~Live Laugh Love with the Sullivan's~

2009 - Off to a great start!

2009-04-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so my wife's last post was before Christmas so I figured I better get on and at least take off the Ho, Ho, Ho background. The first 3 months of 2009 have been awesome. We have had many of our friends and family visit in the last month and are so grateful to share wonderful times with them.

In March we took a family vacation to San Diego. We stayed with Jason and Erin, Katie's brother and sister-in-law and their 2 girls at their house right near Pacific Beach (PB) as the californian's call it! We had an amazing week, we were at the beach almost everyday. Katie, Breanna, and Carter went for a drive one afternoon up the PCH to Laguna beach and absolutly loved it. On the weekend we were there Katie's brother Brian and his family and her sister Jenna were able to come down and join us for a beach day. We had a great day of flying kites with all 8 kids and enjoying a family outing. We got back to the house with some pretty tired kids, but we were all able to survive long enough for the 6 family members with birthdays to open presents and blow out cadles.

The day before we left was Breanna's 4th birthday, can you believe it, so we went to Sea World with her Aunt Jenna and had an amazing day. Thanks to Breanna's tall braids she was right at the 42 inch mark and was able to ride the wet rapids ride with dad. Mommy and aunt Jenna were a little chicken! Thank goodness Breanna was wearing a poncho because she was drenched in about he first 15 seconds.

The following weekend was Breanna's friends and family birthday here in Bonney Lake. This year it was at Roach Gymnastics. It is a large warehouse with tons of gymnastic equipment to wear the kids out, ok and me!

We hope to see all of you soon this spring or early summer!

Thanks for reading

Chris

2008-12-15T13:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry that it's been a few weeks since I've posted last, my life has been a bit hairy lately. Since my last post I have started a new job watching a good friends 3 year old son 4 days a week. It's going absolutely wonderfully. He brings so much love, joy & energy into our house giving each day a bright new adventure. I have also finished school for the quarter, have been trying to gear up for Christmas without my smarter then a whip daughter figuring anything out, and then have been halted by the deaths of my step-grandmother and a dear friend of mine.

I feel like I am dealing well with the passing of Grandma Mary. She was 89 years old & lived a good, long life. God knew that she was ill & that it was her time to be with him once again. I on the other hand am not doing so well with the loss of my friend Jamie. She & I grew close way back before Chris and I were even engaged. We were in an accountability group together through our college bible study. There I truly grew to know her heart and the complete in's & out's of her. She was an absolutely amazing woman all around. I shared everything with her, & she with I. It's hard to think that someone you love so much is now all of the sudden gone. I do know that she's in heaven now and loving every glorious minute, but for selfish reasons of my own I wasn't ready to give her up yet.

With God's helping hand I was blessed with a free airline ticket to fly home for sweet Jamie's funeral this last Saturday. If it wasn't for that ticket and the amazing person (who I don't even know) I wouldn't have been able to make it back to Spokane for the service. The pass & all of eastern washington got blasted with an awful snow storm on Friday morning right when I had originally planned on leaving which made the roads extremely unsafe to drive. They also closed down the pass and many sections of I-90 due to unsafe conditions. But with the sincerity and kind heart of a friend of a friend I got to fly for free on Friday night and was there lickity split, no problems at all. And I have to add that Carter was a fabulous flying buddy.

We stayed with Mom and Dad Friday night and then they drove me to the funeral Saturday afternoon. I don't know that I can ever fully explain the feeling that I had when I walked into the church so the best way to put it was that my heart was in my stomach, or maybe it was my ankles... and the frog in my throat was so big that I couldn't swallow at all.

I think I've been blessed tremendously with how my Grandpa Roy has dealt with the heart attacks that he has suffered because he has always made it to the hospital in time and with surgery has had the problem fixed and is here today. So when I heard that dear Jamie who was only 36 had a heart attack and passed immediately I was for lack of better explanation, in complete shock and am still in that state this very moment as I write about it.

So, with everything that has been handed to me lately I feel that it has given me an opportunity to sit back and truly understand everything that I have been blessed with. I am so beyond thankful for all of the gifts that God has blessed me with. I can no longer take any of them for granted because they could be taken from me at any given and unexpected time. Life is such an amazing and precious gift, let's NEVER take it for granted.

My heart is very heavy right now so I am going to stop for now. I am praying that next week's post has a much brighter tune.

