Happy Birthday Bonita!!

Today is bonnie's 29th birthday! where to begin?

full name: bonnie lenore johnson hynes
nicknames: bonita santiago, boniphus, bonita-wanta-reheata-burrito
number of siblings: 9, (starting with the oldest, alyssia, emily, juliet, charice, morgan, heather, warren, kc and ruth) bonnie is in between heather and warren
number of children:2, lucy and elliot
born: january 30th, thatcher, arizona
currently resides: boise, idaho
one of her favorite movies: some kind of wonderful
terms coined: juicing, MAN (originally referring to ian waugh), and half of a couple who wasn't as cute as the other half were called "not worthys"

i could write a book on the adventures of bonnie and anne! but i will only share a few today. first of all, she moved from arizona to pocatello, idaho the summer before our senior year in high school. we were in the same ward and were friends. our adventures really didn't start until we signed up to be roommates together at BYU. our story begins at 406 u-hall, deseret towers, provo, utah.

we are both tall, (although i am taller) both had blonde hair at the time, and were both from pocatello, idaho. due to those factors plus the fact that we had similar personalities, a lot of people in our freshman ward took to calling us "bannie". they would say hi bannie, if was it was the both of us or just one of us. i guess it was easier than trying to keep which one was anne and which one was bonnie, straight. anyway, we embraced it and jokingly called ourselves "the unit known as bannie." bannie had a lot of fun times together. we had an awesome FHE group and had a group of guy friends we called "the boys." from the get-go, we were fairly inseparable. we had at least 2 or 3 classes together, (thanks freshman academy) and would met each other on campus for lunch (preferably the museum of art cafe, yum-o!) and then walk back to DT together.
bonnie introduced me to many, many things in life. such as the fine tasting gourmet combo of triskets and pickles. we coined the phrase "fat and happy" for our post-fast sunday gorge fest euphoria. we had a "best friend" theory, which was don't be shy to talk to people in the elevator or standing in line for the shower in the bathroom, pretend everyone was your best friend. she introduced me to a whole new world of music and i'll just list a fair few, weston, mighty mouse, they might be giants, milla jovavich, joan biaz, pearl jam, jimmy eat world, sunny day real estate, and a new appreciation for counting crows. we actually got to see counting crows in concert at the delta center thanks to her ticket connections. we hung around after the concert and met the band and got adam duritz's autograph. we would sing along at the top of our lungs to all her cd's. i don't remember ever choosing the music we listened to in our dorm room. but it never bothered me, in fact i would request certain cd's of hers all the time. we had sunday music which included the joseph and the technicolor dream coat soundtrack, and enya (sp?).
this is a photo of me, angel and bonnie taken at king henry apartments where we lived first semester our second year at the Y. angel was a good fit to our craziness. she and one other girl friend, mary urban, went with me, bonnie and 9 boys on THE infamous vegas road trip of january '98. sorry, no pics to post, don't ask questions. that was the most spontaneous, crazy, funnest trip. highlights include me renting a van, incurring the wrath of khan from my parents, sleeping 13 people in one room at the motel 6 in st.george, and hitting the arcade scene at every casino. of course, vegas isn't so much fun when you are 18 and can't be on the casino floor. but we made the best of it.
this was common place, donning the old tee shirt and dying each other's hair. bonnie had names for her haircuts/styles. there was peanut, (very gwythen paltrow from sliding doors) lioness, (which included numerous twists and bobbie pins) and crack whore (which also had accompanying make-up). she once cut her hair in the 4th floor bathroom while bending over and using pinking shears. she and i turned our room into the hair salon before every dance due to the high volume of requests from all the girls on the floor. we did up do's and the whole nine yards.
bonnie is the queen of the self-taken photo. never in my life have i met someone who has mastered the art more than her. plus, she has an weakness for polariods. we used my mom's old polariod ALL THE TIME. i'm surprised we could still find film for it, it was so archaic. we would label and date them and hang them up in our room. and if we didn't like how they turned out, we would throw them away and re-take the photo. we had a photo collage of us posted on the outside of our dorm room door. one night during visiting hours, we were away chasing boys and we came back to find half the photos from the collage missing. someone told us that a couple of boys were seen lurking in the vicinity and we like to think they were so smitten with our good looks, they had to have our photos to remember us by.

this was one of the photos on our door collage. no comment. please forgive the immodesty. ;)
i will end this birthday tribute with a great big THANKS FOR BEING MY FRIEND and I LOVE YOU!!! you are my super star. happy birthday :)

Our Beloved Prophet

i would be most remiss if i passed by the opportunity to write about our beloved prophet, seer and revelator. One of my favorite President Hinckley quotes is actually a quote from someone else. I first heard him use this quote when i was in seminary and this was a "glue-in" for our scriptures. I have loved it ever since. even though the prophet didn't say it, i have always liked the fact that he liked it well enough to quote it himself. he came across it in a newspaper many many years ago written by a man named jenkins lloyd jones. this is the quote:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss [in marriage] is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.

