I-90 Accident!

So Shane and I were driving to work this morning . . . and HOLY CRAP there is fire and smoke everywhere!! When we first saw it, there was way more fire than in this pic. It was crazy.
We had to go off the on ramp. . . look how much smoke there is, and how weird that there was a rainbow right by the accident.
Really, we must've just missed the accident, because there were no emergency vehicles there yet, and the news article said it happened shortly after 7am, and I called my dad at 7:06am to see if he was listening to the police scanner to see what was going on, and to let him know we were ok.
It was so sad. I didn't even know what the outcome was, but I knew it probably wasn't good. I'm just so glad that we were safe.
12 hours later, on our way back home, they are still cleaning up 90 . . .
And there is still a ton of traffic!

Does anyone know why the other car drove across the median?

So sad. :-(

March for Babies!

Sunday, we (Shane, me, Mom Karin, Mom-in-law Rita, Step-Diddy-in-Law Don, brother & sister-in-law Bry & Sommer, niece Bryce, cousin Gerri, cousin Austin, cousin Ava, cousin Tyler, friend Carolyn, friend Michael, friend CJ, friend Brad, friend Jon, friend Cassie) walked in the March of Dimes, March for Babies!

It was held at Presque Isle State Park!

We walked for 6.2 miles in the most beautiful weather ever!

Here is Cassie, me, Shane, and Jon! BFFs from track & field in college. It was so great to see them and catch up!

We all walked representing GE Transportation (my new employer since November).

I told everyone before hand what color the shirts were so they could color cordinate and I must say that CJ gets the color coordination award! She had plaid maroon shorts on that matched perfectly!!

It was so nice! They had water/juice/fruit/etc for us at the "check points". We probably would have died with out that! It was so warm and sunny! Some people even started carrying their dogs b/c the pups were getting so exhausted.

Here's the crew!! A couple people are hiding (mom, CJ), but here's the majority of us! Brycee's first volunteer walk!

Afterwards they even fed us!! Hot dogs, water/pop, pep balls, chips/popcorn, and cookies!

It was such a great event and I cannot thank my family & friends enough for all their support (both donations and walking). I had so much fun being with them and just thank God for the weather and for bringing all of those people together for such a great cause.

p.s. - Thanks to my mommy for taking most of the pics!
p.p.s. - Found out that my friends CJ & Brad are expecting a baby in November!! Yay! :-)

Beautiful Skies!

This was the sky on our way home from the March of Dimes: March for Babies walk on Sunday. Absolutely beautiful! The entire day was awesome! I will post later about the walk. It was a great turnout!

Sunset!

Shane and I went on a 2-mile walk tonight and saw this beautiful sunset!!
These pictures were taken by my phone too!! How awesome is that?!

I just looooove the sunsets here!

Homeless. Kinda.

Well. We found out yesterday that our credit has been affected by our short sale . . so what does that mean?! . . . Pretty much, we can't try to buy a house for 2 - 3 or more years (depending on what happens with the house). At first I was devastated. Could not think about anything else and was bawling. Then, the more I thought about it, maybe it is best for us to just wait. Save up some money. We are blessed to have an awesome family who all offered to let us stay with them (while we deal with all the crap that the banks caused). And I could not be any happier and thankful for that (our family, not the crap that is going on with the banks/real estate market).

It does put a damper on our plans . . . that means we have to push out having kids for even more years :-( I don't know if I can wait that long! ;-) (I do want to be settled in a house before we have any though.) But maybe that is also for the best. We will see. We are just praying and looking to God for His guidance, because we know he will show us the way.


And now for some good news . . .

• I get out of work an hour early today so I can go home and do Bibi's nails for her & Brian's wedding! :-)
• Bibi and Brian are getting married tomorrow!! Bibi is from Poland! How cool is that?! She will be my step-sister-in-law! Sommer is doing Bibi's hair for the wedding, and I am doing Bibi's makeup and nails!

