Finally Photos!

2007 10 Halloween

2007 11 November

2007 12 December Photos

November Gone Too!

I started to post a few days ago and it got lost somehow. Instead I got to work on my family Christmas newsletter. I posted it here too. Since postage has gotten so crazy, I went ahead and emailed it to those for which I have email addresses. I hope no one minds.

We are doing great. Today was a big day for the girls. They all sang at the church today. Anika had two cute songs that she sang with the other preschoolers. Kelby and Tegan had their big production they've been practicing for for months. They were proud of themselves and also glad to be done. They did great. Both had the words to the songs memorized and followed along great with the hand motions. Our biggest advice from last year was for them to smile and they both did a great job on that this year! Anika didn't know one song because it wasn't on her practice CD. So when it came on we were trying to get her to smile from the audience. She looked right at us and said, "I just don't know this one." The microphones picked it up and everyone thought it was SOOO cute.

Last weekend was the Christmas event for ladies that I've been working on for the last couple months. It went well...though we had a few gliches...like running out of food and having a LONG line to get food. Having 300 ladies there made everything take longer. I think that most of the ladies were happy to attend and had a good time.

I'm glad that is done because now it is time to focus on family and Christmas activities. We've done a few fun things like build a gingerbread house, go to the town parade, and make candies. The daily advent activity calendar has become an unnegotiable part of our holidays. The girls enjoy counting down to Christmas with activities.

Kelby and Tegan are in a Girl Scout troup now. It is on Thursday afternoons. They enjoy it and I'm excited to be a part of it too. I'm not leading or anything, so don't worry! It reminds me of when I was a Brownie. That means we'll start selling Girl Scout cookies in January!
I have to go to bed now, so I'll have to update more later. All is well here. I hope everyone is able to relax and enjoy the meaning of Christmas this season!

Family Christmas Newsletter

Merry Christmas 2007 to Friends and Family

I can’t believe another year has already flown by. As always, this annual newsletter helps me to sit back and reflect on our year. This one had its sorrows, but it has been full of joy too.

We started out the year with loads of family fun. I found Mike a Wii just after Christmas and we’ve been enjoying family games of bowling and tennis ever since. We enjoy it because the girls can play and sometimes win!

The girls continue to grow into beautiful little ladies becoming more and more independent as the days go by. My roll as mommy is starting to shift and I have a little more free time.

Another year has gone by without incident for Kelby. In fact she just had her port removed; that was the last evidence of the cancer she’s gone through. She is enjoying the third grade, but her favorite thing to do is draw. She doodles on every piece of paper (which can get her in to trouble in the classroom.)

Tegan is in school all day now for first grade. She loves school and is reading like a pro already. It doesn’t take any work at all to get her to do her required reading for homework.

Anika stays home with me and will for another whole year after this. She turns four on the 28th of this month. Luckily she gets to have Gramma and Grampa Morrow from Arizona here on her birthday this year!

Michael and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in August. Time flies doesn’t it? We went to Disneyland by ourselves to celebrate just like for our honeymoon. While we had a great time, we realized it wasn’t quite the same now that we’ve taken kids there. Next time we’ll have to try a tropical vacation.

Michael got a new camera in February and has been taking gallery-worthy shots since. It has been a fun hobby for the whole family as we venture out on adventures together just so he can get some good photos.

I have taken on the Ladies’ Ministry at our church. Really, I’m just trying to get one started. I’ve been working hard on it since February or so. It has been a great experience and opportunity to connect with more ladies. I’m working to keep it all low-stress by purposefully prioritizing. My family comes first!

I hope and pray that you all are doing well this season. As always you can check in at www.perpetuallywright.com to see what we doing throughout the year.

God bless you all,

Shawna, Michael, Kelby, Tegan and Anika Wright

PS. If you would like a printed version of this eChristmas card, please let me know and I'll send you one!

Surgery Done

Hello there! We are already back home with no more port! We had to get up at 5:30 this morning to get down to Children's by 7:15...but we were still a half hour late because of the bad traffic. They got us right in anyway. Kelby was very brave. She had to walk off with the anesthesiologists by herself this time. She was gone from us for over an hour. When they brought her back she was quite groggy. She had a couple popsicles and then brought them back up...but her tummy finally settled and we got to leave and have some lunch. We were home around 1:30. I think that Kelby will be able to go to school tomorrow because she says she's not in any pain. They gave me lots of medicine, but she hasn't needed any yet.

We are all a bit sleepy. Tegan and Anika stayed the night at Debbie and George's last night so we didn't have to worry about them this morning. At least they didn't have to wake up at 5:30. Tegan got to skip school today too. They have one regular day tomorrow, then a half day on Wednesday and then two days off for Thanksgiving!

We will miss you all for Thanksgiving. We love you all and have LOTS to be thankful for. God bless!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, November is almost half-way gone already. This is such a strange month to me. I find we very rarely have enough pictures taken in November. Not much goes on. I think November and January are resting months after the busy months of October and December. I need to get to planning my December because it is starting to feel stressful. I'm really mentally in full Christmas swing already because of the Christmas musical the girls have been working on and the Ladies' Christmas event that I am working with.

Kelby goes in to get her port removed on Monday the 19th. She doesn't seem too worried about it. We won't know exactly when we'll be going in until Friday. Mike is taking the day off to come with me.

Last weekend I got to go to my favorite women's brunch while Mike did a run. Debbie watched the girls so I could go. I am always refreshed there from hearing other ladies speak about what they've learned in their lives. I wish I could get every lady friend of mine to go...even you guys from out of town! Hopefully we are going to start something similar at our Church in the near future.

The girls have had lots of days off of school this month. They had two half days and a full day off for conferences. Last Friday they had off for Veterans day...which was odd because Veteran's Day was actually yesterday. This week is a full week and then next week is 2 1/2 days off for Thanksgiving.

