Seattle Pics

just being an octopus

a lovely up the nose shot

the dive master and his mermaid

the shaws

ha..davey you funny

That's One Cool Cat

So maybe I should have posted this before the post about going to Seattle so it would have been in order, but who cares. So this last weekend we went to Seattle. We left for work at 5:45am like normal not to return until Sunday evening around 6pm. Every morning before we leave for work we check and make sure that Turtle has come out from under the bed and is down stairs. We always keep the doors closed when we are not home so that turtle does not get into things and make a mess. Well Friday was a day just like any other...so we thought. Sunday evening when we got home from Seattle I went upstairs and opened the door to our bedroom and plopped the bags onto the bed....I then heard a very raspy and loud....MMMMMEEEOOOOWWWW! And a saw a tiny kitten crawl out from under the bed! My hands immediately went straight to my mouth and I gasped ....OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOO HOLLYY CRAP!!!! So, since we all know I'm the cruel one and have not been the big animal lover until lately....my thoughts immediately went to material things and at that very second I caught a strong whiff of stinky pee... can you say SICK-A-NING! Very strong and so stinky. I could not believe what was happening. In a split second a million thoughts raced through my head. Pee on the sheets, poop on the pillows, crap all over the floor, this was my WORST NIGHTMARE...I was panicking and I hollered for Dave. He immediately ran in the room, grabbed turtle and took her to her food and water. (oops...why didn't i think of that...don't worry animal lovers..It couldn't have been more than 15-20 seconds that I sat there horrified in that disgusting pee smell thinking of where all the poo and pee could be, feeling sorry for myself....when instead I should have been worried that our poor kitty was in severe need of food and water).


So after we got her the much needed food and water she needed and apologized to her 100 times over and over, we went up to assess the damage. I seriously had tears in my eyes wondering how we would ever really know where she had peed. Would the smell ever come out. How could we even find every place she peed and pooped? And How could we ever get the smell to go away. Luckily Dave has the nose of a dog nose on steroids.... he got on all fours and started to sniff around. We started with the bed and sniffed and searched out every square inch.....we smelled nothing! THANK GOODNESS! We searched the closet, under the clothes, over the clothes, on top of the clothes, nothing, nothing, and again...nothing. We searched in and around every shoe.....still nothing. As we made our way into bathroom the smell started to intensify...that's when we noticed something that seemed way too good to be true....a yellow stain in the shower...that's right folks, a yellow stain in the shower. Little turtle, our sweet, cute, cuddly little turt good, had decided to do her peedles in the shower. Not on the shower mat, not on the bathroom floor, not on the toilet or around the toilet..... but inside the shower. We hoped and prayed that she made that her permanent litter box! So after 20 minutes of combing the room and bathroom and to our absolute amazement, we concluded that our genius kitty used the shower as her little box! She did not pee on an ounce on anything else! And to top it all off, she did not poop..not once! Not even in the shower. She held it for three days! That's right! We searched high and low and there were no terdys to be found! Is that freaking unbelievable! I love her more than I can describe for that! Is she a genius kitty or what? Dave and I figure that the shower was the closest thing to a litter box she could find and so she chose it to pee in and stuck with it. We also thought maybe because of the lack of food and water she just didn't have anything to poop out and that is why she didn't poop, but as soon as we let her out of the room, she went straight to her litter box and pooped like 4 times! She was actually holding her poop, not wanting to make a mess. Bless her little heart!! Amazing if you ask me. That is One Cool Cat!

