Projects...

A few recent photos to share. The only flowers we having growing outside at our house are the pansies. I've had them since Owen's birthday party, almost 2 months, and they aren't dead yet!

Alli asked today, in the challenge thread, about summer plans. Since we've already been on vacation here's a little run down of how I'm spending the rest of it...

I've got a bunch of projects going on right now. Or on going projects. I was able to get a couple layouts started on Saturday at the crop I hosted. I can easily finish them up at home. Those are part of Owen's second year layouts. I've got to finish editing May pictures for printing and I might as well do June and have them all printed at the same time. Oh, on Saturday I finished up a display sign for the library at church. I realized after I volunteered to do it that it was going to be like doing a bulletin board at school (when I was teaching) and those were always my least favorite thing to do! I usually just copied Maggie's or asked her for an idea!

This Friday is Independence Day, we don't have plans yet, maybe we'll go to my mom's and BBQ. I'd like to watch some fireworks but Owen goes to bed before the fireworks. Saturday is my aunt's memorial service. I'm working on a slide show for that set to the song Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin. Owen and I were going to Wal Mart the other day and that song came on the radio. I've heard it before and it's a song I like but I'd never really paid attention to the words until then. And I'm not sure what made me take notice but I did, and started crying in the car. It's just a lovely song and so perfect for my aunt now.

The following weekend is our 2nd annual Girl's Weekend in Wausau! On the agenda is relaxing, scrapping and visiting a Townie Bar!

The next weekend is my sister's birthday. So we'll get together to celebrate and play some outdoor games.

Other things on the summer agenda are potty training, getting more exercise and losing some weight, and Morgan thinks we need to go camping.

NOt quite what I had in mind...

The other day I was trying to sing the praises of underwear to Owen. I had gotten him a few pair of cute dinosaur underwear and I was trying to explain (yes, to a two year old) that he would get to wear them if he started putting some potty in the potty or poop in the potty. He was diggin' the underwear. He thought they were cool. So he decided to wear them. WITH A DIAPER! Not quite how I had envisioned it. It's a start...

Passing on...

My aunt Judy passed away last night around 10pm. It is our hope and prayer that she is at peace and happy.

The people we love...

This will probably end up being a long and rambling post with a few tangents. So for that I will apologize in advance.

I wanted to do a little update about my aunt. She is off the ventilator. She is being kept comfortable with pain medication and liquid nutrition. As I mentioned, the CT showed wide spread damage to her brain tissue and the EEG showed slight electrical activity. Injuries that she will not recover from. She was removed from the ventilator yesterday around 11am and has been surviving since. I continue to pray for the best possible outcome, as my friend Maggie put it, and as she also said it may not be medical science that determines that. I agree. I can pray for a miracle. I can ask that of God. Because in my heart that's what I want for her and us. My cousin told my mom today that her CO2 level is gradually rising and that my mom shouldn't come because it doesn't look like her.

I also wanted to tell you a bit about her. My aunt's name is Judy. She is my mom's only sister and 9 years older than my mom. She has three children, and 6 grandchildren and 2 step-grandchildren. She is stubborn like my grandma and very funny. She suffered from depression and rather low self-esteem. Like my grandma she didn't realize how funny she was or how much people liked and enjoyed her. I always enjoyed seeing her and visiting with her and hearing her talk about our family or the things going on in her life. I hadn't seen her for quite awhile. She tended not to come to family things for reasons that we either didn't know or didn't understand. Depression has a way of doing that to people. They isolate themselves. Her relationships with her children were somewhat strained. Except for my youngest cousin, who is my age. They spent a lot of time together. We are finding out now how many people's lives she touched and it seems she didn't know that.

She also loved shoes and crafty things. When I was younger she wore high heels a lot. I thought she was fabulous. She dressed fancy and wore cool shoes and did her hair up. She had long, painted nails. She loved her dog Muggsie and my cousin's dogs too. She would sneak her favorite one treats when she went to see them because she loved him and spoiled him. Like my grandma and me, she did all kinds of crafty things. She carved these intricate leaves out of wood once and made them into magnets. She made neat dolls with sculpted faces once. She loved her children. Even though they irritated her. Just like most mothers!

