Let's just say that Perry is a little bit obsessed with Jon. Just a little bit. Perry has two favorite times of day: when Jon gets him out of bed and when Jon gets home from work. I'd be offended except for the fact that it's so cute. So, rather than set up passive aggressive scenarios where he has to choose between mom and dad, I just take the pictures.

So, this is our new puppy Magda. We went to go see her brother and ended up loving her more. So she came home with us. Way to work it, puppy.





Other things about Magda:

- She slept through the night last night (we did not realize at the time of buying her that we would be taking her out four times a night for the first three days-- we are thankful that this stage appears to have passed).

- She can do awesome tricks, like looking cute and jumping over Jon's leg.

- She's turned me into one of those people that lets their dog lick their face.

- I did actually think for a moment that it might be cute to put a little outfit on her.


So, I lost my dignity but gained a pretty cute puppy. Be sure to honk and wave if you see us out and about. She'll be the dog in the sailor suit.

I just got my new camera and have been having a ton of fun learning how to use it better. This is one of the shots I've really liked so far. This is my little brother Josh to a tee. Innocent. Goofy. Slightly west-side. He's got it all going for him.

My little sister Alison graduated from high school this weekend and I'm so proud of her. I also can't believe how grown up I thought I was when I graduated. If I had continued to live my life by all the things I thought I had figured out at that point, I would now be a French Horn-playing, Lois Lane wannabe driving a Mini Cooper. Whew. Really dodged the bullet on that one.

Love you, Al.

Spending your weekend in Afton, Wyoming can get you thinking. You start asking yourself questions like, is that really a five year-old driving that ATV? And since when have men worn button-up sleeveless shirts? Tucked in?

Here are some of the better questions that came out of this weekend.


1) So this is what it's like to have grandparents? Grandparents were the point of this whole little trip, namely Jon's grandparents. I've never had the fortune of having grandparents who cared or knew much about my life (To be fair, it's not really their fault. Being dead and/or emotionally stunted by your childhood as an orphan are not entirely things under one's control). But I have to say, I now get what all the fuss is about. My inherited grandparents are kind of awesome. We came to stay with them for the weekend and they did such grandparent-ly things as insist on filling up our gas tank, teach me how to play Chinese Checkers, give me an amazing old red Schwinn bike and keep us fed with a constant stream of homemade cake and cookies. Sound like a ten year-old boy's dream? That's probably about right.

2) Do I want to be a farmer? The scenery was beautiful and there was nothing to do except enjoy it all weekend. Hence, for about ten minutes, I thought, "Maybe I just want to live on a farm, in the country." I got a pretty good fantasy going in my mind until I tried to imagine Jon milking a cow and me doing anything involving poo or bugs. Then I realized that what I really want is to read books all day and not have to go to work. Turns out, my dream life is not defined as "farmer" but more as "lazy."

3) Can you really pickle zucchini? The answer is, yes.

I've been a combination of lazy/busy the last few days and haven't gotten a chance to tell you how lucky I am. As of Sunday, I have officially been married to my favorite person ever for two years. To celebrate, he took me to Ruth's Chris on Saturday. My favorite part? The most delicious steak I have EVER had. I'm more into fish than I am into steak but I have to say, wow. My other favorite part? Valet parking our little Mazda and then realizing that they didn't even park it in their normal parking lot as to save room for oh, say, this Ferrari. Funny.

Love you, Jon.

Some weekends, I laze around and consider just feeding myself worthy work for a two-day period of time. As awesome as that sometimes is, there are other weekends that we actually do stuff. This was one of them. Here are a few highlights.


1) My Mom's Birthday. My mom is amazing. And she's now a sprightly 49. We had fun celebrating at Bambara on Friday night (Cool little hint... if you make a reservation and tell them it's someone's birthday, they apparently print you special menus with a birthday message. Way classier than singing waiters.) We then went and saw Iron Man (spoiler alert: the suit's most supernatural power is keeping Robert Downey Jr. sober). I totally loved the movie but I have to say that my favorite part of the night was hanging out afterwards and watching my mom giggle like a little girl at Jon Stewart's anti-McCain jokes on the Daily Show. Way to stay young, mom. Love you.

2) Lydia's Baptism. This was an interesting event for me because it did not feel like my little sister was getting baptized. It felt like my little sister/child was getting baptized. Because of how the adoption process worked with both Josh and Lydia, I got a lot of opportunities to perform mom-like duties when Lydia was a baby and my parents were in Russia for Josh. I also got to endure lots of nasty looks when I took her to the Bountiful Albertsons and everyone thought I was her teenage mother. And now she's eight and I honestly can't believe it. The whole experience has helped me realize how moms can do anything for their kids. It's amazing how much you can love another person.

3) Brian's Coming-Out Party. No, my brother is not gay. He's the only thing that Utahns may get more worked up about: a budding Democrat. And this weekend, I got to see him speak at the Utah Democratic Convention because he was running to be a national delegate. As a national delegate, he would get to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August and cast Utah's vote for his boy toy Obama. He did an amazing job and he won (against some stiff competition-- one of the guys he was running against looked just like Forrest Whittaker, I am not even kidding). I'm really proud of him. He looked so snazzy with his suit and delegate tags. Good job, buddy.

4) Mother's Day. Yes, my family really knows how to pack it in. My mom always gets to enjoy Mother's Day and her birthday within a few days of each other. I keep hoping that Jon will do like our ward does and get me a present on the whole "I'll be a mother someday" premise, but he doesn't fall for it. My favorite moments of the day both came courtesy of Josh. First, as my mom was opening her presents, he chimes in, "Ooh, mom, hopefully you'll get something cool... like cash." Then, when it came time for the primary kids' obligatory "Mom Medley," he went all American Idol on us, got right up on the podium (with the other, say, fifty kids to either side of him) and sang right into the microphone. After enjoying a two-song de facto solo, he then threw in a goofy skipping dance move to accompany the "Tra La La La La La La" chorus of "When We're Helping We're Happy." In his final shout out, he pointed straight at my mom, gave a thumbs up and winked. The primary leaders had nothing for that. I was dying.


So, as far as weekends go, it doesn't get much better than this one. Had the Jazz lost, though, it would be a totally different story.