Another Year Come and Gone...

Another year...come and gone...

I wanted to post some of my favorite pictures from this year, but when I looked through my picture files I found that I did not really take very many pictures this year. Oh well...I plan to remedy that in 2009!

This really makes me realize how much I should be thankful for 2008. I did not use my camera at all between Christmas 2007 and November 1st 2008 when Amy and I went to the Day of Days event at City Walk. The last time I really even did anything other than go to the plays that I have season tickets to before this was when I got sick at Disneyland about 2 and a half years ago. I passed out on Tom Sawyer Island and was taken to the Mickey Mouse hospital in Disneyland. I just found out this year what the problem was...Severe anemia...Now I am on my iron and my blood pressure is under control and I am ready to live again!! I started feeling better in the beginning of September this year. It took a while for my red blood cells to build up enough so that I could move around without feeling like I was going to pass out. So...here is what I have of 2008 in pics that I took...and here is looking forward to a great year ahead!

2008 was the year I got inked!

I have always been a Days of Our Lives fan...Soap Operas! Oh well...I just blame my mom...I can't even remember a time when I did not watch this show. Here are some photos from the event...

Well...after this I went to another fan meet and greet to see Marie Osmond...I dragged my friend Lari along with me...we waited in line for over an hour and only got about 30 seconds each as she signed our autographs, gave us a photo, and took a pic wth us. The event was so controlled you could not get up close to get any pictures. They had someone working the event that you had to give your camera to, and they took the shot. Oh well...I still had fun...The guy behind me...kind of freaks me out...weird!

The next time I took pics was with my family for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed the day at my Aunt Karen's house...

I let Kristin dye her hair...UGHH! Oh well...it is her head...She likes it...first she had it cut, then we put in some red temp dye because she wanted the red in it, and finally the big step...dying it black...

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas my sister Corrie came to visit with her husband Lupe and her kids Trisha and Christopher...

Kristin and I went with our friends to see Wicked at the Pantages.

We had Christmas at Aunt Karen's house. I love spending time with my family.

The last thing I did this year was go to my friend Lari's house for her birthday. She had a game night.

We do not go out for New Year's Eve...so the end of the year is always a quiet evening at home relaxing with each other. I am thankful for this past year and the opportunities I had to enjoy it with my friends and family.

Here is looking forward to a happy new year....

Happy Birthday Lari!

My friend Lari had a birthday yesterday. She invited some friends over to join her family for a game night. We all had a lot of fun. There were a lot of laughs as we played several games throughout the night. Here she is explaining to us how to play the game Scum...She is the Queen of course! Her brother Troy volunteered to be Scum when we started the game.

It did not take long to figure out how to play the game and we played several rounds before the night was over. We also played Scrabble, some crazy card games Lari, her mom, and her brother taught us...Slap hands, Vegetable, and a game called Apple to Apple. Lari was deposed as the Queen after the first round and I took her place for a very short time...

Kristin came with me and she played several games as well. We both love to play games and it is fun when you get together with a large group and play. She really enjoyed playing with Lari's mom. I enjoyed the company of all and had a great time!

The Ghost of Christmas Past...

Well another Christmas has come and gone. We had a good time at Aunt Karen's. I always enjoy spending time with my family. Last year my sister Catrena sent me a CD with a lot of photos from when we were growing up. I made the collage above using pictures that she sent me. That is me in the Santa sleigh with Santa...I am the oldest with my sister Dawn is in the middle and Theresa is wearing a green striped dress. I have members from both my dad and mom's side of the family here. Under the sleigh is a picture of Shanna when she was about five years old. I am holding Kristin on my lap next to her, and beside me is Maria, my grandson Micheal Jr. and my son Micheal.

There are pictures of my grandmother's from both my mom and my dad's side of the family. In the center picture I am sitting at the kids table for Christmas dinner with my grandpa (my mom's dad) and my sisters Dawn and Theresa, Catrena had not come along yet. Below this is a picture of my grandma (my mom's mom) passing out presents on Christmas Eve. My cousin Jamie is sitting beside her on the left and my son Micheal is beside her on the right when he was about 4 years old. Above my son Micheal is my grandson Micheal Jr. in the beanie and my granddaughter Bryanna in the pink sweat suit. Beside and above Bryanna is Kristin when she was about 2 in the red sweat suit and above that is Kristin when she was five. We wore matching dresses that year and she is wearing hers in this pic. The group photo at the top is my grandma, my mom, my aunt, my sisters, me and all our kids. I am thankful that we now live in a digital age, the old photos have lost a lot of their quality and with the computer it is possible to salvage photos that otherwise might be lost forever. I don't think you can ever underestimate the value of photographs or the memories of time spent with people you love. Here are some pictures of our Christmas this year....

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Sunday night Kristin and I went with some of our friends...Lari, Amy, Judy, and other members of Lari's family to see the play Wicked at the Pantages in LA. We had a really good time. Wicked is a great show, and I enjoyed it as much the second time seeing it as I did the first time. Kristin really loved it and she wanted to know when we could go back and see it again.

Here are some pics from our night out...

I was reluctant to read the Twilight Series. I heard about it first from my daughter Shanna. She ripped through the books and told me that I had to read them. She could not put the books down. Next, My friend Lari started reading them. She could not put them down either, and that is unusual for her. Then I started hearing about them in the media. So...reluctantly I started reading them. I finished them last week...and well...I want to read more of the story.

