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I found a look a like meter online, and I put in pics of Sam, me, And Scott, and then Sam , me and Alec, Why Alec you say? cause I have always thought Sam was Alec's "Mini me" interesting , so overall, Sam looks more like me, cause its my genes that Alec has in him, and Sam looks the most like Alec, lol, if that makes sense......

OK< off for Vacation to Idaho's Lake Pend Orielle, and Silverwood, will post when I return..

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Snoqualmie Falls

Picture from above the falls, its great and all, but I wanted to go down to the bottom!
view from above. This was the moment that I knew I wanted to go down there! ( click on the pic so you can read what I wrote)
This is where we were making up our minds if we continued on the rocks or not.
do you see Scott and Sam in the center of the picture below?
this view was worth it all!

Sam crashed out on Scotts Chair around 6 pm . He was wiped out, But he was so happy, I heard him telling Alec that he fell down on the rocks and didnt even cry even though he hurt himself. He was very proud. It was a great day!

Wow! That was my first thought. Not when I first saw the falls from the top, but when I turned the corner after we had hiked all the way down there, off the trail, over the bridge, over a ton of rocks, and turned the corner and saw the falls from the bottom. WOW. It was worth every friggin rock I had to climb over, the friggin hills I had to climb back up, the sweat that I felt, (ick), and the soreness I am sure I will feel tomorrow!

Sam was such a trooper! In fact, Scott told us both many times " good job guys, you didnt complain once" or something like that. I think he didnt think I could do it, I dont think he knows his wife very well....

It was a beautiful day out here in the Pacific Northwest, and I , the sun lover that I am, wanted to be outside. But I wanted to do something I had never done before, so I suggested we go here. Scott had been years ago, But Sam and I never. ( Brett didnt want to go, Jake was at Jeff's and well, he couldnt have gone anyway, and Alec was playing Softball). So off we all went. Scott told me about the walk to the bottom, so I was prepared and had my tennis shoes, we all did. We had parked the car and walked over to the falls. I knew instantly that I wanted to go to the bottom, I wanted a great picture!! so we walked back to the car and got out shoes. All we took was a bottle of water and the camera, then off we went. When we got to the bottom, and went walking on the footbridge, and it just ended. Just ended, the falls were there, but we were not close to them, not like I wanted. and Scott didnt remember it being that way. So we turned around, but as we were going back, there were people climbing over the footbridge and climbing down the side of the ROCKY hill to the bottom. We stood there at this spot and just looked at each other, He said " What do you wanna do?" I said" I came here to get a great picture, I want to go to the bottom". so He lifted Sam over the bridge, and I climbed over, and he climbed over. and I led the way. I was going damn it, I was getting the damn picture for my scrapbook page, and I was putting my feet in the friggin water!!

I am so glad we did, it was so great. Like I said above, I wont sugar coat it for ya, the hike back up sucked big time, I hated it, but IT was worth it!

On another note, Jake is doing great. Stitches have been out for a week now, starting on the 21st he can transition into shoes two hours a day, then four hours a day, then six, and so on. Just in time for out family vacation to Silverwood on Bretts Birthday, the 27th. His ankle is feeling great, and he does feel tightness in his heels, but Dr. McDreamy says that is normal, and he may feel it for some time.

Ok, off for now!

Update on Jake!

I promised I would update, But I dont really have anything much to say, He has ventured downstairs the past two days, and has hung out on the couch and with his brothers. I took these pictures on WED, Again, he wasnt thrilled, but oh well. ITs the least of his worries, I am sure, lol.
He washed his hair, and other vital body parts today, so that was good, he cant wait to take a shower, which wont be till Monday night. He still hasnt put weight on it, but he also hasnt needed the pain pills, he took one today, and one tonight before bed, last night he slept 11 hours all the way thru, I am so glad that he did that, he is a side sleeper, so its hard to sleep on your back. When I came home from work tonight I made him dinner, and then hung out with him for a while in his room. I just feel so bad for him, its gotta be lonely. His phone has gotten a workout, the texting..... So glad we have unlimited texting! he still has my laptop, and he has movies and tv, today he was watching the NBA draft. He plans on trying the scooter out tomorrow on the hardwood floor. wish him luck!

Jake had Surgery this morning

Now I know what your thinking, Did I really have someone take our picture? Well, no, But because he is a minor, they had to take our picture. And they were nice enough to give it to me. I just wish I had my eyes open. Anyway, Surgery for what you ask?