“[The fact is] most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …

“Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.
“The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride”

and what a ride president hinckley has had! 97 years old and worked until he the day he died. how grateful i am for his leadership, his wisdom and his faith, but most of all, his sense of realness and sense of humor. he always was so vibrant and full of life, speaking to groups of 1000's as if it was a group of 10 gathered in his home for an intimate evening. i have never met him and yet, i always felt like he knew me and he truly cared about my life.

how grateful i am to the Lord that He has not stopped speaking to man, that He has not left us without further light and knowledge. He has given us a prophet to be a conduit to heaven, revealing His will to men, and to be our leader to guide us forward in truth.

yes, i am sadden to hear to know that our beloved prophet has passed away. no more of his encouraging, "stand a little taller" at the end of his talks. no more seeing his smiling face at general conference. but what a wonderful blessing for him to no longer be in a body that is tired and old. and he is once again reunited with his eternal sweetheart, marjorie. i am grateful for the 13 years we were blessed with his counsel. i know that the Lord will appoint another in his stead who is worthy and able for the task. the work continues.

i've been tagged . . .

by my friend nicole to post 6 interesting things about myself. i'll post the 6 things, the jury is out on if they are interesting or not. :)

1. when i open a new bag of chips (which is fairly often, living with mason whose currency in life is sour cream and onion potato chips) i always inhale deeply and enjoy the smell of the freshly opened bag. this i can attribute to my mom who does the same thing.

2. i always sleep with my hair pulled back in a ponytail. it drives me batty to have hair in my face while i sleep. if i wake up in the middle of the night, (turning over, crying child, what-have-you,) i will re-fix the ponytail before i go back to sleep.

3. the magnets on my fridge have to be arranged a certain way. i have little areas for each of them. business/advertising magnets are on the left side, small decorated ones (with the colorful paper underneath the marbly glass, do you know what i mean?) on the front. and super large magnets like the 2 photo holder magnets i have are on the right side.

4.i like certain pens to use when i do the crossword puzzle or write out my grocery list. i will spend upwards of 10-15 minutes hunting one of those pens down rather than write with the dozen or so other pens in the pen cup by the phone.

5.i am very easily sucked into books. right now, for example, i am reading the january book club book, gracelin o'malley, and i totally hear the words in my head in a thick irish brogue. i want to read all about the potato famine and visit ireland. when i read harry potter, i am at hogwarts and can taste the pumpkin juice. also, if i read one book and there are others in the series, i am 99% likely to read all the books in the series. as fast as possible.

6.i detest taking out the garbage. collecting it from all the waste baskets in the house, taking it out the garbage can, re-lining the basket, etc, i loathe it all. i think its smelly and gross and have a totally 1950's attitude about it, its a man's job. obviously, i have taken out the trash before and will have to do it again today because travis forgot before he left for work. gggrrrrrr.

soundbites of the day

the scene: i am in the kitchen pureeing large quantities of warm spinach for a recipe

marissa: mom, what is that? it smells like fart. i don't like it.


fastforward a minutes later as i'm mixing the stinky spinach with a cup of strawberry jam . . .

marissa: mom, what are you doing? i like jam. i don't like spinach. it looks like squirty's poop. i don't want any of that.


and yet, what are we going to do with the foul smelling and foul looking concoction? we are going to eat it. dig in.

check it out

i just added 10 new recipes to our good eats blog. sorry its been a while since we updated. :)

goodbye butter

yesterday travis had his re-enrollment health screening for his insurance at work. like many plans do, i'm assuming, there are benefits for being physically fit and healthy. lower premiums for non-smokers and non-drinkers, etc. anyway, as part of that, they do a blood test for cholesterol.

travis's mom has had super high triglycerides (sp?) her whole life. she practically eats dirt. a slight exaggeration, but not far from the truth. she is very health contentious. on her side of the family, her brother had to have a stint in his heart while he was in his early 50's and heart disease runs rampant. travis's dad has diabetes. so genetically, my husbands's heart is programmed to explode at the sight of fat and sugar. he knows this, has been exercising, taking fish oil and garlic supplements in addition to his multitude of daily vitamins. he's lost weight and feels good. until yesterday.

