The Johnson Zoo

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2010-07-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tim & Helen's Wedding

2010-01-26T12:16:00.001-08:00

On Saturday we headed down to San Diego for Matt's cousin's wedding. It was in Balboa Park -- can't believe I've never been there, it was way pretty. The ceremony was pretty - everybody looked awesome. And the reception was super nice - inside a museum! Didn't quite get to sit with Matt by the time we wrangled 3 kids into the room, finding 5 seats together was impossible. But I got to sit with Tiffany and Midi so we had fun anyway! Eric chatted with cousin Ethan about Star Wars trivia. Kelly was fascinated with pretty dresses and the concept of getting married. And Ryan and Daddy, well I dunno what they did - they were at another table ;). When it was time for throwing the bouquet Kelly was excited to join in - until she got trampled and got hurt. Luckily we found a rose that had fallen off the bouquet so she quickly recovered. Then the boys tried for the garter with no luck. We found that Kelly is quite the dancer and was constantly moving even after we were trying to leave. Eric has gained a little embarrassment about his dancing (remember he used to be the life of the party at weddings?!) and didn't really want to dance much. Ryan was more on the fence - wanted to dance with me more than anything LOL. Oh and I got to meet Lincoln - the youngest Trout family member. What an adorable little guy!!! Too bad they live all the way in Washington :(. Anyway, it was definitely a fun night. And congratulations to Tim and Helen!

Let it Snow

2010-01-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

We just had a really good storm last week. Good for us cuz we love snow - but most people just got a ton of rain that caused flooding and mudslide scares. We totaled 4 feet of the white stuff and had 2 days off school. One of my drives home from picking up the boys from school was in near white out conditions. Almost missed my street! The kids had fun playing and sledding. The dogs had fun digging in it. We had fun shoveling non stop, wait uh not really. We did discover that Duke will jump to catch a snowball - never misses either! It's so funny to watch him get so excited and fly through the air. We're waiting on another small storm this week to bring us a little more snow. Can't wait! It has been so beautiful here lately. Did I mention we loooove the snow??

And I just had to share this video . . . Ryan decided to help shovel and thought that if he ran into the snow with the shovel it would get more snow :).

Boy Scout Pinewood Derby Race

2010-01-25T20:33:00.000-08:00

Eric is in Cub Scouts now. He's a tiger. He is loving it so far. Even earned an archery set from selling popcorn! This month we had to make a pine car.

After picking his design, Eric needed Daddy to cut it out. But Eric didn't really care for this part.

Although was super excited with the outcome.

Eric did a ton of sanding to smooth off his creation and after Mommy and Eric painted it and applied super cool transfer decals, we thught it was the coolest car ever :).

Then Daddy and Eric sanded and polished the axles so we could compete with the big boys.

After a few cracks and mishaps, tons of hiding weights, we got it done (or so we thought) on race day. Course once we got there, we had to glue on a bunch of coins to get one more ounce.

After about 20 races between all 7 Tiger Cubs (in which Eric only lost once or twice!), it came down to the final race between Eric and Brennan . . .

Look at that close finish! Yeah for Tiger Champion Eric!!

Then it was off to racing the champion Bears, Wolves, Webelos 1s & 2s. Yeah, my kid beat em all! Ok, I'm not at the race anymore - now I can brag :).

Then after the official races, he lost a wheel racing his freinds . . .

And his cool spark plug trophy. Hopfully the wheel will be replaced soon so he can show off the car to everyone ;).

Excited little kid!

Bringing in the New Year

2010-01-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

And finally to this month . . . we'll start with our trip to Bass Lake to visit the Canells. They've only been gone a little while but we miss them terribly. So we hopped in the car on New Year's and went up there to stay a couple days. Got there just in time to watch the ball drop.

We lounged around most of the time. Played some games. Took a beautiful hike. And introduced them to geocaching. The boys played a lot of Battleship and Wii. The girls played tons of princesses and giggled all weekend. Even had to have matching hair :). Kelly never stops talking about what she did with Natalie! Wish we could have stayed longer and I'm trying to figure out when to do it again. I really miss my friend!!

December

2010-01-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

1. The kids were in the Christmas musical at Church. Both boys had speaking parts and sang a bunch of traditional Christmas songs. Kelly got to sing O Christmas Tree with her pre-k class and did really well. Course I'm biased :).

2. We got our second snow of the season . . . much more this time. Kelly and I built a pitiful snowman. Which Duke tried to eat - and later the boys destroyed. We discovered that Duke will fetch snowballs - literally dig em back out of the ground if he misses them! Crazy dog.

3. We FINALLY found our septic tank!!!! If you didn't know, we've (translate - I have)been digging holes in our yard for about a year now trying to find the tank with a few horrible sketches as reference points. We finally paid a company to find it and it took them a few weeks . . . but we're finally done! They even said our tank stumped them. At least the experts had a hard time too, and it wasn't just me.

4. Then came Christmas . . .
We actually had a tree this year!

We did the Trout family Christmas @ Mike and Carol's and the kids played with the cousins. Kelly and Sabrina were inseperable.

We took the kids for a walk down Euclid to see the nativity scenes.

Christmas Eve at the Johnson's.

Then a slow quiet Christmas morning at home. We read the story of Jesus' birth, then opened presents, had a late breakfast, took the dog for a walk up the wash, and finally made a rotten stale gingerbread house that I bought on sale last year. It was awesome to just stay home on christmas . . . I'm trying to figure out how to make that happen every year :).

And finally, a couple days after Christmas when my parents got back in town from visiting my sister, we did Christmas at the Smith's.

The kids got a mini trampoline for Christmas and it has been lovely to send them downstairs for some exercise every now and then. They love it!

November

2010-01-25T18:35:00.000-08:00

Let's see, what about November . . .

We got a really good deal on some surplus wood for through the City of Riverside and had Freeman help me pick it up. Then rented a wood-splitter and proceeded to become reel mountain people ;). Now we have about 3 cords seasoning for next year.

While we were out splitting wood on a Saturday, we had a dog wander into our yard and hang out with us all day. He was very playful and super well behaved. He didn't have a collar and we didn't want him getting hit by a car so we let him out back with our dogs and posted some Lost Dog signs the next day. On that Monday we got a call from the owners - who promptly asked us if we wanted to keep him!!! We felt awful for him cuz he was such a great dog! So after some quick debate, we decided we were going to become a 3 dog family. So meet the newest member of our family . . . Duke. He's an awesome German Shepherd. Still very much a puppy at 1.5 yrs. He loves the kids, loves long walks, likes to fetch just about anything (including snowballs), and "talks" to us when he's excited. We are soooo in love!

Next, Matt and I went on a cruise during Thanksgiving break. We have not been on a vacation minus kids, ever. So we booked a super cheap 3 day cruise to Mexico and enjoy a couple days to ourselves. Totally worth it!!!!

We got our first snow of the season. Not very much though . . .

We went to the parade of lights in town. It's always fun to go to small town events - even if they're kinda hokey ;). We got to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus too.

And last, but not least, my parents got another puppy. We heard that Ruby's parents had been bred again so now they have her little brother, Diesel. He's a cutie!! And Kelly even likes him (she always says she doesn't like Ruby LOL).

October

2010-01-25T17:50:00.000-08:00

Yes I'm back - mostly because my mother keeps bugging me! So here's an update since, well October . . .

At the women's retreat (while Matt was hi-jacking my blog), I climbed a rock wall! This may not sound like a big deal to most of you - but for me it was a huge achievement. I'm relatively scared of heights for one. I have to feel very secure with where I am when I'm up high - and when I actually have to be active in keep myself from falling I get horribly nervous. And I am ridiculously out of shape - so the very idea of climbing anything is scary. So anyway, this wall was very intimdating. Other girls were going up no problem, but me? I took about 20-30 minutes and stopped to cry quite a few times. I felt like such a girl!!! But I did finally make it after arguing with everyone on the ground that I wasn't going any farther. I had a whole cheering section by the time I was done - probably cuz they were waiting for me to finish being a big baby so they could have a turn :).

While I was gone on that women's retreat, my lovely family was evacuated for a few days due to a major wildfire. I had seen the flames from Big Bear & knew I wouldn't be coming home for a while. We stayed at my mom's and grandma's for a couple days till the smoke had cleared out a little bit and they had things under control. The fire came within a mile of our home, literally stopping right before the houses at the edge of town. Extremely thankful that our house was ok. Very crazy to be considering the idea that our home would be gone when we got back - which quite literally if the wind hadn't died down RIGHT when it did, that would have been reality!

We had the school carnival, which went very well. The kids had fun, the raffle baskets I put together were cute (I actually won one of them LOL), & the school made a good amount of money.

Then there's Halloween - which we spent with good friends and went trick or treating in town here at all the stores. Had dinner at the Pizza place. And came home to play some games and hang out for the evening. Very calm and low key - just perfect!!

Ok and I threw this pic in just cuz its the funniest one I have! Ryan really climbed into this really weird spot in his bedroom and got stuck. After he freaked out and I laughed hysterically and took a pic, I had to pry him out of there. darn kid!

BLOGJACKED!!!

