The Happy Birthday Boys!!

Well, today, in addition to it being Reformation Day (and that other day), we have two birthday boys! Elias and Brad both share the same birthday. I'd say Brad got a pretty good birthday gift 7 years ago today when the Bear (Elias' nickname) was born. Can he possibly be seven?? Bear is cute as a button, totally crazy, and missing a few screws! :) Today, the men requested waffles for breakfast (done!). At our house, you pick your birthday dinner as well. Elias chose tacos and ice cream cake with white cake in the middle.....oreo crust, cool whip topping. Brad always chooses the same meal.....tuna noodle casserole. It is his absolute favorite meal (I know, hard to believe!) along with German Chocolate cake. So, there you go. We are having Elias' dinner tonight and then I am making Brad's casserole for him to take to the ranch this week so he can have the whole thing to himself (unless he cares to share with Paul - and Paul cares to eat it!). No school on birthdays either! We may even splurge and use those Book It Pizza Hut coupons for lunch! What a day! See photos here.

On The Road

Day one, we drove all the way to St George in Southern Utah. We stopped at a Hilton Garden Inn. We love hotels. When we checked in, there was a "US Olympic Speed Skating" sign up. Brad made some silly comment at the front desk about Apollo (Anton Ono) being there and the front desk clerk replied that indeed he WAS there. Wow! How fun is that? Not that I saw him or anything, but just the idea that he really was there made my night! :) I had visions of running downstairs at 6am with my camera to make a fool out of myself. Sleep won out! I am too old
(and hopefully too wise) to be a groupie!

Day two, as we were driving through Utah, I felt as if I were going home!! I spent four years in Utah and loved it. I love the mountains, and as we drove, I wondered why in the world we were in CA for so long. We stopped in my old stomping grounds - The University of Utah in Salt Lake City (go Utes) and ate at The Pie Pizzaria. We stayed the night in Bountiful just out of SLC. On our way to the pool that night, someone opened the door on Micah's toe and yanked off her toenail. Micah has this thing with her toes...she hurts them and then she and I don't sleep that
night - she, because of the pain, me - because of the crying that goes with that pain. :)

Day three, the Blazer was not running great. It just didn't want to go up hills (not good - we're heading north!). Just before Pocatello, Duke the Dog threw up in the car! NICE! Brad was ahead in the Blazer, and Shaun stopped with the kids and I. We cleaned it all up and got back in the cars to go and the Suburban wouldn't start. I praise God for Shaun who knows all things car related! He figured out that the starter was overheated. We waited a few minutes and voila - on the road again. In the meantime, Brad stopped in Pocatello to wait for us and change the spark plugs. We pulled into some auto parts store, ate lunch, and did some repair work. Other than that, we had no more incidents and made it to Bozeman by Sunday evening where our dear friends, The Behrendt's, were waiting with open arms. Photos here.

Road trips with our family are always great. This time was no exception. Even though we had no CD player (it broke ages ago), the AC stopped working (in Southern Utah when it was 110 degrees out!), and all the adults were driving seperate cars, Dad (aka the treat guy!) furnished us with plenty of goodies and laughs. I love my family. I am so glad that they are mine!!

The Adventure Begins

We left San Diego on June 1st to move to Montana....not sure WHERE exactly in Montana we will end up, but we are thinking the Northwest corner. We have such wonderful friends in San Diego. I don't think that I have even felt more loved. Friends brought food all week long, showed up to pack us (Wendy Danskin packed almost my entire kitchen! Go Wendy. Funny, but my fine china boxes were the only ones that got squished in the move, and due to her fabuous packing, not even ONE was broken!!), and scrubbed the entire house. I didn't clean one thing!! WOW. My own professional cleaning crew!

We got out of the house later than we expected. The Curles, Scheppele, Gmyr, Gonzales, and Norvell families were there to see us off. Our last view of the neighborhood was Karen and Nick L'Heureux waving from their driveway! We will miss many things about San Diego - especially the great friends that the Lord has blessed us with. click here for photos

The Catalog Arrives!!!

I have been meaning to get this started for some time. Now we have a great reason for me to get myself moving. So, here is our first post!


You would have thought that we won the lottery if you had been at our house two days ago.....the new 2007-2008 Vision Forum catalog arrived - FINALLY!! Pure pandemonium broke out. No one could look at it until chores were done and the kids were all ready for bed. That's some incentive for you! :) Kim C has graciously offered to do a drawing for $150 of VF products. Here is a list of some of our favs:



Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God #84332 $16.00
Henty Guide #24402 $10.00
2006 Best of the Christian Film Festival #79878 $35.00
Make Your Own Doll Dress Kit #31580 $19.00
Colonial Jacket and Breeches #10177 $69.00

WE LOVE VISION FORUM. don't you?