Week 4

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  We had a great week last week and a wonderful weekend so this week seems like it will drag and not be so exciting.  Plus John is traveling for work so that always makes things a bit more challenging.  No worries though--I got this!

Here are last week's pictures:

Day 21- Monday,  1/21/19
Today was a low key day where we all stayed home and had a slow lazy start since we're off for the MLK holiday.  It was the perfect kind of day for playing with the pets.  Rusty has certain buzz words that make him chatter or chirp.  I caught him mid-chirp here in response to the word "fish."  He'll also do it for "mouse"--two of his favorite toys.  It's pretty darn cute and also very predictable which is how I knew I could get a picture of it.

Day 22- Tuesday, 1/22/19

Happy Birthday to me!  We just finished a great steak dinner and are looking forward to cutting into this ice-cream cake for my birthday dessert.  It's so crazy to think that I'm heading into the last year of my 40's.

Day 23- Wednesday, 1/23/19

. . . and the birthday celebration continues.  My boss got me this pretty, chocolate-raspberry cake that is decorated with real flowers.  We all enjoyed it during our weekly lab meeting which was fun and yummy.  Then after work I traveled to an away basketball game in the pocket area.  Thankfully this is the only game this week and both games next week are at home--so ready for that.

Day 24- Thursday, 1/24/19

We're in full-on lemon season right now and have trees on both sides of the yard that are producing like crazy.  Last year the rats got to the fruit but this year it's safe and perfect for making lemon drops.  Today is our Friday since John and I are both off tomorrow so we can pack for a trip to the mountains.  Cheers to that!

Day 25- Friday, 1/25/19

Right after school we headed for the hills trying to get up to Tahoe before sunset.  Thankfully the weather was perfect so the roads were clear and we made it in record time.  After stopping for a quick bite we checked into the lodge near the village and were able to relax in a nice spacious condo that even had a second fireplace in the master bedroom.  Score!

Day 26- Saturday, 1/26/19

We couldn't have asked for a better ski day.--perfect sunny weather, no wind, plenty of coverage, great snow conditions, and not too crowded.  The views at the top were amazing and the complimentary 2 pm mountain top toast is a fun Northstar treat.  We also hit up the Rubicon Pizza place in the village for our traditional after ski dinner.  There's nothing like a piping hot piazza after a full day on the slopes.  The only thing missing is Tyler.  I hate that he can't be here with us and it's even sadder to think that Justin probably won't be here next year either. *sigh*

Day 27- Sunday, 1/27/19

Time for one last stroll through the village before we say good-bye.  Sadly it's time to drive home and prepare for the week ahead but we enjoyed our escape while it lasted and feel recharged.  It's never a bad idea to get back to nature when you can.

Wait!  One more:

January's Family Photo

Of course it would be one taken on our ski trip.  We're all loaded on a chair-lift and ready to hit the slopes in this winter wonderland.

Now that is it!  See you next week for the last week in January.  Wow--already?!

Week 3

Welcome back and happy Tuesday even though it feels like a Monday.  I hope you all had a good Martin Luther King holiday.  It sure was nice to have that extra day off.  Last week was another wet one but this week is set to be nice and sunny which is great because that means an easy travel day to the mountains for our ski trip coming up.  Oh and by the way today is my birthday so looking forward to a nice dinner and cake with the family later.

Until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 14- Monday, 1/14/19

What a great thing to receive in the mail on a Monday to help brighten up the week.  Humboldt State is one at the top of his list so he's pretty excited about this.

Day 15- Tuesday, 1/15/19

I told you it was a wet and soggy week.  Today was one of the worst days especially since I had to run between buildings all day and the path I take the most looked like this.

Day 16- Wednesday, 1/16/19

Only 2 games this week but both are away and this one was pretty crazy traveling in the pouring rain.  They even started early so we could get home earlier before the storm got worse.  At least I got to see Brandon play.  The coach is prepping to put him in here.

Day 17- Thursday, 1/17/19

With all the cold wet weather warm drinks have been a must.  Justin made himself one after school today.  Then later Brandon was sitting there in his slides ready for me to take him to a late practice.  Slides are the thing in this house right now.   He and Tyler both asked for some for Christmas.  His are Nike and Tyler got Adidas as requested.

Day 18- Friday, 1/18/19

TGIF!  After another away game we're home and I'm ready to enjoy watching a movie with this guy.  Cheers to a long weekend.

