North Carolina & New York City

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Tribute to Andy

This is our little dog Andy. Stacie got him for her 16th birthday, July 11th 1996. He was born June 19th of that year. Stacie, Matt (her cousin) and I went to pick him up. He was so little.

We had him for almost 13 years. After Stacie got married she took him to live with her and Whit but all he did was sit at the door and whine. It broke her heart so she brought him back home. Which was fine with me, I kinda liked him.

This is Stacie's senior picture. She had to take one with Andy.
This is Andy at this past Christmas 2008
About two years ago he was diagnosed with a heart condition and bad hips. He still loved to chase cars even with his bad hips. I was so afraid he would get hit by a car. They told me then that when he started coughing really bad that the end would not be far off. About a month ago he started to cough alot. I didn't think a whole lot about it. He was still so active. Just after that Eric and I went out to see Stacie & Whit. We thought he would be fine. On April 30th we got a phone call from Kylie telling us that Andy had died. She went to check on him when she got home from school, he was curled up in his bed. Her and Scott buried him in the back yard. I felt bad I wasn't there. But I am almost glad I wasn't. I'm also glad that he went the way he did I didn't want to make the decision to put him to sleep. After we got home it was hard to not have him around. I still think he is here, when I go outside I want to say, " com'on Andy, let's go out." It is just weird not having him around. He would follow me around the house all day. No matter what room I was in he would be there too. I was looking at pictures in Kylie's camera the other day and found this picture of Andy. It was taken about a month ago. I didn't realize how old he really looked. Poor thing. I'm glad he is now in a good place.
We love you Andy!

"Andy"
June 19th, 1996 - April 30th, 2009

Jazz Game

On Monday morning we went to Salt Lake with Mom & Dad Erickson and Neil and Sherri. The boys needed a break from work. They wanted to golf but a storm rolled in with 3 or 4 inches of snow. Is it spring? We met Ryan and Starla and Emily and Will for dinner at The Market Street Grill. We then went to the Jazz game. It was fun. The Jazz were way ahead but almost lost it in the 3rd quarter. They did pull it off. It was a good game. We had a good time.
The next morning they dropped me off for my young women meetings at the conference center. My presidency drove down and met me there. The meetings were awesome. It is so nice to be in the presence of those women. Sister Dalton is so great. You can't help but feel the spirit. After the meetings we had lunch at" The Garden" on top of the Joesph Smith building. Great place for lunch. We even had fried pickles. (They are good Marcy) We then went shopping at Orson Gygi's. It is a restaurant supply store. It is awesome! I spent way to much money. We have to go there girls! It was a great day!

David Archuleta Concert

Eric and I took Kylie and Kailani to see David Archulta, It was so awesome! He was playing in Pocatello. Eric and I were not the oldest ones there either. We had great seats. We were 8 rows back from the front. The only problem we have now is that we are deaf. Small price to pay. He gave a great concert! He is really cute and little. Kylie is now in love.
On our way home Eric and wondered what we are going to do when Kylie leaves home and we don't have her to use as an excuse to go to these fun events. Our grandchildren had better move closer so we can take them! We had a great time!
The photos are not that great. The last photo is Kylie and I with the Jacksons. They were there. They had front row seats.
A girl we sat by had a great camera and said she would e-mail the photos. I haven't heard from her yet. She was from New York and has been following David on his tour. She is 35 and has done this by herself. I asked if she follows the bus she said no, that would be stalking! Crazy huh? If she sends me the photos I'll post them later. I love never growing up!

Kylie's Shoulder Surgery!

On February 25th Kylie had shoulder surgery. Not so fun, it has been four days now and she still doesn't feel very well. The meds make her sick. Anyway two years ago she was snow boarding and started to fall, she caught herself with her arm and she heard a pop then she fell on her shoulder and felt it go back in. She had to be taken off the hill in a toboggan. When she got home we took her to the doc. He xrayed her and said nothing was broke. It had just popped out and then went back in. So that was that. It took her awhile but she recovered.
Then last year she tried out for JV softball team and made it, but it kept popping out and she was always in pain but she endured and had a good season and was looking forward to playing this year. In January she went to a camp in Logan Utah and hurt it pretty good. The team doc told her she needed to go to an orthopedic doctor to have it looked at. So we did. He thought it was just an instability problem. He did order an MRI just to be sure. Of course there was nothing there, just a big bill. He thought physical therapy would do the trick and she would be ready for try outs. We tried it for a week or so and all it did was make it worse. The therapist was to afraid to do anymore so we went back to the Dr. He suggested surgery to tighten the tendon that holds the ball in place. We hoped she could just endure the pain and try out this year then get it fixed in the summer. He didn't recommend that, he wanted to do it now so we did. After he got in he found a tear. He couldn't figure out why it didn't show up on the MRI. Oh well it is fixed and all is well except she wont be playing ball this year or this summer but by next year she will be great. Her coach is going to keep her on the team to help her out. Sorry this is so long. If anyone has ideas of getting her off the hard drugs so she can get feeling better let me know!

Valetines Dance

Make a Smilebox postcard

New Orleans

We went to New Orleans for the NADA convention. (National Automobile Dealers Association). The last time we were there was the February before Katrina. I thought maybe it would look a lot cleaner with new paint and fixed sidewalks. Was I wrong, it looked worse! There are a lot of empty buildings and the sidewalks are awful. Those who can afford to fix up are, but there is so much to do. ( We didn't take a lot of photos, sorry). We still had a great time. We did a lot of walking and eating. We spent a lot of time at the convention center. Eric went to meetings and I went to the place they have for the spouses. I had a facial and attended a work shop on dieting. It Sounds boring but it really was fun. Shopping was not so good. I found Sax Fifth Avenue. Thought maybe I would buy a dress. Ha, the minute I walked in I new I was in the wrong place. First of all I walked from the convention center. It was about five blocks. The humidity and my hair don't mix and I was hot, yet I was cold it was in the 60's. Anyway I felt like I looked awful. I walked around a bit, I looked at a few price tags and about died. A little jacket was $1,000.00. Yep I was in the wrong place. Even things on sale were way out of my league. I slowly walked out so know one would see and I went back to the convention center. On the way back I walked through the river walk shops. A little more my style. Not many stores were in there because of Katrina. But those that came back were OK. There was Gap & Ann Taylor Loft. That was it, The other shops were little souvenir shoppes. I did find a sale in Ann Taylor's, all their sale things were another 40% off. That was fun.

We ate at Emerils restaurant "Nola's", So good.. the Crab cakes are to die for!

We found the LDS church on Sunday. It is a very small branch. They had 2 big wards before Katrina. Now they are down to a branch. Those that left haven't come back yet. It was very humbling. It was nice to be there with them.

On Monday we went to the closing workshop at the convention. They Had President Bush (old bush) and president Clinton. It was so cool. They are both working together to help build disaster stricken places. They were both really fun to listen to. It's nice to know that they are working towards a cause for the better and they can set aside political differences.

Our way home was so fun (NOT!) Our flight to Cincinnati was delayed because of weather. That made us miss our flight to Salt Lake. We tried to make it. We had 10 minutes after the plane landed to get to our next gate. We had to run from one terminal to another. Go on 6 walking sidewalks and one mile long escalator. Eric ran ahead I tried, really I did. One man asked if I was OK. I felt silly. We still didn't make it. Even if I would have kept up we wouldn't of made it. Just so you know Eric and I will not be doing amazing race.

Eric and I at Emerils

The LDS Church in New Orleans

President Bush & Clinton

( not a good photo )