Oh hail no

Last week, we had two major hailstorms that managed to wipe out TWO of my gardens in completely parts of town.  This may be the most boring blog post I've ever written but bear with me.  Weather is one of my less well-documented hobbies.  Apparently Cheyenne is the Hail Capitol of the World, according to people in my office and this article.  A rather dubious distinction especially since we have practically the World's Shortest Growing Season and it snows on Mother's Day.  

 

Snow, not hail. 

The first storm happened on Tuesday evening.  The weather radio had been going off all night warning us about thunderstorms, hail, damaging winds, etc.  Glenn helped me put all of our plants on the deck and I covered everything with lawn chairs and laundry baskets.  Classy.  The storm blew through town and our neighborhood didn't see a single ping of hail.  I breathed a sigh of relief until Aunt Vicky texted me "goodbye garden." 

This picture was taken on the Sunday before the storm - our slightly weedy but still well-cared for community garden plot.  We had more dill than we knew what to do with, broccoli, cabbages, onions, lovely potato plants and a brave little zucchini. 

Aunt Vicky's neighborhood and our community garden took the brunt of Tuesday's storm.  Leaves and branches and defoliated plants told the story.  

The community garden the morning after. 

So blah blah blah boring hail stories.  We also have a plot at our church garden, that was also spared from the first storm.  It's the first year of our church garden and I've had grand plans to share loads of fresh produce with the congregation and discover new and unusual ways to make kale edible.  Then Friday rolled around and the skies were black and I came home at lunch to try to protect the stuff in my yard again and this time I didn't do the whole laundry basket/lawn chairs and barely pulled things up onto the porch before it started hailing.  It hailed and hailed and hailed and our yard looked like it was covered in snow and the church garden was a giant, soggy, icy mess.  So now we'll have to see what bounces back.  We've replanted a few things and fertilized the heck out of everything and fingers crossed that two hailstorms in one week is good enough for a summer. 

Before the weather drama, we celebrated Wyoming Day by dressing up like soldiers and sitting in an Army jeep.  Will would've spent all weekend there if we'd let him. 

I don't think that's regulation uniform there, Driver. 

I've talked a lot about Will's baseball, but Reina is playing t-ball too and she's quite the slugger.  This year, the coach pitches to each kid three times and then they hit it off of the tee.  Reina's managed to hit the pitches and then stands there in surprise for a minute before dashing off to first. 

Her batting stance is a tad casual, but it works! 

I was digging through my phone and found this picture of Glenn and Will on the last day of school.   

Glenn and his clone.  We should've named him Glenn, Jr. 

Reina wants looooong hair and she's (im)patiently growing it out.  Mornings are usually a madcap rush out the door but I did take a few minutes to work on a Frozen braid a few weeks ago.  Reina was happy with my handiwork and I was happy to send her to school with a coif and not a giant ball of blonde craziness. 

Here's hoping for a hail free Fourth of July.

Tootsie

I traveled to Douglas earlier in the week for work.  As I pulled onto the State Fairgrounds, I realized that it's almost been exactly two years since I drove up there early one morning to meet a little red heeler and her foster family and bring her home.  While Tootsie and Trigger drive me bonkers periodically (is once a day periodically?), she's a great addition to our crazy household and she's a sweet, sweet dog.  She's my enthusiastic jogging partner, in fact the minute she sees me put my jogging shoes on, she whines and paces until her leash is snapped on and we're heading out the door.  Tootsie and Trigger are great companions.  While their combined level of enthusiasm and energy is more than twice what it would be individually, she also keeps him from being completely crazy and he gives her someone else to boss around. 

 

In the winter months, when it's too cold to run outside, she sits on the sofa next to my treadmill and keeps me company.  Her glance is only slightly reproachable.  Like, "toughen up lady, we could jog outside today." 

 

Let's not forgot about Trigger.  It's been about 2 1/2 years since we brought him home and while I'm still not sure he always knows his name, he sure is a patient boy.  Sunglasses?  Sure! 

