I was messing around online and found this website where you can upload your picture with some else's and it'll spit out a picture of what your baby would look like if you had one. This is what I got when I put in mine and Kelly's pictures.

I think she's kind of creepy. Hopefully our spawn won't be a weird looking. I especially hope one eye isn't bigger than the other on our kiddos.

My Great Uncle Vince passed away last week, he was 98.. It was always amazing to me how much he looked like my grandpa. (My grandpa passed away a few years ago). Uncle Vince was a cool guy. He lived in Clarkston and drove his Toyota Corolla to church and back until he was well into his nineties. He was a very loving, good man. He will be missed.

Here is his obituary:

           Vincent G. Uhlenkott, 98, a longtime resident of Clarkston, died early Friday
morning, Aug. 20, 2010, at the Clarkston Care Center, where he had resided since October
2009. Death was due to age-related causes. Vincent was born in Greencreek on June
28, 1912, to Henry and Louisa Wassmuth Uhlenkott and was the fifth of seven children.
He did his early schooling in Greencreek through the third grade, at which time his
mother died in February 1920. At that point, he began living with his uncle, Joseph
Uhlenkott, in Cottonwood and finished his schooling there. He married Claudine Pfiffner
on Oct. 3, 1933, in Ferdinand, and together they had five children. They moved several
times in their early years of marriage. His first employment was with the Gray Motor
Company in Craigmont, and then in 1937, he found a position with John's Auto Wrecking
and moved to Clarkston, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1946, Vince and his
brother Clem purchased John's Auto Wrecking and he continued there until his retirement
in 1980. Vince was deeply involved with his church, Holy Family Catholic Parish, as
well as with many civic activities. He spent years working with the Boy Scouts of
America, received a 50-year continuous membership pin from the Moose Lodge, and was
an honorary life member of the Knights of Columbus, which he joined in 1947. He was
a proud and active Rotarian for many years. In 1953, Vince was elected to the Clarkston
City Council and served as Clarkston's mayor from 1960 until 1966. In retirement,
he and his wife Claudine were active members of the Good Sams RV Club, and their club
trips and gatherings were a highlight of their retirement. Recently, he spent time
at the Pautler Senior Center several times per week, and valued both their meals and
their activities. Vince was always close to his family, and loved his home and his
gardening. His ability to fix practically anything amazed everyone who knew him. He
particularly enjoyed exploring all the back roads of the area, the Blue Mountains
and his original Camas Prairie home area. He always looked forward to visits with
his relatives and friends. Vince was preceded in death by his wife Claudine in 2006;
his brothers, Leo, Frank, Tony and Clem; his sisters, Gertie Hauth and Louise Prom;
and one granddaughter, Terri Baker. He is survived by his two daughters and three
sons: Emagene Warren, OSB, Glen and wife Cynthia, Lloyd and wife Judy, and Mary and
husband Richard Weeks, and Loren; 12 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and one
great-great-granddaughter. 
        

This past week I had my second cold water dive at a popular dive area in Alki. I went with Kelly and my friend Bob who is a dive instructor. I struggled with my weights and sinking. I had to try and retry but I finally went down. It was frustrating. When we got to the bottom I was dragging on the bottom so I inflated my BC (vest hooked to air tank) so I wouldn't drag on the bottom. All the while my mask kept flooding with water. To clear it you have to hold onto the top of it and blow your nose. Despite all of these annoyances I saw some cool stuff. Lots of nucibranch, ling cod, GIANT anemones and an OCTOPUS! The octopus was HUGE (about 10 feet across)! It was sitting under a sunk boat. Bob said its sitting on its eggs. It was red and really cool.

Kelly had to work late so he missed the octopus. He is very jealous.

 

Thanks Bob for taking me out diving!

Last Saturday I did my first cold water dive at Edmonds Water Park. In the Bahamas the water at its coldest was 80 degrees. Here in the Puget Sound its roughly 51 degrees. Hence I have a semi dry suit that is 8mm thick in the chest and 7mm everywhere else. I also have neoprene gloves and boots to keep warm. Kelly and I dove with our good friends Dave and Kathy. They have been diving for years and had a lot of good advice. The goal for this dive was to get comfortable in the cold water and to figure out how much weight we had to wear. In the Bahamas since I wasn't wearing a wet suit of any kind I only had six pounds of weight added into my BC (jacket). With my full semi dry suit however I was a lot more buoyant and needed a lot more weight - 26 pounds! I wore it around my waist and it seemed to work pretty well. I added about three small puffs of air into my BC also.

