Camp Bow Wow is OPEN!!! YEsssssssssssss

For those of you who may not remeber, Tyler and I boarded Frankie at a place called Camp Bow Wow twice while we lived in texas. It's fabulous. I've been trying to get my other neice and nephdog to try it (via their parents of course) but there's no camps near where they live! I've also recommened CBW for my dogs-in-law, but again, there's none open in the entire state of Maryland.

The reason this subject is brought up, is becuase next weekend Tyler and I are going to Ft. Tuthill (tut-hill) and we'll be gone Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. I've been on the mailing list for the CBWs out here to notify me as SOON as they open, and I hadn't heard from them yet, so I wasl ooking up secondary options: Bellview Pet Resort, Boulder Falls Pet and Day Spa, Desert Palms Pet Resort, The Paws Resort and Spa. . . you get the idea.


Nothing was like CBW. So on a whim I decided to see if they were close to opening up yet. I didn't see anythign that blasted "WE"RE OPEN!" so I called and a guy answered. When he said they opened two weeks ago I was so excited I didn't know what to do!!


Frankie's interview is tomorrow at 9am.

Does anyone have $500,000 so I can start my own Camp? I LOVE IT!!! : )

(You really should be asking yourself why you haven't clicked on one of the links to CBW if you haven't already. I don't care if you don't have a dog, I'm sure you know someone who does!)

Euology of the Card Catalog

I went to the base library today and checked out some books. They have a nice selcetion for how small the library is. When I walked in I knew the topics I wanted to search for, and I even had one specific book title in mind. So, like I have done for the past five plus years in any library, I walked straight to the computers to access their online catalog.

After a few searches and couple of clicks later, I had a nice short list of reference numbers on my piece of scratch paper conviniently provided to me by the library. This unsuspecting stack of creamy yellow colored paper was sitting neatly in a little tin, with some rediculously small pencils casulaly strewn around (why are they always so small? at least these ones were sharp enough to write with).

As I looked at my short list I casually flipped the card around as I searched for the corresponding reference numbers on the aisles. That's when I saw it--this was no ordinary piece of scrap paper.

This was a card from the library's old card catalog. That noble entity that used to sit stoic and proud in the most obvious spot in the library (or against a wall).

I looked at the penciled line callously scratched across the information typed on the card and thought, "Poor little card catalog card! You've been evicted from your home and now are forced into serving the library as a piece of scratch paper."

How long did it take the person pounding out this card on a typewriter to collect all the information of Mark McGarrity's Guide to Mental Retardation? How many times was this card perchance passed over by students of mental health, writers of research papers, or librarians themselves as they updated the catalog? Or was this the card that carried the information of the foremost expert on mental health in the 1990s?

The card catolog became obsolete as computers forged ahead. The rows and rows of small rectangualr drawers were slowly pushed farther and farther into the corners of librarys across the world as rows and rows of square computer cubicles replaced them in their place of prominence.

Where are the catalog drawers now? Perchance on auction with a starting bid of $10 at a surplus sale in tennesse. Or maybe they're refinished, and adorne some posh living room under the guise of an 'apothacary chest'. Or maybe they're sitting in basements and storage houses, slowly being stripped of their contents. Undignified, alone, and never to be remebered.

Maybe the lucky ones are salvaged by handymen and converted to 'nut and bolt' organizers, or by crafters who have a sizeable collection of sundry items.

Yes, I remeber dreading research papers in high school and dreading having to thumb through drawer after drawer to find the book I needed. But I was young. Naive. Innocent to the jaded outlook only a few years of the 'digital age' would leave me with. I remeber Prodigy. I remeber DOS. I remeber the Card Catalog.

Card Catalog, may you rest in peace knowing that you, like the Giving Tree, gave your all to the library. You may be just a piece of stiff, creamy scratch paper to some--but to this library patron, you're a hero.

