65 Days 'Till the Big Day!

Hey Kelly and Tom! How are the wedding plans going?????

Back From Bear Country!

That's right, bear country.

I was chased by a wild bear.

I ran through the snow, screaming, in flip-flops, carrying a fishing pole in one hand and an ice chest full of diet Dr. Pepper in the other,

all while being chased by a big black bear.

It nearly got me!

My best friend saved my life!

So did a fine cowboy on a tall horse.

Mmmmmmm.

Well, that's not exactly the way it happened.

I did see a bear

while I was riding in my bf Kelly's dirty Yukon.

It ran in front of the truck while we were exploring some road below Green's Peak.

It ran up and over the embankment and I,

honest to God,

jumped out of the truck and ran up the embankment to see where it went.

Suddenly, Kelly yelled, "get back in the truck!"

I was wearing flip-flops so how I managed to get down the embankment without falling face first into the dirt is a miracle.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bear

running for its life

behind the truck, back across the road, and into the woods.

Some guy on a horse came riding up and

Kelly told him told him to watch out for the bear.

The truth is, it was pretty exciting! And so far all people want to know is if we got a picture of it. Hello! That's not the first thing on your mind when a bear appears out of nowhere. Especially when you've left your camera at home.

A few days later, I was escorted back to the scene of the adventure by the real bear in my life and he snapped this picture of where we last saw the bear:

Then we drove on up to Reservation Lake where the hubs had to admit, "the fishing was great, but the catching was lousy!"

Kelly, who gets me into all kinds of trouble:

Our daughter Stephanie, who stayed home to watch Leah and hold down the fort.

And now, back to the classroom.

Bye, ya'll.

The End of Summer :(

We are off to the mountains trying to escape the blistering heat here in the valley. That's what the Phoenix area is called--the valley--it's not really a valley. That must have been some chamber of comerce, hare-brain idea to promote tourism. The original brochure that described the area as a flat, sprawling, dusty sea of endless subdivisions wasn't working, so they came up with "the valley." It must have worked, after all we do have professional sports teams now!

Dang, sounds like I do need a trip to the mountains!!!

This will be our last fishing of the summer. We started Memorial Day weekend when it was still pretty cold up there, but this week the temp has been in the 90's, so I'm not sure if the little fishies will cooperate. Here's a picture of Leah in May with the first catch of the season.

I was able to do a lot of bragging with this picture until Father's Day rolled around and the hubs caught a 15 incher (that's big for an Arizona lake trout) ! He wanted me to post that picture--I told him to get his own blog!!

My goal when I get back next week is to create a list of the blogs of all of my new blog friends and post it on this blog. Yikes--I'm getting a little queasy--sounds hard.

Still, I'm genuinely loving this. See ya in a week!

It's Not My Birthday. Or Is It?

Jeez, I could not believe all the wonderful comments waiting for me this morning. Each one was a fun little gift to open and enjoy. And being the good girl that I am (wink) I wrote all of my thank yous right away. Mom would be so proud.



So I'm wondering if all of you out there respond to ALL of the comments that you receive? It has taken me most of the day! Not that I'm complaining, I'm just wondering what the protocol is for responding to comments. Advice is needed!!!! It's day three for me and I'm not ready to be a loser.


And, as if blogging, teaching, playing with Leah, etc., isn't enough, I've decided to create a new language. I'm going to use all of the word verification words that come up when you try to post a comment and create an entirely new blogging community. Whose with me? Have you ever wondered about those weird words. I am loving this idea.


New picture? Why I'd love to . . .



This is my wonderful husband giving train rides to one of Leah's cousins and two friends. He made this train for her out of an old riding lawn mower and two plastic barrels. I painted the faces to match her favorite Thomas the Train engines. When it was all done, Leah decided she was afraid to ride in it!!!!! At least the other kids like it, as does that big one who is steering!!


Again, thanks to all of you for bringing the "blog love." Back at ya!!!!

Joy!

I made a friend! Dawn, from The Feathered Nest, is the first to comment on my blog. This is another big step for me. You see, I have always been a "lurker" or "blurker"~ always enjoying other blogger's work but never bothering to respond or comment. My bad. And the first time I comment~what du ya know~my favorite blogger reaches out to me. Everyone should experience her blog. It's everything I want this blog to be: beautiful, creative, peaceful!

And now,with luck, I shall link you to it!

Thank you, Dawn!


And now . . . another picture. Hmm. Well, OK, this is a good one. This is our middle daughter, Kelly, and her fiance, Tom. They met in band 9 years ago and will marry this fall. AHHH. So sweet. Young love.

Another successful blog! Peace out!

I'm Crazy--How About You?

I'm going back in the classroom in August, so with all that preparation on my plate I thought a blog would be a nice diversion. So far---wrong! This isn't a diversion, it's an obsession. And, unfortunately, I have not been able to (as my motto urges me) "embrace imperfection." On the contrary, I have fretted over everything from the font color to the over-use of the exclamation point.

On the other hand, I'm thrilled that this, um--yeah it's still an obsession, will permanently remove my name from the universe's cyber-dunce list. I mastered e-mail, have finally succumbed to texting, and now comes my own personal Everest: blogging. You see that little girl in the picture in my sidebar? That's my granddaughter, Leah. She will most likely grow up to be a computer genius! Yes, genius. No way am I going to be the little old grandmother without a clue. She'll be proud. Much more about Leah later.

And now for my next step: inserting a picture, maybe even a caption. This should be good!

And there she is! No place for a caption, though. I'll do it myself: Leah--November 2008 on the Huntington Beach pier. Excited about a gum ball. We should all be that easy.

Hey, I'm good. I think I'll quit for today, while I'm ahead.