My Current Obsession...

It is pretty much the running joke around our household that I never leave home without a camera (which is partly true because I do try to always have one in the gloove box). While I don't have the creative eye to be a great photographer I have been enjoying THIS purchase and my Photoshop Elements. Here's a few I have taken this week.... have I mentioned how much I love working part time!!

Kaitlyn's Picture

Yes I will be in BIG TROUBLE for posting this...but it is just too cute not to share. Rick found this last night on the table.

She is doing great! Her neck is just a little sore. Her chin is still pretty ugly but I think it gets darker and darker before it fades completely. Still no memory of the accident but can't wait to race again. What can I say, its in the blood!

TAG!

I was tagged by Becca on this one...

Name/Meaning: Trace Randolph Thompson. Rick and I both liked the name Trace when we heard it. It was different AND had race in it… sold! The Randolph is after my dad.

Age: 4 ½ but he’ll tell you 5 if you ask.

Nicknames: T-Man, Brother, Monster, Traycker

Favorite Activity (ies): Anything that does not involve sitting down or holding still. He loves to ride his bike, race his go-kart or ride his motorcycle. He also has started to love doing puzzles.

Favorite Foods: Corn on the cob, junk food…

Least favorite foods: Meat

Favorite Music: A B C s – and Alvin and Chipmunks

Favorite toys: His bike and his cars/trucks/motorcycles

Favorite books: He likes to be read to and tell you how the story should go

What makes him happy: Being outside, being with Rick in the shop, running, hunting and giving loves.

What makes him sad: When someone is hurt or he thinks they are sad

Tag: Heather (Blake), Lollie (Lauryn) and Amy (Taylor), Michelle (Tanner)

My Worst Fear!

My worst fear came true Saturday night... Kaitlyn was involved in a go-kart accident. She was on the last lap of the main event in her very first Gold Cup. She had a great start and was able to get into 4th place. On the white flag lap the 2 karts that were fighting for the championship were behind her and split her going into turn 1. Her competitive side went into over drive and she stayed right with them into turn 2. She was just getting ready to go into the loop and was able to get under the #12 kart who saw a very slow kart right in the middle of the turn in the loop. He came down and Kaity was there and she had no choice but to hit the slow kart. She launched (literally) off the slow karts back tire and flipped. She slid upside down across the track and came to rest on the grass with her 245 pound kart on top of her. Rick jumped over the fence and he and Mark (our clubs flagger who was standing on the exit of the track) were the first ones to her and pulled the kart off of her. She was conscious but complaining about her neck and throat.

I could not go out there. Our club president's wife came and held me up. I was hysterical. The immediately called for the ambulance and once I saw her feet moving and saw the ambulance out there I got myself together and went to her. I didn't want her to see me crying as I knew it would scare her more than she already was. Rick held her hand the entire time. She wanted so bad to sit up and take her helmet off but they wouldn't let her. They put her on a back board and strapped her down. It was the most gut-wrenching site. I knew she was ok because she was talking and knew who she was and how old she was but I had no idea what her injuries were. Rick wanted to ride with her in the ambulance so I called my dad and our wonderful karting family kept Trace. They actually brought him out on the track to see Kaity and Rick before they left so he could see she was talking. My dad made it to the track before we even got on the road. They had to call for another ambulance so that one could stay at the racetrack. It was quite obvious from the minute I got to the ambulance that she had a concussion. She kept asking the same questions over and over and did not know what she had been doing or where she was. The ambulance took off and I followed in my car.

By the time I parked and got into her room there were about 8 nurses and the doctor working on her. My heart just hit the floor when I walked in and saw that. Then I heard her voice... asking the nurse that was holding her hand if she was going to die. I of course had tears flowing by that point. One of the nurses was pregnant and she teared up too. They all started laughing and said, leave it to the pregnant one to get all mushy. Kaitlyn must have asked 500 times if she was going to die. Each time either a nurse or doctor answered, "no you aren't going to die Kaitlyn" to which she followed up with "do you pinky promise???". There were a lot of pinky promises given in that room!

