Thompson-Time

Back to School....

2009-09-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

September = Back to school.... where did summer go?

Yesterday the kids had back to school day. We went and put away all their school supplies, found their desks and re-met their teachers. They were so excited!

I have to admit the highlight of the day for me was when Rick called me and asked what time we were going to be there because he didn't want to miss it. He drove into town and met us. It was a fun and special thing to do as a family!

Surprisingly bed time went better than expected. They were both so nervous. Kaitlyn was worried that her teacher wouldn't like her and that she would flunk all her subjects. She is such a worrier!

Wake up time went great. Both kids got up really well. All was going well until I told Trace to wear tennis shoes because he had P.E. today. Well turn on the freak out. Kailtyn had told him that if he couldn't tie his shoes he would get kicked out of P.E. and then get kicked out of school. So he told Rick to teach him right now how to tie his shoes. Rick told him he couldn't do it today but that they could work on this week. So at that point Trace said he wasn't going, started crying and then spilt the drink he was carrying to put in the sink all over him. GGGGRRRREEEAAATTT. We got him changed and Rick loaded up the kids in his car and hit the road. I followed them and just as I was getting on the freeway I got a call to go back and get Trace's glasses.

I made it on time to get a few pics before they went into school. I didn't cry, and it made me feel so good to watch them both just march right with confidence, smiles and eagerness.

Both had great first days. Trace did pull a warning stick (the stick in kinder is they friend to remind them to make good decisions) but survived the day and his teacher said he did well and she was proud of him. Kaitlyn loved her teacher and had a blast. She is so excited for tomorrow mostly because she gets to wear basketball shorts since it is her P.E. day. My deal with her is P.E. days are the only time she can wear basketball shorts. Dang it if she doesn't have P.E. 3 times a week this year! That one backfired on me big time.

Rick and I survived the day too. I was a wreck all day. I knew Kaitlyn would have a great day but Trace is our challenge. I know he is exactly where he needs to be and I know that he has teachers that can not only lead him to do great both with his school work and his emotions but will also teach him that his attitude and actions need to make Jesus proud. Please keep him and his teachers in your prayers :-)

That's how they roll...

2009-08-29T10:42:00.001-07:00

This just rolled up to my yard sale. I believe that would be a washer shoved in the side. Sweet!

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Great Story!

2009-08-20T13:47:00.001-07:00

I just read this on THIS BLOG and found myself wanting to share it. I echo what Michelle says in the following :-)

I read this today and thought I'd share it. Yes, it's political and it totally speaks to my beliefs, so if you think you'll be offended, don't read it!

From a teacher in the Nashville area:

"We are worried about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream" The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.

We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot. The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids.

I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother. The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first.

He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded and he sat down.

Now is was Olivia's turn to speak. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream."

She sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely would say more... She did not have to.

A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream?
She wasn't sure.

Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it.
She didn't know.

The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten.

Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52 percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other 48 percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess! Remember, the government cannot give anything to anyone --- that it has not first taken away from someone else.

Kids say the darndest things...

2009-08-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

In an effort to record the funny things my kids say... here are 2 of my favorites in the past week:

Me to the kids: "Guys if we get new couches there will be NO MORE eatting or drinking on them."

Trace: "Great, then where are we going to eat dinner?"

********************************

Trace to me: "Mom how much did you run last night?"

Me: "Well I would run for 60 seconds and then walk for 90 seconds and I did that for 30 minutes."

Kaitlyn: "Ummm, mom, Sorry but that was NOT running it was much more like a very slow jog."

********************************

Nothing like 2 kids to keep me grounded!

A MUST check out!

2009-08-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is the coolest blog... check it out and find all kinds of fabulous deals!!!

http://krazycouponlady.blogspot.com/

Grandview Fair

2009-08-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

Kaity headed to the west side for a girls weekend with Kathie and Meredith so we were down to one. We decided to take Trace to fair in Grandview.

Trace had fun eating his favorite corn and checking out the animals. But by far his favorite was the rodeo. He was so into the bull riding. So I guess a trip to the BF fair and rodeo is in our future.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK!

2009-08-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Rick....

A great dad....

a wonderful husband....

and the reason we are a family...

We love you and hope your birthday is great.

House Work....

2009-08-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

So if my house was clean all the time would I appreciate it as much as I do right now after spending hours cleaning a truely messy house??? Maybe one day I will know the answer to that. As for now, we are too busy running kids to soccer, VBS, working, racing and playing.... and we love every second of it! Right now, I am loving my clean house!

Disclaimer: The only reason my house is clean is because the Directv dude missed his 8-12 window by 3 1/2 hours! Yep, he got here at 3:30 and I now have a clean upstairs!!

What to do... what to do...

2009-08-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Cheyanne's birthday (our friends Jeremy and Nicole's daughter). Cheyanne and Kaitlyn are the same age and their younger daughter Taylor and Trace are the same age (they are also boy friend and girl friend if you ask them!). So Nicole asked me if they could take the kids on Saturday and keep them over night. Who am I to say no. Rick dropped them off on Saturday morning and they had a day of fun with the Douglas family.

Rick called me right before I was about to leave work and said to stay in town and meet him at Anthony's for dinner. YUUUMMMM! We had a fabulous dinner watching what we can only describe as FOOLS out on the river (it was 108 degrees out! How could it even feel good on the water unless you are IN the water.). After dinner we went to the mall and browsed around a bit and then headed over to watch The Hangover. The movie was hilarious. Definately not for everyone but Rick and I both completely enjoyed it and laughed the entire time. When we left at 9:30, it was still 100 degrees out!

Sunday Rick had to work and I had no kids to wake me up. Leave it only to me to be up at 7:30 but it sure was nice to read the paper, sip my coffee and not have to break up one fight. It also gave me time to go over all the ads to price what I wanted to get Rick for his birthday. His birthday isn't until Wednesday but we have the most insane week ahead of us and Rick was in big time need of a pick me up. So I cruised down to Tri-Cities, KIDLESS and not having to head to work, and started my journey to buy him a new TV.

I ended up with a Vizio 55" LCD. We are not techie people... we are not movie watchers... we don't have a clue on electronics. So high end anything isn't necessary, I just figured it was time to moth ball the 36" tube tv that has made its home with us the last 9 years. It will works, it just is a nice square (as opposed to the nice rectangles modern era TV's are), it weighs approximately 3 times what the 55" TV weighed, it has to sit on a stand (which the new is on now until we decide where we want to mount it) and well.... it was time for a big screen. My brother in law came over to help me move the old one out and set up the new one (which worked out well since he is color blind, haha) and I believe his words to me were: You were the last ones I know with a old TV, even the old people have a flat screen. hahaha.

I went and picked up the kids around 4:30 and we were home and waiting for Rick to get off work. He walked in and was so happy to see his new TV. I'm sure he was even happier when he got to watch Hannah Montana and Wizzard's of Waverly Place all on night.

Today is the start of a pretty crazy week. Tonight I am going to a CAbi show of their new line and Rick is getting the kids. It is our only down night. Rick will be busy the rest of week getting the racecars ready for Stateline this weekend. Kaitlyn is heading to the west side with Kathie on Thursday so Trace and I will have a day in Spokane on Saturday. Rick thinks he wants to drive home after the race so we can have Sunday to be home. I figure we will see how he is holding up at the end of the week. He has been working in Vegas 2 of the last 3 weeks. While he has enjoyed being down there, it is hard being away from home and his normal job. There is lots waiting for him!

So thats us in a nutshell.... aaaaggggghhhhhh, back to blogging finally :-)

Truck on fire....

2009-08-03T10:20:00.001-07:00

This morning after I dropped the kids off at daycare, I got to witness a truck on fire in the bypass. I was talking to Gus on the phone as I saw the black smoke. Ironically we were discussing mobile blogging. He told me I needed to take a pic and post it from the mobile....well since I was talking to him I didn't take the pic BUT I decided to still post the story so he would know I'm making the effort. So picture here a mid 80's F-250 burnt to the ground. Literally a complete loss. Not a good Monday morning!
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This Morning.....

2009-07-31T10:18:00.001-07:00

This funny little boy....

said, "OMG... what is that smell??? I think it might be beef!"

To which this funny little girl...

said, "Mom I think he is going to be a Veterinarian!"

And since I'm pretty sure she meant Vegetarian.... I had a nice morning chuckle.

Happy Friday!

Testing the mobile blog...

2009-07-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

I finally decided to try out mobile blogging. Wish me luck!
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2009-07-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

YEP ADDISON.... we feel the exact same way about this heat wave!
(is it sad that the 97 degree break we have today feels good)

Beachin it at Cannon Beach!

2009-07-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

We have been in major need of a family time out so this weekend we loaded up and hit the coast on Thursday. It was boat race weekend here so we decided it was the perfect time to escape the craziness (and the heat!). We drove to Portland on Thursday and then hit Seaside on Friday morning. We spent most of Friday in Seaside. The kids had a blast feeding the seals and walking around the town. Then we drove to Cannon Beach to check into our hotel and spent the afternoon on the beach.

Saturday we hit the tide pools at Haystack rock and they were incredible. We saw so much and the kids were just in awe. Sunday we also went and they were not nearly as filled as they were Saturday so we totally lucked out. After that we drove down the coast and just spent the morning exploring but made sure we were back in plenty of time to spend all afternoon on the beach. The kids got skim boards which they didn't really pick up on but had a blast trying. It was such a great relaxing weekend!

After we hit Seaside for a bit on Sunday we hit the road to get Rick dropped off at the airport. He is working in Vegas this week and will be home on Friday. This is the 2nd time he has gone down for work in the last 2 weeks and will most likely have to go one more time. Its hard having him gone!!!

Here's a few pics of our adventures.....

Welcome Miss Addison!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Addison Nicole Beightol arrived on July 14th weighing in at 6 lbs and 14.8 ounces. She was 19 inches long.... Little and so sweet!!!

A million excuses...

2009-06-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

That is what I have for not updated my blog in MONTHS.... but maybe, just maybe I'll be back on track now.

We have been one busy bunch of people the last few months. The store has been insanely busy, Rick and the kids are both racing and I helped host a shower in honor of the arrival of my sister-in-laws baby girl....

Rick has been putting in lots of hours with the race program and has had tremendous results. The group he is racing with is probably one of the largest touring series on the entire West coast. With the economic problems racing doesn't seem to be on the top of many people lists but the NW Pro 4 Alliance has had over 30 cars at both their events. In May we raced in Wenatchee and finished first!! Last weekend we raced in Yakima and finished first!! It took until the last minute to finish this car and then just 10 days before the Yakima race he blew up a motor in practice, so these wins were especially appreciated! We are so proud of him.

Kaitlyn finished up 2nd grade.... I am so going to miss her teacher but it was so nice to finish the year. She is going to have a great class next year. She is doing basketball camps and lot of vacation bible schools this summer, finished up dance last week, and is still racing go-karts.

