Pictures!!!

So I uploaded these backwards and I don't feel like redoing it, so here are a bunch of pictures out of order :)

This is Zack, and yes that is my brother, Lance, at their graduation party. Lance wanted to shave his head and decided to have a mohawk for a few hours, he has since shaved it off.

Brian and I have a hard time taking a serious picture apparently:

First try:
Second try:
I give up!
I went to dinner with Sarah and Travis to celebrate Sarah's 25th birthday! Brian was suppose to come but had to work late :(
Please excuse the awkward pose below, I thought she was just getting our heads :)
Apparently I thought it would be attractive to stick my stomach out, nice.

(Here is where it gets out of order) The following are from Lance and Zack's graduation party. This is Jaidyn, she loves to pet MJ and MJ loves it!

Graudation Night: Lance and Zack

Lance with his 3 older sisters:
Lance and a proud father
Lance a proud mother, talking to each other
They gave all the graduates a flower but Lance had both his hands full, hence the flower in his mouth
Okay that's all, just wanted to post those!

Countdown...

3 days and definitely counting until Shasta. This week started off a little rough in regards to work and I think a break will really help.

Brian and I had a "good" conversation yesterday, I say that because it started off as a disagreement but led to some good insights, very constuctive. My misery at work has really affected our home life and we both are at our wits end. Brian has been amazing and trying everything he can think of to console me: He tries to solve the problem (it's a guy thing), he tries to bring out the positive side, he just listens, he tries so hard. I love him so much for that and felt really bad yesterday when he explained that he was at a loss of what to do, he hates seeing me so unhappy and wants to fix it. I do to, but it's taking longer than we both thought.
The commute is killing me and it's about to get worse. My co-worker, carpool buddy, and most importantly my friend, Sarah, gave her 2 weeks and her last day is this Friday. I am so happy for her because she found a job she will really enjoy, an Office Manager, and it is in Albany. So, I am driving an hour to work and an hour home all by myself, 5 days a week.
Anyway, back to the conversation last night. Some days are easier than others and on those days I am really positive because I feel like I can breathe again, like I have been under water and someone just pulled me up for a breath of air. Other days it is not so good and I get really discouraged, feeling like I am sinking to the bottom of the ocean and I am swimming up to catch a breathe but have no idea where the water ends. So, I am up and down as you can tell, which is frustrating because I am usually a goofy dork who loves to be happy and laugh, but this job is sucking the life out of me.
We ended the night well, he just hugged me while I thought about how lucky I was. I have a job and I should be grateful for that.

So back to Shasta, we have a lot to do and not much time to do it. Packing will take awhile because we have to get all our camping gear in order and make sure we don't forget anything. Then we need to go grocery shopping for food and drinks. Our plan on Thursday is to take MJ to Brian's mom's house since we will be leaving directly after work on Friday, then go grocery shopping, and come back and load up the car completely so we can head out on the road. It is a good 5 to 6 hours away, so we are hoping to get off early so we don't get there too late. I am so thankful Brian's mom is so willing to watch MJ, it helps us out so much!! Thank you Mom!

I am going to try and post pictures before I leave since it's been awhile and I don't like posting just boring blurbs without some visual aids :) But no promises, I'm going to be busy getting ready for Shasta, yesssss!

Monday Morning...

Well, the weekend is over and work has started again, can you sense my excitement? Yeah, me neither.
The only thing keeping me sane is the fact that this next weekend will be a 4 day weekend for Brian and I and we will be enjoying the sunshine in Shasta, ahhh, that sounds like heaven! Of course, there is one reason I will be sad, I can't spend Father's Day with my dad :( But don't worry Dad, I will make it up to you I promise!

Brian's mom is so gracious and willing to watch MJ for us while we are away, MJ LOVES it there so we know she'll be having fun while we are gone. It's funny how much I miss her when we are gone, I can't imagine how I will be with kids!

I keep forgetting to upload pictures while I am at home, doh! I will have to post the pictures from Lance's graduation, they turned out pretty good. Lance didn't want to use his crutches for graduation so he borrowed a cane from a friend and did it in style. Except he was pretty tired and worn out considering the cane didn't help take weight off his injured ankle. My mom went early to the graduation (3 hours!) and saved front row seats for all of us. Jenny made a special trip up for Buddy's graduation, all the way from Bend! We are a pretty loud group (minus Jaime she's the cute quiet one) so when they called Lance's name we all stood up and cheered as loud as we could, as it started to quiet down Brian, being the shy guy he is shouted, "WE KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!" All of his classmates turned around and were laughing, it was pretty funny, that's my husband!
Anyway, we took pictures afterwards with Lance and then he headed off to the Senior all-night party and the rest of us went out to dinner. It was a fun night :) I am so proud of my little brother, he has turned into such an amazing young man with a good head on his shoulders. When my parents got divorced my 2 sisters lived with my Dad and Lance and I lived with my Mom. I was devestated that I didn't get to get all the benefits of having older sisters, but I will forever be thankful I spent those years with Lance, developing such a close relationship with him. Don't get me wrong, we had our sibling rivalry moments, but for the most part we had fun together. We definitely have the same sense of humor, when we get together we quote our favorite movies (Liar Liar, and Tommy Boy) like you wouldn't believe, we laugh at the same stupid stuff too :) Love you Buddy!

This last weekend was pretty boring and unproductive, I finished my book, the last one in the Redemption series by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley. Sooooo good, I can't wait to get started on her next series, Firstborn. We did some errands at Costco, had to stock up the milk supply for the week, would you believe we go through at least 4 gallons of milk a week? We do!! We are both huge milk drinkers, if our kids are half the milk drinkers we are, we'll have to get another fridge just for milk! We went bowling on Saturday night with some friends and that was a lot of fun. Sunday was Lance's graduation party so we did that most the day.

Anyway, I better get back to work. Have a great Monday :)

Happy Birthday Abby!

My little sister, Abby, is turning 7 today and I cannot believe it! I remember when my stepmom, Anna, and my Dad told us they were pregnant; I was THRILLED! I had been begging my mom or dad to have another baby because Lance was getting old and I wanted a little one around :) My mom laughed, she had her 4 kids and she was done, understandable.
So when we found out little Abby Lynn was coming I was ecstatic to say the least. I remember getting the page from my dad (that's right, I had a pager at the time) sometime in the middle of the night and I was utterly confused so I went back to bed. When I woke up around 6 am for school it finally dawned on me that he paged the code I told him to when Anna went into labor!! I could not get to the hospital fast enough, and the 15 minute drive seemed like an hour. I finally got there and got to hold my first baby sister, she was precious.
She had such a distinct personality from the beginning, so spunky. She loves to have dance parties with us, as long as she is center stage. Now I see her getting so big, I mean playing soccer? Isn't she still a baby?? And this girl has some long skinny legs, she is tall for her age, can you believe it?!?! An Armstrong (my maiden name) girl who is tall, those are two words that historically have not been in the same sentence. My eldest sister, Jaime stands at 5 feet, Jenny and I are roughly 5 feet 2 inches, we all have sexy short legs (enter sarcasm here). Needless to say, Abby will represent us well in the modeling world with her long legs and stunning confidence. Love you Abbelina, Happy Birthday!

Today is also my friend, Sarah's birthday, she is turning 25, Happy Birthday!

On Thursday Lance graduates from High School and I am so excited to go and watch him walk across the stage, well hobble across the stage on his crutches. By the way, he is doing very well since his surgery, although very restless! I am excited to see him attend college and succeed there as I know he will :) Sunday him and his friend Zach are having a graduation party at my mom's which should be a lot of fun, hopefully the weather improves as it has been pretty dreary the past few days.

Brian is enjoying work and looking forward to starting classes for his masters at Marylhurst ( a college up near Portland). He will mostly take online classes but may take some weekend ones depending on what is required. He could potentially be starting this month, but it all depends on how smooth and fast the enrollment process goes, it has been moving forward so far, but sometimes it takes awhile. I know he enjoys being a UPS driver, UPS is a great company to work for. Management is always in the back of his mind and hopefully UPS keeps him in mind as well!

That is all for now, have a great Tuesday :)

I was going strong...

with blogging that is. I was doing well with blogging more often and now I just sort of faded away, we aren't overly busy so it's just me being lazy. :)

I would really like to complain about my job right now, but let's face it, that is boring to listen to and I don't want to do that since I still need the paycheck. I am hoping soon I will be more positive on the job side of things, but right now the negative aspects are winning.

We are finalizing the details for our Shasta trip coming up! My mom and Randy have been going every year for the past 8 years! They have a ski boat and a really nice motor home so they do it in style, they spend almost 2 weeks there. We are taking 2 much needed days off work to join them for a few days. We of course don't have a motor home, per say, so we'll have to rough it in the tent, but it is more than worth it because the lake is enormous and warm, the weather is gorgeous and the company is always fun. Their "Crownie" (They all have Crownline boats and so refer to each other as their Crownie friends) friends also go down so it is a lot of fun. I have only been able to go one other year due to school and work, Brian has never gone so it will be so much fun, I cannot wait! I have only taken 1 or 2 days off work since I started last August so I am looking forward to the time off work almost as much as the trip to Shasta! We are planning on heading down Friday the 15th after work, it's a good 5 ½ to 6 hour drive so we'll be there late, but that way we get the whole day on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, then we'll head out Tuesday.

Jenny found some cute tops and the color she liked for all of us to wear for the wedding. She found them on victoriassecret.com and she liked the Paradise Pink and then said whatever floats your boat in terms of the style of top is totally fine with her, I really liked that idea. I am at work and that site is restricted, so I will post the exact top a little later! We are wearing white skirts and silver flip flops. It is pretty casual, but it perfectly matches the theme of a Hawaii wedding and is going to look so pretty on the beaches of Maui, so romantic! We found out that all of us, when I say all of us I mean my entire family, Kyle's entire family (her fiancé), and the friends that are going, are on the same flight to Maui!! That is going to be so much fun, Maui 2007 baby!
Running has been going really well and I hope I continue to go strong. It helps so much that I can run at work on my lunch because I am so tired when I get home that the last thing I want to do is go for a run. I go about 3 miles in 30 minutes and then give myself some time to rinse off in the shower and freshen up for the rest of the day. I'm obviously not speed running but it still gives me some good cardio.

