Does this look like the face of a kid who.....

Does this look like the face of a kid who placed 2nd out of 43 girls in her age group? Yes she did!!
Our day started at 5:30am (UGG!!) and this is what I felt like by 5:30pm. We had to be at Championships by 6:30 to check in. Bell swam her little heart out and made it to the finals in free and back. She got 2nd overall in free and 9th overall in back out of all those girls!! Her relay team placed 3rd. All the 6 and under events are done in 1 day. She raced 5 times and was very pooped when the day was over but she did fantastic!!! Since she was in the top 10, she can compete in the Meet of Champs next weekend. There are kids there from all over Nor Cal and you get to see some great swimmers. Her Dad and I haven't decided if we are going to do that yet. One of her sisters also made it in the top 10 and can go to that meet too!! Check back tomorrow and she which one!! Jumping in for backstroke
No backfat? I wish I had muscles like that!! Her older sister doesn't even start on the block like this!
Perfect dive!!!

Another day in the life of the Bahama girls!!!

Swimming is almost over!! Yesterday we had our last home meet in the 110 degree weather! Not bad for the kids because they get to be in the water!! Next weekend is the championships that are 2 days and all day. The girls swim every event with about 900-1,000 other kids. It will be a very long and hot weekend. I'm not complaining!! I really do love to watch it but I'm just hoping it is not as hot! Don't think were not taking the camper to run the AC the whole time!!! Why do you think we got it? Just for camping?
After the championships there is the meet of champs which will be the following weekend. All 3 girls have a good possibility of going to this. They take the top 10 swimmers of each age group in each event. Bell has been getting 1st and 2nd's in everything and Maggie and Olivia have been getting 1st-5th's! Maggie has already said she doesn't want to go even if she makes it in the top 10 because she has a soccer tournament with her new team that same weekend. Soccer is still her favorite!Butterfly is my favorite stroke to watch. I guess because it was my favorite stroke when I swam!!
Coach Adrian said all 3 girls are excellent divers even little Bell !! I guess I have Maggie to thank because she has taught both her sisters!!
Last year Maggie and Olivia both loved butterfly but this year Maggie likes backstroke and Olivia breaststroke. I don't know where Olivia got that from because I hate breast!!
Izabell is always so attentive. She is waiting for them to give her the word to get in the water for backstroke. I wish she was that way at home!

Soccer Season.....Again!!

Soccer season is upon us! Well I guess the regular soccer season. We really haven't had a break with indoor and the comp league this year but "regular" soccer is starting. Olivia had a EURO soccer camp this week with her team in 100+ weather. We have been doing so much fundraising that it didn't cost us a dime! Here is her team on the last day of camp. They had crazy hair day, a water fight and popsicles!!!Izabell will be starting U8's (but she just turned 6!!). She has a great coach that isn't highly competative. Maggie changed teams and moved up to U14. We were having some coaching conflicts so she resigned from her old team. I hope is not a bad move. I have been having a lot of anxiety about it because she has played with this team for so long. She seems to be ok with it, but only time will tell!! I also resigned from the soccer board as secretary because it was getting way too politcal for me. I just want the kids to have fun, not listen to all the BS that goes along with the league!! I will stay on until November which is actually when the season ends.

A Break!

The weekend after everyone left, we went camping at Dillon's Beach. We just packed up and forgot about swim meets, soccer games etc. and went. Let me tell you, camping with a trailer is the bomb! A lot less work for me!

Dillon's Beach is one of our favorite places because there are no assigned camp spots. You drive in and pick your spot. It is open range and there are a lot of dried cow patties around which make great kindling wood. The cows are not there this time of year. Lawson's Landing is the name of the campground. It is privately owned by the Lawson family but environmentalists are trying to shut it down to make it available to all the public. This doesn't make sense because it is available to all the public to camp there.

The weather was perfect there. It was cool in the 60's overnight and about 75 during the day. A marine layer would come in about 11am and stay until about 3pm. It was too cold to play in the ocean but the girls had fun playing games, doing each others hair and going down the sand dunes on their snow saucers.