Mike was gone in Las Vegas last week for a conference. I was lonely, but I got a ton of work done for the church, so I'm glad I got it out of the way while he wasn't here.

Well, I have to go run some errands, so I best be off for now.

Pictures!

We have had a good few weeks. They've been busy, but fun.

Click Here for More Pictures

2007 10 October

I loved my scrapbooking weekend. I didn't have a camera with me, but I was up in the mountains right by a ski resort (that isn't open yet). Right out the huge picture window in the room we were scrapbooking was the beautiful white capped mountain top of Mt. Baker. The leaves were the beautiful colors of Autumn. The place where we normally go sledding was a beautiful lake. It was so beautiful that there were about 30-40 photographers there getting a photo lesson. I got a lot of scrapbooking done as well. I found that I really am losing my mind however. I was scrapping my pictures from college and I came across a whole bunch of pictures of me camping with my floor my junior year when I was an R.A. I don't remember doing that at all! I have no glimmer or spark of a memory of that. Scary!

That weekend Mike took the girls up to a neat campground/park and got some great fall pictures of them.

Then last weekend we went to the pumpkin farm on Saturday. The weather wasn't as nice for that, but we got our pumpkins and pictures at least! Then we carved them into a bunch of cats when we got home. I'm trying to roast pumpkin seeds as I type.

Children's Hospital Yesterday

Howdy! We had a regular check up at Children's Hospital yesterday. Mike went down with me and all the girls. It was a normal appointment with no worries. The doctor is still amazed at how miraculous Kelby's case is. We are happy.

She did say that she thought the risks of leaving her port in are now out-weighing the good it does for her, so we are going to have it taken out in the next few weeks. She'll have to have a real surgery and go under and everything. We've done that enough that I'm not too worried. We just hate to mess with her body when things are going so well.

She'll still have to go get lab draws when we get check ups every three months so she'll have to get poked. I guess we can still put emla (numbing cream) to put on her arm so it won't hurt too much.

It will be nice not to get her port flushed every month.

All is well with us!

Halfway Through October!

The days are going by so quickly. I just realized that there hasn't been any updates all month.

I have been helping a lot at the school. I am supposed to call volunteers whenever they need them. That is hard when the say on Monday, "We need 50 volunteers by Friday." Yikes. It has all worked out though and I feel good about all the parents willing to help if you just give them a call.

The church stuff keeps on trucking along too. I had a meeting on Wednesday night with all the ladies interested in being on the Ladies' Ministries steering team. There were some neat ladies, so I'm getting really excited. Now we are going to start planning for a Christmas event to happen on Sunday, Dec. 2nd.

Oh, yeah...it is about time to start planning for all things Christmas. What do you all want for Christmas this year?

Last weekend we went to Bellingham to watch Michael run his half-marathon. He did really well. There were 1200 people there! He finished in the top 20%. Wow! They ran along the waterfront, so it was beautiful though pretty chilly. There was a coffee shop where the girls and I got coffee and cocoas while we watched.

The girls have started practicing their songs for the Christmas musical in December. They have to rehearse every Sunday afternoon. They seem to like it.

I get to go to a whole-weekend scrapbooking adventure tonight! I get two nights and five meals away up in the mountains. I am so spoiled. It sounds like it is going to be so much fun! I get to sleep this time, so that will be so much more relaxing than the 24-hour scrapbooking I've done in the past. Also, they even have a hot tub and games. Plus I can go hiking. I'll let you know how it goes. Mike is being so generous about letting me go! He's even coming home early from work. I don't know what the girls will do with him, but I'm sure they'll enjoy their time with Daddy.

We went to the Festival of Farms last weekend. We visited four different farms and got to see animals and go on hay rides. It was really fun. There is always so much to do around here in the fall. We'll probably go to the pumpkin farm next weekend. Then Halloween is just around the corner. The girls want to be skunks, but I don't know how to make that costume, so I better get busy.

We saw two racoons in our grapes yesterday morning. Hercules almost got himself killed barking at them. They are pretty fiesty and weren't really scared of him.

Mike has been canning. He has made plum jelly, apple butter, applesauce, and apple syrup (which was supposed to be apple jelly that didn't work out, but it is delicious on waffles!) He's even made some apple candy and apple fruit leather. He's not letting anything go to waste. If the racoons didn't eat them all, he's going to make some grape jelly pretty soon too! He's amazing. I'm glad he likes to do it, because I wouldn't be as motivated and everything would go to waste...like the zucchinis!

Hope everyone else well!...until next time...bye bye.

Walk-a-Thon Today

Tegan and Kelby walked and walked for 1 1/2 hours today! They are pooped. Kelby did 22 laps and Tegan did 37!!! They said Tegan was the top lap walker for her class. I was impressed at how good the kids did out there today. Even Anika was a good girl sitting and hanging out while I helped mark the kids' laps.

Walk-a-thon Pledges

Hello family and friends!

My girls are doing a Walk-a-thon at school this year for fundraising. I'm not even planning it this time! Well, I'm helping, but NOT planning...and that's a big step for me. At least they aren't sending home the catalog for us to buy junk and then the school only gets 1/2 the money. This way the school gets everything.

Anyways, I'm asking for the girls if anyone wants to sponsor them. It doesn't have to be much and it can be per lap or a flat amount. I don't know how many laps they'll be able to do in 1 1/2 hours....10-15 I would guess.

You can email me if you want to make a pledge. You don't have to send any money yet.

Thanks...and no pressure! I should make them ask themselves, but they are still too shy.

I'll write more soon.

Halfway Through September

2007 09 September

September is turning colors now in our morning mist and crisp cool mornings. The afternoons have been warm and sunny. This is my favorite time of year!

I'm looking for pictures to post. We sure have been busy and happy. I can't believe I haven't posted about the first days of school or anything yet!

