The Verdict is in... No need to amputate!

Well, I'm sure you will all be relieved when I tell you that they told me today that there is no need to plan a head amputation! I met with the Dr. this morning and she set up a consultation with a neurosurgeon (Dr. Larson - same as for Dad's back) so he can discuss what - if anything - should be done about the pain in the neck I've had for the last year... At least I know my hair do is still safe! All I know is there is 'no nerve impingement' and all they found was some 'narrowing' in a couple of the discs and some 'degeneration'. Shoot - wish I hadn't fallen on my head that day in gymnastics class in High School...
Oh, well, as long as the hair is good, I'm ok!

Finally, after almost a month, I've got something to say!

Here is the REAL Diego! He goes to Hayden 2nd Ward, and he's a really cute 3 year old boy. His mother and father own a really wonderful Gourmet Latin Lunch place down by NIC. His dad was just baptized last year and we got to go through the temple with him last Saturday night! Cool stuff! Oh, his dad's name is Carlos, and his mom is Columba. He's my spanish teacher! (Diego's dad, not Diego...)
And, here I am modeling my new spring 'do' that Lindsay gave me last week! It's just TOO CUTE (as Mona would say). My other big news is that today I did something I've never done before! I listened to Jack Johnson (or tried to...) while I got my first ever MRI. It wasn't so bad if you keep your eyes shut. But it was LOUD. Anyway, I'll find out tomorrow morning why I've had such a 'pain in the neck' for so long! I actually put that on the form I had to sign! Ha! I have a 'pain in the neck'! Well, I'm off to be cool and play my marimba with my cool buddies!

Texas Wildflowers

The beautiful Bluebonnet - State flower of Texas. Aren't they bright and pretty? It was cool to be there during the blooming time... And this is an Indian Fire Wheel (also known as and Indian paint blanket). They bloom everywhere!
Here is the pink version of buttercups - I think some people call them wine cups...
And I don't know the name of this flower, but it was blooming everywhere! So cute!
Alas, the Indian Paint Brushes just started blooming at the end of my trip, so the only time I saw any was out the window on the freeway on my way to the airport. Sorry, no paintbrush pictures this year. I'll just have to try again next year! That's a great idea!
The truth is, we've already scheduled another visit with Monica, Farid, Teresa and John for Lake Taho in September. Farid wanted to know if any of my kids could come. Well, probably not, but maybe Lindsay could find a way....? Anyway, he sure loves the family! What a great time we all had together. Wish you could have been there. Nobody got tired of being together!

This one's for Lindsay!

Lindsay, I thought you'd like to see what Aunt Monica has done with her guest bath. Check out the flat glass beads in the bottom of the sink!

A Beautiful day for a birthday party!

Charles and Urlene and Whitney made it to town for the weekend, so we decided to have a birthday party for Urlene since she maintains that she never got to have one growing up because it was too inconveniently timed - April 15th - TAX DAY... She got a beautiful, 4-layer vanilla cake with cute flowers all over it. Sami and Caki thought it was a great 'dry run' for their birthdays on the 28th of this month!
We discovered another visitor to the party... a bright green lizard! He was showing off his 'fan' under his neck for a while, but, of course, not for the camera! At least he stayed put long enough for us to get a decent picture!
Here's another picture of the gang on Sunday afternoon. Whitney, me, John, Teresa, Urlene and Monica darling... sitting in the shade out of the HOT SUN!!!

Saturday Afternoon at the Baseball Festival

Uncle Steve said he couldn't find Caki. I think he wasn't looking too hard! She was right behind him! Her favorite thing to say after that was "Do it again!"
Here is a picture of Uncle Charles enjoying himself on a bright, sunny Saturday at the ball park!
Aunt Teresa gives the 'thumbs up' after hearing her number called at the cake walk. She knew she'd win... she has a history of winning at cake walks. She once won twice in one day at the grocery store! OK, it's official! Cake walk luck runs in the family! Whitney got cookies, and Sami got chocolate cupcakes at the cake walk.
Here is Sami enjoying his winnings - EVERY LAST MORSEL! What a good day!

The Bat Boat

Here is Caki waiting for the bats!

Thursday night we went out on a barge to watch the bats fly out from under the Congress Street bridge. I didn't get any good pictures of the bats - it was too dark. But we did get some nice pictures of us on the boat as we waited for the little flying bug-eating machines to emerge!

Here are Steve and John...
Here is Helene the night before she left for France.
Guess who!

Crepe bash!

Dad was so excited when Helene (pronounced el-EEN) made real French crepes for us on Thursday. She left early Friday morning for France, and we miss her! How do you like the way she can flip a crepe?

Mexican Shopping Trip to Nieman's!

The trademark symbol of Nieman Marcus is the butterfly. When we went in the store, Monica was actually buying stuff (a purse to be exact) so Teresa, John and I decided to just browse around. Going up the escalators was wonderful! The whole atrium area was filled with butterflies made of feathers! Aren't they beautiful? This one is made of feathers and glitter.
This one is painted with silver paint.
This is what they look like if you look up above your head as you ride up or down the escalator!
And here we are outside the store just to prove that we were really here!