Productive saturday.

So Tim and I are both guilty of getting these crazy ideas every once in a while. 3 months ago I had the crazy idea to get a puppy. Next thing you know, we are flying to Idaho and then back... with a 12 week old boxer and are absolutely, totally unprepared for puppy-parenting.

The other day Tim says to me, "So, I think that we should get a new car. Trade in the FJ."

My response, "HUH?!"

We JUST got that car a year and a half ago and it is a sweet ride. I mean, true, it gets horrible gas mileage and is the one part of our life that is completely opposite of environmentally friendly and it would be perfect for off roading which we don't really do. And Tim has an hour long commute each way thus enhancing it's crappy gas mileage BUT STILL. It's just a cool car.

So I was shocked.

And then he dropped an even bigger bomb: "I want to look at the new 2010 prius."

WHAT?! You're looking at trading in a cool SUV for a prius? Seriously? Granted the prius is very environmentally friendly but there is also a huge stigma attached which I was shocked that he wanted to associate with.

But, being the nice wife that I am, I went along with it, to humor him. Or so I thought. We went to the Toyota dealer where we got the FJ and test drove a new 2010 prius. I'm not even kidding you, these cars are AMAZING. They have an eco mode, an electric mode, and a power mode if you need it. And honestly, it probably has more space than the FJ. It has some zip too. And the new models just look cool. Plus I am a sucker for the "made from all sustainable materials" thing. And that's not even mentioning the 600 miles it gets per tank of gas. I was completely and totally blown away.

Apparently a lot of people are too. To get one, you have to put it on order. They are in pretty high demand especially in Washington because there is a law in place that says that you don't have to pay sales tax if you have the car before July 31 (only on the prius, no other car). On a $30K car, 10% sales tax- it's a pretty big chunk of money.

We were both so impressed, we decided to get one. It just makes sense in so many ways. Lucky for us, there was a car on route that would get to us before July 31 (thus the no sales tax). It had everything we wanted minus the sun roof- navigation, gray, bigger wheels, etc. I know I suck at explaining car stuff but it was one step under the highest package (which included the sun roof). We were happy. So this new little baby will be here in a few weeks.

Later in the day we decided to go on a hike and to the beach. We were talking about eco-duncan (as we are calling the new prius) and also about Winston (my 2005 mini cooper). Winston is almost at 70,000 miles and I have had him for 5 years. We were talking about how we will need to fix several thing on him in the next several months: his brakes are squeaking (new brakes/pads); he is due for a new clutch; needs a new windshield (it's cracked); needs a detail desperately.

Once we started adding everything up, we started thinking, holy crap. That is going to be thousands of dollars. We went home and jumped on the mini website (as well as Kelly blue book). Old Winston is not worth as much as we thought he would be. And the new Winston's are pretty cool.

Next thing we know, we are driving down south to the mini dealer and are ordering a new mini for me. Again, it just makes sense and I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner. The old mini is just going to continue to depreciate and we are going to have to throw so much money into it. Better to trade it in now and get as much as we can out of it and get a new car in return. Plus, by doing this, we actually save on monthly payments especially considering how much we would have to put into repairs.

So, I got a new "spicy" Winston. He will be red with a black top and I am going to tint the windows. He has the sport package, the premium package, and the cold weather package along with the souped up stereo system, blue tooth, ipod adapter, etc. Basically everything but the navigation which looks stupid in the minis because it takes up the whole circle in the middle of the dash which I think detracts from the authenticity of the mini. It basically has everything I couldn't afford 5 years ago including the dual pane sunroof which I am probably most excited about.

He is being built and will be here from England in a couple of months... now hopefully old Winston can just hang on until then. His brakes are not sounding too good....

Needless to say, it was a very exciting day. Tim and I are so spontaneous but, again, everything we did today just makes sense for us. Not to mention, it will just be fun to have two new cars!

A word on traffic and idiots. Same thing.

