Obsessed with all that is yellow

I have been on this huge YELLOW kick for the last month. My eye goes straight to anything and all that is yellow... I think it is my desire to actually see some sign of spring!


I have always loved sunflowers... I guess I better since I have one tattooed on my ankle

I would love to have this for spring and summer bedding for my guest room:


I love this spring dress:

And to go with my purse obsession, of course I have found some great yellow bags (I have been good though, not one purchase!)

And what girl doesn't look for great shoes! Even if you can't wear yellow you can always pull off a cute yellow shoe :-)

I hope you have something that can make you smile and "think" of spring (or what ever makes you happy) as much as my YELLOW.

Dare I admit this???

Ok so I have gone back and forth on admitting this one but this morning, bright and early I ventured out and picked up this album

I have been a Madonna fan for about as long as I can remember. I don't think there is any music she has released that I haven't liked and while I don't admire all the choices she has made in her life, I do admire her for many reasons. Look at her, she looks amazing! The album is great and having a little JT in there made me like it even more, when I heard 4 Minutes I knew I had to buy it. I loved Justin Timberlake's last album (which is not usually my type of music) and I became a big Timbaland fan from that one... now I guess I will be a Pharrell fan too because Timbaland and Pharrell produced all the songs. It will be playing in the Prius for the next few days for sure! I know Rick is very thankful he won't be having to ride with me for a while :-)

A work in progress..

We have spent the last several days working on the outside of the house. We decided our best attack plan would be to start on the front and get it completely done the move to the sides and then tackle the back. If the weather cooperates this weekend Rick is going to rent a lift to do the sides, much less work to get into the eaves than climbing up and down a big tall ladder (which means less likely to fall!). The back is going to be work because before the paint goes on the covered patio has some repairs needed. We spent some time out there tonight trying to decide what we should do and we are crossing our fingers that a few new pieces of lumber and a new roof will be all it needs.

So without any further ado... here is what we started out with:

And now with a fresh coat of paint and new shutters:

Ok so close your eyes on the landscaping (especially you Holli, haha). That is also on the summer agenda. Unfortunately I do not have the skills or talents as this fabulous family who happens to own like the best landscaping business in the our area... but I'm hoping that it will all come together. And I am way open to suggestions :-)

I will be back to work full time next Monday, gulp gulp. The store was extremely busy over the weekend, the last few days has slowed down some with what ever this weather is we are having. But I need to be there when the rush walks in, or should I say comes running in!

So if you don't hear much from me the next few weeks that is hopefully a good sign, it means we are busy and spring has finally, really, truely arrived.

Think Pink!

Congrats Becca and Justin!!! Let the pink and purple start rolling in :-)

Waiting to hear....

I am anxiously awaiting to hear from my good friend to find out what we get to start shopping for... will it beOR

She already has this precious little girl so I am hoping she gets a little boy.... wait, should I really wish that upon her. HAHA, of course. I love having one of each, the differences between them amaze me every day.


Last night I picked of my niece Meredith and I took all 3 kids to see G.G. (Great Grandma). Meredith is much more low key than either of mine 2. She would wait for me to come and open up the door to let her out while mine are out and to G.G.'s door before I am even parked. She walked with me where ever we went while mine don't know the meaning of the word WALK. Trace just gets way hyper when she is around, well when anyone he really likes is around, and she asked me why he was like that. I explained to her that he gets super excited when he is around people he loves and that he must REALLY love her. She started giggling. I love having my nieces (yes even Sara even though she is 21 and not a little person any more!) and my nephew. I didn't get to grow up with cousins or family around so I love that my kids do.


And I am nursing a achy back... stupid me tried to bring in a double pallet on a pallet jack yesterday that it was way toooo much for and needed a fork lift. I slept the night away and still feel cruddy but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be back on track!

It is spring, dang it!

In celebration that it really is spring, even though our weather here doesn't seem to think so, I am in the process of changing my page up a bit. So hang in there, I'll get it all pretty again :-)

Auction Update:
Liberty's auction was AWESOME! Since it was the first time I had gone to it I wasn't totally in the know on how things work... but I know for the future! The auctioneer went a little too slowly in my opinion but the night as a whole was a huge success. They raised over $60,000!

