Overwhelmed & Overloaded

That is what I think of when I look back on this summer.

Overwhelmed.

Overloaded.

As I sit here watching "One-Hit Wonders of the '80s" on VH1 (#7 is Modern English's "Melt With You" by the way), I can not believe I'm even coherent enough to tell you all about it.  I know travelogues are boring but if I don't document this in some way, well, what is my posterity gonna know about the summer of 2010??  I mean, right?  Their future testimonies might depend on this post, you gize!!

I'll do a quick overview here today, with pictures to keep it interesting, and then I will go back in future posts and get more detailed (again, for my posterity, not for indulgent nonsense purposes).

JUNE 24

Photographed one of my favorite people of all time for her senior pictures while the boys ventured off to Cub Scout Day Camp.   I present to you Taylor.  I wish I were her when I was 17.  Funny, friendly, charismatic, spiritual, adorable....she's the total package.  If she didn't think it was so awkward I'd hang out with her on the weekends. 

(#4 is Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny" just FYI)

JUNE 26

Maggie has a vet appointment where a "full geriatric panel" was done on her blood, she got her yearly shots, etc.  Her blood work came back perfect & we started her on some arthritis medicine (which I promptly ordered 3 months worth of totaling about $180).  I know this seems random but it's important information for later.

JUNE 29

Fly to Las Vegas, where I meet Kimi, and we hitch a ride from Jespy to Bako for some Eclipse fun.  I didn't get my camera out, like, at all so click here for all the deets on that.  We ate at a restaurant three meals a day (my stomach still hasn't shrunk back to its original size), hung out with the Visors, saw the midnight showing of Eclipse about 2 feet from the screen, played games, chatted like school girls, saw Eclipse from a normal distance the second day, and ate way too many caramels.   I loved that trip.

JULY 2

Drive back to Vegas with Jespy & Kimi, hit the Pawn Stars pawn shop (Rick, Chumlee & the Old Man weren't there...bummer.  Neither was the disgusting son thank goodness) & fly home to Denver.

JULY 5

Drop Maggie off at our friends' house north of Denver and head to UT for a two week vaycay chock full of reunions & family fun.

JULY 6

Our friends call us and say that Maggie is "not doing well."  Her breathing had suddenly become labored & she wasn't moving or responding.  They take her into an Emergency Animal Hospital where it's determined she is in congestive heart failure.  After some discussion of options we decided it was time to let her go.  We all bawled & bawled all night and still have moments of sadness.  She was our baby before we had babies!  We've had her for 12 of our 14 years of marriage.  The worst part was being in Utah & having to make the decision but, at the same time, I'm almost glad I get to just remember her wagging her tail as we left her in Colorado.

It became more of a reality when we got home & she wasn't around the house.  I've had to stop myself from finding her before I got to bed or checking the back door to see if she's there waiting to go in or out.  I also hadn't realized  how much we dropped on the floor at meal times....we are total slobs.  I had no idea that Maggie had her own chores she did everyday (cleaning up our mess) but that does explain her being overweight. Oopsy.    She was a good dog & will be missed.

JULY 9&10

Camp Beaver (which is code for Gty's mom's side of the family's family reunion) in Ogden, UT.  Again, no pics taken by me.  I just enjoyed the meals, Olympics & night games and visiting.

JULY 11

My sweet Uncle Visor passed away after a four year struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).  I have never been so glad to have just been to Bakersfield in my life as I had just visited with him a couple weeks before.

JULY 12-15

 Bear Lake reunion with Gty's side of the family.  I will do an extensive post on this later but rest assured, there was never a dull moment.

JULY 16

I fly to LAX from SLC.  I meet my parents there and we drive up to Bakersfield for UV's funeral.  How adorable was he, huh??

JULY 21-24

Go to Girl's Camp.  More on that later.

JULY 24

HotPants & fam stop by on their way through Denver.  They were supposed to stay the night but decided to just stop for dinner & keep going.  Apparently driving with sleeping kids is easier & more pleasant than driving with awake kids....whaaa????    Fine.

Also on JULY 24

Gty & the boys flew to SanFran for some boys' trip fun.  They went to a Giants game, an Oakland A's game, toured Alkatraz and then headed up to Eureka where Phil's family lives.   This means Beebs & I have been here alone all week.  I've been decompressing from the summer's activities while trying to keep Beebs entertained.   But the summer festivities will continue on....

JULY 30

The boys return from their trip.

AUG 2

Beebs starts gymnastics.

AUG 3

JBird starts his tackle football season with four practices a week in August!  (TBone will be starting soccer soon too but I'm not sure of the exact date)

AUG 4

The boys start school.  5th grade for the JBird and 3rd grade for Tbone.  This is the first time I'm dreading it.  It's too soon to get back on a strict schedule and I feel like we haven't even been home.  Ah well,  unless I'm gonna homeschool I guess I don't really have a choice here.

AUG 17

Fly to Boise for my side of the family's family reunion.  Well, really my Dad's and AV's side of the family.  It'll be a good time.  We were waffling in our decision of whether we would go or not but now that the tickets are booked I'm excited.

Are you still reading this?  If so, you probably won't be surprised to find out that "Come On Eileen" was the #1 one-hit wonder of the 80s.