Phil's Back!

Last night was the premier of season 20 of The Amazing Race!

I was not disappointed.  Am I ever?  What a great beginning!  The race started in the wine country of the Los Angeles area.  Gorgeous autumn colors on the grapevines.  The contestants flew to Santa Barbara, Argentina.

Someone from each team had to sky dive!  And when they picked who was going to do the roadblock, they didn't know that that person wasn't going to be the sky diver.  It was the other person that had to jump.  I would have been tricked if Matt and I were on the show.  I would have said "you do it" and then it would have wound up being me jumping out of that little plane!  Yikes!

For your viewing enjoyment!

The next thing they had to do was make 120 empanadas.  60 meat filled and 60 cheese filled.  They had different crimping methods for both.  It got my mouth watering.

These girls wind up coming in last and get eliminated

So guess what's for dinner tonight!  We are going to a dive in Boise called Tango's that has awesome Argentine empanadas.  This is as close as I'm gonna get to Argentina for a long time.  

BYU Bound

I took my Chelsea down to Utah on Thursday.  We had something special planned.

A trip to the happiest place on earth... at least in Utah County:)

Doesn't she look happy?  

We arrived at our hotel late Thursday evening.  We stayed at the La Quinta in Orem... the one I discovered is too close to UVU.  I've stayed at a La Quinta in California before. It was nice enough, and I didn't want to spend any more than $100 for this one night.  I should have known better.  

Here are a couple of complaints.  Enter lobby.  Weird college age dude trying to get attention.  Exit elevator.  3rd floor hallway smelled like beans.  As in refried beans.  Was someone actually cooking beans in their room?  Enter room.  No bean smell but popcorn ceiling.  A big turn-off.  Sit down on bed and glance down at carpet.  A giant toenail clipping staring up at me.  SICK.  Did the maid not vacuum?  After going to bed, about to finally fall asleep, I discovered the severe lack of sound proofing in the building.  Doors slamming.  Toilets flushing.  People laughing.  High heel shoes walking on wood floor.  Someone getting a plunger from hotel staff.  More people laughing.  This carried on as I was in and out of light sleep until 1:00 am.  6 am came.  Someone took a shower and flushed the toilet.  Deep sleep was no longer mine.  

Chelsea wasn't as bothered by all of this as I was.  I decided, as I lay in bed, that we would not be partaking of the free breakfast.  I had had it with this hotel.  The manager is about to get an email from me this evening.  Mostly, it's the toenail that disturbs me the most.  

So here is where we went on Friday morning.  A place where she will "enter to learn" and then "go forth to serve."  A place where she will be one among 34,000 students.

We snapped this picture when nobody was looking.  She didn't want anybody to know she was a visitor.

Chelsea with Brigham

We headed over to the beautiful Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center where we met up with the handsome C.J. for Chelsea's prospective student tour.  We rode in a little golf cart thingy around the campus for about an hour.  He told her about all of the various buildings and took her into a couple of them.  She got to see a very large chemistry class in session.  I think she might have been a bit intimidated but excited at the same time.

She wasn't expecting to receive her acceptance letter in the mail until February 28.  But when we got home on Saturday, she found that she had been sent an email on Friday saying that SHE'S IN!!  She had applied to begin starting summer term, so she'll be leaving us mid-June.  I'm happy, but oh, so sad at the same time.

Other highlights of our mommy/daughter trip:  chocolate chip bagel with honey almond cream cheese, shopping at IKEA and H&M in Salt Lake, watching an edited version of The King's Speech with Grandma and Grandpa Wright, and giggling over Great Grandma Fillmore's swear words.  It was a short trip, but I loved every minute of being with my girl.

My Gift to Matt

Matt turned 43 on Saturday, and he finally got what he wanted.

He asked me to go skiing with him on his birthday.  How could I say no this time?

He and Emma already had plans to go (Josh went with friends early in the morning on the ski bus).  The three of them have season passes.  Matt thought it would be great to have me and Chelsea there too.  So, because it was his birthday, I agreed.  He knew it was a BIG deal for me.  I have only been skiing a few times, and it's been about 24 years.  The thought of doing it scared me and intimidated me.  I didn't want to be a grown lady falling down and doing the snowplow as little four year olds race past.

Well, little four year olds did race past me, but I wasn't the only adult doing the snowplow (the pizza is what they call it now).  I did fall down once, and that was when I got off the chairlift for the first time.  Nobody reminded me that I need to lean forward getting off.  Again... I wasn't the only dork falling off of that chairlift.  But after Matt told me how to do it, I didn't fall again.  "I just let the skis do the work".  "It's my first time up at the mountain".  "I'm skiing!"  What About Bob quotes with a twist.

Me

Chelsea 

At first, we did the "magic carpet" a few times.  Then we took the chairlift up to the top of that run the rest of the time.  Matt only purchased passes for Chelsea and I that allowed us to use that one chairlift.  It got a little boring, but it was fine for our beginner level.  We stayed at Bogus for 3 1/2 hours.  That was enough for me.

Matt says how happy this outing made him.  I'm glad that I did this for him.  I'm glad I did it for me, too.  Remember, this is my year to "arise".  I want to be better than last year and try things that I've been afraid to try.  I can scratch skiing off my list!

The kids made Matt a candy bar poster.  I got him a hot outfit from Banana Republic.

At the Flying Pie Pizzeria for dinner

My Lucky Day

I had a secret, and I kept it.  Something good was about to happen, but nobody knew.  It's exactly how I wanted it.

After 14 months (four months earlier than anticipated), my braces came off!  Here's me with my orthodontist, Dr. Howell.  He does this with all his patients when they get their braces off.

I got to choose the hats that we wore in the picture.  Dr. Howell has a bunch of funny hats to choose from.  I was told he hadn't worn this fuzzy, blue and orange BSU hat yet, so I picked it.  For me to wear, I chose this leprechaun hat because it was my lucky day.

Matt came home for lunch like usual.  I wanted to see how long it would take for him to notice my teeth.  It took about 5 minutes.  That was after talking to him and kissing him.  And it wasn't just a little kiss.  He noticed, finally, when I was talking to him about what to eat for lunch.  He was so surprised.

I thought I'd get a normal retainer that fits the roof of your mouth and a wire across the front teeth.  But I get to have a clear one that fits snuggly over all my top teeth.  You can barely notice it.  I just need to learn how to talk with it in.

                                     

Day 1

After 1 Month 

After 6 months

After 1 year

After 14 months