I know.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Scenes from SoCal 2
Sand Dune Park in Manhattan Beach is a perfect place to burn off a meal from Johnnie's Pastrami. This is a really cool park that is just a huge hill of sand for climbing up and then (the fun part) running down! The kids and Daddy had a blast. Of course I didn't do any climbing because, well, you know how bad sand is for a camera! :) Really, I should have.
I know.
I know. 
Scenes from SoCal 1
Back to Cali we go again!
Ahhhhh, the first place DH wanted to go after stepping off the plane. His most beloved Johnnie's Pastrami. He started drooling the second the landing gear went down. French dip pastrami and chili cheese fries are what he loves. This place is really cool, we used to love to come here late at night after a night of partying (before kiddos of course) when they had the fire pits going. Today it was a perfect sunny Cali day, I was so in awe of the beautiful light. DH was so proud of his little girl as she mowed down a bunch of pastrami AND the chili cheese fries with him. I'm thinking we will need a little exercise now!
Ahhhhh, the first place DH wanted to go after stepping off the plane. His most beloved Johnnie's Pastrami. He started drooling the second the landing gear went down. French dip pastrami and chili cheese fries are what he loves. This place is really cool, we used to love to come here late at night after a night of partying (before kiddos of course) when they had the fire pits going. Today it was a perfect sunny Cali day, I was so in awe of the beautiful light. DH was so proud of his little girl as she mowed down a bunch of pastrami AND the chili cheese fries with him. I'm thinking we will need a little exercise now!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
2 Months Gone By
A little less than 2 months ago I had a very strange dream. I knew that the next day I was supposed to find out if the second in a series of 4 tests my Dad would go through would be positive for Lung Cancer. We were hopeful it would just be some bug they could knock out with antibiotics, not that dreaded C word again. My Dad was a 20+ year bladder cancer Survivor. He showed extraordinary strength beating it so long ago. Little did we know that the tough chemo drugs he was on 20 years ago that helped saved his life also damaged his heart. It weakened his body but not his spirit and we have always felt so lucky to have him all of these years.
My dream was incredibly vivid, in full color and very strange. All of my back teeth were falling out. It wasn't painful, I wasn't even really disturbed by what was happening to me in my dream. I remember being a little upset but only because I would have to go through some major dental work to get them fixed. I could just touch them and they would fall out and I would have a mouthful of teeth. I remembered it so well the next day and was so perplexed by it I had to look it up on one of those silly dream interpretation websites. It wasn't hard to find and it wasn't something I wanted to hear. I read one...then another and another...they all said basically the same thing: Someone would die, brace yourself for something bad to happen. So I did. I will probably be amazed by this dream thing for the rest of my life.
It would take another week, and 2 more tests but the Dx would finally come: Stage 4 Lung Cancer. They did a couple of rounds of a newer, gentler chemo which seemed promising to gain us some time and help relieve his coughing. I got to go out to see him for four days and all of my siblings were there. He was clearly in a lot of pain, very weak, and had so much trouble just catching his breath to talk, but it was all so normal and nice. We spent some time talking and just "being" together. Julie gave me the greatest advice ever...to just be in the moment with him...I am so glad that I did. The night before I flew home we all sat down to dinner together. Mom, Dad my sister Karen and myself. No kids, no spouses, just us. Just like we had so many hundreds of times before growing up. It seems kind of surreal now but it is something I will hold on to forever. When I finally got home at midnight that next day I called Mom to check in and Dad was in the ICU.
The chemo had started to shrink the tumors but his poor old heart just couldn't take it. It finally gave out on May 4th, a totally mixed blessing that he wouldn't have to suffer the inevitable suffocation and pain from the lung cancer but so hard for us to lose him so quickly.
I flew back out the next day to be with my Mom and my sisters. We had a beautiful little get together in his memory called a "paddle out." No funeral for this man, he would never like that. All of his 5 kids and 12 grand kids were there to say goodbye in our own way. His 2 oldest grandsons paddled a beautiful wreath out to the reef on their surfboards and we all sent messages to him tied to balloons. It was beautiful and comforting but I will miss him dearly and I am so sad that my kids had so little time with him. I'm still not sure I am believing it all, it happened so quickly. But hopefully that's just because I don't feel he is totally gone, his presence is still stong, he's still my Dad, and he will always be with me.
