Thursday, December 23, 2010

Journal Entry 12.23.10

Yes, it is true.  Today is the best day of my life.

Caveat: This may be TMI for some of you.

Many many moons ago, Chris upchucked in our tub, Dorito style.  And then as if that wasn't bad enough, he tried to wash it down the drain.  The TUB drain.  Well, my friends let's just say that is where I believe it all started.  At least that is when we knew we had a problem.  In our hall bath, the drain stopper unscrews very easily and any cloggies can be removed before you can say Jack Robinson.  As it should be in our master bath.  However, it was impossible to get the stupid thing out.  So for many many moons the draining speed after showering has been increasingly disgustingly.  After showering I am up to my ankles in "grey water".  I am sure you can imagine it was making me want to upchuck (which, if you'll remember is what made us aware of this problem in the first place).  Today, I cleaned the bathrooms.  And when I clean the bathrooms I do a stellar jarb.  I was scrubing the tub with Comet, and my determination to get that drain cleaned out was growing.  I compared it to the hall bath drain.  Then tried to unscrew the thing.  Then eHow told me that WATCO drains are made to be really easy to remove, so I knew we had a defect and no longer cared about wrenching the heck out of it.  I tried to untwist it.  It moved a bit, but I was scraping away the metal.  I asked Chris to try.  After he had 5 bowls of cereal, he tried.  VICTORY!  It was a Festivus Miracle!!  Chris couldn't watch while I removed the "clog" (hair, hair, hair, soap, hair, hair, hair), having the time of my life, for fear that he may upchuck (see previous statements regarding the word upchuck).  Let me tell you am I one happy camper.  Can't wait to take a shower and never see that grey water again.  sidenote: I am in favor of reusing grey water for toilet plumbing, I just don't want to be standing in my body grime after I just washed it all off.

Hence, the best day of my life.

UPDATE: Marianne unknowingly referred to it, but today is Festivus. -Chris

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Blood?

Was anyone able to see this last night?  Chris said it was too cloudy for us to see it.


Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Friday, December 17, 2010

CAM

Christopher Allen Moody likes to stretch while he reads. Makes me smile.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Memory Lane - A Tribute

Caveat.  MANY paragraphs to come.  Recording these memories has been an interesting experience for me.  I am so thankful to have had them, sad that those times are gone, sad for things I wish I would have done back then, but mostly just happy that they continue to make me smile.  

A tribute to one of my best friends, Cameron Bennion Jones.

11/14/2010 Cameron's Mission Farewell

August 2003 - The Cow Pants
Meredith and I were in Musical Productions. We were a whirlwind of energy, some of you can maybe imagine. One day during rehearsal we noticed a tall, cute boy in cow print pajama pants. It quickly became obvious that we wanted/needed to be his friend. Who wouldn't want to be friends with a tall, cute boy comfortable enough with himself to wear cow print pajamas to school?

September 2003 - Asking
I don't remember how I came to the conclusion that I wanted to ask Mr. Cow Pants to the Halloween dance, but that conclusion had a immeasurable consequence. We (Meredith and I with Taylor Wright's help) spent an ENTIRE Saturday planning out the Scavenger Hunt to ask him to the dance. I am trying to remember the entire arsenal of people who helped us. Me, Mere, Taylor, Mal?, Dal?, Pierce (I couldn't forget the Mummy), Trent?, am I forgetting anyone? Anyway, we honestly spent all day planning this. I remember calling Jeanie, his mom, and asking her if we could ask Cameron and she was so cute and excited. Oh MAN I wish I had the details of that night written down. My memory is murdering this which is so sad. I think it all started with a note that his Mom gave him. Then I remember he had to go to Taco Time and get a paper (I think Trent and Mal had brown paper bags over their heads and just handed him the next clue) - (I am cracking up writing this down), and sadly the only other one I remember is that he had to go to the Kaysville Cemetery. The set-up at the cemetery was a circle of candles in the dead center, a clue in the middle of the candles, and at the entrance we had a Mummy (Pierce Smith?) wrapped in toilet paper who pointed Cameron in the direction of the candles. I remember Meredith and I staying one step ahead of him during the entire adventure and it was a rush of adrenaline all night long.

The next Monday night there was a black cauldron FULL of the most delicious variety of chocolate "eye-balls" on my front porch, with a note that said something like, "Eye would love to go to the dance with you", but really much better written.

October 2003 - The Dance
I don't remember too much about the dance. We were 80's. Here are some pics. Went with Mere and Nate Christopher, went Trick or Treating with Alyson Bean and Taylor Wright. I do remember that we bought my sweater at the D.I. and cut out the collar and it was like knit so it was like stretching and coming off all night. That was a little weird for me.

