Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle

Spring Flowers

2010-05-23T17:34:00.008-06:00

I just wanted to share some of the beautiful flowers that I am enjoying in my yard. This is the most amazing ground cover ever! I absolutely love the little white flowers. The back of the petals are dark pink, which gives it a cool look. It is spreading well through one of my flower beds. I love it!
This is some other ground cover I have. They are tiny blue flowers. Pretty!

Here are some amazing iris. I love the colors! My neighbor has already asked for some starts when I divide the purple ones.

Here is the flower bed as a whole. It's pretty full, but also pretty! The flowers are much prettier up close.

My bushes have the most amazing yellow flowers all over them!

More beautiful iris:

Here is the flower bed as a whole. Not as pretty from far away. There are many more flowers getting ready to bloom. It will be nice having more colors than just yellow (though I love the yellow ones).

Best Friends

2010-05-23T17:18:00.008-06:00

Newton and Bullwinkle have become best friends. It makes me so happy! Newton is getting so big. He's getting closer and closer to Bullwinkle's size. I just hope he doesn't get bigger than Bullwinkle! Newton and Bullwinkle play so well together.

The above picture is from March so Newton isn't too big yet. He loves to jump and lay on Bullwinkle. Gratefully Bullwinkle doesn't seem to mind.

Tug-o-war is a favorite at our house. Newton doesn't care who his opponent is. He is quick to get in on the game!Another fun game is wrestling. Even though Bullwinkle is still bigger, he isn't always the one on top. This is the only picture that I was able to get to show that Newton is getting close to Bullwinkle's size. It's hard getting two dogs to cooperate during pictures!Here are the handsome boys and on a nice Sunday afternoon. We played outside for a while today.

Introducing.....

2010-02-07T15:29:00.003-07:00

This is my new little boy. His name is Newton. I got him on Tuesday, February 2nd. A friend of a friend was giving him away. I love free!
Just to give you an idea how big he is right now, the dish he is sitting by is a small dog dish. I tried weighing him on my scale, but he didn't even register. He was too light for the scale to know he was on there.

He plays well with Bully. They play tug-o-war and wrestle a bit. So far Bully has been so gentle with him. I hope that continues! Bully has been a bit jealous too, but I'm trying to pay attention to them at the same time.

Now I just need to get this little guy house broken. I'm being impatient right now. I want it to happen now! I can't remember how long it took Bully to become house broken. I guess it's good I forgot about that part. I wouldn't have this little guy now.

In Loving Memory

2009-12-06T13:06:00.006-07:00

I had to say goodbye to my sweet Rocky on Wednesday, December 2nd. It has been one of the hardest things I've had to do. He had been showing signs of his age more and more lately. He was having a hard time getting outside to do his business. He was pretty much blind and deaf. Last Saturday his back legs started going out on him. He had such a hard time getting around. When was able to stand up, he would walk in circles. When he would wear himself out he would lay down wherever he was, even in the middle of the kitchen floor. Here is a picture of him on his last day. He could have used a hair cut! :) Here is a picture of him plopped down on the kitchen floor. I kept trying to put him in his soft bed, but he would get up and move. I felt so bad that he was laying on the kitchen floor. It couldn't have been very comfortable.

The following picture is from a while ago. It is how I want to remember him. So soft and cuddly. He was such a good dog! I'm very grateful I had him in my life. I am at peace knowing he's not in pain anymore. I was really stressed out those last few days worrying about him. The process was really smooth and peaceful. My sweet friend went with me to the vet. Thank you! It went very quickly. Yes, I cried and continue to cry off and on. It was hard to come home from work the next day and not have him here to greet me. I miss him, but I know he's in a better place now.

Gratefully, a few years ago, I took some video of him playing ball. It puts a smile on my face to remember how much fun he had playing ball. That was what life was all about for him. Nothing would make him happier! I have enjoyed watching the videos the past couple of days. It is helping me remember all the great times we had. The following video was up at my dad's house. He has a nice big yard for playing ball.

I love you Rocky! I sure hope you're waiting for me in the next life (though I hope I don't follow too soon--he he).

My sweet neighbor boy drew me a picture and made me a card. I was very touched. Here they are:

Pathetic

2009-03-29T16:42:00.004-06:00

When someone comes to the door, I usually leave the dogs locked upstairs. A few times this week I had some people over and we were sitting down in the living room. Bullwinkle finds it so difficult to be separated from me. He stands on the chair and sets his head on the pony wall. I just had to get a picture (or two).

What I come home to

2009-03-29T16:38:00.004-06:00

So, I came home the other day to this.
It's kind of hard to see what I'm referring to so, here's a closer picture:

Yep, Bully decided to plop down in the mud. His whole side was solid mud. I don't know what he was doing, but he sure was a mess.

Nice Visit

2009-03-29T16:32:00.006-06:00

Last weekend Nate and April came over for a nice visit. Nate made his fabulous hamburgers and April made the best frozen yogurt. It was most grateful for their visit. Sweet little Calvin loved seeing Bullwinkle and Bullwinkle loved the opportunity to love Calvin. Here Bully was caught in the middle of trying to lick Calvin. See that tongue hanging out?! We did our best to keep Bully from succeeding.
Calvin kept reaching for Bully's face. He was loving it!

This was the best picture! Look at that happy face. He was so excited about Bully, he kept laughing. What a cutie!

End of Christmas

2009-03-29T16:05:00.007-06:00

For Christmas, Bullwinkle got one of his favorite toys (shown below). Each "arm" has a squeaker in it. He loves to run around squeaking it. He will even play fetch with this toy (he won't bring back balls if I try to play fetch with them -- he'll run and get them, but not bring them back).
Well, after many games of fetch and many hours of enjoyment, this toy has seen better days. Bully has finished de-stuffing it. Look at the guilty face. He actually usually has a guilty face any time I pull out the camera.

I like this one. He looks like he's trying to act all innocent. Toy, what toy? I didn't see any toy.

As part of their Christmas gift, I gave both boys a bag of treats. Rocky didn't waste any time digging in to them! I didn't get any regular pictures of him, but I did get a little video clip. Now if it will just load.......

8 Favorites

2009-03-14T18:57:00.002-06:00

8 Favorite TV shows (not necessarily in order):

Life
Chuck
Smallville
Eleventh Hour
House
The Mentalist
NCIS
Monk

8 Things I Look Forward To:

Paying off my basement remodel
Paying off my house
Buying a new, bigger car
Weekends
Meeting my knight in shining armor
My sister visiting from Georgia
A clean house
Getting a good night's sleep

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

Macaroni Grill
Red Robin
Texas Roadhouse
Red Butte Cafe
Mandarin
Chili's
Gourmandise, The Bakery
Burger King

8 Things on my Wish List:

A clean house
No weeds in my yard
A backyard not wrecked by the dogs
A wedding (mine, of course)
A new car
A nice beach vacation
Sleep!!!
Friends to hang out with

8 Favorite Movies:

Batman Begins
Strictly Ballroom
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Star Wars
What a Girl Wants
Never Been Kissed
Pride & Prejudice (A & E)
Lucky 7

8 People I tag:

Anyone
Who
Wants
to
be
Tagged
by
me!

In a Funk

2009-02-15T18:33:00.002-07:00

I know I haven't updated for a while, but I really don't have much to say. After all, it is just me and the "boys". The boys got shaved yesterday so they are both just shadows of their former selves. I probably should have waited a while longer before I had them shaved. They are both pretty cold. Thank goodness for sweaters!

So, lately I have been in a bit of a funk. I'm not sure why. Things at work are going well. I just don't really want to be there. I don't want to do anything -- not even things I usually enjoy. I usually love playing racquetball, but right now I have to force myself to go. Of course, once I get playing, I generally enjoy it. I don't feel like reading or anything else I usually love to do all the time. I guess I'm suffering a bit from depression again. My sleeping meds aren't working quite as well as they were when I first started taking them. I'm just tired of being so very tired. I'm trying not to dwell on it so much, but obviously right now is not one of those times. :) Really, everything is fine. I have a good job that I enjoy. I have a beautiful home (that needs a good cleaning). I have the cutest dogs ever that love me in spite of me. I have fabulous neighbors. I need to find a way out of this funk!

I've started a new night time routine. By 7:00 pm, I am off of the computer. I have been recording some Women's Conference talks and Education week talks (I love BYUTV!). I listen to those for a while. I read my scriptures and then head to bed. I was hoping this might help the sleep, but nope. The past four or five nights have been terrible! Oh well. I'm not going to give up yet.

Tagged

2009-02-15T18:11:00.004-07:00

The rules:

Go to your pictures, go to the 6th folder, and then the 6th picture. Blog about it.

First off, the 6th "picture" in my folder is actually a movie. It was taken on my trip to Cancun. On one of our side trips, we stopped for lunch and they provided entertainment. It was quite entertaining.

If I want to strictly follow the rules, the 6th picture was this:

Last year my neighbor's asked me to help out with science fair projects. I went with them to the science fair to see the final products. Everyone wanted pictures. This is the picture of me and their youngest boy (he didn't do a science fair project since at this point in time he was in pre-school). The poster behind us belonged to one of his brothers.

I tag anyone else who wants to do it.

Crazy Dream

2008-12-29T08:57:00.003-07:00

I have been having very crazy dreams since I started on my newest medication. The problem is that I don't remember them well enough come morning to write them down. Last night was a particularly crazy dream and I tried so hard to remember it so I could write it down. I do remember the basic story, so here it is:

I was with a friend in some room somewhere. We had rigged up a small circuit board with paper clips attached to a decent size power supply. We would take turns hooking each other up to this circuit board. We would shock each other (like a serious shock that would stop your heart). Once we had shocked the other one, we would hook them up to another circuit board (also made with paper clips) and shock them again to bring them back to life. We had been doing this for quite some time (I’m not sure why, but apparently it was fun to do). But, then something went terribly wrong. At this point there were three of us and we shocked one of the friends and after we did, something went wrong with the equipment. We had him (the friend we shocked) hooked up to a computer so I looked at the computer to see if he was still there. I could see him floating around inside the computer, but we couldn’t get him back. The circuits wouldn’t work. We kept trying and trying and trying. Our poor friend was trapped in an alternate universe. He wasn’t dead, he was just lost. We were freaking out. We somehow traveled in time to see ourselves create a similar machine that performed similarly to what we had been playing with. We thought if we could spy on ourselves that we might be able to figure out how to build that machine and bring our friend back. It was difficult trying not to let ourselves in another time see ourselves from the current time. This went on for a while (and I know there was a lot more to the dream in this area, but I cannot remember specifically enough to write it down). We finally ended up in some sort of research facility trying to get help from professionals. We had the computer, showing our friend in the alternate universe and we now had a baby with us too. The baby apparently was also in an alternate universe because what we had of the baby was plasticized. We would swing it around and it would stretch out and then come back to it’s original shape. I ended up waking up right in this part of the dream so our problem never was solved. Bummer!

The Newest Addition

2008-12-21T18:19:00.002-07:00

Introducing the newest addition to my basement.... It's a pool table and an air hockey table (the table flips around). Huges thanks to Craig and Derrick that helped put it together (ok, they put it together....I tried to help). Craig and I got in a couple of games. I think it's time for a party!

Small Miracles

2008-12-21T18:11:00.002-07:00

So, on the sleep front.... I went to see the doctor about a month ago as a follow up to the psychologist I saw. He was a bit concerned when I told him I constantly thought about taking whole bottles of pills at once in order to try and sleep. (As a side note, I'm truly grateful for the small fragment of sanity that always stayed with me....otherwise I would have followed through with taking one of those bottles.) Anyway, the doctor said that we really needed to make me sleep (NO DUH!) and so he put me on an anti-psychotic med (Zyprexa) that would hopefully calm my brain enough to make me sleep. Funny enough, my dreams have been more vivid than ever (I'm sorry, I have forgotten to write them down -- I will try to remember). I still feel like I don't sleep well and I still have a hard time getting up in the morning, BUT I do feel better during the day. I feel somewhat rested and able to handle my day. I do feel the slow down in my brain from the meds, but overall I'm feeling a bit better. I'm hoping to find a different, permanent solution (rather than drugs), but I'm truly grateful for what I have so far. I'll take it! I want to thank all those who have sent their prayers my way. I'm seeing small miracles along the way and I appreciate it!

My Kids

2008-12-21T18:01:00.006-07:00

I thought I would share a few pictures of my boys. First off, this is Bully with his girlfriend Delilah. They get to play all the time and they just wrestle, wrestle, wrestle. I tried to get a good picture of them wrestling and this is what I ended up with:
When they wrestle in the kitchen, this is what I end up with:

Yes, those are my curtains on their way out of the doggy door. If have read my posts from a while back, you will know this is the second set so far. The first set were hanging from a much more flimsy curtain rod so when the dogs wrestled the curtains out the doggy door, they bent the rod quite a bit and ruined it. I splurged for a much more sturdy rod this time. It's holding out well so far. I didn't splurge on the curtains though, so we'll see how long they last (I didn't want to spend a lot of money if they were just going to get ruined!).

Next, this is my sweetheart Rocky. Heis getting quite old. He is mostly blind and deaf, but still loves to play ball. We just have to play in the hall with all of the doors closed so there is limited space for the ball to be in. Basically, I throw it and he runs and looks for it. It can take a little while. :)

Finally, this is Bully with his favorite -- stuffed toys that squeek! The first thing to go are the ears and other appendages. He always chews them off. We've had a lot of fun with this one!

Let it Snow!

2008-12-21T17:51:00.005-07:00

So, we have had quite a bit of snow here the last week. I am truly blessed with fabulous neighbors who have shoveled or snow blowed my driveway and walks. Unfortunately, I have had to shovel my kitchen. Yes, my kitchen. :) This is one of the joys of having a doggy door. Overall I love having a doggy door because I don't have to worry about letting my boys out. They can come and go as they please. But snow finds it's way in....
I keep a towel by the door in hopes of soaking up the melted snow and the wet paws of the dogs coming in. I think it's mostly for my own benefit......the many puddles around the kitchen make me think it isn't working that well. Here is Bully after a romp in the snow:

Isn't he cute?! I laugh when he comes in all covered with snow. Here's my favorite picture (can't you see the grin on his face?):

Poor Rocky is having a hard time with the snow. I have had to shovel the stairs leading up to the deck because poor Rocky can't make it up the stairs. I've had to go downstairs and let him in that way quite a few times. Poor guy! I don't have any snow pictures of Rocky (at not from this year).

Bummer, Bully just came in with another cute face full of snow. I need another picture! Hey, I know I'm pathetic, but these are my kids after all.

Tagged.....

2008-11-23T08:35:00.002-07:00

My cousin Jae tagged me in her blog. Here it goes....

The rules:

1. Post the rules
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. Life
2. Chuck
3. Smallville
4. Monk
5. Psych
6. The Mentalist
7. House
8. Eureka

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Went to lunch to celebrate the birthdays of a few friends.
2. Watched the end of the BYU/UofU game.
3. Did a bunch of laundry.
4. Did a little dusting (not nearly enough).
5. Started cleaning up my new laundry room.
6. Played on the computer
7. Played ball with my dogs.
8. Went to bed.

8 things I am looking forward to

1. The end of the semester!
2. Thanksgiving with good friends.
3. Enjoying my basement during the holidays (bring on the movies!).
4. Another trip to the beautiful Caribbean (I don't know when this one is going to happen).
5. My nap today (I hope).
6. Meeting the man of my dreams.
7. A completely clean house.
8. Ummmmm, I've run out of ideas.....

8 favorite restaurants

1. Macaroni Grill
2. Chili's
3. Red Robin
4. Red Butte Cafe
5. Texas Roadhouse
6. Mandarin
7. Iggy's
8. Pei Wei

8 Things on my wish list

1. A clean house
2. A cruise to somewhere beautiful.
3. A nice long trip to the white sands of the Caribbean.
4. A game table for my basement.
5. A new car.
6. A restful night's sleep.
7. My knight in shining armor.
8. A world without dust!

People I tag:

Anyone who would like to play along!

Sleepiness -- The Saga Continues

2008-11-16T17:47:00.002-07:00

So, in my continued quest for restful sleep, I went to a psychologist. Why? Why not!?! So, we had a nice chat. I asked her about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (something my family doc suggested). When I asked her about it, she told me I wasn't "Cognitive" enough to try it at the moment. I'm too tired to think straight! Of course I already knew that. She wanted me to touch base with my family doc so I visited him last week. He gave me a new med to try. It is not specifically for sleep, but he hopes it will make me sleep. It is an anti-psychotic medication, given primarily to people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The hope is that it will slow my mind down at night so I can stop having such crazy dreams all night and finally get some rest. Of course we really don't know the reason why I always feel exhausted, so we'll see. So far, my dreams have been more vivid than ever. In fact, while I'm asleep I have to direct my dreams a certain way in order to "sleep" -- or at least to make me think I'm sleeping. It has been very strange. I have noticed that it also slows my brain during the day. That isn't the best side effect. Teaching physics with an even slower than normal brain is a challenge!

I decided I need to try these meds for a while longer to see if it may work. I can only hope for some rest! I'm crashing too fast!

Story Time

2008-10-21T19:33:00.005-06:00

My sweet neighbors stopped by to say "hi" tonight. We often sit and visit outside, when the weather is nice, but it's turning kind of cold lately. It was fun to have them visit.
Kate decided she wanted to read a book to Bullwinkle. It was very cute. He laid down as if he were paying very close attention. She would pull the pages out from under his paw and turn them. I couldn't resist the pictures!

Nice Compliment

2008-10-20T19:23:00.002-06:00

Today, one of my students brought her husband to class. Apparently she has been telling him how much she is enjoying her physics class and he didn't believe that there was a good physics class out there. She kept trying to convince him that my class was a good one so I guess she finally brought him along to convince him. What a nice compliment! They came and talked to me after class and he said he really enjoyed it. Thanks! I appreciate the positive feedback. It's always nice to know I'm doing something well. And it was even on a day when I wasn't fully coherent!

Dr. Bean

2008-10-17T20:31:00.003-06:00

I had my last visit with my orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Bean, yesterday. He is great! He was so funny because he went through the normal questions to see how I'm doing, etc. and then he said he was a little sad. He told me I didn't have to come back unless I was having problems with something. He told me he was going to miss having me come visit. He told me he always enjoyed it when I came in. It turns out that he studied physics as an undergrad so he was very excited to find out I was a physics professor. I must admit I always enjoyed visiting with him as well. He didn't necessarily talk about physics all the time with me, but that connection seemed to make all the difference. The last time I went in (in September), when he saw me he said, Good, I get to actually talk to someone! He spent a little while chatting with me yesterday. He told me "you know where to find me!" telling me to come back and visit again. Will that require a copay? :)

He is a great doctor! He did my left shoulder surgery 6 years ago so I was definitely planning on going back to him, though he is all the way back in Layton. Well worth it! Granted, I hope I don't need more surgery, but I wouldn't mind visiting with him once in a while.

