Friday, May 23, 2008

The Tornado Kid

The youngest of my wonderful sisters-in-law, Tory, gave birth yesterday in the hallway of a (or maybe the only) hospital in Cheyenne.

"Why did she deliver in the hallway?" you may ask. Well, there was a tornado warning, and all patients have to be moved away from windows, which means into the hallway.

Tory and Brock James Maclachlan are doing well, despite the dramatic entrance. We are so excited to meet him and our other new nephew, Jetrin Terry Bricco, in a couple of days.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A Boy and His Shark--A Love Story




The best pet EVER, and only $30 at IKEA.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Provident Living, One Step At a Time

I paid off my student loan today. Hooray!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Tagged

I've been tagged by Jen Nikolas to dish about my sweetie. This is a good time to do it, his birthday being in May and all.

1. What is his name?

Rowdy Matt Bricco

2. How long have you been together?
About three years.

3. How long did you date?
Before we got engaged? Uh...about three and a half weeks. (The "half" makes it not look so bad.)

4. How old is he?
He'll be 36 on May 21st. He doesn't look it!

5. Who eats more?
Well, for a long time it was me, but I have cut back since going on Weight Watchers. It's probably him or a tie.

6. Who said 'I love you' first?
I think it was Rowdy. I honestly don't remember exactly when we said it or who said it first.

7. Who is taller?
Me.

8. Who is smarter?
We're equally intelligent, but in different areas. If you want to know just about anything to do with foreign policy, Rowdy's the guy to talk to. He keeps current on a wide variety of subjects.

9. Who does the laundry?
Rowdy has always been the laundry person. I help put things away, occasionally iron and occasionally run a load of clothes.

10. Who does the dishes?
Me. That's totally my job.

11. Who pays the bills?
Me. That's just the way we divided it up from the beginning, and it's worked fine.

12. Who mows the lawn?
Silvio.

13. Who cooks dinner?
Usually me. I like to cook. Rowdy has a specialty or two, but I'm getting as good as he is at making hamburger gravy.

14. Who drives when you are together?
Usually Rowdy. If he's tired or not feeling well, it's me. When I drive, the trip is definitely less-exciting.

15. Who sleeps on the RIGHT side of the bed?
If you're facing the end of the bed, Rowdy sleeps on the right. It's switched around as we have moved from place to place. Rowdy likes to sleep by the window, so he can protect us.

16. Who kissed who first?
It was totally, totally a mutual thing. We saw each other and boom! Smackaroonie!



17. Who asked who out first?
I don't know if it was ever an "asked out" kind of thing. I guess I would say it was Rowdy, though. Our first date was to a Thai restaurant in Hillcrest, I can say that much.

18. Who proposed first?


Rowdy! He actually proposed twice. He was planning on waiting, but the moment was right. I remember distinctly him saying to me, "For reals, will you marry me?" We both cried after I said yes. A couple of weeks later, he proposed more elaborately at the top of Mt. Diablo. He said something about from that vantage point, he felt like he could see the whole world spread out beneath him, but it meant nothing without me in his life. And then he got down on one knee in front of everyone and whipped out a box from Tiffany. This is just an example of how awesome Rowdy is--I never even hinted that I wanted a ring from Tiffany. He just knew that was the place to get an engagement ring.




19. Who has more siblings?
Rowdy, by a long shot. I have two sisters, and he has three sisters and two brothers. (Well, he grew up with two sisters and a brother, then discovered his half-sister and -brother in December.)

20. Who wears the pants in the family?
I would say Rowdy does. But maybe sometimes I tell him which pair to put on.

So I am now tagging Lizzie, Lynn, Jennalee, Stephanie O. and Desiree.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

It's May! It's May!

...the time of year when everyone throws self-control away! (That's from Camelot.)

And there's another little rhyme about May that my dad told Rowdy. It's something about enjoying the outdoors, but this is a family blog....

My goals for the month are as follows:

1. Walk or ride my bike to work and walk to church as much as possible. When we first moved into this house, we walked the 1/2 mile to church every Sunday. Then I was called to teach Primary in a room with no air-conditioning. So I needed to drive in order to bring a fan and ice water for my class. Shortly thereafter, I became the Primary president, and there was always something I had to bring for something. I think I can work it out so that I don't have to bring an armload of stuff more than once a month.

2. Use only reusable bags at the grocery store. I know this is an achievable goal with proper planning.

3. Aprendo espanol! And maybe even learn how to put diacritical marks in my typing. It's not like I don't know any Spanish. I lived in New York for six years and San Diego for two and a half. I also had two years of Spanish in grade school (such as it was). It's easy for me to understand Spanish, but I am not good at stringing words together.

4. Buff up our food storage and savings. I'm a little bit distressed at the state of the world economy right now, and I want to be sure that we're truly prepared and living providently.

Rowdy and I are looking forward to taking a little trip at the end of the month. We're starting off in Salt Lake for a couple of days to see J, K and M and Rowdy's parents. We're driving from Salt Lake to Cheyenne to see Rowdy's sister Tory and his brother Jamie and their families for a couple of days, then it's off to see Mt. Rushmore. Neither of us have ever seen it, and we like taking road trips together. From Rapid City, we're flying to Austin to see my parents and my lovely big sis, Dayna. It will be a whirlwind, but lots of fun.
My Rad Life!