Here We Come Maui

Well our bags are packed. Let me rephrase that, our bag is packed. We attempted to fit everything in one suitcase so we don't have to pay so many crazy baggage fees. My hope is that it weighs in under 50 lbs. Havn't checked that out yet. Also havn't attempted to close the bag yet. We are so excited to be spending a week in Maui. We leave Thursday night to drop off the dog with my parents and then we fly out of Oakland Friday morning. Pray for the flight. I absolutely hate flying. Scares me to death. (I packed my leftover ambien from sinus surgery to get me through the flight) If you havn't been prescribed ambien while in the hospital for pneumonia, valley fever, sinus surgery, etc. It is a miracle drug while enduring all of those ailments as well as falling asleep on an airplane. Also while packing, I was reminded how much easier life would be if I were a boy. It probably took me the better part of the day to pack yesterday and Tim packed last night in about ten minutes. All he really had to do was throw in a couple pairs of shorts, polos, and t-shirts. There is so much that boys don't have to worry about. Cosmetics, blowdryers, straightners, and shoes alone took up half the bag for me. I also packed a dress for every night as well as a swimsuit for just about every day. (I know I get a little overboard when it comes to packing) During packing Tim and I decided it might be a good idea to talk about expectations for the trip. It became very evident from our packing that our expectations were on different wavelengths. (I highly recommend discussing expectations before any trip) It was funny how I conjured up my Maui trip to include fancy dinners overlooking amazing sunsets everynight while Tim's idea of the trip included hitting up costco when we land to cook meals at our timeshare to save money. We'll definitely meet in the middle. A girl can always dream right? Aloha for now...

Saturday

Eliminating weeds in the backyard... not fun... but such a sense of accomplishment... until they begin to grow back of course... next step... plants!

What a Morning Part 2

I loved this Modern family episode and it totally reminded me of my morning. I am so glad that it wasn't a pigeon that flew in our house because we seriously have pigeons all over the neighborhood.

What a Morning

I awoke quite early to a loud thud this morning and the usual sleepy dog missing from her bed. I headed out to the living room to find Cali climbing over the couch and jumping up on our new plantation shutters. The screen door was open and a bird had made its way into the living room. I was not ready to deal with this so early in the morning. This is usually something Tim takes care of but unfortunately he was already at work. If any of you know Cali you know that she will do anything for a bird. She has climbed chicken coops, swam too far out to sea, and recently ran away to a near by golf course (twice) to the duck pond all in pursuit of those stupid birds. She is the most well behaved dog until she is distracted by a bird and then shuts off all hearing to the outside world and more importantly her owners. So as I watched her jumping over the couch crashing into the shutters and nearly knocking off all glass items on the side table, yelling at her to stop was no use. I managed to get her outside where she continued to pound the window as the bird is now stuck in between the shutter and the window. I started to yell at the bird like I would the dog to make it stop fluttering in the shutter and realized quite quickly that the bird does not listen to you like a dog does most of the time. I grabbed a bowl and a cutting board to use as a lid to slide over the bowl and inched closer to the bird. (Why I am afraid of a small sparrow in my living room is beyond me) I realized that the bowl and cutting board idea was not a good one after about 20 sec. I managed to get the shutters open to have the bird fly into the dining room shutters. Now the dog has figured out that this is great fun and is slamming against the dining room window causing the bird to freak out and poop all over the place. I finally got the bird to fly out the original window that I opened.

This is a stark contrast in Cali from last week when she ripped off her entire foot pad. We think it happened when Tim took Cali for a bicycle ride and the asphalt was too hot. (A lesson to all dog owners and summertime heat) Her pad blistered and we had to end up cutting it off. Totally gross! So earlier this week she was not even in walking shape and was being pampered with iodine foot baths. I've never seen a dog willingly stick their foot in a bowl of water for 10 min. on end. She was soaking up all of the love. After the bird incident she has been put in the backyard for time out!

So I spent the remainder of the morning cleaning the windows inside and out, while ripping off a nail (I'm not that girlie but this one hurt) and forgetting that it was my parent's anniversary after the second call I made to my mom asking what to use to clean windows without streaks. She never mentioned a thing during the first call but during the second she asked, "Did you forget it was our anniversary today?" Oops!

My Brother is Married!

My brother was married this past Saturday up in Auberry. (about 45 min. above Fresno in the foothills) They got married on Kaitlyn's grandparent's ranch. Everyone did a lot of work to get the ranch ready for a beautiful wedding. It was such a great day, the weather was perfect, the horses cooperated, and everyone had a great time.

This is my sister and her husband Rudy. Deanna is due on Sept. 29th

We were in charge of the rehearsal dinner the night before. We had everything set up in plenty of time to mess around taking photos with the horses.

This is just a sweet shot of my brother and Kaitlyn taking care of the horses before the rehearsal dinner.

My parents

The siblings Kaitlyn made a sweet entrance on her horse Cody. I've been to a lot of weddings but havn't seen the bride enter on horseback yet.

Just married! The reception was up above on the tennis court.

Dance party!

A rare snapshop of my mom actually on the dance floor

Off to Cabo!

Summer has begun...

School ended last week and the week wound down with the last few days of teacher meetings and putting the classroom back in order for next year's group. With that ending comes the much anticipated beginning of summer. It is our first summer in the heat of Paso and so far we are enjoying it. I told Tim the other day that I was really enjoying the weather in Paso and he kindly reminded me that it was only June 5th. Weirdly enough, the sound of air conditioners turning on outside of homes in our neighborhood remind me of childhood. We haven't had to use our a.c. yet (thank goodness because it is currently not working) but a few more days of +100 temps might do it.
So what am I going to do with all my time now that summer is here? Well, I always find it funny that I keep completely occupied the first few weeks after school and then about week 3 I start wandering around the house wondering what to do. I have had 4 days of freedom so far and have painted two bathrooms, organized closets, rearranged the guest room, made a couple of cherry pies, and started to develop a writing curriculum for a new class I'm teaching next year. There's something about working constantly the last 10 months and then all of a sudden transitioning into nothingness. I have a hard time winding down I think. There's just something about having the free time all of a sudden to get all of those things that you have been putting off done. Don't get me wrong, I have been to the pool where I will spend many more idle hours this summer attempting to tan and get in swimming shape again.
I know the summer will fly by, it always does. 2 months just doesn't seem long enough. Tim and I have lots of plans this summer. (that's why I am getting my closet organizing done now) We are headed to Auberry this weekend to watch my brother get married. A few weeks after that we are flying to Maui for a week where we get to celebrate my 29th birthday. We have a Dodger game to catch in July as well as that trip to Vegas that we won. Sprinkle in summer concerts in the park, backyard bbqs, and some beach trips and the summer will be complete. Cheers to summer!

Cali the Hunter

Just when I thought Cali couldn't be a better dog...

A few weeks ago some gopher hills popped up in our backyard. As any gardener knows, this was a serious threat to my newly planted fruit trees. If something wasn't done quickly my trees wouldn't make it through the summer.

Before I could buy traps or poison, Cali showed her prowess as a hunter. I've never seen a dog catch a gopher, but in that first week Cali dug out four! Imagine our surprise, since we had never seen Cali actually catch anything. Sure she goes crazy over birds, squirrels, lizards, and anything else that moves, but she never can catch them. Granted, she did tear up our hillside doing it. Fortunately we hadn't landscaped so she wasn't in trouble.

Needless to say, Cali is the best dog ever!