So Tim and I were driving down south on an afternoon where there would otherwise be no traffic. On this particular afternoon, we are SHOCKED to find traffic in an absolute gridlock. We sit there and look at each other, like, seriously? WTF.

After 40 minutes of this nonsense, we have made it about 2 miles and we find the culprit. Traffic is stopped because presumably some asshole ran out of gas and he is sitting on the freeway in a lawn chair READING A GOD DAMN BOOK. On. the. freeway. Are you out of your mind, dude? Not only are you retarded because you could get killed sitting there (why not read in your car?) but you seriously just wasted 40 minutes of my time in which now I have no feeling in my left foot from riding the clutch so hard going 5 mph in stop and go traffic.

But of course the logical thing to do is for everyone to stop and gawk so maybe I shouldn't blame this idiot entirely.

Pancreatic blah blah blah, what?!

So we were told that we would have an answer in 5 days about Bella's tummy problem. Only a few days pass and we get a message. Unfortunately we were out to dinner on a Friday night and it was from an unknown number so I didn't answer my phone. I call her back on Monday and here is what she tells me: She wants to run another $300 test to determine if Bella has pancreatic enzyme insufficiency. A disease, which, if she happens to have will have a $200 price tag for treatment. FOR EVERY MONTH for the rest of Bella's life. I do not mind the price so much, it just brings me to tears that she would have to be on medicine forever.

I just can't believe it. I mean, seriously. Are. you. kidding. me.

I mean, part of me thinks that maybe we should also test for brain tumors while we're at it. For all we know, her brain is just screwed up. Isn't diarrhea a symptom of everything? I'm sure we have at least another 200 tests we could do. I mean, hell, maybe she has cancer. Let's test for that! We'll biopsy her leg because maybe that's giving her diarrhea.

I know I'm making light of the situation but COME ON!

It's just getting ridiculous at this point. I did my research on the pancreatic insufficiency. Basically it's a disease in which the pancreas doesn't produce the enzymes that help to digest food. The symptoms are "cow pie" (lovely, I know) type diarrhea and extreme emaciation/weight loss (both of which Bella has). BUT the diarrhea is chronic and doesn't go in cycles like Bella's does. Also, this insufficiency is most common in breeds like German Shepherds, not boxers. In fact, it is rarely ever seen in boxers and it's mainly genetic. Seems like that would be a consideration.

Sigh. It just doesn't seem to really fit. Not like the boxer colitis or food allergy seem to.

What we don't understand is why we have to run all of these (ahem, expensive) tests before treating. I mean, seriously, we could rule everything in the world out by a million different tests but why not start with the disease that is most common in boxers (BOXER colitis). Treat her for that. If the treatment works, we know that's what it is. If not, THEN go to the next item on the list. And test. There is no harm in the treatment (it's an antibiotic). It just works or it doesn't. Seems like the best option.

Not test, test, test, until we hit. That is expensive and it doesn't make the puppy any better in the meantime.

So we are frustrated. This "specialist" is just seeming to be going down the checklist while meanwhile costing us thousands of dollars while promising to "find the cure" and telling us to "consider returning the dog to the breeder since she is a defective puppy." (At this point you should imagine me sitting in front of her with both of my middle fingers pointed at this stupid vet. SHE is the one charging us literally at least $2K for trying to FIND what's wrong. We just want the puppy we love to be better. Return her?? Eff you, man).

She is just being ridiculous. So we are calling our original vet to get her second opinion. If she concurs with this specialist, we will have the tests done through the original vet. Since the "specialist" is really not doing anything special there is really no need to stick with her. Anyone can shoot darts in the dark. And if that's the case, we'll go back to the first vet that we know and love.

The first of the bunch for this wedding summer...

There are about 6 weddings this summer that I know of, right on track with the amount of weddings that have happened every summer for about the past 6 years. As many of my friends are entering the baby zone, I thought originally that this summer would be lighter for weddings. But nope, does not appear to be so. We are going to definitely two of these weddings, possibly three.

