Last Family Day...

before she leaves for her second year of college.

Last Saturday, Walter's employer paid for every employee and their families to go to Knott's Berry Farm (they even paid for parking, too). An all-you-can-eat bbq was included.

We were excited to go. We got there safely and finally got parked (their signs for parking are frustrating, to say the least) and had lunch outside the park.

Once inside, we told the kids they could be by themselves (since Lyndsey was with them and she has a phone, too) and we would go our own way. We are much slower these days and we discovered this time that we just can't handle all the rides like we used to. It's soooooo sad! We both love rides (Walter likes more of the extreme rides than I do, but I didn't used to give up a good roller coaster).

The very first ride Walter and I rode was the Silver Bullet. I thought it was one we had ridden years ago, but it wasn't. This one was incredibly extreme but I didn't know it at the time and I was in for a rude awakening. I screamed for almost the whole ride. I opened my eyes for less than a split second only to close them and keep them that way till it was over. As soon as the ride was over I noticed my throat hurt and it continued to hurt the rest of the day. I think I did it in when we rode the SideWinder later. Hence, my voice was partially gone for a couple of days! My husband says that's not necessarily a bad thing! *smile*

We got sunburned and felt like we had sweat about 10 pounds off (which really isn't a bad thing).

Didn't get too many pictures of the day since we were apart from the kids but here are the ones I did get.

Our first attempt at a family picture

The second and final attempt

Gorgeous girl!

Handsome young man!

This cutie is naturally funny! I love it! :)

One of a few attempts of just us

The best one of us I could get. Do I look tired? perhaps hot and sweaty? Oh my, how we sweat that day!

Standing in line waiting to ride the stagecoach

Pictures with this girl are getting few and far between with her away at school now - had to get as many as I could.

I just love this girl!

so handsome - will do anything for his momma!

my "little man" loves his momma unconditionally and I'm so thankful

Sisters

I was going through my pictures today.

Been meaning to load them to the computer and then on to my external hard drive in case something happens to all my pictures and they get lost or burned, etc. So I started that whole process today.

Boy, what a very LARGE project that is!

Anyhow, I ran across some pictures that I absolutely love.

One is with my sister. I think it's my all time favorite of her and I. I will post that one and then several others and see which one you like best.

2002 - my favorite

2005

2007

2008

2010

So which one is your favorite?

Roasting Marshmallows

Tonight was family night. It was Tyler's turn to pick the activity.

He wanted to roast marshmallows. We've not done this before at home. I've only done it around a campfire.

The boys decided they would figure out how to get the "campfire." They went out to the fields above and below the house and gathered up wood. They put it in a crate for storage and turned the bbq grill into the firepit. When Dad got home, he put the finishing touches on the firepit and voila, a "campfire" was started.

All 3 of the kids roasted a whole bag of marshmallows and had a great time doing it. I'm sure this won't be the last time we do this, either.

My Husband Loves Me!

We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on Tuesday night and pretty much all day Wednesday.

Mr. Wonderful surprised me with dinner and a movie and a night away from the kids! We stayed at a hotel just down the street from our house.

We ate dinner and went to the theatre to see "Fireproof." If you haven't seen that movie you need to go! It's an incredible movie! We don't go to the movies very often (the last time we went was over 2 years ago) and we really shy away from recommending movies but this one is a must. It will help to strengthen our marriages as well as it gives a very clear presentation of salvation and why we need a Saviour.

Then we went to the hotel. I noticed that the towels in the bathroom didn't seem to have been put in the normal areas for a clean room but didn't think too much of it that night. The bed was made and the trash cans were empty and the room appeared clean. However, the next morning we got up and I noticed hair all over the bathroom counter and floor, a woman's razor and shampoo in the shower, and an open bar of soap with someone's hair on it in the shower. Yuck!!! We also found a debit card receipt belonging to the person that had stayed in our room the night before on the floor.

When we checked out of the hotel, Walter complained about the room and guess what? We only had to pay $1 for the room (it normally is $109 per night during the week). The clerk tried to credit us completely but the computer wouldn't allow it. We weren't complaining about that! She also gave us her card and told us we could come back and stay in the hotel for free one more time.

It turned out that when Walter checked in, the computer said the room wasn't clean. The clerk called housekeeping and told them it needed to be cleaned and they said the computer was mistaken and the room was clean. Not!!! Oh well! All I can say is, "God is good!"

We spent the whole day out and about shopping - mostly window shopping but we did come home with a few things. Part of my anniversary gift from him was a new dress. We looked at several stores and found nothing. I told him that I usually find my dresses at JcPennys. That was the last store we looked in and I found 4 dresses. We bought 2 (my husband loves me!).

