The Daddy Daughter Dance

Scott managed to get out of work an hour early to meet Emmie at her elementary school for the annual Daddy Daughter Dance. The school is great. They have annual events for moms and sons, dads and sons etc. Emmie chose her dress and shoes and was excited to go the dance with Scott as long as she wasn't going to have to dance up on stage. This was her first dance and she feared it would be more like a show she was going to put on for the dads.

Emmie even got to take a special picture with her dad and her best friend Chloe.The parking lot was not like it is in the daytime filled with minivans and SUVs. It was full of work trucks. I thought maybe the school was having some after hours construction work done but then I saw some dads pulling up in trucks with their lovely daughters in the passenger seats. I had to take a picture because it was just too darn cute to miss.

Clay's Preschool Field Trip

This is the great preschool we have at our elementary. Miss Tamara has worked so hard to make it a place where the kids always want to come but unfortunately, never want to leave.

The kids in the preschool were most excited about riding the bus.

There were 6 kids crammed into 2 seat on a giant school bus. They have so much fun together they didn't want to spread out. How exciting to go for a ride without seat belts!
They went to the local pizza place and learned how to make pizza. Then they did get to eat some.
Miss Tamara was so nice she even took them to the local park for a change of scenery. She brought the colorful parachute which turned out to be the most fun part of the day.

Clay in Karate Class

Clay has been wanting to take a karate class for a year now but has been too nervous to actually go on his own. He was invited to a birthday party to the Red Dragon Karate Gym and boy was he thrilled. He absolutely loved it.

Oliver's First Trip to the Lake

Everyone was excited to go to the lake today.

Oliver couldn't wait to get there. He wanted to look out front so he stood and steadied himself most of the way by laying his head on Scott's shoulder. It was pretty cute. It would have been better if his breath wasn't so bad.................... (The dog's not Scott's)

It was a beautiful warm day. There was actually still snow on the ground at the lake. Oliver found a patch of untouched snow, the very last for the year, and he went berserk. It's not so pretty now.

He had a lot of fun a the lake. He jumped right in. He almost took Scott in with him.

He found a stick and had to show us but he thought Emmie was trying to steal it instead of trying to throw it for him.

I don' think the kids have ever been around a wet dog before. They had no idea how they try to dry off. They screamed and ran but of course that just made Oliver, the sponge, chase them while he shook himself dry and not us which was okay.

It was a great day and here is one tired dog.

The Real Tooth Fairy

What do you do when your daughter has a loose tooth that's wiggly for months but won't come out? You wait until she falls asleep and then poke it with a pointy thing. It still didn't come out but maybe it's a little bit looser. Good thing she sleeps with her mouth open. Weird thing, she sleeps with her eyes open too!

A Super Blast from the Past

This was our prom picture the year after we met. We met on a blind date at the beginning of our Senior years of high school. We went to rival schools on the opposite sides of town. It was quite scandalous. This was about 20+ years ago.

Got to Love the 90s!

This was from our college years together at Long Beach State. Black was in (black and white print art, black clothes, black shoes) and so was big hair apparently!

Our Engagement

This is our engagement portrait from 11 years ago. Woah! That seems like it was a lifetime ago.

Our Wedding

Scott and Annie were married April 18, 1998. And they are living happily ever after.

The Maiden Voyage

Bon Voyage!

Grandpa finally got his retirement boat. He let us come along for the very first time it was ever in the water.
Here Grandpa is trying to figure out how to set the trim and he's taking it as fast as he can scaring Grandma. The kids were just loving it all.
Grandpa even let Scott have a try at the wheel.
The kids really wanted to go fishing. They couldn't understand why they couldn't just start casting out their lines. Maybe it's because we weren't wearing our protective helmets and goggles to protect us from wild flying fish hooks!

Grandpa Larry and Nonni

Grandpa and Nonni are Scott's parents. They have been doing a lot of traveling the past year. They both love going to rock concerts and keeping up with friends.

Please!

