Huzzah!

Woo hoo! My mom and oldest sister came to visit for my birthday, and they camped in a nice place up the canyon. On Monday they were too tired from their drive to do anything, but on Tuesday we went to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner and they presented my with the wheeled cart pictured above. (If you don't understand why I'm excited about this, go here. I've been doing laundry that way since we got to Logan in March.)

I got to hang out with them at their shady campsite, which was cooler than our apartment, and I played with the dogs. My mom has a new dog named Jamie, who is half chihuahua and half dachshund; the designer name for this breed is "chiweenie." He is so cute! He's a teacup-sized shorthair with the most velvety coat ever. He had been abandoned on a busy road in Pahrump and some neighborhood kids brought him to my mom because they knew she had just lost our old husky, Sampson, a week after my dad died. He's a squirmy little puppy who loves to snuggle, and I was really excited to meet him and play with him.

Last night we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, and my mom surprised me with a check for $200 to put toward a gas grill of my choice, and guess what? I have chosen. I. Can. Not. Wait. There is gonna be some serious grilling going on! I'll need to go through my Rachael Ray cook books and start making the hamburger recipes, because I can! The tiny George Foreman we have now only actually cooks one burger at a time, even though it says it cooks two. Yeah, if they were sliders! Anyway, now I can make all sorts of wonderful burgers and grilled meats and veggies and fruits. Yay!

So it was kind of like celebrating my birthday all week long. I enjoyed it.