Just got my tickets!

Junior and Ichiro "Cooperstown Bound" Dual Bobblehead Night

For the first 30,000 fans. I hope I get there early enough!

A few things I am excited for this weekend...

First payday!!

Birthday dinner and cheesecake with some good friends!!

Hmm... which one should I choose?

Seeing a funny movie!!

Family Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant!!

Joining a new gym with some new friends from work!!

and last but not least...

Getting a new bike!!

I can't WAIT for this weekend to start!

Vroom vroom

I got my motorcycle endorsement a few years ago and have yet to use it...

My friend Anthony and I took a class at ESC Motorcycle Safety Training. It was pretty amazing, in just three days they took novice riders (like myself) with little or no experience on a motorcycle and turned them into licensed riders. The class was three days: a Thursday night in the classroom from 6-9, a Saturday in a parking lot at Boeing in Kent from 9-4 and then back in the classroom for the written test from 6-8, and then Sunday was back at Boeing for more riding from 9-2 and then the riding test. I passed, and the class was a lot of fun and I am glad I did it, but to be honest I am still a little terrified to ride a motorcycle. Riding in a parking lot going only 20 miles per hour (at the most) hardly qualifies you to be out on the streets with other motorists!! I am sure with practice it would get easier though.

When I lived in Alaska, my friend Brandon took me for rides on his motorcycle during the summer. It's such an awesome and carefree feeling to ride on one. (I won't tell you how fast he went.)

My friend Angela, her husband Jesse, and I went to the International Motorcycle Show at Qwest Field a few months ago. It was a lot of fun. We saw lots of different bikes and scooters. I don't know much about bikes but I'll show you some of my favorites.

I would love one of these for my birthday...

Seriously, how cute do I look on this?!?

Because it's orange!!

Little kids dirt bike. How adorable.

Angela on the perfect starter bike for a girl (Kawasaki Ninja 250). If only I could get one in orange.

The class was a few years ago and I haven't ridden a bike by myself since. I think it would be more of a recreational activity for me if I really got into it. Right now though, I am more interested in scooters and vespas (they are so darn cute).

A picture is worth a thousand words...

I know I haven't posted in a long time and really a lot has been going on but nothing exciting to write about so I'll let you see it instead.

*note* these pictures are NOT in chronological order!

Just to give you an idea of what was happening in these pictures...

• 
  
  Chena Hot Springs
• 
  
  Go Kart
• 
  
  Bowling
• 
  
  -25 to -50 degree temperatures

(no that sign is not correct. It was about -40 that night)

• 
  
  Christmas
• 
  
  Halloween
• 
  
  Muktuk tasting
• 
  
  Shooting a gun
• 
  
  Living Nativity

Good old fashioned Anchorage, AK fun.

I am a very shy person. I have a hard time being in places I don't know and meeting people. There is nothing better than having all the anxiety of meeting new people completely vanish when the people you meet are so friendly and fun to be around.

That happened this weekend.

I went to Anchorage for a long weekend with my sister and her kids. Annelisa (my sister) has a brother-in-law and sister-in-law (Mike and Maggie) that are stationed at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. They have four adorable children Quinton (8), Austin (5), Avery (3), and Jace (1). My nieces had so much fun playing with their cousins. It was lots of fun to watch and play with them.

The reason we went down there was for Quinton's baptism. Because of the special event both sets of grandparents and one great grandma also flew in for the occasion. It was one full house and even though I wasn't family and I was an extra body to house and feed, I felt very welcome there. They are such a great family!

I am so glad to have met so many wonderful people and I had a genuinly good time! I want Maggie to know that I am so thankful to her for having me in her home. She is such a great person and mom!

On the drive there we got to stop at a view point for Mt. McKinley. The most beautiful Mountain in Alaska. We also saw some moose cross the road, just moseying along, taking their sweet time.

While in Anchorage we went on a hike and saw some salmon and lots of beautiful scenerey. Part of the trail was closed due to bears. I wish we had seen one (from afar of course). We also saw some more moose on the way home from church today. No matter how many times I see them, it is still so exciting to me.

Below is a my weekend in pictures. (Sorry, still none of moose.)

"Hey Anthony, you want to play a really fun game?" -Joel Morris

So I spent last night with some of my favorite people whom I don’t see often enough. Joel, Candace and Adam Morris! Seriously I only see Adam about once a year and Joel and Candace maybe two to three times. How sad is that? I love the way I feel when I am around them. They make me feel so comfortable and they genuinely care about me and my life plus we laugh a lot (but how can you not when Anthony, Adam and Joel get together? They are a riot!)

For instance Anthony and I walked over to Joel and Candace’s new place where Adam was spending the night and sat around and chatted while watching Anthony and Joel play a really funny juggling game. It consisted of one of them juggling and then the other one stealing the balls out of the air but keeping up the juggling without dropping any. Then we decided to go on a walk and show Adam all the huge houses over by Volunteer Park. On the way the boys decided to try climbing a huge tree. They were giving each other boosts and trying to walk up the tree. It was good for a laugh. After that we just wandered around and decided to go get something to eat. We ended up at Coastal Kitchen where we shared tons of food. It was such a blast. Then around 11:30 we started the journey home. Of course I left my purse at Joel and Candace’s because I didn’t want to carry it on the walk so we had to go all the way back over there first before we could go home. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was freezing (for June anyway) so we decided to run part of the way to warm up, luckily
it was downhill!






I really miss spending time with those guys and I really miss Adam. I wish he lived here (Erin too and I am excited to see her when she gets here Sunday!!)

*Pictures are from Adam and Erin's Wedding in Savannah, Georgia. Adam's bachelor party crashed the girls bachelorette party. Candace and I were one of the boys!

Tuesdays with April

How is it that the days seem to go so slow yet the weeks seem to fly by? I don't get it. It is very frustrating. While I am at work I feel like the day will never end but then all of the sudden it is Friday, I blink and then it is Monday morning. I don't like it.

This last weekend Anthony's nephew stayed with us Friday night and most of Saturday because his mom was out of town. Friday night we went to the Sonics game courtesy of SanMar's Season tickets (we lost of course). Then on Saturday we went to the Seattle Aquarium. I hadn't been there in a very long time. My favorite part was getting to touch all the different plants and starfish and then the baby sea lions were way too cute. After that we ate lunch at Red Robin on the waterfront and wandered around the little shops. Then we made our way to Gameworks. On the way there it started hailing/pouring. That totally sucked because I didn't have an umbrella or hood. All in all it was a very good weekend!

*note* This picture was taken with my cell phone so that is why the quality is not the best.

Glass Blowing

Last night a friend and I rented studio space at the Seattle Glass Blowing studio. We went in from 6 pm until 10 pm and practiced making balls, bowls and cups. It was amazing how much we remembered and figured out all on our own without our teacher there walking us through the steps. It was so much fun that we are going to do it again next week. I really feel that we made some great progress.

*note* Picture was from my third time ever blowing glass... that is my teacher Dave. He is an awesome teacher.