I am, I am...the Luckiest

The thing about me is that I'm a really lucky girl. Lucky in the sense that I have good luck. I win things. If my name is on a ticket in a bucket before a drawing, it will get drawn. On the off chance it doesn't, I get irritated. I'm that lucky. I put a quarter in a bubble gum machine (yes, I still do that) and it invariable gives me two. I luck into amazing sales when I'm not even looking for them. I find things, awesome things, for free. Once I found a bike that I had really wanted for $350. It was over $1000 online. They only had one size left. Guess whose size it was? Mine. I drive through a packed parking lot and always find a spot up close where someone was just leaving. That someone usually leaves me a hefty balance on the meter so I don't even have to pay. I never get the middle seat on a plane. Never. I'm not kidding. I really am so lucky.

Last month Dave surprised me with a weekend trip to Whistler, BC for our one year anniversary. How lucky is that?

We took the lift to the top of the mountain.

The view was like nothing I've ever seen before.

It was incredible to see so much snow on June 25th.

Other people opted to bike down or hike. We decided to live on the edge and take the tram. Apparently it was installed for the Olympics.

We even stumbled upon a stock car race. We were two of about six spectators. It was a hilarious good time.

We took a couple of hikes to some waterfalls.












It was my first trip to Whistler. I was stunned by the beauty of it.

















Nairns Falls. It was a beautiful day.

Over the last year I've learned that I'm also the other kind of lucky. I'm lucky to have the life that I do. I'm lucky to have spent the last year with my very best friend. There's nobody else that I'd rather go to a Canadian stock car race with. Or go anywhere with. I'm married to the funniest guy alive. And the kindest guy. When I told my parents I was dating someone, they asked about him. I said, "He's the best guy I know." Everyone I've met in his life has said the same thing.

I like to think of myself as an independent girl and practical girl, someone who can do things on her own. But now, when I leave the house early and go to work, I close the door behind me and my heart hurts a little because I know I'm going to really miss that guy.

I love the Ben Folds' song, "The Luckiest". He says,

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say.

But I know

That I am

I am

I am

The Luckiest

I mean, look at this. I really am the luckiest.

My birthday

Last year on my birthday I was in Jamaica and had been married for one day. This year, I came home from work to a surprise party sponsored by the girls (with a lot of help from Grandma and Grandpa). Nobody, literally nobody, loves a surprise party more than these girls. If Dave leaves for 15 minutes to go to the store, they'll say, "How should we surprise him when he gets back? Well, I could hide behind the couch, and you, well, you could pretend to be asleep...." and so on.

So they spent the entire day preparing for the moment I walked through the door on my birthday. Imagine my surprise.

Some lovely decorating

Pin the mustache on Rebekah. An old family classic that changes slightly depending on the event. You may recall Pin the Glasses on the Silly Dad.

The cotton ball game was a big hit.

Followed up by dinner and cupcakes.

I did a bad job of taking pictures of the week my parents were here, but the kids had a great time with them. It was something fun every day. They are such fantastic grandparents, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. The best parents generally are the best grandparents. I'm really lucky, and so are the girls, that they have embraced my new kids as their own family. They truly adore the girls, and the feeling is more than mutual.

In The Loop

Last month my parents were nice enough to come up for a week to watch the kids while Dave and I worked. The weekend they arrived we decided to take them on the Cascade Loop. It's a long drive and covers some of the most beautiful areas I've ever seen. Dave and I had done it a few weeks earlier and demanded that they see it.

When Dave and I drove the loop the first time, we talked about how fun it would be to do the drive in a convertible. So this time around, and since it was almost Father's Day, I surprised Dave by renting this little number. And it was SO fun! For about an hour.

But, as you can see here, the back seat isn't exactly roomy. And the discomfort was heightened by the fact that it rained the entire time. This left us with two equally painful options: A) Drive with the top up and contort in the fetal position in the "backseat" or B) Drive with the top down in the rain.

We tried both options.

At one point my dad said, "Oh, it's fine. Just leave the top down. When you go fast most of the rain blows over the top of us." He was serious. Really fun times.

