King's Peak

Hey Mom-

Just hiked to the highest peak in Utah and tried my second bite of steak ever....still not my thing as you can see from my face.

Oh and after waiting patiently for four years my Sunday School class finally got to Acts 19:28. I know we don't do the whole pagan worship thing anymore but how many people get a shout out in the Bible?

Great is Me:)

Neon Bachelorette

This summer I got called to be an FHE mom. It's the calling that I've been pining after for years and I wasn't going to waste it on boring lessons and cliche activities. Now the neon light thing isn't that novel but what about the neon light thing topped with the season finale of The Bachelorette? Huh? Huh?? My kids all looked so sucked in! Am I a sinner or a saint? I mean essentially the principles of the show are the exact same as any singles ward. Get married and get married fast. Oh and look your hottest while doing it. Anyway, we really bonded this night so I feel justified in the lack of....shall we say "wholesome" activity?

Maybe we should have been watching the ever more appropriate Mormon Bachelorette, which btw is a real thing. I should probably apply. I feel like my spiciness would be appreciated.

Love,

Princess Di-wait, or should it be St. Diana: Bringing unorthodox activities to Provo, UT one FHE group at a time????

Grandfather of Twins

K, I'm done with overalls. No one is following my trendsetting ways. Grrrrrrr. As an eternal optimist though I'm onto better things like funny hats. This is my new favorite one. Who could not love me in this??

love,

di

ps- today the family was watching a movie downstairs when i noticed that kelvin was missing....or so i thought. i asked the group, "where is kelvin?" kelvin responded by saying, "sure, you pick the black kid not to notice." i'm so glad we have color in our family so these jokes are semi-appropriate and justified. and on my end he was sitting on a dark couch. he really did blend in!!!

A Post Script to the T-shirt

This is amazing. The pic below is of the receipt that came with the shirt. I didn't notice until I was about to throw it away that something was written on it. Dad now has two people on his side: me and "Cheers Man." I have no idea who he is and the fact that I ordered it from San Antonio, TX should prove to be even more random.

John Lewis for Congress

So Dad's Father's Day present finally came in the mail and I am stoked!! I know he would die before wearing it in public and it might end up on a quilt one day, but I'm hoping he adores it as much as his Creamery shirt, which btw was paid for by extra $$ I had on Dining Plus back in the dorm days so really he paid for it but his adoration is endearing nonetheless-read below.....

I'm also hoping that it might bring some inspiration for a future in DC. I might just drop over dead if something like that happened.

Real quick. I was hanging with Grandma Smoot today when she informed me that she'd been married for almost 58 years. "Whoa, holy cow," I said. "I didn't realize it had been so long. What do you think you're going to do for the big 60?"

"Get buried," was her response. "I've got so much junk in this house. When we die we'll be up there laughing at all of you."

tchau!

di

DR. QUINN PHOTO SHOOT

Mom, I may not be betrothed in real life but I got me a nice mountain man, three kids, and a homestead this particular weekend at this Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman photo shoot. Leave it to me to organize something weird like this. But as event planner guess who got to be the star? Yours truly. Enjoy the pics!

THE TOWN OF COLORADO SPRINGS, CO aka Mapleton, UT

MATTHEW, BRIAN, and COLLEEN-my adopted kids and of course our horse SUNTAN:)

DAVID-The fiance who died in the Civil War....or so we all thought! He really does have an eye patch in the show.

Eye Patch David or chest baring Sully?

And the winner is SULLY-Mountain man extraordinaire who always appears at the right time and with a shirt that seems to show more of his tanned chest with each passing episode.

SNOW BIRD-Wife of Cloud Dancing who couldn't make the shoot (it's hard to find people of color here).

DORTHY-BFF of Dr. Mike and town newspaper editor.

MYRA-The town's.....Jezebel?? She's depressed because Hank, the saloon owner, won't let her out of her contract so she can marry Horace, the town's endearingly nerdy telegrapher.

THE REVEREND and ROBERT E.-Like I said, we had problems finding people a little darker than our group so my friend Elizabeth used a lot of makeup to mask the whiteness. So glad she used overalls to become the Blacksmith.

MATTHEW and INGRID-The town's Swedish immigrant who eventually dies of rabies. They were officially engaged at one point though with the ring that Eye Patch David gave Dr. Mike.

MOAB LOVES US!

Well me and my man eater cohorts took a little trip down south to get away from the coldness of Provo. It was amazing even with some mishaps like getting pulled over (twice but talked my way out of a second speeding ticket), a tire blow out, a lack of a campsite, a lack of matches, etc. etc. Good thing we kept getting help from random men like true damsels in distress. Examples below....

1. It sucks to get speeding tickets but I knew I was guilty and I kind of think Chief Barry thought my willingness to accept the consequences was endearing. He did write me down for only going nine over and he let us take a picture with him and his sweet stache.

2. This wasn't just a flat. This was like a tire explosion. We were already in the middle of fixing it when this guy pulled over but it was nice of him to finish it off for us. And thanks to Earl, the only guy in Green River who had the right tire size.

Not sure why it looks like we're holding hands because I definitely wasn't.

Not sure why Olivia has her hand on his shoulder. Hmmm?

