Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

It's a Happy Month

... A happy birthday month :oD


And we got the whole family together to celebrate. 










The birthday girl...



And the birthday boy...



Happy birthday to Cheryl and Jim!

Note: Buca order for 11: large antipasto salad, large pizza, large spaghetti, large eggplant and small sausge rigatoni. Next time don't get the rigatoni and substitute another large pizza. 


Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Happy Holidays

Hello poor neglected blog...
As I was going to do another post, I found this post in progress that I never finished! Well, now is as good a time as any....

Holiday Season is in full swing!!!
I signed up for a seasonal flower arranging class. It's one night a month for the rest of the year. The arrangement is not quite my style, but it was fun to do. 



I reinjured my foot, and have been going to PT once a week. I'm on my second month there and it's been getting better! WHOOHOO!!! Thank- you, Sean at Rausch Physical Therapy and Sports Performance!

Jim had the kidney stone incident last summer. The stone is 6mm and has been hanging out in his bladder. They tried blasting it with ultra sound, and it didn't work, so they went up into the bladder to get it. Jim is in s lot of pain. Hopefully that will all subside when the stint is removed. 

Chris finished his first semester at Dominguz Hills. He stayed two nights a week at my mom and dad's house. It worked out great and cut his drive time in half. 

Cheryl is focusing on PT school and is refreshing the final two classes that she needs before applying. 

I've started going to yoga. And I realized that I look seriously creepy upside down. 


That was a random revelation...

Things were so busy with work, Jim's surgery, and doctor appointments that I only got about half my Christmas cards sent out. I sent the rest out as New Years cards :oD

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's from our house to yours. 




Wednesday, August 19, 2015

So What's Up?

Wow, where has summer gone?!!! The kiddos are starting school next Monday. That means that this is Chris's last week of work at DTI. Cheryl will be cutting back her hours at work too. Oh, speaking of Cheryl... look! She made the Rausch page!

http://rauschpt.millsys.org/about/#staff

Let's see, what else is happening... A big kitty moved into Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. That is where I do my runs during the week. BUMMER!



We are still getting up insanely early to get in a long run on the weekend with the running group. Wake-up time was 3:30am last Saturday to get out there in time to beat the heat.





And these two are still SO CUTE!



I went to a training class with a triathlon group... YEP, SWIMMING, ME! I actually learned something. By the end of class, I could actually swim across the pool and halfway back freestyle. That's me with the blue towel. I wasn't staying in any longer than I had to, haha!



Jim just got back from a week long camping trip. He's been busy this week working of the items on my "Honey Do List." So far he: repotted the plumeria, changed the toilet seats, picked up paint for the bedroom, and is in process of replacing the smoke alarm (which he says is more complicated than it seems).

Oh, and I had a bit of excitement at work today! I can't even find a souvenir key chain with my name on it, and look what a coworker gave me today.



I hope that you all are having a great week!

Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Music of the Night



Jim got tickets for the whole family to see Phantom of the Opera at the OC Performing Arts Center.







I thought that "Broadway Musicals" were set in stone... music, score, choreography... but this Phantom of the Opera had a different ending. The old ending was more action packed, but I liked this ending. Anyway, I will say no more since I don't want to leave spoilers on the www.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Blessed 4th of July

I had last Friday off, so Jim and I decided to go camping. Since it was too late to get a reservation anywhere, Jim left on Tuesday after the plumber left (we had a leak soaking the carpet in the hall). He found a really nice spot over in Wrightwood.





He picked me up Thursday night and we had a great time hiking the Pacific Coast Trail.







Our campground was right at the top of the Mountain High Ski Resort:









We had a nice evening... A little wine, roasted Starbursts and a gorgeous sunset.







