A Niece or Nephew???

Tonight we learned that Tim's youngest sister, Tonya, is expecting her first baby. Yippee! That means that I get to be an Aunt again and Tim an Uncle. Hopefully she will have a very easy and uneventful pregnancy and in about 7 months we'll meet our new little niece or nephew.

Congratulations Tonya & Josh.

The "Before" Photo

Snowmobiles = Hospital

What was supposed to be a fun afternoon with friends riding through the snow, turned into one scarey afternoon that ended with a helicopter ride to Harborview.

Tim and I went snowmobiling with our friends Pam & John on Saturday to celebrate John's birthday the week before. We rented snowmobiles in Easton for 4 hours and headed out into the woods with very little instruction and a printed google map of the trails.

We did great for the first hour and a half, and then a major accident occured. We had been riding up and down hills and John was far ahead of the rest of us. He went up a hill (one that he thought we'd been on) and when he crested the hill, he realized it wasn't a hill, but a cliff that dropped off about about 20 feet to the frozen lake below. Miraculously he wasn't killed. His snowmobile hit the ice, cracked it, but somehow bounced up onto solid ice again. His head slammed into the handlebar area of his snowmobile when he landed. What is amazing is that he wasn't knocked unconcious. He said he knew he was going to drown & die if he stayed there so somehow he managed to get off the ice and scrambled his way back up the side of the cliff. He was about 1/2 way up by the time Tim got to him. He said John's eyes were as big as saucers and blood was running out of his nose. None of us had seen the accident happen. When I got to Tim, I saw John on his knees and seriously bleeding. Pam, his wife, was shortly behind me and started to panic when she saw all the blood. (John takes a blood thinner for a heart condition, so he was bleeding pretty badly and it wasn't going to clot.)

Me, being me, sort of took charge. I called the snowmobile rental place for help (smarty me had my cell phone along with us!). Since we couldn't tell anyone where we were, I had Tim ride John out of the woods on his snowmobile to get some help. Tim got him to a gas station and called the ambulance. Everyone thought John had a broken nose and they told us to drive him to the hospital in North Bend, they didn't need to take him by ambulance. We were at the tiny North Bend hospital for about 3 hours and when the cat-scan finally came back, they found he was bleeding in his brain. They ended up airlifting him to Harborview hospital that night. He spent the night in the ER and then neuro-ICU. It was very frightening for all of us.

Thankfully, things turned very positive with the test results yesterday and he actually got to go home last night.

I will never go snowmobiling again and I've already warned my kids that they don't even need to ask if they can ever go, because the answer is a very loud NO!!

SNOW

Kaityn took this photo of the tree in front of our house around 7 this morning. She was very excited that school had been cancelled today due to the snow.

We have about 3 inches of snow and it was still falling a few minutes ago.

Tim made it down South Hill this morning slipping and sliding. The car in front of him made a 180 degree spin and the driver freaked out. Thankfully Tim had enough distance between them and wasn't affected.

Since my boss thinks I'm a loser for not being in the office, I'm going to brave my way down the hill here in a few minutes. I just wanted to wait it out until it got light and most of the idiots were off the road. Wish me luck!

A Tearful Goodbye

Today was the estate sale at my Dad's house. I hired an estate management company to run the entire process. I knew I didn't want to watch it happening, but I had to go there today for an hour or so to sign over the titles to both of my Dad's vehicles. It was pretty shocking to see a bunch of strangers (the street was lined with vehicles on both sides) looking through and taking all of the stuff that my Dad and step-mother had collected over the years, the clothes they wore, and the couches they sat on.
The estate person uncovered items I didn't even know existed and didn't remember from my childhood. It was really sad to see it all walk away. It sort of felt like losing my Dad all over again, but I know it was just "stuff".
I was lucky enough to intercept about 200 old photo slides from the 1970s and am having some of them converted into actual photo prints. There were pictures of my Dad at his various job sites, a trip to Disneylad we took in 1975, old Christmas photos, and who knows what else I will find when I go through all of them. I'm glad I got these memories before they were sold to a stranger!
I will share a story that brought a tear to my eyes today. (It was the first of many that have flowed since!).
My Dad's next door neighbor for 30 years, an sweet old man named Mr. Johnson, moved to Florida several years ago. His nephew, in his early 30s, now lives in the house to keep an eye on things. Today when I was at the house, he was there and looking through some things in the kitchen. I saw him buy a pie plate for 50 cents. When I asked him if he was going to make pie, he gave me a brief and somewhat shy smile, with a tear in his eye and said, "no, your mom used to make me pie". That did it, the tears came. It even brought a tear to the eye of the lady running the estate sale. This young man wanted to buy a pie plate to remind him of the sweet lady who used to live next door that would make him pie. Priceless!
The actual house is up for sale and it will soon (I hope) be all over. Although I miss my Dad every day, I will be thankful when this whole process is over and the estate is settled.

