Sunday, December 26, 2010

Field Trip to the Capitol

In November, Charley took the day off and we took the Amtrak train to the Capital in Sacramento. It was quite a fun field trip. We even got to see Governor Schwartzeneggers office.....guarded of course.







Field Trip to the Exploratorium and SFO

The kids at the Golden Gate Bridge. When you are leaving SFO, go to the left side of the bridge. It is so fun! Don't remember the name of it, but it was totally a boy thing!
































In the BIG chair at the Exploratorium


















The kids made their own marble maze and I think they must have been there for an hour or more...they had SOOOO much fun doing this. They did a great job and one of the workers even took pics of it.









Ardenwood Harvest Festival 2010

Ardenwood Harvest Festival was once again a special day! If you haven't gone, I would highly recommend it. Lots of fun and lots of photo opps :):)





















Anna turns 6

My baby turned 6 this past November! Hard to believe...although she is 6 going on 16 :(
My mom and her "best Anna"






Anna had lots of her friends over for a special 6 year old birthday party.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Happy 50th Koinonia!!!

On August 28th we travelled down to Koinonia to celebrate the 50 years that the Lord has blessed Koinonia with.
Anna with the 50 year handout



















It was so fun to see so many old time friends and family. Some staff members that I worked with and had not seen in awhile were there too!
My cousin Jennifer and her sweet family













Abby did one of the ropes courses...she didn't get very high up...but I thought it was great that she even wanted to try.

















It was so good to see John Brooks and his family. It's been quite awhile since I've seen him...although his very faithful wife sends us all birthday cards and anniversary cards every year....without fail.















I was SOOOO excited when I heard that Kevin and Patti craig were going to be there!! I love them! I hadn't seen them since they left Koinonia over 15+ years ago. Now their oldest is married and their youngest just graduated from high school. Where has the time gone?? It was really fun to be able to catch up with them.











John and Jennifer Brooks and their boys

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Lots!!

Where do I start? I guess since I can't find my pictures in this computer..grrrr....I will just write. SOOO much has been happening lately. My great Aunt Florence is going through chemo..and struggling. My grandparents are just getting older and need more assistance. My Aunt Binky just found out that she has cancer and is going to go through cancer treatment. And...to top it all off...my Great Uncle Bob passed away in the midst of all of this. So much! Sometimes my brain has felt so jumbled up lately with so much that I thought it would burst! A verse that I LOVE that I have been clinging to is "When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the ROCK that is higher than I." Such EXCELLENT advice. No need to take on the troubles and overwhelming thoughts all by myself. My ROCK wants me to give them to Him. What better hands could they be in??

Friday, September 3, 2010

Congratulations John and Eliane!!

The Lord brought a special someone into John Mulgrew's life and we are SOOO happy for him. He and Eliane were married August 7th.


Caleb was asked to be the ring bearer. He looked so handsome!!
Hannah and Caleb


Charley was the best man and looked quite handsome himself:):)
(just a little fyi...John was the best man in our wedding)

Congratulations John and Eliane!! May the Lord truly bless your lives and marriage as you live and work together for Him.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Yosemite Fun



What did we do in Yosemite??
Charley took 3 of the kids fishing. They didn't really catch anything though...although they were given a fish by a friend that they went fishing with that we were able to cook up. That was kind of fun.
Kristina made this sign...just in case people wondered where they were:)


Charley and I with Lower Yosemite Falls in the background

I don't think I've ever been to Lower Yosemite Falls. It was a very easy walk and what a sight!! Beautiful!! We took this walk a couple of times while we were there.

Kristina and Charley had wanted to walk up to Vernal Falls...so when our friends the Greenhouses came up for the day, they decided to do it together. My sister Lindsay went with them too. Well....they made it up to Vernal...and then kept going on to Nevada Falls!!! WOW!! I'm impressed! Not all of them went up to Nevada..but Kristina did! WooWoo Honey!!


On our last day there, we decided to take a bike ride to Mirror Lake..and we are SOOO glad that we did. It was beautiful! Because of all the rain we had this past winter, the lake was at a perfect level.
The kids enjoyed jumping off this huge rock. This is Joshua jumping off.


