Braids and Cookies

Lily was born with a pretty good head of hair. Not the most we have seen, but enough to put clips in at a pretty early age. We have yet to cut her hair. There just hasn't been a need. For a long time I was afraid she would lose the curls if we cut it. I'm pretty sure the curls, or at least the waves, are here to stay. And I can see a new layer of baby hair at the top of her forehead. On Friday, with the help of Curious George, she sat still long enough for me to braid her pigtails. Twice! I was kind of impressed. The Mitchums have two boys. And while they all played really well together, the boys were lacking in girl toys. The scooter would have to work for a baby doll stroller.Lily was checking out Collin's two right shoes . . . of two different pairs. But he was happy so it didn't really matter. After dinner I brought cookies out to the table for all of us to munch on. Lily doesn't eat a lot of sweets, and is typically fine without them, so I didn't offer her a cookie. Cooper, very proudly came up to me at the table to tell me he gave Lily a cookie. What a good little "sharer." He was very proud of himself. She ate the chocolate off the top and then passed the soggy cookie over to me. Time always goes by too fast when we hang out with old friends, but we'll take what we can get. It's so nice that the kids entertain each other. We had such a wonderful time!

A Chinese Wedding

On Sunday, we attended a wedding of a Kevin's colleague. He has worked with Jen for years and we were excited to attend when the invitation was printed in Chinese characters.

The ceremony was traditional by our standards. Although, the first I had attended with a dog as the ring bearer.

The reception, however, was unlike anything I had ever been to. When the bride and groom were introduced, a pair of dragons ran in followed by a 2 drummers and a cymbal player.
The room came alive; everyone was on their feet!

After dancing around the bride and groom, and then the bridal party, they began to make their way around the ballroom. It was like every Chinese New Year parade I had seen on television.

This picture is blurry but one of my favorites! It was so exciting.


After the entertainment left, we began our 11 course traditional Chinese feast. There were three plates stacked in front of us when we sat down which were changed after every 3 courses. Only chopsticks were on the table. We started with a seaweed salad and a fish noodle of some form. Course after course followed; spinach with giant sliced mushrooms, scallops and sliced chicken breast, abalone and mushrooms, more fish, roasted chicken, lobster, egg drop soup, and some sweet bean soup. I made it to about course 6 (the lobster) when I finally asked for a fork.

Latoya picked up the chicken head to pose for a picture. We had so much fun!

And of course, every wedding reminds you of yours.

US National Game

Kevin took me to my first pro-soccer game last month. We went to see a US National Game and I cannot believe how many Honduran fans were in Southern California! Kevin plays Fantasy Football with defender Jimmy Conrad and his mother, Pam. Pam organized the whole thing. There were probably 40 of us sitting together to cheer Jimmy on. Unfortunately, he was ejected in the 17th minute. We all stood there with jaws open in shock. It was awful. The US team lost 3-1 but we had a wonderful time!

It was really cold!

Brandon and his cousin, Analee

Ally, Brian, and Liz

Rockin' Out

We don't get to see the Upland Gang as much as we would like to but we try to get together 2 or 3 times a year. (It's funny that we refer to them as the Upland Gang since none of them live in Upland anymore.) We met up at the Mitchums for dinner and games. But the games turned into Rockband on the Wii. It was very funny to watch the boys really get into it.

Cooper and Ashley hanging out.

Kevin on vocals and Dan on guitar.

Me and my blue eyed lover.

Rikki and Cooper.

Dan tried to get some studying in. I don't think he was very successful.

Here is the look when I ask the guys to smile.

I eventually got a good picture of the four.

Fishin' Fred

Fred and Marsha Crawford were a wonderful couple and a lovely support to my parents when we lived in Lompoc years ago. Marsha was a secretary at the church and Fred always seemed to be around. They were like grandparents to us (especially to my little brother) and friends to my parents. Fred and Marsha had a camper and a small fishing boat. He took us fishing and I loved every minute of it. I could sit for hours in that boat just waiting for the fish to come.

For some reason I was thinking of Fred and Marsha yesterday. I sent my father this memory;

I remember going camping at Lake Lopez (or maybe Lake Cachuma) and camping with Fred and Marsha. I remember packing up and heading to their site to have lunch. Marsha was sitting at the picnic table peeling tomatoes. You asked her what she was doing. She said that Fred didn’t like the skin on his tomatoes and she was peeling them for him. You turned to Mom and said “I don’t like the skin on my grapes.” Mom something to the effect of “You married the wrong woman.”

My father sent back this email;

Yes- thats when you went fishing with Fred - Cachuma - I always liked to be funny with your mom - BTW - I married the right woman, she married the wrong guy. Too late now!

