Kiddie pools and nude beaches

David and I found this kiddie pool for McKinley that we thought she would like. So we bought it on the 23rd of July for her to play in on the 24th. She has had so much fun everyday since. Originally, the plan was to fill it up on the side of our house so that Scooby wouldn't bite it and pop it. But we changed our minds because there are several younger kids in the neighborhood, and we didn't want to worry that someone could drown, so we put it in the back yard, right next to the back door. So, now McKinley goes in and out of the house 200 times a day, she frequently gives scooby a good bowl of water over the head and several times she has escaped our attention and we have found her swimming nude. Good Deal.

We love our little girl! She is always the life of the party.

The problems of being a secret agent woman hacker

No, I'm not really a secret agent woman, but lately, I feel like I might as well be. The real problem that I am referring to today is called Excessive Password Overload. Anybody else suffer from this illness? I have usernames and passwords for:
My login at work
To use the computers at work(yeah, it's different than my login, and this one really sucks because I have to change it every 60 days)
My online wells fargo account information
My UHEAA account information(with like ten things you have to remember.)
My Fire Department login
My blog
My hotmail account
My facebook
My playlist
EMS online

Ok, so there's ten. And this doesn't include various pin numbers for debit cards etc, as well as my own phone number, which is hard enough to remember on any given day.
Basically, whenever I see the familiar words " Please select a username and password" I want to pull my hair out. I also feel like I have won the lottery if I can guess my username AND password on the first shot.
I guess there is one solution to this problem. I am going to have to write all of my passwords down and lock them up in a safe. How will I access the safe you may ask? That's easy, I'll just need ANOTHER username and password.

The new arrival

Yay!!! Congratulations to me! David and I are the proud new parents of THIS! After 24 hours of 8/10 pain,(hands down the WORST pain I have ever had, including labor) I brought this little kidney stone into the world. Ouch!!!!!
On Friday morning, I was at the store and started feeling pain in my lower back on the right side, so I hurried home and walking through the door, was instantly sicker than a dog. Nausea and vomiting and seriously unbearable pain. I couldn't sit still, let alone lay down, but standing up made me throw up. It was awful.
I did not want to go to the Emergency Room because everyone knows me there because that's where I bring patients in on the ambulance. I don't know why I'm so weird about it but I sat there in pain for almost an hour before I remembered that there is an instacare in town. So I decided to go there. However, it was still another 45 minutes before they gave me anything for the pain. Torture friends, torture.
So, if any of you ever experience a kidney stone, (or have ever) you have my undivided sympathy because it's going to be a damn long day. And men, you get extra drugs on my ambulance because your anatomy makes them even worse than they are for women. Anyway, glad that's over. This picture is mostly for Erica, because she sent me a picture of her broken foot and wanted to see my kidney stone. (I know, gross, but this is for you babe.)

I kinda feel like I should name him, don't you?

Midsummer Celebration

Last week, we wanted to start a new and unique tradition. So we had a "Midsummer's Eve Celebration." I don't really know that it was really Midsummer's Eve when we had the Celebration, but it sounded good so that's what we called it.
We started out by taking McKinley on a little nature hunt around our yard and neighborhood, collecting things that remind us of summer to give to the "Midsummer's Eve Fairy." (If you need some clarification on who the Midsummer's Eve Fairy might be, give me a call.) Anyway, then we put all of our "loot" into a big wooden bowl and left it for the Midsummer's Eve Fairy to come and get. (We heard that if you leave a present for the Midsummer's Eve Fairy, she leaves a treat for you. ) This is a picture of our bowl of gifts we left for the Midsummer's Eve Fairy.

Roses, Hollyhocks, herbs, wheat,daisies, walnuts, and eggs from our Chickens were what we came up with.
She seemed to really like it because she left us some supplies to make a Summer Chicken Salad, parmesan rolls, grape juice and a Strawberry Torte for dessert. Mmmm! She also left hair garlands for the girls and travel sweets for David, as well as Hollyhocks for us to make Hollyhock dolls with. (I used to make these all the time with my Grandma Riddle.)

You make these dolls out of Hollyhock flowers, buds and toothpicks. (McKinley loved making and playing with these.)

























We finished off our celebration by eating dinner outside underneath our gazeebo. McKinley and I wore our hair garlands and David loved having dinner with two "fair maidens."



































This was the first Torte that I (I mean the Midsummer's Eve Fairy) had made by myself. So I made David take a picture of me in front of the Chicken coop holding it.


Also, David would like me to make it clear that he is not "posing" in this picture.

A Happy Fourth!

This fourth of July was so much fun. I really love it when holidays come just in time to provide a long weekend, which was the case this year. For us, the weekend started out on Thursday night because I didn't have class and my Grandma and Grandpa Jackson invited us to come over for a fun night of s'mores and fireworks with my cousins from California. It was a fun night, just sitting on the porch and catching up, with fireworks in the background. And I've never met a s'more I didn't like. McKinley loves going over to the Jacksons especially because they have a new swingset with a slide! How delightful that they have it and we don't. It makes visits that much more pleasant.

Then the next morning we were jumpstarted out of bed by the canon salutes, which I love.(And this year, I loved them even more because of my husband's reaction to them. He thought a transformer had blown and required some convincing to go back to bed.) Then, we got up and went to the parade. We will always have the tradition of going to the parade although, once we get there it is so unbearably hot that we wonder why we came. But, it's an American past time, like baseball. It's not supposed to really be fun, I guess.

In the afternoon, I went and helped set up the fireworks with the fire department for the city fireworks show. (All fire fighters dread fireworks set up because it is absolutely so tedious and time consuming for thirty minutes of excitement.) After set up, we ate watermelon and discussed the natural viagra effect of watermelon rinds. I got my husband to try it out and didn't notice any difference. I don't think my husband needs any more viagra effect than he already has.

Then, of course, the family barbeque with Aunt Vickies baked beans, Aunt Jennifers pink fluff dessert, Lizzies pasta salad and my dad's dutch oven chicken and potatoes. Traditions are fabulous! After eating, I went to mow the lawn and David took McKinley to feed and ride my great Uncle Gale's horses.

The night ended at my Aunt Moony's where we watched the neighborhood fireworks(I love it when other people spend money and I get to enjoy it for free.) and the city fireworks show.

Best of all, the weekend isn't over! We still have a barbeque tonight and a baby blessing tommorrow. Plenty of time for friends and family still to come.