Merry X-MORE

Christians adopted this Christams Holiday to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ - most Christians recognize that the actual birthdate of Jesus Christ was in April. But as a Christian - I too use December 25th as a reason to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am still trying to figure out how Black Friday Madness and Christmas relate to each other. We do NOT owe it to help the economy to go Christmas shopping for new TV's so Walmart and Target and Ikea can stay in business. They will be just fine without you loading up on stuff you feel you need to buy for everyone on your shopping list this year. Jesus taught that giving to others was important... ok, I got that. SO... I load up on crap no one really needs and spend more money than my mortgage and let my kids learn that they are worth it! RIGHT? Sheesh - get real people! I was talking to one woman a few years ago that was struggling to put food on the table, her husband lost his job and they could hardly make ends meet. Her son's only request for Christmas was some electronic device (ipad or ipod or iwant or something... I can't remember what) that at the time cost roughly $200. This mother was in tears trying to figure out just how she was going to get it for her son who in years past has always gotten the item he asked for. Try this for a change - "no". Our family has been in financial roller coaster mode for many years. we have lean times and we have times of plenty. It has always been like that for the past 10 years. It really really really (did I say really enough?) bothers me when people ask me, "does your family need help for Christmas?" Let me ask you - Are you going to come over and play the piano while we sing Carols? Or do you want to deal the cards during a game of Rook or Phase 10? How about you help in our Christmas by keeping score on the score pad for our games? The best way you could help my family with Christmas this year, stop by and say hello. Leave a card that reminds me year after year of the friendship and love that we have. The best Christmases we have ever had have been small and few with the gifts. For Christmas this year, when you ask me, do you need help with Christmas? The answer is yes... buy less stuff for your own family. teach your kids something about true service and sacrifice. So many Americans feel like if they want something they should be able to just get it. There is no sense of sacrifice and doing without when times are hard. we as Americans need to learn to do that! live without until our parents on Capitol Hill can get their finances under control. quit asking for more when they can't afford it. and we as parents need to quit giving stuff to our kids and encouraging this entitlement cycle that carries on into adulthood! how does this all translate to when they grow up? These kids go occupy wall street and ask for more and more and more. while hard working business owners figure out how to make ends meet paying all the taxes and fees and dues keep a small business up and running while legislation comes down from the parents on capitol hill trying they can pay for these requests from spoiled kids. The Traditional wacky American view on Christmas is one of the biggest reasons we are in trouble in our nation. Parents can't say no to their kids because they want to win their love. Politicians want to win our hearts and votes and they promise to give us whatever we ask for. we grow up as kids feeling like Christmas should be about being able to get the items we want. we make Wish lists for Santa and on Christmas morning - we better have it dammit! As adults we expect our nation to take care of us - we have wish lists of medical bills and special programs that someone else's tax dollars better pay for dammit! Our finances in this nation are a wreck and it comes down to how we individually choose to live. we feel like the government needs to give us a good Christmas - pay our medical bills, pay our mortgages, pay for our food and pay our wages. our government parent is drowning in debt. you spoiled kids need to stop asking for things your mom can't afford for you. Christmas should be about changing your world as Jesus did.All BIG change starts small, it starts in your home. I wonder how much Jesus carried around with him as he went healing the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the poor in spirit. Make a change to celebrate HIS birth. Instead of asking for more from Washington, tell them that you are independent and can take care of your own needs. Tell your kids they can live without something big and extravagant. teach your kids how to serve and work. try cleaning up a widow's yard for Christmas. or go out and find a service project to celebrate Christmas. The answer to the question "Do you guys need any help this year with Christmas?" the answer I guess is YES I do! Instead of buying your kids and friends and family pretty new shiny things - Buy a goat or a mosquito net for someone in a 3rd world country. I can't get the link to work - copy and paste into your browser: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/GiftCatalog2011/

It's out...

