What the heck?

I was thinking today...don't laugh...it happens every once in awhile! What the heck? No, really! That's what I was thinking. I was thinking what the heck, am I a good wife, a good mom, a good friend, a good daughter? What the heck, how come I'm not more creative, organized, fancy, or proactive? What the heck is that on the sleeve of my shirt?!? These are the things I ponder when I'm alone at work. I should never be left alone with my thoughts.
So I decided to get my you-know-what together tonight. I reorganized a closet on Monday and everything that didn't fit back in is all over my table. (did I mention it's now Thursday?) Not conducive for family dinners. So I (almost) cleaned that up. I need a few books to give a little lift to a lamp in my living room so I made one out of an old phone book, a paper bag and some fancy duct tape my pal Denise gave me for Christmas. By the way, I told her about my adventure and she said, "Who the heck are you!!" That's a good comment right? I thought so. I painted a dollar store picture frame and it looks awesome...now I just need to put something in it. But baby steps right?
I must say, I feel pretty awesome right now. Productive, creative and just plain awesome! It's kind of a nice change from the "what the heck" feelings I've been having lately. Tomorrow I'm going to make dinner for my poor graveyard working husband, help my sister paint her house and make some cupcakes for the gals at work. That should be a good second step towards a "what the heck" free life!
Enjoy a few pics of my super awesome day! Pay no attention to the horrible lighting, it's like 1am. Not much natural light. :-)

 That picture frame was a really lovely turquoise and gold.

I don't know why I painted it.

I think I'll put a little bit of sheet music in that frame.

 Yeah...that's right...I made that.

All that's left is a tiny bit of sorting.

Or maybe a big bit of sorting.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

Aren't we just the cutest of autumn flowers?! I've been taking this very same picture of Terry and the kids for the last 8 years. This is the first time I've been in the picture!!!

I'm so glad that Brandon and Jenny aren't too old to love this tradition as much as we do. I wasn't sure if Brandon would want to come with us this year but when I asked him he said, "I don't wanna miss the pumpkin patch!" I love that!!

Ohhhh yeah...and I love this guy.



so are the days of our lives...

Always gotta keep busy or the voices start telling me to do wild things.

Steve Brown

Two months since my last blog post...

I can't decide if I've been lazy or uninspired. Neither sounds particularly encouraging so I'm going to go another direction and just say busy!

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and we're hip deep in graduation "stuff". Brandon's last day of school is just one day away and then our baby will be a "grown-up"...sorta. It's been a slippery slope to say the least but he's working so hard to finish strong. We're proud and scared and happy and sad all at once and let me tell you all that emotion is exhausting!

Jenny's been working her little tail feathers off as well to finish her sophomore year. She's leaving her current post in ASB and has been appointed ASB "Spirit Commissioner" for next fall. This is a job perfectly suited for our vivacious, happy-go-lucky little social butterfly! She's also made the cheer squad for next fall so we're anticipating a very busy summer of camps, fundraisers and practices.
Terry and I are just trying to keep up! Like ships passing in the night we occasionally find a moment or two to spend together. I am so blessed to be married to someone I love spending time with especially as we see our empty nest on the horizon. Two years away I know but the time is moving much too quickly these days.

I've decided to post a little montage of our last few months and let our pictures say a thousand words!

Easter 2010

The story of Easter is the story of God's wonderful window
of divine surprise. ~Carl Knudsen

We had Easter Dinner at our house again this year and it was wonderful!  I love my family so much and it's such a joy to have them here in our home.  God's truly blessed us by giving us a home to share with our family. 

Amigos till the end...

"Conversation is food for the soul”
Mexican Proverb

When I am with my friends, my soul is well fed!

January in a nutshell

“It is the memory that enables a person to gather roses in January”

I suppose for some people January is a dreary and depressing month but, to those of us born in the very first month of the year it's a lovely time of beginnings. Our January started out fabulously when the kids came home from their visit to Arizona on New Years Day. They were gone for a full week and we really missed them. We had big plans to spend our New Years Eve together but too full flights and bad weather got in the way. Sooooo we saved all the goodies for the 1st! Pizza rolls, mini corn dogs, and taquitos washed down with a few bottles of sparkling cider. Ahhh the good life!

And then, wouldn't you know it, another birthday!!! I spent the most amazing weekend celebrating my 37th. My kids treated me to a fabulous dinner and a delicious carrot cake; I took a class at my favorite scrapbook store, arts&scraps, with my mom; went out to dinner with my three VERY bestest friends and spent a lovely day with my whole family. My wonderful mom still lets us choose whatever we want for dinner. She made the most amazing meal of fried chicken and mashed potatoes (my all time fav!!!) It's very, very good to be me!

