Rossi Family

February 11, 2011

2012-01-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

Riley Jo learned to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! She was the youngest Rossi kid to master the two wheels at the age of 5! All 3 of her siblings waited until they were 7/8. We had gone to the park and she would see kids younger then her riding a 2 wheeled bike. She wanted to learn so bad. So I asked my friend how she trained her 3 year old to ride a bike. She told me that she took the pedals off the bike and her son would push himself around with his feet and he would learn his balance. He did this for about a month and then they put the pedals back on and he rode his bike. I thought, I have held onto the handle bars, the back of the seat, and the bottom of her shirt with no luck. Let's try it this way. So we went home that day and I took the pedals off Riley Jo's bike. I went inside to make dinner, we live in a court so I opened the blinds in the kitchen and I watched Riley Jo as I made dinner. She was out in the court everyday for 2 weeks pushing herself around! At the end of the 2 weeks she told me she had found her balance and wanted the pedals back on her bike. So I put the pedals back on, held her to get her steady, and she was off! Riley Jo had taught herself to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! This is the essence of her personality. If she wants to do something, she figures out how to do it. That is the only reason she was potty trained before the age of 2, she learned to ride her bike, and why she DIDN'T walk until she was 14 1/2 months old. Our stubborn smart little girl!

January 22, 2011

2012-01-14T10:28:00.001-08:00

Back to the snow we go! We went to Adventure Mountain Snow Park. This was our first time ever going here. Sheri had invited us to go, their ward was taking their youth up and she had to drive so we went and hung out with her and Tyler went along with their youth for the day. (Michayla was at her mom's) Abby hated the cold wet snow and so they spent a lot of time sitting at the cars. So Chris and I took Kyle and Riley Jo on the hills. I could not believe how big the hills were. Some of them were steep too. They had hills for all ages, some weren't as steep, and some had some bounce to them. By late afternoon the sun started melting some of the snow and making it kind of slushy. So you went a little faster. One guy was zooming down the hill, hit a big bump, fell off his disc and his his head. Yeah the ambulance was called! We pretty much finished up after that. Riley Jo even went down a couple times by herself. She got over confident on one hill and ended up falling off twice. But did go down again so that was good. Tyler and Kyle had fun too. Kyle would only go down in the sled. I think it went slower then the discs, and anytime he felt out of control, he would just tip over. And you can't go down backwards in the sled, the disc likes to spin and most of the time you would go backwards. So Kyle felt safe in the sled.

January 17, 2011

2012-01-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

We went to the snow with some friends today. The Jacobs had never taken their kids to the snow so we picked a day and we all went. We went to a place called Echo Springs near Tahoe. We found a small hill to practice going down the discs on, then we made our own hill. The kids and adults all had fun going down the hill on the discs, sled, or slick mat. And, you can't go to the snow without having a snowball fight. Everyone had a blast!

January 8, 2011

2012-01-14T10:13:00.001-08:00

I wanted to compete in a Duathlon event up in Folsom. It is a free event they do on the first Saturday of the new year. Chris got me a road bike for Christmas so I was really excited to do the event. The race is more fun for me if I know other people in the race. So I convinced Chris to do the race with me. So he agreed and convinced his good friend Tim Doll to do the race too. We had to run 2 miles, then bike 7 miles, then run another 2 miles. We start off and I take off from the boys right away. The bike was a loop, you rode out 3.5 miles, turn around, and ride back. On my way back I of course pass the boys. I cheer for Chris, still looking for Tim though. I almost make it back to the transition area and I see Tim. He is going up the hill, kind of straddling the bike, walking up the hill. I cheer for him and go on! I don't know why he thought that would be more affective then changing gears and riding the bike up the hill, or even getting off the bike completely and walking up the hill. The bike course was trying. It was a constant up and down hill with sharp turns thrown in there. I almost launched myself over my handlebars on one sharp turn. Like I said, new bike, I forgot which brake was which and I accidentally slammed my front brake. Luckily I caught myself so I didn't flip! I make it back into that transition area and start my second 2 mile run. Thinking at least Chris should be close behind me. To my surprise I finish the race, go back to my bike to get a drink and there is Chris! He was waiting for Tim but he said he had just got there. We wait a couple minutes and here comes Tim. He gets off the bike said the tire wouldn't turn and that he was fighting the bike the entire 7 miles. Turns out the brake was rubbing the back tire. Needed a little adjustment and then it worked fine. So, I finished the entire race as the boys finished 2/3 of it, AND neither of them wanted to run or walk the last 2 miles. Even though I told them I would walk or jog with them. I was glad they at least participated with me!

January 5, 2011

2012-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Kyle loves to make himself snacks. He does have a kids snack cookbook and he loves finding a snack, getting out all of the ingredients, and making the snack look just like the pictures. Today, Kyle decided to make his own sandwich. He put a bell pepper between 2 slices of bread and proceeded to eat lunch. Kyle has no problem with eating a bell pepper like an apple. I don't know why he decided to put it between bread today, instead of eating it like he usually does.

January 4, 2011

2012-01-14T10:05:00.001-08:00

Today I took Tyler in for a physical. He is going to try out for High School Volleyball and the school requires all athletes to pass a physical. Tyler was excited to find out that he was in the 75% for his height. He has always been on the shorter side for his age. We also found out at the visit that Tyler would need some glasses. In one of his eyes he has astigmatism and he is near sided. So, in any of his classes where he sits in the back, he needs to wear his glasses. He was glad to hear he doesn't have to wear them all the time.

New Years 2010-2011

2012-01-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

We went to our friends (The Crawford's) beach house down in Monterey for the weekend. Their were 6 families in total there. April Jacobs and the kids came down for Thursday to Friday, The Evans came Friday to Sunday, the Lees, the Crawfords, the Dolls, and us. Friday we went to Dennis the Menace park and the kids had the best time. Their is an actual train engine there for the kids to climb on and go inside, a maze, a bridge (which of course Chris loved to jump on and watch the kids all bounce), and it had a huge slide with rollers on it. The kids and adults loved making trains to go down! We rode our bikes to the park, and we rode all around downtown Monterey. The weather was perfect. Kyle even went one day with us on an 11 mile bike ride, he rode the whole time and without complaining! It was great! I pulled Riley Jo in the trailer behind my bike the whole weekend. We also went down to the tide pools, Kyle tried to bring home a souvenir. A starfish! Luckily I have learned to pat Kyle down before leaving places like that, so I patted him down thinking I was going to find a little crab, but I found a starfish instead. Funny boy he is. He said he just wanted one. He didn't know that it needed water to survive. We played a lot of games back at the house too. On New Year's Eve we even had a bonfire, and played with sparklers, writing our names and practicing how to write 2011. Thank you everyone for an awesome weekend!

Tyler and Riley Jo's Birthday

2011-09-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Tyler turned 14 and was finally able to go to the church dances. For his birthday he and some friends went to Marine World/Discovery Kingdom for Fright Fest again. We all went and hung out at the park for the day. Then Tyler and some friends went to the movies.
Riley Jo turned 5 and had a party at the house with her friends. They made cookies and decorated them.
For Riley Jo's family celebration we all went to Marine World for their Holiday In The Park. We went down the snow hill, to the animal shows, on the rides, and Riley Jo's favorite went to see Santa!

See Jane Tri

2011-09-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

I participated in the See Jane Triathlon in Pleasanton for the first time in 2010. It is a Sprint, 400 yard swim, 11 mile Bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. I did this with 10 other friends. It was a ton of fun to train and compete in this event with friends.
The swim was horrible. We started on the shoreline and had to run out to start. I thought I was drowning. Everyone was swimming on top of me. That was the hardest part of the whole event.
Then the bike. I was thankful that a friend lent me her road bike. It made the bike experience a whole lot easier. I did a Tri in July and the bike ride was awful because I used my mountain bike and trying to go up and down the hills on the mountain bike was torture! The run was hard, but I was proud of myself for running the entire distance even though I was completely spent. I thank my friend Elaina for pushing me. She caught up to me on the run and we finished the event together. We finished at the exact same time!

2010 First Day of School

2011-09-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

On the first day of school, my head was spinning. Riley Jo started Kindergarten, Kyle started 3rd grade, and Tyler and Michayla started High School! I don't know how time flew by so fast. Riley Jo was the only one who had a hard time going to school. Riley Jo was really excited that one of her very best friends was in her class, but when we got to school the idea of going to class was scary. But she went and had a great time! Tyler and Michayla were both excited at the idea of going to High School. But a little Scared too. And Michayla started in a whole new school district so the only person she knew in the whole school was her step brother who is 2 years older then her. So I think it was a little more scary for her.
The idea of the kids being in High School was scary to me. It wasn't very long ago that I was in High School. The most important thing to me is my kids having good friends. I know how influential friends are. So we told the kids that we wanted to know their friends. We asked that they bring their friends to our house to hang out so that we could see how they act with their friends. Tyler wasn't very happy about this idea. But in the end, he did bring his friends around so that we could meet them. Tyler had a different group of friends every year during junior high. So he didn't have a set group when he started High School. One of the downfalls of not going to the local schools. So far so good with his friends though.

San Diego Trip

2011-04-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

August 3-11 2010
We went and spent 9 days down in San Diego. We met up with our cousins Conrad and Evie, and their kids Hayli and Hana. They live in New Mexico so we don't get to see them very often.
We spent some time at the San Diego Zoo, Legoland, Sea World, and The Wild Animal Park. I was able to meet up with my friend April Preston and her boys, Carter and Michael. They moved down to San Diego so her husband could go to Law School. The kids had so much fun! We also went down to the beach and took family pictures. Chris and my mom flew down on Thursday through Sunday. We went to a training seminar for ACN on Friday through Sunday. By the end of the 9 days the kids were tired of living in a hotel room.
At Legoland the kids all got their driver's license. Kyle thought that meant he could help me drive home. LOL! The kids all enjoyed seeing all the cities replicated by legos. They were amazing.
At the zoo, we waited in a long line to see the Pandas. They were happily eating the bamboo sticks. We also saw koalas, sea lion show, and went on the tour bus around the park.
At the Wild Animal Park, we went on the tour bus too. It was the back side of the park, animals we wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. So that was pretty fun. We took the kids into the petting zoo and they were able to feed the animals. Riley Jo did NOT want to feed the animals. Everyone else enjoyed it though.
Sea World was our last day. We had a great time, but we knew it was our last adventure and we would have to say good-bye to our cousins. It was hard after spending so much time with them. We fed the dolphins, saw the dolphin and pilot whale show, the dog show, and of course, Shamu show. You can't go there without seeing that show. Tyler and Kyle were the only ones interested in getting wet, so they sat down low while we headed for higher (and dryer) seats! I look forward to our future vacations together.

