Dave and Steph

Dave and Steph came to visit the other day. It had been close to 9 years since I last had seen them. The Gardners would let me tag along with them on all of their adventures. The three of us would bust it up to the Canyons to ski all morning and then hustle back to work in the anatomy lab. We had many great times on the mountain and in southern Utah. I stumbled upon their blog in the middle of the night on my last overnight call month. I was so excited to see that they had not lost their happy outlook on life, and their tremendous sense of humor. I was even happier to see that they were adding little Gardners to the world to keep their legacy around for eons. I am happy to say that they are some of the coolest people around, and they are my friends :)

In other news I convinced Rob that I needed a new computer because my macbook was broken...the screen would not work you see. Uh, but little did he know that Floyd had turn the brightness way way down, and that is why it wasn't working. Ha Ha, now I have three computers. I can take over the world.

The Hair

Rob will periodically grow a beard. Why, I don't know. Must be a man thing. But he decided to shave it up nice for "9-fingered-Rhonda's" birthday. Hence the mustachio.
Floydee is getting more hair, but inherited dad's hairline. I think he will have curly hair too just like his mom and Uncle Matt.  

We are definitely related

If Floyd is anything like his mother, he should wear this all the time. Shortly after donning the gear he hit his head on the dining room table.  He has become quite independent and opinionated. The other day he started reaching for my hand and leading me around the house...it melts my heart.

What's wrong with this picture?

In the spirit of the Sesame Street classic skit "One of these kids is doing their own thing", can you spot which one of us had a swell christmas eve?

Here is a hint...Yep. In true "LZ" form, I went and opened the car door into my face on Christmas Eve and ended up in the ER for some stitches. Besides that little adventure. The Christmas holiday went very well. Rob's mom and stepdad came out for the festivities. It was a great set up. They got to spend time with the Dude, and we got to hit the slopes.I sported the bandaid mustache to protect my lip while I was skiing.

The best Christmas present ever

I love Christmas time. My husband not so much. It seems that bad memories have overtaken his good one. We all have bad ones I am sure. Sometimes life just isn't fair. But for the last several years in my recollection; I have been very happy, content. Mostly because of the life I have made with my husband, and of coarse the boy, the dude, THE FLOYDINATOR!

This Christmas we got the greatest gift we could have hoped for...Floyd not requiring surgery on his kidney (See post from January 2008 for full details). He did have to go through a few tests to assure that he was cured, but he handled the vesicourethrogram like a champ.
Last Christmas was memorable for Floyd too. A new little spirit in our world. It was also memorable for our furnace konking out on Christmas Eve.

2006 Was memorable for Food Poisoning that was cured by my mom's stash of opium.

2005 Was my 30th year. We had a raging Karaoke birthday party.

2004 Intern Year Blues. The year of the Tsunami.

2003 my First Christmas as Dr. Mrs Dr. Bob Jones. I was so grateful for a quiet Christmas Eve with Rob watching the first

2002 Christmas in North Carolina.

Christmas 1982

Some of the best memories involve writing up Christmas lists on a daily basis with my best friend Jeffrey Rasmussen. We would rifle through the JC Penney catalog and decide what we both needed. We would call each other Christmas morning every year to tell of our score of gifts. One year we both got orange Nash skateboards. I still have the only gift I ever peaked on, a digital clock radio that Rob hates.

Christmas 1989

My mom worked hard to develop lasting memories and Christmas eve traditions, mostly centered around Christmas eve. She asked that Magan, Matt, and I write a Christmas story every year. Magan always had short simple morality tales, mine we always overly contemplative and allegorical, while Matt's were always about insects and warfare. "Christmas in Nam" was one of my personal Matt favorites.

Now with our traditional nontraditional family we have Christmas eve dinner, play some scrabble, get some pajamas, scream about Chistmas Monkeys, and sing-a-long with Amy Grant and Anne Murray Christmas albums. Literally albums, we crack out the record player baby.

All though its been said many times, many ways, Merry Christmas.

the reason why bangs will never grace this head again.

I am sure we all have had bad hair moments. I am just secure enough to place mine in cyberspace. Dare you!

Aloha!

Well we had an amazing trip thanks to my dad and stepmom. We made it to Kauai on Saturday the 29th. Floyd survived the flight without much trouble. Well he has learned to vocalize quiet loudly actually, even scream just for fun, while on the plane and at dinner, which made for some added adventure. After a quick trip to Costco after getting off the plane, loading up on steak, shrimp, and bread, we had a little cook out that night. The next day we spent on the beach. FLoyd got reacquainted with the water very quickly...he loves it. We put him down in the sand about 20 yards from the beach break. He was digging in the sand, eating it, pointing at the ocean, smiling; then the rogue wave hit. It knocked him over. I am sure he felt that he was going to get washed out to see, but I was right next to him. He came up with a face and ears full of sand, but did not cry a bit. After that he stuck to the pool.

Rob and I were able to do some scuba diving thanks to our babysitters! We saw a bunch of sea turtles, eel, and colorful fish.

We toured the island with Mary's guide book, hitting all the best spots: Waimea, Jo Jo's shaved Ice, Kilaea Light House, and the North Shore. There was a huge swell while we were there, wave up to 2o feet. We watched some surfers being towed-in by jetski into the big waves.

Floyd loved cruising the island in the convertible. Mary thankfully had a bandana to help him look tough even though he was sporting a binkey.

Our last big adventure was a helicopter ride around the island. We finally were able to see the Napali coast after several failed attempts on this trip and the previous trip to Kauai. It was beautiful!