Todd's Graduation!

I went home for my brother's Law School Graduation from the University of Utah. It was a lot of fun. First I hadn't been to Salt Lake City since I was in college and it was actually a lot nicer then I remember. The graduation was great (you know for a law school graduation) and my brother was so proud...as we all were of him. I was telling one of my friends it was really cool to see Todd as proud as he was over this, because he has his BS and Masters and never had walked at graduation. Words can't even begin to express how proud of him I am. We got into SLC about 2am local time the night before graduation. Todd had to be there early so all of us drove to The U in Dad's truck. As we pulled up Krista (my sister in law) remembered she had forgot her camera and we were early enough that she could go back to the house and grab it. As the time got closer to graduation she still hadn't showed up and me being the worry wort that I am went out front to wait for her. My real panic set in as Todd's class began to walk in, I couldn't believe Graduation was starting and she wasn't here. I knew she wouldn't miss his graduation so I went to talk to her mom to see if I was worried for nothing, but she was concerned too. Krista had found an older gentleman who's son was graduating with Todd and he was lost. Being the sweetheart she is she walked with him instead of running ahead to make sure he made it to his son's graduation. Both Krista and I were a little unimpressed that so many people had brought children to a Law School Graduation...I was like "is this really the place?" then I remembered where I was. I was quickly put in my place when the class' awesome guest speaker who was from Africa said what a blessing it is to hear all the children crying and screaming during the ceremony....I guess we just weren't on the same page. She was really Awesome though telling her story about her struggle to be a Lawyer where most females don't even go through elementary school. After graduation The Kinard's were off to eat! As we walked back to the car the Coke man went after a few sodas that had fell off his cart and we watched (it seemed like slow motion) as the rest of the card got away from him and spilled. All of us in our dress clothes stopped and help him pick up the soda and the poor guy was so embarrassed, but at least we got it taken care of before everyone else started coming that way and saw him. It was a really great day and fun to spend it with family. That evening after my brother got all geeked out about his new lawn mower and mowed the grass his friends came over and we BBQ'd. He has a really good group of friends and I hope I can get back up to Salt Lake City to visit with him and Krista soon.

My brother and Krista just bought a new house and it is so cute. Krista doesn't let grass grow under her feet. Her mom Evelyn and her had been doing the landscaping the week before we arrived and it is beautiful. She didn't stop planting, watering, going the entire time I was there. It made me smile. Her mom is a ton of fun to be around....the two of us went in search of a grocery store and giggled until my stomach hurt. As we were leaving the store Evelyn remembered she had some onions in her hands we still needed to pay for it was too funny. On the way to the store some silly light popped on in Dad's truck and my first reaction was "OH NO what did I do?" All of you that know my dad knows as soon as I told him about the light he began to worry about the pick up. Thank God that we had no problems with it on the way home or since then for that matter...maybe the truck just wanted to give me a hard time :-) My mom had given me this book to read when I first arrived in Pierce and I totally got sucked into it while in SLC....so much that when we were all sitting outside Evelyn finally yelled "HELLO" to me to get my attention. Needless to say the rest of my visit home my dad kept teasing me and saying "HELLO!" It was a great weekend with lot of memory's and I can't wait to get back to visit....my brother and sister in law might get a bit sick of me and my dog :-)

Back to my roots!

It has been a long time since I have been excited to go to Pierce. Don't get me wrong I love seeing my family, but most the time it is more enjoyable when we meet somewhere other then a place where I don't get cell phone reception or have high speed Internet access. I am headed home in 5 days and all I can say it is what I desperately need. Even though I will be going to Salt Lake City, Utah for my brother's Law School Graduation (I am a proud Big Sis if you can't tell) I will be spending most of my time in my home town. I think it is much over due I need to "get back to my roots." I think one of my biggest fears when I moved to California was losing my "small town, country girl" heart. I have had a rude awaking this week and one thing that came rushing to the surface was "I will not forget how I was raised or taught to act" no matter how far acting out of character might take me. I was very proud of myself when I stood up to my boss and told him "I was raised different then that" and I won't give that up for anything, not even to get ahead in the rat race. So as I sit and reflect about the world around me I am looking forward to having time to reflect on my up bring as I sit by the creek, ride the four wheeler, take a hike in the woods and count the seconds as time goes by slower then molasses in January. The cell phone will not be ringing, the emails will wait, and my job will go on without me as I enjoy the time with my family. And yeah I might not be a big fan of my shoes getting muddy, the cold weather, I might complain about being bored and I might need help starting the four wheeler ever now and then, but when you look deep down that country girl from Idaho is still there no matter how "Big City" my Mom might say I am.

