Last night Kim, George, Joe and I went for dinner at the "original" McCormick & Schmick's on Oak Street in Portland. Mom volunteered to stay at their house and babysit Sophie while we went. It's a good thing she did because dinner took a looong time. I don't think Sophie would've been that patient! It was fun to be with Kim and George and dinner was delish. Mom and Dad gave us gift certificates in our stockings at Christmas so we got to use those and another couple eating gave us a $20 off coupon so we ate out for cheap!

We got back to Kim and George's at around 9:30 and Sophie was sound asleep and mom was rocking her. I think my mom enjoyed being there with her much better than going for dinner with the 4 of us!

That was our big event for the weekend. Pretty low key. It's felt pretty good though. It's a lot easier for me to stay home and not do much when the weather is so crappy like it's been. Spring is always so nasty here. Now I know why we always went far away for spring break. I feel like it's rained more the past few days than it did all winter!

I'll leave you with a picture of Sophie that I snagged from my sisters album on Shutterfly. She loves to stare at this bug. It's amazing to see how fast she's changing. She's starting to have more and more expressions and I can definitely see her personality starting to come through. I love her!

Finally, a couple of Joe's pictures from Whistler! I cracked up when I saw the one to the left. Getting in a bobsled for a picture is definitely something Joe would willingly want to do. I would probably actually have to force him! Thanks to the Team Mom, one of the wives that went on the trip, he was forced to get in and smile. Yay for me!

Below is another picture taken by the Team Mom. Joe looks super proud to be standing up there with his huge silver medal! I don't think the guys liked having to take this picture either! I'm happy to have it though!

Last night I was reading Joanna's blog and came across the blog of the girl who bought my Jeep thanks to the links of Joanna's blog readers. Anyway, she had just written a blog about my Jeep (picture below!). I guess it's not "my" Jeep anymore....I just always refer to it as that! She took it in to Clary's for a service yesterday and something is wrong with the idling (is that a word??) and it's going to be about a $500 fix. I know it's not my fault, but I feel so bad about this! It seems like she's had nothing but trouble since she bought it. I never had any issues with it besides it being a total gas guzzler! One time I saw her and she asked if it ever just stopped running like at stop lights and drive-thrus. I said no, it had never done that, and she said she was at a drive-thru and it just totally died. I guess that could be the idling issue they're talking about? Whatever it is, I'm glad I don't own it anymore! I guess that's what Joe meant when he warned me about buying a Chrysler product? He wasn't very happy about that purchase. Thank goodness for the Subaru!

Hope everyone has a good weekend----TGIF!

I've been going through old pictures and just came across this one. I crack up everytime I see it! Have you ever seen someone frown so big!? This picture was taken in Yelapa about 3 years ago. Yelapa is somewhere we always enjoyed visiting while in Puerto Vallarta. And they have the best, most authentic Mexican food I think I've ever had. Probably not the safest to eat but whatever. Anyway, this frowny little lady wanted money after realizing the paparazzi had just gotten a picture of her. I wonder if she's still alive? She looks ancient but I have a feeling she's a lot younger than she appears.

Joe went skiing today with his cousin Gil at White Pass. Joe had the day off and unfortunately Gil is one of the many that has recently been laid off so he was able to go as well. He worked at an Internet start-up owned by Paul Allen in Seattle as a programmer. I'm sure he'll find another job soon but it just affirms how crappy the economy really is right now. Is it ever going to get better?

$570,000

According to the latest issue of Women's Health, $570,000 is the amount that a stay-at-home mom's services are worth per year. I couldn't agree more with this statistic. After experiencing my sister with Sophie, I really see that being a stay-at-home-mom is the hardest job out there. My sister is on-the-clock 24/7. Sophie depends on her for every little need. Going to work for 8 hours would be so much easier than taking care of Sophie all day/night. But what's the point? I understand that some people, especially single mom's, often don't have the option of staying home, but if it is at all possible, why would you give the up the opportunity of staying at home for someone else to raise your baby?

