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2011-08-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

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Relay for life

2011-02-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

CANCER SUCKS!! I could say that a million times and still scream it from the roof tops. I've had lots of cancer close to me lately. Normally it's a friend of a friend or distant person in my life but lately it's been siblings and parents of people close to me and even a few friends. I decided it was time for me to do my part and do what I can. It might not be much but at least I feel like I am doing something, so I joined a relay for life team. My friend Libby recently had surgury for cervical cancer and I have joined her team Mia's Cupcakes. I am walking for Diana, Bekki, Jean, Shirley, Joni, Carolina, Libby and the many others who have touched my life recently. I HATE CANCER and I am going to do something about it. My goal is to raise $250 so hopefully with some support I can reach that goal and do something good.

Cabo San Lucas

2010-07-23T15:49:00.001-07:00

We spent our last port day in Cabo! It is very pretty here. Lots of activity and people. We were all quite tired from the last two days and it was in the high nineties today so we finished up our shopping and headed back to the ship. We had a short day here it was only 7-2. We have now set sale and have headed for for home!

Maazatlan

2010-07-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we were in port in Mazatlan. We decided to book a shopping, beach and lunch excursion. We went and did some shopping in the "golden zone" which is a big shopping district. .We were then taken to El Sid Resort for some beach play and swimming. We had free reign of the resort. We spent the first hour playing on the beach. We had red flag seas which meant the waves were quite large. We then had a mexican buffet lunch and headed to the pool side. We had an amazing pool with water falls and cliffs that we could jump off. It was a very cool place with Iguanas everywhere! We liked this port think we'll have to visit here again (we'll have to talk Uncle Dick) back on board headed to Cabo!

Puerto Vallarta

2010-07-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

It was SO hot when we got off the boat. He hopped a taxi to a place called Sea Life Park where we surprised Lena with a dolphin swim (her biggest want on this trip) Aaron and I did it too. SO so so neat. We got to play with them and they pushed us with their noses. It was amazing. The other side of the park was a big water slide park. Unfortuanatly when we went over to go sliding the water wasn't running in the slides. We were informed that the power wasn't working and that it would be fixed in 15 minutes later..... 2 hours later finally the slides were working. We went to do some shopping along the beach after that. We even found a Mcdonalds and had some lunch!! Back on the ship and headed to Maazatlan!

Sea day one and two

2010-07-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first day at sea. We did a lot of swimming, watersliding and hot tubbing! The kids are loving that they can swim all they want and then take a break to get food! They both have unlimited pop stickers and love that they get to go to the bar to get their drinks! Lena and I stayed up late last night and went to see the Carnival Splendor dancers. She LOVED all the costumes and has now decided she is going to keep dancing so she can work on a cruise ship! We also went and watched some Karaokee though we didn't participate...yet!

Today was our second sea day. Again we spent quite a bit of time in the pool! We then had some down time in the cabin. Jason and I were out on our balcony looking around and we spotted a dolphin and her baby! SO cool but that wasn't the last of it we also saw a big ol' sea turtle riding the boats waves and several rays. Even cooler! I've never seen animals like that in the wild so it was very very cool! Tonight was a fiesta show with the dancers and again Lena was loving it!

After two days at sea we get to finally touch land tomorrow for our first shore day! Purto Vallarta here we come! I'll upload soem pictures with tomorrows post!!!

Adios!

Day One

2010-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Day one was full of travel and getting acquainted with our ship! The kids are loving it so far! Lena's bag didn't arrive like it was supposed to and she was worried. It showed up finally and we were able to finally go in the pool! Spent sometime in the pool and lots of time in the hot tub. Unfortunately we ended up with the late dinner seating (1/3 of the boat is kids under the age of 18) so we don't eat until 8:15 means late nights for the kids as our show time isn't until 10:30!! They are being troopers though!! More later!

The wonderful world of Weight Watchers

2010-07-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

Five weeks ago I started Weight Watchers. My reasoning? My baby is now 7 years old and in second grade so I just don't feel justified in calling it "baby weight" anymore!!! If you follow my blog you know that I did South Beach for a while I started that at 173 pounds and got down to 163 pounds. I put about 4 pounds back on from that and started the weight watchers diet at 167 pounds......... after 5 weeks of the plan (and more to go I'm only 1/2 way there) I now weigh in at 157 pounds! The day I broke 160 was an amazing day for me. I haven't been below 160 pounds since before I had Aaron. I know 160 doesn't sound THAT heavy to most of you but I started this journey (before my kids ruined me!! :o) at 110. Now I know I'll never be that low again and I am okay with that. My short term goal is 145 and my ideal goal weight is 140. Did I mention that I LOVE weight watchers? It is amazing. I don't feel deprived I still pretty much eat what I want I am just much more aware of what I am eating and how my body reacts when I eat to much (did I mention the 4th caused me to gain 2 pounds?) but I've also leared that it's okay to have an off day or two. It doesn't normally stick around for to long!!!

4th of July

2010-07-05T15:53:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July has passed by the second year in a row with things seeming just a tad ascue for me. You see for 11 years Jason and I were the King and Queen of 4th of July.... we had a big bbq, invited tons of friends and family and spent a small fortune on a aresenol of fireworks. Last year on July 1st we moved into our new house which very amazing happens to sit right smack dab in the middle of a bunch of trees. Alas we can not celebrate the 4th as we have in years past. We went from having 1.2 acres of flat level grassy land to 1.5 acres of wooded land. Not so party/firework friendly. We are in the process of putting in a lawn and with luck will be back at it next year. Maybe not with the same kinds of fireworks as years past but atleast we can host again and do what we love. Having parties and feeding our friends is what makes us happy. The 4th this year was a quiet family affair at my in-laws. It was nice to get to sit and relax and not have to worry about entertaining anyone but secretly we really do miss it!

