Heavy Lifting

12:30 at night (or is it morning) is not the time to have any sort of serious conversation. Luckily, when I talked to Lori last night (or was it morning) we weren't trying to have a serious conversation. We were just being goofy and reminiscing again. This time I was remembering a trip to Lagoon last summer. Actually, it was on the way home...

We had spent the day at Lagoon and because we're budget conscious (aka: cheap) we didn't eat at the park. We were driving home and stopped at Wendy's shortly after leaving. We pulled into the drive-thru behind a large SUV with a trailer. The guy placed his order and pulled forward to the window to pick up his food, and we pulled up to place our order. We were instructed to pull forward to the next window, but the guy and his SUV/trailer were still there. It turns out he didn't make the turn wide enough and his trailer got caught on one of the cement posts they use to protect the building (at least that's what I assume they're for). He kept backing up and pulling forward, and backing up and pulling forward. We went through this for a few minutes. 

Soon enough, his wife and a couple of teenagers jumped out of the SUV and were trying to guide him back and forth, but to no avail. Next thing we know, the man is out of his vehicle and his wife is in the drivers seat. The same process - the same result. Now we're beginning to get a little frustrated. I mean, we've been outside in the sun, playing hard, all day long and we're hungry. And this guy is blocking our way. He comes around to the back of the trailer in an attempt to move it and again, no success. While he was standing there, I told Lori to jump out and help them (the joy of being the driver). Luckily she did. She walked up between my car and their trailer. At this point the man and kids had walked up to the SUV to talk to his wife and what happens next, well - you really had to see to believe. And I did...so I do! While these people are standing around talking about what needs to happen next, Lori reaches down and with strength I've never seen, literally picks the trailer up off the ground, moves it to the right of where it was and places it - ever so gently - back down on the ground. And, as if nothing abnormal had happened, she turned around and walked back to the car and got in. The man and his family just stood there, eyes wide (seriously, I wish I had a picture of this guys face), not believing what just happened. Luckily, they recovered quickly, got in and drove away and we got our food.

And that, my friends, is the story of why we're not still sitting in a drive-thru line near Farmington. This is also the story of why Lori is seriously one of the top 3 coolest people I know (no offense to anyone else, but can you lift a trailer by yourself??). 

Called To Serve

I’m doing some serious back pedaling to cover some of the BIG events of the last few weeks. I found out March 28^th that I got my dream job of working from home. That day was also a HUGE day for Lori.

I got a phone call at about 4:30 with Lori on the other end screaming what sounded like:

“CristygethomerightnowmymissioncallishereandyouneedtogethomesoIcanopenit”.

 I followed up with something clever like “What??” 

She told me again and this time I understood. The time had come. The large white envelope that determined the next 18 months of her life had arrived.

Our friends showed up. Parents were on the phone and webcam. She opened the letter and she read ahead – you could see it on her face. With one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen, she read :

“Dear Sister Crawford, You have been called to serve in the Arizona Tempe Mission”.

She reports July 5^th and will be missed so much! I am so proud of this girl woman. She is so ready for this. I know she will be an amazing missionary and will do so much good.

Again, I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Not only am I the sister of such an amazing person, I got to spend the last 2 years as her roommate. Sure, there were some pretty stressful times (probably because of me), but there were so many fun times, good memories, and experiences that most people don’t ever get to have with a sibling. She has taught me so much and I am a better person because of this time. I seriously want to be like her when I grow up.

I love you Lori and I’m so proud of you! Don’t ever forget it! I'll miss you while I'm gone...and then while you're gone. 

