June...is gone...now it's July

Yeah, I know...delinquent again. But since I think Stef is the only one who reads this anymore, I know she'll forgive me. :)

June...

~Nathan's high school graduation! What a wonderful day, filled with many blessings!

We were so happy that my parents drove up for the event!

~Piano Recital for Nathan and Tim...they did a wonderful job, as always. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that...


~VBS for Lizzy...she enjoyed this week, with Calvary Christian's great VBS. Always fun!


~Riverside Youth Conference...Kenny, Nathan and Tim drove down for this annual event. They had a great time, and went to Magic Mountain on the way home.

Now on to July! :)

May

May is almost over...and it's been cooler than normal. I liked it, for the most part, but now that it's almost June I'm ready for some sun!!

Our big even this month has been the addition of our patio; something we've wanted to do for years. It will be nice to use this summer for our many barbecues!

Nathan and Tim attended a high school Formal Banquet, which was tons of fun! I was on the planning committee, so it was also tons of WORK. But, well worth it to see the high school kids all dressed up and having such a great time. My boys looked very handsome in their tuxedos! The theme was "Masquerade" and we had a band called Blood and Water come and play. Check them out...they were great!! About 30 kids attended.

May is our birthday month...Happy 9th Birthday to Lizzy, Happy 12th Birthday to Dan, Happy 45th Birthday to Kenny and Happy 68th Birthday to my Dad! Throw Mother's Day in too, and it's like Christmas all over again.

We also just got back from a trip to Yosemite and Fresno. The trip was somewhat short, and it was COLD in Yosemite. Still very beautiful though...amazing to behold. God's creation is so awesome and to sit and behold a waterfall, in all it's splendor and power is a blessed thing. We hope to go back again soon so we can see the other things we wanted to see. We had to leave a bit earlier than expected when it started to SNOW! Yes, snow...and it's almost June. But we did see a bear, so I was happy. :)

We enjoyed our visit with friends in Fresno too (they went to Yosemite with us) and attending their church. Matt Troupe, the pastor, used Bridalveil Falls as an example in his message. I can't say it as well as he did, but here's a paraphrase:

We stood under Bridalveil Falls, which was booming! The falls were so huge, that the air was teeming with mist. The path up to the falls was like a river, with so much water running down it from those falls. If you think of God's grace like that mist, how it falls on us, coats us and runs down at our feet you realize that He doesn't just trickle out His grace, He covers us with it.

Awesome thought.

May Pictures

May Pictures

March AND April?

I'm not even going to say it...so here are some updates from March and April together (since I'm so delinquent).

March:

We had a rough month in March. Kenny's Mom passed away on March 19th, and it seems like that month was full...and sad. We are so thankful to have had her near us for the past three years. We had several of Kenny's siblings come and stay with us in March, to visit Mom.

The day after Mom died, we took off to spend a day in our favorite place...Capitola. It was good to go, and spend the day together as a family. We were all sad, and to take that day to reflect and remember Mom/Grandma was a balm for all of us. A day at the ocean is worth a week anywhere else.

Also in March, Nathan and Tim both did their Certificate of Merit for Piano. They both passed with honors, and were asked to play in the Honors Recital. Nathan also received his "Senior Medallion" for participating in Certificate of Merit 3 of 4 years in High School (and he passed with Honors all three years!). We're very proud of their accomplishments, and thankful for the musical gift that God has given to them both.

Tim finished his Speech Class in March as well...and we enjoyed an evening of presentations from all four students in the class.

April:

Isn't quite over yet....but we had a nice, and relatively quiet month. Easter was fun; we had some friends over on Easter Sunday after church. We also colored eggs and had our annual egg hunt/scavenger hunt. Kenny wrote out the clues this year...they were HARD!! Here's an example:

Precise vibrational frequencies at well ordered intervals, in logical order, produce pleasant feelings.

And the kids had to figure out what this is? I don't think I ever figured it out....haha!

We had our annual Pastor's Conference at our church as well, and that's always a great week. Hearing good preaching, and seeing old friends...good times.

May is coming...our 'birthday month' with three of the six of us having birthdays in May. Does time fly by to everyone else, or is it just me??

Until next time.....

April Pictures

~April 2010 Pictures~

The kids had fun coloring eggs! They all like to eat them too, so we did four dozen!

Nathan took this amazing picture at the park, near our house, on Easter Sunday. Gorgeous!

Fun with friends...Apples to Apples is a great game!

March Pictures

~March 2010 Pictures~

Nathan and Tim with their piano teacher, Mrs. Schnieder, after the Honors Recital at Los Medanos College.

Kenny and Jill at Capitola Beach

Tim with his Speech Class and teacher, Mrs. Trummel

This collage was posted at Eskaton in memory of Kenny's Mom. We miss her.
Eleanor Combs - March 16, 1922 - March 19, 2010

Kenny's sister Bev came to visit, and did some art with the kids...they loved the painting!

Lizzy especially loved all of the fun with paints, making leaf prints, watercolors...lots of stuff!

February

February has gone by in a blur! We have had some rough patches, as Kenny's Mom had a stroke at the very end of January. Getting her settled and her care routine under control has been a challenge, but by God's mercy, things are going as well as can be expected. It was very debilitating for her and she's unable to walk now, her speech is affected and her swallowing is hindered. Thankfully she lives in a facility that gives wonderful care, and the staff there is fantastic. We are also thankful to have her so close by.

Our biggest excitement this month was Nathan's 18th birthday! Hard to believe our firstborn is now an "adult" in the legal sense. :) We had a big party to celebrate, which was lots of fun! The kids went on a scavenger hunt around the town, played games, ate pizza and a few of the boys spent the night.

Nathan and some of his graduating friends had some pictures taken...since it takes so long to upload pictures on here, check out this link to view them: Senior Pictures Huge thanks to Jessica Kemper for taking them all!

We have so much rain this month, which is a good thing in terms of summer provisions. Some of us enjoy the rain more than others. :)

On to March!

Below are some pictures from February...enjoy!

February Pictures

Nathan's birthday cake!

Some of the party...

Hector, Lizzy and Jill

Kenny's brother Brian and his wife Carla came to visit for a few days...

Kenny and Brian...see the resemblance?? :)

January 2010

Oh dear...here I go again posting once per month. Time flies...

January has seriously flown by. We've been busy with school, and really not much else! We had our annual New Year's Eve party after enjoying Christmas with the family.

Nathan started two new classes at Los Medanos College today (Statistics and Spanish) so we'll see how those go. :)

January is a month of transitions. Every year it seems to go by so quickly, yet it is a time of reflection on the year that just passed. The busy-ness of Christmas is over, and the cold days of winter lie ahead. Personally, I enjoy rainy days in January. Makes me want to stay home and be cozy. God gives us all sorts of weather and we really don't remember to thank Him for all of it. It's easy to complain and whine about what we don't like (like I do in the heat of summer) but in God's perfect creation it all has its purpose.

As we look ahead to February...my little Nathan boy will be 18 years old on the 11th. My first born son...18?!?! How can that be. I'm not old enough to have a child who is 18, and getting ready to graduate...am I? I suppose I am. :)

Enjoy our December and January pictures...and I suppose I will post again next month.

December and January

Took these last week during our huge rainstorm. There were little sparrows hanging all over the north side of our house to get out of the wind. So cute!

Lizzy and her gymnastics instructor Ms. Dorothy after their "show day" last week. Lizzy did a great job!

Tim before his speech presentation - demonstration speech on self defense.

Dan and Trixie...cute!

Grandpa was a good sport and let Lizzy paint his nails! Or should I say he's a good sport for letting his picture be taken?! :) We all had our nails painted...all but Tim...it's true.

Grandma and Louie

Christmas Dinner fun!

Christmas Day!