Summer!!

2010-06-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

Yeah summer is finally here! The first day of vacation even came with a little sunshine! Today the kids and I went to Lake Padden and had a picnic then walked around the lake. It was beautiful out there today! We have a pretty busy summer of baseball, vacation and camp. Lena will be going to her first year of Firwood this year. She is so excited she can hardly stand herself. Before she goes though we will be going on a Mexican Rivera Cruise. All 4 of us. We're very excited about this trip and can't wait to go!

Geneva Elementary Home of the Gnomes

2010-06-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

As most of you know my family moved this last summer. We moved across town which meant changing schools for the kids. We made the move in the summer so that they wouldn't have to switch schools in the middle of the year. Our new school is Geneva and we couldn't be happier. We love our new home! We're not thrilled about the mascot, we are now the Gnomes! Yep the Gnomes!! Geneva has the most amazing principal who is such a good sport. He even sported a "Greatest American Hero" costume...blonde curly wig and all! We also had a transition when Whatcom's sixth graders came into the school. It was quite the experience because the kids embraced them and welcomed even dubbing us the "Wild Gnome-Cats" (whatcom is the wildcats). All in all it was an amzing year. We can't wait until next year when I will have a second grader and a *gulp* a fifth grader!!!!!

Photo Shoot

2010-06-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids out for a photo shoot. I couldn't think of what to do for Jason for Fathers day so I decided to get some new pictures of the kids so that we can update the one's he has in his office. Once I got the hang of how to change the brightness on my camera I got a few good shots. here is just one.... but shhhhhh because he doesn't know we went.

I stink at this

2010-06-10T21:12:00.001-07:00

I have come to the conclusion that I really stink at this whole blogging thing! It's been almost a year since we've moved. We're still loving our new house and neighborhood. We've made new friends and the kids are liking their new school. I'm going to attempt to try and get on here more often. We've discovered a lot of things that we didn't know when we first moved here. Like all the wild life that comes along with living here. We've got baby deer and my favorite are my humming birds! We have 4 total. I only got picture of the two brown ones but I have two red ones too...

Wow

2009-11-29T17:19:00.000-08:00

I just realized it's been a LONG time since I last posted! Lot's has happend! School started, Thanksgiving has passed and we are headed into the Christmas season! I got a new camera which I have really been enjoying playing with! If you'd like to check out some of my work go here.... http://shuttercal.com/calendar/RennieC1/2009/11/ click on each of the pictures in the calendar to see them bigger! I'm in full holiday mode with decorations going up and presents bought. I am DONE with my shopping!! Woot! Here is a picture that I took of one of the houses in my Christmas village. I was actually able to put it up for the first time in 5 years!!

South Beach end of phase one....

2009-08-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

So today marks the first day of phase 2 (YEAH FRUIT) I started phase one at 173 pounds and ended phase 1 at 163 pounds. So I lost 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks. Now comes the tricky part of phasing back in carbs and sugars without over doing it! I have to admit I am excited for fruit and the occasional piece of bread but I think I could still survive okay without them. So on to the next phase. I'll be on this one until I reach my goal weight which is 140....

Week one ends......now round two!

2009-08-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Okay so last night at 11:59pm ended week one of South Beach. A couple bumps along the way and I've had to modify breakfast just a little bit but at the end of the day it all seems to be working.... so I started on Monday at 173 at the end of week one.....drum roll please.......................................I've lost 7 pounds!!!! Holy Moses!!! If I keep up like that by the end of week 2 I'll have lost 16 pounds. That's CRAZY!! Motivates me to stick with it though. Even though it's hard. We went hiking at Mt. Baker yesterday and with the heat I think I might have burned more calories than I ate!! Felt a little tired last night and today the muscles in my legs are letting me know I used them!!! Feeling good this morning. Working for the next 3 days so this should be interesting! Just....say...no...to...french fries!!! :o)

It's day 6 and I'm still going....kinda

2009-08-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Okay okay I admit it I cheated this morning! I had a waffle with peanut butter (the waffle part is a no no) BUT I figure if that is the only cheating I do then I am good. I am not an egg person. I don't care for them, I very rarely eat them and the thought of eating another egg this morning made me want to gag. So I did the waffle. We'll see if it makes a difference in the morning. I did control myself last night though. Was very hard. The family had pizza....ooey gooey warm and yummy smelled so good I stared at it the whole time I was eating my salad pizza.... way to torture myself huh?? But I didn't have any! Not even a bite!! YEAH ME!!! (anyone watch suit life???) Anyway, yesterday was my hardest day by far. I was sorta in the downy dumps and was just about to throw in the towel but I didn't and I'm still going (waffle aside it was whole grain if that makes a difference....) anyway weigh in on Monday we'll see how I'm doing then!!!

South Beach + Hot weather = torture

2009-07-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

OMG I am having such a hard time with this diet and the weather. First of all I LOVE ice cream and what better time to have it then when it's so hot... but I can't. The sugar free popcicles just don't seem to be doing it. And on top of that this diet requires you to cook... I can not even fathom turning on the stove right now. We had turkey hotdogs and cottage cheese last night because I was able to micorowave the hotdogs!! I'm sticking to it though. Still haven't cheated to the best of my knowledge and other than the ice cream craving I seem to be wanting sugary things less and less. I think I'll wait until Monday to do the weigh in. That way it's been a full week......

