The Streak Continues

In a past post I indicated that I have been on an airplane flying streak. I revealed that I have a love for flying and this past year I have had the occasion to fly each and every month. Now it wasn't planned - it just happened. When I flew in August to visit Nicole and looked toward September I realized that I didn't have any flight plans. When I was expressing my disappointment that my streak was coming to an end to a group of friends. One of our friends (Charles) has a pilots license and said that he could take me for a flight. I didn't give it much thought and then the next time we got together Rayme and Charles had scheduled my September ride.

Here are a few pictures of my flight on Saturday. It was a gorgeous sunny day! We flew towards Blaine (being careful not to cross the Canadian border - not a good thing), and then went over the San Juan Islands. The views were amazing! The whole experience was remarkable. I live in a beautiful part of the world.

Don't tell anyone, but I got to fly the plane too.

I missed a holiday!

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and discovered that I missed an important holiday.

It was National Chocolate Milkshake Day this past Saturday. I wished I would have known before this wonderful holiday, as most of you know that I am all about celebrating especially when tasty treats are involved.

I am going to ask a favor from my blogger friends, can you make sure that I don't miss any other fun holidays like this one?

Last month our Annual Smore Day was postponed because it was raining. :( It is hard to have a campfire when it pouring rain.

Does Time Fly?!!

Early this summer I received a notice that my 30th year class reunion was being organized. Wow, 30 years really??? I did the math and yes, it was indeed 30 years.

I was very involved in many high school activities, and I would have to say my memories of high school were good ones.

Of course, the planning committee sent a following email enlisting past and current photos for a slide show presentation accompanied by a questionnaire. I really had a hard time responding to their request. I am highly critical of any pictures of myself, and seeing a picture of me on a big screen made me shutter at the thought.

Here are some of the questions that I was to respond to

• Tell them the highlights of my journey through life since 1979.


• When I retire you will find me living in (fill in place) and spending my time doing (fill in).


• My passion in life is.......

The 1st question really stumped me because how in the world was I going to highlight 30 years in a paragraph. You know when you get a question or statement and you want a good response, and then the next day you get it. Well, that is what happens to me all the time and it happened this time too.

Here is some of my highlights of my life's journey.

I have learned to teach, serve, nurture, need for spiritual awareness, love and in return I have been taught, and been served, and been loved, been nurtured, and have a knowledge of my loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

When I retire I hope that I can continue to learn more, teach more, serve more, nurture more, and become a better example of my Savior Jesus Christ.

As far as my life passion is to celebrate and be grateful for each day.

That is my life for the last 30 years as concise as I can get.

By the way, I had a good time with my classmates celebrating our class reunion.

Anything Nicole Can Do... So Can Michelle

See a few weeks ago Nicole hacked into Mom's blog. I (Michelle) thought it was genius. However, was not smart enough to guess Mom's password. I called Nicole to ask her what Mom's password was and she told me no. I had to figure it out myself. I thought that was incredibly mean and told her I was giving her the silent treatment for 1 month. It has been a week. And it is really hard!!! However, I finally figured it (the password) out tonight! Therefore I think I can stop the silent treatment because technically I figured out the password! I have never been the fan of the silent treatment. In fact I LOATH it! I am sorry Nicole that you chose this course. I hope you have learned your lesson!

P.S. Sorry Mom that we used your blog. And don't worry about changing your password... I accidental already forgot it. So basically we are back at square one.

P.S.S. The picture has nothing to do with a silent treatment, but I love this pic of me and my parents. It's from the NorthWest Washington Fair

Weekend Fun & Memories

I love weekends! Why are weekends so fun?

For me it means a different schedule and having more time to enjoy the things I love.

Last weekend Rayme and I were able to attend our work picnic. We were asked to help with the food which involved BBQ-ing the burgers & hot dogs. It was fun to see our co-workers and meet their family and seeing everyone having a good time.

The drive up to Silver Lake was like going down memory lane. I remember as a child our family would go to Silver Lake to visit my parents friends. They had a wonderful rustic cabin at the end of the Lake and our family tradition was to go there and camp on Labor Day weekend.

I recall that my sister learned to water ski at the lake.