3. Forgot the matches. We're super cheap (and tickets and tires are pricey) so we went to Motel 6 to try and bum some off of them when one of the tenants said he had an extra lighter in his truck we could have. Thanks for the light random man!

4. Going along with the cheapness we talked these guys down to a child's price to rent bikes. The owner said he had never done that before but who could deny the bargaining skills of three experts?

5. Last but not least, we didn't have a campsite but ended up paying a guy 12 bucks and some smores for two nights right next to the Colorado River. Since we never got a pic here's a shout out to Lloyd, his friend we nicknamed Cortez, the guy on unemployment, and the reserved dude who didn't mind that we squealed whenever we saw a mouse.

Oh and making lemons out of lemonade I noticed that I had mice poison in my trunk but only because it was under the spare. Had we not gotten a blow out we never would have been prepared for the furry creatures.

tchau,

diana

ps-Olivia i know you're going to read this. Viktoria and I miss you tons!!!!!!!!!!! Best weekend of 2011 soon to be topped by San Fran!!!

This is what I do on the weekends....

I work on movies. And I get to do the most random things like herd sheep, build bridges, get thrown onto beds, and find creative ways to transport things with my car. Definitely beats a 9-5 job, well minus the whole not getting paid thing:)

This was up Provo Canyon. We had to get the entire crew to surround these sheep to get them to stay. I'm sure we were disgracing real sheep herders but at least we got the job done eventually.

This is as sketchy and precarious as it looks. By the end of the night when ice formed I was crawling on my hands and knees to get across.

White trash or practical?

Surprise in Sacrament

So I pick up a copy of the program and our ward's really intense monthly newsletter. I mean it's printed in color and shiny paper for goodness sakes!! Well I started perusing through it while the announcements were going when I gasped at what I saw.

Our ward has never done this before so I'm totally flattered that some guy (he spelled her last name incorrectly so I'm assuming it's a male) thinks I look like Rachel from the 90's even though I don't see any resemblance. I'm just happy it wasn't one of the Hilton sisters who I get regularly. Definitely an awesome surprise in the middle of sacrament meeting!

-di

Family Funnies

To be honest I really wish this blog just had stories about how funny I think our family is instead writing posts to keep you updated on my life since I know you don't do the facebook thing. For example, I've got a very good friend who loves to count how many white trash tendencies I have like how I can take a nap on any concrete sidewalk, walk into his house with a blender in my hand drinking a homemade smoothie because I just didn't have quite enough time to pour it into a cup, use wheel chairs in department stores when I'm tired of walking, eat some of my groceries before I've purchased them because I'm just too famished to possibly continue, etc. etc. Don't be offended but I usually tell him that I'm practically biologically inclined to do those things because of how I was raised. And I'm not saying that you ever taught me to sleep on the ground or eat my meals anywhere besides the dinner table but let's get real here, all the sneaking into hotels two by two as to not appear as if we're stuffing an entire family of 9 in one room, or making chocolate ice cream from vanilla and Nesquick because apparently it was too expensive to buy chocolate in bulk, has definitely rubbed off on me. That being said, I would need an audience to write about the family to make it worthwhile and since I think only a few siblings, a Jerusalem friend, and a couple people from home read this I'm kind of out of luck. But, I will take a quick opportunity to write a couple of family funnies that you aren't privy to being in Arizona. So here are some favorites of 2011 so far: 1. GRANDMA SMOOT -I went on a little run up to the house and she insisted that I run back home with a chicken sandwich and cookie. I tried to resist but she's really persuasive. And this is a pic of my new cleaning bucket. She said she couldn't find my old plastic one and improvised with a Pepsi container.

2. CJ-Okay I don't know how he's gotten away with not getting harassed by the older siblings or Tanner for that matter but he is really loving his floral design class....like maybe too much?? He said he'd give me give five bucks if I could name all the flowers and I lost it at Peruvian lillies. The second picture is his bicep adorned with henna tattoo. He was really proud of it and wanted it to be a surprise but said I could put a pic up in the meantime in case it fades before you get here. He still can't explain what "Someday Mom" means. Maybe "someday mom" I'll do accounting....are we allowed to joke about that yet?

3. JENNIE-This one is just a quote, and please don't be mad. Ever since I found out Ed was sneaking out I couldn't help but think that I've been a bad example for the younger kids. Anyway, Jennie called me from school one day and said, "I'm going to be just like you and not get married until I'm 25." Whoops.

4. DOUG-This weekend I called to see how he was liking conference when he said, "Deedee you know Loreli asked Luke to marry her on Gilmore Girls. You can totally do that." K, you probably don't know what this means but basically Doug, our too pragmatic for anything girly med student, has fallen for the quintessential estrogen filled TV show of the 2000's. In fact, I called yesterday to ask a question when he said I would have to call back because I was interrupting his latest episode.

5. ME-So yeah I'm still working on the overall thing and was pleasantly surprised to find a cohort in male form. Yes, his was in a costume for this Jewish party thing and I was just there for free food (notice treats in my front pocket-so practical) but still it's a step in the right direction for overalls to make a comeback.

That's all. I hope this has made you laugh a little.