Uncle Randy!

 Randy called me the end of January letting me know that his company was going to send him to Atlanta for some training!  I was so excited so I asked him to check and see if they'd let him fly out on Friday night and stay with us over the weekend.  He worked his charm and things were set.

Randy was to arrive in Atlanta on Friday at 10:45pm.  Randy got to the airport, got checked in, boarded the flight and then the delays began.  First it was a 20 minute delay, then an hour, then they de-planed, and finally, after a 3 FREAKING hour delay, he finally got in the air.

The delay made his arrival at 2am.  Luckily he has a nice sister who willingly picked him up at the designated time and in the rain.

We got home at 3am and went straight to bed.

We got up the next morning and finally got moving.  We decided that this trip would be all about food so we first went to an early lunch at Community Q and dined on some yummy bbq & salad but didn't order dessert since that was our next stop...Morelli's!

Sam took this photo...a little blurry!

 

 Randy & his brisket

Next important stop on our food tour....

Morelli's

 

We then split off and Todd (who was quite sick) and Sam headed home and Abby, Randy & I ventured to the Cyclorama.  This was my first (and probably last) visit to this Civil War historical place.  It was interesting and we had fun.

 

Randy sharing with us his one and only song on the piano.

 

 On Sunday, we made it to church and enjoyed our time there.  Sam was excited to have Randy go to Priesthood with him and Abby was happy Randy got to listen to her Primary talk.

We also spent time playing games...Bananagrams, Spot It, Grandma's game (you can see Grandma Miner in the posed photo!)

On  Monday, after dropping Abby off at the bus stop, we ventured in to the ATL to get Randy to his office by 9am.  Luckily, traffic wasn't bad and we had just enough time to go to the Flying Biscuit.  Oh yeah.

 

Dining on Egg-ceptional Eggs, french toast and of course, the Creamy Dreamy Grits!

 

Unfortunately, Randy had to actually "work" from Monday-Wednesday afternoon so once he was done, I picked him up and we headed back to our house.  It was decided to finish off the food tour with Douglasville's own, Gumbeaux's.  A Cajun mecca.  I eat salad there.

Randy loved the food and there was a TON of it!  I'm pretty sure he went back to Utah a few pounds heavier than when he came.

And now off to the airport...with another 30 minute delay.  Poor guy.

 

We are so happy to have had Randy come stay and spend time with us.  It was so great to have some one-on-one time with him.  We sure did miss Heather and the kids and I'm thankful she made sacrifices to get him here early.

Till next time Randy...

Dearest Newman: A Tribute

 It is with great sadness that we announce the "supposed" passing of our beloved dog, Newman.  Hello Newman Weinreb (thanks Seinfeld) was born on approximately May 1, 1998 (at least that's when we choose to celebrate her birthday) and disappeared on Monday, January 15, 2013.  Newman was saved from the Humane Society of SLC, Utah and we were delighted to have this sweet girl become part of our family.

Newman is some sort of Basenji mix....just never figured out what that other mix was.  Newman loved to be held as a puppy, loved to snuggle and play. 

The Early Years

Story #1:  

While living in Utah in our little Cottonwood Street home, I was doing dishes and started to hear some loud squawking.  I looked out the window into the back yard and saw multiple magpie birds (I HATE them!) dive-bombing Newman.  Well, she wasn't going to take that kind of abuse so what did she do?  She jumped and caught one of those birds right out of the air!  I screamed and ran to the back yard to get her to let go of the bird.  Let's just say that those birds didn't bother Newman again!

Story #2:

One evening Todd and I were going to the temple and Newman was left outside in the back yard.  What we failed to do was bring in Todd's turtle, Mr. Peabody, who was also in the back yard in his little fenced pen.  Let's just say when we got back there was a horrifying scene in the back yard.  I thought Todd was going to kill Newman but in the end, it was our fault for leaving a tasty treat so readily available to Newman.

Newman joined us in our move to Georgia and adjusted very well.  I think she may have had one accident while training on her electric fence.   Living here brought Newman great adventures:  chasing rabbits (who soon figured out the line that Newman couldn't cross thanks to her fence.  You would see those rabbits just sit right across the line and taunt her), racing around the yard, sliding down the slide, barking at nocturnal creatures and sparring with the neighbors dogs.

Checking out the rare snow fall

Halloween

A favorite spot!

 Celebrating her birthday with wet dog food

Newman is posing just like the one in the painting that Abby found in Jackson Hole.  The dog looks exactly like Newman!

Sisters

Story #3:  

Newman was, at times, our protector.  She mostly like to protect us from the evil Brown Man (UPS drivers) but one day I got a call from my friend who called to tell me that Newman had been fighting a coyote in our driveway.  What??!!  I raced out there and she obviously won the fight because the coyote was no where to be seen.

Thanks Newman!

