Live, Love, Laugh

July Card Class

2011-07-01T11:54:00.001-07:00

Make 8 cards and 8 matching lined envelopes for only $20 dollars.

Wednesday
July 27
6pm-8pm

RV Makeover

2009-05-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

We went down to Vancouver, WA to an RV furniture store that was closing and scored some really pretty new RV furniture. The RV is getting a makeover to an updated look. Gary is putting a new paint job on it that is luckily costing us nothing but to the average joe it could very well be a 10 thousand dollar paint job. I also bough new bedding to go with the new furniture and I will be covering some dining chairs in an microfiber to match as well. The chairs were tossed in for free when we bought the new furniture because they were pretty much just pieces and parts. The will be awesome once I recover them and put them back together. The paint job should be completed this weekend and then we will have to bolt in the new furniture for our Memorial weekend camping trip to the East.

May Flowers

2009-05-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

It took me two weeks but I finally finished weeding the flower bed along the sidewalk in the front of the house.

I love these Blue Bell flowers. I planted them a couple of years ago from bulbs the neighbor gave me. She had dug them up out of her yard because she didn't like them. Each year they seem to come back in the spring more beautiful than the year before. This flower actually seems to grow wild here in WA. We have an area in the front of our house that seperates our street into to two and they grow in there. One of these days I will take my bucket and go did some more bulbs up before the city comes and mows them down. I have been hesitant because we have this cranky old lady that comes out of her house to yell at anyone that picks a leaf off a tree. She needs to get a life.

I would like to plant bunches of these in the back yard and up against the house too.

ARGH!! Stupid Jogger

2009-05-11T10:28:00.000-07:00

This morning I am heading to work on my usual route. Pulled up to the corner of the two lane street to make a right hand turn. I am looking left to wait for traffic to clear, the bus passes and the lane is open so I start to pull out to make my right hand turn. All of a sudden there is a jogger in front of me, she puts her hand out and swerves away from my car. She actually touched my car.

What the hell? She starts screaming at me like it is my fault that she ran out in front of my car and I nearly ran her over. As she was screaming at me I mouthed the words "sorry" but as I drove down the street, it took everything I had not to turn back around, find her and get out of my car and scream at her...."where do you get off screaming at me when you clearly ran out in front of my car...are you stupid? You should have waited until I turned, until I acknowledged that I saw you and waved you on to go in front of me, or ran BEHIND my car so you didn't get run over."

I never even saw her because I was watching the traffic to the left for a clearing so I could "SAFELY" pull out into traffic. Unsuspecting that a person would dart out in front of me from the right--- off of the sidewalk......I was so aggrivated.

Crazy Cat

2009-05-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I came home one day from work to find our cat HOBO sleeping on top of my bird condo that fell over. We have never actually had any birds move into it, I can only speculate why.

Princess of Darkness

2009-04-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

I know I am taking a chance at posting this picture, but I just can't help it. Kayla uploaded her pictures onto my computer so I snachted one I thought was nice. She is so beautiful and so photogenic I just have to share. I don't know if this is one she snapped of herself but I would assume it is.

Easter Day

2009-04-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Auntie Roe brought over Easter Baskets for the Girls. Nyah is inspecting hers very carefully.

Hunting Eggs

2009-04-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

We went to one of Gary's friends house the day before easter. They had some food and hid lots and lots of eggs for the kids. Nyah wasn't sure what to do, she could see all the eggs but didn't want to pick them up. I went out to help her, she would see an egg and just look at it. So, I would pick it up for her and put it in her bucket. Inside the eggs were candy and stickers and we even found the silver egg, it had 3 dollars in it. I took my camera intending on taking lots of pictures but as I started snapping photos I realized that my batteries didn't charge. I got a couple of pictures coaxing my camera, after it would auto shut off I would turn it back on and it would stay on long enough to get one picture. I did it as many times as I could before it just wouldn't turn back on again.

Coloring Eggs

2009-04-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Nyahs first time coloring eggs. It was so fun and she only cracked one or two. I thought the best way for her to do it would be to put the dye in baggies and let her roll the egg around in it. It worked out great. I couldn't see filling cups with liquid dye and dipping the eggs in it successfully, I could see filling the cups with the liquid dye and her knocking the cups over and the dye spilling on the table and onto the floor, the chairs, carpets and clothes.

Our eggs turned out quite pretty. Don't you think?

Camping at Rainbow RV Resort

2009-03-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

We went camping over the weekend. The park was on Tanwax Lake in Eatonville. It was a nice park and turned out that mom actually new the owner from City University when she worked there. Just goes to show what a small world it is.

