Year of Firsts....November

I like to buy my produce at the mexican market by my house.  They have the best avocados.  Every time I go into their store, I see a plethora of Latinos gravitating to the cactus leaves and loading up their produce bag.  I couldn't help but wonder what the appeal was, so I told Shantell that for November we were going to cook and eat a cactus leaf.  I decided to make the event into a fun Sunday dinner and invite over around 6-7 people....big mistake...we had no idea what we were doing, and these poor 7 individuals were hungry.  To teach us how, we YouTube'd Chef Nathan.  It was a perk that he teaches us with his shirt off, although I can't imagine it's all that sanitary.  After de-needling the cactus, and cooking it over the stove, I quickly learned what the appeal of cactus is.....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!  It was slimy, tasteless, and quite honestly disgusting!  My poor dinner guests.  On the positive side, if I am ever stranded in the desert without food or water, I am pretty confident I could survive at least 1 day.  Anything beyond 1 day, I would still be a goner.

Year of Firsts.....October

October was eventful in two particular ways:  1) I got to see my little sister and my only niece and nephews, and 2) I got to experience the well renowned Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival!  My sister, being the punctual soul she is, woke us up around 4:30 AM to arrive on time for the 6 AM departures.  It was freezing cold, and those of you who know how grumpy I get when I'm tired can only imagine that I was having my doubts about whether this was worth pulling me out of a nice, warm bed sleeping. 

Well, all it took was one look at the Wicked balloon, and all my doubts went away.  This was the coolest event ever!!!  I took so many pictures of that balloon, and I re-looked at the pictures so many times, that this stranger behind me while looking over my should said to me, "I think we all know what your new wall paper is going to be."  Dang Straight!  That was the coolest balloon ever!  It is my dream to ride in it someday!  All the other balloons were pretty cool too.  There was hundreds of different varieties, and it was cool to see so many balloons in the air at the same time.  Definitely an event I would do again.

Year of Firsts...September

I love all sports.  I love to play them.  I love to watch.  Even as a little girl, I used to love snuggling up next to my dad and watching Sunday football, until he told me I was too big to snuggle up next to him. Apparently, some people think being an adult and snuggling with your dad is "too big" or whatever.  I'm still scarred.  I had been to a BYU football game when I lived in Provo, but I had never been to a University of Utah football game while living in Salt Lake.  Thanks to Shantell and Emily, I was invited to attend with them.  It was a blazing hot day, and the Utes destroyed the other team, but it was fun to be in the stadium live with all the action. 

As an avid Hunger Games fan, my dream was to be just like Katniss Everdeen.  What better way than to learn archery.  That not so young gentleman in the wheelchair was my instructor.  Let's all imagine that he was my "Gale."  Archery was fun, and it is an activity I could see myself doing with friends on occassion.  I am not very good....yet.  Don't walk within a 30 foot radius of me and you'll be safe.

My friend Angela had found a balloon sculpting class while looking at a community ed catalog.  She thought it was be fun to try for my year of firsts, and surprisingly, she was right.  Call me a nerd and put a fake red nose on my face, but I LOVED balloon sculpting!!  I even bought extra balloons so I could take them to work and make them for all my co-workers.  I'm pretty sure my cool points went through the roof!  If you ever need a clown for a kid's party, give me a ring.  I can make a mad pirate's sword!

Year of Firsts...August

Growing up in the small town of Nephi, one would think that I would have experienced all the simple small town luxuries like cow-chip bingo, greased pig chase, or milking a cow.  Now, I have zero desire to ever touch a cow chip, and I definitely don't like being dirty, so a greased pig chase isn't my thing, but milking a cow....I could get on board with that!  Lucky for me, Wheeler farm does cow milking.  This particular cow was so tenured, that she pretty much milked herself...seriously...her udder leaked into the can on its own.  Regardless, I milked her.  It felt really, really weird and I'm not sure I enjoyed the feel, but I can now say that I have milked a cow.

My friends and I also traveled to New Orleans for my birthday in August.  Talk about one of my all time favorite places to visit within the United States!  Our first night there, we went to Bourbon street...kinda caca, but that's what we expected.  We went on a cemetary tour, visited the Voodoo museum, visited old plantations, and did a haunted ghost tour.  My all time favorite part was all the jazz music everywhere.  You could walk down the street and be entertained for hours!  I loved the atmosphere of New Orleans.  All the food was delicious!  Except the oysters.....

 It was my first time trying them, and definitely not a dish that I will ever eat again.  Too slimy.  Just thinking about it now makes me squirm.  Surprisingly, I would rather hold an alligator again.  That was also a first.  I thoroughly enjoyed our swamp tour we went on.  The alligators we so eery and sneaky.  They could just blend in with the swamp bushes and water, and all you could see were two eyeballs staring at you.  Creepy.