Family Reunion

In July our family went to Lake Tahoe for our family reunion with my Baird/Watson side of the family. We had so much fun with the family and as I stated to my aunt, it was such a great weekend because there was little drama! I loved it. Lake Tahoe is beautiful and I realized I really don't take advantage of living so close to such a beautiful place. I think we are going to make an annual trip each summer from now on.

Here is a short list of some of the memories of the weekend:
Pasta night
Apples to Apples
Hot Tubs
Beach
Fishing Farms
Walks down to the lake
Guitar Hero
Bullet in my toilet seat?
Playing in the sand
Family Pictures in a sweet spot (Thanks Roy!)
Minute to Win it
Watson Men who are still boys
Duck Tours
Family BBQ
Homemade Life's Jam

Mostly I loved it because I don't get to see many people from this side of the family. Out of 60 people in our family there were 44 of us there. Pretty good. However, I am hoping for an even better percentage in 2013!

Kids are so funny

Had to document a funny statement by our crazy 5 year old, in the words of Tata:

While dropping off something at a friend's house, my lovely wife decides to visit for "a few minutes" as the rest of the crew and I sat in the car. Growing a little impatient, our 5 yr old asks, "Is it against the law to leave your wife behind?". I said, "No" and he responds with, "O.K. lets go home then".

Blogs and Flowers

I will admit I am sort of a blogaholic. There are several blogs I have booked marked and check often. OK, 61 in all. One of my favorite blogs to read is Three Men and a Lady.

Michelle and her husband went to the same college as we did. In fact I was in the same ward as Jake when we were single and then once we all got married we found ourselves in the same ward again. They are an amazing couple and I love that I can keep up on their happenings through their blog. I love how creative Michelle is. I am simply in awe of her mad design skills. I seriously can't wait to see what she does in her new home. I even brag that she was on the Nate Berkus show! (Because she was you know!) I secretly wish I could steal her away for a weekend and have her redo a room in my house.

I also love how she is always having giveaways. Seriously, you should check her out. You might even end up with some gorgeous flowers!

Wedding Anyone?

I will admit I got up at 2 am this morning and watched the Royal Wedding. O.K. it was kind of by accident. You see at first I was excited to set my alarm and join in the hype. But after a long week, I just fell asleep with the tellie on and didn't set anything. Surprisingly I woke up at 2 am as the wedding begin and I stayed awake.

Even from all the way over here on this side of the pond it was magical. I love weddings, and this was the wedding of all weddings. I want these two love birds to make it. There's is a beautiful love story and one that will last through the ages.

Besides this beautiful couple I love British weddings for another reason... Their Hats! Tell me you don't secretely wish you could pull off something like this...

or one of these...How they get those beautiful pieces of art to stay in place, I will never understand but I love the tradition.

Broken Bones?

I haven't been in the mood to blog for a long time now. I have started several posts on various subjects, mostly they have centered how our world was turned up side down in 2010, and then right back up. I've wanted to share what little knowledge I've gained going through the past 14 months of unemployment. How my faith has grown, how I feel my husband and I have gotten closer and all the blessings that has come from this trial. I thought about sharing my feelings about my husband going back to school and fulfilling his dream of becoming an attorney. Or maybe my feelings of being a "single mom" during the week as my husband works full time, commutes and has night class. How I am trying to stay positive and doing a lot of positive self talk about our new challenges. But to be honest with you all of that overwhelms me. I don't feel like writing a blog about my feelings, sometimes I am not even sure what they are. I can't try to be witty, funny and find a creative way to express myself. So instead I am just going to tell a funny story of my adorable 5 year old.

I surprised him with a trip to the doctor for his kindergarten exam. After getting 2 shots (also a surprise) we had this conversation:

LG: "Mom, that lady who gave me the shots broke both my bones!"

Me: laughing, "No sweetie, if she broke your bones you wouldn't be able to walk."

LG: "Yes she did break my bones!"

Me: "Honey, I promise you she didn't break you bones, when she gave you the shots."

LG: Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument finally relented and said:" Well then she cracked them."

I couldn't stop laughing at his perception of reality. He really thought she broke his bones. What a cutie!

Walking on the Wild Side

I love these shoes. They make me feel sexy, wild, and a little crazy. I wish I was brave enough to wear them everyday! But sadly I am not.

Are we really that stupid?

I am sure all of you are as sick as I am of politics. I seriously can't wait for November 2nd to be over; which is sad when I think of it because I used to love politics. I majored in Political Science and even worked for a Member of the US House of Representatives. However, as I have gotten older I have become more annoyed with the political process and the "politics" of government.

Maybe I am a cynic now; but sometimes I feel like I am choosing the lesser of two evils. I will be honest, in our last Presidential election I casted my vote as a write in. I wouldn't choose either of the two major candidates. However, I do spend my time researching the candidates and issues on my own. I don't just vote for a person because they happen to belong to my party. I don't just vote for a proposition because that is what my party wants me to do. I don't vote based on those annoying TV commercials or any mailer I receive.

Most people I talk to don't even know the issues, they only know what they see on TV commercials. People generally don't watch debates anymore and I feel that the responsibility to actually vote is taken lightly. It's a big deal in our country to have the right to vote. All of this leads me to the title of my post.

As Americans, I feel we do have a responsibility to vote, and most importantly to vote responsibly. A friend of mine was out campaigning for a candidate and began a discussion with one of her neighbors. The neighbor explained that one day she was riding with her son in his "professional touring car" (what ever that is... I am guessing something that makes the car extra expensive) a campaign sign for a candidate for governor flew from the side of the road and scraped the side of her son's car causing some damage. This woman has been trying to get a hold of this candidate and fully expects to be paid for the damage to the car. She also stated that because the sign was blown by the wind and damaged the car, she was voting for the opponent! Seriously???? That is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Putting a person in office just because the opponent's sign scraped the car? I just don't know what else to say other than to wonder if we might actually be that stupid!