"Bye, bye, Miss American Pie"

Married couples fight about a lot of things. Money. Kids. Religion.
But Ben and I only fight about one thing: politics.

Ben is a staunch republican; as conservative as they come. It could be the corrupt liberals in Washington State who have destroyed his outlook on American politics but he is not very open-minded about the whole thing.
I love him for his passion but when it comes to politics he can get a little too passionate.
I am a moderate; a typically, conservative-leaning moderate. But I don’t know who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. We'll just say the Sarah Palin choice didn't impress me. But that may be for another post.
I made the mistake of telling Ben not to shout at the TV during Friday’s debate and let me hear both sides. Later, he confronted me about “liking” Obama and now I am in trouble. He actually said he might have to divorce me if I voted for Obama! (I know that wasn’t a literal threat but see the kind of crap Ben says in a little political squabble? I guess he missed Friendly Political Debate 101 and goes straight for the throat.)
I am trying to have an open mind and decide who would be the best leader for our country. I found a website of journalists to help in understanding the truth about the candidates and the campaigns--www.factcheck.org. Hopefully, it will help in my decision-making process.
I will keep you updated but if I want to stay married, I better not post who I finally decide to vote for. All I know is that I am voting in this historical election--I just might cancel out my husband’s vote.

"Communing with nature"

Who: Ben. Melissa. Adam. Megan. Sadie (the hyper-active little yellow lab). Dolly (the deaf Dalmatian)
What: A spur of the moment overnight campout
Where: Greenwater--just about an hour into the mountain heading east
When: beginning of September
Why: 1. Too much work and not enough play= spontaneous "get-out-of-town" trips. All work and no play makes Ben a stir crazy boy. 2. It was beautiful weather. 3. Ben and I didn't have to teach on Sunday, and that is a RARE occasion to be taken advantage of. 4. We were communing with nature.

P.S. Ben and I ended up hiking in the morning. We started the 3 mile hike and just kept walking. We came to a sign that said Echo Lake--4 miles. It sounded like fun... We ended up hiking 17 miles that day. Whoa huh? Let's hear it for the weekend warriors.

Dance, baby, dance baby.

I found these photos again and realized I hadn't shared them on my blog. This is of Mackay at the Dance Festival this summer. Isn't he cute in his sailor suit? I hope you can see the effect just a little bit.

The girls' costumes were by far the cutest in this dance. I have to tell you: during the costume fitting Mackay accidentally put the shirt on backwards. heeheheh He looked like he had on a huge bib. It was pretty funny.
Once again, we really did love having Pookay here for the summer. (Pookay, he would kill me for that one. )

Well, there you go.