Bye Bye Oakley...

Well, it is official. Oakley has been leased out to a GREAT girl named Amanda. I signed a 2yr lease and I could not be happier!!! She is 21 and was looking for a QH project that she can start showing, possibly gaming in the future, maybe some trail riding and who knows what else the future holds for them. I think Amanda & Oakley are a fantastic pair and I am excited to see how far she can take him, they both have great potential. The only bummer is he is clear down in Longview WA so I dont get to watch her work him, I just look forward to visiting them some day on the showgrounds...

Wheelin' & Dealin'

Here goes...

We are trading our awesome, super fun, great car in! Sorry little Kia, I love ya to death, but we want a bigger truck and we just cannot afford 2 auto payments, so ya gots ta go! I will miss you, I will be sad, but probably won't be thinkin too much about ya as I'm driving my new 3/4 ton down the road.. Took it in the shorts a little on the trade in of the Kia, but got the truck for 2K less than blue book. We decided if we were ever going to get a truck, NOW was the time to do it while the economy is still in the shitter and truck prices are still low. The plan is to sell our 1/2 ton green truck outright and use that cash to buy a different car, so we are just swappin cars all around.

IF YOU KNOW ANYONE LOOKIN FOR A DECENT 1/2 TON TRUCK, OUR GREEN CHEVY IS A GOOD TRUCK! ASKING $5500 FOR IT, WHICH IS LESS THAN LOWEST BLUE BOOK.

So here is our perfect little Kia car we will miss dearly....

And here is the NEW truck!! 2005 4x4 Chevy 2500HD, extended cab short bed....

And here is good 'ole greeny that needs to find a new owner as soon as possible...

An Accomplished Weekend...

This has been a great weekend! I took Friday off of work so that I could help with that prize ride our club was having. Spent 5.5 hours in the saddle that day, Edgar was tired. It drizzled most of the day, nothing serious. On the way home, I was feeling a little achy as far as my throat was bothering me and my head was feelin stuffy. I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30! Woke up at 7am on Saturday morning with crackly ears, suffed up nose.. dang! And it was raining outside. I could not back out of my obligation to help with our prize ride though. I picked up Edgar who had a very sore back. I did not want to have to ride him, but again, no choice at this point. I was the only one who was scheduled to help on that day, so there was no backup help. So we did our duty and rode the trail one more time, I did find Wendy who volunteered to ride with me, so I had company. Another 3.5 hours in the saddle. Pour Edgar.. I told him he could have a few days off. He is gettin his feet re-done on Monday, he really needs it. He was a little trippy on the trail, at one point OMG, he started to trip and I knew he was going all the way down on his front end... His entire front end dropped out from under me, I had a rain poncho on with open sides and as he went down, that damn poncho flew up and over my face, completely blinding me... I had to drop the reins because pulling his head up would not help him to recover from the fall and with the fall, the reins were too short for me to hang onto. So here I am on the back of this horse, completely blinded by my poncho, with no hands on the reins, just hoping it was not my time and hoping he would recover w/o me having to fall off. Sure enough, he recovered on his own and when he finally did, I was able to pull the poncho off my face! lol It was not real funny at the time, but I can laugh now.

I'm feelin much better today, stuffy head/nose but the ear crackling is gone. yeah!

I have been advertising Oakley for Lease and had a girl come out today. She is from down south in Longview. She is 21 and is looking for a project horse to show at AQHA shows. I am very excited and really hope this works out. I dont want to get too excited, it seems they really liked Oakley. He was on his best behavior for the most part, he got kinda upset when it really started to pour down rain on us. This could be a great opportunity for Oakley and he would be shown, so I am excited.

With Oakley possibly finding a new lease home, we will soon get Derek in the saddle. He still wants to give HotRod a shot and see how that works for him. HotRod is the black horse belonging to my friend Angela. Carrie used to ride HotRod a lot, he is the one pictured on my entryway wall with Carrie riding him. A nice horse that Angela wants ridden and I think would be a great horse for Derek to build up some experience on. So I have lots to hope for this week.

I should know within a few days if they will be taking Oakley or not. So the weekend could not have been any better.. well okay, if it had been sunny, that would have been nice! :) Off to do dishes and laundry, whoopie!!

Oh and we have premiere week this week on the tube, so I'm sure my *ss will be planted in front of that darn TV all week! lol

A Quest to Overcome my Fear!

I went back out this past Monday.. I ventured down the road on my horse to the same trail where I saw the bear last week. My heart was racing, I was nervous and a little scared if I am being completely honest. The last thing I wanted to do was ride that powerline again, back into bear eating territory, but I wanted to ride and my fears can be so silly and irrational, that I knew I needed to push myself through it. I did decide to go without Oakley this time, I figured if I saw a bear or was attacked by one, I'd rather not worry about dragging him along or having his rope get in my way of getting the heck out of there! ;) But.... no bear that day. Just me and my crazy thoughts. We had a good ride, gets kinda lonely riding by yourself, but it is kinda peaceful too. I am running out of time to get my horse in any kind of shape before Friday, lol.

I have someone coming up to see Oakley on Sunday. She was supposed to come up this past weekend, but had car troubles. She is from way down by the OR border, is helping her friend find a horse to lease. I decided to try to find a home for Oakley for a year or two so he can get worked and exposed to things while Derek builds confidence and experience on an experienced older horse. Here are a couple pics I took of Oakley, he looks really good! :)

I SAW A BEAR TODAY!!!

