Facebook.

I hate that I am a facebooker. I do. I won't lie, I "hide" a lot of things on my wall. However I am not a crazy facebooker; I don't rely on it for valid information and I wouldn't go there first to get any. I also don't like when people EXPECT me to know things because they "put it on their facebook."

"Oh, you're pregnant?"

"Um, YEAH, didn't you see the sonogram on my facebook?"

"Gosh, no, how insensitive of me to have called you before checking your wall."

But I sure do enjoy the frequent changes it has. It's certainly not like blog's or email. The turn over time for facebook is really quick. It's great. And I like being able to throw things out there to find out new things, like recipes, places to go, hobbies I can adopt. Not to mention being able to stay in touch and up to date with people you don't see very often. Just enough contact with them- but not too much..

I do have a Top Six Things I Hate About Facbook list, though. Kind of an etiquette list, as it were.

1. Post NO MORE THAN three status updates a day. Beyond that and we feel like we are invading your privacy, or are way too involved in your day-to-day activities.

2. Be careful with your vagueness.. it's fun to make people think, but not to make them guess.

3. Don't bring death to facebook. RIP'ing someone on your status grants more disrespect than it does anything else, and again, makes the rest of us feel uncomfortable. Seek sympathy elsewhere.

4. Stop it with the Farmville. It is facebook cocaine.

5. Please don't "heart" things. Unless you are twelve. Otherwise you just look stupid.

6. Do you REALLY have 1,497 friends? Really? Only accept friend requests from people you ACTUALLY care to read about. Not just as a point to add to your popularity list.

Now, I understand I may offend people with this post. But really, I am just trying to give and gain some perspective on the whole thing. So I apologize in advance to those that this post offends, but know that if you are my friend on facebook, we are TRUE friends... cause I'll accept nothing less.

Durham Family Cedar City Trip

Since I can remember, our family has gone to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival. I have gone through many phases of this trip. Phase one, not remembering anything except being dropped off at the childcare center while the adults went to plays. Phase two, staying at the hotel and running a muck around the hotel with the other kids we had there. Phase three, being old enough to GO to the plays, but not understand them or understand why I had to sit still for so long. And phase four, adult only trip, nothing but relaxation in between plays and an appreciation for Shakespeare and his poetic language.

Now we are on phase five, complete go-go-go trip with getting kids dressed, fed, to sleep, into swimsuits, to the festival, to the childcare, hurry to the play, pick up kids, back to the hotel.... etc.

Nevertheless, it was so much fun and I am truly grateful that my parents are keeping the tradition alive. Grandma was an excellent hostess, keeping the kids entertained with generous amounts of gifts and snacks and plenty of hugs.

The festival has changed somewhat, the accents aren't as predominant as they used to be, and the tart wenches look like they are fourteen years old. However I am pleasantly surprised by the talent and my ability to absorb the plays for what they are and how they were performed. We saw Great Expectations and Merchant of Venice.

Playing "Mrs. Haversham" in Great Expectations, was Ellen Crawford who has played many roles on television. I recognized her immediately as one of the witnesses on Boston Legal, because Josh and I have been watching season after season lately. She played the housekeeper that may, or may have not murdered her employer. She sure did enjoy the festival though.

We usually try to make a trip up to one of the MANY national or state parks located in souther Utah. This trip we went to Cedar Breaks. It was quite beautiful with the gray overcast clouds and the bright red rock. I always find the outdoors breathtaking and consider dropping everything to come be a ranger.

Unfortunately Jack hasn't learned that appreciation yet and was being quite a stinker. But her reminded me a lot of myself, the first time I went to Yellowstone and couldn't stop complaining about one thing or another. And Josh was stuck on a phone call for the entire visit to the cliffs. But I captured it all on camera... so they can all enjoy it LATER.

Again, the beauty is indescribable, hence the pictures. I truly enjoy the air, the quiet, the smells and the tiny wildlife than surrounds you in these parks. It's like my Disneyland.

Carter, Laura and Dad. There they are.

Then we had a picnic at Navajo Lake. It was very peaceful and everyone had a good time whether it was throwing rocks into the lake, hitting golf balls into the lake... or fighting over hostess cupcakes.

The kids really enjoyed the Green Show and had fun dancing around with the "players" or whatever they are to be called. I enjoyed my tarts. All apple, summerberry, cheesecake and raspberry ones.

This girl is super awesome because she has a brown eye and a blue eye. Tessa and I had some good times together. We watched Toy Story together till midnight. Her favorite character is Slinky, the dog.

