Dan had to work today, so I took Alyssa and Kala to a park in Puyallup. We thought it would be a perfect day for a photo shoot.


I found a nice little park in downtown Puyallup. There are a lot of different trails that you can go on... making it feel like you're not even in the city. The park area at the bottom of the hill is really nice and even has a small dog park. My toe was still hurting so we weren't able to go too far into the trails, hopefully we'll get a chance to go back soon.


Here are a few of their pictures...

After we got home, the girls decided to continue their photo shoot. You can see all of the pictures in the S.O.S Picasa Album.

We have so much to brag about after last weekend.

Friday night we were graced with the presence of Pete & Tina!! (Yes, You read that right… PETE… PETE STOCKUNAS). I made a wonderful Italian dinner and we shared many bottles of wine catching up on lost time. The four of us got a little distracted and lost track of time. We didn’t make it to bed until… I think it was around 1:00am. Then we had to get up before 5am in order to meet Aaron and Nicole at Pacific Raceways.

NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) was having their annual Drag Races. Dan had told me for years now just how amazing and powerful these races are. Pete had gone to them before as well.. Tina and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. All of the cars were so crazy… Dan was right when he said that it’s nearly impossible to explain. We met up with Mike Driscall, Chris Gourley and Aaron & Nicole. (pictures are posted on our Picasa under “Spring/Summer 2008")

Unfortunately after the races Pete and Tina had to go back home. We vowed to get together soon. We are so happy we were able to spend that time with them and really look forward to the next time!!

Sunday morning Dan and I were able to sleep in and lay in bed watching Lost before having to drive to Ravensdale to pick Alyssa up. She had spent the night at her dad’s mom’s house. We spent the afternoon with them enjoying dinner and drinks on the back deck.
Needless to say it was a very busy, exhausting weekend. We are slowly but surely recovering. All of it very well worth it.

Apology is a lovely perfume; it can transform the clumsiest moment into a gracious gift.

Alyssa had to learn just how hard it can be to apologize. I told her that "Sorry" seems like such a simple word, but when it has to come out of your mouth, when you truly mean it... it can be the hardest word you'll ever say.

We had a rough morning getting ready the other day. She was really tired from the night before and being quite a pain to try to get ready. After about 10 minutes of fighting with her, I told her that she was going to go to bed at 7:30 instead of 8:00. This just made her even more angry! So as I struggle to get her dressed, her hair and teeth brushed... she continued to make sure she made it as difficult as possible. As I walked out of her bedroom door, I tell her she has 3 seconds to get her shoes on and get ready to go. Then she says the three words I hope to never hear from her mouth again... "I HATE YOU!" Now, anyone knows that I do not tolerate bad language in my home and two of the worst words you can say are "hate" and "stupid" (all thanks to my loving mother!). I told her she was going to go to bed as soon as we got home that night. We drove all the way to daycare without saying a word. I kept thinking to myself that if she apologizes for what she said, then she would be off the hook. I know that we all say things out of anger that we might not mean. So later that night Dan and I sat down and had a nice long talk with her. It was not an easy discussion for her to handle. I could tell that she was upset with herself for saying that... but she just didn't have it in her to say I'm sorry. As I tucked her into bed, she held me tighter then she ever has and cried so hard while saying "I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MOMMY" I just held her and asked her why she was upset. Once she settled down enough, she told me that she was scared. I asked her what she is scared of... she said "to say I'm sorry..." I told her that I know that it's not an easy word to say and the fact that it's so hard for you to say just shows that you actually mean it. I asked her why it was so easy for her to say I hate you, but it's so hard to say I'm sorry. I explained the importance of the word and it's meaning. I told her that I had to go the rest of the day with my feelings hurt... all because she couldn't apologize. I really hope that she learned a lesson from all of this. I hope to never hear those words again and I hope she learned how hard it is to apologize for your actions. I laid in bed with her and held her until she settled down enough to sleep...

Family is a unit with people who may have different goals, habits and desires all sharing a house together. To live in peace and harmony you must care about your family. Learning how to say I'm Sorry may be the second most important skill you will ever learn. The most important skill is learning to Forgive.

What dance was very popular in 1776

Indepen-dance! HAHA... Get it? ;)

This 4th of July we celebrated at Chris & Jenny Pitzen’s on Alki Beach in Seattle. The weather was perfect!! We spent the afternoon visiting with friends on their deck facing the Puget Sound. As it started getting dark, we walked down so we could see all of the fireworks. You could see them across all of the water coming from so many different locations. It was amazing. Some how on the walk back to their house, I managed to bang up my toe… what started off as a small toe cramp quickly escalated so badly that I couldn’t even put pressure on it by the time we got back. At the time I couldn’t see anything wrong with it. When we woke up the next morning, my toe was swollen and covered in black and blue bruises clear up to the middle of my foot. I couldn’t put any pressure on it, so Dan and Alyssa had to nurse me all day long. They treat me so good; I don’t know what I would do without them. We spent the day watching movies and started Season 1 Disc 1 of LOST (Since our Smallville days are over until next season). We finally got to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. What a cute movie!! (We all agreed that the books were better though, which is the point I really wanted to get across to Alyssa). My toe is getting better and still remains a mystery. My doctor said that it could be from walking around in flip flops all day…. Who knows??







