Life with the not so newlyweds

Kyleigh: Head Shots

2012-01-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

My beautiful younger sister is graduating college in May. She will be an interpreter for ASL. She needed a head shot for her portfolio. Since I didn't have my studio with me in Wisconsin, we laid a black blanket on the stairs at my parents house and worked with what lighting was there.

To see the other pictures, please click here.

Corder: Family

2012-01-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

While visiting my family in Wisconsin, we decided to take some family pictures. This was my first experience of taking pictures that I'm in. We all had a blast!

To see the rest of the pictures, please click here.

Christmas in Wisconsin

2012-01-11T09:01:00.001-08:00

We had a very busy end of the year. Less than 3 weeks after our trip to Hawaii, we packed our bags again (this time we replaced our swimsuits with sweaters and gloves) and headed to Wisconsin. I was so excited to spend Christmas with my family. The last time I was with them for Christmas was in 2002. Long overdue!

On our way there, we had a 8 hour layover in Las Vegas. James and I LOVE Vegas so we decided to take advantage of the time. We were there from 4pm until midnight- the perfect time of day to experience Vegas! We jumped on a shuttle to the strip and ate dinner. We then went and watched Cirque Du Soleil's Ka. As with all their shows, it was AMAZING! After the show we had enough time to walk around our favorite casinos. This was a wonderful start to our week long vacation.

My niece, Kenley has a birthday on December 22nd. We were able to throw her a family birthday party on the 23rd. Happy 3rd birthday crazy girl!

While she was napping, we decorated my sister's house for the party. She went with an Olivia theme.

She was so excited for her cake!

Everyone wasn't feeling too well on Christmas Eve so they all went to bed early. My little sister and I stuffed the stockings (to help Santa out of course!) and then played around with my camera. I have always loved the way my mom decorates the house and wraps the presents.

Kenley had a present made out of blankets. I reached to my neglected creativity and made her a bow with one of the blankets.

We used the stockings that my late Grandma Corder made for us. I was so excited to get to take them home and display them in my house.

This year all of the families got a very special present from James. He thinks up and then creates amazing games. We made a copy of a different game for each family.

My sister Kolbri, surprised all of us girls with matching PJs to wear on Christmas morning. Thanks!

On Christmas, Santa made a surprise visit to personally give Kenley a few toys.

But, she wanted nothing to do with him!

She talked to "Santa" on the phone on Christmas Eve and told us that he was a nice guy, but as soon as she heard the "Ho Ho", she freaked out. Maybe next year!

We rushed through our presents and ate our Christmas feast. Then the boys and my youngest sister (my Dad wasn't feeling well enough to go so he had a raffle to see which sister got to go) headed out to GreenBay to see a Packers vs Bears game at Lambeau field. James was beyond thrilled to go to this legendary field.

I was able to spend tons of quality time with my little niece. It broke my heart when she had to leave to go home.

Please ignore my hair in this picture! I forgot why I always wore pony tails in the winter while living in Indiana. The weather always makes my hair too staticky and clingy!

Kenley loved to look at herself on my phone so we made a few videos together. I'm so glad I did. Everytime I miss her, I just watch the videos. Here's my favorite, you can tell how much she enjoys it!

This last video is of us playing a game she got for Christmas. She is such a goof ball. Wait to the very end of the video, it's hilarious.

It was so nice being with all my family again. I hope we can someday move closer to them!

Family: Hou

2012-01-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas I was able to take pictures of this adorable family. We lucked out and found a few fall leaves still on the trees.

If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures, pleases click here.

2011 Family Pictures

2011-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Once again, we got our family pictures taken. This time we drove out to the very low Millerton Lake. Here are a few of our many favorites!

Our Thanksgiving in Hawaii

2011-12-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

We had the amazing opportunity to go to Hawaii again this year! This time we were able to go with all of James' family- a total of 13 people. Watch out, picture overload and long post!

All of the "kids" decided to surprise James' parents with a lei greeting at the airport.

James' parents rented a beach house in Laie for all of us to stay in. We petty much had our own private beach. It was a very spacious house with plenty of room for all of the little kids to run around.

This is the view from the back lanai.

The backyard before the beach (with my niece playing with a broom).

The front of the house.

We were able to spend all the time we wanted at the beach. I am a beach bum at heart. I could spend every waking moment near an ocean and still feel like I haven't spent enough time at the beach.

As soon as we arrived at our house in Hawaii, I rolled up my jeans and took a walk in the waves with my nieces.

I was beyond thrilled to find a boogey board in the garage of our house. As a child, I would boogey board all the time! We had the perfect beach for this. We stayed on the windy side of the island so the waves were larger.

Everyone tried it, even our 8 and 6 year old nieces.

We drove down the road less than a half mile and stopped at the Hukilau Beach.

We also stopped at the Hukilau Cafe, which is supposed to be the cafe from the movie 50 1st dates. We were dissappointed, but we were able to have a hawaiian breakfast here.

For thanksgiving, we had a non traditional feast. I wish I had thought about taking a picture of all the yummy BBQ food, but I was too excited to eat. The men were busy on the BBQ!

James and I hiked diamond head with his sister and brother-in-law. It has changed a lot since we hiked it in 2008 (if you've been in the past, they added pathways up so you don't have to climb the 300 stairs straight up), but it was still a good workout.

The views were amazing!

I thought this picture was adorable. All the little girls love Uncle Jim!

I decided to work on a few projects with my nieces. The first was picture frames. We took frames, sprayed them with adhesive, threw them in the sand and then glued shells to it.

Madison's, Molly's and Megan's frames. I think they turned out really cute!

The second project I did with them was message in bottles.

We had fun hiking to a spot to throw them out into the ocean.

We are excited to see if anyone ever finds our messages and where int he world they are at when they do find them.

Uncle Jim had his own projects with the girls. One night he took all the girls into the kitchen and they made cookies for everyone. It was adorable hearing the whispers and giggles coming from the kitchen!

He also played angry birds with them.

We went to the Dole Plantation! This is one of my favorite touristy places. I just love the dole whip!

We took the train tour of the plantation. It was very neat and relaxing!

An attempt at a family picture.

There were tons of these trees at the plantation. Just like everything in Hawaii, they were very colorful!

Since we were staying right on the beach and I adore the sunrise, I thought I'd take advantage of being stuck on California time and take some pictures of the beautiful Hawaiian sunrises.

We all went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It's always a fun, but long day.

We were actually able to get a family picture with most of the kids looking.

Uncle Jim and Molly making the fishy face while waiting to get in.

The luau. Always my favorite part. I just love the Hawaiian culture!

James and his sister went skydiving. I blogged about this already so if you'd like to see the actual pictures of James falling from an airplane, you can click here.

All the crazy people loading up to get on the airplane.

They made it!

We stayed less than a mile away from the Laie LDS Temple so we went there many times both at night and during the day.

We went to church while we were here. It was an amazing experience!

Afterwards, everyone went into the backyard to take pictures

And finally, we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

Phew, that was exhausting! I'm sure i've forgotten something.

Thanks for the wonderful trip!!

My Adventurous Husband

2011-12-05T11:34:00.000-08:00

We just got back from another amazing trip to Hawaii (I'll blog all about it soon!). While we were there James (and his sister) did something crazy (for the 2nd time- both times in Hawaii).

Can you guess?

He

went

skydiving!

I'm so glad that we paid the extra amount to have a photographer follow James down. The pictures are scary and amazing all at the same time.

Rheyn: Children

2011-12-05T09:03:00.000-08:00

This cutie turned 3!

If you'd like to see more of her pictures, click here.

Family Picture Event 2011

2011-11-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful turnout this year for my Family Picture Event! If you missed it, I have some really good deals going on until the end of the year.

If you click here, you can see a few pictures of some of the families I photographed this year. Thanks to everyone for coming out.

Brinley: Children

2011-11-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

I am starting a new studio line. My little niece was my first model. She just turned one so it was very fitting.

I am now offering a 1 year old package. This package includes 1 year portraits and cake smash pictures.

If you'd like to see the rest of her pictures, please click here.

Halloween

2011-11-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on blogging. I've been super busy with my photography so every free minute has gone towards editing and not blogging.

This year, James' family came here to celebrate Halloween a few days early.

One set of our nieces came up the day earlier. We had fun "fishing" in the pool

and painting pumpkins.

My sister-in-law and I also got in on the fun and carved/painted a gourd and pumpkin.

I was in charge of the photo booth for the Halloween party. After stressing for weeks about how to decorate it, we decided that basic would be good enough. So we did "floating heads".

I have other cute ones of my family, but my hard drive stopped working (with all of my unedited family pictures stored on it) so I can't upload them right now :(

Ryuu: Baby

2011-10-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

I got to spend some time in my studio with this precious little boy.

If you'd like to see more of his pictures, click here to go to my photography blog.

A love story

2011-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time,

this adorable boy was about 9 years older,

and this darling girl was 15 years older. (Are you confused?)

These two met and instantly hit it off. So 2 days after meeting, they went on their first date. It was very fitting that this boy would take this girl to a football game. Little did she know that sports would play a big part of her life from this point forward!

After this date, these two were inseparable.

Fast forward 5 weeks and 5 days, that adorable boy asked that darling girl to marry him and she said yes.

Two days later and 6 weeks after their first date, these two were married (against everyone's judgement).

9 years later, they are more in love than they ever imagined possible and the bestest of friends!

I love you babe! Happy Anniversary!

It's that time of year again!

2011-10-03T11:25:00.000-07:00

Family Picture Event

For $30 you will have a 20 minute family picture shoot. The price will include a high resolution disc with 5-10 pictures, depending on cooperation of children. Weather permitting.

Slots are available for:

October 29th 3:00pm - 5:20pm at the Water Conservatory (directions will be provided. Please plan a 20-30 minute drive to get here)

and/or

Nov 5th 8:00am - 10:00am at Cottonwood Park in Clovis

You must reserve a slot.

Family pictures taking place at the conservatory, will look similar to these:

Family pictures taking place at Cottonwood Park, will look similar to this one:

For more information or to make a reservation, call me at (559) 593-3719 or email beautifulyouphoto@gmail.com

**If you refer someone that books for this event, you will receive a slot for half off**

Cell Phone Pictures Part 2

2011-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

I loved how it turned out last time I blogged about my cell phone pictures. It's so nice to be able to delete them, but still have them somewhere. So, here's the next installment.

For Valentine's Day this year, James bought me a kit to do zebra print nails. I LOVED it!

