Thanks To All

Thank you to so many who offered me birthday wishes today. My sweet husband put together a pot-luck surprise birthday dinner. I had a great time visiting with so many friends and family. Max could hardly stand himself to have so many friends to play with tonight. Pictures will be forth coming.

I really am looking forward to the upcoming year. It will only get better and better!

It's Coming ...

I'm just watching the clock here on my computer ... the inevitable is coming ... just hours away ... some say it is "the big one" others say it is the beginning of being "old" and some still say life starts at .... 40!

I told Mark tonight that I was not sure if I was ready to be 4 score. Luckily I have 1 hour and 58 minutes to figure it out. Life's has not been too boring as of late and I do not want to complain. Many women this age have all kinds of interesting and fun things to keep them busy. I am no exception. My life and family are so wonderful and I am truly grateful for all the many things that I have learned and for the things that I am still learning.

I can hardly wait to see what adventures come to me this new year. Oh boy... and don't worry for those of you interested, Mark will be joining me in a few short months. So starting tomorrow Mark will have an older & wiser wife for a few short months!

Whale Of A Time ...

Today Max helped me run all kinds of errands while Mark needed to get some work done on the computer. We spent most of the day down in Stephens City where the "big park" is and has the "big slide". When we got to the park of course there were a zillion other kids there who mostly like to run and trample over the smaller kids ... urghh. Anyway, in order to get Max back in the car, I told him that we would go check out the pool they have at the park and see what it is all about. That seem to work to get him back in the car and off we went to find the local community pool. The pool is nice and big but, no chairs, no shade and for our family of three it would cost $8.50 each time (a little high I thought) and neither Mark nor I really enjoy sporting a swim suit. Now we were on our way back home and Max was needing a nap really bad at this point and all he could talk about was getting his swim suit and going back to the pool. So after nap time of course he remembered the swimming idea and so we convinced Max to go pick out a pool of his very own to have in our backyard from where you say??? Of course Walmart. So here is our new family private pool. Yes we welcome visitors who are 5 and under to swim free .... and feel no pressure to wear your swim suit!

Happy Fathers Day!

For Fathers Day this year, I decided to make the investment in a tent and a couple of sleeping bags. Mark has never been able to go on the Fathers / Son Campout with our church friends since we have not had any camping gear. In general, Mark and I are not campers but, as I was joking to Mark .... this may be our new home!! ( ha ha ha ) Anyway, the boys were excited and we decided that we'll have to work on getting more camping gear as money permits but, at least we have some basics. If nothing else, we can add this to our storage / self-reliance kits. Justin was a really good help in setting it up to surprise Mark with and Max could hardly contain himself.

After church on Sunday we had a pot-luck Fathers Day dinner with some friends. We had some great food and I made these cupcakes to make them look like a golf-course. All 18 holes were represented along with some sand-traps. The golf balls are tic-tacs and the sand is crushed up graham crackers. I made the flags from construction paper and toothpicks. They were really good and we even shared a couple with our next door neighbor who is an avid golf player! Happy Fathers Day to all the wonderful fathers!

Super Soaker Pictures

Saturday afternoon the boys decided to get their suits on and play in the sprinklers. After the first splash in to Maxs' eyes he came up with the best solution .... the goggles! Then you add the super soaker squirt guns and this is what you come up with! Max ran all around squirting Justin, the rocks, the fence, the patio, etc. and had a grand time. This is really a favorite of both boys right now. (Justin 12, Max 3)

Justin's 6th Grade Graduation

6th Grade Graduation was on Thursday, June 18th! Mark was able to travel down to Falls Church and be there to see all the kids walk across the stage and receive their certificates. Justin will start at a new middle school this fall which only has 7th & 8th graders. He is very excited and did very well on his final report card! Congratulations Justin!
Later that evening we took Justin out to a local favorite restaurant Romas and then to Rita's for an ice cream. He had a great day and we were happy to have been able to celebrate with him.

For the Record

Well it has now been 7 months since Mark was laid off as a Civil Engineer in the private industry and we are still looking for a job and trying to sell our house. The job opportunity in Billings, MT did not work out (filled from within) and we are waiting to hear if the same company is interested in his resume from Bizmark, ND. The Blacksburg, VA job opportunity did not work out either. Our house is now practically free... if anyone is interested ... let me know. You can practically have the keys at this point.

I started contacting some realtors about some rental properties closer to George Mason where Mark will go to school this fall if no job .... and it turns out every house that looked good to me also looked good to many others. I guess we'll really have to be ready to move when we know for sure school is the FINAL answer. Nice rental properties are going quick.

Frustrated and disappointed .... I think I will go to bed now.

Yard Work + Humidity = Near Death ...

Mark handles all our yard work. And, I must say he does an excellent job! Mark takes great pride in a well manicured lawn and a weed free lawn as well. This week Mark did the lawn on either Tuesday or Wednesday right before we were showing our house but, since then the rain came down and of course .... our beautiful green lawn grows very quickly. We are having an open house again tomorrow and I had to talk Mark in to cutting it again today as it was just long enough that it needed it but probably would have been OK if we didn't. And, today the humidity was at an all time high and sticky! So, I told him that I would come out and cut while he did the weed wacking, edging, blowing, etc. It really wouldn't take that long if we were both doing it together and Max and Justin could watch a movie / nap. So, off we went to the automatic weight loss / sauna we call the great outdoors in Winchester, VA. Really, this type of humidity does not come till August or so but, today we were so blessed! Anyway, half way in to cutting while I was emptying the grass bag (which is so stinkin' heavy) I thought to myself, Mark was so right ... this could have waited! Then, a rain cloud burst open and started to sprinkle on us which was a nice relief since that was just about when I thought I would pass out. Never-the-less, we perservered and the lawn looks great. In fact, one neighbor stopped by to tell me specifically how nice our yard looks. I also was thinking about all the work Mark and I have done in this yard, with the garden beds, stacked bricks, clearing of the fence, hauling dirt, mulch, seed, sod and of course hidden treasures from the builder. So, to our future home buyer .... I really hope you know how hard we have worked in this yard and I truly hope the next home owner keeps up a nice yard ... or at least hires someone to keep it nice!

No Juice ... But Guns?

If you have not heard this story ... it is truly sad. An 88 year-old gets in with a .22 rifle (by the way a convicted felon served prison time from '83 - '89 ... how does he get a gun?) and shoots a security officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Sadly, Stephen dies and James von Brunn is still alive as of this morning.

What scares me is to think that I was in this museum recently with family and friends. We could not get juice in a sponge bob cup in the museum but, how does a .22 rifle get in?

Thank heavens not more people were hurt in this story. The museum is closed today in honor of Stephen Tyrone Johns.

Friends United

Yesterday, I had lunch with Heather Sandy & Denise Lloyd. Heather, Denise and I were all friends back in Langley Ward in McLean, VA (which is the singles ward). We had such a great visit and lunch at Mikes American Grill in Springfield. We shared stories about kids, jobs, working vs. non-working, motherhood and simply laughed for a good 4 hours. What a nice break and fun reunion we had. Denise and I both agreed that we will need to get out to Idaho to visit Heather & Curtis and see their beautiful cabin sooner than later! Thanks for the reunion and all the great memories we shared .... which seems like yesterday but in reality over 14 years ago!

Wyoming Part III

Last Sunday we drove down to SLC and spent a few days with Mark's parents, his brother James and family. We also got to go out to Tooele for dinner with some extended family. We spent a few hours at Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum which was fun for the kids and the big kids for that fact. Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel for some swimming. The next morning, Mark & I took Max up to temple square in SLC where we spent an hour or two at the conference center, tabernacle and visitors center. They are doing some construction there so we did not get great close-up shots of the temple. But, I was so glad that we took the time to do this. Max was quite tired by the time we got there and was a bit of a handful but, I was happy to spend this time as a family. I love to see the Christus statue and this particular time I really felt the spirit. I just felt as though the Lord was telling me to hang in there and good things are coming our way. Our prayers are being heard it is just taking a little longer than we want.

After temple square, we drove back to Star Valley Ranch in Wyoming and got there on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning Mark had a phone interview with a company here in Blacksburg, VA which was really exciting. We are hoping they will call for a phone interview this week. Keep your fingers crossed! After the phone interview, we received a call to confirm an interview with another company in Billings, Montana for Thursday at 1 pm. So we reloaded the suit cases and car and Grandpa & Grandma Tippets drove with us over to Billings which took about 8 1/2 hours from SVR, Wyoming! We drove through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park - coming and going which slows you down a bit. But, the parks were great to see. We saw lots of snow, buffalo, moose, elk, deer, antelope and a few other little critters. Once we were in Billings, our hotel had a great indoor pool so Max was thrilled and could not wait to get in the water! Mark had his interview on Thursday and we spent that day driving around, seeing the town, looking at properties and we did find the temple. Friday we drove back to SVR, Wyoming in time for dinner, laundry and bed! Saturday morning we got up drove back over to Jackson and flew home through Atlanta! To say the least we have logged some miles on mom & dad's CRV but we laughed and sang lots of songs and had a great time together.

.... Things you would have heard in the car this past week:

The wheels on the honda go round and round, round & round ....
The people in the honda drink lots of coke, lots of coke, lots of coke ....
Don't get too close to the buffalo ....
Max, do you need to go poopie, again?
Max: I need to have a meeting and pretend to drive.
Max: Are we almost to the hotel yet? Are we going swimming now?
Mom: No we are not giving you the whole bag of gummy bears!
Max: Mom, I didn't swallow my gum!
Grandpa: Max look at the buffalo ....
Grandma: Max, you are such a little sweetheart ....
Dad: Sure hope these interviews go well!

Here are some photo's from this past week. We are so thankful for family and friends who are supporting us through these difficult times. We love you!