a belated video

Jenna loves soccer. But more than soccer, she loves mugging for the camera. That is why this video is so funny. This was the only goal she made all season. She would rather we all just get less serious about the goal making part.

Happy birthday! Brielle is 10!

This post is dedicated to my amazing little Brielle. She came into the world with a perfect, full head of dark hair, perfect ruby red lips, and those big blue eyes (with a darker blue ring circling 'round the iris). I could only stop and stare at her beauty as that toddler would ask endless questions. She couldn't make the 'L' sound. One evening she fell in the tub, but her front tooth cushioned the blow. The tooth died. We watched as that little tooth went black and then crumbled away over the next 3 years. Brielle loves pandas and the game 'Four Square' at school. She is an easy friend to make, and has a quick laugh. Her sisters love her and depend on her to get the family out the door on time (not an easy task).

A Christmas tag!

Here's a Christmas list to make up for all the tags I've missed.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper
2. Tree-- Real or Artificial? Prefer real...but we have a fake one. *sigh* I can't even remember how much a pretty, 9' tree was at Home Depot, but it scared James and me silly.
3. When do you put the Christmas tree up? Around the first part of December. I applaud those who get to work on it right after Thanksgiving. I'm sure any home I've lived in never got a tree up in November.
4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever. And those who know me---you know I'm not kidding. Whats the rush? Its pretty to look at.........lol.
5. Like eggnog? I love the fattening stuff. I prefer to call my "milked-down' version an Eggnog Latte.
6. Do you have a nativity scene? Many...and I'm always on the lookout for nativity scenes that kids can play with. Remember the old church-distributed cardboard stand-up nativity? I wish I had one of those.
7. Hardest person to buy for? James. He either wants tshirts and ties OR really expensive stuff that I'm too uneducated to understand how top-of-the-line it needs to be. He'll settle for ties and tshirts.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My sweet 6 year old, Jenna! Her last birthday she asked for a ragdoll and a stick pony. Is she from 1955?
9. Worst Christmas gift? I remember one lousy gift to my newlywed hubby. His birthday is Christmas Day. We were pretty much penniless, I mistakenly forgot to wrap one of my few gifts to him in BIRTHDAY wrap. His family was in the room...we celebrated Christmas earlier...it was now time for birthday...I quickly grabbed a part of one gift and changed it to BIRTHDAY wrapping. Turns out I thought new socks were a nice idea.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I love that people are more generous than me and actually send cards in the mail.
11. Favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life. It throws everything into perspective for me.
12. Favorite Christmas song? Anything Donny Osmond or ANY Osmond sings. My family even had an 8-track of their Christmas album.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I pretty much procrastinate shopping so I can hang out with the crowds of other procrastinators. ...And long lines at checkout.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yup!
15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Wassail (the hot drink) is my favorite ANYTHING at Christmastime. But is it a food?
16. Clear or colored tree lights? White...twinkling. We are envious of the Wilson's pre-lighted tree. I'll take that baby with any colored lights as long as it saves our marriage while putting up the tree!
17. Travel during Christmas or stay home? Travel, travel, travel. Oh wait. I'm married. I rarely get to travel. It would seem that James has a job that keeps him grounded.
18. Can you name Santa's reindeer? Yes---and out of order from the song even!
19. Angel or Star on tree top? It varies.
20. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? We only open the 'Pajama Elf' gifts on Christmas Eve so we look totally cute despite our bedheads and sleepy faces.
21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Having to pick out the presents within my budget. Why can't I buy everything? I'll give it away!
22. Best Christmas present? Way too hard to remember. But hands down is my favorite memory--my baby Brielle was born at 1:00 Christmas Eve (day). The hospital was extremely quiet those days, and I had no desire for anything else but to hold my new 'gift'!
23. Favorite Christmas tradition? Baking Christmas cookies and making candies together. My own tradition is the Gingerbread Boys that my mom made so beautifully. I insist that each Boy be as beautiful as Mom's. James' tradition is Christmas morning breakfast. It has to begin and end before the opening of presents. Oh--and it has to be lavish.