Weekend Update

So...not that anyone really cares that I have been the worst blogger in the world lately, but it totally bugs me that I have not had a free second to make a post! I have been crazy busy at work, and then I have been running around with my head cut off doing fun and busy work at home getting ready for Dave's parents and my parents to come and stay with us this week and next week! Court called last week and asked me if I was going to be in Seattle for the weekend....I said uh... no why?? She failed to remember that her best sister ever only lived 3 hours way and that she was going to be there for 3 days before departing on her Cruise to Alaska! So hello...of course we were going to be there!! So last weekend Dave and I drove up to Seattle and we had an AWESOME weekend! Court and Case were so great and let us shack up with them in their water front Marriott hotel! It was so fun! The Marriott even provided a lovely consieres room with great breakfast, lunch/snacks and hang our area where we found ourselves hanging out a lot with the kids and all the Craig family. We went to pikes market, the Seattle Aquarium, had awesome seafood, went to Nordstroms rack, did some window shopping, ate yummy cherries, great chocolate, walked around the city, soaked in the hot tub...watched the kiddies swim (which is all they wanted to do), got some good sister talking in, and just had a great time! It was so fun to be able to hang out with them in our neck of the "woods". We usually have go home to see family, so it was so fun to be close to home to see them!! We had a fun filled weekend and loved seeing them! Thanks guys for letting us share your hotel and your weekend! We loved every minute of it! Seattle is such a fun city! The weekend came and went way to fast but we lived it up while we were there! I miss you already sister! Have so much fun in Alaska! Eat some more yummy 'm seafood for me!! love you tons!! I'm such a geek and didn't get really any good pics of the city or with court and case...I got a few of dave and I that I'll post wehn I get home from work..peace out!

I believe in Miracles

Before I explain what has happened, let me just preface this post with a few facts about myself... in case you don't "know" me. Ok...Here are the top three things I love to do.
1. Eat
2. Sleep
3.Eat some more and then sleep ha ha ok there's more to me than that, but lets just leave it at that for now. Lets Travel back in time...back to ages 16-23 and lets discuss my thoughts and behaviors on sleep. I used to think that waking up at 8-9am on a weekday was pretty early. I also thought that people who went to bed before 11:00pm where also those who received discounts on their movie tickets.....(no offense). On Saturdays you would not catch me awake before 11:30am(but to be even more acurate,I wouldn't get up until 1 or 2pm). And then after I woke up had some breakfast/orlunch, I would usually settle back down for a much needed nap. I would usually lounge around and watch TV with Jac for the rest of the afternoon, until we went out for the night. Jac and I shared the same Saturday routine...and WE LOVED IT! It was our day off, and that is how we choose to spend it...don't even knock it...We enjoyed every second of it..right shelly belly? In fact lots of times, we would eat our lunch together and then take our nap together in the tv room...it was quality sister sleep time...and fun! Nothing like falling asleep to a lifetime movie after you just slept 10 hours and had a yummy lunch!

My week day sleep schedule obviously didn't mirror the above routine, but my job did allow flexibility. I usually slept in until 9 or 10am and would get to work around 11:00am. Since I was single, I was usually out with friends or on a date and would get to bed between 1-3am.

When I moved to Oregon I started a job where my hours where 7:30am-4:00pm...oh baby talk about rough. I would have to go in the bathroom, sit on the toilet and rest my head on the stall and fall asleep. I did this in fifteen minute intervals..(no joke),I would set an alarm on my cell phone just in case 15 minutes turned into an hour.


I would fall asleep at my desk, head bobbing up and down as I fought to keep my eyes open for hours and hours at a time. I strategically placed my computer and chair away from others in hopes that no one could see. I could not take it...I needed to be asleep at the hours I was awake...7:00 am!!?? This was much to early. How did people do this? This was not natural, not normal, and could not be healthy! My body didn't want to eat breakfast at 8:00, it did not want to be in an upright position let alone try to swallow food! This hour of the day was for sleeping, laying, resting, not sitting or working, or thinking! I wanted to be sleeping!I really had a hard time adjusting. After 7 months I barley began to get the hang of it, if you can even call it that. I had a small glimmer of hope that in time my patters would slowly improve. I kept chugging along, waking up each day and pushing through..however the idea of going to bed at 9 or 10pm was something I just couldn't swallow. I fought the early bed time idea that would have accompanied a early morning routine very nicely. Instead I was stupid and I would usually get to bed around 11:30 or 12:00am...making me even more tired in the morning!! Silly me!

