A new addition coming soon........

Since I am a little behind the times, I thought I'd better show that J.D. and Katie were actually married last March. That way, folks won't cringe when I say they have a "bun in the oven"! Heeheehee.....

Yep, my baby brother and his beautiful bride are expecting a wonderful gift next July. Hard to imagine the baby of our family is going to have a baby of his own. I am so happy for them both. I know they will be great parents who will raise this child to be a very important part of this world, and this child will be so loved (and spoiled by Grandparents) that it will never lack in self-esteem, beauty ( or handsomeness) and will no doubt be smart, creative, and self-sufficent.

Katie asked me the other day how come I don't write down that she has a bun in the oven, and I didn't think that, as a proud auntie-to-be, that I should be spreading the great news, but seeing how much she loves being posted in my blog, I just couldn't let her down, so from now on, all updates on this pregnancy will be posted! lol......

By the way, when JD called my Mom to tell her that he had visited the doctor with Katie, he told Mom.... "The little shit has a heartbeat!" Did he think it wouldn't????? I think baby brother is having a hard time knowing that he won't be the center of attention anymore... especially when he opened a Christmas gift that happened to be a book called "My first book of colors". Methinks the gifts from now on will be in someway directed to the new addition that will be coming soon to a family near me! Mom also gave them a gift for Christmas "To: the Baby".... JD insisted on opening it because he has always been "the baby"..... well, NO MORE!!!!! LOL

So tune in next time when we announce the gender of the little one so you all can start buying pink (or blue)....

I am just hanging out and chatting with my niece, Amanda. She and I usually chat a couple of times a week online. She is really cool to hang out with her auntie Stacey, isn't she? She just sent me a pic of her and she is gorgeous! Amanda is now 14 and is in the 8th grade. She has a couple of horses, a dog named Pistol, a kitten named Gunsmoke, a bird, a four-wheeler, a shotgun and other such stuff..... she is quite the student, too. She recently won her junior-high science fair with a project that was on balistics..... amazing, huh! ( I think so) lol. Proud aunt, I am!

Now, beside Amanda is Kaylee, and she doesn't get online as much, and I don't hear from her, but I usually find out how she is through her Grandma or though Amanda. This picture was taken at JD and Katie's wedding. We had a fun time. Kaylee and Amanda were a little camera shy, but I managed to get a couple of really good pictures of them......

Aren't they just adorable??????

They both have really good smiles, I think. Even though they are both really shy, I think eventually they will come out of thier shells and be able to not be so camera shy........

One day these pictures will be used to totally embarrass them...... hahahaha....oh wait! that day is TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heeheehee........................................................................... ( I love being an aunt!)

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Bandit settling in for a long winter's nap

Well, a very Merry Christmas, Y'all ! I hope this post finds all y'all enjoying the season and ready for Santa to visit! I just finished reading a book called "The Christmas Jar" and I thought y'all might want to check it out. I had a warm fuzzy feeling after reading it...kinda like when I cuddle-up with my pup, Bandit! This pic was taken last Christmas...hopefully, I can get a new one again this year...if he will cooperate, of course!

Bandit and Mommy posing for a pic!

We are doing fine here in the ATL as they say. Many exciting things are happen'in in our big city... as many of you may know, we have a new panda cub born here in the Atlanta Zoo.... she is now 100 days old and just received her name... Mei Lan.... it means Atlanta Beauty... you can check out the Zoo's website @ www. AtlantaZoo.com.... go to the Panda cam and you can see her in all her cuteness! she just took her first steps the other day, too! she is really adorable!

The Christmas Lights are all aglow here, too, and one of my very favorite things to do is drive around and look at neighborhood displays with Christmas music playing on the radio. This is my house with lights ....I can't get icicle lights up on my eves.... well, just because I don't want to kill myself trying to put them up... my roof is too steep to walk on, and a ladder is out of the question because it is nearly 40ft up to the highest point and with my driveway being sloped the way it is, well, it is just out of the question!

Living on a hill isn't as fun as I thought it would be..... but it looks good from the street. My next house will be on a level lot... ( in Utah, I pray) and I won't have to work so hard to mow my lawn!

I hope to get lots of bloggin done during this holiday season. I have a whole week off between Christmas and New Years! HOOOOORAYY!!!

TTFN!

Hello.... we are "the kids" !

