A new year, a new twin?

Well, first off...Happy 2009! I'm hoping it will be a much better year overall. It is certainly off to an interesting start though. Our church switched to 9 a.m. which is actually a good thing. As Heidi and I were walking to the chapel in the freezing cold I started laughing because we totally looked like sister missionaries in our black skirts and dark jackets. That got us to laughing about how everyone either thinks we are the same person, that we are sisters, or better yet twins. And today we got more confirmation of that. Anyway, first off here our our missionary pictures:

So we get to church so we can print off the programs and greet our lovely ward members. As we enter the chapel, we realize someone has left some pamphlets where the programs normally are. Thinking, of course, that this is something church-related, I pick one up and am very surprised to see the following:

WHAT?! Very random. Good for you if you choose to be a vegan. And I am all for animal rights...although I do enjoy some lovely pork or chicken or beef as well. I guess the major issue here is that leaving these kind of pamphlets in the chapel is completely inappropriate.

Ok, now back to the twin confusion. Even though we have been doing our calling for 2+ months, we have never been set apart. So two members of the bishopric set us apart after the meeting. I go first and give them my full name, Alyssa Lyn Wilson, no problem. Then Heidi goes and gives her full name, Heidi Jean Merryweather. As the counselor is about to start speaking he says, "Oh wait, did you say Heidi Jean Merryweather?!" We're pretty sure that he was about to set her apart as Heidi Jean Wilson. Cuz, you know...we're sisters, twins even!

Just when we though it couldn't get any better, along comes Relief Society. As it is the beginning of the year we are given ward directories and a photo directory of the RS sisters. Last time this photo directory went around somehow Heidi's picture wasn't even in there. Mine was there with my name. Well, here's what everyone has their hands on now (this is 100% true):

Yep, that's a picture of me...with Heidi's name under it!! We were crying we were laughing so hard. HILARIOUS!! I guess the only drawback is that now even more people will be confused about who we are. This is why we have decided to give in and just say yes the next time we are asked if we are sisters. It's not worth the explanation any more!

The gingerbread house that wasn't...

We don't have a ton of long-standing traditions at Christmas time. And I'm certainly not a crafty person by any means. But as we were browsing the aisles at Target the other day, this little gingerbread house kit almost jumped off the shelf...taunting us with the utter and complete ease of having a festively decorated house of our own. Note the green bubble: "everything included! pre-made icing, E-Z build tray and lots of candy."

I know what you're thinking...where could this go wrong? Well, let's just say by the time we got everything unloaded out of the package we realized (just a little too late) that our two roof shingles were broken into multiple pieces. Did that deter us? Heck no! I figured with the super strong pre-made icing I could just patch the shingles back together and they'd be good as new except for a few cracks.

This was all true up until the time of actually trying to attach the shingles onto the rest of the structure. It didn't take long to see it was never going to work...unless the look we were going for was a post-earthquake gingerbread house. I say hey, work with what you have...and after all, this IS Southern California so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. Here's a view of the disaster from the front (note the remaining pieces of shingle debris to the right side):

And the overhead side view with the support wall collapsing as well:

What the heck is this guy so happy about? Doesn't he see his house is in shambles?

So much for trying to start a new Christmas tradition. Megan and I were so disappointed we didn't even open the packages of candy to attempt to decorate our disaster zone. Maybe next year we'll get a kit with everything intact. Or maybe we'll just come up with some other holiday activity with a better success rate!

Thoughts on and from the ward...

Tonight I got together with some friends from my singles ward. Amongst the food and conversation we reminisced about "the good ol' days" (none of us still attend the ward). We even busted out the year end DVD from a couple of years ago and basically laughed ourselves silly. It was good to be with some old friends and it was really good for me to remember the experiences I had in the Roosevelt Ward. Even though I found that it was time for me to move on from there, I will be eternally grateful for the great leaders, friends, lessons, activities etc that formed a HUGE part of my life. It will forever be the best singles ward I had the opportunity to be a part of and it was good to remember/feel that again.

Moving on... As mentioned in my last blog, my new ward is quite interesting. Heidi and I decided that a quote book is a must for our experiences there. Yesterday in church I was reading some of the stuff from past weeks and decided it was time to post some of the quotes on here. I realize that some of them might be "you just had to be there" quotes but I'll post them nonetheless. Disclaimer: names have been changed to protect the innocent.

