It's My Life!

Taylor Swift Concert

2011-09-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

I gave Emma tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert at the Tacoma Dome for her birthday back in June. The concert was this week and she had a fabulous time. Here are some pictures from the event. Her friend Alexis was able to come with us. They wore matching outfits.

Emma bought herself a T Shirt, which she wore to school the next day

Sung her heart out all night long!

Emma took lots of pictures with her camera

We got there early and had dinner

Taylor is singing "Fifteen" during her encore

The girls are making a heart with their hands in front of one of Taylor Swifts many truck in the parking lot after the concert.

Well Everyone, She is Officially 1!

2011-07-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

Evalin turned 1 year old this last Saturday. These are some pictures that were taken that day:

Tacoma News Tribune Subscription Deal!

2011-06-28T10:52:00.000-07:00

So the biggest obstacle in couponing is getting a hold of free or practically free Sunday papers. If you have to pay for the papers/coupons then you are really not saving much money by using the coupons. I just found this great deal at The Coupon Project on a "News Tribune" Subscription that makes their Sunday paper lots less expensive. If you order a subscription for just one Sunday paper they charge you $3.75 to deliver it or $2 when you buy it from a stand/store, but if you mention this deal when you call you get 3 papers for only $3 per week delivered. Plus the News Tribune is the only paper I have found in my area that gives you all 3 coupon inserts: Smartsource, Redplum, and P&G. Seattle Times doesn't give you the Redplum.

It may be silly, but this makes me so excited! :)

He Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth

2011-06-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

Over the past year I have made some very large life changes. Watching this video today I felt "he took the words right out of my mouth". I feel it is time to share this with my friends and family.

My Mother's Day Present!

2011-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

I got a wonderful book of poems from Emma for Mother's Day! So wonderful that I want to share with you some of her creations:

Growing Up

When I was one I was already walking,
and you helped me.
When I was two I tried to talk,
and you helped me do it.
When I was three I was in preschool,
and you dropped me off every day.
When I was four I got my first tricycle,
and you bought it for me.
When I was five I went to school on the bus,
and you let me do it.
When I was six I learned how to do A.R. tests,
and you were happy for me.
When I was seven I had lots of people at my birthday party,
and you accepted that.
When I was eight I made this poem for you,
and you know now
As I grow up there's one thing for sure I will always be your daughter!

Limerick

There once was a girl named Lilly, who was quite silly.
She scrunched her toes, blew her nose
Thats all she does, no really!
There was a boy, who loved his toy.
He also loved his Mommy, the boys name was Tommy
And has a friend named Koy.

Playing Catch Up!

2011-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

To try and catch up on the last few month of life, here we go!

We had our 3rd girl! Evalin, who is now 5 months old!

Leora turned 5 and started Kindergarten!

Emma turned 8, had a great soccer season, cut her hair to donate to Locks of Love, and attended a Taylor Swift concert in New York!

Eddie and I are still best friends, holding hands through the journey of life!

Girl Scout Cookie Time!

2011-01-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Emma joined a Girl Scout Brownie troup a few months ago and it is Cookie Sales Time! You can view the cookie choices at:

http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/

If you are interested in purchasing some from Emma please email, text, or call me to let me know. Orders are due by January 23rd. Cookies are $4 a box. Her troup retains 70 cents per box sold and the rest goes to the Girls Scouts to support the organization and communities activities. Cookies will be delivered mid February and payment is due at time of delivery.

Emma's goal is to sell atleast 75 boxes. The more boxes she can sell the greater incentive prizes she can earn. She is very excited at this!

I'm an awful blogger!

2010-06-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

I really am an awful blogger. I post like 3 or 4 posts at a time, and then forget about my blog for months. I have great intentions, but I guess it's just not a priority to me. That's why I don't scrapbook!!!!!! So many things have happened in the last 2 months that I haven't blogged about. My goal is to be better at paying attention to my blog.

Our Trip to Cabo

2010-04-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

Eddie and I got to spend a week in Cabo, Mexico compliments of his company, Cash America. Eddie's Market had the highest Net Revenue over prior year in the entire company. So his company gave us a trip for 2 to Cabo as a reward with other winners in the company. We stayed at an all inclusive resort called Dreams Resort. It was really a great trip for Eddie and I. We spent lots of overdue time together relaxing and having fun.

Some highlights were when we got massages, learned how to tango, Eddie went ATVing, I got a pedicure, and we met lots of nice people from Cash America. We visited San Jose one day where we ate at a whole in the wall for some authentic mexican food and got the girls gifts from the tourist shops. We spent another day visiting Cabo San Lucas where we found a shop full of real fun sculptures which they wanted lots of money for. I had a problem with my ankles and feet swelling so we couldn't spend more than a few hours site seeing. Weather was beautiful while we were there. High's were in the low 80's. Perfect really!

One of the nights we were invited to attend a dinner for just Market Managers, only 7 out of 160 made it, at Pitahayas. We saw whales jumping out in the water while we ate. Throughout dinner we weren't sure if the menu prices were in USD or Pesos, so I took pictures of the menus. It was exciting thinking the prices were USD until we were told the prices were in Pesos. The conversion rate is 12 pesos to 1 usd.

Eddie also had one of his store managers, Jose, win a trip too so he is in some of the pictures.

I put together a slide show of pictures from the trip!

Coloring Easter Eggs!

2010-04-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

The girls colored easter eggs on Friday. They each had a dozen eggs to color. I always wished I had that many to color as a kid. Leora was done pretty quickly, she even forgot 2 eggs in their glasses of dye. While Emma took her own sweet time drawing on them before coloring them and adding stickers. Here are some pics. They had their grandparents there to enjoy the coloring.

Baby Name Winner is . . . .

2010-04-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

Evelyn!! We'll call her Evie, Evey, or some variation for short.

Roller Skates!

2010-03-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Someone from my work gave me a pair of kids roller skates that didn't fit his granddaughter. They were real close to Emma's size so I gave them to her. She kept falling down on her skinny, boney butt so Eddie dug thru his hockey gear and found some pads for her to wear. He used an elbow pad to wrap around her butt. It was hilarious! But it worked!

The Name Search is On!

2010-03-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

The name search has begun for our new expectant little girl. We've come up with a few names we like. They are:

Evelyn - means Beautiful Bird
Kaelyn - means Pure
Celia - means Heaven
Kyah or Kaia - means to Rejoice
Evie - would probably be short for Evelyn

I placed a poll on the side of my blog so you can tell me what is your favorite!

Our day at the hospital

2010-03-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

We had 3 doctor appointment today all around Tacoma General Hospital. The day started early since Leora had to been there at 7:45am for a VCUG test. She needed to be tested for Renal Reflux and needless to say the exam/test is not a pleasant test. I was internally a wreck worried how she would handle the test. To be brief in explanation they put a catheter in, fill up her bladder with fluid, and take lots of x-ray pictures. Needless to say, Leora did fabulous during the test with help from Eddie(greatest Dad ever). She was so brave! Since I'm pregnant I couldn't be with her during the test and Eddie stayed with her the entire time. I was grateful my husband is such a wonderful Dad. Seeing how he comforted her and was silly to help lighten her mood reminded me why I love him so much.

