So Long Little League Season

Well little league season ended with a day of awards and then a dinner at Fuddruckers. I must admit that it seemed like a LONG season. Maybe it seemed that way because Charley was a coach this year and Kristina's softball practices overlapped for a month. Whew! We made it though.
Coach Daddy with Helper Kristina and Joshua and Caleb


While at Fuddruckers, Coach Charley gave each of the kids their medal and told why he appreciated each player or how they had improved over the season. The kids looked so proud when they received their trophies:):)
Coach Daddy and Joshua



Coach Daddy and Caleb

Anna's New Do

Well...I finally did it! I cut Anna's hair. I've been stating my desire to cut it for months now...but actually chickened out the last time. Well no more chickening out....I did it!


Being silly :):)


Right after Mommy cut it. She looks so cute with short hair! It really suits her.


And the final product....after the hair stylist evened it out and made it pretty. Her hair is getting sent off to Locks of Love which is an organization that makes wigs for people (ex. cancer patients) The other girls did the same thing when we cut off their lovely locks.

Grandma Mary's Memorial (Charley's paternal grandmother)

At the beginning of May, we all flew to Las Vegas as Charley's grandmother passed away. We had heard she was sick and we were actually planning on going to see her...but she went quickly, so we weren't able to see her alive. Thankfully, we were able to fly there as driving to Vegas would not have been a very fun trip. Charley was asked to do the message and we were excited about the opportunity that doing that allowed. Now we just pray for the fruit from it. Charley's cousin Chris also gave a message and was right on!
Below is a picture of all of Charley's aunts and uncle's (his dad's siblings - minus Charley's dad and another uncle who passed away).
(l-r: Uncle George, Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Mary, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Jane, Uncle Jewell)


Me with Uncle Jewell's daughter Lisa


Charley and his sister Tonia and brother Pat


Caleb Epps and....CALEB EPPS!! Can you believe it!? There are two Caleb Epps' in the Epps family!! We were very surprised to find this out when we arrived in Vegas. So funny!

The Charley Epps family and the George Epps family

Has it really been 2 months already??!!

Oh wow...it seems like I am saying this a bit on this blog. I guess because of Facebook, I just forget to blog. Well...let me try and catch you up on our life in the past 2 months.
It would be an understatement to say that we have been busy. With school, church, and just STUFF we have been going non-stop!
For Easter this year, my parents invited us over to there house. We usually have the get-togethers at our house because I have the biggest house and it's just easier for the kids to be in their own home. It was SOOO nice to not be the hostess for this holiday! What a treat! All I had to bring was dessert! Thanks so much Mom, Dad and Lindsay for a restful Easter. It was a good day!


Last month, my mom, sister, Kristina and I went down to my grandparents in Arroyo Grande to do some packing/get rid of stuff for their move up this way. The weekend started with our van not starting (thankfully it happened in our driveway) so we had to take our monster truck. We could SO CLEARLY see the Lord's hand in the entire weekend! The Lord answered prayer and really blessed our time. Because we took the truck, we were able to take ALL of their books (and we literally took about 25-30 boxes/bags of books) to a bookstore in Newark and got a little bit of money for them from the sale of the books. The weekend was a blessing and it was good to be able to spend some more time with my grandparents in their home.


We are venturing once again, to start a garden. Unfortunately, this year, we mixed up the dirt, but forgot to pack it down. So....when we watered the troughs, the water went under the earth and caused MUSH!! Almost like quick sand! Notice Abby's feet? Yes...it was as bad as it looks. It seems like it is better now though....hopefully :):)


We are growing corn, roma, grape, and beef steak tomatoes, yellow crook-neck squash and cucumbers. Unfortunately, as I write this, the cucumbers haven't made it. We have such awful dirt. I might have to buy a planter and baby them a little. We eat a lot of cucumbers so I really want to grow them.

Here are my "being babied" grape tomatoes:):) Sure hope they do good. We might have to pray this garden to harvest like last years garden.

More updates to come......

Grandpa and Grandma Milburn's 70th Anniversary Party

On March 6, the whole family got together to celebrate my Grandpa and Grandma...and the 70 years that the Lord has given them together.


