Balloon Fiesta!!

     I have always wanted to go to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico and this year I got to!!  On Friday, October 10th, 2014 my friend Becky and I headed out.  We picked up Becky's friend Tawny in St George.  It was a long drive but the three of us had fun.  We met Becky's brother Wes, his girlfriend Angie and his co-worker Dratin for dinner that night.  The three of them were in Albuquerque for a conference for work.  Turns out Dratin's dad grew up in Orderville so that was kind of random.
     Saturday October 11th, 2014 we got up at 3:30 am (Too early!!) to get ready to head down to Balloon Fiesta park.  Our hotel shuttled us to a parking lot where we all got on school buses that drove us to the park.
     There were already tons of people there!  We walked out into the field and after some waiting and freezing some balloons finally started to inflate for the morning glow.

Morning glow

     They took turns lighting up like a little show.  Then some of them started taking off.

     There is something about hot air balloons in the air that I just love!!

Angie, Wes, Dratin, Me, Becky and Tawny

     Mass ascension started at 7am and lasted for over an hour!!  It was amazing!!!  There were all kinds of balloons.  Different shapes and everything.  I have never seen anything like it.  It was definitely worth getting out of bed for.

When pigs fly.

Humpty Dumpty

     When I was looking at this scene I honestly didn't feel like it was real.  I felt like I was just looking at a picture or the wallpaper of my computer screen.  So spectacular!
     After the balloons were gone we walked around and looked at all the different booths.  You could find just about anything to eat or buy.  After a while Dratin, Wes and Angie had to leave to go to their conference.  Becky, Tawny and I stayed behind because we found out there was a concert featuring Sawyer Brown, David Nail and Josh Turner.  Bonus!!  It was a lot of fun but the concert started at noon and at 4:30 before Josh Turner was done we decided to leave because we were hot and tired.  I got a good tan that day.
     We also decided it would be easier to get a bus back if the concert wasn't over.  We found the right bus and climbed on.  We were the only ones on there.  Our bus driver said "Well I have never been on a bus a lone with three beautiful women before."  Becky said, "That is nice of you to say but I am going to warn you that we are hot and tired and none of us have had a diet coke today."  So the first gas station we came to he pulled in and dropped us off.  We thought that was pretty funny.  After getting back on we were talking about how we needed to call our hotel shuttle.  The bus driver asked what hotel and when we told him he said he would just take us there.  He said he was just going to pull up on the side which we told him was fine but when we got there he pulled right up under the awning and turned the flashing red lights on and pulled out the stop sign!  We were laughing so hard!  I'm sure the bellhops where wondering what was going on!  Inside we found Wes, Angie and Dratin had just finished at their conference for the day so we headed to dinner.  We were all pretty exhausted after that so we separated for the night and went to bed.
     Sunday morning we decided we didn't need to get to the park as early.  So we met at 5:45 am to head down.  We found out though that the flag was yellow and needed to be green for the balloons to fly.  They won't fly if the winds are above 10mph and they were at 12mph.  We went anyway and hoped for the best.  We got there and they did switch the flag to green.  A few of the balloons inflated but were swaying pretty good so none of them ended up taking off.  I was glad the day before had been so good.
     We went back to our hotel and packed up and decided to go to Old Town.  But before that we stopped at the Walter White house from Breaking Bad.  I haven't watched the show but my brothers did and I knew they would enjoy a picture of the house.

 
    It got pretty exciting there.  We had heard the lady that owned the house might have the garage open and be starring us down.  She wasn't but an older couple stepped on her driveway while we were there and the garage door immediately opened and she started yelling.  She said "Get off my property, can't you read?"  So the people crossed the street and she said, "Now you are on somebody else's property.  What is wrong with you people?"  The man yelled back that they were on the side walk.  She then yelled, "You got your picture so you can leave."  The man yelled back that she could go to H%^*.  It was pretty funny.  Wes wanted to go back again.
   After that we went down to Old Town and walked around.  We did some window shopping and ate lunch.  Then it was time for everyone to head home.  We had a long drive ahead of us.  So we said our goodbyes and Becky, Tawny and I headed out.  I kind of like those short trips so I am not away from my own bed too long but this one almost seemed to short.  I have kind of missed our little group of six exploring Albuquerque.

