Random Ramblings

I have to respond to a few comments. Your stories about your kids are hilarious. You all need to have blogs (if you don't) so I can keep up on your kids. Also, I didn't say much about the house. We're renting since Chris' job is only guaranteed for a year. If Chris ends up staying here then we'll look around and find something to buy. And I start school Aug. 27 so I have plenty of time to blog right now!

Because we're renting, Murphy doesn't come inside much. She's just a puppy so I don't trust her by herself very long since she likes to chew and isn't house trained yet. She comes inside when there isn't any shade in the backyard or when we want to play with her. It's been so hot lately that she's been inside quite a bit. Chris usually lets her in when he gets home from work which is funny because he fought me for so long that the dog would NEVER be allowed inside. Oh, how time changes things.

The comment about a brittany - yes, Chris is still going to get his Brittany Spaniel. He wasn't sure how much time he would have for it right now so he's decided to wait until next year. Besides, by then Murphy will know so many tricks that hopefully it's easier to train the Brittany.

My brother-in-law John G. made the comment that Murphy may be rethinking her position on kids after this last weekend. For those of you who didn't see it, she got mauled by my nieces and nephews in Utah County. It was hilarious. The poor dog had half a dozen (or more) kids shouting at her to sit, shake, fetch, lay down, roll over and everything else. I was worried at first that she may get frustrated with one of them, but she was good with them. I would have left her alone with the kids no problem but I felt like she needed protection from them sometimes, not the other way around. They were really gentle with her though and didn't pull her tail, fur, or ears. One time, Chris was outside with all the kids while they were playing with her and he said she kept running over to him and looking up with these eyes that just said "Help me!" She'd also run behind him and try to hide for a few minutes. The really great part was that she was completely worn out by the end of the day. She also went for her first horseback ride up in the mountains but was so worn out 1/3 of the way through that I carried her the rest of the way. She didn't bother the horses at all though some of them didn't care for her. She got stepped on by my horse and limped for a few minutes but was fine afterwards. Nothing broken. The picture is Murphy with her favorite stuffed animal.

My old work gave me a $250 gift card as a going-away gift and we spent some of it on a set of power tools. We had big plans to build a doghouse but they have yet to come to fruition. I have, however, built nightstands (crude, simple ones) for our bedroom and still plan to build the potting bench my dad built for my mom. My dad sent me the plans in the magazine and it doesn't look too bad but I'll probably have Chris help me on a weekend. The tools are fun but I'm not very good with the circular saw. The edges are always crooked. The next tool we get might have to be a table saw.

Two weeks ago we went hiking with a group from the hospital. We went to a place up the canyon called Ashdown Gorge.

It was amazing. It was about a 9 mile hike but we went off the trail for about a mile to this waterfall. After the hike, we had dutch oven cooking waiting for us at the bottom. We were all very hungry and it was really good food. There were 9 of us that went so Chris got to know some of the doctors and other administators from the area.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

During the sacrament on Sunday, the little girl behind us, in a normal (and therefore Loud voice because it's practically silent in the chapel), says, "It's not that I don't like you Daddy; I just like Mommy best!"

It was all Chris and I could do to not burst out laughing. I would love to hear what your children have said that could go under this headline.

17.4 lbs, 35 inches long (including tail)

We have a new addition to our family!

Her name is Murphy's Law though we usually just call her Murph. Isn't she adorable?

This is her watching Regis and Kelly with me. She LOVES attention.

Here are a few pictures of the new place. On the left is the fenced-in backyard that Murphy calls home. And on the right are the pillows we got in Thailand that I bought the stuffers for. Aren't they pretty? And only $2.90 each! I'll get more pictures up as soon as the house is organized.

I should say a little more about the new baby. We've been searching on craiglist (which has little to nothing down here), ksl.com, and the local paper forever for a border collie. I finally found this ad in the local paper. Murphy was raised on a farm (literally - horses, cows, chickens, cats all over the place). She was born right before Easter so she is 12 weeks old. Her dad looked like a border collie and her mom had some lab in her but I don't know what she looked like. The mom disappeared a few weeks ago and they think she was hit by a car or tractor.

Murphy already displays some border collie traits though - she's athletic, gives "the eye", and has all the typical markings. The family has 8 kids which has made Murphy wonderful around little kids. We see them on walks and she gets all excited when she sees them and will just sit down when they come up to her. She loves to be held in your lap and is big whiner when she's not happy. We got her Wednesday night and both Thursday morning and Friday morning she woke me up at 6am with her whining. Thursday the sprinklers came on and scared her and this morning she was just wired for whatever reason. She's keeping me more entertained than I would be by myself though.

