PerryRocks

I love these Kids!

2010-04-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Big Sister

2010-04-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

Aubree absolutely loves being a Big Sister! She kisses him all day and just wants to hold "Baby Brotha Sef."

First thing in the morning she has to find her "Baby Brotha Sef"

More Birthdays!!!

2010-03-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Jeremiah and Aaron's 2nd Birthday. It was Mickey Mouse theme and Aubree was in heaven! She loved everything from the jumper to the jungle gym to the bubbles.

She even jumped in the "big kid" jumper!

I think she was the only one who actually got to shoot the bubble gun! And lots were promised! LoL

Sitting with her Daddy...eating her cupcake.

Jeremiah & Aaron "Happy 2nd Birthday!"

I had a cute picture of Aubree and Caydence and the dumb thing won't upload! :/

She's becoming such a big girl!

I'm Spoiled!

2010-03-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

I had such a fun Baby Shower this weekend given to me by one of my best friends Jamie. It was so cute, fun games, and great food!

Ashley, Phelicia, & Mammaw!

3 of my sweetest friends...Judy, Kaci, & Jeanette

4 of the 8 "Aunts"...Ali, Emily, Micah, & Jeni

I love these 3 ladies! Dulia, Martha, & Suzy

3 great friends Amie, Tiana, & Tami

Shirley, Grammy Lori, & Sarah

My step-mom Lisa and 2 of my step-sisters Amy & Andrea...who dressed alike NOT on purpose! Funny thing is Sarah and I had the same shirt on too!

Sarah & I as twins....she is due in August w/her 4th baby.

I have the best friends that are so generous! This baby has the cutest stuff!

Aubree didn't attend the shower because she is a beast! LOL....but she did love all the presents. Here she is in her new favorite toy!

I LOVE MY PRINCESS!

2010-03-05T12:39:00.001-08:00

When I go back through old pictures I seriously cry at how fast Aubree has grown up. I love her sooo much...even her attitude! She was just learning to walk in this picture at Tim's softball game. Brings back so many memories and I sometimes think I can't even remember her this little...and this pic is barely a year old. She was so bow legged.

He's Almost Here!

2010-03-05T11:35:00.000-08:00

2 weeks and counting....crazy. I'm not nervous about the labor and delivery or even the recovery but what makes a knot in my stomach is the day to day and night LoL of raising 2 kids! It makes me a little nervous. I'm excited at the same time but still a little nervous. I have been a shopping fool for this baby. Here's the clothes I have so far and my baby shower is tomorrow! I wasn't expecting to have a baby shower so I had been shopping and stocking up on clothes.

Here's the damage:

3 pairs of jeans
2 pairs of pants
4 pairs of shorts
1 bathing suit
12 shirts
8 soft "stay @ home" shirts
11 pairs of soft pants
1 jacket
3 sleepers
2 Onesie Short Outfits
2-3 around the house outfits

Keep in mind this has accumulated over 9 months!

Finally his room is done! Minus the rocking chair and crib....but the painting, wall decals, hanging of decor....I'll show complete room pictures once all the furniture is up...and my curtains. I'm so excited to get those and hang them up.

I strongly suggest wall decals for your room's decor. On etsy.com they are affordable and turn out really good. This one is above the rocking chair in the corner of his room.

My drum set that I LOVE....and then hung crooked...whatever I'm over it LoL This is over his crib. I like the contrast against the teal blue...even though Tim says it's "girly"....it's only one wall and the other walls are charcoal gray!

Oh and my carseat is done! I LOVE it...my friend Tami did a perfect job. If you have a stroller or carseat you want re-covered or just made cute check out her site on FB "Rockin Buggy's"

Payton's 1st Birthday!

2010-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Payton. Today we went to Payton's first birthday party. She is Tim's cousin David's little girl and soooo cute. She is the happiest baby.

Aubree had fun playing with all the toys.

Chalk was her favorite.

Happy Birthday Caydence!

2010-02-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Aubree's best friend/cousin Caydence turned 2yrs old today! We just got back from Chuck E Cheese and Aubree cried the whole way home "Mouse, Mouse, Mouse"....she loved him.

She wanted to dance with Chuck E....aka "MOUSE!"

Waiting for their pizza!

They love cake!

They literally rode the carousel 7 or 8 times.

Finally another ride...

I don't know what Aubree is thinking???

She won 2 tickets!

Silly Girls!

Early Valentines from Mammaw & Papa

2010-02-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

I have a very happy 20 month old!

Waiting for the fish to get used to the water temp.

We thought she'd call them "Nemo" because she watches that movie twice a day....but she calls them "Dorothy" from Elmo's World.

She was so excited to feed them.

She just stares at them.

Oh Aubree...

2010-02-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

I started writing down all the random things Aubree says and realizing that she listens to everything I say!

1/20/10: Started to potty train. Got the potty, the panties, and the candy. After a few hours of sitting her on her potty and her not going and throwing a fit. I said, "Aubree go pee pee in the potty and you can get some CANDY!!!" Aubree: "NO Mommy I don't want candy!"

1/28/10: We were walking out the door and Aubree stopped right in front of me and I ran into her. All she said was, "Sorry my Mommy...Sorry Mommy" LoL

2/10/10: I was taking pizza out of the oven and I hear, "Careful my Mommy Hot!" I then realize that every time I open the oven I tell her, "Hot Aubree be careful."

2/10/10: I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and she said, "Don't spill it Mommy." She remembers everything I say to her.

2/10/10: From when she was born I have always changed her diaper and said, "oh nasty" or if she tried to pick something off the floor I would say "Ewwww Nasty". So anything that smells or looks gross is "Nasty" to her. She walked past me and had a loud hiccup and looked at me and said, "Ewww Mom Nasty."

2/16/10: For some reason whenever Tim goes to sit on the couch the back hits my sofa table and knocks a picture down. I yelled at him, "Tim knock it off...learn how to sit right." (remember I am 9 months pregnant and he can be irritating LoL) Then we hear, "Tim knock it off! Knock it off Tim!"

2/20/10: I went to the bathroom and when I was done Aubree said,"Yeah Mommy get CANDY!"

2/22/10: Aubree got out a pot and a lid to play with and she sets them on the couch and says, "Mom I cookin' brrrrritoooo!" Lol...she loves burritos.

My soon to be "Not my baby"

2010-02-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

It's so weird to think that Aubree isn't going to be my "baby" anymore. I know she's gonna be 2 soon anyway but just that fact that she'll be my "big" kid makes me sad...and the fact that it's not just me and her anymore. Especially when I get to wake up to this...

And honestly her hair is quite calm in the pictures.

Here is one preggo picture since some people are asking. I am like the least photogenic person ever so I try to avoid the camera when possible. I think this is 7 or beginning of 8 months?? Sometime in January.

Baby Boy...Seth or Aiden?

2010-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

So I still have no nursery set up....I have 6 weeks to get going but in reality need to have it done by March 1. I already have the curtain fabric, rugs, paint, furniture, and wall decals...just need to put them all together. Here is a sample of what is to come!

Fabric for curtains and crib bumper. The green is actually "lime" and not so diarrhea color. And the light gray is actually a dark gray. I'm painting 2 walls gray (darker than Aubree's room) and 2 walls teal.

