The Salt Lick

Diamond is a licker. She likes to lick everything: the shower door, people's noses, the crook of my arm, belly buttons, the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. But I thought this was the most hilarious thing for her to lick - my brother's bald head! We gave her quite awhile to see how long she would go and she did not stop on her own. Here is just a fragment of the time she spent cleaning his scalp. What is it that she's missing from her diet to make her want to lick all these strange things?

Happy Turkey Day

I have to preface this holiday with an explanation. As I mentioned earlier, my mother just had knee-replacement surgery, so the plan was to have Thanksgiving at her house, but only if she promised to not try to do anything and let the rest of us handle it all. I went up on Monday to help her and watch my nieces and to help get things together for the holiday.

When I got there, she informed us all that she had ordered Thanksgiving dinner from a local restaurant which I thought was an excellent idea since we have not had great luck with the turkey in past years and I am certainly not cook. She told us the restaurant would provide turkey breasts, stuffing, vegetables, mashed potatoes, yams, rolls, salad, gravy and pies. She then proceded to tell us all that she had bought a turkey to cook (so we would have the smell of turkey in the house on Thanksgiving), and that she needed to get ingredients for stuffing (to put inside the turkey she was going to cook), potatoes (because hers are the best) and for waldorf salad (which only my dad likes) and green bean casserole (because you can't have Thanksgiving without it). She also said that my sister-in-law would be baking homemade rolls because they are so much better.

Now, I would agree that she makes the most wonderful mashed potatoes, Heidi's rolls are excellent, the smell of turkey is nice and it just can't be called Thanksgiving without green bean casserole, but come on, aren't we defeating the purpose and being a little ridiculous?! First, why did we order it if we are going to still make it ourselves? Second, she promised not to do anything. And Third, who is going to eat all this food?

We were able to talk her out of the stuffing and the potatoes. We had to cook the turkey the night before because of limited refridgerator space, so we did not have the smell on Thanksgiving day after all. It did turn out perfectly, however, I'm sure because we didn't need it for dinner. I made green bean casserole, which is about the extent of my cooking abilities, very easy. And Heidi did bring her rolls. Grammy and Pop also came up from Tucson and brought ginzakraut with them - a traditional favorite of a few of us.

My mom still managed to weasel her way into the kitchen quite a bit that day, which I knew would happen. She just can't help herself from being involved and hated to be completely waited on. All in all, it was a very nice day. But after day 4 of leftovers, I was ready to be done with Thanksgiving for another year.

We played a pictionary game where we drew things we were thankful for. I am very thankful for all the usual things: family, good health, shelter, etc. But most of all, I am thankful that, especially in these hard economic times, we are fortunate enough to be able to help others. And, right now, I am very thankful that the temperature is in the 70's where I live! It really is the most wonderful time of year!

All grown up

Noah recently got a retainer that will hopefully widen his top and bottom pallets so that his adult teeth will have plenty of room to grow in. If successful, it will prevent his teeth from being crooked and keep him from needing braces later on.

I feel like this is such a big milestone and now he seems so grown up to me. He's no longer a little kid, he's old enough to take care of and wear a retainer. I'm not sure why I think this is so monumental. It's so fun to listen to him learn to talk again, although he doesn't think it's so great. He's especially mad that he can not whistle anymore - one of his greatest talents. However, he's determined to re-teach himself.

Now, if he can keep it from accidentally being thrown in the garbage he will truly make retainer history!

the Professional Circuit

Grammy and Pop have just gotten a new ping pong table added to the game room at their retirement home. Noah has already loved to go there where he can swim year round and play pool. Now, we all love the ping pong. As you can see, we will not be playing professionally anytime soon, but we are liking the practice!

Nothing on American West Heritage Festival

Noah's school field trips have really made me work on my very Type A personality. So far I have been on 2 out of 3 and neither one was organized to my liking. The first was to get a behind the scenes tour of the grocery store. It's shortcomings were mostly the tour leader's fault.

This last field trip was to an American History Festival in Queen Creek (near Phoenix). It was disappointing for many reasons. First, the teachers did not find out how long it would really take us to get there on a school bus and what they thought would take one hour ended up taking 2+ hours! So, by the time we got there, we had 1 1/2 hour to spend before having to get back on the bus and return home. Here are a few quick pictures I was able to get before having to leave. Second, it was not nearly as neat as the Heritage Festival held in Logan every fall. Noone else would have been disappointed by that except me, however. By the time we got back to the school, we all felt like we had been beat to death after riding on a school bus for four hours!

I guess if I am going to moan and groan, and if I plan on volunteering to go on the next trip, I better offer to help plan it. It's a learning opportunity for all of us. The teachers will know better for next time and I am learning that even when things are not planned to the very last detail, the kids generally still have a good time.

Beagle, Beagle, Beagle

My mother had knee surgery and the week she came home, my brother and his family went to a wedding in Utah, so they had to leave their dog. Since my mom was not able to care for her, Dave, Noah and I kept her for the week. It was the least we could do for all the times my mom and my brother have watched our dogs for us. She is a beagle named Beagle.

This dog evokes a love/hate relationship. She is the sweetest, most loving dog that I have ever met. And she loves to play. But she has the most painfully ear piercing bark/howl that I have ever heard. And she uses it whenever she is excited. She greets you with it when you come home, she uses it when she is playing and having fun and she uses it to warn of noises or anything outside. I wish I had it on video so everyone could hear how amazingly awful this sound is. I am always in awe of how such a horrible sound can come out of such a small creature.

Diamond also has a love/hate relationship with her Beagle cousin. She loves to run around and chase her, but she does not love to share any of her toys or food or humans or bed with her. Here is a rare moment when the two of them are actually being peaceful together.

Stodgy old Ginger acts as the fun monitor and is constantly barking at the two little ones when they are playing. So, as you can imagine, it is fairly chaotic when Beagle visits us.

I think by the end of the week, Beagle was glad to get back home and we were glad to get her back home.

We love you Beagle and will endure anytime you need to come visit us again.

Here is Dave giving them all their daily dose of medicine wrapped in cheese. They are intently watching as it is prepared.

A new Birthday Idea

I read in a magazine somewhere that instead of purchasing toys, books, etc. as presents for friends' birthdays, one family had started getting "time together" as a gift. So, I decided that I really liked that idea and the next birthday we went to was for Noah's friend Tyler. We wrote him a card telling him that we were going to take him to Kitt Peak Observatory to see their nighttime star gazing program and then he could spend the night afterward. The night was incredible - we saw som many amazing things, including a dying star, a whole other galaxy, the striations on Jupiter, Venus and it's moons!

I am so glad we have decided to start this new way of giving presents. It gave us the opportunity to spend time with Tyler and for Noah and Tyler to spend good time together. It also forced us to finally do something that we have been talking about doing since we moved to Tucson. I can't wait to get invited to the next birthday party!