It's Time to Celebrate!

It’s Time to Celebrate!

              What do you like to celebrate? What are the things in your life that make you feel all excited to be alive?

              This sounds like an advertisement if ever I read one. Yuck Yuck Yuck! I wanted to write about the things we did in January because we celebrated! The problem is that during all of that celebrating I forgot to take pictures, or I have some very anemic, sad and miserable pictures. None of which screamed CELEBRATE! I thought that if I started talking about celebrations and encouraged all of you out there reading this to think about your celebrations then this post would somehow magically write itself into a worthwhile piece but as you can see from the small snippet above it is contrite and annoying.

              Instead I have decided to write about we did, hopefully the few pictures that I do have along with my mad writing skills you will get a full sense of the celebration that was January 2019.

              To start off a longtime family friend is getting married! Weddings are always a great way to celebrate and I cannot be happier about this one in particular. I have known Shannon since grade school; I actually cannot remember when we met because we have known each other forever. In the second grade my Mom got a job working at Oak Ridge Private School, my sister and I also started attending and that is where we met Shannon.  We all grew up together, along with her brother Shawn, going to school together and then everything else together. We went camping in the Eastern Sierras catching fish “this big”, spending summer nights running around the Orange County fair and eating countless French Fries at Islands. As we grew older she was always there for every event KROQ Weenie Roast, milestone Birthdays (Julie turned 30 and Shannon decorated my entire house with handmade decorations!), weddings, wedding showers and baby showers. She would show up to everything with a huge smile, an infectious laugh and make the event seem like the most important thing to ever happen in the history of the world. She makes things fun. She makes them special. Women who love and support Shannon were given the opportunity to shower her with all of the affection and attention that she has paid us throughout the years with an elegant brunch bridal shower in January. I am so pleased that Shannon has found someone that is lavishing all the love on her that she herself gave to everyone around her. Lee is wonderful and makes things special for Shannon. Congratulations!

I really like taking pictures of food apparently! I got exactly one picture with people in it!

              January is a big month for birthdays; we have Obachan (Grandma Yasuko), my Mom (Jean) and my daughter (Allison). I love celebrating the woman in my family with parties, dinners out and dinnersin with family game night. Happy Birthday!

              We are experiencing winter here in Southern California, which means rain and temperatures that *gasp!* dip down into the low fifties. While that happens the landscaping at our house has been flourishing. Two years after the start of our yard remodel the plants have really taken hold. We got rid of the grass and gained so much more. That is something to celebrate. While the wind howls and the rain falls outside the kids are enjoying some lazy days and I am baking to keep the house warm and cozy.

              I hope you all enjoy your celebrations as much as I do, but maybe not so much that you forget to take pictures. See you soon!

              

Nature!

Nature!

              My last post was all about the lovely memories of family and love at the end of 2018; this post is about a different set of memories from 2018. I live in the suburbs of Orange County, CA and every morning after walking Allison to school I go on a longer walk checking out neighborhoods and strip malls. This type of environment generally does not have wild nature, it is mostly manicured lawns and perennials blooming in brick flower beds. A few houses and cities are adopting the new style of landscaping including drought tolerant and native plants, boulders and succulents delicately soaking in the morning sun. I listen to the radio and bird song as I make my way past elementary schools and parks but every once in awhile I come across the other side of nature.

              Enjoy the wonders of the natural world as seen in an Orange County suburb!

This one was actually in Los Banos, CA but I was still on a walk. Nature and all of it's power can be see everywhere.

This guy may have just been sleeping off a pretty epic night.

            Remember to open your eyes this weekend and maybe you too can see some interesting sights. Happy Saturday!

Goodbye 2018, thanks for the memories!

Goodbye 2018, thanks for the memories!

            I love Disneyland, I love the Holidays and above all else I love making memories with my family. My family that I was born into, married into and then just plain adopted. I can never have enough people around me or events to share with those people.

Last Christmas I decorated the house on November 1^st! I just could not help myself and since it was my tenth wedding anniversary it felt like the perfect gift! Terry was fortunate to get his hands on a Beta test of Fallout 76 so to the tune of dying zombies and flaming pitchforks the funky Christmas ornaments were hung with care. William thought my whimsical Kristmas Kringles ornaments were scary and wouldn’t let me hang them. So after he got tired of helping me I snuck them on the tree, he was shocked and appalled the next day to find presents with high heels and fish lips hanging from our tree. Eventually he got over it. 

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Every year we are so lucky to enjoy Disneyland at the Most Magical Time of the Year with Uncle Tim. Thank you Uncle Tim! William and Allison got to ride the fire truck down Main Street USA for the first time last year. No more strollers for us, they are now old enough to walk on their own. Well almost on their own, William did need a little help at the end with a ride on Terry’s shoulders. Each year the kids enjoy a little bit more than they did the year before, from It’s A Small World, the Christmas Fantasy Parade and Viva! Navidad they are following in holiday traditions that I enjoyed with my parents. 

Christmas day dawned with a beautiful cloud display; Santa had visited along with the reindeer! The cookies and apples were eaten and a huge pile of presents were left for Allison and William, even Terry and I got a few fun toys in our stockings. Then we headed over to my parent’s house for dinner and another pile of presents waited to be opened. An epic snowball fight, with homemade cotton snowballs, ensued and Alyssa beat the pants off of Gabriel and Xander. Her softball arm was the secret weapon. 

       
           Thank you Uncle Eric for our Christmas present of a trip to Knott’s Merry Farm! All of the Camp Snoopy favorites were visited and a few of the newer roller coasters. Allison has become quit the little daredevil and cannot get enough of the fast rides, if she is tall enough she will ride it! William loved the Big Rigs and the Train.  

New Year’s Eve came blowing in through Southern California, the wind kicked up the fire and swirled our cries of delight high into the air for the whole neighborhood to hear. Spending time goofing off with the White Elephant Gift Exchange and some very competitive Beer Pong was a positive start to 2019. 

For the first time our little family headed out to Riverside to the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa for the Festival of Lights! It was a really fun and really cold walking the downtown area at night enjoying all of the million of twinkle lights adorning the old buildings. A horse drawn carriage ride, the likes of which Cinderella herself would have approved, was the perfect ending to the evening. It was so much fun exploring a new tradition with Heather and Carlos in their perfectly cute neighborhood. 

The end of 2018 was fun for me and I hope it was for all of you. Happy New Year!