Strawberry Blonde

So I was planning on dying my hair RED…but apparently my hair turned more strawberry blonde, but I like it!!  Next time I will try going redder!  Jaime dyed her hair a darker brown and it looks good too!

 

Today is also Jaime’s 26th Birthday!  Holy crap she’s old!!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Summer Vaca!! Micro Done!!

I did it - I took my Micro final today, and you know what I feel really good about it! I finally figured out a study method that works for me!! I am at peace with how I did and my results! I believe grades will be out next week, so until then I'm just going to try and relax!! The best news however was I got ... BEST POSTER IN MY LAB!! What does that mean?? I got 20 points extra credit that I really needed!! I worked so hard on that poster (okay Brandi too) and was tearing up when I went to 'receive' my prize!! I'm so proud of myself, I've come a long way!

If you haven't checked out my poster progress check these links out...
#1) Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Poster Project
#2) RSV Poster Done!
#3) Printed My RSV Poster
#4) RSV Poster Unveiling & Presentation

So I am officially on Summer VACATION and soooo happy to be! I started out my summer with a bang and dyed my hair...what color you ask?? You'll have to wait until tomorrow, but then again I will too since I refuse to dry my hair tonight to see the exact color!!

Another School Panic Attack

Yes....this quarter is ending with a vengeance, I decided to check my grades (which I have been avoiding for fear of the unknown) and realized my grade is going to be a C+ and I went into panic mode since I need a B- to get into the nursing program. My mom finally talked me into contacting my professor and he actually told me to call him and we'd talk about my grade over the phone. He willingly spent 30minutes on the phone with me going over my grades and trying to figure out what I'd end with. I truly appreciated it.

He found one 'possible' solution to my GPA problem. I took A&P at BCC and it was two 6-credit classes, whereas at SPU the same class is only 5-credits. He suggested talking to my Academic Advisor and see what would happen if it was changed to a 5-credit class and put the remaining 2-points elsewhere. Hopefully that will boost my gpa enough to still cover the C+ that it looks like I am going to receive in the class.

I'm bummed, really bummed, but I have to remember that maybe it was meant to be. Not getting into nursing this year means I can still go on the cruise and take a couple quarters off from school to re-group (I still have to attend Fall Quarter though). So we'll see...in no way am I giving up, I will continue to study hard for my B- in Microbiology and get to the bottom of my credit issue and hope it helps!!

Less then 48-hours from now I'll be on Summer Vacation, and boy am I ready and need it!

5K Recap

Yesterday, my parents, Alex, Jaime, Zackery, Erin, Aunt Leslie & I participated in the Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure 5K walk.  What an awesome experience, I have never done anything like this before and had a great time!!  The route was just over 3miles and we walked from Quest Field, across the Alaskan Way Viaduct and back to Quest Field. 

Jaime, my mom, Erin & Alex all raised money and are proud of what we raised.  As a group we raised $880 (you can still donate if you are interested by CLICKING HERE!  The race as a whole, as of today, has raised $1,434,456.  Their goal is $2million so they are still looking for more donations!

We unfortunately didn’t get to meet up with Holli and Edgar, but we waved at them and my mom and Holli yelled back and forth at the starting line!!  Hopefully one day we’ll actually get to meet!  Oh well, yesterday was definitely well worth and a lot of fun!  We cannot wait to do it again next year!

The Crew


Starting Line…WOW look at all those people!

  

Jaime’s Birthday Party

*WARNING* Picture Overload!

This afternoon we celebrated Jaime’s 26th birthday (her birthday is actually on Friday, June 12th but they’ll be heading to Vegas so we decided to celebrate it today).   We had decent weather today, it was in the mid-6os, a bit on the cooler side, but with sweatshirts (and blankets for some people) it was tolerable and we spent all afternoon outside.  Jaime scored and got tons of money and gift cards to spend this week for summer clothes before they go to Vegas next weekend! 

