Justin's ceremony after Sea Cadet Boot Camp

Justin with Lance Corporal Jones.

Nana, Justin, and Papa after the ceremony.

Eddie, Justin, and Me :0)

Can you see Justin? Hint: he's behind a girl cadet. The guy in black is from the Canadian Sea Cadets. They called him "Frenchie"

Justin's Sea Cadet Boot Camp August 09

Justin has been SO excited all year for this time to come. Boot camp at Fort Lewis with the Sea Cadets. Eddie and I, of course, are excited for him but also are missing him SO much this week. We know that he's having a blast though and can't wait for our "one phone call home." It can't come too soon for us :0) We love you Justin and are praying for you this week.

Justin with his Sea bag that he had packed for 2+ weeks.

The camp is on Fort Lewis in old World War II barracks. Boy are they run down. The have the bunk beds just like you see on the movies :0)

Justin coming out after changing into his dress whites.

Close up before going off to get signed in.

Leavenworth Pictures

This camping trip was so much fun!!!

We did a lot of playing in the water.



We walked to town on the hottest day (102F in the shade) and had Mexican for dinner.

This is the field between the KOA and Safeway.

The best thing about camping. Eddie cooks everything!!!

Justin beating us in a game of Uno Spin.

FAMILY TIME IS THE BEST!!!!!

Leavenworth or Bust

I'm so excited and have a busy day ahead of me getting things ready to leave tomorrow for Leavenworth. I'm excited for the fun. I'm excited for the pictures. I'm excited for the rest and relaxation. I'm excited for the time with Eddie and Justin.

Lake Conner Park River Park July 19th

Eddie lounging in the sun.

Jumping in.

Playing in the water.

Floating down the river.

Playing in the tube.

Newhalem July 18

Suspension bridge that leads to trails. We didn't walk the trails this time, but will be back.

Love the clouds and look at the Blue sky!!!

Choo Choo!!!

Wishin' he was fishin'

Don't know what this is but it's cool so a picture was taken next to it.

Memorial Day Parade- Mill Creek

Justin getting ready for the parade.

Justin with Cadet Jones getting ready for the parade.

Commanding Officer Sketchley with the guys that are going to do the Color Guard.

Justin with Papa.

Several Color Guard groups.

It's OFFICIAL

I'm officially a licensed RN, yay!!!

Footloose Video from Candle-lighting

Here's the video that was played after our photo slideshow at our Candle-lighting. One of our classmate's husband edited and put together this footloose video that was played at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO-UBnmEIBI

Candle-Lighting

Well, the time has finally come. I'm officially done with my precepting and the only thing that I have left is Candle-lighting and that's on Tuesday, March 17th at 6pm (yup, St. Patrick's Day). I did my precepting at Cascade Valley Hospital and plan on applying there and Skagit Valley Hospital. We'll see what plans God has for me now :0)

Whatcom Falls Friendship walk- March 7th

We went on a friendship walk with our walking group to Whatcom Falls. We got snowed on when we were almost to Bellingham this day but by the time we were walking, we had nothing but sunshine until we were almost back to our car then it started snowing again.

Justin saluting the camera.

Papa helping Justin adjust his hat.

Eddie adjusting his coat. It was getting a little warm since we'd been walking 3 miles already with 3 more to go.

Picture of the Day

Today was my first day of Nursing 203, my last quarter before becoming a RN....yay.

My picture of the day is of the only snow that's left from our Christmas snow.

New Year's Day

Happy New Year (2009 already) everyone. They say that what ever you do on New Year's you'll be doing all year. Well, for the second year in a row, we decided that we wanted to do one of our hikes/walks on New Year's Day. We were going to go up to Rockport and take pictures of all the eagles along the river....but, the closer we got, the more snow on the ground. We decided that we'd had enough of the snow and turned around to walk in Anacortes. Enjoy the pictures.

Mom, Dad, and Justin

Hi Justin.

That's not a good hiding place Dad. I can still get your picture.

This poor little bird didn't look too good. He almost looked like he had a layer of oil on him. In the marina you could see a layer of oil on parts of the water!

Snow Day for the whole family

Snow Day 2008

The second best thing about Winter as a kid is a snow day....yay, no school and just play. Well, I still love the first day of snow while there's snow on the ground. Now that I'm an adult, I don't like it when it turns to ice and the hill that we live on holds onto that ice for several days later. If you tell me that we're going to take a hike/walk, then I'm there. Next Christmas, I want my family to get snowshoes (Hint, Hint Babe). I've recently seen where they have guided tours too. Fun, Fun!!! Justin and I decided to take the sled and we were going to go down the big hill of Montecello. A couple days ago when it snowed, they had that side closed down. We were hoping that it was closed down today so we could play, but it wasn't. We walked all the way to the top the the hill though and saw one car struggling to come up it (it's SO steep, yikes). We were able to find a hill that Justin was able to sled/snowboard down.

