New Blog!

I started a brand new blog.

I won't be posting on this one any more.

Please come follow me at my new
happy girl
blog.

Thanks friends!!!

Smart Phone???

You may have noticed something about my blog.
Something different.
Something is missing.
Something IMPORTANT!!!!

I'll be brief.
My new stupid smart phone automatically synched
with blogger.
I didn't know that.

Pictures erased off of phone equals pictures
erased off of blog.

6 years of blog pictures.
Gone.

My smart phone is dumb.
And my blog is ruined.

So...
I have a lot of work to do salvaging
the posts from this blog into a blog book
with pictures off of my computer.

In the meantime I might start a new blog.
Wish me luck.
I'm frustrated.

DUMB phone.

40 is good stuff.

This happy girl turned 40!!

Despite all the negative hype this particular birthday gets...

I must say...

I HAD A SUPER FANTASTIC DAY!!

40 isn't so bad!

To start it off...

My dear, amazing friend, Elece brought over a huge box.

And in it?? 

 40 gifts for me to unwrap!

My smile muscles started hurting after 2 seconds.

You should have seen us both jumping up and down

like little kids with anticipation and excitement.

It was awesome.

She was so thoughtful

and filled it with all my favorite things...

including DIRT!

Check out what she wrote on it.

"Ya...I totally got you a bag of dirt for your birthday :)"

Hee.

Here it is all unwrapped.

I think my smile muscles still hurt.

But I want to tell Elece...

Thank you with all my heart.

That was a SUPER FUN gift!!!

And I loved it more than you know.

I didn't get any other pictures of my birthday.
But it was all so good.
I got to play USTA team tennis tournament.
Our team did great and we are moving on.
Trev surprised me with new tennis clothes!
My friends & family surprised me with gifts and
happy birthday messages.

I just had such a good day.
Thank you to all!!!

And then on to my darling daughter.

Prom.

Isn't she pretty in green?

Cute...

Love this picture of daddy's girl.

17 years ago, we only could have imagined times like these.

And now they are happening.

And they are so so fun.

And more good stuff around the corner...

1.  summer!

2.  my tennis team is going to Portland in August!

3.  my mixed tennis team gets to start practicing

4. Oregon Coast vacation

5.  A getaway with a friend

6.  My niece Chels is getting married

7.  I get to host her reception in my garden!

Keep it coming good stuff!!!

Every day moments.

I was just thinking about how I don't use my 

camera very much anymore.

When my kids were smaller, I remember having the

camera out and ready so I could capture

the cuteness that happened in an instant.

 

Like above when Googles would suck on her toes.

Or below when the girls would play the

"can you guess the spice" game.

 

 

But lately it seems I only have the camera when

something special happens.

Like a birthday or a trip.

 

My kids are older, but they still DO camera-worthy things!

Like this...

 

 

So I'm going to try to capture more of the everyday moments.

Because these days are flying by.

See ya.

Gotta get the camera out...

 

 

 

Cake is good.

Let's start with CAKE!

Cake is an absolute good.

You aren't sure that one of these is a cake?

Just wait.

I'll explain it in a minute.

But trust me...it's cake... and they were both

super delicious.

Montana had a birthday.

She keeps growing no matter how hard I try to stop her.

12 is a big one.

She is super excited about her new...

"Apple iPod Nano 8GB Green 6th Generation"

Yep.  That's what she called it as she jumped for joy.

And here is my lovely mother.
She also had a birthday.
And here she is modeling the sassy apron
my sister made for her.
See the cute cowgirl fabric?  My sis is from Wyoming.
And she is darling.
And so is my mom.
and this apron.


And I really wanted to hang it up with my other aprons.
But it wasn't for me.


It's not all about me, you know?

I have really cute nephews.

Here are two of them,

Matthew and Michael.

They don't care about aprons.

I have cute nieces too.

They are really smart.

They care about cake...

Mom gets to blow out some candles.

On the cake that was supposed to be a 

3-layer lemon coconut beauty.

When the layers slid off the lemon curd, and the frosting

fell off the sides, we decided it should be a "trifle" instead.

But it was still cake.  And it was yummy beyond belief.

I doubt I will attempt a triple layer cake ever again.

Making one...not eating one.

And candles for Montana...

I love love love my siblings.

If I could be with them every day, I would.

They bring out the happy in me.

They also bring out the silly.

 

Silly.  Happy.  Blessed.
This is good stuff.

 

 

Warmth. And doodles.

Warmth.

I like to be warm.

Inside and out.

Tulips are my favorite flower.

I love flowers with all my heart.

I find it strange that I have many many flowers in my gardens,

but I don't have tulips!

WHY?

Because you are supposed to plant them in the fall,

and I always plan for it too late!

Frost hits, and I slap my forehead every stinkin' year...

TULIPS!

Can you plant them in the spring? 

 Please let me know

if you can... 

I would love it if you can...

Tulips warm my soul.

And so does this sweet little patch of sunshine.

Spring is coming friends...

The birdies are telling me so.

My youngest is now 8 years old.

I remember when my oldest turned 8.

Wow, was she a big girl.

But your baby is your baby, you know?

As I watched her perform in her 2nd grade play, I was overcome

with emotion for a bit.

Will this be the last grade school play my kids are in?

It is possible.

So I ATE IT UP! 

Enjoyed every tasty morsel of that innocent, joyous 8 year old play.

My littles are growing.

Aren't they beautiful?

And sweet, sensitive, giving, & happy.

I am blessed.

As my JoBugs sits in her sister's room,

they talk.

And as they talk, she absentmindedly grabs the whiteboard

and dry erase markers.

And she doodles.

She doodles the cover of the book sitting next to her

on the floor.

Man do I wish I could doodle like her...

and on a whiteboard too...

Tasty Tennis.

We left town again.

And headed to Indian Wells in Palm Springs, California!

Gotta get me some BNP Paribas Open tennis!

We went with Joanna, Justin, Karen & Jason.

Here we are ready to watch some amazing tennis.

Thought it was a great shot to get Nadal, Wozniacki & Simon

all in one picture on the practice courts.

It's funny how we amateur tennis players think we can hit a ball.

Until we see the pros hit a ball...

I love Caroline Wozniacki.

Even though she has dropped to #4, I still cheer for her.

She is one of the smiliest, friendliest pros

you see out there.

Here we are cooling off with Lemon Ice.

Luckily this year wasn't as hot as last year.

It was so nice to feel the sun.

And yes, I got to see my fave, Roger Federer!

The sight of him does strange things to my pulse.

Do you recognize the cute blonde on the right?

Elizabeth Shue!

Remember her from the 80's?

She is a tennis fan and she also promotes tennis for kids.

She got to meet with him right off the practice court.

Lucky Elizabeth...

Jo & I.

Don't you love the guy photo bombing in the back?

Ha!

My favorite match to watch was the Bryan Brothers.

They are twins and they happen to be the #1 doubles team

in the world.

Lots of positive energy and lots of fun.

They are so cool.

Last year when we saw them play they stayed until every last

fan had an autograph from them.

And this was the coolest.

After the match, you know how they sign 3 tennis balls and hit them into the stands

for the fans to catch?

GUESS WHO CAUGHT ONE?...

That's right...

See you next year Indian Wells!

Just yesterday.

To all you parents of  little children...

I came across this picture,

and I'm pretty sure it was taken just yesterday.

You may have heard this before,

but I'm going to tell you anyway.

It's super important...

DON'T BLINK.

Why aren't you blogging?

"Why aren't you blogging?"

I have been asked this question a lot lately.

And how nice to know that I have loyal followers that miss me.

Even if it is a handful of you.

It is nice to be missed.

And in all honesty I have really missed blogging.

I rarely have spare time any more.

BUT I am going to make time.

I MEAN IT!

So here we go.

A little catch up for you of the last few months.

And then maybe we can get this 

blog thing really rolling again.

Cheer me on!

Maybe that will help!

:)

HERE WE GO!

Well this was before Christmas.

My friend Cheryl and I after racing each other

to the bottom of the hill.

Facefulls of snow....

Refreshing!

And here is my crazy boy and his friend.

Took off their shirts and went for it.

...Refreshing?

Time for a cocoa break!

Just what we needed to warm up before

the next sledding session.

Me & my snowbunny girls.

Cheryl, Joanna, Kim & me...

Nothing like a tea party to warm you 

up on a cold winters day.

My girlies during the break.

JoBugs played in her first doubles tennis tournament.

They won a match and lost a match.

Way to go sweetie!

My sweet Hubs turned the big 40!!

Thanks to my talented friend Wendi for the 

tombstone cake.

It was amazing AND delicious.

And thanks to some great friends

who helped us celebrate.

My sweet beautiful Googles turned 8 years old.

In our church that is the age for baptism.

She was smiley and glowed on her special day.

Her cousin, Ty, was also baptized.

He is on her left in the picture.

A great group shot of both sides of the fam that came.

 Thank you family!

My sister, my niece and me.

Cooking for New Year's Eve.

So much fun.

I so wish they lived closer!!!

And more recently...

Trev and I got to go to Maui together.

It was WONDERFUL!

He did a lot of this...kiteboarding.

We did a lot of relaxing

and just taking in the beautiful surroundings.

I think I can hear the ocean waves right now...

I have video!
I ziplined for my first time!
SO FUN!
Ok...I did scream.
But it was a happy scream!

And I will leave you with that!
Until next time...