Here is a Question For You

What has 4 legs, a cute little nose, and a penchant for chewing Nokia phones?

Rachel's phone:Collin's phone: The Culprit:

Both within THREE DAYS!!!

Like We Need Another Dog in the House

I was ok with this one, though.

Thanks, Jenn, for bringing him by!

Thanksgiving Point

Collin was cool enough to get a masters degree (MBA) and his parents were cool enough to buy him a really nifty new camera as a graduation gift. I'm pretty happy with it too. As you know most of my pics on this blog have been self portraits and because I don't have super long arms (as well as a limited understanding of how to use the camera timer) I have, like, 3 pictures where you can see my feet. Now I have a few more...

Don't worry Jen, he'll never replace you.

Our Good Friend Bob

Last night Collin and I went and saw our good friend Bob Dylan and his Band perform out at the Great Saltair. Ok, so he he's not really our friend and we've never actually met him, but I like to tell people we were introduced by our mutual friend Bob. (In reality the mutual friend was a girl named Jill). Anyway, where was I? We went to an awesome Bob Dylan concert last night. We weren't allowed to take in cameras (or gum for some reason, they threw away a pack that was still 3/4 full, those jerks. What did they think we were going to do? Chew too loud?).So here are some random pictures found online:

Here is Bob, like, 25 years before we were born. OK. Maybe not 25. I'm guessing. Probably more like 15. This is the picture off his Blond on Blond album and I'm pretty sure it was the mid 60's. And here is the old (but awesome) fart today. He is 68. He was so spry and into it, made me think he was on something (ok, he most likely was on something. Dylan and weed pretty much go hand in hand).
It was the most random grouping of people in the audience. There was the old guy with the Santa Clause beard who asked the teeny bopper girls screaming next to him to not yell in the ear with his hearing aid. There was a group of "granolas" behind us in their NorthFace fleece jackets and Tevas. There was big burly guys who looked like mountain men standing next to yuppie looking people in sweater vests. It was awesome.

Ya Feel Better Now?

You'll never guess where we found this rock. I'll give you a hint, the dog in the background has something to do with where we found it.
It was 3:30 in the morning. Collin and I were, as one would expect, fast asleep when we were suddenly awakened by the sound of a gagging dog. Collin put Lucy on the floor and she started throwing up. While she was throwing up (and with me trying my hardest not to, ew) I heard a "clunk" on the floor (the flooring in our bedroom is hardwood). Collin was gone to get towels and when he came back he said "there is a rock in here." How strange is that? The same dog we can't get to swallow a measly little pill willingly eats rocks?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Marley and Oso were NEVER and sTILL AREN'T that much stinkin' trouble.

Long Sleeve Weather

So, I really didn't need a jacket or a sweater today; but long sleeves came in handy. Just let me know when this gets annoying. I still have jackets, sweaters, gloves, coats, boots, and, as Amy pointed out today, socks. I love bundling up!

Beanie Weather

I'm just going to keep going until you make fun of me. Eh, go ahead. I'll still do it even if you do.

Tomorrow: Either Jacket or Sweater Weather.

I haven't decided.

I love cold weather!

Hoodie Weather

It is also hoodie weather. Lets hear it for comfy hoodies!

(Although the "hood" portion is pretty useless. This picutre may be the only time I ever pull it up)

Scarf Weather

Lets hear it for scarf weather, ya'll!

NOT evil

4 of you have something against Billy Mayes and/or Snuggies; 6 of you think it's OK to use one under certain circumstances; 4 of you are Slanket fans; and 2 of you didn't click on the hyperlink to find out what a Snuggie is.

Collin, however, doesn't read my blog and didn't care what any of you thought so he bought me one and left it on the kitchen table for me to find after he'd left for the deer hunt last weekend.

Hey, if it doesn't work out as a blanket with sleeves I can always join a Gospel Choir.

Moral Dilemma (As Seen on TV)

Is it wrong to want a Snuggie?
Take my poll! (To the right.)

Update: It's just been brought to my attention that Slankets are real (see my poll). And here I thought it was made up by the ingenious writers behind 30 Rock...

Keep Calm and Carry On

So I'd been seeing this sign everywhere it seems. Some people I work with have post card sized signs of it at there desks, I saw a guy with it on his T-shirt, I've seen it in vinyl on Etsy, I think I even saw it on a coffee mug somewhere. It's an old British sign that was distributed during WWII. Anyway, I decided to put it in my family room a few weeks ago and it's seemed to come in handy this week. So here I am sharing it with you just in case any of you need it.

Speaking of Collin...

Way to go Collin!

You let that antelope know who is boss.

Does anyone have any good antelope recipes?

Hmmm.

Why doesn't that sound appetizing?

Oh, because it isn't.