Wall Decal for over the crib on the teal wall
Not sure exactly where this one is going...but I love it. Maybe on the wall with the window? Which will be gray. BTW..this pic is from Etsy-not my house :)

I still want to put his name on the wall over his dresser. Tim is still in love with Seth and I like Aiden. Wouldn't Aubree and Aiden be cute? Tim will probably get his way because he has always liked that name and that is what Aubree would be if she were a boy. LoL

Aubree comes up to me several times a day and wants to see "Baby Botha" and she say's "Nice Baby" while patting my stomach. Too cute. Interesting to see how she takes to the baby. She love love loves babies. I'm going to have to keep him out of her reach because she would pick him up and carry him away with no second thoughts....but I'm most curious to see how she'll do when he has "Mommy's" attention. She is such a mommy's girl.

I'm getting excited and overwhelmed everyday. I have amazing friends who are super crafty and helping me get ready. My friend Kaci is making me my curtains and bumper. My super sweet friend Tami is making me a carseat cover. Sewing right over the pink one I had for Aubree. I'm excited to see how it turns out. This is the carseat fabric. The stroller I picked is Red, Black, Tan, and Gray so this fabric will match when the carseat is connected.

One of my best friends Jamie (who is also a cousin-in-law??) is throwing me a shower too. Wasn't expecting to have one but feel very special that she is putting all her time, effort, and money into it for me. It's friends only since I want it to be small and my family is too big and too complicated! LoL I do love you all but...you know :) Here is the cute decor she is using. I wish I could scan the invitation to show you all how cute it is. I'm very proud of my friend! LoL (She would think this is funny....that I'm proud of her).

I'm Alive!

2010-02-07T12:08:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted since July??? Where does the time go....well instead of re-capping the last 7 months (you can view that on my Facebook) I'm going to pick up from the New Year. Aubree is getting too big too fast...and so am I lol....6wks from Tuesday and I'm due with Baby #2. Crazy...
We've had some crazy rain these past few weeks which brought us lots of snow in the mountains. This was Aubree's first time in the snow and she loved it.

She was too funny trying to walk around.

As soon as she realized she could eat it...and that "snow" was just a bunch of "ice".....

"More ice Mom"

It was all over...all she did was stand there and the "ice"

And eat.....
And eat....
And eat....
And eat some more...
"Cold-eee wet hands Mom!"

We did try to get her to play a little instead of just eat lol

Trying to make her "Nooooo Man"

And she didn't get 3 licks from her candy or even out of the parking lot and she was out!

Summer Fun!

2009-07-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and we are trying to stay cool. Beach, pool, hose....whatever we can find! Aubree's new favorite thing is to go to the beach. Boy o' boy do I have a beach baby. She runs straight for the water and wants to drive right into the waves. She loves the sand and especially the freedom to roam where she wants. It's gonna be a fun summer.

Swimming w/her cousins @ Grandpas House

Aubree & Alex swimming

Maddie showing Aubree how to work her boat :)

I love my baby girl...or should I say my Big Girl!

Here she is touching the water for the first time.

Here she is trying to get back to the water.

So close now, but she sees me between her and the water...

Here she is trying to go into the water and me pulling on her to stay out! She has no fear!

Hi Mom!
Playing in the sand w/Uncle Troy.

Beach Baby!
So tired...

Aubree's 1st Birthday

2009-06-10T13:56:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby girl is already 1! She is so much fun, I love her so much. We had the best time making Candyland for her birthday. Here is just a streamline of the party. ..

GumDrop Trail

Mr. Mint aka Auntie Em

Princess Lollies...Melanie & Emily...Aubree's Cousins

Entrance to Rainbow Trail and Queen Frostine...

Cupcakes...

Birthday Girl in Lollipop Forest

Getting ready and sooo excited!

Trail to Queen Frostine

Peppermint Forest

Birthday Girl!

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-28T11:55:00.001-07:00

We had a super busy weekend. Started off w/my nephew Alex's 1st B-day.

He and Aubree are 11 days apart.

Sunday we had a BBQ @ my mom's house. Aubree found her favorite thing in the world...ice!

Eating her own bowl of ice.She didn't know everyone there so she was a little shy...

Jumping w/Auntie Melissa & her baby

Aubree & Mammaw

Playing w/daddy
Monday we had 2 BBQ's to go to.

Aubree & Uncle Taylor...

Uncle Troy aka "Crazy Uncle Troy"

And then we finally ended up at my Dads Birthday BBQ...

Aubree loves bikes, powerwheels, anything with wheels....

Maddie
Malea Swimming
Alex climbing on the furniture...

Aubree trying to climb on the furniture...

Alex showing Aubree how to do it...and Aubree wanting to smack him in the face...
she's so sweet :)

Busy, Busy

2009-05-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy this last month. Have not had 1 Saturday off since April 25 and will not be free again until July 11th! Here's what we've been up to...

Softball as usual. She loves to walk circles around the bleachers.

Swimming!
She loves the water.

Waiting to go swimming at Mammaw's house.

So close, yet so far...she wants in so bad!

We have recently became Annual Pass holders w/Disneyland and are loving it! As soon as she sees Mickeys face she says, "Icky Icky!"

She loves the characters!

Wiped out after a long day...we've been averaging a trip about once a week :)

I still work a few hours a week and I get to bring Aubree w/me. Here she is working with her Auntie Melissa.
Summer is coming fast and Aubree loves to be outside.

She thinks she's a big girl!
She loves to pick the grass...
Random...

Uncle Taylor giving her soda.
Aubree & her best friend Caydence on their way to Ikea!

Disneyland

2009-04-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy to have Disney passes again. Soooo happy! Aubree's first trip was when she was 6 months old. She wasn't really sure what was going on. But now even at 10 1/2 months she LOVES it. She loved just standing in line staring at everybody and everything.

Standing in line with Mammaw

Waiting for Small World

Minnie was her favorite. She went right new to her and when Minnie picked her up she kissed her and tried to eat her nose. Too cute!

Aubree & Caydence. Caydence wasn't so into Minnie!

She seriously had a smile on her face all day. Staring at everything.

She loved the carousel.

Auntie Emily & Aubree on Bug's Life train.

Mammaw, Aubree, & Auntie Emily

Aubree & Caydence had so much fun. Aubree is 10 1/2 months and Caydence is 14 months and they're the same size.

Aubree's First Easter

2009-04-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Easter was so much fun this year. Church was amazing! Aubree had so much fun. It was a long day though. Started out with opening her basket/getting ready for church @ the same time.

Trying to get a picture of her looking @ me is almost impossible...

She was in the process of throwing her basket on the ground...

She had fun w/her friends @ church...Caydence (cousin & BFF), Aubree, & Katelynn

Doesn't want to touch the grass.

Hunting eggs w/ Auntie Melissa

She loves her Auntie!
All the girl Cousins...

Look Mom!
Aubree & Madelyn
Aubree & Alex
Which one do I want?

This one!

Mammaw bought her favorite...Mickey Mouse-she's hugging him.

And now she's kissing him...she loves her Mickey!

I also got an Elmo Bikini. My next favorite. Having fun with Auntie Melissa & Emily.

Arizona Fun

2009-03-17T10:37:00.001-07:00

We went down to Arizona for a church conference this past weekend and had a really good time. We took Aubree with us. The car ride wasn't as bad as it could have been.

She loved the hotel (and their dirty floors)Getting ready to go to the conference. (I can't figure out how to rotate my pictures??)

Having fun with Daddy in the hotel.

Her favorite part of the trip was the Marriott's pool. She had so much fun swimming with her Grandpa!

Having fun with Grandpa & Daddy

She absolutely LOVED the water. She's gonna have fun this summer!

Our Busy Weekend

2009-03-04T10:30:00.001-08:00

We had another busy weekend! Started out with an engagement party for our friends Ashley & Mark, then my step-cousin Maren's wedding, and a trip to Chuck E Cheese!

We can start with the end of the day. We stopped by my mom's house to pick her and Emily up for Chuck E Cheese.