Tyler's dumb movie is over now, so I don't have time to fix the formatting--I don't know why it's lame anyways, but thanks for listening so I didn't have to watch "Shoot 'em up" ; )

What I do now that I'm out of a Job--again

1) Blog (obviously)

2) Read (mostly baby/infant care books and I'm goign to start perusing some breastfeeding ones once I go back to Luke Library)

3) Prenatal Yoga

4) Play with the dog (and/or go on a walk)

5) Shower (usually--sometimes it doesn't make it into my busy schedule : )

6) Follow the presidential races and continue to despise and fear Hillary

7) Crochet (I'm working on a dress I"m hoping will pan out for her blessing. But I think it might be too big. I wanted to make it anyways though becuase the name of it is "Lily of the Valley". I smile every time I think about it and start to sing the song : )

I'm thuroughly enjoying this period of 'watching soap operas and eating bon bons' and I think it's also helping me to calm down about acutally having the baby. Life isn't too chaotic so I feel more ready to add the chaos that is a child : )

For those who may not be familiar with teh above crochet reference, "Lily of hte Valley" is a song sung by Ethel Mertz in teh I Love Lucy episode "The Operetta" The lyrics go a little something like this:

(sung sweetly)
I am Lily, of the Valley
Of the quiet, peaceful valley over there (she points)
And I'm lonely,
Oh so lonely
But no body in the valley seems to care.

When other girls go walking,
On their arms they have a swell beau
But whenever I go walking,
On my arm is just my elbow.

And I'm looking,
Always looking
For my dream man and I guess I always will.

I know a girl's suppossed to wait
For a prince to come and get her
But the only prince I ever met
Was the neighbor's Irish Setter.

So If by any chance you see
A a prince who has a plan for me. . .

(sung Ethel Merman style)
Teeeell him not to dilly dally!
Not to dilly dally!
Come back to, (Clap)
Liiilllllllyyyy of the Valley! (Leg kick with skirt raise, then sweetly fold hands again)

Its a fabulous episode I highly recommend to anyone.

A Miracle in my Kitchen

So, yesterday morning I was making breakfast for the guys and bacon was on the menu. Well, after each set of bacon I dump the grease out so I don't get pelted by scalding, splattering grease when I lay the next pieces in the pan. I usually dump it in some sort of glass (tempered of course, I don't want shatterd glass shards in teh kitchen either).

For some reason, on the third dump or so, I decided that I would pour into a different glass. And for some reason I also decided that the best way to do this was to hold said glass in my left hand while pouring the grease out of the pan in my right hand.

I even remeber thinking as I was holding the glass "This will probably spill on my hand--maybe I should put it down" but I had crap in my sink and immidiately thought "no, I can make it, I'll just have to pour quick so it stays off the edge of the pan and acutally goes into the cup"

As I"m sure you guessed--I didn't make it (didn't help that the top of the glass was a little tapered) and hot bacon grease fresh off the skillet goes pouring over all four of my left hand fingers.

I internally freak out for a nanosecond and flip the faucet on to put some cold water on it--preparing for the pain I KNOW is coming. But it's not cold enough so after, literally, three seconds, I put the pan back on the stove and start getting more bacon with my left hand.

It's still not setting in, the pain that is, so I think, "hmm, well I've always heard butter or fat is good for burns, maybe this will delay some of this pain I know is coming".

I continue to cook the bacon and change out the waffles for batter in the iron. . . and still no pain. But I'm still WAITING for it. So I think, "It's still coming, and its going to hurt, I should ice it" So I get a cup (widemouth, this time) of ice water and stick my hand in it for one second (again, literally) every 45 seconds or so inbetween bacon flipping and waffle making. But its still not hurting.


So by the time I sit down to have some waffles, I'm staring at my hand and Greg asks whats the matter. I tell him I just poured scalding hot bacon grease on my left hand and he says "wha-really!? When! Put some ice on it! are you ok?!" or something like that. And I said "about 10 minutes ago! but it doesn't hurt! and it's not showing up on my hands!"

