngest is about 2 months old. On my side, everyone is at beginning. We have Anna at 8 and now Samantha at three weeks or so.

My nieces and nephews mean a lot to me and are a lot of fun. Some of them we don't see often, for different reasons. But when we do see them, sometimes I think I get along better with them than some of the adults!