We got home just in time to have dinner and be on our way to church.

I was exhausted by the time we got home last night, but it was a fabulous day with my "Mr. Wonderful!"

Fun With My Sis

One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life was move away from my sister.

My sister and I have an incredible relationship. Most people say we look like twins. We actually think alike and can finish each other's sentences. We've been the best of friends since childhood. I like to say we're twins separated by 3 1/2 years (I don't mind telling you that I'm younger)!

We moved to SoCal in 1998 to help our pastor start a church. Walter instantly fell in love with the climate (hot and dry)! It took me a while but I now love where we live.

My husband was so kind to tell me a couple of months ago to buy a plane ticket to go see my sister for a few days. So.....being the good submissive wife (*smile*), I did as he said!

I went up there on October 22nd and came home on the 27th.

We had a great time! Just hanging out together at home suits us just fine. We don't have to go anywhere to have a good time. But I did go up to Tacoma to go to the Holiday Food and Gift Festival that is held there annually in the Tacoma Dome with her. Before we moved to SoCal, Nancy and I went together every year.

I also got to spend some time with a friend that I think of as another sister, Tammie. As well as another friend named (you guessed it) - Tammy! We had a great time. I enjoyed their company immensely.

L to R - Tammie, Me, Nancy
This is the first picture of just the 3 of us in A LOT of years!

Tammy took me to lunch on the waterfront on Sunday after church. It was absolutely gorgeous! We had so much fun laughing and talking about old times and catching up on what's going on in each other's lives currently.

The view of Mt. Rainier was picture perfect. I got 2 pictures. I took the sunshine with me. It was gorgeous the whole time I was there. I took an umbrella with me but never used it. That's amazing! Below are some pictures of the waterfront.

The new Narrows bridge

If you blow the picture up you can see Mt. Rainier

Another picture of Mt. Rainier

My favorite time of the year is fall. I love this picture - it shows all the leaves changing colors. Gorgeous!

This is one of Tammie's sons - Andrew
He's my buddy. Every time we see each other we have to have our picture taken together.

Andrew and Alexis - she was so thrilled to see me. It was fun! She even said that her favorite uncle is Uncle Wally (aka my husband)! He is soooo proud!

Top row L to R - Eden, Ed, Ashleigh, Eddie, Tammie
Bottom row L to R - Alexis, Adam, Andrew, Alex, Eligh

I wanted to get a picture with each of my nieces and nephews. Some were more than willing to oblige me and others did everything they could to sabotage the pictures. But, I won in the end. It took lots of takes (hooray for digital cameras!) but I finally did get acceptable shots.

Richard and me

Matthew and me

Rebecca and me

Katie and me

Matthew is growing up so fast! He's actually pushing his muscle up in this picture, but - his muscle is real! I saw and felt it! Very handsome young man!

The time went by so fast but I had the best time.

Nancy, it was soooooo good to be with you again. Til, next time...

Prayer DOES Change People

My husband's mother passed away almost 1 year ago. While he was with his dad for the funeral, his dad told him that many years ago he had surrendered his life to the Lord to go into full time ministry. But he never did go into full time ministry.

Somehow he had gotten away from his walk with the Lord (it's so easy for any of us to do if we neglect our walk for even one day - I know from personal experience). He and my mother-in-law didn't go to church. They both knew Jesus Christ as their Saviour. They would go with us sometimes when they came for a visit but they didn't go regularly.

Quite a few years ago (10+), Walter and I bought his parents a Bible for them for Christmas. They kept it. After my mother-in-law passed away, my father-in-law started reading the Bible again. He told us he read it every night. Walter encouraged him many times to get back into church. He said he would go but he just wasn't ready.

We prayed for him for many years. Our church has been praying for him for many years to get back into church and get his walk right with the Lord.

Last Saturday night, he called and talked with Walter for a long time. I kept hearing Walter saying, "Praise the Lord! Dad, I'm so happy for you!" I patiently waited for the phone call to end and then asked what happened.

Last Saturday morning, in the wee hours of the morning, Dad woke up and made the decision to give his life back over to the Lord. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! He went to a men's prayer breakfast that morning at the little Baptist church in his town. He had a wonderful time. He enjoyed the fellowship and even participated. He went to church the following morning and enjoyed that as well.

Which brings me to my next bit of news.....

My father-in-law is getting married on August 16th. We are so happy for him!