I'm a Great Aunt...who knew?

What better news to share than the birth of my nephew's gorgeous baby? Congrats Kurt and Kelli! They will be wonderful parents.


<--Gorgeous Kelli (why did I never look that cute as a prego mom?)









Felicity Kaye Radmall---such a poser! (The knuckle in the dimple of the chin---who writes that script?)




Kurt and Kelli and baby Felicity. What a stunning name!






Kurt (middle) and his siblings Christie and Aaron 10/87

I sang in a choir!

Although this isn't the most amazing news to any of you, I must admit it is the best feeling to be included in a Christmas choir of 91 singers. The conductor is top-rate and he also directs the Southern California Mormon Choir. Need I mention how intense he is? The concert was performed in two locations this evening. I am a little sad to see it end. I will post the link as soon as it is up on the website. In the meantime you can hear one of my favorite songs, Angels We Have Heard on High from a past Christmas concert with a smaller group.

I confess, I'm not a strong singer...nor do I hit the right notes as often as I should. I think that is why I just love being in a choir with a brilliant conductor. It is possible to bring out a pretty sound--if even for one evening!

Oh...and you can tell I'm never going pro with my singing career because I'm the one who is crying during the songs. The sweet spirit just tugs at my heart.

Thanksgiving 2007

Its been a busy week. James' parents drove from Murrietta (2 speedy hours away) for Thanksgiving. James' oldest brother Steve and his girlfriend Kathleen also joined us for dinner. Excellent holiday! I'd do it all over again, but maybe not with two turkeys. James and I have liked to have a turkey ready before all other side dishes need to be cooked. That way it can be cooled and carved and pretty for presentation. We also like our guests to return to their homes with their own supply of meat. We overdid it this year with a 20 pounder and an 18 pounder. Nothing will be wasted, I assure you. I love, love, love turkey. Here are some highlights of our week so far.

The girls baked and painted cookies.
















The girls and I at a beach house in Ventura. Gorgeous house!!








James' parents Paul and Marian.









Have you ever used egg wash to paint cookies? I remember doing this as a little girl. My mom basically rocked in the kitchen! I scrambled to find a sugar cookie recipe, but it was not tasty. However, the (almost inedible) cookies were vibrant! I tried a recipe from the ward cookbook. Generally they are the tried and true, generations-proven recipes. I actually had to scratch a big X on this page. Oh well, we doctored up a few with cream cheese frosting....everything is good with cream cheese frosting!

Our friends from Utah, the Cranmers, visited us and invited us to play at their beach house. Leslie and Ken have been our friends for almost 15 years. They brought 2 of their sons, Kyle (15) and Luke (9), and Kyle's friend Ty (15). Kyle and Ty are extremely cute and so my girls were sure not to miss out on the beach house with the Cranmers. Monica brought her friend Anna.

Last night, 10 of us went to see the movie "Enchanted". I had the best seat between Jenna and Brielle! We giggled and laughed throughout this movie. Even James isn't holding back on how cute--and yet enjoyable this movie is. We took his parents and our friends Allison and Anna.

Sunday Catch Up

I've missed you, my friends! Wow, this blogging world is SO addictive! Most times Blogs have more cliff-hangers than a favorite novel.

My week in a jif:

Monday I started my new position as an aide in a local elementary school. I work in a classroom of autistic (and stuff lumped in with autism) children. Its just what I had expected...if you've been around autistic kids before..stop laughing at me, Aprilyn! I expected calm and chaos. I love it!

Whining pays off! After complaining that my house was under decorated for the holidays, my sweetest-sister-ever sent a gorgeous quilt to my home. I'm sure she wants me to decorate a wall with it. I just can't do that yet. I am still snuggling with it while I read scriptures in the morning.






