Boycott

After Thursday night's elimination, I'm seriously considering boycotting SYTYCD. What is the point of watching if I can't see Will?

Confession - I've never EVER voted for anyone on the show, or any other reality show that determines it's winner from audience voting for that matter. I know that makes me sound like a hypocrite, but the people who do vote generally get it right so I don't need to.

Honesty and Blogging

One quality I both admire and lack is an ability to be really honest about my life when I blog. Not to say that I'm making things up, but my blog has become a place where I document the cute things my kids do and the fun things we enjoy as a family. And lets face it, the girls provide plenty of cuteness, and Ty and I are always on the look-out for fun.

My problem is that when less than fabulous things happen or I'm thinking deep thoughts on religion, politics, etc. I want to write about it, but never feel comfortable doing so. I want my blog to be a some sort of cross between a journal and a scrapbook that I share with close friends and family, but you never really know who's going to be reading this stuff. I don't want this to be a place where some weirdo stalks my family or I offend someone. I don't want to come off as a big whiner. But I also want to be real.

So this is me being real. The last few weeks have been really hard. Tyler's dealing with a ton of stress at work, both of my grandparents have been in the hospital, and I just had a miscarriage. I know these are things most people deal with at one point or another, but it's not fun when it happens to you. I know people who have much more difficult things happening to them, and I realize that I have tremendous blessings in my life.

Ok, enough reality. I'm ready to go back to posting about more important things, such as SYTYCD, Project Runway, and The Dark Knight.

Bill Gates sent ME a personal email!!!

I get this kind of spam every day, but somehow I thought this was really funny. Who would ever think this is real?

Dear Beloved Christian,

Calvary greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!!,I am William (Bill) H. Gates III is co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, the world's leading provider of software for personal computers.

My father William H. Gates II is a Seattle attorney and WILLED to me in cash; the sum of $21,900,000.00(Twenty one Million Nine Hundred United States Dollars),I packaged it in consignments and deposited it with a finance house.

After my prayers, I searched a Christian site in the internet, I found your email address and I decided to contact you for the usage of the funds in your Ministry. Therefore, child of God, if you are honest and faithful enough to use this fund strictly for the work of God and to help the less
privileges, your response will be highly appreciated.

Yours in His Vineyard,
William (Bill) H. Gates
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation

Any suggestions on how I should spend the dough?

Catch-up

The last few weeks have been really crazy for our family. It's been one of those times were I have trouble doing little things like returning phone calls, so blogging has definitely been out. But we have managed to do some fun things I don't want to forget. The first is our annual house boating trip with my family. We normally go over the 4th of July, but we had an Allred family reunion over the 4th this year, so we went a few weeks early this year. It turned out great because there were fewer boats on the lake, and we had smooth water most of the time.


The second thing, as mentioned before, was the Allred family reunion. We flew into Portland, visited briefly with my grandparents (grandpa is in the hospital right now, fighting pneumonia and recovering from a heart attack) and then drove up to Richland, Washington. My Allred grandparents raised their family in Richland, so all of the aunts, uncles, cousins and their families gathered to play there for a few days. The whole thing was packed with picnics, bowling, games, movies, and such. It was great fun having everyone together and remembering my grandparents. We also managed to drive out to the farm in Pasco where my mom grew up. Tyler was a real trooper spending all that time with family he didn't know, and I think he actually had a really good time.

By the time we drove back to Portland we were all exhausted. The girls were crying over every little thing and Lilly threw up all over herself. As fun as it is for us to travel, it sure is wonerful being home.