Rainy Day BBQ

We had 6 friends over for a rainy day get together yesterday. Luckily the rain stopped by the time everyone got here, so Doug didn't have to BBQ in the rain. It was really nice to have friends over and just laugh and have fun....it really helped relieve my grumpiness.This picture makes me smile because people sink into our couch when they come over. Ben is in his favorite spot, which is the corner of the sectional. When Ben and Breanna left, Matt made his way into the corner (after a year or so, we finally had Matt over as a guest. We've always put him to work when he's here). Just so you know... There's a rule for the corner of the couch...NO FARTING or you get junk punched. LOLI told everyone they were Doug's friends since we spent Friday evening cleaning....it's kinda like parents that say, "Oh OUR daughter is so cute,... OUR kids this, that and the other." But when it comes time to change a dirty diaper it becomes, "YOUR daughter needs to be changed." haha! Therefore, they are Doug's friends. We really had a good time having everyone over. I hope everyone had a good time too; I know I laughed enough to make my face hurt.

I'm Grumpy

This is me lately...

I'm grumpy. It's been a long couple days. I'm tired of feeling this way, I'm tired of work crap, I'm tired of dealing with stupid stuff, I'm tired of wearing things on my shoulders and I'm tired of people in general. I'm really not a fan of people, I like a "person", but not "people" in general. I'll keep plugging along like normal, but I'm going to try and shake this. I'll just wear my headphones and listen to music at work, try to be more patient with dumb drivers, I'm going to stop feeling like I've done something wrong and just do the best I can, I'm going to stop expecting things from other people (I have expectations in my mind and the person/people involved have their own agenda and expectations and I can't assume they will do what I want, when I want).

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It's a new day.

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I'll keep my head up, my thoughts, actions and words positive and I'll keep smiling...after all, my mom didn't spend a bunch of money on my braces for me to not smile :)

Commute Photo

I haven't posted a commute photo for a while.
This is the water level of one of the walking bridges I pass; the water level is usually much lower than this. When the water level is lower people can usually wade in to go fishing. There have been local flood warnings from all the rain we've received lately and some trails and parks are closed due to flooding. The rain is supposed to let up this week and we should see the sunshine and temperatures in the low 70's.

Weight Lifting

This is what happens when you do squats with more than 600 pounds on your shoulders: Doug had some really bad blood blisters on his shoulder blades about a week ago from bench pressing so much weight, but I didn't get pictures of those. I'm really excited that he's had time to work out lately; maybe it will help me with my own motivation.

Another Storm

Here's the very short lived hail storm we had:Then the wind blew the fire pit cover off again...our little lizard is still hanging on!It blew the umbrella and bricks over again:After Doug moved the umbrella to another side of the house and stacked the bricks on the base, I put the lizard on the bricks hoping he would make his home in the bricks rather than the fire pit cover. I went to check on him a short while later and he was sleeping.

I went to see how the lizard was doing last night and he's gone. I hope he's hiding from the weather inside the brick pile. I'm going to name him Stickers because he's been sticking around through these storms and he sticks to the fire pit and bricks.

Alaska Bound

We've planned our vacation for this year: We're taking a cruise to Alaska

We're pretty excited. We've had our stateroom on hold for a few weeks and yesterday I took the plunge and paid for the rest of our trip. I went on an Alaskan cruise when my brother got married and I'm looking forward to going again and going on different excursions this time. We still need to finalize and pay for our shore excursions, but we're looking forward to a helicopter ride to the glacier and dog sledding in one port and a tree top jungle gym in another.

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I'm hoping we'll be able to stick to our big vacation hopes through 2016. Yes, we've got a few things planned through 2016 (I may have told you this before) - like next year is Aberdeen, Scotland with my brother and sister-in-law. 2013 should be Disney World and 2016 I'm hoping for Brazil (Doug served his mission in Brazil and I'd love to go back with him). Hopefully when Doug is finally down to one job we can also take smaller trips throughout the year and make the rounds through the states to see our families too.

Another Storm

It's been raining for the last week and it's supposed to rain for the next week too. Last night we had very strong winds. I'm not sure how strong the gusts of wind were, but the night before they were guessing sustained winds of 30-40mph and gusts of 70mph. The wind blew our patio umbrella over - this is just after Doug picked it back up. It had about 200 pounds of bricks on the base. The wind also took the cover off our fire pit; I'm really glad the cover didn't catch wind and disappear into the neighborhood. The chair in the bottom left of this picture was closer to the far window when the wind began.

There's a little lizard in the picture below. He's hanging onto the side of our fire pit.

The winds are gone, but the rain is still here. I don't mind the rain; I'm not a fan of driving in it, but we really need all the rain we can get.

Chore Idea

Last weekend I made a chore bouquet. Each day we can pull a flower or leaf from the vase and it will tell us what our chore is. Each stick has a duty that should only take about 10 minutes; there are blank sticks too, so we'll get free nights sometimes. There are 50 sticks with about 40 different things to do - that sounds like a lot of things to do, but they don't say "clean the bathroom", instead they say "clean the toilet", "clean the bathroom floor", or "wipe the bathroom counters" - that way it's quick and won't seem like a lot to do.

And it looks like a bouquet when they're in the vase:

The chores to be done are in the blue rocks and when finished the stick goes into the white rocks. Doug previously asked me to make a chore calendar, but that didn't seem like very much fun. I thought I'd share the idea just in case anyone wanted to try this too.

Turtle and Goats

I don't know if you know, but I love carbohydrates...especially bread. We had a salad potluck on St. Patrick's day and a coworker brought a turtle shaped bread from Boudin's Bakery. YUMMM It's the same bakery the snowman came from around Christmas time (you might remember it from a previous post).I finally got a good picture of the goats on my way home. This picture is while driving on the freeway, holding my phone up and hoping for the best. Not too bad for a cell phone!

I should get a mini goat for our yard. Wouldn't that be cool!? I could have a miniature farm with little animals!!

New Adventure for 2011

Hi everyone!,

Check out our new adventure and blog here: DnA Guns

We are in the very beginning phases of this new journey, so we'll keep you updated as it progresses.

Rock Slide

There are only 2 roads to get to or from my parents house. One is now shut down because of a large rock slide last week (right side of the picture): This is the road the school buses and large vehicles take because the other road is too small and it has 180 degree turns and that little white cable suspended bridge you might remember from a post a while back. The rocks covered the road and took trees down with it:

They've been removing the rock, but now they are worried the mountain may continue to crumble.

The road isn't that big and because the trucks they are using to remove the rocks need to turn around (which can't be done on that road), they have to drive in reverse for over a mile to get the equipment out there to do the clean up.

Idol the Diva

Have you seen American Idol this year??Have you seen the movie The Fifth Element??

The contestant on American Idol reminds me so much of the "Diva" on The Fifth Element!! I can't watch her without seeing the Diva in my mind and wanting her to sing like the Diva in the movie.

Diet of ALL Diets

Welp, it seems to be quite an interesting start to this year for me. You've already read about my bronchitis, rib pain and car accidents. It's apparently time for the stomach flu. I wasn't feeling very well on Tuesday, so I didn't eat much. I got home and the "fun" began. I can't remember the last time I threw up (probably more than 7 years ago), but I forgot how miserable it is!

I track my food and weight everyday and Tuesday I only ate 424 calories and Wednesday I ate 250 calories (and it came right back up) and today I've eaten 587 calories...and the jury is still out if my soup and bread will stay put since it's the only solid food I've eaten besides saltines. Since Tuesday, I've lost 6 pounds. I called my mom and told her that her doctor has her on the WRONG diet! Holy 6 pounds Batman! I was so weak yesterday that I had to rest after walking up the stairs and I couldn't stand while taking a shower.

* And for those who are thinking it in their heads...just to check, I pee'd on a stick, I'm not pregnant.

I feel better today and I had more energy today, but I'm still nervous to eat. Bland, light foods are in my diet for the next few days. I said it a few weeks ago and I'll say it again, I haven't been this sick in years! 2011 is kicking my butt, I better start fighting back!

$40 Cup of Hot Chocolate

Monday evening I took my car in to be smogged. I get pretty annoyed that we have to smog vehicles. The gal at the smog shop told me they are trying to repeal the smog laws to make it so that ALL vehicles will be smogged. It's going to make it so classic cars won't exist anymore. Sucky.

There was a guy sitting behind the counter while I was there...he didn't do anything but stare at his computer; even after a customer came in to pick up and pay for his vehicle...he didn't move. The guy had to ask, "Is anyone coming up to help me?" Holy cow, the guy got off his stool, called the lady over the intercom and went to sit back down. I couldn't see his face, but I heard what sounded like snoring. I kind of giggled and I sat up straight to see around his monitor. It sure looked like he was sleeping, but he wasn't. Then I felt bad because I realized he's so overweight that it impairs his breathing :(. I had a cup of hot chocolate and my car passed smog. The end.

Wedding Reception

We went to Doug's cousin's wedding reception yesterday. They did a great job decorating the church. Here is the pretty candy table. These are all the yummy candies:

It doesn't look as pretty in the picture, but it will give you and idea:

This was the center of the room; I really like it. It looks like an upside down cake - it's very pretty and different.

The food was great, the cake was great, the candy was great and the decorations were great. I sometimes find myself thinking about things I would have done differently for our wedding. Here is Mari Lee and Phillip's cake:

Here is Mari Lee in her pretty dress; her mom made it! I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I can hardly sew a button on :) I like to think I helped even just a little...okay not at all really, but Doug's Aunt Cleone borrowed my dress to help make Mari Lee's dress - the pattern she was using for the dress didn't have very good directions and mine has similar gathering on the skirt. She did an amazing job and Mari Lee looked beautiful.

Doug went to dance with Mari Lee, but I was late taking the picture.

It was a very nice evening. We also got to spend time with Doug's family and I met more of his family. Doug's mom had 7 kids and Doug's aunt had 9 kids!! Holy cow!

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Also, I need to ask for you to please keep Doug's brother, Brian, in your prayers. He's been very sick and in a lot of pain from the chemo.

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Today we spent time with Ben and Breanna. Although it's raining, we had barbecue hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we watched Chronicles of Narnia and ate ice cream. They're always fun to hang out with.

It's Goat Time Again!

I still don't now why I get such a kick (no pun intended) out of these goats, but they make me smile when I see them each year. I haven't been able to get a good picture of them yet, but they've been out in the pastures for a couple weeks now.It finally happened. The gas prices around here have hit over $4.00 - yes, it's the supreme price, but we are in for some crazy prices this summer! The Shell prices below are $3.89, $3.99, and $4.09. YIKES! A gas pricing website that shows cheap gas in the area says the average gas price is $3.823 and one year ago it was $2.985.

I was asked how our trees are doing. So far, they look pretty sad. We fertilized them last weekend and I'm going to prune them soon. I pruned them fairly late in the season last year because I didn't want the branches low and touching the ground, but I'll leave them alone next time.