Happy Birthday!

Yo Ma--Happy Birthday!
Today for your birthday I'm gonna hit Savers (don't judge people, it's what we did and we loved it!), I'm going to work on your Lydee's graduation announcements and me and Grandpa are going to attempt to have a little Utah Noodle for your birthday dinner.

I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and peck, a bushel and peck and a hug around the neck.....Happy birthday!

My latest brush with greatness

I seriously need to go get my one of those Hollywood autograph books. My latest brush with greatness is with this fella, Tax Commissioner Michael J. Cragun. He was in Morgan conducting our first State Appealed Board of Equalization Hearing that was held right here on our home turf.
I started my political career (I use that term loosely)clear back in 1998. He came on scene shortly after during the election of 2000 as a Davis County Commissioner.

When he was done being a County Commissioner, the then Lt. Gov Gary Herbert swooped him off to bigger and better things at the Lt. Gov's office as the Elections Director. So because he was "thee" election guy at the big house and we are the election gals at the little house, we got to work with him alot.

Well, Lt. Gov Gary Herbert had to go and get himself made Governor and with that, the Gov had to go and swoop our Election Director friend off to even bigger-big and better-best things by appointing him a Tax Commissioner.

We miss our association with him in the Elections office but are very happy that he is in a position that uses all those brains and talents of his yet still allows us to bump into him every now and then.

Because I love my mom

Here is a super cute picture of my duck fluffed-haired mom on her mighty scooter at the property in Deep Creek. It's been two years now since we lost her to breast cancer (cancer sucks!). This past Saturday I celebrated just how much I love my mamacita by walking in the Susan G. Koman Race for a Cure for the 2nd year in a row...... Because I love my mom....I got up at 5a.m. this Saturday (of course this is a re-enactment...I can't operate a blow dryer and a curling iron at 5am let alone a camera to document that I got up that early on a non-work day).Because I love my mom....I geared up in this years darling race shirt. P.S. when the race is over, these shirts, paired with some comfy sweat pants, make perfect night shirts! I love them! Because I love my mom.....not so promptly at 6:30am I climbed aboard a Carrigan-mobile with Uncle Jill, Casuree, Baby Yo (and her Jimmy Jets) and Uncle Jill's BFF and my BFCW (that's code for bestest-fun-co-worker) Lynne (who managed to escape being photographed) to hit the road and grab a quick nutritious breakfast to eat on our way to the big city of Salt Lake. You gotta make sure that you have all the right proteins and carbs and electrolytes and vitamin type things in your body when participating in events such as this one. I chose a Diet Coke and Ho-Ho's. I think I read about their protein and carbs and electrolyte and vitamin goodnesses in a magazine somewhere once.

Because I love my mom.....when we arrived at the race we got to make "in memory" signs to wear. Mother's day was the day after the race and my mom's birthday will be on Friday the 14th (one week after the race). How appropriate for us that this race gets to happen right during her two special days. I like to think that they race people did that on purpose, just for her cuz they love her too. Because I love my mom......we waited in a forever bathroom line for a quick potty break before the race started. Here's a pic of the line from inside the bathroom (that's right....my camera has no shame, it will take pictures inside the bathroom). The line looks harmless right? Oh nooooooo....