There seemed to be alot of permanent residents at the park which I'm not crazy about. That make it more like a trailer park than somewhere to camp. The girls were unhappy with the park because there was no where for them to go, I assume it also had to do with the fact that there weren't any kids there age or boys to look at. I was sick all weekend with a cold. I didn't venture out of the RV except for to eat and take some pictures. I did take Nyah on a walk around the park early in the morning before daddy woke up....I just love our girl time together.

The state fills the lake with Rainbow trout and the owner of the park raises them in a netted area and feeds them the food provided by the state until they are old enough to be released into the park. This particular area had 16 thousand Rainbow Trout. The owner of the park lets the visitors feed them.

Nyah got such a kick out of it.

Tricycle

2009-03-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Nyah has finally learned how to make the pedals on the tricycle move the trike. Yeah!!!

Pigtails and Fruit Snacks

2009-03-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

The lady at daycare does such a cute job on Nyahs hair. Were lucky to get it brushed and up in the morning before school. Sometimes when I pick her up the daycare lady has redone her hair so pretty and Nyah loves her pigtails. She also loves her "fruitkacks" which is fruit snacks in her language.

Alex

2009-03-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

I tried to take a picture of Kayla and her boyfriend but they wouldn't pose for a nice one. I know when Kayla finds out I posted this picture, she will hate me again. Kayla, I'm sorry but this is our life and I want to share it with our friends and family.

This is Alex, Kayla's first boyfriend.

My Quote Box

2009-03-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

This is an idea I have been working on in my down time...I have collected quotes and sayings and pasted them to a label template where I change the font to my liking. I print out all the labels and either tear them or cut them to use on my layouts. Journaling is the hardest part of scrapbooking for me and now I will have help with that. It is going to make my scrapbooking so much easier.

I use an index box with hand made dividers. Once I cut the labels to separate them I file them under the appropriate group. I have a group for babies, daughters/girls, husband/Daddy, Scrapbooking, Vacation, Camping/Outdoors, Holidays and Pets.

I have hundreds of quotes and sayings that I hand picked my self.

My Super Model

2009-03-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Kayla,. She is so photogenic and takes lots of pictures of herself. I told her she needs to put a portfolio together and would like to see her get a summer job dealing with taking pictures. I think she has a natural talent for it.

Sweet 16

2009-02-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

Celebrating Kayla's 16th birthday. No big extravagant party, just a night out with one of her best friends at the Melting Pot in Tacoma. Her friend Kaitlan is the only one that could make it which was ok with us since just our dinner was costing us 300 smackaroos.

The food wasn't as good as I remember it being. I swear no matter how many people you are buying the fondue for, I think they give you the same amount of cheese. The cheese is my favorite. The pieces of bread for dipping were hard a little like they had been sitting out for a little while, and the apples that they brought to the table were browning already.

Of course the girls favorite part is the chocolate fondue. YUM!

Bristle Blocks

2009-01-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Nyah Playing with Bristle Blocks. Do you rember those? I do, I had a set. I loved them!

Nyah and Maleeah

2009-01-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

Nyah and Maleeah hanging out on the couch watching TV.

New Years Eve 2008

2009-01-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve-

We had a couple people over and I even set my sister up on a blind date....he was nice but turned out to be a flake and his daughter was very high maitenance, my girls didn't care for her at all. I snuck off to bed earlier than everyone else as usual. I was feeling pretty sloshy and deteremined I had to much wine...I don't know what time everyone else stayed over until.

Nyah was putting lipgloss on everyone, including herself.

Gary had a younger couple over with there baby who is 3 and her and Nyah got to play for a while. Her name is Maleeah.

Snow Day!

2008-12-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

OMG, we got so much snow this year. I love when it snows, it's so pretty outside before all the cars get to it and make it dirty. I wanted to go sledding this time, but by the time I thought about it and set out to get sleds, all the stores were sold out. I will be sure to look for them in the stores and get a couple for the next snow fall.

Christmas Day 2008

2008-12-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

This year was a little different. Gary decided to go spend some time with his family in Spanaway. I let the girls sleep in and I finished all the wrapping and stocking stuffing. It took me all morning. Once I finished I laid down for a nap. The girls were up but I told them we would wait for daddy to get home to open presents. They were ok with that. Gary got home late in the afternoon. By the time he got home, mom had showed up. When Gary got home we started opening the presents and by that time Grandpa was home from work. (Yes he had to work on Christmas....what a bummer.) We got all of our presents, Alans presents, and Grandmas and Grandpa's presents opened and then it was time to get Auntie Roe. She couldn't drive because we had so much snow on the ground. When she got there we started all over again with the opening of presents from Auntie Roe and too Auntie Roe.

