A Muddy Mishap

A little story that might make you smile...it makes me smile.

Sunday afternoon Ryan decided he was going to take care of one of our plants. In the process of trimming off all the dead leaves, he managed to massacre and kill the entire plant. He threw away the plant, and added some water to the remaining soil knowing he wanted to go buy a new plant to add to the pot.

We went to Fred Meyer and Home Depot and found a pretty little Ficus Tree. When we got it home and ready to go into the waiting pot (full of mud) we realized that the pot was too full, and possibly too small. Ryan then dumped some of the mud from the pot into our sink, the one with the garbage disposal.

You can guess what happened next, a muddy mess. The sink clogged. Ryan tried running the disposal, this lead to a nice geyser of mud spewing all over the counters, and a little onto the carpet. My cupboards had mud dripping down them, and the floor was speckled. This process went on for a good 10-15 minutes. You would think we would stop at some point. But that would be much too easy.

We eventually had to get my turkey baster to get the water out of the sink. It was a mess and I eventually got everything cleaned up. The maintenance man came and fixed our sink.

We finally had the chance to plant our plant. Small problem, the pot was too small. So we had to go and get another one.

After we got the new plant, soil and pot ready to go, we ran out of soil. So we had one more trip to the store at this point.

What a fiasco. But our Ficus is sitting in it's new pot, all pretty and not dead. What a Sunday!

Admin. Day

Today is a day to recognize all those great Admin. Professionals. From Secretaries, to assistants, to well, Receptionists. :) It's a day to recognize all the hard work Admin. people do, mostly behind the scenes.

So, to my fellow Administrative Professionals, HAPPY ADMIN DAY!!!

Happy Birthday!

This weekend I kept saying to myself, “26, that’s it.. I am not turning 30 or having another big birthday, nope, just 26”. Ryan made it feel like it was some huge significant day in my life, one of those “big” birthdays where you go all out.

My birthday was a three day celebration. I didn’t plan for it to be this way, it just was.

Thursday I arrived at work and got a nice gift from my co-worker. Then all the girls I work with brought me a cookies-n-cream cake and a bouquet of flowers as well as a gift card. Wow. They bought us all Starbucks, and we had Applebees for lunch. My husband showed up with a huge bouquet of flowers as well. After lunch I had another bouquet from one of the guys who works in our warehouse. Another co-worker brought me coffee and a huge chocolate muffin. The day ended with dinner with my friend Suzanne whose birthday was the Monday before mine. What a day.

Friday morning Ryan and I both woke up early with excitement-we both had the day off and he some fun stuffed planned. We went to breakfast at the Cadillac Café down by the Lloyd Center. I had the most amazing Pear Mimosa ever. It was so good. After breakfast Ryan took me to Hand & Stone Massage to get well, a massage. It was so relaxing. While I was there he went home and packed our suitcases. He picked me up with Starbucks in hand. We then drove up to Centralia where the next surprise was lunch with one of my good friends that I don’t get to see too often, Sarah. We had a nice time catching up. Ryan picked me up and we drove up to my parents house to spend the night with them. I had been feeling a bit homesick, so this was a nice surprise. They took us to dinner at the Outback. Then we went and saw “17 again” (I know, it’s a teen movie, but I enjoyed it). The night ended with a big bowl of Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream! YUMMY!

Saturday morning my mom made us breakfast before we headed off to Seattle to spend the day shopping. Ryan had gotten me several gift cards to some of my favorite stores. We had a great time and I found many things, mostly on sale!!  After the game we checked into the Hotel that Ryan had surprised me with. We stayed at the Warwick Hotel in downtown Seattle. When we got to our room we had a beautiful view of the parking lot. So Ryan called the desk and told them that he had been guaranteed a room with a view of the Space Needle. So they switched us. We got to the new floor and it smelled like smoke. We got to our room, also smelling like smoke, we were ready to leave. Please know, neither of us complain much, but Ryan had booked the room in January and was frustrated that we didn’t get what we wanted. So, the girl at the desk moved us to the top floor of the hotel into a suite. A room that cost at least double what we were paying. It had the most amazing view of downtown and the Space Needle. We were happy with the change!  We then went to the Mariner’s game!! What a game…they lost. I was so bummed, but that’s ok. We had a great time. We sat by a really nice couple who I chatted with for a while. On the way back to the hotel, Ryan got us a Taxi instead of going on the bus. It was my first Taxi ride-and boy was that an experience. Back at our room, there was a bottle of sparkling cider and chocolate covered strawberries awaiting our arrival. We couldn’t have asked for a better view. What a great way to end the best birthday!!

