FIGHT BREAST CANCER!

Hi Everybody, please please please sponsor the Williams family. We're going to get up as a family at 5:30 am and go to Seattle to walk in the 2008 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. You can sponsor us here http://www.pugetsoundraceforthecure.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1110&px=1354702

Boeing is being generous and giving their support of $100 per registered employee (Chris) so he gets to wear a nice pink shirt with a Boeing logo on it. We appreciate everything you can do. Putting money towards this battle gives a voice to those who have died from this horrible disease which makes up about a third of all cancer patients. Thank you.

Not one of those fly by night bloggers!!

I'm writing a blog because I don't want to be that person that forgets about their blog for a year and then just cancels it because no one goes back to visit. No, not me, not us. So anyways, what's going on? Stashia and Tryson are visiting people in Michigan and I miss them a lot, less than a week to go. I am sippin tea right now and trying to get a fire retardant fire log to burn. That's right a fire retardant fire log...if I brought wet sticks inside they would have caught fire faster. I spend two days and two whole news papers split between two sessions of burning to get this thing to a low burn that might go out anytime soon. I'm like that log sometimes...I procrastinate until the last bit of newspaper is gone and then I figure I better get going...hahaha.

So, what's in the news, Obama finally won the nomination but all they can talk about is Clinton and how much power she has....wow...even when you win you lose I guess. I gave Obama $25 but he's not getting my tea or my firelog cause I worked hard for those things. Ah yes, and I'm doing a cancer walk on the 21st, if you want to sponsor me, I'll post a link in a week or so when I grab it from my work account (see procrastination rises again). But really, what's going on in my life when Stashia and Tryson aren't here? I'm sure no one want to know this but it's a lot of Law and Order, web surfing and sandwiches. I've finally adjusted to coming home and finding no one home and the quiet.

Another insight as if anyone cares, right now I'm working a lot and dealing with it quite well. I am looking to further my education and start the prep for that soon although I'm not sure in what direction for sure. Something should be decided soon though, if I want to do some fall classes I need to make them available to me in the next month.

Insight numero dos, I really miss coming home and surprising Tryson...you never know what you are going to get, sometimes it's "HI DADDY!" or "HI COOKIE" or just a fast, "HIII!!!" but in either case, it makes me feel at home, along with Stashia giving me the update on the day and the plan for the evening. Well right now the plan for the evening is cleaning to prepare for their arrival on Saturday and some tea sipping and log tending too. Auf Wiedersehen!

Sunday Morning,Ferry, Saturday SNOW!

It's another Sunday, Stashia is sleeping in, Tryson woke me up being cute. He will usually say, "HI! HI!" until someone gets him. This morning he decided to say, "HI DADDY HI!" I, of course, had to move faster. Other than that, I'm watching Meet the Press. Tryson had breakfast with his two monkey stuffed animals. He fed them both in their, "Moooooouuuuuuu". He can now say "nose" and "eye" but he can't say the TH in mouth.

In general things are working. Nothing too interesting lately. We are slowly starting to go back to our old tricks of inviting people over for dinner parties. Just like back home, we never have enough room for all these people, but we like it just the same. Both Stash and I are very happy that we have a few friends out here now (not as many and not nearly as close as back home though :-( ). I'm still doing good things at work and remain very busy, I've always worked harder when I multitask. I'm going to have to work more overtime in the next couple months. I took the last couple Saturday's off and I think that's all they will let me.

Speaking of Saturday's it SNOWED Friday and Saturday. Take a look for yourself. By the way, yes even with the time change, it's still past mid April here, enjoy your 70 degree weather Michigan:


Oh and we went on a ferry to a great Island, it reminded me of Mackinaw in the summer except it is very livable, not just a place to visit that takes all your money. Here is a shot from our ferry to the next:


I have more picture on Stashia's camera, pretty soon I'm going to create an account on a picture server and give everyone the line. In the meantime, we miss you guys, give us comments!

Monthly Update, HAPPY EASTER!

So, in the last month we've had a visit from our friend Laura. She was a lot of fun and I think she had a great vacation over here even though it was kinda cloudy and she didn't get to see some of the amazing views of the mountains or anything like that. We did manage to get a great view up in the space needle and the Seattle underground tour where we found an original Crapper: (THIS PICTURE IS SOOO AUTHENTIC, SEE THE 19th CENTURY ELECTRICAL WORK WITH THE PLASTIC OUTLET?...HAHAHA)
Laura and Stashia have some pictures posted on Facebook I think, so I'm not going to put more up here. I will however post some pictures of Tryson being the happiest boy in the world. He has a natural ability to chase ducks while yelling "Daaaa-keeee!" (The ducks did not share his enthusiasm):


So, what else is going on? Well I'm busy with work and with my class. My class is amazing, the Dale Carnegie class (in short) gives you some great practice in principles of building relationships, being a leader, reducing stress and overall improving yourself by living a more intentional life. I wish I had taken this class when I was a teenager. I think the class would be a great high school graduation gift (even though the average age for my class is probably 35, my instructor took the class when he was 8 years old). Oh and I am on the table of contents page of the Boeing Annual report, it's really cool. They took a picture of me while everyone else was paying attention to what I was saying. It looks like I'm talking about some complex engineering concept but I'm actually talking about how much I love playing with Tryson now that he can walk, anyways, you can see it here (page right after the cover:
Me in Annual Report!!
So, that's all that's up in my little area.

