They say it's your birthday...

...well it's Greg's birthday too yeah!  We decided to celebrate Greg's birthday a little early this year since Pinback was playing in Salt Lake last weekend.  Pinback is one of those bands that can take me back to the early days of our relationship every time I listen to them.  Pinback was the first concert Greg and I went to when we were dating.  A few months after we got married they came back into town and we won tickets to see them from this cute little record store which has since gone out of business. 
When we found out they were going to be playing in Salt Lake so close to Greg's special day, we knew we had to go.  Greg booked a room in the Little America Hotel and we made a weekend trip out of it. 
The concert was amazing.  The opening band was actually good, which almost never happens.  Pinback was fabulous as always.  People kept throwing their clothes up on the stage and the lead singer, Rob Crowe, said if anyone wanted to throw their clothes on the stage he would wear them.  There was one caveat to his statement, he wouldn't wear any undies.  Rob first grabbed a plaid flannel shirt and tied it around his neck and ran around the stage with his arms out like he was a superhero in flight.  He then picked up a grody gray sweatshirt and draped it over his head while he played the next song.  What a good sport.
There is this one song, "Prog," every time I am riding the Clarkston-Newton loop and I get to my favorite part of the ride I make sure to turn on Prog and coast down the hill with a big smile on my face.  I was really hoping they would play that song.  Every song was great but I just kept waiting for Prog.  Finally, the second to the last song during their encore, they played it.  Ahh.  The only thing that would have made the concert better is if they played for another hour or two.
The weather forecast called for snow the next day, so we got up and got on the road early.  We were hungry and wanted to grab a quick bite for breakfast so Greg had the bright idea to go to the McDonald's smack dab in the middle of sketchy Salt Lake City.  We decided to dine in since we haven't wanted to eat in the new car.  Bad idea.  The whole dining room was full of homeless people who were looking for a break from the Utah winter weather. We decided eating in the car was not so aversive anymore and headed out the door.  As soon as we exited the building we were asked by a group of men for spare change.  We gave them what we had and headed to the parking lot in front of Brewvies and Dr. John's for a quiet place to eat.  This funny little seagull was drinking from a puddle in the parking lot and I thought maybe he'd like some bacon/egg/cheese bagel.  He didn't, but his seagull buddies certainly did.  One of them even jumped up and caught a delicious morsel in the air. 
The drive was great until about Brigham City.  We finally had had enough of blowing snow and got off at the Tremonton/Garland exit.  Those roads had not even been touched by a plow.  We took the drive really slow and made it home in one piece.
All in all, it was a pretty great weekend.  

Prime rib with a side of comic genius

We had our annual North Cache Christmas party last week at the Coppermill in Logan. Just so you know, it was the best N.C. shin dig I've ever been to (and that is coming from someone who has been to 3 whole N.C. Christmas parties, mmmkay).
The first wonderful thing about the evening was the fact that Greg finally got to come. I'm pretty sure people were beginning to think he was just a figment of my imagination. It was fun taking a date to the party, especially because he was the hottest guy in the room.
The food was divine, they served coconut shrimp, prime rib, funeral potatoes, a bunch of salads, and some other awesome things that I can't remember at the moment.
Of course the entertainment was incredible. My friend Joy put together a slide show detailing why our school should fail accreditation this year. And get this, I made it into the slide show! I was one of the many reasons why our school will fail, which gives me a warm Christmasy feeling inside.
A former teacher, John Hernandez, also provided some entertainment. He not only used to MC all the Christmas parties, but he is also married to one of my heroes, so it was pretty fun to meet him. He gave us an "in-service" on how to properly tell a joke. Each table was given an envelope with three jokes inside, of course I some how ended up being the lucky joke-teller at our table. When my turn arrives I stand in front of the crowd (a bit nervous, I won't lie) and say the first line of my joke. "So I guess you heard they no longer allow blind people to skydive..." then a dramatic pause, just as I was instructed. John interjects, "I didn't hear that." At this point I clear my throat, pull the mic a skosh closer to my mouth, and say..."So I guess you heard they no longer allow blind people to skydive." The entire room begins laughing their butts off thinking this is my joke. Let me just tell you, that was not my joke. The punch-line was, "apparently it scares the crap out of their seeing eye dogs." The initial joke was a big enough hit that I just took a bow and didn't tell my other two.
I'm not sure how next year's little get-together is going to top this, but I'm already looking forward to it.

Ya, she's my aunt...

