Julie's Family

Gangster Lizzie

2009-03-31T00:42:00.000-07:00

This is one of my nieces, Lizzie. My sister Lyn has "some" boys and then "some" girls. This is Lizzie and I don't think I've ever met a person anywhere who is as happy to just be as Lizzie. I mean she is happy all the time. She loves to play, she loves to read books, she loves to wrestle with her bigger siblings, she even loved it when we cleaned her room and she got to help.

Janet and Kids

2009-03-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

After Sean and I went to the temple with my brother and fam, we went north to Kentucky to visit our friend Janet. As happens in most military families the dad is missing from the pictures. We had a great visit and I think she will be coming for a visit to us in the fall. I can't wait.

Special Day for the Gibsons

2009-03-31T00:27:00.000-07:00

This was a special day for us. Sean and I got to go to Nashville last month to my brother Scott (next to Sean) and his wife Megan's (in front of Scott) sealing in the temple. Their two children Cloe (who's hiding in Vicki's shirt) and Seth (with his mom) were able to go in the temple and be sealed to his parents and by extention to the rest of our clan. It was a very joyful day for us.

Locks of Love

2009-01-22T02:12:00.000-08:00

So about 6 months ago I had this talk with Charlie about taking care of her hair. She wasn't really excited about washing it or brushing it more than once a week or so. So I gave her and ultimatum. I told her that she would have to start taking care of it or get a "boy" haircut. Well you guessed it, she did her part for about a week and then went back to once a week washings. I really hate it when you make deals with your kids and then you hate the outcome more than they do. I really didn't want to cut her hair because of all the time we put into growing it and how beautiful it looked. So I put it off for a few days and then a few weeks and then a couple of months. But it was always in the back of my mind. Then I talk to my sister Katie and she tells me that my niece had just donated her hair to Locks of Love. It was brilliant and the answer to my wavering. So I convinced Charlie that wanted to do the same. I let her wait until after the new year. This is her getting ready to get it cut.

This is Bliss. She is doing the deed. Charlie was really brave.Here she posses with her donation. She really looks great with shorter hair. And she got to do something great for someone else. I'm very proud of her.

Taking Buba to Venice

2009-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

We took Buba to Venice yesterday. We had a great day. We saw the end of a glass blowing demonstration and then walked around Mirano and saw some amazing glass sculptures. Then wandered around Venice for a while. Some of us took a gondola ride to save Buba's legs a little. Then ended the day by taking the Vaperetto (aka water bus) back to the car. By the time that we got home we were to tired to stay up to greet the new year. So we just had a really great breakfast thanks to Sean.

Making Cookies and Caroling

2009-01-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

We have a tradition that we make cookies and other treats for our friends and neighbors at Christmas time. I think that I made about a million cookies this year. Then we like to deliver them and sing a little Christmas carol. Now when I say "little" I mean little. We are what you would call a one hit wonder. We only sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas. But we love that we can do this for those close to us.

This is some of our Italian friends, Silvia and Naomi. They really liked the singing and later reported loving the fudge.

Buba is visiting us this year for Christmas and the New Year. So we dragged her along with us and our friends the Higbee's. It might look like it's snowing or raining but it was so foggy that the flash from the camera did this. It just makes me laugh. We had a great time. Can't wait till next year.

Homecoming

2008-11-12T00:33:00.001-08:00

I didn't get any pictures of the football game. What maybe because I don't have anyone at my house who plays on the football team. So this is what homecoming means at the Peterson House. Borrowing 4 fantastic dresses from some really great friends and then spending the week trying them on with different accessories. This was the final choice and I think that she looks fantastic. The only thing that made me a little sad was that I realized that she would probably not get to have before the dance pictures with any of her dates because the boys can't drive over here. So they just meet you at the dance. Sorry Sis.

I've been tagged

2008-11-11T23:46:00.000-08:00

So my friend Terrilee has tagged me. That means that I have to write 7 random things about myself. So like my friend Lexi said "I'll see if I can come up with 7 things".
First-I love Italy. Terrilee has said that she hated the first 3 and half years here but now that she has become active in church again and picked up some really awesome friends (Lexi, Nancy, Tabi, and of course me to name a few), she is sorry that her time here is up. We will miss you but I still love Italy. I love the huge windows in my house, looking at the way that people dress here, round abouts, old crumbling down buildings, that I can go to Venice, Italy for a day trip and that my children get to experience it with me.
B-My favorite kind of store is a book store. I love stories. Happy, sad, mysterious, good guys and bad guys, when the girl saves the boy and the other way around. I love to wander through the isles and smell the paper. One of the hardest things about being here is that I don't speak, read or write Italian and guess what. That's the only kind of bookstores they have here. Thats one of the things I look forward to on our visits home.
3-I love to cook but hate to clean up afterwards. So I don't cook as much as I would like to.
quattro-I'm afraid of heights. When Sean and I went to Germany this last summer. We took a tram ride up the side of the really big mountain. I couldn't even look out the window. I laid down on the seat and closed my eyes and thought all of my "I'm going to die any minute" thoughts.
Fifth-Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's not like Christmas where we sometimes get confused on the meaning or Mother's Day that's all about one person or Memorial Day that turns into who's going to the lake and is bringing the boat and skies instead of remembering those that sacrificed for us. I like Thanksgiving because it's about everyone. About being thankful for all that we have and of course there's the food.
F-I love getting a new hair cut but I hate getting my eyebrows waxed even though I have to do both at the same time.
7-My secret wish is to have my husband plan a romantic night out for us to see a concert or play or anything that doesn't include the movie theater. Followed by dinner at a small out of the way place that all the tourist or people that he works with won't be at. Followed up by...I think I'll leave the rest up to him.

