- KATHY'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

My co-worker Kathy will be 60-years-old on Saturday. She's an RDA in our office and has worked for Dr. Kiholm for years. We celebrated her birthday all day today. I brought her flowers this morning and Peggy brought her miniature roses.

Shandra, our other dental assistant made an Italian Cream Cake for the party.

We "manipulated" the schedule with fake patients and surprised Kathy by taking her to Lil' Jonnie D Carlo's for a longer than usual lunch. The food was incredible. We laughed a lot and took a lot of pictures. (It's a pretty dark restaurant so the photos aren't the greatest). We gave her a Macy's gift card and a gift certificate to The Sequoia Restaurant.

Here's the whole gang (minus me, the photographer).

Lil' Jonnie himself came out and sang happy birthday in Italian to Kathy. He had the most amazing voice. Kathy turned about 10 shades of red before he was finished!

The whole paper bag thing was inspired by the birthday card Dr. Kiholm gave Kathy. We asked her to close her eyes while we put them on. I'm sure everyone in the restaurant thought we were insane! It was SO much fun.

Here's Kathy fanning the smoke after she blew out the candles on one of the yummiest cakes I've ever tasted! Great job Shandra!

Here we all are, leaving the restaurant. We sure got some weird looks from passersby! I don't think Kathy will forget this unusual birthday celebration anytime soon!
Happy 60th Birthday Kathy!!!!

- YES ON PROPOSITION 8

Just wanted to share a video that I thought was very informative regarding Proposition 8. This is exactly why I'll be voting YES on Proposition 8 in November! Please take the time to click on the link below to watch this. It's a little lengthy, but well worth the time.

http://www.afa.net/prop8video/index.html

- DOWN TO THE LAST PEACH!

I had such a fun time canning peaches after work tonight. I had taken one box of peaches to work to share with my co-workers, so I only had about 50 lbs. to can. I ended up doing 14 quarts in jars and 4 quarts in freezer containers (for pies). I sliced some and left some in halves. I used light syrup - 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water. As I sit here typing this, I can hear the ping of the lids sealing in the kitchen. I LOVE that sound! I really should do more canning - I forget how much I love it!

Kurt got home just in time to help me put the last of the peaches in freezer containers. He helped me clean up my mess too! We don't have a single peach left! Woooo Hooooo!!! (Sorry Tyler!)

- I'M FEELING PEACHY!!!

When Tara called last night to say her in-laws had some peaches for me, I assumed she meant a dozen or so. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the Ditlevsen's and Carol showed me the 3 boxes she'd saved for me! There are almost 75 lbs. of peaches here! I stopped at the store and bought canning lids and came home and washed jars and rings and am all geared up to can/freeze peaches tomorrow night after work! My house smells divine and I had the most delicious bowl of peaches and cream for dinner tonight! Thanks SO much Carol and Cal! Wish me luck - it's been awhile since I've done any canning.

- YOUTH FIRESIDE

Tonight we had a Youth Fireside at our house regarding Proposition 8. Jeff Rush and Bishop Anderson spoke. 16 youth and 9 adult leaders attended. The youth had a lot of questions and comments and everyone left with a better understanding of how we can do our part to support this proposition.

We ended the night with brownies ala mode and Ana Mackey beating every one of the boys at arm wrestling. GO ANA!!!

- GOODBYE NATHAN

Nathan Mackey leaves for the Missionary Training Center on Tuesday. He spoke in Sacrament Meeting this morning. Alyssa and Tyler and their friends Kate and Alax came to hear him speak. Nathan will be in the MTC for 3 weeks before he goes to the Marshall Islands. He received a letter from his Mission President saying that he'll be learning one of several languages spoken in that mission when he arrives there. We sure will miss him but look forward to hearing about his experiences in the Marshall Islands.

- PROPOSITION 8

This morning Kurt and I went and walked precincts in support of Prop 8. We canvassed 2 neighborhoods and talked with voters about this important issue on the November ballot. We were surprised how many people were uninformed but encouraged that there were so many supporters out there. We did this in Tracy in 2000 for Prop 22 so we had some idea of what to expect. It was a really good experience for us.

We met at Grandpa's Pharmacy and received a short orientation, a list of voters and our "VOTE 2008" badges. We were out knocking on doors by 9:30 a.m.