Seattle Peeps

Once again, Facebook is responsible for connecting me with some old friends.  I haven't seen some of these people since 1998 when I left the IRS in Seattle and transferred to IRS-Criminal Investigations in Eugene, OR.  Who knew we'd meet up again 14 years later in a little pub in Washington, D.C.!  I always love seeing people from back then.  It reminds me of a happy time when I used to commute with my mom to work every day.  At the time, I didn't fully appreciate it...but I realize now that I was pretty lucky to spend that quality time with her for four years straight.  All these people knew and loved my mom and I feel a special vibe whenever I connect with anyone from that timeframe.  I got a little emotional when I saw them tonite and I am thankful for the memories.  It was great to see them and feel the love again!

Julie worked in the Examination Division and we started working together when I became the training coordinator.  She taught me how to balance the training budget which was an experience I will NEVER forget :)

Wayne and Eric

I didn't work directly with these guys, we were just all part of the "IRS posse" that hung out together outside of work (back then we were the "young" crowd) 

Old friends are the best!

Seattle Sounders Representin'

We are such proud dorks...

My brother is now an employee of the Sounders, the professional soccer club in Seattle.  He is an assistant equipment manager and basically works behind the scenes to take care of the team.  He says everytime I talk to him that its a dream - he is loving every minute and can't believe he gets paid to do this stuff.  This week they are in Boston, and soon he will be traveling abroad when the team plays internationally.  We look forward to when the Sounders come here to play DC United next year...we'll get to see my bro and get to watch professional soccer for FREE!  My brother wants us to "represent", and as promised, we received a large box of Sounders apparel.  It was like Christmas and Jay went nutty....here are some pics from the fashion show he put on.  Had no idea putting professional apparel on oneself brought out the professional athlete in oneself...

Posing with the "man-pri" pants

(p.s. that's a youth soccer ball AND he has tube socks on....FAIL) 

Looky what I can do! 

That's right, I am on FIRE! 

Such great form

(Nice tag...)

Want some of THISSSS?

(yes, his thumbs really are thru the thumb holes...)

Central Kitsap Class of '92

Senior Pic

It is hard to believe it has been 20 years since graduating high school.  Last Friday, June 22nd, was my high school reunion, held in Bremerton, WA.  We graduated June 17, 1992 and had a class of around 300 people, but I hear sadly only about 60-70 people were in attendance for this event.  I'll admit, I had no desire to attend and didn't think it would be any big deal so never made arrangements to head back, but as the date approached and more and more hype was being played out across Facebook, I started to feel like I was missing something.  I actually checked into tickets to head back for a quick weekend trip, but that was quickly discarded when I saw roundtrip tickets from DC to SEA were close to $1800 with only a week notice...yeeeow.  So, I had to live vicariously through my sis in law (and former classmate) Nicole and updates on FB on all the festivities.  It looked like everyone had a great time and I look forward to the next one, whether its at 25 or 30....I will not miss it if I can at all help it.  If anything, I owe it to my sis in law to be there with her since we were partners in crime all through school and whenever you saw one of us, you usually saw the other.  I should've been there with her if not for anything else....but at least she had my brother with her, the next best thing ;)  I won't let you down next time, Nik!!

This was 8th Grade Spanish class - the best, most fun class ever!

This is where Nicole and I officially met and became friends (ca. 1987) 

1990

CK Slowpitch 1991

This was the last year CK played slowpitch,

the following year they went to Fastpitch and I chose not to play. 

Senior Student ID

My mom made all my formal dresses;

Homecoming - senior year

Sadie Hawkins - senior year 

We were originally split into two groups, the group in the "9" got the first pic and when it was time to take the pic for the "2", all the 9s ran over into the picture! hahaha! 

Graduation Day.

The guy in the pic was my boyfriend at the time and thought it would be a good idea to get in on the pic...FAIL.  Unfortunately we can't even crop him out!  But it is still one of my favorites from the day. 

Trev's 2nd Birthday

The little man is TWO, can't believe it.  Seems like just yesterday I was getting that horrific spinal block and having my mid-section cut in two to give birth to this precious bundle of joy :)  Time goes so fast and he is every bit the "Terrific Twos"...talking, learning, growing and trying to keep up with his brothers.  I have not been on top of things as I have in the past with the other two...I have broken him of the bottle, but he still has the pacifier at bedtime and he is still in his crib.  By this age, both the other two were in their big boy beds!  Zac was even potty training by this age!  Trev has his first dental appointment this month and I am sure the dentist is going to come down on me about the pacifier and I will have to make the change....but for now, he is still my baby and I am not in any hurry to push him along!

The basketball hoop Auntie and Uncle sent! 

The race track from big brothers

Blowing out the candle!

That night we took the whole family to the Potomac Nationals baseball game, its a minor league team whose field is just around the corner from our house.

Can never get a "normal" picture with the boys! 

I think he was shoving licorice in his mouth... 

Even Gram came along

The sky turned weird and the lightening and thunder was off in the distance 

And then the rain came. 

