Happy New Year...

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. How things have changed, this time last year we were in Cape Cod wondering if, when and where we would be moving next. Who knew we'd be driving 32oo hundred miles cross country a few months later. Now here we are a year later having a great time in CA. Our life is going great, P LOVES his job, the girls are doing great in school, have made a ton of new friends and are thriving. I've joined a few groups through VSC and I am finally learning how to play Mah Jongg. (Great game, not at all like on the computer.) Per P's request I'm not working in Real Estate here. His job as an Exec. includes some long hours , 14 hour days are the norm, and we both feel that the girls need me here full time. Real Estate is not a job you can do part time. I am loving it and have more then enough to stay busy while the girls are in school. For the year ahead we have more then a few fun trips planned. We're making the most out of living on the west coast while we're here.
No New Year's resolutions for us.... I feel if there is something you want to change in your life don't wait until New Year's Day to do it, just go ahead and do it. My suggestion to people is to use "I'm so busy I just don't have the time" less often. This is so over used, even by us at times, if our lives are really that busy then change it, no matter what it is if we're all to busy to enjoy the small simple things in everyday life with our family and friends then we are all doing something wrong. We all need to enjoy our daily lives and appreciate the people in our lives more. OK, enough of my ramblings...it's the Holiday Spirit in me.

Today we have some things planned to do with the girls then we are taking them out to dinner. After dinner we are all heading to some friends' for a get together. Should be a fun time!

Hope everyone was a wonderful and Happy New Year!

Christmas...

This year was the first year in a long time when M was up before K. (K loves to sleep) We were still up early and opening gifts by 6:15 though. The girls were very happy with everything they got. We spent a nice day playing with all their new things, watching movies and just enjoying the day. Even though we had a fantastic day we missed spending the day with our families and seeing everyone. Phone calls and web chats are great but they just aren't the same. We have enjoyed getting all the Christmas Cards, newsletters and packages. It will seem weird not to get a stack of them in the mail everyday. The girls are off from school for the next two weeks. I'm sure we'll have a great time together. We hope everyone had as nice of a holiday as we did.

Christmas Eve snacking...

I tried getting all the gifts in but I couldn't...

Dobbie can't wait for morning...

Let the unwrapping begin...

We couldn't keep him out of the stuff...

Disneyland pictures...#3

Disneyland entrance photo op...

M and C inside the giant orange...

K was so happy to find this at

Downtown Disney...

Yes, P and M went on this...ONCE!

Unlike Keith, Lynn and Colter, they love this!

We are the roller coaster wimps of the family!

Disneyland pictures...#2

Jumpin' Jellyfish...K got almost everyone to go on this with her...

We couldn't get C off this..

it was his favorite ride...

I'm 100% kidding he'll probably hate me for posting this picture

Since their brother Duane couldn't

make it on this trip...

Disneyland Pictures...#1

C and the girls posing in front of a tree on Main Street

They never sat for to long...

The girls in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle

Smile for the camera...

Aunt L riding with the girls...

All the girls posing...

The Bug Brothers...

Disneyland...

This weekend we headed out to meet P's brother and his family from Arizona at Disneyland. We had a fantastic time. First and foremost the BEST part of the trip was getting to spend time with them. Our oldest nephew stayed home to work so it was Colter and the girls. Not many 15 year old boys want to get stuck with their two younger girl cousins at Disneyland. Let me tell you he was great! He went along with everything they wanted to do and put up with posing for all my pictures without ever once complaining. He's a great kid! Except of course for telling me I wouldn't get wet on the Pirates of the Caribbean...Liar Liar pants on fire!!!!! I got soaked! Don't ask me how I don't know. I really can't tell you how much we loved seeing them and spending this weekend with them. It was a fantastic way to start Christmas vacation...with family!

Pictures to follow soon...

Now look.....

Will this madness ever end? They have added pink and blue to their Christmas tree choices...

Precious...

Any one who knows us and has been to our home over the years has met our cat, Precious. We have had Precious for over 15 years. She has been ill for awhile now and recently took a turn for the worse. This afternoon we had to have her euthanatized. This is very hard time for us right now. As cranky as she was we loved her dearly. She will be missed.

Karate Kid...

Tonight was the belt ceremony for K's karate class. She tested for and passed her purple belt this past weekend. She was so excited tonight that she couldn't stop smiling. Don't let the sweet smile fool you she is one tough Purple Belt!