The first was our good friends, Holly and Justin, on June 20, 2009. Tim went to school with Justin which is how I met Holly. However, Holly and I became good friends during the year that Tim and Justin were in school and she lived/worked over here in Seattle. Now they live east of the mountains in Wenatchee, Washington. We decided on their wedding day that we would go over earlier in the day to explore Wenatchee. Plus, it was a rainy day in Seattle (the first in about a month) and typically east of the mountains it's hot and sunny so we thought it would give us ample time to get out of the rain and enjoy the sun.

Here's a shot of the mountains just after we went over Blewitt pass. To get to Wenatchee from Seattle, you cross two mountain passes: Snoqualmie and Blewitt. Both were gorgeous on this day.

Tim drove to Wenatchee, I promised I'd drive us home. He had to get up for work at 4:30am Sunday morning and the wedding ceremony didn't start until 7:30pm so we knew it would be a late night. The thought was that if I drove, he could get some sleep on the trip home.

Just getting into Wenatchee. I had never been here before. Strangely, it reminded me of a weird hybrid cross between the midwest and Phoenix. It was small like the midwest and everything was "mart"... (Wal-Mart, Bi-Mart, K-Mart, etc) but the terrain was much like Phoenix (aside from the huge river flowing through the middle of the city).

AND... we made it! Who knew it was the apple capital of the world? Not I.

And another sign. I think they like to make sure you know where you are. Even though there are no other towns of this size even remotely close (thus also reminding me of the midwest)...

We found a little park by the river that was great to walk Bella through (yep, she came with us- she is a great car rider!) There was a little sculpture garden/trail that we wandered through. Right before we headed to the wedding we spent a frustrating 30 minutes here trying to get the damn dog to pee. She would not. Stubborn.

One of the sculptures that Tim took a picture of. It's overlooking the river and in the background is East Wenatchee.

And another sculpture...

There was a HUGE fire that day in town. It looked like a 3 story brick building had burned to the ground. I was fascinated. You would think Tim would have been, but nope, it was me that was totally enthralled. The streets were shut down around the fire so all I have is just one of the ladders shooting water onto the building (there were about 6 water ladders total coming at the fire in all directions).

The wedding was on a golf course in East Wenatchee so here is the bridge as we crossed the river from Wenatchee to East Wenatchee en route to the wedding.

The beautiful bride and her dad, getting ready to walk down the aisle.

Getting married... It was SO windy out. And usually Wenatchee is warm but it was FREEZING on this day. Like 60 degrees. So cold. At least it was sunny!

And one more picture of the bride and groom. Of course after this, we all headed to the reception... where I proceeded to take no more pictures. We didn't stay long at the reception as the wedding got over around 8:30 and we took off about an hour later so we could get home in time for Tim to get a couple of hours of sleep (it's about a 2.5 hour drive).

After we left the reception, we decided to take Bella pee. She was going NUTS. She did not know what to make of the blowing wind/dust. It was HILARIOUS. I was sitting in the car taking pictures of T and B because I was freezing my ass off.

Tim and Bella with an awesome backdrop. All in all, it was a great day. It was fun just to relax and explore and have some time in the sun. And of course, it was awesome to be able to be there for Justin and Holly on our wedding day. We love them and think they are a great couple and their wedding was absolutely gorgeous. It was a great start for the beginning of wedding season 2009.

The beginning signs of aging... or something.

As I mentioned in a prior post, I have two very large wrinkles between my eyes that as soon as I turned 27 became MASSIVE. As a sidenote, this was ridiculous. It was as if on April 29, these two crater wrinkles came to life and said, "Ok-she is now in her late 20s! Let's go! Out, out, out!!" And there they were. I kid you not. It's as if they are trying to be a picture of the crack in the grand canyon on my forehead. It's pretty cool other than the fact that I don't care to look like a walking postcard of the grand canyon. And makeup? It does nothing.

