Almost caught up

Kayaking on Lake Union


Cowboy gets used to his new tent (a vast improvement from his vestibule at Necklace Valley) and faces off with the Camel


Lyle Lovett at Chateau Ste Michelle


The Fosters are back in town


Tristan and Laura get married (and Chris wears the loudest shirt this side of the Rockies)

Rocky Mountain 4th of July

I'm still in catch-up mode with my blog, so please bear with me!

For the weekend of July 4th, we went to Colorado to see Chris' family and climb a mountain or two. We flew into Denver and drove to Durango, so we were able to meet up with David and Brendan while we were in Denver. Patrick and Kimberly drove down to Durango with their pooches in tow (including the newest addition, lady Lucy). In addition, Brett and Victoria met us in Durango for a BBQ at the house and a hike on Engineer, and Darren and Kendall surprised us with a quick visit. We had a great time golfing (the boys), shopping (the girls), and relaxing together. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Family, friends and furballs:


Climbing Engineer:

Prom #2

I went to not one, but TWO proms this year! Not bad (or maybe not good) for a married gal in her 30s.

In April, we had Promza, in the form of the Bonza Bash. This was my opportunity to get all spiffied up and finally attend a prom where I have a handsome (and taller) date who I like. We went with a fun group of friends and felt no need to sneak out to find a "real" party after a couple songs. If you missed the recap, you can see it here.

In June, we had the Dudley Manlove High prom, presented by the Brian Winter's Project. This one was a flashback to the 80's, giving me the chance to reinvent my own prom memories. Once again, I had a handsome and taller date who I like. Even better, I didn't have to wear heels or taffetta -- I got to wear a white belt, capri leggings and Keds instead. When those clothing items were "in" (the first time...apparently, they are back), I wasn't quite cool enough to get away with wearing them. I'm not quite cool enough now either, but I'm old enough to not care anymore.

A sampling of other memories I reinvented:

• No rancid butter in the cake frosting. Actually, no cake at all. Replaced cake with a full bar.
• No "Shower Me With Your Love" as the theme song. I didn't replace it with a new one -- it was enough to just remove that one from my memories.
• No Mrs. King to kick out my date for not wearing a jacket. My husband wore an "I slept with Debbie Gibson" button and considered that to be going all out.
• No petty girl drama about something that I can't remember -- all I can remember is that it had something to do with Jeri (I think).
• No sneaking off as quickly as possible to go dancing at La Cave surrounded by layers of pastel-hued taffeta (none of which were mine -- I was in my wear-nothing-but-black phase)

The only thing I need to do to make my "new" 80's prom memories perfect is to draw Kristy into them. That shouldn't be too hard to do.

Of course, I have pictures:

Chip-chop ham

I'm on the wrong computer right now so I don't have access to all of my pictures, but I realize that I'll NEVER get around to updating this blog with our chip-chop ham adventures if I keep waiting until the stars align and I happen to be sitting at the correct computer with some free time on my hands. It's funny how much less appealing it is to sit behind a computer when the sun is shining.

So yes, chip-chop ham. And Amish rustlin'. And, most importantly, taking Chris back to western PA to visit my dad, Joan and their menagerie of pups! This was Chris' first trip to that part of the country, and it was fun (for me at least) to show him where I spent my childhood summers with my Grandma. We walked through Buhl Park, we checked out the Sharon Country Club (as a kid, I thought only royalty got to enter the Country Club), we shopped till we dropped at the Shenango Valley Mall. My dad took us on a drive to see the college where he's a perfesser and we stalked some of the local Amish.

We also had chip-chop ham. I don't know why I love chip-chop ham so much, but I do. It's just your regular run-of-the-mill chipped ham cooked in a sweet bbq sauce, then spooned over a bun like a sloppy joe. But there's something about it -- it's heaven. And I don't even really like ham. I associate it with summers with Grandma, I guess. I can't imagine that I'd like it nearly so much if I had it anywhere other than western PA.

We spent most of the weekend catching up with Joan and my dad while watching Connie (Jack Russell terrier) jump through the air while Sophie (greyhound) ignored her and Chaos, Mindy and Momma (chihuahuas) alternated between running from or barking at us. It was a really nice weekend, and we had a good time relaxing with family and enjoying the sights and sounds of the Shenango Valley.

As I mentioned when I started this post, I don't have access to my full-sized pictures from this computer. However, I downloaded a few from my online photo album for your viewing pleasure:

Hair by Cowboy

Dogs are often cute, but sometimes they can be gross too. For example, Cowboy has this habit of drooling when he's in the car. We don't know why -- it's the only time he drools, and he doesn't drool every time he's in the car. But he does it often enough to put drool streaks down the sides of the rear windows and doors. That's already gross enough. But today, just as I was stepping out of the car, Cowboy decided to do one of his massive fur-flying, tail-whipping shakes. This particular shake also caused the threads of drool hanging from his jowls to go jetting across the car...directly onto the top of my head. I didn't realize quite how much drool had landed on my head until I was running my hand through my hair while standing in line at the post office. Yuck.

Slip

"I would never buy anything from Starbucks," she declares while sipping her Peet's coffee. Excuse me hon, but your ignorance is showing.

Lazy Girl

I apologize for the long hiatus from the blog -- a combination of busy work days and sunny evenings has conspired to lure me away from the computer and my blogging duties. Stay tuned for updates about

• Amish rustlin' and chip-chop ham
  
• DMQ prom
• Scree fields and Rocky Mountain monsoons