Growing Up

I don't have a whole lot of thoughts tonight, except around my little girl pup. Perdi finally seems to be growing up...or at least maturing a little bit. I have noticed this mostly in the past week. I still don't trust her to be out of my sight for very long, but this week, whenever I realized I couldn't see/hear her and went to find out what she was up to, I would mostly find her either chewing quietly on a bone or sleeping in her kennel! *Long sigh of relief*
Also, Perdi did us a big favor and let us sleep in as long as we wanted this weekend; another sign that she is growing up. Granted, one of us still has to get up and let them out early in the morning, but Perdi has been quite content to hop back in to bed and settle down for some more sleep. *Another long sigh of relief*
I am happy to see her moving out of puppyhood. She has put us through quite a lot the past few months. (Many of our lamps are out of commission due to chewed and severed cords, for example.) She still has her aggravating moments, but I have found that they are gradually becoming less frequent. She is also doing quite well with her leash, now that I have been leash walking them in the evenings. However, today I braved the dog park once again...
Speaking of the dog park, I must share a quick story. Currently, there is a four foot deep trench of water that has been carved from all the snow melt and rain runoff from Cherry Creek to a small lake in the dog park. Today, it was probably only half full of water, but still running pretty furiously. Pongo and Perdi and I were walking past the trench on our way back to the car. I had my iPod on and was whistling along to a song when I heard a big SPLASH. Apparently, Perdi had tried to jump the trench, didn't make it to the other bank and landed in the water.
I think this scared her because the water was rushing by so fast and she couldn't touch the bottom. The poor gal clung to the bank with all her might. I was encouraging her to climb the bank, but didn't really see how she was going to get out. Before panic could set in (for me), a nice man noticed what had happened. He jumped the trench and pulled Perdi right up! He said he was used to rescuing his friend's dog, so it was not big deal. But Perdi thought it was a big deal and gave him a couple sweet kisses on the face.
Sometimes I wonder about that dog. She is quite inquisitive and not scared of water at all. Even after falling in the trench, she was splashing around in the shallow part of the crossing only a minute later!

This City

Usually I dread weekends when Matt has to work. This weekend was one of those weekends, but I think I really made the best of it, for myself and for Matt. It all started on Friday. Nick and I planned a surprise birthday party for Carlene. I left work a little early to get things ready for the party and ended up getting home right as Matt left for work. That was probably the worst part of the weekend. He was upset that he didn't get to see me more and I felt incredibly guilty for not being there sooner, since I got off work early anyway. Not fun.

The party was great though. Carlene was surprised and we had a good turnout thanks to Nick and his mad emailing skills. :) Poor Carlene...she had just gotten off a plane from a week long business trip in Phoenix and was probably exhausted.

Here are a couple pictures of the birthday girl...

When I got home from Carlene's on Friday, I was SO tired. I fell asleep until Matt got home at 10:45. He convinced me to get back up and go out to Old Chicago with some of his co-workers. Well I can never pass up Old Chicago, so I went but I probably looked like a walking zombie. We came home at 12:30 and the puppies did NOT want to go to bed, and I certainly can't blame them. We watched TV for an hour and finally got them calmed down. Luckily, they let us sleep in to an embarassing hour on Saturday morning.

Since we slept in so late, Matt and I didn't really get to do much together before he left for work. As he was leaving, we was going to run out and give him one last goodbye kiss, but as I opened the front door, I nearly screamed as my foot came inches from stepping on a dead baby rabbit that some neighborhood pet had left as a "gift" for us. Oh my, that was so gross. I promptly got it cleaned up and decided to go for a run. I also took my poor dogs to the dog park for the first time in at least a month and a half. I felt like I owed it to them after neglecting them on Friday, and they LOVED it. They were both exhausted when we got home.

