Birthday Weekend

Saturday was my birthday!

I got this picture from my sweet and ADORABLE niece, Cora

(and her parents)!

On Friday, Greg took the day off and we went to the Arizona State Fair, mostly to see the

Star Trek exhibit.  There were costumes and the bridge set-up from the original series (with Captain Kirk) and even a shuttlecraft as it would be real-sized.  Lots of weapons from different species, and a really cool timeline of events in the Star Trek reality.

Don't worry; I wore sensible shoes, but they were still cute!

We also saw some neat exhibits, like these collected fossils:

And beautiful minerals!

 And these interesting fruits and vegetables:

Peanuts!

I never saw how peanuts grow before!

We got to see a little bit of the cow judging!

It was just like a dog show - the cows all stood in a row (the one to the far left in the line was mooing up a storm - s/he was really loud!)  The judge lady in the khaki jacket would give a direction and the cow's owner would take the cow on a little walk in a circle and back to its place.  

There was a petting zoo that had wallabies!

They are small versions of kangaroos and they are extra super cute.

They have little black noses.  

I felt sad for the animals in the petting zoo, though; they were MOBBED by noisy little kids.

Of course, there was lots of weird food on sticks:

And deep-fried food that really doesn't seem to be appropriate for frying:

Greg took Monday off from work, too, and we planned to hike the Peralta Trail, but on the way there, 

we saw this:

"check engine" - oh no!

Turns out that his gas tank cap was cracked and needed to be replaced.  

Or something like that. 

Now it is done and we are slightly poorer. 

 On our way out the door to our hike-that-wasn't, we saw this baby gecko on the sidewalk.

You'd never guess how small he really was unless you saw him next to . . .

. . . my shoe!

Don't tell the youngsters, but the only reason I was able to get this close to him is because he was no longer in the land of the living.  It's possible he got too cold. . . it is getting into the 50s for lows now (expecting highs only in the low 70s today - hooray!), and that may be too cold for a cold-blooded baby gecko.

In case any of you struggle trying to figure out how to plan for meals and have the ingredients you need and not be freaking out an hour before dinner time because you don't know what to make, take a look at this neat gift my friend Cindy gave me!  She said she felt sad that I have to think so hard just to eat, and she wanted to ease the process (thanks, sweet Cindy!)

Now you know what we'll be eating this week!

It's nice to just look at the planner around 4:30 and start cooking.  I don't know why I haven't done this before, but I haven't.  I have a list of about 12 recipes that work for me right now with the Crohn's business, and I am just rotating through them, so we eat each of them about every 2 weeks (some make enough for two nights, so the 12 recipes can easily stretch to more than 12 days).

I had a little flare-up for some reason (spicy spaghetti sauce, maybe?) over the weekend, but I am back to feeling perky and energetic and happy again already.  I didn't even have to change any plans due to fatigue or discomfort!  Amazing.  I am very thankful to be improving and to have hope.  Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!