So now I'm suppose to tag 7 people but I don't know 7 people who blog that haven't already been tagged to I'll just do the best that I can.
-Peggy
-Becky (because I haven't heard for you in awhile)
-Kayla
-Janet

Good luck!!!

Dear Diary

2008-10-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Diary,
I haven't written in awhile so today's entry might be a long one. You know that I always like to update you on what the kids are up to to I'll start with the littlest one.
Jessie is as always making me laugh. The other day she asked me what Sunday was. I said that I wasn't sure what she wanted to know and to explain further. She wanted to know if it was linger longer Sunday or fast Sunday or slow Sunday. She also just finished her soccer season. She won the season (or so she says).
The school that the kids attend started a new thing this year called GradeSpeed. It's were parents can go online and check on the kids grades at any time. The teacher update them with every assignment. This has been great for Charlie. She, of course, has all A's and M's. Of course, I don't know what the M's are but I'm sure they are great. Soccer just ended for her also and she really had a fun time. She had great coaches and happy teammates.
Gavin will be finishing Soccer this weekend. We are really happy about this. Because I don't volunteer to coach I never feel like I can complain about those who do and I'm not now. I'm just going to say that I'm happy that the season is almost over for him. Hopefully next year will be a better experience for him.
Taylor...Taylor...Taylor...I'm not sure what to say here. OH I know, she just finished cross country. She didn't qualify for Europeans but she is really looking forward to basketball starting in a few weeks. She gets herself up for seminary everyday(almost) and is anxious to get there everyday. That GradeSpeed thing that I mentioned has actually turned out to be a bonus for her. When we saw that her grades were a little low she pulled them right up. Yeah for me(or is that Yeah for her).
So Sean got another calling in church. He is the branch president. I said another calling. He didn't get released from his old calling so I think he is still the Young Mens Pres. also. He has taken up road biking here. So he still leaves for 3 or 4 hours on Saturday but it's not for golf anymore.
Speaking of church calling something sorta funny happened to me. In Feb. I was called to be the primary pres. I loved it. It was just the calling for me. Then about a month ago I was asked to be the Relief Society Pres. I said of course I would do what ever they needed me to do. The funny part is that they didn't release me from the Primary first. So for about 3 weeks I got to be President Squared. That was what our old Branch Pres. called me. Now I'm just in the RS. Wait I don't mean just I mean only. I've been crazy busy getting ready for Halloween. Making costumes, arranging a party for the kids and getting ready to visit the rest home. Oh and did I mention trick-or-treating. Maybe we'll just opt out this year. We'll see.
Thanks for listening Diary. Write more soon.
Julie

Taylor on the run

2008-09-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

I know that the brothers will be interested in this. Taylor is on the Cross Country team. This was her first meet. She came in 9th. But she was the first one from Vicenza. Her time was 25:45 for a 5K. I think that she did fantastic.

Here she is crossing the finish line. She made us proud today.

Camp Darby

2008-08-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

We went to Camp Darby last weekend. Some of our friends went with us. Lexi and Dave Higbee with their kids Haylee, Trent, Logan and Laycee. Chad and Terrilee with their kids Kirra and Christian. We went to several places such as Pisa, Florence and Lucca. But we spent the most time at the beach. I didn't get very many pictures at the beach but I hope that you enjoy posts that I have added today.
Julie

One night in Pisa

2008-08-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

One night while we were camping at Camp Darby we went into Pisa to solve the mystery of the leaning tower. And to our surprise with so many people trying to hold it up, it still leans to this day.

After we took our turn holding up the tower we needed to get some refreshment. So we stopped for some gelato. Sean and Chad really enjoyed theirs on a cone.

We lined up the kids so that we didn't lose any to the night. First Kirra, then Jessie, followed by Trent, Charlie, Haylee, Gavin, Christian, Laycee, Logan and Lexi on the end to keep them from escaping. Dave and Taylor stood guard.

After we were fortified with our gelato we decided to take a stroll down by the famous Arno River. However, our friend Terrilee decided to do a pole dance and she even made a buck. LOL ( the payee is her husband, Chad).