Hello there! My name is Tinker, and I am the "tink" in the name "Tinkadit". I am the pupadup that mommy found way back when. I tumbled down a big hill covered with pine straw and I just knew she would keep me because I was so lost and needed a good home with good parents who would take care of me and love me and SPOIL me! I am a lap-a-dor..... that is kinda like a labrador, but I am a mix.... the vet said I have german shepherd in me, but mommy and daddy can't see it. I have some brindle when I get my summer cuts, but in the winter, I am mostly black with a little gray around the shoulders and mouth. I am very sweet and I have to always be near my mom and dad. I love them sooooo much that I am always kissing them... it kinda gets on mommy's nerves because she doesn't like to be licked. She thinks I have compulsive issues....I don't know what that means, but I just keep lickin' !
I LOVE to go for rides in the car.... that is probably the best part of any day to me. I know lots of words like "do" and "want" and "hungry?" and I can sit and say please. My little brother shows off because he thinks that doing tricks makes him "smarter".... I think I am the SMARTER one because I DON'T do the tricks! I hate squirrels.... they taunt me from outside and eat the birdseed that mommy puts out...uh, hello ?.... that is BIRDseed....not squirrelseed!!! I have to protect that stuff from those glorified rats.... Mommy laughs at them, but not me...I want to get them and show them whose the boss!

Well, I will let my little brother tell you about himself now.... I hope you have had some caffeine, because if he is as boring to you as he is to me, well.............





Hi there! I am Bandit. I follow Tink in the "tink-a-DIT...! I am hyper. I am funny. I am very smart. I can do lots and lots of tricks.... Mommy took me to smart dog classes because she knew I was sooo smart. The classes were called "obedience" classes, and mommy thought that I needed them because I was having trouble recognizing my own name when she called me.... just for the record, I do know my own name, I just have "selective hearing". Who wants to "come" when there are things to explore at the neighbor's house? I mean really ! At school, I learned to do some pretty cool things like "down", "stay", and "paw".... that is the technical term for "shake". I can "twirl" and "speak"... I even taught mommy to give me a "high five!" I learn very quick and my brain goes so fast that I need to learn new things just to keep me from being bored...... I can help that when mom and dad are gone to work I have to stimulate my brain on my own... once I took some books off the bookshelf and decided to try and read them. They had these papers wrapped around them, so I took them off so I could see the name of the books. The pages are hard to turn without fingers, so I just chewed the corners of the books to get to the good stuff. Turns out, the words don't make much sense to me, so I just left them all over the livingroom floor. Mom wasn't happy about that! I won some awards at my classes and I was very popular with the kids. I think it is because I am so pretty.

Tinker and I play alot, but sometimes he bugs me and I get growly.... like whenever I have a chewy and he has one too, well, I think they are both mine, so I take his. It's not like I like to chew them, it is just a power thing. He may be older, but I am tougher.....lol.



This is what I like to do the most..... just sit outside and observe the world around me. Mom thinks I am being stubborn because I won't come to her when she calls me.... I am contemplating the world around me....I am not interested in coming inside. UNLESS she asks me if I am hungry.... then I run!




So that is me.... the best dog in the whole world!


Stop by and check out my blog anytime!

ahhh... fall in Altanta. I love the warm weather and the beautiful fall colors! this was taken at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in Oct. Some of the skyline is showing, but I really loved the red and yellow leaves.

Case in point......

My friends, Lynn and Cynthia, joined me at the Gardens for the Scarecrows in the Park event. There were many scarecrows, some funny, some scary, and some just plain strange! But we had a nice time taking a TON of pictures. There was also another display going on there which was called Niki.... some fascinating sculptures made with glass and mortar...sort of a mosaic. The sculptures were huge and a few were funny...like the big fat swimsuit fountain women...lol...

We found a mirrored sculpture that proved to be quite entertaining for us all. We found we could all get into our own artwork and create an interesting photo too!

I even took a self-portrait!

We had alot of fun sharing ideas and creative photo-ops. We try to make it downtown once or twice a year to the Gardens...I like both spring and fall.... the colors are incredible and the temps are mild. But the best thing about it is just spending time together and having fun. After all, that is what it is all about!

That is all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed!


Until next time..............

Introducing my new sister-in-law

okay.... so it is time to intoduce my new sister-in-law..... da da da duum! Introducing, the beautiful, amazing, outrageous, adorable, crazy, sweet, magnificent, smart, funny, strong, gifted, pretty, stupendous, tremendous, glorious, fabulous, (and not to mention annoying) ...........the wonderful miss Katie Pack!!! yeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

applause, please.

In Georgia, we grow the bugs BIG! This is a luna moth that decided to visit me one night a few weeks back and fly into my crafting room while I was scrapbooking.... I had the window open, which is a mistake, because it took me nearly a half-hour to get him worn out enough to settle down and pose for this pic.... they really are incredible to look at up close.... his antennae look fuzzy, and it looks like he has big black eyes and a little pink nose. This guy had about a 4 inch wingspan and the "eyespots" on the wings are to deter preditors. I really like the soft green color, too.

I really marvel at some of the creatures that have been put on this earth.... although I see no use for most of them...( fireants, roaches, beetles, SPIDERS, mosquitos and flies)..... I do like to watch the butterflies and moths. Even an occasional praying mantis fasinates me.... as long as it is OUTSIDE and not crawling on me...lol !!!

Until next time!