So here's the funny part of the weekend. Saturday night was basically a repeat of Friday night for me. Carlene had invited me over to BBQ on Saturday for her birthday and I had accepted, to further the element of surprise on Friday. She said I could still come over if I wanted, and I decided to go as opposed to staying home by myself. This time the puppies got invited to come along, and they had fun exploring a new yard. Perdi even buried a bone behind a bush to prove she was greatful for getting to come along.

When Matt got home that night, we decided to go out to "our" Old Chicago. (When we meet up with his co-workers, we go to a different one that is more convenient for everyone, but not nearly as awesome.) "Our" Old Chicago is so great. Sometimes we sit at a table, and sometimes we sit at the bar because that is where our favorite waitors serve. Last night, we sat at the bar because Dave the bartender was back and we hadn't seen him in a few weeks.

I decided to get a half order of nachos but Dave convinced me to get the full order because they were cheaper with the happy hour special. I knew there was no way I could eat a whole order of nachos myself. (Matt got himself a pizza, so he was no help.) So I offered half of my nachos to Dave the bartender, who happened to be really hungry. He was so greatful for the food that he comped a couple of our drinks! It was also fun because the other waitor came up and talked to us some too, even though he wasn't our server. I love feeling like we "belong" there. I guess that could also be a sign that we go to Old Chicago too much...but it is nice to have a place to fit in, in this city.

Today was pretty mundane...cooked brunch for Matt and I, went in to work for a couple hours after he left, took the dogs to the dog park again, ran and cleaned. I definitely needed a day just to get stuff done after such a busy weekend. Now it's back to the daily grind for a few days, then we set off for a 4th of July visit to Kansas City!

Monday's Blog, Final Addition: My Husband the Photographer

Happy Friday everyone! I just finished putting the final touches on the last "Monday" series post. This is a collection of recent photos I stole from my husband's camera. He is such a great photographer...much better than me!


Here are our puppies chasing each other through the dog park. As you can see, the vegetation is very dense...lots of great places for snakes to hide. Matt braved the dog park today...the first time the dogs had been there in at least a month!

This next bunch of photos are of course more of our precious puppies.

Perdi sleeping in the sunlight. She looks almost angelic, quite the contrary to the way she acts when she is awake...

Pongo in a cute sleeping position atop the couch.

He thinks he owns the couch and remote...just one way he is much like his "daddy." :)


Sometimes it is a fight for the sunlight. Pongo is getting inched out here.

The rest of these photos are ones Matt took on our camping trip at the beginning of this month at Golden Gate Canyon State Park.

Melting the chocolate for our s'mores over the fire. Carlene brought strawberry marshmallows this time and it made for one AWESOME s'more.

Sunset at our campsite. A game of Balderdash is in the works.

Perdi guarding our tent....

Cooking dinner on our camping stoves. I believe Matt and I had fajitas that night...one of our camping favorites.

Pongo resting inside the tent. He prefers to chill out in there.

Pongo and I on our Saturday hike. This was toward the end...I was so tired.

A family photo in the mountains...this pretty much describes us! Matt and I, our dogs and the mountains. What more could a person need? :)

Our puppies, passed out after the hike. They are so cute when they are tired and not getting into trouble.

I love Perdi's eyes against the blue Colorado sky in this one.

I could do so many of these kinds of posts with older pictures Matt has taken. So, let me know if you enjoyed this post and I will try to do more. Happy Friday everyone and have a GREAT weekend!
***End of Monday's series of blogs***

Another Strange Dream

I am going to try not to get in the habit of posting about my dreams. Most of the time they don't make sense and I'm sure nobody really wants to hear about them that much. But the one I had Monday night dug up an OLD childhood memory that I had almost forgotten and brings up a semi-interesting story.

I'll start with the story. I can't even remember how old I was during the period but it was sometime in elementary school when my mom took on the job of executive director at her office. She had to make some tough decisions, including having to let go of a lady that worked there. Well this woman's husband went NUTS. His name was Ernie and he did all sorts of things in the wake of his wife being let go.

