So, this one time . . .

I was on a cruise to Alaska. I'd had a super great day checking out glaciers in Glacier Bay, and warmed up with a cup of Irish Hot Chocolate. Then, I tried a new cask strength scotch that I hadn't had before (don't ask what it was because I don't remember; you might find out why in a bit). Shortly after my scotch, I found out that martinis were half price. My bartender made one for me that was so dirty he said it was like the glass had never been washed. It was delicious. Then A got a martini, and decided it wasn't his thing because it was too dirty (even though I stole the olives for him). So I drank his. When I walked (Yes walked, not stumbled- I have very good balance. This applies even after drinking while on a cruise ship - you can ask Jeff) into my stateroom I squealed with delight when I saw a thug bunny on our bed!

(this is the thug bunny)

Imagine my (inebriated) horror when I went to move the bunny for more appropriate picture taking and this happened:

(oh yes, THIS happened!)


(here's a close-up in case you haven't yet truly grasped the horror. Even his EYE fell off! It wasn't bad enough I knocked his HEAD off, I also knocked off his EYE.

I knew I was in biiiig trouble, because rabbits are lucky. Thankfully, in my quick thinking state of mind, I fixed the problem of killing the lucky rabbit to my satisfaction (after peeing):

(oh yes, I totally saved the day by giving myself lucky bunny ears)

Fortunately, the rest of our towel animals did not suffer such a terrible fate.

(the puppy made me cry because it made me think of Nandi)


(doesn't this remind you of one of those turtle things in the movie The 5th Element?)


(awwwww, swans!)


(I'm pretty sure the entire cruise ship heard me squeal when I saw the monkey hanging from our ceiling)


(it's a mouse!)


(just for you, Mom! : ))

The End.

Snooooooow!

It finally snowed yesterday! We just got a few inches, but it was more than enough to play in for a bit. Nandi and I headed out for an hour, and when we got home Jeff was home from work. Apparently, everyone else at work bailed because the whole 2 inches of snow at that point were enough to shut down the city. So, we went out again and played more!

Uh . . . Mom? Why are you making me sit in this cold stuff? I want to play!

Hellloooooo! Do you see the SNOW?!?! Let's get moving woman!

Ugh! Fine, just one picture and then we're moving!

Memorial Day Weekend

Hey all, it's Jeff. For now, I'm just going to post some pics from last weekend. Enjoy! (As always, click on the image for the full size version.)

ETA: HA! He thinks he's going to take my blog over that easily? The silly didn't even bother to caption his 10 gazillion pictures he uploaded. So I did it for him. I'm a super awesome wife.

Me and Mommy at the Japanese Gardens.


Dad and H looking thoughtful at the view of Portland from Pittock.


A flower both Mom and Dad noticed and know the name of, but that we can't remember the name of.


Jeff and G went hiking super duper early one morning at Multnomah Falls.


I guess G wanted a picture of those 4 rocks or some such thing.



Isn't this one pretty? The trail is empty and pretty, wandering off to who knows where (well, Jeff and G know. I think I know, too, but it's been awhile so I've prolly forgotten.)



I pink puffy heart this picture. Jeff and G were playing with sunshine rays.


Jeff said this flower smelled fantastic. But did he bring one back for me to sniff? Nooooooo . . .


My Fairy Falls! I love them most of all. And that's somthin' because there are LOTS of waterfalls on that hike.


Looking over at Washington.


In case you didn't know, the morning fog was still around. ;)


So there's this wall that has all of this awesome moss on it and these beautiful little sparkles of water trickle down it. Faeries totally love to live in Oregon. Now if I could just meet one . . .


Wahkeena.


My mountain!



My family and me, minus Jeff. Because someone had to take a picture of us!


Hmmmm . . . looking down Multnomah Falls, maybe?


Uncle J happened to be in the area and came over to visit for awhile. Summit loooooves him. She's got her blissed-out Yoda face on.


G's GQ pose.

Here I come to save the daaaay!

Actually, Jeff saved the day. He finally got my SD card reader fixed so I can blog with pictures. Who wants to read blogs without pictures? Except now we're short on time so this will be short. ;)

My cousin came last night and she's spending the week with us.

Let me show you where she's sleeping. We finally got around to finishing our guest room. Sorry the pictures aren't fantastic, but soon they will be because we're getting our D40 this week. ;)




And that's all I have time for now! I have lots more pictures to post, and I'm sure I'll have even more after running around this afternoon.

I'm leavin' on a tra-ain . . .

It doesn't work quite as well as the whole leavin' on a jet plane thing does it? I left Sunday to go home for Christmas. And boy has it been an interesting trip.

Sunday in Portland was snowy. Portland got about half an inch of snow or so. Of course that pretty much means that the entire city got shut down. Because you know, Portland doesn't get snow. They don't have snowplows. I don't think they even salt or sand the roads. People run to the store and fight over things like bread and milk and toilet paper. It's like NC all over again. So Jeff and I left a little bit early to get to the train station thinking it would take a bit of extra time.

