Happy Birthday Rachel!!

Rachel,
27 years ago you were gearing up for your life to change forever! 6 months from today you were going to be the big sister of twin girls. Oh, how you must have felt so lucky! hehehehe You were 9 years old and you must have been so excited......until we came home. Being that you were an only child for 9 1/2 years until we came along, it seems as though you adjusted to it well. You still talk to us so that's always a good sign! =)

Some of my favorite memories growing up were going to your apartment and spending the night. I remember a lot of getting into trouble (thanks to Cat! hehehehe) and many sleepless nights! You were more than an older sister, you were a parental figure. Definitely bossing us around ALL THE TIME. I guess that's the badge you get when you are the oldest!

As we got older you were always there for us. Taking us places, attending our volleyball/basketball games and swim meets. Making many many trips to Colorado and even going to Hawaii with us after we graduated high school. (I know we really had to twist your arm on that one!) Endless nertz games, movie nights and scavenger hunts were always loads of fun too. Nobody can plan a party like Rachel can plan a party that's for sure!

After high school you let me live with you while I tested being on my own. With you working days and me working nights during that time it sure made for a funny living situation. We never saw each other! Except for those nights we would try to watch a movie and I would fall asleep 10 minutes after it started. You never got mad when I would call you into the room to have you turn out the lights but you learned quick, and just stopped coming in! I always knew you had my back and that was such a safe feeling to have at 18 and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Growing into a young adult with you by my side has been great. You are always there to share laughs with and to shed tears when tears need to be shed. You know just the right moment to break out singing when I just can't take the stress anymore. You are always there with opinions...even when I don't want your opinions! That's what big sisters are for.

I can't believe you are approaching 40 (I know, I know you're not there yet!) and we are approaching 30. Where the heck did the time go? I am so looking forward to the next 40 years and all the fun memories we are going to make!

I love you lots, thanks for being the best older sister ever! Here we are at an Angel game....shocking! Love, Suzanne

Update: Scott and Lance

I just wanted to say thanks to Sherry for sending an old picture of Scott and Lance! I've posted it here today and I'll see if I can go back and add it to yesterdays post as well; for my side by side shot.

This picture was taken in 1989 when Lance and Scott graduated from high school. How cute were they! And skinny too! hahahaha Scotty's on the left and Lance's on the right in case anyone is confused!

Earthquake!!

Hey everyone just wanted to make a quick post about the earthquake that we just had!! It was a magnitude 5.8 that was felt as far as San Diego and Las Vegas! It was centered near Chino Hills which is just a few miles from us in Santa Ana. We are all fine here and nothing is broken. Cell phone service is out all over the place so if you need to contact us for any reason right now, email is the best way. Lance

Colon cancer SUCKS!

Lance's long time friend (and now a friend of mine too!) was just diagnosed with colon cancer about 2 weeks ago. Their family and friends have been shocked by the news and Scott and Stephanie's world has definitely been rocked.

Scott goes in this morning for surgery to remove the cancer and hopefully news on what kind of treatment he will need. Stephanie has put together a blog to keep everybody up to date on Scott's progress and recovery. They have given us permission to link our site to their website so please stop by their site and wish Scott well! Click here to view their blog.

Scott is one of Lance's groomsmen in our wedding in April and we look so forward to them being there to celebrate not only being cancer free, but their wedding anniversary as well! Scott and Stephanie's anniversary is April 25, the same day we are getting married! They did get an 11 year jump on us, but hey, who is counting! hahahhaha April 25, 2009 we are going to throw one hell of a party for you Scotty!

Scott, Steph, Hannah and Nate, we are praying so hard for your family right now. Please let us know if there is anything you need from us. Like I said we are going to party come April!!!!

Here is a picture of Lance and Scotty when we were visiting them in February! They have known each other since they were little. I need to get a hold of picture of them when they were younger to do a side by side! =) *****Thanks Sherry for the picture from high school!*****

July 4th Festivities

July 4th fell on a Friday this year so it made for a really nice 3 day weekend! The Angels were in town this year so my friend Wendy (the one who knows everybody) called me up and asked if Lance and I would like to participate in the pre-game ceremonies. Um.....let me think about it for a second.....of course we would!!

Normally on the 4th of July we have a BBQ at my parents house and do some fireworks when it gets dark. I think this is only the second time I have missed the firework show at my parents house in all my years. It was well worth it though! We got to hold a massive flag on the field during the National Anthem. Being on the field was so awesome, I wished we could have stayed longer! Check out our opening day post to see what the flag looks like when it's open. Lance, Wendy, Diane, George and I were on the left hand side of the flag. Notice on opening day they have about 50 or so people on that left side, ya, well, we only had about 10. On that entire side of the flag. It made the flag that much heavier, but still very cool!

