New Year's Resolution Complete!

Hi...I am very proud to say that I have just finished reading the Bible, from beginning to end, for the first time. My New Year's Resolution from 2006, my one and only, was to read the Bible from start to finish...and I did!! Yay for me and my walk with the Lord. I decided to read "The Daily Bible..In Chronological Order." I think it's a great way to get through the entire Bible and have everything make sense, historically. It was a challenge and several times through the year I got a week or two or three behind, but I would slowly catch myself up and this morning I finished out Revelations with a happy heart! Here's the cover of the Bible if anyone's interested in starting it up for 2007. It's not too late...I would encourage you to do so if you've never read the entire Bible. It only takes about 15-20 minutes a day. And I will need at least another 50 years of reading through it over and over to get even part of what the Lord wrote. :)

Carpinteria Birding at it's Best!

Hello...well after that crazy long blog, which TOTALLY didn't turn out like the preview...I had it all perfectly set up to go along with the pictures...I figured I'd better do a quick blog about the birding trip to Carpinteria. My mom, Judy, Mary and I were able to drive up to Carpinteria pretty early in the morning on Thursday, January 4th and stopped in Ventura along the way to check out the BIG waves that were crashing up onto the street. I figured I needed to get some pictures of this, so I proceeded to jump out of the car, and try and shoot a couple of pictures, finding a place along the road that wasn't wet at all...I'm sure you know where this is going. Well, about 10 minutes into me shooting pictures, a wave snuck up on me and as I was trying to run behind the car, it soaked me. My entire back and pants were dripping, so I took off the sweater and wrung it out, and Judy had a blanket in the back that I sat on for the rest of the trip. It was pretty funny!! :) I did however, get some great pictures looking up and down the coast...Anyway, we stopped off at the Carpinteria Bluffs and I was able to see a GORGEOUS white-tailed kite and a very cute white crowned sparrow which I got a good picture of...
We headed up to the Carpinteria Salt Marsh, where birding is always fun, and walked around for a couple of hours scoping out Great Egrets hunting for fish, Green Herons, Buffleheads, an incredible Cinnamon Teal which I have never seen before, a Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebes, Eared Grebes, Turkey Vultures, Killdeer, Willets, and many more. It was a really fun day and I was able to mark off a ton of new birds in my birding book. :) We finished up the morning by grabbing a quick bite at the Cajun Kitchen Cafe in downtown Carp and then headed home. It was a wonderful way to start the new year off! :) Here is a picture of the "beaches" in Carpinteria...however, the tide was so high, there was no beach. I was shocked. Many times, I have walked to the edge of that jeti in the distance. The tide and the waves were pretty
awesome.

A Desperately Late Blog Update! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! So sorry that I've been a little slow about updating the blog! It was a crazy busy holiday season this year and to top it all off, I've been sick with an upper respiratory infection since before Christmas. Where do I start...well, we started off the Christmas season with the Davis Clan down at my Uncle Roger & Aunt Diana's house in Laguna Beach on December 2nd. Their amazing house overlooks the Pacific with this incredible view! We had such a great time and had some awesome home cooked food! My dad and Steve were able to play guitar and entertain us for a while which was great to hear them play. :) And we were able to get all the cousin's kids in a picture for the first time. It didn't turn out perfect, but you get the idea, right? On the left, Cole, the middle is Savannah, daughter of my cousin Dusty and Suzanne, and on the right, Zachary, son of my cousin Steve & Morna. Pretty cute, huh?! And here's a picture of "the boys" enjoying a brewski.






The next
Christmas event was the 2nd annual Christmas Evening at Brian & Lindsay's house with the Koegle klan...here are a few pictures from the evening! We had a great lasgana dinner w/ salad and a fun chocolate fondue fountian for dessert!! Thanks guys for a great evening!!! :)






























We were also able to attend the 1st ever Villaflor Christmas Dinner Party on December 22nd. :) Emilie and Brice had us, Laina & Josh (who were engaged on Dec. 23rd! Congrats guys), Katy & Beau, and Tammy & Ryan over for a tasty dinner of chicken enchiladas, spanish rice, and mexican ceasar salad with a chocolate fondue fountain for dessert too! We played Apples to Apples and had a great time discussing what our favorite feature about the Lord is and what we are thankful for from 2006. Thanks Em & Brice for a fanastic evening! Here are a couple of pics from that night...Brice wasn't drinking at all, too! :)


















































Next we spent Christmas Eve day with my family. My dad who had been in the hospital for about 5 days, was able to be home for Christmas...he had an severe reaction to using an antibiotic weeks before. It had actually been slowly poisoning his body without him knowing it until he started having issues with diarrhea and vomiting and just feeling "crappy." No pun intended! :) His body went into acute kidney failure and I'm so glad the doctors were able to reverse the effects without having to do anything drastic like dialysis or anything. He had a bit of a relapse last week, but is feeling better and hopefully on the mend. Anyway...Emilie and Brice, Mike, Cole, and I, and my parents celebrated at my mom & dad's house and we had breakfast and opened gifts and had a great time. Thanks Mom & Dad for hosting us and for all the wonderful gifts. I know Cole loves to ride his trike that you bought him. Yay!