By about 5pm Nyah had had enough, poor little thing was running on no nap and was shutting down. She didn't want to open any more presents. Taylor and Leanna came for dinner and we had the usual. The ham was given to Alan by his work and it was such a yummy sprial ham. I made mashed potatoes and gravy. We had corn, rolls, and other yummy stuff. The girls made quite the hall this year.

I am not in any hurry for next Christmas.

Work Christmas Party

2008-12-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

Our Seattle office put together a cruise on Lake Washington this year. It was alot of fun. Gary and I headed up to the party around 4:30 pm because of such a long drive. The cruised didn't board until 6:30 pm so we had to head back up the street to the local shops and spend some time in one of the pubs there. The one we sat at was such a dive for such a cute little part of Kirkland we were in. Everything was all lit up on the streets with Christmas lights and it was very cold outside.

We headed back to the dock to board the boat and I was surprised to see that they were taking pictures of all the passengers who were on the ship that night. I thought our company was paying for this service but it turned out at the end of the night we had to fork over 10 bucks for our pictures.

Our boat the "MV Kirkland" was old but had plenty of room for our entire group. We were supposed to be part of the Lake Washington Christmas light parade for boats but the route they were taking that night would have decapitated the top half of our ship. So the captain opted out. We didn't get to see much of the lake as we were to busy eating and socializing.

Part of the group got quite rowdy and at one point one of the female employees announced she wanted to have sex with all the managers....doh! I don't know how many other people heard it but Gary and I sure did as we were standing alone on the bow of the boat. There was alot of Karaoke without the machine. The food was ok, and of course I had to find out if there was anchovy paste in the Caesar dressing. There was so the yummy looking salad was out for me. I had to load up with carbs.

All in all it was a good night.....I didn't feel very good the next day, I think I may have had too much wine even though I didn't feel like I had a typical hangover or that I was woozy at the party. I pretty much just laid around the next day after I took the baby to the doctor.

I look forward to our office co-ordinating next years Christmas event.

Oh Christmas Tree

2008-12-14T12:02:00.000-08:00

We have taken up the tradition to get a live tree for Christmas. After having a fake tree for so many years I don't know why we didn't do it sooner. I love to wait for the first snow to go pick our tree. We go to the tree farm down off of 72nd towards Canyon Rd. I think it is called 4H or something like that. We were late this year and by the time we got there, they wouldn't let us cut any more so we had to choose from the pre cut trees. I told Veta to pick the tree. Nyah made sure she helped carry it. Real trees smell so good in the house. I hate to take it down.

Happy 2nd Birthday Nyah!

2008-12-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby is 2 already....the time goes by just way to quick. I enjoyed my pregnancy and would have her all over again if I could. Nyah has been so much fun. She is so smart and so caring. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She loves puppies, stealing daddy's spots, reading books, drawing and playing with Play-Doh.

I can't get over her vocabulary and how she knows what to say.

We had her birthday at Chuck E Cheeses. Renee, Cody, Ryan, Nae'ana, Jonae, Uncle Robbin, Aunti Roe, Uncle Alan, Gradma, Granpa, Taylor, Leanna, Bailey, Hunter, and Hayli all came to help us celebrate. We easily dropped over 150 dollars on pizza, sandwhiches, salad, chicken wings, and tokens. It was so much nicer than having it at home and having to clean up afterwords.

Zoo Lights

2008-12-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

Steve, as a Cougar Alumni, gets special tickets to Zoo Lights. Mom buys a bunch of tickets at 4 dollars each and we gather a group of people and head to the Point Definance Zoo. This is our second year for this. We made sure to dress warmer and more water proof than we did last year.

The Coug Alumi have hot cocoa and cookies for us to enjoy while we are visiting Zoo Lights.

Our group this year was bigger than last year. We had Kayla, Veta, Nyah, Hayli, Felicia, Hunter, Bailey, Taylor, Leanna, Alan, Mom, Steve, Aurora, Gary and myself.

They had this area set up with a cute reindeer that they would take a polaroid of you for 5 dollars. They also let you use your own camera- thank goodness because the poloroids were so bad. I didn't even know you could still get film for Poloroids. It doesn't seem like there has been any improvements to them in the last 15 years. (That was the last time I used a Poloroid)

LEED the way.