The reason I explained it was a rustic cabin, at the time it didn't have plumbing. Which means that they had an outhouse. Using the facilities during the day wasn't really that bad, but when it was dark that is a different story. With flashlight in hand and the all courage I could muster, when nature called during the night I ventured out to use the facility. Upon my return I was surprised to find an animal on my way back. I was sure I spotted a bear, but knew that shining my flashlight at it wasn't in my best interest. It must have heard me and ran off. The next morning I reported to my parents that I saw a bear on my night hike. To this day, they think I saw the families big dog. Big dog or bear I am glad that I had already visited the outhouse. Memories...I love the days we went to Silver Lake.

Nicole's Birthday Celebration - Part 2

Rayme and I flew down to celebrate Nicole's birthday- a week later! (Yep, I got to fly again .) It was a fun weekend, and it has been awhile since Rayme, Nicole and I have been all together. Some of the things we did, we went to the Pro Bass Store - it is huge sporting goods store and we browse the store for quite some time. The store has different animal displays (not live animals) one being a giraffe. Rayme was trying hard to get a perfect picture of the giraffe and Nicole, but it was a bit tricky not to get just the legs of the giraffe and not to have Nicole climb up on the giraffe (there was a sign not to climb on the animals). Rayme decided laying on the floor was the best angle to get the picture. Little did the nearby customers know that he was taking a picture and thought they should call 911, as they were afraid he had collapsed on the floor and needed medical attention. Never a dull moment with the Chapin's. (Nicole has the picture on her camera.)

Since it was Nicole's birthday and we flew, packing a present wasn't the best idea. We figured Las Vegas has stores and shop for her gift there. That meant a journey to Costco to pick up her gift, little did I know that she inherited her fathers trait of riding the cart through the parking lot.

When I was in Las Vegas the last few times, we didn't have a chance to go the strip at all (apparently some locals never go to the strip except to take their out of town guests). There are lots of free entertainment on the strip. We have never experienced the Bellagio Hotel fountain with music. We watched a Discovery Channel one time and the show went behind the scenes with the fountain construction and engineering. It truly is amazing. The lights on the strip are so fascinating.

Our brother-in-law Bob joined us on our next adventure visiting Mandalay Bay "Shark Reef" aquarium. Since the night before we were watching some of "SHARK WEEK" we knew all about the protective gear the divers wear when diving with sharks. Sure enough we were in area of the sharks and yes the divers were in with the sharks and wearing the shark protective apparel.

What a great weekend celebrating!

Nicole's birthday - Let the celebrations begin!

Often I don't remember what date exactly I did certain things, but today I remember with clarity what I was doing 26 years ago today.

The day started with a doctors appointment and the doctor telling me that I was going to have a baby that day. Apparently, the doctor knew that I was having contractions and being it was my first what did I know. So I stopped off at my work where my Dad worked too and told them I was going to have a baby today. Then off to Rayme's work and told him the news and did a few errands and thought maybe I should make sure I was ready to go to the hospital like pack a suitcase or something. Then the thought occurred to me that maybe taking a nap would be a good idea, since at the time I didn't know how long this labor thing was going to take. The doctors instructions was if I anything happened to call him and go to the hospital. Rayme decided to come home from lunch and check on me to make sure everything was okay. Probably as soon as he got to work I was making a phone call that it was time to go to the hospital, because I was feeling weird and remembering that the doctor told me to call him I did what I was told and was instructed to go to the hospital. About 4 hours later we welcomed our first born baby girl Nicole to our family.

The things I love and admire about Nicole-

Has a smile that brightens a room

A love for traveling and seeing new places

Loves her family

A great card sender - birthday, thank you, cheer up, thinking of you, etc.

Loves to scrapbook, sew and all round crafter

Gives thoughtful gifts

Gives service

Loves the Gospel

Is a good example

A loving sister, daughter, grandaughter, niece, etc.

Sets goals

Hard worker

A wonderful friend

A good listener

Is honest and has integrity

Shares her testimony of Jesus Christ

Fun!

Laughter is part of her day even if it is at herself

Is on time (she was born on her due date - should have clued into that)

Organized & tidy

Has a desire to be a learner

Is kind and thoughtful

Creative

A bargain shopper

Obedient

Has a positive attitude

We have been blessed that she came to our family.