Hello 3 day weekend

This morning was the first time taking BOTH girls to cut a haircut. They did so well and they each got a free pack of 24 crayons at the end. This was Katherine's first trip to the salon - she did great. (All you have to tell a little girl is that she's going to the salon to get a "pretty haircut" and you're golden!) After the haircut, we went to the children's library and the Farmer's Market. Going to the library and Famer's Market (which are right next to each other) on Saturday morning has become a little tradition of ours. I love this time of year for fresh fruits and veggies.

THE "BEFORE" SHOT

AREN'T WE PRETTY?

(Look - big sis is in the background)

Are you watching the Elympics?

I recently found this poem printed in a newspaper from 1922. I really liked it, so I saved it and was just printing it out today. I couldn't help but think how fitting this is at this time (with the Olympics going on).

It's all in the State of Mind

If you think you are beaten, you are:
If you think you dare not, you won't
If you like to win, but don't think you can
It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you're lost;
For out in the world you'll find
Success begins with a fellow's will;
It's all in a state of mind.
For many a game is lost,
Ere even a play is run,
And many a coward fails
Ere even his work begun.
Think big and your deeds will grow,
Think small and you'll fall behind;
Think that you CAN and you WILL;
It's all in a state of mind.
If you think you are out-classed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise;
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the fellow who thinks he can.
-Author Unknown


I've been enjoying watching the Olympics each night. It's throwing off my sleep schedule slightly, but it sure has been exciting. Elizabeth has been getting into it as well. I only wish it was on earlier, so she could see a little more. She always wants to watch every night before bed. It was cute, she kept calling it the "Eeeelympics". My favorites are track and field (go figure) and swimming - gotta love Michael's 8 for 8. What do you guys like to watch?

A few recent favorites...

Some of the fun I have...

I don't think I've ever blogged about my work life, because, well, most of it wouldn't be that exciting to most people. But I thought I'd share some photos from this past week. This time of year we do a lot of field work and we get to play outside.

These two photos show a truck that has a hydraulic arm that goes under the bridge so we can be up close and personal to see what is going on. I get to be in the bucket with the operator. That's me in the white hard hat in the first photo.

And this is at another jobsite.

These concrete girders are 7'-9" tall.

Photos from the 4th

Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July. We went to a parade, had a BBQ, and of course, enjoyed a fireworks show.

BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Ok, if you didn't live with me in the 1980's this post might not mean much to you. But I gotta show this to my family! I was downloading some music the other day and starting reminiscing about the 80's. So I got on You Tube and was watching old shows and cartoons and then found some computer games. Check out this one and this one! We played these on our Commodore 128.

Isn't that funny? The sites and sounds are still so fresh in my mind and that was over 20 years ago. Do you guys remember?

We celebrated Aunt Katie's birthday on Saturday with a picnic lunch in our favorite park and out for ice cream.




I love this picture of Katherine. She gets little rosy cheeks when it is hot outside. The girls are definitely getting blonder from all the sun.

THE YEARS ARE SHORT

I must confess, my favorite blogs to read (besides my family members', of course) are blogs about productivity and life enrichment. I have several blogs I read each week dedicated to being happier, being organized, being more productive. I'm always striving to find little gems that can help me in my daily routine. One thing I came upon this week was a video that really hit home about being a parent. It is a short video by the author of a blog called The Happiness Project. It is called The Years are Short and just thought I'd share it with you.

I'm so enjoying the past few days - the weather has been beautiful and I haven't been obsessing about "What have I got to do next?". I feel so lucky to be able to work mostly from home and be able to enjoy summer activities with my kids like neighborhood walks, lunch in the park, or just playing in the backyard. These things are pretty normal, but I realize that if I worked outside the home, I wouldn't be able to do these things each day, and for that I'm thankful!

Weekend Report

Spent the past weekend in Helena and we had a blast! The main reason was to celebrate Kurt's grandpa's 90th Birthday! We had a surprise party for him on Sunday. It was the ultimate surprise too, he had NO idea. I don't think he even figured it out until we were halfway through singing "Happy Birthday". He was so tickled too when his kids and grandkids all went in and bought him a 32" Flat Screen High Definition TV. There were lots of people at the party (around 70) and it was fun to visit with everyone. I even got to meet Kurt's cousins (4 of them) whom I had never met in all the years we've been together. They are from Kansas, Texas and California.

