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!