Word has gotten out that my husband and I are losing our home. I want to take a minute to clarify, vent and set things straight. it's been a 3 year old story full of lies and deception. oh ok, so it's not that exciting. But trust me, there is that going on. in the spring of 2004 we bought our home at the height of the real estate market when everything was selling for outrageously high prices. Bill had had a few amazing years with his design business and my Creative Memories business was doing better than ever. we decided that we could afford a bigger home, move Bill's office in to save money on office space rent and move my business larger workshops in to save money on rent fees I was paying Hotels. Buying the big house and paying a larger mortgage made sense. a few year later... business started to struggle. we were paying our bills - barely. But we were scraping by. times were really really hard when the economy started to crash for everyone they cut back on paying designers and so my husband's work was affected. my home party sales began to decline. people just weren't spending $300 on scrapbooking supplies at parties anymore. so my business was affected as well. A friend of Bill's worked for a company that advertised they would do all the dirty work for you to get a loan re-modification and help us reduce our mortgage by more than 1/2. It sounded great! We paid the company a couple thousand dollars and started the process. Our mortgage company said we were not eligible for a re-modification since we paid our mortgage. we would have to miss a few months of payments in order to qualify. so, we missed a few months. suddenly we had a red flag and were able to get the help we needed. around this time the above mentioned company our friend worked for that was going to do all the dirty work for us... yeah... well, they went out of business. The money we paid them was gone and we were now in this struggle with our mortgage company to re-modify our loan. On our first run of submitting the initial paperwork the mortgage company says "great looks like we can try out a trial payment amount of several hundred dollars off on your mortgage. go ahead and start paying the new reduced amount while we go through this re-modification process." YAY - right? To be fair and honest, Bill and I are not the most organized people on the planet. Neither one of us is excellent at paperwork. And since we both work for ourselves - paperwork... well... ugh... it's not our strong point. We received the list of all the items the mortgage company needed from us and we began the arduous task of compiling everything, catching up on past months of income and expense reports, finding things we had misfiled (or never filed). It was not fun. faxing in documents... waiting... we get the response from the mortgage company :"there was a missing item we need you to start over." Starting over means that you cannot just resend the same stuff. the last three months have shifted, they want new signature dates on the bottom of documents, they want all new and shiny papers. faxing.... waiting... we get the response: " you were a day late - start over." we start over. faxing... waiting.... we get a response " we are missing a new item they needed that wasn't on the list - start over..." 3 years later... of pure hell with them dragging it out. Every time we have to redo paperwork we have to take time out of work to get it done, or we are up late and tired the next day or we are yelling at each other over dinner. Like I said - not a fun time. It costs us time and money to re-submit everything over and over. it costs us aggravation and stress in our relationship. It is tears wondering if we are going to be able to live in the same house or not. we were wondering and had it drag on for a LOOOOONG time. End of July 2011 - we get a notice on our door that our home is going up for auction August 18th. Bill calls and tries to sort things out and they give us one last chance to "get it right". They give us a date when all the paperwork needs to be in. we take time off work. we lost money and clients. But we dotted every "i" and crossed every "T" and checked and triple checked our work to make sure we did everything they asked and didn't forget a single "yes maam" or signature or period or comma. I mean seriously it toodk days to pull the final chance to get it right for them. Faxed it in a day early - WHEW! YAY! we should be good. everything was just as it was supposed to be. we beat the deadline and we did it all right! YAY! we went out to celebrate that it would be over and we would be ok. waiting... guess what...? NOPE! Sorry! They decided to reject us! Not based on the information provided. technically we should qualify for a re-modification. Guess why they rejected us in the end? no really guess.... BECAUSE THEY TOLD US THE WRONG DATE TO SUBMIT OUR PAPERWORK! We had a couple of days before our home was going up for auction and we were out of ideas. So we went to a lawyer - Nathan Reeves - great guy if you need someone by the way. he gave us a couple of ideas 1 - we could walk away and just let them take the house and pack super fast 2 - we could fight the mortgage company - pay for a restraining order plus legal fees and battle the empire for an expensive drawn out battle we aren't guaranteed to win. it could cost us 10's of thousands of dollars in the end. and we still might lose the home 3 - we could file bankruptcy and buy us some time. we decided to buy us some time. So we have a few months left in our home and then we either walk away or the mortgage company comes back and decides to work with us. I recently found out that the stimulus act pays mortgage companies for foreclosures. Now that is stimulating! I am so stimulated I could punch someone. I am about as stimulated as a bull in shoot getting a shot of stimulus before being let out of that shoot with its rider. I used to be embarrass by the idea that we could lose our home. I am beyond that. I am angry. I would be embarrassed if we had not been able to pay the agreed upon amount for our mortgage. BUT we were paying the amount the mortgage company told us to pay. Here is the other "FUNNY" thing: we currently owe more on our house NOW then we did when we first bought it almost 8 years ago. with interest and fees the mortgage company decided to tack onto our bill for neglect to pay... yeah right.... we now over 280,000 when we purchased it for 270,000 it's only worth about 120,000 in the current market. so, I am ready to be done. I am ready to walk away from this mess. screw em! I'm done. how dare they? The really really sad story? numerous neighbors have had almost identical stories. some have walked away, some have fought and won, some have been kicked out. We ren't the only ones. It is the new AMERICAN story. and it sucks! we are currently packing and downsizing. I figure if we need to leave the home I planned on living in forever, we may as well get something substantially smaller now that our needs have changed. Bill has his studio for work and it is better for him. I have changed my business focus completely and no longer work at home. we've also been using nearly just half the house and have been renting the basement out. so, yeah. downsizing just makes sense right now. needless to say - we are in the market for a new place to live. If you know of a 3 bedroom home that allows a dog and is in the Hurricane Valley for about $600-$700/month (give or take) - let me know. k - thanks. I do not feel sad. I feel good about the idea of moving on. in fact, I'm not so sure I want to work with the bank again if they come back and say they will work with us. I want out of this mess and I want to go on with my life. and that is the story of why the Ennis family is "losing" their home when their current businesses are thriving and they are paying their bills. it makes no sense. but it is what it is.

