The Story Of Us

2011-11-01T20:00:00.001-07:00

Beach, Anniversary

2011-03-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today we drove down to the beach. Addison hasnt been to the beach yet so we thought we would take her down :). The weather has been so beautiful lately. I really love southern california weather. We live less than 5 minutes from the beach and I love it. I am a total beach kind of gal.

Tomorrow James and I celebrate 10 years of marriage. It's hard to believe he's been my best friend and teamate for that long. We are taking the girls to seaworld. We took Sierra to Seaworld Orlando last year but she's never been to the one here in San Diego.

My Big Girl turned 9!!!

2011-02-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

Sierra is now a 9 year old! I didn't really get many pictures. We did a small cake on her actual birthday and then on we did a big February birthday for everyone born in February the next week. Sierra got a bunch of clothes, 2 pairs of shoes, a skooter, some dolls and two gift cards! We have very generous friends and family!

4 Months!

2011-02-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots of baby Addy :)

2010

2011-01-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

2010 came and went so fast. I am so sorry I have not kept up with this blog. In July Sierra had her national dance competition at Walt Disney World. We are very proud of her. She was up against some serious competition. You can see pictures from our trip in the link to the right.

In August we moved to southern California. I love it here! We have only done a little bit of exploring and I can't wait to do more. We live in a beautiful home. It's huge compared to the last one. The dogs love our backyard. Sierra had a rough start to the year at school but things are much better now.

In October... four days late Addison Marie made her appearance. She was born on October 1st, 2010 at 11:20am. She weighed 7lbs 5oz. We are so in love with her. She's an amazing little girl. She is such a happy baby. I cannot believe she is going to be four months old on February 1st.

Newborn

1 Month

2 Months

Christmas

Little update on our lives

2010-05-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, James is currently gone. He's been gone since the 4th. He will be back next month. But last week we got some good news. James got his orders! Well, he doesnt have the offical copy yet but the detailer said that he submitted it and that he will have them in hand within the next few days!!! Looks like we will be leaving the state of Washington on August 21st. More to come later!
Saturday night we took our fire pit over to the neighbors and had smores. The dogs love playing in the neighbors yard since its much bigger. Sadie did pretty well and stayed calm. Sierra hurt her toe when she ran into the lid to our fire pit. Her toe looks bad. We eneded up having to take her to the emergency room last night because it was infected. They have her on antibiotics so hopefully that will help! The weather has been beautiful lately. Well, except for today. I am glad to see the warmer weather.

Sunday we are going to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. I am sure I will come back with tons of pictures!!

Sierra's doing well. Less than a month left in school! Her recital is on the 19th of June. She is looking forward to that. She has 7 dances that she will be in at the recital. We fly out for her national dance competition on the 28th of June. She's excited to go to Disneyworld since she's never been there. James hasnt either. We will be there until the 7th of July.

Sadie got Lei'd

Mojo

It's a......

2010-05-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Girl!!! Addison Marie! We had our ultrasound on monday. James and Sierra got to come. I think Sierra got a little bored during it but it went great. Tuesday James left yet again. He wont be back until next month. I had my doctor appointment today. Blood pressure was 92/57. Addy didnt want to smile for the camera so they didnt get very good shots. She kept chewing on her hand... I think she did it almost the entire hour. lol

Profile... or as close to one as they could get
\
face

Life

2010-04-25T18:39:00.001-07:00

Life has been slightly crazy. James has not been home much due to pre-deployment work-ups. But there is an end in sight! Hopefully we weill be getting hard copy orders soon and get some questions answered (like, when are we moving!).

Sierra has her last regional dance compettion on Saturday & Sunday. She is excited and she can't wait until Nationals in Florida this summer! We leave in 63 days for our 9-day trip to walt disney world! Whoo hoo! We are super excited.

Anyway, we find out on the third if we are having a little boy or a little girl!

Baby!

2010-03-13T12:12:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted on here because I didn't want a lasting memory if something went wrong. But with the ultrasound four weeks ago and hearing the hearbeat two days ago I can finally announce Sierra is going to be a big sister! I am due at the end of September.

This ultrasound is from February 11th.

Annviersary

2010-03-06T08:18:00.001-08:00

Today is our 9th Anniversary! It's hard to believe it's already been 9 years. We also got the news yesterday that James finally has orders again to leave Washington. It looks like we will be moving to Oceanside, Ca sometime this year. Hopefully we will know soon exactly when. I am very excited about this. There is a lot to do in southern California and the weather is much nicer down there then it is up here. I can't wait to go to the beach.

Dog Park!

2010-02-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

We went to the local dog park today. It was a beautiful day today. It was pretty warm for this time of year.. I think it was about 56 degrees. The dog park was an off leash dog park and Sadie and Mojo loved it. There was a lot of big dogs there and they were pretty interested in Sadie and Mojo. Of course Sadie and Mojo wanted nothing to do with them! lol.

Sierra is 8!

2010-02-13T20:25:00.000-08:00

Today was Sierra's birthday party! She had a lot of fun! It was a pool party at the local high school's pool. We had a good turn out of friends. It's hard to believe my little girl is eight.

Eight years ago. She was born February 12th, 2002 weighing in at 6lbs 10oz.

Here are a few pictures from the party, there is a more at the link to the right.

Update on us...

2010-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry I havent posted. I have been super busy with school, work and family. Sierra had her first dance competition this past weekend. The dance she was in won 1st place high point, platinum and most entertaining. She had a blast and was excited she did well.

Other than that not much new to report. We are less than a month away from Sierra turning 8. I still can't believe she's going to be 8!

The weather has been nice. The sun has actucally been out. I wish I would have tried to get some pictures done today. I have just had no energy on my day off lately.

HAPPY 2009!!!!

2010-01-01T20:28:00.000-08:00

On Monday our lives become crazy again. Sierra goes back to school and dance. I start school again. This time I will be going to the school 2 days a week. Fun. I've had the last three days off of work and I've enjoyed some relaxation. I am definately ready to go back to work though :)

Christmas!

2009-12-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Our Christmas was awesome. My sister and her three children were able to celebrate it with us. Christmas dinner was the BEST EVER! James made the best prime rib! I got awesome gift, sierra was spoiled and james like his stuff too :) Tom had Sierra open her BB gun at the exact time the kid does it in the movie A Christmas Story. We always watch that Christmas morning while opening gifts.

Imagine Children's museum

2009-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Tom, Carday, Nick and Sparky went to the children's museum with Sierra on Saturday. More pics to follow later and maybe video from her recital that night!

I need to update more often!

2009-11-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

So, here we are less than a week away from thanksgiving. This year has gone by so very fast. Sorry, I havent updated more often but i've had no time.

My sister and her children moved here to Washington. It's nice having more family so close :).

Work is going well for me. I really love my job. My co-workers are awesome too :P.

Sierra's doing well in school. She is having a blast with dance and it's keeping her VERY busy. Her first competition is in January so she has a LOT of dance classes coming up in December.