The rest of the month passed in a blur of work, family time, busy teenage kids and swim meets. Ohhhh wait...did I mention that Brandon was on the swim team at Fort Vancouver High School this year?! Well he was and he was AMAZING!!! That boy swims like a fish. He competed in the 50 meter free, the 100 meter back stroke, and the 100 meter free. He swam at the district championships and it was his very first year to compete! We are soooo proud of him!!

And that's our January in a nutshell.

Friends

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

These are my girls...my peeps...my entourage. They've been there for me through the best and worst that life has thrown me. They are my family and I love them!!!

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

"Like snowflakes, my Christmas memories gather and dance - each beautiful, unique and too soon gone."

We didn't have a white Christmas this year but the memories are still as precious and fleeting as snowflakes. The gifts where opened and the food was eaten but the joy of being surrounded by family will linger in our hearts.

We are well and truly blessed.

Happy 18th

Someday I'll fly
Someday I'll soar

Someday I'll be something much more

Cause I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for

From the moment I heard this song I knew it was about Brandon. His spirit and his personality have always been so much bigger than the sweet little body it was crammed into.

"Watch me! Watch me!" That refrain echoes through his childhood.

"Watch me jump off this swing!"

"Watch me ollie this curb!"

"Watch me jump this ramp on my bike!"

"Mom! Watch me!"

Although overwhelming at the time, they are now one of the sweetest pieces of my memory. He's 18 today and I continue to watch him. I watch him grow and develop and mature every day. I watch him making big decissions and wrestle with life choices. I watch him laugh and struggle and I still watch him play.

My prayer for him is that he will choose wisdom over wealth, love over fear, and that he will know I will always be here to watch him.

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"

Jenny and I made a huge assortment of fabulous cookies for Christmas this year! We made peppermint yum yums, smore thumbprints, chocolate peppermint drops, snickerdoodles, and peanut butter cookies. Some were gifts, some were shared on Christmas Eve and some...ok many...went straight into our tummies!

I love being able to cook with Jenny. It's one of the most precious times of the holidays. She's an amazing cooker-girl!

Thanksgiving

We are well and truly blessed.What's Thanksgiving without a nap? We missed them this year.

We give thanks for unknown blessings already on the way~

Pumpkin Patch

Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see. ~Linus van Pelt--It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

The weather man said, "Tomorrow will be the last dry day for at least a week."

The Radio DJ said, "It's supposed to start raining tomorrow and it will probably not stop until May because that's how we do fall in the Pacific Northwest!"
Terry and I said, "Quick! Let's get to the pumpkin patch before we have to dig our pumpkins out of the mud!!!"

So that is what we did! We rounded up our youngsters and headed to our favorite patch out on Sauvie Island. Talk of our favorite memories and a brief "discussion" about who would be partnered with whom in the corn maze took up much of the trip. We arrived to find that we had been doing it wrong all these years! The best day to go to the Pumpkin Patch is not on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The BEST day to go is a sunny Monday evening!!! No crowds and no mud. Both a bonus in our book. We did the maze first-boys vs. girls this year and I am proud to say that Jenny and I were victorious! We arrived on Victory Bridge well ahead of the boys. Girl Power!

We hitched a ride on the last wagon to the patch and went in search of the "perfect pumpkin". Sticking to the rule, you can only get a pumpkin that you can carry, we each found our victims, err pumpkins. The pumpkins have gone through a strange procession over the years from smallish when the kids were young to ginormous when they were in middle school back to smallish now that some of the shine of digging out pumpkin guts has gone.

Back on the wagon and out to the car. The only bummer about the Monday evening trip is that they don't sell Elephant Ears on week night. Depending on who you ask, this is almost a deal breaker!

But despite the lack of fried dough we had an amazing time. Just like always.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. - George Eliot

This is my absolute favorite season of the year!!! I love the nip in the air and the leaves and the pumpkins and chilly nights spent watching high school football!

We have an extra special reason for all those football games this year because Jenny is a JV Cheerleader. We've loved watching her and she's having so much fun! She's also involved in ASB for the sophomore class so she's been burning the candle at both ends for several weeks. Her 15th birthday is coming up on the 19th and in her world the whole month is just for her! Guess that's what happens when you're the princess :-)

Brandon has begun his Senior year. It's all a little overwhelming to all of us I think. He's got a pretty light schedule and is really enjoying the school year so far. He's talking about going into the Coast Guard after graduation and we're pensive but supportive. Eventually he wants to be a High School History teacher. He has so much potential and we're so excited at what the future holds for him!