July 2010

2011-04-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

After I recovered from the See Jane Run event I decided I wanted to do the See Jane Triathlon. We had a whole team sign up we were the Mom Tris hard group! A few of us even trained together. We were working out 6 days a week, strength training, running, swimming, and biking. It was fun to work out together. We would work out first thing in the morning, after the kids were in bed at night, and a bike ride every Saturday Morning.
This year for the 4th of July, we celebrated all weekend long. Saturday we had our first annual family picnic and relay games at the park. It was a Rossi/Siegmann/Cassell/Arnold/Jacobs/Crawford family fun day. We hope to continue on this tradition and the more the merrier.
We had a water balloon toss, three legged race, eating contest, just to name a few. It was a ton of fun. It was hot, so after we finished at the park we went to the pool and swam. Then to a friends house for a family BBQ.
We made our annual trip out to Contra Loma. The kids love to play in the sand, and then swim in the pool. The pool is shallow for about 12 feet out. They can touch and run around in the water and they think it is the coolest thing. Almost like a beach, except no waves or undertow. Then they get to have breaks and lay on the grass. It has everything there. The best part is we go with a big group of friends so they all get to play together.
July 15th Kyle turned 9 years old. The family all headed out to Boomer's to celebrate. We played a round of mini golf. We went on the bumper boats, Kyle had a hard time getting back to the dock. I had to go over and bump him back in. It was a lot of fun spraying each other though! Of course you can't go to Boomer's without riding the Go-Karts! Then we played a few video games too! Kyle said it was the best birthday! (He does say that anytime we go out though.) We all had fun!
On July 17th Sheri went to a garage sale and they had a bunch of Boat toys and a bike so she called me and told me I should stop by. We were looking for a new tube because ours broke over the 4th of July weekend. I had to take Riley Jo and Kyle with me. Which is NOT a good idea. Kyle will just want something, anything, just to get something. So we pull up and of course, Kyle goes on the hunt. I go right over to the boat toys and get a new knee board and tube. Kyle comes over and want an electric guitar. Kyle has been asking for a "real" guitar for some time. Here it was for only $15. So I do end up buying the guitar as a late birthday present. We come home, and Kyle starts "playing" the guitar immediately. He is making up songs, writing down the lyrics, making "notes" it was hilarious. He has had some sort of a guitar in his hands since he was 2. At some point he will really want to learn to play the guitar, but until then, he is enjoying just playing with it.
July 19-24th Michayla and I went to Girl's Camp. Michayla was a 3rd year this year and had a pretty tough hike to go on. They hiked 3 days and were gone from camp for 2 nights. She was brave enough to cliff jump a few times while on her hike. She had a great time. I went with Crafts this time, so I was in camp the whole time. I wasn't as excited this time to go because I wasn't with a group of girls. But I had a BLAST! I made some new friends, hung out talking all day, and crafted all day. It was GREAT! I love girls camp!
July 30th we went camping for the weekend at Collins Lake. It was a great time. We camped right on the water edge. It was great to wake up and literally walk to the water onto the boat. We were able to keep it docked right at our campsite. The Dolls, and Crawfords joined us. Tyler and Michayla learned to Knee Board, they both were able to get out of the wake. Poor Michayla had to try VERY hard to accomplish this. She just didn't have enough weight to get her over there, she had to use a lot of muscle. Determination got her over that wave though. Tyler learned to do a 180. He couldn't get all the way around. But he was jumping the wake! There is nothing like wakeboarding on glassy water. And at Collins lake the water is awesome! So it was a good weekend. Kyle even got to fish! So he was happy too.

Bald is Beautiful

2011-04-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

June 26th Chris Bic'd his head! I had been trying to convince him to shave it off for awhile. We planned a family fun night at our house with 2 other families and Tim convinced Jeremy and Chris to shave their heads. Tim even went home to get the shaving cream and special razors! Fun times! The kids were in shock, and not very happy. Well, Jeremy's kids were not very happy. Our kids were used to Chris' head being pretty bald and were ready to see it all gone. I loved it! Chris hated it! So he let it grow back. Jeremy was able to have 2 haircuts almost 3 before Chris needed 1! One of these days I hope he will leave it bald.

June 2010

2011-04-11T16:55:00.000-07:00

Since I have taken 11 months off from blogging, I decided I will do monthly updates to catch myself up. Starting with My Half Marathon Run. On June 5th I ran in the See Jane Run event. A friend signed up and then encouraged any of us who wanted to run to join her. She was doing the Half Marathon. At the time, she had said there was a 10K option or a 5K option as well. I thought, I've done 3 miles before that isn't much of a challenge so I will do the 10K. Well, I go to sign up and there is only a 5K OR half marathon option. So I choose to do the half. So, I have NOT run, let's be honest, I hadn't exercised in who knows how long. I went and bought running shoes in February. It rained, it was dark, it was cold. I had all the excuses. I started training for the 13 mile race in April. Running 3-6 miles, 2-3 times a week. That was what I called training. So June 5th comes and I am pumped, start the race, mile 1 I'm tired. Mile 6 I literally gagged on the Gu, that stuff is awful! Mile 8 my knee goes out. Yet I wanted to finish the race. I prayed the entire last 5 miles that I could please just make it to the finish line. Next time I will pray to make it to at least Chris afterward. I crossed the finished line and could not bear wait on my left leg anymore. I had to be carried to Medical, use a strangers phone to call Chris, and because he didn't recognize the phone number I had to call multiple times before he answered. Then wound up on crutches for the next 2 weeks. I realized 2 things that day. Yes, I had run 3 miles before no problem, yet I was training, and in High School at the time. My brain hasn't fully accepted that I have aged 15 years! Yikes!
Two other great things happened in June. Michayla and Tyler both graduated from 8th grade! Michayla got all dressed up for her promotion. Since she was in choir she sang 3 songs for the graduation. She even had a duet part. Michayla went straight to her 8th grade dance after the promotion/graduation. Tyler was just excited for the end of the school year. He didn't really think it was a big deal. We did take him out to dinner after to celebrate. I can't believe that they are in High School.

Lafayette Reservoir

2010-05-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

During Spring break I was looking for fun things to do with the kids. I found a Reservoir in Oakland that we have never been to and they had pedal boats that you could rent and they were half off on Tuesday's. I knew that only 4 were aloud per boat, and we had 5. Chris had to work. So I figured we would need 2 boats and thought the older 2 kids could ride together. Well we drive all the way out there to find out that someone 18 or older needed to be on the boats. I asked if we could rent a patio boat then, they were all out in the water for the day. OK, how about a tour of the reservoir? They only do those on the weekends. So basically, I just drove the kids on a scenic drive. I would have been fine with walking around the reservoir, but it was a bit windy and the kids didn't want to do that. I did try to convince the kids to bring a ball or a frisbee. But they didn't want to. So I decided we would go to the Lafayette Reservoir so it wasn't a complete waste. I called first and asked their rules. Then made a phone call to Chris and begged him to meet us there so we could go on the pedal boats. He met us there and brought my brother Chris with him. We all had fun going around the reservoir.

Easter 2010

2010-05-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

This year we had several Easter egg hunts to celebrate. Riley Jo had an Easter egg hunt at school. They had a little program for the parents, they sang some songs and made cute bunny ears.

Then the next day play group had an Easter egg hunt at the church since it was raining.

Then we had the Easter egg hunt at our house. We had Easter dinner at our house this year, and went over to Bobbie's to visit Chris' family.

March 13, 2010

2010-05-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

We renewed our season passes to Marine World and decided opening weekend would be a great time to use them! It was the perfect day! Not too many people realized it was open so there weren't any lines at the rides. Usually we all split up and go separate directions for the day, but this time we stayed together. It was a nice change. It's hard because Tyler is the only kid who likes to go on ALL the rides. Michayla and Chris don't do spinning rides. Riley Jo and Kyle are only big enough to go on the smaller rides, and the spinning rides. So we all hung out together and went on the rides together, or nearby each other.

Tyler, Kyle and I went on the swings!

Chris, Michayla, Tyler and Kyle rode the Bumper Cars. Kyle is too small to ride by himself so he rode with Chris.

Tyler, Kyle, and I rode the Scrambler

Michayla and Riley Jo rode the frog hopper!

We saw the Lions.

Kyle and Riley Jo went on the airplane.

Michayla 14

2010-05-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Michayla turned 14 on March 30. She was very excited to turn 14 because that means Saturday night dances. She was able to go to her first dance on April 10. As a surprise the girls planned on picking her up early to have dinner and get ready for the dance together. Michayla wanted to make sure she didn't show up to the dance alone so she texted Morgan Saturday morning asking if she wanted to carpool to the dance together. I get a phone call explaining how Michayla was wanting to plan a carpool so we were "discussing the carpool" for Michayla's sake. Little did Michayla know, it was already set up. So the evening rolls around and Michayla is telling me how hungry she is. Chris was not at home and so I made it look like I was stalling for him to get home so we could all eat together. Right as the dinner was finished, the girls showed up! Michayla was very surprised and had a blast at the dance!

ACN Conference

2010-05-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

In February there was another ACN conference, this time in San Jose. So I was able to play host to my cousins for a couple days! It was a very fast 4 days. Thursday I picked them up from the hotel and we went out to lunch. That night we went down to San Jose to check in and went out to dinner. Friday-Sunday was the conference and I took them back to the hotel Sunday night. Donald Trump was the guest speaker at the conference. Since he endorses the company, he goes to quite a few of these events.

My cousin Conrad and I.

The Donald!

Presidents Weekend

2010-05-20T22:20:00.000-07:00

For Presidents weekend we went to the snow. We went to our friend's cabin again. We thought there would be plenty of snow at the cabin, but to our surprise there wasn't any. We had to drive about 20 minutes up the street to it. Not a big deal, except Kyle had this idea in his head that the snow would be AT the cabin. So when we pull up and he doesn't see any snow, he tells us to get back in the car and lets go home. We explain that there is snow a little way up the street. But because he couldn't see it, he didn't believe it. We convinced him to go inside and get his snow clothes on and we would show him. We drive up the street and find the perfect place. Someone has already made a snow run and we don't have to spend the time making it! It was a ton of fun. So after everyone was tired and cold we went back to the cabin and had dinner. Then we went to the same place on Sunday to play again. We kept trying to find a place to dig out a bigger run. So we made a fun run that started near the top of the hill we were at. The only problem was, there were 2 big drops and you landed HARD on your bum! So making the run was a little painful, but fun! Oh how we love the sledding!