October 12th, 2008--Fast Sunday

-As we stand to be read in as new members of the ward, a man enters the chapel yelling and throwing a fit. We stood for a very long time. Can you say awkward?

-The therapy dog is the first one to the pulpit.

October 25th, 2008--Primary Program

-We find out that we are now officially considered of High Priest age. There is a fireside for High Priests and their wives...plus all single women over the age of 31.

-During the Primary program Brother "Lucky" (he looks like a leprechaun) gets up and starts taking pictures of the children while they are performing.

-Our Relief Society teacher, Sister "Smiley", is on some sort of an upper. Or multiple uppers.

-A man from Jamaica says something to Heidi but she didn't know he was talking to her. I thought he said to her, "I like your bra." Later he said it again, "I like your brown." We think he meant her brown bag?

-When passing out hymn books, a woman says, "Sorry, I can only see out of one eye, okay? Thanks for sharing."

November 2nd, 2008--The Callings

-Heidi and I are called into the bishop's office-together-and are called to be Sacrament Meeting greeters-together. We thought moving to a family ward would have gotten us away from made-up callings. We are asked to coordinate reverence measures for our ward.

-When the counselor in the bishopric findso ut that our condo faces his street he confesses that he has always liked "snoopy" kind of things and that if he lived in a tall building he would have binoculars so he could see what everyone is doing. A) creepy! and B) why would you divulge that to new ward members?

-The therapy dog yelps during the sacrament prayer.

-Sister "Tina-look-alike" bears her testimony and says she doesn't know who to vote for as president. She says, "I wish God or Jesus was here because I only want to vote for them."

-Sister "Dachsund" bears her testimony about finding her teeth-the good ones for the top-inside her couch.

-The therapy dog is napping on his bath mat (yes, I said bath mat) but almost loses his life because his owner has also fallen asleep and drops a binder smack onto the mat.

November 9th, 2008--Greetings to all

-We begin our calling and hand out programs and our reverence flyer. I fail at keeping the reverence as the first lady I try to greet is so deaf that I finally end up practically yelling "How are you today sister?"

-A man who sounds exactly like Chewbacca from Star Wars randomly breaks out into scary noises and yells all during the meeting.

-Sister "Therapy Dog" stands up to give the opening prayer and nearly has a heart attack when they lower the pulpit for her. She screams and jumps back from the microphone.

-We are sustained for the 2nd week in a row as the ward greeters. What exactly does this mean?

-When talking about the signs of the 2nd Coming, Sister Dachsund wonders if the "moon turning to blood" may have aready been fulfilled because man has walked on the moon and those men had earthly blood in their veins. Very loose interpretation to say the least.

Oh yes, my friends. Good times are had by all at the Ninth Ward. So please feel free to join us any Sunday from 1-4 p.m. on the corner of 5th South and 3rd East. Or at the very least, stay tuned for more updates from the quote book!

P.S. FOR SOME REASON THE FORMATTING ON THIS POST WOULDN'T CARRY OVER SO I'M SORRY IT'S ALL SHOVED TOGETHER WITH NO SPACES. I TRIED!

A new ward = new challenges

So way back when I took a poll because it was time for me to change wards. Congratulations to those who voted for the family ward because that is where I have decided to go for the time being. Given that I live downtown, I was somewhat prepared for this to be an interesting experience. However, as I learned yesterday, this is going to be one heck of a ride. When we talked to the bishop he gave us this info on what is found in the boundaries of our ward (I call this "informed consent"):

• 2 women's shelters


• A halfway house for schizophrenics


• Transitional housing for the recenly homeless


• Housing for people with AIDS


• 2 towers of fixed income living (mainly geriatrics)


• 400 members with a 50% turnover each year (200 in, 200 out)


• A core group of 40-some-odd folks who keep the ward afloat.

Needless to say, we are in for quite a change from the relative stability of the singles ward. But based on the above, I would argue that they could use a couple of gals with some leadership ability...and a social worker to boot. This is going to be a big adjustment for me but I am hoping that I will be able to find ways to serve that maybe I haven't experienced before. I am a little worried about my own growth in gospel knowledge/understanding but I guess that means I'll need to focus more on my personal efforts in that area.