• This wedding in the family also means that Dan & Marissa are coming home! :-) I am super excited to see them!! I just love when the entire family is together! Dan & Marissa will only be coming home one last time before they head off to Germany for 3 years for work!
  
• Myself and 17 family members/friends are walking in the March for Babies this weekend at Presque Isle State Park!! We are representing GE's team. Super excited because so many of my friends and family are supporting this great cause, and because it is supposed to be an awesome day!! Sunny and 70's!
  
• It's Friday! :-)
  

Don't Forget to Vote!

Don't forget to vote!!!


Katie S. - Board 6!!



p.s. - I ran a mile in 7 minutes yesterday! I might not be as out of shape as I thought . . . yay! :-) My goal is to get down to a 6 minute mile. Can I do it?!

Strike 1.

Well we went to see the house that we thought was going to be our new home . . .

I mean really . . . absolutely beautiful!!
Brand new appliances and just perfect.
Oh wait . . what's that behind that plant? An unfinshed floor and a random pipe?!
Beautiful modern bathroom! Too bad it's the only full bath (no tub though) in the house and it's downstairs with all the bedrooms upstairs.
We would even have a pool in our backyard! A couple of them!
Beautiful living room! All updated and very home-y!
Except the edges were all weird . . . .
The doors and windows weren't framed. The steps needed carpeted or finished some how.
Pretty much the entire upstairs needs redone.
Master bedroom . . . a good start.
The 1/2 bath (and only bath) upstairs.
Overall it is a beautiful house on very good property, but it's waaay too expensive for everything that needs done to it. Very good structure, but lots of work. If it was like $100K less, we would take it! . . . . Back to the hunt . . . . .

Home Shopping Tonight!

Eeek!! We are starting our home buying search in Erie tonight!!

Our realtor is actually our track & field coach from college (he coached Shane in high school too)!

I am super excited because we both LOOOOVEEE this house we are going to see tonight. We always drive by it on our way home and say . . "man, if that house goes up for sale, that would be awesome!" And it did!! We NEVER expected it to, because it's so beautiful and in a great location!

I can't give away the details because I don't want anyone else going out to buy it! :-P

I am really nervous though because we are still trying to sell our house in Virginia, and not quite sure how that works with trying to get another loan. Especially when you go the short sale route with your other home. Ugh. Anyone know?!

I just really hope it all works out, because this house would be awesome. We could finally settle down.

Roof!

Well this past weekend, we helped Shane's Grandma take off her roof. Luckily she was paying someone to put a new one on, so we didn't have THAT much work to do.

Shane ready to shovel some shingles!

They were so fast! We started around 7 am and got done with most of all the removal by 2pm! The boys shoveled it all, and Grandma and I picked up all the shingles and paper and nails up off the ground. My hammies are still sore!

Ryan, Bry, & Shane working hard!

Grandma making sure they are working hard!

Don't be fooled though! They had their rest time too! Actually . . . seriously . . . this is the only time I saw them resting besides when we ate our breakfast and lunch.

There it is! A blank slate ready to be re-roofed! I will have to go back over to take a pic of the finished product!

I don't know if you remember, but we had to do our roof in Virginia too . . . Shane says no more roofs . . . we have to buy a house that does not need the roof re done.

Skies! Rainbow!

Did you see the rainbow yesterday?! It was beautiful!! I tried to get some pics on my way home from work . . . . . from in my car . . sorry for the crappiness.


Did you see the sunrise this morning?!
Gosh Erie, you never cease to amaze me! Thanks for your beautiful skies that make our 70 minute commute worth it!

Biggest Scare of My Life!

Omg.

Seriously.

