Friday, May 30, 2008

44 Years Ago Today...

A little baby girl was born! Three months later... (can you stand it???) Thank you Mama and Daddy! I obviously wouldn't be here without you! Love, Diane

Monday, May 26, 2008

Weekend Update...

Hi all!
It's been a pretty good weekend for Hayley's volleyball team! They had rough starts both days, losing their first match each day, but then came back to take the following two matches and place 2nd in their pools both days. They started the tournament as the #31 seed and they moved all the way up to the Top 10 Gold Division bracket today! Outstanding volleyball, girls! We have a match at 2:45 this afternoon and it is Single Elimination. Win or go home! That's the Beast, #1 Hayley, doing her thing at the net in the photo. Perhaps an explanation is in order, huh? Hayley's high school coach, Coach Kryger, has nicknamed her "The Beast" because she really is a beast at the net! (Hi Kryger!...thanks for bringing Sam and cheering us on yesterday!) So, wish them luck on the court today...they're in this to win!
In other Liebel sporting news, did you hear our Andrew get mentioned on ESPN this morning? Yep, after taking the Fullerton series this weekend, the Dirtbags of Long Beach State get to host their Regional! GO ANDREW!!!!
Have a great Memorial Day! =)
ETA: Well, we went home. Sadly, the team lost in two games to a tough team from Portland and ended up finishing tied for 9th out of 40 teams...not bad! They had a very good season overall though, and they should be proud of themselves!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Our Girl's got hops!

I won't be posting much this weekend because Hayley's club volleyball team (Northshore Jrs. 15 Black) is playing in the big 3-day Emerald City Classic tournament down at the University of Washington. They'll play Saturday and Sunday in two 4-team pools (I believe there are 40 U-15 teams total playing) and Monday is all single-elimination play. Wish them luck! They've done really well this season, taking 1st Place in 3 out of 6 non-Power League (ranking) tournaments that they played in! They finished the season ranked 5th in the Puget Sound Region (out of over 40 U-15 teams!) In the photos, Hayley is wearing #1. She plays mostly Middle Blocker, but fills in now and then at Outside Hitter. The girl loves her volleyball! This is our last club tournament of the season, but her high school starts Open Gym next week and they'll have camp and conditioning this summer, so she pretty much gets to play year round volleyball...woohoo! Have a great weekend and I'll try to get some photos from the weekend posted soon.

It isn't easy being green...

One of my goals up here has been to grow things. When we first got up here, I saw so many gorgeous flowers and plants and I knew that when Spring hit, I was going to try to grow some of the flowers that I couldn't down in California. So, I stocked up on bulbs and gave it a shot. I got my Fall bulbs in the ground a little late, but they came up anyway. The daffodils were the sturdiest. They survived freezing temps, snow and hail. I need to deadhead them now though, because they called it quits a few days ago. So did the little purple muscari. The red tulips just bloomed, but the slugs (ick!) really enjoy nibbling on them. We put out bait and the slugs come to a little death party every night! Good times! Meanwhile, I planted the Spring bulbs early this month and some are just starting to poke through! There are tons of dahlias in all different colors, pink peonies, purple gladiolus and multicolored rananculas. I also planted zinnia and lupine seeds, which are starting to poke through. Keep your fingers crossed for me...I tend to have a negative effect on growing plants! My wonderful Mother's Day gift was these two hanging fuschia baskets in the picture and a blue hydrangea. We went to the Smokey Point Plant Farm and seriously people, it is a gardeners dream! They have acres and acres of flowers, trees, shrubs and decorations. We picked out this variety (pink marshmellow...yes, that is the correct spelling!) and it has undoubtedly the most beautiful blooms I've ever seen on a fuschia. So, if everything that I planted blooms, our yard is going to be an explosion of colors and you can be sure I'll post pictures...mostly for gloating purposes, but also to prove that I actually grew something!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest!

Hi Friends and Family both near and far! So, we know, it's taken us TEN months since we made the big move to join the blogging community. With this site, we can keep our families and friends better updated on our new life in Washington. Better late than never, right? Laura convinced me on the phone yesterday to just DO IT ALREADY! (Thanks for the nudge Missy Laura!)

I've honestly wanted to do this for quite awhile, but you know, that "life" thing has kept us pretty busy. I'm always taking pictures of things up here and passing them on to you all either via email or a photoshare site. This way, we can have a home base for our sharing, making it so much easier. So, come back here often and get ready to hear all about our lives up here! :)