Capitol Volksmarch in Olympia

Well, it's officially the first day of my month off and I have to cram all the fun that I can into it before it time to hit the books again. So, today we went to Olympia for a Capitol Volksmarch. It was a lot of fun and didn't start until 3pm. The walk took us into the Legistlative building. It was beautiful both inside and out. One thing that I love pictures of is the architectural designs of buildings. The inside of the building was marble floors, walls, ceiling, steps, etc. Wow. Then the walk took us through town and to the waterfront with there was a parade of Christmas lights on yachts. Some people went all out. It was another 10k (6.2 miles) walk and it was a lot of fun but it's always nice when done too :0)

After our final of Nursing 202

Nursing 203

Well, today was my final and I passed. It's bittersweet though because my good friend and study partner didn't. I am very sad about that. But, God is going to work big things in her life and she deserves it after the year she's had. So I'm onto my last quarter (preceptorship) in the nursing program.

my day

Ok, just to describe my day in a few words....I think that I found my niche in nursing. I want to be a hospice nurse.

Hospice

My outside experience for my 5th quarter of nursing is Hospice. In the beginning of the quarter, we were told that we had the option of going around with a Home Health nurse or a Hospice nurse. My first thought when I heard that was that I was DEFINITELY signing up for the Home Health day because I have a tendency to wear my heart on my sleeve. You know, it's funny how it doesn't go by my plan....but Gods. Well, God decided that I should go with a Hospice nurse. We were told that we were going to sign up for Hospice since it's in Skagit and our clinicals were at Skagit Valley Hospital. Ok God, I know you have big plans for me :0) Well, my Hospice clinical experience is today and I have to say that I'm looking forward to my day. I think that as a nurse, I have a different light because I'm in the role of helping people. Helping them to not be in pain and helping them in any and all ways that I can. Hopefully that makes since.

Pacific Fabric Class

Mom and I signed up for a "knitting club" at Pacific Fabrics. We go once a month on Friday night to Pacific Fabrics in Everett for 1 year. We work on one project from 101 Designer one-skein Wonders each month. September was a lacey hat (learning lacing), October was a pair of mittens with cable stitching (I like cable stitching), and November was a monster bear or a bowl (learning the concept of felting). It's been a lot of fun and since it's a one-skein project, so far I've been able to finish the projects.

Nursing 202

Well, today is my first day of my 5th quarter of nursing school. I've had a really good Summer. I mostly played in July and then in August I did a lot of overdue items at home. We painted our house, went through a lot and took several trips to Goodwill, etc. Now, it's that time again. I'm a little nervous this morning, mostly of the unknown but knowing that it's a little bit harder this quarter. I'm also feeling this way because I know that my social life is over for a while again. My time will be consumed with open books, writing papers, and going to school and clinicals at the hospital. At the same time, I'm very excited because we have 16 days at the hospital this quarter (I love the clinicals) and one day with a home health care nurse or hospice nurse. I love this career that I have chosen and am getting closer to being able to finally work in the profession. Next quarter is my preceptorship and then I'm done. When this journey started, they told us we were the class of Spring 2009. All I could think was that it was SO far away....and now, we're almost there. Bye for now. I'll try to update this Blog here and there but for the most part, it will be bare.

McCord AFB Volksmarch

We went down South yesterday to McCord AFB for a 10km (6.2 mile) walk. It was mom, dad, Eddie, Justin, and I on the walk.

They had static displays of Air Force airplanes that came out of this base.

This is the airplane that dad worked on when he was in the Air Force. It's an F-102.

There were lots of pretty sights on the base. It was a fun day. It started out a little foggy but quickly got sunny and hot. Then we sat down to a nice picnic after our walk.

September 11, 2001

We will never forget!! Thank you to all our heroes (Dad) present and past that have made our country what it is today!!!

My Young Man

It's fun as a mom to see the different stages that your children go through. The young man that my son turned into during the Summer has blindsided me. Don't get me wrong, I've always known that God had a huge plan for him because he's always pointing out to friends that they should treat others better if they're not. But, last year (6th grade), when the school year started, Justin and I had our share of butting heads because I thought that it was better for him to have a snack and then start right in on his homework. His plan was that he'd play for a little bit because he'd been in school all day and then do his homework. I let Justin try that for a few days and when he saw that he was too tired by the end of the day to do his homework, he agreed with my plan. But, it definitely didn't happen without some reminding and prodding :0)

This year has been a complete different story though. He comes straight in from school, has a little snack and then goes straight to his desk to do his homework. No arguments, no prodding, no nothing....Wow. My boy is becoming a young man.

Project Finished

Socks for mom.

