Christmas

Christmas was wonderful and I hope all of you had a great one too! First of all, Santa came to visit and to give Toby some love. Toby's favorite gift was his new friend "Squirrel". They are color coordinated which is so important when finding a new friend.

Of course without little children for Christmas, I tend to forget the camera and didn't get any pictures of Christmas day. The day after, we headed to Utah. Naively, we (or at least me)thought that since the weather here was sunny and clear and the weather in Utah was sunny (at least in the am) we would have an easy, safe journey to Utah. WRONG!!! It was one of the most knuckle-biting trips I've ever made. Roads were clear to Burley then they got very hazardous. Snow packed and ice for most of the remainder of the trip. Kevin did a great job driving but I can't say neither of us saw our lives pass before us. From Tremonton on it was very slow going and I was so happy to finally get to Ogden only to see the roads just as bad.

Anyway, on the 27th, we had a huge family party - including all of my family and all of Kevin's family. JoAnn reserved her rec room and Rod's family brought pizza and we ate, laughed, played and ate. We played the 'white elephant' gift exchange game which some hadn't played before. The ultimate gift was the statue of the lady in the thong. Ultimately, my mom ended up with it (the jury's still out on how she got it) and she knew how much I wanted it and gave it to me!!! Next year, I will finally have the PERFECT gift for our friend's annual Christmas party.

We played games at the hotel after and played a game called Curses. It was pretty funny and I would recommend it - especially for teenagers. We old timers have a harder time concentrating (you know you relate). It was a great weekend and now we look forward to New Year's and struggling to stay awake until midnight. Have a safe, prosperous and wonderful new year everyone!

Wintertime - BRRRRRRRRRR

Just to show you how cold it is here in Eagle.....I have "real" icicles on my "decorative" icicles!!! We usually don't get this cold until January. We don't even get icicles on our house. I've never seen this and thought it was interesting. I was happy to find something beautiful from the cold because I really, really don't enjoy it at all!

We're not normally fancy folks but we thought Mr. Tobers needed a little dressing up for the holidays! He loves it!!! (well, not really but it was worth a picture!)

100 Dresses

Last night, the women of our Relief Society had their annual Christmas Party. The theme was "100 Dresses". There was a little book we all read about a poor girl who pretended to have 100 dresses - which were really pictures she'd drawn. Anyway, we had a goal of collecting 100 dresses - new and used to give to various charities and women's shelters. After the dinner was over, we collected just under 200 dresses. It was really cool. One lady told a story of when she was 13 and there was a girl in her class who was very poor, etc. just like the book we read. She and her friends collected an older/still nice dress that didn't fit her anymore, shoes, socks, underwear and a coat. They secretly gave them to her for Christmas. At school after that, she saw this girl standing in front of a mirror in her new clothes admiring herself. She said "I got this dress for Christmas".....it was the sweetest true story from a woman I know and it was very touching. It helped me to feel more of the Christmas Spirit which I hadn't been feeling too much.

I hope in these tough economic times, we will still try to find ways to help those less fortunate than us even if it is just in service to someone. Also, if any of you have to plan events for Relief Society or Young Women's - this was a GREAT success and made us all feel warm and fuzzy!!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

Yes, it's that time again and yes, I'm one of those crazy freaks who actually decorated BEFORE Thanksgiving this year. However, I feel I'm justified in the fact that I will have a house full of guests until Sunday and then a crazy week and it takes me forever to decorate and then it's Christmas! By the way, it's Kevin's idea to hang lights on the house. I love them but I would never ask them to do it because it's a total pain in the rear. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Our House Is Finally Done!!!!

Yahoooo....finally. The painters are done.....I love my house now!!! As you know, when they finished the green base coat, I was sick inside. I contemplated how I could come up with the money to have it repainted - and how would I deal with the embaressment of knowing we screwed up. Well, I couldn't come up with the money (and wouldn't admit I didn't like it) so I patiently waited for the work to be done. As the trim came along, I could see things coming together. Each step brought the finished outcome closer and closer and I began to really love it. It's totally different and I don't do change very easily but now it's like a new home (until you come inside where paint is desperately needed). Michael's friend came to pick him up for the weekend and I heard him say "Mike, the paint job is sweet! I drove past your house and got confused because I didn't recognize it!" So I guess that's good! Here are some pictures:

Fun Saturday!

On Saturday, Kevin and I, my sister Pam and hubby Chris all went to Oakley Idaho for a Christmas play. Where is Oakley you ask? In the boonies. It's right outside of Burley which is about 2 1/2 hours from Boise. The play was "Plaid Tidings" which is a take off of the original play "Forever Plaid". The premis is four singers who are on their way to their first performance and they get killed in a car accident. They come back to earth to complete a mission (sing) and this play deals with Christmas. It was funny and cute! The playhouse on the left was built in 1907 and I think the chairs were original! They were very small, wobbly and a little uncomfortable. But that could have been due to the size of my rear end! There were some really cool houses in Oakley. Here are a couple:













Then we drove on to City of Rocks. I've never heard of it but Kevin found it and it was amazing. A little tiny bit like Bryce and Zion Canyons on a much smaller scale. You can camp there and rock climb.