James is doing well also. We are gearing up for him being gone most of the beginning of the year.

We've started christmas shopping. I feel so disorganized this year! Hopefully once all of the puppies are gone (there are 4 left) I will really be able to start to work on organizing our christmas stuff.

I think that is all for now. I will try to find time to add posts more often. Next term I am taking 4 classes! Someone shoot me! lol.

Halloween

2009-11-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

Happy lated Halloween!

We had a costume emergency the night before so we had to go to the store and TRY to find a decent costume. We didn't find what we wanted but we found something that we could make do with.

So, Sierra was a 50's girl. :)

Mary Kay!

2009-10-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

As if our lives werent crazy enough I had to add to it. I am offically selling Mary Kay. I am excited about it.

My website is www.Marykay.com/traceyramsey

I love MK products and with me wearing makeup everyday these days & sierra needing makeup for dance it just made sense!

Pumpkin Patch!

2009-10-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Fall is here! You can feel it outside & I am loving it. One thing I must admit is that I love the colors of fall in Washington. I've lived all over the country and I must say Washington has some of the most beautiful fall colors. Hopefully within the next few weeks i'll be able to get some pictures of all of us at the park or something under a big tree!.

Sierra's parent teacher conference went very well today. They said she's reading well above her level! I am so proud of her!!!

Nothing else to report. Just getting excited for the coming holidays. We really havent started christmas shopping yet so i am starting to freak out but all will be fine!

It's fall!

2009-10-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I can get a shoot done soon. It always rains on my days off and it's usually dark once I get off work on the other days. Cross your finger the rain stays away on wednesday because we are going to try and go to the pumpkin patch that day.

College!

2009-09-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

I started college Monday! I am taking only two classes this term because most of the classes needed for my degree were full by the time I signed up. I am taking a computer class (which is pretty easy for me but I figured I can always learn something.. it also goes into Microsoft word which I know how to use but I don't know everything). That class is online. I am also taking Spanish 121. I took spanish in high school but I don't remember everything. This spanish class is a hybrid so it's very fast paced. I only go to that class once a week and I go for 2 1/2 hours. The rest is done online. I am glad I know some spanish because if I didn't I would be lost. lol. College spanish is much more faster paced then highschool. So far I really like my professor. He talks to us in spanish almost exclusively.

Next term I plan to take a Math, English, Business 101 & Spanish 122.

Miley Cyrus Concert!

2009-09-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

Last wednesday (september 16th)Sierra went to the Miley Cyrus concert! She had a BLAST! We picked her up from school early and took her to get her nails done. Kind of to get her in the mood. Then we drove to Tacoma and stopped at the mall to get black converse shoes to match her outfit :). Metro Station (the band Miley Cyrus' brother is in) opened the show. Miley was on for a little over an hour. She actually played a lot of songs in that time. Sierra was in the 4th row and she was singing along and screaming.

We have a 2nd grader!

2009-09-09T05:55:00.000-07:00

Sierra's first day of 2nd grade was yesterday. It's hard to believe it. She is growing up way too fast. She actually has the same teacher she had last year and she is really excited about that!

Yesterday was also my first day at my new job! So far I love it. Its so me! lol. This one is a keeper! It's been hard to find something that fits our life.

Today is the offical start of the 2009/2010 competitive dance season! She is really excited and eager to start!

Ehh...Oh and we finally got a PS3. The lower price can't be beat! So of course that meant we had to buy a new LCD TV for our bedroom so we can put our 'old' blu ray player in there :P

yes, her hair is wet. It was also my first day of work so I was trying rush to get to work on time.

Slacker

2009-08-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

So, i've been a slacker on our blog. I know. I stink. Anyway, Last Saturday James and Sierra went to a concert. It was slipknot, saliva, static x, mudvayne and a few more bands. Sierra had a blast. Slipknot didn't end up playing but they seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Other than that things have been pretty boring. I finally got the job i've wanted to that will be nice! I am so over being home all day! I am ready to be working again. I start this next Tuesday.

Sierra has dance class tonight & then maybe a few times next week. The dance season doesn't offically start until school starts which is september 8th. I am sure I will have a lot of news to share in the coming months!

I think that is about it. I will try to be better at keeping my blog up to date!

What we've been up to

2009-08-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted much lately.

Last weekend we went and decluttered up stairs. We got rid of a lot of Sierra's old clothes and toys. I also move some of the furniture in her room around and I like how it looks now!

Yesterday I had a job interview that went really well and I was told I will for sure be getting a call back so I am looking forward to that. It's the perfect job for me so we will see!

Thursday is Sierra's dance teams parents meeting. We will find out a lot of information about the upcomming competition season. We should find out her class schedule and when the competitions are. I am looking forward to the meeting!

Friday is Sierra's team meeting for the kids. She will be told what is expected, etc.

Saturday we are cleaning out the garage. We have way too much stuff in there.

Next wednesday we are going to a concert where my brother in law Tom will be opening for a band.

And some exciting news for Sierra. She is going to a Miley Cyrus concert next month! She is very excited to go! She will have a lot of fun.

Other then that not much new to report.

Family Day Cruise 2009

2009-08-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

James' ship had a family day cruise today. We had a blast! We drove to the base and caught a bus to Seattle. The ship was in Seattle for seafair. At first it was a little chilly and very windy but eventually it got hot (of course, we are still having a heat wave... at least its not 102 anymore!). The ship did a couple of cool things... they sped up as fast as they could and did an emergency stop. That was pretty cool because the waves behind us crashed under the ship. Then they did a man overboard drill where they dropped a rhib (a small little boat) into the water and rescue swimmers "searched" for the person. They kept announcing how far they were from the person who went overboard and how long they'd be in the water. Then they had a BBQ with steaks, chicken and burgers. In the middle of the underway sierra lost a tooth. This is the second one she has lost. When we were pulling into port there were sea lions along this floating fense thingy they had. pretty cool! Below are soem pictures and if you want to view more you can see them at the link to the side of this blog ;)

going fast :)

James and Sierra

can you find the sea lion?

lost another tooth!

Also, Sierra has been selected to be in her dance school's competition team. It is an honor and sierra is extremely excited. She goes to one of the best dance schools in the northwest and they always win!

Playing around with Picnik

2009-07-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

Nothing new to report really. We've been pretty boring the last couple of weeks, lol. But I will have new photos to share next Monday as we are going to Seattle! Fun.
James is home but is leaving very, very soon. It's a short underway and then after this one the ship is supposed to be in port until the end of the year. Yay!

This is a picture from homecoming last October. I was just playing around with Picnik.

Harry Potter!

2009-07-15T15:59:00.001-07:00

Not much new to report but tonight we are going to see Harry Potter! We are going to the 8:30pm showing.

When the first one came out we thought "Oh this movie is going to be dumb! Don't even bother watching it!". We managed to see it at a friends house but I still wasnt impressed.

