The Mungaven’s and a Goldman

This year has been pretty action packed for our little family. We were blessed to go on a variety of trips this year. James and I were fortunate enough to join in the celebrating of our friends, Eddy and Patricia’s, marriage down in sunny Las Vegas in April.  In July, my sister took the girls on their first trip without me to Oregon for a week. They met a new friend and had a blast down there! In June, Chelsea, her mom Jeanie, the girls and I got to run away to La Push for a girls weekend. Chelsea, Jeanie and I went to La Push almost every year since we were 8-years-old and we absolutely loved it. We were so thrilled to share the experience with the girls. Later in June, James and I slipped away to wonderful hotel in Bellingham. We enjoyed the little town and its beaches. We learned how to make soap while there. In August, James and I took the girls for their first trip out of the country to Canada. We took the Victoria Clipper up there and enjoyed a double decker bus tour, a horse drawn carriage tour, an under water aquarium and our hotels huge swimming pool. In October we drove over to eastern Washington and had a great time visiting James Uncle Dave and Aunt Bonnie. Bonnie took us horseback riding and spoiled us with her amazing cooking. Dave got the girls their very own fishing poles and took us out fishing.  And finally, in December, we got to go to beautiful Leavenworth with Chelsea for the lighting of the town and some sledding. Another yearly trip that Chelsea and I did growing up and were so excited to continue the tradition with the girls. In between all of this we also squeezed in four hiking trips, a day of kayaking, which was a first for all of us and the girls first Kids run.

James broke a sales record at work this year and also got Salesman-of-the-Month several times. Unfortunately, he did roll his jeep during an off roading trip but he has upgraded to a v8 Grand Cherokee and is now ready to break it in on the trails. We are glad he came home safe and injury free.

Kaeli is 8 and enjoying the 3^rd grade this year. She continues to excel in her academics and just about everything else that she tries. She has a deep love for animals, an also loves to read, ride her bike and just about anything else active. When the weather improves we plan on training to run a 5k together.

Chloe started the year out by losing her first tooth. Chloe is 6 and is in the 1^st grade this year and is improving her reading skills daily. She loves to draw and is very good at it. Chloe has really gotten in touch with her girly girl side this year and loves doing her hair, her nails, and is known to switch outfit various times throughout the day. That’s right; she is 6 going on 16.

As for me, I accomplished last year’s New Year’s resolution of doing a running event each month for a year. I also started school in September and after some adjustment feel very good about it and I am excited for the next quarter to start.

That only sums up half of the fun we had this year. We are so blessed with the wonderful family and friends that surround us. We are very grateful for our warm home, full tummies and our health. Cheers to 2011 and may 2012 be even better!

Seattle Love!

I love Seattle!

I never knew this about myself. I guess I've always consider Seattle to be a mocker of the parallel parking impaired, one way streets that are strategically placed so you are incapable of ever reaching your destination and a traffic nightmare.

I have been given the opportunity to work at my company's Seattle office for three weeks. I am covering for one of their admin woman who just had a baby and another admin woman who will be getting married and  honeymooning for two weeks. With them out that leaves just one administrator here and to avoid her losing her mind and just beating her head on her desk for 8 hours they asked if I could fill in. At first I had mixed emotions about it. Traffic is always rough going into and coming out of the city. I knew that parking was going to be spendy and the girls would need to go to child care after school instead of me being able to pick them up from school, adding an expense that isn't normally there. I was literally going to be paying to work. But I was ready for a change and agreed to help them out.

My first day here I drove my car and was surprised to find that traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. My excitement soon was crushed by a little parking sign reading "Early Bird Special $18". $18!! Nothing about $18 makes me feel special for being early. Whatever. I shook it off and headed in. The Seattle office is located on the 11th floor of the Seattle Tower. A life insurance company called Northern Life Insurance began building the Seattle Tower in 1919 and completed it in 1929  orignally calling it the Northern Life Tower. Guys, this building is amazing. It is so full of character and history.



The building from the outside.
They used five different colors
 of brinks starting with the dark
ones at the bottom and
 they get lighter as they go up.



The outside enterance,

 

The beautiful lobby.



 

This is my favoritepart of ther building.

This is above each elevator.

 



The hall way to the office.



