Happy Birthday Rachel!

Its hard to believe that nineteen years ago today I was at the hospital about to become a mother. Where does the time go? Its been a wonderful ride ( minus the months of learning to drive). I'm so proud to be her mother and I know that great things are in her future. Tonight we went to the steakhouse and celebrated. Always a good time at the Village.

Rachel, thank you for being you and making me so proud!

More Legoland

Amuzement parks always take a picture on the way in the park and its hard to resist the buy when its a decent picture. This was one of the thrill rides we went on. It was actually a small coaster but it was throwing us around pretty good. I certainly wasn't about to hold up my arms.

Future Stars Comp in October

I finally learned how to down load pics off my video camera so I came across these photos from October. Cory's gym participates in a Future Stars Gymnast program. Cory placed third and advanced to the Future Stars camp that was held in San Fernando Valley. Mom and Gin were able to take him for me. After the competitive faze of the day the kids go to a few hour work shop teaching them proper technique.
These two are definitely Cory's closest pal's at gym, Brandon on the left, Dallas on the right.
Sometimes Cory can exit the room mentally.

good old mother nature

This weekend Cory had a gym competition in San Diego and everything was going great until we tried to get home. The airport in Reno was not allowing plains to land due to wind so we were stranded in Oakland. Luckily the airline put us up in a nice hotel until morning. Earlier in the day Cory and I went to Lego land which was very fun. The rain went away long for us to have a great time. The whole park is made up of amazing lego structers. This is the first one we saw in the parking lot. The one that looks like Cory is not a lego, the other two are.
They had this cool town set up for young drivers. The kids had to drive on the right side of the street and stop at intersections. Cory was a very conservitive driver, definitely going past the three second rule at stop signs. If only that would last!

The day was nice mostly because the park was empty. No line anywhere, you could stay on rides over and over again if you wanted. Cory even road a very scary ride today which was a big step for him. There's still hope for him to enjoy Magic Mountain.

What a good Friday

Fridays are always good on their own but this friday was very nice. At lunch I went Ice skating with my co-worker/friend Karen. Right across the street from my building is the city ice rink. City of Reno employess can go anytime for free. The weather was great, it even was a little warm in my jacket.
I tried to take a picture of my building from the rink but it was so bright out I couldn't even see it through the camera. My office is on the second floor and we have a perfect view of the ice rink. During Xmas vacation it was busy everyday, very festive.
After work and after Cory's gymnastics we went to the movies with Betsy and Jade. They had bought a bunch of tickets from Costco at Xmas time and shared them with us. We saw the move Mad Money. I highly recommend it, it was hilarious. Even Cory wispered to me half way through the movie that he actually likes this movie. Originaly when he heard we were going to this flick he was not too happy.
Its nice to finish the work week on a good note.

A New Friend..

So her name is Murda. haha. Matt made it up. It comes from this show on MTV called Rob and Big. They use the term "murdered out" when something is solid black. So Matt decided to call her Murda, because she is alllll black!You can pretty much telll how adorable she is...

Matt is in love with her.

She reminds me of like... a little tiger or something.

dixie and her are now best friends... Dixie's expression in this photo is pretty much priceless..

And the best part is... they both love the monkey!

Too cute.

Another Gold Medal

The competition in Sacramento this weekend brought home another Gold Medal, this time on vault. Last year Cory never placed in the top ten on vault last year, now he has a bronze and gold on the event. Unfortunately the snap shot of him on the podium didn't turn out so I took this one at home He received four medals for the day. 1st on vault, 6th on p bars, 9th on rings and his all around medal. He usually places on high bar but he struggled on that one. I posted the routine anyway that I recorded off the regular camera. I'll also throw in his floor routine warm up.

where it all started

Cory and I are in Sacramento this weekend for a gymnastic tournament. I was getting Cory's shower ready this morning and as he got in he asked "Where did you ever get the idea to put me in gymnastics?" I told him it was Gram's idea when he was in kindergarten. He then said "It really changed my life you know." I do know, thanks Mom.