Thankful

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. ~Frank A. Clark

Sometimes life is hard. Sometimes it's not easy to be thankful. Sometimes it seems like there isn't much to be thankful for. We've had a few of those days in the past month as I deal with the loss of my job. We've had a lot of questions as we look forward to the Christmas holidays, Brandon's 18th birthday and having two kids in high school one job short of our usual income. But you know what? God is so good to us. We're blessed enough to be living in a real life example of a loaves and fishes miracle! We don't know what we're going to do. I don't know what kind of job I'll find or when I'll find it. The beautiful thing is that we don't have to know! We just have to trust that our God knows and he's big enough and he loves us enough to take care of our smallest needs. He even blesses us with some of our wants when we least expect it. Terry is a heroic and amazing man. He's taken on a second job to supplement our income while I'm searching. I am so proud to be married to him. So proud of the example he is setting for Brandon about what it looks like to be a father, husband and provider and so proud of the model he's displaying for Jenny about how a man takes care of his wife and family.

We have each other. We have our health. We have our family. What more could we ask for?

We are thankful.

Weddings

Newlyweds become oldyweds, and oldyweds are the reasons that families work. ~Author Unknown

All these weddings have made me nostalgic! In just a few weeks Terry and I will celebrate our 7th Anniversary! It's remarkable how quickly the time has flown by. Sometimes I can't even remember my life without him. We call this always. We feel like we've always been together. We're so lucky because we just fit. Not everything is easy but everything is right. Every problem can be solved, every hurt can be healed and every single laugh is cherished. The bumpy road we traveled to find each other has only made our love more precious. We hope and pray that Adam & Sarah and George & Janna will be as blessed in their new marriages as we have been in ours.

Our Little Cheerleader

"All women are created equal...then a few become cheerleaders!"

Rockaway

“Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”

A week at the beach. No worries, no work, just our feet in the sand. Life is good!!

Brandy found us a great house to rent in Rockaway Beach, OR. I think this might have been our first full family vacation (the only one missing was our sweet baby brother, but he sent his fiance to represent!) and I think we were all a little apprehensive about how we'd do all together for a whole week. I'm so thrilled to report that we had the absolute best time ever!

Grandpa Jerry played wii

Jenny and Jack were marine biologists

Charlie Knuckles kept us all laughing

Garry got his oysters

Jenny got tired of Colton's you-know-what

Terry snored the kids right out of the basement

The food, the food oh my goodness the food

Grandpa tipped over in the chair on the beach

The ocean tried to eat Jenny and Colton

The wind blew and blew but it couldn't blow us off the beach

Brandon and Colton find out just how cagey Grandpa is

Jenny tried...to skim board...she tried

Nights of family games

The kite man...go Elmo

How many movies can two teenage boys watch

“When you look at your life the greatest happinesses are family happinesses”

The 4th of July!!!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its Independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

My absolute favorite holiday is the 4th of July! I know that might sound strange but I like it more than Christmas, Thanksgiving and my birthday all rolled into one. It's the absolute best of everything that makes my family great. The food is amazing and there is always more than enough. All the family comes. Everyone! And even some friends and neighbors sneak in but we're an exclusive bunch...invitation only! The stories get bigger each year and there is always laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. It's the only day of the year where we can indulge our inner pyro! We blow stuff up all day long.

And we honor our family's long tradition of military service. We are so proud of those who have sacrificed and fought for our freedom.
Aunt Barb and Uncle Ben have been opening up their home to us for nearly 20 years and I am so grateful that they continue to allow us to blow holes in their yard!!! They are the best!! And did I mention that we have fireworks? LOTS AND LOTS OF FIREWORKS!! ENORMOUSLY HUGE AND AWESOME FIREWORKS!! Well, we do!
Beat that neighbor!

Life's a beach...

Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much
you love the beach.

I had two days off!!! We decided to take advantage of one of those days and head to the Oregon Coast. It was beautiful, windy, sunny and a teensy bit chilly but who cares when you're at the beach!!! We had the best time and loved being able to take Colton, Jack and McKenna with us.

Father's Day

There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his children, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself. ~John Gregory Brown

My dad is a great dad and a great Grandpa!!!