Trace finished pre-school and will officially be a kindergartner at Liberty in August. We are waiting on his teacher still but he has gone through the testing process and did great. Just hoping his behavior will stay in line so he can do well socially too! He is doing lots of VBS also and is playing soccer and racing. Tonight is his first soccer game, wahoo!

As for me I am just working and working and working.... I am finally able to get off at 5 instead of 6 which is so nice. The store is doing well which is a blessing. Here are a few pics of the shower I put on with my other sister in laws for Wendy and Addison:

WELCOME SPRING!!

2009-03-20T15:51:00.000-07:00

What a great welcoming to spring!!! It is 70 degrees out, sunshine, gorgeous!!! I am so ready for the warm weather.

Mustang Girls State Basketball!

2009-03-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

We spent the last several days in Yakima watching the Prosser girls basketball team play in the state tournament.

The girls started off on fire. They won the first 2 games and looked great. But the 3rd and 4th games didn't go so well. It was a bummer way to end a great season but we are still so proud of them. They finished 6th in the state and with 4 of the starters returning next year, they are going to be a team to watch for the next few years.

The kids had a blast watching and can't wait to play basketball and be #23 (Helen's number). We love Helen, she is an unbelievable athlete but even more importantly a great, great kid. She is starter on the team and only a freshman so we are looking forward to watching her and supporting her for a while!

After the last game we waited (with everyone else!) to see the girls after they came out of the locker room. It was sad to see them come out so disappointed but they had a lot more to be proud of. One of Kristin's former students that is on the team came up to her and gave her a blanket that she and her mom made. It said Prosser Lady Mustang's #1 Fan. It was so sweet! Those girls mean so much to Kristin and she and Scott made almost every game (even the out of town ones during the regular season).

We spent the rest of our weekend recovering from the late nights at the Sun Dome and Kaitlyn came down with the flu. It has been the worst flu season and I'm so ready for spring. Today it was warmer out but the wind was blowing 200 mph. Oh wait, that is our spring :-) Ok so I'm ready for the windless sunny days!

My Gorgeous Bedroom!

2009-02-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics of how my bedroom turned out. We haven't quite finished up the closet and I still need to figure out my lamp shades but we are getting there!

My Baby is FIVE!

2009-02-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Today Trace is officially 5. Last week we registered him for kindergarten, this week he is 5... he is officially a big boy! While I don't really miss his 'baby' stage of life (he was not an easy baby!), it is sad that my baby is growing up so fast.

Happy Birthday T-Man! We love you!!!

(Trace in DEEP concentration with his new DS he got for his birthday..... It was a big hit!)

Some pics don't deserve explanation!

2009-02-10T11:14:00.001-08:00

There are so many things I could say about this pic but I think I'll just post it... Lets just say we had a fun night watching the Bud Shootout at a friends house. The kids had a blast, the adults had a blast... it was a fun night!

Sunday Rick and I just pretty much kicked back and relaxed. We got some painting done on the trim but it was a pretty unproductive weekend when it came to our remodel project. Kaitlyn had a week full of sickness at school, she had like 6 kids gone on Friday! She spent the night at a friends on Friday night so by Sunday she was just done. I'm not sure she moved off the couch to do much of anything. It must have done her good because so far she has been able to fend off the strep and flu that many of her classmates have had!

I have been busy planning my mom's 60th birthday party. We are going to have it next Monday since it is President's day and most people aren't working. She is so excited.

I'll post more this week... PROMISE! I have been such a slacker but I am on myself to get back on track.

Carpet!!!

2009-02-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a nice weekend home this last weekend. I had the weekend off so we decided to try to get as much bathroom/bedroom done as possible!

I mentioned that we had Meredith on Thursday night. Here are a few pics I took of the kids at the park. We also went the library and then headed to the store to pick up ice cream and dinner stuff.
On Friday Rick ran up to Tri-Cities to pick up the carpet for the bedroom. We had planned on putting it in when he got back but I had a wee little problem pop up while he was gone.... I backed up the kitchen sink. Add salad to the list of DO NOT PUT IN THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL IN EXCESS! I caught Rick at Home Depot and told him to get a drain jet because I had already taken apart the pipe under the sink and that didn't cure the problem. It took both of us to get the dang thing unplugged. Rick had to go up on the roof and hold his hand over the vent to get it pressurize enough to break that junk down. What a night! And needless to say, I was not real popular.

Rick did some clean up in the bedroom and then I went in and helped him put in the tack strip and the pad. It was late enough that we both decided putting the carpet in would be best to hold off until morning.

We all slept in a little on Saturday morning, after breakfast Rick and I went to work. We were so lucky that the room is just under 12 foot wide so we didn't have any patching or trimming on the role. We got it all rolled out and Rick started with the stretcher. I mostly sat back and gave orders... more in this direction.....a little more over there, ect. We were very impressed that it took a little less than 2 hours and we had it in and looking GREAT. He decided that he needed some time off of house projects so he headed to the shop. Kaity went down to hang at Sue's house and Trace and I worked some on the house and a nap.

Saturday night Rick came home and Kaity and I headed to the Prosser basketball games to cheer on the Mustangs... Many of Kristin's old students play on Varsity so its fun to go see them. Kaitlyn was super excited because Carley (the gal we have babysit every so often) and her friend Jeanna were there. Prosser girls kicked some booty and the boys actually had a really good game. It was good enough that we stayed for the whole thing!

Here is a pic of Helen....after the 2nd nose break in 2 weekends! That is one tough and VERY cool girl! She is also one heck of an athlete!!!

When we got home Rick had put in the hard wood floor in the entry of our bedroom. It looks fantastic!! Just finished off the room so nicely.

Sunday we had the Gus family over to watch the game. Although I must admit, we watched VERY little of the game. Michelle and I shopped online for bedding.... the boys played the race game... the kids used my new room as a dance floor/wrestling ring. Kaitlyn at one point asked me if I would mind just keeping my bedroom in the basement and letting her have the bedroom as a dance floor...NOT A CHANCE IN YOU KNOW WHAT MY DEAR :-) I do have to say though, I had known how popular a room with nothing but plush cushy carpet would be, I would have given away all the toys and done it a long time ago!

So we are all back to work and school this week. Kaitlyn is now dancing twice a week and has swimming on Tuesday's. She got the very exciting news that she is ready for pre-swim team. She is quite the fish. We are going to probably wait until late spring to put her in though because with dance twice a week we just can't do 2 nights of swimming too. Since we have a family membership at the gym we can go swim 3 days a week and keep up her stokes until we can start. We went tonight and she swam over 10 laps instead of playing with all the other kids, talk about dedication out of a 8 year old!

I have to work all weekend so I'm not sure what else we will get done. We need to finish the closet before we can move the bedroom stuff in so we'll see how that goes. I sure could get used to having long weekends though! It is so nice being home.

I got tagged!

2009-02-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Becca to go to my picture file, open the 4th folder and pick the 4th pic:

This was Trace last year about this time helping Rick build a toy box. He is always the helper when it comes to any project daddy will include him in!

Now I tag anyone who hasn't done this! Enjoy, have fun and I can't wait to see what you find.

Long Weekend!

2009-01-30T11:58:00.000-08:00

I am sooo excited to have another 3 day weekend! Kaitlyn has an in service day so we get to stay home all day....only someone forgot to tell Kaitlyn that on no school days, YOU GET TO SLEEP IN. We had Meredith spend the night last night and Kaitlyn decided at 5 she was ready to place her DS and woke all of us up. All of us, me in included, were sleeping in the living room. Meredith got a little sad for her mom so I laid down on the floor and snuggled her right up until 5 am, uggg.

Michelle's Grandma was inducted into the Columbia Basin College Hall of Fame last night. Grandma Margaret (as she is known by all of the fam) brought womens sports to CBC. She taught at CBC for over 3o years and before Title IX, basically ran an underground association for women to play sports. She is an amazing woman! A few years ago the Olympic torch came through the Tri-Cities. Grandma was choosen to carry the torch for the last leg and then light the big torch on the back of the van to move on to the next city. It was such a fitting event for her and she is such a role model for all women!

So lets see what else has been up... last week Trace was so sick. He had a fever for 3 days and a horrible cold. Rick stayed home with him 2 days and I stayed home with him for 2 days. He still has a bit of a cold but is on the mend. Kaitlyn thankfully was able to fight it off.

Last weekend our very good friend KEVIN turned the big 4-0 so his wife threw a surprise birthday party for him. Rick and I were able to get Brian Ohler to arrange a ride-along with the Prosser police department. Brian wasn't on duty but Kevin didn't know that. He thought he was in for a night of busting speeders. They conviently got a call from dispatch saying there was a noise complaint on the road Kevin lives on. Kevin jokingly said, boy I hope it isn't my house. Well when they drove by guess what, there were cars every where. Kevin quickly figured out there was a party at his place going on but told Brian to go ahead and answer his call first...a little slow to realize that he was the call :-) We had fun visiting with friends and family and helping Kevin ring in the 40's.

Kaitlyn got her report card this week for her 2nd trimester.. she got straight A's! She worked so hard and her grades really showed it. We rewarded her last night with getting to pick dinner. She picked sloppy joe's and ice cream..PERFECT!

We have a very quiet weekend planned, thank goodness! Rick just left for Tri-Cities to pick up carpet for our bedroom and will hopefully install it tonight or tomorrow. The walls are painted... we just need a toilet and to finish the shower in the bathroom. The shower will be tiled soon but the doors will be on the back burner a little while longer since they are a pretty penny. We will be able to have all the other bathroom functions and luckily we have 2 other showers so we will be in good shape. I can't wait to have my bedroom back!!!

I hope all of you get to enjoy the sunshine this weekend. It might not be warm but with the sun out and the grey gone, things are so much less depressing!!! Thank goodness, I was about to go crazy on the gray days.

Alive and BEHIND!

2009-01-20T18:30:00.001-08:00

Oh my goodness I don't know where the time goes! I can't believe how long it has been since I have updated... so here is a quick run down of our month so far.

These are from our New Years party... Uncle Steve got all into wrestling with the kids. It was pretty funny watching 4 kids and Steve in a dog pile. Meredith was very concerned that her dad was ok.... so were we with those 4 kiddos!

Next up came Trace's glasses. Right before Christmas we found out that Trace has horrible eye sight and was extremely far-sided. His new specs finally showed up on January 2nd. He is doing fantastic in them and we have noticed a huge difference in him. Plus he looks so darn cute in them!

Our bathroom project continues on. I have a gorgeous tile floor...well actually now the walls are textured and painted but I haven't taken pics of that yet. Rick put in these very cool metal tiles to add a little bling. I love it... it just made it all pop. He did a great job for his first tile experience!

