October Birthdays

October is the month we celebrate two of my favorite people's birthdays.  My brothers Danny and Bill.  They melt my heart.  Danny and I are closest in age (he is 7 years older than I am).  We were the only two living at home for most of my childhood memories.  We fought like crazy, but we are still buddies.  He by far had the hardest life of any one person I know.  But we could always talk.  Sometimes he didn't like the "little sister lectures" that he got, but he'd call back.  

9 years ago he was brutally attacked and has traumatic brain injury.  He remembers things from when we were kids, but nothing of his attack or the time period surrounding that part of his life.  Which is great!  He's happy, except when I tickle him.  He really gets mad.  But it's so fun to tease him!  Unfair advantage, but you know what they say about payback!!  

He thinks he's 30 years old.  Yep, 7 years older.  haha  Mom and I had a great time visiting for him for his "30th birthday".

My other special brother is Bill.  He was born with Cerebral Palsy.  He's not real chatty.  In fact, if you get 10 words out of the guy, you did pretty good!  He's too cute.  He just turned 62.  Bill is my 2nd oldest brother.  He loves dumping out birthday cards, opening presents, and going out to eat.  Apparently he loves the Dodgers, too, cuz he took in a lot of Dodger loot tonight at his party.

Happy birthday to two of my big bros.  I love you tons!!

2nd Annual Ward Campout

This year our stake bought in to a campground with some other stakes, and we get an awesome deal when camping there.  So this will probably be our new place to camp as a ward.  Which is okay by everyone we got comments from.  

There was shooting

 and archery

Joy was a great shot!!  (at rifle shooting too)

 and swimming, although the water was FREEZING!

 And so much wildlife!!  This hawk was HUGE!!!  I thought maybe it was a statue, but then I saw it's feathers blowing in the breeze.  We walked around to the other side and it turned it's head a little, but it just sat there and was waiting for breakfast.

It's hard to see, but there are deer here.  A large buck with amazing horns and 2 doe, and a baby.  

and people having a great time :)

 I don't have the zip-line pictures yet, but THAT was fun!!  I was a little afraid to do it, but heck, if Joy can do it I HAVE to do it!  haha  If it wasn't such a long line and so many people waiting for turns, I would've done it again and again.  

It was rushed, like everything else we do, but it was fun.  I heard lots of feedback that people want to start doing a ward campout twice a year.  Sounds like a great idea!!!

My Luchadores

I wanted to have a lot of family time this summer since the kids wouldn't be home from college for long, and since we only had a couple weeks to spend with Troy between his mission and college.  When I saw the Padres schedule of giveaways and saw Luchadore Night, I couldn't contain myself.  We aren't super big sports fans, but I thought it would be a lot of fun and knew the kids would like the masks.

 

David has some pretty good hook ups from work, and we got 4 awesome seats right behind the Padres dugout.  We were one seat shy, and asked our friend Harrison, who works for the Padres, to try to get us another ticket in the same area so we could all go.  We made it work and had a fun time.  The Padres even won!! 

 

from our seats

 

My Luchadores

 

It was a blast!!!!

Decathalon Challenge

One day Troy & Eric were talking a lot of smack to each other.  They came up with the idea to see who was better at more things, and asked David to plan a decathalon of games and see who was the ultimate best.  David thought it only fitting to include Jason, to Eric's dismay.  It took awhile to find the time to get things done, and some challenges had to be changed (like racing up Cowles Mtn due to the heat & lack of time - Eric was SOOOO happy about that cancellation).  Here are some of the things they did...

 

juggling, tennis, bop it extreme, spit the gumball as far as you can, pool, shotgun shooting, hackeysack, flipping quarters from the arm to hand and a hard computer game.  (I'm sure I'm forgetting some.  And they never made it for basketball freethrows and paper airplanes.)  It was hilarious to watch.  They sure got competitive and gave each other a hard time, all while laughing our heads off. We remembered to take some pictures along the way.

 

Shotgun shooting

Pool 

Spitting Gumballs

 

Quarter Game

Hackey Sack

 

Computer Game

 

Tennis

 

When David planned the games, he tried to make it all random things that nobody would have a giant lead.  It's funny that we didn't know that Troy learned how to juggle in 5th grade and killed the other two, and that Eric had played the computer game before and beat the other two by quite a bit.  It was so fun and I'm glad those two came up with such an idea.  It was such fun family bonding time.



Labor Day Pool Party

It's the end of summer, and as always, we have to go out with a bang!  It seems like our pool parties are a big hit, guessing by the number of people that attend.  Sometimes I wonder if people are just over them, but they still come, so I guess not.  It's also been really hot, so who wouldn't want to cool off? 

This time we had about 80 people.  This first picture below is my attempt at doing a panoramic picture on my iphone.  Yeah, it didn't work.  But I think I was able to capture the good time everyone was having.

I went in the pool for a little while to cool off, but it was just a little too crowded for me.  But it did feel good!!

Not sure what they were doing, but good action shot!

The jacuzzi is a good way for the shy-not-so-sure-if-I-want-to-swim beginners.  They were also probably afraid of all those crazy people!

Food, fun & friends.

Some were just plain worn out after a couple of hours of fun in the sun.  I couldn't resist a picture Mason & Lillian napping & reading.  Lillian fell asleep.  Mason woke up and started patting her arm to wake her up.  Pretty darn cute!

 

Summer, I always hate to see you go.  You're my fave.