Halloween almost didn't happen here. After all---can you really have a successful Halloween without Jack-O-Lanterns adorning your place? James and I had pumpkins lounging around the home...but without faces. He rapidly carved them with and without the girls help just in time to use as decorations that Halloween night. He also sifted thru the 'guts' of the pumpkins to salvage the seeds for toasting later. What a guy! Funny thing is...at 5:30 pm we locked up the house and sped away to the other side of the city for Trunk Or Treating with our friends on the other side of the city. That is where all of James' hard work of carving pumpkins is displayed for about 30 minutes. We then closed up the car and sped away to our friends' gated neighborhood for the serious art of Trick Or Treating. You know you get the full-sized candy bars at gated communities---right Audrey?
This is a photo of sleepy Brielle (Hillbilly) and Jenna (Minnie Mouse), Me-the Nerd, friend Anna in a vintage 20's flapper dress, Monica as the LadyBug, and Amanda as--well, we don't really know. It was supposed to be Super Preppy Girl...but evolved into Random Red Outfit.




I got a new pet. The last Betta fish croaked, and despite my family's utter distaste of the helpless little guy I hurriedly shopped for another before they noticed "The Fish" sleeping on the bottom of the fish bowl. It worked. They have another pet to despise.

Fires (again!)

Its never a surprise when the Santa Ana winds blow into town. But the force behind them this year has been mind-boggling! I have a very good idea of the power behind a hurricane now. The fires began Saturday night, and the nearby Malibu fires were believed to have started from downed power lines. I was actually clueless to what had happened until Sunday around 2:00, when the sky got that familiar orange tint. By 3:30, the inside of the house was so dark, Jenna and I ventured outside.











The top photo is from our front yard, facing East (notice the flecks of ash, caught by the flash)...the bottom photo is facing West at 3:30 pm, Sunday. It is the gas station just around the corner from our house.




What I saw at 3:30 was a tiny red blot in the dark brown sky...and then the sun disappeared! Then I noticed that the street lamps had automatically turned on. All the neighbors' light-sensitive lamps were on! Later that evening I had a choir practice at a church building across town. It was super-smoky there, and when I got home I noticed my hair was still clinging to that Bonfire smell. I have been on the edge of tears these past 4 days...and sometimes I just let them flow. What tugs at my heart the most? Small things, like the horses running scared inside their corral; the photos of firefighters taking cat-naps (sitting up, of course); the TV reporter who is covering his own house burning to the ground (Kimmell?); parents finding out their children are safe..and then they burst into tears, etc.

Its a very humbling time, and creates gratitude for even the mundane.

Like my friend Audrey, I see the crumbs on the countertops and the drips of KoolAid on the floors as a reminder that I can stop whining and start helping others less fortunate.

Sadly, the fires aren't over. I'll continue my vigilant watch.

My sister's cute Autumn decor

Well, she did it. My sister has just deflated my day. I wanted the day to be wonderful, but how can that be--now that I know how cute her house is, and how much fun she must have had while putting it together? Just scroll down to October 8th to see her photos of her quilts and house. *sigh* Did I need to mention that Happy Valley undoubtedly has that crisp chill in the air? Yeah--she had to go and take pictures outside as well. with the snow-covered mountains. I guess I'll just stare at my two $4.98 scarecrows (from Joanne's Fabrics) that I thought were going to add some punch to my under-designed, under-decorated home. The boy and girl scarecrows actually resemble $8.15 scarecrows (which were worthy of an entire page blogged exclusively on them)--but for now I can't revel in my thrifty shopping.

Do you think she will get my fun birthday card I picked out for her? It is her birthday on the 19th...and I might just have to blog about that. That will show her!

But seriously--I can't be too hard on her because she is the only family who reads my blogs! I love her to death.