Kaitlyn finished her Impact cheer camp by performing at the girls and boys basketballs games. The girls did such a great job. Kaitlyn LOVES dancing... so much so that starting next week she will be in jazz on Monday's and ballet on Wednesday's. Add that to swimming on Tuesday's (and she is a heartbeat away from making pre-swim team at CBRC which is what leads into the big swim team the Channel Cats) and she is going to be one busy little girl...with a very busy mommy!

This past Sunday was the Miss Prosser JR Miss contest. Kaitlyn was asked to be part of it since she is Little Jr Miss Prosser. At first she was just going to hand out flowers to the girls and pull the names for the raffle drawing during the intermission. Well by Sunday she and Lauren ended up being on stage from the intermission until the end. The big girls did a great job and our new Miss Prosser and her court will represent our community well! Kaitlyn got to open the envelopes of each winner and hand them to the MC. We had to have a long talk about not looking at the name and reacting...she was nervous but did such a good job. Rick and I got a kick out of watching her on stage.

So that leads us to the present... Trace is sick, really sick :-( Rick stayed home with him today and will stay home with him tomorrow. I'll stay with him on Thursday. Poor little guy. He has the cough and a fever and is just flat run down. Hopefully having a nice down week will get him on the mend!

I am proud to report that have been to the gym 7 times in the last 9 days! I started my diet 2 weeks ago and excercising last week. My mom asked me if I was enjoying it and I can say without a doubt the answer to that is NO! I hate working out BUT in 2 weeks I have lost 8 lbs so how do you argue with results? And I will admit, I do feel good afterwards and it is a great stress reliever!

Rick has started working on the racecars so he is gone on Tuesday and Thursday nights. We miss him lots but I enjoy having some mom and kiddo time. Plus I don't have to worry about anything but a kid lovin dinner!

I hope everyone is doing well and I will do my best to get back on board with blogging.

Alive...just a slug!

2009-01-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well I guess the new year has been all about sluggin for me. I haven't updated in forever. Well that is officially at the top of my to-do list. We have had a great start to the new year.... the kids are back in school and its going GREAT!

Trace is stylin in his new glasses and seems to be enjoying noticing many of things he apparently could never see before.

I'm another year older....and hopefully wiser!

Rick is a mudding fool in our bedroom and bathroom...he says to pick colors he wants to paint this weekend (he said COLOR... and very clearly stated that would remain singular)

Kaitlyn cheered at her school's basketball games last weekend. She got her hair cut and thinks she is pretty darn fabulous. And she is back to not knowing what she wants to wear.

I'll see what I can do about filling in some blanks and posting some pics soon.

I hope everyone's 2009 is off to a great start!

New Blog

2009-01-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

I had enough response that I set this up:

RECIPE FOR THE NEW YEAR

If you are interested in adding some recipes or tips let me know and I'll add you as an author.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T12:51:00.000-08:00

We had a fun night with the G. Family, Rick's brother Steve and his family and my sister and Scott. The boys raced all night on the iRacing, the girls chatted and drank wine and the kids played (Trace fought) and had fun. We had all said ahead of time that we wouldn't make it til mid-night but it would be fun just to hang out. Well low and behold, before we knew it - it was 11:30. So we turned on the TV, watched the ball drop and wished everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope you are enjoying your day as much as I am....in my pj's doing as little as possible! I LOVE the New Year already ;-)

3 days til DIET!

2008-12-29T11:56:00.000-08:00

Don't I do this every year...new year new diet. So I was thinking that if anyone out there would be interested maybe we should start a blog that we can share HEALTHY recipes, tips and ideas. Any takers???

Christmas Eve with Papa Dave and Sue

2008-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve evening we heading to Dave and Sue's for dinner and festivities. When we were at DisneyWorld I decided to get all the cousins Mickey and Mini Mouse Santa hats. Sara and Meredith's pics came out so cute, Trace was being Trace and Kaity and Carson's were too dark (I still don't know my camera at all!). But the group shot came out cute.

Every year we do 'crackers' or 'poppers' after dinner. This year Meredith and Trace made them for us all. Michelle did the shopping to find goodies to fill them up with, Meredith kindly emptied enough rolls of toilet paper for us all to have a tube and Sue found jokes and crowns. It was fun to open up our personalized gifts and the 4 year olds had a blast making them. Trace made the boys and Meredith made the girls.

2008-12-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

The 8 year olds started the tradition last year of going shopping with Sue at the dollar store to buy gifts for each family member. It is pretty hilarious to see what they think we all need. Carson bought me some lovely foam visors (in pink/purple/yellow) and Kaity got me some lotion. Kaity was most proud of her gift to Uncle Mitch....STINK PACKETS. Last year he got a back scratcher this year stink packets. Pretty funny.

First we did the kids gifts and then we did our draw gifts. Each of us draw a name to buy for and it is a secret until they get the gifts. Our famly drew Steve, Mitch, Michael and Sara. Surprisingly it wasn't to hard. I had fun with Michael giving him the UW football since he is such a huge UW fan...YEA RIGHT! He was very excited to go home and write their season record on the ball to display! He was even more happy when he opened up his gift certificate to the new golf course in Pullman (Thanks Dita and Jeremy for the help on that!!! Jeremy is the Pro there so if anyone wants to golf at a fabulous course give him a call!).

After we do those gifts the adults do a $5 limit white elephant exchange. We have so much fun with this one. I got on the internet to find some ideas. I took a bag full of everything you need to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Steve ended up with that and got lots of chuckles...almost as many as Lori's USB plug in back massager, lol. We had a great time and went home with tired kids....that all got along so well so it made for an even better night!

Christmas Eve with Papa and Yaya

2008-12-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

After left Peggy's we headed to my parents for brunch. We enjoyed good food and then opened gifts. I made calendars for Kathie, Peggy and my parents. I wish I would have had time to make them myself but I do have to say that Shutterfly did a great job on them and they were a big hit. Kristin and Scott were supposed to be at the Boise State bowl game in San Diego but with the snow storm we had their flights got cancelled so they didn't get to go :-( I felt so bad for them but Alaska was great and fully refunded their tickets (which were my parents gift to them for Christmas). So they will to plan another get-away sometime in 09 and we got to all be together. We had a great visit with my family and enjoyed another great Christmas!

Christmas Eve with Grammie and GG

2008-12-27T10:16:00.001-08:00

We started our morning off with Rick's Mom and Grandma in Richland. Amee and Mitch came in late Tuesday night and followed us down to her new apartment. We were able to use their big rec room which worked out perfect. The kids had fun opening up their gifts and playing with Trace's new Star Wars get-up. Since Christmas Eve is so busy we couldn't stay nearly long enough but it was fun to visit and spend time with them. It has been a rough year on Grandma with her cancer this summer. And we just got word that the cancer has returned. She looked great so hopefully further tests will show that is wrong. Please keep her in your toughts!

Kaity's Racin Style..

2008-12-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

When Rick was at PRI he and his brother signed up for iRacing. Scott has joined now too and I would guess Kevin isn't far behind. Rick got his wheel on Tuesday night (UPS got here at 8:09 pm!) and after a lot of headache we finally got it all up and going. His laptop didn't have a good enough video card nor did my old desktop. So off to the store we went yesterday and we grabbed a new video card and within one hour iRacing was up and running.

The plan is to build a simulator like KEVIN'S . Many of the racers you watch on TV race this. In fact we got onto Dale Jr's profile and he raced for 3 1/2 hours today...MERRY CHRISTMAS TO HIM. Tonight Rick and the kids enjoyed a little redneck style racin'. The steering wheel was clamped to a tv stand and the pedals were on the floor. It wasn't the greatest step up, but it worked right. Here is Kaity taking a spin.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T20:14:00.001-08:00

Did you BELIEVE???

They did....and they RECEIVED!

We hope your day was merry and magical. Merry Christmas 2008.

2008-12-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tis the season to be....

2008-12-20T13:49:00.001-08:00

I am doing my best to be JOLLY but oh my goodness I have so much to do. My house hasn't rebounded from us getting home... my shopping is almost completed but I still feel like I haven't even started... I have done ZERO baking, that I had such high hopes of doing... So tomorrow I plan on cleaning the house, checking my lists to make sure everyone has something under the tree and hopefully baking a few cookies. We also will be puppy sitting Oakley for the next few days since my sister and Scott are heading down to sunny San Diego to watch Kellen lead Boise State to a Poinsettia Bowl VICTORY! I would whine about how jealous I am that they get to go but given our little trip we just got back from, I don't think I would get much sympathy :-)

Here's to a happy Saturday afternoon with close-up parking and short lines...if you are out shopping! If you are home, here's to a cozy fire and nice warm cup of hot chocolate!

Disney Vacation Musts!

2008-12-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ok so hopefully you could tell from my posts that we had a GREAT GREAT GREAT vacation. I can not recommend enough taking the trip to Florida for the experience. We have been to DisneyLand several times but something about DisneyWorld just was different. There are pros and cons with both and hopefully each of you can visit both sometime in your life.

Here is my list of musts if you make it there:

1) You must stay on Disney property. I can not believe how many people that lived in Orlando were staying at our hotel or other properties because of the convinence. The transportation system is wonderful and from where we stayed every park was no more than a 10 min. ride. With the exception of 2 times, all of our waits for a bus were less than 5 minutes. The properties range from very in-expensive to very expensive... we stayed moderate. The location was great (close to downtown Disney with bus or boat ride right there). The price was right (about $140 a night for a room with 2 beds) and it had 2 food courts and a full restaurant all within the 2 hotels that were basically connected.

2) You must do the Disney food plan. Now what we actually paid for this is under a little debate... but I know it was under $30 a day for Rick and I and $10 a day for the kids. This is their basic plan which includes 1 quick serve meal (which is a food court where you go up and order like fast food), 1 sit down meal and 1 snack. A quick serve meal for a kid would be an entree, 2 sides and a drink. For an adult it was an entree, 1 side and a drink. In the parks you can find a place to use your meal card every where you turn. And with a little pre-planning, the sit down meals are easy but reservations are usually needed. Once we scooped things out a little we found the good quick serves vs the just ok ones. And which the exception of the restauran in Hollywood Studios where we did the character dine, the full restaurants all have great menus with fabulous service. It was almost like being on a cruise where if you want things on the menu tweaked, they have no problem doing that. It is all about YOU. The grautity is not part of this plan so with all of our meals there was a $15-$20 tip we were still responsible for. They give you a bill with it all worked up showing you different tipping options, how do you not tip the highest when you have wondeful service! The basic plan was more than enough food for my family, in fact we didn't use all the meals we had. Some higher end restaurants may take 2 meals BUT just for an idea, a $35 steak dinner was on our plan.

3) Pay for a cab to hit a grocery store. The food plan is fanastic but when we would get back from the parks or even while we were in the parks, it was nice to have some snacks and extra water. We paid $18 for a cab ride, spent $75 on grocerys (fresh fruit, a case of water, Amp for Rick since we couldn't find Rockstar) and every bit of that was gone when we left. Our hotel had a store but an Amp was $4.25 each!!! Our 1 snack a day we used for an ice cream or something like. Worked out perfect.

