Manning Family Tree

Zak's Homecoming

2011-12-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

ZAK'S HOMECOMING

Today Zak came home from his mission in Detroit Michigan.
Here are some pictures from the airport this afternoon.

Coming down the stairs!!! Yeah!!!!

Sign Jamey made!!!

First hug from Mom!!! (Andrea)

Hugs from Grandma!!!!

Happy return missionary!!!

Grandma and Zak

Proud DAD!!!
Proud parents

Brothers together again!!!

After we left the airport, Andrea and Jamey took Zak to the Stake Center to be released as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Talking in the back yard with friends.
Zak eating a sandwich at home (first meal at home)

Thanksgiving dinner

2011-12-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Can you believe how fast the fall in whizzing by? I can't believe that Christmas is 3 weeks from Sunday. THREE WEEKS!

And I haven't even started Christmas shopping. Well, I have, but just for me. That's because I know what I want. The rest of my family, not so much.

Since Christmas will be here before we know it, I thought I better post about Thanksgiving. However, there really isn't much to post. Well, I could write a book, just wouldn't have many pictures to go with it.

Thanksgiving was held at my house this year. I invited everyone in my family.

Todd's family couldn't come as they live in Utah. Plus Todd works at Walmart and had to work on Black Friday. So his family had a legit excuse.

Andrea's family couldn't come as Jamey had just got back in town from being away for a month. He wasn't up to driving anywhere and wanted to stay home. A pretty legit excuse.

My step son Brandan's family couldn't come as my daughter in law Crystal had to work. Again, a legit excuse.

Eric's family came. Every last one of them. YAY!!! Finally someone was coming.

Jodi, Mom & Dad said they were coming. I even gave them a food assignment, but I did ask her if I should buy backups. She said NO, they would be there. Then the day before, Jodi calls saying they won't be coming. Mom wasn't feeling well & didn't want to drive an hour and fifteen minutes. It's a good thing I bought back up food.

Then on Thanksgiving morning, Jodi calls and wants to know if we still have enough food for 3 more. Mom was feeling better, and Jodi really wanted to come. I told her "of course we still have enough food". I really wanted to say "NO, we gave your share away". But I was nice. As I am always the nice sister (Jodi is trying not to gag as she reads this. Ha, ha!).

So Mom, Dad & Jodi ended up coming to Thanksgiving dinner afterall. And all was good in the Chalfant household.

We ended up with 14 people at our dinner. So I set up 3 different tables for eating.

This is the table in my family room/kitchen. Mom, Dad, Jodi, Brandon, Mike & I all sat at this table. I guess I should have asked everyone to look at me when I was taking the pic.

This table is in my living room. Jeannette, Jesse, Eric, Jase & Cade ate in here.

Danica, Taylor and her husband Michael sat at the kid's table in my family room.

And that my family, are the only photos I have to share. I thought I took a bunch more. In fact, I thought I took photos of each table before people and food took them over. But there were no pre food photos on either of my cameras. I must have dreamed it.

For dinner we had turkey and cornbread stuffing that Mike cooked. I cooked the mashed pototatos and gravy, green bean casserole, corn, and candied yams. This is the first year I cooked the yams in the slow cooker. They turned out so yummy. Everyone commented they were the best yams they have ever had. I also made Grandma Manning's green jello Thanksgiving salad. We have it every year. And I bought rolls from Sam's Club. I'm not patient enough for making my own rolls. Jodi was suppose to bring jello salad and rolls, but luckily I had the items on hand for making the jello salad and Sam's Club had rolls at the last minute. Jeannette brought Martinelli's sparkling cider and a couple of pumpkin chiffon pies she made. Taylor brought green lettuce salad. Oh, I did make homemade ranch dressing for the lettuce salad.

Dinner was as yummy as ever. I just love Thanksgiving dinner. We had enough leftovers to have Thanksgiving dinner for a couple of nights after as well. I did cook 20lbs of mashed potatoes. A little overkill since I had about 1/2 left after dinner. But I got to make Shepard's Pie this week with the left over mashed potatoes. So a win/win.

I just love getting together with family. I wish I had a big enough house to invite all my extended family, including aunts, uncles, cousins and children and grandchildren of the cousins. Wouldn't that be so much fun? We really need to have a Manning family reunion. Who's up for it?

The only down side of having so many people to dinner, is the dishes. Luckily Jeannette and Eric helped. OK, they did most of the dishes. I did have to run my dishwasher two times to accommodate all the dishes. Thank goodness for dishwashers. See, I am thankful for something.

The best part of the day was seeing Mom with our dog Cookie. She just loved her. Mom loved Cookie so much that we had her convinced to take Cookie's brother (who is looking for a home). But Dad the Grinch, talked her out of it by the time they got back home. Or maybe it was Jodi. They gave some lame excuse about having to open 2 doors to let the dog in and out. Whatever!

Speaking of our dog cookie. She is the best dog in the whole world. You couldn't ask for a better dog. She is perfect. Even my husband Mike who doesn't like dogs, just loves her. And you know she is perfect if Mom wanted a dog just like her. My neighbor (who has worked in vets office for 20 years) says that almost all Golden Retriever's are just like Cookie. Very loving and gentle.

Enough about Cookie and Thanksgiving. Time to journey on to Christmas. What are your plans for Christmas? We are going down to Mom and Dad's house. Plus we will be able to see my Grandson Gunner.

And then on New Years Day, we will be back down in San Diego to attend Zak's homecoming. Zak is Andrea's oldest son. He gets home from his 2 year mission to Detroit on the 20th of this month. Everyone in our family is so excited. Andrea is beyond excited. It will be so good to see him.

And now, you are pretty much caught up on what is happening on the Langston side of the family. At least the stuff that I know about.

Take care & have a Merry Christmas! Just covering my bases in case I don't post again before Christmas.

Love,

Kim

P.S. Happy 21st birthday to my stepson Jesse. And Happy birthday to Andrea's son Simon. I think he turns 18 years old today. Yikes! Our kids are getting old. How can they be when we are not?

Our first ever Halloween party

2011-11-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

Well look who has decided to finally post something. Sorry that I have been away so long. I just haven't been feeling it.

But since we had our first ever Halloween party last Saturday night, I decided I should come out of blog retirement aka: laziness, and tell you all about it.

In case you were not there, you missed a fun time. It was small, but lots of fun. And no alcohol was involved. See you can still have fun without booze.

The secret is to have ice shaped like a skull in your blood aka: Shasta Tiki Punch.

And you must have nachos. No party at Kim's house is complete without nachos. I decided to be a little healthy by adding a spinach dip to the mix.

And I had lots of fun putting together this graveyard 7 layer bean dip. The graveyard decorations are made from flour tortillas that I cut out using cookie cutters and a knife, then baked them in the oven until crisp. I should have used some food coloring to paint some color. Maybe next time.

We had lots of food. Mike made riblets, Danica made funeral potatoes. Jeannette and Eric put together the mummy dogs, I made the garlic bread bones and my neighbor Roxanne brought the KFC chicken and the ants/spiders on the log (celery sticks with peanut butter and bugs painted on).

I had a couple of more Halloweeny dishes I was going to make, just ran out of time. There is always next year. I even made cupcakes, but never got them frosted. Luckily Jeannette brought hers that were. I still haven't frosted my cupcakes.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I did make fossil cookies, but they all disappeared before I could take any photos. And what are fossil cookies? They are snickerdoodles that I imprinted with a plastic spider right away they came out of the oven. So it made an imprint of the spider. Looked like a fossil.

After dinner we all went outside to watch a Nightmare Before Christmas movie at the "Dive In Theater" over our pool. Mike was mad I didn't take a photo of the movie. I told him it never shows up if I don't use flash and if I use flash, you can't see the movie. So why bother.

Here is Michael (Taylor's husband), Taylor and Danica. Taylor is dressed up as a pregnant woman. Oh wait, that is her normal self.

Eric sat in the jacuzzi for awhile, while Jeannette sat on the edge. When the movie was playing the jacuzzi was full.

We were going to pop popcorn for the movie, but everyone was so full from dinner. And we never did make our s'mores. But no one noticed.

After the movie it was time to take photos. Everyone was suppose to dress up in costume. But it was mostly the kids that did so. But a few of the adults did as well.

I set up an area complete with ripped cheesecloth and lights for taking the photos.

Eric used part of one of his boys costume for his photo with his daughter Danica.

And who is Danica dressed up as? Why Danica Patrick the race car driver. And that is a wig Danica is wearing. She used to have long black hair, but right now it is short & bleached blond.

Taylor didn't dress up. So for those who didn't wear a costume, I had some funny glasses and other masks they could wear for photos. All my props came from Dollar Tree. The funny glasses and noses were the biggest hit.

Taylor and her hubby Michael dressed as a pregnant man.

Jase and Cade. Loved their costumes.

I didn't get to dress up as my costume needed to be altered and I never got it done in time. So I put on a pair of funny glasses and nose and a couple of dollar boas. Mike was a cowboy.

Since this is a family blog, I'm not posting the photos of my neighbors and other friends since you won't know any of them. But you can see their photos on my facebook if you are really interested. My neighbor Kenny made a real scary "Pinhead".

I had plans to make some other photo props, but never got them done. Being a procrastinator does that. But no one cared. They loved the props I did have and had fun taking photos.

All in all we had a good time. It was just my family, Eric's family, the next door neighbors and some friends. Taylor and Michael brought some of their friends as well.

We will definitely have to do this again next year. Maybe we will even invite you.

Kim

Utah Vacation 2011

2011-08-25T10:44:00.001-07:00

We have been vacationing at Snowbird Utah since Saturday Aug 20 to Saturday Aug. 27.
We have been having fun. Todd and Julianna stayed with us from Sunday till Tuesday. We played a lot of Dominios with Todd and Julianna. We went on walks to the Snowbird Center and walks to the Pond. On Tuesday we rode the Tram to the top of the summit at Snowbird. It was fun. Tuesday evening we drove to Murray and ate dinner at Rubio's.

Julianna trying on Mom's hearing aids

Taking a walk to the Snowbird Center to get soda's.

Todd

Julianna

Walking over to the Pond to feed the fishes.

Julianna & Dad

Julianna, Dad, Todd & Brandon at Pond

Julianna, Dad, Todd & Jodi at Pond

Todd feeding bread to fish at Pond

Julianna in flowers

First time to Cold Stone Ice Cream

2011-08-08T14:52:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger. I haven't posted on the family blog in over a month.

It seems everything gets posted on facebook first, so I don't feel like posting again on the family blog.

Darn that facebook.

But today I decided to post here first. And then maybe I'll also post the photos on facebook.

Anyhoo, can you believe that I have never been to Cold Stone for ice cream? Me either. Especially since my family loves ice cream. The only reason I have for not going is the cost.

But now that my niece Taylor (Eric's daughter) works there, I decided it was about time to go. So Saturday night that is what we did. Mike and I stopped by Eric's house first so we could follow them to Cold Stone as I had no idea where it was.

And who was our helpful ice cream scooper once we got there? Why it's Taylor.

Here she is busy posing for photos while trying to mix up my Founder's Favorite.

I had a really hard time making up my mind as to what I wanted. Too many options to choose from. A real stressful situation for a non committal person like me.

Eric, Jeannette & Cade were the only ones to go from their family. Jase stayed at home and Danica is still up in Tahoe. Which by the way, I get to hopefully go see in a couple of weeks. I'm so excited. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see Danica too, it's just that I've never been to Tahoe. I'm going with Eric to pick up Danica in a couple of weeks over my birthday weekend. Can't wait! That is, if work will let me off a couple of days.

Sorry for the distraction. Back to the matter at hand. Ice Cream!

Here is my masterpiece. Looks yummy, no? Loved the waffle shell.

Mike got some strawberry/banana concoction that I can't remember the name of. Normally it comes with graham crackers, but they were out, so he got pecans instead.

And here is Mike enjoying his ice cream. Everything was very yummy & I highly recommend & give Cold Stone "2 thumbs up".

I'd give them more, if I had more than 2 thumbs. Which I'm glad I don't. What would you do with more than 2 thumbs? Other than give more thumbs up to Cold Stone?

We even gave our ice cream scooper a huge tip. Thanks Taylor! You made my first trip to Cold Stone, a very yummy experience. This definitely won't be my last trip.

What is your favorite thing to get at Cold Stone?

And guess what I found this weekend?

There is a Starshine Dr in my town. Too bad it didn't say Starshine Chic Dr. That would have made it even cooler. And no, I don't want to move to this street. I like my house just fine.

Kim

The Reception

2011-06-28T19:08:00.002-07:00

Daniella & Dusty's wedding reception was held at Daniella's Aunt Kristin's house. And what a house.

When we first arrived it was sunny, but cold as the wind was starting to blow. This photo was actually taken on the way out, but you can see what a gorgeous house it was.

As we were walking up to the house, I tripped over the edge of the sidewalk & down I fell. Just call me Grace. Luckily nothing was hurt except for my ego.

The reception was to be held in the backyard, but the weather was turning bad real fast.

They placed all the tables as close to the house as possible. Trying to keep them all under the patio overhang.

There was a chocolate fountain. Which was great fun once the wind kicked up. Chocolate ended up getting everywhere.

It was so cold outside that everyone ended up inside. We mostly hung out downstairs in the game room/home theater. This room was fabulous. The seats for the home theater were so comfy. Mike & Brandon had front row seats. In the 2nd row we have Cathi (bride's mom) talking to Tyler's friend, with Tyler talking to his aunt from his mom's side of the family. Sorry but I don't remember her name right now.

This is their TV. It was huge. Perfect for watching a movie. The fireplace was pretty fab as well. It was a gas fire & made the room nice & toasty. Julianna was goofing off a bit in this photo.

I was so enamored with this house that I mostly took photos of the house & not of the family.