The harassment was mostly on the level of him making tons of random phone calls to us where he would burp on the phone and then hang up. Some nights, he would call over and over again and do the same thing every night. It progressed to him driving past our house and stealing our mail. My parents had to have a mail slot cut into our house at that point!

Eventually, Ernie started stealing hub caps off of our cars or sometimes even taking all of the lug nuts out of the wheels. One time, he dumped a bucket of white paint on my dad's truck. He also egged our vehicles from time to time.

This is just the stuff I remember. My parents hired a private invsetigator and took Ernie to court with all of the evidence they gathered and eventually he went to jail. I remember watching the movie "Ernest Goes to Jail" in celebration.

Well last night for some reason, I had one of my very vivid dreams involving Ernie. He had started his harassment up again, this time focusing on my house here in Denver. He was leaving notes and warning me not to leave my dogs in the back yard while I run, and even warning me not to go running at all! He would also very slowly and deliberately drive past our house, peering out his window, Cruella DeVille style. It was quite an odd dream. The weirdest part is that I don't think I ever saw Ernie's face when I was little, but I had a very vivid (though probably incorrect) image of his face in my dream.

Well anyway, I'm sure my parents will really appreciate my bringing up all of these fond memories. :) It was just such an odd period of time in which I understood very little at the time, but it's pretty amazing that someone could do all of that to us in hindsight!
*Note: Yesterday, I went running and left the dogs in the back yard and all was fine. Although I felt slightly safer carrying my new "jogger" pepper spray along with me. :)

Interlude: Tuesday Thoughts

One of my favorite TV shows to watch is “Jon and Kate Plus 8”. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a show which chronicles the life of a couple (Jon and Kate) with twins and sextuplets. Last night, Jon and Kate made a big (but expected) announcement. They are getting divorced.
Due to all of the rumors in the media, this was not a shock. But I find it ironic that Jon and Kate started doing the show because it was “what was best for the kids.” Granted, it made them a LOT of money and skyrocketed them to fame. But ultimately, and I can only speculate, (they don’t ever really officially say what specifically lead to the divorce) that the fame and money are what dissolved their marriage. Clearly, the show was not really what was best for the kids in the end.
I think I am mostly upset about this because I just read Kate’s book “Multiple Blessings,” which was written a couple years ago when she and Jon were still completely in love. I miss that. I really love their story. It was hard to read the book, knowing what the ultimate outcome would be.
As a recurring topic of the book, Kate speaks openly about their financial challenges; how she had to quit her nursing job to go on bed rest at seven weeks, and how Jon got “let go” when his company caught wind of the high risk pregnancy for insurance reasons. But at least they were happy, in love, and together. Last night, a teary eyed Kate said on national television, “I don’t want to do this alone.” It absolutely broke my heart! Was all that money really worth jeopardizing the marriage and being forced to raise the 8 kids separately?
This is just something I thought I would write about since it’s been on my mind a lot lately. I’m also bummed because the divorce will also probably signal the end of a show that I love and feel connected to. BUT, if you are looking for a good read, definitely pick up Kate’s book.
I’ve got one more “Monday Series” post to put up but I’ll probably delay that until tomorrow to space things out a bit…

Monday's Blog Part 2: Fathers and Birthdays

A couple very important celebrations occurred this weekend while we were gone. First of all, since Father's Day was Sunday, I just have to send a big ol' Happy Father's Day out to all of the dads in my life. Grandpa Govert, Bill and of course my own dad...I am honestly at a loss for words to describe how lucky I am to have you in my life, each in your own different way.

I am especially thankful for my dad. We have been chatting a lot more by phone recently and this is something I really enjoy and appreciate. Sometimes I call my dad after I get really worked up by a political debate I have been having with various people. It's nice to hear someone who agrees with me on pretty much everything in that regard, espcecially when I sometimes feel completely alone in my views. Of course there are many many more things that I appreciate about my dad, but that is just one thing that comes to mind as I write this.

