OUR LIFE IN BOXES

Disclaimer: While I am, most of the time, the type of person to try to look at the positive in a situation, please allow me to do a bit of wallowing in this post. I do know the great experience Germany will be. But, if you'll allow, I feel the need for a moment to be a bit sad.

Look what showed up at our house Friday morning! These are the crates that all of our STUFF was loaded in to be shipped by boat on its way to Germany. Ya, don't get your hopes up...it didn't all fit in these four crates. They had to fill these boxes and then bring a whole other load. We have a lot of crap.

This is our life in boxes...pretty cool, eh? I'm just happy we didn't have to pack it ourselves.

It was quite funny because the shipment was scheduled for Wednesday thru Friday. The main "packing" would be done the first two days and then on Friday they would finish up and then load the boxes. In Brian's experience, the moving companies would send at least three guys to pack up his one bedroom apartment. So, we slaved and slaved a few days before separating and cleaning in anticipation of a whole crew of guys showing up.

First thing Wednesday morning, we get a knock on the door...from one worker. Poor guy was wrapping (cuz when it goes overseas EVERYTHING has to be wrapped) for the whole day and only got one room done. There was no way the company was going to finish by Friday.

See, even our plastic totes had to be wrapped (see below). The couches were wrapped in the shape of couches. The chairs were wrapped in the shapes of chairs.

They did end up getting it done. Luckily, on Friday when the truck showed up, so did 7 more workers. I think they were also nervous that they wouldn't get it done by the contracted date.

They took almost everything. Everything except the liquids, flammables and the Smarties candies in the kitchen drawer. (Not only did I not KNOW there were random Smarties candies in our drawer, but why the heck did they leave THOSE of all things.) Oh ya, they also drank my whole case of bottled water without asking. That's just the unforgivable. Anyway, they also took the massive, giant sized platform bed of ours and even the piano. It's going to be fun seeing how the guys in Germany are going to get all of our oversized "American" standard items in a multilevel house. "Stupid Americans" is what they're going to be calling us the whole time. hehe.

It's been pretty interesting. We're now sleeping on the "man couch" and an air mattress, as well as living out of four suitcases. Actually, as organized as we were, we neglected to remember for our first night without beds to grab the air mattress from our storage unit. So we BOTH slept on the couch. I had "such a crick in the neck" the next day. (Anyone know what movie that's from?) Anyway! It's a good thing Randi has been taking care of us while we've been nomads. She's given us dishes, pans, food, dinner every night, an air mattress, sheets/blankets/pillows, toys for Spencer, love, kindness and her first born child. You rock Randi!

It's been kind of bittersweet. While they were loading, I was sort of unemotional...just sort of doing my own thing. And even for the couple of weeks before the movers came, I was unemotional about it as well. Just, you know, crossing things off my "To Do List" of what needed to be done.

But we're now living in an empty house.

It's getting harder day by day to suppress the anticipation of what's coming. And even though I'm excited for our new life in Germany, I can't help but acknowledge the sadness that will soon come.

I definitely try not to think about it too much because I know that in the past I have always had a hard time saying goodbye to a home. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's the memories. And then having to say goodbye to them. Or maybe it's knowing you have to accept change...which is always hard for everyone in their own way.

But as I reminisce on the memories in this house, I think they are going to be a lot harder to say goodbye to than any of my houses before. I'm anticipating a very heavy heart when we leave. Probably because I know that in this house, my memories were the happiest they've ever been in my adult life...

I've made one of the best friends ever and it's going to be hard to say goodbye to her, especially since I've never had a "best friend" in the other places I've lived. Always great friends, but not a kindred spirit like I've found with her.

It's also the first house of mine and Brian's marriage.

The girls' lives have been the most stable while living in this home.

And we welcomed a brand new member to our family while here as well.

We've had good memories, and bad memories. We've made lots of new friends, and seen a lot of friends go (especially living in a military town). But most of all, we've been a completed happy family.

Yes, it's going to be hard to say goodbye.

WE MIGHT NOW NEED A DOG

It's the time for admisisons here. Be warned though...I might offend some of you. In fact, in my experience, I think I offend most people when I admit this one thing... so be warned.

I don't like dogs.

