Views from a Java Hut

First Friday Favorite Five of the Year

2010-01-22T10:25:00.001-08:00

I have totally been a slacker when it comes to blogging! I must get back to it! And what better way than to do my FFF!

1) Weekend Scrapbook Retreats – a few weeks ago I was able to head off to The Great Escape in Monroe, WA for some weekend scrapbooking. This place was awesome! It is a house built specifically for scrapbooking. We each had our own 6ft table with organizing shelves, a die cut machine to use for free, complimentary meals prepared by my consultant, and a twin bed in a cute little bedroom. I was able to get 28 pages done! Thanks Shelley for finally getting me to go to this! I had a great time!

2) My New Nook – What is a Nook? It is an E-Reader by Barnes and Noble. Bob got this for me for Christmas, and I have to admit I was skeptical. I love to read and I LOVE books – the smell of the pages, the feel of holding a book in my hands, the artwork on the cover…. But I was intrigued by the E-Reader. So, after reading a few books on it so far, I have to admit that it’s grown on me. I can download a new book any time, any place! When I walk into a B&N, it will show me store specials and coupons. If I want to read a book right now, and I don’t happen to have a copy of it, I can just download it onto my Nook for a small fee. Now, will I still buy actual books? Of course! There are some books that I will want to keep and read over and over (Twilight….Outlander….Time Traveler’s Wife….Memoirs of a Geisha….) But I am enjoying my E-Reader too! Thanks honey! Oh! And did I mention my super chic Kate Spade Nook Holder? Love it!

3) Sunshine – I am LOVING the sunshine we’ve had this week! It has felt a little bit like Spring, here in the PNW. I know it won’t last…sigh….but for now it is WONDERFUL! Thank you, Lord, for giving us some sunny weather!

4) Bob’s 40th Birthday– Last weekend we headed back to Indianapolis for Bob’s 40th birthday. We had a great time hanging out with Bob’s old college buddies and their spouses. These are good people! They all helped me organize a great weekend for Bob by helping me keep it a surprise (until I finally spilled the beans), obtaining IU Basketball tickets, and finding a place for us to watch the Colts Game. You guys were awesome!

We had dinner at a Brazilian Steak House called Fogo deChao, which was very cool. Definitely a Man’s place to eat -- they kept bringing around spit after spit of beef, pork and chicken! Wow! Then we headed to Sun King Brewery to watch the Colts Playoff Game – which they won! (All for you, babe!) I would definitely recommend the Sunlight Cream Ale here! Yum! Then the next day we headed to Indiana University to watch the Hoosiers win in OT against Minnesota. Yes! Gotta love you some Indiana Basketball!

A great weekend was had by all! The kids got to hang out with Grammie, Great-Grandma (the kids nicknamed her GG this weekend) and cousin Will, while Bob and I hooped it up for his birthday. Fun Times!

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5) My Husband – We’ve been together now, for more than half our lives! We started dating while we were seniors in high school. Who knew we would still be together 22 years later? Today is our 22nd anniversary of our first date! Can you believe that? We went to a high school basketball game together (of course) and then had pizza at Noble Romans. I think in honor of our first date, we’ll have pizza tonight for dinner and go watch our daughter at HER basketball game. :-) I love you Bob!

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Happy Friday Everyone! I hope your weekend is Sunny and you come up with your own Friday Favorite Five!

A good way to start the new year…

2010-01-08T07:43:00.001-08:00

I got this from McMommy’s Blog. Definitely words to live by! Hope you enjoy….

The 2010 HANDBOOK

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games
7. Read more books than you did in 2009 .
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14.. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness..
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.. Don't hate others..
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23.. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Happy New year!

A wonderful place to work

2009-12-04T14:52:00.001-08:00

Have I told you about how much I love where I work? I think I’ve mentioned it before in a previous post. Three plus years ago I decided to volunteer some time at our church. I was placed as a volunteer doing some data entry for the newly opened Kids at the Creek preschool. A few months later I was asked if I was interested in actually working part time for the preschool. What? Get paid instead of volunteering? Sure!

I started out working 2 half days a week. Now I’m working 2+ full days a week. I love my job! I went from being a volunteer for the church to being the part time bookkeeper for the preschool. I have two wonderful bosses, exceptional co-workers, and I’ve gotten to know our church staff a little bit better.

Today, we had our preschool staff Christmas Party. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast provided by the directors, we had an awesome gift exchange, made Christmas wreaths, created hand made thank you cards and tags, decorated cookies, and just enjoyed each others company and fellowship. It was truly a very fun day!

At our gift exchange, you can “steal” an item from someone else up to 2 different times. I had my first gift “stolen” but ended up with this wonderfully smelling candle and this awesome Jar Wrap. What a very unique idea!

Look at this adorable gift card holder I made! What a great idea! It’s made with an envelope with the squared off flap, instead of the triangle one. Note to Eve: You need to make these!

These are the cute Thank You Cards I made. So easy. Made me wonder why I don’t make hand made cards more often.

This is the wreath I made. The Wreath is real and we had tons of embellishments to add to it. My bow is a little dorky, but Hey! No one will notice since the wreath will sit behind the screen door. I love getting a fresh wreath. The smell is wonderful! And since we have a fake tree, the real wreath kind of compensates. (Or so I’m telling myself.)

The cookie decorating tips we got from my friend Sara were very cool! We learned things like “flooding”, and adding water to the Wilton decorator icing to thin it out.

And then, who doesn’t enjoy a cookie exchange? I can’t wait to try one of each of these yummy looking cookies! I know they won’t last long, so I better get some while I can! ha ha

Today was a great start to the holiday season for me. I haven’t been “feeling it” yet. I’ve decorated the tree and the house, I’ve done the crazy Black Friday shopping, I’ve ordered and received our Christmas cards, and I’ve even wore my Christmas socks and Christmas earrings. But today, with all the good fellowship with the women I work with, I think I’m finally getting in the Spirit of the Holiday Season! Yay!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Friday Favorite Five – 11/20/2009

2009-11-20T17:31:00.001-08:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve done my FFF – again! So without further ado, here are my FFF for this week:

1) Make Believe – Today after school, Sarah and her friends made a space ship out of a shower door box. They had great fun drawing on the box with markers, using tissue boxes to hold up the wings, using inserts from a wine shipment as seats, and Tupperware bowls as helmets. How awesome in this day and age of video games, computers and IPods, that kids still remember how to play make believe!

2) My Book Holder – This one has been one of my FFF before, but this week I was able to use my book holder in a whole new way! I was tired of having our (Bob’s) elliptical trainer be a dust collector, so have been trying to use it on the days I can’t get to the gym (which have been a lot lately). However, there is no motivation to use it when a) it’s in the cold garage and b) it faces a shelf that needs organized. That’s all I see when I’m out there working my butt off – all this crap that needs to have something done with it! So, yesterday (after being house-bound for 3 days due to contractors and sick kids) I was ingenious and velcro’d my book holder to the elliptical so that I can read while working out! Woot! Is that awesome or what???

3) Clean closets – Another one from a previous FFF, clean closets make me happy! As I was house bound this week, I decided that our closet needed organized and cleaned out. My side wasn’t so bad, but our walk-in-closet had become a barely-get-in-the-door closet. Bob’s side needed cleaned out in a major way, and boxes needed to be put up on shelves instead of on the floor where things got piled on them. So, that’s what I did this week. I know you didn’t see the before pictures (and believe me, I NEVER would’ve shown them), but I’m happy to post my after picture!

4) Tastefully Simple—Have you heard of this company? They make food products that only require 1 to 2 ingredients. Everything from them is sooo yummy! From their beer bread to their dips - I love it all! I hate cooking, so having simple and easy things to make for dinner or to bring to a party is right up my alley! A few weeks ago I hosted a TS party and received over $100 in free product! I am so excited to get all my products so that I can be prepared for all the holiday festivities!

5) Surprise Trips – My husband, God love ‘im, surprised US ALL with a trip to Disneyland this past weekend. He had to be in LA for a conference and decided that we should take the kids to The Happiest Place on Earth for the weekend. Crazy man! He had to convince me pretty hard – I am the planner in the family. I don’t do well with spur of the moment trips. I have to say though, we had a fantastic time! The kids hadn’t been in about 5 years, and Sarah didn’t even remember ever having been there! We enjoy 1-1/2 days of The Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. Thank you honey!

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With Thanksgiving approaching next week, I hope everyone takes a minute to think about your Friday Favorite Five. It’s always good to be thankful for the little things in life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday Favorite Five – October 23, 2009

2009-10-23T14:49:00.001-07:00

What a week! Lots of FFF discovered this week. Check ‘em out!

1) New T.V. shows – I have discovered two new comedy’s this season! Glee and Modern Family. These shows are great!

Glee is about a high school Glee Club and the teacher who wants to make it hip. The episode I just watched this week was about some star football players joining the club but getting razzed by their fellow teammates. What was so funny is that they kept getting grape slushiess thrown in their faces by their teammates. They have some great songs and the singers are amazing. This is definitely being added to my DVR!

Modern Family is about three families who are all related. Dad has married the younger, hot Columbian wife; daughter is married with a dorky husband and 3 kids; son has a life partner and they just adopted a baby girl from Vietnam. Super hilarious! Another great show to DVR! The episode I just watched this week is where the daughter calls the new step mom a gold digger and the life partner of the son bonds with dad over football. It was Laugh Out Loud funny!

Only bummer about these two show – both on at the same time/same night. Which brings me to my #2 FFF.

2) My DVR – I LOVE being able to record my favorite shows – Desperate Housewives, The Office, 30 Rock, Jon and Kate, Private Practice, Glee, Modern Family…. Now if only my Showtime and HBO shows would come back on! Nothing better than folding laundry while catching up on that week’s shows. And what’s even better, I can record them downstairs and watch them upstairs. Sweet!

3) Bottle Cap Necklaces by M3 Girl Designs – I just discovered these at a little toy store in downtown Snohomish. They are interchangeable bottle caps used for necklaces, designed by this 12 year old girl, and her little sister, when she was in 5th grade. They are so cute and trendy! They come in several different designs, and I think you can even do a custom order. These are perfect for the pre-teen girls. Sarah and I bought 2 for a couple of her friends’ birthday’s. I’m gonna HAVE to get Sarah one for Christmas. These are just too super cute!!

4) Bobby’s Senior Pictures – Have you seen them on facebook yet? He looks so grown up and handsome! They turned out amazing and I can’t wait to see my final copies and my photo book! Ellen at Beautiful You Portraits did a fantastic job!

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5) A Clean House – As usual this is ALWAYS a favorite of mine! This week my house got cleaned, the laundry was all done, and even Sarah’s room was cleaned and organized! Out with Polly Pockets, several bags of trash, and several more bags in the donation pile! Yes! It’s such a nice feeling to know that at least one child’s room has been de-cluttered before the holidays begin!

Happy Friday everyone!

Friday Favorite Five – October 16th 2009

2009-10-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

Better late than never! Here are my FFF for this week:

1) Candy Corn – Yummmm…… My personal favorite is the original candy corn and the pumpkins from the Harvest Mix. I find myself eating all the pumpkins first, then all the white tops of the candy corn second. I’ve made myself sick with eating candy corn! This is definitely one of the best parts of Fall!

2) My Favorite Halloween Decoration – Thanks go to my Mother-in-Law for sending me this last year. For as long as I can remember, she put this kitty cat and jack-o-lantern decoration out every Halloween. Last year she shipped it to me and now it’s MINE! Woo Hoo! I love it!

3) Unexpected Flower Deliveries – Aren’t these beautiful? What a wonderful surprise to open my door last week and find flowers….for me! And the card is the best. Thanks honey! They brought a huge smile to my face!

4) Birthdays – Not just any birthday’s, but my children’s birthdays. This weekend is Sarah’s 8th birthday! No one loves birthdays more than Sarah! It doesn’t matter if it’s her brother’s birthday, my birthday, a friends’ birthday, or especially HER birthday. She loves them all! It’s hard to believe that 8 years ago my beautiful baby girl was born. Happy Birthday, Sarah Elisabeth!

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5) First Dates – This week I have been remembering Bob and my first date. Why? Because Bobby is going on his first date this weekend! Not just any date, but to homecoming! I’m so excited and nervous for him. He’s going to have so much fun!

I remember Bob and My first date. I was studying for my SAT test, and he convinced me to not study but to go to the high school basketball game with him that night. (If you know Bob, of COURSE it was basketball!). I remember telling my dad “it’s not a date, it’s just Bob from choir”. Well, 21+ years, 3 kids, 3 houses, 4 states, a dog and cat, a mini van and a travel trailer later…….here we are anxiously watching our oldest prepare for his first date/dance. Where have all the years gone?

Do you remember your first date? Happy Friday everyone!