The second part of this post belongs to my wonderful husband, who celebrated his 26th birthday as we were driving to Ames on Friday. I am lumping him into my father's day post because he is already a great "dad" to our two beagles. Trust me, he gets a huge howling fanfare everytime he comes home from work, and it's pretty obvious how much those two dogs love him...ALMOST as much as I do. :)

I have mentioned in many previous posts how hard it is right now for the two of us, having such crazy and opposite work schedules. I think Matt has it a lot worse than I do, because he can't really hang out with a lot of friends during the day since they are working. But he always encourages me to go see my friends when i can, even though he doesn't get the same opportunities.

Perhaps the best part about our relationship is that Matt and I are friends underneath everything else (husband & wife, pharmacist and photogrammetrist, "doggy dad and mom," etc.) When all or one of these additional resposibilites we have become stressful, I love that we can joke and laugh like we used before everything else came along and everything is OK.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned that Matt gives the BEST back massages? He spoils me so much. I try to spoil him back, though sometimes it's in unexciting ways such as keeping the house clean or walking the dogs extra far so that they will let him sleep in.

When I think back on what we were doing last year at this time to celebrate Matt's birthday, (I honestly can't even remember!) I am amazed at how much has changed in just one year! Granted, this as been a momentous year of changes for us, but I am still excited about what things i will be pondering next year at this time and for many many years to come.

I love you, Matt and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Life is so fun and exciting with you...

Ames Adventure

Well I didn't mean for it be a whole week between posts! It seems I got really caught up trying to get everything ready for our trip to Ames. Dont worry...I have much in store this week! I have so much I need to post...I have already finished most of a multi part series and I will post them gradually through the week. I'm going to start with some pictures and stories of our trip to Ames, since I happen to have Matt's camera plugged in to my computer for once!
I mentioned in my last blog post how I felt a bit like a travel agent and how I had booked a reservation with Enterprise for a rental car. Well Matt and I left good and early on Friday morning to go get our car since an agent had called the night before to let us know that we should "come in early because he didn't know if he would have the exact car we requested." I took this to mean that maybe we would get an upgrade, or possibly a little compact car which would not be ideal but it would work. It turns out that that they didn't have ANY cars for us, to which I asked why I even bothered to make a reservation.
The only option we were given was to wait for someone to bring their car in, but since we had a 10 hour drive ahead of us, we told the guy to cancel our "reservation" and we would take our own car. I was especially upset because there were three guys in that tiny office twiddling their thumbs when they could have been picking up a car from another branch for us. :) Anyhow, we didn't want to spend all morning finding a different rental car, so we hit the road. Matt immediately called the customer service line for Enterprise without any further success.
Unforutnately, the majority of the drive to Ames (once we got out of Colorado) was packed to the gills with semi trucks. I was unable to use the cruise control much through the entire state of Nebraska and there was quite a bit of construction.
Once we did get to Ames, we had a blast and it turned out to be a great weekend. Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and then I got up and was feeling ambitious, so I went running. I thought it would be a breeze since I am used to running in the higher altitude, but the air was so heavy and it was HOT out, so I had to walk some. We also had to take the Civic in to get its oil changed since it was getting close to being due. I would have had that done in Denver if I had known we would be driving it....
Anyway, after we did all that and got lunch, it was time to get cleaned up and head to the wedding. Here are a few picture highlights....

Matt with Renae, Jacquelyn and Jaime before the ceremony, a few good friends from college.

The reception was held in the gardens on the Iowa State campus. We had some time to spend before the reception started, so we walked around a bit. I HAD to get my picture taken by the T Rex head, of course!
Another dinosaur of sorts.

Matt played a pretty tune on this cool set of chimes.

In the rose garden...

Ryan and Laura's first dance.

Our one picture with Laura, and of course I had my eyes closed! :)

My handsome date.

Dancing to the "Cotton Eyed Joe."

The wedding was beautiful and lots of run. The trip home Sunday was a bit more relaxed with less truck traffic. Plus I didn't have to drive on the way home. :)

I always hate going back to work after such fun weekends like this past one. I wish we could do things like this more often!