4) If you know someone that works for Disney call them! My parents were so lucky that their friends that work for Disney were in town and were able to get together with them. Disney has awesome perks for their employees which includes free park passes and they can take people with them. In fact, one of the nights Rick and I went out to dinner our bartender was arranging for other co-workers to meet him at the park the following weekend to get a big group of his family in for free. I guess there is a limit on how many people each one can take in so he needed a few friends for help. They also get unbelievable discounts in the stores and special parking and special passes. So if you know someone...CALL THEM.

5) If you drink soda, buy the $15 cup! So I didn't catch on to this until too late but they have a mug that was about $15... well it was free re-fills. I think eachone is only good for the area you are in, like the one at our hotel was only good for our hotel but it would still be worth it if you drink soda or coffee. Blizzard Beach had one also that was like $10.

6) Make a schedule but don't try to do it all in one day. If you want to sleep in, sleep in! The parks have extended hours where each day one park opens an hour early and another one stays open late. Get their schedule and plan around those extra hours. If you have little ones that need naps, got back to the hotel in the middle of the day and let them rest. There is plenty to do at the hotels around the pools, ect. But if you are enjoying an area at a particular park, don't rush just enjoy.

7) Enjoy every minute of it, take lots of pictures and be prepared to watch your kids light up more times then you have ever probably seen them before. It goes so fast and if you blink you miss something. Don't stress when your kids don't listen or mis-behave because if you pause look around you see that it is going on every where! How can you expect perfect children, you are in the Magic Kingdom but come on, not that much magic can happen. Just go with the flow and do what you can. What you don't get to see just gives you a reason to come back, right!

So there you have it. I'm sure there are a million more things that could be added to this list. I hope all of you can have a Disney experience because really, ther eis nothing like it :-)

Nutcracker!

2008-12-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night Kaity and I went to the Nutcracker with her friend Hannah and her mom Holly. We had such a great time. The girls were just in awe of the dancing and the company did a fantastic performance. When we got there it had just started snowing and when we left the wind was blowing about 200 mph and the snow was falling HARD. It was a little scary driving home but worth the special girls night out. I hope that we can do it again soon!

Kaitlyn is all jazzed up about taking ballet now. I called her dance studio where she takes jazz and they have openings after the holidays so I am going to sign her up. We'll see if she loves it as much when she is actually taking it...I'm also hoping it will be a better experience than it was when she took it at age 3. I had said since the day that girl started fumbling around that as soon as she was potty trained she was taking ballet. So right after her 3rd birthday I got her all registered for a class here in Prosser. The only problem was the room was huge studio and the parents sat in the same room the kids were dancing in. Which meant that the next class would come into the same room. Well to help with the transition they had a big box of toys for the kids to keep themselves occupied. Well my sweet little angel really was not the slightest bit interested in ballet but that box of toys was pretty fabulous. After many pleads to re-join the class and not getting any where, her teacher politely told me she might just not be cut out for ballet. So for months after this Kaity told EVERYONE that she got BUSTED AT BALLET and couldn't go any more.

Keep your fingers crossed that there will be no more busting at ballet needed!

Here are Kaity and Hannah... they could be twins! Last year they paired on up twin day and Holly and I did their hair matching and bought them matching outfits and people really thought they were twins. Too cute!

Blizard Beach...preparing for our homecoming.

2008-12-18T08:04:00.001-08:00

Day 7 Blizzard Beach – We saved the water park for the day that was supposed to be the warmest. As it turned out, it wasn’t the greatest day but it was fine, enough to give a little color on our skin! Rick and Kaity dropped Trace and I off at the kids area for Trace to run and play while they jumped on the chair lift and headed up to the top to go down Summit Plummet. I really had no interest in going down a slide that drops you 120 feet STRAIGHT DOWN! When they went down the speedometer wasn’t working but most people averaged 50-55 mph. CRAZY! So we enjoyed a day of sliding and swimming. Kaitlyn kept telling me I had to try that crazy slide so I finally gave in and she and I went up.

Since my worst fear ever is heights so just walking up to the top made me want to puke. I refused to look down the entire time, certainly not on that slide! They have you lay down, cross your feet and arms and then they remove the bar and you push off. I did my best not to scream as I went… but I did it! I was about ½ way down and realized my top was flying up, great! Thank god for the built in bras, haha. I went 50 mph and Kaitlyn followed me down and was clocked at 52 mph. It was an amazing ride!

The only scary moment happened when Trace went down an inner-tube ride all by himself. The ride down was fine, even in the dark! But when he got to the bottom he forgot he couldn’t touch and jumped off the tube! The life guard had to jump in after him. He was so embarrassed. He cried and cried. But jumped right back in the pool and didn’t think twice about it from then, haha.

We dropped the kids off with my parents and they took them to their pool. Rick and I headed to town to buy a new suitcase. We got so much stuff we needed a new bag, how sad is that! We then went back to the hotel and got all packed up. After we grabbed a quick bite to eat we walked out of the restaurant and heard all this commotion and laughter at the bar. So we walked over there only to see our children up dancing and shaking their booties with the piano player at the bar. We watched and laughed and laughed for a few minutes. What a great ending! The trip went by so fast but we had such an amazing time! If you ever have the chance to visit Disney World you should do it. It was a great, great vacation and the service was fabulous.

Just Like Hollywood!

2008-12-16T18:45:00.001-08:00

Day 6 Hollywood Studios – Rick had a rough night last night so we got a bit of a late start again this morning. But we had a game plan that included watching the stunt show, riding the new Toy Story ride, going on the Hollywood Tower of Terror and having a character lunch with the Disney Playhouse characters.

So when we got to the park, around 11, we went straight to Toy Story. The wait time was 80 minutes. The park was also packed…the busiest of all the parks we had gone to yet. So we grabbed our fast passes, which weren’t good until 5:50 pm. We then wondered around, did a few of the show exhibits and then headed to our lunch reservation. Kaity was not at all interested in the Little Einstein’s or Jo-Jo, but Trace thought it was so cool. They would have the kids come up to the front of the restaurant to dance and play. It was great. The food wasn’t so hot, the worst of all of our stops.

When we got out of lunch we headed straight back to the thrill/stunt show. It did not disappoint. The driving was amazing the kids thought the stunts were just awesome. Rick was into trying to figure out how they got the cars to do some of the maneuvers they were doing. He guessed that the main car had 2 drivers, one in the front and one in the back. He was close…. They had 2 cars, one with the body mounted backwards. The show was fantastic.

We then continued hitting all the sights of the park. We journeyed over to the Tower of Terror. Kaitlyn was nervous the entire wait because she didn’t want to be scared. But we made her go on it. I was a nervous wreck also but Trace…well he told both of us to get over it. We jumped on the ‘elevator’ and traveled the 13 stories up while seeing ghosts from the twilight zone. And then it happened… we dropped….13 STORIES DOWN… not once, not twice but 3 times! It was great. Trace laughed the entire time and so did Kaity. He called that ride ‘snow bunnies’ because he thought the ghosts were snow people, haha.

We ended our day on Toy Story and let me just say, it was a great way to end things and worth the wait. It’s an interactive 3-D ride where you are playing a video game. Rick kicked our butts, shocker! It was a great ride for kids and kids at heart!

After we left the park we headed to the other Port Orleans hotel for dinner. Another fabulous meal!! We let the kids run around for a bit and headed back to our hotel for another nights rest.

A Kingdom for the Animals...

2008-12-15T21:47:00.001-08:00

Day 5 Animal Kingdom – Considering how tired we all were, shockingly we were up at a decent hour. We boarded the bus and headed to Animal Kingdom. The nice thing here is that when riding the bus the people are happy to share with you all the must see’s at each park. So we had our agenda for Animal Kingdom. My parent’s friend Pat was working at Animal Kingdom today (he works for the cruise line and works part time signing people up to take cruises) and met them to get them in on his pass. He then gave them a handful of fast passes and priority seating pass for the Lion King Show. Rick and I had already grabbed fast passes for the safari ride so we hustled back down to the Lion King show. It was unbelievable, and makes me want to see the Lion King that much more! Trace was mad that the animals weren’t real so we headed out of there and jumped on the safari ride. We loved that and saw lots of big beautiful animals. We explored and enjoyed our way through the park and then headed to our 2:30 lunch reservation at Yak and Yeti’s. We had a fabulous lunch and decided that since it was cold (only 62 today) we better do the river ride before it got any cooler. We grabbed our rain gear (that Wendy had told me to make sure and have) and jumped on. My mom only made it through once but Rick, the kids and I stayed for a 2nd trip. Trace wasn’t tall enough to ride Expedition Everest so he went with my parents and we took Kaity on the ride she was dying to go on.

Expedition Everest…. It is rated the #1 must do ride on the show that plays OVER AND OVER AND OVER again on the hotel television. It is like the materhorn but different…lol. That thing is fast, steep and freaking awesome! You get to the top and the track is broken so you go back down backwards. It totally freaked me out but I loved it.

We ended our day on the Dinosaur ride, which was a little to much for the kids between the bumpy ride and scary dinos every where. It was also a little to much for me after Everest. Kaitlyn then headed to Epcot with my mom to watch some of the Christmas show and my dad, Rick, Trace and I came back to the hotel. We are going to enjoy some down time tonight and gear up for Hollywood Studio’s tomorrow. They have the extended hours tomorrow night so it could be a late night. I can’t believe how fast this week has gone and how soon we are going home. A few more days to soak in everything this place has to offer.

I know you are very jealous of Kaity and I's fabulous bugeye eye wear! And I thought you might enjoy Trace's version of eating with chop sticks. Worked out pretty well for him!

THE BEST SURPRISE EVER!

2008-12-14T09:26:00.001-08:00

*****************200th POST*****************

In honor of this being my 200th post I magically worked it that our most exciting day's adventure would land on this post. Happy 200th to me and sorry for boring you all to death with my rambles!

Day 4 Magic Kingdom – WE DID IT! We were up and out of the hotel by 8:15 am and got to the park for the big opening. We were greeted by Mary Poppins who held the big count down. As we walked in there were cameras EVERY WHERE. Our plan had been to get right up to the train and head back to ToonTown. As we got up to the station Rick noticed a familiar face… Kelly Rippa! Did you know that the big Christmas parade that is shown on ABC on Christmas morning is not really on Christmas morning??? We didn’t until today! Regis and Kelly were there to serve as the hosts. The parade went on and on all morning (it takes many attempts).

