Happy Birthday Uncle Jay!

You are now as old as my mom! Thanks for visiting me in Utah. My parents and I look forward to seeing you soon. I was enjoying my hand as my mid-afternoon snack in most of these pictures of me and Uncle Jay.



Also, my parents have been spoiling me more and more with new treats and a little morsel of meat the size of a crumb. I loved it! I'm glad I fit in with my carnivorous family. I must really be the daughter of John and Lindy. No DNA test required!

In general, I've been breaking them down little by little. They are feeding me off their own plates and I love it! They truly are putty in my dirty, slobbery little hands...

Two Years and Counting...

Today, Lindy and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. It happened to fall on a Sunday as it does for a lot of Friday weddings for obvious or not so obvious reasons, depending upon who you are...

Anyway, as a result of the aforementioned detail, we celebrated this event, with perhaps greater zeal, yesterday. For the first time in her life, Lindy ate fresh lobster. We asked where it was caught and from where it was shipped. Apparently, the "Coast of Mexico" has some good price deals on lobsters these days...

We also tried some fresh crab but it was no match for the "Salmon Family Reunion Crab Feast Fest" back in 92, or whenever it was... Those who attended that party are still running from the National Park Service... Well, the crab we had yesterday was a little on the "too salty" side. Perhaps our crab was from Utah.

Also, Anya turned nine months yesterday. She didn't receive nearly as many gifts as she did at her eight month birthday party. I suppose the money for those presents was displaced to pay for our lobster. Oh well, I suppose she got to try some later...

Where are you from?

Although I'm pretending to be a city slicker, I come from a town boasting a population of nearly 2000. It's one of the best kept secrets in the USA. No one has ever heard of it. Even my peers in high school wondered where I really went at the end of the day. They'd never been there.

Often when people ask where I'm from, I don't even bother saying the actual name of the town. If I do, I have to say the name of it multiple times and explain that it's x amount of miles from such and such and it still doesn't mean anything. Don't even think for a second that I'm going to mention the name here . . . I took some pictures of my rural roots to share with my native Georgia friends.




One of the things I love to do when I'm home is to go target shooting. That's right, in small towns we still shoot at targets, and not people! (John is going to make me erase that sentence.) I'm not quite as good as my husband, father, sister and brother, but I can hold my own against some of my 8 year old neighbors (neighbor in small towns includes anyone within a 10 mile radius).

Welcome to Life, Ryan!

Congratulations, Matt and Lisa!


Their new little baby boy was born yesterday evening at Northside Hospital. I believe his name is Ryan Matthew (but if I'm wrong about that someone will inform me).

He is so tiny and cute and he made me want to have a little baby boy sooner than later...


Now, I got permission to take and post these pictures from Lisa herself so people can't accuse me of "pre-emptive blogging." (They aren't even out of the hospital at this moment!) However, I won't put up all the stats about his birth which seem to be the classic data we love to hear when a newborn arrives. I'm sure Matt and Lisa will post a lot more in the coming weeks...

As you can see, little Ryan is already interested in sports and will be a fan of the Yellow Jackets (along with other Georgia teams) if his father and Georgia Tech cousin have any sort of influence over him.


Second in impressiveness to Ryan's arrival was Lisa's recovery room at the hospital. Since Anya also entered life at the same hospital, it was hard to not contrast the facilities Lisa and Lindy received. Lisa is recovering in a room. Lindy recovered in a closet. Lisa has a view outside her window. Lindy had a brick wall outside her window. Lisa had a flat screen. Lindy had a CRT screen. (not that that mattered - we were too tired to watch TV... I wonder if half the people who read this know what CRT stands for...?) Lisa has climate control. Lindy had a climate. Matt has a 7 foot couch/bed. John had a broken chair... and it was drafty... (which, I might add, wouldn't open up all the way because the room was so small! Witnesses will testify the chair was broken!) Same hospital, but obviously on different sides of major renovations...

But we didn't know any better. Now we do. Future John Salmon Jr. will be recovering in a room.

True Blue Cousins, Not Just Kissing Cousins

We're a bit behind on blogging. Last month Anya and I were fortunate enough to be able to go to Utah for my grandmother's funeral. My grandmother had a great life of 87 years and I was grateful to go to support my grandpa--her husband of 69 years who recently turned 90. Here's a photo of Anya meeting her great-grandparents for the first time back in March.


Anya got to see all 8 of her cousins on my side of the family during her stay.


Anya's cousin, Sariah was able to stay for several days at Bapa and Nana's with us. Anya's middle name is Jozette, after Sariah's mom. Maybe that's why Anya loved being with Sariah. Sariah introduced Anya to Barbies, sunflowers, pony tails and birthday parties. She planned a big 8 month birthday bash for Anya which included invitations, banners, presents, games, a ride in the swing and animal crackers! I don't know if we can match it for her first birthday. Maybe you will help us Sariah?


I think she likes you Sariah! Come visit us in Atlanta soon.


PS Happy Birthday Bella!