I dug through my camera to find pictures of the Tootsie and found this collection from one of the days Reina was sick earlier in the year.  The littlest human needs a dog pillow?  No problem. 

When not busy being a pillow, she makes a heck of a blanket, too. 

This is my view several mornings a week.  Jog jog jog jog jog.

She serves as the sentry, letting us know about any loose dogs or cats with bad intentions wandering around the neighborhood. 

Tootsie also keeps an eye out on the prairie behind us.  Her hackles go up when she hears the coyotes, but in this picture she was either watching antelope or more of those naughty cats. 

Last month, when I spent the day with Baby Cousin, Tootsie was my shadow.  She must've been around babies in her early life because she was gentle and so very careful around Baby Cousin, even when Baby Cousin was practicing canine optometry. 

Tootsie followed me from room to room and when I set Baby Cousin on the floor, Tootsie stayed within arm's reach and babysat. 

She's called Tootsie, Toots, Butter (? - from Reina), @#($(#*$@ (from me), Tootsiebootsie, and various chirps and sound effects (from Glenn).  She's not perfect, but we are so grateful that she found her way to us.  Any Wyoming folks who are interested in adopting a heeler/cattle/working dog, make sure you check out HERD of Wyoming (http://www.herdofwy.com/).  We are so glad we did. 

The Great Family Road Trip of 2014 Part 1

Last weekend, we embarked on the Great Pauley Family Road Trip of 2014, Part 1.  Part 2 is later in the summer and will involve me, two kids and 838 miles.  Stay tuned.  For the GPFRT2014(1), we took a few days off and headed over to southwest Wyoming where we stopped at a pick-your-own-fossil place that Glenn and I had both heard of on work trips, but had never had the time to stop by.  I didn't get any pictures of the fossil hunting because (1) it rained part of the time, (2) I had to keep track of a small blonde archaeologist who wasn't necessarily interested in fossil hunting but definitely wanted to visit the gift shop and (3) I wanted to find fossils!  Suffice to say, we came back with a giant tote full of fish fossils and now we need to figure out a way to display them.  After fossil hunting, we drove into the Bridger-Teton National Forest and found a place to camp for the night.  We had one half of a giant campground to ourselves because it's still a bit early in the camping season and oh by the way, there was a decent-sized forest fire not too far away. 

They seem really concerned, don't they? 

Will's second grade teacher sent home a summer reading assignment (which I really appreciate) - the original adventure of Flat Stanley.  Flat Stanley is a boy who gets smushed flat (obviously) by his bulletin board and goes on a bunch of adventures even though he's, you know, flat.  The book is much less gruesome than I'm making it sound here and as part of the summer homework, we have to photograph Flat Stanley six different times and write about his adventures with our family.  So here you go, Flat Stanley bravely hovering over a campfire and a stick full of melted marshmallow goo. 

Will and Flat Stanley

Glenn does not have a summer reading assignment but here he is unpacking or packing something.  That was the unofficial theme of the GPFRT2014(1). 

The Pauley kids love camping.  They love the outdoors.  They love being dirty.  They love eating food out of doors.  They don't love moths or being cold.  But pretty much everything else is a-ok. 

Will enjoying the best muffins I've ever made.  Recipe found here.

Reina loves wearing pajamas out of doors and carrying a giant gold purse that's actually a toy pet carrier.  Not sure if that makes it better, or worse. 

Playing some game that involves swords, bad guys, robbers, handcuffs and a small blonde girl who may or may not be a bad guy. 

 

The next morning, we packed everything up and drove into Jackson where we ran into Aunt Vicky, Uncle Matt and the Star of the Show Baby Cousin at the grocery store, of all places.  We were all meeting later in the day in West Yellowstone but we got a head start on the familial activities.  After buying groceries (to make up for all of the stuff we forgot in Cheyenne), the GPFRT2014(1) headed into Grand Teton National Park with Yellowstone as our final destination. 

