Reflections of 2011

Now that it's April, I decided I should try to catch up on what happened last year. I know, I'm pretty bad.

January
The girls turned 13 and 17. I already posted about this, so um, yeah. . . they turned 13 and 17. Gene and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary. And, I already posted about this, too, so. . . moving on to February.
February
Gene turned 54. One more year until he's considered a senior at some businesses. Senior Citizen's discount here we come!
We went to see Nick Vujicic (pronounced vooy-cheech) at The Rock Church. He was born with no arms or legs, and he has an amazing testimony. You can learn more about Nick here: http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/around-the-world/bullying-stop-the-epidemic/
March
Ryan went back to Japan to visit Ai. The day he arrived there was a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Thankfully he was far away from the disaster. It was so devastating to watch the destruction.
April
Nothing eventful happened this month. I continued to try to sell a home to a couple of different clients. Held a couple of open houses. By the way, open houses are a lot of work!
May
Got an MRI done on my neck and back. I'm so tired of this pain! The MRI revealed several small to medium issues, which apparently all add up to one big issue, but there's not much that can be done about it. It's very disheartening.
June
Got a new stainless steel refrigerator, oven, and microwave! Gene showed off his handyman skills by running a gas line for our oven, so now I have a gas stove/oven! He also mounted our microwave. Sometimes he really impresses me!
Leah left for the summer to visit her birth mother in Hawaii. It was hard to let her go, because I felt like it was the beginning of her leaving us one day, which turns out to be right. More about that later.
July
Got a bone scan and a mammogram (fun). Still no real answers. Krista went to camp for a week, and Gene and I went to visit my mom in Albuquerque. It was so nice to see her, but the visit was too short. I think she really enjoyed having us there.
August
Ashley, Eric, and the grandkids came out for a visit! We had a wonderful time. We all went to Disneyland. It was our first time seeing Alex. What a little character he is. And Marah is so smart and funny. And our beautiful Jenna is such a sweet, talented girl. They are all growing up so fast! I sure wish we could see them more often.


Leah came home from Hawaii right after Ashley left. It was so good to see her! Apparently she met "someone special" out there. She started talking about going back there to live when she turns 18. This was hard to hear, but I wasn't surprised.
I decided to home school Krista this year. School started this month, which was hard with Ashley here. As it turns out, homeschooling was a HORRIBLE idea. I thought it would be easier with Krista than it was for Leah, but Krista was just as hard, if not harder. She just kept making excuses and begging to get out of an assignment. I could only handle it for one semester. Lesson learned.
My best friend from 10th grade, Karen (Lepker) Bauer called up one day and said she was in town and wanted to know if I could meet her for dinner. Why, yes I could! It was so great to catch up with her. Now if she would only get on Facebook!


September
I took another course in SDSU's Educational Technology certificate program. This is the last of the required courses. After this I only have 2 elective courses to take. I'll be so glad when this is finished!
Ryan was busy planning his wedding. It was so interesting to watch. You don't often see the groom plan the wedding. But he did it all! He's quite the proscratinator, and I don't think he realized that you have to book wedding venues early, so he had a difficult time finding a place. But he eventually settled on a beautiful place in Julian. We were all so excited to meet Ai's family!
Carla's been gone for 8 years now. The pain is still intense.
October
Ryan and Ai got married!

What a special day it was. So many of Ai's family members came out from Japan, and we had a wonderful visit with them. They were so sweet, and they brought yummy gifts! And Ashley was able to come back out for the wedding. So all of my kids were together for the first time in a LONG time. We are blessed.
The sad part came when Ryan and Ai went back to Japan. They have to live there for AT LEAST two years. A lot can happen in two years, so I'm worried they will end up staying there. That's so far away!

November
This month turned out to be rough. First, I turned 52. It's hard to even type that. I'm still in denial. But the really rough part was that Leah left to go stay with her birth mother's sister in the bay area before eventually moving to Hawaii. It was especially difficult because it was right before Thanksgiving, and she left because she was angry (mostly with me, though she and Gene argued a lot). It was very emotional. Thanksgiving is always emotional for me, because it was Carla's favorite holiday, and my dad's birthday is around that time, so I think about them a lot around Thanksgiving. Leah leaving didn't help.
I did have my first real estate transaction this month. I sold my first listing. It was my neighbor's mother's house. She had unfortunately passed away and they needed to sell her house, so they asked me to help. It sold in 10 days!
Anna came out to visit, and we finally got to meet Luis. We had a great time at James' and Sabrina's.


December
Christmas was definitely different this year. With only one kid at home, it just seemed odd to go all out with decorating, so we bought a little tree and used just a few of our ornaments. It certainly took less time to decorate (and undecorate), but it didn't feel much like Christmas. We went to Hollywood for Christmas. We saw "Wicked" and we went to Universal Studios. We video chatted with all of the other kids on Christmas Eve, which was really nice.



It's hard to believe that 2011 is over and that we are well into 2012 already!

Reflections of 2010

Well, we're already into the second month of 2011, and I'm finally getting around to making a blog post. There are lots of things I could write about. In fact, there are so many that I really had a hard time making a decision. Should I write about my most embarrassing moments, as Ashley challenged me to do? Should the post be funny, sad, factual, emotional? I finally decided to make it a reflective post. After all, it's the start of a new year (sort of). I wanted to take stock of what happened in our lives in 2010, just so I don't forget.

So, here are the higlights (and lowlights) of our year last year:

January: I passed my real estate exam! Leah turned 16, and Krista turned 12. They are turning into beautiful young women (too soon)! Aunt Linda came to visit, and we had Tim Tam Slams. Gene and I celebrated (well, "celebrated" is not actually what we did--maybe "marked") our 32nd wedding anniversary. It's so strange to think that my parents had been married 39 years when my dad died. That seemed so far off for me, and now, here we are at 32 (actually 33 now)!

February: Gene turned 53. Again, it just doesn't seem possible that I've known this guy for almost 33 years. And he's still as handsome as ever! We contacted Leah's birth mother and began communicating with her via e-mail. It was a difficult decision, but we decided that Leah was old enough to start getting to know her from a distance. It's progressed a lot since then! More on that in a later post.

March: Ryan turned 28. Now THAT'S absolutely crazy! My baby boy is truly a grown man (and has been for several years now)! Since he was in Japan, we couldn't celebrate the day with him. He's been there for too long! Leah had her second hernia surgery right before Spring Break. Poor thing. She handled it really well, but had to be pulled out of P.E. and Dance at school.

April: My neck and back had been hurting for a couple of months at this point, and I finally decided to go to the doctor to hopefully get some relief. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. MRI and X-rays showed some minor problems that I guess all added up to be a major problem, but nothing that they could really fix. So I continued to suffer. Tried physical therapy with no success. Not a good month. : (

May: Our dear friend, Garyn, got married. It was a beautiful wedding. She is happy. I'm glad.

June: I joined Keller Williams Realty in La Mesa. I have a lot to learn. Our beautiful granddaughter, Jenna, turned 10 this month. Holy Smokes! I sure wish I could see her more often than we do. We started planning to go to Scott and Chloe's wedding in the hopes that Ashley and her family could also go. It would be great to see them, especially for such a happy occasion. Krista started playing volleyball in the Starlings league. This was the beginning of a very busy season!

July: Ryan came home from Japan after being gone for a year! It was such a wonderful surprise. Starlings continued. Leah took summer school, and Krista went to church camp (she didn't enjoy herself). Trying to learn as much as I can about real estate while working full-time at Kratos as an Instructional Designer. This was a very busy month!

August: Held my first open house. It went really well. Got a couple of leads that still haven't panned out, but at this point, I was very hopeful. Leah started practicing for the El Capitan Junior Varsity volleyball team.

September: Blessed school! Our beautiful granddaughter, Marah, turned 6! And, our adorable grandson, Alex, turned 2! On a sad note, Carla has been gone 7 years. Time has flown. Also, Leah's best friend from middle school, Moriah, unfortunately committed suicide this month. Her memorial service was beautiful, as was she. I hate that she was in so much pain that she couldn't see how many people loved her. She has left a huge hole in the lives of a lot of people.

October: Our oldest daughter, Ashley, turned 31. Oh my goodness! We feel old. I was laid off work, which was a little scary, but I was also excited, because now I can focus on real estate. NOT! I almost immediately got a consulting job, which has kept me very busy ever since! God is good. We didn't make it to Scott & Chloe's wedding. After being laid off, I just couldn't justify spending the money. We were sad.

November: My birthday. Thanksgiving. We got a new puppy from Stacey. We named her Connelly. She was so adorable, but she really caused a lot of stress in our home. As much as we loved her, it was in everyone's best interest to let Stacey take her back and give her to her boyfriend's brother. We miss her, but our home is back to "normal." Ryan's girlfriend, Ai, came to visit from Japan. We didn't get to see her very much, but we loved her right away. Ryan's planning to go back to Japan in March. He plans to stay for 3 months. After that, who knows. . . ? : )

December: It was a relatively quiet Christmas season for us. Dad's been gone for 16 years. That's so unbelievable. Every Christmas Eve, I take a little time to just think about what a wonderful father he was, and how thankful I am that God gave me him for a dad. He is truly missed.

So, that's our year in a nutshell. All in all not a bad year. God continues to pour out His blessings on us in spite of our failings. It is my sincere desire to do a better job of following Him this year.

Oh, and I'm going to TRY to start blogging more often, but I make no promises. : )

Happy New Year (sort of)!

Ryan's Birthday Dinner

Ryan doesn't ask for much for his birthday. All he ever wants is a home-cooked meal. I even let him choose what he wanted. He chose stuffed shells, because, as he jokingly tells everyone, it's the only thing I can really cook. It's not true, but he likes to tell it like that. Whatever. He also asked for carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

So, we invited James and Sabrina, and our friend from our days at the Rock Church, Christina, over for dinner and a game of Cranium. We hadn't seen James and Sabrina since the dog show a year and a half ago, and we hadn't seen Christina since we left the Rock almost four years ago. It was nice to get together with all of them and just catch up on everything.

I guess I have to admit that the guys won the game that night. It was close, but only because they were really unlucky with their rolls. So, it was a humbling experience to lose, but we still had a great time.

Here are some photos and a couple of videos of the evening.

Happy birthday, Ryan!

And this one's for Kyle



Sabrina and Christina posing for the camera

Gene serving up ice cream.

Leah enjoying a beer with her cake and ice cream (root beer!)

Ryan and Krista being silly (surprise)

James is obviously enjoying something funny.

Ryan really enjoys the sound of the timer song.

Puppet Master Christina trying to get her puppet, Sabrina, to act like she's mowing a lawn

The guys are trying to work out a Data Head question.

Here's Ryan acting out "Trick or Treat."



And here's a rare photo of Ryan not being silly. He's so handsome!

The Burns Family's Annual After Christmas Visit

We look forward to our annual game night with Matt and Marianne Burns every year after Christmas. They always come down from the bay area for Christmas, and we get to have them over for a rousing game of Cranium. See last year's post for details. I won't say who won, but their names rhyme with Tarianne and Zebby.

But after Cranium, the losers, I mean, the guys, decided they wanted to break with tradition, and try the new Trivial Pursuit game (they think they're so smart). So, we played that, and, although it was very close, time eventually got away from us, and since we were tied, we agreed that the next team to get a pie piece would win. Unfortunately, that team was not ours. So, whatever, we'll let them claim victory on that one (but we all know it wasn't a real victory).

As always, we had a great time. We are so thankful for their friendship, and can't wait for the day they move back to San Diego, which will hopefully be within the next couple of years. For now, we have to settle for these annual visits.

The game board.

Matt and me watching Marianne draw. (She's an excellent drawer, and I'm an excellent guesser--which is why we always WIN.)

Me and Marianne trying to unscramble a ZELPUZ. We were successful. : )


Marianne drawing a garden gnome (this was one of the few I didn't guess correctly).

Matt's Frankenstein sculpture. He hates SCULPTORADES, but stepped up to the challenge, and was successful on this one.

Gene drawing with his eyes closed.

Matt reading a question card (probably a DATA HEAD question, which we HATE)

Danny and the girls were SO good all night. As they get older, I think it's more and more difficult for them to find common interests to keep them occupied, but so far they've done really well.

Can't wait for next Christmas!

Independence Day!

Our neighbors, the Trustys, came over to help us celebrate 4th of July. Ryan is in Southeast Asia with Scott (just for the heck of it), so it was just the four of us and the Trustys. We barbecued some burgers and hot dogs and had some wonderful pie (thank you, Barbara and Tarin!) as well as some baked beans, potato salad, chips, etc. We had such a nice time visiting that we kept forgetting to take photos, but we did get a few. (Sorry, Karen, I didn't get any of you and me--the one Gene took inside was really dark).

Our new chalkboard that we painted and framed on our kitchen/garage door!

Leah is all decked out for the holiday

Gene cooking the burgers and dogs

Richard and his mom, Barbara, watching Gene grill

Apparently Richard sees something interesting "over there"

Looks like Tarin sees it too

Our poor dogs have to endure such humiliation - here's Dakota in her 4th of July outfit

And, I don't know what Bristow is supposed to be here (a ghost?)

Krista zonked out at the end of the day

dream dinners

Growing up, I didn't ever learn to cook. For some reason, my mom only taught Carla (my older sister) to cook. My job was always either making the tea, making biscuits, or making a salad (with iceberg lettuce and tomatoes). Oh, sure, sometimes I had to make chili or something, but I didn't really cook. Carla actually enjoyed it, and was good at it. She grew up to be an excellent cook. I, on the other hand--yeah--never really got it.

Ashley and Ryan grew up on Kraft macaroni and cheese, chili, and spaghetti--with salad, of course. It was always funny to see their plates at a pot luck dinner. Two beans, one piece of lettuce, one piece of corn--you get the picture. Pathetic!

So, now that I like more foods, I'm trying very hard to teach Leah and Krista to enjoy more and I'm hoping to teach them to cook. It's really difficult with school and everything else, but I'm trying.

Last week, on Ryan's birthday, we celebrated (without Ryan) by going to Dream Dinners again. Jeanne-Marie has made it a monthly event for our small group, and it's a great way to see friends and prepare dinners ahead of time for a great price. This time, Gene and the girls came with me, which made it much easier to get everything done. I think it's also a great way to get the girls exposed to cooking. I am having them pick out what they want for dinner the next day and then they have to help prepare it, too. Hopefully, they will be more prepared than I was (or than I taught Ashley and Ryan to be) when they grow up.

Here are a few photos from the evening.

Josh started in on teasing the girls right away--picking right up where he left off last time he saw them--they love it!

Problems on the first recipe. There were no pearl onions at the station we were working at, and we needed it for our recipe, that's why I'm raising my hand for help.

Jeanne-Marie and me

Gene getting instructions from the owner

Leah and Krista taking a break. Their favorite part of the evening was the cookies, which were fantastic.

Leah took this group shot.

Jeanne-Marie working hard.

Valerie and Amy

Josh concentrating on his recipe

Amy striking a pose

And another group shot by Leah at the end of the evening

Good times!