I struggle with this issue a lot, especially now that Sophie is here. I can't imagine my sister having to miss out on all the firsts. The first little sounds, the first big smiles, the first steps. How sad! There's a new daycare at the bottom of my parents hill and they are now accepting new kids. And as young as 1 month! Are you kidding me?! What's the point of having a baby? How can you really bond with a baby when you are only with them for a few hours out of the day?

Ok, even on that rant. I just read that this morning and had to share. I think stay-at-home-mom's should get some kind of kick back from the government. All the mom's who have 6 kids and are on welfare get help, why can't parents just wanting to raise their own child get something as well?

I'm so thankful Joe and I have the same views on this! I might not feel so strongly had my mom not been at home with us, but I'm so thankful she was.

The faces of Sophie. All within a 20 minute time period.

Sad Sophie

Smiley Sophie
Sleepy Sophie

A great weekend

Beautiful flower purchase from my favorite grocery store, Trader Joe's. Aren't they pretty?! I love the green things. Anyone have any idea what those are called? They are so vibrant! And I like the texture---exactly the kind of flowers I want at my wedding.

This weekend has been great so far! Last night we went to dinner at La Hacienda with Kim, George, Sophie, mom, dad, Big George (George's dad) and Julie. Any night eating at La Hacienda is a good one! If you haven't tried it you should. It's the old Casa Azteca but 100x better. It didn't use to be that good but now we are all in love. Especially with their homemade tortillas. So good! After dinner we all went up to mom and dads to enjoy a few more minutes with Sophie. She is changing and growing at such a rapid rate! It's unbelievable. I see her a lot, but everytime she looks different. Bigger, stronger...it's crazy. She'll be three months on Monday!

Today I slept in until 6:30. Amazing! I actually enjoy getting up early I just find it funny that I can hardly ever sleep in later than that. Not unless I'm sick or just totally exhausted. Anyway, got up and had a blissful hour or so of quietness and coffee. Wonderful! I then forced myself to get my butt kicked by Jillian with her 30 Day Shred. I kicked it up to level 2 and I was amazed that it wasn't as hard as I had feared. Perhaps I'm getting stronger. Imagine that! I do notice my reject leg hurts a little. I think it's from all of the lunges and squats. I remember my bone doc saying if it hurts don't do it, so I think I need to take it a little easy...maybe do the modified version? So frustrating.

At around 9:30 I got a call from my college friend Breann wanting to meet for coffee. I hadn't even showered yet but told her I could be ready in 20 minutes. Again, another advantage of my short man-do!! I met her and another girl I went to WSU with at Starbuck's for coffee. They are both dating guys from Longview. Small world! After coffee their boyfriend/fiance showed up and I called Joe and we all went for lunch. Jesse and Tylor are both really nice guys and Joe really liked them. They're both totally into motorcycles so that's pretty much all it took for the three of them to hit it off! We had lunch at the little cafe at the Kelso Theatre Pub. One of their friends, Brady, is the head chef so he made us pizza. The same kind I had on Tuesday that was so good....garlic and feta. So good!

It was great to spend time with them and catch up on everything. It's crazy to think it's already been more than 4 years since we all lived in the sorority together!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Today is my Grandma's birthday! Easy to remember, the first day of spring! Well, when the first day of spring falls on the 20th that is! I'm so thankful for her and the fact that we live close so we get to see her a lot. My Grandma Vincent passed away right after I was born, so Grandma Lois is the only one I've ever known. I'm not sure how old she is today, and I find myself not wanting to know either. It's just a number, right? I feel the same way about everyone in my life. I know what year my parents were born, but unless I do the math (yes, I even have to use a calculator for that!), I don't know the actual number. My sister is 7 years older than me, but unless I count on my fingers, I can never remember her actual age either. It's better that way. I really don't like to see people getting older. And besides, the older they get, the older I'm getting.

Anyway, we are all going to Applebee's (ick) at 1 for my grandma's birthday. Is it just me or does Applebee's have the most generic food ever? My mom and sister and I decided that everything comes already cooked, they just put it on a plate and warm it up. I'm not sure why my grandma likes Applebee's so much. If I remember right, one time there was a LADY BUG in her salad. And another time rocks. Like they forgot to wash the salad before putting it on the plate or something. Oh well, whatever she wants!