On the Radio

I went through this very strange phase about a year ago. It started one night and I was driving home from the temple with a few friends. We were approaching an intersection and a car coming the opposite direction turned right in front of the car in the lane next to us and BAM...accident! I pulled over, along with another vehicle. The guy in the other car checked the people in the accident while I called 911. Within a few moments, the police were on the scene (thankfully no one was injured) and we were on our way.
The next day, I was driving to work and I saw two more accidents. Over the next 6 days I would see 7 car accidents, though only a witness to one.
Just after this week of horror (seriously, it makes you question your judgement to leave your house with this kind of record) we were driving home from something else and our friend, Shelly, introduced us to "the radio game". You ask a question and then randomly select a radio station. You must find a song, but you listen to the lyrics and derive an answer. In this particular instance, it was my turn to come up with a question. With the events of that previous week in mind, I asked "Will we make it home alive?" Lori pushed the radio button and the song that came on, and the lyrics we heard first were "Take my breath away". It was at that moment I started paying a LOT more attention to the road because all signs indicated that we wouldn't make it.
Try the game sometime. Some favorite questions as of late have been:
Q: "Will Cristy really move?"
A: "I'm already there" (AKA - yes)
Q: "Where will Lori serve a mission?"
A: "(Spanish music station)" (Somewhere Spanish speaking)

Spanish Fork Canyon

Back in September, Lori and I went up Spanish Fork Canyon to go fossil hunting. Lori was hoping to find fossils to take into her classroom. While she was hiking and digging, I stayed on the ground and took pictures. This was seriously the most beautiful day! The sun was shining, the sky was so blue and the clouds were just gorgeous! Enjoy!

Fast moving...

Two weekends ago we were able to move into our new apartment. It is just the cutest place ever! It is pretty quiet, came with excellent furniture and is just us. Lori completed two wedding cakes this past weekend...she is amazing. We are starting a new blognjust for our cakes. Stay tuned for that information. Back to fast moving...thanks to wonderful friends and our excellent packing ability, we moved out and into our new apartment in less than 3 hours. I have determined that I am officially an adult now as I rented and DROVE a U-haul (may not have been the nicest thing I have ever driven, but definitely the biggest...and I like it!).
Our move in paperwork contained a list of all the wards and which apartments/buildings attended which wards. Unfortunately management had the wrong information...it took 3 tries to find our right ward. I walked in and met the bishopric, and met the RS president a few mintues later. Then the bishop came back and asked to talk to me. Oh, how naive I am. I thought it would be good news (well, it wasn't really bad news) and called me to be in the RS presidency. I kind of stood there dumbfounded. I had been there less than 10 minutes and already had a calling. This is a fast moving, get it done kind of ward and I am really excited to get here. Hopefully we keep loving it. Pictures of our new place, and info of the cake blog will be coming soon.

Also, today is Lori's birthday! We love you and are so excited you were born!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Last spring I purchased a kite…I was so excited to fly it. I put it in my car just waiting for the perfect day to fly it. About 6 months later, we started hauling wedding cakes and so I cleaned out my trunk, thus moving the kite to our living room. It spent the next several months on the floor, just waiting to be used. Yesterday, the master of most good ideas, Lori, suggested we take it to the park. I immediately set to work assembling our friendly flier. We got to the park only to realize there wasn’t much wind. After making due for just a few minutes, we headed back to the car. As we were getting in, we got the brilliant idea of flying the kite out of the sunroof. We drove around for over half an hour enjoying the freedom of flight. We made a lot of people smile which I think really may have been the best part.


The only bad news is that I was talking to a friend about our little adventure and she informed me that this wonderful new past time of ours is illegal. Go figure!! Needless to say, we won’t be flying the kite from the car, however, I don’t think there is a rule about bikes…

July

Every time I sit down to blog, one of two things happens. 1) Everything that I want to write about all of a sudden either doesn’t make sense or doesn’t seem worth sharing/recording, or 2) I totally forget what I had planned to write about. I also love how right before I moved from Boston I said that my blog was going to have more substance and be worth reading. Well, I have decided to truly try to tackle that. I have also decided that I will record whatever I feel like recording because, well, it’s my blog. (I also think I may have said that before, but it must be worth repeating if it keeps coming up. That or I’m trying to convince myself…)

Some fun things that we have been doing here lately…Lori and I went to Lagoon on July 5th because we were both off work due to the fourth of July holiday. We went with two friends and we had a blast. I went on almost every single roller coaster, which is crazy because I’m not usually an adrenaline junky. Some of my favorites were the Rocket, Wicked, Colussus, and the Spider. Lori even conquered her fears and tackled a few! Lagoon also offers this great deal called bounceback. You can return to the park within 10 days for only $10! You better believe we took full advantage of it. We went back the following Saturday with another friend. We didn’t do as many rides, but we picked a few of our favorites, hung out for a few hours, and then headed home.