I spent the next 1.5 hours staring at my left hand in comaprison to my right and NOTHING happened. Acutally, on the inside right of my index finger it got a teeny bit red and was a teeny bit sensitive for about 30 minutes after I finished breakfast, but I didn't have to baby it or anything--it was still fully functional and I cleaned up the kitchen just fine.

SCALDING HOT BACON GREASE!! ALL over my HAND!! My fingers should have been stripped of skin, or at least still in recovery today! I never felt ANYTHING except when I poured it on my fingers, "hmm, thats hot, I should probably run that under water". But it wasn't the screaming hot where you brain fires imminent danger signals to the rest of your body causeing you to drop everything and keep your hand on ice for the next 10 minutes.

I'm telling you He was in my kitchen that morning. Whoever says breakfast isn't the most important meal of the day never poured fresh hot bacon grease on their hand and lived to tell the pain-free, scar-free tale.

The pictures were taken after I cleaned up the kitchen, so about an hour or so after the event. As you can see, my left hand looks exactly like my right hand. I'm not sure why He decided to save me the pain of my stupidity this time, but I really appreciate it. : )

Good Luck Gifford!

Tyler's older brother Gifford has been stationed out here at Luke for awhile (five years-ish? Maybe?) and he applied for a pretty cool sounding job back east and got it! Woo hoo for Giff! It's with the NRO (National Reconnisance Organization, or office) and apparently this group's existence was classified until a few years ago. Somewhat unsettling for some reason, but still pretty cool except for the fact that I think the majority of our future conversations will run something like this:

Me: So hey, hows work going?

Giff: That's classified.

Uh-huh.

But Greg came out for the long weekend (MLK) and stayed at our place from Friday until this morning (Wednesday) when they got in the car. It was nice to just hang out. We saw Cloverfield (not bad) and went out to dinner at Donovan's (Excellent), and played some Mario Kart (obviously) and I talked Greg's ear off while the boys were at work or out-processing (Tyler and Giff, respectively).

Things I will miss now that Gifford is gone include but are not limited to the following:

--Keeping my dog occupied for literally hours while she sits on his chest and licks his face

--keeping my dog occupied by playing with her and her myriad of toys

--the "pop in" after work and having extra company to get tyler to talk at the dinner table (even if the topics are limited to jets, stereo equipment and video games)

--his hilarious one liners that make me bust up laughing

--his watching movies with tyler that I have absolutely no intrest in seeing (or physically am unable to watch becuase they fall in the 'scary' genre)

--wondering why all my couch pillows are on the right side of the couch and then remebering that Giff was over the other night (he likes to be surrounded by them--I think its a defense mechanism against the dog : )

Yes, those are the only pictures I got over the weekend, and yes they were taken about 5 minutes before they pulled out of my drive-way, but at least I documented something!

So, anyways, good luck Giff! And I think at the next get together you and tyler should ask each other questions and see who gets more "that's classified" responses :) Good times.

I got fired. . . . again

Well folks, looks like it's happened again. I've been 'seasonally reduced' from Babies 'R Us. Meaning, their busy season of Christmas is officially over so they're reducing the workforce (military peopel call it being RIFd, pronnounced "riffed")

I went in to get my paycheck (for working 2 days the week prior) and I wasn't on the schedule for the following week. When the regular manager called up the Store Manager, I knew it was coming. I almost just wanted to say "Dude, save Quinten the hassel of coming up here, just tell me I'm fired and I'll be ok."

Seems to me I tend to get 'let go' on very short notice. Lets Review:

Utah; Analitica Partners: Went to talk to the boss about increasing my pay becuase my 'probationary period' had expired 2-4 weeks prior. Says "lets wait till [partner] gets here." Said partner arrives, and I am let go right then and there (it was a wednesday, around lunch). They asked if I needed time and I said no, so that's why it was so sudden. I guess I could have held on for another week or so but what was the point?

