Seattle and the Red Sox

(You can click on the 'View All Images' link if you don't want to watch the whole slide show & just want to see the pictures)

Man oh man did we have the time of our lives in Seattle! It was the PERFECT cure for all the stress and worry I've been dealing with. On Sunday we flew out here at 11:00 and got there around noon. We took the bus to downtown Seattle and walked to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is. Awesomely enough, the Folklife Festival was happening so we got to hear great live music and see tons of amazing art. After that we went to our hotel and checked in and then spent the rest of the day exploring the city on foot. We probably walked a total of 30-40 miles on this trip and I wouldn't have done it any other way!
Monday, Memorial Day, we did a ton of fun things. We walked to Pioneer Square and did the Underground Tour, which is a tour of the remaining underground part of Seattle that was the original Seattle before it burned to the ground over 100 years ago. It was pretty spooky and a lot of fun. On the tour we met two other Red Sox fans named Mike and Ray (which wasn't a surprise considering the city was SWAMPED with Sox fans!) and we totally hit it off with them. We ended up meeting up with them at the game and I'm pretty sure we've made friends for life. One of these days we'll fly back east to meet up with them at Fenway. Anyway, the Underground Tour was great (our tour guide looked and sounded exactly like Norm McDonald and donned a sweet Elvis denim jacket: see photo on slide show). After that we ate a great lunch at a dive called Marios and did some more touristy stuff like the Seattle Aquarium and the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop.
That night was the game and we walked to Safeco Field with a million other Red Sox fans. It was so exhilarating and I couldn't stop smiling. We got there early enough to see the Sox do batting practice, which meant we could stand about 30 feet from them. Totally incredible.
The game was fantastic, Sox won 5-3 (would have been 5-1 but Papelbon almost blew it in the ninth!) and I only wish the time wouldn't have gone by while at the game. We walked back from Safeco Field to our hotel, which wasn't such a hot idea considering the warm weather and all the crazies that come crawling out of their holes. We had a crazy lady try showing us her head wound to prove that she needed money. That was a little bit scary!
On Tuesday we did some more sight seeing and then took the bus back to the airport. I've never been so bummed to leave a city. It's a good thing we own a home because otherwise I would never have come back. I would just transfer to a B&N there and pay our last month's rent. Actually, as much as I love Seattle I could never leave Boise, especially with Heather & Zane and the kids. Plus, we're such a short drive down to Utah to see the rest of the fam.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we went to the Seattle Art Museum, which was freakin' amazing and the first thing we do is snap a picture of me next to my all-time favorite Andy Warhol painting and this security guard comes huffing over, all bent out of shape because apparently you're not supposed to take pictures in the art museum. Well excuuuuse me!
Anyways, it was the best time I've ever had and I can't wait to do it again!!!

LOLCATS!

I'm nuts about LOLCATS. If you don't know what those are here is a great website that shows what it's all about. There is also a wikipedia article about LOLcats and the language that's used for the captions, known as LOLspeak or LOLcode. The Icanhascheezburger website has a thing that lets you build your own LOLCAT picture, so I took the opportunity to make one using a picture of our kitty Oliver. Here is the result; if it makes it up on the main page for voting you'll have to give me a good score :)


moar funny pictures

Here is one of my favorite pictures from that site:

Journals: The Original Blog.

I've been reading a couple of my journals that I kept when I was growing up and I have been thoroughly enjoying myself. The first journal I kept was one I got for my seventh birthday. After that was full I started a second journal that my Aunt Bonnie got me for my 14th birthday. It's hilarious to read my thoughts from back then. I'll post a couple of my entries and I'll type them exactly as their written, with original spelling just for kicks.

September 27, 1989 (I was 7 years old)
One week ago G+G Allen left on their mission to London England. Saturday I went to work with Heather. She works at Swen biceiccul shop! She has a little truck that she uses to haul bikes to the stores. it was fun And I love Heather.

October 23, 1989
In one week It's Howlwen. I'm being a devel. I'm going to ever house in are ward. I can't go to my G+Gs house because there on there mission.

Here's one from my sixth grade year:

March 9, 1994
Dear Diary, have decided to start updating what is going on lately. 1st I am in sixth grade and I am still eleven. Most people think I am at least 13 because I am so mature. I am very excited for Jr. High and a little scared. I will be taking clarinet. My school's name is Westmore Elementry and the name of the Jr. High is Lakeridge jr. High. I have some good fiends in my class. Though we often get in little arguments. 2nd I love shopping and for my birthday all i want is clothes. I have designed lots of little drawings of clothes. I don't like bell-bottoms now that they have come back in style. I am finally out of my horse loving stage and my sister Heather is on a mission.

