Raptured Not

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #16:

Do-Over

Last weekend when we left for Yellowstone, I deleted my social media apps and took a much-needed break from the algorithms. I haven’t reinstalled them yet, and I’m not sure when I will. Frankly, I’m too lazy.

While I’ve been off social media, I’ve missed a few important bits of information from the high school. I don’t like how “out of the loop” you get without social media at our school. I won’t let Daisy have instagram, but I suspect she misses out on a lot. After a few days away, I’ve seen it happen first hand but not just regarding school! I also didn’t know that the Rapture was supposed to be yesterday. I found out today after the Rapture didn’t happen. I think I would have known if I’d been perusing social media like normal! 

I wish I could go back and live Tuesday, September 23 over again as a day of speculative Rapture-ing. 

It’s my own fault I missed out.

I’m disappointed. Do you know how many things I could have done yesterday and blamed on the Rapture? 

A Series of Days

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #31:

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Yesterday: Monday

Monday is when we get our phone call from Nicky. I am so grateful that we are able to talk to our missionaries every week now. It does create some scheduling difficulties, though. We are lucky that Puerto Rico is only a two hour time difference. I'm not sure what we would do if he were half-way across the world and we had conflicting nights and days. It’s hard enough to fit it in with just the two hours difference because Nicky usually has to call us while we’re at work or while I’m picking up the girls from school.

We had a good chat with Nicky yesterday. He’s doing well. He has been on his mission for almost three months now (he started June 30) and has been in Puerto Rico for about six weeks. Transfers are this week.

In the evening, Zoe had dance class. While she was there, Scotty and I ran over to the high school to decorate a bulletin board for the PTSA. 

We had tater tot casserole (an huge hit) and salad for dinner, and then the night dragged on forever. It was one of those days that leaves you wondering how it could still “be today.” It felt at least four hours too long!

Today: Tuesday

Today was another work day. I got everyone off to school and then worked for about five hours. On the way home I stopped at Smith & Edward’s to get a gift for someone, and they were out of my Tootsie Rolls! Maybe I shouldn’t have blogged about them because surely I’ve made them trend, and now everyone is going to Smith & Edwards’s for my viral candy. 

I ended up being late to pickup Zoe (oops!) 

I took Zoe and Eva to Target because they were feeling the need to spend their hard earned money. I purchased pharmaceuticals and Command hooks (life’s essentials). I did not buy a Stanley flask, but I sure wanted to!

We had shrimp, seasoned rice, and green beans for dinner. I was shocked that all of my girls ate the shrimp and liked it. Our house was really stinky afterward, and it took us a few hours to get rid of the smell. There might still be pockets of garlic odor trapped in some of the closets.

After dinner, Daisy drove to my mom’s without an adult for the first time! I convinced her to give it a whirl (she’s a little hesitant to drive on her own, so we are doing little steps at a time). She dropped Zoe and Eva off to play for a while. Normally they have piano lessons on Tuesdays, but their teacher is out of town. 

While they were gone, Scotty got some yard work done, and I was a bit lazy and can't account for how I spent my time. Daisy and I finished watching Back to the Frontier. I went and picked up Zoe and Eva, and then we got everything ready for tomorrow (showered kids, packed lunches, etc) and got everyone settled in bed. Eva tried to convince us that showering would interfere with her future career as an artist as it would prevent her from being able to "practice art." We were not convinced. So if she fails at life, just know that this was the turning point. 

Tomorrow: Wednesday

Tomorrow is my day off, and I have a lengthy "to do" list. To budget my time, I always keep a running list of tasks to do on my days off work. I keep "need to do's" and "want to do's" on my list so I can have some balance. Tomorrow I have some errands to run, some appointments to make, and some things to take care of around the house. Hopefully I can squeeze in this week's episode of Dancing With the Stars and a round or two of Ark Nova. It should be a good, productive day as long as I don't get too distracted. 

To Yellowstone and Beyond

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #33:

Family Time 

We used to take a lot of little road trips whenever we had the chance. When COVID hit, we had to cancel two trips - one to Moab and one to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore (it was going to be epic). When life picked back up again, our road trips didn’t resume with as much frequency. Part of this was financial and part of it was because our kids’ extra-curricular activities (particularly Nicky’s) took up a lot of the calendar. 

This school year, I want to take advantage of more of our long weekends and get out of town a bit. As much as I love big trips to places like Orlando, I’m just as happy with shorter, closer places. I just like “going.” 

When I was putting the school schedule in the calendar a few months ago, I noted that the kids would be out of school on Friday, September 19, so I texted Scotty that we needed to find somewhere to go. We discussed a few options, and when it came down to it, I just really wanted to go to Yellowstone. Scotty researched some lodging options, and he decided to book us a little cabin at the KOA just outside of West Yellowstone. 

We left Friday morning. We stopped at Big Jud’s for lunch on the way - the place I ate before The Graduation Incident of 2017. 

They must have known I was coming because they had this sign hanging by the bathrooms:

Well-played, Big Jud’s. Well-played. 

