Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Happy 35th, yes 35 years everyone, Anniversary to my in-laws, Bob & Michelle. Their anniversary falls on my dad's birthday, so it's very easy to remember!! Mom and Dad, praise God for getting you guys this far, what a great example for all us youngins. Mike and I pray that the Lord will richly bless the next 35 years for you guys and bring you many more wonderful memories together!! Enjoy your trip to Monterey next weekend...you deserve it!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Happy Birthday to my daddy!!! My dad is so lucky to have his birthday on Memorial weekend almost every year!! To celebrate his birthday, my family...mom, dad, Mike, me, Cole, Emilie and Brice, drove up to beautiful Santa Barbara to visit the Santa Barbara Zoo. Cole's first visit to the zoo...and he really enjoyed it!! He really enjoyed being carted around and pointing out all the awesome animals to us! And there are a ton of just wild birds that fly over the park, we both were going crazy!! :) Here is a picture of the family at the Zoo. And there is a picture of Mike and Cole checking out one of the "Reptile House" exhibits. And if you are wondering about the picture of the giraffe...yes, it does have a broken neck. It's been that way since birth and is actually functions just the same as all the other giraffes, eating, playing and all that. Pretty unbelievable, that's for sure. The If you have never been to the S.B. Zoo, you need to go...not only is it a awesome zoo, but the landscaping and views are amazing!! And the weather is never too too hot because it's right next to beach. And it's not huge like the LA Zoo so you can view pretty much everything in about 3 hours or so. After the zoo, we drove down to Ventura to eat at Joe's Crab Shack, which was a pretty cool restaurant. The view was great too, the food so-so. It was a great way to spend Memorial Day with my family and my dad's 62nd birthday! Dad...I love you so very much and am so lucky to call you my dad and my friend! You are an amazing guy and are always so much fun! Here's to this next year...I pray that the Lord will richly bless it and many more to come!!! I love ya...Papua. :)

An Engagement!!

Congratulations to my sister-in-law Katy (Mike's sister) and her now fiance, Beau, on their recent engagement! We are so very excited for you both and are praying that the Lord will be in the center of your relationship! Both Mike and I will be in the wedding which is scheduled to happen February 10th, 2007. I'm pretty sure they booked the same church that Mike and I got married in, the Haven House Chapel...so cute and quaint! Katy and Beau actually dated in high school for a while and broke-up. They recently reconnected, actually at my birthday party last July, and have been inseperable since. Now here's the weird part...Katy is Mike's sister, Beau is the brother of Brice who is dating my sister Emilie. It's all one big love circle in these three families!! Pretty crazy how it is all working out! Katy and Beau, we love you so much and are again, so excited to be a part of this special day with you and all the festivities to come!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Happy Mother's Day to my mama! (I don't have a great picture of my mom and I on the computer...since our other one crashed a few months ago.) Mom, you are such a wonderful, godly woman and I am so blessed to have you as my mother. You are amazing and thank you for always showing me so much love and devotion. I have so many awesome memories growing up and recently and I love you so very much. Also, Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law, Michelle. Thank you for always showing me love and accepting me into your family with open arms. It has been wonderful getting to know and love you for the past 10 years and I truly feel blessed to call you "mom."

And a Happy Mother's Day goes out to all my friends who are mothers. Lindsay, my sis-in-law, keep up the good work raising my nieces. Bev, Lindsay's mom, thanks for being another "mom" to me. Kristal, happy 1st Mom's day, and I'm so sorry that I can't give you a great big hug!!! I miss you already. Debra, happy Mommy-to-be Day...it won't be long before you are holding your little one in your arms and staring at the wonder God created. Julie...thanks for being such a great friend and continuing to be an encouragement to me and a role model for a mommy. You are a great one!! Sarah...happy Mommy-to-be Day to you too! We can't wait to see your little one! Becky, Happy Mom's Day to you, and soon to be doubled! Jody, Happy Mother's Day...thanks for always being such a godly example for me, both for a wife and a mother! Lori...Happy Mother's Day to you too! You are amazing and are loved so much. Thanks to you too for always being such a godly encouragement to me! Kori, happy 1st Mother's Day to you. Thanks for staying a friend all these years and letting me meet your beautiful daughter last week. And Morna, my cousin, happy 1st Mother's Day to you! Zachary is such a handsome boy, and I'm so proud of you and Steve! You are a great mommy already! Motherhood is so amazing and I feel truly blessed to call myself a mommy along with all of you!! I love you all dearly!

Teacher Tribute Dinner Night!

