Point Defiance Zoo

Here's the crew we took to the zoo...

Back- Jay, Jesse, Nick

Front- Ben, Nita, and Nolan

(I didn't notice Nita sticking her tongue out at me until I saw this picture-little rascal!)

The first animal we saw was this
peacock showing off.

Jay was chosen to participate on stage. He was beyond thrilled!

Lynx

Just hangin' with the sharks... watch out Jessica!!

This specimen is called a crazy chimpanzee.

Sometimes referred to as Nolan.

Nick and Nita.... oh so cute!

Also cute... A blue eyed Ben!

Uh oh, it's time to go home. Someone is not happy about leaving the animals behind.

This gal sure knows how to have a fit while sitting in a stroller... she smacks herself in the forehead and covers her face all the while screaming with her mouth shut. fascinating to watch really.


It was a fun day, I probably would have thrown a fit too if I had been three years old.

If you're lucky enough to be at a lake, you're lucky enough

Do you have a favorite place?

I have many.

And I was lucky enough to spend time over the weekend at one of my most favorite places of all.

Casa Del Lago is our friends' vacation home on Banks Lake in Eastern Washington.

Imagine yourself sitting in the sunshine on a deck, sipping a soda, listening to birds sing, all the while gazing out at the amazing lake vista just down the hill and you will understand why I love this place.

Our friends have put so much elbow grease into this home since they bought it five years ago and it has been an unbelievable transformation. New flooring, windows, bathroom, deck, and hot tub are only a smidgen of the changes they've made. Most visitors have to pick their bottom jaw up off the ground after walking through the front door. It's like the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog have come to life and you feel an instant calm and comfort come over you. It's beautiful.

I think Nick and Nolan will always remember the lake house as the place they grew to love being thrown out of a inner tube, climbing the sandy hill, searching for snakes, and buying some new treasure they can't live without at the tiny little book store down the street.

One of the things I love most about this place is it's isolation. For being such a huge 29 mile long lake, it's amazing how many people have never heard of it before. I'd like to keep it that way! When you're out on the boat you can see for miles and the next boat looks like a speck on the horizon. It's great for water skiing and inner tubing...that is if you can get up on skis. Maybe someday my rear will know what it's like to be out of the water. One can only hope.

Thanks Bill and Marianne, for buying this little piece of heaven and for letting our family invade from time to time. We love you guys!

Sweet Baby James

Today is a day I will never forget.

My friend, Karen, and I have had many memorable days over our 30 year friendship...

This one was one of the best.

She asked me several months ago if I'd like to be with her in the hospital room when her fourth and final baby was to be born. My answer was, of course, YES!!

Poor Karen has had a terrible pregnancy, riddled with a cracked pelvis, a hernia, "all-day" sickness, sore hips, and a ginormous belly. It was really rough and unfortunately her labor was just as rough. She was elated to finally get an epidural after several hours of painful contractions only to have the epidural not work. It was really tough watching her suffer through each contraction especially since the hours were passing by without much progress.

But she is a trooper! After being in the hospital for 15 & 1/2 hours She finally got to see her little guy at 1:21 this morning! It was amazing and I'm so glad I was there to try and comfort her and see sweet Austin James enter this world. He's perfectly healthy and I could have rocked him in the rocking chair til the end of next year. He weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. He was cooing and squeaking all day and I wanted to take him home with me!

Congratulations Karen and Brad on a wonderful addition to an already wonderful family. His golden brown wavy locks and adorable dimples will officially make your kids some of the cutest kids known to grace this earth!

Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your special day- I will never forget it!

Should I be offended?

The other day Connor and I were having a conversation about how Nolan always seems to have the knack to socialize with anybody with ease.

We both find this skill of his fascinating because neither Connor or myself have never been stellar at socializing. I mean, we do alright, but neither of us are very comfortable with conversing with people unless we know them really well.

So, here is a little snippet of our conversation...

Connor- "It seems to me that both our boys lucked out and got the best traits from your side of the family."
Me- "What do you mean?"
Connor- "Well, Nolan reminds me a lot of your brother, Scott... He's a social butterfly, confident, and he even has the same physical build as Scott."
Me- "I guess you're right."
Connor- "And Nick has the amazing artistic ability like your brother Todd..."
Me-"And they got their good looks from me!" (wink, wink)

This is where the conversation ended and the dead silence began. He didn't say another word...
That is, until he finished laughing. Isn't that sweet?

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Connor!

These two boys idolize you and well they should. You are, by far, one of the best dads around.

Happiness rules supreme in this house thanks to all the wit, humor, and love you constantly show these kids.



No week would be complete without a little (or massive in some cases) wrestling match on the family room floor.







You are such a great example to our boys. Keep up the good work, honey. I have no doubt in my mind that our kids will look back at their childhood with much fondness and great memories thanks to all you've shown them and all the experiences they've shared with you.


We all love you and hope you're day is spent doing exactly what YOU want to do!

It's YOUR day, enjoy!!

And this handsome young man is my amazing Dad!

