Front Runner

So the commuter rail train, Front Runner, began service today. So I (James) decided to take the kids to the Roy station at 8:30am to welcome the train. When we got there we were able to grab a couple sandwiches, milk and juice and go and stand by the fence to watch for the train. At about 8:45am it arrived and we were able to wave to it and watch it come into the station. Colby though it was really neat and wanted to get on right then, I told him we would be able to ride it later in the afternoon.

We were planning a day trip to SLC, leave on the 3:15pm train, go to SLC, take TRAX to the Gateway, eat some dinner then head home about 6:00-6:30pm. What a great plan! So when Stephanie got home and we quickly got in the car and headed to the station. When we arrived, we encountered a huge line and the attendant said it was at least a 5 (that’s right...) a five hour wait, as they were only letting 30 people per station ride. We decided it wasn’t worth the wait and came home. Colby was very sad and upset cause he wanted to ride the train, we told him we would on a different day. 

About 5:30pm, Colby was still sad because he still wanted to ride the train, so to help cheer him up we told him we would go to Wendy’s for dinner. After we were done eating dinner, we decided to just drive by the Roy station to see how busy it was. When we got there the lines were short, so we decided to go for a ride. The line to Ogden was very short and we waited about 30 minutes for the next train to arrive. Once we were on the platform the UTA guy said the lines were getting short up and down the line and if we wanted we could ride into Ogden, stay on the train all the way back down to SLC and then ride back to Roy, so we did it.

What a fun ride! The train is awesome, we were able to sit on the upper deck and get a great view of peoples back yards, and the back of their houses, and even see what a few were eating for dinner! When we got along side the freeway we easily were traveling just as fast, if not faster than the cars on the freeway, plus the ride was so smooth, it hardly felt like you were moving. Some of the seats had a little table so you could get our your laptop on the ride down and use the free internet access available on the trains, what a great idea! The seats were comfortable and spacious and the views were great! It was a fun afternoon!

Steph's 100

ok, here is my 100 list.  A list of 100 things about me.  Next week we will do 100 things about James, then Colby and Abby’s lists will follow.

1-I once fell out of my bedroom window.  It was a two story window, and I didn’t break anything.

2-I play the flute.

3-I play the piano.

4-I love to find great deals on anything.

5-I am a chocolate lover.  Cover almost anything in chocolate and I will eat it.  

6-I love music.

7-I like to dance.

8-I taught dance to little girls at Dance Image for about 2 years.  It was really fun.  

9-I don’t eat Ham.

10-I had a dream about Hampton the pig (he was a cartoon).  It was  terrible dream and at the end of it Hampton ended up on a pizza.  It still makes me sick to my stomach.

11-I was in a car accident when I was eight.  I got over 100 stitches.  Some in my head and some in my right knee.

12-I have two kids.

13-My oldest son Colby is a really good kid, but can sometimes be wild.  My mom says he is the boy version of me.

14-People use to call me “Step-on me”.  It was a nickname from full house.  I didn’t like it so I would step on them.

15-I put my arm through a glass door when I was a kid.  The glass door brought and cut up my arm really well.  I thought I was in trouble so I ran away from my mom when she tried to get me.

16-I love Lake Powell.

17-I used to go hunting with my dad when I was a kid.

18-I love the mountains.

19-I am a BYU fan.  I kind of have to be with who I am married too!!  But I have to say, after almost 7 years of marriage, I do love BYU!

20-I went to Europe for my high school graduation trip.  I  stayed for over a month and visited Greece, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, England.  It was a blast!

21-When we were in Paris, France won the Europe cup for soccer.  Our tour bus was attacked by a mob.  It was actually really scary.  People surrounded our bus, and even jumped on our bus and tried to get it.  

22-I married my husband when I was 4 days away from being 20.

23-James I dated for 6 months before we got engaged.

24-We were engaged for 5 months before we got married.  

25-I don’t like tomatoes, but I love salsa.

26-I was voted one of the nicest people in Rocky Mountain Junior high when I was in 9th grade.  There were 2 people nominated.  I was the girl and Seth Hancock was the boy.

27-I was in the band in high school.

28-I work 9 hours a week at America First Credit Union as a Senior Loan Officer in the Indirect Lending Department.

29-I have worked at America First for 8 years.

30-I am related to Abraham Lincoln.

31-I was raised with 2 sisters. 

32-I love it when it rains, and we have thunderstorms.  I lay awake at night and listen to it.  

33-I love to get the mail.  I watch for it to come.  Weird!

34-I wish my skin wasn’t so.......pale.  I tell everyone I am creamy-but let’s be real, I am pale!!

