Courtney Graduates..YAHOO!

Friday June 13th was Courtneys graduation night at her HS. It was very long and not as hot at tori's. It was a typical HS graduation with 650 kids. OMG, thats alot of high schoolers...and they did not look like high school kids. Alot of guys had beards or goatees and the girls let everything hang out..fancy dresses and super high heels. Not my court though, she was comfy in her shorts and flipflops. It was a 3 hour process between getting a decent seat, dealing with a grandma from hell saving an entire row for her family that didn't show up until right before it started, and finding the kids afterwards to take pictures. Enjoy the pics below.... Courtney and Camden before Courtney going to her seat Camden going to his seat Almost time! She's got it! He's got it! Steph and Court! My little melon is all grown up. Love you

Last Day of school

Friday June 13th was the last day of school for tay and I. While I still have to work in the summer, and taylor has to go to summer school and camp, it's still a fun day. There's not alot of work going on because there are too many activities around campus. We started out the morning with the 4th grade vocabulary parade. They walk around the school dressed as their vocabulary word. My daughters costume fell apart, but I think she was ok with that!
She was part of her friends vocabulary costume too, so that was nice.
Taylor and her BFF, Alex...
After the parade, the 6th and 7th grade boat races were on. I had to leave in the middle and actually work, but it was great to watch what I could. It's fun to see the difference between the 6th and 7th grade. They really learn their lesson in 6th grade and do so much better in 7th.
Happy Jillian
6th grade boat..sinking fast!

7th grade boat..holding 4 boys..very good!

Taylor and her teacher Mrs. Martin

Taylor, Mrs. Martin and Headmaster Mr. Miller

Promotion Ceremony and Tori's Graduation

We're going back a few days...on thursday June 12, we had our promotion ceremony at school. The exciting part of this assembly this year is that taylor was a "super seven" which means she's been at our school for 7 years. (since preschool..she didn't repeat for those wondering)
This is a big deal for the kids and she was very excited. Her dad came to watch and was suprised at the big deal they make for the kids. He was even more suprised when I told him this was just the warm up to the actual graduation ceremony that would be held later that evening! It was a fun day that led up to taylors favorite cousins graduation. (sorry court and nick but it's true) After school we headed down to the relatives to watch tori graduate from 8th grade. The ceremony was held at the local high school (where I will be friday for her sisters HS graduation) and there were 250 kids in her class. It was cute and long and after it was over we took pictures then tori headed to her graduation night festivities, and the rest of the fam headed to dinner at our favorite prime rib place. Then off to home to get ready for the last day of school and courtneys graduation. Taylor won't be attending courts graduation as she was with her dad for the weekend, but she will be going to her party..thanks dad!

Graduations Galore!

Just a quick post to say that graduation weekend is almost over! We had 1 cousin thursday, my school thursday and 1 cousin tonight. I will post pics and video on sunday when I have the time. I just wanted to say that they were all beautiful and LONG! The girls were gorgeous and so grown up! I can't believe how they are dragging me up in age with them! And a shout out to camden...who could ask for a better boyfriend in law! You're a shiblow and still cool. To my melon who's so grown up now, you are beautiful and I am excited to see what your future holds for you. You can do anything..but wouldn't it be great to work with me when your done with college! And my Toto...still growing up, but still my little cos! Be nicer to me..you still have a 16th birthday waiting!..Where will we go?

Did you engage your spirit today?

Do you see big balls in that picture? Heck no! So this years engage the spirit started off a little sad for me....I was moved to a different station. No big balls this year, or earth balls as I was reminded by the PE Teacher..hee hee. Today I was at the "cooperative play blanket" or parachute as I called it. Why can't I call anything what it truly is?

It was a beautiful day today on the hill. A little hot for me, but nice. We were station 11, which probably doesn't mean much to those reading this, but what it means is we were the station before the "water" station. Which defines down to..no one wanted to play with the parachute, they wanted to squirt water on each other. I don't blame them, but we had to get them engaged. We played color tag and ran under the chute, duck duck goose, moon bounce and fort. Sounds simple..well it's not! Getting those kids to raise up that chute together is extremely hard. A couple times I wandered off and took pics of my kid at other stations. Eventually, I was the target of the water fight at the next station. And finally, with a group of sweaty 2nd graders, I grabbed a squirt bottle and started spraying them down. They liked that although one kid yelled ouch, and I stopped and said "really...water hurt" and then he said..oops I meant Aaahhh.. Which is pretty funny when your there. All in all a fun morning topped off by an early day as tay and I were off at 1pm and came home to take the dog to the vet. He is fine and healthy as a horse and almost as big as one..IMHO. Enjoy the pics



This is my boss, Joel...he always seems to find the food. ...