Kaitlyn and I headed to the princess tent and she got to meet Aurora, Belle and Cinderella. Rick and Trace went and drove the cars and then hit Goofy’s roller coaster. We met back up and headed to Fantasy Land. Kaity went and saw MaryPoppins and Rick grabbed fast passes for Peter Pan’s flight. We then went through the Haunted House and got spooked by all the scary things in there. As we were leaving we noticed the last of the floats going through the circle in front of Cinderella’s Castle so we headed over to watch the end of the parade. We got to see Santa and his reindeer that ends the Christmas Day Parade. As we were walking out the kids stopped to trade pins with a Disney employee that was from Federal Way, WA. We told her we were from WA too and the kids picked the pins they wanted. She then leaned down and whispered in my ear that there was a special guest in the park that would be performing a concert on the stage between 2-4… guess who it was……YEP THAT WOULD BE MILEY CYRUS! We kept the news to ourselves and Rick and I decided Trace and I would run back to the hotel to get our sweatshirts for later and he and Kaity would stay to watch her. When he walked her to the stage and she saw Miss Hannah Montana up there she about died. She kept saying this was the best thing ever! Trace and I got back in time to watch her run through her song a few times. It was pretty cool to watch the rehearsal process and listen to them tell the audience when to scream and how to react. And that they would be doing one filming of the just the audience when just the music was playing and she wasn’t even singing (for the audience shots). So much you have no idea happens when you watch it all on TV. Kaity watched from Rick’s shoulders for about an hour and decided that she had heard the same song enough and that the rides were waiting.

We took another spin on Big Thunder Mountain and wandered back through Fantasy Land and decided to walk by the stage one more time. Billy Ray was rocking out this time and as we were walking over the bridge we noticed Disney Employees lined up every where and looked over to see Miley standing in the grass right next to us. She was doing interviews and posing for pics with Mickey and Mini. We were able to position ourselves on the back side of the bridge and were able to watch her for quite some time. Trace was just not as into it as the rest of us were (even Rick!). He finally stood up and started saying that he couldn’t see her. Well one of the Disney employees heard him so she came and grabbed both kids and walked them right up the fence where she was. Kaitlyn was in HEAVEN. She waved at the kids and we were probably about 25 ft from her. It was every young girls dream I’m sure.

We finished the day by watching the parade, going on Splash Mountain, watching the Spectroparade and then watching the fireworks at the castle. It was an awesome day!! These kids were so tired that when we got back to the hotel and Rick turned off the lights, they were both asleep literally within 2 minutes.

INTERUPTION....SNOW IS FALLING!

2008-12-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Ok what a harsh reality....gorgeous Orlando weather back to snow!!! Kaity and I did enjoy the Nutcracker tonight with our fabulous friends Holly and Hannah but driving home was a little scary. And having my loving husband texting me reminding me to be careful was oh so re-assuring :-) We made it home and we now have white every where.... CHRISTMAS IS IN THE AIR!

Epcot!

2008-12-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Day 3 Epcot – The big plan was to wake up early and head to Epcot BUT we slept a little too late. So we headed over to my parents hotel and ate breakfast at their bigger food court. After filling up on pancakes, omelets and bacon we headed out to the fishing hole on the resort’s property. The kids threw their poles in but only got bites. After about 30 minutes they were ready to hit the park so we loaded on the bus.

The thing everyone wanted to do was the GM test track so we headed straight there. Sadly, the ride was closed but they were handing out fast passes so we grabbed 4 of those. Our return time was 5 pm. Kaity needed to take a restroom break so we took her over to the bathroom right next to the test track and as she walked out they announced the track was opening. We ran to the line and were on the ride in 10 minutes. It was one of the most popular in the park so most of the day it had a HUGE wait time, we were sooo lucky.

After we left there we enjoyed Nemo’s area and the Crush the turtle interactive show, which was awesome. We explored a little more through the park and then headed to our big surprise at 3:45 – LUNCH WITH THE MICKEY! We feasted on southern food (which was fantastic!) and got lots of visits from Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. It was very well done and the kids loved every minute of it.

After lunch Rick and the kids headed back to the test track to use their fast passes and ride again. My parents came over with their friends that work for Disney to say hi to us. He offered to take us shopping and like I could say no! I went crazy but with his discount it was well worth some splurges. By the time we were done with all of this the kids were just done. They had been on the whiney side for most of the day so we decided to just head back to the hotel and relax. We went for ice cream and took them down to the water to let them run some laps. Our attempt to have them in bed by 9 was a little off… it was 10. But they crashed.

The Oh So Magical Magic Kingdom!

2008-12-12T13:46:00.001-08:00

Day 2 Magic Kingdom – So since Rick and I didn’t sleep well we finally fell asleep early in the morning and we did not wake up until 9:30. Out the window went getting up early for the extra magic hours. By the time we got to the park it was 10:45. The look on the kid’s faces as we walked in was priceless. They were in awe of everything. They got so excited to see Cinderella’s castle and we decided to head to Adventure Land. The kids and I started out on Aladdin’s flying carpets, Rick passed on that one. From there we hit the Jungle Cruise. Right when we got on the boat and the driver said that we had better sit closely so that the animals couldn’t rip us out Kaitlyn FREAKED out. She sat on the floor bawling and wanted off. Well the driver felt so bad that she asked Kaity and her brother to come and drive the boat. So we were ‘driven’ by the kids the entire ride. Kaitlyn continues to tell us how easy that boat drove. After we docked the kids got drivers licenses and were so excited.

We then hit the rest of Adventure Lands rides (that were all literally walk on, the Jungle Cruise was about a 20 minute wait) and headed on to Frontier land. We got our fast pass for Thunder Mountain (even though it only had a 20 minute wait) and decided to go grab lunch before our 1:50 return time. When we were done with lunch we had enough time to run over Splash Mountain get that ride in before our Fast Pass was up. But Splash and Thunder were HUGE hits with the kids. We didn’t get to wet on Splash but Trace did end up with a very wet face.

We ended the day over in Torrowland and the kids driving us on the Indy Speedway and watching the Monsters Inc. show and the Stitch Show. Both were good but the kids preferred the Monsters show.

We got back to the hotel around 5:30 and let the kids swim for a while before dropping them off with my parents for dinner. Rick and I headed back to Downtown Disney and enjoyed a nice seafood meal. We then took a cab to a supermarket and loaded up on water and snacks. We bought the food plan which is a fabulous deal but it will be nice to have extra water and stuff for the kids to munch on here. We got back to the room around 10 and it is now 11:15 and the kids are still wide awake. The plan is to head to get up and take the kids fishing here at the hotel and then head to Epcot tomorrow. We are surprising them with a character dine. We hopefully will stay for the fireworks. Should be another magical day! We got some great advice from our cab driver that included having the day of giving the kids the map and letting them lead the day… he said it is amazing how much they know and will teach us so I’m excited to try that out! Time to turn out the lights and hope 2 little tired kiddos fall asleep!

We Are Home!

2008-12-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

We made it home safe and sound... boy did we have an amazing trip! I kept a journal of our days (Becky shared with me one that a friend kept during their vacation and it was awesome) and hopefully it will be a way the kids can remember all the cool stuff we did. So here is day 1:

Walt Disney World 2008

Day 1 Travel – We left the house at 3:30 am and headed to the Pasco airport. We were on the 5:20 flight and wanted to leave ourselves plenty of time to get there if the roads were bad. There was NO fog, we were so lucky since it had been around quite a bit in the last week.

Our flights were perfect, on-time each way. The kids were amazingly good. Trace was actually better than Kaitlyn. When we told him no about something he dropped it and moved on. Kaitlyn however tends to want to debate the NO and make a huge attempt at turning that into a yes. Maybe she has a law career in front of her. She was so concerned about her homework (which was a lot). I thought it was a bit rude that she continuously tried to wake me up from my sleep on the flight (not sure if it was because I was up all night making sure I had everything ready or the dramyimene that is supposed to be non-drowsy but apparently had the opposite effect on me!).

We arrived in Orlando at 4pm got our luggage and jumped on the bus to our hotel ~ Port Orleans. We stayed at the French Quarter and my parents stayed at the Riverside. The kids wanted nothing more than to get to the pool which had a big dragon in the middle with a waterslide coming out of its mouth. But by the time we got unpacked it had cooled off a lot and we were starving. We jumped on a boat and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. I had heard that the T-Rex had opened and was a lot of fun. It did not disappoint. The restaurant was filled with dinosaurs and had a meteor shower every 20 minutes and an ice cave. The kids were in heaven.

After dinner we were exhausted so we jumped back on the boat and FROZE as we headed back to the hotel. The kids were so wound up though that it took quite a while to get them to sleep but when they did they crashed. Rick and I…not so much.

Thankful for Thanksgiving!

2008-12-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving, very low key but very nice. Rick spent almost the entire day working on the remodel and I for the first time ever prepared the entire meal all by myself. Kristin and Scott came over and enjoyed our little feast. Everything came out great and Scott was very impressed that the mash potatoes were real and not out of a box, hehehe.

After dinner we headed down to Dave and Sue's for desert. It is a tradition that everyone ends up at their house and we fill out our Christmas Wish Lists (to be posted on the side of the fridge), graze on left overs and enjoy a whole bunch of different deserts. Rick and the kids played Sorry and the big girls all went over the ads seeing if there was anything we just couldn't live without during the sales.

Friday morning I rolled out of bed at 4 am and drove down the block grabbed Sue and headed to Sunnyside. Coolest thing...THEY LET YOU IN THE STORE. Sue was after a TV and I was after the portable DVD players for the kids (for the plane ride not Christmas). Sue took her cart and positioned herself in front of the TVs and I went to the back of the store and found the DVD players. At 5 am they let people start grabbing. We checked out drove back to Prosser and I was home enjoying my pillow by 5:37. I apparently was exhausted because I did not wake up until Kaity woke up at 9:30! Trace wondered out of the bedroom at 10.

The rest of the weekend I worked on packing and getting everything ready for our big adventure. We leave tomorrow morning at 5:20 (UGGG!! That means leaving our house at 3:30am) and land in Orlando at 4pm. We will enjoy the next 7 days on Disney property exploring all the Disney parks. The kids and I will then fly home and Rick will stay, meet up with his dad and brother and then head to the Performance Racing Industy show until the 14th. They rented a car for the 13th and will head to Daytona. We are so excited!! The kids are beyond ready to go... silly me though scheduled a day full of craziness! At 2 today Trace has an eye appointment, then we have swimming lessons at 3:30 and then I have 25 poinsettas to deliever (Kaitlyn sold them for a school project). I finished all the packing over the weekend so its just finishing up the little stuff and the carry on bags. It is going to be a long day tomorrow but so worth it!

I can't get my pics to upload so if I get a minute later I will try again, if not I will upload them when we get home along with a bunch from our trip.

We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends. 23 days til Christmas!!

Great Friends!

