Happy July 1st!

It has been awhile since I have posted, so I thought I better start July off with a post to try and get some momentum in the beginning of the month. June was super busy for us, as I am sure the rest of you too, so I didn't feel like I had time to sit down at the computer too much.

As a recap, we had the delightful trip to Yosemite that you all read about, as well as the end of school with classroom musicals and ballet recitals.

The two older kids went to camp for a couple of nights at Cascades and had a blast with some friends from church! The kids got to stay in this train camp in the background. All the train cars slept 10 and had their own bathrooms included. Notice Mt. Rainier in the background. Picture perfect!

Cascades is an amazing camp that is affiliated with our church. I worked at one of the sister camps, Covenant Harbor for 8 summers! It made such a difference in my life and I pray that the kids have a similar experience.

Last week we also took one of the sunny days to enjoy a boat ride on my parents boat, the Nordic Dawg! We took the ferry to Seattle to pick up the boat after a tune-up, picked up my Grandma at her residence (Covenant Shores) on Mercer Island, and took her over for lunch at the marina in Kirkland. Then we trolled along Bellevue and Mercer Island checking out all the amazing homes on the water, Bill Gates's included.

This weekend I got to go to a Women of Faith Conference in the Seattle for the day. There were a handful of us from church and we got to hear some amazing speakers and artists perform. My favorite time was when the artist, Natalie Grant, performed- she was moving!

Sunday we had our annual church picnic at Scenic Beach State Park in Seabeck. It was so gorgeous there with the scenery and the weather! We had a blast picnicing, tossing balloons, playing in the water, etc. I had to leave a little early though, which I felt a little guilty about.

The guilt quickly evaporated when I got to my destination: Zootunes concert! A couple of friends and I traveled into Seattle (two times in one weekend!) for an Indigo Girls concert! It was being held on the Woodland Park Zoo lawn (hence, Zootunes), so we got to bring in a picnic and chill while listening to some amazing tunes!

I really had such an amazing June with family and friends! I look forward to July!

Happy Anniversary Daron!

Just wanted to say how thankful I am for my husband and our marriage! Daron and I were married 12 yrs. ago today(6.16.96) at Libertyville Covenant Church, in Illinois. It was a dream wedding! Daron and I were able to pick what was important to us and our relationship for the ceremony and it was so special to have all our closest friends and relatives there. All 350 of them! :) The reception my parents threw was also just so picturesque at the Cuneo Estate. The grounds there were amazing, as well as the food and entertainment! I think of that day and all that has happened between then and now and I celebrate! I am a lucky lady to have this man in my life. Happy 12th Anniversary!

The 3 Goldilocks and the Bear!

Once upon a time, there was a family with three little Goldilocks that traveled to Yosemite National Park. While they were there, they were told to beware of the bears because they loved to break into cars and tents for any crumb they smell! Well, the first night the parents weren't so sure about that, so they thought that if they just covered the food in the van, the bears wouldn't see it. There were signs everywhere that said otherwise, but the parents thought they knew better. Eventually, the oldest Goldilocks played the trump card that the parents weren't following the law, so they hauled every bit of food and scented items into the bear lockers that were provided by the cabin. The family of Goldilocks slept soundly that night and awoke to a secured and unvandalized van. They lived happily ever after....no, it isn't over!

The next day the family decided to go to a lecture on "Bears". The three Goldilocks were working towards their Jr. Ranger badges, so by going to the lecture they were completing another task to get their badge. They learned many fascinating things about bears during that hour. Bears have a very keen sense of smell that can smell food from miles away. They also learned that bears can tear out doors of cars! The family was in awe! Later the family went to go set up their tent at a new campground. They had heard that a bear had been in the area lately and broken into cars repeatedly. This time the parents were on the same page as the three Goldilocks and took any scented items out of the car without second-guessing and placed them in the bear lockers. As they were getting dinner ready, the eldest Goldilocks saw a bear across the clearing about 100 yds. away. They all watched him walk slowing into his presumed habitat. After the kids got tucked in, Mama Goldilocks was a little nervous about going to bed after seeing a bear so close to the tent, and without another tent between them and the likely bear den. But, after she thought "what are the chances?", and had a glass of wine, she relaxed. As they were falling asleep, they heard a car alarm go off in the distance. Mama Goldilocks nervously joked that she hoped it wasn't their car and they attempted to go to sleep! Now, this campground was one that you had to walk into, so all the cars were about 200 yds. away. Not too close, but far away enough that you couldn't see them .

In the morning, Papa Goldilocks was going to make a pancake breakfast, but first decided that he would go check out the car. At first glance all was well, but then he came around the other side. Yep, you guessed it, the bear had broken into the car! The bear pulled down the whole window frame so that it was almost perpendicular, shattering the window, and climbed in. Unfortunately, the Goldilocks family forgot two peanut butter crackers in a side compartment of the passenger seat door and the bear smelled them. He tore out the compartment, ate the crackers and left the chewed up wrapper as evidence. Other evidence were the paw prints all over the dusty driver's side door, along with some slobber on the exterior. The family freaked out and couldn't believe that the bear choose their car out of all the other cars in the lot! Local law enforcement came by to check out the situation. The Goldilocks family had read that if your car got broken into, you would have to pay a $150 dollar fine! Nice!! Luckily, the officer could tell that they tried their best and would only issue them a warning. After all, he said they had enough of a problem on their hands now with a ripped apart car!

