The Hubbs Family

What a Roller Coaster...

2011-05-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while, I know. Life can get so darn demanding at times. ha! Between sports, school for the kids AND myself, photography and the demands of being a wife and mom....WHEW!

We recently had a huge scare that turned our life upside down and back around. Last Thursday, my son, Cameron stayed home from school with complaints of a belly ache. This was a last minute decision. As the day grew, he started feeling much better. I felt comfortable making the decision to take my daughter into Eugene for her gymnastics practice. I felt that he was doing well enough to come along. 1/2 hour into being at the gym, he started not feeling well, which was VERY apparent. Although I was a little taken back by how well he had been doing beforehand, I decided to make arrangements for my daughter to get a ride home so I could get him home. Traveling down the freeway, on the way home, I just happened to look back in the rear view mirror to find my son, white as a ghost and not looking so good. A mom's instinct is always right, I panicked and took him into the hospital.

Upon getting there, he could barely walk out of the car. He was going downhill, quick! My panic buttons started going off at this point. 105 fever?!? seriously? just a few hours prior he had no temp! I have always panicked about fevers ever since my daughter had a febrile seizure at 8mos of age.

The docs started IV on him, gave him some meds to get his fever down as he projectile vomited and laid there looking like death. The decision was made to take him back to get a CT scan, their suspicion was appendicitis. We were told to get prepared for our son to be rushed into surgery, but what came out of their mouths next, stopped our lives cold in their tracks.

Lymphoma? My son has Cancer? I remember 2 docs and many nurses coming into our room, closing the door and telling us that our son's appendix looked good. I was relieved, but I knew something else was terribly wrong. Based on the CT scan, your son has a mass on his bowels, hardening wall in his intestines and an abnormal spleen. His blood results came back and his white cell count is astonishingly low. My heart started racing, my body tingled and I started getting sick and all I can remember at this point was a nurse trying to get me out of that room to check me into the hospital for medical help. I wouldn't leave my son, he was upset, calling out for his mommy. I had to regain my composure, I just had too.

I finally calmed down, but all I had left in me were tears, and lots of them. I looked at my husband and all I could see were the same as he stared at his precious little boy. How could this be happening, I asked myself. He's so healthy and active! I found myself rewinding time, trying to think back on any possible clues of fatigue, sickness, anything! And I kept coming up with nothing.

Family rushed to the hospital after receiving the news via phone calls in concern for Cameron and ourselves. We were distraught. I remember walking down the hallway with a few of the Physicians on staff that night, hand in hand while tears streamed down my face. Nurses would pass by me and give me a quick rub on my back. The whole E.R was concerned about the news.

We finally checked out of the hospital 8 hours later, late in the night. We had to have family drive us home because we were just to shaken up. Upon coming home, I broke down in the middle of our front living room floor, sobbing. My son laying in bed weeping. I couldn't bear the news, what were we going to do? Neither my husband or I could sleep, at all. We had our son in-between us in bed, holding him tight and not wanting to let go.

The next day finally came after a long night of grieving. I was so fatigued at this point, but my body wouldn't allow me to settle down. This day we went to see his pediatric doctor for a follow up and to get our orders for Portland Dornbecher's Hospital. I felt like I was in this big dream and that I was going to wake up at any moment. All we could do was TRY to keep our composure for the sake of little Cameron, so we could start his treatment or whatever was next for him.

Upon seeing his pediatrician, he ordered more STAT blood work. My son was so upset, he didn't want to get poked yet, again. This really upset me as all I could think about was his future of needles, chemo and radiation. Why does God give this terrible disease to children?

His blood work came back virtually the same, no change, which was good in the aspect of not having to "rush" him up to Portland, but that just meant that we had to wait for 4 days before being seen up there. This was the longest 4 days of my life, literally. Our son was still very sick and we were told to keep him home because of his low white cell count, he was prone to viruses.

All we could think about was our Son's future. I've always considered myself as a good momma. Always putting my children first. But I found myself with many regrets. The times I yelled at him, or the times I swatted him on his bottom or..... I just had so many emotions and hurt so much for him.

The day finally came. Dornbecher Children's Hospital. I wasn't ready, but I was. I just wanted to get him better, but was SO scared to find out his prognosis. What kind of Lymphoma did he have? Our day was long and grueling. Lots of in depth testing, MORE blood work and lots of waiting around.

Finally, all the tests were in and the Oncologist walked in, closed the door and sat down. I remember having that panic feeling again. I started to get light headed and feeling sick all over again. I did good however keeping my composure, but I was dying inside. The Doctor came right out and said.....He's been cleared of Cancer. No Lymphoma, No Leukemia. I had been so distraught, I didn't know what to think at first. Do I believe her? What about the mass on the CT scan? I had to ask again. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I know I prayed to God to heal my son, and that little boy had prayer chains like no one has ever had, but did a miracle just happen?

The overwhelming joy rushed through my body like it never had. I looked over at my husband, his head leaning up against the wall, sobbing. He was so happy. He asked the Oncologist if he could hold his son. That's all he wanted most at that moment. This is the capture.... a moment of pure happiness and relief.

Every time I look at this photo, I sob all over again. This was such a tender moment for both of us. My husband has his son back, his healthy little boy. His partner, best friend and soul.

The mass on his bowels happened to be Inflammation from diarrhea. The hardening wall in his intestines....food passing thru his belly at the time of the CT scan. Abnormal spleen....it was abnormal due to a virus that attacked my poor boy. A terrible virus that had virtually the same effects as Lymphoma. Either way, McKenzie Willamette is currently under investigation for these accusations, faults made and most of all....the WRONG diagnosis they made that turned our lives upside down and back around. A lot of damage was done to our family. My husband missing a weeks worth of work, I had to drop my class, because I was in final's week when this all happened, and many other un-mentioned things.

In the end however; I have a very healthy son. 3 days after our trip to Dornbecher, he went back to school. There wasn't a dry eye in that school when we walked through those doors. Everyone was SO relieved. He played in his game that evening as well, and I can't explain how much that meant to us. To sit and watch our son play sports....A whole new appreciation.

I thank God everyday for my Son now. I was thankful before, but even more now. We all are at fault for taking life for granted at times, but after this....I certainly see life in a different light. It's made me a stronger person and has brought me even closer to my Son. The Lord healed. He heard us, every single one of those prayer chains for our little Cameron and he answered them. I thank the Lord above for giving us such a wonderful gift, and best of all.....It came a few days before Mother's day. What an awesome gift! This Mother's day was so very special to my husband and I. Life is way to precious to worry about the petty things. Love your children and those around you, because you will never know when it will all come to an end.

Sheri

Professional Photographer Magazine 2011 Cover Contest

2011-04-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Hello! I have recently entered in the 2011 Professional Photographer Magazine cover contest! Please show your support and head on over to vote! Click on the link below and you could win an IPOD 2!

Professional Photographer Magazine 2011 Cover Contest

An Enterance fee?!?

2011-01-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

This story is funny, had to share. The other day, I picked up the kids from school. Tuesdays and Thursdays are very busy days for us. Upon coming home, my daughter, Jocelyn started getting ready for Gymnastics practice. Once she was dressed, I told her to come into the bathroom so I could put her hair up in a pony. She proceeded to tell me about how she formed this "girls" club at school (at recess time). I asked her several questions about it and came to the conclusion that it was all innocent of coarse. She even told me that she invited the one girl she don't get along with. I was so proud.

Earlier that day, I was doing my laundry and pulled 6 dollars out of the washer, as I am sure MANY of us have done a time or 2. I sat the wet money out on the table to dry and walked away. So back to my story about Jocelyn and the "girls" club. So she continued to tell me all about this club and told me that her friend "Daphne" gave her 6 dollars. WOW, what a coincidence! Hmm, 6 dollars out of the laundry and now my daughter is telling mommy this big huge story about how this girl (whom, I have never heard of) give her 6 dollars. I immediately warned her about lying and didn't believe her of coarse. Well, she stuck to her story. The next day I called the school and later that day the teacher called me back confirming that "Daphne" did give her Jocelyn 6 dollars! Boy, talk about feeling bad as a parent. At least my daughter was telling the truth! I asked Mrs. Reposa (Jocelyn's teacher) why this girl was giving Jocelyn money. The teacher replied. Because Jocelyn was apparently charging an Entrance fee. WOW, I have quite the little entrepreneur on my hands. Who would have thought?!? I would have never thought of that at 6 years old!

I can't scold the girl, because she didn't lie, but I did make her return the money and to never take money like that again. Little Turkey! LOL

Got Duct tape?!?

2011-01-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

Duct tape. Silver, shiny, sticky stuff. I sure needed some this morning. Okay, maybe I'm joking a little, as I would NEVER use such a thing on my daughter....okay, I don't sound to convincing hu? Have I ever said that I was punished by having a girl in the house? ha! I love my beautiful daughter, but I do have to tell you....She's a D.I.V.A in the making. Yes, I said it! Out loud even! Have I ever mentioned that I would take a houseful of boys over one girl ANY day?!? You can tell I'm just a little heated can't you? You guessed right. It started off last night. Josie, had a great practice, gymnastics practice that is, but afterwards is when the fuel was poured. Walking out the door, she spotted some lolly pops behind the front desk. In her mind, she thought that it was okay to go grab one. Well, of coarse...mommy popped THAT plan as I tried to scurry her out the door. I could feel it coming, I felt the tension getting thick! Right on Que even, as she let out a rip roaring scream that echoed through the whole entire gym! Yep, the match got lit! The fire roared as I felt all the eyes roll my way, once again! When is this going to end, I asked myself?

Long story short, I had to be the bad guy as she screamed all the way out to the car. I don't remember exactly how many times, I drug her out of the car last night on the way home, but it was many. I don't remember the drive home even, I just know it was the LONGEST drive of my life. It's funny how our bodies react to such stress. So who's the one that told me, parenting was easy???

I once heard that a stubborn, hard-headed child grows up to be the most independent, hard working adult. Statistics please?!? What if she doesn't live that long? Okay, now I'm being sarcastic and humorous. C'mon, I'm trying to enlighten you all! So, back to my story. We finally made it home, safely I may add. She thought the punishment was all done. Boy, was SHE in for a big surprise. She got taken back to her room, I took a bucket and tossed in all of her Zhu Zhu pets, barbies AND the big doll house she just got for Christmas.....GONE! You'd think at that point, she would get it. Oh, no! The screaming began! It was so hard and I was so emotionally drained beyond belief. Thank God for earplugs! Sending her to bed early after a quick supper was what I needed the most! Did I happen to mention that a full bottle of wine was my best friend that night too? I don't think I EVER finished a bottle of wine myself! Can I also add, that I drank that full bottle as fast as I would have finished ONE glass? Oh yeah. I slept like a baby lastnight!
Morning approached. "I" was ready to go cuddle with my baby girl, I needed her to just hug me back, I needed that reassurance that she still loved me I think. Well, I got that, but I also got the attitude again. Here I thought my morning was off to a great start, was I WRONG! Why did God give me such a stubborn daughter? Hard headed isn't the word. I sure hope she grows up to be a genius! If I had some vodka to pour into my coffee, I would have probably finished the whole 5th. Why am I suddenly talking liquor? Step aside liquid courage, A new kid is in town! As you all know, I am not a drinker, but talking about it sure helps. HA!

Sending my daughter off to school was the hardest thing Ive had to do. That part wasn't easy. Who wants to send their child off to school with tears and a blotchy face? As she walked out the door with her daddy, I immediately was immersed in tears myself. How can a 6 year old have this kind of power?

What's Red with black polka dots all over????

2011-01-05T00:32:00.000-08:00

You give? Well, Ill tell ya. It's.............

A ladybug!

My daughter found this cute little ladybug in the dead of winter sitting on the limb of our Christmas tree we picked out. The ironic thing?!? She LOVES ladybugs. We went to the tree farm, got out of our truck and spotted our tree. We knew it was the one when Mr. Ladybug was found! My daughter STILL talks about that moment!

Just a sweet little moment I had to share. Have a blessed day.

Making a list.....Checking it twice.

2010-12-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

This holiday season has been filled with craziness! Running here and running there! I'll take a Cafe-mocha-vodka latte with a double dose of valium, TO GO please! haha. Kidding of coarse, but that's just how crazy my life has been since the day black friday hit! I do however LOVE the holidays, but this year for some reason, I just can't get into the holiday spirit. Maybe it snuck up on me to fast this time. I seem to want to run people over VS giving them that holiday smile. Hmmm. Getting our Christmas tree really did help the mood a little bit, but can I just say?!? I can't wait till its OVER with? Hey....I did decorate my house too you know. We finished up our shopping a few days ago, the same day we started it. HAHA This year is going to be primarily focused on the kids, and that's okay because it's suppose to be all about the kids anyhow. After all....I do have a lot to be thankful for, the most precious gifts already have been given to me, therefore, Christmas is going to be a day to recognize and be thankful for my beautiful, healthy children, my wonderful, yet stubborn hubby (Love you honey!) and all of the other amazing gifts in my life. Many of us tend to put these gifts on the back burner to stand in line for the next big gifted item! Don't get me wrong....I love to buy for my kids, but there are limits in our family and our children are taught the meaning of the holiday, the meaning of the Christmas tree, the candy cane and most important....The DAY Jesus was born.
Tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. I hope many of you can settle down to recognize this day and why we celebrate it. I leave you with some of my favorite pictures of our decorations. God bless you all and have a safe and happy holiday season.

A big LOUD....Key-up!!

2010-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

So the word "key-up" in Taekwondo terms means... "AY-YA!" This is what my son does best. This boy is NOT afraid to use his voice to let everyone know in the gym that he has kicked or finished a form. In the past few weeks he's been testing for his brown belt. He worked so incredibly hard to reach this milestone. I could tell that he wanted it pretty bad. After a few reviews of some forms, the day finally came when he got presented with that dark colored belt that represented more than just it's color. His face told the story, and a proud mommy at the sidelines being his number one fan, his cheerleader. It's been a long hard road to reach this big accomplishment, but I am oh, so proud of him.

Life with Gratitude...

2010-11-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

It's so hard to believe that the Holidays are here. Thanksgiving, tomorrow! I am so thankful for so many things. Good AND bad. Many people don't find themselves being thankful for the "bad" in their lives, but I do. If there weren't' bad....There wouldn't be good. I really believe that when one door closes, 3 better ones open. Therefore, I am Thankful for the bad too! Here are a few things I am Thankful for.

My Husband!
My beautiful yet healthy children
My father because he is STILL the number one man in my life.
Pumpkin Spiced Lattes, Mmmmmm (How I wished I had one)
The far away parking space at the grocery store, that just means that I am capable of walking ALL the way into the store.
The piles of laundry awaiting me, that just means that I have loved ones near by.
Fulfilling my dream. I am so thankful for that.
The great outdoors! Oregon is so beautiful and I am so blessed for what God has created!
Last but least, I am Thankful for this life.

I know this is a very short list, and I could go on and on, but these are a few of the things I am most Thankful for. I have been pretty blessed in my life. We have had our struggles, still have them, but it can always be worse. We may not have the most beautiful home, the best cars or the best clothing, but we have each other. We have dreams and aspirations and that's what keeps us going. I am so very Thankful for the heart God has given to me. I love this time of year, especially when I get to share it with family and some of my closest friends. There's nothing better than a nice warm fire, pumpkin spiced latte and fuzzy slippers while curled up on the couch with a good book or the company of one of your bestest girlfriends.

I am looking forward to the big Turkey dinner tomorrow, but best of all, I am looking forward to giving thanks to the Lord up above for what he has given to me.

Have a blessed holiday.

This year I took my children's school photos. I just couldn't see it any other way. After all, It was much cheaper to hire myself out! Enjoy~

A Pocket full of love

2010-11-11T09:45:00.000-08:00

Parenting. The one thing in my life that I Cherish the most. The one thing that I can connect with. The one thing that I can say, I am a part of. I am a very proud parent, as most of us are. We, as parents know that children don't come with handbooks, although, sometimes I wish they did.
Having children can also be very overwhelming at times too. Just recently, a few weeks ago, we moved into a new home. Our new home is wonderful...in the eyes of myself and husband that is. Kids are funny the way they see life and how they view certain situations. I received a phone call at the end of September 2010 ending in a 30 day move out date. I of coarse was a little worried, giving the circumstances, but also understood that the house needed to be renovated and sold. My husband and I viewed the situation as an answered prayer, a relief to some debt we've been holding on to. But, in our children's eyes, that was different. Fast forwarding to today, we are almost settled and very happy, so I thought anyway. A few days ago, my husband and I went to go tuck the kids into bed and as we entered our son's room, I immediately knew something was wrong. As tears streaming down his face, I knelt down to him and asked him what was wrong. I don't think we were suppose to see those tears, which made me really upset. How could my baby shed tears and mommy not know about it? laying down next to him, embracing him really helped calm the tears, but not the fear. The next word out of his mouth, really startled me. "Mommy" he said. "I'm home sick." I was taken back by those words. Did I miss something? How could I have overlooked his biggest fear? At that given moment, I felt I had failed as a parent.

Laying next to my 9 year old son, all I could do was hold him. I thought many times, is this enough? Wrapping my arms around him, kissing him repeatedly on the forehead, I couldn't help but to understand his fears. I got it, I got how he felt lost and scared. My 9 year old just lost his only security. He had everything and anything in the world that any other boy would ever dream of having. Forts, room to run, ESCAPE from mom and dad! That was sacred to him, and now it's gone forever! Laying there with him, I thought over and over again, just HOW could I fix this? T.I.M.E, Time will heal all wounds, but will it to a 9 year old boy?