Scrapbooks

2009-09-28T17:48:00.001-07:00

I am so excited! I just got 11 of my 15 scrapbooks embossed with dates on their spines This is something I’ve wanted to do…..since I started scrapbooking!

Looking at my bookshelf, I realized that I have completed 11 family albums and 1 album that shows our vacation time with Bob’s side of the family. That’s a lot! The family albums I now have titled and they look great. I didn’t know how to title the vacation one, so it will have to wait. I also have 1 album that was completed for me (my wedding album – Thanks Aunt Katie!), 1 album that is “in progress” because I’m not sure how to finish it (currently holds our Cancun, Mexico pictures from 2003. Maybe a beach album?), and 1 album that I gave up on and hope to finish some day (Bobby’s school album).

This is quite the accomplishment, if I do say so myself! I remember when I got started scrapbooking. My friend Kate invited me to this scrapbook “party”. I remember telling Bob “I’m just going to be nice. I am SO not creative. I’m sure this won’t interest me at all!” Famous last words, as it has been about 9 years and I’m still scrapbooking like crazy. I have made albums for friends and family members. I did a stint as a scrapbook product consultant and had my “own business” for awhile. And, of course, I will be enjoying my 8th annual scrapbook retreat this coming March with My BFF’s!

Take a look at my beautiful album spines. I just love them! I will be starting my 12th family album this weekend at my friend and CM Consultant Shelley’s event, and I’m hoping to possibly do some smaller albums as Christmas gifts.

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Friday Favorite Five – Girls Weekend Edition – 9/18/2009

2009-09-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

My long time BFF’s, Denise and Eve, came to visit last weekend.

We met about 10 years ago when we were all young/new mommy’s living in California. We belonged to the Roseville Moms Club, and we were all in a playgroup with babies around the same age. The first time I met my friend, Denise, playgroup was at my house and both of our babies (Alex and Tarik) were under a year old.

Remembering old times – I remember that playgroup. I was super nervous about having a bunch of women that I barely knew coming to my house where the babies basically just slept or were nursed while the mommy’s carried on conversations. Back then, I was super shy but was determined to make new friends since I was new to California and living away from family. I remember Denise being so friendly and supportive and very interested in my thoughts about raising babies. She knew I had an older child (Bobby was 8 by then) and told me I was the “experienced” one. I remember saying that having Alex was like having a first born all over again and that I didn’t feel very experienced. Anyway, this weekend we talked about that first playgroup where we bonded as new mothers, helped each other relax about some child rearing issues and take a stand on others. And how we’re still great friends all these years later.
Playing tourist - I was so excited to have the girls visit me! Denise has been out here before, but this was Eve’s first time visiting me since I had moved from CA. I fly back every year for our scrapbook weekend in Bodega Bay. But this was our first girls weekend where we played tourist and didn’t scrapbook one thing! We started our trip off with the usual Seattle Sites –- Pike Place Market, Original Starbuck’s, Waterfront walk and Harbor Cruise. How fun to share your favorite spots with friends!
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Experiencing New Things Together – It was a glorious weekend in Seattle, so we decided to head up to the mountains and take in Leavenworth – a little Bavarian Village in the Cascade Mountains. We stayed at this quaint little hotel right in town. We had a great time walking through the little shops, eating German food, and laughing until our sides ached! That night we went to a beer garden and listened to some live music from a great band called “Red Means Go”. They were awesome! We each bought one of their cd’s as a souvenir. It had been a long time since any of us had sat and listened to live music from an up and coming band. We had a great time!

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Laughing Until Our Sides Ached – There is nothing better than getting together with girlfriends and laughing so hard that you about pee your pants! And that is just what we did all weekend long! I swear it fills you up with sunshine and love and happiness when you can laugh that hard with a friend. Whether we were giggling over text messages, snickering about honey buckets, cracking up about Papa Smurf taking Eve’s chair, or embarrassing ourselves because of the loud laughter over the bathroom locks in the German restaurant, laughter is always the best medicine and a requirement with good friends!

(our nicknames for the weekend – written on the floor of the beer garden)
Spending Time With Those You Love – I love these ladies like sisters. We’ve been through hard times, sad times, and happy times together. We’ve shared our biggest fears, our greatest weaknesses and our most successful accomplishments. We’ve scrapbooked together, shared books, cried and laughed together, and scrapbooked some more! I am so honored that they took time out of their busy lives to come visit me! With soccer games (3 kids each), girl scout meetings (3 troops between them), house hunting and just being away from family for a whole weekend – it makes me realize even more how important our friendship is. Thank you gals! And, Debby? You’re coming next year for sure!!!!

Thanks Girls! I miss you already!

The 2009/2010 Breakaway Book Club Selections

2009-09-14T22:56:00.001-07:00

Here they are -- the new list for my book club! We are entering our 4th year as a book club and I am so excited to read these new books. Unfortunately, I have read 4 out of the 10 books. But that just means I get to look forward to finally discussing them with a great group of women!

Check out our new list of books:

“The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel”
by Diane Setterfield (432 pages)

“The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”
by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (290 pages)

“The Hour I First Believed: A Novel”
by Wally Lamb (768 pages)

“Skylight Confessions”
by Alice Hoffman (288 pages)

“Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time”
by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (349 pages)

“Time of My Life: A Novel”
by Allison Winn Scotch (304 pages)

“The Hunger Games”
by Suzanne Collins (384 pages)

“Astrid and Veronika”
by Linda Olsson (288 pages)

“Firefly Lane”
by Kristin Hannah (528 pages)

“The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel”
by Garth Stein (336 pages)

Makes you want to join my book club, huh? Feel free to read along with us! We read 10 books in 12 months – we save the longest books for December and July.

Happy reading everyone!

Friday Favorite Five – August 28, 2009

2009-08-28T09:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday everyone! Here are my FFF for this week. I hope you enjoy and think on your own Favorite’s from this week.

1) Back To School Shopping – I love back to school shopping! The new shoes, the new folders and backpacks, new clothes – it’s such a reminder that fall is fast approaching with crisp mornings and long afternoon shadows. The last week and a half, I’ve been able to take the kids back to school shopping. We purchased new shoes, new backpacks, new school supplies, new clothes and even spent some good quality time together. I love how they have their own opinions on what color scissors they want, which backpack “looks good” on them, and if they need the 5 subject notebook or 5 different notebooks for each subject. Yes, school supply shopping can be stressful – especially when you end up having to go to multiple stores to find that specific erasure or calculator, or when your daughter wants 4 outfits, one son doesn’t want any new clothes, and the other only wants death/skull shirts. But it can also be fun and exciting and a great way for the kids to start preparing themselves for back to school time.

2) Our New Favorite Family TV Shows – Where has all of the great family TV gone? Remember watching The Love Boat, The A Team or The Muppet Show when you were little? Now you can barely find ANYTHING on TV that is family friendly. So we were thrilled when this summer we discovered two shows that was not only family friendly, but such fun to watch: Wipeout and The Great American Road Trip.

Wipeout is a game show where participants have to go through these crazy, difficult obstacles that involve mud and water and the “big balls”. As the title implies, there are many hilarious “wipeouts” that just keep us laughing and watching!

The Great American Road Trip was about 7 families who traveled Route 66 from Chicago to LA in an R.V. with challenges that slowly eliminated the contestants down to the final family. We got to see how these families worked together as a team, improving their communications skills with each other while spending quality time on the road. Our family TOTALLY thinks we should enter the next season of episodes – especially after our own Road Trip!

There needs to be more family friendly TV. There’s nothing like snuggling up on the couch, with a bowl of popcorn, cheering on our favorite team or laughing hysterically as a family. Thank you NBC and ABC for our summer family TV time!

3) Our Neighborhood – We live in SUCH a great neighborhood! Everyone is so nice and thoughtful and we all love to hang out together. Whether it’s late night phone calls about garage doors being open, getting the mommy scoop regarding truth or dare games in the front yard, or even hearing that Bobby has caught rides to and from work or school when he’s been “forced” to walk – I know that we couldn’t have picked a better place to live when we moved here 4 years ago. It’s so much fun to have Girls Night Out’s, Couple’s Night Out’s, Block Parties, Bunco, and Holiday parties with these group of friends. We truly are blessed to have met these wonderful neighbors. Highlands East Rocks!!!

4) Body Wash – I know this ones seems a little weird to put as a favorite five, but I love body wash. Unlike a bar of soap, it doesn’t slip out of your hand or melt in the shower/tub; it comes in different scents from traditional soapy scents to flowery/fruity or masculine scents; and sometimes they come with their own body pouf! :-) My current favorite is Caress Glowing Touch Silkening Body Wash. It’s inexpensive, smells so good, and leaves my skin feeling soft.

What’s your current favorite product?

5) Facebook – I know, I know, I know! Seriously, right? But I love it! Yes it’s addicting and a total time suck, but I love seeing little snippets of my friends’ daily lives. My friends list consists of current friends/neighbors, old high school friends/acquaintances, family members, friends from past neighborhoods, old acquaintances from when I was little, new blogger friends, and people from church/work/school. Do I talk to these people on a daily basis? No. Would I have contacted some of these people otherwise? No. But that’s the good thing – people that you would otherwise have had no contact with due to time and distance, you now can reconnect with pictures, chatting, and little wall posts. Come see me on facebook and be my friend! :-)

Have a great weekend!

Ohio and Michigan Visit 2009, by Lisa Baker

2009-08-08T09:43:00.001-07:00

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Friday Favorite Five – Great American Road Trip Addition – 08/07/2009

2009-08-07T18:51:00.001-07:00

Wow! It’s been a long time since I posted my FFF. These aren’t just any FFF – these are my FFF from the Baker Family’s “Great American Road Trip 2009”! Woo hoo!

On July 5th at 8:30am (after a spectacular neighborhood block party with awesome fireworks the night before) we headed out for our road trip to the Midwest to see family. We drove up to Bob’s mom house in Westfield, IN at 1:00am Friday morning, July 9th. We had a great trip and an awesome 2 weeks in the Midwest seeing family members and old friends. On Sunday, July 26th at 8:30am, we left Indianapolis for our journey home, with a 2 night stop at Bob’s Uncle Chuck’s house in Taos, NM. We arrived home at 8:30pm on Saturday, August 1st. This truly was the Great American Road Trip!

Without further ado, here are my FFF (ok, favorite 6 and I still had to pair it down!) from this road trip:

1) The Beauty of the USA: We have such a beautiful country! It was amazing to see how just from going state to state we could be in the mountains, the prairie, the desert (both beautiful and ugly), the rolling hills, and the farm lands.

We were fortunate to be able to see sights like Devils Tower in Wyoming; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; The Mighty Mississippi and Missouri Rivers; the St. Louis Arch; Dodge City, an old Western Town in Kansas; the Rio Grande River and Gorge in New Mexico, the beautiful red rocks in Utah, and the Oregon Trail wagon ruts.

It was a beautiful trip with sunshine and good old fashioned thunder storms, beautiful landscapes, and wonderful monuments. We are truly blessed to live in this Country.

2) Making road trip memories that will last a lifetime: What would be a road trip without memories/experiences that your children and you will remember forever? Like when we almost ran out of gas while crossing the Montana/Wyoming border in the middle of the Crow Nation Reservation. No gas for miles! We put the car in neutral, turned off the AC, and rolled the windows down hoping we could make it to the next gas station. We put 37.5 gallons of gas in a 36 gallon tank! Crazy! Or, how about being so bored in the truck that we were doing Mad Libs with as many gross words/bodily functions as we could and laughing hysterically! Or how about Bob realizing that he truly is Clark Griswold from National Lampoons Vacation? Good times….good times! :-)

3) Technology: I have to give a shout out to my wonderful phone, the Black Jack II. I was able to keep up with facebook, check my email, and text my girlfriends all while traveling on this road trip! And how about wireless internet access at every campsite we stopped at? Oh yeah baby! Bob could keep up with work, I could download my email to read the next day in the car, and I even did a blog post.

Also, there was the wonderful in-car DVD player with headphones for each child! It kept the kids from killing each other – especially on our drive home. I think they may have watched about 20 movies while traveling. Yes, I wish they would’ve looked out the window and taken in the beautiful scenery. But I also was quite glad I didn’t hear too many fights and much more giggling at funny movies than I thought!

4) New Experiences: We were very fortunate to be able to take our first ever hot air balloon ride while in Taos, NM. Bob’s Uncle Chuck set up this surprise . Every single one of us were super nervous about getting in the balloon. But what an experience! It was amazing, exciting, thrilling, scary, and beautiful all at the same time! And the fact that all 5 of us were in the balloon, experiencing this event together for the first time ---- Priceless!

5) Seeing Family: The best part of our trip? Spending
time with family. We have lived so far from family for so many years. We only get to see most of our family members about once a year. So we were thankful to have so much time together this trip.