We had a lot of fun, Aunt Leslie is in town for the weekend, plus Amy came up with her girls and Erin too, plus the normal crew was here as well to help Jamie celebrate!  In typical Cori fashion I took a ton of picture, and had trouble weeding them out, so this is a VERY picture-y post!  So hope you like pictures…if not…oh well!

Happy Birthday Jaime!  Hope you had a great celebration!!

 Alex, Leslie, Erin & Kelly with the two babies swinging
 

Emmalee Paul
  Jaime (and the girls) opening her presents!

 
Madison’s self portrait…is that good or what!  Plus at the top you can see where she wrote her name … MADD

 
Left: All the little girls wanted all day was CAKE!
Right: In typical Benson fashion the official cake lighting torching
  Blow Jaime Blow!
  The babies!  How sweet are they!! 
(Jordyn on the left & Emma on the right)

 
Camryn & Maddie get along so well…here they’re playing on the swing set

Now this is funny….

My mom got Madison this huge batting/chipping/soccer net and today for the first time we pulled it out to see what it looked like.  OMG this thing is huge!  It didn’t really get used much today, but putting it away was a chore!  Brandi & I spent a good 10 minutes trying to collapse this monstrosity down to fit in this little bag it came in.  My dad kept yelling at us to just ‘fold it’.  So he finally decided to get up and show us how it’s done…sorta…

He finally (after like 10 minutes) got it to the correct size to fit in the bag when we realized he needed to still put a strap around it to hold it in place.  As he was trying to fold it up the thing sprung open again, almost knocking him over and even chipping is glasses!!  We were all laughing so hard, it was hilarious!! 

Thanks to Brandi for taking these pictures, because I was needed on a couple of occasions to tame the wild beast!

“See guys it wasn’t that hard”

 
“Oh crap!”

 
“Let’s try this again”


“Somehow this folds small…I just did it!”


“Maybe if I use my foot to bend it”


“Hmmm…Let’s try sitting on it”


“Cori get over here and help me hold it down”


“We carefully need to put it in the bag”

 
“Whatever you do KEEP SITTING ON IT”


“Tada…see it wasn’t that hard!”

We did the Susan G. Komen walk today…I’ll post more about that tomorrow!  But it was a lot of fun!!  Lots of pictures to come tomorrow!!

Duvall Days Parade

This weekend is Duvall Days and I attended the Parade with the Harrington’s.  Sophia recently joined the CHS Jr. Cheer squad, so she was participating & cheering in the parade.  I tried to take pictures, but it was hard because I was holding both boys and on a couple of occasions all three babies.  But thanks to Patty & Mark, I was able to actually be in a couple!  So here they are…

Cody, Gabbi & Nate watching the parade

 
So much to look at!

 
Left: Myself with Nate & Jack enjoying an otter pop
Right: Sophia

Overall the babies really enjoyed the parade.  Gabbi got scared a couple of times with the horses, tractors & dirt bikes.  The boys on the other hand were mesmerized by all the trucks!  The big hit this year for them were the dogs…they couldn’t get enough of all the puppies!  Oh and they all (Cody included) kept “mooing” at the horses!

Tomorrow my family is doing the Susan G. Komen 5k in Seattle…I’m really excited, not sure why, but I am!  So stay tuned for some pictures and stories about it tomorrow!  Oh and did I mention we’re on Edgar & Holli Martinez’s team…how cool is that!  Hopefully we’ll actually get to meet them.  (My mom & Holli are good friends through work, but I’ve never met her or Edgar, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to!).

Kelly's Frog Prince

*Edited 6/7/09*



Brandi & I found our froggy again today on the front porch! How funny is it that he's sticking around! Alex wanted to name it, so we've come up with either Frog-bert or Frog-gelica. Still deciding :) Anyway, here is a picture of our new 'pet'!




--
Tonight as Brandi & I were finishing up a game of Phase 10, she noticed a frog hopping across the kitchen floor. I immediately squealed and she started telling me to go wake up my dad and there was no way she was putting it outside. I figured he'd be less then thrilled if I did that, but realized Kelly was in the den. So I quickly went to tell her, figuring she'd join me in the squealing department, but instead she went to work trying to catch it and put it outside.