Fortunately there were no incidents, and my avocado bacon burger was delicious!

After lunch, we drove the rest of the way to Yellowstone.

This was our first trip without Nicky. We definitely missed him. 

On Friday we went to Old Faithful and the Old Faithful Lodge (which is such a cool building). 

We pulled off the road a few times to see various hot pots and animals. Our highlight animal encounter this day was a bald eagle that we found while taking a side road. We watched him dive for a big fish, and we pretty much had him all to ourselves!

In the evening we went into West Yellowstone so our gift shop junkies (Zoe and Eva) could get their fix. 

Daisy found herself some boyfriends.

Sometime after dark we got to the KOA and checked into our little cabin and had dinner. Then we went to sleep in the creakiest beds of all time.

On Saturday morning we headed back to the park and drove around all day. We saw bison (including a mama and a baby), mountain goats, lots of elk, and the highlight of the day… a bear cub! I’ve been to Yellowstone 7-8 times in my life, and I’ve never seen a bear, so to see a bear cub was pretty exciting, and we were RIGHT THERE. It was right on the side of the road as we drove past, and a big crowd hadn’t formed around it, so it was like having VIP access. 

I didn’t get a photo of it, but here’s a screen shot from a video clip I took:

We saw lots of waterfalls, geysers, and hot pots. 

(Pretty much all of the photos look like this but with a slightly different puff of steam or waterfall in the background).

Were the girls amazing? Yes. Were they also whiney, lazy, and horrible? Yes! It was an authentic family trip, for sure. 

Other than stopping at Big Jud’s, we brought all our own food, but our girls were obsessed with the McDonald’s in West Yellowstone due to its mountain lodge aesthetic. They begged and begged to go to McDonald’s, so on our way out of West Yellowstone, we made their dreams come true. 

It was an exciting visit because they had root beer, and the Utah McDonald’s don’t have root beer (which is ludicrous- they got rid of it when Nicky was three). 

On our way home, we stopped and saw my friend Shannon, who lives just outside of Rexburg. And yes! She is a potato farmer, so thank you, Idaho stereotypes, for claiming one of my best friends! 

My girls fell in love with small town Idaho, and Zoe didn’t want to leave. She has big potato farming plans for her future and ways to open a potato buffet. 

We made it home Sunday evening. It was a short trip, but we maximized our time and got to do everything we wanted. The best part? We went over homecoming weekend, and I didn’t have to deal with school dance drama! 

Wherein I Rate The Components of Utz Pub Mix From Least Favorite to Favorite

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #1:

Life Lessons

Scotty and I used to buy Pub Mix regularly for road trips and camping. It’s been a really long time since we bought any, but over the past couple of months, I’ve eyed it at Sam’s Club as a potential summer adventure snack. There’s something that has deterred me from buying any, though:

The newly added fake Cheetos! 

Utz has changed their Pub Mix, and while I enjoy Cheetos from time to time, they do not belong in Pub Mix. I caved, though, and decided to buy some last week.

Let me tell you, I was right about those fake Cheetos. They should not be there. I shouldn’t even be calling them Cheetos, because they’re not Cheetos, but I don’t know what else to call them. They are knock-off Cheetos. They have a terrible texture and a horrible flavor. They taste stale, and I would assume their purpose is to be a cheap filler for Pub Mix. There are also way too many of them. 

They are the worst part of the Pub Mix. I ate around them and expect to throw them all in the garbage, making 30% of my Pub Mix inedible. 

Now let’s talk about pretzels. 

I like pretzels. All kinds. All shapes. 

But the pretzels in Utz Pub Mix are lacking. They have a bit of a staleness to them, like their fake Cheetos friends, and there are just way too many pretzels in the mix. I think Utz tries to hide this by offering two different shades of pretzels. 

Unlike the stale Cheetos, I’ll at least eat the pretzels. They’re not great, though. 

Then there are the rice-y things. You know… stuff like these:

I don’t know what any of these are called, but they’re alright. I think what makes them enticing, though, is their scarcity. Utz has made them so uncommon in their pub mix that it makes you excited to get one! They’re probably  not actually good, but we’ve been fooled by their rarity. 

Fortunately we have bagel chips to make up for some of the more blah ingredients. According to AI, the dark ones are Worcestershire flavored and the light ones are nacho cheese. Luckily, they actually have some crunch and don’t seem stale.

I have to say, I prefer these bagel chips to the ones in Gardetto’s. I don’t really care for the ones in Gardetto’s. But Gardetto’s has other offerings that are superior to Utz. 

The best part of Pub Mix, in my opinion, is the sesame chips.

These are the real treat! But what makes them delicious is having to wade through (and consume) all the other components co the mix. Yummy as they are, it wouldn’t be the same to have a bowl full of them. You have to eat them alongside a stale pretzel and a a nacho bagel chip to really appreciate them, much like I have noted with buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies.

Therein lies the life lesson - to truly enjoy the best parts of living, we have to have the not-so-great parts. 

Now who wants to eat all my stale Cheeto rejects? (Life lessons aside, this nonsense has no place in my snacks).

