Goodbye Leonard

Leonard, a loyal beta fish, passed peacefully to that great bowl in the sky last night between 11:00 pm and 7:00 am. Leonard was a loving fish, always excited to see his food jar and fiercely protective of his purple plastic plant. Leonard was preceeded in death by Milton and is survived by a fish yet to come. His owner, Alison, said that the death came as a surprise, but looking back, he had been staring longingly at photos of the ocean lately and eating very little. Although Leonard was ready to go, he left behind a little fish-shaped hole in her heart. Goodbye Leonard... remember all drains lead to the ocean.

Summer Cookout

Last Monday Kenneth & Heidi's family was here so we all went to Second Dam for a hot-dog roast and some good old fashioned fishing.

This is Audrey feeding the ducks. Kenneth said the fish wouldn't bite because the kids probably threw a collective loaf of bread into the river.

Paul helping to set up the chairs.

Action shot of Kenneth fishing.

Mom and Paul cooking their hot dogs.

Daniel in his new Father's day hat.

A bird sent a poopy surprise from above right onto Heidi's jacket! Yuck.

Charisse cutting hot dogs.

Dad's persistence finally paid off, he was the first one to catch a fish.

Vance and Miles were very excited about Dad's fish. He entered the camp site to shouts of "Hooray for Grandpa!"

Kaitlyn caught the second and only other fish of the day!

Evidence that I was actually at the party.

McKinley and Audrey found lots of shells to take home in a plastic hot dog bun bag.

Tanner showed Vance and Miles how to stake the fish in the river so they wouldn't swim away.

Mom, Vance, and Kaitlyn enjoyed some smores by the fire.

Master Johnson

Today was the first, and probably only, time in my life anyone will ever stop traffic for me. It was graduation day for Masters and PhD students at Utah State University. We started at the Field House and paraded in a straggling line down to the Spectrum where we were properly hooded in assembly-line fashion and received our diplomas. The best part of the graduation was when the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies asked us to stand so he could confer our degrees upon us and the way he said it was very confusing. Instead of standing we all just sat there and looked around like sheep, not like people who are supposed to be intelligent. He had to ask us again. It was pretty funny. The following are some photos of the event. I just want to say a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to everyone receiving a diploma this year and a heartfelt THANK YOU to all the friends and family who supported them. Stay tuned for photos of Paul's commencement, which will take place tomorrow.

Baby Animal Day

Last Friday, after four years of failed attempts, my Easter dream was realized. Susan and I showed up bright and early to the Jensen Historical Farm for their annual Baby Animal Day! The highlight of the excursion was petting an actual four week old lamb. The low point was the dead skunk whose lingering stench haunted our wagon ride. Ultimately, no one was pooped on and we got some great photos, so it was a good day.

That's What It's All About

Today I did a solo Hokey Pokey in front of my Cost Management Systems class for a $10 gift card to Walmart. It's been a weird week. I'm glad there are only 5 left until graduation.

"Blog Loser"

In case the lingering "happy new year background" didn't tip you off, before you proceed perusing this site let me be clear that this blog is the home of a blog loser. What, you may be asking yourself, is a blog loser? Well, it's not someone who misplaces thier blog (which I recently found out actually happened to a friend of mine. She created a blog and now can't figure out how to get back into it, so she is immortalized in a single, lone entry forever... but I digress.) A blog loser is someone who is so delayed at posting that it's almost uncomfortable. A blog loser gets moved from people's check-once-a-week list to the she's-probably-dead list based on the frequency of new posts. A blog loser is someone who doesn't necessarily have a loserish life (at least I'd like to think so), but who has absolutely nothing of interest to leak to the general populous on a regular basis.

So, for anyone who may still check this blog now and then let me assure you that I am still alive (so tell your friends to take me off their she's-probably-dead list) and give you an update on what you've missed since the new year turned:
1. go to class
2. do homework
3. go to work
4. sleep...

usually in that order, except sometimes "go to class" and "sleep" occur simultaniously. Ta Da! You are now up to speed. Please check again in another three months or so... just to make sure I'm not dead.

Festival of Trees

Last Tuesday Susan and I tagged along with Mom and Dad to the annual Festival of Trees in Salt Lake City. The collection of trees and other Christmas decorations are donated by people and get auctioned off throughout the night to benefit Primary Children's Hospital.

This tree and the presents around it were made of glass. They lit up in time to Christmas music. Needless to say, it was an amazing presentation. The minimum bid for this magnificent piece of art was a mere $25,000. I was thinking about getting it, but ended up not because I couldn't figure out where to put it in our huge apartment.

Susan loved the Pooh and Friends tree.

There were also gingerbread houses for people to bid on. I say nuts to bidding on it, I want to live in it!

This was dad's favorite tree. It was all made of wood and had tiny billiard balls that rolled through mechanisms from top to bottom. Once the balls reached the bottom they were blown back to the top through the trunk of the tree. We think it could be dad's next wooden project.

We all had a great time walking around and looking at the trees, wreaths, centerpieces, and gingerbread houses. It's definitely a great family tradition... although next time I think Susan will bring a more comfortable pair of shoes (that's her leaning on the giant nutcracker to rub her aching feet.)