Independence Day

I need my hat. Where's my hat?

On our way to Kate and Adams house...still on bald hill rd but Keiths driving so we'll b there soon

Stunna Shades?

shut up and eat ur baby Keith

Just met paul blart, gate guard coming onto mcchord...i think his segway was up his behind...asshole

Katie cant wait till July 15

...and he gave great hugs...

Wish u were here

waterfront

Love chocolate covered frozen bananas, shady grass & people watching

Keith acting like a perv...thanks to Adam for telling him about the Family Guy episode where Peter "broke his hip" and ended up landing under Chris' new wife's skirt...gotta love it. (For the record, he didn't actually look under any skirts)

Sitting on the dock at Duke's Chowder House....sitting on the dock of the bay...who sings it??? :)

Hands down best clam chowder ever: dukes chowder house...by unanimous vote!!

our view for the fireworks

EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Porta Potty..)

sunset before fireworks

fireworks at commencement bay

Some jackass was shooting roman candles off over & across 84th street on our way from minters...

Theres a heavy fireworks haze over the moon...

Woohoo!

April...from my camera

Easter brunch with Katie & Adam (courtesy of Kate's camera)

My office when I was finished moving in...

Kim's New Work

The mural inside Kim's new work

Kim's office when she started moving in...

Finished Shelving!!!

and a "pantry" :)

Woooohoooooo

Ohmigosh!!! I start my job on Monday!!!

Portland Pics

Haystack Rock

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Haystack Rock with "The Needles"

Haystack Rock can be seen from Ecola State Park when looking south

Haystack Rock is a 235-foot (72-meter) tall monolith (or sea stack) on the Oregon coast in the northwestern United States, the third-tallest such structure in the world. A popular tourist destination, the rock is adjacent to the beach and accessible by foot during low tide. Haystack Rock tide pools are home to many intertidal animals, including starfish, anemone, crabs, chitons, limpets, and sea slugs. The rock is also a refuge for many sea birds, including terns and puffins.

Location and management

According to Oregon State Parks and Recreation, Haystack Rock is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.2 km) south of downtown Cannon Beach in Clatsop County, approximately 80 miles west of Portland. The nearest major road is U.S. Route 101. Haystack Rock is part of the Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site and is managed by Oregon Parks and Recreation below the mean high water (MHW) level, and above the MHW level by the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Other Haystack Rocks

There are several other geographic features in Oregon named Haystack Rock, including two off the Oregon Coast. One is in Tillamook County off Pacific City, next to Cape Kiwanda,^[1] and the other is in Coos County near Bandon.^[2]

Haystack Rock seen from Cannon Beach

Geology

Composed of basalt, Haystack Rock was formed by lava flows emanating from the Grand Ronde Mountains 10 to 17 million years ago. The lava flows created many of the Oregon coast's natural features, including Tillamook Head, Arch Cape, and Saddle Mountain. Haystack Rock was once joined to the coastline but years of erosion have since separated the monolith from the coast. Three smaller, adjacent rock formations to the south of Haystack Rock are collectively called "The Needles".

Ecology

Haystack Rock was granted Marine Garden status by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1990. Collecting plants or animals is strictly prohibited. Climbing above the mean high tide level (barnacle line) disturbs nesting birds and is not allowed. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program is a volunteer association which conducts educational seminars at the rock during low tide between May and September.

Recreation

Haystack Rock from Hwy 101 pullout south of Cannon Beach

Visitors to Haystack Rock can view many species of marine wildlife in their natural habitat during low tide. The thin strip of rock and sand that connects it to the beach at these times features many tide pools. The area surrounding the rock is popular for picnicking, kite-flying, and bird-watching. Artists and photographers can be found capturing the beauty of Haystack Rock on canvas or on film. Haystack Rock is one of the most identifiable geological formations of Oregon. Many people each year become temporarily trapped on Haystack Rock when high tide engulfs the rock in water, necessitating rescue by the United States Coast Guard or local authorities. Oregon's beaches are publicly owned, and there are several hotels along the beachfront within walking distance of Haystack Rock, making the area congested with tourists during the high season (May through September). Visitors during the winter months will find a desolate, wet, windswept terrain, which many also appreciate.