Stashia is enjoying Mom-ing it up. During a typical week she goes to a few play dates so she and Tryson can do some healthy socializing. She also is keeping up with MOPS, infact she won a $100 gift cert. to a really nice spa, which she used when Laura came out. Stashia is also building up some clientele out here for hair, which I am really happy about. Not only does it provide a couple extra bucks here and there but she has found these people through cafemom.com, so they are all moms with children who can play with Tryson while she does their hair or they are older moms and love to see a younger bright eyed child again. Yay, all salons should have a Tryson to entertain....something about child labor laws, does it count if he volunteers?

Speaking of Tryson, we are on to the light of our lives. Tryson says some 2 word phrases now and some of them actually make sense like "momma go", "my ball" and I swear this morning he said "good toy, my ball" but it could have just been a coincidence. He also went up to a 19 month old's face and said "HI COOKIE!!". His love of music grows and when we are at a place like Best Buy, he runs to a stereo and dances until we have to pull him away. I see some music or dancing lessons in his future. Well, I guess I will end with that for now. Have a Happy Easter everyone, thank you for reading. We miss you so much on holidays!

Catching up on sleep, a park, more responsibility

So, this weekend has been great. Usually I go to work early on Saturdays. This is the second weekend in a row I have decided not to, and I think I needed it. One day off isn't enough to really relax, collect your thoughts and do things you have been waiting to do. So I took the weekend off, slept late both days and we went to this amazing park on Saturday. When it gets warmer there are pony rides and a petting zoo, a water park and a big playground with everything you would want for any age. Anyways, it was a beautiful sunny 55 degree day (sorry Michigan people, I must admit I never liked the cold, just the snow) and we spent the day out and about. Here are some pictures of the mountains on the way to the park:
*CLICK PICTURES TO SEE FULL SIZE*

In other news, I wouldn't say I got a promotion, I guess the best way to say it is that I have a higher level of job security. I am a focal (Boeing term for "the person who is responsible for a specific area of the company") it is for a process that I am really passionate about and I guess it is natural that they saw the passion (sorry, I have to speak in general terms as to not release any proprietary info). Anyways, it gives me some real accountability which is exciting. Gotta keep proving myself, maybe someday we can buy a house out here ;-) Oh yeah, by the way, come visit us. Plane tickets are reasonable right now. Come out and see the city. We will take you up to the space needle and do some wine tasting and you can watch Tryson be cute:

Food Poisoning, Swimming,& COOK-GIE

Well I have to say it has been a pretty good month & a 1/2 since we have been back. How about I start with a look back on our trip home. Our flight had to be one of the worst flights we have ever had and ever want to have. Out of our two flights since moving to WA they have been pretty accommodating. Tryson has always had a seat weather it was paid for or not. I have always had help, whether it be from Chris, a flight a attendant, or a really nice Samaritan. This flight was a polar opposite from those accommodating flights. First, all three of us were sick and sleep deprived. The whole time we were flying there was no room and we had TWO seats. Not to mention Tryson was a BEAR to get to sleep while flying. Had no problem falling asleep the moment we landed and sleep for almost the whole layover. AHHHHH!!!! Making an even longer story short we had no luggage and got home super late. Chris had to work the same day... as a matter a fact it was in about 3 hours. Poor Chris. Tryson and I spent most of the day sleeping due to sickness and lack of good sleep. Chris got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. As for Tryson and me it took about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks to feel 95% better. Not to mention this whole time Tryson was sick he was getting a tooth was coming in. Skipping to the present Chris is taking a class every Tuesday night. He seems to be enjoying it and a times we have talked about his class and I have to say I am kind of interested as well. We are trying to plan our trips for coming home this year. Tryson and I will be coming in June for 2 weeks. The dates are pretty set in stone (May 29th - June 13th) I am just waiting to book my ticket in hopes the price will go down a little bit. In July we all will be coming back for Vance and Chrystal’s wedding. Chris is in their wedding so it is kind of a must. We will be coming in around the July 23rd to the 30th. Dates are not set in stone seeing Chris has to put in for vacation and depending on how much time he can take. Then in December!!!!! We will hopefully and most likely be coming home for 2 weeks!!!! Chris is thinking the 17th though the 3rd of January. Given that he can get the time off and how much vacation he has.



In other news... not so good news. Chris got food poisoning a couple of days ago. He got it from eating a salad at work. He said after a couple of hours he didn't feel so good. I picked him up from work at 4:30 p.m. and he said his stomach felt horrible. We had dinner plans with friends that night at 5 p.m. He said he would just go home and take some Pepto -Bismol. He did that and we went to dinner. Sparing the details, Chris wasn't himself at dinner and we ended up leaving pretty quickly. We got home and things got worse for him. :( He said this was by far the WORSE food poisoning he has ever had ( got in college a couple of times). He is better now and was just today able to eat normal.



