Missing You Already

Today we lost one of the GREATS.  And I mean that in every sense of the word.  Grandpa Llama as we called him, was all that and more.

We have so many GREAT memories with him, he was just the best!  There are SO many things we will miss about him. 

We were so lucky to have spent so much time with him over the past few years, but we were also blessed to be with him in his last few days.  Each of our kids got to visit with him, and spend time with him...he always smiling. 

He loved his family so much, and never missed a chance to tell us how much he loved us.  After he was gone Grandma Carolyn decided we should take his credit card and go to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, Saletti's.

We had just passed this restaurant on the way to his house, and it made me cry because it was the last restaurant we had shared a meal with him.  It was difficult for me not to miss him being there.

We toasted to Grandpa, and although he was ready, selfishly I wish we still had more time.

Blue and Gold

Friday night we had dinner at the church for Chase's Blue and Gold banquet.  Grandpa and Grandma Denning were in town and were able to be there as well which made it even more special. 

Dinner was great, but the real action didn't start until after the meal.  It was time for the dessert auction!  All the proceeds from our auction go toward the boys day camp in the summer.  Chase bought this giant cookie for the bargain price of $10.

I knew exactly what I wanted and was holding out bidding for this sweet red velvet cake (that I brought).  Believe it or not once I thought I had won, Matt decided to get in on the bidding and tried to outbid me!  Not sure who ended up "winning" but we paid a nice price for this sweet treat.

Game Over

Basketball season ended this past week for Chase.  This year we were cheering for our little number 3 on the Snicker Doodler team.

Sadly I missed most of the season because I was in California.  Grandma and Grandpa Denning were able to make some of his games, and thanks to them, I have some great pictures.  I LOVE this picture....sizing up the other team :)

Matt volunteered to do scoreboard for the home team games.  Apparently he read the schedule backwards, so he ended up starting out doing all the away team games, then found out no one corrected him, sooo....he was lucky enough to get yelled at almost every game (parents can get crazy about that score). 

There was plenty of on the court play, but it was great to see these guys cheering from the bench as well.

Our team ended the season going into playoffs in the 3rd seed.  We won the first playoff game, and lost the second game in overtime...lost by one basket in the last 5 seconds.  It was intense, but a fun game to watch.  Time for one last cheer...

We had some amazing coach's this year, actually the best we have ever had (and let me tell ya we have had some great one's).  They planned a really fun party at our local pizza joint for our team.  We made a little treat for all the team, and gave the coach's some dinner gift certificates to enjoy a night out on the town.

We had a great time partying with this crew....

Chase's coach made a great speech about each of his players, and recognized them each individually, which I thought was really special.  I think Chase may have even blushed a little :)

We partied late into the evening, eating too much pizza, cake, and of course no party is complete with this team without SNICKER DOODLES! 

Wacky Wednesday

Our Wednesday began like no other before...

With cereal in the bathroom,

shoes down the hall,

underwear on the table,

and socks on the wall!

We had a SEUSSICAL breakfast.  We had schlopp, schlopp, wonderful schlopp, wonderful schlopp with a cherry on top! (Sadi wasn't too sure about the "wonderful" part).  We had cat in the hat parfaits (strawberries and whip cream), and what was suppose to be pink yink ink drink.  I could seriously only find this peeps strawberry milk...which ended up not even being pink which kinda ruined the name.  But the kids still loved it.

Then it was time to get ready to head off to school.  I packed them a fun lunch for the day.  There was goose juice, one fish, two fish,  green eggs with ham (I used plastic Easter eggs and filled them with ham and cheese), and "some things" for a treat.

I sent them off with a note:  "You're off to great places!  Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way!" -Dr. Seuss.  Along with that, was a little hop on pop popcorn.

I think the best part of Dr. Seuss day is all the reading, at school, and at home.

It was a wacky and wonderful Happy Seuss day!

Valentine's

It felt like I just got off the plane and it was Valentine's day...which it almost was.  Luckily I had planned ahead of time to get the kids Valentine's gifts ready before I left.  Felt a little weird putting these together the beginning of January, but I am so happy we did.  This year's teacher valentines were kept simple:  "Happy Valentine's to a flippin' awesome teacher!"

Sadi picked out these cute Frozen themed valentine's made with otter pops because "Some people are worth melting for". 

