Big Day

Yesterday, May 21st was my dad's 82nd birthday, my sister-in-law Becky's (Nate's sister - who funny enough is also married to a John) birthday, my other sister-in-law Jeanette's and her husband Paul's wedding anniversary and the day my brother-in-law Todd and his wife Victoria took off for vacation in Paris. It was also the finale of a little show I like to watch on T.V. called American Idol. So.....happy birthday, happy birtday, congratulations, bon voyage and way to go Dave Cook!

Summer Time

Summer has arrived! Yay, I love summer. It's so hard to concentrate at work (especially today with the A.C. out) when the thing I want most to do is kick off my shoes, feel the grass between my toes and find a quiet place in the shade and just soak in the day. Maybe I'd bring along a book and a tall glass of Diet Coke (not a lemonade fan), or just lay on my back and wonder at how blue the sky is. Or perhaps, head to a beach and relax in the water and sand... Anything but boring old work...But alas, there are still bills to pay, so it's time to get my head out of the clouds and get back to the grind.

Allergic to....People!?

There's this guy I work with who's got a miniature doxen. His wife and him treat this dog like their own child - in fact for a while before they decided to have their daughter, their dog was going to be their only "child" (I can identify with the love a pet can engender as I too refer to my cat and dog as my furry children). From very early on in their experience with this puppy, they've had terrible luck. It honestly seems like they got the "lemon" puppy. First she had parvo, which is a pretty serious virus that affects mostly puppies. She got treated for and seemed to recover from that and then a few months later she had to be xrayed for some gastrointestinal issues (caused by their 2 year old daughter feeding the dog Q-tips). Their latest issue with this animal is something I've never considered. Apparently their dog is allergic to people. It's quite common in the reverse, but for a dog to be allergic to people? Crazy. I thought my kids were expensive, but add up the cost of this animal and it's maintenance and sheesh! I'm glad I have a loveable and completely healthy mutt, Annie!

Writers Block

It's been a while since I've written anything. Blame it on writers block or a deadline at work or a kinda boring spell in life. But I'm back. Ok, since I last wrote, I went to see the Iron Man movie - highly recommended. I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr's dry sense of humor. Mother's Day was fun. My husband was so sweet, he made me breakfast and dinner - yum! He's hands-down a better cook than I. I much prefer baking to cooking, although it's fun to cook together with Nate. Even when we were dating, we would come up with some pretty good recipes. Occasionally there are some experiments that are definite no-repeats, but he has a really good sense of what foods go well with each other. Macayla has figured out how to use the video capabilities of her new digital camera. Here she is lip syncing her favorite song from Secondhand Serenade - Fall For You.
She makes me laugh.

Macayla Turns 13

Wow, I'm the mom of an official teenager....SCARY!!!! I really don't feel old enough to have a teen. I tried unsuccessfully to convince her to stay 12, but she just laughed at me. This weekend she got to go surfing at a place called FlowRider in Ogden. Technically it was more falling than surfing, but it was a blast to watch. Then she had a sleepover and then cake and ice cream on Saturday. It was a busy weekend. This transition from adolescence to teen has been occurring slowly since the middle of 6th grade. Disney Channel favorites were out and Fall Out Boy, iPods and cell phones were in. She's got the teen 'tude down just fine. One moment she'll be happy and the next she'll be surly and ornery. Hugs are rare and embarrassing, but on occasion, you can still guilt trip her into one or two - as long as there's no one but family allowed to witness. There's such a fine line between what's cool and what's not and the list changes sometimes hourly. It's always fairly easy to get her to smile - but she'll hide it behind her hair or something. I'm pretty good and getting the elusive teen smile to appear though as a by-product of me being such a goof ball. It's fun and nerve-wracking to watch her grow and change. I just hope we make it to her adulthood together in one piece! Love you Macayla!