Being unemployed has allowed me to read a lot and watch a lot of movies. Here's what I've been doing.

Books:
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-too long
-To Touch a Wild Dolphin
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-this and the Goblet of Fire are my 2 favorite
-Island of the Blue Dolphins
-Secret Life of Bees-loved it
-currently reading Freeing Keiko-book about the whale from Free Willy

Movies:
-Cabin Fever
-Hostel-dumb
-Stay-very good...Josh, you'd like it (new release at Blockbuster)
-The Hills have eyes
-Wolf Creek
-I think there is more, but I can't remember right now. The 100 degree weather is frying my brain.

After watching a few horror movies lately, I have some advice. If you are in a situation where the killer is vulnerable, don't just shoot him/her once. They'll come back and kill you. Shoot numerous times or take a the time to finish them, so you yourself DO NOT DIE. Ryan and I were getting very annoyed.

I'm still jobless. I still have been applying to jobs around the country. The two that I recently applied to are the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Aquarium of the Pacific, in Long Beach, CA. There is also a job in Florida that I'll be applying to. As for a job in MN, I applied at Petsmart as a dog trainer. If that doesn't work out, it looks as if there is still a position for me at Vanity as an assistant manager. I sure didn't see myself working retail after college. It sure makes me humble. I am not all that.

I have been volunteering at Vacation Bible School at our church this week. I have been working with the 3rd grade class and it has been a lot of fun. Lots of kids made first time commitments to Jesus. Please pray that they are true commitments and that they understand the huge decision that they made. Pray that God will place Christians in their lives to help them learn more about Him and what it means to live for Him.

I am back in MN now. I had a good drive back. Uneventful, which is good. I saw a ton of motorcycles cruising down the highways in MI and WI. Apparently that is the choice of transportation when it is 90 degrees outside.

I had a good time at home. I went out to dinner a few times with my mom. One was on a deck outside by the canal. Very pretty. Then mom, Josh, and Amy and I ate at my favorite place to eat when I'm at home to get the BEST pizza ever. I went out to my dad's house again. We went to Horseshoe Lake and took the doggies swimming. We also took a dip...very refreshing. I got to see my friend Courtney. We went to church together, ate out, and bummed around. Court, how's your head?

I completely forgot to write about this. We aren't leaving the Twin Cities. On the Wed. Ryan was supposed to let Arizona know, he got a job offer for a school in the cities, so we are staying! We don't have to move!

My massage the other day was lovely. She told me I have to go see a chiropractor for my back. It's not a huge surprise. After the massage I went out to my dad's for awhile. I got to see Storm and his new dog, Mushka. I'm not sure how to spell it, but ok. We went out to eat at a very nice place by his house. Yesterday mom and I went on her friend's boat for a few hours. It was a gorgeous day. We got to see two bald eagles. Then I met an ex-boyfriend from 6th and 10th grade, Brandon, at the Strawberry Festival in Chassell. It was great to see him. It's nice to see people as adults now. It is amazing how people change over the years. But then there are others who haven't changed at all since high school...very sad. We are about to head up to Calumet to have dinner with my brother, go and see my grandpa, and then go to a monk service. It shall be interesting.

I am officially done at the zoo now. My last day was on Monday. It was a fun day, but as soon as the 4:00 show ended, the tears came. After that I got to say bye to each of the dolphins. They came over for a last rubdown from me. They were probably wondering why I was crying. I am going to miss it there so much.

For the 4th of July me, Ryan, Rachel, Matt, Hailey, and the doggies went up to their parent's camper. We took a walk to a lake so the dogs could swim, went golfing, got dairy queen, and ate too much.

Now I am home at my mom's. Since I am currently unemployed :( I had some time so I figured I'd come up here for awhile. I'll get to see some people I haven't seen for awhile. And I have a massage in 1 hour! Yippee!!!

