Sunday, July 29, 2007

only in wyoming...

a couple weeks ago clint and i got to go back to lovely wyoming... and this picture pretty much sums it up...

yes, those are sheep in the middle of the road. your eyes are not fooling you. these are the kinds of things you'd think would not surprise me anymore after living in wyoming for whole summer last year, yet somehow i am always shocked and amazed at the total craziness that is so completely opposite of my little california world. this happened to us twice in 2 days - stuck driving through a herd of sheep. by the way- for those of you who ever find yourselves in this position, apparently the thing to do is to just keep driving. obviously not at high speeds, but the sheep tend to kinda get out of the way if you drive slowly at them. smart cookies, those sheep. i guess i'd get out of the way too.
anyhow, the trip in general was fun.
here are some highlights (of course the sheep was at the top of the list)
1.meeting a new nephew - amber and ryan's #3: mason trey young. it was fun to hold a squirmy squishy little one and have him cuddle up on my belly next to his cousin
2. 10 year reunion- yes, since we made it to my reunion, we had to show up to clint's as well - this happened in two parts - first, with his buddies and their families, and then with the actual class reunion (i must say - very different from mine - a picnic at the park with kids and pregnant girls everywhere instead of drunken dancing and watching random classmates hook up and make fools of themselves!)
3. camping-this was part one of the reunion - all of clint's best friends met up in the uinta mountains to go camping with the families - i think i should get a gold medal for this one - i love camping, but at 7 1/2 months pregnant? let's just say i was not too pleased with the number of times i had to use the disgusting latrine bathrooms! at least it was fun to watch clint in his element with his boys. (and i was also glad to not find out any crazy secrets about his past- turns out he was always a good guy:)
4. sulphur creek- this was the family's attempt at taking out the wave-runners - sulphur creek is the lake in evanston, no one likes to go there, and now we know why - cold water, crawdads everywhere, long grass in the water that gets stuck in the intake - it was a good try, but not exactly successful.
5. 4th of july- no fires this year! at least none we were responsible for! it's always a good show in evanston on the 4th of july!
6. amber and ryan's new house- we got a first time look at the new house amber and ryan bought this year and all the hard work they've put into it.
7.kenzie talking - all the kids have grown up so much since we last saw them, but kenzie was the most noticeable. she talks up a storm!!
8. diego and sophie- our puppy diego was so happy to reunite with his first puppy friend, sophie. he was also just thrilled to be able to hang out on the grass in the backyard all day.
9. seeing the addition - after all the work clint put into the erickson's addition to their house last summer, we were finally able to see the fruits of his labors. with wood floors, paint, furniture, etc - it looks absolutely amazing and is the perfect space for the whole family. it was really neat to see it all come together.
10. 16 hour drive home - ok, so not exactly a highlight - we happened to drive home (again- driving for extended periods of time this pregnant is not recommended!) on the worst possible day - the day that the huge fires in utah forced the 15 to be shut down for 100 miles, and the day everyone and their mothers were heading home from vegas after the apparently lucky 7-7-07. i was not exactly a happy camper when our air conditioning stopped working just past vegas in bumper to bumper traffic. clint later commented "you are much nicer when it's cool." yes dear, i am. then i warned him we just may never be able to drive to wyoming again.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Apparently I am cheesecake.... What are you?





You Are Cheesecake



Rich, sweet, and simply perfect.

You're not boring - you're just the best!



10 years??

Certain times in my life I have realized, "man... I'm getting old!" I remember feeling that way when my "little" brother turned 25, and when my freshman roommate told me she was pregnant with number 4... Things like this always seem to catch me off guard... So, when talk of our ten year high school reunion came around, I couldn't believe it could possibly be here. Was it really 10 years ago that I put on that lovely green cap and gown? 10 years ago that I got ready to go off to college and thought nothing would ever be as cool as high school? 10 years ago that I was a size 4 and didn't know how great I had it? 10 years ago that I thought I would never make as good of friends as I had then?
Well, 10 years it is.

Some fun facts about 1997... remember this?
*O.J. Simpson was found liable in civil suit
*Heaven's Gate cult members commited mass suicide in California.
*Timothy J. McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombing.
*Ellen Degeneres outed herself. She becomes the first openly gay woman to have her own sitcom.

*J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone was published in the U.K. It came to U.S. in 1998 as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
*Titanic crashed into theaters. It was the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
*A team led by Drs. Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell (UK) created the first sheep with a human gene in every cell of its body. The genetically engineered lamb is named Dolly.

*Popular music included Mariah Carey, The Spice Girls, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.

*The average cost of a gallon of gas was $1.22 and of a movie ticket was $4.59
*Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris

*The Simpsons became the longest running prime-time animated series.
*Madonna won Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy for Evita at the 54th annual Golden Globe Awards.

*The Notorious B.I.G. was shot to death while sitting in the passenger seat of a car after a Soul Train Awards party

*Songs like "Barbie Girl", "Let Me Clear My Throat", "Mmm Bop" and "Da'Dip" were heard all across radios and school gymnasiums.

*Dennis Rodman became the most contraverisal cross-dressing star the NBA had ever seen

*Cell phones and email had not yet reached mass popularity

*Overalls were still cool
*The dancing baby was born on the internet and spread as one of the earliest web trends
*Tickle Me Elmo was the most sought after Christmas present, some parents paying over $100 for the laughing little monster


Well, I'm glad we've moved on...


Most of us at least.


When I decided to go to my 10 year reunion, I had no idea how much I would be stepping back into that crazy time. Sure, no one was wearing overalls, and most had long forgotten Princess Diana and OJ Simpson, but not much else had changed.

I was already a little nervous to show up to the Hard Rock Cafe, La Jolla 7 months pregnant - and I have never felt more out of place in my life as I did walking through those doors. Granted, it was good to see some long lost friends, good to catch up a little, good to take a look at my life and realize how very lucky I am! Unfortunately, many of my classmates are still up to the same partying they were back then... from freaking on the dance floor to drunk boys hitting on me even though I was a) obviously pregnant, b) wearing a wedding ring, c) with my husband, and d) wearing a name tag that said " Jessica Mendioroz Erickson" - it was a pretty good reminder that I am so happy to be here in 2007 and not back in 1997. I felt so blessed to go home with my awesome husband and my big bulging belly to my beautiful condo and sweet little puppy and know that although my life may not be what some may call "successful," that my happiness and my family are what are really important in life.
Overall, it was probably the trippiest night of my life... glad I went... glad it's over...