I am excited for this new opportunity in many ways. I was also a bit scared/taken aback by a few things yesterday. Is it bad to laugh out loud at some of the stuff that happened? Heidi and I will be starting a book of quotes that we hear and I'm sure I'll post some of them here. Your sampler from yesterday, as given by an elderly woman in a flowery dress:

"Sometimes when I look into the eyes of my Dachsund, I see the eyes of Jesus."

SAY WHAT?!?! Stay tuned for more adventures in the Liberty 9th Ward.

Moochie's

Every couple of months or so I get together with my "married with children" friends Maree and April for a girls' night out. We usually pair some sort of activity with dinner at a random SLC place. Last time we went to the driving range to hit some golf balls and went to Mama's Southern Plantation followed by a quick stop at Sawadee Thai for some yummy desserts.



This past week we were going to take the canoe out for a spin and have a picnic up at Silver Lake. The weather didn't look too cooperative so we opted for some good times at Bonwood Bowl and dinner at Moochie's Meatballs. I have driven by there a million times but had never gone in. It's an Italian-ish place that also boasts a mean Philly cheesesteak sandwich. They also sell pottery inside. Kind of a random place but fun at the same time. We ordered 3 different dishes and 3 different desserts so we could try a variety.

Moochie's--232 E 800 S

Apparently Moochie's is quite popular at lunch time. They are only open past 3:30 from Thu-Sat so don't show up on an off night. Perhaps the best part of the whole experience involved the swamp cooler...yes, the swamp cooler. We placed our order and decided to eat outside. When we asked if they would bring our food out or how we would know to come get it, the girl said "Listen for your name through the swamp cooler." WHAT?!?!

We made our way out to the picnic tables and I decided to go try to set up my camera on my car to get a picture in front of Moochie's. When suddenly we hear the word "APRIL" booming as if it were a voice from heaven. April looked at me, thinking I had called her name from my position over by the car. And even though we should have been expecting it, it took us a minute to figure out that her name had indeed come from the swamp cooler and our food was ready. You probably had to be there but it was quite hilarious.

"APRIL!!!!"

Moochie's is located in a house type structure. Their overflow seating is another "house" next door. Note the bathroom complete with tub full of plants. :) Again, very random...but that's what I love about finding these little places. So if you know of any random local dining establishments in northern Utah, send suggestions my way. In the meanwhile, you can check out Moochie's for yourself or if you want a preview, check out the show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on Food Network sometime in October where Moochie's will be featured.

Interesting bathroom set-up

Labor Day weekend in Escalante

It's kind of hard to believe that Labor Day was two weeks ago. I wanted to post this earlier but between having a nasty cold and then traveling to Phoenix and California, there hasn't been much time. Anyway, having purchased my new canoe nearly at season's end, I was anxious to get my vessel afloat. Labor Day weekend is prime camping time here in Utah so most every spot was already reserved. After much looking, I located a campsite near a body of water that we could reserve ahead of time...Posey Lake near Escalante.

I had never been to Escalante before but had heard plenty of good things about it. The only major drawback was the distance but after inviting some folks, I soon had enough to fill up the car and head down. Many thanks to Heidi, Hilary, Analee and Jose for joining me on this adventure. And let's not forget Hurley, who experienced his first real camping trip.

We loaded up the car on Friday afternoon and hit the road. Thanks to Mapquest it took us FOREVER to get to Escalante. **Note to self, don't always trust Mapquest.** Once there we still had to drive 15 miles up a gravel/dirt road to get to our campsite. After a wrong turn at a fork in the road and some impressive map reading skills by Jose we finally arrived at our camp a little before midnight and set up our home away from home.

Saturday morning we headed out to drive the scenic loop over Hell's Backbone with a stop at an overlook. It was indeed quite scenic. We then made a stop at Anasazi State Park and let's just say it's a good thing we only had to pay 2 bucks to get in. I was certainly underwhelmed. We then proceeded to the trail head for Upper Calf Creek Falls. Hurley did a pretty great job hiking over the slickrock and I think would have done much better if not for the heat.

Greeting us at the end of our journey was the waterfall and several pools of water. We jumped in to refresh ourselves and about froze to death. Jose showed us his best impression of an Acapulcan cliff diver and we also enjoyed a small natural waterslide. The sky around us began to darken and we could see a storm was rolling in.