These cars were James' when he was a lot younger. His mom gave them to him a few months ago. I came home one day with them all lined up on the kitchen table. I can so imagine little James laying on the floor, lining all the cars up to race.

In April we had our pool emptied. We had been having trouble with the pH so our pool guy suggested that we empty it and then refill it. They came in with their powerful pump and had it empty in 15 minutes!

While flying to LA on our way to Hawaii in April, we flew over the Grapevine. I thought it looked beautiful from the air. Too bad you can see the LA smog.

For our last breakfast in Hawaii, we walked to a little dinner across from our Hotel. I ordered a few Hawaiian things, one of which was fried bananas. It is now one of my favorite snacks. I know it can't be too healthy, but I don't care because it is beyond yummy!

Every once in a while I get what James lovingly calls a good wife bonus. (He gets bonuses at work and occasionally instead of keeping them, he passes them on to me. Isn't he sweet!) I thought this one was so cute!

James is a HUGE star wars fan. So this year on May 4th, I surprised him with a star wars themed meal to celebrate "May the fourth be with you". We had TaunTaun Guts (spaghetti), garlic bread in the shape of Storm Troopers, Yoda, and Bobba Fett.

For dessert, we had wookie cookie- our new favorite. It's not just a chocolate chip cookie! It's a chocolate chip cookie rolled in Cinnamon and sugar!

To drink, we had Bantha Milk (blue raspberry koolaid).

For Mother's day this year, James cooked breakfast AND dinner for me. This is monumental. In the almost 9 years that we have been married, aside from this day, James had cooked for me 3 times! The best part for me was that he actually did the dishes too. BEST mother's day EVER!

Mom K, this one is for you. We went on a date to the Nickle Arcade. James decided to play the Adam's Family pinball game.

This spring, James was on an outdoor 4 on 4 basketball league. This was the shirt that they handed out to everyone on the league. So my question is, what's the 1st greatest creation?

I didn't mean to take a video. I thought the lighting was so dramatic! This is James before one of the games warming up. I think this was in late April. It's very rare to need a hoodie in Cali in april!

James' team.

In June, we went to Disneyland with James' family. We drove down to Bakersfield and then left our car at James' parents house. A few days later when we went to our car to head home, we found these cute notes from our nieces on each side of the car.

June 15th, we swam for the first time this year! The more I think about it, I think James was the only one willing to jump in. The water has to be super warm for me to stick any of my little piggies in.

After waiting 3 weeks after putting in the sod, we mowed our lawn! It was a very exciting day. Sadly because of the strict watering schedules (we got a few citations) and the lack of rain, our grass is no longer this shade of green. It's actually closer to a shade of brown. So sad!

Our adorable niece spent the weekend with us in June. She got to sleep in Echo's room on Echo's bed (no, we didn't really make a room just for her, but in the summer she does sleep in there rather than with us). During one of her nap times, I peeked in and found that Echo had pushed open the door and jumped up on the bed with her.

While Rhyen was with us, we bought a bubble machine. That's a glorious invention! She had way too much fun trying to pop all the bubbles.

On Jume 30th, we brought Rocket home. This is Echo and Rocket meeting for the first time.

It's so sad to see how tiny she was. She is now the same size as Echo.

Once again this year James got "field burn" from playing softball. But, unlike last year, he was injured on both legs and both arms. Ouch! I wish I could say that I boosted the color in this picture, but that's how it actually looked.

James had to put together our desk. I can't remember what project I was working on, but I didn't help...much. I walked in to the office at one point and saw the following picture. Brilliant! I love how all the parts are labeled for each step of the assembling process. It even has the spare parts named.

Oh boy! Looking at this picture just makes me wish this day had gone differently. This was only the beginning of our possum drama. You can't really tell from this picture, but this possum is giving birth to a bunch of little possums. Possums are generally transient creatures so I figured it would have the babies, push them into it's pouch, and move on. NOPE! It crawled under our neighbors shed (the shed that is just on the other side of the fence where our dogs go to the bathroom). A week later, the mother was out in the middle of the day, Echo chased it away, but it dropped a baby, which Echo instantly thought was a new toy. James had to "take care" of the baby. After our neighbors had a few issues with the possum too, they decided to trap it and take it away. Unfortunatly, they only got the mother. The babies should have died without her, but they continued to crawl into our yard and annoy us. These little rodents were covered in fleas. Although we put flea medicine on both of our dogs, they still picked up tons of fleas in the yard and brought them in. About this time, Echo came down with huge sores all over her body. A vet visit and $200 later, we found out that Echo is allergic to fleas. I think after spraying flea killer all over the entire yard, vacumming the entire house, baseboards, walls, and beds, spraying flea killer everywhere, sanitizing the agregate, and washing all bedding, towels, and clothes in hot water three times, we finally have control of our house again.

I love bacon, but hate the smell that lingers in the house. I also can't cook bacon right for the life of me. I finally decided to try throwing it on the grill while I am bbqing our hamburgers and hot dogs. They still don't come out perfect, but the smell isn't in my house.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Echo and Rocket are best buds, for the most part. One day I heard some tearing noises, I ran into our guest room to scold Rocket, but found Echo and Rocket chewing up a piece of cardboard together. This is very abnormal for Echo. In her entire life with us, she has chewed up only 1 thing and that was the week we got her. She will not touch anything that we haven't physically handed to her to play with. Since Rocket has come along, she'll chew up some of the things Rocket likes to chew on. I feel so bad everytime because I get mad at Rocket for doing it, but applaud our older, more reserved, once beaten (not by us!) dog for stepping out of her shell.

This is my family! I couldn't be happier with it!

Rocket has learned how to climb on our lounge chairs. Many days I will look out the window to see her sprawled out like this picture.

House Projects

2011-09-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

Here are some odd and end projects that I forgot to blog about.

James replaced the outside lights in the front of our house. Our old one on the porch would turn on and off every few minutes.

We put this light on the front porch and next to the garage door (it's too hot for me to want to go out into the sun to take a picture of that one too).

We finished painting the front room last fall, but didn't put up the ceiling fan until January or so.

After getting annoyed with the organization in the pantry one last time, I bought these selves for the door and actually installed them all on my own. I love that everything has a place now.

We painted our guest room in January (I don't think I blogged about it) and put up a nice ceiling fan.

Also in January, I decided to tackle our nasty master bathroom. The walls looked like they had never been painted after the first time in 1984. There was an old cabinet above the toilet. After I removed it, I was surprised at what I found....Pink wallpaper! I was hoping to get this project done in one day, but it took me too long to remove all the wallpaper.

I painted them a light brown color and decided to go against my theory that brown and black don't go together and added black fixtures.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to find black things that we liked, so we had to spray paint the towel and toilet paper racks and the lighting fixture.

We are pretty much done with the house! It's bittersweet. I enjoyed working on it, but I'm enjoying the down time....and the extra money in our pockets.

Xander: Children

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

This darling boy is turning 3!

You can see the rest of his pictures by going to my photography blog here.

New Office

2011-09-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

We finally have a home office! We couldn't be happier with it!

We changed the room we were using as the guest room and made it the office instead. We love how the blue walls look with the desk (of course the colors don't look normal in this picture).

We wanted a simple reading chair, but after going to a few furniture stores, we ran across this. Each piece is separate so it can look any way we want it to. The middle section is an Ottoman/coffee table with storage. We are looking for a tall lamp to set on it.

It has taken us over 5 years to find a desk that we like. I promise we aren't picky. We just hate looking at cords. We also finally have an office chair. For many years we've been using a very uncomfortable stool to sit on while we (of course I mean I) blog.

My personal favorite thing about this office is my awesome bookend for my photography books. It's an old school camera!

Boating Fun

2011-08-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

We have some AWESOME friends who invited us out on their boat for date night.

We were all able to get up and wake board. Here's a video of James wake boarding. Please ignore the fuzziness when I tried to zoom in on James' bulging muscles, my camera is horrible!

We went wake boarding once before when we lived in Bakersfield, so we were both so excited to try it again.

After wake boarding we had Spouse Tube Wars.

We tried to push each other off,

but nothing worked.

After a few rounds, all of the girls went out on the tubes. We took turns standing up.

And then we had the neat idea to have all 3 of us stand up at once. That didn't work so well. This picture was taken seconds before 2 of us flew off into the lake.

It has been a very long time since I've had that much fun. I laughed harder than I have in years. I told James that it was pure joy for me.

Thanks Birds for the wonderful time!!!

Pool Fun

2011-08-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

We are so happy that we decided to buy a house with a pool! These California summers are way too hott!

We've had a few friends over this summer. I started throwing my waterproof digital camera into the water with them and let everyone take pictures. Here are a few of the fun ones.

This is my running partner's adorable daughter. LOVE the swim suit! It's funny to see these little kids go underwater so that they can see the picture.

It's amazing how cold you can get after a nice swim.

James has started a new "hobby". He loves to jump off the roof into the deep end of the pool. Our 8ft ladder is always on the side of the house so he can quickly climb up. Here our friend decided to join him.

Friends

Eyes open and all.

My niece is a daredevil. She's almost 2, but she has no fear of the water.

I wanted to try jumping off the roof into the pool. James lovingly helped me up there and walked me through it...

and held my hand...and waited...

and finally 20 minutes later, he helped me climb off the roof. I was hoping that having no fear while ziplining meant that I was over my fear of heights. I guess I was wrong.

Our cute nieces showing off their underwater cuteness.

We love having a pool, but we love sharing it with others more!

Madison: Children

2011-08-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

This beautiful young lady will be turning 8 in just a few short weeks. I took her out to the Fresno LDS temple to take pictures of her in her gorgeous baptism dress. We had a great time together. I am so lucky to have her in my family.

If you would like to see more pictures, click here and it will take you to my photography blog.

Oh to be a puppy

2011-08-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

If you don't want to read a post all about dogs, you should just skip this one. I promise you won't miss anything too life changing!

This puppy has thrown us for a loop. We are noticing how spoiled we were with Echo. She doesn't chew up anything, make messes, and she sleeps whenever we do. Rocket on the other hand, does exactly what puppies do. But, we still love her.

We have been getting a kick out of the ways Rocket sleeps. Echo will only sleep 2 ways and usually in about 4 different places. Rocket will sleep anywhere she can and in any way she can.

I've been taking a picture of all these ways. Some are hilarious and a few are just plain gross. Sorry these were all taken with my camera phone so the quality if terrible. I promise you, none of these pictures were posed.