Congrats again, Ryan and Laura!

It's Mid June Already?!?

I absolutely cannot believe that it is mid June already. Time seems to be flying by! In four days, we will be celebrating Matt’s birthday with a road trip to Ames, Iowa for our friend Laura’s wedding. In three weeks, we will be official residents of Colorado for a year! We will also be back in KC to celebrate the 4th of July. Hopefully this year when we drive back with my brother in tow, we won’t have quite as much stress. (See my very first Mountain Millard blog post.)
I feel like a travel agent as of late, booking weekend trips and campsites. For our Iowa trip, I just finished taking care of the details for the dogs. (thanks again for picking up our puppies on Sunday, Carlene!) I also took care of our hotel reservations and rented a car. We decided to rent a car for this trip because we have put quite a few miles on the Highlander already with our drives to KC, Manhattan and Kingman in the past few months. We are also trying to conserve miles on the Civic in case we decide to trade it in sometime. Plus we got a good deal and it’s always fun to drive different vehicles.
So we are all set to go. Now I admit that there are more scenic road trips we could be taking, but Matt and I are both excited for Ames because we get to see many friends from college. Also, it’s a drive we’ve never done before (I-80 through Nebraska) and it will at least be a change from I-70, which we are getting to know quite well!
This past weekend was so nice in it’s own way, besides Saturday when Matt and I both got up at 5 am and headed to work. He picked up a bonus shift and I decided to bank some hours instead of using vacation time for our Iowa trip. We were both exhausted when we got home and took a two hour nap as thunderstorms rolled through Denver. It was amazing! We got up and decided to go for a run and walk the dogs. We had planned to out for dinner but got inspired to grill some burgers after smelling the grilling of others on our walk.
Sunday, we cleaned and went running and walked the dogs again before heading out to see Land of the Lost. (I insisted on this movie because it has a T-Rex in it.) :) It was a pretty good movie, but I can’t believe the things they put into PG movies these days! The language and the insinuations were appalling. I thought they tried to gear it too much toward the adult/parent crowd. Matt and I decided that our children will be limited to G rated Disney animated movies after that. :)
After the movie, we went to dinner at P.F. Changs which is a fancy Chinese restaurant. I was full after the soup and appetizer, but our meal included an entrée and dessert as well. I don’t think I have been that full in a long time and I brought most of my food home in boxes!
So now I only have three days of work to get through before our next weekend adventure. I am still trying to think of fun things and surprises to make Matt’s birthday special since we will be in the car most of the day.

Dream State

I have been having fantastically realistic dreams (nightmares?) lately. There seems to be no end to them. Last week, I dreamed that I climbed up the stairs of a water tower-like structure. When I got to the top, the stairs had magically disappeared and I was suddenly crazy scared of heights, which has never been an issue for me before. I woke up just as I was starting to really panic in my dream and it took me about 30 minutes to calm down.
Yesterday, I took a nap when I got home from work. I was dreaming that I was home alone with the dogs and the doorbell rang. A guy was standing on my front porch talking on his cell phone with his back to me. I somehow knew that he was going to violently attack me and at the same time that the front door suddenly disappeared. Then I woke up.
Last night I had another nightmare as well, but I can’t remember it well enough to retell. The most vivid part occurred in the middle of the night and was lost on me by morning. Anyhow, I am not really sure what is bringing all of these crazy dreams on. I have not made any significant changes to my lifestyle, other than running a lot more, but I have been doing that for a couple months now. The nightmares are a recent thing.
Speaking of sleep, Matt and I will be super tired this afternoon. He is working a bonus shift and had to be at work at 6 am. He got home last night at 10:45 and we stayed up for a while after that. I needed to bank some work hours of my own for next weekend (we are going to Iowa for a wedding) and so I got up with Matt so that I could just get work done early and have the rest of the day for whatever pleases us. I think we are planning on napping, running, dog park, dinner and a movie. That’s a pretty full day including work, so we’ll see if all of that really happens.
Pongo went to work with me today, for which I am thankful. It is pretty creepy there alone, even in the morning daylight. Poor Perdi stayed home alone in her kennel. I just can’t bring her into work yet. She won’t lay down long enough for me to be productive. Pongo rested peacefully under my desk for 6 hours. He is SO good and such a great companion to have at work.

