This face...

Check out that face... how could you not love this little Munchkin? It is true that the Munch is getting big. She's not a baby anymore. She's also one of the smartest, yet most hilarious little girls I know. Here are a few recent quotes:

- "Raise your hand if your food smells like elephant dirt."

- My parents and I were driving in the car with the Munch and my mom was trying to call her something other than her full name. After a few minutes of Mom and Add going back and forth, she says, "P (that's what she calls me), Can you please deal with Nah."

- After my cousins volleyball games, we typically go with the team to dinner. Most recently, Coach Mario has allowed Addi to ride the team bus with my cousins to dinner.

Munch: "Hey Mario, where are we going for dinner. Its my grandpa's birthday."

{Insert Mario's dumbfounded look}

Mario: "I don't know, ask Chloe (the assistant coach)."

Munch: "Well my grandpa wants to ride the bus too."

Mario: "Well come on then! Let's go!"

- Trick or treating at Grandpa Phil and Grandma Wendy's house

Grandpa Phil: "Addi, you can anything you want."

Addi grabbed two sets of mini cards

Grandpa Phil: "How about some candy? You can have as much as you'd like."

Addi: "No, no thanks. Candy gives you sugar bugs."

- Munch is a total backseat driver. Driving on the freeway.... "Momma, there's a big truck. Remember to stay far back so nothing from the truck hits us." She is also the blinker patrol!! "BLINKER!! Momma, BLINKER!" Oh yeah, did I mention that she has an excellent sense of direction? Obviously, that did not come from me.

- "Dadda, we had to get out of town fast because the President was coming."

Maybe these comments aren't so funny to everyone else, but the things she comes up with continue to make me constantly laugh!

Last but not least, V3 Graduates!

A couple of days after the big hoedown, we boarded a plane and headed to Hawaii for my cousin's graduation and to visit family. The flight over was definitely eventful as there was a medical emergency mid-flight. About an hour and a half into our flight we heard a call for any doctors or nurses to identify themselves immediately. It turns out the couple sitting in front of us were both doctors. There was also a nurse and two EMT's (two flight attendants) on the flight as well. A passenger had passed out on the flight and took awhile to come to. We saw O2 tanks being used as well as IV's. Every few minutes or so, we'd see a flight attendant on the phone calling in with the vitals. Once the two doctors left their seats to help the sick passenger, we never saw them again. They spent the rest of the flight in the back of the plane attending to the emergency. When we landed, more chaos occurred as first we were told to hurry up and get off the plane. Then, the left side of the plane, which was our side, was directed to move over to the right side of the plane. Finally, we were told just to keep the aisle clear as the EMT's boarded the plane.

After the eventful plane ride, we stopped by our condo to drop off all of our baggage, then headed toward my grandparent's house to learn that Grandpa was going for a haircut. We gave hugs & kisses and headed straight to Zippy's to eat... and boy, did we grind! We headed back to my grandparent's house until it was time for graduation. It was then time for us to honor Chel and watch her receive her diploma!

The graduation was nice and the perfect length. We were all so proud and excited for Chel. Then, it was time.... time to go rushing into the area where all the families and friends could congratulate all of the grads. The grads get 15 minutes to themselves to hug and be together before they are to go stand by their pole. There are poles in this big room with letters on them. The grads go to the pole that coordinates with the letter of their last name so family & friends can easily find them. Pretty genius if you ask me! We ran to the "V" pole where Chel was waiting for us. We each gave Chel a lei as did a ton of other family and friends. There were big bags full of fresh flower leis, candy and treat leis, inner-tubes, cards, cut flowers, and much more! Uncle was taking video, my parents and Aunty Donna were sorting all the goods, Krys, Aunty and I were unloading Chel's neck, a tag-team effort of cousins and uncles took turns holding the "Chelsie" sign and Bran was taking still photos. There was a lot of hugging and kissing by everyone! What a great night!!! With Chel off to Project Grad, their overnight grad party, the rest of us were starving. Can you guess what we did? Oh yeah, we headed to Kahala Zippy's to eat again!

