Damn. 9 posts for August?!

Back to blogging after a mini-hiatus.

A few things.

Times are a changin'. As our January 2007 post stated we are on a mission towards debt freedom. We have faithfully been working on this since then with some very real successes along the way. It has been a real eye opener on how much we needed to make changes in our life.

Here is the deal (mini rant alert...). Ever heard that expression from long ago... "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"? We are pissed off. We are sick and tired of being the people who didn't/couldn't always pay their bills on time (or even at all here and there). More so, we are ANGRY for being the punching bag in some of our relationships in life. We owned up to our mistakes, we are working on fixing them, day by day. Some might judge us. We don't give a shit anymore. Its not like we are ungrateful for help in the past (advice, moola, kind words, etc) but as of now, stone throwers are not welcome in our glass mansion. We are all about making a new life for our child (and hopefully any future ones God grants us). We are saving, paying off loads of debt (mostly student loans, ug.), and finding new peace in our life. We have been doing our best for the last 8 months to get to this place that we are at right now. We finally found success at work, we have good paying jobs (again, thank God), we are happily married, and are thankful we found a great place to live here in Oregon. We are not perfect, we don't care to be. We would like a little support from our closest friends and family while we embark down a long journey towards financial peace. It IS NOT going to be easy, we are going to screw up here and there, but life is about the journey and not the destination (as Aerosmith said). If you are on board with our plans we hope that you will at least keep us in your prayers and lend us some kind words of encouragement here and there. If you aren't on board, well then, why the hell not? Oh wait, we still don't care. We are doing this for our little family and not for anyone else. OK- Rant over (for now).

The blog is now going to include a lot more than just pictures of Belly and random news. We are using this and another forum for support on our journey. We hope to get a few new visitors here thanks to the other forum. We have a lot planned for the next couple of years. Hopefully as some of you know, that includes adding to the family. We have lots of saving up to do if we choose to go with the options that we just looked at recently.

Other news. Work is going well. Annie just won a state award for her work. Pretty cool. Greg is doing great, work is stressful while he works towards a sign off. Belly of course, doing wonderful. We added a bunch of posts below with plenty of pictures to keep you busy for hours.

xoxoxox,

Giant monster zucchini!

As you know we started our 1st garden earlier this summer. It's growing really great (we could use a few more sunny and hot days to ripen the tomatoes) and has started producing some veggies for us.

The zucchini plant took off on us. Belly and Greg finally picked our 1st ready to go, ripe, vegetable. We cooked it and enjoyed it last night. It's nice to eat the fruits of our labor. :o)

Monster zucchini pre-veggiecide. Check out the corn behind Belly! sweet!

Soccer game this last Tuesday!

Just a quicky post amongst the others but we just wanted to brag... Belly scored TWO GOALS in one game!! The 1st one she made a run for it, was dribbling the ball and showing off. The 2nd goal kind of fell into her lap but nevertheless, she scored her 2nd goal.

She is really improving. Most of the time she still runs around not watching the ball and just having fun getting some exercise. She does great in the skill sets and is starting to remember that the ball is supposed to go into the goal.

Nana Toni and Papa Gary came to her game this week so she was in her "putting on a show for you" silly self. We are so proud of our little Belly. We have as much fun cheering for her and the other kids as she does running out there. Wish EVERYONE could be here to see her play. :o)

"I scored TWO goals today!!!!"

Belly, Nana Toni, & Papa Gary at the soccer game.

Weekend getaway!

Finally! After 3 years we finally got a weekend away!! So nice! We escaped to Seattle for a quick night up and back so that we could catch a Mariners game. It was frickin' great. We had awesome seats (literally behind home plate, then up 39 rows). The Mariners won, it was a great game. After the game we stayed in a nice hotel in Tacoma. It was very comfy and for once, no kiddo!

We even had a chance to eat at Weinerschnitzel on the way up to Seattle. If you know us at all, you know we both love that place. The morning after the game we took a drive back into the city, had some breakfast, and then enjoyed walking through Pike Market. We did get saddled in some crappy traffic on the way back to PDX but overall the trip was fan-tas-tic! Can't wait to do it again! (oh yeah, and Melissa-- we remembered your advice. hahaha!!)

On a side note, a big thanks (!!!!) to Papa Gary who took care of Belly over the weekend. She loves going to Nana and Papas house as often as she can (think: spoiled child and playing in the garden). They had a great weekend together and Belly was so excited to go over.