My Pet, the Hornworm

My beautiful cherry tomatoes are hardly producing anymore, but imagine my surprise when I found two tag-a-long hornworms munching away on the plants. I just thought I'd share my photos of one of these giants. It almost looks cute--just enjoying the green tomato the same way I enjoy a bright red one. This particular caterpillar could stretch over 7 inches. I've seen Tomato Hornworms before and they have been fatter than my fingers. My plan was to document how large they become in a week's time. Unfortunately, the duo disappeared the day after these photos were shot. Hmmm...where would one hide a 5 inch long caterpillar? I know they only eat the tomato plants.......and tobacco leaves.... According to the linked website, those monsters are under foot!

Too bad they went missing. I was grooming them for my little friend, Lizzie. She will take any creepy-crawly pet she can get her hands on...the bigger the better. Thats the way I was when I was 7.

This first photo taken Tues, 9/25.














This photo taken 6 days later on 10/1. Notice the severe damage to the plant!

Pearls and Me

I was busy with a new project this past weekend. I'm selling pearls! I know...I expect you all to run and hide your checkbooks, but I'm not selling at the moment. I am, however, still thinking about the fun I had and what I saw.

Quick background to how I got into My Princess Pearls is 1) Wendy Bird started the foundation. 2) I became friends with her. 3) She moved out of California. 4) I met her at her store this summer in Utah and asked if I could do anything with her pearls in California since she left. Wendy set me up as a distributor and told me of an upcoming opportunity to sell her pearls at a Republican Women's convention in Palm Springs. I set it up, and here we are now. Fortunately, Wendy sent a fine person, Gail, to "help" me. Of course, Gail was the expert...I held onto her every word...regarding pearls, or about life. Gail is an amazing, beautiful woman I wish you all to meet. I wish I took a camera to record our adventures!

Funny thing about what we learned about our product and this particular convention. It's a finer jewelry than the partying, patriotic, Republican women wanted. Who could blame them? Of the nearly 45-ish booths at the convention, about 40 of us had "jewelry". Most of that jewelry was geared toward ladies with a flashier taste for sequined, red-white and blue, elephant anything! I saw humongous elephant belt buckles, sequined hat pins, sequined HATS with elephants, even a gold-painted elephant head (wine bottle holder). The Texas Republican booth was loaded with grand, sterling silver stars of every proportion. Go Texas! Although we were assigned a booth on the back row of vendors, we were slightly cheered to know the Ladies Room was nearby. We knew we would at least get exposure from women with weak bladders. A few ladies expressed their appreciation for our quality of ....everything. Hee hee.
Some popular sellers below...the Woven Button Bracelet (1/2 price was $10),
the Hand-woven Silk Wrap skirt (1/2 price to $20), and the Signature pearls in the top picture. I liked to dress up each day and drape myself with pearls to model. I even wrapped a skirt around me, sold it, and put on another. Was this a flea market in some tourist town? The skirt was popular not only because of the iridescent silk fabric, but because of the elephants in the pattern. I had my own pearls, like this cable bracelet, but I dared not wear the more expensive Slider Pearl necklace.
And I also found out this weekend that Wendy doesn't keep any of the money for herself. Any commission that would go to her is immediately put back into the foundation for things such as shipping more 'relief' boxes to the Philippines, buying more product from the Filipino women, rent on the tiny store she has in Lehi, etc. For Wendy, its all about supporting those families who are almost totally dependent on her efforts. Wow.

Anniversary Tag

Well, its not my anniversary, but it is my friend Jolynn's anniversary. She is such a beautiful bride, and I just couldn't let this hottie down....so here is my info...

Where did you meet your husband?
James and I met the first night I was in California after I had accepted a job in Van Nuys. He sort of stalked me when he saw me in a room of married people. I was with my younger brother, but I think James was hoping we were single people. James followed us out the door and invited us to his Single's Ward the next day.

First date?
We didn't really "date" as much as I was just mooching rides off of him and others. James invited me to go to the Los Angeles temple 2 weeks after we met. We went there often together.

Where was the first kiss?
It was in the entryway of the house I was renting in Sepulveda.

