The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife

I just read this book. This is the first book that I have done a post about, but I feel that I HAVE to. I LOVED it oh so much. This is the first book in a long time that got me hooked as soon as I finished the first page. I literally, physically could not put it down.

I love the way this book was written, Clare and Henry narrate in turn. We learn early on the Clare has known Henry since she was 6 years old. She knows Henry from her past and Henry knows Clare from his future. They meet in "present time" 1991 when Clare is 20 and Henry is 28.

I don't want to share too much information, because I want you all to run out and buy this book and read it and love it as much as I did.

Thanksgiving

I still need to do a post about Piper's HONK! performance, but that involves pictures and since I am never home, I thought I would at least do a post that has no pictures, really only because I am SO scatterbrained that I forgot to take some.

Thanksgiving dinner is at our house every year. Aaron and I decided to have it at our house back in 2000 and now it is a tradition (do we have a lot of traditions?)

Note to self: Make a "traditions" label.

Anyway. Each year, Aaron does the Turkey, he has a famous recipe with a very secret ingredient.

I do the dressing, a recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation on my moms side. It's a simple yet tasty recipe, it's actually not even really a recipe, just some bread and spices thrown into a bowl then into the oven. Sometimes I do some little extra stuff like a relish tray or something. This year my tray consisted of sweet pickles wrapped in cream cheese and ham, Mom's pickled carrots, mom's danish pickles, black olives and green olives. I also make the gravy, and provide the drinks.

Annie (Aaron's mom) brings the mashed potatoes and a ham.

John (Aaron's dad) brought chips and dips. And fruit salad. He usually brings something different every year.

Aunt Val and Uncle Doyle bring the pies every year. This year, they also brought the rolls.

Angela (and Seth) is someone else that brings different things every year. This year she brought some potato things with corn and sausage and stuff mixed in. She also brought a yummy peach dessert that Randy made for us.

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson brought the sweet potatoes. Usually Dave and Penny(Aaron's Uncle & Aunt) bring the sweet potatoes, but they went somewhere else this year, so grandma volunteered. However... grandma usually makes (THE BEST) deviled eggs, but since she did sweet potatoes, she didn't do eggs. Maybe at Christmas? Hopefully.

Jared and Jessica(Val's kids, Aaron's cousins) were there this year, that was really nice. We see Jared often and he has been to Thanksgiving at our house a couple of times. But, Jessica lives in Seattle so it was really nice to have her, we don't see her near enough. She just did a huge 5 month hike. click here to see her adventure.

Unfortunately, Gina (Aaron's sis) wasn't able to come, she had to work, and her kids were at their dads.

Anyway, it was a huge success, if I do say so myself. I don't think that I complained even once. Even Aaron noticed that I didn't complain about anything.

We are pretty laid back. I buy the Platter sized Chinet plates and plastic silverware and cups. My house is too small to sit around a table, so we just sit around the house. Aaron had a projector, so we watched to football game on my living room wall.

I'm covered!

Thanks to all of you that came to my rescue with people!

Seriously?

So, I am sitting at Western Nut right now! Guess what time it is? 4:15! Yes, this new lady decided that she didn't want to do it at 2:45!

Now what?

Here is the schedule I need if anybody out there knows anyone:


Monday November 26 - Friday November 30 3:00-6:00
Monday December 3 - Thursday December 6 3:00-6:00
Friday December 7 3:00-9:30
Saturday December 8 1:00-6:00
Monday December 10 - Friday December 14 3:00-6:00
Monday December 17- Thursday December 20 3:00-6:00
Friday December 21 3:00-10:30
Monday December 24 3:00-6:30
Wednesday December 26-Friday December 28 3:00-6:00
Monday December 31- Tuesday January 1 3:00-6:30
Wednesday January 2- Thursday January 3 3:00-6:00
Friday January 4 3:00-9:30

WE MADE IT

YIPPEE!!