Happy birthday to me! - oh and Ferrell too...

Today I turn 38 years old. Tomorrow my youngest kid turns 4. I was just reflecting on things I love about birthdays. I once had a friend that cried and cried on her 30th birthday because she feared aging. I celebrate. I celebrate another year of Life granted to me. I celebrate life experiences. I celebrate being an older business woman that gets looked at differently than a 25 year old business woman. I remember being told by a client when I was 25 that I would not be able to understand her plight and that I could not possibly know what I was talking about since I was soooo young. So thanks goodness to be getting nearer and nearer to 80 when maybe just maybe I can get some respect. LOL! (yeah, right. - I think that ideas went away with the purple hair). 4 years ago I was over 200 pounds pregnant with my youngest baby and crying to just be able to go into labor for my birthday. I prayed and prayed to God that this child in me would come soon. I was overdue to deliver, broke, and tired. for my birthday that year all I wanted and all we could barely afford was an ultrasound to see if all was well with this baby inside me. all the technician said was 'wow. I'm not supposed to say much. but I can say this... it looks like a big kid. and if you want to know the gender, I can't tell. the baby is ready, head down and looks to be big," at midnight on my birthday I went into labor. Best birthday present ever! Ferrell was born the next morning. It was a monstrous 11 pound baby boy. I had a great midwife and delivered in my own bedroom on the floor. A huge thank you to Lori Wrankle for keeping me safe, and for moving me how I needed to move to get that big guy out without any cutting needed. I adore you! SO today - we are celebrating our combined birthdays. I love the peace and solitude of LDS General conference weekend on my birthday. what a treasure I have to hear the prophet of God and the apostles. I also love that the St. George Marathon is also on my birthday weekend and I get to be inspired by amazing people that don't let the world tell them they can't do something. I love how my life has changed these past 4 years. the greatest gift I have today - change. Change is an amazing amazing thing to embrace and cherish. I have found new friends over the past few years that have taught me never to say never. I have a new body that has taught me that I am stronger than I thought. I have a new attitude that has taught me that joy is better than perfection. I have a new perspective on my marriage that has taught me that my life with my companion is better and happier and more amazing than a life without him. I have a new business that has taught me anything is possible and people are amazing! Today I am 38. Ferrell is 4 tomorrow. I am happier, healthier and feel more capable than I have ever been in my entire life. now where's that cake? by the way - never name a kid after something wild and untamed.

my soapbox for the day...

