May Jewelry

Check out the May jewelry from Cookie Lee!

Trigger's "sit in"

My dog is the only one who knows how to enjoy the outdoors. When we had some sun this week, Trigger would take the opportunity to cripple my legs as he shot past me every time I opened the door. He jogs just out of reach and then…lays down. He doesn’t tear off after something or chase his tail. He just lays down. He weighs in at about 90 pounds and he knows I can’t make him come inside if he doesn’t want to go, so it’s actually pretty effective. My favorite part about a good Trigger “sit in” is when he rolls onto his back. All that beautiful long Golden Retriever hair just spreads out on the grass and his front paws kind of flop over his ribcage. He rubs his head in the lawn and wiggles his back end back and forth over the grass. You know what he wants….a tummy rub. Trigger can always be bought with a tummy rub.
So here I am laughing at the dog instead of diligently trying to bring him inside before someone from the condo board realizes I have an unleashed dog outside my residence. I can’t get my kids up from the downstairs to enjoy the beautiful day, but the dog and I can enjoy it without them. Maybe I’ll come out and sit with him for awhile.

Kindergarten Round Up

Driving by a school the other day, I saw it was time for Kindergarten “round up”. I love the inference that the five year olds are so wild that they require “rounding up”. Just throw a rope around a big group of them and yank them into school. Keep a border collie just outside in case of strays.
There’s a cartoon that used to be on TV called “Recess”. In the show, the kindergarteners are portrayed Indians. They wear face paint and rarely use English words. My guess is that these kids are “rounded up” at the beginning of the year.
I think it would be a good idea to round up 7th graders. I mean, if anyone is crazy or wild, I think it’s 7th graders. At least 7th grade boys. They could put it on the Marquee. “7th Grade Boys Roundup” and then we could all bring our wild boys down on a certain day to have them registered and lassoed. I think they’d need a lot of Border Collies.

Walmart Shoppers

You know those emails that have been going around with pictures of completely insane people who shop at Walmart? Well, we saw one of them! I took my kids to St. George for a little getaway and while we were at Walmart (I know there's one near my house, but this one had different stuff) Mitchell saw an older guy (maybe 70+) wearing HOT PINK SHORTS! And they were seriously short too! I don't know what he was thinking but I was scrambling for my phone to take a picture when we lost him. The children let me down and didn't follow where he was going. Dangit! I think you all would've enjoyed it. I could've started my own email and become famous.

So back to St. George. I have a little sunburn as a result of my laying in the sun for several hours at the pool in gorgeous 78 degree weather. I wear my burn proudly. It means I've actually been in the sun and able to wear clothing that would expose me to it's harmful rays. Yes! Take that! Anyway, the kids and I stayed at the crappiest hotel ever and we loved it. We played games in the room, shopped for spring clothes, went to dinner and a movie and of course, hung out at the pool. We made fun of people who eat boiled eggs from the continental breakfast bar and while we were at it, we stole some hot chocolate packets for bedtime. Mitchell invented a new superhero named bumblebee man who wears a hotel sheet on his head and heckles his little sister. He also perfected the art of complaining about shopping with girls while walking and texting a girl at the same time. Zoe, whoever you are, we are glad that every detail of our trip was texted to you and hope you enjoyed it. I learned that Kylee "doesn't do" stripes as we shopped for T-shirts, but that she IS on "team Jacob" when we found a shirt with the beautiful Taylor Lautner on it. Don't you love family bonding?

So now we're back. The dogs are still in Idaho with my cute husband it's so peaceful here that I'm able to keep my Zen going for one more day. I'll leave that thought with you along with a picture of my cutie pie new niece. Introducing McKinna Kathleen. Isn't she squishy baby cute?

Wing

Wing is the season between winter and spring. It only exists in Utah. Maybe a few other areas too but who cares about those?
Today is the 5th of April and there's a freakin blizzard outside. Last week I let my daughter wear capris to school and now the coats are back on. My crocus and daffodils are up and there's two inches of snow on them.
Here's the weather forecast for a typical winter in Utah. December we get like 12 feet of snow. January and part of February is where you go for days on end without seeing the sky. Then, in March just before everyone wants to kill themselves we get a little peek of sun. Maybe a weekend of 50 or 55 degrees. We all get excited and start making plans to plant gardens and get the kids bikes out. People take walks and push their kids around in strollers. Then it snows. And it rains. This is followed by a day of sun somewhere just to keep us guessing and then there's more snow.
I'm not allowed to complain because I was born here. When I got my birth certificate it was with the understanding that I would be willing to endure 8 months of winter and 2 months of blistering heat each year. I have learned that you don't plant flowers until at least Memorial Day and that you CAN wear flip flops with a jacket and not look completely insane. However, those of you who are wearing shorts in the snow need to stop it. We don't care if you don't mind the cold...you look stupid. General rule of fashion is that when you need the heater on in the car and you are wearing a coat, shorts stay in the closet.
I'll have more seasonal fashion tips in the future. I'm sure you'll be grateful.