The week between getting back from Disneyland and school starting was busy for me and the girls. I tried to spoil them a little. They swam at the church pool three times that week and we went out to the beach park in Anacortes one day. It was a nice time for focusing on them before they were gone all day!

That weekend Mike talked me into running with him in a relay race. It was a 2 1/2 mile trip around a lake and each of four team members had to run it once making a ten mile race. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I was mad at Mike about a quarter mile from the end of my loop, but I forgave him by the time I got to the finish line. I went first, so I got it out of the way. I took the longest time, but my teammates made up the difference and we ended up getting a second place ribbon for our age group. Second out of two teams in that group is pretty good right!? I was just proud to have tried. I have never run a race before in my whole life!

The girls started school on the 4th of September. It was Tegan's first time going to school all day and eating lunch at school. She settled right in without a problem. She has teachers that are job sharing. I hope it works out okay. She doesn't seem to mind that one teacher is there on Monday, Tuesday, and half of Wednesday and the other is there the rest of the week.

I was worried about Kelby the first day of school. I miss her teacher from last year. This teacher seemed very quiet and didn't say much to me. However, Kelby came home from school as happy as could be. She seems to like her just fine. I'll talk to her teacher more at open house next week.

Both girls seem to really enjoy school. Anika is lonely without her sisters, but we keep pretty busy. In fact we hardly stay home. I need to work on that. I get overwhelmed always heading into town. I think it will settle down a bit. I'm going to a Bible study at church on Wednesday mornings. Mike's mom is watching Anika for me then. It is really great! I'll be helping at MOPS this year instead of attending. I'll be watching kids. That way Anika can still go, but I am giving back to other young moms. I'm looking forward to that.

I turned 31 on the 6th. It was a very nice day for me. Debbie made me swedish pancakes and all the aunts and great grammas met at her house for a yummy breakfast. Then I got to meet Michael for Chinese food for lunch. My favorite! That night we went to Mike's softball game and then out to Dairy Queen for dessert.

Last weekend Mike took the girls camping all by himself for a night! He took lots of pictures, so they'll have to tell their story. I got to go to my ladies' brunch on Saturday morning and then I painted the girls rooms. Yes...all three in one weekend...plus my laundry/craft room! It was nice to do it without anyone around. We split Kelby and Tegan into their own rooms that first week of school. It is working out really well even though they really didn't like it a first. Getting to choose their own room colors helped.

This week has flown by. Mike is going to run a 15K race tomorrow morning. That is close to 9 miles I think. Yikes! He is amazing. We're not sure what else we are up to for the rest of the weekend.

Hope everyone is doing as well as us. Everyone here is healthy! What miracles!

Pictures!

 

2007 08 Disneyland

2007 08 Fair

Home from Disneyland

We are all home and getting settled back in from our trip to Disneyland. The girls stayed with Gramma and Grampa Wright and had a wonderful time. They didn't seem like they missed us much at all. It was good for them and us!

The Saturday before we left we went to the fair in Lynden. The day was beautiful weather for enjoying cows, chickens, and bunnies. It was a fun family day.

Sunday was the big "event" at church. It went really well and the ladies seemed to be excited about the new plan. They had fun playing a game we called "Mingle Bingo" where each got a bingo card when they came in that had ladies pictures on it. When they found and got initials for five ladies in a row, they won a bingo! The speaking part for me went pretty smooth, but it is always harder than I think it will be. I had practiced a lot, so that helped.

Mike and I left the girls with Debbie on Tuesday morning so we could head to Seattle. We hit the Outlet Mall in Marysville on the way and got a bunch of fun clothes for our trip. We both got Converse hightops! Mike's are bright red and mine are bright orange with butterflies on them. We wore them into Disneyland and everyone thought our shoes were cool! After shopping there we went to Ikea. We found loft beds we want to get for Kelby and Tegan so we can split them out to their own rooms. For dinner we went to Outback Steakhouse down by the airport. We stayed at a hotel there that night because we had to leave at 6:05 am the next morning!

We woke up at 3:30 to get ready to go. Obviously we were pretty tired out by midnight that night! Our hotel by Disneyland was nice. We walked in that first day, but opted for the shuttle the rest of the time. The pictures will be better to illustrate our fun time there, but Mike is still copying them off the camera. I'll post them soon.

A highlight was our dinner on Thursday. It was our actual anniversary. Mike had made a reservation at the Blue Bayou...the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Carribean ride. We had eaten lunch there when we were in Disneyland for our honeymoon, so it was pretty special. It is a pricey place to eat, but the food was fantastic. When we got in there I saw a guy that looked like David Hasselhoff. Guess what! It was him. I even got a picture...while we were trying to decide if it was him or not. He seemed to be a nice guy. He let some people get their picture with him as he was leaving.

We rode lots of rides, saw lots of shows, and ate lots of yummy food. We thought that without the kids we wouldn't need to go back to the room to take naps, but we did...maybe even more so because we could go through the parks so much faster.

Now that we are home I've found that I didn't appreciate part of being away...the not having to cook, plan meals, do laundry, or clean. Now it is time to get back to that real life. I'm glad to have gotten a break. The girls have just one more week of summer so I hope the weather is good so we can go to the church pool everyday! I think I have some more school supplies and clothes to get this week too.

Don't worry...a plethera of pictures will be coming soon!

Some Pictures

2007 August

Just a few pictures. We went to the church pool three times this week! We might be off to the fair today.

Not Doin' Much

Hello everyone! We haven't been up to too much this week. The garage sale went well on Saturday. The girls got about $6 for some of their stuffed animals. I made about $60, so that was fun. The girls actually sold lemonade for "Alex's Lemonade" too. They made about $30 on that! It was a long day, but a good experience although I probably won't do another garage sale in the next five years. The best part was when I took the rest of the stuff that had crowded our garage for the last six month down to Goodwill on Monday morning! The garage is so clean.

