Without the braces....

here is a before....taken last August on her way to Costa Rica
after...taken 5.13.10

Had a splendid day. I was able to have the day off, our schedule is pretty light some days, so I spent the day with Hubs, getting bark mulch and hauling a lawn mower for a friend. I then headed to Jo Lane to pick up Peanut. Today was the much anticipated day of brace removal, if she had been good and used her rubber bands like she was supposed to. She so desperately did NOT want to get her hopes up, but he had a hard time not being excited. When she walked in, the receptionist greeted her with , "hey, it's your big day!" Hard not to get too excited now! Then, the assistant called her back and said, "hey, it's your big day!". Well, they need to check in with the Doctor to see if she really can get them off. He says, Do you think they need to come off? Of course she says YES!! So he says, OK. You can have them off. After getting the brackets off, she got the glue drilled off and her teeth smoothed out. She got up to brush and she says, "are these really my teeth?" One of the girls thought that was the funniest thing she had ever heard!! Then she was getting her permanent wire placed and I was trying to take pictures with her new phone. That wasn't quite so smooth. I had brought the camera, all charged up and ready, til I turned it on and it had a blaring message, "no memory card". I couldn't believe it. So my best option was trying to take pictures with her new phone. Well, there is one or two on her phone. As she was nearing completion, they took a mold of her upper teeth for her retainer, in walks Bugg and two of Bugg's friends. So Peanut is sitting in the chair, drooling all over her napkin and closing her eyes so as not to cry or throw up and in walks an audience!! She was a trooper. She kept a stiff upper lip and charged on. We were visiting and having so much fun, Dr. Varner comes in the room and says, "hey, she's done! You can go now!! " Guess the party was over. Good job Peanut.

Mother's Day 2010

Me and my girls.
They started out the morning by coming to my room and bringing me the bouquet of flowers, the card and the CD. I have this new liking to John Mayer, I know mushy love songs! So they filled me up and loved on me. They were so great. They told me they had more, but it would have to wait. So I headed out to my car after we got ready for Church. In the car were newly placed seat covers, pink butterflies. You know what butterflies mean to me, and that they are pink! There was a steering wheel cover and CD holder to match. It was pretty special. It told me that my girls really do listen to what I say.

Here is my sweet baby girls. We all met at church, Mom and Sis and Bro in law and the niece and nephew. Papa came after church and we all headed to Breakfast. We exchanged presents there, Mom got both Sis and I a present and Sis got me one! I did give her a picture of Mom and I :~) So we took pictures out side before we all took it easy the rest of the day.

I am truly thankful for my mother. She is a friend to me as well as my Mom. She has taught me so much and helped me be a better person. I am thankful for my mom.

3rd Annual Strike Out Breast Cancer

Our 3rd Annual Strike Out Breast Cancer event on Saturday May 8th was a huge success.

I am so proud of our Board for putting together such a great "party". I have heard nothing but positive comments from all in attendance. Bowling and prizes and raffles and food, there is nothing better than that. Mile Post 8 was the band that played in the Splitz Bar and Grill after bowling was over and everyone was completely happy with their sound.

The Foundation is doing so well right now. We raised money which was what we really wanted to do, but behind the scenes work is taking off. We are finalizing agreements between the Legacy Health Team and the Foundation so that we can begin with the first Co-operative Tumor Bank of the Northwest. We have purchased a freezer through donations from the Lion's Clubs of Douglas County and ORegon Surgery Center. We have the support of the local surgeons and most any community member we can talk to supports the idea. It just makes sense. Let's not throw precious tissue away, let's send it to a Research Facility to CURE the Cancer!!

I will keep you all updated as we move along. But for more info on how we are doing, check out the website, www.thethf.com for more info.

For my interview with KPIC, go to KPIC.com and click on Spotlight on Douglas County and the Breast cancer link. The interview was a little crazy, I was excited, and I messed up our name, but you get the idea.

Into the Woods

Peanut has been working for months on a play for school. This is the third year she has participated in the school play and she loves it. Each year, she gets a little bigger part.

Her voice has developed so well and I love to hear her sing. She has become quite the actress and I am so proud of her. Her role in this years play is the Baker's Wife. Her goal is to have a baby. She must do what the evil witch asks of her and her husband to acquire this baby.

A cow that is milky white, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a gold slipper.

So here are SEVERAL pictures from the production. Enjoy.

The step Mother, Cinderella, the step sisters

Little Red Riding hood.

