Congrats Kendall!

Yesterday Kendall came home with a huge smile on her face...

She thought it looked like it would be fun to be in student council next year...

So she decided to run for 7th grade Representative...

She ended up winning...

Good job honey! We are very excited for you!

awhhhyeah!!!

Double Fist Pump

While coming home from Sandon and Kendall school's Open House last night I commented to Sandon how I have noticed that his friends voices have or are starting to get lower...I then told him how his voice is getting lower too...this is how the rest of the conversation went...

Sandon: Yea...but it is cracking alot too...though not as much as one of my friends who's voice cracks all the time (smiling as he says this)...
Me: ( I smile back at him)
Sandon: But you know how I can tell my voice is different?
Me: How?
Sandon: Yesterday when Amy called for you, instead of calling me Kendall she called me Karch. (this was immediatly followed with a double fist pump in the air)

Thanks for the laughter Sandon. :)

One for the ages...

We lost last night...

McKay's high school volleyball team played in a second round CIF match...

Our opponent??? Loyola High School of LA, who has the distinct title of being the #1 high school volleyball team in the nation...the papers that morning predicted that Dana Hills High would lose the match to Loyola in 3 straight games...in other words, we were going to be a non issue for their quest as CIF champions. Well they did get one thing right...Loyola did win the match...but other than that...they discovered that they were going to have to play tough and maybe have a little luck to get that win.
As for us, the whole family (minus Greg who was in Texas for work:(), we decided that we wanted to be at the match...for us we knew regardless of the outcome, that it would either be McKay's final high school match or a stunning upset...we did not want to miss it...and we were soooo glad that we did not.

Final score: Loyola 3, Dana Hills 2, game scores went like this, 23-25 (us), 25-18 (them), 25-19(them), 29-31 (us), 23-21 (them)...as you can see the last two games in particular were soooo close and long...in the 5th game of a match, the winner is first to 15 but you need to win by 2...

Los Angeles skyline as we saw it last night

Some of the highlights that I will remember:

*Driving to Los Angeles with Kenya, Karch, Sandon, Kendall and Katie (McKay's girlfriend)
*Stopping for some Fat Burger in LA

*Our first look at Loyola's beautiful campus...the buildings were reminiscent of east coast schools...(Loyola is an all boys private hs)...we thought it was very cool, especially in the middle of LA

*Winning the first game and seeing the shock of the opposing team fans faces

*Watching Kendall cheer without any inhibitions whatsoever...this is a must see for all :).

*Watching McKay and team playing with heart and not giving up ever...

*Watching Kenya and Katie join Kendall in an awesome display of school spirit...

*Hearing the boys joining in with others in support for the team...

*After a win by Dana Hills seeing many cell phones from Dana fans up in the air taking photos of the scoreboard...wishing I had a photo of that!

*The celebration that took place by all of us after the extra long 4th game to send the match into a 5th deciding game.

*Standing the whole time for the final 12 points that were scored in the 5th game sometimes holding our breath and other times chanting 'go dolphins go'...

*Watching after the loss as the two teams shook hands, and when the opposing players came to McKay instead of a handshake there was a grip and a hug exchanged...

*Had a 'mommy' moment as I watched my son lose with grace and give respect back to Loyola.

*Driving home with all, including McKay and finding contentment from knowing we just experienced the best that comes from high school sports and we experienced it all together...

cute, crazy, cheering girls

game 5: sooo close!

proud of their brother, he had 23 kills

It is hard to put into words or give justice to the feelings that were in the gymnasium last night, but I will give it a try...attitude, loud cheers, rowdy cheers, good old fashion exchanges with the opposing team fans of 'take that', happiness, laughter, chants, high fives, disappointments, the best in school spirit...of course a win would have made the night the very best...but I am still so glad I was part of the fun and the memory that will be remembered for awhile.

***more photos and highlights of both Karch and McKay's high school season I will post after their banquet.

Prom 2009

Last weekend was Prom..

Mckay and his girlfriend Katie looked super cute.
Kenya and I met them in Laguna for a photo opp. We thought Katie looked great and we liked the extra effort that went into her hair. The "hair" bow was awesome. This is McKay's last hs dance. Four more weeks of high school for him!

(Not that we are counting or anything...)

Hanging the soccer shoes up...

Last game played: May 2, 2009

Positions: Goalie, Forward

Years played: 7

Goals allowed (when playing goalie)this season: 0

Kendall has decided to not play soccer anymore... (unless her coach can talk her into playing next fall)...will miss watching her play...but look forward to still seeing her play basketball and volleyball...

Congrats Steve!

2009-2010

Senior Class President

Agua Fria High School

in Arizona

Good job Steve. I was excited for you when your dad told me the news. :)

Family Time

Getting family together all at the same time is just not that easy.

We are at the stage where even sitting down for dinner with all of us at the same time rarely happens. What usually happens is I cook dinner for whomever is home and then I leave it sitting out for those that come home after so they can still eat but have to be okay with heating it up. Yet some of my favorite moments is when everyone is together.

When Greg and I married we agreed to try to make family time with ALL our kids a priority. We recognize that this time in our kids lives is going by quickly. As it stands we hate missing any moments. We also knew this would be an extra challenge with his kids living in Arizona and my kids crazy schedules.

With that said, we have been super happy because we have been seeing Natalie, Andy and Steve almost every month. It has been awesome. But even when they are here it still has been a challenge to coordinate my kids schedule. It seems like someone is always missing from a dinner or a movie or whatever excursion has been decided on to take due to a game, work, school function or a previous committed too social event.

It does happen though...we have moments. And I LOVE those moments. And usually I try to capture those moments by taking pictures. The kids love it so much when I pull my camera out. Okay not really...maybe just Kendall...but kudos to them for being good sports. (I did give them all a break in the month of March. See I'm thoughtful like that.)

This past weekend we had a moment when everyone was around at the same time. Natalie, her boyfriend Nick, Andy and Steve came for a quick visit. Greg went to Arizona Friday to watch Steve in his final play of his junior year and then drove back with them. Sandon became an official Teacher on Sunday. That Sunday afternoon after work for one and church for the rest we were all together. And of course the camera came out. Thanks guys for letting me capture the moment. Love to all of you.

*****For the record, there is another side to having everyone together, especially for a Sunday dinner. There is a huge amount of food that is consumed. This past Sunday, just for dinner for example...10 pounds of mashed potatoes and 4 marinated flank steaks cut into strips was not quite enough for those who like seconds and thirds...