In fact, I don't like animals or pets in general. I have never bonded with them, and have never understood other people's bond (and in some extreme cases...obession) with their pets. I totally didn't understand the movie Marley & Me and was so annoyed at how horrible that dog was. I would have kicked it to the curb long before that. (But know that if you have a dog and you love it, it's not like I wouldn't come over and still hang out with you, it's just not for me. I just won't love a dog like you do and I'm a horrible dog owner.)

Maybe it's my upbringing and our family's experience with pets (it wasn't a good one), I don't know, but the girls have been begging me for probably...let's say...their whole life to get a dog. I won't bend. I just don't want to. It's hard enough for me to take care of the kids I have, then to have another mouth to feed (cuz you KNOW the responsibility for feeding and picking up it's poop will fall on me) just ain't my thang.

I also hate the guilt that comes along with having a dog...especially when the dog stands outside your sliding glass door with puppy dog eyes...just looking at me, making me pack my bags for a big ol huge guilt trip.

I'm so glad that Brian isn't a pet person either. I was so happy to hear him say when we were dating that he wouldn't make me let a huge dog sleep in his bed, nor would he expect me to let an animal lick all over my face with his stinky a*#@ breath. I knew then that Brian was the one for me. :)

In the past few years, I've been bending with regards to the topic of "pets." A few years ago for Easter, we brought a rabbit to Arizona all the way from California to surprise the girls to have their own Easter bunny. We had that for a few years, and were happy with it, mostly cuz we could ignore it (sorry...I TOLD you...it's admission time...just bein honest). But know that I was bitter every time I walked outside and smelled a waft of urine knowing that it was "I" who was going to have to clean out his cage. Then when we were constantly traveling and having to find a "babysitter" for the dang bunny, we knew it was time to regift it to someone. Thank goodness for my friend Misty who LOVES LOVES LOVES animals and found a new home for it while we were in New York.

We've also had fish....mostly we ignore those too. Brian has loved those like his own so it's been good. I haven't had to "fish" any dead fish out, or clean the water.

Slowly, the girls have been working on me and are always holding and walking other people's dogs to "show" me that they can be responsible. They are also constantly obsessing about getting a dog by looking and researching dogs on "puppyfinder.com" and all these other sites. My latest excuse has been telling them that we can't get a dog right now because we're moving to Germany. So, they started researching all the dogs and googling "puppies in Germany." Wow.

Brian and I have started to waiver a lot, especially since the girls said they would be happy with a small dog, and one that doesn't shed too much. (that's another thing. I had this one lady I worked with who came to the job with cat and dog hair all over her that wafted away as she walked. And one time we rode in her car to lunch and it was covered in dog hair...I have issues with other people's hair...but that's for another post). I've really seen how happy the girls are in wanting a dog, and against my better judgment, have really thought that we would get one when we went to Germany. Mostly cuz I know it would make them really happy.

I also had reservations because of having a new baby. I didn't want the dog to maul Spencer or knock him over all the time, or shed so much that he was eating the dog hair. Blech. And I also thought Spencer would be super scared of a dog.

Which now leads me to the point of my post...During the most recent trip to california, seeing Spencer's reactions to the two dogs at my parent's house...we have decided we now HAVE to get a dog.

Video #1:

This was our first experience seeing how much Spencer loved the dogs. It's a bummer that we didn't catch how excited he got watching them outside. By the time we got the camera, he was kind of winding down with his laughter, but you get the point. (And yes, I know that he looks like a floating head and hands. hahaha)

Video #2-

This was the next day. He was giggling up a storm when the dogs would even get near him. The video is about a minute and a half. But keep watching til you get to about 1:19. He is giggling so hard. (And btw, I can't vouch for what the dogs are doing in the background. It's a good thing I know at least one of them has been spayed/neutered. But I'm still a little disturbed by it so just ignore them, k?)

Video #3-

This is another video at the same time, but watch what happens about 30 seconds into it. Both dogs totally launch themselves off of Spencer's back to get outside and Spencer thought it was the funniest thing. "I" thought it was the funniest thing.

WANNA KNOW HOW DESPERATE WE WERE?

On the plane ride back from California. You ALL know how hard it is to travel with a baby right in the middle of their naptime.

Random Spencer Videos, part 1

So I've taken up a new hobby. Recording Spencer on video. He cracks me up cuz he is always giggling at something. He is such a happy kid. I hate when we travel cuz he gets super grouchy sometimes and they hardly ever see him as such a happy child. So, here are some fun videos of him giggling at random things...

