A week with Ebony

This last week I had the pleasure of taking care of a co-workers dog who is...you guessed it, named Ebony. Ebony is a 6yr old black lab who lives for fetching tennis balls and taking invigorating walks. I decided to "borrow" Ebony for a week to see if I was ready to get a dog of my own. I wanted to test the waters so to speak, to make sure that I was ready to make a commitment, and get a dog of my own.

While I did enjoy coming home from work to find her sooooo excited to see me, I found that my long hours at the office made me worry about leaving her alone. I also liked taking her out for long walks, even though she really was walking me. (that dog almost knocked me to the ground! I wasn't paying attention and she decided the cat down the street needed to be barked at and took off)

While I enjoyed having Ebony for the week, I have come away from this experience knowing that I will not be getting a dog anytime soon. It isn't that I don't want one, I just found that I really had a hard time with all of the fur that had taken up residence on my couches, beds and floors. I also learned that I am allergic to dogs.

I am thankful that I had the chance to try out a dog before getting one. It would have been pretty hard to get attached to one just to have to give it up do to allergies. I wish there were other things that I could test out before I bought them.

A quick trip to Oregon.

Last weekend I took advantage of some free time that I had and headed to the Oregon Coast. I met up with my mom and a family friend at Lincoln City where we shopped at the outlet mall and enjoyed all that the beach has to offer. It was a balmy 60 degrees on Saturday, not bad for the ocean. After relaxing for a few hours I left Sue and my mom and headed to King something to spend a couple of days with my friend Jill.
I got to Jill's house at about 6:30pm where I got a quick tour (the gardens by the way our so cool) then we headed off to Corvallis for dinner and a movie. We went to see the new Traveling Pants of the Sisterhood, or something like that. It was a cute movie, definitely a chic flick.
The next day I got to go to church with Jill and her mom. I always have fun going to other wards,(I don't really know why). Everyone was so nice and it was refreshing to see that you truly can go anywhere and find the same personalities as you have in your own ward.
Later that day I watched Jill create an AMAZINGLY YUMMY chocolate cake! Jill possesses a talent that I only aspire to have. Case in point, my family bought me clear lids for my pots one year as a joke, so that I could see when I am burning something.(Such support) Jill's friend had a birthday party that evening which Jill made sure that I was invited to, since she was bringing the cake and all. This family has the coolest house! It was straight out of a Swiss Family Robinson movie. They live in a log cabin and have a rope swing, great decks that are surrouned by a lot of trees to run around in and climb.
Sadly, the weekend came and went too quickly. Jill and her mom made me feel so welcome. It was difficult for me to get back in the car knowing that a 4 1/2hr drive was ahead of me. It was such a relaxing weekend (which gets lost in the hubbub of daily life all to quickly)Thanks again to Jill, her mom, my mom and Sue for making it well worth the long drive.

Happy Birthday to me!

Thanks to everyone for helping to make this years birthday so great! It has been a busy week with many b-day lunches and dinners. I loved all of the cards that I received, they were very funny! Jeff got me some really cool headphones that block out all of the noise which I love.

Kaesha got me a framed picture of The Prayer at Valley Forge, which is hanging next to my copy of the Family Proclamation and the Constitution. (I know I'm weird) I love the inscription on the bottom of the Prayer at Valley Forge, it shows how much our founding fathers relied on our Heavenly Father for guidance; something that, sadly, is lacking in our government today.

The inscription says, "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of almighty God and those who have the superintendence of them into His holy keeping."

Thanks again everyone for all of your well wishes!