If you love a love story, then the Twilight Saga is a book series for you. Once I started reading them, it did not take me long to get into them to the point to where all I wanted to do was read these books. I ripped through the second book in less than 24 hours. The third book I tried to slow down on (It was my favorite). I read it in two sittings. When I got to the fourth book, I really tried to slow down, because I just did not want the story to end. Well...last week I finished them. So right now I am reading a draft of the next book in the series called Midnight Sun. It is available on line. I don't like to read books on line, but for this series...well...I just need to read more...I need a new drug!!

I Don't Know Why...

I don't know why some people call my dogs demons. Whenever my dogs get brought up in conversation in my extended family, I am always told they are demons. As far as I am concerned, they are loving and cute as can be. Just about everyone in our family outside of those of us who live in this house are terrified of them. When they come to visit, the dogs have to be sent to their...er...my room. I love my dogs. I love when they curl up beside me when I sleep. They spend hours with me when I read or play on the computer and never ask me if I am going to be done soon. Whatever movie I want to watch is fine with them. I never have to explain to them where I am going, or how long I will be gone, and when when I come home, they run to greet me, tails wagging and happy as can be. So here is a little bit about my dogs...

The great pleasure of a dog is that you may make a fool of yourself with him and not only will he not scold you, but he will make a fool of himself too. ~Samuel Butler, Notebooks, 1912
This is my dog Gwar. He is the oldest of our dogs. He likes to be outside. Here he is sitting on my porch swing, but he thinks it is there for his lounging pleasure. He is a pretty good dog, but he barks way too much and he loves to chew anything he can get his teeth on. We had to block off our old deck because he used to like to sit on the peak of the roof of the garage and look out over the street. It used to freak our neighbors out. He spends most of his time outside, mainly because he likes it, and the other reason is that he cannot be left unattended when inside because he will destroy something. We love him anyway...he is a very loving and friendly dog.

"Rambunctious, rumbustious, delinquent dogs become angelic when sitting."~Dr. Ian Dunbar

Ruffles is a dog that was meant to be mine. However, if you ask my daughter Kristin, she will tell you that Ruffles is her dog. In the picture below, she is sitting in Kristin's lap, one of her favorite places to be. I brought Ruffles home about five years ago. I had been thinking about getting another dog for about three years and I really wanted a small lap dog. One day I was driving on the road near the local animal shelter and I suddenly had the strongest urge to go look at the dogs. One look at her and I knew she was meant for me. She is very loving toward our family, but pretty much hates every other living being on the planet. I can honestly say that some of my extended family members and some of our family friends are terrified of this little terrier. But for me she is sweet as can be.


"Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job."~Franklin P. Jones

This is my dog Mocha. A couple of years ago when my friend Alicia said her dogs had puppies, well...I always wanted a chihuahua, and here she is. She is my favorite. This is one of her favorite spots...on my pillow behind my head. I usually just use her as a pillow and she lays her head on my shoulder. When I come home from work she runs out the garage door to greet me every day. Sometimes she will not even wait until I get out of the car in her quest for some belly and ear scratching...she just jumps right up in my lap as soon as I open the car door. She is much friendlier than Ruffles, but she is also much more territorial. She is definitely the pack leader when it comes to the two of them. I love my Mocha...


I like cats...but I love my dogs! To some they may be thought of as demons, but to me they are furry little bits of heaven.


Happiness is a warm puppy. ~Charles M. Schulz

When I Grow Up

When I Grow Up...

I had been trying not to worry about it since I received the letter in the mail telling me I had to come back for more testing. “Don’t worry until you need to!” I told myself. “Mimi survived; she is 90 years old now! Her sister didn’t! Uncle Gary didn’t! Uncle Daryl didn’t! Aunt Helen didn’t!” My brain screamed at me. “But Mimi did, and so did Aunt Mona.” I told myself with determination. The thoughts kept running through my brain, making me more scatter brained than usual. “Don’t worry about it,” I scolded, “you’ve been through this before and everything was fine. Everything will be fine this time too.” I entered the building and headed to the fourth floor. I wanted to get “the big squeeze” over. I wanted to be done with this appointment…

Three exams by three different people later…

“You can go home and celebrate the holidays with your family.”

“Just come back in a year,” she smiled.

I felt a smile spread across my face at the encouraging and welcoming words. Until that moment, I had not realized how much stress I was feeling over the situation. As I left the building, I realized I had felt stress about this situation since the last time I went through it when I was 18. So, instead of being smart and following the orders of my doctor, my own common sense, and the never ending urging of my friend Amy, I put it off, because I was scared. I did not have the courage to go, because I was afraid of what they would find. I was afraid they would find something again, and this time it would not be benign. Well, I may have grown older, but apparently, I did not grow any wiser. I found my first large lump when I was 15 years old and I did not tell anyone about it until I was 17 years old, just a few months before my 18th birthday. I knew I had been stupid even back then. I knew I had waited too long to tell anyone. Back then, I was scared and I kept thinking about dying a virgin with one breast, not an appealing future…At least this time I did not have to worry about dying a virgin…

Fortunately, for me I have been up twice and I am still in the game.

This past Thanksgiving as I visited with my grandma Mimi, I was thankful that she was still with us. It has been about 30 years since she had both of her breasts removed, and went through radiation and chemotherapy. This year she celebrated her 90th Thanksgiving. She is strong, alive, and still enjoying the important things in life, time with her family and the joy of giving and receiving love. As we sat their visiting, I thought to myself, “When I grow up…I want to be an old woman…just like Mimi, she lives her life fully, with faith, hope, courage, strength and love.