Missy & Meeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As some of you may have read on Missy's blog....we finally after nine years were able to meet in person!! I was pretty nervous until I arrived....Missy and her family were just like I thought they'd be and I felt very comfortable with them. We had a fun visit. We were able to scrap, chat, go shopping, chat.....lol.....you get the idea. Griffin is such a cutie!! Here's a few pictures I snapped of him during my visit. He's all boy that's for sure and keeps Missy on her toes! I had a blast visiting with them & am looking forward to another visit some day!!!

Finally.....A Post!!!

I'm back on the road! In California right now. Seems like I'm always going through California. YUCK! Hopefully soon he'll have me heading east.
I was given a laptop for my birthday this week. It's great to have it on the road! So far
I've been able to email people and catch up on some of my abc shows! It will also be nice to have it to keep up on the news. Sometimes when you are on the road a lot you don't hear a lot of the current events. You feel like your in another world. lol Yes, it's an odd feeling. lol
Have a great weekend!

On The Road Again!!

I'm leaving tomorrow for the great state of Wisconsin! I've never been there so I really don't know how great it is but I like to have positive thoughts about my destinations!! I've been home for a few days and it has been nice although I'm eager to get back on the road and work.
I've mostly been doing errands and just getting my truck organized the last couple of days. There sure is a lot of stuff to catch up on when you've been gone for 2 months!! In some ways
it feels like I'm moving out of the house. lol I went through my clothes yesterday to see what I wanted to take. I also went through my DVD collection (which I'm ashamed to say is rather large) and took out what I wanted for the truck. In the next couple of days I'll buy a small TV/DVD combo. In the next few weeks I'm hoping to buy a lap top. Hubby has been getting some big hints from me about it! My birthday is this month so that's a great gift from hubby right? :) Above is a picture of my truck. Keep in touch everybody! I enjoy the phone calls and emails!!

Still Alive!!!

Wanted to say a big, "Hello" to everybody!! I'm still alive!! I've been done with school for a few weeks now and have been on the road with a trainer. We've been all over the country! I'm soooooooo tired!!!! This is my first time on a computer in a month so thought I'd better use it! I've got about 10 days of training left and I'll have my own truck!!

I'm In Salt Lake City!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it to Salt Lake City! It's sooooo pretty here! Everybody here at the company has been great! Thank God because the bus ride from hell getting here wasn't that great! Over 21 hours on a greyhound is no fun & I went 27 hours with no sleep! If somebody ever offers me a free bus ticket again I think I'd rather walk!! LOL
I did meet a couple of nice people on the way here & that did make the trip nicer. Slept most of today, then took the shuttle van to Walmart & I Hop. Now just relaxing and probably going to hit they hay early. Classes start at 6:45 am tomorrow!

On The Mend....

Feeling much better now! The cold is almost gone!

I'm leaving Saturday and am getting nervous!! I'm looking forward to it & a bit scared cause it's a new adventure. My mother is really giving me a hard time about it but everybody else is supportive.

Tah Tah 4 Now!

Sick....

Well, I'm almost ready to hit the road! That is as soon as I'm feeling better. I'm leaving on the 17th now. My family has been sick and now they've so kindly passed it on to me. I slept all day yesterday. Today (my last day of driving bus) I did make it to work but I feel like I just got hit by a truck! Ugh!!!!

I'm Hitting the Road!!!

Yep, I'm hitting the road soon....& yes, in a truck! Sound crazy for a house wife of 17 years? LOL Maybe!! I'm probably leaving on Saturday for Utah for training. I'll be gone about 6 weeks. If there are computers there I'll be sure to post to let you know how I'm doing in a male dominated career!

It's starting to hit my husband more and more with each new day. He told me the other night that he only new how to cook three things. Well, I know he knows how to cook more than three things but I just told him that he could always buy a cook book. LOL Today he called me when I was done with my morning shift & said that he was going to miss me too much & was having second thoughts about me going to work on the road. How sweet is that!! He's such a doll!

We both want to do some serious saving for a house we want to build. I don't make much driving school bus so I thought I'd try truck driving. It will be easier to save if we are both bringing in good money. My husband is a penny pincher and is good with money so I'm sure we'll be fine.

I'm actually getting pretty excited about going. The freedom of the road! No kids to yell at! Well, I guess they can still call me on the cell phone but cell phones have an off button!! LOL

Wish me luck!!

Joshua's Home for a Visit!!

