My Country Cousin

Country Krisse?

Wow have things changed!

Last month we went as a family to Idaho to visit one of my best friends (who happens to be my cousin).   Krisse and Kit just finished building their new house (it is awesome!). I will miss having them close by. We were just getting into a good habit of going out to dinner with Jan once a month. Crazy that we lived so close, but we went for a long stretch of not seeing each other.  But we will not let that happen again. Even if she did move far away.

This is Krisse today!  

What a cutie! She looks so great holding these carrots that she dug up out of her inlaws garden. 

This is Krisse in 1986, when we were young. I would have never dreamed back then that she would be living in a town of 600 people. That she would be shoveling manure for her daughters pony (and enjoying it). That she would be working with her own hands, remodeling her old house to sell and working on her new house, inside and out! 

Back in 1986- Krisse was great (Fabulous)- but some would say she lived a privileged life. Not that that is bad. Not in any way. I certainly enjoyed it....but i am getting off track. I will just say that Krisse did not know how to put gas in her tank. Way back then, they had full service gas stations. So to see her today I can certainly say "You have come along way Baby! I love you!"

Here are some fun shots of the week end we stayed there. 

The cabbage out of the garden was Huge! Bigger than Gary's head even.  Ha ha..

Click on these Mosaics to make larger if you like. 

Thank you Krisse and Kit! We had a great time!

So much that we really seriously thought of moving there. There is a great piece of property down the street from Krisse's that I fell in love with. Awesome view of the lake and the wet lands. I still think about it, and I have a perfect house picked out for the spot. It never hurts to dream. You never know. I could win the lottery! 

Does this look familiar to any one? So many memories when I saw it on her back porch! Love it! 

Heart on your Knee?

I have heard of some one wearing your heart on your sleeve, but wearing it on your knee?  

Vincent had a long-boarding accident and we had patched him up with a big band aid. He took it off one day to check it and "Look Ma- I have a heart on my knee!" crazy.  It really does look like a heart!  How often does that happen?

He was thinking of picking the scab to make a scar, but then decided not a good idea. :-)

He is pretty handsome.

SeaFair 2011 = Blue Angels

Blue Angels

My favorite place to watch the Blue Angels fly is on the I90 freeway. 

They close it off and let us stand on the freeway to watch. The only bad part is that they don't let you walk that far down the bridge. Bummers.

Some of my favorite kids and photos of the airplanes. 

He's Back!

Oh the Beautiful Game!

Gary is happy again!

He can Jump and Run and Jump some more!  

His mens team missed Gary, and he really missed them!  I can not say "No" when he wants to play soccer. It makes him so Happy!  And a Happy husband makes everyone else HAPPY!

Wow...should I say Happy one more time? :-) 

Whoops! Ouch!

No worries, he is alright. We are done having children anyways. :-) 

Andrew and I went and watched the game. Well, I think Andrew watched a few minutes. I know my iphone battery was almost dead by the end of the game. 

Let it Burn!

Card Burning Bonfire! 

One more month left of working. August 28th is my official last day working as a Reverse Mortgage Consultant. It is a sad thing for sure. But I decided to have a card burning party at my house. It was fun to have a few people over that I work with. We all have tons of flyers and cards and misc stuff that is no longer good. I recycled most of it. But I saved a few things to burn. We also made paper airplanes out of some of the flyers and competed to see who could make it into the fire. 

I can't wait to see what the next chapter in my working life will bring. 

School then a new Job!  

???

Mt. Rainier/Extra Snow

The Sun finally came out!  

"Quick get in the car and lets go see Mount Rainier! "

When the sun comes out we head to the mountains. It has been a very rainy Summer so far. When we can see the sun we some times skip church and head up the mountain as a family. (It does not happen very often) This has been a tradition that started when I was little. I have some great memories of this trek.  You really have to take full advantage of the sun when you live in the Northwest. We really needed to get some vitamin D for our bodies and our Soul. 

We were able to take one of Andrew's friends, Mathias with us. He is awesome. Fits right in. None of Vincent's friends were available. Oh yeah, he has no friends. :-) 

Notice Gary with his Ipad next to the river. Hmm...And Vincent drove for a long ways. But when the roads started to get windy and steep cliffs off the side we swapped him out of the drivers seat. Gary took over, but he never stops where I want him to. Well he did stop a few times for photos. It was the fastest trip on the mountain. With all the snow we did not have places to walk around and look around. It was very crowded at the lodge also. 

We drove up the Paradise side of the mountain. I have never seen so much snow this late in the year. Usually by now all the meadows are in bloom and beautiful. I really don't know if all the snow will melt this summer before it starts snowing again.  We stopped at Reflection lake and it is surrounded by snow. The kids had fun walking on the snow banks. It made me a little nervous. Not sure if there would be hollow spots that they could fall thru. But all was fine. 

Northwest Trek

On our way home we decided to stop at Northwest Trek. We were done so quick on the mountain that it would have been a shame to not go here on the way home. 

Lots of animals were out enjoying the sunshine also. It had been a while since we did this trip. The kids enjoyed it. But we do not need to rush back. It was very expensive. So once in a while is fine for this trip. 

We will have to give the mountain a little more time to melt all the snow this year. I will be watching for signs of spring up there. :-) I love all the flowers that pop up. So pretty any time of year. Very spectacular even with a small cloud on the top.  

Love you Mountain! Hope to see you again soon! 

Scout Camp!

Scout Camp!

Gary and Andrew headed our for Scout camp with lots of excitement. Andrew is now 11 years old and can finally go on overnights with one of his parents to camp. He was so excited. But I think he was the most excited about being able to use his pocket knife. 

They went to camp Piggot. It was not too far away. That was nice. We thought it was going to be for two or three nights. But it only ended up being one night. Yeah. Gary was very excited about that. Of course we way overpacked. But we packed to three days. Oh well, its all about being prepared. 

They ended up having a great time. Gary said it was very posh for a camp. They had some great Tents for them to sleep in, and they cooked all their food for them. My kind of camping. :-)