hero worship is a dangerous thing. By that, I mean putting anyone here on this earth in a place of higher importance than yourself. Celebrities, political leaders, religious leaders, business icons... etc.... they are all human. Only God deserves that place of worship. I have seen it at conventions for network marketing companies - someone has made a financial success of themselves and suddenly they are surrounded with admirers that think so highly of them and want to take photos with them and put them on this weird pedestal of creating an idol of that individual. Celebrities that have been in a few successful movies are suddenly worshipped for their ability to act and become our role models? Religious leaders are held on a pedestal and expected to be perfect and flawless? Business leaders become experts on everything? in Business - I remember talking with someone at one of these business conventions that many had placed on this crazy pedestal and she gave me some great advice. I was what was called a "unit Leader" in a company called Creative Memories and was attending a National Convention where all those amazing leaders are recognized on stage and guest speakers and performers come and there is all this great hype to get you excited to drive forward in your business. During a lunch break at one of these conventions I challenged myself to find a table with someone I respected or looked like they were a success and join their table. So I found this woman, Vicki Morgan, she was one of those women that was at the very forefront of the company's growth. She was making more money in a month than I did in a year combined with my husband. She was someone I wanted to pick her brain and get all the secrets from. I learned one amazing secret - she was a human being just like me. I was so nervous to talk to her and stumbled over my questions to her. She sensed my weird nervousness and told me that she was no different than me, just older and had been working hard at it longer than me. and she cautioned me about idolizing anyone. she said" when you put someone else on a pedestal, you are putting yourself below them as if you cannot do what they have done." That has always stayed with me. in religion - I had an experience with a Bishop in my church back when I was 21 yrs old that I felt made a wrong decision that directly affected me. I was so thrown by what I believed to be his bad call that I let it affect my belief that God wanted him as a bishop for that ward. It effected me so greatly at the time that I considered leaving the church I knew to be true. Later I came to the realization that although called of God - these men of God are also just men doing their best and my job was to handle my grievances better than I did then. To put them on a pedestal of someone incapable of mistakes is to allow yourself to be thrown completely for a loop when something isn't as you think it should be. in life - I have often admired experts - especially female leaders: Oprah Winfrey, Tosca Reno, Suzie Orman and Jillian Micheals. I admire their drive, leadership, business sense, expertise in their fields, etc... and for a while I made a mistake of holding them up on a pedestal. BUT ALL of these women are missing something ciritcal that I have - a family with a devoted husband and children. so... are these the women I want as my idols in life? no.... I can respect them for the work they do. but to put them on a pedestal above me is to believe that I am lower than any of them. we are equals. although I am not on TV or in books (yet), I have had a different life I have chosen. That also does not make me better. just different. in social life - What about your neighbor with the perfect family? You have no idea what they struggle with. To hold that other mom up on a pedestal is to say that she is better than you. She isn't. I admire a certain blogger/friend of mine that has this amazing ability to create beautiful art, crafts, and delicious dinners. She has a great talent at home decor, she always dresses amazing and her make-up is always perfect. She and I are different. while she spends time on those things, I spend time on other areas of life. I am not better than her or she better than me. To believe she is better than me is to believe that my talents are less important. live up to the talents God gave you, never to feel like they are less than anyone else. Hold your head up and look at everyone in the eye as an equal. recognize that everyone is capable of mistakes, sorrows, and struggles no matter the outward appearance. Go ahead and respect others for what they have accomplished, learn from them, but never ever ever think they are better than you, perfect or flawless. recognize all mankind has imperfections. for some reason all my celebrity "idols" can't keep a family relationship or marriage together. The playing field is level. God created us all as his children. I have the same ability to return to his arms as you or anyone else. It is an amazing thing. and for some reason, I have to constantly remind myself of this. Your feelings of self worth directly affect your ability to accomplish your goals in life. and your feelings of self worth are directly affected by whether or not you compare your talents and abilities to everyone else around you. You are just as capable as the next person. even if you haven't accomplished what you hope to just yet, You are CAPABLE AND WORTHY OF IT! Just my soapbox for the day. thanks for letting me get my thoughts out of my head.

So, why purple?

