I got tagged!!

Ok, so not really. I just decided to steal this off of Michele's blog in a moment of free time :)

Here are my favorite 8s...

8 Favorite TV shows:

1. 24
2. Lost
3. Biggest Loser
4. The Office
5. Dancing with the Stars
6. So you think you can dance
7. Ed (blast from the past but I desperately miss it)
8. Seinfeld

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Grocery Shopping
2. Trip to Costco
3. Laundry
4. Talked to my grandma
5. Went through a lot of Kleenex (I have a cold)
6. Played with my dog
7. Watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town with the boys
8. Decided what cookies to bring to the cookie exchange Friday

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Aqui Mexican Cafe
2. Pastini
3. Macaroni Grill
4. Claim Jumper
5. Cheesecake Factory
6. California Pizza Kitchen
7. Newport Bay (the floating one)
8. Panera

8 Favorite Movies:

1. Return to Me
2. The Count of Monte Cristo
3. Shawshank Redemption
4. Clueless
5. When Harry Met Sally
6. Sleepless in Seattle
7. Jerry Maguire
8. Finding Nemo

8 Favorite Bands/Singers:

1. Kutless
2. Jeremy Kamp
3. Third Day
4. Nichole Nordeman
5. Bebo Norman
6. Jack Johnson
7. Chris Tomlin
8. Nora Jones

8 Things on my Wish List:

1. A Healthy Baby... preferably a girl
2. Brett to find a job that blesses him tremendously
3. Health Insurance
4. My Uncle to be healed
5. For the next movies in the Twilight series to be much better than the first
6. For us to be able to go somewhere for our 10 year anniversary in March
7. For J&J to have a new little one... in whatever way the Lord chooses.
8. To become an amazing photographer overnight.

8 People I Tag to Play Next:

Whoever would like to!

Oh Baby!!!

This morning we found out in July our family of 4 will be a family of 5!! We of course are super excited about this baby! We are trusting the Lord on the timing of all of this considering Brett lost his job a week ago Friday. We know the Lord is in control and has something awesome in store for us.
The boys are both so excited to become big brothers. They are both hoping for a sister :)

Books

So I'll admit it, I heard the buzz about the Twilight series and read the four books. I know... Christianity and vampires aren't known for their congruency but I really, really enjoyed the books. They are written for teenagers which I emphatically disagree with. There's not any premarital sex, bad language or anything really dark about them. I just wouldn't my teenager reading them. I liked the love story between the main characters and the stories were suspenseful without being scary which I liked. Plus, although they ranged from 500-900 pages each, they were super easy and quick reading.
So, I'm looking for book recommendations. I really love to read. So, what are your favorite books? I would have to say Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers along with the Mark of the Lion series by her were probably my all time favorite books to read. Oh, and I really like Karen Kingsbury also.

If The Other Party Wins

Warning: This video is totally hilarious but has some inappropriate language and references. Make sure little ears and eyes aren't around when you view it!

I'm an anti dentite

I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE the dentist. I would rather go get my dreaded annual female exam than step foot in the dentist office. I can't stand metal tools making that terrible sound as they scrape my teeth. I can't stand holding my mouth open for an hour as different instruments are shoved in my mouth. Ok, just had to get that out. I have an appointment in half an hour. I also have my very first cavity in 31 years. So now I get to have power tools in my mouth as well. Alright, I'm all done complaining now. Off I go :)

Halloween

We spent Halloween with the fabulous Weiss fam. Here are Boba and Janga Fett... along with Savannah just because she was so stinkin' adorable!!! The last is our jack o'lantern. The boys wanted a Boba Fett pumpkin and Brett pulled it off!

Polar Express

Our boys became big fans of The Polar Express last Christmas. I just found out from a friend that they're doing a Polar Express train expedition at Mt. Hood Railroad. It looks like so much fun! They encourage the kiddos to wear their pajamas. Elves serve hot chocolate and cookies. Then you take a train ride while the story is told. Santa even gives out a bell to each child just like the book. Anyway, I am going to try and get tickets today. They are almost completely sold out. If anyone else is interested in joining us, let us know! Here's the link: http://www.mthoodrr.com/Polar_Express/MHRail_polar_express.html

Kids say the darndest things

Here's a great quote from Josh. The setting: eating dinner last night at Red Lobster.

"Chicken nuggets are my favorite farm animal and popcorn shrimp are my favorite animal from the sea."

Matthew's school pictures - Warning: cuteness overload!!

My amazingly talented friend, Jessie photographed the Jake's Place kids again this year. She did an incredible job and we are in love with these pictures of our handsome guy! Don't you wish this were typical of school pictures? :)

I Love This

Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.

The fifth would pay $1.

The sixth would pay $3.

The seventh would pay $7.

The eighth would pay $12.

The ninth would pay $18.

The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.

But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).

The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'

'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too.

It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's true!!'

shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!'

'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Great Video on Mortgage Crisis

This video was removed because of a claim by Warner Music. My hunch is that Google didn't want this on Youtube because they are extremely Liberal and want Obama to win.

This sums it up nicely in 10 minutes on who and what is largely responsible for the problem we are in and why I am greatly concerned about who is "fixing" the problem.

I wonder why they would want to take this down? Watch it for yourself.

For Sale

We are officially on the market! This is a bitter sweet thing for me. If we sell we have decided we're taking the plunge and moving to California. A lot of Brett's family lives in the Sacramento area and we know how awesome it would be to have the benefit of Aunts/Uncles and cousins for the boys. Living in Portland is totally our city of choice. We love the Northwest... we love our church.. we love our friends. But the boys are never truly going to know family if we only see them once or twice a year.
Flock has one of it's main offices in Redwood City so Brett would benefit from being MUCH closer to his company. The timing is as good as it will probably ever get. The boys are young enough to not be overly traumatized by the move... Brett has job flexibility.... the market there has taken a major dive so we could actually afford a house. Of course all of this rides on some lovely person buying our beautiful house. So, spread the word. Our house is listed $40,000 less than it was a year ago so it's a great deal.
So of course we're totally excited about the prospect of a good change and totally sad about the real possibility of saying good bye to so much we love. Please pray for the Lord's perfect timing and will for us.

First Day Of Preschool

Today was Matthew's first day of preschool! Totally exciting for him... totally sad for me :) My precious baby is growing up! I know he is in the best of hands with Teacher Patty.
Here is a picture of the two of them together and then an adorable little Cowboy I just found in our family room.

Enjoying the last of the hot days

Backyard + Sprinklers = FUN!!

Soccer Jamboree

SYSC had it's annual soccer jamboree Saturday to kick things off. The kids got to have their team pictures taken, participate in drills, get tattoos and have their very first soccer game of the season. Josh did so great and proudly scored two goals! Go Hurricanes!!

First Day Of Kindergarten!

Tuesday was Josh's kindergarten orientation and today is his first official day of kindergarten! He is such a social bug. He warmed up to his teacher right away and already has made some new friends.
There are two familiar faces at school so that helps a bit. James and Josh went to Teacher Patty's together. And our good buddy Miss Abigail is there. Both James and Abigail are in the other AM kinder class but Josh looks forward to seeing them at recess and before and after school :)
Here are some pictures to remember this very special milestone! Oh, and I did great. I didn't even shed a tear :) I think having him at preschool for the last two years prepared me. I pray this year at Archer Glen is filled with lots of learning, laughter and memories he'll carry with him for a lifetime!

The great outdoors

Yesterday we got back from our final camping trip of the summer. Our three days at Ft. Stevens were SO much fun! We had a great spot within walking distance to Coffenbury lake where the boys got to have their first experience fishing. Unfortunately none of caught anything but it was a great lesson in patience! We also enjoyed swimming in the lake. We're trying to convince Maggie (our lab) that she is in fact a water dog by nature and should love swimming. She wasn't easily convinced but we tried :) We went to the beach Saturday afternoon and enjoyed perfect weather and sand castle building!
I love making these great memories together! I don't know about you but I'm not ready for summer to be over.

Swimming lessons

After several rounds of lessons at the YMCA, we decided to give the Tualatin swim center a try. Josh came so far and learned so much in his summer lessons! He loves to swim so much and it was great to see him get better and better.
This was Matthew's first experience with swim lessons. He loved his teacher and it was such a fun class for him! Here are some pics of our little fishes :)

Soccer Practice

Oh the joys of growing up! Josh is beyond excited to part of Sherwood Youth Soccer. His team is the hurricanes and they are so cute! We officially have started the many years of practice and game watching. So fun!!
Here are a couple shots of the first week of practice. I love the one of the chubby squished face of Matthew :) Couldn't you just eat him up?!

For the love of our Uncle

Yesterday evening we received the sad news that my Uncle Kent has stage 3 lung cancer.
Our family is trying to process this news the best that we can.
Since we moved to the Northwest 8 years ago Kent and Sue have become such a wonderful and important part of our lives. They are so special to us and the boys have a wonderful relationship with them. They have really become grandparents to Josh and Matthew. Really the only grandparents they know and have.
News like this is never easy. It really reminds me of how temporary everything is in this life. I am so thankful we have heaven to look forward to. A time and place where we'll be free of pain and tears.
Our prayer through all this... whatever lies ahead is that Kent will really encounter the Lord for the first time. We know the Lord is capable of great miracles and healing can occur. When all is said and done what happens after we die is truly all that matters. The Lord is so good and I pray for His amazing love and faithfulness to be shown to all of our family in great ways through these hard times ahead.
We love you so very much Uncle Kent and Aunt Sue!

Aquarium Pictures

Last weekend we camped with the Weiss' at Beverly Beach. It was a great time! The weather was great, the kids played well, the food was yummy... what more could you ask for?!
Saturday we took the kiddos to the aquarium in Newport. They loved the touch tanks where they got to pet sting rays, starfish and even a little shark!

Happy 91st Birthday Grandma!

On July 22nd my grandma celebrated her 91st birthday! She means so much to me and has been such a huge influence in my life. We went to Seattle two weekends ago to wish her a happy birthday.
My Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, Brett, me and the boys took a trip to Snoqualmie Falls to celebrate.