~God Bless ~

2008-11-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

Wow! What an amazing weekend and past couple of days we have had. Chris surprised me last week and told me that he was taking me to the Seahawks game this last Sunday. One of the sponsors that he works with called him up and invited him to go along with him and a few other friends. We arranged for a babysitter for the kids and took off bright and early Sunday morning to foggy downtown Seattle. Have you ever seen the skyline of Seattle when it's foggy. It is the most amazing thing. Some of the buildings are tall enough that they stand out of the clouds so only the middle floors of the buildings were socked in with fog. /it was really a cool site. So our first stop of the day was the top floor of a building downtown which has an exclusive club called the Harbor Club where we ate a FABULOUS brunch overlooking the Harbor, the stadiums and Mt. Rainier. The view was ABSOLUTELY unbeatable. We were definitely being wined and dined and this girl was NOT complaining at all. LOL!!! After a melt in your mouth meal we walked down to the stadium, entered into a VIP entrance and walked down onto the field. Chris was absolutely in heaven. He was snapping pictures right and left and was informing me of who was who. Needless to say we were both having the time of our lives. Those professional players are so big. We realized very quickly the importance of staying out of the way while they were warming up. One of the "tour guides" told us to seriously watch out for flying balls cause there is no stopping those guys when they get running. LOL that's comforting isn't it. :o) Chris and I walked up and down the field watching both the Seahawks and the Cardinals warm up and then realized that we were standing in between JJ Putz (Mariners Pitcher) and Rikki Watters (Retired Seahawk player). After a little while of standing there Holmgren the Seahawks football coach came up to JJ and started joking around with him so we got to see him up close and personal as well. After a little while of talking with people, taking lots of pictures and admiring the people that we were standing amongst I decided that I really wanted to go up to Rikki Watters wife and meet her. They have the most adorable little boys that were with them down on the field. I walked up and started talking with her while Chris wasn't fully paying attention, his focus was still on the field. He then turned to me to say something and almost fell over when he realized that I was talking to Rikki's wife. She was beautiful, VERY sweet and had the darn biggest wedding ring I have ever seen. It was AMAZING!!! So after we were celebrity struck and it was time for the game to start we begrudgingly left the field and walked up to our seats. They of course treated us to club seats that were a great view of the field. We were sitting at about the 35 yard line just a few rows below the club. The Seahawks unfortunately lost the game, but it was at least a nail bitter for a little while. They had a chance for a few minutes to turn it around but wound up losing in the end. Darn... but we had an absolutely amazing day at the stadium. I'll post pictures from our day once I'm able to take my camera in and make a cd.

So onto other news of the week. I started my new job on Monday. For those of you who don't know I am now watching my friends son Riston 4 days a week from 6:45 am until 6:00 in the evening. He is an adorable little boy. Has lots of energy, but is sooo much fun. Breanna and Riston play very well together and are already all around hitting it off. Amy (Riston's Mom) decided that it might be best if Riston was eased into the new situation so she actually took this week off from work and we have been doing half days. Today was our longest day but it was absolutely wonderful. We all made breakfast together, played with toys beyond belief and went to story time. By the time that Amy picked him up around 2:30 or so Breanna, Carter and I were pooped. We were soo busy going going going this morning that we all had to lay down and take a nap. Anyway, I'm so excited to have Riston with us every day now and to enjoy his adorable little personality. We're starting home school preschool pretty soon so wish me luck. I've been researching like crazy and have found many many materials to use. Hopefully I can pull it off and have the kids benefit from it.

Well that's all for now, until next time.......

Halloween Fun

2008-11-03T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well Breanna is finally at the age that she can REALLY enjoy Halloween. She was sooo excited to go Trick or Treating this year she could hardly stand it. We got her dolled up, full face of make-up, glittery pig tailed hair and all and went up to Snoqualmie Ridge where our good friends The Ehrlich's live. They have a very cute neighborhood that is extremely kid friendly so we knew that it would be the perfect place for Brea to get the hang of the whole Trick or Treating thing. Just at the time that we were heading out the door Carter decided that he was hungry so I stayed back at the house, fed baby and handed out candy to some adorable little cows, princesses, firemen and cheerleaders just to name a few. Chris took on the duty of taking Brea around with her friends. At first she was a bit hesitant to go and ring stange peoples doors, but then she really caught on and thought it was the COOLEST thing in the world. She kept running back to Chris saying "Daddy I got candy again and I don't know why!!!..... Halloween is SO COOL!!" After a few hours of trouncing through the neighborhood her poor little witch legs were tired and needed some rest so they made their way back to the house. She quickly showed me her bag stuffed full of candy and started searching through it all. Looking at it must have given her another jolt of excitment though because next thing I knew I was bundling myself up to go and walk around the parts of the neighborhood that she hadn't gotten to yet. I was of course more then happy to do it. Can I just say real quick of what a BIG girl she's becoming. Isn't there supposed to be a secret pause button somewhere that us parents are allowed to push to keep our kids from growing up so fast. It's happening right before my eyes and I don't know how to stop it or deal with it for the fact. Well needless to say by the end of our Halloween excursion and tremendous amounts of fun we had one cashed out Barbie witch and a slumbering spider in the back seat of our car. They were so adorable! Thank God for children and all of the smiles that they bring to our lives.

