Come on Down!

I have fond memories of sitting in my grandmas living room eating sugared cereals on a vinyl table cloth watching game shows while my grandma sat on the couch getting her ironing done with the board at its very shortest setting.  She watched several, but The Price is Right was always a favorite.  

A few weeks ago my friend Brandi asked if I would join her on a little trip to LA to go to the taping and cross our fingers we'd be selected to be contestants.  I hadn't seen the show in years, but it sounded like fun to me!  We left this last Monday evening and drove down to our hotel.  We had to be at the CBS Studios at 8:00 am.  We mostly just waited around all morning in a line sitting on benches chatting with each other and those around us.  It was some fun people watching to be sure.  It was 5 hours of people watching with an occasional little task like giving info so we could get our name tags, signing a quick consent waiver, Taking this gem of a picture in front of the wheel, turning in our cell phones, and a group interview. 

They seated each group in different places in the audience and Brandi and I were thrilled with our front row seats. I was directly next to the last of the 4 contestants.  They never did call our names to come on down, but with where we were seated we are certain to be getting lots of screen time.  I hope I do't look like a total tool because by the time we got in there we were pretty friendly with  a lot of the people who ended up as contestants.  I was genuinely exctied for them, but they kept telling us to clap more scream louder,  scream longer.  By the time we were done taping I had broken a blood vessel in my pinky finger, I was hoarse, and we were both exhausted!! It was a fun day, a great trip and we were glad we went, but I don't know that I need a round two of that. Too much time waiting around could only be worth it if I heard them say,"Jen Bohn, come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right!"  

 *Our daytime TV debut is scheduled for October 15th

Where's the Beef?

 I just have to share my most recent disaster.  Because it was a disaster, and when disaster strikes you can either laugh or cry right? At least thats how the saying goes... I have a few other sayings floating around in my head that seem to appropriately fit the situation as well.  Like "too many buns in the oven" or "too many irons in the fire".  But before I go any further I need to be clear.  If you're either laughing or crying when disaster strikes, I am definitely laughing.  I might also be shaking my head and saying "you've got to be kidding me" but I am definitely not complaining here. Just figured that if my life looks like a big joke sometimes I might as well share and let everyone else in on the laughter too. So get ready to laugh with me at this ridiculous chronicle of events that ended in my most recent disaster.

I have had the privilege  of working with the youth at church quite a bit and love my time with them.  

The girls I worked with at camp this last year were so awesome and we have been trying to figure out a time to all get together to do something fun.  When I saw a few of them on Sunday night they threw out the idea of coming to my house for lunch during this first week of school.  They let me know it was a really short period of time that they were free, but it sounded fun and I was excited to have them over.  We planned for today, but until last night the numbers were unclear so I hadn't done any shopping yet. 

When I finished up with my school day routine of exercise and taxiing of children to various locations I went to my moms where I was planning to meet the granite guy.  I was instead met by my mom letting me know about a huge issue we had with our painting going on inside of the house and trying to formulate a new game plan and order of projects on the remodel.  I got a call from the granite guy letting me know he was running behind schedule and wouldn't be here for a while.  I ended up painting instead of going over the granite stuff and showering and getting my shopping done for lunch.  It had to happen to keep us on schedule.  When I finished with the granite guy I raced home and realized I was now really pushing it for time.  I gave my helper a grocery list and some cash and sent her to the store so I could shower and start getting food I already had prepped.  I was just out of the shower when she came back with briquettes for the bbq.  I threw on my robe and went out to get them started.  I went in and started getting the rest of the food ready while they were heating up.  Just as I 'm thinking the charcoal should be ready I head out to check on them only to find that they had gone out and the BBQ was cold.  I got them started again but it was too late.  It was 12 and the kids should be on their way over at that very moment.  I still had wet hair was in my bath robe and had no main dish to feed the 10 mouths showing up at any minute. 

My hair went into a messy bun. I threw on clothes and some mascara and then started on the burgers in the kitchen with 2 frying pans! It was soooo not the yummy BBQ I had planned but I was just gonna roll with it.  I was sooo worried about getting the kids fed in their super short lunch period that I turned the stove up a little too high.  The outsides cooked way too quickly and not quickly enough.  The kids came to eat and instead had fries and pasta salad and waited for their burgers. They were nasty.  crunchy on the outside and one was even under cooked on the inside.  GROSS.  The inside of my house was filled with that fried heavy denseness that seems to permeate everything and it was even a little smoky.  Grease was everywhere.  Around the stove, kids were waiting for their food and when they finally got it, it just wasn't that great. 

Just like they had warned me, before I knew it  they had to get going.  I felt so bad and hoped I wasn't sending them away hungry, but was sure that they would comment to eachother that those were the nastiest burgers they'd ever had.   

