"Super" special Sunday?

So, who's gonna win today?

CONGRATULATIONS STEELERS! Andrew was happy about the winner but I think the rest of us were rooting for the underdogs....so sorry your team lost, Karina!! But the family had a great day and not just watchin' the big game either. Here's a sampling of what some of us did...

Is this an example of, "train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it???!!!"

Caught you in the act, Annette! We enjoyed yummy salads today; a bow tie pasta salad by Evaly, a Chinese chicken salad by Karen and a Taco salad by Lorinda. Annette brought a delicious white bean with chicken chili...oops...sorry ,Ted made it under Annette's direction. Way to go Ted! Thanks to everybody for bringing fruit, veges, rolls, chips, dip...I have it on good authority from the men that the food was great!

This is Carter counting to 20 for a game of a hide-n-seek. True, his eyes aren't completely covered but its so much easier playing by his rules! Of course, the big kids didn't pick especially difficult hiding areas either, right Adrienne?

And then there were some people who thought they were thin enough to hide behind a pole...Karen, I think you're dreamin' girlfriend!

What I'm in the mood for...

Okay, so I decided to deal with my demon on my blog instead of in my mouth. You know, I'm not even hungry but I'm sitting here thinking about eating chocolate! What is that? I'm too old to be pregnant but apparently still have enough hormones to crave the bad stuff! Annoying! I had a good workout today and I really don't want to blow it on this. I have moved all chocolate into the deepest darkest place in our garage and to get to it I have to move two bikes and a box and then reach behind another box. This has been helpful in that at heart I am a truly lazy person and I don't want to go to that much trouble to get chocolate. Well, I'll let you know if I resisted the temptation tonight! Wish me luck!

A day to be grateful

I feel grateful today. It's a beautiful day..sunny and warm; no icicles here. How nice that it is for today. I'm grateful that, for today, my husband has a job...you know, in today's troubled economy, one can't be sure of employment tomorrow, but for today, I am grateful. I'm grateful for my children. How I love each one of them...they each are so different with different sets of skills and talents...I feel blessed to have them in my life. I am blessed to have grandchildren; what a happy thing it is to be loved by and to love your grandchildren. I love my husband...I'm grateful that we have walked life together...sometimes that has been fun, sometimes challenging, sometimes adventuresome, sometimes hard but then again, that's life, isn't it? I love having him home with me...I feel more complete than when he is away. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ. I know that because of him everything else has meaning. I just feel grateful today................

Christmas 08 continued--

It's Snowball making time...cookies that is, with Aunt Carrie! Snowballs are a paternal family tradition.

Annette, Ted and Cami playing with the Carter boy! Aloha Carter!

But you can guess who everyone really wanted to cuddle with, can't you? Babies are just too fun and this Parker is a cutie!

Can you believe this boy's thighs?? He is so squeezable and loving. We had so much fun with him over Christmas!

Kylie loved the new jewelry Grandpa bought for the toy chest at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

And when McKell won a camera in a White Elephant game, Kylie quietly put it on. Since Mommy is a photographer and Kylie has had a camera in her face since Day 1, she knows just what to do with it.


Since McKell's birthday is Dec. 30th we also had to celebrate her birthday with her favorite cake, lemon, with lemon frosting! Happy 6 McKell!

A maternal family tradition is going to Knott's Berry Farm over Christmas. This was Parker's first time so we bundled him up and took him to see....

SNOOPY!

He loved the train or maybe Grandpa and Grandma loved taking him on the train....we aren't sure which!

And he thoroughly enjoyed the ballon ride with Grandma before falling fast asleep!

But that was okay, we had McKell, Carter and Kylie to play with too. We had a cold but really fun day with all the family at Knott's.

Memories of Christmas 2008

There was Christmas dinner....

And Guitar Hero....

And some major chillin'.....

Continued in the next post....

Parker and Christmas bows

When you're an adorable 7 month old, the thrill of opening gifts...well...let's just say its not a highlight of Christmas morning. But a big shiny green bow? That's the best!

Pulled it off all by myself!

And then Mommy sat me upright so I could get a better view. And that's when I spied a SILVER bow!

Wow! This is getting good....look at all these bows!

I guess Mommy thought it was time to actually open one.....hey, Mommy, where did my green bow go?

To see more of Parker, click on Lindsay Jane by Evaly! You can also see photos of McKell, Carter and Kylie on her December 8, 2008 post. Cutest grandchildren ever....

I want to share an experience I had this morning while getting dressed to go visiting teaching. I had read the message earlier which was about Christ being the light and the life and the hope of the world. I was thinking about hope in particular and thought how hard it is sometimes to have hope when you look around and see disturbing things. As I thought that, another thought seemingly in response to to my first thought came directly into my mind, "Then don't look around; look up instead." I smiled in surprise but it has brightened my soul today. So... I'm looking up, are you?

End of a great marching season!

Brent just finished his first marching season in high school. The band was made up of approximately 150 musicians and 30 colorguard. This year the band was 1/3 freshman but they worked hard and had a respectable season. Their show, "Who Dunnit?" was very entertaining both musically and visually. Grandpa, Ted and Annette and kids came to watch him perform at their final performance. Here are some pics...

Our little Parker dressed as an acorn for Halloween

So, okay...I know I'm biased but isn't our little grandson, Parker, just adorable? He looks so much like Mark yet sometimes, I see some Christy in there too. Thanks for the picture Christy!

I would put on a picture of Ev's kids but I can't seem to take it off her blog...Ev send me an email and tell me how to do it again.

The Campers

Since Brent had two days of no school and Ken was out of town, we needed to do something exciting. I suggested a Mother Son Camp Out and though Brent was convinced that some alien force had infiltrated his mother, we went anyway and had one terrific time! I made reservations at a local regional park with campsites and requested a site with trees....humm, next time I will specify "live" trees. I also learned that having a site too close to the dairy farm in the background produces another challenging element to the out of doors...no, silly, not the smell....it was the flies! Every meal was a race to the finish!






But my days at Girl's Camp and Brent's scouting proved to be incredibly useful as we had this tent up in no time flat! Unfortunately, being that this tent was last used by scouts, we should have put up the tent at home first. We found out that the zipper was broken and unrepairable so our adventure now included a trip to our local,


























And ta-da, tent #2 was up just as quick as the first one!









We got our site all set up and then we decided to do some exploring.









The lake was very large and pretty. We spent the afternoon walking it's 4 mile perimeter and enjoying the sights.








There were a number of people fishing though we didn't see anyone with actual fish that day. This was a pretty little area. Had I been fishing I would have dropped my line here.

California has been in a drought for sometime. It was especially evident in the brush around the lake and the brown hills.

These cat tails grew in a sort of marsh- like setting which reminded us of Florida. Of course, the notable difference was you weren't likely to stumble across an alligator!

Boys and sticks....just like boys and fire....speaking of which, Brent built us an awesome fire. We enjoyed roasting hot dogs and making smores and then playing a mean game of Phase 10 where Mom beat the pants off Brent! (well, maybe it was luck but whatever...it was fun)

End of a perfect day with my youngest son!