How We Celebrated Our Anniversary

Sorry it took me so long to post this, but it has been busy. So Brad and I celebrated our anniversary visiting St. George and Las Vegas. We had a wonderful time, enjoying each other's company, the lights, the red rock, and the shows. Also this was the weekend before Brad started his new job, which he is enjoying immensely. Unfortunately, he has to be in training in Boulder, CO for three weeks, but last weekend I visited him (details of the trip are coming) and he will be home this weekend.

Here we are in the beautiful scenery of the Red Rock in St. George.

Here is a view of St. George

I just had to take this picture. We were in a grocery story parking lot when the Fire Engine sirens were going off and these two dogs started howling, I mean actually howling, needless to say it was hilarious.

This is the drive from St. George to Vegas.

The famous cow boy sign. When I first came to Vegas I wanted to find this sign, but it is not on the strip.

While we were visiting Freemont St.to see the above Cowboy sign, this guy was spray painting this amazing pictures. Yes, that was spray painted!

Me posing in front of the House of Blues.

We were able to stay in the Venetian for a night, and the room was beautiful, as well as the canals throughout the hotel. The only thing I didn't like, and it will probably keep me from going there again, is the clientele, and the parties that lasted until 4 in the morning, that Brad and I could hear perfectly well in our room. Not cool.

Here is a picture of our room, pretty fabulous!

The Venetian had, "The Phantom of the Opera" playing. It was a shortened version, which I actually liked, but with all the songs. Andrew Lloyd Weber and Hal Prince did the condensing, so it was not butchered. Also the theatre was made just for the musical, so it was decorated just as the opera house would be with the chandeliers and all. Also we paid a lot of money for pretty terrible seats, but one of the ushers asked us if we would like to change our seats, our new seats were 11 rows back, center, and we were right under where the chandelier falls, it was awesome! I can actually say we got lucky in Vegas!

These are pictures from one of Brad's and mine favorite things to see in Vegas, the Bellagio Garden.

3 Years Ago...

You Think I Would Learn

Do you notice a difference?

Yes, I have two pairs of the same shoe in a black and in a brown, every woman knows that this is a very vital part of the wardrobe. Except that this is the second time in one week that I have worn the brown shoe with the black shoe. Of course, a person really has to be staring at my feet to notice the difference (and I really hope people are not staring because I have some of the most unattractive feet I like to call them Barney Ruble feet), but I notice the difference and so you would think after I did this the first time I would pay special attention to the shoes I was putting on, but no - where is the fun in that?!?

My Obsession of the Week

Brad can finally have his wife back! I finished my obsession of the week.

The Host is an awesome book, it is sci-fi for people who don't like sci-fi, which is me. If you liked Twilight, you will not be disappointed. AMAZING!

First Hike of the Season

One of our favorite past times is hiking. We like to take the dogs and exlpore the canyons. Today, we did our first for the season. We enjoyed ourselves, and the dogs even more so.

We had done this hike before almost two years ago and I remember it so vividly because it was a hike, of person with a snake phobia's worst nightmare, such as myself. Sydney led the way down the path, Brad followed then I was behind him. I heard Brad get serious, and said "Sydney stay, Julie stay put". Between Sydney and Brad was a rattle snake. I knew I had to hold myself together because any sign of anxiety would have made Sydney prance right over the snake again. So as you can imagine, I was hysterically crying inside. Finally, as if Sydney were bored, she came prancing right by the snake back to us. I was mortified and the only thing I could do was hold my breath and pray. To our absolutely, positively, and relieved delight the snake didn't stirr. We figured it must have been right out of hibernation, THANK GOODNESS!

So any way we set our way up the trail, with me stomping my feet in hopes in would scare away any slivering creature, and to my pleasure no snakes!

We had a wonderul morning of hiking. Here are some pics:

Here is the start of the trail... but about one mile up and ...