Another funny experience that I want to remember, so I will write it here: When I went to have my shoulder surgery, my sweet neighbor drove me up to Layton and I had arranged for my dad to come pick me up. I didn't think my dad should have to drive all the way down from Harrisville just to drive back to North Layton and sit for who knows how many hours. Anyway, this left me by myself pre-op (which I was fine with -- it was ok!). The doctor came in to talk to me prior to surgery and ask the usual question (and to write "Yes" on the shoulder he was doing surgery on and "No" on the other one -- I thought that was kind of funny too). Anyway, he asked me where my husband was. I told him I am not married and he didn't believe me. He asked "how can you not be married" (well, I have a lot of explanations) and then he said it probably because I intimidated everyone, being a physics professor and all. He went on with his questions and I didn't think anything of it. Well, when my dad was driving me home, I asked him about the surgery (the doctor told him all about it, but was long gone before I woke up and could find out about it). My dad's answer: "They did a lot on your shoudler". Great! I was particularly curious because if they had done one particular part, then I would have to be in a sling for 6 to 8 weeks, but if not then I would only be in the sling for 2 or 3 weeks. That was important to me. Anyway, I wander......As we continued to my house, my dad told me about Dr. Bean telling my dad he was surprised that I'm not married. Oops -- my dad's "favorite" subject. My dad started telling Dr. Bean how much he wished he could see me married, etc. Well, Dr. Bean told my dad that I'm not married because guys find me too intimidating. Revelation! Apparently my dad had never thought of this before. It was as if the world now made sense. I had to laugh. I told Dr. Bean yesterday that he changed my dad's whole view. He couldn't believe my dad hadn't realized it. Of course, I know there are many other reasons why I'm not married, besides the intimidation factor, but I know that has been at least an issue in the past.

Oh the fine times at the doctor's office! I am truly grateful to have found a doctor that is personable, who cares about me as an individual, and who is very good at what he does. My shoulder is doing really well, though I still have a ways to go. My range of motion is pretty much back, but I need to work more on my strength. I know it will come with time...... Racquetball anyone? I wonder if I can....... I know, I know, I'm supposed to give it up, but I don't think I will be able to, at least not yet.

Spoiled

2008-10-12T18:15:00.004-06:00

Bully always manages to find the most comfy places to hang out. Leave it to him to find the best pillows a blankets to cuddle up in!

Not only does he get comfy, but if I get close, he raises his leg so I can scratch his tummy! Please momma! Please!
Yes, he's spoiled rotten. AND he knows it! He's worth it too. How did I get so lucky?

San Diego

2008-10-12T17:44:00.015-06:00

The weekend before school started, my lab coordinator Sharon, and I headed to San Diego for a conference. The conference was really good and even better, we had time to visit some beaches. I love the beach! Here are some beautiful pictures.

This last beach was my favorite. It was in Del Mar and it was a doggy beach. It made me miss my boys. I know Rocky wouldn't like the beach, but I wonder if Bully would. It would be fun to take him sometime.

We were able to arrange a late departure on our last day so we headed to the Wild Animal Park. Very cool! I have been to the San Diego zoo a couple of times, but had never been to the Wild Animal Park. I really enjoyed it. The basic admission included a tram ride around an outdoor enclosure. Here are some of the animals we saw:

For a lot more money, you could take tours out into the enclosures to see the animals up close and personal (kind of like an African safari). I would love to do it, but wasn't willing to spend the money. Here is a truck out feeding some of the animals:

All of the animals were amazing. Here were some gorillas:

The workers had spread food throughout the enclosure so the big male gorilla was foraging around looking for the food. He carried the carrot around for a while as he looked for more food.

They had both African and Asian elephants. The main difference is the size of their ears. They are beautiful creatures! I loved seeing the baby elephants.

As we neared the lion enclosure, there were signs about the lion cubs born a while back. I was soooooo excited to see the cubs. But, when we got there, there was only this male (he was beautiful!):

Luckily, as we toured the rest of the park, we had a chance to come back by and this time the male was gone and the cubs were out. WhooHoooo! They were so cute.

One of these cubs was chewing on a bone. A while later another cub came out and stole the bone from this cub. They had a good chase. It was fun to watch, though I couldn't get it on camera. On our way out, we saw these cute monkeys. Notice the baby on the left. It was fun to watch him swing around. Not very coordinated yet.

Our final stop was a section where you could pet some of the animals. Sharon isn't a big animal fan (at least not up close and personal) so only I went in. I was able to buy some food and feed the animals. They were very cute.

I love San Diego! I'm grateful for the opportunity to enjoy some time outside of the conference.

Bullwinkle & Orion

2008-10-12T17:35:00.005-06:00

A couple of months ago, Orion came to play for the weekend. Bully has fun playing with Orion! They are hilarious together. When they are done playing, Bully's head is soaking wet with Orion slobber. It's gross, yet funny.

I have a doggy door off the kitchen so I'm used to my dogs going in and out as they please. When Orion was here, I didn't think about having to let him out. The poor dog, after playing hard for a long time, came running up in front of me (I was sitting on the recliner) and looked at me anxiously. Then he started "leaking". I jumped up and was hurrying to usher him out the door. Here's what he left behind (can you see the trail):

I'm glad it was vinyl floor! It was easy to clean up. It's my own fault for not thinking about letting him out. He quickly learned to use the doggy door and let himself out after that. I felt bad that he was trying so hard to keep it in.

At night, Orion would sleep in his kennel, down in the front room. Is was cute because Bully would sleep at the top of the stairs (there is a baby gate at the top to keep him from going down). It was as if Bully was watching over Orion. They had a good weekend together.

Better Late Than Never

2008-10-12T17:18:00.006-06:00

I had my basement finished over the summer. I LOVE IT! I've een waiting for it to be "perfect" -- put together and clean, before I took pictures, but I realized that just isn't going to happen any time soon, so here they are. This first picture is in my "entertainment center" area. Both couches recline (and boy are the comfy!).
Here is a shot of the entertainmnet center. I had my cabinets custom built. They turned out so beautiful! I had cabinets put in my laundry room as well, but I didn't take pictures of that yet. It is far too messy! That's where I put the excess "stuff" when I was taking these pictures. :) Here's my vanity. I ordered it from Costco. The contractor told me it would be much cheaper that way, since I had already found one I liked. I ordered a matching mirror, but it was shattered in shipping. I found this medicine cabinet at Lowe's and it matches perfectly. It's kind of a tight squeeze, but that's ok. I should have taken a close up of the faucet. It is so cool! It is like a watering trough. You'll have to see it in person! :) I am not including a picture of the shower because, well, it's a shower. Same with the toilet. Nothing exciting to see (very exciting to have!).

Opposite the entertainment center, I have a small wet bar and then room for my game table (currently filled with "stuff"). The box is my microwave waiting for someone to install it. The big "pillows" are love sacs slowly "poofing" up.

This is the wet bar. The hole above the sink is for the microwave. Thanks to my friend Kathy who suggested I put the wet bar between the two doors. I love it! It turned out so fabulously. Through the door on the right, there is a bedroom. I didn't take a picture of it since it's just an empty room right now. I am very happy with the outcome of the basement finish. I ran out of money (so Christmas trips for me), but it is well worth it. I will be enjoying this basement for many years to come. I hope to share it with any friends that want to come over!

Moral Dreams

2008-09-24T20:12:00.003-06:00

Just a funny portion of my dream from last night..... I met a very good looking guy who was in town for a conference of some sort. He asked me out. Well, I knew he wasn't a member of the church, so I made him sign a form stating he knew what sort of things I would and would not do with him. I wanted him to know up front what to expect from me and to commit to only that. :)

You are not normal

2008-09-24T20:09:00.003-06:00

I can't tell you how many times I have had people tell me I am not normal. I find this rather amusing. I was thinking about it today as I was driving home. One thing not normal about me...... I have to consciously breathe. I hold my breath all the time. Not to the point where I'm gasping for air or anything. I just hold it for a while, then breathe normally. When I'm driving or reading, I will notice and force myself to breathe at a regular pace. Strange! I'm assuming it's a reaction to stress, though I don't feel extraordinarily stressed (thank goodness). Just kind of a weird quirk of mine.

A Little More Information.......

2008-09-14T20:27:00.002-06:00

I've had a few comments on my state of tiredness. Thank you for all your concern! For those who haven't been "in the loop". I have tried more sleeping pills than I can even count. They don't make me sleep any "better" than I already do. I still dream crazily and I feel like I have lived another life all night long. The other problem with sleeping pills is that they leave me feeling a little groggy in the morning. I'm already tired, I don't need to add grogginess! :)

So, a few years ago my doctor thought maybe the sleepiness could be a side effect of some other meds I was taking. He changed my meds. We tried 3 or 4 different meds over the course of many months, but there was no change. I have another doctor now who had me stop the meds altogether and still no change. I have had a night time sleep study (I'm not sure how a person is supposed to sleep with a million wires hanging from them). I've had a day time sleep study. I've had a few oximetry studies. Conclusion: no sleep apnea, no narcolepsy, no clue what it is! In fact, the sleep specialist I have gone to told me that I'm "not normal". I had to laugh at that. I didn't need to pay big bucks for her to tell me that! I'm smart enough to figure that out on my own....