Because my parents are really good sports, we actually ended up having a pretty fun time.

A spectacular view

Me and my dad

One of dozens of waterfalls along the way.

Me and Bobby James

 

This guy…

..and his mom came to visit us last week.

The girls have met James a few times before but this was the first time they got real one on one time with him. They fell in love with him and promptly changed his name to Bobby. We’re still not totally sure why. One theory is “baby James” evolved into “Bobby James”. In the end, the best explanation Tiff could give me was, “I don’t know. He just seems like a Bobby.”

Everything Bobby did was hilarious. There were arguments about which girl he liked best, who could feed him, who made him smile. They couldn’t get enough of Bobby. The cute part was that Bobby really couldn’t get enough of them either.

 

Bobby ate pounds of rocks and sand at the beach.

He loved to crawl around in the sand. The girls believed his love of the beach was a sign that they should move here.

I LOVE the sandy feet!

Bobby loved the beach so much that he got ticked when it was time to go.

 

We visited a lighthouse..

 

..and explored an old army base with lots of things that resembled the Dharma Initiative.

We found these cute messages in the sand.

It was fun for the girls to show Hannah their turf. They were such great hosts. There were of course so many hilarious stories.

On Sunday Hannah and Natalie ended up in a car alone on the way to church. Our church is behind the temple. As they were driving, Natalie was playing tour guide.

Natalie: There’s Dairy Queen. There is the bowling alley. And there’s the temple. Did you know they light it up really bright at night? It is SO pretty!

Hannah: Yes. They do that to all the temples. Isn’t it just beautiful?

Natalie: Um. Not the temple. The bowling alley.

Everyone had a very hard time when Hannah and Bobby James left. The girls love their Aunt Hannah as much as they love their cousin. It was great for me to spend time with my sissy. We all miss them so much!

Adrift

We have had our ups and downs with our sailboat. Let’s be honest. But we thought we had survived winter with just a few hitches until a few weeks ago when my dad called. His message:

“Sis! Call me! It’s about your boat! She’s adrift in the lake! She’s adrift!”

My dad, who never deviates from the boats-are-always-female rule, received word from the boat’s former owner who had received word from the King County Sheriff that our boat was having some issues that we needed to attend to sooner rather than later.

Immediately unpleasant images of the boat ran through our heads. The boat crashing into a bridge, or Bill Gates’ dock, or Bill Gates’ yacht. The boat upside down in the middle of Lake Washington. The boat splintered and slowly sinking.

It turned out, as if often does, that my dad’s report was a bit of a stretch. The truth was that she came loose from her anchor after a nasty wind storm, the water in the lake went down, and she was beached.

The captain and skipper (Dave and me) tried to push, shove, kick, and coax the boat back into the water. She wouldn’t budge, even after the captain bailed bucket after bucket of rain water, and, okay, maybe a little lake water, out of the cabin. We later learned it would take the strength of four guys hired from the Home Depot parking lot and $150 to move her.

Very long story, very short-the sassy is on land now and will be registered very soon so the Sheriff and Bruce can breathe a little easier. We look forward to a summer of sailing and repairs.

At least the kids always have fun at the beach.

A Birthday and a Confession

I used to judge parents who did what I did. I ranted about proper role models, body image, sending the wrong message to young girls. I’d like to take a moment to apologize to my former unmarried, childless, feminist self. I did what I said I’d never do. I bought my daughter a Barbie. The worst kind. Wedding Barbie.

I welcome stories from those of you who had Wedding Barbie as a child and didn’t drop out of school at 17 to marry a guy who drove an RX7.

But look at the joy on her face! And this isn’t the first time I’ve done something as a parent that I said I’d never do.

Natalie turned six last month. We celebrated at the place of her choice: Red Robin of course.

Natalie had a big year. She started kindergarten, learned to read entire books, lost a few teeth, and got her first note from a boy who appreciates her neat handwriting and the fact that she’s nice.

Happy birthday, Nat Nat!