Shout Out!

A friend called last week to ask me, "Do you know of any good dentists in the area?" And yes, I most certainly do. I get calls like this occasionally and am always glad to share.

Today someone asked if I had a hair stylist that I like. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Not just like, but love.

So, my friends, today I present you with a list of people/places/services that I would gladly recommend. You know, just in case you were wondering. And for those of you who don't live near me, scroll down to see some places that I love on the www.

For locals:

The BEST dentist's office (even the littlest kids love going for check-ups!) is Christiansen Dental. They do great, quality work and are friendly, personable and caring. Case in point: Dr. C heard about my broken leg incident and called to see how I was doing. What does that have to do with my teeth? Nothing! But he's a genuinely nice guy who cares about his patients - and makes visits to the dentist a stress-free, even pleasant experience.

Need car repairs? Here's a trustworthy auto repair shop: Mitchell's Garage. I can't remember who recommended this place to us but we have been happy with all of the work we've had done on our vehicles there. Finding a repair shop you can trust is a big deal and we have come to trust the guys here at Mitchell's.

Want to get a haircut? Call Raylene at David Douglas Salon. All of the girls in our family go to her and we always leave happy. She makes you feel like a beauty queen or rock star or whatever place in between you're comfortable with. Trust me, you'll love her.

The best place for dessert on a Saturday night is Gloria's Little Italy - hands down! Why Saturday night? Because all of their delectable, authentic Italian desserts (made fresh daily!) are half-priced on Saturday nights since they are closed on Sundays. And if you don't like layers of flaky filo dough, rich Italian cream and hazelnut then I still have one word for you: Gelato.

How long has it been since you've had family pictures taken? You need to call Jason at Backroads Photography. Let's put it this way: I have lots of kids and he can make them all smile. At the same time! Plus, he makes us look really good. Maybe you just need some new decorative photos to adorn your home? He's got those, too. Check him out.

Any questions? Leave me a comment or send me an email (gerbdonna at gmail).

On the internets (coincidentally, all free stuff):

Need to wish someone a happy birthday? Issue a formal apology? Send a note of thanks? Check out the Bureau of Communication. I'm a lover of handwritten notes, but if you've got to send an email, this is the way to go. It's just quirky enough to make it fun.

Have you ever been a bit leery of letting your kids watch a certain movie because you're not sure what exactly to expect? Then Kids in Mind is the place you seek. It's almost humorous how detailed they are in their descriptions of every teeny little thing that could be found offensive or off-color.

As a service to busy kidnappers, joshuarey.com offers a ransom note generator. Just type in your text, press enter and you have a lovely ransom note from letters cut out of magazines and newspapers. Brilliant.

Does someone you know own an Easy Bake oven? Then you need this website. Instead of buying all of those expensive mixes at the store, Budget101 has a whole plethora of mini-sized recipes you can make from ingredients in your pantry. And as a bonus: these taste better than the packaged mixes, too. Who knew you could cook such tasty little treats with a light bulb?


*No one asked me to write this post or compensated me in any way. I just really, really love these people/places/services and think they deserve a shout-out. Plus I've seen these kind of disclaimers on other blogs and I thought it would make me look cool. Holla!

Family Photos: Part 2

It has become a tradition in our family to do two sets of pictures every year. One set is to put on our wall and the other is to have fun and create some memories for our kids. Last year was a 70's theme. To be honest, we weren't sure how to top that - but Allen came through with an idea that we all got excited about.

The best part for the kids in this year's fun pictures? They were told to go play outside and get dirty ALL DAY LONG on the day of the photo shoot. The best part for me? No one's hair needed to be curled.

Plus, crying kids? Snotty noses? No problem.

(in case you are unaware, you can click on the pictures to view them larger)













Want to see more? Click here.

Want to get your own set of awesome family photos? Click here.

Family Photos - Part 1

We got our new family pictures done recently and we love how they turned out!

The whole crew

Coolister

ElemenoB

Thumbelina

The "big girls"

All-a-Boy

Cowgirl
Princess
The "Little Girls"
Curly
Hubba
Little O
In true form...

Want to see more? Go check out the rest (and some of my favorites!)
at our awesome photographer's blog.

I am thankful to have a friend with an amazing talent for photography!
All photos are by Jason of Backroads Photography.

Getting Out

Last Saturday I had the chance to get out in the community and do some sign language interpreting again. It has been awhile, but despite my nervousness I was really looking forward to it. I met up with my brother, Chip, and we carpooled to Salt Lake City together to work as two of the ASL interpreters for the General Relief Society broadcast for our church.

Can I just say I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!

We had an amazing crew:
The green room was loaded with plenty of things to snack on:

I was so excited that Chip suggested I get out a little more often. (Wouldn't you be excited?! Look at all of the chocolate!! And you can't even see the fruit and veggie trays, or plethora of drinks!)

This is the set, with the hot seat:

Here are Chip and I, reviewing the talks we will be translating for:


The talk I was assigned to interpret went great, especially considering I have not done this in quite awhile. If you want to watch me at work, click on this link then click on the link for Silvia H. Allred's talk in American Sign Language. If I ever figure out how to embed the video here, I'll do so and make it easier for all of us. But for now, click.

As we were leaving, Chip pointed out this poster of a former event at the Conference Center:


He told me about how he got to interpret for this concert, featuring the Oak Ridge Boys. And how everyone in the Tabernacle Choir kept asking the Oak Ridge Boys during rehearsals if they were going to sing Elvira but they kept saying they didn't think it fit the program. And then how it came down from the top that they could go ahead and sing the song, and that Chip was told to not hold back in his interpretation, but to put on a show. And then he gave me a small sampling of his performance, the likes of which I would pay handsomely to see again. I mean, who knew he could move like that when signing, Giddy-up, a whoom-bop a whoom-bop a maow maow! Apparently Chip's hips are not a force to be reckoned with.

Every once in awhile it is just a great thing to spend some time with my brother, enjoying some tasty treats and doing something that we love.

Cake Decorating 101

(My trusty cake-decorating assistant, Am-bie, and I.)

What do you get when someone who doesn't know how to decorate cakes teaches a cake decorating class?

Well, you certainly don't get pretty cakes, that's for sure! (Pretty cakes are SO overrated!)

You DO get the undivided attention of 25 young ladies, aged 8-11:


These attentive ladies get instructions regarding the preferred height of the frosting on their cupcakes when the decorating is completed:


You also get told to eat LOTS of frosting. (I hear that's what the all the best cake decorators do.) The girls were all really good at this step.


Best of all, in the end you get masterpieces like these:


I know what you're thinking.

Gerb, is there anything you can't do?

Well, now you know.

The Whole Truth

So... our anniversary celebration. That last post was the story that unraveled in my brain as I'd ask Allen to be in pictures and he would include his own unexpected faces and poses. But the truth is this: we did, in fact, stay at the Inn on the Hill, and it was beautiful. It was in close proximity to almost everything we wanted to do in Salt Lake City so we were able to just walk to our destinations for most of the weekend. One of the most wonderful things was the fact that I did not have to cook one meal for almost 3 days. Oh, bliss! I have come to realize that my favorite food is food that is prepared by someone else.

I think that the phrase "A picture speaks a thousand words" will serve me well to describe the rest of our little getaway (and be much less boring for you). So, without further ado, may I present:

Our 17th Anniversary Celebration

(You can click on the picture to see it larger if you so desire...)

P.S. Extra credit to those who notice the accidental photo repeat. The truth: I was too lazy to fix it.

The Truth Is In There Somewhere

Allen and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary this year. The official date is August 22, but because our kids start school this week we commemorated our anniversary a week early with a little adventure this last weekend.

We wanted to stay at the Inn on the Hill, a beautiful bed and breakfast in downtown Salt Lake City, but couldn't quite afford it.
We decided we could have our own kind of fun for a lot less money. Less money meant we didn't have the cash to go to the local amusement park, so we looked for something similar downtown and found this pig who gave great piggyback rides. (I am SO punny!)
Next we tried to get into a free concert but apparently not all Visitors were Welcome.
We started to get hungry so Allen foraged around for some vittles...
After eating we were getting pretty exhausted, so we stopped for a nap...
but the traffic was SO noisy! We decided then that maybe it would be worth it to stay at the fancy bed & breakfast after all. So Allen asked around about some work and was hired to do a construction job. Amazingly, he was able to earn enough cash for the remainder of our weekend.
We headed back to the Inn with Allen's earnings and were able to secure a room. We decided to peruse the Inn's DVD collection for a romantic movie to watch. I thought it would be nice to let Allen choose.
As you can see, our anniversary was absolutely amazing.

Try not to be jealous.

Heber Is Hubba Heaven

We were having a bit of an issue with getting Hubba to sleep in his own bed.

Coolister's bed? Fine.

All-a-Boy's bed? Great.

The 'big girls' bed? Anytime.

Our bed? Perfect.

His bed? No way, Jose.

So I presented Hubba with a plan which played on his affinity for trains: Sleep in your own bed for 30 days and you can ride on a real train. He didn't miss ONE DAY, and yesterday was the time to make good on my promise.

He grabbed his 'train hat' and we headed out to Heber City, home of the Heber Valley Railroad.

We stopped at Dairy Keen (forevermore to be known as "The Train Restaurant") for some lunch.
It was here that I realized I did not need to promise a train ride at all.

There were plenty of train attractions to keep his attention for hours.
But, a promise is a promise, so off to the train station we went.
He could not believe this train had a real conductor.
He sort of stalked the conductor, in fact.
Luckily, Mr. Conductor was very nice about it.
He even let Hubba help with the brake when needed.
Hubba was incredulous at the idea that he could run through the train, one end to the other, as it was moving, and no one seemed to care.
So, run we did. Repeatedly.
He also could not believe that, when sticking his head out of the window, no one told him to stop.
He did it a lot.
He also occasionally enjoyed just watching things whiz by outside the window.
Near the end of our ride, Hubba sat down on a bench in the open air of the caboose. I sat beside him, welcoming the rest. He laid his head against my arm and said, "Mom, I love you."
I began to respond when he jumped up and started to run towards the engine at the other end of the train.
As he ran, he shouted to the other passengers, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY I EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE LIFE!"

I just followed after him, happy to have been a part of it.