Surgery

Les went in for surgery early this morning. He had the doctor call us and tell us to stay home and come to the hospital when he was in recovery. This was probably not the best arraingement for my mom. She was very anxious all morning and we both wished we were sitting in the hospital waiting room rather then not knowing what to do to keep our selves busy at home. Finally we got the call that Les was out of surgery. Everything went as well as it could have gone. They have taken samples of surrounding blood vessels and lymph to send in for testing. The results of these tests will determine if he has to have chemo. We are all very optomistic. His first day of recovery went well and we even just heard that he was sitting up in a chair all by himself tonight! We have been recieving and making phone calls non stop to update concerned family and friends. Thank you everyone for your prayers and fasts today. Our family can definately feel the effects.

I'm Alberta Bound

I am making a last minute trip up to Canada. Unfortunately it is not a nice vacation to visit family and friends (although I do hope to see some of you). My step dad was recently diagnosed with gastric cancer. He is going in for surgery as soon as a bed opens up. I'm going up for moral support and to help out where I can. Please keep him in your prayers.

Unemployment Blues

Well I have not been blogging too much lately but that it because not much is going on! I have been unemployed now for 2 months and I am not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I fill out between 3 and 5 applications every day. EVERY DAY! I have probably applied for hundreds of jobs, even minimum wage jobs. I even applied at Petsmart! I have not resorted to Walmart quite yet but the time may be soon at hand. I have had 3 interviews so far. Here is the recap:
1. Athletic Training job at a high school - would have been the perfect job but unfortunately I was going up against the graduate student who had been working there for 2 years. I had a great interview but of course the job went to the graduate student because "he knows the students" (this was their explanation to me).
2. Trail Ride instructor - would have been fun but very tiring work. Unfortunately the ranch was a 2 hour drive and a 4 hour commute every day did not sound so good.
3. Administrative assistant at mystery company "The Committee" - weirdest interview ever! I still don't really understand what this company does or if it is legal. Here are some examples of the questions:
"Who had been your worst boss and why?"
"Who has been the hardest boss to work for and why?"
"How do you feel about being called out in front of your co workers?"
"How do you feel about swearing?"
Statement: "If you work here, you will be called out and you will be sworn at."
Believe it or not, I was actually willing to work here. There were 93 applicants and I was in the first interview cut of 10 candidates and then in the second cut down to 3! No such luck. Actually, now that I look back at it I think it was a blessing that I did not get that job. Who wants to work in that sort of environment?!
So here is where I stand. Hopelessly unemployed. Yesterday I turned in 9 applications. 9! And I probably will not hear back from one of them. That is what this economy means to me. So begins another day of job searching. Wish me luck!
P.S. By the way, I am not completely this pessimistic. I do know that something will come up and it is just a matter of time. Have no fear, I will rise into the corporate world once again!

More fun with Bella

For the last week we have had a friend visiting with us from Mexico City. This has given us a great excuse to get out around Oregon with Bella. Here are some pictures of our adventures last Sunday.

Sean, Bella and our friend Alicia at a vine yard.

Our first family photo! Notice Bella's ears blowing in the wind? She is so photogenic.

Another family photo in front of a lake that I forget the name of...

We tried to get a good picture of Bella on a rock with the lake in the background. This is the only one with her looking at the camera we were able to get.

We kept trying to call her name to get her to look at the camera while she was on a three foot tall rock. Like any good dog, she heard her name and tried to come instead of just look at us. We didn't figure this one out until after the fact. This is her just before she jumped head first off the rock onto the concrete. She cried for about two minutes strait after her fall. We were so worried she was going to have a broken leg or brain damage or something horrible like that. It was about at this time that we decided that we are glad we are doing the puppy thing first so we don't make the same mistakes with a baby someday.

Bella is hiding her head because she is still hurt and scared from her leap off the rock.

Sleeping it off.

Stairs

One thing Bella has not quite figured out yet is stairs, especially going down. If there is only one step she can usually manage to flop herself down somehow but if we are at the top of the stairs this is usually what happens.

When we go upstairs I carry her up and then she will follow me around and I don't worry about it. I brought her upstairs this morning but when I got into the bathroom I realized that she was not right behind me. All of the sudden I heard this thud, thud, thud. I looked over the railing and there was Bella, spread eagle on her tummy sliding down the stairs. I tried to catch up with her but she slid all the day down, did a somersault, gave a little whimper and the started to jump around and wag her tail as she watched me run down the stairs. I was laughing so hard by the time I got to the bottom. I can not believe no one was around to see what had just happened! It was so funny! When Sean woke up I told him what had happened and he tried to make her reenact it but no such luck.

