Tyler's Friend Chase

On Friday August 22nd we found out that Tyler's best friend Chase has cancer. Chase is like an extended member of our family. The boys have played baseball together the last 4 years. Kyle and his sister Lu-Lu were on the same team too just so we could help each other out with getting the kids to and from practice and games in case they were at the same time. 4 years ago we happened to move next door to Chase's grandparents. Chase is over there every Monday during the school year and at least 3 times a week during the summer. He would often be at our house because the boys were unseparable. They had been running a lot of tests on Chase's leg becuase he found a weird bump on it one day. Chase told Tyler on Friday that it was in fact cancer. I talked to his mom and dad and they said the cancer is growing and no matter what he will have to go through Chemo. He grew his hair out and just donated 13 inches of his hair to kids with cancer. He was supposed to start middle school yesterday and today he started a whole new round of tests to find out if the cancer is anywhere else in his body. Other than the cancer being in his body he is a healthy boy, so it should help him to fight off the cancer.

George passed away

On August 25th Chris' stepdad passed away. It was the kids last day of summer and I was wanting to do something fun with them. I also needed to help my sister move a BBQ and bike from her apartment in San Jose up to Martinez. So, I loaded everyone up in the truck and headed down to San Jose. I found what looked like a fun park and zoo to take the kids to first and then we would go to my sisters. On the way down I decide it would be fun to stop off at the Great Mall to do some final school shopping. The kids agreed so we went in. I decided to only go to a couple of stores so we ended up going to one, getting some cookies and got back in the truck to head the rest of the way to San Jose. Shortly after we got back in the car I received a call from Chris that he was on his way to his mom's and he would call me back in about 15 minutes he thinks George might be dead. So I continued on to San Jose, and when we got to the park it was closed. I decided to call just to make sure, and sure enough it was closed for construction until Fall of 2009. Every other park and fun thing to do was closed on Mondays. I got the call from Chris that George had in fact died, so I decided the best thing to do was to go get lunch, go to my sisters, load up her stuff, and go home. Well it took about 2 hours to eat lunch and load up her stuff. Because I decided I would pack as much stuff in my truck as I could. I told the kids about George and we left San Jose and talked about it on the way home. We dropped Sheri's stuff off at her house and we went to my mother-in-laws to be with the family. It wasn't really the way we planned to spend our last day of summer, but hey life happens. We did go out to dinner with the family and the kids enjoyed that.

Santa Cruz

On August 15 we went down to Santa Cruz for our annual trip. My cousins band plays every August on the boardwalk and we go to see them. We went down early and played all day on the rides. Riley Jo finally went on some rides and enjoyed them. She liked the race cars that whip you around the corners and the Ghostblaster rides the best. I even took her on the little roller coaster because her cousin Shawna was going on it. She really hated that ride. Kyle's favorite ride was the bumper cars of the future. He was finally tall enough to ride them. We went on those like 5 or 6 times. Tyler and Michayla finally went on the Giant Dipper. They both really enjoyed that ride. And Tyler joined me on my favorite ride. The band was good too, they had a new set of songs this year. We all love to sing and dance a long. Can't wait for next year!

Fairyland

On August 1st I took Tyler back to the airport to go back to Pennsylvania again. So since I had to take him to Oakland this time, I decided to take the kids to Fairyland. We had never been there before. It was pretty cute. It was all storybook themed. We bought a "magical key" that you could insert in special story books in the park to listen to the story. They had slides and little rides for the kids too. They also had a few animal for the kids to see. There was a yellow brick road you could follow to the castle and all around the castle were all the characters from The Wizard of Oz including the flying monkey. It had the head cut out of the characters so the kids had fun being a different character from the movie. Then at Alice in Wonderland there was a slide you could slide down the rabbit hole. They also had a fun time playing on the island and in the sand.

Old Borges Ranch

I was watching my niece Brittany for the week that Tyler, Michayla, and Brittany did a volleyball camp with my brother. I wanted to go do something fun with the kids but we had to be in Walnut Creek by 3:45. So I decided to take them to Old Borges Ranch. I haven't been there since I was in High School. My ward growing up used to have Daddy-Daughter camp outs there. Plus, my friends and I used to camp out there too. We went up to the ranch to see the animals, there were a lot of chickens, 2 sheep hiding from the sun, a goat, and a rabbit. Riley Jo thought the animals were fun. She was chasing the chickens with Kyle, and even pet the goat! Then we ate lunch, in the car because of all the bees. Then we went for a little hike up the hill. It was very hot so we hiked about a half mile and then turned around and hiked back to the car. When I was in high school some friends and I had carved our names into a bench so the kids wanted to hike up there and see if the bench was still there. They put a new bench up there so the kids were pretty disappointed.

Kyle's B-day

Kyle turned 7 while I was at Girl's Camp. He was pretty upset that I missed his birthday but I had Jeannine take him and Riley Jo to Pixieland on his birthday. We celebrated with friends at the pool after I got back. He had a great time swimming with all his friends. It was also the easiest birthday party for me, I only had to entertain during the 2, 15 minute rest periods. The first rest period we ate some fruit salad, and the second we did cake and presents. Same time same place next year!

Girl's Camp

I had the opportunity to go to girl's camp this year with the Walnut Creek Stake Young Women. I had a blast. I always enjoyed girl's camp as a youth and was excited to go back as a leader. I was asked to be an assistant Level 1 leader. I was able to go as Michayla's leader. We had a great group of girls (26 girls to be exact), and there wasn't any drama the entire week! My sister-in-law Jeannine and my mom split the week watching my kids so that I was able to go. I wouldn't have been able to go without them so I am very grateful to them for being willing to help me out. Michayla and I woke up 6:00 for the Polar Bear Swim. It was very cold! I figured since I was in the water why not swim across the lake. So a few of us leaders swam across the lake. Wednesday night we were the only campers in camp so the first years got to dress up the big sisters in funny outfits and they the big sisters entertained us. It was very funny! I even won the Hula Hoop contest. They called up all the Level 1 leaders, our Brethren, the camp director (Sister Hopkins), and the Stake Young Women's President (Sister Jones). We hiked to Blue Lake on Thursday, it was a nice short hike. It was very hot but the water was very cold. Michayla didn't last long before her lips were very blue and she was shaking and had to get out of the water. Me, 2 big sisters, and 1 girl swam across blue lake. We all got very sun burned and I had to float for a long time on the way back because I was getting very dizzy. Friday everyone came back to camp. We played games and finished crafts and quilts. I won a quilt that night too. I hope I am able to have another opportunity to go again!

The attack of the Tree Branch!!!

Four years ago, shortly after we moved in I came home from dropping Tyler off at school to find one of our trees laying in the middle of the street. I was very happy their weren't any cars in the street when the tree decided to fall. It was a huge mess and expense to have someone come over to clean up the mess from this tree. Well, tonight I come home from Mutual to find a Huge Massive Tree Branch leaning up against my house and taking up my spot in the driveway. All these images came flashing back in my mind. The wind isn't even blowing that hard I can't believe it fell. Of course it would too, because my husband left today to go to Vegas until Friday. I knew I couldn't leave this mess for him to clean up because the lady across the street from us hates us, and if it waited until Friday another anonymous note would appear in my mailbox about how I need to be considerate of my neighbors. So, at 8:45 I grabbed the clippers and started clipping and was able to get the entire Branch cleaned up. Except for the last 6 Ft. because it was too thick to cut with the clippers and it was too tall for the garbage can. My husband can finish the job. Sorry I forgot to take a picture.