Taking away some of the Mystery

So, in trying to find my blog from my sister-in-law's computer I found several definitions of snollygoster. I didn't know it had real definitions:
1) Haughty, disdainful snollygoster a shrewd unprincipled person, esp. a politician.
Not to be confused with, Snallygaster : a mythical monster of Maryland, invented to frighten freed slaves (compare snollygoster)snallygaster.

OR

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source
snol·ly·gos·ter (snŏl'ē-gŏs'tər) Pronunciation Key n. Slang One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles. [Perhaps alteration of snallygaster, a mythical beast said to prey on poultry and children, perhaps from Pennsylvania Dutch schnelle geeschter : Middle High German snēl, quick (from Old High German) + Middle High German geist, spirit (from Old High German).]

In this process I found a cool site called: "Worthless Word For The Day." It's fun if you like words, like I do.
http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd/Frame1.html

Four--finally

Four Jobs I've had:
1)Taco Time--learned how to skate on floor grease in order to prevent skidding all the way into the freezer. Worked with good Ogden folk.
2) BYU Library--Bindery Prep--3 years? Best library job because it was on the 6th floor and we could talk and listen to the radio. That's where I became converted to country music. Lots fabulous conversations with Thomas from South Africa. Come to think of it...he loved to hash out hypotheticals. He was pretty much a male Jessica. Lots of funny conversations from "magic hands" Dave. He was a sports trainer medicine and did all rub-downs on the football players. His sister married Ty Detmer. He was the most friendly person I've ever met. Our boss, Kathy and Dave and I took a walk to the CougarEat with him and counted 50 people he greeted by name. Kathy and I together--2. Dave was very unlucky in love though, and that was a source of entertainment as he would come and relate his latest failures and then crack a joke and get over it.
3)Guam Cable News TV Reporter. "Reporting from Agana, this is Sarah Cresap, Cable News." Yeah, I was big on Guam (o.k., not so big). Hey, and I even anchored the news on Saipan two nights and who knows how many of the 18,000 residents and 80,000 Chinese sweat shop workers saw those broadcasts.
4) Reporter Guam Business Magazine. Favorite job of all time. Couldn't beleive they paid me to do it. Wait, they hardly did! But I didn't care! Loved the writing. Loved Sondra's AP Style quizzes from a jar. Made friends for life: Virginia, Sondra, Abby. I love you guys!!

Four Movies I can Watch Over and Over:

1) Napoleon Dynamite
2) So I Married an Axe Murderer
3) Just Like Heaven
4) Nacho Libre

Four Places I Have Lived:

1) Huntsville, UT
2) London, England
3) Chillicothe, OH
4) Guam, USA

Four Favorite TV Shows:

1) So you think You Can Dance
2) Lost (though I'm turned off now--the last season finale was too brutal)
3) The Office
4) Gilmore Girls

Four Places I've Been:

1) Jerusalem
2) Shanghai
3) Acapulco
4) Fremantle, Australia

Favorite Foods:

1) Anything with Sun-dried Tomatoes
2) Nectarines
3) Dragon Rolls from Osaka
4) Dark Chocolate

Four Websites I visit Daily:

1) Nelson blogs
2) Yorks blog
3) Ellis blog
4) lds.org--so handy

Four Places I'd Rather Be:

1) Right Here--I'm surrounded by handsome men
2) London
3) A warm beach with no UV rays and someone cornrowing my hair
4) Watching Wicked again

Four People I'd like to tag
1) The Yorks
2) Sondra
3) Abby
4) Jen J.

Gear Check

Yep, Clint's new back pack can hold 40 pounds. He's headed for the Wind River Range this coming weekend.

A Splash of the Past

This week we did Free Tuesday at the Rueben H. Fleet. Summer crowds are brutal. The boys didn't seem to mind but Mom got tired of losing Jack every 5 minutes. Their favorite part hands down: playing in the fountain afterwards. They were thrilled. By the end they were wet up to their necks. They must have said, "That was fun!" 50 times. This from the boys who refused to admit they had fun at Disneyland. They are very much into the cool and unimpressed attitude most of the time.
So here's the question. Was it safe to let them play in the fountain? The bottom was black, but not slimy. It was definitely not culinary water. The safety cult of today would say--maybe not such a good idea. But as girl I remember following the irrigation ditch two-miles into town. We squeezed under cobwebby cement and wooden bridges that had only 8 inches of clearance between the water and them. Today's parents would have freaked. All I know was it was a lot of fun and every icy plunge was a challenge against fear, discomfort and the unknown. "One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go!"

