Naked Yard/Tree Haircut

For those of you who see our house and yard on a regular basis, you have likely already been somewhat alarmed by the transformation of our yard over the past week. For those of you who haven’t seen it, we chopped down three trees and did some serious pruning on two others. We had actually planned on doing all of this work after the Hawaii trip so we would have the time to make it look better fairly quickly. My friend Karl ended up having some time to help us with it, so we went for it.

The first time Ryan and I drove up our street and into our driveway after all of the work was completed, it was kind of a shock. Our yard definitely looked naked. Melissa, my friend across the street, commented on the “tree haircut” and thanked us for providing several hours of entertainment for her son, Jonah, standing at their front window. (Melissa then returned the favor by having backhoes take large boulders out of her yard, providing several hours of entertainment for Ryan standing at our front window.) My mom suggested (after everything was done) that we should have taken some before, during, and after pictures. Why didn’t I think of that?

And...have no fear, there are still plenty of trees in our front yard to house all of the birds. They were a little mad at first (and expressed their feelings quite loudly), but they seem to have adjusted well.

Speaking of birds, you all know that Ryan “talks” to the birds in our yard every morning before he hops in the car to go to school. Well, his new morning comment is “Good morning, naked yard,” followed by hysterical laughter. Truth be told, I think he enjoys the fact that he figured out a sentence in which he can use the word “naked” without me giving him “the look.”

Give me a few weeks – I promise the yard will all look better shortly.

What Spice Are You?

As I was finishing up some homework tonight, I checked my email and had something fun from my friend, Jessica. It's a little quiz called What Spice Are You? Jessica's "black pepper" results are absolutely descriptive of her - especially in recent situations. Right Jess? :)

I thought you'd all find this amusing. Here are my results...

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by most people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

Isn't that funny?


(A special thanks to Bath & Body Works for their contributions to the "you often smell good" part.)

Scout-O-Rama

Ryan and I had a fun weekend. Thankfully, it was considerably better than last weekend. By the way, a BIG thank you to all of you who helped us through the challenges of last weekend. A special thanks to Kristin and Abby for the awesome “ladies’ (and kids) night out” distraction on Saturday night, and to the whole Ulmer family for your perfectly-timed visit on Sunday. We know we are very lucky to have all of the great family and friends that we have.

So…today was the much-anticipated Scout-o-Rama at the South Towne Expo Center. Some of you know the drama of last year’s Scout-o-Rama – Ryan went with me, as he has to most scout events for the past two years. However, even though he participated in all of the booth activities, he was not able to earn any of the awards (including some that were given on the spot) because he was not an official scout. As you may have guessed, to a seven-year-old, that seemed very unfair. He has been looking forward to this year’s Scout-o-Rama ever since. Needless to say, we spent the WHOLE DAY there today! Imagine…thousands of enthusiastic cub scouts and longsuffering leaders and parents as far as the eye can see from 9 am to 4 pm. Isn’t that how you’d choose to spend a whole Saturday?

Our pack had a booth – we taught everyone who came by about the scientific method, the properties of solids, liquids, and gasses, non-Newtonian fluid dynamics, colloids, and polymerization. In order to illustrate all of those – my teacher friends will all know what we did – we made ooblek and glurch with the scouts as they visited the booth. It was obviously very messy, which 8 – 11 year old boys (and their older and younger siblings) LOVE! We helped each boy that visited our booth complete the requirements for the Science belt loop.

Ryan was quite motivated all day. There were a lot of booths that offered either all of the requirements for a belt loop or most of the requirements, with just a couple of additional things to do at home. Ryan wanted to do ALL of them! He got so excited every time we rounded another corner and there was another belt loop booth. It was really cute. He earned eight!
There was also a pack that had their own “sport court” created. Ryan did the football throw and got five out of five! He did the basketball throw and got ten out of ten! I stood there absolutely amazed! You should have seen his grin! He also enjoyed digging for fossils, panning for gold, golfing, and a variety of other fun activities.

