Game of "Spoons"

Life is like a game of spoons...Right now I'm not winning. The person to my left isn't passing the cards fast enough. Everyone else keeps getting four of a kind....I'm left with out a spoon.

My fridge died and I'm a little down. I mean really...Its Christmas and my fridge died. REALLY?!?!?!? WHERES MY SPOON?!?!?!?!?

Stupid Whirpool Fridge!

Family Pics...

These are some pics Chris and I did this weekend.
I know, what a photogenic family, right? There is
something to be said for great photographic talent
as well....

Update!

GAS NOW $1.99! YES! YOU READ CORRECTLY! $1.99!!!! Amazing...

SO EXCITING!!!

I almost forgot...Last night, I paid $2.24 for gas! Yes it is true. Gas under $2.50! I did a dance. A small dance, but a dance none the less....Is is possible? Might we see gas under two dollars. I'm waiting with baited breath...

Wow.....

I don't even have words....

Parade...

So I did It...
I grabbed the camera and the kiddos....Off we went.
The closer we got...the louder it was.
So glad we went...Kind of made me proud to be an American...Really proud. Thank you for our right to assemble.

Favorite Photos....

These are my two favorite Photos.
I think the father was not happy I took his picture...Turned out great though!

Right Now i am listening to the Sikh parade and festival noises drifting into the window on a breeze. It sounds like a confusion scene from a movie...The room starts spinning, and unfamiliar sounds whirl around the subject until they burst through the bathroom doors and run pell-mell to the sink. Cold water on the face is the only cure for confusion scenes. If I was smart, I would be at the festival...taking some phenomenal pictures. I am not smart. I am sore from my morning run. It is REALLY loud this year. I wounder if they changed the parade route. I think they are marching around my house. I have always wanted to visit India. Today I am there!

Pumpkin Patch

Here are some fun pics from the Patch! Enjoy!

Tidbits...

I took this picture over the weekend. I love it. Just thought I'd share....

Thought you should know.....

Happy Birthday to my Babe...

Here is my babe. He turned 30 today.

That means...My countdown has begun.

Only a matter of months till I am

separated from my twenties FOREVER.

Back to my babe...Isn't he handsome?

All studly in his thirties? Yep! I'm

a lucky gal...Here's to you babe!

Happy Birthday to my love...

Camping

We went camping for the first time. Well...not including Mexico. It was such a great way to spend Labor Day. We had a blast! No major injuries...Shane was bit by meat bees. Once on the hand and once on the leg. Then he got got by some thing right next to his eye. His hand swelled up...His leg swelled up...And his eye swelled shut. Completely shut! I didn't get a picture when it was full blown. I did get a picture a few days later. Crazy...we had fun though. I haven't been that relaxed since forever. Jason and the guys caught 18 fish that weekend...We cooked them over the fire...Yum! Now I am craving fish...I guess its back to camping! Here are a few pictures...Enjoy!

Camping pictures

Spotlight...

My Mom has a very good friend by the name of Cher. When I was young she lived close by and was at our house all the time. We thought of her as Aunt Cher. She would have me and my sister Laura over for sleep overs all the time. Here is the cool part. She danced when she was our age. She had tons of old dance costumes, AND an old spotlight. We would dress up and she would turn on the spotlight....The music would come on....we would whirl and twirl, jump, pose and prance. This would go on forever until we collapsed into giggling, sweating heaps of joy. I loved those times. I hold them SO dear, they are some of my most cherished memories. I promised myself that I would pass on the tradition. So I saved all my dance costumes....

Last night we had friends over. They have little girls. Out came my costumes. There was prancing and twirling, Ohs and Ahhs. My heart danced and pranced with them. How priceless! All I need is a spotlight....

Beach cuties...

I couldn't resist! We stopped in San Diego, at least I think it was San Diego, on the way home...At Imperial Beach. Shane and Amelia jumped right in the water... NO FEAR! I was freakin' out. But they were so cute...Oh, and thats Josh Betts with them...

I didn't take my fancy camera with me...Good thing too. Some time after this picture...My other digital camera was.......Killed! It still takes pictures. I can't view them on my screen...The LCD or whatever was damaged!!!! I might try to get it fixed...it is a nice little camera....

Home Sweet Home...

Well...We are Back!



What a great trip! I really learned the power of prayer this trip.



We had car problems on the way down...But God healed our bus. We had sick youth kids...They were healed too.

It was an amazing week. Three of our youth kids accepted Christ, We were able to REALLY minister to the pastor...

We had to be extremely flexible...

The crafts and stories were a huge hit with the kids...On day three some of the mothers even made cups!

That was huge for me!

We were blessed by the pastors wife with a meal every night. It was incredible...They had NOTHING...Yet instead of saving what they did have for themselves...They Shared with all of us! The food was fan-tastic by the way.

I loved all the time spent with all our youth kids...I am so proud of all of them! They grew SO much. It was amazing to see!

I loved watching my husband serve...He is amazing!!!! He laid tile all week...What a servants heart!