10 months ago when I started working at Freightliner Dave and I were able to choose the schedule we wanted to work each day..so we decided to work from 6:00am-2:30pm and have the whole afternoon to do whatever we pleased! It sounded good at first....but what was I thinking. I did the whole bathroom thing for a bit...that is until I found out we had a sick room! That was great! Nap time for me. Work was so slow and sleeping sounded so great! But I obviously couldn't keep that up for long. So, I caved in and began going to bed between 9:30 and 10, I was consistant about waking up at 5 am everyday.... I started to eat breakfast at breakfast time, I started exercising everyday......and waaahhllaa....10 months later...its a different story. I have actually mastered it.... Ya that's right... I've got it down. No more naps at work, no more falling asleep at my desk, no more bathroom sleeping. And as for bedtime, when I think about going to bed at 11:00pm on a week night...ARE YOU KIDDING ME...that's like telling someone to stay up until 2 or 3am when they have work the next day!

One more important thing to add to all of this.... for the past month and half I have been trying to loose a few lbs so I have been getting up at 4:00am and going to the gym, allowing us enough time to get to work by 6:00am. Every morning when my phone alarm goes off, I'm obviously tired. But regardless of whether I'm tired or not, when that alarm goes off at 3:45am I am up and ready to go by 4:00. And surprisingly enough within 5 minutes I feel fine.

OK...So are you ready for the MIRACLE (as if all of that isn't already a miracle) Obviously from this LONG DRAWN OUT POST you can see that I have changed my sleepy ways. I am now able to function in the mornings, I am able to stay awake at work.... 8:00 am is no longer early for me, bla bla bla.....But the reason I choose today to blog about this is because this morning something happened that put the mother of all ICING ON THE CAKE! This morning I was not woken up by my normal alarm clock. Today I was awoken by what some may call "a natural alarm clock" (the one my dad has inside of him that won't allow him to sleep past 8:00am no matter what day of the week it is) So...when I rolled over and reached for my phone to look and see what time it was...I was shocked to see 3:45am .... I Natalie Keyes Shaw, have officially trained my body to naturally wake itself up. And at 3:45am!

I don't think most people other than my family and my husband can really appreciate the significance of this event and or the transformation that has occurred here..(this is not a honk honk of the horn post) it is a can't believe after disagreeing and not believing my dad for years and years.....that I may just had my first natural alarm clock moment....i figured it was only right to blog about it.

And ps...to my knowledge I have not been invaded by any pod people, I'm still me...just not at sleepy and a tad more productive on Saturdays!

Tiger Who?

Dave modeling his b-day present

Mt. Hood

Yesterday around 11:00am I had a crazy idea to drive home during our lunch break, pack up our gear and drive to Mt. Hood after work and go camping! So....we did! I made a list of things we needed...and we went home during lunch and in less than 20 minutes packed up our stuff and somehow we made it happen! Dave's pack had about 70lbs of stuff in and on it and I had about 40lbs on my back. Luckily the hike in to here we set up camp was only about 10 minutes. Once we go to "our spot" we pitched the tent and set right up. It was a beautiful site right along the Salmon River. It was very secluded, surrounded by trees and just feet from the river. The sound of the river was so peaceful, I really loved it!


We roasted dinner and mellows, hung out, took pics... and just had a great time! Today when we woke up we went on a great hike and spent the morning/afternoon enjoying the BEAUTIFUL nature around us! We had an awesome time! This was our first time actually back packing in with all our gear and we really enjoyed it! What a fun weekend! I love the summer here! The weather is incredible! Its been right around 75-80 degrees I have not been hot yet....its perfect! When we become millionaires I will have a summer home here! :) jk (but not really)