With My Little Eye

September Writing Project - Prompt #15:

Messy

Let’s play a game of “I Spy” based on this photo of my kitchen this afternoon:

Vase of flowers given to my daughter by a (platonic) boy on her sixteenth birthday

Pot of homemade caramel dip

Box of apples from Julie’s tree

Pair of kitchen shears

Bottle of Windex used to clean the windows of the car that Daisy used to take her drivers test

Puzzle from the thrift store

Pile of ribbon being crafted into a bulletin board border for the high school

Four boxes of cake mix for a bake sale fundraiser

Big bowl of frosting

Fabric scissors, needle, and thread

Bottle of antidepressants

Shoes Zoe grew out of

Newly purchased Ziploc bags from Sam’s Club

Hydro jug

Random cans of tuna 

A Bit My Opposite

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #24:

Opposites Attract

Scotty and I aren’t incredibly dissimilar, but every now and then we discover something about each other that we find quite shocking. I recently had to inform Scotty that I don’t really care for key lime pie, and he was startled by this. Not long after I made that known, I had to inform him that I don’t really care for jalapeño poppers, either. 

Scotty doesn’t dream a lot, and he’s always weirded out when he does dream. I dream all the time and have multiple dreams in a night. 

Scotty wants to sleep with the blinds open every night because he wants to keep his eye on the neighborhood (he thinks he’s the neighborhood gatekeeper). I want the blinds closed.

Scotty loves driving with the windows down, and I can’t stand it.

Scotty loves Mexican food, and I don’t (except for street tacos). 

Christopher McCandless is Scotty’s hero. I think he was an idiot. 

Scotty wants the cheapest food possible no matter how low quality it is, and I’d rather pay more and have better quality food or something I really like. 

We navigate stores in completely different ways and park in different places. 

A few years ago, I learned that Scotty won’t eat cookie dough because he’s worried about raw eggs (yet he’ll eat the most raw steak known to man). Meanwhile, I have no qualms over raw eggs and could eat cookie dough by the handful. 

One thing I was surprised to learn about Scotty a few weeks ago is that, unlike me, he does not envision his death every time he goes on an amusement park ride. I love rides, and it doesn’t keep me from riding them, but I always, always, always imagine every way I can die while I’m on them. I do the same thing anytime I’m in a large crowd, stadium, or movie theater. Or if I’m on a high floor of a building, on a cruise ship, or in an airplane. It’s not necessarily a fear. It’s more of an awareness. I find comfort in knowing that statistically, I am safe, but I acknowledge the many ways I could die. Scotty doesn’t do that. What the heck? But he doesn’t choreograph dances in his head to every piece of music that he hears or narrate his entire day as if he's recording a podcast or writing a book, either. So frankly, he’s just an oddball and a bit my opposite.

16

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #4:

Birthday

As of today, I have my first 16 year old daughter! Happy Birthday, Daisy!

This, of course, brings up the question of when she will get her drivers license. Her driving test is scheduled for the 23rd, but we need to reschedule. Hopefully she passes on the first try, but I've told her that it's okay if she doesn't because I didn't pass my first time (I was going to go through a yellow light, and my instructor slammed on the brake, which is an automatic fail, so I have to be merciful with my own kids while secretly praying, "Please pass the first time so we don't have to do this again!") (when I took driver's ed, we did our tests with our instructors during school, but now they have to schedule their tests at the DLD). 

Historically, in the Mormon culture, one would also inquire about Daisy's first date, but things have changed, and age 16 is no longer the standard "first date" age (it's now just a recommendation). So Daisy won't be turning 16 and going on her first date. I consider her "first date" Homecoming of last year, which just so happened to take place on her 15th birthday! And since kids don't really date anymore, who knows if she'll ever go on another date before the age of 25.

(She won't be going to Homecoming this year because we will be out of town, and when given the choice, she decided to come with us). 

Daisy has had quite the celebration for her birthday. Our district had the day after Labor Day off school (weird, right?), so we used that as an opportunity to do a birthday outing with Daisy and her friends. We toyed around with several ideas and then decided to do a lake day. We took 12 teenage girls to the lake, and they had a lot of fun. 

The following Sunday, we had a family party for Daisy at our house. It was a week before her birthday because Scotty wanted to go backpacking the weekend of her birthday, and I didn't want him to have to try and rush home for Daisy's birthday party. Chances are, he could make it home in time with no problem, but since he would be out of cell phone range and I didn't want him to rush if safety became an issue, I decided we would just have Daisy's party a week early (then Scotty didn’t end up going). 

Finally, after lots of pre-celebrating, today is Daisy’s actual birthday! One of our birthday traditions is that our kids get to pick what they want for their birthday dinner. It’s rare that a birthday dinner takes place on their birthday, though (we usually have to do it on a different day). Our calendar worked out so that we could have Daisy’s dinner on her birthday. She wanted Papa Murphy’s pizza, so we bought some pizzas on Saturday and smoked them on the Traeger after church. 

If you do the math, this girl has essentially had three birthday parties!  Good thing she’s with celebrating!