Well , he had the tendons in his calves, lengthened. ( is it calves, or calfs? I dont know, but whichever I will be using the first) they were very short, and have been his entire life. He has always been a toe walker, but its only been the last year or so that we have been away that it is a medical thing, and we have been trying to fix without surgery for the last year. And Thats not all, while we were at it we thought we would have his ankle scoped to see what is going on in there, since he has injured it so much, and has constant pain. Which was a good thing we did, cause he had tissue that was shreaded like, and getting caught in his bone socket, in between the bones, yuck.. So the surgery was a huge success, the DR was very happy , he said Jakes Tendons were extreamly tight, but he got them moved / lengthened to where they should be.
Getting Jake in the house was a bit of an issue, there was no way he could use crutches, even though the dr has allowed weight bearing as tolerated on the leg that just had the tendon done, the other leg, he cant put any pressure on for a week. its a good thing we had Alec, and Frankie, and Brett. Frankie and Brett helped Jake out of the car, and then lifted him onto Alecs back, Alec then gave him a piggyback ride into the house. Jakes not a small kid, so yeah for Alec for being so strong! Alec and Frankie then carried him up the stairs and got him into bed. We will see how it goes, I have been taking care of him, just made him dinner and got him more pain pills. I gave him my laptop to use, he has his cell phone, and PS2 and the TV, I dont think he could ask for more, except maybe, to be able to walk. I will keep you updated, I promise!

A week full of Baseball and Sex!

what a week !

I was busy every night this past week, with lots and lots of sstuff going on, I didnt get home any earlier than 10:15 all week. Lets Recap:

Monday night, Memorial day.

Jake and I went to the Red Sox , Mariners game. We got there before the gates opened, And we stood outside those gates for almost 1 hour waiting. But we got in, and I got what I wanted, which was great pictures of the Red Sox and batting practice.

It was a great game, good times with Jake, The Sox won. the bad part of the whole night was the migrain that started halfway thru the game, and didnt go away. I dont know how I got home, honestly, We even stopped at a gas station to buy something for it, but , it was one am before I was able to sleep , waiting for it to go away just enough so I could sleep.

Tuesday Am: Woke up very tired, feeling like I hadnt slept at all. The sox are still in town, but I had no plans to go to the game this night, instead, I had plans to do some things at home, go tan, run some errands, ect. At 4:11 I got a message from Kimi, asking me if I wanted to go to the game, ( we had talked about going eariler, but she didnt think she was going to be home). We made plans to get the tickets at the box office, and that we would meet at Target at south center , and drive in one car from there, at 5:45.

We are both driving , and on the phone, she gets a call from her ex husbands wife, wanting to know if she wanted two tickets to the game, they were sitting on her desk and she couldnt use them, Kimi told her yes, and here is the cool part, the seats were behind home plate!! The ex'x wife worked near where Kimi and I were meeting, and she met us and gave us the tickets. Kimi and I drove to the game, and we had an absolute blast! Manny hit homerun # 499 and it was completely awesome and amazing! The sox didnt win that night, but I didnt care one bit, I had a blast with Kimi, and it I just love watching those boys play ball!

WED, May 28th Alec's 19th Birthday!!

I had a big day or night, planned for him, and us. He and Frankie and I had 5th row seats to the Red Sox game for this night. And to top it off, I had Jason arrange for us to be on the field while the Sox were taking batting practice! ( Jason is the Head of security at Safeco). Sam and Scott also had tickets to the game, sitting in a different section than us.

So I took Sam out of school a bit early, and he and Frankie and Alec and I were off to Seattle, We had a late lunch at Pyramid Ale , which is across from Safeco. After lunch we spent somet time in the team store, where Sam picked out a new Red Sox shirt. ( Yes, they were selling them at the Mariners Team store, Go figure,) We were still early to meet Jason, but we headed over to where we were to meet Jason. Jason was running a little late, and we ran into the friend of mine that had introduced me to Jason to begin with a few years ago! They were waiting for Jason too, and we all ended up on the field together. IT was so fun! I have some great pictures of that time, Sam had a blast ( see pictures below) he got JD DREWS autograph, and he loved standing in the on deck circle. HE was told not to go on the grass, and he stood with his toes right to the edge of the grass. It was too cute. I was Giddy that I was that close with the men that I love watching play the game that I love. Also when we were on the field, Alec noticed "juliet" from lost, she was not on the field, but in the first row, signing autographs with people, and taking pictures. She posed for this picture for me, but I didnt get her autograph.

the Sox didnt win for Alec, in fact , the score was 1-0. But it was a great game, I loved every minute of it, and Alec had a great time too.

Thursday...

