This Week Only...

A Special Guest Appearance by Heber Green!!!

This week Gentri has handed over the blogging responsibility to me, Heber. I have a special Memorial Day story to share for this post, one that begs for an answer to the question of "What did happen to Heber Green on Memorial Day 2009?"

Well, since I have gotten a great deal of concerned e-mails wondering what happened (and some actually asking if I’m OK) I will tell you all the riveting story. When Gen and I got married we purchased a nice hammock just for the purpose of lounging around in on Memorial Day weekends. See the fantastic hammock here. However, a hammock with hammock stand is a little more than I would like to spend, especially considering that the hammock stand costs more then said hammock. See the expensive hammock stand here.

Luckily, Gen's Grandfather just happens to have a large pile of steel pipe and has been wanting to teach me how to weld. Within a few hours I had a very nice looking hammock stand with a few custom design features such as the ability to break it down and store it compactly in my garage for the winter. It was, in fact, cheaper and way cooler than that lousy Brookstone hammock stand. However, on the hammock stand’s maiden voyage I learned that one must turn the arc welder up high enough to actually weld the pipes together. So, as I was being rocked by a gentle breeze in my hammock my pride in doing it myself was suddenly knocked out of me with a “snap” and a “clunk” as one of my welded joints broke. Going from very proud and relaxed to lying on the ground having just been whacked in the head with a 2” steel pipe is no way to spend Memorial Day so I ended up here where I had to wait in the ER for over an hour because some idiot had crashed his motorcycle and wasn’t wearing a helmet and he got all the attention while some idiot who had been laying in a homemade hammock stand, who was also not wearing a helmet, was bleeding all over triage. Fortunately, I have a very hard head and only needed a handful of stitches. Unfortunately, for $120 I could be looking forward to going home tonight and lounging around in a nice hammock, but instead for $200 I have no hammock stand and a really bad haircut. Fortunately I am doing just fine. Unfortunately I cannot enjoy my lunch time bike rides with all my friends at work for a while. So please, don’t pull a Tim Taylor and just go buy some quality premade Chinese made goods so you can enjoy your weekend and not have to go to work looking like this. And please also be sure and wear a helmet, no matter how relaxing the activity might seem, you never know when some other idoit's welfare might depend on it.
-Heber

Post Script
While I was being stitched up in Tooele the doctor wanted to know what happened. When I finished telling him the story (He was rivited, just as you were, just now.) Gen said, "It is Heber's first Redneck accident!" the doctor paused and said, "Naw, he wasn't drunk."

A Contributing Member of Society, Again

Okay, so I'm not quite sure what's wrong with me. For some reason, I haven't been blogging. At all. It's not that there aren't exciting and fun things going on, I just don't get it up on the blog. So I will try to update more very soon but will share the biggest news of all.

I am no longer unemployed, a somewhat notable event in my life.

I completed my first whole week and I am enjoying the work and the people. I have my own office, come and go when I please and get to work independently. How can this be a bad thing? I am officially back in the workforce and a contributing member of society.

In my vast job hunting experience, it had to be the strangest interview I have ever had. I went into the director's office and he asked me why I applied for the job. I briefly answered. He proceeded to explain the program, explain the website and explain the funding. He then, after a half an hour and hardly any questions directed at me, turned to me and said, "so, do you want the job?" I said, "yes," and then he proceeded to give me assignments. Okay.

It has been quite some time that I have been unemployed. How do I explain? Well, I wanted some time to figure life out. I think that I have been running so hard all of my life, that I didn't take time to stop and think what would actually make me happy. I think that we often do that in our lives. I am convinced now, that it is so important to really evaluate what success actually means to us and to set our priorities to that and stop worrying about the rest.

I hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Day weekend. It's off to home for us!

A Wheelin' Squealin' Good Time

Last night, Heber and I went to a highly anticipated event around our house, the Demolition Derby. Ah, the fond memories we have cuddled up next to each other watching cars crash into each other and light on fire. Good times.

I have this gift of being able to pick the winning car right from the start. Don't I wish that was a skill you could put on a resume. I know just how to pick them, and it is never the most aggressive car. Last night there was a shiny new car that roared into action (why they used such a nice car is beyond me) another car hits the side of it and rolls it right onto it's top. I've never seen a crowd so excited. And then, don't even get me started on the band and huge masses of people line dancing.

Half of the entertainment at a demolition derby, is watching the crowd. You get a real variety. I must say that I was fairly disappointed this year, I did not see one mullet, not even a good handle bar mustache. Must be that huge population of college students that made it almost look normal.

While Logan's derby's have been memorable, nothing compares to the Tooele County Fair Demolition Derby. Ah, the wranglers, the mullets, the goths, the emos, the people with a beer in each hand getting drunk. There is so much fun to be had. I do have a rather shocking confession to make, yes, there was one year that I handed out awards to Demolition Derby winners. How does one earn such an honor? I know you are all dying to know, well, being part of the Miss Tooele County royalty. We sat right next to the dirt and watched a recently paroled jailbird try to run over an official and get handcuffed yet again.

I am so looking forward to more demolitions to come, especially if they have another Greased Pig Chase. Perhaps next year they'll have an adult division. We can only hope.

It's Official!

I will be starting graduate school in the fall at Utah State University!

Today I received my acceptance letter in the mail. I have to admit that I have been quite antsy waiting to hear back from Utah State. It took weeks to get everything turned in, tests taken and letters of recommendation but I finally made it. I will be studying Instructional Technology, an education based program where you learn how to use different medias to effectively teach or convey information.

Who knew that this would be what I was doing at this time in my life? Grad school was something that I had thought about but never really thought could happen for me. I didn't expect it at all. It's so exciting to think that I have the opportunity to make a career shift and develop skills in an area that I truly enjoy. It has been a long, hard path coming to this decision but I wouldn't change anything.

As I think back on the past several years, so often I can see the hand of the Lord guiding my life. He has been guiding me and helping me along. When I lost my job due to lay offs, I was disappointed at the prospect of job hunting again and more life change. In the past months, what I have been able to accomplish, fulfill and realize about myself has led to some of the most incredible experiences of my life. I realize now the things that I have been learning, the strength I have gained and the new perspective I have on life and happiness. I am thankful for every experience along the way, even if I didn't appreciate them at the time, for the hand of God in our lives and his tender mercies.

I am so excited for the new experiences to come, and for the fall semester to start!

Painting by Kate Moriarty

Women's Conference

This weekend I went down to Women's Conference in Provo. I spent the days listening to speakers and laughing with my mom, Aunt Mel, my sister Carly and Grandma Barbara.

I enjoyed the couple of days but there are always a few things that I struggle with at women's conference, like:

You are always walking in a mob, slowly pushing to your next destination.

Watching the aggressive women trying to get their spot by running, pushing and leaving before the meeting ends. Does it really matter if you have a seat right in front of the speaker?

Meetings about contentment that don't actually teach you how to find that in your life, only that their life is much worse than yours.

Coming home at the end of the day feeling completely exhausted.

All in all though, I had a really good time. I walked away with a renewed outlook on life. I understand humility and scripture study in a new way and I have some ideas on really improving my life. Even with all the mobs, I loved spending the hours with some of the women in my life.


I think I'll go next year but right now, I need to stretch and take some vitamin i (Ibuprophen).