She's got talent

My sister Lisa that is. We just went to visit with her and her family in Arizona
and had a great time. But that is another post. This post is for me to commend her artistic ability and showcase one of her talents so that it can be in my journal and on my walls. I've always wanted to have visual talents. Unfortunately If I want to do better in that area I will have to take a lot more art classes because it doesn't come as easily as it does to my sister Lisa. Here are some pictures she drew of Cora and Shay. I have included the photos she used to draw her pictures. When I went to have them professionally framed last month the guy behind the counter was really impressed and said she should do this for a living. Hmmm..just a thought Lisa. I love you so much and I am grateful you have shared your talent with me. Thank you for these gifts that will be treasured all my life. (If we ever have a fire, *knock on wood* which I hope we don't, I'll be grabing them off the wall on the way out.)

Giving Thanks

Solo Point at sunset.
I thought it was kind of fitting with the name, sunset, at the end of Darryl's deployment.


Ok I know it's been a while, and I've been informed by some that I am way behind and will be lost in the blogging world if I don't make some updates.
So maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit.

I just have to beam. Take a look at the countdown clock over in the right hand corner. I can put partial blame for my lack of posts lately due to cleaning, preparing, getting ready for Darryl's return. I can't even believe it's almost here. I haven't really let myself talk about it too much because I get so emotional when I think of him in our arms again. We just cannot wait. It's been a l-o-n-g 15 months without him.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she mentioned my blog and how a lot of my posts concentrate on the being "grateful" theme. I was thinking about this, and really during this time in our lives I couldn't be more grateful to a loving Father in Heaven who has watched over Darryl while in a war zone both spiritually and physically. I thank him every morning and night and always in my heart. I'm grateful He's watched over and protected our family here at home as well. There were many nights when I would end up scaring myself because of a noise or thought that had come into my mind, and then prayed and was able to feel better and go to sleep in peace. I'm grateful to family and friends for their thoughts and prayers in ours and Darryl's behalf. There were so many moments when I felt my energy and stamina were renewed and I was able to not only press on but to do so positively. We were so happy to have visits from Darryl's sister Rebecca and my sister Lisa and nephews last summer. To my parents who let us come and visit during Darryl's R&R in October and then let us stay through the holidays so that we weren't at home alone. My undieing thanks go out to friends that checked in on us, had us for dinner, made dinner for us, brought us treats, helped w/ yard work, helped w/ the computer, and were just there to talk to, laugh, and cry with (and of course blog with). It made all the difference in the world. All of those gestures never went unnoticed or unappreciated.
This definitely has been a season of thanks and gratitude for me. May that virture always be a priority in my life.
* Stay tunned for reunion pictures!

Deception Pass

I wanted to post part II of our tulip fest before we head to AZ to visit my sister w/ more adventures and pictures.Here are the girls and I at Deception Pass. A bridge that spans this beautifully colored water, that I had read is the most photographed location in WA. Before we witnessed this site, I found it hard to believe. Especially with landmarks such as Mt Rainier and Mt St. Helens. Seeing is believeing. This stretch of land was amazing. The nature lover in me was so excited to see such breath taking scenery. The water and the islands were just beautiful. I definitely would like to go up there exploring again on the trails. Or maybe some bungee jumping. Doesn't that bridge look perfect for that?

Shay did not want to be held that day. Not a great place to be wiggling and squirming out of my arms. The scariest moment of the trip was when we were walking over the bridge, cars on one side of us, and huge death drop off the bridge on the other side. Shay just couldn't be content in my arms. She was wearing a wind breaker jacket that was a little slippery and I had to litterally hold on to her for dear life. We didn't make it too far across the bridge before we were headed back to a safe place. So long, to my calm mellow baby who always wanted to be held. Say hello to my soon to be two year old who is ready for adventure and has an adventurous big sister to lead the way.

Tulip Adventure

Can I just say that I was in tulip heaven these last 2 days. We've lived in WA since January 2002 and this is the first spring I've been able to go up and witness the beautiful ribbons of colorful tulips up at the Skagit Co. Tulip festival.
Honestly, I'd like to think I might have been one of the many landscapers in the premortal existance. Not that I'm great at it here on earth, but to me, not a lot compares to natures beauty. So here are a couple of my favorite "still" subjects. The shots with my cute little moving subjects are yet to come. They definitely were not as cooperative as the flowers but you do what you can.

It was so hard to pick my favorite shots out of the plethera of pictures taken. I think these couple will be emailed off to the Costco photo dept and adorn the walls of my guest bathroom. This room is on my list to paint before Darryl comes home. I better get on that ASAP. (That feels so good to say). I was going to go for the beach theme..now it will be my tulip room. Hope he doesn't mind the flowers.


So when we heard that the weather on Friday up in Tulip land was going to be less than favorable, we ventured out just before dusk to see if we could catch a glimpse of the tulips. The best part to me was that we not only got to see the tulips but the tulips and the sunset. Two of my favorite things...together!

Favorite Things

Now that our flowers have been blooming Cora is so excited to check on their progress every day. I am so glad she shares my passion for flowers, plants, and trees.

Some of her other favorites right now:





Movie/Song~ Enchanted, esp. the song "That's How You Know" She could sing and dance to that song all day and not even watch the rest of the movie. *(Ok, that is my favorite part too and we all like to sing and dance together w/ Shay as our backup singer/dancer).
Food~ pizza
Color~ pink like our tulips
TV Show~ Kai-Lan (sp?)
Toy~ Little Pet Shop animals
Activities~ cartwheels, playing games on Noggin, hitting the ball with her Dora bat, swimming in the indoor pool on post

Cora is growing so fast. She sees it too. She'll often make comments that her feet are growing and how she can see her self without the stool in the mirrors around the house. Cora, you are one of my favorite things for sure.

Beautiful Day

What a gorgeous day. A 10 in my book. The girls and I were down in Olympia for a birthday party. The party was right across the street from the Capitol building. I think it is so neat we live so close to Washington's state capitol. I love seeing this building nestled in the trees from the highway as we pass. Seeing it up close today with the cherry blossoms was a treat. I grew up in the Maryland/DC area so it reminded me a lot of the Washington DC monuments and the cherry blossoms in the spring. Just beautiful.

When Life Gives You Lemons

Gosh, it's hard to even put this picture amongst the rest I have on here. But things like this in life happen. Rough week last Friday, but it could've been worse.
It's always good to see the bright side of a situation right. Thank goodness no one was hurt. Now it's just dealing with insurance companies and such. A lot of little light bulbs went on for me after this incident. Why is it we learn so much more from the trials in life. I wish we could do all of our learning when everything is hunky dory. (Did I just write that?:) All in all I look at it as we really don't know when our time here on earth is finished. It can all be taken from us so fast. You always get those emails about living in the now and to tell the ones you love that you love them. As a certified procrastinator, this message came through crystal clear after this incident. Live in the now...the best you know how. Don't put off tomorrow, the things you can do today. Time to make the lemonade.

The Sunday after the accident we stopped to enjoy a little sun. It was nice to see the blue sky.