Vegas Vacation

Teddi and I with baby Harlee

John and Julie

Grandma Cole and Alecia

All the kids at the Shark Reef

Swimming at the Luxor Pool

Cliff family was here from Colorado so we went and met them is Las Vegas for a fun day with the kids. Teddi came over and met us with Harlee, Olivia was with Dean, and we went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay , then John and Julie took the kids swimming, Teddi and I had lunch and talked for awhile, and Cliff played the slots. After Teddi left with the baby, I met Cliff and we went out and watched the kids swim for awhile and then played the slots a bit more. Didn't win and didn't lose so that's a BIG win HAHA

Later we met John, Julie and kids for dinner. We ate at Taco's and Tequila at the Luxor and it was an absolute joke. We had 2 beef burritos, 2 chicken taco orders, a bowl of soup, and 3 quesadilla's with soda's and the bill was $172.00. If Vegas is hurting for business, it is their own fault. The food was mediocre at best, with modest servings. I could not believe it. They have lost their minds if they think people will put up with that crap, it is an insult to your intelligence.

Anyway all in all a very fun day and so nice to spend time with the kids and family. Everyone is going home tomorrow, other than our kids, then it's just movies and pool time the rest of the week.

Spring Break

Well Cliff is home from Grand Junction with the kids for Spring Break. He is taking a couple vacation days and so they will be here for 10 days and I am going to enjoy every minute. The weather is suppose to be good so here we goooooooooo. I am still recovering from my surgery and doing really well the whole thing has gone smoothly. Much better than I had anticipated. Not to say it's not painful, but I am much more mobile than I had anticipated. The trip to the funeral was hard but I made it and was so glad I did. Now I just have to try and not 0ver do too much with everyone here. I laugh as I say that cause I know me. In fact I am about to go out and mow the lawn and weed right now. Shouldn't maybe but it's been over a month so I think it will be alright. Besides, Cliff's Mom and Dad, Aunt and Uncle, Sister and Brother in Law and kids are going to be here this weekend, so I want the place to look nice.

Alecia is pretty as ever and Cheyenne gets more beautiful the older she gets. Chey looks like she has grown a foot and is clear up to my neck now. She has that look of a California blonde with the cool laid back personality to match it. We bought her a new bike today so she can go see her little girl friends down the street. Cliff went to get her old bike out of the shed and it was so small it might fit Gabbi so off to Walmart and a new ride.

Uncle Jim's Funeral

Teddi, Donnie, Charlee, Harlee and I just got back from Uncle Jim's funeral. We took Teddi and Donnie's truck and left on Tuesday and drove to Meridian and stayed at Best Western in Meridian. It was a long drive but we enjoyed it. There was no drama , a few tense moment's with my cops and robbers HA, but no overt drama and that made me happy :). The funeral was really nice and it was wonderful to see everyone. Mom, Diane and Jan stayed at the same motel and we got to visit a bit. It was a long drive back and I drove from Ogden to Cedar City and have no idea how. I was so tired and my surgery was killing me even with the pain pills. Really stupid of me to be driving but wanted to get home as Cliff and the kids were coming from Grand Junction and were just about a half hour in front of us and I wanted to be home ASAP to see them. The baby was so good on the trip she just smiled and was so sweet and is such a good traveler.

Dat Not Scary

Had a good weekend. Gabby wanted to go see the ducks so we took her to the duck pond. She just loves animals and gets so excited to feed the ducks and watch them swim around and fight over the bread crumbs. So we were standing there feeding them when this great big swan comes lumbering up to get some bread. I mean he was so big he was almost up to my boobs with his neck stretched out. I tried to shoo him back but he just kept coming. Gabby turned around and ran to me and I got her and she kept saying "Big duck not scary huh Grandma, he not scary. But you could see the terror in her little face. She was trying so hard to be a big girl it was the cutest thing even. Charlee got her in the car cause the dumb thing wouldn't leave us alone and was trying to "quack " us. Once we were in the car Gabby wanted to ride it. What a kid.

Watched the race on Sunday. It was in Vegas and this is the first time we have missed it in years. Tony was really disappointed but sometimes that's just how things go. Carl Edwards won and his sponsor is AFLAC whose mascot is a duck so that was apropos for the weekend. LOL Jeff had a fast car but hit the wall about 3/4 thru the race and that was that. I didn't even watch the end of the race cause I was talking to Toby. We got off the phone and I saw we had been talking for 2 1/2 hrs. The bad thing was I had been giving Cliff a play by play of the race and when I got on the phone with Toby I forgot I was txting Cliff with what was happening on the track. I just left him hanging. He kept txting "what happened, who won?" I felt so bad, what a dingbat!

