Asilomar

Last weekend Stephen set up a little family getaway. It was so nice to have so much family together in the same vacation spot.

We had Stphen and all the kids, except Sam of course, whom is almost home! Aunt Linda came with Angie and Kaylin.

We all had a blast at the beach and having meal together. The weather was wonderful and the family was exciting.

We have three new additions to the family in the last year or so. Griffin is 13 months, Ashlyn is 12 months, and Colton is 8 months. So it was great to have them get to know each other. And of course be entertain by the older kids.

Stephen chose Asilomar because mom love to go there. Not only did she get the ocean, which she loved, but she did not have to cook!!! I understand her urning for both.

The ocean brings a great since of peace and clam to the spirit. For some reason the rythmic sound of the waves on the breach allows your mind to be clear of clutter and full of deep thought. Mom always said if you don't know the answer to a life changing choice. Go to the ocean, you will there find your answer within. I know that to be true!

I thank Stephen so much for facilitating this trip and I look forward to many more getawys again.

SAN FRAN #5

For Our 5Th anniversary we went to San Francisco for the weekend. It was the first time we have sent a complete evening alone in 8 months.

Renee watch Colton and Daisy so we could have a little get away. It was so nice to be able to just get up and go. We did miss our little family at home.

It was so fun to just walk down the busy streets and hold hands, not hold a baby, a diaper bag, a Binky, and a blanket.

Friday night we went to a VERY fancy restaurant in the Westin St. Francis, called Michael Mina.

It was a dining experience. I was almost intimidated at the class of the restaurant. I think Justin was more intimidated at the price of the restaurant. Never the less we have a 3 hour dinner and enjoyed each other.

On Saturday morning I woke at 7am as usual. And we headed down to Union Square. We took the Trolley to Pier 39 and had breakfast.

After Breakfast we walked over to the Aquarium on the Pier. I was so excited to see the sharks and Bat Reyes swimming over our heads.

That night we walked around Union Square to find a little more San Fran authentic dinner. We ended up at a pub around the corner from our hotel and had a warm dinner.

Sunday we woke up early and rushed home to see our little man.

As we were playing on the floor Colton began CRAWLING!

Our lives have not been the same since.

Tahoe!

Mike and Cheryl took Shon and Francis and us to Tahoe with them.

We all share the month of September for our anniversary month.

Friday night we went out to dinner, then headed over to the Lone Eagle.

We had so much fun.

Saturday was just a relaxing day at the pool. The kids love being with each other. Well I think Colton just loves the attention from the girls.

Then after a very filling Italian dinner, we headed back to the Lone Eagle to listen to the music and enjoy the cozy atmosphere.

Sunday morning we just had to stop for lunch at Sunnyside. It is a must do when you are in Tahoe. The weather was beautiful and the company was wonderful!!!

Colton!

I might be a photographer...

just kidding,

Colton is just the perfect subject to take pictures of.

Mom

I recently received an e-mail asking you to copy and past a survey.... as I read Tara's response, thank you Tara, I remembered I had done this with mom a long time ago. I saved it thinking I would love it later. And here I am reading her funny response. I can here her voice in the answers. It is pretty neat the age of technology we live in. That I can keep an e-mail from my sweet mom and still here her voice in my head even after she has passed. It is just what I needed after the VERY hard week I had. I thought I would share her e-mail with you all:



Just for fun I am responding to the questions from the fun survey. I need to write the questions along with the answers just for fun.
1. Name? Ronna
2. What color pants are you wearing? Well, it's actually a one piece coolotte outfit. Black background fabric with pink and white tiny flowers.
3. What are you listening to right now? Skyler saying uah oh, I'm wet now I spilled.
4. What was the last thing you ate? crackers with peanut and butter made into sandwiches.
5. Do you wish on stars? Falling stars
6. What color would you be if you were a color crayon? yellow orange
7. how is the weather right now? Perfect! 80ish with a breeze lots of sunshine
8. Last person you talked to on the telephone? My mother last night
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes very much so In fact I love her to pieces.
10. How old are you today? Well, 29 again no really 47 little ones (smile)
11. Favorite drink? Pepsi with lots of ice.
12. Favorite sport? volleyball
13. Hair color? light natural blonde (by Loreal). However, I was born blonde.
14. Do you wear contacts? No
15. Siblings? Two brothers and two sisters.
16. Favorite month of the year? June because it is always warm and sunny on my birthday.
17. Favorite food? tacos
18. What do you do to vent anger? Yell, cuss sometimes and/or write it out on paper if I am confused at all.
19. What was your favorite toy as a child? definitely my baby dolls.
21. chocolate or vanilla? chocolate
20. they skipped # 20 no question available
22. Do you want your friend to e-mail you back? yes that would be nice
23. who is most likely to respond first? Sissy
24. Who is least likely to respond?
25. Living arrangements? Home on the hill of MT. Diablo with husband and two sons. almost four generations of thought and opinions wow. No wonder things get out of control.
26. When was the last time you cried? Thursday afternoon when Jason said he would pay for Sam's mission.
27. What is under your bed? Lesson manuals for church class a three day emergency bag with clothes and toiletries. Books and my locked jewelry box.
28.Who is the friend you have the longest? Carla Ahart
29. What did you do last night? Hung around home cooking, watching TV-sewing, reading and looking at mail order catalogs
30 .Favorite smell? Honey suckle bush outside.
31.What are you afraid of? Pain. Physical, mental, emotional.
32. plain, buttered or salted? Buttered
33 .Favorite Car? Jag all my life I wanted a jag.
34 .favorite flower? Fragrant peach roses.
35 .Favorite day of the week? Friday
36. What did you do on your last Birthday? Went to dinner with husband
37.What are you reading right now? Medical home prevention and natural remedies.
38. What is in the back of your car? Baby stroller, sand toys, beach bag, carry cart emergency car kit, first aid kit, blanket, umbrella, ice chest, Walkman for workouts.

Miracle

A little girl went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet.She poured the change out on the floor and counted it carefully.Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap,she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall's Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a scuffingnoise.Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster. No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!'And what do you want?' the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. I'm talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven't seen in ages,' he said without waiting for a reply to his question.'Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,' Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. 'He's really, really sick .. and I want to buy amiracle.''I beg your pardon?' said the pharmacist.'His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his headand my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miraclecost?''We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I'm sorry but I can't help you,' the pharmacist said, softening a little. 'Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn't enough, I will getthe rest. Just tell me how much it costs.'The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down andasked the little girl, 'What kind of a miracle does your brother need?'' I don't know,' Tess replied with her eyes welling up.. 'I just knowhe's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money.''How much do you have?' asked the man from Chicago .'One dollar and eleven cents,' Tess answered barely audibly.'And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.''Well, what a coincidence,' smiled the man.. 'A dollar and eleven cents -the exact price of a miracle for little brothers.'He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped hermitten and said 'Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meetyour parents. Let's see if I have the mirac le you need.'That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neuro-surgery. The operation was completed free of charge and it wasn't long until Andrew was home again and doing well.Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.'That surgery,' her Mom whispered. 'was a real miracle I wonder how much it would have cost?'Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost ... one dollarand eleven cents plus the faith of a little child.In our lives, we never k now how many miracles we will need.A miracle is not the suspension of natural law, but the operation of a higher law.

Fallen Leaf Lake

Last weekend we took on the daunting task of going camping with an infant. Colton loves being outside, so we thought this would be great for him. We had several of our friends there and they all had kids too.

As night fell we learned that Colton is a schedule kind of guy. He had a hard time sleeping in the great outdoors. Maybe the huge bear that wondered into our camp sight both nights made him uneasy too. Gratefully we had the mind to put away everything, but our neighbors weren't as lucky. The first night the bear got into their ice chest and ate everything. Scotty woke up to a bear staring at him as he relieved himself next to the tree. Luckily the bear was uninterested in in the human kind or was too full to give much attention to Scotty.

The water was undrinkable so we had to improvise. Here is Cari, and I showing off our drink alternative. And yes Scotty took on the lovely chore of dishes! Thanks Scotty, your a life saver.

This was great fun, and Colton really enjoyed his days of watching the trees sway in the wind.

We can not wait for next year when Colton will be running around making us crazy in the dirt.

Pebble Beach

So Colton is going to be a pro golfer! Well he loves golf. He like to watch it on Tv with his G-Pa, AKA Justin's Dad. I find it odd, but then again I am a female. So when to opportunity came up to meet G-Ma and G-Pa, AKA Mike and Cheryl at Pebble Beach we jumped on it. We called my brother Jason and Tara to see if they would like to meet us for dinner, by the way that was a random thought because they live 3 hours from Monterey. And they were already there!

So we hurried on down to to meet them before they drove home. We all go together and had a casual dinner and laughed and enjoyed each other as we always do.

We took Colton to the beach for the first time. I thought he would love it. But the kids playing on the beach seemed way more entertaining than the big blue ocean in the back ground. The next day we meet Mike and Cheryl at Pebble Beach Golf Course and had a wonderful lunch. Not sure if everyone else in the club house enjoyed their lunch, because Colton did not seem to want to be inside. So Justin's Dad took Colton to the putting green. He was an angle.

He loved watching the guys hit that little white ball into the hole. He has got to have talent, or at least interest. A mom can only dream to have her son enjoy a non contact sport! It was a fun weekend! We love seeing our family and Colton makes everything anything but boring!

Swimming

It finally got hot enough to take our little man into the pool. We were so excited because he LOVES the water. Plus with his fair skin, just like my mother's, we only had about 30 minutes max, in the sun. And that is with sunscreen. So I tried to get as many pictures as possible...... He is so much fun!

Colton's second 3 months