The main shock which thankfully Kathy prepared me for was how cold the water would be on your face where it wasn't protected by my hood or mask. She said it would feel like an ice cream headache and boy it sure did. It only lasted for a few minutes though and then I forgot about it. Once our weights were figured out Dave, Kelly and I traveled along the wall. There was SO much cool stuff to see! (granted visibility was maybe 8 feet compared to Bahamas - 100+ feet). There were sea stars, anemones, lots of different fish, crabs. Dave stacked sea stars on top of each other and we watched them walk away - they can move really fast. The anemones were my favorite they were so fluffy looking and if you touched them they sucked in. We also saw a few ling cod which I had never seen before.

Sea star

 

Anemone

 

 

Ling cod (they're pretty long actually)

 

Dave played with a little nudibranch on his fingers.

 

We didn't see a wolf eel but I hope to see one. I heard they have the temperament of a golden retriever.

 

Today I'm diving with our friend Bob at Alki and am really excited. Kelly dove there last week and said there was a humungous amount of fish there. Kelly isn't diving because he injured his ear drum but he's coming along.

This past Saturday I attended my high school 10 year reunion (Kentwood). I was prepared for it to be weird and kind of suck. However I had a blast! Kelly and I went over to my friend Katrina's house before to get ready together (Katrina & me) Kelly and her fiancé Max talked about dude stuff. Katrina and I talked about the usual stuff like how weird it was that 10 years had passed, what we thought people would be like and look like etc. Then we carpooled to the Pyramid Brewery across the street from Safeco Field. I have to say I loved the venue. We had a big room upstairs with air conditioning (a must it was 90 degrees outside).

I had so much fun seeing and talking with people I hadn't seen in 10 years. In high school I did sports and wasn't shy but I also wasn't exactly a social butterfly. I was friends with a lot of people but I was never in what you would call the popular click. However at the reunion it was awesome because I was no longer insecure and it felt like the playing field was totally level. We were all just people who went to high school together and shared a past. I talked to a lot of people I had never talked to in high school and they were fun, interesting people. It was also good to see people I was friends with but hadn't talked to in a few years. When the night finally came to a close I was sad to leave. It was an awesome yet surreal night.

Me and Lisa my best friend from school. We've been friends since 7th grade and ran cross country, played basketball and ran track together. She was also one of my bridesmaids.

 

Kelly, Katrina, Max and me.

Mindee, Tim Pilgrim, Steve Rinabarger and me. I'm holding my glass close to my chest because earlier in the evening I leaned into the food on my plate resulting in an big, orange spot.

Some of my favorite people. Brittney (red hair) was and still is SO much fun!

High school people.

Jessie, Devin, Brittney, Steve and Karen.

Kelly and I were extremely blessed to get to go to the Bahamas with our friends Vanessa and Bubba. Kelly's grandma has a time share so we only had to pay for our flights. Thank you Grandma!!!

We were there for seven wonderful days and nights. We stayed on Grand Bahama Island at Island Seas Resort.

All of us enjoying drinks and snacks before hoping on our 10:30pm flight to North Carolina. We all tried to sleep on the flight but I don't think any of us were successful. We had a four hour layover in Charlotte (I worked on my online scuba classes - no rest for the weary). Then we caught an hour and a half flight from there to Grand Bahama Island. When we got off the plane the humidity hit us all like a brick wall. I have never felt air that thick in my life!

 

Wearing sweatpants on a plane is great until you get off said plain and walk into 90+ degree weather and 80% humidity - a little piece of advice from me to you.

 

Where we stayed - Island Seas Resort.

     Steel drums!

Vanessa and I spent a lot of time in the pool.

 

 

Interesting architecture was everywhere.

A rich dude's house. I could see it from the dive boat out on the ocean. It is humungous!

A bank.

Bahamas Government Office Building.

 

Grocery Shopping

We stayed in a timeshare so we needed to go grocery shopping. Kelly and I split up at the grocery store and instead of waiting in line with him to pay for our food I wondered off to look at fun things. Afterward he found me and told me that the lasagna he just bought us was TWENTY-EIGHT DOLLARS! Lesson learned: Don't by imported, frozen food in the Bahamas unless you want to shell out big bucks.

Apples from Selah, WA!

I had never seen "shaving powder" before.

 

McDonalds

We jumped at the chance to go to a Bahamian McDonalds.