But we're from the northwest and alittle rain doesn't keep us from the fun!

Kickstart My Heart

Trev is falling right in line to be the next dirt biker in the family and will not surprise me if he is riding by his next birthday (believe it or not, they make training wheels for dirt bikes!).  He watches everything the boys and Jay do and the other day I caught him "kickstarting" his little push toy and reaching down to "adjust" things on his bike, just as daddy does.  I finally got it on video.  I love this boy!!

Budds Creek Motocross 2012

We have been planning to attend this event since right about the time we moved here.  Jay and the boys joined a dirt bike club so they could have access to the local track.  It was a hefty membership fee, but is totally worth it because they are out there as often as possible and it is the only ORV park that is close by.  The club asked for volunteers to help direct cars at this Motocross event and in exchange, they gave us free camping and free admission to the race.  We left Friday afternoon and came home Sunday.  The track is at a place called Budds Creek Motocross park in Mechanicsville, Maryland.  About an hour away. 

Jay had just put up these decals on the back of our trailer before we left.  Trev and I are not riding yet, but as soon as Trev is capable, I will ride too....on my pink dirt bike :) 

ROAD TRIP!

(yes, Zac should be in Scotty's booster seat, I realized this after we got going)

This bridge connects Virginia and the southern part of Maryland over the Potomac River...I've never seen a bridge with such a steep incline! 

The boys playing football with several other boys camping around us; these boys all belong to the same ORV club and they all ride together.

We walked around the actual race track the night before the race and that was surreal (didn't bring my camera!), knowing that in just a few short hours dirt bikes would be tearing up the place and it would be broadcast on live TV.  The weather was hot, but there was a nice breeze so it was quite pleasant.  And we remembered SUNSCREEN this time!  The next morning, while Jay was working, the boys and I walked around the different vendors and food stands, and watched some of the warm up races - it was almost like a county fair!

This particular rider, James Stewart, was hurt in a previous race and was not competing this weekend. He is one of the racers that the boys like to root for, so it was fun to pose next to the "fake" James. 

The boys each got a dirt bike from one of the vendors.  This bike is a replica of Scotty's favorite rider, Ryan Villopoto, who happens to be from Poulsbo, Washington, a town not far from where I'm from.  He also was not competing this weekend due to injury.  It is a brutal sport! 

Posing with their dirt bikes! 

Our first glimpse at the live track, during the warm up 

This jump was right near where we were standing 

People standing at this corner were getting sprayed with dirt as the bikes tore around it 

SNOW CONES!

Jay was finally able to join us shortly after the main event began and we just parked ourselves out in one of the grass patches close to the track and had a fun time watching the race.  He was lucky enough to head back into the pits during the time he was "working" and meet one of his favorite riders, Ben Lamay who is from Alaska.  Unfortuntately didn't get any pictures of him except this one while he was racing:

Sunscreen!

Yes, we learned our lesson :) 

Trev playing dirt bikes 

Trev was totally into the race! 

It helped that we were so close and the bikes were loud and distracting! 

These two were spent by the end of the second or third race (there were four total). 

This was a televised event, so we recorded the race at home and at times we could see where we were standing.

For the most part, the boys were engaged, but as kids are, they had the most fun hanging out near the trailer riding bicycles and playing with the other little boys.  I think Trev was the only one really paying close attention the actual race!  All in all, it was a great weekend getaway and we look forward to the next adventure...

There was a speedway near the motocross track so we let the boys ride their bikes around one night.

This shot reminds me of E.T. 

Zac begged all weekend to ride this "bucking bull" so we finally let him and he was terrified, even though the guy had it going super slow! 

When he got off he said "I never want to ride that bucking bull ever again. Ever!" 

Which is a good thing...mommy can only handle one dangerous sport at a time!!

  

Lunch with Scotty

Promised Scotty several months ago that I would have lunch with him at his school....finally decided remembered to do it the last week of school.  When I walked into his class that day, the excitement on his face when he saw me was priceless.  He came running over to me and gave me a big hug, which part of me felt bad about for disrupting the class but the other part was melting with how sweet it was.  It just goes to show that its the little things, especially in a house full of brothers where everything has to be fair and shared, that showing up and doing something special with just the two of us can mean so much.  The little things to us grown ups are the big things to them.  We had a lot of fun, despite the fact that I was in a lunch room with 500 other noisy kids and crammed in between them at the lunch table, with sticky fingers and messy faces and PB&J crusts and cookie crumbs and milk moustaches...it was all I could do to keep from whippin' out my can of Lysol and spraying every single one of them!  But honestly, it was the greatest 30 minutes I had spent alone with my oldest boy in awhile...germs and all.

Scotty's friend (and baseball teammate) Jonathan took this picture 

Then he insisted on having one with me too 

Mrs Lawson's first grade lunch table - all Scotty's classmates 

The girls sitting across from us.

The girl on the right, Caitlin, is a fellow dirt bike rider and she and Scotty get a kick out of seeing each other at the dirt bike track 

Silly pic!