All the of doors are made out of solid
wood and are hea-vy!
 Some have glass in them, some don't.
 The panel above each door swings out for ventilation..

   

Every door knob has
"NLF" on it for Northern Life Insurance,
 the people who orginally built the building.



All the windows open by
pushing them out in the center.



Each room in the building
 has a heater that is run off of steam
 which is created in a boiler room under the building.



My favorite room in the building,
the bathroom! All real marble.
Even that stall walls
are marble.





  

The locks inside the bathrom stalls.
 So much character everywhere!





 

One of the many awesome views
 from around the building.
 Just high enough for a view but
 not too high that you miss out
 on some great people watching.



 





After paying $18 and a piece of my soul to the parking lot attendant I knew that there is no way my limited budget could afford $18 a day for the next three weeks. When I got home I checkout the transit routes and times. I was excited to find that commuting by bus would actually result in a shorter commute time than driving! I was sold. Only down side, I’d have to get up a half hour earlier. Now, a half hour doesn’t sound like a lot but I already get up at 5:30 and I don’t care who you are, 5:00am is early! Anyway, I took the bus yesterday for the first time in years. Standing in line waiting for the bus felt like the first day of school all over again. I had my cash in my head ready to go so I didn’t have to fish through my pockets and be “that person” that holds up the line. Well, turns out that people don’t even use cash anymore. They have an Orca card that you load with money and swipe in front of a meter and it scans the card as you walk by. So being prepare with my cash in hand still made me the lady in the express checkout lane writing a check. Lesson learned and I am anxiosly awaiting my Orca card in the mail. Overall, riding the bus has turned out to be a pretty enjoyable experience. I have time to read my book or take a brief nap instead of being the lady in your rear view mirror pounding her fists on her stirring wheel and screaming at her windshield while stuck in traffic. Yeah, I'm that person. The bus drops me off two blocks away from the building and I love the brisk walk before starting my work day.

 AND, everything is in walking distance! Places to eat, the bank, Pike Place Market, a Starbucks literally on every single block, Westlake Center and all the shopping a girl could ask for<---(this has proven to be dangerous).

So Seattle, I apologize for calling you the butthole of the suburbs. You are infact, electric, exciting and beautiful and I heart you big time!

 















Waiting with a Side of Purple Jeep

I wrote this about a year ago. I found it on my phone while trying to occupy myself while off roading on Sunday. Coincidence, I think not.

There is something about an old man in a full body slicker that makes getting up at stupid o’clock on one of the only days I get to sleep in worth it. It’s raining today as we sit at the trail head of Evan’s Creek for our day of off roading. James wakes up early for such events, like a young child wakes up early on Christmas morning, with a bounce in his step and eyes full of excitement. By the time we pack the jeep, drive to meet the other jeeps, stop at the last gas station before civilization stops and nature begins, buy forest day passes , meet again at the trail head to air down the tires we have waited two and a half hours.

We finally get started on our first trail, miss our turn, turn around, find the start of the right trail and finally we kick it into four wheel drive. Then we stop again. James tells me one of the rigs in the front of the group is “Open, open with bald tires” and can’t make it up the trail, holding everyone else up. No, “open, open” isn’t in reference to those horrible Mervyn’s commercials we all grew to hate. It has something to do with whether you are “locked” or “open”. I will spare you the details and sum it up as “locked” is good, “open” is bad in the world of off roading.

So, now I have been awake since 6:00. I am currently missing the fifth Seahawks game of the season. I have yet been able to watch a single game this season. Today would have been my first opportunity to do so. Why do I do all of this you may ask? I do it because of the excited smile the boyfriend makes as he looks at me like a two year old receiving his first gold star for peeing in the potty and says “Did you see  my jeep did what his couldn’t, babe?” While I am thinking, “With as much money as you put into this thing it should be able to cook and clean for me” but instead I nod and smile and say “Yes, babe. You’re purple jeep is amazing.”

A Tribute To Kaeli

To My Favorite First Born Child,

I wanted to take a moment to tell you how special you are to me upon the celebration of your 8^Th birthday. You are the light of my world. Ever since the very first day you decided to bless the world with your big smile you have brighten people’s day. Your highly contagious laugh can melt any bad day away.

Your determination to succeed at every new thing you take on amazes me every day. You never give up and you are great at everything you do.