When the second one we completely ignored it.

Then the third one came out and we watched it at my brother & sister in laws house. We were like "wow, this is actually pretty good". So we went and bought 1,2 & 3.

Four & Five we saw in theatre. And now we are going to watch six! Yay!

Oh and we joined the YMCA again. It will be so much easier to workout with the YMCA being so close. The base isnt super far but its a long way to go to workout!

Another update

2009-07-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since i've updated. Things have just been crazy and i've been too lazy to update my blog. Last week Tuesday we drove down to Seattle to go to ride the Seattle Monorail, Westlake Center, Pike Place Market (the fish market where they throw the fish) and the Pacific Science Center. That night we drove to Tacoma to stay at my brother in laws house. On wednesday morning we left bright and early and went to Wild Waves/Enchanted village. We had a blast! It's a theme and water park. Sierra loved the roller coasters. She even went on the ring of fire. My brother refused to even try the ring of fire. After that we went back to the space needle. Then we went to Outback steakhouse for dinner. Yummy.

Sierra has started dance camp. She loves it! She goes for 4 & 1/2 hours on Weds & Friday and 5 1/2 hours on Tues and Thursday. She's taking a mixture of Ballet, Jazz, Tumbling, Ribbons, Musical Theatre and Flex class (which is 90 minutes long and works on flexability).

You can view pictures at the link on the side of this blog!

A little update on our lives

2009-06-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

Sierra had her recital on Saturday. She did so well! I am very proud of her and she is getting better. Hopefully the DVD's of the recital will be in soon and hopefully I will be able to post the video. We'll see. She's starting dance camp this summer. She will go for four weeks four hours a day four days a week. Lots of fours... huh? I figure it will keep her busy. And you can't beat the price!

I finally got a job that I know i'll enjoy. And it's something I will be able to do and still go to insurance school. I will be making about as much as I did working at VCS. Yay! And i've even found someone I trust to watch Sierra.

My brother is still here and on Tuesday we are going to the space needle and Wild Waves on Wednesday. Fun!

James is doing well. Nothing new to report. He's scheduled to be home a lot over the next couple of months so we are happy about that.

Brownie!

2009-06-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sierra is now officially a brownie! Last night was her Girl Scout bridging. She went from being a Daisy to a Brownie. Today is her last girl scout meeting for the year. She will have a few get togethers over the summer but this is the last official Daisy meeting.

James and Jonathan also returned yesterday. I forgot to leave my camera with James but he managed to get some pics on his Iphone that I will post later.

Surprise Portland OR trip

2009-06-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

This week James' ship was in Portland. Portland is having their Rose festival and the Navy decided that this is a great way to show off. On the way back from Portland his ship is having a Tiger cruise. A tiger cruse is where friends/family of the sailor can ride the ship and learn about Navy life. My little brother Jonathan was going to go on the tiger cruise but last week I decided it was just too long of a drive and too expensive of a trip. We are still recovering from our Disneyland trip. Saturday morning I woke up and decided we would go to Portland. We left at around Noon. The drive wasnt bad... just long. We got to Portland at 4 and then came the fun of trying to find James. We parked and I called him and we finally found each other. We decided to go ahead and check into the hotel and find some dinner. We got lost a couple of times trying to find the hotel but we finally made it. Hotels in Portland are expensive! We walked to Denny's for dinner. At dinner I decided to text my friend Kahlene(we were good friends growing up) and ask her if I could meet up with her to say hello. I haven't seen her since like 2000. She said sure and we met up quickly to say hello and try and catch up. Hopefully sometime soon she can come visit us. By this time it was around 8 and we drove to the ship so James could get a few things he needed for the night.

In the morning we woke up and went to breakfast at the hotel. After that we headed to the ship it took us forever to find parking. Finally we parked and James gave us a tour of the ship. Then we decided to head to the mall to look around and grab some lunch. We found our way to the Loyd Center fairly easy. We looked around and had lunch. After that we headed back to the area where she ship was and see what they had going on around the ship. They had a little fair and a Saturday market. By this point we were trying to figure out if James and Jonathan would be able to spend that night on the ship... since we really didnt want to have to pay for another hotel plus they had no way to get from the hotel to the ship. I agreed to stay in town until he found out... incase he needed a ride to the ship. He made a few phone calls and finally someone else who had a tiger said they'd find out and let him know. We decided to head to dinner hoping that we might have an answer by the time we were done. We finished dinner and came back to the area where the ship was. We decided we'd just sit in the car and wait since there wasnt anything to do and I wanted to head out as soon as we knew. About an hour later we got the phone call we were waiting for and James and Jonathan headed to the ship. Finally, at 9pm I was on my way home.

After we left I called my brother in law tom and asked if I got too tired if i could stop at his house. He lives about 2.5hrs from Portland and about 1.5hrs from my house. He said that we should just plan to stop and that Carady and him would be happy to let us stay the night. We got to his house at around 11:30 and we stayed up and chatted until around 2am and by then I was so tired I passed out right away. We left his house this morning and got back home at around noon. I am so happy to be home! The trip was fun and now we are looking forward to James and Jonathan returning.

Below are some pics from our trip. See more at the "more pictures" link to the right. Enjoy.

Jonathan on the ship where James works. The poles keep the food boxes from sliding during rough seas.

Sierra in Daddy's work chair

Three Canadian ships. They are so small! The biggest one of the three was smaller than James' ship and his ship is pretty small. The two smaller ones...were VERY small. I can't imagine how many people are on them.

Sierra and Jonathan outside the ice rink at the mall. It was out of order....too bad!

Our little girl is getting so big.

2009-06-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sierra is getting so big. It's hard to believe. She will be a second grader very, very soon. She's doing well in Jazz and her recital is on the 27th. Below are some pictures from the pre-recital photo shoot.

Disneyland/ Family Reunion

2009-05-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Wow. Has this been a CRAZY week! Friday (the 22nd) we left our house at 2:30 am to drive to the airport. Well, actually we drove to the park and fly place. As we are dropping off our car and waiting for the shuttle we notice cops surrounding the area and a police helicopter circling over head. We get to the airport and go and eat breakfast at Wendy's. By this time it was around 4am. At 5:30am they started boarding the plane. That plane ride went pretty fast. We had a 2 hour layover in Salt Lake City. We arrived in San Diego at around 12:30 and then had some drama with our car rental. We were able to finally leave the airport at around 2:30. Traffic was HORRIBLE to Oceanside. A 30 mile ride took almost 90 minutes. Shortly after we got there my sister in law and I had to drive back to the airport to pick up my little brother. Traffic was horrible to the airport and it took almost 2hrs to get there. We finally got back to her house around 8.

