My Favorites...

Meet LJR...

She's finally here!!

Happy Birthday, Lillian June Rauzon!

Bring on the weekend...

Last night my Mom, who was in town to give a management seminar, and I went to dinner at this restaurant at Red Rock. I had the filet mignon , garlic mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. It was delightful. We also ordered a jumbo shrimp cocktail which was also really yummy. After not eating all day due to the "Finding Niko" debacle, I was starving and this meal really hit the spot.
On our way out, my Mom couldn't help but sit down at her favorite slot machine, "Wheel of Fortune" (she just calls it "Wheel"). Thirty seconds later she was out 10 bucks, so we decided to head out before losing anything else. I will admit that the blackjack tables were quite tempting-$5 minimums!!! Alas, I diverted the temptation and we went home. GBH would be so proud...

Tonight me and my good friend Sara are going out to a club called Pure at Caesars. She is visiting from SLC (but she's actually from Redding. We grew up together) so it will be nice to catch up with her. Apparently Brody Jenner is throwing some party there tonight, but Sara hit the genetics jackpot and should have no trouble getting us in. She's the kind of girl who is captivated by Vegas and by doing so, fits right in. I on the other hand find the club scene here comical. If there's anything I've learned from living here it's that Las Vegas is fake. It's not real, it's an illusion. And unfortunatly, a lot of the people who see and meet here are too. Not to say I've been hitting the club scene hardcore, but I have been enough to recognize it and it's a little ridiculous. No, it's a lot ridiculous. But Sara loves it and I'll go to hang out with her. Or at least make sure she doesn't get wasted and end up leaving with some tool on spring break.

I'm also taking my car in (again) to the brakes place. After 3 weeks, my brakes have not really gotten any better and every time I hear that wretched squeeking, I get so pissed and tell myself to call them. Yesterday I finally did and so help me, if they even think about charging me any more money, they and the girl from the HOA will have something in common.

p.s. Jen is having a scheduled c-section on Monday. Baby Lilly is apparently rather large and so the doctors thought a natural birth would be too difficult for her and Jen. A little disappointing I'm sure, but at least we know she'll get here safe and sound!

...and Found

After 2 days, 150 fliers and 1 phone call from my HOA for illegal posting, Niko has been recovered.

Now, I am not going to sit here and tell you that this was like losing a child. Such a tragedy is probably uncomparable. However, I am positive I have been feeling something quite similar the past 36 hours.

Last night I could not sleep. I felt so panicked and sick. This morning, I took another walk around the neightborhood calling for him. At work, I was a wreck. I decided to spend my lunch break driving all the way across town to the animal shelter to see if maybe he'd been brought in. On the way over, I got a phone call from the HOA, telling me I wasn't allowed to post fliers in the neighborhood. That sent me over my emotional edge and I take full responsiblity for what I said to that woman on the phone. But I will not apologize. What was I supposed to do lady?! I'm so sure, my cat is missing and you are telling me I can't put a few fliers up to help me find him? Have you no soul???

Anyway, you can understand why I am now anti-HOA.

When I walked into the shelter and began describing Niko, I immediately began sobbing...and I couldn't stop. The man was really nice and led me to the back where they keep the cats they recover. Niko was not there.

I went back to work feeling so hopeless and so helpless. I got a couple phone calls throughout the day saying they might have Niko, but after a few questions, they turned into false hopes.

On the way home from work however, I received another phone call from a nice Italian man who said he had Niko. I asked him where he lived and it was two houses down from me. After what seemed like the longest trip back home, I stopped by his house, knocked on the door and sure enough, there was Niko, staring back at me from this guys arms. Believe it when I say that I have never been so happy, so relieved to see anything or anyone in my entire life.

Apparently Niko wandered into this man's garage the same morning we lost him. After he saw the flier tonight, he called and now Niko is safe and sound.

I walked into my house and my mom said it looked like the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's. I was crying, clinging to my cat. All that was missing was the rain. And maybe "Fred"

All I have to say is, prayers are priceless.

(Screw you Rhodes Ranch HOA. That flier got my cat back)

LOST

Niko is missing. My brother left the front door open for a few minutes this morning and Niko must have wondered away. I feel sick. I've been looking for him all night and Chris has been looking all day. We put up some flyers but no one has called.

I hope he is ok.

Today I sent a fedex to Tobey McGuire, you know, the actor. The weird thing was that it didn't even occur to me that I was sending this package to Spider Man until I left it out front to be picked up. By the way, I hate those movies, Spider Man. Kirsten Dunst bugs.

Anyway Tobey, your stuff should be there by noon tomorrow.

Spring Breakers in Vegas



This weekend was a blast. My friends and I had such a fun time. It was so nice to be able to hang out. I realized how much I miss them.