Lump Scare

2010-05-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

In November, the week before Thanksgiving, I went to my regular annual Dr. appointment and while my OBGYN was doing my normal breast exam she noticed a lump. She asked if I had felt it, and well NO I hadn't. I know we should do self exams, but I don't. I may start now though. She said that it is probably hormonal and no big deal but, she still wanted me to come back in a month to check it out. So I didn't worry because she wasn't worried. So the next month, right before Christmas I go back to the Doctor for the exam. She tells me that the lump is larger. GREAT! So is now the time to panic? All of a sudden my mind was racing. Because of my age (over 30) I couldn't just go to the Breast specialist, I had to go get a mammogram done first. Oh my gosh. And the doctor couldn't schedule that, radiation department had to call with that appointment. So I left there a little crazy. By the next day I had a mammogram appointment, and the breast specialist appointment, and Christmas was DAYS away. I had the mammogram, but the next day they called and told me that because of the findings on the mammogram they need me to come back in for more pictures. So the next day I go back to the doctors thinking I was getting another mammogram. No, it was an ultrasound. Well at least this was a lot more comfortable. As I'm sitting in the waiting room reading my instructions, I read that depending on what they find, they may have to do a biopsy right then. Well I just freak out right then! Here I am thinking, well they found something (which I knew was there), had me come in for more pictures, I'm going to need a biopsy. I still had to pick my kids up from school. I text Chris that I may have to have a biopsy today. Then I go in and they show me the lump. They tell me it doesn't look cancerous. Well that's good news! No biopsy! That day. She told me that unless I planned on having more kids I probably wouldn't even need to have it removed. Even better news since I planned on making it through this life WITHOUT any surgeries. So I go to the Breast Specialist, finally Chris comes to an appointment with me. She comes right in and tells me that it looks like I have a pretty significant lump. I said "nope, I'm told it's no big deal." She gives me a look like "are you serious?" I wait for her response. She told me that I had a 5 cm lump on my breast and it would have to be removed. I said "WHAT!? I was told it wasn't a big deal and unless I planned on having more kids, which I don't, I wouldn't have to have it removed." She told me that it is 5cm and anything over 3cm needed to be removed. So we set an operation date. So in February I had the lump removed and found out that it was definitely non-cancerous.

Last Summer

2010-05-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

Last summer we had a family day at Boomers in Livermore. We played a round of mini golf, rode the go-karts, and played some video games. We even had a couple hole in 1's! We always have a fun time and love racing each other on the track! Kyle is too small to drive by himself, and Riley Jo is too small to go in the go-kart. So Chris takes Kyle first, then I drive him. While I am driving Kyle, Chris has to distract Riley Jo with video games so she isn't standing there screaming the whole time. So that is why there aren't any pictures with me.

New Years Eve 09-10

2010-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

This year to ring in the new year we let Michayla and Tyler invite kids over from church (the 12& 13 year old). The kids who are 14 and up get to go to a dance to ring in the new year and we thought that they should have some fun too. So we hosted the New Year's Eve Party. They played games, danced, and we even had a balloon drop at midnight. So there was A LOT of noise at midnight. Kyle fell asleep about 11:30 pm, we just couldn't keep him awake any longer. But he insisted on sleeping in the playroom and NOT in his room. I guess so that way he felt like he was still part of the party. Even though the kids all jumped on the balloons at midnight, Kyle still didn't wake up! We even had a couple friends come over. It's tradition to ring in the new year with a little Rock Band!!! Too bad our kids will both be at the New Year's Eve dance this year. I guess we will have to party without them!

Chris thought it would be fun to draw on Kyle's face!

New Business

2010-05-13T10:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to facebook, I was able to get reunited with my cousin. I have not seen him or his family for 11 years! All my happy childhood memories involved their family! We started talking on Facebook and they had just started a business and we ended up starting too. It is a telecommunications business, we are able to sell local and long distance services, cell phone services with all the major carriers, internet services, video phone (which is awesome), and home security thru ADT. Our website is terirossi.acnrep.com Well there was an International convention in December down in LA and Chris and I went and I was able to hang out with my cousin, his wife, their daughter, and my Aunt and Uncle again! We stayed an extra day and went to Disneyland too. We were able to catch up and stay in touch!

Riley Jo 4!

2010-05-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Riley Jo turned 4 on November 28. She started in the 4 year old Preschool class in September, but I thought it was hilarious that on her birthday she said, "Now I can be in the 4 year old class." I explained that she was already in that class, that because of the way her birthday fell she was able to start in the 4 year old class early. This year for her birthday Riley Jo decided that she wanted a Princess Party, so she invited her friends and told them to come dressed as their favorite princesses. Riley Jo even had me dress up, so Cinderella hosted the Princess Party! We did a couple crafts, ate lunch, played games, opened presents, and ate cake! They were all so cute dressed up and they all had a lot of fun! On her actual birthday we decided to go to Marine World. They had the whole park decked out for Christmas. There was a snow hill, Santa, and even the shows had a winter theme. This was our first time going for Christmas and we had a good time.

I'm trying to convince Riley Jo this is fun!

NEW MOON

2010-05-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

My friends are really big Twilight fans and last year when Twilight came out we had an Italian dinner before going to see the movie. I hadn't read the series before seeing Twilight, but was told that Edward and Bella go to an Italian restaurant in the book. So after seeing Twilight I was hooked and read all 4 books. So when New Moon came out we decided we were going to have a Bon Fire before going to the movie. They have a Bon Fire in the book and sit around and tell stories. So we came to my house and roasted Hot Dogs and made smore's. The tradition will continue for Eclipse as well!

Tyler's 13th Birthday

2010-05-13T10:39:00.000-07:00

Tyler turned 13 in November, but he wanted to go to Fright Fest at Marine World with his friends so he celebrated his birthday in October. So our family and Tyler's friends went to Marine World for the day. By day it is not too scary so the little kids can still enjoy the park and even do a trick or treat trail. By night the scary monsters come out! So I took Michayla, Riley Jo, Kyle, and Brittani home as the sun went down. Chris stayed with the boys. The boys went on a few more rides and walked around. The funniest thing of the evening I am told, was when Tyler got scared by one of the monsters and almost fell over a chain trying to get away! Chris and the boys (except Tyler) were laughing hysterically!

Halloween 2009

2010-05-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

The week before Halloween we had our annual Trunk or Treat at church. Riley Jo wanted me and her to be matching this year, so we were both Cinderella.

Chris is such a good sport that he dressed up as Prince Charming.

We couldn't convince Kyle to be Riley Jo's prince charming, he wanted to be a Jedi. (Kyle couldn't find his Jedi shirt that night so he wore he just put on this shirt.)

Riley Jo even got to dress up for her Preschool and trick or treat around the park. Kyle's school had a Family Fun night where the kids got to come in costume and play games. The kids even won a cup cake in the cakewalk!
We celebrated Halloween night at the race track. Chris and Kyle had a race so we all went. The kids were able to get dressed in costume and trick or treat to all of the trailers. Kyle was a Jedi and Riley Jo was Cinderella. Their was a costume contest and a dance. The kids had a blast!

WOW!

2010-01-18T09:39:00.000-08:00

January 18, 2010
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. weekend so the kids have today off of school. I just got a phone call from Marc's mom, which was unusual in itself because she will only call here on Tyler's birthday. So I answer it wondering what the heck this is about? She tells me that Ron (Marc's brother) had some tickets to the Warrior game for today and wanted to know if Tyler wanted to go, and then asked if I would let him go! I was shocked! They live seriously 2 minutes from my house. Have for about 10 years now. This is the first time in 13 years (Tyler's life!) that they have ever called to spend time with Tyler when Marc isn't in town. Of course Tyler wants to go to the Warrior game. We were talking about it since yesterday when they announced at church that there was going to be a "Mormon" night! Tyler has never been to a professional basketball game before and really wants to go, so today he gets to go to the game!

Princess on Ice

2010-01-11T10:35:00.001-08:00

On October 17, 2009 I took my little Princess on a mommy daughter date with 4 of her other Princess friends and their moms to see Princess on Ice. It was a lot of fun. The girls all dressed up as their favorite Princess and we had great seats too. This was Riley Jo's first time going to a live show because since she won't watch movies yet we didn't think she would be able to sit through it! But she loved it. The first half of the movie each princess came out and performed a part of their movie. To Riley Jo's surprise the whole second half was Cinderella (her favorite right now)! Riley Jo loves all music and dancing, I think we will be able to take her to another live show! Riley Jo loved being able to dress up, and it gave her some practice before Halloween too.

Worst Experience of My Life (Oct. 11, 2009)

2010-01-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

We went to Dixon for another Chris and Kyle race weekend! Michayla, Tyler, Riley Jo and I were watching Chris' race. He was on the pole with the fastest time, he was excited he beat the point leader! The point leader is a national champion! So you would think he should know how to race! Well the first lap they give the green and the race starts. Well the point leader (who is now known as the blue suit guy. named by Riley Jo) jumped the start and they immediately threw a Yellow flag. Everyone doubled back up except for blue suit guy and his racing partner (who is an old lady who started in the back of the pack). It seriously took 3 laps for this guy to realize that everyone else was doubled up driving slowly and that's why he was passing them! This should tell us something right! So they finally get him back in line they do a lap and the green flag is thrown again, they get back around to the starting line and the race is on.....2nd turn blue suit guy starts to over power Chris, 3rd turn he goes loose and almost spins, Chris sees this and tries to turn so they don't hit, instead Chris cuts it too much, his back tire hits blue suits guy tires perfectly that Chris goes up and over blue suit guy (375 pounds on top of his back....ouch!) and Chris cartwheels in his go-cart down the hill! We were freaked out watching this! Everything turned out OK but we weren't sure at the time. No broken bones or scratches, ribs hurt a little but that was it! Enjoy the video!

September 27, 2009

2010-01-11T10:15:00.001-08:00

Kyle was Baptized on Sunday, September 27, 2009. We were excited that so many family and friends were able to attend the baptism. We waited until Grandma Jan came home from her mission. She got home the end of August then all the Saturdays early September were busy and we wanted Michayla to be able to be there too so Sunday the 27th was the only option. We were so excited that Kyle made the decision to be baptized. He was a little scared of going under the water without goggles on. He kept asking if he could wear his goggles so we had to explain to him that then his whole face wouldn't be submerged under the water. So we had him go to the pool and go under the water quickly without his goggles on and told him to just keep his eyes closed. This seemed to help him because he wasn't nervous the day of the baptism! We are so proud of your decision Kyle, we hope your testimony will continue to grow. We call you our little missionary because you tend to see things that no one else can. Kyle wasn't able to talk for a real long time and my dad always said that he was still too close to Heaven and still "knew" too much so he couldn't talk! Soon after my dad passed away, Kyle still had conversations with him. It was the same place everyday when we would go to pick Tyler up from school. I miss hearing those conversations!