Saturday we got up at 5:30 to go to our first day of Disneyland. We had 15 people to get ready and we ended up leaving a little late. Then when we got there half of our group had to park elsewhere and they had to wait like 30 minutes for the tram to the park. I don't know what time it was by the time we finally got into the park but it seemed to take forever. First we got a fast pass for the Buzz Lightyear ride. That was pretty cute. Then we went on Space Mountain. Sierra was scared. But by the end of our trip she was begging to go back on it. After that we had lunch and then everyone else went on Autopia while Carady and I went and got fast passes for Indiana Jones. While we were waiting on those to be ripe we went on Pirates of the Carribbean and the train ride. After Indiana jones we went on the haunted mansion. I remembered that ride be better than it was. After that we went to toon town to take some pics. The park was VERY busy that day so by then everyone was tired and ready to go back to my sister in law & brother in laws house. On the way we stopped at a Chineese buffet. It was very good. We all crashed pretty early that night.

Sunday we hung around the house in the morning and then went to see the tanks on the base. They had a museum that had old tank and old military vehicles. After that we went to the beach to have a BBQ on the beach.

Monday almost everyone left on Monday. Except for us (and obviously my sister in law and brother in law who live there). We relaxed this day. It had been a long weekend.

Tuesday we left bright and early to go back to Disneyland and to check into our hotel that was down the street. We stayed at the super 8 that was 1/2 a mile away. We parked at the hotel and walked to the park. We made it to the park before they opened. That day we got a lot done. We bought Sierra an autograph/photo album. She got a lot of Autographs that day. The first ride we went on that day was Thunder Mountain. Then we went to get a fast pass for space mountain. While we were waiting for our fast pass time we went on the matterhorn bobsleds, the teacups, the alice in the wonderland ride and it's a small world. We had lunch and then went on space mountain. After lunch we went over to Disney's California Adventure. First ride we went on was the tower of terror. This ride... hands down is the BEST ride there. Sierra loved it. You go up on an elevator and then drop 13 stories.... three times! It also has a cute story that goes along with it that makes it seem even more real. After that we went over to California Screamin but just our luck the ride breaks down 30 minutes into waiting to ride it. After that we went back to Disneyland. After we got back we got fast passes for Splash mountain. While we were waiting for that we went to the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. Then we went on the raft to Tom Sawyer Island. We didnt stay on there long. Then we went on the winnie the pooh ride. That was a cute ride and an easy way to kill time. Then we got in line to meet some winnie the pooh characters. Finally around 5pm we were able to ride Spash mountian. I sat in the front row. BIG MISTAKE. I got soaked. Not just a little soaked. So wet that over 2 hours later i was still soaked and had to search disneyland for clothes to buy (its hard to find pants/shorts at disneyland). After splash mountain we went to eat dinner in toon town. After that we got fast passes for space mountain and then watched the parade (while james, jonathan and Sierra were finding a spot to watch it i was searching for clothes). The parade was cute. After the parade we went on the Star tours ride and then space mountian before heading back to the hotel. We watched the fireworks from the hotel.

Wednesday morning we woke up and checked out of the hotel. We were running a little late because we were so worn out from the day before. We went to Denny's for breakfast then made the big mistake of going to the lot that requires you to ride the tram. It takes forever to get to a parking spot in that lot and then forever to actually get to the park. I actually prefer the Pumbaa parking lot which is a short walk to the park and you dont have to go through a maze to get to a spot. It litterly took us 45minutes just to park. Wednesday is really a blurr. We went on a lot of the same rides... Did indiana jones again, space mountain, thunder mountian... headed over to Cali Adventure to do Tower of terror then we went on Cali Screamin. Sierra LOVED that ride. We got to ride quite a bit of rides that day. We left the park at around 5 beacuse we didnt want to eat dinner in the park and by this time we were ready to eat and get back on the road since we had an hour long drive to my inlaws. We ate dinner at the Kidd Buffet across the street from disney. It was pretty cheap... 7.99 per person... but I was not impressed. We wont go back there during future vists. We got to my sister in laws just before seven. We hang around with them and watched the movie Taken. That was actually a good movie.

Thursday we just relaxed and then headed to the airport around 1:30pm. We got there around 2:30 and we were supposed to fly out at 4:30 but our flight was delayed till 5:46. We had another lay over in SLC and of course that flight was delayed too. We got to Seatac at around 10:30 and then had to pick up our bags and wait for the shuttle to the park and fly place. On the way back to the park and fly place the driver tells us we arrived just in time because someone had stolen a car (from somewhere else) and there had been a police chase.. he got out on foot and the car ran into a pole. The police had the area surrounded trying to find the guy. We got home atound 1am.

Below are some pics. To see more go to my Webshots album. The link is on the right side of this blog.

James is home!

2009-05-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

James got back yesterday. It's so nice having him home again. We miss him so much when he is gone... even if it's only for a short time. Last night we went to Old Navy because they were having a sale on all of their beach wear. We managed to get James and Sierra some summer clothes. We have to go to Target today to get 2 pairs of shorts but that will have to be later on today since James is at work right now. Then we will be done shopping and done spending money until after our trip! Speaking of the trip.. we are at less than a week. Sierra is super excited. I am sure I will have tons of pictures when we get back.

12 days...

2009-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Twelve days till we leave for vactation! Yay!!!!!!!! The puppies are all gone. The last two went to the same home. I think they will be really happy there. I am working for now at the Navy Exchange gas station. Its very part time.. only about 15-18hrs a week. But it gives me something to do until I get licensed to sell insurance. It is a very long process of classes, testing, finger printing and a bunch of other things. I am signed up for my classes and they are paid for. I can't wait! Sierra is doing well in Soccer. This is the first year she has played. Normally she plays baseball in the spring but James wanted something different and if you know James at all you know how much he loves Soccer. The other day Sierra was goalie and blocked 3 balls and only let the other team score one point. Usually Sierra plays forward but they rotate out the goalie each game.

Horrible blogger

2009-05-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am a horrible blogger... i know! UGH! Anyway... we are just 19 days away from our trip! Yay! Sierra is excited, we are excited. We seriously need a vacation! The puppies are getting so big! We just have two left to find homes for. We have someone coming to look at them today so hopefully!!

It's been forever... i know

2009-04-13T17:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't update lately. My life has been a little crazy! Those of you who know me know the details :P. Anyway, Easter was fun! Tom came up the weekend before. We had Ham and all of the Easter fixings on the Monday before Easter. Tom left Monday night. James' brother and his wife and two kids are staying with us for a little while. It's been nice having so much family around. Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt but I didn't get a lot of pictures because some of the kids ran too early and then everyone else followed them. After that we went to the Alfy's that Brady works at for lunch. Sunday we went bowling.

Today I had a job interview. It went well. It's working at a tanning salon but it's only until I can get licensed to sell insurance in the state of Washington. Hopefully I will be fully licensed by July. Below are some pictures. You can click on them to see bigger or go to the link to the right to see more. Enjoy.

