Lasik Surgery

I have a flash news update... and it is not from ABC!

I have 20/20 vision now!

I am love, love, lovin it!

I see: the leaves on trees, people's facial
expressions from afar, the beautiful
night sky, and the digital clock on my stove!

And the doctor tells me it will get even better! YAHOO!

Also, since I have very dry eyes, I got permanent plugs put in so that my eyes will be more comfortable from now on, too! Thank you Doctor! Thank you Danny! Thank you life! Thank you world! Thank you thank you thank you! Oh, AND Happy Awesome Birthday Present to me!

Six Years Together

We celebrated our Sixth Anniversary last week! This is an awkward shot of us at the movies together. What fun! We saw Ghost Town. It was a great show, very funny. We spent the night in Reno and tried to feel okay about not going home to our children at the end of the night! It was so fun to be together. It got us even more excited for our upcoming getaway to Kuaii in December. Thanks to Scott and Karen for watching the girls, they had a great time and didn't even miss us.

While we were away, we were laughing about the "misrepresentations" we exchanged when dating...and the harsh realities we have faced since! Haha, I don't think we had a clue of how much we were stretching the truth! Love you, Honey!

FABRICATIONS:
Danny: "I like to cook."
Annie: "I like sports."
Danny: "I believe in sharing duties around the house."
Annie: "I don't suffer from pms."

FACTS:
Danny: "Hey, I cook...I've done it at least twice."
Annie: "I will allow Danny to watch sports and won't complain (too much). I bought him TV headphones and they are fantastic. He gets surround sound, and I get no sound!"
Danny: "I don't like house duties."
Annie: "I do suffer from pms."

Oh, Danny! You are my man, and I love you!

I have a hard time breaking doing the frills

A week with Moi!

What kinds of things am I up to?

I am always interested in the day to day TO-DO's of my friends, even the boring and tedious stuff. A week of TO-DO Check-offs tells a lot about a person. I am hoping everyone who sees this blog will do something similar (and PLEASE! Put some of the boring stuff in!).

Here is my list. I:

-Went to our weekly Sunday night dinner at Danny's parents--LOVE it!
-Held Danny and my first official weekly Sunday night meeting which we are going to do from now on in order to get ourselves a little more organized and directed.
-Did laundry, went grocery shopping at Wal-mart where everyone there that day was sixty years old, cleaned cleaned cleaned cleaned...oh and my house is a total mess right now.
-Purchased soil test kits from the hardware store and tested FOUR areas of my yard for pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (though I still don't understand what the phosphorus and potassium tests were, I just did those because I could, I guess).
-Went boating with the Hydes because Danny's fun and smart sister, Christie, and her daughter, Jaydenne, came into town for a visit. It was one of the funnest lake trips this year. The highlight was the end of the trip when Mark unknowingly dumped Scott and Danny (who was dry) off the ski deck into the water. They were at the back of the boat cleaning some stuff up, Rob told Mark they were done when they weren't, and he gave let the boat go from neutral to full throttle. The boys were gone! The look of confused shock on their faces as they went flying into the water was hilarious!
-Got my teeth cleaned while Karen watched my girls. Melia loves to be there so much.
-Paid bills online (I finally started doing this, go me!).
-Went to Melia's preschool orientation.
-Went to the eye doctor to see if I qualified for LASIK. And yes, I do! I can get it done as soon as I am ready! Then I met Anne and Christie for dinner and after bought some things at Saver's Thrift Store. I wish I went to thrift stores more often.
-Went swimming at Mark and Anne's with the girls one night just to hang out with Christie a bit more.
-Loved on my girls.
-Went to YW and watched a Jon Bytheway talk on standards. I was a better person after that.
-Talked to my sister, Heather on the phone for a long time while I weeded. It felt nice to unload a few of my thoughts on her and find out how she was doing.
-Made dinner a few times.
-Ordered a few summer clearance swimsuits that I hope work out! Danny and I are headed to sunny Hawaii in December and I must prepare myself!
-Blogged and e-mailed.
-Watched Kiersten Lewis's kids while she went to Reno.
-Got really sick Thursday through Friday. It came down on me in a matter of 5 minutes and I didn't recover for a day and a half. Missed a picture appointment at JC Penney's for my kids because of it.
-Took care of my sick family (they all came down with it, too).
-Got a prescription for Sophie, who has a sinus infection. The doctor is probably going to remove her adenoids next month. He says on a scale of 0-4, they are a 4.
-Danny's ear infection cleared up and at his check up the doctor and he decided to get his deviated septum fixed soon.
-Fixed and updated the YW Personal Progress Chart/Bulletin.
-Talked with my neighbor friend, about her new life with her first boyfriend, her first driver's license, and her first car, all at the age of 24! She has finally made it to this phase of life! Wahoo!
-Fixed a logo Danny made for my friend and made up some jar labels and business cards.
-Watched my neighbor's little boy while she taught one of her college classes.
-Nursed a few bruises, cleaned Sophie's rashy bumb often, read books almost every day to Melia, let Melia change her clothes like 4 times every day, started Sophie on Malt-o-Meal, and trimmed Melia's hair.
-Tried to get my September art classes scheduled, but failed. I hope I get them figured out next week.
-Reseeded the front lawn.
-I think I brushed Melia's teeth twice this week. I don't know why, but I can't seem to nail this important ritual into my daily routine.
-Did Primary To-Do's like getting subs, organizing my folder, getting calling assignments submitted.
-Went to a Scouts Planning Meeting and missed out on a fundraiser fashion show with Anne so I could stay home and get feeling better.
-Had my weekly "Annie-Time," that I CANNOT go with out. It occurs every Sunday morning for about an hour, in my car, somewhere away from home. I read, pluck my eyebrows, make goals --- it is Heaven!
-Prepared and taught Sharing Time for Primary. It was less fun, more challenging, more scripture-driven than my usual lessons and I felt unsure about it. One of the teachers called me to tell me her kids loved it. Wow. Who would have guessed? Not I.