We have now been in our new home for almost 2 weeks now, and I have seen a bit of improvement, but I do know, he is still very lost. My husband has been so good with him however. Spending more time with him, involving him in projects and even going to the extent of starting on the newest project....A TREE fort. We are hoping this will cure all of his pain associated with moving. I hate to see my children go through these emotional times, but I know that its all part of growing up.

The Witch and the poor injured man....

2010-11-03T00:13:00.000-07:00

Halloween is past us and it's onto yet, another fall festivity. Thanksgiving! And boy do "I" have a lot to be thankful for. But, first things first. This past ghost and goblin season, our kids had a million and one different costume ideas. This year was a little different however. My oldest, Cameron, had no desire to dress up at all. My head hung as he broke the news to me. Has that day finally come... Is he really to that age? Just one more year, please?!? I wasNT going to try and persuade him even though I really just wanted to squish him down a few years. It's hard watching your "babies" grow up. I know...Just KNOW that day is coming when "Santa" becomes not so real anymore, but I DON'T want to think about THAT!

We took Jocelyn out to pick out her costume. She wanted to be a devil so bad, she talked about it for weeks. I wasn't so excited about it however. There was just something about dressing up in a devil costume that didn't sit to well with me. But, she decided on being a Witch, which was a bit better than what she originally wanted to be. So as we were putting the pieces of her costume in the basket, Cameron came around the corner with a handful of costume ideas. My eyes lit up and excitement came over me. "Mom"? Can I be an injured man? OH what a fabulous idea! I loved that he came up with that costume idea all on his own! So of coarse, I jumped at helping him round up the things he needed to have a great costume.

Our Halloween evening was fabulous and I couldn't have asked for a more pleasant evening without rain! We took the kids out for a few hours and while they were fulfilled on getting a bag full of candy...We were fulfilled watching them in their costumes having a great time! Hope you enjoyed your Halloween as much as we did!

Pumpkins to Jack-o-lanterns...

2010-10-17T19:54:00.000-07:00

I always love this time of year when the leaves turn bright colors, the crisp cool mornings and just the overall feel of the season. Unfortunately it never lasts very long. This year in particular we won't be able to sit back and enjoy it like we always do because that same weekend we have to be out of our house and into our new one. My poor totes will have to go unscathed this year. I'm quite sure my husband is jumping for joy deep within. So I guess our resort is to go to as many pumpkin patches, corn mazes and haunted houses.

This year my husband and I were invited to go to a dress up halloween party, but unfortunately had to decline on going because of our moving day fast approaching. Besides, it's no fun feeling rushed planning out your halloween costumes. Cameron this year approached me with devistating news. He didn't want a costume this year for halloween. I couldn't belive what I was hearing! What 9 year old doesn't want to dress up? Boy, I sure didn't see THAT one coming. And my daughter has changed her mind about 10 million times. Shopping for costumes is NOT going to be very fun. Lets hope Im wrong.

So tomorrow is a day at the Pumpkin patch with her little gymnastics team mates. The kids are so excited once again. Im sure ill be coming home with a load of cute pictures to post. Until then.... Have a great night!

Ohh I love new beginnings!

2010-10-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

The past several weeks have been crazy for us around here. With the start of a new school year, gymnastics, karate and everything in between, I haven't been able to sit and relax. We celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary on September 20th. It was nice to get out for an evening without the kids and enjoy our time. This year we decided to try something a little different, restaurant that is. And I am SO glad we did. We went to this very upscale authentic Italian restaurant in downtown Eugene and I have to say it was Fabulous! There was one downside tho. The place was very loud, so it was very hard to have that romantic moment, but hey....we can always have those. After all, we have forever together right? We enjoyed our night out and that's all that matters.

So our new beginning is...... NO! It's not a new baby! Although sometimes I wish. SOMETIMES! haha. We are moving! We have spent 3 fabulous years in our country home and it's time to move on. I can remember back to the day we moved into this house. It was a day of agony, a day of....what the H did I do?!? See, I am NOT a country girl. I am no farmer, goat herder OR going out to the chicken coups to pluck out the eggs! So this country was FULLY to accommodate my husband and of coarse score some pretty big points for being that loving, giving wifey of his. So now it's MY turn. And I bet you couldn't guess where I chose to live. Yep, right down the street ~~in the city~~ a quarter of a mile up a long gravel driveway in the TREES! What has gotten in to me? I have to say what I once was, I am no longer! I love our little country community out here and I can NOT see myself living anywhere else but here. Our close friends out here have become more like family to us and the school is Phenomenal. So why would I leave? I am very excited to start this new journey of my life. This week we've been painting, next week will be the hardwoods and then we get to move! The kids are so excited to move and I am too. We are on many acres with a park like setting. Very woodsy. The day the home became ours was the day we drove up there to test out the keys. We drove past our neighbors house before approaching ours and just on the other side of our front deck were two 5 point bucks and 4 babies. My husbands burs ted out and said "Honey, WE ARE HOME!" Right then and there I knew. I knew this was it. A place to call home. Something we haven't felt for quite a while now. So it feels pretty good.

One of the many beautiful views off the front deck. Such an amazing view.

Until next time....

What the heck is that?!?

2010-09-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

So last Thursday my daughter gets off the school bus looking like she either ran around the school building half a dozen times or someone slapped her in the cheeks half a dozen times. I asked...."Jocelyn" what happened to you? She replied... "mommy" I was just laughing A LOT! Funny the things kids say. So off to Gymnastics we went. Upon getting to the gym I noticed that the redness in her cheeks only got a little worse, and since we were already at the gym I decided to let her workout while watching her closely. She had a great workout. Mommy is very proud of her, but that night right before bedtime is when her body looked like it had been worked over by this mysterious rash.

It was so bad, we decided to take her up to the hospital because she was so itchy, hot and very uncomfortable. A total of 4 hours in the hospital with no answers is probably the most discouraging news any parent can endure. So we waited and cared for her hoping this thing would pass in a few days, but to no avail it got worse. 5 days have passed and my daughter looked like she had a bad case of the measles. Seriously?!? I was so frustrated, I decided to take her to her regular primary doctor on Tuesday and I am SO glad I did. The doc came into our room and he instantly knew what was going on with her. Parvo B-19! What? What is that I said?!? Parvo B-19 is what you call 5th's disease! Well, if your a Mom.... you probably have ~~not~~ heard of that before. I was shocked! Why in the world did the hospital NOT know that? I was beyond irritated.

So in a nut shell, because of her severity she could have this rash for as long as ~~forever~~ 8 weeks, but thankfully she's not contagious. She just looks a little freakish is all. The scariest thing of all was that she was the most contagious when she wasn't sick! We would have had NO way of knowing of coarse, but I still feel horrible for all of the kids that were exposed. I wish I would have had a clue so I could have isolated her. Welcome to the new 2010 school year! Another reason I want to home school! So the waiting begins for my oldest to come down with this "slapped cheek" syndrome. Waiting is sometimes the worst thing of all, knowing your kid may get sick and there's nothing you can do about it to stop it. Life just isn't fair sometimes. But I have to be thankful that I have very healthy kids otherwise. Until next time....

Our weekend excursion.

2010-09-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

We decided to make one last weekend getaway with the family before school started back up, so we asked the kids what they wanted to do and they both jumped up and down and screamed ZOO! So the planning began. We thought it would be fun to go with friends this go around and I am so glad we did, it made for a great time! We left on Saturday morning, bags packed, kids dressed, house picked up and the car was loaded by 7am Saturday morning. That told you right there just how excited the kids were. We got up to the Portland are around 10am, just in time for our first destination to open up. Oaks Park. This place was VERY cool, our first time of coarse. This place had rides, cotton candy, games and lots of smiles and laughter for a quarter of the price the state fair would charge! I think we just won the lottery right there! HA The kids had unlimited rides all day long, it was really hard to keep them all together. I constantly found myself counting heads. I guess that's a normal thing to do for us mom's right?

The kids had so much fun exploring and being entertained by these big rides that you couldn't keep them out of the lines! So little ol me with my handy dandy camera couldn't keep my finger off the trigger either. It was so much fun to shoot these bright colorful FUN photos of my kids grinning ear to ear!

so the above photo is a photo of the one and only ride "I" went on and boy let me tell you..... it dropped your heart right in the pit of your stomach. This was called the flying eagle and the thing went upside down, back around and spun! It was so scary! I am so glad my kids didn't go on it with me.

but what they did go on were the little "age" appropriate kitty rides and believe me.... I was more than okay with that. Jocelyn's face in the above photo says it all. PRICELESS! This was the first time either one of my kids have been on any kind of rides, so it was a first experience for all of us. We just don't believe in wasting our money on those darn fair expenses when we can go enjoy ourselves for a whole weekend elsewhere spending less money in a weekend then you would in one day at the "rip off fair". Besides, my kids really know no different so it's okay. ;)

Looking at them makes me laugh especially my son. They had a great time, well we all did for that matter. So after the fun day at Oaks park we found a nice hotel, wanted one with a pool but was definitely way to cold for one and number two.... our kids were crashed out before we even left the parking lot. I guess we didn't feed them enough cotton candy! So we found a great Hotel in the area and crashed. Woke up the next morning and we were off to the ZOO! This was my favorite day, exciting day for photos! I was stoked that it was cool outside which meant even better for the sake of the animals.

After all the main attraction were these cute Monkeys. I kept telling my husband that I didn't realize his family was so cute and hairy. ha ha. These suckers were a crack in the pants. So our friends that went with us had a banana in their stroller for one of their kids and the monkey just happened to see that and got all crazy. He crawled over to the gate and stuck out his hand to get that banana. We all felt so bad and wanted to give it to him, but couldn't.

Heck we even got a wink from this bald Eagle! Okay, wishful thinking. This poor guy had a missing eye, but was ever so amazing to watch. I could have stood there and starred for hours at him. The day couldn't have been more perfect for all of us. We had a great time with our friends, the kids and the company of the animals.

I even ran across this great "bubble" that I need to have in my own home. Kidding of coarse! Well, minus the rodents that is. This was a pretty cool "new" feature they had at the zoo, well new to us as we have never seen the exhibit prior to us going to the zoo.

The kids even got to visit some very cool water features too that they loved! After spending 6 hours walking thru the zoo, we were pooped out and ready to hit the road, but not before visiting the amazing elephants.

These guys just amaze me every time, and I think my kids were mesmerized too.

So that wraps up our great little getaway for the summer. It's so sad to say goodbye to Summer and hello to the new school year, but all things must come to an end. Until next time....

First day of school!

2010-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

I just can't get over how fast our summer came and went! I always look forward to the fall season, only because it's my favorite time of the year. I always start getting excited right around July-ish about burning those wonderful pumpkin spiced candles, the crisp cool mornings, the pumpkins growning in the pastures.... Don't get me wrong, I love the summer months, love the sun, the smell of sunblock, the sound of kids splashing around in the water, the warm nights.... But this year, we didn't have much of that. Today was the first day of school and can I say what a lost soul I was? A first and 3rd grader....gone for the whole entire day! This morning was a big deal for our daughter especially! She's in full time school! Now, I am asking myself just how THAT happened. It's just amazing how fast they grow up. As a mother, it was a bitter sweet moment for me. Fighting back the tears from the moment we all woke up to the front door of her classroom. Saying goodbye was a hard one! One of my friends said that I just got my "get out of jail" free card, go enjoy my day, LOL. Well, I certainly didn't think of it that way, but then again....I am the kind of parent that would rather have my kids around me VS away from me. So with my daughter excited, my son was not so much. He LOVES school for the most part and so I was a little taken back from what I was hearing so I sat him down and got to the bottom of it. He was concerned that he 3rd grade was going to be to hard for him. The mom in me wanted to hold him, protect him and keep him home, but I knew I could not do that.
So your probably wondering JUST what I did with my free day? Well, I thought about my precious cargo A LOT! I rand errands, visited a great friend and treated myself to coffee and did a little bit of shopping. I decided my first free day needed to be spent outside of the house VS at home. All in all.... I enjoyed my day, but I was 15 mins early at the bus stop today because I just couldn't wait for my babies to get off that bus and run in my arms. It was the best feeling when they DID! It's going to be quite the change from here on out, but I think in due time, this will be a good thing. My daughter is a bit babied and spoiled and I think now that she's in full time school, she will grow out of that. LETS hope! HA

My new website!

2010-09-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... It's been a long time coming and to tell you the truth, it's not really been on the top of my priority list as learning my camera has been. But with many, many requests I decided I better figure something out. I have completed many photography jobs and the photos have just sat in my folder on my computer. Well, now I guess since I started a website, I can finally show them off. This website was created by me, so NO it's not the greatest, and still a work in progress, but it's something and SOMETHING is better than nothing at all right? Right! So, I hope you all enjoy and please feel free to join in on the fun, follow me!

http://www.sherihubbsphotography.com/

Sheri

Cars, Planes and butterflies.....

2010-08-31T09:42:00.000-07:00

So your asking what do Cars, Planes and Butterflies have in common? Yeah, I asked myself that SAME question, that is until I hoped on a little airplane, a 3 person airplane that is! This past weekend was filled with loads of fun up in Albany, Oregon where their annual Art and Air show was happening. Months before all of this, a good friend of mine told me about this "Hot Air balloon" festival at the end of August. Well with any Photographer....I was ready to take on the experience of photographing these beautiful balloons. Yes, my husband thought I was crazy, but what he didn't know was that "I" was dragging him right along with me! HA.

So the planning began. The night before I made sure everything on my camera was set to go. Bags were packed, kids bathed and the car keys on the table. Yes, I have this HORRIBLE habit of losing my car keys, especially when I need them the MOST!

My alarm was set to go off at 4:45 and I found myself tossing and turning so much (out of excitement I think) so for ONCE in my life I was up before the alarm! Did I happen to mention I was up 45mins before my alarm? Everyone knows I am NOT a morning person unless shopping or picture taking is involved! LOL

We got up to Albany around 6am with kids in tote and VERY tired, but hey....couldn't miss the excitement and I could NOT wait to see the looks on their faces when they encountered those beautiful balloons being aired up. Well, unfortunately they weren't all that thrilled. My kids have finally moved to the stage where their nice warm bed is WAY better than something exciting!

I was so excited to capture this event on photos, although the sky was not cooperating all that well. Would have been even MORE magnificent with blue sky, but hey.... I can't complain, I had my family willing to get up at the crack of dawn, and they did it for me! So after about an hour of walking around watching all the beautiful colors fill the sky, they all set off as a happily ever after story. So we packed up and moved on to the next event. AIRPLANES!

Yes, this is where the butterflies come in. After all this was the Art and AIR festival and it wouldn't have been the same without the aide of some nice airplane rides right? And did they say Free? Even better! Well, it didn't exactly happen that way. There seems to always be a catch to those "free" things things in life. But along with everyone else.... we waited in this long line, and waited and waited until we finally came to where we could jump on a plane! Wrong answer. This line is to take names, add them to a class time, come back, take the class THEN get back in line after your class and go up in the air for 5 Min's and back down. Wrong answer! Oh and did I happen to mention.... it was for kids only over the age of 8years old? NOT a chance was I going to put my child on a little itsy bitsy plane all by himself while I sign a little piece of paper handing over my rights in case the plane crashed and burned! RIIIGHT!

Disappointment set deep in 3 sets of eyeballs as my son, Cameron brought a friend (a 7 year old friend) and my 6 year old daughter. As we walked away I decided to go into the Aviation office to get a flier on prices for a future ride in the sky. We walked out of there with 3 tickets to get a 1/2 hour plane ride for myself and the 2 boys (Cameron and his friend) for a pretty reasonable fee, which made more sense and if I would have known this before hand.... yeah, you can bet I wouldn't have stood in that line FOREVER!

So those butterflies I mentioned many times earlier?!? Yep.... they were setting in. I had never been on a small plane before. And I only agreed to it for the sake of my son wanting to go up in the air. I certainly was not going to let the plane crash and burn without me... right? Well, as bad as I make it sound? It went pretty smooth and was totally awesome! My picture taking wasn't anything compared to the picture I have in my head of my son's first expressions when the plane took off in the air. Priceless! We had such a great time! He was all eyes and smiles, but secretly those butterflies never went away for me! And I want to skydive next? LOL

After our nice plane ride around the city and into Corvallis a bit, we came to a safe landing and exited the plane with everything in tact. On to the next event. Car show, park time and a nice lunch at a pizza parlor then a quick stop at the Orchards for some farm fresh fruit and home! It was a great time with the family, we have decided to make it our yearly adventure.

Missing in Action....

2010-08-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

I know, don't give me that funny look. I have been MIA from the "blogging" community for a while now. I have my reasons, yep..... okay, maybe I don't. I have never been any good at keeping up on this blogging thing, but I actually miss it and miss all of you, so Im back. Are you happy yet? Jumping up and down? Okay, I doubt that.

Summer is about to come to an all time end, and I am not very happy about that, but all good things must come to that point right? I mean, what kind of summer have we had anyhow? Well, the Mid West that is.... Yeah, thank YOU Eastern States for taking our HEAT away! My favorite time of the year is Fall anyhow and right around this time of year I get a little giddy inside because I can feel it coming! Ahhh nothing like the beautiful colored leaves, the crisp cool mornings and yep, Im a little odd, but I love it when the days become shorter. OUCH.... I felt that slap! Anyhow..... So you are probably wondering just what we have been up to lately.... Okay, so Ill give ya the scoop!