Texas; Camp Lets Move: I get let go mainly becuase I wasn't CPR certified and the 17 year-old (my competition for the position) was. Yes, this was a 'camp counselor' position.

Texas; Cryovac: Came home on Friday after a 12 hour shift of playing free cell becuase I had caught up all the projects, and got a call from the temp agency saying Cryovac let ME go but kept the other woman they sent over. . . interesting. So don't show up on Monday.

Arizona; Babies 'R Us: You knwo the story. I was sesonaly reduced. I even asked if they would ever need me as a back up cashier or something (since I'd been trained in multiple departments, I figured they might need me to pinch hit every now and then aroudn the store). his response? "No." Accompanied with a firm head shake. Allright, just pay me for my last 4 hour shift and I'll be gone. . . as soon as I use my discount to buy the last few expensive things on my registry before I'm kicked out of the system.

I will say, however, that the majority of these experiences have turned out for hte better. In Utah I got a better paying job that was much closer to home as well as an acutal PR job. In Texas (After Cryovac) I got ABB and got paid for Thanksgiving AND Christmas and was even offered quite a bit to stay on in a PR/communications capacity. Plus it paid a dollar more. And here in Arizona, I now have time to focus on getting ready for a baby. And my feet and hands I've noticed are starting to swell when I'm up and walkign around for long periods of time, so its better that I"m not working. Also, like I said, I got a smokin' deal on lots of important baby things like the car seat (only $57 total instead of $89.99 plus tax), changing table ($76 total instead of $139.99 plus tax), crib and bedding set, plus a PSP video game for Tyler.

The only thing that sort of sucks is that I worked into January of 2008, so now we still have to do taxes for me next year for like, $200 worth of earnings or something stupid like that. But like I said, all in all Its not so bad i guess. . . just a little disheartening at first.

SO if anyoen wants to come visit, now's the time! : )

My Ticker

Has anyone noticed it lately!? I'm not sure if you have, so if you haven't I'll let you know what it says:

"I"m 32 Weeks and 6 Days Pregnant. Only 50 Days to go."

FIFTY DAYS?! Are you KIDDING ME?! Yes, I know I'm pregnant. And Yes, I knew I was goign to acutally HAVE this baby sooner or later, but seirously, fifty days just seems to be a rediculously short amount of time to me. . . .

I wonder if Tyler understands the concept of "Fifty days until we have a Child who is still nameless"?

I have turned completely hippie. . . .

G diapers (which can also be used with a regular cloth diaper instead of the flushable insert)

and

Diaper Free Baby

oh yeah, and these too

Baby Wearing and Wearing your Baby (hands free!(

Of course, now that I've completed "The happiest baby on the block", all I need to do is pick up a book on breasfeeding and I should be in the top ranks of fabulous, easy-trasitioning-from-pregnancy-to-mothering chicks on teh block! (ha!! riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Maybe I should make sure my crib has a mattress first! : ) I'm not going to lie. . . I'm getting a little nervous about the whole situation!)

8 Months (or 32 Weeks)

Allright allright, so I finally got to it. I put the digital camera on the table and set the auto timer and got three shots--then I had to edit them becuase theer was too much "white space" behind me and it was a waste of uploading time.

ANYWAYS! Here's me from the side at 32 weeks (well, in 2 days I'll be 32 weeks). I haven't really worn pants other than these maternity jeans for hte past . . . well, since Patrice bought them for me over thanksgiving (and hemmed them!).

I included a picture from the front (but cropped my head beacuse I looked weird--I dind't have anyone telling me! The table isn't much for photographic direction). Mainly becuase when I walk into a room people don't say anythign until I turn sideways. Then the commentary runs along the lines of "whoa! when did you get that?!" as they point to my stomach.