This was a delicious international treat.

 

International Market

There's a shopping center called the International Market that we checked out. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago and they're still rebuilding. We went to a couple shops then had to stop in at a bar because we were so hot.

Kelly doesn't look hot at all.

 

Restaurants

Eating Bahamian food at restaurants was one of my favorite things to do!

One of our favorite restaurants.

They served us whole snapper with traditional peas and rice. I might have been a little too excited about this. Check out my snappers teeth!

Yum, it was good.

 

This is a conch in its conch shell. They look like aliens but they taste pretty good. You can have steamed conch, grilled conch, fried conch, conch fritters or conch salad. I guess its their version of shrimp.

Conch fritters - delicious.

 

Port Lucaya

Vanessa, Bubba and I went shopping in Port Lucaya. There was a lot of fun stuff to see.

We stopped at a place where you could make your own perfume. We passed on that but did check out Obama Cologne.

  I've seen other people do this when they go to England so I wanted to do it too. Yes, I am cheesy.

Whenever we ordered a meal it was always served with peas and rice - hence you could buy shorts with "peas n rice" on the butt. There might be a typo on all of the shorts.

Bubba looking for a fun shirt.

Vanessa and I bought fabulous purses.

I loved my straw hat.

These cute little lizards were everywhere!

Vanessa, Bubba and me before a tasty Bahamian meal.

We discovered some delicious hot sauce made on the island.

 

When Kelly and I were driving back from scuba diving we happened upon a roadside trash picker upper thing. It was pretty cool.

 

 

Driving around the island: Keep Left!

We were able to rent a car and drove around the island in it. Thank goodness it had air conditioning. However every timer we were about to get in it we started it turned on the AC opened all the doors and rolled down the windows, waited for a minute or two then hopped in.

I don't think Bubba enjoyed a close up taken of him.

On one of these trips I had heard from a chick I went scuba diving with that there was a great place to snorkel at on the northeast corner of the island. It was just inside a fancy pants resort. Vanessa and Kelly were both super into snorkeling so we decided to try and find it. On the way we had to make a bathroom stop at a somewhat questionable bar. The people inside were very friendly, almost too friendly. I may have gone into the single bathroom with Vanessa instead of make small talk with the "very friendly" guys. After that we were almost there. We passed by tons of churches and piles upon piles of empty conch shells on  the sides of the roads and in the ocean. We finally made it to the fancy pants resort and let me tell you it was NICE. (we were staying in a nice place but this place was where you get helicopter in to) There was a guard at the gate and Kelly just told him we wanted to snorkel and he had us follow a delivery truck into the "compound." We parked and walked past a marina and some resort houses until we got to the beach. I had laid on a lounge chair and tried to fit in as Kelly, Vanessa and Bubba played in the water.

Our driver. We only forgot about staying to the left a few times.

You could rent rooms in the houses. The place looked like it should be on the cover of a magazine.

I wasn't sure how everyone got their yachts to the island (these people didn't own boats they owned yachts).

One thing we noticed on the island was that stores had funny names. For instance a store selling chicken was named, "Lexus Juicy Chicken."

At the gas station next door we say the following:

I think this is illegal in the states. Off they go!

 

Beach Time!

Bubba looking for shells.

Vanessa snorkeling.

Kelly snorkeling.

 

Toes in the sand.

Where we stayed.

Facebook profile pic.

Vanessa took a picture of Kelly and me. It took a few takes but I finally got a real smile out of him.

Success!

 

The day we left was sad.

We squished at much as we could in our suitcase and my straw hat made it just fine!

I did not want to get on the plane to come home.

 

 

We had an awesome time in the Bahamas! It was so much fun!

 

Thank you Grandma!!!

My mother-in-law Betty an Kelly's cousin Hannah and I all made a special stop on Mercer Island to watch the Blue Angels from the I-90 bridge. I'd never done that before and it was SO cool! It was awesome when the jets flew over us and made our guts shake because it was so loud. It was also fun to stand in the middle of the freeway.

Fat Albert starting the show.

 

One of the pilots flew so low! He is between the light poles. I was actually above him when he flew over the bridge!

Dad and his son covering each other's ears - how adorable!