2008-11-29T10:09:00.001-08:00

Our great friends HEATHER AND SAM came home for the week. The trip was 3-fold for them. 1) It was Sam's parents anniversary (they surprised them at their party and they had no idea they were coming home!) 2) Jeff and Shelby (the driver Sam Crew Chief'd for out here) got married last Saturday and 3) THANKSGIVING! It has been about a year and half since they moved to North Carolina and they have done such amazing things. We are so proud of them and their huge accomplishments. Sam is working for Kevin Harvick Inc. as the truck chief for the #2 team. The team made huge improvements when Sam came on board and of course we KNOW it is because of his knowledge, dedication and hard work. We weren't able to see their amazing kids (which bummed us out!) but we hoping to go back and spend time with them in 2009. BECKY drove over from Monroe for the big welcome home party on Wednesday night. I had so much fun and Rick enjoyed seeing Sam and talking racing with many of our racing friends. I am so THANKFUL for great friends... the ones that make you tear up when you say good-bye (and yes Becky that means you too)!

Kaity's Class Feast

2008-11-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn's teacher asked Jamie and I (the room mom's) if we could help her prepare a full Thanksgiving Feast. On Monday Jamie and I went shopping and got all the fixings. On Tuesday the kids spent the afternoon measuring and preparing all the food (a GREAT math lesson). Jamie took everything home and cooked it PLUS made a fabulous turkey. Then on Wednesday morning we invited all the families (Kaitlyn had me, YaYa and Auntie Lori) plus the administration in to enjoy the feast plus a song and prayer the kids prepared. We had so much fun and the kids had a blast. It was a great class party!

Swimming Lessons...

2008-11-26T08:32:00.000-08:00

The kids started swimming lessons at the Raquet Club on Tuesday's after school. The first lesson Trace was having NO part of. My poor dad took him and had to suffer though the lesson. This last week things went a lot better. Kaity is a pro. She just swims laps and laps and does great. She would love to do swim team but the times of it just don't work out right now. We'll see how that goes in the future though.

No this wasn't part of the instruction... she just loves doing hand stands and summersaults. They quickly taught her how to do the summersault/turn/push off the wall deal swimmers do. See how technical I am!!

Kart Banquet

2008-11-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

The kiddos had their go-kart awards banquet on Saturday night. There was a great turn out and the club had a very nice dinner to finish a great season. Kaitlyn spent quite a while getting all dressed up. I don't think most of the boys even knew who she was :-)

It has always got to be one of them making a goofy face!

Bryce and Kaitlyn ~ all dressed up and so cute!

Trace and his buddy Seth...

I told the kids just ONE picture of me with them... yea pic with Trace was blurry (but cute!) and Kaity wouldn't do anything but make these silly faces. Maybe someday I'll get cute pics with my kids! Trace won a new gas can, he thought this was VERY cool. Kaity getting her 2nd place trophy!
Trace and his 6th place trophy!
The whole kid kart group

Easy bathroom remodel...

2008-11-24T11:44:00.000-08:00

YEA RIGHT! When Rick started tearing into the walls he found an electrical nightmare. So everything came out. This is my master bedroom and what will be the master bathroom. Rick took down the wall and will be moving it 10 inches into the bedroom to be able to put in a neo-angled shower in the corner that will look nicer and be bigger. We won't be able to put in a full bath but it is going to look so nice with a big glass shower. The master will be getting new carpet... I'm ready for it to be done now :-)

A GREAT day for Football!

2008-11-22T22:57:00.000-08:00

Prosser Mustangs 33
Othello Huskies 28

Washington State Cougs 16
University of Washington Huskies 13

Great day for the Mustangs and the Cougs...bad day if you are a Husky. Rick was bummed I am thrilled!

Results...Conference...Hair

2008-11-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

Those were the 3 biggies of my day...

Results! Kristin began her National Boards for teaching at the beginning of the year. Today she got the results for the first section she did. The odds are against most teachers as the passing ratio is not that great. At 6:00 am she found out that.............SHE PASSED! Congrats Sis!!!

Conference... today was Miss Katy's first school conference of the year. Her teacher told us she as always, is quite the perfectionist. She actually lost points on her handwriting scores because she would erase and re-do so many times that the erasing took over. She had a great report card but she was devastated when she found out she did not get straight A's (yep they start a real grading scale in 1st grade at her school). Since she has homework nightly her scores were not much of a surprise but the letter grades attached were. She had a 94% in math. I would have thought that would be an A maybe an A-.... nope that would be a B+. Her reading was a 89.7% and that was a B-, talk about tough. She thought she did horrible, poor girl. We told her she was doing fantastic and that it was the stuff her teacher said that was more important to us. That 'stuff' was that she was so kind, such a great helper and just a joy to have in class. It is always nice to hear those things from other people, especially a teacher! I thought it was a success!

Hair... I ended my day in Tri-Cities with a cut and color, my favorite! I always love going to Kathy and having her fix me all up (wax, cut, color). She has just opened a 2nd salon in Tri-Cities for young girls called Crush.. it is fabulous and you should definitely check it out.

We have the kids race banquet tomorrow night. I think we will lay low tomorrow during the day. Kind of nice to not have to be any where. I might even bake. That was scary just to write but I have seriously baked something the last 3 weekends. Wow, crazy!

Kaity-Clothing-Update...

2008-11-17T20:43:00.001-08:00

We have had several days of easy dressing around here. Kaitlyn has turned a corner (for this moment anyways!). Wanna know what did the trick...... just a little plain old fashion $GREEN$ (And silver in this case!)

My mom told Kaitlyn that for every day she was good and got dressed without debate she would put 50 cents in a jar and she can use the money at DisneyWorld. It has worked wonderfully. Every night she calls Yaya to check in and so far every night she has gotten a few coins dropped into her jar. Thanks for all the ideas!!

2008-11-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

Rick and I both came down with rotten colds late this week. I started feeling bad last weekend and thought by Tuesday I was going to re-bound but no such luck. I have a horrible cough. Rick came home from work on Thursday feeling horrible. He slept all afternoon and pretty much all day Friday. So much for a big progress weekend on the bathroom.

So today we are both feeling ok, better than the last few days for sure! I have spent the day being lazy and I hope you are all sitting down... BAKING. I had to test out the NUMMY MUFFINS that Amy shared on her blog. I didn't make them muffins though, I made the mini loafs and they are delish! Then I made a batch of white chocolate chip cookies. I think I am trying to get motivated to do holiday baking. I haven't done any the last few years and I have big intentions to get after it this year. We'll see how that works out :-)

Rick and I sorted out some electrical in this old house this morning. We have converted it from baseboard heaters to central heat and air and have one messy panel. The plan is to do a panel swap sometime soon (when its warm out!) but in the mean time we needed to figure out the power in the bathroom since we will be adding some new lights. We actually got a ton of it sorted out and have come to find out we have a lot more power than we had thought ~ so that was great news!!

Right now Rick and Trace are ripping out the carpet in the master bedroom so that Rick can start to bring in his tools and use the master as his workspace for bathroom. We moved all of our bedroom stuff down to the living room in the basement, which makes using the bathroom down there a lot more convenient.

Well off to get ready to head to dinner at Gustafsons. We get to meet Dobie, their new Min Pin.... the kids are so excited! We have lots of deserts to take!!

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

8-a-tude!

2008-11-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

We have been fighting with Kaitlyn for the past few weeks, ok months, about her clothing. She has to wear pink as often as possible but the child hates pants, shorts, skirts. She says, "that just isn't me." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?? She has one pair of dark jeans and a pair of Levis that she loves BUT jeans on PE days doesn't work well. She a dresser and a closet full of skirts, leggings, jeans, work out pants.... we have tried taking away her 'privilege' to pick her own outfits (which of course is just tears), we have tried giving her 3 options, we have tried letting her pick all on her own. I make sure to point out every cute outfit I see on kids her age and nothing will get through to her. Do we have the only crazy stubborn EIGHT YEAR OLD and are we in soooo much trouble down the road? Any other suggestions?? I'm losing my mind trying to come up with options that will keep us all happy (and CALM).

Who knew parenting would be so difficult for something so silly.

A Weekend Off...

2008-11-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

I had my first weekend off in... I don't know how long :-) On Friday morning I got up and took Kaitlyn to school. I was there forever chatting with the other moms in the parking lot. It was cold but fun knowing I didn't have to be any where! I drove back to Prosser and got home just as Rick and Trace were heading out to do a little shooting. I picked up house and really didn't do anything else. We all went up to get Kaitlyn from school at 3 and then went to see the new Madagascar movie. We all enjoyed it, Trace just didn't want to sit because, "HIS BUTT WAS TIRED" but for the most part he did pretty well. We went and had dinner at Applebees and then Rick met up with a guy he works with and his brother to chat about hunting on Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday were the first 2 days in a row that I didn't leave Prosser in months. Rick went hunting both morning but was home early enough to demo our master bathroom. By last night it was nothing but ply-wood floor and studs. Tonight he is going to go get the shower pan and the sheetrock and cement board to start putting it back together. That little bathroom is a 3/4 bath with a stand-up shower. We decided rather than putting one of those shower kits back in we will tile it but do the pan floor. He is going to add can lights and while reading tips on how to make your bathroom LOOK high end on a LOW END budget, I found where you take crown molding and attach rope lighting just above it and run a switch so you can have just the rope lights on at the ceiling for a night light. I think we will do that also. This morning I went to Home Depot and Lowes to check on sheet rock pricing and wondered over to look at the vanities at Lowes. The manager was back there and said to check out a pile of stuff he had at the end of the isle and if I was interested to come and get him and he would make me a deal. Well they had a dark cherry wood vanity with the porcelain sink top sitting there with a medicine cabinet next to it. He told me he would sell me the vanity/sink for $80 and the cabinet for $10!! I snagged all of that and now won't feel so guilty when I put in the faucet that I am in love with (oil brushed bronze).

Kathie took the kids to her health club yesterday to swim and then out to dinner with Peggy. Rick and I enjoyed the quiet time. Back to work for all of us today but I get to stay home with the kiddos tomorrow.

I took some pics of the bathroom demo but I forgot my camera cord today so I'll post them tonight. I hope all of you had a nice relaxing weekend!!

And Just Like That....Its OVER

2008-11-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well the signs are coming down, we can actually watch TV without hearing and seeing ads telling us all that is wrong with 'the opponent' and we can click on MSN without being inundated with election details...sorry, I was in a daydream there for a minute.

Major Gripe Of The Day: Like we have not been living this for the last 2 years. Yes we remember every detail, how could we forget any of it! Is is really necessary for every media outlet to reply the 'defining' moments of this election????????????

The Good: Terry Bergeson is O.U.T. which I am praying means the WASL is next. Having Kaitlyn in private school means we don't WASL. But if for that reason alone, private schooling would be a serious consideration for me (a child/sister/sister-in-law of PUBLIC school teachers) because I hate that teachers are being forced to teach to a test. Well Randy Dorn, make your mark! And please don't do it with a 'test'!

The Bad: I think the Presidential race in general was bad but since I am openly a Republican, conservative, a small business owner, wife of a gun-loving hunter and Pro-Life the end result was not what I had hoped for and honestly I'm worried. ***Sigh***

The Ugly: Christine Gregoire re-elected??? I can't get past the fact that she cost our community thousands of jobs and that under her leadership our state is going more and more in debt. And if we end up with a state income tax.... ohhhh this is one I shouldn't even get started on.