Aubree feeding her baby

And some for herself

Playing with Auntie Emily

Riding with Chuckie

Driving the Fire Truck

Not sure if she likes the Monster Truck

She was so tired by the end of the day...

Her "mommy" tights

My Ragamuffin!

2009-02-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

People have asked me if I ever let Aubree just be :) No ponytails or "Outfits". So I decided to show you that I do let Aubree just "be". Usually when we are at home I don't do her hair (sometimes a headband cause her hair is crazy) and I put on comfy clothes.

Her crazy hair is one of my favorite things...

This is what happens "after" the pigtails (don't you love the teething biscuit)

Then there is her cute faces....

The infamous "Pig Face"

She doesn't like Daddys music.

My Ragamuffin!

Valentines Day & Caydence's 1st Birthday!

2009-02-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was busy busy...we were supposed to or had planned on going to Big Bear on Valentine's Day to have breakfast, lunch, and take Aubree to the snow. It actually started snowing Friday night making it more difficult to get up there so we canned that idea real quick. Tim and I both bought Aubree a few things for Valentines Day...little did we know when we put it together it was more than she needed.

But she did love it.

We stopped by my dad's house to visit and Aubree had fun with her Valentines Bear and race track set.

I still wanted to actually "do" something for V-Day. We ended going to Color Me Mine to get Aubree's hand print done. It was a little harder than I thought...

She was perfectly happy and content...

until I needed to put paint on her hand...

This is the best we could do... it's looks like she has 6 fingers!

Moving on to Sunday- it was Caydence's 1st Birthday. She had a pizza party!

Aubree & Caydence having fun...

Until it was time to put the party hats on :)

And as if that wasn't enough to do (or eaten enough pizza)...we ended up the long weekend with a trip to John's Incredible Pizza

Aubree loved the little carousel. It was like the only thing she could ride by herself.

We tried the dinosaur...

But, then we were back at the carousel.

Aubree's 8 Months

2009-02-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe she is already 8 months. She has grown so much in just this past month. It's crazy that she's wearing sundresses in February. The weather has been so nice this past week.

She's crawling now.

She loves to play "Patty Cake" -clapping is one of her favorite things to do.

She waves "bye, bye"

She also gives kisses. Although, it's more like a head butt.

Maddie's 1st Birthday

2009-02-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

January 15th was my niece Madelyn's 1st Birthday Party. She was too cute.

Aubree & Alex weren't sure what was going on.

Aubree trying to pull Malea's hair.

Amy made all of Maddie's Birthday cakes: one for her to destroy (above) and a cute Lady Bug Ice Cream Cake and Lady Bug Cupcakes.

Halloween Way Late

2009-01-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

I tried to post Halloween before Christmas, but again it didn't happen. We actually went to Vail Lake with the Waldens a few weeks before Halloween.

Here are all the Walden & Perry Girls: Emily, Aubree, Caydence, & Melanie

Aubree as "Tinkerbell" & Caydence as "Pumpkin Fairy"

I think I liked the back of her costume better than the front

On Halloween Night we made the rounds, visiting Grandpa Joels house first. She had her first sucker.I can't find the pictures I took of Aubree and her cousins for the life of me. Maddie was the cutest Giraffe, Malea was a ballerina, Andrew was Spiderman, and Alex was too cute in his Halloween clothes. He had a penguin costume and he didn't want any part of it.

We then went over to my mom's house and met up with Aunt Melissa as "Alice in Wonderland"

Aubree thought the best part of Halloween was eating suckers...until she discovered the entire candy bowl! She didn't want out of it all night. (And she was only on the chair for this picture)

Seriously like an hour later, we changed her into her Halloween Sweats and she still wanted to sit in the bowl.
Eventually she found that she could eat the candy....

We are Alive and Well

2009-01-11T08:08:00.000-08:00

I seriously do try to update this thing as often as I can. Time is flying by as always. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to.....
Tim's sister Jeni was married on Jan. 1st. Here we are at the Rehearsal...

Aubree loved the menu @ the rehearsal dinner

Here were the centerpieces for the reception (before the Mission Inn set the tables)

Tim & Jeni Dancing

Aubree in the Brides Dressing Room

Christmas came and went way to fast. It is so much more fun with a kid. Aubree got so many toys it should be illegal.

Aubree with Auntie Emily

Aubree and her cousin Alex...they are 11 days apart.

My niece Madelyn was so cute in her pink tutu. Jan. 15th is her 1st Birthday!

Christmas Morning at Tim's side of the Family

Aubree and Uncle Taylor

Aubree and Maddie on Christmas Eve

We puppy-sat Tony & Jamie's Christmas Present to their girls "Alvin" for a night and Aubree loved him. Here she is in her ball pit that came with exactly the amount of balls you see. So lame. I need like triple what they provided to fill that thing up.

Aubree is getting too big too fast...still no crawling but she can move herself all around the living room by scooting while sitting up. She claps and says, "Da Da" , and she is working on "Ma Ma" but it sounds more like "Na Na" right now.

3 Months

2008-09-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

Everyone has always said, "it goes by so fast". But, I never realized it until now. She is already 3 months. The difference in her 1 month pictures vs. 3 months is crazy! She is getting too big too fast.

1 Month

3 Months

Daddy's Girl

Dedication Dress

My pretty Girl!

I love this dress...and yes I realize she is flipping off the camera.

What do you do?

Okay- so what's 7 months?

2008-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

First two of my faves...

Time goes by so fast. There is no way I could even try to blog about the last 7 months. Too much good stuff. So here is an attempt to just re-cap:

January- Found out we were having a Baby Girl!

February- I got nothing.

March-My sister Emily turns 13!

April- My beautiful Baby Shower

A few of the many centerpieces...

Yummy food table

Throughout the food table were pictures of Tim & I as babies...

May- 5 year Wedding Anniversary! Crazy....

June- Welcome Aubree Lynn on June 3rd! 7lbs 10oz. of pure sweetness. I don't have the hospital pictures scanned yet. They were taken on my mom's 35mm camera :) Here are some of her at home the first few days.

Grandma & Auntie Emily She sleeps with her hands above her head..just like her daddy!

Also in June we had our Georgia family come visit for my cousin Paul's wedding. I think Aubree's cousins liked her just a little...

July- Fun 4th of July. It was also my Grandpa's 83rd birthday party.

Aunt Melissa

My Grandpa and 2nd cousins Harold and Serrine

August- My 24th Birthday and a trip to Sea World.

Getting ready to eat at Rockin' Baja in Old Town San Diego

Baja Bucket Yum!

SHAMU...WE LOVE YOU!

Having fun at SeaWorld

I think I like my SeaWorld hat
So, with having a baby and returning to work leaves me with no time to blog....but I didn't even have time when I didn't have a baby. I am going to make an effort to try to blog at least once a week...at the worst once a month. So I will leave you now with a few, more like a bunch, actually like a buttload of pictures of Aubree's First Month...

I said I couldn't blog about the last few months...but I guess I did :)

Better late than Never

2007-12-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am seriously getting ready to post about Halloween. Our laptop is all jacked up and that has all my camera software on it. I was too lazy to load it onto our desktop. But sitting and having to watch 4 football games will get me motivated. So, our church did a Holy Ghost Town. We completely emptied our sanctuary and got decorating.

We had a really good turn out. We had a chili cook off and costume contest. Here we have a really cute Pirate named Staci and Little Bo Beep who looks like she ate all her sheep!

Syd and Laney....
My Dudey-

My brother-in-law as Vampire Troy

Here are the pictures I wanted to download on my last post. This is Gladstones in Malibu. Where we went for Jimmy's 50 Birthday.