#1 Giggling at mommy doing raspberries in his ear

#2 Giggling at Thomas coming around the track

#3 My Favorite...Laughing at Nothing

It's already started...

Yup! There is a shipment of "stuff" already on its way to Mannheim, Germany! Today was the starting date.

Say goodbye to our "stuff"

So today was the official first day of our move. It was the day where the movers for our "1 Month" shipment came. They took clothes, electronics, toys and Brian's computer and ship it to the apartment we're going to be living in. Hopefully by them coming this early, it will give them enough time until we arrive in a few weeks.

Spencer was really curious once the front doors were opened and stayed open. He didn't even care about the rocks. He was crawling all over them outside while the movers were taking our boxes outside to the truck. The weather was great so we sat back and took it easy.

Spencer grabbin the camera again...

Say goodbye, Spencer!!!

Yup, our bags are packed! We had to set aside what we would need for the next couple of weeks and put them into a suitcase, so we knew what to send in this shipment. We'll be living out of a suitcase for the next 5 weeks, people. Don't be surprised if you see me wearing the same outfit a few days in a row.

HE HAS HAIR!!!

Look what Spencer's been growing the past few months...HAIR!!!

He almost always blinks his eyes when the flash goes off. This was the best I could do. :)

I tried really hard to get a great picture of it right after he woke up from a nap (and I, of course, had to help it stick up a little more), but he kept trying to reach for the camera. He LOVES looking at the pictures on the back of the camera.

It's bright blonde, almost white blonde, but sometimes I can see a bit of the mousy brown that both Brian and I grew up with. My mom also pointed out that it looks like it's going to have a little curl to it. Again, another reason he's a clone of my brother Harrison. But she's right. Every time I try to spike it out all over, it kind of goes into a little curl. Too cute and too funny.

Yup, he can't get enough of the camera...

UPDATE on the Surgery

Dear blogging friends and family,

(this time from Spencer's mom. Spencer's quietly asleep in his bed, which makes me feel so happy.)

I wanted to write you an updated letter telling you how it all went with his surgery today.

I have to tell you Spencer did so well! He was such a good baby. I would tell you he was the BEST baby, but then I would be negating all of Xoe's surgery experiences, of which, at the time, she was the best surgery baby! Spencer was, however, just as good as she was.

These are the things that we received praise for (all within the short hour and a half we were there):

-"He did so well. He didn't even cry when the doctor took him from your arms to walk him to the back operating room."

-"He didn't even take long waking up out of the anesthesia. Most kids are still floppy and groggy and have to wait at least 30 minutes to an hour to leave recovery. You guys can go now."

-"It's a good thing you brought him in. He didn't just have a little clog from mucous, his membrane had never fully grown right as the duct empties out into the nasal cavity. We needed to actually pop through it." (which was so good to hear, cuz I can't tell you how many random people would tell us, "well did you rub it with a warm washcloth? yes...we sure did. A hundred times and it's not helping. But even so, I still second-guessed myself of whether or not I had rubbed it hard enough, or did everything I could rather than subjecting my little son to surgery.)

-"He's so smart. I can't believe he holds the book like that. It really looks like he's reading."

-"Wow, he's been fasting for 6 hours and isn't even acting cranky."

And of course the ones I never get tired of hearing...

-"He is such a good baby!" and

-"He is so cute! What a handsome little boy."

Thank you everyone for your prayers and love. Even though it was such a short procedure, nothing that COULD have gone wrong, ever did. (except the fact that Brian and I had major insomnia at the hotel the night before and only got about 1 hour sleep, and Spencer woke up wide-eyed-and-bushy-tailed at 3:30 a.m...I think it's cuz we all took naps the day before, which kept us up all night. Niiice. It's a good thing we all came home and took another 3 hour nap. Woohoo!)

So, thank you again. Now...onto packing. The movers come for the first shipment on Monday. Yup, it's really happening.

SPENCER'S SURGERY

Dear blogging friends and family,

I'm going in at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow morning to the hospital to have my eye fixed. Actually, it's for my tear duct (ya, I'm pretty smart. Only 14 mos. old and can already say "tear duct") that has been clogged since I was a tiny (well "biggish" tiny) baby. It's really bugging me and icky stuff comes out of it all the time. Sometimes I even wake up with my eye stuck together. So, they're going to "Roto Rooter" it (that's what my mom says). They have to put me to sleep so I won't feel anything. The doctor says I'm going to be just fine and that they do these surgeries all the time. But my mommy and daddy are still a little nervous. So, could you maybe say a little prayer for all of us?