This is the last day with our dear friends, Theo & Lewis Taylor who moved back to England.  They loved Newman just as much as we did & she helped Lewis get over his fear of dogs.

 Staying warm seems to be her favorite activity!

Playing in the snow

Our British neighbors thought it was funny to dress Newman up in their soccer team's jersey during the World Cup.

 Celebrating New Year's with her peas and greens

 Tuesday, January 15th, was a rainy day.  I had been in and out all day so when things finally calmed down around 10pm I asked Todd if he had seen or fed Newman.  He said, "Which one?"  I said, "Both?"  The answer was neither.  We got in the car and drove the neighborhood for an hour but had no luck.  I went to bed crying.  I knew the next couple of days were going to be rainy and I was sad & nervous for Newman.

On Wednesday, I dropped Abby off at the bus stop then went on a drive through the neighborhood again, still no luck.  I came home and got a few things done then I got a call from my friend who offered to go look again.  We drove around again and even went out of the neighborhood.  No luck.  We then drove up to the animal shelter, gave them Newman's info and my contact phone number and hoped for the best.

We finally told the kids that Newman was missing and we made another search.  I had hoped that since it was garbage day, she'd be out trying to get something to eat.  I gave a flyer to the garbage man in hopes they could keep an eye out for her.  I emailed the flyer to local vet offices, the animal shelter, the Humane Society the proceeded to go hang them up and hand them out.

I posted her photo on Facebook, I emailed our HOA and a mass email went out to all the residents.  I pretty much did everything I could possibly do to find her.

No luck.

After 2 weeks, we decided it was time to tell the kids that Newman would not be coming home.  We told them that sometimes, animals will wander off to go die.  As sad as it was, I'm grateful that the kids didn't have to see her decline, get sick and watch her die or be put to sleep.  Our hope is that she laid down, fell asleep and went to heaven.

We decided to write down our favorite memories of Newman and we shared them with each other.  Our good friend in Utah, Kameron, is making a little box for everything to be stored in: memories, a truffle, a tag and a photo album.  

Newman was our first born, a big sister, our protector and truly, the best dog ever.  We will miss her greatly.

Goodbye Newman...we love you!

What I read...

I just finished this book....Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I think it's a young adult novel and since I fall into that category, I read it.  It was pretty good, kept my attention and had a neat story along w/cool photos.

What I read

I just finished reading an Invisible Thread and really enjoyed this book.  It's a story about an 11-year old boy who lives in the projects in Manhattan and as he's panhandling, meets Laura, who decides to help this boy.  It was an easy read and very heart-warming.  It's a true story which makes it even better!

Up next....

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

25 Days of Service

 I saw an idea online about doing 25 days of service for December, a bit ambitious but I thought we should give it a try.  I don't have photos of all the little projects we did but it was a fun activity to do over the holidays.  I had picked up about 27 boxes of Candy Cane Joe-Joe's at Trader Joe's and we used every.single.one. 

Day 1:
treat to workers at local animal shelter and played with the dogs

Day 2:
treats to our local fire department

Day 3:
donated toys to the Baptist Children's Home, a school project at Sam's school

Day 4:
gave treats to Abby's choir instructor

Day 5:
make a Christmas brunch for the sisters I VT

Day 6:
treats to the garbage men-it was funny to watch their reaction

Day 7:
cleaned up garbage at the soccer field while walking and helped a friend with some computer stuff

Day 8:

donated toys to the Toys For Tots drive

(and got to say hi to Capt. Herb & Doug Turnbull from the radio station)

 

 

 Day 9:

took treats and thank you note to the YM leader of our ward

(that's a tough calling)

 

Day 10:

gave a treat to the UPS driver-so happy to have received my iMac

 

Day 11:

gave a cup of coffee to the Salvation Army bell ringer

 

Day 12:

made dinner for a mom who goes to the same therapy office

(she was on hospice & has since passed away)

 

Day 13:

took treat & note to Sam's psychiatrist

 

Days 14:

Sam helped deliver the donated toys to the Children's Home

 

Day 15:
helped plan, prep, set-up & clean up of Ward party
(should count for 2)

 Day 16:
donated gift to our Ward Angel Tree project

Day 17:
left a treat & thank you note in our mailbox for our mail carrier

Day 18:
wrote letters of condolence to the people of Newtown, Ct. 

 Day 19:
made a visit to a cemetery to leave b-day balloon for young woman who used to be in our ward
she died just before Thanksgiving

 Day 20:
took treat & note to our Pharmacy Friends at Target

Day 21:
helped a friend prepare and set up for her husband's 40th birthday party

Day 22:
paid for someone's order in the drive-thru at Starbucks

Day 23:
gave out little gifts to friends at church

Day 24:
gave treat & thank you note to Sam's physical therapist

Day 25:
spent time with our family-a gift to us!

This was a fun project to do.  It gave us the opportunity to think of others on a daily basis.

Til next year...