Sweet 16!

Happy 16th Birthday Rose!
Last night we celebrated with birthday dinner and cake. Rose wanted a shopping spree for her birthday so this morning Tim and the kids headed south to Portland for some serious birthday shopping - sales tax free! Her wallet is full of birthday money and I'm sure the truck will be loaded down with birthday purchases when they head back up I-5 tomorrow afternoon.

The picture left is of Rose and her Sweet 16 Tiara. It looked a little small at first, but as Rose so eloquently put it "every Tiara fits my head". And true to form, it did!

Relay For Life 2007

Relay for Life of Tacoma kicked off last night. With this year's movie theme, Team Merrill Lynch was the Incredi-Bulls. Kaitlyn is a superhero in the fight against cancer (with Mackenna as her side-kick). This year Kaitlyn rasied over $1100 to benefit the American Cancer Society and I raised $2800. Our team total as of last night, with a chance of more $ yet to come, was.....$56,000. And that's just from one team. Close to 200 teams participate in this event in Tacoma each year with thousands of Relays around the country and internationally. This year, Kaitlyn and I walked in memory of my step-mother who passed away last summer after her 2nd battle with cancer. We can't bring her back, but we can honor her memory by taking part in the fight against cancer so no one else has to lose a loved-one from this dreaded disease. For those of you that donated, THANK YOU so much. You have made a difference in the lives of so many! At night, Luminaria bags are lit for cancer survivors and those we've lost. The photo below are the bags Kaitlyn and Mackenna made for Kaitlyn's grandma and the young son of one of Kaitlyn's teachers that passed away from cancer, along with the bag for our friend Dani who continues her battle.

No More Track!

The 2007 Track season has come to an end for Kaitlyn. She had a great year, especially considering she is just a freshman! Kaitlyn ran at the League meet in both of her individual events - the 100 dash and the 200 dash. She didn't make it to the finals, but did have her personal best times all year. Kaitlyn improved so much over the season. Her 100 time at the beginning of the season was 15.6 and her best time at the League meet was 14.06. She improved more than 1.5 seconds. Way to Go!

Kaitlyn did qualify for the League Finals in her Long Jump event. She didn't end up qualifying for Tri-Districts, but had her longest jump of the year at 12' 8 1/2". Kaitlyn's 4x100 relay team came in 3rd place at the League meet and qualified for Tri-Districts. Friday night was the preliminary meet for Tri-Districts at King's High School in Shoreline. Kaitlyn's team had some difficulty with their baton hand-offs, which in the relay can make the difference between winning and losing. Kaitlyn is the lead-off leg of the Relay team. She did a great job of getting up and out of the blocks and setting her team up for a great race. Unfortunately, they didn't qualify for the Tri-District finals with a time of 56.3.

Some good news to report is that Kaitlyn's BFF, Mackenna, qualified for the Tri-District Finals this weekend in her 200 sprint and finished 4th on Saturday afternoon, which qualified her for the State track meet next weekend. Congratulations Mac on going to State!

I am so proud of Kaitlyn and the way she performed during her first year of High School sports. She had a positive attitude and was a great supporter of her teammates, always with an encouraging word. Even though she didn't always win, she performed the best she could and was happy with just improving her personal best times. On Friday night at the Tri-District meet, one of Kaitlyn's teammates told me how sweet Kaitlyn was and that I did a great job in raising her. I had to admit that she is an amazing kid, but it is purely by the Grace of God. Kaitlyn is a wonderful young lady, in spite of the fact that I am her mother. She is a true blessing and gift that I am thankful for each and every day!

Congratulations on a great Track season Kaitlyn! I can't wait to see what you are going to accomplish next year!

Family Day

Sunday we spent the day at the ballpark. It was a beautiful day in the spring sunshine and the Mariner's kicked butt with a score of 14-6.
I was lucky enough for the kids to cooperate and have their photo taken with the Mariner Moose. That's pretty amazing considering they are all teenagers, and generally "too cool" for mascots.
Derek also had a good day. It was "kids day" at the ballpark and they each received JJ Putz tee-shirts. Derek even got his autographed by JJ himself. Pretty cool!
All-in-all, it was a great family day!

A first place finish and more...

Another afternoon spent in the cold weather on a hard metal bench watching one of the slowest sporting events known to man: Track! You would think that they could run these meets in less than 3 hours, but apparently not. The kids run fast, but the officials don't seem to "officiate" very quickly!

Anyway....

