SOLD

This week has been an emotional roller coaster for Troy. He kept going back and forth about whether or not it was the right choice to sell the '32 roadster. In the end, it sold for a very good price and I think he has made peace with the decision. He is sad that it will soon be gone, but I think he has decided that it was the right choice. He had a long chat with the gentleman who bought it and I think he feels good about the person that is getting the hot rod. We are both happy it will have a good home in Las Vegas.

in the garden...

I tackled sprucing up the garden this weekend. Last year I thought I was planting items that would come back this year and I wouldn't need to redo the flower beds at all... however... only a couple of the new plants came back. Not sure if I had bugs or what... or perhaps there was just too much snow. Haha!

Anyway... Askie and I spent some time putting in some new plants... some Coral Bells, Lavender, Sage and one thats a little more tropical looking that I can't recall the name of. Supposedly its great in direct sunlit, so I hope it does well this summer and lasts through the winter to return next year.

Here are a few photos...And here is what Askie did while I was slaving away... As the sun came up higher, he kept creeping over closer and closer to the neighbors car. Soon he was in the dirt between bushes. Silly puppy.
Then he just wanted to go to the balcony where he knew there was shade. Haha! Can't say I blame him... its been very hot out.

social networking...

I never really thought I'd get so into the social networking sites but lately I am finding it so entertaining to chat with old friends. LinkedIn and FaceBook have both been great for me in terms of getting back in touch with old high school, college and church friends. It's been very fun to see what everyone is up to. And its even been great for keep in closer touch with people I already talk to fairly often.... it's often distracting from other things I should probably be doing, but entertaining none-the-less. :)


The strange part is trying to sum up what has happened in your life in the past 15 or 20 years in just a few short sentences... haha! Today, for example, I was sent an invitation on LinkedIn from an old friend that I knew when I was at BYU. If I recall correctly, Kurt had just gotten back from his mission when we met.. probably late '92 or early '93? Unbeknownst to either of us at the time, he is also the cousin of a guy I dated in recent years (yeah that seems to be a pattern in my life - just like Jim and Troy... haha!!). Anyway, I think that quite a bit has happened in my life since 1993... But here is the quick summary I came up with....


" Let's see... when did we last speak.. 1993ish? The brief rundown is as follows - i graduated from BYU, got married, started working in the advertising agency world, and got a dog. Stayed in that industry for way too long and in the meantime got divorced. Went back to graduate school to get an MBA and then started working for the company I still work for now in the financial software/services business doing marketing. I dated a variety of people over the years since my divorce (including your cousin - small world, huh? Haha!) and then met Troy. So... living in Salt Lake and working at a job I love, dating an awesome guy, doing lots of volunteer work, and the proud 'mother' of 3 dogs - 2 Siberian huskies (my step-daughters) and my big Alaskan malamute. All is well! :)

Congrats on the marriage, the kids and law school! But really... Vegas instead of Colorado? I think you're nuts. Haha! :) "


It covers all the highlights (and the lowlights.. haha!) but, each time I succeed in writing such a short summary, it really makes me wonder... is that really all I have done with my life since High School/College/etc?
I really need to do some more exciting stuff!!

It's HOT!

Askie and I had a great weekend..... lots of lounging around, relaxing in the A/C (to avoid the sweltering heat), and even a few short walks. :) Askie's age prevents too long of walks, and the heat just magnifies that of course. But, he still enjoys getting out of the house and checking out the neighborhood. He inevitably gets glowing compliments from all the neighbors and kids that we run into, and he just loves it when they all come over to pet him and say hello. It's been so fun for me to have all this time with him, and I am happy that he is staying through next weekend too! Yeah!! However, it's supposed to be in the mid to high 90's all week... hopefully I can get him to wait a little longer into the evenings for his walks, when it will maybe cool off a little more! I don't like this heat much myself! haha!

Let's see... a few other fun things we did over the weekend.....

~ Troy, Colleen, Tommy, Sherri, TJ and I headed off to a wedding reception on Friday night for one of Troy's cousins... it was nice for us to see the extended family, and the reception was very nice. And, of course, everyone teased us about when we are getting married... even Uncle Victor. He told me to be sure not to let Troy get away from me. :) Haha!

