Sasha Pole Vaulting ( second post of the day)

Sasha flying through the air.

Getting ready to run toward the pit. She is braver than I would be.

Video of Sasha pole vaulting. Hope it comes through.

Sasha has decided to try pole vaulting with her track team. She is still going to be running the 200 m and doing pole vaulting. Dave and I went to her track practice last Friday (4/23) and we took these pictures.

Sasha Pole Vaulting

Birthday Pictures

Me with my favorite cake: A Costco Carrot Cake...Yummmm !

L to R: Dave, Me, Sasha, Granny, Granddad, Jayson, Grandma Alice, Heather Behm at Red Robin. It was super fun.

Me with my birthday present from the Behm''s

Mercy checking out my new birthday presents.

Jayson and his presents. He turned 12 on the 15th.

The last two weeks have been really busy for birthdays. Jayson had his on the 15th and I had mine on the 23rd. Many friends wished us happy wishes. We have the best friends and family. Thanks everyone for helping to make our days super happy. Thanks also to Tessa, Celeste and Jill for bringing over goodies to eat. You are the best.

Happy Birthday to Me!

42 years ago today my Mom had me. O happy day! Thanks mom for 42 years of fun and togetherness. I was born in Lakewood General Hospital, which was torn down to make room for the Rite Aid and Pet Co on 100th in Lakewood. I told Dave last night that I will have to visit Rite Aid today to celebrate where I was born... NOT ! I have not moved very far in my life, but have visited some amazing places. Here's to another 42...at least.

Rain.....

I love the rain...except right after several sunny days. It is like I am being tricked or something. Normally I rejoice in the rain for many reasons. #1. I do not ever have to shovel the rain #2. I do not scrape the rain #3. The rain keeps me from having to be outside weeding or mowing or some other yard related work. #4. The rain keeps this little piece of heaven all green and beautiful. I just wish that it would rain only at night and have a lot of sunshine during the day. When I was stationed in the Philippines, it would do just that. Rain at night, Sun in the day. Is it too much to ask for that here?

A Miracle at Costco !

My beloved Pepsi

Dave and I were in Costco this morning buying stuff for the Boy Scout campout at Pacific Beach tonight and tomorrow when the most wondrous thing befell my eyes. In the food court, there is usually two Coke fountain machines. Today was a glorious day because sometime last night, the Pepsi fairy came and got rid of those ol' nasty Coke machines. Let me tell you about my love affair with Pepsi. Ever since I was little, I would try to convince my mom and dad to buy me Pepsi with little success. Of course everyone knows that pop is not the best thing for a person to drink. That meant little to me. Fast forward to adulthood and now I can have Pepsi any time that I want. Of course this means that I must trade my hard earned money for it, but do that I must. You also have to know that I rarely actually buy the stuff to drink at home. I just cannot justify spending the grocery money on something so precious...I mean...unhealthy. When my children were learning how to talk, they didn't say the regular "momma" or dadda". No....my brilliant children said the word..."Pepsi". In fact, Pepsi helped diagnose Sarah's hearing loss. When she was about two years old, I used to get upset that she wouldn't listen to me. I would tell her something, or call her name, and she would just ignore me. Well, that wouldn't do....so I tried to ask her a question with something that I knew she would want. "Sarah, do you want a Pepsi?" Nothing....no acknowledgment or anything. I KNEW then that something had to be wrong with her hearing because NO child could ever refuse drinking Pepsi. So...now you know why I am so ecstatic over seeing my beloved Pepsi at the Costco food court.

My Pretty Tulips

I just had to show you a picture of my pretty tulips that came up this year. Historically, I suck at growing things. Other than children which let me know that they are hungry and thirsty, plants and I do NOT get along. Amazingly, these flowers grow without any assistance from me whatsoever. I just love tulips. There is nothing better than fresh flowers on a table to make me feel all happy inside.

Sasha goes to the JROTC Ball

O'Ryan and Sasha sitting in the Perry's daffodil garden.

O'Ryan picking up Sasha.

O'Ryan and Sasha all ready for the dance. He gave her a gorgeous purple orchid wrist corsage. It was lovely.

O'Ryan and Sasha...how cute they are!

Jayson, Sasha and Sarah right before we went over to the Ethington's for Sasha's photo shoot.

Sasha and her gorgeous, red, curly hair. She looked like a princess.

Granddad, Sasha and Granny

Granny and Sasha

Sasha and Heather Behm. Heather was kind enough to do Sasha's hair. She had Sasha come over on Friday night and put those pink sponge curlers in her hair over night. Beauty has a price, ya know. Everyone needs a great friend with hair skills. Thanks so much Heather!

