july flew by.

(oh hey, that rhymed.)

i am aware that July isn't actually over. but chances of me posting again this month are slim to none. so, as far as my blog is concerned, july flew by.

We started out July with a fun visit from Eric, Michelle & the boys, and Aunt Christine & Uncle Steve. EBJ was kind enough to bring cool weather with him from Washington, which worked out great on our Disneyland day!

The boys weren't much into having their picture taken. ride rides? or take pictures? they wanted to ride rides!

Emily was adorable. Thanks, Mike & Janica for letting us take her!

We even got to do some Big Kid Rides...

We took the Monorail while they rode Star Tours.

Matthew's such a cool dude!

We stayed all the way until the fireworks!

While everyone was here, we celebrated my father's birthday in style. Pink Flamingo party? Why not!!

Delicious carrot cake, complete with flamingo flare.

Uncle Steve found a very rare treasure! a French Army Knife.... includes only a white flag and a corkscrew.

Opening the presents. Pink Flamingos watching over his shoulder.

It was fun having the kids around. We loved taking them to the park and playing.

Of course, after they left, the HEAT came in. Just in time for the RailPros Family Picnic too! It was a great picnic this year, despite the heat. We all know Emily had a good time...

silly girl.

RailPros Dodger Night was last week. Gabe and I signed up to go and we were so excited, but just as soon as we signed up for tickets, Gabe got his registration appointment for school. He didn't want to risk not getting the classes he wanted, so I took EAK as my date instead. Pretty good date too, she bought me a Dodger Dog and everything!

We had good seats! Not close enough for the players to hear, but Mike certainly tried his hardest... He was getting horse from all the screaming.




this last Saturday, Gabe and I braved a scary world.... the world of Chuck-E-Cheese. Kiera's 4th birthday party was fun, but it is just too much. I promised Momma Linda that she would never have to go to a party there for any kid that Gabe and I might have!

Even still, Kiera thought it was just about the BEST thing ever, and that's what matters...

Birthday Princess!

August? ok. bring it on.

aint that america.

4th of July was a fun filled weekend for us! On Saturday, we went swimming with Miss Emily. It was so much fun! I have always LOVED swimming, and I'm loving that Emily is a bit of a water-baby too!

Look at that smile - and in her Mickey towel that we got her for her birthday. :)

On Sunday, we had a BBQ at our house. Hamburgers, hot-dogs, and potato salad - what's more American than that? Perhaps the red, white, and blue smiley cookies that Janica made!

(and they were delicious too!)

Unfortunately, everyone had to leave before fireworks. They totally missed out! We lit our own fireworks (bottle rockets and sparklers), some of the neighbors lit fireworks, and we watched the Disneyland fireworks from outside our house. I was quite popular with the younger kids in the neighborhood because of my sparklers. I shared, because sharing is caring, and one of the moms was so cute... she said to me, "thank you so much for sharing such a special treat with my daughter!" It was the first real interaction we've had with the neighbors.


the neighborhood boys liked the bottle rockets that gabe had. We didn't share those though, they're a little more dangerous.

And me with my sparklers. I heart sparklers.

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

end O june.

the end-O-june has brought some fun surprises.

1.

Little Allyson joined the family - YAY mike & janica! We love having little nieces and nephews around.

2.

Mr. Bass (gabe's lancer) took a powder. so we got a new Honda Fit. and lucky me, i get to drive the Fit. It's such a fun cute car.

3.

We had our 1 year anniversary! We had dinner at the White House (where we were married). It was a great way to spend our anniversary. I can't believe it's already been a year!

We're so lucky to be together! (i'll leave it at that and keep the mushy-ness to myself.) hehe.

Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him... and says, Catch up.

time to play a little catch-up....

May and June have just flown by. In may we enjoyed family birthdays, Mother's day, sunshine and a quick trip to Lake Arrowhead (which was actually kind of rough for me. but that's another story for another time.)

Here are some pictures of May fun:

Emily's 2nd Birthday Party

Linda's birthday

Homemade Pizookie for Linda's Birthday. yummmmmmmm.

View of Big Bear Lake from the Ski Lift

June has been a fun month too! It's been great having EAK back in town. She and I have spent some saturdays together while Gabe had to work. Gabe and I have had picnics and enjoyed afternoons in the park.

I love my new picnic basket!

Cooking w/ EAK - Buffalo Chicken Macaroni & Cheese. it was delicious!

heartbreakers.

Spurs are out. After an exciting series with the Mavs, they were swept in four by the freaking Suns. Woof. The only thing worse than Dirk Nowitzki is nasty, Canadian Steve Nash. We had to know though, the Spurs are heartbreakers. They can show up and win it in style, or they can tank it. Timmy, Tony, and Ginobili only have so much to give. and poor Papa is so tired. he just looks like he needs a nap.

don't get me wrong, the Spurs are a good team. they may not be as glamourous to the media as the Lakers (wooooooof), but they have players with class and, all things considered, an amazingly consistent track record:

17 division titles (Lakers only have 16...)
they've made the playoffs in 19 of the last 20 seasons
4 NBA Championships (1999, 2003, 2005, & 2007... all with Tim Duncan...)

I still root for the Spurs. but the moral of the story (as it is every year) is "root fervrently, but don't get your hopes up."

But, we'll try again next year. and we've got a new fan to join the cause...

it's may.

just thought you'd like to know.

april flew by.

now that it's may, i might actually get around to posting something.

then again, this might be it...

new york city!

Warning - Picture overload...

Gabe and I went to NYC for vacation a couple weeks ago. It was Gabe's first time in NYC and we had such a great time! We stayed on Times Square (thanks, dad!)...

Elizabeth came up from DC to spend one of the days with us. She was a great tour guide and we had a lot of fun tourist-ing with her. We went to the Tenement Museum - where i touched an artifact and got in trouble with the tourguide.

the Flatiron building is the first skyscraper in NYC. it's 29 stories tall.

Grand Central Station was beautiful. The station itself is a work of art.

Rockafellar Center

Gabe ruining my picture!!

the only thing we didn't like was all the rain.

Apollo holding the head of Medusa - Metropolitan Museum of Art

i really liked is furniture set.

Gabe liked the Egyptian stuff the best.

Going out.

Empire state building.

86 stories up - it was very windy up there!

quite the view!

i love the Flatiron building.

"i think i see my dad."

right after we took this picture, some girl walks up and says, "can i interview you? i'm a reporter. did you hear about the suicide here last night?" we thought it was a prank!! but then we looked up the news on Gabe's phone and sure enough, a guy climbed over the railing and jumped off the Empire State Building the night before we went. creepy..

Ground Zero.

the construction of the Freedom Tower (red steel going up on the left.) the Freedom Tower will be 109 stories tall.

View of the where the 2nd Tower was. - at Ground Zero we happened on to a tour... we just heard this guy talking and we gathered around the rest of the group. turns out it was a paid tour, but one of the guys leading it said it was ok.

Liberty Island. View of Manhattan.

Lady Liberty.

We were two of the few Americans at Liberty Island.

the little bit of sunshine we got to enjoy...