everybody loves a stereotype or my love/hate relationship with utah

warning!!! there are 35 pictures in this post. and since i hate photo collages and slideshows, cancel your afternoon plans and read!
reasons i hate photo collages and slideshows:
1. you really can't see the pictures that well.
2. it's an ordeal to click on a picture to view it bigger.
3. if you choose to print your blog into a book via blurb.com you might was well go ahead and post all your desired pictures.
4. slideshows always take freaking forever when there are usually only a few pictures i want to see and the rest are really for family, right???

anywhooo, daventine got married last weekend in utah and our little fam damily took a vacation out to utah for the special occasion. i am one of those people who loves to visit utah, but i couldn't live there. except in the summer when the weather is wonderful and sunny and dry and not humid and wonderful. so, without further delay:


a pictorial retrospective of the good, the bad and the ugly pf our family vacation. and if you are wondering, i tried to play up as many stereotypes as possible! just for fun!



good: reagan watching the airplanes at the denver airport.

good: daventine's sealing in the salt lake temple.

bad: baby snot all over my hand

bad: our teeny, tiny rental car that our family could barely fit our stroller, luggage and bodies into. thank goodness none of those crazy I-15 drivers hit us, or we would have been goners.

bad: changing scarlett's whole outfit in the denver airport...
...because her diaper leaked all over me.

fun: being with big T and hiking the Y...

...for the first time in my life.
good, bad or ugly(you choose): being with my cousins, austin, nate, brandon and my brother marky mark.


good: visiting with grandma bonnie and enjoying her chigger-free grass and her mountain views.

good: watching the happy couple get their pictures taken by the lovely mary

fantastic: seeing the wonderful and amazing jan, my boss from my college years who was sooo good to me. she certainly put up with a lot of grief and accidentally bared midriffs.

AWESOME: the cougareat, also known as the koo-ghar-eee-uht in heidi-speak. many hours were spent here people watching with the posse. the easiest way to skip a class??? find a friend and get a milkshake, or some cheesy fries, or a wrap from L&T.

awesomer: eating at the famed brick oven pizzeria, the one-time employment of the fabulous jessica creer

good and weird: the view from Y mountain of a couple of LDS chapels sharing the same gigantic parking lot. only in utah...

awesomely bad: big T's and little h's first apartment together, the villa rose #17. we were the one with the bike. what a dump. hell threw up and this is what was left. but we were happy. and it was in this little apartment with the rotten carpet and no dish washer where i gained 15 pounds of pure velveeta fat. we have certainly come a long way baby!

SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY AWESOME: the daily universe's reader's forum. today's topic, the hypocrisy of having caffeine-free products on campus. LOVE IT!!! it never changes and it never gets old. i do have a hankering for a nice tall dr. pepper. next week's letter, why can't male students have beards on campus without having to obtain a beard card? brigham young had a beard! i'm sure jesus christ wouldn't have to obtain a beard card.

CRAZY AWESOME: earnestly chocolate ice cream. heaven on earth.

CRAZIER AWESOME: the creamery on ninth. high prices, low wages, bags of cheese curds and tons of available freshman within walking distance. especially freshmen with dining plus. i was on the lookout for one who would want to help out a family of four with healthy appetites.

chocolate covered gross bad: displays of chocolate covered cinnamon bears that some people claim to love. chocolate covered barf in a bag if you ask me. bleah.

not that good, but not terrible like chocolate covered cinnamon bears: minty brownies from sugar and spice. available at EVERY byu catering catered function, with a side of cream puffs and a cup of byu sparkle. high class folks.

good and bad: thomas' apartment in the colony. he LOVED the colony. too bad no one in his apartment loved it enough to clean the bathroom on the main floor. gross, like a chocolate covered cinnamon bear.

WAY bad: that dump of a house that was across from my dump of a house on 470 east. who can remember the nickname we gave the couple who lived there and would always come out on their front lawn to fight???

so bad it was good and probably a health hazard too: the little house on 470 east 620 north. absentee landlord(slumlord), no heat for about 2 months in winter, no A/C in the summer so that we had to lay on the floor in our underwear. about 600 square feet of total luxury. our own slice of pioneer ancestry.

TERRIBLE- the wash hut. or the unwashed hut as i recall. that's all i can say about that. it was next to the infamous crown 5. sorry no pics of that "crown" jewel of byu approved housing. just thumb through your memories girls.

the one place on campus you absolutely dressed to impress:- the harold b. lee library. or as heather my dear sister would say, "what the HBLL are you doing?" or as i would say, "the meat market". gotta give mad props to all the studying that didn't happen in periodicals.

most surprising change to campus- the gordon b. hinckley alumni house. took my breath away. beautiful and amazing building. i proudly signed the guestbook with heidi-2002 and thomas-2003

best thing at BYU that i forgot about- those random people who always felt the need to be playing the piano at every building on campus. did anyone else notice that, or was it just me? some people must wake up and say, "get me to a piano on campus, i must grace everyone's ears with MY perfect piano melodies!" wherever we went, it never failed. the true sign of the apocalypse would be a un-played piano at BYU.

