Patty Cake

I had to post this video of Taylor doing "Patty cake" because it is my favorite thing in the world!!!

Not quite 50 years ago...

In the beginning God created the heavens, the earth and my parents.... haha, j/k they aren't that old. Although they both are/will be 50 years "wise" this year!

Mom and her styling knee-highs.

Mom and a friend.

Mom on Christmas.

Mom's yellow, polka-dotted shirt and yellow ribbons. I think her outfit is really cute =)

Dad in 1958.

Dad, Lori, and Judi (Pup).

Dad and a dog (can't remember what dog this is... do you remember, aunt pup??? )

Once a Chargers Fan... always a Chargers fan!

If any of these pics spark any memories, they would be fun to hear!

More pics to come =)

Blast from the past...

For my parent's 50th birthdays, we gave them a book with lots of pics from when they were kids until now. I have lots of old pics saved to a USB now so I thought over the next few days (or as I think of it) I will post some old pics.

This is John and I - probably in 1983

Me and My dad (back in his mustache years)

John and I

(Not sure what the look on my face is for...

...John still has that purple pony. haha j/k)

This is my favorite picture of John.

This could have been used as an advertisement photo for the Landscaping company!

Greg (L) and Charlie (R) - cute as ever!

Mom and Dad... young and in love!

Dad and John

I will add more pics later (maybe even later today, if my class is boring enough)!

Head Rush

Head Rushes... We've all head one... You stand up too quick and suddenly the world blacks out on you. It happens fast, but slow enough to where you can see the blackness setting in until you can't see anything. Then, you start to lose your balance and have to concentrate really hard on not falling over until the light returns and you don't feel so dizzy anymore.

I think life is like that sometimes. The craziness and temptations of life start to black out your vision of what is important. It happens faster than you think, but looking back, you can see each place you started to lose sight of what is important. You find yourself holding on for dear life, trying so hard to stay focused so you don't crash down. If you are hold out long enough, you re-gain your sight and you can see the Light again.

As of lately...

At the request of my Aunt Lori, I am posting a mini-update on my life to date. I promised her that if my night class was boring, I would post it tonight. So, as expected, my class is a little boring, so here is my post (as I type, it looks like I am taking notes, though)!

I just recently got back from a family vacation to the Virgin Islands! It was beautiful there, as always, and most of all, it was great to see my family! All was going well until one by one we started getting sick with the flu. Taylor got sick first and that was on Wednesday, John got sick in the middle of the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and Tiff got sick Thursday evening.

All of us "kids" were scheduled to fly home on Friday. My parents are there until this weekend.

Well, in the middle of the night between Thursday and Friday, myself, Charlie, mom and dad were all up in the middle of the night with the flu (thank God for 3 bathrooms)!!! Greg (who never got sick), John, Tiff, Taylor were able to fly home Friday, but Charlie and I were not able to fly home until Saturday. The best flight schedule we could get for Saturday took us from St. Thomas to New York City, then from NYC to Dallas (where we stayed overnight with our cousin Tommy) and then Sunday Charlie flew to Minneapolis and I flew to Sacramento.

It was a crazy end to the trip, but the flu aside, it was fun!

(John, you forgot to take off your sweater!)

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Besides this trip, I am just plugging along in life. I am in my last semester at Sac State - One requirement to graduate is that you have to take a "Writing Intensive" class which requires about 20 pages of writing throughout the semester. My senior Criminal Justice class (that I am taking now) fulfills this requirement, which is nice, but I accidently took a second Writing Intensive (WI) class. It is a class I need that meets 2 other requirements so there was no way to switch if for a non-WI class. Consequently, by the end of the semester, I will have written approx. 40 pages of papers. Luckily, besides these 2 WI classes, my only other class is American Sign Language, which requires little outside-the-class study time =) This semester also only requires me to be at school 3 nights a week and 2 of those nights, I am home by 730 so I have a little extra time for myself.

As far as my new job position goes: I am still trying to learn all the in's and out's of the position, but I am sure one of these days, everything will just click.

I am currently in the process of trying to find a new church to attend, too. There is a plethra of seeker-sensitive churches around here, but I prefer a little more substance, and that is harder to find. I want to find a good college/career group to get involved in, too, so I can expand my social circle =) I have great friends, now, don't get me wrong, but new friends are nice. And, our Saturday night poker group is growing thin and we need new people to win money from!

I don't know if I have ever mentioned that here before (and I don't feel like going back and looking), but I really enjoy playing poker, especially Texas hold 'em. A few weekends ago, my friends and I went to a tournament at a Casino and I took 5th place (out of about 40 people or so). Unfortunately, I was what they call the "bubble" or the last person to lose before the places start to win money! The 4th place winner took home over $150 and 1st was to take home over $350! Oh well, maybe next time. I still had a blast and that is what matters (although I will never forget the hand or the man who took me out)!

(A recent picture of Charlie with all his poker chips when he was visiting our family in CA for Christmas; he ended up taking home over half the pot that night!)

Well, that's it for now =)

When I was visiting John, Tiffani, and Taylor for Christmas, Taylor busted some moves when her new book started singing...

I have tried to upload pics from Christmas but it isn't working so I will try again another time.

Finally, a break!

So I am out of school for a month. I will have lots of free time, but I also have a lot I want to accomplish while I am not in class or procrastinating on homework. I am planning on getting my room and apartment all cleaned up (deep clean), get my finances in order (my car just broke down and it is going to be expensive to fix), get my wireless internet working again, and still make time to relax and enjoy the break. I guess we'll see how it goes. =)

My parents and twin brothers were just here for a visit for Christmas. They headed back to Minnesota today. We had a lot of fun while they were here! Some of the things we did were: hung out with most of our Roseville family, saw some family members who were visting from out of state, went to our grandma and grampy's for grandma's famous speghetti and family fun, played some poker, and mini-golfed. I think they had a lot of fun but I am pretty sure they are glad to get back to their normal routine and sleep in their own beds! Ha, I am excited to have my bed back, too (gotta let my parents use while they are here, right?!)!

I will probably soon be posting pics from my recent trip to MN for Christmas, but I am way too tired to do that tonight! I had a lot of fun with my brother, sister-in-law and niece while I was in MN! We successfully cooked a big turkey dinner all by ourselves, however, we voted that it is way better to have a mom there to cook the turkey... =)

4 days till Christmas...

Well, we are winding down to the last few days before Christmas... 4 days to be exact. The hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is more apparent than ever, and if you don't believe me, try driving a mile in less than 20 minutes!

It never ceases to amaze me that during this "joyous" season, people will cut you off to get a good parking spot, they will push over your little kid to get a sale, and they will leave you hanging at your job because they called in "sick" to finish up their last minute shopping!

It is definitely easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas: the celebration of Christ's birth! Gifts, Santa, and decorations are all fun parts of Christmas and there is nothing wrong with participating in the whole nine-yards, but don't forget to stop and reflect on what the "Christ" in Christmas represents =)

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you enjoy the day! I know I will! I get to spend it with John, Tiff and Taylor!

Elf Yourself...

A friend of mine named Katie had this link on her blog: www.elfyourself.com -

I am not going to tell you about it, you have to check it out for yourselves... it's pretty cute =)

You can only "elf" 4 people at a time so here is how I broke it up:

John, Tiff and Taylor:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1170645830

Me, Charlie, and Greg:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1171662974

Mom and dad:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1189480492

Do you procrastinate?

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