Our summer has consisted of a lot of KIDS! I do daycare, so enough said, but I LOVE those little curtain climbers! We haven't done a whole heck of a lot this year, weve just been so busy with sports, camps and work. One,big thing in my son's life is that he got his braces on....Im sure he's giving me a pat on the back about now, well maybe in 10 years when he realizes the importance of a presentable smile.

so in the mean time his nickname is "braceface". Nahh Im joking, Im not that mean of a parent. LOL but I have to say, he does look pretty cute AND so very grown up. Now that part doesn't make me smile to much. (I don't want them to grow.....)

So as for the kids, they have been very busy, Cameron is now a brown belt in Taekwondo and Jocelyn is almost on pre-team in Gymnastics, both are doing excellent in thier sport of choice.

As for me... I have grown a lot, I think I finally found myself and my passions in life. It has taken quite a while and quite a toll. I have also learned the meaning of "family" and "life". I have taken a different route that is.... a better one! I am excited to see what the world has to offer me, heck.... my family.

Until next time.......

Sandi's Fight.

2010-06-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have had the wonderful pleasure to give back to someone in dire need. http://www.sandisfight.com/ is a beautiful woman fighting a rare form of Brain cancer. I came to know this story through http://www.mynewlifeasmom.com/ Stephanie told the story of this remarkable woman, so I went and visited her blog. Once reading her blog I was instantly touched and could NOT get her out of my mind. Thinking about the story for several days, I just had to help, I had too. Sandi is a young, newly married woman who should be enjoying her life, but instead she's fighting for her life. The Lord has given me gifts, many wonderful ones in my life. A wonderful, loving husband, beautiful kids, health and the gift of Photography. My love for Photography sparked after the birth of my first baby and it's been history ever since. The Lord spoke to me, trying to think of ways to help, It hit me like a TON of bricks! I have decided to donate 5% of all proceeds to go back towards Sandi's cause. I have taken some landscape photos and will continue to take photos, upload them to my new store website at:

http://www.artfire.com/users/HubbsPhotography

Please visit my store, purchase a print. Make a change today in Sandi's life. Join in her fight! You can also go to her website at http://www.sandisfight.com/ to make a donation.

Wacky Hair Day!

2010-06-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this week is spirit week at my kids school, since this is the last week then the summer off! Today was Wacky hair day and of coarse my kids wanted to go all out! Jocelyn, our daughter woke me up at 6:15 this morning begging me to spike her hair. Okay, her hair is about 3 inches from sitting on it and this girl wanted it spiked? Ummmm NO! Well just as I had said NO, my husband rolls over (we were all still in bed) and says..... "Ill do it" Well, I wasn't going to argue with the fact that he wanted to do it, so I let him. Not more than 1/2 hour later, they were both coming to me for help. LOL I knew it! I'm sorry Men, but when it comes to us girl's hair.... you are INCOMPETENT! He (my husband) had mixed about 20 egg whites and poured all over in her hair. YES, I said EGG WHITES! Does anyone know what this does? Google it if you don't!

So after spending A LOT of time re-washing her hair while she's screaming BLOODY murder because her hair is so stiff you could probably beat someone up with it. Finally rewashed it, conditioned it. I had to walk away for a few minutes while I was away, my husband proceeded to put LOTION, GOBS of it in her hair! Ughhhhh Hello?!? You don't put lotion in hair! So anyhow, I just left it in, put it in little tiny buns with 1 braid at the bottom and sprayed color on it. This is what we came out with from both kids. All in All they had a blast and YES my kids had the best hair! So I guess that would rule them as the most spirited!

Today was the last day for the Kinders, so my daughter is officially a first grader and I have to say, I am quite sad. Atleast I have the summer to take it all in. :(

Hope you all are enjoying your week and have a wonderful weekend!

STAY TUNED.... NEXT WEEK..... MISIKKO GIVEAWAY!

MISIKKO Flat Iron!

2010-06-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

So today I was cleaning house and heard someone pull into my driveway. I immediately looked out the window and seen the UPS man! I knew what it was..... I RAN to the back door (as that's the door he always comes too) and he handed me a white box. Yep, the label read "Misikko.com" I was SO excited! I have been waiting PATIENTLY for my new hair straightener! Going back a little bit, one of my blogger followers, http://www.mynewlifeasmom.com/ had this giveaway a few weeks ago and I just happened to win!

So today after receiving the box, I immediately opened it....and I must add that it was beautifully packaged with ribbons, yummy smelling roses, candles and some nice little extra gifts! plugged it in and started using it. It's AMAZING! My last straightener, bought from walmart 4 years ago for 18 dollars SUCKED! My hair would never be straight and it always turned into a frizz ball by the time I got outside. So I put this flat iron to the ultimate test! After straightening my hair, I walked outside in the blustery, humid weather. I know my hair all too well, and if its going to frizz.... It's going to frizz within 5 mins of being outside. So I stayed outside for about 20 mins cleaning off my deck. Finally ready to see how my hair held up, I stepped into my house, looked into the mirror and WOW! My hair was still BONE straight! I couldn't believe it!

This straightener is SUPER! I give it 2 thumbs up and a perfect 10! THANK YOU MISIKKO for your product! My review is an A++++

Birthday Weekend!

2010-06-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend I celebrated my Birthday. Why is it when were younger we can NOT wait for our birthdays to get here, and when we reach a certain age..... we HATE them?!? Is it because that "one" year really makes it's mark? Like, really.... are we going to wake up with 5 extra wrinkles and 10 more gray hairs? Overnight? Well, maybe! I woke up a little depressed I have to add. I mean, c'mon.... 37? Are you serious? I know, I know. I'm going to be looking back on this 10 years from now wondering just WHAT was going through my head. I am now one year closer to 40! I don't feel a day past 20! okay, maybe 30! LOL

So anyhow, I woke up on the morning of my birthday.  The husband had to go in to work for a few hours, so it was just the kids and I.  I knew my kids were up to no good as they snuck into the kitchen. Kids are so funny, they were trying so hard to be quiet, but I knew what they were up to. 10 mins later in they came with 2 pieces of buttered toast with a half melted candle stuck right in the middle. It was the SWEETEST thing! Of coarse, the dog got the toast once they left the room, but I just really set the mood for my day. I have the sweetest kids ever.

Upon getting up out of bed, my husband had done the sweetest thing too! In our master bath he had flower petals all over the floor and sink with "I love you" and "Happy Birthday" written WITH MY LIPSTICK on the bathroom mirror. Okay ladies..... We all know that, that's a BIG NO-NO! But, I couldn't scold him this time around, well..... after looking at my flat lipstick, okay, I was nice.

Walking the house, my husband had left flower petals all over the house, heavy in the places he knew I went to the most.  The Coffee Pot, computer, TV etc... So I couldn't complain. I am very much thought of and loved and that's all I need. AND it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL outside! What more can a woman ask for? Oh and did I mention? I have the BEST of friends too! I got a few beautiful gifts, cards and a nice lunch with my girls on Friday. It was so nice!

This coming weekend my husband and family are going to the beach for the day for my belated birthday gift. I am very excited about that.  I can't wait!

BLOG HOP FRIDAY!

2010-06-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the fourth edition of Blog Hop Friday, hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!We continue to invite you and your friends to link up every Friday and join us for a wonderful blog hopping adventure! We're all about making friends and having fun so come join us! Here's how you can join in on the fun;

Link up to your blog, using our inlinkz link list, below.

Follow the host/hostesses located in the first lucky 7 slots.

Follow any other blogs that you feel appropriate! :)

Add the Blog Hop Friday button to your sidebar.

When following a new blog, please remember to leave a little personal comment love.

If you get a new follower, please feel free to reciprocate the love!

This is a new list every week, so please remember to come back and link up, every week!

We understand that not everyone has time to follow and comment on every Blog Hop Friday Participant, just do what you can and are willing to do. We will do the same! Take your time and go at your own pace.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I do follow every blog that I can. There are times that I am too busy to comment but I do read your posts. Please know that!

The link list is only open to add new blogs on Fridays but will be visible all week long.

Please make sure you have a way for people to follow you!

*ALL SPAM LINKS WILL BE DELETED!*

This is a BLOG hop not a website, forum or any other type of site hop. Please link to your blog only! If you do link to another part of your site, it will be taken down. Thank you.

To link up on the list, click the *HOSTING LINKS* located at the top of this post in PINK and it will take you to the list of blogs for you to enter yours OR you can click on the Blog Hop Friday frog!

Have a Great weekend!

Braces!

2010-06-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

My son's mouth is terrible, and it all started when his adult teeth decided to come in, in all the wrong places! So very frustrated, we (my husband and I) decided to wait for a bit to see if maybe these teeth would maybe.... adjust themselves?!? Wishful thinking eh? So the other day I decided enough was enough. I scheduled an appointment with this awesome Orthodontist, of whom I was recommended too. (Thank you Cendy!)

The day came for our appointment, my son did NOT sleep and was anxiously anticipating this visit. Explaining to him over and over that the Ortho was only, ONLY going to look in his mouth and tell us what needed to be done. Well I don't think he quite believed me at that time. haha

Upon parking our car in front of the building, as I looked in the rear view window I could see the fear in my son's eyes. Yep, he's just like his momma.... HATES dentists/Orthodontists (as I had braces my whole childhood as well, and even have nightmares about it on occasion) so he comes by it honestly.

Clinching my hand, we both walked into the office, and there we were standing at the front counter to sign in as my son's eyes went from BIG and fearful to....HAPPY and EXCITEMENT! All around this office were Video games, computers, Guitar hero, books..... you name it, they had it! He was INSTANTLY in aweeee.

Getting the grand tour of the office, I got a nice coffee mug and coffee.... It was the most memorable, pleasant experience ever. I don't EVER remember having this as "I" was a kid! If I did... It may have not been so bad.

Our visit lasted about an hour and a half and from what I went through to get my son there.... He didn't want to go home! He got to spin a wheel to win prizes, got tokens to turn in for a prize (with each visit) I was so happy that he had a good experience. Sure makes my life a little easier for all of our future visits.

So here's what his mouth looks like, (yes, I blackened out the information for his safety and privacy, since this IS on the web) and the drawings on his teeth are the braces. I was very surprised that they don't even have to pull any teeth, which I really thought they would.

The next step.... A cleaning at the regular dentist with a general exam, scheduled for June 30th. July 21st will be spacers and a week after that appointment will be braces. AND.... my son's excited about it. LOL Not sure how that took place, but at this point?!? I am just happy he does not have the fear he DID have.

Follow me back Tuesday!

2010-06-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

Follow me back Tuesday is just another way to gain followers and find other great blogs along the way.

How it Works

Add your blog to the list by clicking on "follow" (only have to add once )

Grab my button & the link code to post on your blog by clicking on the above button

Follow all 4 hostesses and then as many other blogs as you would like.

Boobies, Babies & a Blog

Survey Junkie

Little Yaya's

Review Retreat

After you follow a new blog make sure you leave them a comment letting them know that you are now a follower so that they can follow you back, and please follow others back if they leave you a comment that they follow you.

Happy Trails~

My FREE Flat Iron!

2010-06-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago I entered a contest on http://mynewlifeasmom.com/ to win the Misikko "pink" edition flat iron. I seriously NEVER win anything.... EVER! I knew the date was coming up for the generator to generate the winning number, and out of 760 people that entered, my thought of even having a chance diminished. So I went on about my life and forgot about it. The day came and I had a message on my facebook telling me there was a message on the blog above. I clicked on "mynewlifeasmom blog" and to my amazement.... I WON! I really WON! How in the world did I WIN? Seriously.... it couldn't have came at a better time! My current 20 dollar flat iron was on it's death bed and my poor hair..... FRIZZ! I just want to cut it all off DAILY!

I am so excited to get my new iron in the mail. This is a great gift and goes to show..... Even "I" can win, something! And the best thing about it.... IT'S PINK! I LOVE PINK! So now I have decided to do similar on my blog. I want to do these kinds of giveaways as well. I want to be able to put a smile on someone's face the way Stephanie over at http://mynewlifeasmom.com/ did. Thank you Stephanie. Thank you, Thank you!

So if you haven't already..... click on the link on my sidebar to "follow" me! As soon as I get enough followers I will be doing the same thing.

2010-05-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

This weeks Monday's Little Miracles is very close to our heart. This week the miracle spot belongs to Sandi. This is a summary of her last 4 weeks:

May 3rd - normal day, working as a christian counselor with trouble teens, called and made a Dr. appt (had been having severe headaches)
May 4th - CT scan found a brain tumor the size of a lemon and she was put in ICU immediately
May 6th - she had brain surgery where a large portion of the tumor was removed
May 14th - she came home from the hospital
May 19th - got the pathology reports back from Johns Hopkins: Brain Cancer - Glioblastoma

Sandi started chemo on Thursday and will be adding radiation treatments to the chemo starting Tuesday. Not only does she need your prayers, but they need donations. Even with insurance, each radiation treatment has a $40 copay. So please go over and visit Sonya at Belly Charms and help spread the word about her sister. She needs all the prayers we can get.

Please join us : Belly Charms,Boobies, Babies and a Blog, My New Life As Mom in sharing Monday's Little Miracles. Here is how you can make a difference:

Open your heart and link up your blog in the Linky Tool below.
Follow the Blog in the Top Spot - This is the Miracle Slot each week.
Donate, Pray, Comment... anything you can do to support the ones who need help
Copy the Button Below and place it on your sidebar

Blog Reviewer...

2010-05-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

So this is going to be a new journey that I will be embarking upon. After a lot of thought and consideration AND help with Stephanie over at http://www.mynewlifeatmom.com/ I have decided to become a "Blog" reviewer! This means that I will be hosting many giveaways and lots of fun things coming up. So stay tuned. Make sure you are a follower of my blog to get in on all the action!

Update!

2010-05-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you can see...I have been MIA for a while. A lot has happened since my last post and so here I am to catch everyone up.

First off... I have made some not so suttle changes to my blog "look". Its still under some construction, so bear with me as I finish it up in the coming weeks.

So I started on this Photography journey a while back, starting school (which is going great by the way) and doing a few jobs here and there. I have now 2 weddings under my belt, and of coarse I wouldn't have been able to do it all without the help of my dear friend and mentor, Curtis Reed. I met Curtis through another Photographer friend of mine and he instantly took me under his wing. I am so blessed and honored and have learned so much. Soon I will be joining him and Tyson Martin in a Green Screen Photography business that is brand new and already thriving. I am very excited about that, so stay tuned.

The kids are doing great and growing like weeds of coarse. Cameron is almost a BROWN belt in Taekwondo now, so yes.... he can almost kick his Daddy's behind. HAHA! He's about to get his braces on in the next few weeks, so he's growing up so fast which makes me very sad. He's going to start Football this coming season as well I believe. And Jocelyn is a level 1 almost 2 in Gymnastics. I know, I know. I told myself and MANY other people that I would NOT put my daughter in the sport of Gymnastics, as I was a gymnast for 16 years of my life and know the ins and outs of the sport and how I sometimes feel now (like an 80 year old woman at times). BUT.... with many trials of other sports, Gymnastics is what she kept gravitating to, so here we are. She is doing great!

Myself! I have been trying to get my business up and going on the right foot. Photography that is. In just the past few months I was FINALLY able to purchase my camera (thanks to financial aide) and many of the extras that go along with it. I now have my canon 50D with 4 lenses, external flash and some really cool filters. Next is going to be some studio lighting and portable backdrops for those not so nice days in Oregon! My website is currently under construction, so I will post a link to it as soon as it's up and going. Thank you everyone for all your support. This is an exciting journey for me.

Lets see.... Hooo Hummm, LOL. I think that's about it for now. I promise that this is the start to updates atleast 2 times a week from here on out. I have been so busy with school, sports, kids, etc... That I have a hard time FINDING time anymore, but I will do my best.

Have a safe and happy weekend everyone!

Alex and his buddy sparring

2010-04-20T00:20:00.000-07:00

Fighting with Tyson

2010-04-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

Tournament 4.17.10

2010-04-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

Karate Tournament....

2010-04-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

I know... I never update this thing, and I need to get off my duff and do it, atleast once a week. This last weekend was very eventful. It started with Cameron's Karate tournament on Saturday. I was very torn on which even to attend. My good friends were getting baptized on the same day and time as my son's tournament. I had to make the tough decision to be with my child, and it all worked out for the best.

Cameron did so good! He started out with forms and placed 1st, winning a gold medal, then pairs forms (forms with a partner and having to by in sync the whole time) and they came in 2nd winning a silver medal. Sparring and board breaking he took the cake, winning gold in his division. He fought 4 times and won all 4! So because he won all of his fights.... he had to go up against one of his instructors. LOL It was all out of fun, and soooooo cute!

Cameron had an awesome tournament... he is so proud of his medals and so are we. Good job baby!

Easter Sunday...

2010-04-04T22:49:00.001-07:00

So today was Easter Sunday. Waking up to screaming kids, hearing the sound of little feet running through the house was such a blessing. The day prior, we colored Easter eggs and had a great time doing it, and I have to say... the kids got very creative with their eggs. Once complete, in the fridge they went for the Easter bunny to hide after they fell soundly asleep!

I love reliving my childhood memories through my kids.... It's just so much fun! Putting together their cute Easter baskets and hiding the eggs throughout the house before I climbed into bed was so exciting because I could almost anticipate what their reactions would be. LOTS of EXCITEMENT!

