Happy Belated Birthday Kassidy!

I know I'm a little bit behind schedule, but Kassidy turned 12 on April 18. I can't believe my lil Kassy is 12...and in 6th grade...and now in mutual. Gulp!! It really makes me feel old when I realized that the first time I took Buzz to meet my fam was at her baby blessing. Now, she is a beautiful, intelligent, young woman. I love that she is sooooo much like me...most of the time. Sometimes it feels like I'm arguing with myself and that is incredibly annoying. SORRY MINDY!! I feel honored that I got invited to her "friends" B-day swim party. I guess I'm not so old and un-cool after all. However, she did introduce me to her friends as her weird Aunt who acts totally crazy. I'm still not sure how I should take that.

28 and Wiser....

I spent my first entire day as a 28 year old learning a lot of valuable things....

1.) Having a tire blow-out doing 80 mph is as unpleasant as imagined
(no worries...car and I are both okay. Just scared the hell out of me and whacked a few weeds).

2.) Getting the tire jack out of the storage bin in the trunk of 2004 Honda Civic requires extensive mechanical aptitude (FYI-you must push all the way to the right until it clicks, push forward till clicks, then pull up. That only took me 10 mins to figure out in a freaking rain storm. Am I nuts for thinking that this should be written somewhere? Its not....I checked! All it said was "remove jack"! GEE, That's helpful!! )

3.) Changing tire by myself is a skill that I already possessed thanks to the many lessons from my Dad and Buzz. Its getting the lug nuts loose that's a BITCH.

4.) Jumping up and down on tire iron (while attached to lug-nuts) and holding onto car will loosen lug nuts.

5.) Utah is blessed to have many highway patrol and state troopers, but they do not view flat tire as cause for alarm. None of those who passed stopped to help me change tire despite me jumping up and down on tire iron attached to car like a freaking monkey. (I'm sure it looked like I had the situation under control)

6.) The few mins I left hazard lights on with the ignition off while I sat on side of road pulling myself together before I got out of the car was enough to kill 6 year old battery. This renders tire changing skills very unnecessary. (Ya. I know! Good to know my years of advanced systems training really paid off on this one.)

7.) I have the greatest husband in the world. He very quickly left work, picked up a new car battery, and drove an hour to rescue me. (I already new I had the greatest husband ever...But the fact that he did this without laughing at the stupidity of stranding myself on the side of road due to a dead battery makes me eternally grateful)

I think I've gained enough wisdom for ahwile! Let's hope the remainder of my 28th year is a little less eventful.

The Black Hole...

Anyone who has been to our house probably knows about our "Black Hole". The lovely barren area of lawn that is void of all life except for weeds. We tore down a bunch of dead choke cherry bushes and an old shed when moved in. Except for the new fire pit and rock wall-ette (we can't really call it wall since it's a foot high), nothing has been successful in reclaiming the area. We've tried to kill the weeds and plant grass. But we've manged to kill the grass and grow more weeds.

Last Fall, the kitchen sink decided to quit draining all together. So, Buzz being the handy-man that he is, dug-up and replaced all the rusted out drain lines. The sink is now working perfectly. However, we were left with this mess. The Black Hole now encompasses the entire south-lawn.

Now, it's Spring, We've decided it was time to try and bring some vegetation back into the "hole" So, we made a trip to Lowe's for grass seed and came back with some extras. Lilacs and Boxwood! Which are now planted around the perimeter in an attempt to make a screen for our fire pit. Spring fever must have made us delusional...because Buzz and I don't do plant's. We kill everything we've ever planted. We try, but we both get so busy we forget to water them. Thank goodness Jayda is good at reminding us when she is out of food and water. Nevertheless, there are finally some green life forms in the black hole...for the time being!

Technology can be a @#$*!

It today's world we have the advantage of being in constant communication with each other. Cell phones, texting, Facebook, email, and there is even Skype and video voicemail all at our fingertips in mere nano seconds. But today I realized that all this wonderful technology has just given me more and much faster ways to stick my foot in my mouth.

Saying Goodbye...

Being home turned out to be bitter sweet. I made it home to say good-bye to my Gram for the last time last night. Minutes after posting last night, I got a call that she had taken a turn. I was able to spend some time with her and say good-bye before she passed away peacefully in her sleep. The world is now as it should be. Sybil is once again with her Dallas. Guess he finally got tired of waiting on her. Now, the hard part. Me figuring out how to get my world back on its axis. She was an amazing, strong, beautiful woman and I was blessed to know her. She was my original Co-Pilot and I'm not quite sure how to finish this flight without her. I love you Gram.

HOME SWEET HOME

It good to be home. I even get to stay here for 4 or 5 days. I may have the greatest office view ever...but when you've spent 9 out of the last 11 days on the road...it starts loosing some of it's appeal.

FYI...

No, I am not pregnant. I just put on 15 pounds. But I appreciate all those who have to keep reminding me of this little fact. Now, I've got that off my chest....off to the treadmill:)

Day at the office...

Thought I'd share some views from my office. I have the coolest job ever! Then again I might be a little biased. Off the Right Wing: Wind River Range at altitude 25,000 feetOff the left wing: Tetons at altitude 25,000 feet and 80 miles away

(later that night)
Straight off the nose: Sunset over Southern Utah at altitude 26,000 feet

By the way, for anybody who is worried, the Autopilot was on when I snapped these pix :)