Braden's 1st Birthday

"Fanks for coming to my 1st birfday. Wove you!"

Look who turned ONE...

(Party theme: Thomas the Train.)

Playing at the water park.

Pinata!

Lovin' my new toys.

Yummy cake!

Happy 1st birthday, son. We LOVE you, sweet boy!

The Loomis'

Swimming, swimming, and MORE SWIMMING!

Today, the kids and I were excited to spend the day with the Loomis family (Nanette, Jake, Heather, and Tracey) at the water park/pool for yet another nice day of swimming.

Picture below: Heather (left) and Tracey (right) doing hand stands under water! Looks like fun! Fourteen years of friendship with their mother, Nanette.
Nanette and I met in the Spring of 1994 while attending a college group at Sunrise Baptist Church. And ever since, we've managed to keep in touch over all these years.

Our memories include... (just to mention a few.)


...crashing at her studio when I was a commuting, professional student at CSUS. (Missy Homemaker made the best chicken cord on bleu!)


...proudly known as her singing answering machine.


...SNAC (which brings me to the next memory... read on.)


...ROAD TRIPS (My favorite on the road memory was the time we were driving to Prescott, Arizonia to surprise Amee for her birthday. Lets just say that we girls in the car were having so much fun beboppin', and singing away, that checking the gas gauge never even crossed our minds. You never heard a car full of girls get so quiet. We were in the middle of nowhere, really! The Tehachapi's. (Ever been there anyone?) We all sat in silence in what seemed like an eternity! We were all hoping and praying that a gas station was just around the next corner. Still driving on fumes, thankfully, about 15 minutes later... wha la... we had never been so happy to see a gas station. Didn't we pay almost $3.50 for THAT tank of gas? (That may be more of the norm now, but back then, many moons ago, that was a huge dip into our pocket books. Obviously, we didn't care.) Whew! Tank was full and our trip continued. Lesson learned.)


...starting our own families. She has three amazing kids. A son, Jake, who is 11 years old and going into the 6th grade. A daughter, Heather, who turns 9 years old next month and is about to be in the 4th grade. And another daughter, Tracey, who is 7 years old entering the 2nd grade this year.

Looking forward to many more years of friendship and happy memories!

Is SUMMER here already?

Loves the water already! Splash...splash...splash...

Braden water floating fire engine...

JUMP, Tiegan... Daddy will catch you...

Sisters playing at the water park...

Uncle Tim swimming with Miss Riley...

Auntie Lisa, Riley and Little Man, Brady...

Cousin Caitlyn and Tieg...

The Ramsey Family...

Tieg floating around the pool...

Papa Frank and Kennedy...

Nana Anna and Kennedy swimming with Braden...

Kennedy trying to swim away from Daddy...

Daddy taking the girls for a ride in the fire engine...

Sweet Angel Boy...

Kennedy...

Day in the sun... (Look! See my toofies?)

How do you stay "cool" in 102 degree weather?

Our answer: swim, swim, swim.