Acorns

The Sias house has lots of acorns in the spring, thanks to our mature oak trees.  This year, several of the acorns became baby trees.  Uprooting these little trees provided a neat insight into how an acorn becomes a tree.

Life in the Valley . . . Continued

After nearly two years in the Valley, Chris and I witnessed our very first smuggling operation in real time.  We woke up very early one Saturday morning and decided to go watch the sunrise at a state park that borders the Rio Grande River.   After biking to an observation tower and watching the sun rise behind extensive cloud cover (boo!), we headed home around seven.

Shortly after we exited the park, we passed a man hiding in a bush and a suburban on the side of the road just a few hundred feet away.  Less than a minute later, Chris was yelling excited exclamations at me while he pulled onto the shoulder.  After a brief second of confusion on my part, I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the cause of his excitement.  The white suburban had stopped by the bushes where the man was hiding, and about 15 men were running out of the bushes and jumping into the suburban.  Chris told me to "do something," so I called the nearest Border Patrol station.  Meanwhile, Chris decided to follow suburban, which I successfully protested when the suburban made an abrupt turn down an unpaved, unmarked road.  It was a crazy way to start the Sabbath.

Speaking of life in the Valley, the Sias house no longer has cable.  That means we now have an antenna that is bombarded with Spanish stations regularly featuring women in bikinis for absolutely no apparent reason.  Sometimes the bikini-clad women are crowded into a small hot tub overflowing with bare skin.  The bikini girls make the weather girl's snug, spandex dress look conservative.

Smuggling and bikinis.  This pace is ridiculous.

Catching Up

Because August is just around the corner and I haven't updated my blog since May, here is my attempt at catching up a bit.

May brought the end of another pathfinder year.  Working with the pathfinders is extremely rewarding, but I always relish the end of the year.  Everyone needs a couple months to recharge, counselors and students.

This pretty much sums up my year.

At the end of May, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Rachella and her husband Gabe.  This was no small feat as this was the first shower I ever hosted and 60+ guests attended.  I guess I like to go big or go home.  Next time I might just go home.

To continue with the baby theme, I made my first diaper cake for a co-worker's baby shower.  For the first time ever, my house smelled like diapers for a couple days.

In June, I traveled to Georgia for a training conference.  For the first time in a very long time, I stayed in a dorm, used shared shower facilities, and ate in a cafeteria.  Some of the other attorneys in attendance were offended by the accommodations, but I chose to focus on our proximity to St. Simon's Island.  I had no idea Georgia has lovely white sand beaches surrounded by large trees dripping with Spanish moss.  Lovely, lovely, lovely!

After I returned from training, I celebrated yet another birthday.  Rachella surprised me with an oh-so-delicious triple chocolate cake topped with strawberries, and Chris surprised me with a sewing machine.  Fast forward two months and I still have not learned to do anything with my sewing machine.  Plans to remedy this failure are in the works.

July brought visitors!  Jesse (Chris' brother) and Vanessa (Jesse's wife) visited with my only nephew, Elijah, over the Fourth of July weekend.  We spent most of the holiday weekend around the house, with the exception of Sunday brunch at a local restaurant, an evening walk to watch local fireworks, and a rainy trip to the beach (boo again!).  Three-month-old Elijah didn't seem to mind the slow pace, however, and neither did anyone else.

The following weekend, Chris' cousin Marissa visited with her six-month-old baby Jonah.  I saw first hand how much a baby develops from three to six months, and now I can't wait until Elijah is six months old!

To round out the baby trifecta, Rachella visited last night with her new baby, who is now almost two weeks old.  Yes, so much time has passed since I last blogged that I've had time to throw a baby shower for a friend pre-birth and then meet her baby post-birth.  I invited Rachella to hang out with some of the girls at my house last night, but did not really expect her to come.  When she did show up, I learned that inviting someone with a tiny baby to a girl's night is one secret to instant success.  The ladies surrounded baby Leon like flies, and rightly so.  He is so tiny!

Some of the girls in attendance are nurses who work with babies, and it was so fascinating to see how expertly they handled Leon.  They even shared a few insider tips for swaddling, nursing, etc.  Throw in a chick-flick, and the estrogen level was soaring by the end of the evening.

The Sias family has a lot in store over the next few weeks, but I'll leave that for later!