How I Met Shaq

Some people, like Aaron Carter, meet Shaquille O'Neal on the court.



Other people might see him driving around on the road.



And then there are other people who just happen to see him at an Auntie Anne's pretzel stand in the Salt Lake City airport when they are getting ready to fly out to spend a few weeks on the East Coast.

One day, I was at the SLC airport, getting ready to do just that. I had had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but I was worried that if I got hungry on the plane, I would accidentally eat the crepe that I got for my dad at the Awful Waffle that morning, and I didn't want that to happen. Besides, I had plenty of time before my flight took off, so I got in line at an Auntie Anne's stand on the way to my terminal.

"Can I get the original pretzel nuggets?" I asked.
"We're actually out of pretzel nuggets," the girl working there told me. "We have pretzel sticks?"
"Oh, okay, can I have some of those?"
"We're out of the original ones," she said. "We have cinnamon sugar?"

This place is a joke, I thought. "That's fine," I said. I took the little bag and moved down the line.

"Can I get some cinnamon-sugar sticks?" asked the man behind me.
"We're actually out, she just took the last ones," the girl said.

I turned around, feeling terribly guilty.

My eyes went up, and up, and up....and settled on this face:

"I'm sorry!" I said. He's going to sit on me, I thought. He's going to knock these pretzel sticks out of my hand and then he's going to sit on me. I didn't even want them. Oh, why didn't they have original pretzel nuggets like I wanted??


"That's alright," he muttered, looking at the menu again.

I thought about offering to share my pretzel sticks with him, but I was worried he would look at me like this:

So I just scooted on down the line, afraid to order anything else in case I ruined his order again. As I scooted, I thought to myself: "He looks kind of familiar. Where do I recognize him from?" 

I paid for my pretzel sticks and then went on to my terminal. And as I sat there, browsing through my magazine, it hit me: the man whose breakfast I had ruined was Shaquille O'Neal. 

And that, Aaron, is how I beat Shaq. 

4th Grade = Blog Fodder

The other day during science, the teacher posed this question: "Who can give me an example of something that is dehydrated?"

Parker's hand (and eyebrows) shot in the air.

"Um!" he said, when he was called on. His eyebrows settled into a crinkle. He sat and thought for a few seconds. "Um....a cow during a drought?"

Fourth-graders are so creative.

They also came up with this great game called Monkey Dunk. The monkey bars on the school playground are like a monkey bar - ladder hybrid, and in Monkey Dunk, there are two teams who are both trying to dunk a basketball in between two rungs of the monkey-bar-ladder.

Miss Connor scored 4 times. Proud of me?

Daddio

When everyone was home this past Christmas, Jacob had a band concert that we all went to. About halfway through the concert, Kelly, who was sitting next to Dad, and I, who was sitting next to Kelly, switched places. It was at my request that this switch took places. And I requested it because my dad is the funniest person ever to watch any kind of performance that is put on by kids. The man gets older every March 9th, but he still has some good jokes left in him!

When we were little, we would run down the stairs to greet him every day when he got home from work. Obviously we sometimes tackled him too.

Now we're a little bit older, so we don't tackle him anymore, but that doesn't mean we're any less excited to see him. It's so cute whenever he's about to come visit because he will get all excited and mention it every time we talk on the phone. I remember when we were little and he would go on business trips, and every time, he would give us his peanuts from the flight. Now that I fly more frequently, I appreciate this even more. I love my plane snacks!

My dad used to do this all the time. Then he started having back problems because he was always carrying us around. :( Poor Daddy! At least he has an awesome back-massager that I gave him for Christmas.

My dad danced with me at Kelly's wedding (where I was the MOH). One time when we were younger, our ward had a big Pioneer Day activity. We did all sorts of pioneer activities and at some point, there was pioneer music that we all danced to. We all wanted to dance with my dad, since we didn't have any brothers and no way were we going to dance with anyone else, and he just took time to dance with each one of us. Just thinking about dancing with him at my own wedding makes me cry sometimes, and yes I know that is ridiculous.

My dad is pretty much perfect, but sometimes I look over and his eyebrows poke me in the eyeball. So being the awesome daughter that I am, I try to help him out. I admit that I have tried to help him out in church before. And at Sarah's basketball games. He appreciates it, secretly.

I like this picture because look what my dad said on facebook: "Heather your eyes look so blue in this picture. What a pretty girl. Love, Dad." My dad is always so nice to me and all of us. He is constantly telling me that I am smart or nice or funny or pretty or spiritually minded or awesome in some other way. He is so proud of his daughters and his kind words mean so much to me.

And it's not just me that he's so nice to! One time, this guy asked my friend Winnie to Homecoming. I told my dad about it and he just went on and on about how great he thought Winnie was. Every time my friend Caitlin comes over, my dad will sit there at the island in the kitchen and talk to her about everything in her life. All of my friends love my dad.

