Melton Memories

Today is the last day of work before the New Year, WooHoo! I am so excited to have off until the 4th, however I know that it is going to go by so fast! I really can not believe that it is the 23rd already! I feel like Christmas should still be weeks off..... We did go the Christmas program at church last night to get us more into the Christmas spirit, what a great performance!!! Well I am off to go deliver gifts to our clients ( I get to play Santa today) Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!!

Last week we met up with a friend for a photo session for our Christmas cards.... Here is a sneek peek of some of the photos! Brianna Anderson did our photos, so if you live in the Phoenix area I would highly recommend you try her! Not only does she do great photography but she is an absolute sweetheart to work with!!! Thank you Bri, you did a wonderful job! :)

Wow this year has flown by! I can't believe it is already Christmas time!! This year Wayne and I decided to put up an artificial tree (mostly because I really wanted to put one up the day after Thanksgiving and a real one would die) We decided to wait a little bit before decorating because we wanted to see how much damage Hemi our kitten would do to the tree since this is his first Christmas.... Well he left the tree alone until the ornaments went on! To date he has knocked off and broken / hidden about 15 ornaments! I thought I would out smart him and decided to lock him up in the spare room at night so he couldn't attack the tree while we slept... well that didn't go so well, he decided to get back at me and literally came running out of the room right into the tree!!! So... I went out and bought plastic ornaments to put around the bottom half of the tree and it has helped a little. I think that he is still obsessed with breaking the glass ones though (Wayne woke ...

Wayne's all time favorite band in the world!!! (RUSH) 35 years ago today you were born! Only God knew that he would bring us together after 29 of those years. I am so thankful for you in my life!!! I know that you are working today, but I hope that you have a slow and relaxing day filled with movies and ping pong at the station. Who knows maybe you will get a surprise visit from the dessert fairy! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I love you!!!

Have you ever heard the music from a play and just feel like it moves you so much, gosh I don't even know if I can quite explain it right.... We went to see The Phantom of the Opera on Saturday night with our best friends Seth & Shauna to celebrate our Anniversaries that are later this month. We had such a great time!! Wayne was the only one who had not seen the actual play before (he had only seen the movie). Seth did an awesome job and got us seats smack in the middle. We were so close we could actually see the performers faces!! Before we went in we all looked at each other laughing and said... Ok no one is allowed to sing the songs out loud! Of course I asked them all later if they could hear me humming along (thankfully they didn't so that means I didn't embarrass myself like I thought! LOL) The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite play ever!!! There is just something about the music that takes my breath away and gives me goosebumps all the while making me f...

ABC's of Me A - Age: 34 B - Bed size: King! C - Chore you hate: cleaning the bathroom. D - Dog's name: Neon & Chloe E - Essential start your day item: Coffee F - Favorite color: Black (but I guess that's not really a color) G - Gold or Silver: Silver H - Height: 5'4" I - Instruments you play: none J - Job title: V.P. of a family business K - Kid(s): Maybe in the future L - Living arrangements: House with Wayne and our animals M - Mom's name: Debby N - Nicknames: Shaw O - Overnight hospital: nope P - Pet Peeve(s): bad drivers & people who flick cigarette butts out their car window!!! Q - Quote from a movie: Laugh it up Fuzzball R - Right or left handed: Right most of the time S - Siblings: T - Time you wake up: 7:00 U - Underwear: everyday LOL V - Vegetable you dislike: Mushrooms W - Workout style: not a good one X - X-rays you've had: elbow Y - Yesterday's best moments: dinner with a friend Z - Zoo favorite: anything cute and cuddly

Ok, so after many a year of coming up with excuses and dodging the work out bullet I have joined a gym! We had a new YMCA open up right by our house so Wayne and I went over and checked it out and decided to give it a whirl. This of course means that Wayne will have to give up his current gym (which is going to be tough since it has a cafe, salon, etc.. in it) but hey thems the breaks! LOL So far I have been trying (that being the key word) to go each night after work, I figure that is a huge step considering for the last 34 years of my life I have not gone at all! I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for going as much as I am and not chickening out (Wayne has played a big part in this as he makes me go with him). Truth be told I have this weird phobia of gyms, but I am trying to work through that and go anyway and so far I am doing pretty darn good if I do say so myself. So, I guess we will see how my will power holds out through the Holiday season, hopefully well so I ...

Here are a few fun photos from Halloween's in the past. Curly Chloe Wayne (the nerd) & I (as a cat, check out my eye's they were the best part!) Neon as Cookie Monster Wayne & I as Hippies

Ok, so I am a loser and totally forgot 2 things this month.... 1st: Vicky's Birthday on the 10th Happy Belated Birthday! 2nd: Dad & Vicky's anniversary last Wednesday the 21st. Sorry!!

Happy Birthday Daddio!

