Vacation--gotta love it!

Ok, I know this is way overdue!

We have made it to CA. Have been here for a few days. No excuse! Sorry! We ended up leaving early (8am--that IS early to us!) Monday morning and drove to Amarillo, TX that day. We put up at a decent time, went out to IHOP for dinner, then spent time at the pool. The kids loved it. We got up even earlier Tuesday and had a quick breakfast at the hotel then hit the road before 7 (don't ask me how we managed that!) Tuesday was a pretty hellish day, though, because we decided to drive all the way in to Camarillo...yes, you read that right. We drove from Amarillo to Camarillo in one day. And let me just say that one little letter is a very loooong distance!! Due to the two time changes it was at least a mostly day-time trip, but it was a very long 18 hour trip and the kids were quite ready to get out of the car by the time we pulled in at 11:30 pm local time. Since arriving we have had a good time hanging out with TT and Papa and Shimjon...and were even here for Tim's 37th bday. That was cool. The kids are enjoying playing outside and Chris and I are enjoying some down time before the hard task ahead of us in SJ. So, our plan is still the same--leave here Sat. the 30th to drive to SJ. Spend a week there working on the house and hopefully showing it. Pray we get an offer! At this point we're pretty willing to take just about anything! :)

I'll try to post more before we head up north.

Trip is Planned...

So we finally sat down and looked at the calendar...and realized that we have to leave THIS WEEKEND for California if we are going to see Chris's mom before her European trip! AAAHHH!!!



Needless to say, this week will be jam packed with getting the store ready for us to be gone, preparing the new menu and sending it off for printing since we'll be gone for month changeover, getting subs for our Sunday morning Emerge group and Wednesday night KIDMO group, planning lessons for the 3 weeks we'll be away, oh...and I guess there's the house and packing to work on as well!! Sigh. I foresee late nights and early mornings. I know it will be worth it, though. We are all excited about seeing family and friends and taking care of the house. Hopefully we will be seeing many of YOU! :) Our plan (that noone is aware of yet!) is to leave Sun. after church and probably get in Wed. to Camarillo. We will stay down there for about 10 days then Chris and I will head up to SJ Sat. 6/30. We will be up there that week preparing the house to hopefully do an Open House that next weekend (which, by the way, is Chris's big 4-0!!) That is the plan, anyway! We'll see if it all works out!



Last weekend was Jordan's ballet and tap recital. She did such a great job! We were not extremely thrilled with her teacher, but she had a great time and looked so cute! We just noticed that all that teacher's classes didn't know their routines very well and had to look at her for direction the whole time. Jordan was still adorable, though! If I can ever figure out how to upload pictures on here I'll get some on of her in her little cowgirl outfit for the Wild Wild West performance!



Ok, it's late and I need to get some shut eye. I just knew I had not posted in a while so I wanted to get on for a minute. Hope you all are doing well. Can't wait to see some of you!

It's Official...Summer is Here!

So today was the last day of school. I can't believe I now have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader! I told them their report card said that they didn't pass and that they will have to redo their grade again! (They didn't believe me!) Landon still has another year of preschool...thank goodness! They are growing way too fast!

I am actually excited that school is out! I know that may seem weird to many, but I am looking forward to less travel (back and forth from home to work to school to work to home) and really looking forward to having some time to spend with the kiddos.

Ok, so I never reported about our girls weekend away...which was fabulous! We went out to eat, had a funny waitress that kept us laughing the whole night, came back and soaked our feet in a foot bath and had massages (it is awesome to have a friend who is a massage therapist!!) The next day we went shopping at the new Branson Landing and had a great time. Mom got me some more new clothes and sensible sneakers for work (thanks Mom and Dad!), I got myself an adorable pair of sandles (made in Brazil, my Brazilian friend noted!) and one of my friends, myself and MY MOM all got our ears pierced! My friend had always wanted a second piercing, mine had grown back in, and somehow we convinced my mom she should do it too! Still can't believe she did it, but it looks so cute on her!! I'm so proud of her! Anyway, we had a great time away and came back refreshed and ready for another week (which I know has already passed now--sorry!)

The Downside to DVR's...