While Leora and Eddie were doing their thing, Emma and I waited in the hallway. This is where we met a 2 month old baby named Joshua. He was being taken to Imaging for a Bone scan in a big red play wagon. Joshua has been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks, and has 2 broken arms, a fractured skull, broken ribs, and a broken leg. He is on police hold so his parents cannot remove him from the hospital, since they are the cause for him to be there. It was so sad to hear his story and see someone so small and helpless be a victim of such violence. He was so calm and quiet it broke my heart, but his spirit touched me as well. Emma was touched as well. She immediately started drawing a picture of him in his wagon at the hospital. When she was done she wrote his name on the picture and From: Emma Toy. She wanted to give the picture to him. We went back to the floor we had seen him on and asked the nurse if she could find him to give him the picture. She gladly said she would deliver the picture to him for Emma. Emma's picture brought smiles to all the nurses faces there in the ER that Emma would show her love for little Joshua by drawing him that picture.

We went to my ultrasound next to check the health of our new baby. I'm now 20 weeks so we were looking forward to finding out if it is a boy or girl. Leora asked to sit with me. During the ultrasound Leora stood on a chair by my head, rubbing my head and making sure I was okay during the "test". We found out we are having another GIRL!!!!! While there was some disappointment that it's not a boy, we are glad to say the baby looks very healthy. I had a Dr appointment after that with my OBGYN. Eddie and the girls played soccer on the lawn outside the office while I met with my Dr.

This day has reminded of how lucky I am for my family. I feel so blessed to have wonderful, caring daughters and a husband that loves his "girls" the way he does. I am very blessed

Ears Pierced!

2010-01-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

The girls got their ears pierced after Christmas. Emma has been told she could get them pierced for a couple years now, but has chickened out each time. I was sure Leora was going to chicken out, and she almost did at the very last moment. After the first ear she wanted to stop, and right after she said she wanted to give the earrings back. :) Emma was very excited when it was done. About 10 minutes later Leora was in love with her new earrings and admired them in every mirror she could find at the mall.

Winter break how I love thee

2009-12-30T09:58:00.000-08:00

I just want to say how much I have loved School Winter Break this year. 2 weeks with no school. No waking up before 8am to get Emma off to school when I had to work the night before, no having my life being scheduled around the girls preschool and school schedules, no worrying about what time the girls are getting to bed. It has been nice to not have to be a responsible,time scheduled parent during Winter Break. Spring Break here we come! :)

Mia's Blessing

2009-12-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

My sister Lindsay blessed her baby on Sunday. Both my parents were there and Jeff's parents and sister came into town. It was a nice day filled with family.

Christmas!

2009-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

I had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year since I've been just awful sick. The girls put the tree up almost completely on their own. I put the lights on and that's about it. However, while they were decorating the tree the stand broke. Oh well! I guess we're due for a new tree, but I wasn't about to try and fix the stand so the tree just leaned against the wall for this season. Leo decided to try and eat the tree lights, so the bottom strand stopped working and the branches got bent from him trying to get decorations off to play with.

The girls had a good time opening presents. They got exactly what they wanted from Santa, and Emma asked why Santa has the same wrapping paper as we do. Eddie told her that Santa's sleigh got in an accident and he asked Dad to wrap the presents for him, because he was running behind schedule. :) She was satisfied with that!

I have to say that Emma took all these pictures with her new camera she got for Christmas. Which is why she isn't in any of them. Sorry! Like I said, I wasn't really in the Christmas mood.

Leora got a Barbie guitar from Santa, iTurtle from Mom, He-Man movies & microphone stand from Dad, and Pterydactel from Emma.

Emma got a Cake Bakery Set from Santa, digital camera from Mom, He-Man movies & microphone stand from Dad, and lip gloss from Leora.

Emma and Leora gave Eddie a stuffed Boxer, and Me a new nightgown and robe.

It was a nice christmas having family come into town and stay with us. Family is really what christmas is about for me.

Emma's School Christmas Program

2009-12-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

Emma's school puts on a christmas music program each year. Here's a video and pictures of the event this year.

Emma and her friend Lucy

Soccer Season is Over

2009-12-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

Emma's soccer season is over! They ended with 7 wins 2 losses and 1 tie. They had one of the leagues best scores in their age group. At the end of season party Emma was named the most inspirational player on her team and given the game ball, which they played all their games with. She was so excited to receive the game ball, she slept with it that night.

Lil Mia Jane

2009-11-04T10:24:00.001-08:00

My sister Lindsay had her baby girl last week. Oct. 29th via C Section. She was 8 lbs 7 oz. Her name is Mia Jane Brown. We are so excited she is finally here. We were able to take dinner over to the Brown's on Sunday when they came home from the hospital. Luckily for us, Lindsay slept most the day so we got to play and hold Mia a lot. Here are some pictures:

Emma held her for over an hour. She loved every moment.

Leora kept saying "I'm so excited to see the baby!" on the way over to heir house. She must have said it atleast 10 times.

Halloween Pics of the Girls

2009-11-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of our girls this year. They went trick or treating with their friends Alexis and Ethan. They had lots of fun. They were running between houses, so Leora was playing catch up most the night (short legs!!)and got tired on the second street. Got lots of good candy though!

Firestation Field Trip

2009-10-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Leora's preschool had a field trip to the Firestation. Leora was very hesitant at the beginning. She didn't want to try any of the gear on, but by the end she was excited about everything. Thanks to Firefighter Nathan who helped her overcome her shyness! When we left Leora said, "Mom, this firestation is awesome!". Here are some pictures:
In ambulance with Firefigter Nathan

Firefighter Brian showing what all the switches do

Firefighter Nathan suited up and Firefighter Nanette talking about fire safety

Done driving the fire truck

Riding in the ambulance

With Firefighter Nathan in the ambulance measuring Leora's oxygen levels

With the class, Teacher Becky, and Firefighter Nathan

Leora and Lily watching the truck lights flash

Leora trying to lift the oxygen tank, no luck! Too heavy.

With Firefighter Brian who gets to really drive the Fire truck

Costume Party!

2009-10-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

We were invited to a Halloween party by some friends. The hitch was that we had to dress up. I have never been able to get Eddie to dress up for anything, let alone Halloween. Since Eddie really likes Trent, who was hosting the party, he agreed to dress up. Here are some picks of our costumes.

Too Young to be Expecting!

2009-10-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Both girls had school off on Friday so we went up to Bellevue to visit my sister Lindsay who is very pregnant. Due any day now. We were able to spend the afternoon helping hang curtains, clean, and fold clothes in order to get the nursery ready. Emma vaccuumed the room and Leora gathered all the baby's toys together. After the hard work the girls found a bag of balloons in the nursery. Lindsay let them have the entire bag and this is what they ended up doing with some of them:

The girls are sooooo excited for their Aunt Lindsay to have a baby! Emma is already talking about babysitting her. Lindsay has already broken the news that Emma will have to wait until she's older.

A Day in San Diego

2009-10-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

On one of my days of while in Long Beach, CA for Jetblue training I drove down to visit my sister in law Deeanna and her family. I hadn't seen them in over a year, and was born in San Diego, so decided to take a trip. The drive down was very memorable. It brought back so many childhood memories just driving along I-5 toward San Diego. I really need to take Eddie and my girls there next summer.

I spent most of my time playing board games and card games with Toby and Zoey, had Marlie pretend read to me her library books, and watch Elijah "Not" doing his homework. This is Elijah not listening to his mother:

And here is Marlie showing me her princess dress:

Thanks to the Manning for letting chill with them for the day!

Leora in Preschool!

2009-10-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Leora has finally begun preschool. She was so excited, and is still excited everyday she gets to go to "school". She is so eager to grow up "like Emma". Notice she finally has enough hair for pigtails! Hurray! Here are some pictures of her at preschool.

Eddie's Birthday!

2009-09-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Eddie's birthday yesterday. Emma wanted to make him a football cake. He's 32 now!

First Day of 2nd Grade!

