ConKerrCancer

Many of you don't know this but I belong to an organization called ConKerr Cancer. This is an organization dedicated to putting smiles on pediatric cancer patients through the simple act of sewing pillow cases. My new years resolution this year is to make this possible for as many patients as possible. I handle the Bay area from San Francisco up to Sacramento but I'm pacing myself and working with one hospital at a time so that I can make sure there is enough pillow cases to go around. Check out this link and if you can help please do. At the very least, please spread the word. www.conkerrcancer.org

Till the Cows Come Home

"look ma, I caught dinner!"



Emily and Ben



Every few years these cows come onto the property to graze...and leave special "gifts".

Out At The Ranch

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to our friend's Justin and Emily's family ranch. The ranch has been in Justin's family for ages and they invited us to go. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to practice their shooting and they even got to go fishing in one of the watering holes. Between the three of them they caught 6 Bass. Justin taught Anthony how to hunt quail (those things are fast...I guess I would be too if someone was shooting at me) Then the evening entertainment was having the kids watching me clean the fish and birds.


Tatiana shooting clay pigeons



Anthony holding pinecones on steroids


Justin teaching Meika to shoot a 22

Cool Story....

DADDY'S EMPTY CHAIR
A man's daughter had asked the local minister To come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, He found the man lying in bed with his head Propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow Had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me, he said.
'No, who are you?" said the father. The minister told him his name and then remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up."
"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the minister shut the door. "I have never told anyone this, Not even my daughter," said the man.
"But all of my life I have never Known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head."
I abandoned any attempt at prayer," The old man continued, " Until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter Of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest. "Sit down in a chair; Place an empty chair in front of you, And in faith see Jesus on the chair.
It's not spooky because he promised , 'I will be with you always'. "Then just speak to him in the same way You're doing with me right now."
"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much That I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though . If my daughter saw me talking To an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm."
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, And returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called To tell the minister that her daddy Had died that afternoon. Did he die in peace?" he asked.
Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, He called me over to his bedside, Told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him .
But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, He leaned over and rested his head on the chair Beside the bed. What do you make of that?"
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that."
Prayer is one of the best free gif ts we receive.
I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.* I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.* I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU... If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
Happy moments, praise God. Difficult moments, seek God. Quiet moments, worship God Painful moments, trust God.

EVERY MOMENT THANK GOD!

My Secret Nightmare

Okay, for those of you who were born in the 1960's/70's you were surely the target audience for the 1980's cartoon Saturday commercials. Ya know those commercials that looked so hightech and cool back then but really look way cheap now. The reason I speak of such things is because of a certain Cheerios commercial that still haunts me today. I'd like to close this sorry little chapter of my life and I think this is how I can do so. It all started back in 1980-something or so while watching Saturday cartoons in New York (it must've been 1981 come to think of it) when this commercial came on....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8RCfMDG3bA&feature=related
Well, tonight Tatiana was being schooled on who "Mikey" was and why "he likes it" so we checked out Youtube for the Life commercial then that lead me to this Cheerios commercial.
It's yodel has stuck in my head for years and it drives me crazy so of course I feel that I must share it......hope you don't have nightmares like I did.

Prom 2007

Look at them duds....(no, not milk duds...the clothes! Look at the clothes!) This was Ant and I at the first annual "grown up prom". I decided to create my own version of a tux....we had a blast!...hard to believe, huh?

Halloween

Here's the kiddo's on Halloween. Tatiana went as the trucker with the mullet and man-boobs while Meika went as a snow fairy and Anthony went as Pete Wentz. Little red is Tatiana's friend Alex.

our punkins

OOps I did it again!

Oh, come on now....it had to be done!

yay halloween's a comin'!

even though my family and i don't really celebrate halloween like everyone else might, we still love to dress up every year. this year though, we've decided to pass out candy and put up a few spiders around the doorway. i have so many costumes to pick that i can't decide on just one! here's me last year as "michael jackson-after" (anthony went as "michael jackson-before") we'll just have to see what i will do for this year....happy halloween

Princess Kitty

Emily's 80's party!

I had soooooo much fun at my friend Emily's birthday party. It was all about the eighties! I couldn't believe that I could still get my hair that big! Talk about a blast from the past! We had about 6 signs leading up the hill to her house and each sign was a different year starting from 2007 and ending with the eighties...here's a few highlights.....notice Emily making the hand sign "I love You" instead of the "Rock On" one...she's so funny!

Special Visit

Anthony's Auntie, Uncle, Grandma and Grandad came thru for a quick visit on their way back home to Compton. Can you believe it that his grandad is turning 87 in January?! Here's a random thought....that shirt looks really dumpy on me-yuck.

Tatiana

Can you say teenager?!

Oceanside 2007

SURF'S UP!

This year's school pix. Aint they just so darn cute?!

No matter how fast I went I just could get them to fall off!

...note to self, never bring a 32 oz. iced tea into a porta potty- a person could slam the door next to you and the tea could spill on your white shorts that would become see through and your husband would laugh at you all afternoon! ...Take the picture already...happy now?!!

After 6 long years of waiting I finally got to go to the Gilroy Garlic festival! Garlic ice cream really isn 't half bad.

This year the girls had a successful season boarding on the lake! They made it up at the same time! YAY!

I guess it's time to join this high-tech century so here's my blog. Thanks to my little big sis, (or "Squirt" as I lovingly refer to her as) I first had to find out what the heck BLOG actually meant!!! Now that I know what this is all about I can keep everyone up to date on life here on the farm. (and by farm I don't actually mean a literal farm-kay?!)