Oh man....

tonight at the dinner table we are talking and watching the baseball game.  Right before they go to commercial they show Alcatraz Prison.  Pete rewinds it and tells the kids look at this to which Ryan replies "Oh that looks haunted".  Pete and looked at each other and laughed.  Then Pete tells them it is Alcatraz and Ryan says "Oh I have seen Alcatraz in a Scooby Doo movie before."  He goes on to tell us all about the movie and how someone lost their right hand from a shark attack in 1986 when he tried to escape.  HOLY COW....REALLY?  The memory and the detail in the memory on this kid is amazing.  He has seen every scooby doo movie ever made!  He has been a fanatic or has he says a "fan of Scooby Doo" since he was 2.  The fact that he can reference them and pull out facts that he remembers from them is so cool!  I love his brain and I love him!!!  He is such an awesome kid.  I have a house full of awesom kids!!!  I am truly blessed!  Thank you Ryan for making me smile tonight!

Uncle Randy

This may or may not flow and make sense.  I am not sure how it will work out.  I haven't even begun to deal with the loss so my feelings are all over the place.  I am just going to write and I may re-write at a later time.  My Uncle Randy went to be with Jesus on Tuesday.  Even as I am typing it my heart still refuses to believe it.  I just know that if I called him he would answer the phone.  He went in for what they thought was going to be a routine surgery, at least that's what I was told, and during surgery he had a heart attack.  He was on life support and in the ICU.  He seemed to improve over the first 24 hours, but that didn't last long.  He had a long list of health problems and I guess in some eyes this was inevitable, but in mine he was indestructible.  Between Saturday and Sunday my Aunt Elaine noticed a change in her husband, how amazing to know someone so well that even when they couldn't communicate to you that something had changed you could see it!  The doctors ran tests and discovered he had a stroke.  That was the straw that broke the camels back I guess.  Tuesday they took his tube out and within minutes he left this world and went to a better, brighter place.  My aunt said that he was peaceful and comfortable when he passed.  I guess if you have to go you can't ask for much more than that.  That's how he died, but I have so many memories of how he lived!  I don't even know if I can describe how special he is to me.  Next to my dad their isn't another man that holds that kind of place in my heart.  He was honery and funny and loud and one of the sweetest men God ever created.  He was full of life and spunk and he was who he was!!  Everybody who knew Randy loved Randy.  You couldn't help but love him, he was such a force!  I remember as a child going to his house and my cousins and my brother and I would want to walk to the store so they would send me to ask him for money because we all knew he wouldn't say no.  As we would walk down the street we would laugh because we could hear my mom and my aunt Elaine laughing so loudly and mostly at whatever was coming out of my uncle Randy's mouth.  Their laughter would carry all the way down the street.  There was one time when I wanted a Popple and for whatever reason, I am sure it was a good one, I wasn't getting it from my parents.  When I got to my uncle's house I told him that I wanted one, but my mom and dad didn't buy me one so he took me to the store and bought it for me.  I remember getting in trouble for standing on a chair and reaching across the table for food so my uncle picked me up and sat me down in the middle of the table and told me I could have whatever I wanted.  I remember spending weeks during the summertime with them and having the best time of my life.  I remember my parents and my aunt and uncle going out while we stayed at the house with my cousins and they let us watch Goonies, lol, we all got in trouble for that one.  I remember going out to Kettleman City to ride dirt bikes and falling off, my uncle walked over to me, told me to stop crying and get back on the bike.  Tough love!  He was good at that too.  I remembr as a teenager I was at my boyfriend's house and I got a call telling me to come home and bring my boyfriend with me.  When we pulled up my uncle was standing outside waiting for us.  HOLY CRAP I thought.  I walked up and gave him a hug and he told me to go in the house.  I of course did as I was told, but I was worried.  He had a little heart to heart with my boyfriend about what his intentions where and how he was going to treat me and what would happen if he didn't listen.  LOL, he broke up with me a few days later, guess it wasn't meant to be.  I will always hold onto all of my great memories with my uncle and his entire family.  Thankfully I can continue to make memories with them and share in our memories of him.  He was one of  a kind! 

Now I think the hardest part of dealing with all the pain is the pain that keeps coming.  I had intended on going to visit him on Friday, but I was not able to get away and do that.  Therefore I did not get to see him before he passed.  No final goodbye, I didn't get to kiss him one last time or hold his hand.  And to top it all off I don't even get to go to his funeral and be a part of that.  I have never felt pain like this before...     

