CNN Heros

Tonight, Jim and I sat down to watch CNN Heroes, with Anderson Cooper and Christiane Amanpour. It's an awards show to honor those amazing people that are doing what they can to change the world. This includes a girl who helped reach her young, autistic cousin with music therapy. She assigned each letter of the alphabet to a key on the piano. It helped her cousin communicate in a way that she had never been able to before. She was only 16.

There's another boy from Seattle who has Leukemia and started a heroic effort to get minorities to start a bone marrow bank. I think he is 13.

There are so many amazing people in our society that don't get the acknowledgement that they should. It's people like these that make me want to be so much more than I am.

Click here for more info on the Heroes.

Thankful For....

....a wonderful husband, friends, a huge family, the sunshine....

It's been almost 3 months since my mom's stroke, and she's still struggling with recovery. Seeing her so vulnerable and in need hasn't been easy for anyone, especially her. Still, I think it's made everyone appreciate her, dad, and the rest of the family just that much more. No one could do it alone.

I've started to really evaluate the influence that my mom has been in my life. I wouldn't be who I am today without her. Besides the obvious, she's taught me the value of giving. She's always been willing and ready to help anyone that she can. If she saw a need in someone else's life, she'd do what she could to fill it. She, by chance, met a woman while on vacation who had a sister in need of some help. Her sister had a baby, and no babysitter. She had to work. When my mom found out that this woman lived near her, she offered to babysit. She babysat for Jonny (and then Katie) Davis for years simply because she could. Karma is really paying off for her now. She's had more friends and family ready and willing to help. I'm really thankful for all of those people!

Mom also has this amazing ability to put herself in another person's place. She tries not to be judgemental. Despite the fact that Tim's ex-fiance hurt him so much, she doesn't want to judge her. Emily is back in Tim's life, and Tim is happy about it. Not everyone else in the family has been as accepting (including myself at times), but mom doesn't want to hear her family say bad things about Emily. She doesn't want Emily to be uncomfortable when she's with us. She just wants Tim to be happy. She sure as heck doesn't want to live our lives for us!

She's independent (read: ridiculously stubborn). She avoids having to rely on any one else. My dad had a very successful and demanding career. He wasn't always around. She managed to raise 6 children (who all turned out pretty damn good, I think!). She encouraged us all to do whichever extra curricular activities we wanted. She helped raise her 2 oldest grandchildren. And she did this all while keeping her house beautiful and supporting my dad through his career. She's some sort of super woman, really!!

I'm especially thankful for her stubbornness now. She has a long road in front of her, but she sure as heck doesn't want to have to continue to rely on everyone for the rest of her life. She's doing everything in her power to change her situation.

She taught me about being a great mom and an amazing person. I hope only hope that I can be as amazing as she has been and really make her proud.

Other things that I'm thankful for:
- My dad. He might be a little overwhelmed, but he's doing anything and everything in his power.
- My amazing sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephew. It's been a hard few months, but everyone is coming together and taking on whatever responsibilities they can to help.
- My fantastic husband, especially when he tells me he's ready to be a dad :-)
- Snickers Darks, and dark chocolate in general. Hot tea. The kids that play right outside the window of my apartment. Cynicism and pessimism, especially when related to work. In-laws that I'm happy to call family (and not just in-laws. that sounds so negative).

Okay, so this is a little belated....

I took a little trip to visit Jen and Pat in Minneapolis last weekend, and it was a BLAST! I officially want to move there after Seattle has lost it's excitement. I got in on Thursday night, after an enjoyable flight with the Mike and Marcie kids, and didn't leave until Sunday. Nothing much was done because of LARGE amounts of snow, which was awesome!!

On Friday, I got to be lazy for the first time in a long time. Then, Jen and I went shopping at the Mall of America. I spent more money than I should and had a wonderful time buying clothes and SHOES!!! Such fun :-) That night, we had dinner at Julie and Daniel's. It was delicious!! And lots 'o fun. Jen and Pat, Julie and Daniel, Mike and Marcie, Amy and Jeff....all such adorable and fun couples! Jen, Pat, and I spent a good portion of the night trying to hint around a little secret, but no one seemed to pick up on that.... :-)

Saturday was filled with LOTS of snow. We sat inside watching tv...and the large amounts of snow coming down. I rather enjoyed myself. It was pretty nice to sit around all day, chatting and having a good old time with Jen and Pat. Before I knew it, it was time for dinner! We again met up with the whole group of Mike/Marcie friends at a place just up the road. It was a cute little Indian place, which was fun. Many of us had never eaten Indian before, so it was an experience. As it turns out, the Indian version of chicken is pretty much all dark meat. This was a little disappointing for Jen. And, Indian version of eggplant is more sauce like, but DELICIOUS!!

