New Year

Hello all!

So, as you can see, my attempt to blog more often was not too successful, but it is a new year and maybe I'll do better. Our holidays were good.

We enjoyed tremendously our time at the coast. If you ever want a wonderful weekend at the Oregon Coast, November is a good month, seriously. Each time we go in November it is beautiful! This was no different. Here's a pic of my kids at sunset on our balcony. We spent a lot of time doing nothing and the rest of the time enjoying friends who stopped by and my sister Summer and her family for an overnight.





December took us to Washington to visit my Tommy. He was gracious enough to host us for the Christmas holiday. I could not get in the spirit and couldn't imagine a holiday at home without Aaron and my other kids, so we ran away. We had a lovely time and spent most of our time huddled around the TV, eating good food and learning about his "town" Everett. Even got to see my dad and step-mom and family there. Here is Tom's house with snow all around (which we missed by a week). It hasn't stopped raining there since we left, ah...winter in the Pacific Northwest.





I am so bummed that I cannot get a photo of my Ashely and Brenton to post, will have to work on that. They looked FANTASTIC at their Winter Formal this past weekend. In the meantime, stay warm and safe with YOUR famiily and do something good for yourself today. It helps....

Seaside in the fall

My sister told me that the Oregon Coast is always 10-degrees warmer in the winter and 10-degrees cooler in the summer and she is RIGHT!

We are totally loving our time here as well as special time with my sister and her family (24-hours).

We are so glad we took our time coming here. After a very busy Trailblazer game with my Street Jam teams we had an overnight and then attending the bowling tournament and an overnight with my Grandma Grace, which was a wonderful transition from our VERY busy, frantic lives to that we are enjoying on vacation. It was fun to spend that time with Tom as well.

I must tell you that CHRIS earned a GOLD MEDAL at the STATE GAMES and can be nominated now to go to the National Games! He bowled an AMAZING 5 strikes in a row (which we heard was the most consecutive strikes that day) and we were all shocked. Even the strangers around were drawn into the drama and a definite AWWWW was heard on his first frame without a strike. He did amazingly well. His average is 112. The first game he earned an 84 and I figured we were done, but then his next game score was 178 and he finished off with an 135. It was AWESOME. I have photos and will attach them when I get home at the end of the week.

Seaside is BEAUTIFUL and WARM! It is probably in the 60s today and unless you have the disfortune of being out of the sun, it is lovely. Our room has a view of both the town of Seaside and the beach and faces south so we have a LOVELY sun-filled room, which is what I needed most of all SUN! We got moved into our room just in time to watch the sun melt into the calm Pacific and I was suddenly very sad to not have my Aaron with me as he proposed to me while we were staying near here at sunset.

Summer AND Stan and the kids came late last night and we played Scrabble, had mucnchies and then got up this morning and hit the beach! Everyone had fun writing in the sand and playing sand volleyball, then a quick snack and Summer and gang went to Astoria to visit Stan's brother Jeff and the kids and I are swimming/reading/relaxing, etc. They will be home for more games this afternoon and then off to home before dinner.

I am SO glad that we have 2 more nights here, it is amazing! More later....

xoxo Sarah n kids

Lessons on Life

Lord knows I have been tested and tried, but still persevere...
read on to understand one others view on life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer,and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second sonsaid no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he hadever seen. T
he last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping withfruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

So, don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

author unknown

Miss ME?

I am so sorry if you have not been able to get a hold of me, it is not that I am trying to be difficult, but I am a very BUSY lady! However, THIS week I am on VACATION...don't be jealous, don't hate me because I have a time share...come and join us and enjoy the view from our suite overlooking the beautiful, sometimes treacherous, and always COLD Pacific Ocean.

The kids and I are off to SEASIDE!

But first...

of course, this comes after a weekend of Special Olympics' events where I am taking two of our basketball teams to Portland to watch the Trailblazers (for FREE) and then we will enjoy the celebrations and sometimes feel the heartache of our State Bowling Championships in Beaverton on Saturday.

Chris will be competing this weekend and is hoping to keep his average of 110 or higher and bring home a medal! Here is a photo of us last year at the event in Portland, where we brought home lots of metal and LOTS of joy! We will miss Aaron joining us, but Tom will be coming down from Seattle to "do" the game and move more furniture and watch bowling. Katie gets to come too, as her basketball season is just begining. Nick will be in the cheering section this time, but is looking forward to basketball starting after Thanksgiving.