I drove this stretch so I only had a chance to take a picture when we pulled over for various reasons.  If you are curious about the reasons why we would pull over after just stopping in town for an hour, here are those reasons in no particular order:  someone needed to go potty, someone needed a snack, someone took their seat belt off for unknown reasons and for additional unknown reasons could not get their seat belt back on,someone couldn't find a tiny piece of plastic that was a super important component to his/her immediate happiness.

Gorgeous views! 

After crossing the border into Yellowstone, we headed west to West Yellowstone and stopped off at Old Faithful for a quick stretch of the legs. 

Pro tip, if you just happen to pull over at Old Faithful and see crowds like this, something cool will happen in about 90 seconds. 

I hadn't been to Old Faithful since I was a kid so I kept taking pictures in case that was the grand finale.  Not yet.....

 

 

There it is!  Even the kids were impressed with that one. 

After the exciting part was over, we posed for the obligatory family picture at the Old Faithful sign.  Flat Stanley Picture #2 in the books! 

Disclaimer, we were safely tucked away in the truck when I took this picture. We tried to obey the 100-ft wildlife rule but
when said wildlife is calmly sauntering down the highway, well... you take a quick picture and drive on. 

Besides the GPFRT2014(1), the other purpose of the trip was for Glenn and I and Uncle Matt to run the inaugural Yellowstone Half Marathon.  Here's a picture of us pre-race, shot by our budding photographer Will.  Let's face it, Glenn's hat and forehead were just supercilious to the picture anyway.  We've been training for a few months now and it's been fun to take a few minutes here and there to jog together on the weekends.  It's turned into our new 'date night.'  Anyway, we've been training, the dogs have been getting a lot of exercise, it's a great time of year to get in some long runs andddddd the race was really hard.  For me.  Glenn had a fun time and was definitely tired out at the end but that race kicked my fanny.  If memory serves me, we had to jog up a mountain, jog back down a mountain and then keep jogging for a really long time.  But I finished without throwing up, which is always a win in my book. 

This is definitely the 'before' shot. 

The day after the race, we woke up bright and early and headed home.  We had to stop right at the park exit for numerous reasons (see previous list) so I took a minute to act like a total tourist and take this picture, which will definitely find it's way on to Reina's high school graduation collage. 

Zoom in for a closer look if you need to. 

 

She wasn't even that grumpy in the car, so I have no idea what transpired to cause such an awesome expression.  Well, it was probably something I said or did, but that's obvious. 

Love these crazy little monkeys.  Side note:  Reina was perfectly happy to wear her mismatched jammies all the way home.  We got up early enough that our plan was to just take them from their sleeping bags right into the truck and hope that they'd keep dozing for a while.  Reina obliged but Will woke up and insisted on getting dressed because people might seem him in his pajamas.  Remember the kid who strutted around Target in a head-to-toe fireman's outfit?  Yeah, me neither. 

The GPFRT2014(1) continued as we drove and drove and drove and drove and stopped to have lunch at Sinks Canyon in Lander.  Glenn had never been and I remembered the giant fish and the way the river come seeping out of the hillside.  The kids were impressed.  They were also impressed by the giant grasshopper-looking/cicada thing that was near our picnic spot so frankly it doesn't take a lot. 

Glenn's not frowning, just chewing.  Why do my pictures always need a clarification?! 

We made it home in one piece with most of our sanity intact.  The kids are great travelers, even though there are a few moments here and there and a couple of temper tantrums (mine included) sprinkled throughout.  We had fun visiting with my sister and Matt and Baby Cousin was an absolute peach.  It feels like summer is officially here and we have some awesome adventures to look forward to.  We traveled all over our beautiful state, saw amazing views and lots of wildlife.  We feel lucky to live in this part of the world.  Plus, we come home and look out the back window and see this guy.   

Glenn tells me this is not Banjo - the older buck.  This guy is a little younger and oddly curious about the goings-on in the Pauley backyard.  I'm naming him Bandit and I think he'd like to snuggle.

