Weekend Update:

Well we stayed close to home, but still busy this weekend. Friday night we played games with our friends Ryan and Lisa--and the girls won! woohoo! :) Saturday started with me going to breakfast with a group of girls for our friend Deborah's birthday--we kidnapped her and surprised her :) We also went to a birthday party for Avery's friend Matteo, took Avery to see WALL-E (her first movie theatre experience!),hung out with friends/neighbors Saturday night...and then had yummy homemade biscuits Sunday morning. And--as you can see from the picture--my hibiscus plant bloomed!! I love hibiscus flowers! The other pics are of Avery enjoying Matteo's birthday present and Avery,Matteo and Hailey with Matteo's Grandpa--who Avery "took" to.

Swim time :)

Today some friends and I took the kids to the Patterson Aquatic Center and played in the pool all afternoon. Fun Fun!! It was a nice day, except for all the smoke in the air from ALL the many fires in Northern California. Avery got to see her swim teacher and was happy about that :)

Our busy week, so far...

As soon as we got home Sunday night, we had 3 extra kids and a dog here! We are having the Hitchman boys stay over for the next few days while Celeste and Brandon enjoy Tahoe. So, I've got Nathan(9),Drew(12), and Chris(17),and Kael the dog...I don't think I sat down yesterday! They are good kids though, and Avery is eatin' up every minute of it. She loves having her "friends" here. They are all very sweet to Avery...esp. Nathan. She's only 3, but this is her 2nd crush...last year at this time it was Jonathan, at least he was only a year older...Nathan is quite the older man for her :) She just loves boys!! Anyway, she was having so much fun with them, she fell asleep Sunday night with her sunglasses on...and the other pic is of her and Nathan watching cartoons.

NASCAR Weekend

Red Bull invited us to go to the NASCAR race in Sonoma this weekend, what a blast! They paid for everything--I love that!! They put us up at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Resort and Spa in Santa Rosa, our room overlooked the pool...which Avery went in both nights we were there. That was probably her favorite part of the weekend, as far as the race, she kept saying,"the cars are too scary", because it was so loud. We were in an enclosed suite though, so it really wasn't as bad as it could have been! We would go out hang out outside when the cars weren't running, but when they were...oh my gosh it was LOUD!! We went with a few guys from Johnny's office and really enjoyed the weekend with them and their wives/girlfriends. Guy Fieri (Food Network Chef and TGI Friday's Chef/Advertiser guy) was the Grand Marshall of the race...don't really know what that means except he was there and in the suite 2 doors down form us. So the group dared me to try and get him to our suite...I made my way over there, walked in their suite and made my way to him and asked him if he's like to come join us in the Red Bull Suite~he agreed :) Anyway, he came over and chatted for a few minutes and took some pictures with us. We had a great weekend!! p.s.~ the video is of the Red Bull stunt helicopter doing some crazy stuff p.p.s~ Avery is going on almost 2 weeks w/ big girl underwear!! YAHOO!! She did great this weekend, told me everytime she had to go potty :)

This one's for Grandpa:

Avery loves her baseball shirt...GO GIANTS!! After she wore it to a Giants game a couple weeks ago, then wore it to bed that night, I had to pry it off of her and hide it.. So, I pulled it out again and of course, she scooped it up right away. She told me, "when me grow up, I'm unna play baseball" I thought Grandpa would be proud. Tried to get it on video...but as you'll see, she quickly changed her story! She is the best of both worlds...she's gonna be our beauty queen jock :)

Happy Father's Day!

We had a nice Father's Day weekend. Saturday Johnny and I spent the day together in Napa Valley, it is so much cooler there than here! Avery stayed with friends and went swimming. Sunday morning Johnny golfed up here at Diablo Grande with his friend Brandon and then we had some yummy buttermilk waffles and strawberries with our friends the Hitchmans~(Brandon and family). Later that day we had the Lowders over for a massive pot of jambalaya(Johnny's favorite) and homemade bread and our fresh zucchini~yummy!! We had a fun time. Avery had so much fun playing with so many friends~Nathan(she's in love),Drew,Shelby,Chris,Samantha,Elisabeth and Thomas.
We are glad that Johnny enjoyed his Daddy's Day! We love you! Thank you for being such a wonderful Daddy.
While I'm at it, I'll "take" my tag:

Marriage Tag:

How long have you been married: 5 1/2 years

How old is your spouse: 39!!