By the time Kelly joined us it had hopped into the dining room and was making its way to the living room. Kelly cornered it, but just in time for it to hop under the piano. She got it out, and then once again it hopped under the piano. She finally coaxed it out again (with the help of a broom) and managed to assist it towards the front door where we quickly let it out.

Kelly talked about kissing it...but never did, better luck next time Kelly!

A Poor Man’s Pool

Today at Kim’s we got the kiddy pool out and the plastic bin full of water toys…let the video do the rest of the talking!

 

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hope all of you are enjoying this BEAUTIFUL weather we are having!

 

Oh…Nate is sitting on my lap (and if I had the volume on you would hear him chattering away – but instead I chose to mute it and have a song play instead!), so he’s not missing but is causing the shakiness of my camera at times!!

RSV Poster Unveiling & Presentation

Today I had my presentations for my RSV poster and I have to say (and not because I am vain, but) my poster was probably the best looking one in the classroom.  For starters, I was the only one who had their poster printed, so it really stood out!  I was shocked to see how many people hadn’t even used a paper cutter to cut their paper.  They obviously just used scissors and just looked very elementary!  Did I mention, my poster rocks!

We had to present our posters in 1-on-1 settings with another peer who graded us.  I had to present 3 times, and then I in turn graded 3 other posters.  So it was really laid back and easy!  I was nervous my first person I presented to, but then got more comfortable! 

My poster will now be graded by both my professors, the Biology Department head, my 2 TAs and the science librarian before we get a final grade.  Our TA’s will pick the #1 poster in my lab and that person gets 20 bonus points…which I could REALLY use!  So I am excited to see how that pans out!

Okay, here’s what all of you have been waiting for, the unveiling of my poster.  I wish I had a picture of me standing by it, but I don’t.  This photo was taken with my phone after I had taped it to the Science Building lobby wall for the final grading!  ….Oh….in order for our posters to get graded by each of the above people, we have to display them in the Science Building Lobby, well since most people had ‘science fair’ boards, they had to set theirs on the floor, but not mine…since it doesn’t ‘stand’ on it’s own I got to tape it to the wall where it totally stands out!  LOVE IT!

Okay okay okay here it is….

I ended up removing the background that I had in this blog post because it was just to busy…oh and it ended up being REALLY grainy when printed!  I really love how this turned out.  Even my professor said “Oh my gosh, this is beautiful”!  So that felt really good!

Bellevue “Water” Park

Today was another hot day, mid-80s (hot but could be warmer in my opinion!), so we thought we’d pack the kids up and head to a new park in Bellevue that has TONS of squirting sprinkler toys!  It’s is the coolest place (no pun intended)!  Everywhere you look there are things squirting water!  It’s awesome for toddlers because their is no standing water and the ground is this bouncy material so kids if they fall don’t get hurt (or at least not as badly)!  It also has a nice playground right next to it to also play on!

When we first arrived all the kids (Madison included) were freaked out by the concept.  Maddie gradually warmed up and then Gabbi saw Maddie having fun so she jumped in.  The boys never really enjoyed it and wanted to stick right beside me or Jaime.  They played a little bit in near the water in this twirling ball thing, but for the most part just watched. 

Because the boys were so clingy it was hard to get many pictures, but here are a few of them!

Gabbi playing in the fountain 

See guys…even Emma likes the water!

 
Gabbi & Maddie chillin’ in the boat

 
Maddie climbing the Great Whale fountain 

 
The boys’ attempt at playing in the water!
Jack (left) & Nate (Right)

Snack Time! 

 
Naptime!

I highly recommend this park for anyone with small kids who want a fun and safe place to go and enjoy the water! 

16000 NE 10th ST; Bellevue, WA
*It is located right behind Crossroads Mall, next to the 7-11 & Fire Station!