This first picture isn't side ways. She fell asleep sitting up with her head pressed up against the couch.

After looking for her for about 20 minutes, I finally found her behind the toilet using the plunger as a pillow. As soon as she crawled out, she got a nice long bath. YUCK! Luckily, she can no longer fit behind the toilets! Funny story about this picture: I painted this bathroom after we had new toilets put in. James kept telling me that I needed to paint behind the toilet, but I told him that no one will ever see back there and I didn't want to get paint on the back of the toilet. When I showed James this picture he laughed and said so much for no one seeing that you didn't paint the back of the toilet. Luckily, the quality is so bad that you may not notice.

Look at those huge ears.

Wouldn't it be nice to carry a blindfold everywhere you go.

This just doesn't look like it can be comfortable.

When we first got her, she would only sleep off the ground. I put her on the couch one day and she feel asleep sitting up.

This is how she sleeps the majority of the time.

Or this way.

She likes to cuddle up to the toilet. Puke! I now keep all the bathroom doors closed.

She was sleeping under the bed for a while, but she is too big to fit under there now.

She sleeps with her eyes open a lot. It's so creepy looking!

Finally, she's a very lazy dog. If she gets tired while playing, she'll just lay right down on the toy.

We are excited to report that Echo and Rocket are finally buddies. It has only taken a month for Echo to warm up to Rocket, but they now play together all day long. I recorded this video to show James that they were actually playing together because he was out of town the first time.

I'm excited to finally have something to take pictures of. Echo runs away whenever I bring the camera out. Rocket is still too young to know what it is, so I've been taking advantage of that.

I was trying to duplicate this picture of Echo taken 4 years ago (it makes me cringe to see how badly Echo needed a haircut).

We finally got her a name tag. She was way too quiet without it.

As much as I love Rocket, I love it more when she's asleep. That's the only time she's not chewing something up.

A new experience

2011-08-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, James travelled to San Luis Obispo for some meetings. While he was there, he was invited to a seafood boil.

Have you ever seen this?

We aren't seafood fans, so I had no idea what we were missing out on. James said that they just cooked all the food and poured it on the table. I LOVE that idea! Why can't we do that for every meal? James hunted down this picture to prove to me that they really did that.

I'm proud of James. He will not touch seafood, but he tried clam and shrimp!

Softball Champs, again!

2011-08-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

This is the sixth year in a row (5th year that James was on the team) that his team has won the softball championship. This year they were able to go undefeated!

There's no write up about the season like we had last year, but I can tell you James had a wonderful season! He has learned a few new pitching styles and greatly improved on his batting (not that he has ever been bad at it!). There are 2 games where James' batting played a huge role in the win.... one game they were down all game, they were the last to bat and James hit a home run for the win. Another time they were down by quite a few, James hit a home run which boosted their morale causing a few others after him to hit homers to beat the other team.

I love this picture. It looks like they all have sore knees.

Congrats boys! You did an awesome job! Can't wait for next season.

You can read about last season here.

Conquering another fear

2011-07-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

I spoke in Church on Sunday!

Many of you may not know me personally, so you may not know that I am really shy. Over the past few years, I have been trying to overcome this, but I am still not a big fan of speaking in a group of more than a few people or talking about myself.

In our Church, unlike many others, we have the congregation speak each week. Usually you get the "opportunity" every few years. I have been asked many times and turned it down every time. The last time I spoke was 11 years ago. They had all the graduating seniors get up and talk about what they learned in seminary and what their plans were once the graduated (a combination of my 2 biggest dislikes).

A few months ago, I was asked to give the opening prayer in Sacrament. Since they asked me only a few minutes before, I couldn't think of an excuse quick enough. I got up and did it....and survived. As I was walking back to our pew, I thought that wasn't so bad. So I challenged myself to accept the next request to speak.

I've always hated being shy. It's taken me 29 years to get to this point and I hope that maybe in 29 more I will have completely overcome it!

I have a name!

2011-07-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

Our Family is Growing

2011-07-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer for Mom and Dad K: You should probably skip this post and not read it or look at the pictures, but if you do decide to continue, we aren't responsible for what you might do after reading it!

We are no longer a family of 3.

Our family has gained......

1 super sensitive nose. It's nose is as close to a blood hound's as possible.

4 very colorful, very large paws.

Hundreds of spots.

And 2 very floppy ears.

How floppy? Look at them blowing in the wind.

If you haven't figured it out yet,

we are now proud owners of a 10 week old Basset Hound puppy.

She is still unnamed. We are open to suggestions, but here's our restrictions.... it can't be a human name, it has to be fun and unique.

We have been looking for a friend for Echo for a few months. We've gone to the local shelters numerous times, but have been unable to find "the one". This dog was James choice, so I finally asked him what he really wanted and he told me a Basset Hound. So we called up a breeder and got her last night only an hour before James softball game.

Race Recap

2011-06-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've ran a couple of races that I didn't blog about, mainly because my personal paparazzi wasn't there to capture every moment, but for my journaling sake, I'm blogging about them and including the cell phone pictures of the two races.

This first race was the Angel Babies Race on 5/7/11.
If you look closely, you might notice that James is wearing the same shirt as me. I actually asked him to run this race with me. We were running for "Ruth's Runners" and I wanted him to help me support their family.

Side note: Many people have asked us why James doesn't race with me. This is a sore subject in our house. My reasoning is that- and I'm sure it's not completely logical- James is GREAT in everything he does. I want to be better than him in one area, so if he never competes with me, I'll always be better than him. Right?

This final picture is from The Valley Children's Hospital Miracle Mile Run 6/11/11.

My photographer was playing in a couple of outdoor 4 on 4 basketball games, so my running buddy and I were running solo (not literally, obviously). This race could have been my favorite if it wasn't for the blazing heat, pot holes, and the car that almost ran me over. We ran down Avenue 9, which is a rural road surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and open fields. This is also a very busy road because it connects our side of town to Highway 99. Traffic was slowed down, but towards the finish line, the cops started letting the cars drive right next to the runners. On any other cool day, I would have had a great time.

New Yard!

2011-06-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Oy! I'm exhausted again just from typing this post.

James took off the friday before memorial day and the tuesday after, which gave him 5 days off. We decided to use that time to tackle our yard. We had been trying for a couple of weeks to get a few quotes from contractors to get all of our landscaping done. After being stood up by every single one, we said the heck with it and decided to dive in ourselves. We were very fortunate to have many people offer their expertise and time to help us get it done. Thank you everyone! We put in 12 hour days every day.

I'm sad that I didn't get to take very many pictures of those 5 days. I was out there getting my hands dirty alongside James the entire time so I hardly ever thought about grabbing my camera.

For 2 weeks, every night that we didn't have a sporting event, James and I were busy in the backyard. The backyard and side yard had little hills. We wanted everything level. So we borrowed a rototiller (Thanks Josh & Kimmy!) and moved tons and tons and tons of dirt.

Our side yard was originally a brick patio. We removed this within the first 3 months of living here. This area needed to be filled in with dirt so that it was level with the rest of the yard.

Friday morning, we rented a sod cutter and got to work. We had no idea what to expect! Thanks Danny for helping us!

I rolled ALL that! That was hard work, but I actually enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I over did it and was hurt the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday, James' Dad and 2nd Cousin (Is that what he is to James, Mom K?) drove up to help us with cement work. Thanks Dad and Nick!

They put in a mow strip between our yard and our neighbors yard. Our neighbors came over with 5 sets of helping hands. Thanks Boones!

Once the mow strip was setting, they worked on pouring concrete behind our Pergola. We've been wanting concrete there forever! There was only a small cemented area that was covered by the roof so we couldn't put any lawn furniture out there. Now we can!

They also poured the foundation for our retaining wall.

We took a much needed break on Sunday and then jumped right in Monday morning. Since we had too much extra dirt (because of the hills) we needed to make a second tier of grass. Our entire pool area is 2 tiers so it flows very nicely. James and I painfully built the retaining wall needed for the 2nd tier. It was a rocky start, but once we got the hang of it, it was smooth sailing.

We will eventually be putting brick capstones on the top of the wall, which will match all of our other tiers. Thanks Todd and Adler for helping us level out the dirt on this tier!

Tuesday morning I woke up to James saying, "OH NO! OH NO!". He came running into our room to let me know that the sod was being delivered. There was a semi truck parked in front of our house with 16 pallets of sod. He was afraid that it was all for us. Fortunately, we only got 5 1/2 pallets (3000 sq feet).

I had to work this day, so James did most of the work with some help from the Missionaries and our neighbor Kasey. Thanks!

My "Egyptian" husband. James was smart and stayed covered so he wouldn't fry and be miserable all weekend. We were very lucky to have cool weather (it's usually scorching hot by then in Cali). We even received tons of rain the week after all the sod was laid (we generally don't get rain from about early march until mid october).

Now for the MOSTLY finished product..... (I'm including the before and after pictures. The before picture were taken the day we got the keys to the house 1 1/2 years ago. It had been sitting empty for 2 years so everything was overgrown or dead.)

Side yard before:

(This one was taken after we put in the sprinklers)

After:

Poolside of backyard and above pool before:

After:

Backyard before:

After:

Pergola before:

After:

Front yard before:

After:

Since we did all the work ourselves, we were well under budget. We used this money and bought accessories to decorate the yard so it had a Hawaiian theme (notice the metal palm tree). We'll be buying new patio furniture for under the pergola, but we haven't found the perfect pieces yet.

Shaved Ice

2011-06-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

This may seem like a petty thing to you, but in our house, this is a HUGE deal!

I've mentioned in many posts that James LOVES shaved ice. When we were first married, there was a shaved ice shack right across the street from our apartment. Everyday when we both got home from work, we would gather a couple dollars worth of change and race across the street. Those were our "starving college student" days so we would order one small shaved ice with two straws (ahhh so romantic).

Once we moved to Bakersfield, California and moved into an apartment, we were beyond excited to find a shaved ice shack right around the corner. By this time our income had finally gone up so we were able to order our own almost everyday.

A few years later, James' job transferred us to Clovis, Ca. Our first summer here, we were extremely disappointed to find that there was NO shaved ice. We contemplated opening up our own place, but soon found that Clovis has extremely strict laws that almost prohibit shaved ice shacks.

Over the past 5 years, we have driven out of our way to get shaved ice. Whenever we go to Bakersfield, we stop numerous times at a few different places. Even when we are vacationing, we go wherever we need to to find shaved ice.