We didn't get too many pictures for the weekend thanks to a dead camera battery. sigh. I literally had enough power for one picture, all the rest were compliments of the cell phones. oh well.

View from our seats.

Greg and Annie. 08.18.07

Post game. Mariners win!

BIG truck show.

The 2nd annual BIG truck show was held on Sat. 8/18 at the local recreation center. I took Belly last year and she loved it so we decided to go again this year. Basically the truck show is a bunch of different trucks (fire, police, ambulance, work crews, even bread trucks, etc.) on display. The kids can climb on them, push all the buttons, run the sirens, talk with the drivers and so on and so forth. Lots of kids and their owners go. This year Greg was able to come along since we both had the weekend off for our Mariners game (another post).

Check out some pix from the day!

Rig-driving Belly

Belly and Greg. Aw.

Belly and Annie. awwww.

Belly on the bearcat.

Ready to do some serious damage in the crane.

Last day of tumbling.

Every Wednesday since middle June we have been taking Belly to her tumbling class. She loves it. She does the best bridge in the class of all the girls and she takes a lot of pride in her somersaults.

Class officially ended last Weds. Here are some pictures from the day.

Thankfully we have at least a month of soccer left to keep her busy.

Posing before class.

Warm up laps.

Balance beam.

Proudly showing off her stamps.

Belly 08.22.07

Belly makes cookies.

Belly Makes Cookies from greg mattie and Vimeo.

Enjoying the dog days of summer.

Been a kick back last couple of days. Belly had soccer yesterday and tumbling today. We (er.. greg) made a fantastic dinner tonight of fresh salmon, corn on the cob, and red potatoes. Weather is beautiful (cool, cloudy, in the 70's). The garden is growing and our corn is officially taller than Belly. Life feels pretty good.

Just thought we would add a few more pictures to the ol' blog.

08.07.07 soccer

08.08.07 Tumbling

Making cookies with Daddy.

hamming it up for the camera.

hey. its august now.

August 2007.

News:

Our garden is growing!! We have tomatoes, zucchini, a couple of pea pods, the beginnings of corn, and a couple green beans starting to sprout. When the stock market crashes, we should be able to eat for at least 2 days from the fruits of our labor. haha

Belly is in soccer now. She loves it! Started her 1st class last week and had the best time! For the next 11 weeks she and a bunch of other 3 and 4 year olds will run themselves ragged while the learn how to play soccer. It is so fun to watch.

In a couple weeks Greg and I are going to Seattle all by ourselves! Going to catch a Mariners game (right behind home plate might I add!) and have a short, relaxing weekend. Belly will be staying with Nana and Papa and I think everyone is looking forward to that as much as we are.

Barry Bonds finally tied the record with Hank Aaron. I still can't stand him or the Giants (or the Yankees or the Red Sox) and I think its a travesty. I also can't stand any baseball or sports fan who can defend his record by saying everyone was doing steroids so it leveled the playing field. Whatever happened to appreciating an athlete for their body's ability to do what the rest of us can't? I can't hit a home run on or off steroids. Whatever happened to appreciating the pure enjoyment of competition between people who have God given talents and can perform amazing athletic feats (whether it be hitting a record number of home runs or winning the Tour de France). Barry Bonds may still be one of the best hitting players in history, but his feat of 755 homers to date is a by-product of envy and gluttony and the use of an illegal substance. Maybe my deep and pure contempt and loathing of Barry Bonds comes from my abhorrence for people who abuse drugs. I don't mean just puffing a cancer stick or drinking some wine, I mean those kind of people who put drugs and weakness before family and work. I associate doping with junkies, the kind we see shuffling down the street in a haze, missing teeth, scabs on the face, shaking in their own shoes from the miserable let down of the high they were seeking. Sure-- steroids (or flaxseed oil per Bonds) and meth are not the same, but in my eyes, Bonds chose his own desire to be loved and honored by fans, seeking the ultimate high and took the easy road to his fraudulent victory.

Ok. Enough said. Bye.

Pictures:

Corn nearly as tall as Belly now!

Gearing up for her 1st class.

Soccer Monster!

Learning how to dribble

Which way did the ball go!?

Commanding the field

Time out to examine the grass conditions on the field

Game over. The green team wins!