The basement had a basketball court of all things. Doesn't everyone have a basketball court in their basement?

And they keep their pool heated to 85 degrees. When it started raining later, steam was rising up from the pool.

And because it was so cold outside, the favorite place to hang out was the outdoor fireplace. And I have no idea who these people are. But I'm sure Daniella and Dusty do.

Finally the bride and groom arrived. Daniella looks so happy.

This little girl was so happy to see Daniella. But she forgot she had chocolate on her hands. So chocolate got on Daniella's dress. But Dusty was so cute. He made sure that someone helped get the chocolate off. So all was well.

The cake was originally outside. And it didn't have these flowers on it when we first arrived. It seems the flowers that were on the cake when I first saw it were all wilted. They wilted from being in the fridge or freezer. So Dusty came to the rescue again. He took apart one of the bridesmaid's bouquets and placed the fresh flowers on the cake. Another tragedy averted.

Everyone gathered in the kitchen for the cake cutting. I did take a video, but the photographer was in the way the whole time so it's not worth posting as you can't see a thing.

Then I took a video of Daniella & Dusty feeding each other the cake, but for some reason my camera didn't focus. Another video that was a dud.

But I did get this photo of Dusty's toast. Too bad I took the photo when the glass was in front of his face.

Here is the view from the living room area looking into the kitchen. And by the way, I'm in love with this black buffet. I need it in my house.

Isn't this the best photo? It was taken the night that Dusty proposed to Daniella. He set up the camera & put it on a timer. That way they still had a very private intimate moment, but had it documented forever as well. I love how they are in silhouette.

When the reception first started everyone was downstairs here in the game room. But once the cake was to be cut, everyone moved upstairs so I was able to get a better photo of the gameroom. And I have no idea who these kids are either.

And have you noticed that I haven't really taken any photos of family members? I told you I was more interested in taking photos of the house. I need a house like this.

I never did get any photos of Mom, Dad, Jodi or Todd. Mom, Dad & Jodi ended up leaving early as the weather had turned really bad. The wind was howling and the rain poured down.

Here are a couple of videos that did turn out of Daniella throwing the bouquet and Dusty throwing the garter.

A little story about the throwing of the bouquet. Todd's oldest daughter Mari really wanted to catch the bouquet in the worst way. But she started out at the very back of the pack of girls. Mike saw her & knew because she was short that she didn't have a chance in catching the bouquet. So he grabbed her & moved her to the front. And lucky for Mari that he moved her as she was able to catch the bouquet. Mari was one happy girl after that.

Well that is the end of Daniella & Dusty's wedding and reception. Tomorrow I'll share what we did on the rest of our little vacation.

Kim

2011-06-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

Daniella & Dusty's Wedding-Kim's version

2011-06-27T21:13:00.001-07:00

Well I've been such a slacker. I'm finally getting around to posting about Daniella & Dusty's wedding which happened about 30 days ago.

I know that Jodi already posted her version. But mine is better. At least a tad bit more entertaining. Don't worry, Jodi knows I love her.

For those of you who do not know who Daniella is, well she is Todd's 2nd oldest daughter. So that makes her my niece.

Daniella & Dusty got sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City temple on Saturday 5/28/11.

The temps that day were on the cool side. But the sun did come out & warm us while we were waiting on the temple grounds.

Loved this bench that Mike is sitting on. He wanted me to walk around temple square & take photos. But I was afraid that Daniella & Dusty would emerge from the temple and we would miss them.

Here is Mari and her boyfriend Ladd. Mari is Todd's oldest daughter. So that makes her Daniella's big sister and another of my nieces.

My son Brandon.

This is my ex sister in law Cathi (on the right). She is the mother of the bride. Here she is with her girlfriend Kim (on the left). I hadn't seen Cathi in years. It was good to visit with her again.

Cathi with 4 of her 6 children. Mari, Julianna, Erin Grace & Tyler. Daniella was still inside getting married. And Colin couldn't come to the wedding. He is in the Air Force so he couldn't get away. I don't know why I never took a photo of Todd and his kids (these same kids). Probably as he was inside attending the sealing. The rest of us were taking photos outside to pass the time away.

Finally the family started emerging from the temple. Cathi went over to say "hi" to Todd. It was good to see that the two of them could put aside their differences for the occasion.

Three of Todd & Cathi's daughters. Mari, Julianna & Erin Grace.

Mom & Jodi after the temple sealing. Waiting for Daniella & Dusty to emerge from the temple.

Everyone is anxiously waiting.

Finally Daniella & Dusty come out of the temple.

Give your wife a big smooch Dusty!

They are such a cute couple.

Daniella with her mom Cathi.

Then it was time to take photos on the temple steps. Technically you only have 20 minutes to do so. At least that is what another impatient photographer told us.

This is Dusty's family. I don't have any of our family as we were all busy being in the photo that we didn't have anyone to take the photo of us. Except for the photographer, but she was busy taking her own photos.

While we were up on the steps Mike had to get a photo of the doorknobs. They are fabulous.

Then Mike took this photo of everyone down at the bottom of the steps. You can see the back of me. I'm to the right of the bride.

The "Grandma's" getting their photo taken with the bride.

Jodi & Julianna goofing off between photos.

The bride's parents. Todd and Cathi.

The bridesmaids. Julianna is to the left of Daniella. And Mari is to the right. The other 2 girls are Dusty's sisters. Daniella's other sister Erin Grace was an honorary bridesmaid.

Erin Grace didn't seem to mind.

I like this photo of the bridesmaids jumping. It looks like Daniella is floating.

The proud papa Todd.

Dad & Mom aka: Grandpa and Grandma visiting with Brandon.

I love this photo of Daniella and Julianna.

All 4 sisters.

The groom and his groomsmen.

Everyone is a photographer these days.

More waiting. I'm sure we took double the allotment of time for taking photos on the temple steps.

Do you think these alcoves were made just for taking photos like this?

I do believe they were.

We can't forget the shoes. Forget fancy high heels. This bride wanted to be comfortable along with her bridesmaids.

Are we done taking photos yet? Isn't that what Todd's look is saying?

Julianna looks bored. Dad just wants to know when it is nap time.

Nope, the photographer isn't quite done. Just one or two more photos.

Speaking of photographers. I was trying to practice my photo skills with these flowers. I still have so much to learn.

Temple square always has so many beautiful things to photograph. I now wish I had walked around temple square taking photos while we waited as Mike had suggested. Maybe next time.

The End. But really it is the beginning of Daniella and Dusty's wonderful life together, forever.

If you made it through this entire post, you deserve a medal. I know it had a lot of photos. But I didn't want you to miss a thing. Didn't you feel like you were right there? Of course you do.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll post about their reception. And then I still need to report about the rest of our trip. Plus I still have to post about Cade's (Eric's son) high school graduation and Danica's (Eric's daughter) college graduation.

So stay tuned.

Kim

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2011-06-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

Today is my son Brandon's 28th birthday. How can he be 28 when I am only 29?

Happy Birthday Brandon. I love you!!!!!

Mom

Danielle's & Dusty's Wedding

2011-06-04T08:34:00.001-07:00

On Thursday last week we (Mom, Dad Brandon & Jodi) drove to Salt Lake City Utah.

To attend the Wedding of Todd's daughter Daniella Langston to Dusty Scott.
We arrived on Friday and attended a pre-wedding dinner at Sizzler with Dusty's family.

Daniella & Dusty & Dusty's brother

Todd & Jullianna

Dusty's Mom & Dad

Dusty's family

Mari & Ladd (Mari's boyfriend)

Dusty & Daniella coming out of the Temple

Kim & Mike waiting

Mari, Jullianna, Cathi, Erin & Tyler
Daniella's Mom & brother & sisters

Salt Lake Temple

Daniella & Dusty in front of the Doors of the
Salt Lake City Temple

After the pictures at the temple the reception was at Daniella's Aunts house
(Cathi's sisters house) in Alpine.
I'll upload pictures later.

Sunday we (Mom, Dad & I) went to have lunch with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Clark
at the Market Place Grill in Salt Lake.

Then we went to Todd's house and hung out with them all afternoon.
About 6pm Daniella and Dusty came over with their gifts and opened them.

Opening up Kim's present and being weird

Kim's gift

Kim's gift

Opening Mom's gift

Cool pots and pans!!!

Gunner's Stay with Gumma & Gumpa

2011-05-16T09:27:00.001-07:00

Before I start I want to thank Jodi was posting a Happy Birthday to our Mom. I totally forgot to put anything on the family blog to wish Mom Happy Birthday. But don't worry, I did call her personally on her birthday Saturday and wished her a happy birthday over the phone. Plus I did send her a birthday card. So I am not a totally lame daughter.

Now back to our regular scheduled blog post.

A couple of weeks ago our grandson Gunner came to stay with us for a few days while his parents (Mike's son Brandan & daughter in law Crystal) went to Vegas.

It was great fun having Gunner, but very tiring as well. Now I know why you should have kids while in your 20's. Much more stamina. But it is still fun being Grandma and Grandpa, better known as Gumma and Gumpa (as Gunner would call us).

Here is Gunner & Gumpa playing with the Marbleworks set. I bought 2 sets of these from Discovery Toys about 20 something years ago when my Brandon was a small boy.

He just loves playing with this every time he comes to our house. It's been the best toy investment.

On Saturday we took Gunner to the Western Science Center at Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet. This museum is the result of the artifacts they found while digging for the Diamond Valley Lake reservoir. Danica was working that Saturday as a volunteer for school credit. This was our first time to this museum. It was perfect for taking Gunner to.

Plus we got our own personal tour guide. Doesn't get much better than that!

This museum has some permanent exhibits including the Life on Earth Timeline, The Big Dam hole (and no, I am not swearing) it's where you can use interactives to learn about the people and animals that inhabited the Diamond Valley Lake site over time. And you can discover how scientists uncovered evidence of their existence. You can also watch 2 different movies in their really cool theater where you sit on fake rocks while watching a circular movie screen. And the big room called Snapshots in time.

Where you learn about the mammoths and mastodons that used to live in the Diamond Valley Lake area. And you can see some of their fossils as well as the bones of a huge giant sloth . Pretty cool. Who knew that such creatures once roamed the area around where Eric and my families live. Glad they are not here now.

They have lots of activities for the kids. Here is Danica helping Gunner use his crayon over an engraving to make a print of a giant sloth.

The kids could even make their own fossils. Here is Gumpa helping Gunner.

And we found out these are not Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are something completely different. Who knew?

Most of my photos didn't turn out very good in here. I hate the way that photos with flash turned out and the most of the ones I took without flash came out blurry as Gunner never stands still for very long.

They also had a temporary exhibit of the cartoon "Peanuts". Mostly it was stuff about Charles Schultz and someone's collection of Peanuts memorabilia. It reminded me of being a kid since Charlie Brown & Snoopy was really popular when I was a kid.

And the museum had an area of cool puzzles and brain teasers to try out. Some where pretty hard. We were having so much fun playing in this area that I totally forgot to take photos.

So if you are ever in the Hemet area of California, you should check out this museum. It does cost money, but worth it for a few hours of fun education.

I think the most fun Gunner had while at our house was playing video games with my Brandon.

I think almost every waking moment was spent playing video games. Brandon even enjoyed playing with Gunner. And they were both very good at taking turns. Gunner had so much fun at our house that he hardly would take time to eat. He did like his french fries though.

I've posted a few videos below of Gunner while playing video games with Brandon. I thought they were so cute.

Gunner slept on our couch. He never did go to bed before 11:30pm. This kid doesn't like to stop. But once he did fall asleep he was out all night & woke up both days at about 10:15am. Which was the perfect schedule for us.

We thought we would have Gunner all day Sunday, but his parents showed up around 1:00 or so to pick him up.

He finally posed for a couple of photos before leaving. I could never get any good photos of him as he wouldn't stop for 2 seconds to take a photo.

I like this one of him out front of our house, but he closed his eyes as the sun was too bright. All in all it was a fun filled weekend. Can't wait to do it again. The only bad thing was that Gunner didn't really want to eat anything (too busy having fun). And boy is that kid stubborn. It's the Chalfant genes in him. Seems all the Chalfant men have quite the stubborn streak in them. Which made taking him into the grocery store right after he woke up from a nap a bad idea. He didn't want to go where I wanted, he'd drop anchor right where he was. And I ended up carrying him out of the store kicking & screaming as he didn't want to do what I wanted him to do.

Other than a little tantrum, the weekend was great. Can't wait to do it again. I love being a Gumma.

Kim

Mom's Birthday

2011-05-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday May 14th was Mom's Birthday!!!

Mom on Easter

Andrea & Mom

Happy Birthday Mom!! LOVE YA!!

Easter, Langston style

2011-05-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that I am late in posting about Easter. But I've been so busy aka: lazy.

Better late than never. Besides, you have seen most, if not all of these photos on facebook. Darn that facebook. It has taken all the fun out of blogging. Well almost.

Anyhoo, here is how the Langston side of the family celebrated this Easter. Well all the Langston's except for Todd's family. They were missing in action. We missed you Todd, and your family. Maybe next year.

We decided to have Easter this year at Mom and Dad's house. That way they didn't have to drive the hour and a half to either Eric or my house. Plus, I didn't have to clean my house for company. Woo hoo!

I had great plans to make some Easter decorations but I tend to procrastinate, plus I'm lazy, so I didn't get them made prior to going down to Mom and Dad's. So when I arrived, I roped Danica (Eric's oldest daughter) into helping me make the decorations.

Danica is helping me wrap the plastic utensils in orange napkins to make them look like carrots.

I helped too.
And this is how they turned out. Aren't they just too dang cute? I saw this idea in blogland and I had to copy. I don't have an original bone in my body. I just copy, copy, copy. But ours turned out cuter than the ones I saw online. Sorry, but the truth hurts sometimes.