I had let Kyle have a Mohawk for his school pictures, but didn't think it was appropriate for his baptism. So we shaved his head.

Labor Day Weekend 09

2010-01-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

Kyle and Chris had a go-kart race. Michayla was at her moms, and Tyler was with Marc. So Kyle told me that it was a boys only race and Riley Jo and I were to stay home! I laughed and asked what Riley Jo and I should do, he told me we could go shopping, watch movies, and play Wii fit. Ok. Couple things wrong with that, Riley Jo doesn't like to watch TV (movies are included) and we hadn't played the Wii fit in months! I don't even know how he came up with that one. He is one funny kid! So Riley Jo and I did stay home and have a Girls weekend. Friday night we went to dinner and shopping downtown Walnut Creek, Saturday we hung out during the day and that night we snuck up to see the boys race because it was a night race. Kyle was not happy we came. I was hurt! We didn't stay the night since Riley Jo and I went to church the next morning. However we did go up to the race track to have dinner with Chris and Kyle. Kyle was ok with that. It was fun to hang out with my little lady for a weekend just the 2 of us!

School Starts-August 2009

2010-01-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Michayla and Tyler started the 8th grade this year. I am sad this is their last year in Middle School because that means High School next year! I can't be old enough to have kids in High School can I? I guess that is what happens when you start young.

Kyle started 2nd grade and I am loving his teacher.

Riley Jo is in the 4 year old Preschool class this year. Still going 2 days a week.

August 21, 2009

2010-01-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

For my birthday this year I Hosted a Murder Mystery Party. My friends all came over in character and we had a blast! In the game it was my bachelorette party at a Day Spa. So I decorated the playroom as a reception room to a Spa. It was a chocolate theme, so I had chocolate scented candles and water fountains to help set the mood! We started with dinner and went on with the show. I may be throwing myself a birthday party every year. Thank you friends for making it so much fun!

Santa Cruz

2010-01-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

We went to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for our normal family day! My dad's cousin plays on the beach as part of the Friday night summer band series. This year it was us, Sheri, Brittani, Abby, and Kim, Conner, and Natalie. We spent the day riding the rides and the night watching the Band! Tyler even went on Double Shot this year! I was shocked to hear about that! The kids love to ride the Bumper Cars of the future and the Ghost House. The Ghost House reminds me of Buzz Lightyear at Disneyland, only it is Ghosts you are shooting instead of Zurg! That is probably why they all like it!

Boat

2010-01-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

Summer of 2009 we went on the boat a TON! Which is happiness for ME! My favorite place to be is on the back of the boat. That is my stress relief. This summer we found a place on the Delta that was great. I am a lake snob so I was really not happy about looking for a spot on the Delta. The problem with the lakes is there are 2 that are close enough for a day trip. But, they are both an hour and a half away. So we would leave early in the morning then not get back till really late. We would want to spend as much time on the lake in order to make the trip worth it. Chris always came home exhausted, even though he only drives the boat. But being out in the sun I guess. So we tried Hogback one day and it was Great! I wakeboarded for the first time on glass and it was wonderful! We went back to the Delta several times after that. It was under an hour to get there so we were still able to spend lots of time on the water! Can't wait till this summer. We didn't try the Delta until August, so summer of 2010 should be even MORE skiing!

Fairytale Town and Sacramento Zoo

2010-01-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

I took Tyler, Kyle, Riley Jo, and Brittani to Sacramento for the day and we went to the Sacramento Zoo and then to Fairytale town. It was perfect weather too, it wasn't very hot. We watched an animal show at the zoo and the kids were able to learn a little bit about some of the animals. The zoo is pretty small and the kids can only look at animals for so long. After the zoo we went over to Fairytale town. There seemed to be a slide at every exhibit, so of course the kids loved that.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.............

We walked the crooked mile.

Riley Jo was able to sit in Cinderella's carriage.

They kids even got to be pirates! It was a fun day!

July 18, 2009

2010-01-03T17:23:00.001-08:00

Chris and I went with 2 friends to the Kenny Chesney Concert! It was at Pacbell Park (San Francisco Giants stadium)! We had awesome seats too. We could have thrown a rock at them if we wanted. Not that we would. Kenny Chesney came in on a swing over our heads! Of course he doesn't tour alone, we saw Lady Antebellum. They were awesome! I am now a big fan! LOVE Charles! Then it was Miranda Lambert, yeah still not a fan! Sugarland was supposed to come on right before Kenny but Jennifer's voice was gone.....again! I say again because we were supposed to see Sugarland a year ago (opening for Kenny then too!) and she was sick then too! So we were pretty disappointed to miss them. But Kenny was AWESOME! He came out with so much enthusiasm and stayed that high the entire time! Chris enjoyed the concert just as much as I did.

July 15, 2009

2010-01-03T17:16:00.001-08:00

Yes I am aware it is January now. I really hope that this year I will be able to keep up to date with my blog! But for now, I am still catching up. July 15th Kyle turned 8 years old. In our church you get Baptized when you are 8. But since my mom was still on her mission in Utah we waited for her to come home and he was Baptized in September. (That will be a later post!) Tyler was still in Pennsylvania and Michayla was at Girl's Camp so it was Kyle, Riley Jo and me for the day! We were going to go to Marine World to celebrate his birthday but Kyle was sick. So we hung out at home for the day instead! We had Kyle's birthday party with his friends at
Chuck E Cheese's. A new one had just opened up in Concord so it was Perfect! The kids had a blast playing the games and Chuck E came out and gave Kyle a medal and a crown. Kyle thought that was awesome! We did end up going to Marine World a week later for Kyle's birthday!

July 9-11 Chris' Birthday Trip

2009-10-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

For Chris' birthday I surprised him with the one thing he always asks for. A weekend getaway for just the two of us! He was so excited. Sheri has Fridays off so we made it an extra long weekend. We left Thursday evening and had dinner in San Francisco. We wanted to go to THe Cheesecake Factory but the wait was way too long. So we walked down to the mall ate and then walked through the mall. Was this my birthday or Chris'? We stayed at a hotel in San Francisco and went to Napa on Friday for a Mud Bath and Massage! Chris chose the Mud Bath. It didn't really sound good to me, it's mud! I hate to be dirty, but it was very relaxing. Since our spa time was in the afternoon we decided to do some sight seeing before. We went and saw the Geyser and went to a Castle that was a winery. We also walked around downtown. It was nice just to walk and enjoy each other's company without the kids needing something. On Saturday we did some shopping and then went to get the kids! It was a very fun weekend!

Riley Jo Graduates

2009-09-20T21:42:00.000-07:00

My little girl graduated from the 3 year old Pre-School class! She sang some songs, did the Chicken Dance, and then there was a dance party afterward! It was a very fun day! Next school year, she will be in the 4 year old class. My how fast the years go by!

Girls Trip to Tahoe

2009-09-20T21:16:00.001-07:00

In May we took a Girl's Weekend trip to Tahoe! We had a blast! The weekend went by very fast though. We drove up Thursday afternoon, April J., Hayley, and Valorie left in the morning, so by the time we got there they had dinner ready for us! Valorie had come from Idaho for our weekend and we hadn't seen her in about a year and a half so we spent some time catching up. We decided it would be fun for everyone to be interviewed Oprah style! So April P. took on the roll as Oprah and we interviewed a couple people each night. Anyone could ask questions though, it was a fun way to get some unanswered questions about people. We laughed, we cried, and laughed some more. We all had a great time and can't wait for the next trip. One night we had a SPA night and we all put masks on. We felt very rejuvenated afterward! We also watched some movies, worked on a puzzle or two, took day trips around Tahoe, and went hiking. I absolutely love my girl time just being me, so I can come back and be a good mom instead of stressed out all the time!

Here we all are. This was on one of our trips shopping. Starting at the front: Tara, Brittany, Valorie, Teri, Jen, April P., Hayley, and April J.

We posed by the lake at sunset!

Young Women Mystery Trip

2009-08-24T20:13:00.001-07:00

So last year the young women in our ward had the privilege of going to Utah on an amazing adventure! SO this year we were planning our trip we asked the girls what they wanted to do and they said they wanted it to be a mystery. So the leaders started brainstorming! We had great ideas and all we needed was a place to stay to figure out the final details. Then we had a place in Napa and the plans were finalized.

We started our trip in San Francisco where we walked on the Golden Gate Bridge.

From there we went to Point Bonita Lighthouse. We walked through a tunnel that was picked with an ice pick! It was extremely dark inside. Then we had to go across a bridge to get to the lighthouse. Only 2 could go across at a time. Then we ate lunch, and then headed to the ropes course. That was an amazing experience. We worked on team building exercises and then went on the high ropes.

We had to climb a 40 ft. pole to go on the zip line. That climb scared me to death! I was shaking so hard. But jumping off the top proved to be harder than the climb! Then we climbed a 30 ft. pole and walked across a log. Some of the girls went on a tight rope type wire. Then the last thing was called the pamper pole. You had to climb up a pole I think 25 ft. Then stand up on top of the pole and balance there without holding onto anything. Then you had to jump out and grab on to the trapeze. I wasn't going to attempt this obstacle but I fell into peer pressure! I was glad I did. It was scary, but fun! I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the girls pushing me! We ended that day by going to the house we were staying at and swimming. Then on Saturday we met up with our Stake and cheered at the Special Olympics held at UC Davis. We showed up and it was 100 degrees out there. No one was cheering and our group got up and started cheering, even doing some High School cheers and the athletes totally appreciated it! We had some of the athletes come over to have their pictures taken with the youth and thank them for cheering! It was an awesome experience! Then the girls got to ride the Amtrak home! They all had a fun time!

I was at this point on the pole for a long time trying to figure out how to get on top of the pole without falling.

Finally made it to the top! Now all I have to do is jump! What? Yeah and try to grab onto the Trapeeze before you fall! Ok! Got it!

June Vacation to Carson City

2009-08-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

We started out Summer out with a vacation to Carson City. We have a time share their so it was fun to stay the week there and swim in the natural hot spring water. We did take some day trips along the way! Chris stayed and worked the week and came up on Friday-Sunday. Michayla's cousins were in town and it was her grandparents Wedding anniversary so she stayed behind and came up with Chris on Friday. Summer is our busiest time for the business and we usually don't get to go away. This is the first time we have ever done a vacation during the summer and it was great! The kids and I drove up on Sunday and got all settled in. We even unpacked all our bags and put our clothes in the dressers. The kids liked that since we usually live out of our bags. Monday we hung out at the resort all day and swam.