So, on the way to LA for the birthday weekend. What do we see on the freeway that we would only see in LA?

How about this........

And this....

You may be thinking that I am talking about the beat up truck with graffiti-NO (those are everywhere). If you look closely on the right side of the bumper there is a loaf of bread. Look closely!

Now hopefully I will get Thanksgiving up before Christmas!

Parties, and Fires and Babies...Oh MY!

2007-10-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

I know it has been almost 1 month since I have posted. I have been sooo busy and so out of it lately. So, where do I even start....

Parties....We started off by having the youth group over and going to Knotts Scary Farm. That was fun-but tiring. We had them play this game in the pool and they had to get everyone across and only 3 could operate the "boat" and this one couldn't be left with that one and vice versa. They actually figured it out in about 1/2 hour. I was surprised. But, they seemed to have fun. It was freezing that morning and the pool was COLD!

*Side Note: I have been waiting to post this until my laptop is working again so I can post pictures. No such luck so far. As soon as I can I will post the pictures*

We then had Jimmy's Birthday Weekend. He turned 50 so we went to Santa Monica for the weekend. We stayed in a beautiful Marriott hotel. We had both rooms right next to each other and back sliding doors that walked out right in front of the pool. Of course my camera died so I don't have any hotel pictures. But, their pool was HUGE and they had this Tiki Hut in the middle with all these comfy couches and a fire in the middle at night. It was really nice and relaxing. We went to Malibu for dinner. We ate at Gladstone's. It is right on the beach. Here are 2 pictures I took before my camera died.

This brings me to my next title-Fires-one of the first fires that started was in Malibu right where we had dinner, 2 days before! They are up to some 1,000 homes destroyed. Too sad. The Malibu fire was actually set by a down phone pole. But, 2 or 3 others were arson. Crazy. Jimmy's sister lives in Ramona (San Diego) they were asked to evacuate and they wouldn't. The firefighters told them that if they didn't leave now, then they wouldn't come back to get them. No matter how worse it got. Thankfully, their house was safe. The smoke and air is so bad where we are. We have ash falling at my house and work. I could not imagine how bad it is AT the fire. We are at least an hour away from the closest fire. And then last Friday I woke up to no power. All of Riverside and San Bernardino had no power. It started to come on slowly here and there. The only good thing out of that was no work :)

And now the Baby! Yes, I am pregnant. I am 10 weeks. Tim and I are excited. And especially our mom's. I have been sooo nauseaus-all day. I can't wait for the first trimester to be over! And extremely tired!! And one of the worse things. The smell of my kitchen and car make we want to throw up! I have to roll all my windows down when I get in my car. I don't like the smell of leather normally and now I really don't like the smell. My due date is June 2nd and I just found out my step-sister is due June 4th. Too funny.

Next up... Holy Ghost Town- I will be at church today, tomorrow, and all day Wednesday to set up for our event. I hope it turns out like I picture it in my head!

Ahoy Matey!

2007-10-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

We have officially started Inspiration Island. I am pleased with the decor of the room and how well the kids decorated their Pirate Ships and Treasure Boxes. Every time I switch our theme for our curriculum I have each class choose a name. This year we have the Punky Potty Trained Pre-School Pirates, The Blue Pearl, and Cross Bones. Once they choose a name they then make a sign- they made Shields for the Kids in the Kingdom, Circus Act Banners for James & John Thunder Bros Circus,-I try to keep the signs matching with the theme. So this time they decorated Pirate Ships. I will post a picture Wednesday of the room decor :)

The kids also received tote bags for the younger ones, who don't carry a bible or bring it to actually read :) and then bible covers for the older class who use theirs for their lesson. We normally do shirts or hats too, but I decided to have a little change this time around. Below are the Punky Potty Trained Pre-School Priates totes, treasure chests, and craft.

We are also very busy planning our Holy Ghost Town. I have it all mapped out, I just need 3 more volunteers to "adopt" a room and the pre-planning is done. We are having a meeting tomorrow night. I don't know what I am dressing up as. I was thinking about a cross between pirate and saloon girl. We'll see.

I still can't believe how fast September went. We were very busy. We ended up going to 3 Angel games in 2 weeks and I forgot my camera ALL 3 TIMES!

This past weekend we had a family party for the September Birthday's on my dad's side (got that) and we went to my Aunt Paula and Uncle Jerry's house. They live in Oak Glen-which is the cutest little town. I grew up going there so you kind of take advantage of it and now that I am older I see how cool it actually is. We got so used to it that it was nothing special. We go up there at least 3 times a year. Anyway, we had a really good time this weekend. We went apple picking and bought Cherry Apple Cider and apple donuts. Soooo Good. Sounds weird-but they are heaven! They have this sugar spice on them. Yum! And of course you can't leave without your carmel apple!

Here's Melissa picking Apples! If you look close you can see her birthday present-her new Tattoo on her arm.

My aunt lives in this really cool house right in the middle of the forest. She literally has bears in her back yard every day. Her dogs have to be in doors- sometimes they are outside when the bears come and Buddy chases them up the trees. Their dog Buddy is HUGE! He is the cutest thing.

Here is the side of the house.

This is the front view. And below that is the drive way.

I don't talk about my dad's side of the family much-so here are some pictures of my "other" family.

This is my Uncle Glen and my Grandma.

Here is Gary (Aunt Laraine's Boyfriend), Cousin Damien, Grandpa, & Tim.

This is my Aunt Laraine and her grand daugther Paulina (My Cousin Paulette's Daughter)

Here is my dad and Aunt Paula out on her deck.

So now October. I love the fall. It is my favorite season. And I love the holidays. They are super busy-but I love it.

Look at what I got!

2007-09-24T18:04:00.000-07:00

What a surprise! I was sitting at work-counting down the clock (as usual) and Dulia who works at the front desk-came to me and said, "Come and look who sent me flowers" and so when I went up there there was the biggest bouquet of flowers I have ever seen. The kind that are in the entry way of a hotel. And I said, "Who are those from?" and she said look and see. And low and behold "Natalie Perry" was written on the card. I couldn't think for the life of me who they were from. Honestly, if my life depended on it- I would be dead. Everyone thought that Tim was in the Dog House-but, I didn't know who DID sent them-but one thing I knew for sure is that Tim did NOT send them. :) So, in shock I open the card and I read:

We love you & Appreciate

Everything you do.

The Lord who sees in Secret

Openly Rewards You.

Love, Troy & Lori

They were from Tim's mom and dad. I don't even know what I did???? Honestly, I called her to thank her and I said, "I don't know what I did, but thank you."

How sweet is that? I have a picture on my phone. I will try to upload it.

I love my Girls!

2007-09-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Wow, am I tired! The last 4 just left. 2 of them crying :) It is funny how fast it goes. I have been planning this for 3 months and now it's done. Where do I even start:

Before they arrived I set out all of the stuff I bought for them. Each had their own pillowcase full of cute stuff. I was so excited.

Here is Sydney's Stuff:

They were all so excited when they arrived. We started off with pictures of course. Lots of pictures~

Once they ravaged through all their stuff, we were off to the park!

Fun on the tire swing!

Notice the rain clouds in the back. We had a freak storm the last few days.

I love this picture of Lori.

I don't know which was more fun-the park or the ride home in the car??

Quick note: We walked there and Tim picked us up. Reason for no seat belts and 7 girls in a back seat built for 3: We only live 10 houses from the park.

When we got back home it was time for our first activity- Decorate Pillowcases! They turned out better than I thought. We used the Iron On Transfer Paper. The girls had a lot of fun.

