Malia comes for the summer

 

     Malia is our 3 year old grand dog that belongs to Phillip.  She is a sweet and beautiful chocolate lab and she has come to visit for the summer from Park City.  Phillip says she loves to come to the beach for the summer, so on a recent visit from Phill and Challis - they left Malia to stay.  I love having her here, she helps me get motivated to walk, she gives me someone to visit with during the summer when Steve works so much - she thinks she is human.  Sometimes I believe she is better behaved than some humans and with that, she is welcome to stay as long as she feels comfortable and from the looks of the picture - she has made herself pretty much at home.Good dog.....

They do everything bigger in TEXAS

Self explanatory :)

     We traveled with our friends Sue and Ross Nooney to Texas to visit with our friends Wendi and Warren Wulstein and see their new spread.  We were fixin to have a good time, but with such hospitality we had a fabulous time. (They say things like that there, "spread" and "fixin")  All kidding aside, it was a better time that I had imagined, we saw sights, ate, laughed, ate, rode around, ate, walked the property, ate and drank - you get the picture.  Wendi and Warren showed us around and I was impressed by how nice everyone and everything was. Texas does alot of thing right, and I loved it there.

Lake LBJ

Downtown Austin on 6th Street

Nugget the mini donkey 

     Wendi and Warren actually live in Lampassas, Texas and run their business Premco from there in a nice location down by the river that runs thru the town.  We spent one day at Lake LBJ and it was so nice to have hot weather, be able to dip into the lake for a swim, enjoy the beautiful houses and we played a guessing game as to how much they were to purchase.  Wendi fixed a great boat picnic lunch and we really had a great time.  Besides seeing the sights in Lampassas we did go to down town Austin on the day the basketball finals were on TV and Dallas was playing - made for exciting times in the 6th street bar areas, and then a nice meal at the County Line Restaurant before heading back to "Ranch 820" their place.  We were introduced to Texas wine, of which I am now a fan - and a club member (surprise)!  The Fiesta Winery was right next to Warren and Wendi's place and we went for a dinner and tasting event, they had music and that too was a wonderful time.
     I was impressed, I loved the area and I can't wait to return many times.

It was a Memorial to Remember...

for a man we will never forget.  After months of planning and preparation, arrivals of nephews and nieces, aunts and uncles, children from coast to coast, and so many friends that it was overwhelming - we lay Mark brother to rest in Lompoc this past Friday.
It was a beautiful day, the weather cooperated to the best it could - and there must have been 130+ people here to enjoy the food and drink, friendships and stories and laughter.  Mark would have been proud, he would have been tickled to see people gathered together, talking about old times, planning on having new times together and just plain enjoying one another.

I will miss him always.  I am so happy and proud of the things he has taught me, and also for the lessons he continues to teach me about myself and our families, even now that he is gone.  But, he would have loved the way we celebrated him - friends and family, food and golf - it could not have gone better.

Appropriately during the day many people left to watch nephew Dalton play in the quarter final CIF baseball game held in town on that day as well. It was so great to be able to have the game in town, have relatives that had not seen him play were able to watch what may have been his final high school baseball game.   After an unbelievable try for a fly ball that was missed on young Daltons part that cost the team two runs, one of them being the go ahead run,  there must have been someone watching out for him as he then stepped up to bat in the bottom of the 7th with two outs and drove in the winning go ahead run to win the game 3-2.  Chaos, and all the while I KNOW Mark was watching - it was a grand day!  As Mark would say "and the crowd went wild!"

Now it is on to life as we have grown to know it.  Elizabeth will stay the week and I will watch her belly grown with my new grandniece in it - Nate will continue his stay through graduation day, continuing to make his stay something I will cherish forever.  Vic has returned to Johns Hopkins and the job she adores, and our new found Ashley - Nates girl, will start her new job tomorrow in Oregon where she and Nate will set up house and begin anew.  I really like her and hope that she continues to be good for Nate and they share continued happiness.  Marks friends enjoyed their time together with our family, hit the small white ball around in the wind during their stay - and we drank more wine that maybe we should have.  One thing I know for sure - we will "Just keep playing" at the game of life that Mark loved.  We will do it for Mark, and maybe more importantly, we will do it for ourselves because it is what he would want.

Cheers Mark Brother - I love you!