The stars at night, are big and bright

Earlier this month we went on a 9 day vacation to visit my sister and her family in Houston, Texas. It went by so quickly, but it was a lot of fun. Too much fun to write all about, so I’d thought I’d post some pictures that would highlight our trip.

Jay and Kellen on our plane ready to go to Texas.

Lots of time was spent swinging on the swings in Aunt Debbie’s back yard.

We all enjoyed visiting “historic mission control” at the Johnson Space Center. This is where Houston is when the astronauts talk to Houston!!

Off to visit the Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, Texas.

Jay has decided his favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, just like me!

It was cookies and cream for the Calvert girls!

Jay and Kellen’s t-shirts say, “I get cranky without my Blue Bell.” Love it!!!

Another favorite spot was the pool!!! Because, holy cow, was it hot!!!

Daddy and Kellen showing off their pool tricks. Now I know in this shot Kellen looks scared, but in reality she LOVED this and kept asking for more!

One of my favorite side trips was a visit to Galveston to see and feel the Gulf of Mexico. It was soooooo warm. And there were tons of shells to collect.

One of Jay’s favorite memories was going on bike rides with Daddy and Uncle Barry. I even tagged along one evening. Love how Jay is rockin’ the pink helmet!

Doesn’t my niece, Emma, look adorable in her pony tails!!!!!

Another favorite of Jay’s was that Uncle Barry made pancakes and eggs most mornings!!!!  Thanks Calvert’s for hosting us giving us a BIG TEXAS welcome. Yee Haw!!

Birthday Recap

So my Jay turned 7 yesterday. His day started out with homemade chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs!Then we spent time that morning opening gifts from us, and playing the birthday song rendition that my friend Holli has played for me for the last 19 years I’ve known her. (Holli only has this song on vinyl and her mom played it for her growing up. I recorded it on my iPod a few years ago. The song is now a birthday tradition in our home.)

Next it was off to mini golf in the afternoon for the much anticipated party! As you can see from the photo there were 14 kids in total. Of those 14, 4 were boys. Hmmmm!

Fun was had on the golf course, and everyone ended up a winner!

Jay helped me decorate and fill the goody bags with candy. See how the 7 is suppose to look like a lego???

Can’tcha tell????

While we were in Texas visiting Debs, we had a little celebration for Jay so they could give him their present. You can’t really see in this photo, but Emma is wearing two pony tails that I put in for her!!! Adorable!

In Texas we took a factory tour of “Blue Bell Ice Cream.” They make totally yummy ice cream that you can’t get in California. So of course we bought some for Jay’s birthday.

I really like how Debbie is showing off the Blue Bells!!!! Ha, Ha!

While visiting in Texas, we traded date nights. So when Debs and Barry went out we took the kids mini golfing! We figured it would be a chance for Emma to golf with Jay for his birthday!!!!

So the celebrating comes to an end.

We our so proud of how Jay is growing and developing. He is such a neat little boy and a loving brother.

I feel so blessed that he is my son!

7

That’s right, my little boy turns 7 today! It seems like just yesterday I snapped this picture of Mike and Jay in the hospital.

7 years I’ve been a mother.

7 years I’ve  worn my heart on my sleeve.

7 years of the best blessing.

Happy Birthday, Jay bird!

11

11 years ago today we got married.

In that 11 years we’ve:

lived in 3 places (the cottage, condo, & house)

had 2 kids

traveled to Hawaii 3 times (twice while pregnant)

broken 3 iphones

attended 2 churches

visited the ER 2 times in the middle of the night

and

flew first class once (on our honeymoon).

It’s been a great 11 years. Love ya, babe!

La Habra

This afternoon Mike mentioned he had a hankerin’ for Gondola’s Pizza. So being the wonderful wife I am, I said sure, let’s go. (The fact that I wouldn’t have to cook dinner played into this sunny answer of mine just a wee bit.)

Mike grew up in La Habra which is just a few blocks from Gondola’s in La Mirada. Gondola Pizza was a favorite of his family and he has many fond memories associated with it, not to mention enjoying yummy pizza. His best memory is when he and his sister Lisa got pizza there and took it home. Their parents were out, so it was just the two of them and they watched a Bill Irwin show “The Regard of Flight“. Mike remembers laughing so hard with his sister that night as they watched the show. Bill Irwin is best known to parents of small children as Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street. (Mike also points out that Bill Irwin is arguably the greatest living clown on the planet – if you haven’t seen him before, check out the link!).

On our way home I realized we were near my friend Iris’s house. So we drove by and totally dropped in on them unannounced! Now I am usually a call ahead person, but we were right there and we just showed up. They were so hospitable and we got a chance to visit a bit and go get ice cream! I’ve known Iris since 1988 when I first started working at Lighthouse Christian Store in Long Beach! She is such a wonderful, beautiful person and even though we don’t get to see each other often, we always pick up where we left off!

Hope was so awesome looking after Kellen helping us make sure she didn’t climb up on the fountain!

Lauren and Jay became friends when they were in the same preschool class for two years! Even though they don’t get to see each other regularly, they always seem to hit it off. These girlies are so sweet and such a testament to their parents’ good job of parenting.

The best kind of Sunday night.