UCSD Employee Appreciation

I have been surprised since I started my job of all the daytime parties that go along with working here. Well, UCSD Pediatrics held an employee appreciation luau yesterday afternoon from 2PM-5PM that we could attend instead of being in the office. Of course we went! I thought it would be just some punch and maybe fruit, but I was wrong. We got there and everyone got leis, there was a tent with all sorts of food (shrimp, fruit, desserts, satay, etc.), there was a Hawaiin band, and a hula show. The weather was beautiful and it made my first day back to work in a week easier to handle :)

Memorial Day Weekend in the Midwest

Last weekend I went home for Memorial Day Weekend and it was super busy!

I got into Illinois last Friday night and drove straight to Fulton to visit my Aunt Carol, Uncle Roger, and cousins Emily and Shelby (and their little Shih Tzu who looks just like Diggy named Dori). It was one of the funniest nights I had had in a long time. Carol is good about always entertaining the priests and nuns at her church, so she had the new young priest over for dinner. Mix a priest, wine, and Carol and you have quite a comical situation. We laughed so much, I think you had to be there to appreciate how funny it was.

The next day we went to Iowa for our Cousin Libby's wedding. It was so much fun to see all of my family again. The Filloon family never has a dull celebration, and Libby looked so pretty! The kids had so much fun dancing!

The next morning my mom, dad, and I drove back to Morton and a few hours later my friend Duvy picked me up to take a roadtrip to Chicago to visit some of our college friends. It was such a fun time. I got to see Duvy, Andrea, Lawley, Panichi, and Amy! We went to our old college favorite, Bar Louie, for appetizers and drinks then to Andrea's boyfriend Peter's bbq. It was a very low key night but so much fun! Whenever I see my friends it makes me realize how much I miss them :(

The next day I got home and ate lunch with my cousin Courtney, Aunt Julie, sisters, and mom and that night we had Katie's son Tate's 3rd birthday party. During the party I started getting sad because I felt like I had barely even had time to relax, so I went home and changed my flight so that i could stay an extra day. The extra day made such a huge difference. I got to just relax and hang out at home a little, hang out at both of my sisters houses, pick Lexie and Ellie up from school, and eat sushi with everyone for dinner!

Although I was sad to leave my family, I was so excited to see Adam and Diggy. Adam picked me up from the airport and we got lunch to take home so I could see Diggy. By this time it was about 2 and beautiful out. Adam did the unthinkable and called into work and said he wasn't coming back that afternoon, yay! The three of us took a walk downtown and enjoyed the weather and being back together as a family :)

Here are the pictures from this weekend (too many to post all of them):

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Random stuff

Diggy has officially graduated from being in his cage all day to getting to be out in the kitchen and dining room with all of his toys and free to run around! I tried it out a few times, and he proved to me that if he's left in the rooms with wooden floors, he doesn't have accidents! Unfortunately, he has discovered that he LOVES to chew on our chairs around the kitchen table...If you ever come over to our house, just ignore the gnawing marks on the bottom of the chairs :)

On another note, last night Adam and I watched the movie Atonement. It was really good (but also really sad in a depressing way). Has anybody seen it?

I get to go home in 2 days for my cousin Libby's wedding! Yay! Adam will be staying in CA to be a single dad to Diggy, so let's hope things don't fall apart at our house while I'm gone :)

A new member to the Ralph family

Nothing better than a little, beautiful, sleeping baby!

Adam and I have a new niece! Jay, Steph, and Addison (Adam's brother, his wife, and their daughter) welcomed Samantha Jane Ralph into the world on May 14! We can't wait to see her in person!

Dates with my husband

This week has been broken up nicely due to Adam taking me out for a few mid-week dates!

Last night was his friend Joe's 26th bday, so we went to celebrate at the Turf Club (grill your own meat place similar to Alexanders but smaller with a vintage feel to it). Some of Adam's friends and one of their wives came too! It was a fun outing! We even stayed out until past 10:00! Way past our usual 9:00 bedtime, haha.

Today we got to go on ANOTHER date! Adam was dropping off someone from work at the airport so he swung by here and took me to lunch. We tried this healthy restaurant called the Naked Cafe, and I am now in love!

Fun times with a fun husband, and now we're only a day away from the weekend!

Road Trip to Tucson

Shaking it off

His first time in a pool! He didn't like it much, he was scared!

Diggy with his cousin Lexie

Curious George

Diggy standing up so he can see out the back

The nice view of sand on the way

To my excitement, about a month ago we found out that my sister Katie's family is moving to Tucson for a few years (Matt works for Caterpillar and is working there for awhile). I am so excited that I will have family within driving distance.


Katie, Matt, ane Lexie went to look at houses this past weekend, so Adam and I decided to drive there for a day/night to see where they will be living and hang out with the fam. Of course, now that we have Diggy, going out of town isn't so simple because we have to think about who can watch him, but since we could drive to Tucson, we decided to take him with us. I got a pet friendly room, we packed Adam's truck full of Diggy's toys, cage, towel, blanket, food, treats, and pillow and we were on our way in a very packed truck.


We thought it would be about a 5 hour drive but it ended up taking about 6 1/2 hours to get there with stops and all. Diggy was a perfect angel. He was so calm and snuggled/slept most of the ride, but when he saw the scenery, he realized he liked it and wanted to watch. It was so cute, he stood on his hind legs looking out the back window for a really long time! He's a Curious George!


The weather in Tucson was in the 90's so we did lots of pool lounging. We also got to see the model of a house being built that Katie and Matt ended up buying. It's really nice with a very cool/open floor plan. The neighborhood looks so fun! The town pretty much consists of this huge neverending neighborhood with pools/playgrounds every few blocks. In the center is this thing called the Clubhouse next to a man made lake that has a water park, gym, coffee shop, bar, etc. I would love to live somewhere like this when I have kids! It's safe and very walkable but also 10 minutes from Tucson.

As usual, the weekend went way too fast and I could have spent an extra few days in Arizona BUT something tells me that I might be back a time or two in the next few years :)

A few pictures and some sad news

Adam's great grilling skills for Cinco de Mayo, doesn't the tuna look good? It sure was!

Diggy likes Saturdays because he gets to get into bed with us! He has so much fun!

Doesn't Adam look wide awake :)

2nd Project of the Workshop

Strawberry Mice, cute huh?

First Project for my Workshop, "Happy Face Pizzas"

the carrot haired one is me and the broccoli hair/face is Adam, hehe

My setup at my workshop on Saturday



First off, for the bad news, our little cousin Addy (my dad's brother Tim's daughter) passed away :( She had had problems since birth, but I don't think a family could ever be prepared for losing their little girl/sister. I feel so sad for them, but it makes me feel lucky for every day I have with people I love!



On a happier note, yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, and Adam and I celebrated by having fish tacos for dinner. Adam had the great idea of taking pictures of his food on the grill (hehe) so you can see his wonderful grilling skills.