Pictures to share...

The picture of myself and the pictures of Paul with Harley and Harley in his sweat shirt were taken this past week. I had to put Harley out in a major rain storm so he could go potty and he came in wet and shaking because he was so cold. Paul found a sweat shirt in the basement and put it around him. He looked so cute and pathetic.

The last pictures are of Paul with Teto and Steve at the 2010 9-11 Memorial ride. They rode from Charlottesville, VA to NYC. Paul had such a great experience. I know he was tired when he got home from all the riding but he was glad he had the chance to go last year with some other officers who he is really close to. I just got my hands on the pictures and wanted to post them for everyone.

We are heading to Missouri on Wednesday. I will take lots of pictures of my family and will blog about our trip when we get home!

Until next time!

LQ

Happy Birthday!!!

To my WONDERFUL husband Paul (tomorrow)!!!!!! Paul is turning the big 27 :) I am so excited that I am in Virginia this year to celebrate his Birthday with him. I am also very excited to be able to spoil him this weekend. He is so wonderful to me all the time, this is the least I can do to show him how special he is! I love him so much and am anxious for MANY MANY MANY more years of Birthday celebrations!!! I purchased two 1/2 cakes from a local grocery store yesterday. One is chocolate and the other is a carrot cake. I have to admit that we have already broken into both of the cakes and they are very yummy! Tomorrow we will continue working on the cake and I can FINALY give Paul his Birthday gifts. I know he will not look at this post between now and when I give him his stuff so I can tell you what I got him. His favorite college team is University of Wyoming. Soooo. I got him a U of Wy hat (he pretty much knows he's getting that since it's the only thing he asked for), a U of Wy blanket for the couch and a St. Louis baseball t shirt (Thanks Dad again for mailing to me). The shirt is maily for the Cardinals game we are going to in 3 weeks (from yesterday!!!!!) when we are back in Missouri :)

Speaking of Birthday's... my oldest sisters 32nd Birthday was last Sunday. This Birthday is so bitter sweet for my family. Erin Rebecca Stone passed away on September 4th, 1982. She was just 3 1/2 years old. For some reason, her birthday was very difficult for everyone in my family this year. My oldest brother was 6 years old when she passed away and John was only 8 months old. I was born 1 year (almost exactly to the day) of her death (Sept 1st, 1983). I told my mom Sunday that I wish I would have known her. Mom said something to me that has been in my mind since... she said "You do know her, You are a lot like her". I felt so honored to hear my mom tell me that I know her. In so many ways, I feel like I do know her. I have always felt a closeness to my older sister. Before I moved to Virginia, I found great peace sitting by her grave site in the Grand View Cemetary in Hannibal, Mo. Many would say that was strange, but if you ever got to see the cemetary, you would understand why I love it there. It's simply beautiful. After mom told me that Erin and I are very similar, it has made me wonder where in my life I need to make changes. If we truly are similar, I want to represent the person she would have been.

Paul was given some good news this week regarding his possible (now likely) job change to the County PD. He got a call Monday from the Sec. of the County Chief requesting a meeting on Wednesday. Wednesday Paul met with him and was given a conditional job offer. He then underwent a poly test and psych eval on Thursday and a physical on Friday. Everything looks good to go so we are anxious for him to get his official job offer sometime this week. He deserves this job change. It's something he really wants!

Once everthing is set in stone, I believe I will begin to look for a new job. I would 1. like a job closer to home hopefully and 2. there are certain companies that I have no business being a part of. I struggle feeling the spirit when I am there. Between the catty talk and the foul language, I have realized that there are other places that I would feel more comfortable working. Several weeks ago, I have an encounter with one of our owners. I was spoken to in a way that was far from appropriate and if Paul would have gotten his way, I would have quit that very moment. I am hopeful that the Lord will guide me in the direction that I need to go. He has always guided me when it comes to my employment, I will lean on him once again.

We are leaving for Missouri in 19 days. My trip home could not have come at a better time. Mom called me the other day wondering if I would be interested in coming home for my brother John's graduation. I am VERY much looking forward to both of those trips. I need some mommy time. I have not been home for almost 6 months. It's time. I need to go home!

Well, I believe that is all I have for now. Happy April to everyone and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. If you are LDS and have the chance to watch General Conference, I hope you feel as touched by the speakers as I have been.

Love,

Me

The day is ending.... and what a day it has been!

Let's see... where do I begin?
Last night when we went to bed, Paul was complaining that his upper back was hurting him. Although he was feeling a bit better this morning, he decided to take a sick day and stay home. I will NEVER complain about a day at home with Paul.