Once the doctor determined that her neck was ok they let her sit up, which she had been requesting to do since she got there. As she was sitting up she caught glimpse of her IV. She freaked out. Rick said she didn't even flinch when they put it in but when she saw that thing in her arm all bloody she started screaming. The doctor told her she had to have it for medicine later and she 'reluctantly' agreed not to rip it out. They took her for a CT Scan and an x-ray of her jaw (she had bit her lip pretty good) and was complaining of jaw pain. Both came out perfect. We were allowed to take her home a little after 8:30.

She had no short term memory in the hospital. She kept asking what happened and as soon as we finished telling her she would ask again because she didn't remember asking it before. She now remembers everything from Saturday leading up to the main event. She can't remember any of the race or the ambulance but remembers from when she got up to go potty at the hospital. She has some neck pain, is complaining like crazy about where the IV was and has one bruised up jaw and neck. Her neck is mostly a raspberry from her neck brace rubbing.

Her safety gear saved her life. She had on a full face helmet, a neck collar and a chest and rib protector jacket. I believe the chest/rib protector made a huge difference from the kart not crushing her stomach. The neck collar kept her neck in place and helmet took the impact. She is so lucky. We are pretty strict when it comes to helmets when riding bikes and scooters. There will be no more 'pretty' about it and I will be 'mean mom' strict now.

I stayed home today to deal with the insurance stuff and took her for a check up with our doctor. Matt couldn't get her in this morning so she saw one of his associates. She debated with him for quite a while about 'needing' to race this weekend (which was so not happening ~ Rick even took her kart completely apart so there was no questions). The doctor finally won that debate. Her kart was barely hurt.

Just a friendly reminder... don't allow your kids on bikes or scooters without a helmet. Double check that they are strapped on tight enough so that if they were to fall and hit their head the helmet will actually be in the right spot. We can't put our kids in a bubble or wrap them in bubble wrap. They are kids and we have to let them do what they love, but we can make sure they do it safely!

A Perfect Day at the Patch...

I had so much fun with Kaitlyn's class at the pumpkin patch yesterday. Of course Kaity was the last one to pic her pumpkin, which was fine until she dropped it in the parking lot and it split. Oh the sorrow that caused. Nothing purchased pumpkin, mountain dew and a chocolate chip cookie didn't fix right up!

After the patch Kaity and I went shopping and got all the ingrediants to make Becca's mac-n-cheese. Kaitlyn, with some wanted help from me and some not so wanted help from Trace, made dinner. The neighbor girl and I thought it was very good. Kaitlyn wasn't as impressed... Trace wouldn't even try it. I know, what a shock on both accounts!

Trace's New Love..

Rick and Trace spent Sunday together while Kaitlyn and I had a girls day with Michelle and Kendall. Trace LOVES to go hunting with Rick. He has been wanting a gun since Christmas last year but at 3, he was way too young. Not that he is completely old enough now but Rick took him on Sunday and bought him a bb gun. They went out to Kevin and Michelle's and went to Rick's favorite pond to find some ducks. Trace got to shoot at the water, which was very exciting. When he got home he told me that he shot 5 ducks...and since Rick only actually shot 3 and Trace shot ZERO, I'm not sure what he was talking about but he was very excited. As long as this is a DAD activity, I'm excited too :-)

Part-Timer!

Well today I am officially a part-timer... and let me just say how happy I am about that!

I'll be going with Kaitlyn and her class to the pumpkin patch in a few hours. I took the rest of the day off to 'get caught up' at home. I might even....MAKE DINNER. But don't get too excited on that one yet, its still only a possibility :-) I'll still be working weekends just because we haven't even come close to seeing all our customers for closing but the days are slow and only require one of us being here.

Happy Tuesday to all of you! Its a very happy one here.

A Life Remembered....

I had the honor of attending a memorial service on Saturday night for one very special lady. Connie, was married to Don who has been for years involved with car racing. I didn't know Connie well but from the very first time I met her I knew she was special. Every single time I ran into her or saw her at the races she was smiling. She always made it a point to say hello and ask how things were. There was nothing fake about her and it was obvious to everyone she had a heart of gold and love of life we can all be envious of.

Connie was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer and began the fight of her life. In May she received a stem cell transplant and had hoped it would be the beginning of her new life. Sadly, things did not work out that way. On October 7th, surrounded by her friends and family she very peacefully ended her time on earth.

