deni's musings

Always and Forever!

2010-04-01T23:17:00.003-06:00

For those of you that know me well,

I LOVE my sodas!

In our house we call it all "coke" but we all know that it means Diet Coke for Mom, Dad, and Erin and a Diet Dr Pepper for me.
We all love it!
It is not just for the caffeine, but really it is for the burn from the carbonation. That first burn in the morning, HEAVEN!

I have to have refill my 52oz mug every morning on my way to work or it totally throws off my groove for the rest of the day.

Am I addicted?
Okay, maybe I am, but I am really okay with it.

Well, while scanning the thousands of negatives my mom has taken over the years, I discovered proof that I have been in love with my soda for years.

There are many pictures of me at this age with a large soda in my hands.
My love of soda may be irrational, however, here is the proof that my addiction came early.

I'm Back!

2010-04-01T23:08:00.002-06:00

So I know I resolved to blog more, but between computer crashes, serious nap issues (yes I said nap issues), and well a general disinterest in writing anything at all (you can ask Scott, I finally wrote to him), I admit... I have been a blog slacker. But...

I have found a renewed creative edge, and reading blogs like pinksuedeshoe and heidikins have made me feel like a slacker, I will attempt, but not resolve or promise, to update my blog on a more regular basis.

PS: did you like all of my run on sentences? hehe.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T23:55:00.002-07:00

This year Halloween came so fast. We have a big neighborhood party every year and my dad decorates the entire house (almost as much as he does for Christmas). Here are a few pictures from this year.

Erin and I getting my mom into her waist cincher.

Nick was Aladdin.

My dad was an 18th century vampire, complete with ponytail and tattoos. My mom was a wench, one that my dad had just changed over.

Here are the girls. Erin was a Troll doll, Sami was Minnie Mouse, and I was Hell on Wheels. I think we look pretty hot.

This is the newest addition to my dad's Witches of Willowcreek collection. Her name is Genevieve. He is such a talented guy and I am so lucky to have him as a dad.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Since I Last wrote... (revised)

2009-11-03T23:12:00.003-07:00

So Erin told me that my last post did not count as a real post, so i will try again.

Since I last wrote....

Nick and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. We went on a mini vacation...

We went to Cowabunga Bay...

stayed at Anniversary Inn in Logan and spent the day in Bear Lake...

went to the Alpine Slide in Park City...

And went to the Zoo.

We went on Pioneer Trek. Everyone but Erin got to go. My parents were Head Ma and Pa for the ward, and Nick and I were Ma and Pa too. While on trek, Scott was presented with his mission call, Mongolia.

The women's pull up Rocky Ridge. Mom hauled up the hill, and I practically picked up the handcart to get it over the rocks.

I turned 25! Scott and I shared a gigantic cupcake made by Erin.

I went to Boise over Labor Day weekend to play Treasure Valley Roller Girls. We lost but I was awarded MVP and the Grand Slammer award.

We went to Disneyland before Scott left on his mission. It was sooo much fun. Thanks Mom and Dad. While at California Adventure, Nick and I got stuck on California Screamer and had to be rescued off the ride. It was an adventure.

Breakfast at Denny's when we arrived. Nick joined us in California the next day.

We love the tea cups!

Look, it is Stitch!

We also went to Six Flags Magic Mountain while we were there. I have never been so sick in my entire life, but the rides were a blast. I love spending time with my family. They are my best friends.

Scottie went on his misson. I miss him so much.

We had our annual Witch's Tea with the Rogers cousins. This was the third year at Gardner Village. Thanks Cyd for organizing it all.

That is mainly what had been going on for the last three months.

My life is full of work and roller derby, while Nick's includes work and school, so not much else to add.

Since I last wrote...

2009-11-02T23:19:00.002-07:00

Nick and I celebrated our 5th anniversary.
We went on Pioneer Trek to Rocky Ridge.
Scott received his mission call, Mongolia!
I turned 25.
Nick went back to school at the University of Utah.
I went to Boise and played the Treasure Valley Roller Girls and was awarded MVP and Grand Slammer Award.
Our whole family went on a vacation to Disneyland and Six flags.
Scott went on his mission.
My cousins and I went had Witches Tea at Gardner Village.

ta-da! The cliff notes version of the last three months.