OMG... I decided I had about an hour of "leasure" time today after work to go riding. I've been trying to make a conscious effort to get my behind in the saddle again, I miss riding! I decided to pony Oakley while riding Edgar. Oak needs the excersize as much as Edgar and he could use the exposure. He actually is great to pony, nothing really spooks him (well except that dead raccoon in the road today!). As we were about 30 minutes into our ride with only about 15 more to go before getting home, I am strolling downhill through the power lines, when something catches my eye down the hill close to the edge of the woods... OH MY Heart just about leaped out of my chest, it was a black bear! It was just strolling along, didnt seem to notice me or if it did, it didnt care. But being a good distance away, I was able to see it was probably atleast close to mid thigh tall to the top of its back, I didnt know how old it was, so all I could think about was that momma bear must be above me on the hill looking down on her kid and gonna have to run right through me to get to baby.

Who knows, maybe it was a few years old, but it didnt make me feel any better not knowing! So I just scanned left and right and left and right looking for a second bear to come attack me. In the meantime, the one I DID see, strolled into the woods to be unseen. I noticed that the entire powerlines I was on, was FULL of very ripe blackberries, EVERYWHERE! and as I looked in more detail, I could see places where bears had gone into the bushes a little to eat berries and I could see paths going over the top of the berries that only a bear would make. It was a little unnerving, OKAY I LIED, A LOT unnerving! I just rode along as calm as could be to keep my horse calm, who didnt seem to even notice I was in a mind panic ontop of him, I just pictured myself calling Derek and trying to explain to him where I was at as I was getting eaten and beaten by a bear! lol I am such a freak...

I'm not sure I want to go ride by myself... I love the peace of it, but is it really a good idea. Maybe I need to start packin a gun so I have a fighting chance. What if that bear had been on the trail, what if my horse spooked and I came off.

OMG, I just remembered, before I saw the bear, and I mean literally not even 5 minutes before, I thought about the scenario of running across a bear and how would my parents deal with me being "gone". I honestly was thinking about that and worried about dying, and then WTF I come across a damn bear.. whew, riding has become an interesting thing for me. I almost feel like I have slight premonitions.. I mean this is only the 2nd time this has happened, but still..

about 4-5 months ago, I was riding by myself at Lords Hill. As I was starting out my ride and crossing the bridges, I looked to the sky and did something I never thought I would do. I verbally (aloud) asked my sister to protect me and watch over me, not because I felt scared, I really dont know why I asked her that day. I had a beautiful ride that day, but then... I decided to explore a trail I had not been on. Very long story short, my horse and I got ourselves into a very sticky situation which caused me to fall off him, falling OVER 6 feet down, flat on my back on a very very rocky trail. Now, normally when I fall off (yes it does happen occassionally) I consciously tell myself to tense my neck muscles to avoid hitting my head on the ground (and yes I know I should wear a helmet but I just am not there yet). Well this time it was like my mind went blank and I did not tell myself anything, I just fell hard as a rock if you can believe that. I landed pretty flat on my back and I am still 100% unsure and 100% amazed that my head DID NOT touch the ground.

How do you fall 6' flat on your back and NOT hit your head. Call it weird, but it was like a pillow was thrown under my head to protect it. I hurt BAD all over my body for days, my back was in serious pain, but my neck and head were just fine.

So I want to know, what is the deal? First I ask for protection from Carrie like something inside me knew I would need it that day, then today I worry about being eaten and dying from a bear attack while riding and minutes later I see a goddamn bear! WOW

Some Pics

Just a few pics to share.. these were taken by either my aunt or her boyfriend Paul.

Here is my aunt and my little Kidos at the Fair! :)

Me & Derek at the wedding

A Great pic of my parents

Finished Deck

So the deck is done.. It has Derek saying a little.. ooohhhhh.... we bought the corrugated tan plastic sheets for the roof material, I guess in my head I thought the tan might be slightly transparent and let a little light in, but nope.. it's solid tan and no light is gonna get by! lol So the inside of the house in the kitchen and especially living/dining room, is quite dark in the middle of the afternoon! Too late now ;) The deck itself is a little dark too, but what do ya do? It will grow on us and as winter approaches and if we get any more hot summer days, we certainly will love having a covered deck. Derek did a great job on it for never having built anything like that. He designed some brackets that we are considering having patented, they are genious!!! I am thinking the positive in all this darkness is that the house will stay cooler in the hot summer because the sun sets on the backside of the house and before, the sun would blare through the kitchen and living room windows and the slider. Now it cannot reach those, so should help to keep the inside cool, that is a good thing. We went pretty dark with this house, brown carpet, tan walls, darker countertops and now a dark (was supposed to be light) deck cover.. lol I'm not going to complain.. One BIG project down...

Another Softball Injury

I forgot to mention that Derek got hit Again! this past weekend while playing softball. He had a nice base hit and was rounding first base, the ball was thrown towards home (or 3rd, cant remember) so Derek thought he could make it to 2nd base. I think he forgot he is no spring chicken and doesnt run as fast as he used to. Well the ball was intercepted by the pitcher who saw Derek running and threw the ball to 2nd base. Unfortunately for Derek, he saw that the ball was heading straight for himself and as he was sliding into 2nd base, he covered his head. He should have covered his shoulder cuz the ball hit him square on top of his shoulder/collar bone. So he was safe, but safe with injury and a nice bruise to show for it. :(

Just another weekend.... right!

One more weekend gone by... So we did the dozing last weekend, here are some pics of that.

Before

Before

Before

& After!

& After!!

Oh and here are a couple of him bulldozing and then a pic of what I was doing while he dozed! It's all I could do really...