I have had to go to many memorial services in my life and I think I can honestly say this was one of the saddest I have ever been to (and oh yea, I do BAWL at all of them). As I walked in, a good friend of Don and Connie's said to me, "this isn't a sad day, this is a good day." In my heart I knew and I know that. Connie suffered through so much pain these last few months. The sadness felt in that room was felt because 'we' lost a very kind soul. The sadness was for her family that loved her so dearly and had to say good-bye to a beautiful sister/wife/daughter/mother/grandmother before any were ready to do so. As I looked around the room and saw the hundreds of life's this woman had touched it really made me think.

Connie and her sister Mindy were the best of friends. As it became clear that Connie's fight was coming to an end she shared with Mindy that more than anything she wanted to see her get married. Mindy was planning on getting married next year but on Oct. 3rd (just 4 days before Connie passed) Mindy made Connie's dream come true (in just 24 hrs she planned and had her wedding!). While I know it was a dream come true for Mindy also (she was marrying the love of her life AND she was able to have her best friend be her Maid of Honor - Connie insisted on maid not matron because she wasn't old, lol) it was such a testament of the love the 2 had for eachother. Connie was so ill but the family shared that on that day she felt no pain. She told everyone that it was the happiest day of her life.

Becky and I were able to go out to dinner after the service. I think we both felt the same feelings and I was so glad to be able to talk to someone about it! Connie was the type of person that could touch a life without probably even realizing that she had done that. She showed many people how to just be a kind and genuine person, no ulterior motives, no hidden agenda...just good. She showed me that I need to better spend my time showing my appreciation to those people in my life that I love and care about so much and she showed me that kindness from the heart is a very special gift.

There is a woman that owns a winery in Prosser that also has an organization called MAKE THE DASH COUNT. The link is to her story. I absolutely love the message. We all strive to make our dash count, Connie certainly made hers!

So to Connie, thank you....thank you! Your kindness was so simple yet so impacting. You touched so many lifes and there are a lot of people that are blessed to have met you.

S.O.M.E Student of the Month!

Kaitlyn was awarded the Student Of Marked Excellence for the month of September. She won it for...KINDNESS! How proud are we.... pretty darn proud. She gets to have lunch on Friday with the principal. Way to go Kaitlyn!

**DISCLAIMER: Now if only she could show that kindness to her brother (wasn't so kind when she shoved him off her bed this morning!) or to me (wasn't so kind when I walked into daycare last night only to have her show me her grass stained capris and tell me I needed to get her to the store now to buy her some new pants for dance....because it wasn't her fault I MADE her wear white capris). My favorite though was when she weeded through the pictures I gave her to turn in to post on the bullentin board and she KINDLY removed the picture of her, my mom and my grandma because "she didn't look very cute in it". (she was 9 months old and in head to toe gymboree, what could possibily not be cute about that!) I keep telling myself she is saving up all that kindness for those outside her family!

Race Pics

Here's a few pics of the kids racing on Sunday. I thought I would make sure Becky saw what number Trace INSISTED on being... thanks a lot for that Becky!

G...O...go team GO!

Kaitlyn has been doing a cheer clinic at her school and last Friday night they got to cheer at the high school football game. It was sooooo cold. The football team...well it wasn't a real good game so that made it even more cold. But the kids were super cute in their uniforms and they did a great job. This clinic has been fantastic and the cheerleaders and their coach did a great job with it. They will have 3 more clinics this winter and get to cheer at a basketball game. I think we will enjoy that game a lot more :-)

Freezing!

That pretty much sums up Friday, Saturday and a good portion of Sunday. It decided to get cold and wouldn't it figure we had an entire weekend of outdoor activities.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of Kaitlyn cheerleading at Liberty's football game on Friday night. The kids kart raced and after a scary accident on Saturday Trace rebounded with a good run on Sat. and on Sunday managed to go the entire race without spinning out 1 time. Kaitlyn did fantastic in her new 'big' kart. She finished 3rd today in both the heat and the main event. There were 8 kids in her class today so we were very pleased. She managed to gain a lot of speed today and did a very good job listening to her crew chief ;-)

We have a busy week ahead of us. I'm hoping this will be my last full time week of work... we still have a lot of customers that have not closed their pools yet BUT it is getting close to the point where it will really spread out seeing people so we should be able to handle it with only me there in the morning and Scott in the afternoon. I'm ready....so ready.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'll posts pics tomorrow.