Then, I included another picture from the side as to how I really feel. SHe's gettign heavy!! And the heartburn was wicked fierce a few days ago. I had to stop work about 3 times to eat more rolaids! I have them everywhere--in my purse, by my bed, in the kitchen, in teh office, I even bought cherry falvored for a change : )

She's figured out where my bladder is--whether she stomps on it on purpose is another question. I had another ultrasound on Tuesday and she's growing perfectly. I was 31 weeks 3 days when I went in and she was measuring at 31 weeks 2 days. Their best guess to weight was about 3 pounds, 14 ounces, and her head is pointed towards my feet--which means that she's not so much "kicking" me as "punching and kicking" (I just thought she was rotating a lot or something, but now I can see she's getting a little more cramped for space).

Other than I feel like an 80-year old when I get out of bed in the morning, I don't have much else to report.

In other news, I've resolved to stay away from the girls clearence rack at work (becuase there was an EXTRA 30% off all clearence clothes, plus my 10% discount) and I have a phone interview set up with a doula tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about that; I'm all prepared with my questions and everything. Oh! AND! My book finally came in! Diaper Free! By Ingird Bauer (and yes, I did register for that pink baby bjorn potty chair).

Merry Christmas to ME!!

So Tyler secretly bought me a Lladro while we were in CA, had it shipped home, got it before I did and put it on display on our entertainment center and hid the box.

It arrived yesterday.

I didn't notice it.

I was even watching TV becuase of the New Hampshire primaries. I was even talking to Tyler as he strategically placed himself to the left side of the Lladro so my gaze would be forced to pass said figurine as my attention was turend from the TV to him and back again. I still didn't see it. I don't even remeber if i had my glasses on so I can't even use that as a feeble excuse if I wanted to.

I did, however, notice that the entertainment center light was on--which I thought was odd becuase it's usually only on when the rest of hte hosue is dark and we're watching a movie or something. But I dind't give it much more thought, even as I turned off hte light to go to bed.

That's when Tyler asked if I noticed how he decorated the entertainment center. Perplexed, because I had already put away all the Christmas decorations, I went out to inspect said piece of furniture and THERE IT WAS!!! CUTE AS EVER and Perfectly creating a fabulous balence of height and width with my "A New Friend" Lladro and my Maltese vase on the same shelf~!

Isnt' She cute?!

It's called "Don't Be Impatient"

And I LOVE it!!! Thanks Baby!! Merry CHristmas to ME!! : )

New Year's Eve 2007

We really didn't do much, although we did make it to midnight. Tyler was in on the computer and I realized it was about 11:58 so I find "Dick Clark's Rock 'n Roll NEw Year's Eve Countdown" on TV and start yelling

"Tyler! Tyler! Its almost New Years! Come here! You're going to miss the countdown!!"

So he comes in and spends the next 1:58 seconds getting confused as to what time it is locally and why we're watching New York becuase that would mean its only 10pm in Arizona.

I interrupt him to give him a bottle of Welch's Grape, I say "Happy new Year Baby!" and Clink his bottle with my martinelli's (both were left overs and only had, literally, one swig in them). I tried to give him a kiss but he was still trying to figure out what time it really was.

Until I told him he was ruining new years. Then he got it and started dancing with me to Old Lang Syne (or whatever the real name of that song is). We finished our sparkling juices out of the bottle (we even gave Frankie a little taste), then we went to bed.

WOoooO! Happy New Year! : )

A California Christmas, 2007

Prologue
While I did much better at photo taking on this trip than I normally do, I still managed to miss some events--but all in all I think the photos are a very nice sampleing of the goings on we Youngs dabbled in whilst in California.

Friday, December 21st
Tyler and I arrive late that night. I feel like we're all shouting and going to wake someone up until I realize that Mom and Dad are now the only ones home. We regale Mom and Dad with our adventures in Quartzsite and how we found the only McDonald's to ever take 25 minutes to serve up one #1 and a filet 'o fish. Tyler and I almost had a non-fight over wind/solar/water power. I need more lessons in physics and chemistry and he needs to build me a house with self-sustaining power sources becuase I hate bills.