because here's the line on the outside of the bathroom. This is so appropriate for my mom. We were always waiting in a potty line together. I think she sent this little line down to us as a "HELLO GIRLS" message. "Hi Mom" right back at ya! Because I love my mom....I participated in this mob. Stacy doesn't like to be around alot of people. Stacy gets the hee-bee-gee-bees in crowds. Stacy's shoulders hunch up under her ears when she gets around so many bodies in one place. Stacy may have to start drinking if she is going to continue to participate in this activity for her mother! Just like last year, the amount of people that were there stretches out so far in front of us that you really can't see/comprehend where it all ends. In case you really want to know, it was reported that there were 18, 000 people there. The heads end at the bottom of the mountain in the picture below.
Because I love my mom...... I allowed my self to be accosted by Ronald McDonald.Yo- R. McDonald....it's called a "personal space issue" and some us of have a "huge one". I'm still pulling red clown hair outta my ear area. Because I love my mom....I made a fool out of myself in another attempt to get myself on the news again this year. This was as close as I got---hurling myself against the KSL 5 news building. Get it? I'm "ON" the news? Ha ha! My mom would have laughed (and probably peed a little in the process).
Because I love my mom......I got wayyyyyy too close to this guy who was wearing nothing more than a bright pink Speedo and a cape. Poor little fella.....it was only 40 degrees that morning. Not good (for him)! 'Scuse me while I go drink some bleach to get this sight out of my head.

Because I love my mom.....I had to walk next to a little boy who was asking his dad what this sign said:

Note to parents: It's a breast cancer event. There's alot of "boob" jokes. Most of the participants make their own shirts and signs and the language has to do with the chesticle area (again, because it is a breast cancer event). If you are going to bring your little ones, be prepared!

My favorite shirt (that I didn't get a pic of) was worn by an older gentleman and it read "Find a cure already! Pink is not my color". If you want to read more funny shirts, scroll back to last year's post---there were a lot of those shirts re-run this year.

Because I love my mom......I indulged and bought cute "pink" stuff. How can I pass on cute pink water?

Because I love my mom.....I had hair dresser Diane do Pancho's hair for this event in a lovely bright pink shade so that he matched all the other cute pink stuff going on.

Just kidding...this isn't Pancho. Like Timmy would EVER let me do this to HIS dog!

Because I love my mom...... I allowed myself to be a total geek. You see, I love this local morning show called "Good Things Utah" which is hosted by four of our local news ladies. But since it comes on a 10am and since that is smack-dab in the middle of the work day, the only way I get to watch it is to record it. The geek in me then stays in my jammies on Friday morning and watches all weeks worth of Good Things Utah while drinking my coffee and eating my cereal. So the geek in my totally took over when I saw the girls from Good Things Utah at one of the booths at the finish line.

This is Annie Cutler who is a reporter for abc4News and a fill in on Good Things Utah.

And this is Angie Larsen who is a reporter and a host of Good Things Utah. Can you see me geek-giggling while I'm standing there with those local television super stars?

Yo-A. Larsen..... it's called a "personal space issue" and some of us have a "huge one". I"m still pulling her loud cheerleading out of my ear area.

What a wonderful, wonderful day showing my mom how much I love her. Thanks Uncle Jill for signing us up and getting us there! It was a beautiful day (seriously, considering that there had been rain, wind and snow just days before). The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold (except for Speedo man and that was his own fault) and it wasn't too hot. What can I say.....it was PERFECT!!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Mamacita

Bountiful Baskets

If you have not yet heard of the wonder that is "Bountiful Baskets" you are missing out. Allow me to brag a bit. It is an organization that uses collective purchasing to get high quality food at prices usually reserved for grocery stores and restaurants. You save money while working together cooperatively within your community to purchase fruits and vegetables (I stole that from their web-site-----I don't normally speak that eloquently).

In other words---we've been going out to this web-site and ordering a 50% fruit and a 50% vegi basket on Monday mornings. Sometimes they have a themed add on pack (for example: an Italian pack or an Easter pack). You can even order 9-grain bread from Aspen Mills. The following Saturday morning, those of us from Morgan would drive down the canyon and magically pick up our orders from Uintah. This is one of my first orders...... Isn't she beautiful!!!
Now, thanks to some very crafty peoples here in Morgan, the Bountiful Basket people are delivering to not one, not two, but THREE locations in our home town. Yay for not having to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to travel the canyon for fruits and vegis.

Super-lucky for us, one of the locations is the back yard of the courthouse.

Super-lucky for these girls, they got to pitch in on the first day.