There are some big things going on in our lives right now. First off, I am done at the zoo on July 3rd. I am very sad about it. I am really going to miss the dolphins and my co-workers. I've been there for a year and a half now. It'll be hard to leave. I have my going-away party tonight. I also have quit Vanity. My last day was actually yesterday. I am taking the month of July off. I am heading home for awhile to visit the family. In other big news, Ryan got a job offer in Yuma, Arizona. We aren't sure yet if he's going to take it. He had some more interviews, so we'll see. There is no zoo there, which is hard for me. I'm happy for Ryan, but not so excited for my own "future" there. It will only be for a few years, but that's still a long time.

Funny story. At work Jenny, Heather, and I look kinda similar. Not to people who know us, but it's understandable that the public confuses us. Blonde, short, similar hair styles. We were just talking about this before the 2:00 show today. After the show I was in the stadium putting toys in and a little boy comes up to me and says, "Where is your sister?" I told him my sister isn't here, but that I have some friends that I work with and pointed out Robyn and Heather. He said, "But there was two of you!" Simultaneously Robyn was getting a funny comment, but let me back it up first. Robyn and Heather were out with the boys during the show. Jenny and I were in the back pool with the girls. During our training segment I took Chinook from Heather so she could help Robyn with Semo. So anyway, this lady says to Robyn, "Is there a reason that Chinook was given to a trainer (me) that looked just like the first trainer (Heather) and not given to you (Robyn) because you look different than them? Do the dolphins have to only work with people who look alike?" Robyn just started laughing because we had JUST had this conversation a few minutes ago.

Happy Birthday, Harley. We'll be thinking of you. 

If the little dolphin Harley was still around, we'd be celebrating his first birthday today. We really miss the little guy. He was a lot of fun.

It has been a stressful, tiring, and eventful week at work. Don't wanna write details on a public thing. Have questions, e-mail me and I'll update you.

Ryan's Grandpa Monson came to visit. He flew in yesterday so we headed to Ryan's parent's house to see him. The last time we saw him was in December for Grandma Monson's funeral. Rachel, Matthew, and Hailey were there, so there were four generations of Monsons.

It looks like I'm at the MN Zoo for at least 3 more weeks. I'll take what I can get! The dolphins have been a bit crazy lately so work has been a tad stressful.

My kitties are doing good. It's funny because they both have a certain item that they love to steal and hide it. For Obi it is a make-up brush. It hasn't been used for a long time, so there's no powder on it, but he kept digging in the closet to get it and would grab the bristles with his mouth and run downstairs to hide it. For Triton it is a contact case. We have three in the medicine cabinet, but there is one specific one that he knocks down with his paw into the sink, then grabs it and runs and hides it in my pile of zoo uniforms. Silly kitties.

The weather here as been wonderful. Well, last week it reached 96 degrees...a bit too hot. Ryan and I have been using our outdoor pool. On Thurs. I got to spend 4 hours there. Very enjoyable. I was able to finish Harry Potter 5, the one where Hermione dies...Hee hee hee, Josh and Amy. I am reading a book right now called "to touch a wild dolphin" and then I think I'll hit Harry Potter 6.

I can officially call myself a "trainer"...I trained my first behavior. It was will Spree, our 3 year old dolphin. The behavior is a mimic spit, where you squirt a squirt bottle at the acrylic windows at the stadium and she spits over the top of them. Pretty cool.

Nothing else new from this end...no job news for Ryan or I. Frustrating.

Oh, we bought a new car. Our old 94 Ford Tempo was going to die any second. We were to the point when we weren't driving it anymore...we actually had to rent a car last week. We got a Dodge Stratus. We are very happy with our purchase.

The proud aunt and uncle. Won't we make cute parents someday? 

This is Hailey Rachel on the day she was born. 

For the past 3 nights, Ryan and I have gone to Twin's games. On Wed. and Thurs. they played the Royals...won on Wed., lost Thurs. Yesterday we went to Detroit with Chad and Sarah and they lost. I never expected to like a sport so much.

Ryan still has to download baby Hailey pictures on the computer so I can put them on the blog. It's a new camera and I don't know how to do that. So, hopefully soon they will be on.

Ryan made this for me one night. I got home from the baby shower and it was ready for me. He saw it in a magazine and decided to replicate it. Very impressive. 