Today was a FABULOUS track meet for Miss Kaitlyn. She had two personal records today; one in the 100 meter sprint and one in long jump. She even came in first in her 100 meter heat. Her form and performance were the best so far this season. Nice job Kaitlyn!

And more good news about little Miss Kaitlyn. Her report card came in the mail yesterday. Kaitlyn once again received 7 perfect A's. What a smart little cookie! She must take after her mother. (Yes, you can all laugh now!).

Tiptoe through the tulips

Kaitlyn is quite the photographer!

Kakin's new Doo

What a cute BOB!

She Places!

Standing out in the pouring down rain yesterday was worth it! Kaitlyn was running in her 2nd high school track meet. After getting close to placing in the first track meet last week, yesterday she did it! Kaitlyn finished 3rd in the 100 meter sprint yesterday with a personal best time! Way to go Kaitlyn!
She also ran the 200 for the first time this year and had an great finish of 4th place, right on the heels of the girl ahead of her.
Keep up the good work Kaitlyn. We (your parental units - all 4 of us) are VERY proud of you!

Happy Birthday Derek

This weekend we celebrated Derek's 14th birthday (even though its not official until the 10th!)

Derek will be going to the season opener Mariner's game with his dad, probably wearing his new Jordan shoes, both of which were birthday gifts.

We all had dinner at Puerta Vallarta last night - hence the sombrero in the photo.

BFFs!

How cute are they? Mac with her newly short doo celebrating her 15th Bday and Miss Kakin with her curly locks compliments of a unique field trip to Gene Juarez beauty school. How come we never had cool field trips like that when I was in school??

Vegas Memories

Tim and I did the "Vegas Thing" last weekend. It was a blast and exactly the break from reality that I was desperately needing. Although I didn't get my Dooney & Bourke, I did get fabulous Gucci sunglasses, lots of laughs and some life-long memories.

Top 10 Vegas Memories

10. Dixie Cups of Water with a Pedicure

9. Dinner with Tim's Sister Monica & Her Husband Rene at Margueritaville

8. Getting Locked Out of Our Room - when we had 3 keys!

7. Extra Insurance on the Rental Car

6. $ 4 Gourmet "Twix" Bar

5. 600 Quarters at Wynn and 495 Quarters at Sahara

4. "I'm Having Such a Great Day"

3. Gucci Glasses

2. Fabulous Dinner with a View

1. Riding the Mechanical Bull (more like falling off the mechanical bull!)

Go Seahawks!

Kaitlyn and Mackenna were goofing off on January 2nd. Maybe they had something to do with the success of the Hawks this past weekend. Highly doubtful if you watched any of the game.
Oh well, it still went down in the Win column!

Good luck Hawks in the game this weekend with the Bears. I'm sure Char (Tim's Mom) who is a huge Bears Fan (and lives in Chicago) will be proudly wearing her Seahawks sweatshirt!

My REAL New Car

Yesterday, my dear sweet loving and thoughtful husband spent 7 1/2 hours at the Acura dealer negotiating on a new car for ME! What a guy. He bought me an Acura TSX. It is a charcoal grey with black leather interior. The car literally talks to you, thanks to the navigation system. Not only can the car talk, but unlike my teenager, the car can listen! You give the car a command, like "temperature 72" and the car repeats your command and then executes it. This is SO COOL. Yes, I'm a new car nerd! There are so many bells and whistles on this car that its going to take me months to figure them all out. Of course I could read the manual, but what fun would that be?
Thank you Tim! I love you!

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas

from our house to yours!

We were up with the sun today so Kaitlyn could tackle her presents under the tree. Apparently Santa was paying attention this year cuz Kaitlyn received her very own digital camera...now she can keep her mitts off mine. Thank you Santa!
Our friends Terri and Jay came over for a little while this afternoon to visit and exchange gifts. Terri and I have this weird connection that is unexplainable even after 20 years. We both got each other Amazing Grace gifts. Weird!
My Mom came over this afternoon and stayed for dinner. She, Tim and Kaitlyn are downstairs right now playing a game as I sit here and blog. We all have our priorities!
Tomorrow we are getting a new window installed to replace the one broken in the storm. Then Kaitlyn and I are headed for some serious shopping! I LOVE having the day after Christmas off!

~My New Car~

Tim, the generous husband that he is, knew that I really wanted a new car this Christmas, so he got me one!
Too bad that it's a remote controlled Z car and not a full size Z car sitting in my garage! I guess it's the thought that counts!