2009-09-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

Emma started 2nd grade today. Her teachers name is Ms. Brittain. Here are some pictures:

Too Hilarious Not to Post!

2009-08-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Eddie sent this to me in an email and I couldn't stop laughing after I read it. This was written by a man obviously, but it is too funny not to post.

Girls -- Please have a sense of humor!

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE:

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, 'I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me.'

I said, 'WHAT??!! What was that?!'

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear..

'You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.'

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, 'Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, 'Lets get a pair for each outfit.'

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you... She was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, 'That's fine, honey.' She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, 'I think this is all Dear, let's go to the cashier.'

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, 'No honey, I don't feel like it.'

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled, 'WHAT?'

I then said, 'Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.'

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, 'Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?'

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.....but at least that woman knows I'm smarter than her.

Do blondes have more fun?

2009-08-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

So anyone who really knows me knows that I get bored with my hair often, so I change it. I finally took the plunge and went blonde. I've never done blonde before because it is higher maintenance than other colors, plus I guess I didn't think it would look good. I've been doing highlights for a few months and really liked them, so decided to take the plunge. I actually really like it. It did take a few days to recognize myself in the mirror. These pictures are courtesy of Leora, my little photographer.

to the next 10 years!

2009-07-30T11:10:00.000-07:00

Eddie and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on July 17th. We spent a full week together without children, thanks to my mom. It was a fabulous week, and one that was much needed for both of us. We spent most of the time doing whatever we wanted to, where ever we want to be at the moment. The freedom of not having to plan ahead with children. We loved it. We spent a few days camping out on the boat. We anchored off of Hope Island one night and Squaxin Island another. The rest of the time we cruised around the south puget sound area, docking whenever we wanted to go ashore to sightsee. Here are some photos:

Is she really 4?

2009-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Leora turned 4 on July 12th!! It feels weird that my youngest is already 4. I guess it's because I expected to have another child younger than her when she reached 4, but obviously that's not in god's plan. Leora only wanted a pink ipod for her birthday. A 4 year old asking for a ipod. Silly girl! Well, luckily her father works for a pawn change, so we went and got her a pink ipod. Leora also wanted to go to the movie theater for her birthday. When given her options she chose to see Wolverine - X men origins. Once again I was surprised by her choice, considering the pool included UP, Ice Age 3, and other kids movies.

No more 30 for me

2009-07-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was happy to call myself 30, but 31 feels much older. I still want to say I'm 30 years old. For my birthday we went to the zoo, one of my favorite places to be. I love being around the animals. Our zoo is giving camel rides, so I wanted the girls to experience it. Just like I did as a child. I had to work on my birthday of course so we only got to spend the morning together. :( It was great to see my girls ride the camels though! Made my day!

And She's 7!

2009-06-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Emma had her 7th birthday this week. It's really hard to accept that I have a 7 year old. On her birthday we took her to Red Robin for dinner, since she's been asking to go there for months. She opened her gifts from Eddie, Leora, and I. Eddie got her the High School Musical karaoke game that has all the songs with the videos playing while you sing. Emma sang the rest of the night.

Her party was the next day after school from 5 to 8pm. It was a pajama party. We had invited 12 girls thinking that half of them would come. Well, everyone of them came! I couldn't believe it. I really wasn't anticipating them all coming. Luckily for me my friend Jenette offered to help me contain the crazy, screaming girls. We started off with pizza, then decorated their party hat visors. By that point I needed them to go outside to regain some sanity and have some time to clean up.

They sang to Emma 3 times, then had Tinkerbelle cupcakes, and watched "Flushed Away". These 12 little girls ate 6 bags of microwave popcorn!!!! They would have eaten more if I had more, but I thought 6 bags would have been plenty. These girls liked popcorn with their movie. They made it about an hour into the movie and lost interest, so we turned it off and put on the High School Musical Karaoke game. Each girl took a turn singing with Emma. They had a good time.

Point to learn from: Don't invite 12 little girls if you don't want to handle 12 little girls, and don't make it a 3 hour party!!!

Check this out! Sextuplets!!

2009-06-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

I just learned that a friend of mine is expecting sextuplets!! Crazy!!! Here is their website:

www.stanseljourney.com

Thomas is a friend I hung out with during my summers in Texas during high school. Really a good guy. Good Luck Thomas!

Oh how they grow!

2009-06-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Leora has seemed to be going through a growth spurt lately. Here are some recent pictures of her. She is so full of life and lots of fun to have around. I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 in July.

Why aren't you here already?

2009-05-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

I am so ready for this school year to be over! I crave the lazy summer mornings where I can sleep in and not be thinking about everything having to do with the daily school routine. Unfortunately it is too early for me to be wishing for it. Since we had so much stupid snow this winter Emma's last day of school isn't until June 23rd. JUNE 23RD PEOPLE!!!!!!! That's an entire month away. Right now that month seems so long. I keep finding myself wanting to just let Emma sleep in and miss school. I know, shame on me. I need to do better!

My little Posers!

2009-05-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

During a shopping trip to Old Navy last month my girls asked if they could have pictures taken with the mannequins that are all over the store. They were so funny posing with the various mannequins. The store associates recommended they go to the front of the store and pose with the "cool" mannequins, meanwhile everyone else who witnessed the photo session was laughing at us. Here are some of the results:

Bascompalooza 2009

2009-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

May 7th to 9th was a Bascom ladies reunion in Seattle! My sisters Steffinie (from Houston,TX) and Leilani (from Boston, MA) flew to Seattle so we could spend some sister time together. Coinsidently my Dad was also in town on business for some of the days so we all went to dinner one night. We had a sleepover at my house one night when Eddie was out of town in Salt Lake. It was complete with ice cream sandwiches, singing and dancing along with ABBA, and watching chick flicks. We of course slept in the next morning, true to being a bascom lady. We walked around Seattle the next day (followed the pigs to Pike's Market) and had fish and chips at Alki beach. I love my sisters!!!!!!!

Me, Dad, Steffinie, Lindsay, and Leilani (with Little Leora)

Walk Down Embarcadero!

2009-04-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

I went to Oakland for a Jetblue training last week and spent one evening walking down Embarcardero Drive with fellow crewmembers from the Bart train station to Fisherman's Wharf. Here are a few photos I took. It was my first time being in San Francisco.

Can I Say it to the Dogs?

2009-03-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

So Leora has been testing me lately on what words she is allowed to say. I admit that she hears us say things sometimes that aren't appropriate for her to say. A couple of days ago she told Emma to "Shut up". I told her not to say that to her sister. It isn't nice to say to people. Because I know she has heard me yell "Shut up" to the dogs I told her she could only say that to the dogs.

Yesterday morning she was playing with some dolls while I was getting ready for work. Her dolls were talking to each other and one of them said "What the hell!" I asked her what she just said and she ignored me like she does when she knows she did something wrong. I asked her why she said that and again she ignored me. So I told her that she shouldn't say that and it's not appropriate for little girls to talk that way even when they are playing. She replied by asking, "Well, Can I say it to the dogs?" I smiled at the question and said no not even to the dogs.

She may only be 3 years old, but is pretty quick sometimes.

Gun Control - My $.02

2009-03-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am so angry about Congress hiding gun control legislation in one of the stimulus packages. Democrats are using the fear of the people to push gun control legislation hidden underneath an economic stimulus package. That is so wrong, manipulative, and is taking advantage of the american people who are desperate for change for our economy. Eddie and I are strong supporters of the 2nd amendment. I even have a concealed weapons permit myself! I don't carry a gun by my choice, but can if I ever felt like I need to. I've heard the arguments for gun control and they are Bull S**T! I am a firm believer that if you take peoples guns away, or limit the ability to get a gun so severely, the only people left with them will be police and criminals. The criminals far outnumber the police people!

