Build a Bear

The future of this blog....

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately.  And one of the things I have been thinking about is this blog.  Rick and I started this blog shortly after Katie was born.  It was a great way to communicate with our family and share pictures of our new baby.  The blog and the blog address represented our family.  I wanted to use the blog for journaling about our family.  That was four and one half years ago. 

Things have changed since then.  The blog evolved to be not only about our kids but also about me.  Also Rick and I have changed since then and we are no longer "Rick and Tiffany Vincent."  He is Rick Vincent and I am Tiffany Hales.  I want a blog that is more representative of who I am these days. 

I am going to start a new blog.  A blog that represents me.  I have some ideas, but haven't completely formulated the final product.  For now I will occasionally post about the kids here, but this blog no longer feel like the old friend it once was.  So be patient I will be under construction......

Seriously???!!!

Went to a dance competition at Riverton High School recently and this was the sign outside the dressing room for our studio.

Ummmmm.....not even sure what to say?  But what I really want to know is when they have a football game to they say "No pad, helmets or cleats"  Or how about a debate tournament "No legal pads, computers, papers or pens".  Perhaps they tell the bands arriving for band competition "No instruments or noise."

Now do you think for one minute we paid any attention to this sign?  Of course not!

Do we look smarter?

 Recently Katie swiped Uncle Brian's glasses.  What say ye?  Does she look smarter or just sassier?

 This one does not need anything to look smarter, she just naturally is smarter!

The day the TV died......

It is no secret that I am a fan of reality television. As in trashy reality television. I can't help myself, I am a product of the first MTV generation. Real World, the grandfather of reality television came about in the early 90's and I was hooked. I watched every season through Las Vegas. The Las Vegas season did me in as far as Real World was concerned. Those Vegas kids were just waaayyyy to out of control, and I lost my appetite for the Real World after that.

Good news for me, by then reality television had become quite main stream and I had a bevy of other shows to chose from, including Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Mole (Anderson Cooper, host, pre-CNN days) Dancing with the Stars, Jon & Kate plus 8, Dirty Jobs, Living Lohan, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Hopkins 24/7, My Sweet 16, I could go on, and on, and on.....

Then there is the mother of all reality television, a network called Bravo. Basically there is not a show on Bravo I would not watch, with my favorite of course being The Real Housewives of.....(enter just about any city) My favorite Real Housewives cast is Beverly Hills, with Atlanta being my least favorite.

And for the record I want it to be known that I do have standards when it comes to reality television, I draw the line at Jersey Shore. I will not watch that show.

I like to argue that my love of reality television is not only generational, but also a product of my career choice. A good attorney is curious, and voyeuristic. You want to know more, you want to understand more, you want to see the whole picture. You want to peer into the lives of others. So see I really can't help myself......

So on Sunday night, as I was sitting at my computer typing decisions, with the television on as background noise, all of the sudden I heard a "pop" and the television went dead. This can not be a good sign.....it wasn't. At first I thought I would be looking at a new television, until the light came on indicating that my lamp had an issue.

Now being the daughter of a television repair man, I figured I could handle the job. (You would not believe the number of Saturday nights my dad went out for a service call at 5:30 for a little old lady, so she could watch Lawrence Welk at 6:00 p.m.) After gaging on the amount of dust behind my television, and debating the necessity of a mask...I began examining my television for where a lamp might be located. On the side I found a lever that when pushed popped off the side of the television.

At first glance it appeared to be an empty storage area of the television, but upon closer inspection I saw an sign that said "Caution! Refer to the instruction manual before replacement. Lamp door is provided with an interlock to reduce the risk of excessive ultra violet radiation. Do not defeat its purpose or attempt service without removing door completely." SERIOUSLY!??? I have to find the owner's manual???? I live in fear of the attempting to find the owner's manual. Now I know where it is, because I never throw that stuff away, but that does not mean it is easily located in the LARGE box of owner's manuals in my storage room.

I decided a would rather risk a little radiation, than attempt location of the owner's manual. Digging a little deeper I notice another lever, that had an open and closed position. Turned the lever, pulled another door out. Ah ha, I had reached the lamp. Only problem I could not figure out how to get the lamp out. I pushed, I pulled, I grabbed, I wiggled, and that darn lamp would not come out. Again, not wanted to locate the owner's manual, (trust me its a really, really, really LARGE box) I went to the Internet, armed with my make and model number. I LOVE the Internet. One Google search later I had the owner's manual on line. Figured out I needed to pull up and out, on the lever holding the lamp in place, and a nano-second later the lamp was removed, revealing a broken bulb.

