Swimming!

Bailey has taught Coop how to swim, dive, bob, float....and he hasn't even started official lessons from her yet:) There is nothing like hanging by the pool, on a hot day, breeze through the trees, snow capped mountain backdrop, bright blue skies... and an asshole in his bath robe emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer....JK, had to fit that Christmas Vaca in. It just sounded right:)

Check out this pro diver! So cute! Love this boy.

SF GIANTS!

What an awesome field...right on the Bay! We weren't planning on it being so cold...but how can you NOT enjoy a place like this; baseball, garlic fries, crazy fans, with your son, ahhhh YES! Curtis and the guys had awesome seats! Blake and I....not so much:) But it still was fun and totally worth it. We went down in time for Brian Wilson to close....legit!

My view from where we ate lunch on Pier 39.......Mmmmm good seafood!






Fear the Beard!





Blake and his Sprite...on the rocks!

Only here would you be able to sit at the bar with your 16 yr old....great learning opp:) In fact, the whole night was....

The crew....Kelly and Cody made it down from Yakivegas, Tyler, and Kyle

Riding the BART back to San Ramon

I Love, Love

Congrats Craig and Tyrenda!
Our amazing friend, Craig got married this weekend near San Francisco. Not gonna lie, I am not one for weddings (for few reasons), but I was overcome with the love shown this weekend between family and friends. Craig is a great guy and I am so happy for him and his journey. Tyrenda got one fab man. And, by the looks of it, he is one lucky man as well. Ty is a beautiful woman with an adoring family who knows what it takes to love, care, and support one another. I am so glad to have met them. Im also grateful Curt and I got to spend this little trip with Blake (gotta take advantage of these opportunities). He insisted he come to see "Uncle Craig" get married. In fact his exact words that convinced us were, "Craig is like my uncle. If something happened to you guys, I would want to go live with him!" That tugged on Curts heartstrings. We realized that Craig has always been there for our boys and family.... SO, of course Blake would want to share this day with them. So glad we did. Although, some of you may not believe, Blake can be extremely annoying....and it showed the drive home:)
The Drive there....eyes on the road Blake....eyes on the road!

Not a good back seat driver. I could never drive with him when he was "in training." I yell too much and suck all the oxygen out of the car. Waddayado?

A stop at the Salt Flats...pretty cool

The Wedding <3
I had to throw this old photo in....It's at BR's Wedding....LOOK AT BLAKE! Do you wanna puke in your mouth a little? I DO!


Look at my handsome guys!

Curt (Craigs bro), Kalynne, the girls, Libby and Brenna



I love to watch the Groom as his Bride comes down the isle:)



Rehearsal and lunch




The boys...Little Willie, Little Marcus, and Todd (Ty's son)

Ty's Mom, Chelece, and Marcus...Awesome peeps!

Michelle and Willie (Ty's sis and "Man of the House":) More awesome peeps!

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE?

You've got that "ness"

I love the movie "You, Me, and Dupree" where Owen Wilson is describing what "ness" is. He says, "you've got that 'ness'...it's your name...with 'ness'." I think that is the best way to describe what it means to be in your element. So, I would have Missyness:) See how good that sounds! There was a time where I did not have "ness." When I had the shop, it was the worst two years of my life. It was all I could do to survive....I was not in my element nor could recognize my purpose as a mom, friend, sister, wife, human being...not in any aspect of my life. I truly, TRULY wanted to die. I remember sitting in the shop with my Dad, crying, saying, "I'm just lost! I don't have what it takes, I can't get back to who I am!" All the struggles and sacrifices Curt and I had made to get to where we were (school, career, home, financially) and in that one decision to quit teaching and purchase a business almost blew everything. Since I was 17, Curt 19, we were "on our own" and made our way for ourselves. Luckily, I was able to get out of it (not the way I would have intended) but am genuinely grateful for being able to sell our house/farm, make a profit, get back to teaching, etc. and find my "ness" again.



My point, I will never forget that state of being, for two reasons. 1) Now I know what it takes for me to endure and value my "ness." 2) Everyone will be in that state at some point, in one aspect or another, in their life. People who you care and/or interact with. Knowing that, I am more likely to be empathetic and not judge those who may be struggling with their "ness":) Guess what my Dad (and the people who care about me) did? Nothing. They couldn't. It has to come from the source....yourself. All they could do was simply be there to listen, empathize, and not judge. I can't tell you what that did for me. It doesn't matter if it's their fault, someone else's, mother nature, whatevs....it's life. If you're in that state now....it will pass, so don't do anything rash;) Be patient (I hate it when people say that to me, I really need to figure that word out).

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Going through these Masters classes, I have realized something valuable. I love my job....it's where my "ness" is.....next to being a Mom. I may not be the best teacher in every sense of the word, but I know and love kids for everything they have to offer. An author describes it as The Dance-"The old empower the young with experience and the young empower the old with new life."-Parker Palmer. Good stuff.

"Jared loves God more than Stephanie?"

I don't remember Blake or Chase asking as many questions as Coop does about God, Jesus, life, death, etc.... Many times my answer is, "that is a great question Coop, I will get back to you on that one." He's 7! My gosh kid, how does this go on in your head? How do you have time?:) We have people over once a week (try) and we've been hammering through the story of Jesus....getting to know who he is. Ya think you know someone?:) Let me tell you how much can be learned through the life of that man. Amazing stuff. Anyway, Jared and Stephanie moved here a year ago with their baby girl Fayth. They are like family to us and we immediately created a bond/community with them. Jared (a Pastor) was talking about his love for Jesus and how that motivates him in his life to be a disciple...blah blah blah:) He said, "God is my first love, he comes first, even before my wife. I love God more than Steph, and she knows that." Coop overheard us and later said to me "Mom, Jared said he loves God more than Steph....," (as if there were need for concern). Regardless, that opened up a can of worms for Cooper. Last night, we were snuggling in my bed and he started with the question, "So, why do people love Jesus? Like, why was it him? And, how did they know?" He wasn't asking because he doubts his love or knowledge of Jesus, it was more like 'how did Jesus and his life/death directly affect us?' The answers are pretty intense, which make the question pretty deep. We talked about it for awhile and it ended with the question, "where exaclty is heaven then?" "Where did earth come from?" And, "where did God come from?" All good questions son.....all good questions. Let me know when you find out that last one:)
I could only wish that I was capable of asking these questions at that age. I didn't start questioning until I had Blake and had to figure shit out for MYSELF real quick like ......still am. It's freedom knowing that I can have that relationship, no restrictions, middle man, checklist, or guilt. My hope for my kids is that they do exactly what Cooper is doing....critically quesitoning to explore possibilities to know who Jesus is.

Cute Fayth....SHE'S 2 TODAY!

We love this girl....She's 2 and teaches us all so much!