And this is Sadie. She looks like she's been abandoned at the Lake, but she hasn't.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I had a great time. I can't wait to move onto phase six, where my kids are old enough to either keep themselves company while Josh and I go to plays with other adults, or old enough to want to join us.

Perhaps that's phase seven. Or eight.

River Trip with a Bunch of Strangers

This last weekend I was lucky enough to go on a "girl's trip" to Jackson, and raft down the Snake River. At the very last minute, the only person that I actually KNEW dropped out, and I was left to make my very own new friends. I made sure to take note of all 20 girls' names, memorize them, and ask them questions about themselves. Maybe if I did these things more often as a teenager, I'd have more friends. Anyway.

(This is Nicole, she is a neighbor of a really good friend of mine, she was such a sport for dragging me along.)

We rafted 7 miles down the snake river, three different times. Each time was VERY different from the other. Sometimes it would be very mild, other times people got sucked into the rapids, other times we didn't really pay attention and ran into rocks. All of it was very fun.

We camped at Wolf Creek, just 20 miles outside of Jackson Hole. One night we ate dinner at El Abuelito's. It's a really good mexican place- that may have been "really good" because we were all starving.

I cliff jumped, which isn't a big deal for me because I love heights and water, but since I have had a child, I have this crazy sense of vulnerability that stops me from doing dangerous things.

But I did it.

The rest of the time we cooked and ate our own food, (provided by wonderful Nicole and Natalie..) and the rest provided wonderfully humorous stories. It was so much fun and I was very lucky to be included. So who wants to get together and do this with me?? Anyone?

Our "Family Picture"

We have never gotten a "professional" family photo before. So while in Florida, I had the tripod and my camera, I made an attempt.

Stay Tuned.

There are so many pictures to go through from our trip- that it will most certainly take me a while to get them organized and posted. So in the meantime, here is a lovely collage of Josh and Jack during a very professional photoshoot at Serendipity in Vegas.

..This is where I've been..

Where have all the sheet rock gone..

This time last week our basement was a swamp. It smelled, had all sorts of toys, glass, and living creatures in it.

This is where we are now.

(the most interesting part about this picture, is how you can see through 3 townhomes. Our cats have expanded their territories..)

(Um, Elliptical for sale...)

So this morning Michael Waddoups, who is the owner of our property management company, informed us that the insurance policy only covers the costs of clean up. Meaning that carpet, paint, furniture, ALL losses- are not going to be replaced. This infuriated the residents and made us all wonder why the flood insurance was mandated upon everyone.

Marcus, from Crawford U.S. Property & Casualty came to assess our damage for the insurance. He basically looked at the walls, measured them, and told us to make a list of all our losses, value and age of them. He ALSO mentioned that he "wasn't sure what policy we had, so he couldn't tell us what was, or was not covered."

So we are all basically left with little hope. However, we finally got to throw everything that was saturated in river water that was smelling worse and worse everyday, into the dumpster. Josh and I filled the whole thing, alone.

For the record..

It was more than a month ago that I went to pick up those bins. But I appreciate the Tribune caring enough about our community to come check things out.

"4827 got it the worst."

(click on photos to enlarge)

As you all know, we were attacked by the flooding going around northern Utah. On Sunday night around 10:10pm, Jack and I were getting ready to take Josh and his partner (who was running a little late) to the airport for a flight to New York. We noticed a cop in our backyard with a flashlight and went out on our deck to ask what was up. We saw that the Jasmine's parking lot was virtually a lake, and the cop said "We are having some water issues." I asked him if was bad, and he said ".....Yeah." He had a very unsettling look on his face as though he knew that something horrible was happening, happening FAST, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. He told us we should get anything important out of our basement, and just then, water came rushing under the fence toward our house.

Josh and I ran downstairs and pulled our plasma TV off the wall and carried it upstairs. When we got back down water was running down the walls from the window and the window well was filling up FAST. We carried more upstairs and before we could get back down we heard a CRASH. The window broke and water was GUSHING in our house at about the same force of the waterfall you see above.

We FRANTICALLY kept running downstairs to salvage things. The sectional couch came apart and each piece was floating around, bobbing in the ever-growing river pit in our basement. I cut my toe on the glass from the shattered window and they told me to stop going downstairs, and that I was going to need a tetanus shot. Josh's partner John gave up HIS flight to NY as well and ran downstairs to help Josh. They brought up shelves and as much as they could grab. We began to fear that water was going to reach the main level since it was climbing the stairs.

