Sister Code

My sister and I were talking today at work about the things that are required of each other in our sister-ship. We have had these standing rules that were never really spoken but were required. We figured we better put them down in writing so we can refer back to them, kind of like a contract of sorts. I don't know any other sisters that have a relationship like we do, but feel free to borrow some of our rules/requirements :)

1) Sisters must tell the other sister EVERYTHING first (gossip, dating, engagements, pregnancies, drug overdose, etc)

2) Certain names/words can be used as terms of endearment, such as whore, slut, tramp, and any other words you and your sister decide upon in advance of using the such name.

3) It is OK to grab each others butts, regardless of the situation. Just be prepared for stares, glances and obscene gestures when done in public.

4) Any kind act will win you a spot as the FSE (favorite sister ever) or the BSE (best sister ever). Any negative act may result in you becoming the LFSE (figure it out on your own) or the word slut or whore may be used in this situation as well.

5) When getting a hair cut or a pedicure you are required to invite your sister along, you don't have to pay for her, but she must be invited.

6) When attempting an project of any kind, whether it be moving or making a cake, you must first see if the sister is interested in helping or assisting. Sister code obligates assistance in these matters.

7) If one sister has a makeup line, underwear sticking out of pants or something in your teeth, sisters are obligated to notify said sister.

8) When going to lunch, if sisters work at or near the same location, they must invite sister to go with them, especially if an FHC is involved.

9) When one sister runs out of gas in the middle of night the other sister, after taking a moment to laugh and mock, must go and rescue sister.

10) When doing activities in a group, sisters should never leave the other behind. ie Disneyland, Skiing, hiking, etc.

I am sure there are others and we will add to them as time goes and things change but these are what works for us.

Yard

We have decided that we can never move. At first when we were looking at the house we were thinking with the good deal we were getting on the house that maybe we would live there for a few years, fix it up and increase the value then sell it for, hopefully, a nice profit. However, once we met our neighbors and those on our street we were feeling differently. Then we got into the ward and now we have decided we will most likely stay there forever. Last Saturday was just another reminder of how great the ward and the area is.

Every spring our ward does a ward clean up where the city donates a couple semi trailer sized dumpsters and families sign up to help in certain yards. Some ward members were assigned to contact their neighbors to see if they needed any help and luckily we were on that list. We got a phone call at the first of March to see if we had any need of help in our yard for removing debris and if we had any items to be removed. I told the caller we had some trees we needed to rip out and a play house to tear down and tons of other garbage in our yard we needed to get rid of. Earlier in the week another brother in the ward stopped by to see what needed to be done and when we showed him he said they wouldn't be able to take out trees or the play house, but they would help remove any debris in the yard that they can pick up and haul out. We were ready to welcome any help we could get. Ross and I spent the week pruning and cutting down grapes and trees, but due to helping with my Grandma's house in Salt Lake we weren't able to get as much down as we had hoped. Saturday's activities started with a ward breakfast where those that signed up would find out which yard they were assigned to. We actually attended, ate really quickly, visited for a little bit then skedaddled to finish pruning trees and grapes. I went inside to get my camera to get before and after pictures of the back yard and before I got a chance the yard was swarming with people. One brother walks in with saws and an ax and said "I hear you have trees and a play house to rip down" and people started taking out trees and ripping the play house down. It was chaotic. Brandon also came over with his chain saw to take our apple trees for his smoker and stayed with the saw to help with the play house. They even broke up the cement under the play house and dug out the stumps from the trees they took down. I think with all the stuff they tore down and all the extra garbage left in our yard we filled up one semi sized dumpster with just our yard. But its def a whole new yard and there is a lot more space back there. I got pictures of them tearing down the play house but didn't get the other view of the trees. Someone had planted the trees in the back yard orchard style.

This is the front of our house. We had started taking one of the pear trees out when I remembered to get a photo. I have also, at this point, chopped all the many rose bushes out that were in the flower beds in front of the house. I don't think you can see the two apple trees on the side of the house that we took out as well.

We have already discussed next spring, we are definitely going to have to sign up to help in other yards. Those that helped at our house saved probably two summers worth of work for us and now I have a much bigger area for my garden.

Venice

No, sadly we haven't been to Italy or California lately, though either place would be nice right about now. We just got a new puppy. We hadn't planned on but what is done is done. We had planned to take Sasha to the adoptions at Pet Smart, to A) give her more socialization with other dogs or B) get her adopted. Well, neither of those happened. What did happen is the trainer that does Havoc's puppy classes and who we were fostering Sasha for said she would find another home to foster Sasha cause Ross and I fell in love with a chocolate lab puppy. Well, I guess he is part lab and part pointer. The big part is that he is chocolate. I have loved chocolate labs for like forever and since we couldn't keep Sasha Ross and I have been talking about getting a lab and I wanted chocolate and Ross wanted black. I was going to go with the black though, until Ross saw this little guy. He is 3 months old and he was so quiet and mellow and we thought that's what we needed, and he didn't have Havoc. So, we brought him home and he is now ours. However, once we get him home he starts barking, ugh. But we are going to break that and we are trying to crate train him for sleeping in. We will see how that goes. On the bright side he has had all his shots, is potty trained and has been neutered so we don't have to worry about that, just the obedience.