And on Saturday I ran in the Governor's Cup 10K. Had an overall really good run and finished in 55:15 (just under a 9:00 min per mile pace), so I was pleased with that. The weather was great - it was a littly chilly at the start, but I warmed up quickly. I think it was in the low 50's with a little wind. The course was fairly hilly, but runs through the Capitol neighborhood, so there's some neat sites to see. I was pretty tired the last 1/2 mile, but seeing my family and in-laws near the finish line cheering me on gave me the kick to make it to the end!

Here's a few pictures:

Grandpa with his 6 grandchildren and 5 Great-Grandchildren

Great-grandchildren


Katherine enjoying some lap time

Loving to smell these right now....

Plus, I have a love for photographing flowers!

Guess what? It's HOT!! Was 93 degrees at our house on Saturday. We were just shy of a record breaking weekend, but to me that is still quite toasty for this time of year in the Northwest.

We had a fun weekend. Lots of trips to the river to see two different falls and to see just how high the river is flowing. There is still a lot of snow up in the mountain and the rivers are supposed to reach flood stage this week.

The girls had fun playing outside, in the sprinklers, and a trip to the park. And Kurt and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Friday night with a dinner at our favorite restaurant (outside overlooking the river) and a walk through the park at sunset. Very good times!

OK, I REALLY need to update my blog. Here are my favorite pictures from the past few weeks.

I'm off soon to enjoy a 3-day weekend with my sisters. I really need this!

Definition of Type A

Just thought I'd share a photo of a very common occurrence in our household - evidence of Elizabeth's Linear Type A Personality. This is what I found today after her quiet time alone in her room. I just love it!

I'M DREAMING OF A...

WHITE SPRING!? It is 25 degrees here this morning and snowing. I hope you're having better weather than we are!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY KATHERINE!

Just a few things we want to remember about Katherine at this age...

• She already wants to be older than she is. If you ask her how old she is, she says, "Three!" and holds up all five fingers. Then you say, "No, you're going to be two on your birthday" and then she just gets mad.
• When asked this week - "What kind of cake do you want?" she says, "Birthday!"
• She has the most expressive face and she definitely uses it to be funny. She can go from a scowl to a laugh in seconds. And her laughter is so contagious.
• She has a cute sense of humor. We already know she’ll be a character.
• She’ll say no when she means yes, just to be silly.
• She teases her older sister MORE than she is teased. Elizabeth is quite the Type A personality and Katherine just loves to mess with that.
• She is very independent and likes to do things on her own. Lately, it has been to climb into her booster seat and buckle herself in (If only she could do that in the car…)
• When she is in trouble she will have these stare-downs with Kurt. It is so funny - we try not to bust up laughing while in the middle of disciplining her!
• She has developed quite the vocabulary just in the past few months. She can say anything we ask her to. It seems so funny sometimes to communicate (and understand) someone so small.
• She can almost count to ten – she says “1-2-4-7-8-9-10!” with emphasis on the TEN!
• She's mostly outgoing, but does have moments of shyness. Sometimes she'll hide her face if she gets a lot of attention.
• She’s got the prettiest brown eyes. They are so big and so beautiful.
• She has a favorite blankie that she loves. It was actually a receiving blanket when Kurt was a baby and it is so soft. She has to have it to sleep and snuggle with.
• She likes to eat several bites of food at one time and then she'll just hold it in her mouth. She's our little squirrel.
• She loves all kinds of sauces - ketchup and ranch are her favorite (that counts for veggies and dairy, right?)
• She loves all things dairy - cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream. She's not the biggest fan of bread products or meat.
• When I sneeze, she says, “Bless you Mama”
• She’s very good at taking baths (loves the bubbles), getting her teeth brushed and getting her fingernails trimmed.
• She loves Finding Nemo. In fact, she thinks all fish are called "Nemo".
• She likes to watch “Caillou” and “Word World”
• She loves to look through books . If she could, she would always read “Tikki tikki tembo” or “Chica chica boom boom”