I resolve...

2009-11-01T21:03:00.001-07:00

to update my blog more regularly. I am aware that it is not quite the season for resolutions, but, I am going to try to be better at keeping y'all up to date.

Broken After All!

2009-07-14T23:33:00.003-06:00

I admit it, I am the worst patient ever! I sprained my ankle 3 months ago, when I did, I refused to go to the doctor until the next morning when I could not stand the pain anymore. The I barely let my podiatrist uncle look at it that weekend when we were at his house. I turned purple from the knee down but I thought it was just a super severe sprain. So...

When my ankle started to feel better I started skating through the pain. I taped it up and still hurt up higher in my leg. I thought I had shin splints, due to all of the muscle trauma, so I taped up where it hurt and I was able to skate on it (that is probably what saved my leg in the end).

Come three months after I injured my ankle, I am finally persuaded to go see another doctor to make sure it is all healing properly (and maybe because it was still hurting a little). After a short exam and three trips to the x-ray room, they discover I actually BROKE my fibula when I sprained my ankle.

The worst part about the whole thing is having to admit to my husband that he was right. He thought that I had broken my fibula in the beginning.

Books, Books, and more Books

2009-06-24T21:17:00.002-06:00

So over the last month I have been on a bit of a reading binge. I read something like 3000 pages in the last couple of weeks. I absolutely love to read, it is one of my passions. There is almost always a book in my purse. Due to this recent binge and my love of books I am adding a new sidebar to my blog, "What I am reading now" ( eventually I might come up with a more witty and cleaver title).

Due to this reading binge I have discovered a new author I really like Anne Bishop. I have pretty much read all of her novels (which my husband so lovingly gave me crap for).

I loved this book and highly recommend this book to anyone that loves fantasy with a little romance mixed in.

Now that I have finished the majority of Bishop's, I am currently reading the Stookie Stakehouse series by Charlaine Harris.

Salt City Derby Girls Double Header!!

2009-06-10T21:49:00.005-06:00

This last Saturday was the first ever double header for the Salt City Derby Girls. The Sisters of No Mercy squared off against the Death Dealers and the Bomber Babes battles the Leave it to Cleavers.

Sisters of No Mercy came away with and unexpected but delightful victory over the Death Dealers. A low scoring game with excellent defense, and missing Moonraker, the Sisters will advance (at least I believe so) on to the Championships.

Sisters of No Mercy 80 Death Dealers 61

Now, the Bomber Babes... Our last bout of this season, but by far the most fun I have had playing derby! In the end, the Bombers did fall to the Cleavers but not without a fight. Bombers held the Cleavers to a 40-5 (roughly) scoring run in the second half. We came together and played the best defense we have. Though we did not win this year, next year as the team learns and grows, we will be awesome. I just have to give my love to my incredible teammates that I have come to love! Phatal Pheromone, Red Bare-n-ass, Nos, Frau Latio, Savage Beast, Spank E Ham, Muruka, Roxy Codone and Red Suzy (bench manager). I freaking love you guys!!!

Bomber Babes 71 Leave it to Cleavers 130

Nos being her awesome self and making it around Axta Grind.

Me hitting their jammer (you can barely see her helmet)!

I made my very own "Deni's" bumper sticker. It turned out pretty good.

My wonderful husband, without his support, I would not have made it this far!

The rest is a smatering pictures. I had so much fun.

Thanks Susie and Kathy for taking all of these great pictures for me. Also a GIANT thanks to all of you out there that have supported me with this adventure and I hope to see you all at next year's bouts!

