Bad Luck Guy!!!

Posted by Mark:

Winter sucks for many reasons...mostly cause its so bloody cold outside!!! But one reason winter DOESN'T suck is that it's basketball season. I love basketball. If I could watch one sport more then any other it would be basketball. Now when it comes to playing basketball... I don't mean to brag or anything, but there is no doubt in my mind that without fail I have got to be the WORST basketball player in all the land! No... please no sympathy comments.... It's true, and I've come to grips with that fact many years ago. In fact, I had a friend in Jr. High that would play on our team and bribe me with a drink after the game if I scored a basket... I didn't get a soda very often.

Now you might ask, "Mark, you're tall, surely you are good at a sport that seeks after height?" Well, you'd be wrong. See the thing is that the Dibb boys have never been blessed with much of a sport coordination ability and sadly the curse will most likely be passed on to my kin. Sorry future children.

Even with all my non existent talent, I try to be an active member of my elders quorum and attend the ward ball games. If anything, I can stand out on the court while I give some of the good players some well deserved rest. Plus it gives me some well needed exercise which I don't get anywhere else. Unfortunately, my subbing ability hasn't seemed to help because we have yet to win a game. We've got to be 0-7 by now and I've been a part of every one of those lovely losses.

It's sort of weird that we are doing so poorly this year... Last season we made it all the way to the regional finals... I do have a theory to our awfulness... Let me first start off by pointing out the fact that two of our star players moved out of the ward and another one tore his ACL in one of the first games this year, but here is the real reason....Mark Dibb is attending the games..... yep.. that's right.. I'm the bad luck guy! Last season I only came to one game (I can't remember if we won or lost that game... but for my theory's sake I'll just say that we lost that game). This year I've come to every single game! Sad huh. Oh well, I'll just keep going anyway. I think its fun, I enjoy running around and in turn I usually score at least one basket and tend to grab a few rebounds.

P.S. Thanks to ward basketball, I recently had a wake up call to how old I'm getting. I made the comment to some friends that as a little kid I loved to go watch my dad play in the old people ward ball games. Mostly I loved running around the church with my friends causing a wonderful ruckus while the old people played. I then made the comment, "I wonder when I get to play on the old people ward ball team?" There was a pause in the room and then my friends broke the horrible news... "Mark...you are on the old people team." WHAT!! I'm the old guys now?! Now that's the kind of depressing stuff that makes you want to run home and eat a pint of chunky monkey ice cream.


Here we are at one of our games. No need to try and look for me in the photo, I'm riding the pine.

Our Yard

posted by Kimmi:

Our yard must be a dumping ground. First we had the skull, then the spine, and now we have puzzle pieces??? Very strange and very annoying. Someone must not like us very much....maybe we smell. Help.

Start packing your bags

Posted by Mark:

Attention all my Australian missionary chums (plus anyone else that might be interested I guess). I came across a sweet deal to visit the great land down under last night. No.... I haven't subsidized my poor car sales to advertising for Air New Zealand, but I want to give you all a chance to take part in a deal that I myself would take advantage of if Kimmi and I had any chance of getting the time off work(not likely what so ever by the way).

Air New Zealand is offering round trip tickets from LA to Auckland with a free stop over in any one of a number of Australian cities (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, to name a few) all for $880!! This is probably the cheapest fair I've seen to visit Australia, let alone a bonus visit to New Zealand thrown in the mix. If you are at all interested, here is the link to Air New Zealand's web site where you can read all the details. Hurry fast! You only have till January 19th to book tickets.

http://www.airnz.com/bookings/airfares-deals/discover-new-zealand-in-may-gnz10u.htm

P.S. If you do go I would only ask that you to pick me up some my favorite candy in New Zealand (Pineapple Lumps).

100 Things...

I saw this list on Brandy's blog and looked like it would be a fun one to fill out (Thanks Brandy!). So here we go! I have done everything that is bolded. Feel free to copy and paste this list on your own blog. It’s a fun way to relive some old memories and to get to know people a little better.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does 5th and 6th grade band class count?)
4. Visited Hawaii (twice)
5. Watched a meteor shower (great date with Mark)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (The ER thought I was pregnant, obviously I was not)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (I do not have a green thumb)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (one day I will!)
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (we have picked up a hitch hiker, does that count?)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Hugged a goat
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (again, one day I will)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (if climbing in a gym counts, yes)
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (yes but not well)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (if the touristy ones count, yes)
48. Gone deep sea fishing (well, that was the plan at least....)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (sad, right??)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (I failed...)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets, or plasma (they don't want mine)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (in the early days of learning money management)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (stupid new boss, she fired five of us for no reason!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (a day care worker broke it for me, how sweet)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (I was quoted as well!)
85. Read the entire Book of Mormon or Bible
86. Visited the White House (I have only stood outside of it)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Thank goodness for boys! I don't like the killing part)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (Only helped....I work in a blood bank, and its the juice of life)
90. Had your heart stop
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (one day I will)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (been there, but will not do that)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (yes, and I am allergic! Scary experience)
100. Read an entire book in one day