2009-10-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

HA! Becky's gone to the women's retreat for the weekend so I'm giving this blog thing a go.

Problem: rotted board in our deck; actually not really a problem until Ryan decided to break part of it away. Now we've got a twisted ankle waiting to happen...

So, why not have all the kids help me fix it while mommy's gone for the weekend? Sure, it'll be fun. Ok, so since Becky took the 4runner, we first had to get a 9 foot 2x6 home in my Jetta. Much easier than I thought! It only stuck out about twice as far as my side mirror - ha ha.

Kelly & Eric primed the new board while Ryan I handled removal of the old one.

Look at the size of that nail! He's so proud:

We got it painted, including two coats on the top side. Then we all took turns nailing the new board in place of the old one. Believe it or not,no eyeballs were harmed in the fixing of this deck!

The finished product is pretty good I think. Now we just need to replace every OTHER board on the deck LOL!

No more diapers!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Kelly decided all on her own, that she was going to use the potty (after months of refusing) and has only had one accident in over a week (and that was on the first day). She's doing awesome. I even got rid of the diapers for good. Now I really feel old - my last kid is out of diapers!!! She wears a pull up at night just for my sake, but she has yet to even wake up wet. I'm sooo proud of her!

Eric lost a tooth!

2009-08-03T19:32:00.001-07:00

Eric had his first visit from the tooth fairy! the big tooth is already poking through and the next one is loose. Man he's growing up!

We lost a family member

2009-08-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

One of our turtles passed away the other day. We've had 2 Russian Tortoises for about 8 years now. Basically we ignored them for too long and Gabbie got sick. Nattie is not doing well either but I think he's getting better now that I'm spoiling him rotten. The kids aren't too upset - mainly they keep telling me they're sorry for me that my turtle died. So yah, we're horrible reptile owners . . . if he's not more active by Friday I'm taking him to tortoise rescue.

Nattie, being lonely:

Uncle Scott

2009-08-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

My dad came to visit for a couple days and I actually got a shot of my little brother (although he's taller than me) with my kiddos.

New Xrays

2009-08-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Kelly had her yearly trip to the podiatrist . . . Her metatarsus adductus seems to be much better - you can barely tell anymore, but she has lots of pronation (meaning she's flat footed now). She will still be wearing orthotics for basically the rest of her life to give support to her feet. But we don't have to be so crazy about them - if she skips a couple days a week, no big deal - yay!! Cute shoes here we come :). The xrays almost look normal - not as crazy as the ones I posted last year. At least all these dumb orthotics have been doing something :).

Ryan & Kelly's Birthday Party

2009-08-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Kelly turned 3!!! And Ryan turned 5!!! I can't believe they are so big. Craziness - who gave them permission to grow up??

We had a pool party at grandma and grandpa's house. The kids decided on pirates and little mermaid for their cake. Lots of our friends were able to make it this year and we had so much fun. Course it was the hottest weekend of the summer so it was a good thing we had the pool!! Thanks to everyone who joined us for making the day awesome :).

Best Buds

2009-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

We took our friends to the country club to swim in the lake. The kids had so much fun splashing around together and Jenny & I enjoyed the cooler weather next to the water. I only got one pic of the whole day though :(.

Tea Party

2009-08-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

The country club puts on an annual tea party for little girls so Kelly and I went last month. It was really hot out so be baked in our nice dresses but it was a blast. Kelly had so much fun dressing up and acting all lady like. We had pink lemonade and tons of tea-time snacks. Kelly was all excited to use real tea cups and really got into the whole thing. It was a nice afternoon for us girls :).

Campout @ The Country Club

2009-08-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

The day we got back from Utah was also family camp out night at Wrightwood Country Club. So I packed up the camping gear and set up along the lake at the country club in time for pizza dinner. Matt met us there right before it was time for Spider Races. The kids raced wind up spiders in the gazebo. Then we had a rubber duckie hunt by flashlight around the lake. That was the kids' favorite part of the night - running around in the dark with flashlights looking for rubber duckies LOL! Then we played some pictionary and had smores by the big bonfire. By the time scary stories were to start we took off to the tent for bed. The crazy wind kept us awake most of the night but it was definitely worth it. We all had fun and loved hanging with Daddy after a week away.

Summer in Utah

2009-08-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

The kids and I took a roadtrip up to Utah to visit Chrystal. We missed Matt, but had lots of fun (of course - its the Calandrino house!). We stopped in Hurricane first to visit Christy's new place. Stayed the night there and played with her kiddos. We ventured out to a cool park in St George that had water fountains to play in. We had lots of fun and wore the kids out pretty good. Then we headed up to Cedar City to hang at Chrystal's for the rest of the week. We lounged around the house, did a few trips to Walmart, played at the park, went to the pool in town (when Christy came up to Cedar to visit us), pulled weeds, had otterpops with breakfast lunch and dinner, had a birthday breakfast for Kelly, Ryan and Lily (complete with cupcakes), Chrystal did our toes/nails, Christy did Kelly's hair way better than I ever will, and Ryan developed a love for Zelda. It was a fun week away and I can't wait for Chrystal to get her butt down here for a visit! Maybe next time we go up there my husband will be able to join us . . .

Matt & Mike's hike from Wrightwood to Baldy

2009-08-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

On 4th of July weekend, Matt and Mike headed out the front door of our house and took off for Mt. Baldy. They went up Acorn Trail, then headed up Pine Mountain, then Dawson Peak, and finally up Baldy. I guess the trail was incredibly strenuous and pretty much straight up - I will never know cuz he'll never get me up there with him :). So they camped on top of Mt. Baldy, watched the sunset and sunrise, and hiked down into Baldy village in the morning. Killed their knees on the way down and had a nice lunch and beer at the lodge. I'm glad they had fun and got some hiking out of their system for a while. Course my husband took my PINK camera on his guy trip and took hundreds of pictures of trees, dirt, and mountains. I just included a few -- I'm sure he'll show them ALL off if you ask :).

Kelly's Room

2009-08-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

The bedroom on the main floor started out as the playroom and eventually turned into Kelly's room when we moved into the loft. When Matt went on an overnight hike to Baldy, I got bored and tore out the "closet" that was in her room so that we could paint and put in a bigger bed. Then I painted her room purple and Matt came home to a whole new room :). Eventually the plan is to build a bigger closet in a different spot. So this weekend we put in a new big girl bed and decorated. She's is soo excited to have her new room. Can we say super girlie??

Ryan's Sleepover

2009-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ryan's friend Josiah came over for a sleepover during WWF. They danced to some music, ate chocolate chip pancakes (made into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), played some wii, and chatted till well past any normal bedtime :). The kids had fun and surprisingly behaved perfectly!

Wacky Week of Fun

2009-08-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Our church had Wacky Week of Fun (VBS) back in June. All three kids were on their own teams this year. Eric was with the Orange Horses, Ryan was with the Purple Knights, and Kelly was with the Teal Tinmen. Since I was volunteering everyday, Kelly was able to hang with the pre-k group even though she was only 2. Course she seemed to blend in pretty good and did awesome - just like a big girl. And she was excited to hang out with Jordan, Natalie, and Jasmine. Ryan and his friend Josiah were on the same team and completely inseperable. Every time I saw them, I was begged for a goofy picture :). Eric was his typical self and buddied up with the leaders and the girls. He did get to be David in a skit and used a sling shot on Goliath. All the kids had a blast and are talking about next year's already.

Have you seen one of these??

2009-08-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

Just driving along one day and noticed this . . .

Swim Lessons

2009-08-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

The kids had private lessons this year with Laura and as much as they screamed the entire time (I mean literally!), they did learn to swim. Eric can totally swim now - breaths and everything, but he hates to and tries to bargain anything to get out of it. Ryan was a bit more confident and did whatever he was told but he doesn't quite have the strength to actually get anywhere when he swims so he gets tired real quick. He literally swims in place half the time. I think his legs sink a bit and he can't get them back up. He did do way better than I expected though considering how the last round of group lessons thru the city went. Kelly is better about putting her face in the water now and by the end of the week could "swim" on her own - but has even less muscle than Ryan and can't go anywhere. She looks like a wind up water toy with her arms and legs going but she doesn't move. Kinda cute :). When I have more time I may add the videos I took of them . . . but since I haven't posted since early June, don't hold your breath!

My 27th Birthday!

2009-08-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Alright, I'm updating all the way back to June so keep up :).

For my birthday this year, my friend Annette took me to Vegas. We stayed at her timeshare for the weekend (where she decorated the room with over the hill decor - 27 is NOT over the hill by the way), ate a ton, went to the Chippendale's show, gambled a bit and sat by the pool till 3am. Chippendale's was fun - total girls night out. We ended up in the front row! I haven't laughed so much in a loooong time - it was great. Then our exciting butts decided to skip the club we wanted to go to because there was a sign out front that said the dress code was fashionably hip. We figured that excluded us and didn't want to be embarrassed when they told us we couldn't go in :). We did however, spend 3 hours with 5 bucks on nickle video poker - and I walked away with the 5 bucks! We also toured every darn bathroom we walked by due to Annette's pregnant bladder. It was super fun to be away from the kids for a couple days and do whatever we wanted to do. Our family goes to Vegas all the time to visit Matt's grandma, but it was fun to be a tourist for once - taking pictures of everything and driving horribly cuz we didn't know where we were going! Overall a fun trip and I can't wait to go back sometime soon - maybe next time a certain couple of Utah friends will meet us there!!!