I was introduced to this really great recreational center we don't live to far from. It has a really great big pool there. Tryson and I were invited by friends. They have an area just for babies / toddlers his size where you can let them play in the water by them self’s (supervised of course). The water is super warm (88 degrees). We have been there a couple of times now and are going to sign Tryson up for swimming classes. This place also has times where you can rent part of the pool and a room for parties. We are considering doing something like that for this 2nd birthday party. It actually is the same amount of money we spent on his first party and that was at Chuck E Chesses. So if anyone wants to come out around his birthday you are more than welcome to. Just let us know in advance so we can make arrangements. We would love to have you!!! :) The party will most likely be the Saturday before his birthday (11/01/08) or the Saturday after (11/08/08).



Now let me write about my most favorite subject some more. Tryson! He has become the biggest joy in my life as Chris' as well. Words can't describe him but I will do my best. He is walking so much more now and hardly ever crawls. Now we are in the beginning stages of RUNNING! Pray for us and I am being serious. He is also talking more as well. He knows and understand most or all for that matter what he is saying. He knows (as most of you know this) what “Hi" and "Bye" are. He knows what ball is and can even point it out in books. His new ones are "Go", "What", "Why", and his most famous "COOK-GIE". He says it with that much excitement too. Now don't go off thinking we give him cookies all the time. A cookie can be any number of this. It could be a saltine cracker, a graham cracker, a piece of freeze dried fruit, or a actual animal cookie. The funny thing is all of the sudden we will hear, "COOK-GIE, COOK-GIE, COOK-GIE" and he will go to "his" drawer where all of his cookies, other snacks, meal things are. If we give into this adorable thing he does a little dance till he gets the two cookies. It is so cute and funny. Tryson and I have much fun together. We usually have about 2 - 3 play dates a week and maybe get together with one or two friends on the side. We have met some really great people here. We continue to expand our group of friends every week or two and it is really great for me because more friends equals more people to do hair for. :)

So all in all we are having a great time starting our life here in WA. We have met so really great people here. The church we attend has been really wonderful in welcoming us. I feel my connection with God, my husband and child have gotten so much stronger. There is nothing more I could ever ask for. Thank you to all of our family and friends back home that continue to love and supports us. We wouldn't be here or sain without.

Love, Stashia, (Chris and Tryson)

A year and a half ago: Read prior post first

I wanted to write this in a second post because it is somewhat of a tangent on what I was saying, and this is a blog, not a novel. Anyways, lets imagine me in the summer of 2006.

I've never seen it, but I know one quote from Vanilla Sky thanks to Jason, "Because without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet." And a good quote is only good with a justification. A bitter to sweet or vice versa experience grounds you. It has the ability to make your life solid. You appreciate the sweet richly and take the bitter as what must be, to welcome life's challenge.

In this Summer of 06 I hit my bottom. I felt as if everyone was disgusted with me, I could not find a job, no money, a very unsure and scary future, the anxiety was killing me on the inside and it was just getting worse making me unable to cope with many things and shunning almost all responsibilty, it was among other things depression. Looking back, only two things I did that summer were good. One thing was that I started going to church again occasionally, it was a renewed sense of structure and something to really digest weekly. The other was my trip to a beautiful fountain on the University of Michigan campus:

I started my journey to the fountain as a "penny walk with two friend" you flip a coin to decide where you turn until you find yourself back at home...well the three of us, me, a housemate and our friend decided to end up in a fountain that no one knew meant so much to me. The fountain is inbetween the main campus and the Grad Student building. When I was an incoming freshmen, my group walked towards the main campus and were told that when we graduated we should walk through it towards the Grad Building in an obvious metaphor. This fountain was special to me.

Now, not everyone is religious or superstitious, but it really doesn't matter, it should still make some sense to anyone. When I go to a fountain, I treat pennies as prayers. I don't ask for money, or a job, or more love...I ask for things that make my soul feel warm. That night, unknown to my fellow travelers, I needed to be alone with my thoughts and every once-in-a-while I would throw in one of a few pennies. As always, I prayed for the well-being of those I was there with. I then prayed that Tryson have the most beautiful life, the same for Stashia, another for everyone who still believed in me, and at least two or three for the strength to do what I needed to do to end my depression to finish school and to help others. It was a great night and walking back I felt stronger having set somethings straight in my mind.

Writting this now brings tears to my eye, all of my prayers have been answered and many that I did not even have hope for came along with them to help. Since then my favorite prayer for my self or for anyone has been the strength and ability to understand find their own joy. As I said in the other post, joy is different than happiness. If I had prayed for money and gotten it, I would have been happy on the outside. Happiness unfortunately doesn't last. Joy is what comes from the enjoyment of doing work you love, helping those you love and similar things. Ever since I had started to attain this joy from the inside it has snowballed and nothing external can disrupt it. I pray you all find your joy, for when the bitter is at it's very worst, you may keep your sweet center always.