Cousin Conspiracy VII: Cousin Conspiracy +1

For Cousin Conspiracy VI, click here.

Sometimes life can make you fret.One day you think you're sailing through...and the next you wake up and realize you've made a mess of it.You think, "What!? How did this happen?"You wonder how you got to this place. **You might develop an annoying habit of biting your nails,or of eating everything you can get your hands on.You feel like you can't do anything right.It's as if the universe is pulling you every which way.Yikes! *"Soon," you tell yourself, "things will look up."You feel so exhausted you can't even stand.But don't cry about it.Whenever you fall down,just remember, it's the little things in life that matter, like an encouraging lift from friends or family.Giving will make you feel better, too. A simple gesture, like a hug, can brighten someone's whole day.You might find friends you didn't even know you had!You never know what might be written in the stars for you.Don't let fear hold you back.Just go for it.Tell yourself, "I'm gonna get out there and get it done!" *Don't just sit on the sidelines,jump in and try new things.You'll be cruisin' through life again in no time.

*Thanks for those two pics of Jhett, Renee!

**For more pics of our little visitor, click here!

Do you ever wish your boss had a (non-evil) sense of humor?

This was in the jobs section of our newspaper this morning:

Sales

ALLIGATORS

FEMALE OR MALE

Last week we found 1 alligator, we are still looking for 3 more alligators to fill the 4 positions that are open. We are interested in hiring 3 semi-obnoxious, pushy sales pros for a very boring, repetitious job of selling. My current staff, the laziest group of individuals you will ever meet, drag themselves to work weekly to decide whether to complain about the weather, coffee, the thermostat or their manager.

When that's over, somehow they manage to organize themselves, work their appointments and make lots of money, which is surprising.... no one wants to buy anything we sell because the economy stinks. Applicants should have skin like an alligator and desire to suffer their way to a $100,000+ year career.

If interested apply in person only: Centaur Art Galleries

Ahh... a job description that actually accurately describes the position and still makes you want to apply (if only out of curiosity)!

Nephews

Renee brought the boys over today to play outside for a bit.

For more of these cuties, go here.

Skywalk

I took Kyle to the Grand Canyon Skywalk for his graduation present. I'd heard some good and bad reviews on it, such as you have to take a 14 mile dusty, bumpy road to get there, that it's pricey and that the place still looks like a construction site, but that the canyon is beautiful, the Skywalk is amazing and you can see the Colorado river really well. All of this was true and because we were expecting them, the not so amazing parts didn't bother us.
the dusty road to the canyonour lunch viewa raven trying to share our lunchthe cliff we ate lunch onColorado riverwe hiked up to this spot for a 360 view of the canyonThe second stop, where the Skywalk is, was Eagle Rock, so named because of this rock that looks like an eagle (flying out towards the canyon). The story goes that the eagle protects the people of the Haulapai indian tribe.There weren't any guard rails so we could walk right up to the edge of the canyon.The Haualapai tribe owns 108 miles along Grand Canyon West. They had a little village set up for tourists.The Skywalk: 70 feet away from the edge of the canyon and 4,000 feet above the Colorado river (but not straight down).
Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed on in case they were dropped and "scratched the glass". Of course if you wished to purchase a professional photo you could, for a fee of 30 or so dollars. (We didn't.)

The Skywalk was pretty neat. It had glass along the bottom so you could see straight down. It was eerie to see the edge of the canyon through the glass and then step off over air! Although no cameras are allowed, you can stay on as long as you want and they don't mind if you lay down on the glass to get a better view looking down. (We did.)
As Kyle said, the Skywalk is one of those things you definitely should do once but probably shouldn't do twice.

More Washington

More Washington pictures....
Kyle, Kirsten and I were pulling into Kirsten's driveway one afternoon and were struck by the absurdity of how many cars were in the driveway and how randomly they were parked. It gave us a good laugh...

Kirsten got a new laptop while we were there. We were all VERY excited about it.

Kirsten and I spent some time acting like the crazy sisters we are... Which included staying up all night and inventing new hairdos.

Tia and I stayed with one of the friends in Bellingham the night before Kyle's graduation. She had two cute cats. This one particularily liked to pose.

And I can't post about another animal without mentioning Kyle's dog, Molly. She's 12 and when I remember being at Kyle's house when I was younger Molly was always wandering around.

Stay tuned for Skywalk pictures, if I get around to posting them...

Kyle's Graduation

Like everyone else around here (so it seems) I'm just getting over a nasty bout of bronchitis which has kept me from updating lately. Kyle and I had to cancel our trip to Phoenix due to being sick. Happens every time I go to Washington....

So, to catch up...

Kyle graduated from Western on March 22nd with his manufacturing engineering degree.
His support group including his parents, siblings and aunt and uncle:

Click the picture to see Kyle circled in blue.

The whole camera situation really was ironic. Kyle's parents and Tia forgot their cameras. I had mine but as Kyle walked up to accept his diploma my battery died. Mike and Jan got this picture on their camera, which turned out to be black. I attempted to lighten it:

It was a beautiful sunny day, for Washington (although chilly).

Kyle, Tia, Tyler and their parents

Afterwards we went to a gettogether/going away party for Kyle as he had to be out of the area after he graduated. There was yummy food...

Yummy cake...

And great company!

I loved all the expressions in this picture...

Thank you Tia for these pictures!

siblings