Flying Standby to Newark?

         My friend Libby recently became a flight attendant and she offered me her companion pass on one of the airlines which means I can fly standby wherever that airline flies.  It isn't free but it is A LOT cheaper than it would be normally.  I have never flown standby so I decided to take a trip to Connecticut to see my brother and his family.  I booked myself on a red eye out of Salt Lake on Thursday August 22nd.  The flight plan was Salt Lake to North Carolina to Harrison county airport.  I was supposed to arrive at 11 something Friday morning.  My brother and his wife were having an afternoon party for Ellie's birthday that I was really hoping to get too.  I flew from here to SLC and got there with time to kill so I called my friend Jordan and she came and got me and took me to dinner and then dropped me back off at the airport.  

     Well the time arrived for the flight to start boarding.  I sat there waiting for them to call the standby people.  I didn't make it.  So now I was faced with if I should call someone to come get me or just hang out at the airport all night.  The first flight out in the morning was 7 in the morning.  So I really only had five hours before I would need to be back and who do you call at 12:30 am and then ask them if they can bring you back by 5:30.  So I just hung out in the airport all night.  It is pretty quiet and lonely.  I read, updated my blog, watched some TV shows and TRIED to sleep.  That part wasn't very successful.  I did finally fall asleep around 5:30 am and woke to people surrounding me.  A guy saw me yawn and told me to stop that because he had had a hard enough time getting up that early for the flight.  I told him I was entitled since I had spent the night there and told him I wished he had slept in because that would have upped my chances of getting on the flight.  The lady at the counter called my name.  I went up and she said "We might have a seat for you and I just wanted to make sure you were here." I'm very here, in fact I have been here all night.  I didn't say that too her because Libby told me I had to be on my best behavior.  In fact I even had to dress business casual.  So I sat close and waited to see if they did in fact have a seat for me on the flight to Phoenix, what? Wasn't I going the wrong way? Yes but that was the next flight that was supposedly going to get me to Harrison county the quickest.  She called my name! I was soooo happy!!! It was so last minute though.  She basically told me to run and yelled what seat number.  

      I got to Phoenix but didn't get on the next flight out of there.  I kept having to go to customer service to change my ticket.  I kept checking the website that Libby signed me up on and then I would go change it to the next flight out.  I think I got denied getting on four or five flights in Phoenix.  I was getting hungry and I was tired and I was discouraged.  I was wishing I was still in Salt Lake so I could just go home.  Finally around two in the afternoon I found a flight to Newark New Jersey that still said there was 22 seats available.  I decided that might be the best one and Jeff had told me he would come there and get me.  So I went to customer service and asked to change to that one.  That lady was so rude to me.  She said "What are you? A buddy pass?"  I said I was my friends companion and she said, "You're a buddy pass."  Well so what if I am.  She said, "Yes there are still 22 seats available but there are already 24 people signed up for standby."  So I asked if she thought that was my best bet and she told me it was hard to say because it was Friday and crew and their families had higher priority that me.  I told her I understood that and said to please switch me to that flight.  I walked away and wanted to cry.  Libby had told me she thought I had a little higher priority than someone with a buddy pass but at that point I wasn't sure of anything.   I went and found something to eat and then sat down at the gate.  I hadn't been there five minutes when they called my name to the counter and gave me a ticket with a seat number and boarding zone!!!  I wanted to shout for joy and cry at the same time.  I was going to Newark!! I wanted to go back to that lady and tell her that I obviously had higher priority than some of those people.

     I got to Newark around 11 pm and my brother was there to get me.  It was nice he was so willing to do whatever he needed to.  I was exhausted when I got to his house but the first thing I did was take a shower because I didn't smell very good at that point.  Then I went to bed and I slept great!

     The next morning when I saw Adam and Ellie it was all worth it.  I love those two!