Here's James in Hawaii on our last trip.

James in 2008 in Hawaii.

So, this year for Father's Day (yes we celebrate Father's/Mother's Day!!), I decided to get James his own commercial shaved ice machine.

He was so excited when he opened it up! I decided to give it to him a week early because it was finally warming up and the box was way too big to hide.

James getting his flavors ready. His machine came with 10 flavors, cone cups, straw spoons, and leis.

Making his first shaved ice.

Pure joy!

We are so excited to enjoy some yummy shaved ice while hanging out around the pool!

Hawaii Part 3

2011-05-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is the final chapter of our Hawaiian vacation. I've been dragging my feet with this post because once I post it, our trip is officially over and I'm not ready for that yet.

Thursday (4/14/11) we drove around the entire island making pit stops to see many things. This was one of my favorite days. I enjoy spending time outside and it's even better when you are some place as beautiful as Hawaii!

Our first stop was Waipi'o Valley. This valley is only a mile wide and is surrounded by 2000 feet high cliffs. It was a beautiful view.

My Mom and Dad.

James and I.

We were able to see this valley a few days earlier on our Helicopter tour. Here's the picture I took that day.

After looking at the valley, we headed down the road to find some waterfalls. We were able to see quite a few waterfalls off of the main road, but we followed the signs to see a couple of the bigger waterfalls further into the jungle. We had to walk a ways, but once we got there, it was well worth it!

Once we were done with the waterfalls, we headed into Hilo for lunch and to stop at my parent's favorite cookie store- Big Island Cookies. (sorry no pictures)

Next we went into Volcano National Park. We were running short on time so we didn't get to see as much as we would have liked to. (Interesting fact: the Big Island doesn't have street lights and because of the black lava rock everywhere, once the sun sets, it's pitch dark. We were hoping to get back to our resort before it got too dark.)

We were able to walk through Thurston Lava Tube, which is a tunnel formed from a lava flow 550+ years ago.

We also saw the Kilauea Caldera. Volcanoes are very fascinating to me. I will never be able to learn enough or see enough about them.

I demanded to touch a black sand beach before we left the island. We stopped at Punalu'u Beach. According to a little old lady at the beach, this is the only black sand beach you can drive to, all the others you have to hike to get to them. A few months ago, when Japan had the big earthquake, a tsunami struck this beach carrying away a lot of the black sand.

Proof that my toes were in the pacific ocean while standing on a black sand beach.

The turtles loved this beach too.

I was so sad to leave. On one of the last days we were on this island, we found out about a green sand beach. In order to get to this beach you have to go to the southern most tip of the island, off road, and then hike 3 miles in. We have already planned another trip to Hawaii so we can experience this beach.

On Friday (4/15/11), we jumped on a charter flight to the island of Ohau. Sadly, I didn't take many pictures of the last few days there.

We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This is the hotel me and my family stayed in when we were moving away from Hawaii. We checked in and then James and I walked down Waikiki for old times sake. It was a blast to reminisce about our previous trip there. We put our feet in the ocean and did some shopping. Out of no where, a sudden downpour came. We were miles away from our hotel so we just enjoyed it. As we were walking through the International Market, a little old lady offered to sell us an umbrella, but at that point we were already soaked through.

Friday night we had dinner at our friend's house. I hadn't seen any of them since we moved away 20 years ago. It was so much fun to reconnect! I even got to try sushi and salmon for the first time...not bad at all! They told us about a shaved ice place that puts a syrup in their ice to make it finer. James is a huge shaved ice lover and for some reason Clovis doesn't have shaved ice, so we drove all over looking for this place. Everyone was very satisfied and had a second serving, even I liked it and I'm not a shaved ice fan.

The menu was very different. They put all kinds of different things in it.

There you have it, our trip in a nutshell. I'm so glad we were able to go! We already have 2 more trips planned there. YAY!

Hawaii Part 2

2011-04-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

This post is full of videos! A few years ago, we bought a nice new video camera, but we've never had a reason to use it so we didn't think about bringing it with us to Hawaii. Luckily, I accidentally found out that 2 of the 3 cameras I brought along were also video cameras. I'm glad we were able to document some of our adventures!

Tuesday (4/12/11) we spent the majority of the day snorkeling! Last time we were in Hawaii, we spent many hours snorkeling. We were so excited to do it again. Sadly, there weren't very many places to snorkel so this was the only time we did it.

The resort's lagoon was connected to the ocean which allowed a lot of ocean life to freely come in and out. We were able to swim with 3 turtles and tons of fish! At one area of the lagoon, we were able to hear the dolphins clicking underwater.

This isn't the greatest picture of me (snorkel gear isn't all that flattering), but I loved that you can see palm trees over my shoulder.

Shortly before I video taped this, I was about to throw away my new underwater camera and then I realized I wasn't able to take any pictures because I had been video taping everything. It was very entertaining to watch the 10+ minutes of me swimming around attempting to take pictures of fish and turtles. It was especially entertaining to hear me get angry that it wouldn't take a picture. So once I figured out what I was doing wrong, I decided to tape the school of fish that were swimming just a few feet away from us.

After snorkeling, James and I took the scenic route back to our room (on accident). We walked down a trail through a lava field that King Kamehameha's servants filed down so that he could walk on it easier. It would have been a nice walk, if we weren't wearing flip flops and wet bathing suits.

Later that night, we went to a Luau at the resort.

James was the entertainment! After the show, many women and a man (we think he was a straight man) came up to him and told him they were impressed and offered their room numbers. Ha Ha!

James had to get a picture with his Hula Girl.

On Wednesday (4/13/11), James and I drove to the little town of Hawi to go zipling! I'm still surprised that I was willing to do this and only got nervous once (you will see that on one of the following videos), but I'm so glad I did it! I absolutely LOVED it! We are excited to go back when they have their new, more adventurous courses open.

I think I have a lopsided head because my helmet was on crooked the entire time.

We had to ride in a 6 wheeled old army vehicle to get to the zipling. It had only straps hanging from the ceiling to hold on to, it was a crazy ride!

This is a picture taken at our snack stop. It may be a little hard to tell, but there's a beautiful waterfall behind James. We were served wonderful banana bread, coconut water, guava, and fruit kabobs half way down the mountain.

This is the 2nd zipline trail.

No, I never did let go all the way, although I did loosen my grip. I heard them yelling for me to, but I couldn't get myself to let go.

This video James took while going on one of the smaller zipline trails.

Please don't laugh at me for screaming! I bet you would too when you are told to run off a cliff 1200 feet above the ground!

We enjoyed zipling, but we both agree that our guides made the whole experience. They picked guava off the trees for us to try, told us what all the plants were, showed us the edible things, and explained their culture to us.

Hawaii Part 1

2011-04-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

We had the awesome opportunity to go to Hawaii again. Every since we went there 2 years ago, we've been itching to go again. My parents invited us to go with them to the Big Island. They have an amazing timeshare there. We were very excited to get to see a different island. If you've seen the recent Adam Sandler movie "Just Go With It", then you've seen our resort. The majority of the movie took place in Hawaii and was filmed where we stayed. The picture below is of our resort taken from our helicopter tour.

When we arrived at the Kona airport, we were shocked to see that it was all outdoors. This is a picture of our "terminal".

My Dad surprised us with a Lei greeting.

We also surprised them!

I think we walked away with 12 Leis total (our Lei greeter gave us a few extra and some random lady gave me one at the airport).

Many people told me that beaches were hard to come by on this island, but I didn't really believe them. I was amazed that they all knew what they were talking about. Most of the shore line is cliffs and sharp lava rocks, the rest you have to go off roading or hiking across old lava fields to get to. This was a beach at our resort. They strongly suggested not swimming there and warn you to enter at your own risk.

Our resort had dolphins! If you know me, you know this made the whole trip worth it!! I was so close to them!

Connected to the Dolphin area is a lagoon. This is a waterfall into the lagoon. We enjoyed snorkeling in there.

This island is very fascinating. It is almost entirely covered in lava. Between the airport and our resort, there were no trees or bushes. As far as you could see, there was only black lava rock. The picture below is of the "Hawaiian Graffiti". Many people collected white rocks or coral to write out messages in the black rocks.

I loved the colors at our resort. This was the only place I saw grass. I can't imagine how much work they put into it to dig away the lava and lay down grass.

On Monday (4/11/11), we went on a helicopter tour of the island. It was AWESOME!! I'm very prone to motion sickness so I was secretly nervous about spending 2 hours in a helicopter, but thanks to my miracle motion medicine, I was able to enjoy the entire flight!

My Dad was lucky to sit in the copilot's seat.

Me and my headphones.

He always looks good in whatever he's wearing!

The shoreline. You may think the colors look spectacular here, but trust me they were so much brighter in person.

We flew over the edge of the volcano. The glowing orange spot is actual lava. Our helicopter pilot told us that about 3 months ago the lava stopped flowing. Ever since 1984, it has been continually flowing out of the volcano and into the ocean, but as he put it "something has blocked it". Creepy!

This waterfall was gigantic!!

This was James' favorite part of the tour. It's a bomber from World War II that crashed in the jungle. Most tours don't get to see this at all because a cloud is always covering this part of the mountain. It was our lucky day.

Us with our helicopter pilot, Cogi.

Everyone on the helicopter. It was a very tight fit for 2 hours!

Later that day, we went on a dinner/sunset cruise. Once again, I tested the limits of my motion sick medicine and I'm very happy to say that I felt perfect the entire time.

James was very excited to cruise the ocean while eating a Hawaiian cuisine.

We had a gorgeous view of the sunset. This was actually the first time we had seen the sun. The VOG (volcanic fog) covered us a good portion of the trip.

Me and my love!

Our awesome traveling companions!

Stay tuned for more from our trip...

Did you figure it out?

2011-04-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

We've been busy ripping out all the old sprinkler lines and putting in new ones. We weren't happy with the placement of them and every day we were noticing a new leak so we decided to redo them. We are preparing to lay sod very soon so we wanted to get this done beforehand.

Once again, James amazed me. He's never messed with sprinklers before, but he acted like a pro and knew exactly what needed to be done.

Unfortunately, we got one sprinkler line done and then it rained for almost a full week. Our yard looked a lot like this. Echo loves to play in mud so she wasn't put out at all.

We have starter to plant in the areas that won't have grass. We are trying to go with a tropical theme around the pool area.