The Bone Yard

So tell me if this isn't in some way disturbing? This is the second time, I repeat, second time! that we have found bones in our front yard. The first time it appeared to be a deer scull, and now we have got what appears to be the spine. Possible culprit? 1. some scary pagonistic cult neighbor trying to scare us out of the neighborhood? Or 2. (and most likely) it is the stupid neighbor dog who is constantly running free and amuck around the streets. Anyway, what leads us to the dog conclusion is that there are dog foot prints in the snow surrounding the bones. But still, why our yard? TWICE! My only comfort would be to hear if other neighbors are getting ribs or femurs left on their lawn. We'll keep you posted if more deer remains appear.

P.S. one more thing to ponder.... If it is the neighbors dog that's doing this, what owner has a deer carcass decomposing in their back yard for their dog to plunder from anyway? Just shows you the kind of street we live on.

The Influenza / Conjunctivitis / Winter weather that stole Christmas

Very Memorable.....That pretty much sums up my feelings about Christmas 2008. As most of you saw from my last post, I got Pink Eye last week. I thought with great faith that it would be gone by Christmas, but sadly by Tuesday, it doubled its efforts and decided to infect my right eye as well. If that wasn't enough I came down with the flu on Monday morning. Needless to say I looked and felt like crap. At this point our preparation to drive down to Utah for Christmas pretty much came to a screeching halt. We came to the realization that we were obviously just not meant to go down to Salt Lake. Most of all I didn't want to risk the passing on of diseases to any of our Grandparents. Actually, it turns out that even if we wanted to make the trip, we couldn't have because the roads were closed due to the horrible weather.

And now to add a nice cherry on top of it all.... On Christmas Eve I was headed home from Hollywood Video where I was renting a nice two day supply of movies for Kimmi and I. Because of the horrible weather, our street was completely covered in ice, and at the very moment I tried to swerve around an oncoming car, I couldn't and chose to sideswipe the car instead. Yes, I crunched my jeep. Very sucky. Luckily the damage to my car is VERY minimal. The other drivers car wasn't so lucky and will need some good body work.

Kimmi and I spent Christmas day watching movies. It was quite relaxing but a tad boring. Kimmi and I chose not to get each other presents this year with the goal of spending that money on our kitchen renovation instead. We did have the classic yearly new pj's tradition to open, but other then that it was a non existent hall of gifts. So we sat around, made a good breakfast, then sat around some more until Kimmi headed off to work.

Well, this will go down in the history books as the worst Christmas the Dibbs have yet to experience, but in the end we believe it was all for the best. Its good that we didn't make the trip because of all the road closures. Kimmi had to be back to work on Christmas day, and we would have been stuck in Tremonton. Who knows what other kind of accidents may have been awaiting us. It was good just to spend time with each other as well. We don't get that enough with our weird schedules. Plus, with all my sleeping in I did get a break, I finally overcame all my nagging ailments. God works in mysterious ways. To bad it ruined our "wish list" Christmas.

EEWWW! Nasty Pink Eye!!!

So I woke up this morning and my left eye was sealed shut! Nasty I know! After cleaning it out my eye just kept watering, was all red, and it was kind of puffy. I looked on good old Web MD and looked up the symptoms of Pink Eye. To my dismay the symptoms matched exactly! Since I want to get rid of it ASAP I went to the doctor. He confirmed my fears and gave me some eye drops.

For your viewing pleasure, here are my eyes. As you can see my left eye is all swollen and red. Yummy!

As a result of the pink eye, I am not allowed to wear my contacts for a few days. Thus, I must wear glasses for the next few days. It's quite a weird feeling to wear glasses. I haven't done so for an extended period of time in years. It's sad cause my depth perception is severely hindered. I was at Costco and my hand kept missing when I was trying to grab stuff. oh well. I'm sure after a few more hours I'll be used to them.

Now for some good news. I was driving home from Costco and a closed down crappy restaurant was getting a make shift, temporary sign put up on it. It said: Coming soon.....

I am soooooo very excited! I love Cafe Rio and this just adds a fantastic choice to our slim eateries here in Twin Falls.