On Thursday, May 11th, Mike was the KEYNOTE SPEAKER, yes ladies and gents...keynote speaker at the most prestigious event of the year for all the Santa Clarita school districts. He was nominated by his principal, and then chosen out of over 130 first year teachers, to speak at this dinner in front of over 500 people. He was pretty nervous, but he did SO amazing. He had them laughing, sighing, crying, and laughing some more. After he finished, he received a standing ovation from over half of the attendees. Two other speakers that followed him said, "Wow, how am I to follow that?" and "I can't hold a candle to the rookie!" It was a great success and a high point of this pretty turbulent first year of teaching. He had so many, I'm talking at least 50 or 60, people come up to him after the event was over, and congratulate him, thank him, and hug him. It was a really fun night and so wonderful to see Mike in his element and do so well. I was definitely one proud wife and felt very lucky to be standing next to him. Here is a picture of him doing his thing!
And here's a picture of the program and our table's placecards...note the "Keynote Speaker" on Mike's! :)

5 Bumps on a Log!

Isn't this just so cute! This is Maddy, holding Natalie, Cole, Davis, and Collin! I still can't believe we got these children to pose for the 10 seconds it took to take the picture. This was taken at Josh & Jenny Blanken's house during the Sawyer Goodbye party. After church on Sunday, a bunch of friends got together to say goodbye-for-now to them and we had a blast watching all the kids play together. Such a hustle-bustle when there are so many kids together in one house. A great time for a not-so-great reason to get together. But, we will see Shaun, Kristal and their beautiful daughter, Natalie, soon. They are moving to Arizona this Friday as Shaun just got a great worship leader position with the youth ministry department of an awesome church in Mesa. Shaun, we are so excited for you and we'll be praying that the Lord does great things through your talents. We'll miss you guys like crazy, as we really feel that the Lord has blessed us with your friendship and encouragement. However, we know that the Lord has big plans for your family! God bless and good luck! We love you guys!

Easter Eggs Gone Bad!!!

Can you believe my husband? His cheeks are UNBELIEVABLE!!! Cole was laughing so hard looking at his daddy!!! This house is always a riot, I tell ya!!!

Finally, a picture of Justin!

I finally remembered to get a couple of pictures of Justin, the little guy that I'm watching during the week. It's going pretty well, and again, I'm so glad to have some money coming in. Here's a couple of pictures of Justin and Cole playing together.

A Great Anniversary Date!

So this is a little late, but just wanted to let everyone know about our fun date on our anniversary. I planned a whole evening for Mike and I to go on an adventure. We started out at our house and he opened up his card, which had a clue in it to start off his anniversary scavenger hunt. That took us to the Santa Clarita pool where we played as kids, but never actually met. His present there was two pairs of awesome boardshorts. Then his next clue took him to Saugus High School where we met when I was in 9th grade, he was in the 10th. We walked around the campus for a few minutes and then he opened up his next present and clue, which was a little book about teachers and a gift certificate for Barnes and Noble. The clue led him to my house that I grew up at, on Cabrera Avenue. His gift there was a book on guitars and how to play. His next clue took him to Olive Garden, where we shared our first date about 9 years ago. It was at the Northridge Olive Garden, but I cheated and had him go to our new one here. Instead of eating dinner here, I had on order two pieces of tiramisu, our favorite dessert! His next clue led him to Grace Baptist's ampitheatre where Mike proposed to me on October 14, 2000. Here we took a picture with our timer on our camera and it turned out pretty cute!

Then we headed over to Kisho, our favorite restaurant, and where we announced our engagement to both of our families. After an incredible dinner, Mike's last clue led him to the Haven House chapel where we were married April 28, 2001! I packed up our wine bag and had Mike's last present in there, which were a pair of shamrock cuff links and a nice poem. All in all, the night was so much fun, a great time to walk down memory lane and remember all the special places in our relationship. And a thanks goes out to my mom for watching Cole and letting us have a few hours to ourselves!

A New Baby Boy!!

Congratulations to my cousin Steve and his beautiful wife, Morna, on the arrival of their first baby!!! Their son, Zachary Roderick Nish was born this morning around 6:30 a.m. after Morna's water broke in the middle of the night. Her due date wasn't until the 1st week of June, so when I got the call this evening, I was very surprised and excited!! We haven't even had her shower yet. :) Zachary weighed in at 5 lbs. 5 ozs. and I believe 18 1/2 inches long. Morna had to have a C-section as Zachary was in the breech position, so my sympathies go out to ya Morna! Just wanted to share the great news with everyone. Steve and Morna...you guys are going to make EXCELLENT parents. Thanks for letting us come and meet your little man! Praise God for a healthy baby boy and mama! I love you guys!