Thursday, August 27, 2009

Let them eat cake! (Alternate title: Why we live here)






The past few days, Miss Gwen had quite the full social calender. On Tuesday, she headed off with her mom to go make mints for a baby shower thrown for our friend Marisa. With the help of Beth & Rod's kids - Lacey, Linsey and Skylar, the moms got to chatter away while pulling sugary concoctions out of various molds. We will post pictures of that day shortly, but it should be noted that Lindsey actually managed to comb Gwen's hair while GWEN SAT STILL for her!! The next day, we had a party to celebrate Skylar's first birthday. Again, we have more pictures but here are some of all the kids in attendance. For those of you not in the county, these kids (with the exception of Gwen and two others in the pic) are all 1st cousins. We consider them our adopted families, to the point that Miss Gwen gets hauled around a lot. Instead of saying "Cheese", Ty (with Gwennie in all the group pics) was told to "Hold up Gwennie" for photo ops. As you can see, his weighlifting routine wore a little heavy (no pun intended) toward the end. Hope you enjoy seeing the party as much as we enjoyed being included on it!!




Monday, August 10, 2009

Pictures for Papa

Hi Papa,
We finally got everything figured out so you could see what I have been up to out here.


Love,

Gwennie

KC showed me her garden and even paraded her pet ducks by to see me


Meanwhile, Mark kept me busy with more toys than I knew could exist at once


When I got to Stevensville, they hired me on as extra security for the Pork Board's catering trailer


I fit right in with my pig!

Sam really liked playing with me when he wasn't working (AND I got fed at the same time)


Manda let me drink some of her tea to show off my new straw skills (she and Mama didn't sleep much that night..I know that because I was up watching them) I really like my honorary Auntie!

In Lewiston, we met up with more of Mama's roomies from Spotswood house. I liked Tiff's little boy best and wish Darbie could have come too.

They tried to get a picture with everyone looking but I just couldn't help myself...the grass was so much greener than at home. I had to check it out more closely.

When we got to the ranch that night, my Marnie bathed me and I got water everywhere.


More pictures soon!







Love Letters Home - Trip Update

Dear Papa,
Mama and I arrived safety to the ranch in Idaho after a lot of traveling. First we drove from Jordan to Bozeman for a retirement party and stayed with our friends Mark and KC. Mark played with me on the floor and built me towers of blocks and KC fed me my first chocolate cereal. I didn't get as much as I wanted though.

Next, we drove to the State BBQ competition south of Missoula so Mama could work. We picked up my new friend Manda on the way and she helped take care of me this weekend. I figured out how to drink from a straw! And they gave me a sip or two of huckleberry shake...but again I didn't get as much as I wanted. I also tried my first lemon slice after stealing it from Mom's lemonade. It was good!

Mama's friends that are pork producers from the Hutterite colonies played with me whenever they had time at the BBQ event. We served 500 pounds of pork loin samples in a day and a half. Mama says that if she doesn't eat or smell BBQ for a few weeks, it will be okay.

After we drove from Stevensville to Lewiston, we met up with more new friends from when Mama lived with a bunch of girls on Spotswood Street in college. They were fun and I flirted a lot with Tiff's kid Nate...he's pretty nice but he didn't share his ice cream with me.

I get to stay with my grandparents and crazy Uncle Phil for the next few days here in Lewiston while Mama goes to Wyoming for more meetings. Last night I had a bath on the utility room counter with 5 people helping! It was fun and I splashed everyone as much as possible. This morning I listened to my grandad's BTO CD and showed people how I dance.

I miss you very, very much and can't wait to be hugged by you....

Love,
Gwennie

PS - We are having trouble putting up photos but will try again later this afternoon!!!!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Tale of Rosie and Duke..Choose Your Own Adventure

Meet Rosie*, pregnant with her second child and ready to head to a friend's wedding and to see other dear friends somewhere that seems like Uzbekistan to bystanders...but really is a town on the map in a state that does exist nearby (okay, no offense to Uzbekistan...it really does exist....but the general feeling is that it is a "fake" country used to win Scrabble games).

Meet Duke**, who is ever faithful to Rosie but quietly is worrying about her sanity in taking first child and herself on said trip. Although he feels strongly she is entirely capable of the travels, the man of the house cannot help but be a little concerned about her road time in combining said wedding trip with several other work events...leading her to be gone for 2.5 weeks, instead of just under 2. Especially when Rosie fails to mention to most parties that she is experiencing a wee bit of "practice," shall we call it, in the labor department.

After much thought and crying, Rosie decides that, for the overall happiness of the household, she will give up the long awaited wedding portion of the trip and forgo all the pre-planned activities. Being a women (and very hormonal), she secretly expects Duke to read into subtle signals of severe disappointment, such as loudly sniffing behind Forbes magazine, eating piles of cookies and determining her side of the bed has its own demilitarized zone, and offer dinner out on the town in a location featuring more than 300 total people in its populace.

Touched by how much her man will miss her later in the week, Rosie decides a good compromise would be to drive solo to a neighboring town and partake in a shopping excursion for the day. By jove, if she canceled two nights of hotel rooms and 8 hrs of gasoline, what's to say she shouldn't enjoy at least 5-7 hrs of females-hopping -pregnant-lady-bliss while the husband finishes his day and arrive back refreshed and not feeling sorry for herself. Duke was potentially busy with prep for his upcoming fair and other plans, therefore it shouldn't interrupt his schedule and the wife would be back in time for dinner and a pay-per-view or something. However, Duke again feels strongly that he should escort the lovely lady out on the town....if only she would wait until he finishes a morning appointment lasting until about noon. Involving gun maintenance and man things that Rosie trys to avoid at all costs and purposes. So there she sits.....with the kidlet and man off to town doing their thing, patiently waiting for their return so she can actually DO SOMETHING she would like to involving people and social environments.

Should she:

A) Eat all the cookies remaining (oatmeal raisin) and suffer such severe gastric distress that she couldn't possibly go anywhere unless a rest stop exists at each mile marker...

B) Commence upon Ebaying a few "loose items" in the house, all involving triggers and major optical displays, setting up a trust fund with payouts offered only in plane tickets over fair weekends until 2020..............

C) Clean the house (again) and attempt work in stealth mode, since her voicemail announces her absent from the physical office anyway this weekend..........

D) Order a dress for her upcoming class reunion, which she was supposed to shop for this weekend while traveling, and tell Duke that Gucci and Prada were really the only cute options for semi-formal preggie wear........

E) Wait patiently for Duke's return, knowing that he truly does love her and that his shortfalls in observance are only because he is male, and wait to be surprised by whatever fun exciting non-couch sitting adventure he has planned.........


Please place your votes in the adjacent box to the right and await as the story unfolds.

* & ** Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved in the "fictional" plot. Any resemblance to real characters you may know in "real life" are purely in your head and accidental...not the responsibility of the posting party.