Happy 4th of July!

We had a great (and safe) 4th of July this year! We spent our evening with great friends and good food. This year we went to Darrin and Emily's along with many others for a potluck and BBQ. We decided to make a traditional 4th Jell-O to share...I made Ben take a picture of his master piece especially for you all to see! Note to self...buy berries at the berry stand when you don't need a Costco sized container of strawberries and blueberries! Oh well, live and learn...I froze the blueberries for muffins and pancakes...and we have strawberry shortcake berries waiting for the shortcake to be made!

We watched Darrin light the fireworks while all the kiddos stood on the sidewalk in awe of the beautiful gun powder shooting up in the sky!

And of course Emily made awesome Moo-wiches...so huge, Ben could hardly get his mouth around it! Emily your such an awesome home-maker! When I grow up I want to be one just like you!

We had a great night and were reminded of the blessing of freedom we have in our country!

Pictures as promised...

Here are the pictures from Ocean Shores...unfortunately this trip was more work than play, and I was terrible about taking pictures. All of this documenting for the blog is because of Ben...he knew I would be blogging about our stay, I just wish we could have had more time to enjoy everything this place has to offer. We are hoping to go back before the end of summer...but that doesn't mean it'll happen! After this stay I have decided that we WILL have a beach house someday because I LOVE LOVE LOVE the sun set over the ocean, and this wife can't live her entire life without this view out our window SOMEDAY! And our hotel room...It was pretty good size :)We found time to do a little 45 minute blurb of touristy stuff! We went to "Sharky's" and took a picture because we knew Landen would LOVE that place...we bought him a t-shirt from here and he threw a fit when his mommy made him take it off to wash it...it's hilarious because he's not my child! (sorry Kate!)

Ben got a few beach pictures while I was at the conference from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm for two days!

It was pretty cloudy most of the time we were there, but it was still beautiful!

We're Here...

We made it to Ocean Shores...we got to our room...and saw TWO queen beds. I quickly decided this wasn't going to work, way too small and almost no room for my chair to even move around. I called the front desk and asked if they had a bigger room...she said I would have to pay the difference (obviously!). So for $18.00 more a night we upgraded to a King Suite! :) That made this wife MUCH happier! I forgot the adaptor for the camera so I can't post pictures now but needless to say this was the BEST $36.00 I've ever spent! We now have ONE king sized bed, a full bar, couch, fireplace, ocean view, and internet! Now we are off to find a place to eat and find the conference location (so that tomorrow we're not rushed!)...pictures will come soon. Have a great start to the week everyone!

Summer Nights...

We ate our first meal under grandpa and grandma's new "pergola." After the last new one got blown away with our spring wind storms they hired a contractor to build one that would not blow away! It was absolutely lovely!

Grams had a "quick surgery" on her leg yesterday and spent the night at the hospital and got to come home today. We brought over a lasagna, salad and bread and ate outside.

"Smile Daddy..." getting sick and tired of that stupid sling already...he can CAREFULLY take it out of the sling for a rest as long as he puts a pillow under it, and lifts his left arm (the one that had surgery) with his right arm (the one that gets surgery next).

Ben got on a roll with taking more pictures of flowers...he got some really good ones of grandpa's famous roses! I should have posted some of them...maybe next time!

I LOVE these flowers...I dunno why...they're just pretty I think!

We got our "sun room" all set for the summer....this area gets nice and warm during the day...the perfect spot for getting a nice tan, if only the sun would stay with us for more than 5 minutes! This was a wonkie day...sun, overcast, sun, overcast....

And last but not least, we gave the game room a quick mini face lift with a new area rug! Ben starts almost every morning up here with a cup of coffee and a quick game of xbox (football, basketball or baseball...depending on the season). This is completely Ben's room...all sports, all his favorite teams...team colors are the theme in this room (even though none of them go together, which drives this wife crazy)...Gators: blue and orange; Astros: black and red; Packers: green and gold...seriously...God is teaching me that not everything has to be perfect! Although I did get to have input on the new area rug...and I think it pulls it together somewhat! :)

We also took a trip to the dentist today...nice to get that checked off the list! One of those things nobody EVER wants to do, and let's face it when we don't have our parents making us go and making the appointment for us...it's hard to make it for yourself! (Lucky for Ben I made his appointment for him!) Until the next accomplishment is documented...(pond waterfall is on the to do list, pictures to come!)

An Enjoyable Sunday...

Okay blogging two days in a row...I think I am going to like this summer break stuff! Today was another great day off. We got up at a reasonable hour, got ready for church, got our usuals at Coffee Girls (which they had ready as we pulled up to the window!), listened to another amazing sermon from Pastor Craig and spent the afternoon with my dad for Father's Day. Before we went to grandma and grandpa's for dinner we presented dad with his brand new reclining lawn chair! We felt like the annual golfing gift certificate wasn't going to cut it this year with the left arm in a sling!
My artist husband felt the need to capture some photos of the flowers before we left for the afternoon...not too shabby! I'm developing these pictures and plan to mat them on card stock for thank you, thinking of you etc. cards!