8 X 8

This is another "tag" I received 3 times! (From Anne, Erin and Casie) So I figured I better just do it...it looks pretty fun.

EIGHT Things I Am Looking Forward to:

1. Sleeping in this weekend.
2. Our upcoming road trip to Ames, Iowa in a week for Laura and Ryan's wedding.
3. Having a whole day with my husband on Sunday...now I just need some fun plans to fill the day!
4. Spending our 4th of July weekend in KC and everything it will bring.
5. The theater release of New Moon. But I don't think that happens until November.
6. Having Matt bring me lunch at work today.
7. Our next camping trip, whenever that may be...
8. ALL of our summer visitors, whether or not I know you are coming!

EIGHT Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Woke up at 5:30 am and went to work.
2. Sent a couple emails to co-workers who live close to me about the issued tornado warnings for our neighborhood. (I swear, we live in the "tornado alley" of Denver, which is fine by me!)
3. Donated some unwanted clothing items to Planet Aid.
4. Got home and attempted to take a nap, but couldn't sleep because a neighboring dog was barking constantly for an hour, driving my dogs NUTS!
5. Took the dogs on a LONG walk in lieu of running, also in an attempt to burn some more of their energy off.
6. Got caught up in a couple hours of HGTV and Facebook.
7. Yelled at Pongo for getting in the trash can for the twenty-somethingeth time.
8. Finally posted camping pictures on the blog.

EIGHT Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Be in two places at once.
2. Spend more time with my husband.
3. Get over my fear of snakes in the dog park.
4. Keep my house clean all the time.
5. Go back to St. Lucia for a week.
6. Be better and more efficient with the project I am working on at work.
7. Keep in better touch with my family and friends.
8. See every country in the world before I die.

EIGHT Shows I/We Watch:

1. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
2. Jon and Kate Plus 8
3. Anything on HGTV
4. Big Love
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. The Office
7. SportsCenter (I have to add that because this is technically a blog for both Matt and I, and there is rarely a day when I get home and the channel is not on ESPN.)
8. Deadliest Catch

EIGHT Favorite Movies/Books:Movies:

1. Jurassic Park trilogy
2. Twilight (books and movie)
3. Love Actually
4. Harry Potter (books and movies)
5. Signs
6. The Village
7. My Sister's Keeper
8. Angels and Demons (again, both book and movie)

EIGHT Places I’d Like to Travel to:

1. NYC
2. Switzerland (Swiss Alps)
3. Ireland (again)
4. Alaska (cruise)
5. The Mediterranean
6. Chicago
7. Nashville (Yep, you're on my list, Manda!) :)
8. Italy, or pretty much anywhere in Europe

EIGHT Places I’ve Lived:

1. Manhattan, KS
2. Lawrence, KS
3. Louisburg, KS
4. Overland Park, KS
5. Roeland Park, KS
6. Denver (Centennial), CO
7-8: TBD

EIGHT Others that may or may not care to participate in the EIGHT X EIGHT thingy:

1. Jaime
2. Anna O.
3. Brennan (since you only have ONE post on your blog.)
4. Leza
5. Susie
6-8: Have already tagged me so I will not re-tag them. :)

GGCSP

Here are a few photos of our first camping trip of the summer. I didn't take as many pictures as I hoped, but at least I got some! By the way, GGCSP stands for Golden Gate Canyon State Park, which is where we spent the weekend.

Our campsite...with the tarp set up as a wind break. It was SO windy.

