Update

Life continues to be busy. There's a lot I could say about what life has been like lately, but I'll just keep it simple. We are enjoying the kids' activities, keeping on track with Katie in her Senior year of high school...("You need money for what now?!"), washing sports uniforms ("what do you mean you can only find one baseball sock?!"), and trying to squeeze in some fun stuff along the way to "make memories" as Kamryn would say. Through it all, we are blessed to see that God is good and guides and protects us along the way.

Kamryn is playing on the 6th grade co-ed basketball team. Highlights-Nick and Mr. DeBoer are her coaches, they call themselves the "Blue-gers" (blue Cougers), the boys don't pass enough to her(in her opinion), and, yes, these are the same uniforms as some of you observed RCS teams wearing in the 80's.

Another Redlands tradition, the Cadet pine wood derby...This year Troy came in 7th out of everyone. Very exciting as he then was part of the top 7 who got to pick prizes. (He picked out a sweet slip and slide.) The fact that his car did so well is a bit humorous because Troy's car was as plain as they come. He did all the work himself, where in some cases the dads get too involved. (Yes, that's my opinion.) It was a fun night with popcorn, blue cupcakes and lots of boys running around.

Troy and Trev

Thankfully the weather has been warm enough to try out the slip and slide. It works great and has provided much sibling fun in the backyard.

Easter 2012

Today we had a wonderful celebration of our risen Lord! We continue to be blessed by our River Family with worship and fellowship. I snapped some photos before church because Katie's team was leading worship this morning. She even had a solo part and did great! I always think that the worship we have in this talented church is a glimpse of what heaven will be like. It's wonderful! After church we enjoyed lunch at home and then had dessert with some friends. Holidays in a new place are a challenge as we don't quite know what our traditions will be and who they will include. We were blessed to have Scott's mom visiting here this Easter. She enjoyed hiding eggs for a sibling egg hunt in the backyard. Katie came out the winner with the most eggs, but there were some accusations of foul play during the hunt. :)

Back to the Beach

During the last part of our spring break, we had Scott's mom here to visit. We decided her visit to Southern CA would not be complete without a trip to the beach. Saturday we took a quick ride out to Newport and took in the beautiful fresh sea air. We were craving a hamburger from Ruby's for lunch so we set out to find it. It ended up being quite a ways from where we had parked. The kids were not convinced that a hamburger was worth this much work, but we were determined. We eventually made it and enjoyed a wonderful lunch out on the Balboa Pier.

Praying For Angel

Today we are praying for our friend, Angel. He is receiving a transplant of several organs at UCLA. Will you join us in praying for a successful surgery and recovery? Thanks!

The Beach

One of the great things about living where we live is our proximity to the beach! We thought (or at least I did) that our Spring Break would not be complete without a trip to the ocean. We found some willing friends to accompany us and made a day of it. We couldn't have had more perfect weather and had a great time relaxing. We even got to see some friends from the Central Valley who were vacationing nearby. To top off our day Scott ran into the Westra clan who were camping and invited us to join them for dinner. Nothing better than carne asada tacos by the beach. With sun-kissed, tired kids in tow we made our way back to Redlands after dark thankful for a great day at the beach!

Brave boogie boarders ready to catch some waves.

Don't know why this won't flip, but proof that the kids got in the chilly water.

Julie found a huge sand crab.

Sofia tackling a chapter book with Katie.

Galaxy Game

Our Spring Break is off to a great start! My parents came to visit for a couple of days and we have been gradually winding down after a busy month of school and sports activities. For a special treat Scott found some LA Galaxy (soccer team) tickets online and surprised the kids for our first spring break outing. Troy has been wanting to attend a game for a long time. On Saturday we loaded up the minivan and made our way over the busy Southern California freeways to Home Depot Stadium. We had a great time experiencing our first professional soccer game. Unfortunately we had a major downpour during the game, but because we bought the cheap seats we were way up high under the awnings! Always up for famous athlete sightings, we enjoyed watching Beckham play for the first half and also the new star, Robbie Keane. Unfortunately our Redlands hometown boy, Landon Donovan, was not playing in this game. The kids were quite entertained by the loud British guy behind us shouting obscenities when things did not go his way and also the fan club a.k.a. "crazy people" in the area behind the goal chanting and jumping the whole game. We're definitely fans... Go Galaxy!

Waiting to get in the gates. Scott's deal got us all bright green Robbie Keano t-shirts.

Getting close to the famous trophy. (Scott was pretty excited about this.)

Before the game. By start this was packed full.

David Beckham

Beckham and others warming up.

These fans behind the goal are literally crazy. They chant, jump and holler the whole game.

By the end, we were pretty cold and tired. :)