Spring in Ellensburg

Easter at our house. My brother Ryan, my cousin Renee, my mom LaVerne, and me.

My mom and I, Ryan sneaking in the picture.

Nate in his pitching debut.

What a sweet swing!

Tia in the Cinderella ballet.

What a character! He always makes us laugh.

I love this picture!

Nate turns a Decade

Nate turned 10 on January 10. I can't believe ten years has gone by already! I'm sad that he's already half way done living at our house...

Friends from Nate's AAU team came over for some Rock Band after they all went to see "Mall Cop". Zander (drums), David Picha (waving with guitar), Major (guitar), Nate, and Jacob Sparling had a fun afternoon that started with Rock Band and progressed to a big wrestling match on the ottoman! Thankfully no one ended up crying!

Mario had to show his skills for the boys.

Pizza dinner before we all headed to the CWU basketball game! Go WILDCATS!

Tia Turns 8!

Mario and Nate took Tia and two of her friends to see Marley and Me and then to ice cream at Winegar's for her 8th birthday. After the movie, I got a text from Mario saying "we have 3 sobbing girls and 1 boy!" Now, I'm not jumping to conclusions or anything (I always try to give the benefit of the doubt), but Nate is a pretty tough kid, so I can only guess who the "1 boy" was...
After the movie, it was all smiles on Winegar's comfy chairs.

PLEASE...don't take our picture!!!!!

Tia got some wishing bears from Grandma Margot and Aunt Mitos.

My dad gave Tia his "T" belt buckle with an inscription on the back. It was something special that Papa Tom could give to Tia.

Christmas 2008

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with family! May you have a happy new year, filled with many blessings!

We celebrated Christmas with my folks over in Post Falls, ID. Dad is still in the hospital there, so we set up a class room for our get together with mom and dad, Ryan, Dustyn, and Taylor, and us. The hospital made a delicious Christmas dinner of ham, potatoes, corn, salad, rolls, and dessert just for us. We are so thankful that they were so accomodating. It was a wonderful day spent with family. We spent Christmas afternoon in Ellensburg with Mario's mom and sister eating pasta made by the wonderful chefs at Costco. We opened gifts and then watched Horton Hears a Who that evening.

Darius with his pile of gifts...being 3 does have advantages!

Thomas is still a favorite toy, even for Nate and Tia.

Handy Manny is pretty cool, too! Even more cool when we actually read the directions and put him together correctly...I knew there was a reason for including the instruction manual...

Uncle Ryan...the battery man!

Scrooge setting up my dad's digital picture frame with some pictures of Ryan's kids. We even loaded up some of his favorite Elvis tunes on it so he could listen while watching.

Uncle Ryan passed on his horse umbrella to Tia. She thought that was pretty cool.

"Subway...eat fresh!"

What a great gift! And I think I shocked my whole family on Christmas morning when I actually used it and did not burn the eggs!

My mom and dad!

Tia, me and my grandma. While we were taking this picture, Darius was getting reprimanded by a lady (in a walker, no less) for touching the musical decorations in the cafeteria. She practically chased us out of the room, so we took that as our cue to leave!

Christmas morning at our house...Santa came and didn't leave any coal...Phew! Dar got a remote control excavator. He loves that!

Tia got a Barbie Cruise ship (complete with a swimming pool...sure to make many messes that will make mom so happy that Santa brought this gift!)

Nate is so excited about his new iPod...thankfully he only listens to classical and country music on it! :)

Mario shows his excitement about the new sonicare toothbrush I got him! He must have REALLY wanted clean teeth this year because he got me the same exact gift!

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Ready for the Talent Show

We trained for this with rigorous daily workouts. Success!

Not to be outdone...Nate and Tia joined the training program. Success by three. What talent we have passed on to our children.

Nutcracker 2008

Tia's first performance in the Nutcracker. The Stage Door Dance Ensemble performed with the CWU Orchestra and Jazz Band. She was a Droplet and a Party Boy...she really liked being a boy...but she pulled it off! Here she is in the dressing room in her Droplet outfit waiting to go onstage.

Tia as a Party Boy. Showing a little attitude!




Proud Dad giving Tia her bouquet of flowers after her performance.

It's official we are ROCK BAND freaks......or geeks. You decide. Nate likes to get online and sub in for other bands. We monitor that of course. Tia likes to sing and play guitar. Darius jams hard on an unplugged guitar (ssshhh). Our band name is the Googsters if you want to Rock sometime!