Homecoming Dance

Last month was the Homecoming Dance at Sam's school. James asked Sam to the dance at the football game a few weeks before the dance. He asked the cheerleaders to spell out "HC?" with their pompoms and he was standing near them with a big (huge) board that said "SAM" on it and he was holding a boquet of roses. She was very surprised!  The top left picture is her reaction, the top right is James holding the roses and the bottom is (obviously) both of them together.

 

The day of the dance, our friend, Andrea, did Sam's hair and make-up. She did a GREAT job and Sam looked so nice!

 

James had a bow tie that wasn't a clip on and he didn't know how to tie it, so Sam looked up a video on YouTube and tied it for him.

 

Taking care of the boutineer and coursage....

 

The finished results! They looked really nice and had a great time!!

 

 

 

 

 

Neal's visit

The past few days, my nephew, Neal, was here for a visit. We picked him up at the airport on Thursday afternoon and took him to Seattle. The last time he was here, he was really young (3 or 4 maybe?), so he didn't remember any of the visit. We went to Pike's Market and walked along with waterfront. The next day, after he went to orientation for his new job, we suprised Sam by picking her up at girls camp. I thought maybe Neal would like to see a little more of our beautiful state. Sam was very happy (and very surprised) to see us when we got there. Today we just hung out at home in the morning and then took him to the airport in the afternoon. We LOVED having him here. It had been about 3 years or so since Sam and I had seen him. Hopefully, he will be able to come back again sometime with his new job.

Neal is rockin the Jesse hat. haha

The gum wall.....SO disgusting - yet so fascinating.

Sun, fast rides and water...

We had originally planned on going to Nevada and Utah for our vacation this summer, but our car had other plans. The week we were suppose to leave, it started acting up, which lead to me having to take it to the auto shop for some work. I dropped it off for the day, but had to take it back the next day again for a different problem. Then a couple days later, yet ANOTHER problem came up. By the time it was up and running again, it was too late to go anywhere for too long. Sam is going to girls camp next week, so we didn't have much time to begin with. Anyway, we decided it would be fun to go to a water park for a day. The weather was great! It was sunny and warm with an occasion breeze to cool us down a little.

It's soccer time again....

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything new. I look at the blog occasionally and think to myself that I need to do something about that, but I keep putting it off. Well, today I decided that I'm not putting it off any longer and I'm going to keep it up (or try to, anyway).

School started back up on September 7th and life has been crazy ever since. The soccer season started 2 weeks before school started, with pratices every day and the first game was the day before school started. Sam loves playing soccer and I love watching her games. I love to take lots of pictures, too. There's nothing like getting "the perfect shot".....it's just so exciting! She plays goalie the first half of the game and then either outside mid or forward the second half. Here are some pictures that I've taken so far this seasosn. Enjoy....

Vacation 2011: 2nd stop...Salt Lake

Things have been so busy the past month, I haven't had time to blog about the rest of our vacation. I keep thinking I need to update it, but keep putting it off. This morning I decided there's no time like right now. So....before I put it off longer - here's more of our vacation.


After we left Vera's home, we went to Utah. On the way there, we made a quick stop at Lake Tahoe and Virginia City.

Virginia City is a fun place to visit.

Beautiful Lake Tahoe!

We spent an afternoon with Loren & Rhonda and their family. It was so great to see them all again!

Amanda got a lesson in legos and cars - compliments of Bradley and Caleb.

Amanda and Sam had a great time playing with Bella and Oliver.

Amanda spent an afternoon with her old roommate (and friend) from her 1st year at SUU, so Sam and I decided to hang out at Temple Square. It's such a beautiful place to visit.

We went to a Bees game with Alma and Matti and their children one night. It was so much fun. We sat on the grass in outfield, where the kids could run around and have a good time.

Vacation 2011: 1st destination...Vera's home

The first destination of our vacation this year was to visit my neice, Vera. She lives in Davis, CA and owns her own funeral home. Her residence just happens to be above the funeral home, also. It had been 4 years since we'd visited her and I really don't know WHY we waited so long! :0) We had such a great time! We ate lots of yummy food, visited some really fun places and took lots of fun pictures. (Well.....in our opinion some of the pictures we took are fun. Some people, however, don't share our same opinion. You'll see why when you see some of the pictures.) :0)


Outside Vera's work and home!



Having a little fun in the embalming room.

After we visited Vera's Winters location, she let the girls drive the hearse home. It completely made their day!

How many people can say they had their picture taken INSIDE a casket and lived to tell about it???

The weather was so warm, it felt good to stand inside the cooler for a little bit. (Don't worry...there were no "customers" in there when we were taking advantage of the cool air.)

We took a walk through the arboritum. Such a beautiful place!

Can you tell the girls were hot and tired?




I forgot what this place was called, but it was SO YUMMY!! Noodle City? Something like that.

Best. Breakfast. Place. EVER!!!

Crepes!! I'd LOVE to have a place like this around here. (Or maybe it's a good thing we don't.)


We also went to Old Sacramento. We had never been there and it was definately worth it!