Thursday night, we decided to just hang out at the house. We bbq'd and watched some of the NCAA Tournament (I am currently in 7th place in my pool. Texas really screwed me over this year). A little later, we walked down to the golf course and let the dogs run around all over the green. Probably not a good idea, but it was fun. Saturday morning we headed over to the park and played some serious tennis. Funny story: there was this little boy watching us play for a few minutes. Finally, his mother came over and asked if it would be ok if he played with us for a little while. We were like, "Sure, little boy. Come chase the ball all over the court. No problem." Um yeah, turns out little Jonothan was this child prodigy tennis player who kicked all of our butts. I'm not joking here. He was 9 years old and not messing around. This kid was good. Really good. As it turned out, this kid's Dad was the #1 pro player in Israel during the 70's and ranked pretty high in the world.

After tennis we decided to play some sand volleyball, which was really fun too, until I started to feel really sick. Out of nowhere, I started to get bad stomach cramps and then started feeling really nauseous. Rachel suggested I was probably dehydrated so when we were at lunch, I had to cool off and down some gatorade. I've never felt like that before and it was kinda scary. But after an hour or so, I began to feel better. Dehydration is not fun.



Friday night, we all got dressed up and were looking pretty hot for dinner at Kona, which was yummy. Then we decided to go to Rain at the Palms. I haven't really gone to any of the clubs without my brother, so I was a little nervous about getting us all in on a weekend night, but it went really smoothly, especially after I chatted it up with Ben the bouncer. He hooked us up and got us in without having to wait in a super long line. Rain was a blast. I think everyone else thought so too. It's sort of shaped like a big pentagon, with the dance floor in the middle and a couple of floors of vip tables lining the outsides. It was cool, but my feet were killing me by the end of the night and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. We got home around 4 and had cake and ice cream for my friend Joe, whose birthday was the a couple days before. After that, we all crashed.


Saturday morning everyone woke up pretty late, but we decided to go play tennis again, which was awesome. I don't really have anyone to play with out here so getting to play this much was so great. And we brought plenty of gatorade and water to make sure no one got sick like I did the day before.


That evening we decided to BBQ again which totally hit the spot after playing all day. That night we went down to the strip to roam around the Forum Shops at Caesar's and get some gelato at the Bellagio. Downtown was pretty nuts since it was St. Patrick's Day and we were still pretty tired from the night before so we got out of there and came home.


Everyone left pretty early this morning. We had so much fun and I was bummed to see them leave. I miss my friends so such and it sucks knowing that they all are going back home and I have to stay here. But I am going to try and go up for conference weekend in two weeks, so I'll see them soon. I hope they all had a good time here because I really loved having them stay and I'm so glad they decided to spend some of their break down here with me.


Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Yes that is really my arm. Yes, I am Gumby.

Joe, Me, Rachel and Armstrong.

Jake, pimpin' the fedora

Niko found a friend

Rachel and Armstrong taking a break from the tennis action

Rach, me and Michelle at Kona.

Michelle loved Louie and Kacie. Arm finding his way into the picture, like always.

Late night Birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Sister O!

It's my Mom's birthday today. Tonight she is throwing herself a big party with all of her friends. I think that's pretty cool, that she's throwing her own party. She has a lot of good friends who adore her and it will be nice for them to be be together and celebrate.

My mom is a trip. She's one of those people that everyone just likes. People love to be around her. I never really got that as a kid, mostly because I was too busy being a bratty teenager, but now I do. She is so positive and engaging. It's a quality not a lot of people have, but she sure does.

In high school, I would have to get up extra early to attend seminary and I hated it more than anything. My mom got called to be my class's teacher and that made it worse. Back then, I couldn't handle her positivity. But not only that, I always felt that she had more dedication towards the other kids in my class than she did me. All the kids in the class loved her. They'd stay after class and talk with her about their dramatic adolesent lives and she'd listen, almost like a surrogant mother. Back then, I would roll my eyes and hold it against her. I felt she was too involved, too into her role as a seminary teacher. As I have gotten older though, I realize how selfish I was being. My mom is a leader. To some of these kids, she was (and still is) their guide, the person they could come to and confide their problems in. I know now that as my mom stayed up late every night planning her lessons for the week, as she woke up at the crack of dawn to bake muffins or pick up some donuts for breakfast for us all, she wasn't doing that to be liked. She was living the exact way she had so hard to teach us to live. Selflessly. Her goal every morning was to try and inspire us to learn about the gospel and strengthen our testimonies and if bringing donuts in the morning helped, than so be it. And even though I may not have appreciated then, I do now.
For seminary graduation (I don't know how I graduated), I was asked to give a talk on a scripture mastery,

1 Nephi 3-7
"And it came to pass that I Nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them...."

In my talk, I remember relating that scripture to attending seminary . I didn't know why I was asked to get up at 5:30 every morning and learn about the scriptures. As a teenager, I thought it was torture and unnecessary. But now, as I have grown up I realize exactly why I was supposed to go. To be honest, I can't recite any scripture masteries or really remember any of the lessons from class, but what I learned about my own mother is something I will always appreciate about those 4 years in seminary. Her ability to connect to the youth of the church is rare and I know she has been the best and only positive example in a lot of kids lives. Her testimony has grown so much since teaching seminary and I know our family has been blessed because of it.