We just need to divide the pasture in half now to bring the medium children home first (goats) and then we'll bring the horses home in a month or two when we finally run out of the free grass for them to eat at their summer homes. I moved the big kids (horses) from their Roosevelt Rd pasture back to my parents. And I did it on old fashioned fuel, horsepower! :) I rode Edgar and ponied Oakley down the road, somewhat busy roads I might add. In some places there was not much of a shoulder to ride on, so unfortunately I was in the road more often than not, but I did not get honked at, cussed at, flipped off or run over, so overall, successful. It was an hour and a half ride and it felt GREAT to be back in the saddle. Oh, but at one point I did twist to look behind me for traffic and it tweaked a muscle in my thigh and whew, that was interesting to deal with.. Thigh is cramping up, but I cant get off my horse, it finally went away after a minute or two. :)

Now that the BBQ is done, the plan is to relax a little, get out and ride a little more and hopefully get some other projects done before fall gets here too quickly. I love the fall, I'm not complaining about that, my favorite time of year actually. But we need to build a shed, paint the house, move some hay, finish the pasture... all before the rain sets in.

We had softball Nationals in Puyallup this weekend. Team lost Friday night, won Saturday morning and then lost the next game. It was perfect weather, not too hot. Here is a pic of the team that was able to play this weekend. We volunteered our place for a team BBQ, probably will happen end of the month, what was I thinking! Just when I thought I could relax and not worry about things, I go and plan a BBQ here.. lol j/k It will be nice to have the guys drive north for a change vs us always coming down south.

I took a few pics of the inside of the house. oh and the fenceline as well. The neighbor did a GREAT job with the boards and it looks very nice. Now we just have to find time to burn that crap wood and get rid of that ugly mess. We are building a cover over our deck too, so there's a pic of how far we are as of this very minute. Derek is working on it as we speak (okay, well as I type and as you read if you are reading this at 5:25pm on Sunday 9/7) lol

Crazy Weekend

Whew, am I glad the work week is here... lol j/k but really, it was a very busy weekend for us. I took Friday off, I wanted a 4-day weekend. The plan was to get a million things done in the house. Here is what I wanted to get done: paint shelf, organize/unpack office, wash/scrape all windows, pick up garbage outside, clear off deck, clean bathrooms, unpack boxes in laundry room, unpack/organize bathroom boxes, assemble shelf for bathroom, assemble shelf for craft room, unpack craft room and organize onto shelving units, finish spare bedroom, organize garage, take empty boxes to the dump, clean floors, assemble pictures/frames. All that does not seem unreasonable does it?


We get our bulldozer rental on Friday afternoon, so Derek finished up with his day job (he worked at home all day Friday) while I painted a shelf, and then he got on the dozer.. he wanted me to stay out in the field while he worked incase he went over the edge or something happened, so for a couple hours I sat in a chair with my feet propped up and watched him move dirt! :) It was funner than it sounds, but really it wasnt necessarily fun but it was kinda cool to watch him wipe out trees and dig up stumps.

Saturday morning he got up early (we got up early) and were back out in the pasture by 9am bulldozing. I watched for a couple hours until Tyler showed up, then I was able to go in the house and get some of my things done. I didnt get much done, because my dad came over to help us finish with the yard fencing. We all worked on the fence for an hour or more and got it finished! Yippy.. meanwhile, the neighbor was sssslllll...oooowwllllyyyy working on his side and getting the word section done. I have to give him credit though, it is beautiful and he did have it finished by Monday, just in time for the BBQ. After finishing the fence, dad and I ran some errands in town, we hung the gates, installed some lattice and by the time we were finished, we decided eating at home and cooking after a hard days work, was not an option, so El Paraiso we went...

Sunday morning Derek finished with the last of the dozing. I stressed some cuz I felt like I did not get hardly anything on my list done and the big house-warming BBQ was the next day! George & Rachel were on their way to our house... They showed up and the guys were doing something, dont really remember what.. hmmmm. But we decided to go to the fair for a couple hours on Sunday afternoon. We just walked around, ate some, saw the exhibit barns and animals and left. No games or rides. I did go see my baby kids at the petting farm and it was very sad. They were in the resting pen and they just hung their heads and looked exhausted. I was REALLY glad that they were going home the next day cuz they didnt seem themselves and I felt sad for them.

We left the fair, and at home Derek/George started working on the deck cover while Rachel and I worked on my craft room. Here is what I got done from my list above. Built both shelves (almost took my thumb off, the electric drill slipped off the screw and went straight into my thumb, OUCH!!) finished the spare bedroom (yeah!) unpacked 1/2 the craft room, painted shelf and organized office, organized 1/2 of garage mess and delivered 1/2 the boxes to Julie. There were some other things I got done, but looking back, I was crazy to think I could get my entire to-do list done. I feel good about what I did accomplish, but was stressing because I didnt feel the house was 100% ready for the BBQ. I soon realized that it did not matter and it is what it is!

So I got up early Monday morning to get some things done, still needed to vaccum and go grocery shopping for the BBQ. The guys started working on the deck and were still working on it deck as people showed up. They got the framing all done, the only part left is the roof. OMGosh, it is going to be so nice when it is done! I just LOVE my deck now.. I cant even believe the difference it makes having even just a framed cover on it. Completely redefines my deck and the back of the house.

The BBQ/housewarming went well. There were 35 adults & 7 kids & 6 dogs! :) It was a great day, the sun was 1/2 out, but it felt very much like fall! Russell was exhausted, he played all day with the kids and this morning he didnt want to move much. He's a little stiff. It is always stressful throwing together friends and family that dont really know eachother, but it turned out okay and noone seemed uncomfortable. It was a nice day, people started showing up around 2 and the last person left at 9. Thanks to all those that came over, hope you had a great time. If you couldnt make it out, stop by anytime.

Good Neighbors...