My doctor had me try the CPAP machine (forced air for sleep apnea) to see if it might help. It drove me crazy! It took a while, but I was finally able to sleep with it for a while, but there never was any benefit. My sleep specialist wants me to try it again, but the thought of using it again fills me with such dread and I break down into tears. For those who know me, I don't cry -- at least not very often. The thought of the CPAP machine is so torcherous to me that I actually cried in the doctor's office. I told the doctor I would try it again, basically to please her. Due to some scheduling problems, it has never worked out for me to try it. I've even called the company to see when they might deliver it. It was ordered in May, but still no delivery (the middle of September). I called the doctor's office to ask about it. The doctor had told me that maybe if it worked this time that there is a mouth insert that could work. I asked if we could just try the mouth insert and I was told that it is only 50% effective. What?! What's the point of torchering me more than? She basically came out and told me that she didn't think it really would be helpful. So WHY are we trying it? Well, I decided to take the 5 months of not being able to straighten things out and get the CPAP machine to me as a sign that I didn't need to try it again. It didn't work the last time I tried it (1 year ago) and I don't know why I should think it would work now.

For now, I rely on stimulants during the day to keep me somewhat coherent. They work ok and I can make it through the day. I'm grateful for that. I'm kind of at a loss as to what to try next. I don't take the stimulants on the weekends to try to minimize my body developing a tolerance to them (my body is amazingly efficient at tolerating many drugs -- in fact, I can take some of the stimulants and still be asleep within the hour....). I don't want the stimulants to be the permanent solution, but they are all I have right now.

So, that is my sob story. I was reading back in my journal and realized this has been going on for well over 4 years. Thinking back, when I was living in Kaysville, I would have to stop on the way home from work (in Salt Lake) and take a nap in the parking lot of Smith's. That was a good 5 or 6 years ago. I guess I really can't pin point a start to my sleeping problems. All I know is they have gotten bad enough that I can no longer function. I'm far too grouchy with my poor students. I feel bad when I get cross with them, but if they would just stop whining! :)

Ok, so that is more of the story. I appreciate everyone's love and support! If you have further ideas, feel free to send them my way. I will continue to write down my more entertaining dreams. I might as well entertain all of you if I can!

It's sad when.....

2008-09-10T20:02:00.003-06:00

Ok, so one of my students came up to me after class and asked me if I have a newborn at home. He said that I look as tired as his wife does and they have a newborn. I had to laugh. I told him no, but I wish I had a known reason for being so tired. I sleep at night (the night passes too quickly for me to actually be awake the whole time), but I always feel so tired in the morning. My dreams are so vivid. I dream all night long and I feel like I have lived whatever I was dreaming. I'm living a double life! How do I stop?!

Last Night's Dreams......

2008-09-08T13:49:00.001-06:00

I spent most of the night trying to finish up some sort of project. I can’t quite pinpoint what it was, but it was very frustrating for me. It was like I was in charge and someone was supposed to be taking over for me on a certain date or at a certain time. I was holding out until that happened, but it never did. I was so frustrated because I had to keep working with no relief from anyone.

The part I really remember – I had gone to a conference of some sort. We had some free time and our hotel was right on the beach so I decided to go swimming for a while. There were all sorts of animals to see and swim with. I was so excited. There was something like a jelly fish (though it wasn’t a jelly fish). There were horses. I wanted to pet the horses so I got fairly close and in the process, one of them reared up in the water and came down on me. It definitely scared me so I decided I would stay away from them. On the ocean floor there were bones that we could see (I remember whale bones). I swam over to another part, but there were beetles all over and I didn’t like that so much. I was so happy swimming around and seeing everything. I decided to get out for a while and there was a pavilion that people could sit at and watch the animals. I sat in there for a while. Seals came out and sprayed us with water. Then there was a frog, which happened to be my boss (which was not weird at all in my dream), that came up and kept spraying water specifically on me. Another animal came out and “sneezed” all over us. It was pretty gross. I decided to go in and find the people that had come with me to this conference. My friend wasn’t in our room (I have no idea who this friend was). We had some other people that came with us that had an adjoining room. I didn’t like them very much and I realized they had been coming into our room. I wasn’t very happy about that. I went in search of my friend. I went to the restaurant where I had been eating with some other friends prior to swimming. They had ordered custard (I remember telling them to save me some since I love custard). When I got to the table, they hadn’t eaten hardly any of it because they didn’t like it. I was so excited because there was so much left over for me. It was so yummy. (By the time I got back to the restaurant, my friends were long gone and the custard dish was just sitting there on their table. I assumed it was there dish and started eating out of it. Strange!). I spent the rest of the evening looking for my friend that had come with me. I wanted her to go swimming with me and to see how cool all the animals were.

Here They Come Again

2008-09-04T13:22:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I'm sitting here thinking "I really wish my friends would update their blogs!" and I look at my own and see the last time I posted was in the middle of July. That was last week, right?! Where has the time gone? Anyway, when I had my shoulder surgery, I stopped writing down my dreams (it was far too hard to try and type while my right hand was in a sling for 6 weeks). Well, I got out of the habit. The dreams didn't go away, but I forgot to write them down. Last night's dream was far too strange to not write down so hopefully I will get back into the swing of things. At least I can entertain some of you (you can be grateful you're not me!).

Last night’s dream was interesting. I dreamt I had gone to a ward activity of some kind (Enrichment night or something like that). I had asked a friend of mine (Liz Schultz) to help me get to my visiting teaching appointment. I had my own “transportation”, but for some reason I needed her help. Or maybe I just wanted her to follow me and make sure I got there ok. My “transportation” was a small chest of drawers, something like a night stand. I had a lamp on top and some papers. Anyway, I sat on top of this chest and pushed off to get myself going. In the parking lot, I was moving fine, but once I got to the street, I just couldn’t get my “transportation” to work for me. The lamp was falling over and I was dropping papers everywhere and I just couldn’t get the thing to go! Liz and I talked for a little while and decided it really would be easier if we had a rope that we could tie around my “transportation” and pull me to where I needed to me. Alas, we did not have a rope and so that was not a viable solution. At that point we gave up and I told her I would figure out how to get to where I needed to be.

Well, I ended up at a house where I some of my nephews were (Nate and his brothers). I went to hang out in the backyard with my dog, Bullwinkle. My nephews were laughing and joking and asked me if I wanted to see something funny. Sure! They got together a bunch of crushed up fruit loops and started screeching really high and then they ran inside. This made me a little nervous since I was still sitting outside. A few seconds later hundreds of chipmunks came running to the fruit loops to eat them. I was swarmed. I decided to let Bullwinkle go to see what he would do. He ran towards the big group of chipmunks and then stopped, cocked his head to the side, and just sniffed them. I was really worried about them attacking Bullwinkle and giving him some sort of disease. I started to hustle to get the dogs in the house so I would have to worry about them. I got Bullwinkle in ok and then I was looking for Rocky. In the process of looking I noticed one of the chipmunks (a very large one) happened to have on a collar and a leash. Weird! This must be someone’s pet chipmunk! It seemed kind of worried as well. It was so kind though and helped me herd Rocky into the house. The problem was trying to keep all the chipmunks outside. We got Rocky in and this “pet” chipmunk tried to come in as well. As we hurried and slammed the door, it turns out I got the “pet” chipmunk caught so he was half in the house and half out – underneath the door. Yes, he was squished. Luckily in my dream he was very “flexible” and this didn’t kill him. I opened the door and he was fine. We pushed him back outside. I felt kind of bad because he had helped get Rocky inside, but I didn’t know anything else about this “pet” chipmunk and didn’t want to risk having him in the house. Talking to my nephews, it was actually a ferret that belonged to their neighbor.

And that’s all I remember………

He's Here!

2008-07-14T20:21:00.009-06:00

Nate and April's baby boy, Calvin Nathan, was born this morning at 9:17 am. He was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. He's such a handsome little baby. A good mixture of his mom and dad.

Here is one of his perfect little hands with very long fingers....
Look at my nice big feet! :) Aren't they cute?

Proud Mama and Papa......

A very happy Grammy was glad to be here to enjoy his arrival.......

Aunt Dionne, Uncle Dallas, and their girls came to meet their new nephew and cousin....

Great Aunt Trina also enjoying her turn...... (not that I'm "great", it's just that he's my grand nephew -- my nephew's son)......

Happy Birthday (a couple of weeks ago)

2008-06-30T14:03:00.002-06:00

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago. My dad came down a couple of days before my birthday to take me out to lunch. I let him choose the place because he can be pretty picky. Guess where we went?!? IHOP! :) Yes, IHOP. Happy Birthday to me. It was fine and it was fun to visit with him. Just not the place I would have chosen.

The next night a few of my neighbors went out to dinner with me and then back to their house. My neighbor had even made me a beautiful cake! Isn't it pretty?!
We enjoyed visiting and playing with the kids. The night of my actual birthday, a friend took me to Macaroni Grill. Yummy! I chose that specifically because they give you free chocolate cake for your birthday. It's the best chocolate cake I've ever had! It is covered with hot fudge and nuts.

I'm so grateful for friends to help me celebrate!

Hot Summer

2008-06-30T13:56:00.003-06:00

I must admit I was enjoying the cooler weather than brought us into June. Now it's very hot (I'm not a big fan of the heat). A long time ago, someone told me about doggy ice cream and I found some at Wal Mart. I thought my boys deserved some tasty cooling off!
Bully has definately loved it! I tried to get him to like it out of the cup as I held it, but he was too afraid (he is such a wimpy dog). Rocky loves the ice cream too, but he can't eat very much -- it makes him sick (which I don't like to clean up).

Tax Rebate

2008-06-30T13:43:00.005-06:00

Last year I decided to spend my tax rebate on a new bed. I've wanted a new bed for quite some time. I decided on the intelligel bed because it is supposed to be good at reducing pressure points. With the shoulders I have, I thought it would be best. After I bought the bed, I realized that I hadn't thought about a frame. Oops! Well, all my life I've wanted a tall bed with a nice frame. So, I splurged! Here are some pictures of the finished product (on a day the bed was made!).
I already had the bedding. When I was living in Kaysville, I was sleeping on my parents king sized bed so I bought the bedding then. My dad wanted to take it with him, but I wouldn't give it up.