When we got home I got on some kind of cleaning/organizing streak! With mom's help I rearranged the kitchen a tiny bit and found myself (and Ben) some extra counter space. Then I decided that since my giant Scentsy order came and I got my 4th of July warmer ("Freedom to Choose" bundle available through June...Candy Cane warmer with an optional navy dish for $35)that I'd put it out! Here is my new kitchen window:

My train of thought was...Home of the Brave... Alright until my next blog...enjoy the week everyone!

Summer Break...already?

Summer Break has arrived people! This has been a busy week but a great week for seeing God's hands at work! Dad had surgery on Monday...the day before school got out, so I took a personal day and one of Ben's sub jobs got canceled last minute so he was able to be home with the puppies, catch up on some house work, and be "on call" for when Napa called. That's right you probably don't know about Napa yet...well last you heard we were selling our van. In fact we even had a family calling their bank to see if they could get a loan to buy it!! Can you believe it? Well that next day...yes the VERY next day Ben and I were on our monthly Costco run and our lovely van broke down!! We got a tow from a super nice guy named Tony...within about 10 minutes he was able to discover a lot of information out about my van...keep in mind this van had all the EMC equipment for me to drive it. We were able to barrow back our white van from Jan and Randy (who had just gotten it two days prior to help with Nathan) and we finished our Costco run. Over three weeks later my van is completely back to normal! No more driving equipment! We decided that since everyone who was interested in buying the van was going to take out the equipment, that we would just take it out and keep it for now. Eventually I still hope to get a Honda Element and at that point we will keep my van for a backup...so that's the story. Ben was able to pick up the van from Napa on Monday while mom and I were at the hospital.
Surgery for dad went good. He is slowly healing but it is going to be a LONG road. For the next two months mom is literally dad's left hand. The surgeon expects the next two months to have him in a sling and then slowly start some physical therapy. Right now he can lift his left arm up using his right hand to maintain the flexibility...but that's it! This week dad has had some visitors and they have been blessed with meals and sweets galore! This has been such a treat for mom because it's a lot being the left hand of a man...especially one who is not used to sitting still for much longer than 5 minutes! He's getting better though...
As I looked over the schedule for the summer (that's right folks there's a schedule!) it was brought to my attention that we literally have two full weeks with nothing. No work, appointments, no Scentsy parties etc. TWO WEEKS! That's it! It made me a little nervous...in those two weeks I am going to make it my goal to get my Master's application completed and turned in! I went to an informational meeting and found out that I am going to be able to earn my ELL endorsement, Master's in Literacy, and my National Board's Certification! ALL at one time! I am very excited about this...pray that I stay excited and motivated all through the next two years! By the Spring of 2012 I will be done! Here is the plan loosely...Spring of 2011 my ELL endorsement will be completed, Winter of 2012 I will be finishing up my National Boards and taking my big test, and Spring of 2012 graduating with my Masters!
Ben has been invited to help out with the varsity football team at the Nooksack High School. He attended Spring turnout and LOVED it! Shocker! He is very excited to be a part of this team and coaching staff! Right now it is a volunteer position but we know to get a paid position you have to put in your time as a volunteer!
Since my last blog Ace has taken an inappropriate interest in Ruby...needless to say she has an appointment next week to get fixed...we are WAY too busy for puppies at this house! They are getting along a lot better these days, in fact they even drank out of the same water dish this week at the same time! This is a huge mile stone for them! I will do my best to post some new pictures of the little lady, she is growing fast...probably close to full grown now! We have Ben's 10 year reunion next weekend so I'm sure there will be at least one good picture to share!
Hope everyone is enjoying June (despite this weather). Enjoy Father's Day tomorrow...

Busy busy...

Life has been keeping this household busy lately...and we have the pictures to prove it! April was a great month for me with Scentsy! God really blessed me with some great opportunities to meet new people who host GREAT parties! I sold over $2,000 worth of product and earned a bonus this month (on top of regular commision). This "hobby" has turned into a nice little stash! I had the opportunity to host a Relay for Life party...and it went great! I ended up closing 3 huge parties all in one night...which means all 3 parties were delivered from the UPS guy on the same day...needless to say our house was a Scentsy storage room!!!

These were just the scentsy bars we had...sorted by scent of course...Ben likes to see which scent was most popular for each order...this time it was Vanilla Cream by one bar! (Honey Pear Cider, and Coconut Lemongrass were close behind)

The counter top was FULL of Plug-In Warmers...

While under the counter top was full of Mid-Size Warmers....

And the Full-Size Warmers under the card table...but I am realizing now that...I must have missed a stash of warmers somewhere, because this wasn't all of them! oops... :)

And Ruby is slowly getting "trained" although she is still waking up between 5:30 am and 6:30 am....she slept til 7:00 the day after she got her shots...which makes Ben want to give her shots every day...but I said "not gonna happen!" We did a little shopping this weekend, because I am caught up on homework and work work...Ruby and I both got new outfits!

I know what your thinking...Ben already called Animal Control for cruelty to puppies! :) Ruby really didn't mind it at all...and it's only her second dress...so I don't think I'm out of control YET!