The kids got to see all of their cousins but one (who was in Canada), both sets of grandparents, all 4 aunts and all 4 uncles, and spend time with their Great-Grandma and their Great-Uncle Chuck.

Highlights from my side of the family: Grandma teaching Sarah how to sew a Barbie pillow; Alex finally getting to mow the grass on Uncle Cokey’s riding lawn mower; Bobby spending time with Uncle Cokey making deliveries for work; running back and forth between Aunt Debbie’s house and Grandma and Grandpa’s house; watching Grandpa eat Shocktarts; and making fudge with Grandma.

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Highlights from Bob’s side of the family: Brownies and deviled eggs at Grammie’s house; family breakfast at Bob Evan’s Restaurant; spending time with Great-Grandma; playing at the park with Cousin Will and the family; catching firefly’s at Uncle David’s house; and visiting Uncle Chuck and his adventurous Pirate Treasure Hunt.

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We were truly lucky to spend so much time with family. Let’s hope it sustains us until we see them all again next year (hopefully)!

6) Finally Coming Home: “There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home!” We were all so very excited to finally pull into our house after driving for 12 hours that last day. To sleep in our own beds, to laze around our own house, to watch t.v. in bed, to know that the kids could go outside and play with their friends (instead of each other)….it was like Bliss! Road trips are super fun and should be experienced at least once in awhile. But coming home and feeling the peace of your own place? There’s nothing quite like it.

I hope you enjoy this very lengthy FFF! Happy Friday everyone!

Last Day of School Parade

2009-07-10T19:00:00.001-07:00

I love our elementary school, Little Cedars Elementary! For the last day of school celebrations, we had our 2nd annual parade. Each class decorates a banner and everyone, from students to staff, parade around the school grounds while parents cheer and take pictures.
This year, with the opening of the new high school, Glacier Peak, the kids were able to extend the parade route to include the high school parking lot. The whole student body of the high school came out to participate in the parade with the kids. Some of the teenagers were even high-fiving the kids It was awesome! (We found Bobby at the parade!)

The kids always enjoy this end of year tradition (carried over from some of the previous elementary schools). It was made especially great this year with the participation of the GPHS cheerleaders and drum core.

(The GPHS Cheerleaders with Wolvie the Wolverine, LCE’s mascot.)

After the parade, there is a school wide assembly where the choir sings, a slideshow is shown of pictures throughout the year, awards are given, the teachers put on the “lost and found fashion show” (great idea!), the student body sings “I’m on My Way” from the “Brother Bear” Disney movie (super cute), and then the “moving up” ceremony. (This one gets me every time.)

The “moving up” ceremony consists of the 6th graders, who are sitting in chairs while the rest of the student body sits on the floor, are dismissed back to their classrooms. Then the 5th graders “move up” to the chairs and everyone else moves back to the grade behind them. This leaves room in the front of the group for the kindergartners. So sweet! I cry every year!

(Alex receives a perfect attendance award)

(Sarah and school singing “I’m on My Way”)

The end of school is always bitter sweet to me. On one hand, it means summer vacation and lazy days and water fun. On the other hand, it means my babies are growing up and I am now the mommy of a SENIOR in high school, a 5th grader and a 2nd grader! Where does the time go?

Girl Scout Camp

2009-07-01T17:43:00.001-07:00

In May, Sarah and I joined our girl scout troop at our first ever weekend girl scout camp.

We went to Camp Killoqua, which is a campfire girls camp. There were 14 girls and 9 adults for our troop (including a few siblings)! We were able to stay in this huge A-frame cabin that had running water and a loft upstairs. The cabin was full of bunk beds and we were able to put most of the girls upstairs with 2 chaperones. The rest of the mommy’s and a few of the girls slept downstairs.
The girls all had a wonderful opportunity to participate in community service projects, team building exercises, pj games, craft time, group camp fire, marshmallow roasting, learning new games, canoeing, group sing- and dance-alongs, and meeting new friends.
For each meal, a different troop was asked to do a blessing for the meal. It could be a song, a prayer, a poem, etc. Our girls were chosen to do a blessing for lunch. We chose to do a song that was to the tune of “We Will Rock You”. It was super cute!
One highlight for me was having the opportunity to canoe on the lake. This was very exciting because Sarah had never been in a canoe, and I had never been in one where I was in charge! It was Sarah, Gracie and I in our own canoe. And let’s just say we only hit a tree once! What was interesting though is that Sarah turned out to be the leader and was telling ME how to steer! It was amazing to see her step up into that role!

Another highlight was making a wonderful snack called girl scout gorp. Each girl in our troop got to add a delicious item to our trail mix that had a significant meaning to being a girl scout. We had this huge mixture of cereal, M&M’s, marshmallows, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, etc. It was so good, that some of us weren’t even hungry for dinner that night!
I wasn’t really excited about going on a camping trip with 11 little Daisy Scouts. But, I have to say, I had a great time getting to know them all a little more, spending time with Sarah, and experiencing all the wonderful things that Girl Scout Camp has to offer. It was truly an experience that I hope to have again with Sarah.

Another year of baseball

2009-06-30T20:28:00.001-07:00

Another year completed of baseball for Alex. This year he was on the Oriole’s.

Alex wasn’t sure he wanted to play baseball this year. He didn’t know what he wanted to do, but we “made” him play one more year. This was the first year that he had to “try out” for a team. He grumbled and moaned and we just kept on encouraging him. It was worth it when he came home from his first few practices and thanked his dad, assistant coach Bob, for having him play baseball again. He does enjoy it once he’s playing. It’s just the thought of going to all the practices and missing out on playing with his friends that he doesn’t like.

He ended the season with an award for best “on-base” percentage. Alex may not have made a ton of hits, but because he’s "low to the ground” he got walked a lot. :-) He was great at falling down to avoid being hit by the pitch. He did that at least once or twice every game! He should’ve gotten the most dramatic award!

I hope he plays again next year. Here’s a few pictures from this years’s season…..

Alex enjoyed playing catcher. Dad gives some coaching at 1st base.

Alex is ready for this pitch!

Nice throw from 2nd. What a cute baseball player! No time for dinner before the game, so a hotdog in the dugout!

Sarah picking flowers at Alex’s baseball game.

Goodbye old friend…..Hello New Shiny Friend!

2009-06-26T18:27:00.001-07:00

It’s time to say goodbye to our old travel trailer. We bought it in 2004 when we lived in Utah. We’ve driven that baby all over the West. We blew a tire at midnight in the middle of the Virgin River Gorge just after we crossed the state line from Utah into Arizona. We’ve gotten stuck near Spokane in a parking lot that Bob swore we could get out of. Turns out we couldn’t back out, couldn’t turn around or anything. Got stuck. Cried. Stomped our feet. Then finally maneuvered it around and got out. Only to lose two bikes on I90 just minutes later. We’ve been to Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park, Disneyland, Oregon Coast, Yellowstone, and multiple spots in Washington. We busted the stairs, the awning, and the refrigerator. When Bob lost his job after we first moved here, we joked (mostly) about how we could always live in it if he didn’t find another job quickly. We’ve camped with friends, neighbors and family members and have made tons of memories. But now it is time to say goodbye…..

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……and Hello to shiny new trailer!

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(Photos taken with slide out not put out. ooops. I was just too excited!)

Basically it’s the same as our old trailer, but with quad bunk beds and an 18 inch slide out. We are looking forward to making just as many wonderful, happy memories and seeing much more of the country!

Our first big trip in our new travel trailer will be our drive to the Midwest to see family in Indianapolis and Cincinnati! We leave July 5th and hope to arrive in Indianapolis on July 8th. Then we head back home on July 26 with a stop to see Uncle Chuck in New Mexico. We are looking forward to trying out our new home on wheels. :-)

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony

2009-06-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

On June 10th, my little girl scouts had their bridging ceremony. They “graduated” from Daisy Scouts to official Brownie Scouts! Yay!

It’s been a great two years of being these precious little girls’ troop leader. I’ve enjoyed spending so much time with my own daughter and watching her develop Courage, Confidence and Character!

(Sarah at her Daisy Investiture Ceremony)
(Sarah at the Bridging Ceremony)

Having a wonderful co-leader in Nicole has been fabulous too. Not only have I learned what being a scout leader is, I have also found a life long friend.

It’s been a fun-filled 2 years with Rock Climbing, Safeway Grocery Tours, Fire Station and Sherriff’s department tours, SWAP events, Thinking Days, Corn Mazes, selling cookies, and learning the Girl Scout Law and the Girl Scout Promise. I’m looking forward to next year when we will experience what it’s like to be Brownies!

Good Job Troop 52830!

Dancing Queen

2009-06-24T17:40:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of this month, Sarah had her much anticipated dance recital! Applause Studio puts on it’s yearly recital at the Edmonds Center for the Arts – very fancy!

Sarah’s class performed 2 songs and participated in the finale. One was a jazz dance number and one was a tap dance number. The finale was with the whole cast and was a number performed to a song called “Heart of Rock N Roll”. Original song was by Huey Lewis and the News, but they changed it a bit for the recital.

Everyone did such a great job! We are so proud of our little dancing queen!

(Sarah and her dance teacher, Ms. Allison)

( Sarah in her jazz outfit. She is the one in the middle)

(Sarah takes a bow. She is in her tap outfit. Cute skirt!)

(Sarah looking for her daddy after the finale)

Europe Part II

2009-06-09T17:18:00.001-07:00

Paris!! (see Europe Part I here)

On May 1st we took the overnight train from Munich to Paris. We arrived in Paris the morning of May 2nd. We headed straight to our hotel, The Hotel Saint Dominique located near Rue Clair. We had a super cute little room right off the inner courtyard and a view of the Eiffel Tower out the front door of the hotel.

Once we checked in, we headed to a local flea market. This was so much fun! I guess they only have these on the weekends: http://en.parisinfo.com/professionnals/1729/marche-aux-puces-de-la-porte-de-vanves. We had a blast just walking through the market, checking out all the stalls selling their wares. It truly felt like we were among the true Parisians!

After the market and some lunch, Bob, Sue and I headed to the oldest department store in Paris: Le Bon Marche.

We got Bob’s mom her souvenir and thank you gift for watching the kids. It was a beautiful department store and we found a lovely scarf for Marcie. AND we spotted Andi MacDowell coming down the escalator. Ooh La La!

Every evening, before dinner, the 4 of us (Rob, Sue, Bob and I) would meet in our lovely courtyard for aperitif’s. It was wonderful! One of the most favorite parts of our trip!

We ended our first day in Paris with kissing on a bridge over the Seine River overlooking the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Wonderful!

Day 2 found us off to Sacre Couer in Montmartre. Montmartre is the highest hill in Paris where all the artists used to live and paint. Today it still has artists who create and sell their paintings in a street vendor atmosphere. At the top of the hill is Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church that was built in the late 1800’s. The view from here is the best in Paris! It looks out over the whole of the city.
(climbing the many steps to Sacre Coeur)

The church was so beautiful. But I felt a little bit weird taking a tour while they were having service! It was Sunday, so the locals (and probably some tourists) were attending service while the tourists walked around the outer edges of the sanctuary admiring the architecture and the paintings. Kind of weird and maybe a little wrong….but, still, I loved the church!

After that, we headed to the artists square and we bought our first piece of real artwork.

Walking back down from Sacre Coeur, we saw a beautiful carousel and we then we shopped along Montmartre for souvenirs for the kids.

(shopping for scarves with Sue)

After Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, we headed over to the Luxembourg Gardens and Palace where we saw kids sailing boats on a pond, listened to a brass band, saw a big giant head (?) and just enjoyed the cloudy and cool, but lovely, day in Paris.
(Luxembourg Palace)

(kids sailing boats – this was really cool. The kids put their sailboats on the pond, pushed them out in the water with a stick, and then ran around the pond following their boat.)

(those silly Americans!)

After the gardens, Rob and Sue headed back for nap and Bob and I decided (NO SLEEPING!), so we headed off to the Louvre!

We got there about 2 hours before it closed – on FREE MUSEUM SUNDAY. It was CRAZY! Funny story: Once we got in, we decided to head to the bathrooms and then decide which wing we wanted to see. We KNEW we would only be able to see just one wing because the museum is so huge! So, we start heading to what we THINK is the bathrooms. Little did we know that when the sign said “Sortie”, which means exit, that we would actually be exiting the museum! We thought that the sign just meant “this way to the exit” not “you are exiting now”. So, we walked in the Louvre, then we walked right back out! Luckily, the museum people were nice enough to let us back in without having to stand in line again. Bob and I joked that we could say “Yes, we were in The Louvre….but we didn’t see anything!”. :-) We were pretty loopy at this point from being so tired.