Clay came up with this and taught Emmie. This is what he does when he wants a gumball, a popsicle or a new baby brother. Emmie is begging for a new baby sister. What you can't see is how they are batting their eyelashes and saying "Pleeeeeeease!" in their sweetest voices. It doesn't really work because it just makes Scott and Annie laugh. Maybe it will work for a birth mother. :)

Monterey- So much to do!

Monkey see ^

Monkey do^

We chase the kids on foot as they drive the path.

Scott and Emmie as Dad catches his breath.

Good luck Dad you are gonna need it!

There is so much we like to do when we're on vacation. We are usually all exhausted by the time we get home. But given a day or 2 to rest we are dreaming of going again.

Monterey Again!

This is just one of the trips we were able to take last fall. It's always lots of fun for all of us. We'll have to try something new like camping up the coast of California or in the Redwoods next time.

Scott and Annie in Monterey

Emmie actually took this picture. She did a great job! No need to ask strangers to get pictures of Annie and Scott together.

Mr. and Miss Independent

Emmie and Clay were so proud of themselves. They got ready for school without help from anyone. Annie wanted to put a sign on each kid before they went to school that read "Look, I dressed myself today (without mom's help)!"

Scott and the Kids

Scott tries to spend as much of his free time as he can with the kids. He likes to get them outside to hike and explore. The children look forward to Dad Time all day.

Grandma and Grandpa

These are Annie's parents with the kids. Grandpa loves to tease the kids all the time. Grandma lets the kids bake cookies and do all sorts of messy crafts and even plant in her garden.

A Tour of Our Home

Welcome to our home. Here we will take you on a quick tour. We had our house designed and built 3 years ago.

This is our front yard. We have a large open lawn with lots of room to play.

This is the courtyard off the side of the entry. We have had some fun marshmallow roasts and BBQs out here.

It's a great place to sit and read, listen to the birds or look at the stars at night.

This is our living room. It's the first room as you enter the house. It's attached to a dining room with an open plan so we can move out the furniture from this room and put in a giant table for big family dinners. We held Scott's parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebration in here.

Now we enter the family room, the room that gets the most action. We have movie nights, play family games, homework sessions, read to the kids every night before bed time and have family prayer right here.

We have big cupboards for lots of games, a saltwater aquarium and tall windows that look out to the deck where the kids play. We have a terrific view through here as well.

The kitchen is right behind the family room with a breakfast nook right next to it. This is a a big open area for the family to gather in all 3 rooms.

This is the deck right off the family room. It's all enclosed and even has a gate to keep the kids on the deck and not wandering off. They ride their bikes, ride the teeter-totter and have tea parties on the deck.


Here you see why we think this is just about the best place to live. This is just part of the view we have looking off the deck. We love living in the country. We have lots of friendly neighbors a short walk away. The pale white dot in the middle of the picture amongst the trees is a great family with 3 little girls our kids love to play with. Our property goes to almost to where they live.


Being in the country we knew we would need lots of play places designed just for the children. There is a nice park less than a mile away with a little running creek and tennis courts but we wanted to have something the kids could walk to where we knew they would be safe.

Right behind the house and in full view from the inside of the house we have created a fun playground. For each birthday and Christmas we have added an element to the playground creating a safe, shady and interesting play area.

Inside we have taken the office and turned it into a kids' play room. We have toys and games in the cupboards, a dollhouse and race tracks.

We've also put the play kitchen and the artist's corner in here as well. We wanted the kids to have a common social area where they could play with all the toys. They play together more often since we did this and they know the toys are for everyone and they aren't quite as selfish with them as they once were.

The bedrooms are for sleeping and getting dressed. There are just a few toys they keep in there. They also have a desk and lots of books in each. We've made them as nice and peaceful as possible. We have one for the girls and...

...one for the boys.

We hope you like what you see and know that we put the children first in our family. We want them all to get the best head start in life as possible. We want to provide the kids with a safe, happy, loving and comfortable living environment. We want it to be one where we can all learn and build strong family relationships with each other.