Thank you very much. And we'll tell you later how it went!

Love,

Spencer

(P.S. Mommy wanted to post this picture of me to show how gooky and irritated my eye gets sometimes. She couldn't find one that had it really bad, but you get the idea, right?)

IT'S OFFICIAL!

So, many of you have already heard that the Germany move is official (meaning we got the firm contract/"report" date). We just got our official "report date" of September 15, which means that's the date when Brian has to show up at his new job.

It's been a bit crazy around here trying to finish up personal projects, separate/sort things into different shipments/destinations, and trying to wrap up "to dos" that have come up in the meantime. I've been a bit busy.

So here's kind of what our house looks like...

The girls' bedroom. For those of you who didn't know what it looked like before, I had a four poster bed in there (of which you can now see unassembled in the background), a computer desk with a computer, and a few of their toys, etc. This is now our "battle grounds" for separating stuff. It's a lot cleaner now than it is in this picture. Whoa did I find a lot of crap under their bed!

The Front Rooms

Moving boxes, shmoving boxes. They're everywhere I look. And ya, they're going to be packing us up (the moving company) but we're using these boxes to do separation...
The Backyard

Brent DeRoest rocks! He totally came over for two days and helped Brian gut out the backyard. In 95 degree heat. Look at my rose bushes. All gone (well at least they're trimmed). They cut down my creeping jasmine plant, trees, bushes, you name it. They even took a trip to the dump (I hate the name of that place) and a load (hate that word too) to the Salvation Army with a bunch of crap that accumulated on the back porch.

The pile (wow these words just keep getting worse) below is from the tree they cut back from the neighbor's yard that was hanging over into our backyard. hahaha.

Garage

Our garage is also being used as "headquarters" for separating. We have 3 different shipments, with 3 different moving companies. One is for stuff arriving in 1 month, another is for stuff arriving in 3 months and the last is everything being packed up in a big wooden box going to Long Term Storage for 3 years. Call me crazy but I had to make little signs for everything so we could keep track.

That means "Household Goods"...I'm learning all these new acronyms the govmt loves to use.

Then we have our shelves of stuff labeled "returning to people", "Salvation Army", "store take-backs", "to be sold", "to be given away," blah, blah blah. You get the idea. There's a lot of separating and gutting out going on. But it feels good to get rid of it all and clean it up.

And then there's this...

The Bathrooms.

Brian has taken it upon himself to spend the three days he took off from work fixing up the house to get it ready for renters. He decided to put in new bathroom sinks in both bathrooms. So, what do you think happened to all the crap UNDER the sink. Yup, this is what I came home to.

(It may not look it here, but the bathroom cupboards were actually pretty organized.) His reasoning was, "we have to go through it ANYWAY. I'm just hurrying us up to do it." I would have been REALLY mad but he had a Diet Coke waiting for me from McDonald's so that smoothed things over.

Last thing: we've just been told we can't bring ANY liquids over, understandably so...flammability, leaking, breaking, etc. But here are some things, (besides the normal things like cleaning products and beauty products like shampoo and conditioner that we can't take), that I didn't realize fall into this category that I'm SUPER bummed I can't bring:

1. NO fingernail polish, remover, etc. The girls are going to be so bummed. We JUST stocked their stash.

2. The brand new industrial size bottle of Olive Oil from Sam's Club (that I just saw while playing with spencer on the kitchen floor. Imagine my sadness when I caught a glance of that)

3. The brand new industrial size bottle of Balsamic Vinegar from Sam's Club. You know how expensive this stuff is!

4. All the brand new, never opened pantry stock I got from the Grocery Game (google it) of shampoos, baby care (lotions/babywash), nice hair products (including all my extra bottles of hairspray, B&B Works lotions), cleaning products, carpet cleaners, Swiffer liquid, etc., etc.

5. And last but not least...no PERFUME! All my nice expensive perfume. I can't even put it in Ziploc bags then in boxes. They won't let me take it or put it in storage. My heart is broken.

So! I guess I'm packing them all up into crates and letting whoever wants at it to go for it. Nan (my sister) suggested I wrap some of the bottles (half empty even) and give it to people for their birthdays (remember? We're on a $5 budget for siblings' birthdays). I thought that was pretty funny. So don't be surprised if you open a half used bottle of 409 for your birthday.