Sunday morning we went over to Dan’s dad’s house to visit with the kids. Dan’s dad bought a Spiderman Slip N’ Slide. The second the sun came out, Alyssa and Kala couldn’t resist. For dinner Dan steamed some huge crab legs that we feasted on.

This week we have been getting busy to have a Yard Sale at Paul’s house. We will be set up Saturday and Sunday, feel free to come by and check out the treasures ;)

Contacts & Tasers!

Contacts:
Last night I went and got my first pair of contacts. I have never worn contacts before. In fact, the thought of something in my eye for that long of a time, completely freaks me out. But, I was tired of wearing glasses and noticed my eyesight getting worse and worse.

The Doctor had me go over a quick video to teach me how to put my contacts in and then take them out. She went over how to care for my glasses too. Then she watched me demonstrate to her, how I can put them in and take them out. She said I did very well... she even asked "Are you sure you've never worn contacts before?" (Yet another great advantage to having big bug eyes!) She wanted me to gradually get use to wearing them by only wearing them a few hours at a time. I had them in for a little over four hours this morning. I started getting use to them, but they felt really weird. They make my eyes feel dirty, like there's always something in them (weird). But it's so nice to be able to see without having to deal with annoying glasses. I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that the more I wear them, the less I'll be able to feel them.

Taser:
I have started carrying a taser in my purse (for my own personal reasons). There's a safety switch on it which forces you to turn the taser on before you can actually use it. That way, you can't just bump the button that activates it without turning it on. Somehow in the jumble of my purse, the ON switch must have gotten switched. So when I went to pick my purse up, a very loud shocking sound came from it. At first I didn't know what was going on, but I recognized the sound. A few seconds later I realized what it was. So I had to slowly and very carefully go through my purse to find the taser. I may have to find a better transporting method from now on. I'm just glad that the shock waves didn't go through my purse and get me!!! Although, I'm pretty sure that would have excused me from work today.... hmmmm.....

Summertime Update... Car Crash, Celebrations & Lots of Heat!!

It’s obvious that summer has finally made its appearance in western Washington which has kept us very busy.

On Saturday, June 20th, I was riding with Katrina and Lindsay in Katrina’s car. We were stopped at a stoplight when someone hit us from behind. No one was seriously injured and much to our surprise, Lola the Corolla wasn’t even totaled. We did have to spend hours in the emergency room to make sure we were all fine. Since then, I have had to get X-Rays and started going to physical therapy/massage therapy. I am finally starting to feel much better and have gotten a lot of my movement back. Katrina and Lindsay seem to be doing much better as well.

That same day, we drove to Ellensburg for our friend Bryan Hoyt’s Surprise 30th Birthday party. We drove over with Mic, Steph & Little Jackson (The Dupis family). We had such a great time riding up there with them, doing some great catching up. The party was a big hit. So many people showed up and set up their tents for the night. Everyone had their significant others and children (if applicable). Alyssa was at her Girl Scout camping trip, so she wasn’t able to go. But it was so great to see everyone else’s families.

The following week, we had Dan’s niece and nephew stayed with us. It was so nice to have them. I was still in too much pain to work, so I was able to stay home with them on Tuesday. They are great kids to hang out with, always full of love and laughter. They fit right in at our home!! Dan dropped them off with Dion and Candy Thursday morning. Another uncle picked them up for the weekend to go camping.

Friday night I went out with some girl friends to celebrate Katrina’s 27th Birthday. Dan and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning. Dan was scheduled to work all day, but when he showed up there was no one there to let them in. He wasn’t too upset considering it was supposed to get up to 90!! Sarah and I had tried to plan a Surprise ½ Birthday party for Chris since his birthday falls on Christmas every year. Things didn’t work out as planned considering Chris started planning his own BBQ. So we all hung out by his pool, BBQ’d in the afternoon and relaxed by the fire to finish the night. Dan got burnt to a crisp, even after applying sunscreen all day. (There are pictures under our Summer Picasa Album)
We woke up at Chris & Sarah’s Sunday morning. They both had some running around to do, so Dan and I went and had brunch at AppleBee’s (one of our Sunday rituals). Afterwards, we went back to Chris’s and sat by the pool to keep cool. The weather was amazing all weekend long. But by early Sunday afternoon, we were ready to be indoors relaxing. As usual we finished our weekend with dinner and Smallville.

Anyway...

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind.

Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack if you help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

- Anonymous