Pongo in a chair, thinking he is a human. :)

I got Matt a surprise for our first camping outing...a camp axe! Here, he is having fun chopping up a pine branch (which was already cut from a tree). Sometimes I wonder if this was a wise purchase. :)

Perdi did fairly well for her first camping trip. She definitely does not like the camp fire or the smoke. But she was a trooper. We brought her sweater and Pongo's jacket because our dogs are spoiled. But it turns out that the evenings were really chilly, so I'm glad I packed them.

Pongo is definitely an indoor dog, even in the wilderness. As you can see, he made himself at home in our tent.
At "Dude's Fishin' Hole" along our Saturday hike. It was such a pretty lake...you would think they could come up with a better name!

The rest of the hikers behind me on the path. Pongo REALLY wanted to lead the hike, so I took advantage and snapped a picture of the rest of the gang. The hike was nice, but there were a bunch of runners participating in a race along our path, so we had to keep stepping to the side to avoid them. I think they may have been running a marathon, but the path was really steep and rocky and I can't imagine running in those conditions.

Not the Best Decision I’ve Made *Updated

Yesterday afternoon, Matt and I decided to go out for a run after we got home from camping and unloaded the cars. We had just stepped outside, when it started raining a tiny bit. We started to reconsider whether or not to go running, but the rain is so sporadic out here, that we decided to just go for it anyway. It was mostly my decision...I was aching to get out and run after how badly I ate on our camping trip. However, this was not one of the better decisions I have made in my life...
We had no issues for the first 2/3 of the run. It felt really good and we were running at a good pace. Then huge raindrops started falling around us. The raindrops turned into small pieces of slushy hail. Then the tornado sirens started to go off. We quickened our pace a bit because we had no other option other then to get home. We weren’t far away and of course we had left our poor puppies in the back yard. We turned the last corner of the run and I immediately gasped at the tornado I saw forming a couple miles to the south! It wasn’t very big and the storm was moving southward, so we weren’t really worried. But it was an amazing sight!
We got home fine and the puppies were glad to see us. I felt so guilty for leaving my dogs out in a tornado though! My current count is: 2 tornadoes witnessed in Colorado and 0 in Kansas. That just seems odd somehow. I have seen 2 tornadoes out here in the past year!
Just thought I would share that story. Camping post and pictures to follow shortly.

*update: this is a link to a video of the Aurora tornado. Thanks, Alissa!

Tornado, Aurora, Colorado - iReport.com
Source: www.ireport.com

Grade School Revisited

This summer, I will be participating in an activity I haven’t done since grade school. I joined a kickball league! I am very excited to get started, yet I wonder how good that this I will be. If grade school is any indicator, I will be the awkward and unathletic kickball player on the team who always gets out. However, I am hoping that there won’t be certain boys who pitch (more like hurl) the ball as hard as they can with the sole purpose of inflicting pain this time around. It will help if I am not scared of the kickball. :) We shall see. I am hoping for the best, and predicting disaster. More than anything, I am excited to have an “activity” to keep me busy.
It was so nice having Matt home for two evenings this week. I miss him so much and long to spend more time with him. I hate feeling like we lead separate lives. But we knew this was how things would be for a while when we made the decision to move here. Anyway, things should get better by the time fall rolls around but I don't want to speak too soon.
Our current situation does make the time we do have together more meaningful. However, those two evenings we had this week just seemed to tease me. It was nice to be able to split tasks and accomplish things together, instead of trying to communicate them while one of us is at work. Where I might have had to mow and cook and walk the dogs myself, it was so nice to be able to split the work, and have an extra set of hands while walking the dogs!
Ok, change of subject. I have to say that I was very pleased with my dogs last night. They let me take a much needed 2 hour nap, and rested right by me instead of causing trouble. I STILL feel refreshed from that nap this afternoon. I did reward them with an extra long walk last night, even though it was dark when we got back. I absolutely love being outside in Colorado this time of year, so I don't mind long walks. The evenings are still dry and cool and the pines smell so good, even in the middle of the suburbs. I am getting used to walking the dogs on leash. Perdi was in desperate need of some good leash training, and now she likes her leash more for sure. (Before, the leash always meant the end of her romp time in the dog park so she hated it.) So there is one good thing that came from the snake scare.
Pongo has always been good with the leash because he was raised in an apartment complex and had to be on leash every time he had to go out to potty. He was used to it from day 1 and still sits nicely while I put it on him. That's one thing Perdi is frustratingly stubborn about; I can't seem to get her to sit still while I put the leash on or take it off.
Ugh, sorry for another rather boring post. I should have some good stories after a weekend of camping. I’ll at least have pictures…