11 Month Old

I am late on this one too.  Emily you amaze me everyday.  I don't know why I deserve to be so blessed, but I am thankful. 

• You pick everything up so quickly.  We show you 1 time and then you do it.
• You are "talking" like crazy and you have a handful of correct words.
• You love to climb on everything.
• You have now progressed to running.
• We have not found a food yet that you do not like.  Onions, peppers, beans (of all kinds), mushrooms, avacado, brocoli, spinach, kiwi, banana, apple, orange, rice, chicken, celery, carrots and the list goes on.  You are an excellent eater!
• You love to be outside.  Anytime anyone opens and then closes the door to the outside you cry because you want to go.
• You have quite the little attitude!  When you don't want something or someone you have started to give the stink eye and swat at the person or thing that you don't want along with a grunt.
• You shake your head no.
• You pout and it is so funny!
• You love to snuggle and give hugs.
• You are SUCH a daddy's girl!!

You are growing very quickly and learning at super speed.  We love you and we are so happy that God blessed us with you!  It has been an amazing 11 months.

Ryan turns 7

I should have done this on Sunday, his birthday, but things have been so crazy around here I didn't have the chance.  So we are just going to pretend that I wrote it on his actual birthday, lol.

7 years ago today I gave birth, after 18 1/2 hours of labor, to the most beautiful little boy.  You were the happiest of happy babies, always smiling and laughing.  You were an active, funny and VERY SMART toddler.  And now at 7 years old you continue to be a blessing to this family everyday.  You have the sweetest little heart and you are amazingly intelligent.  You keep me on my toes, you make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me feel like such a good mommy, you are amazing and the best son in the entire world!!!  We love you little man!  Happy Birthday!! :) 

Sigh...

I just cannot believe how quickly Emily is grasping onto things.  I was really hoping she would be lazy, being the 4th and all and having 3 older siblings to do everything for her, but NO.  She is only 10 months old and she should be learning to do things she started to do 2 months ago.  She is walking and communicating so well.  She lets me know when she is hungry by pointing to her mouth and smacking her lips, when she starts to walk a little to far away from me I ask her to please come back and she immediately turns around and walks back to me, if she is asked not to put something in her mouth she won't, if she wants something she will point to it and make a noise and if she doesn't want something she will arch her back and begin to squeel LOL, but then I quickly look her and say no thank you we do not throw fits to get what we want and she stops and start using her "words".  She is amazing and I as much as I am sad that she is growing so fast I am enjoying every moment of it.  And Emily is not the only one growing too fast.  They all are.  Zayna is a freshman in high school and working her first job.  She is really showing responsibility and maturity.  She is busting butt in school and talks a lot about her future which excited me because at least she is thinking about where her choices are taking her!!  She is enjoying soccer and just signed up for the film club at school.  She is also going to be joining Future Leaders of America.  She is smart and beautiful and a HUGE help to me everyday.
Skyler is really starting to blossom from a little girl into a young lady.  She has the cutest sense of humor and is our comedian!  She keeps us laughing.  She is also pretty sassy, but we are working on that. ;)  Skyler has done so much better with soccer this year than last.  She scored a goal in her game yesterday! YAY Skyler!! She is doing better in school this year too.
Ryan is my little stud!  He loves soccer and is pretty good at it too.  He also is really enjoying TKD (Tae Kwon Do) and is excelling at that as well.  He gets to test for his yellow belt on Wednesday.  He loves to learn and he picks up one everything so quickly, just like Emily!  He has really begun to enjoy reading and has been reading chapter books that are at a 3rd or 4th grade level and will sit in his room for hours just reading.  He is like his mama there, once you get us into a good book we don't want to put it down.
 I have the most wonderful kids!! I am so blessed.  Not every day runs smooth or is perfect, but I have so many blessings to be thankful for! :)

10 Months Old

I swear just as soon as I update on a month it's time to do it again.  You are growing up too fast Ms. Emily!  Let's see what you were up to this last month:

• You now have 8 teeth.
• You wave hello and goodbye.
• You took your first steps a few weeks ago and are now walking EVERYWHERE like a pro.
• You give the best hugs.
• You love your daddy.
• You think your big brother is the best and you want to play with him all of the time.
• You are such a snuggle bug.
• You still love to nurse.
• You don't like it when your brother and sisters have to get out of the truck to go to school.
• You like to play with the toilet paper in the bathroom.
• You can say Mama, Dada, Dog, Bye and No No.
• You are a very well behaved baby.
• You have the cutest personality.
• You blow strawberries.
• You laugh a lot and you do it sometimes just to get attention.  It is SO cute.  You scrunch your eyes and laugh out loud.
• You dance everytime we turn on music.