Mike ran home from church on Sunday. It was a nine mile run. He is pretty serious and trying to train up for a half marathon (12 miles). It is exhausting to watch. I don't run very often anymore. It is getting dark earlier now.

Three more days until the "big event" at church...and only five until Mike and I head out for Disneyland. I can't wait. It will feel like a well earned break.

School starts only a week after we get back, so I'll have to have lots of fun with the girls that week. Plus we need to get some school shopping done. We've done a little here and there so far.

The girls are getting ready for bed, so I guess I better go read them their bedtime story.

Yikes...no update yet!?

2007 July 2

I'm sorry I haven't updated in August yet. I simply forget sometimes.

The last time I wrote I told you we were going "camping". We did and enjoyed ourselves. We went to Leavenworth, WA. The KOA we stayed at was super packed, but the girls loved the pool they had there. We went and did a little exploring, but mostly they just wanted to swim. We stayed in a cabin there instead of a tent. At least it had air conditioning, but still no bathroom. It was a fun family adventure.

The next weekend we went down to Seattle for the Seafair Fun Run. There where over 2000 runners in that race! Mike did great. It was a real adventure to brave the big city. We found a spot along the parade route to wait for Michael to pass us in the race. It was a 10 K race. We had to wait and wait, so I read a book to the girls. After the race we stuck around for the big city parade which was really neat. The girls liked the big balloons. I liked the differentinternational cultural dancers.

We hit the pool last week a couple times and the big girls were jumping in the deep end without any floatation devices! I guess all that swimming at the KOA got them to feel confident. They're regular swimmers now.

We didn't do much over the last weekend except celebrate Great Grandma Wright's 80th birthday with pie and ice cream!

This coming weekend we are going to have a garage sale on Saturday. I don't hope to sell too much, but the girls really want to do the sale. I think they'll try to sell some lemonade. They also have a few stuffed animals to sell, though they couldn't really part with many.

The days of summer are flying by. I can't believe there are only three full weeks. I've been really working on stuff for Ladies' Ministries lately. We are having a big event on the 19th, so I've been working on that. I have to talk for about 30 minutes at that, so I've been trying to nail down what I'll say and editing the handbook I've been writing. I enjoy it though and that is why time is flying.

After the big Ladies' event I'll get a real treat because Mike and I are going to Disneyland (by ourselves) for our 10th anniversary! Talk about time flying...I've been married for TEN years?!! Wow. They've been a good ten years with a wonderful guy. Wouldn't have wanted to go through it with anyone else but him. It will be so much fun to get away for a few days.

Then I'll come home and get those girls ready for school! They are kind of excited to get back there anyway.

Summer is Flying By!

2007 July

Life is good in our household...besides the fact that I have a major cold anyway. The girls had a great time at day camp last week. They loved the pony rides and magician, the pool and the bounce house...and yes Jesus was there too! I helped in the snack area and had a great time. A small group of kids came in each day and helped us make the snack. Each snack related to the lesson they were learning for that day. Then each day the WHOLE camp came and ate it. I got to share the significance of the snack with them all. I feel bad for those poor souls that had to be there all day with the kids. I was only there for about 3 hours and I was exhausted.

On Saturday Mike ran another race. This one was at a local refinery. They sure know how to wow the public. They had a free 1/2 mile race for the kids and trophies for the top 3 runners in each age group, plus live music and free lunch! The girls all ran and they were SO proud of themselves. We were proud of them too. They had sore legs the next day. Mike got 3rd in his age category so he got a trophy! He is really into these runs now. We are going down to Seattle for one next weekend. He'll be running with thousands! We hope to catch the Seafair Parade that night too. It is a family adventure. Mike's hobbies sure are fun.

We are off on a camping excursion tomorrow. This time we are staying in a KOA cabin though, so it should be a lot of fun. There is a pool. We'll be in Leavenworth, the cute little bavarian tourist town. There should be lots to do.

Besides the cold in my head this week was a little slower for me. We had to drive down to Children's to amaze Kelby's doctor again last Monday. Her counts are great and she doing well. We might have her port taken out in October if all is going well. I did a lot of organizing this week. I love the feeling of getting things back in their places and throwing stuff out that we don't need. Actually I just made a big pile to have a garage sale. I need the girls to sell some of their stuffed animals. They have so many, I don't know what to do!

Hope everyone's July is going great, but not flying by too fast (unless you live in Arizona and want the heat and crazy storms to pass.)

July...and its flying by!

June Photos 2

We are back from our trip and there are tons of pictures to wade through! We are finally rested and readjusted to life at home again. Kelby and Tegan have day camp at Churhc all coming this week, so they'll get tired again! I'll be helping for awhile in the morning there. Then Anika and I will be off looking for things to do.

The trip was great. We relaxed and enjoyed our family. I got to see my sister's new house in Casa Grande one day. The girls had a great time with my parents at the resort waterpark. While they were gone that night my gramma and grampa took Andrea, Victor, Gabe, Mike and I out to dinner at the Pro Base Shop...a HUGE outdoor sports store with restaurant. We had fun and were impressed by the live fish on display and the cool outdoor decor. Plus we got to try Aligator for dinner! It wasn't too bad really. It had the same texture as shrimp.

Mike's Arizona Pics

 

My Arizona Pics

 

Kelby had a great birthday while we were there. How can you go wrong with a "pool party"? Tegan was envious and said, "Can I have MY birthday here next year!?"

The girls swam and swam while we were there...until they wore holes in their toes. Then they just swam with socks on! Mom and Dad took us to a neat restaurant called Rawhide that is in a little "Old West" town. They took the girls to a gun trick show. Tegan was impressed when he shot a balloon over his shoulder by looking in a mirror.