Our little family was able to attend a beautiful Christmas Eve service at Grace and then headed down to the Koegle household in Camarillo for Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day! We got there and ate a quick dinner then were able to relax for a while. After the kids went to bed, we organized the TREMENDOUS amount of gifts under, well, in the same room as the Christmas tree. We went to bed at a decent time after playing some cards and them woke up, had a great Christmas morning and then crashed almost the whole afternoon. I was not feeling well, Michelle was sick too, Lindsay and Bev had a stomach thing, Bob had hurt his back a few days earlier and Brian was nursing a broken foot. So, needless to say, it was kind of a boring Christmas afternoon and evening comparitively to ones past. We normally play all kinds of games and have a huge feast, however, that did not happen this year. We still cooked a turkey, but we ended up having sandwiches. It was actually really good. We headed home fairly early and got some rest. I was sick pretty badly for the next 4 or 5 days. Thank goodness Mike was on his two week vacation from work so he could be there to help me with Cole all the time. There's nothing like trying to take care of a kid when you, as the parent, are sick. :( Two weeks into my cold, I figured I'd better see a doctor and finally figured out that I had an upper repiratory infection, was given antibiotics that I'm just now finishing and still feeling so so. Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll feel like a normal human being again. :) Thank you to PopPop and Grammy, Brian, Lindsay and Bev for all the wonderful gifts to our family. We are certainly blessed to have such a great family, Koegles and Davis' and Villaflors included! :) Here are some pictures from the Koegle Family Christmas...

And lastly, even though we all were not feeling great, Mike & I and Cole, Emilie & Brice, and Mom & Dad hung out for New Year's Eve at the Davis house. We had a great time playing cards, having dinner and just hanging out!! Here's to a great 2007, eh??



My goodness, this was a long blog...hope all who read this didn't get to sick of hearing what's going on! :) We were able to go up to Carpinteria a couple of times over the break and do some WICKED awesome birding. Thanks Judy and Mary for going with us. I'll post some pics of that trip next time. I think this blog is long enough as it is. :) I feel so thankful that the Lord has yet again given us another year to praise him and another year to come closer to Him. May 2007 be even better than the last. God bless you! :)

Is anyone there??

I'm just wondering if anyone actually reads the posts that I write and spend so much time on. :) If you read this, will you please post a comment so I can see who is interested in what's going on! :) Thanks!

Happy Turkey Day!!

I know it's a little late...but just wanted to share about our fun Thanksgiving this year. We celebrated down at the Koegle's house in Camarillo and my parents and the "newlyweds" were able to go too. We had a great time watching football, playing with the kids, eating, hanging out and catching up, playing football, eating, playing charades and Pictionary and eating some more. I swear, Michelle, my mother-in-law, feels a definite need for everyone to gain at least 5 pounds before leaving her home. :) But we do love to eat all the goodies she puts out. We had a great time and here are some pictures from that day.
What a pretty spread for all to enjoy!

Doesn't Michelle do a beautiful job on the decorating? I think so!

Look at the pretty apple pie my mom and I made:

Katy and I being silly...

Cole hamming it up for the camera...

Some awesome action shots of the football game


Good form Mikey!

Beau & Brian being dorks for the camera...

All of us enjoying the holiday and getting ready to play charades!!


After playing charades until 1:00 a.m., we finally decided to hit the sack. Bev, Lindsay and I were a little crazy, but we got up at 4:45 and got ready very quickly and quietly and went shopping at the Thousand Oaks mall at 5:45 a.m. I've never done the whole "Day after Thanksgiving Early Bird Sale" thing, but I thought it would be fun to try this year. We had a great time and really did get a bunch of awesome deals on presents. And I would just like to brag a bit...I have (almost) all my Christmas shopping done and everything I've bought is already wrapped and under the tree ready to roll for Christmas! :) I'm very proud of myself. Last year I vowed I would not wait until the week before to start my shopping and be wrapping for hours and hours on Christmas Eve. And I followed through!! :) Yay for me. Now I'm able to start helping my mom with all of her Christmas present shopping. My house is totally decorated and all my holiday stuff is out and I've got the Christmas music channel on in the background at all times. I really do love Christmas time and I'm hoping that Cole will realize that it isn't about getting presents, it's about giving, and it's not about food and hulla-baloo, it's about spending quality time with our families and really remembering the whole reason for the season, Jesus Christ! Praise God for sending his Son to us...what a powerful event in the history of man.

Other news from the Koegle household...