We did it!

before the hike..so energetic

Ok, so kicking and screaming I dragged my daughter and 2 cousins out this morning for a nice 5 mile hike around Black Diamond Mines. I don't think they actually believed me when I said we were going for a hike..but they sure did as we arrived at the park. We met up with the rest of the people who had signed up and I felt a little unsure as they all had walking sticks and hiking shoes and hats...ugh! As we started the hike with Eddie, our guide, he pointed out many different things around the mines..most importantly..there were no bathrooms and no water where we were going. I packed 2 big 16oz bottles per person so I figured I had enough and lunch for us all. We started out up a hill, which I was not prepared for and headed to the Cemetary. I love old cemetaries. They are so amazing to see the handcrafted tombstones and how old and young so many of them were. After that we headed to "nortonville" which was the largest of the 5 mining towns that made up this mining area. We learned that when the mines shut down, people took everything (and I mean everything) down to the nails that held the boards. We did see some remnants of brick walkways, but that was it. Eddie has a bunch of old pictures to show what the valley looked like before, it was amazing the difference. After that we headed up a narrow path and went up and up and up to "Jim's Place" Jim's place was nicknamed by the parks department, it wasn't actually Jims place. BUT what it was is a hole in the mountain that they assume someone lived in, but don't really know. At this point we are 3 hours in to this guided walk and the kids have all but killed me. They are not pleased at all with this hike. I am exhausted myself, but smile and say..oh it's not that bad and we're halfway through. We continue on a little ways further and our guide takes a lunch break. We had eaten our lunch about a mile back so we lay on the cool concrete. Now additional note, the weatherman said it was going to be 83 today, but my thermometer said it was 93...such a liar! It was hot, luckily at the top of the hill, there was a wonderful breeze. After eddies lunch we continued up and up and up..begging him to let us know when this was going to be over. We were rewarded at the top though, with stunning views of Clayton and Pittsburg and the Delta.
Then it was all downhill baby! Of course, I had to hang back with my daughter as she needed to use the facilities..and by that I mean cop a squat on the side of the road! According to Eddie, this was perfectly acceptable. I heard that nick ran ahead and let it rip too...too funny! The best part of the hike was the kids reaction when they saw the parking lot from the hill. I'd never seen such excitement. They ran down the narrow path until they got to the fire lane to complete the walk to the car. It was a fun day overall, but we all got too much sun and I now have a headache, that is not being helped by the fact the I'm watching a sad movie and crying. Cause thats right I cry at movies...accept it and move on!

Get ready to Hike!

So my summer of free fun is officially beginning tomorrow. There is a free hike at the mines right near my house and taylor and I are on it! 5 hours long. I hope we make it. This is our weekend before summer officially begins and I am going to try new things.
I am still having a little vacation sadness. I talk to most of my "cruise" friends daily. Thank goodness all the california people are chatty or I wouldn't know what to do..and yes brian you can totally read into that! Slacker! I wish that we all lived closer so we can hang out regularly. Right now we have a meet planned in august. I am going to spend my summer looking forward to that! We'll all get together and hang at the beach and have dinner and fun.
I am looking forward to next week. That last week of school is the best week ever. So much to do and so little work involved. I am excited for engage the spirit day on wednesday, thursday toto graduates from 8th grade and taylor has her promotion assembly and friday is courtneys graduation with her party on saturday. It's going to be a busy week!
The following weekend is michelles 40th birthday! So excited for that...I can't believe that we are all turning 40 this year. I certainly don't feel that old...except when I try to do the hammer dance. Hips don't work that well anymore!
Alrighty..have a fabulous weekend. I'll post pictures from next week.
Cya

Madonna

My girl is coming to oakland and I just scored kick ass tix to her show. So totally excited. It's not until november, but something to look forward too! Happy Birthday to me in November. Just wanted to share my excitement! I'd post a picture of my reaction but I am in my jammies still, so you'll all just have to imagine me jumping up and down...now Who to take with me????? Let the sucking up begin!