Liberation

I am happy to say that the Lincoln Home has been rescued from its dark days of oppression (I think). The past few months have been horrible here, as we have struggled through the reign of a very power-hungry Acting Supervisory Ranger. Said Ranger still works here--he's just not in charge of us anymore, which is wonderful! While I was out in Utah, our new Supervisory Ranger, Barbara, started work. I met her briefly before I left, but yesterday was my first chance to really talk with her. She is AWESOME! I already love her, and I've only known her for one day. When I told her that I don't have time to do everything that I've been assigned, she actually listened to me and did something about it. You mean I don't get in trouble for talking anymore??? How can this be? :-) Our big boss Laura is still in charge, which is scary, but I think Barbara will provide a nice common sense barrier between us and Laura. I just hope that Barbara isn't too nice for the Supervisory Ranger position--I hope she will stick to her guns and not let any of the crazies push her around. I am just really relieved to have a new supervisor. To use appropriate Lincoln terminology, we have been emancipated from our bad situation!

The End of an Era

This evening was the end of an era--the Jack Bauer era :-( Jack Bauer and his comrades have been a regular part of my life for the past five years. The show has been going for eight years, but I was a late bloomer (I did catch up later). Thanks to Rich I discovered the adrenaline rush that is "24" in 2006. Since then, I have anxiously anticipated Jack Bauer's return each January. I was crushed when I heard that this was to be the last season. I won't drop any spoilers in case people have not seen the series finale yet, but I was relieved at how it ended. All sorts of horrible possible scenarios were going through my head all day, and I was glad that none of them panned out. After the two-hour finale when I tried to get up from the couch, I realized that all of my joints, muscles, and ligaments were frozen in place because I had been absolutely glued to the TV and had been clenching all of my muscles. There was a horrible thunderstorm going on outside during "24" which even included nickel-sized hail, but for the first time in my life, I didn't care about the storm :-) I only cared about Jack! So, here's to Jack Bauer--thank you for saving the world tons of times and for giving me something to look forward to each winter. I hope that you return someday, maybe in the form of a movie?

Take Me Out to Utah

On Saturday, May 15, Greg took me down to St. Louis, and I headed home to Utah for a much-needed break from the Lincoln Home. But more important than having a break was seeing my family! Mom was brave to venture up to the airport after all of her radioactive iodine ordeals, and we had a delicious brunch at our favorite place (thank you for introducing us to it, Aunt Karalie!), the Left Fork Grill. Then we went to visit the Barretts. I can't believe how big these three girlies are getting!

It was very nice to go to the 8th Ward with Mom and Dad on Sunday. I was able to see and catch-up with many friends there. Then the Barretts came for dinner, which included some serious playing outside :-) Here are Sid and Grandpa taking a break and eating a tasty yogurt Creamie. Camden has become quite the excellent soccer and football player. I was very impressed with her mad skills.

On Monday Mom and I went to her eye appointment, then we ran a few errands and had a delicious lunch at Rumbi Grill. We took home an awesome fish wrap for Rich--Rumbi's food is de-lish! It was fun to watch "24" at home that evening, just like the good old days. Then on Tuesday we had lunch with our good friend Yevon. On Wednesday Mom and I ventured up to IKEA--probably the coolest store in the whole world! If only there was an IKEA in Springfield . . . . We had a fun lunch there, and then enjoyed looking at all of the neat stuff. We love IKEA!

Also on Wednesday was Miss Riley's preschool graduation! She is probably the smartest preschooler I have ever seen. Here is part of the fan club: Sid, Grandma, and Grandpa. The graduation program included some great singing and even some really big words like "marsupial."

There's our favorite graduate--front and center! She was given the "most artistic" award, which is very appropriate since she is indeed quite the artist. The kids were all cute, but Riley stood out as the cutest of all. On Thursday Mom and I went up to BYU so I could meet with my good friend Dr. Rugh. Then that evening Mom, Dad, and I celebrated Mom's bravery through all of her thyroid issues by eating a little Thai food! We had some Coney's Custard (the best in the world!) for dessert--what a great day and what a wonderful trip to Utah. It was hard to leave on Friday, but I'm glad that Mom is doing better and that I had the chance to spend time with my family.

Mom and Dad got up bright and early to take me to the airport on Friday. Greg was waiting for me in St. Louis, and then we went and had lunch at Pujols 5 Grill--our favorite Cardinals star's restaurant :-) The food was good, but probably the coolest thing about the place was seeing all of the memorabilia. Then it was off to the Cardinals game!

