I'm In Heaven!

We just bought a new computer! Yes! Finally! Our old one was 10 years old, and it just wasn't cutting the mustard anymore. Actually, it hasn't cut any mustard for a lonnnnnggggg time, but we've been trying to be frugal, so we just kept using the old beast. I timed myself the other day, and it took 34 minutes from the time I turned it on until I had my email up and could read it! It would take at least 10-15 minutes just to get the word processor working. Shockingly slow, I know, but we made do. Now I click the power button on and 2 minutes later I'm surfing the internet! Wow! I'm in love! It's wonderful! The Symons family has moved into the modern age!

Before, I used to HATE it when people would say, "Just get online and look it up!" Didn't they realize that I didn't have 2 hours to devote to trying to find out the current movie times or a recipe for brownies? It was frustrating to even think about getting on the computer, let alone do it, so I usually got on about once a week. Now I just keep trying to think of genuine reasons why I need to get on the computer so I'm not just playing. I'm still not very good at everything, so I'm taking lessons from Devin. He's a knowledgable but impatient teacher. I don't blame him, though. I'm sure he gets tired of me yelling, "Devin! I need your help!" every 10 minutes while I'm using the computer! He told me the other day that he doesn't know how I'll survive while he's gone on his mission!

I've Been Exposed!

We just had a very fun, but odd, Enrichment! A new lady in our ward is a handwriting analyst who has worked for the FBI and CIA but mostly for companies who hire her to analyze potential employees. She analyzed the writing of all 30 women who showed up Wednesday night, and I can't believe how accurate it all was! It was weird! This is what she said about me:

I have very strong willpower, but it comes in short-lived bursts! (So painfully true! I can't ever seem to stick to anything if it's related to chocolate or exercise! How many times do I have to set those same goals?!)

Along with the willpower, I am stubborn on things I believe and don't back down. (Never!)

I keep my emotions close and don't usually express everything I feel. (Enough said.)

I have a tight group of friends who know who they are. I am a bear if someone bugs one of those friends! (I like that! It makes me sound pretty tough!)

I am a creative person whose creativity is currently squashed! I'm not currently progressing toward my goals. (Sounds like I should start on my book again! I've been on page 80 since October!)

I am a person who sees my relationships for how they are, but always with expectations for more. She said I probably say things about my marriage like, "We have a great marriage and if we could just change this one thing, it would be perfect." (So true! There will always be that "one more thing"!)

I am a person who observes carefully and processes things I see. She said I was like Columbo, but I would prefer to be like Nancy Drew. She dresses much better! She said at church, instead of listening to the lesson, I am likely to notice the look on X's face and wonder if it has something to do with the conversation I saw her having earlier with Y,.....etc." (She made me sound like a snoopy eavesdropper---just call me Gladys Kravitz! I suppose it's true, but hopefully not in a bad way. I'm just always worried about everyone being happy!)

I am normally very optimistic but not so much lately (Hmmm. Could that be because my husband has been self-employed now for 9 months since there are no jobs to even apply for?)

I like to take small risks and test limits. (This one I wasn't so sure about because, mostly I'm a big chicken, but when I asked my friends, they said I am risky about expressing my opinions in groups. I guess they've heard too many of my political rants! What can I say? It was an ugly election year!)

Anyway, that's my handwriting in a nutshell. We only wrote 2 sentences, and she said with that much writing she could tell us about ourselves for at least a half hour! It was fun but a little creepy. I have no idea how you can tell that much from handwriting! Needless to say, I called to thank her instead of sending a thank-you note! I didn't want her analyzing me even more! Think what she could do with a whole card-full of sentiments!

The Camera Saga

Decisions, decisions! Sometimes they're so hard!