Prayers for Luke

2009-07-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: 7/2/09
Got this from Nancy last night:

Thank you so much for your prayers. Amy and Luke went to another Doctor today and learned more. They still have their appointment with the head doctor at Children’s of San Francisco on Monday.

Luke does have epilepsy with a very strong possibility of it becoming cerebral palsy. Amy and Josh are learning as much as they can. They will now have to live a different lifestyle than before. They will only be able to go to places that are a short distance from a Children’s Hospital. Yeah, there is one in San Diego!

Even though this hurts our hearts, GOD has blessed us with a little guy who is all smiles and full of love for everyone. I told Amy that God knit Luke together (Psm 139) and He gave him to both Josh and her because He knew they would be the greatest Mom and Dad Luke could ever have. They will have a challenging journey ahead, however, that little family of four (Isaiah, too) have God’s loving arms upholding them and taking them through each new day.

My prayers are for each of you who have been praying for Luke that God may bless you for your love and faithfulness.

_________________________________________

UPDATE:
6/29/09 PM
Thank you all for your prayers and emails. Luke is home from the hospital and doing well. Josh and Amy are praying for direction on which anti-seizure medicine to put Luke on. They have wonderful Doctors and they are meeting next Monday with Luke’s specialist from UCSF to get a second opinion for the meds. Please continue to keep the family in your prayers. This should be it for now. If anything new pops up, I’ll let you know.

___________________________________________

UPDATE:
6/29/09 AM
Luke stayed at Children’s through the weekend. They did a cat scan on him Friday night and it showed a small calcified mass in his brain. It was not growing so they ruled out cancer and tumor. Amy said that Sunday he was doing a little better. He has had no more seizures or has he been on any seizure medicine. Today they will be running tests: EEG, MRI, etc. Please keep praying for Luke and the rest of the family.

__________________________________________

6/27/09

Hey everyone - I don't ususally do this but . . . .
I just got this email from Matt's Aunt Nancy. Please add our cousin Luke to your prayers for me! We just saw him a few weeks ago and he's such an awesome kid :).

Dear friends

I covet your prayers for my grandson, Luke.

Luke, our grandson who was born early with breathing difficulties, had a convulsion yesterday that lasted 30 minutes. He has never had one before. He is in Children’s Hospital and they will probably keep him there for a couple of days to do tests. The doctors have said it could be meningitis, a viral infection or ? and possible brain damage . He is 19 months. His brother, Isaiah who is 3, watched the convulsion and paramedics work on Luke. So…

Please pray for Luke, our daughter Amy and husband Josh, Isaiah (to have sights and thoughts taken captive to God), wisdom for Dr. and… you all know what else!

Thanks so much. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Love in Christ,

Nancy

Our last hikers of the season

2009-06-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

We got a call a couple weeks ago from a couple of hikers needing a place to stay. Gabe and Carlos were recently graduated college students from Colorado. They had to graduate first so got a pretty late start on the trail. I was shocked to have anyone coming through here still but obviously excited to take in some more guests. the kids loved them - even tried to give them trail names since they were so far nameless. Carlos endulged the kids in their requests to see every single picture they had taken along the trail so far. We spent most of the evening watching the hockey game but it was fun anyway. After a nice big breakfast we took em back to the trailhead and said goodbye to our last hikers till next year :(.

On a side note, it looks like the bad weather in the Sierras has made many hikers go home and not finish this year. That actually makes me kinda sad. It's so exciting to hear the goals and experiences these people have and to find out that something stopped them is kinda disappointing. I did find out from reading online trail journals and hiker blogs that some of our hikers are definitely home by now. Sketch's back kept bugging him and he went home from Agua Dulce I believe but as far as I know, Rambo is still out there. Krewzer had foot problems and had to go home from Tehachapi. Then we just got a box from Pilgrim today with gifts for the kids and a nice letter which mentioned that he went home due to the weather as well. The crazy June ice and snow really messed everyone up I guess. I'm glad we got to meet so many nice people and it looks like we'll be keeping in touch with at least a few of them. I'm hoping for the rest of the group to make it through the bad weather or at least flip flop the hike and get the whole thing done backwards. . . .

The Baby Trout Party

2009-06-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Matt's cousins Nick and Midi are having a baby real soon and came all the way down from Washington for a family baby shower. I was so excited to go because we don't get to see all the cousins very often since most live far away. I had to explain the concept of cousins to Ryan and had a lovely 4 yr old argument about whether or not he has any :). Once we got there and the kids all took off playing together, I think I won that one. We were missing a chunk of the family but we still had at least 8 kids among us. The kiddos all got along amazingly and I'm hoping to plan a trip up to Fresno to visit this summer so they can get together again.

Cousins + one on the way:

Julia took right over and got the kids started on their craft of coloring paper guitars.

Cool cake:

Ryan & Ethan:

Kelly & Luke:

Ryan, Isaiah, & Luke:

All the siblings together:

Kelly with her rock n roll ducks:

A whole band of talented paper guitar players:

Matt tried one out too:

Opening gifts:

Kelly hanging out with her cousin Julia - who is obviously a GIRL so Kelly loved it!!

Somehow Amy ended up chapperoning the kids table :)

Tiffany and I thought this little spot on the table seemed a little off somehow - or maybe just perfect LOL.

Wrightwood Country Club

2009-06-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

We are officially members of the Wrightwood Country Club, courtesy of my Aunt and Uncle as combined b-day gifts. I've been there a couple times before as a guest but now we get to go whenever we want. It's really a small lake, some grass, playgrounds, tennis courts, and snack bar. A nice small quiet place to hang out for the summer. They have all kinds of events and fun things to do. Like little girls' tea parties, pirate parties, adult nights, live music, camp outs, family nights, etc. It'll be so nice to get out of the house when it gets hot and be able to go 1 mile to the lake in the center of town :). And now we're not misfits! It seems everyone you meet in Wrightwood has a membership and plans BBQs and playdates there ALL the time. So now we're part of the club LOL! We went for a quick visit a couple weeks ago for a member appreciation BBQ and froze out butts off in 45 degree weather. I'm hoping to get over there this weekend and then regularly every week to take advantage of our new little oasis. The concept of being a member of a country club makes me feel like the Beverly Hillbillies but in reality, practically everyone in town is a member and they're all relatively "normal".

Eric's a First Grader

2009-06-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Eric had his last day of school on June 5th. They had an awards ceremony in the classroom during the week and then on Friday they had their Memory Book Presentation Ceremony (the district policy says they can't have a graduation). So Matt wen in late to work and we went to the assembly to watch everyone get their memory books :). Then we all went back to the classrooms for refreshments. Eric seemed a little bummed that he was done with kindergarten and really had a strange look on his face as walked away. But Ryan was real excited because since Eric isn't in kinder anymore, that means he can be - oh his logic. Anyway, my big boy got perfect grades and even got "Above Grade Level" in Language Arts. He got a Perfect Attendance Award (really that's my award!) and the Top Reader Award for reading 507 books this year. He got a bunch of prizes and was all excited - but I missed the award ceremony by 5 minutes so no pictures :(.

visitor

2009-06-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

We had a house guest for about 15 minutes. The little bird came in through the chimney and flew around the house for a while. Got hit by the ceiling fan blades and got flung into the window. I finally got our bedroom screen off in the loft and he went out that way. That was the highlight of our day. The kids were running around trying to call it to get it to go outside. "Come here birdie - tweet tweet tweet"

Zoo Field Trip

2009-06-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

The 3 kindergarten classes went to the LA Zoo for the end of the year field trip. I got to join Eric and enjoyed running around the zoo on our animal scavenger hunt with Eric, Anastasia (Annette was sadly at home on bed rest), their friend Nolan, and his mom Robin. We had only a couple hours and had to find at least 3 of the animals on our list from each continent. Which meant that we had to make it around the whole zoo! We did good for a while but towards the end, we had to run around and get all crazy. We all had tons of fun!

End of a season

2009-06-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Eric had his last game and closing ceremonies at the beginning of the month. He got his little trophy and Little League yearbook. Of course their team was undefeated (maybe cuz every game is a tie) . . . Eric did awesome this year. His batting is getting pretty good and he understands the rules and each play real well. We'll have to work on throwing a bit before next season when he gets to farm. He says he had fun and is sad he's done, but glad that he won't have any more practices LOL.

I'm making my blog private . . .