~ On Saturday Troy and I got together with David and Cheryl Pace, and had a wonderful time! David is the Development Director for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and we both get along so well with he and his wife, that we just love spending time with them. The four of us went up to a party in Park City that was being given by a supporter and patron of the Dance Company, who also happens to be a very fun and nice woman. Beano (the hostess) was throwing the party for Andy's graduation (her sort-of surrogate son and former Italian teacher... also a supporter and patron of the dance company... and all around fun guy!) and it was a great party. There was a band, a delicious meal, yummy desserts, etc. And even a GORGEOUS view of all of Park City from her back patio. The view was seriously amazing! Anyway, the evening wouldn't have been complete without an aria performed by Andy... and boy, does he have a great voice! It was such a fun evening... we are looking forward to, hopefully, introducing David and Cheryl to the Symphony's Deer Valley Music Festival next month! Can't wait!

~ Also had a photo shoot with Steve over the weekend... great fun, as always!! He found this empty building that before being a club, was an old boiler room for the buildings on either side of it... cool exposed steel beams, steel railings and doors, brick walls, etc. It was very cool and he had a lot of fun working on all the lighting and props to capture the perfect shots. I have every confidence that they will turn out amazing! I can't wait to see them!

~ And the last big bit of news is that Troy has listed his '32 Ford on eBay.... the auction has been going for just about 2 days and the price has more than tripled from the opening price. Hopefully it will keep going right on up, and up, and up! It's been a very emotional thing for Troy to decide to sell the Roadster... as many of you know, restoring hot-rods was something that Troy really loved to do with his Dad. Since his Father passed away a few years ago, Troy has been a bit torn-up about whether or not to sell his '32. I have told him all along that it was completely up to him, and that I would support whichever decision he made - this past week, I think he finally just decided that it wouldn't be as fun without his Dad and that he really just needed the money and peace of mind a little more. So... I am trying to be supportive and I am very hopeful that the auction will go well. But, at the same time I know this is hard for him....

Which one??

I found THE BEST wedding cake toppers..... which one should we use?? Hahahahaa!
(the first two are the same topper, just from different angles)

Too funny! I was looking for a photo today to use on the book cover I am working on and I came across these..... they made us both laugh right out loud!

End of the block...

It’s the end of the first block for summer classes at the U. Today Troy finishes a couple classes (World History and Fatherhood – sadly because the Fatherhood class was one of his favorites and perhaps the most interesting) and tomorrow he starts a couple new ones (Advanced Spanish Grammar and an International Relations class). He of course also has a few classes that go the whole semester (Law and Politics, Geography, and International Business) as well.

He has been working so hard and I think he will have A’s in both of the classes that just finished! Yeah! I definitely do not envy all the work and long hours he is having to put in, but I am proud of him for getting it done and doing so well! Hopefully at the end of the semester he will have A’s in all the other classes too! So far it is looking really good for that!

PS – Askie arrives tomorrow! Yeah!!!!

Meet Yoshi...

Yoshi needs a new home - here are the details -

Kimberlee from Grand Junction, Colorado contacted us about Yoshi a tiny four pound apricot poodle that was dropped off at Mesa County Animal Services and was never claimed by his owner. They could not keep Yoshi any longer so Kimberlee took him in. Kimberlee has devoted her life to saving dogs from kill shelters and placing them in homes and now she needs help finding the perfect home for Yoshi.

We estimate Yoshi to be between 7-10 years old. He is currently living with 6 cats all of whom are bigger than him. He gets along fine with all of them. He also likes other dogs and has interacted with some as big as 65 lbs without any problems. He is neutered and current on all his shots, has a healthy appetite, and is housebroken (he lets you know when he needs to go potty). He has some tartar on his teeth so it is recommended that he eat hard food only.

Yoshi passed his temperment test with flying colors and he gets along well with people of all ages. He walks well on a leash but only uses three legs because his back left leg is folded back like a wing. We don't know if it was caused by a birth defect or an old injury but he can wiggle the leg and does not appear to be in any pain. He loves to get on his back and wiggle his body and even wiggles his winged leg when he is playing. Otherwise he is in perfect health.

We are looking for the perfect home for this wonderful, happy, playful little guy.

If you can provide the perfect home for Yoshi please contact Kimberlee at DancingPawz@msn.com or 970-250-1786.

If you can't adopt Yoshi you can still help by passing this email flyer on to people who may be interested.

MAYBE A GOOD PLAYMATE FOR ARTIE??? :)

Weekends are never long enough...