I want to share an email I received from a friend back before Obama was elected. I take no credit for it, but want to share it.

A LITTLE GUN HISTORY

In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------------

China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up and exterminated
------------------------------

Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves,
were rounded up an d exterminated.
---- ------------- -------------

Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were
rounded up and exterminated.
------------------------

Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated' people, unable to defend
themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
-----------------------------

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.
------------------------------

It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results are now in:

List of 7 items:

Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent

Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent

Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!

In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent. Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not, and criminals still possess their guns!

While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.

There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense was expended in successfully
ridding Australian society of guns The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

You won't see this datum on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.

Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws adversely affect only the
law-abiding citizens.

Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, please remind them of this history lesson.

With guns, we are 'citizens'. Without them, we are 'subjects'.

During WWII the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED!&n bsp;

If you value your freedom, Please spread this anti-gun control message to all of your friends.

The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.

As John Steinbeck once said:

1. Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

2. If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.

3. I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.

4. When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away.

5. A reporter did a human-interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him 'Why do you carry a 45?' The Ranger responded, 'Because they don't make a 46.'

6. An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.

7. The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. 'Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?' 'No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle.'

8. Beware the man who only has one gun. HE PROBABLY KNOWS HOW TO USE IT!!!

But wait, there's more!

I was once asked by a lady visiting if I had a gun in the house. I said I did. She said 'Well I certainly hope it isn't loaded!'
To which I said, 'Of course it is loaded, can't work without bullets!' She then asked, 'Are you that afraid of someone evil
coming into your house?' My reply was, 'No, not at all. I am not afraid of the house catching fire either, but I have fire extinguishers around, and they are all loaded too.' To which I'll add, having a gun in the house that isn't loaded is like having a car in the garage without gas in the tank.

Tiger Day at the Zoo

2009-02-25T11:43:00.002-08:00

Anyone who really knows me knows that I love tigers! They are so beautiful and amazing. If I could have a pet tiger I would. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a tiger keeper at the zoo, so I could be around them. Our zoo had tiger day this last Saturday. I of course wanted to go, and took the girls and some friends with me. We learned that they eat 60lbs of meat a week, and can leap 18 feet. We learned what tigers are saying when they make different sounds, and watched them play with some special tiger toys. The zoo has 2 Sumatran tigers. Java is the male, and Jaya is the female. Java moved to the zoo only a year or so ago to try to get the two tigers to mate. Java is young and there evidently is no tigerly love between the two. They put them together once and it turned out so badly they probably won't try it again.

This picture was taken through the glass so it didn't turn out well, but they had put chunks of meat in this ball and would pull it up to get Jaya to jump up for it. She has to spin the ball to get the meat to come out. Here she is holding onto it so the zoo keeper couldn't pull it back up. She ways about 200 lbs.

What we've been up to?

2009-02-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted stuff for a while about what we are up to so here is a hodgepodge of things.

My brother Erik left on his mission to Albuquerque, NM. We went out to Utah for his farewell. Leora took this picture of him!

I got to see my sisters. It was great being all together again.

This is how Leora and I get around the airport! We get a lot of laughs, but hey I don't have to hear her complain about walking or wanting to be carried and she enjoys the ride!

It is getting harder now that she is getting bigger so it may not last much longer. Her feet drag on the ground now, which is rough on her shoes.

Emma has now lost 5 teeth! Her smile is pretty funny these days! Her big teeth don't fit her small mouth, and her new teeth are coming in very slowly.

Leora wanted to ride the motorcycle arcade game while we were waiting for a lane at the bowling alley. I think Leora has a bit of Eddie in her!

Emma asked if she could take cooking lessons. I told her that we didn't need to pay someone to teach her how to cook. I said "My mom taught me and her mom taught her, so I can teach you how to cook." This is Emma's first creation! She made a cake for Valentine's Day. She decorated it herself and was very proud of it!

So Molly is getting old! This day her back hip was obviously causing her a lot of problem. I was sad that she might not be around much longer. Molly now takes Glucosamine/Chondroitin tablets everyday for her joints. They are really helping.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

2009-01-28T19:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know about all of you, but I have always loved the music of ABBA. I have extremely fond memories of dancing and singing along with their songs as a child with my 3 sisters. "Dancing Queen" was our anthem as little girls. Both my parents remember very well how much we loved that song and would put on performances in the back seat of the car (back when seatbelts weren't required!)

One day a few weeks ago I decided to rent the movie "Mamma Mia" that recently was released. Eddie was out of town, so there was no worry of resistance to the pick. It was a fun movie, filled with all my favorite ABBA songs. I admit I starting singing along multiple times. The greatest thing about it was Emma's reaction to the music. When the movie was over Emma immediately asked if we could watch it again. I just smiled and gave in! We had a ball the second time around, Singing and Dancing. Emma told me, "Mom, we definitely need to get that movie!". She was upset the next day when I told I had returned the DVD already.

The girls and I went to Utah a couple days afterwards for my brother Erik's missionary farewell. All my siblings were there, which hasn't happened in really long time. It just happened that me, my girls, and my 3 sisters all stayed at my mom's house together. I told them about Emma and the movie. Emma insisted on a performance. So I pulled out my Zune and with Phillips help as DJ we all danced and sang ABBA together again with my mom included. It was probably hilarious to watch, but it brought back a lot of memories and added one more to the book. This time my daughters were included. Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Disneyland Fun!

2009-01-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't gotten these posted earlier. I actually still have more photos, but have decided not to prolong this post. We went to Disneyland with some of Eddie's family January 2nd to 5th. Complements of Eddie's parents, it was our christmas gift from them. The girls had a great time being with their cousins, Milo and Mason. Both girls are still talking about their experiences at Disneyland.

One of their highlights was being invited to have a privae meeting with some of the princesses. As we were walking to the long line of people waiting to see some of the princesses a Disney employee approached us and told us the wait in line was currently 1 1/2 hours, but she wanted to offer our girls an opportunity to privately meet with 2 princesses. I of course thought that there had to be a catch. However, there wasn't. There was no cost hiding around the corner. She said it was the last day of "A Year of a Million Dreams" and she had an opening in 20 minutes that she wanted to give our girls. We of course accepted! The girls got to go back stage in the Princess pavillion and privately sit with and talk to Snow White and Sleeping Beauty/Aurora. It was a very special moment.

Another fun experience was the character breakfast we went to. Goofy's Kitchen! We went Monday morning and had a good time. There were hardly any other people there because everyone was back in school, so we got to have lots of interaction with the characters. Most of them kept coming back to us over and over. The kids were able to spend good times, and the food was actually good. I definitely recommend it. It was fun for everyone that morning.

Emma got to participate in Jedi Training. They taught them the basics of how to use a light saber and each child had the chance to fight Darth Vader. Emma was awesome! She jumped up trying to hit Darth Vader in the head with her light saber, because he was towering over her. It was fun to watch.

It was also nice to spend multiple days seeing the sights and going on the rides, rather than doing it all in one day. I've always just crammed it into one full day, so it was a new experience for me. Next time we'll try to visit Calfornia Adventure too. We didn't get a chance to see the sites there. Another thing that was fun was that Disneyland changes things for Christmas time. It's a Small World sings Jingle Bells and the Haunted Mansion turns into A Nightmare Before Chrismas. They add snow and icicles to the castle and have a big fireworks show to holiday music. I never knew that Disneyland did that for the holidays.

Some Holiday Adventures

2008-12-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

Making a Gingerbread House

Meeting with Santa!