Great Day

2008-10-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

We had the greatest day today and I am so incredibly excited about it. Last week at dance class a few of the ladies and I started talking about story times at some of the local libraries and which ones we liked better then the others. Well that spured my thought and interest to get Breanna attending storytime once again. So as we walked in this morning to her scheduled storytime class we were so happy to realize that we recognized a few familiar faces. They were some of Breanna's dance class friends and of course their Mom's. We were both so excited. If it would have been appropriate I think that I would have jumped for joy. But I had to contain my joy and just flash them a big smile. Breanna was soooo happy. But being as grown up as she is, in such an adult manner she went and grabbed her carpet square and sat down very matter of fact next to her friend Elizabeth. Then she reached over and gave her a HUGE hug and told her how excited she was that she was there too. She then stood up and hugged her other two friends Anique and Chloe. We laughed, played and listened through out storytime and then afterwards realized that it was time to say goodbye. Breanna started to get sad but then Elizabeth's Mom came up and asked if we would like to continue the fun with them at the park. Today has been absolutely gorgeous so I definitely didn't object to having some fun in the sun. The girls played and played and had the best of time together. I was able to visit with the Moms and have a little bit of adult time which was SO nice. The ladies were very nice, around my age, and have similar interests. Before we left Breanna had been invited to a special Halloween activity in one of the girls neighborhoods this coming Saturday and Charlotte the Mom and I have planned some other fun activities to do together as the weather starts to get colder. I absolutely love meeting new people. It can be harder then you think ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR A STAY AT HOME MOM. :o) So thank goodness for gorgeous weather today, an outgoing daughter and very nice welcoming people.

Adding on to my fun day today, Breanna has filled it with laughter. After we got home I turned on the Ellen Show so that I could enjoy some laughs for a few minutes. Breanna was content looking at a book, but as soon as she heard Ellen start dancing she immediately jumped up and started dancing right along with her. She was not just moving along with the music, she was really bustin a move. Ellen tends to dance over her coffee table so Brea tried to dance over ours as well. She was absolutely putting her heart and soul into every move that she made and then afterwards fell to the floor and explained how she was "SO EXHAUSTED"... her " MOVES WERE SOOO HARD TODAY!" LOL what a funny little girl.

So then the other thing that I can't help but laugh myself silly with happened a little bit later. I had Carter laying in the hallway upstairs and Breanna picking up her room. All of the sudden I heard Carter squeal in laughter and Breanna laughing hysterically. I came upstairs to find out what was going on. Carter was totally decked out in a big hat, big necklace and princess shoes on his bare feet that when I left had socks and shoes on. She said "Oh what a CUTE baby Mommy. Doesn't he just look adorable!" I am so happy that she loves her brother so much that she even wants him to dress up. But should I be worried of what's to come next??

Oh So Long

2008-10-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

Alright alright... I know I'm guilty. It's been a VERY long time since I've updated my blog. Please give me a little bit of a break though, life has been busy. In the last year I have had a baby, been raising my 3 year old, trying to run a household, attend school and still manage to keep at least a bit of my sanity. I would post some new pictures to update you, but my camera broke back in August and I haven't been able to get it repaired. I promise as soon as I get something figured out I'll make sure and post some new pictures.

So like I said earlier, we have a new addition to the Sullivan family. His name is Carter Roy Sullivan. He was born on June 4th, 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. He was a tiny little guy at first but now at almost 5 months of age has sprouted to a happy rolly polly little fellow. He has become SUCH a flirt. Everyone that looks his way he flashes a gorgeous little smile to and gets them to talk with him. I feel oh so lucky to have such a wonderful & happy little baby boy. God has yet again blessed me with an amazing child.

