First Day in Arizona

We spent 26 hours on the road from Oregon to Arizona. It's about a 20-22 hour drive straight through, but we made a couple stops along the way.

First in Eugene to see Nicole. Second was at a rest area in Northern California. Third was at the In-&-Out Burger in Redding. Fourth was to sleep for a couple hours somewhere outside of San Bernadino, we think.

Our first day in Arizona started at about 9 am, with giving hugs and kisses to Matt's parents and Miss Cindy Lu. We enjoyed breakfast at the local Denny's Restaurant. They have a new thing called Pancake Balls, kinda like a donut hole rolled in cinnamon & sugar.

We went out to Luke Airforce Base for an airshow. We saw the Thunderbirds. They put on a fabulous show. The weather is warm and comfortable.

Yes, a picture pumping gas in California....as Oregonians don't pump gas--it's the law

Dan

Tiger, dressed for the sun

Mount Shhhhhhaasta!

We found it! (with GPS :)

First meal of the day....

Californian sunset in the valley

Mommy and her son

Cindy Lu, at home in Arizona

Abi wrapped up in a book

Dan, Miss Lu, and Grandma

Dan & Grandma waiting for the Thunderbirds

Awesome, Awesome

Thunderbirds, wish you could feel and hear the rumble in the sky

Grandpa Norm enjoying afternoon nap with Bear

Oregon State Capitol - National Nurse Campaign

Photos from today at the State Capitol, and a link to the National Nurse Campaign.

Outside the Oregon State Capitol, Lori in white jacket

Pictured: Student Nurse Lori (2009), Nurse Shelly(2008), State Rep Mike Dembrow, Nurse Alisa, Student Nurse Craig (2010), Student Nurse Liz (2010)

Nurse Teri (President of National Nurse.org & her idea for creating an office of the National Nurse), State Rep Mike Dembrow (who brought the resolution to the floor), Nurse Alisa (secretary for the campaign & also Lori's school advisor), Mark Schwebke (American Federation of Teachers President)

Nurse Alisa and Nurse Teri at the Healthcare hearing, in which the resolution SJM 5 was passed today. Now Alisa and Teri travel to Washington DC to continue the campaign.

Winter survivors and signs of Spring...

With camera in hand this morning, we captured the winter survivors and springtime buds...

Peppermint in the garden

Magnolia Bud (Tiger in the background)

Blueberry buds (Bear in background)

Spring blooming blub (don't recall the name)


Miniture roses

More miniture roses, I like when they have the red color when they are young shoots


Honeysuckle vine along the side gate

Daffodils in the front yard

Ornamental Plum Tree (will have pink blooms soon)


Skeleton of a magnolia leaf

Sunday Driver....

Sunday was a study day for Lori, so Matt and Nicole took a drive along Hwy 58 with camera in hand:

Odell Lake

Crescent Creek

Crescent Lake with Odell Butte

Crescent Lake with Odell Butte

Diamond Peak

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart !

Seeing Orange...(a bit of overkill)......

I was traveling along a road to meet Matt at work today. What was unusual was the number of large orange barrel-type construction "cones". There were many of them, and no sign of road construction or changes to the road, or even signs to explain the cause for caution. In my imagination, could it be these barrels were purchased by the city and because of the cost, they need to justify the purchase by getting them out of storage and out on a road?

The road is clear, no sign of construction or any changes

If one or more of these barrels tips over, it's more of a road hazard

What is more unusual is about 1/2 mile down the road from these barrels is a small road repair area with normal-size cones--an actual road change/hazard.

Same road, different area, cones appropriately placed

A few years ago I was in a single car accident along a highway that had large, barrel-type cones. The cause of the accident was one of the barrels lying sideways in my lane of the highway in the darkness of the night on a curve. I had to swerve to miss it, which caused over-steering and I ended up off the road. It all ended okay, with minor damage and absolutely no injury (Thank you, Jesus). Therefore, I'm not a fan of unattended orange barrels. Small cones, not a problem.

Research note: Apparently the barrels are called channelizer drums, and run about $60+ each. And regular small cones vary from $6-$20 each. Interesting....