When we were covered in snow!

Opening Christmas Presents! Excited for Ballet Clothes!

Singing Karaoke Christmas Morning with Lindsay

Go away Snow!!! GO AWAY!!!!!!

2008-12-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

I have to say that I love how beautiful snow is, and it looks beautiful when it's falling from the sky and on the trees and mountaintops. I've always enjoyed drinking hot chocolate from the comforts of inside watching the snow fall outside. However these snow storms we've had in the Northwest are causing real big problems. Especially in Gig Harbor! People have been without power for days, luckily ours wasn't out very long. Most communities in Gig Harbor get their water from wells which run on electric pumps, so no power means no water too.

The snow just keeps coming and coming! The cities here don't have the equipment to clear the snow between storms and won't use salt on the roads because they say it hurts the environment. So the roads, especially on raft island are awful. It snows and gets packed down, it freezes and turns to ice, then it snows on top of that and it becomes an vicious cycle. Today it started to rain and made it even worse. Now the slush will freeze tonight and make real dangerous ice.

I feel like I've been stuck in my house for a week, resisting the snow. My shoulder hurts from shoveling so much snow. Our driveway is really long and I've shoveled it twice. I refuse to shovel any more snow! The worst part is that we don't really see an end in sight.

Atleast the kids have been enjoying the snow. It has caused the school to take 3 snow days already, and it would have been more it the winter holiday break hadn't come. The girls have been playing in the snow all week. It's also a good thing we already had snow gear, since all the stores are out of snow boots and gloves. Not a single store in the county has snow chains for tires, and some gas stations are beginning to run out of fuel. UPS can't get me my packages before christmas because of all this snow.

What a Day!

2008-12-17T21:21:00.000-08:00

All I can say right now is "What a Day!". It started at 4am this morning. I woke up to see the power had gone out and all the clocks were flashing. It appears the power went out at 2am. Then I got a telephone call at 6am from the school district telling me that school was being cancelled for the day due to freezing temperatures and snow forcast throughout the day.

Now, I had planned to spend the day making caramel and christmas treats to hand out. I even thought that having Emma home would actually help today since I didn't have to keep watching the clock. Well, needless to say, it was a nonstop, crazy day. First thing this morning, I helped the girls bundle up so they could go play in the fresh snow, hopped in the shower and started getting ready. Eddie called and said the Comcast cable guy was almost to the house to fix the internet, so I rushed to get the dogs inside so they didn't bother him. While the cable guy was here the two neighbor girls came over asking if Emma and Leora could play. I welcomed them in knowing they would help keep the girls busy. I started making caramel since it takes an hour to make and I had a lot of work I needed to get done. While making the caramel I was talking with the cable guy, talking with Zara from next door who seemed to be more interested in me than playing with the girls, and was trying to keep things for the girls to do (playdough & movie "Horton hears a Who" were some solutions).

With all the distractions this morning and my schedule being thoroughly thrown off I had completely forgotten to feed the dogs breakfast! The dogs get very irritable when they don't get their food. Normally it is obvious that when I forget to feed them because they keep bugging me until I do, but with the neighbors over I think they were distracted too. Molly started a fight with Leo over a piece of food the girls had dropped on the floor that she wanted! It was pretty intense between them so I got mad and put them outside. The dogs fight occasionally, and Molly usually instigates it. This time Molly got her comeupance! When Leo bit her ear during their scuffle he tore a 2 inch hole threw it and cut her in a couple spots on her face. She had blood all over her face and throat. When I saw the hole I flipped out.

Eddie had taken my car to work since his car couldn't make it up our driveway this morning. So I was left with his car and the truck, which wouldn't fit me, Molly, and the girls together. The roads were bad because of the snow. I just kept saying, "You had to get in a fight today! Of all days! Today!" I really didn't want to leave the house and fight the weather. I cleaned her wound and tried to bandage it. She immediately got the bandage off, so I decided I needed to take her to the vet. I called a few local vets cause I didn't want to drive the distance to her usual vet. No one answered their phones, and some of them were closed because the schools were closed. That's what you get for living in a small town I guess. I found a vet in Purdy that could see her, so my neighbor let the girls go over there and I took Molly in. The snow was bad enough that I just stayed at the vets office during the procedure rather than risk going anywhere. Molly is now all bandaged up, which she keeps trying to get off. We carried her to the truck because she was still pretty tipsy after the procedure was done and I wanted to get home.

It was an expensive fix for Molly too. My jaw dropped when they told me how much it cost for the procedure. I was wishing I had just taken her to her usual vet. It would have saved me a lot of money. They nickled and dimed me for everything. I'm going to dispute some of the charges when I go back on Friday to have her bandages changed.

So a day of making christmas treats turned into a day I don't want to repeat anytime soon.

Zoolights at Pt Defiance

2008-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to see the Zoolights display at Pt Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. They had lots of fun light displays of all the different animals and local places. My favorite was Mt Rainier and the Tacoma Narrows bridges. Another good one was a display of a bald eagle flying down out of the tree, catching a fish out of a stream and then taking the fish up to a nest full of baby eagles. They really put a lot of work into the displays. They use only LED lights. Evidently LED lights will save you 75% on your holiday light bill versus regular lights. The zoo is of course into conservation.

Emma was disappointed that there weren't more animals out. We had to explain that they were sleeping and the zoo doesn't want to disrupt their sleeping patterns. It was nice walking around the zoo through all the lights sipping hot chocolate. Well, Emma and I were sipping hot chocolate. Oh, how we love hot chocolate!

My First Apple Pie - Experiment

2008-12-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

I love to make pies! So I volunteered to make the pies for this years festivities. This Thanksgiving I had a request for apple pie by Jeff, my brother in law, who evidently loves apple pie. I am usually not a fan of apple pie for various reasons. The crust is usually too dry and overcooked because the pie cooks so long to fully cook all the apples. Then the pieces of apple are normally too large so they don't cook properly and pull out of the pie when you try to eat it, leaving part of your slice of pie empty. I admit I don't choose apple pie to eat if there is another option, so I haven't tried very many apple pies. However, because I've never had an apple pie I thought was really good and learned Eddie felt the same way, I was eager to take on the challenge of making an awesome apple pie.

I searched for about a week online, reading reviews and ratings, and looking at butter content. Jeff told me that a good apple pie is all about lots of butter. When I saw the "Elegant Farmer Apple Pie" recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/apple-pie-baked-in-a-bag-recipe/index.html I knew I had found the recipe I totally wanted to try. You bake the pie in a paper bag! The logic behind it was so clear to me that I thought it could make the crust great.

The pie turn out tasting very good, but not so pretty. The pretty factor had a lot to do with my apple pie making inexperience probably. I have to admit that a scoop of vanilla ice cream was required to really make the pie good for me. I will try the recipe again. Next time I probably won't cook it as long and add a little more sugar to the filling. The apples were on the verge of being over cooked, but could easily be sliced through when eating which was a plus for me. I used Granny Smith apples. There is so much butter in the crust that it made it very soft and reminded me of a cobbler crust. The top crust fell during cooling when the apples settled, which disappointed me. It was very full of apples and not much extra filling. The apples punctured the crust during settling because the crust was so delicate.

Jeff kept a few pieces for himself before I took the remaining pie home so I took that as a good sign that it turned out pretty well.