Saturday: Brazzalies and Saticoy
What would Christmas without Brazzalies be? . . . . . . . probably a lot less messy. Julia came over with her kids on Saturday morning and we all sat down and got to work. Over the years mom's power cord got lost/destroyed/fried so someone rigged up a computer cable a few years ago to make do. Since that cord has started to burn . . . . and there were only women, children and pregnant women in the house practically . . . . I brought down my brazzalie iron power cord to use so nothing exploded and/or burned down. Holiday Safety First kids!

Brazzalies, by the way, are a traditional Swiss Christmas cookie. They're sorta like a sugar cookie, squashed really flat and rounded like a pringle, only its a circle instead of an oval. They're fairly labor intesive to make and one batch makes about 1,000 cookies (roughly). If you eat too much dough, you get the Blue Goofus. If you don't think it's real ask my dad or my nephew Tyler (I think he got it one year). They're best if made to Elvis records in the background. Oh--and you have to use REAL butter.

So after brazzalies mom, dad, Tyler and I went to check out the new house in Saticoy. It's coming along nicely, and I can't wait until its finished so we can finally all stay together (while still having a place of retreat. . . sometimes its a little bit hard to go from living with jsut one other person to a housefull of 6 or more kids). The front door is very lovely (although it doesn't have doorknobs yet) and my dad was fortunate enough to be in the frame of the second picture. Yes his tongue is sticking out.

Monday, Christmas Eve
Tyler and I perused The Oaks, had Johnny Rockets for lunch after I almost cried when tyler came too close to forcing me to eat food court food, then went back home to hang out. I think mom put Tyler to work on some IT/tech support projects. Then we went out for some dinner and saw "National Treasure: Book of Secrets". Highly enjoyable becuase I knew exactly what to expect so it wasn't confusing (its been a big problem lately--my confusion).

Christmas Day
I asked Tyler to come jump on the bed with me to wake up dad--he staunchly refused much to my dissapointment and despite my pleading, cajoling, tugging and almost anger. I thought it would be hilarious, as did my mom when I told her that was my original plan before Tyler vetoed it.

Since it was just the two of us, it was pretty quite--but we had plenty of space at the top of the stairs for the required Christmas Morning Photo! : ) Yeah I know its blurry, but its sharp enough to see the dip in teh middle of the stairs that we used to all careen down at once! Ahh, good times.

Erika and I gave Mom and Dad a Scooba for the new house--and also for the current one. When they unwrapped it the conversation went somethign like this

Anna: Do you know what it is?
Mom: Well, it says its a Scooba
Anna: Do you know waht a scooba is?
Mom: It's an I-robot (looking at the writing on the box).
Dad: Its a robot?!
Mom: That's what is says--look right here, "I-robot"
Dad: Well, will it clean our house?
Anna: Sort of!!

It couldn't have been more perfect! Nor, by the way, could this PICTURE be more perfect of my parents! I personally don't think there's been a better shot of hte two of them in the same framce--its a small Christmas mircale! : )

After we read abotu the scooba nad plugged it in to charge it up, Julia and Steve and the kids came over. After they opened their presents (Tyler and I gave to J and S this year) we went over to Gram's house (the aforementioned event is on video).

My dad helped my Uncle Jim open his gifts and my grandma seemed very pleased with her Jeff Gordon DVD. Frankie was allowed in the house (just like Frosty was on Christmas! : ) but I think there was a little too much chaos in the place for her. She seemed to stick pretty close to adult laps and behind me.

When I finally moved from the floor in front of the fire place to the couch, Frankie wedged herself between me and a teddy bear.

