Super Angie...Woman's Conference

I just got home from a very spiritual Woman's Conference for the Cedar Hills Stake. The musical of The Ten Virgins was performed and it was awesome!

Drop by drop...

Super Angie

Super Angie...tag of firsts

**I saw this on Super Amy M's site and just had to do it!
1. Who was your FIRST prom date? Are we talking Prom or any school dance? For 10th grade Homecoming, I went with Dan Alhquist. For actual Prom--12th grade. I went with Chris Foy.
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? The first person I had a crush on--three way tie: Vincent Wood, Micheal Galbraith and Lars Hacking. I still read Mike's blog and am family friends with Lars.
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? Never had even a tiny taste. Although I do love the smell of really good German beer! Oktoberfest anyone?!
4. What was your FIRST job? Paper route for the Seattle Times. In my neighborhood and on a bike (or my mom would drive me). Lets see...I was in 7th grade, maybe even 6th?
5. What was your FIRST car? Oh, THE HIT-MOBILE! Mazda 1983 GLT. This was the best car and seriously would anywhere! We called it the Hit Mobile because I would blast a techno song that sadly, I can't remember the title now, but something about HIT.
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? Haven't texted anyone yet today, but usually Michelle, Dawn and of course, my sweetie.
7. Who was the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Rick when he got up at 6 to do his workout.
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? Mrs. Henry at Ben Rush Elementary in Redmond, WA.
9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? To Sacramento to visit my grandparents and aunt and uncle. I remember I road the famous Banana plane.
10. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk? Oh gosh...I never really had a "best friend" when I was little, but the friend I played with the most was Jenny Marsh. I haven't talked in ages with her, but my brother used to work across the street for her and they'd see each other all the time at lunch. And my mom is still friends with her mom, so I hear updates.
11. Where was your FIRST sleep over? I don't remember, but I do remember having an Asthma attack.
12. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Rick and then the kids.
13. Whose wedding were you in for the FIRST time? My cousin Leslie Ann. I still have the pearls from that wedding.
14. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Showered and got dressed for the R.S. musical thingy today.
15. FIRST tattoo? No tattoos thank you very much.
16. FIRST piercing? I got my ears pierced in 6th grade, but then twisted the back into my ear, had to have it sliced open and let it re-grow. I was famous for my clip on earrings for a few years, until I got them pierced again and then got a second hole. But I let that grow in when President Hinckley encouraged it.
17. FIRST foreign country you've been to? Growing up in Seattle, of course it was Canada. But since then, I have been to over 20 other countries.
18. FIRST movie your remember seeing? Footloose in the movie theaters. I remember someone yelled WHER'S THE BEEF during the locker room scene.
19. When was your FIRST detention? Well, in Elementary, I always talked too much in class and had my name up on the board daily.
20. What was the FIRST state you lived in? The Evergreen State--Washington. I have also lived in Idaho for Ricks College, Munich, Germany and now Utah.

Super Angie...high flier

Dallin and Brennan were just outside playing when I heard banging on the door...They saw a bald eagle flying above our house....simply gorgeous!

I love the fact that Dallin knows his birds so well.


--Super Angie
**no I didn't take this pic

Super Angie...the dreaded nutcase post

So, out of no where (because thats how my brain works) I asked Rick this morning, "So, truthfully, what do you think about us having another baby?" ... I asked this because for the past several months I have been wondering if we are supposed to have number 4.

His answer...
1st, he laughed.
Then he said, "From a religious perspective, I don't know what to tell you. "
And then I said, "What other perspective is there?"
Then he laughed again and said, "Well you're a freaking nutcase and you can barely deal with the ones you've got." (notice, he still uses the word Freaking and hasn't switched to Smurfin yet)

Hmmm....

--Super Angie

Super Angie...strolling with Tanith

Yesterday, my friend needed my help doing some taste testing for her. So, we left Brennan playing happily in the backyard, and Tanith and I walked over to my friend's house. It was lovely little stroll with my lovely little lady.

She pointed out the street to me, the houses, the deer poop and the woof woof poop.

She was on her best manners at my friend's house. We sat together at the kitchen table, sampling different items. While my feedback was along the lines of "needs more lemon" etc, her feed back was, "mmmm. Nummy! More chocolate chip please!". She also enjoyed hanging her coat on the back of the chair.