I haven't told the kids yet, but I just talked to Xan, the director of Charlotte's Web, and all three of us made it.

Piper is going to be a Baby Spider, and my cute little Teague is going to be a Gosling. Teague really wanted to be a Baby Spider, but I am sure he won't care what he is as long as he made it. I will be playing Edith Zuckerman.

Charlotte's Web Auditions

Thursday night, Piper Teague and I auditioned for "Charlotte's Web." I know what you are all thinking...you're thinking I'm crazy, you're thinking, "what more can you add to your plate with Western Nut, Hockey, Nutcracker, HONK!, Act Up, Jazz, Ballet, Tap etc....." well, rehearsals don't start until February. By that time Western Nut and Nutcracker will be over, and Hockey will almost be over. We wouldn't have rehearsals on Friday (Jazz, tap and ballet day) and so that would only leave Act Up on Wednesdays. And HONK! is already over. So, I'm really not that crazy.

I am so proud of my kidlets! They both read for Baby spiders. Holy cow, they did SO GOOD, and I'm not just saying that because they are my kids, they really did do an incredible job. People kept commenting to me how well behaved they were. And how well they speak and enunciate. And, that they could actually hear them. That is one thing about the HYDE (my maiden name) gene....we are blessed with very loud voices. I read for Mama Arable. All in all, we did a good job. We are suppose to know by tonight weather or not we made it. I did get an e-mail from Penny saying that Xan was going to hold another set of auditions today at 4:00 for those kids that were in HONK! and weren't able to make it to the other auditions, so we'll see.

So sorry

I've been meaning to add pictures of my kiosk, but I haven't had one second (literally) since the opening of my kiosk. Since November 10, I have been at home to sleep, and that's it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) Melanie decided on Tuesday (her second day) not to come to work, and On Monday (her first day) she was an hour late.

The shift is 3-6 Monday - Friday and then some closing shifts on Fridays and Saturdays. So...we had to scramble to cover her shifts. Lacey and Laura were a HUGE help and covered what they could. Aaron actually took a day off of work to cover a shift, and someone from downtown also came up to help me. WOW!

This was not a good week for this to happen. It was dress/tech week for HONK! So Piper had rehearsals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 5-10 plus on Wednesday she does "Act Up" (her theatre class) from 4-5. Trust my mom to come to the rescue. Thursday, Friday and Saturday she had matinees, this is a time that Melanie was suppose to be working. And one more show on Friday night. Plus 2 hours of Nutcracker rehearsal on Saturday. Teague had Hockey practice on Wednesday night.

So, Aaron worked the Thursday morning shift (while I ran Piper to and from Kingsbury, Teague to and from school and got lunch for the 3 of us), he actually ended up staying until 6 (so the kids and I could audition for Charlotte's Web an entirely different post). Lacey covered Friday morning until 2 (again, I ran the kids around), then Teague and I worked until 6, while my mom ran Piper around. Then Aaron, Teague and I went to Piper's show Friday night. (again, an entirely different post!) Saturday, someone from downtown came up and covered until Lacey got there at 1. Then Laura (I owe this girl a ton) closed all three nights. Phew, I think I got it covered.

Just a little side note here: I was not scheduled any of these three days so I could run the kids around. When Melanie was hired, she volunteered to cover these shifts.

Anyway, I am suppose to have a lady named Barbara start on Monday, and she is suppose to be really great. I will keep my fingers crossed, because this would not be a good week to be scrambling. We have Thanksgiving at our house every year. And I don't even have my tree up yet. And we haven't done one of our Salazar Family Christmas traditions, getting our individual ornaments for the tree. Hopefully it will all be done before Thursday.

Hopefully pictures will be up soon. Oh, and by the way, my phone lines are finally up and running.

The post you've been waiting for!

