The pictures below are from this past May when Brett and I went on an overnight deep sea fishing trip. I am having to skip a few months for the time being because I am having trouble adding pictures that were taken on Melinda's new camera. Anyway I wanted to get as much as possible on the blog then I will go back and try to add the other photos.

Here is Brett looking for the "BIG ONE" He looks a little tired since this was taken pretty early in the morning

Here is Brett's first catch of the trip. It was a pretty good sized rockfish. Brett was a little freaked out at first. Rock fish live on the ocean floor and don't do well near the surface. This picture doesn't show it real well but the eyes are popped out and the swim bladder is protruding from its mouth. Looks pretty weird. As a true boy Brett thought it was pretty cool after he figured out what it was.
Here we are. It looks like Brett's fish is bigger than mine but that is just because of the camera angle. Just kidding. I will confess, Brett out fished me and had the bigger fish. We had a lot of fun.
Here you'll see our full catch (I caught 4 barracuda also but we didn't have them cut into filets) None of the fish are huge but they are all decent.

The cutest girl to ever put on a poodle skirt. This was for 50's day at school

AHHH! The happy couple. Would have been a great picture if it was just Melinda

Loren and her furry friend Dale, at Goofy's kitchen

Update

Well it has been a while since there was a new post added to the family blog. It is amazing how life gets in the way of doing things like updating a blog. In an effort to catch up the quickest possible way, I am going to add some photos to show what has been going on for the last 9 or 10 months. It will probably take a few posts to accomplish this task.


Here is Brett and I, talking about a service project Brett chose to do for last Christmas. The project was in support of Operation Christmas Child, a non-profit organization that collects shoe boxes filled with small items, that get distributed to kids that are less fortunate here in the US and in foreign countries. Brett set a goal of collecting 50 shoeboxes from friends and family and donate them to the organization. We were so proud of Brett for his efforts in helping to bless other kids. Brett's hard work paid off and he was able to blow past his goal and collect 63 boxes.

Here is a picture of Brett after he received his bobcat award from his cub scout leader.



Here is Brett in the 3rd grade chapel. So far every year Brett has been able to get one of the leading roles in the show that his grade puts on.



Brett trying to lasso the bull at the Norco Rodeo


Loren gives it a try. She wanted to prove that her brother doesn't have anything on her.

Harvest Work Family Picnic!

Hey all,

Yesterday was the Harvest Work Family Picnic and since my lovely wife works at Harvest, we were invited. This our third year going to the picnic. The last two years Harvest has rented out a park in Orange. This year they took us all to Knott's Berry Farm. It was pretty cool. We got to have the famous Knott's Chicken House for lunch and admission to the park. Harvest paid for their employees and their families to go, so this was completely free for us. We had a blast. Below you will find some pictures of our day.


This First picture is of the whole family enjoying our selves on the log ride. Notice the kids. They look absolutely thrilled to be dropping in this picture. I think Melinda was about to pee her pants laughing and I am not sure who the big monster is in the back. If this was splash mountain at Disneyland I would say that the big thing in back is one of the bears hitching a ride. Keep going down the next one is great.



I need to set the next one up a little. The most beautiful woman in the world and I decided to go on a ride called Accelerator. It starts off in the station then goes from 0 to about 200 in a half second (slight exaggeration, but it really takes off quick.) You go up the track COMPLETELY vertical, go over the top of a big arch and then back down, COMPLETELY vertical again. The whole ride lasts 22 seconds. It is really fun. Apparently the most beautiful woman in the world does not like to take off that quickly however. If you look at the next picture you will understand what I mean.


All I can say is PRICELESS! Oh and one other thing. Notice how calm I am. What is wrong with her? This was before the ride even took off!



Just Kidding. This was at the 127 mph mark on our way to 200 mph.

SPLAT!

Here are some more pictures. These are of our trip to Idaho this summer. We had such a great time with The Goodales (and The Dillon's too!). We had an action packed week. This is a picture of a swim/BBQ party that Michelle and John had for us. A lot of The Dillons came over and we had a great time with food and chicken fights. Well, at least some of us did. I chose not to participate in the swimming. :) I also put some cute pictures of the kids waiting for our flight at the airport. And the one that tops them all ~ SPLAT! This was on our last day in Boise, Idaho. We had the opportunity to go paint balling at my cousin, Steve's, paintball ---. I'm not sure what it would be called actually. Just a place to paintball. :) That's funny that I don't know that. Anyway, Brian obviously got hit right in the face with one. I stood back and took pictures. The kids were too young to participate so the older kids, including Brian played while we watched on. They had a lot of fun. Only a few tears were shed. :0( It apparently hurts when you get hit with a paintball. Imagine that! We loved the scenery in Idaho. It's definitely a beautiful state. We have to say our favorite activity of the week was the white water rafting down the Payette River. What a blast we had! I could do that every weekend. Until next time...