2008-12-09T11:17:00.000-08:00

Not to long ago I had my performance review for my job....I have been at this company for nearly 3 years and a couple of months ago, back in April I beleive, we got a new boss....things were going ok, it was a rough transition because we lost quite a few people to a competitor. Then the new boss and I butt heads. I didn't like the fact that he tried to take on the whole office himself and several of my administrative task that I would normally do dissappeared. They just stopped coming. Invoices were transferred to another person so that finances could be tracked better, so for months I sat here with literally nothing to do. Then came time for my review. My new boss of 6 months was now going to give me my performance reveiw for the past year.

I didn't fair so well. I was very upset by his words and was ready to find another job. I expressed my feelings about how my duties seemed to diminish when he came on board....long story short, it was all aired out and now things are better than ever. I still love my job here and have recently been asked to take the LEED test and head up our LEED projects.

I have been studying the best I know how for weeks and plan to take it on the 22nd of December. As an Administrative Assistant, if I pass this test, it will be a feather in my cap. I will have a new title as being an LEED Accredited Prfessional. I am also hoping that this will mean job security and more pay.

Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

This year I made sure our pumpkins got carved. Last year we didn't carve any of them...we just ran out of time.

Gary was so funny. He tried to use one of those templates with the poker and he messed up. Kayla used one and completely finished hers.

For Nyah, I bought 2 sugar pumpkins and these kits that you just poke into the pumpkins to make faces. We did a puppy and a piggy.

Nyah got right in there and was helping daddy dig out the pumpkin brains.

Kayla wanted pumpkins seed so she was very careful to save all the seeds she could. We just love homemade pumpkin seeds.

Picking Pumpkins

2008-10-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

Each year for Halloween, we drive all the way up to Buckley and stop at the same pumpkin patch each year. Fresh Farm Produce . I usually end up with the most amazing pictures from the pumpkin patch....I don't know why, maybe it is the vibrant orange colors of the pumpkins that just make the pictures perfect.

This pumpkin patch has a huge monster truck that has seats in the back for you to sit on. I think it is 5 dollars to ride and they take you 4 wheeling through all the mud. It looks pretty nasty. The first year we went there Gary, Veta and Grandpa rode on it.

This year Gary, Charlisa, Kayla and Veta did the corn maze while Aurora, Nyah and I snuck off to WalMart.

Trying to catch up!

2008-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on posts! I keep losing the cable to my camera and I can't find my thumb drive and so I don't have pictures to put up with them. I will work on getting caught up and I will buy a new thumb drive to transfer pictures if I need too.

Stay tuned!

Cecilio & Kapono

2008-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Daniel and Lynn came up from San Jose for a visit. I sure wish they would make the move. We went to the Cecilio and Kapono concert at the Emerald Queen. They are a Hawaiian group very well known to the Chamorro people. The opening act was very Hawaiian and even had Hawaiian dancers. Cecilio and Kapono finally went on stage after it seemed like forever. The concert was alot of fun and the music was great. Drinks were a little expensive and I will be coughing up pieces of my lungs for days because of all the smokin allowed in the casio. I don't think the smell will come out of my clothes. YUK!

They played all our favorite songs except for one. HOME. (Click on the play button to the right of the screen in the little black box.)

Cecilio Rodrigues was so funny. He would really make a good comedian. He was very down to earth.

Woodland Park Zoo

2008-09-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Daniel, Lynn, Jayde and Dylan came for a visit. It's always so fun to have them here. We took a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. This was our first time there. Daniel has a fixation with the Komodo Dragon so he was on a mission to see it.

I like the Woodland Park Zoo better than the Pt. Defiance Zoo here in Tacoma. There seemed to be a lot more animals to look at. My favorite was the girraffes. We were there just in time to get in on the last feeding of the day. We paid a small fee each, I think it was 5 dollars a piece and you could get right in their face and feed them branches. It was so fun.

We also saw the Flamingo's, which I think is really weird to have in the North West. I am used to seeing them in California or Florida attractions.

