Please decide if each of the following statements is True or False for you, in order to determine the similarity or difference of my Olympic experience from yours:
1. I stayed up WAY too late every night for the past two weeks watching the Olympics.
2. I got up too early several times to watch the Olympics.
3. I watched three or more Olympic events online.
4. I got angry when someone who had already seen who won an event spoiled it for me while I was watching it on primetime.
5. I almost cried/actually cried EVERY time an American won a gold medal and they played our national anthem, and I can't even blame pregnancy/postpartum hormones anymore.
6. I enjoyed synchronized swimming more than I thought I would.
7. I gave my husband a 10 minute lesson on how pass a baton when both American 4x100 teams dropped theirs.
8. I became an even bigger Kerri Walsh/Misti May-Traener fan when I found out they are both dying to have babies.
9. I now consider myself an expert on gymnastics scoring.
10. I was/am tempted to buy the Opening Ceremonies on DVD.
11. My child watched so much Olympics that she started having her cars and animals do flips on the couch and her bath toys jump off the bathtub faucet and flip and splash into the water, followed by thunderous applause.
12. My child had numerous learning opportunities from the Olympics, such as pointing out the "K" on the marathon gold medalist from Kenya's chest, and recognizing the "grand old flag" everywhere (I sang her that song once and it stuck- that's what she calls the American flag).
13. I loved watching handball and badminton, two sports I'd never seen before, very cool!
14. I am going to have Olympics withdrawals, it's a good thing football season starts this week or I don't know what I'd do!
Yay for the Summer Olympics, see you in London in four long years!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Grocery Store Review
So I went to Macey's the other day and was reminded again how much I hate shopping at Wal-Mart, my usual grocery store. Here is a side-by-side comparison of my local grocery stores that will tell you exactly why. I've given each store a score on a scale of 1 to 10 in several categories: Location, Prices, Selection, Quality/Overall Feel, Checkout experience, and Service.
#1 Location
Wal-Mart- 8 this is the main reason why I shop here. It's only 5 miles from my house, right off the freeway in Payson.
Macey's- 3 the closest one is in Spanish Fork, this is why I never get to go there. :( I save myself at least $16.50 in gas per month by not driving all the way there to shop.
Smith's- 7 it's a couple miles farther than Wal-Mart.
Payson Market- 6 it's a couple of miles farther than Smith's.
#2 Prices
Wal-Mart- 8 they are cheap in general, and Wal-Mart brand stuff is usually a few cents cheaper than generic brand anywhere else. But they have NO SALES! Or fake sales, like "look these Oreo's are 17 cents on sale and they have been for the last 8 months!!"
Macey's- 9 cheap prices and great sales all the time.
Smith's- 5 definitely more expensive, but they do have some good sales. I HATE having to be a "member" though.
Payson Market- 8 they're pretty cheap.
#3 Selection
Here they're all about the same, except Payson Market has less. and Wal-Mart's candy selection stinks.
#4 Quality/Overall Feel
Wal-Mart- 5 We all know Wal-Mart is ghetto. Payson's isn't too bad, but I've still had a cashier tell me a dirty joke, and it's not always real clean in there. Mainly I have a problem with service there(we'll get to that category!!) and the very low quality produce at Wal-Mart. You have to pick through the fruit and vegetables to find good ones. Not cool.
Maceys- 10!!! First of all, they have car carts, big shopping carts that look like cars and your child can sit facing forward and drive them... the coolest thing ever! They have GREAT quality produce and the store is clean and organized... ahhhh, I love Maceys... Also at our old Macey's in Provo I lost things in the store several times (wallet, shoes, etc.) (we used to go there like every day) and they were always at the service desk by the time I got there to ask for them.
Smith's 7 It's pretty nice, no car carts though :)
Payson Market- 5 a little dingy and ghetto.
#5 Checkout experience
Wal-Mart- 1 this is the main reason I hate shopping here. Every time, EVERY time I go there I end up waiting for like 5 hours in the checkout line. Why do they even have all those other lanes if they NEVER use them?? But the problem isn't that the store's so busy, usually there's only one, maybe two people in front of me in line, but the cashiers are purposely trained to be slow, I swear. They take their sweet time, chatting away about their lives (always), or one time I got this kid who was getting ready to leave on a mission and he was practicing his "building a relationship of trust" or something, he would ask a question and then stop checking items to listen and respond! Ridiculous. So finally it's your turn, and you have to watch the screen for each item because somehting is ALWAYS the wrong price, seriously Kristi warned me about this and she was RIGHT. So you have to correct them, and then you have to be trying to hurry and put your own bags in your cart, while you pay, oh my. Terrible. And don't even get me started on self-checkout.