-Lori

Burrrrrrrr....cold on the feet....

We had a dusting of snow this morning.

Matt's at work, the kids are at school, and I have a day to catch up with school work. The puppies and I are hanging out together. I have my laptop, school books, Checkers, Tiger, and Bear surrounding me on the couch. I wish Matt was here:(

Wanting something to post, I grabbed the camera and set out to get a picture of the snow on the deck. I put Bear in front of the camera, he didn't like the cool snow. I put Tiger outside, and he kept going, not stopping for a picture. Checkers wasn't interested in going outside at all.

Burrrrrrrr...cold!

....and he's outta here....Tiger keeps going and doesn't look back at the camera

Checkers....prefers to stay inside

I stepped out on the deck to get a picture of Tiger's footprints in the snow...and oh my gosh...it was extremely cold on my bare feet. I had no idea how cold such a small amount of snow would be. My feet were aching for about three minutes after I was in the house. The puppies' feet must experience something very close to that. Checkers isn't no dummy.

Bear

This was suprisingly extremely, painfully cold on bare feet!

In the south in Arizona, I hear Miss Cindy Lu is doing very well with Grandma and Grandpa Andrews. She has had no problems with her arthritis, and has made many friends (human and canine). Matt and I miss her, but more than that: we have talked about how extremely happy we are for her to not be experiencing pain. The warm weather and the glucosamine tablets she is taking have given her a new life. It's gonna be a new trend in the future, arthritic pets going south for the winter.

Cindy Lu and Matt, picture from November

Another Nephew on the Way....

Lori, Michelle (and Wyatt), and Nicole


Lot's of tissue paper!

Saturday Nicole and Lori went to a baby shower for Michelle (Lori's 1/2 brother, Troy's wife). They are expecting a little boy, named Wyatt in April.

The theme of the shower was camo/outdoors theme. Michelle and Troy wanted to go with something different than the typical. She received several cute camo baby items, shirts, pants, hats, and a cool diaper bag (duck blind bag). Two really cute items: small set of socks with animal prints (zebra, giraffe, leopard, etc), and tiny Carhart overalls.

We wanted to inspire early reading, so our gift was children's books that Michelle and Troy can start reading to Wyatt now.

The party games were fun. Game one was the diaper game, several tiny baby diapers were filled with a brown candy bar, melted in the microwave. The diapers were passed around and we had to guess what the candy bars were. Ladies were smelling, and intently studying the diapers. Game two was to guess the circumference of Michelle's belly by cutting a length of yarn. The third game was guessing the baby food, by smelling and tasting, a bit easier game, except when the food was a combo of items.

Matt and Dan went to the Sportsman Show while we were at the shower. They were suppose to take pictures and have something interesting to blog, but it didn't work out. Bummer.
Nicole investigating the brown substance in the baby diaper

Our name tags (cute)
One of the gifts, a car seat, states on the box that the car seat is appropriate for 5 lbs up to 100 lbs, which incidentally is Abi's weight at age 16!!!!

Tea and a Movie

I took a "time-out" after an intense week of studying. Now, if Matt would also take a time-out, after working his tooshy off at both jobs, then I would really be able to relax. He really is my hero, he sacrifices time with family and sleep to make sure we have our needs met....I love him very much.

With birthday money in hand, I did two splurges: A movie and a teapot.

The movie was Hotel for Dogs. I loved it. I found it may be the most practical way of taking in all the strays and homeless dogs that we meet. I wish every dog had a warm, loving home. Some day, perhaps, we will have space for more.

The teapot, well, I was walking past a chocolate shop, and they had some eye-catching ceramics in the display window. I was in a random mood, and thought the purchase would be fun for when the girls and I have tea. Abi and I put it to use right away with some tea from the former House of Orange Tea Company.

On the way home, I gave my mom a call to thank her for the birthday gift which I enjoyed with my spurges today.

-Lori :)

These are the pretty pink mini carnations Matt gave me

Here's the crazy teapot, isn't it interesting?......


I got a bit creative with this pic, I added the jelly bellies that Matt picked out for me, watermelon, tangerine, and pear