Shanandy

Job’s Daughters June 24, 2008

So with nothing to do most nights I’ve been amateur sleuthing and I’ve figured out what the horde of girls in my hotel were doing.

It wasn’t a talent show

They weren’t hookers in cheap shoes

They were Job’s Daughters and they were magic…

Job’s Daughters International is a Masonic sponsored youth organization for girls aged 10 to 20. The organization is commonly referred to as simply Job’s Daughters. Job’s daughters is focussed on the holy bible but celebrates and welcomes many religions and cultures.

I giggled when I found out who they were.  If you’ve never been lucky enough to see Arrested Development you wouldn’t know who Job is. Job is a magician, and he rules.

The mere thought that somehow these young girls were Jobs daughters wouldn’t leave my mind and left me with a smile on my face until even now. Job himself would have hookerish daughters, and they would wear flashing plastic high heel shoes, and they would indeed rule.

Let me introduce the man of magic.

I truly hope others find as much joy in this as I do.  Sheep like masses of girls, fluttering around hotels in prom dresses and cheap jewelry, and crowding the elevators like its feeding time at the barnyard. It truly makes my night.

The night I took this picture, it couldn’t get more perfect, Shan and I were in an elevator and some girl in a short dress high kicks to keep the doors open as they’re closing and completely flashes Shan and I.  I laughed out loud, and believe it or not that girl actually got on the elevator with us after that and rode up 5 floors. I chuckled at least 2-3 times while she was in the elevator at how awkward it was.

Job’s Daughters, I enjoyed your visit and await your hate mail.

Freckle Free on day 3 June 19, 2008

Provo is a great city.

I’m visiting for 2 weeks for training, and so far Provo has exceeded my expectations.

There’s always something to be said for shedding an old skin and learning to living in a new city. It’s always a little scary at first, always a little reserved, I kind of dip my toes in and get stronger and braver each time. I loved travelling on Forest Fires because of the new city feel each time, and it’s a confidence booster each new place I go. It’s like I discover each and every time that I can exist without the support I’m so accustomed too. Not that you want to exist without it, but its nice knowing you can.

I brought my bike up and it’s been my most constant companion so far. Each night I ride farther and farther out into the town and learn something new each time. As the bravery builds so does the excitement, it’s all new, and sometimes new is so refreshing.

Speaking of new, I’m sitting in a hotel lobby and watching scores of young women walk by for some kind of talent show I can only guess at. They’re all wearing truly horrific evening gowns, and cheap jewelry. My favorite though was the girl who walked by in clear plastic heels that had led’s that lit up like a little kids shoes. It would have been quite hookerish if she wasn’t 14 and look as if she was from Future Farmers of America.

Hookerish is probably gonna find its way onto these pages a lot now, its such a meaty sounding word.

Back to Provo though, I’ve spent a couple of nights hanging out with Owen and Serreta, and thats been really fun. I miss hanging out with Owen on a regular basis. I can tell he’s really busy with work though and having me in town is kind of a burden. I can tell Owen feels like he has to entertain me, and he does even though he’s tired. Tonight I let him off the hook though, I ate alone in the hotel lobby and looked at pictures of mountain bikes all night.

My favorite part of tonight was that my waiter had a girl who was job shadowing him to learn how to be a waitress I suppose. When I was seated I specifically asked for a booth on the wall away from everyone, ( I had my laptop with me). When they brought me my food the girl breaking her previous silence said oh, your looking at mountain bikes, I bet you like riding. The last question was cleary an attempt to cover up her amazement that I wasn’t looking at porn. Indeed porn in a hotel lobby restaraunt.

I do have two pictures to add to my post tonight, seeing how I forgot a camera, these were taken with my phone. I hope they’re okay. If they’re not blame Shan, I do.

I better go now, the lobby is being flooded with innocent looking sheep all visiting the hotel for a NuSkin promotion. My favorite though is the guy with the purple high tops and the mohawk.