2009-06-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Not cuz anything crazy happened or anything - just decided to be a bit safer . . . So if you want to keep reading about my crazy kids, you'll have to get me your email address so I can add you. I'll be changing the setting in a couple weeks so please shoot me an email or add a comment on this post. I'll send invites to anyone in my current contact list but I don't have everybody and I know that many of you are lurkers anyway :). So just let me know . . .

oh you can email me at rdukes412@hotmail.com

King's Kids Graduation

2009-05-31T19:34:00.001-07:00

Drum roll . . . Ryan has officially graduated Pre-school!!! Even passed his little kindergarten readiness assessment. The graduation ceremony was on Thursday and Matt was able to join us. It was cute - Ryan was so proud of himself. I think mostly because he had just gone to my graduation a few weeks ago and realized he was doing the same thing. The kids sang us a couple songs and they all got their certificates. Ryan got an extra one for being a part of the Early Reader Program. I guess not all kids get sent home books to read like we got every week. Pretty cool - my little smarty pants. Course he complained and whined and it was a major fight any time he forgot a sound in the words, but he did read them all :). We handed out cookies to everyone and said goodbye to the teachers and all his friends. Luckily we'll be back there Fall of 2010 when Kelly attends - the teachers are already begging for Kelly to come back LOL.

This is the little bunny we see every morning while we wait for class to start. Finally got a picture on the last day!

Last day on a carpet square.

Kelly and Daddy watching big brother . . .

They got little graduation monkeys.

Ryan and his buddy Isaac. They played together all year and Ryan absolutely loves him. But sadly, I don't think Isaac is going to Heritage next year. I haven't told Ryan yet :(.

Teachers, Mrs. Lutz and Mrs. Cortwright.

Ryan's End of the Year Party

2009-05-30T22:51:00.000-07:00

Ryan had his end of the year party at pre-school last week. Ryan asked me to stay at class (with Kelly) and help out with the circus/carnival themed party. Kelly got to do the crafts along with the big kids. Since Ryan has a summer b-day, they sang for him and gave him his birthday hat. We had hot dogs and other summery foods, along with cupcakes (outside). We played pin the tail on the donkey, which Ryan proceeded to pin 3 ft away on the weather chart instead. We popped popcorn and played with bubbles. They even ran through the hose water for a bit. Ryan had tons of fun.

Ryan with his friend, Garren - who will be at the same school next year, but not in the same class.

Ryan with his friend, Jaelee, who will be in his class next year.

Violins on Noggin?

2009-05-29T23:24:00.001-07:00

K, I saw this on Jack's Big Music Show and was kinda shocked, confused, impressed, I dunno.

Sketch & Rambo, etc etc

2009-05-29T21:26:00.001-07:00

We added our name to the PCT host list at the hardware store in town. The next day we got a phone call from a couple of hikers needing a place to stay and a doctor. So I rushed to clean a bit and then go pick them up in town. A couple in their twenties (from Maryland and Chicago) were waiting for me, one with bad stomach troubles. Sketch thought he might have giardia so hiking a long desert section would not have been a good move. They had actually been ahead of the pack for a while but Sketch hurt his back and had to take 8 days off the trail already. So when they got to Newcomb's Ranch, they decided to get a ride back to Wrightwood knowing there were trail angels here. After getting situated at the house and lending them some clean clothes while I did laundry, we called around to various doctors in Phelan trying to get them in. Luckily a doc could see them that afternoon and off we went. Rambo is vegetarian so I went shopping for something for dinner (since we all know that my house is FULL of meat!) while they went to the doctor. A positive doctor visit and prescriptions later, we went home for a night of laughs and Disney. The boys again gave up their room and joined us upstairs. They didn't mind though cuz they just loved our guests. Before dinner, the kids played outside with Sketch and Rambo. Even got Sketch to imitate a seal for a pretend circus - he flopped around on the ground and made noises to match. It was great! Then after dinner Rambo requested Lady & the Tramp for nighttime viewing. The kids were up way later than they should have been but it was worth it :). Sketch even did dishes!!! Made my day :). In the morning Eric was bummed because he didn't get to say goodbye - the hikers were still asleep when I took him to school. After a yummy biscuits & gravy breakfast though, I drove the pair back up the mountain (about 45 minutes away!) to where they came off the trail and said our goodbyes. Another fun night of hosting hikers. The season is pretty much over though so we probably won't have anymore stay this year. But I'm ready for next year already!

On a side note since I still get odd looks, mega concern, and funny questions --- No, I'm not crazy. No, it's not dangerous. No, it's not strange. Lots of people up here do it. It is very fun and exciting to help out random people. Hosting hikers is a safe way to share my home and anything else that we can offer, just as we are called to do. The thru-hiking community is a very unique kind of people and we just love them. Matt is increasingly jealous and I am in constant awe of the bravery and commitment these people have to thru hike 2650 miles in 4-5 months. It really gives us a good feeling to serve these people and share our lives. We hear great stories, make good friends, and teach our kids how to care for others. Ryan just told me the other day that he wanted to tell one of our hikers about Jesus! So, everyone can stop worrying about us losing our minds -- I wish everyone could get the chance to hear hiker stories (and I don't just mean PCT stories, most of these people have hiked the AT and CDT as well)!!!

------A cool example of how great it is to do this ---------
Anyone on facebook already heard about my side trip to San Bernardino but it was just another cool thing that came of this whole hosting thing. I gave these section hikers from Maine a ride back to their truck in Big Bear (well almost to Big Bear). Very nice guys. I found their sunglasses in my car the next morning but had no way to reach them. That day I randomly decided to stop at the post office (usually Matt does that after work) after dropping the boys off at school and guess who was standing there?! The guys had made it to their truck and were back in town to continue their next section of trail. So literally right before they bought glasses at the hardware store, I was able to give them their lost ones back! It was way cool. Even though it was silly, it was exciting to know we must have done something right :). God is involved in even the simplest most ridiculous things in life!

Ruby, the horse

2009-05-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Can anyone believe how big my parents' dog is?? Ruby is 10 months old now and weighs in at 85 pounds!! We took her to Ryan's class not that long ago for share and it was crazy to remember her measly 11 pounds (or some other insanely low #) the last time he shared her this school year!

Memorial Day Weekend River Trip

2009-05-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

We haven't been to the river since Ryan was a baby so we tagged along with my parents for the holiday weekend. We stayed in their motorhome in Needles. The weather was nice and it was great to relax a bit. We hung out on the beach one day and in a bay another day. Saw some friends. Played in the water. Got some sun. Yup, a nice weekend!!

Colorblind

2009-05-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

We got a late start on Friday and happened to get into our car right as Sarah (AKA Colorblind) pulled up to the house!! We were so excited to get to see her after preparing ourselves for missing her altogether this year. She was still going to stay here, we were just not going to actually see her. Well we got about 5 minutes to give quick hugs and take pictures before we really did need to get on the road. We wished her well and off we went to the river. . . We ended up getting a call the next day from Sarah, saying her feet were killing her and she needed another night. Obviously we weren't using the house so we didn't care. She stayed till Sunday and solved our dog sitting problem LOL. I'm glad we were able to give her a place to stay and transportation while she let her blisters heal -- even though we weren't here. She even left us clean dishes, some extra food, and some pretty flowers! I'm bummed we couldn't hang out the whole time she was here, but at least we got to visit for a few minutes :). I can't wait for an update in September about her completion of the trail!! Good luck Colorblind!!!

Crazy Car Ride

2009-05-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

As I've said already, I'm virtually a hiker taxi lately. Well today, we met a young group of hikers needing to take a trip down to Rancho Cucamonga to REI for some new shoes and things. I needed a couple things at Target so we took them with us. Let's just say I had no idea what we were in for. Joey (a girl from Canada), Five Dollar (guy from Utah), and Not A Chance (can't remember where she was from) were hilarious!! The kids obviously egged em on, but these people were seriously funny. Most of the stuff they said went right over the kids' heads (I hope) but I laughed hysterically the whole time. It was great. Five Dollar gave my boys their trail names LOL. Dunno if they'll stick though . . . Eric is Telephone Pole and Ryan in Sir Talkalot. Ryan doesn't like his (although I do) and Eric's doesn't make sense, we just passed a telephone pole when he picked one LOL. Anyway, we had a great afternoon. My side hurts so bad from all the laughing . . . As much as I love having hikers stay here, I'm glad those party animals already had a place to stay tonight - my kids would never have made it to bed :).

Yes, Five Dollar is holding up his newly acquired beer in front of my child -- Ryan will be scarred for life LOL.

Krewzer and Pilgrim

2009-05-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember our hikers from last year . . . Colorblind and Poptart. Well Colorblind (or Sarah) is doing the trail again this year by herself and will be stopping here on her way. Sadly we'll miss her on Friday when we leave for the river and she comes in that night. She'll still get to use the house but we won't get to see her and catch up. I'm beyond bummed!!! I've learned my lesson though, no more vacations for Memorial Day weekend!