Another day of diet

2009-07-29T08:11:00.001-07:00

Doing good and so begins day 3. I think I got a little off scew yesterday. I don't think I ate enough for lunch and with the heat I ended up not feeling well yesterday afternoon at all. Nausea and sweaty (yes even more so then with the heat). I retreated to the basement where it was cooler after a nap and then took the kids out for dinner. There was no way that I was cooking in this house! We went to McDonalds where I had a grilled chicken Caesar salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette. Watching the kids eat french fries was such torture!!! But I'm sticking to it! I'll step on the scale and post some results on Friday. That way I'll be 5 days into it!! According to Wii Fit yesterday I had lost 1.4 pounds from Monday.....

I made it to day two

2009-07-28T08:01:00.001-07:00

I did good yesterday. No cheating! It was really hard though. Especially the not having bread part. I wasn't thrilled with the lunch of turkey wrapped in lettuce. I think I'll go for a salad today. I made a really yummy coconut chicken recipe for dinner. The afternoon I think was the hardest part. I drank a ton of water and had some almonds and pistacios which I am allowed to have. Now we're into day two. Started out the morning again with scrambled eggs and turkey bacon but this time I put a little cheese on the eggs jazz em' up a bit! I'm staying off the scale for a day or two though if I do happen to get on Wii Fit today it will do the weighing..... I am having some massive sugar withdrawls. I went to bed with a horrible headache that Tylenol didn't help and though it's better this morning it's still there!! I'm just hoping this will get easier as the days go by!

South Beach Kick Off

2009-07-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today I begin my South Beach endeavor... I'm hoping that I can stick to it and it becomes a lifestyle. I started off the day with scrambled eggs and two slices of turkey bacon. Not too bad. I am beginning this journey at 173 pounds by hopeful goal is 140 with an ultimate goal of 135. I plan to walk Lake Padden or do some hiking at least 2 days a week and work out on my wii fit 4-5 days a week (you should see my mii she's so fat). Anyway I will post here from time to time with the foods that I've had and my progress. Hopefully with the support of my family and friends I can make this work for me!! Wish me luck!!!

New Neighbors

2009-07-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Anyone that has moved into a new house in their lifetime knows that new homes come with new noises and sounds. This place is so much quieter than we are used to. At the old house we had a train behind the house and the airport not far and here...nada. So we are sitting out on the deck one night and we hear the weirdest noise. One we have never heard before. Upon some investigation this is what we found....

This guy along with 3 others live in a tree in our backyard. They don't hoot like most owls do they make a very strange noise that is hard to describe. We think there are babies too. How cool is that???

Baptism

2009-07-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

On July 5th our little family was baptized. It's something that has been tugging at my heart strings for a while and when Lena asked about being baptized I knew it was time to obey God and go forth with this very important, very public statement of my faith. Jason also decided it was time for him as well. We were not possitive about Aaron as we belive that baptism is a choice. Something that one has to decide upon themselves. He said he wanted too but we were not sure if it was because he wanted to in his heart or because the rest of us were. He gave valid reasons and we all decided he was ready. Jason went first and then was able to baptize both of our children which was an amazing thing for me to be able to witness. I went last and Jason was also able to baptize me which was a very significant thing for us as it was Jason that led me to Jesus. So our family all together did this amazing thing and now are on to the next steps in our journy...new house, new life...great start!!!

Our New Home

2009-07-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

I seem to neglect this poor blog and vow to try and write more often now that we are settled. We finally have moved. I thought I would be sadder leaving our old house but amazingly did very well when we pulled out of the driveway for the last time. Lena and I rolled down our windows and waved goodbye to our old house. Unfortunatly that wasn't the begining of our new adventure. There were 10 days between the closing of our old house and the closing of our new house. Thank God for our friend Sean who actually had room for the 4 of us and allowed us to stay with him. It wasn't the best as Sean is a single guy and used to his solitude and here we came with our two children and two cats and invaded his space!! But given the circumstances it was alright and better than staying in a hotel! On July 1st we got the keys to our new house and moved in!!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE our new home! There is so much room and the kids have their own space and I have the most AMAZING kitchen ever! I've been cooking and baking like a wild woman!! I need to stop before I gain another 10 pounds!!! So out with the old and in with the new the Cory's have begun a new chapter in their lives and we are SO excited about it!!!

Going...going.....on the market!

2009-05-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Our house it up!! Whoo hoo!!! The last two months of back breaking labor to get this sucker up is over and ready or not here it goes! We did a ton of work on the house and it looks amazing. Jason and I joke that our house hasen't been this clean since we moved in 10 years ago!! We have found two houses that we really like and now the waiting game. We wait for ours to sell so we can make an offer on the one we want and hope that it doesn't sell in the mean time. I am most likely one of the most impatient people you will ever meet so this whole hurry up and wait thing is killing me. I know it is all in God's timing and when it's time it will go.... now I just need to remind myself of that everyday!!! Selling our home is bitter sweet for me. I know once we've sold it we

will be moving up to a bigger and better house but I have lived here for 10 years. Both my kids were brought home from the hospital to this home. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have been shed here and I am going to be sad to see it go. BUT I know the future holds new beginnings and I am excited about that!

Welcome Breanna Cathleen!!