After the park and pillowcases we were hungry. We made our own pizzas. Yum!

SAUCE & CHEESE

AND PEPPERONI!

Activity 2- Halloween Cards! I was in Heaven (Target) and found these really cute Happy Halloween Cards. They supply the glitter, decals, etc. and you get to make them. They were fun and turned out cute. We also had a fire because it was freeeeezing outside. Last Friday was 101 degrees and this Friday is 55 degrees. What the heck?

I didn't get any pictures of our next activity. We made magnets. I bought the magnet paper at Staples and we printed everything from Hannah Montana to Hello Kitty. And pictures of course. I was impressed with the quality of the paper and how easily it ran through the printer.

The next morning I gave them all matching shirts. They were really cute. I love Old Navy! I didn't get a picture of all the girls matching-Jessie had to leave early Saturday morning for her first Volleyball Game. And she won. Yeah Jess!

Gotta love the morning frizz!

Thanks for staying with me. I know this post is really long. I actually have like 75 pictures of the weekend!

I love Videos!

2007-09-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I don't know why my last video is showing 2 screens, but the top one works and that is good enough for me. As soon as I realized I had a video camera on my digital camera (Just found out that all digital cameras have it-how come no one told me?) I knew I had to video my Dudey. He is the cutest thing. I was trying to get him to talk (we are always trying to get him to talk) and of course the only thing he says is "bap" and that means "Bat" and "Ball". He is so funny when it comes to food. He loves food. If you come in from across the room and have a cup and anything that resembles food he immediately points to it and makes a circle with his lips and says "Ohhhhhhhh". It is so cute. But, he wouldn't do it for me. He is a little punk.

Pay attention to his face as soon as he sees the bag of chips, he immediately stands up , throws the bottle, and sits down next to me (all on his own).

And yes I realize I sound like I'm talking to a dog when I say "Good Boy". I was raised with 12 dogs- what do you expect? And that is Staci in the background talking all loud :)

Here is one more of him. I was trying to get him to come with me and as soon as I mention, "want to get some food or "more" he stops and looks at me. He then realizes I don't have any food and continues to walk away from me.

Lesson learned from these videos. "Talk Less" :)

My First Video

2007-09-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

I just realized last night that my camera has video on it. So, I decided to take a quick video of Tim teaching his sister Jeni and brothers Taylor and Levi. They come over every Tuesday to learn how to play guitar, bass, and drums. Tim is trying to get them ready to play on the youth praise team. We make fun of him (or I do) about the "All Perry" band-but they are the only ones we know will be there. Everyone else flakes or leaves :) The video is a little shakey at first and I didn't want them to see me because then they would have stopped. Plus, I wasn't planning on using the video for anything. They will get better I promise!

Jessie Rose

2007-09-11T17:28:00.001-07:00

So, like I said before, Jessie Rose was baptized last Saturday in Huntington Beach. It was a lot of fun. We got there around 9:00 in the morning and just hung out and made Sand Balls of course.

Sand Balls??? Hang Out with Home Schoolers at the beach and you get Sand Balls.

You make them just like Snow Balls-except they hurt a lot more than Snow Balls.

Who knew a Sheet could be so much fun?

Luke thought the sheet was "Super Cool"

Jessie was fortunate enough to be baptized by her dad.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...

YEAH!!!

What happened to the Kitty?

2007-09-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

I am a week behind in my posting. This was Labor Day weekend. This weekend was full too. I will post that later in the week.

I love having 3 day weekends. One less day at work! So, we started off Friday night, I had my mom, sister Emily, and cousin Jessie over for dinner (check out Emily and Jessie's myspace pages-we made them really cute). We got up early and dropped Tim off at his baseball game, picked my mom and Jimmy up and we were off to the beach. We got there in 35 minutes. No traffic at all. Crazy for a holiday weekend. Thank you Jesus!

The weather was really nice at the beach. We went and ate breakfast at Ruby's on the pier.

We then went to all the booths-rock climbing, mechanical surfing, obstacle course, etc. Except I noticed I didn't see my favorite little kitty. Hello Kitty was not there!!! For some reason she wasn't a sponsor this year, so the Hello Kitty Board Fest turned into Board Fest. Like I said it was still fun, but we were a little disappointed.

Anyway, the Strong Man on Sunday was really good. Except for the fact that in literally 10 minutes my Sunday school went from 15 kids to 48!!! Crazy. They all came in one big swoop! Then to top it off we had a 4. something earthquake about 10:30-right in the middle of church. It was not that big. But, we haven't had an earthquake in awhile so I assume we are due.

After church I took my cousin Michelle's kids with me to my mom's and again Jimmy cooked WAY to much food. We had steak, jumbo shrimp, and crab legs, Yum! It was so good. We swam and then ate and then swam and then ate some more. The kids were wiped out by the end of the day.

One funny picture I have is.. Tim fell asleep on the floor and I mean Fell Asleep-he was snoring and Evan kept climbing all over him and he never woke up. He was so funny. He would sit on his stomach and just laugh.

Up next... Jessie Rose was baptized at Huntington Beach on Saturday. Tim and I went down thereto see her. Her mom swears she has been baptized, but Jessie doesn't remember. She wants to do it as a decision that SHE will make and remember.

What will it take for me to remember my camera??

2007-08-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy (as usual). Where do I even start? Well, the youth beach trip was so much fun. Except for the fact that I left my camera at home (or I thought I did). I was so bummed that I didn't have my camera. All day I swear I had the "perfect Kodak moments. " Well, around 4:30 I had gotten out of the water and went to go change to dry clothes and what do you think I found in my bag??? My stupid Camera!!!!! Uggghhhhh! I could have screamed-actually I think I did. I put it in my clothes bag so I wouldn't get sand on it. Duhhhhh. Anyway, we had a great time. We sent Tim and Al early to reserve a fire pit and we stayed until the beach closed.

Here is one picture of the boys on the Life Guard Tower (in the dark).

Next, I threw a Surprise (spelt correctly) Party for my sil who turned 19. It was a lot of fun. The desserts were perfect, the pinata was fun (my first time buying a pinata), and the decorations were so cute. But, you will have to take my word for it because- AGAIN, I left my camera at home.

Lets see...what else?

Oh, Tim and I took his two brothers Taylor and Levi to an Angel game this past weekend and we had great seats (Thanks to Aunt Carol who has season tickets and couldn't make the game because Ethan had a choir beach party). We went to Claim Jumper for dinner before and then ate all the junk food the game had to offer. It was fun even though the Angels lost. But, again you will have to take my word for it because I forgot my camera-AGAIN!

We had our first Puppet Show with our new team and it went really well. It was at a church picnic for Water of Life Church. We weren't nervous until we realized they have 4 sanctuaries and over 5,000 members! And to top it off it was hot and humid!

The end of James & John Thunder Bros Circus is this Wednesday. The classes are going to perform their skits at our "Circus" and we are having an ice cream sundae party. We will have a few weeks of game nights and hopefully start up the new "Inspiration Island" by Sept. 19 (as long as my oriental trading order comes in).

This weekend is the Annual Hello Kitty Beach Fest in Huntington Beach. Emily and I are going (maybe Jessie and Lori). They have games and free stuff for all the girls. It is also a Women's Surfing Competition. I WILL take my camera!

This Sunday the Strong Man is coming to our church. We first met him at Spirit West Coast 3 years ago, then booked him for Joni Camp this year and he called us 2 weeks ago and said he would be in town Labor Day and wants to come to our church. He is amazing and has a great testimony. He was just put in the World Records for rolling a frying pan into the smallest burrito. He does it right in front of you in like 20 seconds. I will take pictures this Sunday-if I remember my camera :)

I will leave you with this cute picture of "Dudey" (pronounced "Dude" "E") aka Evan!

