[ what a weekend ]

After a super duper duper crazy week at school that incuded inservices, scheduling, and cheer practice followed by a night at the fair and lots of work from home - I was ready for the weekend!!

Remember this crazy trio?

They were at our house this weekend! They went to the fair, we played a marathon game of Monopoly (I won!), the girls got pedicures, the boys went fishing, we tried out the Mentos Geyser, BBQd, played Guitar Hero, and they majorly wore out the dogs!! We had a good weekend.

On Saturday, I went to cheer practice after watching the beginning of Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral. Mom's interest in the Kennedy family has rubbed off on me. I am in awe of the family, their legacy, the curse, and their place in history.

Also, today is Melissa's 25th birthday!

I didn't get to see her, but hopefully she had a great day!

[ August 29, 2001 ]

Today is 8 years since {August 29, 2001}.

8 years since the fire that changed our lives.

8 years ago, I prayed desperately for my Dad to survive the night...and then the next night...

The events that occured 8 years ago caused me to become an adult and learn life lessons in just minutes.

I respect my Dad for the perseverence, strength, and endurance he had to survive what happened to him 8 years ago.

I am so thankful that, 8 years from that day, my Dad survived and thrived in the face of adversity.

I learned so much from him and to continue to learn from him constantly. He had his source of livelihood taken from him, regained his strength, and started a brand new career. In his new career, he has gained success, respect, and even more perseverence.

In our desperation on that day, 8 years ago, I never would've imagined where we'd be today, but I am so grateful and we are so blessed.

[ two more quilts...can you stand it? ]

Just wanted to share two more quilts I've finished recently...

This one is the Scruffily Quilt (pattern by Rachel Griffith for Moda Bake Shop) with Sultry by Basic Grey for Moda fabric. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

The pattern forced me to go out of my comfort zone and use a pieced binding. I like it for this quilt. I wouldn't use it all the time, but it's a cute concept!

Here's another quilt I made at Priest Lake. It's a baby/lap quilt. Not big enough to snuggle under. :) It's the Stacked Coins Baby Quilt by Crazy Mom Quilts for Moda Bake Shop. Fabric is Soiree by Lila Tueller for Moda.

It also forced by to go out of my comfort zone (something I'm not comfortable with!!). Since I wanted to get it finished, I used backing fabric that I had in my stash. I usually am a very matchy-matchy person. I prefer all the fabrics to be from the same line - which this is not! :) I'm pleased with how it turned out.

[ school, cheer, quilting ]

I made it through my first week of school! 3 days down...many more to go!

The beginning of school looked a little different than I envisioned. My co-worker counselor discovered a serious heart condition over the summer and has to have surgery to put a pacemaker in. Due to this, he is not allowed to return to work for the entire school year and perhaps longer. So, a temporary replacement has been hired and for the past three days, I've been trying to teach her what she needs to know to tackle the onslaught of students that will be begin arriving at CHS next week. Needless to say, I brought quite a bit of work home with me this weekend - but I'm 99% sure that would've been the case regardless. :)

SO - my idea that I'd be able to sorta split my time between work and cheer camp went out the window real quick. I finally got to spend about 45 minutes there with Jess today. I'll be a fresh set of eyes on the routine we're preparing for the first day of school assembly and Eagles Nest BBQ, I guess!

Here's our squads for 09-10 (thanks for the picture, Jess!):

I have been doing some quilting in the evenings when I get home. I finally finished this quilt that I've been working on (on and off) since April. It's my very very favorite that I've done so far.

It's Camille Roskelley's pattern Jelly Filled with Aviary fabric.

It was hard to get a picture of since it's pretty big and it was kinda breezy outside tonight. Melissa said her arms were getting sore - but, well, see for yourself:

I had this beauty machine quilted at a quilt store in Spokane and picked it up on our way home from Priest Lake last week.

I would definitely make this pattern again. I love how it turned out!

I have two more quilts that I'm sewing the binding onto this weekend. Can't wait to share them with you!

[ reunited ]

On August 1st, my dearest friend (read: oldest - no offense, Trace!) came to Connell for the day! Her Grandma Mary passed away on the 4th of July and they had a Celebration of Life service in Connell.

Tracy and I met when we were three and my Mom tried to snatch her. :) It's an old story/joke told between our families. The story goes that my family was visiting my Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas (we still lived in Tacoma at the time). After the Christmas Eve Service, my Mom pulled on a little girl's blue hood and coaxed her to go out the door. Tracy's Mom panicked and asked her husband, "Bill, who is that woman trying to take our daughter?" (Tracy's Dad was a Connell native - went to high school with my Mom...her Mom married into Connell!) Come to find out, Tracy and I had the same winter coat and with our hoods up, looked exactly the same!

We grew up to be the best of friends, inseparable through elementary school - having birthday parties together (we're three days apart), lots of sleepovers, lots of dress up, playing Barbies, New Kids on the Block/Debbie Gibson/Tiffany sing-a-longs.

Tracy and her family moved to Portland the summer between 8th and 9th grade. We visited during high school and ended up at Whitworth together for college! I loved experiencing college with her. I am not very outgoing in unknown situations, but having Tracy there felt like home and made me a lot more comfortable. I had a terrible roommate and Tracy had a single, so we spent a lot of time in that little closet! She moved back to Portland half way through our sophomore year and I sure missed her.

We've seen each other a handful of times in the past 8 years, but not nearly as often as I'd like. She's married to a great guy and has two beautiful kids. Really beautiful!

ANYWAY - it was such fun to see her even just for a few hours and even if it was under such circumstances. I miss her and her family very much and wish we lived closer to each other.

This is Tracy's aunt Carrie. She's a riot. She chaperoned a school trip to Washington DC we took the summer after 7th grade. We still laugh about the stuff she instigated on that trip! (She also played the part of the photographer the day they were in Connell - thanks for letting me use them, Carrie!)

Grandma Marcial and Carrie

My Mom - ow ow! :)

[ ANOTHER giveaway ]

Can you tell from the number of giveaways I enter that I haven't won anything yet?! :) I'm just going to keep trying...

Click on the logo to enter to win this:

Totally cute, right!? Just what I need...another bag. That deserves a whole post on it's own!

[ help me pick a hairstyle ]

All right, this is a little on the late side, but I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and I want to take a picture to Tennelle to show her what I'd like.

Here's a recent picture...(minus the bangs pulled back. Boating makes you do desperate things with your hair. I always think that would be a good look, but it just looks DUMB with my big forehead and flat hair.)

Here's some ideas I found online this afternoon. Feel free to send me a picture of an idea you have. I'm open to anything. None of them are exactly what I have in mind. Very annoying...

Maybe my hair already would do what I have in mind if only I could use my hair straightener as it's intended. When I use it, my hair always seems to looks like dry, gross straw at the ends. Back to the trusty curling iron, I go. I need help!

[ back from the lake...for good... ]

It's a sad sad day at the Koch house. Mom & I moved home from Priest Lake today (literally moved, it felt like!). I got to spend 7 wonderful weeks there - with trips home here and there...adding up to 34 days! What a great last week we had - spending time with Grandma, Amber, Rachel, and Annette. We did some of our favorite things: got coffee & ice cream, ate French Dip's at Korner's, dinner at Trent's @ Cavanaugh Bay, watched some movies, enjoyed rain, thunder, & lightning, read books, crafted, played cards, enjoyed Sushi Wednesday, and went to the Entree Gallery. I guess we slept somewhere in there too!

We saw an awesome storm roll through...more than once! But here's a pretty picture I took on my iPhone (for crying out loud - it did a pretty good job!). The night after this, it poured so hard - I've never seen it rain that hard anywhere!

Here's the delicious California Roll we enjoyed. YUM! It was my favorite of all that we tried.

So- I'm home and now off to some wedding receptions tonight. I have two blogs below this one that I also wrote today, so don't miss them!!

[ you know how I love giveaways... ]

Yep...I'm entering another giveaway! Click on the link to enter yourself!

[ two weddings in one day ]

Today, I'm happy to celebrate the weddings of two of my favorite Junior Miss girls! I can't believe they're old enough to get married, but happy for them nonetheless!

Emily Davidson and Keaton Wagner

Brittney Casper and Tyler Mills

I hope they enjoy their tablerunners! As I was making them, I kept envisioning their tablerunners on their kitchen tables in their new homes and hoping that the tablerunners bring some happiness and home-y coziness to their kitchens!

Love you girls!

[ home again...and then back to the lake again! ]

Mom and I came home again for a quick less than 24 hours at home. The Youth Group is presenting about the June Mission Trip at church tomorrow and we're having a brunch to thank all of our sponsors. After church, we'll head back to Priest Lake for our final week. I hate to even think about it...I'm grateful for all the time I've been able to spend there, but I'm sad to see it come to an end for the year.

We had a fun week we had this last week! We had a super fun evening with the Johnson family at the Baumann cabin on Tuesday evening. We shared dinner with Gavin, Nick, Kate, Dave, and Angie, then took a boat trip to Elkins for Huckleberry Daquiris & came back to Trent's at Cavanaugh Bay for Huckleberry Daquiris, then played a fun game of Balderdash back at their cabin. That game was a lot more fun than I remembered! Everyone was on their game that night and quite creative with their definitions! So fun!

On Wednesday night, Mom, Craig, & I went to Hill's for Sushi Wednesday! Melissa, Tiffany, & I tried the week earlier, but it was too busy and sushi would've taken an hour! So, we went earlier this week and had great sucess! Sushi was delicious, the live music was so enjoyable, and we just had a fun time! The only regret was that we had to get back to the house for the finale of So You Think You Can Dance, so we didn't get to stay as long as I would've liked. Oh well - we'll try again this week!

We received some sad news while we were at the lake this week. My good friend Leah's Mom, Kitty Niles, passed away. She fought a valient fight against cancer with grace, faith, and trust in God. She was the sweetest & most caring lady and will be greatly missed by her friends and family. Three of my high school classmates have lost their Mom's in the past 9 months. It really hit me this week when I heard about Leah's Mom...I am so grateful our story turned out differently in April.

Lastly - here's a shout out for Jessica Perkins. FEEL BETTER SOON! We have cheerleaders to whip into shape, quilting to discuss at great length, and Emersyn to chase around! I found her the cutest "beginning of cheer season" present today - can't wait to see you guys so I can give it to her! (It has absolutely NOTHING to do with cheer...don't be disappointed! There just is no holiday to attribute this to!) Thinking about you and hope you're recovering well! I'll bring you your recovery goody bag when I see you in two weeks!

[ washington state jr miss ]

Last night, we went to Pullman to cheer on Connell/North Franklin's Junior Miss, Sarah McGary, at the Washington State Junior Miss Program. Sarah won a Self-Expression Award ($200 scholarship). We are so proud of her and glad she had a fun week. The 2010 Washington State Junior Miss is Mattie Bergeson from Moses Lake.

Sarah and Mattie