This is us on a bridge that spans the river.

This is what it looks like at night. On the far right side of the picture is a church that we wanted to look at up close. The last time that we were in Pisa I was amazed by the craftsmanship that went in to building it. However, the lighting was so bad that we couldn't get any really good pictures of it at night. Oh well, maybe next time.

All in all, our second visit to Pisa was as fantastic as the first time. Even better because we got to see it with friends.

Firenze aka Florence

2008-08-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is a great view of Florence. So Sean was having problems operating the camera, this picture is black and white with color accents. I'm just not sure of the colors.

This is the bus that took us on a tour of some highlights in Florence. Our friend Terrilee is taking the picture and her husband, Chad and two kids, Kirra and Christian.

This is an old monistary that was turned in to a museum. We didn't have a tour guide so we just looked around ourselves. There were a lot of interesting paintings and rooms. The courtyard was very relaxing.

This is the Duomo in Florence. Sean tried to get it all in the picture. However, it is so big that it wouldn't fit. We went inside and it was amazing. Very well preserved.

On our way to see the Duomo we walked right over this picture on the sidewalk. Most of us didn't even notice it.

At the end of our day, we wanted to go in to see the "David" by Michaelangelo but we decided that we hadn't planned to spend that much to get in to see it, so we went to McDonalds instead. We can't wait to go again to see all of the things that we missed.

One month ago

2008-08-16T08:46:00.001-07:00

So when I logged on to add something today I realized that it has been exactly one month since I put something new on. I have been getting the riot act from all sides. I decided that with the kids out of school and Sean coming home and then being on leave that I just haven't gotten into the swing of it again. So I'm going to post a little today but then don't be surprised if I disappear for a few more weeks. Sean goes back to work and the kids go back to school the last week of the month. So look for more after Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy.

My soldier returning home

2008-07-16T12:37:00.001-07:00

This is Sean catching a ride out of there. This was the first of many rides to get him home. We are thankful that he made it safely.

Rumors are true

2008-07-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

Yes the rumors are true that Sean is home at last. He thinks that he needs to get some sun before we go to the beach this weekend. So we have been working on our tans this week.
Sorry its been awhile since I posted. I'll try to do better for the rest of the summer.

I've been away

2008-06-25T05:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe to say that I've been away is a small exaggeration. Really I've just been lazy and haven't updated my blog. However, now I have a reasonable excuse. And yes I realize they are all just excuses. So I had to bring Gavin up to Germany to see the doctor at the last minute. I don't think that I've ever had to fly to a doctors appointment before. Just so you know that I'm not still ignoring you all I'm post when I get home from our trip.

First Day of Swimming

2008-05-25T23:38:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend and the kids wanted to be the first in the pool. It's been raining on and off for several weeks. I guess we got lucky on Saturday with no rain.

Christian, Jessie and Haylee are having a blast.

It was great in the pool. But once they got out they needed to get covered up quick.

Gavin and Trent are hamming it up.

Jessie...hum...I just don't know what to say. I guess a picture is worth a thousand words.

Charlie and her other half aka Rachel.

Christian and Terrilee are hanging by the pool. Chad (Terrilee's husband) came for about 5 minutes but then got called away to work.

Taylor and her friend Jessica. They had fun teasing the boys.

Charlies Trip to Bolca

2008-05-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

Charlie's class went on a field trip on Monday and I got to go with her. Let me tell you it was great. We went to Bolca where they have an archaeological site. We got to look for fossils. When we met at the school the parent volunteers got assigned a group of kids. So Charlie picked her friend Rachel and the three of us had a good time. This is Charlie and Rachel on our 1 hour bus ride.

Our first stop was at the museo dei fossili. It was all very interesting to me.

Instead of having us watch a video in Italian (which most of us wouldn't understand anyway), we got a tour guide to explain about the area and what sort of fossils area found in the area. Tropical, if you can believe it. Charlie and Rachel mostly listened, except when they were talking.

This is a fossil of some plants that were found. All the fossils are very impressive.

They had a wall depicting what the area used to look like millions of years ago. Charlie found a vine to swing on. So she and Rachel went for a ride.

These fish are like some of the fossils that were found in the area.

These are some shell fossils that were uncovered. The girls thought that it looked like an upside down ice cream cone.

At the end of the walk through the museum there are fish tanks with tropical fish and plants. The kids really liked to see live fish.

Then we rode on the bus to the entrance road of the archaeological site.

We had to walk down this road for about 1 mile. It wasn't fit for the buses so we hiked. The girls really liked the walk.

I didn't get any pictures of lunch. I think I may have been to hungry. After we ate, the kids looked for fossils. I didn't ask but I assumed that all the rocks came from the cave that we went into last. The girls really had fun trying to break open the rocks looking for fossils.

They got smart and went and asked the man that works there for some help. After that they would hammer on the rocks for a few minutes but in the end they always just took the rocks to the guy and volia fossils. They found about 10 fossils between them.

