SUNDAY NEWS

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Volume 35

SUNDAY NEWS
March 7, 2010

We have been kept pretty busy this year so far. Karl has had a lot of work which isn’t a bad thing in this economy. Lori is has been going to physical therapy twice a week and her back is getting much stronger and doing better. We have our taxes done early this year which is nice. It has been one of the cloudiest years any of us has ever seen in Arizona. Temperatures have been pretty nice.

Valentine’s Day
For Valentine’s Day, Lori got a bike. Karl and Christian picked out a red and white beach cruiser with a basket on the front. When Lori got home from work, there was a trial of rose pedals leading to the garage where the bike was parked under a spot light with a dozen roses and a card in the basket.

Lori’s Upcoming Indiana Trip
Lori is excited about her upcoming visit to Indiana. She has been making plans for weeks. Vayden will be accompanying her while Christian and Karl have a backpacking trip planned among other things for Christian’s spring break.

Mark’s Miracle
We have made mention of Karl’s brother Mark and his battle with brain cancer. We have wonderful news to report. On February 23rd, Mark went in for a MRI which showed that the tumor is gone and there is no sign of disease. We want to thank everyone for your prayers and faith. Thank you for all the support with positive thoughts and actions. Mark truly did BEAT BEN THOMAS. Keep him in your prayers as he still has to be checked every few months to make sure the tumor does not return.

Renaissance Festival
We decided to go to the Renaissance Festival this year. The Festival is only about half an hour from our house. Everyone loved it. They have great food and entertainment. Christian was so excited to go he said he had butterflies in his stomach on the trip there. I wish we had brought the video camera. You would have to see it to appreciate Vayden watching the belly dancers and then imitating them.

Very Vayden
Vayden is such a character! There is no way to describe what a happy little blessing she is. She makes everyone laugh contstantly and she is such an affectionate little being that she melts your heart 20 times a day.

She now refers to all food as ‘CHEESE’. She absolutely shouts the work ‘BYE’ every chance she gets. She shouts it when she is leaving the room or when anyone leaves the room. She shouts it when it is time to go to bed or time to go downstairs to each. She shouts it when you throw something away. She shouts it at the T.V. when when someone drives off or walks away. She shouts it when we exit Walmart or another table leaves the restaurant.

Vayden has a baby, a doll and several monkeys that she now takes care of feeding them pretend cheese and bottles and changing their diapers. She is mastering the use of a spork when she is feeding herself some ‘cheese’. She likes to tease her Dad about ears being eyes. She knows that they are really ears but calls them eyes to get a reaction out of her Dad.

Vayden loves animals. She also loves beef jerky. The kid is a little beef jerky monster. She goes nuts whenever she sees a bag or someone has some. Karl loves to turn her into a little suck-up. When he has beef jerky Vayden will come up to him and rub her cheek against his and shower him with kisses, Anything to get her teeth on that beef jerky. It is pretty entertaining to watch.

Completely Christian
Christian comes home from school all the time these days complaining about how rough it is to go to a school where all the girls like him.

Spoiled Dog
One morning Vayden, Christian and Karl are down stairs eating breakfast and Karl notices Christian going outside with two bottles of drinking water. Karl asks Christian what he is doing and Christian replies “Giving Roxy some water.”

It is amazing how the generations have changed. Lori and Karl grew up drinking unfiltered tap water. If Karl or Lori had asked their parents for a bottle of water, their parents would have responded, “If the facet is broken, go use the hose outside.”
Kids now days take one sip of bottled water and leave the rest laying around deemed ‘stale’ because it has been open for more than five minutes. Now we are feeding the dog bottled water. Christian looked shocked when Karl told him not to use the bottled water on the dog. Christian did not see the contradiction of pouring bottled water into the dog’s dish which had various dirt sediments, floating insects and leaves in it. The thought of washing out the dog’s dish did not occur to him, but bottled water for an animal that drinking out of toilets seemed like he right thing to do.

Christian’s New Bike
Christian got a new mountain bike the same day as Lori. After all what good is a new bike if you don’t have someone to ride with who can keep up with you.

Sooooo Shelby
Shelby did very well in Poms this year and individually placed third over-all in their routine. Shelby says she is sad that poms is over now.

All Alyssa
We haven't heard much from Alyssa lately. We do know she did go to winter formal. Here is a photo we snagged off the internet:

Being Brittney

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITTNEY !!
Can you believe it? Our Brittney is no longer a teenager. She is now a beautiful young woman in her twenties.

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
Be sure to check out the Volume 35 Addendum of Photos of the Reniassance Festival.

Volume 35 - Photo Addendum 1

Photo Addendum 1

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Volume 34

SUNDAY NEWS
January 24, 2010

It has been raining for days here in Arizona which doesn’t happen often. We have had some pretty good storms. One night you would have thought we got hit by a hurricane. The wind was crazy and it kept going all day and late into the night. We finally got all the Christmas decorations down. We were the last people in our community to turn off the lights outside I think. We took down the light and put up a Cardinals banner and flag for the play-offs. Unfortunately that was short lived and we are now adopting the Colts for the rest of the post season for Super Bowl hopes.

Very Vayden
Vayden went for a check-up at the doctor this week. She got shots in both arms and one of her legs. She was very upset, and so was Lori. She is a tough litter critter and she is doing well. She is in the top 92% in height. That has stayed pretty consistent throughout her growth. Looks like Vayden will not be shopping in the petite section when she gets older.

Vayden is a good eater willing to try almost anything. In fact several weeks ago while at the park she found a piece of dog poop, and before anyone could stop her she picked it up and took a nice bite of it. It was one of those with a crunchy outside form sitting in the sun, but a gooey inside. Her breath smelled terrible afterwards.
Vayden will now announce to everyone that she has pooped by saying the word “Stinty” Then she will pull out the changing pad an lay down on it. Christian and Vayden have great times together these days playing and laughing and running all over.

We have a few more pictures from our Christmas Cruise. These are from the ship. Our experience was a little different this time. Last cruise we were in a different port every single day. This cruise we had days where we were at sea the entire day.

There are a lot more people on board when you are not in port. Another thing that was different, was the fact that when we were leaving or returning to Los Angeles it was cold if you were up on the decks. It is strange to need a jacket one day and then wake up the next and be able to sun bathe. Below is Christian and Vayden doing miniture gold on a cold day.

Lori did well in the casino again. We saw most of the shows. There is a picture of the theater above. Vayden was a little more difficult this trip. She nevere mad it through an ennitre show. We had very nice servers at dinner. Their names were Monica nad Andre. They took good care of Vayden always mnaking her special napkin toys and bringing her fruit plates that she loved. Dinners were always really good.