I am so excited to now be Auntie Kim. I just wished I lived closer so I could watch LiliAnn grow up.

Welcome little LiliAnn. You are loved so much already.

On Tuesday April 8th, Scott got the formal job offer for a wonderful new job that totally fits who he is and what he believes in. While we knew he was a shoe-in, there is always doubt until you get that official offer. So he will be leaving the Sierra Club on April 25th and going to work for the National Conservation System Foundation, which is a new non-profit aimed at helping build and sustain “friends” groups to aid the BLM in protecting the land set aside within the BLM’s NLCS program.

So to honor his new job- and to replace the Sierra Club laptop that Scott has to turn back to the club -Saturday found us at the Apple store to finally purchase the MacBook Pro. We had been debating the pros and cons of the different MacBooks for that past two weeks so it feels good to have made the decisions. It is great to see him so excited about the new job and the new toy.

Here’s to great experiences, and I wish you all the best, babe, as you embark on this exciting adventure.

This picture was taken September 2007. I had a chance to visit with my friend Jen and her family while in Washington DC. Little did I know that this would be the last time I would see Jen’s mom, Jeanette. While I knew she was battling cancer, the chemo seemed to be working.

This past Monday, Jen called me to let me know that her mom had been given days to weeks to live. I was in shock. I knew that they had to try a different type of chemo as the first had stopped working but I didn’t realize how bad it had become.

I wanted to talk to Jeanette this week but didn’t know if that would be helpful ir make things worse. So I didn’t call. Today I found out Jen’s mom passed away this morning, peacefully with her family with her.

I am so thankful to have the pictures and memories of the visit I had with her in September. This means the world tome to have been able to talk with her and enjoy a celebratory birthday cupcake with her.

I will miss you so much Jeanette, my second “mom.” Your spirit lives on in all of us who knew you and loved you!

This past December I traveled up to the Northwest to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. Through many secret and usually quick conversations with my dad, we arranged to meet at the China Gorge restaurant where I would surprise my mom. Lucky for me my friend Shanna, who recently had moved up to the same part of the country, was able to pick me at Portland International Airport, and after a couple hours of catching up, helped me surprise my mom.

The surprise didn’t go as I had hoped, as I had wanted to be sitting in the restaurant before my parents arrived but it was still a great surprise. Here’s a picture Shanna got of me walking up to my mom and saying “Happy Birthday” to her.

It was a great surprise for sure.

This was taken last July in San Diego. Scott’s family had a mini family reunion around the fourth. This is the view we had from our table at dinner. Pretty cool! Made me realize how much I enjoyed the ocean growing up on the east coast. Thank you to Larry for recommending this restaurant. All in all it was pretty special- good food, good company and good views.

what I came home to on the day my grandfather died, originally uploaded by sunflowerpatch.

It was a nice surprise.