Summer Updates

Wow! Is summer really winding down already?!? Is school really back in session right around the corner? Thank goodness I did the back to school shopping already.

I got good news that I will be able to maintain my medical and dental plan at work with working 25 hours a week starting in mid-September. YEAH! This enables me to build up to working that much in a week. It's very physical work, serving at the abc in Abbotsford, but I appreciate that my body is getting stronger and stronger every week. I worked 18 hours over three days this past weekend and I'm very exhausted, but I could do it; I'm very encouraged! On top of that I made the best tips I've ever made in one shift at abc, EVER!!

Last week, a week ago, my friend Kari and I decided to take a spontaneous trip somewhere. We didn't know where but we both had three days off and her boys were at summer camp, so we packed our suitcases and passports and sat on-line until we found a deal we couldn't refuse.We thought of staying relatively local, but it decided to pour rain those days, great for our environment and air quality, not so good for laying by the pool and working on our tans:)SO up it popped, a trip to Vegas leaving in 8 hours, that we couldn't pass up. So we pulled an all-nighter, felt young again until around 2am, and then found ourselves pool side at the Wynn Las Vegas, in 12 hours!! What an adventure!!

When we saw that that we had to switch planes in LA, I told Kari, perhaps we'll see someone famous. We ended up on the plane with Criss Angel and ended up standing right beside him in first class as we made our way back to row 22 in economy:)

Pool side our last morning, I recognized the man next to me and I ended up in conversation with him and his wife for sometime. He was Mikko Brando, Micheal Jackson's best friend and son of Marlon Brando, I recognized him from Live with Larry King on CNN. I also recognized his voice and the large diamond cross he wore around his neck. He and his wife (Karen) were very kind and down to earth. We talked about losing our best friends, his friends children missing their Dad, my fears of leaving my children motherless from breast cancer, his adventures in Canada with Micheal, how he's coping now with Micheal being gone and how hard it is to avoid the media. It was a very interesting encounter, one I'll certainly never forget:)

Kari and I did many things we would normally never do:) What Happens in Vegas stays in Vegas:)!! NO!! But we did watch TV on the flat screen TV in our bathroom while having a bath (seperately:)went dancing at 1am, after a late night nap; went walking the Vegas strip until 5:30 am, had a drink by the pool before lunch...we are such rebels!! It was a wonderful get-away!!

Chris did a great job of managing house, girls and work while I was gone, with some help of babysitters and my parent's. When I got home we had house guests right away. Our friends Doug and Cynthia Peters arrived with their three young children from LA. They were in Abbotsford for a family wedding and we had the room for them for 5 nights. The girls loved playing with their girls the same ages and their baby boy, a year old. We will miss them when they leave tomorrow. We hope to visit them at their home on our next trip to LA, which we hope will be next spring.

We are finally all healthy, awaiting follow-up Dr's appointment's, but able to live life to the full and experience all that life has to bring. We are planning a short camping trip with the girls this week, a day at the water slides, a beach day and visit with more friends, all before my next set of days at work. Chris and I are planning a get-away for just the two of us in a month, and work has been quite steady for him.

Chris is excited to start working on music for our church's Christmas production, NBC. He's trying to fit in time to finish up songs for his next cd, which I hope will be ready for release next spring sometime. He's got some exciting projects starting soon and ones that we are hoping he will land. We still feel so blessed by our home and that it contains a great studio for Chris to work out of downstairs.

Life is good.

The sun is shining and Breathing is a little easier these days:)