Life as I know it...

Wow, it has been such a long time since I have posted anything on
here. I had to look back at pictures just so I could remember what I have done in the last 3 months! You get some random events from the last three months in a random order when I thought about things. I promise to post on the blog next week!

Mike and Melissa had baby Isaac on my mom's birthday March 22nd. There were some complications after birth that caused them to stay at the hospital for a week, but they are home now and little Isaac is growing like a weed. If you want to see some pictures, check out their blog which is attached to my blog.


My friends Matt and Jenn had their little girl Sophie a few days earlier on March 19th and she is so precious. I got to see her in the hospital and at the house...Jenn and I trade coffee for baby sometimes...I bring coffee and play with Sophie and Wyatt for a while...everyone wins!


I had a great Easter weekend with my family. It started with dinner at my house on Friday night with the Jeske family...and a whole lot of house cleaning before everyone showed up. I even got my dad up to his elbows in dishes! I made Chicken Marsala for dinner and it was mmm mmm good! We went to the Tenebrae service at church and watched the guys on stage eat their "Last Supper". After church I frantically began making 240 Southwest won ton wraps for wedding open house. Thanks to the help of Aunt Debbie with the wrappers and my dad and Uncle Joe keeping up with dishes, I finished them before the birhtday party. Amelia's 1st birthday party was on Saturday morning and the cake turned out super cute! I was happy with my first appearance of fondant cakes. We went to the Moeller Easte Egg hunt and had fun watching the kids go after the 600 eggs that Matt & Catherine had hidden. After leaving there, I delivered the wrappers to the church and did some shopping before heading back to the Open House. I rested on Saturday night because I had been baking and cooking a lot the last two weeks and running all over the place! Easter morning service at church was interesting...mixing old hymns and contemporary rockish songs in the Sanctuary was an experience.

Zander and I had a good time dyeing Easter Eggs and the mess was actually not too bad. Most of the eggs got cracked as Zander tried to get the eggs from teh coloring cups to the egg carton, but it made no difference. Lunch with the Hunacek and Shultz families was really good and we even got out the footbath. After everyone saw me survive without getting electricuted, Vanessa, Lisa, and Chris detoxified as well. It was nasty and awesome all at once.

I won the March Madness pool at work...ok Lyndsey did the picking so she got the money, but I get the trophy for a year and everyone will wonder how I could win one year and flop the next year!! The best part of March Madness this year was getting to go down and watch 2 Sweet 16 games!
We had seats 6 rows up from the court and could almost see the guys sweat!!

I had a good time in Denver toward the end of April this year. I went to see the Shultz family and to celebrate Amelia's 1st birthday! I made a carrot cake, we went to the zoo and got pedicures!

I did Bloomsday this year and came in 15 minutes earlier
than 2007!! Karlene and Eric could have run it twice and finished about the same time, but I finished and next year I will try to improve my time again. I got to see my friends Mark and Karen's new baby Noah James that weekend!!! And I had dinner at Tomato Street...could the weekend get any better?

I finished my second quilt and started my third quilt. We are trying to sew once a week and I had a sewing weekend in Lynnwood with my aunt and cousin! The weekend went quickly and we will have to do it again.

I am participated in Relay for Life this June and we had three baked goods auction. I made
truffles, lemon tart, chocolate raspberry torte and carrot cake for the different events. My goal was to raise over $500 for the American Cancer Society. I raised $525!!! Yeah. My family has been hit pretty hard with cancer and it is an amazing experience to watch the Survivor lap during Relay for Life and also to see the luminaries lining the track. All of us have been affected by cancer and we should never give up Hope that someday there will be a Cure!! I walked a total of 13.18 miles that night!!! I was sore for a few days after that!

I am on Facebook and thus the reason I have not posted as much on here. I will be posting to both places in the future!!

I have been printing Europe pictures on canvas and am loving this format. I can only rationalize about one per month but Snapfish and costco know my name because I am printing so many pictures. I really miss Europe and everyboday that I met there...It is a way of life that I could get used to and miss terribly!! But not to darken my life here! Life is going great right now.

I had my niece Melissa with me last week and we had a good time...well she spent all my money and sent over a thousand text messages in two days. She comes back after I get back from vacation and then Kristi come for a week! I miss having them close by and they are growing up too fast!!!

I went on a phogotgraphy hike with my friend Peter to Palouse Falls. I was seriously scared of the snakes but we made it aroung to the top of the Falls and got some great shots! I learned quite a bit about photogrpahy and how quicky I can high step it out of a snakes area!!!

Next week is my trip to New York City. I am super excited to be going on this trip with my friend Mary!! Hopefully we will have quite an adventure and come home with hundreds of pictures!!!

Two Weeks

I am reminded again the Power of God in our lives. The last two weeks have been a serious rollercoaster for me. I have been to a bunch of Americans' Hockey games in the last few weeks and got all dressed up for the Oscars.


A month or so ago I made the decision to give up alcohol for lent because I felt that it had become a part of my life and I did not like that. I had been going out on the weekends and would drink and have fun with my friends, but I know I do not need alcohol to have fun and I do not need to prove that I drink to anyone.
I made pancakes and homemade applesauce for dinner on Shrove Tuesday and had a fun evening getting to know some new people from church.



