R.I.P Doug Hansen

My mom's husband passed away un-expectantly August 11 in his sleep.  He was not sick.  My mom took my grandma to church as usual that morning and when they got home Doug was still "sleeping" around 10 a.m. my mom started to wonder what was up as he never usually slept in that late and went down to wake him up.  Well, he never did wake up...

He was really good for my mom and I fear what will happen with her life now that he's gone...I'm hoping that her being the caregiver for my grandma will help her to stay on the right track.

As soon as I got the call that he had passed - I flew over to my mom's to be with her and my brothers (who were a lot closer to him).  It was nice to see my brothers (as I rarely see them both at the same time anymore), but I wish it had been under different circumstances.

Doug and my brother Charlie during happier times!

Hanging out at my mom's after the news...that's my SIL (laughing) who is pregnant with my nephew!

My mom & I - I was happy I got a little smile out of her.

My uncle Tom being a goof.

My brothers & I - love these boy!

Neighbor BBQ

As per the usual - I am way behind in blogging - no one really cares though do they?!  Well, I do - must.document!

The night before my Color Me Rad run a couple of the neighbors and us decided on an impromptu BBQ in the alley behind our house!  It was so.much.fun!  The kids had a blast, the adults drank too much, it was pretty much the recipe for a great night!  That is until your Type 1 has crazy blood sugars all night and your 2 year old wakes up like 3 times (which never happens) and you stagger around the house trying to care for them, while also trying to get a few hours sleep so you can run your first 5K the next morning (first as in actually run the entire 5K, I've done a run/walk on many 5K's)...but anyway, you already know the outcome of the 5K, so apparently, I just need to drink myself into a stooper the night before (or maybe not)!

Here are some classic photos of our fun - we have planned another one, but are calling it a "Block Party" for mid September...so brace yourself for more fun stories and photos of my crazy kids and neighbors!

How do you keep your alcohol cold?  We put ours in the kids Lemonade!

Jim man-ing the grill!  Landon LOVES Jim and asks about him daily - its kind of funny!

Zane and Allie going for a ride - they are so stinkin' cute!

Leah & Allie our favorite neighbor girls!

Zane & Elliot

Kids grubbin' on the curb!

Not quite sure what exactly is happening here...

Megan & I after a couple :)

Zane & Neighbor Chris (lost his leg when his motorcycle got into a fight with a Mac Truck - you can guess who won that fight).

Carrie, myself, Megan & photobomb by Allie!

This kid is hilarious - he'll make a great dad someday!

Giving the baby a kiss goodnight...

Getting ready to take the baby home to her house...

Off they go...

RAD

I have participated in many 5K fun runs over the years, but I have never ran an entire one. I do them because they are fun and I always have high hopes that one day I will be able to run the 3.1 miles! My friend Brooke invited me to run the Color Me Rad fun run yesterday and as usual I agreed because I knew it would be fun! I decided to try and train for this one in hopes of running it all. I was gung-ho for the first couple weeks and then got so busy, running fell off the daily to-do list.

Yesterday was the anticipated run and as per the usual I was not ready. The most I have ever ran straight is 2.3 miles, the last time I had run was at least 3 weeks ago, Landon was up at least 4 times with a terrible cough the night before and add in that I drank way too much at our neighborhood BBQ the night before...the run was looking pretty bleak! Brooke showed up bright and early and off we went to Marymoore Park!!

Best run ever!! Loads of fun and I actually ran.the.entire.thing!!! I had many times I wanted to walk, but just kept telling myself to keep going (and for once I actually listened to myself)! The run was full of color...throughout they would throw colored powder (corn starch) at you and at times spray colored water at you!! We both had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back and do it again next year!!

Oops...

This picture just cracks me up!  Seriously, 2 minutes after I put his truck up on the deck and told him to stay ON the deck...he rode right off - that's Landon for ya!

Yes, I'm that mom - take the picture THEN help the child.

If you look closely, you can see he's smiling - so I'm not that terrible of a mom for taking the picture first!

And for the record - he was totally fine :)

National Night Out

For the 30th Anniversary of the National Night Out program the Snoqualmie Police Dept was putting on an event at the station.  The event was going on until 9 p.m. (Tuesday) night, so after leaving the M's game, the boys and I raced back to Snoqualmie in hopes of making it there in time to still check it all out.  Both kids LOVE anything to do with the police or fire department - so I knew this would be right up their alley!