I have nothing terribly exciting to say, except for the fact that we had a fun weekend - although they are never long enough!! The time just flies by, and before we know it, its Monday again..

Friday night we went out to dinner with some friends (two other members of the RWDC Board and our new dancer, Andrea), over to the SB Dance "musical", and back to the restaurant for lots of yummy desserts! It was such a fun evening and we were so spoiled! Mark (friend from grad school and fellow RWDC Board member) is friends with the owners of the Metropolitan restaurant. Metropolitan is across the street from the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, where RWDC performs and where the SB Dance show was that night - so, its a great place to go before and after all our shows.

Anyway.... since Mark knows the owners, manager, etc he just calls and says we are coming, they reserve us a table and then make all sorts of yummy dishes for us, many of which are not on the menu. We just simply gave a couple guidelines (i.e. no shellfish for Troy and no seafood for me) and they were off. The only problem is, you kinda have to eat what you are served... a little bit of a challenge for me being as I am a tab bit picky, but I tried everything and kept an open mind. I even ate the tomato pancetta (sp?) - Not my favorite, but it wasn't too bad. We had 4 courses total.... 2 appetizers, and then a main course before the play. And then they brought us 5 desserts to try out and share after the play.... the desserts were by far our favorites! But the pork medallions were YUMMY too!!

It was so fun to just be spoiled and try all the new dishes. The play was fairly entertaining as well! Haha! The best part of the evening, of course, was the company... we loved getting to know Tracy and Andrea better, and we always love hanging out with Mark, so it was a just a blast. It's funny because between the 5 of us, there never seems to be a lull in the conversation and we cover a very wide range of topics... they finally had to kick us out of the restaurant so they could lock the doors and go home. Haha!!


P.S. Thanks for all the fun text messages over the weekend Shell (and Brett - haha!)... I loved it!

SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!

What a fun surprise in the middle of my Board meeting last night to get a text from Shelly saying she was at SPAMALOT!! Yeah!!! What fun!! Troy and I both loved it when the musical was in Salt Lake a little while back, and we still laugh about it!

After the Board meeting we went out for a late dinner with some friends that serve on the Board as well, and the newest dancer for the Ririe-Woodbury Company..... we talked and laughed about Spamalot (amongst other things) and had a wonderful time!!

So... in other news - I am not sure this was a wise decision on my part, but I accepted the nomination and have now been officially elected at the Vice-Chair for the Advisory Board of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. It will be quite a bit more time and energy than last season, and I will also be taking on a much larger role in the planning of the annual fund-raiser.... but I am looking forward to it! I think it will be lots of fun, as well as lots of work.

In addition to my new duties, Troy has also been nominated as one of the newest members of the Board. He accompanied me to the meeting last night and everyone really loved having him there (and I did too!!). He will be a phenomenal addition to the Board and will do a great job. In the past year, even without being a Board Member, he already did more work and more for the company than some of the long-time Board members, so I am very excited for his continued support (especially with my new larger role) and the fact that we will get to work more closely on everything this upcoming season! Yeah!!

Tonight we are off to "Revenge of Yoga, the Musical" with a bunch of friends and tomorrow the Salty Crickets Concert, as I mentioned. So on that note.... Happy Early Father's Day to all you men out there! Have a great weekend!!

Generosity and Gratefulness

Each day as part of my job, I listen to the radio show of one of our partners who sells our Mvelopes service. It’s a Christian financial radio show and I mostly listen to see what they are saying about the service. There is however another positive side effect to my listening to this radio show… from time to time I learn new things, hear things that make me think and ponder about my own beliefs or my relationship with my Savior, etc. The show is mostly about biblical teachings regarding finances and money. But today, for example, they are talking about dealing with a loss – not just financial, but emotional or physical as well. It really got me thinking how very thankful I am for the fact that I have the gospel in my life, and a firm belief in eternal life and eternal families.

Anyway, in the past week or so he has talked about generosity and having a grateful attitude… I think I can do better in those areas. I try to be a generous and thankful person, but I know I can do better. For example, after my birthday this year I had the best intentions of sending thank you notes to all of Troy’s family and my parents for their generous gifts. I bought the cutest thank you cards and everything… and yet, they still sit on my counter un-addressed and un-written. I had the best of intentions to show my gratitude, but intentions only get you so far.

I think I need to do better.

So much to do, so little time...