I also made this cute "Hoppy Easter" banner at the last minute. Jodi helped me but cutting out the green circles with her "Cricut" machine. Thanks Jodi!

For dinner we had ham, cheese potatoes, corn, rolls, jello salad & tossed salad.

I made the cheese potatoes. But then I always do. It's the dish I have to make each year. Come rain or shine. But they are sooooo good. I had this huge dish plus another 9x13 pan. This pan was gone in a flash & about 1/4 of the 2nd pan. The Langston's love their cheese potatoes.

I brought the green plates to coordinate with my carrot utensils. Plus I brought the bunny candles and the planter of wheat grass. Jeannette made the tossed salads. Jodi did everything else. Andrea and Jamey brought ice cream cake for dessert but it disappeared faster than anyone could take a photo of it.

After dinner we all went outside to visit. It was pretty chilly outside that day.

Here is Dad, Danica, Brandon, Jeannette and me.

Noah gave a thumbs up to the get together. Brandon, Taylor & Michael in the background & Simon on the right.

Brandon doesn't like getting his photo taken, so he stuck out his tongue. I think Eric's kids are the only ones in our family who like getting their photos taken. They don't seem to make funny faces or hide their face like mine and Andrea's kids.

Dad, Danica and Brandon.

I forgot that Jodi had an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Here is Nate and Cade with some of the eggs they found. Are we ever too old for an Easter egg hunt? I don't think so.

Mom

Dad playing a game on his phone. His favorite past time.

Taylor and her hubby Michael as well as my son Brandon in the back yard looking for Easter eggs.

Cade in the house before dinner. He has that "let's hurry up and eat" look on his face.

Eric, Andrea, Mom on the swing. Jesse (my stepson) to the right. Eric said that he wanted to get a swing like this for his deck. Jodi was telling him he could have their extra one. That is, until Mom found out. She was like "Why are you giving away my stuff Jodi?". We all know who's boss, so Eric will be buying his own swing if he wants one for his deck now.

Danica.
Simon and Nate (Andrea's boys)

Most of the kids went out front to play with this flying disk that Nate is holding.

They had lots of fun and burnt up some pent up energy.

This is Jase (Eric's oldest son). He stayed in the house. Looks like he is already growing back the beard he shaved off for his friends wedding. He told me he was going to grow back his beard & let his hair get long again. He likes the homeless bum look. The rest of us, not so much.

Taylor and Michael. Ahhhhh, aren't they such a cute couple? Why yes, they are.

Before everyone left, I made everyone pose for photos.

Here is Andrea's family. Simon, Noah, Andrea, Jamey (only pic Jodi or I got of him) and Nate. I had to take a few before I got this semi serious one. Andrea's family goofs off the most when taking photos.

And speaking of Andrea's family. Can you believe that her oldest son Zak comes home from his mission in a about 7 months? Time is whizzing by now.

Eric's family: Michael, Taylor, Cade, Jeannette, Eric, Jase and Danica. It's nice that Eric's family has started to grow with Taylor marrying Michael last summer. Just think, we could be calling Eric Grandpa in a few years.

And my family: Jesse, Mike, me and Brandon.

I didn't take a photo of Mom, Dad and Jodi. I should have, but by this time, my family was ready to go. We still had to stop by my step son Brandan's apartment to see him, his wife Crystal and our grandon Gunner.

I'll try & post photos tomorrow of our Easter visit with Gunner. Plus I still need to post about our weekend of taking care of Gunner. I love being a Grandma. The best part is you get to spoil them and send them home when you get tired of them.

So what did your family do for Easter?

Kim

Happy Birthday Andrea!

2011-04-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Andrea's birthday!

So I want to take this opportunity to wish Andrea a very happy birthday.

Love you!!!

Kim

Snow in SoCal? You betcha!

2011-04-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

It's snowing!!!

You heard me right, it's snowing here at our work in Moreno Valley.

In Southern California.

In April!

The above video is of snow falling on Brandon's windshield.

It's kind of hard to see. But it was snowing.

Easier to see on the red van.

I know all of you that live with snow all winter long are thinking, is she nuts for getting so excited?

But we never get snow here. So this is a big dealio.

Just thought I would share.

Now back to work I go.

Kim

Happy 21st birthday to Elder Prescott

2011-04-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

Elder Prescott is the birthday boy today. And who is Elder Prescott? I'm glad you asked.

Why he would be Andrea & Jamey's oldest son Zak who is on a mission in Michigan.

Today he turns 21.

Elder Prescott is the one on the right. I borrowed this photo from Zak's Facebook profile.

In this photo Elder Prescott is the blond one in the middle in the back.

Here is Elder Prescott in the cold snow. Much different than living in southern California.

Elder Prescott (left) and one of his companion's enjoying a meal out.

I lifted the rest of these photos from Andrea's Facebook page. Thank goodness for Facebook or I wouldn't have any photos of Elder Prescott while on his mission.

Zak only has 8 more months left till he comes home. Time is really flying now.

I just sent my first letter to Zak this week. I know, I'm a terrible Aunt.

If you haven't written to Zak aka: Elder Prescott, you better hurry up. If you need his address, just contact me or Andrea. But transfers come up in a few weeks. You know how they like to move the missionaries around.

Happy 21st Birthday Elder Prescott!!!

We love and miss you and can't wait until you are home again. Keep up the good work!

Love,

Aunt Kim

We have an Eagle Scout in the family!

2011-03-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we were lucky enough to attend Cade's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. And I am finally getting around to posting about it.

I wish there was a pill I could take to not make me procrastinate or be too lazy. Anyhoo, the court of honor was for Cade and his buddy Brandon. The ceremony took place at their ward church building in the chapel. So no photos of the actual ceremony.

I did find out that Taylor's hubby is also an eagle scout as they call all Eagle Scouts to come up to the eagle's nest. So I guess we now have 2 Eagle Scouts in our family.

After the court of honor, we then went into the cultural hall for dessert and a slide show.

Cade with his parents (Eric & Jeannette).

Cade with Grandpa Carlos & Grandma Dorothy

Cade with Grandma Carol & Grandpa Carl (Jeannette's mom & stepdad).

Grandpa Carlos and Brandon.

Mike and I. Sounds like a candy.

The other Eagle Scout's mom had put together a slide show that they played right after the ceremony in the cultural hall. Here is Mike setting up the projector and sound system prior to the court of honor, for the slide show. I wish I had a copy of the slide show or I would share it with you.

Brandon and Jesus, I mean Jase. We always kid Jase that he is trying to look like Jesus. Get a hair cut dude!

The decorations were pretty much patriotic.

For dessert we had cupcakes and cookies.

Different ward members contributed the desserts.

Each table had this centerpiece. Except each flag had a different patriotic saying.

Taylor, Michael and Danica. You can sort of see mom (Grandma) and dad (Grandpa) as well.

Everyone was busy visiting and eating.

Jodi, Eric, Laura (Jeannette's sister) and Carol (Jeannette's mom).

Carol, Carl and Brandon.

Taylor and Cade.

Taylor and her Eagle Scout hubby Michael.

Andrea's family didn't make it up. We missed you guys! And of course, Todd couldn't come down from Utah. Had some excuse like it was too far or cost too much money for gas. Whatever! Just kidding, I don't think he even knew about it.

It was a nice ceremony and we are all so proud of Cade for reaching such a milestone in his life. And the slideshow his friends mom made was pretty funny as well. It showed both Cade and Brandon (the other Eagle scout, not my Brandon) growing up as well as photos from each of their Eagle projects.

Cade's Eagle project was painting a building at the hospital where Jeannette works.

Congrats Cade on becoming an Eagle Scout.

Aunt Kim

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Top of the morning to you. And a Happy St Paddy's day one and all.

How is your St Paddy's Day going so far? Are you feeling lucky?

I am. Maybe that's a sign that I'll win the Mega Millions Jackpot on Friday. Wouldn't that be nice? What would you do if you won millions of dollars?

I would take a trip around the world for about a year. One of the places I would love to visit is Ireland. Have you been to Ireland?

Maybe I could find me a leprechaun.

Or two or three.

And find some real shamrocks. And maybe a pot of gold.

Well a girl can dream. Can't I? At least I know I won't be pinched today.

As I am wearing green. And so is my family room.

Lot's of green going on there. If you missed any of it. Well then, you missed it. Just kidding. You can find it here, here, here & here.

That would be on my other blog, you know, my decorating blog, Starshine Chic. That is my shameless plug.

Happy St Patrick's Day! And wish me luck in finding a pot of gold. I could use one.

And if I win one, or find one, I might even be willing to share. So then, you might be lucky as well. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday Matt!

2011-03-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday Matt and to one of the coolest guys I know.

Matt officially turns 28 today and is currently in Australia having a grand old time without us.

In September

Wish him well and keep him in your prayers.

Just before he left for Australia.

How to catch a Gopher?

2011-03-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

So, we have been having a Gopher problem in our front yard grass and grass in the parkway. He has been borrowing his way from one grass to the other and has been making a mess. Dad decided to get him to come out by putting the hose down one of his holes and make him come out through one of the other holes. While he was putting the hose in the main grass he said he say something pop up in one of the holes on the parkway grass. He realized it was the Gopher and took the spade shovel (small shovel) and flick the Gopher in the Street. He (the Gopher) was a little startled and before he could realize what was happening Dad hit the Gopher with the Shovel and KILLED it. We are now Gopher Free!!!! Yeah!!!

Here are some pictures Mom took. (I was at work).

Dad Putting water down the hole. Check out the box he thinks he's going to catch it in. HA HA!!

Here is the Gopher (Mom said he wasn't quite dead yet)

Here is Dad after he got rid of the Gopher
He's hot and tired.

Happy Birthday Jess!

2011-03-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Tina and Jessica

Wishing my wonderful little sister Jessy a happy 24th birthday!!!

I hope that the rest of the year comes up daisies for you! Love you so much and thanks for being my best friend.

Super Bowl Fun with the Family & some birthday shout outs.

2011-02-07T16:39:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. I love this day. Not necessarily for football, mostly for the company and the food. And let's not forget the commercials.

I invited Eric's family over to watch the game & partake in the food. Only Eric, Cade & Danica came over. Jase wanted to stay home and Jeannette wasn't feeling good. Taylor and her husband Michael couldn't come as they had to take Michael's nephews back home.

Jesse loves Super Bowl Sunday as it gives him a reason to make Spicy Chicken Wings. Except we use chicken tenders instead of wings. You get a heck of a lot more meat for the money.

Here is Jesse and his girlfriend Brin deep frying the chicken tenders.

Eric & I are wimps, we had chicken tenders that only had BBQ sauce on them. We don't like spicy ones. Danica didn't even eat any as she is on a diet & is trying to eat healthy. Everyone else likes theirs spicy. Cade even asked Jesse to make one super hot. And boy did he deliver. It was sooooo hot that Cade couldn't even eat one. Brandon tried it & said it was "Dang hot".

I also cooked meatballs in the crock pot with BBQ sauce. Very yummy!!! I never did take a photo of the chicken tenders, the meat balls or the fries.

But here is a photo of the rest of the food.

Danica made veggie pizzas on pita bread with sauce, feta cheese, garlic and sliced peppers. For being healthy pizza, it was pretty good. But I still like "real" pizza the best. Danica also brought veggies and dip as well as fruit and a dip. Eric brought chips and sodas. I made salsa, guacamole and nacho cheese dip. I also made brownies and Amish Friendship bread for dessert. We had plenty of food. So no one went hungry.

Here is part of the gang getting ready for the game to start. Eric & Cade showed up in their Charger jerseys. Too bad the Chargers suck. It would be great to see them in a Super Bowl. A girl can dream.

Brandon, Cade & Eric sat on the couch. Danica sat in the rocking chair. But she was freezing as she was closest to the front door that was open. It was a beautiful day in sunny southern California yesterday. It reached 80 degrees. But Danica had gotten sunburned on Saturday when they went out to the desert to ride their quads. So the cool breeze coming in the front door made her chilly. She eventually had to wrap up in a blanket.

Mike was in his usual seat at the computer. Not a very good photo as the glare from the window makes for lousy photos.

That was all the photos I took. Was too busy eating & watching the game. Luckily we were all rooting for the Packers. And even better that they won. Yipee!!!

My favorite part is watching the commercials. There was some seriously funny ones in the beginning, then they got kind of lame. My favorites were the Doritos commercials and the Darth Vadar VW commercial.

And the best part of the whole day? A new episode of Glee was on after the game.

Did you watch the game? Did your team win? What was your favorite commercial?

And before I leave, I do want to do a couple of birthday shout outs to some family members.

My cousin John had a birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday John!

And today is Nate & Colin's birthdays. They are my nephews. Nate is Andrea's son and Colin is Todd's son. So Happy Birthday to the both of you!!

Sorry that I have been lame with the birthday shout outs. I keep forgetting to do them.

Kim

Happy Birthday Jodi & Todd!

2011-01-24T11:37:00.001-08:00

I've been terrible at this family blogging thing. Maybe it's because my life is so boring there is nothing to post about.

But today, I have something.

It's Jodi & Todd's birthday!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Be sure and wish the both of them a Happy Birthday today. It is their last year before they hit the big 5-0.

Happy Birthday again Jodi & Todd. May you have many more. I love the both of you!

Kim

Christmas 2010 at Kim's house

2011-01-04T12:51:00.001-08:00

I know that Christmas was almost 10 days ago. But I'm late in posting about ours and showing you our photos from opening gifts on Christmas morning.

Now my family does not get up early on Christmas morning. Never has, never will. Could be as most of us don't get to bed until after 2am. But even when Brandon was a small child, he never got up early on Christmas.

Nothing like my childhood where we would all go to bed with flashlights & then get up in the middle of the night to see what Santa had brought. And still got up early even though we already knew what Santa brought.