I'm Done!

Today I passed my last supervisory securities exam. I am now a fully-registered general securities principle. Who would have thought that possible a year ago?
The flowers on the right arrived at my office today from my Mom and the flowers on the left were brought to my "magarita party" this afternoon from the management team at the office. I had a little celebration party to commemorate this amazing feat and relax a little.
Thank you Dani, Tracy, Aimee, Kim and Jim for joining me (and Jim for paying) and helping me celebrate my success. Your support has been an amazing gift and I don't think I could have made it without each of you.
To dear, sweet, running-out-of patience, Tim: thank you for putting up with the stressed out crazy and insane person that you've had to live with this last year. I hope to get back to "normal" again soon and you will finally get your wife back!

Wedding of the Year!

Miss Kaitlyn did it again! The smart little thing remembered to bring her camera to the wedding of the year last weekend.

Miss Shelley Mauss is now Mrs. Jonathan Sprouffske!

Shelley and Jonathan were married on Saturday afternoon at St. Charles with a reception following at Union Station in downtown Tacoma. It was a very small affair with only about 450 guests in attendance! Plumeria flowers flown in from Hawaii that arrived just that morning were adorning the tables, and even our heads by the end of the evening.

Here are some photos from the reception...

Sir Timmy and the Bride (with beer in hand - how typical!)
Sir Timmy and Katie Sue
Mother and Daughter
Kris & Aimee

Kaitlyn to the Rescue!

Leave it to Miss Kaitlyn to have her camera! I completely forgot she had me take a picture on her camera on Christmas day. I do have a Christmas photo!!!!!

Happy Holidays!

What? No pictures?
Can you believe it? I did not take one single Christmas picture this year. What the heck is wrong with me?
I think now that the kids are getting older and we're all getting busier that digging out the camera didn't seem important.
Now that we have teenagers that like to stay up until the wee hours of the morning, Christmas morning doesn't start near as early as it did in years gone by. The kids didn't get up until 9:00 on Christmas morning. They opened their stockings and presents and then we just hung out during the day. I pulled out the china and the good silverware for Christmas dinner and we ate in the dining room. These are things that rarely happen in our house, so it is truly a special event when this occurs.
The kids got most of their Christmas wishes and have cash to go buy the things they didn't get. There will be very little returning this year...a very good thing!
Based on the Christmas gifts I received from my friends, I've deducted that they all think I've been really stressed out....or.... I need to bathe more often! I'm going to go with the first option, just to make myself feel better! I got lots of lovely home spa goodies. I think I can take a different scented bubble bath every day of the week without repeating a scent. I'm not complaining...I think its really sweet that all of my friends think I need to pamper myself a little more and were trying to get that through my very thick head. I even received a gift certificate to my favorite spa in Tacoma, which will be used with great pleasure!
Tim and I have no special plans for New Years Eve this year and the kids are at their other parents'. Timmy has a really bad cold and isn't feeling too hot. I have tons of studying to do before my last exam next Friday. I think we'll just hang out and maybe go out for dinner. Our activity level will be determined by how Tim is feeling by then. You know he's sick when he cancels his Friday morning "breakfast with the boys", which he did this morning. Other than the wedding we are attending tomorrow, most of my weekend will be spent with the books and practice tests. Sounds fun, doesn't it? We really know how to party-in the New Year! Whoo Hoo!
I hope Santa brought you everything you were wishing for and that the New Year brings you nothing but joy and good health!
I won't be sorry to put 2007 to rest. It has been a year of varying challenges in my work and personal life. I'm looking forward to a much more peaceful and joyful 2008!
Happy Holidays!

It snowed!

Today is my Family Christmas party with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Its a tradition that dates back long before I was even born. This year it's our turn to host the party and in about an hour, 40 people will show up on my door step. In the Christmas spirit, this morning it snowed! I took this opportunity to make the kids pose for our annual Christmas photo (our personal photographer was a little busy this year planning for her wedding, so I had to take the shot myself - pity!). Anyway, this isn't the photo we are using for the Christmas cards, but it was really cute, so I blogged it. The kids are so grown up!
Watch your mailbox for the "real" Lewis/Babbitt children Christmas picture.

I Passed!!!!!

This morning I passed my Series 9 Securities Licensing (Supervisory Options) exam! Whoo Hoo! (The photo is my celebration cocktail!)

That's 3 exams down and only one left to go! I can see the light at the end of this long tunnel, but it is still very faint. The Series 10 is the exam I have left, which is a 4-hour supervisory-level exam. Once that test is successfully completed, I will have met all of the hurdles for my new manager job at Merrill. It's been a long busy year, with lots of life changes.

I haven't blogged much lately. I've been really busy dealing with my Dad's estate, the year-end workload at the office, and studying for these exams. Last week I spent a few days in San Francisco taking a crash-course for these exams. The weather was a beautiful and sunny 60 degrees. I came back to all the nasty rain and wind here in Washington.