Jake had a baseball game, start time 8:00 PM!! IT was another late night for me, and the baseball continued!

Friday night:

SEX AND THE CITY MOVIE!! 7 of us went, 5 ladies, and 2 husbands. And the men were great, Laura's Husband thought of everything, he Knew that we couldnt watch Sex without cosmos, and he snuck cosmopolitans into the movie for all the ladies! It was a great touch, and we loved the movie. How can you not? WE had cosmos before, during and after the movie!

I worked on SAT, so it was a long week...

Maegan, this post ( that took me three different times to write) Was for you!

Check this out!

Look at these adorable little red sox players that now have a home on my shelf in my scrap room. They are surrounded by all my favorite pictures, including one of My grandma and my mom and her sisters. anyway, they are adorable, and they were given to me for my birthday.

did I mention they remind me of Sam, or Alec when he was little? I love them!

A hallmark moment, and I missed it

but lucky for me, a co-worker/friend of mine did see it, and passed it on to me. so I now have this memory etched into my mind, and I didnt even see it....

Laura was sitting at a stop at the cross walk by Sam's school. She is watching the kids cross the road, Crossing guard lady with the stop sign high in her hand in the middle. And there in front of her goes this Adorable little boy, with his cars backpack on his back, his jacket bundled up tight, holding his older brothers hand, and looking up at him with the biggest smile you could ever imagine, big brother is looking down at little brother, smiling back at him and they are clearly sharing a silly moment about little brothers day at school....

Laura said it touched her heart, seeing them exchange those smiles, Those were my boys Brett and Sam, and even though I didnt see it personally, I can see it, I can see my sons sharing that moment in my mind. I love that they , without even knowing it, made Laura's day special , just letting her wittness that exchange, made her day brighter. I love that when she told me about it, I could picture it, I loved the smile she had on her face when she told me about it. I love that even now, two weeks later, I have tears from writting this.

I love that things that happen when we are not around can make us happy, and we dont even have to see it for it to do so.

This and that

Well its been a couple of crazy weeks around my house. Some good things, some not so good things, we will try not to focus on the not so good things.

Jake got his braces off! Yes I have pictures, but not posting them yet, I havent gotten it with the before pic for you and you need to see that one to get the full effect. He looks great though!!

I had a birthday, Scott and I went away for my birthday weekend, Here are a few pics from where we went, and some reading material I brought along. We had a very good time the first night, the second night I wanted to kill him way too much togetherness, By Sunday AM he was nice to me again and made me a birthday breakfast.

the rest of my birthday sucked, Anyone who knows what happened, will agree with me, But I will just leave it at that for now.

Moving on, I had surgery on WED, the DR removed my lump from my collarbone area. Still dont know what it is, He told Scott he didnt know what it was just by looking at it, it was the size of a large grape. We are waiting biopsy results, keeping fingers crossed that it is nothing serious. I am still very sore, and the boys have all been very helpful this week, Jake told me to call him or text him If I needed anything ( we are in the same house, mind you) Alec has been a huge help getting sam to school for me, And Brett getting Sam home . Scott has been a trouper as well, he even fasted with me the day of the surgery to be a " united front" with me. That was sweet, But I told him to go eat when I went into surgery, lol.

The red sox opened their season in Japan, the game was on at 3 am, I DVR'd it and watched it later, lol. I would have gotten up the day of the surgery to watch it but knowing I couldnt drink anything even water, I stayed in bed and slept.

The other morning I was getting ready for work, and Sam was watching tv, I hear him say " Would they stop talking about Barrack Obama already?" I LOL'd at him. The kid is 5 and he is sick of hearing them talk about Obama. Granted he watched the news with Scott, and the today show with me every morning, but still.

ok, off for now.

Well it must be time for a post!

This will be quick, I am just taking a break from Scrapping. It is my yearly weekend in Portland for a scrapping convention, maegan and I come down here yearly for a scrapping weekend, This year, Marie( Maegans friend ) joined us, and our weekend was extended to three nights! I also for the first time stayed in the hotel by myself, and can I tell you how wonderful this time has been for me? OMG it has been heaven. The time to do what I want, when I want, I can scrap, I can drink wine and scrap, I can drink wine and take a bath, I can even drink wine and blog! I am loving the bed too! I am in a little studio at the residence inn , I love it!
it was also the day that the tickets for the Mariners went on sale, which means the RED SOX tickets for when they are here, went on sale. I was online at 9:55 ready to buy my tickets! they will be here for Alecs 19th birthday, so of course, I got us tickets for that day , in fact, I got Alec, Frankie ( Alecs BFF) and Myself 5th row field level tickets!! I cant wait for that game! I also got two tickets for Scott and I on Memorial day, and when they are here again in July I got six tickets for all of us one day, and two tickets for another, after that I was broke. Of course on Thursday before I left for Portland, I got Scott and I Alan Jackson Tickets for May 9th. Scott loves Alan Jackson, I like him, but if I want to go to concerts with my husband, I need to start finding people he loves, and I like!
Ok, I am off to do some more scrapping before I call it a night, I have gotten 10 - 2 page layouts done this weekend! I want to crank out two more before I go to sleep!