...This was a sample week of my life! I tag all my friends and family! Go!

Summer Slideshow, Part II

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This is a slideshow primarily with the Elkingtons and our two Utah trips.

Summer Slideshow, Part I

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This is a slideshow of the Hyde Family Reunion in June and our fun times at Pyramid Lake.

I Love My Dad

These famous guys all remind me of my dear old dad.Bob Costas, Jim Carrey, Steve Carrel

...Eat your heart out!

-Cast your vote, today!

Ferntuck.

I just thought I would announce... that Fernley is not so bad anymore! Now that we have a Wal-mart, my trips to Reno are cut in half. And for a bonus, we even have a Lowe's, 10 new restaurants (including a Quiznos--yum, toasted subs), an ice cream shop, and we are about to get a Round Table Pizza and Black Bear Diner.

Unfortunately, the lovely roundabout pictured above is probably considered the "heart" of the city right now...I know, it is quite wonderful. Your eyes are wide with amazement, I am sure!

And I think this is the main drag.

And for a few more pictures, above is the park we most often play at. It is a nice old park with a lot of shade.

Here is our lonely little subdivision about a mile out of town. It is actually kind of peaceful. We have an abundance of open, desert landscape and a clear view of the stars at night. We need to go outside and look at them more often.

Here is a view of our street from our front yard.

And here is where we live. We have nice neighbors and are close to family and the lake. We have a large yard, a 1500 square feet house that fits our family well, and lots of projects to do. I think our girls are happy here. Ferntucky is actually a nice place to be.

Melia's Artistic Expressions

Melia is just not that in to drawing and painting.

But we sure love her other ways of being creative!

Utah---We Love You!

Last weekend, we took a very last minute trip to Utah. We left at 10 pm Utah time. We got to see our family (Beth's baby is sooo beautiful), try out Bob's new boat (We LOVE it!), get to know Gretchen better (what a fun woman), see Shan and Jeff's new house (wow-staircase pictured above), and enjoy the absolute Beauty of the Utah mountains, as well as the mature Sandy neighborhoods (how gorgeous!). We regrettably didn't make it to the Hyde Family Reunion Saturday, nor did we get together with friends we also would have liked to see.
It was short, but sweet. Thanks for having us on such short notice and for being so fun and kind. We love you all very much!