DOES ANYONE ELSE THINK THIS IS WEIRD?

Watch closely (at the top of his head) if you can't see it....

...it used to freak me out A LOT!

WANNA SEE WHAT I MADE?

Check out my first project with my new serger. What do you think? Does a pretty good job, eh? I was meaning the serger, not myself, but you can compliment me too. hehe.

So, this is a quilt I made for my little bro Harrison. Remember when he graduated in June? Well he's already up at college at BYU Idaho. Isn't he a hottie?

I offered to make him a quilt and told him that he could pick out the material. He reached in his closet and pulled out a big sheet made out of a bunch of trees. I guess Heather, my sister, had joined together with, I think, Amber to redecorate his room and planned on making him a quilt out of that same sheet (correct me if I'm wrong guys). I think they were just going to do the easy thing and sew a border around the sheet and call it a day. Why didn't I think of that? How come I had to go 30 times above and beyond? (Cuz he's my baby brother, that's why.) Haha.

The serger did an amazing job. I just zipped right through it. I swear I was crying with joy the whole time. (until I accidentally sewed a whole strip of trees upside down. Picking out a serger thread is HORRIBLE.) I can't tell you how much I love this thing. It's been life-changing (THANK YOU Julia!).

Anyway, it turned out pretty great I think. I didn't get any pictures of the back but it's basically the same material just in big huge strips. I had a lot of material left over. And because I had a lot of material left over, I had to take ANOTHER step (Jeez! Who am I? I really need to stop.) and made some pillowcases.

And thanks Randi for helping me finish the last touches. I just couldn't find the time to tie it. She just came over and we finished it right up! You're awesome.

Oh and did I mention that Brian is extremely jealous of this quilt. He keeps saying, "Why don't you just make a different quilt for Harrison and let me keep this one?" I guess it's a winner!

QUOTE OF MY DAY

So, I've been blog stalking today. Kind of in a little bit of a funk. For no known reason...just woke up that way.

Maybe it's cuz I haven't had a full night's sleep in a long time. Spencer's been off and on since our trip to Germany...I know, that was like what? 3/4 months ago? But he's been sick, we've been traveling, teething, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't.

But last night? He slept for 12 hours straight. What?!? Nice, huh? From 8:30 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. Of course, I didn't go to bed til almost midnight, but that's still a long stretch for me. I woke up fully awake at 5:45 a.m. wondering if he was okay. But...I shouldn't have gone back to sleep. I can't believe I'm saying that cuz my thoughts are that any time before 6:00 a.m. is an ungodly hour. But today, I'm more tired that I slept in.

I also have a lot on my To Do List. To Do Lists are overwhelming, don't you think? As efficient as they are supposed to be...you know, writing down everything you have to do so you don't forget...in a way they're a bit depressing. It's a big ol' long proof of how much is on my plate, and I know full well that I don't have time to do any of it. hahaha.

So, instead of doing anything on my To Do List...I blog stalked. That was a CLEARLY good use of my time, don't you think?

Actually, sometimes I really need that down time. Whether it's taking a break in the middle of my day to read a chapter of a good book, or watching a random episode of something recorded on my TV. Or just getting in the car and going to McDonald's to order ONLY a Diet Coke. Those are pick-me-ups...for me, at least.

But I digress....

The whole reason for this post was that when I was blogstalking, I came upon a blog called "Naturally Nina" . Wow. So fun and amazing. I love blogs like this. That are so creative, give tributes to life, yet all they are doing is talking about their own life. Very inspiring. I have a few other blogs bookmarked that I look at every once in awhile. But I'm not "brave" enough to "follow" them.

Anyway, on Tuesday she gave the most beautiful "Quote of the Day". It inspired me to set aside my To Do List, do the chores I "felt" like doing for today, and justfy my waste-of-time blog stalking. Haha. In all seriousness, it was what I needed to hear for today. Please go there and be inspired too.

http://www.naturallynina.com/2009/08/lovely-quote-by-amy.html

WHO DA MAN!

Brian is, clearly. Cuz last week I received another anniversary present. Yippee!!! And you'll never believe what it is. Okay, well the picture below gives it away I guess.

Yup! It's a new laptop! My husband really DOES love me. My old one was kind of going in and out...the battery(ies...we've bought a few) were running out quicker and the screen was getting really loose, amongst other things. It's still a really good computer, but we'll let the girls use it now.

So, there are so many things that are better about this one than the last one. Brian rattled off a whole bunch of things for me, like "faster processor, twice as much RAM, 3x larger hard drive", but all that just goes over my head.

My favorite things are more simple preferences: built-in DVD burner, built-in webcam, more room for music and pictures (this is my favorite) and a better screen resolution. It's also a little bit smaller so it's lighter than the last one (which makes a difference if we're going to be traveling a lot in and from Germany.)

Wow. I seriously don't know how I'm going to beat this one. I don't know that I have anything that is going to top a serger and a new laptop. He must really love me! (Oh and btw, might I remind you that our anniversary isn't until August 12th. Love it!)

TOMBSTONE, AZ

If any of you didn't know, we live about 20 minutes from Tombstone, AZ. Yup, the famous place where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday fought the famous shootout in the OK Corral. It's a very small town now, but used to be a booming mining town back in the late 1800's.

My mom and dad came to visit a few weeks ago to bring the girls home from California (aren't they wonderful?). I realized that they had never been to Tombstone with us, including the girls. Every time Brian and I have taken guests, the girls have been gone out of town. So! we made the trip!

(Yup, the City Park is that tiny little block right behind them. Too funny.)

We tried talking ourselves out of going though. It was 95 degrees outside and the girls had no idea, had never heard of, Tombstone! So they weren't all that interested.

I just couldn't fathom that people, including my own kids, hadn't heard of "Tombstone". Who HASN'T seen the famous movies of that town? Who hasn't fallen in love with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and wished they had gone to the theater dressed in fun old Western gowns. I thought to myself that before we moved, the girls HAD to experience it, even if I had to drag them along.

Well guess what? They LOVED it. The first thing they said as they caught a glimpse of the main street was, "Mom, this town is like in the movies when they say (and they took on the low voice of a bad guy), 'This town isn't big enough for the two of us!' Right?" And then, "Mom, I LOVE this place. I want to come back again." (When we hadn't even begun our tour.)

There are only a few streets left of the original buildings (due to fires and floods), but the "OK Corral" is still there, as well as the "Birdcage Theater". It's the original theater with everything still in tact. One day, everyone just got up and left, card games still in motion immediately stopped, and the doors were closed. Many years later, someone bought the theater and left everything in its original place. It's very eery but super cool. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

The girls, at one point, stripped down to their bathing suits since it was so hot. Sorry if they look white trash. I just shrugged my shoulders. Whatever.

Can you tell that Spencer takes after me? We both turn immediately bright pink/red when we get too hot. I look quite funny when I'm exercising/working out. It's a bit embarrassing.

I won't bore you with too many pictures of all the sites and setups, but this next little setup was one the girls and I laughed at. It's a cowboy bathtub. They basically just sat their butt in it and their legs and everything were hanging out. Efficient I guess.

The girls reenacting their favorite quote. (the one I mentioned above). "This town isn't BIG enough for the both of us."

My little cowboy.

Grandpa bought everyone ice cream cones. Smart thinking dad! It cooled us all right down. Xanthe still needs to learn how to eat (look at the front of her bathing suit...the purple one).

Then some random guy (we later found out he was from the Harley Davidson store) came walking down the street with this parrot to show people. I'll admit...coming from California, I was a bit nervous he was some bum trying to peddle money. hahaha

Anyway, they were super girl. In the next picture, the parrot was "playing dead" after the guy had said, "Bang, you're dead!"

Seriously. How funny is this sign? Sorry, it's right in the middle of the parrot moment, but that's exactly when I took it. I was watching the girls and saw the sign right behind them.

The girls were fine with the parrot getting on their shoulder until the guy said the parrot might start playing and pecking at their ponytail. (He thinks it's another bird.)

So, that's our trip to Tombstone. I didn't get any pictures of the OK Corral this time around. We have quite a few already.

Tombstone is definitely a must for anyone who comes into town. For those of you who have visited me and we never made it over there...so sorry. We'll have to go in three years after our trip to Germany. And for those of you who haven't visited, and need more of an incentive... might I tempt you with more sites there, like the Guiness Book of World Records largest rosebush, or the Boothill Graveyard that houses graves of so many famous old Western people, and is said to be haunted. The town even has Twilight Ghost Tours where you visit all the places in town that have had reports of paranormal activity. Too cool. Come on out. (you might have to wait til 2012 though).