Excel Fun

My boss showed me a very cool add-in for Excel the other day. It's called ASAP Utilities (http://www.asap-utilities.com/download-asap-utilities.php) and automates or simplifies all sorts of time-consuming activities in excel. For example, it can unhide all the hidden sheets at once, apply a formula to a group of cells, reset excel's last cell, sort according to five categories instead of just three, delete all hidden rows and columns, and lots and lots of other things (most of which I haven't figured out yet).

Most of that paragraph doesn't interest the majority of you but there is one other thing about it. It has this part where you can launch Funny error messages.
These are a few of the ones that made me laugh:

• Error: Change in Earth’s Rotational Speed
• Government Employee detected. Switching to sleep mode.
• It was OK before you touched it. (Too bad you can't copy and paste these into files.)
  
• Firewall needs cooling.
• Your girlfriend is pregnant.
  (A)bort (R)etry (I)gnore (Probably shouldn't, but this one makes me laugh out loud)
  
• Multitasking attempted. System confused.
• Dynamic linking error. Your mistake is now in every file. (feels like a real error too often)
  
• Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue.
• Press any key to continue and any other key to quit.

And then there are some I don't get but they must be funny:

• You've got the flue! (what's flue?)
  
• Hidden Windows secret: add BUGS=OFF to your CONFIG.SYS

Oh yeah, and we're moving to Cedar City instead of St. George. Long story but the gist is that Chris was offered a position that better fits his career goals and it didn't matter to the people down there because it's all within the same organization so he didn't offend anyone by taking this other one. Chris is going to be based out of Valley View Medical Center now and I will have a much shorter commute. Anyone is still welcome to come visit! Crossing our fingers we should have a bedroom and bathroom just for guests. No more one bedrooms!

Revenue and Prayers

The other night Chris, the great, wonderful husband that he is, gave me a massage about 9:30pm. I promptly fell asleep afterwards which is why I never lay on our bed before 10pm. About 10:45pm Chris comes in and kneels by me. I'm awake 'enough' to sense he's there and that he's ready to say prayers for the night. So I kneeled down and since I knew it was my turn, started to pray. I felt him look up at me at one point during my prayer and realized I had been muttering really bad. So I started to pronunciate better. When I finished my prayer I kissed him and immediately rolled over because I could tell he was laughing at me and I didn't want to bother with it right then.
The next morning the alarm clock goes off and Chris rolls over, "Do you remember what you said in your prayer Erin?" Then he just starts dying laughing. He finally says that I apparently prayed "that the business would be profitable", "that we would have positive net income", "that we could know where to spend our money so that the business would increase revenue" and many other things that he can't remember. He has said multiple times since that he wishes he had a tape recorder or had written it down. I must have been dreaming about my job, which unfortunately, is not uncommon. I'll be more careful about praying when I'm half asleep though.

News

Finally we have some news to post. No, I'm not pregnant nor should you expect that any time soon. But - Chris did get a job! We are very excited because it's in St. George. We will actually get to see sun this winter! He starts June 18 and I still have to figure out if I will be leaving Seattle with him or joining him later. Either way I won't be looking for a job down there as I am going back to school. Southern Utah University (SUU) has a one-year MBA program that I applied to and was accepted. Chris' job is a one-year fellowship-type job so it works out pretty perfect. We're excited!

More pictures of Thailand

This blog is mostly for the grandparents of Trea who don't get to see her everyday like they would like to. It also has a few other pictures of stuff in Thailand. I'm not in most of them, not because we don't have a picture of me doing it, but because I'm the one who gets to decide what goes on the blog.

Family Picture

John and Trea.

Chris and Trea showing off their muscles.

Trea eating a banana in the night market. She was the most popular thing there.

Trea getting tired after a long day.

Trea was at the end of the bed and I told her to smile. She put her elbows on the bed, her chin in her hands and gave me a big smile. It was hilarious.

Try to find the little birdie legs and you can figure out what you're looking at here. They steam the baby birds as they come out of their eggs...

We're kneeling next to skinned frogs here.

Chris playing with the mosquito tennis racket that electrocutes them.

Chris lounging in the pool. The water in Thailand was much warmer than the Mediterranean yet he seemed to enjoy both. At the King Cobra Village. These are not cobras around my neck but they're still snakes. Yuck!

One main problem in Thailand were the beds. They were all king size. We came back to our little queen size in Seattle and kicked each other and stole covers all night long. Luckily, most of the beds in Spain were full size and our queen size now seems spacious, somewhat at least.

Chris by the monkeys. This picture is so cute I had to post it.

The water where we went snorkeling. I haven't done anything to this picture.