AAAHHH! And I say again-AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

After sitting through 3 hours of American Idol tonight - after an extremely exhausting day - so that I wouldn't hear the results on the radio, at the store or somewhere else I was so disgusted to get to the end of the recording on my DVR only to watch an iPod commercial and then get that cute little box that says:

A-delete recording
B-save recording

WHAT THE HECK??? I mean, I know, I should have set the recording time a little longer, but is it TOO MUCH to ask that the producers of a show actually stick to the time allotted for the show?? I just HATE that!!!

So here I am, after midnight, looking online to find the results of the show that I have been watching FAITHFULLY every week. And don't worry, I won't spoil the results for you-but just so you know, if you haven't seen it yet and are planning on watching your recorded version later-don't bother!

Girls Weekend Away! YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

I am so excited!! A few of us are going away tonight to Branson. We are staying in a hotel (no kids to wake us in the middle of the night--or early morning!) We don't really have big plans, just hang out in the hot tub, pamper ourselves with facials, pedicures, etc. We'll probably go out to eat somewhere (and only have to get a plate for OURSELVES for a change!) and then of course some shopping tomorrow! I'd love to tell you more about it, but every minute I'm on here is another minute I'm late picking them up! (sorry! :) )

Hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend too!

Another Weekend Already??

Wow! I can't believe a whole week has passed since I last wrote! The weeks just go by so fast right now. The kids are on a school countdown. 10 days left. Landon has only 8. I can't believe it's almost summer!

This is going to be a busy summer for us. Chris will be going out in a few weeks to start work on our house in San Jose. We finally made the decision to put it on the market. It's just getting too hard to manage it from 2000 miles away, not to mention we could really use the $$ since we're still not taking a salary from the store. Soon, but we're holding off as long as possible! We will also be going down to So. Cal. with the kids to visit family. The kids can't wait!

So, last night we met the neighbor who lives behind us in the alley. He has lived in this city for most of his life, except his time as an "outdoor entertainment operator" (i.e. carney). He's quite a character! Nice man, though. He had so much history about this little city. Oh, and he says there are secret tunnels in our house from one room to another! He said he used to play in them when he was a kid! We asked if he was talking about the old laundry shoot or the hidden room in the basement but he said there are actual pathways through the upstairs rooms that he used to crawl through. He said, "like those you read about in books". So now we're on a mission to find them...without letting the kids know! Can you imagine!

On that note...I'm off!

Weary and Worn Out from a Wonderful Weekend!

So, the weekend is finally over! Never thought I'd be this excited for the workweek to begin again!

We had a great weekend, though. Joshua did fantastic at his first Taekwon Do Tournament! He took second place in his age/belt category for his "pattern". He got a really cool medal that he is anxious to take in to school tomorrow. His school teacher is very cool...she let Joshua bring his uniform and sparring gear to school a few weeks ago and show the whole class some moves. She said he did a great job explaining that you "never use TKD to hurt anyone, only to defend yourself or others". I was so proud of him! He's only been in TKD since January and he seems to be picking it up pretty quickly. It's a great outlet for him.

So anyway, after the tournament we drove from Harrison, Ark. to Branson, Mo. to go to Silver Dollar City. The kids love going there. We saw the Chinese acrobats and were amazed at the stunts they could do--including one guy standing on his head on 11 stacked chairs! We were in the front row, right in the middle, and I thought to myself, 'I'm glad this guy has a harnass on, however, if the chairs fall they are gonna land right on us!' Fortunately nothing happened and the show was fantastic. After going on a few rides with the kids, getting ice cream and walking uphill what felt like 10 miles we left the park and went shopping for some new clothes for mommy (thanks to my mom and dad!) After deciding on a few very cute outfits we went over to Target to get a new laundry hamper. Can I just tell you how much I miss Target?? I mean, just walking in the door almost brought tears to my eyes! Unfortunately we were too late to go to the snack bar to get popcorn or Starbucks, but just walking in and seeing "Spot" and all those cute little red and white circles brought me so much joy and happiness! It's the simple things, ya know?! After a quick spin through the store we left, grabbed some din din at Mickey D's then got the kids in their PJ's and headed home. I forgot to mention Chris had to go back home after they tournament so he wasn't with us for SDC or the whole shopping experience (good thing for him!), but the kids and my mom all fell asleep while I drove us all home and got in at midnight! But even after all that excitement I couldn't go to sleep without watching at least one show on TiVo!

Today was also packed with church, lunch at one of our employees house, work and AWANA's. I'm ready for an early night tonight! Fun but exhausting weekend!