   I had missed Ellie's party which she said something about.  I said, "Ellie, I tried so hard to get here in time but the people at the airport kept telling me I couldn't get on the plane."  She got a shocked looked on her face and said, "That is so rude!"  She immediately forgave me.  My time there was pretty low key.  I did some hair and pretty much just hung out.  One day we were in the car and Ellie was telling me a story.  She said, "And my tummy asked if it could hurt and I said NO!"  Adam said one day, "Your earring, so pretty."  He is such a sweet boy. My last day there on our way home from Stew Leonards (which is a cool grocery store) Ellie said, "tomorrow I want to go to the beach with you."  I said, "Oh Ellie I am going home tomorrow."  She said, "I don't want you to go home.  Maybe you could come back on Saturday."  

   My trip home was a lot smoother.  I made every plane I wanted to be on.  I did have a little moment of panic when I was in Phoenix (yes Phoenix again).  I knew I was getting on to Salt Lake so I wanted to buy my ticket from Salt Lake to Cedar City.  I tried to from my phone and it wasn't working.  It wouldn't take any of my credit cards.  My flight into Salt Lake was landing at 4:15 pm and the flight to Cedar left at 5:00.  I knew I didn't have time to go down to ticketing to buy a ticket and I didn't know if you could buy a ticket at the gate.  So I called my Mom and she said she would buy me one when she got home.  I didn't actually know the whole flight if I had a ticket or not.  As soon as we landed in Salt Lake I turned my phone on and I did have an email from the airline.  I checked into the flight while we were taxiing to the gate.  I had to walk from A to E.  I walked up to the counter and told the guy I didn't have a boarding pass.  He printed it off and said we would be boarding in about 5 minutes.  I ran to the restroom and bought some water and heard the call to board for Cedar City.  It all worked out thank goodness.  It was quite an experience overall.  I will try the standby thing again though because I need to take advantage of cheap flights.  I just won't fly on a Friday again.

More words of wisdom from my nephews.

I know I haven't posted for a long time and I am sure people don't even look at my blog anymore. But I find myself stuck in an airport. (I was flying standby to New York.) So I have some time on my hands. I decided maybe I would document some things that my nephews have said that make me laugh. 

Marshal is now almost 8 and that kid is full of wisdom. One day at 7:01 he said, "Lisa, it has been one hour and one minute." I said, "Since what?"  Marshal: "Since six o'clock. " He always delivers it so matter of fact like I am the moron for not realizing. 

Another day we were heading to Orderville in December via "bear valley". I jokingly told the boys to watch for bears. The older two boys said "Utah has bears?"  Marshal, five at the time and acting like we were all so stupid said, "Bears hibernate in the winter."  

One day when we were in Orderville Marshal asked his mom if she would walk to the cemetery with him. She asked what for and he said "to see the dead people in Orderville." To him it is always so obvious. 

One day his 1 year old sister was playing with a magnetized book. He told her she couldn't play with it. My brother told him to let her play. He then told my brother, "But dad, it could be a choking hazard. It is only for kids 3 and over."  He just wanted to follow the rules. I love that kid. 

His sister Shelayne is going to be a handful! When she was not even two my brother said her name. She didn't even look up from what she wan doing and said, "I can't hear you."  Not even two!

She told me not to long ago, "My mom said to play with your phone." Oh really?

My next story comes from my 5 year old nephew Hogan. I was cutting his hair the other day,

This wasn't the finished product, anyway I was talking to my sister and I said something about if I start having kids. (No I am not dating anyone) Hogan said, "I was just going to ask you." I said, "ask me what?"  Hogan: "If you were going to start having kids soon."  Me: "Well, I need to find a nice guy first. "  Hogan, "You just need to search all over the city....but not the married ones. And if he doesn't have a name just call him George."  If only I would have realized before now to only look at the single ones with no names. 

Best Calling Ever

I have the best church calling ever!  I teach the 4-5 year olds and they are so cute!  In December I started getting so sad because I knew I was going to have to give up my cute class for a new one.  On the last Sunday of the year this is what one of the little girls' brought me. 

She listed and drew a picture of everyone in our class.  I love how she wrote my name "Ms is godee". Ah, close enough.

They were not all there the Sunday I took this.  I wish I would have thought to take one before this. 

They said some pretty funny things and I started writing them down. 