You are definately your own little person now.  You are growing and learning so quickly.  We love every moment of everyday with you.  You are our sunshine.  You are the cutest thing to walk this earth.  I love you baby girl!!! 

9 Months Old

WOW!  I cannot believe that my baby love is 9 months old already.  SLOW DOWN, SLOW DOWN!!  Well Emily we were quite busy this month.  Let's review.

• You now have 5 teeth.
• You have climbed onto the dishwasher door and stood up attempting to help unload it.
• You have climbed onto and over any and all baracades the kids have tried to create to keep you in or out of a room.
• You are standing more now unsupported.
• You think it's funny to bite, not bite to bite, but it's more like knawing due to teething.  Either way it hurts and you find it funny.
• You give the BEST open mouth kisses.
• You are very attached to mommy, but are really starting to snuggle up to daddy more and more.
• Mommy left you for the first time with daddy and sissy for 3 hrs so I could get my hair done.
• Mommy and daddy also had our first date this month.  We went to dinner and you stayed with Grammy, Pops and Sissy.
• We went on our first family camping trip and it was your first camping trip period!  You were so awesome!!  You loved riding in the boat.
• You swung in the swings at the park for the first time and you thought that was just a blast!
• You are such a snuggle bug and we love every minute of it.
• You tried avacados and mushrooms for the first time this month and you like them.
• You clap your hands.
• You started waving.  You are the cutest!  You do the open and close hand wave with your left hand and your beauty queen wave with your right hand.
• You also moved into your "big" car seat this month.  You love it!

I know I say this every month, but that's only because it's true.  You are such a blessing and a true joy to have as a part of our family.  We love you so much Peanut.  You are the most beautiful baby and you hold all of our hearts in your little hand.  You couldn't be any more perfect!!

Edison Lake Camping Trip

Well, we are home from our final summer vacation.  For 8 years now my husband has been trying to get me to go camping with him up at Edison Lake.  It's a long time family tradition that has died down over the last 10 years.  He has really been wanting to start it up again with our family.  His mom's dad and mom camped all the time and all the kids would camp with them even after they grew up and started their own families.  Obviously the memories that were created for my husband were strong ones because he really wants to share the experience with us.  I finally gave in to the daunting thought of all this camping trip entailed.  I went for my husband.  We decided we were going for 1 week.  His mom and dad decided to join us because they had been wanting to go back up there for a long time too.  We  packed the boat and the trucks Tuesday night in preperation for leaving Wednesday morning.  We got up and headed out around 8:30 Wednesday morning.  We stopped in Fresno to borrow a rifle from his dad, we needed to be prepared!  Then we continued on our journey.  About an hour after leaving Fresno is when the drive really began to get beautiful.  Lots of green pine trees!  I love the smell of pine.  I started to think to myself "This might not be so bad".  We drove through Shaver, stopping only to grab a snack for the kids and some water for me.  Then we drove through Huntington and continued to head for Edison.  Outside of Huntington the road narrows to one lane for two way traffic.  Narrow mountain roads lined with trees.  It really wasn't so bad.  We finally arrived at Edison around 3:00 or so.  A few of us got in the boat with the 1st load and boated across the lake to the spot that my husband had been dreaming of for a long time.  The spot he camped with his family for years.  As we get closer we see that there are already people there.  This didn't set too well with my husband, he was disappointed.  So we boated along the shoreline looking for another spot.  We came across a spot that looked pretty good.  It had an entire little kitchen area built out of wood between some trees and a shelf between two other trees.  Obviously a popular spot for the hikers.  My husband was not yet impressed.  He dropped us off and went back for another load.  After 3 trips we had everyone and all of our stuff at the camp.  It was dusk now so it was mosquito city and I was FREAKING out!!  Nothing was set up so there was not place to hide.  I started to second guess why I had agreed to this.  TAKE ME HOME is all I wanted to say, but I didn't.  I sucked it up and started to help set up camp.  Day 2: Skyler, Ryan, Pete, Zayna and I went out on our morning fishing trip.  I caught a small rainbow trout.  We would have let him go except I kind of hooked him through the eye and head and he just wasn't right after that so we kept hime for food.  After that the kids enjoyed an afternoon of gathering wood, swimming and running through the forest chasing chipmunks.  That night around the fire we heard 6 gun shots.  They sounded like shots from a hand gun and then a few minutes later we heard a rifle shot.  We assumed someone shot a bear.  Day 3: Pete, Ryan, Skyler and I went on the morning fishing trip.  We were on our way back to camp when our of NOWHERE our dog Duke decides to jump out of the boat.  Now we were going about 10 miles an hour and he jumped over the front of the boat, went under the boat and was spit out by the boat propeller out the back end of the boat.  Before we realized he had jumped he was out the back end.  We turned the boat around and I grabbed him and pulled him in the boat.  He was cut up pretty good from the propeller.  We were all so horrified by what had just happened.  All I could do was hold him until we got back to shore.  We radioed to camp what had happened so they could be ready with a towel.  When we got to camp Duke got out of the boat on his own and walked up to lay down so we could look at him.  His outter cuts weren't too bad, but we were concerned about internal bleeding.  After assessing him for a few minutes we decided that we needed to try to get him some help.  My husband and my father-in-law took him to the pack station where they vet their own animals and had them look at him.  They said nothing was broken and as far as internal bleeding we just ahve to keep an eye on him and watch his bowel movements for blood.  While at the pack station Pete also confirmed that the gun shots we heard the night before took out a bear they had been having problems with.  We were all shaken up pretty good for the rest of the day, but the kids had another afternoon of swimming and playing.  That evenings fish I caught a 16 inch German Brown.  Day 4: More fishing, more fish, caught by Pete and I, now we were in a competition to out fish each other LOL!  Had a storm this day.  Thunder, lightening and rain.  Another gun shot around the fire that night.  Day 5: Confirmed that the gun shot was another bear.  Fished, played, swam, gathered more wood and had another storm.  More rain and thunder.  Storms are quite different when you are over 9,000 feet up!  By today Duke was doing really well.  He was chasing chipmunks again and jumping up and down out of chairs and off of logs.  Our miracle dog bounced back and survived an insane accident.  He gave us quite the scare!  I am also thinking by this point that as much as I can't wait to get home I really like it here.  It's peaceful and beautiful and there was no one, but us.  Day 6: Fished, swam, played and enjoyed our last day at Edison Lake.  Hung around the fire a little longer this night.  I think we were all a little sad that we were going home the next day.  Day 6: Pete, Ryan and I went out for one last fish.  Pete and I didn't catch anything, but Ryan caught two rainbow trouts within 10 minutes of each other.  Then we went back to camp, packed up and headed home.  My kids learned how to find and chop wood for the fire, create a wind break with some rope and blankets (thank you Grammy), how to gut a fish (thank you daddy) and some other survival skills that will stay with them for a lifetime.  We can't wait to go back next year and every year after that!!