Mom's Arizona Pics

afternoon...back through California. The first night we stayed in Kettleman City. The next day we drove toward San Francisco. We stopped there at Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate bridge. After that we drove the 101 up the coast into Oregon. We saw the Redwood Forest. VERY Impressive! The girls enjoyed it. At 2:00 am we found the only hotel that hadn't closed their front desk in a town called Bandon in Oregon. When we woke up we found we were right on the beach. The timing was perfect because the tide was the farthest out for the whole month. We got to see hundreds of starfish and sea aneomes. After a good breakfast, we continued north stopping at the Oregon sand dunes for an hour and viewing some sea lions from some cliffs. Finally we reached the grand finale of the trip...the Tillamook cheese factory! That was Mike's favorite I think. We walked the tour and bought a bunch of "sqeaky cheese" (the cheese curd) and got the girls some ice cream.

Mike's US 101 Pics

At 11:30 Monday night we pulled into our house. It is always nice to get away, but that makes coming home nice too! We recooperated on Tuesday. Our gardens didn't die, but flourished while we were gone so after a mowing, the yard was beautiful.

Mike ran 5 miles on the morning of the Fourth of July in the Sedro-Woolley foot race. He had a tough time because it was pretty hot out and he hadn't run for the two weeks before. He's into doing the runs now though. He found another to do next week. It gives him the competive edge of running and motivation. It is impressive. I have eased back into running too...though not as far as Michael goes.

After the big parade Debbie and George came over for lunch. The rest of the Fourth was easy going. All we did was take the girls out on the roof for the local firework show. That was fun for them...especially Anika who says at least once a day, "Remember...when we went out on the roof!"

On Friday we had an impromtu cousin birthday party for Kelby. I had told her I would do a cousin campout, but there is just so much going on for them all this month that it wasn't going to work. Instead we went to the "Creek Park" and had a picnic. She was just as satisfied. I'll do the campout in August without a birthday...that will be more equal anyway.

I'm just sure that summer is going to fly by. I hope we can get as much as possible out of it. I'll be working again on the Ladies Ministries now. We'll have an event at the church on August 19th. Lots of ladies are helping me though, so I'm not worried!

To ya'll in Arizona, we had a blast. Thank you so much for taking such good care of us and the girls! They got a little spoiled, but they're no worse for it. We love you all.

From Arizona

We are off in Arizona having a great time in the heat! The girls are swimming all morning and all evening, getting out only for the hottest time of the day to watch cartoons and take a nap. It is HOT!

Our drive was good...no major issues. We drove through the night leaving Washington around 5:00 pm Saturday and got here at 8:00 pm on Sunday night. The girls were so good. Of course, they just watched movies and slept the whole time. How bad could it be? Mike wasn't doing too great and is still sleepy. He's having to go to a seminar everyday.

Kelby's birthday is today. She is EIGHT years old. I can hardly believe. Gramma DeeDee and Grampa took the girls overnight to a resort last night. They were riding waterslides and enjoying a wave pool. I'm sure they'll be exhausted when the get back here.

All is well here. We'll take our time getting home hopefully. I'm going to check if there are any hotels around the Grand Canyon or maybe the beach in California for the way home.

Summer is off to a great start!

Only 6 1/2 days left of school!

You'd think that I was the one having to go to school every day because of how excited I am for summer. I realized that I'm enjoying the end of this school year so much better than the last two years because I'm not heading up a walk-a-thon for the school. It is so peaceful not having to work my buns off! I just get to enjoy all the end-of-the-year festivities like BBQs and fieldtrips.

Mike was gone in Colorado earlier this week for work. I just read a lot in the last week finishing to 500 page books! It has been wonderful and relaxing. Last Saturday we did nothing but lay around the yard. I read and the girls played in the pool. Mike worked in his garden. These are the types of days I look forward to in the summer. Hopefully we have lots of good weather this year.

Hmmmm, not much else has happened since I last wrote. Everything is just going smoothly. I have a meeting tomorrow to get other ladies' opinions on the plans I've made so far for our Ladies Ministries. I'm excited and nervous to hear their input. It was time to put it out there and move forward. You can only think things through for so long before something needs to happen.

We are all looking forward to our trip down to Arizona that is coming up. Hopefully we don't burn up! I'm sure the girls will be in the pool the entire time we are there.

Love you all!

P.S. It has been two years now since Kelby relapsed last..can you believe that!? Wow. Time flies and we are so thankful she is doing so well.

2007 June

May is Almost Gone

I can't believe how fast the weeks pass. I'm looking forward to June and to summer break. The rest of the school year should be fun and easy for the girls. They had a half day of school today, so they spent it in the pool in the back yard. They love that water! It makes being the mom easy too because they are so happy.

After Mom left, I got to work on the patio. I laid 33 bags worth of concrete! I used a mold that made little cobble stones. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I'll upload a picture to my May photos. Now I just need some furniture for it and a fire bowl! The garden and patio make the whole yard seem so beautiful.

Mike took a day off on Friday and went for a hike by himself. He took some nice pictures. On Saturday he planned an "Ultimate Frisbee" gathering at a park. The kids played in the playground while the adults ran around the field like crazy people! We were exhausted by the time we were done. It is a very fun game, but it goes none stop. There were a few stiff muscles after that one! On Monday, Mike took us up toward Canada to a wetlands park. We went on a "hike" as we called it to the girls. It was really a 1 1/2 mile walk, but it was neat because we walked on a boardwalk over the water the whole way. We all really enjoyed it. I think we'll try more hiking this summer. Anika can almost keep up now.

I've been working really hard writing a handbook for the ladies' ministries for our church. I am going to have a meeting in a couple weeks to share my vision/mission with others, so I hope it goes well. It has been a lot of work, but I enjoy it. That is all that I've been doing in my spare time really.

Everybody is healthy and happy right now, so I couldn't be more content. We are planning to take a trip down to Arizona, so the girls are getting excited! It will be hot, but it should be a fun adventure...we're driving!