WESTERN NUT

My kiosk opened on Saturday (the 10th), so far a little shakey. We have a different location than usual, not a good one. We had been in our previous location for six years. I do not have phone lines, that means no Internet, no intranet, no fax, no phone, but worst of all, no Credit/Debit cards! HELLO, we are in the 21st century not very many people write checks or use cash anymore! Hopefully this problem will be solved sooner than later.
Aaron is working for me! He is the Sunday shift! My dear friend Lacey is working for me, she does a few closing shifts during the week, and of course Laura is working for me, she has worked for me since I started managing, she does the other closing shifts. And Melanie, I don't know her and she has never worked for me, she was hired by the temp staffing agency that does our payroll. She is doing my late afternoon shift. And Saturdays kind of alternate between all of us. And my kids think that they are working for me. Piper loves to come up and help and she actually does a really great job, she is a great Sales person. I pay her fifty cents an hour. (maybe I will give her a raise this year)
Western Nut is a huge blessing in our lives. In 2004, my friend Stephanie was managing the kiosk, she called me to see if I knew anyone that might be interested in working a couple of afternoons a week, I told her that I wanted to do it. Come to find out, that was going to be her last year doing it, so it sort of got passed down to me in 2005. Not only does this little gig pay for Christmas, but it pays for the kidlets school, so...unless we become millionaires any time soon, I will manage the Western Nut Kiosk every year. Besides the money, I really love doing it! I love the interaction with my customers and it isn't hard to sell a product that sells itself. And, it is kind of nice to get away for awhile.
If you need any nuts, just let me know! Or come up and see me at the Layton Hills Mall. I am on the second floor in the little hallway that leads to Mervyns.

First Salazar Family Christmas Tradition, 2007

Every year, we go to the Salt Lake Family Christmas Gift Show For some reason, this year wasn't as good as previous years, but still a fun tradition. We went on Friday night. We got there at about 7:00 and the show ended at 9:00, so it was actually perfect timing, 2 hours was just long enough to see everything and get a prize. We always get a prize. In previous years, I have gotten a ring and a great picture of Christ smiling by Del Parson (this another great story that maybe I will share in a different post). The kids have also got really neat things in the past, usually some type of interesting toy. Last year they got magic worms, this year they got marionettes.













For some reason Aaron doesn't usually get a prize at this event. Maybe because it is mostly feminine stuff and the "guy stuff" that they do have is like camping/fishing stuff, which as you know is very "Un-Aaronesque." (That's a fancy word I just made up)

I love salami (sometimes I wonder if I should admit things like this!) It reminds me of my grandpa. There is a guy there every year, and he sells the best salami, however, I never buy it because he just makes me angry with his "technique." For instance; Friday is the first day of the show, I go and get some samples from him and tell him that we had just barely got there and I might come back. He tries to bargain with me by saying if I buy now, I'll get so much off, or if I buy two, I get one free etc, then he proceeds to tell me that he is running out of flavors! UM...HELLO!! It is the first day of the show! If you are running out of flavors, then you are going to have a real problem for the remaining days. I'M NOT STUPID! His technique certainly doesn't work with me, but at least I got some samples.


I didn't really find any jewelry that I liked this year, which is odd, because I can almost always find jewelry that I like. But something strange happened. I found a pen, yes a pen that I fell in love with. Aaron loves pens, but I don't really think about pens that often. I think that even Aaron found it a little strange that I loved this pen so much. I did buy it, and it cost me $35.00. Oh my gosh, did I just type that? Yes, I spent $35.00... on a pen, but I love it oh so much. I have been using it ever since. Look how cute it is!After the show, we went to Crown Burger and had an extremely late and greasy dinner. They have the best French Fries and Onion Rings. We always seem to eat there when ever we go out to the South Towne Expo Center for an event. The owners of this particular location actually live in the circle across the street from us.

How many times can a 4 year old vomit in 1 hour?

According to my calculations.....8!