K receiving her purple belt from her Instructor

Tying it on for the first time

She is really way to excited!

What is this?

While out Christmas shopping in Santa Maria with M and K we saw something we had never before seen in our lives...seriously! Maybe living in New England we've been a little sheltered from certain Christmas traditions in other parts of the country. I know they sell the fake snow in a can to spray your trees or windows with but never had we seen anything like this. A stand selling live trees had some of these beauties out front... What do you think they sprayed them with????

Christmas Party...

We have had a very busy weekend. Two Holiday Parties, an after Holiday Party at some friends, a Friday night sleepover for K followed by a three hour Karate test for her (she is now a purple belt) and M babysat for three of her favorite little boys, all followed by some Christmas shopping on Sunday. Friday night we went to a party at some friends house and it was a good time. They have a wonderful idea that we will be stealing from them for our future Christmas Parties. Instead of guests bringing a dish or a bottle of wine everyone brought an unwrapped gift that was then donated to a toy drive for local children in Santa Maria. Fantastic Idea! Saturday was P's work Holiday Party...it was a typical AF Holiday party. Sing a Christmas song before your table could go up to get food, charades for every table, we all tried to not fall asleep while they handed out the door prizes. Why do we do this to ourselves every year? Luckily we went with a group of friends so we did have fun. After the party we headed with some friends to some other friends who had a little get to together. They had been smart enough to skip the 'o so exciting Holiday party!

We warned everyone that they would be making appearances on our Blog...

Mike and April...

these guys are so much fun...

Thanks for driving Mike!

Scott and Marla...Scott and I

some how ended up doing the

charades for our table..

Carmen and Santos...

No, you're not seeing things...

we were stationed with them in Minot

and now they are our next door neighbors...

Carmen's masterpiece she created

during the door prize hand out

New Friends...

Tonight while we were watching TV FOUR of our new neighbors decided to come over uninvited and introduce themselves. Our cats were the first to notice our new friends arriving. They puffed their tails and let out their best growls, the neighbors seemed to just laugh them off saying Yes, you are big bad scary kitties. They were quite insistent on trying to come inside for a visit but we just couldn't let them in. We had a feeling they would act like wild animals and we just couldn't have that on a school night.

Seriously, we noticed one of our cats tales getting huge and turned on the back light. To our surprise there were four of these guys on our patio. But, everyone knows raccoons are the real residents of Vandenberg AFB, we are just their guests. At least that's what they think.

Here are our visitors... they weren't camera shy

AF Anniversary...

Today is P's 18 year anniversary of being in the AF. At 36 years old that means that HALF of P's life has been spent in the AF. Let's just say the time has flown by. Here's a little history on P's time in the AF... He came in as enlisted in December of 1989 and received his commission in June of 1998. We have been married since July of 1990, our girls were born in May of 1994 and January of 1997. We have been stationed all over, Templehof AB, Berlin, Germany; MacDill AFB, Tampa, FL; Vandenberg AFB, Lompoc, CA; Minot AFB, Minot, ND; Cape Cod AS, Cape Cod, MA and back here to Vandenberg AFB. P has also either been TDY or attended various schools throughout the states. I think he would tell you that he's loved every assignment and every job for different reasons. We know people who haven't been in the military or have gotten out can't understand how anyone could ever like being in this long but P's response to that is "How can you not like it?" The AF is what you make of it and P is making the most of it for him and still having fun. But, that doesn't mean he's sticking around past 20. He's seriously considering retiring at 20 years. I think by then we will all be ready to settle down for good in one place. The idea of moving here for one year then somewhere else for a couple more just isn't as appealing as it use to be. Over the years people have said what kind of life is that for your girls always moving around. I have to say ,a great one. They have seen more of this country and experienced more then most adults have and we wouldn't trade that for anything.

Ultrasound...

No, we're not having a baby! Most of you all ready know my sister is pregnant and due the end of January with a little girl. Alot of you have been asking about her lately and how her pregnancy is going. She's doing great and recently had a 4D ultrasound. I thought we would share the picture of the baby's face she had taken. These things are amazing. We didn't have anything like this when we had the girls. Here she is...

Sophia

Cachuma Lake...