I had a lovely afternoon with my fine young lady.
--Super Angie

Super Angie...Chipmunk Mania

My kids are obsessed with Alvin and the Chipmunks.

We have a few DVDs of the old TV shows. They want to watch them all day, every day.
We have 3 music CDs. They want to listen to them non stop in the car.

They talk about who did this or that.
They know all the words to the songs.
They can tell the difference between the voices, so they know which chipmunk sings which parts.
They know which chipmunk has the same color eyes as they themselves have.

Once, while driving and listening to one of the many songs in our car, Brennan thoughtfully said, "I'm glad Simon is the dad of Alvin and Theodore." ?? Huh ?? So, I had him explain.
"Well, in the song, he says, 'My name is Simon and these are my boys' "

I love rockin out with my kids and enjoying their joy!

--Super Angie

Super Angie...T & B...best friends

Brennan hard at work coloring, eating applesauce and using a makeshift Snorkle! LOL He took a pen that looks like a candy cane, unscrewed it, took the pen parts out and then used the case as a snorkle.
Tanith loves books. Rick bought her two books from costco. One is about cats and one is about dogs. They have fur, squeaky toys and pull outs in the book. She loves it!
These two just love being together during the day. Sure they fight, but they also share, love and cuddle.
Here is the new outfit Gaga mailed Tanith. Isn't she posing well? I just adore this pic.

--Super Angie

Super Angie...to catch a bug

For cub scouts, Dallin needed to make a Bug Catcher. So he and Rick set right to work on it. Dallin learned how to make holes for the nails or screws to go in. He learned that hes not strong enough to use a staple gun and that only dads can do that. Rick patiently helped him learn how to do everything, and after a day of letting the glue dry, the finished product was perfect! And the smiles were perfect too!

--Super Angie

Super Angie...too much fun

I was all smiles tonight while climbing with my sweetie. A wonderful thing happened....

Over the weekend, he realized that the reason he was having such a painful time climbing; his arch was collasping and making it feel like his feet were falling off all the holds, which made his over grip, which in turn hurt his hands really bad. It got so bad that he couldn't even climb a 5.6

Over the weekend, he went to Mountainworks and Black Diamond and tried on lots of shoes and did a lot of research. Today he went back and tried on more shoes and decided on a pair of Acopas. Tonight at the gym, he wore them for the first time and cruised up a 5.7 with no difficulty at all and no tape on his hands. Then after I climbed, he did a 5.10!!!! Again, no problem at all. Looked totally awesome. And then he finished the night with a 5.8. He never once had to hang on the rope tonight. He didn't fall. He didn't have any finger pain.

Honey, I'm so proud of you! You were rockin it tonight and it made me so proud and happy to climb with you.

--Super Angie

Super Angie...Tag, I'm it!

Super Jenny Carr tagged me on her blog. So, here goes...
Here is my pic. Its Tanith climbing sometime in December. She is wearing a camo pink/blue Hello Kitty shirt (totally cute!) and shes bouldering at Momentum. She loves climbing and is such a joy. She gets quite a bit of attention at the gym too. The front desk folks love to see her climb and say shes awesome at manteling!

SO...Now I have to Tag 6 people.
Super Amy M.
Super Otter Mum
Super Husband
Super Tiff
Super Julie
Super Jenny (although I know she doens't like playing tag!)



1.Go to my documents/pictures.
2. Go to my 6th file folder.
3. Go to my 6th picture.
4. Blog about it.
5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

--Super Angie

Super Angie...wanna come with?

A few months ago I started planning a girl's weekend to our second home in Colorado. I invited a ton of people and 10 lovely ladies said they could come--which is perfect because the place sleeps 10. :)

Well, in the last week or so, I have had a number of ladies have to pull out, so I have quite a few spots available.

Heres the details:
Thursday March 19th--leave around 3pm
Sunday March 22nd--arrive home around 10pm

Keystone, Colorado is about 6 1/2 hours away, near Breckenridge and Vail. Its a beautiful resort with world class skiing. My place sleeps 10, has a pool, hot tub and sauna. There is a great outlet mall near by and fun shopping to be done in Breck. Quaint resturants, outdoor ice skating, snow shoeing, skiing, boarding, tubbing.... loads of fun.

So, does anyone want to come on a fun ski weekend? (And its okay if you don't ski. One girl coming with doesn't ski at all and is just looking forward to being away from her kids!) I'd love to share this weekend with more friends.