The smart handled very well in the snow. But it wasn't really that bad, all things considered. I'm sure Portland-ites think it was bad. I know that for a fact, actually, because once we got close to Portland there were signs saying that chains were required in the metro area. Jeff and I laughed the whole way into town after seeing four wheel drive trucks pull over to put tires on their trucks with the whole half an inch of snow on the ground. *snorts* It seems I'm still giggling about it. :)

So right now I'm just outside of Grand Springs, Colorado. The ride has been absolutely amazing so far. It's pretty much been snowy everywhere I've been, except for Sacramento. Portland is beautiful without snow, but it's amazing with snow. The Sierra Nevada Mountains and plateaus and canyons and gorges are beautiful without snow. But they're incredible with. I can't wait until I get into Denver tonight. Going through the Rockies is going to be fun!

I would like to thank my awesome Jeff for rigging up a method of making my phone work as my modem for my laptop. As long as I have cell service I have dial-up speeds or faster internet for the most part. It's not perfect and doesn't always work. But it's been good enough so far!

If you don't mind . . .

my cousin M.Moo just had surgery today. She's been having some issues lately, and doctors found a tumor near her ovaries and uterus. She had surgery this morning to remove it, and things went well. "Large Marge" as she nicknamed it, weighed 6 pounds! The doctors are pretty sure that it's not cancerous and won't need additional treatment, but it will take a few days for the labs to come back.

She just started college this fall. Moo was elected President of her dorm? Hall? Something along those lines. She's super upbeat about the whole thing, and she's too awesome to have anything bad happen to her.

So, if you have any extra prayers or good thoughts you can send her way we'd all really appreciate it!

Send in the Clowns

That's what I always think of when I see Kearney (pronounced "carnie" like the carnival people), Nebraska.

Jeff, Mom & I left Nevada this morning at about 8:30. We picked Grandma up in Omaha at the airport (she parked her car there) at about 11:30.

Then we trucked it across Nebraska to see Uncle T, Aunt R and Cousin R in Kearney. It was a good place to stop and take a break and it was fantastic to see them again. Jeff & I haven't seen them since Christmas. We got to see their new house (which isn't so new to them but it's the first time we've been there) and we got to meet Violet their new puppy.

Violet is the cutest puppy in the whole entire world. I need to get me a Violet. Or Jeff needs to get me a Violet. She's super soft and funny and likes to give kisses. She's also about as big as my shoe, which made for an interesting time when she tried to carry it around. She was so small Summit didn't even realize she was a dog.

Cousin R really liked Summit. Summit likes all people. She was slightly grumpy because of the whole traveling thing. But she did let Cousin R give her some kisses. And she was meowing very sadly in her carrier as he gave her hugs through the carrier.

Mom, Grandma and I rode together on the next leg, which was an amusing time. I was pressured into flashing Jeff as we passed him and then again at a later time since apparently he missed it the first time.

Also, someone who wishes to remain anonymous misunderstood our conversation about where to eat. I was hoping for a Cracker Barrel since I've been craving chicken & dumplings and okra. When this person was asked if they liked Cracker Barrel, the response was "As long as they have hamburgers!" So we discussed it a bit and decided that since the Cracker Barrel serves family style food they would probably have them. And the person who shall remain nameless wondered why in the world a Mexican restaurant would be serving hamburgers and family style meals like chicken & dumplings. It turns out said person was thinking we were planning on eating at Taco Bell.

Anyway, somehow we managed to miscalculate the amount of time our travels would take us today from Nevada, Iowa to Rawling, Wyoming. It's not 10 hours. Because we've been on the road for 11. And somehow we still have 2 or 3 to go. But I think there will be mountains. Eventually we will actually arrive at our destination at the time we think we will.

And since it's dark in the truck (I'm writing and I'll copy and paste this into the blog later when I have internet access) Mitzie and Summit are especially cuddly. Apparently cats cannot cuddle during the day while riding in 16 foot moving trucks.

Houseflies and Drama

So a message board I go to has had some drama on it and it makes me sad. I know we'll pull through it though, because we're in the process of trying to start a nationwide pet rescue group. There are so many of us that it could be really amazing.

One of the amazing ladies mentioned how when she was little, she adopted a housefly that had fallen into her pool. She liked to save them, and normally they'd fly away. This one, though, was hurt so she tried to save him.

It reminded me of when we were little. We were at Lake Okoboji for our week that summer and Joe and I had to take naps. Neither of us wanted to, so we just stayed awake. Joe started catching flies and pulling their wings off. I saw what he was doing and it made me cry because I felt bad for all of the flies. And if they didn't have wings, could they still be called "flies"? Wouldn't they have to be called "walks" instead? It was a rough afternoon, espeically when Joe got to get up earlier from the nap than me because he was being "good."

(I told you my blog would be about whatever randomness came to mind!)