Cousins!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we traveled to Omaha to visit the Pauley cousins and celebrate Alena's graduation.  I can't believe she's a graduate!  I first met Alena when she had just turned 9.  She was visiting the Pauley grandparents in Florida for Spring Break and Glenn and I happened to be out there at the same time.  Alena would be the junior bridesmaid in our wedding in the fall, but during that first trip she was a little shy but very adventurous and giggled at everything her uncle said and did.  Since then, she's grown into a lovely young woman and I'm sure she's headed for great adventures in college.  Her cousins absolutely adore her, especially the little blonde one.



Reina threw her only temper tantrum of the weekend shortly after this picture was taken when she found out that she couldn't drive to graduation with the graduate.  I think Reina would've gladly walked with her to accept the diploma if that had been allowed too. 

Cousin Ben is also on the list of "Cousins that are Adored."  He is probably the most patient soon to be eighth grader that I know.  He hauled Reina around the Omaha Zoo and brought out his gigantic collection of Legos to entertain Will.  I tried to talk him into coming back and spending the summer babysitting his cousins but apparently he has more fun things to do! 

 

Reina's cute little feet hardly touched the ground on our afternoon at the zoo.  Between her cousin and her uncle, she had a chariot wherever she went. 

This cute orangutan escaped his cage and followed us around for a while. 

Graduation finery. I stole a few minutes to myself and shopped with Aunt Maria at an awesome outlet mall. I knew Will needed some new church clothes for the summer and I hemmed and hawed until I found orange shorts and a dark blue shirt.  Naturally, it was a hit! 

More graduation finery with the grandparents! 

We had a very nice weekend with all of the Pauleys.  Besides graduation and the zoo, we had a family bowling tournament,  which the author of this blog won in a shocking upset.  Okay, shocking is a slight understatement because no one else really seemed to mind but I'm still waiting for my handcrafted trophy.  The bigger kids and assorted parents played a not-necessarily-friendly game of laser tag and Uncle Mark took home that award.  Glenn claims that his gun was broken. I kept shooting the poor guy that worked there.  Not surprisingly Will is now a giant fan of laser tag and I think we've found the theme for his next several birthdays. 

I sound like a broken record, but everything in our world seems to be beyond hectic right now.  So much for the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, huh?  Summer officially starts around here tomorrow with Will's last day of school.  He and I are going to have a mom/son afternoon while Glenn works and Reina is at Pop-pop's house.  Her preschool was closed for a few days to get ready for summer and she was more than happy to spend that time tiring out Grandma and Pop-pop.  Speaking of the end of the school year, Will brought home his report card today and I am one tickled mom.  He's made great strides this year and he's quite the smart kid.  He's rocking the math and reading and he also got an "A" in art which will make Grandma H happy.  I guess his art teacher must've liked detailed battle scenes.  And Star Wars.  Watch out second grade, we are coming for ya!

Last weekend we hosted a garage sale and officially sold the last of all of the baby stuff (sigh).  Will has baseball games a couple of times a week and Reina starts t-ball on Monday.  Glenn and I are both busy training for an upcoming half marathon and the biggest benefit of that is that we have two very tired dogs.  We have a few rows of cauliflower, kale, cucumbers and zucchini at our church's community garden along with pots of tomatoes and peppers at home.  I'm also helping with Aunt Vicky's community garden spot and if we don't get any HAIL we'll have a great bounty this summer.  In the past month, Glenn's been treated for an infected tick bite (not Lyme's disease) and had an allergic reaction to a bee sting.  The insects love him. Our insurance company probably does not.   I've stayed healthy but my allergies are in full swing with all of the green stuff growing out of the ground.  Reina has a pet beetle in her room and is a whirling tornado of activity who frequently shouts out "Let's go kick some honey buns!" which is her favorite line from the movie Mulan. I miss writing here but there haven't been very many spare minutes to sit down and type it all out.   I think that about sums it up.  Let's get this summer started!