Roughin' It

For the last 8 years my husband has been begging me to go camping with him.  It's not that I am against camping, I actually enjoy camping.  However, our ideas of camping are somewhat different.  I think of the Sequoias, or up in the canyon or even over by the beach.  Pitch a tent, have a camp fire, smores, games you know stuff like that.  Pete's version of camping: Drive 4 hours, go over Kaiser Pass ( a VERY narrow and steap road), boat across the lake (30 min trip which has to be made multiple times to get all people and gear across the lake), hike (small hike, but still a hike) to camp site, bring rifle in case of bears, shower bag for showers every 2-3 days, fish most of the day so we can eat, and a portable toilet set over a hole dug by yours truly.  WHAT?  SERIOUSLY?  Oh my, oh my.  I have finally caved in and am giving him his family camping trip.  This is where he grew up camping.  His grandparents and entire family used to go every year.  I am terrified!  I know we will have fun, I am looking forward to spending time with him and the kids, I am excited about being in the beautiful mountains too, but there are definately parts of this experience I am still dreading.  I will make the best of it for my husband.  I will not complain or make things difficult.  I will make sure that he enjoys this vacation!!  So before we leave on Wednesday for our week long camping adventure I am going to spend the next two days finding all of the positives and getting myself ready to enjoy my husband's way of camping.  

I did it!

Yesterday I went to the salon and I did it.  I chopped off ALL of my hair.  My haircut is definately shorter than I had wanted to go and I am going to have to get used to it, but good news is I don't hate it.  I didn't leave the salon and cry!  LOL!  I actually like it.  I think I will like it more once it grows out just a little bit, but all in all I am happy.  It was a whole new experience washing it in the shower this morning.  I feel almost bald.  I am happy that, shower included, it only took me 45 minutes to get ready this morning.  Shower, hair and makeup.  If I had performed that routine with my old hairstyle it would have been almost 2 hours of getting ready.  I must say it was kind of nice.  :)

Before

After