Ike Kinswa State Park

Miss Spontaneous "AKA: Abby" and I decided the other morning that is was going to be too nice of a day to sit inside and clean up. So we decided to pack up the car, grab our girls and head out for the weekend for a nice relaxing camping trip. We had no idea this would turn out to be one of our favorite camping spots. After searching through my Camping in Washington State book for nearly an hour we finally found a place that wasn't three hours away; Ike Kinswa State Park. On our drive down we soon realized we were sitting on a lake surrounded by Mnt Rainer, Mnt St Helens and Mt Hood; it was amazing. It was a truly beautiful atmosphere and lucky for us a few people did not make the trip this weekend, so we ended up with a Premium camp site right on the water. We took the girls for a swim and tried to soak up as much rays as we could before setting up camp. Kaya got to swim her little heart out and teach Skylar how to find rocks in the water. After we got our tent up we headed off to the store for more beer, came back and cooked a few dogs on the grill. Nothing like a beautiful day, hanging out with a good friend and kicking back a few cold ones around the campfire while we shared stories all night. What a way to relax while the guys are away. This is definitely a place I will be bringing Christopher back to and next time we will be renting a jet ski! :) All in all a great weekend, they weren't lying when they called the Pacific NW God's country, it is truly a beautiful sight to see.

Hot days

When I first moved to Seattle I thought it was strange that No one had air conditioning, after asking around everyone said, "We are just fortunate enough to have beautiful summers, no humidity, average of 79 and breezy, cool nights so that you don't need an air conditioner."
Well, they were wrong; we are now going on I don't know how many days of unbearable heat, with no air conditioning! And it may not be as humid as my fellow southern states, but we did have another huge thunderstorm last night--which is a rare thing to see out here and my hair looks like dog, so I know we have some humidity. Needless to say I am trying to learn the Washingtonian way of closing my windows at the right time of day to block the chilly air in, cool temperature of 74 degrees and prevent the heat from taking over. I am living with fans all around me and if think its not that bad...I went to Walgreen's for 2 hours last night to print off pictures from my Cd's just to get cool, on a Saturday night--can we say pathetic. I guess that is what you do around here. Well, I am off to host Jody's baby shower and drink some Ice cold Lemonade. Take care and enjoy the air conditioning, to those of you that have it.

2 months down

This is a classic picture of our good friend--Shaun. We love you and are so proud of you. Thank you.

Well after a busy weekend I quickly realized we are two months down; yeah! Getting by--day by day. :) I get my stitches out on Tuesday and then I have a splint to wear for the next 4 weeks, the arm feels good, just itches like mad. Physical therapy starts on Wednesday, so we will see how that goes. I will be glad to wear my ring on my left hand again! Our good friend Shaun is projected to walk by October, which is excellent news; Shaun and Nickie seem to be coping very well. I am so proud of him and for what he stands for, it gives all a lot of hope and pride to be an American. I guess when millitary becomes your life you quickly realize how much people take things for granted. We are a very lucky country and I am honored to be a military wife. I love you Christopher Todd!

Life...

My handsome husband sent me an updated picture--Life is a very funny thing one day you are on top of the world and then the next you are trying to figure out what the hell did I do to deserve this. We are all given different degrees of challenges and I think I have had my fair share the past month and a half. With Christopher deploying I was eager to lose myself in my work to make the days go by faster and after one month of him being gone I broke my arm playing soccer. Here I am laid out on the couch recovering from my surgery and thinking I had it rough with a broke arm and then we were informed that one of our very close friends was injured by an IED in Afghanistan. He is doing well and has been re-located to Germany and should be home relatively soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. My point of today's message is when something goes wrong sit back, take a breath and realize it could always be worse. God will never give you more than you can handle. Just breathe. Keep your head up and be strong.