--Super Angie

Super Angie... "I'm gonna throw up!"

Oh fantastic.

Tanith has this new THING where if she doesn't get her way, or she gets hurt, she cries herself into a fit and then yells "I'M GONNA THROW UP" and then she keeps her promise and throws up.

She does this if she slips on a toy.
She does this if someone leaves the house and she doesn't get to go with them.
She did this tonight because one of the boys told her she couldn't play with the tupperware.

Any ideas or suggestions? Its really getting OLD.

--Super Puky Angie

Super Angie...missing Germany

There is a HUGE difference between vacationing in Europe and having lived there. When on vacation, it doesn't matter if can't find bleach at the corner grocery store, because you'll just wash your clothes when you get back after your trip--or buy new clothes. When on vacation, most people never venture into the regular stores and neighborhoods the locals take. There is really no reason to. You go to some great resturants your tour book mentioned, see a show, or visit a museum. Maybe take the train or bus to visit a castle or something. Its great. Its comfortable. Its lovely. And then suddenly after a week, you start missing peanutbutter and other "American" things and then its time to get back on that transatlantic flight and head home. I'm not trying to bash vacations...I love taking vacations to cities I haven't lived in.

But when you live there...its life. In the morning, you get up. You walk to the corner baker (Muhlers was ours in Munich), get your breakfast rolls and head home. Oh and you NEVER would dream of walking around town in sweats or PJs..no matter how early in the morning it is. I love European city life.

I miss Munich. I miss the weather. I miss the old buildings. I miss taking the u-bahn to Sendlinger Tor and smelling the bakery as I came up the escalator. I miss visiting my dad's office. I missed taking the bus with my mom and not knowing where we would end up, but enjoying every second of it. I missed drinking Fanta and Spetzi. I miss Oktoberfest and German Heart cookies (which i have hanging in my kitchen). I miss Lebkuchen cookies and yummy German salads. I miss sitting at a sidewalk cafe for hours enjoying a good meal. I miss rollerblading through the Olympic park and taking the S-bahn to Starnberg. I miss walking to the grocery store or vegtable market. I miss watching German TV. I miss the parks and the buildings. I miss the walks around the block we'd take as a family. I miss the churches we'd visit. I missed buying our fruit at Gretels. I miss getting our mail down stairs in our building--our building really was the prettiest one on Elisabethstrasse and the one with the most history. I even miss watching "Naked Lady" hanging up her laundry across the street from our apartment. lol

I'm sure Ottermum and my own parents understand exactly what I'm saying.

*sigh*
--Super Angie

Super Angie...like Pandas

This morning, Tanith cuddled up on Rick's lap and the scene was just so dang cute, I had to take some pics. Then Tan noticed the stuffed animal Panda Dallin had bought her in China. Its a big panda holding a baby. Tanith quickly pointed out that it was Daddy Panda holding Tanith Panda.

Oh, these two are best of friends!

--Super Angie

Super Angie...my new word

GET THE SMURF AWAY FROM ME!
OH SMURF OFF!
STOP WHINING AND FINISH YOUR SMURFIN HOMEWORK!
CLEAN YOUR SMURFIN ROOM!
GIVE ME A SMURFIN BREAK!

This past week, while watching one of my all time favorite shows, I decided it was time to break one of my horrible habits...using a few bad words. So, instead of saying these horrible words, I have lightened the mood by inserting SMURF into the phrase. **please note, the examples above are just examples and may or may not be real sentences I have used.

I'm feeling better already and Rick loves my new phrases.

--Super Angie
PS...had a blessing, and now body aches and spots are gone. Throat still swollen. Really wanting chocolate covered strawberries, so if anyone wants to be extra nice to their sick friend....*wink wink*

Super Angie...Thursday night Fever

We're not talking disco here...we're talking SICK. Dead Sick! Fever, the worst body aches I have ever felt, restless night and a horrible sore throat with white spots decorating it.

....not fun

Super Angie...golden!

Brennan is so much fun to watch at Gymnastics. No matter what he is doing, he is always smiling and happy. His face speaks of the pure joy he enjoys there. Yesterday his class got to go upstairs to the special workout room. Brennan really loved being in a new enviroment and working on skills up there. I liked it because there is a door there with a window, so I was able to watch...sorry about the flash reflexion on these pics.

