How Boys Play

I used to think I knew how to play basketball. It wasn't until I married a true basketball fan that I realized that playing basketball isn't really 10 girls huddled underneath a hoop each taking turns throwing a ball into the air until, after several grueling minutes, one of them successfully manages to make it into the hoop that's been hovering elusively over their heads. Basketball is more than dribble, block, throw (e.i. shoot) the ball. It actually involves strategy. There are plays involved. Techniques. Moves. Skillz.
None of these I have.
But my hubby does. And he loves to play the game. Lucky for him he happens to know some other guys who love the game, too, and so they play every week.
I decided to tag along the last time they played and do a little playing myself.

...but I played with the camera.

I got some good action shots. Don't ask me what was going on here. I'm just taking the picture.


I just like this one.


It appears that Brad is going to try a granny shot and everyone is giving him some space to do it.


Don't mess with DAN.


But don't be scared of Dan! He's a nice guy!


Zack was popping up for the rebound on this one, but it could also be that he was attempting to dunk the ball and just fell short of the mark.


I like this because it gives a clear shot of Thomas's intimidation shirt (Who isn't intimidated by Porky Pig?) and because it shows how much fun these guys are having.

Sometimes I Just Crave a Big Ol' Peesha Banana Smash Pie

This is Zack's recipe for Banana Smash Pie. It's pretty straightforward seeing as most of the ingredients are "banana smash" with just a touch of fdsafdsa. It only takes about 3 1/2 hours to make and goes great with steak, potato, beans and corn. At only 567 calories a serving it's a meal in itself!

This is my new template for what I like to call our "dinner recipes". My intention is to make a recipe for all the dinners we have at our house. The idea is that one of us (or one of our future kids) will be able to pick a dinner, know what they need in order to make it and have some ideas for sides to go with it. My goal is to someday have my kids plan, shop for and cook all the meals for Zack and I.






(Now that you've had a chance to stop laughing....)
The real plan is for me to be able to plan, shop for and cook our meals without feeling like I've pulled out my teeth one by one. All I'll have to do to plan a menu for the week is choose from a variety of Evans Approved Meals. These meals aren't going to be rocket science. For instance, one of them is "BLT's" and the ingredients are, you guessed it,: bacon, lettuce, tomato, bread, and mayo. Sides might include potato chips and cottage cheese, broccoli, carrots or even corn!

Why do I need this? I don't know, but I do. And Zack was wonderful enough to create a cool template in Excel where all I have to do is plug in words and it creates that nice format you see in his "example recipe" for Banana Smash Pie! Thanks, Zack!

Spring Break: A Semi-Dull Recounting Plus Pictures!

We went up to the cabin for Spring break this past weekend.

We spent Saturday and Sunday listening to General Conference on the radio and going snowshoeing, sledding, playing games, and eating in between breaks. Good times.

Zack's mom came up with us but had to leave on Sunday night. But she had a good time while she was there. ...I think. :)

The puppies had fun racing up and down the hills.

It was just the two of us (4 if you count quadrupeds) Monday and Tuesday. We cross-country skied up to Lily Lake on Monday. We wandered off the groomed trail part of the time and experienced real back country skiing. (Meaning we skied very slowly as we trudged through the snow. ..but still lots of fun!)

We ate lunch up at Lily Lake. We wanted to eat ON Lily Lake, but it was too sunny and bright and we didn't want to get more sunburned than we already were.

Zack created a nice little lunch spot for us on a big rock.

After lunch we headed back. In order to get to and from the trail head you have to go down a steep hill, cross a bridge, and then go up another steep hill.

Here's Zack ready to ski off the bridge.

And here's Zack just looking really cute.

It took about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to ski up and about an hour and a half to ski back. Needless to say, we were dead the rest of the evening. But the beauty of the cabin is that you can't really do anything but eat, play games, and watch movies on the tiny T.V. So recuperating was easy.

The next day we wanted to take the puppies with us on our ski adventure so we stayed close to home and followed a snow-mobile trial up to "the looking rock." It was my first time up to the looking rock. Dad and Andrew like to go up there sometimes during their "fresh air walks". I can see why it's called the looking rock. It's got a great view.

Maxwell looking regal on the looking rock.

We skied home and spent the rest of the day, you guessed it, playing games, eating and watching movies. Zack did find some time to take the 4-wheeler out and drive it around in the snow. I declined to participate and opted to read my book instead.

Then we drove home. It was a good break. And now we want to go back.

Who wants to come with us? Can I have a show of hands?