Next day a quick visit to the TV repair shop and $180 dollars later I was sporting a new bulb. Now to install the bulb....one google search, and a YouTube video later I installed the bulb into the lamp. Put lamp back into TV, powered up TV, NOTHING. Ok, well technically I had a flashing red light indicating I had not reinstalled the lamp into the TV correctly. I mess around. I wiggle, I giggled. NOTHING. I gave up in frustration. Rick came over to see the kids and gave a shot at re-installation. NOTHING. Another night with no TV, things were reaching critical mass.

Next day, Jeff and Matt gave a shot at re-installation. NOTHING. In the realm of fixing things I at least know when to cut my losses, and call in the experts. Back to the TV repair shop, this time TV in tow. The TV repair man wiggled, giggled, and snapped the lamp right into place.

Now before I took the TV into the repair shop I carefully labeled all the cords coming out of the TV, knowing that I would have to put them back into the TV. I re-attached all cords, and fired up the TV. Good news, I had a picture, bad news all the people on the TV were a lovely shade of smurf blue. Arruuugggggg!



Now back to that fine reality TV, I have some catching up to do!

I am sooo JEALOUS

My cousin Brooke lives in St. George, and due to the extreme weather, growing actually grass is in a word, challenging.  So instead of grass she has astro turf.  Do you know how cool that makes her?  It makes her Brady Bunch cool!  And well in St.George it does not look out of place, but I thinking in Provo, I might not be able to get away with that.....alas, I will have to settle for visits with Brooke, and Brady Bunch reruns.

Lips and bubbles.

Oh, my silly Lauren, the other night she blew a bubble and when it popped, it popped perfectly over her lips, leaving her looking like she was wearing lipstick.  Now that takes talent!

The Van.

Recently on a trip to Idaho I took the opportunity to take pictures of my dad's old van.  This van, oh if it could talk!  For as long as I can recall my dad drove this van.  It took us on family trips, it took our bikes to the greenbelt, it took ALL my stuff to college, and it took my dad to work everyday.  He loved this van. 

The first color I recall it being was a metallic light blue.  I don't think it was the original van color, but its the first color I recall.  Then somewhere along the at got painted cream, with cool 70's stripes.  (With the right paint, I thinking it could double as the "Mystery Machine."  I want to be Daphne, she is the smartest dresser.)

Check out the "mag" wheels.

Pimped out with antennas for optimum KSL reception.  (KSL, home of the Cougars, my dad's favorite radio station.  He was very thankful for their strong broadcast signal that allowed him to listen to KSL in Idaho.)

Check out the leather wrapped steering wheel!  And you can see the metallic blue paint I recall.

No respectable van from the 60's and 70's is complete with out the matching shag carpet, custom installed by "big Noel" himself.  He also built the center console with the CB radio.  The bottom part of the console is storage, and my dad always kept some yummy candy treat in there.  You could sneak out to his van and steal a treat!

Finally, you will notice the gas tank INSIDE the van.  (Where were the lawyers???!!!  Liability I tell you!)  How many vehicles do you know where you have to open the door of the vehicle to access the gas tank?  Better yet, don't ask how many times I sat on the gas tank, while driving down the road. (It had a padded cover over the top) This van, seat belts were not optional, it never came with seat belts to begin with.  Its a classic, I tell you! 

One red coat and a whole lot of attitude.

 Last week, Lauren, apparently longing for winter, decided to dress Katie up in her winter coat and do a fashion shoot. 

 I only wish this attitude was only on display in pictures....unfortunately its on display ALL the time.

Ok, enough of that.

Iris Stout

I promised a link to Iris' obituary and here it is:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=iris-stout&pid=153303631

Go and read about this incredible women, and you will understand how proud I was to not only be her neighbor but also related to her.  Iris was never a woman who needed to be 'liberated' not only did she get her bachelor's degree, she obtained a masters, and and worked for the Bureau of Reclamation as an editor for the Colorado River Project, a report that defines how water is appropriated, even to this day.  And she did this in the 1930's long before being an educated, working woman was the acceptable norm.

But more important than her professional accomplishments were her family.  I never had a visit with Iris when she was not talking about her children, and grandchildren and how proud of them she was.  If she was not talking about them she was talking about her wonderful, handsome husband, and how much she loved him.

When I grow up I want to be just like Iris. 

A 1/2 Tee.