His personality shines wherever he goes, I don't know a living soul who didn't like my dad as soon as they met him. He's a sweet, likeable, friendly man who is so easy to talk to!

I look up to him in many ways. He's a hard worker and is a master when it comes to gardening. I like to pick his brain about plants and flowers...

He was and still is a great dad, he taught me a lot about life and how best to live it.

He's got five Grandkids who ADORE him, even if one of them calls him "Doofus".

He loves his Grandkids and is never too busy to sit down and play a game with them...cribbage would have to be one of his favorites!

Disneyland with Grandpa! Yeehaw!!

It's easy to tell his grandkids really don't like him at all. :)

Thanks dad, for being such a fabulous roll model for me. I don't tell you nearly enough just how much you mean to me and that I love you so much!!

Have a fabulous day, wish I could spend it with you!

~Hush, Hush, keep it down now...voices carry...~ (I WISH)

I've lost it. I lost my voice Friday night after a fun evening at my in-laws house singing the night away with their karaoke machine. (Karaoke + head cold + mojito= no voice) Now, don't get me wrong...it was a good time for sure. Who doesn't like to sing their heart out to some Aerosmith classics or a little Olivia Newton John? But, come on already, I'm now on day four of sounding like a sick duck. I'm trying very hard not to speak today because I've been told that is the best way to get your voice back. I headed out into the public eye trying my best not to speak, but you just can't ignore the checker at Target, that would be rude. Although, the look on her face when I told her thank you, was probably even more rude... And yesterday, I went to work at the pharmacy in this sad condition. I think the majority of the customers felt inclined to get a little extra pump of the hand sanitizer we have cleverly placed by the register after the "no-voice sicky" girl helped to ring them up. Answering the phone and trying to have a conversation was comical to say the least. I was compared to "an old lady", "a squeaky-voiced adolescent aged boy", and my personal fave "Rod Stewart". Maybe I should pull out the karaoke machine just one more time to sing a little "Maggie Mae". :)

I need to get over this cold-bug and get my voice back soon! Keep that baby inside Karen...I can't come visit you in this current state!!

A day in the life....

Wake up.

Watch a few cartoons.

Pop some eggos in the toaster to brown to perfection.

Build a new masterpiece out of the gazillion lego pieces we've managed to collect over the years.

Play and cuddle with my cat.

Go outside to see what this wonderful weekend day has to offer.

Climb my favorite tree in the front yard.

Take my dad's Remote Control monster truck for a test drive.

Build a ramp out of scrap wood and see how high I can jump my bike over my new creation.

Take a small break to have lunch on the back patio with my family.

Get together with a couple neighborhood kids and go on a gardner snake hunt.

Shout with glee for each and every one of the TEN snakes we found!

Shout with even more glee when we found a lizard.

Tossed the baseball back and forth.

Scale my favorite tree in the backyard.

Watch the airplanes hover over head.

Head inside to watch America's Funniest Videos.

Read a few chapters of a favorite book.

Hop into bed....


It was a great weekend around here for two boys. This is what being a kid is all about. Remember the days that seemed to go on forever, doing whatever silly thing popped into your head. Childhood is an amazing time. I find myself remembering my own childhood on days like this.

Anticipation, is making me wait.

Ok...Karen.

I know you're super uncomfortable...

I know you're not able to walk up the stairs without feeling agony...

I know you have to visit the little girls room every 32 minutes or so...

I know your pelvis feels like it's cracking into a million little pieces...

I know you haven't been able to see your feet in at least one month....

I know you can't sleep for more than 18 minutes before having to switch to your other side...

I know it's hard for you to breathe like a regular human being...

I know you hands and feet are going numb...

I know you probably want to cry at the drop of a hat...

I know your skin is stretched to maximum capacity...

But for goodness sake, when am I going to get to see this so called baby of yours?
I mean, really, can't you think of my feelings at this point in time? You are so selfish keeping that baby all cooped up. I want to meet that little guy, and I can't wait any longer!!! :)

Picture Perfect!

For quite some time, I had been keeping an eye out for a new picture or painting to hang above our fireplace. I had an idea of exactly what I wanted, but never had any luck finding what I had in mind.

Then one day, my dear sister in law, Shannon, had a fabulous idea!

She suggested I take a black and white photograph of our neighborhood lake, have it enlarged, and framed. She is a genius I tell you!

Not only is she a genius...she is also a very good photographer! You see...once Shannon gets an idea in her noggin, she must act on that idea right away. It didn't take her long to head down to the lake and start snappin' some photos. It was an overcast day and all of her pictures turned out so wonderful I had a hard time deciding which one I wanted to hang on the wall.

Connor was especially happy with the idea of having a photograph of our lake because he was dead set against having some meaningless piece of art just taking up space on our family room wall. He wanted something that we loved as well as something that couldn't be found in every home across America.

The picture we chose kind of has an abstract quality about it... At first glance, it's kind of hard to see the lake behind all of the cat tails in the foreground. But what we liked the most about the photo was the way the clouds turned out. We love it.

Take a look!....

Love it, love it, love it.... Thank you Shannon for such a great idea, a great photo, and for being such a great friend!