Paul left around 8 am for a 9 am Dr's apt with Dr. Carson. Dr. Carson is the ortho surgeon who fixed his leg after his motorcycle accident. Over the past couple weeks, I have noticed this small spot in Paul's leg sticking out. I bugged him enough about it and he made an apt to have it looked at. Lucky for Paul, it turned out to be nothing more then a soft muscle hematoma. Dr. Carson told him to not worry about it unless/ until it starts giving him constant trouble. YAY for good news!

I left for Walmart around the time time Paul left for town. I was in NEED of a Swiffer Vac. I feel as though we are going to drown in Harley's hair that collects along the base boards of the house. It drive me insane. So, I purchased their last one and I have been anxiously awaiting it to finish charging so I can fight the hair battle! I feel a victory in my near future :)

Once we were home together again we did a little car maintenance. We both had lights out in our cars. Paul's rear blinker was out and my front headlight was out. It was such a relief to have both of those lights FINALLY fixed. My light has been out since August. I was pretty tired of driving with my brights on. I cannot stand driving with 1 head light. Plus I think it is very unsafe! After the lights were replaced, we had lunch and then headed to the basement to continue out task of organizing/ sorting/ pitching everything down there. It's amazing how much stuff you can throw away when you go by the theory "If you have not looked at it or though about it in 8 months, You don't need it". Of course minus sentimental items. Now that the basement is in (more) order, we can finally empty our spare bedroom that has somehow become the inside storage unit. UGGG, I hate having stuff stored all over the house. Anyway, After an hour or so, we called it quits. Another day... another... bag of trash!

While we were working in the basement, we realized Harley was acting a little strange. He was dragging his butt all over the place. I know that this is NOT a normal act so I called the vet to see if it was something we should be concerned about. We also noticed a couple days ago that he had some blood in his poo. When I spoke to the vet, she said we should probably bring him in. OH MY GOSH, I was NOT ready for that vet visit. I took him in to have his hiney looked at and we left with the following:
1. They drew blood to check for heart worms
2. Heart worm medication
3. Blood test for some tick infection which he tested positive for :( Boo
4. medication to treat the tick infection
5. medication for a parasite that is "probably" in his tummy which is contributing to his poo problems
6. he had swollen anal glands (ewwww, i know) so they had to squeeze them and release all the nastyness that was apparently in them.
BUT, we did get a FREE puppy tooth bruch and chicken flavored tooth paste. YAY FOR US! I hope his tooth paste is good b/c I can't afford to eat for a week now.. j/k!

BUT, good news is that he is a healthy 37.1 lbs :) AND, everyone at the vet loved him (as always). He's such a good boy. We are lucky to have such a good puppy!

While we were at the vet, out new fridge was delivere. It is quite a bit smaller then the nasty one we had before but it's fine fine fine with us. We love knowing that our food is not sitting in other people's funk now. I could not have cleaned that fridge enough to make me feel ok about it.

After the fridge was stocked again, we took Harley for his nightly walk and now we are sitting on the couch watching the BYU/Florida NCAA game. GO BYU!!!!!

So, that was out day. I'm exhausted. Good night everyone.

Much love,
US

Oh happy day of the time change!

I always dread the day when the time "falls backward". I hate feeling like it's always dark! Today was such a glorias day knowing that when I get home from work, I still have enough light to go for a walk with my two boys.

Today we had the chance to go to a friends house for a bbq. Their 8 year old son was baptized in our church. How wonderful for him! the weather today has been beyond beautiful and we were able to leave Harley out while we were gone. I'm sure he loved being outside all afternoon. When we got home, the 3 of us went for quite the walk. It was a nice 1 1/2 mile jaunt aound our neighborhood. We have a new family goal to walk every night when I get home from work (weather pending of course). We are determined to shed off our winter weight! Wish us luck.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful Sunday.

Love,
US

When life gives you lemons...

SHOVE THEM IN YOUR BRA!

The past month has been quite interesting in my own personal exhistance. Without going into tooooo much detaile, the Lord either has a plan or certain things in my life don't make a crap of sense. Ok, I've gotten that out in the open. Moving on.

We are still waiting to hear back from the County regarding Paul's job application process. Last we heard, they were finished with the background investigation and that it was being submitted to the hiring dept. We are both anxious to hear something from them..... hopefully very soon. I am sure Paul is MUCH more anxious then me. I mean, it is his employment that could be changing.