The next morning (bright and early) like 7AM! The kids FLEW out of bed running thru the house screaming at what the Easter bunny had left them. My husband and I lay in bed looking at each other with smiles on our faces as we heard their reactions. At that very moment, I thanked God for what he has given to me.... 2 beautiful, healthy children. After the baskets we combed thru the house for our 50 plus eggs (lets just hope we didn't miss any) they had a blast and so did mom and dad!

We had a very blessed day, enjoying a nice meal followed by another egg hunt (about 300 plus eggs) at a good friends house. The weather even cooperated for the most part! Yeah!

Hope everyone had a blessed day as well.

It's been a while.....

2010-03-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

I know, I know.... it's been a while since I have updated.... Life you know, as well as I, can get extremely busy at times. So here's an update.

Cameron just passed another belt in Taekwondo, so now he's a "blue Instructor"! We are so proud of him.... He's half way to black belt! Yes, he'll be a black belt by 10 years old, what an amazing accomplishment for a 10 year old... He loves every moment of it and we are so proud of him.

Jocelyn has now been in Gymnastics for a few months now, and I think we found her niche. After trying several different sports, we thought we were pinpointed on ballet.... until she tried Gymnastics that is. Yes, she comes by it honestly I have to say. It's in her blood, and yes... "MOMMY" is very proud. haha! She is currently enrolled at NAAG Gymnastics, she's a level 1 (sparklers) they call them and doing great! She has her cartwheel down, handstand, front and back roll, and kicks on the beam. I don't think 1 day a week is enough for her, as she begs me all the time to go more, so were looking into 2 days a week.

As for Chyenne and I.... We have been very busy. As most of you know... we have decided not to take that shop and NOT to move into a fifth wheel. We are currently still looking for the perfect shop, just a bit smaller and cheaper. We have learned to be a bit more conservative with our money these days, and even though my husband stays very busy and is a VERY hard worker, I am so incredibly grateful and very blessed to have a man like him, we want to make sure our move is the right one for us. ;)

There has been a few changes in "my" life.... I have had a dream of owning my own Photography studio for quite some time now, I have been working very hard with my schooling, yes 4.0 GPA! I am very proud of myself! I will be purchasing my 1500 dollar camera, yes I said 1500 dollars! At the end of April! I have it all picked out. Unfortunately that money is for the body of the camera only! My lenses are at least that much and more! But, I will have the funds to also purchase at least one lens to start off with. The rest will be purchased as I make money. I have recently started advertising, started a "fan" page on my Face book, YES... I have 80 fans! If you want to become a fan.... just click on the badge at the beginning of my page on the right hand side. Many, Many supporters through this ordeal and I am so very blessed!

I have already been approached to do the photography for my 20 year high school reunion, which is very exciting, so I will find out all of the details as the time approaches. I am also going to be doing a wedding this summer, a maternity shoot in May, and newborn in June/Julyish and several other jobs. Everything is just falling into place with little work, this tells me that THIS is what I'm suppose to be doing. I would have never thought that I would be a photographer, let alone possible for me to do! It's exciting, I have such a passion and I am very excited to make money at doing what I love! And with my passion, comes a very loving and supporting hubby, every step of my way! He is working extra hard just to purchase the tools I need to be successful. Now, I have to say I am very blessed.

Our friends just made a great contribution towards my future camera and will be purchasing this art piece. This will be my FIRST sale! AND.... I get to see this print up on their wall! Yeah me! I am very excited. Every sale will go towards my equipment needed to get my business going. Thank you Tim and Tracy! You guys ROCK! I have a lot of supporters behind me every step of the way. (look at all of my Face book fans, it's awesome!) Thank you everyone for never giving up on me! That is what a real person is all about..... encouragement and never giving up on a person! I am very blessed to have all of you in my life. You all know who you are. ;)

So in a nut shell.... this is what we have been enduring for the past few months. Never give up your dreams, hopes or desires in life, no matter what ANYONE says. Those people who do NOT support you... are people who are miserable anyhow, and who wants that in their life? I sure don't! Keep reaching for those stars. :)

Aloha Friday!

2010-03-05T08:50:00.001-08:00

It's Aloha Friday over at my friends blog, http://jrsmama2009.blogspot.com/ Once you answer my question, make sure you head over to hers, too. Oh and make sure to post one on your blog

too! Link back here so I can visit your blog and return the favor. ;)

If you were going to be stuck on a deserted island, what's 1 thing you would bring along? It can be anything...

My answer would have to be a knife. There are many uses for a knife. Cutting limbs to make a shelter, cutting or catching fish to eat, protection....

New Blog!

2010-03-04T15:24:00.001-08:00

I have been inspired to start another blog, a blog that showcases my passion. I have had a Photography blog that I started up long ago, but never did anything with it. I thought it would be a lot of fun to do a blog of 365 photos! A photo a day for one year! I am pretty excited about this, and feel I can learn a lot as well. After all, Im in school for Photography. Until I figure out how to link these two blogs together, here is the link to my new blog.

http://hubbsphotography.blogspot.com/

I have already started with my one photo. I have great plans to keep you all entertained AND win some great prizes along the way. Just give me some time to get started. Hope you all enjoy my new journey.

Life is a climb.... But the VIEW is great!

2010-02-18T10:36:00.000-08:00

While I am waiting for my daughter's birthday pictures to be emailed to me, I will talk about what's coming up in our life.

I like to document about everything in my life these days, I mean after all, my children will be reading this stuff in a blog book some day, and I want them to know every aspect of their mommy and daddy's life, ups AND downs. Now, as sacrificing may be a down... I am somewhat seeing it as an "up". It's very scary to sacrifice, especially when you have children involved. Since this economy turned upside down, it has been a struggle for many of us, including our family. My husband is a very dedicated, hard working man and I am so grateful for that everyday of my life. I know he wants nothing but the best for us.

Meeting Chyenne 10 plus years ago, I seen his talent right away. God has given him a beautiful gift, a gift in the Auto industry. I really do not think he gives himself enough credit at times, I sure do! I mean after all, he has gotten to do some pretty cool stuff on a few TV shows and other big places just recently. He has always had a dream of owning his own Auto body shop ever since I can remember, and I am sure it goes back even further, way before we even knew one another. That dream came true back in 2007 when we opened up our first shop downtown Eugene. We sold our first home so we could put our equity money into this building that was ohh so perfect. Not more than 8mos later we were approached by the owner that he was in a world of hurt and that he needed to sell it. Long story short, we lost every penny and hard work we put into that building to make it work for our shop. Today, we are living in a beautiful home, 3 car garage and a 2 bay building, running our shop out of this place, located in the country (10mins out of town) and I see everyday that it just isn't working for my husband.

Many people could look at this as a negative, and we did at first, but as time went on... I seen the positive, and I really feel that the Lord sparred and protected us and took the pressure off , after all we went from having 2 sets of bills, down to 1 set of bills, and who knows where we might have been if we would have taken another leap at that time. It's been almost 2 years since all of this has happened, and to our surprise... My husband has kept very busy, even being located way out where we are currently at. It's just hard for him to juggle cars around, and when I see him out there in the pouring rain, my eyes fill up with tears because I know that our dream is within arm's reach. We have never given up hope and have always kept our head up and our eyes open for that "perfect" shop to call home. Well.... we found it! Many, many months, even years (as weve been searching somewhat even after moving out of our other building) of searching.... we found it last week.

So what does all this mean? Well... now that we found our building, we are having a lot of reservations. We are scared, concerned and excited all at the same time. I mean, in all reality... Is this going to work in this scary economy? People are closing doors, not opening them. This is the time where we just have to give it to the Lord, he'll direct us, there's no doubt about that. There are way to many "good" parts about this building though. The best part... we will be sharing it with someone I have been wanting my husband to work with for a very long time now, his uncle. It's just all to perfect, the building has a perfect separation of space and while his uncle already has a Custom shop, they go together like 2 peas in a pod, like a puzzle! You see, custom airbrushing with Fabrication/restoration... What is more perfect than that? I have been praying for something like this to happen for a long time now. We also have a lot of other ideas in the works and some really cool stuff we may be introducing to our line of work. The guys have talked about getting a shop together for a very long time, but I think they have just been scared and I really do not blame them. They have a great relationship and who wants to ruin something like that? Through time though, I think it's just a right move, a move that's been right all along, but never seen until now. God has his timing and I really feel that he has opened this door for all of us. We have all been searching for a long time now. For something to work. Now comes the part where we sacrifice.

These are our plans... To move out of our house, and stay in a 5th wheel right on the shop property! Okay, I know what some of you are thinking. LOL I too thought the same thing, but I am actually excited about it. The shop comes with some land, it's a really nice place and a perfect space behind it to place a 5th wheel and no one would see it. It's fully fenced in too. So our plan is to do this for 6-8mos, then find a house back in town. I do not think it'll be all that bad. As it is... we are going to be very busy, so the trailer will only be a place to lay our heads. We are still in negotiations with this building and the other party. Yes, we are taking baby steps and doing everything right this time. We are doing what's affordable and dissecting everything before we jump. I know in the long run, our sacraficing will pay off.

Wish us luck as I will be keeping everyone updated as we progress. 1st of April is the projected moving date for everything. It's going to come quick... but that may be a good thing. Not enough time for my emotions to catch up with me. LOL

Nitro Girl!!!

2010-02-11T13:31:00.000-08:00

Why on earth will my daughter ride a dirt bike, but my son wants nothing to do with it?!? This is the question I have been asking myself for two days now. Grrr Is my daughter going to be the ultimate "Tom Boy"? I am fearful about this. The other day Jocelyn went over to her little friends house down the street for a play date and the dad, AKA Tim called me up and asked me if it would be okay for her to ride on their "dirt bike". Thinking in my head and "knowing" (so I thought I knew) that there would be NO way on this earth that she would even consider getting on a dirty ol dirt bike. Let alone having to wear "boys" clothes to do it. LOL I mean after all.... My daughter is FULL on "girl". When I say GIRL... I mean full on make-up, having to have her hair perfect for school; the whole nine yards. Well, the pictures prove that she indeed got on this dirt bike and rode WITH riding gear on AND got crazy doing it! Her idea by the way. What the heck? Is she deserting the curls for a helmet now?
I asked her if she liked riding and she about went into convulsions answering the question, so I take it's a YES! She told me that she even wanted RED riding gear for when "daddy" buys her a bike! Hmmmmm okay! Not if I have anything do say about that. LOL It's nice to have diversity, but C'mon, I don't want to lose my little girl to a fricken DIRT BIKE! Some of you by now are probably cracking up, but I'm kinda taking this serious. My husband tells me that we can buy PINK riding gear for her, but she wants RED! Ohhh geeze! Well I guess as long as she wears makeup, has her hair curled under that helmet and has pretty nails that might be okay. Can we put heels on those boots too??? I just wish my son had her enthusiasm about riding, but he's got better things to do these days I suppose. ha!

Wordless Wednesday...

2010-02-10T09:23:00.001-08:00

Winterfest 2010!

2010-02-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

So this post is a little backwards. I added pics first then wrote my story... Well, you still get the concept anyhow. So enjoy~

The skiers with their torches. This was so pretty!

Me and my Honey.

Taking a break from Skiing, warming up by the fire

Cameron on Ski's, he did so awesome!

Me. LOL

Daddy and Jocelyn. Jocelyn getting off the lift for the first time.

Daddy Draging Jocelyn off the lift. LOLCameron on the lift!

Jocelyn on her skiis, she did great too!

The two loves of my life!

My Brother and I

My little cutie pie!

See that hut down there?!? That's the length of this slope! FUNNNN

My Honey again!

So this weekend was the most fabulous weekend I have had in a very long time. We were invited to this event a while ago, but never put much thought into it since it was the same weekend that Chyenne's cousin was getting married. A few weeks ago, surprisingly my husband approached me and asked me what I thought about going to the Winter Fest instead.... I was excited, especially since we NEVER miss any event when it comes to family, so we figured this one time wouldn't hurt.

We left on Saturday early morning, I just want to add.... this weekend wouldn't have been possible without the help of several good friends that helped us out. I have to say, we are very blessed to have such great people in our lives.

I had my alarm set for Saturday morning, 6am. I was like a kid in a candy store, up before the alarm went off and ready to rock! Almost like black friday. LOL

The kids jumped out of bed, and I had clothes set out, bags packed, food ready, so all we needed to do was jump in the SUV and we were off.

We got to Hoodoo ski area at around 10am. We were so pumped that the kids could hardly stand it. We found our parking place, before we could even get parked, the kids were trying to jump out of the vehicle. haha.

We first started off in the Autobahn area which is a HUGE tubing area and the slopes are huge and go forever it seems like. We spent a few hours doing this and the kids had no fear of coarse, my daughter was going down like it was nothing, while mom and dad were losing their lunch halfway down the hill. haha

After our fun time with the tubes, it was time to do some skiing. I grew up on skis and some of my fondest memories were water and snow skiing with my family. My brother and I got pretty good and started skiing with some of the instructors on a regular basis, we were there so much they all knew us by name. So back to my story. We all got our ski's on and off to the lifts we went. The bunny hill no longer had a rope tow, as it was replaced with chair lifts. As a parent, I was a little apprehensive, I mean really.... my kid could actually fall to his death while riding this thing. A little scary for a parent.

After several times riding the chair lift, we decided to let Cameron ride with his little friend he brought along, Varney. Varney is only 6 years old, but this kid can ski! Doesn't help that his dad is a pretty avid skier himself. I literally sat down with him for like 10mins and went through all the do's and don'ts on a ski lift and warned him about what could happen if he wasn't careful. I have to say.... not a problem one and both the boys were awesome! This ski trip was the first for both of my kids. They did so good too! Jocelyn was ready to hang it up after 2 or 3 times going down the hill and crashing, but with lots of encouragement and time spent teaching her, she was the last one on the hill when it came time to quit. Funny how she works sometimes.

So our evening ended with big bon fires, fireworks, a nice little torch performance, face painting, dummy jumps and just lots of fun!

Chyenne's cousins, actually more like good friends, Troy and Martha provided us with many breaks in cost and surprised us with a nice room at Camp Sherman, we are so thankful for them and had a wonderful time. I think this will be a tradition for our family every year and maybe next year we can do the same for another family as Troy and Martha did for ours. Thank you also Tim and Tracy for their part in our adventure, and Aaron and Jennifer. We had a wonderful time and really brought my family closer together. I can't wait till next year.

6 already?!?

2010-02-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

So my baby girl turned 6 years old on Wednesday. It almost doesn't seem right. I remember quite clear sitting on Chyenne's lap like it was yesterday with a positive pregnancy test behind my back, I remember being excited and scared all at once. Planning a wedding, buying a house AND having a 2 year old, seemed a little much at the time, but from that very moment... She's been my pride and joy.

Happy Birthday my little Butterfly.... Mommy and Daddy love you more than you will ever know.

And they have HAIR....

2010-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, one of my friends gave me this fabulous project idea to make "dirt babies" with the kids. The kids were super excited, so we went to the store, got our supplies and created these little people. The kids named their babies and then the hardest part was waiting for them to grow hair. Well, after only about a week, we started to see the hair poking out and this is what we now have after 2 weeks. Cameron gave his baby a hair cut lastnight and this is AFTER his hair cut. LOL I am not sure what is going on with Jocelyn's dirt baby, but she's not growing hair as well, so we may need to make another one. We'll give it another week or so.

Open Gym at NAAG

2010-02-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night, I decided to take the kids to open gym at NAAG to have some fun! The kids were super excited and could hardly stand it. We had never been to open gym. Upon getting there I knew it was going to be a full house. The parking lot was FILLED and we couldn't even get into the door because there were so many KIDS. I was a little apprehensive going into this, only because I had 4 little people and the kids going into this open gym were BIG teenage people. Thankfully my husband came along to help, I would have never been able to do it without him. After being there for a little while It calmed down and surprisingly the bigger kids were very courteous and polite, that made the evening even more pleasant. Nothing is worse than having a young child and older kids in the same "play" area... Immediate panic sets in, but I had nothing to worry about that evening, everyone got along great!

Hey, I even got a few twists and flips in... On the trampoline that is. I hate showing off at the age of 30 something... LOL Yes, I used to be a top gymnast, but after 2 kids and some added weight... your body just doesn't do what it used to. I had fun, and I got to show my kids that hey.... I am not "old" and that I still CAN play with them. Even after walking like a penguin the next day. Actually, I wasn't hardly soar at all. My kids slept in till almost 11am the next morning, so I think my mission was accomplished. I think open gym is going to be a staple in our home.

Jocelyn tries Ballet....Again.

2010-01-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

With the already FAILED adventure of this venue, I was quite scared to bite this one off again, but with a different ballet school, why not?!? There are a million ballet schools here in the area, so I suppose with each fit, a new school eh?? Nahh, I am kidding. Jocelyn did very good today. We walked into the place and immediately we were greeted like we actually mattered. The lady behind the desk took my daughter's hand and led her to a place to put her shoes and gave her some loaner slippers to wear for the trial class we were seeking out.

I found my way to a little outlook cove, where I could sit and watch without her noticing me. Taking pictures through a glass window would be a little challenging, but turned out okay. She did so good and the teacher actually focused a little attention on her as she was new and a little lost at times. She was put into a class of her age this time. It was amazing the difference in attitude here.

I think we found the school, now we have to figure out if this is what she wants to do with her Gymnastics. I find myself running ragged between School, daycare kids and my own kids AND sports now, but when I became a parent, these very moments were the moments I couldn't wait for. She finally spotted me out towards the end of class. LOL

Jocelyn does Gymnastics...