Brooke: "My Mom and Dad like to watch shows about bones."

River: (Interrupting me in the middle of the lesson, I think we were talking about Jesus) "Can you please stop talking about nature?" Me: "I wasn't talking about nature." River: "Oh, well my Mom and Dad do all the time." Yes, your name is River.

Coltlin (Yes, I spelled his name right): He was in the middle of saying the prayer. "I need help!"

Kylie: "Teacher, she is trying to look at me." How you punish for that I am really not sure. 

Brooke also told me one day that my dress was a little bit immodest because she thought it was a little low in the front.
I do really miss my former class.  Luckily they sit right behind me so I still see them every week.  But I have already fallen in love with my new class.  The most I have ever had is three show up.  I had watched them all year as sunbeams and the two little girls seemed so shy..........until I get them in the classroom.  They have already said some of the funniest things.

Ellis pulled a crayon out of the bag and it was a fat one.  He said, "This one is kind of huge.  Did it growed up?"  Yep, it growed up.  Then he wanted a brown crayon and there wasn't one in the bag.  So he told me that I needed to go to the crayon store and buy one right now.  I told him I didn't think the crayon store was open right then.  So then Sadie says, "You are not supposed to shop on Sunday, you might have to go to jail or something."

Sadie is funny! One day I was helping her say the prayer.  Well she didn't like something I told her to say so she looked up and me and said "We're not saying that."  I tried to encourage her too and she decided not to say the prayer at all and went back to her seat.  She hasn't wanted my help with the prayer ever since.  Then one day I pulled out a picture as part of the lesson and she said "Boring, boring, boring I have seen that one a hundred times." And you will see it hundreds more sweetheart.  

Kyla is so shy in sharing time but loves to talk in class.  She is a sweetheart.  When I first get to primary she is usually saving me a place by her.  She also points me out to her Mom when she sees me in sacrament meeting.  

One of the little girls told me she wasn't taking this one home because she had colored it for me.

This was given to me by Bella.  She is one of the sunbeams and she brought it to me right before Valentines and told me it was because Valentines was coming. 

I love those little primary kids.  This has probably been one of my favorite church callings ever! Now that I have said that I will probably get released. :)

All over Utah and part of Wyoming.

I got laid off of my second job for the winter, so with my new found freedom I decided to take a road trip.  Saturday October 13th I drove to Salt Lake.  I didn't take very many pictures and the ones I did were from the car window so forgive me that they are not the best.

This was right around Beaver.  It was beautiful that morning!

Somewhere along the way.

When I got to Salt Lake I went straight to my friend Jenny Dompier's house.  She took me to City Creek which I had never been to.  It was so fun to walk around.  We did a little shopping but my favorite thing was when we ate a pumpkin spice caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!  It was so good!  

Jenny then called a friend of hers who met up with us and we just sat and visited with her for a while.  It was a pretty chill day.  

Later that night we went and ate at  David's Kitchen.  It doesn't sound like it but it is a Chinese restaurant and it is delicious.  It is one of my brother's Jeff's favorite places to eat so of course I had to taunt him.  I texted him a picture of the menu.  He wrote back with, "Damn you."  Then I told him that the walnut shrimp had changed Jenny's life, because it's his favorite thing and that is what he says about it.  So then he wrote back with, "Damn you both."  Then I sent him a picture of the walnut shrimp and he told me he wasn't communicating with me anymore.

Then next day I went to sacrament meeting with Jenny and then I headed out to Logan to meet up with my other friend Jenny (Tippetts).  She lives in Phoenix but she was in Logan for her sister's baby's blessing. 

On the way to Logan.

 I made it to Jenny's sister's house and their whole family was still there visiting.  It was so good to see Jenny, her parents and siblings.  We talked for a couple hours while watching the cute kids play.  (I should have taken pictures!)  After awhile Jenny, her parents and little Aurora decided it was time to get back to Star Valley and I needed to head the rest of the way to Rock Springs Wyoming.  

 

Bear Lake.  So gorgeous!

