Christmas is here! The reindeer came. . .

Here is what Santa left us! We are very blessed this year.

The kids woke up at 6:30am excited to see if Santa came last night. They ran outside to see if Santa's reindeer had eaten the carrots and the celery they put outside for the reindeer - low and behold the reindeer had taken bites out of the food! Santa was here! John didn't hear Santa on the roof and was a little bummed out, Josie though, thought maybe she had heard him but wasn't sure.... oh to be young again!

Look at this pile of gifts John has, it was so fun to watch him open them.

Josie got her first official Barbie Doll ~ Dancing Ballerina Barbie. She loves it!

I love this pic, Detrix was so suprised he got the laptop he wanted... Thank you to the Kovacavic (hope I spelled the correctly!) family - you helped us out tremendously getting it all ready to go!

Some of you know that Derrick and I have been very disciplined with our health lately. Derrick has lost 55 pounds and I have lost 27 pounds, today as a new Christmas tradition we went for 5k run! I actually did my fastest mile yet at 11 minutes, Derrick not to be out done - did a very fast 8 minute mile!~ I am so proud of both of us, we have been working hard and it is paying off. Am I bitter that Derrick is running faster than I am for his first run? No, not at all I am so exited we are both out there doing something to ensure a lasting healthy lifestyle! Way to go Derrick I am very proud of you!

Running, what I am learning.

I have never been a real runner, I have never gotten that "runners high". Yesterday I went out running on a trail by our home, I found out something about myself. I don't mind running. Yeah I kow I did the 1/2 marathon last year but I really hated running. Now after running two 5k races in the last two weekends, something has gotten into me. I am starting to - dare I say it? - I am starting to enjoy running. Oh my those are words I never thought I woud say. I did another 5k race on Saturday it was a small race with about 52 people, most did the 10k, but I stayed with the 5k. I was dead last, and even got a little lost on the course. You see I am not a fast runner, maybe I will speed up at some point but for now I just chug along, but my point is I am out there. I beat the winner of the 10k by 3 minutes... I know a bit pathetic the guy went almost twice as fast as I did. But for me, it was one of my best races so I will take it! The people out there are really nice, they all said they were slow runners when they started out - slow to them is slowing down to a 8 minute mile. Wow I think if I could run an 8 minute mile, how cool would that be? as they all took off down the trail, I had some great alone time - thinking of why I am running in the first place. I run to get healthy but it is also a big challenge for me. I love to challenge myself so this is my next thing to conquer. I will be running another 1/2 marathon in California in October. So my goal now is to actually run the entire race with out stopping and walking. To some that is not a lofty goal, to me it is. So as I take each day to go run a 5k and then build up from there I will slowly accomplish my goal. Maybe I will get that "runners high" someday! It is the same in life, you set out to do something big and huge in your life, and it doesn't happen over night, it takes small steady steps. Do you have a goal for this next year? Make it a big goal, make it huge! Now start by doing little steps to have your goal come to pass!

Here I am before the race sponsored by Fitness For Vitality 5k/10k Run/Walk Shoes For Foster Kids it was in West Seattle at Lincoln park, very cool run - the wind picked up right at the end and blew my hat off... so I got to chase down my hat! ofcourse I ran in my Team Toyota shirt, had to represent the team!

Santa came a little early!

After church on Sunday the kids found out that Santa came a little early this year. Santa was making sure that he knew where our new house was, and if he could fit down the chimney.

You never know how long the Seahawks will play for - so we thought to get the most use out of these gifts we better have Santa come early! John does some great tackling and Josie (despite my childhood hangups with cheerleaders! ) loves being a cheerleader. I am going to be ok with it (really, I am) if Josie wants to be a cheerleader. OK, So I will make my self be ok with it! After all I want all my kids to lead their own lives and go after their own dreams, so if she wants to be a cheerleader then well I just might have to be "that" cheerleading mom! Kidding. Just kidding!

You should see them both they are adorable in the outfits... John seriously is a great tackler, and Josie does look too cute for words.

Christmas Rush

Since I had to do a race report for Team Toyota I thought I would do a blog too. I ran in the Christmas Rush 5K today. I hadn't ran in a while so I was happy that I ran all the way - I kept pace with Angela my friend who keeps talking me into races! She keeps me going and motivated (so thank you to her) I saw lots of people there so it was a great event! Jodi did the 10K - you go girl! Congrats to her and her husband.. and also to Cory Angela's husband and Nathan her son... they did awesome!

I know it might not be the fastest time - but as Angela likes to say " we weren't at home sitting on the couch!" A big thanks to Derrick for bringing the kids out to watch their mom race! It is really great to see them at the finish line.

Oh Christmas Tree!

So I told two of my friends the following story - both were laughing so hard they couldn't speak, so I thought it "blog worthy!"

Last week I came into the living room to find the 11' Christmas tree down on the ground... The whole thing had fallen over. Ornaments everywhere and some broken glass from the ornaments. After interrogating John our 4 year old... I think what happened is the dogs somehow knocked over the tree. We are watching a friends dog and I am not saying their dog knocked the tree down, I am just saying two dogs playing - well you get the picture!

So my immediate reaction is to get the kids out of the way - then grab the Christmas tree and put it up right. After a bit of a struggle to get the tree up (it is huge!) I am standing there holding the tree thinking now what ? I am literally holding the tree - I can't get it set back in the stand right by myself.... what was I thinking. But me - not thinking this all the way through - I never think to put the tree back down (well I think to put it down but I am afraid I will break more ornaments.) So I stand in the front room, just holding the tree. I laugh as I am writing this if only - a neighbor was watching they would be thinking - what the heck is this lady doing? So I stand and just wait. Holding the tree. Luckily it was about 5:00 when I put the tree upright. Derrick was home at about 5:20. He just looked at me when he came home, like "what possessed you to do this?" I don't know, sometimes I amaze myself with silliness!

Snow fun!

Riding the sled!

My little snow angels

The look it snowed pic! no we didn't get a ton of snow - but hey snow that is alright, you don't need a lot of it to have in it!

**Thought I would add a little bit of info about the photo - John's hat is authentic Russian combat hat, and it really came all the way from Russia! Grandma Mary brought it back for little John after she went to Russia this summer - so thank you Grandma Mary! ( You can read about her experience on her blog - look under family) John has a little mark on his face too - well let's say he had a run in with the cutting board and the cutting board won! Two trips to the ER and he is ok. First trip was to get the super glue stuff to heal the cut, second trip was to remove the bandaid the ER doc glued to his face! Got to love it. The second Dr. asked who had done the glue in the first place, I just smiled and said your ER doc. "oh" is all the doc said. We all have off days right? **

Do you know who you are?

I have been undergoing a process that started about a year ago of really finding out who I am. Sounds "new agey" I know but I assure you it has been the hardest and most gratifying thing that I have done. I didn't set out to do it. It is something that just evolved. With out going into much detail I had some things from my past that came back to haunt me - no not a person or anything like that, that showed up, rather something inside me I had never dealt with. I had something traumatic happen to me when I was young and I just pushed it down all these years. Well at some point you have to look at your past in order to know who you are now and find out who you want to be in the future. So I did just that. I took the past sort of head on and am dealing with it. That threw me into a bit of a depression. You see for me, I have never been a depressed kind of a person I might get into funks, but nothing I called a depression. Well this time I found myself fighting to keep my head above water so to speak. Depression for me was simply "depressing my life" meaning I was not pressing into life. I let the circumstances get me down instead of fighting like I normally do, I found myself being swept away. It took me a while to realize what was happening. When I made the choice to start digging in again, I could feel the depression lift. Now I am not saying that would work for everyone but for me getting a goal again, starting to look at the hope that was all around me but I chose not to see, well that started me on the upswing. Today many many months have passed and I am know standing on solid ground knowing where I came from and why I had certain actions and reactions to life. Now that I understand that, I am taking the good qualities I have found in myself and I look forward to the future. I am a survivor, I am a fighter, I am a child of God, I know that the impossible is possible, I know that tomorrow brings new hope and joy. I am excited and look forward to new things happening in my life and in the life of my familys'. I am taking on new rolls and I am on fire and refreshed again. The process was long and is on going. I have often heard woman say you come into your own in your late 30's to early 40's it has been said to be some of the best times in your life because you truly know who you are. I can honestly say I agree. I feel renewed. My dreams are bigger than ever, and I am so excited about that. After all what is life with out dreams? My life has always been an open book, so I share this with you from the bottom of my heart. To know who you are is a powerful thing. To know that power you hold with your words is simply amazing. Life and death is in the power of words. I have learned over the past year to speak words of life over my own life. Now I will look to helping others to speak words of life over their lives. I am worth it! You are worth it!

Another one for the book!