2010-01-25T23:45:00.001-08:00

So today was an exciting day.... this was the day she got to go to Gymnastics. She has been wanting to do gymnastics for a while now, along with ballet and after last weeks episode at the ballet place, I was a little apprehensive, but she had a great class, with no bad attitude and no tantrums. I was a happy camper! Did we find her niche? Well if we did.... she only comes by it honestly, I mean after all.... Mommy was a Gymnast for 16 plus years. She took gymnastics when she was 3 for a 6 week period and then stopped, I could only imagine If I wouldn't have pulled her out, where she'd be today?!? Well, I can't go back... only forward and I don't feel she was ready until now for something to call her own. Being back in the gym gave me such a warm feeling, almost a feeling when you lose something and you find it after many years..... Well, that is the feeling I had tonight. Ahhhh it just felt good to be in a gym, a place I grew up in (not the same one) a smelly, sweaty gym... The very "distinct" smell that comes with the sport. Watching the team girls, things I used to do brought back soooo many great memories. It all goes by so quick, feels like yesterday I was in that leotard, chalked up hands, taped up shins, red hip bones from beating on the bar doing trick after trick while MY parents on the sidelines in big heavy coats nodding off as I practiced for hours on end every single day. Now, here I sit in a gym for only an hour, watching my daughter and somewhat reliving my parents "moments" all the while wondering just what it felt like to be a parent that sacrificed everything for their child.... Well this is the place, the environment that I can call home. I will not push my daughter into the sport for "my" sake, this is why I have her trying MANY different sports currently and will give her the option to pick one or two and stick with them. Part of me does hope she chooses Gymnastics and that's only because I can help her so much when it comes to coaching her on the side or helping her with certain moves or tricks, but whatever she decides... I will stand by her 150 percent, the whole way thru. My son wanted so badly to play in the foam pit after class, so we let him for a few mins. We may go back for open gym on Friday's to let them get their energy out. Enjoy the pics. Until next time..... Chow.

Having fun on the rings

Jocelyn having a great time

She looks so little up there.

Yep, she took the "purple" trampoline and LOVED bouncing

Cheese!

Practicing her Cartwheels

Handstands! Okay, need to work on keeping the legs together. LOL

Warm up time.

A day of fun on MLK day!

2010-01-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

The kids had a 4 day weekend with Martin Luther King day on Monday. Since I had no other kids than my own, I decided to get out of the house for a fun filled day! We took a vote and decided to go Ice Skating. The kids have been before and were very excited to go. We got to the rink and there were quite a few people there, but not so packed we couldn't skate, so that was good! Cameron has that athletic side to him, only being skating one other time, he got right out there on the Ice and within 20 minutes or so, he was a pro! Skating around like he was some BIG hockey player. LOL He had a great time!

Jocelyn wasn't as eager to get right out there on the ice. Holding my hand the whole time, as If I wasn't going to fall or something.... I think I was worse than her on skates, but hey.... I wasn't going to tell her that. We were on the ice for about 2 1/2 hours total and by the end of that time, Jocelyn was finally getting it down. Cameron did really good trying to teach her. The 3 of us had a great time and can't wait to go again.

After Ice Skating... we went to Walmart and got our craft supplies to make "Dirt Babies". This was super fun and we can NOT wait for their hair to grow in. Basically, we threw dirt into a few stockings with grass seed and put a face on. The kids named their babies, and they are so excited to take care of them and water them everyday.

The kid's finished "dirt babies" Stay tuned for updates on Hair growth. lol

Cameron's Pictures

2010-01-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

So Cameron wanted some pictures taken since I took some of Jocelyn, so since I love Photography, I was excited to go out and get a little creative. We found this tagged wall, and it was so perfect that I just had to experiment with it. Someone had brought it to my attention that the first picture below says: Marry Me. I did not see that at first until she pointed it out, but I love the picture and I could photo shop it, but heck.... I have decided to just leave it alone. It's cute. My son loves to pose and is such a natural at it, I hardly had to tell him what to do. I can NOT wait to get my dream camera as I have been using this Pentax SLR camera that has been given to me, and I really have a hard time with getting the look I want. The pictures just don't POP like I want them too! Hopefully real soon I will get that camera, then I will be on my way to obtaining that look. In the mean time... It certainly doesn't hurt to play around, after all.... I does give lots of pictures that my children will be able to look back on when they are older, even if they are silly or just plain dumb. LOL Enjoy~

The kids and their "old" babysitter that now lives in MA... She came to visit and the kids wanted a picture with her.

Taekwondo...

2010-01-17T07:31:00.000-08:00

Cameron has been doing excellent in Karate. He's been in the sport now for 2 years now and he's half way to black belt at 8 years old. In two weeks he gets to test for his blue instructor belt, this is a half way mark in belts. Here are some photos of him sparring. He won his first two matches, but then when he had to fight a black belt..... well you know who took the cake in that one. LOL I was very proud of him for not getting discouraged though. He got right in there and did his best. We have a tournament coming up in Portland in February, but we haven't decided if we are going to go to that one or not.

Jocelyn's mini Photo shoot!

2010-01-13T16:03:00.001-08:00

So the other day we decided to capture some "winter" photos just for fun. We had lots of fun and she LOVED posing for the camera. This makes it very easy to get those perfect photos. ;)

The things that make a mother's heart melt....

2010-01-13T14:02:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, Cameron had a "skate night" with the church and all of his school friends. Let me explain... Out here in the "Mohawk" Valley, where we live is a great little Elementary school and local Church across the street. Every Wednesday, after school, the kids are transported to the Church for "Kids Club" from 3-4:30pm. I love it, because that's just more time that my son is in the word and in God's house.

So last night was their annual skate party at "Skate World". I had planned on going to chaperon and take Jocelyn along so she, too could join the festivities, but she woke up with croup and a fever that morning. I dropped Cameron off at the Church, It was set up for him to ride with Pastor and Marian. I gave him 5 dollars to get a slice of pizza and a drink while there at the skating rink. I was a little sad that I couldn't go along, but I didn't feel it was fair to have my daughter sit and watch everyone having fun, not to mention having her out and about when she didn't feel good wasn't right in my heart. I know when I don't feel good, the last place on earth I want to be is anywhere other than my own bed!

So Cameron finally arrived home around 9:00pm. He was so excited to tell me about his evening and even more excited about what he had for me behind his back. After telling me that he did NOT eat anything and only bought 2 snow cones, after he lost his 1st one. LOL, I was a little frustrated because now it's 9pm and I have to find something in the kitchen to feed him before bedtime.

"Mommy" close your eyes (he said) so I closed my eyes as I held out my hand. I felt something slip on my finger and as I opened my eyes, I looked down and seen this BEAUTIFUL ring he had slipped on my hand. Taken back, I looked at him as he had tears rolling out of his eyes, he told me that he spent all of his money trying to win me that ring, as he apologised to me for not eating. I wanted that moment to last forever. A 25 cent ring, he probably spent a few dollars on just made me that happiest "mommy" in the world! The fact that my 8 year old son, thought of his "mommy" while out with his friends made me lay in bed later that night and SOB!

These are the moments that I will forever Cherish, the reason why MY children are so special and I only hope that this very moment will carry on to that "woman" he marry's someday. (not that I want to think about that right now. lol) These small things are so BIG to a "Mothers" heart. This little .25 cent item just as well may have been winning the lottery, because I felt like I had when I looked into his precious eyes at that very moment. Man, I sure do love him! If only he knew just how much his mommy loves him. Thank you Lord for giving me such beautiful, kind hearted children and thank you for allowing me to experience these special moments that I will never forget!

So Frustrated....

2010-01-11T22:55:00.000-08:00

So today was one of those very busy Mondays. It was a juggling act to try and get everything in my planner complete and crossed off. One very big, exciting event on my list was Jocelyn's very first ballet session. This of coarse was one of the least important, but the most important if you know what I mean. She has been begging and pleading with me to sign her up for "ballerina" classes as she would call it for at least 2 years now. Always dancing, singing and dressing up in tutu's. I know ballet can be pretty spendy, as with any sport, but I wanted to make sure she was old enough to focus and actually learn the skills that are taught in each class.

Before going into this afternoon class, I sat down with her and asked if she was sure she wanted to do this, and her response was a big YESSSSS ending in big squeezes. So, as a mom..... not a question in my head, she was ready!

We arrived to TaDa Productions located in downtown Eugene, Oregon. Right in the heart of town, and going into the studio was a bit intimidating as you walk into a big lobby filled with MOM'S! So if you can only imagine, everyone staring right at you..... Yep, we were the newbies. The dance studio part was separated off by walls and glass, I walked Jocelyn into the studio, took off her shoes and off she went with excitement.

I couldn't just sit down and wait like the other moms, I had to watch. I was just as excited to see her face and reactions than anything. Camera in hand to capture those special moments. This class was a lyrical ballet class, so it consisted of more than just ballet. She was doing so good! No coordination really, after all it was her very first time EVER! This was a class of 8-10 year olds, and she's 5, well technically 6 in two weeks. Her cute little but shaking and her little feet tip toeing across the floor, I was a proud momma.

Half hour into the class, the teacher called for a drink break. I had thought nothing of it, after all no one told me anything different. Jocelyn approached me asking me for something to drink. Looking at her then looking around the lobby for a drinking fountain, I came up empty handed. With soda machines right in front of us, she continued to point right at those. I only had big bills with no one having any change, so we were just out of luck.

Her face flushed and a little sweaty around the hairline, I felt terribly bad as a mommy who couldn't provide for her child. But with only 1/2 hour left of the class I promised her to stop by 7-11 to get her favorite drink.... a Slurpee! With every bribery on the planet, nothing was working. Her frustration and sadness grew along with her whimpering. Pretty soon all the "catty" moms in the room focused their attention RIGHT on us. Feeling the tension and embarrassment, I just wanted to hide.

Giving her more than one, two and three chances to get back into the dance room, she refused to do anything else, but stand there and cry VERY loud. So as a mom, and as hard as it was I decided to remove her kicking and screaming the whole way home. Having mixed emotions about the whole situation, I felt I made the right choice.

After coming home, I sent her to her room so I could cool down, and so could she. Having to hear her scream all the way home, I just needed some time to re-group. After she calmed down, I went into her room to see her face all splotchy, I immediately wanted to grab her and hug her tightly, but I knew that my reaction was important and that I couldn't show her my weakness. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, I explained to her what she had done wrong and why she was removed. It all ended with a big "sorry" and a hug and lots of crocodile tears.

We are going to try it next week, with her own water bottle in hand ONLY if she can earn it. She has a full week to show mom AND dad that she really means business. Chores without whining, no talking back or bad attitudes and over all good behavior. If she can do these simple tasks, then she gets one more time to try it out.

So...... who ever said parenting was an easy task? Having a strong willed child is NO easy task either. Many of us would say.... we've been in these exact situations. I just hope there aren't to many more.... LOL

Ohhh and yes, NO pictures! Maybe next time! ;)

Feeling a little lost these days....

2010-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

With this terrible Economy comes a lot of frustration, anxiety, heartache and STRESS! Knowing that "I" am not alone is a tiny bit comforting, but even more scary at times. When is this world going to change for the better? I am sure that question is on a lot of Americans minds. My husband and I own an Auto Body shop business, and even though we are holding our own, it's still very scary! Anything at any given time could happen and we would literally lose everything we own.

How does one secure their prized possessions? We are told the credit crisis is over and recovery is on it's way. Do you really believe that? Right now, as of today... it is projected that another, YES another 300 companies will default on debt in 2011! That's a default rate of 14 percent! That's up from 2007! That does NOT sound like recovery to me!?! Any debates here? Now, for us, we are up against the odds here! Talk about SCARY!

Where do we go from here? Keep truckin away, with no protected assets, living day by day with HOPES of paying our bills tomorrow? I have hopes and dreams too! My dream is to do something with photography... something of my own. I can not justify deeming MORE debt to our already overloaded laps. I know first hand what it takes to start a business, and believe you me... it isn't easy!

I don't think I have been more lost at any other given time. I know it's this economy, and we have all been given empty promises for a brighter future. Is there really light at the end of the tunnel? Predictions on the bad economic times go on for a few years yet. How in the world are people going to survive until then?

So these are my concerns in a nut shell. It may not make a lot of sense, it may make all the sense in the world. I think as people, these are the times we really need to pull together to make things happen. If we do this... we will be remembered not for the brilliance of our decisions but for the compassion with which we make them. Great thought eh? These may be the years, we have to just get creative. I love this quote: "Tough times never last, but tough people do". It's very easy to get wrapped up in the everyday "worldly" stresses, but if we were to put all of our problems in a pile, I guarantee we'd pull ours back out.

Keeping positive is the key to overcoming our barriers. ;)

Wordless Wednesday...

2010-01-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

Having the time of her life.....My heart melts everytime I see these pictures.

Make your own Blog Book?!?

2010-01-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

Okay... I have to say that this is the coolest thing EVER! One of my really good friends, Cendy, told me about this option lastnight while on the phone. I have been blogging for about 2 years or more and always wondered just where "blogger" would be 30 years from now. I love to blog and even though I love when people read and comment on my blog... I more less do it to have something to look back on, something I can show my kids, years from now. Kind of like my own personal diary with pictures. ;)

Now, I am not sure how many different companies do this sort of thing, as I am waiting on an address from my friend, but this one I found is a little spendy. But... for 2 years worth of blog, put into a nice book for 60 dollars is still a pretty good price. In my thoughts.... You can't put a price on your life and giving something for your children to look back on 30 years from now, is pretty darn cool.

So, with this new found infomation.... I think my blogging has moved up several notches. I am very excited now! LOL

Here is a link that I found, so check it out. If you don't blog now... you may want to start! Give your family something to look back on.

http://blogger.sharedbook.com/pilot/framesetHome.do

Roller Skating!

2010-01-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

Lastnight we went roller skating and got some pretty cute pictures! Of coarse I always snap a million pictures so here are a few to share. Enjoy!

Miss Camera Ham! She was so cute in skates! And did such a great job this time!

Awee daddy and daughter roller skating to "Journey" it was so sweet!

Yep... they got me out there too! Man I woke up soar the next day. lol

Cameron showing his skills. lol

Cameron and Varney. Good friends for life.

Our lazy Sunday...

2010-01-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

So this morning I awoke to Cinamon rolls and Coffee in bed. How do I rate?!? My hubby snuck out of bed, went to the store and came home and started to bake! Moments like this just reminds me how thankful I am to have someone that loving and caring in my life. It also showed me that he CAN boil water without burning it afterall! ha! So honey?!? You can't play the stupid game anymore!

Tomorrow is back to school, and I am not looking forward to it, I never like when my kids leave the house. I think that may be why we just do not let our kids go anywhere overnight or play at another friends house.... Some moms may think I am a little crazy, but I'd much rather have kids at our home then to have our kids somewhere else. We are a bit paranoid I know!

Today I spent the day picking up the house, doing laundry (never ending battle) and relaxing with the kids. I wanted to plan one last activity before school is back in session and the life gets crazy again, so we are going roller skating this evening at the local skating rink. The kids are VERY excited! Even daddy is going, and that makes for even MORE excitement! Wish me luck, I hope we come back with all limbs in tact. lol

Juicing.... Nothing I had ever expected!

2010-01-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

So I got this really nice juicer for Christmas from my dad and after a week of using the thing, I decided to go a step further and google some information about the benefits of "juicing". This is what I found.....

Carrot juice is one of my favorite juices, and one of the most beneficial! It's ohh so good! And the benefits are even better! Read on....

Carrot is one of the most healing foods that provides the finest and highest quality in nutrients, especially from its juice. It is an excellent source of pro-vitamin A, vitamins C, D, E, K, B1 and B6.
It is rich with biotin, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, organic sodium and some trace minerals.

The known phytonutrients in carrots are lutein, lycopene, anti-oxidants alpha, beta and gamma carotenes, zeaxanthin and xanthophyll. You don't need to remember these fancy names, but just remember that phytonutrients are nature's marvelous provision for healing of various diseases.

Health Benefits
Carotenes, the famous ingredient in carrots, is an anti-oxidant that has powerful healing virtues for many diseases. Drinking a glass of carrot juice daily will do much more for you than many bottles of supplement tablets. Here are some disorders that can be helped by drinking carrot juice regularly:

Acidosis: The vital organic alkaline elements in carrots help balance the blood acidity and blood sugar.
Acne: Its powerful cleansing properties are effective in detoxifying the liver, thus overall effective for acne which are caused by toxicity of the blood.
Anemia: Carrot's molecules are closest to human's hemoglobin molecules, making it very beneficial in blood-building.
Atherosclerosis: The highly cleansing power of this miracle juice scrubs away even the old build-up of arterial deposits, reducing the risks of heart diseases and stroke.
Asthma: The anti-oxidants effectively protects the respiratory system from infections and free-radical attacks.
Cancer: Studies show that adding one carrot per day in our diet significantly reduces cancer risks.
Cholesterol: Pectin in carrots lowers the serum cholesterol levels.
Congestion: Carrot juice is very effective in dispelling mucus from the ear, nose and throat area, easing nasal congestion, sinusitis, phlegm and mucus in the throat and other similar disorders.
Constipation: Take five parts of carrot juice with one part of spinach juice regularly to regulate chronic constipation problems.
Emphysema: If you smoke or are exposed to second-hand smoke, taking carrot juice regularly may well save your life.
Eyes: Beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin are some of the finest nourishment that help keep the optic system in tip-top condition, with special protection against astigmatism, macular degeneration and cataracts.
Fertility: One of the reasons for infertility is lack of nutrients and enzymes in your dietary. Carrot juice taken regularly, is able to nourish your body back to fertility.
Inflammations: Its anti-inflammatory effect greatly helps reduce arthritis, rheumatism, gout and other inflammations.
Immune systems: It does wonders for boosting the immune system by increasing the production and performance of white blood cells; building resistant to various kinds of infections.
Nursing mothers: Carrot juice helps enhance the quality and quantity of a mother's breast milk.
Pregnancy: Drinking carrot juice regularly during pregnancy, especially during the last few months, will reduce the chances of jaundice in baby. No, you won't get an orange baby!
Skin problems: The high quality vitamin C and other rich nutrients in carrot juice efficiently nourish the skin, preventing dry skin, psoriasis and other skin blemishes.
Thread worms: One small cup of carrot juice in the morning taken daily for a week can help clear up thread worms in children.
Ulcers: The abundance of nutrient present in carrots help nourish cells that have been starved of nutrients which result in ulcers.
Water retention: Carrot juice is diuretic and helps to eliminate excess fluids from the body, reducing water retention, especially for women during their monthly menstruation cycle and in pregnant women.