As I've mentioned before as well, I spent quite a bit of time in the sun as a teenager. This could be part of my problem but STILL. I think this is ludicrous. Even if I was showing signs of sun damage, how does it have any right to just pop up on me like this? It should be GRADUAL... and the full effects shouldn't show until I'm 40. This is stupid. And it gets worse everyday because they are the wrinkles formed by my "thinking" face... or "squinting" face... so every day at the end of the day, the crater grows just a little bit more. Totally lame.

I finally took matters into my own hands. I had my yearly skin check and asked my dermatologist about these wrinkles and about laser hair removal (a different story entirely). I am referred to their in-house person in charge of these areas so I make another appointment with her.

I go to the appointment and this lady is a total nut job. She proceeded to compare my face to a laundry mat, a factory, and a car. And as she is describing how in the world my face possibly relates to these things (still don't understand her analogies), she has her eyes closed and hands lifted almost as if I'm listening to the word of god or something. It was almost as if she was speaking in tongues. Maybe she was. Who knows. And the analogies she made about the laser hair removal! And the pat on the ass I got on the way in along with the comment, "You're so small and cute, I don't know how people manage to just not eat you up!" I spent the whole time trying not to just lose it and crack up. The amount of self control I exhibited will make me proud for a very long time.

Once I got past her little quirks, I realized she did have some valid pointers. Laser hair treatment= expensive but definitely worth it. I got sold on that. The craters= she told me I qualified for botox (ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? I'm still only 27!!) I am not saying I'm totally against botox, I just think I might screw myself if I start that at 27 so no thanks. And I'm not totally sold yet on the injection of poison in my face. Since I wasn't completely buying that, she gave me little vials of acne treatment to spread over my wrinkles. Huh? Seriously? She said that the area would look like total shit for 2-3 weeks at first (red, cracking, peeling) but then, it would just be glowing and the wrinkles would be much less prominent.

I started using the stuff a couple of weeks ago and holy crap. She was totally right. I still think she is psycho in saying that I need botox or that my face is a laundry mat but OMG but wrinkles are literally vanishing before my eyes. And this stuff is basically like concentrated vitamin A so it's making that skin look amazing. Of course the process of red, cracking, peeling skin is not so awesome but it's getting rid of the grand canyon that was on my face so I'm happy as a clam. I'm actually considering using the stuff all over my face just because it's made that little area of skin look so much healthier.

Below is a picture pre-wrinkle, vitamin A cream (click on it to see the grand canyon on my face up close and personal). I haven't taken a "post" picture yet but hopefully I will soon so that there is a good before and after comparison. I apologize for the vain-ness of this post but I dare any one NOT to be vain when they have craters in the middle of their face!

Seriously?! Seriously??

Yesterday Tim was working so I had puppy duty. I noticed that she was licking at the inside of her leg quite a bit. I look.

OH MY FREAKING GOD.

The inside of Bella's legs and her tummy were absolutely COVERED in a huge red rash. Shit.

Since she had just been at the dog park with Dallas the day before and they were running through tall grass, I figured that the grass had irritated her and she was having an allergic reaction. I throw her in the car and run to Walgreens to buy baby benadryll.

I give it to her and it seems to make her feel slightly better. Of course the stuff just knocks her out so I'm not really sure she feels better, just too tired to care.

A few hours later, I look again and it looks worse. These red bumps have turned into big whiteheads- like pimples. GROSS. Additionally, I've noticed that over the past few hours, her eye has gotten increasingly crusty and goopy and she has a little cough. And her nose is running.

SIGH.

At this point, I know I have to call the vet again.

So a week later, we are back there.

We find out that even though Bella was vaccinated against Kennel Cough (basically puppy flu), like the human flu vaccine, it doesn't protect against ALL strains so she probably came into contact with a dog that had a strain she wasn't protected against and since her immune system is weaker as a puppy she got this. "This" involves: pink eye, an ear infection, runny nose, and cough. Additionally the spots on her tummy are a skin infection, which is very common in puppies. Apparently puppies have lots of illness that are "common" and our dog gets every one.