Just as the house emptied out the charcoals out back were piping hot and ready for cooking.  Well at least I was going to get a few good burgers out of the mess.  I put them on the grill and got started de-greasing my kitchen.  I was so wrapped up in it that I was surprised when I smelled that distinctive burning scent and then quickly remembered the remaining burgers on the grill. 

Sure enough, when I got out to the BBQ, these ones were burnt too. Awesome. 

I was already feeling so bad that lunch had been such a bomb, but now the food I was hoping would feed my mom and the girls working at the house was ruined now too! Such a waste! I spent an hour cleaning up the kitchen and still have fans going in the rest of the house.  I've tried looking back at how I could have avoided the situation, but the painting mess had to be taken care of.  The granite guy being late was out of my hands but again, I really needed to meet with him to keep things on schedule.  And so it went with each step of the way, seemingly un avoidable.  Still a little a bit frustrating to have something I was looking forward to turning into such a mess. But, there is a bright side. There always is...the one from today is this: By the time the kids were ready for dessert they were already so distrusting of my food that they left me almost this entire 9x13 pan of warm Ghiradelli brownies! 

So I may have ended up with a stack of burned beef but I got a pan of warm chocolate out of it! I'd love to see a saying about that!

Hope it's Happy Shelley!

Some people have a way of bringing out the funny in every situation

Some people know just how to make things beautiful

Some people keep it classy

Some call the shots

Some are like super heroes 

Some make you laugh harder than you ever have before

Some people are up for adventure

some take opportunities to find the beauty around us

Some help to give you a better perspective

Some run through life smiling

Some people have a grateful heart

Some people know how to make friends easily

There are some who will enjoy all the same things you do

and know how to have a good time doing them

Some people are the easiest travel companions

Some people aren't afraid to dive in and figure things out

Some people are beautiful inside and out

Some people just make you happy

Some people don't take themselves too seriously

Only some people think it's fun to scramble up rocks and around rivers to get to the next waterfall

Some people were just made to run the show

Some people are so amazing you're just grateful you got to be along for part of the ride.

Sometimes people come into our lives and teach us things. About ourselves and about life. They lead by example and leave an impression on our hearts, their friendship irreplaceable. I know someone who is all of the above and today is her day.  I hope its perfect and fabulous. I hope she spends it laughing and loving. I hope today she gets a glimpse of how much she is loved by so many.  Happy birthday to one of the best I know. 

Bohn Reunion 2013

The Ted and Sherry Bohn Family Bohn Reunion 2013 was in Park City this year.

It has been years since we've seen so many of Todd's girls. All three of the triplets were there and Tiphanie too!

Ted and Sherry were loving having so many of their grandkids together

Whenever we are with Jeff's family he falls into his role of tickle monster with all of the nieces and nephews.

My boys took the opportunity to get in some good grandpa time

Todd Bohn Todd Forbush and and Jeffs big sister Trina 

Brothers...goofballs!

Todd and Ashlie

The family just hanging out in the condo

The kiddos loved the hot tub out back.

Most of the crew on the first day before Todd and his girls left

The next set of pictures are from my run the next morning.  It was amazing. I kept stopping and looking around in awe at my surroundings!

I ran up the trails at the ski resort and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I am certain I haven't run on trails as beautiful ever before! 

It felt so dang good to get up to the top of the trail I was taking where I met up with my niece Briannah

We ran through these amazing trees

then down through the ski trails

We felt like champs by the time we had wrapped up our 10 mile run

Back at the condo everyone was getting ready for a fun day at the Alpine slides

Specer and Ilah's daughter Briannah came with us 

Jeffs two sisters with their families

Briannah and Brynne

View of the slides from the lift

I love the gorgeous Aspen up there!

Spence embracing his inner 10 year old!

Trina

The Rowans

cousins

Everyone was done after the slides but we coudln't get enough.  We kept Annah with us and gave the ziplines a go!

Garrett

Drew

This zip line was sooo long and soooooo fun!!

Brynne wasn't big enough for the zip lines so she went with Sharisse and her girls to the trampolines and didn't feel like she was missing out one bit!

Next up was the Alpine coaster!

I got to ride with Brynne and she is such a little dare devil! she kept telling me to make it go faster and faster until we were FLYING down that track!

By the time we left we all agreed that this ranked as one of the most fun days we have had as a family!

Back at the condo everyone gathered around after dinner for a message from Grandpa Bohn followed by a talent show.

Brynne got some good snuggles in with Grandpa while the others were performing

We were even treated to a surprise dance from Ryan when his girls played a fast paced number on their violins!

Spences family sang for us

Lauren played the guitar and sang

Drew and Brynne represented our family with a song and a dance. 

Two of Trina's kids sang for us as well.  Those Bohn's have one musically gifted family.

We wrapped up the night with several fun rounds of reverse charades

I think the highlight of the trip for Brynne was time with Sharisse's girls Cambri and Brookie they were like the three amigos and never one with out the others.

Before we left Park City we had a lady snap a few pictures of the family 

And thats a wrap for the reunion of 2013!