Planned Parenthood Documentary

Frustration! For some reason I can't embed the trailer. Just click here.

Spider Man, Spider Man...

I'm having such a happy summer! The weekend was just fantastic, so I'll give you the run down.

Friday I was supposed to head down to Vancouver with Marc to see some friends of mine that I haven't seen in a very long time and was very disappointed when that trip was cancelled, but as things tend to happen, it worked out nicely. Since Marc and I had extra time to spare, we spent the afternoon down in Seattle getting ready for the Diamond Dash we are playing in this coming Saturday. I'd love to invite you to play with us, but I'm really trying to cut down on my competition. I've even been practicing my rain dance in hopes that some people won't show up, even if it is Seattle. :) jk, but really..20,000 dollar ring, I'll go ahead and thank you not to get in my way pretty please. Lucky for me, I have a super duper boyfriend who headed over to Bellevue Friday morning to pick up an advanced secret clue: Where can you find the Port of Seattle, the European Union, and Canada all in the same building? I'm pretty sure this competition is going to be scavenger hunt style, so this must either be the first clue or maybe, I hope, we are getting even more of a head start!? We are pretty sure we have nailed down the location, but feel free to give us your best guess just in case. :) And say a prayer for us that we have a safe run around Seattle please! We'll see some of you at Caroline and Christian's wedding after. Hopefully I'll be wearing a fat diamond, but it will probably be the only time. I think it would probably be irresponsible to keep such a large rock when there are bills to be paid and other young adult life changes to come. (However, I wouldn't mind some of the money going towards a ring...a girl can hope, right? Ok, ok, I'll stop.)

Also worth noting: Marc found out that we were the first team to enter the competition when he went into Marci Jewelry to get our clue. :) He went close to opening time so we may have also been the first to get the clue. It just makes sense that we will be first to get the ring, right!?

Saturday Marc and I got up bright and early to head down to Stevenson/the area of Oregon across the river from Stevenson. I'm not really sure what town it was, but it was tiny. It was really fun seeing Nick fresh off the trail. Apparently he really smelled (his mom wouldn't even give him a second hug), but I didn't notice too much. We hung out down by the river with his parents, his uncle who had been hiking a few days with him, and a couple of other friends. It was such a beautiful area, the weather was just right, and the river was perfect! I had so much fun swimming around with the guys amidst such awesome scenery. I am blessed! Nick's parents got a hotel for the night and so we were able to hang around most of the evening. I'm hoping we can catch Nick on the trail one more time before he gets to Canada. Either way, go Nick!! 3 more weeks!

Nick pretending to bathe in the river...well, kind of. :)

Marc, Nick, Zach

Riverboat. :)

Crossing from Oregon into Washington. Yea Nick!

Beautiful. I love living in the Northwest.

The guys saying goodbye. Aaaw.

One last picture with Nick.

On our way back up North, we made a late night stop in Olympia at Brent's. I haven't seen him for awhile and Marc has never really hung out with him. They had only met once a before Marc and I started dating. I had only recently met Marc, so he was new to the group and pretty quiet. Since Brent was my best friend in college, this was a shame and needed to be rectified. I was happy they were both able to meet each other again and that we all had a good time. I always enjoy meeting people that are important to Marc and Marc meeting people that are important to me. It was a great way to top of the day. We played out on the lake going a whopping 5 mph. Silly late night rules! And then spent some time catching up, reminiscing, and watching Brian Reagan videos on you tube. :)

On the boat.

Aarrrrr.

Sunday started off with lots of sleep since I wasn't home until about 4 in the morning. Yikes! I'm thankful for 5 pm Mass, even if I do prefer going in the morning. The evening was potluck night, which was a little bit less of a potluck and more of my dad ordering pizza. Still fun. We played some cards and enjoyed the company.

Jaden finally enjoying a brownie. He had to leave after we put them in the over on Friday. Poor kid.

In case you wondered, he liked it.

Jaden and Marc playing a game I invented: Spider Man. :) I'm too short to play!! Or maybe I could be spider man....hmmm....

7 Quick Takes - Vol. 6

1. I tried something new this week: going to bed early. It worked out great Monday night! I was in bed by 8:00 and about 10 minutes later on Tuesday. That was the start of my downhill spiral. I was on the phone with Marc the second night and then got a call from Julianna. When all was said and done it was close to 11:00 when I went to bed. The good news is, I am honored to be a bridesmaid in Juje's wedding in a few weeks! :) But I digress... I can't remember why I was up late Wednesday night, Thursday I babysat, and we'll see how tonight goes. I still need to get my work out in. Monday night was so wonderful that I think I will try again next week. I'm shooting for two goals: getting sleep and waking up early for morning prayer. Try, try again!

2. Another thing I tried out this week was focusing more on the Sunday gospel. I'm going to try to read each gospel mid-week, Sunday, and again a couple of days later. I think to really live out the gospel, I need to make it a greater focus in my week.

3. BfL has gone well again this week...as long as I work out tonight. :) It's nice to be back on track and even nicer to step on the scale and at least realize you haven't lost your hard work, just a bit of time. :) I went ahead and cancelled my gym membership. I had to pay for my last month when I signed up, so I'll be living up the elliptical until the end of September. After that, I better get used to running again. I'm looking forward to working out at home, using everything I have accumulated, and saving a bit of extra money!

4. I was happy to see the sun peeking out again this week. I was able to get to the park a couple of times with the kids, despite tonsils being removed, and some pretty sick other kids. :( They have all been such troopers this week though and everyone is back up and running. Thursday was especially great because my sister came up to Seattle for a play date! Riley stayed in the shade and I ran around with the kids in the spray water toys. So much fun!

5. This afternoon Jaden and I made brownies. :) I definitely like cooking with little kids. Here are some pictures:














































6. Tomorrow Marc and I are heading down to Oregon to meet his best friend Nick on the Pacific Crest Trail. He is about to cross into Washington via the Bridge of the Gods. For those of you unfamiliar with the trail, it runs from Canada to Mexico. He has been hiking solo from the beginning and will continue through until he reaches Canada. Crazy! This will be our chance to give him support and encouragement as he gets closer to his goal which is an incredible feat. I'm pretty excited to see him! Here is his blog if any of you interested in hearing about his journey.

7. I came across an anonymous quote in Rediscovering Catholicism today that I really liked. It was speaking to leadership or more specifically, servant leadership. It may be the military girl in me that likes it so much :) but I do believe it can be applied to leadership in any role.

I submit to you that leaders will never be more or less than their soldiers' evaluation of them. This is the true efficiency report. From most of your troops you can expect courage to match your courage, guts to match your guts, endurance to match your endurance, motivation to match your motivation, esprit to match your esprit, a desire for achievement to match your achievement. You can expect a love of God, a love of country, and a lot of duty to match your own. They won't mind the heat if you sweat with them, and they won't mind the cold if you shiver with them.

You see, you don't accept the troops; they were there first. They accept you. And when they do, you'll know. They won't beat drums, wave flags, or carry you off the drill field on their shoulders, but you'll know. You see, your orders will appoint you to command. No orders, no letters, no insignia of rank can appoint you as a leader. Leadership is developed within yourselves; and you'll get stronger as you go.

7 Quick Takes - Vol. 5

1. Last weekend was all about my best friend Julianna. We celebrated her and her upcoming marriage with a girls get away on Bainbridge Island. It was so nice to be away from the usual pace of life, to relax, have fun, and enjoy good company. Julianna has been my best friend since 1st grade and I was so happy to throw her a bachelorette party that would be just right for her. We had home pedicures with my Sensaria stuff, amazing meals (we competed for the cheapest, best meal!), watched some fun movies, walked on the beach, and did a lot of just plain hanging out.

w/ Julianna

Pedis!

w/ Amy at the beach

One of our super yummy meals!

Julianna changing her nieces diaper. Totally normal thing to do at your own bachelorette weekend. I love being Catholic. :)

2. Body for Life has pretty much gone out the window the last two weeks. I'm not sure where all of my time has gone. I'm disappointed. I'm not 100% sure if it's better to let life happen with out forcing things sometimes or if I just didn't make enough effort. I do know I'm one tired gal right now though! As it turns out though, I'm not really tied to this 12 weeks and can keep going. That's the good news. Hopefully I will have a better report next time.

3. I've been very blessed chairing the Respect Life Committee at my church because I get to work with so many amazing people. I'm definitely learning in this new role and some work to do, but I see God is so many things.

This week I was especially touched by how profound God's love and plan is. I was prayed over a few months ago and during this time two (almost) saints were mentioned. One was John Paul II and after some reflection and prayer, I've seen the connection between myself and him through the importance of Theology of the Body. I'm still not sure what deeper meaning or role he may have in my life, but I was pretty sure I at least knew the basic reason he was mentioned. The second person was Mother Teresa and I had absolutely no idea what my connection with her was. I love her, I think she's great, but I don't feel I have a more special relationship with her than other saints, I don't do a lot of work with the poor, etc. She was mentioned and quoted in an email I received this week from one of my committee members and it was suggested that she be the patron of our group. I was immediately struck and remembered being prayed over. I know it may seem silly and like not a very big deal, but it was one of those moments that you can feel the Holy Spirit. I think it was partly meant to encourage me and give me confidence in my role. I'm a bit intimidated being in a new role, working under a priest I don't know very well yet, and also being the youngest member of the committee that has some pretty amazing people. Talking to Marc about everything going on in emails that day, I realized that I was shaking. I just felt so loved. There was a sense of anxiousness, but a peaceful anxiousness. So maybe more of an excitement, but still not quite knowing how things were going to work out. It's beautiful to see how even the smallest part of God's plan is unfolding, and how he can strengthen you when you need it most, through a process that started three months prior. I just love our Lord, I love the communion of Saints, and I love being part of the Catholic Church.

