I Am A Utah Man Sir

Our vacation in Utah is going by way too fast! We've visited with siblings, parents, cousins, and friends. MSH's 20th High School Reunion was sooo fun! It was amazing to see his friends, listen to their memories and watch them warmly reconnect. I wasn't going to go to my future 20th. But, I'm rethinking that. We are who we are. The silly High School stuff is long over. I would love to see long ago friends and know they are doing okay.

Back to the vacation! Our family has had a great time. Golfing, movies, parties, restaurants, running.... it's all been great. It makes going home difficult. Even though I love my life, I really enjoy my breaks too. I love seeing my Mom and sister. I love hanging out with MSH's family.

Utah is beautiful.

Answering the "Tag"

My fun sister-in-law, Marie, "tagged" me for some info. .... a fun blogger thing.


Jobs I've had:
1) Receptionist for a home builder
2) Tuxedo Junction
3) Secretary
4) Investment Broker

Places for weekend getaway:
1) Sonoma Mission Inn
2) San Francisco
3) Pismo Beach
4) Disneyland

Movies I can watch over and over:
1) Pride & Prejudice
2) So I Married An Axe Murderer
3) Star Wars
4) Harry Potter

Guilty Pleasures
1) Reading
2) Vanilla Ice Cream w/Carmel
3) Homemade Pumpkin Pie
4) Hot Baths while reading

Places I've Lived:
1) Utah
2) California
3) Nebraska

What I thought when I first saw my significant other:
1) He has beautiful eyes
2) He is way too "good" for me
3) This guy is soooo funny
4) This could be a good thing. I love his family.

Places I've been on vacations
1) Belize
2) Paris
3) Australia
4) Hawaii

Favorite Foods
1) Shrimp
2) Alaskan King Crab
3) Peanut Butter and Jelly
4) Ice Cream

IF in a "jam" with spouse, tactics used to get out of the doghouse:
1) Take responsibility
2) Apologize
3) Patience
4) Outpouring of love and kindness

Websites I visit daily
1) Blogs
2) Keto Diet Calculator
3) Barnes & Noble
4) The Bank

First kiss locations:
1) In front of Sues apartment
2) None others matter because that is the only one I want to remember

Places I'd rather be
1) Anywhere with my husband
2) Anywhere with my kids and husband
3) Hawaii
4) By a campfire

Cub Camp Rocks

This entire week has been filled with Cub Scout Camp. I volunteered as Den Leader for the week. It was tons of fun to be Isaac's Den Leader. Griff is a first year Webelo. Isaac a Wolf. Noah was my pal all week helping me run the Den. Because I was part of the staff, we arrived at camp by about 7:30 am. Setup and prep. work to be ready for my 8 fun wolf cubs. Each day ended around 3:30 pm. A very long day.

Some of my friends think I'm whacked for being at Cub Camp every year with my kids. But, I love the opportunity to be outdoors with them. I get to see them interact with so many other kids. We create great projects too. The highlights of the week were BB Gun shooting and Bow & Arrow target practice as well. Both Griffin and Isaac have great aim. Both hit their targets consistently. As long as they want me at camp with them........... I 'll be there.

Cub Camp was about 20 min. from me at a place named Kennedy Grove. It is a forest area above the San Pablo Dam. Love it. We had one day of rain. Of course these pix were taken on that day.

Cubscouts is a big part of our family life.

cth

Friendships

Lately I've been thinking how much I love and appreciate my girlfriends. I have some different groups of girlfriends, all of which I love and enjoy: family, church, school, neighborhood, bookclub.... All of these women have touched my life, made me a better woman, wife, and mother. I admire them all, whether younger or older than me, I can learn from each one. Supportive during trauma and stress. Trusting with inner thoughts and confessions. An ear to listen to my thoughts, hearts to empathize with me, brains to think, challenge, and debate with me, arms to hug and catch me with, and legs and feet to kick me in the _ _ _ when I need it. (I was thinking of the word "bum" - what were you thinking?)
One of my closest friends moved away about a year ago. Since that time, I think of her daily, call her weekly (because calling daily is a little obsessive - isn't it?) and thoroughly miss her. Because of her move, I've started to take notice of the women in my life that I adore. If you're one of my close friends, and you're reading this, "thank you" from the bottom of my heart. I follow your paths, take your advice, admire your strength, and most of all appreciate your time and love that you sacrifice for our friendship. I hope I provide for you the amazing friendship that you provide for me.