It was a perfect evening for baseball. Every Cardinals game Greg and I have been to in the past has either been too cold (and rainy) or too hot. But Friday night was perfect. Here's our favorite Albert Pujols up to bat. He is so dreamy (don't worry, Greg agrees) :-) The Cardinals were playing the Angels, and it was a pretty close game, until the 3rd inning . . .

. . . when the PITCHER hit a GRAND SLAM! It was soooooo cool. Brad Penny was pitching, and he was kind of having a rough time. At the bottom of the 3rd with two outs, the Angels walked Skip Schumaker to load the bases and bring up Brad Penny (who had a .111 batting average at that point--not very good). But what does he do? He hits it out of the park! Greg and I had never seen a Cardinal hit a home run at Busch Stadium, and it is quite the experience. There were fireworks (I tried to take a picture of them, but it was kind of tricky), and the crowd went absolutely insane. Then the next batter hit a home run too! The Cardinals ended up winning 9-5. It was a great game! The hardest part was getting up and going to work the next day. The first person I ran into was Laura :-( She said, "Oh, you're back. Have you had a chance to look at . . . and check on . . . and finish . . . and coordinate . . . . yet?" Nope--I just got here. Needless to say, it was a long day. Even though it was only one day of work, at the end of the day I felt ready for the weekend :-) Tomorrow I have a job interview at the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln, Illinois--keep your fingers crossed for me!

Republican

This has been a week full of annoying, disrespectful school kids and annoying visitors! And I don't know what people have been reading this week, but more than ever before, this week included numerous visitors who acted totally surprised and even offended when I told them that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. As part of my house tour, I include that Lincoln was officially nominated as the Republican candidate for President right in his own back parlor--150 years ago this month. Some people pulled me aside after we finished our tour the other day, and the husband said, "You meant that he was a Democrat, right?" No, he was a Republican. "Are you sure???" Yes. He was the first Republican Presidential candidate. The wife said, "Well he freed the slaves right?" Yes. "That doesn't sound like something a Republican would do." It was all I could do to bite my tongue at this point. (As a government employee, I cannot talk politics with anyone while in uniform.) What I wish I could have said is that it was something a Republican would do because Republicans have always stood for whatever is moral. The very next day I had another lady grill me on the fact that Lincoln was a Republican.

Then, today I had a meeting with my supervisor Laura. She had reviewed a new program I developed to be presented this summer. I must say it's an awesome program--I talk about all of the photographs and paintings that were done of Lincoln in 1860, illustrating the Lincoln that was presented to the American people at the time of his election. I discuss how his image helped him become President. Anyway, Laura said that I should include a section about Obama in my program. NO!!! I said, "Well, Obama compares himself to Lincoln a lot, and some people [including myself--but I couldn't say that] don't agree with that comparison. Also, a lot of people, as I have found this week, are confused by whether Lincoln was Republican or Democrat. I think that talking about Obama in a Lincoln program would only increase that confusion. It would also make it appear as if the National Park Service agrees with the idea that Obama is similar to Lincoln." She did not agree with me, but after my continued refusal to include Obama in my program, she finally gave in. Politics were crazy then, and they're crazy now.

All I can say is that I am so excited for a break from everything when I head out to Utah tomorrow! I will really miss Greg and the animal children, but I am SO excited to see my family and to get away from the Lincoln Home for a few days :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Mother's Day is a great day. It's kind of like Christmas--it focuses on someone very important, and it would be nice if people remembered that someone all year like they do on that one special day. We should treat every day as Mother's Day! I know there are a lot of wonderful moms out there, but I think I have the best one in the whole world. She is so patient, loving, kind, and caring. I love you, Mom! I also have wonderful grandmas, and my sisters are great moms too. I'm so happy that Sarah got the best Mother's Day present ever--Baby Leo! He sounds like quite the snuggle bug. Speaking of babies, I think we are running a bird nursery out behind the condo. Greg and I could hear a lot of little chirps the other day, and he found the nest in the enclosure surrounding our air conditioning unit in the backyard. They are quite the boisterous baby birds. Then today when I was out in the backyard with the dogs, it was like I could hear surround sound chirping. I looked over and saw a mommy bird up on our neighbor's air conditioning enclosure, and I realized that they have a nest too! There is just something special about moms--whether they are mommy birds or people mommies. And I'm so grateful for my mom.

On a random note, remember the giant pink elephant with the martini glass I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? Well, I was on my way home from work yesterday when I saw the pink elephant driving down the road! It wasn't actually driving, but it was in someone's trailer. It was so funny and weird.