I arrived in Rock Springs at my friend Ida's house around 9:30 Sunday night.  I hadn't seen Ida in over two years and had just briefly met her husband.  It was so fun to see her house and meet her little girl Ally.  We had a great time catching up. 

Not the best picture but the only one I took.  I like the look on little Ally's face.

Tuesday I headed back to North Ogden and stayed the night with my friend Natalie.  She took me to do a little shopping and we ate at a great Indian restaurant.  It was good to catch up with her too.
Wednesday I headed back home but stopped in Orem and had lunch with my friend Megan.  It was so fun to see everyone that I did.  I need to go back up that way and catch the people I didn't get to see.  I really did cover a lot of the state, (and part of Wyoming).  I think I put about a thousand miles on my car but it was well worth it and just what I needed!

Good Riddance Summer!

Yep, I said good riddance!  I had a bad summer.  I won't go into all the details but I really didn't like it.  I got pretty depressed and maybe even I don't know all of the reasons.  I'm sure there was a little bit of poor me going on, there usually is.  I spent A LOT of time alone, which I realized is not good for me.  I waited for some of the people in my life, who I thought I meant more to, to reach out and let me tell you not all of them did.  I saw a quote on pinterest that said "Sometimes you just need to distance yourself from people. If they care they'll notice.  If they don't, you know where you stand."  But let me warn you, be prepared for the outcome because it can be a little hard to take.  The thing is, I also realize they were probably going through something too and I didn't reach out either. Anyway, I think I experienced a lot of self discovery.  I think I am through the worst and I am hoping that the change in the season is going to bring some new and exciting things into my life.  Maybe it won't but at least things seem a little clearer.  So good riddance summer! Lets move on to a better season!

Hanging with Celebrities?

Jeff, Erica and the kids came out to Salt Lake from Connecticut for Erica's Great Grandma's 100th birthday at the end of August.  They didn't have very much time so my Mom, Lyle, Suzie, Shelayne and I drove up Friday August 24th to spend the afternoon with them.  On our way up there Jeff texted to ask where we were.  We decided to tease him and we just told him a mile marker.  He wrote back with "Oh so Fillmore area?"  And yes, that is where we were.  I am pretty sure the only people who would know that is truckers and Jeff.  The night before our trip NBC aired a special Rock Center about Mormons.  Jeff's father-in-law had been one of the people that they had interviewed.  We had know it was on but hadn't been able to watch it but my Mom had recorded it.  Here is how the next bit of me and Jeff's text messages went.

Jeff:  "Are you all nervous to be meeting celebrities today?"

Me: "What celebrities?"

Jeff: "Um..Me, Erica and Ellie.  We were all on national television last night on NBC."

Me: "We didn't watch it but Mom recorded it.  What roll did you play?"

Jeff: "There was a family pic from Daniel's wedding on the screen for like 5 seconds."

Me: "Well we are not just meeting you.  We have already met you."

Jeff: "I know but it's only last night that I became a celebrity.  And it's gone straight to my head."

Me: "Are you buying lunch then?"

Jeff: "I didn't say I had cashed in on my celebrity, so no.  I just meant that I'm probably going to be insufferable."

Me: "We are turning around and going home."

Jeff: "You can't do that to me!!!  I'm Jeff Goulding!! I have a minuscule amount of tangential fame!!  You will come and you will eat lunch with me and my famous family!!

Me: "Well I hope we don't have to cut our visit short."

Jeff: "Your visit will last as long as I want it to."

Me: "Well here is something you can't control.....we are going to eat all of your honey candy (my sister had made for him) before we get there."

Jeff: "How dare you!  You can't do that to me and my tiny amount of fame.  It will be in no tabloids and no one will really care!"

Needless to say we were all laughing pretty hard.  He is such a dork.  A funny one though.  

So here are some pictures from the trip.

Ellie

Shelayne cheesing it for the camera.

Ellie wouldn't let me get a good picture so I had to surprise her.

Adam wouldn't smile.  But he was letting Lyle hold him without crying.  None of the rest of us had been able to do that.

These two had a lot of fun together

This was Ellie when we were about to leave.  I think she was sad that we were.  It was too short of a visit.

This was the final shot of Adam before we left.  He is a sweet little guy.