No Cancer!!

I got great news from the Vet today. There were some concerns that Sly had stomach cancer and even though it is unusual for his age it was a relief to know that wasn't the case. We are adding another medication to his treatment plan (for a total of 5 now), but am very happy that we are hopefully on the road to recovery.

I am hoping that the Meds will kick in quickly and we will have an enjoyable trip to Idaho!

Thanks for all your prayers and support through all of this.

Updates on Sly!

Well we have had a very interesting Month the little guy and I. This little man has had digestive problems since he was about 8 months old. I thought we had the pretty much under control, but last month I started seeing blood and mucus in the poo again and knew this wasn't a good sign. He has never really been a great eater, so when he loses his appetite it really doesn't suprise me all that much. Off we went to the Vet and after reviewing his chart she didn't even feel that it was necessary to take blood since we have been down this road so many time. This time it was two different antibiotics for two weeks and let me tell you it work because this guy ate like a champ. He ate like I have never seen him eat before, so I thought well this time it worked. After the course of antibiotics he continued to do well until about the 7th day and I notice a lose of appetite again. This was on Sunday and by Tuesday he was barely eating again, I stopped by my friends Ruby and Leo after work and Sly wouldn't eat. He ended up throwing up that night, but I didn't think a lot about it because this was pretty normal in his life. Just to be safe though I called the Vet Wednesday morning and asked what she thought. We were back to the Chicken and rice diet which I am not a big fan of since I don't even cook for myself and now I am cooking for the dog. I knew it wasn't a good sign when he stopped eating the Chicken and Rice. On Friday I made an appointment with the Vet for Monday because our usual vet wasn't in on Friday. Things weren't out of control so I thought we could wait until then....I was kind of wrong. He did eat ok on Friday, but Saturday that came to a hault. We went for a walk at Genentech and when he did his business I knew everything was not ok....the crazy thing about all of this for the most part he acted normal with the exception of not eating. He was still running around playing with the toys everything and even ate pretty well Saturday night. That wasn't the case Sunday when I woke up to bloody vomit in the bathroom. We chilled Sunday and before we went to the vet Monday morning we had blood coming out both directions, but his demeanor was still ok. I told the vet she wasn't going to believe me that he was sick. That was until she took his temp...the temp was fine but the thermometer was covered in blood. I left him at the hospital for testing (xrays and blood work) and was suppose to pick him up at 2:30pm. When I got the call at 12:30pm I knew it couldn't be good news...Sly was going have a special kind of xray to determine if he had a foreign body in his stomach. The Vet didn't seem to think that was the case, but she wanted to be sure. When I picked him up at 5:00pm he was so excited to see me he had a pretty rough day. The conclusions of the xrays were that both his stomach and intestinal walls are about 3 times the size they should be. His gastrointestinal tract is showing signs of abnormality and there is something in his stomach which they are not sure if it is abnormal folding in the stomach or exactly what it is. She stops short of saying a tumor especially since the blood work is not back. I did ask about Stomach Cancer and it is one of her concerns, but since he is so young would like to believe that isn't the case. For now we are taking four different types of meds which is very interesting because he won't eat food so you can imagine the fun we are having pushing pills down his throat. I have got him to eat a little bit of food today (scrambled eggs and some beef steak)...he won't have anything to do with chicken or rice, so we are trying potatoes which are a little bit better. I should have the blood tests back today or tomorrow and hopefully they will bring good new for Sly. Until then we will take baby steps to getting him to eat a little more food and get him ready for our trip to Idaho. The Vet thinks it will be less stressful for him to come with me on the plane then to be away from me for 2 weeks.....This could be a lot of fun! Keep us in your prayers and I will continue to keep you updated on the situation. The Vet just can't believe that he doesn't get upset when you touch his stomach and how well he is acting with all of this going on...he has been such a good boy through all of this.