So in my melancholy state, I decided to drive up to the trail at Inspiration Point and see if we saw anyone who at least needed a ride into town. Surprisingly we did (crossing paths with a hiker isn't hard this time of year, but you never know when one will come by so my little trip up the mountain could have been pointless) and offered them a ride. After not really planning to since the house is a mess, I impulsively asked them to stay and get showers and a comfortable night's rest. So Krewzer and Pilgrim were our new PCT guests. After dropping them off in town for lunch and supplies I rushed home to clean up (let me tell you that was a huge feat in itself). Then we drove one other hiker back to the trailhead after his quick stop at the minimart. He was one of the younger guys on the trail (basically you go in your 20s or in your 60s) and just wanted to get back on the trail to hurry to the next stop at Agua Dulce. We picked Krewzer and Pilgrim back up at Jensen's later and enjoyed an evening full of stories, laughs, and good company. Pilgrim was from Georgia and Krewzer was from Alabama so we had some good accents to boot! The kids, once again, had a blast. They talked the guys' ears off and got crazy hyper. Told as many jokes as they could come up with and had to show off their Leapsters (cuz tired guys hiking 2600 miles care about a Leapster). Eventually Matt came home and chatted with them for a while and I'm sure got all jealous that they were hiking all summer. The boys gave up their beds and joined us in the loft for the night. I'm sure the Lightening McQueen and Trucks bedding was the highlight of the night LOL. After taking Eric to school this morning we trekked back up the mountain and dropped off our new friends at the trailhead. Then we ran into their friends Jim and Jenny from Maryland, needing a ride back up to the trail as well so again we made another trip. I feel like a taxi! But I'm loving it. This is one of the best parts about living here (besides the snow, and nice people, and quiet, and . . .). getting to meet people from all over the country who are crazy nice and have great stories to tell is so exciting. Opening our home to them is a bonus :).

Hopefully a cooler summer

2009-05-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Last summer we baked inside the house because of our beautiful wall of windows that directly faces the sun for most of the day. We have one A/C vent for all of the upstairs so we never got it to cool off in here. This year we took some discarded dark black solar screens from my mom's office and put them up outside. Matt just got finished with it over the weekend and I have to show off his handywork. The center one rolls up so we can still get an unobstructed view when we want to. So far it is helping quite a bit to keep the temp down in the living room. It still gets warm but with open windows its not bad. I'm excited to enjoy my cool Wrightwood summer the right way (last year was so unexpected to have a hot house here).

Aren't we cute?

2009-05-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

Ryan was helping me take pictures . . .

Matt posted this on MySpace and made me cry so I had to share how cool he is and how appreciated I feel . . .

2009-05-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

"My Wife"

Becky is graduating from Hope International University tomorrow with her Bachelor of Science in Human Development! Let me tell you how stinkin' proud of this woman I am!

For the last 18 months she has had non-stop classes - a new one every 5 weeks. She managed to get STRAIGHT "A"s the whole way through. Yup - Summa Cum Laude! All of this was done while raising three kids basically by herself as her husband dealt with job turmoil & worked FAR too many hours. Two of those children are in school, and school happens to be 20 minutes from the house, so the mornings were all basically wasted - yeah, the afternoons were devoted to school. I can't even tell you how hard she worked - because I'm sure I can't even begin to imagine the effort she put in to all those papers she wrote. You guys, she did schoolwork on vacations, at her Mom's on the weekend; every spare moment was spent studying. Not to mention the fact that she started working from home part time 9 months ago.

But that's not all - somehow she was still able to be the best wife & mother I know. 95% of the time when I get home from work, be it 8:00 PM or 2:00 AM there's a warm, home-cooked meal waiting for me, and my wife, waiting on the couch with a smile.

Honey, I'm so proud of you! You blow me away with how you were able to pull this off. Not that I doubted you - but I guess I did?!? When you made the decision to go to school I wasn't so sure it was the best thing to do at the time. I thought you might not be able to put in enough effort - you completely proved me wrong! So HUGE congratulations to you - you deserve it.

Matt

"The tassle was worth the hassle" . . . a sign in the bookstore

2009-05-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today was my graduation ceremony. Technically my degree doesn't post until May 30th and then I won't actually get my diploma in the mail for 60-90 days . . . but today I got to walk. I got to finally see my school in person. I got to meet some fellow classmates and put some faces to email addresses. I got to be a part of a real college community for a day. I got to move my tassle from the right to the left. And my kids got to see me do it! I am DONE with school and now have my Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Hope International University. It was awesome to sit there a part of something and realize that it wasn't just me and a computer all this time. It was me and a bunch of other students working together in classes that just happened to be online. I realized that I knew a lot about these people through our online discussions and was able to talk with them today like we'd known each other forever. Course I also discovered that I was one of the few that had never been on campus before -- also one of the few to only have taken online classes. It was all very exciting though. My parents, my hubby, my kids, and my long time best friend all watched as I finally graduated college . . . 9 years after graduating high school. It took a while, but I finally did it. And I have to admit I'm pretty darn proud of myself :). Thanks to everyone who has put up with me and my crazy schedule and stressing over the last couple years. I think I'll refrain from writing anything longer than a couple paragraphs for a loooong time now. No more 10-20 page papers!!!!! Woohooo!!!!!

Easter catch-up

2009-05-15T22:07:00.000-07:00

Ok going all the way back to Easter here to catch everyone up . . .

Egg coloring at Uncle Bonehead's house with the Calandrinos.

Matt was in the Easter play at church called "Come and Listen". It turned out really cool and he discovered that he can act and sing:). I guess he had to step up since he played like 4 or 5 different parts! I would upload video of his singing but it seems to take 10 minutes to upload :(. Matt did really well (as did everyone else) and I'm really proud of him for trying something new.

The kids hunted for eggs at my parents house and Matt's parents house. They had fun all day. . .

T-ball

2009-05-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Eric is in T-ball again (sadly Ryan has to wait till next summer for that) and is having a blast. His team is the Scrappers.

there's that light

2009-05-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Matt actually got the new light up pretty quick . . . yes we still have Christmas lights up -- we're redneck.

changing a light bulb

2009-04-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Matt's parents gave us their old porch light today. It wasn't exactly our style but after we were done messing with it . . . it just might work! Now Matt just has to find time to put it up.

Before:

After:

7 years

2009-04-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Easter and I'll blog some pictures later . . . but it also happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary. I can't seem to believe it's been 7 years - somehow it makes me feel old. Course so does having a 6 year old. Anyway, we celebrated with a nice lunch with the kids after church - exciting huh? It was nice though. Matt was talking about our 50th anniversary and how old we'll be (oh the thought!) so I guess it's nice to know he's happy enough with me to stick it out for another 43 years :). Now if only I could find the box of wedding pics, I could post one!

A New Look

2009-04-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

Remember that cardboard window we had for 3 weeks? It's GONE! They installed the new slider last Wednesday. We have been working on the molding and painting since then. My mom and I (or really my mom) have been working on the new curtains. And it's finally all put together - yay! Notice the door opens on the other side and our whole room is re-arranged? Yup our living room "re-model" is finally finished. Between the flooring changes, the door, some new furniture and paint - I think I'm done for a while. Thanks to Matt's overexcited knock on the window I have a whole new room LOL. I think he learned his lesson :). Now I can move on to our room, or Kelly's.

BEFORE (last year anyway):

AFTER:

My kid's a dork!

2009-04-07T19:15:00.000-07:00

He thought these were his pants - really??

Bryan Clay Walkathon

2009-03-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

Bryan Clay, the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist for the Decathalon, came to Eric's school last week. They had a walk-a-thon as a fundraiser for his foundation and part of the money went to our school. The kids raised 14,000 total with over 8,000 going to Heritage. It was VERY cool. Eric got a t-shirt and a signed trading card as a prize for raising money. We stayed after school to go to the assembly to hear Bryan Clay talk about goals and dreams. Eric was very excited and told me he thought Bryan Clay was sooo cool because he just couldn't believe how he could have done all of those events. He said he was just amazing. We got to go out on the field again after the assembly and give him high fives (I didn't get any good pics of that) and see his gold medal. Mr. Garner, the principal, got to wear the medal all day. It was really cool. Oh and I can now say I TOUCHED an Olympic gold medal!!!! I caught Mr. Clay at the door on his way out of the office and tried to get a pic of him with Eric and Anastasia but someone opened the door and the sun ruined the shot :(. But overall, it was a very exciting experience - even though no one we told even knew who the guy was. He won a gold medal people, come on! Course, ssshhh, I didn't know who he was till this thing either LOL!

Glitter Glam

2009-03-26T00:15:00.001-07:00

Kelly and I went to Glitter Glam this year at our church. It is a super fun girly event where they do hair and makeup for a ton of girls and they get to walk the runway to show off. Kelly was so adorable - she loved every second! She is totally a girly girl! Showing off her nails.

Getting makeup done for the first time ever. She did sooo good.

Getting her hair done.

Making her own body glitter.

So pretty!

Practicing the runway.

My friend Jenny was there with her daughter Jordan and she had an extra princess dress for Kelly to borrow. She was soooo excited because it was PURPLE! So our little princesses had a blast twirling and dancing together. They really hit it off despite the age difference. Kelly has been talking about Jordan ever since.

Since Jordan didn't get to practice, Kelly made sure to show her how to walk the runway and they walked down together (cutting in front of the big girls). They went so fast I couldn't get any great shots or anything. I got a couple seconds on video and one picture. When they got back to us, kelly told me she had so much fun and wanted to go again. She is such a little diva LOL.

Drive In Movie Day

2009-03-26T00:11:00.000-07:00

Eric's class has been having "transportation" month and they got to have a drive in movie day as an activity. We made cars out of boxes at home (ours was a really cool jeep - with a spare tire and everything) and the kids got to watch "Cars" while eating fresh pop corn. It was fun.

