Elliott's Exposure

Happy New Year!
New Blog Disclaimer:
What you will not see here...
*Play by play details of wild parties in Vegas with escorts.
*Cruise memoirs or any other brag-o-trip-n-travel.
*Arrests and guest appearances on COPS.
*Complaints of illness, ailments, chronic, acute or otherwise.
*Talk of new cars, kitchen remodels or other expenditures.

I kind of like the New Year's Highlights. It helps to wrap things up and put the year in a nice package. Like many other years, this past one was good. It was built on the stuff of life and family. After all, it is the stuff not the fluff that makes an ordinary year a good year.
2007 Highlights: Scott and I continue to enjoy running and I discovered snowshoeing, winter hiking, and Pilates this year. I ended up joining the Mt. Tahoma Trails Association that is a non-profit recreational use ski park. In June, I ran the rainiest ever Sound to Narrows 12k.
Running Elvis: This past month, I joined many running Elvis's in the annual Las Vegas Half Marathon down the strip for the fourth year. During 13.1 miles of a half marathon, I always question my thinking on why I continue to run in the half marathon. The only thing I can put a blistered toe on is, it is much like child birth or getting married. There are a lot of other people doing it and you kind of get swept up in all the excitement. Later during those painful moments, you remember the good times. That's got to be it. The same goes for teaching I guess. I keep going back and doing that too.
Teaching: I'm still at Wildwood teaching first grade. Our school was recently recognized as a “School of Distinction” by the State of Washington. This means we showed continuous improvement over the span of six years. I was honored to be one of two original staff members who attended the recognition. As I stood next to our State's Superintendent of Public Instruction, I couldn't help but think this is simply a nicer way of saying the kids and teachers in this school work their fannies off with no extra pay or resources and are about ready to die because of George Bush's whacked out No Child Left Behind.
Engineering: Scott remains at the shipyard in Bremerton as an engineer and manager. Although his work, more than likely, has the same or more stresses than mine, his always seems less stressful to me probably because he leaves his somewhere on the freeway before rolling onto the Narrows Bridge in Tacoma and dealing with the other happy commuters on the freeway of love each evening.
Family: The boys are all doing well. Corey and Adam are 24, Loren is 22 and David is 14. Corey graduated with a biology degree from WSU this year and now works at Regence Blue Shield in Tacoma. He met his girlfriend Becky at WSU and she is a counselor in Seattle. Corey graduated with a 3.0 GPA so I am quite proud of him. Adam is still working at Costco in Puyallup and likes it there and also graduated from the Firefighter program at Bates. Loren is a Senior in the Electrical Engineering program at WSU. David just started high school and is on the honor roll and cross country track team. He has already decided he wants to go to Montana State University in Bozeman.
Blitz just turned 20 years old and in cat years I think that is around 100 according to the vet.
Mostly Scott and I spend our evenings with Blitz a cozy fire and Verizon's Family Share Plan staying connected to the others we love.
In 2008, we would like to extend our appreciation of you as family and friends and wish for all to be well to you and your loved ones. If you would like to see or hear the details of Vegas parties, trips, travels, undesirable or unmentionable gossip, please see our blog on a more regular basis.