Times have changed

Today, I was thinking about how life can change in a minute. take for instance the tragedy at the Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. These people are so set apart from the world that you wouldn't think something so horrific could have happened in their community. Evil is everywhere and it will affect us all in some way or another.... I wish there was a way to stop it, but I am afraid it is just a small drop of what is to come. It is very sad to hear about innocent children having to experience such evil. They didn't do anything to deserve such treatment. I really feel for the families that lost their girls... I pray our Father in Heaven will watch over them in their time of need and that they may be comforted at this time. I remember that I never felt unsafe growing up. My friends and I would be outside all day and roam from house to house from morning 'til nite and I don't think our parents ever worried about where we were and if someone would abduct us or come to our school and pull out a gun and start shooting! I sometime wish we could go back in time and the kids of today could feel that safe, too. Well, that's about the most depressing blog yet! Maybe next one will be a better one!

Okay.... so I started the blog and now how to download a pic ??? I have a TON of pictures and I think the one I will try first is of my Mom and Dad.. they recently moved back to Utah, and they seem very content to be at the base of Mount Nebo. So what better pic to try out than of them with the mountain in the background?

Mom and Dad have been through alot in the 20 years it took them to get back to Utah. There have been ups and downs and lots and lots of trials! But one thing was constant. The love and strength of their marriage. It would have been easier at times to give up and call it quits, but that is not in either of their vocabularies, which is a real inspiration to me. Dad went through several setbacks with job losses and layoffs, but when he couldn't, Mom stepped up and helped get them through the crisis. Dad once told me that it nearly killed him to know that Mom was making more money than he was...he felt like a failure. Mom didn't see it that way. She felt that in marriage, you try and keep trying, and you do whatever is necessary to get the goal accomplished. I admire that. I sometimes wonder if I would have the same strength to do the same.

This my first entry on a real live blog....ooooooooo.... are we all impressed? I love being on the computer, which is both good and bad. The good is that my hubby can watch a ball game and not have me bugging him with chatterand questions about the game, and the bad is that I tend to stay on too long, which means my house suffers as a result! No matter. There is always tomorrow.......... or the next day! lol.I live in Georgia, which is a long way from home for me, but I am biding my time until I return to good ol' Utah. I came out here to be a nanny for a family 20 (choke...gasp! ) years ago, and met my beloved. Now I am stuck here waiting for the oportunity to arrive that will guide us back home again. Not that I don't like Georgia, it has to do with being closer to family and friends....the older I get the stronger the desire to be among familiar faces and a slower pace.We have two dogs. Tinker, the older one is 7 years old. He is a german/lab mix and the most loyal lovable LICKITY dog there is! He found us when he was six weeks old and has found his was into our home, our hearts, and our bed!Bandit is our clown. He is an Aussie mix, and I think the "mix" part of it is that of a tigger! ....... bouncy bouncy bouncy....fun fun fun fun fun.... the most wonderful part of a tiggerdog, is that I own the only one! He was given to us by a co-worker of Roger's, because her husband said no to a dog in a house full of cats! He is 5, and acts like a 3 month old! Needless to say, there is never a dull moment.Roger is a paramedic....and a darned good one at that! The only downfall he has is "burnout"....that is, he no longer is able to tolerate 911 calls.... therefore, he works for a non-emergency service that transports the elderly from the nursing home to the hospital, or an occasionally hospital-to-hospital transfer. He really enjoys working with the elderly.... especially the vetrans of WWII and Korea--which statisfies his history-learning bug that lives in his cranium. He is very knowledgeable in both medical and historical subjects. I have learned alot from him over the 18 years we have been married. He is my rock and I love him dearly... even if he makes mistakes! For the last year, Roger has been hitting the weights due to lower back surgery that left him unable to mountain bike anymore. He has become quite the bench presser, too. My only request to him is that he doesn't overdo it and have "ape arms".... I really don't like that! He is careful to stretch after each exercise to be sure not to appear ape-like, but I occasionally catch him looking himself over in the mirror "posing like an ape" . LOL !I have been a dental assistant for 14 years now and have worked with only 2 dentists during my career, which, in the dental field is a rarity. I have been fortunate to learn on the job and have worked with very good dentists with calm personalities... I have known too many assistants and hygenists that have had instruments thrown at them or have been humiliated by better-than-you dentists, and I am sure I would not be in this field if I had been in a position of that kind. I also took an EMT course early on in my 20's , where I earned my EMT license, but found that I am too emotional to handle the death side of emergencies... I can handle blood, lost limbs, fractures, car accident scenes, stroke, heart attack, diabetic problems, and illness.... but I don't handle children being killed by an estranged husband, grandpa Henry dying of terminal cancer, and stillborn infants. That is why I choose dentistry. If you lose a tooth, it just isn't as traumatic!Well, that is it for tonite. I hope you enjoy our "get to know us" entry...feel free to comment and give suggestions as to what to do with this blog in the future...any help is appreciated!