Happy Birthday to ME!

I'm doing these posts one at a time so not to overwhelm you all with TONS of photos. BUT, along with Thanksgiving... November 25, was also my birthday! I just LOVE this frame the kids made for me! It's going on the wall in the dining room!

We celebrated on Sunday after Thanksgiving at my mom and dad's house. My mom planned a sushi lunch (my favorite), with macaroni salad (another favorite), and ham/cauliflower chowder (yet another one of my favorites)!!! Mom treats me so WELL... every birthday for 51 years! LOVE YOU, MOM!

Sunday was also, "learn to drive a stick shift day"! Papa took Cheryl and Chris out in the truck. This was actually Cheryl's second time out with Papa. She said that she did pretty well... she only stalled four times! There she goes...

Chris lost count of how many times he stalled, but he's sure it was more than four (actually a LOT more than four). Papa said that Chris needs a lot more practice, hehehe... You know who we are calling for that, Papa!

It has been a busy weekend with Thanksgiving, my birthday, the Turkey Trot Race, and I have some craft shares... stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a BIG family Thanksgiving. We are blessed with lots of family and extended family! There were so many people gathered at the beach house, that they made TWO turkeys. Don't you just love that view out the window? My friend, Mary, has snow on the ground, but here at the beach, it was such a BEAUTIFUL evening. Here are some shots of the beach out in front of the house... lots of beach and very few people...



Look! Two beautiful Juliette-s in purple! I think purple was the color of the day... I was wearing purple too!

They were out on the balcony enjoying the GORGEOUS sunset! Typically, we need clouds to get a reflection of sunset colors, but tonight is a special treat!

Here we all are giving thanks to God for all he has blessed us with. The food was plentiful and delicious!

One more photo to share... I just LOVE how this photo came out! Cheryl LOVES her Papa!

I hope you and your families had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

So Many Reds...

When we got home from the kitchen store, here is what we found... Cheryl decided that she didn't like her room green anymore, and was painting her walls white.

Three white walls, and one..... RED.....
Who would have thought that there were so many different colors of red!

Cheryl settled on "Glowing Ember"; a nice rich red. It took two coats to cover the white, but here it is all done.

Cheryl has been psyching herself up for a red room for all summer, and even creating some new pictures to set off her new wall color. I think her pictures are AMAZING!

She's still looking for a new comforter and after that it will be fabric to make curtains or a valance. The room is going to look GREAT when she's done!

Kitchen Decisions!

There are so many cabinet styles: modern, contemporary, colonial, country, traditional, transitional... AUGH!!! We were back at the kitchen store this weekend picking out door styles.

My neighbor, Stephanie, just had her kitchen done this year, so she was so helpful! She suggested that we ask the showroom if we could bring the samples we like home. If they say no, we should take a camera so that we can take pictures of what we like. That was the GREATEST suggestion EVER!!! I brought home 6 cabinet doors, LOL!

I started wanting a plain door (no designs), then I moved to a plain door with a frame (no interior designs), NOW I think this is the door I've decided on... it's hard to see in the photo, but it has a raised center (with slanted sides like a pyramid) with a square slab on top.

I've decided on maple cabinets with an off white quartz countertop. I also fell in LOVE with this backsplash tile at first sight! I didn't even look at any other tiles! It is a mixture of tumbled rock and glass. (I'll probably change my mind later, lol!) Here is what it all looks like together:

... IN NATURAL MAPLE ...

... STAINED HONEY SPICE ...

... IN NATURAL CHERRY ...

We think the Natural Maple is too light. I think we are going with something a little darker than the Honey Spice, but not as orange as the Natural Cherry... if such a thing exists...

Now what is a post without a cute Jena picture. Here's our Jena-girl wearing the bandana that she got for free at the pet faire. She thinks she is so pretty with it on, hahaha!!!

Photo Share...

I just had to share this one of the XC Seniors from their end of year photo shoot at the beach.

This photo just makes me smile!

The Champions!

Last night was the puppy school graduation test, and guess who came home with a first place trophy? You guessed it! The champions of puppy school were Jim and Jena! FIRST PLACE! The test included heeling, sitting, standing for inspection, come, sit-stay, and down-stay. Jena did pretty well at heeling and sitting. She failed "standing for inspection" (jumping up on the instructor got her a BIG FAT ZERO). She lost some points in "come." She got another zero at the one minute long sit-stay (she didn't stay). I thought she was going to come in last place... BUT she was the only dog to pass the three minute long down-stay. That's 60 BIG POINTS!

It was as if Jena knew that she won. She was excited and uncontrollable for the rest of the evening... barking, jumping up, and just being the Jena-bug that she is... It's a good thing that the instructor didn't see that or he would have taken the trophy back. Hahaha...

