I love my Daddy!

Thank You Dad!  

You have been a great Father. I feel very lucky to be your Daughter!

One of our family traditions was that when you turned 13 you got to go on a special date with Dad. At least all the girls did. Not sure what the boys did. It was very exciting. As a child of a large family (9) we did not get to go out very often. Snoqualmie Falls Lodge was a very fancy restaurant. They were known to have a great breakfast. I remember it was "Honey in the sky"  or something like that.  We had window seats and could see the falls perfectly. It was a very special day for me. I was also old enough to get my ears pierced. :-) 

 As of father of 9 you did a great job. 

Recently Dad has become a camera bug. He loves to take photos! I love that also as you know. This is a typical photo of my Dad now. Camera and his water with him. If he had a golf club nearby the photo would be complete. 

Thank you for being such a great Grandpa to my boys. When they were little they loved to follow him around and try and fix things with him. My boys love to be with Grandpa. Thank you for loving my boys! 

The boys are very excited to see Grandpa and Grandma at Cabo in a couple of weeks. 

Love you Dad! See you soon! 

xxooxox

Andrew Graduates from Elementary School!!!

Andrew is now a 6th grader!

He is out of Elementary school. Kind of sad. It is a great time of life. 

No more Recess and having a single teacher for all your subjects.  

The school put on a short Graduation ceremony for the kids. They have 3, 5th grade classes at his school. They picked two kids from each class to give a speech. Andrew's two good friends were picked. James and Sujeri. They did a great job. Then the teachers had the kids pick 3 words to describe their classmates with. They used the 3 words in the ceremony when calling up the kids to graduate.

It was fun to see the different personalities represented. I tried to upload a video, but it did not work. Uhg... Andrews words to describe him were: Funny, Calm and a Four Square Expert.

They also had one of the students sing. The back up music did not work, so she sang with out it. She did great. I think her name is Daisy. They also had a slide show for the kids. Highlights of the year and then of course baby pictures and photos of them today.  Very cute, the kids loved it. Lots of fun music and some of them even danced during the show. Andrew did his belly roll for the crowd also. He got a big laugh out of that. :-) Silly boy, he said it was so appropriate as they were playing a Shakira song.

After the ceremony they had a little cake set up for the kids. As the kids left the gym the parents set up a archway for them to run thru. They loved it. Huge smiles on the kids faces!  

Andrew loved his teacher!  She was great! Miss Ottesen. I do agree with him. She was a Super teacher. Andrew really improved this year. She really helped support him and help him grow. She will be getting married very soon. We are all very happy for her. Thank you! 

Unexpected Conference Call!!! Ugh!!!

Wells Fargo, Largest Reverse Mortgage Lender to Exit Retail 

Business [Update]

http://reversemortgagedaily.com/2011/06/16/wells-fargo-largest-reverse-mortgage-lender-to-exit-retail-business/

Well it is official....I am out of a job! So sad! 

I have loved working my job for over 4 years. I have met the most amazing people! And have really helped out so many people and their families. Such a shame that this service will not be available too much longer. I can take applications up to the end of June. Then I will be working to be sure they close.

Everyone was very surprised and shocked that this happened! I am very grateful that Gary's job is secure and going well. I am also grateful that I was able to do this great job for so long. It really has been awesome.  I will really miss this job. It was very rewarding.

My team mates of RMC's have been super fantastic! We all worked together so well. Every one shared their knowledge and wanted to see each other succeed!  We would often get together and share ideas. If I ever needed anything I was always confident that some one would answer my email or give me a call.  From my Area manager to my co-workers we really worked as a team.  Senior's well being was always our top concern.  Seeing the relief come to their life was really some thing else.

I think I will plan on taking the summer off and spend time with the kids.  I will be looking around for my next awesome job. I think it will be hard to find something as rewarding and fun as this job has been.   Being a flexible sales person has been nice also. I was really able to make my own hours and be their for my kids. I am super grateful for that. Being a Mom is the most important job ever. I was lucky to be available to them when ever they needed me on a moments notice.

Thank you Wells Fargo!  

It was great working for you! 

Seattle Center Field Trip

Friday was a fun day with Andrew and some of his class mates. All of the kids who volunteered for leadership positions like- Patrol or Recycle collectors or other school groups got to go for a trip to Seattle Center for a Reward.  I quickly volunteered for this trip. It was so nice to be with a group of kids who are responsible and respectful of others.  They really were the cream of the crop! We had no problems with kids. No worrying about what they were going to do.

They had a photography scavenger hunt set up for the kids. We literally ran all over the Center looking for places from the clues that they were given. It was very good exercise for the chaperones! We were all out of breath at the end. 

The weather held out and it did not rain!  It would have been nice to be sunny, but it was not too bad. 

The kids were so excited to get to the fountain!  We all ate lunch around it and then the kids were let loose in the water!  A lot of then had swim suits on under cloths and had towels ready. A little crazy, but they loved it. I don't think any of them stayed dry. It was fun to watch! 

Kind of sad that Andrew is in 5th grade now. No more field trips like this. Middle school does not do a lot of  Field trips. 

It had been Years since I had been up in the Space Needle. It was fun to see the sights and see how the kids enjoyed it. It is a pretty expensive thing to do as a family. I would say that over half the kids had never been up to the top before. And it will probably be a long time before they go again. It was a great Reward for them all. 

Good job Lake Hills PTSA!