Happy Birthday Court

Its your birthday!! Lets celebrate! Today is Courts Birth-a-day! Happy b-day Court! You are such an awesome sister... seriously...do they get any better than her? I know we are all shaking our head in agreeance! I do not know anyone more loving, kind, sweet, fun and more enjoyable to be around than her. She is always smiling, always happy, always kind and just so darn loveable.....thats why I can't seem to go a day without some sort of communication with her. I just can't seem to get enough of the girl! And besides all the beauty that lies on the inside...I have two words for you...FAITH HILL....AKA...COURTNEY CRAIG! ha ha ok so that's an inside joke between her and I, but seriously...I really don't know many people more beautiful than my very own sister!! SHE IS A MAMASITA! Seriously though...she really is so gorgeous ...and as corny as it may sound, she really is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She radiates the light of Christ in all she does. Its almost like that light is who she is.....I can not express how blessed and thankful I am to have such an amazing sister who for as long as I can remember has been an example and someone I could always look up to. She has always, no matter what time of day or wee hours of the night.... been there to help, encouragement, support, and love me....She has given me friendship, advice, patience, understanding, and at times much needed kicks in the bum.... she has been way more than any sister could ever ask for! From the time I was old enough to even comprehend what a sister was, Courtney was treating me like a best friend and cared for me like any little sister could only hope and dream of....and it has only gets better as every year goes by. Happy birthday Court! Thanks for being my best friend and sister! Thank you for always making me feel so special! Thank you for always being there for me and being such a great example! You are just so great!.And like I said...I just can't get enough of you!! I love you sister!!

So as I was writing this little post, I started thinking about some fun memories that we have shared together over the years and things I loved about being your little sister...so I thought I'd list a few.....hope you like em! Love ya and happy day to you!!


- I remember being so excited to read the sister advice you would leave under my barbie bed each week

-I loved helping get you ready for a date/aka rubbing your legs down with lotion/laying your clothes out/getting things ready/keeping the date entertained while you finished up/checking out the blind date before you saw and then reporting back to you if he was any cute....

-I remember begging you to wake me up when you got home from your date, dying to know how it went and if you would like the guy or not. The entire time you were gone it would seem like an eternity. I also remember trying my hardest to wait up for you after a date on the weekends/and then being so bummed when I would wake up the next morning realizing I didn't stay awake

-I loved when you would take me with you and all your girl friends ( i was only 8/10yrs old here people she was in high school) what a cool/sweet sister

-Sitting in front of the radio recording music to send to you while you were in Europe thinking about how much i missed you (I was 10yrs old)

-It was a blast visiting you in California and spending our days shopping and thrift stores and making Velveta shells and cheese...mmmm yum yum

-I loved coming home from junior high and hanging out at Jerry's and your first apartment having sleep overs and feelings like the coolest girl in the world just hanging with my sista

-Getting taco maker with you...soft and crisp bean burritos yum yum!!

-I felt so cool when you took me to get my ears pierced (these are in no particular order obviously) (8yrs old)

-Cruising the vard....in the convertable...with our bandanas....ha i totally forgot about that one (8yrs old)

-Hanging out with you and casey.....making sure i approved (you even let me cuddle with him!! (11yrs old)

-Spending Christmas with your family at the cabin... (how can you feel down when you are surrounded by you best friend and kids on Christmas?) (2005)

-Visiting you in vegas...with all of my boyfriends ha ha ha....at least i finally ended on the best one of all the game!! YAY ME...Dave is a WINNER!! (1999-NOW)

-Chatting with you everyday about any and everything...even if its just to say hi (my favorite!!) (my entire life)

-Hanging out with you and your cabin last fall while the boys did there thing and we just sat around and talked.......oh the life!

We both know there are just to darn many to list! So there are just a few fun things out of a pile of a million gazillion! I can not wait until we live in the same state, wherever that may be....I know it will happen, and I really feel like it will be soon! Keep your fingers crossed littlecookie (did that sound like mom oops) ha ha and I'll do the same and pretty soon, we will be making memories like never before! I hope you have an awesome birthday! Thanks for being so wonderful! Love, Nanny

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!
Little honey...I just love you so much!I wanted to do something special for you...so I wrote you a little birthday poem...I hope you like it!!

