My friend Shelly watched Katelynn for me last week and took these photos. Amazing! Shelly is the one who did our family photo for our profile and also helped take photos of Kristen. She does an amazing job! If you want her info, let me know!

Playing Catch Up (again!)

So many things to post, so little time!
Between computers crashing, birthday parties and radio contests, there’s so many things to post and very little time to keep up! I’ll do my best to catch up and post them in the order they all happened.

Happy 3rd Birthday Katelynn!

Hard to believe Katelynn turned three this weekend! (on the 2nd) We had so many things going on this weekend that we’re taking today to just chill! My parents came over from Spokane and we had family photos taken on Saturday morning. We then went to Olympia to celebrate Katelynn’s Great Grandma Rosemary’s 80th birthday.

Sunday we had the red party with balloons she had asked for! It was great to have family and a few close friends around to celebrate her. We did the best we could to have everything red and she thought it was so fun.







Then Monday (her actual birthday) I decided to start a family tradition for her that my family had always done. We woke her up singing “Happy Birthday” each of us carrying candles, flowers and then she got to open a gift. (granted, she was already awake by the time we got it all ready and I told her to go lay back down for a surprise!) I don’t know if she really got what was going on, but it was fun just the same! Unfortunately, I had made Katelynn’s 3 year check up for that morning, thinking she didn’t have any shots coming and it would be easy and carefree. But they had a flu shot ready for her and that kind of put a damper on her day.







Later that day I had two girlfriends over and their three kids each – so with just two other families present we had 7 kids running around between the ages of 5 and 20 months! In the photo with them all on the couch, it looks pretty harmless. However, it was lunch time for everyone, nap time for most (including the birthday girl!) and considering I am used to one at a time, we'll just say I have a lot of learning to do when it comes to kiddo birthday parties! I am sure I'll have lots of exposure in the coming years, and this was just the start! (I am so glad the moms were here with them, they each pitched in to help with lunch and it was really fun!)
I won’t post all the photos from the weekend but here are a few to show she had LOTS of fun! Thank you to everyone who participated in one way or another!

Momma's got a brand new 'do! (thanks to Spirit 105.3 and Salon & Spa Dolche!)

As a qualifier for the first week of the radio “Love Story” contest I received a gift certificate to Salon and Spa Dolche in Everett. We were going to be talking family photos over the weekend so I decided to make the trek and get my hair done! For those of you not familiar with the area, it meant an hour drive north - but oh so worth it! My friend Shelly took Katelynn for the whole day so I could take my time and not worry about her (thanks Shelly!!). Shelly even gave me a note as I dropped Katelynn off letting me know she remembered it would have been Kristen's 5 month birthday that day and this was a wonderful way for me to celebrate her - with a gift I wouldn't have had if it wasn't for her! Thanks Kristen!

My hairstylist was amazing! She took her time to listen and and then took it from there. I had no idea what I wanted and what I came out with was incredible and really fits me. I am so happy with the color (well, colors, four of them to be exact!) and the cut is really fun and easy to take care of. The whole “treatment” was a bit more than my gift card would cover but she said that since I was the grand prize winner, she wasn’t going to charge me for the haircut. Thanks Kelsie!!!

Before, During and After:

Hidden Treasure!

We purchased our house from the original owners who had it built in 1964. We knew there were hardwoods throughout the house under the carpet, but had no idea what condition they were in. (the bedrooms were already exposed.) The floors were going to be our next home project, when we had the money for rugs and possible fixing of the floors.So last Sunday during dinner I noticed how nasty the carpets were looking and asked Kevin if he thought we’d be able to pull up the carpet before Katelynn’s birthday party the coming weekend. So we moved the couch back just far enough to pull up a sample. This is what we found!!

So we started pulling and cutting! The floors are just beautiful! Talk about a little sweat equity!! Here are a few before and after photos. All we've done to them is patch up a few holes from the carpet stretcher and tack strips and then we gave them a good mop cleaning. After talking to our neighbors, it sounds like the floors have been covered since the original owner bought the house! Thanks for sweeping a treasure under the rug! :)

Our Budding Artist!

