Words words

I have this thing for words.  (Notice I said for words, not with words--I'm not being self-complimentary, I'm just expressing an affinity for something.  See what a difference in expression one little word can make?) Anyway, words.  I love them.  I love the way they sound and they way they look and how fun it is to learn new ones and how satisfactory it feels when you find just the right one that will say what you mean.  But there are just a few words that I really really don't like (is it normal to have a least favorite word?  Or is that just a word geek thing?)  Here it is, my least favorite word:  moisture.  bleah.   I hate saying it, I hate hearing it, and very much most of all I hate when people during prayers in church thank God for it.  Where and when on earth did this start?   If you're mormon, you know you know what I'm talking about.  Like when it rains.  Or snows.  Or any kind of precipitation happens.  And the next day at church someone walks up to the pulpit to say the opening prayer and out of their lips creeps a "we thank thee for the moisture we've received."  When what they really actually meant to say was "thanks for the rain."  When have you ever ever ever heard anyone refer to precipitation as "moisture" besides those prayers? In real life, in real conversation?  "Man, we really could use some moisture", "Oh look, it's moisturizing outside." No.  never.  so stop saying it in prayers.  You should probably eliminate it from your vocabulary altogether unless you're a weatherman or someone who tells people where their water damage is coming from.  (Wow.  didn't know I had that in me.  Apparently I have a lot of built up moisture rage.  Now go and tell all of your friends and family and let's stop this bizarre cultural epidemic.  And if you've never noticed it up until now--you're welcome.  I've just created your new biggest pet peeve.)
So,  the whole reason for this post is to tell you I discovered a new word that I hate:  haunches.  I went to a yoga class tonight and the instructor kept telling us to sit back on our haunches.  what???  what part of my body is a haunch? (because if there is such a thing as haunches there must be such a thing as a singular haunch and that just sounds stupid) and obviously I knew what she meant but there must have been a less horrible word she could have used to express herself.  She also kept telling us to articulate ourselves up into this position or down into that position and unless I'm missing something (and I don't think I am because I checked dictionary.com) she doesn't actually know what that word means.  Oh geez, I think I just found out I'm a word snob.  I'm going to stop now.

Does anyone else have a least favorite word?

Bumps in the night

Holy cow, there was zero sleep last night.  We progress and we progress until we get to a night where I think she's going to sleep the entire way through, 9-7 and then it all blows up in my face with an every hour love fest (and let me tell you, those are infinitely easier to get through when you see them coming.  The sneak up behind your back ones are hard.) I would say she is teething, but if she actually was for every time I said "what is going on?? she must be teething", she would have 3 full sets of teeth by now.  And in true Camryn fashion, she is now being extra adorable, smiley, and babbly--like she's making sure we still love her or something.  We tried to sleep in to make up for it, but there is a little elementary school playground close enough that we can hear it through our window and I really don't know what goes on over there, but these are not delightful little squeals and laughter of children we hear.  More like long drawn out screams of pain and agony.  It sounds like a we live next door to an insane asylum slash torture chamber.  So, Good Morning.  Permission to stay in my pajamas all day and laze around?  Granted. 

Zions National Park

The power cord for our laptop decided it doesn't really feel like charging our laptop anymore.  Grrr. . . I think I might have just enough time before it dies forever to post these pictures.   I don't have much to say--I don't think you really need a step by step itinerary of our trip.  Basically Tanner, Camryn and I took a short little 2 night vacation down to Zions and we loved it!  A lot of swimming, eating, and relaxing.  A little bit of short hiking. and ya, i think I'm about to loose power.  here you go!

That Curl

For a while, Camryn had this really awesome thing going.  She had exactly one teeny tiny beyond adorable curl on the top of her head.  Like a cartoon baby or something.  Her profile was pretty much to die for.  One day I realized it was growing out, and for fear that it might soon be gone, I got a little snap happy trying to get a perfect picture of her in profile with that one little irresistible curl poking up.  I ended up getting a lot of cute pictures of her that day, a couple of that curl (try holding a camera and telling a 7th month old not to look at you for the picture).  I'm probably biased or something but I think my baby is the cutest in all the land.  Alas, the curl is now gone, but thank goodness for modern technology so it can live on forever in photo form. 

secrets

hi.  so I have a lot of vacation pictures waiting in the wings that I've been meaning to post buuuuut my anniversary is next week and I have a super secretive husband who tells me I'm not allowed to look at the camera right now.  He left on a mysterious 6 hour outing last week with said camera in hand and returned with some pretty nasty bleeding scrapes on his shins and wouldn't tell me where he'd been, only that he was getting my "really really awesome gift ready".  I'm also not allowed to look in the back of the car or under his side of the bed.  And so far 3 packages have arrived.  AND he sold his Xbox to fund most of this and keeps talking about how much I'm going to love it, so I'm pretty excited to find out what the heck he's been up to.  If I was a snooper he would fail big time.  But then again, how do you keep anything secret from your spouse in a 2 bedroom apartment?