What a couple of weeks!

It has been a crazy last week, Many different emotions have gone thru me, Long story short, I found a huge lump in my collarbone area a week ago SAT. I had several DR apts including an ultrasound( which revealed it was 2 inches big, and was a complex cystic mass) I had a biopsy on Thursday and my dr called me back tonight to tell me that it didnt reveal anything bad, just that the fluid had protien in it, He is having another ultrasound done in two to three weeks and if it grows back he will drain it again, have it tested for something different ,and most likey remove it completely. Sounds good so far, But I gotta tell ya, I had my own funeral planned when I didnt know what it was. Makes you rethink things I will tell you that.
It makes me rethink my relationship with my sister, and the non relationship that I have had with her since June, I thought I would go to my grave not talking to her, not without her saying sorry, now I am not so sure, I am NOT saying that I am ready to pick up the phone and chat up the weather with her, What I am saying is that I am open to talking to her again, Life is to short.
Also, I am going back to weight watchers on wed with a friend, I feel this will help me with my weight loss and I can continue on loosing. I have lost 57 lbs to date, But I have not lost a lb since July. Its great that I can maintain weight, that I know now, I also know I can lose weight, so now its time to lose some more, and maintain again. Here is to a healthier me this year!!

Is it still Christmas?

You would think so, if you visit my blog looking for new posts. I keep meaning to post, even have some new years eve pictures to show you, but I keep forgetting, for my blog time goes to the store blog, and not here....

Anyway, I am sorry, I have been busy.

today was a day... I had highs and lows today, All having to do with friends, or ex friends as the case may be.

First I had a very good friend come into the store to say hello, I havent seen them in months, and it was great to spend some time with them and just see em.

Next, later in the work day, an old co worker, and ex friend came in, said ex friend didnt give me the time of day, even after I went up to her and said hello and asked her how she was doing, I got the cold shoulder. Ouch... I had hoped time had healed some wounds, I had hoped she still wouldnt hate me, I have to be honest, I miss her, and I think about her often, and wonder how she is doing. it is clear, she doesnt feel the same way.
does it mean something when one person has clearly moved on and gotten passed something, and is ready to move on , and the other one hasnt? I mean, I wasnt expecting a hug and a smile, but I was hoping she felt different, I was hoping she had felt like it was behind her. I guess not yet.

Merry Christmas!

It has been a good day for the boys!

I heard Sam at 4 am talking to Scott, telling him that Santa brought him a bike!! I got out of bed and asked Sam if he had been downstairs, he said " yeah and I have a bike"! Sam went back to bed, and I couldnt sleep after that cause of every noise that I heard I just knew it was Sam downstairs again! I was a little upset cause I didnt get to see the reaction on his face when he saw the bike. But I also had to clear up a little issue, Sam didnt get the bike from Santa, it was from us, Normally I wouldnt care, But as Scott was putting the bike together last night, it was missing a bolt. And Santa wouldnt have messed up on such a thing, so we had to tell him it was from us , and from a store, and that we would fix the problem tomorrow. Here is Sam getting his Pajamas on Christmas Eve.

Ok, then after the stockings, it was time to give the boys the WII, I had to give it to them first, cause so much of what was coming after that was related to it. I gave JAke a Box with a "W" in it, and Brett and Alec boxes with the "I"'s in them. At first they didnt have a clue what it was, they all looked at one another and me like what the hell?? Jake held up his W and said, Its A W, Wow, lol. Then Alec and Brett held up their I's and said they got I;s... then it just kind of clicked for Alec, And he said " its a WII" , You got us a WII?? I heard that from a few of them, and then I gave them the real box.. It was very cool.

Brett and Jake got guitar hero III from Jeff, They had asked for it for the PS2... I had fun playing with them after they opened the WII they talked to one another about hoping Jeff got them it for the WII and I said I had never spoke to him about it, so how would he know? they were thrilled to see I was lying! .

