Good News

Dave got a job at a hospital out here! We are so thankful. The name of the organization is HealthPartners. This is one of their mascots:

Petey P. Cup

No joke. Isn't that great?

Has anyone ever told you...

For many years now, people have been telling me I look like Paul Rudd.


Yeah, I see the similarities too.

Dave: the greatest man alive

The rumors (there are no rumors) are true. Dave is fat and old and 27. Effective September 25, 2010.

Dave's last four birthdays have been celebrated in 4 different states. Not because we were visiting, but because we have moved 7 times in five years and I guess it's bound to happen when you're that transient. He turned 24 in our townhouse in Rexburg, 25 in Texas, 26 in Liberty Lake, and 27 in Minnesota. How about it? Happy Birthday, Dave. You're the best, which is why you got the best birthday. Right? We even ate dessert first.

Happy Birthday to me...

Wishing real hard. I just asked him what he wished for and he can't remember. So, I guess that was a waste of time...

This key lime pie he requested I make was FD (freaking delicious-- that's a whole other funny side story that has lived on in my daily life for years. Thank you, John from New Mexico). And, significantly more successful than last year.

Dinner at Famous Dave's. It was also FD.

And the big gift was... hockey!

The Avs weren't in town, but I was totally down with taking him to see Philadelphia play. I wanted them to win the cup last year anyway.

The Minnesota Wild are in the same division as the Avs, but we've never really despised them. We channel all of our despise to the Flames. But I literally could not cheer for the Wild. They scored first, and it was like, "meh, alright.... clap, clap." But then when the Flyers scored, we couldn't hold back and both jumped up and cheered. We looked at each other and said, "Well, I guess we know who we are rooting for!" It was just so natural, and felt so right... go Flyers. Miles was a follower, though. He cheered for the Wild with everybody else. When they'd score he'd stand up and clap his hands over his head like a true Minnesotan.

Sheer joy.

Miles clapping away. He really loved the whole deal, and has since talked about "ockey," which isn't really all that new since he likes to watch Dave play NHL 11 on the XBOX. But when he saw the pictures on the computer he was all smiles and "ockey" and wanting to check it out. A few days later we were in St. Paul again and when we drove by the Xcel Energy Center Miles said, "ockey, ockey, ockey!"

It was a good time, good birthday and good game. The Flyers won in a shootout, so take that Miles.

Dave, thanks for being the bestest friend I ever had and most certainly the funniest. You're the best, we love you.

Some Late Night Goods

It's late, and Dave and I are a little delirious and tired. He was talking about something and said, "it's gnarly, with a capital G" and that reminded me of something funny.

Back in the days of Rexburg, Dave worked (I did too, for a little bit) at a place called Melaleuca: The Wellness Company. It's a phone/call center job and employs a significant number of students in Rexburg. Poor Dave, he worked in a special division called "enrollments," so he didn't get to say, "Thank you for calling Melaleuca: The Wellness Company, this is Ashley, how may I help you?" He just got to say, "Enrollments, this is Dave, how may I help you?" On the up side, he made $7.37, instead of my $6.20.

Anyway, you have to do lots of address/spelling verifying over the phone and Mr. Melaleuca makes it very clear to his employees that they need to say, "T as in Tom" etc. And since Melaleuca was a bit of a suck-your-will-to-live kind of job, the best alphabet list ever was born and used on the phone with customers. We can't remember them all, so feel free to fill in the blanks.