The water filled up just above 4.5 ft. It blocked the door to our storage area which kept us from getting anything in there. The water was murky, muddy and leafy. Everything was floating around, all of Jack's toys were swimming into places they've never been and clogging up any sort of drain.

Once the water stopped flowing through the window well, it slowly began to recede. But they were worried about how long it was sitting and handed Josh a sledge hammer to bash the toilet in to open up the drain for faster water drainage.

Everything floated except for the elliptical machine. The couches, Jack's playhouse, the shelving units lifted and turned over. All toys were buoyant. The line of debris on the wall shows the waters' maximum level, which turns out to be the most water out of all of the units affected.

Our "creek" that runs alongside our home is almost road level. The picture on the right with the ducks shows the river last year, and the bank that the ducks chill out on. Now, there are no banks, you could dip your toe in from street level. They are concerned it will happen again. What HAD happened, was the creek running along where Cottonwood Mall used to be what widened in anticipation for the new mall. in hopes to improve that area. But construction stopped. No one thought about how the river bank had been widened, and the bridge it goes under by Highland Dr. is quite narrow. That night after the snow had melted all day and the rains hit the canyons, the bridge became clogged with debris, and the water went up and over the road. It flooded Jiffy Lube, The Jasmine, then our homes.

We were evacuated and slept at my mom's. The next morning after they had pumped the water out, we found our basement in complete devastation. It was muddy, smelly, dank, covered in shattered glass, broken wall, saturated cardboard, and gazillions of toys. The couches acted as sponges and just absorbed the brown water. The carpet is down dark brown due to the inch of mud on it. Our walls burst due to the weight of the water and many holes popped through walls.

The window was double paned and caused LOTS of glass shard in the carpet. It was decided to be unsalvageable, along with the walls and doors. They finally turned off the power, making us consider that we had been running around in water that contained active plugs and power cords. But the circuit box was in the storage room, that was blocked during the flood.

Once we got into the storage room, we found it as though it were a sink hole. It was the dead end for the flood, so everything was pushed into a corner. It was all my holiday decorations and crafts, all Jack's baby clothes and baby toys. The crib, a computer, a laptop and the boxes of childhood memories I had just taken from my parents house.

The bathroom was full of mud since that was where the largest drain was created. Broken porcelain was everywhere, and the bathtub was clogged with river debris. We think they are both going to be ok- but obviously, we need a new toilet.

My stairs are a muddy mess due to us running up and down them from muddy river water, and many OTHER people running up and down to check it out.

Our backyard became a dumpster and our garage has become a landfill. I would say 75% of everything is destroyed. Most of it is in garbage bags and the rest is left out for the insurance people to come see, if they ever show up.

The disaster crew working on our house is AMAZING. Being that our house is in the worst condition, it is impressive that we are further along in repair than anyone else. Many neighbors are becoming furious with the lack of care and concern coming from our property management. They aren't taking any action to help us with insurance or ANYTHING. We've been told to leave everything AS IS so the insurance can look at it, but we have stinky, wet, dirt filled belongings growing mold and creating ecosystems in our houses. None of us can just sit around and not clean up. So I have obviously been taking a lot of photos.

The line across my torso is the line that was created on the bathroom mirror from how high the water got, giving you an image of how deep I'd be in river water if I were there a day and a half earlier. Our house was the lucky one to be chosen to have the dumpster on it. It is good, since we don't have to carry our stuff far, but then everyone else is dragging their garbage across our driveway.

I've been interviewed by Fox 13 and the Salt Lake Tribune came in to get our story and take some pictures. That will be in Wednesday's paper. Everyone is still in fear of it happening again, the river is still high and there is rain in the forecast. But at least the worst is over. Thank you everyone who helped us out with Jack, it was truly appreciated. Right now we are just in the process of going through everything we found, deciding what is salvageable and what is not. I do know for sure that all of THIS stuff is gone- and I had just transfered it from my parents to our house. My yearbooks, dance pictures, Kirsten Doll, childhood school projects and most everything from the 2000 back is water-logged. Oh well.

Hopefully we'll get help from the insurance and we can rebuild. I'm just glad that I wasn't taking Josh to the airport when it happened, and that Jack wasn't in the basement when the window broke.

It could ALWAYS be worse.

Flood.

http://www.fox13now.com/videobeta/3e1b3f33-8123-463e-ad92-07d5473994ad/News/Water-rushes-into-homes-near-Little-Cottonwood-Canyon