I can't believe it's Friday already. What happened to the week? And the month!? Joe really wants to go skiing tomorrow. I thought after 3 days of skiing at Whistler last weekend he'd be tuckered out, but I guessed wrong. I don't know why I'm not that excited about going. I guess I just am done with winter and everything associated with it.

Jessica delivered the rest of our engagement pictures yesterday to me at work! We are so happy with them! She did an amazing job! Here's a few more...

This is so stupid! First off, we never received an initial notice, just a final notice. However, because everyone is so upset about it, I've been hearing about this for weeks.

As of yesterday, all Comcast customers have to have a stupid box to view any channel over 31. We already have one in our family room, but we have never had one in the bedroom or our work out room. So now we can't get any channel over 31 on those two. How can they do this!? All of the channels I watch at night in bed are over 31. TLC, HGTV....and now I have to wait until Joe gets the stupid boxes hooked up. And Joe only watches ESPN, Sports Center (are those the same?!) in the workout room so we have to have one in there too. I guess we wouldn't have to, but after he spent so much time getting that room set up, I want him to be able to enjoy it! We also pay to have all of those channels! The TV in the workout room is the one that he mounted on the wall so we wouldn't have to deal with cords and stuff. Where are we supposed to put the damn thing?? Stupid Comcast...

In other news, the Spelling Bee was great on Tuesday! I lost interest in the Spelling Bee pretty early on, but it was fun to hang out with the girls. Mrs. Julian, one of my teachers in 6th grade, and her husband own the Kelso Theatre Pub so it was fun to see her. I think she was pretty excited to see me! For some reason she's always liked me. Weird, huh?

As of April 1st, I will be double covered with health insurance. YAY! I'm back full time at Clary's again, so that kicks in again. Frustrating after all the crap I went through to get on Joe's, but I'll take it. Someone at work told me there's no such thing as being "double covered" but after confirming it with the insurance broker and Joe's insurance, there is. It would be a benefit for the insurance companies if I wasn't, but why would I let them get away with that?! And besides, Clary's pays all of our insurance so I don't have to pay anything out of my paycheck. An awesome benefit. Their premium will probably go up at renewal next year being that I'm damaged goods though. When I was trying to get health insurance, every provider rejected me because of my cancer. I understand it increases their cost a lot, but I was done with treatment and probably healthier than I've ever been before. Even with at crazy $10,000 deductible they still wouldn't accept me. Crazy.

What else? I'm a little worried I'm becoming like my dad as far as sleeping habits go. I find myself waking up earlier and earlier every morning. And the bad part is I'm ready to get up. I'm all about early rising but I really think that 3:30-4am is a little too early....

Jessica emailed me last night and said she has the rest of our engagement pictures done. I can't wait to get them from her today! Now we'll have all of the pictures digitally and be able to have Molly start working on our save-the-dates....which should have been done a month or two ago. Whoops.

By the way, we have a wedding website! Check it out at http://www.katieandjosephswedding.com/. I'm still working on it, hopefully it will be totally finished soon. Sign our guestbook! You'll be the first! :)

Happy Thursday!

We are thrilled with our pictures! Believe it or not, I hadn't looked at them until last night. We wanted to look at them together and since Joe was in Whistler all weekend, I patiently waited until we were together to look. Joe doesn't believe me but it's true! Actually, I did sneak a peak at one. But only one!! I couldn't resist.

Jessica did a fabulous job! I know she will do a great job of capturing the moment on our big day. I'm so glad I found her. I have a feeling we'll be using her a lot in the future. You should see her baby pictures! They are amazing!

Joe had an amazing time at Whistler. I'll post some of his pictures when I have more time. Good thing I didn't see the pictures before he went----I wouldn't have been so ok with staying home for the weekend!! I did have a great weekend though. Something about being home alone with the music up and the smell of pine-sol from cleaning always puts me in a good mood! I'm not as motivated when Joe's here----I just want to hang out with him! So it was good to get stuff done around here. And on Saturday George, Kim and Sophie took my mom and I for dinner at 3 Doors Down in Portland. I posted a link because it was just that good! Kim and George have eaten there for years, but we just now got around to trying it. You must go if you live nearby!