Metrolink Field Trip

2009-03-25T23:44:00.000-07:00

Eric's class had a voluntary Saturday field trip on the Metrolink to Los Angeles. We met up with the teacher and the other kindergarten classes at the Rancho station (boy did that bring back memories) and set off for LA. Matt was actually able to join us so it was a really nice day. We waited for the train and watched it pull into the station. The kids thought it was awesome. Way more awesome than I ever thought it was at 6am LOL. The ride to LA was fun as the kids watched all the scenery. When we got there we walked down to the subway and rode that for a bit. I've never been on the subway so that was exciting. Eric liked to look out the window at the tunnel wall. Matt decided he HAD to stand up and hold the bar like they do in the movies LOL. Ryan decided he didn't like the subway because there was nothing to look at out the window - it was too boring. We got out to look once at a really tall building (exciting for the kindergartners). When we got back to Union Station, we headed out to Olvera Street for lunch. We ate at a yummy restaurant and then walked around for a while. We got to watch some Indian performers dance and we walked through the old fire station museum. Since we were kinda done and had nothing else to look at with 3 tired kids, we headed home on the early train. It was a really fun day and the kids (and Matt) want to ride the train again soon.

Buying the tickets.

Woohoo the train . . .

Super excited.

This is a cool sculpture, fountain, thingy that is made of all kinds of crazy "artifacts" that they found underground when digging to make the subway. there were tea cups, plates, cool bottles, and other little things all over this thing. The kids thought it was pretty neat.

Riding the subway.

These are the stairs that the mini coopers drove on in the movie "The Italian Job".

Arrrrgh! Eric is 6 years old!

2009-03-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my kid is 6 years old - I feel old now. His birthday was March 9th so I'm a little behind . . . .

For Eric's birthday we took the kids to the Pirate dinner Adventure in Buena Park. We had tons of fun cheering on our purple pirate (Kelly's favorite color!) and the food was surprisingly really good.

Eric had a blast and decided I had to make a pirate ship cake for his "party" at my mom's house the next night. I think it turned out pretty good considering I had to go and buy all the decorations for a second time an hour before the party because I'm a dork and left the bag of stuff on my deck at home!

At school he got to wear the birthday vest and of course mommy had to get a picture LOL.

thanks honey

2009-03-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a new sliding glass door! I had been begging Matt for weeks to get the slider replaced so we could re-arrange furniture and have it open on the other side. And besides - it was single pane and super inefficient. But budget concerns kept us from doing it. Well the other day Matt accidentally broke the glass when he banged on it to quiet the dogs and we now HAVE to get a new one. Oh darn :). He didn't really hit it very hard - it was just frozen at the moment and it broke real easily. I laughed for about 30 minutes cuz he basically just gave me my door after saying no for weeks :). So in a few more days we will have the first efficient window to ever be in this house . . .

This is what we currently have to look at. It ended up with tons of huge cracks across the whole door.

I'm graduating!!!

2009-03-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

So I got my official graduation letter in the mail -- I get to graduate in May!! Not that there was any doubt, but I'm still excited that it's official. I have to finish up the class I'm in now (it's over next week) and then do my final 6 week class and then I'm done with school for a long long time. I still get to walk in May no matter what happens with these two classes so that's cool. I'm a bit nervous about this last one since it's the capstone project and sort of the culmination of the whole program but I have straight A's so far so maybe it won't be too bad (fingers crossed). So woohoo - I'm graduating! 9 years after high school, but whatever - I did stuff backwards :). I will finally have my bachelor degree (in Human Development if you were wondering) and maybe in a few years when all the kids are in school all day, I'll start subbing. If you want to come down and tease me about tripping on my gown or something, it'll be May 16th at 10am in Fullerton. I've never been on campus at all so I couldn't tell you how to get there or where the student center is or anything, so sorry I'm no help. The letter did say that seating will open at 9:40am.

Darling Pavilion
Lawson-Fulton Student Center
Hope International University
2500 E. Nutwood Ave, Fullerton Ca
Saturday, May 16th, 2009 10:00am

2009-02-26T12:39:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we did a bunch of work on the house and finished it off with moving bedrooms around. (On a side note, Matt installed a new exhaust fan and light downstairs - ducting and everything - woohoo Matt). In the midst of that I offered our backyard to some friends from church to play in the snow and not deal with the crazy traffic we had in town. I was a horrible host and kept on working around here, but the kids did go out and play. It looked like everyone had fun. And we had a yummy dinner to top it off. And although I'm incredibly embarrassed at how filthy my house was, it was way nice to have friends over after a long weekend of home improvement junk and homework. Wow, two weekends in a row with company over - this might get to be a nice habit :).

Here's a snow ball fight that I think Jenny eventually lost. Snow down the pants usually ends those :).

And of course a snowman had to be built.

We have our own room

2009-02-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

We decided to move everyone around - Kelly now has her own room (in the old playroom on the main floor) and we have our room up in the loft. The boys are still in their room downstairs but the playroom has been moved into our old room downstairs. That room is sort of the office, playroom, Matt's music room, our closet for now, and a big storage area. It will get better - but not till we figure out where everything is going to go. Kelly is very excited to have her own room. I think we'll decorate it this summer when I'm done with school. Stay tuned for that :). Our room is a work in progress so I'll post pics of that when we get going on it some more. The most exciting part is that we have our own room - we haven't in 6 years! I am NOT complaining at all. We love co-sleeping and room sharing, but it is sort of a novelty now to have no kids in our room. Course we couldn't have done the big move if it wasn't for our friends, the Lenarz, and their impromptu visit on Saturday for some snow play. We needed some extra muscle to get our bed all the way upstairs! Thanks guys!!

Kelly being a big girl in her own room:

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

2009-02-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

I finally went by and took a look at the finished product -- it is awesome. Even moreso because I know what it looked like 7 days prior to the incredible buildings there now. It's nuts! By the way, the show airs March 29th - it'll be a 2 hour special. I can't wait to watch it!! If you have no clue what I'm talking about - read back a few posts and see some of the pictures throughout the week at this Phelan home.

Here's some shots of the Almquist family's new home:

If you look real close you can see some tigers in those cages.

Here's the learning center on the property so that they can be a teaching facility and show off their beautiful animals.

Rain Gear

2009-02-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Eric for his "Rain Gear Day" at school. I had to go run and buy one of those cheapy poncho things cuz we don't own any rain gear - only snow stuff!

My New BBQ

2009-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

See? See? It's cool huh? I've only been able to use it once due to some mighty cold snow but I love it. It starts like a charm and it has 4 burners instead of my old 2 burner. And it looks all fancy cuz its stainless. We got it for super super cheap from the Powells. Thanks Allison! Once Matt rigs some new pieces for the sides of the lid it will be good as new. Till then I can deal with a lopsided lid :). And now I can keep my eyelashes . . .

Doughnut Pizza

2009-02-17T19:46:00.000-08:00

Remember Bananalopoly? Well now the kids requested Doughnut Pizza. I cut up some doughnuts, baked a pizza crust with cinnamon and sugar, and topped it with a yummy icing. The kids thought it was the coolest ever and Matt has been eating the left overs for a couple days now. I guess it was a hit. I'm wondering what will be next . . .

Snow again, and again, and again

2009-02-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

It snowed last week - about 18". Then it snowed again this weekend. I think we got about 2-3 ft this weekend. I feel like I've been shoveling for days on end and my back is finally starting to feel it. The pile next to our driveway of all the shoveled snow is taller than me. But it is absolutely gorgeous outside and I LOVE it! The snow has finally stopped so if anyone wants to come play this week, let me know . . .

The ice on my car window last Sunday - it looked really cool.

Tagged

2009-02-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

My friends Jane & Mindi tagged me . . .

Here are the rules:
1. Go to where you store your pics.
2. Go to your 4th folder.
3. Go to your 4th pic.
4. Post it and tag three more people.

I tag Christy, Chrystal, and Kim.

Here's the kids giving Daddy a back rub at that ugly, old, run down rental. Man am I glad to be out of THAT house and rid of that blue furniture :).

GRRRR

2009-02-05T23:28:00.000-08:00

The roof is leaking AGAIN! A little more than last time. Could it start snowing already so it'll stop?? So do you think I could borrow the guys from the EMHE site to come give me a new roof real quick?

Extreme Makeover Home Edition in Phelan!!

2009-02-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Right around the corner from Eric's school. Yah, it's pretty cool!

So this was the story we all read on Saturday here in town - everyone was talking.

This morning Extreme Makeover: Home Edition traveled to 8545 Buttemere Road, Phelan, Calif. to announce to the Almquist family that in seven days, they will have a new and improved home, and so will the dozens of animals they have rescued. Currently, the family lives in an aging trailer and is struggling to uphold their animal sanctuary.