You know mother necessity is the mother of all invention.  Well my mother necessity need a shorter shirt to wear under my sundresses and summer shirts.  I HATE the line that a regular t-shirt gives when you wear it with a sundress.  To me it just looks tacky.  Plus in the hot summer months I don't want the added layer of fabric.  Now I have seen some 1/2 tees, but the the sleeves are minimal, and would look great on 21 year old arms but no MY arms.  So I decided to create my own 1/2 tee. 

I started out with my favorite shirt from the GAP outlet.  Its a great shirt because it is a cotton/spandex mix, so it feels good and with the spandex it retains its shape.

I promptly cut half the t-shirt off.

Next was elastic.  Although the photo does not show it really well, I found some elastic that had a scallop decorative edge.

Then I sewed the elastic onto the end of my shortened t-shirt.

Perfect for those summer shirts, and dresses.

I liked it so much I made it in pink....

and in black!  I am cool, comfy and stylin'.

Bummin....

I am have been bumming for the last 36 hours. My good friend, relative and neighbor Iris Stout passed away on Wednesday night. Iris was an incredible lady and I wrote about my last visit with her here:

http://rickandtiffanyvincent.blogspot.com/2011/02/each-life-that-touches-ours.html

She was 103 and passed away peacefully in her sleep, surrounded by one of her daughters and another neighbor who became an adopted daughter. I will miss Iris very much. When her obituary is published I will post a link so that you can read about what an incredible life she had and why she was special to so many people. I will be forever thankful for the lessons about beauty and grace I learned from her.

My time in Purgatory

About four weeks ago I was happily minding my own business on a Tuesday morning.  It was shortly after 7:00 a.m. and I had just hopped out of the shower, and the 7:25 a.m. news break was just starting as I was drying off.  (I have a TV in my bathroom.  Now don't laugh, honestly it makes a lot of sense.  I spend a minimum 90 minutes in there each day between getting myself ready and the kids ready, so its a handy place to keep myself abreast of current events while bathing the kids and myself.) 

The lead story for the 7:25 news break was the arrest of a large counterfeiting ring in Hurricane Utah.  I listened and watched as they listed off the names of the three individuals arrested.  As the last individuals mug shot was posted on the news I recognized him.  My brother. 

So here I am standing naked, wet and stunned in my bathroom learning my brother was currently in Purgatory.  (Yes, ironically it is the name of the Washington County jail.)  I have to say I was not surprised.  He has a history.  I have suspected for sometime he was probably up to no good, but as far as he is concerned I had a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.  I am sure if I had asked he would have told me, but honestly I didn't want to know.

I also knew I was going to be making a trip to St. George.  With both my parents deceased I am the parental figure.  In addition to suspecting he was up to no good, I also suspected he had a drug problem.  So I decided to let him sit there for a week before I went to see him.  I figured he was pretty mad about being caught, and that I needed to let him sober up, and work through some anger before I saw him.  Rick offered to take the kids and I left on a Sunday afternoon.  I really enjoyed my drive down.  It was three and a half hours in the car, with NO KIDS!  I could actually think a complete thought. 

The first place I wanted to go was the place where my brother had been living.  He had been living in Hurricane, and since that is on the way to St. George, I decided to do a "drive by" of where he was living, since I knew I would be going inside th next day.  I knew that he had rented a hotel, as in an entire hotel, because he told me he was using the first floor for business and sleeping on the second floor.  He made it sound really creepy to me, and in "The Shinning" creepy.  So I have in my mind that it is the big huge 20,000 square foot building, when in reality it was only about 5000 square feet at best.  Smaller than my house. 

When the cops arrested him they had executed a search warrant, and seized a bunch of his property.  Since he did not own the "hotel," the landlord was less than thrilled with his activities and once the cops were done, the landlord wanted the remains of my brother's stuff out of the building.  Within 48 hours of his arrest I got a call from his CRAZY girlfriend, all in a panic about everything.  She said the cops trashed the place, which I am sure they did.  And then she went on and on and on about how this was the worst thing that has ever happened to HER!  How he was HER best friend, and he didn't have anyone else in his life but HER. (Hello???!!!! He has three sisters and a step mother who care a whole lot about him.)  How HER parents told HER not to be involved with him.  (I already like her parents) But "how do you stop loving your best friend?"  In a nut shell, she wanted me to feel sorry for HER.  I shut her down.  I was not buying the drama she was selling.  I needed to asses the situation, and determine how much property of his remained, and what I needed to do to get it packed, out of the house and up to Provo.  She finally got to the relevant facts, and I knew that I would have sufficient room in my Jeep for his stuff.

 I killed a poor birdy on the way down.  Sad.

Paper covering the windows, its so classic my brother.  Like the tin foil wrapped gifts.