More than anything I want her to be happy and at peace when she leaves us. I want her to know how much we loved her and enjoyed being with her. I wish she could have known that before this happened. It makes me sad that she may not have.

My grandparents seemed to have set an example for my aunt, uncle and mom of stuffing feelings or ignoring each other when they were upset. I noticed this when I was growing up in my grandparents and with my mom. Because of that I either consciously or unconsciously decided not to be that way. I tend to be emotional or at least more so than the rest of my family. Ironically so is my youngest cousin. Although a bit more so than I. I don't stay mad long, I apologize easily and I don't hold grudges. I also tell people how much I care about them and love them. I did this with my grandparents when I was younger. It was a conscious decision. I can remember thinking that I loved them and I was going to tell them whether then liked it or not or said it back to me. It didn't matter. The amazing thing is that it made a difference. Being raised that way also made an impression on my mom and because of it she was much more affectionate and demonstrative with us than my grandparents, my grandma especially, were with them. Which I'm sure influenced how I turned out. Life is easier when you aren't constantly keeping things inside and using all your energy to hold grudges and be mad. The importance of this has become more clear to me because of what is happening with my aunt.

To me life is simple. Love the people around you and tell them so. And more importantly try to love the people in your life who are hardest to love. Everyone can benefit from some kindness. Sometimes it can make all the difference. I am certainly not a shining example of this on a daily basis but each day I try to do a little better.

I've got to believe that a small part of my aunt Judy knew that people loved and cared for her and enjoyed her. I also have to believe that she is feeling the prayers that we have all been saying for her. It is so hard to not be able to do anything in these situations. To be completely powerless and to only have faith and family & friends to be of comfort.

Gratitude...

Yesterday was kind of downer day. The highlight being Steve was able to fix the AC! Hooray! And as payment for saving us from perishing in the heat and humidity we gave him our old lawn mower and weed whacker! It was actually my mom's old mower and my uncle's old weed whacker but it's okay.

Anyway, last night on the way home from work as I was wallowing in the downerness of the day I decided I needed to look at things from a different perspective. I needed to look at what I was thankful for. So here's a little list of some things I'm grateful for:

1. A good husband. After all, they can be hard to find.
2. A wonderful little boy. He tests my patience but that's what kids do, right?
3. All of my needs are met, food, water, clothing, shelter and we are fairly comfortable.
4. Good care for my aunt.
5. Family and friends who love and support me.
6. A good job and a good boss.
8. I'm able to participate in hobbies I enjoy.

I got home about 8:15pm and it was quiet with no Owen running about screaming "mommy" so I figured he was asleep. Morgan said he didn't want to get in his bed so he let him sit in his chair and read books. A bit later Morgan went in to check on him and O was still in his chair zoned out. It took a minute for Owen to notice Morgan and when Morgan suggested he get into bed O frowned. But then Morgan suggested he take a few books and read while he was in his bed. This sounded good and O went along with it. There wasn't any fussing or crying after that and he didn't know I was home so he wasn't prompted to go looking for me. Later when we went in to turn of the reading light he was asleep. Oh, and yesterday when I thought he may have crawled into bed and gone to sleep for his nap he actually fell asleep in the chair with a book. We'll see how today goes!

Somedays...

I get tired of being the mommy. Real tired. Physically and mentally. Enough so that I'd rather be at work. Somewhere where people are not climbing on my body and thinking it's funny when I tell them to STOP! Or crying when it's time to take a nap. Or wanting to eat every 15 minutes but then only having a nibble of something. Or deciding the best place to sleep is in fact ON mommy. Today is not a good mommy day for me.

The other night Owen was very upset about going to bed. He started climbing out of his crib. He's not done this before and I don't want him to fall because it's a long way. He ended up sleeping with us. Last night we decided to take the front rail thing off his crib and got a guard to put on so he won't fall out. He wouldn't sleep in the bed. He HAD to be with me. I don't know if he senses that things aren't right around here lately or if he's going trough a phase but whatever it is I'm tired of it. He's been a mostly good sleeper for a long time and now, even though he's tired, he won't do it. I'm at the end of my rope. I just put him down for a nap 15 minutes ago and I've had to tie the door shut so he stays in. I've told him to get back into his bed twice. Oh, and then I find out this morning that his crib has been recalled. Great. Freakin' great. So we will get a voucher for a new crib. I DON'T NEED A NEW CRIB! This recall stuff irritates me. There are constantly recalled children's products. Why can't they stop making crap in the first place! In the end it costs MORE than if they had used quality materials in the first place. Sheesh. You don't need a business or economics degree to figure that out.

Last night we also got the Elmo's Potty Training video. Highly recommended by my sister--in-law. Owen loves it. He's watched it 4 times now. He says "pee-pee" and "woo-woo". But he's not putting them IN the chair!

I just don't have the patience to bed train and potty train all at the same time. Oh, and our AC is broken. It's 83˚ out with a forecasted high of 89˚. And not a dry heat either. This is after all Minnesota! Fortunately my mom's friend Steve is coming to take a look at it this afternoon. Hopefully it's just something we've overlooked or easy to fix. Something has to go right this week. Right!?

The crying has stopped. I'm going to take a nap...

Modeling contest...

Parent's Magazine is hosting a modeling contest for a cover model for one of their issues. So I decided to enter Owen and see what happens. You can view his entry pictures HERE. I'm pretty sure that will take you to where I put the pictures! So far there are over 75,000 entries! I'm not going to hold my breath and I'd hate to be the people who have to sift through all of those entries! I suppose they are experts at it though.

On a very sad note we were told today that my aunt's chance of recovering from her trauma are very slim. She was removed from the sedation and was not responsive to the physical exams that were done. A CT scan was done and an EEG. These did not look good either. She was deprived of oxygen for a significant amount of time which caused widespread damage to her brain tissue. She is not brain dead but it would be a miracle for her to recover from such severe injury. This was a tremendous blow to our family. We thought things were progressing well and were very hopeful. While we would like to continue to hope for a miracle it becomes a question of how long to wait for this and then what her quality of life will be. She has had good care and good doctors who have been very informative and compassionate. My cousins were left with very difficult decisions to make. Fortunately she had discussed some of her wishes with one of my cousins and he feels they are making the right decisions for her. They have also discussed this with my mom at length, who feels they are doing the right thing for my aunt. I asked Morgan today what the good part of being a grown-up was and we couldn't come up with much besides sex and ice cream for breakfast. Thank you for all of your prayers and concern. I have really appreciated it and our family has felt them.

America's Favorite Pastime...

On Friday we took Owen to a St. Paul Saints game. Now I have to confess I was pretty excited about this little outing. It was Owen's first baseball game. Or any game for that matter. And Saints are supposed to be fun. We went a bit early because we had general admission seats so we wanted to get a good spot. And it was a nice day for a game.

Now let's keep in mind that I'm not a fan of baseball. I find it boring. Really boring. It moves slow and if you aren't paying attention, and I'm usually not, you will miss anything exciting that may happen. It also happens that the general admission seats are way off to the sides of the field. We were sitting down toward the ground by third base and it was difficult to see home plate. We were also sitting on bleachers. You know those? The ones on the high school ballfields?? Not kid friendly! Owen was having a great time looking at other peoples feet! And the pig didn't even come way down where we were sitting! Oh, and when we first sat down and Owen saw the players on the field warming up he got real excited and yelled "hockey!". Yes, that's my kid!

So I did what I normally do when I'm a bit bored and took pictures! What a pair! Owen wasn't a big fan of sitting still!

Mag, I think #31 is cute. How about you?

Wally the Beer Man was there too! But I didn't get his picture.