So here is the Boob-Cake! I made this for my brother... I hear there are pics of him with his face up to it, not sure I want to see those, kinda weird thinkin about a sister making a cake that her bro is gonna put his face into.... lol

We spent Saturday working on fencing. We paid my dad's workers cash to install the posts for our fenceline. The neighbors decided they didnt like that we had trimmed up the branches as they lost their privacy. We cut a bunch of dead branches to be out of the way of our new fence and it was a shocker! We cleared out a lot. So the neighbors approached us numerous times about the fenceline to find out why we cleared it, how we knew where the line was, what type of fence are we doing, blah blah... nothing too serious, but they seemed annoyed at the privacy issue. But I needed a cleared line, so I was not too concerned. Then she approached us earlier this week and wants to put in a 6' wood privacy fence along that line instead of the 4' wire we were going to do. She said they would pay the difference from the wire to the wood. Not sure she realized at the time just how spendy that was going to be for her! Of course we agreed. R U Kidding! we get a 6' wood privacy fence for the same cost as the wire... And a privacy fence is really what we wanted, just couldnt afford to do it... it was a no-brainer! So we had all the posts set and we put in the top and bottom rail on the fence, all they have to do is buy the wood slats to nail to the fence now. But that is probably gonna be about $800 for them.. but I am way happy about the deal. Now if we can find a way to get them to install it sooner than later! Here are some pics..

A view from my deck looking out into my pasture. There will be a wire fence under the top rail. It will look really nice when finished.

Dad & Derek, taking a moment to pause for a picture, with a serious look on their faces!! :)

That is the fenceline that will be wood/privacy fence. The neighbors house is just through those trees. We trimmed up that line of trees you are looking at, cut all the dead branches away and it exposed our place so she can see our deck from her bedroom apparently. Oh dont mind the mess in the pic. Just some crap we need to burn whenever the burn ban gets lifted.

Another view of the privacy fenceline. Doesnt even seem like my property, it looks soooo different on this side now. I cant wait to have this fence in, we can have the fire pit over there and have get-togethers in the backyard and not feel like we are disturbing the neighbors!

This is the fenceline that will be wire. My pasture is on the right, yard on the left. Well it will look like a yard someday..

So we are having an open-house BBQ type thing on Labor Day! Working hard to get things done around here so it's not a disaster. Have gotten lots of decorating done, repacked all the xmas boxes into plastic tubs today so we can store in the shop in the rafters, mowed the lawn on Saturday, what a project it is to mow that thing! I bagged it this time and it was super long, so I did like 10-12 dumps of the bag and it took about an hour. I was gettin my work out that is for sure. I came in the house, just huffin and puffin! Took a COLD shower and felt much better. Its been raining/pouring all day today, so really glad I did the lawn yesterday.

I've been in a funk lately about my horses. I am starting to HATE that my horses are not home with me and am really starting to miss having them around. I dont like going to their pasture to see them, its just a pain in the behind. I want to get this pasture done and move them home!!! I am feeling/wondering if I am loosing some of my passion for them lately as I have NOT been motivated to ride at all. Maybe it is just a funk and not having any free time lately. I have to help for a prize ride our club is doing in a few weeks and I have not ridden in months. I need to find some time and break away to ride, but I have to haul my horse to go ride, grrrrrrrrrrr. I dont think I'm loosing my passion, I think it is just on vacation right now and it sucks because I have no motivation to ride at all. This is new territory and I cant tell if its just a timing issue with this house and all or if it is something else.

Oh and we are renting a bulldozer this weekend! Having it delivered on Friday and we'll use it for 2 days. So we are one step closer to bringing the animals home! :)

Oh... and the goats are at the fair! I want to go see them on Tuesday and be sure they are ok. I'm sure they are, I havent heard anything. It has been kinda shitty weather for them though, I hope they are ok. It just rained/poured ALL day today and the pen at the fairgrounds for them to roam around in is not under cover so that sucks! Their nighttime and breaktime pen is under cover though.

Busy Life..

Whew... so much going on! The goats are goin to the fairground tonight, very exciting. They actually will be back in the far East end of the fairgrounds where the cows and goats are.

We have been working hard on getting our yard fencing done. Well we are not physically working too hard on it, we are paying my dads employees to do that part, but trying to work out all the logistics of it all is hard work! lol We bought all the material, the lumber company made a $450 error in my favor! sssshhhhhh... After we bought all the material for a 4' horse wire fence, the neighbor came over and wants us to put up a 6' wood privacy fence instead! So we are working with them and they are paying the "over and above" cost of the wire, to put in wood. Which is GREAT!! We really had wanted a wood fence along that entire line all along, but did not want to spend the money, so this works out well for us and for them apparently.

So because of this change though, I had to order up another $200 worth of wood, our part of the deal. Dad's guys should be finishing up with the posts and hopefully stretching the wire today for the part that will be wire. I can't wait for Russell to have a secured yard, I am tired of yelling at him every day to get his butt in the house when all he wants to do is explore and we just cant let him do that yet.

My mom and Debbie decided we were having a BBQ Labor Day Weekend. So I've been working to get the house put together and things hung up. I'm going to call Eric & Andrea and find out if Sun or Mon works better for them. I'm hoping Monday is OK, I'd rather do it that day. Our friends George & Rachel are going to come up for that weekend and spend it with us. It is Rachel's bday and she wanted to go camping, but it worked out better to just stay with us. We are going to get a bulldozer that weekend and Derek and George I'm sure will have a blast doing the manly thing and pushin dirt! lol I'm hoping Rachel and I can maybe get away to a movie or something, leave the guys and Samantha behind for a little girl time :) Or not, whatever she wants.