Day 19- Saturday, 1/19/19

Ahhh--sunshine!  Our pool water was actually green a few days ago from all the extra water it took on but John and the pool guy got it back to a pretty blue.

Day 20- Sunday, 1/20/19

I'm getting my chores done today so I can relax and enjoy my day off tomorrow and it looks like Tyler is enjoying his day today at the beach.  He sent me these pictures this evening saying he had a great day with friends in Malibu.  At least the weather is nicer there.  We had more rain today here, but I do know they got hit pretty hard most of this week too.  We're all looking forward to a much dryer week ahead.

That's it.  Hope to see you back next week.  

Week 2

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!  Here we are ready to view week 2.  So far its been a soggy start to the new year with more to come but at least that means plenty of snow in the mountains.  Our upcoming ski trip should be great and I can't wait.

Until then here are last week's pictures:

Day 7- Monday, 1/7/19

We're starting the week with more basketball and the boys just got new warm up shirts that they are wearing for the first time today.  Looking sharp!  Later Justin was having way too much fin cleaning up after dinner.  Love that smile.

Day 8- Tuesday, 1/8/19

The pets are dealing with the cold wet weather as best they can.  Rusty also misses Tyler so he found a nice warm comfy spot in Tyler's empty room for a nap.  Hmm, looks like the frat sweatshirt got accidentally left behind.  I'll have to send it in the next care package.  Now as for the other pet Justin was kind enough to offer to walk Bella in the rain and then made sure to towel her off when they returned.  She actually doesn't mind the rain or the rub down after ;0)

Day 9- Wednesday, 1/9/18

Wednesday at work I'm getting back into a groove.  It's always an adjustment after a long break but we have many good projects coming up so there is a lot to prep for and look forward to.  After work it was another basketball game--2nd one away from home in the week which means a lot of traveling and I hate traveling in the rain.  At least it wasn't too far.  We're at  McClatchy which is one of our biggest rival schools.  Tyler was intrigued by that so I was texting him about the game throughout.  Sadly we lost.  Ugh!

Day 10- Thursday, I/10/19

We get a break from the rain but had to deal with the fog and boy was it thick.  The first picture is at 8am looking out the lab window at a white wall of fog and then just an hr later things cleared up nicely and we can actually see the start of blue sky and sunshine.  The part I hated the most was driving to work in the thick of it.  Yikes!  I feel so lost when I can't see my landmarks.

Day 11- Friday, 1/11/19

TGIF! And guess where we spent it?  At a ball game of course.  Third one this week but at least it was finally at home.  Doesn't the bench look thrilled?  LOL!  We were losing by quite a bit here.  Thankfully they kicked it into high gear after this picture was taken so things turned around and we actually ended up winning.  This was cause for celebration so we had a late dinner afterward at In-N-Out.  I accidentally took this picture of the receipt while waiting on food so when I found it on my phone later I thought I'd include it.  Sign of the times for sure.

Day 12- Saturday, 1/12/19

John is up in the Sierras with the guys skiing and it's beautiful up there--a winter wonderland.  Thanks for the picture Darryl.  We have a couple more days of sunshine before the next big storm moves in to dump even more snow.  These are the kind of winters I remember from long ago.  It's about time to have them back.  Meanwhile, at home, the boys had their paperwork signed and a picture taken for volunteering at the shelter so they can turn in their service project at school. It feels great to have that done for the year and now Brandon can start working on next year's hours.  The school only require 8 hrs of service/yr but the shelter require 20 before they will sign the school's paperwork.  20 is hard to do in a pinch but if you work on it for the whole year it seems like nothing.

Day 13- Sunday, 1/13/19

I enjoy seeing all the bird nests revealed when the trees go bare for the winter. This one in the front yard caught my eye while outside on this nice, sunny, blue-skied day.  It was also nice enough out for John to grill some chicken wings for dinner.  So glad he's back hone from the mountains to help out and chill with us some before the weekend is completely over.

That's it!  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next week.

Week 1

Welcome to a new year in our family blog.  I can't believe this will be the 10th year.  That's pretty amazing and I'm so happy I have all those years recorded to look back on and who knows how much longer I'll keep it going.  It might get kind of boring once all the kids are out of the house in a few years so we'll see but for now I'm still in. This year we look forward to another high school graduation and are excited to find out where he'll end up heading off to college. We'll also continue to follow the oldest on his journey through college and the youngest navigating high school and being more involved in sports. On the home front we'd like to see the upstairs of our house remodeled and as a family or couple we hope to see more travel plans realized.  

