Dear Diary #1

Well, it's Friday. And what does that mean? Apparently it means that I blog. Because it seems as though I have been consistently posting on Fridays, and an occasional Tuesday afternoon. And, since my only justification for starting a blog used to be "we can use this as a journal", I thought I should tell you a story that I have wanted to write down since it happened, back in November of '07. (You think this is bad, you should see how my Journal looks. Just an example "Dear Diary, I am sorry it has been 2 years since I have written. I will be better. These last two years have been great. Love, Erica"). All side-tracking aside, please read on:

Because I have this husband who has an ability to attract all-things-amazing to him (including his wife. ha), we were blessed to get a sweet deal on our housing situation. Last year before we got married, Brandon saw this ad on KSL that said, "Free Rent for Work". So, from then on, we have been able to live in an amazing little basement apartment in a beautiful area...for free. However, I use the term "free" lightly because, well....Brandon has to do a lot of stuff around the house to "secure" our monthly rent. And, sometimes he does about $1000/month in labor, and sometimes he gets lucky and only has to do around $300/month. Either way, he's always working hard on SOMETHING, and because of this we: a) live in a beautiful home with green grass, and b) have a lot of funny stories.

Exhibit A:
If you lived in Utah last winter, you may remember that it was cold and snowy. This meant that there was tons of snow build-up on our roof. Well, one night, conveniently at 11:45PM, our Landlord (who is really cool) noticed that there was *water leaking down the side of the house and cracking the edging of the house. So, what Brandon and Landlord were supposed to do is get up on the roof and chip away at the ice and then put an ice-melter gadget on the roof. So, unbeknownst to me...Brandon got up on the roof while I soundly slept. And, this is the story I heard the next day:
First off, we don't have a ladder at our house, but we do have a trampoline. So, these guys thought up a brilliant idea. They would move the tramp over to the edge of the house, and then Landlord would double-bounce Brandon onto the roof. One bounce, two bounce, three... Brandon flies into the air and lands on the roof. And since the only grip he could find was to the pile of snow...he slid right off. Of course, not to be defeated, they thought of another brilliant idea (I mean, they were on a roll after the tramp idea). Brandon went in and grabbed two forks. See where this is going? So, Landlord double bounced Brandon once more and Brandon dug his forks into the snow atop the roof. He had a grip. But the capacity of a fork is somewhere around 4 lbs., so the forks began to bend. Brandon's grip was loosening, and he was slipping. But with all of his might and force, he began to "ice climb" with his forks. And, he flung one fork into the ice at a time. And yes, he made it on the roof. What about Landlord, you ask? Oh don't worry. He just grabbed onto Brandon's leg, so that Brandon could pull him up too. It's Rescuers Down Under meets Darwin Awards. All in just a matter of minutes.


*typically not how this is explained, but I don't know how to explain this process because I don't have the vocabulary that Brandon has.

Just so that I don't lose all my readers (I love that I refer to my friends as my "readers"), I thought I would let you know that we are going to be in St. George for the weekend celebrating my brother-in-law, Tim's birthday. This should be a pretty promising weekend, as Krista even sent out an evite entitled, "Did Somebody Say More Cowbell?" Which means we will be rocking out to the XBox game "Rock Band". And, if you aren't aware of how intense the parties can get, go here for an example of New Year's Eve.

Society of Talent

Well, I thought I would copy/paste my sister Lindsay's post for all of you who don't read her blog. And let you know about our sister, Rachelle:

She is a mother of two adorable girls and an AMAZING Songwriter. (for proof: www.rachellecall.com) She can sit down at a piano and write a song in a matter of minutes. She is able to touch people with her words and melodies. The other crazy thing is she doesn't use or read sheet music. She thinks of these tunes in her head and sits down and just plays them. I don't even comprehend how someone could do that, but that is why she was blessed with the talent and not me;)

ANYWAY.. One of her new songs is on a website called LDS Jukebox. She is a christian songwriter and this website features christian/gospel artists. Well right now she is at the top of their chart with the most views and best rating! (of course) But we want to keep her there.. So if you feel so inclined please click here and listen to her song and give it a rating as well as a comment. You have to sign up for free to leave a comment and it takes a few days to get your login info but please remember to return and leave a comment with stars.

SECONDLY...Lindsay's husband, Mike has been working on this documentary for almost 2 years now. We are finally in post-production, which means his team is editing over 300 hours of footage down to a 90 minute feature documentary. The aim is to get it done in time to submit for Sundance 09. A very popular theater in Austin, Texas does an event every year where they choose a film to highlight and return to the location where it was filmed. This year they chose Troll 2. They will be throwing a huge party in Morgan, Utah with screenings, etc. They invite the cast of the movie - one year they did Field of Dreams and Kevin Costner attended. They are calling it the Nilbog Invasion and it is going to be June 27-29. Mike and his film crew will be there to capture the craziness. The Standard Examiner just did a huge write up on Mike and the event and KSL and SL Trib are also doing articles. We are thinking it will be pretty big.

A producer from MTV contacted Linz the other day and they are also going to be sending someone to capture video, interviews for mtv.com. So we really want to make sure this is huge. We would love if you could help spread the word and attend! They have all different levels of tickets. The cheapest and probably most fun will be the screening of Troll 2 with the cast and crew on Saturday night. For those of you who attended the SL screening this is going to be even better. The mom from Troll 2, who has been missing is going to be attending and she is someone you won't want to miss. And yes those $170 tickets are selling like hotcakes. You can get more info by clicking here and here.
And, to keep up with how Mike's documentary is going, visit this website and more importantly this section of the website. It posts recent news articles



Alright, this is almost verbatim to Lindsay's post...but, we need to get the word out on our TALENTED family!

Happy Birthday Karsen!

This is the cute chunk when he was a little baby

Remember THIS cute kid? Well, he's 3 years old today. And well...he pretty much rocks.

Though he doesn't know how to read, I am hoping his mom will relay the message that his (favorite) Aunt blogged about him. That should put me in 1st place after Nana, Papa and Brandon.

Because you won't believe me.

So, for those of you who have only known me as "Erica Wilkinson" I thought I would let you dip your toes into the life of me when I was formerly-known-as "E.Ro" (a.k.a. Erica Rowles). Yes, I had a street name, and unfortunately I would say that this picture was probably taken under the ERo identity. ERo? Yes, you're wondering what that's all about. Well, when Jennifer Lopez creatively decided to switch her name to "J.Lo" I figured I should do the same. However, since I was a Senior in high school, my friends didn't exactly know how to do the transition. It wasn't until I started my freshman year with an entirely FRESH social network that I became cleverly known as "ERo". And, then my high school friends finally caught on that it was ridiculously awesome for me to have a street name, so they followed suit.

Well, all tangents aside: for those of you who know me as "EWilk", I submit to you the pictures of ERo. Slightly darker hair, definitely chubbier cheeks, uncomfortably 10 lbs. heavier, and well....single. Hence why all of these pictures are all adorned with my beautiful roommates from my Senior year of college. Some of you have said you don't believe that I ever had dark hair. And, I had no idea how to actually prove it to you unless I put it on the blog.
Now, I WOULD put pictures up of my purple hair, or my red hair, or even my white hair...but I don't want to confuse you. Rather, I think I was confused...portrayed by the many different "looks" I was trying to pull.

I can now say that I am happily comfortable with my blonde hair and Shade t-shirts.
Thank you Provo girls, for making me into the woman I am becoming :-) ::insert facetiousness::

Childhood Memories

From 1991 to 1997 I played on a recreational soccer team. We were the Arvada Hurricanes. And, no...we were not as tough as we sounded. I was the permanent fullback. But that was just when I was substituted in for Brittany Sanelli. She was the starter. I think the only part of the season that I looked forward to was the end- of-the-season pizza party at Dominoes Pizza. Because, well...free pizza and no more soccer.

Apparently from the ripe old age of five, my Dad must have thought that I had this unsurfaced skill of being a soccer star. So, he took it upon himself to put me on a team. Much to my dismay, I played. And in retrospect, I am glad. My Dad had such high hopes for me that he even spray-painted our fence posts in the backyard to represent the "goal". And i was supposed to try to somehow dribble the ball around my dad and make it into a 10-foot-wide, man-made soccer goal. Pretty sure I only ever made 3 goals...and that was in our backyard. But, thank you Dad for proving to me that I can do anything. Even if I adamantly oppose.