Columbia River

2008-09-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

I just have to post these pictures. I love seeing this veiw and glad we got to see it during the day. On our way back Idaho we go over the Columbia River. These are some of my favorite views.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-08-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ah, Labor Day weekend. I love this time of year. Mom and I coordinate to book camping sites at Silverwood Theme Park each year. We pack up the motorhomes and head out to Idaho on Friday and pull over at the Rye grass rest stop for the night and continue on the next day. Each of the girls had a friend with them this year. Kayla brought Kaitlynn and Veta brought Elizabeth

As we woke up the next morning and I got up to make the coffee. Kayla was waking up and we were talking about her piercing in her lip. She got up to look in the mirror and we were discussing whether or not it was infected. All of a sudden her head went forward. I thought she was going to rest her head on the mirror but as she got closer and picked up momentum she smashed her face right into the mirror and bloodied her nose. She snapped back and was dazed and confused and the passed out onto the floor. I yelled for Gary and thought she was having convulsions. I grabbed a towel for the blood. By now all the girls were awake. I left Gary with Kayla and headed out the door to Mom and Steve's RV. By the time I got back to ours, Gary had Kayla on the couch and I was calling 911. We had to have an ambulance come out to the rest stop and after evaluation Kayla, they drove her to the hospital.

What a scare, she turned out to be fine and additional tests showed nothing. The doctors just think she got up to fast and needs to eat better. We were so gratful she was ok, but it was a very emotional morning.

Mom, Steve, Leanna and Taylor headed off to Silverwood while we went to the hospital...by the time we showed up it was after lunch.

Usually we spend most of our time in a Cabana at the wave pool. This year mom booked two cabanas and they added another wave pool. The cabanas sit between the two pools. Unfortunately this year it was rather cold. We didn't get to use the Cabana's much as we spent most of our time on the other side with the rides because it was so cold.

We had 3 camping sites reserved this year. Taylor and Leanna pulled there trailer all the way to Idaho to spend the weekend with us. Leanna was in charge of the breakfasts that we had. It was so good. Mom and I took on the lunches and dinners.

Other than our trip to the hospital, it was another great Labor Day weekend. Next year we have 5 camping sites booked, just in case Lynn, Daniel, Robbin and Bobbie get the chance to go.

Living on the edge!

2008-08-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Gary and I had been thinking of getting tattoos for a long time. This would be our first tattoo ever. We decided to do it while on summer vacation. We went to several shops and looked around and made an appointment at one. On our scheduled day we went to get our tattoos and we showed up at the shop and they guy said that we had just called an cancled our appointments. I said "obviosly not because were are here" I was so aggrivated that the guy pretty much called me a lier. Well they had this girl working there, bleach blonde hair, terrible fashion sense and tattoos all over. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with this sort of person, as long has they have brains. I am guessing that someone called and said they were cancelling there appointment and she offered up our names?

So after a little arguing on my part with the guy, we finally sat down to get our tattoos.

I pretty much picked out Gary's.... I love the arm bands and think they are sexy as hell. Because of the size of his arm, the band we picked that would normally fit around the average persons arm, didn't go all the way around his and they wanted extra to fill it in. Gary wasn't having it. I wanted something girly. My initial thought was to get a fairy, but I couldn't find any I liked, so I opted for some dainty flowers.

Here is the outcome 3 hours later.

Fisherman's Wharf

2008-08-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

For summer vacation we took our anual trip to San Jose California to spend with our family. One of my favorite places to visit is Pier 39 on the Fisherman's Wharf in San Franciso. This year we got to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, see all the Sea Lions sunbathing, we had a beautiful view of Alcatraz, and visited the Aquarium of the Bay again. We took Jayde with us and Nyah got to touch her first Starfish.

The food at the Hard Rock Cafe was pretty good. The weather was beautiful but a little nippy this time. We all got some icecream with a wonderful chocolate covered waffle cone. I got my favorite of course, chocolate chip mint. The best icecream flavor in the whole world!

Camping, Quadding and Card Making, OH MY!

2008-07-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks I have been extremely busy. The week before last we took our first trip to Straddle Line ORV Park. This park is made for off roading with dirt bikes, quads and other vehicles of that type. The girls learned how to drive the quads and Nyah even got to ride. She had so much fun that when dad brought her back she cried when he took her off of the quad. The girls got to bring a friend each and even though we had no hookups we still had a great time. The girls all rode and drove and when they weren't playing on the quads then dad was. I tested it out once and Gary, Nyah and I went for a short stroll on the trails, but when I wasn't riding or watching Nyah....I was card making for our troops.

Everyone had so much fun that we had to go back again. So for two weekends in a row we were camping and quading. This time Taylor and Leanna went with us and brought there new trailer. Looks like we have many more weekends of fun ahead.

If you look really close at the picture with Veta (my little mamma) and Kayla ( my princess of darkness) you can see that Kayla is smiling and having a good time. We don't get to see that very often with the princess since she is at the age where mom and dad have the plague. It is a very nice thing to see.