Samantha (their 7yr daughter) has Derek around her finger. We all laugh about it, he just loves that kid! So do I of course... She saw that I had a marble with my name on it and apparently she collects marbles, she was saying in my car how she sooo wished SHE had a marble with HER name on it! It was quite cute how she was saying it. So I'm going to the fair this year to buy her a marble with her name, hopefully the guy is still there this year. I'll have a tough time holding onto that gift til xmas!

I cant wait for the fence and the bulldozing to be done.. once the dozing is done, we'll have to refence our pasture. Once that is done, all the major expenses should be done finally! Oh and we are putting a roof over our deck. That will cost us about another $400 on top of the $200 in wood we already purchased... aggghhh I'm tired of spending money like we have it to spend!

The horses are still neglected. I'm hoping to maybe get some rides in soon. Many months ago, I volunteered to help with our club prize ride next month, so I really need to get Edgar into some kind of shape so he can handle 2 days of 4+ hours each day riding! :)

Well thats about it for now... I also noticed from my house pics on here that I really need to update pics now that I have started to decorate. It looks more lived in now than the other pics show.
Ta Ta for now!

Wedding & Softball & Bachelorette Party...

First want to start off with my Brother's Wedding! OMG, it was the best event and I had such a great time. I am sooo very happy for Eric & Andrea. The pic is one taken prior to them getting married, they are such a beautiful couple. The past few weeks have been stressful in preperation for this wedding. I was asked to speak during the Ceremony! What a great honor to be a part of the ceremony.

I do not think ANYONE had any complaints. It was truly a great party/reception! I really enjoyed getting to know some of their friends a little better and watching everyone dance was just a blast. It was the happiest day I have had since Carrie's wedding. I was emotional all day of course, watching them dance for the first time... How can you not cry. Some of the family and friends had a tough time as well off/on throughout the day/evening, but that was more about Carrie than the wedding. We all felt the void of not having her there for sure.

I am learning every day how to keep moving forward and talking about it certainly helps. I had a fantastic chat with Andrea's mom Debbie on Friday morning. Her & I had about 30 minutes of alone time before the rest of the girls showed up that day, that was really nice. A bunch of Andrea's friends came over Friday morning to Debbie's place and we spent 5 hours putting together flowers! Oh My, what a mess we made.. lol We made 6 bridesmaids bouqets, 1 bride bouquet, 2 tossing bouquets, maybe 1 other bouquet. Then we made 22 boutaneers! Then we filled 25 vases with flowers. Then we made up another 30 misc large bouquets to be tied to the isle seats, and there were STILL some flowers leftover that were put into a bucket for decoration. After the flowers, we all went and had pedicures done and some of us had manicures, I was one of them. I did not get my left hand Thumbnail done, I cut myself pretty badly Friday morning decorating a "BOOB" cake for my brother's gettogether later that night. I'll post a pic of that later! It was cute..

Anyways, the wedding was Fantastic if I have not made that clear already!

Last weekend, we had a softball touranment in Puyallup. It was the State Tournament on Friday night and Saturday. We spent the night in Kent with our Friends George & Rachel. It was nice staying down there and not having to drive all the way home Friday night. We played a game Fri night, Lost! Won our next 2 games on Saturday, then lost the 4th game. I believe we came in 6th, I think there were like 17 teams. Not too shabby. I did not complain, I actually kinda wanted the guys to loose that last game because I was supposed to be in Seattle meeting up with Andrea and her friends and my cousins for the bachelorette party.

It all worked out, we lost the game and left the field immediately. Derek dropped me off at aunt Dena's place and me, Shana and Jen hitched a ride to Buca D Beppo in Seattle for dinner. We were late, but just in time to eat. We then went back to the hotel the girls had rented rooms at, had some drinks, listened to music, hung out. It was fun, laughing and such. A couple guys showed up very briefly to give Andrea a couple impromptu lap dances, they were friends of one of the girls. We then left and taxi'd over to Capital Hill in Downtown to go to the Drag Show! It was a BLAST! The show started at 10pm and was really really fun. I drank and drank, drank too much is what I did. After the show, we walked a ways to a club. I was pretty toasted and close to passing out. I, along with a few others sat in a back corner booth and just hung out waiting. The club was packed, it was crazy. Not my scene really, but everyone else had a great time there. The lights turned on at 2am. Shana, Jen and I hitched a cab back to Dena's while the rest of the girls went back to the hotel. They stayed up and partied more apparently, I was way too tired to make it any later. I had spent all day at the softball fields, had been up since about 6am, so I was done. I almost puked on the cab ride home, fell asleep/passed out in Dena's luxury bed and woke up the next morning with a bombshell headache! Derek drove down and picked me up and we spent the day doing errands non-stop all day. Went to bed that night around midnight I think it was, it was a crazy long weekend...

Off to bed I go.. what the hell. It is 11:55pm on Sunday night. I need sleep.....

Wedding Speech

Here is the Speech I gave at Eric & Andrea's Wedding. It was very tough for me to get through parts of this. Immediately before my speech was a "Moment of Silence" to recognize those that could not be with us for the Wedding and Carrie's name was specifically mentioned. I was on the verge of loosing control of my emotions, when the silence was broken announcing me to give the speech. A tough thing to follow which made for a VERY emotional beginning, but I did it! I am very proud of myself, I dont mean to boast, but for all you that know me and know how hard it has been without Carrie, will understand that. I wanted to post my speech because it is a great thing about Eric & Andrea and I hope you enjoy..