Now if that's not enough health benefit to start drinking 4oz of carrot juice a day.... If this interests you, look up the benefits of Celery juice too! I mix mine together for a nice healthy drink and take my vitamins with it too! I am pretty excited about this new adventure I am about to take on. I am going to get into shape this year before summer. I am DETERMINED! Wish me luck!

New Years 2009!

2009-12-31T14:19:00.000-08:00

WOW.... what a year it has been! Lots of trial and error.... Happy and sad times... blessed moments and moments I thought my world was just going to end. Living to see 2010 is somewhat of a relief and a new, fresh start.

This year, we have decided to stay home and make it a "family" night. Fun with board games and hot cocoa! What more can a mom want?!? I love that my heart has changed through the years and that I can say I am the mom that looks forward to spending time with my kids, not apart from them.

Now for my resolutions. This year I have made up a list. Last year, I did not and I somewhat regret that. I love a challenge, I mean after all.... who really keeps their resolutions??? Well, I am wide open to lots of CHANGE!

So this year here they are (NOT in order)

1. Eat healthier. My goal is to lose weight and feel better.

2. Get ORGANIZED!

3. Spend more time with friends. At least a girls night 1x a month. And no I am not talking girls night out to the bars.... I am talking, devotion time or a nice dinner and movie with those inspirational motivators. ;)

4. Make it a date night with the hubby! We NEVER go out and it's going to start!

5. Move forward with my goal of having my own business. Even if it means doing a little homework to get me a bit closer.

6. Be more helpful out in public. The other day I took a lady's shopping cart for her (she was an older lady) because It was just pouring down rain, and I was just on my way home, so I didn't mind getting wet.... she was so thankful and doing something so simple, made me feel so good!

7. Run.... I want to start running. We shall see where this takes me. ;)

8. Travel! My goal is to go somewhere at least 1 weekend out of the month. Even if it's to pack up the car and go wherever we end up. Sometimes it's fun not to plan at all. ;) I LOVE adventures!

9. Keep up with my schooling. I am doing a great job so far. A's all the way! I would LOVE to make the honor roll, if I keep up with straight A's, I just may. My goal is just to have A's though. More than that would just be more of a blessing.

10. Get more into the word! I loved finding my faith and sometimes we get so tied up with our daily routines that we push "Church" to the side. My goal is to be more involved this year. ;)

So there is my list! It seems like a lot, but I feel I can take it on! I LOVE challenges. I am known for biting off more than I can chew, but If I put my heart and soul into it.... it should be a piece of cake right?!? LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful and SAFE New Year this year and see you all next year! Sounds crazy to say that!

Toodles!

WORDLESS Wednesday! I.E. The sign (fruit Loop)explains all! LOL

2009-12-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas time again?!?

2009-12-29T09:12:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time again. I can't believe it! Another year come and gone already! Four years ago, I was saved and baptized. It's so amazing how different you look at Christmas once this takes place.

Before I came to know the Lord, Christmas was simply a time of tinsel, pretty lights, presents that you couldn't afford. What a difference ONE prayer can make!

Being saved from our sins.... Does it make us more righteous when celebrating the holidays? I know I am more "enlightened" than I ever used to be. There is a unique spirit of peace. Kind of like soft fallen snow. For the short time, people feel something "different." Strangers helping strangers, people in a rush, but find time to stop to help someone out, picking a name tag off the beautiful tree inside the mall to buy a nice gift for a child in need. It's such a nice time of year, but ends so quickly along with the spirit. I remember when my heart was in a different place on the holidays. Since I have become a Christian, I love to celebrate more than just the gifts. Teaching my children the fundamentals of Christianity and just what this special day endures is very special too.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

I was given many blessings throughout the holidays this year. The health of my family, once broken friendships, now reunited, the ability to thank the Lord what he has done in my life and just to be so thankful for time with my family this year was more than enough for me.

This year, we taught our Children the gift of giving. It was an honor to see the hearts of our children so soft and meaningful. This was a moment I will forever cherrish as a mother. Cameron, our oldest received a handmade gift from his sister. This was so sweet, it brought all of us to tears. The first thing he did was hang it over his bed. This moment showed me all the hard work as a parent is starting to pay off. I am so blessed.

We had such a great time celebrating CHRISTmas with our children, that I am already looking forward to next year and what I can bring "new" to the table. God bless, and I hope everyone else was just as blessed this season.

The Nutcracker!

2009-12-24T10:34:00.001-08:00

Ever since I found out almost 6 (very short) years ago I was having a girl, my dream of taking my daughter to her first ballet was finally happening. I decided this year that she was old enough to sit through a long performance. Once the decision was made, the journey began. First... Tickets! First experience for both of us, I did NOT want nose bleeders! First row? Affordable? Searching online, looking at the theatre seating chart and pricing I just HAD to get the best! I knew going into this, it was easily a 200 dollar plus night. At this point... I didn't care. This evening was about my princess and I would go to any extent to give her the most memorable evening that she could remember for life. So my journey continued....

After many phone calls and research, I purchased 3 tickets for 48 dollars a piece. OUCH! Yes, I said just what you were thinking, and the 3rd ticket was for a good friend of mine birthday gift, not bad for a 30 year friendship birthday gift (did I just say 30 year friendship? I feel OLD now!) However, when I got to the box office, I just happened to ask if there were any kind of discounts for students. To my surprise, there was! Wow, I thought. Thinking maybe a few dollars off my total?!? Nope, I paid 10 dollars total for my ticket! I could not believe it! Just for opening my mouth, I saved 38 dollars! The crappy thing was, was that I paid 48 dollars for my daughter's ticket and she sat on my lap the whole time! Argg. Oh well, MUCH worth it.

So the tickets were bought..... now onto our wardrobe! I took Jocelyn (my daughter) out shopping about a week before our big night, thinking it was going to turn into an all day shopping extravaganza, to my dismay, she found her dress on the first stop we made! I fell in love with the dress as well. So after the dress came shoes and jewelry, with the exception of her silver butterfly necklace in which I surprised her with right before walking out the door. That little gift brought my husband and I to tears as "daddy" did the honors of putting it on for her. (I always call her my little butterfly, so it was perfect!) So her attire was set, and so was mine! She was so excited for this day to come, that I couldn't wait for the day to get here just so I didn't have to hear her ask every 5 mins when we were going to go!!

So, to wrap this special evening up.... the evening came and after spending countless hours it seemed like, in the bathroom getting all dolled up.... we were finally ready to start the evening! We met my good friend in town at the Olive Garden to kick off the evening with a yummy dinner (on me) then off to the Hult center where the Nutcracker was being performed! Lets just say, we all LOVED it and now my daughter talks about being a "beautiful ballerina" all the time! She has always wanted to dance, but more so even now! LOL So my evening got even MORE expensive with the promise to NOW sign her up for ballet! I can't wait!

After the show, I bought her a souvenir to remember this fun filled night. It ended with carrying her from the car to the house after falling asleep on the way home. It was so sweet to see my little girl exhausted from a night out with mommy. ;) Ahhh I just love being a mother! I love my children and I am so blessed to be able to share such memorable experiences with them. <3

Dirt Babies...

2009-12-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, one of my friends just posted on Facebook this awesome project for kids. I am going to be getting the supplies in the next few days to make these with the kids. I would have never thought of such a thing, but man what a great idea. For those of you interested... Here is the recipe. I will post our finished "babies". :D

What you will need

Knee high stockings (one each)

dirt

grass seed

glue gun

pipe cleaners/googly eyes/puff balls

jar, cup or glass of your choice

water

What to do

With the knee high stocking, drop in 1 TBS of grass seed (into the stocking) first. Take approximately 1 1/2 cups of dirt and gently shake it down into the stocking till it forms a ball then tie the end of the stocking shut.

Flip over and with the glue gun, glue on your face using your pipe cleaners, googly eyes and puff balls.

Take your glass/cup of choice, fill with water. Stick your dirt baby into the glass of water with the end of the stocking inside of the cup/glass and the baby slightly submerged in the H2O.

Keep your baby in a well lit area (window seal) AND water about every 1 or 2 days.

After a few days.... your baby will have hair!!! Have loads of fun giving him/her a special name to match their Mohawk, flat top or beautiful long hair. :)

and the most important part.... Have LOADS of fun!!!

Baby Jesus

2009-12-17T20:46:00.001-08:00

Cameron's performance was so cute! We arrived early so he could get with his group of kids and get his "shepard" outfit on. He was such a trooper! He opened the evening with greeting all of the parents and guests and did not slip up one time! This kid LOVES getting in front of a crowd of people, he definately does NOT take after me! Here are some pictures of the evening.

It's a Charlie Brown Chrismas...

2009-12-13T13:35:00.000-08:00

This past week has been filled with lots of projects for the annual Christmas performance at our Church. Two performances will take place. One of baby jesus, Cameron will be dressed as a Shepard and the other perfomance will be "It's a Charlie Brown Christmas".

I have been so busy with different crafts for the performance. My latest.... Christmas tree ornaments for all of the parents. These are so cool! Made out of canning lids, ribbon and green felt on the back. The front logo (Charlie Brown) was printed out off the computer and laminated. We put on the bottom corner of each the date for parents to remember. I think these will be a big hit. So far I think I have made about 40 in all! I still have some to do with only hours left. Yikes! And why am I on here? LOL

Cameron has his lines down perfectly. He has the opening act, Welcoming everyone to the performance and giving out introductions. I know he will do good. I will be standing by taking 100's of pictures as I always do. ;)

"Whatever you are doing, whether you speak or act, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col 3:17).

Lost for words...

2009-12-10T13:35:00.001-08:00

This morning I woke up not feeling so well, sitting by the fire so I could stay warm, my husband was ever so kind to help me get the kids off to school (an icky tummy bug I think). As I was sitting by the fire, staring into space at the bright red coals, headache, belly ache and all...a thought popped into my head about a person that used to be very important to me. Well not just her, but her family. I was thinking on how I could fix things, what I could do to maybe not necessarily to become her friend (although a friendship would be nice), but to find closure so I could just move on. Her and I used to be the best of friends, then a big fight broke out and a lot of hurtful things took place. It's been 4 years or more since all of this has happened. I know some of you might think I am a little ummm "crazy"? Well, I used to think of her as my sister. Not a day goes by that I don't kick myself for the things I did to her. You see... I am not that person today. I am a better person... I am a Christian who gave myself to Christ and I gave all of my sins to him.

My prayers got answered today.... as those thougths came into my head this morning.... the phone rang and after 4 plus years, it was her! Seriously?!? I couldn't believe it! Her first words were, Sheri.... Please don't hang up. My thoughts.... Please don't let my power go out! LOL We had the most pleasant talk and for the first time in that many years I felt a sense of relief! Finally I can relax. I am not a person who likes to have enemy's, I certainly deserved it though, however; with such a great friendship we used to have.... I was finding myself having a very hard time letting go without some sort of reasoning or ending.

Our kids are close to the same age, and I am very surprised that I had never ran into her face to face before up to now. I do have to say.... she is a very good mommy and I in a way really look up to her for the person she is. I know it can't be easy for anyone to swallow their pride and pick up the phone in fear of rejection. I know I possibly couldn't do it, but I am glad she was able to be that person. I just want to thank her for the great phone call and whatever God has in store for us, I will take. I feel like a million pounds of weight is gone. Thank you Cendy and thank you Lord for giving me a wonderful gift!

Long lost members of my family...

2009-12-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

My cousins (Don and Kelli)
The death of a family member can be the most trying time in a person’s life. A great deal of uncertainty and fear accompanies a loved one’s death, and coping with the exhausting grief of losing someone you love is overwhelming. At the very same time, you are called upon to make several important and difficult decisions, but sometimes with the bad comes good. I grew up not ever knowing my family. The social gatherings, the big holiday dinners or the summer reunions.... I never had. Always in the back of my mind and in my heart I wish I did.

My father has lost both of his brothers within 3 weeks of one another. I remember these guys when I was younger. I remember the fishing and camping trips, I remember certain moments vividly. Knowing you have the same blood as that other person, but not knowing them inside and out has given me a sense of emptiness at times. Times have come to pass and two of my family members are now with Christ, but like I said earlier.... with bad, comes good. You see, I have gotten to know part of my extended family. Through facebook and emails, I have found something I long ago lost. This is so exciting to me! As time passes, I hope this won't be something that will pass too. I hope to hold on to this tight and not ever let it go. Our life here on earth is so short and family has always been important to me. I am excited to see what the future brings to my growing family.

Holiday Cheer!

2009-12-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the kids and I were on our own as Chyenne was working all day long. There were many things going on in town and many things I had to do and not very much time to do it in. Always a stress around the holidays.

Getting ready to go into town, I knew of the Christmas parade, but I really didn't want to go because of the cold and lack of time on our hands. As we approached town, the sound of marching bands and fire trucks entered the ears of 2 young excited children in my back seat. How in the world can a mother say "no" to that? So as I gave in to the big saucer eyes and the smiles from ear to ear.... we found a parking spot and arrived right on time!

I didn't know it, but Jocelyn came very prepared. Upon climbing out of the car, so did her big huge "pink" bag! This was a bag for candy as she explained. We found the perfect spot to stand as the marching bands launched the holiday season! Antique fire trucks, horseback riders, Boy & Girl Scouts and lots of candy for the kids to enjoy. Looking at the excitement on their face was gratifying.

After a great time at the parade we kicked off our shopping spree with our main focus on "dad". Every year I encounter a secret told within seconds of pulling up to the house and walking in our front door. To my surprise, not a peep has been told. I think I may have trained them well this year. LOL

We finished off the day with bumper car and barrel rides in the mall. Even I got the opportunity to let my inner "kid" come out. ha! We had a great day, so did the kids. Both were quickly zonked out by the time we hit the road to come home. ;) Job well done for me.

December Bliss~

2009-12-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

We all have such busy lives and the whole point of this blog is for me to update! Now... what good is a blog when I do NOT do such a thing? Ha! Sometimes we get so carried away with our obligations in life that we forget about the little things that mean so much. We have been extremely blessed with amazing friends, family and children in our life. Everyday is a learning experience when it comes to parenting. Just recently (a few days ago) we went to the Christmas tree farm with great friends to pick out our tree, which was so much fun! On the way to the farm, Jocelyn says.... "mom, how does God grow Christmas trees?" Now... how does a parent answer that question? You and I know that with each answer we give, it will follow with yet another question. LOL I just love living through our children's eyes and mind. My answer.... "sis, God created this earth and he grew lots of beautiful things for us to enjoy"! Good answer? It was satisfying to her, until she brought "Santa" into the mix. haha!

We had a great time picking out that PERFECT Christmas tree! We walked around for ohhh about 1/2 hour or more checking out each tree very carefully. Any flaws.... the kids noticed and didn't want it. After a while we came to this lonely ol tree and we all knew.... It belonged to us! Daddy chopped it down and hauled it to the truck. I love making memories with our little family. Pictures makes it fun to look back on and we did just that. Snapped lots of them. ;) After the first of the year, I have decided I am going to start photo books for the kids. I used to be into scrap booking, but with the little time I have these days, photo books will be just as sufficient. Besides, being into Photography, they will have some great photos to look back on!

House is Decorated (Christmas) and it seems like every year, I acquire more and more decorations. How do I do that?!? I surely don't remember buying.... LOL or maybe Its just my instinct and I just don't remember, but the husband does a great job reminding me every year I go to pull out the boxes. I love it though, and deep down inside.... so does he! ;)

Thanksgiving was good, we stayed home and I made a big dinner for friends and had some family over for desert. We had a great time just relaxing this year. I recommend it for others. ;) The holiday I look forward to the most though.... well, I am not sure if it's considered a "holiday", but I sure consider it! BLACK FRIDAY!! I am a Black Friday Junky! I live for this ONE shopping day I get to spend with girls shopping till we drop! This year, I found lots of great deals, and couldn't hardly stand it. Woke up at 3am (without the alarm clock mind you) and was out shopping at 3:30am! Now.... how can I do this when I am not a morning person?!? Very easy and I just can't explain it. LOL I bet my husband can though. :)

I suppose I should end here, as I start writing Its hard to stop. I get writers block; therefore, I find it hard to update, but I need to start. Holiday Blessings to everyone who reads my blog and until next time..... Chow~

Fall thoughts~

2009-11-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

So many thoughts run thru my head daily and why, every time I sit down to write I go blank? Writers block is what you would call it. Hmmm maybe I am not meant to be a writer. Well, that's okay because I am not an inspiring writer, so don't grade me on my writing. ha! So far we have all stayed healthy. Yep, no H1N1 in this house! Did you know that 1 in 5 kids have that darn flu virus right now? How in the world have we become so lucky? Could it be all the vitamins were pushing into our kids and us? I know it's only a matter of time before we get hit, and for some odd reason I am very afraid. This would be the time to say a little prayer I suppose.