Rick bought a huge basket filled with everything we will need to make homemade ice cream. We thought it would make for a fun family night. I think we will try to make our first batch on Saturday. Kaitlyn was dying for a pink elegant baby piggy bank she saw. We had to pay almost twice its value but we got it for her (it went to a good cause was my reasoning!). I didn't get too carried away on the live auction, they had some great stuff though. They also did a "fund-a-need" and this years need is the updating of the entire school computer system and network. The first phase which is scheduled to go in right as school gets out will cost $15,000. Well they raised $17,000 on that alone! Just awesome. My parents are also the proud owner of an antique piano, mom already dug out all the old piano books and wants to put the kids in lessons.

Rick has started getting the house ready for a new coat of paint. We have never had to paint and we have been there almost 8 years. It still in great shape but we want to update the colors and with the addition, I'm not so into the 2-tone look. The weather has been... well to say it in as nice of terms as I can come up with, THE WEATHER SUCKS! It has been cold, rainy/snowy, windy. It is spring for goodness sake! But Rick was able to get out and get the house pressure washed. He has been working on sealing up the windows and the trim. I picked up primer today and I'll probably start to primer the trim (gotta cover up the old deep red) tonight while he continues caulking if it isn't raining. This is realistically be my last weekend off for the next several months so I want to be able to help out as much as I can.

Kaitlyn has her school testing this week. Thankfully she doesn't do the WASL her testing is called SAT testing. She has come home every day feeling pretty good about it. I'll be glad when she is back to her normal school day though. Today I went to chapel with her and the lesson was all about God's tools and how God has given each of us tools to prepare for such things as this test. I love that school!

So that's my week so far. Nothing exciting, just yucky weather. I am very much in need of some sunshine... so send some this way please :-)

Just waiting for spring to actually arrive

Trace needed a hair cut so I thought I would play a little joke on Rick. Trace has been saying for a year he wants a mohawk so when I got out the clippers I gave him one. We did shave it off because of course dad was having no part of that, but he thought he was pretty cool for a few minutes :-)

Rick has been talking about getting a bike to ride with the kids for a while. So we surprised him the other night with one. The weather hasn't been the greatest this week but he and the kids got a few short rides in already. They are so excited to go riding with him.

Kaitlyn's class Auction project

Tonight is Liberty's school auction... each class has to come up with a project to be auctioned off. So because Rick is so dang nice he made a toybox. Each family donated money and the other room mom and I went and bought toys and games to fill it up. I think it came out very cute:


Here is Kaity's class with the toys that go inside and the toybox:


Rick and I will be heading to the event this evening. Kaitlyn and I went by last night to plant some flowers and it looks incredible. The committee did an awesome job on the decorations and the items to be auctioned. I'm so excited for a fun night!!

Wanapum camping trip

Kaitlyn taking a break...

Rick and Trace on the boat just waiting for a bite...

Taylor and Trace sitting by the fire drinking their morning cocoa...

Rick spinning Trace, the rest of the group getting dinner ready....

Some of the flowers all around camp, I was very proud of the bee I caught in the pic...

Kaitlyn and Cheyanne walking on the beach...

Crazy girls in the water!

Trace was in heaven running on the beach...

2 silly kids getting ready to head home...

And this was after we got home, apparently he fell out of the laundry basket but never woke up, lol... he was TIRED!

Where does the time go???

Talk about blog lazy! Ok well I don't call it lazy, I call it busy.

Spring break came and went in a flash. We took the last part of the week off to go camping for a few days. We joined our friends Jeremy and Nicole, their kids, Jeremy's parents and we took Rick's mom with us. We had a blast. The weather the first day was horrible but by Friday it was gorgeous. We took their boat out and the boys fished, the kids expressed their boredom and Nicole and I just enjoyed the weather. When we got back my parents had driven up for the day and were waiting. They stayed for dinner, a feast of steelhead, tri-tip and more sides than one can imagine. We did not rough it in any way :-)

We got back into town Saturday afternoon, took advantage of the fabulous weather and got our house chores done. Sunday we drove up to Yakima to watch the kick off of racing up there. Both Rick's brother Steve and Kristin's husband Scott were racing. Scott had a super fast car but had a fuel pump problem that ended up causing the car to catch on fire. He was fine, the car had some damage and ended his day. Steve broke a brake rotor which also ended his day early.