Dyeing eggs

Sierra at the easter egg hunt

Sierra, Michelle (my sister in law) and Robert

3wks 2days

2009-03-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

The puppies are now 3weeks 2days old. They are getting so big!... well, as big a Shih Tzu puppies get. Sadie is getting so much better with them. She likes to lick them and play with them. She thinks they are her wind up toys. She really enjoys waking them up when they are sleeping. Here are some photos. We've given them names (at least until they find their forever homes).

Above is Elvis

Above is Max

And our only girl (who happens to look like Sadie) is named Oreo.

St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in forever. Things have been a little crazy around here. The puppies seem to be taking up a lot of my time. Sadie has very little interest in their care so it's kept us on our toes.

I hope everyone has a safe St. Patrick's Day. Sierra's class had a performance today. The video link is included in this post. I took some pictures but because i was in the back of the gym and the lighting was horrible they didn't turn out great. They are in the webshots account to the right.

Other than that Sierra is working hard on learning the dance for her dance recital in June. They are dancing to the Rihanna song "SOS".

In April Sierra will start Soccer. She's done baseball for the last three years but this time we decided to try out Soccer. She's on a all girls team. She's super excited!

I think that is about it for now. :)

Sierra's First Grade St. Patrick's Day

Birthday and puppies.

2009-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

James came home on the 19th. He was happy to be back again finally after so many delays!

So on the 27th I turned 24. I feel older than that, lol. For my birthday we went out to dinner. We ate at applebee's

On the 28th the puppies were born! What an eventful day! It was an amazing experience to help Sadie bring the puppies into the world. She had three. She had a black one with a white spot on it's head and one spot on its back. It's a boy. Then she had a white puppy with black spots. She's the runt and she is a girl. Then she had a black puppy with a white belly. That puppy is a boy. Sadie had no interest in the puppies at first. She refused to care for them or feed them. The only time she was willing to feed them was when she was in labor with #2. We have to hold her down and make her feed them. She is getting better though. Sunday she let us just sit next to her while shes feeding them without trying too hard to get up. And then today i was actually able to get up and run to the bathroom and she continued to feed them. If she gets distracted or hears any noises she gets up and runs off. She's also been going up to the basket we have them in and sniffing but she is still somewhat uninterested. She refuses to lick and clean them. That's okay though.. these puppies will be people lovers! They look big in the pics but they are smaller than my hand.

Sadie in labor

Sadie after #1 was born

Feeding #1

Seven!

2009-02-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

Sierra is offically seven! She's happy as can be. On thursday I let her open three of her gifts. She got an american girl doll and two outfits. On thursday she also had her school valentines day party & her school birthday party in one. We got a Hannah Montana cupcake cake from walmart.

Friday Sierra's friend London came over and she had a sleep over. Saturday for lunch we went to Alfy's pizza for lunch. We had a stuffed crust pizza and then we had what they call a "pizza cookie". OMG it was SO good! It was a cookie that was really chewy a moist with icecream on top. YUM!

Saturday evening Tom and Carady came up and we went to Applebee's for dinner. At dinner Sierra opened the rest of her gifts. She got Animal Crossing for the WII, Club penguin for the nintendo DS, Another outfit for her american girl doll, a high school music journal, the soundtrack to the movie Mamma Mia and tom got her the book that teaches her how to play all the hannah montan/miley cyrus songs on the guitar!!! She's excited to learn to play along!

Oh and James is finally on his way home. If everything goes well he'll be home by next weekend! And if you ordered girlscout cookies they are in and we'll get them on wednesday! Additional pictures on our webshots site.

Sierras cupcake cake

Isnt uncle tom a great example?

relax... hers is rootbeer! :)

V-day/Sierra's Birthday.

2009-02-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Well, It turns out James wont be home in time for Sierra's birthday. He was supposed to come home on the 13th (the day after her birthday) but due to weather he wont be home for another week. Ugh. Very Annoying. I had plans for this weekend. Anyway, life must go on, right? Below is a picture of the valentines that Sierra's giving out at school. It's a picture card, Highschool musical valentine card, High School Musical temp tattoo, and HSM v-day card... oh and a candy :)

At Sierra's last school they had a traditon that you donate a book on your childs birthday to the classroom. It was optional of course. That way your child can unwrap something in front of the class :). Sierra wanted to donate a book she got for christmas... So we went to Borders and bought one to donate. The book is called 'My Dad, John McCain'... Great book! And Sierra loves it because he was in the Navy just like her Daddy is!

Finally!

2009-02-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

We finally got Sierra's brithday pictures done. I wasnt if we'd ever have another sunny day, lol. Below were my favs I will upload ALL of the pictures to my webshots album... even the outtakes. Sierra's school birthday party is the same time as he class v-day party. Instead of traditional v-day cards we printed out greeting cards with the first picture and we will be giving out those. Enjoy!

it's been too long!

2009-01-30T23:32:00.000-08:00

Since i've updated! James is gone. He left on the 20th but he'll be back in Time for Valentines day. James got a chance to go to San Diego and see our newest nephew. Sierra and I are jealous! Oh well, we will get to see him in May. Speaking of May we are going to Disneyland in May!! Yay! I am super excited. We haven't been since 2003. Sierra is super excited. We bought our plane tickets today and I reserved our rental car. Other than that we are gearing up for Sierra's birthday. I ordered her American girl doll and a a few outfits. Well, I am ready for bed. I just thought i'd update everyone on whats going on. Hopefully tomorrow i'll get a chance to do Sierras Bday/Vday pictures... if it doesnt rain ALL day!

Bowling

2009-01-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

Tom & Carady came up last night. We had a yummy dinner and then sat around and talked for a while... then played a little bit of WII.

This morning everyone woke up pretty early and we are breakfast and watched a movie. At 11am we left to go Bowling. It was fun. Carady won the first game and James won the second. We had pizza at the bowling ally and watched the playoff game between the Cardinals and the Eagles.

After the game our plan is to go to see Paul Blart:Mall Cop. Sierra actually has been asking to see it. It's rated PG.

Anyway, Here are some pictures from bowling. I didnt bring my camera so these are from James' phone.

Birthday!

2009-01-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

Monday it will be one month until Sierra's birthday. But with James leaving soon and coming back right after her birthday it makes the time to discuss our plans almost here. lol. I don't want to have to wait until the last minute or have to email james various choices since the internet connection on the ship stinks! Anyway, we've been putting it off for a while but we are finally going to break down and get her an American Girl doll. I had one as a child and I could kick myself now for getting rid of it. The trunk that had alone is worth over $200. I found a handmade copycat on ebay that I thnk i'll try and get... depends on how high the bids go. She says she wants Kit Kitridge because she likes the movie and Kit's haircut is a lot like Sierra's. These are dolls you play with. We will get her the doll and an outfit or two and maybe a trunk if I can find one that is not overpriced. Other that that we might get her a game or two. She got a lot of stuff for Christmas and she really doesnt need anything.

As for her party we aren't 100% sure. The mountian passes have been closed almost everyday lately due to avalanches so I don't know if we'll be able to do our origional plan of going tubing. Plus Tom might not be able to go. We'll see. We might be able to sneak up there one sunday for a couple of hours. The other possiblity is Chuck E Cheese. Maybe we will do a little of both and hit up CEC on the way home (just the family).