I've got ironing to do, so off I go. Oh yeah, and dishes too. At least I stalled, if only for a moment. Love and hugs to you all!

May2

Mother's Day and Fun

Wow, I can't believe there are only five weeks left of school. I'm so looking forward to summer time activities with the girls and a little more freedom in our schedule. I'm so tired of having my day chopped up with Tegan coming home at 11 and Kelby coming home at 3. Of course, I'll miss Tegan when she goes to school full days in September, but we'll enjoy our summer days to the full since we won't be on such a tight schedule.

Mom got me so motivated while she was here. She planted a garden for me and helped me prepare a spot for a cement patio. It was hard work, but it was fun mother-daughter time for me and Mom. She's got the green-thumb skills I don't. Now it is all set up to be a low-maintanence garden which is the best for me. I told Mom that this could be her "summer" garden since all her plants die in Arizona for the summer. It looks just beautiful out there. We love this yard in the Spring/Summer.

There was even good weather for Mom while she was here. She was still cold, but at least there was sun and little rain. We gave her a "fake" Mother's Day on Wednesday with breakfast in bed and lunch out. It was nice to celebrate it with her since I don't normally get to.

On Friday after Mom left, I went to an all-day leadership simulcast at my church. It focused on business leadership, but I gleaned some things for the leadership stuff I'm working on for my church. Then on Saturday I gave a workshop on leadership at that Proverbs 31 brunch that I go to. It is that once-a-month ladies brunch...a highlight of my month. Then I got to relax on Mother's Day. The two weeks before were packed full, though not stressful. Now I'm just taking it a bit easy.

I got breakfast in bed on Mother's Day, but I had accidentally found my present the day before. It was a table and chairs for my front porch. Oops. Then we went to church were I got my free box of chocolates! Can't beat that. The weather wasn't so great, so we just hung out and relaxed, which was greatly appreciated.

I've got to get that patio in now, so hopefully I'll be working on that this weekend. I'm excited about it, so I better do it now while I'm still motivated.

May

Mom is Here

My mom came in to town so we are busy. We went to an auction for Children's Hospital on Saturday night. It was a neat event with free food and drinks. My mom and Mike's mom came with me. I gave a five minute talk about Kelby and how much we've used Children's. I was so nervous, but it went well.

Yesterday we had a "fake" birthday for Tegan. We had the family over and all the kids had fun with pinata and cake. We'll celebrate her real birthday on Tuesday with family fun and cupcakes to her class.

We've got to go do some shopping, so off I go!

No News is Good News

Kelby's appointment went great on Monday, besides being long and boring. Her hearing is the same, so that is great. It isn't getting worse. The testing lady said it is possible that just the hearing loss she has could make her spacey when there is a lot of noise, so that could be a part of her distraction problem at school. Her blood counts were normal and the physical exam didn't bring up any concerns.

This was a nice weekend. We worked in the yard (well, Mike worked in the yard and I watched and read a book.) The girls played. We went to the park to fly kites today. The weather was perfect and the girls enjoyed it.

I have to actually clean my house this week since my mom is coming on Friday. Between that and planning a birthday party for Tegan, a 50 minute presentation on leadership, and a 5 minute talk about Children's hospital, I hope I find time to think of what to get my mom for Mother's Day! It might be a busy week, but I'm trying to stay ahead of the game and not get stressed. I guess that means I better get to work on it right now!

Another Week Gone By

The sun has come out for awhile here in the great Northwest. It has beckened us to the outdoors. The girls love to play out in the yard. Mike recently moved the swing set which reminded them that it is there. It was quite the job for him too. He had to dig it out and break up the concrete off the legs. It was in an odd spot in the yard (it was put in by the previous owners), so this will be nice to put it where we want it. He moved it so he could put his vegetable garden in the sun this year, rather than in the shade of a big tree like last year. We should have lots of vegies coming our way! Mike does a great job of tending the garden. Yardwork isn't my strong suit, though I've been working on a small flower garden. I also need to put in a small brick patio and add a ceiling to cover the rafters of our covered patio this summer.

My inside project currently is some stuff for church. I won't go into details, but I'm hoping to facilitate a ladies ministry. I've been reading and writing stuff to help us get a team of ladies working together to run some ladies events. It is very fun for me...and there may even be a website I'll be able to build for it too!

I'm still helping in Tegan's classroom once a week. Her teacher is my new knitting pal. I've had her over a few times. Her daughter is a kindergartener like Tegan and they've made friends. I've been teaching the teacher and her aide how to knit that purse I've been making. They are fun and funny gals that I enjoy!

Kelby's caught up on her sleep now. Her teacher was thinking she was getting spacier, zoning out when she should be working. I think it is "spring fever" and she's tired of school since the same thing happened at this time last year. We've talked to her about how "we should always do the best work we can", so hopefully that will help some. She's very healthy. On Monday we have a checkup at Children's, but I don't expect anything to be out of order.

Anika is just growing and changing. She melts everyone's heart with her sweet manipulation. She's been telling Kelby and Tegan, "Do it..just do it!" So far it is about innocent things like making silly faces or noises, but I'm a little worried about that girl!

Came home today to find the water heater sitting in a puddle of water. Looks like it is time to get a new one. Mike and his dad are working on it right now. I'm actually excited because the old one couldn't fill a whole tub without getting cold! I might be able to take a real bath in the near future.

We are looking forward to having my mom come for a visit. She had to miss her planned trip this month because of the sad and urgent necessity to go to Montana. At least we got to see her there. She is coming out for Tegan's birthday in May.

The weeks of April have flown by. I hope all of you are doing well. Off I go to work in the yard or take a reading break.