To go with the new bed frame, I also bought a night stand and a dresser. After all, I want things to match! :)

I'm not the only one that loves the new bed.... Bully likes to climb up on the pillows and curl up.

Ben & Kelly's Wedding

2008-06-30T13:30:00.006-06:00

I'm a little slow in posting about the wedding. It was very nice! The night before the wedding we had a BBQ (they were getting a grill as a gift so they decided to get it early). They had a bunch of chairs set out for people to sit on and visit, but being with only one usable arm, I thought it would be easier to sit on the porch. It became the "kids" table. I thought this picture was funny. The littlest girl (dark hair) is Dana, my friends daughter. She wanted to sit by me, which is how it became the "kids" table.

I took a bunch of pictures on the wedding day. The wedding was in their back yard. It looked very nice. This is their wedding cake. Isn't it beautiful?!

Here's a couple more pictures. The first is with Ben and Kelly, the newest happy couple and then Jill and Bao with their kids Dana and Reid. Jill, Bao, Kelly, and I all went to graduate school together. I'm grateful we still keep in contact!

Finally, I wanted a picture with them as well. I can't say I'm looking my best, but oh well. There's only so much I can do with one arm!

Grateful

2008-06-20T17:41:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm here in Montana for a friends wedding. It is beautiful up here! Today a lot of her friends and family were at her house helping and just hanging out. As we ate lunch, I was talking to some of her family and soon to be in-laws. They were talking about how there is so many more natural disasters and wars in the world today. They wished they knew why it was happening. I kept thinking, duh!, it's a sign of the times. The scriptures tell us all about it! Well, none of them are LDS, though some are very religious. I just don't think they think about things happening in the world along those lines. I sure am glad that I have many friends and family who share the same beliefs as I do. Though I love my friends who are not LDS, there is something about being able to talk about all things!

Side Note

2008-06-19T22:38:00.002-06:00

Ok, so my lack of sleep last night really kind of surprised me because at 9:00 pm, I took a muscle relaxer AND a lortab (my shoulder really hurts at night when I try to sleep). Needless to say, I didn't anticipate still being awake 3 hours later when I could take my next lortab. Around 1:30 or 2:00 am I was nearly in tears knowing I was soon approaching the next dose. Somehow my body processes these drugs very well. I took 2 valium before my surgery when I had to have an MRI (I'm clausterphobic). It did NOTHING! I was hyperventilating in the MRI machine. The tech kept asking me if I was ok. :) I did survive!

Tonight the drugs seem to be working a little better. Let's see..............

Anyone Know Where We're Going?

2008-06-19T22:10:00.002-06:00

Ok, so my friends and I headed out on Wednesday to go to Montana for another friends wedding. I reserved the hotel rooms so I thought it was only right that I figure out how to get to them. We decided to split our trip into two pieces (my friends have two small kids), which left us staying the night in Idaho Falls. The Pinecrest Inn was ok and we had a decent night (at least if you call falling asleep at 2:00 am and waking up everything 30 minutes a decent night -- but I have sleeping issues anyway).

Well, today we headed out towards Bozeman, Montana, our destination. We have all been to Bozeman before, but it has been a while. So, after we have been in the car for about 30 minutes or more, I asked if they knew how to get to Bozeman. Hmmmmmmmm.................. I erroneously assumed (yes, I know what happens when you assume) that the driver would have a map and would have figured out where we were going. Nope. They asked if I had a map. Nope. So, I called our friend that we were coming to see and in the midst of laughing, I asked her how we were supposed to get to Bozeman. She asked if we spent the night in Idaho Falls. Yes. Have you already started on your way. Yes. Well, I think Idaho Falls is where you need to go to get to West Yellowstone. Oops. We had been going long enough to make it silly to turn around and go back. Our friends fiance called us back and told us that it really would be best to go through Idaho Falls, but that if we went up to Butte and then cut over, we could still get to Bozeman, though it would take longer. Well, not enough longer to make it worth turning around! We kept pushing along and actually made it to Bozeman in about the time it would have taken the other way. It just wasn't as pretty. We are here safe and sound. Yea!

Amazingly, the kids did quite well in the car. We did have a few crying spells, but they were pretty minor compared to the length of the car rides. Going home on Sunday will be interesting since we are going the whole way that day. We may have to stop a few times....

Anyway, tonight we went to a bridal shower for our friend, Kelly, who is getting married. We are so excited for her! The wedding is on Saturday. I feel bad because I'm not very helpful in getting her ready for the wedding (she's doing pretty much everything herself). It's really inconvenient to have only one functional arm (due to shoulder surgery -- a story for later).

Oops!

2008-04-18T06:34:00.001-06:00

There were a lot of dreams last night, but the one I remember best was this: I had been at a gathering of friends and family and a bunch of other people. This gathering was at some sort of zoo or something like that. As I was getting ready to leave, someone was showing us a big bridge of some sort that they were working on. We stood there admiring it with them. I stood there with another friend and we were analyzing some of the buttons and gears that went with the bridge. It looked like there were tracks where the panels of the bridge would slide down and moved into place. Well, being the curious person that I am, I decided to push the button to see it all work. These big concrete slabs started sliding down the track (the slabs were kind of like the sound walls the line the freeways). The problem was, the tracks that hold them in place at the bottom were not there. Oops! All of these concrete slabs went piling into the ocean. Agh! I was quite traumatized by my blunder. These huge concrete slabs were rolling and tumbling over each other along the coast. Now, I really couldn’t figure out why they kept going. It seemed to me that they should be stopped by the sand on the coast line, but I was wrong. These slabs were somehow directed down some canals that went through the “zoo” (wherever we had met). I started walking through the “zoo” and saw them tumbling and rolling along. It just didn’t see possible to me that this was all happening. I was now expecting them to get caught up on each other in these little canals. I was so horrified that I had caused this mess! I wasn’t about to admit it to anyone though. The other interesting thing is that no one seemed particularly worried about this turn of events. When I arrived near the entrance of the “zoo” there was a special meeting where they were telling people about this wonderful material that the slabs are made of. They were not made of concrete, they were made of boron (yea, right). They had a bunch of samples to show us. They come in all sorts of colors and they are so soft and light. I wanted to see if I could get a sample to take home…….. Then I woke up…….

Doctor's Orders

2008-04-16T19:44:00.003-06:00

Ok, so my body has moved on to another very strange problem. I've been very dizzy since Saturday. I've had vertigo problems in the past. My guess it is from calcium crystals in my inner ear coming loose and impinging on the nerves. This called Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo. Now, I haven't had an official diagnosis, but my symptoms PERFECTLY match everything I have read about it. Also, my sister has the same problem and she has been diagnosed. I, personally, believe this gives me the right to diagnose myself! Ha ha! How's that for scientific thinking?!

Ok, so I've been having problems at night for a few weeks now (I've had this happen at least 5 or 6 other times in the past, so I wasn't really worrying about it). Come Saturday, I was feeling dizzy all day long as well as at night. Not very fun. Teaching classes has been a bit of a challenge this week as well. I've had people asking me if I'm OK every day. Today, while I was washing my hands in the bathroom at school, a girl I don't even know asked me if I was OK. Hmmmmm, I apparently look as great as I feel. I decided to call the doctor's office. When I talked to the doctor's assistant, I told her I would be terribly depressed if I came in only to be told it was a virus and to deal with it. She laughed, but said it would probably be best to come in and be seen, though she wouldn't promise that I wouldn't be told it was a virus and to deal with it. :)

So, the doctor asked me about my symptoms and all the usual stuff. He did some neurological tests to make sure I was ok in that area as well. I actually "failed" one, in my opinion. He asked me to put my left hand in my right hand and flip in over (alternating palm down and palm up). Well, first off, I couldn't figure out which hand was my left to put it in my right hand. Then when I went to turn it over, I put it under my right hand instead. I wasn't any good at that test! My doctor just chuckled at me (though I can't blame him). I felt pretty dumb.

Another test he did was to have me follow his fingers with my eyes, witout moving my head. Well, this process makes me dizzy (yes, a pain in the bum!). He was moving his finger around and when he got over to my right side he just held it there in the same place for quite a while. He watched as my eyes tracked back and forth, wiggling back and forth from the dizziness. He told me the name for it, but I don't remember what it is. He did the same test after having me lay down really fast. Laying down and turning my head to right made the eye movements much more pronounced.

Anyway, it's obviously an inner ear problem, though there really is no way to know if it is an infection (viral) or if the calcium crystals, or if there is just swelling within the utricle. He gave me a prescription for Meclizine (basically the type of meds a person takes for sea sickness). He then told me he was going to give me one more thing to do, which may (or may not) help. He said that he would NEVER "prescribe" this under normal circumstances and that this is the only situation when would suggest it...... He told me I need to go get potatoe chips and french fries and anything else that is nice and salty and EAT! He wants me to start retaining water. I guess sometimes the increased pressure due to water retention sometimes helps the problem. Now who can argue about trying something like that?! Ha! I don't know if it will work or not. We'll see.

As of now I still feel pretty dizzy. If I hold my head in a constant position and don't look around, then I'm fine! No problem, right?! I don't know why I am so good at getting such weird "illnesses" that have no solution to them. I have decided I should donate my body to science while I am still alive. I'm much more interesting now than I would be dead! :)

A New Brother? Sister?

2008-04-10T07:05:00.002-06:00

I have forgotten to write down my dreams lately, but last nights dream was just a little too interesting to me. Here it is......