Thursday night, Becky and the kids came to spend the weekend so we could drive 4 1/2 hours to Bozeman, Montana to test 2 pricey cameras Becky has been drooling over. Either way she was going to be spending tons of money, so it had to be the right decision! I left her in the camera shop while I went on a 5 hour shopping spree, while she took pictures, enlarged them for detail, and asked every question she could think of. When I came back to pick her up, I had a really cute knee-length brown tweed skirt with a kick-pleat and a great pair of brown earrings (that Becky later stole from me on our trip home!). My total for the day was just under $30. Becky's total was.....well, let's just say that it was a wee bit more!

I thought Bozeman was so cute, and it was such a pretty drive. On the way home, I told Becky, "You know, it's too bad I'll never be here again! Bozeman is really nice." Little did I know that I would see it again....really, really soon!


The next morning, I started to realize there was a problem when I got out of bed and saw Becky pacing the living room with hideously dark circles under her eyes (It was bad!). She'd been stressing all night about how she'd made the wrong decision. I tried to calm her down by saying, "Well, we can always drive back to Bozeman!" I was mostly kidding, of course, as any sane person would certainly know, but Becky jumped on it like a lifeline, and by 2:00 that afternoon, we were headed back to Bozeman, embarking on another 9 hour drive! Oh, well, that's what sisters are for, right? That's what Becky tells me, anyway!



We had a fun drive, and after we started to run out of things to say (which is completely amazing considering we are both talkers!) we sang in perfect harmony to Abba and some favorite disco hits! By the end of the 18 hours of driving, I was feeling a little hoarse, but we still belted out Dancing Queen in a way that would make those Swedes proud! Singing is my very favorite part about traveling. The acoustics are great in a minivan! I always make Del sing in the car with me, but he's not quite as good as Becky! He doesn't know all the words to the silly 80's hits, and he doesn't do a really good Queen falsetto. You should hear Becky's!



Well, now the long road trip is over and Becky is the proud owner of a new Nikon D700. Hopefully, she won't be back this Friday to make me exchange a lens or a neckstrap with her. My numb butt cheeks are still trying to recover from all of that driving. Still, it was fun spending 18 uninterrupted hours with my wacky sister!

Benita Likes...

While we were in Island Park last weekend, the women watched THE EDITED VERSION of the popular French film, Amelie. I highly recommend it, but ONLY if you can get it edited. I bought mine from Cleanflicks online. In the intro of the movie, as every character is introduced, there is a montage of what unique things each one likes and dislikes. After the show was over, we sat around discussing ourselves and coming up with fun lists.

Here's a candid look at our quirky mother. I liked these pictures of her best. Cute, huh! Becky just took them for their Christmas cards.


BENITA LIKES:

Washing and reusing disposable dishes (she really does! We can't just throw them away!)

Using toothpicks to clean her teeth

When dogs lick between her fingers (eeew!)

Taking candid pictures of people eating (most of the worst pictures I have of myself were taken by my mother while I had food heading into my mouth)

Drinking the leftover "juice" after we eat all of the pickles, green beans, etc. out of a jar

Impromptu speaking assignments (She LOVES to talk!)

Leading music vigorously while listening to the radio (I wish I could include a video here of her doing it!)

Making instant friends with strangers everywhere (There ARE NO strangers to mom--just potential friends whose life histories she doesn't know, yet)

Sleeping in

Going for long walks



BENITA DISLIKES:

Bras that pinch

Bangs in her eyes

Being unjustly accused of things by her daughters (I can't remember exactly what made her say this one so heatedly! I think it had something to do with accusations about her toothpick usage)

War movies (This is where genetics finally comes in. I can't even watch the battle scene in Mulan. It's just too intense and violent for me!)

When people turn their children loose in her house

Mom is so easygoing! It was hard getting her to think of things that she dislikes, while the rest of us were saying them so fast that I couldn't write it all down. I guess we know that in order to get along with her we should never visit until noon, leave our kids in the car, make her walk all the way home when we go shopping, and happily smile for the camera with food in our mouths. Even though I love her, though, I could never bring myself to encourage Olive, my dog, in her bad habit of licking between mom's fingers! That's so gross! Mom's a fun person!

Guess We Know Who Mom Likes Best!