This weekend we will be forced to decide between a play that Plan-B Theatre Company is putting on and a dance/musical/play that SB Dance is performing.... Decisions! Decisions! There are just too many things that we want to do, and not nearly enough time (or money... haha) to do it all!


Saturday we will most likely make an appearance at the Salty Cricket Composers Collective concert to show our support for our friends. We love supporting their creative efforts and hearing the music that they create. We don't always love the music, but we love the experience of hearing their newest work. I am sure not everyone loved Beethoven the first time they heard one of his pieces... haha.


Anyway.... Troy continues to work very hard at getting straight A's, and it seems he may just accomplish it with flying colors. He still has 100% in one of his classes and is doing quite well on all of his other assignments and tests as well. He is even thinking of completing a master's program now that he is getting back into the groove of school. We'll see if the enthusiasm keeps up as the semester moves on. Haha!

California - Here we come!

OK... we have plane tickets! We arrive on the 3rd at about 10pm and head back to SLC on Sunday at about 5:30pm. No fun until we get there!! And we are looking forward to a big fireworks extravaganza!

I'm a pink kitty! :)

Yeah... Trevor is taking after Auntie Jen! Trevor has been a kitty all day today, and answering everything with a "meow". Hahaha!! For those that don't know this... apparently as a child I insisted for some period of time that I was a pink kitty (at least that's what they tell me...haha). Not just a kitty mind you, which would be odd enough, but a PINK kitty. I wonder if I was rebelling against our mother's distaste of all things pink? Because, really I am not much of a pink person myself... occasionally I wear pink and I have a couple pairs of pink shoes, etc. but its definitely not a staple of my wardrobe. Anyway, back to the strange kitty part... I am fairly indifferent when it comes to cats, but with most of the family allergic to them, I wasn't around them much as a child. However, the Peterson's had lots (and lots) of cats... perhaps that is where I got the idea? Haha!!

Last but not least... a quick "meow" to my little gray kitty, Trevor! (He obviously has a far better grasp on the reality of what colors cats come in than I did! Or maybe as Shelly said, its the gray shirt he has on.... haha!)

You know what just donned on me.... I bet Shelly told me to pretend to be a pink kitty... after all, she is always telling me that she is the boss of me...... humm..... interesting....

only 1 pair!

Can you believe it?!?! I managed to only buy 1 pair of shoes?? Shocking! Haha!
Here they are... well... mine are white, not pink, but you get the idea. :)
And really... I had no idea you could have shoe parties... but there's a whole site about it - http://www.shoeparty.com/index.asp. Colleen and I had a fun time hanging out with Sherri and her family and friends... and trying on lots of shoes! And I even got to drive the fabulous red Mercedes home... what a fun car! I want one! :)

Nothing else too exciting going on here.... Troy is swamped with school work but seems to be doing very well in all of his classes. He even has 100% after his first several assignments in his Geography class... way to go, Babe! He has been working so very hard and I am so proud of him for doing so well! It's hard going back to school after so many years, especially when you are taking twice the normal load, plus working. Yuck! It's a ton of work, but he's managing it like a champ!

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

I am not exactly sure what a Shoe Party is, but I am looking forward to finding out tonight! I assume its kinda like a "Tupperware Party", or "Jewelry Party" or a "Jean Party"... but the important part is that this one will be SHOES! :) And I KNOW you can NEVER have too many shoes!! Hahaha! Who knows... maybe instead of coming to Cali for a weekend I will spend all my money on new shoes!! (Teasing... mostly. haha!)

Lobster...

ok... so this weekend I thought I would take advantage of some free time while Troy was studying and sit out at the pool with a book for a little while.... I carefully applied my 30 spf sunscreen and headed out with my sun hat, book, ipod and refreshments. About an hour and a 1/2 later (maybe 2) I head back inside, and then head off to go hang out with Troy.

And while we are out shopping, having lunch, etc..... boom! Bright red arms... and I do mean BRIGHT! How sad is it that 30 spf sunscreen can't even keep me from getting burned these days??? I think it must be a bad bottle, or perhaps needed to be shaken up.... but seriously?!?!? OUCH!

Next weekend I may opt for filling my free time with an indoor project like finally painting the basement... Or perhaps finally cleaning and organizing my office... it's only been 2 yrs since I moved, afterall... haha! No more sunburns! They hurt! (And that goes for you too, Michelle!)