Although I am glad I had the "soccer" experience, I don't know what kind of kid would not be scarred for life after THIS typical day:

5:15PM: go and hide at Becky Well's house. I figured my dad wouldn't find me there, and I hoped that he would let me "take the day off" if (once he finally found me at Becky's) he realized that I wasn't in my soccer clothes. Well, good ol' Dad. He always came prepared...soccer cleats, shin guards, soccer shorts, and the oversized t-shirt. Actually, he even remembered the details with a ponytail holder. He left NO excuse for me not to make it in time to practice. Thanks Dad.

5:27PM: Drive to soccer practice. I was usually one of the first ones there (even after my sneaky attempts to hide), and because of this...my coach WAYNE* always figured we should have some drills on passing.

*Wayne. Let me explain. He must have been 24...but to me, I thought he was 50 something. He had long scragly permed hair. Did I say permed? Yes, and I mean it. And, don't let me forget that he had a pedophile mustache. Yeah, gross. When the movie "Wayne's World" came out, I seriously wondered why Wayne wasn't the star of the movie. He fit right in. Lest I forget to mention his lazy eye. So, amidst the thousands of times he yelled at me for not being "agressive" enough, I wondered if he really was looking at me.

5:33PM: The girls all arrived, and all of them were better than I was except for "Lisa". She didn't like soccer, and she was only playing because her twin sister was the soccer star on the team. Poor girl.

5:47PM: It always started to rain. And my little heart leaped for joy thinking that Wayne might actually cancel practice. Not the case. Read on.

5:53PM: This was when Wayne thought it would be appropriate to take his shirt off and be the goalie. So, here we are...trying to score a goal on our creepy, mustache-laden, shirtless, slimy(it was raining) coach. He would say, "I'll pay you a dollar if you can score on me!" Well, I don't know about you but I had NO desire to score a goal on him. I would've paid HIM a dollar just to stay away. So, THAT my friends, is why I never scored on Wayne. It was NOT because I couldn't. There I said it.

6:27PM: I start looking for my Dad's car to drive up. PLEASE dad, come early! Well...since my sister had soccer practice at the same time as I did, I usually was the last one to leave. First to get there, last to leave. Painful.

So...I will spare you the details of our Saturday soccer games, but let me just tell you that I was not good. Well, I was not aggressive. So, maybe I was good...I just didn't have the heart. Which led to one embarrassing occasion where my good-hearted older sister went up to Wayne and said, "This is a recreational soccer team! You need to put her on the field! She is just a little girl!" Thanks, Rachelle. (Sidenote: she has always been very protective of my well-being. It's so nice to have big sisters)

So, finally after years of convincing my dad that I wanted to be a singer, dancer, and actress but NOT a soccer player, I was able to escape that bondage of recreational soccer. And, I thought I had escaped it forever. Not so.

A month ago we got a text message from our brother-in-law that said this, "Indoor coed soccer spring season. You IN?" Hahahaha. WHAT?!? Well, somehow my fingers involuntarily responded, "Sure!" And, now here I am. On a co-ed soccer team. With my husband. My very patient, kind husband. My husband who, when he is the goalie, looks for me so that he can pass me the ball. Thanks, Sweetie. I am sorry I have turned the ball over so many times.

Well, luckily I have three games under my belt. And I can proudly say that I came out without any broken bones, and I only scored one goal for the other team. And, I scored for my team too. That's right. You aren't reading this wrong. I scored. But, it was a set-up. I stood by the goal and one of the really skilled soccer players did all of the work by bringing the ball down the field...and then he just passed it to me, and I just kicked it in. Yeah. I almost tore my shirt off and threw it to the crowd. Milestone completed.

So, since we have such a SUPPORTIVE family (love you all!) my Mom came to our last game and took some pictures. This was at our 11:25PM game last Saturday. I don't know why these people who make the schedules still think we are 18. 11:25 is two hours past my bedtime!

This was the exciting 9-month-and-2-days anniversary present I came home from work to! (Pink soccer ball, pink soccer shoe, and a reese's peanut butter cup). He knows how to get me on the soccer field...the color pink and Reese's.
These are the shoes with the ball and our new shoes. Blue and pink. His and Hers.
And I thought I might show you a picture of my sweet soccer moves. I can stop the ball. See?

This is Brandon and me with my CUTE Mom. Thanks for staying awake to watch us play, Mom. We love you!

This is me in all of my pink-shorts glory. No, the game hadn't started yet. Don't worry, I pay attention on the field.

This is my cute friend Sarah from our ward. Sooo glad she is a girl so she can play with us!

This is cute Tiff and Mike. Two of the soccer stars on the team

This is the team, cleverly named as "Soccer Team". It is so much fun to play with them (sans the parents in the background), except that they are all better than I am.

Our awesome fans who would stay awake until midnight just to watch their kids lose the game! We love you!

Olympics

In honor of the 2008 Summer Olympics, I thought I would share this gem with you:

Just found out a couple of days ago that Brandon had a huge crush on Jamie Sale, the Olympic ice-skater gold-medalist that threw in some drama to the whole situation.
So glad they got the gold. But, Jamie...you've got nothin' on me.

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, it's 9:45 in the morning on Mother's Day, and I should be getting ready to go to Church. But, my blog-addiction tempered my need for make-up. So, I thought I would send a shout-out tribute to the mothers in my life.

Mainly, this beautiful lady. And, seriously. The hippest mom I know. My mom has been the epitome of charity and sacrifice. I don't think there has ever been a time in my life where she has said, "No, I won't help you". She helps everybody! Even in downton Denver when we would walk past a homeless man, my mom would slip him $50. Seriously! And, she has been known to slip me a couple of Benjamins as well. TO which I am very grateful. I also don't know if I have ever heard her same something bad about anybody. Even when I have been soo upset at somebody and needed some confirmation, Mom would always say "Just stop thinking about them that way". Good point, mom.

Her motto is, "You create your life!" And she thrives on "positive energy"...and if you have ever met my mom, you would notice right away her amazing amount of energy that she has. Everybody who knows her LOVES her, and everybody who knows that she is my mom always tells me, "You must have so much fun with your mom". And, they are right. Although we didn't really get along when I was a teenager, I have realized that I was absolutely missing out on what a WONDERFUL mom she is! So, after high school I took every opportunity I could to move in with her, and to visit her so that I could spend time with my mom.

She will rub your back whenever you sit in front of her. She will feed you whenever you say you're hungry. And, when I had to go on the diet for radiation (no IODINE!), my mom took an entire day to help me plan my meals. I was a new bride, and well...I felt bad for Brandon to have to eat no-iodine meals for two weeks! She took me to Albertsons and bought all of our food, and then she helped me bake bread so that we could have good, no-iodine bread.

I could honestly go ON and ON and ON. But, I still need to get ready for church :-)

WE LOVE YOU MOM!

(My mom is the hot lady in pink standing to the right of Brandon)

And then there's this beauty. Brandon's mom. Wow. In the three short years I have known her, I have been amazed at the woman that she is. If I were take you through a day-in-the-life-of-mom, you would be exhausted by the end! Now, I know this is a lost art, so I have to give her a lot of credit for this: every single night (I mean EVERY) she makes dinner for her family. Even on Saturday night. And, because of this...I think it is a reason why her family is soo close. She is the perfect ringleader for having family get-togethers. And, I always look forward to seeing her. She is so nice, and like my mom...you will never hear a negative word come out of her mouth. She is funny. She is smart. She is happy. She is logical. She is full of love.

I have heard a saying before, somewhere around the idea of "Your husband will treat you like he treats his mother". Well, if that is true, than I am one lucky gal! Brandon LOVES his Mom. And, to this I am so grateful. He even has "Matlock" parties in the afternoon where he goes to her house and they eat lunch, and watch Matlock. Brandon's Mom has always been such a good friend and mother to her children. And, you can tell by how they all want to be around her so much.

WE LOVE YOU MOM!

(Brandon's mom is the beauty to my left)

And, of course...to all of my sisters who are moms (or who are going to be). I LOVE YOU! And, I love you kids even more :-).

Tagged by Three people!

Well, since it's been a dry-week (a.k.a. no work, church, home, family stories to share), I thought I would finally respond to the fact that Lyndsey, Kendra, and Kassi tagged me probably around sometime last year.


20 Years Ago (May 1988) - Are we expected to remember what we were doing when we were 3 1/2? Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't remember what I was doing when I was 3 1/2. However, because you asked, I'll take a shot at it.
I was probably not helping my family pack up our car to move from Belgrade, MT to Arvada, CO. And I was probably not realizing that I would never see my Belgrade friends again (as proof, I don't even know if I had friends back then). I probably WAS getting ready to introduce myself to my imaginary friend, Heather. And I probably WAS being tortured by my sisters, Krista and Lindsay, thinking that I was adopted. (Don't worry, my older sisters, Rebecca and Rachelle counteracted that). And I definitely was walking around in my mom's high heels without any other clothes on. For some reason, that was where "comfort" was.


10 Years Ago (May 1998)- I was in 8th grade at Oberon Junior High. I was wearing a very hideously tight blue, orange and yellow shirt for my "Class Clown" yearbook picture. (which, might I add was my favorite shirt...not quite sure why). I was the Tin Man in our Speech and Drama play. Still can't figure out why I was the only one casted as a male character. I was probably wasting most of my Saturday Nights watching Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live, and I was wasting more of that time worrying about whether or not I was popular. But, most importantly,I was absolutely counting down until I was 14 so that I could go to Church Dances (something that would soon change my life forever).

5 Years Ago (March 2003) – I was a Freshman at BYU living in S Hall at Deseret Towers! And, up to that point...was the best year of my life. I lived off of the beautiful creation of what we call "Diners Plus" (a.k.a. Mom and Dad's precious money all on one ID card). I went to Von Curtis hair school for my first and LAST haircut there (when the girl who was cutting my hair actually had to ask ME how to texturize). And, I came back to the dorms with a butch cut, and a skunk hair-color job. I was spending too much of my time Instant Messaging, and not spending enough time studying. However, I was the ringleader for riding our bikes (or skateboards) to the Harold B. Lee Library every night until midnight. For some reason, staying in the library until the song came on was liberating to me.
I was trying to uproot my love of music so that my punk-EMO friends would think I was cool, but my roots remain with *NSYNC and Britney Spears (pre-crazy)...so, they soon realized that they were just going to have to be my friend.
And, I was stuck in some warped reality thinking I was the "Grinch" (Jim Carrey) by quoting his lines and talking like him year-round.


2 years ago (May 2006)- I was working in the EFY office with my secret-boyfriend, Brandon. We had just finished the semester, so we were in charge of putting the Musical Program together. Mainly, this meant spending 18 hours a day together, 6 days a week. And, I LOVED my co-worker (literally!), so this was not a problem. I was living with my sister Rachelle, and her cute little girls (Whit and Morg), but they never saw me because I was so wrapped up in Brandon...err...I mean, EFY. We were getting ready to start our first session together in Rexburg, and I was preparing myself for falling in love. I spent most of my days trying not to show the rest of the EFY staff my dreamy-eyes toward Brandon, and I spent most of my nights kissing Brandon.
Yes, we had a great time at EFY.

1 year ago (May 2007)- I was 16 days away from getting engaged to my co-worker, best friend, favorite feeling, comedian, etc. And, I had just finished my first surgery to remove half of my thyroid. I was working as a preschool teacher at HeadStart and LOVED every minute of singing "Twinkle, Twinkle". Brandon and I were sooo much in love, and even though I had just learned that I had cancer, Brandon stayed by my side like a CHAMPION and loved me and held me and told me everything was going to be okay. And, he STILL proposed! He made me feel like a million bucks. Even with a big scar on my neck. WHAT A GUY!

So Far This Year (2008) – Brandon and I have been married for 9 1/2 months. We have loved where we live and we feel SOO blessed for our situation. I had my 6-month check-up and was Cancer Free! Brandon is about to take the MCat and apply to Medical School. We have loved spending time with both of our families. We are on a co-ed soccer team with the Wilkinsons. We love to go to Costco together. We love to do anything together that we can. I love to go to the gym. Brandon loves tractors. I work a full-time job. Brandon is about to finish his Bachelor's degree! Brandon has a landscaping business. I try to keep the house clean.
2008 is GREAT!


Yesterday – was Thursday. One of my favorite days because it's the day before Friday, which means I still have a FULL weekend ahead of me. I went to work. Met up with Brandon and his family at Wendy's. Brandon's little brother, Mark won his tennis game! I came home from work. I made dinner. Brandon mowed lawns. I got all dressed up to go to a special Young Men/Young Women activity. I came home and kissed Brandon. We ate dinner. And fell asleep.


Today – I woke up and did not make it to the gym. Instead, I stayed in bed and cuddled with my cute husband. I came to work (9 minutes late) and talked to my mom and sister on the phone about Mother's Day plans. I blogged. I might have worked a couple of minutes somewhere in there. We will be going to Tiffany's best friend's wedding reception after work. And then we will probably be watching the Jazz BEAT the Lakers.

Tomorrow – is SATURDAY! Yay! I will wake up and go to the gym. Come home and wash our cars with Brandon with his new pressure washer :-), clean the house (which should only take an hour, but somehow always ends up being 4 hours), go to my sister's (in-law) Baby SHOWER! and then play a way-too-late indoor soccer game at 11:25 PM! Are you kidding me? Maybe I won't go to the gym. :-)


This year – will be awesome. I can't wait for our 1 year anniversary. I can't wait for our family reunion to Whitefish Lake in Montana. I am looking forward to Chay and Kimberly (sister in-laws) having their babies! I am looking forward to spending every holiday with my husband and our families. I am looking forward to the sun!

Yay for Tiff!!! (oh, and Mike)

Well, my little sister Tiffany finally succumbed to the Blog-Powers-That-Be!!! Since she is a full-time student at BYU, she has been using her "I'm too busy" excuse for not starting a blog (pssh). But, now that she is a full-time employee (and only part-time student) she finally found some time! I'm not really sure where she gets the time, unless it's when she's sitting in front of her work computer. Haha. Oh, I guess I could understand that one.

This is a picture of our family at her wedding (Brandon's family), and doesn't she look BEAUTIFUL? Well, Brandon and I just love our T-Bone, and are sooo glad that she and Mike live so close so that we can watch movies like "The Marine" and make our own Coldstone ice cream concoctions.

If you want to take-a-peek for yourself and see just how great Tiff is, here is her blog:

tiffandmike.blogspot.com

Cinco de Mayo

So, I'm anxious to see how Cinco de Mayo turns out today. Since I have been living in Provo Utah for the last 6 years I have really missed all of the Mexican Fiesta-ing that went down in Denver, CO. Even the Taco Bell was celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Since we seemed to live in a highly populated hispanic area back in CO, I always felt like May 5th was a special day (aside the fact that it is my friend, Ellen's anniversary). And so apparently the 5th of May is just another day here. Well, fear not my fellow Utah friends. Cinco de Mayo is here and it is here to stay.
You could imagine my disappointment of no Cinco-celebrations, until I happened upon this gem:

AAA Offers Free Ride Home on May 5

Cinco de Mayo, one of two new Tipsy Tow holidays, AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah will provide a free ride and tow home for motorists who drink too many margaritas on Cinco de Mayo.

The organization's popular Tipsy Tow program is expanding this year to include Cinco de Mayo (May 5) and Halloween night (Oct. 31).

AAA will offer the service to drinking drivers from 6 p.m. on May 5 to 6 a.m. the next morning. Drivers, potential passengers, party hosts, bartenders and restaurant managers can call (800) 222-4357 (AAA-HELP) for a free tow home of up to five miles. Callers simply tell the AAA dispatcher, "I need a Tipsy Tow," and a truck will be on its way.

The service provides a one-way ride for the driver and the vehicle to the driver's home. If there are additional passengers who need a ride, they will be taken to the driver's home as long as there's enough room in the tow truck to safely transport them.

Thank you AAA for thinking of those who are too irresponsible to drive. And, in all due respect, When I first read it, I seriously thought they were offering free rides home to Mexico.