Calling Nilla

Cole and I ate lunch outside yesterday, in the glorious sunshine, watching the dogs play when he asked me,
“Is Nilla dead?”
“Yes, baby. She’s in Doggie Heaven, but I bet she can see us right now.”
Then Cole yells, “NILLA! (slight pause) NILLA! (slight pause) NILLA! (slight pause). Do you think she heard me?”
I softy say, “I bet so, baby.”

We miss you girl. The house isn’t the same without you.

Saying Good-Bye

In Loving Memory

Nilla Beans

1996-2009

We're going to miss you girl!

New Editions

We added to our family with the addition of another Boxer named Smokey. He's a little over a year and quite a bit of a puppy still. Like today, while we were at work, he decided to tip over the trash can (that has a lid), rummage through it, chew on an SOS pad and eat who knows what else. He also decided that it would fun to pee all over the family room...and I do mean all over. So needless to say, he'll be going in the kennel tomorrow, in the basement, where he can think about what he likes better...

On the positive side, he is a lover, a cuddler, a runner, a great playmate for Estes. He knows how to sit and stay and shake. It was love at first sight when I saw him.

Celebrations and Blessings

Happy Birthday to my new baby nephew Parker Jackson. He was born yesterday and I was born some 34 years ago. Aprils birthdays are the best.

Not only was it birthday celebrations, it was Easter celebrations too. Cole and Eliana had an easter egg hunt and they found ALL the eggs.

Uncle Brian made the best ham EVER! It took six hours but she was worth it.

It was wonderful to have family over, to be grateful for the new life that has entered all of our lives, and for the tasty food that filled our bellies. Thanks for a perfect day.

Second Family

I'm one of those lucky people that LOVE their job. I enjoy the people I work with, my team seriously kicks ass, AND I love what I do.

Take my team for example: There are 11 of us out of the 43 employees and we have a blast. They take care of me and I take care of them. They are my second family, my friends, my pride.
We try to keep it fun like:

Having flip flop day in the middle of winter

Celebrating work anniversaries

letting our aggression out

Or the time they completely rearranged my office (in the best way...I LOVE my office )

or bringing me pretty flowers for my birthday and saying "I was thinking about you this morning and thought you might like this"....oh, Nick - so thoughtful.

Here is to my team: Katie, Nick, Raquel, Mary, Connie, Vicki, Katie K, Michelle, Clea, and Kevin. I love each of you for all of your hard work, personality, trust, and respect. Thanks for making my days worthwhile.

The Land of Enchantment: Part B

Last time I wrote about our adventure to New Mexico. This time, it's still about being in NM, but it's about the people we met, and they weren't New Mexicans. They were Kazakhs. Yes, that's right people from Kazakhstan https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html. I like this link because it's from the CIA. It makes me feel like I'm reporting on top secret military intiatives.

My dad is like a top secret government guy. He's a highly regarded, probably the best in the business trained fire arm specialist. He trains people over all the world on how to protect important things like nuclear war heads, nuclear waste, top secret facilities, etc. He runs simulations like war games to see how long and how hard it is for his team to breach security at a number of high security facilities. He's basically a bad ass and super smart. He was a special ops, Green Beret, if that tells how bad ass he really is. Anyway, he has been in NM for five weeks training 11 Kazakhs and Cole and I had the opportunity to meet some of them.

First, we met the "Colonel". And while I thought that the Kazakhs would look like Russians, they, in many cases, look Mongolian. But I didn't know this at first so when I met the "Colonel" I was a bit surprised. We met at breakfast, but he doesn't speak much English. We met up a couple hours later to go to the flea market and he brought all sorts of gifts for me, Cole and Emma. We only had said "Hi" hours earlier and now he bears gifts for us. Here is a shot of Cole with all is gifts. Amazing.

And here's a shot of us at the flea market.

Next was the "General". Yeah, that's right, basically the third guy in charge of Kazakhstan. He was so much fun and if given the chance, I think he would have eaten Cole right up. He just adored him - played "tom and jerry" with him with popcorn, wrestled, gave him chocolate, kissed, hugged. Cole LOVED him too. We sat outside for a few hours playing and talking and eating. The General doesn't speak English either so my dad played interpreter for me and Carol. The "General" was so animated when he spoke - big arms, detailed facial expressions, expressive voice tones - and it was so awesome to hear my dad interpret EVERYthing. The "General" brought out Lamb stew, pie and of course Vodka and we all ate on the lawn at the hotel. It was such a wonderful experience - laid back and informal. My dad told us alot about their customs, from eating horses and how they kill their animals (they hang them by their feet and slit the throats - it's much better for eating and cooking), to how important gifts and food are, and the does and don'ts of honoring their customs, like eating with forks, not your fingers.

Thank you for a wonderful opportunity to meet interesting people. We had a great time.