Well This Is Me

I stole this from Charlee Ann's friend, TJ Tanners , facebook page. I don't know if he wrote it or if it should be credited to someone else. If he did not write it, it still sounds just like him and I thought it was well worth sharing.

"Well, this is me. I would say I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not.
I excel at not giving a shit.
I'm a lover and a fighter. I'm not a cheater or a bleeder.
I have no interest in being a good person or a bad person or proving to you I'm either one of the two.
I do not need your approval to be who I am or to act the way I act.
Chances are, if you're offended by anything I say or do, you need a sense of humor.
God has given me everything I need; family, friends, and a drive to never make my life mediocre.
I don't have respect for people who don't respect themselves.
I refuse to be weighted down or become a crutch to anyone's weak mind, low confidence, or lack of character.
I believe in karma and avoid meaningless drama because it is a reflection of where my life has been not were it is going.
I think respect, loyalty and integrity are a lost art.
Things that were once the cornerstone of someones character are now a punchline.
Terms, more often then not, prostituted, to bring meaning to the hollow.
I am ever-changing, ever evolving as a human being.
I have and will make mistakes and will never look down on you for yours.
I will never hesitate. I will act without restraint, keep an open mind, and live every breath with passion.
I am strong, controlled, focused and persistent and will never stop improving my position in life.
Surprise me, enlighten me, prove me wrong, prove me right.
Prove to me your worth knowing... "

James William Dodd Jr.

My Mom's oldest brother, James William Dodd Jr. passed away this morning. Uncle Jim was so much loved we will all miss him more than I can say.

I have so many memories of Uncle Jim. He was so tall, I imagine about 6 ft 3 inches, that I thought he was scary when I was a little girl just because he was so big. Whenever we would get out of line he'd tell us , "You better knock it off before I cloud up and rain all over you." I laugh now but I can tell you we straightened up immediately when he said to. We did not live around him and Aunt Jody too much when I was real young but I did get to know him when I got older and really learned to love him very much. I also remember once when I was real young him and a friend of his trying to fry an egg on the hood of his car out in front of Grandma Dodd's house in Mesquite.

I also remember when I was young finding out that Uncle Jim smoked. That made him all the more the "romantic rebel" to me. I was amazed he smoked because in an all Mormon family that was so far out of the norm that it was almost unbelievable. He never smoked around any of us and didn't want anyone to know, and I'm not even sure how I found out, I just remember being sad that our family was so judgemental that he had to be ashamed of the fact. I remember that Grandpa Dodd loved to drink coke and back in the day that was about as bad as drinking a beer would be today. He used to hide his coke in the shed out in back of the house in Meridian and he and I would sneak out there and have a "Co-cola" away from the watchful eyes of the family. Anyway at some point Uncle Jim was able to quit smoking and I was always glad that he was able to quit so he didn't have to feel ashamed anymore. I always remembered that years later when I married Angelo and he smoked and a few of the younger kids in the family would tease my kids and tell them we were not going to heaven cause their Dad smoked. It amazed me that people could be so amazingly dense on a subject generation after generation. I have since learned to forgive the lack of understanding but still feel sad that so many people in our family have been made to suffer. In the last few years Uncle Jim was blind and had both legs amputated from diabetes. I hope he is running around in heaven seeing the sights.

Teddi Jo and Uncle Jim had a special bond that developed when we lived in Idaho in the early 2000's. Lord knows my kids needed someone at that time, I was such a mess. I will always appreciate Uncle Jim for loving my Teddi and providing a father figure to her when she so needed one. So rest in peace Uncle Jim and tell Dad we miss him and please hug his neck for me!

Still Recovering

Well I have spent this week just laying around recovering. Mom has gone and visited some of her friends and some of the family but other than going to lunch with her and her friend, I have pretty much just stayed home. We did go to the doctor today and he took two of my drains out and that was such a relief. They have been the most painful part of this whole deal. I have to wear a belly band that keeps pressure on my back to keep any fluid from collecting around the wound and there were two drains coming out of my back and then one out of my new boob. The elastic of the belly band stretches so it pulls on the drains and makes them so so so sore. It was such a relief for him to get two of them out especially the one on my boob it was the worst. When he started to remove them I told him that I had taken a pain pill before I came so that I could stop myself from peeing my pants when he pulled the drains out. I mean they are under the skin about 6 inches so it is not fun for him to pull them out when that skin is so inflamed . Anyway he told me how much he appreciated me not peeing my pants HA So now I just have one and it's much better. He is suppose to take it out next Tuesday but I wonder. It was collecting about 45cc's of fluid when it had the back up drain there and now it's up to 80cc's so we will see. It has to be below 30cc's for two or three days before he will remove it and I can't see that happening by Tuesday. If he takes it out too soon then the fluid collects under the skin and they have to remove it with a syringe. I don't want that so I will be patient.