Coupeville, Washington

Whidbey Island Volksport Walk

We manned a station for our NW Tulip Trekkers (http://www.nwtrekkers.org/) group yesterday. It was a gorgeous, sunny day. We were at an old bunkhouse from the mid 1800's where the pioneers would go into it when the indians were threatening. There were 2 gun holes on each side of it. We love manning the stations because we meet lots of nice people from different walks of life and from different places. Dad came up to visit us and tooks lots of beautiful pictures with his SLR. Take a look at his blog.

Mom- The Master Gardener

I went this morning to Jennings Park in Marysville to visit mom and her part of the WSU garden. She went through the WSU Master Gardener program in the beginning of 2008. As part of her hours, she's been doing a medicinal garden there. I've seen lots of pictures but hadn't made it out to see her until today. Wow, the garden is beautiful. There's also a English Cottage garden, butterfly garden, food garden, rose garden, lily garden, feng sui garden, dalia garden, and I'm sure that I'm missing something but they're all beautiful with beautiful flowers, plants, etc. I can't wait until mom gets bored and turns to my yard :0)

First Day of School

Today's Justin's 1st day of 7th grade at Stanwood Middle School. William (our neighbor) came over at 6:00am to join him in the anxious feelings of what the day will bring for them. It sure brings back lots of memories of the excitement at the thought of seeing friends that you've missed over the Summer and nervousness also. In the mean time, I wait (as a mom) in anticipation for Justin to come off the bus and excitedly tell me about how great his day was.

LCP Video

Lake Conner Park August 31st

Happy Labor Day!!

We celebrated at LCP with a BBQ and family. We played pinochle and also enjoyed the campfire all day. Mom and dad bought a tri tip steak from Costco that was SO yummy and it melted in your mouth. To give you an idea, it we could cut it with a butter knife. We didn’t head back home (and to the dogs) until 2:30am. On our way home, we were behind a drunk driver. While I was online with 911, she wound up in the ditch (flying through the ditch). God was definitely watching over her because she was able to get out of the ditch and start driving again. We followed her onto the freeway and Southbound on I-5 until Everett. We decided that we needed to get home (as it was 3:20am by this time) so we got off and turned around onto the freeway towards home. We were all a little disappointed that we never got to see the police get her off of the road before killing anyone. Although, as we got onto the freeway, there was the State Patrol heading South. Not too far behind her so we’re pretty confident that she was safely taken off the roads before any fatalities!!!

Lake Conner Park August 30th

We spent the evening at LCP and had a fire. The fire sure felt wonderful since it's become "Winter" so fast this year. Then we played Pinochle until late. I didn't take that many pictures because my camera battery was almost dead (ooops). But, it's charged up now and ready for the rest of the weekend.

August 15-August 24

Eddie was on vacation this last week. It was so nice having him home and I already miss him today (his first day back to work).

We started out our week with a trip to Leavenworth. We were going to camp in the Kabin at KOA. We were almost to Leavenworth when the timing belt went out on the car. We waited on the side of the road for 6 hours total before the tow truck came to take my car to the Kia dealer in Everett. Partly because where we broke down, there was no cell phone service so Eddie had to walk/run for over an hour to finally get enough of a signal to call Dad and he came over to rescue us. So, we called KOA and cancelled our reservations and went back home to find out the prognosis of the car. We got our car back and fixed the next day though so that was nice.

The rest of the week, we went to various places that we've wanted to go to but never have found the time until now. We took one day and went to Fort Casey because Justin wanted to play around in the dark tunnels. We got our house half painted on the outside....during the sun breaks (it's been raining most of the vacation). Now we're praying for more sun so that we can finish it. We did some school shopping for Justin. I can't believe that that's right around the corner. Where did the Summer go? We took mom and dad on the walk on Snoqualmie Pass. It's an old railroad track (without the tracks). The trail is a total of 24 miles but we go through the 2 mile tunnel and then another approximately 2 miles and then turn around. The tunnel is fun (especially for the kids) because it gets so dark that you need a flashlight. There's a lot of walkers and bicyclists that go through it. Mom and dad came over yesterday and we learned how to play pinocle (my new favorite game) and then had a BBQ for dinner. I loved the card game so much that I wanted to play it longer than we did (we played until 9pm) but of course Eddie and Dad had work this morning. Next weekend though :0)

Iron Horse Trail with mom and dad

We took mom and dad on the Iron Horse Trail...again started with the 2 mile tunnel. It was a fun day but again after 7.3 miles, we were beat.

Painting mom and dad's house

Mom, Justin, and I painted what we could on foot and a small ladder. Dad and Eddie have the higher (ladder) reaches for painting.

Swimming at LCP

Fragrance Lake

This is a 4 mile hike round trip straight up the mountain with switch-backs. It took us 1 1/2 hours to hike up and only 1/2 hour coming back down.

Deception Pass

Iron Horse Trail

We went to Snoqualmie Pass and walked on the old railroad tracks that have been turned into a trail for bikes, walkers, and horses. We wound up walking 7.4 miles. It was a fun day.