Here we are "snapping" the flag together. The big piece with the stars is one piece but all 13 red and white stripes are all shipped separately. When they are pulled out of the bags we have to go along and snap the red stripe to the white stripe. Wendy is snapping away here, she had to do 300 of them just for this row we were in. When we got to the end we were hoping and prayer we would end up even. We didn't want to have to unsnap 260 of them to get it to be even again!

This is me and Lance getting ready to head out on the field! The great thing about where we were holding the flag was that we didn't have to carry it onto the field. We just walked next to it while everyone else was carrying it! That was really cool because we got to take everything in, instead of worrying about carrying the flag. Since Wendy has done this before, she let us in on her little secret. Thanks Wendy! hahahaha

This picture should give you a great idea as to how ginormous this flag actually was! You can also see where it is snapped together. Even though you can see the gaps when you are so close, no one in the stadium seats can see it because they are too far away.

We were instructed before we even got on the field to "wave" the flag when the word wave comes up in the anthem. Now waving a flag this size is no easy task. You literally have to pull it all the way down to your feet, then lift it all the way over your head over and over to make it wave in a way that everyone in the stadium can see. But as the picture shows, when it's done right, it looks really cool. And the crowed loved it as well, they all went crazy.

Here you can see the flyover coming. This year instead of jets or the B2 Bomber they had a huge and I do mean HUGE military plane. The thing was so slow that the National Anthem had finished and we were still standing there waving the flag waiting for the plane to fly over. When it did though, boy was it amazing!

It was so low, so loud and so huge that it was really amazing to see. It was kind of nice that it was so slow because we did get to spend more time on the field with the flag!

The great thing about doing the pre-game show was that we got to stay and watch the game! This is during the 7th inning stretch. They handed out mini flags and it was so awesome to see 45,000 fans waving their small flags around the stadium. Let me rephrase, it was awesome seeing 44,999 fans waving their flags since it seems Wendy didn't want to wave hers. =) Maybe she had enough flag waving on the field! hahahaha

I would normally never put this picture on the blog because it was at the end of the game, we were tired, and sweaty and have shiny faces. But I figured we could definitely look worse, and George and Dianne (who are over Wendy's left shoulder) are cracking me up. I have no idea what they are so in aw over? They aren't facing the game if they were, we'd see the back of their heads. Who knows but it made me laugh!

Overall it was a great 4th of July. We got to spend time with family at the BBQ and friends at the game! And the Angels won which is just a cherry on top. Suzy, we missed you, and we are glad you are feeling better. Hopefully we'll get to do this again in September and then hopefully in the World Series too! Now, we just have to make sure the Angels get to the World Series!!

Los Angeles Sparks

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Los Angeles Sparks game last week and I thought I would share some of my pictures with you. If you know my friend Wendy, you know that she knows EVERYONE. It doesn't matter what state or country she is in, she is guaranteed to run into someone she knows. It's become the running joke whenever we go anywhere together because I always try to guess when the person is going to appear who knows her! Well knowing people got us awesome seats to the Sparks game and we got to park underground at the Staples Center where Kobe or Lisa Leslie park.

Wendy and my other dear friend Suzy are friends with Laura who just became the assistant coach for the Los Angeles Sparks. How big time is that!!! I've met Laura a number of times at numerous Wendy/Suzy events and she is an awesome person and a great basketball coach! I was so excited to go down to Staples and support her and the Sparks!

This is Laura coaching Candace Parker (She's the one sitting with the black left shoulder brace). Candace Parker was the hot pick coming out of the draft this year and the Sparks were lucky enough to sign her. She is pretty amazing to watch. She is so tall and is only one of two woman who can dunk in the WNBA. Lisa Leslie is the other woman who can dunk and the Sparks have her too! Can you say national championship!!!!



This picture was taken during one of the time-outs. Our seats were so amazing. I've never been that close to the Staples Center floor before. I thought we had good seats when we saw Garth Brooks at Staples last year, but these were definitely better. ***Note, Lance did not attend the Garth Brooks concert with me last year. He talks trash on country music therefore he did not want to attend one of the best country concerts EVER! End note***


The Sparks played the Chicago Sky that night (who are in the light blue). They did good, but the Sparks beat them! The Sparks are projected to win the title this year and I would be so excited for Laura if that happened!





Here was the final score that night! The girls did awesome but only because Laura did such an awesome job coaching! Michael Cooper who??? =)



Being Laura's guest for the game that night, you are really made to feel like a celebrity! Valet parking underground at the Staples, (that's Suzy's car behind my big head) walking through the tunnels that all of the great woman and men basketball players walk through and sitting court side to watch the game. Thank you Laura, Suzy and Wendy for inviting me to the game, I had a really great time attending my first WNBA game! GO SPARKS!!!!