And check out the LENS on that guy!? We took this for Morgan's dad, who has a really big lens. But not that big!

We watched the first couple of innings and then Owen started saying "dee-dee" "dee-dee", which is what he calls his blanket. It was about 7:45, bedtime! So we decided we had a good enough time and we left. Maybe the reserved seats would have been better, I don't know. Given my interest in any of the baseball games I've ever attended I'm going to guess the seats weren't the real problem! Oh, and we didn't pay for the tickets. Morgan got them from work. So we only paid for parking and beverages. It was still fun because no one threw a fit, no one got hurt, and no one got yelled at!

A little update on my aunt. She is making slow but steady progress. She is now off the paralytic drugs, which was a very good thing. My cousin has started a Caring Bridge Website if you are interested in visiting. You can access it here. We are thankful for all the prayers coming our way.

Today we have the audiologist coming out to check Owen's hearing. I have to say one of the great things about the early intervention programs in MN is that the people come to our house. For all the appointments through the school district the people have come to us. Now I don't have any concerns specifically about Owen's hearing but the physiatrist thought it would be good to check him anyway. I'm pretty sure he hears just fine. He just doesn't always listen to me!

When it's warm...

one of my favorite things to make when it's warm are smoothies. Owen loves them too. "More moothie" he says. Here is the easy recipe for the one I've been making lately.

1c frozen berries- I use raspberries or mixed berries
1 banana- It's best if it's been frozen
1/2-1c water, depends on how thick or thin you want it and how well your blender works!
2 bunches spinach

I get the berries and the banana blended up with the water first. When that's good and pureed I put in the spinach. If you over do the spinach it you will be able to tell. It won't be sweet but a bit bland/bitter. Like too much spinach. I like it to be rather thick and the frozen banana helps.

Potty training with Elmo...

So we got Owen an Elmo potty chair a couple weeks ago. Cute little thing. Owen thought it was great. Until recently. Now whenever we ask him if he has to go potty or poop he replies with a firm "no". Like comon' mommy, I'm not doing that! (Mag, did you tell him it was gross!?) Today Morgan's sister asked us if we had the Elmo Potty Time video, which we don't, so I started searching for it on the library website and also on the internet to see what the title was. Well, good ol' YouTube had a selection of Elmo Potty videos too! And so I have this one to share. Enjoy!

Fun fact for Friday...

We watch a lot of "George" in our house. It sounds much cuter when you hear Owen say it. Anyway, while watching yesterday I noticed William H. Macy's name in the credits which made me wonder what he did for the show. So today while we were watching I paid a little more attention and I was pretty sure he was the narrator so I did a little google search and sure enough, he is! You can read more about him as the narrator here. I also found out that he is married to Felicity Huffman from Desperate Housewives.

Mini vacation photos...

During our visit to Owatonna we went to Mineral Springs Park. There was a nice little playground that Owen enjoyed with several slides. One slide was very large and he loved that one! Here are a few photos from the park.

This is Owen and Princess Owatonna.

We haven't had any news about my aunt yet. She is still in the ICU. They should had her body temperature lowered for 24 hours which is supposed to help preserve brain tissue. Due to this she was sedated and paralyzed so she wouldn't shiver. They were going to begin warming her back to normal body temperature yesterday which would take 8-9 hours. After she was at normal body temperature they would begin removing the sedation, which would take another 8 or so hours. After those two things were done they would be able to watch for signs of brain activity and do further tests. She was down for close to 30 minutes before they were able to revive her. However, her heart appears strong. We continue to hope and pray that she will recover. Thank you for all of your prayers and concern.

Prayers needed...

Owen and I returned safely from our mini-vacation yesterday. We had a good time with my mom and sister. Unfortunately, we returned to find out my aunt went into the hospital earlier in the day. She was having trouble breathing and called 911. Shortly after she stopped breathing and then her heart stopped. The EMT people performed CPR and were able to revive her. She is currently in a drug induced coma and we are waiting (until probably tomorrow) to find out if she suffered any brain damage and if so the extent of it. If you can spare some prayers I would welcome them.

No more politics as usual...

I am not a big follower of politics but when I did follow, it was because of Tim Russert. He had a special way of making it interesting and keeping it honest. The elections this year will not be the same without him. Nor will the future of politics.

Dead Lucky...

Have you heard about Lincoln Hall? He's the guy who died on Mt. Everest and was left there. Unfortunately for Hall, he wasn't dead. Fortunately, another team of climbers found him and rescued him. And of course he's written a book about the experience.

I've no doubt the determination of the people who climb Mt. Everest. I'm sure they climb other things before they go so they sort of know what they are doing. But here's my thought. What the hell for!? More than 200 people have died in an attempt to climb that mountain. Many others lose body parts due to exposure. Sure, IF they make it up and back they can brag that they did it. And write a book. And go on TV. Big deal. I believe that kind of will and determination should be better spent on endeavors that will benefit the societal whole. Can you imagine if those people got together to eradicate homelessness or hunger or cancer or AIDS? Wow! Or to educate children in places where school isn't even a dream. I'm sure there must be something that drives people to do these things that so many others can't begin to understand. Maybe it's just for the thrill. But couldn't it be just as thrilling to know that you've made a difference in the lives of others? And when Lucky Lincoln was asked on NPR why he climbs, after hemming, and hawing, he basically said it's the thrill. On the mountain he has a goal. You either get up there or you're done. Wow. That's passion.

Just my 2c for the day!

Odd trivia...

I don't have much to write about today so I thought I'd find some weird trivia or facts to share with you. I like to learn about odd tidbits of stuff.

Cockroaches can live for 9 days after their head has been cut off. I guess it's probably best to crush them with your foot then, right?

In Cleveland, Ohio it is illegal to catch mice without a hunting license. That's just dumb.

Did you know, it's impossible to lick your elbow?

No president of the United States was an only child. Hmmm. Interesting.

In the United States, approximately seven billion pounds of chocolate and candy are manufactured each year.

Americans consumed over 3.1 billion pounds of chocolate in 2001, which is almost half of the total world's production.

A single share of Coca-Cola stock, purchased in 1919, when the company went public, would have been worth $92,500 in 1997.

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992. The vehicle weighed in at 6,300 lbs and was 7 feet wide. And they let him drive it in California??

Male fruit bats have the highest incidence of homosexuality in the animal kingdom even overtaking humans. Who studies this??

If a man farted non-stop for six years and nine months and then lit it he would produce an explosion equal to the power of the first atomic bomb. Yes, men wield power beyond their wildest imagination!

I did not make this stuff up. If you want to find more fun, interesting or weird facts I found these at the following websites. www.funfunnyfacts.com www.corsinet.com www.morticom.com

Have a great weekend. We are having a Father's Day weekend because on Sunday Owen and I are leaving with my mom and sister for a little mini-vacation at the Great Serengeti Water Park!

2 layouts & a thought...

Here are a couple of layouts I completed on Friday. They are part of the Owen Year 2 collection! I'm going to stick them in his First year book rather than get a new book. The first one is hiking in June and the second is him learning to walk in July.

Here's my thought for the day. Sometimes internet companies or providers or sites will tell you that things may be running slow during peak hours. Isn't is always peak hours somewhere? The world has time zones so it's always peak hours. I understand that here in MN it may be peak hours from 5-10pm or something like that. But as far as websites go they should plan for high volume all the time because somewhere in the world people are surfing!

Okay, Maureen's challenge for today is: What is the greatest lesson you've learned so far in your life? Things don't always go according to my plan. It would be nice if God and I had the same plan but we probably don't. I'm just a co-pilot. I'm slowly learning to accept that.

The rest of the trip & some cuteness & a funny...

Just a warning, there are a crap ton of photos in this post! Here are the rest of the trip photos I'm going to share. They are essentially all the ones I included in the travel journal which is mostly finished! I decided it was easier just to resize the ones I'd already edited than to edit more just to post here.