One of my favorite things about you is your kind spirit. You are the first person to notice when someone is sad and you take the time to talk to them or give them a sympathetic hug to make them feel better. You are so compassionate and gentle.

I love your eagerness to try new things (minus food, but we are working on that).

You are an amazing sister. Your patience with Chloe is so appreciated by her. You are her hero and she looks up to you so much. I love the way you sit with her and help her with her reading. She will remember those times all her life.

Your passion for life is so contagious. I love your endless energy and your love of the outdoors. I love your playfulness and your sense of humor.

You are so special to so many people in this world.  You are a wonderful daughter and sister. I am so proud of who you are and look forward to what this next year will bring. I love you more than words could ever explain. Happy 8^Th Birthday my beautiful little girl.

Pesky Weeds!

That’s right; this picture was taken from inside the girl’s room right next to the sliding glass door. If you look closely you can see it’s brother growing through our deck outside. We have talked to the apartment management staff and they say there is nothing they can do. REALLY?! We have ivy growing through the floor INSIDE our apartment and there is nothing you a can do. Well, I guess the next thing to do is add “weed room” to the girl’s chore list.

Crazy Hair Day!

Yesterday was crazy hair day for the girls at school! Here is the first attempt...

Here is the second attempt...

They got much more creative!

Let me tell you what my favorite part of crazy hair day was. Every Thursday the girls come with me to delivery groceries to people that are too ill to go grocery shopping on their own. We delivery to about 8 people in the greater Lake city and Northgate areas. Often times we see interesting people that spark many question in the girls. So yesterday we passed a women, that may have not put much thought into her appearance that day, walking on the side of the road. Chloe, very serious and matter-of-factually says "Oh, she must have known it was crazy hair day too."

Half Marathon vs Hips

I wish I could say this past Sunday’s half marathon was a success. That those 12 weeks of training were not a waste but as I walk through the hallways at work, people tilt their heads sideways asking if I am limping. I again have to explain with embarrassment that I ran a half marathon yesterday and it really took a toll on my hips. About the 5^th mile into the 13.1 mile race my right hip started to throb with pain. I was able to relieve the pain by pulling my knee to my chest and strength out my hip but after only a couple more steps the pain would return. Here I was not even half way through the race and I was already worried I might not make it. Then as I came around the corner of my 7^th mile I saw their faces. The three loves of my life. James, Kaeli and Chloe. They stood there watching every person pass waiting to cheer me on.  It brought tears to my eyes. James said some encouraging words as the girls high fived me and I knew right then I had to finish. I wanted my girls to see me finish. I wanted to show James that the sacrifices he made so I could train weren’t in vain. I was going to finish.

I trucked through the pain. Thankful that it was only one hip hurt. Then about the 8^th mile my other hip jumped on the pain bandwagon. The pain was so excruciating that it brought me to tears several times when I had to stop running and walk.  And I am no wuss when it comes to pain, folks. I kept thinking of how I spent weeks training. Physically I was more than capable of completing this half marathon but the pain was so great. I still had so far to go. The 8^th mile was the beginning of a long uphill incline. My hips would not allow me to get more than a couple steps before I had to stop running and walk. I was forced to walk the entire hill. At the top of the hill were James and the girls again. I was so excited to see them but so embarrassed at my failure. I was walking. I couldn’t even pretend to jog up to them. I high fived the girlies and could see that James knew I was hurting. He told me I was doing great. As I passed them I had reached to top of the hill.  I was so discouraged, so disappointed and so MAD! I started jogging again. I didn’t know where the three of them were going to pop up next but I sure wasn’t going to be walking again when I saw them next. Miles 9, 10 and 11 were the longest miles of my life but there at the 11^th mile were my three cheerleaders again. I knew as I jogged up to them I was going to finish this thing even if it killed me. ¾ into my 12^th mile I could see the finish line. Up a HUGE hill! If I ever meet the man that planned out the course of this race and put the finish line at the top of a hill I will gladly punch him in the face and then repent later. As I approached the hill I saw my family again. I didn’t expect to see them before the finish line so it was a great surprise. As I passed I didn’t high five because it was going to take all the strength I had to get up that hill to the finish line but as I looked to my right there was Kaeli, running the last 100 yards uphill with me to the finish line. As I crossed the finish line and they read my name over the loud speaker I gave Kaeli the biggest hug and cried. I thanked her for being there for me. I looked around for James and Chloe and here they come up the hill. James is carrying Chloe in his arms because she refused to walk up the hill. In typical Chloe fashion that I love her for. : ) I cannot even express how much it meant for me to have them there. Cheering me on the whole way. Never giving up on me. I could have never done this without them and I am truly blessed to call them my family. James, Kaeli and Chloe, thank you for being my strength and for believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. I love you all so very much!