Popular culture

• Haystack Rock can be seen in the opening scene of The Goonies, when the Fratellis are fleeing from the police and then enter a race on the beach. Haystack Rock can be seen in the background. Later in the film you can see the Haystack Rock again when Mikey is pointing out some rocks in the distance.
• Haystack Rock can also be seen in the 1979 movie 1941, directed by Steven Spielberg. The rock is particularly out of place, as the setting is supposed to be the California coast.
• Haystack Rock can be seen in the movie Kindergarten Cop, during the carnival scene later in the movie.

Update, in moderation :)

Ok, Keith made E7!! Which means he's getting promoted. Enlisted only goes up to E9 so he's made it 7/9 ranks in 8 years!! Yay Keith. He's going to be a Sergeant First Class, as soon as his number comes up. It's a list that is chosen once a year by a board that goes over all the Staff Sergeants and chooses a certain amount to promote. His batch number is 65 and we know that at the very latest he'd get promoted by the end of 2009. I'm really proud of him!
More Keith news, he's not going anywhere in 2009. :) That means no deployment this year!!!
Kim news: still waiting on my job. and waiting. and waiting.
My cousin Jimmy is here visiting which is fun. Poor kid came up for his spring break and it snowed the day after he got here!!! Too funny.
Got a new buffet hutch, which rocks!!! It fits all my china & special nick-nacks with room to spare!!! It's IKEA and would have cost around 250.00 but I got it on craigslist for 150!! Woohoo.

We are going to another Marriage Retreat this month. This one is a civilian retreat that's free for military and is in Cannon Beach, OR...right on the coast. Here's some pics from the website of what we get to enjoy. :) I can't wait to hug one of these huge trees!! And those massive rocks are called Haystack Rocks, home to tons of wildlife, from starfish & urchins to puffins!! I'll wiki it and post more about it.

o

h

Then from April 26-May 3 we will be in Fayetteville NC at Fort Bragg for the Army Family Action Plan Conference. The kickass part is that it's all paid for by the army, airfare, lodging, food, rental car, all of it, for both of us! I'm hoping my BFF in GA will drive up to see me since we're staying a couple extra days after the conference to explore. :)

Ok, here are some March pictures. The ones I promised of our garage shelving and probably a few spares thrown in.

Here's our new shelving:

Kate & I at Point Defiance

Some of our wonderful weather

Me on Kate's birthday

That one day...

Kate did this and I read it so I've been tagged! If you read it you're tagged.

1) When was your wedding day? July 6, 2002

2) What day of the week was it? Saturday

3) Did you get married in a church? Kind of, we did a small church ceremony that morning and the big wedding outside that afternoon.

4) How many in your wedding party? 14, 6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 1 flowergirl & 1 ring bearer

6) How many guests were invited to your wedding? I can't remember

7) How long did you wait to Tie The Knot after your proposal? A year and 2 days

8) Who did you hire as your photographer & videographer? some jackass out of Reno for pics, no video

9) Did you have a DJ or a band? DJ

10) Did your father walk you down the aisle? Yes.

11) What color were the bridesmaid dresses & groomsmen vests? Bridesmaids each wore a different pastel dress, flower girl wore pastel purple, groomsmen were in black w/silver vests

12) Who was your Maid Of Honor/Best Man? Jessica Barrington & Katie Hess, & Tony Primeaux

13) Did you have a Bridal Shower? Yeah at my Grandma's house

14) What type of limo did you get? We didn't have a limo.

15) Where did you go for your Bachelorette/Bachelor Party? Jessica's House

16) What type of wedding gown/tux did you two wear? White, scalloped lace along the bottom of the bottice and skirt, t-shirt length sleeves and kind of squared neckline and lace & beading all over it

17) How was the weather? HOT

18) Where did you go on your Honeymoon? We moved to TX in a ryder truck 2 days after the wedding so a couple years later after Keith's deployment we took a 3 day weekend to san antonio and counted that as our honeymoon.

19) What was your favorite part of your wedding day? Our reception was awesome

20) How long have you been married? 6 Years, 8 months, 23 days!!

21.What was your favorite part about planning the wedding? The shopping :)

22. What was your least favorite part of the planning? The fact that Keith wasn't home to plan with us because he was away at training...

...Later...

