Animal Lover

(San Diego, June 2008. Such a cutie...I think she's grown a little bit since then:))

Here's where I found Mallory after school this afternoon:

On the hill in the backyard enjoying the sun with our kitties, Maple and Nala. (Yes, we've managed to keep the same cats for more than a few months!) The weather is gorgeous and in the 50's (after snowing yesterday...go figure!). I'm excited to see some green grass starting to poke through.

Mallory loves these cats so much and she's definitely the one who takes care of them the most. The first thing she does before leaving for school and when she comes home is go to the garage to snuggle them. They really are good kitties, very sweet and loving. Maple even caught a mouse last week, finally earning her keep! Mallory has always loved all kinds of animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up. I think she's just smart enough to do it!

Girls Trip 2010...The Coming Home Tour

I think I've finally recovered from my six day vacation in Phoenix. The weather was amazing and I admit I was very homesick for the Valley of the Sun. It was really great to spend some time with my mom and dad and Jordan, plus Melissa was there with her boys (bonus!). Girls Trip started Wednesday night as I was welcomed by Kim and Larissa sporting darling "concert tour" t-shirts they had made along with matching tote bags. We wore them to dinner the first night and were asked if we were a singing group! As a joke the waitress had us sign autographs for the manager of the restaurant. The entire weekend was so fun, filled with shopping, eating, talking and laughing, along with a movie and pedicures. What more can a girl ask for? Love these wonderful friends of mine.

I came home to spotless house and all of the laundry done. This leads me to believe two things: one, I have a great husband, and two, maybe they don't need me around here after all!

Excitement

I'm heading out for my annual girls trip tomorrow, this time back to Phoenix, where we all met. The weather forecast calls for "Abundant Sunshine, Highs in Upper 70's". It actually said "Abundant Sunshine"! Needless to say, I can. not. wait!

Downtown Boise

To finish our photography class we convinced our teacher to take us on a field trip to practice our skills. So Monday afternoon found us strolling downtown, one middle aged man, 5 women and one baby in a backpack. Here are some of my favorites:Inside the capitol building:

I Heart Butternut Squash

On my friend Chrissy's blog she's having a heart treasure hunt all month, so I've been on the lookout for hearts in unusual places. Imagine my surprise when I spotted this on my plate last night:

Seriously, I just plopped it out of the dish and that's how it came out! Quite a coincidence since butternut squash is one of my favorite foods (just ask my family, every time I eat it I say "I love this squash!" No, really, I do!) Of course you have to cover it in butter, salt and pepper, and sometimes brown sugar, thus cancelling any health benefits you might have derived from the vegetable. I was so excited when I saw that my Costco sells it in their refrigerated section (you know, the area you have to run in and out of so quickly because it's so cold!) all cut up and ready to go.

OK, most boring blog post ever, I know. The funny thing is, when I found the squash at Costco I thought, "I should blog about this, it's making me so happy!" But then I thought, "That would be really lame to write about squash." So thank you, Chrissy, for having the fun heart treasure hunt and giving me the chance to declare my love for butternut squash to the world.

Valentines

Thanks to my wonderful friend Courtney (and the person she got the idea from) for these fun valentines. They would have been even cuter if I had remembered to type "Happy Valentine's Day" on the front before printing them, but Brady was so obsessed with getting them done (it's all he could talk about for days) I was rushed. We just made labels and put those on instead.

Dance Party

This is what happens on Sunday afternoons when the kids can't play on the computer...they get creative with Kenzie's cell phone.

And yes, Brady needed to go to the bathroom, but don't you love how he incorporated it into his dance moves? Pure genius.

P.S. The robot is a little tribute to you, Kevin and Maureen.

Photography Class

As I mentioned before, I have been taking a community ed. class on photography with 5 other friends. It has been a lot fun and I do think I've learned a lot about using my camera to get the best possible pictures. Let face it, though, I'll never be the next Heather Ives (click on her wedding photos to see my gorgeous sis Lindsay) but I'm getting better.

Here's our assignment from the first week, a self-portrait:

The teacher said this could have been a great picture, but I didn't quite get it right. (He doesn't spare anyone's feelings when critiquing photos.)

The next week we were to take a picture of something in the kitchen. Here's what I chose:

He said, "That's pretty." and then handed it back to me without another word. It wasn't in the running for the prize.

The last week's assignment was "something red". Here's my two that made it to the final round:

He liked the composition on this one

And this one came in second place overall:

Funny thing is, the pencil was my least favorite! Maybe I just don't have a photographer's eye.

LOST: Spoiler Alert

Yes, Lost starts tonight, and yes, I'm excited. Lucky for you I am a subscriber to Entertainment Weekly (for Mark to put in his wating rooms...who are we kidding, it's for me) so I have the inside scoop for you. After studying a six page article entitled "Secrets of the Final Season" I have one important item to share with you:

Richard Alpert does not wear eyeliner, those are just his dark eyelashes.

That's it.

Other than that, the article was full of quotes from the producers like:

"You can expect lots of twists and turns."

and

"...it might be impossible to resolve the fundamental mystery of the Island without begging even more impossible-to-answer metaphysical questions."

Umm...what?!? Why do I have a feeling that with just 16 episodes left I'm still going to be as confused as ever?

Snow Dog

Much to her dismay, this will probably be the only dog Mallory will have in this yard.