Was the courtship long/short?
We dated for about 3 months before he proposed. Like my friend Marilee, I was mostly shocked that I said Yes because most of my relationships until then were about 3-6 months and then I ran out of the relationship. We were engaged for 3 months before the wedding day. For those bad at math--about 6 months total of courtship!

Where did you get engaged?
On the grounds of the L.A. temple.

Where did you get married?
Gosh--this is quite the theme! The L.A. temple, of course! It was a typical June-Gloom kind of day...hazy until about 3 pm. The wedding photos were taken during the hazy portion of the day of course.

How did the reception go?
Oh--I pretty much wish I could go back in time and re-do the entire day! I'm going to be a bit of a brat for a moment, so you can just skip this paragraph if you hate whiners; I was very bummed that I couldn't afford a gorgeous reception hall. We settled for the inexpensive Stake Center (gym) and I was sad that my reception was going to have basketball hoops as decorations. *sigh* As it turned out, our group of out-of-state family was running late for set-up and so James and I got to the Stake Center first. We were about 1 1/2 hours late and the custodian had gone home. The basketball hoops were not even retracted. *hysterical crying* James got the insensitive guy on the phone and told him to get his *tushy* back to the church because we needed him to set stuff up with us. *nervous break-down in an empty room* Family members start showing up, and I found my makeup bag and started reapplying. I was not a pretty bride! *blech* The highlight, besides the guests, was that we were able to move the reception line to an inner courtyard (outside) that had a wall of blooming gardenias for our backdrop. To this day I just adore gardenias. On a happier note, my bratty side was under control a month later for our Utah reception. It was held at Sil's Restaurant (on the BYU diagonal in Provo) with such a beautiful garden area surrounding us, and the food and decorations were taken care of by Sil's. *glowing bride*

How was the honeymoon?
I think it was wonderful. It started out just a little weird when we had to have James' dad drive us to the airport after our first night together. We went to Disneyworld/Epcot in Orlando. We had a beautiful hotel suite thanks to my perks as a travel agent at the time. James will never forget how stupid I was to freeze a Lemonade Bar to the back of my tongue at MGM Studios (when the guy selling the frozen pops warns you, "Be careful, they are frozen!", you had better not mock him nor stick the pop next to your tonsils because you won't have any flesh on your tongue for a week).

Go Me! or "Why I'm Not a Quilter Yet"

Look what I did! This photo doesn't show the completed item with the girls' names and coach's name. Well, embarrassingly enough, I don't sew and I would appreciate you not pulling up any high quality resolutions--thank you very much! I just got a little 'bee in my bonnet' and when I was at last Saturday's opening day at the soccer fields, my eyes were always drawn to the cutest, home made team banners. Since our team's banner was still unmade, I decided that Jenna's team would get one of those--and it was up to me. How gallant, I thought. Well, as you can see, experience was not behind me. I felt like I was back in 7th grade sewing class with Miss Hanson tsk-tsking over my shoulder. I know enough about using a sewing machine to know when I'm cheating. I cheated a lot on this Ladybug banner. I'm still laughing at the bunched-up mass jammed around the feeder area. I hate to ask...but "what am I doing wrong?" So, the banner took 2 days to figure out, and I was ready to display it proudly today at Jenna's game. Jenna has other plans. She plans on being sick and not playing her game today. I reluctantly agree. She was up coughing a lot last night. Thank goodness I have a blog to document this momentous occasion. By the way, I did a banner for Brielle's team last year. It was nice, but I learned that hot-glueing fabric is just not as sturdy as the sewn fabric.

My sister is great because....

