Happy Halloween!

In honor of this fun holiday I thought I would haunt you with some pictures from Halloweens past:
And share our this year's Halloween with you:
Tank:Noelle:Parker:Brennan:
Happy Halloween Everyone!

Pumpkin Carving! :)

Spencer and I carved our pumpkin tonight while watching The Little Mermaid (Spencer's first viewing of my favorite Disney movie). We picked a cool pattern for our pumpkin and Spencer did an awesome job of carving it, but not before I scooped out all the goop and separated the pumpkin seeds for a tasty snack later! Here are some pictures of our evening:Tank gets nervous when Spencer has a knife...or he just wants to eat the pumpkin...I'm not sure which:His evil face:Yep, he wanted to eat the pumpkin:Spencer made him wear it instead:The goop feels goooood!Noelle was more interested in this crumpled up ball of paper than in the pumpkin carving:Layla was not interested in joining us AT ALL:The finished product:

It's a boy... :)

Chelsea and Blaine!

Happy One Year Anniversary Chelsea and Blaine!
And what a busy busy first year together you've had, but I hope it was filled with love and joy and that you have many many more! :)

More great politics! :)

I really hate politics. Up until about a week or so ago, I wasn't even going to vote. I hate everything about elections (particularly getting 13+ phone calls in a day to ask me who I'm voting for or if I too would like to make annoying phone calls), but I have FINALLY found something I do love. Funny videos about the candidates! As election day draws closer, I have gotten more and more funny videos from friends and I thought I'd post them here for all to see the only thing that amuses me about this presidential race. (Warning...if you're voting for McCain, you probably won't like the majority of these...SORRY!) ENJOY! :)
The Difference Between Bush And McCain


SNL Sarah Palin rap


Hayden Panettiere (from Heores) tells you why to vote for McCain!

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

Jeff and Yvonne!

Happy One Year Anniversary Jeff and Yvonne!What a fun day that was! I hope you've had an amazing first year of wedded bliss and many more to come! :)

Chelsea!

Happy Birthday to my soon-to-be-sis!What a crazy year you've had...but I hope you haven't forgotten about your day and that you enjoy it! I love ya and miss ya tons! :) See you at Christmas and can't wait!!!!

Should I be....

...sad, disappointed, offended, hurt, worried, jealous...that no one has commented on my blogs in exactly three months?! Is anyone reading them? Are you just sick of me and my blogs? Bored perhaps? Oh well...if I have any blog fans left out there...HI! :)

MY kind of politics! HA HA!

THIS could be YOUR next President! LOL! :)And if he becomes President and then has a heart attack, which this photo kinda appears to be a foreshadowing of, THEN THIS could be your president:
http://www.palinaspresident.us/
(Click the link and then click all over the picture...its interactive and hilarious and they add new stuff to it everyday!!!)

DAM!

We went to the dam Hoover Dam again today...it was Craig's dam turn to see it! We had a dam good time and it was dam hot as usual.
I took some dam good pictures.We looked at that dam scary bridge they are building to drive over the dam.Spencer did some dam fooling around.We were in 2 dam places at the same dam time (Nevada and Arizona)
I saw some dam cute chipmunks checking out the dam for themselvesWe saw a dam Japanese tourist wearing a dam confederate hat! (Do you think he gets why that's dam odd?!)And most dam importantly, I got some dam ice cream (get it? Dam + ice cream = dam ice cream!)It was a dam fine day!

Laundry

I woke up (the second time) this morning feeling kinda sick. I got in the shower right away in the hopes that it would make me feel better. It worked a little bit! Little did I know what would make me feel better in just a few minutes though... while Spencer got in the shower, before we left with his Dad to go to the Hoover Dam, I decided to get some laundry done. I gathered up all the clothes, put them in the dirty basket, opened the laundry closet door, moved the clean clothes basket off the top of the open washer and just as I was about to toss in the first dirty item, I saw two eyes glaring up at me:
Since we've cut Layla off from the bedroom so she can't hide under the bed, and I took the tablecloth off the dining room table so she can't hide on the dining room chairs underneath it, and Spencer's dad is here and sleeping on the couch so she can't easily get to the entertainment center to hide underneath it, I guess she felt the need to find a new hiding spot. I guess I'm not surprised since just yesterday we discovered she knew how to smack the laundry closet door with her paw and pop it open. I'm just glad I didn't start the washer FIRST!