Sasha and her red cascading hair. Isn't it gorgeous??

Sasha in her pink sponge curlers.

Last night Sasha went to the Lakes High School JROTC Military Ball. It was held on North Fort Lewis ( or Joint Base Lewis McChord if ya want to get technical) at the Community Center on American Lake. It was a beautiful day with plenty of sunshine. Sasha was escorted to the dance by O'Ryan Ethington. He goes to our church and also to Sasha's school. The kids had a great time.

Happy 16th Anniversary !

Our Engagement Picture. We were younger and thinner. Notice the nice permed hair...what was I thinking?

Sixteen years ago today, I married my sweetheart. We were married at 10:00am in the Seattle LDS Temple. As April can be, it was a cold, rainy and blustery morning. That didn't matter, because there was "sunshine in my soul". We were marrying in God's Holy House. We had many friends from the Spanaway Ward there and the sweet man who performed the ceremony was Vern L. Wheeler. We occasionally see him today and he remembers us. He has to be near 80 years old this year. After we were married, we had a ring ceremony at our Church building because no one in both of our families are members of our Church and couldn't attend the Temple with us. This allowed our families to see us exchange rings. We had Dave Van Arnam sing "The Wedding Song" and we walked up the aisle to "Jesu, Son of Man's Desiring" which has been used in my Mom's wedding, my sister's wedding and then our wedding. In fact, when I hear that music today, I still am catapulted back to my wedding day. I still can't listen to it without tearing up. We had a great reception in the Parkland building. We had over 300 people crammed in there. My kids still make fun of my color choices, which were dusty rose and teal...such early 90's colors. Anyway....I still love Dave and look forward to an eternity with him. We have such a great life together. It is full of laughter, kids, funny stories, Church and Scout service, and love for each other. What more is there in life? Let me tell you...the answer is NOTHING. I have it all. I love ya, Dave.

My Trip to meet Ava!

God's Handiwork. I LOVE baby hands! They are so teeny and cute. I love it when they wrap around your finger...which also wraps them around your heart.

Baby toes. I could just eat them up.

It is so exhausting being this beautiful. This is the Easter Dress that we bought for her. It is white with teeny lilac flowers on it.

Mike, Heather and Ava on Easter Morning right before church. Aren't they they cutest little family. I miss them already.

I had a great time this past week when I visited Heather and Mike and got to meet my new granddaughter. Let me tell you...being a Granny is really awesome. Ava is a great little girl and a great snuggler. She smells great and loves being held all close and tight. I met a lot of Mike's family at the family Easter get together. I love them. They are a fun group of people. I also survived another California earthquake. It was a 7.2 and was centered in Mexicali Mexico. It felt like a rolling circular motion. It was also fairly quiet, which is in stark contrast to the other California earthquake that I lived through when I was stationed in Oakland CA. That one was in October of 1989 ( Loma Prieta Earthquake). The one in '89 was loud, and shook super duper hard. I wanted to come home from that one. Thankfully the one on this Easter was minor compared to that one. None the less... I was grateful to finally be HOME. Dave did a great job being Mom and Dad while I was gone. The kids are still alive, the house is clean, and even the laundry is done. Yay Dave....you are awesome.

Missed picture to last posting.

Sasha and Coach Ruben Cortinas presenting her "L" for wrestling.

For whatever reason, I tried three different times to add this picture to the last posting. It just wouldn't post. So, please go to the last entry ( older posts) and see the posting that I just entered. It is frustrating sometimes when technology doesn't work like I want it to.

We've been busy !

OK....So I have been super busy lately with new granddaughter Ava, Rex in the hospital, and just general wife and mom stuff. So, instead of a whole bunch of different postings, I will just post a mish mash of different stuff. Enjoy !!

Jayson in front of his school reader board. It is announcing his entrance to the Puget Sound Regional Science Fair at Pacific Lutheran University on March 27, 2010. He entered his crystal radio . Way to go Jayson !

Sasha and I goofing around while waiting for dinner at Applebee's. We always have fun together.

Sasha and her Girls wrestling coach Trisk Pak. Sasha earned her Varsity letter. Not bad for a 9th grader.

Sasha and some of her guy teammates at the pizza banquet. Boys can really put the pizza away.

Granny and Sarah at Good Sam ICU making the most of Rex's stay there. Laughing sure beats crying.

Sasha and I at a Relief Society activity. Everyone had to wear a wild hat. Sasha wore her wrestling cap and I wore Dave's flight deck helmet. It was a fun night.