Totally For Troops

2008-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have been busy making cards for our soldiers. There is an organization here in Washington that will collect hand made cards and make sure they get to our troops over seas so that they have cards to send home to loved ones. You can find their website here http://www.totally4troops.org/ .

They do have some rules such as no metal. ACK! no eyelets, no charms, no brads, oh my. So I will be blinging mine with lots of glitter. I am going to try to use my scraps as much as I can to make cards. I am also using stickers and items I probably wouldn't use on a page, but look really nice on cards. I have tons of cardstock pre-cut from my Stampin Up days that I will be using up. I have probably made about 30 cards or so. It feels really good to be able to give back to the men and women who insure that we live in a free country.

Give it a try if you have lots of scraps and paper just sitting around. Here is a picture of just a few of the cards I have made.

Let Freedom Ring!

2008-07-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

We weren't really sure what we were going to do this 4th. I really wasn't looking forward to walking a whole lot. I did want to go and see the Tall ships which I miss every year. By the time the late morning/early afternoon rolled around we decided to head down to the Freedom Fair on Ruston Way with Taylor and Leanna.

We met up with Tracy and his son when we got down there. Tracy is one of Gary's friends from the gym and he is also an police officer for one of our local cities. We hung out at the beer garden for a while. Taylor nor I drank but the music was fun. Nyah was loving the dance floor. The beer garden was hosted by the Ram restaurant so we were lucky to spy a table later that evening that was empty outside and Gary sweetalked the host into letting us have it. We grabbed our table and ordered some dinner. It was great, we had to weight a long time for the food because they were jam packed but our food came out before the fireworks show and the the fireworks started. Other than the outdoor light from the deck over the water, we had an awesome view of the fireworks. Nyah was afraid of them and went from person to person for comfort. I didn't have batteries for my camera. I was going to buy some on the way down but totally spaced and then couldn't find any when we got there.

We went home after the show and I dug out some REALLY old sparklers that I had found in my scrapbook room while organizing. A few of them fizzled out but a couple put on a nice glow.

"When are you due?"

2008-07-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am tired of being asked if I am pregnant. I have gained some weight I know and if I don't suck it in I also know that I do look like I am about 6 months pregnant. I can't use the excuse "I just had a baby" because my baby is now a year and a half old.

I developed a condition while I was pregnant with Nyah called Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. I had to have physical therapy for it which really didn't help much. I could barely get out of bed without help and couldn't lift my leg to shave or put my pants on. I still suffer from the issue and because of it can't walk for far distances or still push anything heavy aside with my foot.

I have discovered that I can ride a bike without aggravating the issue. So I decided I was going to buy a bike and ride to work each day. At first Gary didn't like the idea because I was going to ride to the day care with Nyah in a trolley cart behind me, drop her off and then continue on to work. He thought that was too dangerous. Now I realize that his saying no was a good thing because as I ride to work (he takes Nyah to day care and then I ride home and get the car to pick her up after work) the "little hills" that I take for granted and didn't even really know existed have turned into mountains! Right now, I have to get off my bike and walk up the hills. My leg muscles burn and my but hurts from the seat. In a couple of weeks I am sure I will be able to bike all the way to work without getting off to walk.

I am only on my second day of riding my bike to work....although it is only my second day I feel awesome and would break my arm patting my self on the back. I am hoping to loose weight, not be so tired and look like a model when the summer is over.

My Scrap Room

2008-06-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

I have been working on organizing my scrap room forever now. I have this huge room with wall to wall storage with room for friends. Unfortunately, it is also the "catch all" room. All my stuff was spread out all over because my room is so large. Now, you would think having a big room for all your scrapbook, stamping, and card making supplies would be great. Well it is but since everything is so spread out it made it hard to keep clean and to use efficiently. I finally decided to shrink my space and bring it all in closer to me. I used my shelves and desk to separate the back of the room from my area to make a "storage space". So now, when things get dumped into my room, they have a special out of the way place.

Now that I have that figured out- I am attempting to organize the best way for my use. Since the only friend that really comes over is Lori-shrinking the room size still leaves space for a friend or two. I will be scrapping most of the time by my self so I am trying to tailor the room to fit me.

I went to Ikea and bought a bunch of their storage boxes for magazines and such. One of my biggest issues was my scraps. I used the storage boxes for them and I think it is going to work well. My next issue to tackle is the paper and cardstock storage.

I have a hanging file system and those fancy cubes for paper. I am not sure what is going to work best though. With all the paper I have collected, my hanging system has become to small. With the cubes, I'm not sure if I like having to pull out the whole stack of paper to find what I need. I think it will take some getting used too.

