Christmas

I will promise to update you my friends and family as soon as I can...but here are just a few phote's random...I know I wore the same shirt a lot but it's only because I like it...LOL

How nice would it have been to grow up in simpler times...when milk was delivered in glass bottles..?

making memories saying good-bye and saying hello!

i don't have any pics right now of Jordan and I with my mom or his parents (my parents! LOL) but I wanted to say how wonderful it is to be back in Florida with family again. As much as I enjoyed Seattle and spending some really great great great loving and get to know us times with Jordan there truly isn't anything like parents ya know. we missed them so much and it feels just good hugging them again. We miss Seattle family though and look forward to maybe heading out there for school if Jordan gets in to UDub here in a few years....lets just keep our fingers crossed that if we don't stay in Florida we get to go where we have family family family (smile)!

well I can't write much because it's super crazy right now butttttttttttttttttttttt we had a wonderful time visiting with family on our trip back to Florida! we met my new aunt Leigh and uncle Walter as well as my cousin Courtney! loved getting to know them and that we got to hang out for longer than we had planned. I wish we could have stayed a week. But we look forward to seeing them when they come into town here in October!
we got to meet the famous Willis's and their daughter Happi and her beautiful daughters! what an awesome, fun, energetic! family!!! we can't wait to see them again and keep in touch via emails...but what a character of a bunch! and uncle John cut my hair even shorter! :-) loven it (blush)...below it's already grown an inch...but it's super choppy and I am planning on cutting atleast one ore time to see how if I am still wanting the shortness look.
my very best friend saralyn moved back to Tampa! super excited about that and having her love and friendship back (getting in person action! )
our two little ones...well not ours but as stinken close as we could be from being so far away from NC! maddy and jack are two of the best and cutest characters around...we loved hanging out with them and the family...seeing the new house and eating some well a LOT of pizza and ice cream sandwich's...lol
amber amber amber :-) like a sister and was wonderful having her hang out, catch up, and be our silly selves.

WELL EVERYONE! I'LL WRITE MORE LATER AND CATCH YOU ALL UP ON OUR LIVES AND ADD MORE PICTURES BUTTTTTT UNTIL THEN WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU ALL DEARLY AND MUCHO!

The promise is beautiful

my heart is jumping
my mind is wondering
and all I can think about every second of every day is how much I love you (smile/wink)

Christian the lion (AMAZING)

Christian the Lion was raised by two men in a house in London but when he got to big they released him into the wild.This is what happened when they went to visit Christian in the wild, the other video is only words but it was him as a cub and as an adult! Touching touching story, brought warmth to my heart and happiness for the family. I can't imagine the feeling but the joy in the video(s) certainly captures so much love.




Christian the Lion - For more amazing video clips, click here



'>http://

a mountain of fire and ice!

MT. RAINIER!
Snow still around mid July?
Jordan surprised me and took me to Mt. Rainier on Friday! He didn't tell me until we were practically pulling into the park. What an awesome, loving, dear husband I have. He makes my every day great great great!
Mt. Rainier is a spectacular place and with snow still around it makes this year especially special. One of the gentleman at the help desk was telling us that it is easier right now to use snowshoes or cross country skis at Paradise (name of the last parking location you can park at before all you do is hike up to the top of Rainier) to trek up close to the mountain unless you want to use the mountain climbers’ snowy boot trail up to Camp Muir which let me tell you is very slippery and unless you have a stick or pole becomes very slow....LOL...Jordan and I would have loved to have trekked using snowshoes! They said that as of July 15th the mountain at 5 feet of snow! To say the least this snowy situation at Mt. Rainier has brought forth some addictive behavior in Jordan and I. We could really see our car being seen constantly heading back into the park to check out all the different climates and changes all year round if we lived here. I find myself wanting to go back there today and tomorrow and the next! I want to see Reflection Lake on the west side and Tipsoo Lake on the east side for I hear they are a site to see. I loved Adler lake as it was the bluest and greenest lake I had ever seen! I just wanted to hop out of the car and dive head first. It took our breath away at every site we saw but how wonderful it would have been to have binoculars! From the drive to the hike it was something I will never forget. Heavenly Father is extremely a beautiful soul to create something of such beauty.
I only put of a few pics as I will be posting more later on the blog as well as a slide show.
These photo's were taken on our drive up to Paradise stop

a few waterfalls we stopped to admire

the left side of Mt. Rainier: landscape

while on the trail we just loved being together and wanted to hug nature! LOL...you see the clouds are starting to settle down the mountain as the evening approaches.