August 31, 1997
Princess Diana was killed today. She and her boyfriend died in a tunnel after their car crashed because they were being chased by paparazzi. We came home from the rendezvous in Wyoming today and I saw a flag at half-mast. I half joking said, "Okay, who died in the 24 hours we were gone. I'm sure nobody too big." Then Laurie came back to the car and said, "Princess Di died!" I couldn't believe it. I'm still in shock. I just hope Prince William and Harry are okay. I'll talk about something else before I get totally depressed again. We started school on Monday. It's alright, I guess. I have a couple of friends in every class. Yesterday we went to Ft. Bridger for the Mountain Man Renezvous again. We go every year. Heather was down from Seattle. Melissa came with us. The two of us are going to try and get tickets to U2 when they go to Seattle. Heather made dresses for she and I this year. I had so much fun! Tomorrow is Labor Day. I'm not sure what my plans are. I'm going to Gold's Gum tomorrow or Tuesday. Lindsay J. has a pass there so we'll get pumped up together. Well, gotta go.

So hilarious!!!

This play by Manny was AMAZING!

I know that there are lot of people that read my blog that are not Manny Ramirez fans, but come on! During yesterday's game he catches an impossible fly ball hit by Kevin Millar, jumps up the wall to high five a Red Sox fan, throws a hard throw to shortstop and they get Aubrey Huff out, who was running to second, thinking Manny wouldn't make the catch.

Simply amazing.

This almost makes up for the losing streak they're on. Almost.

Parent's visit, final yard pictures

Mom, Eliza and me enjoying the market.

The beautiful ladies at the Saturday Market

Lola sniffing the new grass. She went bananas for the grass!

Lola rolling around in her new grass!

The finished product--look really close & you can see Levi's plumber butt :)

Here are a couple of pictures of our trip to the Farmer's Market this past weekend with my mom. Eliza looks so grown up Heather is such a good mom to her. Also, here are the final pictures of our sod being done. Lola thoroughly enjoyed it!

My mom and Bruce came up on Friday and  stayed until Sunday evening. I always forget how much I enjoy being around them. Levi and I really do look up to them and we are so blessed to see them as much as we do. 

I miss you guys!!

MOM AND DAD ARE HERE!

My mom and Bruce got here this morning and I couldn't be happier! They left Utah at 5:30 am (NOT Bruce's idea) and we've been having a ball. Eliza and Wilson are so hyper around them and you can see how much Eliza worships my mom. Tomorrow morning we're going to the Saturday Morning Market and I'll take lots of pictures and post them later.
Oh yeah, we FINISHED our yard! Well, not "finished" but at least the sod is in. Of course Lola has found a new favorite place to poop. She couldn't poop on the DIRT SIDE OF THE YARD. That wouldn't be any fun.
I'll post more pictures later...off to enjoy a great meal prepared by Heather and enjoyed by all.

Hello, I'm Carly and I'm an addict.

I CANNOT stop eating these!! It's so embarrassing and it's so shameful to even like them, but I can't help it. If you ever want to feel like white-trash, just roll on up to your local KFC & ask for a Famous Mashed Potato Bowl. I feel like the employees are gagging at me when I'm not looking. If you want to make yourself feel even MORE trashy, go to that same KFC for three consecutive days. Believe me, there is no worse walk of shame than sitting down in KFC for the third time in three days with your pile of goo and your spork in hand. 

If the picture doesn't show it off, let me explain exactly what this creation is: The bottom is KFC's amazing mashed potatoes. Mixed in are huge chunks of chicken strips (breaded, just for good measure). On top of that is about a half a pound of sweet corn. On top of those 3 starch items is the brown goodness that is their gravy. Then....as if all of this was not enough....they cover the top in 3 cheeses. Those ANIMALS!!! If you stir it all together really fast when it's still hot the cheese melts into the mashed potatoes. Believe me, I should know.

In the past ten days, I have eaten this five times. I have never had a problem like this. I never get addicted to anything (besides caffeine, which isn't actually an addiction, it's just a way of life.) Now I know how Laurie felt with her Huckleberry Shake from Arctic Circle. She used to go there so often but would pretend it was her first time there, like, "Hmmm, I think I'll try your Huckleberry Shake. Is that any good?" They TOTALLY knew it was her!

I tried this tactic a few days ago, going through the drive thru and saying something like, "I guess I'll have a mashed potato bowl, I mean I have a coupon for it so I guess I'll give it a whirl." Yeah, the guy at the window was the same guy that had helped me the time before, and possibly the time before that. Good thing I had my sunglasses on...they make me feel mysterious. (By the way, the coupon was given to me by an employee at my work because they knew how fanatic I had become. Now that's embarrassing.)

Today I swore that I had eaten my last KFC Famous Mashed Potato. I almost shed a tear as I sucked down my Mountain Dew and took the last bite, which, as if mocking me, had the perfect amount of chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy and cheese on it. I threw the empty bowl away, patted my stomach and silently said goodbye to that place that had become my haven for 30 minutes a day. 

Goodbye Colonel. My pants that don't fit anymore would like me to relay a message to you: You and your bowls can just go to hell!