R is for Ronnebeck!

Growing up we always knew, this was Mom's bear. We could come and snuggle it if we were in her bedroom with her, but the bear was NOT to leave the room, and should always be up on a shelf so the dog didn't get it. This bear was the one that Mom took with her to all of the Mother Daughter banquets we went to where we were encouraged to bring our furry friends, but I made fun of Mom a little, because hers was no longer furry - in fact, she loved the fur right off of it. This bear was placed in Mom's cradle at the hospital shortly after she was born, and it stayed with her always. It's the one thing that we always loved, and she did too. When she started getting sicker and I arrived in South Dakota, we all started to look for the bear. We thought It might bring her comfort, and us too. We could not locate the darn thing anywhere. We looked through every storage shed, every bin, every closet in Kathy's and in Shannon's house, and we decided that It must have got

So... after much deliberation and procrastination we've decided to head to Texas for vacation this year! Our dear friend Laurel lives down there, in Killeen and we're super excited to go see her, and spend some time being tourists in the great state! Looking forward to putting our itinerary together, if you know of any "NEED TO SEE" Spots in Texas please let me know! We'll be a couple hours from Dallas and an hour from Austin. :)

I went through a phase in my life where I had hundreds of pairs of flip flops, and that was all I would wear for the entire summer. My tastes have changed a bit since then, and I'm not even sure I have a pair of bonified flip flops in my closet anymore. I have gone to buying myself a fun pair of fun shoes or tennies to run around in all summer long. This year I got these plaid ones at Payless. They'll look disgusting by summer end, but they will see some beautiful things this summer. Just ask my boat shoes from last summer pictured before in their glory, trust me you don't want to see them now! It's the little things in life :)

 It's been 8 long months! And they still fit like a glove. This is part of the Seattle LibrARy signage on the side of the building. I have decided to capture cool looking 'AR''s through out my world... excited!

This is the note I've been waiting 8 months to see! I am cleared to go Roller Skating! Insert huge Grin here! I need to go buy some new gear first, because I have to do a brace, and well, my knee pads just won't fit over the brace, and I do need to keep studying for my 7... but then all the 7 year olds at Pattisons West better watch out!

In all the "other life madness" I forgot to mention  MY TEAM WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!!!! Way to go Grave Danger! You make me proud to be a fan! Amazing photo by the one and only Jules Doyle (aka: Axle Adams)

I'm horrible at it. Terrible actually, I have great intentions, but when it boils down to it I would rather have nachos than carrots, I mean who wouldn't? A couple months ago, right after I got home from South Dakota in June, I discovered I am lactose intolerant. I can eat/drink dairy, but when I do It makes me feel gross. So I've decided instead of eating a bunch of Lactase pills every day to keep it under control, I'd actually try to cut a little dairy out of my diet. So instead of the Lactase being the rule, it would be the exception to the rule. This weekend Katherine and I went to PCC which is a natural food store in our area. There is about 6 of them in a 20 mile radius of me, which is nice. I looked for things that are an alternative to dairy, one thing I really miss about dairy is my morning snack of Yogurt and granola.  So I found Amande which is a yogurt made of Almond Milk and despite my sheltered tastes I really like it! I can't wait to pick up

I try, albeit not very hard to keep up here - and I think I blog more about blogging than I actually blog about real stuff. I plan on taking another month long blog challenge soon, but I can't do that until my series 7 is done with, otherwise you'll get entire posts about derivatives and bonds, and as much as that may help me, it's going to bore you to tears. Hell, I know what I'm talking about (most of the time) and it bores me to tears. So for now, I ask for your patience with me, and to not quit reading in my slow times. I love that this is a place to connect with friends and family near and far. This weekend...er... Saturday has been exactly what I needed. We woke up early (around 7) and headed to Uncle Gene's house in Auburn. There was a HUGE community garage sale going on in the Lakeland Hills development and we drove around and walked through nearly 45 different households having sales in their garages and lawn. We spent $15 and bought a few fun things -

 I Did IT!!!! I REACHED MY FUNDRAISING GOAL. This doesn't mean I'm turning down donations by any streach of the imagination, but I am so proud of myself for getting here and with 25 days to spare! YES! Victory feels good! Thank you to Mariya and Robb for the support clear from Colorado! I'm blessed to have friends like you!

 So, I kind of dreaded Mothers Day this year, for obvious reasons. Eric encouraged me to wake up with fond memories on my Mom and not to shed too many tears. I did, and It was a good day. After hanging out with Scott and John for the afternoon I went to the grocery store and bought my Mom a balloon for Mother's day. We wrote love on the balloon and then sent it up into the air for her.  Then we let Aquaman run around in circles, because that's what he does best. This weekend I got a lot of pet love, so I guess I'll consider it a Happy Mothers Day for me too!  See? Love!  I adore that face!  It's been a beautiful weekend! Love this place where we live!

Two Posts in ONE Day!? Don't get too excited - It's not going to be super wordy. I just wanted to share with you all the luminaria bags I made today.  I can't believe I had to knock out nearly 40 of them! Stupid Cancer! Luminaria bags are set up around the track with the names of the people who are fighting or who have lost the fight to cancer, they're lit with a candle and glow all night long - if you'd like one made for your loved one, let me know. The names of the loved ones are ON the bags - Most of these are pretty obvious, but I'll let you know who they're related to, which may make some of them make more sense. Tim Oleson's Mom, Judy. Luke Terwilliger's Friends and Family MY Momma... Duh. My Co-worker Molly's Dad. Our Grandpa Adolph A Family Friend My Co-worker Mindy's Mom My Co-worker Jessie's Mom & Mother In Law Fryzek's Grandma Madge's Dad My Physical Therapists D