And everything went well until about 2:30am... Jim started having stomach pains. We left for the hospital at about 4am. The Garmin said that closest hospital was an hour away. There had to be one closer! So we stopped at the fire station to ask directions. They were really nice and took Jim vitals, pronounced him stable and gave us the address of a hospital 30 minutes away in Victorville. After Jim was admitted I called the kids to see if they could come get Jena. It was going to be 100F in Victorville, so she couldn't stay in the car. Chris said that he would come; driving 2 hours to Victorville to pickup Jena. Then he took her home AND gave her a bath. Meanwhile, Jim was diagnosed to have a 6mm kidney stone... a BIG one! They were talking about admitting him and possibly surgery. After finding out we were members of Kaiser, they called Kaiser who wanted Jim transferred to one of their hospitals... so they transferred him to IRVINE! Oh, look! Jim's first SELFIE. :oD



When Jim left in an ambulance, 7 hours later... I took the truck back up the mountain to break camp and bring the trailer home. Cheryl and Armand offered to drive up and help me. The road was really rough, so it would have been hard for them to get up to the camp in a car. I told them that I had it covered. When I got back to camp, the family in the site next to us had heard us leave that morning. They came over and asked how Jim was. When I said that I was leaving, they all pitched in and helped me break camp. The dad guided me as I backed the truck up and hooked the trailer to the truck. I did check that the hitch was locked (you'll find out why that was important later). After giving the family a roll of toilet paper (of which they were VERY grateful since all the toilets were out) and waving good-bye, I headed back down the mountain. I drove more than a quarter of a mile before the trailer came unhitched from the truck... on a dirt road... in the middle of nowhere...



My first thought was pick it back up and put it on... nope way too heavy. Second thought, get the car jack... I couldn't find it. I figured that it must be under the camping box, which is too heavy for me to move even if it was empty. So I settled for lowering the stabilizers and trying to lift the trailer up with those. As I was in the process of cranking the stabilizers down, another truck came by. The guy saw what was going on and said, "Wow, that's a bummer... Do you want help?" YES, PLEASE!!! He had something called a "Farm Jack" in the back of his truck. I didn't know what that was, but it worked to jack up the trailer. Then I backed up the truck and he reattached it. He made sure that it wouldn't come off.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, but slow... it takes a long time to get anywhere at 55mph. There was no traffic, thankfully, and I got home around 430pm. No one was home, so I unloaded the trailer. Just as I finished, Chris drove up with Jim... the Kaiser hospital sent him home! During the ambulance ride, the kidney stone had made its way to the bladder. They gave him some meds and sent him on his way.

So all's well that ends well. The post in front of the trailer will need some repair, but Jim is fine. Chris really came through by getting up early to pick-up Jena, cleaning her up, and then going to pick-up Jim. Cheryl and Armand were so sweet to offer to drive all the way up to Wrightwood to help me. I have such a GREAT family! And I'm so thankful for the kindness of strangers... the family with two teenage boys in the campsite next to us, and a man driving by on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. So, even though I can't say it was a HAPPY 4th of July... was definitely a BLESSED one!

I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The three....

I was going to write musketeers, but I think that they're more like the three stooges


Sunday, May 17, 2015

While the cat's away...

Jim was gone for a week to the overland expo in Arizona, so Cheryl and I decided to do a girls long run in Palm Springs.

Overlooking the Palm Canyon Oasis:



Down in the Oasis:



It didn't take us long to come out the other side...



And head out into the desert.



It is really beautiful!



But the trails aren't marked very well... Where are we?



13.1 miles later, we made our way back out. We were bushed so we booked a hotel for a night.

The next morning, we took a short 2 mile run out to Tahquitz Falls. This part of the desert is completely different than yesterday.





It was a fun fun weekend!
But back to work for everyone tomorrow.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Kauai day 10 - going home

There are a few things I didn't mention ... we went swimming... several times :oD









We got shaved ice... several times :oD



...and now that the kiddos like coffee, we hit Kauai Coffee!



We learned a few things this trip too...

Wasabi Ginger Lay's... YUM!!!



Cheryl really stinks at SUDUKO...



Chris really stinks at steering a kayak...



And most importantly... bananas grow pointing up!



Well, time to say good-bye to Grandma K...



And head home...



ALOHA!!!!