Jack and The White Cow

The evil witch

Cinderella's Mother as a tree....(she had passed away)

The wolf and Little Red Riding Hood

Our friends, the trees, hiding the Baker

listening in on the Baker's instructions from the Witch while in the woods

Rapunzel....

at Grandmother's house, after cutting Grandmother and Little Red Riding hood from the wolf's tummy.

Asking for the slipper

lost the white cow.....

got the hair!! :~)

just finished fighting

The baby....

The finale

I do believe the time that I laughed the hardest was when Peanut came out with her belly and Jeff leans over to me and says, "I didn't need to see that!"

They did a great job. Very proud of them.

I will not be able to attend tonight though, because I am heading to the Strike Out Breast Cancer event at Ten Down.

post play....

friends after the play....

Just some thoughts....

On Sunday, we were in church and we have this time after our singing that we can go and pray, the people still sing and you can kneel down at the altar and just talk to God. Well, Peanut asked me to go with her. "Of course I will", and I followed her there. As I listened to my little grown up girl, ask God to help her with her class and not let the teacher feel like it is all her fault that it is messed up, I thought to myself. How nice is this? How nice that my little girl knows that she can tell GOD anything and He will listen and He cares! He cares about a bunch of teenage girls who each think there group is better than the other group. He cares about how this makes this teacher feel, like she is failing these students. Peanut just let it all out. As she went on, she began to cry and she prayed for a friend of hers that is a little jealous of her time with a new "friend". (this would be a boyfriend). She prayed that her friend would know how important she is to her and how much their friendship has meant over time. A tear began to fall down my cheek, and another. I began thinking and reflecting on the things that seem so big to someone so little. She is surrounded by people all the time but, she knows this one isn't happy with her. She wants that one to be happy again. Like the story of the sheep, 99 are here and 1 runs away, you go for the one. She is going for the one. I prayed for her and thanked the Lord that she had such a sweet spirit and such trust in a God who will take care of all things. It was a treasured moment for me.

That same little girl, goes with me tonight for her High School Orientation. She is my baby and to think of her going to high school just blows my mind. There is only a few weeks left of school and she will no longer be a middle schooler. I think where has the time gone? Have I done a good job? Are they ready for this world? Could I have done something differently? Bugg prepares for her last year in high school. She just took her SAT's on Saturday. She has applied for a senior representative for a local photographer, she is going to work at the Day Care at the High School next year and be paid for it. Where oh where has time gone? I am missing something aren't I? How can all this be happening? I just think I will pinch myself and wake up and they will be those little toddler girls that I loved to walk and ride bikes with. Don't let me miss a thing, Lord. Help me to cherish every moment that I have with them, because before I know it......they are all grown up.

Jeff's birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Jeff's birthday. He turned 44, he kept telling the girls he was older than dirt. They kept telling him he wasn't quite that bad, Papa still had a few years on him. He then would comment on the fact that he is in his mid 40's and I still am in my 30's. I said I liked that :~). He worked on Saturday, but we started the evening with some celebrating. I couldn't wrap his main present, cause it was too big, so he had to have it on Saturday. It was a Craftsman tool chest, grey in color, not the infamous red. He says to me, "wow, I can really use this present!" I guess the other ones I have gotten him in the past haven't been so useful. ;~)

We were listening to some music from Peanut and they decided to have some dance time. So, I thought I would share a few pictures of the activities.

Then we went to playing some dice. We have become addicted to our dice game 10,000. We play it all the time together. Which I guess is a good thing. We need something to do together when the rain is coming down!! So Bugg and her daddy had a few moments together.

Then we played NERTZ. All of us, including Jeff and Ken! Now that is some entertainment. Ken is competitive, Jeff likes to cheat, and the girls are for real, so dang it! It was a competition.

But, definitely a fun one.

look at the seriousness on Ken's face and the slyness on Jeff's


So Sunday morning, we went to church and out for lunch at Applebee's. We came home to open the remainder of Jeff's presents.

We got him a couple of pairs of jeans, the girls are working on getting him "up to date".

Our two older ones. We have Amanda about half time, when she isn't with her grandparents.

I got him "chrome" to smell good :~) and he is sniffing the box, the girls were cracking up, reminding him that he really can't smell through the box.

Then Ken and Mom and Dad came over for cake and ice cream. It was fun. We had a great celebration.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Easter 2010

I will post more later, but here is a brief synopsis :~)

A digital scrapbook by Smilebox