Here are some pictures of the room and my scrap storage. I am free this Sunday if anyone wants to volunteer to come over and help me get organized. LOL.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-06-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today is mine and Gary's 14 year anniversary. We have been together for 15 years at least. As I look back it doesn't seem like that long. We have never celebrated our Anniversary, it has always been just another day. I don't know why but for some reason today I am giddy with excitement. I wished him a happy anniversary this morning and off to work I went.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Steve, my step dad
Gary, Veta and Nyah
Vince, Alan, mom and Elder Christensen
Here we are enjoying our Father's Day celebration. We had a big BBQ and had mostly family over. Fred and Jean are in from Hawaii so it was an extra special day. My recently Mormon converted sister enjoys inviting her Missionaries to our feasts and we usually nominate them to Bless our table.

Memorial Weekend

2008-06-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

For Memorial weekend, we usually go camping every year. This year we went to the same place that we went last year. Alder Lake Tacoma Power Park, owned and operated by Tacoma Power. By the time Memorial weekend planning rolls around Mom and I usually remember we have to make reservations for camping. By then all the good camp grounds are full and the ones that aren't full the good spots are all taken. I hope next year we will think ahead.

It was a fun camping trip and Liana, Taylor and their kids joined our usual group this year. I had brought along bubbles for Nyah and I swear at some point we had every kid in our camping area at our lot blowing bubbles. Gary and Taylor made a special trip all the way back to Wal-Mart to get more bubbles because I wanted to make sure we had enough for everyone.

The girl each got to bring a friend this year to help keep them busy. As they get older, especially Kayla, they seemed less interested in doing things with the family. Inviting friends keeps them happy. Veta had Elizabeth come and Kayla had Meridith come.

We had a campfire, made smore's and there is a playground in the middle to keep the kids busy. We had one nice sunny day but the rest were pretty drizzly. Taylor, Lianna, their kids and Kayla and her friend were all supposed to sleep in tents, but with the wet weather the only ones that toughed it out were Meridith and Kayla. The two adults wimped out and we had a full RV for most of the trip.

Shameless Business Plug

2008-05-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

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Bubbles, Bubbles, Everywhere

2008-05-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

It was so nice when I got home from work yesterday that I decided we would play with the bubbles I picked up at Wal-Mart the night before. Nyah just loves bubbles and I love to here her trying to say the word "bubbles". She gets so excited.

I bought several automatic bubble blowers so that I didn't pass out from blowing bubbles. I also bought a big purple sword filled with bubble solution and a wand, surprisingly it like yummy grape. Nyah tried to use it to make big bubbles but could only manage to get a few out of it.

Veta was outside playing with us too. She just loves her baby sister and I couldn't have asked for a better big sister for Nyah. Veta takes her for me for a couple of hours on days when I am just too exhausted. She will play with her, feed her, and even change her poopy diaper if she needs to.

Nyah loves Veta and they have such a good time together. Veta was trying to show Nyah how to catch the bubbles in her mouth. I am sure they didn't taste very good. I wonder if it is anything like getting your mouth washed out with soap. I was worried though that if the bubbles popped near Nyah's eyes that she would cry from the sting of the soap, but luckily that didn't happen.

Wake up, wake up.

2008-05-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

I hate Monday's! I wish we could abolish Monday's and start the week with a Tuesday instead. Nyah isn't to fond of them either.

Our Throne Room

2008-05-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here it is, nearly completed. Just a few more finishing touches such as paint, side splashes, molding and my shower curtain and a new light fixture that is centered. We have company coming this weekend so I am hoping to pull it all together before then.

Almost There!

2008-05-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am totally exhausted from the trips back and forth to our local Home Depot. I started out wanting brushed nickle finishes on all the fixtures in the bathroom. I have now changed my mind. I looked and searched and looked and searched for matching fixtures for the sink a bathrooom in a brushed nickle finish by Moen. The problem I was having was that our sink is set to an 8" and most of the fixtures in stock are for an 4" setting. So after settling for the bathroom fixtures that were in stock (after 3 days of back and forth) I brought them home and Gary put them on last night. After they were installed and working I was very unhappy! I didn't like the way the brushed nickle fixtures looked only because there were chrome parts installed on the tub already.

I figure that if we are going through that much effort and money then I want to be happy with the results....RIGHT??

