Trip Home to Florida

It has been awhile since I have lasted posted, but things have been so busy that I just haven't had time until now. I went home to Florida on November 12, for a conference in Tampa. I decided to fly in a couple of days early to spend time with my family and then Jeff was going to fly in mid-week to spend some time with family after the conference. The flight was straight from Salt Lake to Tampa, so I was getting excited as the plane landed in Florida. As we were getting prepared to land, I looked out at the water which was AMAZING!! I was struck by the fact that I never really appreciated the water when I lived in Florida; it was just something that I took for granted. Now that we live in the mountains, I didn't think that there could be a prettier sight...but boy, the color of that water sure did bring back memories!

After I got to my mom's and settled in, my brother came by and spent Thursday and Friday with me. We went shopping (so I could help him with his Christmas shopping) and had a really good time. Jim cracks me up all the time...he is so hilarious and I really miss him. Here are some pictures that we took sitting around my mom's house before we went out...

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind...seeing family, shopping and having a good time. I was exhausted by the time my mom and Mike dropped me off at the hotel in Tampa for SETAC. But I knew that the conference would offer no down time; this conference is nonstop!

More pictures from my mom's house....here she is getting ready to start a load of laundry (and she was not super happy that I got this shot of her...sorry mom). The next picture is of her new door. She found this butterfly inset (she LOVES butterflies) in the NC mountains and brought it home and had a mahogany door made from it. It is so beautiful and looks so great with the light coming through it!

Matt Nathanson Concert

Saturday night, Jeff and I went to the Matt Nathanson concert at the Avalon Theater. I was excited because I absolutely love his music and was surprised that I could get tickets so close to the show (I ordered them last Monday). I got even more excited after the article in the paper came out talking about the band that was to open for Matt....the group is called the Break and Repair Method and consists of three of the members of Matchbox 20! What a treat. The show started at 7:00 but the doors opened at 6:30, so we made our way to the theater and stood in line in the cold...I was hoping it would be worth it.

Although the building is a little scary from the outside (peeling paint and broken windows), inside it was quite nice. It reminded me a lot of the concert places I would go to in college and grad school. Anyway, we found a seat and waited for the concert to begin.....

The Break and Repair Method opened the show and played for about 45 minutes. They were actually pretty good and I think I am going to try and find their CD. I really like that they are not expecting people to like them simply because they are part of Matchbox 20; in fact, they didn't even mention it during their performance (although some people already knew).

After they were finished, Matt Nathanson took the stage....he played for almost 2 hours and was interactive and fun. At one time, the entire crowd was singing the '80s song "Take On Me" by A-Ha. It was a hoot. Here are some pictures that we got of Matt and his band playing.

He even sang a couple of songs solo, with just a guitar...which was awesome!

It was a great concert for only $12.00 a ticket and I look forward to seeing him again when he hits it big and is playing a venue larger than the Avalon.

McNaughton Family Picture 2008

We have been wanting to get a family picture of the four of us for quite some time now...I need one for the beginning of Jeff's grandmother's scrapbook and the family in Florida has been asking for an updated one. The problem has always been trying to find someone to take the picture, making sure the dogs look at the camera, and that we all look good. Not an easy task by any means. We were going to have someone take pictures of us this past weekend, but the weather was crappy and so we decided to look to see if our digital camera had a timer on it. After some research we found out how to work it and decided to take the picture ourselves. The camera came with a tripod and everything so we set it up yesterday after work and took some pictures. The camera is even equipped to take three pictures at a time....the best part of all is that it continuously blinks while the timer counts down and then beeps before it takes the picture- perfect to peak a dog's interest. It only took three tries, but I think we got one that works. How did we do?

I sent it off to be printed last night and will be able to pick it up on my way home from work this afternoon. We are excited that we can now take family shots...oh, and thanks for being so agreeable, Kira and Koda!

Fun at the West Jordan Dog Park

On Thursday in the newspaper Jeff read that a new dog park was opening in West Jordan. It is not even a mile from our house so after some errands on Saturday, we decided to stop by and check it out. There were so many dogs and people there that we decided to go back, grab the dogs and let them play for a while. Although the park is open, it is not totally finished yet. There are three large fenced in areas (one for small/passive dogs and two for large/active dogs. Only one of the areas is totally sodded and complete, but the majority of the dogs were playing in the larger of the two large/active areas so that is where we decided to take Kira and Koda. I like the park because there are a ton of gates to go through that make sure no dogs get loose (very nice for an escape artist like Mr. Koda). Anyway, once inside we took off their leashes and let them run.

Kira took to the park and dogs really quickly; she doesn't like to approach other dogs to play, but if they come up to her, she is more than happy to play and run around with them. But, true to her personality, she always comes back to one of us to check in.

She was totally exhausted by the end (but still had a smile on her face).

Koda, on the other hand, was a little more reserved at the park. He tends to get nervous with all the other dogs running around, especially if they are larger than he is. He enjoyed running around and trying to find a way out of the park. And if, along the way, he saw a human, he was more than happy to go up and see if he could swindle some love from them. He would only play with other dogs on his terms. Oh well, that describes Koda to a tee!

Here I am trying to get Koda to be a little more social (to no avail)...

The park is going to be so nice after it is completely finished. I am sure that we will be spending a lot of time there in the future. Thanks for the new dog park, West Jordan!

Halloween 2008

On Friday night before the kids in the neighborhood started trick-or-treating, Jeff and I got Kira and Koda dressed up (they were pirates) and headed out to the front yard to take some pictures. I really wanted one of them in their outfits for Jeff's grandmother's scrapbook, which is coming to an end quickly. Both Jeff and I tried sitting with them, but these were the best pictures we could get. It seems that the best we can do is one of them looking at the camera at a time...we just can't get them in sync.

Jeff's try with the puppies (not too bad)

My try with them (Koda seemed to be more receptive to looking at the camera than Kira). Oh well, I think they will do for the scrapbook.

After that, we started getting our trick-or-treaters. We had about 85 kids and way too much candy afterwards. The dogs were agitated that people kept ringing the doorbell so we leashed them up and took them outside and sat on the porch waiting for kids to come. They both really liked socializing with the kids...a couple even wanted to take them home (although we warned them that would be no treat for them). After a short wardrobe change for Kira (she decided to finish the night in her halloween cat bandana), they sat out on the porch and helped greet the kids.

Overall, it was a good night. Here are a couple of other pictures we took Halloween night.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!