Sorry, I forgot to talk about the deployment issue. I"ll write when we know more. We just know he'll be going within the year. :)

Gosh, I'm behind

I just realized I haven't really posted since the day we went to Portland!! I'm bad. We had a great time in Portland and got to see Marcus for a few hours. He showed us around Portland and it was really cool to hang out with him in his neck of the woods.
I got a job!! I haven't started working yet and don't even know when I'll be starting (which is really frustrating the hell out of me!!) but it's a great job. It's as a "Family Readiness Support Assistant" on Fort Lewis for a Stryker Brigade. It's more money than Keith makes a year which pisses him off (not really lol) and I can set my own hours as long as I pull 8/day and 40/week. It's basically doing all the stuff I've been doing as FRG leader for Keith's unit but for a different unit and as a government employee with benefits!! Here's a better explanation of the job: FRSA Article.
Keith moved from the group support battalion to 2nd battalion which is really exciting for him. It means he's part of a battalion that will deploy together, instead of in the group support battalion where he would have been sent out and attached to another battalion. This way "when he deploys" (more on that later) he'll go with guys he knows and has worked with. This we think is a good thing.
We decided that he should take a couple weeks of leave so he's been off this whole week and is off next week also. The last couple days we attacked our garage and seriously kicked its tush. We put up 16 feet of shelving across the entire back wall of the garage and played tetris with our boxes & totes of stuff. So now we can pull both cars in the garage. We could do that before but before we couldn't open the passenger side of Keith's car so if we were taking his car anywhere I had to go out into the rain (because it's ALWAYS raining here lol) and wait while he backs out before I could get in. In my mind that totally defeats the purpose of a garage lol. So now that problem is solved. I'll put a couple pix up of it soon.
I found a great little hole in the wall bookstore in our little town today and am SO EXCITED!! It's like the 1/2 of the Elko bookstore where you can turn in your books for credit...I will be cleaning out my books tomorrow!! Woot. Kate and I will be heading over there tomorrow afternoon and I plan to be reading a lot of new and exciting books this week!! :)
My little cousin Jimmy is 16 and will be coming up for his Spring break. He's getting here March 27th and staying until April 5th. I'm excited to hang out with him. He came up this last summer for a few weeks and we really enjoyed it. I might be working while he's here (please Lord let me start before then...I'm tired of waiting!!!) but with being able to set my own hours it won't really matter. He's a teenager so he'll sleep 1/2 the day away and never know I was gone!! :)
I'm exhausted. Everyone in my house is sick, except me (yes i just knocked on wood...) and Keith's got the worst cough. Finally at 2:30 this morning I Nyquil'd him into comatose silence but still couldn't get settled down. I'm headed to bed now that I've blogged. :) Love you.

Who loves candles? I do, I do!!

Hi!

We’ve been offered the opportunity to do a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team through PartyLite. A consultant approached me and has put together a fundraiser for our Relay for Life team in the form of a catalog show. This is a great chance to get some neat gifts for yourself or loved ones and help out with a great cause. I’m sure cancer has touched us all in one way or another. Think about upcoming birthdays, Easter, or Mother’s Day and stock up on your spring/summer scents and decorations.

You can access the products here: http://www.partylite.biz/sites/tanscandles/productcatalog.

If you’d like to order anything, please email me with the item #, and how you’d like to pay for your order and fill out an order form and get back to you with a total.

We have the chance to earn up to 35% of the show total for our Relay for Life team, all to benefit the American Cancer Society.

I’ve have the March specials and you can either see them on the site under Special Offers. Scroll down till you see March Guest Specials. These are some great products at unbelievable prices and you can order as many as you’d like. No more than one of each item can be ordered on a single order form but if you’d like a couple we can split it into two orders to make it happen!

Keep in mind that PartyLite is a great company, with great products and that this will go to help the American Cancer Society, which I’m sure means something to all of us!!

The show closes March 29^th. Payment (check or card) can be held until April 1^st if needed. Please have all orders to me by March 28^th so we can total up before I have to turn it in!!!

Thanks for helping us out with this!!

All My Best,

Kimberly

primeaux@fairpoint.net

Favorite quote of the day so far

It's 7:43 and we're getting ready to go to Portland with Kate & Adam. Already we have a favorite quote of the day...and we've barely even started our day.
Kate turns to Adam and says: WAS THAT SOUND YOUR MOUTH OR BAILEYS BUTT??
*Bailey is our German Shepherd. Rest assured we investigated...it was Bailey's butt.

:)

Mock Dining In Photos

Katie and I went to a dinner at the American Lake Community Center on North Fort Lewis on the 17th. It was a "mock dining in" which makes fun of the dining in tradition in the Army. We were there with Keith's unit, the 1st Special Forces Group, Airborne and our unit theme for the event was "First In Asia" since that's our area of responsibility. Katie and I rented Kimonos from a local costume shop and had a great time!!