1st Grade Spring Program

Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock

I really have no idea what this play was about.

It involved lots of different animals, and

ONE SUPER CUTE LION!

Getting their waving to their parents out before they start. :-)

Elissa's friend, Alyssa, just below her.

And then they burst out into song.

A little playing of rock, paper, scissors....

Looking into the audience to see what is happening.....

Makes for one great performance!

And during the performance, this is what Zach was doing.

He did a really good job "sitting" in one place the whole time.

A photography aside:

I think I got the lighting ok, but focus was not good. :(  These pictures showed me how much I have to learn and how much more practice I need. I wasn't impressed with any one.

Zach came in and woke us up at 4a, so I was thinking about my settings. :) I spot metered, which I should have done centere weighted average to take in everybody. I think this is why my pictures were blurry. My shutter was 1/25, which I got from the metering and aperature was f5.6 and ISO of 800 and some 1600.

A Note

I found this note that Elissa had left me.

I'm assuming that she didn't want me to put this in the dirty clothes.

I think this is the first note she has left me.

She writes us notes and letters all the time, but this is the first time she had left me a note to tell me something.

I use to leave my parents notes all the time. Usually to make sure they didn't forget something.

Looks like Elissa will do the same thing. :-)

300th Post!

I did 100 posts in 7 months.

In 2009 I did a total of 102 posts.

Blogging has pretty much took over my scrapbooking.
I want to get back to scrapbooking more (Project Life), but for now this is what I can fit into my life and not be over stressed.

I have got to get the previous years put into books!!

Here are a few of my latest shots while trying to learn how to use my camera.

Happy blogging!

10k #3/3

Sunday, 3.27.11

FINISHED!

We {well, Darin} did our last 10k in the 3 race series.

We woke up to pouring down rain. :-( I was not excited with the prospect of running in the pouring rain. I much rather have cold to rain. So I was dragging my feet to get ready. The kids were getting dressed and ready to go over to our neighbors house. Then we heard a not-so-pleasant sound from the bathroom. Elissa was sick.

We debated and debated on if she was really sick. Could we let her go to the neighbors? She tried to tell us she was ok because she wanted to go play with the girls, but then she wouldn't eat anything. I happily told Darin that I would stay home with the kids. :-) It was a good thing, Elissa got sick again just after he left.

So Darin went and represnted!
Here is the info for race #1 and race #2 (pictures added).

His Official Time:
48:25
7:50 pace
Men's Place
5/11
(significantly less people then the previous 2 races)

The next race series starts April 17th at Alki Beach Park doing either a 5k or 10k.
I don't think we are going to do the next one, but we will most likely do it again.

My next race is the Eugene Half Marathon, May 1st!
Maybe Darin will run it. :-)

Happy 60th Dad!!

Dad turned 60 on March 24th.

We celebrated today.

Chad put together an AWESOME gift for Dad.

I don't think I have ever seen Dad speechless.

It was an awesome sight.

Chad had the gift hidden unwrapped in their playroom.

You can see it as you come in.                                                                           He thinks, "That can't be it."

The rifles for you.                                                                                                                       "What????"

He was seriously floored and speechless.

"You got to be kidding me."



Dad bought his last rifle 31 years ago.

I think that is what he said.

Great job Chad pulling off this phenomenal surprise for Dad.

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you very much!

We'll finish the birthday celebration on May 1st in Eugene with you running a MARATHON!!

Learning My Camera

Saturday, 3.26.11

Amy, Sara, Holly, Andrea and I went to a photography workshop today held at the Museum of Flight. We got an amazing deal on Groupon for this all day class. The workshop was called, "Capturing True Emotion" and was suppose to be for all levels. We had no idea how they were going to teach all levels, but it was worth the Groupon price to find out.

I'm a total beginner. I've been taking pictures for years, but always on the preset settings on my camera. I've been trying to be more "artistic" with how I point & shoot, but I haven't delved into figuring out my manual settings. I had no idea what ISO, aperture, shutter speed and metering were.

I thought it was an awesome class! It was just the kick-start I needed to have the information to start playing around with my manual settings. They walk you through what ISO, aperture, shutter speed and light metering mean and how you use these settings and how to adjust them for different lighting and techniques. Then we got to practice each one with them. This part would have been more useful if we had broken down into groups (instead of about 200), but it was still nice to have the time to practice and get some instruction.

Here are a few of my shots that I got while practicing (no editing).

I'm excited to keep on practicing as soon as I make up a cheat sheet for myself because it is a lot to remember and comprehend at first.

Down in the Dumps

Literally. :-)

Our septic pump died Wednesday morning.

Of course Wednesday morning was a hectic one. Elissa didn't have school because it was conference day and Grandma & Papa were coming over to watch the kids while I went to BSF and then Elissa's conference. The kids said that the stove alarm was going off, so I went downstairs and figured out it wasn't the stove. The sound was coming from the garage. I went out there and discovered that the septic tank alarm was going off.

I called Darin and he called the septic people. I had to shut off the water to the toilets and not use the water faucets. Thankfully it was a beautiful day so Grandma and Papa could take the kids to the park. The septic company was suppose to come between 1-3p and I wouldn't be home until 1:30p. I knew they would either be there right at 1p or really late. They didn't come till 4p. Bummer for us, our septic pump died. He {George} was a nice older guy that humored Zach. As you can imagine, Zach had a million questions. Zach would walk back and forth from the truck with him continuing to talk. He doesn't know when he can get back out to us, but they will try to make us top priority. Oh and by the way, you only have a 1/2 a day of tank left. We'll call you tomorrow to tell you when we can come back out.

Nice! That means VERY limited flushing and running of the faucets.

Thursday morning they call and say that they most likely will not be able to come out that day. There is a slight chance that they will come in the late afternoon, otherwise they will come out Friday between 10a - 12p. So of course, we need to stay home just in case. Still not able to flush much or use the water. Zach and I hang out and then I take him to preschool and I go for a run. Can't take a shower though. :-(

They don't show up.

So we go down to Nana's to take a shower and get cleaned up.

Well Friday at 10a goes by and 11a and 12p......George finally gets there around 3:30p, but the pump truck is still finishing a job. The tanks need to be pumped before he could replace the tank pump. Can I just remind you that this is day 3 that we can minimally flush and not use the water. The pump truck finally came and went. The guy replaced our pump and got it going. Zach slept through the whole thing, but this time Elissa got to watch and ask questions.

We finally had a working septic system at 6p this evening.

We really came to appreciate a working septic system. You don't realize how often you run water in a day. Showers, washing dishes, washing your hands, washing fruit & veggies, laundry...... Also the kids got an education on where our poopers and water go. :-)

Sunny Spring Day

Zach and I got a chance to enjoy some of the sun today!

It brings joy to my ♥ to be able to sit outside under the bright sun and be WARM!

It refreshes me!

We called a couple of Zach's friends, but none were available. He had a fun time anyways. :-)

I asked Zach to hang on to the bar until I could get back and take a picture. :-)

This is a view of our house from the neighborhood park. Our house is the one in the back inbetween the waterfront houses.

The sky is already turning to a dark grey and it looks like the rain will be back soon.

I'm thankful we got to take advantage of the time that the sun was out!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm not really into this holiday, but couldn't resist the opportuntiy to take pictures of my cute little leprechauns!

And Elissa was very excited to get to school to see what the leprechaun did to her classroom and if he left any treats for them in their traps. LOL! :-)

Field Trip to the Library

At first we thought it was just going to be the "three amigos"

But then cute little Tysia showed up and brought some liveliness to the group. :-)

The boys didn't want to particpate in the songs or answer questions, so Tysia did most of that.

Story time!

Now he is a card carrying member of the Pierce County library system. :-)

And yes, this is the book that he checked out. LOL!

Healthy Living

That is my goal for 2011.

Not radical dieting. Not exercising myself to death. No extremes.

Healthy perspectives. Balanced living.

I have been hesitant to put this in writing because pretty much every year it is my goal to lose weight. It is my hope, my desire, my cry to God as I fail over and over again. Being overweight has been a struggle since a very young age. Food is my comfort. I'm most definitely an emotional overeater.

The Lord is so gracious to meet us where we are at and to provide help and guidance as He takes us along each of our unique journeys. There are many different people and situations that He has provided over my life to make me more aware of my issues and to show me truths and His love, but the turning point most recently has been Christian counseling.

In May of 2008 a friend told me about a Christian counselor and I knew that this is what I needed. It seemed so outrageous at the time to make an appointment to see one, but thank you Lord that I got past my fear and pride and made the appointment. Really I think everyone could benefit from seeing one. It is so nice to talk to someone who is objective and can bring to light perspectives that I just couldn't see myself. I think the single most important thing that counseling has provided me is bringing to light the lies I have lived by and to replace them with God's truth. There are so many things that we think about ourselves because of the way we were raised or how we were treated or how we interpreted the people around us as we grew up. It forms our world view and how we fit into the world. Satan often uses our childhood view of life to turn into truth about who we are. Our childhood view is based on how we felt in situations and how we felt others thought of us - feelings, not truth. Sometimes those feelings we had were true, but it still does not define who we are. We are all children of an Almighty God who knew us before we were conceived and has a plan for each one of our lives and loves us no matter how we choose to live this life. We are all broken people that need Jesus to mend the wounded parts of our heart and strengthen us to reveal God's glory.

It is a continual journey to replace lies with God's truth, but I am so thankful that during the last 3 years I can see many lies that God has replaced in my heart with His truths. I often understand the lies intellectually, but it takes longer to sink into my heart and become a truth I believe and live by.

So all this work on gaining a Godly perspective has helped me have the courage to start running last year and this year add on a healthy eating plan. I can't express to you the panic attacks that occur when I think about being on any "diet". I have never been successful following diets for any length of time. I rebel and just can't handle not being able to use food whenever I need to. It was hard to live up to everyone elses standards (or the standards I thought they had for me) and not use food to keep it together. I don't have that pressure anymore or at least I try not to put that on myself.

On January 10th I started counting calories and being accountable to a friend for my food. I feel good, I feel strong, I have peace about it (most of the time). I know that my perspective has changed. I know that I am willing to obey. I'm not doing it perfectly, but I'm also not eating blindly. I choose to add more calories and know the impact it will have. Total restriction brings out rebellion in me, so moderate is my modo. :-)

I've lost 10 lbs!

I've lost 2.5 inches!

May have been a little more. I didn't take my measurements in January.

I found a piece of paper with my measurements from December 2009 and I've lost 12.25 inches since then. That is so exciting to realize. It is encouragment to move forward. I know the pounds are not melting off, but it is slow and steady.

Before & Current After Pic

A little differnce. :-)

My #1 goal for this year is consistent quiet time in the morning, preferably before the kids get up. I know that I will lose my focus if I'm not relying on God for strength and truth.

My #2 goal is to keep to a healthy eating plan.

My #3 goal is to continue running and weight lifting and other activities that keep me active.

I share this to be accountable.

I share this to give testimony of how God is changing my life and hopefully that brings glory to Him.

That's what we're here for.

RESOURCES

Email me if you would like info on my counselor. She is awesome!

Another awesome resource that God has provided is the blogger and author, Lysa TerKeurst. Thank you Amy for forwarding her blog to me several years ago. It has definitely been one of the tools that God has used to bring truth into my life. Lysa's latest book, Made To Crave, is her testimony about how God helped her overcome her food issues. It is an awesome book. She also has webcasts re-airing every Tuesday that are definitely worth viewing about deeper truths that God has been showing her and others regarding food issues. Which all of it applies to any issue you may have.

Another great author from my past is Elizabeth George. My favorite of her's is, "Loving God With All Your  Mind".

Also any study from Beth Moore is worth doing (can't wait to see her this weekend at the Tacoma Dome).

And one last resource that I have used to get to know God better is Bible Study Fellowship. It is an awesome Bible study with a great program for kids 0-17yrs.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or want more information.

Cowboy or....

Gigilo??

We're not sure. :-)