On to the other things. We are still living in the Seattle area. Chris's job is doing great. He is staying busy as ever (especially with how things have been in the economy as of late). He has been able to turn a bad situation into good for his company and has been recruiting like crazy. This has included a little bit of travel but not too much. I really can't complain. His trek to and from work is however finally starting to get to him. He finally decided to splurge a little bit and put a radio in his truck so now he doesn't have to sit in the car for 2 + hours a day and just think. He can at least listen to some music or a game or two and "relax". No more conversations with himself will definitely relieve some stress. LOL :o)

On to my precious (BIG) girl Breanna. She is 3 & 1/2 now, going on 15. She has become my little fashionista. She is now picking out her own outfits, dressing herself and picking out the hair clippy or hat that she wants to wear each and every day. She has always been an amazing learner but is now speaking spanish here and there and wants to learn sign language. I personally don't know sign so we are going to get some books and dive right in. Chris however knows a bit so he is starting with the basics. I wish that I could have gotten her into preschool this year, but time was snatched away from us and before we knew it school was already a month in. Breanna's biggest news is that she started dance class a few weeks ago. She is now our little ballerina & tap dancer. She is of course doing GREAT in the class. Her teacher has found me on a couple of occassions after class and informed me of how proud she is of Brea and that she is following direction extremely well and catching on very quickly. She's becoming a leader in her class and Mommy honestly couldn't be prouder. I'm so curious what the future holds for my beautiful little girl.Well that's about it for now. Once again please forgive me for not updating my blog in the last year. Life has really taken over. It's been overwhelming at times but nothing that we can't handle. I just always try to remind myself to take time, breath & enjoy what God is handing us. Until next time.........

Me and My Sister

2007-06-27T00:19:00.000-07:00

Crazy, Cooky, Silly, but most of all Loving are words that help describe my relationship with my baby sister Jenna. We always manage to have THE BEST time together. Honestly I think about it and realize how awesome it is that we are the BEST of Friends now in our adult years. As you can tell from some of the pictures, we absolutely love to ham it up and have a ton of fun in front of the camera together. Doing these "photo shoots" bring so much laughter and memories to tack onto our ever growing list. I love her so much and am so blessed to have her as my Sissy. I will always and forever do anything for her am realizing that she'll do the same for me. The thought ~ Sisters by Blood, Friends by Choice~ explains us to a tee.

Jenna and my Mom drove Breanna and I back home to Seattle after a little vacation in Spokane. On Sunday we all went downtown and enjoyed some time at Pike Street Market. What a wonderful time I had being with the people that I love the most. The weather was nice, the flowers smelled beautiful and the smiles are etched in my memory for a lifetime.

(Mom if you read this, I'll forever wish that I would have been able to catch the instant that the flying fish was an inch away from your head..... booooyy were you a lucky one.... that would have made for a bummer of a day.)

I love to be able to say that I ADORE MY FAMILY!! :o)

Frienships

2007-06-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you know how I've mentioned before that I am so amazed with the friendships that we are making here in Seattle. Well today that feeling was reconfirmed even more as I had the opportunity to spend all day with Breanna and our next door neighbors at the Woodland Park Zoo here in Seattle.

As my friend Vanessa (the Mom/Wife) and I were chatting today I realized how important it is to extend yourself and meet new people within your surroundings as you may have more similarities then you ever originally would have imagined. The two of us chatted ALL DAY LONG about everything under the sun. I learned about her likes & dislikes, her extended family, all the way down to her decorating style at Christmas. So many of the things that she said were exactly how I do things, enjoy in life, or have experienced. And let me tell ya, we were so excited when we figured out that we both really like to "Do Things Up" at Christmas and have decided that our townhouse is going to be the most festive on the entire island that we live on.

Vanessa and her husband have 2 kids, 6 & 4 and as I watched them interact with my little Breanna today I was overwhelmed with joy, they not only get along very well, but are helpful and kind to one another. The oldest is extremely loving and nurturing and was always making sure that Breanna was alright and taken care of, and the younger one and Breanna really became buddies later in the day as they held hands and walked along the paths together. It was the cutest thing to watch as she would look up at him and smile to her hearts delight and he would act a little shy, but brush it off and keep on walking. Seeing those smiles on my daughter's face through out the day made me truely feel like building these friendships, and breaking down that ever so guarded "used to be" comfort zone is so completely worth it.

Friendships have always meant the world to me, the more I build, the stronger and more outgoing person I become, and I must say....I am extremely happy with that outcome. :o)

My little Angel

2007-06-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

My little angel Breanna is growing up sooo fast. She is soo much fun, full of endless amounts of energy and laughter. I feel so blessed that I get to stay at home with her on a daily basis and teach her about all of the little things in life. She is talking so much and is to the point of saying complete sentences. Some of the things that she comes up with just blow me away. I can't believe what a smart little cookie she is. She loves to read any and all books with Mommy and has just this morning asked me to read the Bible to her. I know that it will be too advanced for her, but I feel like if she wants to hear it I will read to her a little bit each day.