We will also get to enjoy an evening with my Grandma Grace who also lives in Portland. We don't get to see her often enough, so that will be lots of fun, full of games and homemade grandma-food, which is always awesome!

Well, I better sign off for now....but will be back soon with photos of the fun in Portland and in Seaside.

Again, don't be jealous, come and join us instead!

Love and kisses to all!

I am so sorry that I gave up the writing business, I promise to do better.

October got of to a wonderful start with my 40th birthday and hense the meaning of this web posting blog "decade4", as I have survived yet another decade! Here is a photo of me with the last minute stragglers from my party. We had a really good time, and once again, it did NOT rain on MY birthday (but it was damned cold).

If you start with the beautiful blonde in the back, she is my best friend Stacey and her husband Mitch. My crazy son Tom has is arm around one of his many "adopted fathers". The young lady in front of them is Jasmine, my friend Mary's (who is taking the photo) daughter who is the same age as Katie. The stud muffin at the bottom is Brian, he and Tom have been friends since Kindergarten! Next to him is my baby sister Summer (check out her site Gladcow.com). The young lady on the other side is Allison and she is the daughter of Tammy, who is standing next to Jeff, her husband, who has his arm around his step-daughter and who I used to baby sit BEFORE Tommy was born. Tammy is then next to Jeff and embracing ME! I am EXACTLY where I love to be, right smack in the middle of my friends and family!

A good time was had by all and after topping a few too many Gin and Tonics with mixed margaritas...I looked like this! Take some advice from a not-so-wise old woman and don't do it!

Good thing I'm only turning 40 once! I have to thank my friend Kerith for my party because SHE insisted that since I was turning 40 I HAD to have a party...just wait! In a not-very-long-period-of-time, she will be 40 too....and I can't WAIT! hee hee

The end of October carried my twins and I to Seattle to visit with my dad and my oldest child, Tom. We decided to take the train, which the boys had never done and I couldn't have been more glad with our choice. We had a WONDERFUL, relaxing trip and got to see Tom's new house (home-owner that he strives to be) and work with him and play with him and visit with my step-mom and my dad and my step-sister and her daughter! It was tons of fun!

Now we are back home, dealing with the rain and battling to keep the depression at bay...hard to do with nothing but two weeks of rain forecast and it being practically DARK at 5:00 p.m. Gonna be a LONG winter I'm afraid. My best to you and yours! Stay dry, keep warm and surround yourself with ones you love!

Loss of Children

We had a terrible tragedy happen AGAIN in our community. A young girl that Katie was friends with (in Albany) was hit crossing the street last week and passed away. Her funeral was today. It is so sad when we lose a spirited vitality in a person so young. She had a lot of potential and a lot of friends that she left behind. This is an excerpt from Brianna Marrs obituary:

She was an awesome cheerleader with outstanding skills and was a member of Ultimate Cheer. She loved volleyball, softball and spending time chatting with her friends on the computer. She loved hanging out with her best friend, Michael, and had many other friends who loved her. She loved going to the mall, movies and music. She was kind and cared about others. Her smile lit up the room. She was so funny and would be goofy to make you laugh.

My closing line from my last entry applies to the death of Brianna as well....life is just NOT long enough for some, enjoy them while you can, for they are gone too soon sometimes it seems.

God Bless and Keep you Brianna

mOnDaY - icky poo

Aaron and I spoke again today. The bottom line, if there is one, is that he doesn't feel he has been the same since his head hit the concrete (motorcycle accident one year ago). We have experienced a lot of changes in behavior since that time, but our love remains true. Unfortuantely, he finds that he is able to handle "things" better in his own place without the interference of my and my children. This breaks my heart, because my life is SO much better with him in it. I am not giving up. I still think that we have the tools and the love to make a go of it, but the road may be REALLY BUMPY for a while.

Thank you all for your love and kind words. Pray for Aaron. Pray for healing for him and peace for me. If GOD sees his way for us to have a life together, we will. But not without a little bit of work on all our parts. Hopefully, Aaron can see the good of a little labor in his life (the emotional kind that guys just don't want to do) and we will have our family back.

Enjoy the life that God has given each of you. It is taken too quickly for all the wrong reasons sometimes....