happy birthday carly & elke!!!

Yesterday was Elke's birthday & the TOM girls plus Tessa, Kristi, Sally, & Shaun all met at Applesbees to celebrate. We also celebrated Carly's birthday, which was on the 4th and of course, we had a great time. Here are a few pictures to show off how much fun we had. Aren't we all just super cute?

Elke and Tessa

Alisen and I

Tammy T

Elke opening up her present. I think she likes it!

Carly and Shaun. Aren't they just so cute? By the way, they just got engaged!

Miss Sara

The whole crew

my weekend

I went down to Tacoma this weekend to spend some much needed time with my mom and to also see my brother (Pat), Martha, and Alex. I had a good time. It was great seeing my mom. She looks a lot better than the last time I saw her. She's going through a hard time right now with her diabetes. She's been losing a lot of weight lately and it was good to see that she has gained back a few pounds. My brother and his family are doing well too. It was really good to see them and spend some time with all of them, especially Alex, my nephew. He is getting bigger and bigger every time I see him. He's also getting cuter as he gets older. He's going to be one handsome guy. I'm really just posting to show off how adorable my nephew is. Here are two pictures to prove it. Isn't he cute?

i must be crazy...

For the past three weeks, three days a week, I have been getting up at 5:30am to go workout. Aren't I crazy? Two of the girls that I work with, Carly and Elke, started going to this cardio kickboxing class and I decided to join them because I really needed to get back into shape. So, every monday, wednesday, and friday, we get up and workout for an hour. It's really early but it's a lot of fun. We do cardio kickboxing for the first half hour and then the last half hour changes from focusing on the upper body or lower body using bands and body bags. The bands are supposed to build your lean muscle and the bags are fun because it feels like you're actually kicking someone's butt. So, I'm finally on this workout routine and I even go on a 2 1/2 mile run/walk every tuesday and thursday with Elke (by the end of August, our goal is to run the whole 2 1/2 miles). So, my exercise routine is on the right track, now I'm trying to focus on eating right, which is my main downfall. I am a food addict and this will be my main test. Our instructor told us that your diet is 70% of your weight loss and the other 30% is exercise. I was shocked to hear that but now that I know this, I hope it will motivate me to eat right and lose the weight that I want to lose. So, wish me luck and I will keep all of you posted.

it's been a long couple of days...

It started on Monday...Will and I drove down to SeaTac to take Jake to the airport. His plane was leaving at 11:30am. We arrived at SeaTac around 9:30am (leaving Bellingham around 7:30am) and went to check him in at the counter. Since he is only 15, it is required that he is escorted to his seat, off the plane to the next plane, etc... The lady at the front desk told us that he wasn't going to be able to fly because his flight from Atlanta to Daytona was the last flight and any kid under 16 isn't allowed to board the last flight of the night because of all sorts of reasons. We were so upset because the airline shouldn't have let Will's mom book the flight in the first place if that was the case. Anyway, they rebooked his flight for Tuesday (yes, the 4th) at 7am.

There was no way we were going to drive all the way back to Bellingham and then get up at the crack of dawn to drive back down, so we just got a hotel and tooled around Seattle for the day. What a long day. We started down at the piers, then walked up to Pike's Place and then walked to the space needle and hung out there for awhile. We were so tired, especially since it was super hot and all our walking was uphill. Luckily, we were smart enough to get a taxi back to our car.

After we were done with Seattle, we drove back to SeaTac to our hotel and man, was that a process. Will's mom got us the hotel and so we had to find it. It took us way too long to find the hotel, we got lost so many times it was ridiculous. And by the way, I was supposed to work on the 4th at 7:30am and had to call and see if someone could cover for me. I felt so bad but I had no other choice. It was just crazy. So, the day finally came to an end and we were able to see Jake off Tuesday morning. Will and I drove home and just crashed. We were gonna go watch the fireworks down at the water but we were beat. So, we just stayed home and watched the fireworks on TV. Now all I need to do is catch up on my sleep.

Here's Jake holding up the space needle. Pretty cool, huh?