On Saturday Kelly and I got to go out on Lake Washington with our neighbors. Between all of them they have three boats. The weather was cold and misty. I wore jeans, three layers on top including my pink fleece and winter coat. All of us got in the water - so far so good. The boat I was in made it to where all of the other boats were to watch the hydroplane races. Then we got a call from Kelly on a different boat saying they were dead in the water. Boo. So we pulled anchor and went to go help them. We finally spotted them. The owner and driver of my boat didn't slow down as we approached the dead boat Kelly was on. The closer we got it seemed like the more he sped up. I kind of panicked but I wasn't sure what he was doing. Right before t-boning them he turned our boat sharply to the right and swamped them with a huge wave of water. That's when I heard and felt a "crack!" He also hit their boat and punched a hole in the fiberglass. Everyone in the dead boat was now soaked and freezing cold. I also got splashed. Needless to say the driver of the boat I was on was not very popular that day. Also by this time it was raining. So we pulled the dead boat to the Atlantic City launch and called it a day. We were out on the water for maybe an hour and a half. Hopefully next year will be more fun.

I got to go up to the house on Whidbey for a few days last week with my mother-in-law Betty and Kelly's cousin Hannah. We had the best time playing games, going down to the beach in search of treasure (crabs, sea glass, pretty shells) and just being together.

It took me four hours to get up there! I did take the ferry though which I love doing.

 

Hannah at Deception Pass.

Betty.

My sister-in-law Laura came up with Buddy. She and my brother-in-law Chuck adopted him from the Humane Society. Buddy is a lab/retriever mix.

I love this picture! A little boy and his dad were fishing off the dock and the boy was very interested in Buddy. Buddy was also interested in him.

My friends Cecily and Jordan welcomed their first child, Cora June into the world on August 5th at 5:23 pm. She was seven pounds and four ounces. Congratulations Cecily and Jordan! Your daughter is beautiful.

First bath.

Jordan holding his daughter.

Sleeping Cora.

Kelly has wanted to get his scuba certification for quite some time. I was less than enthusiastic about it. Diving deep underwater where there are lots of fish and seaweed did not seem like fun to me. However when he mentioned that it might be a cool thing to do in the Bahamas (we were there for seven days in July) I was a little more up to the challenge. Before ever getting in the water however there were hours upon hours of online class work for open water diving and Kelly decided that we should start the day that we flew out. I was less than thrilled that The day we left I took classes for four straight hours. We flew out of SeaTac and into North Carolina. All during our four hour layover I was online doing even more course work. Then after we checked into our room I didn't take a nap like I wanted to I continued to work on my coursework I completed the final test at 2:00am and we started our class at 7:30am.

Sun Odyssey Divers owned by Nick and Karen Rolle

On our first day of class our instructor Nick Rolle had us suit up in our scuba gear. Gear includes, mask, snorkel, fins, jacket, regulator and air tank. None of it is very heavy until you have the air tank on. It felt like I had a big tail when I wasn't under water. After suiting up the three of us went into the pool and worked on clearing our masks under water, buddy breathing (pretending one of us ran out of air, making the proper hand signals then giving the other person air from their tank). I was a little nervous at first with doing this but it was actually kind of fun. After doing more things in the pool Nick took us out on his boat to practice some other stuff in the canal (his shop is right on the canal that leads to the ocean). We practiced towing each other and did some other things. It was a real shock to taste salt water - yuck! During the time we were underwater in the canal I felt something bite my leg. I looked down and didn't see anything and promptly forgot about it. When we got back in the boat I had a round red mark on my leg about six inches wide. Nick identified that I'd been stung by a jellyfish. Thank goodness it wasn't a big nasty kind. Kelly also got stung.

 

Us in our scuba gear after diving.

After two days of four to five our classes Kelly and I went on dives with Nick and other tourists. It was SO much fun! We saw three ship wrecks, tons of colorful fish, coral, plant life and a barracuda. The best thing we saw were sharks. We did a particular dive called "Shark Alley." After we (the other tourists, us, Nick the dive master and Jason his helper) all did a giant stride off the boat into the water we hung out on the top for a little bit and I looked down. I could see the outlines for sharks swimming about 50 feet below us! I think I would have panicked if everyone else was. However I actually was kind of excited to see the sharks up close. We followed a line from the boat to the anchor at the bottom of the ocean. I clear my ears (hold my nose and blow at the same time, you can hear your ears squeak) every time I exhale so my ear drums don't pop. If you don't clear you ears your head will feel like it's going to explode, its the most excruciating pain I've ever felt. Once I didn't clear my ears enough and had to go back up the line and start over. Once we were all at the bottom we got with buddies. Kelly and I were always buddies. We were right next to sharks. There were about six of them  swimming in a circle. It was SO cool! I'm sure they noticed all of us but didn't seem to care. There was one shark that had a fish hook hanging off its mouth with line on it.

