Just because . . .

Just because she's so dang cute!

Me and My Girls

Mother's Day 2013

I love my girls and my puppy!

Happy momma!

Morgan turns 12!

Shortly after spring break, Morgan celebrated her 12th Birthday!  We really spread out the fun and didn't have an actual party until about 3 weeks after the actual day!  Oh well, such is life because it always falls around Easter!  Morgan, being the active girl she is, chose to go to Jump-Highway, a new indoor trampoline venue with her best friends from school!  It was a fun party!

Catch-up posts (always, as it seems!)

I always have good intentions of keeping on top of things now that Amelia is getting older and Oki is more or less trained, but somehow I can't find enough time to get on the computer to keep my blog up to date.  So, this will be a series of catch up posts to bring you to the present month of July!  It appears that my last post was around Easter, so I'll begin in April with a great trip we took to San Diego over spring break!  It was an all out kids vacation, chalk full of kid-friendly activities (San Diego Zoo, Seaworld, Wild Animal Park, beach, go-Karting, etc . . .)  Dan and I had a great time remembering back to our early years when we visited San Diego as newlyweds - it is still as beautiful as ever!  We even managed to swing into Vandenberg AFB, our very first home.  We will definitely head back for a visit at some point, because that area has changed greatly since 1992!

Happy Easter!

Gabrielclan6 celebrated Easter at home this year followed by a fun spring break trip to San Diego!  It was a great week!  We enjoyed driving down the 101 and reliving our Vandenberg AFB days, where Dan and I were first stationed.  The place has changed a lot in 20 years, but we were able to still enjoy two of our favorite restaurants!  Yummy!  We had a good time in San Diego, mostly doing kid friendly stuff like the zoo, wild park safari, and Seaworld.  Next time, we will skip all of that stuff and head to the beach and shop!!!  Well . . . . maybe just the girls will shop!  There is plenty to do down in that area, so I'm sure we will be back!  Next up is BOSTON, so be looking for those pictures whenever I get unburied from all of this vacationing!

San Diego Zoo

Carlsbad Beach

 Seaworld!

Oki

Pretty Boy

Gymnastics Competition Season

Morgan has had two successful gymnastics competitions in the last few weeks!  She is really enjoying the sport!  This year she is competing at the Xcel Silver level.  She got 1st All-Around for her group in the first competition and 4th All-Around last night.  Her team placed 1st in both competitions!  We love Dream Xtreme!  What a classy operation they run!

Potty Training . . . preview

Oh Joys - the fun is soon to begin . . . NOT (fun)!

At least the weather will be warm enough to just let her be outside in the element and learn to use the potty on her own!

Sweet 16

We have a 16 year old in the house!  It's hard to believe, but it is true!  Brenna had a pretty quiet Sweet 16  Birthday, but I think it turned out pretty special for our sweet girl.

 Brenna and her friends Sarah and Catherine went surfing for her "party!"  They had a great time!

Brenna had a nice night on the town at her Winter Ball!  She and Riley looked awesome!  This year, Brenna was thrifty with her dress, so she was able to get her hair and makeup done!

Sydney's Mission and Shiner

Sydney collided with her friend on the playground - end result - First Black Eye for Sydney!!

 After 6 long weeks of studying Mission San Francisco de Asis, Sydney completed her California Missions Project!  She got 100% on the project!  You Go Girl!

Happy 19 Month Old Amelia

 Amelia is doing great!  She is such a smart and sassy little tyke.  She keeps a smile on our faces!

Morgan Cheerleading Half Time Routine

Morgan had a great time cheerleading again this season.  At her school, the girls cheer for the boy's basketball games.  For their last game, the boys surprised the girls with flowers and a cupcake!  Very cute.  It's such a great opportunity for Morgan and she loves it!

Blog "Catch-up" Post . . . . 3 months worth

I'm not sure what happened with my posting, but I am definitely behind.  I'm not even sure anyone looks at it anymore, since we are back Stateside, but I will post anyway.  I'm going to have to dig back into my memory banks  - all the way to September to catch up.  I believe my last posting was of Brenna's cross-country season - she ended up really enjoying running and her 2 new coaches!  She is just returning from a short off-season run (WOW!) in preparation for the upcoming track season. Morgan had a busy fall with volleyball (in addition to cheer and gymnastics).  Despite another losing season - our girls grew by leaps and bounds throughout the season!  We expect great things next year!

The next crazy thing that happened in our household is that Brenna has started driver's training!  She has her learner's permit and is in the process of working on her skills behind the wheel.  Unfortunately, we aren't getting her driving often enough, and she seems to forget things in between times!!  YIKES!  Actually, she does a pretty good job and will most likely be getting her license sometime in the March time frame after she turns 16!  Can you believe that??

During the fall season - October time frame, Dan got to take two different trips:  one to Notre Dame with Brenna - super fun and exciting trip - especially because our Irish are doing so well this season - here's to the Champions!!  GO Notre Dame!!  They met up with cousins Hannah and Zach (Leslie and Sam too) for a wet, but fun weekend visit to this little oasis in Indiana.  (Keep your fingers crossed that we will have another Irish alumni in the family . . . . in the not so far off future).

The second fun trip Dan took was with our friend (and Amelia's Godfather) with Morgan and Sydney to Yosemite!  They had beautiful weather and the girls were champion hikers making it all the way to Yosemite point!!  What a great experience for them!  Yosemite is still one of our favorite places on this beautiful earth!  I can't wait to go there next year with my new camera (now that I have figured out how to use it)

 Halloween came in with a bang and Amelia discovered her love of CANDY!  Unfortunately, I was having difficulties with my new camera and most of the pictures turned out blurry from this event.  Oh well, you can get the general idea of how our night was!  Amelia was a zebra, Sydney a cowgirl, and Morgan was "Thing 2" along with her friend Linzie who was "Thing 1"  Brenna and her friend Riley handed out candy and greeted the goblins who came knocking!

November was exciting - we decided to take our first long road trip with Amelia and Oki!  We drove to Montana to celebrate Thanksgiving and an early Christmas with our Montana family!  It was my bright idea to drive through the night to get miles under our belt while Amelia was sleeping - and for the most part it worked out well.  We didn't anticipate how difficult it was to pull an all-nighter, but we arrived safe and sound 18 hours later.  Our time in Montana always seems to fly by, once we are there, but we had good times with our family and it was great being home.  Sydney celebrated her 10th birthday while we were there, too!  She was able to have 2 parties - one with family and one with friends!  Grandma and grandpa surprised her with a pool party at the Heritage Inn which included a sleepover with grandma and the girls!  This was a remake from many years ago - I think fun was had by all!  In the pictures, you will see her biggest surprise - she got her ears pierced!!  So now everyone except Amelia has holes in their ears!  On a side note, Oki did a fabulous job on this trip and we look forward to being able to take him on all of our vacations, when possible.

 Tradition of the Cousin Dog Pile - lots of giggles and laughter putting this together!

 Remake of the Grandma Hotel Sleepover!

All done!

Friend Birthday Party back in Vacaville - makeovers and dancing!

Well, I guess I am up to my current pictures!  We had a very quiet and nice Christmas here in Vacaville this year!  Grandma Barbie has been with us, and we are enjoying our time with her.  We have been cooking loads of food:  prime rib, ham, fried chicken, pot roasts, meatloaf, minestrone soup - you name it!  Spoiled Rotten!  Christmas was very nice and Santa was good to all of the kids - and adults too!  We were able to slip away to another one of our favorite California destinations - Monterey - for a few days - it was beautiful on the coast!  Love that ocean! 

That wraps up 2012!  Happy New Year to all of you and best wishes in 2013!!