2009-05-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well this last week was quite a doozy! My best friend Tammi was expecting a baby on May 16th but due to high blood preassure they decided on Tuesday morning they would beging the process of inducing labor Tuesday night. Now I should back up a bit and say that I had been invited by Tammi to be present during her babies birth! I can't even tell you how excited I was that not only would her and her husband share this amazing moment with me but that I would get to be on the other end of child birth! I had been through it but never witnessed it! Anyway, so Tuesday night turned into Wednesday morning when they brought out the big guns and started pitocin... yeah didn't work. So they stopped it at 5pm and said we'd try again tomorrow. Thursday morning came around pitocin again this time we were getting somewhere!! Broke her water and man alive was she off and running!! She was such a trooper and labored for about 3 hours before asking for the epidural. Finally about 5:30pm the doctor decided after 3 days and not as much progress as he would like it was time for a c-section. Baby was ready and it was time. Breanna Cathleen was born at 6:06pm on April 30th. She weighed in at a whopping 6lbs even!! She is the most adorable little peanut and I can't wait to watch her grow!! Thanks Chris and Tammi for letting me be there for you. Despite the circumstances it was really quite fun and the end result was SO worth it!!!

A new home?

2009-04-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well we've found our house I think. We've been looking at quite a few and keep gravitating back to this one. Now we need to get our house on the market. Because this house is a bank repo you can not do a contingency (sp?) on it. So we've got to get our house sold so that we can make an offer. We love it and are trying really hard not to get our hopes up. Wish us luck and hopefully we'll get the house...

Dance Weekend

2009-03-30T14:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Lena's dance recital. I always love her recitals because her teacher takes such care in planning a theme for the show and then making sure each dance and song goes along with the theme. This years theme was "Disney Through the Decades" Lena was a part of A Whole New World from Aladdin and The Enchanted Tiki Room! She looked beautiful and did a great job. This year was especially fun too because I had friends who's daughters were in the show so I knew kids in numerouse dances not just our own. Another year down and can't wait for next year! Most of these pictures were taken by my wonderful sister in law Jen.

Remodling to move up

2009-03-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

We have begun the process of preparing our house to put on the market. We have lived in this house for 10 years and are now ready for an upgrade. My family has out grown the openess of the 1600 sqft design that makes up my home. There is no rec. room, no room over the garage, no play room. My kids don't like playing in their rooms they always want to be in the living room under foot. So we decided that it's time for an upgrade. Along with the process of looking for a new home we are having to re-do some things in our house to get it ready to sell... our first project is the master bathroom. We are completly renovating it. We have painted the walls ripped the big ugly mirror of the wall, hung a new light and now are needing to replace the flooring, bathtub and sinks. It's a bigger job then we expected but we are having a ton of fun doing it!! Stay tuned for before and after pictures of the bathroom!!

First photography experience

2009-03-15T13:40:00.001-07:00

Last night I joined Radley from Artiem photography his friend Dave and Naomi also of the studio at the Kafe Beach Bash. I had my first experience as a photographers assitant and as a candid shooter at an event. I have to say I SUCK as a candid shooter. I just don't have the confidence wtih the camera yet to get in peoples faces. I hear it comes with time and even the seasoned photographers have a a hard time with this one. I had a really good time and got to play with a really neat camera. All in all I learned a lot and had a ton of laughs (these guys are so much fun to work with) and I can't wait until my next job!

What Aaron says about me

2009-03-03T13:44:00.001-08:00

I asked my 6 year old these questions and here were his answers...

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you
2. What makes mom happy? Me
3. What makes mom sad? When I'm bad
4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickling me
5. What was your mom like as a child? I dunno
6. How old is your mom?30
7. How tall is your mom?how tall? I don't know taller than me
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Work... (uh okay)
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Work (you'd think I wasn't a SAHM for the last 6 years)
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Being on a game show.
11. What is your mom really good at? Guitar Hero
12. What is your mom not very good at?Expert on Guitar Hero
13. What does your mom do for a job? Work at McDonalds
14.What is your mom's favorite food? Lasagna
15. What makes you proud of your mom? Giving me kisses
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Pinochio (??)
17. What do you and your mom do together? Read Stories
18. How are you and your mom the same? Our skin is the same color
19. How are you and your mom different?Our Hair color
20. How do you know your mom loves you?Because you give me kisses
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? That he works (ROFL)
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Home

My silly niece...

2009-02-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

I get the pleasure of being able to watch my neice most weeks for a day. I've come to the conclusion that she idolizes her cousin Aaron because everything he does she copies. Way back like 6 months ago he had been going on an "adventure" and had a gameboy case across his body like a purse and his "sword" as soon as he put them down Carley was dressed up the same way. My son has an obsession with guitar hero and being a rock star he will turn anything into a microphone... guess who has this obession now too! Carley will sing into anything and loves to sing. Then I had her on Wednesday for whatever reason my son had a butterfly net on his head. Yep you guessed it as soon as he put it down little miss Carley had it on her head too!! I think it so cute that she loves to copy Aaron... I think I just need to be careful of what he says and does from now on!! My little Miss. Bean is more of a nut I think!!!

Tag is a kids game...

2009-02-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Holly at SnowMommy tagged me with this cute little lemonade stand. Holly is one of the most amazing people I know. She is a mom, a wife, a friend, a student, a daughter, an aunt.... the list goes on and on. I could sit all day and tell you the amazing things about Holly...

The idea is to talk about the person that tagged you and then tag your friends. You are supposed to tag 10 but I don't know that many! So I tag:

Jen and Snapshots of a Life: I know you hate these but I had too!

Samantha at My Life as I Know it: Love you girly just giving you something to blog about!

Amanda at Jampac Clan: You haven't blogged in ages... get on it!

