Maverick, Tuff's favorite cousin

As most of you know, Steve and Alie have a new (4 month old) little doggie named Maverick. We were a little skeptical of how he and Tuff would do together. But, much to our happiness, they love each other. They love to play. Mav chases Tuff around the yard. Tuff paws Mav down when he's tired of him. It is hilarious to watch. So, our concerns are not so strong now and the cousins are fond of each other. Welcome to the fam Mav.

Life is good

I am just amazed at the feelings I have being an aunt. I love this little girl. It is so fun knowing that this is Ben and Galad's baby. Galadriel has been amazing this first week of Eowyn's life. Isn't Galad beautiful? For anyone who's seen her lately, I think we all agree that Galadriel looks so beautiful and has such an amazing outlook on life. I love you Galadriel. Ben also has a great view on life. It is so fun to see him with Eowyn. She has definitely already won daddy's heart. And Ben's still Ben, making jokes with Eowyn, having fun with her. This kid is going to have a good life with great parents. I love you too Ben!

My Beautiful Niece Eowyn Joy

I am so happy to introduce to you Ben and Galadriel's baby girl. Galadriel delivered her on Tuesday, July 25th at 3:34 in the morning. Her name is Eowyn Joy. (A-O-win) She is the most beautiful baby girl that I have ever seen. I never thought that I would love a baby so much so fast. I can't imagine what it's like to be the mom. I absolutely adore Eowyn. She is perfectly beautiful. Congrats Ben and Galadriel!

Matt's HUGE fish

Many of you know and some of you don't that Matt caught a HUGE largemouth bass. This bass was only 7 ounces shy of our state record. It was 11 pounds 2 ounces. Matt has been getting accolades left and right from incredible bass fishermen and women. He was given a standing ovation at his Bass club meeting. Today at Auburn Sports Marine he was told that he is "considered a legend around these parts". I am so excited for him. Way to go babe!

The Boys Turn 30!!!

This past weekend Matt and I met Matt and Sabrina Schlesinger and Luke and Gwen Bumela to celebrate all three boys turning 30! Luke turned 30 in October, yesterday my Matt turned 30 and in July Matt Schles will turn 30. So, to celebrate, we all rondevued to a secret location (kidding, kidding) to beautiful and environmentally friendly Oregon to spend some time together. It was a blast. We went to the body exhibit and got up close and personal with the human body, we ate together at far too many restaurants, we heard Sabrina and her sis Corrina sing karaoke, (well Corrina sang Karaoke, I think Sabrina thought she was leading worship...but, leading worship or not, she was the only one with guts enough to do it...her and Corrina...I think it's a Stratton thing!) we shopped, girls got pedicures, boys went to the fishing store, we went to beautiful Japanese gardens where we were told that we are helping erosion (what the?), we saw about 50 buck-naked people riding their bikes in downtown Portland (Sabrina's highlight, I think...) and most of all, we laughed, laughed and laughed. Matt and I had such a blast with Luke and Gwen, Matt and Sabrina. What fun friends! Thanks for the wonderful weekend.

THANK YOU

I don't have any pics to post right now but I do want to tell everyone that if they are wondering if they have any friends out there in this big, vast world I have discovered how to answer that question...First of all, you have to start a blog. Then you have to abandon the blog for almost one year. Then post a few things...Then, to your amazement, you will discover that you have wonderful friends that are out there...some close by, others far far away...

All of that to say, THANK YOU to all of you who have basically said, "Welcome back." And to those of you who said, "It's about time." And to those of you who said, "I was waiting to see if you'd hit the one year mark." You all really have made me see that I have wonderful friends who really do care about my life. For this, I am reminded how lucky I am!

To tell you the truth, I am so blessed in life. I am blessed with a wonderful hubby and a wonderful family and absolutely wonderful, loyal friends. Thank you for making my life so blessed.

I am so lucky to be blessed with such an awesome cousin Jen...or Jen Venuti...or Jen Jen...or J-Fed...or JW or George. (Not sure where that last one came from.) Anyway, we had the chance to go to Hawaii together last year, October 2006. It was 8 full days of hanging out, laying in the sun and having fun together... mom, aunt and gramma were always within shouting distance...which made the trip that much better.

This post is really just to say how blessed I am to have a cousin who is such a wonderful friend. The best cuzzo in the world.

This is a picture of Matt coming home from Rivers Inlet, BC with a blown motor on the big boat. They drove 18 hours with a put put motor across the open ocean. Thank goodness mom nor I was on this trip with them. The men would not have been happy campers. But I still think Matt looks like a babe in this picture.

This picture was taken on the movie site of "Predator". It was filmed in Puerta Vallarta. It was quite a drive to get back to where the movie was shot but it was well worth it...Not because of the movie location but because when we finally got there, it was beautiful. There was a lady making homemade tortillas right there on the side of the entrance. The flowers were beautiful. It was fun. And all of a sudden this helicopter crashed right behind us and Arnold Schwartzenager rolled out of the cockpit and looked at us and said, "I am the governator!" (what the?)

This picture was taken on a "panga"...in other words, a small shabby boat that looks like it's going to fall apart any minute...in Cabo San Lucas. Although you can't tell from the picture, we were like 10 feet away from this whale and 2 others. It was absolutely incredible.

This is Matt and I in Cabo San Lucas in January when we went on a cruise. It was our first cruise. It was a blast. We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerta Vallarta. We loved all three stops but Cabo and PV were our faves.

I'm Back...

Hello Everyone...

After pressure from everyone...well not everyone but a lot of people...I have decided to update my blog. Last time I blogged I told you that I would put up pics of my vaca to Mexico with James and LeiLani. I am sorry to admit that that trip was almost a year ago. So, needless to say, I will not be posting pics of that trip. Bigger and better things have happened since then...

For example, LeiLani and James had their baby Max. Or like, we bought a new house. Or like, I'm going to be an aunt because Ben and Galadriel are expecting a little one. Or like Cara and Justin are parents to a one week old child.

Life happens so fast. I live a good life and am so grateful for it. More to come...No timeline though, I'll get to it when I can.

I love my husband. 

Now, I think this picture is so cute...am I just a biased dog momma? :) 

Looks like a certain little doggy needs braces! 

You all might not know it, but Tuff is smiling. 

We've been working on our curb appeal. It's nice coming home to a pretty yard! 

Picture from Lake Tapps. The mountain is beautiful from this lake! 

Vamos a México.

It's true! Matt and I have planned a vacation to Mexico. I am so excited. I'll take some pictures with my new camera and post them. I can't wait!

We have a new camera...

In hopes of removing myself from Sabrina's Abandoned Blog list, we bought a digital camera so that we'd have stuff to blog. Just kidding. But we did finally get ourselves a decent digital camera. I've posted a few pics. It's fun having a camera finally...