Today was the first day that we left the air conditioning off the whole day and it didn't ever get unbearably hot! yay for fall. I miiiiiss this. 

Error in my Favor

The greatest thing just happened.  I called Utah Valley Regional Medical Center to pay one of the last installments on our payment plan for Camryn's delivery bills.  One of the things that nobody warned me about when I was pregnant was that so many people are going to send you bills.  If I had just received one big fat total bill in the mail that said "this is how much it cost you to have your child.  please pay us",  I would have been fine.  But instead, the hospital sends you a bill for your costs, and then a different one for your baby's costs.  And then we got one from the anesthesiologist, one for x-rays, one from the OB-GYN, one from the pediatrician, and by the time that 8th envelope shows up in the mail, it's not even the overall cost that's stressful, it's the overwhelming feeling you get that there is a never-ending stream of you-owe-us-money-mail coming your way when you thought that the first one that showed up was all you owed.  Be prepared for that.

Anyways, here was a lot of confusion with our bills because I have 2 insurances and the wrong one was listed as primary, so the insurance companies were billed wrong, and then I was billed wrong.  And then they realized the mistake and I had to talk to too many people on the phone and long annoying story short, I had a bill in my hand that as far as I understood was finally correct and final and I was calling to pay part of it.  (and I really actually didn't understand, insurance is just so insanely confusing to me that I had thrown my hands up in the air and decided I was sure enough that it was correct to just go ahead and pay it).

After listening to the dumb recorded message, pressing 1, then 0, then 1 again, then saying my member ID # in a loud, clear, robotic voice (and then saying it again because they got it wrong because duh computers can't understand English and they should just let me speak to a human being) and then listening to another list of options and angrily saying "speak to a representative" and then waiting through 8 minutes of hold time, I finally got to talk to a real person.  (I love call centers, can you tell?) 

He said "well, there doesn't seem to be a balance on your account, so what can I do for you today?"
I was confused and told him about the bill in my hand. 
"Hmm, let me take a look at the account here."
I laughed and jokingly said "I really hope you're about to tell me that my bill disappeared and I don't owe anything."
And then the really awesome thing happened:  he told me that my bill had disappeared and I don't owe anything.

!!  really?  really.  Apparently when they reprocessed my claims correctly (which I thought they had already done, but I guess not), the insurance company paid way more and almost $1,000 of what I owed, I don't owe anymore.

I feel like I just drew that chance card in Monopoly:  Bank Error in your favor, collect $200!  And wow, I'm not sure how I turned that into such a long story, but there you go.   Insurance is still insanely confusing to me, but this time I'm going to take it, run, and stop asking questions!

To celebrate we went to Station 22, a fairly new little sandwich place on Center Street.  Have you guys been there?? It's so amazing.  Very much an indie, eco-friendly, buy local, we-recycle-our-cardboard-and-support-local-business kind of place.  With vegan options on their menu, art on the brick walls, and a cozy corner with comfy chairs, magazines and games.  We were going to share and I told Tanner to get whatever he wanted and he ordered Sage Fried Chicken on Waffles.  wha???  Do I just never try new foods or does that sound wierd?  It was amazing.  Absolutely amazing, and the music was great and the weather was stormy and I was a haaaappy girl.  I don't really ever shamelessly advertise like this, but places like that deserve to do well.  Go eat there.

And did anyone see Mt. Timp tonight??  Beautiful.  And the sky was one million bright bright shades of blue, pink and purple.

It was a good night.  Good good night.

