Friday, July 29, 2011

Sun Valley in Pictures

We had such a great week up at Sun Valley!  In addition to playing the david game, some of the highlights included:
- My favorite delicious Sun Valley restaurants
-Purchasing a cool globe at "The Gold Mine"- best.thrift.store.ever.
- Playing werewolf mafia until 2am in the dark
- My grandma shocking all of us by being Lady Gaga in the name game- I didn't know she even knew who Lady Gaga was!
- Me inheriting the new nickname "moose dung" (don't ask)
- Jumping in Red Fish Lake in FREEZING temperatures
- huckleberry shakes
- the annual Cherry spitting contest
- golfing, hiking, running, swimming, bowling
- The best Jim Spud potato I've ever eaten
- Cousin lunch with grandpa and grandma
- Games.  Games.  Games.


Mike and I were in charge of the family put-put golf tournament


I played horribly, but it was still fun- and beautiful!


The three winners from each division- looks like the Hymas girls need to step up our game


the whole family at the golf course


lots of swimming, catapulting, and tricks in the sun valley pool


lots of strikes at the sun valley bowling alley (it's literally shorter than other bowling alleys so I rock it there!)



Team Green.




Family cookout and field games at the park





the annual Cherry spitting contest


my husband sure knows how to spit.  i am so proud. 2nd place overall!


the unveiling of the annual child family song (yes, we really do have a song- and it's awesome!)


the annual girl cousin breakfast at the bluebird cafe


the most glorious huckleberry shakes at Smiley's Cafe, on our way to Red Fish Lake



I love how Preston is kneeling in the middle.  Mike asked him where his date was, and Ethan yelled from the car that he wasn't about to get in this picture..


the usual car situation- Mike can fall asleep instantly in the back seat of a car.  It's so funny to watch.


a cold, cold day at Red Fish Lake

Us women were not about to subject ourselves to the misery of the waters...... 


so I acted as photographer instead!  Mike, and my brothers all jumped in.....




the three of us decided we were missing out, so we put on our swimsuits and got ready.


when we jumped in, it was the coldest water I've ever swam in!  Look at my face!  Shock!  Horror!  HELP!


I only wish you could physically feel the temperature of that water...




the david became part of our family!


breakfast at Gretchen's

the lovely duckpond




Man, I love my family.  And I adore our yearly Sun Valley trip.
Until next year........ Thanks grandpa!


the david saga continued

*If you haven't read my previous post regarding the adventures with the david, you might want to skim over it quick or else this post won't make much sense.
On day two of our Sun Valley vacay, my parents were the somewhat embarrassed, somewhat sheepish (maybe somewhat secretly proud?) owners of the david. Since the david was found in their bedroom at 6am, they had to spend an hour in public with him by their sides. So naturally, they brought the david swimming with the whole family.