So Jim, how do you and Jena feel about being puppy school champions?
"It was a lot of work, but it was worth it."

BAD DOG!

Don't give me those cute puppy dog eyes! Bad Dog, Jena!

Cheryl was home with Jena on Friday morning. She was deep in thought studying for her Chemistry challenge test (she needs it to test into Organic Chemistry without the correct prereqs). When she looked up, she saw the floor and said "Oh my Gosh!"... not exactly that, but something with a similar meaning.

Cheryl had to take time out from studying to clean up the floor and chase Jena around the backyard with the hose. At the moment, Cheryl and Jena are still not speaking to each other.

On the plus side, Cheryl passed her Chemistry challenge test, meaning that she can take organic chemistry next semester. AND that means she can put in for a transfer to a 4-year college next Fall!

So Long XC....

Chris ran his very last High School Cross Country race yesterday. The JV race was supposed to start at 1pm. It was hot, Hot, HOT!!! 99F! There were supposed to be 8 races: boys/girls - JV/Frosh/ Soph/Varsity. Just before the race was supposed to start, (Chris and the other JV boys were warmed up, had their numbers pinned on, and were headed to the start line) The officials decided to cancel the race. In fact, they canceled the first two races (JV and Frosh) because of the heat and planned to have the Frosh run with the Soph and JV run with the Varsity at 4pm...

Whoever made that decision was not from around here... everybody knows it would not be cooler at 4pm than it is at 1pm! Oh well, I went back to work and returned to the High School at 4pm and 100F heat! There was talk about canceling the entire meet. That would mean CIF qualifying would be decided on just one race (the race two weeks ago). The schools, who hadn't qualified, didn't go for that! The race officials waited an hour more. When it had cooled off to 95F, they decided to run two races all boys and all girls. I heard that one school refused to run, so there were 5 schools in the race. Lots of girls dropped out during the course. There were lots of turned ankles. I watched one boy from SJHHS collapse 4' in front of the finish line and crawl/roll across the line. Also, two Capo girls were taken to the hospital in ambulances.

Chris finished in good time, and Capo came in 2nd place; qualifying them for CIF prelims. After the race Jim went to look for Chris and found him sitting on the ground just past the finish line. He was completely burned out... he crossed the finish line, sat down, and couldn't get back up. Since there were awards and medals following the race, he didn't get home until after 8pm. He lay on the floor until I finished reheating his dinner. He ate dinner, took a shower, and went straight to bed.

Chris will be on the sidelines during CIF prelims, cheering the Varsity team on to victory... and hopefully qualifying for CIF Finals! Go Capo!

In the Dog house...

Not us... well maybe us... We've started the process of having our kitchen done, YAHOO! I said that we were going to do it this year! It won't be DONE this year, but at least it started this year! Maybe Jena will let us use the kitchen at her house in the meantime. hahaha!

Speaking of dog houses, I was telling my friend Mary about Jim's brother's dog house. Look at the size of it! Yes, that's Chris... wasn't he adorable?

There are two doors one for each of these guys (Fred and Eli)... it's so FUNNY because both doors open up into the same open space.

Back to the kitchen remodel... we decided to keep the same layout and get rid of the trash compactor. A kitchen designer came out to take pictures and measure the kitchen a couple days ago. Then we go in this weekend to see what he recommends!... and how much it will cost. It's moving fast now!

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! We went to a FABULOUS and FUN Halloween Bash at my brother's and SIL's house. Lots of food, kids (and adults) in costume, and of course tons of candy. This years movie was Toy Story 3. I hadn't seen that one yet... with all the big kids taking the little kids out trick or treating, I got to sit back and watch it. It was a fun movie!
There were a lot of great costumes this year... of course there were Lady Gaga and Charlie Brown.

And lots of pretty princesses:


And a Cheetah Girl...

Here's whole crew! Look out neighborhood! Here they come!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Mt. Sac XC Invite

Mt. Sac XC Invitational in Pomona is the largest XC invitational in the United States! High School teams show up from all over Southern California to compete in one weekend. All of Capo's JV runners are back to compete in this prestigious event. An XC team must have 5 runners to score, and Capo JV just has 5. Some teams had over 20 runners entered in this race! In order to score well, ALL of Capos runners would have to place high.

The Capo JV doesn't have any SUPER FAST runners, but they do have 5 FAST runners. They do what Chris calls, "pack tight." They all finish together, sometimes right behind each other, causing a block; pushing slower finishers from other teams to a lower place.

Capo's team strategy paid off, and Capo JV finished 2nd place in all of Southern California!!! YAHOO!!! GO CAPO JV!!!

I haven't posted any cute Jena photos for a while. Here's Chris relaxing with Jena after the meet... aren't they ADORABLE?