Here's Your Sign!

My parents moved out of the Valley in February but they are still only a few hours away.  While visiting them this past weekend we took a walk one evening through their neighborhood.  Here are the highlights of the walk:

Dad's first name is Scott:

Emily has a friend named Robby who dressed as Robby Hood for a youth archery contest at church.  Now many of his friends call him Robby Hood.  These signs were for him:

We were also adopted by two dogs along the way.  Two black Labs came running around a corner and ran right up to us.  Because the girls loved on them, the dogs decided to follow us.  They walked with us from Robin Hood Lane all the way back to my parent's house, which took about 40 minutes.  When we got home, we called the number on their collars.  It turns out that their family a) lives on the street where we found the dogs, and b) goes to church with my parents.  Too funny!  They were really sweet dogs.

The weather was a lovely change from the heat in the Valley.  Cool breezes.  Quiet streets.  Pine scent.  Street signs that made us laugh.  Adoption by furry friends.  All in all, it was a relaxing and memorable hour.

Summer Days

With my new job, I work every Saturday.  I'm not too excited about that, but it does mean that I have a day off during the week.  That was really nice during the summer, when the girls were out of school.  We usually took that day and played, often with family or friends.  One week we spent the entire day with my niece, Stephanie. 

We hadn't seen her dogs in a while.  I'm not really a dog lover, but my girls are animal lovers and were really excited to see Lillie and Riley. 

The dogs loved all the attention.

Megan didn't like the dogs jumping on her so Stephanie held Riley still.

Lillie made herself comfortable after saying her hellos.

Riley wouldn't sit still for a picture so Stephanie held him tight.

Stephanie came back to our house for hamburgers and hot dogs.  We should probably do that again.  We had a great time just hanging out with her.

Son of a Gun

David with DJ and Princess Lily

My older brother David lives in Colorado, as well. His pride and joy are his two grandchildren, DJ (Donovan, Jr.) and Lily, usually referred to as Princess Lily. We had so much fun with them when we were in Colorado last summer. DJ is so smart and loved to hang out with us.

Lily loves anything pink or anything with Disney Princesses on it (hence, her nickname). We went to Cold Stone Creamery one night. I asked Lily what kind of ice cream she was going to get. She said, "Uh, PINK!" Of course. I should have known!

David and his wife Nancy have three Rotweiller dogs that are spoiled rotten. They are like children to David and Nancy. In fact, David refers to his dog Spawn as DJ's Uncle Spawn. He has DJ convinced that Spawn is truly his dad's brother. It was pretty funny to listen to them.

In fact, the girls were highly amused by just about everything their Uncle David said. His wife Nancy is affectionately referred to as "The Redhead." My girls found that hysterically funny for some reason. The dogs failed to bark when we came home from Uncle Devon's late one night. The next morning David chastized them, telling them they were a "sorry excuse for guard dogs." It was like they knew what they had done wrong because after that they barked any time we entered a room. David called Megan "chickie" the whole time we were there. One day Heather shared a story with Uncle David. Instead of saying, "Wow, that's pretty neat," David said, "Well, son of a gun!" Heather laughed for months over that phrase. And Emily is convinced that Uncle David is a worse tease than their grandfather....and that takes some doing!

Nancy and David

The Little Drummer Boy

Devon and his pitbull Jade

My younger brother Devon lives in Colorado. He is the kitchen manager at a sports bar near where we lived growing up. He helped design the kitchen, did much of the physical labor on the kitchen, and is very protective of his domain. We visited him last summer and saw his restaurant. Very classy place.

Devon has a pitbull named Jade who is the most beautiful dog. She is very sweet-tempered and loving. The girls still talk about her.

Devon is the drummer in a local band. On their website Devon looks like such a punk, but he is still the sweetest guy you'd ever hope to meet. He cannot figure out why, but my girls adore him. While we were there, we attended a band practice and Devon let the girls pound on his drums. What a cool uncle!