Husband Appreciation Post

So I have this really neat husband (that I TOTALLY love) named Collin.

A few of the reasons I think he is neat are as follows:

He plays a mean guitar.

This is his cheap "leave-it-out-to-play-during-commercial-breaks" guitar. He has a few. He would have had more but he sold a few to buy my engagement ring. What a team player.

He is pretty handy.

He installed this gate to keep the dogs out of the living room. I love it.

He stands cool.

Is that weird to love the way your husband stands? I don't know what it is about it, but I remember one of the first things I noticed when I met him was "he stands cool."

There are more. Many, many, MANY more. But those are the ones that correspond with pictures I have.

Happy Labor Day

Today we went and saw 500 Days of Summer. I enjoyed it. Mostly. I'd go into it but all my criticisms would include spoilers. So, I'll just say it was good enough to see as a matinee or rent and I'll leave it at that.After the movie we stopped for lunch at Subway and then headed up to American Fork Canyon to try our hand at panning for gold. Here is a picture of Collin panning for gold:Oh wait, sorry. This is the picture of Collin panning for gold. My bad: He didn't get much, just a fleck or two. But it was fun. And as usual, this is what I did:

So it was a good day.

Swiss Dog Days of Summer

Today we headed up to Midway and went to Swiss Days. They had a HUGE outdoor market that was so crazy busy, you could barely walk, food and live music. They had this group of about 6 girls dressed up in Swiss outfits singing "I'm Proud to Be An American." I wonder how many people saw the irony...

But we had a good time. When we go next year we'll have to remember to go earlier in the day.

Then we headed over to Soldier Hollow and watched the Sheepdog Championship. We watched sheepdogs herd sheep and ducks. It is AMAZING what they can get those dogs to do with just whistles. Our favorite part of the competition was the Splash Dogs competition. Some of the dogs were jumping 20-22 feet into the pool! Does anyone have a pool? I want to see how far Lucy will jump.

Is It Too Early to Decorate For Fall?

Because I totally already did.

Dog Door Rush Hour Traffic

Lucy has this habit of running to the dog door, sticking her head out, and then just standing there. Which makes it really inconvenient if Marley or Oso want to use the dog door. Marley and Lucy stood like this long enough for me to run into the kitchen, grab my camera, turn it on, insert the memory card, and take a picture. Marley is so patient. I'd have bitten her tail or something.

If you look really closely you can see where she ripped her drainage tube out. Yuck.

3rd Post, Same Dog

We do have 2 other dogs, but they didn't pull out their drainage tubes this afternoon. Linda, you SO called it.

For Everything Else...

Gas to drive Lucy to the Vet... $1.00

Vet office visit... $42.00

Antibiotic, pain reliever, and some other medicine that, um, does something...$85.00

Emergency surgery... $455.00

Watching Collin and me shove these pills:

into this dogs mouth:
and getting her to swallow them instead of hacking them up onto the kitchen floor...
Priceless.
(Scroll to the bottom of the post "What a Week" to see why we spent over $500 at the vet.)

What a Week

Wednesday

I hosted a baby shower for one of my best friends, Jen. Her and Baby Abbey got a TON of adorable stuff (I heard Zach was pleased as well). We had meatballs and Jen managed to not get any marinara sauce on her belly. I've eaten lunch with her and this was quite a feat. Way to go Jen!Thursday
About 4 in the morning Collin left for the weekend for a Scout camp out with the Young Men. That night my friend Caryn and I checked out the free concert going on downtown at the Gallivan Center. We saw Iron & Wine. (I wish I could say that I had taken this picture. It was so packed I couldn't even SEE the stage.) Friday-Saturday
The plan:
Friday 4:30 pm- Get home from work and watch the Scarlet Pimpernel (Go Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman!)
7:00 pm- Read uninterrupted (Collin had Lucy on the camp out. I'd forgotten how nice it was to read and not have to play fetch every other page or so).
10:00 pm- Go to bed (at a reasonable hour for once).
Saturday 9:30ish- Wake up, organize ALL my closets and cupboards until Collin came home.

What happened:
Friday 4:30 pm- Got home from work and watched the Scarlet Pimpernel
7:00 pm- Read uninterrupted
10:00 pm- Went to bed (so far so good)
10:30 pm- Got a call from Collin saying that Lucy had been attacked by a German Sheperd and her leg was swollen to twice the size.

10:45 pm- Called the emergency vet to see what we should do. I decided that we would wait until morning and take her to our vet.

11:00 pm- Waited 2 1/2 hours for Collin to come home. May or may not have dozed off.

1:30 am- Collin came home with the most pathetic, sad looking little dog I had ever seen. Her back leg was so swollen and she wouldn't put weight on it. She just hopped around looking miserable.

2:00 am- We went to bed and put some ice on her leg. Nobody got any sleep.