The tall tree in the middle is a Hibiscus tree. Every time I look at it, it has tons of flowers that remind me of Hawaii. We are thinking of planting a few more of these beautiful trees.

We are so excited to have our backyard ready for the swimming season!

Can you guess?

2011-04-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what we've been up to?

Everywhere you look, there are mounds of dirt in our backyard.

Birthday Celebration

2011-04-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

Since our birthdays are only 6 days apart, all of James' family decided to come up here and celebrate with us. We had a wonderful day planned and were determined not to let the rain slow us down.

Everyone got into town at around 10am. We went out to breakfast at one of our favorite local places. After eating we headed out to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. It had been raining almost non stop for a week and it had been drizzling that morning, but we decided that we weren't afraid of the rain. There was hardly anyone there and all of the animals were playing and moving around.

The whole gang, minus James' mom and dad, they were the photographers for everyone.

James and I in front of the Giraffe enclosure.

James had so much fun carrying around his little nieces.

And so did I!

After the zoo, we headed back to our house. We ordered a bunch of pizza, hung out, and then had cake and ice cream. James surprised me with this cake.

This picture is from my birthday, but since I'm not going to blog about that day, I thought I would include it in this post. James gave me a milkshake bouquet!

We had a WONDERFUL weekend. We are still smiling from ear to ear. We love spending time with our family.

Golden Birthday

2011-03-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today is my golden birthday. (Yeah, that means I'm 29 today) I just realized this a few weeks ago. Growing up, I was so jealous of everyone else because they had big birthday parties to celebrate their golden birthdays. I always thought that by the time I got to my 29th birthday, I'd be too old. Uggg, if only I knew.

So in "celebration" of my golden birthday, I am going to tell you 29 things about me. I feel like I've done this before, so this will mostly be things from my childhood.

1. I was born in Farmington New Mexico in 1982 (in case you didn't feel like doing the math). I have a grandma and uncle that still live there. I used to love to go to my grandparents house and look for old pottery. They live near a Navajo reservation so you can find all kinds of things in the soil around their house.

2. I am the oldest child. I have 3 younger sisters.

(November 1982, I was almost 5 months old)

3. I went to 5 different kindergartens in 5 different states. No, I wasn't held back 5 times, we moved that many times during that one school year.

4. I went through almost all of elementary school in Hawaii. I learned Hawaiian words along with English and learned Hawaiian culture and the hula in school. I wish I had remembered everything.

(1984, My 2nd birthday)

5. Every year, our teachers would call us by our Hawaiian and "American" names. Since my name didn't translate over, I got to choose a different name. Here are my different Hawaiian names: Alohilani, Moana, and Kehalani. I would love to name our children with Hawaiian names. James originally wasn't going for it at all, but I think the more times I take him to Hawaii the more comfortable he is with the idea, but we'll see.

6. I always had a swimming birthday party either at the "up pool" or "down pool". When we went back to Hawaii a few years ago, I was able to climb a tree and take pictures of these residents only pools.

7. Once we moved to Indiana, it was too cold in march to have a swimming party. I remember my mom was very creative with my parties after that.

(March 29, 1987 I was 5 years old)

8. We had a hot tub in our backyard. For 4 little girls, it was big enough to be our swimming pool when we didn't have time to go to one of the pools. This is where my dad practiced baptizing me.

9. I was scared to death of dogs. I climbed many light poles, trees, random vans, strangers legs and hung out until the dog either ran away or one of my parents came and rescued me. When I was in middle school, my parents decided to get us a dog. The day we brought Taffy home, I was no longer afraid of dogs. I spent most of my free time with Taffy, training him to do all kinds of amazing tricks. I love dogs now!

10. I used to choke on hard candy all the time. It seemed to always happen as my parents were driving away. I'd quickly run across the street to a neighbor that I knew was a nurse. Since I could still breathe, I had to hang out in her house and drink lots of water to get the candy to dissolve quicker. I still have swallowing issues, I wonder if they are related.

(March 29, 1987 I was 5 years old, my sister was 2 1/2)

11. When I moved to Indiana from Hawaii, everyone at school was anticipating my arrival. I think they were picturing a dark skinned, long haired girl in a grass skirt and coconut bra. Instead they got a very white girl dressed in as many layers as possible.

12. We moved to Indiana in December in a snow storm. I remember walking out of the airport and instantly freezing. We had no need for warm clothes in Hawaii so when my parents went to Indiana to find us a place to live, they brought us back tons of warm clothes. I remember a lot of the clothes had the Chicago Bulls logos on them. That was around the time of Michael Jordan's reign.

13. I remember teaching myself how to ride a bike with no training wheels. I rode around in circles for hours in the garage until I could ride without falling over.

14. You'd never guess it now, but I loved to dance. I remember spending the night at friend's houses and we would stay up late and wake up early so we could perfect our running man.

15. In 1992, I was obsessed with Miss America and that year Miss Hawaii won. I saved every newspaper article about her. I even got to go and meet her. I have a picture with her somewhere.

16. For a few years, I had a very goofy smile. I would pull my top lip up to my gum line and show all of my front teeth. It is almost noticeable in the picture below, thankfully I could not find any pictures with the actual smile.
(November 1985 I was 3 1/2 and my sister was 1 1/2)

17. In school we learned about Pearl Harbor. I was very intrigued with the history of it. I read and reread the book Sadako and the thousand paper cranes (it's about a girl who dies because of the cancer she gets from Hiroshima). Last year, I ordered this book from amazon and have read it a few times. It never fails, I always cry.

18. I was in marching band my freshman year. The practices were too hard for my little body and after a knee injury that wouldn't go away (and I still occasionally have issues with), I had to quit. I never played the flute again :(

19. In the picture below I am wearing turquoise earrings and a ring. Both my mom and dad were from New Mexico so we wore a lot of turquoise. The other day, I actually wore this same ring (it still fits...my pinky).

20. We had a french foreign exchange student for a month while I was in high school. I was so excited to learn about her culture, but we did not get a long at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was the worst month for everyone.

21. I took 4 years of french and 1 year of german. I LOVED learning foreign languages. I was a member of the french club all through high school and my senior year I was the teacher's aid for our french teacher.

22. I got baptized on April 1st. Everyone teased me that it was really an April Fools joke. After the baptism, I was covered in leis.

(April 1st, 1990)

23. My very first job was at Wendy's. I was the drive thru girl and was asked many times if I was Wendy (it had to have been the freckles). I loved everyone I worked with!

24. I loved to learn and study. I usually got pretty good grades. When I was younger, I would enjoy copying pages from an encyclopedia by hand.

25. I graduated in June 2000. I remember a teacher telling me in 3rd grade that we were an exciting generation because we would graduate in a new decade, century and millennium. I was so afraid that on December 31, 1999, the Y2K crisis would hit and I'd never get to graduate.

26. I graduated with 400 and some other students. We lucked out and the skies cleared up the day before graduation so we were able to graduate outside on the football field instead of inside in the cramped auditorium.

27. I was the last class to graduate from that high school. After we graduated, they converted it to a middle school and opened a brand new high school one street over from my house.

28. After graduating high school, I went to Purdue North Central. I was studying Bio Chemistry with the hopes of becoming a CSI. After two years, I realized I HATED chemistry. I then went to Utah Valley State College for accounting for a year. Then I went to California State University for childhood development (I can't remember the reason but for some reason I wasn't able to do accounting there). I have yet to earn a degree in anything.

29. And finally the last things about me.... My graduation open house had the Hawaiian theme (would you expect anything less). We decorated the garage with luau decorations and I think we served luau type food. I was very disappointed that it was too cold that day to comfortably wear my hawaiian outfit, but I did anyways and froze to death all day!

Well now I start my last year in my 20's. I've begun the countdown until I freak out. Only 364 more days :(

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

2011-03-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

My Gorgeous,creative,

older man is 33 today!

Happy Birthday, James!!

2 Races: one from the '90s and one from the '11s

2011-03-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we ran in the Brian Sturgeon St. Patty's Day Race. It was a beautiful day for a run through Woodward Park.

Our usual pre race picture.

Sprinting to the finish line. I'm not sure why I was smiling!

While looking through my boxes of pictures, I ran across this picture. It was from 1990 or 1991. I was probably 7 or 8 years old. I am the one on my Dad's shoulders. This was the Aloha Walk/Run, which is a 8 mile race that starts at the Aloha tower (downtown Honolulu) and ends at the Aloha Stadium. I remember doing a few races with my parents in Hawaii. My poor Dad!

I was hoping to run a race while we are in Hawaii in a few weeks, but sadly there aren't any on the days we will be there.

Church Ball

2011-03-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

The season has started! I love watching James play any sport. I'm so glad that he is playing on the church league this year. He took a year off for many reasons and I am glad he is back out there.

Last night was their 3rd game. After trying all night to get a decent picture of him, I remembered that my cell phone takes videos. So here's James in action last night! (He's the one with the ball)

Random

2011-03-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

I know it may seem that every post now is either about photography or running. I've been trying to think of other things to blog about, but honestly any free moment I have I am either lacing up my running shoes or looking at something through my camera lens. My running partner and I have decided we would like to run a half marathon. So this week we have began the training for that, which means I will be running a lot more than I am already. Bring it! We are also heading to Hawaii again very soon, so I've been working hard to get my body in tip top shape.

I have decided for this post, I am going to blog about some of the many pictures on my phone. They are all from fun times in my life, but they never made it onto my blog. So for "journaling" sake, I'm going to include them on one post.

Echo refuses to let me take pictures of her. For whatever reason, my camera scares her off, but my phone doesn't. She's the only subject I have readily available to take pictures of so when I have an idea I pull out my phone. I thought this was a cute picture of her right after she got a hair cut last summer.

This was the first time I got to meet my sister's baby, Kenley. At this point she was already 5 months old. I hate living so far away from them!

Just a few months before meeting her, we went to Hawaii. I bought this onsie for her and was super thrilled to see her wearing it while I was visiting.

Last New Year's Eve (2010), we went to an Adult Dance in Bakersfield with James' family. My niece Megan had just been blessed so almost all the family was there. This picture is of James, his Grandpa, and his brother Gary. James and Gary wore these jackets to their prom.

I had to get a picture with this handsome fella.

Obviously, this isn't from my phone. This is a picture of James being crowned prom king in the coat that Gary is wearing above and Gary is crowning the prom queen in James' coat. (What good looking boys!!)

The Kraucyk men acting all GQ. I can't remember the story behind James' dad's jacket, sorry.