Here I crawled inside of a rock that was just sitting on the side...I felt as though it was lonely so I wanted to enjoy it and give some warmth.

Here as you can see we were just tasting a bit of the snow and trying to build snowballs that would eventually be thrown at each other :-)

Here we had a ranger and his wife take a picture of us making some snow angels. How fun it was to be a kids again...at the far right can you see his first and then mine?

we got a bit wet but NOT WET ENOUGH in my opinion :-) doesn't my hubby have the best bod ever! (wink/blush).

I'll publish a slide show later on! miss and love you all and I think that with friends and family we should all make some serious plans to go camping here in the future! What do you say?!

4th of July pics at Gasworks

4th of july at GasWorks!

Our 4th was fun...Jordan took the day off! (smile) we went to the ward pancake breakfast at 8am where they served pancakes and bacon....yummmm for all of us. Kate and Parker went with us! It wouldn't have been the same if they weren't.We came home and Jordan went to his 9am meeting and came home...I went to Wal-Mart after that for some stuff that I forgot when we went there the day prior andddddddddd while I was there Jordan did school work and played some WOW.I got home and Jordan was just waiting for me and so ready to get out! LOL it was so nice to be excited and to see him so ready to get going anywhere that was just not in the apartment. So we picked up Kate and Parker and headed to the bishop’s house where he was having a BBQ, fireworks, boating, ping pong (yea Jordan and Parker are way competitive with that...almost as bad as the office episode...LOL...j/k) and just a ton of talking and friendly conversations. We left there around 4-5ish (I can't remember really) and went down to Seattle / GasWorks Park for some beautiful fireworks, at this particular location they were are rated in magazines across the country for the top 5 places to watch them (right near the space needle). It took us about 30 min or more to find parking that was 1-2 miles away from the hill in which we were determined to sit on and watch the fireworks. When we got to the hill...it was mayhem let me tell you. It is said that over 300 thousand people go to this thing on that hill...LOL so the four of us are caring our blankets, Thai food, drinks, and treats...trying to find a spot big enough (small enough) spot for the four or us. So we spotted one and headed for it...it was a very very tight squeeze but this couple that was there offered to move over so that we could sit two by two...just as cuddly close as can be (smile) anyways it was to much fun and we had (WE ALL THOUGHT) the best spot on the grounds....lucky lucky us. We watched those at 10:30am or so and got home around midnight...I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY AND FEEL EXTREMELY blessed to be an American today and it was crazy exciting and fun to sing the songs and watch the flags. I just can't stand how happy I am to be an American...sorry to repeat myself. LOL...but life is great.Random pictures we took. Here is one of our videos of the finale.

A School That Did The Right Thing

I read about a story on a while ago(not to sure when) but I wanted to let everyone know about it because it reminds and reminded me of all the good things in the world that children and people in general who are in charge of discipline are still doing so for the right reasons. So I thought that maybe you guys would appreciate it.

A high school football team in Illinois at a high school that I forgot the name of (sorry) finally had a winning team after many years of being at the bottom of their conference. It was the first time in something like 50 years that they were winning. I think they may have even been undefeated that season and were going to the state playoffs! The week before the big game 15 of the starters were caught drinking alcohol at a party. According to the school discipline policies, they were not eligible to play football. With the big game on the line, the coach and school officials could have made an exception for these starters...but they did not. They enforced the school policy.
On game day, the second string played the game. The stands were packed with fans cheering for them, but the loudest among them were the 15 starters who couldn't suit up for the game. They lost the game something like 65-0. But! the coach at this Catholic high school said, "we may have lost the game, but those starters 'won' a huge life lesson."

It's so refreshing to see that this coach and the school officials had the courage and integrity to "do the right thing" (as Dr. Laura would say *smile* Maybe they are listeners of Dr. Laura!).

far far away up visiting nature

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

the greatness of motherhood

I say that mothers nurture all those in need...Julie B. Beck says "the responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” "However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.”

I say that mothers teach their children to dream - that which is possible. Gordon B. Hinkley says: "You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.”