I spent Sunday night with my cousin Brooke, who lives in St. George and made my entire trip worth it, by having so much fun girl talk on Sunday night.   I awoke on Monday morning to face my brother's music.  First stop his "hotel" and the CRAZY girlfriend.  Now I had expected I was going to have to spend a good majority of the day sorting and cleaning his stuff.  I will say this at least the CRAZY girlfriend cleaned and sorted.  (Honestly I am sure she did it to take ANYTHING of value before I got there)  So here are a few pictures of where he was living....lets just say its telling.....

 Yes, you can tell he was living there, by the tell tale signs of his food preferences.

 Monica , Bill and a cigar clock.

 Ok, at least he properly posted his business license.

 Dead, stuffed squirrels, posed and ready for action.

An outside garden, where he liked to eat.

After seeing his house and obtaining basically his clothes from his CRAZY girlfriend, I ventured to the jail to see him.  He had no idea I was coming.  He had not called anyone from his family, so my visit was a complete surprise.  He was sober and looked better than I had seen him look in several years.  He proceeded to tell me his legal strategy for getting out of all his charges, which I smiled politely and nodded my head.  (I decided I would let his court appointed attorney be the bearer of the legal news...., but a law school graduate, nor a realist, my brother is not.)  It was a nice visit and I am very glad that I went.  He needed to know I was there for him.

Over the course of the last few weeks he has sent several messages to me via, people who were in jail with him and then got released, and he so kindly provided them my telephone number.  I now have new and colorful friends thanks to my brother!  I put money on his jail account, I would much prefer the old fashioned idea of letter writing.  Its that too much to ask?

Finally I found this sign on his desk at his "hotel."  Humm....25% of the time?  I would have thought it was less.





Good Grief....

Good grief, I have nearly forgotten how to blog.  Not kidding, I went to down load this picture and had forgotten that blogger changed its picture upload format shortly before my last post.  I guess its been a while, so pardon my rustiness. 

Ok, in the last three weeks the following things have consumed my life:

1.  One hundred and twenty two cases, yes I said 122.  The picture above represents 52 that I did in one week alone.  It went something like this...44 the first week, 52 the second week and 30 the third week.  (My staff wanted to make sure I EARNED my two weeks off that I took after the third week)  That many cases in such a short amount of time nearly wiped me out.

2.  Nice little vacation/family reunion with the kids and family in Idaho.

3.  My brother got arrested, and I have been attempting to untangle the sorted mess he now finds himself in.  (That will be a blog post in and of itself.)

4.  The month of August....well and technically speaking August is not over.  Every year since 1995 the month of August has been in one word HELL.  For all sorts of reasons.  In a nut shell, every year I find myself significantly busy and sleep deprived in the month of August.  This year is no exception.

September 1 can come soon enough.

Mother necessity.

For reasons too complicated to explain, I am going to start using my formal dining table for every day dining.  Now the challenge this presents is that the seats for the chairs are fabric, and a cream color fabric at that.  If you have met my children you are fully aware that they are sloppy eaters.  (Well Lauren not so much, but Mark and Katie....they keep my washing machine in business.) 

Knowing the messiness of my children, without some intervention, I knew my chairs would soon resemble a calico fabric littered with all sorts of colorful stains and textures.  So this is what I did....

This is the plastic wrap that you see covering traffic patterns on carpet at home shows to protect it from being soiled as half a million people tour the house.  Well just in case you wanted to know, Home Depot will sell you a roll or two.   I first bought it two years ago, because the new Jeep I purchased has a light tan interior, and the third row seat in the back that folds down, had carpet on the back of the seat.  I knew the seats would primarily be folded down as I hauled stuff around, and that I would have black car carpet if I did not take measures to protect it.  Its worked like a charm for the last two years. 

So I thought why not cover my chairs?  I did just that.  It too worked like a charm.  I had to place it over the chair and then trim to edges to fit.  But now my chairs are safely protected from impending damage my children could do.

Katie loved the scraps I trimmed off.  She stuck them together and made a gate for the stairs.

This is the face you make when your brother sees your gate and decided to bust on through, breaking your gate.  (Can you blame him???!!!  Its wayyy tooooo tempting.) 

This is the victory stance when you have rebuilt your gate. 

As for me, apparently my actions of covering the carpet in my car, and the seats of my dining room chairs, makes me one of those crazy people who cover their furniture in plastic..... I would recommend long pants if you don't want to "stick" to my furniture...  See I am just encouraging people to be modest.  Really I am not crazy.