horribly awesome- the most played out stereotype EVER: long, hideous jumper dress with huge ill-fitting t-shirt underneath, longlonglong straight unconditioned hair, birkenstock sandals, and some sort of multicolored woven bag from a third world country, most likely picked up on a mission. sorry if that is a picture of your sister.

love/hate it, the marriage factory: love all the bridal guides and whatnot produced by people looking to capitalize on utah's marriage craze. hate all the pressure for people to get married after 3 long weeks of courtship.

so great is borders on wonderful: all the missionaries at the salt lake airport embarking on their 18 months or 2 years of missionary service. i saw this huge bus from the MTC with about 50 departing missionaries on it. i stood there taking pictures like a sobbing fool as i watched them get ready to go and share the gospel all over the world.

nostalgia overload good: checking out the message board in the wilk. plenty of never been worn engagement rings for sale, numerous only-been-worn-once-wedding dresses for sale, that random motorcyle for sale and last but not least....men's and women's apartment contracts for fall semester!!! i felt like i needed to put a little sign up there that said, "don't fall for it! avoid the crown apartments, or any place i lived for that matter!!!"

the quickest way to pick up a ax murderer good: the RIDE board! who doesn't want to take a road trip with perfect strangers??? we read one that said, "we don't care where you are going, we just love road trips!!!" sounds safe to me kids. run that one past your mom, she will love it!

high-calorie wonderful: the candy counter in the book store. along with that 15 pounds of velveeta fat was about 5 extra pounds of reese's pieces and otis spunkmeyer fat. i exhibited no self control. thomas took a leap of faith when he married me.


the end. our little family had the best time visiting utah. can't wait to do it again. perhaps i should check the ride board and see who wants to drive out with me?

scarlypoopoo

some sundays are just meant to be fraught with disaster. we arrived home from utah at about 2:30am on sunday to a 173 degree house. the kids went to bed easily, thomas and i did not. too hot for our old bodies. then on sunday morning after a few hours of sleep we all attempted to get up and get ready for church. i think the 11:30 schedule is a blessing and a curse. you have more time in the morning, but you also think you have more time than you really do. we scrambled to get ready and put together remotely matching and clean outfits. the kids were in the bathtub while i tried to put my face together while my eyes bulged from my head from the lack of sleep. reagan often calls scarlett, scarlypoopoo. it's a term of endearment. so i thought nothing of it that the whole time they were in the tub that reagan kept saying, "scarlypoopoo!!! scarlypoopoo!!!" i just thought he was being nice and loving. no, not really. he was being informative and helpful. and probably a little bit disgusted as he was in the tub with her. so, i whisked the kids off to the other bathtub to clean up from the damage scarlett incurred. i made a mental note to pay more attention while the kids play with the bubbles in the tub. i also added scrub the bathtub to my list of things to-do. we finally arrived at church and the meeting was mostly uneventful. i had forgotten the sacrament meeting bag, but the kids were both so tired they didn't seem to notice the lack of activities. scarlett entertained the family behind us. i was able to run out to the hall and put up signage for my calling(primary secretary). i was able to enjoy cuddle time with scarlett before the meeting ended. she showed her appreciation for cuddle time with me by peeing all over me. apple juice runs through that girl like nothing else. next mental note, purchase heavy duty diapers for scarlett. i abandon ship and drive home for a what i anticipated to be a quick change. once i arrive at our house, scarlett is dead to the world. i know better than wake the beast so i put her in her bed and prep for dinner. about an hour later i go and wake her for the third hour of church. i lay her on her changing table and remove her diaper. and you guessed it. mess number three. outfits three and four are quickly discarded for both of us. i fight the urge to go eat a bowl of ice cream the size of my head and somehow i convince myself to return to church with my little leaky faucet. the end.

more about me

i made a major accomplishment recently. i am forever on the lookout for the perfect white shirt. i love blouses, flowy tunics, tees, tanks, v-necks, crews, raglans, you name it, i love it in white.
my greatest desire has been to find a crisp white summer blouse. and here it is:

scoop neck, princess seams, side zipper for impecable fit, fabric covered buttons, eyelet lace, puffed sleeves. perfect.

AMAZING!


can you guess what this is a picture of???

any ideas???

guesses?

hypotheses?

speeches?

impressions?

i cut bangs.

i'm still not 100% sold on them.

not my fave look. i always seem to make random hair cutting decisions right before we take a bunch of family pictures. but, i can work with it. my goal is to do my hair a different way for a solid week. i figure it will stretch my hair creativity. can i accomplish this? i'll keep you posted.

and, most importantly, the new cut hasn't inhibited my ability to pose. fierce! watch out tyra.