Tuesday we went to Reno for the day and Riley Jo went on her first Go-Kart ride. She loved it! We played a round of mini golf and then I took the kids to Circus Circus to play the games. We all had a blast! Riley Jo was so cute, in order to his the golf ball, she would put the ball down close to the hole, then sit down to hit it! She got a hole in 1 every time! Tyler got a hole in 1 on one of the holes and so did I!

The rest of the week we did some mini tourist trips and swam.

There was a playground at the resort for the kids to play on, pool table, air hockey, and foosball. We spent a lot of time in the pool and spas too! It was relaxing and fun just to get away with the kids!

Blog Summer Vacation!!

2009-08-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

You know it's been a long time since you signed on to your blog when you have to type out the entire web address! WOW! 3 1/2 months, did not think it had been that long. I thought I had done some updates during the summer. We have had such a busy summer and have had a lot going on. School starts next week and I am pretty sure the kids are ready to have a schedule again, or maybe it is just me! I know they are all excited to see their friends, not so sure about the classes and the homework though. Oh well, and so the fun begins. Michayla and Tyler in 8th grade this year. I know they are excited about that! Kyle in second grade and Riley Jo in Pre-School again!

Wedding Dresses

2009-05-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight at Young Womens we made Modest Wedding Dresses out of toilet paper! We gave them the guidelines that the dress had to go to their ankles, needed sleeves, and it couldn't be too low in the front or the back. Then they were able to design the dress for their friends. Morgan and Carissa were paired up, Alaina, Christina, and Emily were paired up. The girls had so much fun as did Laura and I! The girl's did an awesome job creating dresses. We were getting a little pressed for time so everyone helped dress Alaina and Christina! Then we did some posing for fun! Everyone had trouble at the beginning getting the dress to stay on! But the results were awesome!

Easter

2009-05-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

Our Easter started off with a celebration at Riley Jo's school. They sang a couple bunny songs

Went to the dance room to dance! They did the Hokey Pokey!

Of course there was an Easter Egg Hunt!

Then we decorated eggs at our house and had and egg hunt on Easter morning. (Disclosure: Kyle desperately needed a haircut, but refused to get one. He has gotten one now. And Michayla wanted a cheesey picture!)

Disneyland

2009-05-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to Disneyland. Rather, I took the kids to Disneyland! Chris, Bobbie (Chris' mom), the kids, and I all drove to Disneyland on Saturday. We left at 6:00 am and thought the kids may sleep a couple hours of that. Nope! They all stayed awake the entire drive. Including Riley Jo. They all stayed pretty entertained by movies and music, except Riley Jo. We had to stop a couple extra times because she needed the "potty." Yeah right! But we stopped anyway. After the 3rd stop in an hour. I finally told Chris that he needed to stop listening to music and making the kids use the headphones for the movie. So that Riley Jo could at least listen to the movie, she doesn't like T.V., or movies and won't leave the headphones on. At least with the sound coming out of the speakers she will at least pretend to watch it. We finally make it to the hotel. Bobbie and I take the kids swimming while Chris rests! On Sunday, Chris and I had to attend a presentation on a time share for Shell Vacation Club, then we were given 2 tickets to Disneyland. By attending that presentation, they also paid for our hotel room. Bonus!!! Then after the meeting, Chris flew home and Bobbie and I took the kids to Disneyland for the next 3 days. That's right, Chris drove us all the way to Disneyland just to attend the presentation so we could take our kids to Disneyland! He won Father of the Year for that trip!!!

We usually have breakfast with Minnie Mouse and friends, but this year we decided to have lunch with the Princesses. Riley Jo was in Heaven! We were able to see Ariel, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, and Jasmine. Tyler even volunteered to be in all the pictures! It was a great lunch. Cinderella and Belle were Riley Jo's favorites!

Kyle's baseball game

2009-04-07T13:55:00.000-07:00

Last night at Kyle's game he played 2nd base. The 1st kid hit the ball up between 3rd base and shortstop and Kyle ran to try and get the ball. It was great. We told him to watch the ball and he tried to go for it. With a little more instruction he played his position well. He stopped all the balls that went past him it was amazing! One even bouced right in front of him and then he caught it. The look on his face was priceless, he put his glove out to catch it but I think he thought it was going to bounce over him. It was a high bounce. He even threw it perfect to 1st base for an out. Then the 2nd inning he played catcher and was able to make 2 outs at home. He had a great game and was very excited by it!

Busy but Fun Weekend!!!!

2009-04-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was extremely busy but we had a ton of fun! Friday night Tyler was able to go to the Giants and A's Bay Bridge Series at AT&T park in San Francisco with his friends Chase, Sam Albertson and Chase's dad Mo. They had seats 3 rows up from behind the Giants dugout. They were so excited! Tyler was able to catch a fly ball and get his ticket signed by the A's catcher Suzuki (I don't know how to spell this, sorry A's fans)! I was surprised I didn't get a phone call, he was so excited he ran up to me Saturday morning all excited. While Tyler was at the game, Chris had to work late Friday so I let Kyle have his friend over and Riley Jo, Kyle, Joey, and I made our own mini pizza's for dinner. We did this for Valentines Day and it was such a kick for the kids that we decided to do it again! Then my brother and Jeannine came over to play Partini again. My brother and Chris had 2 games left to win of our 20 game challenge so they thought they could finish it. Well, we played 6 games and the boys only won 1. Chris was definitely off his game!
Saturday Kyle had a baseball game and Chris had to work. After the baseball game, Tyler went back over to Chase's house and I put Kyle and Riley Jo down for a nap! I had a couple hours to myself which was very nice. Then Saturday evening Chris and Tyler went to the Priesthood session of conference (Tyler's first one!) and the moms and kids had a potluck in the park. It was a beautiful evening at the park and didn't even start to get cold until we started to pack up at 7:15. Then my brother and Jeannine came back over to try and finish up our Partini challenge. The guys won their last game in 1 game. Then we had dessert and played a game called Pop 5. It's a cranium game and lots of fun! We played until 1:15 a.m. WOW!
Sunday was conference day and Sheri, Brittani, and Abby came over to watch it with us. Then they hung out for the rest of the afternoon and left about 5:00 pm. We just couldn't get enough playing time in I guess because Steve and Jeannine came back again to play more Pop 5. Good thing they provided the dessert to help keep us awake! We are still tired but had fun so it was worth it.

Official Teenager!!!

2009-04-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Michayla turned 13 on Monday so we have a teenager in our house! Luckily she isn't the one with the attitude. Yet. She is sweet in nature and the fact that she spends 1 week at a time at each house hopefully we won't see much attitude. To celebrate her birthday our family went to dinner at Chevy's and rollerskating. Kyle lasted all of 5 minutes before he called it quits. He couldn't get the concept of moving one foot at a time. I told him to walk, you don't move both feet at the same time to walk right? But with the wheels on the shoes he thought he had to move both at the same time. Chris and I both tried to teach him but neither of us could. Riley Jo had decided she wasn't even going to try so she and Kyle both pretended to play video games for the 2 hours. Chris and I switched off to stay off with the little ones. I don't know how long it has been since I actually roller skated, luckily you can rent roller blades too. I ask the kids if they want roller blades or roller skates they both said roller skates so Chris said "Let's just all get roller skates." I had to admit that I don't remember how to roller skate. He proceeded to make fun of me in front of the entire line how I don't know how to roller skate. I know Chris was doing that? Ha Ha. Anyways, the kids had a fun time and now want to go back at least once a month. I had great fun and it's good exercise. My legs were sore the next day. Maybe I shouldn't be admitting that, that just shows how out of shape I am and need to exercise my muscles more. Next time we go we will leave the little ones behind.

New Beginnings

2009-03-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

We had an Emma's Awards Show for our Young Women's New Beginnings this year. We all had to come dressed in fancy dresses and the dads wore suits. We stayed late the night before decorating the room. We put white lights around the room and hung up plastic sheets of paper to make it look like they were drapes all around the room. It looked wonderful! We came early to set up the tables and put on the centerpieces. We gave awards for each of the 8 values of the Young Women Recognition Award.

Laura and I were in charge of introducing the new Beehives. We made personalized Magazine Covers for them that showed their interests and talents.

Here are the new beehives with their magazines.

The current Beehives made a video to accept their award of our trip to Utah last year. I filmed it and edited it for that evening.

Curlers

2009-03-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Riley Jo let me put curlers in her hair so her hair would be curly. She sat still for the 30 minutes it took to put them in, but when it was time to lay down and go to sleep she had me take them out! They are sponge curlers what's the deal? Oh well, maybe someday she'll sleep with them in and we'll see what she looks like with curly hair! She looked so cute with them in though.

Riley Jo

2009-03-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

Riley Jo was star of the week for her school. We had to put together a poster of all her favorites. This is her poster of all her favorite things. Of course, MOM is her #1 favorite!

The pictures are Cinderella, Belle, Family, School, Trampoline (favorite toy), her thumb (and bellybutton), Disneyland, and swimming.

Valentines Day

2009-03-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Valentines Day with the Jacobs family. We had a Wii game night, we made homemade personal pizzas for dinner, and dipped yummy fruit and dessert in chocolate fondue. The kids all had fun making their own pizzas and dipping into the chocolate. The kids also had fun hanging out with each other and we introduced Jeremy to Rock Band. It was a fun time! Riley Jo even got out her guitar and jammed along.

Painting and Redecorating Projects

2009-03-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

We painted the boys room and bought them a new bed. We didn't realize how dark the blue was until we started painting. Now the room needs a floor lamp. Oh well, I love the bedroom with the new bed. The boys are able to keep it clean too.

So we gave Riley Jo the boys old bed which works great in her room. We are storing the bottom bunk and were able to put her toys under her bed so she is able to keep her room clean now too. We love it.

After having our bathroom "ready to paint" for the last 2 years, we finally had Journey come over to paint it. The fixtures were off our walls for the entire 2 years so it was great to finally have them up again! The pictures don't give it much justice, the walls are a medium beige and the towels are light blue and dark brown. We are loving having our bathroom functional again!

Our Anniversary!!!

2009-03-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

On January 30th Chris and I celebrated our 5 year Sealing Anniversary. I can't believe how fast that went. My mom went on her last mission in June of 2004 and she wanted to make sure Chris and I were sealed before she left. We wanted to have our Sealing date on our Wedding date, but our Wedding date was on a Monday in 2004 so we settled for the Friday before. We celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary on February 2nd. Chris and I have been together a decade now. For our Anniversary we went out to dinner. As we were getting ready to leave my brother called and asked what we were doing that night. I told him we were going out to dinner, he asked where and I told him Back Forty. I asked if they wanted to come and he said yes. I told him we were going out for our anniversary and he said, well never mind then we aren't going to intrude on your anniversary. I told him it was totally fine if they came, it's 8 years now and there will be another one next year. He laughed and they came with us. He and Jeannine were so sweet, they actually bought us dinner! They said "You gave us a week vacation at your time share, the least we could do was buy you dinner." My brother and I haven't always gotten a long so for him to do that for us was very special and meant a lot to me.

