Winter's arrival...

Sigh.......

Salsa's many skills does not include...

So several weeks ago during our first real cold spell I was walking Salsa and we were a few blocks away from our house.  Suddenly a little girl comes charging down the walk from her house and she's doing the potty dance, but obviously wants to talk:

Little Girl:  HELLO!!

Me:  Hi!

Little Girl:  Where do you live?

Me:  A couple of blocks that way (pointed west)

Little Girl:  Is that your dog?

Me: (thinking, well she is on a leash that I'm holding...) She sure is!

Little Girl:  So you're just out for a little walk?

Me:  Yes we are, she loves walking in the cold weather!

Little Girl:  Does she talk?

Me: (suddenly confused by the turn this has taken) Ummmm... no (and now thinking do you know any dogs that talk???!)

Little Girl:  So how do you know she loves walking when it's cold.

Me: dumbfounded

Out of the mouth of babes!

The to-do list is one line shorter...

Just a friendly reminder to myself that sometimes I actually do get projects done! Don't ask how long this has been on the projects-to-do list though!

Just Another Day at Work...

Friday at work we pulled out an instrument to get some practice on using it - it takes pictures of the back of your eyes - the red lines are blood vessels, the white blob is the optic nerve and the darker blob just to the side with of the optic nerve with a reddish center is the macula (impressed by my eye anatomy knowledge yet??).  To my untrained eye I have pretty healthy looking eyes! The science geek in me loves this!

Love Fall In Utah!!

This week I went with my friend Bonnie on a quest for fall color, even though everyone said it wouldn't be good this year because it's been so dry.  They are wrong!!  We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and were amply rewarded - the pictures just don't do it justice!  And not only did it look like fall, it smelled like fall.... ahhhh.... LOVE fall!!!

Hungry much??

When you're really hungry and everyone is eating except you and they won't share I guess even the table at Red Robin seems pretty tasty!!

PS.  LOVE the fuzzy head!  Look at all that hair!  :)

You Might Be A Redneck If...

I love this kiddo and I love that the only shoes he brought for a weekend visit were his brand new boots and I love that he wore them with his shorts and I love that he was so gosh darn excited about them!! You go kiddo and don't listen to the haters that would call you a redneck!

The best of times... the worst of times

With apologies to Charles Dickens...  The last two weeks have been brutal...  within 10 days Grandma Rose passed away, I got home from her funeral and heard the news about the Aurora movie theater shooting (about an hour away from where I grew up), the next day found out that a new friend I made last summer in Africa had died in an accident, two days later went home to Colorado for a family reunion and then learned that Aunt Carol had passed away.  

The best of times:  getting to see lots and lots of family

The worst of times:  I miss these good people that are no longer here

The best of times:  I have been reminded that I am so blessed with a wonderful amazing family and really, really good friends and co-workers, as evidenced by the many thinking of you texts, emails, phone calls, etc I've received as well as the bouquet (made out of lab tape!) that was on my desk when I came back to work - and yesterday my lab mates surprised me with a picnic lunch and we played bocce ball (my first time ever!).  Thanks to all for the love and support!

Grandma Rose (1920 - 2012)

Grandma Rose - thanks for always believing in me - it helped me learn to believe in myself.  Miss you already and love always...

With love, Rosann

A Year Later... Baby Steps

Yes it's been a whole year since my last posting... it's been a hard year and half and I haven't been the happiest person and haven't had many good things to say... so I haven't said much of anything.  And then the thought of catching up on everything from that time whole is really overwhelming - I still haven't done a post on my Tanzania trip (one of my favorite trips ever!), or about the 4th of July and how the Fire Department just turned on a fire hydrant and let it go for what felt like forever after the neighborhood parade and how the kids loved it, or about my new job and the trials and learning curve there, or how I haven't been able to run for about 8 months because my feet and ankles hurt too much, or that I got to go home for Christmas, or about my newest niece and nephew (I'm a proud auntie of an even dozen now!), or that Mom and Dad are headed back to Ukraine for their 3rd mission (!!), or ... I could go on and on!  But Mom convinced me that I just needed to take some baby steps and start with the here and now and go back and fill in things as there's time and desire...  So in the spirit of baby steps, here's something from the here and now - pictures from the photo booth at the annual health science center's employee BBQ - these are my co-workers!  The back row is Matt (clinical coordinator), Meg (the boss!), and me (that's not a head band I'm wearing - it's a fuzzy pink thing with antenna stars!) and the front row is Denise (in the knight's helmet) and Katie (princess).  And yes - I was laughing the whole time with a devil's pitchfork in one hand and a chocolate creamie in the other hand!!

Here's to a new start...