Mom

My Mom is coming to visit today. I am very excited... I get a little giddy when my Mom and Grandpa come to visit because we don't get to see them too often anymore. This year has been pretty good because we've had a lot of weddings and wedding functions (Congratulations Erica!) to attend in Spokane.

This weekend is going to be a full house! We have six people staying with us. All girls/women except for Grandpa! We love having guests so we are looking forward to it. In fact, Shane mentioned just last night how it was exciting to have a function and guests for the weekend...but I wonder how he'll feel once all the women role in! I mentioned this last night and he said that was the best part! He got to help set up for everything and then if he wanted he could just take off when the guests came! I love that about him. He is so supportive and helpful and laid back when it comes to visitors and guests.

In honor of the Mom visit here are my favorite pics of my Mom with her grand babies. Oh, and if anyone knows a hot 55-65ish man looking for a date...my Mom's pretty foxy don't you think? Of course, all dates must be run by me first! I still call my Mom after every date she has ever had to make sure she made it home okay and the guy wasn't a creep (unfortunately, she says they usually are kind of creepy).



Mom and Madi: I love this picture because it is so telling of Madi's personality. There she is showing off and yelling happily and my Mom is looking slightly wary!


Mom and T: Baking, of course! I love this picture because it reminds me so much of Grandma Jane...

This Morning

Look what I got to see on the Ferry.
A pelican!
Very unusual for these parts. At least, that's what the Ferry guy told me after he tapped on my window while I was trying to go back to sleep in the car. He really shouldn't do that, I just about jumped out of my skin. After that I was WIDE AWAKE for the rest of the boat ride.

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, here I am again...it's Wednesday and I'm just starting to reflect on the past weekend. Always a step behind!

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. We got a ton done on the house but still managed to have some fun. My friend, Cheryl, is getting married and next weekend her Bridal Shower is at our house! We are very excited! We are also excited to feel like our house is somewhat presentable as a reflection of our family as opposed to being a reflection of the family that used to live there...i.e. no more hot pink flowered wall paper!

On Saturday Shane went golfing with his brother-in-law and T and I got to hang out with Kareena and the cousins. Samantha and Emily are FUN! They are on the go and always so polite and well mannered.

Working backwards (Monday-Saturday) here are some pics from the weekend.

Obsession with a puzzle...this occupied most of Monday.





Our game of "How Many Catches Can You Make in a Row?" We're up to 32!




Time at the park. We're, apparently, into synchronized flips. I am always correcting T's grip...it's the coach in me! I need to learn to just let it go...





FIRST BATCH OF COOKIES AT THE NEW HOUSE: While Sam and Emily napped the Master Chef, T, made chocolate chipers. She LOVES to bake! I think she takes after her Mama Fo in that regard.



After MANY tries...the ONLY picture I was able to take of all 3 cousins standing still and looking in the general direction of the camera!



Samantha's Cheesy Smile...showing off the flower she found



Shane's Uncle made this Rocking Horse for him when he was little...now Emily gets her turn!



Emily's beautiful blue eyes...



Ta-Da! New curtains! I tried to explain the reason behind the curtains being so long...I don't think Shane qualifies, "It's in all the Pottery Barn catalogues," as a very good reason :)

Houston, WE have a problem...

The story of our life: Hanging the Pot Rack


Screw to hang the pot rack: $2.00

Pipe and Supplies needed to repair hole drilled into water pipe while trying to hang the pot rack: $35.00

Sheetrock, mud and tape to repair hole: $50.00

Replacement Stove when stove top broken: $2000.00

Replacement PART for stove top when price of stove is learned: $200.00

Cost of cutting board that will cover broken stove top until part comes in: $0.00

LEARNING TO LIVE WITH AND LOVE THE WESTBY FAMILY POLTERGEIST: PRICELESS


Gotta love it!

Livin' the Dream: Scenes from a sunny weekend

It's already Tuesday! That is what life has been like this year---constantly one step behind. Or, so it seems, when you move 3 or 4 times in 2 years. It is nice to be settling. We already feel like the new house is "home" which, is surprising since it usually takes us both a while to settle in.

Just a few shots from the weekend. I couldn't stop taking pictures considering it was so nice out. Plus, I was trying to motivate myself with some before and after pictures of the house. Did I mention it was over 80 degrees...?

Late for Dinner: This wheelbarrow was, apparently, a bigger project than first thought.






The Viking Dash Fun Run!
We ALL ran the ENTIRE 1.2 miles. T did great! She got a ribbon AND a T-shirt for her effort!


BEFORE: Why, Why, Why? Why the wallpaper, Why?


More Before


DURING (Saturday AM)


AFTER (a few touch up projects remain)


AFTER


AFTER


Still need to hang up the pictures and the elusive "pot rack". But for the most part we are happy with the results.

Mom, This is why you and Grandpa need wireless internet at his house. See how much fun it is to share pictures!

SUN, SUN, SUN!!!!

We finally had a fantastic SUNNY weekend!! We had so much fun this weekend. We had the perfect amount of play and work. And we were WARM the whole time. Shane even got slightly pink as he neglected the sunscreen on Sunday. It was great! A run down of the weekend with pics coming soon...

Friday...

T is so great at playing with her little cousins. She is patient and doesn't get bored and LOVES when they come to visit! We can't wait for Riley and Kaitlin to visit too!
T and Little Sam



Me, beautiful T and my sister's beautiful Madalin: Notice the mess on the floor at my Mom's house...that is ALL Madalin. She is sooo active!