I had a fun experience there, too. We ran into the family of a guy that I dated for quite a while about 18 years ago. I haven’t seen them for a long time, but, interestingly, had just been thinking about them the past couple of days. Ryan and I were walking along, and I heard a very loud, “Is that Melanie Inman?” (You know not many people refer to me that way these days.) It was great to see them and catch up with them. I always enjoyed being with them and traveling with them, and always thought very highly of them. And I'm not just saying that because they may be reading this. :)

It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun. It will be exciting for Ryan to receive all of his awards at next month’s pack meeting.

Oh, yea…and Ryan pulled another tooth!

Another Famous Inman

You all know that the program about “Forever Strong” aired after Saturday afternoon’s conference session last weekend. It was so much fun to see Marc listed as the producer! Could you hear our cheers as the credits rolled? I’m sure they were that loud. We’re all very proud.

Sydni alerted me to another famous family member. My mom is on the IHC website!
My parents were recruited quite a while ago to do some ads for IHC. This is the only picture we’ve seen so far. Apparently larger-than-life posters are also going to start showing up in IHC facilities soon. Let us know if you see anything anywhere!

A New Blogger in the Family!

Frances' sisters both have blogs. I have a blog. We have been trying to convince Frances to start a blog, especially now that there is so much excitement to share with the twins pregnancy. She has family from New York to North Carolina to Nebraska to California. We know she'll get really tired of trying to call or e-mail everyone with updates, as well as trying to remember what information she has told to which family members. We're excited for the updates. Check them out at "Twins and Other Unexpected Adventures."

Tagged Again

Ok, so maybe it’s my own fault since I actually admitted that I like these. Or it could be that when I tagged Kristin, I told her she could tag me back. She did.

Kristin has had a much more eventful life than I have. She has five tattoos and has shaved her head, you know. (Joking aside, she knows I love her and admire her for bravely enduring that chapter of her life. I wouldn’t want those tattoos for anything.)

Here are the rules for this tag: Tell 10 interesting/weird things about you. When finished, tag 3 other people.

You already know about my pen & pencil talent from this post, so I can’t use that one again. Maybe it’s because I’m so anxious for another trip to Hawaii, but almost everything I can think of right off involves experiences with travel. So, here goes…

1. I attended a wedding in the Medici’s palace in Florence, Italy.

2. I was almost hit by a car in front of Buckingham Palace in London because I looked the wrong way before crossing the street. Oh, and because those English drivers are NUTS!

3. I’ve flown over the wettest spot on earth (Mount Waialeale, Kauai) in a helicopter.

4. I’ve visited with Harry Reid in his office in Washington, DC – TWICE!

5. Also in Washington, DC – I rode on the Senate subway with John Glenn.

6. I’ve climbed to the top of Mount Timpanogos - again, TWICE!

7. I’ve been in two, maybe even three, different car accidents with Sydni. (She was driving once, I was driving once, and someone else was driving once. Apparently we should never be in a car together.)

8. I stepped in ankle-deep wet cement on the way to a job interview…and got the job!

9. I wear toenail polish that changes color in the sun. That’s an especially fun feature at the beach.

10. I had bacterial spinal meningitis, and survived! (Obviously.)

I tag Melissa (since you got me the last time), Kim M. (since I KNOW you have some good ones), and Tracie (since you have so much more free time now).

What Are You Watching This Weekend?

For those of you who will be watching the LDS General Conference on TV in the SLC area this weekend, make sure you keep your TV on between sessions. Marc has been working on a new film for Excel called “Forever Strong,” based on the true story of the Highland High rugby team. Between conference sessions there will be a segment with interviews with the real players and coach, as well as some of the other participants from the film. Marc is the editor of the piece, so we are all excited to see how well he does.

***UPDATE: Apparently the "Forever Strong" segment will air immediately following the Saturday afternoon session of conference.***

Film trailers will also start to air on television stations in the near future. He is also the editor of those. So when you see them, think of Marc! (If you can’t tell, his family is very proud.)