The Story of a Boy and His Car

Zack bought this car when he got home from his mission, just a few months before he met moi. (It wasn't his first car. His first car was a '78 Honda named Jitnee that he talked the seller into giving him for a sweet $400 in cash...but that's a whole 'nother story.) He didn't intend on buying the car when he went to the dealership. He was there with someone else who was looking at cars. But it just so happened that the stars lined up that day for him. The car was on sale, it was the right price, and it was exactly the type of car he'd wanted: sporty, hatchback, silver, Acura Integra. Thus began the story of Zack and his car.

He and the car were inseparable. Wherever Zack went, the car went with him. They were like two peas in a pod, destined to be friends, the moon and the shine, the ying and the yang, the..

Anyway, he and the car made a pretty good team. It has served him well over the past 7 years. It also served his family well. At one point it was the only car his family had and so he willingly let his mom and his brother take it when they needed it. He has taken really good care of his car. I'm not quite sure where he learned all the stuff he's learned about cars, but he knows a lot of stuff. The scary thing is he doesn't even know where he learned most of it. I think he has some sort of weird osmosis that causes him absorb every single piece of information around him in a 50 foot radius.

Zack loves his car. After living with him and the car for over 9 years now, I love it, too. It is so versatile. We called it Zack's "truck", that is, until we got a REAL truck. Now we just call it the "kind of truck". We've transported 2x4's, sheets of wood and even a mattress and bed springs in that car. I had no idea hatchbacks were so amazing. With the trunk up and two big pillows in the back it makes a nice place to lie back and watch a drive-in movie. It makes a great "kennel" for our dogs on long trips, and even doubled as a hotel room for Zack when he visited his dad. :(

When he started taking a girl (me) with him to visit that practice stopped.

His car is almost 14 years old and at the beginning of this year, while we were driving home from Colorado, somewhere between Fort Collins and Laramie it reached 200,000 miles. This was an event that Zack has been anticipating for some time. So we took pictures and video.

Here's Zack and all his glory. Interestingly enough we hit 200,000 miles at this "Point of Interest" sign. How did they know?

And here's the mileage in all it's glory.

We hope the car lasts for a long time (five more years?).
And, as Zack is currently changing the rotors, calipers, and break pads on it as I type this, we plan on those lasting for a long time as well.

The Story of the Legendary Sledding Hill and the Feats of Courageousness

When I was down with the flu a few weeks ago, Zack spent a lot of time taking care of me. He made sure I got the medicine I needed, sat by me when there was nothing he could do for the nausea, and even put towels around the toilet so I wouldn't hurt my knees or be cold when I had to puke. Awwwwww.

When I started to feel better but still couldn't do anything, he went and bought me some books (thanks Allie and Angie!) so I could sit and read.

Now you're probably asking "What does this have to do with the Great Sledding Hill?" Well, I'll tell you... (she's going to tell! she's going to tell....)

While I was relaxing and reading my new books, Zack was outside shoveling all the fresh snow off our driveway, or so I thought. He was actually shovelling ALL the snow in our entire yard. All the snow on our driveway and all the snow on our grass. He put it all in the middle of the yard, making one great mound. That's right. A giant sledding hill.

After a few weeks of great snow and frigid temperatures, and several more shoveling sessions, the hill was finally worthy of people to come try it out. So we called my fambwy and invited them over for some way cool sliding down our way cool hill.

Megan, my three year old niece, was a little apprehensive about sledding down ANYTHING, let alone the giant hill. It took several times sledding with Dad down the "hill" that is our front lawn before she had the courage to go on any sled by herself. But fear soon turned into fun and she was ready to conquer the big one.

We couldn't be shamed by Megan so we all had to follow suit. Yes, we made the puppies go down the hill, but in our defense Maxwell LOVES it.

McKay kind of loves it.

Mike, like a cat, landed on both feet.

Kalli was a champ and even started sledding from the top, though I didn't get footage of that.

And Grandma couldn't let herself be outdone by her grandkids!

The hill is still out front, though some warmer weather has shrunk it a little. Next year Mike promises to make two sledding hills in his backyard named "Thunder and Lighting." I'm holding you to it, Mikey.

Sunday

S.O.S.

This is an urgent cry for help. There are two adults trapped in a house with 21 chocolate lasagna cupcakes.

I repeat, there are TWO ADULTS TRAPPED in a house with 21 CHOCOLATE LASAGNA cupcakes.

We can't hold out much longer.

The outcome looks inevitable.

(Happy Birthday tomorrow, Zack!)

Blast from the ...Huuuh?

Which one is the real one from 1996 and which one is the fake one....from 1996?

They both look SO. REAL.



I miss you 1996 hair. You were so cool.

A man and his truck

I married a typical boy. I'm learning now that I didn't grow up with "typical boys". (No offense my bruthas...) They didn't live for playing sports and competing. They didn't have sports idols (at least not that I was aware of). They didn't drool over a good piece of meat or grunt or any of that stuff. In my high school mind boys like that were kind of rude. And mean. And they were jerks. Funny how I knew what somebody was like just by looking at them. Aren't high school stereo-types fun?!