Once we were back in again, we chose the Denon Wing, that houses the Italian and Spanish Paintings, including The Mona Lisa. At the top of the stairs to this wing is the famous “Winged Victory”

This is how close we got to The Mona Lisa: (that’s her on the back wall. Much smaller than you would think, huh?)

This picture was on the opposite wall of Mona Lisa: I was amazed at how close you could get to some of the paintings. Pretty cool, huh?

We didn’t get to see very much – I pooped out pretty quickly. But trying to get to the Sortie (for real this time) we saw some beautifully old paintings and even an Easter Island Head. Definitely a place I would love to try and actually spend time at next time.

After our quick tour through the Louvre, we headed back to our hotel for our nightly aperitif and dinner. We met up with a friend from home, Jon D’hondt, who had been working in Paris for two weeks. We walked to Rob and Sue’s favorite crepe stand in Rue Claire and enjoyed a nice evening of crepe’s for dinner and crepe’s for dessert. I have to say, the Nutella and Banana crepe was super yummy!

Whew! Day 2 was a busy day. I think I’ll stop my blog post here for now, and blog Day 3 (Versailles!) on a different post.

Friday Favorite Five – 6/5/2009

2009-06-05T20:45:00.001-07:00

Finally, I can post a FFF this week!

1) The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaladon –

I love this series! It is about a woman in 1945 who goes back in time to 1743 Scotland. From Amazon.com: “While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.” Aaaah yes! Jamie Fraser……James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser……my first fictional true love. Bob knows about Jamie, and my obsession with him! Ha ha There are 6 books in the series, I just finished the 2nd one for the 2nd time, and I just found out that book #7 will be published September 2009. Woo hoo!

2) Hot summer days – Yes, here in the PNW it’s been quite hot this week. Temperatures in the 90’s! The kids have had a blast with running through the sprinklers, eating popsicles, and wearing shorts to school. This doesn’t happen often around here – especially this early in the season. So we’ve been trying to enjoy every minute of it! Too bad we don’t have air conditioning though……it’s been quite warm in house during the early evenings!

3) Zumba – I have discovered Zumba and love it! For those of you who may not know Zumba, it is “A workout that mixes body sculpting movements with dance steps derived from cumbia, merengue, salsa, reggaeton, hip hop, mambo, rumba, flamenco, and calypso and Salsaton. The routines feature aerobic interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms. It targets areas such as the glutes, legs, arms, abdominals, and the heart. A Zumba class is typically not formulaic in that instructors often add on their own music choices and choreographies to make their class presentation locally unique.” Why exercise, when you can ZUMBA! Woo Hoo!

4) Windows Live Writer – I just discovered this application, thanks to my adorable home-IT support-guy, hubby. It has changed the way I blog! Before, my pictures were a nightmare to upload. No matter where I wanted the pictures to be inserted in my blog, they would automatically get inserted at the top and then I would have to move them to the spot I wanted them in. Now, I just insert my picture right where my curser is. (those of you who use blogspot know what I’m talking about!) Anyway, I am so far behind on my blogs that I was dreading trying to catch up. But since I discovered this Live Writer, I’ve been able to whip them out quickly. Yay!

5) Spring Gardening – Take note people – you will only see this item on my blog once a year. 11.5 months out of the year I HATE gardening. I hate the planting, the watering, the weeding – everything except the enjoyment of a nice landscaped yard. However, once a year I get the bug to pretty up our yard. This spring has been BEAUTIFUL! So, a couple of weekends ago Bob and I made multiple trips to the nurseries and planted trees, flowers, bushes and filled some planting pots and wine barrels and even bought a hanging basket. Our yard is looking pretty good right now and thankfully my gardening bug is gone. Whew! Now we can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labors. Next up: deciding if we want to build a deck or put in a patio! :-)

Have a great weekend! I hope you get an opportunity to reflect on your Friday Favorite Five from the week!

Fairly Odd Pharaoh's

2009-06-04T18:48:00.001-07:00

In May, Alex and Sarah participated in a musical at our church called The Fairly Odd Pharaoh's. It told the story of Moses and was super cute. Alex and Sarah did a great job! Alex was Aaron, Moses’ brother, and a slave. Sarah was a ballerina and a slave girl. The kids had a great time and the volunteers who put this musical on should get a gold statue for their patience and all their hard work!

Here are a few pictures from this wonderful show. I hope you enjoy!

Alex as Moses showing off his magic trick that showed God turning the staff into a snake.

Sarah, as a slave girl, after the show with the rose she received.

Moses and Aaron talk to Pharaoh.

Sarah as a dancing ballerina, when Moses is found in the river.

Sarah dancing to “Walk Like an Egyptian”.

The costumes were great! Alex is in the cream robe with red scarf and beard.

I’m back!

2009-06-03T22:21:00.001-07:00

So, my laptop died. I haven’t been able to blog! I finally got a new laptop and Bob is having me try a new blog writer program called Windows Live Writer (free download). So far, both are awesome! (Eve, this has solved my problem with inserting pictures!)

So here is my test blog! Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging my FFF and I have TONS of updates with pictures of the kids to blog about.

According to me (from my friend Raimi’s blog):

When I was a child...my dad and sister sang in a traveling gospel group called The Happy Aires. We would spend our weekends on this tour bus with a dozen other people traveling all over the tri-state area, singing at different churches. This was our only experience with “camping”.

I can't imagine my life without... my family – they are everything to me!

If I could be anywhere, I'd be... sitting on my back patio/deck, sipping a glass of wine, watching the sun set, and have my current favorite book in my hand ready to read. And, oh! Bob would be with me rubbing my feet!

My least favorite chore is... emptying the cat litter box. gross.

If I could be on any TV game or reality show, it would be... The Family Feud! I rock at that game!

If a mystery package arrived on my doorstep, I'd hope it would be... my three BFF’s in CA coming for an unexpected visit. We’d tour Seattle, scrapbook a little, maybe see a concert at the winery, and laugh all night long!

My guilty pleasure is... The Tudors on Showtime! I just love that show about King Henry VII and all his wives! And that Jonathan Rhyes Meyers is a hottie!

I thought I would never... move away from Indiana. Can you believe that? I’ve lived in Ohio, California, Utah and now Washington. I’m a long way from Indiana! And…I like it!

If a genie granted me three wishes, I’d wish for... a patio/deck in my back yard, to lose 10 pounds and no more arm fat, and for my parents to be healed from all their ailments.

Hope you enjoy these! Let me know if you play along and do your own “according to me”.

Lisa

Europe Part I

2009-05-19T15:36:00.001-07:00

So, I'm finally blogging about Bob and my fabulous trip to Europe!

On Wednesday, April 29th, 2009, I arrived in Munich Germany. We stayed at a lovely, quaint hotel called the Hotel Laimer Hof, run by a very friendly man named Sebastian and his wife. Sebastian was awesome with helping us plan our time in Munich and the surrounding Bavarian countryside.

(our very cute hotel)

Bob was already in Munich due to work, and I had plans to join him at his work dinner at Restaurant Tantris, which is one of the 50 best restaurants of 2009 and number 1 or 2 in Germany! It was fabulous, French, and very fancy! We had 6 courses and 3 different wine pairings. The menu is set daily by the chef, and at our place setting was a handwritten menu in German with an English translation. Very nice!

(web picture of the restaurant)

The next day found us touring Marienplatz in a very rainy Munich and we had to purchase rain hats!
(Bob and his lovely hat)

(Lisa and her lovely hat at the Marienplatz Gates)

(Marienplatz taken from the top of the Glockenspiel looking at the Old Town Hall)

(The Glockenspiel)

After a morning of touring Marienplatz, having a traditional Bavarian lunch, discovering Radler, and strolling the open air markets, we headed back to our hotel and made a detour at Nymphenburg Palace which was in the same neighborhood. However, we were so tired and jet lagged that we just toured the garden, the gift shop (which had a great presentation of how the palace was built) and the outside of the palace.

(Nympenburg Palace)

That night for dinner, we went to an old German Monastery called Kloster Andechs, established in 1445! They brew their own beer and have a restaurant called The Klostergasthof that has fabulous food. The locals recommend the Pig Knuckles (which was very tasty) and the Apple Strudel.
(the monastery)

The next day was our last day in Munich so we decided that after breakfast we would rent a car and head to Neuschwanstein Castle -- the one that Walt Disney used to create Sleeping Beauty's castle. To get there we traveled through the beautiful Bavarian countryside with views of the Alps.
(Sue Clark, Rob Craft, Bob and I at breakfast on our last day)

(Bavaria with the Alps and the castle -- just beautiful!)

(Bob inside the castle courtyard) (View of the town and Hohenschwangau Castle -- the parent's castle)

We had a great time touring the castle and learning about Mad King Ludwig II. We drove back to Munich through an old medieval town called Landsberg am Lech. The town still has the old castle walls surrounding it.

When we arrived back in Munich, we realized that it was May Day and there were many festivities going on at Marienplatz, with lots of beer and lots of rowdy crowds! We were pretty tired and had several hours to wait for our overnight train to Paris. So we found an Italian restaurant off the main streets (much quieter) and had a nice, long, leisurely dinner until it was time to go to the train station.

The four of us all stayed in the same cabin in the sleeper car. It was quite cozy -- 4 bunk beds and very little space. However, it was worth it when we woke up the next day traveling through the Champagne Region of France!

(Our cabin in the sleeper car)

I thoroughly enjoyed Bavaria Germany! The buildings are so old and the architecture is so beautiful! The cobblestone streets; the buildings that are older than our oldest buildings in the US; the bullet holes from WWII....all so very interesting! The countryside is breathtaking! I would love to go back some day and spend more time touring the countryside and learning more about the history.

That's it for Part I. Stay tuned for Part II!!!

Friday Favorite Five - 5/15/2009

2009-05-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

FINALLY!! It's been two weeks since I last did my FFF. I've been busy, busy, busy! But, today, some of my FFF are a preview to some future posts and as to why I've been gone. So, without further ado:

1) My new Flip Flops: -- I bought some new Sketcher flip flops a few weeks back from Fred Meyer and I have to say, I love them. I'm not a huge flip flop fan -- I'm more of a sandals gal. However, these are pretty comfy and nothing says "summer's almost here" than flip flops!

2) Wedding Anniversarys -- Monday was our 13th wedding anniversary. We had a GREAT wedding and reception. We were so young and in love....and so POOR! We watched our so-called wedding video with the kids that night, and what a crack up! I have to say it is the worst wedding video ever. But! It was free. It may have been a used VHS tape (it cuts from our partial reception coverage to my sister during her glorious VFW singing days), and, yes, you may see alot of the backs of people's heads, but at least we have something to share with our kids from that day. Of course, when they are whining and saying "how much longer? We want to see you smash the cake in mommy/daddy's face!" or when they are laughing silly at how everyone looks "so old" or "so young"..... it still brings a smile to our faces to remember the wonderful day we had back in 1996.

3) My travel journal -- you may remember when I FFF'd this little journal here. I finally got to use it when I went on my Europe trip. I tried to journal every day of my trip. If I couldn't find time to actually journal, then I at least listed the highlights of that day. And then for the return trip home, I stuck all of my ticket stubs, menu's, maps, etc. in here so that I could save them for my scrapbook . It worked out perfectly. Thank you, Eve!

4) Bavaria, Germany and Neuschwanstein - What a lovely we time we had driving through Bavaria, Germany! This view was so amazing! The Alps, the lake, the hills, the castle.....sigh....very romantic! This was probably my favorite from our trip to Munich.

5) Apéritif-- "An apéritif (also spelled aperitif) is an alcoholic drink that is usually served to stimulate the appetite before a meal, contrasting with digestifs, which are served after meals.
Apéritifs are commonly served with something small to eat, such as crackers, cheese, pâté, olives, and various kinds of finger food."

This, my friends, is my new favorite word! We had aperitif's in our hotel courtyard each night at 7:30pm while in Paris. Lovely!

Happy Friday Everyone! I'm hoping to post about my trip soon. Stay tuned......

FFF - 4/24/2009

2009-04-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here's my Five for this beautiful week. I hope you get an opportunity to reflect on your FFF!

1) Sitting outside a Starbucks, on a beautiful sunny morning, eating a Top Pot Old Fashioned donut, and reading my book. I felt so frivolous!

2) My husband -- once again he makes my FFF list. He is always so thoughtful and caring. This morning, knowing that I had been up with Sarah last night due to a high fever, and knowing that we ran out of children's Tylenol in the middle of the night, he went out before work and brought back the Tylenol AND my favorite latte for me! Before I even woke up AND before he went to work! He is so awesome! I just love him!