It was a much needed break and a great way to spend our anniversary weekend! The girls didn't even fight! My Mom, Dick and Missy came to visit for the day. We had a lot of fun and hope to do it again soon!




A man was there with this. We thought he was going to fly it but he was just cleaning it out.

I wish I were there.....

Sunset at Dillon's Beach Lawson's Landing

4th of July visitors

The girls surely will miss the boys. We hope they can make it for next years mini reunion!
Have you ever seen such a sexy pole dancer? I think Shane enjoyed the pinata more than the kids! Thanks Jessie and Tim for the thought!
Jessie and her boyfriend Tim came down from Portland. This was the first time the whole family got to meet him. What a great guy! Even Izabell took to him which she normally is very shy with people. Welcome to the family Tim!!!

My Aunt Vicki came down from Medford to meet her 1st grandchild. It was fun while everyone was here but it was hard to say goodbye!

Crazy Week!!!

Cousin Shane and Co. came in from Indiana on the 28th. Shane, Donetta, Gaylin 11, Fred 7 and the newest addition Zane 11 weeks. Shane is from Oregon but has been working in the east for the past 3 years. He met Donetta while on a job in the Indiana area. He brought her here last summer and this summer they brought her 2 other boys and baby Zane so we could all meet them. We had a lot of fun while they were here! Baby Zane at the beach. On Saturday we went to Santa Cruz and spent the day on the beach. The boys have never been to the beach so it was a new experience for them.
On Thursday we went to movies in the park and watched Nanny McPhee. I was surprised there were so many people there.
The kids had fun playing in the sand and water. We all came home sunburned except of course Olivia and Bell!

Random Rain!!

A couple of weeks ago, the kids had just gotten out of the pool and were starting to change when all of the sudden, it started to pour down rain! It was pretty cool! It felt like we were in Hawaii! It clouded up and poured for about 10 minutes then it was gone!!

Girl Scout Cookies!!!

On Monday June 26th, Izabell bridged from a daisy to a brownie! She had so much fun this year and has made some new friends. Thanks to Miss Steph and Miss Nancy her awesome troop leaders! Next year we get to sell Girl Scout cookies!!! Here she is crossing the bridge.

Catching up

I am finally posting a few pictures from Relay. Here is our booth. We sold pizza, had a pop the balloon in the bra game and had a raffle for gardening baskets. Thanks to Grand Rental for the donation of the balloons, the Print Shop for the huge discount on the signs and Pizza Guys for the pizzas at cost! Her is my mom and I after the emotional luminaria ceremony.

Here is my mom doing the survivor lap. It was amazing seeing all the survivors!

HAPPY 15TH ANNIVERSARY HONEY!!

I got up this morning and Ruben had went and got me flowers and a white mocha! He knows what I like. He better after 15 years of marriage and 3 years more before that. Wow that makes me sound old. I can't believe it has been that long! We have been together for half of my life!

I met Ruben when I was 15. I was dating his friend Andy at the time. We met for the first time while I was riding my moped around town. Ruben and I quickly became friends and grew very close as friends for 2 years. He used to call me because he no gas money to go see his girlfriend, so I would pick him up and take him. He was like a brother to me. After Andy and I broke up, Ruben and I remained friends. We spent a lot of time together and finally our friendship flourished into something new. At first I wasn't sure but when I wasn't around him, I really missed him. We started dating on July 6, 1988 and were married July 6, 1991. We were both very young and lived at home until marriage so it was very trying for the first few years. He worked full time and I went to college and worked so we saw very little of each other. (maybe a good thing???) Now 15 years later, I would not change a thing. We have been through a great deal but we always lean on each other!!!

I LOVE YOU HONEY AND CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT 60 YEARS! I LOVE YOU AS MUCH AND EVEN MORE THAN THE DAY I MARRIED YOU!!!