[ another giveaway ]

I've been all about entering blog giveaways this week. Here's another lovely opportunity to dream about. Go to laniejanie's blog (http://laniejane.typepad.com/see_jane_run_go_jane_go/2009/05/a-sunburn-and-sand-in-my-pockets.html#comments) for your chance.

[ nothing exciting ]

Hmmm...it seems I haven't had a real update for a while.

Last week, we planned to go to Priest Lake to open it up for the summer, but my Mom's uncle passed away on Friday, May 22nd around 5pm. Uncle Alvin's passing is a huge loss for our Heider family. He was my Grandpa Walt's younger brother and to my cousins & I, he was like our fill in Grandpa after Grandpa Walt passed away. The weekend was filled with planning and preparations for his memorial service on Tuesday. Mom & I went to Spokane with her cousin Wendy on Sunday to get everything for the potluck that was planned for after the service. It was a nice time to spend with our family, even if it was under such circumstances. We treated ourselves to dinner at Anthony's after we got the groceries. We sat on the patio overlooking the Spokane Falls. It was a beautiful afternoon!

Mom and I were able to run to the Tri-Cities on Monday to take advantage of the Craft Warehouse 40% off coupon. We both got caught by the scrapbooking bug while we were there, so we bought some fun paper and raced home to play. I got five pages done!

This week has gone by fairly fast. The kids are counting down the days, well, maybe hours now. Tomorrow, our soccer, softball, tennis, and track teams are at the state tournaments, so I'm guessing school will be pretty sparse. Everyone was pretty excited today to get going to their respective corners of the state for the tournaments.

Tomorrow, Mom, Melissa, Grandma, and I, along with about 15 other women from Connell UMC and 15,000 other women from around the region, are going to Women of Faith in Spokane. I'm really looking forward to it - I haven't been since I was in college. I'm also excited that I get to see my friend Jodes from grad school.

Tonight, I was determined to get some quilting done...check it out!

I got it quilted and the binding sewed on, so now I have to hand sew the rest of the binding on. It's a good size, but folds to a pretty small rectangle. I'm thinking about taking it with me to sew at the conference, but maybe not. Once it's done, it will be my largest completed project!

P.S. Jessica, don't worry - your blog is definitely my fav, but I'm trying to brown nose Camille a little bit so I can win that cute fabric!

[ giveaway ]

I've entered this giveaway on my favorite blog:

http://camilleroskelley.typepad.com/simplify/2009/05/moda-love.html.

By her:

To win this:

So, if I post a link on my blog, I get three more entries...

go ahead girls, enter...I dare you!

(A newsy post will come in the next 48 hours...promise!)

[ sytycd ]

can i get a whoop whoop?!it's back! summer is here!!

[ 6 weeks ]

It has been 6 weeks since we were here:

For me, it feels like a lifetime ago.
Mom has made such strides since that day; she is a real miracle. I'll take this opportunity again to thank our friends, family, & community for their thoughts, prayers, love, and support. It is beyond appreciated.

Looking forward to the long weekend this weekend. Fun is in store - I can feel it!

[ tagged ]

I was tagged by my friend Melissa...thanks a lot, Melissa! ;)

Respond and rework:
1. answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention,
add one more question of your own.
2. Tag other un-tagged people.
Here are the Questions:

When was the last time you went on vacation? April, Seattle for Spring Break

Who was the last person you hugged? All the new cheerleaders!

What’s your favorite dinner? Carne Asada with Palomas

What was the last thing you bought? good bought or boring bought? Good bought: a rotating cutting mat at JoAnn's - Boring bought: iced coffee & mini doughnuts at SunMart this morning

What is your favorite weather? 70s, and sunny

What is your favorite charity? Northwest Burn Foundation

Say something about the person/s who tagged you. I'm enjoying getting to know Melissa as my friend, instead of my friend's older sister! :)

What is your favorite flavor gum? Bubble Gum

What did you want to become as a child? a Fashion Designer

What do you miss? Priest Lake

What's your favorite brand of jeans? wide leg, good fit

What's your favorite dessert? Ice Cream

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Mexico, minus the swine flu

What is your most challenging goal right now? Fitting everything into the day

What’s your 5 year plan? Hmm...continue working hard, travel

If you could live anywhere, even if it was for 1 year where would it be? Right Here

Why is today special? Because it's May 20th. I got to spend the day with Jennifer, working on scheduling. Cheer Tryouts. An Ice Cream Sandwich is on the horizon.

What is your favorite sport to watch? High School Football

What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own? My Great-Grandma's Wedding Ring

How did you meet your spouse? Not sure yet... :)

What's one thing about you that you would change? LASIK eye surgery!!!

What is something about you that no one would know? I'm not creative...I can copy and follow directions, but coming up with ideas on my own - no bueno.
What would you do with a free hour? Quilt...I'm afraid I'm never going to have time to quilt again, EVER!

What book would you recommend to a friend? Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Well, that's it. Feel free to play along. I tag Jessica, Amy, Jennifer, & Jamie.

[ cheer...LEAP...lack of sleep ]

Man, I thought I was tired last week, getting back into the swing of things.

I was wrong.

This week - well, it's only Tuesday - but I'm exhausted!

At work, Jennifer and I are faithfully working on scheduling...scheduling...scheduling. It makes the day go by fast and it's fun to work with Jennifer! It's a little bit like playing puppet master, but hopefully, we're making good decisions for the students!