Hi, my name is Piper. I am Eric's sister. Several months ago, I was thinking ahead to this day, telling my husband how worried I was that I would probably be asked to give a toast at the wedding. Not because I didn't want to do it, but worried because I cry at strangers weddings! And we're talking about my only brothers wedding, how was I going to do it without crying. After months of wondering if I would be asked, I was asked to speak during the ceremony! Wow, a bigger fear ran through me and I was having some serious anxiety about this. But, now that I have had time to process, I want to say to Eric & Andrea, Thank You. Thank you for asking me and wanting me to be a part of your day. I feel so honored that you wanted me to be a part of the ceremony and no amount of fear would have kept me from doing this. I may blink a lot and do my special thing to keep from crying and I may not succeed, but I will do my best.

Some of you may not know the story of how Eric & Andrea came to be a couple. While in High School, they were involved with the FFA program and met while decorating for a school dance. Some time later, Eric decided to show goats at the year 2000 State Fair and since he did not own any, he had to borrow them and they happened to belong to Andrea. Over the course of about 2 weeks while at the fair, they spent a lot of time together which developed into a friendship and also a high school crush. Towards the end of the fair, after a night at the races and watching the fireworks show, Eric asked Andrea to be his girlfriend. 5 years later in August of 2005, they took a vacation to the ocean. As the sun was setting and they were walking hand in hand on the beach, Andrea noticed a really nice shell, still intact, on the ground. She picked it up and realized there was something inside. After prying it open and finding a beautiful ring inside, Eric got down on his knee and asked her to Marry Him!

I have always felt they were destined to make it. Our family has loved Andrea and her family from the beginning. I just recently learned that Snohomish High had their own version of The Love Match. Andrea and Eric both participated, not knowing each other at the time. Andrea was open to any grade student in the high school and out of all the students, the results gave her 3 possible choices as a good match for her, and Eric was one of the guys on her list! At the time she did not know who Eric Johnson was, he was just a student 1 year younger than her. So here we are today, celebrating the marriage of two people, who are a perfect fit.

When Andrea asked me to speak today, she left if pretty open as far as what I wanted to talk about. I contemplated for a few weeks, searching the internet trying to find something about brothers and new sister in laws, a poem maybe. I could not find anything special enough, so I decided to make this more personal and share with them what I have learned about Marriage, what it means to me and what I can pass along to them.

Marriage starts with love and you definitely need love, but over the 12 years I have been married, there is a lot more to it than that.

Marriage is one of the best things that will happen to you, it is the start of a new chapter. It is the foundation to the rest of your lives. With marriage eventually will come more pets, then later the real children, buying your first home, moving up in your careers, vacations, struggles and accomplishments, anniversaries, retirement. So many ways in which you will grow together. You will accomplish things you never dreamed of or thought possible. And when you do, you will look back in amazement at just how far you have really come, whether it is a year from now or 20 years down the road.

When you’re married, you will learn that it can be one of the easiest things to be in and no matter what happens in your life that tries to bring you down, you will always have each other to fall back on because your spouse is your rock, your best friend and your support. It is very important to always communicate as often as possible, no matter what the topic is. Be sure to relay your hopes and dreams, your goals and aspirations to one another because the other person will always be there to help you accomplish these things and help pick you up when you fall short.

Your patience will be tested with your spouse, your pets and your future children. You need to give each other the benefit of the doubt, listen to what the other is saying and trust in yourself, in each other and in your relationship. Acceptance and understanding go a long ways in a marriage and realize now that you both over time will change who you are today, and there are parts of you that will not change. Know that you cannot pick the qualities in your spouse you wished were different, you can only accept who they are and love them unconditionally for that.

Show appreciation when deserved and also on a whim. Everyone, no matter who they are, feels better with a pat on the back, especially from their spouse. Appreciate all the great things you have in your life. Respect each other and understand that no matter how badly you want to always have things your way, it just is not reality! Marriage is about compromise, because although you share many of the same goals and dreams, there will be areas you just don’t agree on and will need to find a way to compromise on your differences. And there will come a time when you will need to forgive as well because we all screw up every now and then and if you can find it in your hearts to be open to forgiveness, you'll find a much easier path to travel.

Marriage is about 2 people, but don’t forget to surround yourselves with friends that you care about and that care about you in return. Family is the support system that never goes away, no matter how hard you try to get away from us! If you ever have questions about marriage or relationships, just look to your parents. Between both sets, there are 70 years of solid love, commitment and family to fall on for guidance.

And finally, you can never say I Love You too many times in one day! You can never give each other too many hugs and too many kisses. It's the little things like this that you will look back on years from now and cherish that you still are holding hands and hugging and kissing, just because you are still in love. Don’t take life and each other for granted and don't waste energy on the things you cannot change, instead focus on the positive things that surround you and if you both strive to maintain a positive attitude and try to live your life by it, you will build a solid foundation to a lifetime marriage. The saying goes, Love Conquers All and in a marriage it is so true, because as long as you have love for each other, you can get through anything together.

You both are young, mature, focused, driven, hard working and loving people and you will succeed at whatever you put your minds to, that is just who you both are. I feel so very lucky to be in your lives as everyone here does as well. We all are here to celebrate the happiness of two of the best people we know. I don't have to wish you luck, because you already have found it. True love, marriage and spending the rest of your lives together is the perfect combination for a truly happy life.

I love you both

Evergreen State Fair 2008

So our new baby kids (goats) are going to the fair! I am coordinating with a girl that wants a couple younger baby goats to have at the petting farm from Aug 20 - Sept 3rd. :) So Briggs and Stratton are gonna be looked at by hundreds daily and gets lots of lovin and hugs/pets from kids all day long. We are pretty excited about it, how fun to have them there.

So if you go to the fair this year, BE SURE to go find our guys at the Petting Farm! I think they will be inside the main gates between the gates and grandstand, grass section. :)

We are finally home....