So if you have read our blog for a while, you may remember about a year 1/2 a ago we had a person run down our drive way and steal a pair of shoes. The police brought them back at about 3am. He had crashed his car then ran. Well Tuesday I put Josie down for her nap and I hear a helicopter outside. I am thinking man that sounds close, what is the helicopter doing? I go outside and look up and it is making a big circle around our neighborhood and the couple of neighborhoods near by. I am not bothered at first but after an hour I think, something is really not right here. I went and locked all the doors and go upstairs to see if I can see anything. I look over into the neighbors yard to see two police officers peering over our fence and the yard behind us. There are two officers and a K-9. Now I am a bit worried obviously they are looking for someone. They search the yard quite well directly behind us and then move on. I went and did a few things then decided to take a peek out again to see what is happening. As I look out the window I see a guy come flying over our fence and fall into our yard... ok yeah I am freaking out now... is this guy armed, what did he do? I have to admit Derrick and I help out a lot of people so as I see this guy come over the fence I am completely staring at him making sure we don't know him! Relief, it is no one we know! We have an awning in the back so I can't see where he went I don't know if he is still in our yard or somewhere else. I grab the phone and call 911 and tell them the guy they are searching for is in our backyard. As I am on the phone with 911 I see an officer next door and the K-9 they are right behind him. I don't want to yell, I still don't know if the guy is in our yard or what.... so I tap on the window and get the officers attention then point he came through our yard. I get a thumbs up from the officer and he radios others. I didn't see what happens next (thank God!) but the neighbor across the street said the police came through the next door neighbor on the other side of us with guns drawn! (I think I would have had a heart attack seeing that) I guess they caught the guy two doors down. One of neighbors caught the whole thing on video camera and gave it to the local news station and they aired the guy getting arrested. What a day! It was a little stressful! I have to give props to the suspect he was running from them for over 2 1/2 hours... he looked a little spent when he came over the fence. In our neighborhood alone he had jumped 4 - 5' fences. Rather impressive! The police though were close behind him, they looked like they were a bit tired too, quite a foot chase. Oh yeah the funny part - the guy was in a high speed chase and crashed his car and got out and ran... what are the odds that this happened twice to us?

Christmas time!

I will admit it typically this time of year I am in a funk. I am not excited about Christmas and just really fun to be around. But this year I decided that instead of getting into the Christmas Spirit on the 20th of Dec (yes that is typically when I snap out of it!) I would get into the festivities a bit earlier. So the day after thanksgiving I went out and got lights for the house, so we could decorate the new house. We have never put lights on the outside of the house so I was pretty excited to do it.

A little back ground here - as you know we just moved in and the first weekend we were here at 9:00am I think every neighbor started their lawnmower and started doing yard work.... I actually called my mom and said I think we live in the Stepford neighborhood - what is wrong with these people? laughing Derrick and I went out and mowed the lawn and got the yard ready for the winter... then we "one upped" the neighbors and got are lawn aerated! ha take that! Anyway we were actually excited to be in the yard for just a few hours and actually see that we had done something to it. (we had an acre of black berry bushes before and could work for hours and no one would know we did anything)

So back to the story: I went and got lights and Detrix and I started to put them up - after a death defying moment on the steep pitch of our roof ( I was clinging like Spiderman in terror) I don't think I have ever been so scared - I thought I was going to fall off the roof! I was so hoping no neighbors saw me - I was having a complete meltdown on the roof - Derrick was in the garage getting the Christmas boxes so Detrix and I were trying to yell for him with out sounding desperate! Later I found that we could easily step through little John's window and avoid the steep pitch of the roof! Detrix really put up all the lights I was more there for moral support - I was shook up all day after my stupidity.... Derrick who doesn't like heights at all actually got up there and did the front - it was a full family affair!

Did I mention I have a ridiculously large collection of penguins I bring out for Christmas time? I have been collecting them since I was probably 4 or 5 years old!

We had many neighbors come by and said we were doing great - one said he couldn't do his yet 'cuz the roof was frozen - true that would be scary on a roof with ice, no good. Another said he did the whole house one year and won't be doing it again! So we felt pretty good about our festivities! So the lights are up - we have turned into "those people" you know who rush out and put up decorations for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving... but I will tell you a secret - I am feeling really good about it - I love that the house is done and we didn't stop there - we also did the Christmas tree and the whole house! If you live close you must come by we are all ready and in the Christmas spirit... no we don't have a fake tree - we have a 11' tree - it is huge!

We couldn't reach the top of the tree on this ladder - we had to get the bigger one!

Here is Hobo and Josie - I know Hobo is getting old - look at his grey.