My dream was incredibly vivid, in full color and very strange. All of my back teeth were falling out. It wasn't painful, I wasn't even really disturbed by what was happening to me in my dream. I remember being a little upset but only because I would have to go through some major dental work to get them fixed. I could just touch them and they would fall out and I would have a mouthful of teeth. I remembered it so well the next day and was so perplexed by it I had to look it up on one of those silly dream interpretation websites. It wasn't hard to find and it wasn't something I wanted to hear. I read one...then another and another...they all said basically the same thing: Someone would die, brace yourself for something bad to happen. So I did. I will probably be amazed by this dream thing for the rest of my life.
It would take another week, and 2 more tests but the Dx would finally come: Stage 4 Lung Cancer. They did a couple of rounds of a newer, gentler chemo which seemed promising to gain us some time and help relieve his coughing. I got to go out to see him for four days and all of my siblings were there. He was clearly in a lot of pain, very weak, and had so much trouble just catching his breath to talk, but it was all so normal and nice. We spent some time talking and just "being" together. Julie gave me the greatest advice ever...to just be in the moment with him...I am so glad that I did. The night before I flew home we all sat down to dinner together. Mom, Dad my sister Karen and myself. No kids, no spouses, just us. Just like we had so many hundreds of times before growing up. It seems kind of surreal now but it is something I will hold on to forever. When I finally got home at midnight that next day I called Mom to check in and Dad was in the ICU.
The chemo had started to shrink the tumors but his poor old heart just couldn't take it. It finally gave out on May 4th, a totally mixed blessing that he wouldn't have to suffer the inevitable suffocation and pain from the lung cancer but so hard for us to lose him so quickly.
I flew back out the next day to be with my Mom and my sisters. We had a beautiful little get together in his memory called a "paddle out." No funeral for this man, he would never like that. All of his 5 kids and 12 grand kids were there to say goodbye in our own way. His 2 oldest grandsons paddled a beautiful wreath out to the reef on their surfboards and we all sent messages to him tied to balloons. It was beautiful and comforting but I will miss him dearly and I am so sad that my kids had so little time with him. I'm still not sure I am believing it all, it happened so quickly. But hopefully that's just because I don't feel he is totally gone, his presence is still stong, he's still my Dad, and he will always be with me.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Mmmmmmmmmm
Margarita...Patron Margarita. Mmmmmmmm. Do you notice the main focal point in all of these photos? :) It was so good to get away with the girls last weekend. We got to spend a night cropping and talking...and we spent a little time in Margaritaville...really we did! We returned home refreshed with our souls nourished. Thanks girls! 
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wild Man
Ok, so not that wild but he came home from skiing with Dad the other day so excited that he was going off the jump...and Dad got it on video.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Easter SNOWday!
Not Easter Sunday but SNOWday. We had beautiful thick flakes coming down most of the day. It was beautiful, but man, I am ready for Spring. So all Egg Hunts were performed inside at Granny's house. The kids still loved it of course, sometimes it it just so funny to find eggs in the chandelier! 
Can you see the snow behind Gavin? Took me MANY shots to get both to show. :)
Happy Easter!
Can you see the snow behind Gavin? Took me MANY shots to get both to show. :)
Happy Easter!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Girls night!
Gotta love em! Got to meet Nicole and Shannon for dinner and then Nicole and I met Julie for a really cool seminar on Photography. 
As usual there was a major snowstorm coming, I am not sure which one of us pissed off Mother Nature but she sure does have an attitude when we try to get together! Gheesh!
The seminar was great, lots learned about lighting and more of the pro techniques. Also learned that there are millions of dollars that I could easily spend on equipment if I, say, won the lottery or something.
Had a great night...so glad to see Julie healthy again too! The cool thing is that we all get to see each other again in a week for a little scrappy convention! yay! Love these girls!
As usual there was a major snowstorm coming, I am not sure which one of us pissed off Mother Nature but she sure does have an attitude when we try to get together! Gheesh!The seminar was great, lots learned about lighting and more of the pro techniques. Also learned that there are millions of dollars that I could easily spend on equipment if I, say, won the lottery or something.