Here's a look at the first week in 2019 which starts on a Tuesday so there are only 6 days for this post:

Day 1- Tuesday, 1/1/19

Happy New Year's Day!  I snapped my annual picture of the boys with a yearly marker and then we enjoyed having the Wong family over for a good meal and some fun games.  These guys are playing RISK.

Day 2- Wednesday, 1/2/19

A new plant for the new year which helps liven up our new space.  This was a lovely gift from the Wong family.

Day 3- Thursday, 1/3/19

We're still all on break here and I'm so enjoying these slow peaceful starts to the day.

Day 4- Friday, 1/4/19

This girl enjoys having everyone home to play with and get attention from.  It's also Friday and for her that means bone day which is why she is giving me this look.  She's hoping those perky ears and sweet puppy-dog eyes will inspire me to get up and give her a bone.  How could I say no to that face?

Day 5- Saturday, 1/5/19

Winter is in full force.  We have a few systems lined up to dump some serious rain our way.  I'm sitting in one of the systems here waiting on Brandon to get out of a basketball clinic and the parking lot is super full so I had to park pretty far out.  Poor thing will get soaked on his way to find me.

Day 6- Sunday, 1/6/19

This morning Tyler says goodbye and flies back to school.  LOL!  Brandon is still in his PJs so I guess he's enjoying those slow starts too and Tyler has pretty much lived in his new UCLA sweatshirt since he got it for Christmas.  Justin is big on joining us on the drive to the airport to see his brother off which is why he's all dressed and I think that's super sweet.  We've had a great break with the whole family home and look forward to the end of March when it happens again.

That's it!  We're off to a good start I think and even though next week gets us back to the crazy at least we had a week to ease in.  Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you next week.

Week 52

Welcome and happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I'm grateful I could spend it with family and friends. Now that all the festivities are done we can relax a bit and enjoy a few lazy days before heading back to school and work. There aren't even any basketball games which is a welcomed treat so that means even more free time to chill. It's also time to get back to healthy eating and normal schedules. We had so many good meals and treats over the holidays which was great especially since they were enjoyed with family and friends, but I'm ready for a break from all that too.

Here are the pictures of the last week in 2018:

Day 358- Monday, 12/24/18

Happy Christmas Eve!  I think my kids enjoy Christmas Eve just as much as Christmas itself because they know it means creating cookie plates for the neighbors, enjoying homemade pizza before driving around to look at lights, and opening one gift before bed.  Sweet dreams boys! 

Day 359- Tuesday, 12/25/18

Merry Christmas!  We started the day with our traditional eggnog french-toast breakfast, then opened presents after getting dressed and taking a family picture, and ended the day enjoying a yule-log cake after an amazing prime-rib dinner.

Day 360- Wednesday, 12/26/18

Today was mostly spent enjoying presents received.  It took most of yesterday for Tyler to download the updates needed for the new game he is finally getting to play today.  It's a Call of Duty and it just seems so crazy that you can't play it right away.  A couple other games needed downloads too but they didn't take nearly as long as this one.

Day 361- Thursday, 12/27/18

After day one of a 3-day tournament for Brandon we took in a movie and ate dinner out since all of us are sick of cooking.  LOL!  More good eats and treats at Sauced.  Aquaman was a fun movie to watch.  I loved all the underwater scenes with the amazing visual effects.

Day 362- Friday, 12/28/18

Day 2 of the basketball tournament and the coach is preparing Brandon to go in.  We're in Roseville for all these games this time around.

Day 363- Saturday, 12/29/18

We had a later game start today for day 3 of basketball so we were able to de-Christmas our house before that and then spent the cold evening in our back-to-normal home by the fire watching all the college games. 'Tis the season!

Day 364- Sunday, 12/30/18

Tonight Tyler helped us make tacos for dinner and they were so good.  He also helped cook the bacon for breakfast a couple days this past week which is great.  I loving having my kids help in the kitchen.

Day 365- Monday, 12/31/18

Happy New Year's Eve!  We celebrated at home tonight with a finger-food type dinner and our traditional chocolate fondue for dessert while watching the ball drop on TV.  Just before midnight John prepped the sparking cider for the boys and the sparkling wine for us to toast in the new year.  Good-bye 2018!

That's it!  I've wrapped up another year in pictures and now it's time to start making new memories for the new year.  Here's to hoping you all have a great 2019.