Who would have thought that we would have been able to take the boat out to wake board again at the end of October!! I mean come on isn't it supposed to be getting cold out already?!! It was about 86 degrees out yesterday so we decided to pack a lunch and head out to the lake.... it ended up being the perfect day! John and Wayne actually got in the water, I decided to pass it was just a little to chill for me... 70 degrees Mom learning how to drive the boat See I participate in family events.... someone actually took my picture this time! Wayne snoozing in the sun after surfing and some lunch We saw burros on the shore Lots of pretty sailboats out too!

This post goes out to a very special person who recently had to say good-bye to his beloved friend Sparky. My "favorite" uncle Larry had to put Sparky, a dog he has had for many years down last week due to old age. As we all know it is a very hard thing to do when you love animals so much... Larry you gave Sparky a wonderful life filled with a huge amount of LOVE! Below is a picture of Larry's new buddy.... (although this is not the exact picture it is a representation of the new dog Larry has taken under his wing.) Meet..... Sandy Charlotte Bradford She is a Rat Terrier that was given to Larry by someone who needed to find her a new home. Congratulations Larry on your new doggie!

Neon's first Guide dog photo It's hard for me to believe that my little Neon doggie is 12 years old tomorrow! It seems like just yesterday I got the call that my little bundle of fur was ready to pick up! I remember going to my first Guide Dog meeting to pick him up on the 21st of December (my best Christmas gift!!) That next year and a half we were inseparable ! He joined me for all of my college classes, movie outings, even a blind date (pretty ironic considering he was my seeing eye dog! lol ) Giving him up was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do... However as I was working one day I received a call that he was going to be dropped from the program due to a medical condition (which I totally think he faked just to come home to me because he has never showed signs of the condition) and I was asked if I had an interest in taking him back... hmmm let me think for a minute... Uhhh yea I'll take him back I said! And the rest is history.... He is the best ...

I thought I would take the "kids" outside for a shot with my new fall flowers on the patio, however it was a little harder than I thought. Neon has always been good about posing for me in pictures, however now that he can no longer see it is very hard for me to get good shots of him. I now realize that he always looked to me to show him what to do instead of listening... oh well he is still my favorite! I was actually able to get a few really good ones of Chole ! She rarely, if ever, will sit still or even look my direction when I am trying to take pictures of her, so I am happy with this one of her. Now Hemi ... oh Hemi was a handful... but then again what cat ever wants to have a picture taken when there are birds and lizards to go after! I finally got one shot as he was coming towards me to jump off the table... I got some good video of him and Chloe too, I'll try to upload later if anyone is interested. Chloe is my "hall monitor" when it comes to the cats, ...

Happy October everyone! Fall is here, Yippeee! I love this time of year when the weather starts getting chilly, you can sit with the windows open and snuggle in your favorite sweats and a fuzzy blanket, you can pretend that we have fall colors (because we all know that Arizona doesn't have much but brown) and there are things like Fall Festivals and pumpkins! October through December would have to definitely be my favorite time of year!! So break out the oranges, reds and yellows and get ready to wear your long sleeve outfits! (ok if only in the evening at this point, lol)

So the dogs and I made a quick trip up to Durango this past weekend to just get out of the heat and hang out at the house. Although I ended up working on the house with my mom and John it was still a very nice weekend. On Friday (after about 4 hours sleep) mom and I delivered an area rug for a client and had lunch & wandered around town with Mickie, it was a very nice day! On Saturday we ended up power washing the whole deck and going to dinner and having margarita's in Bayfield. Sunday morning we got up and after realizing that the rain might just stay away for a little while mom and I re-stained/sealed the deck While we were doing all of this John was laying stone on the three pillars in the front of the house, they turned out awesome! We then went into town and had some ice cream and watched all the bikers. It was hard to come home on Monday, the weather was soooo nice and cool, however Wayne was patiently awaiting for my return and had steaks on! Yummmm!!! Here are a...

You know in the Construction industry it is rare for a guy, almost any guy, to ask a girl to do something for them.... Well Tony is one of the exceptions! Knowing that there was no way that I had the muscles to take care of the 1/2 ton steel rack that we were taking down, he decided that I was the perfect person to drive the forklift! It helps that this is part of my normal job anyway as I am the one that takes all the pallets of wood of the freight trucks, and since Tony doesn't drive a forklift very often he was more than happy to hand it all over to me. Here are a few photos that my mom took of us while we were working.... hey wait a minute why wasn't mom working with us?! I smell trickery!! Although it was hard back breaking work that lasted for 8 hours we had a good time doing it. Tony and his brother Vince are a crack up and make the time fly by. These guys are like our family, I have grow up with them having met when I was only 14! Anyway I am sure that I am borin...

OK so miracle dog, as I like to now refer to him, seems to have made a full recovery which kinda makes me think... Was he just doing this so we would spend a lot of money on him? See our response to whether we would put him down? For attention and wanting to go to work with mom? As of today you would never know that a week ago Neon could not stand, walk or go to the bathroom without assistance! I just hope that I do not have to go through this again anytime soon, although when you have a 12 year old dog you know it will come sooner or later, I just hope later. Although it does make me sit and reflect all things that we have been through together! As you said Ron, I remember him as a little puppy in his green guide dog jacket going to work with me, classes in college, movies, dinner, even a horrible blind date! LOL He is the best dog ever and it will be a miracle to find another to ever take his place!! Thank you guys for your kind words and prayers for my "baby"!