October 2003
October 2003

2003 - 2004
Meredith, Scott Hollist, Cameron, and I went to lunch most days Spring Semester. I can't remember what classes we came from, but Scott would drive his ghetto-car and we mostly went to Taco Time. After lunch we would drop off Meredith at the portables for AP Calc (with Derek Gnehm), Cameron at the Shop building, then Scott and I would park and walk into Seminary EXTREMELY late. Every B day.

March 2004 - The Reeg
Mere and I were still pushing the Regional Dances at that time and of course our good friends supported us. The Reeg on my birthday had great attendance. :) Me, Mere, Cameron, Scottie-boy-Hollist, Tucker?, Davis Burningham? Then Ping-Pong and partying at my house after. Cameron in his all gold suit.
2004 Todd, MC, Cameron
What's not to love?
DI Tuesdays. Scott and Cameron (along with maybe Tucker? and some Valentines) went to the DI every Tuesday, and on my birthday week I went with them and they bought me a toy cash register. And I think they got me some fake plastic jewelry for my birthday. I don't know, but they were a thoughtful bunch of high school boys.

Cameron would tape Jimmy Neutron episodes off TV for me. I also went to his house once and watched them there. (This may seem like a meaningless part of the tribute, but I don't want to leave anything out.)

Spring 2004
Summer 2004
I've got nothing. I kind of dated Jason Clark this summer so . . . I probably didn't see Cameron that much. Sad.

Fall 2004
Cameron and I went to lunch almost every day our entire Senior Year. One thing (since I have no specific memories of this time) he would do that made me laugh so hard was a Gorilla Run down the hall. Arms above his head, hands hanging limp, making monkey noises, everybody looking at him like he was a psycho, me walking behind him laughing my head off.

November 2004 - The Answer
I don't remember how I asked him, but I remember how he answered. He was in Musical Productions our senior year, but I wasn't. I was performing Spanish Soloist in The Nutcracker while he was doing their production that year. All the performances and dress rehearsal coincided. I can't remember if he came to the Saturday Matinee Nutcracker performance, but after the finale when bouquets are brought the Grandma and the Pas De Deux Couple I was also brought a bouquet. I didn't understand why, but then I noticed a paper inside. It was from Cameron. "I would love to go to the Christmas Dance with you Love, Cameron." How nice.

December 2004 - The Christmas Dance
We had an interesting relationship, because we weren't dating, but we were together ALL THE TIME. So, our "date" was funny. When our group FINALLY got to Cameron's house to pick him up, he was in a little light blue old school suit. I didn't even notice. I was like, "Come on, let's go!" and Cameron had to point out to me that his suit was a joke. So he hurried and changed into a normal suit. We had dinner at Meg's house, almost the entire drill team and their dates. Cameron thought Meg was weird, and I thought Meg was weird so we had our fill of little jokes between us. Also, we sat at a table with a bunch of jock boys and so I think we were joking about how different Cameron was from them. As we were leaving Meg's house for the car it was raining pretty hard.  All the other boys were giving their jackets to their dates. I kind of looked at Cameron, and he said to me, "You wish" and kind of pushed me out the door.  Then we ran to the car.  I laughed the whole way. This is a good story to describe our relationship, which is why it was so good.
Christmas 2004

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2004
Spring 2005
Again, lunch every day. We both had AP Calc right before lunch one day so we could easily find each other and walk out. Often, his class would get out first. He would wait for me. We had phases. For a LONG time we went to Jake's Over The Top. Then I think Wednesdays was Bowman's chicken. It was Taco Time for awhile.

March 2005 - Birthday
Cameron MADE me a hammer for my birthday, because I was MC Hammer and he was a wood worker. He carved it (I think?) out of wood and burned MC into it. It was sweet (in every sense of the word.)

Cameron bought me a Kenny Chesney CD for my birthday one year. There was a song that had my name in it. "Mary Ann taught me a little more 'bout wantin' what you cant have" which Cameron always laughed hard when he heard.

Spring Break 2005
Normally Cameron and I talked every single day, so when we had a week off of school we didn't really see each other. I remember one rainy night going to his house and we talked in my car in the driveway for hours. Brady, my "boyfriend" called from Lake Meade and I said I'd call him back. At like 1:00 am I tried to go, but my car wouldn't start. So, Cameron runs inside in the rain, gets his dad, pulls out his little white truck, starts my car, so I could go. At 1:00 am, what a good guy.