Portland II

Today I am going to finish up with our Portland trip. We took a beautiful hike on Sunday in this park that was not too far from Ryan and Emma's house. Ryan snapped some neat pictures of us walking along the trails.

Puma also went with us and he has such a great time running ahead of us then running back. Then running ahead, then running back. This dog has so much energy! This next picture is just like the one from before but he added his magic touch to it!

This picture in the above left is just so cool! I tried using it as my desk top picture, but that only lasted for a few minutes. When it's blown up on my screen it started to make me queasy! hahahahaha Here are a few other pictures from the hike.

We hiked for a few hours that day and then decided we were going to drop off the muddy Puma and head over to another neat brewery for some lunch. After some great food and beer we decided we would go check out all the Portland roses. Most of them were in full bloom and were looking beautiful that day. The weather was so nice that the place was packed that day! Here are some pictures from the rose garden.

We had a lot of fun in Oregon! It was great to see everyone and explore Oregon since it's been so long since Lance and I have both been there. Thanks for the great hospitality Ryan and Emma. It was much appreciated and we had a wonderful time hanging out with you both!

Portland

A few weeks ago now we went to Portland to visit Lance's brother and sister-in-law; which are soon going to be my new brother-in-law and sister-in-law yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is this funny little myth about Oregon. One that goes something like this....oh it rains all the time....dark and gloomy.....never see sunlight....you Oregon people get the big WHATEVER from me! It was so sunny and nice while we were there that Lance and I actually got a little burned one day. We were all laughing and joking that we went to Portland to get a tan. I think it's a big conspiracy theory. People from Oregon always mention how rainy and cold it is so that no one will move there! I'm onto your little game! I've got you all figured out and I'm exposing your secrets right here on my blog! =)

During our first full day in Oregon we headed South to Salem to go visit Aunt Kathy and Uncle Don. Since Aunt Kathy was at work we headed to the outlet malls and did some shopping before traveling into Salem. The outlet malls there are awesome! If I didn't bring such a small little carry-on with me, I could have done some damage! But every store I went in I kept thinking, how am I going to get this home?? Every store we went into that day has a sales associate saying the same thing when we entered, "isn't the weather great"? At first Lance and I would explain that we live in Southern California and the weather that you are experiencing today is what we get in the winter. Then we realized that it was the same song and dance in every store. So, we started to play along and we got just as excited about the weather as they did. It turned out to be quite funny!

After shopping we headed into Salem and had a nice dinner with Kathy, Don and Jimmy. It was nice to see all of them and spend some time with them! After dinner we headed over to Kathy and Don's house to visit some more and see the cats. I haven't been to their house since I was about 13 so it was nice to show Lance where we used to stay when we would take the train rides from hell!

The next day we got to hang out with Ryan and Emma and see some sights in Portland. They took us to some awesome brew pubs were we got to taste some great new beers.

We don't have too many independent brew pubs like this in Cali so it was nice to be able to taste the different kinds of beer they had. This place was especially cool because it was an old Victorian style house that they turned into a restaurant. We got to sit out on the porch and drink some beers, eat some fries and get some sun. (This is one of the places where we got a little too much sun and it left us a little red!)

Apparently this picture of Lance looks like a picture of Ronnie (Lance's dad) when he was younger. Now I just need that picture so I can do a side by side! I think it's a funny picture because it looks like he is taking his beer tasting very seriously! hahahahaha

That night Emma and Ryan had a few friends over for a nice dinner. **Shout out to Jen, Pete and Ben!!! It was really nice meeting you all!** =) Emma is a fabulous cook and I encourage all of you to check out her blog here. She makes some wonderfully delicious food and one day I want to grow up to cook just like her!! hahahaha

This next picture is one that Ryan took while Lance and I were in the backyard soaking up the sun. We purchased some of the beer we tasted earlier in the day so we could drink it that night for the party. Everybody seemed to have liked it as you can tell by the empty beer glasses on the table!

This next picture is one of my favorites! Ryan and Emma have an awesome black lab named Puma. Puma is so sweet and such a friendly dog! And, as you can see from this picture, he thinks he is a lap dog too!!! The thing that makes me laugh the hardest is look at Puma's face. He is totally soaking up those sun rays. Maybe you Oregonians are telling the truth. Dogs don't lie. And Puma looks so happy to be out in the sun! hahahahaha

Well, that's all I'm going to post today. I'll have another post with more pictures for you tomorrow. I just wanted to thank Ryan for sending us these pictures since it never dawned on myself or Lance to pull out the camera and take a few. But then again it worked out for us because Ryan is quite the photographer and his pictures our much better than ours! You can check out all of his awesome pictures at his flickr site. And be sure to leave comments when you visit Ryan and/or Emma's site! Tell them Suzanne and Lance sent you!!