Easter Hunt

We had a fun Easter Sunday. The girls were all dressed up for church, but changed for the egg hunting. The weather was beautiful for an out door hunt. Kelby broke down on the way home because she said she "got too much stuff." She was overwhelmed and felt guilty for some reason. I told her to just be thankful instead. She didn't want to go to school this morning either. I guess she needs to catch up on her sleep!

Easter

Oh Yeah..

I also forgot to mention that Tegan lost her first tooth! She was SO proud of herself and would tell complete strangers about it. She has another wiggly one too.

Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs

More Pictures

I found some pictures to post for you. We went to the tulips today. They make nice, cheery photos.

Easter is coming up on Sunday, so hopefully we'll have even more.

The funeral on Tuesday was a beautiful service. So many of our family and friends were there. I think there were even more people there than at our wedding.

We had to leave Billings right after the reception, so we missed out on a Morrow family gathering. I'm so sorry about that. We had to get back because Mike had some major stuff to control at work.

Life isn't really getting back to normal and I don't know when it will, but getting back into a routine after spring break will help. The weather here is beautiful at least and we've been working in the yard.

Love you all.

03-18 George's Birthday

 

Ice Skating

 

Billings

 

Tulip Town

 

Michael has taken some more beautiful scenic shots.

Michael's Pics

My Brother

My brother was killed in a tragic car accident in Billings, MT on Monday afternoon. It is so sad. He was only 26. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I loved him unconditionally and I will miss him. Here are some photos of him. I feel so sorry for his fiance and close friends in Billings and I am thankful that they loved him so much.

The funeral is on Tuesday, April 3rd (11 am) in Billings, MT at Faith Chapel. There is a place on the Billings Gazette obituary where you may view and sign a guestbook if you wish to leave a message.

My Brother

My brother was killed in a tragic car accident in Billings, MT on Monday afternoon. It is so sad. He was only 26. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I loved him unconditionally and I will miss him. Here are some photos of him. I feel so sorry for his fiance and close friends in Billings and I am thankful that they loved him so much.

Brad

This is the link to the Billings Gazette article.

March Photos

March

An Even Easier Way to Post Photos

Click the picture to see our photos. This might be the easiest way yet. Plus, these files are good enough for you to print if you want.

February

Pictures

I might have found an easier way to post my pictures. Visit my "Live Messenger" space that I created. I'm tempted to start using that as my website altogether just because it would be easier. What do you think? I can't make it as cute as this one and I can't save it forever. I'm not sure.

January

Seriously, March Already?!

Where did February go? I can't believe it is already March. Still we haven't been up to too much.

We've officially lived in this house for a year now. I know because we moved on Mike's birthday last year. His birthday this year was lame because I was gone at a women's conference all day. He gave me permission though, so it was okay. At least I made him a cake...and his favorite dinner. Mike isn't a real birthday guy anyway. He's still taking pictures with his fancy camera.

Kelby had a cavity filled today. Her six-year molar that just came up was in bad shape much as her other tooth on that side was. The radiation treatment and maybe chemotherapy did some nasty things to her teeth it seems. Plus from the xray and discussion today, I gather she also has a congenital problem with some missing permanent teeth. The baby teeth will come out when she is about 11 and there'll be no teeth to replace them. This permanant tooth that was worked on today was barely there with little root and there's another that is malformed. Those were due to her treatment and that's all that could be seen on the xrays. He needs to get better xrays done at an orthodontist in the distant future. Kelby did very well in her appointment today, though didn't like the anasthetic and the numb feeling afterward.

Tegan has decided to start reading. She had just taken it upon herself to sound out words. She's made it through some significant books already like "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Morris the Moose". She is so proud of herself and so are we, so that fuels her flame even more. She is much more excited about reading than Kelby was as her age.

Anika is pretty much the same still. Adorable and stubborn. All is well with her right now too.

Nothing much else has happened. We had one gorgeous day this week and we played outside, but it was just a tease because the clouds rolled back in the next day. I'm sure spring with spring soon. Can't wait for it!

Not Much Going On

Not much exciting is really going on with us, which is a very good thing really. We are happy and healthy. The weather has been keeping us inside, but we managed to get out on Saturday to Anacortes. Mike got a new camera and has been learning how to use it. I'll have to post some of his awesome pictures. Some are of us, but many are scenery and nature. He's very good at it and it is a great hobby that gets us all out of the house doing something together.

I've made roman shade curtains for my front room and painted a few more walls. The major decorating projects on my list are almost done. I guess I'll have to graduate to outside decorating (gardening) now that it is almost spring. I have just fallen in love with knitting purses these days. Because I'm using 100% wool, I make a big purse, then put it in the wash on hot and shrink it on purpose. It is called felting! They turn out sooo cute and even have pockets.

Kelby and Tegan had Monday off this week. We went to the mall "park" for them to play. It is nice to have a little play area indoors. Kelby's really too big for it now, but she enjoys it just as much as the littler ones!

I'll be cleaning the house today, so think of me! What fun.

Love you all.

Happy February!

I hear the groundhog didn't see his shadow, so here comes Spring! The weather has settled down here finally and we've even seen some sun. Not over the weekend, of course, because Mike rarely gets sun on his days off, but at least there has been improvement.

Kelby had an appointment on Monday that went well. Her blood counts are great and I wasn't surprised because she seems to be feeling great.

There hasn't been too much exciting going on around here lately. We just keep on truckin' through our days in our happy routine. We are so lucky to have what we have. I'm very thankful for our peaceful days.

The girls enjoy me reading chapter books to them. Each night I read a chapter out of a Chronicles of Narnia book. We are on our fifth one now. I might try Anne of Green Gables when we are through with these. Kelby's reading is really improving this year. She is reading "The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe" on her own now and she's really enjoying it. She has to read 20 minutes four times a week for homework.

Don't really know what else to tell you. All is so well. We are just snuggled in for the winter, but if Spring comes soon maybe we'll venture out and have exciting adventures to write about again!