Ryan spoiled me so much this weekend!! We had such a wonderful time!! And today, I can hardly keep my eyes open!!

Pictures will soon follow!!

April 16...

There are a couple of reasons to celebrate today!!!

1. My parents have been married for 28 years today! I am so blessed to have such amazing and incredible parents who love each other so deeply. Who love their two children, and their Son-in-Law. Who love the Lord more than anything else.

2. Hadlie Michelle was born one year ago today. She is such a joy to our family. We celebrated last Saturday, it was so fun to see everyone come out to celebrate the life of this adorable girl.

So with that, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!! Happy Birthday Hadlie!!

We love you!

Good Friday

2000 plus years ago a man was accused of a crime he did not commit. He was yelled at, verbally abused. He was beat, almost to death. He was spit on, slapped, kicked, whipped, bruised, beaten, despised, ridiculed.

When all this was over, when he could hardly take in another breath, they put a heavy cross on his shoulders and forced him to walk up a hill to the place he would face his death, Golgotha. Here the torture, abuse and pain did not end. He was nailed to the same cross he carried. On that cross he died.

Today is the day we focus on the death of Christ. We call it “Good Friday” we celebrate his death. I find it interesting that we use the words celebrate and good. We rejoice over the death of Jesus. It almost doesn’t fit. Rejoicing over this horrible death?

But we rejoice because we know the end of the story. Those at the foot of the cross didn’t know the joy that would come three days later. They didn’t know the hope they would have because of this very painful, awful death they were watching. Oh but what joy they would have three days later.

This day is the very foundation of the Christian faith. This is the climax of the story. Many see it as the end of the story. The defeat of Christ. Oh but the victory of the coming resurrection! The reason we hope. The reason we live. The reason we celebrate on Good Friday.

Mourning

Today my heart is sad. It is sad for my old co-worker, and friend Bobby Silva. Today is the funeral for his wife, and his brother. On Sunday April 5 they were rock climbing out in the Gorge when Laura, and Bobby’s Brother Tony fell. Both were killed in the accident. I cannot imagine the pain and loss that Bobby is feeling right now. When I got word of the accident on Monday my heart broke. I could barely concentrate at work, and tried to read every news story I could covering the accident. The whole thing is terribly tragic. And I really don’t know how to respond. I do know that I need to pray for Bobby and the entire Silva family. Please pray for this family who has lost so much in such a short time. Please pray for the funeral today which is expected to packed with Multnomah Students (both Laura and Bobby went there) and many Gresham police officers (since Tony was an officer).

To read more on the accident: http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_040509_news_rock_climbing_death.a7601d67.html

Twitter

I blog. We facebook. We twitter. Yes, we both have jumped on the bandwagon, the new phenomenon TWITTER. Basically a social network website that let's you see the answers to and answer "What are you doing"? We are hooked. More Ryan than me.

His user name is rhawes12: http://twitter.com/rhawes12
Mine is MrsHawes: http://twitter.com/MrsHawes (although you have to request to see my updates...)

Come find us, join the party.

A Sunny Weekend!

What a weekend we had!!! I love weekends. It is when I get to spend some quality time with my husband!

here are a few highlights
• Sunshine and 70 degree plus weather!
• Walking to Pizza Schmizza for dinner Friday night. Ryan had the night off, so he took me to dinner, but we had to walk a couple of miles to get there, but it was totally worth the amazing pizza we enjoyed.
• Seeing my brother. My brother and I have a great relationship. So after a wedding in NE Portland we grabbed my brother and took him to Peet’s Coffee on Hawthorne, what a fun time.
• A sunny Sunday afternoon with our niece. We drove out to my sister in law’s house where it was so nice, warm and sunny. We visited with Shelly over a nice Riseling. We played with Hadlie. I got hugs and kisses from her. We had such a nice time. The perfect Sunday afternoon.
• The perfect end to a sunny weekend, was a nice BBQ. We went to our friends Kat and Jeff’s house. Jeff cooked these amazing ribs. Kat made some mashed potatoes. The meal was fantastic. The company refreshing. We played with their 5 week old and went for a walk to get some dessert.
* Shauna Parsons liked my skirt.

Overall we had a wonderful weekend. Ryan and I had lots of time together and time with some of our favorite people. Ahh, is it Friday yet?