What Up With Us?

I just realized how long its been since I last posted something onto our blog. I really have struggled in trying to figure out what to write. Most of the time I think our life is so boring and monotonous that nobody would be interested in hearing about it anyway. I also no longer have a camera and so I have no pictures to post or write about.

But hey, its time I write something and so I'll just catch you up on what we have been up to the past few weeks.

Yesterday, Monday May 11th - Bill and I decided to go on our first hike of the season. We decided we would drive up East Canyon and find a hiking trail there. The first trail we came to we stopped and decided it would be the trail we would hike. It ended up being the Mormon Pioneer Trail. I took a few pictures with my phone camera, hoping they would turn out ok.



Sunday, May 10th Mother's Day - Mothers Day was disappointing for me in many ways. It's a long story and I won't get into the details. Family and teenager issues was the direct cause and I was just sad and disappointed in the direction things went. The best part of Mothers' Day was that Shellise spoke in church on Sunday and honored me. She did a terrific job! That part I am happy about. The other nice thing was getting together with my family at my mom's for dinner. We had a really nice dinner prepared by all of us. My brother in law provided all the bacon wrapped pork loin meat which he BBQ'd. Mom baked potatoes and cooked asparagus. My brother Jay provided a really nice salad like you would get at Olive Garden complete with the Olive Garden dressing. I made homemade potato dinner rolls. It was all very yummy!

Last week, we had Bill's son (my stepson) Kyle (21 yrs old in June) visiting us from Mesa, AZ. He flew in on Friday, May 1st and stayed until Friday, May 8th. This was the first time I got a chance to formally meet him. We have spoken a lot on the phone, email, and facebook, but prior to this week neither of us was able to visit the other for many reasons. We had such a great visit. Saturday night we went out to Rodizio's and had a wonderful Brazilian dinner.

On Sunday, we went to church and then took a drive up East and Emigration Canyon's. Everything is so green and beautiful this time of year. We enjoyed the drive. I also had my bowling league playoffs that night. Our team took first place the first half of season and so we played the team that took first place the second half of the season. Our team ended up losing by 23 pins. So very close. But it was fun and thats all that matters. The bowling season is now over until fall.

Kyle was asked by friends to take home Salt Water taffy from Salt Lake. So on Monday, we stopped by the Sweet's Candy Factory and went on a tour of the plant. We then spent some money at the Sweet's store and bought lots of taffy and other candies.

Afterwards, Kyle wanted to go to temple square and get some pictures. He enjoys photography and took some great photos, that he shared with me. The flower gardens are so beautiful this time of year. Here are a few photos at temple square.

The rest of the week with Kyle went really fast. We had some really good times and made some wonderful memories. Friday came too soon and Kyle was quickly gone and we miss him so much. Thanks to Kyle, I actually have pictures I can post!

As for what else we have been up to, we have cleaned up our back yard and prepared a garden spot, and planted our garden. I still need to get some tomatoes and peppers, but other than that we are just waiting for the seeds to begin sprouting.

We have also been enjoying watching Shellise play softball. She plays on an 18 and under team even though she is just 15. They didn't have enough girls to have enough 16 and under teams so they combined the two. This makes Shellise the youngest on the team, but you wouldn't know it. She looks as old as any of them and plays just as well, if not better than some of the older girls. She usually plays 3rd base and right field, and sometimes 1st base. They call her "crazy socks" because she always wears crazy socks. In these pictures she is wearing tall green socks with black leopard stripes. Here are a few pics.

Shellise has also been practicing her Viola a lot more than normal as she has been preparing for tryouts for the Summer Granite Youth Symphony. She actually had tryouts last Thursday and should know sometime this week if she gets accepted. If she does, then she will be preparing for a summer tour to California. She believes her tryouts went well and is really hoping she makes it as do we. I will let you know as soon as we know something.

I am sad that Jessie lives so far away in Cedar City that I don't get to see any of his ballgames. They don't play any games on weekends down there so it makes it next to impossible to get down there during the week. I sure miss that kid and wish I could see him more and be a part of his every day life. Its just not right for a mother to not have all of her children under one roof.

We also have a new grandbaby. Bill's daughter Stephanie gave birth to George Dominguez Jr. who was born premature on January 29th. He has struggled with many health problems and just went home a few weeks ago in April. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures. This makes 4 grandchildren, 3 Grandaughters and now a Grandson. I will post some pics of these cuties sometime soon.

Wow! This is getting way too long, so I better stop now. But this just proves to myself that I really need to keep this updated a little more often.

Memories of Easter's in the Past

Easter growing up and still to this day is going to my grandma's house in Hinckley, Utah. The Hinckley town park held their annual Easter Egg hunt Saturday morning. I remember how much fun that was, having all my cousins around and finding (at that time) real hard boiled Easter eggs along with all the other kids in town.

After the hunt was over we would all gather back at Grandma's house and while the adults prepared our Easter dinner, all of us kids would take turns hiding the eggs and finding them over and over again. We had so much fun. I still love hiding and finding eggs. It's something I look forward to every year.

Many years, if the weather was decent, we would pack picnic lunches and head to the sand dunes. We would roll Easter eggs down the dunes and have contests to see whose egg would get to the bottom first. We rode ATV's, flew kites, and played in the sand. We always hoped the weather for Easter weekend would be nice enough so we could go to the dunes.

If we didn't go to the dunes, the Jubilee store in town of Delta which is about 5 miles from Hinckley sells Hot Dogs, Cotton candy, drinks, ice cream for 10 cents each over the Easter weekend. So we would always take the whole family down there and get lunch for the whole family for pretty darn cheap. I still look forward to that also. There is something about the hot dogs they make, even a person who doesn't like hot dogs (me), would like these ones. It's a fun tradition.

On Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny would hide our Easter baskets and we would have to search for them. Along with Easter baskets filled with goodies, we would usually get a dress and sandals. We would get dressed up in our new clothes and go to church with the whole family.

What wonderful traditions and memories those traditions hold for me year after year and for which I have carried on for my own children. However, this year is not keeping to tradition because my kids are in Cedar City and none of the extended family will be going to Hinckley either, due to other things going on in their lives. So I guess I will be enjoying a quiet weekend with my husband, we will go to church and my siblings who live in the area will gather at my parents home on Sunday afternoon for Easter dinner. We got together today at my sisters house and colored Easter eggs, ate pizza and watched movies. So that's something and it was fun but it was different then what I am used to.

While I think about Easter I also want to remember what Easter is really about. I am so grateful for my brother Jesus Christ, for his sacrifice, for the knowledge I have that he died for me, and that he was resurrected so that me may all return to our Father in Heaven some day. Let us all remember the true meaning of Easter and be thankful to Jesus Christ our Savior for his death and his Resurrection.

It has been really good to reminisce about the old days. I cherish all the wonderful memories I have of past Easters. What are your past Easter memories and traditions?

Happy Birthday's

We celebrated birthday's over the weekend. Shellise turned 15 years old on Sunday April 5th, Jessie turns 13 years old tomorrow, April 8th; and my brother, Jay turned (well I better not say) on April 3rd. So my family got together on Sunday afternoon to celebrate their birthdays. Here is the slideshow of the pictures I took. However.... my camera died completely right in middle of the party so... I didn't get all the pictures I hoped to get and they aren't the best quality. Time for a new camera!

Daisy Update

Just to let you know... Daisy is doing very well following surgery. We took her back to the Vet on Friday to get her stitches out. She no longer has to wear the "lamp shade" and she is feeling so much better. She is finally back to her cute, energetic, happy, playful self. It's good to see her feeling so much better. The tumor itself was benign, thank goodness.

The Lamp Shade Effect

Many of you know our Daisy Dog had to go under the knife to have one of her mammary glands removed due to a large tumor that was found in it. She also got spayed at the same time. Luckily it was done in one incision.

The surgery went well and we brought her home later Friday afternoon. She was so happy to see us even though she spent the better part of Friday being "out of it" due to the anesthesia. The biopsy itself was sent off to the pathologist to find out if there is cancer. We hope to know the results of that very soon.

Most of you know that when a dog has surgery they get the lucky opportunity to wear what I call a "lamp shade" around their necks. This keeps them from licking, itching, chewing the wound site so that it has a chance to heal.



Daisy's incision is 3 inches long with several stitches. She has been in quite a bit of pain. She has to wear this lamp shade until she goes back for a check up in a week. We also have to make sure she does not climb up and down any stairs and we have to keep her as still and quiet as possible. She also has pain pills and antibiotics we have to give her twice a day.

I feel so bad for her. This lamp shade thing must be so irritating for any dog. But I think it has to be doubly so for a dog like daisy, who is a dachshund. Who's little legs are so short. To walk normally she would be dragging this lamp shade along the floor and it gets caught and causes her to choke a bit. So for her to get used to walking with it she has had to learn to hold her head up high.



The other bad thing is she cannot drink or eat by herself. I have to put her food and water in little bowls and hold it up for her to drink or eat out of.

She is miserable. Not with just the pain and discomfort of the surgery, but because of this stupid thing she has to wear around her neck. She hates it. You can see how much she likes it by the look in her eyes you might see in some of these pictures.

Not only does she bump into things as she walks by or turns corners, she cannot burrow herself up into her blanket like she normally likes to do. We also had our own little snow shoveler this morning. It snowed today (ugh!) and when she had to go potty outside, her little lamp shade would scoop up the snow as she walked and her poor little face would become covered in the cold snow. It was a funny site to see, and I tried not to laugh because I am sure she didn't like it, but I just couldn't help myself.