Out of a total loss comes a new beginning

2009-02-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have been in the downie dumps since this whole thing happend with my car. It came at the worst possible time of year, I really liked my car, we're putting money into this process that we don't have.... I'll be honest I've been having a pity party. Well almost two weeks ago now we went car shopping for a new car. I got another Explorer this one a 2006 and I LOVE IT!! It is so much nicer and better than my old car. It's got all kinds of features and extras. Last Friday night I took groups of Awana kids around the town on a scavenger hunt and they all kept telling me how cool my car was! The great thing is we got a rockin intrest rate and actually pay LESS per month on this one then we did on the old one. We are saving $75 a month on car payments! So once our ordeal with the drunk driver is over and I sue him to get back the money I had to pay out on all of this. I think I'll thank him. Thank him for getting me a better car....

A total loss

2009-01-21T21:40:00.001-08:00

We were told last night that my car will be declared a total loss. Damage was estimated at $10,157.94 who frickin knew? You should have seen the damage estimate it was 7 pages long! So after all the insurance kicks in I'll be looking for a new car. I think I will stick with an explorer. They have proven to be crash worthy and I really really loved my car. *tear* I'll miss my girl. She was the first car that I have had that I can truely say I loved. I would have driven her till the wheels fell off if I was given a chance. But someone, somewhere had other plans for me. So I'll send my baby off to the junk yard in the sky and say hello to a new car.

New Floors

2009-01-17T12:29:00.000-08:00

We got new floors put in our house this last week. They look so much better then they did before and I LOVE them!!! This is before, During and after....

Thank God for Miricles

2009-01-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

Today I got a touch of how fragile life is and how we really never know what is going to happen. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.

My parents are here visiting from Arizona and while they are here they borrowed my car. Today they were hit by a drunk driver and walked away from the accident unhurt. I am angry that my car is totaled and I don't have a vehicle but I thank God that he kept my parents safe and that no one was hurt. The 24 year old driver was headed home after a night of partying in Bellingham. He hit a guardrail before hitting my parents almost head on and then fled the scene. They caught him three hours later at his home (luckily he left his licence plate behind) and when given the breathalizer test he blew a .24 3 hours after the accident happned. They are assuming he was well over a .30 when the accident occured. Let this be a testiment to why you should not drink and drive. This could have been so much worse.

Showing Love

2008-12-28T09:11:00.001-08:00

Leave it to Holly to tag me AGAIN!! This one is fun though! She awarded me this cute little blog award and now I have to blog about the top 5 things I love:

1: My husband and kids. Should be a given but it's the truth. I couldn't imagine life without them.

2: CBS Thursday nights, Survivor and CSI the original. I go through withdrawls when it's not in season time!

3: Card making this one thing I do when I am bored or just need to "escape" from my reality for a bit. There is nothing like the look on someones face when they get a homemade card!

4: Warm snuggly pajamas. I could stay all day in them. Flannel are the best.

5: Days with nothing to do. I live for my down days where there is no dance, soccer, pta, awana, karate.... you get the picture. The days where I can stay home get things in order and actually cook a real dinner. Those are the days that I love.

So now I am supposed to tag people. I didn't read Holly's list so sorry if there are duplicates.

Jen- Snapshots of a Life

Barb- Ramblings of a Retiree

Samantha- My life as I know it

Amanda- Jampac Clan

Snow, Snow and More Snow

2008-12-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

So you would think with all the extra time that I have had being stuck inside I would be blogging like crazy...alas I have not. But here I am finally to report on our week so far. Aaron had all of 1 day of school this week do to snow and early release days. He was super stoked about that! We did finally get out of the house on Friday to go and see a movie. It was a must do or else I was affraid I would kill my children. I have also institued a new rule for snow play: You must stay outside for at least as long as it took me to get you ready to go out in the first place. I spend 35 minutes putting on gloves, fixing snowpants, hats, boots, coats, scarves only to have them get outside and want to come back in 5 minutes later. This snow does kind of suck though because it's so light it doesn't pack (see the exibit A picture below of the kids pelting dad with "snowballs") I have gotten quite a bit done being stuck. All of my christmas presents are wrapped, I'm getting my baking done and my laundry is ALMOST caught up. All in all it hasn't been that bad. I think it's pretty but it can go away anytime now!

Thirty ain't so bad....

2008-12-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I turned 30 on Sunday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm actually looking forward to my 30's and figuring out me as a person... Saturday night a group of the bestest friends in the whole world met up with me for a night out on the town. We had so much fun and I got to act out my fantasies of being in the SNL skit about the Blue Oyster Cult... all I have to say is "I need more cowbell" I had an awesome time with friends from past and present. My actual birthday started with me dragging myself to church after staying out to late the night before. We got our Christmas tree in the afternoon and the evening was a nice dinner and family time at my in-laws. As I reflect back on my first 12 years as an actual adult I realize I have done so much and have been so blessed by the people that were put into my life!

Traditions

2008-12-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the traditions. There are traditions in many forms. Some families have tons some just a few, but they are all special. My mother in law has started some fun traditions with my daughter. Now that she is getting older she is more of a help and she LOVES helping. One is she gets to spend the night on the day before Thanksgiving and help grandma with all the cooking. They were so busy they forgot to take pictures but I hear Lena was and excelent helper. The other is in the last few years she has been invited to help decorate my in-laws.... I didn't know this meant litteraly!! She loves being able to go over and help make the house festive. I am so thankful for the in-laws that I have and the fact that they try so very hard to make all of their grandchildren feel special in some way. My challenge to you as we go through this holiday season is whenever you find yourself doing something that is a "tradition" in your house hold I encourage you to stop take a couple of pictures and blog about your tradition. You never know who might love your idea or who you might get an idea from! Happy Holidays!!