35-My first car was a 1985 ford tempo.

36-When I turned the wheel of my car it would squeal.  Everyone could tell when I was coming.

37-My car once started smoking...but I kept driving. I was almost home.

38-I have only gotten one speeding ticket.

39-I have pretended to be my sister on the phone.  She has a phone phobia.

40-My piano teacher called me Zelda Marie.

41-I once toilet papered someone’s house and got caught and chased in the car!

42-I am not very patient.

43-I had braces.

44-I broke my wrist doing backhand springs.  I had no idea and just kept doing them.

45-I was a cheerleader in the 9th grade.

46-I tried out for cheerleader for the 10th & 11th grade.  I didn’t make it and thought my life was over.

47-I went to San Francisco with my high school band in the 11th grade.

48-I get really nervous and say dumb things under pressure.

49-I love to scrapbook.

50-I love to read.

51-I have read the Work and the Glory series twice.

52-I would love to travel to Jerusalem.

53-I have never drank, smoked or done any drugs.

54-I stole an eraser when I was little.  My mom found out and made me take it back.  I never stole again.

55-My mom once told me I would have a little boy who would keep my hands full, but I could handle it.  WOW, that came true!

56-My great grandma is from Holland.

57-I am a Latter-day Saint (Mormon)

58-I love to sing, but I am not a good singer.

59-Sometimes I sing opera to my kids.  My mom did that to us when we were kids.

60-I grew up in Hooper.

61-I have always wanted to name a little girl Abby.

62- I met my husband at work.

63-I love ancient history.

64-I don’t like Math.

65-I have an Associates degree from Weber State University.

66-I hate Sponge Bob Square Pants.

67-”Stephanie” is a greek name.  It means crown.

68-I would love to be able to dance like the people on Dancing With The Stars.

69-I graduated from high school in 2000.

70-People tell me my feet are weird.

71-I love to decorate my house.

72-I had a crush on a foreign exchange student in High School.

73-I am a dork at heart.

74-I have driven to Salt Lake only once.

75-I like to go for drives in the car.

76-I love animals.

77-I have one brown eye, and one eye that is slightly lighter and more green looking.  Basically I have two different colored eyes.  I depends on what I wear if you can tell or not.

78-I tend to be a little dramatic.

79-I love accents.

80-I don’t like confrontation.

81-I sell Mary Kay Cosmetics.

82-I am not a good liar.

83-I love to travel.

84-I have been rafting down the Snake River.  Intense!  I used to go every year.

85-I like to buy stuff on the internet.

86-I love Christmas time.

87-I don’t like to take medicine.

88-I love to play with my kids.

89-I love nap time, when I get to relax a little.

90-I love to eat out.

91-I don’t like Las Vegas.

92-I have so much toilet paper in my closet, I don’t know where to put it all.  But I keep getting it because I got it free.  

93-I get nervous when I am in front of people.

94-I am a very religious person.

95-I believe we are all children of God.

96-I always wanted to go on a mission.  And then I met James

97-I am a back seat driver.

98-I am not a shoe person, I am a purse person.  I love purses.

99-I am afraid of the wind.

100-I am very organized and carry around a planner.

And there you have it! 

Survivor

I am a big survivor fan.  I watch it faithfully every Thursday night.  And last night I was shocked!  How in the heck was Ozzy dumb enough to get voted off survivor last night?!  I am so mad at him.  He knew there was trouble and didn’t even play his immunity idol!  Wow, I was completely shocked! I would have liked to have wiped the smile off Jason’s face.  Jason was the one who should have got voted off last night. He really annoys me.  Any way, I am completely shocked and horrified that he was voted off.  I still can’t believe it.  Now I don’t know how I wanted to win!

Byu Spring Football Game

It was time for the annual Dickson Family BYU Spring Football Game extravaganza weekend and boy did we have a fun time. Check Out The Pictures Here..... We started our wild and crazy adventure by going to Chucky-Cheese on Friday night... And WOW!! That was one crazy place, there were kids running around crazy everywhere... Grandpa Dickson had to only beat up a few kids to get to play ski-ball. 

We then went to the Hampton Inn just off of the freeway in Orem and went to our room, which was very nice. Grandpa and Grandma had bought some fruit and we spend the night eating grapes, strawberries and oranges! While the kids ran around crazy. Finally about 8:30pm it was time to get the kids to bed. Two hours later, about 10:30pm they finally fell asleep, I guess being in a new place and the excitement of the game the next day wouldn’t let them go to sleep. 

