Childhood Flashback

For years, I've remembered bits and pieces of a cartoon I loved watching when I was growing up. I'd never been able to remember the entire thing, or find someone else who remembered it. Imagine my surprise when someone I now know has a fondness in her heart for that same obscure cartoon.

So my friends, how many of you remember this?

Ode to the (Fairly) New Girl

Today's birthday wishes go way out to Kristen in New Jersey. Happy 30th my friend!

Our friendship is unique. Some would probably question its integrity due to a minor facet. We've been friends for 3 years but we've never stood in the same room, or even the same state as one another.

Yes, I will admit that one of my closest friends is someone who I met on the internet and have never seen face to face.

Kristen and I met on the forums of a website geared towards women trying to have children. She had started a buddy group to chat with other women who were trying for their first. In desperate need of talking to other girls who had an inkling of what I was going through, I started chatting. And boy did we chat! Our little group vacillated between the original 7 members and a high of 10 girls. As time went on, some came and went but the core 6 stayed in contact. Our board dissolved in the fall of 2005 and we took up residence in our own space where we could make the rules (somewhat).

Kristen and I quickly hit it off and laugh about how eerily similar we can be at times. Our thought processes and humor both tend to follow the same lines. Our husbands both do the same aggravating things and our daughters can scream with the best of them.

We've supported each other through too many doctor's appointments, ultrasounds and blood draws to count. We've cried at each other's losses and danced for their successes. And more than once, our text messaging conversations have sent me way over my monthly subscription limits.

But even though I've never been able to hug her when an IVF cycles fails, to walk the halls of CHOP with her as she waited for procedures to finish, to chat over a cup of coffee or bitch over a bottle of beer, our friendship is no less valuable to me than any others. She has seen me through the darkest and the brightest of the last 3 years. And for that I will always be grateful.

Happy Birthday, Kris! May the coming years be filled with laughter and joy. Thank you for letting me tag along on the last 3 years. I'm so thankful for your love and support.

Perhaps by the next big milestone birthday I can post pictures of you and I, sitting side by side!

Ode to My Favorite Floozie

2008 is a fun year for me, in that most of my core friends (and myself!) hit the big 3-0.

In honor of each birthday I thought it would be fun to pay homage to them on their day. (And I'll make sure to get you in here too, Bean, since I was sick with gallbladder yuckiness on your birthday.)

Leading off the batting order is one of my longest friendships. Sami and I met in 8th grade through a special Math/Science program at the Country's Career Center. We lived about 30 minutes apart in different school districts. The Career Center had an advanced Match & Science program for the county's High School students. Once you were accepted into the program, you spent a half day there, every day for all 4 years of High School. The students stayed with the same "class" the entire 4 years and had the same 2 teachers the entire time. One for science and one for math with the subject matter changing instead of the educators. We spent our entire High School jaunt, inseparable for hours a day as we trudged (and talked) our way through the depths of classes such as Biochemistry, Statistics and Calculus.

Sami had a special place in her heart for our Math teacher. Very few students ever had the privilege to have the relationship with Mr. Boursaw that she did. To this day I'm sure he cringes when he thinks about some of the grey hairs she gave him.

14 years ago this fall, she was involved in a motor vehicle accident that shook me to the very core. While riding with a friend on a Friday night, the truck they were in left the road, rolled numerous times and the passenger side impacted a tree, bringing them to a stop. Just prior to the accident Sami had removed her seatbelt to pick something up that had fallen off the seat to the floor. During the accident she was bounced around inside the truck. Although her injuries were quite severe (lacerations to her liver, a collapsed lung and a shattered bone in her leg) I will always believe that her not having her seatbelt on ultimately saved her life. If she had been wearing it, she would have directly felt the impact of the tree. When I went to visit her in the hospital I was amazed at her strength. Upon leaving, I sobbed in the elevator. Thankful that my friend was still alive.

Since then we've seen our fair share of ups and downs. We've lived through more heartache and tears than any 2 girls should be subjected to. Our time together has seen relationships rise and fall; we've laughed through recipe trial and errors; said goodbye as we've moved ourselves to new places; mourned the loss of family members and children we so desperately wished to have. But we've come out on the other side, thankful for what we have now and the support we've had along the way.

Happy Birthday, Moe! May the coming years be filled with laughter and joy for you and your family. I'm so thankful to have been given the opportunity to share these last 17 years with you and look forward to what lies ahead!

Riding in Style

After 6+ years of faithful service, we bid a fair adieu to our beloved Tacoma 9 days ago. The "purple" truck no longer resides in our driveway. For both of us, the Tacoma was the first "real" truck we had ever owned. It had 4WD, air conditioning, power windows, power locks, etc. It had seen us through countless adventures that took us all over Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and Idaho. Although he might be hesitant to admit it, I know that C was sad to see it go.





Like so many other things in life, it has been replaced by something newer, shinier and bigger. Now we wait to see how long the windows can stay free of nose prints (the dogs', not KT's).






So far, we're at 9 days and counting...

The Cheese Stands Alone...

It's not very often that our household is a one-dog show. Usually the two of them traipse around here like a couple of 8-year old boys. Wrestling, snarling and generally being loud and obnoxious. If one dog is gone somewhere the other one always goes too--it's impossible to play favorites and only take one.

So today is an anomaly to say the least. A couple of weeks ago we discovered a fairly concerning lump on Logan's tail. At his annual vet check last weekend, it was decided to have it removed this morning so that he wouldn't bother it and cause it to get inflamed.

When C left this morning, he loaded Logan into the truck and dropped him off at the vet's office for the day. At first Dakota acted a little miffed that he wasn't invited along for a R-I-D-E but after a few minutes he snuggled back into the covers on our bed and sighed in contentment.

The realization had hit that the house was HIS for the day. No obnoxious brother to wrestle with; he could just lay around all day and enjoy the solitude. Just as long as he stayed high enough off the ground (i.e. our bed) that KT can't torment him.



Don't let this face fool you. He's really smiling. The peace and quiet is reason to celebrate (for all of us!).