What else is new in the Babbitt/Lewis household?
Both Rose and Kaitlyn are finishing up Driver's Ed this week. Rose has been driving with her permit since last summer, but needed to complete Driver's Ed before she could get her license. I imagine that will be just around the corner. Kaitlyn started Driver's Ed and driving at the beginning of November. It is definitely a test of my patience (I fail that test frequently!) but she is doing pretty well considering the short amount of time. Unfortunately, she can't drive at her Dad's house as they only have stick-shift vehicles, so she's limited to the times she can actually get behind the wheel.

This weekend kicks off the Holiday Party season. Tim and I are going to a party on Friday night, Saturday night, and hosting my family Christmas party on Sunday afternoon. It will be a whirl-wind weekend. Next weekend is the Merrill Lynch office parties and hopefully we'll have some time to get together with our friends during the Season!

Tim is busy working and doing training. He spent part of last week in Yakima teaching a class for one of their customers. This week he's teaching a class in Kent.

We are busy little beavers, as is everyone else this time of year. I will try and be better about blogging and include photos in the future. Our kids are growing up so fast and look so different from last year's Christmas photo. I have to find time to sneak in a group shot for this year's cards. I'll just add that to the every growing list of to-do's!

ALOHA!!!

What an amazing gift.....8 days and 7 nights in Paradise! Thank you Tim for my relaxing birthday present! We just returned late last night from our vacation to Hawaii. It was sunny and 85 each and every day we were there. It was tough to take! We were at the beach every morning by 9:00 and spent a few hours playing in the water (or trying to surf if you were Tim) then we'd just spend the afternoon walking around, shopping, driving around the island, snorkeling, whatever seemed to be enjoyable at the time. Not having to be anywhere or do anything for an entire week, was a much needed break from reality! I don't remember the last time I could just sit and do nothing and not be freaked out by that - it was so un-type A of me!

I climbed a tree one day, mostly just to prove to Tim that I could. We took a sunset catamaran cruise one night - all the free drinks you could handle....some could handle them more than others! We also did a snorkel cruise one afternoon. I don't like fishies swimming around where they can touch me, it kind of freaks me out, but Tim enjoys it. I did get in the water for one quick picture and then out again. I enjoyed just lying in the sun on the boat. Thank goodness for SPF 30! No repeats of my last trip to Maui with 2nd degree burns. Whew!

It's back to work tomorrow after a day of grocery shopping, laundry, and the dentist today. I think my batteries were recharged this week to make it through the end of the year, the holidays and two more securities exams - at least one can hope.

Surprise Party

Last night Tim & Dani, with help from Terri and Chris, executed my 40th birthday surprise party at The Parkway in Tacoma. The "red room" was filled with my friends and family to help me celebrate.

Dani & Chris created this amazing scrapbook of photos from the last 40 years. These photos were also playing on a big screen TV throughout the night.
A BIG Thank You to everyone who braved the bad weather (and some long drives) to join in the fun.
Tim & Dani - Thank you for all your hard work and for making me feel like a princess...even if I am an OLD one!

Aimee, Lisa & Per

Larry & Brian (with Tim in the background)

Lisa & Darren

Triple Threat (Dani, Kris & Chris)

Gayle, Karen, Mom & Joni

John, Pam & Terri

John & Celeste

Me & My Hubby

Homecoming 2007

40?

1967 to 2007....no matter how many times I do the calculation, whether I use new math or old math, I can't come up with any answer other than 40.


Math doesn't lie....today has to be my 40th Birthday. How the heck did I get to be 40?

My day started off with a bang when my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 6:47 (I need to leave at 7:00). Tim's wish to me this morning was "Happy 40th - Only 10 years to 50!". Gee, thanks honey!

I got to my office to find it decorated in black streamers, with big 40's on my windows, two birthday cakes (one chocolate and one white with lemon filling), and lots of birthday cards. About 1/2 hour later, I get a delivery of a dozen roses....not just any roses....BLACK roses. The management team at work is a little over the top! Not only did they send me black roses, but my boss even climbed on my desk and unscrewed the lights so that it would be dim in my office. He thought that at my age the bright light would bother my eyes. Most of the office wore black today, in my honor. Nice!

My friend Aimee took me to a yummy mexican lunch and when we got back I found a beautiful bouquet of pretty pink flowers on my desk from my friend Dani.

When I got home this evening, I found black streamers hanging from the doorway and black balloons all over the kitchen. Tim even bought me black jelly beans (my favorite flavor ever!).

Is anyone sensing the theme for today.....black maybe?!

Tonight it's off to dinner with Kaitlyn and Tim. We're headed to Red Robin for my free birthday burger!

Thank you to everyone who made today so memorable and my leap into this decade bearable!