Chase's class is ALWAYS saying "awesome sauce", it's kind of their class theme now.   So we made up the perfect valentine for his class:  "Your awesome sauce valentine".  Tied it up with a squeezable applesauce...perfect for 5th graders.

I spent the day in school skipping from class to class...neglected to get one single photo.  I was tired, and mentally trying to get back into things.  This year Valentine's day landed on Sunday and so the kids got some "cereal-ously" love from me....and I got to sleep in.

We just kind of relaxed all day, played outside, and Matt made dinner for just the two of us.  I did remember to get him a little something too.  Saw this cute idea on pintrest and decided to make my own version.  I tied up a little gift for each sense (Taste:nuts, Sight: sunglasses, Smell: Car freshener and cologne, Touch: loofah and shower gel, Sound: Taco Bell gift card).  Pretty sure he loved it.

Must have still been tired because...not one single picture of the kids or us together.  It was a nice day, and great to relax for the weekend before really getting back to the grind.

Day in San Francisco

The last day I was in California, we were free to do a little sight seeing.  A friend and I decided to head out early in the morning to San Francisco and take the trip to Alcatraz, the famous prison which is an island only about a mile off the coast.

I had been there once as a kid and still remembered how cool it was.  When you arrive on the island you are welcomed by a national park representative who gives you a brief overview of what there is to see and do.  The first buildings you see are these apartments that those who worked on the island lived in (mostly prison guards and their families).

Chase and I had just finished a book series about Alcatraz that made these buildings really come to life as they had in the book.  Once up in the main prison you are given a headset that takes you on your own personal walking tour around the prison (this I still remembered from when I was a kid).  These cells really told about prison life on the "rock".

This is one of the dummy heads made by one of the only successful prison breaks on the rock in June of 1962.  The inmates made paper mache heads using real hair from the barber shop to escape being caught during nighttime rounds.  Pretty realistic looking. The hole in the wall just beyond the bed is where they used spoons to chisel their way out behind the vent, where they then climbed up the pipes to the roof of the prison .  It took them over a year to plan and execute this escape.  Their bodies were never found and some still believe they made it off the island alive.

It was a beautiful day to explore the island, although you cannot tell from all the smog looking back across the bay.  This is the closest I got to the golden gate bridge.

Probably the most exciting thing about Alcatraz was meeting this once former inmate #1259, William Baker (now 82 years old).  He was there signing a book he had written about life in prison on Alcatraz.  He was first imprisoned for check fraud, and was sent to Alcatraz because of an escape attempt from Leavenworth.  He has spent over 50 years in prison, and was just released on parole in 2011...which made me wonder if he was still conning people.

It was interesting to talk to him about some of his experiences, and about some of the more infamous inmates like Al Capone.  He said they hardly ever saw him because he was always in the infirmary due to his being "bad in the head" (syphilis).  He said the worst part of Alcatraz for him was the day he arrived on the boat, and the best part was the day he left.  I knew Chase would love that I met a prisoner, so I bought a baseball and had him autograph it with his inmate number on it for a souvenir.

We left Alcatraz and headed inland and walked around a bit and enjoyed watching the Sea lions playing on Pier 39.  We then found a little famous place to get a bite to eat.....

I am not a seafood lover, but I decided I would go all in while we were there .  And man it was good!  Mahi Mahi with shrimp over a bed of mashed potatoes and smothered in a lobster sauce....this meal alone is worth going back.

I was happy when I got to see my very last sunset in California before heading home.

Super Bowl 50

Work this year for me was Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California.  I can't say it was my favorite city, but rather just....meh.  The weather wasn't horrible, but wasn't always great.  It rained quite a bit while I was there, adding to the "meh" factor. 

Levi Stadium is pretty nice, but again nothing spectacular.  I only got to go in the stadium once, but they were getting ready to practice the halftime performance and so they had the field covered which really took away from what it looked like for Sunday(or so I'm guessing).

It was long work days which meant most of what I saw going to and from the hotel was either completely dark,

 or the sun just rising....

I spent most of my time inside working, so I missed the sunshine (when it was out).  This is the crew I worked with this year (minus a few).  We had an awesome parking team this year.

Other than seeing our crew everyday, this is the extent of what I saw of the actual game....

The flyover of the stadium by the Blue Angels.  To be honest this was the worst flyover I have seen, they flew slow and nothing spectacular to it.  Again adding it to the "meh" factor.  Although there was nothing spectacular about this year, I am still glad I had the opportunity to go.  Now it's time to play catch up at home.