Havoc on the other hand has taken on a new role. He is the typical big brother. When Venice is barking or whining he will run to check on him and try to put him in his place. If Venice has a toy or raw hide, whether Havoc needs it or not, he will take it from him and put it where he can't get it. We put the gate in the kitchen so Havoc can crawl underneath and Venice can't get over it and when Venice tries to crawl under it Havoc will sit at the gate and nip at his feet and nose until he stops trying. When Venice is chewing on a raw hide Havoc will sit patiently until he can grab it out of Venice's mouth then will dart under the gate and add it to his pile. Its actually quite humorous to watch. He is adjusting relatively well, just being the "big" brother.

Sasha

This is Sasha. She is a white German shepherd, until we heard about her I didn't know they could be white. She is such a mellow, calm dog and its a bummer that we can't keep her. She is not so fond of Havoc to the point that if she wasn't on a leash Havoc would most likely have some holes. I think it was only because he was in what she set up as her territory. However, on the flip side she loves people and even kids. When we take her on walks there are a lot of kids that run up to pet her and she sits and wags her tail, totally content. We have to take her back to Havoc's trainer on Thursday and then she is off to another foster home until she is adopted and I hope she can be adopted soon. Yesterday she got spayed and she didn't take it too well, I think cause she is older. She won't eat or take her pain pills and I feel so bad watching her in pain. After having her around and what we thought were possibilities that we could do with her we want a big dog but I think we will start with a puppy. Make it easier for both Havoc and the new addition. So if anyone knows of someone wanting to adopt a mellow, active dog, she needs a good home.

Deflated

Saturday was such a happy day and then turned sour. It started out pretty productive and exciting and ended on a bummed note. We went to Home Depot and we were finally able to get a BBQ. I have been saving my pennies for a while to get a nice, fancy BBQ that would last and I finally had enough and they finally had the one in we wanted. However, it wouldn't fit in our car, so my dad came down and helped us with their van so we could get it home. We also looked into garbage disposals to see if we can buy the missing parts for ours to finally get it hooked up. We actually decided to just get a new disposal, it needed it anyways, and we could either buy the new part now and in a few months buy the new disposal that comes with the part we needed or just get the new disposal now, which is what we decided to do. Ross wasn't so excited about putting it in and I didn't want to deal with it so I bribed him. I told him while he puts the disposal in, which he wasn't excited for, I would cut off and hem some shorts for him, which I wasn't excited for. But we both put a couple hours into getting these things done which for me wasn't easy cause I had a puppy who wanted to "help" and pull the shorts out of my hand and run or drag me over to his leash for a walk. And I heard lots of moans and groans from the kitchen. But, we prevailed and got done and I was so excited to have a dishwasher. We ran a cleaner through the dishwasher before using it to make sure it worked and sanitize it. There weren't any leaks and everything seemed to be working, then much to my dismay the dishwasher wasn't draining. I tried the drain button on the dishwasher but no luck. I was so excited to not have to wash dishes anymore but I still have to wash dishes, but its so nice to have two sinks that work. Now when people dump water in the left sink it doesn't go to the cupboard below.

There's No Place Like Home

As I was sitting in the airport in Baton Rouge yesterday and I heard over the PA that my flight was yet again delayed, I learned that clicking my heels together 3 times and repeating "there's no place like home" does not really work. So, add that to my growing list of annoyances at trying to get home. I am also starting to realize that maybe I don't enjoy travel as much as I once did. I am not sure if its due to this last trip or if its just a compilation of past experiences.

To start off we were very lucky we actually got into Louisiana. Had we gone a day earlier all the flights into Baton Rouge were cancelled, if we had gone a day later all the flights in were cancelled, had we gone through Texas (like we do 95% of the time) we wouldn't have been able to leave Salt Lake and had we gone into New Orleans our flight would have been cancelled. There was a lot of freak snow in the south closing Texas, Atlanta and Louisiana at different times. But we did make it in to Baton Rouge without any delays or problems, just to find things were not as planned. It was extremely frustrating to spend all that money and take time off work for things to turn out the way they did, but we decided to make the best of it.

