IT"S ALIVE!!!!!!

Yes, Yes I am still alive. Mom has been emailing me asking if We are still out here. And we are.. just incredibly busy getting into the summer routine.

First off a couple years ago the top twenty feet of a tree fell on our house...Can't seem to find the pictures of it...However it damaged the Soffit and Gutter on the back side of the house..And all the gutters were damaged from the storm...Moss eventually started growing on the house due to

pressure washing all the pine needles, moss, etc off...(don't pressure wash the shingles on your house, removes the tar etc and allows things to grow) Although most of y'all in eastern washington don't have moss problems. ANYWAYS, we finally got around to getting it all repaired..

This is the view from the Street. We had the entire roof replaced as well as all new gutters. in this picture there actually are no gutters yet.

This is the view from the backyard. as you can probably tell we decided not to put back a composite roof. We decided after much discussion to put on a metal roof. YAY! now we don't have to do anything with it for 50 years and it won't fade etc and all we have to do is pressure wash it now and then. We were afraid it was going to look to much like a barn, but we're actually very happy with the way that it turned out.

Close up of the backside of the roof. They replaced alot of the vents etc which was good.

But it's all done now and we can move on.

We havnt been doing awhole lot. I spent a full week in Dallas for work. Got to see some friends that live there and the weather wasnt to hot. when I went over to Austin it then got hot. Steve spent a couple weeks in Dublin a couple months ago. ANd came down to Dallas for the weekend.

Tank is over his surgery. He had to have TPLO surgery..which basically means they shaved off the top of his knee joint added a plate and some metal screws to hold it all together. But he has been given the green light to resume normal activites. after 4 months of rehab....

let's see what else has happened...oh yeah the truck got broken into at the softball fields a couple weeks ago..one of three vehicles that got broken into. They stole the aftermarket XM sattelite radio, my work GPS, a $400 cell phone with unreleased microsoft software on it. Various CD's etc

here is a photo of the truck..and the explanation for the blue arrow is that. Above the radio there was a sensor (circled with arrow to where it plugs in) that connected to the passanger airbag. It advised you that the airbag was either on or off. depending on how much weight was put on the seat...So we got the window fixed and all the galss cleaned up. I put the old stock radio back in. Insurance paid us about $500 and I took the truck to the dealer for oil change, fix the door as it seemed to be stuck locked and to have them look at the air bag system as the airbag light on the dash wouldnt turn off...Well due to the small sensor being damaged they cannot merely replace the sensor. they have to replace the entire wiring harness for the dash. Since none of the airbags were working because of the one sensor...the computer was thinking that there was a problem and had disabled all of them...Found this out after driving it for two weeks. So of course dealership wanted $1600 before they would even order the part. So i said ok. Called insurance company...this was last wednesday...got a rental truck 2008 chevy silverado. and they sent someone out on TUESDAY to the dealership to look at it. who called me to say we have authorized payment and they are ordering the part. So should be about this time next week when i will get my truck back from the dealership...

what else what else...Softball has started. one league is almost over and another is just begining. I havnt traveled at all for softball this year. The big national tournament this year is here in Seattle so that's actually nice for a change.

We have been doing alot of different things this year. Trying to get into better shape we have taken up tennis and i just recently bought a new mountain bike..

Actually I just bought it yesterday. there are alot of nice trails around the area and even some from our favorite park through the city out to some resturants etc that are a good 5 or 6 miles away. I am looking forward to getting out and riding more often...

I also got a new digital camera for my birthday. It's a Nikon D40 digital SLR camera. Very nice and I have been taken alot of pictures with it. For my birthday Steve also got me a digital photography class at Bellevue Community College. It started last night. I learned alot about the camera and different settings etc, lighting. This saturday we are going on a field trip to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens for our next class. I am really enjoying it...here is a picture from our recent day trip up to Mt. Rainier.

We were only able to make it to the Paradise visitors center. The road around the mountain was still closed because of the melting snow. They are building a new visitor center which will be more eco friendly. I didnt know but during the winter it takes 80 to 100 gallons of deisel fuel to heat the building and heat the roof to keep the snow off it. Due to the design of the building it's not designed to support the weight of the snow...I found that funny being that they get a hell of alot of snow up there during the year..it was fun. 8 people all went up in two cars..most people had never been there before or seen that much snow as they were From LA or North Carolina or Texas and had just recently moved to Seattle or were visiting.

We are looking forward to having Mom and Dad bring Dylan over in June. I thought it was funny when Jennifer told me Dad didnt think that she should drive in Seattle. We had a great time with Joe and Kat and Kylie over...Even if i did break the glass top on the new stove...Which was under warranty and was replaced. However now they are coming to look at it again on monday as it just randomly shuts off during cooking...

We had Steve's 40th birthday at the Experience Music Project back in April. Was alot of fun and lots of people and food.

All in all it's been a pretty busy year so far. June is going to be fairly quiet. No immediate plans to travel any where. July 1 we leave for NY for two days and then off to London for a few days and then over to Glasgow so the first two weeks of July we will be gone. Hopefully during that time we will be having the hottub put in.

So We are still alive things are going well and we're just getting into the summer groove...

Mom, we'll try and come over one weekend soon. Although you guys will probably be bringing Dylan over...We're looking forward to him getting to stay here a few days when he gets back before we head over to ensign. OH did you guys know that ensign is part of a larger group of LDS camps...http://www.ldswrp.com/

anyways time to log off and walk the dogs then actually get some work done.