I've been busy working. My schedule is horrible. I really hope to find a job that is more me. I am not trying to sound conceeded but I am overqualified for my job and I hate that. Anyway, we'll see what happens with that.

James is doing good. He starts more college classes next month. Hopefully it wont be too long until he has his bachelors. He currently has his associates. He's going to be in and out over the next several months.

Locks of Love

2009-01-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Sierra's hair has been driving me insane! She seems to get everything caught in it... food, hair ties, a comb etc. I've always said I would never cut my little girls hair. The hair on the bottom half was very thin and not doing well. She was excited to donate it to locks of love. It's shorter than I wanted it... but her hair grows really fast so it will be long again in no time :).

Before

Her donation to Locks of Love

After. Her hair looks flat because it was still wet. I'll upload more pictures tomorrow

Bedtime Stories

2009-01-01T21:34:00.001-08:00

Today we went to lunch at Olive Garden. James and I decided that instead of spending money on having a partying or going out for New Years Eve we'd rather spend our money having fun as a family. It was good. I could only finish half of my meal. I seriously need to get back on the band wagon. Between March and July of 2008 I lost 35lbs. Traveling back really threw me off so now i go between being down 27-35lbs. Now that the holidays are over and we are settled in the house I need to get back in the game. After dinner we went to the mall to look around. Old Navy was having a big sale. Nearly everything was 60% off. If you know me you know how addicted to Old Navy I am. I managed to only spend $10 though. And it was on something I actually needed. After that we went to go see the movie Bedtime Stories. It has Adam Sandler in it but it's a movie for kids. It was great. Actually it was pretty funny. I laughed out loud several times :). James thought it was good. Lately we havent been buying a lot of movies but we will buy this one when it comes out.

James is leaving again in a couple of weeks. He'll be back after Sierras birthday. So once again for the second year in a row I will be left to plan everything and shop for it alone. Which is okay, he'll be back in time to celebrate with us the weekend after her birthday. She wants to go to Snoqualmie pass and go tubing instead of having a party :P. We'll still have cake and ice cream and then I guess we'll all pile in a two cars (Sierra, James, Tom, Carady, Brady and I) and head up the pass.

Be Safe!

2008-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

We took Sadie to get groomed today. She seriously needed it! Poor girl. He last groomer experience was really tramatic but this one seemed much better. They told me the only time she really had a hard time was when they were trimming around her face and eyes. She doesn't like that. Hopefully over time it she will get used to it. We really liked the place we took her too. It's super close to the house and we actually plan on taking Mojo in to get groomed soon.

She hates the flash!

Below are a few pictures i took at James' reenlistment. We should have more soon. I forgot my camera and James had his (my old one) in the car so we used that. He reenlisted with the same friend he reenlisted with six years ago in Hawaii. It's a small navy! James and him were on the Erie together and then he came to James' current ship about a year ago. His wife had her nikon d60 with her so once she started taking pictures I just stopped, lol.

This picture is of James with the Officer that reenlisted him.

James and his friend reenlisting

I hope everyone stays safe tonight. We are going to spend the night as a family. Maybe some board games, watching the ball drop in NY and relaxing. We had enough excitment at Christmas to last a while!

ER Visit, Christmas

2008-12-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas eve started off interesting. The day before Sierra had been coughing... not not wheezing or anything like that. At about 4am Christmas eve morning sierra ran into our bedroom coughing and saying "im gonna puke". So James got up and she kept coughing and coughing so much that she was gaging. So I got up to see what I could do to help. She sounded bad... and sounded like things might start to go downhill so we decided to give her some of the prednisone (Steroids "anti-inflammatory medications" such as prednisone can be used for asthma as well as other lung diseases. Prednisone and other steroids help calm airway inflammation in asthma. ) that we have for her to take as needed. As soon as I gave it to her she caughed and vomited it up. So we gave her some water and she did the same again. I decided to go ahead and take her in since it was obvious that she wasnt going to hold down anything and i didnt think a breathing treatment alone would be enough. So I drove to the hospital. To my joy it was empty. She was seen right away. Her oxygen saturation was 94/95% not terrible.. They said it was good we came in when we did and they were able to give her two injections of prednisone into her legs. That way she got the meds but didnt have to worry about not being able to hold it down. They gave her a teddy bear to keep. And we went home. Over the day she got a little better.

Wednesday night Brady's girlfriend came over at around 6:30pm. Shortly after that Tom and Carady arrived. We had our traditional 'special spaghetti dinner'. The sauce spent most of the day cooking. It was yummy! After dinner we made cookies for Santa with Sierra. Then it was time for her to go to bed. After she went to bed we played apples to apples. It was fun. After that Santa came and delivered a barbie house, a bike and a bunch of other things that were wrapped in either Santa wrapping paper or paper that said "special delivery from the north pole". Cute. Around that time James, Brady, Carady and Tom went to karaoke. Brady's gifrlfriend stayed with me. They were there about an hour and a half. We decided it would be fun to wake Sierra up. So Tom went up and woke her up. Her face was priceless as she was coming down the stairs. she got a lot of stuff! About 1/2 the way into opening her gifts she started coughing again and gaging. We decided she needed a breathing treatment. She refused to stop opening gifts just because she had the mask on her. And Tom wasnt about to make her stop. The last gift she opened was a electric guitar from Tom (and his mom). Tom also gave her an amp. He taught her a few things on it tonight.

We nicknamed this year "the year of the Hannah Montana". Between her grandma (and papa), her aunt lisa, and her uncle tom she got FIVE hannah montana/miley cyrus dolls!

After we all opened our gifts we had cinnamon rolls and decided it was time for a nap. Sierra didnt want to sleep much as she was too excited and wanted to play with her new toys. She wanted to ride her new bike but it's still way too snowy and icey. She wouldnt make it an inche without getting stuck. The rest of the time we spent playing with her and her new stuff. We play with her guitar hero and helped her open up her things. Later we played a game of phase 10. For dinner we had prime rib, mashed potoatos, corn and dinner rolls. After dinner we had Chocolate cream pie. Yummy.

Much more photos are at our webshots page here http://community.webshots.com/user/mana2sisi

After Santa came

In her I love Santa PJ's

Lots of hannah montana dolls. lol.

Groom ME!!!

2008-12-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

Sadie needs to be groomed so bad! But she's never good at the groomers so i've been putting it off and putting it off! I was going to let her top knot grow out but she doesnt like it when i put a bow in it. It doesnt look like it but she was just given a bath yesterday!

In all we've gotten atleast 20 inches of snow. May not seem like a lot but is when the area is only used to getting 1-3 inches and it ususally melts that night. The next couple of nights we are expected to get snow/rain. Sierra's had a blast in it. The dogs love it. You should see our deck. Insane. Tomorrow I have to drive down to mill creek which is about 30 minutes away and I am taking the car (not the trailblazer) so we'll have to dig it out tomorrow.

