AmAzing

I did something amazing today.
Well, at least amazing TO ME. I cleaned out my email 'inbox'.

For the first time in...well, never, I gleaned my emails down from
several hundred to only...drum roll please!

8!
Yes, you read right. I have only 8 emails in my inbox!!!!

Yeah! (I don't know why that makes me so happy,
but it does.)

Wanna know what else is AMAZING?

This little lady:

Her name is Helen, and she is my husband's grandma.

Helen and I share the exact same birthdate!
Except I was born several decades after her, of course.

This August Helen turned a mere 97 years old!
Way to go Helen!
You are an inspiration to us all.
At her age it's cool to state proudly how old you are, but
at my age...well, let's just say I'm 29 and holding. HA!

I hope I make it to 97 years too!!!

My Baby Boy Turns 16!

I can hardly believe that 16 years ago today I gave birth 3 weeks early to this amazing baby boy. I knew I would name him Zachary 3 years before he was born.

Zachary, when you came into the world I thought you were the greatest thing that ever happened to me. My life-long dream of having a baby boy came true.

Little did I know what an amazing, fun, confounding, exciting, frustrating, emotional yet joyful adventure it would be to be your mom!

I LOVE your sense of humor and quirkiness.

I love your serious side too. I appreciate your intelligence. You have a strong sense of family, and I love how it is important to you.

You can be a great role model to your fellow young man....and a great dancer!

I know as your mom, I often embarrass you, but I am SO proud to be your mom!

I thank God daily for "loaning" you to me!
Happy 16th Birthday!!!!
I love you, Zach!

December 2009 Round-Up

Seems I've been MIA for the month of December,
but I didn't want to move on into the new year without
filling ya'll in on some of the things we did.

We started out December with a new pet:
meet Yoshi, the bearded dragon.

Just so you know, it wasn't MY idea. It was my
daughter... and my husband, who couldn't say, "No."
after days of begging and pleading from my daughter.

The first Christmas party I attended was my
work party at the Diehl's home.
It was attended by one the 3 Wise Men (Royce) and his
assistant, Crystal. Too funny!

I got to see an old friend from highschool days-
Mark Troutner. His wife, Theresa works
at my school!

Here's my daughter, Summer, starring in the 7th
grade Christmas skit at Vineyard Christian Middle School. She's the girl on the right kneeling down and praying.

Christmas Eve celebration at my in-laws home.
Zach, Summer and their cousins Courtney, Brittney and Kalie.

Christmas morning at our home.

Christmas afternoon at my parents home.
The Louie cousins: Amanda, Tara, Chad and Carson.

Summer and Paulina decorate cakes.

Ta-da!!!


It was a fun and very blessed month.


My son passed his written driver's test a couple of days before Christmas. So now we are teaching him to drive. Scary! Please keep us in your prayers! Thanks!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Recently we threw a birthday celebration for my mother-in-law at our house.
Some of us are truly blessed to have great M-I-L's.

And I am happy to say that I am one of those people!
So we thought she deserved a little celebration where her own son could cook for her.

Happy Birthday Grandma Louise!

Louise with sisters Kalie and Courtney (the youngest & oldest grandchildren).

Gotta get Biggles, the dog in there too!

Yummy ice-cream cake!

Louise with 5 of her 8 grand-babies.
(Summer, Zach, Kalie, Brittney & Courtney)

I shopped my house and yard to come up with this centerpiece!

I re-used the pom-pom decorations from Summer's birthday party.

Works just as good as balloons!

Ready for dinner! Aw darn, I forgot to take a picture of the food!

Happy Birthday Grandma!
You're the BEST!

Reunion Time

I spent all of last weekend celebrating at my
Annual Family Reunion {my father's family} and
at my 25th High School Reunion!

If there's two things that Chinese people know how to do...
it's EAT and PLAY GAMES.

The reunion was at my parent's home. All day long relatives were
dropping in with boxes and platters of food. Yummy!

My Aunt Michelle got a good game of Mah Jong going

The teenage boys hung out at the computer, of course. {Zach & Jarod}

The teenage girls hung out in the pool. {Devynn & Summer}

Young adult girl cousins {Tara, Amanda & Sharlene}.

Me and Brian

Every year we all go out to dinner at our Uncle's Dave's restaurant
for a gourmet Chinese feast.

Here's the lobster...mmmm so good!

More girl cousins.

Cousins Carson and Jake.
Jake came all the way from Germany to visit us!

More game playing...Texas Hold'em.

The little cousins crash in the living room for the night.

Yummy breakfast served in the morning by Grandma Louie!

Now, on to my 25th high school reunion...
I can't believe I'm THAT old!!!!

It was such a blast to see old friends!

I've known some these people since junior high!

What a fun night!

A Little Bit' O Red, White & Blue

I actually have ZERO 4th of July decor.

I decided that I didn't need to buy anything.
All I need to do it pull together anything
red, white or blue
that's laying around the house, right?

Okay, I did break down and buy these little flags:
a dollar and some change for a pack of 4. I can handle that.

I found this old teddy bear sportin' the right colors and
The sailor hat belonged to my son when he was a baby.

I made this last year courtesy of craft time with Jen and Em.
I guess this would have to be the ONLY patriotic/americana/4th of July
piece of decor that I own.

I also found a baby hat that belonged to my daughter,
a red & white table cloth, and threw in
my Scrabble tiles for fun.

I found a little, red adirondack to put under my cloche!

So here it is: my first ever patriotic display!
I'll be vacationing in the Northwest over the 4th,
so I hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July holiday!