Miss Chloey-lowely giving me a high five. An awesome picture taken by James

St. Patrick’s Day

For some reason unknown to me I have adopted St. Patrick’s Day as one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it’s because it’s a holiday started after a Saint and has been reduced to a reason to drink green beer, physically hurt someone by pinching them because they aren’t wearing proper attire and teachers teaching their students how to make a “humane” trap for a little tiny green man. That was my favorite part of the letter that came home explaining Chloe’s class project; it has to be “humane”. Or maybe it was Chloe’s way of explaining the project to me.

Chloe: Mommy, I need money.

Me: Ok, for what?

Chloe: Just pennies.

Me: Ok, for what?

Chloe: I have some in my piggy bank. Can I use those?

I start to think I am not asking the right question or she has already figured out a diversion strategy to get money out of me and buy something I wouldn’t allow her to buy like 273 candy bars. I try another angle.

Me: Do you need these pennies for school?

Chloe: NO MOM! I need them for my leprechaun trap.

This included the Chloe “Duh!” face followed by the eye roll that she perfected at a disturbingly young age.

Me: Alright, how many do need?

Chloe: Oh, not much. Maybe like $100. I am going to catch 3 leprechauns. One for me, one for you, and one for Kaeli. Then we all get a pot of gold.

I love this kids thinking! 

Last year I had a St. Patrick’s Day dinner. I made a cute menu that had an appetizer, salad, dinner, dessert and drinks but I soon hated that menu! Oh the pressure that cute little green and white menu put on me. I no longer could improvise or decide not to make something without anyone’s knowledge if time wasn’t permitting. Nope. That menu just stared me saying “you haven’t made the asparagus yet and everything else it is ready to serve. You can’t skip the asparagus because it says asparagus right here.” AHHH, I spent most of the night losing my mind as I tried to keep up with food items on my menu. It was a disaster. Thank goodness it was only family and Tayla that attended the party. They have to love my disaster party and lie to my face telling me how great everything is. It is in their family job descriptions to do so. This year I planned. And then planned some more. I still made a cute menu with an appetizer, salad, dinner, dessert and drinks. I even upped myself and made a nutritional Information menu to go with it. Everything went perfectly. Except for the fact I managed to prove again that I cannot bake to save my life. I can cook a wonderful breakfast, lunch or dinner but if you were given a choice between me or a monkey baking a dessert for you, you should pick the monkey… every time… seriously.  Luckily, Tayla was over. She is the baker so I made her try and fix what I destroyed. She did what she could, we slapped a disclaimer on it before anyone put it into their mouths and it turned out great! Tayla is my baking hero! I cooked a delicious meal and got to actually enjoy it along with enjoying my company. I’m such a big girl now!

The Cute Menu and Nutritional Information.

(Since all of us are on diets right now)

The green fruit appetizer. Grapes, kiwi, apples, pears, and honey dew.

The strawberry and feta cheese salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

Chicken, Broccoli, and Tomato with Whole Grain Pasta. 
Very tasty and very good for you!

Berry Berry Cake for dessert. Only 127 calories a slice and so yummy!

Happy eaters! Sister (aka Rachael), Amber and Tayla! The 3 kiddos are at the kiddie table. When left to their own devises they created a disaster so there is no footage of such an event.

Drool

She doesn't normally drool and the whole point of having a camera phone it to capture the moments you can never get back. I am utilizaing my resources.  Hehe...he. 

The Only Way to People Watch!