Check out my awesome aunt Brenda:
ksl.com - Thanksgiving favorites: Lion House rolls and pies

*I ripped the video off of my cousin Tonya's blog*

Poor blog

I was feeling bad for my neglected little blog and thought to myself; Leigh, it is high time you update your blog. I then realized why I haven't been blogging lately... I have the most boring life. I really haven't had a whole lot going on.

This school year has been pretty, pretty, pretty good...

(I've been catching up on Curb if you couldn't tell)

Anyway, as I was saying, it's been a good year so far. I was asked to join a district level assessment and support team for communication devices. I was pretty excited when I was asked to join the team until I attended our first meeting of the year. I was so overwhelmed and intimidated by the new responsibility and the super-amazing members of this team. I thought I had a pretty good knowledge-base when it came to AAC (I mean why would they ask me to join the team unless I did, right?) wrong. Luckily the members are not only super-amazing, they are also really patient. In October the team leader and I got to go to Closing the Gap, the end-all-be-all assistive technology conference in the nation. I was just a little bummed about giving up one of my precious October weekends to fly out for the conference, but it was totally worth it. Not only did I come away with a better understanding of AAC, but I also got to see the Mall of America! This mall is ridiculous. The hotel shuttle bus drive (reliable source right?) told me that if you started at one end of the mall and walked the whole loop back to where you started it would be a mile, and there are four floors. Let me do the math for you 1 mile per floor + four floors = four miles! Also, they have an amusement park, like 12 food courts, theaters, and thousands of shops.

My friend Lisa got married. It was a really beautiful wedding, and she planned the whole thing practically on her own. She arranged the flowers, altered the bride's maid dresses, made all the jewelry, and made these awesome "cake balls" which I gorged myself on at the reception. Lisa asked a few of her close friends to be bride's maids. I really enjoyed meeting all of the people I'd heard so many stories about. One of her friends is afraid of puke just like me! Another friend is a D & D player (oh, you'd better believe I got an invite to my first D & D campaign).


Let's see, what else can I tell you about? We had an awesome Halloween party at my house this year. Check out the costumes.


Don't you wish you were related to my mom so you could have a costume this cool? No, my mom did not make Greg's costume, he put that beauty together himself. We got TONS of trick-or-treaters including my friends Joy, Delsa, and their little-ones. It was a pretty fun night.

Oh, I almost forgot... my quilt got a blue ribbon at the state fair! Joy and I went to the fair together this year. We had a grand time. We saw an enormous alligator, rocked out to some sweet country music, ate a deep fried snickers bar, and visited my quilt. I think I'll go to the fair next year too.

Greg is kicking butt at school and making all the girls in his program hate him. He is incredibly busy so I rarely get to see him (like I said, boring life). The first leg if the program ends in December and Greg gets the entire month of January off. I've already been fantasizing about what we'll do to celebrate his month off. Maybe a trip to lava. We'll soak in the hot pots until all our skin sluffs off, then maybe we'll meander over to the purple moon and visit our delightful hippie friend and have our palms read, ooh and then we'll go to Shawn's market and buy day-old doughnuts and mountain dew. And what trip to lava is complete without playing some bingo and having a burger at the blue moon tavern? We could also get an oil change and go ghost-towning (you're right, that isn't a word but just go with it). Greg and I got a new/old book about ghost towns at an antique store in Logan. I'll bet we could get some cool photos with our ttv device we granny-slapped together. There's also nothing wrong with spending a little time together at home drinking gallons of egg nog while sitting by the wood-burning stove, getting caught-up on Dexter. Ya, January is going to be legendary.

To all nine of my fans and faithful readers out there, I promise it will not be three more months before my next update. Promise.

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was...

My summer break is officially over. Usually this time of year gives cause for some major anxiety in my life. I'm talking panic attack city...heart racing, light-headed, clammy hands- the whole nine yards. This year I have handled going back to work in a much less neurotic fashion. I have had no panic attacks, no migraines, no unsettling dreams (about work), and little-to-no regrets about the way I spent my summer.

This summer was the "Summer of Leigh." I did exactly what I wanted and little of what I didn't. I took a week long drawing class worth 3 post graduate credits. The very next week I took a pottery class also worth 3 credits. I ended up making friends with some amazing potters and spent a nice chunk of my summer playing in clay.

At the beginning of the summer we also got 5 precious little baby chicks which now look like this:











The most exciting part of the summer would have to be Ryan and Katie's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and I cried like a little baby (which is why I appear to not be wearing any makeup in the photos). Mother nature did not cooperate that day so we moved the garden reception indoors but it was still great. I couldn't be happier for my little brother and I'm just thrilled to have another sister.