Ok thats all for now, I have to go start dinner!

taking up a lover

I will have a normal work schedule.... I dont know if I know what to do with one, Never in my life have I had one. I will work 9:30-6 ( 5 on Mondays and Tuesdays) Mon - Fri. No Saturdays unless I switch with someone, No nights , unless I switch with someone. Starting in Jan. This is a very insane thought to me, it will take some time for me to adjust. Being home on the weekends?? Crazy. I think I will have to take up a lover or something cause Saturdays in the fall in my home are not a place you want to be, unless you love College football, cause that is all its about at our house. The summer time is another story, I cant WAIT to be home all weekend in the summer,.. so that solves it, I will take up a Fall lover.. I hope Scott doesnt mind...
I did it! I got out all my Christmas cards! Today they went to the post office, delivered by Alec, who also took my moms box, the only one I had to mail. I had Alec take it today of all days, after I heard that today was the busiest day at the post office of the year. I told him to expect a line and to bring Frankie to keep him company. Alec said it was a half hour wait. not to bad I think.

Maegan, you will get a laugh out of this : Sam and i were looking at your blog, and he said " Oh I like that picture of Santa and some pretty girl I dont know" LOL... I thought it was cute and so honest...

Its been a while....

I kept thinking that I would post tomorrow... then tomorrow would come and I wouldnt post....

I have been so busy, just so drained emotionally as well, so my thoughts have not been " post on your blog Tami" , not at all.

I will spare you the emotionally draining part, I am just busy. I have been getting ready for Christmas, making a few gifts, but not many. Planning my classes for next quarter, and making my Christmas cards. Speaking of which here is one of the pictures that I took for the cards:

This is not the one that I used, but it was one that I took when taking the one that I used.

I am looking forward to the Portland convention at the end of FEB, I love going with Maegan, I hope she has booked our hotel?? Maegan, when you read this, have you booked our hotel room yet?

I also have been looking for places to go for my Birthday, I am going to get away for a weekend with Scott, no kids, no worries.. just us... lets see how that goes.

Happy thanksgiving!

Just one of the things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, The Boston Red Sox are World Champions!

Seriously, I am thankful for many things this year, the normal family thing, LOL. That I have a great job that I love, Everyone is healthy, Everyone still lives at home with me, that stuff. I have things that I wish were different, but I am thankful for what I do have. I love the memoires that I will always have from this year, nothing can take that from me.

I am home cooking today, just the boys and Scott and Myself. I will post pics later.

red sox banner picture was lifted off of redsoxchick.com

How Sweet it is!!!

Its about time!!! I have been waiting for this day since Oct 28th. For the Red Sox to Re sign Mike Lowell. I waited through the time that the red sox had solo negotiation rights with him for them to close the deal, when that didnt happen, and he went into the open market, I will be honest, I began to worry, We offered him a 3 year deal, He and his team wanted a 4 year deal... I listened to talks of The Yankees throwing a 4 year deal his way ( trust me I got a little sick over that) talks of him heading to LA.. all the while he said he wanted to stay in Boston, Boston said they wanted him to stay in Boston, Red Sox Nation wanted him to stay in Boston, So what was the problem?? Well Today I am happy to say that it has been announced that they have agreed to a 3 year deal!!! its not official YET, word is Tuesday or Thursday, But WHOO HOOO!!!! I can Have something else to be Thankful for this year! I love Mike, and I would have hated to see him go!!

I thought I would share a layout with you all

It has been a very long time since I have shared anything scrapping related with you, I have been busy and not doing too much, but lately I have been getting the scrapping done. This weekend alone I did 5 , two page layouts. This is just one page of a two page layout, the other side is of the Kenny chesney concert, where this picture was taken, When I did the layout I did it with the thought in mind that this page could work alone too. While I dont get to spend too much time with Maegan, the time I do get to spend with her is great, she is a great friend that I get to be me with, someone who doesnt judge, and knows what to say. I cherish our friendship.

Fun and Exciting project ahead for me!

I have to share this here, I will be working on three albums for a Lady named Julie Nordstrom, Yes, the same Nordstrom that owns the Nordstrom department stores. Julie is the wife off one of the sons. This is huge for me! I will be doing one of their oldest daughter, One of their son Sam, and one of their trip to London. I came into this from a customer who had been the secretary for Mr Nordstrom, ( or something along those lines)she did one album for them but had to give them up due to a new baby, and she knew that I did this, so she passed on my name to Julie, Julie's assistant and I have been in contact and she will be dropping off all the materials on WED. I am so excited to start this project, and you can bet I will buy myself something wonderful with the money that I make!