We were able to hike back out before the rain hit but by the time we got into Escalante it had been raining at a steady clip. We stopped at the small town grocery store to get some cold medicine for Hilary as well as some needed camping snacks...oh yeah, and a toothbrush for me seeing as how I had forgotten to pack mine! My favorite thing about the store was the sign at the checkout that said something along the lines of "Please bring money when you shop. We will no longer be writing down your groceries."

We started making our way the 15 miles up the canyon to get back to our campsite and began to see the signs of flash flooding that is very common in Southern Utah. Water was pouring over the mountains in waterfalls here and there and rushing alongside the road in some places. There were also large rocks that had washed into spots in the road and some places that were extremely muddy. It was a bit nerve-wracking at points but thanks to the 4WD of my beloved Passport we were able to mush on through. I have to admit I really enjoyed digging in the mud...it had been a long time.

I had seen the weather forecast before leaving and knew it was supposed to rain and be a bit colder so fortunately we were somewhat prepared. I don't think we realized just how cold it would be though. It continued to rain all through Saturday night and most of Sunday. So we either huddled in our tents or under the small tarp I bought last minute that we rigged up over our cooking area. **Note to self, next time get a bigger tarp.** Poor Hurley was so cold that he was shaking so at one point I actually bungee corded my sweatshirt on him. **Note to self, bring warm clothes for the dog too.**

When we got a break in the rain on Sunday, we took the canoe out on the lake for a while. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it would seem Hurley did too. Sadly, for some reason none of us could figure out how to get into the kayak that Hilary had borrowed from her friend. **Note to self, try out kayak before you haul it over 500 miles roundtrip only to not be able to use it.** We then started up a campfire for a quintessential camping meal of roasted hot dogs and s'mores. We also played a game, whose name I can't remember, but consisted of "would you rather" situations and was both hilarious and disgusting at the same times. Example: Would you rather eat 1 cup of toe jam or a bowl full of hair pulled from the drain?

Sunday night was quite cold and rained some more. I wouldn't have been surprised to have woken up to snow but we were fortunate. The weather finally cleared up Monday morning but was still cold. By this time I think most of us were done with the wet and the cold so we loaded up and started back to SLC. Thanks to a tip from the campground host we were able to cut out about an hour and a half of the drive, which made things much more tolerable.

All in all, it was a good weekend adventure and the scenery was beautiful. I wish the weather had been nicer so we could have done more hiking and canoeing but I am most definitely planning to return to the area in the future. Here are some pics from the weekend:

Hell's Backbone

Jose prepping for his cliff dive

Pool above Upper Calf Creek Falls

Deep pot hole

Natural waterslide

Storm rolling in

Bungee cord fashion

Posey Lake

Canoeing it

Circled round the campfire

Hurley and I at the lake

I *heart* Jack!!

A week ago today I went to the Jack Johnson concert with my coworker and friend, Kristen. We had really great seats--the first row just beyond the mosh pit. Although Jack really isn't the kind of music you would normally mosh to. Guess somebody should have told "crazy dancer guy" that...he was either drunk or high or maybe both. He looked like he was doing some weird pow-wow dance pretty much the whole concert. Good times. But nothing could take away the wonderfulness that is Jack. His music is just so relaxing and fun and chill. Oh yeah, did I mention he's hot and he's from Hawaii and he surfs?! Bring it on! Anyway, it was a great concert and I wish every Monday could be a day spent with Jack. Here are some images from the night:

It was waaaayyyy too hot before the sun set.

Jack introducing the band.

Sing to me baby!

So much cooler when the sun went down!

My favorite pic of the night!

Yet another reason why Utahns should stop bringing their small children to concerts--use the $50 for a babysitter so your kid can sleep in a bed not on the ground!

The worst part of every concert--the parking lot traffic jam.

One thing I can say is that Jack is one of the few artists I have seen that sounds as good as or better than the recording! I could have listened to him for many more hours, but alas, every good thing must come to an end. I got to hear all of my favorites, but perhaps the best part was his encore as he came out alone...just a man and his guitar...and sang 6 or 7 more songs for us. So yes, now and forever, I *heart* Jack!

"IF I HAD EYES"

p.s. I tried to upload one of my favorite songs of the night but I think Blogger didn't like the size of it or something cuz it was a no go. Maybe I'll try later.