A new baby in the family! It first started out as a friend that was pregnant. She was due any minute and we were trying to find any thing we could do to speed the process along. It then changed that my mom was pregnant. We had a get together at someone else’s house so I headed on over. Apparently my dad helped deliver the baby on the way to the get together. When they arrived, they needed to clean up in the bathroom (apparently no need to go to a hospital!). I picked up the baby and he had my dad’s face – EXACTLY! It was kind of cool, but a bit weird at the same time. I was kind of excited about having a new baby brother! We were calling him John. A little later, after my parents cleaned the baby up, they had a bow in the baby’s hair. What?! Apparently they had somehow missed the fact that the baby was a girl. Well, so I was excited to have a new baby sister! She looked completely different now.

At this whole gathering, I realized that I was supposed to have a primary presidency meeting at my house that morning. I wasn’t there. I was stressed out about calling the rest of the presidency and telling them what had happened.

New Pets

2008-03-26T06:56:00.001-06:00

I dreamt that I had a pet giraffe. He was so cute! He was still a baby at about 7 or 8 feet tall. We kept him in the house, which was very messy because he wasn’t house trained. Later in my dream, we had some smaller animals move in (I think they were minks or something like that). They were “housed” in the kitchen cabinets. There’s nothing like animals running around on your pots and pans!

Another dream I remember was that a friend (Jodi) asked me if I wanted to go to Kaui’i with her. Of course! We were out floating in the water. It was wonderful. She was very nervous about being in the water. I told her she would wear a life vest if she wanted, but I tried to assure her she would float just fine with it being salt water. She had her baby with her and asked me to hold the baby as we went out in the water. As time went on, the baby “grew” and gradually because my nephew, David. I asked him why I had to hold him since he was tall enough to stand up in the water himself AND he can swim just fine.

Neurologist

2008-03-24T20:00:00.002-06:00

So, I went to a neurologist today that specializes in sleep disorders. Basically, she told me I am a freak of nature. Ha! Ok, so she didn't say it that way. She said that I am definitely not a textbook case. My symptoms don't clearly indicate any one specific problem. My problem could be narcolepsy, sleep apnea (most likely not this since the CPAP machine didn't offer any help for me), or something else that I don't remember what it is called. I get to do another sleep study in a few weeks called a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). It is a daytime study where I go and every two hours I'm given the opportunity for a 20 minute nap. I'm not sure what I do for the other hour and 40 minutes. It lasts all day so it should be interesting. I also had more blood drawn. Apparently there is a blood test for narcolepsy. I had no idea! I get to go back and visit with her again in a couple of months. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Another busy dreaming night.

2008-03-23T09:17:00.001-06:00

I dreamt I had gotten in trouble for something and I was invited to talk to some people in a trailer of some sort. It turns out that the “people” that I was in trouble with were actually aliens. They looked like humans, but they were not from Earth. There was an argument between the aliens and the humans. We all ended up at a baseball field. It was decided that the humans needed to read books to learn about the aliens and the aliens needed to learn how to play baseball. We, the humans, took the books to our dugout and the aliens went to their dugout to learn about the baseball mitts and how to play the game. The game took place during a major rain storm. I don’t recall the game itself, but somehow all our differences were worked out.

I dreamt later that I was learning about a general surgery residency. I was talking to a friend from high school that had done an orthopedic surgery residency. We were hanging out the back of a car speeding down a freeway. (I don’t know the point of that one!)

The next dream I remember, I was in my house talking to a guy that was supposed to be some sort of therapist. I guess I was meeting therapists and doing a “test run” deciding if he was someone that I really wanted to be my therapist. I was looking out the window at my neighbor’s house while talking to this guy. My neighbors were out of town and I saw their garage door open so I was worried that someone might be breaking into their house. I kept watching and realized it was some of their family that was staying at their house. Their family had taken their fridge out of the kitchen and brought it outside. Their dishwasher and stove were in their garage. I was really curious why all their appliances were taken out of their kitchen. I thought maybe they needed to have them fixed and it was more convenient to have them in the garage. Anyway, I continued my discussion with this therapist guy. As he was getting ready to leave, he started talking about his boyfriend and the other good looking guys that were coming to his house for a party that night. He was so excited. I remember thinking it was a bummer that he was gay. He was very cute. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to have him as my therapist.

I then ended up at a big celebration (something like the 4th of July). I had driven the big ugly red truck my dad had when I was younger. I took my nice, new mattress so I could lay on it and enjoy the fireworks. There were so many people! There was a really big group of youth that were taken by their leaders to sit in the stadium. I was watching them walk to the stadium and I heard my neighbors’ son complaining that he didn’t want to sit there and that he didn’t want to walk and other similar things. I had to laugh. I saw my neighbors there who were out of town and I wondered if I should tell them I saw their garage door open with their appliances outside. I decided I should tell her because she would totally stress out about it. I went back to my truck to hang out and decided to join an ultimate Frisbee game. It was me and some dogs against everyone else. We celebrated when we got the first goal. The dogs gave me high five! As we started playing again, some people also introduced a soccer ball to the game. It was quite crazy to go after the ball as well as the Frisbee. A bat (the animal) ended up with the Frisbee. The bat and I made the next goal together (and, yes, it seemed normal to have a bat on my team). I was excited to make another goal (I am quite competitive).

That’s all I remember……

A Very Busy Night......

2008-03-07T07:04:00.002-07:00

There was a lot that happened last night. I dreamt that a former student came to visit. We visited for a while and then it ended up with him driving me to the U of U campus. We were driving down the canyon. I was trying not to fall asleep. I realized that I felt very comfortable with him. Anyway, I asked him to drop me off at the daycare building, where my roommate worked. Then I realized he could just drop me off at home so I told him that. He looked at his watch and was a bit hesitant, which I understood as he was short on time. I told him he could just drop me off where we were and I could make it home. It wasn’t that far to my apartment and it would be ok. So, he pulled over to drop me off. He leaned over to say goodbye. I thought he might give me a hug, but then I realized he was going for a kiss. I put my cheek out for him to kiss, but he was insistent on the lips. I was quite surprised, but decided I didn’t mind. He didn’t say anything about the fact that he kissed me. He just said goodbye and left. When I got out of the car, I ran into a friend from my ward and I realized that I needed to talk to her about planning her baby shower. We sat and visited for a while. We suddenly were at her new house (they are planning on moving – in my dream they had). She gave me a magazine of clothes and shoes and was showing me things she liked. She told me I could take it so I could tell people what sort of things she would like to get for her shower. I was a bit surprised since it was a baby shower, but I didn’t ask her about it. I was now in another friend’s house visiting. I guess I stayed too long because they were trying to leave to go to a neighbor’s house for dinner. I was looking at some sort of crafts at their house and they finally just left me there. I then was in my apartment trying to make waffles. I was also trying to make scrambled eggs, but it was with a weird machine. I put the eggs in a cup and then a probe of some sort into the eggs. The probe would heat up and cook the eggs. As the eggs were cooking, I was mixing up the waffle batter in my mixer. Also, some of my roommates came home and started cooking their own things and cleaning up the kitchen. My roommate that was cleaning (someone from my freshman year) things kept moving the mixer and the things I was using. I would turn around to get something and when I came back the mixer would be gone. My roommate that was cooking (also from my freshman year) would use the same things I was using and then put them away. I was looking for the Pam cooking spray, which she had used and then put away (I had gotten it out and not used it yet). She did this with a number of things. There was one aerosol can that had grape juice in it (I thought that was weird, but kind of cool). At one point I was rinsing out a washcloth to wipe down the mixer and she walked in front of me and used the water and turned it off. I just stood there watching her. I finally asked her if she didn’t realize I was there because she turned the water off in the middle of my using it. She said she was sorry and moved on with what she was doing. I finally asked my roommates to leave things as they were and that I would clean up when I was done. I just wanted my waffles!!! Later I went somewhere and when I came back, I was walking in to the back of my apartment. We had a patio with patio furniture. Someone had traced in the dust things like “I’m going to kill you” and other things along those lines. I wasn’t too happy about that. I dusted everything off so the words could not be seen anymore. I wondered if maybe the previous tenants had done it (they had been kicked out – they didn’t leave voluntarily). I went inside and was getting to lock the doors when I realized my roommates had left Rocky and Bullwinkle outside. I wasn’t too happy about that. I was really worried that they may have taken off. Luckily they were running around outside near the apartment. I was able to get them. Then I woke up………………

Analyze This!

2008-02-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

The first dream I remember had me working in a store like WalMart. In this dream I kept getting pregnant (pregnancy just happened -- one second you wouldn’t be pregnant and the next second you would). In one isle of the store you could go get help as you delivered the baby. I had to go get help with the third baby and I immediately became pregnant with the fourth. I was scheduled to work around the time the fourth was due so I went in to see if I could have the fourth early so I could make my shift. I never did see any of the kids after they were born. I do remember wondering what I was going to do with four kids though.

