Trying to Beat the Heat

Wow! Is it hot! I don't remember a whole lot about Washington from living here as a kid, but I sure don't remember the heat being this bad. On our move out here, Chris told me that "it doesn't snow there, and when it does, it melts really quickly." When we drove into town, it was in the middle of a snow storm. He also mentioned that "the weather was always nice in the summer. There are maybe a few days that are a bit hot, but for the most part it's beautiful." Right now, it's 7 PM and it's still around 90 degrees. According to the weatherman, it's supposed to be close to 100 degrees all this week. I love to give him a hard time. The kids are not too happy with the heat either. They are having lots of fun with their sprinklers lately and occasionally playing in the neighbor's pool. They are also enjoying the popsicles.

We are all looking forward to Chris' time off of work. We are going to go down to Corvallis and visit some family down there while we assist in a "home makeover" for my grandparents to make things easier for them. Aside from that visit, we don't have a lot of plans. We are hoping to go camping, visit Mt. Rainer, and just have some fun spending time together. It's been a while since we have been able to spend more than a few hours together doing "family stuff" It will be so nice to have 2 full weeks!

Spending time with family is so important. I hope that everyone has the opportunity to get at least a few minutes a day to do so. You never know when family won't be around anymore, so take every moment you can and make the most of it.

Things are Looking Up

I haven't been on here for a while now. That is because I have been so busy. Zennek turned 5 a few days ago and things have been very hectic around here in the mean time.

Things seem to be looking up around here. I FINALLY got my blood test resluts back today. The results say that I have Factor V Leiden (luckily I only have it from one parent, making it a lot safer.) This is basically saying that I have a genetic factor that puts me at a higher risk for blood clotting than your average Joe.

If/when I get pregnant, all that needs to be done is I have to take a blood thinner. Also, I am unable to take estrogen in any form due to it being able to increase my chances of blood clotting even more. So, things are good. I have some kind of answer to why I have been miscarrying. Hopefully this will solve things and I can have a happy healthy pregnancy the next time around.

If there is anyone in the family who knows of someone with blood clotting problems please let me know. This information won't change anything, but it would be beneficial for my records. Thanks everyone for being there for me.

Announcing...

Zennek' Birthday Party!Sunday, July 19th @ our house

2:00 P.M.

Zennek is very excited to be turning 5! If anyone would like to come, you are more than welcome to join us! As you can tell, he is going with Batman for his theme. Please let me know if you will be here.

Went to the River Today

We went on another adventure in the Great North-West again. This time was practically in our backyard. We took a ten minute drive and went down to the Nisqually River.
We took the dogs along with us and they had lots of fun.

It took a few minutes to tes the water; it was a little cold, as is usually the case with most rivers.
The kids thought going in to there knees was really cool.

Lacey thought I was a good place to nap after going in the water. Both dogs decided that right next to me was the best place to shake of their excess water each time they exited the river.

Jade loved throwing the rocks into the water.

The dogs were nervous and wouldn't leave Chris' side.

Zennek was enjoying pretending to fish. (we will be taking them fishing some time this summer after we get our fishing licenes.)

Curly Top

My sweet little girl, Hannah, decided that she would like to have her hair put up in curlers. So we spent about a half an hour puting the curlers in her hair before she headed off to bed. This morning when she woke up, we removed the curlers.

I had expected her hair to be a little bit curly, because both mine and my mother's hair falls flat almost instantly when curled. Needless to say, as anyone who sees the following pictures can attest to, she does not have my hair! She was practically Shirley Temple.

It is now close to 10 PM and she is lying asleep still with a full head of curls. I have always wanted to be able to curl my hair and have it stay, but I am counting my blessings now. I am truly greatful that my hair is straight. I don't have the slightest idea on how to manage the wild curls.

She had lots of fun all day long with having "poofy" hair, as she called it.

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As for my blood tests, I have called the doctor's office twice. I finally received a call back from a nurse that informed me that my doctor now wanted me to come in to hear the results on the 22nd. I am a bit nervous because they said at first that they were going to call me and tell me over the telephone, but since the date is not right away, it helps a little. I am still worried, but time will tell me everything. Wish me luck with all of this.

Chris put in for leave today, for the first part of August. It will be a few days yet before we find out if it is approved. Also, wish us luck with this. I know we can't do a great deal with the kids running around, but any help we are able to lend down at my grandparent's house is better than not being able to be there. Also, it will be a treat to see so many people working together to help out two wonderful people.