First of all - it wasn't the PLAN. I went to my friend Brandi's house to get my hair cut by our friend Alisha. I was planning on some streaks of color to a BLONDE head. But Brandi says "Alisha has always wanted to do someone's hair purple. I told her to ask you." "ehhh,,, sure why not...?" So, Alisha squealed in delight clapped her hands in joy, and not much later I had purple and pink hair. I didn't do it for the shock value, but that has been fun I have to admit. I went to church the next day and tried really hard to pretend I didn't notice the looks of alarm, amusements, and yes... jealousy. Brandi was hilarious - she gave me the full report of all the people in church and their reactions to my hair when I walked in. To be honest, I was too busy trying to settle my kids in and getting reverent to notice. The fun part was the comments of people coming up to me or trying to avoid me :) "oooohh, I JUST LOVE your hair. It is SOOO pretty" Guess who that was from? I heard it from Teenagers a lot and a few little nursery age girls that could talk and loved Pink and Purple. but I also heard it from a grown woman - and a grandma! I adore that woman, but not sure if she wants the world to know she loves purple hair. :) she can comment later and tell the world if she chooses. I also got a couple of looks of disdain and "it looks like you went to a Halloween party too early." :) that was fine by me. totally OK with it in fact. OK.... so why purple? why am I OK with it? aren't I being a poor example to my children that can't go to school with wild hair colors? aren't I being a bad example to teenage girls that are told they are not allowed to dye their hair? I have given all this a lot of thought. First of all - I am 38 and live in my own house and own my own business and am an adult. when I lived with my mom - it was her house her rules. when I worked in a Bank - It was conservative look all the time. Next - It's not a tattoo. Hair grows out and can be changed all the time. If I don't like it, I can grab a box of hair day or wait a few months and change it again. AND - This is one way I choose to let loose. Let's be honest here, I am a little rebellious at heart. I am also a Mormon. I believe in the Book of Mormon and a modern day prophet and all that jazz. I choose to follow the guidelines set out to us from our prophets. I don't drink, do drugs,smoke. I don't even drink Coffee or Tea. I go to Church on Sunday every week even when the Lake sounds like more fun. I stayed away from tattoos and extra piercings to keep my body unspotted from permanent alterations. I try to dress modestly when I am not Working out at a fitness class or at the Lake. I live the life of a good conservative Mormon Mom. BUT - Inside... I am a little punk. I am outrageous. One of my clients was shocked to find out I was a church going, temple attending Mormon. Her words "when I met you, I knew you were a person I could party with. You would be a person I could be myself around and not worry about judgment. I was surprised that you go to church. I don't go because I don't like the way people judge me or look at me funny." I laughed and said "you don't think people at church judge me do you? I go every week, not because I am there for them. I believe what I believe and I go because I believe it is right. You should see the looks I get every time I do something drastic to my hair. talk about funny looks. But I am there for me, my growth, not them." :) For all those teenagers that have said to me " I wish my mom would let me dye my hair purple or blue or pink, or black... - first YOU LIVE IN THEIR HOUSE - IT IS THEIR RULES! I never dyed my hair til I had moved out and was 21. soooo.... listen to your parents. My own daughter isn't allowed to dye her hair crazy colors either. why? because I am just a little hypocritical, she's 9 and she goes to a school where it against the rules. so there! however she might be getting a natural looking hair color for her birthday. Next week I might have black hair. that's whats so awesome about hair - it's fun and it's easy to change according to my mood.

Still Crazy after all these years...

15 years ago Bill and I were married in my parent's backyard. one year later we were sealed for time and all eternity in a "Mormon" temple.

Love changes... people change... Bill and I are NOT the same kids that said "I do" 15 years ago. We've fought, we've cried, we've loved, we've laughed. There were times when a long walk alone was a necessity to make it through. I have wondered if we could make it.

Today... Today, I am glad I didn't drive away 10 years ago when times got tough. Today I look at the man in my home with new eyes. He is a great man. I watch him watching the kids play and playing with them. I watch him stress over if we can keep our house and if we will have enough money. He works hard to keep a roof over our heads. he works hard to make sure I am happy. He works hard to make sure the kids get time with him. There is no better place for me than with him.

We are not perfect people. I am far far far from an ideal wife. I give him a lot of stress, I know. I have not led a perfect life - far from that as well. But I have found my perfect match. and we live an imperfect and crazy life together - doing our best to help each other to be better than we are alone.

I love this part of Indigo Girls song - Love's recovery -
"To let this love survive would be the greatest gift we could give
Tell all the friends who think they're so together
That these are ghosts and mirages, these thoughts of fairer weather
Though it's storming out I feel safe within the arms of love's discovery"

On our 15th anniversary... times are as hard or harder than ever. there is a lot of questions about where our family is headed financially, times are tough in this economy. But - I have never felt more safe than I do right now. I feel safe in this storm.

I have to give credit where credit is due - I thank God for my good man. I thank God for bringing direction to a relationship that would have been lost without HIS hand in it. I thank GOD for answered Prayers, for scriptures, for opportunities given for Bill and I to serve together to focus on more than ourselves.
It is only with God that love can survive these storms.

Happy anniversary Bill - let's ride these waves together!

California here I come!

Bill had lined up some business meetings in San Diego During Comic Con (a Convention for the comic book, toy and movie industries - HUGE event!)
So we decided to make a vacation of it. While Bill was doing business in San Diego, the kids and I stayed with my mom in San Clemente for a few days.

Ahhhhh......... vacation.... How I had missed thee.
Hello beach, hello moderate temperatures, hello friendly people, hello busy town with cool shops, hello funky beach cities... ahhhh... my teenage stomping grounds... so many many many memories... how I have missed thee...

