a birthday celebration

On Saturday we celebrated our youngest niece Leilan's 1st birthday. She actually turns one on the 5Th, but we celebrated early since it falls on a holiday weekend. She was as cute as could be and it was a fun party had by all. The kids played so hard all day and mine came home filthy dirty, just as kids should! :) The big boys enjoyed some wiffel ball and football, but I just stayed in the shade and watched from a cool distance and enjoyed the conversations. Yes, it was a HOT one!! There was also some extreme jump rope going on with the adults, but I didn't get any pictures of it...too bad because it was quite the sight. A great day spent with great family...can't ask for much more!

Chloe and Trey playing some footballChloe and Christian using some team workSavyChloe being sillyChristian hanging out with dadChase and KoryLeilani, our birthday girl

swim time

Last Wednesday the kids and I headed to Marci's for some fun in the pool. They sure did have fun and I got my first sun burn of the season and a bad one at that!!

a few dates in history

So I feel like I can't let the event's of the past few days go by without documenting them for my journal. I don't know why it's such a big deal when a celebrity dies, maybe because we live in CA and it's such a star magnet.

It's said that death comes in 3's and this week was no exception. On Tuesday, June 23rd Ed McMahon died and then on Thursday June 25th Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died. While Ed and Farrah had been sick and battling for their lives for a while the death of Michael Jackson was a surprise to the public. He was an extremely private person, but we did know that he was planning some come back tours very soon.

I have to admit that I was not a huge MJ fan, but I remember that my mom was as well as a ton of other people. She just loved to watch him dance!! And the thought of that aways makes me smile. No matter what controversy surrounded him in his lifetime he was an amazing entertainer and will always be the "King of Pop."

Michael Jackson
1958-2009

Michael Jackson died Thursday afternoon (June 25) at the age of 50 after suffering cardiac arrest, according to the Los Angeles Times. Reports say the legendary pop singer suffered cardiac arrest at his home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills and was not breathing and had no pulse when paramedics arrived after a 911 call around 12:26 p.m. PT. They administered CPR in the ambulance but were unable to revive him. At the hospital, staff attempted to resuscitate Jackson, but he was unresponsive.



Farrah Fawcett was best know for being one of the three original Charlie's Angels and of course one of the first on-screen sex symbols.
Who can forget this famous pin-up of her that was a top seller!



And Ed McMahon was best know as Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show and Star Search.

some play time

So yesterday I decided to take the kids out to just run wild. I have been battling migraines for the past few days and thought that some fresh air might help...well it didn't, but the kids had fun!

I took the camera along just for fun. I have learned not to ask for too much from these two, but truth is sometimes the unexpected makes for the best shots. These aren't perfect in any way, but they are in others. They are my kiddos and I love them to pieces!!

a going away party

On Saturday we had a very special celebration. Veronica, Greg's wife, planned a going away surprise party for him. Greg recently graduated from law school and will soon be leaving to join the JAG elite in the U.S. Army. He actually will leave us on July 4Th to start his 6 month training and then will be stationed in Hawaii with his family. This is bitter sweet for the family...we are so proud of him and happy as well, but we will miss them terribly. No worries though...we WILL be visiting them in paradise. :)

Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Surprise!!Here are all the sis-in-laws for those who may not know.From left to right there is Lizeth, Marci, Kristin(Dustin's twin), Veronica, me and Nikki.I better pick a better pose next time cause I look like the prego one! LOLAll the bro-in-laws. From left to right there is Monty, Greg, Dustin, Erik, Ryan and Andy.Dustin fixing the music.Chloe sharing the baby doll that she stole from the nursery with Leilani.Savy doing a strip tease...OK maybe her pants just fell down while she was dancing!!

let's catch up!!

Well the past two weeks or so have gone by in a blur. We have been busy doing family stuff and I've been really concentrating on some photography stuff along with just the busy everyday things that we all have to do. :)

So let me think back a bit...

Dustin's cooking again...burgers this time...this pic really doesn't do it justice!Chloe likes to crawl into bed with Christian every night at bed time now.Made some awesome fresh lemonade from some lemons we got at our youth camp fundraiser.Chloe on her own with mashed potatoes for the first time.We put a little pool up in the backyard for those hot days that we can't make it over to Grandpa's and the big pool. Christian gave his first talk in Primary at church on 6/14 about prayer. Well dad held him and gave the talk for him.We also snuck over to Disneyland one final time before we were blocked out for the summer.I think we went on Winnie the Pooh 5 times that evening because Christian has been in love with it for the past 3 trips I think...funny kid!

I love what I do!!!

Can I just say that I love my job!!!


It just doesn't get much better....:)

baseball anyone?

Last Wednesday we decided to take the kids to their first baseball game. Dustin had been really itching to go and so spur of the moment we went! We went to a local minor league teams game. The 66ers are the minors to the LA Dodgers, we thought this would be a good way to start to see if the kids could handle sitting through it.

We actually sat on the visiting teams side because it was less crowded for the kids. Good choice...they were able to roam a bit and had fun. I think we ate all the goodies that you are supposed to at a game. We had popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, cracker jacks, and I had to get the cheese fries. :) Christian really had no idea what was going on with the game, but he still enjoyed them hitting the ball and he also loved the mascot and the dancers...what a boy!

It was a good time had by all and I'm sure we will be doing this again.

Chloe was dancing half the night!