One Year Ago....

One year ago today, we were standing on the beach at Megan's Bay in St. Thomas watching these 2 get married.

They don't have a blog but I see them pop in and out of here so hopefully today is one of those days! Happy 1st Anniversary Jason and Angie. Here's to many more years filled with the happiness of this day and of the last year.

Rick and I had such a great time on the cruise. As much as I LOVE family vacations and as much as I missed my kids (like crazy)... it was the best thing we have ever done. It was so hard to get so close with Sam and Heather and then have to say good-bye (they had JUST moved to N. Carolina from Yakima). But at the same time we were so excited about their adventures ahead (and can't wait to go visit them!). I don't think any of us can believe it has been a year already, and I can not wait for the time we can set sail again for a week of tropical paradise!

Rick and Sam

The group...

Candles for Connie...

This is copied from Heather and Sam's blog:
Our dear, dear friend Connie, who was an angel on earth, has left this life and is now flying freely. Her cancer riddled body could no longer hold her spirit. I light these cyber candles in remembrance. They will remain that way for her on my page and in my heart forever. I invite my friends and family to copy them and do the same.

May God be with her family and friends during this difficult time. Connie touched many lives and I know she is in heaven, free of the pain she has been in the last several months. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Wishful Wednesday...

Whats on my wish list today????

One of these gorgeous throws...

With my toes all snuggled up in these:

While sipping on one of these....

If only I had the time to enjoy these delights while laying on the couch doing NOTHING...

I guess thats why its called a 'wish'.

Weekend Review...

Ok so yea, it's Wednesday and once again I am just getting around to updating this. I know, I know!


Friday Rick had planned on going up and helping Scott practice for the last big late model race of the season. When they got there they were informed that they had decided to cancel the races for the weekend due to the weather forecast. They gave teams the option to stay and practice so Scott decided to stay for a little bit. Rick hung out with them but ended up being home for the evening, which we hadn't planned on. I picked the kids up from daycare and took Kaitlyn shopping at Target to spend her birthday money. She got her Nintindo DS, she was just a little bit excited.


Saturday morning Rick woke up bright and early and headed to Rea's house (our SIL Michelle's sister) to hunt. Rea and her husband have several thousand acres of wheat in Starbuck, WA and happily open up their land for Rick and his friends to hunt on. Rick got his deer, a 3 x 3, but not without a MAJOR HUNT...literally! He shot it early in the morning but couldn't find it. Yep, that would be the 2nd time this has happened. He spent all day looking and finally at 5pm he literally stumbled unto it. Needless to say it was a late night for him. He didn't get home until close to midnight.


The kids headed to Jeremy and Nicole's for the day while I worked. They went up to Tri-Cities and watched the Cavalcade of Bands and went and got pumpkins. After work I headed home to meet them. Since I beat them to the house I started cleaning and as it turns out, I did not stop until Sunday night. Jeremy and Nicole's girls stayed the night with us Sat. night and the kids crashed!


I got lots done between Saturday night and Sunday. I cleaned my carpets and hardwood floors. I gutted Trace's room and the living room. Got everything dusted and took down some pictures in the living room and re-hung some new stuff. I'm trying to get as much of the 'cleaning' stuff done as I can before I go to part time so when I do, we are ready to jump in and start the demo and remodel stuff.


This week has been busy. Monday night we had Kaitlyn's dance (which I love because I get to visit with THIS LOVELY LADY whom I have been awful about keeping in touch with since umm, HIGH SCHOOL). Last night I had to rush home so I could watch the debate. I did however get my bedroom and bathroom cleaned while that was on. Today I had Trace's first teacher conference and Rick is at the dentist. It is going to probably be a long appointment, poor guy! His poor, poor teeth. The rest of the week is just as busy! I am sooooo ready to not be working all the time :-)


Well off to finish up an afternoon of work... and to prepare my grocery list. Ugg, its a grocery shopping day.

Political Pondering...

After watching the debate last night, I think I just want to vote for a VP... and for the record, if it was just based off of 'likeability' - I would have a tough decision. But well you gotta throw political stance, views and beliefs in. Last nights debate was encouraging and since it was so well watched hopefully it will spark more people to get out and vote!