After the City of Rocks, we went to a restaurant "The Outpost Steakhouse" which was fantastic. The guys had steaks, Pam and I had halibut....yummy.....oh, and pumpkin pie!!!

Then we went to "Durfee Hot Springs" which I had also never heard of. This guy had three large swimming pools and two were filled with the hot spring water. One was a kiddie pool and the other was very HOT!! It was so great with the weather being kind of cold outside. We were the only four people there......we got kind of crazy!! (as crazy as old people can get haha). Here is a dog who adopted us while we were there.

Anyone looking for a fun weekend or just a Saturday here in Idaho - give us a call!

Painting Our House

Update Nov 4th: I had hoped to have updated pictures by now......but.........I can't believe they are not done yet!!!! I guess with all of the trim, the job is taking longer than expected and apparently there is another job that is "life or death" to get done.....then we've had practically non-stop rain so we are left hanging. Suprisingly, with the trim things are looking a lot better. They still have to paint the porch, all of the doors and the red accents. At least I'm not freaking out about the color anymore. Kevin even admitted when just the green was on, he wondered if we did the right thing....finally he admitted he didn't like it too much either....but it will be ok. Pics will come when they're done.

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Well, after almost 10 years, we are finally painting our house. Now, I don't like change, so I could

re-paint it the very same colors because I like it. Kevin, on the other hand, said 'why paint if you don't change it'.......so......we debated for weeks about a color. On the day we met with the painter at the paint store, we still had no idea what we wanted. We were shown a pamphlet of Victorian homes with authentic colors for that time period and we chose our colors. The painters patched everything and caulked everything and began painting yesterday. Well....I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's so green!!!!!! Granted the trim and accent colors are not on yet but.....it's so green!!!!! They assure me it will look nice but I'm worried. I hate change. We'll see.

Toby Update

I just got a call from the vet. Seems Toby is going to be fine after all. The enlarged lymph node was due to something else going on in his body but the pathologist said the fluid from the lymph node was normal. So as I'm thrilled and relieved and overjoyed......I'm a little upset that the emergency vet could have misled us so badly. I mean, she really said it was lymphoma and was just getting a second opinion from the pathologist. I can't believe the emotional roller coaster I have been on. Just sitting in that office with Toby and thinking he was dying was so overwhelming. I bawled and bawled. Either the vet is not very SMART or my prayers were truly answered as I begged for my dog to be spared. So I won't regret the huge amount of dollars we paid the vet, I'm going to believe my prayers were answered!!!! Happy Day!

A scare with Toby

Friday, I noticed a small lump on Toby's neck. I wondered if it was a swollen gland. Saturday morning, the lump was bigger and he was very sluggish and would stand there with his whole body shaking. I immediately started thinking the worst and began crying. We watched him for a while and he went to sleep. He seemed ok so we went to do our errands. We were gone for most of the day and when we got home, he seemed terrible. He looked so weak and shaky I knew we had to take him in. Of course being Saturday, the vets aren't opened so we had to take him to an emergency vet. As soon as he got in the car, he got excited and acted normal (frustrating but good). He seemed fine at the dr.'s but he still had that large lump on his neck.

We were feeling better since he was acting better. They took some fluid from his neck and the dr. came in to tell us the fluid is from his lymph nodes and looked really bad. She said in her experience, it is usually lympoma. Well, I began to cry as she talked about what could happen in the future - treatments, etc. Then they ran some blood tests. Now, during this time, I can't stop crying and thinking about my little baby dying. Even Kevin got really emotional. It was horrible - like a nightmare. I just knew I can't handle this.......I know it would happen one day but I'm not ready and I could feel myself falling apart completely. After awhile, she came back in with the blood results......they all looked normal!!! She was so surprised and said that's a very good thing. Now we have to wait for the results to go to the pathologist to find out what it really is but she doesn't think it is cancer now. But it still could be.........so now we have to wait for a couple of days to hear back.

Today, Sunday, he acts very normal. The lump is still there but he went for a very long walk today that wiped him out and he'll probably sleep most of the day. The good thing is he acts totally normal. In my heart of hearts, I don't think it's cancer but I can't get too happy about it because we still have to get that phone call. I'm afraid to feel back to normal with him and then to get bad news. I will post the results.

My baby's birthday!

Today is my son Kyle's birthday. He is 23 and I can't believe it! Every year, I tell them THEIR story - about their birth. Now he hasn't lived with us for about three years and I miss seeing him in the morning on his birthday. The bad thing is, the older I get, the less I remember about their birth experiences. I probably won't even be able to see him today since he goes to school at BSU and will be spending the day with Matt. We'll all go to dinner Sat and celebrate then. I sure love him!

Greatest Vacation Ever!!

Kevin and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Hawaii as part of the Gold Cup Award through Daiichi Sankyo. Here’s the trip:

Thursday 09/18/08 – We then flew to Maui which was a six hour flight and arrived there at 2:30 pm. We were leid as we arrived at the airport and there were representatives waiting to greet us and take our luggage. We checked into our room which was beautiful!!!! Later Kevin and I walked along the beach….it was eerie – very dark, you could hear the waves crashing but not really see them.

Friday 09/19/08 – Because of the time change, I woke up at 3:30 am and tried going back to sleep. I woke up before my alarm every day. Kevin and I went down to the beach to swim. The cabana boys set up lounge chairs and umbrellas for you. It was heaven!!!! The water is very salty and keeps you afloat. Then we got a jeep for about 4 hours to drive all around. We started out for the west coast but realized the scenery would be pretty much the same so we headed to greener areas. We drove through the Maui Tropical Plantation, the Lao Valley State Park which was very beautiful. We continued driving and saw this beach that people come to from all over the world to windsurf. It was amazing. I’ve never seen such beauty!!!

Saturday 09/20/08 – Kevin and I went to the beach. Kevin tried snorkeling so he’d be prepared for tomorrow. Then we met for our helicopter ride. It was very exciting……it’s really rickety and shaky and loud and we all wore headphones and had a mike so we could. When we returned to the hotel, we walked around and took pictures of the whole area…just amazing. Dinner was the Luau – as we got there, it was drizzling which made my hair even more horrible….I tried to get used to the fact that it was going to look dorky the whole trip but it was hard. I had an afro the whole time. We had a buffet which wasn’t my favorite…I tried Ahi Tune (which is raw) and poi – neither did I like. Then the program began…a Hawaiian lady was the narrator and she went through the history of the Polynesian islands etc. There were dancers and concluded with the firedancers….they are so cool. It was such fun. Again, everyone left early due to exhaustion.

Sunday 09/21/08 – Breakfast was early today 6:30. Then at 7:15 we all left for the catamarans. The boat ride was about 45 minutes to this crescent shaped island. We all got our fins and goggles and one by one got in the water. When I first put my face in the water and started breathing through my mouth, I panicked a little. It was hard for my brain to comprehend this. I later learned others kind of panicked a little too. Once I could calm myself down and concentrated on breathing slowly, it was cool. A storm was coming in very quickly and the water got so choppy. We were sitting at the front of the boat and every time it hit a big wave, we got plastered by water. It was great. The normal 45 min ride back took us 2 ½ hours due to the wind. It got a little scary. For dinner, we had what was called a Dine-Around. We had previously scheduled dinner with friends. We went to Nick’s Fishmarket. I had snapper and lobster tail and of course, foo foo drinks.

Monday 09/22/08 – Breakfast was at Spago’s. Then Kevin went golfing and I hung out in the room and waited for my mani/pedi at 12:30. Then we all went to the beach to snorkel. My fins didn’t fit tight enough and tore off along with a piece of my newly painted toenail. I did eventually go back for a touch up. Tonight was the awards banquet. They called up the award winners one by one which took awhile. Kevin got a really nice gold ring with his name engraved inside. If he wins again, he gets a diamond on it. Pictures were taken and everyone went to their rooms early to pack.

Tuesday 09/23/08 – we were up early again for breakfast at Spago’s before we left for Oahu. It was a short flight and we drove straight to Pearl Harbor since our room wasn’t ready yet. It was a great place to go….I really felt sad for all of those young men who went down with the ship and who are still down there. We got back to the hotel and went swimming. We stayed at the Wyland of Wiakiki.

Wednesday 09/24/08 – early this morning we headed down to the flea market at the football stadium. It was great!!!! It kept raining and yes, I had afro head but wow the prices were cheap. I wished I could have taken another suitcase on the plane because there was so much to buy. We drove along the west coast towards North shore. Then we found this small hippie town and down a small incline were about 6 old buses selling food. There were a lot of people so we decided to go and were recommended to Giovanni’s. They sell the best shrimp and rice I’ve ever had. It really was fabulous. Then we went down the road to a little store that sold shaved ice……oh my gosh….they put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bottom then the shaved ice with lots of flavor…..it was divine. We found the Temple (can’t remember the name) and took lots of pictures. Then we reached the Polynesian Cultural Center. The first thing we were told to do was take the canoe ride…as we got in our seats, the downpour began. We got off….waited under the awning. After about 45 minutes, it finally stopped. Then at the final show that night, we were both so tired. Anyway, it seemed really long and a lot of dancing. Kevin really didn’t like it at all. It was ok. I love the Tahitian dancers and the fire dancers….they are really cool.

Thursday 09/25/08 – We headed to Diamond Head. We knew it was a hike but had been told it was an easy hike. It was not. It reminded me of the hike to table rock. It was steep, rocky trail and just when you thought you were at the top, you exit a tunnel and see a flight of stairs at least 100 of them straight up!!! I thought I would die. We made it but it was dang hard and we had no water. The view was fantastic and worth the hike. We drove around the east coast of Oahu and really saw some beautiful sights. Kevin was craving another shaved ice so we cut back across Oahu and headed back to that hippie town. Yummy, yummy. We headed back to the hotel to retrieve our bags and headed back to the airport. Our flight left about 11:00 pm and Kevin slept the whole 6 hour flight. I did NOT. It was great to be home but I will miss Maui. We were spoiled and I’m grateful for the experience. I hope we get to go next year.