that's when the helpful blood test told him his numbers were worse than last year. ouch. he's been eating less, hence the weight loss, but still eating the wrong kind of food. we sat down and discussed what we need to do. it is a "we" because while the dietary restrictions might be for him, i'm the one who grocery shops and cooks. and the fact that his offspring carry those same cholesterol hording genes, well, that is even more of a reason to eat better.

now, don't think our pantry is currently full of junk. we eat whole wheat bread, we eat oatmeal, and lots of fresh fruits and veggies. the problem is we put yummy butter and homemade (read sugar laden) jam on that whole wheat bread. and we sprinkle sugar on our oatmeal. and blend that fresh fruit with ice cream to make smoothies. oh and i like to make homemade bread with white flour. and chocolate chip cookies, german chocolate cake, and roast beef and mashed potatoes. yeah, enough said. hello starch.

this morning, into the grocery cart went the huge tub of trans-fat-free, no cholesterol "i can't believe its not butter", whole wheat flour, fat free salad dressing, low sugar instant oatmeal, box of grapenuts, unsweetened applesauce, baked tortilla chips, reduced fat cream cheese, frozen low fat yogurt and low sugar strawberry preserves. yum.

travis has been scouring the american heart association website for info and we've ordered the betty crocker low fat/low sugar cookbook. i'm excited to try some of jessica sienfeld's recipes in the cookbook i got for christmas. i bought all the stuff to make her strawberry oatmeal bars and applesauce muffins. the oatmeal bars have hidden spinach puree in them. we'll see how that tastes. wish us luck in our quest for better health and lower cholesterol!

ps- my hdl (the good cholesterol) is 52. according the american heart association, that is "optimal". and i'm the one who schmears on the butter. go figure.

my beautiful princesses

this is the type of picture that will cause mason to hate me for years to come, right? marissa got dress-ups from santa for christmas and has had ZERO interest in actually putting them on. so one day when they were wrecking havoc, i told her to pick out a dress-up, she was putting one on. she cried and pitched a good fit. and so i grabbed a dress and chucked it on her, much to her dismay. she stood there looking at me as if i was torturing her. mason was standing right next to her, there was a blue dress on the floor . . . well, the rest is history. what's funny is that marissa immediately quit her boo-hooing and the two of them were as happy as ducks in water. sometimes i feel bad for mason being a boy in that it seems all the "fun" things are girl things. he gets jealous when i fix marissa's hair, he steals the comb and water bottle and takes off with her hairbows. marissa gets to have lip gloss and have nails painted. not for boys. marissa has jewelry and fun dress-up shoes. not for boys. marissa wants me to put make-up on her when i am putting my make-up on. not for boys. i'm not cruel, i do dust some blush on him occasionally. and i try to make a fuss over him while i fix his hair, "what a handsome boy".

it just seems like all the glittery, shiny, colorful, feathery things in this world are for girls. and i'm very secure in mason's masculinity so i'm not afraid of "changing" him. and hey, he liked wearing the dress, its not as if i had to wrestle him into it. they had fun and played very well the rest of the afternoon. mason was the first one who wanted the dress off though. :)

my friend max

****disclaimer, this might be a downer for some of you. it is one of those posts that is more a journal entry than anything else.


in high school i had a friend named max neilsen. he was a year younger than i was. we were in student government together, had a leadership class together, and had friends in the same circles. he had long, blonde hair and a really deep voice. everyone knew max. and he was like madonna or cher, he didn't need a last name.

max was really funny, but not class clown funny. he would let the class clown do his bit and then he would say some hilarious one-liner from the back of the room and everyone would laugh their heads off. he gave the best hugs; super fierce, practically pick you up off the ground, tight hugs. max was ultra cool. very mellow, never the catalyst per say but always in the mix. during homecoming week, when the girls played powder puff football, the guys had a fake drill team half time performance and he was out there dancing and doing a human pyramid. max was in my stake at church so i would see him occasionally at stake youth functions.

i remember everyone in student government going to boise for a convention and how fun it was to hang out with him. i never had a crush on him, it was always platonic. but he was so much fun and easy to talk to and laugh with and be around. i went to prom with max's best friend, tanner willey, and max and his date were in our group. we ate dinner at the the sandpiper restaurant. he dated my friend emily for a while but then got serious with kate winston, a girl in my class. i graduated in 97 and max graduated in 98. he and kate got married in san diego that august.

i had a lot of guy friends from the class of 98 and i kept in touch with some of them. but hard as this is to believe, this was really pre-email days. i didn't get my first email address until my freshman year at BYU. and even then, once i had one, not all of my friends did. anyway, i moved away to college and its that time in your life where you're kinda self-absorbed in your new life. new place to live, new friends, new experiences, new adult-hood, etc. so i didn't keep in touch with many people.