May 2005 - Mr. D'Ette
For the Mr. Dart Assembly each club or organization can elect one person. Of course, all the D'ettes loved Cameron so we elected him. It didn't hurt that I was the Captain. One night at the studio I taught him a dance I made up to "I See a Red Door and I Want it Painted Black". It was AWESOME! Started on the floor. Arms to match the music. In a black costume with a sparkly hair piece. Leaps. Fouettes. You name it, Cameron could do it. The problem was that you only got to do your "talent" if you got into the second round. And Cameron didn't. But we had made such a fuss about how cool his talent was, that they made a special allowance and let him do it. It was a hit. And from what I understand, that dance has served him well for many years after the fact. He wrote a note to the D'ettes thanking them for letting him represent them.

June 2005 - Graduation
The morning of graduation I went with Cameron (and Ben V?) to see Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith in theaters. Oh the amount of time I spent in that little white truck.
Last day at DHS. MC (note Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy shirt), Slick, Cameron

Graduation. June 2005.
Things that Remind Me of Cameron. In No Particular Order.
Country Songs in General, but specifically
      -Big and Rich - Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy
           (bought a shirt that said this in San Antonio, TX that year in honor of Cameron and this song)
      -Montgomery Gentry - Gone
Cameron's catchphrase, "Only the Best"
Putting sauce on every bite of a crisp meat burrito

I cut this out of an Albertson's ad I think.
1/1/2006
1/1/2006

September 2009 - One thing that I liked about the name Camden for our son, was that it had a little of Cameron in it.  Can't go wrong there right?

I will always be grateful for the cow print pajamas that started this beautiful friendship.

Thanks for all the wonderful memories Cameron.  What an honor to be your friend.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

17 Miracles

We had the exceptional experience of being a part of Uncle Ta's latest movie, 17 Miracles.  Camden is playing the youngest version (I believe) of Levi Mathers Savage.  Camden filmed one day in August and again today.  It is really a fun experience to see how movie making works and meet the people that make it all come to life.  I am excited to see the film when it is all done, because just knowing bits and pieces that I do, I am touched by the Spirit and humbled by the circumstances the pioneers went through.

Here are some pics I managed to catch.

Cam with his "Dad"

Cam with his "Aunt"



The wonderful T.C.

Levi (young) and Levi (older)

Getting dressed.  The sucker made this possible, but it also made for blue lips later on.  oops.


Cam with his "Dad"
Cam with his Mom (no quotation marks).
One frustration about filming today was that they had to "create" snow, because of course there is NO snow in Utah in the middle of December.  Man that would irritate me as a film maker.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Camden the Daring

We got some good video of Camden's new passion.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Best Day of My Life

Emotion like I felt during this experience is difficult to express.  One day, I was at 89 East Burton Lane. Kelsey had purchased some Samoa Cookie wannabe's.  She said we could have some.  I opened the bag.  Imagine.  Pulling the package off, one row at a time.  I got the wrapping past the first row.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  TWO COOKIES IN THE SPACE FOR ONE!  It was unbelievable.  Heaven.  Of course I wanted to document the momentous occasion.  So I got Erica's camera, and thought, I better just take the wrapper off for the picture.  Lo and behold, what did I find?  ANOTHER OCCURANCE OF TWO COOKIES IN THE SPACE FOR ONE!  Oh my gosh.  What had I done to deserve this gift from the heavens?  I'm still not sure what I did, but man am I thankful it happened.

Don't scroll down until you have read this paragraph.







Hard to believe eh?

Best Day of Our Lives. High 5 Moment.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Could It Be?

Welcome.  I know some of you are sick of coming to our blog only to find "Bearding the Shave".  Not that the aformentioned subject wasn't important in our lives, because it very much was, it just may not have meant very much to you.  However, this next subject may be different.

Shutterfly!  GIVING away 50 Holiday Cards?  This is an offer I cannot pass up.  I learned about it from the amazing Hannah's blog.  If any of you know Hannah or remember her from high school, she is one seriously go-getting girl.  Smart, talented, cute, nice, did I mention smart?  I figured I can't go wrong with something she is advertising.

I love Shutterfly because they always send out e-mails containing discounts, like every week.  I have ordered pictures and return address labels through them before and been very pleased, but my favorite thing had to have been Camden's 1 year book I printed earlier this year.  Details here.

I am hoping this works.  If any of you fellow bloggers would also like to try your luck, click here for more info.

If this whole thing is for real, I think I'll choose this one.

 or 


or


heck, I love 'em all.