In A Funk

I can’t believe how much rainy weather we have had lately. Of course, I am loving it all! I decided on Sunday that I needed a “personal day,” so I took a nap and read Breaking Dawn (the fourth “Twilight” book) until I finished. I had no choice. I couldn't put it down, and when I did, I couldn't stop thinking about it and anticipating what it had in store.I was so sad to finish that series and now I can’t wait until the second-fourth movies come out! I am considering re-reading the four books again already.
Matt and I have been in a bit of a funk lately. For me, our completely polar opposite schedules are just starting to get to me, as well as other things going on in my life right now. For him, I think it’s stress about deciding which position would fit him best at the hospital now that his #1 choice has gone to someone else. I think he has made a solid decision and is starting to get excited now. This position would move him primarily to days.
Matt has it a lot worse than me with his work schedule, because he can’t really hang out with friends as much since they work normal daytime hours. I am lucky in that I can socialize with friends and co-workers occasionally. When Memorial Day came around, I was so excited to have a vacation day, but that was quickly squashed when I realized Matt would be working. He worked the Sunday before Memorial Day too, to make up for our anniversary and he worked this past weekend because that was his assigned weekend. It just feels like we can't catch a day off together. He has had today and yesterday off as his weekend, just in time for me to go back to work. :) Like I said, our schedules are frustratingly opposite. However, it was nice to have him home when I got there yesterday and to cook and have dinner together and to not be alone all evening. That definitely brightened my mood.
Speaking having dinner together…yesterday Matt and I completely switched traditional roles in our household. He cooked and I did yard work. I was all sweaty already from running so I mowed the front yard and tamed the Mohawk in the back yard (sorry, forgot to take a picture!). I also raked up the grass clippings from the Mohawk because we don’t have a bag on our mower and the Mohawk was so tall that the clippings would have killed the grass with all the rain we are getting. I must say that the yard is looking good. I just hate that it’s not our own yard.
So Matt cooked his yummy chicken burgers and then we walked to the grocery store up the street to rent a movie from the RedBox. (It was free movie Monday). We took the dogs so that they would get worn out. Perdi is a frustratingly bad walker. She stops to sniff everything and sometimes she stops right in the path where I am about to step, so I have to trip over myself to avoid stepping on her. She also doesn’t know how to stay on the correct side of signs and trees so that her leash doesn’t get wrapped around them. And she likes to try to attack Pongo as we walk. Oh how I miss the dog park, but I’m still scared by the whole bull snake incident, and Matt or I see a snake of some sort every time we go these days. Our dogs run through the snake filled grass without a care in the world, and I couldn’t bear it if they got hurt. And with all the rain we have gotten, the plant growth is exponential, providing plenty of hiding places for rattlesnakes. I don’t want one of those to be the next snake I almost step on on the path…
This coming weekend marks our first camping trip of the season. Ironically, we are camping at the exact same site where Matt, Brennan, Brennan’s friend Seth and I camped last July when we were “homeless” for a couple days during our move. It was the last and only site still available to reserve, but it is a neat little place tucked back in the woods and away from the road. We will have to carry all of our stuff up the mountain a ways, but it is so worth it. We plan to go up Friday or Saturday, hike on Saturday and come back Sunday. This will be Perdi’s first camping trip, so we will see how she does. I am planning to bring lots of bones and chew toys just in case.
That’s all for now…