Miss E's Ballet Class

2008-11-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

Emma has started taking ballet classes. She takes lessons from an 18 year old girl, named Elise, in our stake that attends the Tacoma School of Ballet. The lessons are at Elise's house. Right now there are only 2 girls in her class, so it's nice how she gets lots of attention from the instructor. She really enjoys learning the different positions, watching herself in the mirror, and dressing up in her ballet garb. She hasn't gotten real ballet shoes yet, waiting until Christmas to hand those out, but loves to show us her ballet moves. In case you didn't already know, Emma loves being dramatic! Just check out these pictures! Here are a couple little videos from her most recent lesson.

They always get to have a Ballet Freestyle portion of class:

My Twilight Movie Review

2008-11-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

So you all know that I am a fan of the Twilight books. Mostly because I am a fanatic for vampires. For me there's just something sensual about them. So of course I was going to see the new movie by Summit Entertainment. I went opening day at 4:30pm with my sister Lindsay.

I like reading user reviews on Yahoo before I go see a movie. For those of you who don't know what those are they are ordinary people that have seen the movie and write and rate what they saw. Yesterday I started reading the User Reviews of Twilight and I felt very disappointed about what people were saying. The first 4 reviews posted that I read rated the movie a D! The average rating was a C+, so some were better and some were worse.

I'm rating this movie a B-! And that is being generous. As my sister Lindsay put it, "It was just what we expected it to be, not great". However, if you are a young teenager you will probably really like it. The movie was absolutely catered to that crowd. It was full of immature moments and cheesy lines, some of which are direct quotes from the book. The theater had lots of young teenage girls that kept screaming at parts throughout the movie. They made the movie worse by being so distracting.

This movie's greatest downfall was it's director, Catherine Hardwicke. She did not do a good job. If and when they make another movie, which the movie ending eludes to, they absolutely need a different director. It is the directors job to direct the actors, to inspire and get the right performance out of the actors, and she did not do that. She didn't have the right vision or ability to lead the actors to where they needed to go.

So if you can't tell, some of the acting was bad. I actually didn't mind Kristen Stewart's performance. Bella in the book is awkward and not too interesting. That's what makes her so ordinary and loved. I felt Kristen achieved that and did okay. My biggest problem was with Robert Pattinson's performance. It felt very forced most the time. The most irritating thing was his facial expressions. They portrayed ideas and emotions that weren't accurate with what I think he was trying to. He confused me! His performance is one of the reasons I blame the director, because sometimes he achieved the right reaction, but there were many key times he confused the audience with his facial expressions. There were many lines that could have been delivered better or maybe just written better, many left the audience laughing instead of helping the story along. Also, if you haven't read the book many of Edwards reactions to Bella at first won't make any sense to you.

Last, the special effects weren't too bad. I thought it was fun and added to the movie, but you could tell there wasn't a big budget for them. They basically used a lot of wire rigs. The FX when Edward is in sunlight looked weird to me and didn't dazzle me. :( I kept waiting for him to dazzle me.

I think Robert Pattinson was cast as Edward just because he has a great smile, since that was the only time I felt he was dazzling. Also, Rosalie should have been a lot more beautiful!!! They should have cast someone that is a natural blonde. Nikki Reed didn't suit the look. Emmett (Kellan Lutz) and Alice (Ashley Greene) were fun. Peter Facinelli did a great performance as Carlisle. Billy also did well. He pulled it off with some great humor. Jacob's wig wasn't as bad as I had heard, and I think Taylor Lautner is a better actor than Robert Pattinson.

Since this blog is already way too long! Thanks for reading! Take this all for what it's worth.

YouTube Rocks! Star Wars Tribute!

2008-11-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is lots of fun! In my opinion, impressive. YouTube has so much stuff on it. I love checking out what people put on there. This is a tribute to Star Wars/John Williams that someone posted.

Our Halloween this Year!

2008-11-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

This year we had lots of fun for Halloween. We made caramel apples, went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and carved lots of pumpkins to decorate our driveway and porch. Emma was Ariel from the Little Mermaid and Leora was a Bumblebee. I made Emma's costume and Leora used one of Emma's past halloween costumes. We tried to spray Emma's hair orange, but the color just didn't show up very well on her dark hair. Next time we know she'll need a wig.
Eddie and I took the girls around to about 12 houses and decided we had walked enough. Houses aren't right next to each other on the island and lots of people weren't participating. :( We learned that not very many kids trick or treat on the island because of that. We probably only got 10 trick or treaters all night long. I was a little disappointed since Halloween is possibly my favorite holiday. We just have a lot of candy left over. Emma and her neighbor friends helped me decorate our front porch with spiders and cobwebs. We put jack-o-lanterns along our driveway to make sure people knew they were welcome. I didn't want the thought of barking dogs to scare away trick or treaters. Surprisingly the dogs behaved very well. They just hung out in our bedroom most of the night. They didn't bark at the doorbell a single time. It was miraculous!

I Guess She Wanted a Mullet!

2008-10-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Our little Leora decided yesterday morning, while I was doing the dishes downstairs dealing with a plugged dishwasher, to cut her own hair. I admit that she had ample time to do this since I was very focused on unplugging the dishwasher. I have caught her cutting her hair before, but it has only been minor cuts and she mostly would trim her hair. However, this morning she went to town on it. These pictures don't even really show the extent of the damage she accomplished.

She cut out so many huge chunks of hair, and left quite a few bald spots. The sink was full of hair. She pretty much had cut herself a mullet! Cut off most the hair on the top and sides of her head. Now my initial reaction was just shock. She already had so little hair, and we have been waiting 3 years for that to grow. I was so surprised that she cut so much off also because she loved having the long hair, or so she said. My next reaction was to laugh, but that was short lived since I figured I should get mad at her. After telling her how naughty it was to cut her hair I called Eddie to tell him. I kept laughing about it while I told him what she had done while Leora sat in my lap crying. I couldn't decide what to do with her hair since she butchered it so badly. Eddie told me to shave her head! I could only hear Colleen Abbott's voice in my head telling me not to do that. Her mother shaved her head at age 3 believing it would help her hair grow back in thicker, and she told me once that I should never do that to my children.

I decided the only other option was to cut her hair real short and hope it grows back in in those bald spots soon. It will probably take a few months with how fast Leora's hair grows. When I told Leora that we needed to cut off the rest of her hair because of what she had done she freaked out. I put her on the bathroom counter kicking and screaming. Each time she would start to calm down while I was cutting her hair she would look in the mirror and see me cutting the hair and start crying again. Hopefully she was traumatized enough by the event that she won't do it again.

Funny that I took her out to a couple of stores yesterday and to Emma's soccer practice and no one said anything about her hair. No one laughed or said anything! I concluded that maybe they thought she could be a cancer patient or had some disease and was loosing her hair.

After the inital shock, I have to say that the haircut is growing on me and she doesn't care anymore that it has been cut. Eddie's new nickname for her is "Butch", she gets mad at him everytime he calls her that. With any luck it will help her hair grow in faster from having the drastic haircut.

Karaoke Songs

2008-10-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, ever since Eddie's birthday we play SingStar on the PS3 atleast once a week. Emma more often! But I've discovered that it is fun to Karaoke. So I have put together a playlist of my favorite songs to sing. My all time favorites are "Total Eclipse of the Heart -Bonnie Tyler" by myself, "Time after Time -Cindy Lauper" with Emma, and "It's Tricky - RunDMC" with Eddie. The playlist is here on my blog, and if you are reading this from my actual blog then you are probably already listening to it! Enjoy it for what it's worth. =) Be warned there are some country songs!!!!

Cut's Island aka Dead Man's Island

2008-09-30T10:47:00.001-07:00

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that we took the boat over to Cut's Island, which is a small island that is really close to our home. It is known by the locals as Dead Man's Island. It is part of Kopachuck State Park and can only be reached by boat or swimming to when the tide is low. When the sun is out you can see seal's laying out in the sun to warm up. Last night we saw this baby seal and his friend seagull. The seal kept moving up the sand closer and closer to us when the water would touch him, and this seagull would follow. They were good friends!