Amelia and Shane were great! I am so glad they were able to be there with us!They are still speaking Spanish and Singing all the songs...

The way home was tough...Car trouble and the sickys again. We ended up stuck on the Grapevine...The Highway Patrol shuttled us down the hill....We rented SUVs and finally made it home.

I watched some of our youth kids tonight at church... I love their fire and Love for God.



I am happy to be home. I leave on Saturday for camp. Just the kids and I are going...I will miss Jason SO much!!!!

I am excited to see what this next week has in store...I'll let you know!

Mexico or bust...

Tomorrow is the big day....We are leaving town hopefully by 7am. Today I have to finish packing and get the house all cleaned. Last night I finished the last of the craft preparation. The village we are going to visit has other vbs groups this summer. In order to not repeat crafts and stories...we came up with all our own crafts. We based it all on the life of Joseph. His stories went along great with our theme, "Because of his love and faithfulness..." I am totally stressed about the crafts. I hope they all work and are liked.

For the first day we have the story of the coat of many colors...The craft is a grid like coat printed on card stock. We will glue small squares and rectangles on the grid...making a coat...of many colors.

Second day is the story of the Cup Bearer and Baker. Joseph interprets their dreams. We have the pull apart plastic cups and they will decorate the insert. Of course the insert has the memory verse printed in Spanish. I am really excited about this craft. They will be able to use their cup everyday and be reminded about this lesson.

Third day is the Pharaoh's dreams. Skinny cows eat fat cows...Skinny sheaves of wheat eat the fat ones. We are making cow sock puppets. Hopefully this works! It did at home....

The last day is Joseph forgiving his brothers and giving them food to eat. That day we will focus on forgiveness...Joseph forgave just like God forgave us and so we need also to forgive. The craft that day is the Wordless bead necklace. Same concept and the bracelet...it just hangs around your neck in the shape of a cross. I am really excited about this day also...

Of course there are a bunch of lose ends that never got addressed. Skits are one of them. We will see how story telling goes...

I am sure it will all come together...God will use us just as we are needed. I just really like to have everything planned out...down to the last letter. I will let you know how it goes. We will be back soon with lots of stories....Till then...

Stories, stories and more stories...

It's been FOREVER...I know! I've been lazy/busy/really beat! So, I'll start at the top!

I had a great mothers day! Jason made me breakfast in bed. We got a bunch of flowers to plant in the back yard, spent time with his family. I finished off the day watching DH with my gals. We had a blast...

Candle is still missing. We have no idea what happened. I feel like someone walked into my house when my back was turned and took her. Of course Amelia is still crushed. We have our good days though. I found a bunch if pictures of them together. That helped a little.

Shane is out of school for the summer. Amelia will be done at the end of this week. I can't believe I will have a first grader! No more kiddos in preschool! CRAZY!!!

Shane told me a funny story yesterday...He said he met a spider on the back patio. The spider's name was Billy. Billy was angry and wanted to bite another spider,Willy, a black widow. So Shane squashed Billy. Billy was a Daddy long-leg.By the way Shane LOVES spiders...they are his favorite!

I had another run-in with a spider this week. There was a giant Wolf spider having a party on my living room floor...He was huge! I was so brave! I dropped a giant glass bowl over him. Jason rescued me. As soon as he was in charge I jumped on a chair! There was NO way that arachnid was crawling up my leg. We enrolled him in the Spider relocation program. He now lives in the back yard.

We are nearing our Mexico trip....I'll write more on that later.

We had a blast with Liese and Danny! Of course the dummy that writes this blog didn't get any pics of her and her besty. I am ashamed of myself! One of the youth pastors from our church is going to the Ukraine in August...I'm gonna see if I can come in one of his carryons...

That's all for now...

Well, but upset....

We are missing our kitty Candle....Both of our cats are indoor cats. Somehow she got out of the house....Dilly is REALLY traumatized! For some reason I have decided that if I stay up really late then the cat will miraculously turn up at the front door. I wonder how late I have to stay up....
I really hope she comes home soon...She is far to cute to be wandering the streets this late at night...and alone....with no street wandering experience!!!
I tried driving around to find her...That did not work! No sign of the cute kitty! I am sad. I hope she turns up...

On a very happy note....I get to see my bestest pal Liese and her hubby Danny on Thursday...I am so excited!!! I can't wait! Oh, they are super amazing missionaries from the Ukraine...We haven't seen them in FOREVER! By forever...I mean a little over a year...EXCITED!!!!!

Medals of Honor for piles of puke....

We have sick Kiddos in our house. It seams to be a 48 hour bug. Shane is feeling much better, however Amelia is now puking. Luckily she makes it to the bathroom almost every time. Shane was mostly stand up and puke. Have you ever noticed how far vomit can bounce? Especially off of vinyl flooring? Yuck! It also amazes me how the pukes come on in the middle of the night. Why is that? Here you are sleeping peacefully, all of a sudden you here a scream and then a splatter...Then crying...Your stomach turns over fifteen times. You know what THAT means!
Then your Stomach of Steele kicks in. You take care of business. Just when you think you can relax... it happens again. I got smart. There is a trail of towels to and from the bathroom...It seems to magically cut down on the "accidental pukes".
Sometimes I wonder...Why did the Mommies get Stomachs of Steel? Why not Daddies?

