Where Did My Little Girl Go ?

Happy 15th Birthday McKendrie !!

It seems like yesterday you were born and sweet little birth mom who loved you very much, and wanted you to have more than she could give you at that time, put you in my arms. I fell in love and our journey began. I hope you will remember when you are faced with a tough situation the legacy of courage that has been left for you!

Now she's all grown up and is such a great kid!! She works hard at school, sports, and music and in everything she does. She has such a loving and easy going personality. I am very proud of the young women she has become. I never take for granted how lucky I am to be a Mom!

Enough of this mushy stuff that makes me cry.

We partied last night with friends at the bowling alley cosmic bowling and eating pizza!

She has some really great friends!

Tunnel bowling.

They made her a Michael Phelps cake.

Then one with little teeny tiny notes written on it that you had to get really really close to the cake to read. You pretty much know what's going to happen with crazy friends and getting that close to a cake .

Anyway I think they had a good time. Happy Birthday my sweetheart !!

Briley's Big Day

Today was Briley's big day to get her braces on! It couldn't have come at a better time.

Our plug thingy that lets the drain go up and down in the sink broke, so for now until it is fixed we just took it out leaving an open drain. Last week while she was brushing her teeth her bottom retainer slipped down the sink. After taking it apart we still had no luck finding it. The good news is, all drains lead to the ocean so some lucky fish will have beautiful straight bottom teeth (maybe we should send the top now and complete the set). Just kidding , anyway we went to the Dentist to fess up to what happened, he kindly told us not to worry she was ready finally ready for her braces.

After a 2 hour Dentist visit she's sporting some lovely new (and might I add expensive) teeth Jewelry. She told me "mom I will always remember which day I got my braces on" today just happens to also be her dad's Birthday. Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Welcome Back To Work

This is what our Kitchen looked like when we arrived back at work yesterday (Back to work, Boo !! Hiss!!) It quickly became obvious that our Janitors had way to much time on their hands over the Christmas Holiday!!!

All 20 of our Aprons were hanging from the ceiling all around the kitchen looking like they're holding hands with their strings tied together.

I got a special surprise, a big rat in my locker, and I think my boss about wet her pants finding a very large hairy spider dangling in her cupboard and a cockroach basting in the microwave. (No calling the health department, they were all plastic.)

Clever girls!!

Hope they remember, we don't get mad, we get EVEN!!!

Home Again

Cinderella's Castle decked out for Christmas !
All of them sporting their new hats.
Real orange bushes
Splash Mountain one of our favorites

And a super great time was had by all !! But unfortunately its back to reality and home again.

Christmas day we got up and saw what Santa brought and then we were off to California Adventure where we spent most of the day. The day was kind of rainy, so again not a lot of people. We loved Soarin Over California, Tower of Terror, and California Screamin, that's one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on. Towards the evening it really started to rain hard and got quite cold so we went back to the Hotel had Christmas dinner and played games and cards until bed time.

Saturday we had an early entry pass so we went and caught some of the smaller rides that are not worth standing in line for an hour for, but are still fun to see. We spent some time in toon town where every one kind of spread out and I found myself alone. I decided to go see Mickey's house and on the way out 2 Disney workers were standing there handing out dream passes which is a fast pass to all the major rides in both parks on a cute souvenir lanyard. The park was very busy so it made it nice because with my dream pass and getting fast passes we had enough for the kids to ride twice with not much waiting. We caught the Disney Christmas Fantasy Parade that evening. It was fabulous!! By the end of the day I can honestly say we were all very exhausted. I think we were all glad that the next day was Sunday and we could sleep in !! In fact Briley asked her dad that morning " are we going to Disneyland today?" he told her no and her reaction was ''Yeah !!! "

Sunday we slept in and then spent the afternoon at Huntington Beach. The kids had never seen the ocean. They had a lot of fun playing in it. That evening we headed back for Vegas. What a nightmare !! between accidents and construction the 4 hour drive turned into a 7 hour marathon but we finally made it.
We arrived home Monday night about 11:00. We were blessed to be able to go and to have such a great time and make lasting memories as a family. We wish everyone a Happy New Year !!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all from Disneyland California !! We are having great fun !! It's kind of rainy and a little chilly, but nothing compared to the inches of snow at home and certainly not enough to keep us out of the park. It's been a real different Christmas ! We arrived yesterday about 3:00 and spent the afternoon at Disneyland. Much to our surprise the park was almost empty, we literally ran from one ride to the next with very little or no waiting. We ended Christmas Eve with fireworks set to Christmas music overlooking the water and Cinderella's Castle. The fireworks ended with snow storm (in the form of bubbles) falling down from the lamp posts. I have to say that was a first ! Fireworks on Christmas eve. It was awesome! Today we have been to California Adventure for most of the day. It is raining quite hard so we have come back to the hotel for a break and a bite of Christmas dinner. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and hope everyone has had a great day !!

Which one is Goofy

My Lunchroom Funny

We make an Italian sandwich called Stromboli which consists of Ham, Mozzarella cheese, & Italian spices.
One little girl came to the lunch counter with her sandwich in hand and said to my co worker, "um excuse me, can I have another sandwich mine has leaves in it". It was all she could do to keep from laughing as she explained to her it was the spices we put in it. She seemed happy with the explanation, went back to her seat and ate her sandwich leaves and all.

Say a prayer

Rick with Charli

My brother Ricky had a serious accident yesterday. While helping his brother-in-law repair a piece of equipment his foot became caught in the track of a cat tractor. It broke his heal bone and severed 3/4 of the way through the Achilles tendon shredding it, and took most of the skin from one side of the foot. After a 3 hour surgery they were able to repair most of the damage. They are worried about the skin dying around the heal where they had to try to stretch the skin back around it, because of not much blood flow to that area. They are also worried about infection. If you would please remember him in your prayer that all will heal well and he will have the use of his foot. Thank you everyone.