Mission Trails Hike

Last Saturday I was having a super busy day. Clint offered relief by taking the boys on the hike. As they were suiting up, it became clear to Jack that the other brothers had camelbacks and he did not. The lower lip was pathetic, "My backpack?" It reminded me of the time I forgot Jack could eat solid food and I got the older two boys Krispy Kreme donuts and none for him. So sad. So Clint made a detour to REI and got Jack his own camel back and hike hats for all of them. At the store and on the trail everyone who saw the three of them thought it was the cutest thing they'd ever seen. Clint took them on the visitor center loop then up the River Hill--killer full-mile climb (you should remember this by bike Tyler, Ike, Chris, Joey and Katie). This is where they stopped for a snack of Cliff Bars.

Tal Logic

Sometimes we wonder what it would be like to live in the mind of Tal. Here are some interesting glimpses from the past couple of days.

Tal was getting a late night snack and was under a time limit because it was 9 p.m While staring intently at his "yummy-yummy bun" (toasted bun with butter and parm) he says under his breath, "Ignore, ignore, ignore.." Then he puts it into his mouth, "Ow!" I ask, "Tal, what are you doing?" He says, "I want to eat it but it's too hot!"

Tal: Mom, are there mouth boogers?

Tal: Mom, how does a helicopter fly?
Me: By spinning the blades around really fast.
Tal: Oh. So they move a lot faster than I was doing.

Grover with the Hales

I'm so happy that Grover is becoming a habit for the Phil Hale Family. Our boys are rich with cousins their age. It's so great to see another generation enjoying the ranch with their cousins just like I did as a kid.

Usually our group is non-stop: 2 bike rides, 1 hike, 1 trip to the waterfall, and 4 board games a day. This year was more tame and that had a lot to do with Harry Potter: The Ghostly Hallows! Activity and conversation (by decree) were muted the first day as many were curled up around Harry. I finally finished on Tuesday and rejoined the living. Loved that book! Wow, what a ride Rowling has given us for 7 great books!

We had 3 four-wheelers that got a lot of use. Many hiked calf creek and we all did the Waterfall at least once. The Waterfall was like the river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because of all the rain. But the cliffs had been worn to perfect jumping shape and with the deep warm water--it was a blast!

2-Part Voices Reunion

I was so fortunate in July to have seen all my "Voices" friends! I went to "Wicked" with Michelle and Jen on July 7th. We met in Hollywood at 2 p.m. and chatted and went out to eat at a Wolfgang Puck's restaurant till 7 p.m. when we walked down to the Pantages Theater. It was such a wonderful time! Jen and I hadn't seen Michelle in 6 years!

Two weeks later, in Utah, I went to the Ogden temple with Marisa and Gina. Marisa had 100 names to do initiatory for. We did 49! We didn't get to talk much but it was a wonderful to be there together! I love these girls! And I say 'girls' because we were definitely feeling our age to think of all the time that has gone by since we first became friends.

Utah Trip

We went to Utah for 2 weeks. It was the first time in 2+ years Clint and the older boys have been to Northern Utah.
1st stop was the Nelson's--who "tagged" us to start this blog. So blame them. The Nelsons arranged pizza and a babysitter for all the kids and we went to see the Harry Potter movie. Loved it! My favorite Harry movie, even though it was my least favorite Harry book.

Next stop was Orem/Lehi. Had a great time getting re-acquainted with the Legas clan. Cole really enjoyed playing with Maren's twin 4-year-old boys, Eli and Roddy. They were definitely up for wrestling. We had to laugh though, because we don't think Cole realized there were two of them! This interchange made me realize the wrestling genes come from the Cresap side! The drama comes from the Hale side.

I got to attend a BYU Forum with my sister, Dr. Jenny Pulsipher, speaking on "Indiana Jones and the Adventures of Archival research." It was fantastic. I had to take pictures of one of the dozen or so signs I saw of her posted all over campus. The signs were 10-feet tall and they used her I.D. photo! How rude! And how rude that I'd post it on my blog. The hazards of being famous.

We stayed 2 nights with Cara and Scott. The boys loved playing with Ally in her castle and outside.

We can't go to Lehi and not visit Thanksgiving Point. We love that place. It has the largest dinosaur museum in the world (and cousin Nate Hale painted all the murals).