... to Seattle's Christmas Parade.

I wanted to post some pictures for Alison about the Day-After-Thanksgiving parade. Nothing special. We spent the night in Seattle, saw the parade, did a little bit of shopping, looked at the Christmas trees in the Olympic Hotel and the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton and saw the movie Australia which was really good. That was about it. Here's some pics for you Alison!

... to teach!

For those of you that didn't know or forgot, I was accepted into Central's Education Program at the GRCC Kent campus which has officially begun for me this fall. This quarter my science class split into teams of four to teach in different classrooms at a local elementary school. My team.
We each got to teach a lesson. I was the first one to go in my group, I taught on reflection and mirror images. I was super nervous at first, but the class was great. To start off I read the class a story I found at the public library on reflection, they loved it. Then I had the students split into their partners and find things that have a reflection and explain to me why they think it reflects. After this activity, they came back to their seats where I showed them other items I brought from home that demonstrated reflection such as sunglasses, a DVD, a metal thermos and an iron.
I gave the students each a mirror to play with which they also had to use to complete a worksheet I gave to them. I loved being able to return to that class with my team and to be able to collaborate with others in my class. We had a great time, especially going out for a snack afterwards!

... to Auburn's Big Give!

This was the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was an awesome experience of giving to the community. Our church partnered with Top Food's and the Auburn Food Bank to give away 500 turkeys and Thanksgiving meals. WOW!! It was a lot of work, but soooo many people turned out to help in any way they could. It was overwhelming!! Families were lined up by 5:30 in the morning! What a great way to show God's light and love to the people around you. God you're amazing! I truly was amazed at how willing so many people were to give of their day and time. I enjoyed being able to participate in such an event. I can't wait for next year!


**P.S. Sorry the images are cut in half, I can't figure out how to make them smaller!

... to going back in time.

Yes, we are going back in time to Halloween. I know, almost two months ago, but none the less. I need to let you know what I did.
To start off, work was fun as always. Several people from my work center dressed up for the occasion. Here is the winner of this year's LMI costume contest Chex Mix aka B-rey. And the runner up, Miss Linda Knowles as Helga.
Later in the day, there was the church Trunk or Treat event. Oh, it was great. Instead of going door to door, kids go from car trunk to car trunk asking for candy. People from the church come with their trunks all decorated... it's awesome.
My mom and I dressed up as loggers. Oh yeah! Funny thing is, we borrowed all of it from my uncles, mmm, maybe a few things were ours. (My mom was wearing my uncles pants!) It was great, the kids loved it, although some of them had no idea what we were. The best part of the whole night was winning the Most creative Award!! Two years in a row baby! We ended the night by going to McDonald's to see Kathryn who dressed up as a cute little nurse. It was a great night!

... to being thankful.

I just want to be thankful. I have so much in my life that God has blessed me with.
One of the things I am thankful for, is my family. How can anyone ask for a more fun and loving family! I love you all!
I have been blessed ten times over with great friends. So many people to lift me up and encourage me, laugh with me and cry with me! Thank you for being so thoughtful! (Especially you Ron!)

Believe it or not, I am thankful for education. I blessed to be able to go to school and to be around such amazing students and teachers. I am excited for school to be over but thankful for the journey it's started.
Above all I am thankful for being able to love the Lord no matter what. Thank you for being so faithful Lord.

... to Happy Birthday Momie!!!!

So my mom's birthday was the 24th, and as you know my sister is in Iraq and unable to give her mom a birthday hug. So we planned a little somethin for my mom. I have a mac, my sister has a mac, we have ichat, my mom doesn't know what that is, it's perfect. I told my mom we had a cool video for her to watch on my laptop. So we all sat down on the couch ready to watch a "video." This whole time I had the screen open with Alison waiting to say "Happy birthday!" When we had all settled in, I opened my laptop with alison there. Alison very sweetly says "Happy birthday mommy!" And instantly my mom started started crying. She looked at me and said "we can't say anything to her can we?" (very pitifully I might add) Alison pipes in with "yes you can mom!" We were all a little weepy at first, but we got to chat for an hour before we let Alison go to bed since it was after midnight there. It was wonderful to be able to chat with her, Momie loved it too.
So happy birthday Momie! I love you so much and you do so much for our family. Thank you for all your prayers and bits of wisdom! Muah!

... to Ahh! A whole month went by without a blog!!!!

Yikes! I can't believe it! I thought my last blog was in October, but no it was September! Shesh. What kind of a blogger am I?

Well as you might have guessed lots has happened. So I am going to have to only tell the highlights. Oh let me tell you what has been going on. A couple Mondays ago was the highlight of the Fall so far. It was a great morning, I got up on time, made my lunch, had breakfast and left for work with plenty of time to spare. I turned left out of the driveway to go down the green valley road and right before I went down the hill into the woods, right next to that new huge house... BAM!! A deer tried to commit suicide on my car! I mean BAM! I rammed that thing so hard it flew OVER my little innocent Neon and slide off into the ditch I sat there in the middle of the road a little stunned. I saw a little bump in my hood so I thought "oh I got time to turn around a get my sisters truck."
So I backed into that fancy house's driveway and there straight ahead, starring into my headlights was the 3-point deer. I thought "great I killed a deer, just what I need" So I hurried home got out of the car, and I saw how bad the damage really was. It was awful! I started shouting a little at my car" Good grief, I can't believe this" I exclaimed. I stormed into the house, got the keys, stormed back out and into the truck, mumbling and grumbling all the way. I pealed out of the driveway and when I got back to the crime scene the deer was gone!!! How dare he leave my car in shambles and then run off! It was terrible. I would have felt better if I had killed it if he was going to do so much damage to my car!
When I got home later I could REALLY see how bad the damage was. He totally crumpled my hood, took out a headlight and bashed the side of my car. Apparently he cracked my radiator and the frame around it. Can you believe it! Seriously, why do these things happen to me? I have to admit though, there is a small happy ending to the story, besides finding a clump of deer fur in my headlight.
I went over to Nicole's to help her with some homework and she was telling me that the game warden goes through her coffee stand and apparently he went through that Monday. He was telling her that he had to go pick up a deer somewhere. Nicole very sweetly said "Oh, my friend just hit a deer today." His reply: "Was it the one on 212th?" Hahahaha! So unless someone else on our road happened to hit a deer the same day I did... it was the same one! It must have hopped the fence and went off and died somewhere. Vengeance is mine! So yeah, the total damage came to $2100, more than what my car is worth. So we totaled it out and now I am on the look out for a new car. Whew!

... to become the proud owner of a Necky Manitou Sport!!

That's a kayak for you laypeople. As of yesterday, I now own a cute little 11' single kayak with one hatch, adjustable seat and foot pedals, and a harmony paddle. I am so excited! I tried it out today on the family pond that is shared by frogs, cows, ducks, bugs, muskrats, and beavers. It was nothing but smooth sailing , it cut through the water like a hot knife through butter. So stable, so roomy, so comfy; I don't know how anyone can go with out it. (Except for the guy I bought it from in Seattle.) My sister Kathryn and I have been looking for a couple of them to invest in. Now, we just need to find one for her. We hope to go out to the sound this weekend. It will be fun to see what happens! Now all I need is a name for it... any ideas?

... to say goodbye to her beloved sister.

My younger sister Alison is in the Army as most of you know. Well last October we found out that she would be going to Iraq this summer. Summer has come and Alison is still going to Iraq. She left on the 22nd for Wisconsin for additional training, from there she will be sent to Kuwait for a bit and then to Iraq. It was a rough day saying goodbye to her, we all had a rough time.
I could not believe the dedication and devotion the men and women have for their country. For moms to leave their husbands and kids, for dads to leave pregnant wives, boyfriends saying goodbye to their girlfriends... What an honor it is to have a sister serving her country. I can not describe the pride I have.
Alison will return to us next august so please be praying for her safety and the safety of those around her. I know she will be a great asset to her team and will be a light in the darkness. I love her tons and miss her so much.

... to spend time with my precious family.

My family wanted to spend time together and do something fun. So we hopped in the car and drove to Seattle in search of fun. We found fun at Northwest Outdoors Center on Lake Union. We rented some kayaks and headed out on the lake. We explored the house boats where some crazed swimmer attempted to tip me over, crazy. We viewed the docked boats and then on to the shores of Gasworks park. It was perfect out on the water, we enjoyed every minute of it! We then headed over to Southcenter to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (which is quite the disappointment.) We finished off the day by having a scrumptious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. What a great day it was with the fam!

I found my dream vehicle at Southcenter, a moped!