First Swimming Lesson 7-5-10

Emily has been in swimming lessons for 8 days now and has been doing so well. As you can tell from the pictures, she was absolutely terrified the first day...well, first week! By Friday last week, she was putting her whole head under water without second guessing it. Her last day in level one will be Friday...if they move her on to level two. I am so proud of her.

Birthday Party?!

The other day Emily decided that it was OUR birthday party, so we had to bake brownies! It was fun...I always love baking with her!

New Haircut

All of the hair I lost...but all of the blond is GONE!!!

Best picture I could get! Most people say it isn't that short, but like I said, it is the shortest it has been since 5th grade! It is actually growing on me, but I think I am going to grow it back out...but leave it my natural color!

Shawn's Camp

A childhood friend of mine died the day after Mother's Day. We attended his funeral and was amazed at how full one church could get. I didn't think that they would have a viewing, but they did. I wasn't sure if I was going to go see him, but I did. He looked like the same guy I grew up with...just looked weird seeing him laying there in a casket.
His parents live out in the country in a little town outside of Lincoln City...most people don't even know it is a town! But, his parents, uncle's, and both sets of grandparents are the only ones that live on this old country road and own acres of land. It is absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. Across the road from where his parents live, there is this area where they would have huge fires and get togethers. His mom had this sign made, "Shawn's Camp" and dedicated it to the memory of Shawn. The night of the funeral, all of his close friends and family met at this place for a big fire and to tell stories about him. I couldn't attend because I had to work, but I heard it was quite the turnout.
My mom was very close to him. She held him when he was 2 hours old and watched him grow up. He was just a year younger than me, so we were always doing things together for church and school. My mom took it very hard, and surprisingly, so did I. No, we were not that close, but we knew each other, we grew up together...it was Shawn. Everyone loved him...I can't think of one person who didn't like him. He was a jock, but he didn't act like your typical jock. He cared for everyone. Always had the biggest smile, gave the biggest hugs, there for you if you ever needed him.
My mom was waiting up for me one night when I got home from work. She told me that she was finally ready to go to Shawn's Camp and see this place that he loved so much. So, I agreed to go with her. The next morning, my mom, Emily and I all went to Shawn's Camp...a day that I will never forget.
To get to Shawn's Camp, we had to drive over a little wooden bridge that was over a small creek. It opened up into a field of grass, and you could see where they had the fires. It was surrounded by huge trees and the only thing that could be heard was the creek running and the birds singing. So peaceful...I could just spend hours there. Within minutes of getting out of a car, my mom noticed a white butterfly. My mom loves butterflys and she was thrilled to see one, especially white. It landed at her feet and just stayed there. Emily walked over to see it and it flew up in front of her, and then landed at my mom's feet again. We then walked over to the bridge to look at the creek, to which the butterfly followed us. My mom and I were discussing how peaceful it was and how we understood why his mom would go there often. Emily was in the background doing her imaginary play as usual. All of the sudden, she stopped, turned around and looked at me. With the most serious look on her face, she looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I can't see him." I quickly looked at my mom in disbelief. Could she possibly hear Shawn? We took a few pictures and decided it was probably time to leave. As we got in the car and started pulling away, the white butterfly appeared and flew alongside the car. As we pulled out to the road, it flew in front of us and wouldn't move. Normally, I wouldn't care and just keep driving and hope it got out of the way, but I just felt the need to stop. I stopped the car and waited for this white butterfly to move. It flew in front of the windshield for about 20 seconds and then flew back towards Shawn's Camp. Could it have been Shawn, I think so.
Come to find out, Shawn loved butterflys. When his mom would be planting flowers, he would ask her if they were plants that would attract them. He loved butterflys.
I know some of you are thinking this is a completely random blog for me, but I wanted to write the story to have it forever. And, maybe, just maybe, Emily being so innocent, did actually hear Shawn.

New Car

After a long day at the dealership (3 hours)she passed out on the way home. She did so well and didn't complain once the entire time. She even got 2 balloons...the first one went up to the ceiling and she held on to the other one!

After the car accident and finding her booster seat on the floor, my mom and I decided to quit being so cheap (I have her 5-point booster seat in storage in Michigan), we decided that Emily needed to be more safe, even if it is just a temporary booster seat. It was a rude awakening for both of us on Saturday, realizing if she was in the car with me, she would have been seriously hurt.

Here is her new 5-point booster seat...aka the princess booster seat!!

My poor Saturn being towed away after the hospital delivery van backed into and totaled it out (he actually broke the motor mounts!!!)



My parents let me use my mom's HHR to get to and from work while I was waiting for the check from the insurance company. My check arrived Saturday afternoon! An hour later, I totaled my mom's car! The other truck I hit is completely fine minus the back bumper being slightly dented. The driver is also ok. She was taken to the hospital to make sure, but found out she is ok. My arm is pretty scratched up and bruised, back really sore and some bruised ribs, but other than that, I am ok. So, that took us down to just my dad's truck. We could have gotten a rental, but didn't feel the need to since it is summer and both of my parents are not working.