Life at Skyline Cleaners (aka, my work) is awesome. We continue to be really really busy most days of the week. We have a newer girl working with us now. Her name is Winter and we spend just about every minute laughing at/with each other. Between her, Valerie, Gloria and Christina we make a happy little family. We all get along so well. It great going to work without the stress and tension I have had in other jobs. I hope we can not only keep it that way, but not have employment turnover anytime soon. It's hard to believe I have been there for 6 months already. It's been fun :)

Life in the Quillon home is pretty much the same. Basketball season is coming to an end which I am thankful for... but they are now starting to announce the upcoming concerts in the area. And, with March quickly approaching, warm weather will be arriving and more outdoor sporting events will be starting. Please County, call and give my husband a job!

Paul and I booked our flights for our April visit to Missouri. I am very excited to get out of Charlottesville, VA for a few days and spend some quality time with my family. I am so glad that both of my brothers will be there that weekend. We are anxious for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game and a visit to the St. Louis Zoo. I'll post pictures after the trip!

I don't think anything else is going on. Oh, we did get our new furniture delivered last weekend. It looks so pretty. I'll post pictures of that later. I'm glad to have the broken stuff gone.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Liz

It's already February

It was a BEAUTIFUL 62 degrees in Charlottesville, Va today. The sky was blue and the tempeature was simply amazing. It was a nice change from the freezing cold days we have been experiencing this winter.

My family in Missouri has been hit hard by a recent winter storm. They have gotten on average 13 inches of snow over the past coule days. My mom had to dig herself out of her driveway after the county snow plow man did an amazing job of dumping all the snow at the end of her driveway. I'm so thankful I am not in Missouri right now!

Paul had his interview with the County PD last Thursday. It seemed to have gone well. He filled out a lot of paper work so they could begin his back ground investigation. We are anxious for them to finish that so they can take the next step. We will let you all know what we find out.

Paul goes in next Thursday for his disspability rating for his leg from his motorcycle accident he was involved in. It's hard to believe it's been over a year since his accident. I'm guessing they are going to give him a 75% dissability rating. We will see how close I am.

Well, that's all I know for now.

US

HaPpY nEw YeAr!

Happy New Year to all of our family & friends!
This post is WAY overdue. I feel like our life has been moving at a million miles a minute and updating our blogg has been the very last thing on my mind. I know I have not udated since Christmas. So, here's a short update on the happenings of our life.

Happy Birthday to Harley! Although we do not know the exact date of his birthday, we are fairly certain it is in January. Our little guy is no longer considered a puppy in the dog world. He'll always be a puppy to me though!

My job is going well. The greatest thing about my day is that every day is different. We may have the same customers come every week, but something funny, annoying, frustrating, rude, fun happens every single day. Yesterday one of my favorite customers came in and told me that his wife asked him if I was the manager of the cleaners. I am SO NOT a manager type. I get nervous training our new girl b/c I don't like the feeling that I am telling her what to do! Our owner told me to take it as a compliment. She said she's gald there's someone up front that act's like a manager. If she's happy, I'm happy!

Paul's job is the big ? in our life right now! Not in a bad way though. Paul is currently employed with the Charlottesville City Police Department. He just celebrated 5 years there and I am SO proud of him for being so dedicated to this wonderful city. He has been flirting with the idea for the past several months about possibly applying for the County PD. He came recently discovered that there were several positions opening after the 1st of the year and he submitted his application a couple weeks ago. I have to admit that I do not handle change well. Which is funny b/c my entire life has been about change for the most part. The biggest change with this new job (if he is offered the job) is that he will probably have to work nights for the first 6-9 months. I am REALLY not looking forward to that..... but I told him i would put on my big girl pants and be supportive and not a baby about it. And, that is exactly what I will do. My parents moved a lot while they were together and my mom has had to pack and move more houses then I can count. She is such a great example to me! Paul's not asking me to pack and move, just be patient until he can get on daylight shift. I think I can do that. Especially since we do not have children right now! We hope to hear from the County soon! I'll keep you posted!

Christmas was so relaxing at our home! We spent most of Christmas day with Paul's family and I had a great time with them! Paul and I exchanged stockings this year and I feel like I pretty much jipped him.... but he did nto feel that way. He bought me something I have been wanting for a long time! He got me a Walther P22. It's a 22 mm Pistol! I am so excited. I have yet to take it out to shoot, but hopefully as soon as the weather begins to warm up, that will be 1st on our list of things to do! Winter with no snow has been very strange for me. I could not live somewhere that was tropical the week fo Christmas! I love having a white Christmas and that did not really happy. We did get some snow Christmas night, so I was happy!

I think that is all the happenings of our life at the moment! Hope everyone is doing well!

Love, Liz