Truly Thankful

Before I get into my story I thought I would do a shameless plug - for my turkey! It was perfect! First time ever baking a turkey - first time doing all of thanksgiving dinner~ I will brag a bit it was great. I was nervous but all turned out well.

Most of you that read this know what Derrick and I have been through over the past few years, so I won't go into details on what has happened to us. I will tell you a quick story. I don't get emotional over songs hardly ever. Yesterday though I heard a song and it brought me into a bit of an emotional meltdown, not in a bad way but one of thankfulness.
Are you truly thankful for the people in your life? Until you almost lose someone it is sometimes hard to understand what that means. Personally I never "got it" until I almost lost loved ones.

In the middle of the song, I got a flash back to Derrick in the hospital in a coma and the Dr's telling me only time will tell if he wakes up and then we would have to see what he would be like, when and if he did wake up.

Yesterday (while listening to a song) tears came to my eyes and I had a bit of a meltdown of just how thankful I am to have Derrick alive, happy healthy and walking around! (My kids too!) Are you truly thankful the people in your life? As I have said a million times life can change in an instant, be thankful for what you have right now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is the song I was listening to:

Johnnys daddy was taking him fishin
When he was eight years old
A little girl came through the front gate holdin a fishing pole
His dad looked down and smiled, said we cant leave her behind
Son I know you dont want her to go but someday youll change your mind
And johnny said take jimmy johnson, take tommy thompson, take my best friend bo
Take anybody that you want as long as she dont go
Take any boy in the world
Daddy please dont take the girl

Same old boy
Same sweet girl
Ten years down the road
He held her tight and kissed her lips
In front of the picture show
Stranger came and pulled a gun
Grabbed her by the arm said if you do what I tell you to, there wont be any harm
And johnny said take my money, take my wallet, take my credit cards
Heres the watch that my grandpa gave me
Heres the key to my car
Mister give it a whirl
But please dont take the girl

Same old boy
Same sweet girl
Five years down the road
Theres going to be a little one and she says its time to go
Doctor says the babys fine but youll have to leave
cause his mommas fading fast and johnny hit his knees and there he prayed
Take the very breath you gave me
Take the heart from my chest
Ill gladly take her place if youll let me
Make this my last request
Take me out of this world
God, please dont take the girl

Johnnys daddy
Was taking him fishin
When he was eight years old

why do we shoot our wounded?

Yet another scandal this morning on the daily news show. No, not Brittney's divorce it was another pastor fallen from grace. This time his church of 10,000 is now down to 1,500 they closed down a bible college. What gets me is this: The pastor in question was not the head pastor at the time. It was his father. Yet the church congregation is gone. Here is my question, the son and current pastor had nothing to do with it he was innocent why is he being punished for something that he didn't do? I did come in at the end of the broad cast so maybe I missed part of the scandal but in my mind I don't get it. EVERYONE makes mistakes why as a whole do Christians tend to out there own when a mistake was made? Sure I get it pastors/priests/ministers are suppose to live by the bible... sure we all are. I tend to look at these circumstances differently than most. When an unwed girl comes to church pregnant what typically happens; most times she is shunned out of the church. A kid on drugs, told not to come back until they are not on drugs. Having health issues? Well maybe your faith isn't strong enough for you to be healed is a phrase I have heard before. I say that is crazy! Call me crazy but isn't a church where everyone is welcome - especially those in need? All through the bible people made epic huge mistakes - hmmmm did the story end there? No! What happened to these people, well they were restored. Then amazingly enough they went on to do incredible marvelous things. Why is today no different? Why can't people be restored? I say they can. I say they should. Wouldn't it have been better to keep the bible college going and teaching people about theology? Why is the son being punished, the congregation down to 1,500... he did nothing wrong. Let's restore people and show them love. Sure the(offending) people should be taken out of a prominent roll for a time so that they can be restored. Remember pastors/priests/ministers are everyday people serving others. Should they try to stay out of trouble, duh! of course. We all should. Instead of judging let's show some compassion for them. I love in a recent interview with Billy Graham he talks about how when he dies he would almost like to leave notes on all the things he has struggled with over his life so people could see that he struggles with things too. Now I am not implying that Billy Graham has some big sex scandal or something like that, I absolutely love Billy Graham as do most people but his point is right on, everyone struggles with something. If no sin is above another why can't everyone be forgiven? In recent years we have seen many pastors fall. We will see even more fall in the coming years. I hope that as a whole we can start showing compassion for these pastors instead of kicking them when they are down. I guess I have always looked at pastors/ministers/priests as teachers. Everyday people that have a gift and a calling to teach others and motivate others about the bible. Everyday people have everyday challenges.