George Bush has created a mess.... there is no debating that. And the Democrats have been all about how they can change things. So here's the chance. Democratic President - CHECK, Democratic House - CHECK, Democratic Governorship - CHECK. I know that my beliefs are MY BELIEFS and I know that if our country thrives economically that is to ALL OF OUR benefit. I know that if there is a way for more Americans to get affordable healthcare, that is to ALL OF OUR benefit. I know how lucky I am to be able to vote and how lucky I am to be able to freely state my opinions. I hope on the issues that this country so desperately needs healing on (jobs, healthcare, taxes , war) I hope he will be able to start working toward that promised change. The rest of it...all we can do is pray.

And just like that, 2 years in the making, over a billion dollars in campaigning....its over. Funny though, you know who I predict the real winner in all this is, Sarah Palin. She went from Governor to Celebrity. I don't think we have seen the last of her.... but will it be politics or Hollywood??? Time will tell, on so many important issues, time will tell.

2008-11-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

Lolli for Tagged me just to see how random and weird I am... I don't do so well on these things but somehow I don't think that is because I am not random or weird. And I'm sure there are about 7 things many of you could have EASILY put on this list:

1. I had no hair until I was 3 years old... I mean NONE. My parents always joke that they had to put fertilizer on my head to get anything to grow. I still have no hair and that is why I love the invention of hair extensions! It was my biggest fear when I had Kaitlyn that she would have no hair. Thankfully she did and it in no way resembles mine. Rick thought I was crazy when she was 4 and cut her bangs that I cried for hours. I just could not imagine having to cut her hair short because I live my hair dreams through her hair. Ok, no comments on that one since she has looked like cousin IT for the last few weeks!

2. I have a huge dent in the top of my head... which I'm sure was oh so cute when I was little with no hair! We actually think it happened after falling off the slide at McDonalds when I was little because no one ever noticed the big indentation before. I'm sure for some of you, a lot about me makes sense now, haha.

3. I am pretty much obsessed with celebrity gossip. Not sure what the appeal is but the first websites I read every day are People and Perez (in that order!). I think secretly I like knowing that even the people that 'have it all' have major issues.

4. I never, ever wanted to stay home growing up in fact staying home was about impossible for me to do. I could easily go sit at a friends house but being in my house, ummm wasn't happening. Now when I leave work on a Saturday night I long for going straight home and being able to stay home all day on Sunday. It rarely happens but those days it does, its like heaven!

5. My freshman year of college I lived in Drunkin' Fun (I.E. Duncan Dunn). Dita and Kim lived on the 2nd floor and we spent many a night ordering pizza, drinking diet coke and FORGETTING ALL ABOUT HOMEWORK. The kicker, the pizza was always cheese less with Canadian bacon and pineapple. We somehow convinced ourselves that leaving the cheese off made it healthy.... apparently we didn't worry to much about the healthy when we ordered breadsticks with it OR went out drinking on Friday and Saturday....wait...Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.... just kidding mom! ;-)

6. I met Rick at the car races... my sister met Scott at the car races... Rick's brother Steve met Michelle at the car races... Rick's sister Amee met Mitch at... you guessed it, the car races. My kids are so staying away from the car races.

7. I hate laundry WITH A PASSION. I will get everything in our house clean but I can not get it all folded OR I will get it all folded and it will sit in random places around the house in laundry baskets. Currently I have 2 baskets of clean clothes in the kitchen, 2 in the dining room, 1 in my bedroom and 1 in Trace's room. Maybe one day I will get that all put away but I doubt it because there will be more that needs to be washed. My dream house includes a washer and dryer in each bedroom!

Thanks Lolli for the fun!

I'm tagging: **Becca - Becky - Heather - Tiffani - Michelle - Stephanie - Holli**

Get Your Vote On!

2008-11-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is as happy as I am that today is election day and we can finally be done with all this campaigning. Of course all eyes are on the presidental election but I am actually much more into WA State's Governor race. I will be glued to the TV and net tonight watching as the results role in.

My Current Obsession...

2008-10-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-27T14:30:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

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..

2008-10-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-10-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-14T13:35:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-10-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-02T14:03:00.001-07:00

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..

2008-10-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

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

Under Construction...

2008-10-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

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

Oh yea it's October...

2008-10-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

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)...

2008-10-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

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!

"The BESTEST Birthday EVER!"

2008-09-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

This was what Kaitlyn said about her party when we were leaving Friday night. Rick and I echoed her thoughts though. The Racquet Club does one heck of a party. We had 20 kids, pizza, cake, ice cream, punch (all taken care of by them), rock wall climbing and swimming for $225! They handle everything, including handing us a sheet of all the gifts. They get in the pool with the kids and do all the clean up.

We had a great time and I think '8' was great for Kaity!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAITY!

2008-09-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

8 years old - (that doesn't even seem possible!)
8 years ago our lives changed forever! After a day and an all nighter of me and doctors telling her it was time to arrive, and she very adamantly disagreeing Kaitlyn Maryssa Thompson made her debut at 7:09 am. She weighed in at 7 lbs 10 1/2 oz and was 19 1/4 inches long. Not to bad for not being due until October 19th! My dad said it was quite the site watching Rick walk down the hall holding her to introduce her to the waiting Grandparents. I remember seeing her for like 20 seconds and then I think I fell asleep while they finished up all they do after a c-section. It was the longest few days I can ever remember and I was exhausted!

Kaitlyn shares a birthday with our friends’ daughter Kayla. Since she was born on a Friday many of our friends and family had been at Kayla's birthday party and when they were done there they moved the party to the hospital to celebrate Kaity's arrival. They brought the cake and all.

Kaitlyn is such a special girl. While her stubbornness has not let up (not even the slightest bit!), she is such a loving, caring and sweet girl. She is a perfectionist in everything she does (except keeping her room clean). She loves school, she loves her friends and teachers and she has such a faith in the Lord. She may not always like her brother but she does love him and it such a mother hen to him. We are so lucky to call her our daughter and are so blessed to have her.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn. We love you so much!!!

Proud Daddy and Mommy!

Uncle Kevin

Her 1st spin in daddy's racecar

Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday!

Kaity and Kendall's 1st photo...

A few of our favorites of our sweet girl...

Balloons...Balloons...BALLOONS!

2008-09-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most anticipated weekends of the whole year in my household - Kaitlyn's birthday (which isn't til Monday) and Prosser hot air balloons. When she was younger we got away with telling her that the balloons came just for her birthday. Now she has wised up to that but it is easy to remember when they are coming.

Last night the kids saw the vans and trucks around town and could hardly wait to get up this morning to see the balloons floating over our house. At 6:15 Trace came running into the bathroom while I was showering and informed me that there were no balloons out. He was not happy. I hurried up and got ready, both kids surprisingly got dressed right away and we headed out the door. We got downtown just as the first balloon launched. I swear it was way later than normal but it worked for me. We sat down by the airport and watched 2 more launch and the rest getting ready. Both kids were so excited. There is no way I will be able to NOT wake up and take them tomorrow morning now.

Tonight we are having Kaity's birthday party. We heading to the Racquet Club for swimming and rock wall climbing. It is going to be a LONG night and a EARLY morning to follow.

Nice try Daddy!

2008-09-24T11:02:00.001-07:00

Last night I went to an apron cutting and pinning party with Sue and Sara. We had so much fun cutting out aprons to go home and sew. Sue showed great patience with Sara and I, whom do not sew and little to ZERO talent at it. :-) We'll see how our aprons come out when they are done.

Rick stayed home with the kiddos. He did a very good job of making sure the kids got their homework done and got their clothes layed out for this morning... only one problem. This is what Kaitlyn had planned on wearing...

ummmm yea! So did not happen. It was a very nice try though. I appreciated the few hours off.

Weekend Recap...a few days late!

2008-09-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend, of course. Saturday Kevin and Michelle had 8000 sq feet of sod delievered... Rick went over bright and early to help them get it unrolled for their 'insta-yard'. The only kicker was it was raining...HARD. Didn't stop those boys! They started unrolling at 9 and finished at noon. The yard looks fantastic. They put in their back yard last year and that was around 9000 sq feet I think... so needless to say, Kevin is now 'grass deep' in mowing :-)

While Rick was over there working, Trace and I headed to Tri-Cities to pick up Kaity. She spent the night at her friend Leah's. Leah is moving this weekend to Utah and Kaitlyn is going to miss her soooo much. It was still raining but we decided to head to the Sausage Fest to watch Meredith do a gymnastics performance.

It was so cold and misrible, I felt so sorry for those kids. They all had on their leotards and were soaking wet. They limited the amount of tumbling the kids could do for safety reasons but I think they all had a blast. They were laughing the entire time. Here are a few pics of Meredith's age group showing off their talents.

On Sunday we headed out to the kart track. The weather was so much nicer. No rain, just wind. What would the Tri-Cities be without wind though. Steve brought Meredith out and she decided she wanted to try Kaity's old kart. Kaitlyn practiced her big kart and got with-in 1 second of where the 2nd and 3rd place kart were running 2 weekends ago. We left with 2 very proud daddy's.

Kaitlyn and I headed to Wal-Mart to grab some grocerys while Rick and Trace went to Home Depot to get some sprinklers. We did all of our shopping 30 minutes quicker than it took Rick to buy some PVC and sprinkers. Score one for the girls!

Trace and Meredith...

2008-09-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

“Cousins are many. Best friends are few. What a rare delight to find both in you.”

Kendall's Soccer Game

2008-09-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

Last night the kids and I went down to watch Kendall's soccer game. Kevin is the coach. I enjoyed watching him as he did the 'kicking motion' as he watched the group of 6 kids all piled together not able to move the ball. Kendall's team did great. She scored a goal while we were there.. I got a pic of her celebration. I also included a pic of the loving relationship Kole and Trace have for eachother...aren't they so cute! (and no they aren't pretending, they were actually fighting)

Trace's 1st day of pre-school....

2008-09-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

I will post the oh so traditional 1st day of school photos of my son... well because its a mom requirement, right?? But we won't do much blogging about it. All I'll say is, lets hope that today is going better! :-)

ps ~ he at least has the cute part down... thankgoodness he isn't a pill AND ugly, haha.

All pumped up for his first day!!

STOP...he needed to remember what that sign said a little later in the day.

He did have some super clean hands...look at all that soap!

How can you just not love him to pieces! Oh yea, when he needs to be 'reminded' he doesn't run the world. Even though he is the big guy in the class. Boys!!!

Karen's Coffee Corner..

2008-09-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

Kevin and Michelle broke out their old espresso machine and started making their own mochas. It was so funny because right before I went over and saw this I had talked to my friend Jackie who had just gotten back from Cash 'n' Carry and loaded up on coffee flavors. I had thought I should probably start doing the same thing. So great minds think alike! I went to Cash 'n' Carry and loaded up on flavors and got big tubs of chocolate for the Gus family and for us. So Kevin has Kevin's Coffee Company and I have Karen's Coffee Corner... I have more flavors though!