Macey's- 10!! completely opposite experience. They always have plenty of lanes open, the checkers are FAST and so nice, they actually have baggers, who will run and switch something for you if you accidently got the wrong thing, put your bags in a new cart if yours is full of a baby carrier, and push that extra cart out to your car for you!! And they give your child a free piece of candy, so nice.
Smith's 6- they're not super fast or helpful, just okay.
Payson Market- 6- fine.
#6 Service
Wal-Mart- 2 Boo. I have waited way too long at numerous counters in that store for an employee to show up. And when they do, half the time they're incompetent. And most employees (except the nice greeters) treat you like a nuissance. Not helpful or friendly. The Pharmacy's decent, that's what the 2 points are for.
Maceys- 9 All of their many employees are helpful and friendly. There's ALWAYS at least one person stocking produce, and everywhere you look there are employees around checking on things, ready and willing to assist you. And THEY ask if you need help! Also, a couple of Macey's trips ago, Katelyn was crying for some reason when we were in the produce section, and the nice man there gave her some smarties and a banana for free and talked to her so nicely and she was happy the rest of the trip.
SMith's and Payson Market get a 5. Average.
So there you go. Maceys, please PLEASE come build a store in Santaquin! We will all shop there, no one likes Wal-Mart! Please.....
#1 Location
Wal-Mart- 8 this is the main reason why I shop here. It's only 5 miles from my house, right off the freeway in Payson.
Macey's- 3 the closest one is in Spanish Fork, this is why I never get to go there. :( I save myself at least $16.50 in gas per month by not driving all the way there to shop.
Smith's- 7 it's a couple miles farther than Wal-Mart.
Payson Market- 6 it's a couple of miles farther than Smith's.
#2 Prices
Wal-Mart- 8 they are cheap in general, and Wal-Mart brand stuff is usually a few cents cheaper than generic brand anywhere else. But they have NO SALES! Or fake sales, like "look these Oreo's are 17 cents on sale and they have been for the last 8 months!!"
Macey's- 9 cheap prices and great sales all the time.
Smith's- 5 definitely more expensive, but they do have some good sales. I HATE having to be a "member" though.
Payson Market- 8 they're pretty cheap.
#3 Selection
Here they're all about the same, except Payson Market has less. and Wal-Mart's candy selection stinks.
#4 Quality/Overall Feel
Wal-Mart- 5 We all know Wal-Mart is ghetto. Payson's isn't too bad, but I've still had a cashier tell me a dirty joke, and it's not always real clean in there. Mainly I have a problem with service there(we'll get to that category!!) and the very low quality produce at Wal-Mart. You have to pick through the fruit and vegetables to find good ones. Not cool.
Maceys- 10!!! First of all, they have car carts, big shopping carts that look like cars and your child can sit facing forward and drive them... the coolest thing ever! They have GREAT quality produce and the store is clean and organized... ahhhh, I love Maceys... Also at our old Macey's in Provo I lost things in the store several times (wallet, shoes, etc.) (we used to go there like every day) and they were always at the service desk by the time I got there to ask for them.
Smith's 7 It's pretty nice, no car carts though :)
Payson Market- 5 a little dingy and ghetto.
#5 Checkout experience
Wal-Mart- 1 this is the main reason I hate shopping here. Every time, EVERY time I go there I end up waiting for like 5 hours in the checkout line. Why do they even have all those other lanes if they NEVER use them?? But the problem isn't that the store's so busy, usually there's only one, maybe two people in front of me in line, but the cashiers are purposely trained to be slow, I swear. They take their sweet time, chatting away about their lives (always), or one time I got this kid who was getting ready to leave on a mission and he was practicing his "building a relationship of trust" or something, he would ask a question and then stop checking items to listen and respond! Ridiculous. So finally it's your turn, and you have to watch the screen for each item because somehting is ALWAYS the wrong price, seriously Kristi warned me about this and she was RIGHT. So you have to correct them, and then you have to be trying to hurry and put your own bags in your cart, while you pay, oh my. Terrible. And don't even get me started on self-checkout.
Macey's- 10!! completely opposite experience. They always have plenty of lanes open, the checkers are FAST and so nice, they actually have baggers, who will run and switch something for you if you accidently got the wrong thing, put your bags in a new cart if yours is full of a baby carrier, and push that extra cart out to your car for you!! And they give your child a free piece of candy, so nice.