I have the best sister. That is her -upside down- in the photo. I'm the shy blond one above. This photo was taken at a Mexican playground (heh). Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of us as kids (at the moment). I'm sure it's because several years back, mom was tired of all the photos lying around the house and she divvied them up, gave us all our own albums, and we made our own 'scrapbooks'. As an 8 year old, I only grabbed the photos with me. But lets chat about my sister... She blogged the nicest things about me in her quilting blog. She said I was the cool sister. If cool means I'm the one who is less responsible, less organized, less talented, less persevering--but has a nice ride and a Wii---then she is correct. I'm that girl. You know when you do something amazing that really makes you want to pat your own back? I come across one of those moments and can't wait to share it with my sister. Chances are..she already has a library of those moments to relate to. Yes, I took up knitting and then found out that she had been in an internet group of quilters for a couple of years. A couple of quilts? No! She had several. I learned to make my own Freezer Jam last summer. It turns out that my sister already has a stock-pile of her own Freezer Jam and even has a better recipe! I harvested my cherry tomatoes. She has a Martha Stewart-type of garden with several kinds of veggies, about a dozen herbs, and fruit trees. Our family has a Wii (because if nothing else, it makes my kids have to stand to play--that's exercise, right?), but her family has the trampline. My kids LOVE the trampoline. My sister's kids are super smart (I couldnt stop staring at their end-of-year reports that decorated the fridge) because they got their parents genes....my kids are "social" at school (sorry kids, thats all your parents gave you). For those of you who know her, she is so kind and has tons of good advice. She was recently put in charge of the women in her congregation at church. She looks after their needs and welfare and is just a great friend to all. They love her, and are so fortunate to have her. I just wish I lived next to her *tears are welling up*. Go to her blog and get to know her. Then you will think I'm cool cuz I have her for a sister!

"Does this garage make my car look fat?"

So, who knew that a Denali is over 18 ft long? Our garage is about that, but with some ramshackle shelves in front of the intended vehicle.

After parking in the garage with the door shut, we managed to jam the Denali inside with
3 inches to spare in front.....

....and 3 1/2 inches in back! Whew!

I really think a new (larger) garage attached to a new house would have been easier to achieve, instead of cleaning out a spot for this big car! But we did it!

Hmmm...I have been tagged!

My dear friend Audrey has tagged me. I always like to fill out questionnaires, hoping that I'll get someone to respond with their more exciting version..

Jobs I have had:
Hawaiian Shave Ice maker
Video store clerk (my boss said I didn't have to preview ALL of the R-rated shows) hee hee
Waitress at Big Boy
Print shop bookmaker
Craft service for a movie
Travel reservationist

Movies I never get sick of:
Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour version is my fave)
Overboard
Heaven Can Wait
The Wedding Singer
The Italian Job
Ferris Beuhler's Day Off
The Princess Bride
Foul Play
Audrey and I could pretty much put our feet up and watch the same movies, I think. I stole a lot of hers.

Places I've called Home:
Provo, Utah
St. George, Utah
Various towns in Saskatoon and Manitoba
Calabasas, Thousand Oaks, and Newbury Park, California

Favorite TV Shows:
The Office
The Wonder Years (yeah...its still a favorite rerun)
The Deadliest Catch
America's Funniest Home Videos
Dirty Jobs


Favorite Vacation Spots:
anywhere there is good food served to me, and cleaned up for me, and the kids don't need me....
..I guess that means a cruise ship to anywhere.
Park City, Utah is also fabulous--and smells wonderful any time of year!

Favorite Web Sites:
all my friends' blogs
The Idea Door (for church songs for kids)
I-Am-Bored.com (I spend WAY too much time there)

Would you bungee jump?
Heck yeah

Favorite Cereal?
Frosted Shredded Wheat

The last thing I ate:
A Rolo. I wanted the last Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but James gave me a pouty face.

The Last Person I talked to on the phone:
The office secretary from my daughter's school.

What I am listening to:
At least 2 noisy fans which aren't able to drown out the sound of the cars on the highway. Teddy Gieger's CD, Underage Thinking.

Eye Color:
Blue

Summer or Winter:
Summer in Utah Valley...hands down!

Scary or Happy endings?
Never scary. Never scary.

Tag YOU are it!
I hope I get responses from my sister and Marilee and Jolynn---because you read my blogs sometimes.