Bomber Babes vs Death Dealers

2009-04-22T23:51:00.003-06:00

So y'all, the Bombers first bout was on the 18th, and being injured, I could not play. BUMMER!! It was a great game, even though the Bombers were defeated. It killed me to just sit there and watch my teammates play. It took SO much self control to NOT put my skates on a join the rest of the bombers on the rink. The girls did such a great job!!!
I just wanted to share the few pictures I took at the bout. Yeah I know there are not very many, but I became a little involved in the game.
http://s704.photobucket.com/albums/ww46/dudette134/bomber%20babes%20vs%20death%20dealers%204-18-09/

I love this picture of Red Bare-N-Ass. It turned out so cool.

The game ended Bomber Babes 69, Death Dealers 176

Hotness!

2009-04-14T23:40:00.003-06:00

Picture Time.

I had to get my derby pictures taken for the bout on Saturday. I am actually pretty pleased with them. My sister Erin was so nice and did my hair and makeup for me. She is the best!

Here are some of them, but this one is my favorite.
I think I look pretty sexy in this one (and my hubby agrees).
(Pics by Fuzzy's Graphics Incorporated)

Ouch! My First Major Derby Injury!

2009-04-14T23:22:00.004-06:00

In Derby, it is no IF you will get injured only WHEN. For me, I apparently wanted to get it over with.

Salt City Derby Girls scrimmage every Thursday night. Last week it was Bomber Babes vs Sisters of No Mercy. Early in the game, I was hitting their jammer out and was suddenly hit from the opposite direction sending me down, landing on my sideways ankle in the process. As a result, severe sprain and no skating for two weeks. the worst part of all is the first bout for the Bomber Babes is this Saturday which I can not skate in it. BUMMER!

At least out of all of this I did score a pretty sweet bruise. I am swollen from my knee down, and the bruise is spreading everyday. Not bad for my first major derby injury!

Derby Haiku

2009-03-25T22:33:00.002-06:00

Roller Derby
so much fun, but how my
body hurts.

So not a great poem, but I don't think I have ever hurt this bad. I absolutely love derby, it is so much fun. I just didn't know that conditioning would put me in so much pain.

PS: The first bout of the year is on Saturday. Come see The Sisters of No Mercy battle The Leave It To Cleavers. If you want tickets let me know or buy them at Smith Tix (only $10).

Week 1- Falling

2009-03-12T23:04:00.002-06:00

So i just finished my first week of roller derby.

Can I just say, oh my gosh! It is freaking HARD work. I haven't been that sore in a while.

Thursday nights are scrimage nights, can you say scary? It was only practice #2 and they put the Fresh Meat out there. I was so nervous that I was totally going to screw up and keep falling. Thankfully I only fell a couple of times and I got put in the penalty box twice (how else would you know if you were playing hard enough?). It was so much fun though, and I can't wait to play again!!

Fresh Meat!

2009-03-06T00:52:00.003-07:00

Yay!!! So I made the Salt City Derby Girls. You are looking at the newest member of the league. I will be playing for the Bomber Babes!!!

I am still struggling with the hardest part though, my derby name. I think i have it figured out, but I need some input. My derby name might be...

Grand Slam Brakefast

A play of my name, you know.... Deni's Grand Slam Brakefast.

So I Like it, bit what do y'all think?

Making backgrounds stinks!

2009-02-22T16:19:00.003-07:00

So I have been trying to make this background for hours. why? It is a simple background. Because, I cannot find the right aspect ratio. All that i have found still cut things off. How stupid, I thought this would be fun, however, I ended up more frustrated than anything else.

Pink Toes Make Me Happy!

2009-02-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how good it feels to have freshly painted toes and clean, blown out hair. I Love it. And how happy is the violent pink during these gray winter days?

My New Hobby

2009-02-09T23:29:00.006-07:00

Nick has been telling me for a year that I need a new hobby. Ever since I graduated from college I have been bored. I tell Nick that I scrapbook and that is my hobby, he has always said that doesn't count, that I need something to get me out of the house. The funny thing is, when I tell people what I am going to do, he is the only one that doesn't think it is that cool. So what is my new hobby you may ask? I am going to play roller derby. Yes, women's flat track roller derby.