The Almquist family mission has been to protect and care for the wildlife community. Only a few years into their marriage, Joel and his wife Chemaine decided to build Forever Wild Exotic Animal Sanctuary, a place where abused or neglected animals can live in a peaceful and loving environment. Forever Wild provides a home for a variety of animals including, nine tigers, three sulcata tortoises, three parrots, 10 alligators, four servals, four Mexican beaded lizards, two Siberian lynx and one Egyptian cobra. You can visit their exotic animal santuary's website here at http://www.4everwild.org.

Since then I've been by to see the house 3 times this week. It is awesome!!! Basically the family of 6 lived in a run down double wide mobile and had enclosures and things for the animals they rescued. I know people who know the family real well, and it sounds like they're really great people - they totally deserve this. Anyway, they sent the family on their first vacation EVER to Costa Rica and then demo'd the place on Sunday. It is completely inspiring to see the site. There are tents and trailers EVERYWHERE! The staging area isn't even at the house, it's on neighboring properties. One yard is entirely full of emergency personnel, another backyard had a ton of tents, then there's a huge parking area. People in town saw Jeff Corwin at a restaurant early in the week. Kinda cool.

When I went by on Monday, the structure was already up - the framing and most walls were done. That means foundation, electrical, etc etc was already done. Then I went by on Tuesday and they were roofing it - about 15 guys were up there working on it. Craziness! Course when I went on Tuesday I noticed that there were two buildings . . . they're also building a learning center for the sanctuary and it looks just as big as the house! Eric thought it was "cool that 100s of people were working on this new house because the old house wasn't safe." And it's "cool to help nice people that take care of animals." I didn't get to go on Wednesday cuz Kelly's fever had reached 104 and she didn't want to drive on dirt roads and go bump (the road to get to the house is horrible). I did just go back today (in crazy winds so excuse the bad pics from today) and I can't believe all the work that's being done. They say that each 24 hours they do is the equivalent of 1 month of normal construction work. Today they had all the stucco done from what I could see. From pictures on the website we've been watching, the inside is really coming along too. And there is this awesome water feature thing in the yard. The cages are all being re-done. All of it is just cool. I can't wait to go check it out tomorrow!

They are having a benefit concert tomorrow night to raise donations for the sanctuary. Billy Ray Cyrus for free! I'm not sure yet if I'm going, 3 kids and a concert by myself in bad weather doesn't sound super fun right now :). Then Saturday is the big MOVE THAT BUS day. They welcome anyone and everyone who can come, but it's a lot of standing for hours waiting, so again I'm not sure we'll make it that day. I do totally plan on going by next week just to snap some finished pictures though. I really really want to go help out - there are tons of volunteers working on that property and being there just makes you want to get involved. They don't allow kids though and Matt hasn't been home much this week, so we'll have to settle for being spectators. It's pretty darn cool to just see the place.

So for the back story -- I guess the show told the Almquist family ahead of time that they were 1 of 5 families still in the running. They had to make arrangements "just in case". Passports had to be secured, roads had to be graded (Caughlin and Joshua are all re-graded and cleared), arrangements had to be made for the animals care, permits had to be taken care of, plans approved, neighbors notified, etc etc. All of this was done in anticipation of the "possibility" of getting the new place. I wonder how possible it really is though that they would spend that much money in prep work to just pick a different family. What a let down that would have been.

So yah, that is our excitement for this week. More details and pictures to come I'm sure :).

You can check out the progress of the build at BIAbuild

And the sanctuary has an all new re-done website as of this week to check out the animals. There is a good story written by a board member about the makeover and how the sanctuary "survived" befor this. ForeverWild

Stater Bros Field Trip

2009-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

I got to Chaperone Eric's first field trip!!

Pizza Hut Field Trip

2009-02-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Eric had an after school field trip to Pizza Hut. They got to make their own personal pizzas - way cute!

Wii

2009-02-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

So we got a Wii for Christmas and are getting used to it (we're not a video game family). Kelly especially likes Rock Band - even if Daddy doesn't.

Redneck Seafood Dinner

2009-02-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

My mom sent me a dumb forwarded email of similar picture so I decided to make it for the kids for dinner last month. Ryan took the tentacles off his octopus.

Sledding with the Calandrinos

2009-02-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

The first pic is Eric and Camden out in the field by themselves, doing I dunno what - they were in their own little world.

Day after Christmas

2009-02-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

We got up real early the day after Christmas and headed to Utah. We stopped in Vegas on the way to visit Grandma Johnson.

Christmas w/ the Amato Clan

2009-02-05T20:54:00.001-08:00

My aunt from New York was visiting so I had to get some pics with the kiddos.

Christmas at the Johnsons

2009-02-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning

2009-02-05T20:45:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning @ our house . . .

Busy Busy

2009-01-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy. I feel like we haven't left the house in a month (probably due to the kids being off for 3 weeks now) but I know we've been super busy. I figured I'd post a quick run down and then upload pictures later when I have more time.

I think I left off somewhere after we got lots of snow. We still have snow on the ground - but it's the dirt/snow/ice mix that I can't stand. We don't even go outside to play when it's like this - its just gross. Course the rest of the world must not agree cuz traffic in and out of Wrightwood for the last 2 weeks has been horrendous! We consistently have traffic backed up from Mtn High all the way to 138, sometimes all the way to the 15. There are throngs of people playing on the side of the road (by playing I mean, running in the middle of the hwy, sledding in the street, bbqing in turn outs, and taking truckoads of dirt/snow home with them). People actually drive into residents' front yards and play on private property (clearly private) like they own the world. We have trash, dirty diapers, broken sleds, etc all over town. Snowplayers even urinate and defecate in public in people's front yards! I love this town and I wish others respected it as much as I do, I don't head down the hill and set up shop in front of anyone's house for a party. I get that I live in a resort town that gets snow and everyone wants to play - but seriously?? This is ridiculous - people are so rude . . . Sorry, had to get that rant out - I'm so sick of all the crowds this year.

We had a good Christmas - spent time with family, opened gifts, ate good food. The kids had fun at each stop. The highlights --- My parents' Jeep died and got towed home Christmas morning. My mom's "puppy" got to play in the snow for the first time after they finally made it up here. The boys got some snow pants and made it known to everyone that they always had to play in the snow in jeans and get all wet! Matt got to have some french toast (this is a big deal cuz I hate it and never make it for him). We now have a Wii and are trying to learn to play the thing. We got to hang out with my Aunt Dee Dee from New York. And of course we brought home leftover turkey . . .

The next day, we got up super early and headed out for Utah. We stopped in Vegas to visit with Matt's grandma for a while. The kids had a blast playing with their new keyboard from Grandma. We spent a couple days with Chrystal & Louie in Utah - with more snow. We had a ton of fun and got to relax a bit. We went sledding, shopping at Walmart (and spotted some polygs), and made tons of messes in Chrystal's house. All in all, we had a good vacation. It was kinda sad to leave, I wanted to stay a bit longer but Matt had to get back to work.

That leads me to this week. We came home to a water heater that could have burned the house down while we wre gone. It had black chunks of something all burned and stinky all over the place underneath and on top. The whole bathroom smelled like gas and the burner was burning wrong. So we got a new water heater! I'm kinda excited cuz that old one made me nervous long before this stuff happened. Course that's the most expensive thing we've gotten for the house since we did all the work when we moved in. The joys of homeownership . . . So anyway, Matt had to be back at work Monday - so he could get demoted . . . yes, he has officially been demoted to the position he had 2 years ago, making a TON less money. I won't bore you all with details though (a certain select few already had to listen to those all week while I stressed out). New Year's was pretty uneventful. We played some Wii and I worked for most of the day. Now I need to get back into the swing of things and get all of us into some kind of routine with Matt's new schedule. Oh and finish up my horrible ethics class. . .

For those of you who don't usually look unless there are pictures, and if you actually made it this far, I'm sorry :). I WILL post a ton in the next few days.

Thoroughbred Lights

2008-12-24T23:31:00.000-08:00

Since we got out of church a little earlier than I thought we would, I decided to take the kids over to see the Christmas lights on Thoroughbred in Rancho. We pretty much drive through every year and we had missed em this year so far - so what better night than Christmas Eve?! After waking Ryan back up (it was a long wait to get to the street) the kids had fun and pointed out a ton of crazy things. Mostly candy canes though :). I'm sure it didn't help that a nice lady gave them all mini candy canes when we were stopped in line.

They all wanted me to take their picture while we were driving . . .

Sledding

2008-12-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

Our friends, Dan & Mindi and their kids, came up on Sunday to play in the snow. Our kids, who have been sick of the snow and don't want to play in it anymore actually went out and played. I think everyone had fun. Kelly finally made her way over to our slide and slid into the snow over and over again. Mindi built a snowman that was totally better than my tiny one from last week. But of course I got no picture, so there's no proof :). And yesterday the head fell off anyway. The dads got all into the sledding and made some pretty good tracks in our backyard. Ryan wanted to ride with Kaylee over and over again. Even Kelly and Nicholas got in on the fun. After freezing our fingers and toes, we all definitely needed to warm up by the fire. I think that's the most fun we've had on a Sunday afternoon in a long time. Who wants to come visit next?

