Happy Retirement Mom

After ten years of serving as Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce my mom has decided to retire. The Chamber held it's annual meeting where they present awards and they took some time to recognize her work. I wish the next person luck because in my opinion, and many others, no one will be able to fill her shoes. Through criticism and pettiness, she stood with her head up and kept doing her job. And when she was praised for her outstanding work she never boasted. She loves Junction City so much that it was not just a job, but her passion. I grew up watching my mom and dad volunteer and work in the community they were raised in and they passed along that passion to me. Which I will be eternally grateful for because it has given me a sense of identity. My heart wells with pride when I tell people where I come from. My mom and dad both graduated from Junction City High School and because Mike loves me so much, I will raise my kids in JC and they will be fourth generation graduates. I just hope that I can pass along the love of a small town to them. I'm not sure how I feel about her not being just around the corner anymore but her happiness it most important to me. Hopefully soon she will be kept busy with wedding plans and grand kids. (Hint hint...get in gear Mike:)

Diamond Lake

This last weekend we took a three day trip up to the lake. It was an interesting trip. Full of not catching any fish, lots and lots of bugs, Crater Lake, misbehaving dogs and lots of laughs. Mike and I went camping with two of our best friends, Jason and Kara. It was mostly a great trip with some stressful moments in between the fantastic ones.

On Saturday we drove to Crater Lake. It was Kara and Jason's first time seeing it. It was soo soo hot and the dogs were so completely miserable that I sat in the car with them for the majority of the trip. But all in all...we got some pics and Jason and Kara gave the big whole in ground a big thumbs up.

On Saturday evening, after a four hour long nap to recover from heat, we went out on the lake and soaked up the beauty of Diamond Lake.

There was a wild land fire going on a few acres away and the helicopter was dipping water out of the lake. They dipped their bucket about 25 feet from us and we all got a kick out of it. Jason and I are on the department together and I think every fire fighter's dream is to be a smoke jumper.

We stayed out on the lake until the sun set that evening. I could have stayed out there all night with Mike. Isn't he cute?

Our happy family.

Kara and I taking a self portrait. I, of course met J through the department and then met his wife later. She is by far one of my fave people ever.

Jason, Kara and Daisy.

It was a long but wonderful three days. My favorite moments were ones with us just hanging out around the camp fire.
We are incredibly grateful to have such good friends and even more grateful to have each other. We got home and just thanked our lucky stars we have a nice, quiet, little life together.

Sad News

The company I work for blocked me from opening any blogs! Its like they don't want me to spend my time blogging instead of working or something. What's up with that? So I will either post much less or beg my adorable boyfriend to let me get internet at home.
So don't worry Lissa, I will be posting a pic of our new attire as soon as I have more then two minutes to blog on my break.
If anyone feels the need to call Mike and convince him to let me subscribe to the net at home...feel free:)

PS- Bex, glad Max is okay. Wish we could fly over and help!