The baby shower

My baby shower was over a month ago. This post was started two weeks ago. I think it might be time to actually post it.
My wonderful friend Christine, above, had the shower at her place assisted by Tracy, below. Good times were had by all. With the best food. Christine made delicious cupcakes full of happiness and sunshine. They were topped with a butter cream frosting that must have contained an illegal substance judging by all the joyous outbursts coming from those who consumed as many of the treats as could be shoveled into their mouths. Alas, I do not have a close up shot of those amazing confections to share with you all.

Everyone was so generous and we had a lot of fun oohing and ahhing at the cutest stuff. Baby things are just adorable. Can we get any cuter than baby socks and booties? I'm actually looking forward to doing laundry while those are in the mix.

Matching baby pictures with their owners was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Knowing what these women's children looked like did not give me an advantage like I haughtily assumed. Sadly I didn't have any baby pictures of my own too contribute. But I was on the board as a little girl about 3 yrs. old I think. It's the one with the big black exposure mark along the bottom.

This event provided me with an opportunity to finally make some cake pops that I've been dying to try for months. I opted for the block shape. I don't recommend right angles on your first try but it was fun and I was happy with the end result. These were the devils food version. My kitchen took about three days to recover and it was worth every mess.

Thank you, Christine. Thank you, Tracy. Everyone had a great time.

Sully's Solo Frat Party

The Paramedic

Dave has been busy. Thus, I take it upon myself to update you on our doings.
After returning last month from a two week long camping trip (details to come), Dave started a rigorous schedule at a local hospital as part of the paramedic course he is invloved in. His shift is 7pm -7am, week nights. He comes home and tells me the latest adventure every morning (or rather every afternoon upon waking). These include but are not limited to:

· Drunken men getting tazed repeatedly while still being violent with their care giver. Until the police officer threatened to taz the family jewels.
· Parents discovered having “alone time” in the hospital bed next to their sick 12 year old daughter. Followed with indignation and nasty threats at being thrown out of the hospital.
· A man insisting he was well then collapsed in front of Dave in the parking lot as said man was on the way to his car.
· Insane nurses giving sedated patients a “make over” and chopping off an eye brow in the process.
· Insane nurses singing choreographed songs about poop.

Whenever additional help is needed in a “situation” there is a page on the PA system for "DR. Strong report to room ###." At such times every available staff member in the hospital comes to provide support, muscle, intimidation by numbers, additional security and the like. Such was the case with the belligerent parents stated in bullet #2.

Somewhere in all of this Dave has been getting signed off on necessary tasks and duties to achieve his Intermediate Paramedic license. Putting in many hours at the ICU, Labor and Delivery, and the ER. Good job, Honey!

Next comes ambulance ride alongs. Those should provide additional adventures as well. We’ll keep you posted.

Puppy Love

This is for all the canine loving children we know.

4th of July weekend we went camping with a great family. They brought ten puppies along with them. So much fun!

Sully found a unique chew toy while at our campsite. A turtle shell. Thankfully the previous tenant had long since relinquished it's claim to the external casing. I was trying to get a shot of him flinging the shell into the air, catching it with his teeth and then continuing to chew. He wasn't cooperative on that, however. He worked on it for two days off-and-on till it was obliterated.

There were 3 wave runners in attendance. One of which Dave managed to tip upside 3 times. Once with it still running. That was exciting! Even Sully got a ride on one.

On the actual 4th Dave went back to Ft Campbell because the Army had him pulling staff office duty all day and all night. He drew the short straw. It's not like someone is out to get him... maybe. That night I went back too and it was a good thing because there was all kinds of crazy storms and tornado's in the area. Our tent got blown over and filled with water. The people we were camped had a tree fall into the campsite. Thankfully nobody was flattened. And they had a kayak get blown away and sunk wherewith no amount of searching could discover. Lame. But Dave, Sully and I stayed high and dry. When we went back in the morning the party that stayed was soaked pretty good and ready to go home.