3) A beautiful evening for a baseball game -- It's that time of year again. Usually, here in Seattle, we don't get many nice evening Little League games. But Monday was absolutely beautiful! Doesn't Alex look cute playing 2nd base in his Oriole's uniform. :-)

4) Having my nephew, Jeremy, visit. We had such a wonderful visit with him. We got to play tourist in downtown Seattle and he spent a lot of time hanging out with his cousins. I think Alex broke his "laugh box" while Jeremy was here -- he couldn't stop laughing! And Sarah just hung all over him. Of course, Bobby enjoyed the video game time with him. The kids only get to see cousins about once a year, so it's nice when they get some extra time.

5) New Bras! FINALLY! I went shopping this week and got 3 new bras. I'm a new woman! Woo Hoo! Here's a link to my all time favorite bra: http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2890088/0~2376776~2374327~6010810~6010819?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6010819&P=1. I love this one and they come in such pretty colors now too!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Lisa

Friday Favorite Five -- 4/17/2009

2009-04-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! Whoo Hoo! Can FFF be one of my FFF? :-) I love doing this post each week. I hope you enjoy my Friday Favorite Five!

1) I was so amazed at the Courage of our little Daisy Scouts this week. Every single one of them climbed The Pinnacle at REI. Several of them (including my little Sarah) made it all the way to the top and rang the bell! That took a lot of courage and strength! I am so proud of them! They are definitely one of my favorites.

2) The Tudors on Showtime. I love this show! I love most things about this time period and love reading about Henry VII and his wives. This show is so awesome with the intrigue and the sex and the hunky King Henry -- it's the only reason we have Showtime! LOL!

3) Hershey's candy coated chocolate eggs. I can't get enough of these. Why does the Easter Bunny put these in the kids' baskets? So that mommy can eat them! ugh! I do love them!

4) The Easter Bunny cake I made for our traditional Easter Sunday dinner. It was so yummy! Funfetti Cake mix with vanilla icing covered in coconut. It was so much fun to make with Sarah this year and it tasted soooo good! I think this will definitely show up next year.

My mom. I told you she'd make it to my FFF this week! She has given me some awesome recipes of "old school country food" over the years. My glazed ham recipe for Easter was the Bomb! And, of course, if it weren't for my mom I wouldn't know how to make my famous baked beans and my so good potato salad! Thanks Mom!! You're the best!

(my mom teaching Sarah how to make her famous Peanut Butter Fudge. She needs to teach me how to do this too!)

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great, sunny, weekend!

Courageous and Strong

2009-04-16T07:49:00.001-07:00

Sarah's Daisy Troop went to REI last night to earn their Courageous and Strong Petal by climbing the Rock Wall. All of the girls did such a super job, but I am especially proud of my Sarah Beth. She was starting not to feel well from a cold that has kept her home from school today. But she was determined to climb that wall and ring the bell. And ring it she did! I am so proud of my baby girl Daisy Scout!

The last 3 pictures were taken from the 2nd floor of REI. You can see how tall (and scary) that wall is! In the last picture, you can see the tiny, yellow bell at the top of the wall that she had to ring. She totally rocks!

Poor Pathetic Dog

2009-04-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not a good pet mommy. I admit it. I like animals, as long as they are other people's animals.

When Sarah was 2, Bob and the boys convinced me that we needed a puppy. We lived in Utah at the time and had this great big backyard. We researched online and found a local breeder for Beagle puppies. One night while I was scrapbooking, Bob took the kids to the breeder and they all fell in love with these adorable 6 week old Beagle puppies. If you never seen a beagle puppy, they are irristible! The all came home with stories of how this one little puppy (soon to be Daisy) was chasing after Sarah and tugging on her little dress. So, of course, I (stupidly) replied "Go get me that baby puppy!" I honestly think I was wanting another baby or something.

(Random baby beagle puppy, not Daisy)

So, now I had to potty train Sarah (which was a task in and of itself) and the puppy!

Skip ahead several years, we've moved to Washington, bought a travel trailer, taken Daisy camping -- she's quite acclimated to the family now. Sophie, the killer cat, tolerates her. The kids love her. Daisy loves everyone (including everyone's food). We now have this fat (overweight), sweet as can be, beagle dog. Yes, puppies (like children) grow up.

I grew out of my puppy love for Daisy, but she and I have this "understanding". I'll be nice to you....if you don't pee on the carpet, get in the trash, and chew up my underwear. sigh....

Anyway, somehow (since I'm the mommy, I guess) I have taken on the responsibility to taking Daisy to the vet for check ups, grooming and boarding appointments. Usually I don't mind. But I draw the line at actually medicating the dog. I'm just not that good of a pet owner! I'm a bad pet mommy!

Today, of course, I had to take Daisy in for an appointment for excessive scratching. I just KNEW it would be cream and pills for the next upteen weeks. Well.....yes.....that's what happened. Not only do I have to apply this nasty yellow cream to her tummy twice a day, but I also have to give her these antibiotic capsules twice a day! And, here's the kicker, she has to wear one of Sarah's old t-shirts so that it covers the affected area so that she won't lick the ointment off! Seriously? This is extreme!

But, because I'm the mommy, I wrestled her to the ground this afternoon (47 pounds of resistance, mind you) and slathered on the cream, forced her into this ridiculous t-shirt, and fed her the medicine (I found these treat capsules at the vet that may have been a Godsend! You put the pill inside the treat and she just eats it! Miracle!)

She looked at me with those sad puppy dog beagle eyes. And I looked back and her and said "Mommy knows honey." Maybe I am a good pet mommy.

pre-t-shirt Daisy

poor pathetic Daisy now....

Apring Break 2009

2009-04-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! I have my pictures uploaded and stored on Snapfish. Whew! That took forever.

We have learned, living in the Pacific Northwest the last 4 years, that you MUST get out of here during Spring Break to find the sunshine! If you don't, it feels like winter lasts for 9 months. That is why this year we headed off to Clearwater Florida to enjoy the sunshine and spend time with some extended family.

Here are some highlights of our trip to Clearwater Beach Florida.

We stayed in a lovely neighborhood about 3 miles from Pier 60. We rented a little 3 bedroom house with a fantastic screened in sun room and an awesome pool.

We visited with Bob's grandma who lives in Palm Harbor. His mom flew down from Indy, so we got to hang with her too. And his Aunt Katie drove over from Stuart to spend a few days with us. We are so blessed to have such a great family!

We spent several days just hanging out at the beach. We had a beach access that was 3 blocks from our house. It was perfect! The walk was through the beautiful neighborhood and it was close enough for us to run back home and get anything we forgot to bring with us. We had lots of sunny days to spend at the beach and in the pool. We spent our days boogy boarding, relaxing in the sun, making sand castles and catching lizards!

We took a Pirate Cruise one afternoon, which turned out to be the highlight of the trip. The pirate crew kept the kids entertained all day and even had Bobby dress up as "Peg Leg Pete" to help with a water gun fight. The parents enjoyed free cocktails and we even spotted some dolphins while out on our cruise!

Pier 60 was fun with many activities for the kids -- bungee tramplines, vendors and entertainers along the boardwalk, and lots of ice cream!

We even took a ferry ride one day from Honeymoon Island to Caladesi Island, which was supposedly the best natural beach in 2008.?

We had such a wonderful vacation. It's always good to soak up the sun, and the family time together. We can't wait for next year!

Here are a few from our last night in Florida. Check out the beautiful sunset!

Easter 2009

2009-04-14T16:49:00.001-07:00

"Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail. Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way...."

I can't believe I have forgotten all of the cute Easter songs I used to sing to my kids when they were little. What a bummer. :-(

We had a nice, quiet family Easter Sunday. We started our day (bright and early at 6:45am) with Easter Baskets. Actually, Sarah came in our room some time in the middle of night and said "Mommy! The Easter Bunny put a toy in my basket!" I promptly told her to go back to bed. But, at 6:45am, I let my very tired husband sleep in, and I got up and watched the kids open their baskets.

Basket Highlights:

Sarah = new nightie and days of the week panties. Sarah was talking to Bob on Monday and told him "Daddy, I'm wearing my Monday panties. I think tomorrow I'll wear my Tuesday ones." It's the little things.....

Alex = Toy slingshot (defnitely an outside toy since Bob nearly knocked the clock off the wall) and a t-shirt that says "Just one more level" and has a game controller on it. Totally Alex, but it should've said "I just need to save first."

Bobby = A new atlas for him to map out his after high school USA trip and a Chuck Norris T-shirt. "Chuck Norris can grate parmesan cheese with his beard."

After Easter baskets, I hurried to start making our traditional Easter dinner -- brown sugar basted ham, baked beans, potato salad, and deviled eggs. It's a good thing I got up so early! Then it was off to church for a very nice Easter service at our church.

When our family started going to church a few years ago, I promised myself we would always go to Easter service together. And I'm so glad that we do! However, it was a good thing Sarah didn't get a new Easter dress this year, because once again she was picked to be slimed at the Slime Time event in the KidZone on Easter Sunday! She was thrilled!

After church we had our scrumptious lunch (I make a mean ham! Thanks mom for the glaze recipe!) and then we did mundane things like laundry....taking the trailer to be serviced.....taking a nap.....playing legos.

However, after dinner of even yummier leftovers, our neighbors came over for a little bit of Rock Band and the ever famous "Bunny Cake". This Bunny Cake was a tradition in our house when I was growing up. I am happy that I have carried this tradition to my own family. We may not have it every year, but the kids just love it! And Sarah was thrilled to help make the "Easater Grass" with coconut and green food coloring. Thanks, again, Mom! (I think my mom may make my FFF this week!)

I love holiday traditions!

I'm so glad I finally posted some pictures! I still have to post Spring Break....but hopefully that will happen by the weekend.

Friday Favorite Five - 4/10/2009

2009-04-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I had hoped to have done a post about our fabulous Spring Break Vacation. But alas.....I haven't had time to upload my pictures! Sigh....maybe this weekend.....

So, here's my FFF for this week:

1) I am so glad I waited to do this post. My number 1 FFF is definitely seeing my husband slimed at church tonight! Slimed at church??? Yes! Our church, Gold Creek Community Church, is having extra services for the Easter holiday and Bob and I signed up to help in the Kid Zone for tonight's service. Little did we know that we would be asked to be captains of the boys and girls teams for the competitions to see who would get slimed! Yes, folks, similar to Nickelodeon's Slime Time! The texture is like applesauce. Ick! Well, the first competition was trying to get a teammate to eat a donate, covered with chocolate sauce and syrup, from a stick and string. The girls won that round! The next competition was a teammate picking out Tootsie Rolls from a baby diaper (made to look like poop) with their teeth and then dropping it in our hands. The boys won that round. Figures. Boys are grodier. The final competition was having one teammate shoot marshmellows into a pool of slime while the other teammate tried to find them and pick them out of the slime, all while blindfolded. Luckily, the girls won that round and the total competition, so the boys were slimed! Yay! Bob was all covered up with paper coveralls, goggles and a shower cap, and he STILL ended up with this icky slime down his shirt. It was pretty gross and pretty funny! I WISH I had a picture to show you!!! Super fun!

(This is what the slime looked like.)

(This is an example picture what Bob looked like after being slimed, but with coveralls on.)

2) My Neighbor, Krissy. She has motivated me, once again, to GET BACK IN THE GYM! Thank you, Krissy, for talking me in to joining you today for Power Sculpt and for tomorrow's Kickboxing class. Now tomorrow, I may be cursing you.....!!

3) My children's laughter -- tonight in the car, we were reminiscing about when the kids were younger and some of the silly things they used to do. I love listening to them talk and giggle over stories. Alex in particular has such an infectious laugh! It was so nice listening to them giggle and laugh rather than fighting!!

4) The Power of God -- I forgot to mention this on last week's post, but my Dad has, once again, been healed by God! He was scheduled to go in 2 Friday's ago for testing on his Carotid artery to see how blocked it was. (for those of you who don't know, the carotid arteries are the main veins that run to your brain.) The original test showed 70-90% blocked. About 3-4 years ago, his other artery was 99% blocked and he was rushed into immediate surgery. We were all very worried that this time would be a similar situation. Before the day of this test, my dad received prayer from his minister, and we all prayed, that he would be healed of this blockage and not have to have surgery. The results of the test were that my Dad's artery was NOT BLOCKED AT ALL and, just to be on the safe side, the surgeon checked the other one and it is ok too! Praise God! Prayer works, people!

(my mom and dad with some of their grandkids last summer.)

5) Free lunch and brunch at work. -- On Thursday, my boss, Liz, made the most amazing fiesta chicken soup for all of us at work. It was so Yummy! The recipe calls for fresh cilantro on top as a garnish, and this is the best! Then today, before our training seminar, she and Tanya made a fantastic brunch of breakfast burritos, a potato and cheese casserole, fresh fruit and muffins. Do I work at a great place, or what?

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Friday Favorite Five -- 4/3/2009 -- From Florida!