I got back to work on Monday and apparently the Tri-Cities has decided pool weather is upon us. I am happy that the store is busy again but sad that my lazy, part time work days are over and full time is just about here. My kids are going to have quite an adjustment as they both have already shown signs of mommy-withdrawl, and I'm still only working part-time.

Last night Rick and I went to his company work party. It was quite the event, we est. 3000 plus people were there. We enjoyed the night, the food and visiting with his sister Lori who had just gotten back from Jamaica (the honey-mooners, Lori works for Fluor too). Rick and Trace are enjoying a boys day today while I'm working and Kaity is at school. Tomorrow night is Kaity's school auction which should be another great mommy/daddy night out. I will report on how it goes but the work that has been done leading up to it and the donations they have gotten are UNBELIEVABLE!

On a sad note... while we were gone last weekend we got news that a 12 year old boy was killed at our kart track last Friday morning. He was practicing for a national event that is held at our track every year and was supposed to be run last weekend. We, along with everyone in our club has been devestated by all of this. The board members have really stepped up and are in the process of doing all kinds of safety improvements. In 26 years of operation our track has had a near perfect saftey record and this accident was pretty much the defination of a "freak accident". Many officials have already stepped up to say that our track is extrememly safe but because we have such an incredible board we are going to work together to make it safer. Already they have had a new fence installed, on Wednesday Rick hauled over 200 stock car racing tires from his dad's wrecking yard to the kart track. This weekend we are going to have a work party to get stuff in place and to prepare the track for being paved, which was already planned. They have also ordered some more safety barriers and we are recruiting sponsors to help with that cost. So if anyone wants to make a donation for a safety barrier it is $75 and there will be a board placed on the side of the tower/concession stands that will have the names of everyone that has donated. We hit up Lori and Michael last night, Rick got Steve this morning... if you are related you will be hearing from us :-)

So thats our week.. I hope everyone is doing well and I will try to not go over a week again without posting.

A week down for this weak one...

So I updated everyone on the wedding details of our trip to Vegas. We really had a great time. Tuesday Amee, Michelle and I hit the outlet mall and then headed downtown to adventure into Barney's. I have to say, seeing - touching - and holding a real Prada purse was fabulous. Maybe someday I will be able to understand how a purse the size of most of my wallets can cost $1290. That is a whole bunch of knock-offs people!!! All 3 of us got new shoes, Amee got 3 pairs. I found some great deals in the Tommy outlet store and got a couple of pairs of capri's... made my trip :-)

Tuesday evening was the wedding. After the reception, Steve/Michelle, Amee, Rick and I had dinner at Diego's in the MGM. I did not feel good and since I hadn't eatten anything since breakfast I had munched at the reception so I didn't really have dinner. But I did manage to have a couple of bites of Rick's Carne Asada and it was to die for. After dinner we headed back to Hooters, please don't laugh!, and gambled for a little bit and then went out to the pool and sat by the fire until around 11:30. Amee left at midnight to fly to Maui so we enjoyed a few more minutes of a visit with her and then crashed when she left. I am too old for this late night business, I am not much more than a 1 margarita or a glass of wine kind of a drinker and I can not handle smoke so by midnight I was beat! Wednesday morning we headed to the M&M Factory to get gifts for the kids. It took every ounce of everything I had in me BUT I managed to actually purchase some Kyle Busch stuff for Trace. I know how proud Becky is that Trace is a Kyle Busch fan but I am so not. We wandered down to Planet Hollywood (PH) and got 1/2 way through the Miracle Mile mall, LOVE THAT PLACE! Even Rick said he would like to stay there next time. I'm sure that is because of the Hawaiian Tropics Restaurant that is there and the fact that the girls wear even less than the Hooter's girls. We walked back to Hooter's and had lunch and then headed to the airport. We were almost 2 hours late leaving Vegas so it was a late night on Wednesday. My parents had dropped off Trace at S and M's since Kaitlyn was already there. All 3 kids were sleeping and Trace was not at all happy about being woken up.

