My Little Phelpers

Dear Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT),

Pioneer Crossing is finished and it’s a wonderful road. I really have enjoyed how much time it has taken off my drive from Saratoga Springs to American Fork. I really love that I can avoid Lehi Main Street most of the time. It’s wonderful, really.

However, I think the Pioneer Crossing signs are a little much.

Pioneer Crossing Sign

There are a number of these signs along the roadway announcing that you have turned onto Pioneer Crossing (normal street signs weren’t enough?) and signs like this announcing that you entered Lehi City and signs announcing that you entered Saratoga Springs.

I’ll accept the signs announcing that you have changed cities. Cities often have nice signs saying “welcome to our awesome city” or “thanks for coming, come back soon.” But the signs to announce that you turned onto a road… too far.

Government spending and budgeting is a tricky business that I won’t claim to understand at all (maybe I should have done a little bit more research before writing this post–what kind of a journalism graduate am I?). It seems though, at a time when there are a lot of budget cuts in many states across the county,  the money from these signs could have been better spent elsewhere.

I don’t know how much each one of the signs cost, but depending on how much it cost, the money could have gone somewhere else (public schools, perhaps). To me, the signs just seem silly and useless. Everyone knows they are on Pioneer Crossing and if they don’t know, they can look at one of the little green signs that every other road uses to identify itself.

So, by way of sandwhiching my complaint with two nice comments before and after … UDOT, I really enjoy your current website with all the interactive maps and 3D information about how projects are going to look once they are completed. It is a really nice feature, especially with all the MANY projects going on in the places I regularly drive. Check out their cool video of the new road going from I-15 to Highland, it should be pretty nice when it is completed: http://www.udot.utah.gov/sr92/. You can also view information about the changes to I-15 and Geneva Road.

Thank you, UDOT, for your nice roads and hard work, but next time, save us all a little money and don’t invest in silly signs.

I recently started to babysit my friends’ little girl, Leyla, during the day. Its kind of great because it gives me an opportunity to watch all my favorite Disney Movies that I haven’t seen for so many years.

Watching these fun movies brings me back and reminds me of wonderful times in my life growing up and having fun with my cousins and sisters.

The other day, we watched Aladdin.

As Aladdin and Jasmin began their magic carpet ride I thought back to the dance we made up to the song, “A Whole New World.” We pulled the stools out of the kitchen and placed a rug across it. I was Aladdin and my cousin Eleena was Jasmin. Melanie and Heather put on their matching green swimming suits and danced around the magic carpet while Eleena and I sang along with the CD.

We had so much fun.

We also had dances to songs from Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and so many others.

Eleena, Katie, Ashley

Heather, Eleena, Melanie, Katie, Ashley, Rachel, Brittany

Some of my favorite memories of my childhood are with my cousins. I was lucky enough to grow up with so many cousins, and so many so close to my age. We were able to spend so much of our summers together and so many holidays. For family reunions we would make up plays and cast all the younger children in our productions. We would have scripts, costumes and often musical numbers.

One year, the play was a pioneer theme. Eleena did a great job with the script. It was a highlight of the family reunion.

We also made up songs about each other. The year Melanie got a perm and we made up “Mophead McCracken” was a classic. It was to the tune of “Cruella DeVil.”

Until I was in jr. high, I can’t remember a New Year’s Eve that doesn’t include my cousins. One year we spent almost the whole night playing one of the versions of Donkey Kong on the Super Nintendo (the level in the mine car). Another year, (the year of the flu) we watched the scene in Toy Story where the shark jumped out of the toy box wearing Woody’s hat and said, “I’m Woody! Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!” over and over again. We were all sick with the flu, we were a little bit crazy that year.

Even during college we had wonderful times together. My freshman year, Eleena, Ashley and I were all at BYU-I. We went up the the broken Teton Dam and visited and old house in the woods, Wolfman’s Cabin. It was there, that I first punched a person in the face. Great story; I’ll save it for another post.

We’ve laughed together, cried together and even laughed until we cried (like the night we tried to explain to Melanie and Heather about how Brandon thought Grandma died by choking on a chicken bone…). And although as we have gotten older and and don’t see each other as often my cousins will always be some of my best friends and my favorite people in the world. They have been there for me when things have been bad and I hope they know that if they ever need someone I will ALWAYS be there for them if they need me.

Love you girls!