It's A Girl!

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Laura, and her husband Stephen welcomed their first child into the world last night and I got the great news early this morning with a simultaneous phone call from my Mom and a text message from Erin, her sister, the other of my oldest and dearest friends! If you're going to wake up early, that's a great way to wake up! :)
Congratulations Laura and Stephen!
Welcome to the world Julia Lillian Palmer!Mommy and JuliaDaddy and JuliaWhat a beautiful little girl!

I Only Hike With O'Neill's...

...and everytime, I get more than I bargained for!
Did I mention Craig is here visiting? (You didn't hear it from me...) We went to Red Rock Canyon today. The weather was perfect...not too hot, not too cold. I chose an "easy-moderate" hike (easy according to the old lady at the visitors' center, moderate according to the hiking guide) for us that was only supposed to be 2.5 miles and take less than 2 hours. The hiking guide also describes a moderate hike as: "uphill sections include up to 1,000 feet of elevation gain; single digit mileage; uneven terrain and SOME rock scrambling." NO PROBLEM right?! I run an average of 7 miles a day, I've run for 3 hours straight a few times, and I've DEFINITELY done rock scrambling on previous hikes (my first trip to Red Rock Canyon with Spencer, Sawtooth Mountains hike with the Kelsey family, etc.)...so, Calico Tanks Trail...easy enough!

(From the Red Rock Canyon Visitor Guide:)
"This trail starts as a flat, well-marked gravel path. (indeed the best part of the trail!) As you begin the trail, you are treated to some local history in the form of a sandstone quarry. Some remnant large blocks of sandstone are evidence of the commercial operation of one century ago."A short distance up the trail, you'll cross a narrow wash...at the end of the wash, the sandy trail turns upward as you'll climb a series of alternating stone staircases and level stretches.
(Yes, the "staircases" were nice and helpful.)Some of the staircases blend in very well with the surrounding rocks so if you come to a point where you appear to have lost the trail, just stop and look carefully to right and left and you'll spot a staircase to take you further up the ravine...
I looked EVERYWHERE for those blending staircases, but THIS was our only route to continue up:...on a short stepping stone bridge (never saw or stepped on this stepping stone bridge!) and the trail becomes slightly (understatement!) steeper. Turn right for an invigorating (a nice word to replace hell-ish) hike to Calico Tanks...The climb becomes a little more strenous and you may find yourself (cursing a lot and) putting down a hand or two to keep balance, but the extra effort is well worth the delight that waits. Look up and you can see your goal ahead just a short distance away. (they both kept telling me it was just a little further, but my definition of little was different from theirs I think!) At the end of the trail, you suddenly come upon the tank. (And here I thought we had already passed the tank and I had just missed it, but no, we're just NOW arriving and there's still MORE hiking to do?! AHHH!)Take some time to wonder at the relatively large body of water in the middle of a desert, (I thought it looked like a nice place to nap and wait for Spencer and Craig until they finished climbing to the top and then came back down for me...)but there is even more for those who venture past the tank to the top of the ravine just beyond. (Just beyond my rear-end..."just beyond" = ALOT more climbing up and not so much on those nice little staircases!) As you top the ridge, a spectacular view of the valley below is your reward. (Ok, ok, this part was true!) It is a great place to stop and marvel at this creation, both man-made ahead and to your left, and natural all around...
...or just sit and enjoy the view...or replenish your energy for the return trip,
which is a relatively easy walk back down the way you came. (unless you're like me...gravity doesn't always work for me on the way down like it seems to everyone else...although the hike back down is always faster and somewhat easier because I know what's coming, but on this trip back down, thanks to gravity...and some sand, I managed to turn my left ankle once, and my right ankle three times and break a nail! HA HA!) Although this is a relatively short hike of just over two miles round trip, it is packed with things to do and see and is a hike for all ages." (I'm not sure I'd take my kids or my grandma on this hike, but ok...)

On our way out of Red Rock Canyon, we took a picture of where we were...look for the blue arrow to the right.I may always get more than I bargained for when I hike, but I also never regret it. The rewards always far outweigh the pain, Spencer is a very supportive hiker to his very inexperienced, very much a chicken of a hiker fiance, and he always reminds me that hiking together is "relationship building and trust building". And we always laugh and have fun and take lots of pictures! :) I"m not sure, however, that this was the best way for me to recover from my 14 mile run the day before, but I'll let you know tomorrow! :)