Today was a beautiful day so we headed off to do a little hiking. We decided to try somewhere we hadn't been yet so we headed off to Cachuma Lake. Overall we weren't impressed with the park. It really did just turn out to be a giant, very crowded, campground with a few small trails. We chose a short trail that was just over 2 1/2 miles long. We saw many birds, a few woodpeckers and a beautiful red tail hawk. The area is so dry from the lack of rain that almost everything that should be green is brown. The lake is also much lower than normal.

Heading back P had to walk in front...someone (P) couldn't seem to control the urge to hit everyone in the back with acorns as we hiked.

Views from the trail of Cachuma Lake

Some scenes of the trail

Thanksgiving...

What a busy and fun week we had. Some good friends of ours from Memphis came in to visit this past week. It's always a good time when we get together with them. Our Thanksgiving Day went as usual wake up, start cooking, watch the parade, eat too much, watch football and eat too much again. No day after Thanksgiving shopping this year since our friends left Friday morning. Maybe, we'll brave it next year. M is dying to go. I have to admit it was hard getting into the Holiday feel with the weather being what it is here. 62 and sunny. We miss the change of seasons so much and can't wait until it's time to retire to New England and enjoy the Holidays with our family again. I think next year we're going to invade our family in Arizona for Thanksgiving. I know my sister-in-law will be up for some early morning shopping!!!! (We're hopefully going to go to see them in Arizona over the Christmas break next month.) Here are a few pictures from this week. I had every intention of taking more but you know how it goes. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

K, Carson and M at the duck pond

Some early morning pie making

It was hard to get a picture of these three not laughing

Math Award...

K received an award for excellence in Math this week. As you can see after the awards ceremony all the kids posed for pictures. It was Red, White and Blue day at her school which would explain the added splash of red most kids have on with their uniforms. Some children's parents actually sign a waiver so that their children don't have to wear a uniform to school, I can't understand what the train of thought is with that.
It has been a pretty slow week around here. We have actually had a couple of rainy days, which I loved. I don't know if you'd call them rainy as much as drizzily. (Is that even a word?) We're getting ready for a visit from our friends from Memphis. They will be visiting us for the week of Thanksgiving. We all can't wait to see them!!

Enjoy the pictures...
Say cheese... they are all in 5th grade

Run, they put the cameras down...

Weekend...

K's soccer season ended this Friday. (FINALLY) The kids celebrated with cake and a awards ceremony after it. All the kids were asked to say something positive about each other about their playing this season. Everyone was in agreement that K was by far the best DANCER on the field this season. Way to go K! After being here for over six months we figured we better get around to having people over, so on Saturday we invited four families over from P's work for a big Italian dinner. We all had a great time and enjoyed some good food and yummy Sangria. Sunday the weather was a bit chilly so it really did almost feel like Fall outside. We worked on homework and school projects then spent the rest of the day watching Football. It was nice to spend a day doing alot of nothing. We don't seem to do that enough sometimes.

Halloween...

Let me just say one thing, Trick or Treating without winter coats was great! Halloween was a very long and fun day. K's class had a big bowling party on the 30th with so many sweets I don't know how the kids didn't turn into cupcakes after it was over. M was allowed to dress in costume for school on Halloween. She wore bunny ears and tail. Some kids went all out and wore their costumes. They're also allowed to wear them at the High School so she's all ready getting ready for next year. We went to a before Trick or Treating party at our friends house. Everyone had a great time there! The marine layer came in nice and thick adding a really creepy feel to the night. After a couple hours of Trick or Treating, with a friend from Cape Cod, we took the girls to the Haunted trail here on base. M & K weren't sure they wanted to do it but we talked them into it.While going through it K kept yelling this isn't fun, it's scary, I want to go home. I admit there were a few parts that were pretty bad. But, being the horrible parents we are we mostly laughed at how scared the girls were. Luckily no night mares last night so I'd say they're OK. Both girls are off from school today so they're sleeping in and I'm sure will be trying to have candy for breakfast!

M on her way to school

Pink Mummy and Little Bo Peep

Goofing around

Of course we dressed up...

They are ready to go...

Scary man from the Cape...

Trick or Treating with Mr. Kyle is a tradition

M & K with our too cute next door neighbors...

(C on the left was just a baby the last time we

saw them in Minot)

They will NEVER eat all of this