2009-04-03T06:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring Break Everyone! As I'm sitting here, in the screened-in back porch, watching the kids swim in the pool (even though it rained this morning and is quite cool), I am reflecting back to what my favorite five have been for this week. Admittedly, there are more than five! But I'll try to limit it this week so that I have SOMETHING to post on my blog from our vacation.

1) Coconuts -- I love coconut, especially in the form of pina colada's, ice cream and donuts! Thankfully, florida has plenty of all Three! Gotta give thanks to Coconut Rum, Coconut Ice Cream Bars and the Toasted Coconut donut at Dunkin' Donuts! Yummy!

2) My Blackjack phone -- I love my phone because it allowed me to stay up to date on facebook and my home email. Every morning I would sit out by the pool and check my email and my friends's facebook status updates. It was my 20 minutes of alone time, sipping my cup of coffee and enjoying the sunshine.

3) My daughter's idea of a party -- "Mommy, can we have a family party?" she asked on Monday morning. "What kind of family party, honey?" I asked. "The kind where we grill hamburgers and hot dogs and it's night time and we swim in the pool while it's dark!" The idea of swimming in the pool at night time was her idea of a party! Woo Hoo! Gotta love being 7!

4) Family -- it's been so much fun seeing Bob's grandma this week! She will be 91 years old in June. Amazing! I love looking through old pictures with her and hearing stories of her youth and the kids enjoy having Great Grandma dote on them and give them little gifts like party hats and silly costume glasses. We've also been able to spend time with Bob's mom, who is here on vacation with us, and also Bob's Aunt Katie who drove over from the other side of Florida to visit with us. It's so important to spend time with extended family. I'm glad the kids have been able to reconnect with their great-grandma and great Aunt Katie!

5) Sunshine and warm temperatures -- I have thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the sun this week and basking in the warm air. Even with it being cloudy and overcast today, it's still warm outside. I miss the sun, living in Seattle. More than that, I miss it being 85 and sunny! I am thankful that we have been able to go on this vacation and be reinvigerated with Vitamin D!

I will try to update this post with pictures. If not, look for my spring break vacation post next week!

Friday Favorite Five - 3/27/2009

2009-03-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

1) The Matador Restaurant and Tequilla Bar -- OMG! I am in love with the Braised Carnitas! "Slow-cooked pork shoulder with orange, allspice, cinnamon and bay leaves. Served with rice, black beans, tortillas and all the fixings." It's goooooood! I WISH I had a picture! It's so yummy!

2) The Countdown on my desktop -- So, my whole family has been vibrating this week! We have been counting down to our trip to Florida tomorrow. Every day, Sarah asks "How many more days?" The anticipation has been excruciating! I know we're going to have a fabulous time, but the excitment of the countdown has been so much fun.

(this was on Monday)

3) Pedicures -- I love pretty toes! I took Sarah on Thursday to get our beach toes ready! We match! She got a pretty flower on hers. Too cute!

4) My Girl Scout Troop -- Aren't they adorable? I love hanging out with these little girls. They are so unique and interesting. I love teaching them about Courage, Confidence and Character. I always wanted to be in Girl Scouts when I was a little girl. Now that I have a little girl of my own, I'm so pleased that I get to be a part of Girl Scouts with her!

5) Field Trips -- Last week our Girl Scout Troop went to the firestation to learn about home fire safety. We got to see the bay where the ambulance and fire engine are parked, and the girls even got to tour the fire engine. It was very cool! We've had some great field trips with Girl Scouts -- Sherriff's office, Safeway, Firestation.... next month we're going to REI and climb the rock wall. I can't wait!

(Silver Firs Firestation, Mill Creek Sherriff's Office, Silver Firs Safeway)

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I will! Sunshine, here I come!!!!

Friday Favorite Five - 3/20/2009

2009-03-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring! Another week of hard to find FFF's. I'll give it my best shot:

1) Dancing -- I love to dance! I had the best time last Saturday night dancing at my friend Jessica's St. Patrick's Day/Birthday party. I had so much fun dancing, that I wrenched my back and could barely walk for 2 days. It's a pain getting old! It was so great dancing with my girl friends -- you've never seen anything like a bunch of 35-40 year old women "doing the butt" or dancing to Justin Timberlake! It was so much fun!

2) Singing -- Singing is, and always has been, a big part of my life. I grew up in a household of singers, I met my husband singing, my daughter sings all day/every day.... I just loving singing! So at the above mentioned party, we also had karoake! Woo hoo! It was so much fun! This was our 3rd neighborhood karoake party and they are always a blast. I have been known to sing a few songs myself......not any solo's at this party, but still lots of girly songs!

3) The McMommy Chronicles -- Have you seen this blog? OMG, she is hilarious! I love reading her posts. She's definitely a FFF!

4) Going to the bus stop in my jammies -- Why is this a FFF you ask? Because it means I don't have to be anywhere first thing in the morning! Woo Hoo! Today is one of those days -- no appointments until about 10:30am. That means I don't have to rush around in the morning trying to get myself and the kids all ready to go by 8:25am. Instead I can check email, have my cup of coffee, pack a lunch for Sarah, start updating my blog, etc. I love these days!

5) A clean, organized closet -- I cleaned out my closet this week. Well....MY SIDE anyway! :-) About twice a year I get fed up with my closet and purge items that I haven't worn in awhile. If I haven't worn it for a year, I'm not gonna wear it! Now my side of the closet is clean and even organized by color. I love it! Now if only it would stay that way........

That's it this week....kind of lame....but still reminds me to be thankful for the little things.

Friday Favorite Five - 03/13/2009

2009-03-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, this week was hard. Not too many "favorites". I even joked with a FB friend that I should put my 5 things I hate, but I figured that would be too snarky. So this week, they are just so-so, but at least I found 5!!

Top five for this week:

1) Bertolli Skillet Dinners -- these are just enough for Bob and I, pared with a salad and some garlic bread. Perfect for a night when the kids want hot dogs and you just can't stand the thought of another hot dog! Or, for those nights when we are all eating in shifts and Bob and I are eating at like 7:30 or 8:00pm, after all the kids' activities. They are fast, easy and they taste really good! You can find them in your frozen food section of the grocery store! Yummy!

2) My Welcome sign -- I've had this thing for, like, years! Bob got it out of a catalogue for me one year for Christmas. I have a plaque for just about every holiday that I can change each month. It's just a little something that makes me smile. :-)

3) My New Christmas Plate -- yes, I said Christmas! I went to Hallmark today and got this adorable treat plate for $2.99! It was originally $14.99. Woo Hoo! I've wanted one of these neighbor-treat plates for the last few years, but just didn't want to spend the money on a real, glass plate that might not get back to me. But at $2.99, I figured "What the heck!". My neighbor's will enjoy their Christmas treats this year on a nice, new Christmas plate. :-)

4) My Bus Stop Buddies -- every afternoon we meet at the bus stop just a few minutes early to chit chat, get caught up, enjoy the sun, etc. Some days we congregate in each others cars because it's too cold or rainy to be outside. Some days, like today, we can sit on the benches and soak up the sun! With today being a 2 hour early release, not all of the bus stop buddies were there today, but here's a picture of Krissy, Lichin, Leyla and I....

5) The Sun! -- FINALLY the sun is out and it's (semi) warm. Yes! I've learned around here, that no matter the temperature, if it's sunny -- get out and enjoy it! Thank God for a sunny day today! We have needed it. Now, the forecast for the rest of the weekend is rain....but at least we have sun today! Yay!

(the view from up our street -- you can see the tip of my house in the right corner and you can see Mt. Baker in the distance if you zoom in.)

(Sarah and BFF Grace swinging at the Swing Park aka Bus Stop)

(Alex and Armeen playing on the kiddie toys at the park)

I hope you have a great weekend and have your own Friday Favorite Five!

Friday Favorite Five - 3/6/2009

2009-03-04T21:59:00.000-08:00

Here are my FFF for this week:

1) Texting -- Bob's been in Germany this week and the best way we have been able to communicate is through texting! I love getting his text messages. They make me smile every time! I luv u baby!

2) Coupons and Club Cards -- I just saved 38% of my total grocery bill! My friend Raimi posts on her blog the awesome deals she finds by using coupons and sales at various stores. I always wish that I could be organized enough to use coupons. I cut them out every week, but I hardly ever remember using them. And when I see the ads and coupons for my local favorite grocery store, I always think "ooh, I better get to the store before these expire". But, alas, I usually fail. This week, I didn't fail! I used the coupons from the store flyer, coupons from the Sunday paper, and my club card and saved $30!! Woo Hoo!

3) Hand-me-downs -- So, I went spring clothes shopping for the kids this weekend. I knew the boys needed clothes, but wasn't so sure about Sarah. So I didn't buy her much. Once I got home, I went through my wonderful box of hand-me-downs that my neighbor gave me, and lo and behold, Sarah now has a whole new wardrobe! Yes!! Everything from tops, shorts, capri's, bathing suits and even some long-sleeved tops she can wear now. She is set! Thank you Danita!

4) Samoa Girl Scout Cookies -- Can't help it.....they are my favorite! I love them more than Thin Mints! I can eat a box all by myself! Thank goodness Sarah is a girl scout!!

5) The new book I'm reading -- "The Likeness" by Tana French. After reading a couple of so-so books lately, I'm so glad I found one that has really captured my attention. I don't usually like mysteries, especially murder mysteries. But I have to say this one got me hooked. We read "In the Woods" by this author last year in our book club and we all really liked it. My friend Jen loaned "The Likeness" to me, and I'm so thankful! Thanks Jen!

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine today!!

Interview with my children

2009-03-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

Bobby, 17; Alex, 9; Sarah 7

1. What is something mom always says to you?
B: Clean your room; A: Time to do your homework; S: She loves me

2. What makes mom happy?
B: When my room is clean; A: Loving her; S: When I don't get in trouble

3. What makes mom sad?
B: Oh man, there is so many to choose from: when my grades are bad; A: not loving her; S: When Daddy is gone and he is on a trip like right now. But he's going to be back on Friday.

4. How does your mom do to make you laugh?
B: she is scared of lady bugs; A: telling funny jokes; S: when she tickles me in my tickle spot.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
B: a lot like Alex; A: poor; S: she had long hair.

6. How old is your mom?
B: 39; A: 37-1/2; S: 37

7. How tall is your mom?
B: 5 foot 3; A: 5 feet 6 inches; S: I don't know!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
B: watch Private Practice and Gray's Anatomy; A: hang out with us; S: go to Florida where there is hot weather.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
B: chores and watches Private Practice and Gray's Anatomy; A: do chores; S: she cleans the house.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
B: The number of time she's told her children to clean their rooms; A: a movie star; S: a fashion model.

11. What is your mom really good at?
B: cleaning the bathrooms so that they don't stink anymore; A: taking care of us; S: scrapbooking

12. What is your mom not very good at?
B: I can't think of anything; A: playing video games; S: glitter

13. What does your mom do for a job?
B, A, S: She works at the church.

14.What is your moms favorite food?
B: Mexican; A: spaghetti; S: steak

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
B: When she keeps more patience with the kids than I do; A: she loves us; S: because I love her.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
B: Sandy Cheeks; A: Hilarious Mom; S: Minnie Mouse

17. What do you and your mom do together?
B: talk about Harry Potter and Books; A: bond; S: play dress up

18. How are you and your mom the same?
B: for starters we look alike and we both read alot; A: we're both not very good at chess; S: we have the same skin color

19. How are you and your mom different?
B: she doesn't like video games; A: I know how to play chess and she doesn't; S: we have different eyes

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
B: because she tells me every day; A: because she takes care of us; S: she takes care of me

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
B: he can cook; A: he always comes home and kisses her; S: she loves him

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
B: scrapbook store; A: England; S: Florida

Girl Scout Thinking Day

2009-02-27T09:53:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was Girl Scout Thinking Day! Check out my little girl scouts. Aren't they just so adorable?

All of our girls were able to make it to Thinking Day (I think our troop had the most attendee's) but only 9 of the 12 girls were around for the group picture.

We did our country on Brazil. They girls each came up with one fact about Brazil for us to post on our board. They found some very interesting facts! We also made some brazilian candy to share with everyone -- Thinking Day is all about the food! Here are the recipies we used: Brigadieros and the Brazilian pumpkin candy. They were very tasty! The Brigadieros tasted like Tootsie Rolls and the Pumpkin-Coconut ones were a favorite!

This is such an awesome event that Girl Scouts puts on. The girls get to learn about other countries and cultures and meet some other girl scouts in our service unit. We always have a good time at this event.

Friday Favorite Five -- 2/27/2009

2009-02-27T09:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Almost March! Here's my FFF for the last Friday in February:

1) Birthdays -- It was my birthday this week! Yay! We went to see The Lion King, had a nice dinner in Seattle, got tons of birthday cards, great gifts from special friends, and a nice new purse! Woo hoo! And, I get birthday cake tonight at bunco! :-) I love birthdays!

