Friends and Stalkers...

The vacation blogs are in the works. I updated the travel post w/photos so you'll have to back up to check it out. I hope to be all caught up by bedtime Sunday. Thanks for being nearly patient.

Happy Birthday Marc

We celebrated Marc's first, of what could be many, 39th birthday tonight. He actually said he stopped having birthdays at 22, but I don't think anyone was buying that.

Marc was followed by his harem of ladies to help him celebrate tonight. At our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town, La Fiesta on Main Street, all 7 of his guests were ladies~Kylee (2), Kyndra (5), Reagan (6), Grace (8), Taryn (11), Athena & Anne. (You didn't really think I was going to put all the ages down did you?) Marc was indeed, the guest of honor, the token male, the King of the Castle, The Man!

Joe, the owner, greeted us with his usual smile. We immediately let him know we were there to celebrate Marc's birthday. He let us know, at his restaurant, you are given a choice of a shot of tequila or a lap dance by the dishwasher for your birthday. He said the shot may be bad, but we hadn't seen the dishwasher yet. Athena and I got a good giggle out of that one. Marc enjoyed a melon margarita instead.

To balance out the dinner, Marc gets to go on a ride-along with Tony. There's nothing that gets the testosterone flowing like a good 'ole up-close-and-personal night of Cops! Marc loves to watch Tony in action. I imagine every little boy at sometime dreams of going after the bad guys. There is no guarantee of a high speed chase or interesting arrest, but a warm summer Friday night definitely holds promise. **UPDATE** Very exciting night...he was out until 4:30 am, good thing I knew he was safe. He got to see lots of action...drug dog, multi-agency pursuit of a bad guy in the act of a break in...etc.

In keeping with birthday posts I will share 39 Marc facts...it is so tempting to throw in some fiction too, but I gotta live with this guy.

1. Allergic to beans-the legume varieties
2. Allergic to dust & wheat-great hometown we chose right?
3. Relies on weekly allergy shots to survive in E. Oregon
4. Three sport letterman in HS-football, basketball, baseball
5. Acted in a school play
6. Took piano lessons (he swears it helped his hands in football)
7. Worked as the girls dormitory supervisor in college (coyote-in-the-hen-house?)
8. Worked at a golf course in college and took up the sport
9. Very handy with power tools! (I'm talking remodeling here folks!)
10. Has bungee jumped!
11. Had a perm & salon tan in HS
12. Shares his birthday with his best friend from college, Vince
13. Loves Banana Cream Pie & Amaretto Cheesecake
14. Is the 'Strong-Silent' type..ie...doesn't shed tears in sad movies
15. Does the laundry better than his wife
16. Has a magic touch with the BBQ
17. Will always buy twice as much (of anything) than is needed
18. Doesn't hunt and peck when typing anymore
19. Loves to try new versions of cereals, candy bars, ice creams
20. Throws up louder than ANYONE I have ever heard
21. Is the oldest child of four
22. Nickname in HS:Soko
23. Nickname post-college:Sparky
24. Doesn't like when I use my teacher tone on him
25. Sits very still for make-overs & manicures that the girls give him
26. Has 'rode the range' when working calves, but prefers a 4-wheeler
27. Hates gristle in a piece of meat. The meal is instantly over if he bites into it.
28. Eats & enjoys smoked oysters ~yech~
29. Boxers not briefs, not ever
30. His eyes close, almost always, when he smiles
31. Has seen three professional baseball games that were No-Hitters
32. Hospitalized when his wisdom tooth fell down larynx during extraction
33. Falls asleep & snores instantly when his head hits the pillow-nearly always
34. Shot and killed a cougar without using dogs in John Day mountains
35. Graduated from the University of Montana - Go Griz!
36. Loves to coach football
37. Is very patient when hunting & fishing...not so patient when I am shopping
38. Hero of three girls that love him dearly
39. Loved by his wife in good times and in bad, through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, young and OLD, forever!

2,500 miles & 6 states & still smiling!

Well we have been back for a few days now, and I have been getting some pressure about my lack of posts. During this winter I was so anxious to write and post that some of the posts were really scraping the bottom of the barrel. I mean, really, do bird seed stealing squirrels really bother me? Probably not. Fast forward to July and now I have too much to post about...but I have been so busy living life that I haven't had much time to reflect. These are the up-and-coming posts. I am thinking that maybe by making a list here I can attack them one at a time.

Taryn turns Eleven-July 17-big age-big gift

Vacation '08 wrapped up-July 18-lots of miles and smiles.

Theater Camp '08-July 21-25 Highlight: Owl poop? Seriously? !

and soon enough -

Henley High School 1987 & 1988 Class Reunion - August 1 - I can't wait!!!!

Happy Birthday, a-day-late, Sandra Louise Hemphill-Chapman

Or in other words...Happy Belated Birthday Mom! I know I am a day late...and a day late for the most important woman in my life. Unforgivable? No way. It's a mom thing.

I have always loved my mom.