Spiders...

I don't know if you know just how much I HATE spiders. THEY ARE CREEPY!!! Bunch of eight legged freaks crawling around, under things, up and down the walls. OH! Just the thought sends shivers up and down my spine! There was a huge on one the living room wall this morning. He wanted to eat me! He was watching me...following me around the room with his beady little eyes!(shivers again) I was Brave(shiver)....I wielded my weapon with masterful skill! The telescoping Dyson wand almost wasn't long enough...Then it turns out the spider was some sort of he-man. The super suction powers of my vacuum were clearly not working on him. I repositioned myself...So did the spider. I am still not sure if I got him. He could still be running around my house. I don't think I will sit on the couch for a few days...just in case(SHIVER). If I did get him...there is a chance he will regain his he-man spider powers. I can just picture next time I am vacuuming...Long spider legs reaching out of the top of the wand...Reaching towards ME!!!! (scream,shiver...then jump up and shake till all spiders that might be hiding on me are sure to fly off) Oy! I hate spiders!

Easter...

Easter was lots of fun....




Of course everyone LOVES pictures. I just can't take enough...It does help that my subjects are so beautiful!

Spring...

Don't you love this spring weather? I do! It makes me SO happy! It is the hope of many more bright cheerful days ahead...The beauty of a fresh new year! You don't get that feeling in January...New Years comes and goes, it will be frigid for weeks. But when those trees blossom and the sky turns blue...We are reminded that there is a reward for staying hopeful. Even if it is "just" better weather.

In other News.....

We had a second accident free day with the puppy.

We also turned in all our passport info for the youth mission trip to Mexico. We are going as a family....In June...To Ensenada! This should be VERY interesting!!!!!

Puppy News....

So we hit a tiny milestone yesterday...We had our first "accident free" day!!! So exciting! Never mind that the sliding door is always a tad open...Never mind the flying insects that traipse into our house uninhibited...We are one step closer to shampooing the nastiness out of our carpet!

Oh yes...Look who Lady loves...And to think, it was MY idea to rescue her!

This we also had her first round of shots...I can't wait to bo able to run her! She has WAY to much energy...

More weekend stuff....

We also visited the park on Saturday...I love the sheer joy on their faces...Remember those days? You would spin and spin and spin until you felt like hurling...Then you'd step off and fall this way and that as the world spun and you stood still. I miss those days. The spiny thingy just doesn't have the same results now as it did when I was younger...

What a GREAT weekend...

On Saturday Jason had to work so, The Kiddos and I went driving and picture taking. Its been a while since I took pics of both of them together. Off we went...

The first stop was this orchard I had my eye on for quite some time. The Kiddos were afraid of the farmer...They made sure not to touch any of his trees. It was such a beautiful day, The pink of the blossoms against the blue sky. Add my Kiddos to the mix and its the most beautiful sight ever!

They came up with these "poses" themselves....

The next stop was the Buttes...The Kiddos think that Ya Ya lives in the buttes. There was a tad bit of disappointment when they realized that The Buttes aren't in Santa Rosa. They loved looking at the Cows, Horses and Sheep. It really got windy when we were out there...Oh, well we LOVE the wind...

My Kids are Hilarious...

There are days when I realize just how funny the kiddos are...Today was one of those days.

Amelia lost her fourth tooth...There was SO much drama. I had to pull it. The poor tooth was hanging by a thread, or nerve. Whatever it is that they hang by. So I pulled it. She was heartbroken! She is now So excited to be able stick her tongue through the giant gap. Of course she found this great talent just in time for school pictures. She couldn't wait to tell me how fun it was to smile with her tongue sticking through her teeth!



Then there is Shane...This morning we were driving home from dropping Amelia off at school. Shane pointed out that the new "Up and Down Burger Store" was almost ready to open. They have REALLY yummy burgers at the "Up and Down Burger Store". He was talking about In n Out Burger. I was Laughing so hard! I will be calling In n Out by Shane-O's name. I took this pic at nap time. He was in bed like this when I came to tuck him in.

Long overdue....

Wow...What a wild few months it has been! Our roof is finally fixed, Amelia is back in her room...All is calm. Then I get a wild hair and think...We need a puppy!. OK, this is the story...

Our pals the Byrnes found puppies in front of their house. Being the kind animal lovers that they are...They kept them safe till the owner came for them. The owner had recently lost his job and was planing on disposing of them in the river bottoms. I could not let that happen! I had to do my duty and rescue a sad, malnourished, homeless puppy! So I did. Much to the chagrin of my hubby. Don't get me wrong Jason loves animals...Oddly enough I am more of an animal person than he is.

As you can see, She is darling! What a sweet girl! And she LOVES us...She just needs to be house trained, crate trained...Well, trained! I am in for it...I feel like I have a newborn again. A newborn that poops and pees in the house, stinks and chews on everything! This is going to take some getting used to!