After school, we've had cheer tryout practice the last two days. We've been a bit disappointed because it seems like not many girls want to hang out with us! We don't even have enough girls to make full squads. Sad sad sad.

This part is fun though:

Tomorrow is cheer tryouts, so we'll see what the girls can amaze us with.

The last two nights have also been Senior LEAP presentations! I volunteered to monitor a room both last night and tonight. I enjoy listening to the presentations, learning about their senior projects, and celebrating this achievement with the seniors!

Last night, I managed to squeeze in a Pampered Chef party, as well!

Tonight, Mom & I are hunkered down watching the finale of Dancing with the Stars with a slice of apple pie. Dad is in Pendleton until Saturday, so it's just us girls. :)

[ thankful ]

With all the budget cuts facing school districts across the nation, counseling being considered non-essential, me being the low man on the totem pole among NFSD counselors, and fellow counselor friends/former classmates loosing their jobs - I was very thankful to find a contract in my box today offering me a job for the 2009-2010 school year.

This is the third year I've received a contract on the big day (May 15th is the day the districts are required to distribute contracts), but I've never realized how truly thankful I am that I find that envelope in my box. I've taken it for granted before, but no longer. I am so grateful for my job. I know that amongst people my age with the same years of experience, I am very lucky.

I'm feeling very blessed tonight.

[ grey's ]

just hanging out...waiting to watch the season finale of grey's anatomy...

how great was this last week?

how will they be able to top it this week?

Mr. & Mrs. Derek Shepherd? I doubt it...

Izzie lives happily ever after with Alex? I hope so!

[ GO COUGS! ]

Fight Fight Fight for Washington State!

We celebrated Karlye's graduation from WSU on Saturday! It was a lot of fun to participate in the ceremony, even if it was sort of a "Where's Waldo" kind of game!

Can you find her in this picture?!

How about this one?

(I found out that my camera takes TERRIBLE pictures when it's zoomed out all the way!)

We were excited!

Honoring the Coug parents!
(Kim brought New Year's noise makers - so we were having a good time with our obnoxious horns and noisemakers!)


The Coug Grandma, for the 5th time!
Doesn't Grandma look great? She celebrated her 60th high school class reunion later that evening!

After graduation, we had a fun FiEsTa at the farm with Carne Asada, homemade salsa, and delicious drinks...oh...and we all toasted Karlye's achievements with a shot of Jose. :)

Mom kicked our butts in 4-5-6 (she won $26 - big spenders!).

We had a fun day and are all super proud of Karlye!!

[ catching up ]

Today, I am enjoying being at home...it's my last "day" before I go back to work on Monday. I am thankful for being able to stay home to help Mom get back on her feet and while she still has a long road in front of her, I think we're both confident that we're ready to move on to the next step in the progress.

This morning, we made this mondo bowl of salsa, per Karlye's request, to enjoy at her GRADUATION party tomorrow! I couldn't be more excited to celebrate Karlye's graduation from WSU tomorrow. I am so proud of her hard work, dedication, and perseverence to get to this point. So so proud....

(BTW, if you're wondering - this salsa is DELISH!)

Yesterday, Mom & I went to the Tri-Cities to run some errands and pick up some prescriptions for her. Yesterday was also one month since her surgery. We celebrated with Starbucks...AND Sonic!

We also stopped by Village Quiltworks at Queensgate and I picked up this cute quilt kit:

I don't know what it is about orange lately, but I'm a huge fan! I also got some fabric and a pattern for a bag that Mom wants me to try out. I'm a little leary of a bag, so we'll see how it goes. She picked out cute coffee-themed fabric, so even if the bag is a flop, it'll still be adorable because of the fabric!

I also found these pictures on my phone camera that I haven't shared yet...

Ladies and Gentlemen...I took the plunge and bought this lovely, 40 yard roll of quilt batting. I think I could supply all the quilters in Connell with batting!! Seriously, if anyone needs some, let me know! :)

Tonight, my lovely friends Kate & Candace are coming over for Root Beer Floats, crafting, chatting, and having fun. I'm not sure how much crafting we'll get it, but the rest will be fun for sure!

[ Cinco de Mayo }

YAY! I love Cinco de Mayo! I think it's un-American not to honor Cinco de Mayo with good Mexican food and a margarita!

To celebrate, Mom, Dad, Grandma, & I went to Ritzville to try out their new Mexican restaurant. It was delicious!! I could eat there every day...no lie. We also went to the fabric store in Ritzville that is across the street from the Mexican restaurant. It was fun - lots of cute quilts on the walls. Grandma bought me this layer cake:

and, as soon as I got home, I cut it up and started sewing it back together into a cute table topper.

Hope you all enjoyed your Cinco de Mayo and did something FUN to celebrate!!

[ Frances Lind Rein ]

My cousin Lisa and her husband Jon welcomed

Frances Lind Rein

to their family!

born at 12:01am, May 3rd, 2009

7 lbs, 14 oz, 20 1/4 in. long

We are all very excited to welcome Frankie to our family! I love her middle name - both Jon and Lisa have family from Lind, Washington - and the first place we all met Jon was at the Lind Combine Demolition Derby!

(Jon's funny father pointed out that he's glad Jon & Lisa didn't have a common family ties in Ritzville or Washtucna!)

(Too bad I didn't get that quilt sent off yet...!)