Thought I would update on Neon for those of you that have asked about him.... We received his Valley Fever tests back and they were negative so that was a good thing! I was doing some research on the internet after talking to someone about his symptoms and found something called IVD that comes on suddenly and affects the inner ear and balance, so I am kind of leaning that way because although he does not have all the symptoms he does have enough to make me believe that he has IVD. Basically there is no cure as it usually just goes away on its own within about 3-4 weeks, so I guess time will tell! I have been bringing Neon to work with me so that I can monitor him and he seems to be doing very well and enjoys hanging out with mom and I. There are times when he stumbles and falls a lot then other times when you would never know something was wrong (usually when there is food involved, LOL) So I guess that is all that I have as far as an update right now, I will keep you posted in the...

You know as I sit here looking at my "baby" Neon I have decided that getting old for a dog really sucks! I knew that at some point in my life it would come to this day when he would start having a hard time getting around but I always thought naa that will not happen to my dog at least not for a long, long, long time! Well we are here... Wayne and I came home Saturday night to find Neon laying on the floor unable to get up. He gave it his all but his legs just didn't seem to want to do what his brain was telling them to do. After a short time we felt we needed to take him into the emergency vet because he was struggling so bad. Of course with it not even being 2 months since Kota passed away I was very upset and crying thinking this is it we are going to have to put him down... Long story short the vet ran a ton of tests and she could not figure out what was going on. She came back in to see us about a hour or so later and told us that we own a "miracle" d...

This is a little tribute to my wonderful husband Wayne (he will probably kill me for posting this photo but I love it!) He is such a good guy and I don't always give him the credit he deserves... Thank you babe for all the things you do and the great guy that you are!!! I love you!

Ok, so after several people have asked I am posting a few videos on me wake surfing. This first one is how you would prefer NOT to fall! The second video is of a much better landing. LOL I will have to look through the rest of the videos to see if I have one of me wake boarding. Keep in mind that I am a Professional and you should not attempt these stunts on your own! NOT!!!

We're back! What a difference in temp. when you step off the plane into 110 degree weather, ugh! We had a wonderful time with the family!!! Basically our vacation followed this routine everyday. Wake up 8:00, have coffee, eat breakfast, go out on the boat about noon and have lunch then surf or wake board all day,come back home about 5:00 have dinner then go back out for a late night run (since it stays light out until about 10:00). We went to dinner one night for Betty (John's mom) 81st Birthday and with friends to a restaurant on the water another night, but otherwise we never left the house! It is probably one of the best times we have had all together in a long time!! If you can't tell I loved it all!!! I have been trying to add a link to the photos but for some reason it is not showing up, so I will keep trying. You can go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/srmelton/Montana2009# to see photos.

So we are still up in Montana and having a great time! I have learned to wakeboard and surf!! Wayne is already great at it and has been giving the rest of us pointers. I tried to upload a photo but my photo didn't seem to understand the bloggging world,so I will post photos when we get home, however the picture of us above is where we are. It is gorgeous up here and it really makes me want to move here, I mean who wouldn't want lakes, trees and great weather!! Well I have to run, be home next week!

Here are a few more photos I found on my CD, I thought they were so funny! Farmer and the Dell Look out.... what's he up to with that frying pan..... Gotta love this shot! LOL

I was cleaning out some of the drawers in my office when I came across this CD with pictures from our trip to Kansas (I think in 2003?) It was such a fun trip because everyone on my dad's side of the family made it out to Kansas were we spent a week goofing off and reminiscing . It has since become and even more special trip to me as my grandfather has pasted away and my dad's uncle Gerald in the photo has as well. It is just such a cool thing to me when you can get everyone together in a family and get photos that you can look back on and remember the Good 'Ole Days! I wish that we all lived closer together so that we could see each other more often, we seem to have spread out quite far between AZ, NY, AL, KS, Australia. Maybe one day soon we can all meet up half way again for some long over due family fun! Until then I will just have to keep looking at all my photos. :) Lori & I in a huge sunflower field Our whole family (minus James) on my Dad's side The ...

Ok, this will probably sound a little strange but I was so excited yesterday when I got to go on a ride along with Wayne's station! I had stopped by to bring the guys some ice cream to cool their day down and was told Wayne and his partner Brad were out on a call, so I hung out for a few minutes talking with his Capt. The tones rang out for the engine to join in on the call Wayne was at so his Capt. asked if I would like to ride along so of course I said heck yea!! It was a little funny because I had just been talking with my friend Jen (Brad's fiance) earlier in the afternoon about wanting to go on a ride along and low and behold I got my wish! :) Anyway I found out as we were in route that they were going to be bringing in a helicopter so that was another treat to see! It is just amazing to me to sit and observe the guys in action and see what they deal with on a day to day basis. I really do have huge respect for what these guys do to help people!! Here are a few pict...