We weren't, and still aren't exactly sure what material our little miniature david was constructed of (I mean it was heavy, but crudely engineered). My dad wasn't about to get in the water with him for fear of public shame (a man swimming in a public swimming pool with a naked man statue just wouldn't look right), and we were okay with it since we didn't know if the david would self-destruct in chlorinated water. We were loving this game and weren't willing to risk losing the david prematurely.
And so, the david was placed to stand gaurd at the head of the pool on a little window ledge. There, he stood silently and watched us (and others might I add) as we swam.
Can you see the david? he's right by my ear...
We were having such a great time swimming and playing in the water that we almost forgot the david was even at the pool with us. Next thing we knew, we looked up, and a group of little girls (5-7 years old) had gotten out of the pool and were standing around the david oohhing and ahhhing. They were touching and poking at his naked body. We all froze in horror, not sure what to do.
I know. I'm sure we scarred them for life and their mothers all thought we were total perverts.
My dad jumped out of the pool, walked over to the david, and he being conscious that strangers (probably the little girl's mom's) were looking at him curiously, fumbled with the david, quickly wrapped him in a towel, and carried him out as fast as was humanly possible, cradled in his arms.
It was magic. The whole child family was busting up. I just wish I would have had my camera close to snap a picture.
That night, my dad was adamant that he was going to get rid of the david. He wasn't about to subject himself to the same embarrassment the next day. My sister Stacie wrote up a Timeline re-cap of Night 2 with the David, and it's too good not to post...
Night Two:
•   11:30 pm: Dad recruits son Ethan to sabotage other son, Alex by hiding the David behind a chair in his room.
•   12:00 am: David discovered by Alex and Allie
•   2:15 am: David is deposited in Mike and Andrea’s room. Mission almost failed by Mike waking up.
•   2:45 am: Mike and Andrea place the David on Bennett and Stacie’s nightstand. Clutter on nightstand creates an added challenge.
•   3:30 am: Bennett notices the David has been planted in their room. After two failed attempts of ditching the David in Alex and Allie and Mike and Andrea’s rooms they resort to Ethan and Preston, the easiest targets due to uncontrollable and violent snoring.
•   4:10 am: Ethan sends Preston on a mission to get rid of the David.
•   4:13 am: Almost the entire condo is woken up by Preston clomping up the stairs.
•   4:17 am: Bennett and Stacie, Mike and Andrea, and Alex and Allie all catch Preston in the act.
•   4:18 am: Preston delivers the package to mom and dad’s bedroom.
•   4:18 am: Preston keeps all those awake by walking downstairs.
•   4:20 am: Preston excitedly informs Ethan that the package has been delivered to mom and dad.
•   4:21 am: Ethan poignantly rebukes Preston for planting it on mom and dad two nights in a row.
•   4:21 am: Simultaneously, dad informs mom that they are the proud owners of the David.
•   4:26 am: Preston reawakens those who have slipped back into sleep by going back upstairs to retrieve the David.
•   4:26 am: Dad couldn’t help but hear Preston coming up the stairs and tucks David under the covers with him and mom.
•   4:27:22 am: Preston timidly opens mom and dad bedroom door.
•   4:27:29 am: Dad and mom pretend to wake up.
•   4:27:33 am: Preston shamefully apologizes that he gave them the David and confusedly scrambles to look for him, finding it nowhere, convinced someone else had taken it out of their room.
•   4:29:03 am: Preston reawakens those who have slipped back into sleep by going downstairs to his bedroom.
•   4:31 am: Preston makes camp on the loveseat in their bedroom to watch guard.
•   4:43 am: Dad flawlessly performs the booty scoot down the stairs.
•   4:44 am: Dad dumps David in Alex and Allie’s room using the book technique.
•   5:28 am: Preston falls asleep during his shift.
•   5:29 am: Alex wakes and attempts to give the David to Mike and Andrea. Fails.
•   5:31 am: Alex attempts to give the David to Bennett and Stacie. Fails.
•   5:33 am: Alex finds success while sneaking past the sleeping Preston, leaving him with David.
•   5:35 am: Alex severely stubs toe.
•   5:37-6:00 am: Preston with a characteristically loud approach tries to pawn off the David to each room in the condo, to no avail.

The david ended up joining Ethan and Preston at the big family cookout the next day.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

sun valley meets the david

We just got back from a week long vacation to my favorite place in the whole world- Sun Valley.   Ever since I was a little kid, we've gone up to Sun Valley every single year with my grandparents, and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins on the Child side.  I have so many wonderful memories of the place- learning to ice skate at the Sun Valley Ice Rink, getting my red shoes pecked by a swan at the duck pond, swimming with cousins, participating in the annual cherry spitting contest, bike riding through Ketchum, going fishing with my grandpa, and listening to James Taylor and John Denver.

The annual Sun Valley vacation is what my siblings and I look forward to most every summer.  This year was no exception- all 35 of us (minus just a few missionaries and out-of-staters who couldn't make it sadly) headed up this year for the magic! (Thankfully Mike loves it now just as much as I do:)


 stopping in Shoshone for the best soft serve ice cream ever


 After a scenic four hour drive, we made it!  First stop: Burger Grill.  Best.Burgers.Ever.


 That night, we had a big dinner, family night, and Minute to Win It Games with Everyone.


Everyone was put on one of four teams for the games and we all got matching hats! 


I had to put a nylon with a baseball in the toe on my head and swing at, and knock over a bunch of coke cans.  These are the weird things we love to do together!

Mike participated in the ball catching game with lint rollers. 


This year my immediate family stayed in a different condo than normal.  Since there are 10 of us now, we needed a big place.  While this condo was spacious and there was a bedroom for everyone, it was definitely outdated.  Along with furniture and decor that made us feel like we were in the 1970's, there were some crazy weird accessories around the house that we had some fun with.  Stacie and Bennett came up a little later than the rest of us, and so we decided to 'decorate' their bedroom.  After all, they had only been married about three weeks, so we wanted them to feel comfortable in a "honeymoon suite".  This was all spurred on by my 16 year old brother, but the rest of us gladly participated and found weird things around the condo to include..... Enter the bedroom tour:


 His & Hers nasty old bathrobes (wondering who would actually put these on their bodies?), Human Physiology and Essential Urology books for a little light reading, and best of all, a freaky cheap miniature version of 'The David', found on a book shelf in the living room. 

