Our yard

The weather today is lovely - 84 degrees! The house is a nice and cool 72 degrees, with no AC! I could definitely get used to this.

So I was looking out of the sliding glass doors in our living room and I noticed a lovely flower in our yard. We only have one of this kind of plant and it is blooming.

So beautiful! I just love orange and blue blooms.

It was so nice outside that the dog and I lingered a little before we returned inside.

Protector

This is Steve.

We have trained Buddy well to go #1 and #2 on a designated spot on the untraveled side of the yard. Every night we go out and signal him to go over, unload what he needs to, and then come back in for bed time. Tonight Suzanne brought him out and he played fetch a little, then patrolled a little, then did his business.

Earlier today I had purchased a barbeque and put it on the side of the yard--an area that is enclosed from the front yard by an iron fence. Well Buddy did not know that the barbeque was put there this afternoon.

Then the action happened. When he was ready to come inside, he took one last look around the yard an noticed a hunched over, dark shape on the side yard that he did not recognize. His normally playful tail went stiff. The waddle in his step straightened up. And his normally droopy mouth closed tight as his eyes fixed on that dark object.

We have never heard Buddy bark or growl at anything. But in that moment he barked out several deep, bellowing howls and barks at the mysterious barbeque. He went silent for a second, then he braced into attack formation and growled nastily at the barbeque.

This all frightened Suzanne quite a bit. She went inside our back yard door, which was behind our mighty protector. Buddy normally comes to the door excitedly, anxious to get inside. But Buddy didn't let the barbeque see him blink. Suzanne went out into the garage from inside, and opened the side door by the area that had startled Buddy. That door opens and turns on a set of very bright prison flood lights, so the target got illuminated. When Suzanne saw the barbeque, she called Buddy over. He determined that it wasn't really a threat, but only after a good 60 second sniffing and stare down.

I heard all this from inside, and I'm sure glad to have a strong protector like that for my family for when I can't always be around.

--Steve

Santa Rosa Baby Shower and San Francisco

***This post is extra long with a lot of pictures***

Last Saturday I had a baby shower in Santa Rosa. A lady from my homeward found out I was pregnant and said, "I am going to host a shower for you". I was thrilled. My mother in law, my sister in law and I drove up from Fresno and everyone was delighted to see them. We all had a fabulous time and I made off like a bandit.

Supervising the food and chatting in the kitchen
(The meal was brunch style - very, very tasty!)

One of my friends playing with her adorable daughter
The Pile of Presents - what could be inside???
(For the sake of space, I will only feature a few below)

I tried out the elephant feet for my daughter

The two aunts got aunt promoting items. One was "I love my aunt" and the other was "My aunt is a fox". Thank you aunts Kitty and Lizzy!

I got a quilt from my mother-in-law (I helped her pick fabric)

I even got a homemade quilt from a lady I didn't know!

On our way home we passed through San Francisco and stopped at Fisherman's Wharf. We ate bread bowl's with clam chowder and toured Ghirardelli square (unfortunately, no good deals). We also found the machine arcade/museum shown on Princess Diaries. You know the part where the Grandma has to arm wrestle the machine? We found that machine!

My sister-in-law and the machine

Me and the machine (it's so hard!)A very fun and successful vacation. Thank you, everyone!

Today We Acquired a Dog

Today we adopted a dog named Buddy. He is a lab + something big mix, 5 years old and very well behaved. We all really like him already. I think he will be a good addition to our family. He is already Steve's dog but he is very gentle with me and still comes to me for ear scratches. He is really good with small children, obeys commands, is house and car trained and does very well on walks.

Here is Buddy the dog!
Here he is with Steve so you can see his size.

He knows how to shake.

While playing with a rope he got his tail!

Last Friday's Trip to Lodi, CA

So one of Steve's cousins came to Fresno on Thursday with his wife. We attended their marriage last December. It was good to catch up with him and get to know his wife a little bit better. She is expecting a baby too and it helped to have something in common right away.

On Friday we all drove up to Lodi to visit more family at their dairy farm. Steve's cousin and wife hadn't met them, or hadn't seen them in a very long time. It was a very relaxing day and it was nice to hang out and get to know them better. During family reunions, the older generation and the younger generation don't really mix too much, and it was nice to do just that.

We had a BBQ, went swimming, got a very detailed and wonderful tour of the property, went to dinner and just chatted.

Swimming with Clorise the Ceramic Cow

Some family that didn't go swimming right away
(the girl in the middle joined us right after the picture was taken)

Here is everyone minus two cousins (about our age) that didn't make it to dinner.

What a nice, relaxing vacation! I love family!

Camp Sunshine Dreams

Steve attended Camp Sunshine Dreams as a child. Camp Sunshine Dreams is for children who have cancer and their siblings. I think that it is a special/wonderful camp for two reasons:

1. It allows the kids to be kids, and not patients or siblings of patients. They get to be normal kids for a week and do normal kid things.
2. The camp also provides an opportunity for the kids to talk about how cancer has affected their lives. It is a place to talk about the emotions they experience and not have them be mocked or misunderstood.

I was almost 7 months pregnant, but I survived, and I had a great time. I am blessed for the service I gave. Thank you Camp Sunshine Dreams for letting me come! What an amazing time.

I was a co-counselor of 9-10 year old girls (7 of them) and Steve was a co-counselor in a cabin of 14-15 year old boys (6 of them).

Peanut and my group.

Steve and Bleach's group.

There was a dance on Thursday and some (okay, maybe all) of my girls got a little silly trying to find dates. By Thursday afternoon they decided they didn't need dates - except for the one girl who already had one! I already had a date. The theme of camp this year was their 25th celebration, so we had a costume party.

One of my girls and her date.

My date and I dancing!

There are so many more memories, but to keep this short, I won't include them all. However, I have to mention Spirit Stick. The campers carve on the Spirit Stick and talk about their experience with cancer and then on the last night the shavings are put into the campfire. The ashes are saved and then those ashes are used to start the next year's fire.
The ashes are symbolic of remembering and keeping our memories alive while also releasing them and letting ourselves move on.

Here is a link to the Camp Sunshine Dreams website. Check it out! http://www.campsunshinedreams.com

A really BIG cookie

When I was in the Primary (teaching the 8-11 year old girls), I decided to set a good example by passing off the memorized Articles of Faith that I learned as a youth. I needed prompts on which one was which, but I passed them all off in one Sunday. I got a small candy for each one and the promise of a really BIG cookie. Then in two weeks (when I was officially put into the Young Women Presidency) I got that cookie. It was, really, really good! (Don't worry, I had help eating it.)


And for reference, the pencil had hardly been sharpened; it was a standard size pencil.