He and his soon-to-be wife are joining that little Baptist church in the town they both live in this coming Sunday. Dad says that he really likes the pastor of the church. I know he likes him when he says, "I could talk to him all afternoon."

Prayer really does change people! It's not anything we do, only what God can do in someone's heart. It takes prayer, prayer, and more prayer! Dad told Walter to tell our church family, "Thank you for praying for me. You can take me off you list and pray for someone else now."

We Discovered A New Favorite Place!

So today we were on our way to our kids' graduation. We left early so that we could stop by

and look around. If you've never been there and you like outdoor sports (hiking, fishing, hunting, etc.) you will LOVE it! That place is HUGE! In fact, I got separated from the rest of the family and I spent about 15 looking for them and gave up. I went to the front of the store and sat on a bench until they found me.

Soon after we all met up I found out why I couldn't find them. Walter found a virtual reality NASCAR car racing game. Of course he and Phyllip had to try it out! They said it was a blast. This is Walter's new favorite place to go daddy shopping!

We only had 45 minutes to look around before we had to be on our way to the graduation. We found the "Fine Gun Room." We went in there and found the following.

Now, I know this isn't exactly what we found in that particular room. But it is similar. Only thing is that these guns were incredibly expensive. Some were antiques and had a price tag as high as $70,000! Yep, I looked at the price tags several times to make sure my eyes were seeing the right dollar amount! I think they want to keep it more than we want to buy it!

We had a lot of fun looking around and actually didn't get to see the whole store with our time limit. I asked Walter what he wanted to do for Father's Day and he said, "Go back to Pro Bass Shop."

Pictures as Promised!

At the end of this post, I said as soon as I figured out how to move the pictures I would post them.

Voila! I figured it out! And...as promised here are the infamous pictures. Enjoy...because I don't get a chance very often to hold things over this man's head!

Yes, it actually happened! My husband is playing cards!

The proof!

He's A Big Man!

Tonight I had Tyler ask his dad how many tortilla rollups (sandwiches) he wanted for his lunch tomorrow for work.

Tyler comes back and tells me his dad said, "33." Tyler always likes to do weird things with numbers. If the number is 4 he says, "44." And so on.

Phyllip responds, "That's a lot of rollups." To which Tyler says, "Dad's a big man!"

Gotta love those kiddos!

This is For Everyone Who Know My Husband and His "Love" For Games!

We have a weekly family night. It's on Mondays.

Each week one of the kids gets to plan the whole night - from what we eat to what music we listen to to what games we play and what movies we watch.

Tonight was Lyndsey's night. For the game she picked "Hand and Foot." It's a very long card game - but an enjoyable one I might add. Well, Dad doesn't like games but for Family Night he will play anything. Did you read that?! Anything! So tonight, he played "Hand and Foot" with a willing attitude.

I have to say that it was by far our best Family Night yet. We had so much fun! I don't think we've laughed that much ever!

I did take actual pictures of the family playing cards but I forgot to check and make sure my memory card was in the camera. I can only load the pictures into Kodak's software and now I can't figure out how to find them. So....as soon as I figure it out, I will post the pictures.

Excited...

That's the only word to describe my children yesterday.

Yesterday was "d-day" so to speak. I had to put them on an airplane to my sister's home. I was a bit nervous because they've never been on a trip alone.

The airline attendant was really great. He escorted them down the jetway right behind them and didn't let anyone walk between him and the kids (is that proper English????).

Sileena was gracious enough to go with me. I figured I would be a basket case of tears and would need a shoulder to cry on. Instead of crying I decided to take massive pictures of the airplane and the workers. I know, weird. But that's how I dealt with it. I did get choked up once but only when we got to the gate. After that I was fine. Phyllip wanted me to cry (what a brat!). He was looking forward to making fun of me! But I didn't let him have his desire! *smile* I was very strong!

As Sileena and I were watching the plane waiting for it to leave we were watching the guys loading the plane and we got a kick out of it. Hence the following pictures.

Their job looks so difficult!

Chilling out on the job!

Phyllip would definitely love this kind of job!


The jetway being pulled away from the plane.


The plane backing up




De plane taking off!

I am happy to report that the kids arrived safely and are now settling in at my sister's!

Oh, and as a side note, Lyndsey didn't think it necessary to take a heavy coat to the good old northwest. She thought a jean jacket would be enough. I assured her that was wrong thinking. She reluctantly took her heavy coat. And when they arrived in Seattle, guess what! It was freezing! And the following picture is the weather that welcomed them.

That's right! Snow! And at the end of March! Weird!

Lyndsey was really glad I made her take her heavy coat! *laugh*