On the positive side of things for her.... she gets spoiled (more so than she already is). She gets held while going up and down the stairs. She gets to be hand fed. She gets to lay around all day and be lazier than she normally is. She gets to whine and her people will come running to help her from being too uncomfortable.

Through all this, she has been such a good girl. She is such a loving dog. She is worth every penny we spent to get this taken care of. I would do just about anything for my sweet girl!

We wish her a very speedy recovery and good results from the biopsy so she can get back to the cute, energetic, fun loving dog she normally is.

Daisy Annabella

Our precious 5-1/2 year old dog Daisy (mini dachshund) has to have surgery tomorrow. She has a tumor in one of her mammory glands. We are just hoping it's not cancerous. She also has to get spayed (so much for breeding her). She is going to be one unhappy and sore doggy for a while.

As with all veterinary fee's.... this surgery is very expensive and its one we have had to save up for and have put off as long as we dare. The tumor itself has gotten larger over the past few weeks and so this has become top priority for us. She is definately worth it. If any of you has ever had the opportunity to meet her, you will understand why. She has the cutest most loving personality. She is one of our kids and we love her very much.

Wish her and us luck! I will update you in another post once we find out the results.

Lucky Lady and Her Ramblings of a Great Week!

Last Monday (March 9th) Bill and I celebrated 1 year of meeting each other. He had to take a couple days off work for other reasons which also allowed us to spend some much needed time together. We were going to go out of town for the day but the weather was yucky so we stayed close to home.

Bill took me out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then he surprised me with a shopping spree at Fashion Bug.... and get this ladies.... he picked out several outfits for me that I absolutely love. He has really good taste. AND I KNOW THIS IS RARE FOR A MAN/HUSBAND. He spoils me! Lucky Lady!

Afterwards we had tickets to an IMAX Theater but had some time to kill before we needed to be there. So we decided to browse through Gardner Village. I hadn't been there in a few years so it was really nice! After the IMAX movie we went to The Mayan for dinner. He had never been there so that was a treat for him.

Tuesday ended up being a pretty nice day and so we decided to take a drive up North. We were going to head up through Logan and Logan canyon towards Bear Lake and possibly rent a snowmobile and/or play in the snow a bit. The roads were pretty good until we got halfway up the canyon and the roads started to become snow/ice packed. So we decided to turn around and head back to Logan. We stopped at a restuarant on Main Street called the Coppermill and enjoyed a nice lunch and then continued our drive back home. Even though we didn't get to do what we had set out to do, the drive was beautiful and enjoyable, the company was fantastic.

On Wednesday I woke up with a Migraine and an earache wich got increasingly worse throughout the day. Bill ended up doing an ear candle on me which helped to relieve some of the pressure. We decided it was possible that the drive up the canyon yesterday caused the pressure and my ears may have never popped or adjusted to it. I ended up not being able to work today and just plain felt crummy. Bill went to work that night.

I felt better on Thursday and worked most of the day. I love my job and the flexibility it provides me. It allows me to work around Bill's schedule which is crazy most of the time. It was also Bowling night for me! I bowled some pretty good games, well over my average and a good series so I was a happy camper! Due to a slow week at work, Bill did not work again today.

I worked until lunchtime on Friday and then we drove Shellise down to Scipio to meet her dad so she could spend the weekend in Cedar City. We got back early evening and again... Bill did not have to work. Now we get a little worried about the slow week. However, because the last 3-4 weeks was very heavy work weeks and over 3000 miles driven each week, we didn't feel too bad for him having to be home a few days. We might not feel so good when we see the paycheck!

The weather has been fantastic. Saturday was beautiful and after I worked we went for a walk along the Jordan River. That was really nice. It felt so good to have the sun beating down on us and seeing the vibrant blue skies and feeling that Spring is just around the corner.

Sunday was another Beautiful day. After church we went on another long walk enjoying the sun and warm temperatures and later that night we picked up Shellise.

Today we went up to Brighton Ski Resort for a morning of Snowboarding... again in the beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures. I worked for a while this evening and Bill is driving to Beaver and back tonight.

I really enjoyed the past week and all the time we got to spend together. I feel so lucky to have a wonderful husband and best friend. It's hard to get back in a normal routine after the week we had. I think I got spoiled this past week. Not only by my husband but by the warm Spring-Like temperatures. I am so ready for Spring and Summer! I know it's not likely that we won't have anymore snow or winter weather, but a Lady can hope can't she?

Happy St. Patricks Day to all of you. "May the road rise to meet you. May the wind be at your back". I hope you all are as lucky as I feel I have been.