So another $300 later and another bag of loot including MORE antibiotics, skin wash, eye drops, and ear drops, we are done with another day of being raped by the vet. Tim has a dentist appointment so I drop him off there and run home to give Bella a skin bath before I head back to pick him up.

We are exhausted after all of this. We still have no resolution about the tummy issue. The vet has promised that we will hear something back from her on that in 5 days so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Sigh.

Babies, babies, and more babies.

As we have just embarked on the journey of puppy parenting, a HUGE majority of my friends and people I know are on the journey of real parenting. This weekend a couple of awesome ladies gave birth to beautiful new babies: My cousin, Anne, had her baby boy (Connor) and my friend Jill had her baby boy (Brody). Anne, however, was about a week and a half past her due date and Jill was three weeks early. Anne's baby also weighed almost 10 pounds- big boy! I have never gone through the whole experience but I would think Jill was the luckier gal in this scenario at least in the birthing respect... both are totally blessed with handsome little boys.

Also, over the course of the past couple of weeks, I have found out that SIX, I repeat, SIX couples that I know are all expecting babies this fall. And there are a couple more that are expecting this summer.

When one of my best girlfriends from college, Wish, had her baby boy in March, I remember thinking how crazy it was that we were at this baby stage. I mean, friends had had babies before her but she hit close to home because we were the same age, similar paths, etc. So at this point I felt like we were past the wedding phase, on to babies (although, I swear, I still feel like there are so many weddings this summer!) It's kind of crazy to be in the baby stage. I do not feel ready at all yet but it sure is neat to watch my friends as parents, to see pictures of their beautiful kids and to hear all about their adventures into this crazy, foreign land called parenting.

Quick Trip to Eugene, Oregon

I actually can't really believe that my cousin is already graduating college. It makes me feel so old! I was old enough when he was younger to remember when he was a baby and everything about him growing up. So the fact that now he is a college graduate is just nuts! He graduated with a degree in psychology and a minor in business. I'm proud of him! We got into Eugene at about 3pm on Friday and then headed to the campus around 4pm. It's a really pretty campus. Eugene is a pretty cool town too. I was surprised actually. I didn't expect to like it that much, nor did I expect it to be as big as it is. But I think that coming from Lamoni, I always expect college towns to be smaller than they usually end up being.

The drive down was pretty uneventful and did take us around 5 hours. Since Tim didn't have much sleep, I drove the whole way. Man, was it boring!! I was fine until Portland but Portland to Eugene is about the same as driving through Kansas- BORING. Anyhow, we made it and caught up with all of the other family in town (my aunt, uncle and other cousin from California, my cousin's other aunt and uncle from Phoenix, and their grandma from Missouri). Below are all of the pictures:

Patrick standing in line waiting to receive his diploma.

And almost on stage... As everyone graduated, tons of people in the audience quacked duck quacker things (because apparently the mascot of the school is a duck). It was awesome.

After the graduation, there were photos (of course!) Here's Tim and I... finally a picture of us!

My brother and I.

And a group shot of everyone there.

And again. I think this one is clearer but I am too lazy to delete the other one.

A shot of the sign in the middle of campus.

At dinner after the graduation ceremony (Tim, me, my cousin Kristyn). I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. It was awesome!! It was really close to campus... we walked to it. We had our own little room for our party (the wine room) and my aunt and uncle brought their own wine and champagne for everyone. Delicious!

The next morning we had to be up fairly early for another ceremony. Patrick got inducted to the honor society so we went to that for him. Tim looks sleepy still.

After that was over, we dropped Jon off at Pat's and said goodbye to everyone. Jon doesn't fly out of town until Wednesday and is flying out of Portland so he can spend some time with Pat. We were going back to Seattle to pick up the puppy who had her first overnight stay. It was with Gina, Brad, and Dallas though (her best buds) so she was happy as a clam the whole time. That night Tim and I went out with Gina and Brad and had a blast. It was a great weekend!