A Day of Remembrance

Ryan took today and tomorrow off as bereavement leave. He wanted to go out into "nature" to think about Grandma and to spend a day doing things she would like. We called his brother and asked his family to come along also. So our two families drove up north a bit to go to a state park to spend the day together.

Here is everyone looking at the river from a lookout point.

We walked some paths and had fun at the park. The kids loved the nature. I think we walked over 3 miles, which is something for an old gal like me. Did I mention it hit 90 degrees today also. It didn't feel so bad because we were in the shade a lot.

This climb up these stairs kicked my butt, but the kids liked it.

I think this tunnel under the road was the kids' favorite part of the walk.

After our long walk, we went to a 50's type drive in diner. We ate really good burgers and had big malts in our car. The only bummer is that it was a little too hot to eat in the car. We had a lot of fun though. (Should I tell how you cheated Eric by turning on your air conditioner in the car while eating?)

We ended our day with a round of mini-golf. Everyone had a fun day today just hanging out together.

In Loving Memory

Ryan and his Grandma J

Our dear Grandma J. passed away yesterday. She was a wonderful, selfless, caring woman that loved her Grandchildren and Great-Grandchildren more than anything. I adopted her as my grandma 12 years ago when we got married and she has loved me just as much as her biological grandchildren. She will be missed by so many people. Nothing I could ever write would do her memory justice.
Please pray for Grandpa, they were married for over 50 years, and he will be lost without her. Please pray for Ryan's dad and uncles as they mourn their mother and for their families.

Grandma J with her great grandchildren

Behind the Times

I have become addicted, but later than everyone that I know. With the movie release of Sex and the City, I found out how many of my close friends watched the show and loved it. I had never seen an episode in my life and imagined it as some hour long drama about loving and losing. Then when Ryan was on a business trip I stayed up late one night and caught a rerun. I never laughed so hard. I thought "wow, I'm really missing out on a good thing here". The entire week he was gone I watched reruns from the middle of the seasons and still loved it even though I didn't know all of the characters. Well, now I began renting the seasons and Ryan is watching the series with me. We are almost done with Season 1 (I'm sure we'll find time to finish it today because I am an addict.) Why didn't anyone force me to watch the series earlier?

The Big 4-0

I know that I just turned 39, but I'm a planner especially when it is planning something fun. I want to do something fun for my 40th birthday with my girlfriends near and far. I thought about going to a spa in Montana or something, but I've decided on a spa vacation in MN. (My out of state friends can still come and stay for the week, that would be fun). My best idea so far is a weekend here, but I am more than willing to take suggestions. So girlfriends, plan on a weekend of pampering somewhere next summer.

Adoption Update

This adoption update is not about our adoption, but it does help us think about the future of ours. My bloggy friends recently got a referral for a cute little boy. We are very happy for them because they are great people and will make wonderful parents.
Besides our happiness for them it does in a way effect our lives. The timespan between their approval of application in the Phillipines and the referral is how this event relates to us. They waited just over nine months. Today is 6 months for us. Although we haven't really kept track of the months because the thought around the virtual water cooler is one to two years between approval and referral. So, if the times are quicker than we realized we need to start thinking differently. This is great news that it could happen sooner, but we have not even started preparing our house for additional children and we are still trying to save the funds. I can't even say it is bittersweet because there is really no bitter. We just had it in our minds that it would be years and it may be sooner and we need to get moving on our projects.

Wordless Wednesday-Back to School Supplies

Back up and running

Today this came in the mail! I am so excited to be back on line again. Needless to say my horrible week a few weeks ago is all better. I have a new computer, Liam got his stitches out, my windshield is fixed and I finished my paper. Now I have to try to figure out the new toy and the boys think that I need to share it ;) I have so much to share with you!

My Week in Review

My to-do list for past week:

1)Call insurance and repair shop to get windshield replaced in (brand new) minivan:2)Say good-bye to Ryan for the week as he left for a business trip:

3)Find someone to fix my broken computer (of course it broke the morning Ryan left for said business trip and he knows all the computer geeks):

4)Take Liam to Urgent Care and dentist due to golfing injury (some other kid's golf club met his face during class):(a poor Liam picture to be added after computer gets back)

5)Finish a research paper that I was paid to write (due on Friday, but on broken hard drive of above said computer):

Technical Issues - Again

Blog posts may be intermittant at best for the foreseeable future as our home computer may have died this morning. We will know more in a few days, but for now the computer will not boot up and gives the same file "missing or corrupt" error whenever we turn it on.

Just wanted to let everyone know.

We are Home!

We made it and I want to write a lot, but so much to do here. I have a lot of stories and pictures to post. Thank you to everyone that entertained us along the way.

Day Ten

This day recaps parent adventures separate from children's because we left the kids behind with Grandpa and Karma.
We had a great day in Portland. I started the day with some local garage sales (didn't find anything that I wanted to carry 2000 miles home though). Then we had some of Ryan's high school friends come over to visit. They have a really cute 9 month old baby, just makes you miss the babies. We were at the best restaurant ever, it had great service and the price was really cheap and great homemade food. (Thanks again Bri and Mel for being such great hosts to us and our friends!) Then it was off the the wedding. It was great to see Scott get married, he looked so happy. We made some new friends there since we didn't know anyone at the wedding. Then we went back to the house in Portland and the hosts were out buying a kiddie pool, so we just sat around in the shade. Too bad it was over 100 degrees that day and they set a record high, we were almost sold on moving to Portland. The evening ended with the best milkshake I have ever had in my whole life from here and some good conversation.
The kids had a great day also. They were in a local parade and they loved throwing out candy. Then they helped with Karma's garage sale all day (Liam loves to make money). I'm sure they were spoiled a bit also knowing the grandparents. All the pictures will be included later due to computer problems.

Day Nine

This is a boring day for blogging and experiencing, so I won't keep you. I packed up in the morning while Ryan was golfing (he didn't beat anyone that day). Then we transferred children to other grandparents' home and left for Portland. As we drove past the mountains, Ryan kept telling me to take pictures, but I don't think that pictures taken through a dirty window at 65 mph would be that exciting, so I used someone else's picture to do it justice.