I am really excited for tonight! I am going to the Altrusa Spell-abraton Spelling Bee at the Kelso Theatre Pub with Joanna! Her husband is a contestant and come to find out, the lab even has a team in it. Should be a good way to spend St. Patty's Day. A little on the nerdy side, but hey---that's ok with me!

Hope everyone has a good day!

Sneak peak!

Jessica posted a preview of our engagement pictures on her website.....take a look here! I'm not sure, but I think if we get a certain number of comments on her blog we might get a free print. So feel free to comment!

Joe is having a blast in Whistler. He called me on my way to work yesterday and said the gondola is right outside their window. So neat! I'm so glad he was able to go. And not have to take vacation days to do so! His work schedule is amazing!

I slept in until 8:30 today!! I can't remember the last time I slept in that long! I must admit it felt wonderful. I've been so busy at work, getting there at 7ish every morning. In addition to my job, I'm also helping with fleet. I'm responsible for calculating all of the deals, getting drivers coordinated and delivering all of the fleet vehicles all over Washington. It's fun! I love the drivers and it's nice seeing a finished result at the end of each day. I even successfully recruited my mom to drive yesterday!! I think she enjoyed it! And because Joe has Monday off, I have him scheduled to work as well. He was pretty pumped when I told him he'll be driving a 2009 Tahoe with push bumpers and prisoner seats!! :)

Last night was girls night! Jenny, Kendra, Joanna and Kendra's sister Emily went for dinner at Azteca then Joanna, Kendra and I went to see, "He's Just Not That Into You." It was so much fun! Margarita, Mexican food and great friends. It was great catching up with Joanna! I read her blog everyday but haven't seen her in years!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Joe leaves for Whistler tomorrow! He's going with his cousin Gil and a few others until Sunday. I'm a little sad I'll be missing out on the festivities but thinking about trying to keep up with him makes me exhausted! They're staying in Whistler Village though so a few days of shopping and relaxation would be nice. Oh well, next trip....

We had our engagement pictures last Sunday with Jessica Lemmons. The weather cooperated for us and we had a great time. It was good practice for the big day! We can't wait to see how they turned out!

Nothing much new going on. I thought my appointment with Dr. Nichols was last Thursday but it's actually tomorrow. I think after tomorrow my appointments will be every 6 months instead of every 3. We'll see! I can't believe it's already been 1 year!

Hope everyone is having a good week. Happy Wednesday!

I had this adorable card from my sister (and Sophie) waiting for me when I went out to get the mail I LOVE getting fun mail! Especially when it's not bills and/or junk mail.

I love my sister! Thanks for the card Kim and Sophie!

One year ago today....

We were on our way up to Seattle to meet with Dr. Conrad. Furthermore, we were hours away from finding out the results from the pathology report. Has it really only been a year?! In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago---in other ways it feels like it never happened---it's so weird.

I can't remember what time my appointment was last March 3, but I know that after we left with the news, we decided to stop by U Village! Nothing like a little retail therapy to make things better! :) Actually, when we parked we started calling people and the reality of everything started hitting hard so we just drove home. March 3 was one of the only days I cried. It was when my sister called Shirley to tell her the news and when she was telling her she started crying. Then it was like a chain reaction in the car. Oh man, I hope I never have to have a day like that again. I will say I'm so glad that I was the one who had to go through everything. People say I was "so strong" throughout everything, but had I been the one watching one of my family members go through this, I don't think I would've held up as well....

Here's the post immediately after my appointment last year. I hate the "f" word, but not when it comes to this t-shirt!

I meet with Dr. Nichols, the oncologist that I saw in Portland, Thursday. Although I don't think my year of remission is considered until after I've been done with chemo for a year, I consider this week a huge milestone and can't wait to get another good bill of health from him!