Adding Some Pictures

I thought I would add some pictures to this blog. Here is one of Loren with her Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Gaskins. She was also Brett's Kindergarten teacher and we just love her. She is such a kind, Godly woman. Loren looks so cute here with her "Hollywood" shades. She did a great job at the graduation. Sang her best. We have quite a performer on our hands. She would love to get into acting and singing. I also included a picture of Brett with his teacher from last year, Mrs. Bradford. She was a great teacher as well. Brett really enjoyed her class and she really enjoyed having him. I wish I could add a picture of Brett at his Awards Ceremony last June, but they all turned out fuzzy. He, for the 2nd year now, received the Principal's Honor Roll Award for getting straight A's all year long. We are so proud of him! He definitely deserves this award for all of his hard work. We have been so proud of both of the kids not just academically, but also by the character they are developing. They both are amazing! I know I'm their mother and all, but seriously, they're great! :)

My First Entry

Oh Yippee! Here's my first entry to our family blog. This is so fun and I am so glad that Brian got bored one night and set this up for us. :0)

WOW, what a week it has been. I am happy to say that for the first time in a week, I finally feel myself today. I have this reputation at work as being the "perky girl." And today, I was finally able to be my feisty perky self. :) I have to say that I would have suffered so much more if I didn't have such a wonderful husband. He actually took off his entire week of work to take care of me. He was amazing, taking care of the kids, getting them off to school, doing homework with them, getting me whatever I wanted to eat, keeping the house straightened up so I didn't go crazy, and the list goes on and on. OH, and he also found some time in there to volunteer at the school each day, helping both Brett and Loren's classes. What a guy! I mean how many dad's do you know that are one of the school's Room Parents, spend on average 2 or more hours a week volunteering with grading papers, collating, sorting fundraisers, and planning parties at school, and he also is an Assistant Leader on Brett's Boy Scout Troop? He's always been a very hands on, involved parent and I absolutely LOVE HIM for that. He's a great Dad! As the Parent Involvement Coordinator at Harvest Christian School I can tell you that not a ton of dad's take the time to volunteer. We are blessed with many parent volunteers and quite a few that are dads. But only 2 (Brian being one of them) have braved the Room Parent Title (the other one is Brian's Bible study leader). :) The teachers just love him being there to help them out. If I wasn't coordinating all of these volunteers I'd feel really bad that I wasn't there to help out myself. We both feel so strongly that the more you are involved in your child's life the better. Our Principal told all of our volunteers this year that there was a study done that showed that kids whose parents volunteered at school were more comfortable at school than those whose parents did not. I thought that was so interesting. Because after all, we want our children to have fun and succeed in what they do, and it's hard to do that when you aren't comfortable. :)

So, I guess I'll end this blog entry with a little message from THE GREATEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN: THE BIBLE. What an awesome gift that God gave us with this instruction book for life! Every time I read it, I learn something new. I'm constantly growing and becoming a Woman and a Wife After God's Own Heart. If you want to learn more about God and His never changing love for you visit http://www.harvest.org/. Have you ever thought, "Why can't I have this?" or "Why can't I do that?" or "I don't have enough time to do everything set out for me today." I, like everyone else have found myself wondering this many times in my life. Sometimes wondering why God won't provide me with something that I'm wanting in my life. It could be a friendship, a career move, better communication with a loved one, a nice vacation with my husband, or more hours in the day to complete that never ending to do list. I have learned in the past 3 years, as my walk with the Lord has grown, that I have to stop the "What about me?" way of thinking. After all, it's not about us. It is about what God wants us to do for His glory. How does God want to use me today? should be the question we ask ourselves every morning. I love what Jesus says in this verse. Jesus is speaking to his disciples and his followers. They are addressing their concerns with daily life. Jesus tells his disciples and followers first not to worry but instead: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:33

Words to live by. Love it! Have a blessed night!
Melinda