We did get to go to a couple of parades, one of which was in Baton Rouge and it was so much better than the parades in New Orleans. We went to Spanish Town in Baton Rouge, which from my understanding is Spanish Town (part of downtown Baton Rouge) used to be the gay part of town but not so much anymore. The big theme for this parade every year is pink flamingos and all the floats were covered in pink, including those riding on the floats. They were decked head to toe in pink, complete with pink wigs. I don't really have pictures of the parades because I was too busy during the parade. This was a very fun parade because they didn't have the barriers on the streets so you could go right up to the floats and it was easier to get cool things from people when you made eye contact. I only had one person on this parade ask to see my boobs, but honestly, had I wanted to show them I couldn't. I had beads up to my ears and my coat on, it would have taken 20 min to be able to flash. But we came away with tons of beads, 90% of the beads we brought home came from this parade, my in-laws gave me the majority of the beads they caught as well as what Ross and I got.

On Sunday Ross and I went down to New Orleans. We had actually gone down for the big parade that night, Bachus. All the parades have names and they run at the same time every year and Bachus runs Sunday at 5. When we got to New Orleans we had some shopping to do so we ran to do that and caught the end of the Rex parade and in the process of getting back to the car to drop off our stuff we got caught in the Thoth parade but was able to get a really good spot for the Bachus parade. The parade started at 5 but because they move so slow it got to us at about 7:30 but it was INSANE. Drew Brees (for those of you that don't know he was the Saints MVP from the Superbowl) was the king of the Bachus parade and Southerner's LOVE their football. People came from out of state to see this parade and it was deafening when the float with the king came by. One thing the parades in New Orleans has that Baton Rouge lacks is the fire guys. I don't quite understand their purpose but they have a propane tank strapped to their backs and they have there big metal contraptions that has 4 horizontal spouts that shoot fire and a group of them walk the parade route, between the floats and bands and you throw change at them. Some had so much change in their pockets they were loosing their pants, which inspired me and the old guy standing next to me to sing Pants on the Ground. However, the parades in New Orleans were so stingy with what they threw. I did get asked to flash but I showed the guy that I wasn't able to get to my boobs with everything on so he gave me the cool beads anyways. We didn't stay for the whole last parade, we were done by the 12th float. But it was fun to just go down with Ross and hang out.

Then came getting home. I never dreamed it would become the ordeal that it was. We were supposed to fly out at noon on Monday and on the way to the airport we found out that our flight was cancelled and they had put us on a flight leaving at 5pm the next day getting back into Salt Lake at midnight. No was was that going to work because I wasn't about to ask my parent's to pick us up that late and by the time we got home we would have 3 hours to sleep before getting up for work. So we went in and talked to them. They claimed that the flight was cancelled for routine maintenance. If it was routine maintenance then they would know about it and one would think they wouldn't schedule flights for that time. So, we got on a flight to Atlanta the next morning at 8. We get to the airport, again, and find that our 8am flight was cancelled and we were put on a 10:00 flight. About 9:30 we find that our 10:00 flight was delayed and pushed back until noon, which would cause us to miss our connecting flight. We were so annoyed/frustrated. Luckily they were able to put us on another carrier and we went through Dallas instead of Atlanta and we were finally able to get home about 4 on Tuesday. I have never had such troubles and I am not sure if it was because of the Baton Rouge airport, but if we had gone in through New Orleans on Thursday we wouldn't have gotten in, all the flights that night into NO was cancelled, so we would have been stuck in Atlanta, where it snowed so no flights were leaving there. Anyways, long story short, it was a big mess, but we did get home and our jobs were understanding. Over all we did have a good trip and we did enjoy the time we got to spend with my mother-in-law and the break from work.

Reminders

I don't know if anyone else is as effected by this as I am, but smells and some foods remind me of times and places in the past, mainly from my mission, and some of them are really strong. I am sitting here enjoying some Baked Lays sour cream and onion chips and every time I eat these it reminds me of my p-days in my last area with one of my favorite companions. Berrett and I would do our laundry and then go grocery shopping and we always got a bag of these chips each and after our activity and play was done we would end up back at our apartment eating the chips and playing speed. It was quite the combination and helped to pass many a p-day. This companion was a lot of fun and we found great joy in the stupid and simple things of life. When I shower it takes me back to my 2nd area in my mission. We were in a very ghetto apartment surrounded by Mexicans and gang members. A couple nights we sat in the middle of our apartment listening to gun shots in the neighborhood. The walls in this apartment were so thin that we could hear the next door neighbor when he would pee and talk on the phone. So, now when I use the same shampoo or conditioner I used in that area I can almost hear the neighbor peeing while talking on the phone. That one is one of the stronger associations I have, and the fact that the bathroom and shower head is extremely close to the way the bathroom there was. Maybe its just that my mission was a big influence on my life that so much reminds me of places and people.