Here he is in Orange. His coach (in the red shirt) is really good with these boys.

Brennan and Dallin both tend to wear their Russia shirts to gymnastics. They both have shirts from the Russian Olympic team, but yesterday, Brennan chose to make a fashion statement with the red shorts and orange RUSSIA shirt (POCCNR --the N and R are backwards)

He noticed I was taking pictures of him, so here he is on the horse trying his best.

This is his favorite picture from yesterday, because his eyes look "EVIL!" lol

I LOVE YOU BIG BEAR! GOOD JOB AT GYMNASTICS!!!

--Super Angie

SIDE NOTE: We were given these referral cards to encourage our friends to go try All American Gymnastics in Lindon. If friends use these cards, then we get a discount. So, if you are thinking about trying out gymnastics for your kids, let me know and I'll give you a card. :) Right now my boys are in classes (age 5- 6 level 1, age 7-9 level 1 and Parent Tot).

Super Angie...Pony Club

Last week I found an incredible deal on a play tent and sleeping bag for Tanith. It has a horse on it and says "Pony Club". She absolutly LOVES playing in the tent, which we have left set up in the family room. She invites us in to read and cuddle. She loves to zip up the door and play inside. She has dragged several blankets and stuffed animals in there...its real cozy!!!

--Super Angie

Super Angie....ice ice baby and via Las Vegas

This weekend, we had quite the adventure. We traveled through Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada.

First, Rick and I went to Ouray, Colorado while our babysitter Anne stayed here with the kids. We enjoyed our stay and loved sitting in the hot tub at the hotel. We got up early Saturday morning, chatted with our friends Nate, John and Alisha at breakfast and then we set off for a wonderful day of climbing.

We scouted our route in the Scottish Gully and thought everything looked great. Rick set up an anchor and I lowered from the top. As I was being lowered, I got our first glance at the route we had chosen and should have just climbed out. The ice was horrible. Seriously, it was the worst ice I had seen. But I continued to have Rick lower me down to the bottom of the route. While be lowered, I crashed into a cave, almost hit the rock and took out quite a bit of ice. There was ice showering down all around me. Suddenly I was having thoughts of bad ice climbing accidents I had heard of--people being killed by ice falling on them. Surely this couldn't happen to me, I had always thought, since i only climbed in safe places, where the ice was very very good. And besides, I was on top rope. Well, with all this ice falling around me, I realized, ice accidents can happen anywhere...even in Ouray!

After I got down to the bottom (well, not really the bottom--It was on a very steep slope and I was leaning against two trees. one wrong move and I'd slide down into the creek) Rick came down and promptly mis handled his gloves and down to the bottom they tumbled. Bad signs were happening everywhere and we should have just walked out right then and there.

As Rick was coming down from the top, ice was breaking off and flying and hitting me in the face. Scenes of videos on Youtube of people getting smacked around ice climbing swirled in my brain. I said a prayer. I said another prayer. I was pretty much praying non-stop.

We decided this all pretty much sucked and we would hurry and just climb out. He took my pack (thankfully he had left his pack at the top of the route by the anchor). The bottom part of our route was easy peasy lemon squeezy...water ice 2. Not a big deal at all, although the ice sucked and everytime you set a crampon point in or sunk in your tool, ice would go flying--always hitting me! He made his way up the easy part and then started on the crappy Water Ice 5. It was overhanging and just totally crap ice. He did it skillfully and just looked awesome. It was especially cool considering that he had my 30 lb pack on his back. He got to the top and was ready for me to start climbing.

The ice was horrible. I fell on a water ice 2!!!! I should have taken that as yet another sign of bad things to come and just walked out. But nope, I knew I could climb this beast of a route, and so I proceeded. I got the the vertical section and did some awesome high steps. I even did a side pull. All those times I spent dry tooling this fall paid off. I was pullin some great moves....until, I noticed my rope was stuck on the top of the ice over on the left. Problem, I was climbing way on the right side of the climb. There was no way I could venture over to the left side--thats where I had falled coming down. Thats where the cave was, the broken ice I had crashed into. It was extra thin and horrible over there. My rope was stuck.