Gin's Birthday

I was looking back at the digital collection and decided to share these photos. We went to eat at none other than Western Village for Ginnny's birthday dinner. The sad part was that none of us were very hungry, so I ended up taking home a whole steak and shrimp dinner to enjoy at some later time. When Cory and I got home Cory dropped the doggie bag with the food and the container openned up and spilled all over the garage floor. Oh well, thats what I get for ordering food I didn't need.

I really like this shot of Cory and Mom.

My crew at work

This is my department at work. The one in the peach shirt is my boss. I'll give you one guess as to the one I had a conflict with for a while. If you click on the picture and make it bigger you can see the faces better. All in all I get along with everyone very well. I'm very thankful for this job, I love what I do and look forward to getting my degree and moving up in the company.

A Rough Day..

So I (along with the rest of the family) kind of had a rough day. A rough afternoon I should say. Things were frustrating, everyone was getting annoyed, and we all have our fair share of things on our minds. I kind of am stressed out because a bunch of things going on in life, the boyfriend, school, work, ohhhh the list could go on! haha. I went to work with a horrible attitude, and had a bad night. Then I came home to a family who greeted me the way I needed to be greeted. My wonderful little brother calmy was sitting on the computer, and gave me a friendly hello with a glowing smile. Then I walked to my mom's room and she greeted me with a happy hello as though she was very happy I was home. It just made me realize, that no matter what is going on in life, you always have your family there to help you and make you feel better. We sometimes are disfunctional, but really, you can't get anything better than family. They will always be there for you, no matter what. I love you all.

"Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts."

"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses."

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing."

Don't eat yellow snow

I was really surprised Dixie wanted to go outside this morning. She had to hop over the wall of snow that built up next to the sliding glass door. She even went all the way to her favorite spot on the far side of the house. The snow completely covered her legs so she took it slow and careful. If she bumps into anything it could be an avalanche to her.
This video is of Rachel and Dixie playing. I'm not sure who's having more fun!

Snowy Night..

by around... 4:30, the snow started falling really hard. The snow flakes were literally the size of quarters. It was so crazzzzy.

Here is our house. I had to use a weird setting on the camera for it to be lighter, so you cant really see how hard it is snowing.. but it was snowing sooooooo hard!

Everyone sat around, and we all had tacos for dinner.

Left to right: Scott (matt's friend), Matt, Me, Cory.

Dixie absolutely loved the snow. Everytime I would run around she would chase me. We went out and ran around for a while and she had a blast.. She was barely shivering...

Here you can really see the snow flakes.. HUGE..

and EVERYONE took a turn at the Wii... even mom...

Rainy morning...

So, yesterday started off with crazy winds. Yesterday was trash day, and every single person's trash can on our street was knocked over. Also, to show how strong the wind was, our next door neighbors motor cycle was blown over on its side. It was soooo strong! Now today, this is how the day started out... Really windy, really rainy, and then it eventually started to get really slushy...

Make sure you turn up the volume so you can hear how stormy it actually was...

Wednesday night bowling

Everyone in the family decided to join me at the bowling alley last night. Rachel and Matt felt like bowling so Cory and his friend Jake were thrilled. Except for a few pouts from Cory everyone had a good time.

Pogo Pro

So we were still bored at the house... and Cory and Matt decided to go outside, ride the rip stick, and use the pogo stick... Cory can go for hours on the pogo stick, it was so funny. And Dixie goes crazy when he does it...

Then they went back inside because it was wayyyy too cold. So they got out the wonderful Wii. There is no breaking their concentration once they start...

Funny Faces

ok.. so today I was so incredibly bored (as you can tell). And, well, I love playing with pictures on the computer. I found this cool little website to warp pictures. I remember a while back some of the family did this, I think at last thanksgiving or something. They are small, but you should still get a laugh out of it... I did.. =]

Cory...

Mom...

Matt...

Me...

Couldn't leave out Dixie.. haha (i think this is what some real chihuauas look like. sad)