I forgot to write about my birthday. It was really nice. The weather was perfect. We went to Laguna Beach and the water was so clear-I could have been in Hawaii. We found this cool little private beach.

I too have, "Lots of Stuff!"

2007-08-07T20:54:00.001-07:00

I am sitting at work-with nothing to do-so of course I am reading all of my favorite blogs. I came across my Aunt Cindy's and she posted, "Lots of Stuff" and it was a listing of all of the different projects and events that she is currently planning or involved in. And it was weird because I am sitting at work-doing nothing-except thinking about all of the stuff I have to do and plan and get ready for and how much I could be getting done if I wasn't at work! Anyone involved in ministry full time knows that it is almost near impossible to have 2 full time jobs! I have papers everywhere with lists of things I need to get or plan for. I saw my Aunt's post and decided I need to do the same thing!

24/7 Youth Beach Trip- This Saturday. I still need to coordinate the food and activities. I have a way cool scavenger hunt planned. I need to get prizes for the winners. If you don't know our church has gone through some changes and my youth group went from about 13 (small I know) down to 4- yes 4 boys! And get this- 2 of them are related. My brothers in law? brother in laws?? I don't know the correct way to write that?? But, we were getting ready to start youth group Sunday night and I realized I LOVE my 4 BOYS! I have so much fun stuff planned for them. But, for the beach trip- I have a lot to get ready. One item that seems easy is firewood for the bonfire. But, I don't know where to get it. I could go to the grocery store and buy 4 little pieces of wood for $10. But it would cost me $100 to get enough wood for the night!

Here they are trying to look "Cool." Tim's brothers are on the left.

Kids Kingdom Wednesday Night Children's Church Curriculum- I am in charge of the children's church at my church and I absolutely love it. For our Wednesday night curriculum I started using VBS (Vacation Bible School) themes and breaking them up over 10 weeks. It was going great. We would decorate for the theme-prizes, costumes, crafts, snack, etc. But, after awhile I started noticing that we were paying an arm and a leg for these 5 bible stories and I told my teachers that if I had to teach, "Jesus feeds 5000" one more time I would scream. They all had the same stories. And don't get me wrong- I understand the kids need to know the bible stories-but I am more interested on training these kids up for a new generation that is on fire for Jesus! Working on their character and having a Christ like attitude and heart. So, I started my own curriculum and choosing my own theme. I shared below that we are currently on, James & John Thunder Bros. Circus. But, that is over in about 4 weeks so I need to come up with a new theme and curriculum ASAP. I am leaning towards a tropical island and using the whole pirate theme??? But, I am more concerned on what direction we are going to go in teaching the kids. What main focus do we want to stress on? I am kinda thinking the Beatitudes? I am not sure but, all I know is if it needs to start in 4 weeks, I need to give my teachers their stuff in 2!

Here are the kids during worship. Tim's 2 youngest brothers are on the right.

Jesus Rocks Puppet Team- With the church changes that occurred-it also made changes with our puppet team. And we have 2 performances coming up. One on Aug. 26th and then the "Through the Roof" Joni and Friends Conference in October. So, we are a little stressed on what songs to do and who is doing what. I don't have too much to worry about with this-except I am in charge of all the props. We will see how that turns out!

Ali's Birthday- My sister in law is turning 19 on Aug.22nd. So, if you know me you know I love to throw parties for people. I wanted to do something special for her (my husband thinks I am crazy to start another project). But, I don't think she has had a party since she was like 7. It lands on a Wednesday and we have church. So I am throwing a dessert party after church. I am going to decorate the main room in the Sunday school and then when church is over surprise her. I hope it will be fun. I am doing a flip flop/beach theme. I can't wait to decorate cupcakes and get all of the desserts on their trays. I will post pictures once the day comes. But, again it is another thing to get ready. Centerpieces, gifts, decorations, and desserts to choose!

Ahh man, you know what I just realized??? When I spell checked my post I noticed I spelt "Surprise" wrong. I wrote "Suprise" and that is what I put on all of the invitations!! Darn!! Oh, well- most of them are homeschooled-hopefully they won't notice :) (I know- I am the one who can't spell).

So, this is just my August calendar. I do have some fun coming in September. Tim and I are going to the beach for Labor Day Weekend and it includes Disneyland. Yeah!! I am so excited. I haven't been in 2 years! That is way too long without Mickey!

P.S. Yes, I did this whole post at work :) I know I am bad.

I love Family Retreats!

2007-08-04T07:49:00.001-07:00

I don't know if I have ever told you how much I love family retreats. The family retreats are with Joni & Friends http://www.joniandfriends.org/. This year we put on a carnival for them. Their theme was Joy. It was so much fun. We had so many games and activities for them-everything from a Tattoo Booth-ran by Melissa-to Jumpers, water slides, photo booth, bowling. And even Hot Air Balloon Rides that fit 2 wheelchairs. And by far the water slide and water jumpers were their favorite.

Faith is the cutest little girl. She is 6 years old and has down syndrome. When she saw the water slides she was so excited she jumped right in and then ran around the carnival soaking wet!

I ran the Cotton Candy booth. And it was very windy. So needless to say I was tasting very sweet by the end of the day. This is Josh. We met his family at family retreats about 3 years ago and they now attend our church.

This is Natalie. She is good friends with Josh's sister Sarah. She has come to our youth group a couple times. This was her first Family Retreat. Her story is amazing. Quick Rundown: When she was born the doctors told her mother that she wouldn't live more than a few minutes-maybe an hour. She was so doped up on drugs-the put her in a room below the maternity ward and put the baby to the side to basically die. Well, she called up later that night and she was still alive and then the next day and she was still alive and here we are now about 19 years later.

Here Josh and Natalie are Fencing!

Here is Amanda (Al's sister)-she was an STM-Short Term Missionary-this year and she was assigned to the sweetest family with a little boy named Lucas. I am not sure what his special needs were but he was too cute. His mom decided to put him under the water jumper and let the water fall on him (it was a mister) and we got the most precious smile from him.

This next guy is Blake. He is one of my favorites. He always gives me a hug and tells me he loves me. He said, "will you marry me?" I said I'm sorry Blake I'm married. He said, "It's okay just break up with him!" He was so funny. He then wanted me to get a picture of him sliding down the water jumper. You can also see Melissa trying to get in the picture in the back :)

Here is Staci with my cousin Lindsey and her puppet Mari. Staci has come and visited us and stayed with my Aunt Pat for the weekend. They live in San Diego. Her mom is the sweetest person in the world. She got married young and had Staci and then divorced. She is my age. I am 23 today. Anyway- Staci loves puppets. Lindsey had her laughing so hard. It was so cute to watch. When Staci was in the hospital earlier this year Lindsey went down there and for 2 hours never took that puppet off her hand.

Okay- I could load 100 pictures- I have so many. But, like I said earlier-today is my birthday so Tim and I are off to the beach-but not before stopping by my moms. Jimmy is making me breakfast-How jealous are you? I will fill you in some more later. I am going to try to go to the Talent Show tonight. You thought these pictures were cute? Sneak Peak-Faith and her sister Emerald are going to sing, "I can only Imagine."

Extreme Makeover:Sunday School Edition

2007-08-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so like I said before I have been very busy lately. I have a few things I can check off my list. One of the major ones was "Sunday School Makeover." We actually got it done in 2 days! Okay, well I went and painted by myself Tuesday through Friday- but we had alot of help Saturday and Sunday and ended up painting the whole thing! The kids loved it on Wednesday Night. I am very happy with the results.