This is Rachel looking over the edge of the hill. It was a pretty good drop.

Then it was our turn to go in the cave.

I didn't see as much as I would of liked. The girls were just ready to get out of there. I think they felt like they were in jail.

After the cave we had ice cream and then the long hike back up to the buses. This is Charlie and Rachel with Lexi and Toni (our neighbors).

All in all I think that the kids had a good time. I'm really glad that we live where Charlie can have this kind of experience.

My Mothers Day

2008-05-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

Mothers Day this year was great. We had a full day and I loved every minute. The kids made me breakfast. And gave me lots of presents.

Taylor pick out this great nicknack.

Charlie made me a pineyata(?) at school.

And this is what was in it. It was a poem and chocolate. The Best.

Jessie wrote me a great poem.

And made me a bouquet of flowers with her hand prints. They are so cute.

I really enjoyed my breakfast.

Picnic at the Park

2008-05-13T03:01:00.000-07:00

We went to the park with members from our branch after church for a picnic.
This kids played horse shoes, frisbee and soccer. Also they chased the birds and watched the turtles. And of course the eat a lot.

Taylor was napping.

Jessie of course was just happy to be with friends. This is Sydney.

There was also an fitness course that the kids begged to go one. More than once.

These kids (Trent, Christian, Haylee, Grace, Jessie, Charlie, Ellie, Sydney and Kira) went on the last trip around the fitness course. They had to show off their stuff.

Retirement Home

2008-05-13T02:31:00.000-07:00

At the end of the day we went to the retirement home to see the elderly. The kids sang a mothers day song. It was great. The did a wonderful job.

Then Jessie and Charlie and Kira did the dance that they have been working on for the last couple of months. They were fantastic.

And they did the hokey pokey. Like always.

And Charlie did the dance that she is learning for her class. This is Naomi. She is Charlie's teacher. All the girls love her.

Environmental Day

2008-05-09T05:11:00.000-07:00

Charlie's group did a skit about recycling.

This is Rachel and Charlie.

Field Day

2008-05-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

Hey who remembers field day. We used to have it when I was in Elementary School. It was something that we all looked forward to for the whole year. Well the Middle School had one last week and Gavin got to participate. First he did the softball throw.

Then he did the standing long jump.

Last he did the gunny sack race.

He really had fun competing with the other kids.

Soccer

2008-05-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

This is Taylors soccer team. She is the one in the green.

Charlie's Quarterly Award

2008-05-09T04:44:00.001-07:00

Charlie was awarded the Student of the Quarter award. She has worked really hard. This is the principal and her teacher, Mrs. Kight. Mrs. Kight has been a really great teacher for Charlie this year. She has challenged her and given her rewards when she earns them. It has been a very positive year for Charlie.

Girls at the Park

2008-04-16T23:26:00.001-07:00

It rained yesterday for about 5 minutes and then the sun came out. It's amazing what happens on our street at a time like this. All the kids come pouring out of the houses. So they were playing and to sun was shining so I thought that I would get some pictures for Sean.
This is Charlie and Lexi up a tree.

Charlie taking a minute to relax. Take a look at her feet. Did I mention the rain. Not sure what she was doing playing without shoes but she sure had fun.

Swinging is one of her favorite things. Monkey bars are her favorite but we don't have any of those. She was practicing jumping out.

Jessie love to bring me flowers. I'm just glad that this time it wasn't the ones out of the neighbors garden.

She wanted to be in the tree like Charlie but her bravery only goes so far. She smiling but she wouldn't let go of the branch. Very funny.

This is Jessie with her friend Josh. They were chasing each other with swords(sticks) and having a great time.

April Showers 5K run/walk/crawl

2008-04-13T08:40:00.000-07:00

On this course they had us do 2.5 K and then do the same thing again. It is not my favorite way to do it. When we got back to the starting line they said that we had to turn around and go again. That was really hard. Maybe it's a good thing that they were handing out t-shirts. So because we were doing two laps we got to see everyone twice. This is Taylors running buddy. I don't know him but I guess he runs about as fast as her. Our friend Nancy is walking in front of me in the purple. She is pushing Trent who belongs to Lexi.

Here is our friend Chad (pushing the stroller) with Kira and Christian (who belong to him and Terrilee-not pictured). Jessie is running alongside and doing really well. Elder Openshaw (one of our senior missionaries) is right behind them. And if you squint you can see Gavin at the end of the street.

This is what Gavin looked like when we passed him. I think he was trying to tell me that he was done. But he bucked up and finished the race.

This is Lexi. She wanted to try running it this month and she did the whole thing. She did great. And I got to push the twins. Haylee (in the pink pants and blue shirt) and Charlie (in the blue pants and shirt) found a friend to run with. She had a scooter and they traded off through the whole run.

Charlie at the finish line. And Haylee coming in right behind her.