Oh my gosh, it has been a busy couple of days! We are officially moved in.

So here I sit, at our house, on our computer, in the office. Comcast was here this past Saturday to install the ever needed TV including the DVR box which allows the pause/rewind. Not sure I could go w/o that feature ever again. Derek and I can hardly stand to watch a show in regular mode, we pretty much record everything and watch it later so we can fast forward commercials! Internet was a MUST so last night I installed that. Had to call tech support at 9:30pm to get my computer to function properly, but hey... here I am!

I am so excited to be able to take pics and immediately download them to the computer and then put them up on here within minutes. How exciting is this. I am sitting on a step stool! Doesnt that sound comfy?

We unloaded our big storage container on Saturday with the help of our friends George & Rachel and their daughter Samantha and the dog Cash. Rachel and I unpacked the kitchen boxes and she really helped me to get that organized. I know I would have been overwhelmed trying to do it by myself. It is tough figuring out what goes where, you move things 5 different times... We watched a movie saturday night, went to bed at midnight, fell asleep after 1am, and it's NOT cuz we were having "private" time! I just could not shut down my brain. My body was exhausted but my brain was laying there thinking non-stop. I finally crashed... Derek pretty much was snoozin when he hit the pillow. OMGosh.. how embarrassing, I was just thinking about my and Dereks snoring.. the spare bedroom is just across the hallway, they did not say they heard us snoring, but I KNOW we both can cut logs all night! lol

George & Derek installed the shower door Sunday, although I hear George was reluctant to "get in" the shower with Derek, apparently he has a lifetime motto to never let that happen! lol lol lol

After they left, we went to Freddies and bought all the staples we might need in the kitchen and left there $450 broker than we already were.. :) Came home, exhausted and worn out.. Went to my parents to get this computer and some other things and came home to plop! Watched some TV, set up recordings for our shows and crashed.. oh then woke up somewhere around midnight to introduce ourselves to ALL the rooms in the house.. including the garage!

One thing we realized is that we got rid of all our big furniture things! Except the couches pretty much.. we did not save any nicknack shelves, no extra chairs, no extra tables, no dressers... we really cleaned house when we moved out apparently. I remember now the reasoning for it is so that when we got into this new house, we would buy the things we wanted and that fit what we needed and not just settle for what we had. Makes sense, right? Good plan, but now I am here sitting on a step stool.. lol because I did not save even ONE of the old dining chairs we had. We ordered a nice roller chair, but well its on b/o for another week plus! The kitchen table is here, but no stools.. those are on b/o. We want to make a new fresh start and not eat in the living room, but for now, we have no other options as there is nowhere else to sit! ;) So we'll be keeping our eyes open for just the right dressers, extra chairs for the bedrooms, curio type shelves etc...

I know this is a super long post.. I have updates on the coming weekend, but I'll do another post, I dont want it getting lost in the house postings.. So here are some pics!

The pics will all be below.. worked better that way...

The Livingroom, a couple different angles. And it looks so plain in the pics with nothing on the walls. We have lots of things to hang, just have not had time. And there is Russell, hangin out. He is really out-of-sorts! :( Poor guy is confused and upset. He was VERY grumpy this past weekend, especially with Samantha and she was not doing anything wrong, he was just upset about everything. There is our dining table with no stools! I'll update once we get those. Not as much room as I'd like, but cozy I guess you could say!

Our kitchen/dining/hall/living room.

Just the kitchen, a little messy.. we are still trying to get things fully organized

Our office, oh and the stool I am sitting on! My butt is really getting sore..... I've been on this thing for about an hour now and I still need to do bills etc, so I think when this is done, I'll take a break and give my butt something soft to sit on like the couch! lol The border is baseball, there is a baseball pillow in the corner Derek just had to have.. Eventually this room will have hardwood floor, we bought the floor, just need to put it in. I have a filing cabinet to put in here, and Derek and I will continue to add features to this room to make it very cool.

The bedroom, very basic setup for now.. bed is not even fully put together as you can see from the posts on the left side.

And finally the long awaited yard pics.. The camera is crooked, not my yard! well not this much anyways. :) I need to mow pretty badly, waiting for it to cool down, maybe tonight.

WE GOT FINAL!!!!!

Dancin the happy dance, singing We Got Fiiiiinnnalll.. Weeee goooot fiiiiinallllll.... YIPPY Hooray.. :) I'm sittin in my chair at work, wigglin around..

Now that we have final, we ARE MOVING IN this weekend!!!! Cable is coming on Saturday, so I will have GOOD internet at home and I WILL keep this updated more often and will be able to post pictures all the time.

LIFE is GREAT today!!!!!!!

I know my sister is smiling on me today

Piper

Almost there.......

I can taste it.. I am still trying to keep my emotions under control. I should be packing up my bedrooms at my parents, but that is too overwhelming to think about! :) Finishing touches should be done today and I'm still hoping for final inspection tomorrow...... I'm nervous! Whats up with that. I'm really excited though.

Derek and I worked on clearing our fence line this weekend. Wow, we own a lot further into the brushy area than we both expected. We got a clear straight line though, unfortunately 3 or 4 trees are gonna have to come down. Dammit! That means more money out of our wallets.. grrrrr They are too close to the neighbors garage to do it ourselves, we called a guy that works at Dels actually, he does it on the side. I'm hoping he can come out sooner than later, we dont have time to wait, we have to get the trees out so we can build a fence. The side over where we cleared looks really nice though. I'm excited to get a fence up and then clean up the crappy brush and leave the rest natural, it will look really good. We can totally see through to the neighbors parking area, that part I dont care for, but once the fence is up and maybe more ferns will come in, then it will be fine.