I know this won't be a popular post. I am ok with that.

Princes and Princess

We went to Disney On Ice last night. We had a blast!

Can you name all the Disney princesses? There were 7 main princesses at the performance... bet I can stump you!?

Our handsome young man, and our little princess they are ready to go see Disney on Ice. Josie is dressed as one of her favorites, Belle from Beauty and the Beast. her other favorite is Ariel from the Little Mermaid.

John and Josie both went nuts when Ariel came out.

John and I watching the show!

The finale - all the princesses, and Mickey and Minnie ofcourse, they also had Tinker Bell as a special guest.

The Boxes!

A bit out of order as far as posting but here it goes:

So before the movers came dad was a genius and took two big wardrobe boxes and cut "doors" into them making them John and Josie's own homes for a few days, the house was set to close on Mon/Tue and the movers were coming on Friday before that. So we thought a few days would be fun camping in the living room.... As I think I said what we thought would be fun for a few nights (it turned into over a week) it was a bit much for mom and dad. However the kids had a blast.

This is it - our little "camping spot" in the living room before we moved!

Disneyland, California Adventure and Universal Studios

I haven't had so much fun in a long time, our trip to Disneyland was so fantastic! On our second day we took the kids into the Bugs life show at California Adventure... we ran into Disney people handing out free passes for Disney's a year of a million dreams. So we each got these free passes. They were fast passes for all the major rides in Disneyland and California Adventure. We were able to go on all the major big rides with out waiting! We wouldn't have been able to do them all in one day cuz the lines were long, we felt like rockstars!

John and Josie with Mr. Incredible!

John got so excited when he saw Woody from Toy Story that he jumped off the bench we were all sitting on and fell flat down on his face. His excitement turned into a "oh my goodness moment" of him getting hurt. By the time we got him up Woody was gone. Thankfully we were going into an exhibit and he was in there. So John was very happy to finally meet him.

Two happy children at Disneyland! Notice the ears ~ aren't they too cute!

This picture says it all doesn't it? John was 42" and could go on most of the rides at all the parks. There was only a few he couldn't ride on, probably better that he couldn't some of them were scary! Funny story ~ look at John's shoes. They are Mickey Mouse crocs. We were walking around California Adventure when John just stopped walking. We couldn't figure out what was wrong he stopped in the middle of a crowd and wouldn't move. We finally got him to tell us his toe hurt. We take off the shoe and uh oh blister. So off came the shoes and socks. But now what? Derrick and John set off to go find some shoes. Derrick came back and John was running and playing in the new shoes. I said to Derrick, "How much were they" waiting to cringe, after all Disney prices aren't the cheapest. Derrick smiled and said "Mickey Mouse crocs $35.00, Mickey Mouse socks $4.00, bandaid $4.00, Happy child at Disneyland PRICELESS!" Seriously it was a perfect commercial! The shoes are too cute and he wore them the whole rest of the trip. A great investment.

We flew Detrix and Grandma Mary down for an extended weekend. This is dad and D "thuggin' it" by the Haunted House.

This is one of the actors from the Waterworld show at Universal Studios. The show was one of my favorites lots of stunts and action.
Spongebob Square pants at Universal Studios. I think we chased him for a few minutes, we were behind him and he couldn't see John or Josie!

Grandma Mary and John and Josie! When we hook up the scanner I will scan in the picture of Mary and I at the Tower of Terror Hotel at California Adventure, we both had never been on the ride and were screaming the whole time! Mary screamed so much on the ride she lost her voice, now that is a good time!

Look at this happy boy! We were about to go into Universal Studios.... oh the excitement!

More pictures for you all later.

We had the most relaxing and fun time. We needed a family vaation, and we got a fun one. We played in the pool at our hotel, we had a pool side room that was lots of fun.

Getting older, Homecoming.

So much happened in the past month it is crazy!

One of the most monumental times that happened is that Detrix attended his first Homecoming dance! (don't we feel old)

Look at this handsome man!

Our house!

I just realized I haven't taken a photo of the outside of the house! oops I will have to post it later. It is a 5 bedroom home in a small neighborhood close to Kent/Fairwood area.

John and Josie in pajamas the day we moved in! They were so excited to move as soon as John woke up he yelled at Josie" We are moving into our new house today!" so we all got up and went to the new house. We were staying with our friends Liz and Foster for a couple of nights before the trip we took and then a night after we got back from the trip and before we moved in. It is always a bit chaotic to take in 2 kids and a dog! So thank you!

Little "power ranger" John in the family room.
master bath I realize these pictures don't really do the house justice... so I will have to take some more now that we have all of our furniture in it!

Back Online!

So much has happened in the past month! We sold our house, not with out a bit of stress and a little chaos~ but it all got done. We are settling into the new house. We did not get the house that I posted pictures of. Long story on it, but we got the house we originally wanted even closer in to Derrick's work. He now has a 10 minute commute! We are loving it!

This is what I will miss of the old house ~

Sounds funny I know - but I loved this tree.... our house was big and nice and brand new, but it held so many hard times for us that I truly won't miss it.

We are embracing a new season ~~ let the good times roll!

Keep watching aI have plenty of more posts to come!

Moving on ....

After 8 years of owning our home in our little town, we are set to move on! We sold our home and will be moving mid Oct.


After Derrick's stroke we both changed a lot and our priorities changed too so we are moving! How can you not be changed by something so traumatic, and miraculous at the same time? We are very excited for a new home to fill with happy times and happy memories. The house we are selling, well represents a lot of painful times for us, so a fresh start is in order!


We move into the new house Nov 1 ~ we will be in limbo for a couple of weeks, so we have planned a family vacation!

Here is the new house: (pic are from the real estate sight, so not our furniture!)
House is 6 bedroom 3.75 bath

master

formal living room, formal dining (never had a formal dinning I am excited)



family room

kitchen

kids play room

The back yard has a in ground trampoline, and is adjacent to a park!

The Wedding.... Welcome to the Family Aaron!

This weekend my cousin Jolene (my mom's side of the family) got married! The wedding was in beautiful Bend, OR. Derrick and I had never been there before, and wow it is a gorgeous place. It reminds me of Jackson Hole Wyo. Very upscale, up and coming and with breathtaking views. The town is just booming right now and everything is new.

It was a fun family gathering. Derrick officiated the wedding and did a wonderful job. The weather in Bend has been just beautiful the past few weeks, but for this weekend it dipped just a bit in temp, was a bit cold but was still beautiful. Jolene and Aaron decided to stay with the ceremony outside, and everything was perfect. The wind died down and it seemed to even warm up a bit just in time for the wedding.

Pictured left to right

Chick, Laura, Marian, Jolene, Ted and Priscilla. Marian is Jolene's mom and the rest are Marians brothers and sisters. It was truly great to see everyone!

We don't always connect and get to see one another because everyone is spread out all over the US.

As I have said before (which some of you will understand if you are Irish) the Irish know how to have a great time. The Irish funerals are a time to celebrate the life of a person and well those although sad, are a great party - the weddings are even more fun! So as the night went on the celebration continued. In following tradition the family danced to the Chicken dance, and the Hokey Pokey (after all - that's what it's all about!) Aaron's side of the family looked a little nervous about the chicken dance, (us crazy Irish folks!) but later in the night they all joined in for some dancing too!

This is me! (that's right I am in a dress! - I have probably been in a dress 4 times since Derrick and I were married almost 8 years ago!) It is my model pose.

Soem more fun dancing!

My mom's side of the family has a few traditional toasts that they always make, one comes from my Grandfather Gordon Keeley, as he would say "Here's to those who wish us well, and those who don't can go to h---" I would like to say as Rachal, Jolene's sister made a very nice toast, she added an Irish blessing, "May the road rise to meet you,May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields.And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of his hand."

I am mainly Irish and Norwegian and I must say I love the tradition and heritage of each.... The Irish I feel truly know how to live life, as my mom always says," Life is for the living" it used to irritate me when she would say it, but it took on a new meaning after Derrick's stroke. Families may not always get along, or see eye to eye - but when they are together they truly enjoy each other's company. Great to see everyone, truly I had a wonderful time!

That time of year again..... Puyallup!

Usually we do the opening day of the Puyallup Fair with Derrick's auntie Margeret but this year she was gone, so I carried on the tradition this time with Derrick. He took part of the day off to spend with us. A quick rest under a tree, it was hot out!

This year Dora was there! Last year it was Jimmy Neutron and Josie wouldn't go near him. This year Josie was such a big girl she sat next to Dora!

The start of the rodeo is on the first day, they had a wonderful area set up to learn all about rodeo life, I loved this pic, just look at Josie's rope!

This truly is a remarkable shot, last year Josie wouldn't even go into the horse barn and she is standing by a large bull. John and Josie both walked up and pet the bull too.

John petting a sheep.