Rick was belaying from up on top, so he couldn't see me. So, every 20 seconds or so, he would gently pull on the rope to see if he needed to take up more slack. I called for him to stop pulling because this was just making my rope situation worse. I had enough slack I could continue to climb up the right side, but if I came off, I would pendulum over to the left and bad bad things would surely happen. I climbed. I prayed. I climbed some more. I had some good foot holds. I placed my tool. Suddenly it zippered out and that was the end of that.

I flew over to the left side. I smashed through the hanging curtain of ice. I could see the rock in the cave coming closer and closer. CRAP! I really don't want to break an ankle or something smashing into that cave wall. Phew! I don't swing far enough to hit it. Phew!

Problem is...when you have that momentum swinging you, you don't just swing into the curtain of ice and cave, but you have to swing back as well. So, back out I flew. Swinging into more ice, falling, swinging, bruising. SCREAMING. Yes, I was screaming. I was screaming so hard that climbers around the corner started calling my way asking if I was okay.

I was crying, screaming. Telling Rick I was done. I needed to be lowered. I was totally freaked out. I grabed what was left of the thin crappy curtain and clung for dear life. My feet were hanging in space...there was no ice around for me to grab or point my crampons on. I used my tools to steady myself on the curtain. It sucked.

Rick had to switch things out so he could lower me (I don't know all the technical things he had to do). It took a few minutes. I was just hanging. Crying and hanging.

I left go of the ice curtain for a second, which happened to the same second Rick dropped me 3 feet. MORE SCREAMING. MORE CRYING. More voices calling to see if I was okay.

Finally Rick lowered me to the creek. I untied and walked out. I was shakey. I vowed to never ice climb again. In fact, I would only ever climb inside again. In the safety of a gym. Yes, thats where I belong!

I found Rick waiting for me at the top. We sat, hugged and ate. Then we packed up and walked around. By now it was super busy and all the "good" ice was taken. We watched our friends climb in the School Room section of the park. Looked good. I saw the kid's wall. Now, we should have just checked our egos at the park gate and climbed the dang kids wall. The ice was great. The routes were short. You start at the bottom like traditional climbing, so you already know how the route looks--no surprises. Its easy to walk up the back and set up a top rope. We should have just climbed there. But nope...we walked to the end of the park and found a bunch of good looking routes that were empty. It was totally empty back there. Nice! So, Rick set up an anchor and I was supposed to just be lowered down 10 feet to climb. Just to test it. Just to get me back on that dang ice climbing horse again.

But I hate being lowered outside. I hate rapping down. It scares me something awful. But admidst the tears, I started backwards towards the side of the cliff. I put my tools into the strange looking ice on the top and then watched as the ice slid off the cliff. HOLY CRAP! I can't climb another route with falling ice. I was done.

We packed up and head out of town as fast as we could.

It was humiliating.

Rick had climbed one route and did well. His hands held up, but the bad part of that route is actually only about 10-15 feet long. Not a big deal. But he did it and he did it with a pack on. COOL!.

But me...Heck, I had slipped on WI 2 and crashed and banged on the 5 section. I had to walk out for goodness sake. I was so humiliated. I was ashamed.

Rick and I stopped for dinner in Grand Junction and just enjoyed being together. Thanks sweetie!

The next morning I did sharing time and everything worked out fine. Then we took off to Vegas. We were going to visit Rick's mom and just have some fun as a family. We love going to Vegas. We love the animal shows, the resturatns and going to China Town. There are just so many fun things to do down there with the kids.

We stayed at the Excalibur of cours. We love seeing the lions at MGM akids played pretend that they were kings and knights. We ate at Rainforest Cafe--our favorite! And we enjoyed the lions. We also took the train to Mandalay Bay and the kids enjoyed that. The next morning we met Joyce and enjoye a nice buffet breakfast at South Point. The kids were excited to have regular western style breakfast mixed with Chinese food and ice cream.

It was a very quick trip, but nice too. But on the way home, I was picking at my sparkle toes and ended up splitting my nail in half. It was bleeding and everything. DANG IT! We had plans to hike this week and do lots of climbing at the gym. Darn it! Then once home, and in bed, the sheet snagged it and torn the whole nail off.

I'm now limping!

What a weekend.

--Super Angie

Super Angie...Rockin and a Rollin

Last night, Dallin had BaseCamp (rock climbing team), and I decided to take some pictures of him bouldering on the lead wall. He was just messing around, but he did some great things. He is by far the best boulder on the the younger team. I'm so proud of him.

--Super Angie