Enjoy.

No More Snow! June 9, 2008

A few weeks ago I opened up the freezer and found a huge mess. Andy had put a Dr. Pepper in the freezer to get cold and forgot about it. Of course it had to be on the top shelf so when the top burst open it ran down both sides of the freezer. I guess this is one way of getting me to clean out the freezer. I told Andy he needed to start using a timer so that he wouldn’t forget when he put pop in the freezer. I wasn’t about to clean out the freezer again.

Things have been much better the past couple of weeks, no frozen drinks, until this weekend. We were planning on going up to the mountain for the weekend. Andy’s dad was already up there and said he would turn on the water and heat for us. When he walked into the trailer he noticed some brown stuff on the floor. As he started to wipe it up he realized it was pop. Wondering were it had come from he opened up the fridge to find about 8 pop cans that had exploded. Two weeks before I had put two cases of pop on the bottom shelf in the fridge. I figured we would have nice cold pops when we returned. I didn’t even taken them out of the cardboard box. Unfortunately we didn’t turn the fridge down low enough and the pop froze. When the pressure became too great the pop exploded, ripping the box, pushing the fridge door open and letting pop spray all over. Lucky for me I have a great father-in-law that had everything cleaned up before we arrived (which was at 11:30 at night). I would have hated walking into a mess like that so late at night. However, this will probably make Lynn think twice before offering to go turn on the heat in our trailer.

Andy has been so excited to ride his bike up on the mountain. However the weather hasn’t wanted to cooperate. We went up over Memorial Day Weekend to spend time with Andy’s family after Anne’s wedding. When we got there if was freezing cold. Andy said we would be fine with coats. As he got the bikes off the car rack the snow started falling. There was no way I was riding in the snow. Andy was very disappointed. He was able to get Rod to ride with him from our trailer over to his parents cabin, but was unable to go on any of the trails.

This past weekend we decided to try our luck again. Owen and Tean were coming down to stay with his parents so we decided to head back up to the mountain. The weather was a little chilly when the wind would blow but the sky was clear. No chance of snow or rain. Andy picked out a trail and we arranged for his parents to meet us at Panguitch Lake for lunch.

Andy and Owen were so excited. I was a little nervous. I’m not as confident of a rider as they are and I didn’t want to slow them down too much. We were about 2 miles from our starting point when we came to an abrupt stop. The road was impassible because of snow. The guys were so excited to ride that we decided to unmount the bikes and walk around the snow. Just as we were about to leave two other mountain bikers came around the edge of the snow. They had had the same idea as us. They went around the snow and found the start of the trail. They informed us that the trail was covered in 3 or 4 feet of snow. There was no way we were going to be riding that trail. Disappointed Andy and Owen road down the dirt road while I drove behind them in the car. They figured they would get a little riding in even if it was on a dirt road.

After lunch Andy was still trying to find a trail we could ride that would be snow free. He decided on the Virgin River Rim Trail. It starts near Cascade Falls and ends at Strawberry Point. As we began I didn’t know if I was going to make it. The first two miles were up hill. (Remember we were at 8,000 feet). I had to keep stopping or walk my bike because I was out of breath and I couldn’t make it up the rocky areas. After making it up the first part the rest of the ride was great. At times we could look off the rim towards Zion. It was so pretty. Unfortunately I didn’t think about taking pictures of the view. During the ride we did have to get off our bikes and walk around snow but it wasn’t bad. I loved riding through the forest at my own pace. Owen and Andy would haul down the trail and then stop while I caught up. I became a lot more confident on this ride. The trail was covered with branches and rocks. However, I didn’t let these obstacles stop me. Since I didn’t feel pressured to go as fast as the guys I took my time and got used to my bike and going over the rocks and branches. We ended up riding around 13-15 miles. It ended up being a great weekend to ride.

Tean didn’t want to miss out on the bike ride so we went out on the road in front of the cabin so that he could join in.