Lent this year came right before our wild girls weekend in Spokane. God's timing is amazing. I made it through the weekend without feeling much temptation and had an absolutely amazing time in Spokane. We went to the Dierks Bentley/Brad Paisley concert at the Arena last Thursday and then did a half day at the Spa on Friday. The concert was pretty high on my list of concerts...maybe because we stood at the stage and got to interact with the singers. The music was awesome and the experience to be filed away in the surreal category! The Brickhouse Massage and Coffee Bar was just as good as I remember from a few years ago. We got a massage, facial, mani and pedis and hot parafin wax dips. Sooo relaxing!! We had dinner at Stuart Anderson's and the salmon was excellent and the service was great. Our wild night was stomped a bit when we found out our choice club had closed down...I guess it was not meant to be that I rode the bull!! We did find a cute place just down the rode and hung out for a while and did a little dancing.
I spilled my water(a full glass) down the front of my jeans and we all laughed as I clung to sitting at the table the rest of the night. Our hotel was great and I was able to sleep in on Saturday morning. I got to go to my other fave restaurant Tomato Street for lunch with Karen and Elijah and then went shopping at New York & Co. The drive home was a lot of fun and Saturday night was quiet and nice. Sundays are always chaos and the boys were playing basketball after church and I joined in...wearing a sweater and boots with a small heal. I have a few bruises to show for it and lots of laughs. I made a delicious lunch and actually got in a nap so Sunday was a definite good day! But sometimes it is when things get going too well that you don't see the bump in the road coming or more importantly you think your vehicle can race over it. (Maybe I should get rid of my little car and get an SUV) Sometimes God has plans that we did not expect and we are left at a loss even though we know it is the right thing for our lives. This Lent season will be one of building my relationship with Christ...and remembering my time and the things I learned in Poland.

The next few weeks are going to rock! I am meeting with some classmates to start planning our high school reunion and March Madness is just around the corner!! It should be some exciting times! Stay tuned!

One Year Ago...

Wow, it was one year ago, Valentine's Day 2008 that I arrived in Zurich Switzerland. I did not know that day that the next four months of my life would be so amazing and that 2008 would bring so many new experiences and joys. I do not have a Valentine this year but that is okay!! Maybe next year. Life continues to change and things are going well for me right now.


I was so interested in getting the reflection of the lights at night that I got lost trying to get back to my hostel...on my first night in Europe! What a way to start four months traveling alone. We all know how it turned out and I am so thankful for arriving home safely but also thankful for the thorns in my life.


You may be wondering why I am thankful for the thorns...sometimes we grow the most in the situations that take us out of our element, that challenge us, that show us how strong we are and how we can persevere and become stronger. We get through the pain and reflect on what it important to us. This Valentine's Day, I hope you ae also thankful for the Thorns in your life and how they have shaped who you are today!!! Lots of love!!!

2009, so far...

Hey all! January is speeding by and so much has been happening...actually, a bunch of litle things. I went back to the gym where I continue to pay a monthly membership fee. I am trying to get myself to attend classes there--the classes are great once I am there, but it seems so hard to get in the front door. I have been swimming two days a week for the last three weeks. For the most part I swim in the outside pool that has a bubble cover. It reminds me of how much I loved the pool growing up. I remember going to Aunt Merc and Uncle Leonard's house and going in the bubble when it was cold outside...not to mention Uncle Leonard "teaching me how to swim". I also remember spending hours in the above ground pool, ice skating on it in the winter (one year), and watching my dad's friend fall into it as we tried to fill it with water!!

I am reading more and cooking more since I have been in my apartment. It is amazing what you can do when you do not have cable...and when you ignore daily chores until they pile up and you have company coming! I have started a push up program--after my six year refusal to do push ups...I can still see that push up board contraption in the EWU weightroom and hear the "click..click" that it made as I pounded out my 30pushups to get my volleyball uniform. Obviously, it is still a traumatic memory, hahaha!

In general, things are going well. It is still weird being home--life is different than it was before I left and different than when I was in Europe. I am reminded of the question, "When does perspective change your actions?" it is a teeter totter with the fact that old habits die hard! I have not taken many pictures but will post a few in the next few days that I have edited.
Take Care!MJ

Merry Christmas!!!

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!! I am loving the snow! It keeps snowing a little each day and I only get nervous driving to and from work when cars race by going faster than I think they should go!! I am looking forward to Christmas and a long weekend! I am also looking forward to 2009...what can be better than this year....we will see!!

I survived

Wow, I cannot believe that this week is over. I had about 70 guests at my house this week over 4 days and 5 different events. It was hard work preparing and keeping my house picked up and dishes done every night. I felt myself getting more tired each day and am going to sleep tomorrow until I wake up on my own!!! I can relax a bit next week and then it is Christmas week. I wish you all a Blessed and Merry CHRISTmas.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a great Thanksgiving weekend this year.

It started with a 5K Turkey Trot with Kim and then a drive to Hood River for Dinner with my mom, brothers and Dawnell. We had a very nice meal and some fun conversation...and some of us snuck a Turkeyday nap!


Friday morning we got up at 4:15 and headed to The Dalles' Fred Meyer for 1/2 price socks!!! I missed it last year but made up for it this year! I had spent $200 by 7:00am and was home by 9:30 and did not leave my apartment complex the whole rest of the day.

Saturday was the big Jeske Family Christmas exchange (hoping for family to send me pictures)and my BBCC Alumni Basketball game. Dinner was great and I came home with a pretty white serving set. I loved seeing my family. A few were not able to make it, but we thought about them!! I left early to head to my basketball game in Moses Lake. I was really worried since I had not shot a ball since the previous year's game and had not been running much. It went well and we almost won. It was the best Alumni game I have played in so far!

Sunday marked the first Aldersgate (alternative service) Church service at the church. I think it went well but hope we can get additional help in the coffee house so I can see everything as a spectator. Sunday evening I decided to put up my Christmas tree. It was not the same doing it by myself but I got it all done, vacuumed all the fake pine needles that fell off, and sat back and enjoyed the view!! Christmas Season is in full swing and I hope we all remember the Reason for the Season!! Merry Christmas!