If you haven't been to a junk yard lately, you need to go! Seriously, it's better people watching than a coffee shop in down town Seattle. I have proof! Unfortunately, James jeep decided it didn’t like its drive shaft anymore and intentionally broke itself to get a new one. That plants me at the junk yard on a beautiful, child free, Saturday for three hours while poor James risks his life pulling parts from underneath a junk yard jeep that is only held up by three metal rims. Shady! So naturally, I had to figure out how to entertain myself. I am actually very good at this but you know who is better at it, Tayla! Together, we think we are the funniest thing to hit the plant and it’s too bad the rest of the world doesn’t agree because we could totally make money off of the material we come up with. So, I called her up! We got to spend some good quality time talking for several hours straight without “Mommy, I’m hungry. When is dinner? What are we having for dinner? I don’t like that, can I have macaroni instead? Why?!! You are the meanest mommy in the world for making me eat a well balanced home cooked meal instead of a calorie backed, no nutrition what-so-ever box of bland macaroni and cheese!!” Ok, I may have added the last part but the first four questions, I hear every day. Now remember, I have two children and I have come to believe that they have a very intricate plan of tag teaming everything! For example, Kaeli will come in the kitchen and we will go through the above series of dinner questions and then she will walk away in a huff and no joke, Chloe will walk up just as Kaeli is departing (this is where I believe the tag happens when I’m not looking) and we will go through the same line of questioning. I'm pretty sure they do this on purpose. It’s some sort of mind game to get me to break down and serve them macaroni and cheese every day for the rest of their lives. Alright, tangent over!

Let me show you what I’m working with:

This is the view from my passenger side window. I have never been to a junk yard that had trailers in it. This makes the experience a little more humorous and sad at the same time. Also, see the reddish car that over time has faded into a beautiful rust type color? Well, after about an hour of sitting in my car, I noticed some one moving in that car. It scared the hell out of me! As I was explaining the situation of my new found neighbor to Tayla I realized I couldn’t tell if the person was male or female due to the hood they had pulled over their head. This quickly became my mission for the day. I’m easy entertained, what can I say? I’m a cheap date! It took another hour before the hood gave birth to a female head! Ok, moving on…

Here is a junk yard possey. I never saw them enter the junk yard. They literally came out of nowhere but they differently knew what they were doing and had the right apparel to back it up yet still left empty handed.

This is where my companies safety representative would say “Safety first, last and always.” As he flipped through the “Do Not Do” slides on safety. I think their safety representative was on a smoke break.

Or maybe this is him single handedly trying to rip the license plate off with a hammer…

But then had to bring in reinforcements when it was proving to be a very difficult process.


That is the end of my junk yard journey. Yes. All the pictures provided were taken from the safety of my locked car. Similar to being on an African safari in your car, you are wise to remain in the vehicle. The environment here is new, strange and unpredictable.

Easy Bake Oven

Remember those? I think I used mine until I went through a whole pack of light bulbs and my dad fianlly cut me off. I got the girls one for Christmas and I had totally forgotten about the needing a light bulb to operate it part. So I looked up what type of bulb is required. It turns out there is no such bulb. I try looking for one at Target and Home Depot and no such bulb exists. So for the first hundred times the girls asked to use the Easy Bake Oven I would instead pull out the cook books they got for Christmas and let them each pick something out to cook until I could find a bulb. Then one day my sister came over and the girls asked her if she would cook something with them in the Easy Bake Oven. I told her there was no light bulb. I explained how I think the only way to obtain the correct one is by ordering it from some foreign country and I am currently writing Easy Bake Oven to explain how they are destroying little girls dreams with their evil ways. So my sister set off to look for the right bulb in hopes of saving the day. She calls me while standing in the light bulb section and rambles off a bunch of light bulbs names. None of which were the one required and most were the ones Easy Bake Oven tells you specifically not to use. We decided to compromise and get one that we thought would work. I figured if the Easy Bake Oven decides to catch on fire and melt to my counter top becoming a permanent fixture in my kitchen forever than so be it. I will have the fire extinguisher ready. But by the time she brought it home we had previous plans we had to get to and alas, the girls still couldn’t use the highly anticipated cooking device. A couple nights ago the girls asked me again to use the Easy Bake Oven. I was running around like a crazy person trying to prepare my meals for this diet and threw James under the bus and told the girls he would bake something with them. Hehe. Luckily he didn't mind at all, in fact, I think he was excited but don't tell him I told you so. So James and the girls made the best cookie sized white cake ever made in the great land of Easy Baking. Aren't they cute!