2) My book holder -- last year my friend, Lichin, gave me this wonderful book holder for my birthday. I have it sitting on my bathroom counter so that I can read while I get ready every day. I LOVE it -- probably the best gift I've ever received! It has changed my life! Well....not really....but it does allow me to read a few pages from my current book every morning while I'm brushing my teeth or blow drying my hair. How awesome is that?

3) My new birthday purse -- isn't she pretty? I've always wanted a Kate Spade. Bob went and picked this out all by himself -- with a little help from the Nordstrom ladies. He is so thoughtful -- how many husbands will pick out a PURSE for their wife? Thank you, honey! I love it!

4) Snail Mail -- This whole week I have been excited to go to the mailbox. Every day there has been an envelope with a handwritten address on the front for me! Yippee!! Nothing makes me smile like getting a letter or card in the mail from family or friends. Email is great.....but snail mail is like opening a present!

5) Amish Friendship Bread -- ok, This Stuff is Good! Thank you to my friend, Jen, who gave me my starter batter last night and some (still warm) friendship bread. I don't have a picture of the bread, because I ate it all! But I have the batter and the instructions on what to do to send it on to 3 of my friends. What a great idea! Thank you Jen!!

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2009-02-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

I love birthdays! Especially when they are mine and I can declare "It's my Birthday Week!"...yes, week! I take full advantage of my birthday and declare it a whole week about me. I'm usually moderately successfull.....at least it gets me more foot rubs from the hubby and less dishes to wash! :-)

For my birthday this year, Bob treated all 5 of us to see Disney's The Lion King on stage. What a wonderful performance! It is simply amazing to see the animals come strolling down the aisle at the beginning of the show. The music was wonderful -- including the new songs that the kids said "that wasn't in the movie!" :-)

After the show we went to a nice seafood restaurant on Lake Union with a veiw of Seattle for my birthday dinner. It was fabulous -- we saw the sunset, spent time together as a family, had a really nice dinner at a really nice restaurant where everyone found something to eat (not once did I hear "What am I going to eat? I don't like this!") -- a great birthday! Thank you family!!!

(Sarah and I at Girl Scout Thinking Day that morning)

(Alex and I waiting to go in)

(Bobby and I taken from Alex's view point)

(Bob and I from Sarah's view point)

Another year older.....sigh.... Next year is the BIG ONE. At least I can still say, for one more year, that I'm "still in my 30's". I asked Bob if he ever thought we'd be almost 40, with 3 kids, living in the Seattle area, with a dog, cat, and a travel trailer? Of course not, but I sure am glad we are!

Sarah is a Super Star!

2009-02-20T22:01:00.000-08:00

Sarah did a FANTASTIC job at the talent show tonight! I was so proud of both she and Haley. Even though the microphone wasn't turned on right away, they still did a great job.

Sarah and Haley Singing and after the show.

Flowers for the girls and the K-3 participants.

Here is a link to the youtube video we posted. I can't seem to figure out how to embed the video on the blog so that you can see it from here. Sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M8bIrzRvxA

2/20/2009 -- Friday Favorite Five

2009-02-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here's my five for this week:

1) Tivo -- I love my Tivo! I never seem to have the time to watch my favorite shows when they come on. So at night, when the kids are in bed, I'm folding laundry....or when it's a Friday afternoon and the kids aren't home yet, and I'm trying to catch up on email and facebook....I can watch my favorite shows and keep caught up on McDreamy and Margene and The Desperate Houswives, etc.

2) Latte's -- My coffee of choice: Grande, Vanilla, 1%, Extra-hot Latte. There are some days when I can't live without it! And I LOVE it when I pull up to my favorite Java Hut and it is ready for me, it is triple stamp day AND I get the trivia question correct. Woot! It's gonna be a good day!

3) Bobby -- My first born. My only child for 8 years. My teenager. My baby boy. He is such a big help to Bob and I. We don't tell him often enough how much we love him and how proud we are of him. Most days we are too focused on his school work, getting his drivers license, his responsibilities.... He is such a big help to our family -- we rely on him to help out with watching his brother and sister. He is also such a joy to us. His love of reading, his kindness, his sense of humor, his "head kisses" at night.... We love him and he is one of my FFF this week.

4) Lean Quisine and other frozen lunch entre's -- I keep them stocked in the freezer, not because I'm dieitng, but because they are so easy to grab and go on the days I have to work. I love the convenience -- and they don't taste too bad either!

5) Our elementary school -- we are fortunate to have an awesome school that is brand new (1 year old) and very close to us (3 min. drive)! I had to be there yesterday from 3:30-5:30pm for talent show rehearsals; back again at 6:00pm for basketball practice; and then back again at 7:00pm for a PTA meeting. Thank Goodness it is so close! The school is wonderful in that it provides a music program which we never had in CA or UT and they and the wonderful PTA put on awesome programs for the kids like the Talent Show tonight (look for Sarah's pics!) and The Reptile Man next week. We have an awesome school and I am fortunate that my kids get to go there!

That's my five! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Our Basketball Star

2009-02-17T19:44:00.001-08:00

Alex is playing b-ball this year. He may be small, but he is MIGHTY! Here are some pictures I captured at his last game. I haven't been very good at remembering my camera when I attend his games (what kind of scrapbooker am I?). So this game I was bound and determined to get some shots (no pun intended). However, I was so enthralled with the game, I missed getting one of him making a basket! AND, he got fouled! "And one!" But I did get a shot of his free throw's.

Our last game is this Saturday. I won't be able to make it due to Girl Scout Thinking Day, but I will get to make the end of year party next weekend. I'll try to remember my camera for the party pix! And I'll have pictures of Thinking Day too!

Here's my b-ball star, Alex:

Alex on the moveand seting up the screen.

My baby can get air! Look at him off the floor for that free throw!

Alex brings me a rose just before his Valentine's Day game. The coach had one for each boy to give to his mom. Isn't that just too sweet?

2/13/2009 -- Friday Favorite Five

2009-02-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

1) My new bracelet -- I gave one of these to each of my BFF's at the beach last weekend. Deb's says "live"; mine says "Love"; Denise's says "Inspire" and Eve's says "Create". On the inside it says our names and "beach trip 2009". I bought them from a mother/daughter team from this website. I love, love, love my bracelet and wear it every day to remind me of my girlfriends.

("love" on outside of bracelet, our names and "Beach Trip 2009" on inside)

2) A clean house -- I love a clean house! We are a messy family. We try to keep up -- really! But with 3 kids, a dog, a cat, and a crazy family schedule, some things just get forgotten. On Tuesday my house was cleaned top to bottom -- including the tub and shower! The stress just drops from my shoulders when my house is clean! Nothing makes me smile like the smell of a freshly cleaned house.

3) My New Travel Journal -- Look what Eve made me! Isn't she so creative? I'm going to use it for my travel journal. Thank you Eve! I love it!

4) Scrapbooking -- I was able to complete a whole album last weekend! Yay! I love scrapbooking -- especially with friends -- especially at the beach! I am fortunate to have had scrapbooking friends everywhere I've lived. In CA is where we started our scrapbook weekends. In Utah I had a once a month scrapbook night with my girlfriends. Now in WA, I have an awesome Creative Memories consultant, Shelley, who hosts incredible crops about 3-4 times a year and I have a fabulous friend, Krissy, who hosts scrapbooking at her house about 6 times a year. Scrapbooking is such a fantastic hobby for me. I love it! Now if only I could keep my stuff organized.....

(a completed layout, scrapbooking at the beach, and my finished album)

5) My Husband -- he is so awesome to let me go on my yearly scrapbook retreats. He is patient with me when I'm cranky and more patient with our children than I could ever be. He is such a hard worker and provider for my family. He makes me laugh. He loves me unconditionally. He is an awesome cook. He even takes and picks me up from the airport, even though I don't do that for him. I love him with all my heart and am glad it's Valentine's Weekend so that I can show him even more how much I love him.

6) Friday Favorite Five -- I love writing these (even the times I have to really think about my 5; I love reading other people's 5; I love sitting down to reflect on my week to come up with 5 favorites. This has really made me appreciate all the little joys in life. Thank you, Eve, for starting this.

What's your FFF?

Lots of laughs....Little Sleep

2009-02-09T22:34:00.001-08:00

I'm tired. It's 11:00 pm on Monday night, and I'm exhausted because I only got about 12 hours of sleep this weekend! But I couldn't go to bed until I posted some pictures and highlights from my fabulous scrapbook trip.

Here are some highlights:

1) Not going to bed before 2:30am each night (two of those nights were at LEAST 4:00am!)

2) Laughing until I cried - multiple times!

3) Getting ribbed about "the stink eye" from last year.

4) Creating 49 scrapbook pages and never once having to put my supplies away!

5) Spending time with my BFF's!

6) Learning new things about these wonderful friends....thanks to the Girls Night Out Table Topics!

7) Listening to great music.

8) Presents!

9) Sharing stories/experiences all over again.

10) Receiving The Traveling Scrapbook.

11) New phrases from this year: "Come Back!" "Google It" "Ask the Deakin"

12) Beautiful/Peaceful Surroundings

I miss you gals already! When's the next trip? Seattle anyone???

Pictures:

Our beautiful view on Saturday morning. So peaceful!

The Gals -- Eve, Raimi, Denise, Debby, Me, and Michelle

Friendship hands and Friendship Bracelets.

My workspace.

I'll post more pictures later. I'm falling asleep typing this! If you've never gone on a girls weekend, I highly recommend it! It's good for the soul!

Friday Favorite Five - 2/6/2009

2009-02-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday and I'm at the beach! Scrapbooking with my dear friends in California! I hope it's sunny! (I'm cheating and posting my FFF early!)

So, I thought I would post my Favorite Five Scrapbook items, since I'm scrapbooking today!

1) My Creative Memory scrapbook albums -- I learned to scrapbook using Creative Memories products. I love their albums especially! I have scrapbooked 13 albums! Wow! Now if only I were caught up....I still have Bobby's first 8 years to scrapbook, since I didn't get started until he was 8! Oh well...something to do in my spare time.

My bookcase with 12 of the 13 albums I've personally scrapbooked. I think I need a new bookcase!

2) My KP2 Large Scrap bag in Lime Green -- I bought this thinking "like one more bag will keep ME organized?" But I have to tell you -- it is so wonderful having my "necessary" scrapbook items right in this bag for me to use at home or on the go! I love it!

My bag with most of my necessary items -- some of it is already packed.

3) My camera -- Two Christmas' ago, my husband got me a Nikon D40X digital camera. It takes the most awesome pictures! I wish I knew more about how to use it. The pictures of Sarah's dance performance in my last post were taken with it. I love this camera! It has made me a better scrapbooker! I think this year I will need to learn more about the different buttons and how to know when to use my super zoom lense.

4) My paper storage system that Denise gave me last year. I LOVE IT! I can store all my paper in this fabulous tote on wheels. It pops up and I can see each tray with all (or almost all) of my paper! What a wonderful treat to bring home from California last year. Thank you Denise!

This is the picture Eve had on her blog when she was "holding it hostage". You can see there are some page kits (see below for my #5) with it too. Now it's filled to the brim with paper!!

5) Page kits -- I love page kits! They make my scrapbook albums look like I am really creative! (which I'm not!) My BFF's Eve and Denise gave me some a few years ago that I am still using, and I love the ones my scrapbook buddy, Raimi, designs for Green Tangerines.

Kits that are already done (top) and those that I still need to complete. Most of my kits are packed for the trip -- these are just a sampling of what's left.

There are so many more scrapbook items that I love..... I'll probably add to my favorites after this weekend! I usually get a chance to work with a scrapbook tool/item I've never used before. I can't wait to learn a new technique this year!

My Baby Girl is a Dancer!

2009-01-31T14:02:00.003-08:00

Sarah had her dance performances today for the Show-A-Thon. She did such a good job! I am so proud of her. Here are some of my favorite pictures from today. (I couldn't figure out how to post a video. Bummer.)

Super cute pose.

It took a head full of rollers over night to get curls like that! Worth it though.

Isn't she adorable? She was very excited!

My favorite dance move of the day!

Such a cute dance class. They all did a great job!

Sarah and Alex will also be performing in our church's children's musical called "Fairly Odd Pharaoh's" in May. I'll definitely post photos and maybe some video for that one too!

1/30/2009 - Friday Favorite Five

2009-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today I decided to list my Friday Favorite Five books. However, I have MORE THAN Five books that are my favorite. What to do, what to do? So, here is a sampling of all my favorite books. I can't say which one is my all time favorite, or even which are my top 5, but at some point in my adult life, these books have been considered a favorite.