Thursday Things...

1) 8 years ago, Rick and I were pulling into Kadlec hospital to have Kaitlyn's belly-rubin tested because she had jondus. As we were pulling into the parking lot we saw Sue walking into the hospital...huh, we weren't there any more so why would Sue be there. Oh yea, Rick's sister Wendy was pregnant too and we were due days apart. Well apparently her and Kevin's little boy decided it was time to make an entrance. Carson Steven Beightol joined the world just 3 days after Kaitlyn did. Happy 8th Birthday Cars!!!

2)I am officially in love with THIS NEW STORE. I wish I would have had 2 hours to go through everything but well I had to settle for the 35 minutes I could spare in my day. Thanks AMY for the POST about it (those huge stars are like $20, the medium size ones were around $15 I think). For those of you that haven't stopped by, they are only open on Thursday and Saturday's and they get new items every week.

3) I can't wait for the VP debate tonight... I am only a tinsey bit mad that it means no Grey's.

4) We left work this morning in a drizzle and it didn't even make me sad. It looks like it could pour at any time but it is 78 degrees out. Its like fall just fell upon us.

Lift Off..

Well I think I have it all updated. Bare with me through the tweaks the next few days!

Under Construction...

Working on my template, be back shortly...I hope

Oh yea it's October...

Today is my kickoff to fall. Its all a mind thing, I know - I know, but hey it's October 1st! And how appropriate since it is nearly 90 degrees today. But the weather change is a coming (they are saying down to the 60's this weekend). So in honor of my favorite time of year I thought I would share my favorite things about October. And yes I am so copying Heather and Becky in the favorite list post :-)

• Weather ~ I love the change of weather, it is refreshing to have something other than HOT and I love that I don't have to water 6 hours a day just to keep my grass a little brown rather than the total dead it is with no water.
• Work is winding down! ~ Some time in Oct. I get to go back to my 3 hour work days. I am looking forward to this so much, more than words can say! I am in dire need of not being here all the time, my family is in need of me being home more (ok well I hope they are in need of me being home more) and without and doubt my house is in need of me being home more to clean it!
• Fall colors ~ the falling leaves (as long as they don't fall or blow into my yard).
• Jeans ~ I love breaking out my jeans almost as much as I love packing them away in the spring.
• Scents ~ the crisp smell in the air, oh wait that is covered with the smell of smudge pots.
• Candles ~ I go most of the summer without candles because we are home so rarely. But as soon as fall hits I go buy all I can find.
• Cooking ~ ok I could barely type that without laughing so I can only imagine what those of you who really know me must be doing. I like to talk a big game about baking and cooking when I'm home more. I print out the recipes, sometimes I even go buy the ingredients. Then I just buy some candles to make the kitchen smell like I baked and then go get some take-out... see no mess that way!
• Pumpkin Patch ~ we always take the kids to a pumpkin patch and get pumpkins and enjoy an afternoon of 'harvest fun'. The pumpkins usually then rot on the porch until Christmas time. Wouldn't want to waste our money on that adventure.
• Halloween ~ I love, love, love Halloween for my kids. I love that Prosser still does good old door to door trick or treating. I love taking my kids to everyone’s house, I love having our friends bring their kids to our house. Mostly, I love that Halloween is the kick off to the holiday season!
• And just because I am such a good wife, I love how excited Rick gets about hunting. I personally don't get the thrill of it. I can't imagine what could be fun about walking miles up and down cliffs in the freezing ass cold (yep that deserved an ASS) and MAYBE seeing something and god forbid shooting it and trying to figure out how to get it back to camp. He might not get scrapbooking but hello.... at least I can stay warm, have a drink and watch TV while enjoying my hobby.

What are you looking most forward to in October???

Weekend Roundup (last weekend, just a little behind)...

Geesh I'm behind. We had a great weekend, other than Trace was sick :-( Didn't slow us down too much though. Of course Friday night we had Kaitlyn's school friend birthday party. Worked out great leaving with very tired kids who were more than willing to jump right in bed when we got home.