Blog Vacation

2009-03-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy couple of months so I haven't had the time to sit down and blog about it. Here is what has kept me so busy. Starting with January. My mom came home (She is in Utah on a Family History mission) for a 3 day trip so we could take Tyler to the Temple for the first time. That was an awesome experience. We had to go to the Sacramento Temple because the Oakland Temple was closed for cleaning. I didn't complain because I had never been to that temple before. The Burrs from church came with us, Jeremy Jacobs, my sister Sheri, Chris' Uncle Michael and Aunt Setsuko, and some friends who moved up there the McAnellys met us there. We hope to be able to go back again a couple of times before the end of the year.
Then Kyle had Baseball tryouts. He will be playing on the Giants coach pitch team again this year. This is his 3rd year playing with the Giants. He is excited for baseball to start.

New Years Eve

2009-01-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

For New Years we decided at the last minute to stay home and invited some friends over. We played Rock Band with the kids the whole night. Then right after midnight we kicked the kids off and the adults played until 2:00 am. Tyler bought Rock Band 2 with his birthday and Christmas money, it has a no fail feature so Riley and Kyle were also able to play with us. They thought that was great because they are always wanting to play. I convinced Jeremy to do his encore of Sabatage for the camera and he agreed. He also agreed to let me post it on my blog. Enjoy because we all did!!!

Christmas Dinner Group

2009-01-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

This year we hosted our annual Christmas Dinner Group. Chris decided he wanted the dinner catered, so we ordered the dinner from Cinco De Mayo. We got burritos and enchiladas, it was very good! After dinner we played our gift exchange game. Everyone walked away with a nice gift and something that they could all use. After that some of the guys wanted to play rock band. Who was I to stand in their way? Jeremy Evans can do an awesome impersonation of the Beastie Boys. I thought the Beastie Boys were in my Living Room singing Sabatage. It was so good. Unfortunately, he wouldn't do an encore for the camera. Tim Doll enjoyed singing Wanted Dead or Alive. We all took turns on the guitar and drums. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas so many times this season that I decided to do it all in one post. On December 10th we went to get our family pictures taken. Both the boys desperately needed a haircut so I took them. Riley Jo decided she needed a haircut too even though she had hers cut about 3 weeks before. I didn't think it was worth a fight so I let her get her haircut too. So now her hair is to her chin too! I will post a picture soon. On December 13 it was our ward Christmas party. We had a great dinner, and experienced our first deep fried turkey. It tasted awesome! They squirted teriyaki sauce into the turkey so it tasted really sweet. Riley Jo actually sat on Santa's lap this year without crying which was a huge accomplishment. I forgot my camera so I am waiting for one to be sent to me so I will post it when I get it. Then on December 18th Riley Jo's preschool had their holiday celebration. We walked into the classroom and all the kids had on a Rudolph headband with a red nose. They sang some Christmas songs and Santa came to visit. Santa brought everyone 2 books and then they could take a picture with him. I forgot my camera again so I am waiting for the pictures too. Then you can understand about the Rudolph noses. The kids looked so cute and they sang the songs really good. Riley Jo sat on Santa's lap again!!

Then on the 20th we woke out kids up and told them it was Christmas morning and we let them open their Christmas gifts. We have to do a lot of jumping around on Christmas day and the kids don't get to stay at home, so we spent the morning at home and after lunch went to the mall to try to see Santa. Unfortunately, the rest of Concord and probably the surrounding cities were all there too. So we couldn't see Santa with all our kids. So the two youngest got their pictures taken with Santa. This is the best picture we've had with Santa in 4 years. Riley has been kicking and screaming in everyone until this year.

Black Friday

2008-11-29T21:22:00.001-08:00

Black Friday this year happened to be on Riley Jo's 3rd birthday!! Black Friday happens to be my all time favorite shopping day because I love to shop for all the deals. My sister-in-law Jeannine and I had planned since last year to go to the outlets in Vacaville to start our Christmas shopping. They open up at Midnight. Plus, it is our tradition to go with my brother and Jeannine to Old Town Sacramento the day after Thanksgiving. So Jeannine picked me up at 10:30 pm on Thanksgiving night to drive to Vacaville. We checked into our hotel and took our bags into the room. We then set off to the Outlets to wait in line outside of KB toys. We then went around the different stores until 4:00 a.m. The line was worst at KB, after that we had to wait to get into GAP but we didn't have to wait in line to check out. Then we drove to Kohls where we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to check out. By then it was 5:30 so we headed to Circuit City to do our shopping there. Again another long line to check out. We shopped for 5 minutes and waited about 45 minutes to check out. Now at 6:30 I've been awake for a full 24 hours falling asleep standing up, plus my back and legs are killing me! But we aren't done yet. We still have to go to Target. We decide as we walk into Target that now would not be a good time to get caffeine because we would want to go to sleep after this store. So we go into Target and are totally excited that it seems there is no line to check out. So we get our shopping done, a little bit slower checking our list twice to make sure we got everything we needed and head to the front to check out. To our surprise there is an extremely large line wrapped around the entire store! We must have been too tired to notice that line right! Did we forget it was Black Friday. Who misses out on this shopping day? So we finally leave the store and get back to the hotel at 7:30. Our husbands and my kids were meeting us at 10:30. Yes I only got 3 hours of sleep. I called Riley Jo while I was in line at Target to wish her a Happy Birthday because I knew she would be up. I decorated her room Thursday night before I left after she went to bed so she had a surprise to wake up to since I wasn't there. Then we went to Sacramento for the day. We rode the Santa train, went to the train museum, and ended our day at Candy Heaven as usual. Riley Jo said she had a really good birthday. I was asleep before we left the garage and slept all the way home. Then when I got home I slept for another hour and a half. I am sitting at this computer right now falling asleep. Good thing there is spell check and a delete button because WOW it is time for me to sleep.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning we woke up with every intention of going to our Wards devotional. Unfortunately we didn't move as fast as we needed too so we were too late to go. So I went and got my newspaper so I could start planning on my shopping trip for the next day. My sisters came over for appetizers and games. We played a new game called Phase 10 Twist. Then we all headed off in separate directions for Dinner. We headed over to Chris' moms house, Bobbi made a traditional turkey in the oven and Chris' brother Tim BBQ one. They both were GREAT! We played games after dinner which was a first, and we had a lot of fun.

Tyler turns 12!!

2008-11-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

Friday November 14th Tyler turned 12. We started the morning off with pancakes and milkshakes and sent the kids off to school. That night Tyler had his birthday party with 7 boys. We went to see Madagascar 2 and then we came back to our house for cake and presents and the boys stayed the night. They had a fun time hanging out and playing games till 3:00 in the morning when we finally told them it was time to go to sleep. It got quiet very fast. However when you have 2 young kids who go to bed on time, they wake up early in the morning. So the boys were all up by 7:30 am. I made them all pancakes and they jumped on the trampoline until they got picked up. On Sunday November 16th Tyler was ordained a deacon and He recieved the Priesthood by Chris. Then on Sunday November 23rd Tyler passed the Sacrament for the first time and gave his first Sacrament Meeting talk as a 12 year old. So many firsts so fast, I think he is already broken in. He has gone to Mutual twice now and enjoys it a lot! He is even going on an overnight in a couple weeks and he is excited for that too.

Halloween

2008-11-29T20:54:00.000-08:00

Since it was raining on Halloween night we couldn't do a backyard dinner so we started the night off with some friends at the church. After we ate the kids played a few games, hit the pinata (It wouldn't be a party without one), and went trick or treating. We only went around for about 45 minutes. And about 15minutes was spent at the Clayton Fire Station. Then we went to another party in Pittsburg. My Sister-in -laws neighbor had a big party. We had a ton of fun playing musical tombstones (Riley Jo won!!!), Pumpkin shuffle board (Tyler was in the finals!!!), eating donuts hanging from a string, seeing how many candy corns we could drop into a tiny pumpkin (we were standing up and the pumpkins were on the ground, Chris won!!!), relay races, and we even bobbed for apples. All in all, we had a blast. We didn't leave untill 11:30pm and I couldn't believe Riley Jo stayed awake the whole time!

Pre-School Halloween

2008-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:00

On Thursday October 30th we celebrated Halloween at Riley Jo's school. She was able to go to school dressed up, and they trick or treated through the Senior Center.

Then they trick or treated the parents through the park.

Then we went back to the Senior Center where the kids took center stage to sing some Halloween Songs to the parents. It was very cute!!

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-22T08:26:00.000-07:00

I took Riley Jo on her field trip on Tuesday October 14th. This is her Pre-School class. First stop on the trip was playing at the play yard. Guess they figured the best way for a bunch of 3 year olds to listen was to wear them out first. I was surprised Riley Jo actually went through the hay maze. It is pretty dark in there.

Riley Jo even milked a cow! She thought this was really fun.

Then she was able to grind the corn.

Then we picked out a couple pumpkins. We had a lot of fun and were ready for a snack before we went home.

Riley Jo Sings the ABC's

2008-10-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Riley Jo will be 3 in about 5 weeks, she has been going to school for a month now and here she is singing the ABC's. She goes around the house singing all day long, and last Sunday at church during the Sacrament we couldn't get her to stop either. We may have an addict on our hands!

Tyko

2008-10-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Last night our dog was attacked by out neighbors dog in our own backyard. Our kids were outside playing while I was cleaning up from dinner, and all of a sudden I hear screaming going on and hearing "Oh, No, No, No!" I got scared thinking one of the kids got hurt and ran outside. The kids are all standing by the fence screaming. Michayla came running over carrying Riley and I ask what's wrong. She said "Hunter (Our neighbors dog) has Tyko's paw in his mouth and he won't let go. Hunter's owner was on the other side of the fence trying to get Hunter to let go, but Hunter wouldn't listen. Hunter finally let go and I pulled Tyko away from the fence. His paw was hanging and cut bad. We had to take him to the pet hospital and he had to get stitches. Tyko had to stay over night because of the anastesia. I went and picked him up this morning to bring him home and his leg is all wrapped up and he looks so sad. We fed him and then when I put him out to get water, he grabbed a ball and wanted to play. When I told him No again, he just came back inside and layed down. Kyle brushed his hair for him and was singing to Tyko as he brushed his hair. It was so cute!