4. Here are a few pictures from Marc's birthday "party":

After the concert we went to at the beach.

Marc and his cake with one of the few candles in my house. You may also notice the old hamster and be wondering if Marc is 50? Or maybe you are just wondering why it's there? Either way, let me explain. My mom threw my dad a surprise birthday party for his 50th birthday and it was one of the silly gifts I got for him. It has a little hamster happy birthday song that it sings (not the normal happy birthday song). My dad actually thought it was a recording of my voice. I'm not sure if that is a put down or a compliment, but it made me laugh at the time. Anyways, for the last 6 years, it is played for everyone in my family on their birthday. My dad especially likes to play it over the phone or wake you up with it. I thought it was great he brought it out for Marc too. :)

Blowing out his candle!

Marc and his cake. I didn't have anything to write on the cake with except green gel food coloring. Our mouths were very green.

5. Thurs. night, Marc's actual birthday, I was at a meeting planning this year's high school convention. (Please feel more than free to pray for those of us planning this year's event. Maybe pray NOW. We still have a lot to do.) Afterwards, I should have gone straight to bed, but I hung out with Marc instead. We moved some stuff against the walls in his room and tried to teach ourselves to fox trot with the help of some you tube videos. I had so much fun! If anyone knows how to dance, will you teach us? :) Pretty please.

6. Marc and I picked blackberries down the street from my house tonight. I like to think I'm kind of tough, but it turns out I'm kind of a sissy sometimes. Picking berries is kind of gross. I didn't think it was until I went to pick a berry and what seemed liked 25 ants came crawling out of it. YUCK! And as if that weren't enough, I ended up standing on an ant hill. AAH! Icky, icky, ICKY!! At the end, I stopped whining and realized I was still having fun. I should get over myself a bit quicker next time.

After the picking fun/scariness, Marc and I made three pies! We made one blackberry pie and two frozen blackberry-lemon chifon pies. We only intended to make one of the latter, but some how we had enough pie for two, so we had to quickly whip up another crust. Good thing that one just called for a graham cracker crust! I can't wait to taste them!! Mmmm. :)

7. Eleanor (3), one of the children I watch, had her tonsils removed today. Poor thing! She was so excited to leave for the hospital this morning even though it was 5:30 AM. She obviously didn't really know what she was getting into and so I'm sure it seemed like kind of an adventure. I was told she did very well at the hospital. When she got home, she was pretty tired and still a bit drugged up. She just wanted to sleep on the couch. So cute. Please say a prayer for her speedy recovery and for her parents!

Another Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Marc!! God bless you today and in your 25th year of life!!

We had a fun time celebrating last at Des Moines Beach Park. We went to one of their free summer concerts, ate some ice cream sandwiches, and played cards on our blanket. It was great! Afterwards, we ate some lemon cake with lemon frosting. (Marc's favorite is lemon. ;) Lucky for me, eh!?) My parents joined us in the cake and singing festivities, which I was very happy about because last year I was singing solo. I'm sure Marc was happy about it too. Let's just say you don't want me joining your church choir anytime soon. :)

Happy 31st Anniversary, Mom & Dad!!

My mom and dad are celebrating 31 years of marriage today!! Thank you both for your commitment to each other and our family. You are wonderful parents and I love you very much. May God bless your marriage for many more years to come!! Yea Mom and Dad! :)

Here are some pics (I think I've shared them before, but I still really love them!):


And some family pics too! The fruits of their marriage...

With their three grandchildren (and Stacey too):

And a family picture from June 2008 taken on Father's Day:


I love you!!

No Quick Takes For You!!

Hello, hello!

I was planning on doing my 7 Quick Takes, but I'm at a house in Bainbridge for the weekend throwing my best friend a Bachelorette weekend and the internet is sloooow and I'm getting frustrated. So just a quick hello because guests are arriving soon. :)

Have a great weekend!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Stacey and Perry! May God bless your relationship and family for many, many more years to come!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!!

Happy Birthday to you dear Mom!! I love you :)