Here we go (in no particular order):

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Other Bolynn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
These is My Words by Nancy Turner
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
Where the Heart is by Billie Letts
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevelier
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

So, I can't seem to stop here. There are other books that I have really enjoyed, but have not necessarity been my all time favorites.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslun
A Painted House by John Grisham
The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Angeles Ashes by Frank McCourt
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

I know there are other books that have been favorites or I've really liked, but can't remember them all. If you know I've left some out, let me know!

If you have a chance, you should join goodreads at www.goodreads.com. It's a great social networking place where you can list all the books you've read and give them reviews and ratings, list the books you are currently reading, and books that you want to read. You get your friends on there too, and then you find other books that you would want to read or you might have forgotten about. It's great!

This is a super long post. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my favorite books. I'd love to know which books are your favorite!

Happy Reading and Happy Friday!

1/23/09 -- Friday Favorite Five

2009-01-19T08:50:00.000-08:00

1) The ecstatic look on my children's faces when I surprise them with bringing home Mcdonald's hot fudge sundaes! I WISH I would've had my camera in my hand when I walked in the door last Friday night. I had met Bob for happy hour and ordered the kids a pizza. On the way home, we stopped by McDonald's and picked up the ice cream as a thank you for letting mommy escape for 2 hours. Even Bobby's face lit up with excitement over ice cream. You'd think they never get it. It's good to be a kid, huh? It's the little things that make us happy.

2) My Zune -- I got it for my b-day last year, and have enjoyed listening to it. Alex got one for Christmas this year, and now I enjoy it even more because he and I have been having a good time sending each other songs. (Is it ok for my 9 year old to like Katie Perry? "She's hot and she's cold...")

3) Anniversaries -- Bob and I are celebrating our 21st anniversary of our first date! Bob took me to a basketball game and pizza --go figure! Perfect for our first date! I've loved this man for 21 years! Amazing!Bob and I at our Senior Prom -- 1988. Weren't we adorable! So in love...Bob's senior picture.My Senior picture.

4) Sunshine -- I miss the sun! We had it for a few days at the beginning of the week, but it's gone. Who knows when it will be back? But when it is here, I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! In this household, I am known as the "Sun Princess". All I can say is that I can't wait for my trip to CA in two weeks so that I can soak up as much sun as I can!

5) My girlfriends -- speaking of beach trip, I can't wait to see them! It's all we can talk about now -- what we're bringing, who's driving, who's picking me up from the airport (Thanks Denise!), if we'll get massages, how much scrapbooking we'll do, etc. My girlfriend's are so awesome! I think this year I won't have to bring hardly anything to the beach except my pictures, pages, and adhesive! Woo hoo! Love you gals!

I have an extra one today:

6) Employment -- I thank God my husband was spared yesterday from the layoffs!

What's your five?

Happy Birthday Bob

2009-01-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday was my hubby's 39th birthday! We started off his birthday celebrations with dinner at Alligator Soul which is this Cajun restaurant that apparently everyone knew about but us! The place had true New O'rleans cajun food (we had gumbo and alligator tail for an appetizer) and had live entertainment playing some good 'ol blues.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to picnic point to enjoy the sunshine.
We had a little lunch and Bob opened his presents (an Espresso machine and accessories and new photo collage coffee mug).
We had some of his birthday Lemon Tart. (we remembered to take the picture AFTER we had already sliced into it)
A very fun afternoon! Once we got home, Bob found some football on t.v. and took a nap. He LOVES naps and never gets one.
All in all, I 'd say it was a good birthday for him! Happy Birthday, honey! I love you!

Book Club Reads

2009-01-17T15:48:00.001-08:00

I love books! And I love book clubs! I was introduced to book clubs when we lived in Utah. We read some FANTASTIC books. I wish I still had the list....I'm looking for them and will post that list too!

When we moved to Washington in 2005, I started a book club with some friends and neighbors. We are now on our 3rd year! Yay! And, we have an "official" book club name: "The Breakaway Book Club". Thanks go to our creative member, Pam, for coming up with such a great title! Everyone in our book club is a mommy, and Lord knows mommy's need a "break away" from things....laundry, dirty dishes, crying babies, etc.....

Here are the books we've read and are reading since 2005 (I've * my personal favorites):

2008/2009 list

2007/2008 list

2006/2007 list

That's it for the Washington book club. I'd love to hear what some of your favorite books are or if you have any recommendtions for 2009/2010!

Friday Favorite Five

2009-01-16T14:37:00.000-08:00

Time, once again, for FFF!!!

1) Table Topics: My GF, Natalie, brought the book club dicussion version to book club on Monday. It's a cube of cards that ask questions that get conversations going. It really helped keep our book discussion moving. I can't wait to use it again next month. Thanks Natalie!

PS: for my Feb. scrapbook GF's, I bought a "girls night out" version for us!

2) Birthdays -- I LOVE Birthdays! Having just one whole day that is totally all about you is so great! Sunday is Bob's birthday and we already have all the presents on the table waiting for him. Happy Birthday, Honey!!

3) Safeway Club Card: -- I just saved 20 cents/gallon on gas because I used my Safeway Club Card! Yay! I could've went to the other guys and got a car wash (which is definitely needed), but I would've spent $2.18/gal. But at Safeway, gas was $1.99/gal and with my 20 cent savings reward, I filled up for $1.79/gal. Prices aren't as low as they were a few months ago, but it's still better than over $3.40/gal!

4) My new clock! Bob got my an heirloom wall clock for Christmas that chimes! It reminds of the big old clocks on churches. Unfortunately, some of my children complain that it keeps them up at night (Alex, my sleepwalker). I told him to just shut his door! Is that horrible of me? Bob gets a kick out of winding it once a week. I just love hearing the ticking while I sit here typing and anticipating the chimes in 13 more minutes! (Sorry the picture is crooked -- I angled it to try and avoid the flash.)

5) 3 Day weekends! Even with my kids being out of school so much due to weather and natural disasters, I'm glad we have a 3 day weekend. It's been a crazy, busy week for the Baker household. I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend with the family and sleeping in on Monday!

Well, what's your FFF??

Las Vegas!

2009-01-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

On January 2nd, Bob and I flew to Las Vegas to meet some friends there for a quick weekend visit. We stayed at the beautiful Palaazo Hotel, Resort, Casino and had dinner at Cut -- which is Wolfgang Puck’s critically acclaimed steak house. Bob and Dan had an appetizer called "Bone Marrow Flan, Mushroom Marmalade". It was served in a bone! They said it didn't taste bad, and I even tried it. It was.....well....I couldn't get past the name or the presentation. In one word: gross.

Friday night we went and saw "O" Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio. It was FANTASTIC! Words can't even describe it. I've never seen a show like it and would totally go again. It was a show that had "world-class acrobats, synchronized swimmers, divers and characters perform in, on, and above water to create a breathtaking experience in a magnificent theatre reminiscent of a European opera house". I couldn't have said it better myself. We had a great time!

As an added bonus, we met another set of friends who just happened to be in Vegas at the same time. We all watched our Indianapolis Colts loose to the Chargers in an NFL play off game. We were very sad to see the Colts loose, but had a great time with our friends watching the game.

Overall, we had a great weekend. It's always good to get away for a few days, just the two of us. Thank you to my mother-in-law for watching the kiddos for us!

It's Flooding

2009-01-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's flooding here in the PNW. No wonder with all of the snow we got during Christmas!! After the snow, was rain, rain, rain. I heard it said on the news that Seattle got 10% of their total yearly rain fall in 2 days. Crazy!!

Today the kids and I went "flooding" with the neighbors. Gotta have those scrapbook pics, right?

This is where the blueberry fields are where we go pick Blueberries every August.

A picture to remember the flood - and a good one for the scrapbook!

The main road is covered in water. No school buses getting through there!

Our new lake front property.

Just incredible how fast the water flooded the valley.

People say this doesn't happen too often around here. But we've lived here for 4 winters and for 2 of them, it's flooded the valley.

Friday Favorite Five

2009-01-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

It's Time for my Friday Favorite 5!

1) My reading chair -- we moved our furniture around in the living room after we took down our Christmas decorations. I NEVER move my furniture around! Now I have my nice leather chair and footstool in a great spot with a lamp right behind me. It's become a great reading chair and a spot where I check email and update my blog. It so comfy!
2) Rock Band -- my family loves this and it's so much fun to play! I love hearing my kids sing "oldies but goodies" from my teenage years!
3) My new quilted vest from REI -- Christmas present from hubby. It's a great layer piece -- we're all about layers here in the PNW!
4) Microsoft Word -- after much emailing back and forth with my GF's for our annual beach scrapbook trip, I finally combined our supply and meal list in a nice, pretty table for all of us to keep track of what's being brought and what's needed. Next year -- a table in Exel (as soon as I learn how).
5) Being 200 feet above the river -- yes, we're flooded out here. I'll post some great flood pictures in my next post. But, I AM THANKFUL we found a house up on the ridge instead of down in the valley!!!

This is such a great exercise to do each week! It was really hard for me to come up with 5 today. But with thinking over the little things in my life this week (and my hubby's help) I did come up with 5 things to be thankful for. Thank you, Eve, for continuing this each week! And thank you, Natalie, for continuing this on FB!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

Instead of Friday's Favorite Five, I thought I would do my Favorites for 2008.

1) Going to Germany and Paris in early February -- Bob and I had so much fun seeing Paris for the first time!

2) My annual Scrapbook Weekend with my girlies.

3) My baby boy, Bobby, getting baptised at church on Easter Sunday.

4) Driving to California in July to see my good friend, Kate, get married. (couldn't find a picture of me and bride, so here's one of Bobby and Bob with Kate.)

5) And, we got to bring Scott and Jessica (the bride's children) back home with us to visit for a few days.

6) Getting to see my good friends, Eve and Debby, again. AND all of our children getting to play together for the first time in several years!

7) Going camping on the Oregon Coast with my good friend, Denise and her family.

8) Heading back to the Midwest to see both sides of our family.

9) Celebrating birthday's with my children -- Alex getting to throw out the first pitch at a minor league baseball game, Sarah getting her ears pierced, and Bobby turning 17.

10) And finally, just spending lots of time with my friends and family. 2008 was a great year and I hope 2009 will be too. It's good to know that we have a fresh start this year -- new president, new resolutions, new experiences -- a new year to live life to its fullest.

Best wishes for 2009!

Alex prays for Manulito Kids

2008-12-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

This was taken at our church, Gold Creek Community Church . Check out Alex praying for the Kids in Honduras to have a great Christmas. The children collected enough money, over the course of a month, to provide Christmas dinner for them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSZxZcT-4Cw

I am so proud of him!

The Snowstorm of 2008

2008-12-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

When we moved to our area in Washington, we expected rain but not snow. Much to our surprise, we have had snow every year that we have lived here! Our kids were thrilled because that means "Snow Days"!

However, THIS year's snow has been quite the phenomenon. Our little neighborhood had about 20 inches of snow this December. CRAZY no matter WHERE you live!

Here are a few pictures taken on Christmas Eve:

A view from our porch.
Our poor tree is going to crash from all of the snow.

Bob plows out The Beast.

It's finally starting to rain and melt the snow. However, our little street is still very treacherous. I found out that several of my friends have never had a white Christmas, so I'm glad that it snowed for them and didn't start melting until after Christmas.

My Favorite Christmas Photos

2008-12-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

We had a good Christmas this year! Here are a few of my favorite photos:

Grammie and kids at Christmas Eve Service.

The kids in their new Christmas Jammies from Grandma and Grandpa. and our silly Christmas glasses.

Bob and I at the Christmas Eve Service at church.

Me and my silly kids in the silly Christmas glasses Bob brought back from Japan.

My baby girl LOVED her American Girl Doll that Santa brought.

My oldest surprised me by being happy about getting a guitar (because he didn't even ask for one)!

My Alex was so excited to FINALLY get a Nintendo DS from Santa!

How was your Christmas? Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

My First Blog!

2008-12-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

I told my good friend, Eve, that I would have a blog by the end of the year. So here it is, Eve! My first blog post!

Why the title "Views from a Java Hut"? Well, living in Washington these last 3-1/2 years, we've become addicted to our latte's. Practically on every street corner, there is some kind of "java hut". This is not much of an exaggeration! You have the branded java huts, the local java huts, the java huts that are a neighborhood favorite, the java huts that only men would ever go to, and the java huts that have your latte ready and waiting when you pull up in the drive thru (because they know you so well!). Gotta love those. So when trying to come up with a title, I tried to think of something quirky or catchy that would describe me or my family, and coffee and Java Huts were what I thought of -- because I do love my coffee!

My blog will be mostly about my family -- My husband, Bob, whom I've known since I was 16 years old and my three wonderful children -- Bobby age 17, Alex age 9-1/2 and Sarah age 7.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and come back often! I'm new to this, so please be patient!

Here's to a happy end to 2008! and for me completing my first blog!

Lisa