Rick was hacking so bad when we got home that I went out to the living room and laid on the couch. I'm pretty sure God was watching over our house because at about 1:30 Trace fell out of bed. I heard it right away and was able to get to his room very quickly. He was screaming and there was blood everywhere. I'm not sure how he landed on his nose but he did. A little history here, about a year ago he and Kaitlyn were playing on the floor in the dining room when her foot "accidently slipped" and kicked him in the nose which ended up breaking his nose. So the little guy has a sensitive nose anyways and now he had managed to hit it again. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a towel and got him back on his bed. I wiped his face up and got him holding the towel when it all hit me. Between my total weakness of seeing blood, flying out bed, and not feeling the best anyways... the room began to spin and I thought I was going to lose it right there. I made it to the kitchen yelling for Rick. He came flying out of the bedroom and there I was sopping wet and pale white. All I could get out was go to Trace's room. What a total whimp I am!!! All the commotion woke up Kaitlyn I had made it back into the living room to lay on the couch to continue to catch my breath when she came in and asked what was going on. I didn't even get out the entire sentence of feeling like I was going to be sick before she was running back to room and shut the door. She feels about throwing up, the same way I feel about blood. What a group we are :-) Trace was fine, didn't even remember any of it when he woke up the next morning.

Kaitlyn's first race is on Sunday so she and Rick will go practice tomorrow and get things set up. I have to work tomorrow, which I'm not so much looking forward to. But I will hopefully be able to take some time off next week to be with the kids during Spring break.

So thats all for my long windedness. I hope everyone has been doing well and has had a nice week and will have an even better weekend!

Vegas - The Wedding

On Tuesday Lori and Michael exchanged vows at the MGM. We were all very happy that it was NOT an April Fools joke on us and that there really was a wedding. The ceremony was so good. The minister was fantastic, everyone said they would have had him marry them if he was available. Lori looked gorgeous, as you can see! After the wedding we all headed up to a suite for a reception. My only complaint was that I couldn't take pictures during the wedding so all my pics are from the reception... grrrr....

Dave waiting for the wedding to start...

Rick and I at the wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson

Lori and Amee

Lori and Sue

Michael's dad doing the welcome to the family toast

The boys admiring this fine view:

This would be Hooter's the fine establishment we stayed at!

One more fun little thing.. this is a picture of Rick and the 5 others when they were little.

Dana, Steve, Amee, Wendy (buried), Lori and Rick

And here they are at the wedding

Amee, Lori, Wendy (not buried this time!), Dana, Rick and Steve

Vegas - Night 1

We are back from Vegas, tired and glad to be in the smoke-free loviness of Washington :-) We had a blast. The wedding was fabulous and we so enjoyed a few down days before life gets crazy.

We traveled down on Monday morning with Rick's brother Steve and his wife Michelle. Monday night we had rehersal dinner at Margaritaville.

Our table enjoyed not one but two of these 100 oz margaritas... perfect way to start the night :-)

We split up after dinner and the girls headed to the piano bar in New York New York to enjoy Lo's last night of being single. It was quite the adventure just getting to the bar! Some pics I will not post to protect the, ummmm, guilty. We had a blast though!

Amee and I

Wendy, Amee, Sue and Michelle in the limo on the way...

Lori and I at the piano bar...

The piano bar was incredible. The music was great and we all had so much fun. Amee went up and put in a request for them to acknowledge Lori getting married. So Lori and her beer walked up and they asked her to give them her beer and sit on top of the piano. And then the show began!

Lori on her way to the piano...

Lori LOVING the piano...

Lori giving all the customers the best show of the night!

This was the highlight of the night, I think for many people in there. It was so funny watching her. She did get her beer back, for the last part of the performance and she had to use it for a prop.... so yea, we were dying!

Lori and Sara after the real show.