fast forward to 2002. i am married and living in santa clara, utah. i was on classmates. com and got a message from a friend, holly peterson. she and i emailed and i asked how so and so was etc. i remember i asked if she had seen tanner lately, i knew he was home from his mission. and she emailed back and said not since max's funeral in january. max's funeral??? i sat at the computer and just looked at the screen. who else could it be? i was in shock. firstly, because this was in the summer. he had died months ago. and secondly, how did i not know? my parents weren't in pocatello anymore, they had moved to germany. not many of my good friends in pocatello anymore, college, marriage, jobs, etc. and i would occasionally check out the pocatello newspaper online, reading the marriages and births columns but not the obituaries. i felt so bad that he died. he was only 22. i went online and found his obituary in the archives and there was even an article on his death. he had been driving on the freeway from boise to pocatello and outside of pocatello, he had some tire problem and pulled off to the shoulder of the road. apparently there was really bad weather, snow i'm guessing. anyway, a semi truck hit him while he was out of his car and he died.

since learning that, i have had several dreams about max. one dream i had, it was like i was back in high school re-living some memories with him. another dream i had was one where i saw him and i was crying. i told him how sad i was that didn't keep in touch and how sad i was that didn't know about his funeral. he gave me a hug and told me it would be okay. then, just on saturday night, i had another dream. this time i dreamed that i saw kate crying and i went over to her and we just talked and talked and talked. i told her in vivid detail how i had learned of his death, how i sat at the computer unable to process the information. i told her i had seen him in a dream. and she and i just sat on these stairs in someone's house and cried together.

this year at my high school reunion i was so hoping kate would go so i could talk to her about max. and i thought tanner might be there too because he married a girl in my class. but no kate and no tanner. so i woke up after my dream saturday night, determined to blog about this because for some reason, i don't have closure. its not as if we were best friends. but we were friends. and i feel badly about not being able to say good-bye. so hopefully writing about this will allow my brain to finish processing.

it's interesting the people that you remember and how they impacted your life. and its sad when anyone dies young, let alone some you knew and cared about. but i have no doubt about where max is now. he is beyond earthly trials and tribulations. i will see him again some day and give him a hug and tell him how much i have thought about him over the years and how i enjoyed our friendship.

10 things i hope to do in 2008

1. read every book for our monthly book club (last year, i was a goober and missed one)

2. keep my driving record prefect (never have had a ticket, knock on wood)

3. be on time to church every week

4. go on a vacation with just travis, even a "one night away from the kids" vacation

5. re-read all the harry potter books

6. make more salads, they are healthy and delicious and i love opening my fridge and finding one in there

7. go to the park with my kids more and do other things that they enjoy

8. be more on budget

9. host more parties/game nights with friends

10. blog more about every facet of my life, ie include spiritual experiences, goals, personal aspirations, and life lessons i've learned

10 things i've never done before . . .

that i did in 2007

1. potty train

2. cut 10 inches off my hair to donate to locks of love

3. stay up for the harry potter midnight book release party

4. build a house

5. start a blog

6. send my kids off to school (i know its just preschool but its new to me)

7. karioke with my husband

8. go geo-caching

9. go on a road trip with 11 other ladies

10. name someone else's babies (that one's for you christin) ;)

my shorn little lamb

BEFORE

AFTER

happy birthday dad!!

yes, my dad is a christmas baby! december 25, 1946 was the big day. i'm totally coping this idea from my friend jan's birthday tribute to her mom on her blog. thanks for the great idea!!!

50 fun factoids about my dad:

1. his mom once let him have a "half-birthday" party in the summer
2. he is loud, doesn't not know how to whisper at all
3. is an avid reader, all types of books
4. watches reality tv with my mom, they enjoy american idol, survivor, and dancing with the stars
5. an american revolutionary war buff, has a picture of george washington crossing the delaware in his living room
6. loves mexican food
7. is a city boy, not really a camper, boater or fisher
8. huge trivia buff, loves all factoids and random bits of information
9. always is ready with a joke, pun or corny anecdote
10.was a lakers fan for years and years, but i think is becoming a spurs fan now that he lives in san antonio.
i don't know how i feel about this . . .
11.speaks near fluent german
12. loves bold, colorful ties, (dare i say loud?) and is known around his office for them
13. is never cold, he could wear shorts and a tee-shirt in sub zero temps and think it was great
14. quick to laugh
15. not a cook, but a great assistant in the kitchen
16. a notoriously slow driver
17. loves mysteries, like agatha christy
18. loves to travel
19. was on a game show in the 80's called password plus, won a vacuum cleaner
20. likes to compete in call-in radio contests
21. calls his hair "silver" not gray
22. a good game player; cards, board games, etc.
23. actually likes to shop and will carry all the bags and even will take them out to the car mid shopping excursion so he can carry more
24. a sports fan, especially basketball and football
25. drinks pepsi with breakfast
26. always wants an ice cream birthday cake every year
27. has worn a shirt and tie to work the majority of his career
28. very civic minded, always votes, knows the issues, etc.
29. great public speaking voice, ie christmas program narrator and radio PSA's
30. loves oldies music
31. had a beard when he got married
32. was raised christian scientist
33. joined the LDS church in 1979
34. at times can be in his own space/time continuim bubble. example, the family will be in the car, seatbelts buckled, ready to go and he will think its a great time to get the windex bottle and roll of paper towels to wash the front windshield
35. fan of the james bond movies
36. very neat print handwriting
37. always carries a pocketknife with him, (not the large super scouter kind, his is more compact)
38. has never said the words, "no, i don't like that" with regards to food
39. has his masters degree in social work from UCLA
40. cleans his ear with random objects, a key, etc.
41. takes excellent care of his glasses, always wipes them with appropriate cloth and cleaning solution and puts them in their case when he is not wearing them
42. was santa claus for all my elementary school classes until 6th grade when i asked him to stop. he was hurt.
43. loves to play "owl" with his grandkids
44. wanted me to name the twins abraham (after abraham lincoln) and abigail (after abigail adams) and call them abe and abby
45. loves puzzles and crossword puzzles
46. has had at least 5 gay bosses (strange, but true, and this includes military superiors)
47. will do several laps around the parking lot until the "best" spot appears
48.can imitate bert and ernie, the count, and cookie monster from seaseme street
49.buys premium gas for his volvo
50.happy birthday dad, i love you!

santa came!!

merry christmas 07! travis did very well for himself! from my mom and dad he got the complete hard bound harry potter boxed set (which he is holding in the picture), a golf ball display rack (complete with 2 golf balls that my parents has shipped here from the courses he played in hawaii earlier this year), a wii game (madden 08, i'm guessing?), and some new basketball clothes. i gave T a nintendo ds and game, donald trump's book "think big and kick ass", a san diego chargers hat, a couple new shirts and car wash gift certificates. he was happy. :)

below is a pile of presents on the chair. they all belonged to mr. mason. did he want to open presents? no. did he actually unwrap any gift on christmas? no. his "helpful" sister unwrapped them all for him when it became evident he wasn't leaving his new train for any reason. i thought it was cute how she would unwrap a present and get excited for him. for example, a new lion hooded towel from grandma and grandpa, "oh mace, a new lion towel. you will like this. you like lions." and a lightening mcqueen bath toy/accessory set from mommy and daddy garnered this reaction, "mason, you got lightening mcqueen!!! wow. mommy, look mason got lightening mcqueen. mason loves lightening mcqueen."

this is the above mentioned train. technically a "geo-trax" but it has a track and we're calling it a train. santa didn't realize it required triple a batteries and therefore didn't leave any with the gift but mason didn't know it was supposed to operate via remote control so on christmas day it didn't matter. the next day, some batteries miraculously found their way to our house (thanks christmas magic!) and he was so pleased that the train now made noises and moved itself around the track.

mommy and daddy gave mason and marissa each a personalized apron. they LOVED them! marissa immediately wanted to make cookies.

here is mason with his other favorite christmas present. santa brought him "young mater." this is what mater looked like before his rusty days. mater talks and laughs and hearing that laugh makes me laugh every time. mater now hauls around as many smaller hot wheels-esque type cars as possible.

i had a great christmas too. sadly, no pics because thats what happens when you are the picture taker and not take-ee. travis got me new slippers, (oh so comfy, i was desperate for a new pair) a new purse (i asked for a new purse so it wasn't a surprise but i had him pick it out so what purse i got was a surprise! he did very well, can't go wrong with black leather) a digital scrapbooking program for the mac, high school musical soundtrack (again, something i asked for) crossword puzzle books and a big new measuring cup that is angled. hard to describe, i'll see if i can take a pic and post it. anyway, my mom and dad gave me some new clothes, williams and sonoma measuring spoons, cups, a baking sheet and can opener! love W&S. and they got me a new tote bag from landsend, its cream with navy accents and a navy embroidered "jackman" on the front. perfect! plus the jessica sienfeld cookbook "deceptively delicious" and a new paula deen christmas cookbook. whew! very exciting. we were spoiled.