We just got home and usually both the cats greet us at the door, but it was just Jinx. . . but sometimes Nina can be stubborn and lazy, so I didn't really think anything of it. So then I started putting our stuff away and getting some laundry done . . . still no Nina . . . so then I said "who wants a treeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeatt?!" This ALWAYS gets them to come. No Nina. I go in every room of the house . . no Nina. . . so then I start looking under the beds, behind doors, behind drawers, under our tub, in the fridge, in the washer (literally put my hands in all the way feeling around for her), in the dryer (like seriously pulled all the clothes out), in the oven, under the couches, on the cabinets, in the closets, in the garage, . . . no Nina. So I start freaking out . . .Shane starts to help me look . . . No Nina. So as I'm on the verge of crying hysterically, I decide to go outside with my flashlight and call her name. . . "Nina!! Who wants a treeeeeeeeeaaatt?!" . . . I look left, center, right, and then left again . . . and there she is! She just runs right up to me! I pick her up and just start bawling!! I have NO idea how she got out, no idea how long she was out, no idea what she was doing the entire time she was out, but I Thank God!!! that she was right there. What a blessing, and I cannot express how thankful I am that she was there, and is now safe in our house again.

Help Us Out - Take 2!

Well, we need more help! KT made another board and needs your votes!!

Board #6 by Katie S.!

Help Us Out!

My friend KT entered a contest to win some free bridesmaid dresses for her wedding, and she made it to the finals!!

She designed an awesome board, and we need your help!


Please vote for her!

Board # 5, Katie S.!

Behren's One Month Checkup!

Well, yesterday was Behren's 3rd Birthday and his one month checkup from his surgery.

He got his last laser therapy (it stimulates the cells to help them heal faster and reduces swelling), and we talked with Dr. Sliker (from Camboro . . love it there!). Dr. Sliker was very impressed with Behren and said he was very happy with the results so far. He was moving Behren's knee all around and said it felt great and very stable. (The whole time Behren was giving him kissies). Then I walked Behren around so the doctor could see how he walked, and said that Behren is using the leg ~70% of the time and said that was good!

Dr. Sliker said that Behren can start going for short walks in two weeks, working up to about 1/2 mile each walk. Yay!

For Behren's birthday, we went back to our house and we sang and Behren got a piece of a cupcake with a doggy bone on top (he's still on a diet so we didn't want to give him the ENTIRE cupcake)!

Behren's 3rd Birthday!

Today is Behren's (our little pup's) 3rd Birthday!! I just cannot believe how fast those three years flew by!

We got Behren from the Erie Humane Society right before we moved to Virginia. We are so blessed to have found him. He has definitely given us a run for our money (seriously . . we've spent easily over $4K on him so far --> surgeries, ruining furniture, carpet, candles, etc., emergency vet visits for eating pounds of fudge . . . ), but he really is the best dog ever.

I guess he kinda found us . . . he was dropped off at the humane society with his sisters and brothers. All his sisters were all white with black spots (just like dalmations are, but had more of a lab look to them like Behren did). Him and his brothers were all black but had a white chest with black spots. We got to go in the kennel and play with all of them for a while. It was such an easy choice after that (Shane would only let me get one . . . it would've been easier if we could've taken them all!) , because Behren kept coming right up to us and licking us and jumping on us, so we were like "Ohh! Aww! He likes us!! Let's get him!". And here he is! We went right to PetCo after that to get the essentials (bowls, food, leash, collar, treats, etc). Look how tiny he was!


This is probably my all time favorite Behren pic! He is just so handsome and so smart and I think this captures it all.
It's a good thing puppies don't need buckled in, because Behren loved laying on his daddy's lap (especially when he was driving).

This picture just cracks me up because Behren was soooooo tiny compared to Jag and Majr, and now he's bigger than both of them! And look how big his ears were!


This picture also cracks me up because he is popping out of the bushes with a weird look on his face and there is a cop car in the back ground!! So funny! It's like we posed him, but we totally didn't!
Aww! Our big boy graduated from obedience training! He loved being in class with all the other pups! I think he needs a sister and/or brother!


He has turned into such a great pup. Right now he is still healing from his surgery and is still limping a lot, but I am still hoping and praying! We are celebrating his 3rd birthday tonight with a trip to the vet for his laser therapy and one-month-from-surgery check up, and then some treats and affection!