"The most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies for instance." John Ruskin

The flowers we have been enjoying in Tennessee are great. From our crocuses, irises, tulips and hostas it's nice to see so much color. Though we've labored hours on many plants the ones we've enjoyed the most preceded our arrival. These tiger lilies could have been planted here thirty years ago for all we know. For as thick as they grow, they very well could have been here that long running the length of our front yard and framing our mail box. Dave took these pictures and did a wonderful job.

He couldn't pass up the opportunity to exhibit his shiny hog. Which he took to the local race track last weekend for a little drag racing. He was delighted with his times and speeds. Legal speeds, in this instance, of 87 mph in 1/8 mi. Unfortunately, our camera was not in attendance or we would have some video to share. A similar outing may not occur for quite a while, since the motorcycle is currently lame with a flat tire; due to all it's burn out on said excursion.

Girls trip

A number of years ago while I was in the financial grasp of higher education my mother, sisters and I rarely saw each other at the same time. Though I traveled back to the grand State of Alaska every summer it was to exotic places like Shemya, Reddog Mine and Kensington. There were seasons where contact with my family was limited to thank you notes for the use of a shower during midnight drive-by's. All us canny girls decided this lack of true interaction must stop. Thus, the Girls Trip was born.

This is from our first trip.

Here we are a few weeks ago outside the Orlando Temple.
(The color scheme in the Celestial Room is purple and green. Usually I'm most opposed to purple, however, this was delightfully elegant.)

Till this year our trips have been within the State of Alaska. This time we broke our geographical bonds and met up in Florida. Spending time with my mom and sisters was wonderful! We had a great time eating amazing foods, visiting water parks, applying copious amounts of sunscreen then promptly sweating it all off, taking pictures in every lighting, angle and pose conceivable and just being together. It was a marvelous week.

The fireworks at the Magical Kingdom and Epcot Center were great, though a wee bit crowded. If there had been a suggestion box, I would advise more seating options at the Magical Kingdom. The sidewalk got a little hard after a while. The Epcot center was more accommodating even if a pagoda was slightly in the way of the show.

Pastries in Paris are a must if you're ever in the area. I just hope the French girl filling my order for the third time within two hours was too busy to recognise me. Maybe putting my hair up, down and then in a hat worked.

To dodge the Florida heat and humidity, large amounts of cold desserts were consumed. Ghirardelli's did not escape our mob descending on their air conditioning and devouring some great ice cream. Here is where I would like to write that all four of us ate this boat of sweetness. Hmm... not so much though. I pretty much had all of it.

After scoffing at lines of people standing in the sun to get signatures and pictures with Disney characters I trampled a little girl in a princess dress and tiara to get to the Beast. Her prince charming must have been busy at the October Fest. How could I not pass up an opportunity to kiss the Beast? What character would you go out of your way to meet?

Long before our arrival each of us picked one eating establishment and one activity that we could not leave without completing. What a great system! There was no way to see everything and this way no one whined about their ideas being shot down like guinea fowl. For my birthday we ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I tried to call Dave during one of the thunderstorms so he could hear the elephants and lions roaring. It didn't work so much. We went to a show of my choosing that would not have been possible without Dave's birthday present to me of his June allowance. Thank you, Honey! You're the best!

Look at what they got me for my birthday cake! It even had a candle somewhere in the oohey gooey foot-high greatness. Now, this we all ate. I don't think there was a crumb left.

This is evidence for my drums instructor that I did practice while on vacation.

In my absence Dave purchased Rock Band. "Honey, now you can practice all the time." What things have your spouses managed to sneak into the house while you were away?

Thanks for a great week girls! Can't wait till next time.

One fish, two fish...

Dog Fish!
How to teach dogs to swim.

1. Ask them nicely to swim.
2. Throw something dog likes into the water.
3. Wade into the water so dog can swim to you.
4. Finally admit to yourself that none of these things work, chase down dog, hold by collar, drag into deep water.
5. Pat yourself on the back. Your dog can now swim.

6. Check yourself for leeches.