Shoveling

2008-12-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

So I thought Tuesday's shoveling was bad . . . yesterday was ridiculous! Matt absolutely had to get to work so we cleared the driveway, a few paths, and the flat part of the roof before he left. We started around 8:30 and finished around 11 or so. Then I went and spent most of the afternoon shoveling a path for the lady next door to get out. Both me and Matt are hurting pretty bad. I love the snow - but I think we need a snowblower before we get this much snow again!! Course from what I hear we haven't had this much since 1991, and before that it was in the 40s when they had 25 ft of snow! So I think we have a bit of time before I need to worry about a blower :).

Before:

After:

Notice the deck on this one? I finally had to brush the snow off when it got higher than the railing.

Can you see Matt's car over the pile of snow we have next to the driveway? This is taken from the street. You're looking at the berm and the snow we shoveled on top of it. We made our own snow fort out of our driveway LOL!

Here's the view from our street. It really is gorgeous out now. Traffic will be horrible this weekend (last year it took 4-5 hrs to get up the highway) but at least it is pretty!

Are you sick of my snow pictures yet?

2008-12-17T16:09:00.000-08:00

4.5 feet of snow was measured on the ground at 1pm today and it has not stopped since. But the snow has been compressed a bit as it adds up, so the amount actually falling could be more. . . .

We can barely see Matt's car now. In fact, if it wasn't black, I'm not sure you could see it at all! That is my car, 10 minutes after Matt took it into town - the snow is coming down so fast that it already has that much snow on it again. Yes, my crazy husband was getting ansty and felt trapped so I sent him to the store to get milk. He said you can't see the road and wouldn't know where it was unless you've driven it before.

4pm:

6pm:

If anyone remembers the dog house that we had built and then the kids painted bright red -- this is it. It is a huge dog house . . .

And this is the top of my shed, taken by me standing on my tiptoes to see over the snow on the railing on the back deck.

This is the front deck. Yes it is completely full of snow!

This is a 6 ft fence I promise.

The boys made snow angels today but they got their faces covered in snow while trying. Kelly was not interested. We tried sledding today but it was so powdery, we couldn't get the sleds going at all.

AGAIN

2008-12-17T07:44:00.000-08:00

So, remember the picture yesterday of our lovely shoveled driveway?? Well this is what we woke up to today - and it's still coming down. Reports say we'll get snow all day. There's currently about 9 new inches of snow on the ground. So that makes a total of about 33 inches or so this week. I guess Matt won't be going to work after all. 138 is closed right now and has many accidents. There's snow in Phelan and Hesperia. Technically we can't even get to Phelan right now - we're stranded :). And they're running escorts through the pass, with chances of it closing later. Fun stuff . . .

And Harley can't resist running around in a storm . . .

Just to brag a bit more

2008-12-16T18:47:00.001-08:00

I LOVE the mountains!!! This is why I deal with the cold, the leaks, the drive, etc. It is so awesome to be able to wake up to this kind of view and share it with my kids as if it is totally normal.

What we did today . . .

2008-12-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Matt shoveled for a while then went to the store and post office for a bit while I did some more. We got the driveway pretty much cleared off. Our backs are shot though. The plow went by after we were done and gave us a nice 4 foot berm - but then he felt bad or something cuz he came back and moved most of it up the street a little bit. Matt's car even started (last year it wouldn't start for over a week when we got snow) pretty easily. So depending on how much snow we get tonight, Matt might get to work tomorrow . . .

snow falling

2008-12-15T21:10:00.000-08:00

I know its dark, but you might be able to see how much snow is coming down at once . . .

More snow pics

2008-12-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

Our mini snowman on the way back inside when our jeans were soaked:

Eric playing in the fresh snow:

Mommy sledding:

Dogs running with me - they had a blast running around out front (and they actually listened beautifully):

Yes, I'm a slave driver and I'm making Kelly drag the sled back up the street:

Ryan's snowball:

Kids sledding:

Matt dragging em back up:

Kelly all dressed in her "new" snow clothes:

Kids Christmas Musical

2008-12-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this stuff . . . The boys were in the Flipside's Kids Christmas Musical again this year. Eric danced away through the whole thing, when he wasn't too busy flirting with the band and showing off his tatoos :). Ryan was a bird for his song and flapped his wings great! The pics are not all that great - I can't ever get the light to look good in there. But you'll get the gist of it.

I'll warn you the sound is sketchy cuz I didn't realize my thumb was over the mic on my camera. I was also laughing and Kelly was in my lap so it's pretty shakey - sorry in advance :).

SNOW

2008-12-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

I'll have a ton more pictures later, but I had to get a few up right now cuz I'm a little too excited :). This is our first snow in our new house and its a good storm! I had just said at Bible Study that I didn't think we'd have any snow before Christmas - well I guess I was wrong . . . . we have about 11 or 12 inches right now but it's really coming down out there so we'll have a ton more by the time it's done. Possibly up to 2 feet!! Eric has a snow day and the freeway is closed so Matt's off work. I think we may clean up and decorate for Christmas today :). When the freeway opens, anyone who wants to come on up and play - let me know! Maybe tomorrow . . .

This picture is for Odette from Eric:

Harley can't resist the snow - he hops through it like crazy!

My hair

2008-12-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

I hadn't gotten a good picture of my hair yet so I hadn't blogged it. I still don't have a great picture - but better than nothing. I cut it again, but just a trim to even it out. But the biggest change is that I'm now a brunette. Yes, I went dark. It's a reddish brown color and I kinda like it. Course it will wash out soon - but in the mean time, my blonde is gone :). So does that mean I can take a break from being a dumb blonde now??

Med-Legal Christmas Party

2008-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

We had our company Christmas party Saturday night. Since we're both employees now, we each got to bring a date and took Mike & Deborah with us. It was fun - good food, funny games. The murder mystery they had was ridiculously stupid though - we could have done better :). The actors couldn't act, the story line was dumb, and the result was even dumber. Let me tell you - I could care less which elf wanted Frosty the Snowman dead - or who was sleeping with who . . . yah, I said it was dumb!

Gina Giovanni & Brutus Simpson

2008-12-12T22:09:00.001-08:00

Tonight Matt and I got to be a part of a murder mystery diner party for the Flipside church staff. A group of us played characters in an Italian wedding where the bride was murdered. No worries, no one liked her anyway :). I didn't get any pictures during the party at all - and I'm really bummed I didn't go grab my camera!!! But Ryan took one of us when we got home so that's all I have.

Matt played Brutus Simpson - the loud, opinionated, controlling, older brother of the groom. I played Gina Giovanni - the always overlooked, jealous, sister of the bride. We sort of acted out our parts in little conversations that we had to make sure everyone overheard. It was pretty fun. Definitely hilarious! And guess who dunnit . . . . Brutus!! Yup my hubby was the murderer - it was a fun night :).

The best line of the night was by Ryan Lane (who played the groom, Stanley Simpson) kneeled by his dead bride and said, "Oh dang it!"

Wrightwood's Shop at Home and Christmas Light Parade

2008-12-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

This post is rather late, but I was waiting on pictures from a photographer in town to be posted online (I forgot my camera!). Over Thanksgiving weekend, Wrightwood has a "Shop at Home" weekend and a light parade. Eric was sick that weekend, but we ventured out for the parade anyway. Basically people decorate their cars, semi trucks, jeeps, strollers, trailers, golf carts, and horses with tons of Christmas lights and cruise through town in a parade. It was awesome!!! There was even a huge semi with a flatbed trailer that was full of girl scouts waving and cheering. They were all so cute! Oh and we can't forget the Vespas that got all decorated too. Everyone says that this year's parade was the biggest and best one yet. I can't wait for next year! Matt wants to enter it too :). The following pictures came from Mitzi Smith Photography.

Christmas Lights

2008-12-03T22:59:00.000-08:00

Since we were home for Thanksgiving weekend, Matt spent a day decorating the house. The A-frame was a challenge but he did an awesome job. We even had a car slow down that night to look. That made Matt's day! But there are still more plans to add more lights when he has time or I have money to get more :).

This is my favorite outside decoration we have. A couple years ago I went to Walmart in the middle of crazy Christmas shopping and he was the last one on display and they couldn't find anymore for me. So I took the display even though he was a little beat up. Now my cute, cheap, falling apart snowman greets me at the door. I love it!

San Clemente

2008-11-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

We went camping down at San Clemente this week. We left right after Matt was done with worship on Sunday and came home Wednesday before he had practice that night. Mike and Deborah and their two puppies joined us Monday through Wednesday. My cousin and her husband happened to be camping there too (we knew they were but we didn't plan it that way).

This is how I spent the first day - trying to get rid of my migraine. Nice huh?

We don't usually camp with hookups but we figured since we were by ourselves and we didn't really want to use the propane heater - we opted for the smaller hookup sites. It was nice though - having power and all :). And we had plenty of room for the kids and dogs to play even with Mike and Deborah's tent set up. I think everyone had fun. We had some pretty good food if I do say so myself (although I needed 3 extra trips to the store). The kids collected tons of sticks for the puppies to chew on. One of the days Matt took them down to the beach to explore. We had some nice campfires each night complete with smores and music.

It was a nice vacation - first relaxing one in a long time. And we even came home with a few more days off from work to enjoy.