Had a great night...so glad to see Julie healthy again too! The cool thing is that we all get to see each other again in a week for a little scrappy convention! yay! Love these girls!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
My Version of Clip it Up!
Love these little clips but I totally did not have room for the giant round holder. I was inspired by some people who have been creating their own rack for these lovely clips and started to try to make one myself. Then I saw my old baker's rack holding a bunch of junk in the basement....grabbed a clip...and wala! It fit! So I parked this baby right behind my scrappin' desk so I can just swivel around and grab my embellies right off the rack. It was so fun to organize and I should be able to USE more of this stuff since I won't have to dig through files. 
Right? :)
Right? :) 
Saturday, March 08, 2008
It's Official
We are now a bit more boring, feeling kind of old, and we are no longer cool....but the kids are elated and hmmmm life just seems a little bit easier now. We are officially a minivan family. Do I hear ROADTRIP??? :)
So there is also a DVD player in this thing...which of course thrills the kids to no end. Me, well I feel like I have given in. I have always thought it to be very important for kids to use time in the car for music, reading, road games, anything but being glued to a screen. Of course that makes any car ride over an hour very long and difficult for us keeping the kids entertained. So part of me is excited to have peaceful road trips...and part of me is disappointed with myself. So for those of you out there with DVD players in your cars....do you have any guidelines that work with these things? Rules, regulations, ideas for easing my conscious? I could really use it! :)
So there is also a DVD player in this thing...which of course thrills the kids to no end. Me, well I feel like I have given in. I have always thought it to be very important for kids to use time in the car for music, reading, road games, anything but being glued to a screen. Of course that makes any car ride over an hour very long and difficult for us keeping the kids entertained. So part of me is excited to have peaceful road trips...and part of me is disappointed with myself. So for those of you out there with DVD players in your cars....do you have any guidelines that work with these things? Rules, regulations, ideas for easing my conscious? I could really use it! :)Thursday, March 06, 2008
The Best Weekend...
I got to meet and bond with 12 new fabulous women, play with photos and jewelry and relax and rejuvinate! It was amazing and inspiring and I just hope that the let down crash won't be too bad! 
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Today is...
...my best friend's birthday....and she is that much closer to 40 than me! Hee hee. Miss ya girl, have a great day!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Moon Poop Catipillar
That is what it looks like when you take a photo of a lunar eclipse without a tripod, with a 30 sec shutter, when it is below zero outside. Just thought I would share. :) LOL
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Fairytale Land
The snowiest winter in recorded history. It is so bitter cold, life is slow, tedious, cautious. But what a beautiful thing it is. Our little city has been transformed into a beautiful fairytale land. 
The thing that is the hardest is I can only be outside for a few minutes to take photos before everything freezes up and my batteries drain.
The thing that is the hardest is I can only be outside for a few minutes to take photos before everything freezes up and my batteries drain. 
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Ski Saturday
Phew, it's been a while. Just crazy, crazy life taking up so much time. We managed a fun day this weekend...it is a banner year for skiing! We had one of those wonderful proud parent moments watching the kids skiing this weekend. They were both so determined to make it up the tow rope over and over without any help. Can't wait to go again!
Made the video with a little freebee program at muvee.com
Made the video with a little freebee program at muvee.com
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
GOD BLESS EDUCATION!!!
These two unruly, obnoxious, wild, uncontrollable, ornery, bored, combative, loud children are going back to school tomorrow!!! Haaaaaaalleeeeeeelujaaaaah!!!! Wishing their teachers the very best of luck! ;)
Hope you all had a very happy New Year! DH and I had a super fun night out. We ate amazing food, danced to the sounds of Latin Jazz and had some pretty cool adult (sort of) conversation! That is until the champagne started flowing...then, well, we were pretty much right back in high school.
Hope you all had a very happy New Year! DH and I had a super fun night out. We ate amazing food, danced to the sounds of Latin Jazz and had some pretty cool adult (sort of) conversation! That is until the champagne started flowing...then, well, we were pretty much right back in high school.
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