Prop 8

2008-10-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

Next month we will be voting on Prop 8. I will be voting Yes, to help preserve marriage between a man and a woman. "Our Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage." (http://www.preservingmarriage.org/) I hope that you if you live in California and are still on the fence about which way to vote on November 4th, please read the following 6 Consequences if Prop 8 should fail....hopefully this will help you to Vote Yes!
Six Consequences If Proposition 8 Fails
1. Children in public schools will be taught that both traditional marriage and same-sex marriage are okay. The California Education Code already requires that health education classes instruct children about marriage. (§51890)
Therefore, if the definition of marriage is changed, children will be taught that marriage is a relation between any two adults. There will be serious clashes between the secular school system and the right of parents to teach their children their own values and beliefs.
2. Churches will be sued if they refuse to allow same-sex marriage ceremonies in their religious buildings that are open to the public.
3. Religious adoption agencies will be challenged by government agencies to give up their long-held right to place children only in homes with both a mother and a father. Catholic Charities in Boston has already closed its doors because of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.
4. Religions that sponsor private schools and which provide housing for married students will be required to provide housing for same-sex couples, even if it runs counter to church doctrine, or lose tax exemptions and benefits.
5. Ministers who preach against same-sex marriages will be sued for hate speech and could be fined by the government. It has already happened in Canada, one of six countries that have legalized gay marriage.
6. It will cost you money. A change in the definition of marriage will bring a cascade of lawsuits. Even if courts eventually find in favor of a defender of traditional marriage (highly improbable given today’s activist judges), think of the money – your money, your church contributions – that will have to be spent on legal fees.

Tooth Fairy

2008-10-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

The Tooth Fairy is working overtime at our house right now. I hope she is done for a little while though. Last week I posted Kyle lost his tooth that wasn't loose and he had two very loose front teeth. Well, Monday while jumping on the trampoline again, he lost one of his teeth. We tried to convince him to let us pull the other one out too because we couldn't see how it was even attached to his gums. He wanted the tooth to come out by itself, so that it wouldn't bleed. This morning I went in to wake Kyle up and when he opened his mouth his tooth was almost out. I asked if I could pull it because it looked like he was going to swallow it. He again said "no, I don't want it to bleed. Let it come out by itself." I said Ok get dressed then. So at breakfast, after his first bite of his waffle, he lost his tooth. My poor kid has lost 3 teeth in a week and 2 days, and his bottom teeth haven't come in all the way either, so he looks like he was punched in the mouth. He will be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" this Christmas.

Concert in the Park

2008-10-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today I took Riley Jo to the park to see Daryl Worley. It was a free concert put on by 95.7 the Wolf, a country station out of San Francisco. It was so much fun! Riley played at the park and danced with me. It was a fun way for us to spend the afternoon. When he sang his song "Have You Forgotten" a local soldier was up there with 2 policemen. It was cool.

Our New Toy

2008-09-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

My sister has had a 14 ft. trampoline sitting in storage for about a year now still in the box. We decided that we would set it up in our backyard. The kids absolutely love it! They come home and do their homework without fighting just so they can bounce on it before it gets too dark. Riley Jo won't get off it unless we climb up there and pull her off. Well, it's been up for two weeks now and we didn't put a lot of rules on it. We just expected the older kids to watch out for the younger kids when they were all on it together. Some friends came over tonight and were a little too rough. We had our first injury tonight. Kyle got knocked down and his knee went up to his mouth and nose. He lost a tooth that wasn't even loose yet. OUCH!! After a call to the dentist to make sure we didn't need to go to the emergency dentist office (is there such a thing), he said everything should be fine. Luckily at 7, he's only lost 2 teeth, now 3. Funny thing is, his front top two teeth are both VERY loose, and neither one of them fell out. And tomorrow is picture day.

Chase Update

2008-09-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I took Tyler over to see Chase. We haven't seen him in about 2 1/2 weeks. He was really excited to see Ty. We stayed for about an hour and half, Tyler played Wii with Chase while I got an update from his mom. Chase's dads co-workers at Chevron pooled money together and bought Chase the Wii for something to do over the coming months. Chase started Chemo Monday September 8th. He was able to go to John Muir in Walnut Creek as an out-patient. He went Monday-Friday and then finished this round on Tuesday the 16th. He did experience jaw pain, joint pain, and loss of appetite. He even had to go to the hospital on Saturday and Sunday to get IVs. On Thursday night while we were there he seemed himself. It was so nice to see him happy, laughing, and joking around. He was supposed to be admitted into Stanford today for the entire week for Phase 2 Chemo, but because of a cold over the weekend his white blood cells were too low and they couldn't keep him. Hopefully his numbers will be up on Wednesday when they check again and they can start the Chemo on Thursday. They also found out today that there are two more lesions on the back of his knee. Apparently they were on both of the previous MRIs but somehow didn't get mentioned until today. Chase's mom told me that they are still growing too. They also know they are not the same thing that is on his leg, they have to do another biopsy to find out exactly what it is and what they are dealing with. They would like as many good thoughts and vibes sent their way.

Labor Day Tag...Sort of

2008-09-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

I am about 3 weeks behind in reading your blogs and I just came across this one and thought it sounded fun!
We all love to share our war stories of Labor...and delivery. I found this post on a friend's blog and thought I would do the same.
How Long were your labors?
#1-8 1/2 hours
#2-2 1/2 hours-I think this was a scary delivery for me!
#3-I was induced at 8:00 or 9:00 and she was born at 1:51 pm

#1-Tyler was born 4 days early at Walnut Creek Kaiser. Yes Epidural/stitches/tearing. The epidural worked so well that I couldn't feel a thing. I didn't even know when to push, the doctor had to tell me. I even had to have my mom holding one leg and my sister hold the other leg.
#2-Kyle was 5 days early at Walnut Creek Kaiser. I went in to the hospital and I was at a 4 told them I wanted the Epidural. I had the Epidural with in 45 minutes and feeling great. They decide to break my water, I think I am at a 5 now. Instantly Kyle's heartrate drops and they can't find it. They flipped me from side to side, there were so many doctors in there I just rememer praying my baby was going to be alright. They rush me down the hall to OR, I was on my hands and knees praying the whole way their that I wouldn't need a C-Section. They prepped me for the C-Section and right as they were about to cut, Kyle's heartrate was going back up and they said I could deliver naturally. Good thing they didn't cut because I actually had the sensation I needed to push and they were shocked I could feel it. Yes Epidural, 1 stitch. #3-I was induced 11 days early. My body kept going into labor but they kept giving me shot of morphine to stop the labor. Finally my 3rd trip to the doctors the next morning they were getting ready to release me when Riley Jo's heartrate started dropping. After the 3rd time in 15 minutes they said they needed to induce me. I was induced at 8:00 or 9:00 (I forget) I got the epidural about 11:30 (I'm a big baby when it comes to pain). Riley Jo was crowning about 1:40 they saw that my water hadn't been broken yet so they broke my water and Riley Jo came out with it. Little miss 6 lbs. 5 oz. It was the easiest delivery and recovery for me.

Birth Stats:
#1 7 lbs 8 oz. 20"
#2 8 lbs 5oz 20"
#3 6lbs 5oz 19 3/4"

Trip Down Memory Lane

2008-09-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Lets play a memory game? Here are the instructions:

1. Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Since this is our family blog, feel free to leave a memory about any of us. This will also let me know who is out there that is reading my blog? I’d like to know how many of my friends have found me on cyberspace?

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you too.

2008-09-18T10:24:00.005-07:00

2008-09-18T10:24:00.004-07:00

Birthday at the Lake

2008-09-18T10:24:00.003-07:00

We went to the lake with the Crawfords and Dolls for my birthday. We had so much fun. Tim brought his sister and her husband and Tara brought her brother, his wife, and their baby. The weather was perfect and there wasn't very many boats on the water near us. We had lots of fun watching everyone on the tubes. Chris loves to torture Tim and this time Caden had a little torture too. We took a ton of pictures and videos because lets face it, sometimes a picture doesn't give it enough justice. Enjoy the pictures and videos.

Labor Day Camping

2008-09-18T10:24:00.002-07:00

I took the kids camping for Labor Day while Chris was at a race. My mom, Cindy, her boyfriend Frank, and her two girls, Steve, and Jeannine all came with us. We decided to go to Placerville KOA because it was close and they had a lot of fun activities for the kids. We spent a lot of time at the pool and the KOA had an inflatable bounce house and water slide set up on Saturday. We didn't get up there until 8:30 pm Friday night because of traffic and stopping for dinner. So, setting up the tents in the dark while keeping track of the little kids was a fun experience. Especially since our campsite was right next to the playground, they weren't very happy when we told them the playground was closed because it was dark. So Saturday we swam and played on the inflatables. We played card games, the kids played at the park, we ate, and swam some more. Then Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. It was a short camping trip but we were all tired and had a lot of fun. All the kids slept on the way home!

RIley Jo Starts Pre-School

2008-09-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

Riley Jo started pre-school on September 9. She goes to school 2 days a week from 9-11:30 am. So now for 5 hours a week I am kidless. I took Riley Jo on September 4th to meet her teacher and new friends, I think she was concerned when we got there and realized that none of her friends were there. She had been so excited to start school until then. Riley Jo's teachers name is Miss. Honey. Friday the 5th Riley Jo told me she was not going to go to school. Riley Jo seems to have a shoe fetish and I know that I can get her to do just about anything for a new pair of shoes. I need to watch out for this as she gets older. Riley Jo has started to grow again (just barely) but enough to need a new pair of shoes. So of course she was all over getting the new shoes and she hasn't complained about going to school since. When I asked her what her favorite part of school was, she said it was holding onto the rope to walk back to the classroom from the park. I showed up early this past Tuesday to watch her play at the park, and as soon as Miss Honey told the kids to line up, Riley Jo ran over to her so she could hold onto the rope!

Back To School

2008-09-18T10:24:00.000-07:00

Michayla, Tyler, and Kyle all started school On August 26. Michayla started the 7th grade at Stanley Middle School in Lafayette. Tyler started the 7th grade at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill, and Kyle started the 1st grade at Wren Avenue here in Concord. `I am fortunate that I only have to pick up the older kids in the afternoon so my morning schedule is really easy but the afternoons are LONG! Michayla is enjoying her schedule and goes to each class everyday. Tyler's school has block scheduling where they go to 4 classes each day. He is not enjoying the schedule very much but is enjoying his classes. He has 1 day of 2 electives, PE, and History, and 1 day of 4 academic classes, at least he has 2 days to complete the homework! Both Michayla and Tyler are taking Spanish this year. Hopefully they will be able to help each other with their homework over the coming years. Kyle was lucky to have both his best friends from kindergarten in his 1st grade class again so he is really liking 1st grade so far. His teacher must not have known they were such good friends because she sat them all by each other. At back to school night I asked how Kyle was doing (it was on the 5th day of school) and she told me he was doing good but he turns around and talks to Porfi and Joey a lot. Big surprise there! My kid talk? I don't know what she is talking about. Kyle still gets pulled out of class for speech and Occupation Therapy. The whole class goes to different classrooms for English. They are separated by different levels and it not only helps English as a second language but helps with vocabulary. Hopefully this will continue for reading groups.