The family was due back in WA the next evening, so they cancelled their hike and Papa "the Hulk" Goldilocks bent the frame back into position, drove the car to the Yosemite garage, vacuumed the glass out of the van, and taped plastic over the window! They traveled a few hours to generous relatives in Sacramento, who let them bunk their for the night. The next day, they bought a package of orange earplugs for each member of the family to wear on the very loud 15+ hour car trip home! After many strange glances, a few tears, and many laughs, the Goldilocks family made it home safely to Washington.

From here on out, if the Goldilocks Family ever goes to Yosemite National Park again, they will stop at a gas station before they enter the park, vacuum out every nook and cranny, and not allow a single morsel of food in their car until they exit the park! This way, they will live Happily Ever After......... The End!

Married to a Pastor? I got your back!

For any of you that are pastor's wives or p.k's(pastor's kids) for that matter, you know all too well the feeling you get when you hear your husband start to tell a story about you for a sermon illustration. This one goes out to all my fellow pastor's wives (Inger, Lenore, Kir, Ing, Kathy, Suzanne, etc.) ............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY4khRpG8O8
(a parody on Carrie Underwood's 'Before He Cheats')

fresh mint+ sunshine= mojito time

I bought some mint the other day at the farmers market and just enjoyed my first mojito of the season on my deck tonight. It is a beautiful 70degree night here with the sun shining, the water glistening, and the mountains out. Very refreshing!

My Memorial Day Weekend Recap

1 campout in our basement

1 boat ride on the Nordic Dawg for ice cream

1 wiffle ball game

1 church kick ball game

1 family tennis match

1 farmers market

3 ultimate strength classes

2 fire pits with s'mores

1 baseball awards party

3 hamburgers

1 hot dog

1 chicken/apple dog ?

Lots of chips

5 BBQ's

Happy Memorial Day!

Viking Fest 2008

Lots of fun in Vikingland this weekend! Every year our town celebrates Norwegian Independece Day. It is a mixture of respectable traditions and an interesting traveling carnival. Of course, the kids love the carnival rides.

We had fun watching them for at least three hours of making themselves dizzy and running around with friends. The girls participated in a Fun Run, while Justus had a baseball game.

Greta also performed with the Norwegian dancers and she did such a great job there and at the parade the next day. As you can tell in the video, she was very hot after an hour of walking in 90degree weather. She was in heaven performing-it is a passion of hers, as all of you that know her can attest to.

Thanks for your prayers

Thanks for your prayers everyone! The testing on Thursday for Justus went well and he was such a tough guy with the bone scan and blood work. We just got a call from the doctor about an hour ago with the results and things look good. She was able to rule out Perthes disease, which they had thought it was. I am very glad it isn't that, because there would have been a lot of complications with the bone. It also looks like there is no tumor-thank you God! Basically, they were able to rule out things, but still not pin point what it is. His white and red blood counts are lower than normal and they are still waiting for more results to come in. The scan showed that his hip is inflamed though, so he is on some anti-inflammatory meds for the next 10 days and we will have another phone conference with her to mark what has been going on. At that time, she may refer us to another doctor depending on how Justus is doing and what the last blood tests reveal. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. It really helped me knowing all of you were thinking of us and praying. Justus also read some of them and I know it reassured him.

What's going on in our house these days....

Justus has been having pain in his leg for the last month and we have been going in and out of the doctor's office trying to figure this out. First we thought maybe he pulled a muscle in baseball, then growing pains, and then we found out that they thought one leg was longer than the other. Last week we went into Seattle to a pediatric orthopedic that told us that actually his legs looked the same length, but his hip was really tight. After another x-ray of the hip, she noticed it looked like blood wasn't getting to one of the hip bones. It could be a number of things still, but we are headed into Children's Hospital tomorrow for more blood tests and a bone scan. We would love any prayers we can get for Justus to feel at peace and be calm during the injection and scan, as well as the blood work. We would also prayer for quick answers, knowledgeable doctors, and of course healing! They are supposed to give us results next Monday, so we will let you know. Thanks in advance for your prayers for our our family!

Bedtime Rituals in the Jag home

Daron was putting the kids to bed recently and told them to go brush their teeth, put pj's on, and brush their bottoms. I don't know why he said the last part, but Justus laughed. I think it is guy humor. I gave him a weird look that probably involved some disrespectful eye rolling. A few minutes later we said we were ready to play a game if they hurried up. Ella proudly came in running to tell us that she did all three and she was the first one ready. I said, "What do you mean you did all three?!!!" She saw the horror and shock on my face and looked as though she was going to cry. Nervous about what this meant I very scaredly(new word) had her go and show me what she did. Yep, she followed directions all right! After she brushed her teeth, she brushed her bottom!!! With her toothbrush!!! I assured her I would buy a new toothbrush tomorrow and tossed it in the trash to her disbelief; it was brand new. Ella was still on the verge of tears and I could barely keep myself from falling over in my snorted laughter. I held it together though and gave her a hug and told her she was a good girl for following such awful directions from her father. I think we will have to wait on our sarcastic humor for awhile!