We celebrated Independence Day with the newly weds:



Greg fished:


We ate:

I got this really cool scratch:

Seriously, what summer is complete without a trip to Wyoming? We visited Yellowstone park, saw Old Faithful, attended the infamous Cowley's day parade, ate a ton of delicious food, witnessed the miracle of the Lincoln head rock, visited the grave of the "Liver Eater", Greg fished the Greys River, I got to see both of my Grandmas, a gaggle of aunts and uncles, and some of my favorite cousins, and I also got some vintage hankies from my wonderful Grandma Hopkin.












I also got to work on several projects and have an announcement... I finished this and plan on entering it here!
To wrap-up a wonderful summer Ryan, Katie, and I went to Lagoon. It was quite an eventful day; we rode about a fafiliion rides, waited in line for 45 minutes just to ride the silly old log flume, I won a banana toy because a carny couldn't guess how much I weigh (she guessed I was older and fatter than I actually am), I ate BBQed sweet corn, and - wait for it... saw a pile of puke and didn't even freak out!
Clearly, the Summer of Leigh was a huge success and now I am ready to become a contributing member of society again.

So Lucky

Some of my happiest memories are of summer vacations in Wyoming visiting my grandparents. My Grandma Hopkin did not have air conditioning so every night she would open the windows and let the fresh country air pour into the house. I remember waking up early in the morning to the sound of cattle feeding in the pasture next to my grandma's house. Everyone would hurry and put on something warm so we could go for a walk and watch the sunrise. When we got back to my grandma's house she would have breakfast ready for us. Sometimes she would make eggs and toast. She would serve us orange juice in these tiny little glasses which were once full of jelly. I don't know why but breakfast always tasted better on the farm. After everyone had eaten, my Grandpa Hopkin would saddle up his horses and take the family for a long ride though the dry, dusty fields. By the time we would get back from our ride my grandma always had lunch ready for us. I think our lives revolved around our next meal when we visited grandma. Usually my aunts, uncles, and cousins would come over for dinner. It was always so fun to play with my cousins. Tonya, Tess, and I would find my grandma's fancy old aprons (I think Ashley, Fara, and Michelle were too mature to run around in aprons). I remember thinking those aprons were the most elegant and beautiful things I had ever seen.
One of my other favorite things to play with was this funny little music box that was shaped like a cabin. You could wind up the music box on the bottom but the music would not start playing until you lifted up the roof. It is funny how objects can hold so much meaning and so many memories. Today while I was shopping at the DI I came across this little treasure:

I had to bring the little darling home with me. This music box looks and sounds exactly the way I remember my grandma's music box. I think I have already listened to Eidlewiess fifty-three times since I bought my music box this afternoon.
Clarkston reminds me so much of my summer vacations in Northern Wyoming. Greg and I do not have air conditioning so we sleep with all the windows open. We live next door to a little farm with chickens, goats, a pony, etc. All summer long I get to wake up to the sound of our rooster-friend from next door. I always try to get out of bed while it is still dark so I can sit on my porch swing and drink hot chocolate as the sun peeks up over the mountains. Then I go inside and watch the the sunlight pour in through our cut glass windows. The morning sun makes perfect tiny rainbows that dance around my front room.
I am not sure how I got so lucky to live in this perfect place, I know I am just grateful I get to.

I need a pick me up.

I've had a rough couple of weeks. I cry at the drop of a hat...seriously, if you don't believe me ask Greg. My little buddy is a fan of nature shows and the other day he was watching a program called "Life" on the Discovery channel. Greg and I were snuggled up on the sofa watching this little praying mantis who was hanging out on a leaf. The poor little guy was just sitting there, minding his own business, when suddenly a mean old chameleon spit out his nasty tongue and snatched the praying mantis right off his leaf. Greg got all excited and rewound the DVR so he could revel in the awful scene a bit longer. For some reason I just couldn't handle this and made him change the channel. Now honestly, who cries over a stupid bug getting eaten? I may be turning into a basket-case.
Lately I kind of feel like I'm a praying mantis and life is that big mean lizard. My house is a mess, as are my relationships and I haven't really had the time to tidy them up. After a long day at work I get to look forward to meeting with parents or going to one of my evening classes. I need that chameleon to back off before I lose my mind.
Anyway, I'm going to stop complaining now. I just need to survive until my little trip to Vegas (by the way, thanks for making all arrangements Melissa).


I also wouldn't mind if the stinking snow could get the heck off of my lawn.

Okay, now I'll stop complaining.