My mom was a stay-at-home mom until I was in high school. She made Halloween costumes, put wet washcloths on my forehead when I was sick, ran the school carnival, & baked everything homemade. I didn't know that cakes and brownies could come from a box. I never tasted Hamburger Helper until college. Yet-I still didn't 'get' it. I loved my mom and she loved me. Easy right...she was just doing her job! Not so much -

Becoming a mother myself changed the relationship I had with my own mom in an instant. Understanding that change has been a slow process...but that instant was clear and defined.

Until I was a mom I didn't believe - "This hurts me worse than it will hurt you." Given after a punishment I deserved.

I now 'get' how my mom could not like someone because they hurt my feelings or were unkind.

I aspire to be as calm and matter-of-fact when I have to answer tough questions about the changing body.

I yearn to protect my girls from the same hurts that my mom wanted to protect me from.

I love and live - "Go outside and play until I call you to dinner."

I have girl friends that are as important to me as the 'Bridge-Ladies' were to my mom. They are a life-line on days when your kids have you spiraling out of control.

I know fear too... I know the fear of the unknown, I know fear of hurts we can not stop, of broken things we know can't be fixed, I know of pain, but I also know of healing, but the most important thing I know is unconditional love. That is the gift of a mother and her child. It is a gift that I was blessed to have been given and a gift that I know how to pass on because of the great role model I have to follow.

Mom I love you!

Now, because I am in Eastern Montana, where Internet access is limited, I will not be able to post a picture of my mom on her birthday. This indeed could be considered a gift, right? Never fear.... I will now digress to fun filled facts about my mom, for which she will want to kill me, but never-the-less, will love me the same.

My mom grew up in San Diego and used to drive friends across the Mexico border where the drinking age was lower.

My mom used to hitchhike from San Diego to LA. (Can you even imagine that now-a-days?)

My mom was wanted by the FBI-doesn't that sound cool? (She was in a car that was drag racing and wrecked...she left the scene...hoping to avoid getting in trouble...didn't work, obviously).

My mom was a flight attendant and was featured in a glamour magazine, but had to quit because she got engaged to my dad. (You weren't allowed to be married as a flight attendant.) There may have been other magazines too...I'm not sure. Mom?

My mom and dad met on a blind date...were engaged in three months...and have been married for 42 years. (I hope I'm right...I may be off a year or two.)

My mom had smoked since she was 18 but quit when Taryn was born. For this alone, I believe I am most proud and thankful. It wasn't easy, but I know that was the most important gift she could have given us. I worried lots about smoking killing her.

My mom loves words. She loves crossword puzzles, she has written many a rhyme for birthday cards and anniversaries. She also uses words when she is UNHAPPY... she can formulate her argument, revise and perfect them, she doesn't always send them, but it helps her vent. You don't want to be on the end of one of those. :-) She has now taken to e-mailing companies if they have wronged her.

She loves to walk and geocache. She needed a hobby...I found her one...and now dad has to pay the price when they are on trips. Being a fellow-cacher...I think it's great!

You want to be near a bathroom if you are going to tell her a funny joke. She wet her pants once (or maybe twice) and Grace will never let her forget it.

She does things she used to make fun of her mother for doing. I'm sure I will follow in those footsteps, so maybe I should leave that alone.

My mom has been there for me after nine hospital events...

• my birth-June 1970
• hit by a car-1977
• appendix out-1978
• tonsils out-1991
• Taryn's birth-1997
• kidney stones out-1998
• Grace's birth-2000
• Reagan's birth-2002
• thyroid out-2007

Happy Birthday Mom. I'm looking forward to many more blog-able memories. You are my model for whom I try to mold myself into.

14 hours...

5:00 am-Leaving Pendleton, OR-0 miles

It would have been pretty if it wasn't so dang early!

6:00 am-South of Tri-Cities, WA-58.3 miles
7:00 am-Connell, WA-118 miles

8:00 am-Ritzville, WA-158.9 miles
9:00 am-Spokane, WA-221.6 miles
***MY FAVORITE HOUR***
9:18-10:18 am Crossing into Idaho, Mountain Time Zone
11:00 am-Cour d'Alene, ID-245.3 miles

12:00 pm-Montana State Line-310.6 miles
1:00 pm-Superior, MT-358.2 miles
2:00 pm-Missoula, MT-419.5 miles
3:00 pm-Drummond, MT-465.3 miles

Slacking on my job, I know...Thanks Marc for keeping track for me!

4:00 pm-Butte, MT-534.6 miles

The rains came and went fast on our trip.

5:00 pm-Bozeman, MT-596.1 miles

(Don't look too close it's a Bobcat Billboard)

6:00 pm-Deer Lodge, MT-671.1 miles

DESTINATION! Uncle Pete & Aunt Debbie's Home
7:40 pm-Huntley, MT-783.6

I know the rainbow was a personal message

from God congratulating us for our safe arrival!

The trip was MUCH smoother than I expected and very much DO-able.

I'd do it again...just not for awhile (12 days to be exact.)