Here is the "Hang Ten" room. This room is for co-ed pre-teen. I wanted to make sure it didn't turn out too "kiddish." I had to use this little saw my cousin Al gave me and let me tell you-it wasn't easy. My surf board is a little jagged and the sun-I could not get a half circle for the life of me! And believe it or not the palm branches were super easy.

This is the Under Water room. I love the colors. The "wind swirls" are my favorite.

Here is a picture of the Toddler Room. I wanted it to be very colorful. And the weird thing is-it ended up in the same color theme as the under water-and it wasn't even planned. You can see the walls in the background. My cousin Sydney is the one on the left.

On Wednesday nights I do "theme" lessons. Sort of like a VBS for spread out over 10 weeks. The current theme is circus/carnival. I named it James & John Thunder Bros Circus! So, every other week is the carnival games-balloon darts, throw circles on the water ducks, etc. The cool thing is I get to order prizes!! The prizes this Wednesday were those light up wands that you wave in the air. The kids loved them! The little girl is our friends daughter Lauren.

Well, off to Joni and Friends today. We were there last night and saw the "Strong Man." What a great testimony he has. I will post about the weekend tomorrow.

P.S. My birthday is tomorrow and I am NOT getting the tattoo. At least not now :)

Nothing Special

2007-07-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

I am back from Chicago. Thank God!!!-Long story :) But, I will be very busy these next couple of weeks. We have Joni and Friends Family Retreat coming up August 1-5. I posted about it last year and I promise to have pictures this year. We are putting on a Carnival for them. It is going to be very fun.

My birthday is coming up on August 4th. What do I want for my birthday? Well, I haven't completely decided but I think I want another tattoo! Crazy- I know. I have been thinking about it and really want it, but I don't want to go through the pain. My last one hurt so bad! What am I getting? Well, I want it behind my ear on my neck-close to my brain-I know. But, I want Tim's kiss mark. So, I told him that he will have to put lipstick on and pucker up! He was willing. I have to decide by tomorrow in order to get the appt on my birthday. But, I haven't told anyone-so shhhhhh don't say anything.

Starting this weekend we are re-decorating our Children's Church. Paint-Deep Cleaning. The whole thing. I have really cute "theme" ideas. I am doing a beach-"Hang Ten" in the largest classroom. Surfboards, flip flops, palm trees, and the beach! I will post pictures when I am done. Hopefully, I will be done in 2 weeks. I can only work on weekends. Let's see what else...........oh, I have a youth beach trip coming up on the 12th. They want to stay for a bonfire so that means we have to get there at like 7 a.m. to reserve a fire pit - meaning we meet at 6 a.m. meaning I have to get up at 5 a.m.-what I will do for these kids! I think that's it. I will leave you here with a few of my favorite pictures.....

Here is Tim with his Baby Grand-which is his "Baby." And my cousin Michelle's kids Sydney, Evan, and Elane. They love it when Tim plays with them. We had them overnight while Michelle helped her brother get ready for his engagement party back in June.

This is Levi-Tim's brother at his parents house. They live off a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Notice the hills in the back. Levi had 3 pool rings and 1 mini pool ring on and did a complete flip off the diving board landing up right. Here he is posing for me.

And here are my girls. Starting with my baby sister Emily, my cousin Michelle's oldest Shelby, my cousin Jessie Rose, and Tim's sister Micah. While Tim was in Mexico with the POWER team back in January-they all spent the night and we went to Joann's Fabric Store and make fleece blankets. Aren't they cute?

I love my In-Laws!

2007-07-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

Especially since all of my "in laws" are under 22 years old. My husband is the oldest of 9- yes 9 kids. Here's a quick run down- Tim 25-Jeni-22-Ali-18-Taylor-15-Levi-13-Micah-11-Joe-9-Troy Jr. 7-McKenzie-6 months(McKenzie went to be with Jesus in April 2002 when she was 6 months old). So since Tim and I were married (4 years ago) he has always told me that he wants to stay close to all of his siblings. So to get some one on one time-actually two on two :) or else it would take us all year :) We take them out 2 at a time which works perfect. They are all paired up except Micah and she is a year younger than my littlest sister Emily so we pair them up together. We started out with Micah and Emily back in March. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and they spent the whole weekend with us. It was sooo much fun and I was so sad because I left my camera at home :(

Up next Joe and Troy...every time we go to the beach Troy always wants to go to Ruby's at the end of the pier. All day he says, "I just need a shake right now" or "I bet they have really good shakes their." He is quite a character. So, I told him that we were going to take him and Joe to the beach to swim and eat at Ruby's and he goes-"for my birthday?" No-I answered-"for Joe's birthday?" I answered no again-and he says, "why?" I said just because we want to. He states, "that's weird!" I said why, and he says "that's just weird." I guess coming from a family of 9 or actually 11 you only go out on special occasions? Anyway, here are some pictures of our outing....

We borrowed my dad's Jeep and drove down with the top off. Huntington Beach here we come!

Here we are eating at the top of Ruby's Diner.

After we ate we went to the arcade on Balboa Island in Newport Beach. Here is Tim and Joe White Water Rafting.

And now off to the beach!

For some reason my computer won't upload any more photos. So, this will have to be continued. I will try to upload them tomorrow. I am leaving tomorrow for Chicago. I am going to miss Tim. 8 days is a long time!

HUSBAND 1.0

2007-06-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

I thought this was cute...

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and

noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance

--particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which

operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installed many other valuable

programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5,

and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0.

and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and

House cleaning 2.5 simply crashes the system.

I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems,

but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package,

while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter the command:

"http: I Thought You Loved Me. htm" and try to download Tears 6.2 and

don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.

If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should

automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, over use of the above application can cause

Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5 Whatever you do,

DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background, that

will eventually seize control of all your system resources).

Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program.

These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have

limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.

You might consider buying additional software to improve memory

and performance. We recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7

Good Luck,

Tech Support

Let's forget this was suppose to be Wordless Wednesday

2007-06-21T07:23:00.001-07:00

LET'S FORGET THIS WAS SUPPOSE TO BE WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

I tried to do it on Wednesday, but by the time I got back from church- I forgot!

So let me set up these next pictures-Father of the Groom and Best Man- So what is he doing on a paddle boat on the lake 15 minutes before the wedding-in his Tux????

Ohh, moving the buoys (sp?) of course???? Actually, our family moved it the morning of the wedding and they made us move it back. So, since we are just the nicest out of town family we will just move it right before the wedding so there is no time to move it back. :)

Wedding/Vacation/Family Reunion

2007-06-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, it was all 3! A Perfect Wedding-Fun Family Reunion-Much Needed Vacation. So, where to begin....

My cousin Caleb got married in Missouri to Maggie aka Maegan (long story)- She is from Louisiana recently moved to Missouri. She moved out to CA after the wedding. 17 of our family members caught the red eye to Missouri. Here is us waiting for our plane to leave- Departing 12:55 A.M.

My sister Melissa trying to sleep on the chairs in the airport.

My Aunt Pat (Mother of Groom) and Cousin Lori trying to get any sleep they can.

Here we are (before trying to sleep) waiting for the guys to park the cars at LAX. My husband Tim, cousin Isaac, cousin Lori, and my little sister Emily.

We are finally on the plane-but that doesn't mean we can sleep! Here are Isaac, Emily, & Jessie about 5:30 a.m.-they literally just fell asleep.

1st Stop in Missouri- Waffle House! Here is my Aunt Paula, cousin Staci, Cousin Michelle and her husband Al.

