Ushering in the Season

We had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus this year.  The kids participated in their Christmas program at church....

 

 We went to the local Christmas parade to support our friends.

 We went Christmas caroling...

  We decorated the tree...

And all before leaving for Oregon on the 19th.  It was a busy but fun couple of weeks.

Mom's Night

We have a cute little group of ladies who get together every so often for bunco or dinner or just to sit and visit.  This particular night was our Christmas party.  These ladies have a way of making the hours slip by and before you know it, the daddy who offered to watch the kids is hog-tied and gagged back home and texting from the closet back home for us to send reinforcements.  It's always a pleasure, ladies.

What Adventures Lie Ahead

You should never underestimate the potential any given night has in becoming memorable.  This was no exception.  We went to some friends' house for a simple barbeque, just a few families enjoying each other's company.  But then....

...the kids came running into the house yelling "We saw a deer!  We saw a deer!"  Oh, did I forget to mention that it was opening day for deer archery hunting?  Oh and did I ALSO forget to mention that one of the dads with us had his bow in the car?  Well, one good shot, some skillful tracking and a few hours later....

A night that none of us will soon forget!

Ida-who?

We took a little trip up north to visit some dear friends this month.  We had an excellent time playing in the rivers, going bike riding, seeing wildlife, visiting, cooking together, playing on their farm, picking apples and blueberries, getting into shenanigans, going mutton-bustin', and wielding deadly weapons.  It may have been the first trip we took to visit them but it will most likely not be the last.

Oregon Comes to Cali

My best friend from my home town came down to visit us this summer.  She brought her daughter and their friend and we did some sight seeing.  We went to six flags, Hollywood, the Santa Monica Pier, had In n Out and pretty much did the whole "touristy" thing.  I miss those girls a bunch when they're gone but when they come back to visit it's like we never left.  That's the best kind of friend.

Tennis Anyone?

One of the advantages of being a member at the local club is being able to participate in their tennis tournaments.  Although we didn't win this one (2nd is the first loser), we burned enough calories for a celebratory cocktail.  So it wasn't a total loss.  Congrats to the mom & daughter pair who won.  Cheers~

A Rough Way to Start Your New Year

Luckily we were just posing on New Year's Eve and it wasn't our car. 

Waiting on a Parade

One of the better decisions we made this year was to get annual passes to Disneyland.  At first we were worried that we wouldn't get our money's worth out of it.  As the months rolled by, however, we realized that we were going regularly.  The bigger benefit of the passes though was the ability to enjoy ourselves more when we were at the park.  We spent one day just playing in Toontown.  We spent another day with just the girls, doing any/everything princess.  We got to ride the big rides on days when no one else was there and then just enjoy the parades and big events if we were there on a day with a big crowd.  The lack of pressure to fit the entire park into one or two days made every day that we visited much more enjoyable.  Here we are, last June, with some friends, waiting on the Pixar parade in California Adventure.  Just enjoying our time together.

Tea Time

A year ago if you'd have told me I would be voluntarily buying tea for myself I'd have laughed at you.  Well, I'm sure you've guessed by now that I do and it's mostly the fault of these great ladies.  We get together every now and again over a cup of tea (which I originally didn't drink) and talk about our lives, our families, God and whatever else happens to be on our minds at the time.  It's a quiet and peaceful hour or so in our lives to de-stress and connect with each other.  Plus it gives us an excuse to try out some yummy treat recipes on each other.  You haven't lived until you've had Rachal (candied pumpkin) with tea.  It's divine.  Thank you ladies, for your friendship and open hearts and ears.

Best. Days. Ever.

My children are very blessed to have several great role models in their lives.  One of my favorites, is not only my best friend from high school, but also one of my bridesmaids, and if I'm honest, she's a role model to me too.  She is a kind and generous person who is amazing with kids.  She has her head on straight and a belief in God like almost no one else.  She came to visit us this spring and my kids just ADORE her.  We have just as much fun going for a walk as we do going on an errand or just sitting around doing nothing.  It stinks that we live so far apart but you wouldn't know it when we get back together. One of her favorite thing to say when things are particularly fun is to proclaim "BEST. DAY. EVER!"

She is absolutely a big part of some of my best. days. ever.

ROCing Out

We climbed up walls, we slid down chutes, we clung to ropes over mudpits, we bounded through tires, we stumbled across the finish line, we bounced across inflateables, we jumped across trampolines, we crawled through tunnels, we took a group shower, we watched marines try to outdo each other in a test of strength, we raced across barrels, we got our picture taken with the Joker, a cowboy, superheroes, a rainbow of people, some midgets, and a man in a wedding dress.  Did I mention we ran too?  Oh yeah, and we ran 3 miles too.  Blech.  Whatever with that....the rest of it was fun though.  Always a pleasure Mrs. D.