She is such an amazing child. Sometimes I sit and think of how I could love another child as much as I love and adore her. But then I realize that my heart isn't stuck to just one love, it will be overflowing with love for all of my children someday.

I'm striving to be an elementary school teacher in the "near" future. But love the fact that I get to teach each and every day inside my home. I know that Breanna's only 2, but she is a little sponge. The amounts of things she absorbs on a daily basis are mind boggling to me. I have realized what an impact my actions make on her and that I have to work to be the best influence that I possibly can be every minute of the day. The second that I step off the "Good Mommy path" and slip with a word or action she soaks it in and repeats what ever I did. Moments like those are heart breaking as I hate the thought that she could look at me in a negative manner, or I could be a bad influence.

My Angel is my angel... growing so fast each and every day. I still can't believe my husband and I created such an amazing little human being. Being a parent is an amazing task. I love it's challenges and glories!!! :o) Look at that ADORABLE face, it all pays off.

Life in Seattle

2007-06-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

From the day that we got married, even up until June of last year I would have never guessed that we would live anywhere else except for our home town of Spokane Washington. However after much prayer and answer, God gave us the opportunity to move to Seattle.

It was a challenge at first as we had to learn how to be us for once in our marriage. With the constant influence and support of all of the family that lived by us at "Home" we never fully relied on eachother for everything. Amazing after 5 years of marriage how eye opening that realization can be. We always thought and knew that we were strong, but didn't take into consideration the circumstances of life until we were on our own as our "own family".

Life over here in Seattle has been the best blessing ever given to us, well... aside from having our daughter of course. Chris's job is wonderful, he feels so at home, welcomed and secure. Kudos to him, he just got a promotion with a new position that he will be starting in July. He's so excited, some times I talk to him during the day and he sounds like a kid in a candy store. There is no doubt in my mind that he is loving what he is doing.

Aside from the wonderful job, we have also made some of most amazing friendships. We have been so blessed to make a great connection with another Christian family here in our area. They are some of the best people I have ever met. They welcomed us to their church about a month ago and we already feel a part of the congregation. How fabulous a feeling it is to be so welcomed and loved and build frienships with other strong Christians as ourselves. We thank the Lord EVERY DAY for what he is doing in our lives and for all of the fabulous people he has blessed us with. We feel so lucky to be in the position that we are and can't wait to see what the future brings.

(The pictures in the beginning are of the AMAZING view of Mt. Rainier from our back window, and then of us standing if front of our new house.)

Hawaii

2007-05-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh Hawaii....how relaxing, beautiful and down right amazing!

Chris and I just got back from a little get away just the two of us... from you guessed it, Hawaii. We went to Maui and stayed on the south shore in the area of Wailea. It's astounding how beautiful the surroundings are there. I was in awe the entire time that we were there.

We did so many things, but mostly relaxed. Words can't even express the feeling of laying on the beach, soaking in the rays and breathing in the amazingly fresh air. They were moments that I will NEVER forget. We loved it so much that we are already planning our next vacation there.

As some of the pictures show, we went to a luau which was SOO much fun! If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, definitely take the time to go to a good luau. What an experience it was. They express so much culture and feeling through their dancing. I was moved so much that I wanted to get up and start doing the hula with the dancers. I realized that it's not only the hip movement of the dance, but the hand movements and motions that tell the story in more debth.

We sat on the beach every evening and looked at the stars and the beautiful moon. How romantic, let me tell ya. :o) We also of course ate at some amazing restaurants, one of which we took the picture of the sunset through the palm trees. Talk about beautiful!!! As I said earlier, I couldn't help but be in awe the whole time. Oh I almost forgot, one night after dinner there was an astonomer who had his telescope set up to look at Saturn. I have never had the chance to look at Saturn behind the power of a telescope lens. It was so amazing to see it's rings and the moons that orbit it. I honestly felt like I was in heaven with all of the out of this world things I was able to experience.

This trip will forever be implanted in my memory. My only hope is that the next time I get to enjoy it's beauty, I will be able to share it with my children. I can already picture Breanna playing to her hearts delight in the ocean waves.

Ahhh Hawaii.... how beautiful!!!

Starting my Blog

2007-05-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

Alright... ok, so I've fallen into the world of blogging. I thought I'd never go there, but my friend Sam just set one up and after viewing his I realized that it would be a fun new step in life... a new adventure of sorts. :o) So, I'm here, I'm excited and ready to catch up with old and new friends. Hope you enjoy.