prayers

this cute bug says the sweetest prayers.  here are a couple of examples from the week...

"please bless us not to have nightmares.  not even one dot."

"we're thankful for all the sports"

"please bless our sisters and brothers.  even our little sisters and little brothers.  and our big sisters and big brothers."

she only has one big sister, that i know of.

netflix!

we just got ourselves hooked up with netflix.  we love it!  somehow, it magically comes through our wii.  i don't know how it works, but it does.  the girls have watched free willy more times than i care to confess.  pretty sure we're going to save ourselves a bundle of cash.  our redbox late fees alone oughta cover the monthly fee.  sad but true.

tennessee trip

finally, pictures from my trip to tennesse for my uncle rand's funeral.

 lael, uncle joel, grammy and jeeps

 gram, chelsey, chesney, tori, doc, mom, auntie teresa, auntie pat

 cutie girls!!!

 handsome boys!

 pat and kurt

 me with auntie t

 cousins kate, jp, doc, tori

auntie teresa and uncle brent

despite the tremendous sadness of my uncle rand's unexpected death, this was a wonderful trip and time to be with some of my extended family.

we used to meet in arizona at my grammy's house for thanksgiving every year.  i have the best memories of our times together there.  it's been a long time since we've all been together and i miss everyone so much. 

hopefully this summer we'll all meet up at the beach and spend lots of time being with each other again.  so all you cousins reading this, get your plane tickets and pack your bags!  i love you!

big man on campus

so, the other day ryan was the tour guide for senator brian higgins, senator kristen gillibrand and mayor byron brown.  they came to do a quick tour of honeywell and gave a small press conference on senator gillibrands lobbying for r & d tax credits. 
i asked ryan to ask mayor brown if he remembered me from the race for the cure.  hee hee.  "so, mayor brown, do you remember my wife?  you gave her a hug and a carnation."
anyway, we're all real proud of our ry. 

Higgins, Gillibrand boost R&D grants

By Business First - by James Fink
Bio | Email| Follow: @JohnBorsa

January 11, 2011 Updated Jan 11, 2011 at 7:50 AM EST

A permanent and less-complicated federal research and development grant could prove to be a major economic development engine for local companies.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Brian Higgins are lobbying their counterparts to make the R&D tax credit program permanent with less paperwork involved. Both made their plea Monday afternoon, using Honeywell's Buffalo research lab as their backdrop.
Honeywell, recently received a $27.3 million recovery grant that it used on research for creating a lithium-ion battery for hybrid vehicles. The battery research project was made economically viable by the grant and is helping to secure the future of the 55-year-Peabody Street plant that employs 150 people.
The R&D tax credit program, renewed 14 times, should be permanent, Gillibrand and Higgins agree. Doing so would eliminate the uncertainty that clouds the program.
"The problem is a business can't count on it," Gillibrand said. "They need to have it for their five-year (business) plans and 10-year plans."
However, with a rising federal deficit, there is no guarantee the program will continue.
"With all investments, it's about choices," Gillibrand said. "This kind of investment pays for itself."
Having such a program would help the U.S. regain its status as one of the top countries that invests in R&D programs. In recent years, the U.S. has fallen to 17th place among those countries that financially help support research and development initiatives.
Before recession took hold of the national economy, New York was seeing an increase in R&D support. It grew by 16 percent between 2003 and 2007.
Gillibrand said making the R&D tax credit program permanent could open the door for 162,000 new jobs.
"It's important we send a positive signal to manufacturing," Higgins said.
Honeywell, which has seen more than 400 patents created from workers at its Buffalo plant and has more than 400 other patents in its pipeline, is one of several local companies to benefit from the federal R&D tax credit program.
Kinex Pharmaceuticals near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has used the program to help finance work it has done on ovarian and prostrate cancer research, said Lyn Dyster, who co-founded the firm.
"I know programs like this work," Dyster said. "It stimulates short term investments that create long term benefits."

update

my mom said the other day..."what's up with your blog, missy?"

well, i'll tell you.  my laptop is all crazy and i can't download my pictures and blah blah blah.  we'll work on fixing it one of these days.

but i'll quickly update by saying that we have been busy getting back into the groove of school and work and playing. 

ella has been busy being silly.  so silly.  in fact she just read this and said, "delete all of that".

afton has been signed up to ice skate, but after a very, very dramatic 5 minutes on the ice, she decided ice skating is not for her.

ryan has been busy at work.  very busy.

i have been busy avoiding the large pile of christmas decor in the dining room.  at least i have it all in one room, right?

i have also been busy detoxing with my friend eliza.  we do a gentle detox each year (this is our third year in a row) and i love it!  it makes me feel so good, especially after a big problem of overindulging during the holidays.  starting with valentine's day. 

we're going to do some runs this year, hopefully the first 5k in april.  we'll see if we can accomplish our goal of one 5k/month from april through the turkey trot on thanksgiving day. 

my 6 month mammogram checkup was good and clear of any cancer!  woo, woo!  so, i am feeling like i am ready to put that all behind me and focus on moving forward.  well, mostly just moving.  even if i just stay in one place, (treadmill) at least i'm moving, right?

so, there's your update for now.  maybe pictures next time.