 I thought the scrabble letters were a romantic touch.

Bennett and Stacie laughed at our little display, but best of all, this formed a creepy game we played all week with the David.  Every night, a couple started out with him.  The goal of the game was to sneak the David into somebody's bedroom and leave it on a piece of furniture without waking them up. If you were trying to place the David and the recipients woke up, you had to move on to another bedroom and try again.  The couple (Ethan and Preston were considered a couple since they shared a room) that ended up with the David in their bedroom at 6:00 a.m. lost the game, and were forced to carry around the David in public that day for at least an hour. 

It. Was. Hilarious.

The first night, the David switched hands about half a dozen times.  Nobody slept too well because everyone was either trying to place the David, or worrying about getting the David.  Usually I'm a very heavy sleeper, and even I didn't sleep too soundly.  Mike on the other hand, is the lightest sleeper in the world.  We didn't get stuck with the David once because he woke up every time someone tried to sneak in our room.  During the middle of the night I woke up to go to the bathroom and I was trying to find my phone to have a night light when Mike suddenly woke up and lunged at me from the bed screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!".  I almost peed my pants it scared me so bad and I screamed back in terror that it was me!  His wife!  And I didn't have the David!

Once we got that settled, and I visited the bathroom, we tried to go back to bed.

A couple hours later, around 5 a.m. we woke up to my brothers and dad running through the house.  According to the teenage brothers, my dad cheated, but according to my dad, the David was rightfully Ethan and Preston's.  Poor Preston tried to place it in everyone's room, but we were all wide awake at that point and he obviously did not succeed.  Ethan yelled from the bottom floor of the condo for Preston to come down and bring the David because, "WE AREN'T DONE HERE!"

A few minutes later, Mike and I are almost back asleep, when we start hearing commotion outside.  We popped our eyes open at the same time in disbelief and ran to the window, only to find Ethan scaling the fire escape with the David in tow.  Seconds later he made it to the roof and started attempting to drop the David on my parent's balcony.  Preston is standing 30 feet below, with his shirt off watching the whole thing, Ethan is basically yelling because he is not capable of talking quietly, and the neighbors are shutting their windows (after all, it's 5:30 a.m.- yes, I'm embarrassed that we were 'those people').  By this point my mom has now stuck her head out their sliding door and is telling Ethan to a) be quiet, to which he replies that "I can't- I'm into this mom!" and b) "Get off the roof and take the david with you because you're not giving it to me!"

It certainly was a sight to behold.  Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Only with my family on vacation.  

Despite my parent's best efforts, the David was sitting smugly in their room by 6:00 a.m.  Stay tuned for my father's adventures with David at the swimming pool......

Sunday, July 17, 2011

4th of July Weekend

In my mind, nothing beats the 4th of July.  It's pretty much my favorite holiday (second to Thanksgiving only).  We spent the past two fourth of July's in Idaho Falls (they have an incredible firework show by the way), and so this year we decided to stay home to celebrate on our home turf.  I hadn't been home for the 4th since before my mission (four summers ago!), and so I was so stoked to celebrate Utah style.  I had been talking up all of the festivities to Mike for weeks.

Our weekend began Saturday morning with the annual Centerville 4th of July Parade.  I realized pretty quickly that the Centerville 4th of July parade is pretty lame, but hey, it's tradition and our claim to fame throughout the year! 











It was 95 degrees and blazing hot, and so we were thrilled to go check Raging Waters off of our Summer to-do list! Talk about ghetto, old, and rickety!  We were there for about six hours and loved every second of it! 



The next day, Mike and I had a little BBQ on our grill, then we went and watched an outdoor movie and ate 4th of July fruit tart!


On the actual 4th of July, I ran my first race in about ten years!  Don't get too excited- it was just a 5k, but a fun one at that!  Mike and I convinced the rest of my family to participate too.  The race was in our neighborhood- and it was beautiful.  It started at Popperton park, and went through the avenues on 11th, through City Creek Canyon and ended at the Salt Lake Capitol.  What a great way to celebrate our glorious country!


I was very happy with the race- it was mostly downhill, the weather wasn't scorching yet, and I beat my goal time by 4.5 minutes!  Everyone ran it in under 30 minutes- which was awesome!




Mike did amazing!  He practically flew to the finish line!  I took 4th place in my family (hence me wishing 4th place made the podium), which I was really happy with!

We enjoyed the rest of our holiday lounging around, saw 'Midnight in Paris', had a big BBQ, and went to Oakridge with my extended Hymas family for fireworks!  It was a perfect weekend. 





 Mike has learned that dressing for holiday's is fun!


Happy Birthday America!
We love you!