Brandon graduates!

Through a lot of hard work and perseverence, Brandon actually survived junior high and graduated today. And he made us very proud when he was awarded a Presidential award for outstanding academic excellence. It even has George W's stamp on it.

Here he is towering over his teacher as he receives his diploma

Please tell me what it is with boys and their long hair?!

And if the day couldn't get any better for him, he and his father went to his first 3-par course. After 9 holes, he walked away with an impressive 40 (for his first time out), only 3 strokes over his father.

This is his first shot on the second hole, only 5 feet away from a hole-in-one! Watch out Tiger, I think Brandon's going to be your competition!

Brian's Third Grade Play

Last Friday, the third graders put on a play for the kindergartners and parents. It was cute - the whole story of the Santa Clarita Valley. Here are some pictures of Brian and his buddies.

Nicholas and Samantha

Nicholas and Samantha came for a visit on Saturday. We had a ton of fun. After playing monster soccer (with a huge soccer ball), we went swimming with the neighbor kids. The water was cold at first, but kids never seem to mind as much as adults do.

Paige, our next door neighbor was great with both of them.




After swimming, we watched Night at the Museum. All the kids from the pool came, as well as two more girls from across the street. We had ten kids, 5 popsicles, 4 bags of popcorn and two pitchers of lemondade. It was definitely loud - not for the faint of heart - but a lot of fun!

And definitely not enough seating. I was forced to sit in the Ab Lounger. Could I look any fatter? A lot of good that piece of exercise equipment is doing me!! I wouldn't have even posted this, except to show all the kids in the house.

I had to throw this one in for fun. Little Ginger thinks she owns this house

and every dog in it :o)

Grandpa

And so my dad doesn't feel left out, I made a page for him, too. He's doing great. A little cranky, but I can't understand why since all he does is sit in "Old Stinky" (his recliner) reading books and watching TV.

Dad retiring from the Navy in 1967 after 20 years

Brandon's Kindergarten graduation
Hitting a pinata with a golf club? (Notice Drew's foot attire)
Isn't Brandon a little young for a "wife beater" shirt?

Grandma

The good news is that I figured out how to use my scanner. The bad news is that I figured out how to use my scanner. I think I'm going to scan all the pictures - okay that could take years - but then I could dump them on disks to preserve for the kids.

But I thought I'd start with pics of my mom. She's been on my mind a lot lately, so I decided to get some of these older pictures scanned so I don't lose them. My mother is an amazing lady and has proven just how strong she really is. I am thrilled to be able to tell everyone that she's fought a tough fight with her cancer and has, for the moment, beat it. At her last check-up, she was told that the they do not see any signs of cancer. She'll continue chemo for three more months and take another PET scan, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that she really has beat this horrible disease.

It's been fun looking back through old photo albums (and wanting to scan almost every picture), but it's also made me sad that I really don't have enough pictures of my folks. I'm going to make a point to take pictures of both of them with my boys before I run out of time.

Mom and Brandon feeding the ducks:

Mom in her traditional kimono
Our trip to Lake Tahoe in March 2005
Annual 4th of July fireworks at the park

Brandon's first birthday party

On the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland


Mom and me in Hawaii in 1984

Just Some Silly Pictures

More random pictures:

Water skiing in Lake Arrowhead (Summer 2006):

We love our kayaks:

Just silly:

Nicholas and Samantha come for a visit:

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey . . .

Don't bother asking us what we're doing any given weekend. The answer is always the same - Hockey! This past Saturday, Brian scored his first goal. It was very exciting. And I must say, he has a very nice backhand.

Here are some old hockey pictures of Brandon:

This is Brian skating with Rob Blake of the Kings at the local ice rink: