A Fairly Fabulous Day

We had a great Independence Day. We went on a fun hike, which I posted about a few days ago. We then went home and proceeded to put new shelves up in our bathroom (we had been using a flimsy shower shelf unit as an actual shelf unit, classy I know!). We also finished putting up a divider in our garden to keep the bark in it's spot and not on the patio. Then we napped, which is the BEST thing to do on a hot summer day after a long hike and projects. At least I think so. Then we were off to the the Sugar House Fireworks. If you have never been, you should. It's crazy! There are so many people, like thousands. We parked at our friends house and walked quite a ways. People were fighting for parking a mile a way. Seriously insane, and I love it! There is something so invigorating about taking on the masses and coming out victorious. We plowed through the people with our little entourage. Then we found a hot piece of grass. We spread out our blankets and got comfy as it was only 8:...

Porter's idea of a Great night: Eat a tasty dinner and play World of Warcraft. My idea of a Great night: Make some delicious salad with my new salad spinner and then go take some pictures next to some crazy graffiti. I won. (hehehe!) I told Porter that I wanted to practice with my camera, however, it is hard setting up shots and then running like a crazy woman to jump into place before the little beeper goes off. Geez, it really stresses me out. I much prefer to take other people pictures rather than us the little self timer function. But we got some fun shots. Hope you enjoy! Sometimes we act serious, but only sometimes. For this last one, I got a little crazy with the editing.

We have two standard poodles, Daisy and Puck. Daisy is sweet and very mild. Puck is either full of crazy, happy energy or lounging about in style. He doesn't like to sleep on the floor. He is either on the couch or our bed. Not only does he prefer furniture to the ground, he insists on sleeping on pillows. At night, if I'm not in bed first, I have to fight him for my pillow and my spot! And by fight, I mean literally picking him up and moving him. If he doesn't want to move, he goes all limp and pretends to not hear you, let alone move for you. (He weighs 50 lbs.) He is so funny! Porter and I both sit on our big couch, and Puck will take the love seat all for himself. And, yes, we know, they are spoiled and we are enablers, but how can you say 'no' to face like his? His favorite pillows on the couch. He loves the decorative pillows on the bed. Afternoon snooze time "Blue Steel"

Today, we decided to go hiking. We had tried this hike last Sunday, but we forgot bug spray and I was driven to madness from all the flies buzzing me. So we only made it about three-quarters of the way up before turning around. This time we invited some friends and headed up the canyon, and guess what?! We forgot bug spray, again. I know, brilliant! Apparently, we are slow learners. However, today turned out to be the most beautiful day for hiking. It was over cast, and actually drizzled a little. We welcomed the rain, as we hiked for an hour and a half uphill. We reached the top though! It was beautiful to look out over the valley. The dogs loved getting out, I think next time we need a doggie back pack for them though. I only brought my point-n-shoot camera, so the pictures aren't the best quality, but I don't think Porter would have wanted to pack my big camera way up there, and I sure didn't! Our lovely friends joined us on this outing. Jill actually saved the day, s...

Happy Father's Day! We had a great day celebrating our dads and how great they are. I had this awesome plan of going up in the mountains and making a campfire, then cooking dinner and hanging out by said campfire all evening. It sounded like the perfect, outdoorsy, daddy-day outing. Apparently, Mother Nature didn't feel the same about my plan, because she literally rained on my parade all day long. Sheesh! I was not in a good mood, you can ask Porter, he got the brunt of it. I was cranky! But we reconfigured our plans and decided to cook salmon and fondue at our house, then if the weather permitted we would head up and roast marshmallows in the evening. Dinner turned out very well! I think our Dads loved it. Oh, I don't know if you've gotten this from our family outings but Porter and I combine our families on alot of occasions. I don't know if this is common or not, but we love it! Then we get to both spend a lot of time with both families, and our Dad's could...

We went down to the SLC Pride Parade last weekend. We had never been and wanted to see what it was all about. There were around 100 parade entries! It was great, but really, really long. I love parades, especially when we get to be on the front row and get a bunch of free stuff. I think my favorites were the otter pops (it was really hot!) and the Whole Foods reusable bag. Whole Foods had a cute little float, their slogan was "Love...it's Organic." We stole it and took the above picture for fun. I really enjoyed the parade and the message of love and acceptance it had. I loved the organizations that had parents marching proudly with their gay or lesbian children. It was great to see the community come together to support this event. Isn't this little girl just scrumptious?! The color guard was FANTASTIC!!! Cutenss never looked so Blue. I have plans for our puppies for next year. One of them involves Puck with a rainbow mowhawk. Porter's Dad, Kyle, celebrated hi...

We were able to visit this awesome Roman Theatre in Lyon. The acoustics were amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I sang for our group. I sang a song that has this super high note at the end. When I sang it, the whole place rang. So incredibly cool. I'm really glad Porter pressured me to get up and sing. Porter and I also tap danced and sang a little "Suddenly Seymour" for the group. And then Porter called upon Zeus, in a very theatrical kind of way, psh, actors! Then we visited an old Roman Arena in Neme. It was in great condition. I feel like I need to go watch "Gladiator" again. Did you know that the Romans could empty the entire seating area in just a few minutes? There were a lot of passage ways that led right out to the street. We climbed all the way to the very top for this picture. It was very windy up there. One of the passage ways. Just down the street was an amazing Roman Temple. It is actually the 2nd best preserved temple there is. It was beauti...

The Louvre We got up super early so we could get there before it opened. When we arrived there was still a huge line. I told Porter we had to bee-line it to the Mona Lisa, other wise I wouldn't have the fire later in the day to fight the crowds to get close to her. Whew! We made it, and not only did I edge my way to the front, I also got a shot without anyone in it! This is the real deal Ladies and Gents. There is a glare because she is behind glass. I was actually disappointed, she wasn't as stunning as I was hoping for. There are so many other paintings there that I liked more. But still, it was fun to see it. The crowd to see the Mona Lisa, and not many people were in there yet. Imagine it at noon, yikes! An artist recreating a portrait. These artists were everywhere, and boy, were they good. In some cases I liked their work more than the original. It was fresher looking, the paint wasn't cracked like it was on the hundred year old paintings. It's nice to get a g...