Still in love after 70 years


We had their party at a little hole in the wall family owned Hawaiian deli. My grandparents go there at least once a week so they are loved by the workers there. This is them on the wall of the deli.

The deli make them Hawaiian wedding cake for dessert.

The girls who work there put together some special hula dances especially for my grandparents. It was so sweet!

If you know anything about my Abby, when she likes something, or is intrigued by it...she REALLY gets into it. This look...am I going to hear about how she wants to be a hula dancer?? About a month ago, she was telling me that all she wanted for her birthday was to go to Hawaii!! Wouldn't we all!!


More kissing :):)

My grandparents with the hula girls

My kiddos with the hula girls

Charley and I

Well here we all all (minus one cousin and her husband) It was a PERFECT 70th anniversary party and it was wonderful to be able to go down and spend time with my sweet family.

70 years! Wow! Quite an accomplishment! QUITE a blessing!! It made me think about the marriage vows that people take when they get married. "In sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity...." Growing old is not easy...the Lord knows that...but he wants us to stay true to the one that we have pledged our earthly life to. So many people in this day and age just give up on marriage when it seems to be too hard for them. I am so glad that the Lord knows me and loves me and promises only the best things for me that will bring me closer to my Savior. I am thankful for my grandparents and their godly example of staying together...even in the hard times.

The boys 8th birthday party

The boys birthday was on February 5th and we celebrated in the morning with a fun birthday breakfast with Grandma, Papa and Auntie. Of course we had "eggies on toast" (poached eggs on toast) which is a favorite! Later that night we had our own little family party and the boys got nerf swords from Daddy and Mommy. Not wanting to be left out, Daddy had to buy one for himself too :):) Oh the battle that took place when they got those!! Wish I had a picture of them...but alas...I don't. Then we watched Ice Age 3 which the kids requested to watch.

Today we had the birthday party at a Fremont bowling alley. How fun is this picture!

Happy Birthday Caleb and Joshua!!

Caleb and Joshua received these electric guitars from the Greenhouses and they LOVED them! The boys have played the video game "rock star" ?? Not sure if that is the name or not. Anyway, you play an electric guitar in it and the boys have really enjoyed playing it...so these guitars will provide them with hours and hours of fun!

Love this picture just because of the look on Joshua's face. So funny! I guess he liked what he got:):)


Here are all the friends. It was a fun party. Thanks everyone!

Field Trip Week

Well...I feel like I haven't blogged FOREVER...so here is a little update on what the Epps Clan has been up to recently. A few weeks back, Charley took the week off of work and we had a "fun" week. We went to the library, we went to the Exploratorium, and we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I had not been to the Exploratorium....probably since about junior high....so it was fun to go back and show the kids all the fun stuff.
My lovely little red headed girl getting blown away:):)


The Palace of Fine Arts...do you see my little "ant" children??


Just being funny

All my sweet kiddos

Unfortunately, that same week, all of the girls (including myself) got colds. Mine was the worse with an INTENSE sinus headache. However, not wanting to miss going on some good field trips and having a wonderful thing called Claritan D and Ibuprofin :):), we went anyway. Once again the Monterey Bay Aquarium did not disappoint!!

*Don't know if you know this or not, but it is the male sea horse that actually gives birth. We were standing by one of the exhibits talking to one of the volunteers when Charley says, "One of the sea horses is giving birth!" Low and behold he was!! They looked like teeny tiny bubbles coming out of him. However, as the volunteer had been talking about, the other fish that was in the tank pretty much ate them up before they went very far. I guess that is their method of "birth control" for the sea horses. It was very interesting to see. Will probably never see it again!

The kids really enjoyed seeing the new sea horse display.

The kids also, depending on their age and ability, wrote reports about some of the things we saw there. I printed off some coloring pictures from the MBA website, the kids colored them in the car on the way there, and then they wrote some things about the sea life (from the info that they read about the sea life at each exhibit) that they had decided to write about. Kristina did her first "bigger" report and even typed it out...for the first time. I printed out some of the pictures we had taken and glued them to the writing pages. They turned out so good! Even Anna did a little report :)

For lunch, we went to Bubba Gumps which is just down the street from the aquarium.

Anna and Kristina

Me and my honey at Bubba Gumps