Maybe I'll even get a Christmas picture mug for sipping hot chocolate or a get some baby announcements for our next little one, which I wish was already on the way but it is not.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Bearding the Shave

My beard had been growing for about 3 months, unregulated and unfettered. Unfortunately, it looked like crap: not full, wiry, untamed, more like regular thin hair and less like thick beard hair. I looked like this for my sister-in-law's wedding, missed the Nutcracker for it, and generally alienated some people. But it was fun.

Last night, my sister intimated that I ought to trim it before our upcoming family pictures. During this last week I had been contemplating my beard because I knew it didn't look how I would like. Since my sister wanted me to I decided to try and trim it. I used our hair clippers and started my shortening the mustache. That didn't look good. Then I tried trimming the neck. It looked a little better but because of the thin hair it didn't fit. Then I tried trimming some more and couldn't get it even. Finally I knew that this wasn't working and shaved it all off. I have also been letting my hair grow without cutting it and now that looked weird so I shaved all that off.

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man" -Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 1

At the risk of sounding overly sentimental about a seemingly meaningless superficial aspect of my face, when I look at myself in the mirror I feel like a complete and total wuss. It's like I'm just another baby-faced conformist who rejects the natural way God has combined my DNA to fit our society's trivial, base standards. I feel like my defiance and rebelliousness, my questioning and critical mind, my individuality and creativity, my whole value system (anarchism, anti-war pacifism, free-economy community-driven cooperation), my "inner beard" so to speak, was also shaved off. It's as though a despotic, tyrannical regime suppressed, quieted, quelled and finally crushed my protest against what I see as evil and ignorance. I've felt dejected and depressed ever since.

Thankfully it will grow back and hopefully both my internal and external beards will fill in a little more. Just go easy on me for the next few weeks until it's back.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Genealogy

Can you tell we're sistas?


Look at Camden's smile!!


This my friends, is some mad dance moves.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Camden's Switch Pitching Training

Camden has been throwing all balls (along with kicking them) and recently we got some of his training to be a switch pitcher on film. Kelsey taught him to wind up like he does.



The inspiration for this comes from the pitcher who I believe pitches in the minor leagues right now.

Friday, November 12, 2010

SITS

Last night while going to sleep Chris and I discussed the following.

M: What are the muscles around the shoulder blade?  I know there is one above the spine and one below the spine.

C: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis.

M: Oh yeah. 

This is one reason why I love Chris and his smart brain.  He can remember the rotator cuff muscles (SITS) years after anatomy.  :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Old Man

A few lucky people on this earth have seen the "Old Man Walk" in action.  I have no idea where it came from, but Camden does this hilarious walk, that looks like an old hunched over kyphotic man.  It is so funny, that we are always trying to get him to do it.  To no avail.  After Gug's reception (post coming soon) the Robinette's (the best accompaniment one could ever ask for at a party) all jumped at the chance to get Cam to do the "Old Man Walk".  The most surprising of all were; Clytie Su, Steve, Maura, our new friend Derek, and really Mark.  I guess I should have listed those who did NOT surprise us; Sarah and Kate.  :)


I am pretty sure I do not know how to use a semi colon.  Circe?  Little help?  Did I use it right?  Chris will be mad that I didn't ask him for help, but he's asleep so, his bad.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Start from the Very Beginning

There are so many things I've wanted to blog about, so let's start at the very beginning.

HALLOWEEN!  Thanks to Ptolemy, Golda, Ruby, and Lexie Dopp (the most thoughtful family you ever will meet) our costumes were Toy Story themed this year.  It was our first family costume.

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue

Spitting image of Woody right?  sans beard?


Nothing better than playing with G-ma.

Camden loved looking at the kids that came to the door.

Jessie, Buzz, and Woody. 






Kelsey was the mastermind, director, producer, costume manager, etc. of our costumes.  Without her we would have looked pretty crappy (because I tend to cut a few corners in these kind of things), so THANK YOU KELS!  (I need the "in-the-process" pictures to put up.)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Jarica

This is how we feel about Gug getting married.

Of course, you can check out their new blog here

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Clark's Do's

2006 - 14 years old
Before

Middle

After

2008 - 16 years old
Lake Powell - before

Lake Powell - after (no elastics)

2008 - 16 years old
Before (with McCall)

After

2009 - 17 years old
The Jedi Braid makes its debut.

March 2010 - 17 years old
Before

After

October 2010 - 18 years old
Before

After











jk.  This is after.
Lessons learned.  

1) Clark's hair grows like a weed.  (Or lots of little weeds if you want to think of it that way.) 

 2) I like to take before and after pictures when I cut his hair.