Photo Shoot

2008-11-30T16:31:00.000-08:00

My sister in law is just learning how to take photos and become a photographer so she seemed like the natural choice to take our family pictures this year. We decided to do them up at Lairamont Manor very neat landscaping and areas for pictures. To our dismay we showed up to a wedding... on a Sunday... who gets married on a Sunday?? So we went down to Fairhaven park instead. It was frickin freezing!! I think we got some good shots despite the fact that we were frozen to death. I can't beleive she was able to hold the camera still!! These two plus the one at the top of my blog were done by Jen. Thanks Jen for the great pictures!!! http://www.jenjenphotography.blogspot.com/

Tag again... yeesh

2008-11-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

So I was sitting here all nice and quiet and thought I would catch up on my blog reading little did I know what Holly had in store for me I've been tagged AGAIN!! This time the instructions were to drop what I was doing and take a picture of the area where I blog... This is my office it is where I spend a lot of my time. If I am not at the messy computer desk (gosh I really need to clean it up) than I am directly behind there at my craft table working on projects there. Now I have to say in my own defense I just completed a craft fair and there for my room is a total pig sty and hasn't been cleaned yet. It drives my husband crazy who gets a small little desk to the right of this picture and that is his space to work in... I have erupted all over the room!! The second half to this fun little game was to take a picture of your living room.... This is my living room! Now I like Traci got very lucky because I happend to host a baby shower at my house a few days before so the living room was fairly clean! Yeah!! We just got the new furniture you see in the picture about a month ago so the living room tends to stay pretty clean for the most part. We have new very strict living room rules that must be abided by!! So now here is the fun part I get to tag 3 people to play the game so I tag...

1.) Jennifer of Snapshots of a life

2.) Samantha of My Life as I know it

3.) Amanda of The JAMPAC Clan

Have fun!!!

I've been tagged

2008-11-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

My friend Holly had a fun post on her blog and I couldn't resist the temptation to play along. The game is to go to your 4th photo folder and pick the 4th picture and blog about it so here it goes. If you have read this post and you are a blogger you have now been tagged!!!

This is Lena and her friend Taylor at their other friend Ashli's birthday party. We went to Langs Horse and Pony farm in Mt.Vernon. It was cold as Ashli's birthday is in March and the parents leading the horses were given big rubber boots. Thank God you should have seen the mud!! We had about 15 kids on horses and went on a trail ride through the woods. It was really fun! The girls had a great time!!

Craft Fair

2008-11-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my mother in law, sister in law and I participated in the Bellingham Covenant craft show. We have done this for 5 years now. This year I decided to try something new and Barb and I put together a ton of handmade cards. To our suprise they sold like crazy!! Yeah!!! So now I will spend the rest of the next year coming up with designs and making new cards. We're going to try and have a card making day once a month to stay on top of the game! It's fun to have your stuff sell and to realize that you are not the only one that likes your work....

10 years... how time flies

2008-11-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

My husband and I just celebrated out 10th anniversary. It's amazing to me that 10 years has gone by so quickly. It really doesn't seem like it's been that long. We have come a long way in our 10 year marriage.... a house, two kids lots and lots of ups and downs but we have over come it all... I thank God everyday for sending my wonderful husband!! Here's to another 10 years and beyond!!!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-11-02T07:55:00.001-08:00

Halloween has come and gone again!! We had a wonderful time.. we first went to Grandma and Grandpas so we could see them and cousin Carley..we also needed to wish Aunt Jen a very Hallow Birthday! My sister in law was born on Halloween! We trick or treated up the street to Great Grandma Sadies house and then did the neighborhood around there for a bit. We then hopped in the car and headed to the Eldridge Neighborhood. These people know how to do Halloween up right. Almost every house had trick or treats available and a ton of them actually decorated their houses with lights and scary things.. there was even a guy on stilts standing on a corner dressed up as Frankenstein.. he was like 8 feet tall it was SO cool! Over all my kids took in a haul and had a very wonderful night!! Until next year Happy Halloween everyone and Happy Birthday Jen!!!

An Amazing Vacation

2008-10-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

I just spent the most amazing week with my husband! We went on a cruise to the Caribbean. Our first stop was in Nassau The Bahamas. We spent the day snorkling and laying in the sun. They even fed us a pretty yummy lunch! We had to be back on our ship at 2pm to ship out. We didn't get much time there but it's beautiful and I am told the Atlantis resort is amazing! We spent the next day at sea. It was so relaxing there was no schedule or anything that we had to do. We slept late, ate breakfast spent sometime on our balcony reading, went up for lunch came back and took a nap.. of course our favorite place on the boat was the casino... well at least for me I won a little over $500 on our trip! Our next stop was in St. Thomas where we shopped, shopped and shopped some more. We got lots of little trinkets and Jason bought me a very pretty ring for our anniversary. We took a tram ride up to what they call "Paradise Point" and you should have seen the view! You could see all of St. Thomas as well as the island of St. John. We got about 11 hours in port there. It was HOT and very humid.I swear I sweated off about 10 pounds!! We sailed overnight and spent the next day on the island of St. Maartin. This was by far our favoite spot. We shopped a little bit and then rented beach chairs and a big umbrella and spent the day on the beach just relaxing. At the end of the day we set sail for the good ol' u-s-of A. We were at sea for two days on the way back. They had a fab. show in the theater it was Vegas style and 80's themed it was so neat. Over all it was I think on my top 3 of favorite vacations we have taken. If you have ever thought about cruising DO IT!! It was so amazing. It was also so much fun to be able to spend some time alone with my best friend and remember why we traded vows 10 years ago!

Day One

2008-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

After a rather sleepless but smooth flight we made it into Miami about 20 minutes early. We decided since we had time to go ahead and spend 50 bucks and get a hotel room for a few hours. We got what you would expect from a $50 hotel room but the bed was soft and the shower wet and we were able to get about 3 hours of sleep. We boarded our boat at about 1pm after about 30 minutes of line waiting. I swear I thought I was in Disneyworld for a second! Our room wasn't quite ready yet so we headed up to the Lido deck where they were serving lunch. WOW you should see all the food on this ship!! Now I see why people gain so much damn weight on these things. Maybe I can counter act that by going to the fitness room in the mornings....or maybe not!! In any avent I don't think I will be lacking in nutrition while we are here. We're about to debark in about an hour. I'll update tomorrow night after we visit Nassau. I think we are going to go on a pirate treasure hunt! They just made our set sale announcement!! Bon Voyage we'll see you tomorrow.

Today's the day

2008-10-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

After 8 months of anticipation I am off on my vacation tonight. We fly out of Seattle at 9:25pm and land in Miami at 6am. We are allowed to board our ship at 12:30pm and the ship leaves port at 4pm. I am so excited to be traveling to a new place and seeing new things, and the best part I am doing it with my best friend of 10 years!! I am amazed that it has been 10 years already it seems that it just flew past. I am glad we are taking this trip to get away from the regular grind to relax and unwind and reconnect. It's so easy to get caught up in the everyday... I am planning on updating my blog as often as I can on our trip so if you feel so inclinded you can follow along!! Talk to you all soon Bon Voyage!!

Getting ready to go....

2008-10-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well this is it the final countdown (enter bad Europe song)... we're finally leaving on Saturday after months of anticipation! I am very excited but stressed at the same time as I have yet to get myself and the kids packed to go! I will be taking a laptop with me and frequently updating my blog on the cruise so stay tuned!!!

Fall

2008-10-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year. It's so pretty with all the changing colors, the kids are back in school, the weather is cooling and I can drag out my crockpot! Yee Haw!! I just love living in Washington with all the specific seasons. I think Fall though by far might be my favorite one of all! The picture here was taken by my sister in law. I just love how the water drops stand up on the leaf...

Bunco!

2008-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have bunco tonight! I love bunco night! It's so much fun and a chance to get together with girlfriends and have fun and chat with NO KIDS!!! Our group has been dubbed the "Dicey Divas" with pink being our thing. I made these cupcakes for tonight!! I am pretty proud of how cute they turned out!!!

New hair!

2008-09-26T09:29:00.001-07:00

I got my hair done yesterday! I love it. She did a really cute layerd cut and I got blonde and strawberry put in my hair and it is super cute!! Isn't it funny how doing something as simple as getting your hair done can make you feel so much better about yourself!? I love it!

SURPRISE!!!

2008-09-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a very good friend of mines 30th birthday. This year has been abnormally difficult for her so myself and two other girlfriends decided that we were going to make her birthday weekend something she would never forget. On Saturday we planned a scavenger hunt for her and took her all over the town revisiting important places from her past. At each spot she would get a goodie and another clue. She looked rather crazy by the end but it was so much fun!! Then on Sunday her mom convinced her to go out to dinner. Little did she know we had that planned out too! We invited a ton of her friends from past and present and suprised her! She thought she was going to dinner with her parents and family she wasn't expecting a room full of her friends!! It was so awesome! I can't beleive we were able to pull off two days of surprises without her knowing!! I hope it was a weekend to remember and that her next year is a super happy one!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Not feeling so hot

2008-09-19T07:57:00.001-07:00

Uh oh! It's that time of year again. I woke up feeling kind of blah today. My stomach is bothering me and my nose is running. The kids get back in school and bring home all kinds of stuff. It's lovely. I wouldn't mind so much but I've got Carley today and when she's here I like to be 100% so that time that I dedicate to her is quality. We're going to run some errands this morning and hopefully I'll just start feeling better. I think I have a case of the blahs!!

Whatever happend to M-F/9-5??

2008-09-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

I swear I know I am married but it hasen't felt like it lately. Jason took last Monday and Tuesday off and this weeks days off are Saturday and Sunday so he is working 10 days straight. And it isn't like he works a normal 9-5 shift. On a good day he leaves at 7 and gets home sometime between 5:30 and 6. Yesterday ended up being a 7-7. With all the things going on in life I feel like we never see him. I love the benefits we get from his job and the fact that it allows me to stay at home with the kids but sometimes I just feel like saying screw it all and opting for less money for more time. Normally it isn't this bad but 10 days straight with no help with the kids gets very wearing. Especially when it feels like all I do is drive from one activity to the next. Thank God soccer will be over soon and we'll only have dance and awana to worry about. I can handle 2 days a week!

Enjoy The Silence....

2008-09-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

As I sit here in my dead quiet house (except for the crazy cat who is running back and forth) I can't help but enjoy myself!! My house has been a flutter with little voices for the last eight year and now all of a sudden it's quiet!! I will admit the first few days were just plain weird I had to actually turn on spongebob at one point just so I wouldn't go crazy from the silence! Now though I LOVE my quiet time. I can get stuff done at my craft table or even do the dishes and not have to play referee to anyone. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and I love being a stay at home mom but sometimes it's nice to just to get to be alone. Which mind you doesn't happen very often! I never knew what a luxury going to Target by yourself was!! To all of you that are at this phase in life or past I celebrate with you... for those of you that haven't gotten there yet... be strong it's coming and faster than you can imagine!! Relish the time you have because this one snuck up on me really fast! (hence the needing to listen to spongebob)!! I love you all my fellow moms!!!

Girls Day Out

2008-09-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

A couple months back I saw that Phantom of the Opera was coming to Seattle. This show has been on my list of must sees since I was about 12 and sang a medley of songs from it in middle school. I searched for tickets and found some great one's in the 10th row center for $27 a piece.. to good to be true? I called my mother in law, my sister in law and my best friend Tammi and asked if they wanted to go with me. At $27 a ticket how could they say no?? They couldn't!! So after a few months of waiting we were on the way!! With a small disclaimer from me stating if the seats sucked I wasn't to blame after all they were cheap! We got to Seattle early and did a little shopping then headed to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. We ate and LAUGHED!! It was so much fun!!! BIG SHEET!!! Anyway, after lunch it was time for the show. We headed in to find our seats and where amazed at how awesome they were!! $27 got us 10th row center tickets with NO obstructions!!! The show was amazing and I ended up with goosebumps from the singing! I am so jelouse that I can't sing like that! I am so happy that I was finally able to see the Phantom and that I was able to share it with the 3 of the most important women in my life!! Thank you ladies for helping me to have such a good day!! Little sheet!!!

Oh what a week

2008-09-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have always prided myself with being dependable. I am always on time if not early. I will do pretty much whatever is asked of me as long as I am able. I don't know what happend this week but I turned into someone I don't like. First of Wednesday I had a play date set up with one of Aaron's little friends from preschool. We were going to get off the bus and head over there to play for a couple hours. However I got asked to work and went in from 9-2. Not a big deal except I forgot about the playdate and didn't show up, didn't call... so not like me. Then yesterday I headed to Seattle to see the Phantom of the Opera. Such a wonderful day only to be over shadowed by what I found out when I got home..... I forgot that I had said I would get the neighbor boy off the bus and if I couldn't I needed to let his sister know so that she could... I didn't tell her. Wouldn't have been a big deal except Lena didn't ride the bus home yesterday so there was no one there to get him when he got off the bus and he had to go all the way back to school and have someone pick him up there. I am so frusterated by my actions. This isn't me and it isn't who I am.... I think it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate my schedule because obviosly I have way to much stuff going on.....

Work Day

2008-09-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

So I had an actual work day today. I had to get up get myself and the kids ready for the day which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I then worked from 9-2 because King St. is short 5 staff persons and would have been running 5 short for lunch. Not a good thing at one of the biggest stores in the company. It really wasn't that bad. I only wanted to kill one person during the course of the day and I was able to leave right on time which is un-heard of! But I must say going back to work after 5 or 6 years will be quite tough and I think I'll have to ease into it. I thought I was ready to go back but I must admit I'm not quite there yet.

First day of Kindergarten

2008-09-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Phew! I made it and I did better than I thought I would. My baby started kindergarten today! He had a wonderful time and loves his teacher. I just am having a hard time grasping the fact that my child is in kindergarten. I came home to a completly quiet house and to be honest after a while I had to turn on cartoons for background noise! I am sure I will get used to it but for now it's still very strange. He rode the bus home and really liked that. It made him feel like a big boy!

Who is this young lady?

2008-09-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Wow! That is the only thing that comes to mind. Today is the first day of the 3rd grade for Lena. I can't even begin to tell you how I feel. I have a 3rd grader!! I can't be that old. I look at my little baby and realize that she isn't a baby anymore. She is growing into a beautiful young woman! She is kind and compasionate and one of the most amazing little people I know. She loves dancing and playing soccer and reading. I am so lucky and grateful that I was blessed with such a wonderful little girl. I just wish she would quit growing up so fast! Where does the time go?

AWANA

2008-08-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about htis club that keeps me coming back from year to year.... yes I do it's the kids. Where else can you spend a couple hours a week with such a wonderful group of little people that truly have a heart for God. It's amazing to me how he works in these little people and how much joy they get out of learning his word. I am going to be trying a new position this year which is a tad scary for me as I have spend the last 3 years as a secretary but this year I will be a director of sparks. It's a different possition than what I am used to but I know God has a plan for me and he put this in front of me for a reason. I am looking forward to seeing AWANA in a different way!

What a wonderful day

2008-08-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

I spent a few hours today at the home of my good friend Amanda's parents. Amanda grew up here and I remember many a summer day hanging out at their house playing in the lake and learning to waterski. It was so much fun to bring my kids there to play and experience some of the things that I got to experience as a kid. It was also fun to get to sit and chat with my friends and do some re-connecting. Thanks Amanda for letting us come and play!

Long time...no blog

2008-08-18T12:33:00.001-07:00

Okay so it's been over a year since I've been on here but my friends blogs have inspired me to start it up again. The summer seems to be flying by and I just can't get over how fast my kiddos are growing up. Lena is going to be in the 3rd grade this year. That is just 2 years away from middle school and then there is my little man... he's going to be in Kindergarten this year. I have having a really hard time with the fact that my baby will be going to real school. I am trying really hard to embrace the situation but it's just to hard. I will spend the next year enjoying my last year off as next year I will be re-entering the adult world. I think I will be headed back to Whatcom to persue a degree in Buisness Adminitration with an emphasis on hospitality and tourism. I am hoping to open my own wedding and events business... we'll see how it goes!

My fist blog on blogspot

2007-06-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Well I thought this might be a neat way to share my family and the happenings of what is going on. I am a 28 year old mom of two beautiful kids. Lena is 7 and Aaron is 4. I have been married to the love of my life for almost 9 years and though we have our bad days I would not trade him for anything in the world. We are a busy family, my husband supervises a company of 7 resaturants and that keeps him away on average 70-80 hours a week. We very much value our family time and try to do fun things with our kids as much as possible. Lena is an avid dancer and soccer player and Aaron is going to try t-ball this summer. They will both be doing swimming lessons for a total of 6 weeks this summer. We are looking forward to our vacation to Maui in September. So that's about us in a nutshell!