Summer

  We spent the day at the Shasta Caverns. 

Jeff got a new car…Mazda Speed3!  He loves it!

We celebrated 4th of July in our usual fashion with the Annual Rockmont Circle parade and a BBQ and fireworks down in the court.  Definitely one of our favorite days of the year!   We went on a great camping trip to Lake Siskiyou with four other families.  We had a great time playing in the Wipe Out Zone on the lake (even though the water was COLD), hiking, boating, fishing and visiting.   The boys had so much fun running around and playing with all the other kids.  We couldn’t have asked for a better camping trip…and Justin even caught his first fish!

Travis mowed the lawn for the first time.  He felt like such a big kid and was so excited to have acquired a new job.  We were excited that he was finally big enough to do this weekly job, however, it didn’t last long.  We hired a yard guy just a few months later.  Even between the two of us, we just couldn’t keep up with the yard maintenance

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  Justin and Jeff went on their first trip to Camp Lassen with cub scouts!  Justin had such a great time and had many stories to tell of his adventures.  He loved the concept of learning and camping all at the same time.  What kid wouldn’t love 4 days alone with his dad boating, shooting bow and arrows, making marshmallow shooters, learning how to build campfires, rock climbing and endless fun around the campfire!  He can’t wait to go back next year!

We bought new couches for our family room, so we put the old couch in the playroom.  They decided on the first night to have a slumber party on the hide-a-bed.  I am not sure it was meant for 3 people!  Poor RyRy was squished in the middle, however it was Travis who ended up in his own bed in the middle of the night!

Spring

This is my attempt to catch up with the many events that occurred this past Spring.  Birthdays alone keep me constantly on the go and then you add sporting events, vacations, school performances and all the other random events and it creates a very busy life! 

Travis and his teammates at the Odyssey of the Mind Tournament

Travis and Jeff took a trip to Las Vegas to watch the NASCAR race.  They were both in heaven!

Justin played Minor A baseball this year and did great!  He had such a fun time playing and we really enjoyed watching…A big change from T-ball!  

  I participated in the Relay for Life for the first time this year.  What an amazing experience with a great group of women!  I walked 26 miles during my 24 hours on the track!  My feet were sore, but it was worth it!

   Justin’s 7th Birthday!  He celebrated with friends and dinner at CPK on his birthday and then had a party at gymnastics facility a few days later. 

We celebrated Easter at home with a search for the boys Easter baskets an egg hunt, family, good food and of course lots of sugar!

Jeff celebrated his 38th Birthday!  Unfortunately he had to be out of town on his actual birthday so we celebrated a little early.

Ryan’s 4th Birthday!  A day just for Ryan filled with fun at the mini golf course and then dinner with friends. 

I ran my first ever race, a 10K! 

Ryan’s Birthday Party at his favorite gymnastics hangout!

  Justin was promoted from Tiger to Wolf in Cub Scouts! 

Justin took his lead role of “Frog” in the school performance of Rumpus in the Rainforest very seriously!  He loved practicing his lines at home and he did a great job during the performance.  He is very comfortable on stage…a natural!

Jeff and I spent several days in Tahoe together and then we gathered up the boys and brought them up to join us for the rest of the week.  We had a great time despite the unseasonably cold weather.  The end of May and it snowed! 

There is nothing better than sharing a special moment and a popsicle with your best friend.  I love these two, they are so cute together!

Excuses…

Here it is July, JULY!  I can’t believe it!  Time seems to be passing at light speed and I can’t seem to keep up.  Summer vacation is coming to an end already and the kids head back to school in just 2 weeks….where does the time go?!  Because I can’t keep up, I am constantly needing to reset and re-prioritize my goals.  I have lofty goals when it comes to wanting to “do it all”.  I want to do projects around the house, take the kids on adventures, let them have play dates and sleep-overs.  I want to keep this blog updated, I want to scrapbook their childhood years, I want to play games with them, all while maintaining a clean house, cooking SOME descent meals throughout the week, doing the never ending laundry, doing daily homework and chauffeuring the kids to and from school and their various activities.  With that said, I am finally realizing that I CAN’T do it all, although, that realization doesn’t make me feel any better when things in my life start slacking!  I often feel as if I spend my day doing the things that need to get done just to get through that day.  Things like emptying the dishwasher and doing the dishes, getting a load or two of laundry washed and dried (but certainly not put away), picking up toys, mediating over the boys disagreements and getting dinner on the table (even if it is just Mac-n-cheese) along with a hundred other daily items, but rarely am I able to complete some of the bigger tasks on my list.  Everyday I say, “tomorrow I will do so and so” and then tomorrow comes and goes and it is still not done!  This is exactly what has happened to this Blog….tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow has turned into nearly 6 months.  And so, as I get further and further behind it gets harder and harder to restart!  I love doing the blog, it is a relatively easy way for me to document what is going on in our lives so that the memories don’t get lost forever, however, it is still another task that needs to be done!  I tell myself that I am going to catch up some day, but I can’t!  Rather than abandoning the whole thing, I am going to try and start fresh.  It is not how I like to do things, but I just can’t go back and put in the hundreds of events that have occurred since February along with the thousands of pictures I’ve taken. My goal, which may have to be reset, is to put in a single snapshot from some of the key events over the last 6 months and then going forward try and keep up.  With our busy schedule, I know this will be difficult but it is worth a shot and I guess if I fall behind again then I start fresh again.  I am trying to tell myself that something is better than nothing!  I want my kids to see the pictures and know the stories that go with them.  So, I will plug away at this task and all the others in an effort to “do it all”!

A great trip to Tahoe!

Back in February the kids had a week off of school, so we took advantage of this break and headed to Tahoe for some snow time fun!  We rented a beautiful house and spent 5 days enjoying the sunny skies and plentiful snow.  It was a great trip.

For the first time, we were ALL able to enjoy the same activities.  We took all 3 boys to Alpine Meadow for some skiing.  It was so great to have all the boys old enough to do this.  It sort of felt like a new era!  Skiing went great!  Jeff and I were able to spend time on the slopes skiing together knowing that the boys were having a fun time in their ski classes and learning a sport that we enjoy so much.  It was so great to sneak up on the boys at the end of their lessons and see them actually skiing down the hill, with no help, with smiles on their faces.  They were doing it, they were really doing it!  This was so exciting for us because the last time we took Travis and Justin skiing it was not such a positive experience.  We were having to practically carry them up and down the hill. Travis swears he almost skied off a “cliff” and I am pretty sure there were tears from everyone!  So to have independent skiing and smiles was SUPER EXCITING for us!  Ryan did very well with his first experience on skies also.  He donned all the gear and looked so cute!  Although, at 3 years old, he wasn’t skiing on his own yet, he did well and had a fun day in ski school. 

The rest of our trip was spent just having fun and relaxing.  Grandma, Papa, Sam, Emily and Darrin joined us for the trip.  It was so nice having everyone together.  We had a great time sledding down the road in front our cabin and building our own sled hills in the back yard complete with fortresses for protection during the big snow ball fight.  While indoors, we played games and spent countless hours building a puzzle which was very therapeutic. 

I have to say, this is probably one of the best vacations we have taken in awhile.  It wasn’t jam packed with activities!  For the first time, we actually came home feeling rested rather than feeling like we needed a vacation after our vacation!  I can’t wait to go back next year!

Pictures to follow at a later date.  I have hundreds of pictures of our time in Tahoe,  and I am so far behind with my blogging that I felt it was important to get the words down and have the pictures come later. 

Hoop Time!

Travis played his first ever season of basketball this winter.  He really enjoyed it and surprisingly, so did I.  Prior to Travis playing, I had no interest in or knowledge of basketball and didn’t think I would like it that much, but it was fun to watch!  It was fast paced and exciting!  Travis enjoyed the practices and the games and scored a few points for the team along the way.   Go Natomas Heat!

February 12, 2011

My Birthday…37!

A beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It is days like this that make me so thankful for the neighborhood we live in.  It is not an unusual sight to see all the neighborhood kids and of course a few grown up kids participating in some sort of organized street game.  On this night, it was a friendly game of football!  The boys played for hours and as the sun started to go down we were given the most beautiful sunset! 

 

 

 

 

February 5, 2011