This is my Aunt Darlene (better known as Dar Dar Medicine Woman or just Dar Dar). She came to visit us a year ago. She lives in southern California. After spending any time with her, my abs are killing me from laughing hard for hours on end. She teaches massage therapy and can work miracles! She is an amazing lady! Miss you!

When I was in Nebraska for my Grandma's funeral last September, all the family went out to eat at a place called Talk of the Town. This was the only restaurant around that was opened on a sunday afternoon. It was walking distance from my Grandma's apartment. Since the restaurant is in a tiny town, our family was too big to accommodate. We had to wait a while for our food and ate in the "banquet room" with all the town's high school football players. To kill time, I took a few pictures of my family. This first picture is of my youngest sister Kaici.

My middle sister, Kyleigh. I hope she doesn't kill me for posting this.

This is Kolbri, my sister right below me.

We went to Jamba Juice the other day. While waiting we saw this sign on the bathroom. We don't EVER make bathroom jokes, but we were rolling on the floor with this one. (I hope we aren't weird and were the only ones laughing about it)

James came home from work one day and handed me a piece of paper with his "doodles" that he drew while talking on the phone. Seriously? Who doodles that well. When I am bored, I usually draw a circle over and over. Once again, he amazes me. I was so excited to see him drawing again!

I have many more pictures from my phone to post. Maybe one day I will get to them.

Race Judicata 2/19/11

2011-02-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

WE DID IT!!!

On my last race post, I said that we came in minutes from placing so our new goal was to increase our speed and win a trophy.

Over the past month we have been doing tons of sprint work to increase our overall time. We were able to finish 3 1/2 minutes quicker than our last race giving us 2nd and 3rd place. Unfortunately, they handed out ribbons instead of trophies so my goal is still to win a trophy.

We knew we were running fast, but when we saw our time we were beyond thrilled.

It was so much fun to have a goal to work towards!

Sorensen: Children

2011-02-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

I just had to take more pictures of this cutie and his brother and sister! Click here to see the other pictures.

Sorensen: Family

2011-01-30T16:32:00.000-08:00

My running partner asked me to take their family pictures for their Christmas cards. I jumped on the opportunity, anything to photography their cute kids.

To see more of their pictures, got to my photography blog by clicking here.

Break the Barriers Dream Run 1/8/2011

2011-01-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

I ran my first race in 2011! It was amazing! It was a freezing 35 degrees. The coldest temperature I've ever ran in and you know what I've decided? .... The colder it is, the more I enjoy the run.

I came in just a few minutes short of placing. So my goal for our next race is to increase my speed and win my first trophy!

Blogging Rut

2011-01-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a super long time since I've blogged. Not a whole lot has been happening here...and sometimes I wonder if I'm just blogging for myself.

So until I get out of my rut, enjoy some more family pictures we had taken right before christmas....

Picture Catch Up

2010-12-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of catching up to do. I haven't felt like blogging for a while, obviously.

Here is a preview of some of the pictures I have been working on. I have decided to post previews on this blog and then post more pictures on my photography blog (you can find a link to that blog at the top of this blog)

Farnsworth: Children

2010-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome opportunity to spend an hour with these cute kids. They have always been a favorite of James and I. We love each of their unique personalities! Here are a few of my favorites. It was very hard to narrow them down.

Family Pictures

2010-11-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Are you as shocked as I am?

We actually got some family pictures taken. This is only a preview of the many awesome pictures (some of you will be getting pictures for Christmas so I want you to be surprised!).

Thanks Kathryn! We had a blast!

Family Picture Event- November 13th

2010-11-05T06:16:00.001-07:00

For $25 you will have a 20 minute family picture shoot. The price will include a high resolution disc with 3-7 pictures, depending on cooperation of children. Weather permitting.

Slots are available for November 13, 2010
8am-10am in Downtown Clovis and/or
3pm-5pm at Cottonwood Park in Clovis
You must reserve a slot.

Family pictures taking place in downtown Clovis, will look similar to this one:

Family pictures taking place at Cottonwood Park, will look similar to this one:

For more information or to make a reservation, call me at (559) 593-3719 or email beautifulyouphoto@gmail.com

Lincoln: Children

2010-11-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of photographing our friend's baby. They recently moved across the street from us and their kids come over every day to play with Echo. We think their kids are the cutest around!

Lincoln's "nana" was in town, so we took a few shots with her and with his sister Ryan.

The New Boss in Town

2010-11-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

James started his new supervisor job this morning.

I had to snap a picture of him before he left for 2 reasons: 1. He looked so handsome and 2. Proof that I made a lunch for him (see the savemart bag in his hand).

He has been begging me for years to make him a lunch to take to work. I used to do it almost everyday, but while he was the supervisor over his last area, he was able to take a lunch whenever, wherever he wanted so I got out of the habit of it. This new job will be different. He won't have the freedom he used to have. I actually got up at 4:30am with him and made him a healthy lunch.

For a few years we have been meeting for lunch on fridays. I'm going to miss our little date each week!

Halloween over the years

2010-10-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE this time of year?!! From about now until December 22nd, I am the happiest person around.

I love the smell, taste, and sight of pumpkins. I love the cooler weather. I love the fall colors. I love the food and treats. I love the Christmas spirit. I love the meaning behind this time of year.

We carved pumpkins this year, first time in a few years. As I was carving my pumpkin and squirming every time I touched the gunk inside, I couldn't help but think about previous Halloweens.

I don't remember ever carving a pumpkin growing up. We always picked out little tiny pumpkins and painted them. My memory may be wrong and we may have carved a pumpkin or two, but I don't remember that at all.

Our second Halloween together (we were googly eyed newleyweds our first halloween), James decided he wanted me to experience it, so we carved pumpkins together. I have many pictures documenting this, but unfortunately my scanner isn't working :(

Three years ago, we went to an actual pumpkin patch and picked our own pumpkins. We had a great time together!

Over the past few years, James has done Star Wars rooms for our church trick-or-treating. If you haven't noticed before, you will see that James is super talented! He drew out these pumpkins on his own, no templates.

Last year, he made a spooky Darth Vadar to hang in the room.

Two or three years ago, our church decided to do trunk or treat instead. This is how James decorated our car. Sorry for the picture quality, this was before I knew how to work a camera.

The first Halloween we had Echo, we bought TONS of costumes for her, none of which she liked. She was a thug, football player, spider dog, yoda, crab, and a few other weird animals.

This year we went and bought 3 pumpkins. I carved the white one and orange one (I am not artistic at all so I used templates!) and James did the green one (a pumpkin inside a pumpkin, inside a pumpkin...)

I am excited to have many more Halloween memories, hopefully one day we will have little ones to dress up and go door to door with.

Mutt Strutt 10k 2010

2010-10-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

On October 23rd, I ran in the SPCA Mutt Strutt 10K in Bakersfield. This is where James' family lives, so I was able to have a cheering section. It made the race a lot more exciting. Thanks for coming out!!

James loves (or acts like he does) to be my photographer and document everything...

Pre-race pictures. I usually run with my friend Kimmy, but this time her mom, Sandy joined us.

On you marks, get set, go....

My cheering section (minus 2 nieces)

I saw these next 2 pictures and just had to post them. They make me chuckle every time I see them.

Nearing the finish line.

The time is off by 10 minutes. We finished about a minute behind our last race. We could have finished 2 or 3 minutes sooner if it wasn't for my 2 asthma attacks around mile 4 and 5 (more on that later).

James and I, obviously.

Sandy won first place in her division!

I have had a nagging cough for about 3 months now. Kaiser kept blowing it off and just prescribing me cough syrup. I finally demanded to talk to a doctor. After many breathing tests (and a few more next week) they determined that I have exercise induced asthma. Joy :( I now have an inhaler that I use every 4 hours. Once we got to Bakersfield, I started coughing a lot. And then during the race I had my first real asthma attacks. I have never been so scared in my life, but luckily they only lasted about 30 seconds and then I was able to keep going.

James' Corner

2010-10-20T13:18:00.000-07:00

I think this comic portrays James' humor exactly.
He came home the other day, handed me this comic and said he needed a place on my blog so he could post things.

So I am starting "James' Corner". I don't know how often or even if he will post anything, but be on the lookout for posts by him. YAY!

Speaking of James, he has some wonderful new things developing with his job. He will be starting a new position on November 1st. He will be the Supervisor of Dispatch. If you were to call into PG&E to report a gas leak or a pilot light that's out, the work report will be forwarded to dispatch. At that point dispatch distributes it among the Gas Service Reps. He will be over some of the dispatchers. His hours will be constantly changing. He will have a normal day shift, but he is in charge of covering the shifts of any supervisor that is out sick or on vacation. This department works 24 hours 365 days a year so this may mean that he will occasionally work nights and most likely holidays.

I am so proud of his hard work. He has done a wonderful job of networking and advertising himself. He has many departments and supervisors wanting him to fill their open spaces.

Ethel: Head shots

2010-10-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Our very talented, very funny, and very beautiful friend from church asked me to take some head shots of her for a film she is trying out for. I was thrilled to try it out. Here are a few of my favorites.

An unexpected trip

2010-10-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

On September 26th, my sweet Grandma passed away. There was no question in my mind, I was going to make the journey out to Nebraska again to be with the family. I was very blessed to have just seen her less than 2 months before and at that time she was in great health.

Like I have mentioned in a previous post, my Grandma lived in a very small town in Nebraska. The closest airport was in Omaha, 4 hours away. So everyone coordinated their flights and we drove together to Cambridge.

I got to spend TONS of time with this cutie! I am excited to see my niece (and family of course) again around Christmas.

Because my Grandma only had Granddaughters, we had the opportunity of being pall barrers (I believe that's what it's called). It was a very nice experience. I am very thankful I've been working out, no one warned us how heavy it was going to be.

My Grandma was a very lovely lady. Everyone had nothing but good things to say about her. She will be greatly missed.

All the Corder girls

All of the Grandchildren. The Corder side of the family is VERY small.

I think my life was blessed to have had her in it. I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with her and the stories about her life. Over the past few years, she started writing down and mailing to me, life stories about her, my Grandpa, their parents, and great grandparents. This is what she wrote about herself and sent to me for christmas last year:

"Alta Mae Wiedeman Corder was born in Cambridge, NE on April 23, 1922. She was the only child of Ralph and Marjorie Wiedeman. Her life was spent in Cambridge until she married Bernard Corder in 1945. Until that time, she had been a legal secretary. Alta Mae and Bernard were classmates at Cambridge High School. Their lives together was quite interesting- their homes were in Cambridge (NE), McCook (NE), Indianola (NE), Trenton (NE), Tale Rivers (MA) and Navajo Dam (NM). Religion has always been congregational. It must be noted that family has always been the prized possession of Bernard and Alta Mae."