Adventures on my bicycle

well.  in case you remember my mileage goal for July and have been just dying to know how that went down, here it is.  The goal was 180 miles on my bike.  And. . . . I made it 174.  I was 6 miles short.  six.  But I'm really not too down about it because that last ride on the last day of the month I was pushing my way up Provo canyon loving the ride, feeling great and like I could go forever, and. . . I had to turn around to make it home on time to feed my baby.  And those are just the kind of little sacrifices that you have to make when you're a mom (especially one whose baby decided to refuse to take a bottle anymore.  future moms--you should listen when you're doctor tells you to give her a bottle every couple of days so that she'll remember how to take one).  And it's ok.  Sometimes I wonder how far and long and hard I could go on that thing without time restrictions.  If I didn't have to squeeze in my ride between the end of my shift and the beginning of my husbands and between feedings.  But then I'm just grateful to be able to squeeze them in at all, and grateful that I have a nice bike and a healthy body and beautiful places to go riding, and a hard working husband and lovely baby to come home to and then I get over it. 

Here are some of the adventures we've had together so far this summer and the things I've learned:

I ventured out into west Provo.  Far enough to pass cornfields and lots of sunflowers, cows, and horses.  And something about knowing I live that close to cornfields, sunflowers, cows, and horses makes me feel good about life.  And there is one spot with a good view of Mt. Nebo that completely makes me feel like I'm in Guatemala and it's beautiful.  Utah Lake is a common destination of mine.  If I have time I stop and sit by the Lake and wish so hard that it was the kind of lake without disgusting water--one that you could actually swim in and come hang out with your friends on the beach kind of lake.  Then Provo would have everything I think. 

One day I got caught in an absolute downpour and it was the highlight of probably my entire month.  I LOVE getting caught in the rain.  I made it to bridal veil falls that day, and by the time I stopped to rest there I was completely soaked and dripping.  It had been so dang hot all month and that ride was so nice and cool and refreshing and I can't even tell you how happy it made me so I'm just going to stop trying.

Let me just say I feel really dumb having such a nice bike but knowing absolutely nothing about how the thing works.  I need like a bike mechanics 101 class or something.  It leads to some really awkward moments like having to ask the bike shop guy to come look at my bike to tell me what size I need to replace my tube.  And one day when for some reason my brakes were misaligned and rubbing my tires and I could not figure out how to adjust it even though I could tell it was just some tiny little thing that needed to be done if I just knew where to tighten it.   And it was.  But it made me feel a little better when the nice high school kid in the bike shop couldn't figure it out either and had to get his boss to come help (who fixed it in about 2 seconds and didn't even charge me.  Thank you Mad Dog Cycles).   The kid also made me feel better when he told me that some guys will come into the shop with like $10.000 triathlon bikes (yes, people do spend that kind of money on athletic equipment) with flat tires.  It made me feel less spoiled and incompetent if that makes any sense. 

My dad taught me how to change and patch a flat tube which is way harder and than you might think (or maybe just for me).  While doing so he said my tires looked practically brand new which totally hurt my ego.  He also told me never to go on a ride without a patch kit, spare tube, hand pump, and your cell phone so that you don't get stranded miles and miles from your house with no way to get home but walk.  Which advice I did not follow and had to learn my lesson the hard way.  I had only gone 4 miles and did have my cell phone except that almost every single person I know in Provo decided not to answer their phone that day.  And to be honest, even if I had everything I needed, I'm not sure I could have fixed the tire myself anyway in a reasonable period of time.  So I got to have the really awkward experience of accepting a ride from a good Samaritan college freshman who pulled over and asked if I needed help.  Making smalltalk for 4 miles made me feel like I was on a first date and I will probably never forget my patch kit and pump again.

Roadkill is pretty hazardous for a biker.  And I have seen more varieties up close and personal lately than I care to go into detail about.

I really really really appreciate bike lanes and smooth, clear roads more than ever before.

I discovered while on vacation that Jackson Hole, Wyoming is pretty much the cyclists paradise.  I felt like I could explore the place for an entire summer and still not even hit every trial, not to mention that most of them are in beautiful national parks.  I got in a few completely amazing rides and want to go back just for that.

I also had a long chat with my husband about how someday we are going to bike across the entire country, coast to coast.  Yep, totally doing that.

As I was lamenting to my dad the fact that I need some cycling buddies and that I don't know any other girls who are into cycling, let alone that live in Provo, he told me that most bike shops have "bike clubs"  that will meet weekly or so for rides and that's a good way to learn a lot about biking, to get a lot better, and make friends who you can go with!  I just found out Mad Dog Cycles has a ladies only group Thursdays at 10:00.  But I'm pretty sure Tanner has class then.  I may need to recruit a babysitter and muster up the guts to go!

All of you should start roadbiking.  It's the greatest thing ever.