Happy Father's Day

The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God; I call him Dad!
~Author Unknown

Carefree Highway

Micah and I had a date I like to call a trip along the "carefree highway". Both he and I wanted to get out of the house and go explore the middle part of the state where the sun shines it's beautiful rays and their are warm water lakes. We are thinking about buying a vacation property over there because it is only a few hours away, yet it feels like a whole different place. Plus it is always a bonus to have water nearby since both he and I have such fond memories of being out on lakes. It is a perfect paradise.

As we were driving along the highway, Micah noticed sculptures of horses on top of a steep mountainside. He insisted we stop at it and make the hike up to see them close up. I looked at him and thought he was crazy. I had on terrible shoes, and I thought there is no way I can make it up a climb like that. But I did! I was so proud of myself. I forget that I'm not a 350 pound woman anymore who doesn't do things like this. Now I am active and able to experience the outdoors. It was freeing and beautiful.

When we made it to Lake Roosevelt we both sat by the water and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Where we live we haven't seen too much sun, so we were soaking it up.

On the drive to Lake Roosevelt we drove along side a body of water called Soap Lake. It really was the strangest sight. Around the whole entire edge of the water and rocks was this white residue. It was pretty cool. You didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know why it was called Soap Lake, but the name did do one thing - make us look and look, over and over again.

At the end of a fun day of exploring a whole new part of Washington, Micah and I slept in the van at a rest stop. We really did have a great time. When we are together, we could go anywhere and think that it was the most fun. I guess that is why we have lasted being married so long.

Electronically Tragic!

Sigh.... today was a day where electronics didn't stand a chance. I'm actually trying to recover from the thought of the cost of the losses that will add up to be many dollars out of my pocket. So to update all of you who might be interested, my camera took a five foot fall to the ground and busted out the lense. It is a lost cause. And to make matters worse, good ol' puppy dog (Simba) got his teeth on one of my thumb drives, and used it as a chew toy. Growl. I really hate when this kind of day happens. I'm going to go on a day trip to the sunny side of Washington with my hubby, and my camera options are terrible. The good news is, the stuff on the thumb drive was salvageable... amazing. I put it on another disk. But one thing a day like today really makes known, is how reliant we are on electronics. And today my day was electronically tragic! Kaboom!

Attitude is Everything!

Alright, I've accepted the fact that we just aren't going to have a sunny summer. It's better to face the facts and move forward, then to just feel sorry for yourself about things you can't change. So today I thought about the three things that were causing me boredom.

1. Rain

2. Rain

3. Staying inside because of the rain.

There has to be a solution to all this madness. Madness = boredom. What did I use to do when the weather wasn't exactly on the co-operative side with doing outdoor activities?

Bling, bling, bling. The light went on. Don't all you guys out their laugh about what I'm going to say, just because it might seem "old" (as Lazarus would put it) for wanting to spend my time in a chair somewhere with a ball of yarn.

CROCHET!

So I did it. I went out to the store and loaded my cart with the wildest colors of yarn I could find and rolled my cart up to the checkout with a cart full of boredom killers. Crochet hook and all. I was about to spend my night with out having to dwell on my summer (or lack of) blues. I was going to have fun.

I get home, pull out my yarn and needle, get myself a large glass of juice and plop down on the couch. Of course this was after getting a refresher of how to even crochet from the famous YouTUBE site on how to do a simple single stitch. Now I was ready to go. I started to do my work on the yarn - and whatya know - it was actually turning out right. Exciting. This was the most fun I have had in days. Who would have known that all the grandmas across the united states had it right when they sat down with their yarn and needles in hand, and rocked away on their chairs. Inspiring.
The funny part of it is that as I'm sitting their feeling all giddy that my single stitch is "actually working" one kid after another plop down beside me. Suddenly the couch is sagging in with a truck load of interested kids. Questions and comments spilling.

"What are you doing?"
"Wow, that looks really cool."
"Can I try it?"
"Can I sit by you?"
"Will you teach me that?"
"Do you have yarn that I can have?"
"Wouldn't it be awesome to make all of our kids baby clothes?"
Ect... ect....

They were just exited about the crocheting as I was. Lazarus was begging to get his chance at it, even though he said that "this is what old people do." Which I laughed at and said, "guess you like old people activities then." And he smiled. I guess all of us do. So I continued my needlework and they continued their fascination. Unplanned family time, awesome.


No longer does rain have to mean sitting on your backside inside just watching some movie and wishing you could be doing something else, something that doesn't put you to sleep - something more entertaining, something less tv like. So I guess you could say the lesson learned here is - attitude is everything.

Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, Please Shine Down on Me

So everyone knows that summer is fast approaching, and isn't that just a nice warming thought? Not here. It means rain - and I have to say I'm really starting to wonder when the sun is going to show up for this summer gig, and all. Maybe it has gone AWOL on us. I know I live in Washington (the rainy state), but seriously - I'm getting a little urked with this rain and stuff. This has been the worst year ever. I'm starting to actually feel depressed about this lack of sunshine thingy. We have had literally like - well - let me think (scratching head) - maybe a week of sunshine. Yeah, I'm serious. Now that just AIN'T right (and yes, I said ain't - which ain't a word - but if you were me, you might feel the urge to talk in non-words too. It is sickening). Of course it makes for nice rainbows, and cute pictures with the umbrella too - but honestly I'm going crazy here. For lack of a better statement, "throw a dog a bone here, will ya?" OR "Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me!" Sigh, I guess it went on vacation.

Beware of the Coneheaded Dog!

Our puppy Simba was just de-manned (fixed) yesterday, and had to wear a cone to prevent him from licking himself. Wow, what an interesting situation that has been. It is a dangerous game to play when anyone gets near the coneheaded dog, because he has no sense of the word STOP! His circular plastic head runs smack into you, hard. My shins are aching from the times he just runs into me, and unfortunately he likes to follow mommy around - or more accurately stated, hit mommy around. All yesterday night he did also whine alot because he was in pain. He couldn't figure out a way to lay down and be comfortable because he couldn't get on his favorite chair. He would just stand there and cry, poor guy. Anyhow, today he seems to be feeling better and we gave him a big pile of blankets he could stretch out on. Unfortunately he still doesn't care what or who he runs into. So to all who may visit him, beware of the coneheaded dog!

The Tooth of the Matter...

The tooth of the matter is, all is well in "Levi Land" now. No longer is he having to walk around with an eye-catching half tooth in the front of his mouth. He is happy with the fix and doesn't have to worry about his big brother telling him that he is going to have a "big metal post" for his front tooth, and he'll "look like a robot" too - thanks alot Lazarus for giving your brother the comfort he needs. It even made Levi feel good that everyone told him how great the tooth looked... bingo! That never happens. You got to love dentists and their ability to fix a tooth without installing "big metal posts" for a set of ivories. Yippie! Now hopefully we don't do that again. Fingers crossed.