After the run we found some cover and had some lunch. Elder and Sister Openshaw (on the left) have really been trying to find more things for us to do as a branch or with as many as they can get. It's has been really great to find things to do with other families.

Jessie, Charlie, Haylee and Trent found a spot in the sun to get warmed up.

Taylor was sitting on the ground so the babies would come and play with her.

It worked too. This is Logan and he loves to play with Taylor.

After the run and picnic we all went our seperate ways. We I don't mean that as a family we went one way and the other went their way. I took the boys, Gavin, Christian and Trent. Lexi took Charlie, Haylee, Laycee and Logan. And Chad took Kira and Jessie. Then we all meet back at the movie at 3:00.

Kira and Jessie had a good time together. The movie that we watched was Nim's Island. It was good and I would recommend it.

All in all we had a great day hanging out with friends.

Our trip to Venizia (Venice)

2008-04-07T13:22:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers,
We went to Venice today and I wanted to post our day. But as happens to me so often I end up putting to much on. So just bare with me as you read through our day. It was great and our friends Dave and Lexi, Haylee and Trent, Laycee and Logan got to spend part of the day with us. We really had a great time and when we got home the kids asked me what we were going to do tomorrow. All I could think was that maybe it would be fun to just take a nap. Just kidding. The kids are on spring break this week so hopefully we will find our selves looking for more adventures. Hope you enjoy looking at our one from today.
Ciao
Julie

Murano

2008-04-07T12:43:00.001-07:00

This is a not so great picture of a glass blowing demonstration. The guys giving the demonstration weren't very good either. But it was still fascination to watch how it is done.

This is the name of the shop that showed us the demonstration. I think I forgot to mention that it was free. Maybe that's why it wasn't very good. But the shop had some really amazing things in it.

This is one of the streets that we were walking down. It had lots of shops for us to look into. Lexi taking a picture and Dave walking away.

Jessie made me take this picture. I put it on the blog for two reasons. One is because Sean will understand the pressure that Jessie put me under to take it. She can be very persuasive when she wants to. And two I wanted to put a warning out to everyone that in 10 or 15 years when Jessie starts her own blog this is the sort of thing that we will be seeing a lot of.

This is the lunch counter ( I'm not sure what else to call it because it sure wasn't a restaurant). But the pizza and fries were great. Anyway, I thought that the name warranted mentioning. Very funny.

Here is Gavin, Trent, Charlie and Haylee and one of the bridges in Murano.

Here is what kids look like when the grown-ups are looking at all the fascinating things in the store window.

Here we are on yet another bridge. Gavin, Charlie, Trent, Jessie, Haylee

This is a glass sculpture. It is amazing. Who ever made this put a lot of time, effort and creativity into it.

This is a lighthouse on one side of the island. It's the first one that I've seen there.

At the base of the lighthouse was a small deposit of sea shells. So I let the kids look through them to see if they could find some that weren't broken. Surprisingly they found several.

Then we had to wait for the waterbus to give us a ride back to Venice. Haylee, Logan, Lexi, Dave and Laycee.

Taylor was feeling a little under the weather so she just pulled up a bench and took a nap. I think that it helped.

This is the kids on the waterbus. They wanted to ride in the back so that they could "get some fresh air." That's what they said but I think they just wanted to be outside.

Our Walk About

2008-04-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

When we were done on Murano we took the waterbus back to Venice. But we didn't want to ride the bus all the way around the island so we got off on the wrong side and walked across so that we could see the Rialto Bridge and San Marco Square. These are the streets of Venice.

On this street Jessie can touch both side of the street.

Taylor wanted to try it out to. If she was any wider she wouldn't fit down the street at all.

Charlie is always finding these nooks that are great for pictures. If I could just get her to stop with the fake smiles.

Jessie just likes to pose. She doesn't care if you take her picture of not.

Gavin and Charlie were watching this Gondolier get his gondola ready for work.

All in all our "walk about"... wait that's Australian, but you know what I mean, was fun.

The Rialto Bridge

2008-04-07T12:05:00.001-07:00

You know when you are playing tourist and you ask someone else to get a picture of you and then you do the same for them. Well it always seems to me that it is always the busiest place. So this is us on the top of the Rialto Bridge with the Grand Canal in the background even though you can't really see them.Taylor, Gavin and Charlie on the bridge. Jessie wouldn't stay up there without me and I couldn't figure out how to get the picture and be on the bridge with Jessie also.

This is Jessie and Charlie looking through the bridge at the canal.

This is Jessie's other end.

In the middle of the bridge there are shops and steps in the the middle of the shops. Taylor and Charlie totally look posed (like they would rather be somewhere else). Jessie...well...I'm not sure, maybe a scary face. And Gavin really did want to be somewhere else.

This was a little shop down the hill from the bridge. All the little things on the wall moved like tick tock.

Outside the store was this pinoccio doll. Jessie had to get her picture with it.

Then Charlie had to.

And of course so did Gavin.

But not Taylor.

