Utahan...like Crouton

I've decided to compile an ongoing list of things that are interesting/weird/different/etc. about Utah. I hearken back to my high school journalism days of composing top ten lists for the Charger Courier. Good times.

Anyway, today's going to be a list of some things that I've found are definitely in abundance in Utah. We'll call it the 'List O' Plenty'. :)

1. Children. I was told/warned about this, but seriously nothing could have prepared me. I think every family I've met has at least 3 kids. There are probably 5 elementary schools within two miles of my house--big ones, too. When school gets out, the traffic is way worse than rush hour. I've timed my errands around when school starts and gets out and my driving routes to avoid elementary schools. Seriously, it's like there are just swarms and swarms of children crossing the streets and running around. Today, I had a hard time taking a nap because school got out early and there was this low roar of children screaming and running around in my neighborhood. Good news, though...Helena definitely will have a lot of friends to choose from!

2. Trampolines. Three of the five yards you can see from our backyard have them, and they're always in use. Better than video games, I guess...as long as you don't fall off and kill yourself.

3. Tanning Salons. They're everywhere! Not sure why, really. I just bought some self tanning lotion, though.

4. People driving way under the speed limit. In the left lane. It's so bad that I was thinking about looking up Utah traffic laws on the off chance that here the right lane is actually reserved as the fast lane. Ash assures me people are just stupid.

5. Mountains. Here's a pic of the view of the Wasatch Mountains from our bedroom.

Pretty sweet. In Salt Lake City, the mountains are right on top of you on both sides of the valley. Ash and I are taking Helena hiking on Sunday. Hopefully we'll see some pretty flowers, some wildlife and maybe a waterfall or two. It'll be nice to do something completely for fun for a change. It's been awhile.

-Emily :)

Yes, there were only 21 people in my class.

So, I survived my TEN YEAR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION this past weekend. I think 11 people of 21 showed up to one of the two 'events'. So 50% isn't bad, I guess. But I was a tad disappointed because it was mostly people I see semi-regularly anyway. Some of the more amusing characters were nowhere to be found. Such a bummer!

We spent Saturday night at Anchor Inn drinking and eating Mexican food and then we headed back to the Paradise Grill (my brother's restaurant) for some more drinks in Burrton. I think my brother was ready to shut down when we all showed up...but we had the place all to ourselves!On Sunday, everyone met out at the lake with their kids in tow. Nine ex-classmates, 16 kids. That's a pretty impressive! I have to say that we all have some damn cute kids. Also interesting to note that everyone who came still lives in the Burrton/Hutchinson area except for me, Aimee (Dallas), and Nicki (Colorado).

It's somehow comforting and strange at the same time how much people stay the same after all of these years. Nicki still poses the same in pictures...Mike still loves to fish...Brandon will still wax philosophical about everything under the sun if you let him...April's still sweet and quiet...Joni's still the mother hen. :) I'd like to think that I'm different than I used to be, but I guess when I think about it I'm really not.

The best 'gossip' I heard was that one of our classmates who had been in the Peace Corps in Africa for awhile, had a camel shipped back to Burrton to keep as a pet. Evidently it was in the Burrton newspaper and everything. Bizarre...I kept waiting for him to ride up to the lake on it, but alas, he never showed. Now THAT would have been a story!

Oh well, things to hope for in 2018!

-Emily :)

Home Again

Heading to Kansas tomorrow for my TEN YEAR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION. Good God, when did I get so old? Anyway, I'm planning on taking lots of pics and hopefully will have some blog-worthy stories. Unfortunately, nothing horribly exciting happens when watching a 7 month old all day long in Utah. We are having an indian food lunch date with Ash today, though. Yay!

Here's a pic of Helena I took a few days ago in her new room. She is crawling now but not too fast yet! I have some semi-entertaining videos I'm playing around with of her too that I plan to post at some point.

See ya next week!

--Emily :)

AKA Undergarments

So the night Ash & I went out to dinner in KC for my birthday right before we left for Utah the main topic of conversation was 'what am I going to name my blog'. Seriously, it's a lot of pressure. I was thinking about it in the middle of the night. I was worrying it wouldn't be funny enough. Or poignant enough. Or not interesting. So after half a bottle of wine, Ash blurts out something about Jesus jammies, referring to the undergarments some people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) wear to protect them from harm. And I say, I wonder where you get these things...do they sell them at Wal-mart? And BAM! Title born.

At the time, I thought the term 'Jesus jammies' was an Ash-ism. As in a word, phrase Ashford made up. It happens all the time, believe me. Sometimes he says some slang something to me and I'm like "I have no idea what that means." Anyway, I just googled 'Jesus jammies' and it's a common term, not made up. Good to know!

We've already heard some fun Mormon stories since we've been out here and since I know most people are perplexed and interested in the cultural and religious intricacies of Utah, I'll plan on sharing them as they come along here. One thing I noticed that I do CONSTANTLY is try to tell if someone is Mormon. Not that it really matters, I'm sure that 90% of them are very nice, normal people. But I'm serious, every time I see someone here I think, "I wonder if they're LDS...". I've got to stop that...although I think people who have lived here a long time do it too. About the second question we got from our neighbors was about our religion. Thankfully, Ash's tongue piercing and horribly foul language speaks for itself most of the time. But it's a little awkward for someone to ask such a personal question of someone they just met. Odd. I'm going to start asking people what political party they identify with immediately following the religious question just to make things more interesting.

Anyway, I'm still waiting on our first visit from the missionaries and our first Mormon casserole. Welcome to the neighborhood!

-Emily :)

I DO have follow through!

Hello All! Welcome to my new, and first, blog! How exciting!

You'll notice the title. More on that later, but I have to give credit for Ash for that one. He is funny somtimes, I guess.

Our move out to Salt Lake went well and we are still getting the house settled and trying to find our way around town. The worst thing that happened was that I lost my brand new cell phone in Kansas right before we left. And I wasn't drunk, I swear, just very very frazzled.

Today is the first day I've had internet since we moved, hence the delay. Seriously think about the last time you went 2 weeks without the internet. You know what happens? You have to do things like call information, use the yellow pages, go set up your utilities IN PERSON, look at ACTUAL PAPER MAPS. It's craziness. We've also been without cable. Did you know on Saturday mornings in Utah it is impossible to watch anything besides cartoons on broadcast TV? Unless you know Spanish or enjoy the BYU channel. Ash did reluctantly learned all about American Idol this week. He had no idea it was so popular and that so many people watch/vote. He was seriously astounded. Very entertaining. Poor guy usually only watches CNBC & the History channel.

Please excuse me now-- I have a hot dinner date with CNN followed by some cuddling with my hotmail account.

--Emily :)