Cathy

I'm laughing just thinking about the way MSH would roll his eyes about the "mushyness" of this post:)

If you desire to respond to this blog - click on comments. Get a sign in name- it's not hard. But, just know that I love to hear from you.

4 - 4 Ticks On My Dog -Ha, Ha, Ha,

I awoke to my 9 yr. old son announcing that our dog had some slimy bulby thing on her side. What? Seriously, a grape sized bulb like thing. A tick!! The first I have ever seen!!

Back up with the story a bit..... Last week we cleared out the space under our 2 huge Redwoods. Lots of logs, wood, stones, rock, etc. Rototilled, placed rocks and put in plantings. It's the shadiest place in the yard and our dog loves sitting under the trees.

Well we must have upset the small microcosm under the redwoods. Since last week we saw ticks crawling on boys 1& 2, dad, and mom. Yuck!

I was completely yucked out. This is a part of adulthood that I don't like. I needed my Dad,Mom, or StepMom (all three have no qualms with bugs, spiders, etc.) to take care of this situation and fast.

At least I could usually wimp out and ask MSH (my sweet husband) to solve this nasty situation. But he's out of town. 7:45am I'm calling my neighbor, Peggy, to beg for help. She pulls out the first tick.

I'm not lying when I say that I was freaking out. A few tears were shed about the prospect of dealing with ticks this week. I was the first call to the vet and the Hardware store. Basically I asked for : "Anything to get rid of these ticks without harming my family, dog, or chickens!" I already use Frontline on my dog but quickly discovered I was a week late on her application.

Within the next hour we found 3 more. Apparently, I needed to "suck it up" and become as tough as my Mom, Dad and StepMom. I did it. 3 more ticks pulled off from the dog.

Just to ease my conscience, and get the "creepy crawling" feelings away, I vacuumed again (daily now), washed all sheets and pillows, completely checked all kids and dog head to toe and refused to let anyone outside until the tick spray works(a close to organic option - although at this point I don't really care as long as it kills every single nasty tick in the universe).

Blah!!! I'm still creeping out but I'm tougher for the experience and no longer afraid of the unknown. My Mom, Dad, Step Mom and MSH will all laugh at my wimpy behavior but I hope they'll be proud that I overcame it and moved on!!

New To The Blog World

[Photo]
I'm really excited about trying out the Blog World! I love my family and want so much to keep in touch without buggin'. So, I thought this would be a good way to journal our Holt Happenings and if people want to drop in and read/comments - That's great!!

Today is Sunday, July 8th. My sweet husband is leaving for Argentina tomorrow. As usual, I got really stressed today just about the idea of him leaving. He's my best friend and I love everything about him. He is a ball of energy and light. He's a great Husband and Dad and I really appreciate his dedication and support. We'll talk often and I totally support his career - so I'm actually happy for this opportunity too!! I'm really trying to focus on the positive things about msh's (my sweet husband's) trip.

I always stay up later and get many extra things accomplished while he is away. So, I'll share some of my list:

1. Fix boys' closet drawers
2. Remove remaining wall paper from my bedroom walls
3. Remove acoustic from my bedroom ceiling
4. Tape, mud, & sand bedroom walls
5. Cub Scout Camp
6. Poison all of the weeds outside
7. Get more mulch dropped off
8. Hire workers to spread mulch and cut down tall grassy weeds from the back fence
9. Keep veges picked

That's some of it. My Mom is coming to visit for a few days. I love her willingness to drop everything and just come down. I'm really bad at asking family members to come over and hang out or help because their own lives are so busy. It's nice that my Mom just comes to be with me.

I have the three greatest boys in the world. They are so amazing and full of happiness and light. We'll meet up with msh in SLC for his High School Reunion and Family Reunion. A great vacation time for all of us. July 24th in Utah is one of the greatest things ever!! Something my boys have never experienced.
I really looking foward to spending time with msh's family and my own too. Fun and parties!!

That's it for tonight.

cth