My dad is a family man. Sometimes I think he likes having a big family because it means he is the king of a bigger castle ;) but in all reality, I know he just knows how important family is. He wants to have a good relationship with each one of us individually, but he also cares about our relationships with each other. Before I went home for Christmas this year, he called me very concerned.

"Heather," he said. "When you come home, I want you to do something for me. I want you to tell Nicole that you think she should get the car more than you do."

I was a little hesitant. But he convinced me that if I did that, our break would be a lot happier. And he was right, and it was.

One day when I was a freshman in college, I took a test. And I didn't do that great. And I started walking home, and I felt all crumbly inside. So I called my dad, and for some reason, when he picked up, I got tears in my eyes.

"I was just thinking about you today," he said. Then he started talking about how impressed he was with me. And I would have appreciated this any time, but feeling as unimpressive as I was right then, those words sounded especially nice right at that moment.

My dad sometimes gets flustered when my Mom goes out of town. Sometimes he gets so flustered that he makes us all take inventory of all the things we own (everything from clothes to books to knick-knacks). He also sometimes gets flustered when people pick at his eyebrows, or when the car is making a funny sound, or when someone sings at the table, or when his wife asks him to go buy some bras for their poor awkward 12-yr-old daughter who needs one by the next day because she has gym and all the girls change together in the girls' locker room. I guess that last one is understandable....

He never gets flustered when he is asked to give a talk in church. This is because he is great at it. Sometimes when he's up there, I think he is thinking, "Ohhhh yeah, back at the pulpit!" It's like he actually enjoys it.....

He never gets flustered when he meets boys who are about to take his daughters on a date. Speaking of things he enjoys, I think watching those boys squirm is something else he enjoys.

He never gets flustered when his wife is in the middle of giving birth. Sometimes he gets so un-flustered that he takes a nap in the chair or works on his laptop in the delivery room.

They are so dang cute.

I love you forever, Daddy! You know I'm always your girl :) Happy birthday!

How delightful

Sometimes, at random points in my day, I will feel bursts of excitement, for no reason in particular. I hope you know what I'm talking about...when you feel just thrilled to be where you are, to be so unalterably you, whatever the circumstances.

Here are some things that make me feel like this more often than not:

1. Popsicles. I don't know what it is about them, but popsicles can make my day instantly better. They are so delicious and not even really bad for you. I get one every time I take a test and now, I actually look forward to going to the testing center because of them.

2. Letters. I usually feel a little sick when I'm walking to the mailbox, because I am disappointed more often than not :( But on those days that I actually do see my name on an envelope casually leaning against the wall in my mailbox, I get so happyy. I can't stop smiling and I usually can't wait until I get back to my apartment to open my letter.

3. Walking through campus. Today I had one of these moments when I was walking from the back of the library to the front of the library. I realized I was walking among amazing people, and I got goosebumps at the thought that I was allowed to be in this place that I love so much.

4. Kisses. I think kissing is fantastic. I don't do it very often, because I'm really picky about who I kiss. Like, reallyy picky. But maybe that's why I like it so much; I've never had a bad experience with kissing.

5. The Cougar fight song. Last night the Cougars took on the San Diego Aztecs in basketball, and I was in attendance. I had heard it would be a really intense game and I was not disappointed. Usually I think of human sacrifices when I think of Aztecs, but our boys were far from being sacrificed. Final score? .....Not sure. BYU scored 80 points, so I got cake. And that's what is really important. Anyway, every time we sang the fight song, I just felt this huge sense of pride. I'm here, I'm in college, I'm a cougar, and I'm sO happy about it :)

6. Motorcycles. Ever since I was little, I have LOVED motorcycles. When I see a boy on a motorcycle, he is instantly 5x cuter than I might otherwise think he was. Wrapping my arms around one of those boys and zooming off through traffic gives me such a high. And when I get off the motorcycle after my ride, I have to consciously hold myself back from kissing the boy. It's embarrassing. We won't even be dating, I won't even like him, and for some reason I have to actually remind myself of this so I can stand up straight.

7. Giving blood. Last time I got so excited that I had to come back 2 days later because my heart rate was too high. That's how much I love giving blood.

8. Pickles. I am seldom happier than when I am eating a really good pickle. I get one every Wednesday at the Blue Line Deli and in those moments when I am eating it, all my problems disappear.

Of course, there are other things that make me feel happy, content, or pleasantly surprised. I love talking to my parents on the phone. I enjoy working out. I'm pleased when I do well on a test. I used to like driving and singing along to the radio, when I had access to a car. I love holding babies when they're happy. I like getting new clothes. I think it's fun to get dressed up and go to dance parties. But these aren't the things that randomly thrill me, that make me so happy that I am myself. I guess it's the little things that really do that!

"Today you are you,
That is truer than true.
There is no one alive
That is you-er than you." ~Dr. Suess