I love you Grama and Grandpa! I am crossing my fingers that we get to come down to see you. You live so close, yet such a long way away. I am also anxious for the family to meet my husband and for those of you who haven't, my children as well. They are the reason for the smile on my face 90% of the time (Chris included). I hope they put a smile on all your faces too.

Good night all!

Feeling Irritated With Myeslf Today

Have you ever had one of those days that make you want to just smack yourself for doing something so foolish? I had one today. Last week when I paid all the bills, I thought I was doing so good. I wrote all the checks and had them ready to go before the pay check even showed up. The day the money got into our account, I went to the post office and sent them in the mail.

Today, I went online to check on the checks to see if they had gone through yet. While checking I realize a problem, a really big one. I had paid all my bills from the wrong account! We only have two accounts because our normal bank is an online bank for military personal and there are no branches anywhere near here. (We keep it because our insurance is through them and there are many perks to having this bank.)The other account is through a local bank so we have somewhere to deposit checks and cash whenever needed.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! Had I really made this ridiculous mistake?! Yes, I did! (Whoever said to err is human was right!) So Into town I rushed to fix what I could with it. Really not much; but I was able to cover some of the negative balance. Because of this lapse of my mental facilities, it is going to cost us an extra $175 to cover all the overdraft fees.

After I dealt with that, the kids and I went and ate a picnic lunch with Chris at work. I am now home trying to clean up the house after the long weekend. (I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July!) There is surprisingly not much to do, but what is there needs to be done. When I complete all my chores, I have to fix dinner for my family. I think we are going simple tonight and have breakfast for dinner (a favorite of the kids).

I am hoping the weather is nice this weekend so I can have my yard sale. (It sure would be nice to make enough to cover my bank error.) Then, the following weekend is my Zenny's birthday. Luckily, Chris will be home. He was originally scheduled for staff duty on the 19th (Zennek's birthday), but was able to switch with someone. After that, I should be able to relax for a little bit anyway.

I am tentively planning to go down to Corvallis for the 8th of August to assist the family that is gathering to help my grandparents do some work on their house. (We are waiting to see if Chris can take some time off for this.) It will be nice to see this much of the family at the same time; it's been a very long time.

A friend of mine was in a bad car accident yesterday and won't know for a little while whether she is going to loose sight in one eye or not. Today is her daughter's birthday and she can't do a lot for her because of the pain she is in. I am hoping she heals quickly and things go well.

That is about all that is happening at this time, but it is more than enough. I hope everyone is doing well and everyone with injuries is healing. I have noticed that too many people I care about are becoming hurt lately, but at least they are all still here. Having pain to complain about is much better than having nothing anything at all, especially your life. Enjoy all the happy times, and find the good in everything, there is always something.

A Busy Weekend

It's Thursday, well it's kind of Friday, the weekend anyway. Chris got home this afternoon, just about lunch time, for the holiday weekend. He is lucky enough to have a four day weekend. This evening, he mowed the lawn while I watched the kids play on their slip-n-slide and in the neighbor's little swimming pool. Tomorrow, we plan do get the house work done.

On Saturday, mom and Paul will be coming up. This is their wedding anniversary as well as Independance Day, so we will be celebrating both. BBQ is on the menu. We are able to do a few small fireworks like sparklers and a few others. Sunday, mom and Paul will also be spending the day with us. They plan to return home sometime Monday because they have to get back to work.

When they leave, I am hoping to mark all the stuff we gathered for our yard sale and go through the last bit of stuff I need to sort. If all goes well, we will be able to have our sale next weekend. This comes in perfect time because we could definately use the extra money. For some reason, all the bills came due at the same time this month.

The following weekend is Zennek's birthday. I can't believe he is going to be 5 already!

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As for me personally, I am tired. Zennek woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare and I pulled mommy duty. Then, in the morning the dogs decided that they needed to sing very early and wake up everyone.

I still haven't heard from my doctor about my blood tests. He went on leave and I asked for his nurse to call me, but so far, I haven't heard anything. I also need to go talk to my regular doctor about a few things. One of which is that I may be getting some mild arthritis. For the last few months the joints in my hands have been hurting very badly. I am hoping that is just that I have been overworking my hands lately.

I'm headed for bed. I hope everyone has a great Fourth!