Apparently she was pooped from avoiding remote control cars and seemingly self-moving items like wrapping paper and bows becuase about ten minutes later she looked like this. (I'm not sure why the formatting is going crazy--btu I'm goign to jsut leave it be.)

Mom and I scooba'd that night. After a bit of a rough start, it ran pretty darn good. This is my mom posing on her beautifully scrubbed kitchen floor. I ran it again two nights later and it was much smoother--I guess it just had to get the kinks out on that first run. I like that it plays a triumphant little tune when you turn it on and it makes a sad little "beep beeeeeeeeeeeeep" when it gets stuck or the tank is empty. But mostly I like that it FREAKING WORKS AWESOMELY!!! Scooba's rule.

Wednesday, December 26th
Tyler rode back to AZ with an IP from his squadron who happened to be visiting his family in Simi Valley. Shortly after Lisa and her kids came out and then Chris with the dog Cally. I bought some cute Christmas shirts for Frankie and Cally and Chris was kind enough to not be on the premisis when I dressed his dog up and took a picture. I didn't do much that day I don't think, except hang out with Lisa and the kids and dress up our dogs.

So here are two of the three grand-dogs (or dog cousins) in their festive Christmas muscle tees (at least that's what Cally's looks like! HAhahahahaha! I bought an Extra Large for her, but I guess they ran a little small--Frankie's in a medium.

I only wish they had some gold chains or something around their necks instead of the collars and tags to show off that chest hair they're sportin'! HAhahahahaha, our poor dogs.

Cally's shirt looks even better from the back : ) They posed nicely for the photos becuase I don't think either of them like moving in clothes. (Cally's may hve just been too tight for movement, Frankie just doesn't like to move when she's dressed up).

I didn't have a shirt for Scotch (Sara's dog) becuase I didn't know they were bringing him out. I also manged to not get any pictures of scotch and frankie playing--which was quite a site. I'll have to search for a good picture of scotch to put up here to illustrate why it was so funny to watch the two play.

Thursday, December 27th (I think)
This could very well have been Friday, but either way, we all went to the Ranch one day. Sara and Tim and co rolled into town late late Wednesday night. . . which now makes me think the Ranch was on Friday.

Anyways, Dad started up the tractor for the kids and they all piled on (all 6 of them at one point: Megan (8), Tyler (6), Travis (3.5), Tony (18mo), Mark (3.5) and Luke (14mo)--don't quote me on all those ages, but its in the general vicinity).

Then Lisa, Sara and I got in the bucket for old time's sake. I climbed in and let dad take me up and down mainly becuase my mom was so against it (hahahaha! she was only worried becuase one time one of the grandkids happened to drop the bucket from very high to very low before anyone could stop him--and his dad and baby sister were in the bucket. No one was hurt, but now my mom doesn't want anyone in the bucket when kids are in the tractor becuase now they know how to move the levers. But my dad was in the tractor and nothing happened. Although dad and I both got some good video of mom getting mad/distressed and all the rest of us laughing)

But then Lisa climbed in after I got out and Dad took her over to the Avocado trees. I at least held on teh entire time, but lisa decided to check her pictures she just took prompting mom to scream "LISA! You HOLD ON! with at least ONE HAND!!!!" (we have it on video, I can't remeber whose, but at least 2 cameras were rolling at any given time that day).

Then Pop (as my dad is referred to by the grandkids) took them all over to the back of the ranch and dug a big hole. The kids got a kick out of it. (From left to right: Luke, Mark, Tony, Travis, Megan, Tyler)

Then we all went over to the office and pillaged some SWAG (JAZ t-shirts and sweatshirts and even a cool bag).

The Rest of the Time until I left Sunday Morning

I think Lisa went back home on Friday or Saturday and Sara and I got to hang out until I drove back home on Sunday. I don't have any pictures for that time, and I can't remeber anythign too striking about what happened, except that it was just nice to hang out with my sisters for a few days. I'll have to check the video camera.