A quarter of a century

I celebrated my 25th birthday this June. Wow, this birthday made me feel really old. We had "cousins and cheesecake" at the Cheesecake factory. I was so impressed that our waitress wrote a birthday message including the correct spelling of my name in chocolate around my cheesecake dish. It even had confetti polka dots on the letters.

I had a great day with

family and friends, and even a hot date that night with Ricky. I was very surprised when Rick brought

my presents out of the truck.

I have already put these fancy pink golf clubs to good use in the Monday morning golfing group. I can hit a good far drive off the tee, but we're still working on my chipping skills :) I'm glad I can golf with Rick now instead of just riding in the cart. It's actually been a fun sport to pick up, and I have enjoyed golfing around here, in St. George and Vegas so far this summer.

Update: 1 year anniversary!

Rick and I celebrated our one year anniversary in Las Vegas June 18. We both kept saying I can't believe it's been a whole year! Time flies when you are having fun :) We went out to dinner and the waiter brought this great brownie/ ice cream with a candle in it for 1 year. We shopped around Vegas, watched the NBA Finals game in the bookie room (wa

y loud and crazy and fun, only boo hoo the Lakers won), and had a great evening. I love being married to Rick- he is so good to me, and makes life fun. Love you honey!

Eating our wedding cake! 1 year old cake is so good when it's been in the freezer with frozen Mallard Ducks on top of it since Duck Hunting Season. Mmm mmm.

Ranger Rick: Bird Advocate

I have not posted for a few months because we moved, and had to disconnect our old internet. Then it was a task to get the internet set up at our new house- but finally I am re-connected to the digital world and ready to catch up. Expect posts to catch up on the last few months:

• buying our first house and moving- what an adventure!
• Our one year anniversary in June- time flies when you're having fun :)
• My birthday- I'm one quarter of a century old. Ouch.
• Finishing the hardest school year yet and job searching for a better fit.

Until I can download pictures and catch up, here's what we are doing this week- babysitting the Nehmers while the parentals explore New York. Last night Rick had to perform a miraculous bird rescue on a fallen starling to appease Carter. Carter found a tiny baby bird in the ivy in the back yard that had fallen out of his nest. Carter started freaking out and got all teary-eyed that we needed to do something now! "Hurry and call Eileen- she's a nurse- she will know what to do!" We decided Rick could handle it without a medical degree. Here he is climbing the big ladder to put the darling starling back in it's nest:

My New Hobby

I have a new hobby. I love the store The Wood Connection. I wander around here for hours, look at all the project possibilities, finally pick 1, 2, or 3 projects to take home. The fun part is painting all the fresh wood, choosing the scrapbook paper and the gem stones, adding glitter and dreaming up the whole idea.

Then I start calling for Rick to come help! Help me sand the edges, find his saw to shorten this piece, get out his wire cutters to twirl this wire around here, find the staple gun to staple through this wood piece. Ah, Rick loves my new hobby!

A few of my projects this month are as pictured:

To use for baby showers. No announcement here.

I gave my mom this pot for mother's day with Wheat Grass potted inside. This required careful lining of the pot with plastic (more Engineering from Rick). But it turned out great!

Spring Break (a month ago!)

I'm finally finding time to post a few pictures of my Spring Break. I was lucky to accompany Rick to Las Vegas. I hung out at the pool while he worked in the day, then we went out at night.

One day we went to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, as seen on TV. This is one of Rick's most favorite shows on the History Channel- Pawn Stars. I know the picture is very blurry, but it's my claim to fame- this is actually Chum Lee himself! Pretty crazy how people line up to get in here. It's actually quite small and anti-climatic. I think they hide all the cool stuff in the back!

Towards the end of our trip, we met some friends in St. George. Rick had fun golfing at Sky Mountain- beautiful scenery. And the wives rode along in the cart. I could get used to this warm weather for sure!

Once-In-a-Lifetime Tag!

Rick's Hit the Lottery!

Rick has never been more excited! A little background info for all non-hunters:

• Every year you have to put into a statewide drawing for the hunting tags you wish to "draw for."
• Each year your name is not drawn, you earn a bonus point
• Some hunts are more rare, and require more bonus points. Meaning you would put in for 15 + years before they would ever draw your name

Rick went out on a limb, entered for a very rare, coveted tag for the Beaver Area Mountain Goat. Most people draw this "once in a lifetime" tag with 15+ points. Rick had 4 points and drew the tag. He is so excited for his upcoming hunt. All I hear these days is "It's a once-in-a-lifetime tag!" He cannot ever draw this again. The boys are already plotting. It's all they talk about. I think this equates to a once-in-a-lifetime vacation for me? Anyone agree?! He gets to play for two whole weeks, so do I right :) Hawaii, Cruise, I'm not sure yet! Ha ha