Who eats more: ...that's debatable...

Who said "I love you" first: me!

Who is taller: Johnny boy

Who sings better: hmmm...not sure!

Who is smarter: we both have our strong and weak points, Johnny is better at Trivial Pursuit, but if you need to get somewhere...Johnny has no sense of direction...we balance eachother out

Who controls the tv: duh!! Johnny

Who's temper is worse: Johnny--watch out...I know you all think I'm kidding...but it's true! I have way mellowed out.

Who does the laundry: me...thanks again Johnny for the new washer!

Who does the dishes: mostly me, but Johnny helps out alot

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: looking from the foot of the bed~Johnny

Who cooks dinner: me...but Johnny can come up with some pretty crazy stuff...you never know what you're gonna get...(that's why I cook)

Who is more stubborn: that's a toss up...can I say AVERY??!!

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong: we both will, but it's usually kinda sarcastic till we REALLY decide to apologize :)

Who's parents do you see the most: mine

Who has more siblings: me

Who has more friends: hmmm...I have more that I keep in close contact with, but he has alot from the Air Force that he "keeps in touch with" maybe once a year. The best is when we have mutual friends~couples.

Who wears the pants in the family: um, me!

Love you Johnny!!

Now I tag: Michelle and Kate

Suckie Cheese :)

Ok, so my last post turned out to be incorrect...Avery has done really great at using the potty for the past few days, and we promised her a trip to Chuck E. Cheese if she did so. So, instead of healthy zucchini, we had (as Avery pronounces it) Suckie Cheese pizza!! She had a blast playing the games, riding the little rides and seeing Suckie :)

p.s.~ (Kate, this is for you!) I saw heels w/ cut-off sweats at the "upscale" Chuck E. Cheese...gotta dress for the occasion, right?!

Guess what's for dinner??

Well we finally have zucchini!! My plants weren't doing so hot, so it was questionable whether we would have any zucchini or not. Today I went out there and found 5 beautiful ripe zucchinis...and more on the way. So, needless to say, THAT'S what's for dinner!

Our little mermaid

Avery has started swimming lessons and is loving them! She can't wait to go every night and see her teacher. She is very proud of herself and of course we are proud of her too. Even with her teacher she is pretty stubborn, so we let the teacher know she is gonna have to push her. So far so good. It's been great because we actually paid for group lessons, but nobody else has shown up-so Avery has had one-on-one sessions! Lucky!!

Hikin' the hills

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We had a great Saturday hiking and playing in the water at Pinecrest Lake. The weather was perfect! Johnny had been near here a couple weeks ago when he went fishing with some friends and wanted to take Avery and I there. I'm so glad we made the 2+ hour drive--it was amazing! We are planning to go back in a couple weeks to camp there. California has so much to offer...all within a couple hours-it's great! We just keep exploring and finding more. Love it :) Avery went in the back pack for a while and then wanted to hike. She actually did great--she's gonna be our little "prissy/granola" girl. She did so good with her "footing" on the rocks, took the time to find a good spot for her foot and then climbed up rocks twice her size. It was great to watch her do this on her own.
On the way home we found a yummy grease pit and had all-you-can-eat ribs, burgers and fries--come on, we're not so into nature that we don't like a good juicy burger!! We had a wonderful day!

A new,much anticipated addition to our family:

Say good bye to the water guzzling,permanent press cycle broken,agitator not working, 20 year old Lady Kenmore and hello to a brand spankin' new front loading, energy efficient,Consumer Reports Best Buy, Frigidaire washing machine!! Woohoo, it has finally arrived and is already in use. (I've been saving up laundry for a week just for the occasion)

Happy Homemaking...

Ok, so we didn't do anything super exciting or grand last weekend--well, we did go to the annual Patterson Apricot Fiesta and a birthday party...but no Disneyland or Santa Cruz or anything like that :) So...what to post--wow, I've got "post" pressure...(from nobody but me!) Anyway, I was thinkin' about my friend Emily's blog and how she makes her own butter, and Anna who makes those dang cute cards and I started wondering, "what am I good for?!" So, the best I could come up with is this: We haven't bought bread for about a year...thanks to my lovely homemaking skills...and my Bosch mixer :) Actually, I should thank my sweet church leader way back in the day-Carol Nielson. She was my "bread teacher." I have since found and altered many recipes to make up my own wheat/flax seed bread recipe. So, here's to happy homemaking :)...