I have already been asked multiple time so, How did I come to roller derby? One night at the gym Wife Swap happened to be on one of the many TVs. Two nights a week one of the wifes would go play roller derby. And I thought, that sounds like fun.

Ok, hopefully I am going to be playing roller derby. I am trying out at the end of February for the Salt City Derby Girls, the local leauge in the WFTDA.I am so excited about this new hobby of mine. Roller Skating though is harder than I thought. I am decent at inline skating, but quad-skating is a whole different ballgame. Your center of balance is in a totally different place than it is when you inline skate and your stopper is in the front not the back. As much as I want to play roller derby, learning how to skate may stand in my way.

In spite of my qualms about my skating abilities, I was so excited about finding my new hobby that I bought my own Bad A** skates.So I have a challenge for all of you? I will be needing a roller derby persona and I am having difficulty coming up with one. Derby names are hard to find, they have to be cleaver, witty, intelligent with a retro edge if possible while also relating to pop culture icons. They have to be unique, while still describing oneself, which is difficult. So, Help Please!!!! I need a roller derby name and suggestions would be so helpful.

Maybe...

2009-01-29T00:25:00.001-07:00

Maybe one day I will find time to update my blog. I am still alive all, I just don't have enough hours in the day. Love you all.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T20:54:00.008-07:00

Happy New Year everyone! I love celebrating the new year. Great friends, more food than anyone can eat and a killer tradition. It all started twenty something years ago when my mom saw a report on the news telling how fast a tree could burn. She was curious and the tradition began with her setting a tree on fire next to the dumpster to see how fast it would really burn. Since then it has evolved to a much larger production. The tradition now involves basically blowing up the tree. We wire fireworks on to it and the torch it. This year was one of the best ever. Nick and Scott found the perfect dry tree, still had lots of needles on it. Scott set the blow torch and whoosh, it went up in flames. We always end the night with a New Year's kiss and a toast, complete with Martenelli's sparkling cider. It is so much fun to celebrate with my family and friends. I love them all and wish them as well as everyone else a happy, happy new year!

10 Things I couldn't live without!!!

2008-12-30T13:16:00.013-07:00

I have been tagged! However, I am excited about this tag.

10 things I couldn't live without...

1. My Love, Nicholas Page. We have been married for almost 5 years and I have loved every minute of it.

2. My family. I absolutely LOVE my family! We have so much fun together, we play together and we work together. I anyone has a project, it is not just one persons project but the whole family's.

3. Diet Dr. Pepper (or Diet Coke if that is all I can get). The Holiday Oil by my house has the best mix on their fountain, it is my favorite. How ironic that my favorite drink shares my initials, DDP!

4. M&M's! Of all the candy bars out there M&M's are my favorite. If I am having a bad day, bring me a fresh fountain Diet Dr. Pepper and a bag of M&M's and everything will be better.

5. Books. I LOVE to read. I prefer reading to almost any other activity. I am rarely without a book (in fact, I have three in my purse right now). Fantasy and Sci-fi are my favorites. These are my current favorites.

6. My Camera(s). I am an amateur photographer and without my cameras I would be lost. One is always in my purse. I have a Nikon D300 and a Nikon S7c. I love them.

7. My computer. I am an avid digital scrapbooker and without my Pink Dell Laptop (yes it is pink) I wouldn't know what to do.

8. Flip-Flops/Slippers. Why both? It depends on the season. I live in my flip-flops three seasons of the years (and sometimes after the snow has been shoveled) and my slippers all winter. If I could I would wear them to work. Nick even bought my a pair of furry Crocs so I could have my outside slippers.

9. My phone. It is strange that I would need my phone. I hardly ever talk on it, however, it is my modem. We don't have wireless at home, so it is my link to the internet.

10. Strange as it may seems, Ponytail Holders! They save my live at work. My hair is getting long enough that I can only make it about halfway through the day before my hair is in a ponytail, and if I don't have one at work, the it is the first thing that happens when I get home.