32 is the new 23!

happy birthday thomas!!! i have a feeling that this is your year! i feel like i can see into the future! georgia is going to take the national championship with a perfect 13-0 record! you will be appointed to the supreme court, and they will rename it the THOMAS is all-knowing supreme court! you will get a chance to read all your favorite non-fiction books without wifely or childreny interuptions! joel mchale will ask you for input on the soup! coach richt will call you to make a sudden death play call! this will lead to him asking you to be co-head-coach. you have so much to look forward too! two cheers for 32!

our sixth year in this glamorous life

yesterday was our sixth anniversary. can you believe it? me neither.

since we have been married, our lives have been nothing short than thrilling.
to commemorate our six years of wedded bliss, i am going to list 6 things that are really important to BIG T and little h(that's us)!
in no particular order:

1. the bountiful temple
this is the beautiful and special place we were married and sealed together for time and all eternity. this temple was chosen because of my own personal vanity. i wanted to be the only bride at that temple on my wedding day, and i was!!!

2. our saturday and sunday morning breakfast tradition.

we always try and have a big breakfast together on the weekends. we all look forward to it. we all have preparation assignments. thomas is the king-grits makers. i sneak the chocolate chips into the waffles. reagan barks orders. scarlett feeds meatball her food.
we have morning prayer. we chit chat. we skim the newspaper. we plan the day's activities. it brings us closer together. the family that eats and prays together, stays together.

3. reagan. being parents together has helped us learn more about ourselves and how to better serve one another and how to love and forgive more fully.
kids can be tough bizness. but few things can bring you closer together.

but pretty adorable bizness too.

4. and scarlett. we really like her too.

being a mother to a girl has made me want to be a better woman.

5. wholoesome recreational activities and hard work. this number is a combo. we can't have one without the other.
thomas often gets exasperated with my tendency towards the ridiculous. it's true. i am a bit wacky. (did you know that?) but we have a good time together. and i appreciate that he indulges me on my whims. and i think he has started to show some of his personal wackiness...


happy bird-day parties
an incredible affinity for everybody loves raymond.
robert e. leestein. cracks me up everytime i think of it!!!
watching civil war/revolutionary war documentaries and laughing at inappropriate times. watching anything and laughing at inappropriate times.
the soup. friday nights at 9pm.
posing with firearms, assault rifles even.

and not many husbands will dress up in costume for their wives. i consider myself very lucky indeed.
and the all important yin to wholesome recreations activities yang: WORK

thomas at work in his office
thomas receiving some award for his work. me WORKING by holding a squirmy child.
thomas graduating from law school because of hard work. i am wearing a cute dress that i WORKED really hard to find. (does blogging count as work?)

6. finally, on a serious note. the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ. it is what truly binds us together. we know it is true.
without it we would be lost. with it, we have everything.

don't be jealous of our glamorous life.

(thomas was sleeping in this picture. dreaming about georgia football, i am sure.)

since this is a wedding post, let me shout from the rooftops this exciting news!!! i can't believe that i have neglected to post this amazing morsel of beck family information!!! david (also known as boo boo 'round these parts) is engaged!!! the fantastic bride is the lovely christine. they will be married on august 2nd in the salt lake temple! i have only heard good things about christine. you read that right, i've only HEARD good things. i haven't met her yet. everyone else in the family has but me and mine. i think it is a vast conspiracy. like i am the one in the family that would scare her off...please.

everyone in the fam is completely delighted. especially my mom. once the lovebirds seal the deal, we are going to have to pick another topic to dominate all our familial conversations.


hereforth they shall be called daventine. this one name business is so much easier to type than two names.

wow, this was dreadfully long. good job to those of you that made it through.

all hail the birthday girl

our baby is one!!! what a whirlwind this past year has been! we have lived in three states and i have probably sat down three times since she was born. she started out as our quiet, serene little lamb and now she is our loud, mischevious, incredibly speedy, cackling little monkey. our ward doesn't know what has hit them. i feel bad for the folks that sit around us at church. thomas volunteers to clean the church at every opportunity to make up for all the goldfish crackers smashed into the carpet. every sunday is a chase. scarlett usually wins. thomas has affectionately dubbed her lucy. but you have to say it like this: "LOOOO-CEEE!!!"

scarlett admiring her balloons in her redneck sleepwear.

of course, we had to have a party. scarlett was very insistent on this. everyone 1 year old needs a bunch of adult fawning over her and telling her how precious she is. how is she supposed to be a proper child-beauty queen without loyal subjects?

this is how our guests were greeted:

that sign and the stink coming from the garage full of poopy diapers screamed hello. nothing says hello like that!(garbage day isn't till monday)

i love this picture of scarlett and my dad. we are so grateful to have him around. scarlett and reagan love grandpa.

reagan was about to die from excitement when we lit the candles on the birthday cake.

the cake: i had a REALLY REALLY clever slogan to go on the cake, but thomas vetoed it because of some damning languge.

scarlett's little cake with the one-eyed smiley face. is this an omen for the year??? pirates will be attacking us?

scarlett in heaven.

scarlett has developed some mean basketball skills. she can't stand to sit idly by while reagan shoots all the hoops.

i don't know if this sign will ever come down.