Scuba in general is so much fun.especially in the Bahamas with 80 degree water and great visibility.

Kelly and me with Karen and Nick Rolle. To us Nick was a total scuba bad a%$. He was like a scuba Wesley Snipes. The man was awesome.

 

Kelly and I are going to start diving here in the Seattle area now. We have wet suits though. The water isn't nearly 80 degrees and the visibility is terrible. However there are lots of cool things to see here too.

Here I am in my wetsuit. The thing takes a little less than 10 minutes to get on. Its quite an ordeal. My parents came over for dinner and asked if I'd try it on for them.

I kind of felt like a super hero in it because its like a second skin. Super Scuba Katie to the rescue!

Kelly and I went to the Bahamas with his cousin Vanessa and her husband Bubba for seven days. We had a blast! Here are some pictures of what we were up to. I'll post more later.

 

Kelly and me scuba diving!

 

A conch (pronounced conk) poking its eyes out of its conch shell. It looks like an alien but tastes delicious!

 

Me in my favorite accessory in the Bahamas - a hand woven hat.

Kelly used my ipod to run the music for Christopher and Laura's wedding. It worked really well up until the point that Kelly left my ipod in his pocket and ran it through our washer. We put it in a bag of rice (they they told me on the Today Show) to suck out all of the moisture but my ipod was dead, dead, dead. I wasn't that upset about it. I use it but I don't have to have it. Kelly surprised me the next day however with a new and improved ipod for me!

It's cool because it can play music loudly without your ear buds. I also love the color. So I guess thank you Kelly for killing my old ipod.

I have always wanted a yellow kitchen. I think the color is warm and cozy. I painted it a super light yellow called "pina colada" last fall by Behr. It was too light but I was too lazy to redo it then. My sister-in-law, Laura painted her living and dining room in "rich cream" from Behr. It is the best color! I went to order up a gallon from Home Depot and found that perhaps the next shade darker would be better. I chose "song of summer" and I think its perfect.

Last summer I painted it pina colada.

Song of Summer! Much better.

My brother-in-law Christopher married his beautiful bride Laura on Sunday, July 18th. The day started out overcast but cleared up for the ceremony. I got to be a bridesmaid in the wedding and Kelly was Chuck's best man. Here are some photos from day.

I really liked my bridesmaid dress it just didn't like me on the day of the wedding. I was a little bit to big to fit into it. My zipper broke when I was being zipped into it. The wedding planner Valerie ended up saving the day and fixing my zipper and sewing me into my dress. Unfortunately it was so tight I couldn't take in a full lungs worth of air in one breath. Fortunately I learned to deal.

A few weeks before the wedding Laura and I talked about doing the whole dancing down the aisle thing to Chris Brown's Forever.

But it didn't really pan out. While we were taking pictures before the wedding someone suggested that the wedding party walk out to C & C Music Factory's, Everybody Dance Now. I asked Kelly who was dj'ing the whole thing if he could change the music around. He said that it would be too complicated. Everyone was disappointed but understood. After the ceremony Kelly and I walked out together first. I waited for my cue of Laura and Chuck riding off in the horse drawn carriage then started walking. What to my surprise did I hear?! EVERYBODY DANCE NOW! I quickly grabbed Kelly and danced down the aisle with him. It was so much fun and unexpected.

 

Kelly's not making a goofy face! (Thanks Bob.)

Me and the other maids. I loved that our dresses had pockets. (Anna, Aleata, Me, Keva, Mindy and Johanna).

Bridesmaids posing for fun. I don't know why I'm waving.

Laura and her maids.

Goofing off right before the ceremony.

Me and my sister-in-law. She is my only one. I think I'm pretty lucky.

Facebook photo! When did I start getting wrinkles.?

The beautiful bride.

The bride and groom!

Our bouquets were gorgeous Gerber daisies.

I got to walk with Anna who Laura became friends with while attending Trinity Western in British Columbia. She is such a sweetheart.

Laura and her dad, Dennis.

I like this picture a lot. That bride is just glowing with happiness!

Maid of Honor Johanna adjusting Laura's train at the beginning of the ceremony.

The bride and groom.

Christopher and Laura signing their marriage license.