So Mom, Happy Birthday. Thanks for being there to listen to me complain, laugh and cry (a lot, let's be honest). Thank you for your positivity in all things, even when I get mad at you for it. There are so many things about you that I hope I can become in the future. Have fun at your party. And remember, you're a "sweet spirit" :)

Here's some video of Niko and Kacie. I had to link it because Google is being lame and won't post it directly on my blog. Anyway...

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7135370345891658420&hl=en"

In my dreams...

Last night I had a dream that I was dating Andy Roddick.

It was a great, great dream. You can imagine my utter disappointment when I awoke this morning and Andy was no where to be found. I hate dreams like this. I mean, on the one hand, while I'm dreaming, for all I know I'm Andy Roddicks girlfriend. I'm the one the camera cuts to sitting on the sidelines wearing my Prada sunglasses and sipping on Evian. I even recall (again, in my dream) exlaiming for all to hear "I'm going to my baby's match today!" What??? Sick. This is slightly disturbing however since I DESPISE the term "Baby" or it's equally annoying relative, "Babe" Just ask my sister. But on the other, when you wake up you feel cheated, robbed. Like someone has let you play with 6'2" of hottness and then, took him away. That's how I feel right now. Like they took him away from me.

Needless to say, Andy and I had a great time in my dream. He's such a great guy and all afternoon I've been Googling him, just to see his face again. Weird. Dreams are weird. He's playing in Indian Wells, CA for the next week or so. I wanted to try and catch some of that tournament (honestley, not solely for the possiblity of seeing him, but because it's a huge tournament at a sweet tennis club and it would have been awesome to go), but other conflicts have come up and I don't think I'll be making it. Bummer.

No, instead I'll be hanging out with Michael G. and Grandpa.

BUT, good news on the horizon. Next week my old crew from Logan is coming down to partake on their spring break festivities. (Spring break. Must be nice) Seriously though, I am stoked to see all them and so glad they decided to spend some of their much needed break with me in Las Vegas. I will do my best to show them a good time.

Niko is getting a little more used to Kaci and Louie. He's still a little freaked when they (mostly Kacie because SHE CAN"T LEAVE ANYTHING OR ANYONE ALONE) chase him, but he's starting to turn it into a little game. He'll sit on the bed and kinda swipe at the dogs, sort of in a "Hey, loser,try and get me" kind of way. It's pretty funny. I'll try and get some video of it.

It's so quiet at my office right now. No one is here. Fridays are funny around Panorama. No one really shows up on time and everyone kinda leaves when they feel like it. I could leave now if I wanted, but I figure I might as well stay until the game tonight (we're going to the BYU vs. Wyoming game). So maybe I'll leave a little early, to try and beat some of the traffic.

Happy Friday to everyone!

I'm Callie

I guess I'm ok with that. But I don't think I'm as pushy as Callie. Whatever, I'd rather be Callie than Izzie. Izzie bugs. Which Grey's Anatomy character are you?

Taking 'out of shape' to a new level

Last night I went to bed at 8:30 because I have been feeling so tired lately. Not just tired though, but like seriously exhausted.

Too bad I still feel like crap this morning.

I wish I had some good excuse for why I feel like I have zero energy, like an illness or thyroid problem, but that's not the case. I'm certain the reason I feel like not getting out of bed in the morning is because I have done nothing remotely active (except play tennis, twice) in about 2 months. SICK. I know. I have spiraled downward into this black hole where I can't even get motivated to take a walk. Isn't that sad? For example, yesterday was so beautiful outside. As I drove through the neighborhood, I noticed all these people running, walking their dogs, walking with their kids along the sidewalk. I thought how nice that must feel to be outside and just taking a walk.
So you know what I did when I got home??

I layed down on the couch and watched an America's Next Top Model marathon.

My lack of energy has indeed entered a new realm. I've never felt like this before. Probably because I have always been at least somewhat active. Soemthing needs to change. Something soon.

If one of these came after me, I would run away crying.

This is an aye-aye and it is a real living creature. I read this photo essay on Slate today about the ugliest endandered species in the world. This little guy tops the list. This is the scariest thing I have ever scene. It reminds me of a cross between Golum from Lord of the Rings and a rabid raccoon. I consider myself an animal lover, but I think this is where I draw the line. Would it be such a bad thing if the aye-aye went extinct??? No no, I'm just kidding. Extinction is never a good thing (even when the species has beady eyes like this). I'm sure someone out there is a fan of them.

Now he's a little more my style...

I'm so sick of looking at this thing

I'm so over my blog design. I want a cool one. Can anyone help me out with this? Michelle? I know you totally have plenty of time to design me a new blog template and everything...

(I'm kidding. Michelle does not have time)