Those are the 10 things that I could not live without!
I tag anyone that has not done this. It really is fun!

Merry Christmas All

2008-12-24T01:17:00.004-07:00

Here is the front of our Christmas Card, for those I forgot (sorry:)) or just for the rest of the world. Have a wonderful Christmas and the Happiest New Year!!!

Christmas Card Time!

2008-12-24T01:02:00.003-07:00

I can't believe that Christmas is already here. Most years I am highly anticipating Christmas, however this year it took the snow to bring me around. Down side, I suddenly realized that Christmas WAS almost here and I had not yet done my Christmas cards. So what do I do? I drag my love out in the freezing cold to get a cute shot of us. Of course, being a photographer, I wanted to do my own. I had my remote all ready, or so I thought, when we got there it wouldn't work. So ta-da, self-timer, push the button and run. Here is what we came up with...

New York at Christmas Time!

2008-12-21T23:35:00.008-07:00

This December I was lucky enough to travel to New York City with my mom. She had to work and I just went along for the ride. It was so much fun to go, just my mom and me!

On the first day we decided to see as much of New York as possible. To do that we hitched a ride on the Greyline Tour Bus that runs all over New York. We saw much of downtown New York. I even made my mom ride on the top just so i could take pictures.

This is how we saw Downtown New York, all bundled up on the top of a double-decker bus.

The Bus was cool because you could get off and then back on all over the city. We stopped at Macy's to get warm and discovered that they had 2, yes TWO floors of womens shoes. We also stopped in Times Square, where we went to the M&M store. There we discovered what color M&M we were.

I was RED and my mom was ORANGE!

Later that night we were able to go to Radio City Hall and see the Rockettes in their Christmas Spectacular. It was a lot of fun to see how precise they are in their moves. There was also the coolest Nativity at the end of the show, complete with live camels, donkeys and sheep. The angel during "Angels We Have Heard On High" was one of the coolest angels I have ever seen!

The next day we explored Uptown with some of my mom's colleagues. We got to see how the other side lives, shopping in the expensive stores, with $400 dog collars. We walked through Central Park and ate at yummy bakery's. The Whitney Museum is gorgeous, I wanted to see the Warhol's, however all but one were in storage.View in Central Park.

On the way back to our hotel in Times Square, we walked past Rockefeller Plaza and saw the Christmas tree.

That night we went to dinner at the famous Sardie's and then went to see the musical Jersey Boys. I thought the play was incredible. I had never realized how many songs were by the Four Seasons.

The next day there we decided to go on an adventure to Canal Street. I loved Canal Street! There are so many purses and sunglasses to buy (knock offs of course). We had a blast. Later that night we had the opportunity to see another show, Bing Crosby's White Christmas. If you weren't in the Christmas Spirit before, you were when you left this musical. It was fun and light, and the tap dancing was great.

On the last day there, I was able to have breakfast with my cousin Minde and her son Chase. It was so much fun to see them and explore New York with someone who lives there. We stopped by the Manhattan Temple and walked past Julliard. After my mom's meetings we decided to go to Bryant Park and see the boutique-y shops they have set up for Christmas. When we were done there, we were wandering around the area and stumbled upon the coolest trim shop. My dad makes the neatest custom full-size Santa Clauses and Witches and the trim shop had the perfect things for the finish off the details.

How many pictures can we have of the two of us holding the camera out as far as we can? Not enough. Walking through Bergdorf's, pretending we could shop there, people watching in Times Square, walking for miles, or seeing the shows, I had so much fun with my mom. I am so fortunate to have her, and to be able to spend time with her. We had a blast together and I will be able to do something like that again with her. She is my hero and I happy that I can get to know her better.

I am FINALLY blogging!

2008-12-21T22:56:00.003-07:00

So I have had a blog for a very long time, but have never posted on it. The time has finally come for me to join the world of blogging. As with MySpace, I gave in to the peer pressure of blogging and now will hopefully be able to keep it up-to-date. Yes Erin, I have finally joined you!