You may kiss the bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher and Laura Keeton!!!

Just Married! The drivers took Laura and Chuck on a little ride following the ceremony. I'm sure they enjoyed the time as husband and wife!

A few more pictures.

The reception was really fun. I got to MC (announce all of the events) My favorite announcement was introducing the bride and groom. So fun! Instead of a cake Laura and Christopher had an ice cream bar and fed each other ice cream. There was also a keg of root beer from the Snoqualmie Brewery to make root beer floats! One of the groomsmen caught Laura's garter and Kelly's cousin Hannah caught the bouquet. Fun was had by all.

Christopher and Laura's get-away car.

 

I am so looking forward to spending time with Christopher and Laura. And especially getting to know my one and only sister-in-law even better.

My brother-in-law Christopher got married this past weekend in Arlington. The Keetons and Johnsons (Betty's side) stayed up at the house on Whidbey in Oak Harbor. It was so much fun to get to see family and goof off. After everyone left Betty and I stayed. We cleaned up a bit but for the most part chatted up a storm, read out on the deck in sun and used our binoculars to ensure that the waters surrounding Oak Harbor were safe. If a boat or plane was within out sights we busted out of binoculars to see if they were friend or foe. Who says you can't pretend just because you're twenty-eight or fifty-years-old. I recommend playing spy - it rocks.

Betty and I needed to take a trip into town to get salt for the water softener thingy. I offered to drive. I was going under the speed limit when I passed a nice, ol' Oak Harbor police officer. He ended up following me and much to my dismay pulled me over. Why me? What did I do? Were the questions I was shouting at myself in my head. Now I am usually pretty calm and collected but when I get pulled over I freak out. I am so glad Betty was with me. It helped calm my nerves. I gave the officer my license, registration and proof of insurance (Thank you Whitfield Insurance!). The officer informed me that our conversation was being recorded (a first for me) and that my tabs were expired. What?! I thought to myself - how can this be!? For some reason I thought Kelly had put 2010 tabs on back in April when they expire. I was unfortunately wrong. The officer took my stuff back to his car and took I swear 15 minutes to, oh yes, write me a ticket. He came back and explained the ticket and its amount. It was a whopping $216!!! I guess this is mandated by the state or something. He then told us where to go to get new tabs. It was less than a mile away. I wonder to myself as I write this, "What would have been the harm in giving me a warning and directing me to the Department of Licensing? Oh yeah, NOTHING AT ALL" I now have a reminder in my yahoo.com account to remind me every year in March to renew my tabs.
So with my ticket in my purse Betty and I drive to the DOL. We walk up to the counter and see a sign that says, "Cash or Check Only." There was also a sign to sign up for email reminders for boat owners to renew their tabs or something. Why is government so obnoxiously inconvenient? They can do email reminders but they don't accept debit cards? Something is wrong there. Since Betty and I didn't have the $57.60 for my new tabs we went to Wal-Mart to get the salt we needed and some cash back. I was still a little shook up from getting pulled over so I drove all the way to Wal-Mart with my park break on. Once inside Wal-Mart it took us forever to find the salt we needed. Then Betty bought the salt and got cash back to pay for my tabs. Which was so uncool but generous of her. We play a game whenever we get together to always try to pay for the other person. I think she is definitely ahead of me in this little game of ours. So we drove back to the DOL. I was about to get out of the car and was looking for my purse. "Where was my purse!" I screamed in my head to myself. Well, my purse was no where to be found. It dawned on me that I probably left if in the cart at Wal-Mart! CRAP! I was freaking out at this point. Debit cards and drivers licenses are replaceable but my ticket was in my purse! I HAD to get it back! So Betty and I drove back to Wal-Mart. This time I took of my park break. I parked the car and rechecked while Betty checked the shopping carts. I met her inside at customer service. Some wonderful person had found my purse and turned it in! Yay! So back to the DOL we went to finally purchase my tabs. Once I had that hot little puppy in my hand I stuck it on my car. Whew! All we wanted to do was get some salt.

 

My new tabs.

Kelly had to do some work down in Eugene, Oregon a few weeks ago. We decided to make a road trip out of it.

Kelly has been growing a mustache lately because he thinks its awesome and let me tell you - it is. He also has a fun t-shirt to fit with the stash.