The second dream was even better. Some friends and I had gone to our boss’s house and broke in (I don’t know who these friends are or who the boss is in my waking hours). We took a bath in his (our boss’s) house. We were talking about what we were going to if someone came home. We decided to tell the wife, if she came home, that we were planning a surprise for him. When we were cleaning up (putting towels in the laundry) she came home and we told her about the surprise. She came in and started packing bags to go out of town. We went out to help put her bags in her car. In her trunk she had a bunch of single red roses, presumably from her many admirers (I think it was Valentine’s Day or something). As we put her bags in her trunk, she had lined the street and driveways with fireworks (she lived in a cul-de-sac). She was lighting off all the fireworks. It was really late at night, so I think she was trying to annoy all her neighbors and make it obvious she was leaving. Anyway, my friends and I decided to hang out longer at this house since she had left. We started watching a movie. Near the end of the movie my friends and I started cleaning up some of the mess that was there (for some reason there were messy diapers sitting near the couch and we finally decided to throw them away – as I carried them to the garbage, I got a little of the mess on myself – YUCK – and I washed my hands 4 or 5 times to try and get them clean). My friend really wanted to go home, but I begged her to stay so we could finish the movie. When we went in to finish the movie, our boss’s sons were home and they had changed the channel. I grabbed the remote to try and put it back on the movie. It was almost over! I really wanted to know what was going to happen. After the movie was over, the sons really pushed for us to leave. For some reason I had taken off all my clothes and I was frantically trying to get dressed. The sons were looking in the room and I was trying to get them to leave while I was getting dressed. The older son realized what I wanted and took his little brother out while I finished getting dressed. After we left, my friends and I were working at a roadside car dealership. I saw the mother with a couple of empty luggage carts walking down the road. I guess she had come upon hard times and lost all her belongings. In the process of watching her she collected a number of additional bags and was trying to find a way to transport them and get away. I watched someone sell her this really old decked out van. She was able to put all her bags in and start on her way out before my friends realized who she was. Somehow this scene changed to me hanging out with the oldest son. I really fell for him. I was sitting talking to him and I really wanted him to kiss me. He finally did. I was so excited. And I can’t remember more. – In my dream this all flowed together so logically and made complete sense.

Practical Jokes

2008-02-22T12:46:00.001-07:00

Last night was a great adventure. I was packing to go to visit a friend. A bus came to pick me up (like a tour bus). While I was waiting at the “bus stop” there was a kid there being picked on by another kid. I guess I had super “Jedi” powers because I pointed at the bully and forced him to back away from the other kid (without touching him). I held the bully off until we got on the bus. After the bus got going, I realized that I had forgotten my suitcase. I decided to try my newly discovered “Jedi” powers and I traced out a path to get me back to my house (it was just around the block) and the bus followed it. I was so excited! Anyway, I got to my destination with all the appropriate bags. To get to my friends house, I was riding with someone else in a car. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. By the time we got to the people’s house, the car was totaled (I can’t remember what exactly happened though). Somehow during the visit we ended up being led to believe there was a ghost doing things around the house. Weird things would happen that really couldn’t be explained. The family would tell me all about this ghost that lived there. I was really getting scared because it was all so weird. We ended up at a park where a little old lady started following us down the path we were walking on. I knew it was the ghost! She gave us some sort of toy (who knows why). Anyway, it ends up with us at the family’s home with them letting me in on the huge practical joke. It turns out I was engaged to their son and anyone that is new to the family gets a huge practical joke played on them. The car that ended up totaled was theirs. They went to the trouble of arranging all the weird things to indicate a ghost. It was quite the elaborate scheme (I know there was a lot more to it, but I can’t remember it now). All-in-all I found it pretty funny and I was excited to help them out with the next person they would do it to.

Cheating

2008-02-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamt that a couple of my students were cheating during the test. I would look up and they would have their heads together talking about the problems. I was furious! I went back and picked up their tests and compared them. There were a few problems that were, word for word, the same. I crossed them out and put a big zero on those problems. One of the students just accepted the fact that he had been caught, but the other student started arguing with me. He said he was just helping his friend get started, but I told him that was the point of the test. The test had to be done by the individual. Agh! I was so mad. The student kept arguing about it. I finally grabbed his face so he had to look right at me and told him that he was cheating – end of story. Well, he got really upset and went to talk to my boss about it. My boss came in to talk to me and he wanted to ask the class what had happened. The student claimed that what I had said and done was inappropriate. A “survey” was set up for the next morning to get feedback from other students. I was looking forward to getting the survey done so my boss would know I was not wrong. I woke up prior to the resolution of the problem.

The crazy thing about this dream is that both students are currently in one of my classes and both are good students. In my dream I knew that cheating wasn’t something that they would do, which I think is why I was so upset about the whole thing. I couldn’t figure out why they had cheated in the first place.

Green Walls

2008-02-19T20:31:00.004-07:00

I have painting my kitchen walls the most beautiful green! I love it! I started with one wall and then realized how much I love it. I continued with another wall and now I have one more to go. It just makes it so warm and cozy!
I hope to get my curtains up soon. They've been down for so long, I'm almost used to it. I bought a new curtain rod (heavy dut) and pull backs in hopes of keeping the dogs from wrestling in them. We'll see. (I didn't spend too much on the curtains themselves for fear of what the dogs might do to them......)

Orion Visits

2008-02-19T20:22:00.004-07:00

Nate & April brought Orion over to play. He's getting so big! I was lucky to capture this really cute picture of him.

It was fun to watch Orion egg on Bullwinkle. They had fun running and chasing. Eventually Orion wore out all dogs. They started getting mad at him near the end. They just wanted to be left alone!

It sure was entertaining!

Picky Eaters

2008-02-19T20:14:00.005-07:00

Right now we have two different dog foods mixed together. Rocky and Bullwinkle have their preferences. It's really quite funny. Bullwinkle has sorted through his food (I put his food in a treat ball, which he loves). As you can see, he leaves the food he doesn't prefer laying on the floor. Conveniently the food Rocky prefers is the one Bullwinkle does not....

Rocky also sorts his food. He pulls the food out of the dish and eats only what he prefers. Silly dogs!

We Love Snow!!!

2008-02-19T20:02:00.005-07:00

Ok, so I'm ready for the snow to GO AWAY! I must admit this winter is what I remember from when I was little, but we haven't really had a real winter for so long that I have forgotten what it is like. The boys sure do love the snow though! They run around and dig and eat, and bring it in the house! The following pictures are evidence. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures before they removed some of the snow.

I'm not sure what Bullwinkle gets into, but his mug comes back covered in snow all the time.

Last week, when it snowed it also was really windy. This posed a bit of a problem with the doggy door. The wind blew the door open and it snowed INSIDE! There is also a small slit between the sliding glass door and it's counterpart through which snow blew. I had snow plastered against my wall. I had to shovel my kitchen. What a pain! Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the snow piles in the house.

Beautiful View

2008-02-19T19:58:00.003-07:00

Just thought I would share a beautiful view from my back porch. The sunset was amazing! This picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Last night......

2008-02-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

I started out getting ready for a wedding. It wasn’t until later in the day, but I had to go to school first. Randy and I were “arguing” over who got to use the bathroom first. I needed to shower and get to school so I won. When I went to a class I was in (physical science) where we took and corrected a test. When we were correcting the test, I realized that we only corrected 25 questions, but there were many more than 25 questions. The problems were numbered 1 – 18 and then it started over and went from 1 – 14. There were a whole bunch of different number sequences. So, I was asking our teacher (who turned out to be a TA instead of the actual instructor) which answers we had actually been given. I also asked what the correct answers were to the other questions. He wouldn’t tell me the correct answers because he said they weren’t important (I don’t think he knew the correct answers). I got into a bit of a tiff with him over how terrible the test was. I told him that he should have proof-read his test before giving it to us. He said he didn’t write the test, the instructor did. I told him he should have helped proof-read it before he handed it out. He asked if I was mad at him. I said yes because he was the one that gave me the test. Whether he was the original author or not didn’t matter to me. I was so upset. Some of the other students were asking me what the correct answers were. I told them what I thought they were, but that the TA wouldn’t tell me.

I left class and headed back to my office. Meanwhile, my hair was driving me crazy. I lost one of my hair ties and my hair just needed help. I was so frustrated and just wanted to talk to someone. I went to look for Jonathan (one of my coworkers), but I couldn’t find him. I thought maybe he was in the tutoring center so I went and looked there. It turns out that the tutoring center had moved to a new room, which turned out to be our lab room. I was then getting more frustrated because I wanted to know where our lab room went to. They had moved our labs up to the 3rd floor and commandeered the lab room for the tutor center. I was glad the tutoring center was doing so well, but I was frustrated that they moved the labs. I went around to all of the rooms looking for our lab coordinator, Sharon, and for my coworker Jonathan. They were busy taking care of other things. When I went back to the tutoring center, it turned out it was also the cafeteria. A lot of people were eating lunch and others were coming in for meetings. I was trying to tell them it was now the tutoring center. They were more concerned about being able to get lunch. The room was big enough for everyone to be in there, so I decided I didn’t really need to kick anyone out. I stopped by to say hi to a few people, but didn’t stay long anywhere. I went back to the lab room and there were a few of my concurrent enrollment instructors there so I had to go apologize for not visiting their classes a second time last semester. I finally went back to my office. I still really wanted to talk to someone, but I decided that that wasn’t going to happen. I sat down to write down my dreams for the night (apparently the whole TA thing was a dream in my dream). Then, the alarm clock went off…………. I woke up with all of the frustrations I was feeling all night long. I hope I don’t bite any heads off today!

Why am I so tired?

2008-02-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

Julianna suggested I start posting my dreams on my blog. I have some pretty interesting ones. Last night was no exception......Read on to get a feel for my adventure last nigh......

