Mother's Day

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend. I think that church is always the hardest part as people talk about their Mom's. We definitely miss ours, but are always grateful for the time that we had with her.

Our sister-in-laws, Lilli and Lisa are awesome mothers to our cute nieces and nephews and we are grateful for them.

Our fantastic Dad always takes great care of us. He wrote us all love notes and gave us each a new cookbook which is the sequel to our all-time favorite book, Favorites - the Ivory Family Cookbook. Everything we try in that book is great. So, after 10 years, the new book, Keeping Up, came out and we are excited to try some great new recipes in this one. Thanks, Dad!

As I came home that night, there was a fun surprise on my porch from one of my cute young women. I'm always torn by the fact that I am not a mother, which just adds to the emotions of this holiday, but then I get something like this from one of my "kids" and I realize that there are lots of ways to mother and it's nice to know that the work we try to do makes a difference.

Say What?

So, I went on an interview this week to one of those places where as soon as you walk in and get the vibe of the office, you know that you should just immediately turn around and walk out. Well . . . I didn't and instead had this little exchange, among many other little treats.

Interviewer: "We are looking for FAT people at this company"

(In my head, are you kidding? They really said that?!?)

Interviewer: "This mean, Flexible, Adaptable, and Trainable"

Yeah, there has got to be a better acronym to express these desired character traits.

And, this FAT person is definitely not going to be working there . . .

All of a Sudden I'm a One-Woman Band (in a minivan)

Today's commute was perfectly normal - me in a 7:00 am stupor - until GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" came on the radio. Sometimes I'm so tired I don't even remember how I got from Point A to Point B on my commute. But one gritty yell from Axl Rose and I was alert! MAN, I love that song. I immediately started in with drums, chimed in with the falsetto, and even though I had arrived at work before the song finished, I stayed in the car to do an air guitar solo. I would've liked to have seen myself - especially since I was in the minivan I borrowed from Dad while my car is in the shop.

Favorite Salad Bar Toppings

Sometimes we go places that have a salad bar and it's always interesting to me what people choose. I grew up with Dad rimming his one-time-through plate with cucumber slices to make essentially a bigger rim on the plate or bowl . . . brilliant . . . so that he could pack more on. Salads have definitely been an acquired taste for me and I much prefer a more goodies to salad ratio. Some of my favorite things are:

* Real roasted turkey at Marie Callendars
* Peanuts on the salad bar wagon at Cowboy Grub
* Real bacon - no tolerance for the imitation stuff
* I also like broccoli, ham, cheese (of course), croutons
* I'm a connoisseur of honey mustard dressing. My favorite was at the now departed ZCMI Tiffin Room, so I'm still on the search for my favorite yummy goodness.

Yeah, my salads aren't what you'd call on the healthy side. The salad is really just a vehicle for the yummy dressing to stick to.

It's also nice when the salad bar places have dessert too . . . like ice cream at the Sizzler and Jason's Deli or the chocolate pudding/mousse at Ruby Tuesday.

What are some of your favorite things to put on your salad? Melinda, who do you think has the best ranch dressing?

Women's Conference

Kristen and I headed to Happy Valley for a day of Women's Conference on Friday. We had several take-aways from the day.

1. It would be nice if the outside ticket booth where you purchase your ticket also was the place that gave you your lanyard to position around your neck to get into the classes. We paid our money, got a blank piece of paper that I could have printed on my own, wrote our own names on our tags and then tried to find a lanyard. Silly us, the box of lanyards was inside the Marriott Center . . . who knew.

2. If you can only go one day, pick Thursday instead of Friday. Not only do you get a nice choice of classes, but they have the Sharing Stations - which I love, service projects to do, special meals and activities in the evening. None of that happens on Friday.

3. Buy a tote bag. I was kind of mocking the Women's Conference 2010 tote bags that many people had purchased, but throughout the day, I saw the wisdom in them. I started out with my rain slicker since it was so rainy, then didn't need it, so I balled it up and put my jacket in my purse (which some would say is almost as big as a tote, but that's totally not the point). It would have fit so much better in a tote. The tote comes with long straps so you can effortlessly sling the bag on your shoulder. Also, it comes in handy after my requisite purchases at the BYU Bookstore, which is one of my favorite stops for sour cherries and chocolate peanuts . . . a BYU tradition . . . among other fun items that I get sucked into getting. Not to mention it would hold the schedule and various other papers you tend to collect. And get this, it even comes with a water bottle. Next time . . . I'm totally getting the tote. Go ahead and mock me.

Me with my beloved sour cherries

Kristen sneaking into the chocolate peanuts that we got for Melinda.

4. Store cans of Coke in my new tote bag. I forget that only Caffeine free Coke is available, which is not acceptable and tasted terrible. I was having cravings by the end of the day. As we waited in line for a class, I heard two girls talking behind me and I thought I clearly heard one of them say, "I got some Mountain Dew". I was so excited that I gasped and was just about ready to whip around and anxiously ask where she found the caffeinated goodness when I luckily clarified with Kristen to make sure what I really heard them say. Sadly, there was no manna nearby and apparently the girl said, "I go to Mountain View". Boo! I may or may not be an addict.

Other than that, Kristen and I had a nice day together and I got to hear from one of my favorite people, Kathy McGregor. Success.

Birthday Week

Once again, I had a great birthday week celebration this year. Birthday week was born a few years ago, and I have to say that it really does help to take the sting out of getting another year older.

Kristen took me to Boondocks, where we initiated the 1st Annual Melinda Bird Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Skee-Ball tourney! Why is skee ball so darn fun? One of the great things about skee ball is that when you're done, you get to turn in your tickets for a sweet prize! We selected these, and are waiting for Kanye to call us to go on tour with him.

Then, on the evening of my birthday, we went to the Mandarin, and discovered that they were having a Dumpling Festival! Not only is dumpling one of my favorite words, but we discovered a whole new set of doughy, pillowy goodness. They were serving 5 new kinds of dumplings, and our favorites were the lemon shrimp and the duck with plum sauce. We learned that they do this every year, so I will be attending the Festival in 2011 for anyone who would like to join me.

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so fun! But next year, I really would like the husband that I've been requesting for the last 5 years.

The Sound of Summer

I heard it today, the first inkling of summer (nevermind that it was only 50 degrees today). An ice cream truck! That first listen of the season is always a happy thing, isn't it?

But why is it that all ice cream trucks play the same song, and why is that song "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" Of all the songs that the truck could possibly play, this one? Because what I really want to be thinking of when I eat ice cream is...ears. Anyway, weird.