Still waiting on our trash to be picked up. Almost a week later! It's starting to pile up. Hopefully it will be picked up before Christmas because that will add a lot more!

Snowman!

2008-12-21T22:00:00.000-08:00

We've had more more and more snow. Last night we got an additional 5 inches. That's in addition to all the other snow we've had. The snow hasnt melted at all! We went outside an made a snowman today. Well, Sierra made one & then the three of us worked on the bigger one :). We've been kind of staying at home and not going anywhere because the drivers here have NO clue what they are doing. The roads havent been plowed at all. It's a mess. So if we leave its just down the road and back.Infact, its snowing again :)

Additional Pictures to the right where it says "My Links"

Other than that not much excitment. We are getting excited about christmas!! Just a few short days away!

Tubing!!

2008-12-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

We got a lot more snow last night. Some parts of the town we live in got 2ft of snow just overnight, not including the stuff we already had. And its STILL snowing! So this morning we decided try and find a sled. Ha, not happening. Every store we went to was sold out. Our last resort store had some kind of cheapy tubes. But it worked! We blew it up & went. It was a lot of fun. We just had SOOOO much fun. One time I went flying and narrowly missed a pole. So we moved to another hill. The kids around here arent very bright though. Because as soon as you hit the bottom you should know to MOVE. Sierra took out this one kid bad... and sierra kept going. It was so funny. The kid didnt seem to mind. additional pics to the right :)

Sierra's recital and more snow...

2008-12-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well, Sierra's recital on Monday went great! We didn't get any video of it this time but we do have pictures. She did so good! I am so proud of her. They danced to the song "jingle bell rock". Click on the picture to see it more clearly... oh and as ALWAYS you can see more pictures on our webshots page... the link is to the right.

We've gotten more snow! It started snowing last night (tuesday night) and by this morning we had enough snow that they canceled school. James had to go on but was able to get off by 1:30pm. A lot of snow fell overnight and around noon the stuff on the road started melting. The roads are expected to be extremely icey tomorrow. They've told James if the roads are bad to not come in. His Christmas leave starts tomorrow anyway. We still don't know yet if Sierra has school but if she does it will be at least a 2 hour delay. Around 3 snow started falling again and it hasnt stopped. I didnt have my camera on me during the day so the only photo I got was after the sun went down. I will post more pictures tomorrow. It's supposed to snow all night & into the morning.. we shall see!

Let is snow!!

2008-12-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we got some snow!! Sierra was super excited and had hours of fun Sunday morning playing in it. It didnt snow Sunday but it stayed cold enough to only melt a little of it. Todays high will only be around 27 degrees. It was on like 19 degrees this morning. It took me forever to scrape through the layers and layers of ice on my car. It's going to be cold all week. On Wednesday and Thursday it's supposed to snow. And it may even snow next sunday. I think the high temp all week will be 30 degrees. CRAZY!! Below are some pictures of Sierra in the snow...

Oh and tonight is Sierra's Jazz recital. Should be fun!

Sadie peeing in the snow... the dogs LOVED the snow!

Back from Montana

2008-12-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

James' cousin was lost at sea in October and so on Tuesday we went to his memorial service in Montana. It was James, Sierra, Tom, Brady & I. We left for Montana on Monday at 3am. It was a long drive but we kind of took our time. We had to drive down to Tacoma to pick up Tom so we ended up in Helena, Montana around 4:40pm local time (3:40pm Washington time). We actually didnt run into much snow on the way there. It was completely dry until we got half way into Idaho and after that it was mainly snow on the side of the road. It snowed for a little while but melted before it even hit the ground. Helena had a little bit of snow but it was mainly icey. Lots & lots of ice in the Hotel parking lot. About 10 minutes after we arrived my father in law arrived. Sierra was super excited to see him. We brought our bags into our hotel rooms and then left to eat dinner. We had a heck of a time trying to find somewhere to eat. Helena is pretty small for being the capital of Montana. And all the roads are one way and they have like 5 way intersections and stuff.. very confusing. We ended at some no name pizza joint which was REALLY good. After dinner we went to James' cousins Christmas choir recital. After that we went back to his aunts house. It was nice to meet some of the family i'd never met. My father in laws Aunt was there too. We found out she actually lives pretty close to us. We hung around there for a little. After that we went back to the hotel. We were pretty tired. The next morning everyone woke up and went to breakfast. It was pretty good. After that we drove to James' aunts house again and sat around and chit chated until it was time to go to the church. The memorial service was very emotional. I wish I would have had the pleasure of meeting James' cousin. He was very well loved. Sierra started crying when a lady came up and sang "what a wonderful world". After the service we went downstairs for a reception type thing. Sierra started crying again and so my father in law came up to her, kneeled down and gave her a big hug. It was so cute. When it was time to leave we offered up our trailblazer for the left overs that needed to be transported. James' uncle told me to move it to the loading area which was right off of the parking lot. I got into the car and started driving down the hill to get into the loading area. I get about a foot down and begin sliding on the ice. I ended u sliding past the loading area so he just had me stop there, put my emergency break on & put it into park. So I do that and James opens the back and I begin sliding again! I ended up having to keep my foot on the break too. As soon as James closed the back of the truck I began sliding again! It was scary but I did a good job, lol. After that we went back to his Aunts house. We hung around there for a while and at 6pm we left for Washington. The trip back was pretty uneventful. A little bit of snow but not too much. We got back at 3:30am. We were super tired. James had to leave for work at 5:30 am. Sierra went back to school on Wednesday... but she went in late.

Tonight is James' ships Christmas party. In a little I have to get all the door prizes ready to go. I hope we win something!!

This was a store in Montana which had like 500 signs along the freeway

Snow...

Almost there!!

Sierra & papa

The goobers

at breakfast

After the service we all changed into more comfy clothes

Brady doing Magic

If you want to see more pics I have more on my webshots page. The link is on the right of my blog.

Go Cowboys/Christmas parade

2008-12-06T23:36:00.000-08:00

Sierra mentioned to me that she wanted to add a few items to the Santa letter she'd already sent out. So I told her to go write them down & that I'd mail it on Monday. We did NOT tell her what to put, give her ideas nor did we help her with spelling, lol.... heres what she put...

Look at #3... James was so proud :)

So, tonight we went to our towns christmas lights parade. It's pretty small but it wasnt too bad... kinda boring, lol. And the few people who were passing out candy completely skipped Sierra everytime. lol. Anyway, here are some pictures.

Geek Squad. It had christmas lights on the top...

My camera is really big and its hard to hold it with one hand and aim it towards myself.

Mom, It's COLD!!!