So another trip to the Home Depot store to pick out another set is ahead of me. Today the cabinets are supposed to be delivered, the painting and texturing done and then Saturday it should be completed for the most part. I also finally decided after much searching in local stores and online to order my new shower curtain set from Penney's. Before I completed my order I did a search for coupons and found a code for 15% off. I was very proud of my self... What do you think of my choice? I wanted something elegant since I am changing my house over to the cherry wood accents.

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

My day started out by waking up early with the baby, making coffee and taking a cup up to Gary to wish HIM a Happy Mother's Day.

I wanted to go to the mall because I was sure I wasn't getting a gift for this Mother's Day. I wanted to buy the 15 pc Cooks pot and pan set on sale at JCPenney's. I have had my eye on it for some time now. I convinced Gary to go with me to buy it. We didn't get to the mall until about 1pm because we had to wait for all the girls- mine and the guests- to get ready. It took nearly two hours to get them all rounded up. By now I was agitated because I had so many things to do today on what seemed like my only day off.

We get to the mall and the girls head one way and Gary and I head to JCPenney. I was on a mission. I wanted my pot and pan set and I also needed a special NON-TENSION shower curtain rod for my new bathroom. I couldn't find the rod but I did find the pots and pans, which provoked my husband to say "nevermind, I'm not speding that much money on pots and pans because you don't use them".....WHAT??? Ok, so we go out t eat quite a bit, but I still cook at home when I get the chance in between sleep, taking care 0f the baby, full time job, part time job, laundry and cleaning house. So now I was even more agitated and in a foul mood with the look on my face to show.

We headed to the food court to find the girls so we could go home....big mistake, we found them alright and immediately my 15 yr old daughter and 13 yr old daughter started to argue. I just got really wide eyed as I looked on at my 15 year old in disbeleif and as I did my 15 yr old daughter starting raising her voice to me and talking to me in a tone in which she shouldn't have....by this point, dad is screaming at her even louder to cause a seen. The whole Tacoma Mall now has their eyes on us. Oy Vey, Calgon take me away.

By the time I got home and settled down I was in tears. I was having such a crappy day. We had lots of company coming for a BBQ dinner so I finished cleaning up the house, went to the store to get the food and came home to start preparing it. Gary was up from his nap so he started the grill.

Ok, so I wasn't doing anymore until I got a gift....LOL. So after all the crappiness of the day I got my gift. I had asked for a new lap top and that is what I got. A new Dell Inspirion . After all the company went home I went to my favorite room in the house, my bedroom- got comfy and booted up. I only played with it for about 15 minutes before my eyes started to pop out of my head from exhaustion. That's my Mother's Day in a nutshell.

The Great Wolf Lodge

2008-05-09T15:55:00.001-07:00

My middle baby turned 13 on April 15th. We made plans to go to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound. It cost over 600 dollars for the room for just one night- that was for 8 people- but we got to use the water park for 2 days. The rooms were beautiful. It really was a whole lot of fun and we will definantely go back. The food at the snack bars weren't that good but the restaurant food was much better. The restaurant service wasn't so good, there are alot of young people working there much like any other theme park.
Veta took 4 of her friends and we had some friends that met us there and had their own room.

Nyah, Taylor, and daddy playing in the kiddie pool.

Kayla and Veta with her 4 closest friends.

Emily, Elizabeth, Veta and Charlissa coming out of The Tornado.

Finally

2008-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

After living in our house for almost 9 years now, we are finally getting a shower put in the basement bathroom. That gives us 3 full bathrooms now which is going to be really nice when company comes to visit. We are also getting the bathroom upstairs a complete remodel which it was in dire need of. The upstairs bathroom was falling apart, the sticky back tile floor we laid down a couple of years ago decided it didn't want to stick anymore and when I would walk on it with bare feet the tiles would stick to my feet and I would literally pull them up off of the floor.

There has always been a space and pipes for a shower but that is it. I will post pictures of the finished tile job when it is done. I just love it. You can see the mosaic tile that we are going to install in that bathroom sitting there on the toilet.

This is the upstairs bathroom. It was completely gutted. The floor and the walls will be all tile and the box you see there under the window is the laundry chute that is finally going to be finished instead of just a hole in the floor.

Room with a view.

2008-05-07T13:49:00.001-07:00

This is the view from one of the office windows where I work. You may recognize it as the corner of Pearl St. and 21st St. in Tacoma. Yep, that's a Rite Aid across the street and on the other corner is the McDonalds. I think that day we had 4 deer, which is the most I have seen at one time here. This is why I love living in the Great Northwest. No matter if it is raining, cold and blustery or sunny and clear, I always find beauty here. I don't think you would see this in the city unless you went to the zoo.