So, poor little Teague had a field trip at school today, it is all he talked about yesterday. I had him all dressed in his "semi-dress" uniform and I had both of them loaded in the car. Teague seemed to be having some problems with his buckle, so I was helping him. Suddenly he put his hand up to his mouth (with his fingers spread - of course) and projectile vomited in the car! Um....I am one of those people that if I see or smell vomit, I vomit. Luckily being a mom I have learned to control it a little. I nearly died! Literally, I nearly died. Since his hand was placed over his mouth with his fingers spread and it was a projectile vomit, it went EVERYWHERE in my car. When I say EVERYWHERE, I truly mean EVERYWHERE.
I called the school to tell them that Teague would not be there and that Piper was going to be late since I had to clean up the vomit that was EVERYWHERE in my car. But before I could clean the vomit from the car, I had to get Teague undressed and cleaned up. Teague stood in the middle of the kitchen while I peeled layer after layer of clothing off! Why couldn't it be "Blue and white" uniform day at school? While I was undressing Teague, I had Piper call Aaron to let him know the situation. I got Teague undressed and rinsed off and told him to go lay down while I cleaned out the car, and started the washing machine.
Suddenly, I hear, "MOM, I JUST BARFED AGAIN!"
Oh no! "Where?" I asked.
"IN YOUR BED!"
So, I stopped cleaning the car, go upstairs and strip the bed, unfortunately it was too late to throw those sheets in with Teagues clothes, booster covers and the towels I had used to wipe him off with. So I rolled them up and put them in front of the washer to load as soon as possible.
Teague then decided to lay on the kitchen floor with his Jack blanket, I was a little nervous. I told him that if he felt like he was going to throw up, to run upstairs to the bathroom and do it in the toilet. Then I went back out to the car. Low and behold.....
"MOM, I JUST BARFED AGAIN!"
Seriously? I cannot believe it, I didn't know it was possible for someone that little to have that much vomit in his tummy. "Where?" I asked.
"On the kitchen floor and all over my Jack Blanket!"
Again, I stopped cleaning the car, rolled up the Jack blanket and put it down stairs with the sheets from my bed, and sent Teague upstairs to lay/sit by the toilet while I cleaned the kitchen floor and while I finished cleaning the car. (did I say finished? yeah, right!)
"MOM, I JUST BARFED AGAIN!"
You have GOT to be kidding! "Where?"
"On the bathroom floor and a little in the toilet!"
At least there was a little in the toilet this time, I did have have to change his underwear this time around and add it to my soon to be loaded pile on the laundry room floor. I quickly cleaned up the bathroom floor and made him stay put in the bathroom and told him to really aim for the toilet next time. He is four, he does know how to vomit in the toilet. Again, I went out to the garage to the car and cleaned away for another few minutes.
"MOM, I JUST BARFED AGAIN!"
Shut up!!! "Where?"
"In the toilet!"
Halle-frickin-lujah! "Good job, just stay there for mom!"
I finally finish cleaning the car, but unfortunately you can't get the smell of vomit out very easily. I layed a towel down where Teague was originally sitting and had Piper sit there (without a booster - she is at that size, where it is probably okay to not have one) and I told Teague to choose a new blanket and to grab a big bath towel. I put him in Piper's booster and covered him with the blanket and the towel. I told him that if he felt like he was going to vomit to do it in the towel. And...finally we are off. It takes about 10-15 minutes to get to school. We were about five minutes in when.....
"Mom, I just barfed again." (he didn't holler this time)
You have seriously got to be kidding, I don't think I have ever seen this much vomit. "Where?"
"In the towel."
"Good boy! Now fold it so it doesn't get everywhere!"
"K"
A little side note: I am still nearly dieing! The smell is slowly killing me.
We are about a block away from school....
"Mom, I just barfed again."
"In the towel right?"
"Yea."
"Good boy, fold it again, so it doesn't get everywhere."
Still the smell is slowly killing me.
We get Piper dropped off and we are heading home and MUCH TO MY SURPRISE....
"Mom, I just barfed again in the towel, do I fold it so it doesn't get everywhere?"
"Yes, please do."
That was the last vomit of the day, Luckily. We went home and put fresh jammies on Teague, I switched the laundry over and I finished getting ready. I had some stuff to do and I just held Teague the whole time, so it did take a little longer than it should have, but that is okay, how often do you just get to sit and hold your four year old? He told me that he wanted to take a warm shower, so he did. Then we took my car to the car wash and had the nice guys clean it! They shampooed the seats and carpets for me and now instead of a vomit smell, it smells like strawberry starburst. The best part about this was that Teague fell asleep in the car on the way over, and as most of you know, my little Teague is a SLEEPER! So I just sat and held him in my arms while my car was being cleaned.
As for the field trip, good news! He is in the a.m. class. The p.m. class is doing the same field trip next week, so he will still be able to go with them.