Nope, my family likes to sleep in on Christmas morning.

This Christmas was no exception. My family didn't even get up until around 11am. We didn't even open gifts until 1pm. Mike did make us omelets and hash browns for breakfast.

Above is the gift that I got from Andrea's family. It's already out in my front yard welcoming everyone. At least it is, until I take down my Christmas decor. Yep, it's still up.

Reading my Christmas card from Mike. He has learned over the years that I like the mushy ones better than the funny ones. But if they are both mushy & funny, that is the bomb!

Opening up one of my gifts from Mike. A large self healing mat so that I have something to cut fabric on. He also got me a rotary cutter and a quilting ruler (even though I don't quilt, I just wanted it for cutting fabric).

Jesse opening up the power inverter we, I mean, Santa, got him for his truck.

Brandon opening up the XBox live annual subscription card Santa got him.

See?

Mike got a Soda Blaster from Brandon. Just what he wanted. It's kind of like a sand blaster, but it uses baking soda instead of sand.

And what did Brandon give me? Why a Silhouette digital cutting machine. Just what I wanted. Brandon is way better than Santa.

Jesse opening up another of his gifts from Santa.

It's a Bucket Head wet/dry vac and a bucket to use it on.

Santa even brought Mike a new inner tube for his unicycle. Isn't Santa the best? Wait, Brandon is the best. Santa comes in 2nd this year.

Santa, I mean I, got Mike this new paint spray gun contraption to hook up to his compressor. Now I should be able to get him to paint more furniture for me. Aren't I sneaky? I'm always putting him first.

I'm not showing photos of all the gifts we got. Or we'd be here all month. Just kidding. We really had a small Christmas this year. Jesse got a couple of socket sets and Brandon got some new windshield wipers and some sour patch straws. The only other gifts to open were from Andrea's family.

About 3pm, after opening gifts, we drove over to Eric's house for Christmas dinner. Luckily, Eric only lives about 20 minutes from me. This was the first year that we did not get together with Mom, Dad and Jodi. They were going to come up, but decided they would spend a leisurely day at home by themselves. It was weird having such a small get together for Christmas.

But we still had 11 people at Eric's (his family, Taylor and Michael and my family). Jeannette cooked the ham, green beans, made a tossed salad and a cranberry salad. I brought the cheese potatoes and the home made ranch dressing for the tossed salad (per Cade's request). It was a very yummy dinner, but the company was even better. Just wish everyone from our family could have been there.

And can you believe that I forgot to take any photos while we were at Eric & Jeannette's house? I can't believe it either. I have 2 blogs and I forgot to take photos.

I guess I was enjoying the food, um, the company too much. That's it, I was enjoying the company too much.

So what did your family do for Christmas? And what was your favorite gift this year? And what did you eat for Christmas dinner? Do tell!

Kim

New Year's: Look Not behind Thee

2011-01-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Sacramento!

2010-12-26T00:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!

Christmas Eve and Christmas with the Sizemore's and all of our extended family. With love and good tidings to all.

It's now flooding!

2010-12-22T09:27:00.001-08:00

It's still raining here in SoCal (at least where I am). And because the ground is so saturated, it is now flooding everywhere. Maybe I do need to rethink that building an ark scenario.

Anyhoo, I want to show you some photos I took on my way in to work this morning. But first I want to show you something I saw on the 11:00 news last night.

I was watching ABC Channel 7 (LA station) and they were showing storm photos various people had sent in. When all of a sudden I recognized something. It was Eric's street. On the local news.

Here is a photo I took of the photo submitted that they showed on TV. It was submitted by someone named Justin Dewey. Hey Eric, do you know him? There is a truck in the middle of the street that looks like it is going to turn into a driveway. I think that is Eric's truck. It's about where Eric's house would be on this street.

It was kind of fun seeing Eric's street flooding making the local news.

Now on to the flooding I saw on my way to work. And no, I was not driving while taking the photos. Brandon was driving. And I'm sorry that some of the photos are somewhat blurry, but we were in a moving vehicle.

This is to the right of Interstate 215 heading north, between McCall & Ethanac. The fields were all flooded.

The Ethanac offramp was shut down for a rescue attempt. The frontage road is called Encanto & it always floods when it rains and they always close the road. But there is always some fool who drives around the barricades and got stranded. And now he has to be rescued.

Here is the fool that is on his car stranded. Why would you think you could drive through a lake? Your car is not a boat.

All along I215 through Perris it was flooded on both sides of the freeway.

Lake Perris. Wait, there is already a Lake Perris and it is about 5 miles north of here. So we will call this Mini Lake Perris. What you can't see from my blurry photo is that there were a bazillion seagulls. See, they already think it's a lake.

After the 2 mile stretch north of our house, the flooding went away. At least until we reached Riverside. Here the 215 was flooded under the Alessandro overpass.

I told Brandon to get over to the left, but it was too late. And it really didn't matter since all lanes of the freeway were flooded here.

The waters were quite choppy.

The entire freeway was flooded.

I love when the water splashes up as the cars go by. Good thing our windows were up.

And finally I thought this sign was kind of ironic. It says "Rain for Rent". I guess this business can go on Christmas vacation early. No one will be needing their services for quite a little while.

At least we made it to work in one piece. But I'm tired. I've been up since 4:30am because of the latest storm. This one was quite windy, which makes for a lot of noise. Do you think anyone will notice if I take a nap? Just kidding. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Kim

It Never Rains in California. Or so they say.

2010-12-21T11:55:00.000-08:00

It's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights. Or so it seems. I feel like we should start building an ark. But wait, I don't have to, we already have a sailboat. And since I'm not Noah, God hasn't commanded me to take any animals on my boat. Well, except for Missy our cat.

Ok, so I exaggerated a little bit. I've been known to be a little over dramatic.

It has actually only been raining 4 days. But it has been non stop. It hasn't stopped raining at all. We've already had about a years worth of rain in 4 days.

So now the ground can take no more!!! It's rebelling and now we are suffering the consequences.

Exhibit #1:

Had to take a detour on my way to work this morning. It seems a tree decided to fall over and block this street we normally travel down. It took out a couple of power lines with it. At least it didn't fall on the house. Or on the guard dogs who usually lay on a table in this yard. And the wind wasn't even blowing. This is from the ground being too saturated.

And no, this is not my neighborhood. This is the neighborhood around where I work in Moreno Valley. Not in the best area. That is why this house usually has vicious looking guard dogs laying out front.

But my day has been easy so far, at least when you compare it to Eric's.

Exhibit #2:

This is Eric's street. Totally flooded.

They have this drainage canal right across the street from their house. When it rains, it can fill up fast.

Then it overflows into their street.

So what is Eric to do?

Move to higher ground! This is Eric's downstairs living room. They decided they better move their furniture upstairs. Just in case the flood waters reach their house.

But there is a silver lining in all of this. Eric has a pretty cool dance floor for Christmas. We will be busting some cool moves come Christmas.

Oh, and I have a boat to get there. Bon Voyage!!!

What are your plans for Christmas? And how is the weather in your neck of the woods? Do tell.

Kim

P.S. Everyone have life jackets?

Taylor & Michael's first apartment

2010-12-17T11:05:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday night Taylor (my niece and Eric's daughter) and Michael had a little house warming open house. So we went over to see their first apartment.

Here is the master bedroom. The bed pretty much takes up the entire room. I think the bedding was a wedding gift. The end tables came from Michael's parents. I think they had been his brothers.

Between the master bedroom on the left & the bathroom on the right hangs this picture that Taylor did.

Here is another one of Taylor's paintings. This one hangs on the stair case.

This is the extra bedroom upstairs. They are using it as an office. Sorry the photo is so dark. I don't like to use my flash.

A wall in the extra bedroom.

Another one of Taylor's drawings. You always have something to put on the walls when you are an artist.

One of their wedding gifts.

The other wall & Taylor in the extra bedroom.

This was on the bathroom wall. Another wedding gift.

And this Indonesian looking statue. I want to call it Buddha. But isn't Buddha fat? He resides in their bathroom as well.

Looking down into their living room area from the stairs. This is the right half of the room. Taylor's friends Ashley (the blond) and Michelle.

Left side of living room with Mike (mine), Michael (Taylor's) and Danica. The couch and coffee table came from Eric & Jeannette's.

On the living room staircase wall resides the "Eternal" picture I made for them as a wedding shower gift.

Taylor & Michael opening up my house warming gift.

I gave them a jar of home made hot chocolate mix. Yes, I made it myself with the help of Stephanie Lynn over at Under the Table and Dreaming. Got the recipe and the labels over at her website. She also has a recipe for making your own marshmallows. But I wasn't that adventurous. I bought my mini marshmallows at the store. And I also gave them a couple of Christmas mugs to drink their hot chocolate in. They loved my gift.

Here everyone is drinking hot cider. And boy was it hot!!! Here we have Eric, Mike, Jesse and Michael. You can see behind Eric an opening beneath the stairs. Here is where Taylor and Michael have their TV and their dog Tonk's dog bed/cage.

They have some wedding photos hanging on this short wall in their living room. On the other side of this wall is another bathroom. I totally forgot to take any photos in there. And they had a cute tile someone had made for them with a temple silhouette and something else on it (I've already forgotten). Cute idea for a wedding gift.

Here is Taylor and Michael's first Christmas tree. It was so cute.

The kitchen area has room for this small table and chairs. This came from Eric & Jeannette's as well as the bench in the back. Aren't parents the greatest? I've always loved hand me down furniture. Hand me down clothes, yuck, but furniture, I love.

To the left of the table and chairs Taylor has a set of 3 small Christmas trees (another hand me down from mommy).

And finally the other half of the kitchen. Here is Taylor and her friends Amanda and Ashley. Taylor is lucky to have a dishwasher. The fridge is located to the right, I forgot to get a photo of that part of the kitchen. I should have also taken a photo of her cute red microwave.

I loved Taylor and Michael's apartment. It was so cute. They have done a great job furnishing it (thanks to the moms and dads) and decorating it (thanks to cute wedding gifts and Taylor being a talented artist).

Sorry that I couldn't get complete rooms in one shot. Their apartment is pretty small (but just the right size for the two of them), so I couldn't back up far enough to get entire rooms at once.

And I didn't get any photos of their dog Tonks. She was sleeping the whole time we were there.
But you can see what their dog looks like in this photo. Except she is already twice as big. She is going to be a huge dog.

Thanks Taylor and Michael for having us over and for letting me share your apartment with the rest of the family. We love you!!!

Aunt Kim

Another Arizona Vacation

2010-12-11T23:17:00.000-08:00

Got back yesterday from another yearly vacation in Arizona. This is the first year we have gone in December. We usually go in August (call us gluten's for punishment). December is the perfect time of year to visit Arizona.

This year we went to Scottsdale instead of Cave Creek. We again went with Mom, Dad & Jodi. This is our Christmas gift from them. Jesse decided to stay home this year.

It was almost the perfect vacation. The weather was perfect and we shopped, ate, shopped and shopped and ate some more.

Brandon and Dad stayed at the condo most of the week. Mom and Jodi mostly shopped at Walmart, Target and Kohl's.

I really didn't take many photos with family members. But I did get a few photos. Here is Brandon & Jodi watching TV.

Mike and I spent the week shopping at thrift stores and antique stores. We did eat lunch one day at the Cheesecake Factory. Only because I had won a gift card at an insurance class awhile back. It came in handy while on vacation.

On Thursday night we all went to the Mesa temple to see the lights. It was quite beautiful.

Mike and I stayed longer than the rest of the group. We caught the tail end of a musical concert. And then spent time just walking around the temple grounds taking in all the lights.

We then went inside the visitor center where they had different nativities from around the world on display.

After leaving the temple we drove around to check out the Christmas lights around Phoenix. We found this one house that had sooooooo many lights and displays. The guy there said it takes 4 people 2 months to set up all the lights and displays.

There was just sooo much to see and take in. It was sensory overload. I should have asked the man what his electric bill was like.

I did take a few photos the morning we were packing up to leave. Here is Jodi putting ice in one of their coolers for the long trek home.

Brandon and Dad waiting for the "round em up and head them out" signal.

Mom waiting inside while the truck is packed up.

And finally when it was time to leave. The perfect vacation came to a screeching halt. Dad's truck had a flat tire. But don't worry, AAA came to the rescue and changed the tire.

And everyone made it home safe and sound.

Kim

GivingThanks for Family

2010-11-29T14:45:00.001-08:00

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

For me and my family. We went to Eric & Jeannette's house. To spend time with....

And to.....
for what we are most thankful for. Which by the way is family. Next to that, I would have to put eating turkey and all the trimmings.

There were 17 of us for dinner. So we needed 3 tables. I only took a photo of this one table. And yes, we used my turkey plates. It's not Thanksgiving without the turkey plates. At least for our family.

Whenever food is involved, you will find everyone gathered in the kitchen. Here is Mom, Mike & Jesse.

This is the newest member of the family. Her name is Tonks. She is actually Taylor & Michael's new puppy. Taylor & Michael had gone to San Clemente to celebrate Thanksgiving with some of Michael's family. So Eric's family was babysitting Tonks. She is such a cutie pie. Everyone fell in love with her. Except for her biting. But Jamey took care of that. He just bit her back. It seemed to work, for at least a little while.

Here is Danica, Mom, Jesse & Andrea eating the snacks that we had while dinner was cooking.

Brandon & his Pepsi.
Jase

I should have taken photos of the food. It was very good. The turkey was so moist. Jeannette brined the turkey the night before. I made green bean casserole & our family Thanksgiving jello salad.

Before everyone left, we took some family photos.

