Saturday, August 23, 2008

My first post here guys...

Since Amy and I recently rechristened her old blog as our new blog, it's now the Amy and Dusty Show, so I need to get postin' on here! ...Or go postal...or whatever...one of the two. :-)

Recently, Amy and I have been making an effort to take one of our Sunday School Teacher's advice to heart, and so we've started trying to date on weekends, where each weekend we take turns picking what we want to do. The rule is that at least one of us (the person whose turn it is to pick) has to really like what they're doing, and so neither of us have told each other what we're going to do until right when the time arrives...because we don't want the other person to dread the rest of the week. :-)

We paper-rock-scissored for the first go-round, and I won, and so naturally, I picked something with animals. We headed for the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake, but on our way there we heard on the radio that it was "Ice Day" at the Hogle Zoo, so we went there instead. They brought out blocks of ice -- some filled with fruit -- for the animals to play with, lick, suck on, etc.

Here's an orangutan doing just that.













And here's my shout out to the Logsdon boys...a monkey giving his buddy a (for lack of a better term) proctology exam. Thought Jason, Jeremy, and Michael (and Nathan) could appreciate that. :-)













I've always enjoyed bird shows. When my family and I went to Sea World growing up, the bird show they had there was my favorite part of the entire day. While the rest of my family went to watch a ski show with stunt people from Baywatch, I went and watched the bird show again. They've trained these birds to do all sorts of tricks and fly over your head, inches away from touching you -- huge birds too, like Greater Horned Owls (think Harry Potter) and a variety of eagles and condors.

They had this going on at the Hogle Zoo. We got a kick out of it. Amy freaked out when a flock of white doves flew over her head (even after the showman told everyone to be still).

This hilarious Cockatoo was taking wildlife conservation donations after the show and dropping them in the slot.














Overall, it was a good visit, and Amy even bought herself some zoo paraphernalia before we left.

And so next week it was Amy's turn to pick our date. Nothing could have helped me guess her idea -- face painting. I have to admit it was kinda fun. She picked an idea for my face out of a book that she checked out from the library...

her book...

and the end result.

Then I went to work on Amy...I used my own imagination and decided to make a checkerboard out of Amy's face...it was cool. As I went through the photos, I just busted out laughing because you can see all the sides that Amy has to her personality. So, here we go...

First, the serious Amy.


The cute Amy.


The sad Amy.


The scary Amy.


The poser Amy.


The crazy, psychotic Amy.


The sleepy, tired Amy.


And finally...

The joker Amy.


Ya know, it's funny...Amy wasn't consciously trying to make all of those random faces...her "little person" just kind of came out in the photos. It was a lot of fun...she didn't even know what I was painting on her face until I showed her at the end. Same with me. I told her that her face was paybacks for kicking my trash at a game I taught her how to play (i.e. checkers).

More soon!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well I had a great birthday today hanging out with the family here in Kentucky. I went to lunch with Mike, Charla and the CRAZY and FUN boys Blake and Eli and then mom and Melissa and I went out and then Nathan and Evan joined up with us for dinner.

I can't believe I am 27. It's kind of freakin me out that I am so close to 30, but deep down I am OK with it. It's just nuts to me.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!

Friday, August 15, 2008

A little OCD I guess

I can probably think of 20 things that I do the same way every single time. I just noticed this little trait of mine. Not really though. I have noticed it before but I realized how much like DAD I am.

For instance my dad will fold his trash at like a fast food restaurant. At Subway he will fold his sandwich paper and straw wrapper (very precisely) and place it into his empty chip bag and then fold that chip bag with the papers in it and place it neatly into his drink cup and throw it away. It drives him nuts when we don't and sometimes he even folds mine ours too!

I have another friend whom I think can relate. Her name starts with an "A" and ends with "ngela". HA HA HA

OK Here is a brief list of my OCD behaviors and I want to know a few of your because I KNOW you have some.
  • Always put in and take out my right contact in first
  • Brush my teeth in little circles starting on the right upper / outter side and work my way across then come back on the left side doing the same, then the surface teeth, then the back.
  • Always use warm water when I brush my teeth
  • Right shoe goes on first
  • Right earing goes in first...
*As a side note, even if I have the left shoe, earing or contact handy, I ALWAYS do the right first. Have NO idea why.
  • BUT, I shave my left leg first!
  • Like mom, I tend to favor even numbers. My mom goes to the point where it drives her NUTS if the volume on the TV is on an odd number--or anything with an odd number for that matter
  • I pretty much HAVE to have socks on when I sleep or am just around the house
I can think of lots more and I am sure my husband and my family can give you 10 times as much. As I think on all my quirkiness I am reminded that it's just the way I am and I am happy to be me. This poem says it best.

Me I Am !

I am the only Me I Am
Who qualifies as me,
no Me I AM has been before,
and none will ever be
No other Me I Am can feel
the feelings I' ve within,
no other Me I Am can fit
precisely in my skin
There is no other Me I Am
who thinks the thoughts I do,
the world contains one Me I Am
this earth shall ever see,
that Me I Am I always am
is no one else but Me!

by Jack Prelutsky

On the road again....

I am traveling once again. This is time I am in Indianapolis and then making my way to my Kentucky :-) Yay! I have been so blessed to go on so many trips this year. One day I promise I will catch up with cool pictures....

Anyway. One thing that sucks about traveling is that no matter where I go I loose sleep. I got 3 hours of sleep last night. I have to carry so many bags, typically by myself, and on the first day of travel I am so stressed and tension carries in my shoulders and I can't sleep. I got in the hot tub and took 2 hot showers to try and relax and it didn't work. If that is the price I have to pay to travel the world, so be it! :-) Just kidding.

I was just thinking that when I was little I used to want a job where I got to travel to neat places. This year has definitely been a fulfillment of that dream but there is still tons of cool places left I could go but I am so thankful for getting to see so many neat things. One day I will get around to telling you about them :-)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Audio Books Online

Working at a computer all day I like to shake things up a bit and listen to things online while I work. Sometimes they are mindless things, funny things, Ensign articles, past conferences, audio books etc etc.

My friend Sherry sent me over a link today to LibriVox. This is what they do, "LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books."

I know several of my readers, OK. OK. both of you :-) , work at a computer too and might find it helpful!

Exactly What I Needed...

This is exactly what I needed to help me stop feeling sorry for myself today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BODHsU3hDo4

Friday, August 01, 2008

How to Write Your Own Memoir

This is a link from Oprah.com and it's just an article that helps you understand a better starting place of how to begin to write your personal memoir. I guess working at this genealogy conference has inspired me to think about this a little. I haven't even read the whole article but wanted to share it while it's on my mind.

How to Write Your Own Memoir