Today my father sent me something my sister wrote years ago. I wanted you to see the childish handwriting but have written it out below.

Fishing With Fred

"We'll come back" he said.

"Yeah, we'll do it agin soon."

Then he began to pray.

"Lord, thank you for this wonderful world you have made, thank you for geting the Reed and Marsha and I here to spend time together, help us to do it ofton, amen."

Then we ate the fish we had caught. We had been out fishing from 6 am untill 11 pm. My dads bald head was red from the sun. I was burning up in my sweats and me sister was afraid she wouldn't get a tab. After lunch we pack up to leave. We had been there fridat and now on saterday we had to go home. Fred kept telling us he'd freeze the fish and later on wed eat them togther. When the fish were gone wed fish again. About 6 month later, Fred died. He had cancer and wasn't getting beter. We went to his funal but I couln't beleive he really wasn't going to be with us any more. We all know he had been a strong christain and was going to heaven. We would see him there. I've never been fishing after. When I do I think of camping with him and being out on his boat fishing. We never did eat the fish in her freezer, maybe there still there. I dosn't mater were gone away from Marsha and Fred's house. All I know is I'll see him again soon.

After this encident I learned not to take life for granite. Spend time with those you love because you don't know when it will end.

This was our first exposure to grief. We all cried. It was probably the first time I saw my father cry (except that time we watch Where The Red Fern Grows). Rachel was probably in middle school when she wrote this. But even at that age she understood the hope we have in Christ.

This blessed me today.

Thanks, sis.

Rock The Keys Dueling Piano's

Quack, Quack, Quack, Mr. Ducksworth

You can't help but quote Emilio Estevez when watching a Ducks game. Last Monday, April 28th, our friends, Wendy and Jason, took us to see Game 3 of the Sharks v. Ducks game. I have only seen a couple of hockey games, and play off games are by far the best. Every seat was filled, and people are excited. The great thing about the Honda Center is that is was built for hockey and doesn't have a bad seat in the house. We were in the second to last row, but saw everything perfectly.

Check out the short video after the Ducks won!

Thanks Carvers!

Stagecoach

Last weekend (April 25 and 26) Kevin and I headed out to the desert (Indio) with two other couples for two days packed with country music; otherwise know as Stagecoach. I have to admit I was a little uncomfortable, I don't do well with extreme temperatures. It got up to 90 degrees during the day and dropped to 60 when the sun set. I'm a little bit of a baby, though. But the music was great. Darius Rucker was probably my favorite on Saturday. I really enjoyed his country music, and he brought back some Hootie music, too. But on Sunday, the best show had to have been Kid Rock. Explicit lyrics aside, he put on an awesome show. He played multiple instruments and sounds just as good live as he does recorded. Brad Paisley out on a great show playing great videos behind his performance. It really was cool! Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Kenny Chesney on Sunday night. We had to head back to Riverside and couldn't wait to stay through the 9:30 performance.

I.E. 66ers

As has become the tradition, we rounded up our friends and headed to San Bernardino to celebrate Kevin's birthday with the IE 66ers. Twenty-five of us overtook section 205 of Arrowhead Credit Union Park last Tuesday, April 21. The guys yell at the players and the girls chat to get caught up. A fun time by all.

Kevin always seems to be eating.

Birthday in LA

For Kevin's birthday we went out to Sherman Oaks to have dinner with our friends Colin and Ashley. Kevin's birthday is the eighteenth and Colin's is the twenty-second, so we try to get together around that time.

Colin and Ashley took us to this amazing Greek restaurant down the street from their apartment. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was even more amazing. I felt like I was in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Our server (who we called Nic), was the son of the owner, a round man with dark eyes that almost disappeared when he smiled. Dad, the owner, came by our table after we sat down to welcome us. He teased us to let him know if our server was doing a good job. He joked that he would be let go if we were satisfied. Kevin joked back making a slashing motion at his neck. Dad corrected Kevin by twisting his hands together and told us he would wring his neck "like a chicken". I laughed as I remembered one of my favorite lines from the movie, "Toula, eat something. I could break you like a chicken." There was live Greek music, and the servers danced in a line waiving their napkins around.

After dinner we walked down the block to a little comedy club. It was quite the hole in the wall. each hour an company of about 6 players did their improv skits. It's like an amateur version of "Who's Line is it Anyway." We announced it was Kevin's birthday and he was pulled up on stage. Here are some pictures from my phone of the group mimicking Kevin's every move.

The comedy was fun, and a good change up for about the price of a movie. The food was great, the entertainment was hilarious, and the company was most enjoyable.