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:30, showered and made my coffee. I woke up both kids, bundled them up and headed to the airport for the balloon launch. It was actually a beautiful morning. I can remember years when there was frost on the ground. It wasn't warm by any means, but it wasn't bitter cold either. We found Jeremy, Nicole and their kids and started walking around checking everything out. They were just unrolling the balloons so the kids thought that was so cool. Trace was completely filled with questions. We decided to start walking towards the gate so when they started going up we could get to the bridge to hopefully see some try to dip in the water. Well the 4 adults looked and saw the group of kids and we all started walking. We got 1 balloon down and realized we were missing Taylor. Jeremy told the kids to stay exactly where they were and he and Nicole started running back to where we had been. As soon as we turned around and looked we could see Taylor back there with a lady, bawling when she realized she was by herself. The other kids were so worried and so relieved (as were all the adults) when she was found, safe and sound. Funny how that ended up playing into our hands though, not one of them wondered more than 2 feet from us and we never had to remind them again to stay close.

We got to the bridge right as the first balloon to go up made it to the water. Unfortunately, he was the only balloon to hit the water on Sat. Looking at some other blogs I see lots made it on Sunday morning. The kids loved every minute of watching and I fully admit, so did I!!! We headed home so I could get ready for work and the kids could get ready to head to Kaitlyn's school for Applooza. When we got home a balloon had landed at the school. The kids ran out to watch them load up. Pretty exciting stuff!

Rick and kids headed to Liberty for another successful Applooza festival. Rick and Trace worked at the ball toss booth, which was Kaitlyn's class booth. Kaitlyn came home with hot pink and purple hair. I think everyone had a great time. Rick said Trace had been coughing all day. He called me to check on what he could give him for meds because I had given him some when he woke up and it hadn't really been working so well. Rick's sister Amee was in Yakima with Mitch who was racing his sprint car at the fair (he raced Friday night with Dave and Steve crewing for him and he flipped in the A main ~ pretty much destroyed the car). Rick said he would go up and help on Sat. so he dropped the kids off with Jeremy and Nicole until I finished work and headed up.

After I got off of work I ran home, grabbed the kids and headed to Yakima. Mitch had to run his back-up car but he did so good. They had so many cars wreck, and when when these cars wreck they WRECK. They don't just roll over they flip and flip and flip. Mitch was able to stay away from all the major wrecks and came home with a 3rd place finish. Scott Walker and Kevin went up to help crew too. I think they all got spoiled working on these compared to their big cars on race day. Not a lot of adjustments to make before the race... just lots of cleaning!

Trace was misrible the entire night. I shouldn't have even taken him up there but we had used watching Uncle Mitch race as incintive to be good all week so how do we not follow through... he was so glad to get in the car to head home, he tried to push Mitch's car in the trailer for about 15 minutes to speed up the process.

Sunday morning we were lazy. Kaitlyn didn't wake up until 9:30 and Trace slept til 11:30. He was feeling so much better after all that sleep. When he finally woke up we sent Kaitlyn down to Dave and Sue's so we could do her birthday surprise. Amee had called earlier in the week and asked Kaitlyn what she wanted. Kaitlyn told her she had a very simple list this year. She wanted an American Girl Doll ($100 plus), and Nintindo DS ($100 plus) and a new bed, a king size would be perfect (ummm, I don't even have a king size bed because they are what $1000 plus!). Well we had been thinking of getting rid of her bunk beds anyways so when I heard that I decided we would move the guest room bed (full size, sorry Kait) into her room and get her new bedding. As soon as she went out the door we flew into action and took down her old beat up bunk beds and move the full bed into her room. When she got home Trace told her she needed to pick up her toys and take them to her room. I was waiting in there and unfortunately didn't get a good pic of her reaction. She was so excited. I had found really cute Roxy bedding and she is all about Roxy right now.

A big hit... look at her fast asleep!

Since Monday nights are dance night we let Kaity pick her birthday dinner for Sunday night. She wanted steak and mac 'n' cheese... my kind of girl! Rick bbq'd steak and we enjoyed a nice down day.

Monday morning Kaitlyn woke up and opened her birthday gift from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Sue. They had oh so kindly picked up brownies for her to take for snack on Monday since I just sorta dropped the ball there. She was so excited to open her card and find out she had almost enough money for Nintindo DS. Monday night she found out she officially had enough thanks to Auntie LoLo and Michael and Becky. So I'm sure we will be hitting Target this weekend to pick one up. 2 items off her list, not a bad birthday I would say!