A as in Aisle

B as in Bee, or Babushka, depending on the mood

C as in Cue

D as in Doe (not the best)

E as in Eye

F as in

G as in Gnarly

H as in Heir

I as in

J as in Jalapeno

K as in Knee

L as in

M as in Mnemonic

N as in

O as in Oh

P as in Pneumonia

Q as in Queue

R as in

S as in See

T as in Tea

U as in

V as in

W as in Write

X as in Xylophone

Y as in You

Z as in

Story Time

When I was a kid (10? 11? 9? I really don't know) I got bit by a Black Widow Spider. I got bit on my arm, like right around where your triceps are. I was with my family in the hot tub and my armpit started to hurt a lot. So, my mom sent me inside and I took a shower and got in pajamas and fell asleep on my parents' bed with my painful armpit. I woke up a little bit later with awful waves of pain going through my body. I could feel the pain start at my head and go all through my body-- nice and slow. My back was the worst.

I don't know what time my parents took me to the ER. I'm not one to want to draw attention to myself, but I remember just crying and writhing around in the ER waiting room in front of everybody else and feeling embarrassed about it. Then when we finally saw a doctor I found some sort of courage deep down inside and held it together for him. Bad idea. I got a shot of morphine? Not sure if that was the drug or not, but I remember the doctor saying, "She should sleep like a baby." I did sleep, but I was awake with lots of pain again too soon.

It was family reunion time, and I was all drugged up on Vicodin. I remember my sister Lindsey laughing about whatever I was doing or however I was acting, but I mostly just slept and ate and cried out in pain like a baby.

We took the family reunion to Oxnard, CA. The car ride to Oxnard sucked. I remember I was in so much pain and just constantly complaining about it. We put my seat down to try and help, and when we finally got to Oxnard, we found out that my cousin Steven's legs had been smashed by my seat the whole time. Bummer. Sorry, Steve.

We stayed in a beach house or something, and my good cousin Emmy sat on the couch with me and watched TV while the poison kept working it's way out of my body. The pain lasted for a good week, and towards the end it stopped doing waves through my body and would stay put in one spot for a half a day or so until the last place I felt the pain was in my toes and then it was gone.

Obviously, I lived. But I hate spiders. Sometimes I can pull the same braveness out of nowhere like I did for the doctor and smash one with a shoe or something, but if anyone else is around to do the dirty work, I'm a big, fat wussbag.

Every single one of the pictures below make me shudder. Every time I look at them and also when I took them-- shudder. But I couldn't resist...

Do you shudder too?

Minneapolis

One great thing about where we live is the campus bus that we can take into Minneapolis for free. Dave, Miles, myself... the whole fam. Free. We went. For free. We'll go again. Yep, for free. Miles thinks the bus is the coolest thing ever and he's pretty annoying to ride with-- constantly wanting to switch seats or hold on to the rails or whatever.... looking for a seat belt saying "Uh oh, ga go?" over and over and over. But you can't beat free.

A small (very small) smidgen of the school. It's very large. Grande.

A little bit of Minneapolis for you.

A little bit of Minneapolis and Mississippi River for you.

Just Minneapolis for you-- no specific amount.

Dave and Ash for you.

Dave and Miles for you (after a poke in the eye from Miles).

I love this picture... even with all it's blurriness...

Dave and Miles for you.

A little nighttime Minneapolis for you.

A little preacher on a bridge for you.
I don't know why he chose that spot or that audience (oncoming traffic-- in cars), but at least he had a stool to stand on. My favorite part of his speech went something like this: (Hoarse yelling voice-- he had to yell real loud so the people driving under him could hear him in their cars) "It's not about going to a nice place after you die or being with your family... although those are good things..." followed by something or other; I can't remember. "Although those are good things..." haha. Good point. Too bad you weren't there.

Untitled from DAM FAM on Vimeo.

It's all about the kids

We went to the Minnesota Children's Museum. For free, thank you very much. Hip hip hooray!

Miles thought it was the coolest thing ever. He would have stayed and played at any one spot for hours.

Here he is at the race-a-boat spot.

Open the hatch...

...and watch with delight.

This may be the best picture of Miles that I've taken lately. That face is priceless.

Bubbles!

Miles has just the right blow for bubbles.

I love the spit coming off his lips.

You can't tell me he doesn't look so cute in that apron. If you can, don't.