Diego the Gondolier

2008-04-07T11:48:00.001-07:00

We took a trip through the canals of Venice. It was really expensive. I'm glad that we did it but we won't be doing that again. The girls especially liked it when our gondolier sang to us.

This is Julie and Taylor with Diego our Gondolier in the background. He kept putting his foot on the walls to keep us from running into them. Jessie and Charlie laughed every time he did it.

This is Marco Polo's house. We just drove(okay floated) by and didn't get out and go in.

Diego told us that the house behind him was Casanova's house. I think that when I was trying to take the picture he thought that maybe I thought that he was a Casanova. What was really funny was when Jessie asked what a Casanova was and I had to explain it to her.

He was very nice and didn't sing to badly either. When we were almost done with our ride we remember to ask him his name. When the girls heard that his name was Diego they sang him the Diego song. Go Diego Go. He thought that was very funny.

San Marco Square

2008-04-07T11:13:00.000-07:00

This is us at San Marco Square in Venice. The kids had a great time with the pigeons. The cathedral is in the background. It is an amazing piece of architecture.

Gavin in his new Gondolier hat.

The girls got new fans to remember the day.

Jessie was trying to coax the pigeons closer so that she could chase them away.

Charlie was nervous with the birds but when this one landed on her backpack she thought that was funny.

Gavin was trying to get the birds to like him. He wanted them to come closer but not to close.

Taylor is our own bird whisperer.

He is still working on making friends.

Charlie really wanted to birds to feed from her hand but she would only do it with help from the bird whisperer.

Jessie finally let the birds come to her. With the help of the bird whisperer.

Charlie is still working on the courage thing but Gavin finally got his little entourage.

Here they are trying to work as a team.

At the Bridge of Sighs.

GI Sean

2008-04-07T11:01:00.001-07:00

This is Seans room. He wanted the kids to know that he hung up the pictures that they sent to him. He also wanted Charlie to know that he is using the pillow case that she made for him at school. It was a great idea. The kids loved sending something to their dads and moms downrange.

Sean and CPT Paloma
This is who he spends all his quality time with now.

Sean and Fawad
their interpreter

This is some Afgan boys who came out to get there pictures taken. Sean said that they weren't shy at all.

But he only got a picture of the girls when they were moving from one building to another. I wish that I could see there dresses better. They look really interesting.

Winter Sports Banquet

2008-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

This is Taylors winter banquet. The food was so-so but the look on her face when she got her letter was priceless. I'm proud of all her hard work and glad that I got to be there for her.

This is our friend Kyle. I think that he may have been the star of the banquet. He definately got the most prizes.

My New Kitchen

2008-04-04T01:35:00.001-07:00

I forgot to get a picture of this kitchen before they came and gutted it to give me this new glorious one. Okay, so I know that it doesn't look like much but if you had seen it before then you would have to agree that this is soooo much better.

Happy Birthday Charlie

2008-04-04T00:17:00.001-07:00

One of the things that we like to do on our birthdays is have cupcakes instead of a cake. I started this a few years ago so that the kids could decorate their own cupcakes. They liked it so much that we have been doing it ever since. Some of the cupcakes are very creative.

We had corn dogs, pasta and breaded cheese sticks for dinner.

Charlie opened her presents. She got some makeup and girly stuff, jewely and some clothes.

I bought candles but then we couldn't find them. So we used stick matches instead. It was interesting. We had to sing really fast before they burned out.

This is Lauren Gardner she comes to help with the kids and Charlie made sure that she would be there for the party. Also pictured are Julie, Taylor, Jessie and Charlie.

Charlies Song

2008-04-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Charlie and Jessie were making videos on Easter Sunday. This happens at my house all the time.

Taylors Trip to Paris

2008-04-01T05:34:00.000-07:00

Taylor had to chance to go to Paris last weekend. We have some friends that always wanted to go to EuroDisney in Paris. So they just decided on Tuesday or Wednesday that they were going to go on Thursday. Taylor does some babysitting for them so they asked if she could go with them. I said of course. How many chances do 16 year old girls get to go to Disneyland without their parents and in Paris no less? So here are some pictures that she brought home. Okay I said some, she brought home over 600 pictures. I'm not joking.

This is Dave and Lexi and Trent and Haylee. They have two more kids but lucky for me they got to visit us over the weekend. Taylor took my camera so I didn't get any pics of us but their other two kids are 1 year old twins. Laycee and Logan. Gavin, Jessie and Charlie all had a blast playing with the babies. And they were really good.

Haylee and Taylor. Just so you know Haylee thinks that the sun, the moon and the stars all raise because Charlie says so. I think that she even had a good time even though it was "just" Taylor there and not Charlie. LOL

This is Trent and Taylor. I don't know what to say about Trent except that he might have the best smile I have ever seen. Every time I see it, I smile.

I think that the little green guy is trying to whisper sweet nothings in to my girls ear. Yuck.