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Baseball!

This last weekend was spent at the ball park and I forgot how happy that time makes me. The weather was great, my friend Dayna was down from Sacramento and we started out in seats that were great (as you can see in the picture to the right). I always joke with my mom about becoming a seat snob because when I first moved to California I was just excited to be at the game. As time went by that changed first I started dating Geremi and and since he was at the ball park every day when we were together that usually ment I was also....the good part about that was he always got me great seats. When we broke up going back to sitting in the cheap seats was kind of painful so I started paying the extra money to sit in the better seats at baseball games. Then Dayna started working for the Kings and it went from bad to worse because now NBA games were not the same when you sit in the the upper deck. Thank goodness for those connections (LOL)...One of Dayna's bosses text messaged her minutes before opening pitch and told her there were tickets at will call for her.

As you can see in the picture with Giambi's back in it the seats were right on the field on the first base line....HOW AM I GOING TO GO BACK TO SITTING IN THE STANDS?

Just kidding I just enjoy being at the game. I did learn my lesson when my mom came to watch the Cubs play against the SF Giants....don't sit in the good seats the first night then take her out to the bleachers the second night because when it gets cold we will want to go home since the seats aren't as good as the ones we were sitting in the night before. Yes I am turning my Mother into a seat snob too!!!

April Showers Bring May Flowers!!!

I think my Grandma Helen used to say that to me a lot then on May Day (May 1st) I remember picking the wild flowers that the rain had made and taking them to one of our neighbors in Judgetown. I think the excitement of going home in 2 weeks coupled with the fact that this month has been tough has brought back a lot of reflection of childhood! It makes me smile that when I was in High school I couldn't wait to get the out of Pierce I was going anywhere but there. Now I cherish every moment that I had there. I remember thinking about graduating from High School a year early and Nick Ausman sat me down in the High School Gym and told me that I didn't realize it now, but I would look back and wish I hadn't missed out on that last year of high school. He was right (Like most adults usually are)! It is hard to explain to someone who has never been where I grew up, but it was an almost magical place and time. What do I mean by that? Well I don't think I would ever want to make Pierce my permanent residence ever again, but it is always going to be home. It was a very different way to grow up and even though I didn't always like it then I really appreciate it now. Getting in touch with some of my old friends has made me remember you can't take away any of those moments of swimming in the creek, playing in the woods until dark, or golfing all summer long with my Aunt and Grandpa for $75. I would be lucky to get 2 rounds of 18 for that price now :-). I guess what my short story made long was trying to say I am looking forward to going home....only 2 weeks to go. I am sure 24 hours into the trip I will be ready to "go back to where things are normal" but I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends. Who cares that they don't have an ATM machine there isn't anything to buy in the first place :-)

Updates

Well a lot has gone on since my last post but the most important thing is that yesterday was opening day of Baseball season (ok that isn't the most important thing, but it makes me smile)!

On March 25th the company I work for Genentech was bought out by a privately owned Swiss company Roche. Everyone wants to know what that means...at the moment I don't know! Prior to the buyout Roche actually already owned 56% of our publicly traded stock, so technically they already owned us. So now DNA is no longer traded on Wall Street and we will continue to operate under the name of Genentech in the US. From what I have heard so far it seems highly likely I will still have a job at the end of the year, but nothing is set in stone. I will keep you up to date.

I keep telling Mom that if I do get laid off I am going to move to Idaho with her and Dad until I figure things out. Of course Dad is thrilled and I think Mom is secretly praying that I am joking!! (Good thing that Aunt Terri said I always had a room at her house) I keep saying that I have been thinking about a career change and this would be my perfect opportunity to become a Baseball Scout :-)

Another reason for the delay in blog postings is Mr. Sly Man has once again fallen ill. I am hoping we have found the cause of it...Colitis but I am not holding my breath until he comes off of both antibiotics and is eating without problems again. The funny thing is (or not so funny thing) when I take him to the vet the first thing out of their mouth is "He doesn't act sick" that of course is before they look in the bag I brought with me. The crazy dog loves going to the Vet and if I didn't know better I would think that he "pretends" to be sick just so he can go in.

Looking forward to Easter Weekend...