Yesterday, we went to Salem and got this car for me! A 2008 Hyundai Elantra. It is so nice and I love it. I was able to pay for half of it in cash and had to finance the rest. Completely excited about that one. Plus, I have a 6 year warranty on it.

Summer?

I know that the calendar says that it is summer, but I think mother nature missed that memo! It has rained so much here the past 2 months, it is utterly depressing. I picked the wrong year to move back...Oregon has record rainfall for April and May...fingers crossed we don't have record rainfall for June. Last weekend was 70 and blue skies...with that comes a lot of business to the hotel. My GM called me Sunday night to congratulate me on selling out the hotel Saturday night and said that I tripled sales compared to the same weekend last year. What can I say, I am just that awesome!! But in all honesty, the hotel has been kicking in room revenue, which is good because that means job security for me. I keep trying to convince my boss that I need to go back to working day shift, and he keeps laughing at me. He brings out the reports on how much more room revenue we are getting now compared to before I switched over to nights and said as long as I am keeping up these numbers and keep having great comments on comment cards, there is no way he is moving me. However, I will not complaint about working nights right now, but as soon as Emily goes to school, I will have to find a job working days because I will not be working when she is home.
Emily finished preschool for the year. They put together a book of things she did. It is super cute. She is bummed out that she can't go back until October, but she still gets to go to daycare 2 days a week. And, I signed her up for swimming lessons yesterday!! She gets to start July 5th and she will go Monday-Friday for 2 weeks. If she likes it, I will sign her up for the next level.
I also decided to cut my hair. Some people will say it isn't that short, but it is really short for me. I used to dye my hair blond because I always thought I looked better with blond hair. About 2 years ago I decided that I was going to grow my hair out and just have my natural color. So, I bit the bullet and chopped off the last of the blond a few weeks ago...I should post pictures with my next post.
My car was totalled out, so next week my mom and I are heading over to Salem to do some car shopping. Now, just to decide on what car to get! I am leaning towards a Mazda 3 or a Hyundai....I was going to get a used car...seen a Toyota Celeca that I REALLY liked, but it was 10 years old and still $9000. I decided that I could get a new car for just a little more and have a 10 year warranty...wouldn't have to worry about dealing with anything for a quite a while. So, that is the route I am going with that.
And I have also discovered that I am allergic to cats! I grew up with a cat and never had an issue. While over at a friends house the other night, my eye starting itching, then burning, and before I knew it, my eye was completely swollen shut. 2 days later and a lot of benedryl and eye drops, my eye finally looks normal again.
And last but not least, Emily and I are both on strict diets!! I have always been worried about Emily's weight and could never figure out why she was always heavier than the average kid her age. I am always careful about what she eats, how much she eats, what she drinks, etc. I asked her doctor, who is a very close family friend, what I was doing wrong and what I could do to help her. He just looked at me and said that it is just hereditary and that all I could do was watch her food intake and make sure she gets plenty of physical activity. Ugh...poor girl took after my side of the family...this is the one thing I was wishing she took after on her dad's side. So, I have cut out all sweets for us both, I only drink water, but Emily does have a glass of milk or juice each day. I started this really strict diet a little over a week ago, and thus far, I have lost a little over 10 lbs...fingers crossed I can keep this up. And Emily is handling the change really well.

First Aquarium Trip 5-26-2010

For the entire month of May, the aquarium had a special for hotel employees...they get free admission and half off of a person they bring with them! So, finally getting a day to do so without it raining really hard, Emily I ventured there on Wednesday after I picked her up from school. I think that is the quickest trip in and out of there...30 minutes from the time we left the car until the time we got back!! She was so excited to see EVERYTHING and was running from place to place. Her favorite part was touching the star fish. I was quite impressed when she was naming off everything...just 5 months of preschool and she has learned so much.
In other news...as many know, I love my little Saturn, but things just keep popping up that need to be fixed, and I figure while I am able to afford a nice down payment on a car, thanks to my parents helping out and not charging me rent while we live here, I just decided to finally save up some money and get myself a nice car and just trade in my Saturn. Well, after returning home Wednesday from the aquarium and taking just a few minutes to sit down before running off to work, someone backed up into my car in my parents driveway. To make it worse, it was a big Ford van...one of those delivery vans for Samaritan Health Services. And, to top it off, he hit in square center of my hood and smashed it up and in so now I can't open my hood to put in the much needed transmission fluid that has been slowly leaking!! So, now my car is parked in the driveway, patiently awaiting for an insurance adjuster to come look at it. Fingers crossed they just cash my car out and I can put that towards my down payment for a new car!!
I had a great birthday last weekend. Went out with a couple of friends after I got off of work Saturday night/Sunday morning. Then on Sunday I got to spend the morning with Emily and my dad my favorite dinner before I had to go to work. It wasn't anything extravagant, but exactly what I wanted...a nice relaxing day at home with my girl! My mom did take me shopping so I could pick out my birthday present, but sadly, living on the coast, there isn't much to choose from. But, we did walk away with 2 pairs of shoes for Emily!!! Oh, and I did get a iPod charger for my car! Once summer gets here and my mom and I will actually have a day off together, we will venture over to Salem to do some serious shopping!!