Our New Addition

Introducing our new beautiful baby puppy Bella!

We have been talking about getting a puppy for a long time but we have never had an apartment that would let us have one. That was a requirement when we were apartment searching here in Eugene so we could finally have our very own puppy. A few days after we got back from Europe Sean took me to the book store and had me look through all the dog books until I found the dog I wanted. When I saw the picture of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel I knew this was the one for me. As we did some more research we learned that not only are they super cute but they are also great family dogs and like to snuggle but also have a fun playful side. It was perfect! We tried to find some where, anywhere, on the west coast to get one but we did not have much luck. We then came across a breeder in Missouri who was willing to ship her puppies. As soon as we saw the picture of Bella we knew she was ours. She is a perfect little puppy and we have all fallen in love with her.

On our ride home from the Portland airport Bella found the perfect place to nap.
Taking a nap with Kyle.
She sure does lover her flamingo.

Granada

We have finally reached the end of our travels. If for no other reason but to document our adventures for my own memory, I will now attempt to go back in time and remember all that we have done and seen....
I left off our last post in Granada so that is now where we will begin.

High on a hill opposite the old town is the Alhambra. The Alhambra was once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and their courts. Each ruler would try to out-do the ruler before by making more beautiful contributions to this area. The detail that gets put into the Muslim architecture is amazing. This place is so popular with the tourists that you have to make reservations months a head to get in. Luckily we ran into a girl from Spain while we were in London who gave us the heads up. Only 200 people get in every half hour and we were lucky enough to get into one of those groups.


The background didn't turn out so well in this picture but any picture we can get with both of us in it is worth posting.

This is the view of the city from the main Palace that we were trying to get in the background of the last picture.

The Orangery.

This is the entrance into the gardens from the Palace. These purple flowers are all over Europe. I loved them. Does anyone know what they are?

Pheesh!

This was the main protective fortress of the Alhambra.


By the end of the day I was so burned that I didn't even care how silly I looked as long as I was somehow covering up my poor pink skin.
After a wonderful day exploring Granada and the Alhambra we were up with the sun the next morning and ready to head out to the next city.

Spain, part 1...

Ahhh Spain... We love Spain! We have had such a great time so far that we have decided to cut out some of our time in France and add it to Spain. We love it! I don't really know where to start so I will start at the beginning and see how far I get...
This is me at the drinking from the fountain in Barcelona. Ledgend has it that if you drink from it you will return one day. May as well give it a try!

We found a great market in Barcelona. Spain is famous for their cured ham which is hanging up behind me. There are whole pig legs hanging up all over the place and they will just slice off a hunk and serve it to you. At first I was a little freaked out by the whole eating raw pig thing but it is actually really good so we may as well enjoy it!

Tongue, testicles and intestines. Mmmm. No, we did not try these.
This is one of the bird markets on the street in Barcelona.

We thought it was weird how many fish there were around the harbor.

We then discovered that instead of feeding the birds in Barcelona, the locals come to the harbor and feed the fish!

Sitting in the shade of orange trees in Spain. Can life get any better? I don't even like oranges and the trees smelled delicious!
One thing Barcelona is famous for is the architecture of Gaudi. Sean describes his buildings like Alice in Wonderland buildings. They're pretty cool.



This is on the roof of the last building.

Sagrada Familia - this is the Gaudi's Cathedral that he designed. It has been under construction for 200 years and they are still estimating it will take another 50 to complete. It was amazing.




Ok... Enough Gaudi.

This is me being a lobster. Little did I know that after a few days in the beautiful Spanish sun that I really would become one.
That was a very brief run through on our two days in Barcelona. We LOVED Barcelona! It should be on everyone's list of places to visit in your life.
The next group of pictures are in Granada. We took a night train there. You may notice that we are wearing the same clothes as we were in Barcelona the day before. This is a result of the night train.

As much as we loved Barcelona, we have both agreed that Granada has been our favorite place so far in Spain. Not only does it have palm trees and orange trees all over but it is also has a view of snow caped mountains all year round. On top of that they have the Alhambra which is an amazing Moorish palace. The city itself is beautiful and has great history!

More on Granada and the Alhambra to come but for now it is time for bed.