Swim Lessons

A couple years ago Jason was trying to figure out how to earn money during the summer.  He's only home for about 6 weeks, so no company wants to hire him for that short amount of time.  David came up with the idea of him teaching swim lessons.  It's a perfect fit because kids LOVE Jason, and he's so good with them.  Word got out and he quickly filled up his roster. 

 

Before he comes home for summer, people are lining up trying to get their best dates on his schedule.

 Summer is winding down, and so are his swim lessons.  He had another great year (each year he gets more students) and he loves his summer job!  And he doesn't have too far to travel.  As he walks out the back door, he says, "See you later, Mom.  I'm going to work now."

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are a few of the kids he taught this year. I think he had a series of 7 lessons.  They have all improved so much.  That young man is working himself out of a job :)  Hopefully our friends will keep having more kids or keep spreading the word.  haha  And of course they get a certificate at the end of their session.  Good job, Jason! (and b, s, k, m & j)

All I Can See Are Files, and Files, and Files

One thing about having to move a parent of of their house into a little apartment is that you get to determine what is a keeper and what is needed to dispose of. (I couldn't have done this without my sister's help!) 

 My parents kept AMAZING records.  I even found their books from the laundromat that they owned back in 1977.  Crazy!!  But some things are necessary to keep, and so I have boxes and boxes of files to go through to determine what needs to be saved.  I know my mom would love me to keep everything just as is, but my house can't hold all her belongings either.

Then there's the sentimental things, and a few Christmas decorations that we want to save to have her apartment feel the holiday spirit.

There are also all of her computer disks she saved, and floppies that I need to go through.

 Besides keeping great books, my parents loved to take pictures and videos. (Long story, even LONGER videos...family joke.)

 

This doesn't even begin to show all the floppies, CDS, VHS and HI8's to go through.  There are boxes and boxes and boxes of videos I still need to pick up...and put somewhere.  It's so fun to go through. The memories, hearing my dad's voice, and seeing him play with the boys when they were little.  Gosh, they were fun grandparents.  I had fun grandparents too, and I hope to be a super fun, spoil your grandkids rotten kind of grandma...in a few years :) 

 

When my dad knew his time was short, he made recordings for my brother Danny who was in a coma, to try to help him through his struggles to come back to us.  He sang Danny Boy and other songs, played his harmonica, and told him how much he loved him and to come back.

  And he did. 

And I know it worked.

We are all so blessed to have had him in our lives.  And I'm thankful for not just memories but of these keepsakes he made for us.  Thanks, Dad!

Beach Camping

One our our funnest things to do is to go beach camping.  We haven't been in a few years, and wanted to go this year when we knew the boys would be home from college.  We weren't able to get a campsite, but our friends were, so they were kind enough to share with our loud, crazy family.  As luck would have it, we had other friends camping there too.  It made it a lot of fun. 

 

There was a beach football game, surfing, boogie boarding, sand castle making, tunnel digging and getting stuck in, bonfires, bbq'ing, s'mores, woof'ems, puking, bike riding, walks, stair climbing, 3 bee stings, road rash, grumpiness, laughter, air soft shooting, napping, reading, resting and a great time!  Already looking forward to next time.

Road Trip!!

David went to girls camp, and was gone on our 25th Anniversary!!  He knew he had to make that up to me, and since scout camp was the following week (and Eric wasn't home), he planned a road trip.  David HATES road trips.  But he knew the thing that would make me the happiest was to see our kids.  He emailed me an itinerary one day.  We stuck to the plan...

 

Day 1

We stopped at my FAVORITE store to shop.  (He really does love me, doesn't he???)

Okay, well Tai Pan wasn't on HIS itinerary, but it was mine!!

 

We got to our hotel early, so we rode the roller coaster.  It's been a few years since I've ridden one.  But it was sooooooo fun!!

 

David LOVES the Big Bang Theory.  When I wear my sweats he calls me Penny.

 

We love the movie BIG.  We saw this and couldn't resist taking a picture.  When we got back to the hotel, the movie was on.  That was so funny!

 

It was hot.  Why in the world did we travel AWAY from the Pacific Ocean where there is a cool breeze & where it cools down at night, to this???

We went to see Criss Angel.  That was a lot of fun! 

 

 

Day 2

 

We went to Tooele to visit friends and had dinner with them.  Then we headed off to Salt Lake City.  By the time we got there, Temple Square was almost closed.  But we took a few pictures and walked around.  And it's always fun being with my bestie.

 

Day 3

 

There were miles and miles and miles...of construction.  It was a long, slow, painful drive.  I took this picture for our friend, Jerry, who just left for his mission.  Jerry is going to Boise, Idaho.  Oh, good luck, kiddo!!

 

 

 

The best thing about Idaho are these guys!!

We had so much fun with them.  We laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time.  Of course, when your husband is as funny as mine, you're in for a real treat. 

 

If you're ever in Rigby, Idaho.  This is one fun place to mini golf :)

 

Lillian's shoe kept coming untied, so David had to help her. 

 

Was it worth the drive to see them?  Ahhh, probably once :)  I definitely won't roll my eyes quite as bad when Jason complains how long of a drive it is, though!

 

Day 4

 

There was a some of this.  Thankfully not as much as was forecasted.

Our view for the evening.

 

Day 5

We had to stop at the local boat store and check out to see what is there.  Unfortunately, not as much to look at compared to all the boats we saw on our drive.  We had to check out each one to see if it was the right kind.  There may be a lot of places to boat in Utah & Idaho, but I think we'll stay in our lovely San Diego.  You don't realize how great you have it until you go away for a few days.

Home, Sweet Home!!