Stop and Stare...

The evening began with a nice, quiet, ceremony that my mom's coworkers put together for her. She was shocked by how many people were there to congratulate her, but none of us were surprised at all. My mom puts her whole heart into everything she does. Then she goes the extra mile to make it pretty and fun. Well...FUN we had...


So... WHAT happens when you mix Elvis, a Mexican Restaurant, and a Retirement Party?

Answer...


Click the link below to get a taste of our evening entertainment..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejJ6FiuB0kY

The added bonus was that on Thursday nights, Elvis interrupts his performance every few songs for a little KARAOKE!

Tonight's performances: Aside from Elvis, of course

"Shoop Shoop" by HolleeAnn ...Amy and I were great backup girls

Followed by Eric Clapton's "Change the World" by Josh and

"Some country song I've never heard" by Big Daddy Paul

I dragged Amy up there with me to sing "Take a Chance On Me". Mostly for moral/vocal support... Don't worry about help with the sweet dance moves, I handled those all on my own.

I finally understand how people on shows like Big Brother and Real World can say they "forgot about the cameras watching" because after awhile, I zeroed in on my cheering and laughing family members, and honestly became totally unaware of the others in the crowd. Hopefully there were enough margaritas in their system that they will forget the events of the evening.

Then Josh ROCKED Neil Diamond's "Forever In Blue Jeans"...Amy looked a little scared when he started movin' her way during the "Baby tonight, baby tonight by the fire all alone you and I" part.

No need to worry though...Amy and Josh got a standing ovation. (seriously... who does that for Karaoke? and why didn't they stand for me after Dancing Queen?) They blew us away with their "Summer Lovin" from Grease. Amy I KNOW you two practiced that choreography...

We even got our very own Mama Mia to get up and show us how it's really done. I only wish we could have seen Mom get on the floor and do the worm one more time. I might have to look through my VHS archives and find that home video from 1983...

And finally...
A special gift for those who also read my sister, Hollee Ann's blog.

The missing photo.
She came.
She danced.
We stared.

The Braless Wonder.

We just couldn't look away.

The best part?

Upon closer inspection (since I had to move in to get a better shot...I realized that I went to High School with this beauty. Yes, that's right....Dancing Queen and I go all the way back to Kindergarten. Congratulations, City of Gilroy, you have produced a fine specimen.

Ha! Like I have any room to judge when there were plenty of photos taken that evening of me, like this...


Congrats on your retirement, Mom! We are so proud of all the accomplishments you made in your career. Unfortunately, you'll be stuck with the role of keeping your kids under control for the rest of your life.
We love you!

Beach Baby Beach Baby, There On the Sand From July 'Till the End of September

Our trip got off to a rocky, but typical start when our luggage was sent to a different airport, then locked in an office there, where it was held hostage for 2 days...leaving us without any of the essentials one might enjoy on a vacation (like underwear, for example). So we made do with what we had in our carry on, and rearranged our plans a little. We bought a $1 hat and some diapers for Quincy, and a $3 swimsuit for Reese at the Walmart near Janae's house and headed straight for the beach! It wasn't until we got there that we realized we were without sunscreen, but...

Lucky for us, the US Open for Women's Surfing was going on right there at Huntington Beach, so we picked up a free sample from a booth there. Once we saw the looks on our girls' faces we forgot all about our misplaced luggage and the fact that didn't even have clean clothes to change in to after we'd get a chance to check into the hotel and shower. We didn't care.

The girls see the ocean for the first time (that they'll remember)

Click to zoom in to see pro surfer, Bethany Hamilton. (the blonde in the middle of the picture) She was stretching right in front of us for 20 minutes before we realized who she was...which was pretty easy once she turned around and we could see that she was missing her left arm. For those not familiar with her story, (don't feel bad, I only know about her from Oprah...not ESPN) Bethany's arm was BITTEN OFF by a shark while surfing about 5 years ago. Even with only one arm, she is still one of the top 10 female surfers in the world, and she's only 18. Needless to say, we were pretty stoked to see her up close, and in action. She was awesome.


More favorites...


I love the drool hanging from her lip in this one. I think she ate a total of 2 cups of sand over the course of our trip...maybe more.

This is Reese threatening to call Child Protective Services if I dare to ever drag her into the ocean again. She was not a fan of the water.

"Look! I'm a Mermaid!"

sandy bums are sooo cute!

For once, Aaron was grateful for his naturally red skin. My face was fried by the time I got to the sunscreen...which resulted in a peely forehead and a wicked burn on my lips that got all infected and nasty. (you might notice my fat, scabby lips in the other pics from our trip) It wasn't so bad once I got on an antibiotic and put some steroid cream on my swollen lips...at least i THOUGHT it didn't look so bad, until I saw my brother and the first thing he said to me was, "who punched you in the face?"