Yesterday I picked my oldest son up from the Military School he's been attending for the last two months. I was so good too....didn't cry a bit when I saw him in front of his friends & the other parents. Didn't embarrass him at all. lol When we got out to the car......I had my moment. Hugged him and just started bawling. He was so good about it too....hugged me back and said he'd missed me and such.
After I had my cry we went to I Hops. There were other families there too from the Military School. We sat with on of his friends & that boys family. They wanted to order everything on the menu! LOL They ordered a couple meals each & almost ate everything on their plates! Oh, & this is after they had a large french toast breakfast at the school before we picked them up. At one point while they were eating I told the boys to slow down and enjoy the taste of the food. At school they only have 6 minutes to eat & drink their entire meal! They were just shoveling it in!
We had a nice drive home. It was snowy on the pass like normal so we just chained up and enjoyed the drive home. It's amazing what Joshua's been doing for the last couple of months. He's really enjoying it. Says they work out so much he has no troubles sleeping. They had a 3am fire drill the other morning and Josh slept through it! LOL Luckily his bunk mate woke him up so he didn't get in trouble. lol He says they are always yelling at them and they have to be at their best all the time. He says after awhile you get used to the yelling and tune a lot of the noise out. lol He's really enjoying it. He just wishes he had a few more days home with the family. Today we are taking him to the movies & bowling.
I'm sure enjoying having my baby boy home. He's been gone from home this long before but he's always been with a phone so I can at least call and chat with him but at this school he's at the only way the boys can communicate with us is by letters. I enjoy getting the letters but sure do prefer the phone! lol
Joshua leaves to go back on Monday. That will be a hard day for me.

Newest Snowbabie!!!

I bought another snowbabie!! Isn't it cute!!!

Josee & Morgan

This is Josee & Morgan. They've been best friends for a few years now. Morgan was over visiting weekend before last so her and Josee & fun playing make-up and dress-up! Cute aren't they! Oh to be 8 again!!
All made up and ready to hit the town!!
Shall we dance!!

Josee & Morgan just before we left to take her home!!

Smile!!!

Hugs!!

Tah Dah!!!

Josh...Off To The National Gaurd Youth Challange Program..........

Joshua, my oldest is 16 and left last week for the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program. It will teach him discipline (military style) & help him finish up high school and hopefully motivate him to find a career or make some goals for his future. He's been there for 5 days now. I sure wish I could talk to him but we can only write to each other. We'll see him on the 2nd of March on his first break. This program goes until the 13th of June. This picture was taken just a few days before he left & when he had hair!
This is Joshua right after I buzzed all of his wonderful hair off! They had to show up to camp with a buzz. I love this picture....it's so funny!! Just like Josh!

This is Joshua and his girlfriend the morning we left. We stopped by her place so Joshua could say goodbye.

At least he's got a good head for being almost bald! :)

We had to travel over the cascade mountains to get to the camp in Bend. I just love snow!!!! We just put our chains on and took our time. Had no troubles at all. Josh & I pulled over a few times and had snow ball fights and just took pictures. We really had a fun trip over there.

Snow covered trees!

Josh just had to stop and take some pictures of these ice cycle's. There were some larger ones on the way but they were in a place by the road where it just wasn't safe to pull over to get pictures.

On the way to Bend.

Loved the snow covered road!!

Joshua checking our chains. Right after this picture was taken he nailed me with a huge snowball!! LOL

Josh in the snow!

Love those snow plows!!

Here's the outside of the building where Joshua's at for the next 5.5 months.

This is a great opportunity for Joshua. I'm already missing him. We'll get to see him on March 2nd for a few days but until then it's only letters.

New Collection.....

I've decided to start collecting something new..........Snowbabies!!! I just love them...always have. I bought my first two the other day at a Hallmark store. They were even half off!!! Below are pictures of my first two snowbabies!! My favorite of the two is the top one. I'm going to start telling my family when they ask what I want for Christmas or birthdays that I want snowbabies! That should please them. Usually when they ask I say, "I don't know". LOL

Finally....A New Post!!!

I have not blogged forever! Not sure why. Life has been busy as normal but I guess I've just been feeling lazy. lol Thursday we had snow! It was sure pretty! Below are some pictures I took early in the morning. I was outside in my pj's & camera & it was still dark and brrrrr was it cold!

Yes, we need to take our Christmas light down!! lol

I love snow on trees!

Our drift boat! Yep, we need to cover it but I thought it looked cute in the snow.


Another tree with snow!

Wow! A light with snow!

Yep, yet another tree with snow!

We didn't have time that day to make a snowman so we pulled over a few times and took pictures of snowmen others had made. I'm sure they thought we were strange for taking pics our their snowmen! lol

Josee actually hopped out of the car to stand next to this snowman. He has a tiny little snow buddy to the right of him if you look real close!

Harley was getting hungry so she thought she'd see how John tasted!

Josee & Harley.......smile!!!

Kiss Kiss!!!!

My daughter does the oddest thing with her tongue. Not sure how she folds it up this way but she does. Her cousin Park can do it too but nobody else in the family can.

Johnny's had a pretty hard week this week with his diabetes. It's been worring me. His blood sugar has been up and down from 600 & something to 70. His doctor can't seem to get it steady again. Hopefully any day now his blood sugar will be better. It's sure not good for him to have high sugars for so long.

Joshua is leaving on Wednesday for a military style school for 5 1/2 months. He's 16 now but the longest he's ever been gone from home is 1 1/2 months. I'm not looking forward to this at all but if it helps him get motivated and finish up high school it will be worth it!

My Poor Sauvo!

This is my poor doggy Sauvo. She was hit on her right leg by a car on Sunday. We took her to the doggy e.r. and they took ex rays and put her in a cast . The wrap on her front leg is just from the i v they had in her. This picture was taken Monday night. We picked her up from the doggy e.r. where she had stayed the night and took her to her normal vet Monday morning. They looked her over really good. They even took the ex rays to the University here and had the "top dog" at the vet school look at them. They all agreed that it had to be amputated. We were devastated. She's the sweetest dog you've ever met. Her normal vet has even made it very clear to us that if we ever have to find her a home.....she'll take her in a heart beat! She had surgery on Tuesday & came home late Wednesday. She's been doing pretty good. They have her on 4 antibiotics & 2 pain killers. She's one drugged up pup! I told her that was fine though.....what she's been through this week.....she's allowed all the doggy drugs she wants! lol She's been walking on the 3 legs pretty well. We don't let her up unless she's going potty or eating or drinking. The rest of the time she's in bed & she doesn't argue with that at all! I'm just so glad she's still alive. She's so calm and patient. Even through all of this she's been nothing but docile.

I'm a Sensaria Rep!!

I'm so excited!! I'm now officially a Sensaria Rep! What is Sensaria you ask?? Well, it's a product line of "SPA" products. What I love about Sensaria is the fact that it's all natural! I've been a customer for about 2 years and just love it!!

I have my own website.....please check it out! You can order online and they are really great at getting your products to you fast!

http://www.mysensaria.com/whitewater

To Die For Bread!! Sounds a bit odd but try it!!!!

Onion Dill Bread Mix

2 cups Bisquick
2 Tlb Lipton Recipes Secrets Golden Onion Soup Mix
1/2 tsp coarse black pepper
1 tsp dried dillweed

1. Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2. Blend with a whisk.
3. Add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup milk.
4. Mix until just blended.
5. Pour batter into 1 well sprayed 8" x 3 7/8" loaf pan.
6. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes.

Great Idea!! Let's Say Thanks!!

I received this great e-mail from a cousin today and thought I'd share the idea with all of you! It's for our troops in Iraq!! Something cool that Xerox is doing! This is a great idea and only takes a minute to complete. Xerox deserves a pat on the back for doing this for our troops!

If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the soldiers received a bunch of these? What's also neat is that kids made the covers of all the cards you get to select from!!!

Very Bad Scary Snow Day! Very Bad!!