In Rapid City we took Owen to this place called Storybook Island, a children's theme park. The first two pictures are from there. The top one is this little tunnel in the Winnie the Pooh scene. The man in the foreground is my uncle. As you can see I got a zero in the height gene from that side! And he's one of the shorter uncles! The tallest of my uncles is 6'5".

This is Owen in the Cat in the Hat scene.

This is Owen and Grandpa (Morgan's Dad) when we arrived in Montana.

This is Owen watching dee-dee (his blanket) in the washer. What a traumatic experience!

This is downtown Bozeman. Notice anything weird!? Yeah, that's a DOG sitting on an ATV parked by the curb! And this is not an uncommon thing. There are dogs all over place in the downtown. It's not something I enjoy! Oh, and they are not always on a leash. And if they are they are tethered to a pole waiting for their owner to come back.

One of the days we were in MT my FIL and I went out for some landscape shooting. This is a shot of the mountains (The Spanish Peaks) just to the southwest of my in-laws house. That's my FIL in the lower left corner.

A small shed down the road from the mountains.

A little colt at the neighbors house.

Another day we ended up taking a 6 hour drive. It wasn't supposed to be that long. We were going to go hiking and my FIL took the scenic route. Which was way longer than the highway! But the good thing was almost all the pictures I took during the trip turned out nicely. The next three are from that little trip.

Morgan took this one. It's one of my favorites from the trip.

O and Morgan taking a break from the car ride. One of the things I love about Montana is the wide openess of it. You can get close to the mountains too but there is a lot of valley or basins and it makes the sky feel huge. So there is a reason why Montana is called Big Sky country.

This is the church for the oldest congregation in Montana. It's in a tiny little town but I can't remember it's name. Morgan took this picture too.

On another day we went for a shorter drive along the Gallatin River and had a picnic. These are pictures from that little trip. We were hoping to see some kayakers but there was just one. The water may have been too high for them.

I don't know what this is. Moth or butterfly. Probably moth. But it was pretty either way!

On our last day in Montana Morgan and I did a little downtown tour by ourselves. There is an arts magnet sort of school there. The first two pictures are of some sculptures in the yard of the school.

There is a little creek, which was very full, that winds it's way through downtown and actually goes below one of the buildings.

A cute little house Morgan took a picture of.

The apple trees were in full bloom all over the place. They were gorgeous!

So that's our trip in a nutshell! There are a ton more pictures that I may print for my photo album or layouts, but then again I did the travel journal so maybe I will just be finished!

The cuteness... This is a picture I took today of Owen. I was using my 90mm macro to make sure it still worked after Owen dropped it on the floor. He got a hold of it while I was changing lenses. Fortunately it was okay. He was having fun posing for me. I would say "hey" and then he would say "hey" and I'd take a picture. Then he would say "more hey" and so I'd repeat and he'd smile and say "hey". He's a bit of a ham.

The funny... Tonight (I'm writing this Tuesday to post Wednesday) during dinner I was telling Morgan about this workout book I'm reading. We're having pleasant conversation and talking with Owen. Then, out of the blue, Morgan says "Well, I'm going to go in the bathroom and drop a load. Owen, do you want to come too?" As he said this I was taking a drink of my milk and just about spewed it out my nose! I had to cover my mouth but I was still laughing, which Owen thought was funny so he started copying what I was doing. So we had a bit more potty talk and then Morgan starts in with blowing his nose. Another sound that I loathe! Owen did not end up "dropping a load" but he did put a little potty in the potty! Then proceeded to run around in his little football jersey without a diaper on! This is my life with boys!

Did you know...

40% of corn crops in the US are being used to produce 3% of the gas. You know, the stuff with Ethanol. And it's a toss up as to whether it's that efficient. Cars don't get as good of gas mileage with the Ethanol stuff so more is used.