Charley and I...what you see when you look UP from Mirror Lake...Half Dome! And, it is MIRRORED in Mirror Lake:):):) Next year (and yes we've already put down our down payment:) we want to spend more time here. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water.


I saw my one and only bear on this ride back to the campground. It was a smaller brown bear climbing up an embankment. Nothing close though....although we DID have a lot of bear activity throughout the week....I just never saw them...thankfully:):)


The day we left we saw this doe and her 2 baby fawns following her. Not sure if you can see both of the babies in the picture or not, but it was quite sweet.

Yosemite and Friends

Well, we took the "plunge" this year and went to Yosemite for a week for the Bible Conference. I say "take the plunge" because in years past, going to Yosemite has not sounded like a very fun thing to do....especially with all of the work involved in going. It IS a lot of work...but OHHH SOOO WORTH IT!!!!!! We had a GREAT time!! My kids made so many new friends and had a week full of fun and play.
Caleb and Jake (* This little guy looks and acts so much like Caleb! We joked that he seems more like Caleb's twin than Joshua does:):)


Anna and Bella


Just...being little girls:):)


Making friends at the river...the very COLD river


We had some New Tribes friends stay with us for a couple of nights and it was WONDERFUL to get to know them. You know some people you meet and you feel, after only a very short time, that you have known them forever? That is how I felt with Dulcie. Wish we could have spent more time together!
The Milton Family and the Epps Family


Joshua Milton and Kristina


Hannah Milton and Abby...two peas in a pod :)


Anna and Bella...2 little rascals


Joshua, Jake, and Caleb ~ BUDS!! or, maybe...TRIPLETS:):)

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Anna Rides A Broncing....SHEEP???

Well unbeknownst to me, my daughter has the ability to ride a sheep. They had sheep riding for 3-6 year olds at the fair this year, so Charley told Anna that if she would go on it, that he would buy her a "Wool Warrior Princess" pink t-shirt that they were selling. Of course she said yes...how could any little girl resist new clothes...PINK at that...and...with the words PRINCESS on it. Little did she know what she was getting herself into :)

Anna and Daddy getting ready for the sheep riding


Well here she is!! She stayed on for 5.3 seconds and then fell off into the EXTREMELY softened up dirt. When she got back to Charley, we weren't sure if she was laughing, smiling, or crying. BUT....she did it and was rewarded with her pink princess t-shirt. After her ride, Charley took her over to the starting gate to just watch the other kids do it. One older girl who was just doing it for the fun of it (she was too old to be in the competition) got a little scared and didn't want to do it. With a little prodding from Daddy, Anna told her, "Don't be scared..you can do it!" The "host" said, "What did you say? Somebody give me a microphone. I have a little girl over here who knows how to commentate." So he actually gave Anna a microphone and had a little conversation with her. It was SOOO funny! He also asked her if she wanted to ride the sheep again and she said, "NO!" Imagine that! :):)

Although the boys were too old for the sheep riding, they were able to play "run after the sheep (plural) and try to get the purple ribbon off of the sheep's rear end".

Getting ready to chase after the sheep

Neither boy got the purple ribbon, but they had fun trying:)

Goodbye Julia!

My parents had a young girl from Germany stay with them for a month named Julia. Such a sweet girl! Thanks for all your help Julia! Hope you will come to visit us again.
The kids and Julia at the fair for one last photo

I Love the Fair!!

We went to the Alameda County Fair this year and once again had a great time! It is always so fun. We kind of showed up late this time though and realized that next year we really need to get there when it opens to be able to do and see everything.
Anna and Mommy enjoying some ice cream.

Joshua and his ever-sweaty head of hair enjoying some yummy ice cream


We did the tractor pull again this year and the boys actually raced against each other. Nobody made it to the finals, but they had fun trying!

Joshua and Anna learning about and touching a cow.


They have the cutest little petting zoo that the kids can go through. They had a couple of fawns, a pot-belly pig, goats, chickens, and even a slightly temperamental donkey (you weren't allowed to feed the donkey)
Anna and Kristina feeding the little fawn.

Abby was able to be in a little "play" that they do every year too. Imagine that!! Abby wanting to be in the limelight :):)


Abby riding a pony


Joshua getting a ride on the pony ride