In the past few weeks we celebrated Devin's and Maren's birthdays, and after looking at the pictures, Devin is kind of feeling like the red-headed step-child in the Symons family. Here is a picture of his party.

Now here are the pictures of Maren's party. She invited friends over to make bracelets, homemade pretzels and cheese, and have cake and ice cream.

They had lots of fun playing dodgeball on the trampoline, too!

Devin wants more blog time, so let's look at his picture again.

Poor Devin, look at me stepping all over him to give Maren the juicy bug!

Ok, in all fairness to me, we do birthday parties with friends on even years---Maren is 12 and Devin is 17--- AND I made him a super delicious homemade 3-layer sour cream chocolate cake with homemade cream cheese and chocolate frosting! Super delicious, I tell you!!!! Devin says his neck still hurts from me stepping on his head.

First Date....Finally!

Here's some breaking news! Devin has finally asked a girl out on a date! The lucky girl was Cammi George, a girl he knows from his carpool, and she's really cute and sweet! He asked her to the Homecoming Dance at Century. Hurray Devin! You did it!

Here's how he asked her: First he made a giant Chinese take out box out of a sheet of poster board and a the wire from a hanger, and a tag that said Devin's Delivery Service. It was so cute, but I completely forgot to take a picture! Then we made homemade fortune cookies with fun predictions inside like "A tall dark young man is in your future," "You'll have a great time at Homecoming if you say yes," etc.

Here's how she answered him: She left a delivery on the doorstep with two eggrolls and a note that said "I'd love to roll with you to Homecoming!" Very cute!

Here's how the night went: First they had dinner at Andrew's house. Andrew spent last school year in Italy and became quite a cook, so he made them spaghetti with a steak and pepper marinara, cheesy french bread, and a caesar salad and cheesecake for dessert. Devin was in charge of appetizers, so we made stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta and artichoke dip. He said they were a big hit. I made sure he took a pack of gum to share with everyone, since we put plenty of garlic in the food we made. That's Italian!

Here's how the dance went: Believe it or not (I personally find it very hard to believe) Devin and Cammi danced all but two dances! I asked Devin if they still play fun songs like Rock Lobster, but he said no. Apparently, I'm getting old.

Here's the final tally: All in all, it was a fun night. He said he had a great time and might even try dating again sometime! Yeah!

An Island Park Getaway

Last week we took off to Island Park for one last mini-vacation before school started. Del was leveling a floor and installing a sump pump toilet for some friends who own a cabin there (notice the name of the owners!), and the rest of us (including Grandpa and Grandma) were just there to have a great time. Before we left, Devin bought a recurve bow that he's been saving up for, so he took that to try out. We all had lots of fun trying to shoot it, especially Grandma! Look at that expression on her face!

Our cabin was right on the river, so we got to do some canoeing, and we could have fished right off the dock if we had remembered to get fishing licenses. We had plenty to do, though, without fishing! The kids went for a walk with their grandparents and caught frogs (strictly catch and release!) and tried to catch the jackrabbits hopping around everywhere, too, but no luck.

We also found a great little bay by the Island Park Dam where we picnicked and played. Mom found a couple of awesome pieces of driftwood for my garden! Now I just need her to come help me figure out what to do with it! By the way, do you notice mom's cute new haircut? It looks fabulous on her, doesn't it?!

We also went to Big Springs to see the fish. There was one that was the fattest fish any of us have ever seen! It was probably as big around the middle as my thigh and it was only about 15 inches long! Apparently, there's no shortage of tourists to feed them off of the bridge!

When we drove home, we decided to take the Mesa Falls Scenic Route, and that was beautiful! Mesa Falls is huge, powerful, and you are standing right next to it! The fenced walkway is so close! Of course, Dad pointed out many geographical items of interest---that's why it's so fun to go with Dad! We'll probably go up there with them again in a few weeks when Del goes back to install carpet! This time, maybe we'll do some fishing and watch less TV (the Olympics were on, and they have been awesome)!