Saturday 7:45 am- We took her to our vet and were pretty much turned away because they already had another emergency surgery going on.

8:00 am- Got her into the vet that is down the street from our (possibly former, they weren't very sympathetic) vet.

8:30 am- Dr. Jason Examined Lucy.

9:00 am- Lucy was taken in for surgery. They had to put her under and shave all the hair off her back leg. She had 4 puncture wounds and her leg was full of pus. They cleaned out the infection and inserted a tube drain that we have to take her back to get removed.

11:30 am- We picked Lucy up. When they brought her out she had one of those lamp shade things on her head, a bandage on her front leg from the IV, and a tube sticking out her back leg. She looked even more pathetic than she did the night before.

12:00 pm- We came home and we all watched movies and slept the rest of the day.

And here she is today. Those must be some pretty awesome pain pills. The look on her face seems to say "What? It's not normal to want to play fetch with a tube sticking out your back leg?"

Graphic Picture Alert: Here is the aforementioned tube. You can't see it in that last picture.
Needless to say, my closets and cupboards still need organizing. Maybe next weekend...

Happy 90th Birthday!

Rita Willis Brown, my Grandma, will turn 90 on the 18th. We had a party for her today. Here is a picture of her when she was about my age.Grandma (on the right) and her two sisters, Earline and May.Grandma (on the right) today with her one surviving sister, May.My grandparents and their kids (my mom is the cute one in the bottom corner).Grandma and her kids (Dennis, my mom, Kelly, and Susan). Grandpa passed away 10 years ago.Me, Grandma, and my sister Jenn.

Grandma is probably the biggest Jazz fan I know. (If anyone knows of a way I could introduce her to a few of the Jazz players, let me know. She would LOVE it).
The grandkids. Well, about half of us. Some of them lived too far away to come.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Phone Tips

I don't know if it's just because I'm really tired (I need to get to bed earlier) but this made a little bit of Crystal Light Natural Citrus Splash (ah, the stinging!) come out my nose:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32317163/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

My favorite is the captions.

Glasses-less

I have worn glasses for the passed 6 years. I didn't want to. My eye doctor took a topographical map of the surface of my eye and when he showed it to me he said "this is supposed to look a target with your pupil in the middle and the layers of the target are supposed to be the curve of your eye." Mine looked like a Monet. He said my contacts were changing the shape of my eye. I knew something was going on because I couldn't keep them in for longer than an hour or two. Oh well, I'm a glasses person. Tina Fey can pull it off, why can't I? But every once in a while I wonder what I look like without them. Here, my friends, is the answer:No glasses puts a serious damper on the Librarian Look. You can't even TELL that it's a Librarian Look. This look strikes fear in no one.

Maybe someday, with enough money and guts, I'll down enough valum to be able to get LASIK. Untill then I'll just have to live with the fact that guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses. Good thing I have Collin.

I HEART READING

So, I know there are other blogs out there that focus just on reading. There are even whole social networking sites set up around it such as Goodreads. But they all intimidate me so I decided to make my own little reading blog. Feel free to comment on any books you've read or to tell me about a book you'd think I'd like based on something I've already read.

my reading blog:
I HEART READING
(original, huh?)

Book Report Due Monday

I finished To Kill a Mockingbird last night for the second time. The first time I read it was about ten or so years ago. My then English teacher, Mrs. Schneider, has us read it painfully slow; picking apart every chapter with worksheets and reflections and group discussions. Because of how long it took to read back then I was expecting the book to be at least 700 pages long. Imagine my surprise when I finished it in 3 afternoons? It kind of makes me want to go back and reread a few other books also dissected by Mrs. Schneider such as Raisin in the Sun, Silas Marner, Count of Monte Cristo, Rebecca, and Huckleberry Finn.
Anyway, one thing my memory did not fail on was how much I loved it (that and the ham costume, I’ll never forget the ham costume). I love Scout. She is one of my all time favorite characters. I’d forgotten what happened to Tom Robinson in the end and the part about Mrs. Dubose and Jem reading to her. Or about how Dill wanted to marry Scout when they grew up. I wonder if they did. I know they are just characters, but I kind of want to know where Jem, Scout, and Dill were 20 years later. I’ll bet they were Civil Rights Activists.
What other books did English teachers make us read? I know there are more. Wuthering Heights just came to me…

Happy 25th!

My little sister Jenn (Jenny to me and everyone else who had the privilege of knowing her since she was a baby) turned 25 over the weekend. In her honor we (my mom, Jenn's son, Alex, and me) took her to the Olive Garden last night. Happy Birthday baby sister! (Although I don't see how it's possible that you're 25 because I swear I'm still only 21, 23 at the oldest...) That's her right there in a rare nonfrazzled moment. Alex must have been paying attention to the camera...