Game On The Brain!

It’s Monday and the start of four weeks of The Game On! Diet. For those of you that don’t know, The Game On! Diet is a book written by Krista Vernoff which just so happens to be the writer of Grey’s Anatomy. She is hysterical so this book becomes a fast and easy read. The Game On! Diet is a competitive way to diet! Competitive is my middle name people! I am THAT person that is all up in your face replaying every minute of how you just lost to me. Yep, you know the one you want to punch in the face. I’m THAT person! Not healthy, I know, but this book makes it healthy. Let me just clarify. The book doesn’t encourage taunting other people until you get punched in the face so I am going to try to avoid that but what the book does do is have you create teams that compete against each other based on a point system. For Example:

30 Meal Points: You earn 6 points per meal for eating five fully sanctioned meals. No snacks between meals

20 Exercise Points: You earn your exercise points by doing some form of exercise for 20 minutes per day.

10 Water Points: You earn your water points by drinking three liters of water per day.

15 Sleep Points: You earn your sleep points by sleeping for a minimum of seven hours a night.

20 Transformation Points: You earn 10 points for practicing one healthy habit and another 10 points a day for eliminating one unhealthy old habit.

5 communication points: You earn communication points by being in contact with at least one teammate and at least one opponent a each day. (Phone calls, emails and text messages count.)

Exceptions: Each week, each player gets one meal off in addition to one day off. The meal o0ff and day off may be taken at any time during the given week.

Bonus points: You can earn bonus points by turning in your points to the score keeper by the designated time.

There are also Penalties and such where you lose points. I think the most appealing thing about this diet, other than the fact that you get to compete in a competitive nature against other competors (I just made that word up) is that the point system isn’t based on weight lost. I have spent the last year getting down to the “appropriate” weight for my height so I am able to make a different fitness goal other then weight loss. It applies to any type of fitness goal so anyone has a chance to win! Which Team #1 will win!!! We are Team #1 for a reason, because we are #1 and we are going to win! Just sayin!

Our game has 5 teams of three with the exception of team #1 (the winning team) which has four players. Another awesome thing about the scoring is that it’s averaged at the end so if one team has an additional team mate they don’t have an advantage. My mom, sister and two aunts are on opposing teams. It’s going to be really sad watching them cry when they lose. But! The BEST part is there will be a prize for the winning team! (Team #1) Yes, of course you get the benefits of ganging knowledge on how to eat better and then doing it, losing weight or achieving your fitness goal, breaking bad habits, forming good habits, being a good team player blah, blah, blah but you get a PRIZE! Our team hasn’t decided what is it yet but if I have any say in the matter there will be a rickshaw involved!

Some day they will probably hate me for this.

The girls are on Mid-winter break this week from school and today my best friend, Tayla has the honor of trying her best to keep them from hurting themselves. Tayla has been sending me pictures of activities they are doing through out the day and one of them was during bath time. Chloe made sure to tell Tayla that only I am to receive this picture and then Kaeli chimes in and says "And make sure she doesn't put it on facebook either." Good thing they don't know about the blog yet. Hehe.

For my first post of my new blog I felt it was only appropriate to include videos of the girls that will one day might be the reason they slam doors in my face. Several days ago the girls came out of their room in what they considered "workout attire" and asked if they could do a yoga video. The outfits consisted of a bath suite top and what ever stretchy pants they could find. I'm not sure how this outfit made them feel the need to workout but I can promise you that I do not wear a bathing suit top and stretchy pants to the gym! Anyway, who am I to discourage exercise so I put it on for them. Chloe didn't even last past the breathing exercises at the beginning of the video exclaiming that "this is too hard". Let me tell you something about Chloe. She is lazy. I appreciate this about her for the simple entertainment that comes with watching how she is going to manipulate others or the environment around her to put the least amount of effort into what she is doing. She can get extremely creative! So, since Chloe didn't last long enough during the yoga video for me to even pull out my phone and start filming I only have Kaeli in this video. Chloe is in the background, literally looking for "the easier yoga video".

I was going to share another video of the girls doing Tae-bo until I realized there is a moment of wedgie removal and no one wants to see that. But I will tell you that Kaeli looks pretty buff in the video and Chloe is rolling around on the ground in a pink snuggie...yeah, I love these girls!!