I found out that I must not pay very close attention to detail. I got an email on July 7th informing me that my jury duty for July 8th had been cancelled. What?!?!? I knew that I was called for Jury duty back in March and I postponed it because we were moving. I also figured that when I received the next notice, I could just tell them that I no longer lived in the state. Well, there was no second notice and I could have been in some serious trouble (what is the punishment for missing jury duty??). I must say, though, that I would have loved to have had a reason to be in Boston, even if it was for Jury Duty.

I’ve become really quite social. I’m really figuring out a lot about me and I love it. I’m also trying a lot more things that I wouldn’t do normally. I recently found out that I’m not half bad at Ultimate Frisbee. I am by no means good at it, and the people I was playing with weren’t too competitive, but it was a lot of fun. Because of my back (and a dislike of sports in general), I don’t usually attempt things like this, but I found out that I really do like it! Another thing on the list of things I’ve recently tried is elk jerky. I couldn’t look at it for too long before I made myself sick at the thought of it, but it really wasn’t that bad!

I have also recently rediscovered my love for the game of Monopoly. Some friends and I have started playing the past few nights. We play for an hour or so and leave it set up on the floor so we can finish it later. We have restarted the game once or twice because we had people leave and/or join, but it has been an absolute blast. It does have a down side because everyone I play with loves to stay up late and I am not tolerating it very well. I just don’t do well without sleep. Oh well, that’s what the weekend is for, right?

You've had a birthday...

Shout HOORAY!!

Lori chose to have her birthday dinner at Cracker Barrel! Good food, good times, good friends!


Since Lori works with cake EVERYDAY, she requested ice cream. We made two batches - strawberry shortcake and tropical fruit! Excellent choices, Lori!!



A birthday wouldn't be complete without candles!


Lori has some INCREDIBLE friends!! Two of them broke into our apartment (so, it wasn't really breaking in because I knew they were coming and I left the door unlocked) and they came in and put cute notes to and about Lori on her bathroom mirror. Good job, ladies!!

Hope you had an awesome birthday, Lori!! Thanks for being you and allowing me to be me!

This is REAL!

Six and a half hours of air time later, I am here!
I have officially arrived in Utah. It doesn't seem real to me at all at this point, but I'm hoping that after we move in to our apartment TOMORROW it all sinks in.
For now, I am trying to enjoy not having anything to do. When I was home there was always something to do, or pack, or clean, or something. At that point I could choose not to do anything (not that I would, right?). But here, I have nothing yet. That will change, I promise.
Lori and I are just happy to be in the same state again. We watched a movie yesterday afternoon, and would you believe someone fell asleep (it wasn't me, just for the record).
I always love visiting with Lori because she is totally herself. And if you really know Lori, you know what that means. If I had been fast enough, I would have gotten my camera last night and taken a picture of her sitting in a box - a box! We laughed for a long time!!

On the plane yesterday, there was a plane that flew underneath us. It was a pretty good distance away, and from where I was sitting it looked pretty small. I wasn't concerned with that one. About 30 minutes later, out of nowhere, a jet came flying right by our plane. I have NEVER been so scared in my life. I have to say that the cool part was seeing the jet trail it left behind - very cool up close, but I don't care if I ever see it that close again.
No one else on the plane seemed concerned by it, so maybe I was over reacting, but seriously - the sky is HUGE!! Do we all need to be in the same space??

Anyway, off for the first full day of adventure.