I start my next class tomorrow. Computer Literacy. I am pretty excited about it. I get to learn my new Adobe CS4 and Light room. I have been working with my CS3 before upgrade to CS4 for about a year or more now. I can't say I'm a pro, but I know more than the average person I have to think. I am hoping that by the end of 6 weeks (when my class is finished) I will know 3 times what I know now! That will be exciting.

Onto the funny stuff. Kids are so goofy and I yet to wonder just where they come up with some of the things that come out of their mouth. The other day I was taking a bath, soaking my poor neck (yes, I have major neck issues, but we will get into that on another day) so anyhow, my son comes in as I am washing my hair (with the jets on. Yeah... that's real smart) and asks me if we can read books together when I get out of the tub. My son LOVES school and so this came to no surprise. The child is always reading or doing some kind of extra homework. Anyway, I told him "of coarse son". I noticed his eyes weren't exactly focused on my eyes, I knew what he was looking at... but do I say something? Yes, I do! I asked my son... "Cameron? What are you looking at"? Well, after asking that question he looked in my eyes finally and said "Nothing mom". Well as a parent I didn't want to "assume" anything, so I let it go. As he was standing there, I caught him looking at my chest again. AND again I asked him... Cameron what are you looking at? Finally coming to truth he said, MOM (as he is pointing his finger at me) those right there.... are nice! Okay... How in the world does a parent react to that? Anyone? Please? LOL

Well, as you can all guess. We both got embarrassed and I asked him very kindly to let mommy finish up in the bathroom by herself. I would have never thought this day would come where my son is no longer invited into the bathroom with me while bathing or showering (to keep me company) It makes me sad actually, but what are the boundaries? After all "mommy's" are different than all the others right? Do son's look at us in that way? lol Gosh I hope not! I hope he isn't thinking like that at 8 years old. I mean... after all I keep my kids pretty sheltered.

2009-10-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since update, and quite honestly... I really struggle with what to write about each week. I do have a lot going on in my life, but why would I want to bore you with that? Here I am, and I will try to keep up on my weekly posts, but it's NOT a promise.

So far, we have had a pretty good fall. This is my favorite time of the year, I sometimes wish "fall" was the only season we had.... I am kind of strange when it comes to seasons, but I LOVE the beautiful, vibrant colors on the trees, the crisp, cool mornings and the fact that I don't have to go out and water my lawn. LOL

It's getting close to Halloween time again and the kids are getting more anxious than ever. We made carmel apples lastnight for an after dinner snack and I think doing so, kicked me into high gear to bake. Getting into the holiday mood is a bit hard for me, but once I am in it..... Look out!

So the kids and I have made plans this week to bake some breads, cookies and some other goodies. It's great to have the kids in the kitchen learning how to bake and just having those created memories will be fun to look back on.

So other than the "carmel" apples, we have been very busy! The shop is keeping pretty steady for the most part, this week especially we have been slammed for some reason, but hey.... I will not complain! The kids are loving school this year. Cameron has always loved school, he could not wait for summer to be over TO go back, and Jocelyn is doing pretty well too.

Cameron is still in Karate, doing very well. He is a blue belt now... half way to black! The coach is very excited to have Cameron in his class and says that he has "many" plans for all that talent!

Jocelyn will be going into dance. She was in the Thurston dance clinic this past Saturday and she did so awesome! She certainly does NOT have stage freight and I will be calling around to sign her up for dance and singing classes as that is what she does CONTANTLY all over the house. So I think it's time!

My Photography is kicking off to a great start. I am very happy with what I have done so far and only hope to live out my life long dream of owning my own business. Only God can make that decision, not I. So I will keep up with my schooling, which by the way is going GREAT!

In a nut shell.... this is what we have been upto. Keeping healthy (trying, so far so good) and working hard not to let this economy get us down.

Our deepest fears.....

2009-10-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves -- Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people do not feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone.And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

8 Years Old?!? When did this happen?

2009-10-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

My 8year old birthday boy! When did this ever take place? Just yesterday I was awaiting his arrival as I lay in the hospital bed meeting with the O.R. docs to prepare me for my C-Section. I remember that day all to well, like it was yesterday. Kind of sad I have to say. Looking back on baby books and pictures gets me choked up everytime. I know I am a cry baby.

He had a sleep over this year, I am thinking it may have been the last too. 10 kids in all and it was very stressful I have to say, but as I look back on it... That day was a memorable day for him, it was about him and not us. Creating memories that last a life time, something he can look back on or maybe even rememeber. He has finally getting to that age where certain things he WILL remember as he emerges into adult hood. Okay, my brain can not comprehend that so lets not go there quite just yet.

First Day of School

2009-09-09T11:36:00.001-07:00

Well, here we are again. Another year gone by and another summer gone. :( We had such a great summer this year, it's hard to say goodbye and hello to another year of school. I guess it's just another reminder of my kids growing up.

Cameron started 2nd grade this year and Jocelyn Kindergarten and boy it was rough for mom. It was hard to let her go knowing that the first day of Kindergarten would never ever be experienced again. A new beginning, watching my daughter learn a new routine, meet new friends and learn is a bitter sweet feeling. They were both so excited to start school this morning. They each layed out their new outfits the night prior and went off to sleep. Bright and early both popped out of bed like they had springs in their feet. It was to my amazement. Ha!

Jocelyn's Kindergarten class consists of 5 kids. 4Girls and 1boy. Do I feel sorry for that little boy. LOL I just love their school, it almost feels like a private school and the teachers are awesome! Cameron walked into his 2nd grade class this morning like it was nothing. All summer long, before the summer began, he was begging to go back to school. That boy loves school! I am so blessed, I just hope it stays that way. ;) And of coarse.... mom left quite sad out of the building, the days are behind me when the kids and I could pack up for the day and do our own thing, now they are in school and I am all alone with 4 hours to myself. I am quite sure I will find something to do within no time.

So I end with some cute pictures I took and now that the year has started, I will be updating frequently. Thanks for reading!

Cam and Jocelyn on the first day of school! Jocelyn all excited to get to school! All dolled up!

Cameron going into 2nd grade.

They are so grown up! :(

On our way to school! They are just so cute!

Jocelyn hanging up her coat and backpack!

At her table

Are you going to leave yet mom?!? LOL Yes, that's what she said too!

Awee my beautiful little princess.

Coloring

Class has begun! K and 1st combined

Caught in mid action.

Home from school! She had a GREAT time!

Summer update!

2009-08-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

My cute baby girl! Growing up so fast :(

The kids in the fort they made out on our back 40. LOL having lunch with good friends.

The front view of their fort! LOL So cute!

My sexy husband down on the river at his dads house.

Cam showing off in front of the family. Showing his skills. LOL

Like father like son! Has to be the life of the party. LOL

Mommy and her babies! So proud.

My little man! Blue mohawk and all. LOL

Josie and her friend little T. CUTE!

Driving the boat out on the lake!

What a cute daddy daughter pic.

At Grandpas on the Siuslaw floating the river. This pic cracks me up!

At Chyenne's dads house having a BBQ with friends and Family.

Jocelyn waiting to go snorkling! LOL

Best friends for life!

NY Giant Tight End! WOW he's tall!

The hubby is star struck I think! LOL

Hope you enjoyed the random pictures we have done thru the month of July/August.

We have been so busy. So sorry everyone for the "lack" of updates latley. With the summer slowly coming to an end, we will slowly as well get back on schedule.

The month of August seems to be the most crazy for us. This week Cameron will be in camp, the following week both kids will be at the grandparents in Hood River! Yeahh. WOW, a week without kids! What will a parent do?!?We also have a camping trip planned and school shopping. Then back to school! I am so sad. Cameron will be approaching the 2nd grade and Jocelyn into Kindergarten. My children are growning up so quickly.

Updating a little on the adults. LOL I have been in school now for about 3 months. It's going very well. For those of you that didn't know that, I will be getting my Bachelor's degree in business with a minor in accounting. We still are going strong with our shop, we have been blessed with a very steady work load. So with this degree program, I keep pretty busy. When the kids start school my plan of action will be to take those 3 hours while they are in school to study and get my schooling out of the way so It does not take away from "family" time. Summer has been difficult because of this. So investing in some modern technology for "on the go" has been a MUST!

Updates

2009-07-12T15:10:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the quality of the video, Im not sure what happened. I think I just need to go purchase another camera and a seperate video recorder. :(

It's been quite a while since update. We have been pretty busy so far in our summer break. Cameron goes off to camp this coming week, Jocelyn and I are going to have some special one on one mommy and daughter time. Being busy with the shop and life in general, it will be much needed.

I have started school in the past few months. Currently in my second class (Economics) It's pretty tough, only because I do not consider myself a political person, however maybe once this class is over. Ha!

We haven't been on any big trips yet this year. I was suppose to leave for NYC July 7th but, my girlfriend's husband got pretty sick, so she had to cancel. I was looking forward to the trip, but in all honesty.... I am kind of glad it happened this way. I have put aside my money for NY for a planned trip next summer to Atlantis. We are looking into our plane tickets as we speak. That will be lots of fun and the kids are very excited.

Cameron just lastweek passed another test in Tae Kwondo class, as he goes up the level of belts, the tests get harder. He is now a blue belt. Almost to the half way mark to Black belt. We are very excited to see him excel and he is such a great little Martial Artist.

So as I sit here typing away, I realize I have a paper due tomorrow, so while my children are watching an educational movie about whales, I better get on the stick and write my paper while I can.

Function 4 Junction.

2009-06-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

This year we got a million calls asking if we were going to attend this event. We had plans to go down with just our kids and enjoy the cruise. With everyone contacting us, we decided to make it a group event. Potluck?!? heck... why not! We didn't go to the show and shine, but got down to line the streets plenty early. It was so miserable with the heat, we decided that we better get to the store and buy a tarp or something to keep us cool and shaded. If this wasn't comical... Here 4 guys are putting up this tarp. Stringing it with rope to a power pole, an suv, side of a building.... It was pretty funny and made for great entertainment with the crowd on the other side of the road.
Upon completion of our tarp adventure.... we broke out the portable bbq, some chairs and food. We cooked up hotdogs, hamburgers and the whole nine yards. Im sure the people beside us and across from us were drooling with hunger. Heck, we could have made money with our food platters. Something to consider for next year eh?!?
We had so many people in our group and people spotting us down there, I think everyone decided to hang out at our spot. Cameron had a blast cruising around in the hot rods. I think he thought his daddy was "famous" that day. LOL
By the end of the night, 10pm or so, the kids were ready to head home as well as all us adults. We all had such a great time.

Mr. Hollywood! lol

Hmmmm don't ask! haha

The girls getting LOTS of attention doing curtsy's for every car.

Our great friends Kevin & Darla

The gift of Literacy

2009-06-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Cameron and his first grade class got a field trip to the community college to attend "the gift of literacy". It was a great experience. This program was inspired by a desire to promote a love of reading among young children. Cameron came home with a cool bag with a book, stickers, pencils and book markers. The first thing he wanted to do was to sit down and read his new book. He had alot of fun with this experience.

The Gift of Literacy

1st grade.

2009-06-01T09:01:00.001-07:00

I can't believe the school year has almost come to an end with one more week left. Seems just yesterday Cameron was walking into first grade for the first time. He loves school and has enjoyed every bit of it. With only missing 2 days of school through the whole year and 9 kids in his class total, border line private school... we are sad to say goodbye, but only for a few months then he's back as a big second grader. Can time slow down ever?!? Here are some great pictures thru the year that I have enjoyed as well.

Making Emperor Penguins

Making funky glasses.

Cameron's 1st grade class.

Got Sunblock?!?

2009-05-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today I went to see the Doctor because of a spot on my back that's been bugging me for a while. It felt like a constant itch that I could NEVER get rid of and was soar to the touch, almost like a bruise. Chyenne looked at it last night and said that it just looked like a mole and wasn't red or funny looking. Well, the Doctor came in the room today, checked it out and said... yep! pre-cancerous. I freaked out! He came back in with this funny looking canister and a couple zaps of freeze stuff, I was taken care of.

The doctor said that it will fall off in a few weeks and to come back in to have it checked, but I should be fine. How scary though. He said I should not have another problem in that area but, I need to be careful in the sun and to have the rest of my body checked out periodically. If skin cancer doesn't scare you into sunblock, I don't know what will. I went IMMEDIATELY to the store and got 50 proof sunblock! The craziest thing... the spot on my back is a spot that isn't near as exposed to sun as my face or arms are. Goes to show how the suns rays can go thru your clothing.
So if your out in the sun.... WEAR SUNBLOCK!!!

No training wheels?!?

2009-05-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a day Jocelyn learned to ride her bike without training wheels. I never pushed the issue from early on, even though I felt she was ready long ago. As a parent, especially with your last... you never want them to grow up.

The kids were outside playing and Cameron came in and said he needed in "Daddys" toolbox. I immediately knew what he was up to as I heard him talking earlier with Jocelyn. I went outside with him and watched him work away on his sisters bike to get those darn things off. The look on his face was a look of determination... way to cute! Jocelyn let me know right from the start that brother was taking the training wheels off her "old" bike and not her "new" one. She didn't want her new one scratched up if she fell. LOL

Jocelyn was actually excited to do this, so I think brother had something to do with it, haha. Mommy geared her up with long pants, knee and elbow pads and for some reason she wanted to wear "brother's" helmet. I walked out there with the camera to take pictures and Cameron already had her sitting on the bike saying "okay sis... now remember... it's about balance!" Jocelyn was very attentive and after a few trys and a big push from mommy... SHE WAS DOING IT! Way to cute!

Our beautiful weekend...

2009-05-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was the Rhododendron festival in Florence, Oregon. We go about every year. Good food, fun parade and great car show. This year we missed the parade and only because it was on the opposite day of the car show. The kids were very excited to go, as was I. We packed up our car and off we went. Our first stop was "Grandpas" house in Mapleton. The kids always LOVE going to "river" grandpas home. We picked him up and off we went to our first stop. The "car" show. There were so many beautiful cars there and to our surprise... my husband was being stopped by about everyone on the planet earth. We scored a few big jobs, which was very exciting! It was a fun time and the kids enjoyed it too.This is a car that my husband did minus the graphics. (body and paint)

Our next stop was "Webers" to have some yummy seafood! You can't go to the Oregon coast and NOT have some yummy clam chowder. The kids scarfed their food up and we were Beach bound! Got some great pictures and made some fun memories. The drive home was fabulous as the kids fell asleep with their mouths open. We wore them out... MISSION accomplished. LOL

Mother's Day.

2009-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the most fabulous mothers day any mother could have had. I got surprised with breakfast in bed (kids and daddy made for me) along with flowers and home made cards. From there we went to Church and from there, I decided that I wanted to go up to the Fish Hatchery for the day to spend with the kids. We packed up and off we went. We fed the fish, ducks and watched the boaters fish in the water. From there we went up the road 1/2 hour to trail bridge and Sahalie falls. We hiked way back into the falls, something I have never done before and the views were breathtaking. Luckily I took my photography camera and wound up taking over 100 pictures.

Here are some of my favorites, although it was hard to even choose these as there are so many more to share. I will put the others in an email to those who wants them. Enjoy!

Water Skeeters!!!

2009-05-09T20:25:00.001-07:00

Today was so beautiful when we got up that we decided to spend the day outside. We started off the day by going to a friends house up the road from us to see her newly born baby goats. 6 of them in all and they were so cute! Unfortunately I forgot my camera! Ughh but the kids loved playing with them. From there we went up to Shot Gun Creek, a place we go quite often. Cameron brought a friend with him and daddy met up with us later in the day since he had some work to get caught up on.

We found this really cool little swimming hole that we hiked down into and the kids had a BLAST! They were ready for their adventure! Cameron came prepared with a couple of bug catchers and magnifying glass. We skipped rocks, hiked, learned about different plants such as salmon berries, huckle berries and that 3 leaf clovers are edible along with licorice root.

Many insects were caught and released back into their habitat. Cameron caught this really cool spider that actually laid an egg in his bug catcher. He went off and released it very gently back to it's home. The boys came across millions of water skeeters and caught a dozen or so of them. Some even had babies on their backs. We had a very fun day and daddy showed up for a few more hours of fun. We came home and read up on the water bugs the boys caught, so it turned educational, which was pretty cool.

We had a great day, but pooped now. Time for some relaxing down time. Enjoy the pics.

Our Journey has begun...

2009-05-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

With school almost out for the summer, I have been planning different activities, camps and things to keep the kids busy. With Cameron in Karate 2 times a week and Jocelyn going into Ballet and dance along with a few church camps and our family activities, they should be kept plenty busy and worn out "most" of the time. LOL

Our Journey began on learning about Sunflowers today. As the days get nicer, I have decided why NOT learn about animals and nature?!? Sounds like a great plan to me! So today started out with a sunflower project, which by the way... turned out very cute. The kids also learned more in depth about the sunflower... they learned that the flower buds are used for salads, dyes and oil for cooking. The stem parts have been used to make teas and medicines. They originated from ancient times dating back to nearly 3,000 years. The kids were really in tune with this project, I was super excited to see them so focused.