On our way out of town we ended up stopping at Bank of American and Safeway. The bank lady was cool about the shirt and stash but the Safeway checker didn't really like it. Kelly felt badly about wearing the shirt out like that actually. Whoops. But we were on our way to fabulous Eugene, Oregon! I was so excited! It took us quite a while to get there and there was a ton of nasty traffic going through Portland. But I didn't care we just blasted music and I sung along at the top of my lungs for Kelly's listening pleasure.

We finally made it to Eugene and checked into the Red Lion. Let me tell you this place was all about the glamour! (or not). But it had air conditioning and with the 90 plus degree weather this was a must. We were hungry and looked up McMenamins North Bank restaurant online. Kelly didn't want to look up directions so off we went to find the restaurant with only an address. We walked because the place was less than a mile away. But of course without directions we got lost - in 95 degree weather. Now, I'm pretty upbeat most of the time but when the mercury nears 90 degrees I am prone to whining, pouting and temper tantrums. So I definitely started to be a negative nellie when it took us 45 minutes to find a restaurant that should have taken 15. But we did find it and that's what matters.

The next day was Friday and Kelly had to work. I watched the Today Show (Which I love!) then I planned to work out using the gym at the "hotel." Unfortunately I discovered I forgot my running shoes at home. Whoops. After that realization I walked to downtown Eugene. I discovered there is not a lot there. I had sweat dripping off of me and in my eyes it was so hot (93 degrees). I looked around in a few shops a nice police officer said, "Hello." to me which I always like. After that I stopped for lunch at a nice little bar named Cowfish for lunch. In the bar was just me, the bartender/cook, the friendly police officer and a lady he was talking to. It turned out the police officer was actually the Police Chief doing some community relations work. Pretty cool.

While I was sweaty and walking around the exciting town of Eugene I took pictures of random "Eugene" signs. My sister's boyfriend's middle name is Eugene and he specifically requested them. Here you go Mac Eugene Gill.

 

My personal favorite.

On our way (kind of) out of Eugene we stopped in Tillamook, OR to see the Tillamook Cheese Factory. My family did a lot of camping on the Oregon Coast we I was growing up  and we usually stopped there every time. My sister and I would always pose in front of the fake cow. Hence I just had to pose in front of the fake cow.

We then drove to Portland to visit our friend Peter (his wife Emily was out of town). We were super tired but went to an amusement park we like anyway and went on the rollercoaster, the spinning spider thingy, the bumper cars (our favorite) and some other rides. Good times were had by all.

Eugene, Oregon was a nice city but I don't see myself ever going back. No offense Eugene.

I took the five-year-old twins I nanny for to the park today since it was so nice out. We played on the swings and the big toy. There were other kids there with the parents. There was one man who was missing an arm that was there with his young son. The twins and I were playing when all of a sudden the girl walked up to the man and asked,

"Why is your arm broke off?"

I silently prayed that he wouldn't be offended and would give her an appropriate answer, something not like "eff off kid." My prayer was answered.

The man replied, "I was riding my motorcycle and a truck hit me."

"oh." The girl replied.

Then the man said, "But I was wearing my helmet so I lived. Do you always wear your helmet when you ride your bike?"

"Yes, we always do." Said the girl as her brother nodded.

It was a neat conversation to hear.

Our next door neighbors are a huge family with lots of kids. All last summer they ran around and played in their backyard, front yard and in the street. This year one of the little girls told me they were going to get a pool. Well yesterday when the temperature got to be about 90 they finally got their pool. I could see them splashing and screaming in it and just having a grand old time. They were in that thing for at least 5 hours. (I would have been too if I had a pool).

I was watering our garden in the backyard around 9:30pm and I heard one of the girls declare,

"This is the best day of my life."

Cute doesn't even cover that.

My cousin Michelle and her husband Eric had their first baby last Thursday. Addie weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce at a length of 20 inches. I am very much looking forward to meeting her. Addie is also very special because she is the first great granddaughter on the Uhlenkott side of the family.

I have the privilege of babysitting two five-year-old twins (one boy and one girl) this summer. They are so fun and cute that every day I spend with them is a blessing. Yesterday I suggested we walk to a nearby park to play on the big toy there. On the way there we passed by a big hill. The boy asked me if he could run to the top of it.

I said that was fine and suggested he should shout,

"I'm the king of the world!" from the top. 

Instead he surprised me and shouted,

"I'm  the king of the Jews!"

When he came back down I asked if he was pretending he was Jesus.

He replied in a matter of fact kind of way "Yes."

This kid is definitely living for Jesus. It was so cool.