Livin' in a material world and I am a material girl....

Just a few things (of many) that I have been obsessing over......

Do you think it would be too mean to have Zachy be a skunk for Halloween? I think it's too cute!

I can't wait to buy this digikit by Shabby Miss Jen. Along with the Shabby Princess, she is my favorite digikit designer.

I really want this dual waver from Bedhead. My friend Ricanne has a similar one and it makes the coolest waves in your hair reminiscent of 40's movie stars. Amy and I have this one figured out. We are getting each other one for our birthdays! Aren't we sneaky? :)

I really want these shoes by Clark. I just haven't been able to justify the $85 price tag. But they are so cute!

My memories of 9/11/2001

I posted this back in May but I am thinking about it again today on the anniversary of that horrible day in 2001. May God continue to bless America.

I need to write about my feelings on 9/11.Short version is I was up with baby KateLyn and turned on the TV. Usually I wasn't up that time of morning 6:30 ish Pacific time and was horrified to see the towers burning. I remember I was watching NBC. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of it. Surely there weren't many people there. Shortly after I turned it on the towers fell one by one. I remember looking at it in horrified fascination watching it unfold live on TV. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. I thought that maybe there weren't that many people in there since it was fairly early in the morning. Up until that time, I wasn't sure what the world trade center was. I thought they were some UN type of buildings or something. I remember panicking. I tried to call Mark and I started flipping channels and QVC was on and they were still selling things. That seemed so strange to me. In a few minutes, they had stopped selling things and had a banner that due to the days events they wouldn't be airing their programs.

Brynn had preschool that day so I took her to school and remember driving by the Puyallup Fairgrounds on my way and the fair was going but there weren't many people there and I can remember the feeling that it all seemed so odd to see fair rides going when the world was upside down. It was eery. I had a gift card from Target so that day I stocked up on food and water in case the world was ending. There were only a few people in Target which was odd since it's usually packed! I was scared to be in a store. It was such unfamiliar territory. I didn't know if the terrorists were "done". I had felt so safe before like the US was just too big to be hit significantly.

I remember standing on our deck that night and thinking how strange and quiet it was because they had shut down all air travel and we lived near McChord AFB and were used to seeing planes. It was a really scary time not knowing what was coming next. In the days following it was heartening to see several people standing by the side of the road waving large American flags.


I didn't cry about it until about 6 months later when I was watching something sad about days events and then it all came out. I felt such sorrow for the senseless loss of life the families of the victims endured. The story I still remember almost 5 years later was of a man from California whose wife was at the WTC on business for just a few days. I remember him pleading to let him know if anyone had any information about her. Like so many others, I don't think he found her. I hope we never forget about the people who lost there lives so senselessly that day and the heroes who saved so many lives on the planes and on the ground. If you haven't, I would encourage you to write down your thoughts on this historic, horrible day.

Quiet weekend

We are so enjoying a quiet weekend. We have been traveling for so many weekends in a row I have lost count. It is SO nice not to have anything planned this one. I am Mark's favorite wife ;)ever since I bought him the new Harry Potter book. He's been wanting to read it ever since it came out. The problem is Mark doesn't sleep or eat while he is reading a book. I don't expect to see him much until he goes work on Monday in a tired stupor.

I went out today shopping by myself and it was heavenly. It's just amazing how much ground you can cover when you don't have 4 monkeys hanging off your cart. I am excited to have a new shirt for church tomorrow, which incidentally, they are splitting our ward in half tomorrow! This week there has been tons of speculation as to how they will split things and who will fill all the new positions. It should prove interesting!

I ran into my one of my favorite people today. Her name is Lori and she was my favorite church teacher growing up. She is such a kindred spirit. We caught up on all the news. (she is one of my mom's good friends and has a son my age) Isn't it amazing how one person can have so much good influence on a person? I bet you all have a teacher like that.

Not too much else to report......and for now that's A-OK!

B-Don starts school!

My funny little nephew Brandon started preschool today, FINALLY! He has wanted to go to school for so long! GIT-R-DONE Brandon!

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire is my cute little niece! Happy birthday sweetie. I wish we could be there!

More reunion pics.......

Wild Weekend!

I love the Erickson reunion! This one was even better than usual. Sat. we woke up and gave KateLyn her presents. I can't believe she is 7! It's not possible. She is such a joy to us and we are so grateful for her fun, sweet, and spunky spirit! She was so excited to receive a new bike and she especially liked the basket we bought to go with it. She has always wanted a bike basket! She also got a Littlest Pet Shop house and a cute little baby doll from us. We let her try her stuff out and then we headed to Wyoming with no spare room left in the van. We really need a trailer or something!

When we got to the camp site the silent auction was already in swing. This reunion is the Kay and Delsa Erickson reunion which are my dad's parents. They are great. Even though I am 30, they are only in their early 70's. They have always been hip, young grandparents. My Grandma has had some health setbacks recently but they still go 100 mph. This year we held a silent auction for my Dad's cousin who was recently diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. It was awesome. People donated services (like haircuts, sewing time and photography gc's) and new items like Dutch ovens, shirts, scrapbook stuff, signs, etc. They also donated homemade goods like my Aunt Alice's famous pickles, Grandma's homemade taffy and fudge, etc. It was a huge hit! Between my Grandparent's 7 kids, and all us grandkids we raised over $1500 that day, plus it was fun trying to outbid each other! Shopping+camping=tons of fun! Amy's kids bid on a few things without her knowledge so that was funny when my aunt Heidi read their names as winners. The auction gave the reunion such a positive energy. People were nicer to each other than usual. (we are a family that LOVES to tease(harrass) each other)

We had a pinata for Kate. She loved that. My cousin had brought rappeling gear and we hooked the spongebob pinata to a giant bungy. Man, that old sponge FLEW! The kids really enjoyed it all.

That night my cousin Nick smoked a bunch of different meat in a big smoker that they have. It was HEAVENLY! We eat so dang well there! Everyone tries to outdo each other. The evening wasn't complete without my two brothers having a little wrastling match. :o Kendall had the nerve to take Zane's chair. The horror! I sure wish I would have got a picture of that. My mom was horrified but I believe my dad was egging them on.

Sunday morning we had a yummy camp breakfast! My kids love that the most. We always have a little church meeting up there. I am sure it's not sanctioned but it makes us feel better for missing our meetings. I love to hear my grandparents speak to us all. They love each of us and they have always taught us to love the Gospel. They are great! Zane said a few words about his upcoming mission plans. He looked a little sad that day. He's going to have a lot of changes really quickly.

My cousins wife Jeralyn put together a sawdust treasure hunt. The kids loved digging through the sawdust for jewelry, candy, glosticks, coins, and lots more. They were good to each other and made sure everyone got a bunch.

My stomach hurt from laughing so hard Sunday night. We had a home movie night! We played home movies of all of us when we were younger.(powered by a generator shown on a big sheet)What a riot! I cringe when I think of all of the 80's hair I saw on those videos. :o

Zachy was so difficult Saturday night (we ended up going out to my mom's at 1:00 am) that we decided to go home Sunday night instead of staying until Monday for the bike jumping. Several years ago my cousin Nick started a tradition of jumping bikes into Cottonwood Lake. Every year the jump gets bigger and scarier. We get more and more spectators every year. It's funny. We wanted to be there but I needed a few hours of sleep more.

If you have made it this far, CONGRATS! It's been a long one. :) The week is going fast already. Have a great one!