And, your car will get better gas mileage if you keep your speed below 60 mph. It's a good idea to stay in the right lane if you're going to try this though, because it doesn't seem to be catching on yet! And it's clearly not a concern for states like SD, ND, WY, or MT that have posted speed limits of 70-75 mph on major interstates.

I wanted to share some pictures I took of the iris and chives we've got growing. Our neighbor has some iris that are purple and yellow that I need to sneak over and take pictures of.

Within the last couple of weeks Owen has been experiencing a vocabulary explosion. He will repeat almost anything he hears. He's also very interested in the potty. Sunday we got him a potty chair. It's an Elmo potty chair that talks when you push his hand. In english and spanish! Owen picked it out. Hopefully it will help him to be interested in using it! He did potty in it on Sunday but not since then. He likes to sit on it though. We're just going to take it slow, let him get used to it, and stay positive about it. While it would be great for him to be potty trained fast and soon, I don't want it to be traumatic for him or feel pressured to do it.

Last Friday I got all the photos into my travel journal. I had to get bigger rings for it though because it wouldn't close properly! I'll take some photos soon. I also got a couple of layouts done and made a few cards!

Today is my friend Nikki's birthday! We are meeting the girls for lunch to celebrate! Hopefully Owen will be willing to put on some clothes before we leave!

Trip part 1...

Okay, so your probably not dying to hear and see all about my trip. And if you stop by here often you know I take pictures of virtually everything. Okay, not everything, but LOTS of stuff. And as I mentioned in my previous post I took around 340 pictures on our trip. Well, more but some were deleted on the camera and then one of my CF cards went wonky and I lost a few with that too.

But this is my blog and I get to write about whatever I want and post whatever I want. So I'm starting at the beginning more or less. But I'm only going to do a bit at a time and since I have a short attention span it may mean you could very well never see the last pictures because I'll move on to something else before I get through the whole trip!

On the way to Rapid City we stopped at Wall Drug for dinner. Here's a few photos from there. We sat at the table just to the left of the sculpture. They have this cool backyard at Wall Drug we took a bunch of pictures out there. That's where all the rest are from.

Yeah, that's my man! ALL mine! Lucky me!

A picture by the sign to prove we were there.

Morgan took this one. I added the vignette.

If you've not been to Wall Drug and you are passing through that way it's a fun place to stop. It's not a big town but the Drug store part is interesting and the history behind it is too. We didn't spend a ton of time there because we needed to get to Rapid and the drive was longer than I had anticipated. I think we spent 12 hours in the car that day! Owen was a good traveler!

Okay, non-trip stuff. After we got back yesterday we went to pick Ludwig up at my Mom's and visit with her and my sister. My sister had gotten this little digital camera for Owen. Unfortunately it doesn't have a live view feature like more sophisticated digital cameras. However, that did not stop him from having a great time with it. He spent about an hour today running around taking "pischers". So tonight I put the software on my work laptop (it's PC only software) and uploaded his pictures. Here is the one that was recognizable!

The rest were blurry, grainy too close shots that reminded me of alien sighting photos! But this one was so cute! I kind of enjoyed the surprise of seeing what he had captured.

Oh, and Maureen posed a good question today on 2P's for the blog challenge. She asked: What is the essential core of friendship for you?
That is a tough question. I think it's changed as I've gotten older and gained and lost friends. I have a fairly small group of good friends and in thinking about those relationships I think the common factor is acceptance. They know me and accept me for who I am. Flaws and all. I think there is no greater comfort in friendship than knowing you can be yourself and not feel insecure our judged. I guess in order to have that you need to be comfortable with who you are too. And I'm mostly there. I have my insecurities but my girlfriends know what those things are and I'm okay with that. I'm not perfect and neither are they and that's okay.

Now I'm off to edit more pictures. I'm scrapping with some girlfriends on Friday from 5pm-2am and I need to get stuff together to work on!

Oh, and I finished my 31 Days in May project! The little album is done. If you'd like to see all the pictures they are in an album on Flickr. Just click the link in the sidebar to go see them.