On Sunday, Jen, Pat and I wandered up to Subway for lunch...in the snow. Yes people, you heard me correctly: Pat was WALKING in the SNOW! Even I was a little surprised. After that, Jen and I wandered outside on snowshoes. It was so much fun!! I think Jen had a good time, too! There was quite a lot of snow, and quite a lot of snow drifts, which made the whole snowshoe thing an adventure! Jen was doing good. She knew where the snow was deeper. I, on the other hand, was having a good ole time trying to find those places!! At one point, I fell into a snow drift that was about 3 feet deep. Oops! Good times :-)

The whole weekend was a blast, but didn't last long enough. It was really good to see Jen and Pat. And, I realized everything that I miss about the midwest...the open spaces and wide roads and lack of traffic. I miss that so much! So...Jim and I will be moving to Minneapolis in a few years!

Thanks to Jen and Pat for letting me crash at their place for a few nights. They rock!!

Back from Hawaii - The Honeymoon's Over.....

After spending 10 full days in Hawaii, I think a post is in order! After spending a wonderful Christmas in St. Louis with both families, we came back to Seattle for just long enough to switch out bags, take Rufus to the puppysitter, and get a tiny amount of sleep! Then, off we were to beautiful Hawaii!

Our first full day was spent snorkeling at the beach at MM 14. It was amazingly beautiful...coral everywhere and TONS of colorful fish. After that, time was spent lunching and lazing.

Another day was spent on Haleakala. First, we woke up SUPER early and drove all the way to the top to see the sun rise. It was beautiful! It was a bit cloudy, so as the sun came up, the only thing to be seen was these glowing clouds.... Amazing!! As the sun slowly rose, the glow became brighter and brighter until it broke free from the clouds. I took about a million pictures, but only posted a few. I don't want to make everyone suffer through that!

After the sunrise, we drove back down to go on our zipline tour, which was pretty awesome. After a really short hike (not even a half mile), we got to the first line. They started out short (about 75 feet), and got longer as they went along. The 5th and final line was about 300 feet long and crossed a ravine that was about 150 feet deep. Before each line, the group was told about one of the native animals, which while interesting, was rather depressing. As it turns out, all but 1 of the native animals that they told us about were almost extinct. Very sad! Luckily, the exhilaration of the ziplines kept me from getting too depressed!

After the zipline tour, we went for a short hike at Poli Poli State Park. One thing we quickly learned about Hawaii state parks is that the roads to them are most definitely NOT kept up! Luckily, we rented a Jeep Wrangler and I was driving! Once the rode started to get bad (big pot holes and narrow), we met a couple and their son from Maryland. They parked their rented minivan on the side of the road and started to walk to the park. We ate lunch, and drove on. Shortly after, we ran into the Marylanders, and offerred to give them a ride. They hopped in the back and drove with us for a few miles. They were a super nice family, with another son in Seattle! Apparently, he hates it. Eventually, we dropped them off, and drove on. After another few miles, we stopped and found a hiking path. As everything on Hawaii, it was beautiful. It actually looked more like Washington than Hawaii. There were huge, not at all tropical trees, and it was a little chilly. After hiking for a bit, we drove down the hill and headed back to the condo.

The rest of our time on Maui was spent lazing on the beach. Jim did a bit more snorkeling, where he saw plenty more fishies and even a sea turtle!

We spent New Years Eve at the Old Lahina Luau. Open bar and unlimited food made for a short night! We didn't even make it to midnight..... That's what happens when you get old :-)

New Years Day was a travel day. We slept in, packed, and drove to the airport. On the way, we pulled off at a little stop. We were super lucky to see a momma whale and her baby playing right off the shore. It was great! Sadly, it was too far away to really get any good pictures.

Off to the Big Island! Sadly, our first night was less than ideal. We checked in to the condo and went to dinner, but I was too itchy to really enjoy much of anything. By the next morning, I had broken out in a terrible rash and a painful blister was forming on my foot. Jim took me to the Urgent Care doctor in Kona, where I was perscribed some pills and a creme and sent home. I was out of commission for the rest of the day.

One day in Kona was spent driving to and exploring Kiluea. I drove while Jim hiked and took pictures so that I could see what he saw! Sadly, I don't remember much of what we saw, much less what else we did on the Big Island. I was on meds and not feeling well.....

Overall, an awesome trip. We're already planning to go back in 2011 or 2012. Who's with us??

Take a look at our pictures.