Girls' Weekend

Back in February, we took a weekend away from Daddy and my little ninja boy to go to Disneyland and then the Scrapbooking convention in Anaheim.  A couple girlfriends joined my princess and I and we had a great day cutting, pasting and generating all sorts of awesome ideas for crafts to do and pages to create.  Now we just need to find the time to put it all together...

Blessings

In mid-May, a bunch of my girlfriends and I got together in what has become an increasingly rare opportunity to celebrate.  Life has become so crazy for us mommies that it is often hard to find times where we can all find sitters, energy and quite frankly, a clean outfit to go out in at a pre-arranged time.  This happened to be a celebration of a birthday for one of us and it was so nice to take the time to appreciate and uplift each other.  God has been very generous to me on our isolated little piece of heaven up here and blessed me with a few really great groups of moms to share, laugh and cry with.  Cheers ladies, here's to many more nights where we get to clink our glasses together.

Cowgirls

Once a year, some friends join us for the Stagecoach festival out in Indio, CA.  There is lots of sun, singing and swimsuits and a good time had by all.  This year was no exception.  I shall not elaborate further so as not to incriminate myself in any  mischief.  We are some purty cowgirls, if I do say so myself.

Floatilla

We had a blast on the Colorado river last weekend. The floatilla is our annual rafting trip with friends down the river. Well this year it just happened to coincide with the Bullhead City River Regatta, where 9000 other folks are doing essentially the same thing. We were worried at first about how it would all turn out since we hadn't partaken of the festivities in the past. As it turns out, 9000 friends makes for a great party. Here's a shot (above) of our starting group, complete with out camo attire (each year has a theme for us). Oh, and a random asian guy in an orange life jacket, which I hear is good luck (kind of like a rabbit's foot, but less barbaric). Good times.

Stagecoach Part Deux

I have LOADS of pictures from Stagecoach. You can tell the time of day in each picture based on how sunburned we look and how wide our smiles are. We camped with seven other friends and had a very fun time. We got to see Chris Young, Josh Turner, Easton Corbin, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, and Carrie Underwood...did I mention Carrie Underwood?

Yeah, she was a big BIG hit. Yes, the weekend was a success. Such a success that I think of all of the sunburned, big smile pictures that we took, none of them will really do the weekend justice.
I can only summarize it with this photo:Okay, fine, and maybe this video. Dave W - YOU. ARE. THE. MAN!

Playgroup Party

Last week we had our Christmas party for the playgroup where we live. We were supposed to wear pajamas but we were headed straight from there to the zoo for the zoo lights so we wore holiday outfits instead. Everyone brought a potluck dish, we decorated sugar cookies, sang carols, played games, did crafts and had a nice morning with our friends. Here's some highlights:

Chukar

We went camping last weekend in the desert, looking for Chukar (kind of like a partridge). We had such fun riding around on our ATVs and 4-wheel drives that the pictures just can't do it justice. Here they are anyway...

I Finally Got My Float Pictures

We had a great time on the float this year in Laughlin. Here's the girlies with our animal prints on. Goldie had hers under the tank top, you'll just have to take my word for it. As it turns out, most of the pictures (read: all but 2) are from the day before the float, when we were on lake Mojave. The only other shot from the day of the float was my ridiculous brother...
Oh well. We still got some great pictures on Friday:
The first one is my "little" brother, jumping from the cliff. We all took turns making the leap. Even Goldie showed her character by overcoming her fear and taking the plunge. I was SO proud of you Goldie.

We attached the raft to the boat so people had something to hang onto when they got into the water. Of course, this led to a little mayhem. Note the location of my hubby's foot...At over 100 degrees, we were happy to have the shade on the boat every now and then.
The boys in particular took advantage of the shade.
While we girlies spent more time in the water -By the end of the day, there were several antics going on. Yes, that's a squirt gun in his mouth.
There were two big highlights of the day. First was, like last year, feeding the wild donkeysand the other highlight was getting to skim board with some nice guys who offered to let us girls use their equipment. I got up on the first try. Yay for liquid courage!

Party Animals

Our theme for this year's float was jungle prints and we had a fun time dressing the part...
Stay tuned for more pictures (they're being developed) of our fun weekend in the sun in Laughlin.