Smith's 6- they're not super fast or helpful, just okay.
Payson Market- 6- fine.
#6 Service
Wal-Mart- 2 Boo. I have waited way too long at numerous counters in that store for an employee to show up. And when they do, half the time they're incompetent. And most employees (except the nice greeters) treat you like a nuissance. Not helpful or friendly. The Pharmacy's decent, that's what the 2 points are for.
Maceys- 9 All of their many employees are helpful and friendly. There's ALWAYS at least one person stocking produce, and everywhere you look there are employees around checking on things, ready and willing to assist you. And THEY ask if you need help! Also, a couple of Macey's trips ago, Katelyn was crying for some reason when we were in the produce section, and the nice man there gave her some smarties and a banana for free and talked to her so nicely and she was happy the rest of the trip.
SMith's and Payson Market get a 5. Average.
So there you go. Maceys, please PLEASE come build a store in Santaquin! We will all shop there, no one likes Wal-Mart! Please.....
Sunday, August 17, 2008
$2 Deals!!
We were up at Eric's parents' house yesterday and a couple of things at their neighbor's yard sale caught my eye. I went over to check these out, thinking about how much I would be willing to pay for them.
The tags said TWO DOLLARS each and I was like you've got to be kidding- sweet! So we bought them, and Kate loves them both, but especially her car. She has spent hours in it already! The best $4 I've ever spent. :)
Monday, August 11, 2008
our trip to California!!
We got to spend last week with my family, it was wonderful. A little quiet with Donny and Katrina on missions and Jonathan at EFY part of the time, but so fun. Whitney's so friendly and Kate's so hilarious right now, so I think my family enjoyed themselves too. :) Here are some pics.
Few of you may know that I had a pencil collection when I was little. I spent a bunch of time last week going through the last of my "stuff" my mom has been keeping for me. So we took this picture, and then I gave most of my pencils to my sisters. Yay.
Kate at my dad's vineyard. We feasted on so many delicious grapes last week!
My girls' only cousin!! They really did have fun together. Natalie's so cute and Katelyn LOVED to talk to her and delighted at all the things she could do. "she's crawlin!" "she's drinking out of a cup!" and of course she screamed when Natalie touched her Lightning McQueen.
we went to the coast for my mom's family reunion and my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party!
it was SO FUN to be with everyone!
Kate just wanted to roll around in the sand at the beach.
Melissa and Derek showing Katelyn how to bury her feet
watching Jenae "catch a wave"
in a whole my aunt Shawna dug
hanging out by the fire before we had s'mores!
the next day at our picnic at the park- uncle Jonathan won Katelyn over pretty quickly!
Grandma and Grandpa Hansen with their 3 granddaughters!
My Grandmom and Grandad with their 7 great-grandchildren! Yes, 4 out of the 7 are crying in this picture. And 4 out of 7 are under a year old, so cute.
Whitney, Natalie, and Katelyn one more time!
and look what appeared in our garden while we were gone! Our first crookneck squash, cucumber, and 2nd and 3rd zuchinis. Delicious.
Few of you may know that I had a pencil collection when I was little. I spent a bunch of time last week going through the last of my "stuff" my mom has been keeping for me. So we took this picture, and then I gave most of my pencils to my sisters. Yay.
Kate at my dad's vineyard. We feasted on so many delicious grapes last week!
My girls' only cousin!! They really did have fun together. Natalie's so cute and Katelyn LOVED to talk to her and delighted at all the things she could do. "she's crawlin!" "she's drinking out of a cup!" and of course she screamed when Natalie touched her Lightning McQueen.
we went to the coast for my mom's family reunion and my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party! it was SO FUN to be with everyone!
Kate just wanted to roll around in the sand at the beach.
me and Allison and our kids!
Melissa and Derek showing Katelyn how to bury her feet
watching Jenae "catch a wave"
in a whole my aunt Shawna dughanging out by the fire before we had s'mores!
the next day at our picnic at the park- uncle Jonathan won Katelyn over pretty quickly!
Grandma and Grandpa Hansen with their 3 granddaughters!
My Grandmom and Grandad with their 7 great-grandchildren! Yes, 4 out of the 7 are crying in this picture. And 4 out of 7 are under a year old, so cute.
Whitney, Natalie, and Katelyn one more time!
and look what appeared in our garden while we were gone! Our first crookneck squash, cucumber, and 2nd and 3rd zuchinis. Delicious.
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