Rest In Peace, Grandma! I love you!

Smokey Bear Run 2010

2010-09-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

My friend and I have been running 5 times a week. We have been working hard towards our goal of running a 10K, which is 6.2 miles. On September 25th, we ran our first 10K race. It was the Smokey Bear Run around Bass Lake. The view was beautiful!

Right before the race began. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

The finish line! We were so exhausted. We have been training on the very flat Clovis trails for months. Once we got there, we realized that the entire 6 miles was going to be up and down hills. We were nowhere prepared for that!

We beat our record by 17 minutes. We were able to keep a steady pace of 11:01 a mile. That may sound slow to some of you runners, but we were so proud of ourselves! We normally average a pace of 12:39, so to be able to run a faster pace up and down hills was a HUGE accomplishment for us!!

After the race, proof that we were alive.

Our rankings.

We had a great time! We have another race planned for Oct. 23rd in Bakersfield. YAY!

Stacey: Maternity

2010-09-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

My good friend Stacey is expecting her first child andI had the awesome privilege of doing her maternity pictures. She was incredibly patient as I tested out my new studio for the first time. We had a great time! Here are a few of my favorites. It was very difficult to narrow it down to just a few!

Introducing....

2010-09-20T11:41:00.001-07:00

My Studio!!!

The main reason James wanted to finish the garage was so that he could build me a photography studio.

He is so creative. He was able to figure out an amazing way to hang up my back drops without taking up space needed for our cars.

It was very hard to take a picture of the studio so you may not be able to tell what's there. So far, I have 3 umbrella lights, a hair light, and a reflector. I have a couple soft boxes and back drops on order too.

I will announce the name of my photography soon. James suggested that since I have people from all over the world reading my blog that I should consider getting a factious name before letting the world know.

I will post pictures soon from my first photo shoot in the studio!

Our finished garage

2010-09-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

On to happier things.....

One of the first projects we had on our list when we first moved in was to finish the garage. We finally got around to it. It seemed like a very overwhelming project, but James jumped right in to it. The night before he started it, he went on to You Tube and learned everything he needed to know to do this project.

This is the only before picture I can find, for some reason I must have accidentally deleted them. Here James is moving electrical wiring. We had an outlet in the middle of the wall, so he moved it towards the door. (He's so smart!)

He installed insulation.

Then drywalled it all by himself.

He built an awesome loft above the garage to store all our extra stuff. I LOVE it!

He had to move the water heater in order to drywall behind it. Because of his gas service background, he was able to work with it confidently. I was very impressed!

He wanted the walls to be perfectly smooth, without texture. So he mudded them and then sanded it down. It was a very messy job.

The final step- Painting. Thanks to our friends, we were able to use a sprayer and get the job done in less than an hour.

The finished product. We will be paying someone to do the ceiling. There's no way I'll let James do all that work above his head!

Pardon The Interruption

2010-08-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Many of you who know me, know that I am very quiet and avoid conflicts at all costs. I will never confront someone when my feelings are hurt or if I disagree with them.

I have embarked on a new journey to become a stronger, more confident me and in doing so, I am taking a stand for something I believe is wrong.

I have tried to keep my blog uplifting and full of mostly the positive times in our life, but after my post about James' softball championship, I have received many negative comments and emails.

I would like to address these comments in a post because I greatly disagree with them and would like to clear up somethings that have been taken the wrong way and blown way out of proportion.

For those of you who don't know any of the background information about the softball league I posted about, it is a church league. It is open to any members of the church who are willing to commit to the team, period. Some people have gone about saying that it is an exclusive team that they aren't allowed to play on. This is wrong! What these people fail to realize is that this is not a pickup league. There are 20 teams out to beat our team. All the team leaders ask is that you commit. They don't care if you are a horrible player, just be a horrible player at every game. How can you have a united team, if every week there are different players?

A few people have accused them of not fellowshipping, but since they have never expressed any interest in playing on the team, they were unable to see that every year we have had a non member on our team. This year we even had a recent member.

Our team does enjoy winning, but they don't sacrifice fellowship in order to win. Every year they start the season knowing they will loose games and that they may not take home the champioinship, but because everyone on the team commits to the games and practices, they are able to work together and play off of each other's strengths and weaknesses. Being able to rely on one another is fellowshipping!

I am sad that a few people decided to use my blog to attack my husband. I don't care if you agree with the way the program was run or not. My husband had a wonderful season and I am extremely proud of him. He worked very hard to perfect his swing and this season he hit a homerun in almost every game. He pitched every game and was able to place the ball so that big hitters struck out. He out ran many throws and made it on to the base safe. I should be allowed to post that without wives trying to start a fight for their husbands!

I hope I don't offend anyone by this post. I am tired of this issue and most importantly I am tired of my husband being upset because of the things he is being accused of.

Family Fun

2010-08-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

I had the privelege to take my good friend's family pictures. Her younger brother just left on a 2 year mission with our church, so the family wanted some pictures before he left.

I had so much fun with them. They had me laughing so hard that their pictures were coming out blurry. They are a beautiful family and I am so glad they asked me to document their lives.

Here are a few of my favorites:

After we took all the serious pictures, they wanted to do some fun jumping ones. I have never photographed pictures while everyone was moving so this was a neat experience for me. All the kids had it down to a science and we were able to capture everyone in the air.

My Softball Champ

2010-08-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Another softball league has come to an end. It's always sad in between seasons when I don't have a sport to cheer for James.

A few months ago, he helped his city league team win their second championship. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of that season, so I never blogged about it.

Last Thursday was the end of the church softball league. This year was much more competitive than any before. There was 20 teams, all trying to take away our championship streak, but we were able to hold onto it and win the 5th year in a row.

I wanted to get a picture of James on the field after their amazing win, but he wanted me to make sure I let everyone know that the score board behind him is wrong. This was the score after the 7 regulation innings. They had an extra inning and were able to score 2 more runs.

The last 2 games were very intense. Many players had to slid to get to their bases in time. This is what James' leg looks like after sliding home....he was safe!

Here is a write up the man in charge wrote about the season. James' team is Clovis 3rd (C3).

The Quad Stake Softball Tournament came to an exciting end this past Thursday night with East Stakes, Clovis 3rd Ward winning their 5th consecutive championship against a very formidable opponent in the Riverside team from the West Stake. Clovis 3rd and the Alluvial Ward were the only undefeated teams entering the twelve team tournament with Alluvial claiming the spot as the number one seed. It was expected by most that Alluvial and Clovis 3rd would walk through the tournament and meet in the finals, but both teams ran into a buzz-saw of a team in Riverside. Riverside beat Clovis 3rd in a very close quarterfinal game and then beat Alluvial in the semifinal. Riverside had a number of good players, but in my opinion the key to their success was the consistency of their pitcher Tom Thatcher.

Many pitchers in slow pitch just feel happy when the ball hits the 20" wide target some 50' away, but Brother Thatcher was not only seeking the strike zone, he was finding purpose in his pitch placement. It's not that common to see strikeouts in slow pitch, but Tom was the cause of many a player walking back to the dugout shaking their head or left wondering why they kept popping the ball up or hitting a weak grounder. What many hitters fail to realize is the impact a well placed pitch can have on their sometimes, macho swing. Chase a low, short pitch and the likely result is a pop-up or a weak pulled grounder. Swing at a high, deep pitch and watch the ball sail high into the air but with little distance. When a good pitcher adds a little inside or outside placement to the mix, his team often finds they are in the winner's bracket. Both of the teams in the finals had pitcher's with real skill and focus with their pitch placements and were the key for their teams successes. Tom Thatcher from the Riverside team and James Kraucyk of Clovis 3rd were the pitchers of two very strong teams.

To quickly recap the final week, Peachwood lost to Echo, but the next night after having scored 8 runs in the first inning, Echo's run for the title ended as Clovis 3rd shut them down for a come from behind victory. In the winner's bracket, Alluvial was to play Riverside. The Riverside/Alluvial match-up was one of the best games to that point in the tournament, but some small mental errors led to Riverside squeaking out the victory. It appeared as though the Riverside match-up took all the wind out of the sail for Alluvial as the Alluvial team was manhandled by a very determined team in Clovis 3rd. Alluvial was a dominating powerhouse of a team throughout league play and up till their last night of tournament play where they met two teams that would provide the night of tournament nights in the finals. Congratulations to both Alluvial and Echo for making it to the quarterfinals and providing a season of excellent play. It should also be noted that if an award were to be given to a team for their display of sportsmanship, that award would go to the Echo Ward, at least that is from my perspective.

On the final night of tournament play Riverside was the team to beat as they had knocked off all their competition during the tournament and if Clovis 3rd wanted their 5th Quad Stake Crown, they would need to defeat Riverside two times. The first game of the night ended up being no match for the stunned Riverside team as the hero of the game was the pitcher for Clovis 3rd, Brother James Kraucyk. His last name is as difficult to pronounce as are his pitches to hit. Riverside just couldn't make the adjustment in the first game and James pitched the one and only shutout game of the season. A shutout in slow pitch softball is almost unheard of, but not on Thursday night. Great pitches with a good defense are the makings of a quick victory. The Clovis 3rd revenge victory meant both evenly matched teams would square off in the second game of championship play.