The seal didn't seem to care that we were there. Emma got within 10 feet of the seal and it just looked at her. She said it was talking to her, but she couldn't understand the language.

We built a fire to grill burgers and hot dogs for dinner. It's hard to feed children on a beach when they keep playing in the sand. Did you know that sand gets everywhere and on everything!?! Eddie brought his fishing pole to try to catch a fish. He still hasn't caught any around the island! I think this was his 6th attempt. We'll just say that he doesn't have the patience to sit and wait! However, I did get this great picture of him trying.

I've been wanting to get a nice picture of the sunset from Raft Island, where we live, because it is always so beautiful. So we waited until sunset before packing up to head home. I took quite a few pictures, but here are my favorites.

I also got a picture of Raft Island from Cut's. This picture gives you more of an idea of where we live. People ask me all the time if there are any stores or gas stations on the island. There are only about 80 houses there. There isn't room for anything else. On the right is the small bridge and the picture cuts off on the left at the edge of the island.

Saturday Night Live! Sara and Hillary!

2008-09-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

Did you see this skit on Saturday Night Live? It is super funny! I love the interaction between the two of them. Hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PxJfaNgDoE

Sorry! The link doesn't work anymore. NBC took the clip off of Youtube for copyright reasons.

Eddie's Birthday

2008-09-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

Eddie had his birthday yesterday. He's 31 now! He received lots of texts, emails, and phone calls to wish him happy birthday. He told me he was super surprised at the amount of attention he received for his birthday, especially since he would let us forget it if he could. Of course with me as a wife there is no chance of that! Eddie got off work early so he could attend Emma's soccer practice. Afterwards we drove up to Port Orchard to have dinner at a Chinese Buffet. There aren't very many of them around here, and Seattle was too long of a drive for the evening. When we got home we celebrated with candles and cake. Emma said her Dad needed to have a red and white cake, so I made a Red Velvet cake with whipped cream. Emma wanted him to have a Utah cake!

The girls and I gave Eddie the new PS3 game SingStar. It's a super fun karaoke game that let's you download new songs directly from the game while connected to the internet. Each download includes the original music video which you watch while you sing the song. After you sing you have the option of listening to the audio recording of your performance. We definitely need lots more practice! We didn't realize we sounded so bad!!!!!! You can also purchase an eye camera to go with the game which allows you to watch yourself on the TV while you karaoke, then you can share your performances with other people online. It's suppose to be the last karaoke game you will ever need to buy, since you can download additional songs that you want. Needless to say, we ended up playing the game for about 2 hours last night.

Our Professional Soccer Player!

2008-09-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Emma had her first soccer game today! She loves playing soccer and is learning lots. She mostly plays defense, and gets super excited when she kicks the ball away from someone to keep the ball away from the goal. Most of the game she was too concerned about staying in her position to get real involved, but towards the end she started going after the ball when in came inside her area. Emma says she loves playing soccer, and told our neighbor that she is going to be a professional soccer player.

Unfortunately her team lost their first game, but her coach didn't point it out. Emma announced after the game to us that no one won the game! It was just like practice! Her team is made up of 1st and 2nd grade girls. The team is called the "Voyager Huskies". They practice every Monday after school and have their games every Saturday through November 8th.

I ordered the smallest jersey size for Emma and the jersey goes down past her knees! So she always tucks it into her shorts. She is definitely the smallest girl on the team. The other parents kept commenting to each other at the game "Who is that little girl? Is she in 1st grade?". They were also commenting on how enthusiastic she was during the game. She just kept running, skipping, and jumping in place the entire game, even when she was on the sidelines. Eddie shakes his head every time he sees her skipping across the field. I can't help but smile because I know she is having fun. It's fun to see her enjoy the game so much, since soccer is my favorite sport to play.

And She's Off Again!

2008-09-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Emma started school today! She was very excited to be going back to school. She's a 1st grader! Her teachers name is Ms. Conti. We all know Emma is not a morning person and getting her out of bed to get off to school is not always the easiest. This morning she was excited to get out of bed and get dressed in the clothes she had picked out last night. She wasn't as excited to brush her teeth and get her hair done. Emma had a stomach ache this morning when it was time to have breakfast, so she didn't feel like eating. She was either too excited for school or a little bit nervous. Nevertheless, Emma went off to her first day of school without breakfast!

SeaWorld - San Antonio, TX

2008-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Emma has been wanting to go to SeaWorld for over a year, so I decided it would be a good time to visit my father and sister down in Texas. We spent two days at SeaWorld, San Antonio. We had lots of fun. Emma finally got to touch a dolphin, which she said felt like glass.

We spent the first day seeing all the animals and shows with Tonya (my stepmother). We got drenched by a 10 minute rain downpour in the morning, and spent the rest of the day in the blazing sun. The high temperature that day got to 96 degrees. Both girls favorite show was "The Cannery Row Caper" sea lion and walrus show. It was super funny!

Leora fell in love with the Sea Lions after watching the show. We fed the sea lions afterwards and she freaked out when it was time to leave their exhibit.

We spent the second day at the "Lost Lagoon" waterpark with Steffinie (my sister) and her children. The girls had lots of fun being with their cousins and playing in the water.

Overall it was a fun trip for us. The only downer was when we got stuck in the Phoenix Airport on standby on our way home to Seattle. We ended up spending 10 hours in the airport being bumped from 2 flights. Instead of getting home at 6pm as originally planned we got home at 2am the next morning. The girls were real troopers.

You can view all of our pictures of the trip in the photo album that's on our family website. The link is on the right!!!!

What a Wonderful Day!

2008-08-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday, August 17th was a fun day for us. We went berry picking, dug for clams, and went out boating. We did it all without even leaving Raft Island. We live in such a great place! My sister Lindsay came down from Bellevue to spend the day with us. Our berries turned into a yummy blackberry cobbler, and Eddie ended up with a bucket full of clams which he was very excited about.

Of course the water was rather cold as usual on the boat, the skies were overcast, and of course with my luck we got a little rained on. While Emma was in the water she said, "I'm roasting it's so cold in here!". It was a good laugh.

Breaking Dawn

2008-08-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have to admit that I am a big Twilight series fan. I loved the first 3 books. So since I get off work at midnight most of the time I decided that on my way home at 12:30am the morning of August 2nd I would stop by the super Walmart and pick up the book. That way Eddie didn't have to go with me to Costco or Target just to get the book, and so I could avoid him rolling his eyes at me. I finished the book in 4 days. Slower than other people I know, but according to Eddie, way too fast. His words were, "That must be a really good book!" Well, the truth is that I did like the book, however, was disappointed by Stephenie Meyer. I know that the series is categorized under teen books and is therefore advertised to the world of teenagers. The first 3 books of the series I felt were age appropriate for teens, but the 4th book is not.

I just kept thinking while I was reading "Breaking Dawn" that there were so many young teenagers, meaning age 12 to 15, that were reading this book at the same time I was that I felt shouldn't be reading it. There were moments in the book that I felt were too steamy for a young teenager to be reading. We try to shield our children from certain things until they are mature enough to really understand them. I feel that she wrote the book very tastefully, but just kept thinking about a 13 year old reading the book bothered me.

I admit that I liked the steamy moments and other violence that has escalated from the previous books. It made the book better for me, and is what kept me reading. Unfortunately it also kept younger readers reading on as well. If Stephenie's book "The Host" was categorized as an adult book then "Breaking Dawn" definitely should have been the same!

I won't put any spoilers in here, since most people haven't finished the book yet. The book made me love Jacob more, and get really irritated at Bella a lot of the time.

A New Haircut?

2008-07-25T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been thinking about cutting my hair for sometime now, wanting something more in style and edgy. So I took the leap yesterday and here are my results. I have to admit I don't know how I feel about it. After it was done, I thought "Oh, it's real short but pretty much what I asked for". Then last night I thought "I really don't like it, what have I done!" I did wear it yesterday the way the cutter styled it, which was entirely rolled under. It made me feel old I think. So after playing with it for hours today trying to make something out of it that I can live with, and adding highlights, this is what I came up with. Keep in mind I am cursed with having very thin, and a very little amount of hair. The hair cut I wanted obviously requires more hair than what I have on my head to make it manageable. So what do you think? I want honest opinions on what you think and any recommendations on what I might do to make it look better! To achieve my look I blow dryed my hair upside down and used a flat iron on it.

Happy 30th to Me!

2008-07-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

So for my 30th birthday present to myself I took Eddie to Boston, MA to go see Bon Jovi in concert! I have for some reason always wanted to see Bon Jovi in concert and it was the one thing I regretted not doing while I worked for Jetblue in Utah. So since I've started working for Jetblue again I knew that going to see Bon Jovi in concert was definitely at the top of my list of things to do. Thanks to my sister Lindsay, who gave me the heads up that they were performing back east, I was one of the crazy people that sat online waiting for tickets to go on sale one morning to get seats to see Bon Jovi in Boston.

We left late Tuesday night, July 8th, flew through the night and arrived super tired in Boston Wednesday morning. Luckily we were able to check into our hotel, the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, early so we were able to get some sleep in before the concert that night. Temperatures in Boston were around 90 degrees and high humidity, so needless to say we were missing our Washington weather, and only survived in shorts and t-shirts. We packed very light, only what would fit in our backpacks. We rode the subway around most the time, which I highly recommend! We would have gotten so angry if we had rented a car trying to get around.

We had dinner at a small little Italian restaurant named "Antico Forno" which was recommended to us by someone at the airport. We had to go out for Italian while we were in Boston! I've never had Olive Oil that tasted so good.

The concert was so much fun!!!!! Bon Jovi really knows how to put on a show, and you can tell they love doing it. I want to go see them again. The All American Rejects opened for them and they did a good job, but I have to say I wasn't impressed and thought they were actually really weird during their performance. Atleast they sang the songs of theirs that I like! The concert was at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The next day, after sleeping in until almost noon, we walked around the city of Boston. We had fried dough for breakfast from one of the street vendors at Boston Common, and proceeded to walk along the Freedom Trail. We walked through the cemetery where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock and victims of the Boston Massacre are buried. We saw Paul Revere's house, and walked around on Old Ironsides in the harbor. Boston was so beautiful! I loved being able to walk through so much history and the city was so accessible using the subway. Eddie and I both agree that we want to go back and visit again.

Indian Reservation Fireworks

2008-07-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

We got to experience illegal fireworks at the Muckleshoot Indian reservation this week. It was really loud and there were so many people. We went with my sister Lindsay and her husband Jeff and his parents who were in town visiting. They go every year. I was pretty nervous at first at how unsafe it seemed, but was told I was being silly. It was fun to see some fireworks with the girls!

Chuck E Cheese Party

2008-06-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Emma wanted to have her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's this year! After having to reschedule it, I feared that no one could come, but luckily I learned that Emma didn't care who eventually came. She had a lot of fun playing the games, riding all the rides, and dancing infront of the movie camera that put her up on the wall of TV's.

We all had a good time! Leora used atleast 20 tokens riding the school bus, which is 1 token per ride. Leora was really good at a game that you punch ducks over to earn tickets, which when I tried it I did horribly. Eddie went around helping Emma win lots of tickets. They ended up with over 1000 tickets to use toward prizes.

It was a really fun day for all of us. Eddie even had a good time, although he might not admit it. Emma already wants to go back again. It will have to wait until I can get the tune of "Where a kid can be a kid!" out of my head though. I heard it sung atleast 100 times while we were there.

Another Zoo Adventure

2008-06-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Since the zoo is so close to our house we go pretty frequently, but here are some fun pictures of our last adventure in the new kids zone.

Farewell to Erik!

2008-06-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you who knew my 28 year old brother in law Erik Rudy I want to let you know that he passed away late last night. His battle with leukemia in the end overcame his body. We are grateful for the 10 months of remission he enjoyed after the bone marrow transplant. We look at the last year we were able to have with him as a miracle and a gift. His funeral services are going to be this Saturday, June 14th in American Fork, Utah. Erik has left behind his wife Emily (age 26), and two sons Mason (age 5) and Milo (age 3). It is difficult to lose someone so young, with so much left that he could do in this life. Our comfort is that he has returned to heaven to fulfill the mission and calling that God has for him and that someone needs him there more than us. Eddie and I were lucky to share his last few days with him due to the support of the fabulous people we work with. We are grateful for all the prayers many of you have given on our families behalf and thank you.

Garbage Man Song!

2008-06-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well, Emma announced to me yesterday evening that she had a funny song she wanted to sing for me. Her songs are normally pretty funny anyway because she makes them up all the time. However, this one had Eddie and I laughing a lot. Her song started out "I argued with the Garbage man down in the southwest!" She just kept repeating that phrase over and over in different tunes. We asked her how she came up with the words for her song and replied, "Well, I was talking to the garbage man at my school today and he was nice. Garbage man sounds good with southwest. The words just came to me and I sang my song to my friends at school." What a funny girl!

Here I am!

2008-05-28T10:50:00.001-07:00

I have so much fun reading other people's blogs that I decided to start one of my own. It is such a fun way to stay in touch with friends and family. Hurray!

Fuel Prices! Yikes!

2008-05-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well since I'm all about Jetblue nowadays I thought you might be interested in some information I've learned regarding the price of fuel. Every time the price of a barrel of oil goes up $1 it costs Jetblue an additional 12 million dollars per day to fly their aircraft around the nation. It is no wonder that we have seen so many airlines shutdown and stop service, abandoning their employees and customers. In just the last 2 months I have seen 5 airlines go out of business: ATA, Skybus, EOS, Midwest Express, and another one I can't remember the name of at this moment. Oh, ya it Aloha! All of which blame their fate on the price of fuel.
It is going to be very interesting to see who else goes under in the next few months as fuel costs continue to rise. I assure you that there will be more!!!!! Hardly any airlines have any money left in the bank, and will only be left with the options of bankruptcy or closure. Bankruptcy means government support for years, which equals tax dollars. Luckily for me Jetblue still has money in the bank.
I admit that I am very worried about the price of fuel! The CEO's of the oil companies sat in front of a congressional committee this week and said the 400% price increases over the last few years are entirely due to supply and demand. There will be no relief in site!
So next time you hear in the media or newspaper about airlines gauging their customers by raising prices/fees or charging fees for a second checked bag think about why they are doing it. They are desparate. There is no way to make a profit right now if they don't. More bags or heavier bags make the aircraft heavier, which in turn means the aircraft will need more fuel to get to its destination. So airlines are raising and adding fees, especially dealing with luggage, to try and balance the cost of the fuel required to get them to their destination.
Okay, I'm getting down off my soapbox!

Happy to be Home!

2008-04-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Kelly has finally returned home from her 3 week Jetblue training in Orlano, FL. It is amazing how we all managed it. She made some great friends and learned alot. Here is a picture of Kelly at the flight simulators at the training center.