I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post. There is more about that below.We had a good, if very busy, Memorial Day weekend. I had to work on Saturday but Sunday, we were all quite busy. Paul went golfing with a friend, so Sophia and I went to Portland to hang out with Grannie Nancy and Grandpa John. Sophia has named him "Ba-Ba," much to his chagrin. While in Portland we got out of the attic this wonderful toddler-sized rocking chair that belonged to my mother as a child. Sophia loved it. It's being repaired by my parent's good friend Bob (who builds amazing furniture) and soon it will come down to live with Sophia.
Sunday my mother, Sophia and I went to the cemetery where my grandfather and other members of the Slayton family are buried. When I was a kid we went up there every year on Memorial Day. Every year we'd have the same conversation. We'd mark where my grandfather is buried, show the places where my grandmother will go when she dies, and then indicate where my mother and I would be buried someday in plots my grandmother owns. (Yes, I know this is a strange conversation to have. My family has always had an unusual way of dealing with death.) One year, I got very upset and wondered where my husband and children would go. So, my grandmother bought me four adjacent plots. I was the only kid in my grade school who owned burial plots. This year, for Sophia's first trip to the cemetery I was going to give her the whole speech, ultimately indicating where she would be buried someday. (I know she couldn't understand it, but it's good to start early). But, the best-laid plans are often ruined by toddlers, and she slept through most of the time at the cemetery. The speech will have to wait for next year.
In Portland, Grannie Nancy - the expert shopper - gave Sophia some beautiful
new clothes. Sophia loved them so much that as we were showing them to Daddy that evening, she had to run around the house carrying them.
The other exciting thing we did Sunday was together with our friends the
Maddox family, who have a little 
girl just a month older than Sophia. We played at a park and then had dinner together. It was a lot of fun. I think the cutest thing that happened was when Bailey went over to Sophia and gave her a hug. Sophia seemed a little confused, but all the adults were mushy about it.
Monday afternoon we had all the grandparents down for dinner, to share in a beautiful Copper River salmon one of Paul's law school mentees had give him. Sophia provided ample entertainment for the gathering. She even mooched some of Grandpa Earl's cobbler and seemed quite pleased with herself.Tuesday, May 29th was my 33rd birthday and Aunt Amy's 30th. We send Aunt Amy this picture of Sophia
and a short video. I hope Aunt Amy's birthday was better than mine. I celebrated with incredible abdominal pain. Wednesday I went to the doctor and they first thought it was appendicitis. As they were looking for that, they discovered a softball-sized cyst on my right ovary and the doctors (all of the 3 I've seen this week) are pretty sure that is what was causing the pain. So, Wednesday the 6th I'm going to have the cyst and my ovary removed. I'm sure it will be great fun! It's a laparoscopic surgery which should be easier to recover from than my previous hernia surgeries, which should be good.So, it's been a long and crazy week. Next week doesn't look to be any less crazy. This will probably be the last post to the blog for a while.