Sarah W., Sarah J., Rachel, and Sara M. Hee hee hee 

Rachel during her baby shower. 

I am an auntie! Rachel had her baby on Friday April 21st at 4 something in the morning. It's a girl! Her name is Hailey Rachel. Ryan and I were able to go up to the hospital on Friday evening to visit. She is absolutely gorgeous. Once we download our pictures from the camera to the computer, I will post some. On Thursday we'll get to see her again. Very exciting!

Ryan and I returned from our cruise today. Here is a little recap. I will post pictures once we download them onto the computer. However, we barely took any pictures.

Monday:
We got up at 3:15 am…way too early. We had to catch a cab to the airport. Our flight left at 6:10 and we got to Miami in a few hours. The weather there was pretty crappy. It was rainy, breezy and a bit chilly. I think the weather that day was better in Minneapolis. We got on the Carnival boat no problem. The lines are huge but actually run pretty smoothly. You are greeted by a billion photographers, posing you in front of different backdrops and will various props or dressed up people. We found our cabin and went and ate right away. Then we spent some time wandering the boat, trying to figure out where everything was. We had our first dinner. There were assigned seats and we met some nice couples at our table. The dinners consist of a five course meal. Mom, I even tried escargot. It was nasty. We went to an evening show where there was a comedian. We hit the sack early because we had to get up early the next day.

Tuesday:
We docked at Key West. Ryan and I went SCUBA diving. The first dive we saw lobsters, fish of course and a shark. It was pretty scary, but it was just resting on the bottom. The first dive had a max depth of 50 feet. The second dive was around 20 feet. We got separated from the instructors, which was kind of intimidating, but we found our way back to the boat. On that dive, when we were close to the boat, a school of yellow fish were surrounding Ryan and me. It was cool. On the trolley from the where we got on the dive boat back to the big boat, we saw some of the town. It’s a cute little town. It was formal night at dinner, so we got to dress up all nice and pretty. I wore a black dress and Ryan wore a suit. We actually made it on the official video for that cruise when we were all dressed up. That night we went to the first of two Las Vegas style shows that dancers and singers put on. It was very enjoyable.

Wednesday:
It was an absolute gorgeous day. We ate breakfast out on the deck of the boat and it was lovely. We docked in Cozumel and went to a beach were there was open bar and buffet. Don’t worry, we didn’t get crazy. Just a few daiquiris. We went snorkeling there were there were this underwater Aztec ruins, obviously man-made. So we went out to find some of these “ruins”. Then we lounged around for awhile. Then we went shopping where I got to work on some bartering skills. After a huge line to get on the small boat, that took us back to the big boat, we ended up missing dinner. But those of you who have cruised before, there are 24 hour buffets of various sorts, so we took advantage of that. Then we went to a guy that did a balancing act, where he balanced a variety of stuff on his forehead. It was impressive. Then there was another comedian. I played the slot machines. I put in $20, and walked off with $41. Not bad.

Thursday:
We didn’t make any stops this day, so we lounged by the pool for awhile. Stupid me forgot to put sunscreen on my right leg from the knee down, so it turned bright red, and still is. We went to the other Las Vegas style show, played bingo, and more slots. At midnight there was the “R-rated” comedian show.

Friday:
We got off the boat by 8 am after customs and all that jazz. Again, we were very impressed how fast the lines moved. We spent another day in Miami. We had a really nice hotel and lounged around the pool for many hours. Then we went to a pedestrian mall in south beach and looked in the windows of many swanky shops. It’s interesting how you hear English much less then other languages in Miami. We went to a bar that we were familiar with from last year, called Wet Willies. Then we strolled along the board walk with drinks in hand, since it’s legal there to walk around with drinks. Then hit the sack at our hotel to catch our early flight.

So, that was our trip. We had a lot of fun, but I was anxious to get home to see my kitties. Ryan’s aunt took care of them, but it was so nice to see them. Since I’m in MN now, I’ll probably lose this tan in about 3 days. :(