Piano Team

Ethan was asked to be on a piano team this summer. He and four other kids his age played a duet-of-sorts (except five kids at the same time) of the classic "Mary Had A Little Lamb". It was a lot of extra team practices but it ended up being a fun experience. They got a superior rating at the recital. Not Baaaaaa-d!

I can't get the video of the performance to download, so here are a few pix...


Ethan's a Ladies Man....are Ewe?


Showing off the bling...


I had to include this for a good laugh. It's not hard to see who Ethan would mess around with during practices...

St. George Marathon 2009

You think that pictures scary? Imagine what I looked like AFTER the race! Seriously, do I have cute friends or what! This picture was taken at 5:00 am just as we were boarding the bus ride out to the start line of the St. George Marathon. This began what turned out to be a perfect day for a race! It was so much fun to have friends to bum around with at the start line...good laughs...time flew by and before I knew it we were lining up to go! I forgot my headphones (had the ipod) so I ran without my tunes. Guess what- it was actually kind of nice. I made a few new friends on the go and I think that without music I was forced to enjoy the basics of running. Even though I started to feel my quads and hamstrings around mile 22, I still really enjoyed this race! It was fun knowing that there were lots of close friends and family out there pounding the pavement with me this year. I finished the race with a personal best of 3:15:17. This qualified me for Boston and the plan is to go and race Boston in 2010 with 5 other couples that we love to hang with. I told Darren at the end of the St. George Marathon that I must really like to run because even though I was sore and tired I could honestly say that I love to run and I had lots of fun doing this race. I think he may have caught the bug, too, because I think I have him toying with the idea of doing a half marathon early next year! Yeah!

Boomers- Aug. 2009

The boys love Boomers- a little amusement park that we go to in CA. These pictures are of our trip to this place when we were at the Bryan reunion. The older kids ride go-karts and basically get kicked out for ignoring rules while the little ones ride smaller rides and play mini golf. Honestly, this place is a rip off but we always get suckered into going. This year we got in a bit cheaper- Ethan fell on a puddle of water outside the restrooms. I talked to the manager and he asked if I wanted to fill out an injury report. I said no, but I'd take free tickets. Cha-ching. That's how it's done, sista.

Best of Both Worlds

I thought this was a pretty cool... One night I went out to the beach with Blake and Keaton. If you looked toward San Diego you would see the moon coming up. If you looked toward Huntington Beach, you could still see the sun as it was starting to set.

Newport Beach 2009

Another fabulous year on the Newport sand with the Bryan family. We stayed in the same beach house, went to our (same) favorite destinations, and had our SAME fun! *Southern California = Summer* for our family. We get to play with our cousins and enjoy the GooD life! Why isn't Darren in any pictures, you ask? We took turns going out to the beach (Nash napped) and I usually had the camera.

Mr. Blake

Nothing. And I mean nothing. NOTHING is safe from being sold by my Blake. He sells candy, sea shells, lemonade, toys, ROCKS. And the scary thing is this: they sell! His latest sale featured all the goods he got from a birthday party that he went to last weekend. When we went to pick him up he was filling (FILLING) his gallon ziploc full of birthday garb. And don't think he wasn't planning his sale all along as he rummaged for more stuff. The next day he wasted no time getting going as he filled the candy stand with candy, the Halloween bucket with toys, and prepped the cash register. He was getting ready to top the $4.50 he made the previous weekend selling candy from the pantry. I don't know what he ended up with, but I'll tell you that he had several patrons and made some dough. I feel like I should issue a heart-felt "sorry" to all the moms on this street who have kids begging them for quarters so they can buy something from Blake. Which brings me to another point. If you are going to come to this store, please bring quarters. Blake prefers those...

ps- the car seat was not for sale. Blake decided it was a good seat to perch on while I washed the cover. Check out the simple set up, though.

Disneyland - August 2009

Another fun-filled DL trip for the Bryans. We make great memories here...it's where Blake broke his arm, Darren got his first official Disney t-shirt after being thrown-up on, Blake getting on all fours to drink from a puddle (few years ago- he likes fresh water now), Ethan going single rider on Cali Screamin', bunk beds, churros...just to name a few.