I know every parent is proud of their child’s drawings, but I love this one! Katelynn has really enjoyed drawing smiley faces. She is getting really good at them too, complete with two eyes, a mouth, nose and chin - which apparently is really good and not expected for a child her age. This drawing was really cute because she drew Daddy – complete with his short hair and goatee! (the main face towards the top, the circle under the mouth is his chin!) There are a few other faces too, I think Katelynn and I may be a few of them. (the two "real" smiley faces and the “mouse/rat” were compliments of Daddy.)

Update on "the grand prize"

I have been asked by a number of people about what the prizes were. So here's a run down:
As a qualifier I got a gift certificate for a salon/spa up in Everett.
As Week 1's grand prize winner I get tickets to the Chris Tomlin concert in March.
I also get a VIP shopping trip from Marci Jewelery in Bellevue. They will send a limo to pick us up and take us to the store for a catered lunch and a private shopping time (I'm assuming with all the other winners of the contest) where we each will get to spend $1000!! I have NO IDEA what I'll get!! I'm not much of a fancy jewelery person but I would like a watch with Kristen's two birthstones in it. (August for her birth to earth and September for her birth to heaven.) And I've also thought about getting something for Katelynn in honor of Kristen. But we'll see once we get there!
But as I've said since the start, I entered the contest not even knowing what the "prizes" were. I really just wanted a chance to share a small part of Kristen's story and the radio station gave me a perfect opportunity through a very fun (and rewarding) avenue!!

Kristen's Story Won! Thank you!

Yeah! Kristen's story won last week's grand prize on the Spirit 105.3 Love Story Contest!!
They called the house this morning while I was on my way to MOPS but Kevin couldn't get to the phone. I had him call back the number from caller ID and they said to have me call the studio line. I tried for three hours and only got busy signals!! So they eventually called my cell phone around 12:30 today and told me I won. They asked me to tell them more about Kristen and I was honored to. I love getting to talk about that little girl! I don't know if it was recorded or not or if it will be put on the web. The one thing I feel kinda bad about is not giving more glory and credit to God after their comments of "your such a strong and amazing woman" or "it's amazing you can tell this story without bitterness". I know He deserves the credit because it if wasn't for Him I don't think we would have been able to keep breathing after September 1st. But here we are almost 5 months later and life continues to go on, the world continues to turn, and I continue to have moments of healing....like getting to tell Kristen's story on the radio! So without further ado, Thank you Jesus for getting me to the point where I want to and even can share Kristen's story. And thank you for all the blessings that have been received in correlation to this contest.

I have no way of thanking all the people that helped in voting for our story - so I really hope that they will find out somehow! If you passed on the encouragement to vote, please pass on the good news! And if you have your own story definitely submit it! Just as a qualifier you get a pretty great gift!! They will be doing it for three more weeks (counting this week).

Again thank you everyone who voted! Thank you for allowing me to share Kristen's story with you and thank you for helping me tell so many others!

What is Grief?

I just found this saying given by a mom who had three teenage boys and then had 5, count them FIVE subsequent lost babies! Trisomy 18 due on Mother's Day but came a month early, Trisomy 21 miscarrage, and three more miscarrages, two of them on separate Thanksgiving Days. This woman and her story leave me speechless.

Grief is Not a Sign of Weakness,
Nor a Loss of Faith,
It is the Price Of Love

My love for Kristen must have been really expensive!! :)

So I guess as long as I grieve (in whatever form that takes) I will be actively loving Kristen.
I kiss Katelynn with my lips, I kiss Kristen with my tears.

I know one day there won't be so many tears and the ache won't be as painful, but I will always grieve and love my little angel baby. I'll just be finding new ways to tell her as I learn to better celebrate her life and not so much mourn her death....one day at a time.

Thank you for your continued support!

I don't know how or even who to thank for all the support we're getting with the "Love Story" contest and all the people voting for our story and then passing on the message to their friends and family. I keep getting e-mails from people letting me know of their support and their vote. THANK YOU!! The voting keeps going until Friday and I am really excited to hear how it all turns out. Please check back here for the results and if you passed on the word, I'd love your help in letting them know the results. I am so thankful for everyone's support and encouragement.....even from people we have never met and probably never will meet. Thank you!
-Tara