Well, it snowed last night. About 4 inches is all. We had a two hour delay with schools today. Instead of going to work at 6:20, I went at 8:20. The little extra sleep was nice! Oh, and the extra cuddle time with hubby was nice too!
Anyway, I didn't have to chain up or anything since my route is mostly flat...no hills or mountains. I was making my second stop of the morning to pick up a 5th grade boy. The road he lives on isn't as traveled as some of the main roads around here are but there were some cars on it and a good amount of slush and gravel/sand from the road crew. I didn't have any problems at all. Anyway, like I was saying.....I was making my second stop. I was at a complete stop with my reds on. That means I'm picking up a kid and all traffic that is going to pass me must stop. All the traffic following me stopped just fine and were waiting. I had one car coming towards me. I hadn't told the boy to cross the street yet because she hadn't stopped yet. I don't think she was paying attention because suddenly she put her brakes on and started sliding all over the road!!!!!! I can't even tell you how close she came to hitting us! I just kept praying that she'd hit me and not the boy standing by the road!! I just kept praying it over and over again....."hit me, hit me, not the boy"! Some how she pulled herself out of it just before hitting me and drove off. She never did stop. I think she was so shocked that she forgot to stop once she got her car under control. I think there were angels helping that car stay away from us. The boy was fine and so was my bus.
After rechecking all my mirrors I allowed him to cross. About a mile down the road I started to shake and almost had a panic attack. I was able to pull myself out of it though for the sake of the children. I didn't want to fall apart in front of them and somebody needed to drive the bus! lol All day, images have been going through my head of what happened. I started to do the, "what ifs". What if he'd been hit? To see a kid get hit in front of me would have been the end of me wanting to drive bus. I couldn't bear it. Thank god he didn't get hit! It happened so fast and so close to us! Thank god he's been taught the rules of the bus well & stood there waiting for me to cross him! If he'd been in the road....we'll let's not go there.
The rest of my routes went fine. Hopefully getting this off my chest, writing about it, will help me stop replaying it in my head & hopefully I won't have nightmares about it. I'm a very vivid & emotional dreamer. I remember looking at the lady driving the car. It's like I was looking at her face in slow motion for a moment. It's hard to explain but if she walked by me tomorrow I'd probably recognize her. The kids are wanting dinner and then I need to take Joshua to youth group. Thanks for listening everybody!

Did It Snow????

The answer is, "Yes"!! Not a whole lot today but it did snow and in some parts of town it did stick!! The kids on the bus thought it was great! I'll have to admit....I enjoyed it too! We are supposed to get more tonight. Right now it snows for a bit and then it doesn't.....on and off.....just teasing us. lol Here's a picture of some coming down next to our house.

Gold is not the only buried treasure......

Gold is not the only buried treasure.
In your heart there is a sunlit sea.
Underneath each moment lies another
Life of pure angelic ecstasy.
In simplest things there is the greatest pleasure.

Rain, Relaxation & Snow?

Today was such a nice day. What did I do today that was so nice? As little as possible!!!!
It rained today. I mean it rained...and rained....and rained.....and rained!!!! Great inside day huh!?!?!?!? I thought so! I got to sleep in once again! Did some laundry. Cooked an easy dinner & crotchet this evening! I'm so relaxed after this 4 day weekend!
Tomorrow it's back to driving school bus. I have a grade school route & then a junior high route. They are pretty good kids. That makes the job nice. It may snow tomorrow so that should be interesting in the bus. I lived in Alaska for 2 years so gained some pretty good experience driving in the snow. Plus it snows here a bit every winter. I've driven pick up trucks and cars in the snow but never a bus. Week before last we learned how to put chains on a bus. Was pretty easy really but takes a lot of time. My route is pretty flat & I have new tires so hopefully I won't need them. Wish me luck! :)

Thanksgiving & Now

Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I decided that I had calmed down enough from the horrid weekend we had just had with Johnny, so John Sr. drove to Portland that evening to pick up Johnny. I really did have a hard time thinking of Johnny up there with strangers on a holiday so he came home for one night.
Thanksgiving went pretty well with him. Him and his brother got into one disagreement. That evening John Sr. & Josee drove him back up to Portland.
I'm just so glad that holiday is over. It's one of my least favorite. I do all the work so by the time dinner is over I just want to crash. lol
Yesterday I was able to do NOTHING!!!! Josee wanted to go to work with Daddy so she wasn't home and Joshua went hiking with his girlfriend, her family, and some friends. I slept in until almost 11 am!!! Can you believe it???!!!!!!! I then got up and found something to eat and then crocheted for the rest of the afternoon. I love it when the afghan I'm crocheting gets long enough that you can cuddle in it while working on it!! It was such a nice lazy day!! I really needed it!
I then made dinner with left overs....so easy and crocheted some more!!!
I'm feeling much better after the last stressful week I had.
Today I got to sleep in again! Then I fixed my computer and then I started blogging! I do need to do some laundry today but boy I'm feeling spoiled!! :)

I'm making this afghan for John Sr. I started him one years ago when we were in Alaska and I never did finish it. It was probably almost half done. It's still packed away in some box somewhere so I decided to start him a new one! He loves burgundy, navy, & ivory so that's what it's going to be. I found a really soft yarn to use too so it's so cozy to cuddle with!! lol