Tomorrow we are going to plant our seeds in little containers and watch them grow. This will be very exciting and already a little competition going on between the kids on how fast their flower is going to grow.

Kids club final performance...

2009-05-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Throughout the school year, the community christian Church holds a kids club one day a week for the school kids to attend if they choose. Cameron has attended this program from the start of the year. I was a little apprehensive in the beginning only because it was a different church than what we regular attend. But, turned out to be a blessing and he has learned so much about God. Last night was the end of the year performance and a little ceremony in the end to reward children on attendance and behavior.

Cameron did so well last night, he remembered all of the songs and memory verses. We were so proud of him. At the end he got rewarded for almost flawless attendance with only missing 1 day thru the year, and only because of a broken arm. It was the day we had to go in for xrays after school. So I was a little bummed but, he still got rewarded with a book about Noah and a sticker book. We are so proud of him.

ANOTHER update on the arm...

2009-04-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

So today was the day we seen the Orthopedic Surgeon. Good news! So far no surgery is needed. Cameron got his blue cast off, since it was doing absolutely NO good, got another xray and got a "full" arm cast all the way up to the arm pit. The bone that is broke... Aka, the Ulna, is slipped slightly as you can see in the xrays. Not only is it slipped a bit, but because he wasn't in the correct cast the bone was starting to bow a little bit. Looks like a whole lot to me! So Cam got to choose a cool color and he went with one of "momma's" favorites... Lime green.

Once complete with the full arm cast, another xray was taken to make sure it didn't slip, since it's very easy to do. Everything looked A-okay. So every week for 5 weeks, we need xrays to make sure it's healing correctly and the 6th week he gets it off. It's already been a week since it was broken, so when it's all said and done.... 8 grueling weeks and half the summer. LOL Go figure right?!? No soccer this year I guess.

I am just very thankful we didn't have to endure surgery. I was really stressing out about that one. Thank goodness for rockin insurance! That's all I have to say for now. LOL

Broken Arm update...

2009-04-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

I scheduled an appointment for a follow up for Cameron's arm after he was seen in Urgent care on Easter Sunday. Yesterday we went into our regular Dr. for a review of the xrays and to discuss the plan. After review of the xray the Dr. decided he wanted a repeat xray because of Cameron having a displaced fracture. So off to xray we went, across town that is.

Once we were in there getting the pictures, I asked the xray tech if I could get a sneak peak at the pictures and she said sure. Looking at the pictures, I thought they looked a little bit better, although; the arm is obviously broken. Well... a few hours later, our doctor calls me personally and tells me the terrible news. There has been a dramatic change from the first xray to the second. In the second it showed a bow in the bone where it's broken. Means more than likely it will not heal correctly.

Not what a mother wants to hear... I immediately felt my eyes filling up with tears and got real shaky at first because no mom wants to hear bad news when it comes to her "baby".

The doc told me that he forwarded the xrays over to the Orthopedic Surgeon "stat" and they would be getting back to us within a few days. I wasn't off the phone 10mins and there they were. So now I am really nervous on just what the "rush" is all about. Our appointment is this Friday (tomorrow) at 9:45 am.

Chyenne (hubby) and I sat Cameron down and explained to him what was happening. Our son is a worry wort just like his momma... he started crying and sobbing, but felt he needed to know as he is going to find out tomorrow anyway. I wanted to console him and have a one on one instead of it being in the Dr. office.

I will keep everyone updated. Tomorrow we will find out if he has to have surgery or not. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts.

Approaching the "Dead Line"!

2009-04-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

It’s income tax time again, Americans: time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, and stab yourself in the aorta. That is for certain what I felt like lastnight filing those dreaded taxes. Claiming 2 businesses this year STRESSED me out to the complete max! While I am generally put into the category of being an "Optimist" in life.... Optimist: Someone who sets aside two hours to do his income tax return I AM NOT!

7:30pm lastnight came like lightning.... Instant insomnia the days prior to filing along with a dose of anxiety and sudden onsets of drudgery... I knew I had to just get it over with. No matter how many beers I could consume, it STILL would never make sense to me.

I like the bumper sticker that said, Born free. Taxed to death.

So with long anticipation and getting home at 11pm. We got MONEY back! WOW... maybe I should have considered running into that tax office months ago and filing that Necessary EVIL! It's amazing how great I feel today not to have to worry about those damn taxes. Until next year that is!

Our Easter Sunday!

2009-04-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well.... our Easter Sunday was VERY uneventful! Starting on Saturday. We had plans to go to Chyenne's dad's house for a day of hanging out and Easter dinner. We received a phone call early that morning with news of one of my husbands closest cousins just had emergency surgery for ruptured appendix. So we rushed to the hospital to see him. Learning once we got there that his dad was in the hospital for cellulitis and his niece twisted her ankle coming out of the hospital from seeing him and was now on Crutches! I was in disbelief. So after all that Chaos, jokingly I told them NOT to wear off on us!

By the middle of the day, we were up having a great time at the grandparents house. The kids running outside having a blast, then with a sudden scream... our son was down, holding his arm. We both freaked out at first but, after a while he seemed okay after some ice and rest. We both thought he just maybe jammed his wrist or sprained it after he had fallen. The next morning the kids woke up and Cameron's arm was swollen and he was hurting pretty bad. So off to the Doctor we went. The Xrays showed that he broke the small bone in his arm fully through and the bone sits a little off, so on Wednesday we have to go back in for xrays to make sure it's healing right. If it isn't.... that means surgery! I am going to stress about that until we find out how he's healing.

Happy Easter to me eh? LOL Makes for a great story years from now. I hope everyone else had a fabulous day.

My little Karate Kid...

2009-04-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

We had a tournament up in Portland last Saturday. The tournament started at 9am, and that meant we had to be on the road starting at 6am. The night before I got everything together, uniform washed, bags packed and kids bathed. The next morning we made our deadline, we were on the road at 6! Our son was exhausted but did such a great job. This was his first BIG tournament and had alot of hard fights, but never gave up.

He was first up for his forms. Each belt you make, you have several forms to learn (little routines) and they are all in the Korean language. The judge calls out a specific form for you to show. Now, for a 7 year old, it's a big deal to learn and remember each step with perfection. Cameron didn't learn the last half of his form until 2 day's prior to the tournament. He competed against 3 other kids in his age group and he WON! Gold metal status. He did such a great job!

There were alot more kids in his age group when it came to sparring. He fought some pretty tough kids.

Another school from Kalamath Falls has some pretty awesome kids and even though they are green belts like Cameron, they fight like they are Brown belts. But, we were quickly educated on the fact that, that's all their school does is focus on fighting and not on the fundamentals of the "art" of Tak wan do. In this last tournament, Cameron placed 3rd in the Fighting division, which still is pretty good. Cameron has became quite the perfectionist, so he was pretty frustrated that he didn't go out there and whoop butt, he has many tournaments coming up that he can practice and get ready for.

So in honor of Cameron doing such a great job, we enjoyed a day at the Family Fun Center in Portland. It was so much fun and such a beautiful day, we really enjoyed ourselves. By the time we got back in the car for the ride home.... our kids were out within 5 mins. LOL They slept all the way home and didn't get up until 10am the next morning.

Cameron is coached by the best trainers, world champions at that. Cameron will get his black belt with honors within 2 years from now, you have to be 16 to receive your black belt, he will still get to wear a black belt with a red stripe, basically stating that he is only awaiting the legal age. So from 9-16 he will be working on perfection and different degree difficulties.

We are so very proud of him, and in just the last 2 weeks he was introduced to a new class that he just loves. He now has a weapons class 1 day a week too. Here he learns stick fighting, Nunchucks, sword fighting, knives and so forth.

I'm still awaiting the fighting pictures to be sent to me so I will load those on here as soon as I receive them.

Funny Questions...

2009-04-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

I got this off of myspace and thought this was pretty entertaining. Here we go....

1.YOUR REAL NAME: Sheri Ann Hubbs

2.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (father and mothers middle names)Raymond Lucinda(sexy!)

3.NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad)Darryl Paul

4.STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)Hubbsh (huh?)

5.DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)Pink Leopard

6.SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born)Ann Albany

7.SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning)The Purple Dr.(LMAO!)

8.FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name)Shbs! LOL

9.STREET NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie)Peanut butter Chocolate

10.ROCK STAR NAME: (your name, current street name)Sheri Sunderman. LMAO!

11.PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on)Kya Geary. OMG! LOL

12.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle)Sheizzle

13.YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last)HB

14.YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and your grandmas name)Black Mae

15.STRIPPER NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy)Pleasures Smartie. LOL

So these turned out a little odd, but very funny. Had fun and hope you did too. (reading the answers that is.) LOL

Joe Cool....

2009-03-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

So after a great weekend with the family.... We came home yesterday late afternoon to find "this" on our back porch. This bike looked like a chopper the big boys ride. Where did it come from?!? After searching around and scratching our heads, we found that the kids "uncle Brad" brought it to our home and gave to Cameron! What on earth? Well, it was a hit because Cameron loved it, even though it's 10 sizes to big for him. LOL

So my husband, Brad and Cameron were all outside lastnight and in came my husband with a camera showing me the funny pictures. My son..... Mr. Joe Cool..... posing like a rock star just thought he was theeee Sh&%! I wanted to die lauging. My husband and I went to the gym soon after that and while we were doing our reps we both busted out laughing about how macho our son thought he was. I remember just yesterday, as he lay in his infant carrier as we both couldn't wait for him to grow up and do funny things. WOW.... how time has flown. Makes you want to cherrish all the time you have with them.

Cameron's 1st Sword Fight

2009-03-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

In this video Cameron is in the Black Helmet of coarse... i.e. the little guy. This is his first sword fight, and did pretty well considering he's fighting 3 belts above him and about 7 years older. He scored the first 3 points. He loved this so much and did so well.

This fight he didn't do so well. This was his actual First fight, he was up against a black belt, Sara and she is the most poised little girl, I can't say enough just how awesome of a martial artist she is. Cameron didn't have a chance at this one. The poor little guy didn't score one point. But, the good news is.... the above video showed how he came back and scored.

Cute pictures of us!

2009-03-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

So I came across these pictures on my camera that were taken a few weeks ago when we went out dancing with a bunch of friends. I though they were cute so I wanted to post them. Of coarse I was being goofy in one of the pictures as usual.... LOL

Enjoy~

Update...

2009-03-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is just an update on how things have been going on my end. The last 3 or so weeks have been so incredibly busy for us. I took my computer into the shop so I could get it ready for school and to my surprise I had 2900 viruses on my computer. Can I say.... OPPS?!? I guess that's what I get for being reluctant to update my anti-virus in my puter. 200 dollars later it's all fixed and perfect again. Even though I was without a computer for almost a week. Wow... the difference, almost like I have a new computer again.

I started school on the 10th ,I feel like Im juggling so much, I know it's going to be worth every bit of it and God would not give us what we "can't" handle. I am consumed with school in the evenings and it's sometimes hard as I am consumed with work thru the coarse of the day, even though I work at home, my focus on my children have not been top on the list and when I think about it... it kills me. however; I know it's not going to be forever, and just when we feel like our plate is full, somehow we manage to pull tricks out our sleeve and make time for those MOST important things in our lives. I have scheduled myself where I still have reading time with the kids in the eve before bed and little bit and pieces thru the coarse of the day, the time I have with them I make golden, and that is the most important.

I know in my heart that I am doing the right thing for my family and I am working very hard, it's still tough to look at your children and see them so grown up in such little time. I can't believe my youngest is 5 years old now. Where has the time gone? My kids are my life and therefore; they will benefit from all of my hard work. In 2 years I can look back and know I did a good job.

Our shop has picked up with work quite a bit and my husband and 2 employees stay pretty busy, seems like the jobs are just coming in right and left. It has been a huge blessing. With all of the chaos going on, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. I feel very fulfilled. What I think about most is how our children see us as hard working parents therefore; they learn and I get to teach them the way of life and how you have to work hard to go places.

On top of it all.... I joined the gym this week and started my diet. Yes I know.... you are all thinking I am crazy. I have very little time, but it's well managed and I am able to find a few days a week to fit in an hour workout and it feels great! I will keep you all updated on my weight loss and workouts.

I have always been the type to keep busy, I love to keep busy as It keeps me content. I say all the time, I need a few more hours in my day to accomplish all of my duties. LOL

So this is what my life has been up to in the last 3 or so weeks in a nut shell. I will be updating and downloading pictures soon. Cameron has 2 big fights up in Portland next month as he is now a green instructor belt and is just such an awesome little man! Im not partial or anything right?!? LOL So I will have alot to post in the next coming month.

Take care and hope all of you have a blessed week.

Back to school....

2009-02-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

Yep... I have decided to go back to school and I start March 10, 2009. I have wanted this for a very long time, but never wanted those hefty school loans. Well, it's time to buckle down and do it. There is so much help out there that it's not really that bad. After much thought I am going for my BSB/SBE - Bachelor of Science in Business/Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. This degree provides students with a course framework built around small business planning, financial management, and integrated business topics on entrepreneurship and small business management. Within the concentration, students can elect to study advanced concepts in small business marketing, leadership, family business management, operations management, and business law for entrepreneurs. With having our own Auto body business and my dream of having a photography studio/web design company of my own, I can't go wrong with school. I do have to admit... I am a little scared, only because my days are so crazy now... well they just got even more crazy, but it'll be well worth the efforts. So in two years time I will get to fly back to Arizona, walk with my graduating class to receive my Bachelor's degree. Yeahhh! It has been a dream of mine for a while and not to mention that I will be the first in my family. What an honor.
So wish me luck and I am sure I will be posting my trials and errors and ups and downs. ;) Lets hope... not to many.

Wordless Wednesday...

2009-02-25T10:40:00.000-08:00

Late lastnight this is what I found when I went to kiss my son goodnight at midnight.... LOL

Clueless yet?!? So am I!

Our Fun Filled Saturday...

2009-02-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

A.C Gilbert's Discovery Village.

This was such a fun place we took the kids to this weekend. Located in Salem, Oregon.... This museum was filled with all kinds of really fun stuff. Almost made you want to be a kid again. You walk into this place and starting off was this life size grocery store from "fake" frozen food section to shopping carts to check out registers. We had a child's trip to China where we got to see their money, heritage, music and got to practice writing on these cool rocks.

There were so many rooms such as a river room, bubble room where we could make some of the biggest bubbles ever, the kids got to take a trip to the rain forest, dress up in rain forest animals.

Outside were many exhibits including the paddle wheeler, we learned how the paddle wheeler transported goods and people out of the Willamette valley. We explored the Mammoth dig where a big mammoth settled down in a sand pit. The kids got to explore and uncover other cool fossils of many other creatures.

We got to rock climb on the Gilbert rocks, walk thru a miniature village, walk thru a gigantic animal cell, walk thru discovery gardens, be creative on the musical decks, play on the erector set which was the kids favorite! The tower is 52 feet high, one of its highest in the world, 3 gigantic slides... one is at 2 stories tall. This play structure was just huge. After finishing our tour thru this wonderful museum we went across the street to the Carousel where the kids ate popcorn and rode the carousel.

After a long hard day of playing and exploring we settled down for pizza at Chucky Cheese which wasn't quite so relaxing I must say. We didn't get home till about 10pm that night but we had a FABULOUS day with our kids. I took over 200 pictures and obviously can not load them all on here so I share my favorites. Enjoy!

Jocelyn got her first bed!

2009-02-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

When our 5 year old refused to sleep in her own bed it was only because we as the parents allowed the habit to develop!
Taking ALOT of patience and resolve in order to now break this habit has been a rocky road.
We felt strong knowing that we'd stick to our plan once we made this hard decision. So the time came to sit down with her and tell her that we had to make a plan for her to help her sleep in her own bed.
Forever... we had a mattress of her own down beside our bed, but there she was right in the middle of us! How romantic eh? Well, I finally came to my senses when I was continuously being woke up on an hourly basis to push my daughter back in the center of the bed or being startled after getting smacked a time or two in the face or kicked right in the back of the head.

I took the initial step on looking around for beds. She had a nice mattress so all we needed to buy was the twin bed. I found a great deal off of CL of all places. A bed that was in great shape, needed NO TLC or work was nice. I knew it was the bed when I seen a picture of it and had to have it. Jocelyn and her daddy went into town to pick up the bed the next day. She was filled with so much excitement she could hardly stand it. Well... not as much as we as parents were!

So we got her bed all set up that night and I went all out to find her perfect bedding which I came across a great deal at Bed Bath and Beyond. Room in a Bag for 99 dollars. Included a comforter, 2 sets of sheets, 2 valances, bed skirt, 1 sham and 2 decorative pillows. You can't beat that deal. So the time came to go to bed and that little.... had made her bed in brothers room on the floor and that's where she wanted to sleep! I was so aggravated, but didn't want to show that to her as it was a really big step for her. So lastnight she finally, on her own crawled into her new bed and snuggled down into the blankets with her babies. Mommy and Daddy read her a book and comforted her until she drifted off to sleep.

Chyenne and I got up several times to check on her to make sure she didn't fall off the bed, we were prepared if she did by putting padding down on the floor, but she didn't fall, yeahhh. So I think we are finally over the hurdle and on our way to freedom in our bedroom. LOL

Here are some cute pictures of her and her new bed. Don't mind the wood paneling as that is coming down in the next few weeks. A little at a time right?!? Ha