I love this picture! Here are Isaac, Emily, Jessie, & Lori enjoying their waffles (especially Emily)!

We are finally at the Hotel-and who is waiting-the bride of course. Lots of hugs!

Here is the first of many family dinners. Lonestar! Tim and I.

Here is my sister Melissa, cousin Staci, and cousin Luke.

The next morning-family time! I was so excited to see our family from Georgia. Here is Emily and Lydia (2nd cousin). Poor Lydia was scared to death of everybody. She did let me hold her-Once- on the last day :)

The day of the wedding was beautiful.

The Bride and her Bridesmaids

The Groom with his Men

Everyone looked so good! My Aunt Paula, sister Melissa, Aunt Carol, cousin Lindsey, my mom, & Uncle Darrell

The morning of the wedding my husband was not a happy camper-being he spent 2 days of his vacation at the mall-so I had to cheer the poor baby up-or shut him up??? :) He had lost his wedding ring about 2 years ago and never replaced it. He had always wanted it tattooed on-so off to the tattoo shop we go. Here is the final product:

And this picture should be on the Wordless Wednesday thing. Actually, I will wait until Wednesday to show it. Yep-another commitment to blog again-this week!

Until then...

I'm Back-With Pictures!

2007-06-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the Spirit West Coast Pictures are a little late. So, much as gone on since then-but I will keep my promise and show the SWC first-then get on with the rest of the month.

This is Barlow Girl. All girl "sister" band. Although I don't think any of them look alike. They have a great testimony. They stress not conforming to this world-especially dating and had a great message:

"God isn't calling the Qualified-He's qualifying the Called."

Here is Tim (husband) & my Mom waiting for BarlowGirl-and below them is Melissa (sister) and Lindsey (cousin).

This next band is Leeland. It is one of Tim's favorite bands. The lead singer is only 19!

Here are 2 more bands- Hawk Nelson and Delirious? Hawk is a punk alternative band and delirious? is worship. Delirious? always had crazy matching outfits. They are from the UK.

Next up... Caleb's Missouri Wedding/Family Reunion

Okay, I lied...

2007-05-31T13:22:00.001-07:00

I said I would post more this year and I have to say I lied. Sorry. I still have my camera with a million pictures on it and I honestly never have time to upload them. Did I just say I lied and I'm honest in one paragraph? Anyway, pictures are on the way. We just returned from Spirit West Coast Del Mar. Our church Puppet Team, "Jesus Rocks" preformed. While we weren't performing, we were watching all of the bands. They were awesome this year. I was really impressed by Leeland, Aaron Shust, and Toby Mac. I have never really been a Toby fan, but he puts on a great show. BarlowGirl and Newsboys were great as always. But, I encourage you to listen to Leeland and Aaron Shust-what an anointing on both of them. Speaking of bands- my cousins are into the screaming moshing bands. We watched Caleb at the Disicple/Project 86 concert- moshing and doing all this crazy dance stuff. I don't know if anyone has done it or seen it up close, but man- one kid broke some ribs-the ambulance had to come. And remember these are christian bands?? I will never understand. But, anyways pictures will be up this weekend. I just have to find my cable that goes from the camera to the computer :) I lost mine-borrowed my sisters and now I can't find hers. Also, next Tuesday the whole family is flying out to Caleb's wedding. It is going to be a blast. I should have pictures of that too (keyword: SHOULD).

I KNOW..IT'S BEEN FOREVER!

2007-01-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

JIMMY COOKED SO MUCH FOOD ON CHRISTMAS DAY. THERE WERE ONLY 6 OF US AND LET ME REMIND YOU THAT EMILY BARELY EATS AND MELISSA DOESN'T EAT MEAT. HE MADE CARNE ASADA, TAMALES (POTATO AND PORK), SHRIMP, KING CRAB LEGS, CHEESE ENCHILADAS, BEEF ENCHILADAS, AND THESE OTHER SHRIMP THINGS.

EMILY GOT A NEW TRAMPOLINE FOR CHRISTMAS. JESSIE AND SHELBY CAME OVER THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS AND THEY WENT AND SAW DREAM GIRLS WITH THEIR THEATER GROUP. I THOUGHT KEEPING UP WITH THIS BLOG WOULD BE EASIER. I HAVE ENOUGH STUFF TO BLOG EVERYDAY WITH NEW STORIES AND PICTURES. WE HAVE A CRAZY FAMILY.

I WILL UPDATE SOME MORE CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS PHOTOS NEXT WEEK. TIM WILL BE LEAVING TO MEXICO FOR THE POWER MINISTRIES-ALONG WITH UNCLE DAVE, TIM'S DAD TROY, AL, AND ALMOST ALL THE MEN FROM OUR CHURCH. THEY WILL BE GONE FOR 8 DAYS. YOU CAN VISIT WWW.POWERMINISTRY.COM STARTING THURSDAY THE 11TH AND CHECK FOR PICTURES AND UPDATES OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING. TIM AND DAVE ARE IN CHARGE OF THE WORSHIP THIS YEAR.

Joni & Friends Family Retreat

2006-07-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

We have been very busy this past week. We were at the Joni & Friends Family Retreat for the Greater Phoenix area. It was at Calvary Chapel Murrieta Hot Springs. It was beautiful. We had a lot of involvement this year. My mom, Jimmy, Staci, and Lindsey were STM's (Short Term Missionaries) for the week. The STM's volunteer and pay to take care of a child or adult who has a disability. It is amazing what they do. They have all the kids climb a rock wall who are in a wheel chair and paralyzed and these kids go all the way up to the top. When Uncle Dave gave jeep rides, some of the adults have not been in a car for 10 years. They are always in their vans in their chairs. Some kids have never even sat in the front seat! They had horse back rides, swimming. And there were no limitations for anyone. It was so cool to see how happy someone would be to swim. It makes you realize how we take so much for granted.

They did such a great job! Ohh, and Emily- she stayed down there and did a great job helping everyone. Aunt Pat was definitely the most busy. She was in charge of the puppet team, children's activities, the ladies tea, and put Uncle Dave in charge of the Men's Sport Day and Jeep Rides! Wew.. that was a lot. We were all so blessed by all of the families there. We fell in love with all of the kids and adults! It is funny how God works- we go to bless them for the week and the truth is..We get Blessed more than we could ever imagine. I actually took my digital camera this time, so I will be posting a bunch of pictures for you guys.

2006-06-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to keep you guys updated with us Californians! We miss all of you!

Chevy & Star-And Evan!

2006-06-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my birthday presents from my Dad for my 21st birthday last year! They are so sweet!
And then the cutest boy I have ever seen, Evan. Who would have thought he could be so cute with Al's genes! I am just kidding. I love you Al!

Oakley

2006-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is my puppy Oakley eating Melissa's purse on her bed.
For Emily's birthday she took Shelby and Jessie to the mall for a girls day and had their pictures done.

My Favorite Girls!

2006-06-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

When Michelle was having Evan-I had the girls and I "diffused" their hair (curled)-they were so cute. And that is my new puppy Oakley, that I got from Stacey.

I obviously don't know what I am doing :)

2006-06-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

I told you I was new at this whole "posting thing"- Somehow I didn't add the picture correctly but, if you click on the empty box, it will take you to the picture. That is the best I can do right now :)

2006-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my little sister Emily playing baseball. She is on the Minor White Sox team with the Christian Athletic League. Everyone keeps telling me to have a baby-so since I don't have one-you all get to see my family's kids :)

1st Post

2006-06-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first blog! I hope to soon have pictures posted. I am still new at the whole pictures on the webpage thing.