I say that mothers find the beauty of life wherever it may be...Julie B. Beck says "She knows that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily mothering is far more lasting, far more powerful, far more influential than any earthly position or institution invented by man. She has the vision that, if worthy, she has the potential to be blessed as Rebekah of old"

I say that a mother is teacher, mentor and student...Elder Jeffrey R. Holland says "“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, “pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task,” that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity. Claim the promises of the Savior of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you."

I say that a mother must maintain proper perspective in order to see the view. Harold B. Lee says "the most important of the Lord’s work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes”

In conclusion and as I embark on my life endeavors...I can say that as I read some today and thought some today I realized how special motherhood really is (thanks mom for being that teacher and a friend to me all of my life)...and even though I have not embarked on that journey I feel very blessed to, someday, walk and talk with my children...enjoying each precious moment of their lives, building on those experiences and learning from my mistakes. I am enjoying the memories (as a single family) I am making right now with Jordan and how blessed I am to have his love for all eternity, building a family together is what, I think, makes life worth living. Whether you're a family of 2 or one of 8 (smile). I love love and I am enjoying loving my husband, family, and friends. So "cheers" to our future and to the happiness it WILL bring all of us.

SO.....I am a chicken what can I say...lol

OK well this isn't as short as I had planned...when I got to the salon, Lisa (stylist) and I thought that we should just take baby steps seeing that I walked in so very nervous :-) so this is the new hair...next time I go I'll make sure to go shorter but this way I get some practice in (urrr something...LOL) but after today I definitely think I will go shorter...it wasn't as bad as I thought and if I hadn't already been there for over an hour I probably would have had her go shorter....(smile) but I think it's a good style right? Still plain Sarah though but I promise I'm working on it (wink) love you guys! and miss you all! Sorry for the bad photo job....I had to make due with what I had...MuAh!
After:



Before

Snowqualmie Falls - so beautiful!

What an amazing adventure Kate, Parker, Jordan, and I had going to Snowqualmie Falls this weekend! We had such a blast hiking down to the falls (being careful to not hurt ourselves...LOL...because as of right now it appears that only Kate has insurance!) and having a blast doing so. We took with us an amazing homemade picnic full of (dummmm daaaa dummmm): peanut butter and Jelly (I held the jelly of course (wink)) sandwich's, sun chips, cookies, water, and rice cakes...who could ask for more right!
If you notice in the collage of pictures there is a fisherman...he's lacated in the 5th row, last picture. We thought he was so cool, just standing out there all by himself for hours just fishing. It's like he was painted there by God (smile). To say the least it was a great time full of peace and just great company. We all want, hope, and wish to go again but we'll have to see how that goes. We are truly blessed to be here and I'm so blessed to have Jordan in my life...he keeps it exciting and fun and teaches me much about what it is to be a good person.

If you just click on the picture they should enlarge...in case you didn't know already (smile).

so these are some of my ideas I am having for how I am wishing to cut my hair tomorrow morning (smile) so from left to right....1 - 12....which ones do you all like? LOL...this will be fun! I'll post my hair tomorrow sometime.

Good times - 6/14/08

It was so much fun tonight! Jodan and I had a great great time, courtesy of Ben and Lisa, at the baseball game tonight. THANKS BEN AND LISA!

We watched the Seattle Mariners vs. Washington Nationals live...(sadly) the Nationals won 4-2 but that was fine because it wasn't the Phillies loosing (smile).

We had great times with the friends eating popcorn, hot dogs, Reese's cups and pieces (to much candy to keep going on about), pretzels, soda, sun flower seeds, and some french fries that were LOADED with garlic! LOL. Basically stuffing our bellies of crap but crap that just taste so stinken good! We got to see Nate add his new baseball bat to his collection and attempt to finish a whole bag of popcorn, Josh and Jordan eat a foot long hot dog, Me almost falling trying to get back in my seat but luckily I had Jordan and Josh to make sure that didn't happen...so much energy it was great!

Lisa waves around a free t-shirt the guys all got from attending, she looked as though she was meant to be in a music video for petey pablo - "raise up"! come on you all know what song I am talking about right?

This one's for North Carolina! C'mon and raise up Take your shirt off, twist it 'round yo' hand Spin it like a helicopter North Carolina! C'mon and raise up This one's for you, uh-huh, this one's for who? Us, us, us.

All right so maybe not all of you but still watching her was classic. Josh, Jordan, Parker, and a bunch of the guys did it in the stands as well with her...will be a moment never forgotten. You can see some of the picks below in the slide show I put up.