"My memory starts with me going to a get-together at someone’s mansion up in the mountains. Some friends were flying me in their helicopter to get there. There were all sorts of things going on. I went into a building where there were a bunch of booths set up where you could purchase things. Julianna had a booth of Sensaria products, only there were a lot more products than usual (it was more like Bath & Body Works). They had a new scent and I fell in love with it! I walked around the other booths some more and went back to smell the new scent I liked, but Julianna and Craig had gone home with the girls. I was so upset that they had left early. I was looking around and found a bunch of the girls toys. To get home, we were taking some sort of ski lift down the mountain. Rikki was in the lift behind me so I was yelling to talk to her. It suddenly turned into us in a big yellow school bus, with my sister driving. She wanted to go visit Dionne, who lived in a dorm on a university campus. Denise kept trying to go the wrong way in this huge bus. I was getting so frustrated and finally talked her into drive down the road the correct way. We eventually ended up at Julianna’s to give the toys back. Apparently I was really upset that they had left early because I threw the toys into the room rather just give them back.

Anyway, I ended up back at “home” (I don’t know where this house came from). While we were walking back into the house, we were looking at some of the planets bordering the house and saw a bunch of bugs infesting the plants. My roommate asked me to get some bug killer to take care of these bugs. While I was in the house trying to find some bug killer, I found a “fogger” (it was pretty fancy) and I was trying to figure out if it would work outside. The phone rang and there was a call for me. It was so weird guy that I did not know and he was asking me about an illness I had as a child. He was asking about my symptoms and what had happened to me. I guess he was suffering from a similar illness and wanted to know what to expect next. He explained some of his symptoms and I knew my mom had told me about my brother experiencing something similar, but I couldn’t remember what happened. I told him I would talk to her and call him back. He asked me for my last name, which I gave to him with immediate regrets. I realized that with my last name he could figure out where I live (though if he had my phone number, I don’t think that would be a problem). I asked him for his name and it was some foreign name that I couldn’t pronounce. I asked him to spell it and he got so mad at me. I finally got off the phone and went to ask my mom about his symptoms so I could just get it over with. Somehow my house changed to an apartment in a big sky riser complex. It turned out this guy was in the adjacent building and was watching me. I had some sort of secret service people come in to help protect me and track the guy down. We figure out where his apartment was. Along with a friend, we were scaling the building and trying to go through the window. My friend had a rope and I was at the other end. I climbed my building so I could swing across to the building of this weird guy. As I was swinging over to his building, I saw him in my apartment with a long area rug rolled up around some sort of gun and he was shooting at me and my friend. We frantically tried to get to safety. We ended up in his apartment with the secret service crew. As they were looking around they decided they needed to call in 007 to help. This weird guy came over to his apartment to confront me face to face. I was so furious with him, I jumped at him and pinned him down with some sort of rod (I think it was a baton). I was yelling at him asking him why he was trying to kill me. I kept pushing down on the rod to show him I meant business. He was able to get up and was talking to me, but when he realized the rest of the people were there to protect me and weren’t too keen on letting him out alive, he ran for the window and jumped. He was able to escape. I was terrified because I knew he was still going to be coming after me…..That’s all I remember. (I just remembered one more part. As we were going from building to building, there were huge TV screens on the side of the building that allowed us to see the different angles, like it was a movie. We could see the guy in my apartment getting ready to shoot and we could see ourselves swinging and running for cover.)"

Some people ask me what type of TV I watch before bed (last night it was HGTV's Hidden Potential and House Hunters) and what I read before bed (the Ensign). I actually did figure out a couple of correlations. In the Ensign there was an article about using a trap for Japanese beetles -- I think that's where the bugs on my plants came from. Also, Tim, Kari, and Colby came to visit last night and Colby was playing with a baton that I have -- I think that's why I had the baton. As for the weird guy trying to kill me, your guess is as good as mine! :)

Insanity!

2008-01-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

So, I've been sitting in the same classroom for the past 3 1/2 hours and have at least 5 more to go. I teach a number of classes online. My 2000 level classes usually take their exams in the testing center on campus, but someone, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the testing center really should be downsized?!?! Of course, with the increased push in offering online courses, it only makes sense, right? Well, the testing center is not open this week as they make their move, but I have exams this week. So, I'm sitting here all day long so I can proctor the test. Luckily I found a room that I could commandeer all day. I'm just going crazy sitting here! I have looked up all my friends blogs, but no one has updated them recently. So, I started clicking randomly on their friends list and have looked at a ton of blogs of people I don't even know! I must admit there are a lot of very cute kids out there. I was trying to see if the blogging world would bring me back to someone else I knew, but I gave up.

The high point of the day is that a former student brought me lunch. Very delicious sandwich from Granato's. So good!

Well, if I keep talking I will just bore you too. I CAN survive 5 more hours!!!!

Ole! and a surprise visit

2008-01-20T08:18:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise visit from Dionne and the girls today. It was fun to see them! Bullwinkle made a new best friend! He and Choobies seemed to really hit it off. He would give her kisses and she would grab his face. The other girls were a little afraid that Bullwinkle would eat Choobies, but we reassured them everything was ok.

When I went to Cancun, I bought some mini sombrero's. They are really quite pretty. We thought it would be fun to take pictures of the dogs wearing them. The sombrero's are pretty small so they only actually fit Rocky so we had to try and balance them on Bullwinkle and Delilah. Here are their pictures:

The girls were having fun with the sombrero's too. Here's their picture (sorry for the messy counter).

We all went to Del Taco for lunch. It was fun. We had never been there before so we ended up ordering two lunches. :) What we ordered the first time didn't end up being enough to fill us up. The girls were pretty excited because there was an indoor playground too. How could it get any better?

A Day in the Life......

2008-01-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Just thought everyone might like what we do in the course of day. It's really quite exciting. Of course, I'm risking my mom finding out about all of this, but maybe she won't read it! First of all, I would like to introduce you to the three amigos. From left to right, Rocky, Bullwinkle (me), and Delilah (my girlfriend).

Delilah and I love to wrestle, wrestle, chase each other, and wrestle. Rocky doesn't wrestle, but he is great as referee. He chases us around and barks if we are getting too aggressive. Here's a couple of pictures of our wrestling matches.

Sometimes, in our chasing events, things get a little out of hand. For example, we LOVE to run around and jump up between the chairs and run down the hall. Oops! One day we hit the back of the chair too hard and took the chair down in the process. We didn't know how to put it back up so mom found out about this one when she got home. Luckily she didn't get too mad.

Sometimes, when we wrestle, we like to make it a little more challenging. We try to use the curtains as a diversion. Somehow mom found out. I don't know how! (Notice in the picture, the bent curtain rod. One panel of curtains is sometimes found pulled out the doggy door.....)

When all is said and done, we are REALLY tired! We can't keep going so we just have to take a nap.....

Our days are so great! Aren't you jealous?

Crazy Dogs

2008-01-13T10:20:00.001-07:00

Ok, so Bullwinkle and Delilah are absolutely crazy! They are loving these snow storms we keep having. They will go run around and wrestle in the snow. The funniest thing to me though, is that they go out and sit on the chairs as the snow falls on and around them. Apparently they love it!

Christmas

2008-01-13T10:03:00.001-07:00

Santa definitely spoiled the boys (and Delilah)!. Santa knew Delilah would come visit so he left her stocking here as well.

Rocky LOVES to open presents! He would tear into the paper and get the toy or treat out right away. He wasn't shy at all. Bullwinkle opened a few as well, but he wasn't quite as excited as Rocky. The pictures I got of Bullwinkle aren't as good because he's afraid of the camera.

Rocky's boldness didn't stop at opening presents. He went ahead and started emptying the stockings. There were lots of yummy treats for them to enjoy. I didn't clean the stockings up for a couple of days so Rocky would sneak downstairs (which required him to open the child gate at the top of the stairs -- he would push it open with his nose when I didn't latch it). Rocky would go down and shake the stockings until something good came out. It was very cute.

The kids all enjoyed the fruits of Rocky's labor. :) There was a lot of chewing and eating for a few days. Here Bullwinkle is enjoying his candycane (rawhide).

I love this next picture! I caught Delilah as she was licking her chops after enjoying one of her treats. By the way, Delilah is Bullwinkle's "girlfriend". They just adore each other. They wrestle, run, and play nearly every day.

Finally, this is Bullwinkle's other favorite thing. Linda (Delilah's mom), has the best scratching nails ever (so Bullwinkle says)! He always jumps on her lab and sticks his bum in her face trying to get her to scratch. Sometimes he settles down enough to just be loved. He knows he's king of the world!

Cancun!

2008-01-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

The week before Christmas, I went to Cancun and it was beautiful! The first day we were there, it was overcast and windy, but still much warmer than home! Our hotel room had a beautiful view:

The ocean was beautiful and amazingly calming. In my opinion, there is nothing more relaxing than the beach! The hotel was decorated for Christmas. There were beautiful Christmas trees, lighted palm trees and other decorations everywhere. I must admit it is always strange to think about Christmas when it is warm outside.

We took a side trip to Chichen Itza. It was amazing! It's remarkable that the people knew so much about the seasons and built the structures to demonstrate the seasons. In this case, on the equinox, the sun shines through in such a way to leave a pattern down the sides, making it look like a snake. The snake was a symbol of prosperity and new life.

There is so much symbolism in their architecture and buildings. It was really a neat thing to see.

After seeing the ruins, we made a stop at a Cenote (I probably spelled that wrong -- sorry). They are natural water springs, where the early people were able to get their water supplies. They let people swim in them now (we didn't know, but if we had brought our swimming suits, we could have gone swimming). It was beautiful. It was especially cool seeing the roots from above drop down into the water.

We also took a day to go snorkeling in Cozumel. It was pretty fun, but I probably wouldn't do it again. I had more fun snorkeling in St. John and Hawaii. It still was nice though.

Our last moments were spent at the pool and in the ocean. It was so relaxing! I truly wish we had a few more days to relax, but we had to get home for the holidays. I look forward to going back!

Creating my own blog

2008-01-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here goes nothing!