Strawberry Reservoir Forever

I've been getting teased a lot about how "adventurous" Collin and I have become in our travels. Before I start bragging about the latest fun filled vacation Collin and I took this summer, I want you to know this isn't normal. Last year we got out 4 times THE ENTIRE YEAR (and two of those were only because the Gibson's took pity on us and let us come to Bear Lake with them)! Don't believe me, go read my blog from a year ago. Before this year, the number of times Collin and I went out of state was a grand total of 4 and we went on maybe 2 camping trips every summer. This was just our year to see the world (DC is the world, right?)

So, with that out of my system, please enjoy this post about the latest fun filled vacation Collin and I took this summer:

Here we are in the trailer at Strawberry Reservoir. It was really windy so we couldn't go out on the boat much the first day. So we played Skip-Bo. Collin won once and I won once so we stopped there. We are competitive and that kept the peace.
The next day we were able to get out on the boat. We found out years ago that Marley and Oso are not seafaring dogs. They prefer being on dry ground. So we left them back at camp with Grandma and Grandpa and took Lucy. Note to self: Lucy is also not a seafaring dog. I could barely read with her pressed up against me whining.
Collin, the sexiest fisherman I know.
Rachel, the sexiest reader Collin knows. Strawberry isn't too far from Sundance so we headed over there with Collin's sister, her husband, and their two boys. Here we are riding on the ski lift.
We went on a little hike with these two. These boys are SO funny. The kept us, and our dogs, entertained all weekend.
Sundance has some really great scenery. Here we are, ruining it, by insisting on standing in front of it and having our picture taken.
I finished this book (AND LOVED IT!!!!)I read this book (And also loved it. How did I go so long without knowing about the Scarlet Pimpernel? I feel kind of cheated. Stupid English teachers...)And I read this book. Were it not for the references to my all time favorite books ever (the Anne of Green Gables series) I would have not like this book at all. But, alas, any fan of Anne already has one foot in my friendship door.

Things I Have Found In This Dog's Mouth... This Week:

A nickel

A penny

A chunk of 2X4 wood

A water bottle lid

An empty water bottle (sans lid)

Part of a sprinkler

A hanger

Socks

A rock

Dog food (I thought it was a chocolate chip, my bad)

A sponge

Needle nose pliers

And that's only the things I remember...

Whenever I find her with something I give her the dreaded Librarian Look. It's about as effective on Lucy as it is on Collin.

Marley and Oso were NEVER this much trouble.

Kade and Lana are in Town!

My brother-in-law, Kade, and his wife, Lana, are visiting from out of state. They brought two of their kids, Jenna and Tanner. So we all got together to visit at Grandma and Grandpa's house (Collin's parents). We had a ton of fun catching up because we haven't seen them for a year. Thanks for visiting! (And thanks, Oso, for mooning the camera in the only good shot of everyone...)

The cousins playing with Play Dough (or, more accurately, a knock off version called Mega Dough).Tanner, showing them how it's done.

How We Spent Our Weekend

Thursday night Collin and I took advantage of the free concerts at the Gallavin Center. We saw M. Ward (who I am now in love with). This was our view of the stage for much of the night.Friday night was the much anticipated Court of Fire. Here are some spectators in obvious awe and wonderment. A blurry picture of the fireworks. Well, the legal ones anyway. I got interrogated by a cop about the illegal ones. OK, maybe "interrogated" is too strong a word. I was "asked" about the illegal ones. Don't worry, whoever you are that brought them, your secret is safe with me (mostly because I have no idea who you are, like I would LIE to a cop.)
Me and my new best friend Tiff. (I went through all our attempts at taking pictures together and I believe this is the sexiest one. We were going for sexy, right? My eyes really DO look like I am on drugs. I'm glad it was too dark for the cop to notice...)
Saturday morning Collin and I borrowed his parents boat and headed out to Strawberry for a day of relaxing.

My idea of relaxing:

Collin's idea of relaxing:

FRIENDS and NEIGHBORS

Tomorrow is the

SECOND ANNUAL WALTON COURT OF FIRE!!!!

Everyone is invited! Old neighbors, new neighbors, friends of neighbors.

Jodi and I will provide water bottles (if you want something else to drink, bring it), paper plates, plastic forks, paper towls, and ice cream sandwiches or otter pops.

We will also have condiments and about 4 grills for you to grill your meat.

Bring your blankets, chairs, something to share, and a few fireworks.

7:00 BBQ and Volley Ball

8:00 Ice Cream Sanwiches

9:00 Fireworks

If you need directions, please call me or leave a comment on my blog and I'll call you.

(I approve comments before they post and won't post any comments that have contact info in them.)

Yes, Yes...

Harry Potter was just as good the second time. Who wants to go with me when I see it for the 3rd time? Anyone?