This is Taylor at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It's amazing. She said it was cold and windy and that it started to rain but I think that she will always remember it.

Taylor took this as they were driving away. Everyone that I talked to said that if you are going to see the Eiffel Tower that you make sure that you see it at night. Amazing.

I'm happy we have such good friends in Dave and Lexi that they would let her go with them. She had such a great time. Every time I wonder what the heck I'm doing so far from home I think about these wonderful chances that my kids are getting to see these incredible places. Next time the rest of us are going with them.

Easter Morning

2008-03-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Hunting for eggs.

Showing them off.

This is the hair the we all have on Easter morning, Jessie just wears it better than most.

Finding the treasures inside.

To cool to get a basket and look for eggs.

Gavin, Charlie, Jessie, Taylor

Dying Easter Eggs

2008-03-24T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sean picked out this dress for Jessie before he left. She really wanted a frilly, frufru dress for church so I bought her one and told her that she could wear this one on Saturday to the egg hunt on post. She asked me to take a picture so that dad could see that she wore the dress for him. Just so you know this is the 3rd pair of shoes that she tried on. She only has two more pair and they are tennis shoes. Needless to say, she was very excited to wear her new dress.

But then she had to change so that she could dye eggs. I think that her dress and shoes were layed out perfectly on her bed so that she could hurry back into them. Girls...I say with a sigh.

Charlie has always loved to dye Easter eggs. I think that she was first in line to help Dave get everything ready.

Lexi and I were finishing up Laycee's and Haylee's Easter dresses. Lexi couldn't find any that matched so we decided to make some. Of course, those of you who know my sewing habits we waited until the day before Easter to finish them.

Trent and Jessie are really getting into it. Lexi was trying to get a picture of Laycee for her blog but all Laycee wanted was to put it in her mouth.

Taylor even got in on the action a little. I think because Dave decided to take a little nap. Gavin wasn't interested and I'm pasted the point were I make them do fun stuff. All in all Saturday morning was a fun time.

Egg Hunting on Caserma Ederle

2008-03-24T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is Logan. This is how Logan hunts for Easter treats. He sits with his basket in his lap and waits for people (namely me) to put things in there for him to have later. I'm not sure what the worried face is for. Maybe there was just to much confusion.
Charlie and Haylee had a blast in the bounce house.

Charlie is gathering up her loot.

Gavin is trying out his new defensive postion that he learned in basketball.

Jessie looks a little lost. I think she thought that everyone would just stay out of her way until she got everything that she wanted.

Maybe next year she'll learn.

Charlie with the Easter Bunny.

Gavin with the Easter Bunny.

Notice no Taylor or Jessie. Taylor because she thinks that she's cool.LOL And Jessie because she seems to have a phobia with people dressed up as charaters. It happened once before with Smokey the Bear.

Toothless Wonder

2008-03-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted to call one of my kids the Toothless Wonder but the older ones never seemed to really look toothless. We Jessie is doing it for me. She has lost 3 teeth in the last month. All on the top.

5K

2008-03-24T12:44:00.001-07:00

We were a little early for the race. By about an hour. I got all the kids to sit for a picture (except Taylor). I think that we have hit a faze with her where she is gone off with friends most of the time.

THE KIDS

Top: Merideth and Sydney

Next: Trent, Gavin and Cooper

2nd: Christian, Haylee, Charlie, Laycee

Bottom: Alexander, Elle, Noah, Logan, Jessie and Kira

Yes we took all these kids on the run.

Here we are at the starting line. Again Taylor is missing. She and Noah wanted to stand on the starting line.

Taylor and Noah pasted us. They were going one way and we the other.

Charlie, Haylee, and Trent on the finish line. Charlie was so helpful. She pushed Trent in the stoller the whole way. Except for right after she dumped him on the ground. But after some loves she got right back to it.

Gavin pushed Alexander almost the whole way and across the finish. He did great.

Afterwards we all went to Burger King to pig out.
Elle, Charlie and Haylee.

Jessie and Sister Openshaw sat together at lunch. If you noticed that I didn't have any pictures of Jessie after the race started that was because she left me in the dust. I didn't see her until I got to the finish.

Gavin, Cooper and Taylor worked up an appetite. Taylor ran the whole thing and Gavin and Cooper pushed the little ones.

It was a great day to spend with friends.

Gavin's Finishing Touch

2008-03-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Gavin really worked hard this season. It really paided off for him.

He got to play almost the whole game.

This is half-time and one of the only times that I didn't see him smiling.

He takes very seriously what his coaches tell him.

He was very pleased with his award.

Charlies Final Game

2008-03-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Charlie had a good time in Cheerleading this year and made some unexpected friends.

Charile really tried hard in Cheerleading this year.

Jessies End of Season

2008-03-06T12:06:00.000-08:00

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Jessie's last game of the season. She plays around alot and she talks to her friends alot but she stuck it out until the end of the season. I'm proud of her.