And here is what I brought home..swiss chard, spinach, romaine lettuce, celery, pineapple, cantaloupe, apples, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, blackberries and carrots. Quite the haul if you ask me!

This is the Mexican add-on pack that I also got. Limes, jalapenos, avocados, green onions, cilantro, garlic, tomatilos and grey squash.

My biggest challenge with the my Bountiful Basket fruits & vegi's is #1)identifying and spelling each of my new fruits and vegetables. And #2) what to make with each of them (what the heck is a grey squash, what does it have to do with the Mexican pack and what am I supposed to do with it???).

With my Mexican add-on pack I made a knock-off version of the Costa-Vida ranch dressing and that "pico" stuff they ask you if you want on your tacos. I'm going to attempt to make the Costa-Vida salads tonight to put all my makings on. What about the rest of you Bountiful Basket peeps? What did you make with your stuff?

Birthday Par-teeee

I luvvv birthday time!! And this time it was Traci's turn.

Tim and I found this super cool little shop on 25th Street in Ogden called "Making Scents" a couple of weekends ago. I am now in love with the fellows in the picture below (it's ok---Timmy loves them too). Their place is AMAZING! They can whip you up a scent of just about anything and stick it into a lotion or a body spray or a hand sanitizer or a massage oil or.......you name it and they can make it smell just as pretty as you ask them to. And then, while you are there, they whisk you into the back room and tempt you with this incredible exfoliating softening scrub and BAM! they got you hook, line, sinker and sold on the worlds best scrub which can also be scented to your liking (I'm a huge fan of eucalyptus-spearmint). Tim and I have been back three times and have purchased at least one of everything. I think we are now gold card carrying members of their club :)

Tim and I had so much fun that I thought that the girls would love it for Traci's birthday night out. (Dear Larry-thank you for hiding behind Kristy's head. You owe me a new picture)

This is Traci checking out the gazillion different flavors of smells to choose from. Look at the look of overwhelm-ment on her face at trying to decide on which fragrance she likes best.

In the back room you can make your own bath salt art in a bottle (just keep your nose outta there Diane).

The bath salts were a big hit! You get to pick your own pretty bottle and fill it up with salts. It's kinda like sand art. There's lots of bins of scented, colored baths salts that you funnel into your bottle. If you just want the bath salt and don't want to pretty it all up in a fancy bottle, you can also purchase it by the bag. But Diane and Kristy are pretty bottle kinda gals---not brown baggers.

Seriously, this place is so neat (they even gave Traci a pink birthday balloon). If you own a girl of any kind--a mom, a sister, an aunt, a wife, a girlfriend, a daughter, or even a husband who likes to smell good--you need to stop by this place. Tell them the tall lurpy red head from Morgan sent you---I'm trying to get them to make me their silent partner :)

After all that scent making, we strolled up 25th street to the Union Grill for another round of chicken salad sandwiches and vegi pasta salad.

We topped the night off with a new treat----Italian Ice from Zeppe's out in North Ogden.

And that is how we spend Traci's birthday. It was a very successful night. Not once did she steal my camera. Not once did she delete my pictures. And not once did I mention in this post that she turned 40. Oops......

Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

These are the girls that put the "PRO" in my Ad-Min-Pro Team. They make me look good, sound good, feel good and dang it---I love them like no body's business.

And nothing screams "I love my office mates" like a couple of baskets of super pretty fruits and vegetables (they were such a hit last year I decided to give them a rerun again this year).

Happy Administrative Professionals Day gals! Thanks for everything!!

A Couple of April Fools in a Fish Bowl

Yep.....Here at work we are are a room full of girls working in a fish bowl. We got windows in front of us and we got windows behind us. You can see everything we are doing (and-note to little boy in back parking lot-we can see everything you are doing).

Happy April Fools to us today when someone decorated our fish bowl to look like a fish bowl. Sorry for the bad pictures....it's hard to get a good picture of a widows when you have the glare from another set of windows coming from the back side (hence the fish bowl).