The next morning we went and ate breakfast at IHOP and now Colby wants to eat breakfast every morning at IHOP. We then went back to our hotel room and played a few card games and finally after a little bit it was time to make the drive to the stadium.

When we got to the stadium Colby quickly found our seats for us, right on the 3rd row and waited until it was time to go out on the field for the kids clinic. Once we got out on the field Colby ran a few drills and got some autographs. In the picture below Colby was so fast running the linebacker drill, mom missed him, but you can see his leg in the picture, right below the blocking pad.

Colby got a bunch of autographs on posters that were handed out at the front gate. Colby even got to give a player his autograph.... We were walking around the field and saw Travis Bright, I asked Colby if he wanted to get “Brights” autograph, he said he did so we walked over and asked for his autograph. Travis Bright was so nice, he bent down and talked with Colby, asked him his name and asked Colby where he wanted to him to sign his poster. After Bright was done signing the poster, he then asked Colby for his autograph. Colby looked at him with a stunned look on this face, finally Stephanie got the marker and helped Colby write his name on Travis Brights forearm (which is the size of my leg). 

We also got our picture taken with a few other players. Like Max Hall, Austin Collie, and Jan Jorgensen.

Colby ended up with about seven autographs, he got autographs from David Nixon, Shawn Doman, Max Hall, Austin Collie, Travis Bright, Brett Denney, and Jan Jorgensen.

All in all it was a great day.

Play Date with Cousins

We had such a fun day today!!  Colby and Abby’s cousins, Ethan and Logan came over to play.  I think it was the easiest afternoon we have had in a long time.  Ethan kept Colby entertained and Logan kept Abby busy.  Colby and Ethan played Transformer with Mega Tron and Optimus Prime.  Abby showed Logan around the house.  Then they found a tub full of balls and decided it would be fun to throw them down the stairs.  Abby and Logan were just laughing!!  It 

so funny!!

At dinner time we set everyone around the table.  It looked so cute!  The kids were really good.  Ethan said the prayer, I can’t remember what he said, but it was really sweet.

Then we went outside to play.  Abby and Logan played on the slide for a while and then Colby and Ethan decided to come outside too.  They were so cute playing together.  I enjoyed watching them so much, I actually got to make dinner without breaking up a fight between Abby and Colby!!  I think I will see what they are doing tomorrow, maybe we can have a double header!!

Chick Day

Dallas Green has chick day every year.  On saturday they had over 300 chicks and ducks at their store.  By the time we made it there around 4:30 they only had 30.  They went fast!!!  We took the kids over to see the chicks at Grandpa’s work.  Colby and Abby were fascinated.  Colby and Abby even got to hold a duck, Colby only dropped it once...oops!!!  They had such a good time.  Colby wanted to bring one home...fortunately for us, we can’t have them in Roy city.  (good excuse!!)  Maybe next year.  

Abby Doodles Playhouse

Doodles is a little nickname that somebody (maybe Grandpa Dickson) came up with for Abby. Today, I found a quilt that we usually keep upstairs stuffed away in brothers closet. So we dragged it back downstairs to help keep everybody warm, as soon as Abby saw it, she wanted to make a playhouse. As this long lost blanket, is the playhouse blanket. So we pulled the cushions off of the couch and stacked them up length wise in front of the couch, leaving a little opening just big enough for Abby to crawl through and then put the blanket over the top.

She was excited to have a play area all for herself and dragged all of her little toys and blankie inside. She wanted it all for herself and got mad whenever brother would try and climb in.

Help!! Colby bitting his nails

I need some advice....Colby is bitting his finger nails (& toe nails, gross!!) and I can’t get him to stop.  He hardly has any fingernails left.  He does it when he is nervous or concentrating.    I think I am going to have to bribe him to stop.  He said he wanted a BYU wall. I think I am going to make a BYU helmet and put stars on the helmet when he is doing good and not bitting his nails.  When he gets the BYU helmet poster all filled up I will take him with me and get some vinyl lettering vinyl lettering and put “Brigham Young Cougars” on his wall.  What do you guys think?  Any other suggestions...I am desperate!!

Piano Girl

Abby is our little piano girl. She absolutely loves to play the piano. We will hear multiple times a day, Abby’s little feet running across the room, the sound of the piano cover going up, Abby grunting as she pulls herself up on the piano bench, then her sweet little music. Abby also loves to play the piano with mom, whenever mom is playing the piano Abby is sitting right next to her trying to play the same song.  

I think Abby is going to be a talented music person, she loves to sing and dance. Every once in a while we will catch her singing a little song she learned in nursery; Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree are two of her favorites.