This was Andrea's family "most normal" photo. I'll post the other ones on facebook. I took like 4 or 5 and this was the "most normal" shot of them all. Andrea's family doesn't do "normal". From left to right is: Simon, Nate, Andrea, Jamey with Noah in the front. Zak is on a mission in Michigan. But I hear that the ward members there, hooked him up with food.

Danica loves her brother Cade.

We had to get a photo of the pets as they are part of Eric's family. Jase is holding Tonks, Cade is holding Jack and Danica is holding Luke.

Eric's family minus Taylor & her hubby Michael. From left to right: Jase, Cade, Eric, Danica with Jeannette in the front.

And my family minus my stepson Brandan his wife Crystal and our grandson Gunner. From left to right: Brandon, Kim (me), Mike, Jesse.

And last but not least, Jodi, Mom and Dad.

We sure missed not having Todd's family with us as well. But we did talk to Todd on speaker phone for a few minutes after dinner. So it was almost like he was there. NOT!

It was so nice to get together with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. The food was great and the company was better. It took me a long time to make up my mind which of the two was better. It was a hard choice, but in the end, family wins.

I loved having Thanksgiving at Eric & Jeannette's house. I didn't have to clean my house, I didn't have to cook (only a little) and I didn't have to clean up. But the down side of not hosting Thanksgiving is, NO LEFTOVERS! Boo hoo.

What did you do for Thanksgiving? And do you like white meat or dark meat better? I like the white meat. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T08:17:00.001-08:00

I hope that each of you has a fantastic Thanksgiving.

I will be spending the day with most of my family at Eric & Jeannette's house. Everyone in our family will be there except for Todd's family. We will miss you Todd, Mari, Julianna, Daniella, Erin Grace & Tyler. And Taylor and Michael have gone to Orange County to spend the day with Michael's family.

We will also miss my stepson Brandan, Crystal and my grandson Gunner. But we already had a Thanksgiving dinner with them a couple of weeks ago.

Oh and we can't forget my nephew Zak who is on a mission in Detroit. But I hear they had lots of offers for Thanksgiving dinner. So I know he won't be going without.

And Colin. How could I forget about my nephew Colin. Colin is serving in the military in Iraq. But I'm sure the military fixes them all up with a tasty dinner.

Even without the missing family, we will still have 17 people for dinner at Eric's.

I want to take this time to tell you what I am most thankful for this year.
1) Family
2) My Faith (yes I do still have it)
3) My health
4) That I have a roof over my head
5) That I still have a job
6) That I still get to enjoy doing the things I like to do. Even if not having money sometimes gets in the way.
7) My blogs. Gives us a chance to all be connected.
8) Friends

And I know there is more, but I don't want to tax my brain too much this morning. Plus I still need to go to the grocery store to buy milk so I can make my green bean casserole.

So Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I wish that everyone in our family could be together today to celebrate. But if we can't all be together in person. We can at least be together in spirit.

Love to all of you.

Happy 25th birthday Danica!!!!

2010-11-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today is Danica's 25th birthday. Danica is Eric's oldest daughter. So she is also my niece.

Happy Birthday Danica!!! Hope you have a fabulous day. We love you!!!

Love,

Aunt Kim

Our Day Out with Thomas the Train & a Pre Thanksgiving Feast

2010-11-15T21:15:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Mike & I, along with our grandson Gunner and his parents Brandan (Mike's son) & Crystal (daughter in law), went to "A Day Out with Thomas" at the Orange Empire Railway in Perris, CA.

And if there are any of you who don't know who Thomas is, you must not have little kids in your life. Thomas is Thomas the Train, silly.

Our Grandson Gunner is obsessed with Thomas. I mean OBSESSED!!!!

So when I saw that the local railway museum was having a Day out with Thomas. I knew Gunner would want to go. This was our birthday present to him this year.

Finally the day arrived. We could hardly wait for Brandan, Crystal & Gunner to arrive at our house. They were suppose to arrive about 11 am.

The morning didn't start off like we had hoped. Mike woke up about 7am with extreme pain in his back on the left side that radiated around to his side & to his abdomen. He was in so much pain that it was causing him to vomit. The pain came on suddenly & intense.

I told him that I would take him to urgent care at 11am when it opened. But that would mean we would miss going to see Thomas with Gunner.

But by the time Gunner & his parents arrived, the pain Mike had been experiencing all morning, disappeared as fast as it came on.

And not a moment too soon.

So we were able to go & see Thomas afterall.

We had to wait in line for almost an hour to buy tickets. I could have purchased them online (which was my original plan), but the online fees added up to almost $20.00. So to save $20.00 we stood in line for an hour.

But it was OK. Thomas the Train went by a few times while we were waiting. So Gunner got so excited to see Thomas. Problem was, he kept wanting to run after Thomas. But his little legs just couldn't keep up with a train.

Once we got inside, we went to the petting zoo. Our tickets to ride Thomas the train wasn't until 2:30pm. So we had some time to kill.

I have a hard time getting photos of Gunner as the kid never keeps still for very long. I finally got this one of him and the piggy.

Next we went into where the model trains are. And what was Gunner's favorite train? Why Thomas, of course.

The Orange Empire Railway Museum has lots of cool stuff to see.

I loved this locomotive. It was fabulous. Especially the big lantern.

Mike enjoyed the area with all the old train signals. Most had buttons you can push to see how they work.

All Gunner wanted was a Thomas the Train balloon. So his mom got him one.

Except, we should have gotten it on the way out. Do you know how annoying it is to deal with a huge helium balloon all day?

Finally it was time to ride Thomas. Gunner can hardly wait. He kept looking down the tracks to see if Thomas was coming to the station.

Finally Thomas arrived. Gunner waved "Hi" to Thomas.

Here is everyone inside the train. Gunner sat with Grandpa Mike. Crystal & Brandan sat behind. And I sat on the row in front. Me and the huge balloon.

Finally I got Gunner to look at the camera. If only for a split second. He kept saying "All aboard" to everyone that was getting on the train.

Here is proof I was there. And you can kind of see the huge balloon next to me.

Here is Gunner saying "all aboard". I wish I could have gotten him to say it when I was doing a video. But no, this kid only does things when he wants to. Not when you want him to.

After riding Thomas for about 15 minutes, it was time to return to the station. By now, we were all tired so it was time to go home. Plus it was time to take the turkey out of the oven for our pre Thanksgiving dinner.

Once outside, Gunner had to see Thomas one more time.

"Is Thomas ever going to come?" Finally he did. So Gunner was happy to see Thomas one last time before we left.

We got home about 5 minutes before the turkey was done. How is that for great timing? All we had to do know was to put everything else in the oven that we had prepared & peel and cook the potatoes.

Finally it was time to eat.

Mike had decided ahead of time that since Brandan's family was coming up and we already had a turkey and the fixings, that we would have Thanksgiving dinner a few weeks early. We rarely get to have Thanksgiving with Brandan's family. So this was an extra special treat.

I had set the table prior to going to a Day Out with Thomas. I used an old lace curtain for the tablecloth. The black & white dishes are a Christmas gift from Mike a couple of years ago. I usually use my turkey plates for Thanksgiving dinner, but this year I chose to use these plates instead.

So now you will know the real reason I used these plates. Bigger plate = more food. Yum!!!

Mike always cooks the most perfect turkey. The trick is buying a Butterball turkey and cooking it in a bag.
Gunner was too busy playing with Uncle Jesse's Nerf shotgun. And Grandpa gave him a new fishing game.

Here is everyone enjoying dinner. From left to right is: Mike, Brandon (mine), Crystal (my DIL), Brandan (Mike's), Brin (Jesse's girlfriend) and Jesse. Obviously I am taking the photo & you already saw what Gunner was busy doing instead of eating.

And to get all of you all in the mood for Thanksgiving. Doesn't that look yummy? We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, yams and mini croissants. My turkey is covering up my stuffing & corn.

I normally make a green jello Thanksgiving salad. But I didn't for this meal. But I did miss it.

All in all, it was a fun filled day. And Mike's mysterious pain never came back. I'm just glad it went away when it did so that we could enjoy the day with our grandson Gunner.

But when it was all over, I was bushed. I felt every year of my age by the end of the day. I even fell asleep before 9pm. And I normally don't go to be till after midnight.

But I am so thankful for the chance to spend the day with my family.

Now on to the real Thanksgiving in a little over a week. Where I will get to spend the day with my extended family. We are celebrating this year at Eric & Jeannette's house. Looking forward to eating more turkey. And seeing the family.

What did you do this weekend?

P.S. Here are some videos I took of our Day out with Thomas

John & Sarah's Wedding Weekend-The Rest of the Story

2010-11-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

It was 2 weeks ago today that John & Sarah got married. In case you missed it, I did post about the wedding & reception last week.

Since we were up in the San Jose area for the weekend, I will now give you the rest of the story.

Last time we spoke about the wedding weekend, it was Saturday morning & I had just returned from picking up Mike's inhaler from Kaiser pharmacy and getting him some Gateraide from 7/11.

Our original plans for Saturday was to visit the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Mike had always wanted to go there & now was our chance. However, Mike was still not feeling good Saturday morning. But he didn't want to miss going. Plus he thought he might feel better if he got out of the hotel room & did something.

So we met up with Eric & Jeannette downstairs in the hotel lobby. We purchased our tickets from the front desk for $20.00 a ticket instead of the usual $28.00 a ticket if you purchase them at the Winchester Mystery House. They did tell us that we could upgrade them once we got to the house for $5.00 more to include the behind the scenes tour. So once we got to the house, that is exactly what we did.

Our tour of the house was to begin at 11:15am.

They don't let you take photos inside the house. Only outside.

While we waited the 15 or so minutes until our tour was to begin, Mike & I looked around this museum area inside the gift shop.

Mike showed me this old waffle griddle. I have one very similar that we just picked up from a local thrift store at home for about $4.00. Except for mine is Hotpoint (I think) and this is a Winchester.

Finally it was time to begin the tour. We were to meet out in the courtyard area. Then we went inside the house where the tour was to begin. The tour guide started telling us the story of Sarah Winchester and how the house came to be built. The house was built over 38 years, 24 hours a day. If you want to learn more about Sarah Winchester & this bizarre house, you can visit their website here.

During this time I'm looking over at Mike & I can see that he is not feeling good. Then he tells me that he thinks he might pass out. The tour guide has just told us that we will walk a mile throughout the house & climb numerous stairs. It is then I tell Mike, I don't think him going on the tour is such a good idea. All he keeps saying is, "I think I'm going to pass out". I tell him if he is feeling like passing out, he better bail now. Won't be a good thing to pass out half way through the tour.

So I did what any good wife would do, I told him to bail and to go outside and sit at a table & rest while I continued on the tour.

What? Isn't that would you would do? We were already forfeiting $20.00 for 1 ticket, I wasn't about to forfeit on another one. And no, the tour guide did not offer to refund our money or give back the ticket so that we could ask the ticket office for a refund. But he did let Mike out the door back into the courtyard.

The house was beautiful and bizarre. It was definitely worth seeing. I just wish they would have let us take photos inside. It seems some movie company is going to be making a movie & they have the copyrights to all photos inside the house.

Most of the rooms don't have furniture in them. And the ones that do, the furniture didn't belong to Sarah Winchester, but are from the same time period to give you a feel on how the house looked during the late 1800's/early 1900's.

There are I think 160 rooms in the house with 10,000 windows. A lot of the windows are Tiffany leaded glass. Yes, that Tiffany. Sarah loved the number 13 & it is apparent everywhere.

The inside house tour took about an hour and a half. Once we got back outside we found that Mike was feeling better and he was able to go on the behind the scenes tour. But he was so mad that he wasn't able to go on the house tour.

On the behind the scenes tour, they take you around the grounds, into some of the out buildings and down in the basement. Here is one of the bizarre things in the house. The door to nowhere.

We had to wear hard hats on the behind the scene tour. Mostly while we where down in the basement.

I love how they have trimmed this bush to be the number 13.

And all the parts of the house that are painted black, they are the parts of the house that were unfinished when Sarah died. They have been boarded up & painted black. It seems that when Sarah died, all the carpenters quit working, some quit right in the middle of hammering in a nail. And why? Would you continue working if you thought you weren't going to get paid?

Here is Mike, Jeannette & Eric inside one of the out buildings. I think this was a machine shop of some sort.

Jeannette & Eric resting inside the greenhouse.

I loved these spiderweb Tiffany windows. And so did Sarah Winchester. She loved spiderwebs as well as the number 13.

Eric & Jeannette outside the house.

The house wasn't always so Victorian looking. It used to have a 3 story tower & looked more like the Munster house. But during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake the 3 story tower fell. They never did rebuild the tower but they changed up the exterior to make it look like it is now.

I love the look of it now. I just don't think I would want to live in it. Too big. And I really don't like ghosts.

Mike & me.

Did I mention ghosts? That is the whole reason that Sarah was building the house. To appease the spirits or ghosts of the people the Winchester guns has killed over the years. She held seances every night in the house to ask the spirits what she should build next.

Did we see any ghosts? Well I did think I saw a flash of something leave the room to go back down a hall. I thought it was someone from our group. But I looked down the hall & didn't see anyone. So who knows???????

The whole front of the house got the most damage in the 1906 earthquake. In fact, Sarah shut off the entire front 30 rooms after the earthquake & never went back into them. When you tour these rooms inside, you can still see all the damage the earthquake caused. Only the outside was fixed up after the earthquake.

The grounds of the estate are fabulous to walk around. I would love to have a yard like this.

This is the water tower on the property. It used to have a huge water tank on top. But there was a fire years ago & the only thing that burnt was the tank full of water. Go figure.

Another out building with lots of tools. Carpenters needed lots of tools to be continuously building.

The house cost Sarah Winchester over $5,000,000 to build. After she died, the house & all the property was sold at auction for about $150,000. Someone got a screaming deal.

After the behind the scene tours we went into the rifle museum. You know boys, they love to see guns and rifles.

Mike was in heaven.

There were some pretty cool guns/rifles.

We were at the Winchester Mystery House for about a total of 3 hours. It is definitely worth going to see if you are ever in the San Jose area.

Afterwards we went to Mimi's for lunch. We needed some place where Mike could get some soup to eat. I had never been to Mimi's before. It was soooo yummy. I had turkey dinner to get me in the mood for Thanksgiving.

After lunch we went back to the hotel & our plans were to just hang up & relax at the hotel.

The Bunkers had all gone to Sarah's (as in John's Sarah, not Sarah Winchester) parents house for a BBQ. But since it decided to rain, I think they had pasta instead. We were invited to go but decided to go to the Winchester house instead.

In the early evening Eric called me to say that John had called him to invite us to meet them at some sushi place. Aunt Joni was going and some of Marti & Becky's kids. Mike wasn't feeling well enough to go so I did what any good wife would do. I left him at the hotel & went to party with my cousins & aunt.

We all met up at some place called Cherry. There was about 20 of us if you include some of John's friends who also came.

I've only had sushi once & I didn't really like it. But Aunt Joni & I decided to be brave & order some. This is what we got. It was called The Green Dragon. It had shrimp inside & was wrapped in avocado. It was pretty good. But I highly doubt I would go to another sushi place or order sushi again. Unless I was partying with my cousins.

Marti's son Ian had this sushi. The presentation of all the sushi was fabulous. But I didn't want to eat any (except for what Aunt Joni & I had ordered).

Aunt Joni talking to John. The people in the background are John's friends.

Here is Marti's daughter Katie, her husband Seth and their daughter Anna.

Marti's daughter Lauren, Kira, Kira's daughter Kylee and Becky's daughter Jessica on the right. Marti & Becky had already gone back home so that is why they weren't there on Saturday night. And Emily & Tyler's families went to San Francisco. Not sure if Rick's family went home or went to San Francisco.

Aunt Joni & I shared a 2 item combo plate as well. We had tempura veggies/shrimp and some chicken dish with noodles. Both were very tasty. I would order these items again.

From right to left we have Ian (Marti's son), Tina (Becky's daughter) and Sarah (John's new wife). The girl on the far left is one of John's friends, so I don't know her.

Jeannette holding Kira's new baby boy Tyson.

The happy couple, John & Sarah.

I was so glad that we had this little spur of the moment get together. It gave us a chance to get to know Sarah. John made a fabulous choice in a wife. We all loved her. They are so cute together.

Not only did we get to visit more with John & Sarah. We also got to visit more with Marti & Becky's kids. I loved spending time with all of them.

Got back to the hotel around 10pm. Found Mike eating left over Chinese food from Friday's lunch (hurray for mini fridge & microwave in hotel room). I asked how he ate it without a fork. He said he used the coffee stirrers as mini chopsticks. Whatever works. At least he was feeling better. So I didn't feel too bad when I left him again to go down to Aunt Joni's room.

I had so much fun talking with Aunt Joni, Tina & Jessica. Stayed in their room until midnight.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast down in the dining area of the hotel. Cost was $12.95 a person which was a bit steep. But for $12.95 you could eat from the buffet, order off the breakfast menu, or both. I opted for both.

Ordered an omelet from the menu, then had a pancake, bacon and hashbrowns from the buffet. The food was good. Mike didn't eat breakfast as he wasn't feeling good. Besides Eric, Jeannette & I, Aunt Joni came down to eat breakfast with us and to do some more visiting. She then called Tina & Jessica to come down as well.

I just love visiting with family. I could have visited all day. But alas, we had to go home sometime.

We left the hotel about 10:30am for the 7 hour drive home.

But before we left, Jessica, Tina & Aunt Joni did a little dance for us.

Family Halloween costumes 2010

2010-11-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

EDITED 11/5 10:00AM: Marti's oldest son Sean lives in Illinois. His wife Paula posted photos of their daughter Killian dressed up for Halloween.

Killian dressed up as a unicorn for the Halloween party at the library (Sean's wife Paula works at the library).
Killian dressed up as a princess, all ready for trick or treating.

If you want to read more of Sean, Paula & Killian's Halloween, be sure to visit Paula's blog A Midwest Biograffy!

EDITED AT 5:15PM: Andrea has now posted her Halloween photos on Prescott Family Tree.

This is the only one from this year. And no, these are not all Andrea's kids. Only 3 of them are. I'm guessing Andrea's three are Nate (far left) in white outfit with black hat. Not sure what he is suppose to be. The guy sitting down in front with the mask has to be Simon. And Noah should be the one on the far right with the beard & hat. Am I right Andrea? And don't ask me what or who they are suppose to be. Your guess is as good as mine. But I do know what her oldest son Zak dressed up as for Halloween (he is not in photo). I'm guessing he dressed up as a missionary.

ORIGINAL POST:

Ok, so Halloween is over. But before we move on to Thanksgiving, did I tell you how much I love Thanksgiving?

Did I just get sidetracked? The thought of food will do that to me.

Anyhoo, I thought I would share what everyone in our extended family dressed up as for Halloween. At least the family members that I found photos of.

If you are a family member who dressed up for Halloween and do not see yourself pictured here, give me a buzz. Or better yet, send me your photos in an email & I'll add them. You will find a link with my email address on the sidebar.

We will start off with me. Not really sure what I am suppose to be. The dress was a Vampiress costume I bought about 5 years ago when I was thinner. I'm really too fat for this dress now, but Danica wanted me to dress up so I did. I just didn't put any make up on.

Here is Danica (Eric's oldest). She actually dressed up in 2 different costumes this year. For trunk or treating on Saturday night she dressed up as Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas. This was the costume that she wanted all along for Halloween, but she didn't find it until right before the ward party. She was out looking for a pumpkin & she found the costume.

This is how Danica & I decorated her car for trunk or treating. Everyone in Eric's family was sick, or away from home that night, so I went along with Danica to help her out. I'm an awesome aunt! Aren't I?

On Halloween night Danica dressed up at the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. She came over to my house to help pass out candy & help me decorate outside. We have so much fun together.

Now we have Taylor (Eric's other daughter) & her husband Michael.

They dressed up as Batman & Robin. They even made their own costumes.

Don't you just love Michael's Batman underwear? Have to give him extra points for that. But I would have given him the grand prize if he had been wearing tights too.

If you want to read more about Taylor & Michael's Halloween, hop on over to their blog You're My Everything & read all about their first Halloween together. You might also want to become facebook friends with Taylor as well. She usually posts more on facebook than on her blog.

Can anyone guess what Jodi is suppose to be? If you guessed static cling, you are right. That is definitely an original costume. Hey, isn't that my missing sock?

Jodi doesn't have her own blog, she shares this one with me & the rest of you. But she is on facebook, so if you haven't befriended her there, you might just want to. She posted a bunch of photos from her ward Halloween party on facebook (that is where I stole this one from).

I don't have any photos of Andrea's family or Todd's family. Not sure if they dressed up or not.

Andrea does have a family blog that she shares with her sister in law. It's called Prescott Family Tree. If you read something posted from Prescott family there, that is Andrea. If something is posted by Dee Dee, that is her sister in law.

Todd doesn't have a family blog, but he does post on facebook. So does Andrea (she posts more on facebook than on her family blog). Be sure to become friends with the both of them (if you aren't already).

I also didn't get a photo of my stepson Jesse as he dressed up after he left home. He told me he dressed up as a loser. Complete with Loser across his forehead.

And I hear my Grandson Gunner was going to dress up as Thomas the Train (the costume he was suppose to wear last year but refused to wear or to go trick or treating), but ended up being LT. I'm assuming LT is LaDainian Tomlinson aka: LT who used to be on the Chargers football team. But since I wasn't provided any photos (hint, hint), I don't know for sure.

Now we will move on to Marti's family. We will start with Marti's oldest daughter Erin's family.

Aubree is Erin's oldest child. She is dressed as Pippi Longstocking. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this costume. I so wanted to be Pippi when I was a kid.

I actually saw 3 different Pippi's this Halloween. Is Pippi back in style?

Bryce is Erin's middle child. He was dressed up as Peter Pan.

And Erin's baby Thane was dressed as a lion. Isn't he a cutie pie?

You can read more about Erin's family Halloween over at her blog Such a Winters' Day. Her little family is getting ready to move from one end of the country to the other. Erin is also on facebook.

Next we have Katie's little family. Katie is another one of Marti's daughters.

Here is Katie with her daughter Anna. Anna makes the cutest monkey.

Katie & her husband Seth decided on a Safari theme for this year. I think they definitely pulled it off. You can read more about Katie's family Halloween on her blog Harp Family. You can also find Katie on facebook.

And the last one I have from Marti's family is Kira and her family.

This is Kylee, she is Kira's oldest. I love this photo. Let the boxing begin.

Kira, her husband Stew, Kylee and their new baby Tyson (the little boxer). Kira also has a blog, it is called Pope-pourri. She hasn't posted about Halloween on her blog yet. I stole the photos from her facebook (after I asked her to post some). If you are facebook friends with Kira, she has posted about 80 photos of their trip to the pumpkin patch & Halloween.

And finally we have Becky's family. The only thing I could find was a photo of Tina.

Tina made this Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) costume last Halloween. The photo is from last year. Not sure she dressed up as Dorothy again this year. But I love this costume so I am sharing it.

Notice the sneakers? Fabulous!!!

Tina did post the photos of these ruby red slippers this year. I'm thinking she got them to wear with the costume this year. But then, I could be way off.

Tina has a blog called Trials and Tribulations. She did post a short Happy Halloween message, but no photos. She did say that she may post more later. Come on Tina, we want to read more.

Tina is also on facebook too. Isn't everyone?

There are a few more family members who have blogs and/or are on facebook. You can find links to all the family blogs in the sidebar of this blog.

Be sure to visit everyone's blogs and leave comments. We love comments.

And if you dressed up for Halloween this year & I did not post a photo or give you a shout out, just let me know. If you provide me with photos, I will post them.

I hope that all of you had a happy, fun & safe Halloween.

Now bring on Thanksgiving.

Did I tell you I love Thanksgiving?

John & Sarah's Wedding

2010-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

It was a week ago today that Eric, Jeannette, Mike & I took a trip up to San Jose to attend John & Sarah's wedding.

Eric borrowed Dad's truck so that Mike & I would have more room sitting in the back seat. I love traveling in Dad's truck. Paying for gas, not so much. Luckily, we weren't paying for all the gas.

We left our house at 5:30am on Friday 10/22. We got to the Hilton Garden Inn in Cupertino (where we were staying at) around 12:30pm. And we even stopped about 4 or 5 times for potty breaks. You know when you get older you have to stop more often for potty breaks. Kind of like when you have young kids. Except for now, you are stopping because it is you. Getting old is a bitch.

Since it was too early to check in when we reached the hotel (at least that is what we assumed since check in wasn't suppose to be until 3pm), we decided we would get some lunch. The only restaurant options around the hotel were, Asian, Asian or more Asian. But we did have our choice of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, & Vietnamese. We chose Chinese.

The food was pretty awesome. But I could not master the chopsticks. Luckily they had forks. If I had to eat with chop sticks, I would be skinny. We ended up splitting 3 orders of food and we still had left overs which we took with us since the hotel was suppose to have a mini fridge & microwave.

We got back to the hotel around 1:30pm. We saw Tyler's family in the parking lot. They had just returned from visiting the Winchester Mystery House. They said it was definitely worth seeing.

Then we saw Emily's husband Jack in the parking lot taking their stuff into the hotel.

Once we got inside the hotel, they didn't have any more rooms ready. It seems that Emily, Jack & Aunt Joni got the only ones ready that early. The hotel said we would have to wait about 10 minutes. The hotel had been sold out the night before & check out isn't until noon, so they were still cleaning rooms. We ended up waiting in the lobby for about half hour to an hour.

Here is Eric & Jeannette reading the paper while we waited.

Mike went outside to see this robot contraption. There was a group of high school students from Boise, Idaho who were in town for some robot competition. This was their entry. Mike had a fun time watching the robot. It could kick a ball. Wooped de freakin' do. But then, I've never had to make a robot that can kick a ball. So it might be freakin' awesome.

Aunt Joni came down to the lobby to visit with us while we waited as well.

Finally after what seemed an eternity, our rooms were ready. Except, no clean towels. We would have to wait awhile longer for towels.

Our rooms were pretty good. Too bad I didn't take any photos. You'd think since I blog all the time, I would be taking photos of everything. But no, I tend to forget. But the room did have a mini fridge & microwave. Woo hoo! And a big flat screen TV. Too bad the TV reception wasn't too good. But the Internet was free.

We rested a little bit and then got ready for the wedding. We were all to meet downstairs in the lobby about 4:00pm. The wedding started at 5:30pm, but the golf course it was located at in San Jose was at least a 1/2 hour away, without traffic. We were going to be hitting San Jose traffic at it's peak. So we left an hour and 1/2 early, just in case. Good thing we did, I think we only got there about a 1/2 hour early.

Becky & Rick S drove straight there. They had the grooms cake & didn't have time to stop at the hotel first to change. They changed at the club house. But at least they made it in time. Marti, was another story. She got stuck in traffic & missed the actual wedding ceremony.

Here are a few shots prior to the wedding.

Rick, Ryan B & Ryan K. Rick & Ryan B(middle) are John's brothers. Rick is my cousin, Ryan B is not. The Ryan K on the right is Emily's son. Emily is John's sister & my cousin. And if you can't figure out how Rick & Ryan B can be John's brothers and only one of them my cousin. They are brothers from another mother. Both have same father, just different mothers. And since I am only related to one of their mothers, only one of them is my cousin. Family trees can get messy sometimes.

Hopefully I get these right. The girl in the back on the left is Sarah. She is Emily & Jack's daughter. The girl in the front on the left is Brooke, the girl on the right is Riley. They are Rick B & Traci's daughters.

Mike, Kim (me), Eric & Jeannette.

Tina & Jessica. They are Becky & Rick S's daughters. Fun girls. I had so much fun getting to know them better.

Here we are sitting in the chairs waiting for the wedding ceremony to start. I tried numerous times to take our photo holding the camera out in front of me with no luck. Finally some lady sitting in front of us offered to take our photo.

Sarah & John exchanging their wedding vows. The wedding was originally suppose to be outside, but it was rainy that day so they moved it inside. I was sitting in the back so didn't get the best photo. And I didn't want to use my flash.

Right after the ceremony they had us all go outside to a deck area for cheese, crackers, veggies, dips and hot finger foods. Sorry, no photos of the food. I was busy eating & visiting with cousins.

The photographer took family photos before the sun went down. I missed getting my own photo of John, Sarah and the siblings (my cousins). I got the tail end of this shot with John, Sarah, Marti, Emily, Rick B & Becky was already walking away. Don't have a clue where Tyler was.

Here is John, Sarah & all of John's nieces & nephews. Well not all, but all the ones that attended. Three of Marti's kids (now all grown up) were not there. And Becky's son was not there.

Aunt Joni is always smiling & looking like she is having fun. You can even see Uncle Ivan in this photo. I haven't seen him in probably 30 years or more. He didn't recognize Eric or me.

John and his beautiful bride Sarah. They are so cute together. Someone needs to seriously photo shop those power poles out of the photo.

Becky, John, Sarah & Marti.

Becky & her daughters Tina and Jessica made the groom's cake. Sarah & John met while playing ice hockey. And I'm guessing that they currently have 2 kitties. The cake turned out really cute.

And here was their wedding cake. I didn't get a very good photo of it. I love how it is all a skewed. Sarah & John's wedding colors were navy blue & orange.

Aunt Joni holding her great grandson Tyson. This is Kira's new baby born 3 weeks prior to this photo. Kira is Marti's daughter. And Marti is Joni's daughter. And no, I did not get a photo of Kira at the wedding. I missed taking photos of most of the family.

Tyler & his son Reed. Reed is such a cutie patootie. Everyone just loved him. He had the best smile.

Mother/son dance.

Eric & Jeannette visiting with Tyler & Becky. That was the best part of the evening, getting to visit with everyone. Too bad the music had to get in the way.

Sarah & John.

I loved Sarah & John's first dance. I took a video of the first part, which was pretty boring. But about 1/2 way through they did some dips & twirls. It was quite cute. Wish I had video taped that part, but I didn't. Since the part I taped was pretty boring, I'm not posting it. I may put it on facebook later. Right now, I'm too lazy.

The DJ they had was pretty good and the music for dancing was great. Everyone had a blast. I love dancing at family weddings. Much more fun that dancing at some acquaintances wedding.

All in all, it was a fabulous wedding & reception. I had a great time. The food was scrum-deli-icious. I had the chicken, Eric, Jeannette & Mike all had the fillet Mignon. I should have taken photos, but I was too busy scarfing it down.

For favors Sarah and her mother and grandmother made Italian wedding cookies. Every place setting had a little box full of yummy cookies to take home. Sarah said it is a family tradition. I like that tradition. I brought home the cookies that were meant for Andrea & Jamey (they ended up not getting to go). But somehow, the cookies never made it home. Don't know what happened to them. Is my nose growing longer?

The bad part of the evening was when Mike started not feeling good. We left about 10pm & went back to the hotel. A little after midnight Mike tells me that he is having a hard time breathing & needs to go to the hospital.

Problem is, Eric has the keys to the truck & was asleep. I had to wake him up to get the keys. Lucky for us, the Kaiser hospital was only a mile or two from the hotel. We got to the emergency room and told the nurse that Mike left his inhaler at home & needed a new one. Our options were A: to check into emergency (pay $100), see the doctor & get a new prescription (pay another $10), or B: go straight to the pharmacy to see if they could pull up a prescription & refill it. We chose option B.

Went down to the pharmacy only to find out that northern California Kaiser system has no access to southern California system. Can you believe it? For as much as Kaiser touts how tech savvy they have become, one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing.

So now we had 2 different options. A: go back to emergency room & check in, pay $100, see doctor, get a new prescription, pay $10. Or B: call the 24 hour nurse advice line to see if they could do anything for us. Free. We chose option B. Had to wait on hold for almost 40 minutes before we spoke to the on call nurse. She first had to give us a northern California Kaiser member number to open up a chart. She then spoke to Mike & determined she would call the on call Doctor to call in a prescription for a new inhaler. Cha Ching!!! Just saved $100.

The only problem was, that would take 2-4 hours. By this time it was 3am. I had been up 1 hour short of 24 hours. I was dang tired. The pharmacist said to go back to our hotel & she would call when prescription was in.

She called about 2 hours later. By that time, we were finally asleep. Told her I would pick up in the morning.

Got up at 7:30 am, went back to Kaiser, picked up prescription, picked up some Gateraide from 7/11. All was well in our kingdom once again.

At least that was what I thought.

To be continued..................

Happy Birthday Mari!

2010-10-15T10:56:00.001-07:00

I've been so bad about the family blog lately. Nothing really to blog about. But today I do have something to blog about.

Mari's birthday!!!

Mari is Todd's oldest daughter. Which makes her my niece.

Happy Birthday Mari!!!! We love you!!!!

Love,

Aunt Kim

P.S. I do want to apologize if I have missed a birthday shout out to you. I have a hard enough time remembering my own family. So if I miss someone in the extended family, I am sorry. And Happy belated birthday to anyone I missed.

Next weekend cousin John is getting married. So I'll have something to blog about again.

Finished the Floor

2010-09-27T19:40:00.001-07:00

This is the Old Flooring (Isn't it beautiful)? Ha Ha Ha!!!

This is the New Flooring (It looks like wood doesn't it?) It's not!!!

Eric laying the floor.
Jase helping

We'll we finally finished the floor. Eric and Jase came down and help me finish it. YEAH!!!
Eric brought his Chop Saw and his compressor and nail gun and installed all of the base
molding. It looks really good and I couldn't have finished it with out them.

THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MMMUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!

Posted by Jodi

Things to do on a weekend

2010-09-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Friday

I don't have anything planned for this weekend, so I decided that the floors in the front hall way and the kitchen needed to be replaced. Dad and I went to Home Depot and we got a vinyl flooring that goes down like wood plank flooring. After we came home I brought 3 boxes of flooring into the house and got started. Here are a few picture of the hall way.

This is the first box of Tiles. It took me 60 minutes to lay down.
This is Dad helping me (HA HA HA)
Mom being helpful.
It was really hot!!!
Me trimming one of the many tiles.

I will post more picture tomorrow. My back was really hurting so I stopped about 7:45pm.

Saturday

So I got up at 7:00am on Saturday and started working where I left off on Friday. I finished working on the hallway and got finished with that about 11:00am. Then I started on the kitchen. Well actually I had to continue on the kitchen while working on the hallway.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday

This is the transition from the hall to the kitchen.
This is the hall to the garage.
This is the hall to the kitchen/living room.

More later (I finished it on Sunday with alot of help from Eric & Jase)

Posted by Jodi

New family blogs

2010-09-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of new family blogs to tell you about.

First off, Todd's son Colin is currently stationed in Iraq. He has started a blog called Musings from the Land of Sand. He just started it. So he really hasn't posted anything. But hopefully we will get to hear all about military life in Iraq. Plus we will all get to know Colin a little better.

Secondly, Eri'cs daughter Taylor started another blog for her artwork. Her new blog is called Slow Developmentations.

Be sure to visit both of their blogs & say "Hi!".

Last Fling of Summer & Happy Birthday Jeannette

2010-09-10T07:01:00.001-07:00

Fall has definitely arrived here in southern California. The temps have been in the 70's all week. NICE!

But last Saturday it still felt like summer & was on the hot side. So I invited Eric's family over for one last summer fling and an outdoor movie.

Jeannette was the only one who didn't come. She had worked all day & was tired. Too bad as I had made chocolate cupcakes to celebrate her birthday. Which by the way is today.
Happy Birthday Jeannette!!!! Or in other words, happy 32nd anniversary of your 18th birthday.

I promise not to divulge how old you are today.

Just have a grand day. And don't forget your cane, you might need it now.

And now back to our regular scheduled post. Taylor & Michael arrived in their very first car as a married couple. They had just purchased it the day before.

Here is Taylor showing off the car.

Too bad Taylor can't drive it. She let her permit lapse & has to get a new one. So for now, only Michael can drive the car.

We had a fun time swimming and then BBQing hamburgers. I never seem to get any photos of the food. Probably as we are always too busy eating it.

After dinner it was time to relax in the jacuzzi & watch a movie, pool side.

We even invited our neighbor over. Her hubby had a tooth ache so he didn't come. But Roxanne and her sons Reinhold & Hayden came over. Even Jesse's girlfriend Brin was there. And Cade brought one of his friends over as well.

Our pool has this shallow area that is perfect for sitting in a chair. You can keep your feet in the water to stay cool. Or better yet, sit in the jacuzzi to watch the movie. Except you get quite wrinkled by the end of the movie.

Michael & Taylor actually left before the movie started. Party poopers!!!

Here is Mike setting up the projector. He is waiting for Jesse to bring out the Xbox to play the movie.

And here is the movie screen all set up over the pool. Just waiting for it to get dark enough to show the movie.

And what movie did we watch?

Danica & I love, love, love this movie. We have to watch it every year. This has become an annual event for us. Gets us in the mood for Halloween.

Gary Oldman is so sexy in this movie. Be still my heart! Don't tell Mike.

Even a couple of doves wanted to watch the movie.

You can tell who the die hard Dracula fans are, as Danica & I were the only ones who stayed & watched the entire movie. Everyone else either got tired, too wrinkled or too scared to stay.

Oh well. They missed out on some killer s'mores. Just kidding. We didn't make s'mores. But now that it has become cooler, they are sounding pretty good. Maybe this weekend.

It was a fun night spent with some of my most favorite people in the world. Can't wait to do it again.

I love spending time with my family. They are the best. Too bad everyone else in my family wasn't here.

Well I better go get ready for work. Just wanted to get this post done & to wish Jeannette a Happy Birthday!!!

Taylor & Michael's wedding-The Reception

2010-09-08T14:51:00.001-07:00

Today we come to the end of Taylor & Michael's wedding adventure aka: The Reception.

As I told you yesterday, the reception didn't actually start until 7pm. But there was going to be a ring ceremony at 6:30 for family & close friends. Which ended up being almost everyone who came. The place was packed.

And since I didn't have my camera, and I was busy helping them set up the cupcake/cake area, I didn't get any photos of the ring ceremony.

After the ring ceremony, there was a short slide presentation with photos of Taylor & Michael growing up over the years. It was so cute.

Here is the table for the presents. See that black & white gift bag in the back? That was my present to the bride & groom. It even matched their decorations. Aren't I so smart?

I didn't get my present until 9:30pm the night before the wedding. I went to Target & printed out their wish list. But most everything had already been purchased & I didn't see anything else I wanted to get them. So I decided to just get a gift card for them. Now Mike hates, and I mean HATES giving gift cards. So as we were walking to the check stand to get a gift card we walked by a display of waffle makers. Mike was so excited. He wanted to know if Taylor & Michael had a waffle maker on their wish list. I looked & said "No".

Mike then said, "Everyone needs a waffle maker. How could they not have one on their list?". I didn't know the answer to that. I thought, maybe young kids think waffles are "Eggo or frozen" waffles. Mike said, "Let's get them a waffle maker". I agreed. So we got the waffle maker and some pancake/waffle mix and some maple syrup. Plus I did also get them a gift card.

We were over joyed when we found out that Taylor & Michael loved our gift. In fact, they took the waffle maker with them on their honeymoon. And I hear they make waffles almost every morning for breakfast.

Enough about my present, let's get back to the reception.

For drinks, they had these 2 containers full of what I think was a mixture of strawberries and lemon lime soda. But I could be way off. The bad part was that the drink disappeared way to quickly. So they had to keep filling them up with water.

Note to people who are going to have a wedding reception, have plenty of fluids to drink. Dancing can make you quite thirsty.

Tessa (one of Taylor's girlfriends who was a bridesmaid), Danica and Cade sitting at the bridal party table.

The only food at the reception was going to be desserts, cupcakes & candy bar. Here is the dessert table. A couple of the women who Jeannette works with at the hospital made all the desserts as a wedding gift to the couple. My favorite dessert was the mini cheesecakes.

Here is the candy bar area. Take special note of the tower of chocolate covered strawberries.

What happens when you get this many boys (and one girl) around a table covered in candy and goodies? (Did you notice that they are all related?) And in case you were wondering who all these hoodlums are: Noah, Brandon, Simon, Nate, Jodi, Cade. Jodi was the ring leader (of course).

The tower of strawberries comes crashing down.

It seems that one of the legs from the tower of strawberries was sitting on top of the crack between 2 tables. Once the table got bumped, the crack opened up & the leg fell in, and the tower she came a tumbling down. Chocolate covered strawberries went everywhere.

It was kind of funny at the time. But the girl in charge of the candy bar didn't think so. But most of the strawberries were salvageable. The display just didn't look quite as nice as it had.

Something always must go wrong at a wedding.

Later on, Danica found that someone had placed a napkin on top of one of the candles on the candy bar, it caught fire. But luckily she found it & blew out the fire before everything went up in flames.

So the candy bar was the happening place that night.

Here is Simon eating one some rock candy.

Noah is pretending to be smoking some rock candy. Why Noah???

You would think that since I blog, I would take more photos. But I didn't. I did manage to get a couple of photos of the centerpiece. And I managed to get a few people in the background as well. Here is Jesse looking bored. I missed getting a photo of his girlfriend. Jeannette & Eric didn't even notice that either of them were there that night. Probably since we were a little late, we had to sit in the back of the room.

Here is Jodi trying to horn in on my shot of the centerpiece. I never did get any photos of Mom, Dad, Mike, Me, Todd, Andrea, Jamey, Eric, Jeannette. You know, a big chunk of my family.

My excuse is that I was busy having a good time dancing.

Here is Julianna dancing with Jase. Is it weird to be slow dancing with your cousin? Just call us Hillbilly's. Did you notice they are not looking at one another? I guess that takes the weirdness out of it.

Cade dancing with his girlfriend Tara. At least she was his girlfriend at the wedding reception. I think they have since broken up.

Mari dancing with Brett. This one is OK as Brett is Jeannette's nephew from her side of the family. Mari is Eric's niece from his side of the family. So no relation. Not that it wouldn't be OK if they were related. Heck, I danced all night with my nieces and nephews. I just didn't slow dance with them.

Dancing was the best part of the night. And dancing with the kids made it a blast. I have never had so much fun dancing at a wedding reception before. Don't worry, I did dance with my hubby Mike a few times. We even slow danced. But shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Here is the cupcake area. The cupcakes were for everyone to eat all evening long. The cake was small as it was just for Taylor & Michael to have something to cut for photos.

Did you notice all my pretty glass cake plates and pedestals? Originally Jeannette had bought a cupcake stand online. But when it came we found out it was some cheesy cardboard. And it wasn't even stable. So we scrapped that & I said I had lots of cake plates and pedestals that we could use. Looks much better than cardboard. Don't you agree?

Even the black & white damask table runner was mine. I just got it in Utah at Hobby Lobby a week or so before. It went perfectly with the theme.

And here is the cake. A girl in Eric & Jeannette's ward made the cake. Didn't she do a beautiful job?

And finally we have the happy couple cutting the cake. I never did get any photos of them eating it. I think they were civilized & did not smash it in one an other's face.

This was the last photo I took that night. I was borrowing Mom's camera as I had left mine at home. Mom, Dad & Jodi left right after the cutting of the cake. So I was unable to take any photos of the throwing of the bouquet or garter. Some friend of Taylor's caught the bouquet, and Cade caught the garter.

When it was time for Taylor & Michael to leave, everyone lined up & put their arms up and clasped hands with the person across from them. This made a tunnel that Taylor & Michael had to cross under to get out the door.

Once they reached the end & were going out the door, Mike blew the Vuvuzela aka: loud horn in celebration. If you don't know what a Vuvuzela is, it's that loud obnoxious horn that was so popular at the World cup. Yes, we have one of those obnoxious horns (at least Brandon does).

The happy couple was off to start their honeymoon.

The rest of us, stayed to clean up the room. Jeannette announced that anyone who wanted the vases of flowers used for centerpieces could have them. Before I could grab one off a table, they were all gone.

Same thing happened when she mentioned taking all the candy. It was gone in a flash. Before you could blink you eye. And I got nothing. NOTHING!!!

I guess when you get as old as me, we don't move fast enough. Oh well, I didn't need any dang candy. Or flowers.

All in all, it was a fabulously fun time. And Taylor and Michael are sooooo happy. Isn't that what matters the most?

Congrats to Taylor & Michael. May your love for one another continue to grow and blossom. And welcome to the family Michael. I think you will fit right in.

Now when do I get my dance lesson?

Taylor & Michael's wedding-Pool party

2010-09-07T13:15:00.000-07:00

On the day that Taylor & Michael got married we had about 5 hours to kill between leaving the lunch at El Torito's and the reception. So what were we to do?

Have a pool party at my house.

You see, Andrea's family didn't stay for the lunch at El Torito's and Jamey had tons of left over carne asada from an event he put on earlier in the week. Add to that, we were only having desserts at the reception. We needed to eat prior to going to the reception.

So I invited everyone in the Langston clan over to my house for a pool party & BBQ. Everyone came except for Jeannette, Jase and Danica. And Taylor & Michael didn't come as they were having photos taken at the beach.

It may have been cold & overcast down in San Diego at the temple. But up where Eric & I live, it was hot, hot, hot!!!! So the pool was a great way to cool off while waiting for the reception.

Here is Brandon, Nate, Andrea, Todd & Jodi. We have lived in our house for 5 years and I think this is only the 2nd time Brandon has actually gotten into the pool.

Simon had a diving ring on his head.

Jodi & Nate.
Jodi, Brandon & Nate.

Jesse, Brin (Jesse's girlfriend), Jamey, Andrea, ?, and Julianna were hanging out & talking.

Proof that Brandon was in the pool.

Cade & his cousin Brett (from his mom's side of family) came over to enjoy the pool.

Even Eric came. He didn't get to stay too long as he had to get home to take stuff to the reception. But they were able to swim for a little bit & grab at least one carde asada taco before they had to leave.
Mike hanging out waiting until he had to cook the carne asada that Jamey brought.

Mom sat by the sliding glass door so she could see everyone & not get wet. Plus inside the house was cooler than outside.

Everyone had fun visiting & playing. Even I got in the pool for awhile. Jodi took photos as well & posted them on her facebook.

Here are a couple of videos I took of Mari & Simon jumping or diving into the pool.

After swimming we ate carne asada tacos. They were so yummy. I totally forgot to take photos of the food.

We were getting kind of rushed after eating trying to get ready in time to be over at the reception by 6:30 for the ring ceremony.

All the girls wanted to take showers & blow dry their hair. The bad thing was, everyone tried blow drying their hair at the same time & blew the GFI. We couldn't get the GFI to reset so Andrea & Mari had to do something else with their wet hair since they didn't get to finish drying their hair. But they still looked good. Lucky for me, I had taken my shower & dried my hair earlier.

Another problem that came up was I was suppose to take over a bunch of glassware to use for the reception. They were going to use some glass cake plates & pedestals I had for putting the cupcakes & cake on. Since we were running out of time, I sent the box of glassware home with Eric. I knew he would get to the reception place before me.

But when I arrived at the reception place, Eric was there, but the box of glassware was not. He forgot about the box in the trunk and left the car for Jase to bring later. Jase finally arrived with the glassware & we were able to get the cupcake/cake area all set up before the reception started at 7pm, but not prior to ring ceremony at 6:30.

Tomorrow I will share reception photos. And then we shall be done with Taylor & Michael's wedding.

Until then.....

P.S. Jodi said we should have a pool party every time someone in our family gets married. What do you think?

Taylor & Michael's wedding-lunch at El Torito's

2010-09-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Taylor & Michael's wedding continues with a family lunch. We were all to meet at El Torito's Mexican restaurant for lunch at noon. The lunch was for everyone in the Langston clan as well as the Stones clan and the entire wedding party. There was about 50-60 of us at lunch.

Andrea's family didn't come to lunch as it was Jamey's only day off in about a month and he wanted to have some time alone with his family before heading up to our house for swim party and then the reception.

I'm only sharing photos of our family. I will post all the photos I took at the restaurant on my facebook.

Mom & Dad

Jodi, Danica and Bethany (Danica's best friend)

Mike, Brandon & Julianna

Cade, Tara (Cade's girlfriend), one of Taylor's bridesmaid that I can't remember her name, Brett (Taylor's cousin from mom's side of family)

Eric & Jeannette. Waiting for the Stones family to arrive, as well as the bride & groom.

The happy couple Michael & Taylor finally arrive.

One of Michael's nieces happy to see them.

Taylor was starving when she arrived. She could hardly wait to start eating chips and salsa. She had to be very careful as to not spill on her dress.

Julianna being silly wearing Jase & Brandon's glasses.

Jase, Mari & Todd

Eric & Jodi

Everyone has finally arrived. It's time to order. We had the choice of 3 different lunches. One was a taco, beans and salad, one was enchiladas and the final choice was a giant tostada.

Even Kip the photographer & his sister and Jeannette's friend Kelly came to lunch.

And this is what I had for lunch. Beef enchiladas. They were so yummy. It was a great lunch and everyone had a great time visiting with one another.

The only complaint I would have is that the restaurant should have had one person who just served sodas. They came around & gave us sodas when we got chips & salsa and didn't come around again until after everyone's lunch was served. And Todd's table almost didn't get their order taken. Luckily Eric said something to the waiter. Other than that, it was a great time.

We got done at the restuarant about 2pm. We still had about 5 hours until the reception was to start. So what did we do? We had a pool party at my house. I'll share those photos tomorrow.

Stay tuned.....

Taylor & Michael's wedding-Temple

2010-09-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Warning!!! Lots of photos!!!

Saturday 08/14/10 was the day that Taylor & Michael got sealed for time and all eternity in the San Diego temple.

To those of you not Mormon, a temple sealing is the Mormon version of a wedding. At least for those temple worthy. But instead of being married to each other "till death do you part", you are sealed together as husband and wife for time and ALL ETERNITY. A big difference. So you better really love the person you are marrying. As Eternity is a long, long time.

Recap: Married inside temple-Eternal aka: Forever. Married outside temple-Till death aka: Temporary.

Here are the photos that I took that morning as we waited for Taylor & Michael to emerge from the temple.

As you can tell from the above photo, it was quite overcast that morning. Not to mention cold. Cold in San Diego, in August? Yup!

Here is Mari. Mari is Todd's daughter. So that makes her Taylor's cousin.

Brandon (my son) and Julianna (Todd's daughter) making funny faces to pass the time. They are also Taylor's cousins.

Anyone with Langston genes in them is prone to making funny faces for photos. Andrea's kids are usually the best (or would that be worse?) at making funny faces, but they were on their best behavior this day. Brandon & Julianna, not so much.

Jase is Taylor's older brother. He was a groomsman.

Danica is Taylor's older sister and was a bridesmaid.

My hubby Mike. So that makes him Uncle Mike.

Thought it would be fun to take a photo of some of our feet. Too bad my camera strap got in the way.

Cade & his girlfriend Tara. Cade is Taylor's younger brother, and a groomsman as well.

Taylor's bridesmaids. Don't ask me to name them all as I can't remember all their names. The girl in the black dress is Amanda & is Taylor's bestest friend. She was the maid of honor. They have been friends since elementary school (I think it's been that long).

I loved this photo as the professional photographer Kip (you know, the one who actually got paid for taking photos) jumped into the shot.

These 3 girls are Michael's nieces and they were junior bridesmaids.

These 3 girls are in Taylor's ward and are daughters of friends in the family. They were junior bridesmaids as well. I don't know any of their names. Sorry.

And I never did get a photo with all the bridesmaids, all the junior bridesmaids and the 3 groomsmen all together. My guess is that the professional photographer did. Just a guess though. When you get paid the big bucks you remember to take photos like that.

Brandon (my son) and Todd (my brother & uncle to the bride).

Noah is Andrea's youngest son. That makes him Taylor's cousin as well.

Andrea (my seester) & her husband Jamey aka: Beauty & the beast. Just kidding. Jamey isn't a beast. He is actually very nice. We like him a lot. But I think Andrea likes him just a bit more. They are really known as Aunt Andrea and Uncle Jamey to Taylor.

Brandon, Noah & Dad aka: Grandpa.

Simon (Andrea's son) and Julianna (Todd's daughter). Can you tell that Julianna was cold?

Mom (mine, not Taylor's) aka: Grandma

Eric (father of the bride), me (aunt of the bride) and Jeannette (mother of the bride).

Eric & Jeannette are the proud (but broke) parents.

Look who is coming now? It's the happy couple.

We had a couple of false alarms. We were told that Taylor & Michael would be the first ones coming out of the temple. But they ended up being number 2 or 3. So our huge group had to keep moving in and out of the small area they give you to wait outside.

I heard that the temple had 20-25 sealings scheduled that morning (temple had been closed for 2 weeks prior to this day). So it was a busy wedding day at the temple.

Everyone wants to wish Taylor & Michael congrats!

Finally a photo of Nate (Andrea's son). He thinks he is America's next top model. lol. This photo also has Andrea, Jamey, Simon, Brandon & Todd in the background.

Jodi (my seester & another aunt to the bride) asking the bride & groom what they are going to do now that they are married. Their response "We're going to Disneyland". Oops, that isn't what they said. I thought this was a Superbowl commercial for Disneyland.

Andrea, Noah, Simon, Nate, Julianna, Brandon wondering when do we eat?

This is Michael's family including parents, siblings, spouses and nieces and nephews.

Taylor & Michael with Grandma and Grandpa Langston. I took one with her other grandparents but didn't post it on the blog as this blog is for our side of the family. I did post all the photos of everyone on Facebook.

You should have seen the effort it took to get mom & dad out to the middle of the grass for this photo. They are not spring chickens any longer. Sorry mom & dad. I'm sure it will take as many people to help me get around when I reach your age as well.

Taylor and her seester Danica. You can tell in these photos that they were not looking at my camera. They were looking at the professionals camera (as they should be).

Taylor's family including parents, siblings & spouses (Michael is it). And since Taylor is the first to be married in Eric's family, there aren't any little ones yet.

There are those Langston genes again. I love this shot as it is Taylor being Taylor. Love it!!!!

We did take a huge group shot of everyone. Well, the professional took a group shot. And since I had to be in said group shot, I don't have a photo. But it was a HUGE group shot. Since it included all of Eric's (Langston) side of family as well as Jeannette's side. And then throw in Michael's family and it was SUPERSIZED.

After family photos, the wedding party stayed and took more photos at the temple. We didn't stick around to watch. We went shopping to kill a little time before we were to all meet up for lunch at El Torito's. Tomorrow I will try & share the photos from El Torito's.

So stay tuned......