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

2008-12-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

Sierra didn't have school today. So she's been spending the day trying her best to drive me insane! lol. Anyway, she has to read everyday and today she picked my favorite book Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. I've always loved this book. It may look like a simple picture book but it's got a lot of big words in it.. not easy like Dr. Suess. Needless to say she read about 99% of it without help. She really liked the book too :)

Hope

2008-12-04T19:53:00.001-08:00

Five years is too long. Please god...

Clomid 100mg

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

I am horrible at keeping my blog up to date. Sorry. I am trying to get better... i promise!! Anyway, thanksgiving was great. Tom came up on Wednesday. We had Kangaroo that night. I didn't care for it but Tom and James liked it. On Thanksgiving Brady's girlfriend came over. We had fun. We ate lots of food! We then played a little rockband fallowed by phase 10. I ended up winning phase 10. Yahoo!!! Then we played American Idol on our PS2. We have 2 microphones so we all took turns. Sierra actually did pretty good!! Here is a few pictures from Thanksgiving....

We also went to Camano Island State Park to do some 'family' pictures. I couldnt get posed correctly in time (12 seconds isnt enough for me..lol) so we ended up only liking the random shots I did of James and Sierra. We may end up trying again... havent decided yet. Here is some of the pictures... you can view more at my Webshots page.... http://community.webshots.com/user/mana2sisi

Update :)

2008-11-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we got a new family member!! His name is Mojo. He's a year old (Sadie just turned a year on the 8th). He's also a Shih Tzu.

At first Sadie wasnt very happy to have him around. But by Monday they were chasing each other around. They go everywhere together. It' so cute. Right now they are climbing on each other and playing on the couch.

James is gone right now. He'll be back later this week. They are out shooting a Navy commercial. lol.

Halloween!!

2008-11-19T09:33:00.000-08:00

I am so far behind on this darn blog I am going to post two new ones today. One with halloween pictures and the other with updates!
Sierra went as Hannah Montana...

Sadie Went as Elvis...

He's home!

2008-10-25T19:56:00.001-07:00

James came home (finally) on October 12th. I havent even uploaded pictures from the homecoming yet :-\ but once I do I will be sure to add one or two here. It's been so nice having him home. Sierra's as happy as can be. He's going back to work on Monday but at least he'll be home everynight.

I got a job! But I wont start until December first. I was supposed to start the training November 3rd but it got pushed back. I've applied for some temp jobs to do from now until them... just to get extra cash for the holidays. Oh and we got James a car. I have to drive Sierra to school and pick her up everday so even If I don't have to work we really need 2 cars. It's a 99 Chrysler LHS. It's a great car and it has more features than our Trailblazer!

I LOVE my new camera. The battery was dead when we went to the pumpkin patch on the 19th so I had to use my old camera. Here are some pictures from that day

If you want to see more pictures feel free to visit our webshots site :)
http://community.webshots.com/user/mana2sisi

It's been too long since I've updated.

2008-10-02T20:43:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been so long. things have been crazy. We made it back to Washington safe and sound. We had a blast on our trip and you can see pictures from it here.

Sierra is a month into first grade. She is doing very well. She likes her teacher & seems to get along with her classmates. She's also in Jazz Dance at the dance school she went to last year. In Jan we plan on putting her in either Jazz & Ballet or Jazz & Gymnastics. We'll see. Her Christmas recital will be December 15th. She's already learning the dance she will preform. She's going to be Hannah Montana this year.

As for me, I am doing okay. I didnt get a chance to start photography classes last month but I will be starting them in Jan instead. That will give me more time to figure out what time of day I want to take the classes. Below is my new toy that I got (okay, I also just got the Dyson DC17 Asthma & Allergy)... but this is my new new toy...lol I can't wait until it comes in the mail. I may end up doing my Holiday family photo's myself. We'll see!

And last but not least... James will be coming home very soon! We have no clue yet when he'll be reenlisting because people are sitting on their hands and not getting stuff done. He's aiming for a October 10th reenlistment date. Cross your fingers he gets some paperwork back!

Dinner :)

2008-07-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went out to dinner with one of my little brothers (he'll turn 23 next week) and his girlfriend. It was fun. We went to this place called Rheinhardts Oyseter Bar. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The food was good and it was nice to spend at least some time with them before we leave. We are supposed to go to dinner next friday with my dad too. That will be nice. I am leaving here next Saturday. I can't believe it's time to leave here already. I will be sad. It's been so nice having my dad in my daily life. Sierra will miss him like crazy.. i already know it. She's done so well this deployment. I am very proud of her. She misses James but she's handleing it a lot better than I thought she would. Tonight on the way home I was listening to my Sirius radio and it was on the 60's station I listen to once in a while and Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" came on. That is so James and my song. We got married really young but look at us now, seven years later... stronger than ever. I cant imagine my life without him. He is my world. I know that he feels the same way too. I need to download that song from Itunes and put it on my ipod. My plan as for now is to go to Texas for a week, Oklahoma for a week & be in Arizona by the 16th or 17th. We'll see. Tomorrow James takes his final boards to finally qualify for ESWS. He did the 1st class boards earlier this week. Basiclly it's a warfare pin. He said he's going to "butter them up" with fresh baked cookies and hot wings! I knew being a cook would pay off someday! lol. He was supposed to get it in 2003 before he lfet the Lake Erie but they werent holding boards until the day we flew out.. and by the time they called us it was too late. And you can't get it while on shore duty. Anyway, I am ready for bed so i'll leave you for now with the lyrics to "I Got You Babe"...dedicated to James..We're proud of you!

They say we're young and we don't know
We won't find out until we're grown
Well I don't know if all that's true
'Cause you got me, and baby I got you
BabeI got you babeI got you babe
They say our love won't pay the rent
Before it's earned,Our money's all been spent
I guess that's so, we don't have a pot
But at least I'm sureOf all the things we got
BabeI got you babeI got you babe
I got flowers in the springI got you to wear my ring
And when I'm sad, you're a clown
And if I get scared, you're always around
Don't let them say your hair's too long
'Cause I don't care,With you I can't go wrong
Then put your little hand in mine
There ain't no hill or mountain
We can't climb
Babe I got you babeI got you babe
I got you to hold my hand
I got you to understandI got you to walk with me
I got you to talk with me
I got you to kiss goodnight
I got you to hold me tightI got you, I won't let goI got you to love me so
I got you babeI got you babeI got you babeI got you babe

Bored

2008-07-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

We were bored yesterday and decided to pose for some pictures for fun! Sierra wanted to strike a pose with my dad's mustang, lol. We leave here on Saturday August 2nd to go to Texas. I should be there for about a week and then onto Oklahoma & then Arizona. I've been looking on Craiglist for places to live and I am pretty confident that around this time next month I should know where we are moving to.. or at least have it narrowed down. I can't believe it's been almost five months since James left. Thankfully, I've been very busy here in Georgia so it's helped time fly. Although we miss him a lot and I cannot wait until homecoming. Just 2 1/2 months left!! August should fly pretty fast since we will be moving around so much. I just have all of september to stay busy unpacking/getting settled in the new house and then in October he'll be home!