Tyler's Friend Chase

2008-08-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T22:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Blog Vacation!!!

2008-07-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last blogged. So, I will do a long entry to catch things up a little. We went camping over the Memorial Day Weekend. We went to Lake Don Pedro with Steve and Jeannine. The weather report wasn't looking very good, (it said it would rain all weekend) but we took the boat hoping the weather would change. It didn't. The water wasn't bad, but because of the wind once I got up on the wake board I was frozen. Then getting back on the boat was torture. So I wasn't so brave on Sunday when we went on the boat. We literally spent maybe an hour on the boat each day. That includes launching the boat and walking back up to our campsite. We all still had a great time. We all stayed in the trailer because there wasn't a good tent site for Steve and Jeannine to pitch their tent. We played a ton of games, hung out, roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and made hot chocolate. The kids didn't even get stir crazy. It was still great to get away!
June 7th my brother Chris came from Colorado to pick up his truck. It was supposed to be a quick trip but ended up being an extended weekend so we took him out on the boat for some water skiing. We went to the delta and had a good time. We went with our friends and watching JM and Jeremy Evans jump the wake on the wake board was amazing. Now I want to learn how to do that.
June 8th we celebrated Chris' 36th birthday! During dinner Kyle lost his first tooth. We were eating tacos. His other front bottom tooth is loose and he keeps asking for tacos so it will come out. He was so excited to get money from the tooth fairy. He was equally excited to go out on Monday and spend the money.
June 14th was the end of baseball season! We were all ready for it. By the end even Kyle wasn't wanting to go to the games. We will see if he plays next year. The boys did have fun and they both improved a lot. Tyler was the starting second baseman for his team and was able to pitch a couple of times and impressed his coach a lot. Kyle was able to hit the ball further by the end of the season.
June 15th was Father's Day and the kids thought it would be funny to get Chris a Hannah Montana wig (since he is lacking hair on the top of his head!) He actually pulled it out of the box and put it on his head. He looked like one of the Nelson Twins.
June 16th Kyle started two weeks of swim lessons. He really enjoyed them and it was great because there was only 2 other kids in his class. He even got thrown off the diving board and he didn't hate it (I threw him off because he wouldn't jump).
June 18th our play group went to Contra Loma to go swimming. The kids all had a great time splashing around, playing in the sand, and playing with their friends. We spent about 3 hours out there.
June 19th I finally received my mother's day present. Wii Fit. I made the mistake of not pre-ordering it because I thought their would be plenty. But, there wasn't. Of course it didn't help that I had the wrong release date because I could have gotten one at Costco otherwise. Luckily a few people who did pre-order the game didn't pick them up on time and so I was able to buy one of theirs. We all enjoy playing the Wii Fit and exercising is so much fun!
June 25th we went on another field trip to the Oakland Center for Art & Science. The kids had fun in the science room looking at all the animals. Then we went across the street to the botanical garden and walked around it.
Somewhere in there we also went to the drive-ins a couple of times. We saw Kung-Fu Panda, Ironman, W-A-L-L-E, and The Incredible Hulk. Ironman was a good movie and I fell asleep during Hulk. But Tyler really enjoyed it.
July 1st Tyler flew out to Pennsylvania to visit Marc for two weeks.

On July 2nd Cindy, Brittany Doll, and I took the kids to the SF Zoo. It was a free day so it was a little crazy busy. The animals weren't very active but they loved to watch the penguins.
July 4th we started a day as usual by riding our bikes to the church for the annual pancake breakfast. Then we had the bike parade. After the breakfast we took Kyle to the Go-Kart track so Kyle could drive his Go-Kart. I haven't been able to watch him drive yet so I was really excited to see him drive. He did really good and he has so much fun driving. He even spun out once. Then we went to a friends house for a BBQ and to swim and ended up at Concord High to watch the fireworks. It was a long fun day! Then we woke up early the next morning and went to New Hogan Lake to take the boat out. We had a blast and again went with friends. Our friend Tara was able to borrow a banana tube from her boss and it holds 8 people. We all had a blast riding it.
So as you can see, we have been a little busy! So I hope you can forgive me for such a long post, but I didn't want to write like 10 in one day.

Say Bye to the Long Hair

2008-05-19T12:09:00.001-07:00

That's right, I finally cut it ALL off! I got tired of the long hair and decided to go against my husbands wishes and cut it. I went to the salon and took Riley Jo with me. I then met Chris and the kids at Tyler's baseball game. Chris didn't recognize me at first because he has never seen my hair this short. In fact, my hair hasn't been this short since High School. It took him a couple hours but since the parents at the ball game approved, I think it was easier for Chris to like it. I may never go back to the long hair! It takes me longer to do my hair now because I actually style it, but it's a lot cuter now.

Disneyland

2008-05-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

We took our kids to Disneyland in April. We had a blast. I was a little nervous about the drive down since Riley Jo is potty trained now. But she did amazing. We stopped twice each direction. That was for our older children as well though. We got down there on Saturday afternoon and went to Disneyland. We walked through the gates just as the Parade of Dreams was ending so we were able to watch. Riley Jo seemed to like it the most since all the Princesses were there. I thought that was a great way to start our trip. We then decided to start in Fantasy Land and went on the Snow White ride. Riley Jo didn't like it too much. Then the kids wanted to go on Pinocchio so Chris took the older kids on that and Riley Jo and I went to stand in line for King Arthur's Carousel. She didn't like that ride either. In fact she wasn't thrilled over any rides except for Buzz Lightyear so she could shoot the gun. The kids all had a great time and the lines weren't bad. We also went on the new Nemo Submarine ride and everyone liked that. Kyle even rode Hollywood Tower of Terror twice and says he will ride it again. Michayla and Kyle both rode Space Mountain and loved it! Kyle's first time on Space Mountain he had his hands up the entire time! Tyler, Michayla and I stayed every night until close and Chris took the two younger kids back to the hotel. We were able to see Fantasmic and ride extra rides since there wasn't a line. It was so nice to get away and have some family time together.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-14T11:46:00.001-07:00

Riley Jo's First Haircut

2008-04-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

We've reached another milestone with little Riley Jo. After 2 years and 4 months she got her first haircut. She did so good. Kyle and Tyler have gotten their haircut twice recently and Riley Jo wanted hers cut too. She kept saying my turn for my haircut. When is my haircut. So Saturday afternoon without my husbands permission we went and got her haircut. After we walked into the salon she started to change her mind. But I told her I would be there next to her so then she was fine. Especially once she saw the car she was able to sit in while she got her hair cut.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-04-14T11:36:00.001-07:00

Utah Adventure!

2008-04-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

We had a blast in Utah. The drive wasn't bad either. We were able to walk around temple square, Take a tour at the Humanitarian Center and Welfare Square. We went to BYU and did a scavenger hunt, ate at Cougar Eats, shop at the BYU Bookstore, and watch a Men's Volleyball game. It took all five games but they finally won. The girls all really enjoyed the game. Then on Saturday morning we all just hung out and played pool and ping pong. Then we drove back to Salt Lake where we were able to go to the grave sites of some of our past prophets. We then went to the Conference Center for the Young Women's Broadcast. I have never been inside before and I couldn't believe how big it was. We were all sitting there quietly talking and taking in the surroundings when all of a sudden everyone was quiet and we all stood up. The President Monson and his two counselors walked in to the room. It was an awesome experience to see how many young women, their mothers, and leaders were there and it was completely silent. The Broadcast was great and that night at our devotional everyone was able to say what their favorite part was. On Sunday we woke up to find it was snowing in Salt Lake. The cars were a little covered, enough to write on the windows, but it wasn't sticking to the ground. We were able to watch the Spoken Word at the Tabernacle before our drive home. I have never been inside the Tabernacle either, so again I was impressed by the amazing building. This is an experience that will last for a long time. I am so glad that I was able to go on this trip with these amazing Young Women and leaders.

St. Patricks Day

2008-03-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Green Eggs & Green Potatoes

In honor of St. Paddy's Day we had a green dinner. Our spread included: Green Eggs, ham, Green potatoes, and bacon. Kyle thought it was so cool that I made green eggs and ham like the book! He was the most excited when I told him what we were having for dinner. He wanted to help me stir the eggs so he could watch them turn green. It took a little prodding for Riley Jo to eat though. Kyle threatened to eat it if she didn't, so she tried it and liked it. This will be our new tradition on St. Patricks Day.

Rossi Family

February 11, 2011

January 22, 2011

January 17, 2011

January 8, 2011

January 5, 2011

January 4, 2011

New Years 2010-2011

Tyler and Riley Jo's Birthday

See Jane Tri

2010 First Day of School

San Diego Trip

July 2010

Bald is Beautiful

June 2010

Lafayette Reservoir

Easter 2010

March 13, 2010

Michayla 14

ACN Conference

Presidents Weekend

Lump Scare

Last Summer

New Years Eve 09-10

New Business

Riley Jo 4!

NEW MOON

Tyler's 13th Birthday

Halloween 2009

WOW!

Princess on Ice

Worst Experience of My Life (Oct. 11, 2009)

September 27, 2009

Labor Day Weekend 09

School Starts-August 2009

August 21, 2009

Santa Cruz

Boat

Fairytale Town and Sacramento Zoo

July 18, 2009

July 15, 2009

July 9-11 Chris' Birthday Trip

Riley Jo Graduates

Girls Trip to Tahoe

Young Women Mystery Trip

June Vacation to Carson City

Blog Summer Vacation!!

Wedding Dresses

Easter

Disneyland

Kyle's baseball game

Busy but Fun Weekend!!!!

Official Teenager!!!

New Beginnings

Curlers

Riley Jo

Valentines Day

Painting and Redecorating Projects

Our Anniversary!!!

Blog Vacation

More Videos from New Years!

New Years Eve

Christmas Dinner Group

Christmas 2008

Black Friday

Thanksgiving 2008

Tyler turns 12!!

Halloween

Pre-School Halloween

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Riley Jo Sings the ABC's

Tyko

Prop 8

Tooth Fairy

Concert in the Park

Our New Toy

Chase Update

Labor Day Tag...Sort of

Trip Down Memory Lane

Birthday at the Lake