Videos

Hello there! Mike is much better at this than me, but since he works hard just to get our home videos on DVD, I guess you'll have to settle with web videos from me. Check out the Video page to see them. One is the girls' Church Christmas musical and the other is Christmas Eve opening presents from Gramma and Grampa Morrow.

 

Miracle on Mainstreet

Christmas Eve 2006

Been Playing Video Games

Yes, it is true. I, even I, have been playing video games lately. Christmas brought with it some fun toys that our whole family has been enjoying. Mike and I got the girls some little handheld games called "muichiz". Kelby's is a dog and Tegan's is a cat. They have to play games and "feed" it to keep it happy. It has a cute little color screen and if that isn't enough fun, you can hook it up to a regular computer and your little guy enters a whole world on the web. You can walk around and meet other little characters. It is so much fun...that sometimes I play while the girls are sleeping! I go online and earn them creditz by playing games...then they can buy their little guys clothes and food. It is a great mother-daughter activity!

We also got what is called a Wii. A new Nintendo game system that just came out. It is so hilariously fun. You have a wireless "remote" that you use to control the game that has motion sensing. You move your whole body to play the games. It came with a bowling game that the whole family can play. Kelby and Tegan are quite good at it! We even have had our friends over to play. My body was so sore after the first few days.

Christmas was so wonderful. We were busy, but it was special and fun. We always feel like we over do it, but this year it was just perfect. The girls were very good and they LOVED everything they got. They played and played while they were out of school.

Now school is back in and we are getting back into another routine. Although, it looks like snow is coming again tonight. The weather here has been crazy, especially the wind. We even lost a small section of fence, but nothing Mike can't handle when it warms up.

What all did we do for the holidays? I just realized I didn't update much all last month. There were arts & crafts, events & activities, & family fun. I’ll post the pictures and that should be better than words right?

To celebrate with my friends, I had an “idea exchange party”. I made everyone bring a Christmas idea and I had three craft for everyone to do. There was too much food, but everyone had a good time.

Kelby had a disastrous field trip to the Senior Center. We walked about a mile with 2nd graders from the school to the local center where the kids sang carols as everyone was eating. It would have been great, but the wind was blowing the rain so hard into us that our legs were wet up to our buns! I had Anika and Tegan with me too and they didn’t appreciate it at all. I tried to tell all the kids it was an “adventure”, but really I shouldn’t have let us go. Weird thing was that between about 12 parents and 2 teachers, we didn’t have enough sense to turn around before we left the playground.

That same day was Kelby’s VIP day. Each student in her class to be the VIP for one week out of the year. She got to sit up in front of the class and show off her stuff and answer their questions. I was surprised at how much she enjoyed being the center of attention. She had me bring in our dog Hercules, and she brought her collection of “Cars” stuff. The kids were impressed with her talking McQueen racecar. She had been waiting all year for her moment.

One day the girls made gingerbread men with Gramma Debbie and the cousins. The girls and I did lots of other things for our advent calendar too like a Christmas tea party, baked cookies, made thank you cards and made a gingerbread house. All the fun traditions are really what I love about the Christmas season. We had our annual ornament party this year. The kids made their gifts and we delivered them to the retirement home. This time the kids asked if they could sing too. The twelve or so kids we had were impressively in tune. We also made it to the “Lights of Christmas” again. I enjoy that evening so much because I don’t have to do any work, but just get to enjoy!

You are right Mom, the girls did really enjoy opening the package you sent and putting all those gifts under the tree. They appreciated all the gifts everyone sent! Gigi, they really love the sweaters you guys sent. They are perfect and they wear them almost everyday! We miss all you guys that don’t get to be here with us on Christmas, but we love you and were thinking about you!

We got to go sledding on Christmas Eve this year. Remember, there was no snow on the mountain last year that day. This time all the cousins came up too. It really started snowing on us while we were up there, but it was fun. Exhausting, but fun! We came home and after a nap, enjoyed a fondue dinner (well, I enjoyed the dinner even if no one else quite appreciated it), then opened presents from all the Morrows. Since the girls are a little older now we decided to try the Christmas Eve service at church. That was always one of my favorite things growing up. Though our church’s service is a little more flamboyant than most Christmas Eve services, it still served the purpose of drawing our attention back to the real reason we celebrate. I hope we get to do that every year from now on.

Those sleepy girls crashed right away when we got home, only to wake up bright and early the next morning. We opened Santa’s presents right away and then had our Christmas breakfast. Though we made them take the present opening slower this year, they didn’t seem to mind. They played with each thing as we went. Mike and I really enjoyed our morning.

When we were done, we went over to Debbie and George’s to spend the rest of the day with the cousins, open more presents, and eat too much! We played a little poker, but didn’t win the can of “Silly String” we were betting on!

My favorite day of the Christmas holiday is the day after Christmas. That was the day we relaxed and did nothing, but play with our new toys. I even took a hot bath that day. We got to eat up all the yummy leftovers and drink lattes from the new espresso machine Mike got me!

The next week was pretty relaxing. I tried my hardest not to do anything…except play with the girls and their online pet game! Then one day as I was shopping for cheap Christmas wrapping paper, I unexpectedly stumbled upon the Wii Nintendo Game, which I mentioned earlier, on the store shelf that had been impossible to find before Christmas. Since then, we’ve been playing that together as a family.

Then I had my annual Prime Rib dinner on New Year’s Day. We postpone Anika’s birthday from December 28th until then and make it special. She doesn’t seem to mind. She is now three years old (and potty trained I might add)! The family came over for dinner, cake, and bowling!

That pretty much rounds out what we have been up to. I hope you’ll forgive me for not updating until now. I guess we’ve been pretty busy…in a good way…enjoying each other, relaxing, and loving on others. I can only hope your holidays were as good as ours.

		December 2006 - Part 2 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL