SELF PORTRAIT OF ME

I am taking two classes this summer - one is Art (which is for a non-art major). According to the syllabus, you do not have to have artist ability. One of the projects was to draw a self-portrait. I don't think this drawing looks anything like me but I like the drawing. Not bad for a non-artist!!!

Field Trip

I took the kids to the City Pool today to get out of the house and to get outside!! The city pool is about 20 minutes from us. It is a lot of fun. They have two water slides and a kiddie water park with sprinklers and water stuff. It's a nice change for the kids. Even mom gets in the water and cools off. I don't know about anyone reading this but our temperature here in Bakersfield has been around 109 degrees. THAT IS HOT!! Today was a bit better but still hot!!!

What a picture!

The Lord took time out of his business schedule

to show me how beautiful this world is.....

I took this picture a few nights ago at

sunset.

The clouds were absolutely beautiful.

The clouds were purple, red, orange

and white.

What a great evening to share with my Lord!

My thought for the day: Take time out of your business schedule

and look around and see how wonderful our world is...

it's not ALL bad.

SPRINKLERS

A part of our sprinkler system out front has broken due to kids....go figure. So, I find myself outside morning and evening watering that area by hand. One evening while out there I recalled a memory. When I was a bit younger say.......jr. high or younger......my dad would often tell me to go outside and "water the edges" of our lawn. I laugh at the thought now. Who knew that what I thought was a stupid chore when I was younger was going to come back and "haunt" me later in life........LOL Thanks mom and dad for teaching patience!

Today is my sister's birthday

So, today marks my sister TINK (Monica Jo)'s 52nd birthday!!! WOW! My sister is a wonderful friend to me. Even though we don't talk as often as we should, it just seems when we do talk we just pick up where we left off. She is definetely there for me through thick or thin. She will make time for me if I ask. She is an incredible sister. I love her so much. I feel so lucky to have you as a part of my life. As we get older, our relationship gets better and better......



Here's a memory: My sister and I are 12 years apart....so when my sister was dating, I would get to tag along on the date!!! Boy did I have fun!!! Not so much for my sister and her date!! LOL



Happy Birthday TINK!!!!
Love your "Pumpkin" (that's my sister's nickname for me since I was little)

A Briggor moment....

We all the kids that celebrate birthdays in our house, Briggor has learned what it means when a cake is placed in front of the birthday child and candles are lit. We had a wonderful BRIGGOR moment the night of Jade's birthday. We turned out the lights, lit the candles and Briggor leaned over towards Jade and spoke softly and said, "Make a wish, Jade!!" ---- how adorable is that?

Happy 9th Birthday - JADE!!!

On Monday, June 16th, Jade celebrated her 9th Birthday. What a day she had.....Jade and her sisters, Megan and Tasha, started out her day at the mall for lunch. At noon, we had a appointment at Libby Lu. If you don't know what Libby Lu is....go here http://www.clublibbylu.com/ . Libby Lu is an adorable "GIRLY" store. The girls were pampered for 2 hours.....getting their nails done, makeup done, hair done and were able to shop in the store. The girls had the "SPA PACKAGE". That included designing their own lotion, shower gel, face mask, body fragrance. They sang songs,,,, performed in the doorway of libby lu for all the world to see. After we left LibbyLu, we headed over to Build-A-Bear. At Build-A-Bear, Jade fell in love with an elephant. She had to have it! Jade's day ended with her "special" dinner of chicken nuggets, salad and chips. Jade celebrated with her family with homemade cake and ice cream with presents to end the day.

Summertime Fun

Summertime fun......

the kids are enjoying their summer vacation .....

-eating popsicles

-sleeping in the clubhouse outside under the stars

-water balloon fights

-trips to the beach, catching waves, throwing a frisbee, picking up stones and shells

-movies

-swimming in the pool

-running through sprinklers

-staying up late

-road trips

Happy 40th Birthday to ME!!

Last Friday, June 6th, I celebrated my 40th Birthday. It is hard to believe that 40 years has come and gone. Reflecting back, it has been a roller coaster ride. Ups and downs but always in a forward motion. I am so excited to see what the next 40 years of my life is going to be like....right now....my life is pretty perfect. I hope it continues on this wonderful roller coaster ride. I would rather take out the really big hills and just continue to coast into the future instead of rollering. :)

So, on with my birthday celebration.....
It was a bit bittersweet. Two days prior to my birthday, I fell and hurt my foot really bad. By Friday, my birthday, it was hurting so bad that it brought tears to my eyes. Well, as it went, I spent 2 hours of my birthday in URGENT care trying to find out what was wrong with my foot. They x-rayed it and found nothing. So the dr assumed that I pulled a tendon on the outside of my foot, gave me crutches and said get off your foot and rest. (YEA, right with 8 kids).

While at URGENT care, I had lots of teasing. Since they can see from the chart that I was there on my birthday. Some nurses asked if I was drunk when I fell.....no I said. They laughed and said I probably wouldn't be here if I was drunk....I wouldn't have hurt my foot. LOL

So, let's talk about the fun stuff.....
My husband and baby took me to a nice quiet breakfast at Mimi's Cafe here in town. Unbeknownst to me, all the other kids were busy decorating the house for my arrival. When I returned....the house was full of balloons, all the kids were home, and there were streamers everywhere. It just made me smile.

I opened presents - my husband bought me a emerald necklace and ring, some 1968 joke stuff like a coffee mug with event from 1968, a "VINTAGE 1968" t-shirt (HAHAHA), playing cards with 1968 trivia, some clothes, a hand-drawn picture, a gift certificate to OLD NAVY, an IOU for the new Wii Fit video game (REMEMBER: my list for 2008 - was to get healthy and fit) :)

All in all, it was a nice quiet birthday with my husband and children.

SURPRISE!!

Well, my husband pulled it off. I had the surprise of my life on Saturday night. I was feeling a bit "FUNKY" on Saturday. Just not myself. We were running all over town with errands and the weather was a bit warm. Mark and I went to the grocery store to decide what we wanted to BBQ that evening. Mark kept buying all this food. I kept asking who is coming over. He never said anything. When we arrived home, I couldn't believe it....my mom, my sister and her husband surprised me to celebrate my 40th birthday A WEEK EARLY!! I just couldn't say anything...I just welled up with tears. I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe that between Mark, my mom, my sister and Jim that they were able to pull that off. We had a great evening! We BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs. We sat outside back and talked while we drank and the men smoke cigars. They had a cake and candles. What a great birthday celebration!!

A trip to the LA ZOO

Last Friday, we took some of the kids to the Los Angeles Zoo. We had such a good time. The weather was perfect, the company was great and the food was fantastic. We saw many animals - lions, tigers, giraffe, gorillas, alligators etc. The kids enjoyed running from one exhibit to the next. Mark and I enjoyed watching our children's faces as we walked around the zoo.