We arrived late Tuesday night (1:00am ish) and crashed in the beds my mom had already made up for us. Ilia had been spending a week with Grandma already and I really missed my little girl. The first thing I did was sneak over to her and give her a snuggle and a kiss on her forehead. I really missed this pretty little girl of mine.

Wednesday morning - the kids woke WAY too early and went to play in Grandma's garage/ playroom. Bill had work to do.
So, for us... it was off to the beach right away. We decided on Aliso Creek beach right near Laguna Beach. Perfect day, perfect beach. But it was crowded. There wasn't any open space near the water so we picked a spot next to the lifeguard tower next to the parking lot.

I put sunscreen on Ferrell first and put his life jacket on him, worked on Dane and the other kids next, and grabbed a sandwich out of the cooler.


As I bit into my sandwich I turned to check on the kids.

There rolling in the waves was an orange lifejacket. A little body struggling to get up as another wave rolled him over and unable to get his breathe. I was terrified! I cannot tell you how fast I moved. Perhaps the fastest I have ever moved in my life. I didn't even think to throw down the sandwich. I realized as I was next to him and grabbing my little 3 and a half year old out of the water one-handed what it must look like to the other people at the beach that I still had my sandwich in my hand. I seriously just didn't even have time to throw it down.

The life guard got there moments after me in full sprint. I was so glad I had gotten myself in shape that I could beat the lifeguard there.

I snuggled Ferrell for a while. He just wanted to go back up to the camp and play in with the sand toys where it was safe. He also spent a lot of time chasing the birds up and down the beach and gave me a workout just keeping up with him.


I spent most of my time just staying next to him and helping him feel safe again. It took hours before he was ready to even put his toes back in the water. But he did. He was super cautious this time and didn't try to do the big kid stuff - like let the waves chase you up the beach. or even get wet past his ankles anymore. I was just glad he got over it at all enough to get close to the water.

The rest of the time at the beach was mostly uneventful as far as stress level is concerned. The kids enjoyed the waves with their cousins - Jack, Luke and Max Proffit my brothers Ryan and Josh's kids.

I loved seeing serious contemplative Dane in his own world mostly by himself just watching the water.

Crazy Ilia Jumping in full force without concern (other than the sand in uncomfortable places).


Gabe normally a serious kid too - but he was really letting himself go and trying things he would have stayed away from. I love his ear to ear smile.



Evan was still recuperating from an exhausting week of Scout camp followed by time at the Lake with Mom and dad. he was burnt out on sand and water. Mostly Evan enjoyed eating and making sand castles that his little cousins kicked over. grumble grumble...
He decided to get out in the water after the camera battery had been put away.

I also noticed him "noiticing" the cute girls next to us... shhhh... don't tell him I caught him looking. Yup, he's a teenager now.

















Afterward we washed off and hit Gpa's jacuzzi. We still loaded the jacuzzi with sand and dirt even after the baths. You just can't get ALL the sand out of things.






Thursday was a day at the pool.
Jessica (my sister in Law) joined us with her kids and we had lunch. Ferrell got brave and removed his life jacket - but luckily stayed holding onto the sides of the pool. Dane kept his life jacket on and swam everywhere the big kids went. I didn't have the luxury of watching Ilia, Gabe and Evan much since I was watching Ferrell with my full attention. But I did notice that a group of kids about Evan's age showed up with a summer camp group and he really enjoyed himself in their games - it was mostly girls. He seems to have grown up a lot this year. A lot more confidence and is walking tall. I loved watching him socialize with the cute girls in a respectful teenage manner. It was great fun for me.










Friday was errand running day - picking up some brand new Stand up Paddle boards and doing a little of Bill's business stuff. We ended up at Bill's dad's house around 5:30pm and went out to dinner at a cute pasta place where Evan finally got the Lasagna he was hoping for, Gabe got the Pizza he wanted and I got the Shrimp scampi I was craving. We had a great time with Bill's dad, he really misses his wife Norma that passed away about 6 months ago from cancer. He wanted to have a special prayer on his home to dedicate it to the Lord and to keep it a Haven from the evils of the world. It was good to be there with him during the dedicatory prayer he offered. I was glad that we made that effort to be there.

We drove back to my mom's house and got there at 1am and crashed back to sleep. Today is my nephew Jack's baptism. He is 8 years old and we don't get to see Ryan and his family very often. So it's a treat to be out here at the same time as this big event in their family.

I miss my work and my house and friends back home. But I have LOVED being here with my family and good times in California.