Getting the Getty

Jack and I visited the Getty today. I LOVED it and decided that if I had to move here I'd spend most of my time there. And I'm going to keep this short, because I took a TON of pictures. So the Getty was awesome. Here you go.

Exhibited

Here's, me standing in front of my photo in the Rio Gallery.

..And Jack, being a pirate.

I didn't win. But had no expectations of doing so- it really was just an honor to have it be chosen out of the 300+ that were submitted. For those of you wanting a better view, the picture is displayed on the homepage of this website: www.lmtphotography.weebly.com

So, yay for that recognition. On to the next!

Happy Homemakers

Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend half my day with my dearest friend, Lyndsey. More than often I will come to her house to spend an hour, and end up spending five. Today was planned, however. Lyndsey came upon a grapevine in her yard and took it upon herself to start juicing. I come from a childhood of home-grown grape juice and it just so happened that this year my dad wasn't juicing his. So I raided his vine and gathered myself a decent bowl of concord grapes. From there, I went to my aunts house and then raided hers as well, walking away with a hefty garbage bag that felt like it weighed 75 lbs.

Lyndsey and I spent the afternoon rinsing grapes, stuffing the juicer, smashing them down, filling up jars and before I knew it, I had a bakers dozen. Although, due to the multiplicity of vines, my grape juice starts at a very deep concord purple, and gradually grew to a light cherry-purple. So no two jars are the same. It will make for some true variety.

As it turns out, Lyndsey also canned peaches and apple sauce. We both felt this strange sense of productivity that we were creating our own stock of food from something we found outside. It's quite exhilarating. So thanks must go out to Tom, for chopping his vine so thin that the few grapes that made it weren't worth juicing to him. And to Suzi, who let me come over and pillage her crop. And to Lyndsey, who let my kid run around her house while I stocked up some antioxidants for my family.

Jackson and Jack

Last week we spent 4 days in Jackson Hole with my very cool, very knowledgeable Grandfather. Jack calls him, multiple times an hour, "Grandpa-Paul." We got there right after the snow hit, so not only was it a whole new, cold Jackson, but Grandpa got to relive everything he had done a few days earlier, WINTER style.

Grandpa didn't mind that though he had just spend an entire day in Yellowstone with the previous visitors, he'd spend another day there with us. But this time, due to snow, many parts of the park were closed and our day was planned by nature. We hit Jackson Lake and Old Faithful. It was around 35 degrees each day, Jack was a champ about wearing his new jacket and hat, and did a great job keeping his hands in his pockets to stay warm. It was a very surreal experience to see Jack amongst the snow without turning blue. Everything seems to only get better. We were at some pretty high elevations and he'd insist on walking, but every now and then he'd reach up to one of us to carry him. Whether that's his heart condition, or laziness...I haven't figured it out yet.

Old Faithful was on time as always and Jack thought it was

pretty cool to see it "explode" right in front of him. This was the only place in the park that we really ran into other people. We were hoping to see some wildlife, maybe some of the "hundreds of elk" Grandpa had seen a couple of days earlier, but the snow seemed to have driven everyone elsewhere. Most likely to the closed portions of the park.

After Old Faithful we drove back to "Jackson's" (Jack couldn't really grasp the concept of Jackson being a place, and not a person.) Grandpa told us lots of interesting stories, like how Grandma hid money for months and on Christmas presented Grandpa with $7300 to purchase their lot in Olympus Cove. And how his first born was conceived out of necessity to prevent Grandpa from being drafted to the Korean war. And how there isn't anyone that he "dislikes" that he can think of...

Truly a fascinating drive home.

The last day of Adventure included a drive through Teton National Park. Again, kind of quiet, due to the snow. But we stopped at Jenny Lodge and Jenny Lake. We did a lot of rock throwing. It's a boy thing, I think. Throwing rocks into a body of water. Lots of that.

We packed sandwiches and had some lunch at an abandoned visitors center that was closed for the season. That's where I learned about all of Grandpa's piano and organ teachers.

On our way back, we came across a bear hanging in a tree. He was searching for food and had cubs sleeping a ways in from the road. But he was just 20ft from us and went about his business climbing a very small tree. He was adorable. After that we saw a mama moose and her calf feeding in some marsh. Good wildlife.

Jack was the star of every show. Each time we went out to eat there were people staring and giggling at his cute behavior that I was constantly trying to minimize- because he thrives on playing class clown and can get quite riled up. But he sure was a good boy for all the driving we did. He had a great time and enjoyed spending time with Grandpa-Paul. As did we.

Dialogue:

(Scene, me carrying Jack, piggy back.)

Jack: Mommy- knock, knock.

Me: Who's there?

Jack: Shoe.

Me: Shoe, who?

Jack: My shoe is falling off.

"We've been burned twice before..."

Surprisingly, it almost slipped my mind that we had an appointment at Primary's today. I can't even begin to explain how nice it is to not have to count down days and hours till our next appointment so I can see the x-ray and know that we made through another trial period. SIGH.

Today went great. Jack was so cooperative with radiology and sat there chatting with them as they held his arms above his head during his x-ray. It was glorious. Beautiful blacks and whites and no gray pleural effusions.

Dr. Su said everything looks perfect and Dr. Jou said he looks like a million bucks. Nevertheless, we only docked down his aldactone by a dose. We are keeping him on Lasix because as Dr. Su said, "we've been burned twice before" when we took him off Lasix. So we are playing it safe. The diuretics aren't affecting him negatively so I am fine leaving him on them for awhile. Granted- they aren't super helpful during potty training, but oh well. I'll take a puddle on the floor over a pleural effusion any day.

So YAY for that.

For those wondering how our little escape to Vegas was, it was wonderful. It was weird to not have to worry about where we were going to eat, how long we were going to swim, when we needed to get to bed... it was awesome. Josh and I left the hotel maybe twice. We spent alot of time sitting at the pool, uninterrupted and it was spectacular. We ate yummy food and I played around with my rental lens. We had a blast. Can't wait to go back. (hee hee, some of you laugh with me..)

Thanks to my mom, again, for taking Jack. And thanks to Jack, for letting us go.

"Ask Grandma."

For about a year, Jack has been asking me to go into Build-A-Bear. Don't ask me how he knows what's in there, they must have had a professional decorate the exterior of those stores to look like some sort of ride at Disneyland, because without fail, no matter where we are, if there is a Build-A-Bear, Jack asks to go in.

And without fail, each time, I say "Ask Grandma, maybe Grandma will take you there."

My mother, bless her heart, took Jack to Build-A-Bear. She tended him for a whole three days in fact, while Josh and I escaped reality to regroup ourselves after a long, arduous summer of mental distress and worry. Jack didn't seem TOO bummed that we were gone, but his fun escapades with Grandma surely took part in that.

Upon arrival, Jack was immediately interested in the machinery at the store. Not really the toys. He had one in mind however, the polar bear. Unfortunately he wasn't available. So Jack immediately went for this. As happy as we all are about Jack's passion for world peace- we decided to get him a regular bear. The stuffing part scared the hell out of him- as I imagine it would, watching your teddy limp and lifeless, get stuffed vigorously with 'teddy bear guts.' But in the end, this is what we ended up with..

Meet, Dr. Benji:

(he comes complete with "x-a-ray")

And Jack INSISTED that he get Josh and I each, a beating heart.. Because lets be honest, he owes us one. (They do actually beat. Creepy.)

It was heart warming, to have him be so excited to give these to us. He was thrilled. I loved it.

Oh, and this is what Dr. Benji looks like on his days off.

To top off the visit to BAB, Jack left a LARGE puddle on the floor, due to his diuretic's, and my mom not thinking to asking him if he needs to go to potty every ten minutes. It takes a good fourty-five to "build" a bear. So, cheers to BAB, for cleaning that up. In the words of my mom, "For what I paid for that bear, the least they can do is clean up Jack's pee."

(I'll post about Vegas later. This was more important.)