Rev'd up Racing!

2008-09-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

We had a nice long (ok way too short) weekend of racing. Saturday Rick raced his late model in Yakima. Besided breaking a transmission during practice, he had a good night. His car was a ton better than it has been so he was excited to finally be moving in the right direction. He finished 6th in the main event. It was a good finish and the car still could be a lot better so thats the encouraging part. He was pleased...just tired!

This was actually from the weekend before but it at least gives you an idea of the field of cars. I stole these pics from Kevin's blog.

This is all I have heard about since Saturday night. Everyone standing back thought it was the funniest thing to see all these bodies laying under the car checking everything out. Left to right you got, Rick, Longton, Langley, Andy and on the other side was Steve. They were REALLY interested in Rick's rearend...poor guys :-)

It was a late night at the big track and then an early morning off to the kart track. Kaitlyn's motor blew up, big time. No fixing this one. Tracy so nicely loaned us their back-up again. Kaitlyn had fast time and won the heat race and had the best main event run she has ever had. She finished 2nd but it was so exciting and she did sooooo good. Trace went off the track and kicked off his chain so Rick had to spend a few laps putting it back on. I think he finished 6th.

Trace getting his trophy from the last race at the drivers meeting...

Seriously he is clean sometimes...not very often but sometimes we do see him without dirt on his face!

Kaitlyn getting her trophy...

She REALLY likes to stick her tongue out at everyone all the time. I think she thinks she is cute or something...

Trace during the heat race...

Kaity during her heat race...

The kids have one more weekend of racing left and I think Rick is done for the season. He got to at least say he raced this season and has a whole winter to stare at a car that is 100% ready to race next year. I'm not sure that has ever happened before.

TRACE IS A-OK!!

2008-09-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

We heard from the doctors this afternoon, all of Trace's tests came back negative for diabetes. After consulting with 2 other doctors the official diagnosis is... we have a boy who goes pee A LOT! So where do we go from here?? We have an appointment for Wednesday morning and we will chat with Matt on the pro's and con's of using medication on Trace for an over-active bladder. All 3 doctors feel every indicates that he is healthy and everything is working properly, just a little too well. Thank you everyone for all the support. It meant so much to us!!

Kaitlyn started cheer camp this afternoon. The cheerleaders at her school are offering this camp for the elementary kids and they had a great turn out. They will have 3 clinics and then get to cheer at a football game. In the winter they will have 3 more clinics and cheer at a basketball game. They get full uniforms and a t-shirt. All of this for $65!!! How on earth do you beat that. Here are a few pics of the girls playing a cheer version of simon says while all the moms were going crazy trying to figure out what size of uniform to order for their daughter... fun I tell ya, fun!!

Poor kid...

2008-09-11T11:29:00.000-07:00

I took Trace in this morning for his tests. It was horrible. He did so good the last time they took his blood, probably because he had no idea what was coming. Well that was not so much the case this morning. As soon as they pulled out the needle he freaked out. It took 3 people to hold him down. It was the worst feeling ever watching him and knowing how scared he was. Broke my heart!! At least that part is over.

More, more and more...

2008-09-10T10:09:00.000-07:00

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.. tomorrow morning we will be taking Mr. Trace in for more blood work and more urine samples. He has to be cut off from liquids at 7 tonight. Matt is so great, he was up until 2 am researching last night after speaking to the pediatric urologist about what tests need to be run. They are both trying to save us a trip to Spokane and if we do have to go, these are all tests that they will need anyways. So right now they are looking at the osmolarity of the cells. My UW Bio-Chem major Jillian just explained to me that this is the measure of salt content inside the cell. When I googled it this is what I found:
This test helps evaluate your body's water balance. Your doctor may order this test if you have signs of hyponatremia, water loss, or poisoning from harmful substances such as ethanol, methanol, or ethylene glycol. It may also be done if you have problems producing urine.
Osmolality increases with dehydration and decreases with overhydration.
In healthy people, when osmolality in the blood becomes high, the body releases antidiuretic hormone (ADH). This hormone causes your kidney to reabsorb water, which results in more concentrated urine. The reabsorbed water dilutes the blood, allowing the blood osmolality to fall back to normal.
Low blood osmolality suppresses ADH, reducing how much water the kidney reabsorbs. You pass dilute urine to get rid of the excess water, and blood osmolality increases.

So I guess with my checking around I already know what direction they are going in. We are back at looking for diabetes insipidus. My mom called my uncle last week and this is exactly the direction he went in and said this is a very difficult form of diabetes to diagnose. If this batch of tests does not show what they are looking for they will be admitting him into the hospital to run another batch of tests. I would guess that would be early next week. So please keep Trace in your prayers.

Monday madness....

2008-09-08T14:29:00.001-07:00

(A few more parade pics that Rick took)

Aggghhhh another Monday, another morning of craziness. Actually the kids did pretty well getting up this morning and getting out the door. They are both still tired from a late night at the race track (and apparently not waking up until 9:30 and 10:30 wasn't enough sleep for them yesterday).

We had a nice lazy day yesterday. Rick and Trace headed up to my parents in the late afternoon to unload the race stuff. Racing didn't go well, Rick broke some stupid mount on lap one of the main event. Scott was leading and ended up getting together with another car with 10 laps left and spun out. And Steve hurt his motor...all-together, not a great night! But anyways, when they went to unload Kaity and I went grocery shopping. My least favorite task.

(Kole and Trace competing in the big wheel races at the race track...Trace made it to the time trial round but the lady decided to move him back 10 feet not realizing that would mean his time was longer than everyone elses... yep racers!)

Kaitlyn had decided to clean the bathroom (she is really working hard at showing us how bad she wants her own bathroom when we move, haha). She wanted some handtowels to hang up to make it look nicer. So we got those and I just had to walk by the fabric section (gotta love Wal-Mart, ummm NO!). My dear friend Tiffani has a new love of aprons. She has been blogging all about fabulous aprons. So me, yes me the one that does not cook and does her best not to clean, being the silly one I am decided to get some fabric to make a few. Poor Rick came home to a living room of fabric thrown every where and scraps from my cutting, ect. It took a while and boy would my M.I.L. die from my lack of proper technique, really ugly edges and just all around not prettiness on the inside (I surely am not going to be in contention for the next big thing on Project Runway!).... but I think should Kaitlyn ever decide to want to cook she will look pretty darn cute! And I had fun. (notice the gathering in the waist, yep remembered that from my days in 4-H when I think I was about 10!)

Trace has no new developments. All his tests came back fine so we are waiting to hear what the pediatric urologist wants to do. He started an anti-biodic and he had a great day yesterday but it sounds like today has been about the same as last week.

I want to welcome Miss Skylee Ray Seth to the world! Becca delievered at lunch time a healthy 6 lb 14 ounce cutie. It sounds like it was a quick and very easy labor. I can't wait to see her!!!

Benton City Daze

2008-09-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

This morning Kaitlyn and Kendall are in the Benton City Daze parade. Mikki arranged for them to ride in a horse drawn carriage. They were sooo excited. Kendall couldn't wait to see what the horse looked like that was going to PUSH the carriage. I got a good chuckle out of that one.

This is the carriage they are riding in...

Getting ready to stage...

Umm, Kendall... are you 'sneaking' some of the candy????????

I got them all set up and then I had to take off to get to work. They had quite the cheering section lined up to watch. I can't wait to hear all about it this afternoon :-) Thanks Mikki for arranging all of this, it will be an experience neither of these girls will ever forget!

Simple sample!

2008-09-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

We got Trace's ultra sound results back yesterday and it looked fine. There was no problems and everything was working properly. So our doctor's nurse said that they wanted to schedule an appointment for us to come in and look at starting some medication for bladder spasms. Fine right... WRONG, they scheduled me for September 19th! So after I got composed I called back and told them that I was not waiting 2 weeks to bring Trace back in. We have been going on 3 weeks of this already and it isn't fair to him to have to stop what he is doing 30 plus times a day to run to the bathroom. Apparently there is some 'unusual circumstances' that are pushing out their scheduling and they were happy to pass a message on to my doctor to see if we could get in any sooner. I also asked about a few other tests so she told me that she would go over all of this with the doctor and get back to me but it would be on Friday. UGGGG.....

This was just unacceptable to me. Rick was really not happy so he tracked down Steve Bradley (who has taken care of most of his family's medical issues since...FOREVER but is no longer practicing) and talked to him about it all. Steve agreed with all the tests that have been run thus far but feels that we need to get Trace in to see a urologist. Rick called back to the doctors office and left yet another message for our doctor and said he wanted a referral (gotta love Group Health!) ASAP.

5:00 pm came and went and no word from the doctors office. We were so frustrated. So I did what EVERY concerned mother (and not at all crazy, tired and just wanting to relief for my child!) would do...I called my mom and asked her to call Doctor Matt's mom (I grew up with Matt's sister and we have known his family since I was about 8)... I know, I know. And I really do feel bad about it but guess what, IT WORKED!

This morning, first thing, the doctors office tried to call my phone. I was with a customer and didn't hear it ring. Rick ended up calling them back and they wanted us to bring Trace in to give yet another urine sample. Matt had consulted with a pediatrician and they came up with a bunch more things to look at with a sample. They are also working on getting him into the right urologist, which I assume will be out of town. I took Trace in and he is like an old pro at this. I think he just knows the better he is, the more prizes he gets. He gave his sample, got his 2 stickers and a sucker and we were on our way. They told us that we won't have these results until late Monday.

It will be a busy Saturday for us. Kaitlyn is in a parade tomorrow, I am working, Rick is racing. Whew! Sunday we'll probably end up at the kart track to let Kaitlyn practice because she races next weekend. Or we'll be sleeping all day trying to recover from a busy Saturday.

A few prayer requests... my friend Misty's grandfather passed away tonight. Misty and I have grown up together and she was raised by her grandparents. He has been in pretty bad shape for the last several years. He was such a kind hearted man, who put up with the likes of us for our lovely teen years :-) Please keep Misty, her Grandmother and all of the family in your thoughts and prayers. Also, this lovely family will be expanding sometime this weekend with the arrival of their 2nd little girl. Becca also lost her grandfather last weekend and her little brother had a horrible leg break that required surgery on Wednesday. So its been a long and hard week for her and now the excitment of finding out Dailey's little sister will be arriving...please pray for a healthy delivery! And lastly... please pray that these great friends stay safe and sound and out of Hanna's path. I know Heather has been glued to the news, hopefully the storm will quickly and quietly pass their new home!

The nice short week has flown by but I'm exhausted, I must be getting old :-) I also wouldn't be much of a good Prosser resident if I didn't say GO MUSTANGS. Football kicked off tonight so hopefully they have another great season!