Derek tore down 1/2 the shack that was left to come down. I think once we get all our burning done, it will look soooo much better. I'll have to take a pic of the mess before and after..

Andrea's wedding shower was yesterday, that was very nice. She has some fantastic friends that are very caring and thoughtful and gave her some special handmade gifts. I had to fight back tears a few times, thought a lot about Carrie yesterday. I still think about her every day but this wedding has me thinking a lot more about her lately. It's tough to get through this w/o her. I feel sad for Eric, although he doesnt verbalize it, I know how hard this is for him to go through w/o her as well. I only hope I can give him enough sisterly love to help him through. At the shower, we had to write down some thoughts on pretty paper that will be put into a book for Eric & Andrea, a very thoughtful idea. I did 3 of them. I got teased about being a perfectionist or whatever, but I dont care... I wrote one from me, then a general one that just said "Live Laugh Love" because that reminds me of Carrie and I hope it does the same for them. And then I wrote down a few thought to them of how Carrie is so proud of them and happy they found true love and to remember that the light of Carries life will forever shine down on their marriage. I hope they like it.

Carpet means... almost the end!

So the word carpet does not mean the end as I was earlier misled.. lol We have carpet, but we don't have water in our sinks, a toilet in the main bathroom, or lights in the living or dining area. Oh they are getting finished, between today and Monday. Come Monday, I will have a completed house.. well that is the plan. Come Tuesday, I plan to have final inspection, come Wed I plan to start moving things into my new home!! I know, I know.. dont get my hopes up.

So the kitchen island is in, looks great. We just LOVE our countertops. The WALL is FIXED!!! And it was done before carpet, so all that persistantcy (sp?) paid off and we got what we wanted. Schmuck Barry, I just saw a man with his tail tucked between his legs, but he did make sure it was fixed before carpet, probably didnt hurt that I told him if Carpet showed up on Wed and the wall was not fixed, I was lockin the doors and keeping them out! lol :) Oh shit, bitch factor came in for just a minute there when we were talkin with Barry earlier this week. But I'm not complainin, cuz I have a better house because of it.

So Wed, Derek and I were hanging around waiting for the carpet guys to show up. Clark, the guy that has the carpet crew, oh and Shana knows who he is (wink, wink) well anyways, he called and said they were still coming out but he wasnt sure how far they would get on it. 9:30pm!! that is what time these guys pull in the driveway and can you believe come Thursday morning when Derek went to the house, the carpet was ALL done and they did a great job! wow, now that is hard work.

So Derek calls me Thursday morning and is kinda quiet on the phone.. I'm like "WELL, HOW DOES IT LOOK! :)" he's like, "well you'll be able to see all of Russells hair on the ground, uhh it's pretty dark, (sceptical voice tones), I guess it will grow on me hopefully, the carpet does not look good with our bedroom color..." I was freakin out ALL F ' in DAY! I was stressed, worried.. did we go way too dark. I knew we picked dark brown, crap its too late to fix it.. shit what are we going to do... So I drive home with all this anticipation. I had been waiting all day to see this terrible carpet. I open the door.... BAM! I love it! :) Yes it is dark, very dark. But I like it. It warms up the house, color ties in well with our walls and the kitchen colors, there is enough natural light coming through our huge windows that it doesnt feel dark inside, the bedroom looks just fine. I am glad he made it seem terrible cuz then my hopes were WAY low. Derek was very relieved to hear that I liked it. He'll like it lots more now that he knows I really like it. If you dont like it and think it's too dark, well too bad.. lol

What else... hmmmmm Oh our yard is coming in great. Here is a pic after about 2 weeks from planting. I have a very nice looking yard now, it is patchy, and the best grass is under the tree where all the shade is. But the rest will come in. I actually mowed yesterday! It is the nicest part of our backyard, the rest needs soooo much work. I made a list on Wed of all the projects we need to do, 2 pages! Lots and Lots. It will be much easier doing them while living there.

Oakley update: His knee is still swollen but I did take him to the vet last week and had some fluid sent to the lab and it came back very clean. So nothing really left to do but excersize him and really deeply massage his knee. Not that I have had time, I need to go out today and work with it cuz I have not seen him since Tuesday and today is Friday! Bad mommie...

Softball: We had a tournament last weekend (July 12th). Played down in Puyallup. The guys won their first game, lost the second, won the 3rd, won the 4th, won the 5th and won the 6th!! Went home with first place.. that was exciting and fun. The day was warm, so I was under the umbrella all day pretty much. George & Rachel & Samantha spent the day with us, watching the games. It was great having them there, I know Derek really enjoys that. After the games, we left the park at about 8pm, grabbed some pizza and went to G & R's home in Covington and ate dinner and watched the movie "I am Legend" HOLLY CRAP.. I did not realize the movie was considered a thriller..shit I was expecting a good drama/action type movie.. I was clentching my jaw, heart was racing a few times.. GREAT movie though. Had me a little freaked out.. :)

Here's a pic of our entryway into our home. We bought the red rock, will end up putting more of that down in other places too, we really like the rock. And the kitchen too.. Pics are way behind, I have carpet and my kitchen is all done, and the yard is growing, so I will take new pics this weekend and update.

Bitchy-B-Gone!

lol... so I scared some of you into thinking I was a raging biaaatch! That faze is so over.. Its safe to call me, talk to me, etc... I have had no bitchy moments in over a month, the stress level is WAY down, I have no thoughts of stabbing anyone with an ice-pick! The house stress really got to me and the financial side of things was weighing me down, Rest Assured, things are now safe once again and I'm back to my lovely, intelligent, wonderful, peacefull self! ;)