Sky Mall

So, flying from Fargo to CA makes for a lot more travel time then the old trip from Salt Lake City to CA. The plus sides to these longer trips include: 1) more and faster frequent flyer miles and 2)more time to peruse the Sky Mall catalog.

Sky Mall is fun because it is full of all kinds of bizarre stuff that you didn't know you needed. But something about being up in the sky in an airplane, cut off from all outside communication is almost enough to get your thinking, "maybe I do need that Lord of the Rings chess set." And just when I'm ready to order - I come across the items that snap me back into reality.

Case(s) in point:

The Dog DryerI will bet you $100 bucks right now that the grooming system displayed in that photo is NOT on. If I even look at the vacuum wrong, my dog is off to hide in a small, dark, albeit safe, place. He's not gonna sit and vogue for the camera while I "gently blow warm air throughout [his] fur" with my overpriced blow dryer.

The Healthiest Deep FryerThe day I believe that my deep fried foods are healthy...is the day I've truly lost my mind.

Flip Fin Scuba FinsNow, granted, I am not an avid Scuba Diver (nor will I ever be - underwater creeps me out). But I think when you become a Scuba Diver you need to resign yourself to one simple fact - there is nothing normal about walking around in Scuba fins. Especially if they flip up and touch your knees. Useful, maybe. Normal? No.

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It May Have Been Short

Our weekend to CA for Cole's blessing may have been short, but it also couldn't have been much sweeter.

We flew out Friday afternoon/evening. Matt and Lindsay picked us

up at the airport - where I finally got to meet the little Cole man in person. He's even more perfect in person then in his pictures.

We spent most of the day Saturday spending time together at Matt's apartment. Mom and Pa showed up a little later. Dad took the men-folk to the movies while us ladies did nails and ooohed and ahhhed over the baby. Dinner that night at Sweet Tomatoes was pretty hilarious. It always feels good to laugh with the fam. We do a lot of it!

Sunday was the blessing. Cole was perfectly behaved through the whole thing and Matt did a wonderful job blessing his first little one. There were tons of family there. Grandma and Grandpa Gamblin came, AD and Danny, Lindsay's grandparents, my great-aunt and some of her kids/grandkids. We went to the park after church and had a Cafe Rio style buffet - delish!!! It was so nice to get to just hang out with AD, too. I feel like every time I see her it's kind of a hurried situation - so it was nice to just spend the day together. I miss her.

Monday we woke up at our hotel and had waffles with Mama and Daddy G. Then we went back to the apartment and soaked up as much Cole as we could before we had to head back to the airport.

It was so great to see the fam, laugh, meet the little man and just have a wonderful time. Thanks to Matt and Lindsay for being so hospitable to us crazy North Dakotans. We'll be back soon!

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Lifestyles of the...

Geoff and I had a pretty super weekend. It consisted of:

• Couples golf with some friends of ours in Minnesota (it was my first time and the other wife's first time - I was the worst, but it was still lots of fun!).
• Lunch at a little hole in the wall burger joint where we sat on the patio right next to Little Floyd Lake (pictured).
• Shopping around at some pawn shops for fun stuff (we ended up finally caving and buying a PlayStation 2 and rock band).
• Geoff surprised me with a stay at a local hotel in a 2 bedroom suite full with kitchen. We spent the evening in the hot tub, sauna, playing rock band, gorging on pizza. It was great!
• I worked on my blanket and am nearing completion - I should have it done in time for the baby blessing.
• Driving to and from all the aforementioned locations with the t tops off on the Z.

All in all it was a pretty spectacular weekend.

P.S. at the one of the shops we visited this weekend, they were selling this painting:
How this guy got my dog to pose for him I'll never know. But that is EXACTLY my dog. Right down to the collar.

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Count Them

Eight days until I get to meet him. Tell me you're not jealous.



Note: I stole this picture from my sister-in-law's facebook. Because it's the cutest thing...ever!!!

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Cars, Tubes and Yarn

Cars:

We are now a two car family. A two, maroon, vanity license plated, 2-door car family. Geoff found his dream car (for now) and, better yet, found it for an affordable price. Meet the Z. She's a 1993 Nissan 300 ZX with twin turbos (that means fast) and a manual transmission. It's a lot of fun to drive - and has the most comfortable leather seats I've ever placed my bum in. Since the third anniversary is the leather anniversary - Happy 3 Years, love muffin!

Tubes:

Geoff and I took the T Tops off the good ol' Z on Saturday and took a nice, warm, convertible-like drive out to the Otter Tail River in Minnesota to go tubing. For $6 a piece we got a couple of tubes and set out on a lazy jaunt down the river. The water was nice and the sun shone on us...for the first half of the trip down river. The second half consisted of wind and thunder/lightening, but it was still fun, if a little chilly.

Yarn:

I was at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago when I decided I needed a hobby. I love to cross stitch, so I head over to the arts and crafts section to find a cross stitch pattern. (I would like to note that while I truly enjoy cross stitching, I don't care to display weirdo cross stitch art, so it seems like a double edged sword to spend hours on a project I will inevitably stick in a closet somewhere). Wal-Mart, in it's efforts to modernize, has stopped carrying cross stitch patterns. So, I started to turn my sights to other artistic ventures. Lo and behold, I found myself entranced by all the wonderful colors of yarn. And books labeled "Teach Yourself Crochet."

So, that's what I set out to do. Don't believe the books. You cannot learn crochet from a book. It makes NO sense. Luckily I'm a part of the YouTube generation. You CAN learn crochet from YouTube. After a few days of watching videos and practicing with dollar store yarn, I embarked upon my first project - a blanket for my new nephew [who I get to see in 9 days!!!]. I'm about 4 days from finishing the blanket and I'm pleased with everything that YouTube has taught me!

And, YES, that is a purple crochet hook.

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On Dogs and Complexes

When none of your dog's toys have noses anymore, maybe it's time to stop calling him "Schnoz". Even if he is a Schnauzer. It seems to give him a complex.

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Ab. Normal.

So, Geoff works at a pharmacy.

Which, in my mind, should lead to the inevitable discussion at work about naming your kids after drugs (my personal favorite, the twins Cody and Vicki - Hydrocodone and Vicodin; it's cute because it's the generic name and the brand name for the same drug!). Geoff mentioned he had thought about bringing up this topic, but didn't think anyone would play that game with him. This is when I realized that maybe the "name your kids after meds" game isn't universal.

It got me to thinking of all the bizarre reasons why Geoff and I are a great match...and why the Gamblin/Geoff Parker clan(s) are unique.

1) We sing ALL THE TIME. We change the lyrics to songs to suit what we are currently doing. This is most commonly in reference to the dogs. (I honestly did not realize that everyone doesn't do this until recently).

2) We make up words. Often the right word does not exist to describe what needs to be said at that moment. (i.e. someone who reneges?)

3) Nicknames. The name with which you choose to refer to someone really can show how you are feeling about them at the moment. Note the different hidden meanings: Romulus vs. Rom-a-domma-ding-dong vs. Rombo vs. Schnoz. Or: Geoff vs. hub vs. dude-face-mc-man vs. Geoffy vs. Geeeee-off.

4) In addition to making up words, we like to pronounce words (usually street/city names) how they are spelled. (Please note: We only refer to them this way to each other, if we are talking to others, we use the correct pronunciation). It has occurred to us that people overhearing our conversations may think we are just dumb. But it's really fun.

5) We drink Diet - and we're proud of it.

There is undoubtedly more that makes us...unique. But it's also what keeps life full of fun.

Love my man-face!

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