Teague's First Hocky Game

Teague had his first hockey game this Saturday at some rink in Logan. Teague's team is made up of a bunch of kids that are all under the age of 9. So, when they play a game, the team is divided up into 3 skill levels and they each play a game on 1/3 of the rink. Teague, being the smallest and the youngest, was placed in the group with the least experience.

Watching Teague play was quite the sight. Do you remember that frequent scene in Bugs Bunny cartoons where a huge herd of animals would stampede across the screen (usually running over some enemy of Bugs) trailed by a baby animal struggling to keep up? Well, this is how Teague's hockey game went. Most of the kids crowded around the puck and Teague following the crowd close behind. It wasn't that he was afraid to get in the crowd, it was because he is just not fast enough to keep up. However, if tenacity equaled speed, he'd have skated circles around the best of them! In spite of his obvious look of fatigue (game was 1:15 long), Teague soldiered on for the good of the team. At one point the puck just happened to head his direction and he hit it with his stick. I was so proud and cheered loudly (so what if it wasn't in the right direction). Since Teagues game was basicly just one for experience, I don't think anybody was keeping score. However, I think I counted 1 goal for the other team and 2 for Teague's.

After the game Teague was obviously tired and wet with sweat. As the referees exited the rink, each one of them stopped to express their amazement at Teagues ability to play so well. Even Teague's coach was impressed. Who knows where Teague got his athleticism. We all know that it didn't come from me. While taking his pads and things off, I told him that I was very proud of him that he didn't quit because he was tired and that he had played so hard. He told me that he saw some trophies in a display cabinet near the entrance to the rink and that he was disappointed that he didn't win one. I explained to him that those are given when all the games are finished. He seemed satisfied.

Happy Halloween!!

The Grimm Reaper and Optimus Prime hit the neighborhood streets On Halloween night, slowly, slowly, slowly but surely. I could not figure out why they were meandering from house to house. They didn't even seem to be excited. I kept telling them to get excited and to be proactive about trick or treating and to check out all of the candy and to think that they are only going to be getting more!We have a neighbor that does this huge Bar-b-que thing in his driveway. Hot dogs and Hot chocolate. A big screen with the game and a local family band. And, two bon fires. We stayed there for awhile. While we were there, the kids costumes came off! WHAT? It ends up Piper was NOT feeling good at all! And I think Teague was feeding off of her energy. So, when we got home we hurried and got the costumes back on so we could go see Maamaa and Grandpa Larry.




Val and Doyle.



And everyone who was at Grammie's house. While at Grammies, Piper came down with a fever and fell asleep in my arms while

































Teague was entertaining everyone.



Our next door neighbor does home made chili and bread sticks every year, unfortunately we didn't make it to her house in time, but her son Josh brought some over for us. Thanks Theresa! We will get your bowl back to you!

I feel so bad that I was getting frustrated with the kidlets for not being more excited. Piper is still sick and hasn't been to school. I love those little turds so much it is incredible. They told me that they still had a good time.

Happy Halloween!