Happy Birthday Andy!

20 years old!

December 12th was Andy's actual birthday...unfortunatly I was not around a computer that day...Andy marks the last of the birthdays for the year...we love you Andy...Greg and I can't believe that between the two of us 3 of our kids are not "teenagers" anymore...

Happy Birthday Karch and Natalie!

Its a big birthday for our kids Karch and Natalie...

One is now old enough to drive....eeekkk...

The other is old enough to be legal....double eeekkk...

To both we wish them a very happy birthday and lots of love...

16 years old today

21 years old today

And the season begins...

So high school basketball officially started this week... Monday night was our player intro night...its a fun time of the year for my boys...but what this means for me is getting boys to practices every day and at different times since they are on different teams...Karch is now double sporting it...Club volleyball has begun...Kendall has started practicing with her club volleyball...for 3 months life is spent coming home from work and pretty much spending every evening driving kids around...I know others are in my same boat...so I will not complain...instead I am going to focus on not stressing out when I go a week(or two) without making a home cooked meal, the house is not clean, laundry piles up, and my to do list continually getting longer...

Birthday dinners and father son time...

Last Monday night we headed to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Kenya's birthday...a treat for all of us... great time...good food...laughter...10 min. photo opp (which should have taken 10 sec. thank you boys)...

Two nights later I came home from work to a glorious site...it was my birthday, and I must admit I was having a woe me moment when I left for work that morning because Greg had no work that day and my kids had no school that day, yet I did, grrrrr...but I had big smiles as I arrived home that evening because the house had been cleaned, a cake had been made by Karch and decorated by Kendall, and Greg was standing at the stove making dinner...so wonderful...Kendall had even typed out a menu for dinner, funny girl...and to top it off Greg did ALL of the driving the kids to and from their practices that night...now I am just needing to figure out how to have these kind of birthday nights more than once a year...seriously the best gift...thank you my dear family...

Andy came to town for a short visit at the end of the week. Greg took work off and the two of them were able to play...thanks Andy for making your dad's week!

Happy Birthday Kenya!

20 years old today...

Mmmm...no longer a teenager...hoping you have a wonderful day that brings you smiles...I know thinking of you today is making me smile...I love you honey, Happy Birthday...

An unexpected road trip

When Greg and I arrived to my parents this past weekend and looked at all the boxes that were already packed and then looked at what still needed to be packed and then looked at all their furniture that was making the move and then saw what was in their storage needing to be moved we started getting concerned that it might not all fit into the rental truck...my mom assured us that their home teacher thought it would all fit, and besides they already rented the biggest truck available...

But even after puzzle piecing everything into the truck it became very apparent that there was not enough room...it was decided that another truck would need to be rented...seriously...so the next size down truck was rented and the rest of the stuff was packed very precisely into that truck...and if you can believe this there was still things left behind...so my niece and her family scored! But the question that needed to be solved was who was going to drive the extra truck up to Spokane...Kenya volunteered, my parents thought they could do it, Brady???? We found out that you needed to be 21 years to drive the trucks so Kenya and Brady were out...and there was NO WAY we were letting my parents drive the truck...no offense mom and dad but we expect you to live longer than your move/drive up north...Greg had his busiest week at work and so I became the driver of the second rental truck...

So as my kids and Greg headed south Sunday morning, the rest of us headed north...it was a two day trip with a sleepover in Bend, Oregon...yep...never thought I would ever go to Bend...but my very first trip to Spokane turned out to be great fun...even without makeup or clean clothes (I was so not prepared to travel for longer than 2 days) I made sure we stopped for some photo opps...and if anyone is thinking that Spokane, Washington seems to be in the middle of nowhere, I am here to tell you that you are right...it is :)...and it was sooooo cold...but the landscape was still pretty to look at...and at the end of the trip it was a treat to see my sister and the rest of my nephews and niece who I had not seen in two years...

My mom rode in my truck the whole way...it was great to be with her for the two days...I love this photo of my mom...there is something about it that makes me giggle...

Mt. Shasta after we passed by it...

Was laughing really hard when I saw this happening...Brady was so glad I had my camera...I am the BEST Aunt ever...

We drove next to the Columbia River on the Oregon side for over an hour...

I followed Alan the whole way...so when I saw him roll over a curb I was able to adjust and not do the same...

Saying goodbye to my family sans makeup and clean clothes :)...happy for the new beginnings for my parents...glad that they are near my sister and Alan and grandkids...will miss all of them...

Packing up and heading north

This past weekend we took a road trip to my parents home to help them with their move to Spokane, Washington...45 plus years living in California...so jealous that my sister gets them...can't believe they really made the move...we had a good time though saying goodbye and loading them up...a lot of lifting, silliness and some showing off of muscles(courtesy of my nephew Brady) kept the weekend full of activity...my brother in law Alan and nephew flew in town to drive the truck to Spokane with them...it was also great to see my nieces Noelle and Taylor and Noelle's kids...my sister Kim who died 10 years ago would be so proud of her daughters...there was only one problem...not everything fit into the rental truck...yep...
Some of my mom and dad's grandkids and great grandkids