Hey, birthday love, I think of you
when the days are both dark and sunny.
You bring me joy in every thought,
My precious, loving honey!
So be my love for all our lives,
And I’ll be your love, too!
Each birthday is another chance
To say, "I love just you!"

(ok, so maybe I didn't write that...but I thought it was cute..and I did a little cut and pastie)
Hun...I love you so much and am the luckiest gal alive to have you! I hope your birthday is filled with lots of loves, hugs, and kisses (given by myself and turtle) yummy food, delicious (home made) Oreo ice cream cake...and wonderful gifts! I love you more than I can explain! You are the most incredible person and bring me and everyone around you more joy than you will ever know! Thank you for being who you are every day and making my life so incredible. Happy 27Th Birthday little one! You are the sweetest thing and some how every day you just keep getting sweeter!! I love you babe!! Here is a big fat kiss from me....MWWWWWAHHHHA!! And a meeoow lick kiss from turtle!

Keeping Clean

important decisions

After spending way too much time yesterday afternoon trying to decide between two pairs of very similar $5 sunglasses and not being able to make a decision I felt comfortable with, I did what anyone else would do....





I made dave take pictures of me wearing both of them.... then reviewed the results, and I went with the ones on the top! Thank goodness that we have cameras on our phone or I might not have ever had made a decision!

We did too

Dave and I went camping last weekend...seems like the rest of everyone that posted this week did also! So this post is almost a week late. But....better late than never right! Crazy as it may sound..i have been so busy at work this week! It's true! I have! I haven't have a second to do anything but work! (Wow, now I know what it's like to not have a chance to do anything but my job, and not have time to blog or post comments or write emails...huh(sigh)..that feels weird) Anyhow, enough of that.
So last weekend Dave and I went camping!! It was really fun! I have not been camping in six years. If I was to count the number of times I have been camping I can add them up on one hand! So that means I have only been maybe 5 times. My dad was not into camping. Not AT ALL. His idea of camping is a Motel 8...and that would be pushing it for him. So I needless to say, I was pretty exciting to go on our first camping trip as a married couple! It was kinda last minute thing. Since we knew it was going to be a really warm weekend (95 degrees which is the first warm weekend up here) we decided on wednesday lets do it!! Luckily my parents gave us all the stuff we would need for our birthdays (thanks dad and mom) so i got to planning and planned my little heart out.... so we packed up our crap (that was a lot of work.... preparation, planning, packing, preparing ...bla bla bla) it took tons of time, organizing, effort and only for two, man I can't imagine how long that would take for an entire family with kids and extra tents and food and poopy bums with diapers and all that stuff! ewww! We went to a camp ground that was about an hour and 1/2 from our house along the Clackamass river. It was beautiful. We did all the camping stuff, ya know the hot dog, smores, goodies, hiking, treats, fun stuff like that! We watched a movie in the tent on the lap top and tried to sleep peacefully on a blow up mattress the we had to blow up over and over throughout the night as it deflated on us time and time again. Luckily we had an electrical outlet and a pump with a hose that we could stick into mattress to blow us up each time it deflated...lets just say we woke up in the morning sore and tired. We only spent that one night and then that morning we packed up our stuff hiked around, went down to the river, which was gorgeous, drove around into a cute little town and bought some fire works and home grown pea pods..YUMMY.... and then drove home.



thats a creepy face!


my "bigfoot" sighting!

Even though it was one short night, it was long enough for both of us and lots of fun! We ended the weekend with a fun game of golf with some friends! What a fun weekend! Now the weekend is here again, wow the week flew by! And this weekend will be even better than last weekend cus its the 4th AND its a 4 day weekend AND its Dave's birthday on Monday AND the weekend just makes me happy!! YAY fun fun fun! OK i guess that's all for now. I really am busy and have to get back to work.... bye bye. I'll post the pictures from camping when i get home.