We Sold Our House!

I LOVE my house...but I've HATED the 3 hour commute to work the last 2 1/2 years and Tim has HATED my complaining about my commute for the last 2 1/2 years.
The time has come for us to make a dramatic change in our life. We put our house on the market at the very end of July and it sold earlier this week.
Unfortunately, we have nowhere to move to. We have 27 days before we have to have this house, with 4 bedrooms and a 4 car garage that is packed to the gills, all packed up and moved out. At this point, we are looking for a house to purchase somewhere closer to the city, but that won't happen in time for us to move directly from our house in Puyallup to our new home. In the meantime, we are looking for a place to rent while we search for our next dream home. It's funny how that "dream" changes over time. Now that all the kids are grown and out of the house (mostly), we are thinking downsize and smaller mortgage. However, we're balancing that with wanting to live on the lake, which means WAY BIGGER mortgage. Hmmm...wonder how it will all play out......

My Baby is 19!

Today my little Princess turned 19 years old! Wow! How can she be getting older when I'm not getting any older? (Wishful thinking!)
Kaitlyn started out as this tiny little pink bundle of a precious baby girl and has turned in to a beautiful, amazing, young woman, whose outer beauty is only a slight fraction of her inner beauty!
I am so proud of you Princess and wish you the happiest year yet!
This is your last year being a teenager, so enjoy it!

European Cruise

 Kaitlyn and I just got back after 14 days in Europe! We spent 1 night in Barcelona, Spain, and then 12 nights on a cruise through the Mediterraean. We went to France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and back to Spain. It was AMAZING. A true blessing to spend this time with my daughter!

Valentine's Day 2011



Kaitlyn & Charlie

 They are so freaking cute....so cute in fact that you may want to actually throw up a bit!

I love you Katie Sue!

Seahawks vs. Bears - January 16, 2011 - Chicago

Soldier Field - Seahawks vs. Bears

 Because we are crazy - we flew to Chicago this past weekend to watch the Divisional Playoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Chicago Bears.
We proudly wore our Seahawks shirts, and although the Seahawks lost, and we took a bunch of crap from the 60,000 Bears fans, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was WAY COOL.
Speaking of cool, it was downright COLD! It was 2 degrees when we left Tim's parents house Sunday morning and headed for the train into the city. Upon arrival at Soldier Field, it warmed up to 15 degrees. By kick-off it was 19 degrees and SNOWING!
In addition to a great football experience, we got to see Tim's parents and all 3 of his sisters and their beautiful kids! We even got to meet a niece and nephew we'd never seen in person before. Loved it!

Sears Tower - the view from the entrance to Soldier Field

My Diet Coke froze - it was so cold on Sunday!

The 12th Man flag made an appearance with more Seahawk fans braving Bear country!

Practice makes perfect - just not this past Sunday!

SNOW! It snowed from kick-off to half-time.

The view from the cheap seats - to the tune of $457!

Frozen Lake Michigan as seen over the end zone stands



Why can't I flip this photo? Sleep deprivation is my guess!



1/1/11 - Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

Christmas 2010 - A day with family!
Kaitlyn, Tim and I got up and Kaitlyn opened her stocking. I made breakfast casserole and coffee. This afternoon my Mom, Rose & Derek all came over for dinner. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes...yum! We opened presents and the kids got lots of things on their list. I got some goodies too - including a very special gift from my Mom.
Hope you had a very enjoyable day with your loved ones!

She's out of I.C.U.

Hallelujah! Tonight Terri moved out of ICU. She is truly a living miracle!
She has been in ICU for 20 days. That is just crazy!
Tonight was the first step closer to going home!
She is feeling much better, but obviously needs to regain her strength and mobility. The medications are helping her heart function. She still has to have dialisys since her kidneys still aren't functioning like they should. She is getting random fevers at night, but her tests are coming back OK. It's a concern, but no one seems to be too worried about it.
I can't believe the difference in just this week alone. Tuesday she was talking but her memory was still shot and she was continuing to see things that weren't there. Wednesday was a whole new Terri. I think I commented at least 4 times how different she was in 24 hours and how she was "Terri" again. I was so happy I cried on the way home.
Home is a relative term. I'm still staying at my Mom's during the week. I come home on weekends so I can wash the clothes, see my husband and dog, catch up on facebook and email, then repack for the week and back to Mom's. It has been great being able to stay only 12 minutes from work and about 20 minutes from the hospital. Beats the heck out of the 1.5+ hour commute to Puyallup!
Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts and encouragement. I think we are on the road to recovery!

Terri Marie Stein

Terri and I have been best friends for what seems like forever. It was 1986 when we first met at United Pacific Life Insurance. She sat in the desk behind me. I had just turned 19 and this was my very first "grown-up" job. We became fast friends and have remained that way for over 24 years.

In 1991, at the age of 30, Terri had a heart transplant. In the 19 years since, she's been doing amazingly well.

On Halloween this  year, Terri suffered a major heart attack. It came out of the blue, and thankfully, her husband Jay was home and saved her life with CPR. She has spent every day since then in ICU at the UW Medical Center. She was

unconscious for 11 days and finally woke up this past Wednesday. She was talking with us, albeit in a rather punchy-drunk manner from the meds, but she seemed to have "come back" to us. Yesterday we had a setback when somehow she had perforated her colon. They did surgery yesterday afternoon and tried to correct the damage. She now has 2 drains off of her abdomen and a colostomy bag. After getting her off the respirator this week, it is sad to see her back on it again. As they say, we take 2 steps forward and end up going 1 step backwards. If she can remain stable (her blood pressure is the real problem) they should be able to take her off the respirator this afternoon. I am on my way back to the hospital now. I've been there every day, with the exception of the day I had to be in Anchorage for my job. I can't imagine my life without her in it and Lord willing, I will never have to!
If there is a "good thing" that can come out of a tradegy like this, it is how close her family has become. I've been able to bond with her kids again, and I haven't had that opportunity in years! When you pretty much live together in the hospital waiting room for 2 weeks, you are bound to bond. I love them dearly and am very proud of the adults they have become!
Hang in there Terri. You are loved by many people, including me, and we want you to continue to fight and get healthy and out of that freakin' hospital as soon as possible!