Nothing really new with the house to report. We spent time outside this weekend doing some yardwork. A sprinkler pipe in the front was busted, we think it is from the For Sale sign, they just stuck it right in the pipe and busted it. So when we turned on our lawn sprinkler's in the front the water started coming up from under the ground and created a huge puddle. My dad was so gracious to come over and help Brian repair it, they both said it was an easy fix and the longest part was going to Home Depot to get the supplies. But it's fixed now, thanks Dad! We took out a few bushes that were in the backyard, the original owners had beautiful landscaping but a little crowded for our taste. There are still plenty trees and bushes to fill up the space, don't worry! Because I knew you were, LOL!

Holy cow, this got really long and really boring, so if I somehow kept you interested until now you are awesome!
Okay well, I will try to blog more often and stay positive, I have so many things to be grateful for that I need to just suck it up and do my job! I will post pictures later too :)

Memorial Weekend

Oh how I am so sad this long weekend is almost over. That one extra day off work makes a world of difference!
Friday night Brian and I had a BBQ that was a lot of fun. It started out with just Sara and Travis coming over to hang out and then continued to grow, we ended up having quite the turnout! We grilled some burgers, steaks, and corn on the cob, we had a delicious salad and yummy fruit too. So we are all hanging out, it's about 11:00, and it's a little warm in the house so we have the windows open. Apparently that was a mistake because we got the cops called on us!! We were in shock, now I am not going to say that we were all whispering by any means, but we were also not yelling or blasting music over our small speakers. Brian went out and talked to the officer who I think could tell we were not being that loud, he gave us a "warning" and was on his way. That made the evening rather eventful, I just cannot believe we got the cops called on us, how college does that sounds?!?! LOL! Brian went and talked to the neighbors across the street from us as we are friends with them and they said they didn't hear a thing from our house, we were relieved to hear that and are thinking it might be the lady next door. Guess we'll have to have people over for early BBQ's so we don't make her mad!!
Anyway, we had a good time with our friends. Amy and Bauer came down and brought Porter (their little miniature pincher) because we were watching him this weekend as they were headed to Vegas. We knew MJ would be excited to have a playmate all weekend! As I am typing this they are wrestling around and having a blast.

Here is Porter and MJ playing in the yard together

Hanging out at the BBQ, my brother Lance is waiving at the camera
We tried to get the heat lamp going but to no avail :(
From left, Erika (Sarah's best friend) , Sarah (co-worker and friend), and me

Saturday we woke up and went to my Grandpa's grave site with my mom & Randy, Jaime & the kids, and Lance to clean it up and put fresh flowers out there, it looked really pretty when we were done. I brought my camera but only caught one picture before the batteries died, bummer :( After we were done there we went to pizza at American Dream which is delicious! Our favorite pizza is called the Bent, it has bacon, meat, pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives, yummy! Except I pick off the mushrooms, ick.

The one picture I was able to get at the cemetery

Later that night we went to 2 more BBQ's and had a great time. The wind was pretty chilly and we needed to get home to the dogs so we called it an early night and headed home.

The rest of the weekend has been pretty chill, did some shopping with my mom in Portland which I haven't done in forever! It was really to spend some time there, except I kind of stranded Brian. I took the BMW as he was going to work on the Mazda. One little thing I forgot to do before I left was take the Mazda keys out of my purse, oops. So I told him to just take the Bug since the keys were at home, but the Mazda was parked behind the Bug so he couldn't get out. Man, I felt really bad!! He got a tiny glimpse to being a stay at home Dad with the 2 dogs, he said he had a hard time keeping track of both dogs and making sure they weren't getting into to trouble. He has always wanted twins and now he is rethinking that and said he just wants 1! :)



Well, I think I am going to go sit on the couch with my man and paint my toe nails, sounds like a good evening to me :) Have a wonderful week!

The early bird gets the worm.....or coffee :)

Tomorrow is an early morning, I am leaving my house before 6 am!!! Ouch, that's gonna be a doozy :0 But, I'll get off around 3 ish, so it will be nice to be home early and maybe get some laundry done and a few house cleaning chores, on second thought maybe I won't rush home ;-)

My friend Sarah and I went for a run on our lunch today, it felt really good to get some exercise. You are probably thinking, "Gross, you went for a run and then came back to work?!" and the answer is yes. They actually have a girls locker room at work so we can freshen up real quick before we go back to work. Plus, we went at 2 so by the time we got back at 3 there was only 2 hours left. Our goal is to do this at least 3 times a week, I've gotta get ready for Jenny and Kyle's wedding in Hawaii, it's less than 4 months away!!

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, I won't tell you how old she is but I'll give you a hint: Last year she turned the big 5-0 :) Hehe. She looks and acts like she's 29 though, she's the coolest!

Alright, well since I have to get up early I want to get to bed early, so goodnight and have a great Wednesday!