Blogging For Dummies

For some reason my new posts are showing up out of order. Scroll down past the Super Taq pictures to see the latest. I also can't figure out how to operate my google reader, or why my analytics account is suddenly "flatlined" with zero reports for the past 2 weeks. I feel like I've been hacked or something...but I don't want to flatter myself. I mean, if someone were hacking me, my blog would be a pretty pathetic place to start. Anyway, scroll down to enjoy the "new" post!

Things I Miss About California?

Some people might complain about having to ask the receptionist if she can find someone in the pediatricians office that speaks English to TRANSLATE for you....you know, so you can find out what's wrong with your screaming baby. It could be an ear infection...but I'm no Doctor.

Some people might find it irritating that the woman at the register counting your change back used the words, "twenty-eight, twenty-nine, treinta, forty, fifty. Four, Five, Seis, and Siete es your change, thank you.

and Some people might be totally embarrassed in the airport when, after seeing the nice little head-dress-wearing custodial worker "who's skin was the color mocha", their three year old daughter screamed in horror, clung to their mother's leg, POINTED and YELLED, "MOMMY! I don't like that brown lady....she's MEAN!"

Some people were VERY grateful at that moment that the nice little custodial worker did not understand a word of English.

So what if all the magazines in all the waiting rooms everywhere look like this:

Let's try and remember that if there weren't a need for this:

We probably wouldn't have this:

or this:

...which is really what makes Hollister the most beautiful part of Mexico I've ever seen.

When Sisters Get Together

WHY I LOVE THESE GIRLS...

I went to see Mama Mia (for the SECOND time) with my mom and sisters Hollee Ann, Amy, and Melinda. It was even more awesome the second time and we had a great time singing and laughing our pants off (not really...they get mad when you take your pants off in the movie theatre...ask Paul) Then when we got home I found out that HolleeAnn had texted her daughter Jordan and our Niece Taylor (who were having a sleep over at my brother Mark's house) to see if they wanted to go toilet papering. They of course said yes. This was Jordan's first time ever and let me tell you it was FUN. My sister's and I had a great time with the girls teaching them the proper way to TP. We laughed hard and were not super stealthy but got the job done, and by the second house they were mini pros.
I'm still waiting for my phone call from the Cool Auntie Hall of Fame...

Girls READY to gooooo! My nieces Taylor and Jordan are in front.

someone behind HolleeAnn looks scared!
oh yeah!

Ok girls, let's try to be less obvious, and walk down the MIDDLE OF THE STREET!

this was the first house...they lost a whole roll in the tree, rookie mistake.

J giggling her butt off!!

still laughing, "my face hurts!"

$7,ooo for "enhancements"? No way! Try a 50 cent roll of toilet paper, baby!
second house...getting better!
J coming back for another roll

oh yeah we rocked this party!!
finished...job well done!

sisters...wooo hooo!
SO MUCH FUN!!

This was about the time that we almost peed our pants from giggling sooooo much!
Good thing we had toilet paper!

I'm not THAT awesome...but my SISTER is!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU HolleeAnn for creating this video of our kids!!!

YOU. ARE. AWESOME.

Home Again, Home Again...

Well our 22 day vacation is finally over and now it's back to reality, and LOTS of laundry and yard work! Sadly, my tomatoes ripened while we were gone and I have a mess of rotten tomatoes to clean up (that is, if I can trek through the 3 ft lawn to get to them...maybe I'll use a tennis racket to clear a path!)
The flights home weren't nearly as traumatic as last year's 18 hour journey...we did have some lost luggage (no surprises there) and flight delays. Luckily, right when we were both on our last strand of patience with our kids, we ran into a friend who was taking the same flight home...it was like manna from heaven! We certainly could not have survived sitting on the runway for an hour while the plane was being fixed were it not for the extra lap for our kids to sit on! Here she is, sporting the pilot gear with style...



We had a great trip...you'll have a chance to hear about in the several posts to come. AND if you're one of those people who are totally sick of reading about everyone's summer vacations to exotic places filled with pictures of their kids sunbathing on beds made of hundred dollar bills...then look no further, because there is none of that going on around here! Aside from the marathon length, our vacation was pretty typical...full of laughter, sleepless nights, more laughter, and all the emotional scarring required to be a memorable family vacation!

I'll leave you with a promise of pictures to come (as soon as I unpack the camera), and a riddle:

What happens when you mix Elvis, a Mexican Restaurant, and a Retirement Party?