CONGRATS to Chel, who will be coming to the mainland to play volleyball with her older sister, Bran, at CWU!

Addi Turns the BIG 0-4!

The last couple of weeks in May were very busy, but exciting for our family. Our little sass-a-fras turned the big 0-4! Munchkin's "real" birthday started with a princess party at school where she took princess/prince crowns, ice cream and goodie bags for her class. Later that night, we had a family dinner at the one and only Chucky Cheese (aka the petrie dish). Munch was in heaven playing games, collecting tickets and of course meeting Chucky. Then, the big day finally arrived. The day that we had been planning for a year.... the day that my mom had hand sewn 18 (or some crazy number) of horses on a stick for.... The ponies had been scheduled, cowboy/girl hats and party favors were in hand, my sister had perfected her ribs and of course the little one was ready to party!

Spring Happenings

It definitely has been a busy few months full of birthdays, concerts, family, friends, and spring volleyball.

Earlier this spring, I hopped on a plane to visit D and attend the Midwest LM Quarterly in Chicago. I was super excited to see D and it was a fun bonus that we were able to attend the LM Quarterly together. It definitely was a physically exhausting weekend, but well worth it. There were so many fun memories and adventures!





















My parents and I went to see Keali'i Reichel in concert.

... and Michael Buble with a dear friend, V.

We celebrated a few birthdays too.

I also went to a Sounders game as a fan. It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but check out how pretty the confetti cannons made the field look. Oh man, I sure do LOVE confetti cannons!

.... and I ran a couple of half marathons, but only have pictures from the Kirkland Half.

The fun continues with a birthday hoedown, graduation, weddings, baby showers and of course summer!

Mission Mexico 2010

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel to El Paso, New Mexico and Mexico to build a house for a family. I have to admit that I had a fair amount of anxiety about this trip, but in the end it was the most fulfilling and rewarding trip! The youth were amazing (as were the leaders), the family warmed up to us and were so grateful and the experience itself was such a blessing!

The "Real" McDreamy

Since the earthquake in Haiti last week, I couldn't help but think about a dear friend, Dr. Drew. You see, Drew is not just a doctor. He specializes in trauma and emergency medicine. Admirable, huh? I think so!


Over the weekend, we found out that Drew was being deployed to Haiti (he left on Monday). What an amazing experience (on so many levels) for Drew to have an opportunity to help so many that oh so badly need him. The people of Haiti are truly blessed to have such an incredible person, who also happens to be an excellent doctor, care for them. I greatly admire the fact that Drew is truly making a difference in this world (vs. helping rich men/women become richer as you often hear in the business world). Please keep Drew, his team, the people that Drew is caring for and of course Jen and all four of their children in your thoughts and prayers.


Drew is truly the real McDreamy (or whatever they call the Grey's Anatomy doctors) for many reasons that go beyond physical appearance!

Faith * Heart * Team = 2009 CWU Volleyball

Last night, we celebrated the great accomplishments of the 2009 CWU Volleyball team. The night included an adventure to Ellensburg, a pasta dinner, awards & recognition, senior speeches & presentation of CWU jerseys and a video that captured many great moments of the season. Of course, we were especially proud of Brandie (AKA Bran, Bubs or Bubbles), who had another incredible season.



Below is the list of hardware that Bran picked up this season:

- GNAC Academic All American Conference
- CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VIII College Division Volleyball Team
- First Team GNAC Conference Team
- 2009 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II All-West Region Team
- 2009 Daktronics, Inc. Division II All-West Region Team
- 2009 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II All-American
- 2009 CWU Defensive Player of the Year

Bran is such a hard worker both on and off the court and absolutely without a doubt deserves every single bit of recognition. We love you, Bran and are looking forward to your senior year!

For the family who was not able to attend the celebration last night, below are a few videos for you:












I am still working on correcting some of the photos, so be on the look out for another post soon!

Happy New Year!

A new year, new beginnings.... here's to all of you! May 2010 be a great one!