Not much of a trail, but I think that is what the dogs enjoyed most, you know leaping from rock to rock, jumping over and under logs, feeling the thrill of a somewhat adventure.

Syd decided to jump on this log all on her own and just walk along it.

Rescue Update

We took the little ducklings to the Tracy Aviary this morning, here in Salt Lake City. They work with a rehabilitation center to care for injured and abandoned birds. So the ducks are safe and sound in a home that will be able to help them return to duck society.

Rescuer's *R* Us

Pretty cute huh? Makes you just say "awww"

But these 6 little ducklings have quite the sad tale.

We thought we would grab a late dinner tonight, but during the drive we spotted a mother duck who was hit by a car, and she didn't make it, but her babies surrounding her not knowing what direction to go in.

Brad is one of those guys that when he sees ducks or an any other animal in the road he must stop and help them. Many times we have found ourselves herding ducks safely across the streets of Salt Lake City, unfortunately this was a sad case.

For the next hour we found ourselves gathering the ducklings to safety. I, thankfully, had on a sweat shirt and we found a box in the car that we could safely keep the ducks in. There was a storm drain nearby where we heard chirping and looked down, to our dismay we found 4 little ones in the drain. Brad thought he would at least try to lift the storm drain, and he did! We were able to get them out. During this process a teenage girl walked by and helped us in the gathering, she was more than obliged to jump right into the storm drain. She asked Brad, "So do you help animals like this a lot?"

So at the current moment we have six little, adorable ducklings in our bathtub snuggled together with a heating blanket for the night. We are not really sure what we will do, but we found plenty of phone numbers for the the wild life rescue agencies.

Here are some more pictures:

Happy Mother's Day!

To All you Mother's and especially mine...

It was a sod, sod day

We noticed these huge patches of dead grass that peel up like carpet. So we had the lawn professionals come and we learned we had an insect killing the grass. The lawn is being treated but in the mean time we had to fix the dead patches so it was sod day!Brad did most of the hard work, and his hands prove it!

We bought 350 square feet of sod, this is not all of it. Also we split this with Brad's folks.

Here are the girls, as they enjoyed the beautiful day.Dixie for some reason prefers to sit in the sun.

We finally got her to go in the shade. And Sydney, well she does not like pictures so this was the only shot of her I could get

Sometimes you don't really know how much you love something until you don't have it...

A Summer's Night

One of the things I miss so much are the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of a summer's night back at home. You may call me crazy but there is so much about a summer's night that I miss.

First the Sights

Those little things in the jar you see are lightning bugs or fireflies. The little twinkle in the night these little critters add is quite unique, it is one of the first things I notice that are missing.

Second the Sounds

The sounds in PA at night are like a chorus of strings with all the different melodies and harmonies, you could call it a "Cicada Chorus". I never thought I would miss the sound of crickets and locusts, but they certainly make beautiful sounds (although I guess that is very relative).

Third the Tastes

Okay, so the tastes of summer are one of my favorites. In the Philadelphia region we have this little frozen sensation called "Water Ice" but in Philly it is pronounced "Wood-er ice". There are many different brands but the greatest is: "Rita's Water Ice"

Water ice is a very difficult thing to explain. It is smoother than a slushy and more tasteful than a flavored snow cone. It is eaten with a spoon (it can be sipped through a straw, but the fact is you don't; you use a spoon) and is in some of the best fruity flavors, my favorite in mango.

Fourth the Smells

Now, you may be wondering, smells?!? What am I thinking?!? But yes there are smells. I think it is the mixture of the moist grass, with the humid night air, but there is definitely a smell, and it is one of those smells that just brings a calm feeling over me.

The Perfect Summer's Night

So here is my perfect summer's night, picture this: It is a calm night you are sitting on the porch in a swing bench eating a delicious Rita's Water ice, hearing the Cicada Chorus, smelling the humid night air, watching the fireflies blink and twinkle throughout the sky. Oh Sigh...