Charlies Oral Report

2008-03-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

Charlie really worked hard on this report. It was about Herbert Hoover. She had a lot of information about him. However I think that she had the same amount of information about Hoover Dam. I think that was because we went there three times last year.

Eating in Germany

2008-02-25T06:04:00.000-08:00

One day we took Taylor downtown for lunch. I know we were in Germany but we thought that we would try a Mexican place. So we picked a place called Havana. Sounds great right...well they don't open until 7pm because they are a club. So we thought that we would just walk around until we found a place that looked good. As we were walking down a really cool street we came across the Hard Rock Cafe Heidelberg.

This is a typical teenager...stuffing her face. About 3 minutes after I took this picture her food was gone.

All I can say is American food. And it really did taste good.

This is what Sean ordered. It is chicken with gravy on top. And the roll looking things are really mashed potatoes that they fried. Sean and Taylor said that they were very tasty.

They had a souvenir shop at the back so Taylor and Sean had to get new shirts and proof that we were "there".

On Friday night we were really tired so were asked the guy at the desk of the Inn were was a good place to eat. He said the the Woodenspoon was the place to go. It's really called Zum Kochloffel but I don't know how to say that.

This is a very friendly place there were a couple of kids running around while we were waiting. They kept going behind the bar so I assumed that they were the owners grand kids. When I asked her she just shrugged and said no. The sign on the top left of the picture says "Good beer and good cheer always on tap here". I thought that sounds true except I don't really know about the beer. The cheer part seems to be true.

Sean said that he was to tired to eat at the restaurant so we got it to go. But then I found out that he just wanted to watch Survivor. So that was fine except that we didn't get any silverware to eat dinner with.

However, I did find a spoon by the coffee pot in the room. But there wasn't any salt and pepper for my potato. It's a good thing for Sean that I like baked potatoes or I might have been tempted to send him out for some. This steak was amazing or it's just the first one that I had since moving here. No I think that it was just good.

We did eat at a German restaurant the first night that we were there. However, I forgot to take my camera in with me. I did eat some schnitzel(not sure how to spell that) and it was great. As you can probably tell all the food that we eat was good, even the hot dog at the ball game.

Europeans Basketball Tournament aka State

2008-02-25T04:49:00.000-08:00

Taylor had the opportunity to go to Europeans this year. Vicenza High School is a Division III school. It was in Germany and Sean and I went to cheer her on. They split each division into two pools, so on Thursday and Friday they played the teams from their pool. On Saturday the top two teams from each pool played for the championship and 2nd and 3rd place. Vicenza was the Number 1 team from our pool, so we played the Number 1 team from the other pool. The girls were upset that they came in second but I think that they had an amazing season. And all I can say is "Wow, you won 2nd place at Europeans." Taylor did a great job.

Sean's Helpers

2008-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Sean was packing his bags but the kids were "helping".

Charlie tried out the sleeping bag. I guess it works.

Taylor tried out the sleeping bag also. She said that dad will stay nice and warm.

I'm suprised that he could keep his head up. These "hats" are heavy.

Gavin tried on his back pack. He seems to like it. Maybe I'll get him one for a school bag.

Sean Dressed Up

2008-02-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

Sean had to get a new picture done before he leaves to go down range for his file. When he came home we decided that I needed to post one on here so that everyone can see what a great looking man I have. It took a few tries because he feels very serious in this uniform. So he looked like he was going to a funeral. I made him smile and that just didn't look right. So we settled on a nice smirk. By the way, this is our front door. I really like how it looks and I will miss it in a few weeks when they replace it with a plain green door. I guess they feel that safety is more important than a good looking door.

Verona Arena

2008-02-19T00:50:00.000-08:00

My Family

2008-02-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

This is my family. My parents George and Sue. Then my siblings with their families. Lyn with all her kids. Her husband Mike is serving our country in another country so he was MIA for this picture. Gary with all his girls and Chet. My family (aren't we pretty). Dee with his family. Ben with his girls. Scott with his little troup. And last but not least Vicki with her...well...uh...Josh.

The Great Rebounder

2008-02-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Taylor is a GREAT rebounder. However, she needs to work on the passing. The ball seems to jump into the other teams hands more times than not. If you notice on the left hand side of the picture...Aliens have come to watch basketball. Just kidding. It's the paramedics in there flashy jump suits. Taylor loves this picture.

Jazzy Jessie

2008-02-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

Someone on her team made a basket. She was out there doing a cheer. I don't think that Cheerleading is for her though. She loves to cheer for her team ( and the other team) but she wants to do it from the middle of the court. I love to watch her play.

Practice Practice Practice

2008-02-01T14:10:00.001-08:00

Look at that great jump shot. Maybe he'll play in the NBA someday.

Charlie Cheering

2008-01-30T23:36:00.000-08:00

Charlie is in love with cheerleading. This is their half-time show. She loves to go to Taylors games so that she can get new ideas from the high school squad.