Wine or Whine?

From Chambers:

The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility. If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God's strength.

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me. . . . . ." ~Matthew 11:29

Bi-Polar Weather

That's how the weather man described our weather today. It was changing every 10 minutes. There were 6 of us in our work running group that went out during lunch hour for 6 mile. When we left it was 46 degrees and sunny, by mile 2 it was dark, gloomy, hailing and I think sleeting, followed by rain and wind. By the time we got back it was sunny. PNW weather at it's finest.

Matt's got a stomach ache. Hope he feels better tomorrow.

Just made some banana bread. Now watching American Idol.

Stole this picture off Nate's FB page. Looks like he must be studying nutrition in college. A banana and 'big' cup cakes; must be on the carbohydrate chapter.

Spilled Chili

I stole this picture from my BFF"S blog. I love the landscape pictures she takes of Eltopia, she can somehow pull my heart right back home with each picture she takes. I miss Eltopia - in a real bad way.



So we had canned (gross) chili for dinner tonight. I normally don't let the kids eat in the living room, but tonight I was feeling like a nice mom so I let them eat in the living room while watching TV (gross). As Matt was walking into the living room he 'accidentally' somehow slipped. . . . and the bowl of chili went down the wall, on the couch, on the carpet. . . . you get the picture. So back to eating dinner in the kitchen.



Mom and Dad spent the night last night. They got snowed over (the pass was closed for a couple of hours yesterday). They picked Jeff and Becki up at the airport,dropped them off at their house and then headed down south to our house. They went to Marks work to watch the boys attend the Speed & Agility class. Will Foster, he's a 7 foot 4 inch White River graduate who played basketball for Gonzaga for the last 4 years, was in class. He was there to get in shape to try out the the Sacramento Kings.

18 MILES

Ran 18 miles today on the Orting Trail as part of my training preparation for the Eugene Marathon on May 1st. The weather held out just fine; windy in a couple of places otherwise peaceful and pleasant temperatures. At mile 6 I caught up with Ben Light (aka "Flash"), he was running 18 as well. I ran with him for about 5 miles. That was a nice bonus because I was tired and needed some distraction to keep me going. After the 18 mile run, I come home and plop myself into the bath tub with freezing COLD water to ice my legs down. I know what you're thinking "this woman is insane"! The 8 minute ice bath (no I don't actually put ice in the tub, just cold water) is extremely harder than the entire 18 miles of running. Why do I do it then you're probably wondering??? Running that distance tears down your muscles fibers causing inflammation and sore muscles, the ice bath helps to alleviate those sore muscles. As painful as they are I swear by ice baths. I take off all my wet, sweaty cloths and but on about 3 layers of dry cloths (on top), a stocking hat and gloves and get in. Sorry no picture of this sight!!!

I had to include a photo. This picture was supose to be our Christmas Card that never got sent.

Got a Ticket

Can you say "Pissed Off".

My parents are in town this weekend Grand-dog sitting Phoebe (Jeff and Becki's dogie). I met up with them on Thursday afternoon for coffee in Pioneer Square at Cafe Vita. I parked my big Yukon; drove that b/c it was snowing when I left the house, I don't normally commute in the gas guzzler to Seattle everyday. I paid my $2 for 50 minutes of parking then went and met my parents. We had a nice visit, good coffee in a cute little coffee shop. Apparently I lost track of time, as we were leaving mom asked "where are you parked?". I said "right here down the street, yikes , right where that parking police is giving me a parking citation". I ran up to him and said "I'm back, sorry I lost track of time, can you please not give me a ticket" "Nope, it's already in the system" Ugggggggggg I called him several names (in my head) gave my parents a hug and said thanks for the coffee. Why can one action put a sour taste to the entire rest of the day. $39.00 ticket for 12 minutes late getting back to my car. Really?????? When I got home from work that night I was still pissed off. I had 2 drinks (OJ and Vodka) thought of my Grandma Fernie, she loved her Vodka.

A picture of my BFF and her baby boy! I hope my boys grow up to have the same attributes as Briar. He is a great kid! - yes, Briar you are still a kid at least to me; sorry.

I want to be a blogger

I hate writing. Really, I don't care for it at all but I wish I was better at it. I know, as it is with anything, you have to practice to improve and what a better place to practice than on a blog. Not sure what I'm going to blog about, maybe just daily life stuff, or running, or the interesting things you see, hear and witness being a coaches wife or growing up on a farm, or nutrition or politics; now that can always be a dicey subject. I think what I dislike about writing was self inflicted. I didn't pay much attention to Ms Volker and Mr. Collie in high school English class. Yes, I was much more intersted in who I was sitting by, who was the cutest in class and where the volleyball game was for the weekend. At that time in my life I could have given a rats behind about all the grammer that was involved in proper writing. Now I'm paying for it. I think I'm first just going to write and see what comes out of it. I will include pictures, because I think pictures can say a thousands words. I really do believe that. Like at this picture. These 2 boys are my pride and joy. They are what make me keep going when days get tough and life throws things at me that I don't want to deal with.

December

Here is our December. The pictures are posted in reverse order (goes from Dec. 31 - 1).

Went to Mom and Dad's between Christmas and New Years. We helped them paint and work on their new house. Notice what whey painted on the wall?? we had a very fun time.

Dec. 26 Trina took us through a Boot Camp exercise class. It was a cool, cold, crisp beautiful morning in Bellingham

The last kids on the block to finally get a Wii, their Nana & Papa suprized them. They were very excited.

Bobby, Ellie, Nate, Lucas and Matt on Christmas morning at Bob and Sally's

Getting the plate ready for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Bobby and Lucas after a hunt at mom and dad's house. Mark and Luke went hunting with Rob (brother-in-law) and Bobby (nephew) the week before Christmas. They had a great time.

Bobby and Rob and Gracie Girl (the dog)

Mark and Luke and Boone

We had a last minute Christmas party with some friends. Santa showed up to HoHoHo all the kids. Luke, Marcus, Cedrik, Eva, Kari, Matt and Santa

After Lucas last soccer game. It was a 'mud bowl'. The kids chased Coach Mark and dropped him in the biggest mud puddle on the field after teh game. What a way to end the season!! It was great. The team started out the season stuggling and losing every game. Then mid-season it all started to click and they ended up winning their last 4 or 5 games. Fun times!

The 'Mud Pit'