Mad Maddi, T and Dad


Cousin Emily


Yes! It is Friday! And, according to my dashboard weather forcaster it is currently 70 degrees! The high today is supposed to be 88 and tomorrow 82.
Apparently, we skipped spring and went straight to summer. Of course, there is a cold front moving in and next week is supposed to be much cooler...I hope not. We are going to enjoy the warmth this weekend. Hopefully, we'll get the garden planted. But my real goal is to finish the kitchen. Our kitchen has NEVER been so messy. It makes me cringe every time I walk in the door. All of the cabinets are torn apart as I paint them and because of that all of the dishware is just strewn about! Uggg...I'm going to take a before and after picture so I feel like I've accomplished something once it is all cleaned up! Hopefully, I'll get it done this weekend while making time for some fun stuff too!

I just downloaded some cousin pictures. T has the cutest cousins!

The Ferry

I love Ferry Boats. I love them. I love the serenity and feeling of traveling over millions of gallons of water. I love the views of mountains, trees and cities (although, if I'm being honest, I wish the cities were not there). I love cups of hot clam chowder on freezing cold days. I love the man who eats the same kind of cereal from the same Tupperware, pouring his mild from the same plastic bottle everyday (Shane, HATES that routine and if he happens to read this--which is more than unlikely--he will be disgusted with me!). I like how Seattle-y I feel when I'm on the ferry. I love that it is starting to get light out when I ride the ferry to work and I can see the sun peaking over the tips of the Cascades. I love that it is starting to get dark (most nights) when I take the ferry home and I can see some glorious sunsets over the tips of the Olympics.

That being said I am so DONE with getting up at 4:30. I know, I know, tons of people have it worse and, at least, I'm not driving for 1.5 hours. But I want to run everyday and plant a garden and spend more time with the fam and bake cookies, and, and, and...and...Praying for a job to open up on the other side. It is hard to be patient.

New Home

This was a ham moment.

Can you see the black-tailed deer!?

Our new house is an endless project. As soon as we finish one thing we start another. And the thing is...I think it will always be like that. Soon we will have all of the "pressing" projects done. The projects that we needed to do right away so our new house would feel like our home but after that I'm sure we will find project after project after project. Shane will never run out of projects. He is livin' the good life!

Because of all the projects we found it necessary to buy a truck. A very cool 1970-something GMC 4x4. I know nothing about trucks but I insisted that we find a 4x4. I think it has something to do with growing up in Spokane where it snows and snows. I just didn't see the point in buying a truck if it didn't have 4-wheel drive! Anyway, the new truck is very cool. I can't wait to go to a drive-in movie with all three of us piled in to the back with lots of blankets and pillows. And now we can haul loads and loads of dirt for our garden. In fact, we've already used it to haul some giant rhododendron plants and a few sheets of sheetrock...

Which brings me to another very interesting point about all the projects at our new house...sometimes one project has a tendency to cause another project. Take, for example, the hanging of our "pot-rack". Well, you would think that would be an easy project, a couple of screws some hooks and you're good to go. But, nope, at our house it was more like: A couple of screws and...AHHHH WATER GUSHING FROM THE CEILING!!! So, now we have a big hole in the ceiling and a project involving sheetrock. Thankfully, Shane is a whiz at home maintenance and repair and he had the hole in the pipe patched after just a few trips to home depot.

I'm almost done painting the kitchen cabinets and after that I am definitely taking a break from painting for a while. Tayler's room is just about finished too. We just need to touch up the floor board and paint her closet doors. Her room is very cute. Lime green with hot pink polka-dots! She is a master interior designer and came up with the ideas for her room. I was very impressed and proud of her creativity.

Old School Photos

This girl stole the show!I can't get over how darn cute she was...check out the cheeks! Sadly, the fluff is fading fast.

Another Trip to Spokane...Stopping in Vantage

T practicing her mad photo-skills.

Pumpkins and T

Olympic Sculpture Park/Downtown Seattle

Everything about this picture is beautiful.

Hello

Well, we started this blog to keep in touch with our friends who are far away or who are close but we don't get to see very often. I hope that I can keep it updated regularly...but who knows. I'm not the best at regular updates. Perhaps, this will be the way I finally convince Shane that we do, in fact, need wireless internet at our house! Need may be a bit of a drastic word, we definitely don't need wireless internet....but I sure would like it! I should try to keep my priorities straight... :)
A bit of history if you need it. Shane, Tayler and I have been married for almost 2 years. Can you believe it...Two years already?! It all started when Shane had a student teacher. He got really bored (not surprising if you know Shane) so he would wander down the hall to visit other teachers. Our first date was a trip to the Pacific Science Center. Very fun despite the fact that Shane and T were 2 hours late because they got in a fender bender! I think it was a good omen as my friend Cheryl also was in a car accident on her first date with her soon-to-be husband Brian. I guess it is the "thing to do" these days.
Anyway, after 2 years of camping trips, camping in the living room, working in Shane and T's garden, working on Shane and T's house, more camping, driving to Spokane, coffee shops, baking w/ T, Disneyland adventure, driving to Seattle(my house), driving to Milton(shane and T), driving to Kent(work) we got married in a beautiful little ceremony in Grandma Jane's backyard.
A year later our house was on the market and we had quit our jobs (and thankfully found new ones). Six more months of driving (Shane to Kingston, me to Shoreline) and now we're finally settled into a beautiful little (it's actually not that little...but "little" sounds nice) house in Suquamish on 2.3 beautiful acres. AND we saw a deer in the backyard last night!!! THAT is awesome.