We got to the station at 8:20 - phew, 40 mins to spare...except...they were already starting to tear things down.  I was pretty upset to be honest - don't advertise something until 9 and decide to stop at 8:30. There were still a few vehicles for them to see, which made them happy...but what Zane was looking the most forward to was a tour of the station (which was also advertised to be until 9).  I walked up to one of the officers and asked if we could still get a tour and he {politely} said that they were done with tours, but that we could come back any other time and they'd give us one, ugh.  I looked down at Zane and he was so bummed - he held his head high, but you could tell he was really disappointed.  I told him we'd come back this weekend and see about a tour and he sadly said "ok".  Just then another officer who was near by walked over and said to Zane "you want a tour, I will give you a tour" and off we went Zane turned that frown upside down immediately!

The tour was awesome!  This officer didn't hold back at all - we saw it all.  He answered all of our questions, gave us a ton of information about the department and the area and really made Zane's day! I keep meaning to figure out how I can send in a compliment for him!  He really did go above and beyond.

Here we go...never thought I'd be entering a police station before!

This is the first place the arrested individuals go once they are brought back to the station!  This is also the room they keep dogs that they capture when animal control isn't able to come out.

The boys were able to go in to the holding cell and check it out.  Zane was a little scared to go in - I had to really talk him into getting close so I could take this picture - I promised him that we wouldn't shut the door.  As you can see Landon had NO problem going right in and checking it all out - first things first, check out the toilet!  ICK!!!  This picture looks like he is touching it, but I assure you he did not touch it.  The officer assured me that it was clean and was cleaned every night, but still totally grossed me out!

Landon checking out the "bed"!

Zane had no problem getting a picture at/in the shooting range!  He thought this was so cool!

Cutest little target I ever did see :)

Zane and Officer Weiss - this guy was awesome!  

Awards & Baseball

We were invited to the JDRF Awards Event on Tuesday this week and it was followed with an M's Game!  I wasn't thinking we'd actually receive an award this year as we didn't raise as much money as we had last year (last year they mailed us an award)...but I was wrong and I'm glad I was.  I had already told Zane that we probably wouldn't be getting a plaque this year and that that was OK, but we would have a good time watching other people receive some awards as well as his friend Luke receive a plaque for being one of the ambassadors for Beat the Bridge this year!

The awards event was at the Ellis Pavilion inside Safeco - right after we checked in and got our name tags the guy behind the table said he had something for Zane...it was an award!!  The smile on Zane's face was priceless - he was/is so proud!

After checking in - we headed to our table where our good friends the Bergman's sat with us!  Luke and Zane were having a little too much fun and we had to remind them to be quiet a few times - but I LOVE watching these two grow into such good buddies and have such a good time together!  I really think they are so good for each other!

After the awards were all handed out and dinner was over - we all headed into Safeco to enjoy an M's game!  This was Zane and Landon's first time (that I can remember anyway) inside Safeco -  they thought it was pretty cool.

Josh explaining the game a little to Zane.

He is so stinkin' cute!

Landon clapping when everyone else does!

Trying to entertain him!

 We last for I think half of the FIRST inning, haha!  Neither Josh or I are very big baseball fans and Landon was beyond restless - we decided to go over and check out the playground they have inside the stadium (whoever thought of this idea is a genius).  The boys had a great time running around like the crazy boys they are!

We had another event that we wanted to hit up that night by the house, so after playing for a little bit the boys and I started to head out.  Just as we were getting ready to leave the playground, Luke and his parents walk in!  The boys said a quick good-bye; Josh stayed to hang out with them (since he had to work in a couple hours right next to the stadium) and the boys and I headed for the car.

One last tourist pic before getting to the car!

What a fun night - thank you JDRF for inviting us and paying for our game - sorry we didn't make good use of the tickets!

Counting

I am so impressed with Zane and his ability to teach his brother things!  He is so patient with him and so excited to watch him learn just as I am to watch each of them learn!  I honestly think that Zane would make a great teacher one day...we'll see what he decides to do with his life!

Anyway - Zane taught Landon how to count to 10 and Landon is SO proud of himself (as are we of him)!