This morning, I got OUTside for a run for the first time in two months. YEAH! How refreshing that was. This is what I thought:

• It is really nice to see the sidewalks. After several huge snowstorms this year, our snow is finally melting and the roads and sidewalks are mostly bare. I actually did enjoy some of the snow this season (except driving in it), but I was missing getting outdoors for some fresh air. I'm really looking forward to that 1st day of sunshine and 70 degrees.
• OK people, time to get those Christmas decorations inside. I saw 3 plastic Santas and a whole herd of reindeer still on a roof (do you think they were lost?). I'll give you until Feb. 1 to get your decorations down, but after that I will make fun of you!
• I call my run this morning the "Ireland Run" because I run on Limerick and Shamrock Drives. Didn't see any leprechauns though. Did you know that St. Patricks Day is 6 days before Easter this year?
• I also run on Sonora Street which makes me think of my family in California - I sure miss them all.
• Some people should not go outside to pick up their newspaper in their robes. (I saw two this morning). Maybe nobody should.
• I love running, it makes me H-A-P-P-Y!

OUR LITTLE CLOWN

If there is ever any doubt in my mind that Katherine is SILLY, here's a picture to prove it. Her favorite dinnertime activity is to make Elizabeth laugh!

A few things...

-I'm in the middle of organizing our entire photo collection. Both printed photos to digital ones. I'm getting them all into one place and documenting all of the things we did year by year. It is actually fun to go through years and years of photos and to reminisce. And just a warning to my family - I have found many funny, potential blackmail photos, so be NICE to me or else! Extra warning to my sisters because I have LOTS of funny photos of you two!

-I also found my journal from junior high & high school. I laughed so hard at some of the things I wrote. It is so funny how you think your life is so hard as a teenager. I'll have to pull out my journal when MY girls are teenagers for more sympathy for them. I did get a kick out of an entry in the spring of 1992 when I was first dating Kurt. I said, "I hope this relationship last for a long time."

-I haven't been watching much television at all, and I don't miss it. Basically everything that is on right now is so crappy. Sometimes I work on my laptop in front of the television and I can't even find anything on for background noise. I am, however, looking forward to LOST starting back up again. I'll maybe have to watch the last episode to get a refresher.

-Kurt just bought a new strategy game called Cathedral World. We tried it out this weekend and it is really fun. A quick (under 30 min.) strategy game for two players.

-On Friday night I was thumbing through my running magazine and saw a review for several treadmills. I asked Kurt, "How long do you think our treadmill will last? It sure has lasted a long time." Can you guess how this story ends? Well, Sat. morning I jump on the treadmill and with 10 more min. to run it just completely stops dead. Jinxed! (I'm hoping it's just the fuse that needs to be replaced.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OK, so I'm a little belated, but better later then never! Hope the year is off to a great start for everyone. It always seems like a challenge to get back into the work routine after the 1st of the year, but I think I'm about there.

We had a very restful and fun vacation. Kurt's mom visited for 10 days and it just flew by. It is always so great to have an extra set of hands to help and Jane is always so great to help in any way. Kurt and I got to go out one evening on a date to a favorite restaurant, it was so wonderful to chat about the things we never seem to have enough time to talk about.

I wanted to update you on the goal I made before Christmas. I exercised EVERY DAY from Thanksgiving until Christmas! Yes, I'm quite proud of myself. Some days it was so easy, and others it was tough. A few evenings I had to drag myself down to the treadmill at 11:00 pm, but once I got going it felt really good. But, boy, when Christmas day came around is was so GREAT to not have to work out! I've set several goals for this New Year and so far, so good! I'll keep you posted...

Last weekened, I did get to go outside for a run - the first time in a month! All the snow was melted and it was in the 30's. Glad I got that run in because the next day we got snow, and after several big storms, right now we've got about 9 inches of the white stuff.


Here's some photos of our winter wonderland: