R is for Ronnebeck!

Yes, it was time to take Aquaman to the Groomer's this week. Doesn't he look like a completely different dog after his haircut? I'd never reconize him... if it weren't for his amazing Underbite.

Last night before Eric and I left for Ivan and Dawn’s house I sat down at my computer and checked my Facebook. I got an invite to be part of the “Live Like Marty Kranz” Group. It brought tears to my eyes as I followed the link to a new website www.livelikemartykranz.com . As you may remember Marty was a classmate of mine from High school whose untimely death affected a lot of lives, and mine in a way I didn’t really expect. Marty was an exceptional guy who would go out of his way to do anything for you, he was a 3 sport athlete in high school and still had amazing grades. He went on to play football for SDSU and married his Junior & Senior High school sweetheart Stefanie Petersen just a few short weeks after Eric and I tied the knot. Marty was taken from us in a farming accident and shook our worlds. I want to promote his website and scholarship program that his family and friends have set up in honor of him. www.livelikemartykranz.com they’re fundraising to have a decent amount o...

Since the scare of the swine flu pandemic I think I've decided I need to buy stock in Purell Hand Sanitizer. I've refilled all my little travel Purell's (I normally carry 3 in my purse - one for each keyring and one to "float"); and am ready to take on the Swine Flu! Okay so, I have always been a little germaphobic, but this "outbreak" has caused my hands to retain a permanent smell of alcohol from all the Purell that I use! The Outbreak has me reliving all the terrible movies about disease. Not to mention my worries of Eric going to Mexico, my fear of Drug Lords and Federales fighting have been minimized. They look like kids frolicking in the open fields with Daisy's compared to a Flu epidemic. Okay, so I'm done ranting now about how crazy this outbreak is. I have to go sanatize now. Be safe everyone ♥abby

I'm starting to think that my Monday Madness / Rambling could become a weekly thing. I feel like "reporting in" after a long weekend of whatever it is we do for the weekend. This weekend we ran some errands in South Center, had our bout of spring cleaning and mucho company! Saturday Eric took on his CD piles and we still have a few lingering in our house somewhere. I have to admit, mine aren't exactly "put away" either. We worked on sorting and tossing things we didn't really listen to any more. I came to find out that Heidi and I made way WAY too many "Heidi and Abby" Cd's in College but they're way fun! Later in the afternoon Tacy stopped over as she was down in our area and Tacy and I definetly concluded that this meant she had to come play some board games! We played "Crazy Cat lady" and "Kill Dr.Lucky" till about 11:45 which is waaay WAAAY Past our bed times. It was a great evening to laugh and be with f...

What do you get when you take an Abby, add a Gallon of Coffee (Starbucks & ‘other’), a crappy night’s sleep and no supper last night? A CRABIGAIL! Oh my GOSH. I haven’t blogged for quite a while but I almost feel like my head is a little too full to spill it all out without being completely vulnerable. So I guess I’ll give you the ‘Highlights’. We met with a life insurance consultant last night, which was a complete marriage leap for us. We’ve never really explored the “what if’s” in life, and for me, makes me face my biggest fear of possibly ever losing Eric. It’s just not something we really have ever talked about. I would have been pretty settled after the meeting and able to put it out of my head had we not then went straight to a Summer Mission Team Meeting where we had a lengthy meeting concerning the Drug Wars in Mexico and our kids and advisors safety regarding the trip; a trip which my husband will be on. CFCI is the team we work with that sets up our relationship with the...

So, after many weeks of hunting and enlisting some help, I finally purchased our plane tickets to Omaha for Heidi's wedding. Sure, my husband wasn't so happy to hear from me in the wee hours of the morning, but by buying the tickets at the prices we did, means that we now have room in our budget to take another vacation! WOO! On my break this morning, I was searching the usual ticket sites, Travelocity, Orbitz, Cheap tickets... etc. When I reached Cheaptickets.com I had to do the search 3 times because I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. $197.00 a ticket!!!!! Eric and I will BOTH be flying in for Heidi's wedding for the price that most sites were offering for one ticket... BOO - YA - CA - SHA! Needless to say, I'm excited!

I got home and made him a hat to celebrate! Yay for Birthdays! (he's so cooperative).

Happy Monday!I love it when I return from a weekend all recharged and ready to go! Eric and I got plenty of rest and relaxation this weekend but also kept pretty busy. On Friday we went out to eat in Federal Way and then ran some errands. We also spent a good amount of time in Borders flipping through books and things but didn’t end up bringing anything home with us; which is good because after the Comic-Con I don’t think we have much room left on our book shelves. Saturday we slept in and it felt really good! We went up to the University District (U district) to visit with our friend Walter and his girlfriend Jess. We hung out with Walter at their place for a while, then Jess came home and we all went out to eat at Delfino’s pizza. Delfino’s serves a pretty good version of Chicago Style pizza. Eric’s tummy was happy – Chicago style pizza is his favorite! It was just really great to hang out with some good friends. Sunday we didn’t quite make it to church, but we did get up at a decent...

Our Little boy is 1 today! He's been nothing but a ball of energy since day one. I can't believe it's been a whole year since he was born. On Carter's birthday June 28 th we'll celebrate 1 year since we adopted him into our home. One year ago, we had no idea how much fun it would be to have a little puppy running around our home. One year ago we had no idea how much of a personality he would develop. One year ago, I would have never thought I would have a dog named Aquaman ! One year ago, I was so excited to surprise Eric with this little guy. One year later, this is our family! One year later we're so happy to have him in our lives. One year later he makes us laugh continuously. Couldn't imagine how boring life would be without him now, Happy Birthday Baby Boy! Thank you for bringing so much happiness to our lives!

Eric Really doesn't like this photo, I happen to really REALLY LOVE this photo. Sure neither of us are at our best, but we are at our best when we're together! I know it's cheezy and sappy but I really did marry my best friend. This was at the game Wednesday night, We were sitting in the left field bleachers at our Annual "kick off the season" Game. It was perfect, the air was chilly, but we were bundled up, and Endy Chavez and Ken Griffey , Jr. Hit back to back home runs as if on cue for a perfect ball game. Then in the 7 th inning the Mariners scored 7 runs and cycled through the line up. It was a pretty awesome game and couldn't have pictured it any other way! Eric introduced me to the Love that I now have for baseball. He's my favorite person to go to a game with. He teaches me all the intricacy's that I would never pick up on otherwise. I am excited to get to know the new Mariners we have this year and am even more excited to welcome back the...

Last night Eric and I watched the Mets take on the Padre’s in the Met’s new home Citi Field. And if you haven’t Googled the beauty that is Citi Field I highly recommend it! What a beautiful Ballpark! I can imagine that in the next couple year, if not next year we’ll be flying to New York to see BOTH (count them) of their new ballparks. Today’s Opening day in Seattle! I’m so excited to have the Mariner’s back in town! It’s been great watching Baseball on TV but I am over watching everyone else having fun at the ballpark I’m ready to embark on a new season to Safe Co Field! I am ready to hug the Moose, no matter how scary he seems, I’m ready to pay my tribute to the beloved Tuba Man, Eat hot dogs that are tasteless and overpriced, and cheer on one of the last place teams (from last year). Mmmh I love baseball. So, as a grand tribute to all that is Safe Co Field… a few pictures that I had frosty in my picture gallery to share with you. I’m sad that I’m missing the picture of the first ga...

HE IS RISN' INDEED! Happy Easter to my family, friends and blog followers alike! Eric and I woke up this morning at 5:40am and went to the Sunrise service at church. I remember going to the Sunrise Service when I was a kid, I remember being so sleepy and falling asleep in the pew's. I remember then going to Grandma's for a big meal or home to squander our Easter basket treats. I remember my family getting sick and going to the service with just my Dad and Brother and my Brother having to spend most of the service in the bathroom being sick. There are so many good memories of Easter from my childhood but today I add another memory of which I won't soon lose the feeling of. Sunrise Service at Grace. I had never gotten my sorry but out of bed to go to the Sunrise service. This year I felt compelled to go early so I had the whole day ahead of me on a Sunday (which is rare). There were maybe 80 people in church this morning, we ripped the black veil off of Jesus and sang Hym...

I haven't gotten a chance to do anything "Eastery" this week. I have been super busy and haven't really even visited the Easter aisles at a local store. Thursday I decided that I really wanted to dye eggs, so Eric hard-boiled the perfect eggs for me so we could dye them today. They are probably the best hard-boiled eggs I've ever had. We bought a Paas egg dying kit, because, Paas is the best! We had sharpies and crayons to make the designs but didn't get too fancy. Eric tried a shrinki-dink wrap for the egg that always comes with the kit I had never tried to do one but he wanted to see if we could do it, he ended up getting the wire egg holder stuck on the egg underneath the wrap. It was defying gravity for sure! It is Aquaman's first Easter so I made sure to decorate an egg with him. he was pretty interested in what was going on. He's always in the middle of everything so why not let him be in the middle of egg dying? Aquaman liked the egg very much, ...

I have been kind of uninspired for this post and I think I finally figured out why. How do you put in words the feeling you have for the man who saved you from your sin? "I am so glad Jesus died for my sins" That sentence seems so empty to me. Jesus hung on the cross and in the last moments of his life he says... "Father, Forgive them, for they know not what they do." "Today, you will be with me in paradise" "My God My God, Why have you forsaken me?" "I am Thirsty" "It is FINISHED." "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Now this part of his life is over. There is nothing left for Jesus to give or to do. Jesus has given his life for all of us. Now Jesus’ lifeless body is taken down from the cross. No more pain or suffering for Jesus; all the pain is over. Mary, Jesus’ mother, holds him tenderly in her arms. How sad she is. And how sad Jesus’ friends are. They are crying as they hold his body. Keep mindful as ...

I know I owe you all an installment of Lent 6.0 post but I haven't been divinely inspired in any capacity. The words are "It is finished" and "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". So when I become divinely inspired I will definetly go for Lent 6.0 but for now, You get an incredibly adoreable picture of my Aquaman hanging out at home with Eric watching baseball. Eric sent this to me today at work and I couldn't quit smiling, and couldn't help but to share it all with you. Happy Maunday Thursday!

The Sun is setting on this beautiful, sunny Seattle day and my husband grabbed my camera while I was taking a tubby and got this shot of a barge going through our area. Have I mentioned I love my back yard? We have a busy week a head of us as it's Holy week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we have things going on up at the church at various times. No rest for the wicked trying to become righteous. It's been beautiful here the past couple days and I'm not holding my breath because I know how fast the weather changes here. I hope to hold on to a few more sunny days, it makes me want to grab my camera and go outside to see what I can find. I gave a photograph of my artistic nature today for a gift and hope that it's the beginning of many more. I'm off to bed now, yes I realize that it's only 8pm, I haven't been sleeping very well recently and am hoping to get an extra hour of sleep this evening. Infinite X's and O's. Abby

The alarm went off at 7:00 which seemed particularly early after being out till 9:30 at Goldies with Shawn, Rochelle, Michael , Eric and Josie. I didn't fall asleep till late. Though I was sleepy it wasn't hard to hop out of bed; I was filled with anticipation and excitement to go to the Comic-Con. Lee arrived at our house around 8:30 am and we left directly for the Washington State Convention Center. When we walked into the center there was a metric TON of people in there! We thought we were planning ahead by being early, It was insane! After standing in line for 45 - 50 minutes to get in the door, Eric went straight to the back to get Tim Sale's autograph. You may know Tim Sale from the popular TV show Heroes (he drew the art) He's the artist for some Marvel books but what Eric likes most of his work is Batman the Long Halloween. Tim signed and sketched a batman in the book for Eric; he was very happy. Below is Tim Sale - In the baseball cap and jersey sitting at the...

So many of my family members tell me how my niece Erica and I are so a like. They keep saying that "She's the second coming of Abby. - She acts just like you when you were a child." This was proved to me last night when I got a phone call at 8:46 at night. It was Erica, She was still up (10:46 her time)! She was busy writing me a letter as we've been corresponding via snail mail and it's the greatest thing in the world! And she says "Hey Auntie Abby - It's Erica. When are you going to the comic book convention?" and my heart skipped a beat! "On Saturday Erica, why do you ask?" "I am working on writing you a letter, and would like to send you money to buy me some comic books when you're there. Do you think you'd get it by Saturday" My heart burst with joy! My mini - me WANTS TO READ COMIC BOOKS!!!!! My response was "NO, Don't send me money - What is it that you want - Uncle Eric and I are more than happy to pick u...

A couple years ago I consented to go to my first Comic book Convention with Eric, John & Julia. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I was a supportive fiancé. I had never really read any comics myself or knew much about that “world” but I was happy to go with and learn. After a full day of walking around the convention and observing the new world that was Comi-con I was entranced. I was indifferent to miss it last year, but this year I’m ready to go and perhaps even more excited to go than Eric is. I have spent time thinking about my wardrobe (no costume I promise), my bag that I want to carry, which comics I want to buy and which ones I want to bring from home to have signed by the writers and artists. For those of you who have never experienced a Comic-Con let me give you a little insight to a big world. The type of people (in large) who attend the Comi-con are some of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. There’s a whole lot of nerd going on and most of them are more...

I got a new hat the other day... the verdict is in... I like it... nah I LOVE IT! and plan to wear it... a lot... :)

The next part of Jesus’ final words that we examine is “I am Thirsty” From John 19:28. The Scripture reads… “Later, knowing that all was complete, Jesus said “I am Thirsty” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it up to Jesus’ lips to drink”. "I am thirsty." Such a simple statement. How many of us make this statement ourselves at some point during each day? With this statement, Jesus acknowledged that a very basic human need was not being met for him as he neared his final moments. It's not hard to imagine why Jesus would be thirsty at this point. He had been at the center of a whirlwind of activity for the past week. And so, after many hours of questioning, Jesus, beaten and bleeding, was forced to carry his own cross to the place called Calvary. It was there that he was crucified and left to die. "I am thirsty." Such a complex statement from a man who offered living water to all...