One of my favorite shots...the infinity pool....

Puerto Vallarta 2010

Spent the last week in PV with my BFF Terri and her husband Jay. Most of the time was spent in the water as the weather was incredibly hot. Having waiters constantly there to bring you the beverage of your choice was rather enjoyable!

Kaitlyn & her Roommate Meghann

Kaitlyn and Meghann are all settled in Neils Hall - C1 at Concordia. The decorating phase hasn't begun yet, so I'm excited to see how these blank walls transform when I head back to Portland next month. Neils Hall is very different from your standard dorm room. It is set up more like a duplex. There are 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in her "dorm". There is also a full kitchen and lounge area. 2 bedrooms and a bathroom are downstairs where the kitchen and lounge is located - this is where Kaitlyn and Meghann live. There are 3 more bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs as well. Neils is a collection of 4 of these units. 2 are like Kaitlyn's and then the other 2 have a living room and dining table in place of the kitchen area. Pretty cool set up. The bedrooms are really small though, but isn't that what college dorm life is all about?? So far the girls are going through 3 days of orientation. Classes begin on Tuesday.....Good Luck Girls on your Freshman Year in College!

Kaitlyn's last Sunday at Home :(

My baby is leaving for college this weekend! Sad! But before she could leave, we spent one of her only days off out on the lake! It was a hot (90+) day and what better place to be than on the water! Charlie tried wakeboarding and was up on his very first try. Then we headed over to Andrews Bay and all enjoyed the water and the sunshine!

San Juans 2010

Before we even left for our annual week-long vacation to the San Juan Islands, we had a little trouble with the puppy dog. Bailey really did a number on his back. He was unable to walk on Thursday and he had an emergency visit to the Vet that night. He got lots of doggy drugs and strict orders to stay in a cage for 30 days or he could be permanently damaged. At this point, he had lost feeling in his back legs, but the Vet was hopeful the feeling would return if he stayed quiet and basically immobile for a month. Great! Just what I needed before leaving on vacation! Kaitlyn was also leaving for vacation with her boyfriend Charlie's family. My Mom had agreed to keep Bailey for a week, but with his current condition, that wasn't going to work out. Thankfully, my best friend, Terri, agreed to bail me out. I knew that if I stayed home, I might have a happy dog, but an unhappy husband, probably headed for divorce court! So, since Terri only lives 3 miles away, we left Bailey at home in his box in the garage and she came over a couple times a day to give him his drugs and let him go potty. She was a life-saver!
Now - on to the vacation part! Tim picked me up in Lake Union on Friday afternoon (I skipped out of work a couple hours early!). We went through the locks and made our way to Port Ludlow for the night. We had amazing Chicken Gorgonzola pizza at this little whole in the wall. Yum! The next day we headed for Friday Harbor, but because the weather wasn't that great, we took the long route around the east side of Whidbey Island. It was a long 4 hour bumpy ride, but we made it! The next day we headed to Sidney, BC. After our first night in Sidney, we took a bus to Victoria on Monday. We spent the day wandering the city, eating incredible fish & chips, spending money, and renting mopeds. For some reason, Tim really wanted to do this and I was a sport, I went along for the ride...on my own moped, of course! It was actually really fun and a great way to see the outskirts of town along the water. After a stop for afternoon cocktails, and Tim's raw oyster adventure, we took the bus back to Sidney. Tuesday we stayed in Roche Harbor, where we've been the last 3 years on Tim's birthday. Wednesday we went to a brand new location for us - Sucia Island. It is a State Park that has lots of bays and mooring buoys. We took the dinghy to shore and hiked through the park a bit. That night we were tied to an anchor buoy. A storm was brewing just across the water in Bellingham and there was thunder, lightening, and wind most of the night, which made for a rather rocking and rolling night. Tim slept like a baby, but I was up most of the night and ended up throwing up in the middle of the night...all while Tim slept. I was REALLY glad to spend the next night tied back to a dock in LaConner! Friday we headed home and made it back through the locks with no issues. Lake Washington was already busy with Seafair activities and we saw the hydros practicing on our way back to the marina. We made it home about 6:30 last night. Today it was loads and loads of laundry and house cleaning for me, while Tim headed back to the marina to clean his precious boat. 24 hours with salt spray on it was more than enough in Tim's obsessive cleaning issues with his boat!

Boating Bailey

Bailey went boating today. It was his first trip in the IG2. He hadn't been boating since we had the SeaRay and took him to Sun Lakes with the kids several years ago. His life jacket had to be let out a bit today and he hated it just as much as he did last time! He didn't like the water much better. I got him in with me a couple of times, just so he could cool off, but he much preferred the solid surface of the boat! He rode in the dinghy to shore to go potty three times and did quite well. It would be safe to say his favorite part of the day was visiting on Aunt Pam and Uncle John's boat and having snacks! Not only did they pet him endlessly,  but they shared their chips....the way to my dog's heart is definitely through his stomach!

On the way back to the marina, Tim even said Bailey was "a good boating dog", which is truly shocking! Chances are when the beer wears off, he'll have a different memory of the day!