I hung out with a different class of boy. The intellectual/nerdy/musical/funny boys. Give me a boy who could understand subtle sarcastic humor and appreciate some good music over a boy who spent his time sweating in a gym or on a court any day. (No offense to the boys I hung out with growing up. I'm sure you were good at sports....and stuff.)

But then I met Zack. He's a unique combination of both types. He taught me that you CAN be on the football team or basketball team and not be a jerk. (But what about my good old-fashioned high school stereo-types?!) He's super smart in a good nerd sort of way, AND he appreciates a good subtle, sarcastic comment any day.

But he's also a typical boy. He likes meat. He likes to play sports. Give him a ball and his face lights up. He likes to watch sports. He even reads about sports in the paper. Honestly, when they start talking about sports on the news my brain tells me that the news is over and I change the channel. It didn't even occur to me that people like to watch that stuff. But Zack does. He loves it. He knows all sorts of tid-bits about any sport. He knows names and statistics. He also knows how to play most sports.

He also knows about cars. He can change oil, brake pads, flush fluids and actually knows how the engine works. What a guy.

He likes to work out (when he has the time). He loves his power tools.

And he likes his truck.

I used to think that trucks were kind of like big toys for boys. They used a lot of gas, they cost a lot of money, they aren't practical to take a family around in, and guys always bought them bigger than they needed to be. I could see that they served a purpose, but only if you lived on a farm or needed them to haul stuff around alot.

I never understood how much a truck can make a guy feel like a man until we got our truck. There's something about being able to haul your own stuff in your own truck; beholden to no one. Shortly after we got the truck we were hauling some wood in a trailer and Zack said, "I've got my truck, I'm hauling a trailer full of firewood that I'm going to chop up for my woodburning stove, my dogs are in the back and my wife is in the seat next to me. Can it get any better than this?"

Maybe it can...

When we decided to get a truck we agreed that it would be used for good. When you have a truck people are going to ask you to help them move stuff. We agreed that we wouldn't complain when people asked us to help them. That's why we have a truck. To move stuff with. Since getting the truck we have used it for lots of things. He has helped people move stuff. Even though it's a smaller truck (it barely fits in the garage) his truck can do many things. At the cabin we discovered that he can put two kayaks on the back of the truck plus room for chairs, coolers and life jackets.

He can even fit an ATV in the back of his truck.

But my favorite image of him and the truck is that of last Monday. That's when he drove away with two boys in the back seat and a scout trailer attached to back. He was on his way to scout camp for the first time as scoutmaster. This was not an easy call to accept. It took a lot of humility to accept a call that he was sure almost every guy in the ward was more qualified for. It took, and still takes, a lot of patience to work with 12 and 13 year old boys. It takes a lot of commitment and time and work. It was hard to take 5 days off of work to spend up in the mountains with someone other than his wife. But he did it. He's doing a great job. And even though there are times he grumbles because it's hard or takes time away from being with me, he does it, because he knows who it was who called him to do it. And he's doing a pretty good job with those boys.

And I have to admit, the truck makes a huge difference. It's probably one of the best uses "for good" that I can think of right now. I hope it gets a lot more use like that.

He's got a point...

Last week we had American Idol on while we were doing some things in the basement. Dolly Parton was the guest of honor that night and she sang a song called "Jesus and Gravity" (or something like that). You all know what I'm talking about, right?

There's a part in the song where Dolly sings the phrases "He lifts me up! I've got Jesus!" over and over...and over.

From the corner of the room, where he's working on some wiring, I hear Zack mutter, "Apparently 'Jesus' is the name of her plastic surgeon."

Elf Yourself

'Tis the season to be jolly and/or elfy.
I recommend you all go to this site and check out my elf family and then create your own. You know, cuz it's Christmas time ...and stuff.

Aaaand Now He's Scared of Me.

So, I took the Harry Potter Personality Quiz. When I got my result, I had Zack guess who I was. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Guess who I am!
Zack: Hermione!
M: Nope.
Z: Dumbledore.
M: You are WAY off.
Z: Snape?
M: Think more... evil.
Z: Lucious?
M: No.
Z: Draco?
M: Nooo. You're not thinking evil enough.
Z: (Pause.) But there's no more evil people.
M: (No response, just the knowing smile and wide eyes.)
Z: (eyes grow big and I think I see signs of fear) REALLY?
M: Does that scare you?
Z: A little...

So yeah, I'm THAT evil.


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.
Now I'm wondering how our marriage has worked all these years considering he just took the quiz and he's Molly Weasley?