- Yes, it is official, we have our house on the market. We actually put it up for sale about 5 weeks ago and I keep forgetting to blog about it. If you know of anyone in the market for a really cute townhome...send them our way. Please pray that the Lord's will is done in this situation, as it is very hard to just "wait it out" and work through the situation and stress of "selling" the home.

- Hallelujah...this last Friday was my last day working with Justin. About 3 weeks ago, I let them know that I have a couple of other options that are looking pretty good and that I am done watching him. This is going to be SUCH a huge relief off of my shoulders. Most of you know that I did not enjoy watching him, as he was a really hard child to work with. It was truly getting to me and Mike really encouraged me to pursue other options in order for me to be more happy. So...with that said, we are just praying that the Lord will make it very clear for what He has in store for me and for our family.

- Mike is rounding out the last couple of weeks of school (CSUN) and is doing wonderfully as usual. Please pray that the Lord will keep him motivated to finish out the semester with a bang and to just get to the end. :)

- Cole is doing really well these days. He's constantly learning more and more words, which just astounds me most of the time. I have a child that I can actually communicate with...it's totally cool! :) Once I was done decorating the house w/ all the Christmas stuff, I showed Cole what he could and couldn't touch. His favorite new phrase is, "Don't touch decorations." And you can truly tell what he is saying. It really is the cutest thing ever. He just babbles to me everywhere we go telling me about the cars, the trucks, the motos, the cows, the horses, the moon, the birds, the ducks, the coots, daddy, grandma, Pop Pop, Grammy (Ranny), Auntie Emilie, Brice, Sean, and many more friends. He is a total crack up. :) God is so good for what he gives us! :)

GO BUCKS!!

The Koegle Family certainly had a great time watching the Ohio State Buckeyes BEAT the Michigan Wolverines. They won 42-39 in a very close game and here are some pictures that showcase just how big of fans we all are...maybe a bit overboard at times, but too much fun!

Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Villaflor!!!

Okay, okay...I know it's been over two weeks since the wedding. I've been waiting until we have access to their proofs so everyone can see how incredible the whole wedding was!!! I, of course, did not have a camera and would not have had time to take pictures anyway. :) The link to the pictures is www.paigephotography.com. Click on "Info", then "Clients Viewing", then "Online Viewing & Ordering." Then you need to enter in my parents' email address: saddlenride@sbcglobal.net to access the page. Their set of pics is the first one on the page. Click on that and enjoy!! There are so many beautiful pictures that I know Em & Brice are gonna have a HARD time picking for their album.

The wedding went BEAUTIFULLY!!! I was so proud to be a part of it and so joyful to watch my best friend and sister marry the man of her dreams. Emilie looked GORGEOUS in her wedding gown and Brice looked SO handsome all done up!!! The ceremony was filled with smiles and tears. Emilie prerecorded herself singing a surprise song for Brice..."Come What May" from Moulin Rouge. It was unbelievable and Brice cried...hard. It was so cool to watch the two of them and also to watch my dad walk Emilie down the aisle!! :) Then Emilie and Brice had pre-recorded "The Prayer" together for the unity session & communion. I'm not sure if there was a dry eye in the place. John Dunkin did a wonderful job as the pastor and did a great ceremony. After the ceremony, the bridal party and some family took some pictures, then I drove the bride and groom and photographer down to the beach for their romantic shots. Totally awesome pics.

The reception started off with a bang as everyone was introduced to some rockin' music. And then out came Beau and me to "Ice, Ice Baby" which I decided to rap out and dance to the entire first verse. I was AWESOME!!! I had everyone laughing hysterically and Mike said that he's never seen me that outgoing. The reception was certainly off the hizzy!!! We all had SO much fun dancing and partying!!

To Emilie and Brice...CONGRATULATIONS on a long thing coming and we are SO happy for the two of you. We were so honored to be a part of your wedding and wish you the best marriage ever!! We are glad you're back from Hawaii and enjoyed your honeymoon and here's to a lifetime of memories as The Koegles and The Villaflors!! :) We love you!

P.S. When you are looking at the pics from the wedding...check out the "Getting Ready" pics and at the bottom of the page, there is the best picture of me that has ever been taken. I look like a stinkin' celebrity!! :) Yay!

Happy Halloweenie!!

Happy Halloween to all! Here are a few pics from Halloween. The first one is Cole and Faith at the retirement home I took him to, thanks to the suggestion of Faith's mama, Jody. We had a blast going from person to person saying hi and getting a little candy too! Then we headed over to Grace for the Fall Festival and had a ton of fun!! We worshipped with everyone in the worship center and then headed out to the cars for Trunk or Treat. We manned a car for the 3rd or 4th year in a row and had a great time!! Here are Brice and Mike and Cole in the car.

And here are Nate, Becky, Colin & Samantha manning their car.

And here's a picture of Emilie and Brice as Kate and Jack from Lost :)