The final game was a match-up of two strong pitchers, good hitters and excellent defense. The lead in the game switched several times and the fans were excellent as they cheered for their team. There were a lot of big hits and exciting defensive plays. Unfortunately play was interrupted when a player hit a ball over the left field fence and smashed the bedroom window of an apartment dweller. The apartment was dark and all eyes remained focused in that direction thinking just maybe it was a vacant dwelling, but then the light turned on and in just a few short minutes the game came to a stop as a very frustrated renter came straight to me as I sat at the scorer's table, with the ball in her hand. "Someone broke my window and I need it fixed, now", she said. I directed her to the individual responsible and information was exchanged and arrangements made for the repair. (I instituted the rule that any balls hit into the property of our neighbors would be an out after having received several complaints from them after balls had hit their cars and walls. This was the first time a face of those neighbors stepped forward and I think everyone saw this neighbors frustration and yes, anger.) The brief interruption only added to the excitement of the closing innings of the best game of the tournament. After 7 innings of see-saw scoring, the game was tied at 11 runs and we headed into extra innings to determine a champion. The visiting team was Riverside and following a short threat, their half of the 8th ended quietly. Unfortunately for Riverside, Clovis 3rd started the 8th with the meat of their lineup. The first hitter got on base and then was called out in a fielders choice play at second. With the score tied at 11 and James Kraucyk on first, Bart Ballard came to the plate and performed just as the fans and players of Riverside feared. When the pitch left Tom Thatcher's hand you just knew it was going for a long ride and it did. The ball was crushed and sailed into the trees of center field, a legal home run that ended the season for Riverside. The 13 to 11 run game was an end to a great game and season. Both teams came together in a wonderful display of respect and sportsmanship, in fact the entire night was an example of how athletes should conduct themselves during competition. I have spent many years watching softball games and this will remain one of my favorite memories of Church athletic play.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE TEAMS AND MOST OF ALL TO OUR 2010 CHAMPIONS, CLOVIS 3RD.

Thanks to all,
Curtis Thompson

Vacation and a Vacation while on Vacation

2010-07-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

On July 5th, I left to spend almost 2 weeks with my family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Monday thru Wednesday, I was able to hang out with my parents and see the town. On Thursday, me, my Dad, 2 of my sisters, and my niece, loaded up their SUV and started the 12 hour drive to Nebraska to see my Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. We drove for 2 days and got there Friday afternoon.

We spent all day Saturday at my Aunt and Uncle's place on the Lake. We were able to take their boat out for a while and play on the lake.

Although she may not look happy, Kenley (my niece) loved the wind in her face.

My sisters- Kyleigh and Kolbri.

This was my view the majority of the weekend. I had a great time running around and playing with Kenley.

My Grandma lives in a really nice Retirement Home (everyone calls it The Plaza). We were able to stay there with her. Each of us had our own "apartment". On Sunday, all the family came to The Plaza for their lunch. We decided to take the chance to have a photo op.

This is Grandma with all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Notice there's no boys whatsoever.

Grandma with her Corder grandchildren minus my sister Kaici (we wish you were able to come!)

And Grandma with her great granddaughters.

While all the family was there, my Grandma was very excited (and rightfully so) to show us this:

It's a bench near the entrance, next to the waterfall dedicated to my Grandma and Grandpa.

We were also able to go up to my Grandpa's grave on Sunday.

This cemetery was very interesting to drive through. We are related to many people there. I have great great grandparents and great aunts and uncles buried there.

All in all, our road trip was great. It was neat being in a small town with a population of 600. Everywhere we went people would stop and talk to my Grandma. Me and my sisters went to the gas station while we were there. While we were walking out a gentlemen stopped us and asked who we were visiting (visitors stick out like sore thumbs). Once we told him, he started telling us that he used to work with my Grandpa and he has a key to my Grandma's house. My Dad told us a story about one time when we drove into town. By the time we got to my Grandparents house, they already knew we were in town. I guess a few people saw us driving so they called my Grandparents to let them know. Small town life is very interesting. Later in the trip my Mom and I saw a plaque that fits small towns perfectly. It said, "If you can't remember what you were going to do, ask your neighbor, they'll know".

The rest of my time in Milwaukee was spent shopping.

My Mom and I drove about 45 miles away to Cedarburg Settlement. We had so much fun looking at all the shops. We found an old barn that was converted into a bunch of different shops.

This is where we ate lunch. It was right on a beautiful creek.

All the buildings were old and looked like this.

Sadly, I didn't take any more pictures of my trip. It was so nice to get away and spend some time with my family. I miss living near them, but I'm glad they are only a 5 hour plane ride away.

New Furniture

2010-06-24T10:46:00.000-07:00

After impatiently waiting 7 weeks, our new furniture finally arrived. We have been so excited for these 2 pieces of furniture.

The first piece is a Murphy Chest. It's just like a Murphy Bed, but instead of going on the wall it's in a dresser. We have been looking for a Murphy bed. While on the treadmill one day, James and I saw a commercial for a furniture store that carried Murphy Beds. When we got there, they only had Murphy Chests on display. As soon as we saw it we had to get it.

This is what it looks like closed.

And here it is open.

Due to our weird angled hallways, this bed is in our ping pong room instead of the guest room. So until we get rid of the old guest bed, we have 2 guest rooms (hint, hint!)

While waiting for the lady at the furniture store to order our Murphy Chest, we decided to walk around the store and then we found this.....

Please ignore the fact that there's a queen sized mattress on a Cal King bed. We aren't really planning on getting a bigger mattress yet (we like the temperpedic mattresses and sadly they are really expensive).

When James redid our closet, we decided to store our shoes under the bed. It soon became easier to just throw our shoes in piles around the room. We wanted a Captain's Bed that would store our shoes. This one will fit 6 of my pairs nicely.

We have been slowly working on getting rid of all our furniture that looks like it could be in a dorm room. We now only have our desk left. Yay!

We've been busy!

2010-06-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

A month and a half ago, we ordered new furniture for our bedroom and for our guest room (whichever room we decide to use for it). Luckily, the furniture (pictures will come as soon as we get the furniture) was purchased at a natural wood store so it would take 4-6 weeks to be stained and finished for us. We decided to take advantage of this time and finish the rooms that this furniture might go into. We kept putting it off until finally we just paid someone to do some of the work over memorial day weekend.

We had 3 rooms remaining with popcorn ceilings. James and I scrapped them and then we had someone come in and mud, texture, and paint them. This is a picture of our new master bedroom ceilings. We love how the inset looks now.

Once the rooms were done, we painted them. We painted the "ping pong" room (for lack of a better name) and the master a tan color. We still have one room to paint, but we currently are undecided what we want to use that room for so we don't know how we want to paint it.

This is the master bedroom. We had left over dark brown so we decided to make an accent wall with it.

We also got our new fence put up, finally! It makes our pool area look so much better.

This may make me seem crazy, but my favorite thing we did to our house during memorial day weekend was...... got brand new toilets installed. Sorry no pictures, I know how much everyone loves toilet pictures! James talked me into doubling our toilet budget for two sleek, clean, efficient toilets and I couldn't be happier!

This post wouldn't be complete without our most exciting event. On June 3rd, we finally got to start swimming and we haven't missed a day since. We have been itching to jump in the pool, but it has been unusually cold. It has actually still been a little more chilly than I would like, but because of the kind of pool we have, the water has been warmer than the air.

Man it's hard to get a good picture of James enjoying the pool!

Nieces

2010-05-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I spent a couple days in Southern California with James' family. While I was there, I decided to get in some more practice and take pictures of all my nieces. Sorry the pictures look a little grainy on the blog.

Meltdown! I had a cute idea for a pictures, but I didn't plan very well and tried to do that last. By then they were all hot, tired, and cranky.

New Roof

2010-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

We've officially had a new roof for a few weeks, but I haven't felt like blogging about it. I actually haven't felt like blogging about anything.

Here's what the house looked like in September when we had the home inspection done. The roof looked worse than this when they finally came to tear it off. With our crazy winter storms, we lost many shingles. We prayed with every storm that we wouldn't get a leak. We even had a few roofing companies call us to make sure we weren't getting rained on inside.

Here's our after pictures. We decided to go with a black roof so it will match whatever colors we decide to paint the house.

We also got the structure by our pool roofed. We have been testing out outdoor couches for this area.

P.S. can anyone tell us what this is called? We know there's a name for it, but for the life of us we can't think of it.

As you can tell from this picture, our next project is the fence. Our last storm blew the fence into our neighbors pool.

Just call me E Harmony

2010-03-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Last night James and I were talking. I wish I had a tape recorder to replay some of our conversations. When we have deep conversations there's no holding anything back.

I had jokingly said I was going to die of a heart attack sometime in the next few days because I have been having chest pains. I am very aware that if I die James will waste no time in finding a replacement for me. It's not that he doesn't love me. It's mostly that he can't survive on his own, he needs a "woman's touch" to take care of things at home. And James is fully aware that I will haunt his new bride every day....but that's for another post.

After I mentioned I was going to die and James followed up by reminding me that he would have to find another wife soon afterwards, I asked him how he would find someone else. Our church has a congregation for single people to attend and meet others. James is now too old to attend this ward. So I was curious as to how he might go about finding another woman with the same morales and standards as him.

Without hesitation he said, "I would put an ad on your blog. I would mention how sad I am that the only memory I have of my dead wife is our touching toothbrushes." He went on and on as though he has thought this through before.

So if you see and "ad" on here a few days after I pass away, don't be offended. Just know that I expect that and would actually be surprised if he didn't do that.

Random Stuff

2010-03-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

We are taking a break on our projects at home for a while because we over did and need a break! I need to touch up ceilings and put on outlet plates, but honestly the idea of touching a paint brush or a screw driver makes my body ache. Everyday I keep wondering what I'm going to post about because nothing is going on here. We have been waiting for over a month for the rain to stop for 3 days straight so we can get our new roof on. It has been an unusually wet winter here.

So you are going to get a mixture of my thoughts for the day...

One (and basically the only thing right now) thing that I hate about our house is the fact that our neighbors are right on top of us. We have the typical California sized lot-TINY. Our next door neighbors have their BBQ right next to the fence, so whenever they are using it they are staring straight into our backyard. Our backyard neighbors can easily look through any of the gaps in the fence and see straight into our house. Now to make it even worse, they decided to put up an awesome play set for their kids (I am so tempted to jump over the fence and play on it while they are at work) with a binocular type thing so there's no privacy anymore.

We got a new toothbrush sanitizer the other day (Mom and Dad the one you got us for christmas is still being used, but only for our sonicare toothbrushes). No matter how you position the toothbrushes, the heads always touch. I thought this would gross me out. The idea of anyone touching my toothbrush makes my stomach sick. But instead, every time I walk into the bathroom and James' toothbrush is touching mine, I smile. It reminds me of us. It makes me long for those times when James will put his arm around me and kiss my head or when he puts his head against mine. It makes me thankful that I have a wonderful husband who loves me!!

Our cute niece spent last weekend with us. She had a cold and wasn't too happy the majority of the time. In desperation to make her happy, I brought out my favorite thing- my camera. We walked around the house together taking pictures of random things. Every time she saw the picture on the camera she would point at what we took a picture of and giggle. When she was getting tired of this game, I took a picture of her. I think it's too cute not to share. We miss you Rhyen!!