Dancing Princess!

Saturday, June 28th was Alysabeth's dance recital! She did an amazing job--I especially loved her tap dancing number! We're so proud of her--she really works hard!

Waiting for their number to be called.

Alysabeth and her friend Rachel--ready for the "Happy Days" finale!

Alysa was so excited--she received flowers from Aunt Carla and Uncle Blaine, beautiful ROSES from Daddy and a very cute Tinkerbell sculpture from Nana and Papa! She did a wonderful job--we love you honey!

BIG TREES!

Friday, June 27th we went to the big trees. After a trip of winding roads--glad nobody got sick in the car--we made it. The girls got right out of the car and found this giant pinecone!

Emily and Alysabeth--huge pinecone!

YUM--a picnic lunch! The kids had a great time feeding the squirrels Cheetos.

My blond Twins--so cute and growing so fast!

Moments before this picture Alysabeth fell over the back of this fence--she wished we had caught it on video so we could send it into America's Funniest Home Videos--I was just glad she didn't get hurt!

Look at that giant stump behind them--incredible.

BIG TREES!

The whole gang on a giant stump.

Just the boys.

Just the girls--if you can see them, the tree is so massive.

WOW!

Cool double tree!

BIG TREES

Alysa in a tree stump.

Evan--such a poser.

Caden--played Indiana Jones all day.

A walk through a fallen tree.

They were all troopers and we had a great hike!

June 26th

I didn't take any pictures yesterday but I thought I would let you know what we did. Carla and Blaine wanted 'In n Out' for lunch--have to have that at least once while you're in CA! From there we took the kids to the Ghirardelli Factory Outlet store and Ice Cream Shoppe. Evan and Alysa each got a GIANT banana hot fudge sundae and Caden got a s'more sundae with a heaping spoonful of marshmallow cream on top--he was in heaven. Everyone was full and happy so we came home and chilled. Blaine and Carla were kind enough to babysit for Brad and I since we had to attend a Rotary function--which was fun and a bit crazy. Thanks Carla and Blaine! I will try to take some pictures today!

Japantown--June 25th

Caden, Evan and Alex in front of the Osaka Castle replica in Japantown.

Caden and Evan with "wealthy/good luck" cat.

Same cat but with Alysabeth and Emily.

Picture Blaine took of Brad and I by the pool.

June 25th

After spending the day in San Francisco--Japantown and stuffing ourselves at Pietro's (Italian), we decided to burn it off with a little swimming!

Alysabeth--nice goggles!

Evan--what a stud!

Caden--"Turtle-man!"--cutie!

Alex, Evan and Caden--in the hot tub.

Alysa and Emily in the hot tub--Alysa loves those goggles.

June 24th

Tuesday, June 24th was a very smoky day outside (tons of fires burning in Northern CA, right now). So, we took the kids to "Someplace Fun" in Galt. We also went to the Spaans Cookie Co.

You can't tell but this is Evan--shooting down the slide.

Alex and Caden in the tunnel.

Alysabeth and Emily--the 2 princesses!

After a crazy day of jumping, eating cookies and dance class, here we are at our favorite Chinese restaurant--Yen Ching in Stockton. Emily and Alysabeth--just like sisters!

The three musketeers--Evan, Caden and Alex.

A Family Visit

On Monday, June 23rd, Brad's sister Carla, her husband Blaine and their kids, Alex and Emily arrived for a visit. We had a nice BBQ dinner with bratwurst and fruit salad and after, Uncle Blaine took us to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a sweet treat. Here are all the cousins hugging the Rocky Mountain bear. Aunt Carla even bought a chocolate bisquit for our pup Miss Violet.

Baseball Swim Party

Coach John with the T-shirt they awarded the boys.

Temple, our wonderful team Mom and all the coaches--THANKS for a GREAT season!

Evan swimming off the loss--they had a GREAT season!

Alysabeth and Caden got to take a dip too!

Caden, you won't sink in that get-up!

TOC Results

Well, our baseball season came to an end yesterday. Friday was a tight game, we squeaked by with a 4 to 3 win in the last inning. Saturday was a fairly easy game for us, we won 11 to 1. Sunday was a rough game. We played Pioneer, who we played first in the tournament and lost to. Our boys did an amazing job! We lost the game 5 to 6. However, the team we played lost two of their pitchers for the game due to cheating and they also messed with their batting line-up. Brad gave a wonderful speech to the boys at the end about how far we'd come and even though we lost, we never played dirty! Evan made it to bat 3 times and hit 2 of those times and was walked the third. Evan also made the catch of his life in right field--I started crying the second he caught that ball--it was AMAZING!!!! Wish I'd got that on video! The boys did a wonderful job this season--can't wait for Winter Ball! It has been so fun watching Evan this season--baseball is totally his thing! His coach said that he has the "prettiest swing" of anyone on their team. We're so proud of him!!

TOC Video

Evan's first line drive of the night. He brought two runners in--Yeah baby! Sorry that the filming is a bit crazy. I get so excited when my boy smacks that ball.

Video

This was Evan's 2nd line drive of the night. He again brought two runners in and we won the game 10 to 0. We will play again on Friday night! (Game 4--6/18/08)

More TOC video

I tried for a few hours to download the videos of Evan's 2 line drives that he hit tonight but, I don't know what was up. I will try again tomorrow. They won their game 10 to 0 and will play again on Friday at 5:30. Evan's two line drives brought in FOUR runners! (Game 4--6/18/08).

TOC Videos

First, to hear the video, please turn the music off. This is Evan's first time at bat and he hit a pop up. The catcher almost had it but dropped the ball and Evan was able to get on base. He made it all the way around this inning and scored a run! Yeah baby!

TOC Videos

This was Evan's second time at bat. He hit a line drive and brought two runners in--2 points! We won this game 11 to 1. Again I say--GO YANKEES!!

Caden's play scene

Caden spent the day watching "Jurassic Park". Here is his medieval castle chuck full of dinosaurs.

OH, and I had to get a close up of this. Who knew that Darth Vader lived during the Jurassic period. But here he is amongst the palm trees with a battery-powered tealight campfire. Caden has to be one of the most creative, imaginative kids I know.

Caden's First Lost Tooth.

Here it is, Caden lost his first tooth, happened last night 6-15-08. He is a bit teary eyed because Daddy pulled it out with some dental floss. I wish I had on video what he said when it came out--one of the words was "Hallelujah". The tooth fairy brought him $2--she must have thought he was pretty brave because $2 is pretty generous! My baby is growing up so fast.

After taking the picture of Caden, the Twins had to get in on the action and posed for this picture with Violet. Silly kids!

Crazy Cousins!

Madison and Alysabeth enjoying some mini cupcakes.

Evan and Jackson

Dawson getting all the chocolate cleaned off.

Goofy grin and a chocolate face--what else is new!

Bubble fun in the backyard. We miss you Corban!

Father's Day 2008

Aunt Heather had this crazy idea to make some funky ties. Here's how they turned out.

Funny ties! Evan with Uncle Tony--it was so nice to have my Aunt Bev and Uncle Tony here from Washington! They got to see Evan play baseball and then we had a BBQ at our house to celebrate Father's Day (a day early).

Aunt Bev took this picture of Mom, Heather and me. We all look pretty tired--baseball all day and Heather had been to a swim party. Miss you Jack!

Close up of Dad's tie--Alysa made his.