A busy day!

Melanie and I both had this last Tuesday off so we went to Seven Peaks Water Park for the day but not before I went on my first helicopter ride!
I always wanted to go for a ride in a helicopter. I have come close several times with my employment but just never quite made it. (If you know me, you are aware I whine about this on occasion.) Anyway, on Monday one of my co-workers, Michael told me some of the Special Forces were going to be doing a parachute jump from a Blackhawk helicopter and said I could go up as a rider if I wanted too. Tuesday morning came and I drove out and got to go up in my first helicopter ride and got to watch the others jump out. I almost wanted to go with them; it looked like so much fun. The ride was surreal, I had in earplugs and no one talked, they just used hand signals, the aircrew were able to speak on their headsets but I didn't hear any of that, it was so quiet and peaceful. I enjoyed looking down on the world from 1200 feet. The only problem with my ride was it was over too quickly.



When I returned from my ride, Melanie and I quickly got ready and headed to Provo to spend the rest of the day having fun at the water park. We enjoyed the slides that required the tube better than the ones you went down on your back, we felt they were less hard on our bodies...well; we did until our last slide of the day. Melanie and I found our favorite slide was called "Cave In" most of the slide was dark and it threw us around a little more than some of the other slides and we like a little more action. It was getting later in the day and I decided I had enough of the sun anyway so we decided to ride "Cave In" one last time (it's always that one last one that gets you). About halfway through the twists and turns, our tube flipped over and we spilled out. We slid a little further and Melanie was yelling at me to get out from under her. Finally she was freed of me and I looked back to see our tube stuck behind us. I started to climb back up the dark belly of the slide, the water pushing against me, to retrieve the tube. As I made it to the tube, I heard the next tube coming at full force down towards us. This next tube by the way was loaded with three teen-age guys, with a combined weight of 500 pounds. I grabbed the tube and yelled at Melanie to get moving! My initial thought on getting the tube was to ride the rest of the way down in the tube, but as soon as I heard the next tube barreling down on us I just wanted to get us out of the way. I kept yelling to Melanie "as soon as you get out, get out of the way!" I had this fear of barely shooting out of the slide into the pool of water only to be landed on top of by the teen-ager laden tube.
Well, we survived being pummeled by the following tube of terror but once we were safe, I discovered Melanie had her own injuries. When the tube flipped, Mel hit her head on the side of the slide and received a big goose egg and now her middle toe is all purple and she can barely move it. I guess those injuries are slight compared with being run-down by a 500lb. tube.
All in all, I would say it was a pretty great day!

Bocce

I am a little behind in getting this posted because we had a fun night on Thursday and it is already Sunday and I am just getting around to posting. So here goes:

This is Danny and yes, that is his purse. He came over to eat dinner and have a Bocce tournament. He drives his cop car so that he doesn't get pulled over for speeding on the way. I have wanted to borrow it for a while, but he has yet to oblige. He will probably now tell his friends to drop the donuts and give me tickets because of my purse comment. Oh well.

We went to the park near our house and had some good fun playing Bocce. Though I don't think we were quite as aggressive as the Bailey's are when they play, I did learn that trying to throw the ball long distances like a baseball can be hard on your arm. I also learned that if you grunt or yell while throwing the ball it definitely goes a lot further. In case you were wondering, the boys arranged to wear matching outfits and so I joined in when changing out of my work clothes before heading to the park. Aren't we so cute? The good news is that we didn't lose or break any balls (real possibility when trying to clear the road and land across the street) and the playground equipment was vacant so no small children were beaned either.

Hint: In the picture above the person located nearest to the yellow ball was the winner.

Silly boys playing with their balls

It was a fun night and I am definitely going to be playing more Bocce. I doubt any of our neighbors who looked out their windows while we were playing will want to play with me, but hey there are other streets in our neighborhood! If any of you haven't played - you need too, even if you only do it for the cool purse.

What says Happy 4th of July like Baseball, Fireworks and Throw Up!

Kelly and I went to the Bees baseball game on the 4th of July. I was hesitant to go, but of course it's tradition. (To understand my feelings about some traditions I think despair.com summarizes it best: Tradition - Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid.) Needless to say, this year was no exception. Although it may look like we are having a great time, we were basically trying to stay busy looking like we were there by ourselves. The nieces and nephews were having a hard time at the game. 3 of them cried for what felt like at least an hour. They were taking turns and working in shifts, but nonetheless it was making me borderline suicidal. I felt bad for the row in front of us.

Here is an action shot of the crying. By this time, only 2 of the kids were crying. You may think that this was an improvement, but the other one had just been escorted out due to the fact that she ralphed on the lady sitting in front of her. The smell was disgusting and the poor lady had it dripping down her back. After about 20 minutes of smelling it, the poor lady who had to clean it up came and sprinkled her magical kitty litter on it and swept it up. Around the start of the 9th inning things had calmed down and we actually watched a little bit of the baseball game. After the game they had a fireworks show that was pretty good, not as good as the RSL fireworks but not bad.

Once the fireworks were over, we started the 5 block dash to get back to our car and escape before traffic got too bad. We were just pulling out and heading down the street when my father-in-law's phone rang. Apparently, after he had made 2 seperate trips to the car to get a blanket (for the barfer before she puked to stop the crying) and then clothes (she was covered in puke), he had stuck the keys to Heather's van in his pocket and now they needed them back. Oh, and did I mention that they were parked in the middle of the craziness? So much for our fast getaway. We finally located them and gave them their keys and inched our way back out. Oh yeah, and the Bees lost too. Happy 4th!

I think next year I will stay home and burn snakes in the gutter. At least those smell a lot better than throw up!

Real Salt Lake game

Last night Melanie and I went to a RSL game at Rice Eccles Stadium, it was military appreciation night and we got a good deal on some good seats. This experience was a lot better than two years ago when Mel took me. My first MLS game was not a pleasant experience. We went to a game around Cinco de Mayo and the players were waving a huge Mexican flag on the field. Also what really bothered me at that game was all the announcements were made in Spanish then English! Another thing that I didn't really like was when a player got close to scoring, everyone clapped...this didn't make sense to me, they didn't make the goal! I can't think of another sport where you clap for an almost success.

Like I said this game was better. I think having gone to several of Melanie's soccer games now, I understand a little more about the sport and can appreciate it a little more. Oh, and there was no Mexican flag this time and I only heard one announcement in Spanish. But there is still one problem, what kind of sport allows the game to end in a tie?

I can't say too much against soccer though, Mel is coming with me to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game tonight and I don't want her complaining about it.

Proud To Be An American

Last night Kelly and I had the opportunity to attend the Patriotic Service that was part of the Freedom Fest in Provo. It was held in the Marriott Center and the key-note speaker was Glenn Beck. He did an excellent job and I was glad that I went. He reminded me how blessed I am to live in America and to have the freedoms that I do. He stressed that the only way this nation can change is if you and I do something about the problems that we see. I was very impressed with him as a person and was encouraged to be a better person myself.

They also did a salute to the Armed Forces and my Kelly got to stand during the Army song. I was very proud of him for his sacrifice and his devotion to his country. They had some really good music, some of which was sung by Satan himself (Michael Ballam), and it was a nice program.

We had a very busy weekend and I am so glad that Kelly is home and we can do all these things together. We have tons of stuff planned for the time that he is home and I can't wait to do so many fun things with my cute husband. He is the best and I am so glad he is home Ü