Back to School for us!

School is in session! We have a 10th grader, an 8th grader, a 4th grader, and the 1st grader. When did that 8th grader get so much taller than our 10th grader? I was hanging around the PTA sign-ups just enough to sign up for the Walk-a-Thon. I'll do my usual Tuesday (Get Paid Day) at the school, but I'll start a bit earlier. Hey--who doesnt want to watch other people's children at 7:50 in the morning? My kids aren't keen to it. They know that if Dad can't take them to school...EVERYONE gets to their campuses extra early (if they want a ride). What troopers .....muahahaa!

When asked by their dad how the first day of school went--the oldest said, "It was okay." The next one said, "It was boring." Of course, that was the girl with poor eyesight and wears black. The 3rd girl said, "I really liked it! My teacher is SO nice!" And the youngest didn't want to talk about her teacher, "Now I'm talking about me now! I really like being in 1st grade! I only have 2 other kids from my last class. One is Austin James...you know dad--like your name. And the other is Cesar Oros. Thats it! And I can't believe Mia is in my class!" We got quite the earful.

Bye-bye Dodge Caravan...

Here we go! We got the Denali...and it is nice! Funny how beautifully cars have evolved since we bought our first family car...13 YEARS ago. Our Denali is a 2005, but has been babied. We are very grateful to the previous owner. :) The criteria for our daughters? It had to have a working DVD system. Check! Alas, I don't understand why the DVD screens have to be so tiny. Yes, they CAN make them bigger, but not in our case. Oh- was that me whining? Now it is official...the Roomba (vacuum) has now been replaced as the favorite non-human member of the family. Roomba stays a close second. The Roomba just can't get us comfortably to our Utah destination.

Happy birthday, Jenna

We celebrated Jenna's birthday at a fun place named Jolly Jumps. So much fun! It is a warehouse with a room of about 6 inflatable things and a rock wall to climb. The time went by too fast. Jenna and her sisters could not be a cuter set!

We love our friends!








I just had to show my lovely harvest! Could there be a prettier addition to a garden? This cute basket is going to a friend. I guess I need to include a recipe for lots of cherry tomatoes!

Any suggestions?

Click here for a YouTube video

I LOVE this song and the video with it is adorable! I was born in '66, and that cute couple could have been my beautiful parents (but mom had the platinum blond 'do going on).

..its going to be tough when school starts for the kids...and me...

Well, it may surprise you, but I have a moment to post something. I know the last two times I had started, "Something suddenly came up" (yep, Im quoting Marcia Brady) Since the last post the family has been to a family reunion in Irvine, California, went to the Getty Museum, we got a Wii, and are in the midst of getting a big, gas-sucking Denali. Life is good. Here I am with my reunion family team playing "Up and Down Pineapple". Ill spare the details--but why not embarrass yourself in front of your husband's family? I may have done that. I got very wrapped up in this reunion and even signed up to be on the next committee! Now looking back--I really have no business planning a get-together for 4 generations of strangers!

mid-july faves

I dont know about you, but I just love summer. I just love, love, love it! I expressed this to sweet Monica today as we were driving home from her dentist appointment; being in the car together with our Jamba Juices, with the sun shining down, with the air conditioner---is the best. I just love getting to hang out with my girls. But another Best for me is being in the garden each morning before anyone is awake. I am going to have oodles of cherry tomatoes in another week. But the tomatoes are only accentuated by the basil planted strategically in front. Basil in the morning air is a rush...and you can't help bumping into it. Sadly, my basil this year is a gruesome sight---but it is doing its part as an air freshener!
James' knee is getting back to normal. Hes' been gimpy for so long, he has to re-learn to walk straight again. I think that is all the Physical Therapy he cares to do.......jk James!
I am also becoming a late-night junkie. I feel like a rebellious teen again and refuse to put myself to bed at a decent hour! This is only self-defeating because I only miss out on the best part of the morning hours when I do that. hee hee