HAPPY 28TH BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!!!!!

Today is Kevin's 28th birthday. He is my second child and second son. Kevin weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was very, very long. He was born a year and 20 days after Erik, so many times when they were growing up, people thought they were twins (even though they looked nothing alike)

Kevin has always been tall and very blonde with his blue eyes. He has always been very athletic and loved football, basketball, baseball and lacrosse. He played all of these during his growing up years and high school. He ended up being the tallest of all the boys at 6 foot 4 inches tall. He has always had a happy personality, but

not as outgoing as Erik. This picture is of his 18th birhtday (10 years ago). Kevin has had several nicknames throughout the years a few being: The Weasel, Weez, and Lucky. While playing football, Kevin was quarterback and Receiver. He had more moves and was very successful in getting touchdowns. Hence the name Weasel. Weez is just the shortened version of Weasel. Kevin has always been the Lucky one. He could find money lying around anywhere. Erik would work so hard for his money and Kevin would just go out and find it. Hard to teach a child to work when he is that lucky.

Kevin has always been a sports fanatic. He loved the San Francisco 49ers in football with Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. He loved the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan. (Sorry Utah Jazz).

He has always been a great brother and friend to Erik, Beth and Tyler. Beth and Kevin became really good friends when they carpooled to High School together. While they were young, you could never put Kevin and Beth in the same room together, because they would fight. Thank goodness they grew out of that! Kevin married Andrea several years ago. They have no children yet, (but we can always hope it will be soon). He is working in commercial real estate with Coldwell Bankers and renting our house in Utah until theirs closes and they can find another one. Have a happy birthday, Kevin, we love you and miss you tons!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREA!

Happy 25th Birthday, Andrea! Yes, today is Andrea's birthday.

We just came back from Utah and visiting with the kids and spending the weekend with everyone on the lake. We had so much fun visiting with everybody and being able to be together as a family.

Andrea tried wakeboarding this time in Lake Mead and was able to get up, stay up and inspired me to try again (and again, and again) to try to get up. She did such a good job of it. I was finally able to get up (for a while) on the wakeboard. Thanks Andrea for the inspiration!

We are so glad to have Andrea in our family. She is so much fun and so kind to everybody. She keeps most of us looking good, by doing our hair. (Some of us need all the help wecan get!) She is so funny and so fun to be around. She owes me big time, since I saved her from the g i a n t spider that was about to attack her.

Here are a few pictures of Andrea (Annie). I hope you have a great birthday and are able to go and do something fun. Think of me as you are eating your Cold Stone, Cookies and Cream Birthday Cake. Love you lots !

Happy Birthday, Erik!

Today is Erik's 29th birthday. I just had to put a cute baby picture of him on here. He was our first child. Always happy and always singing. He continued that all his life. Erik will break out in song at any time and any where. He actually has a good singing voice and is not inhibited at all.

Erik was always a good baby and always was a good big brother to Kevin, Beth and later Tyler. He was his Grandpa Harper's grandson and he idolized his Grandpa. He and Grandpa were the most alike, some say he even looks quite a bit like him (especially now with the bald head)

Erik loved baseball, football and basketball while growing up, but his favorite obsession was his '68 mustang he got when he was 16. He worked on restoring it and loved to drive it everywhere. Rhonda, was her name. He had her while he was on his mission to Bolivia and she was waiting for him when he came home. He finally sold her, with much sadness, after he was married.

Erik is very talented with everything he does. He is a hard worker and a great dad. He has 3 sons and does alot with them. He can make friends whereever he goes, just like his grandpa, except now he can speak spanish and has even more friends.

I hope you have a great birthday, Erik. We can't wait to celebrate with you when we come down this week.

Here is a flashback picture of your 19th birthday just before your mission and the other is a current one taken last December. Have a Happy Brithday, Erik! Love ya!

Don't You Wish You Were Here?

Dennis and I had a great weekend! Saturday we went to Seaside, Oregon to one of the biggest car shows (old cars) that I have ever been too. They had over 500 cars there and they were great! Dennis, of course, was going crazy over many of them. We hit this show last year when we were visiting Oregon and could not believe the cars. It was fun this year to walk around Seaside (they close off the main street, several parking lots and side streets) and see what was there.

The above car was one really cool one there, very expensive! Has a wooden boat rear end. There also was this cute truck pulling this great trailer.

If anyone is looking for a birthday, Christmas, or any old reason present for Dennis; he would gladly take this Wagon. He really likes the nomads! There were several there to drool over. Don't say I 've never given you any hints now.

Because Seaside is on the Coast, they also had a kite competition on the beach going on. It was a very overcast (foggy) day at the beach, but they had some great kites! The Nemo and dad kite was HUGE! It had to be about 12 feet in length and just about as fat. Fun to see all the kites being flown. (sorry I have tried everything I know to get the pictures to intersperse throughout the type, but can not do it. Have called Beth, Andrea and Karen for help, but no one home so,this is how you get it. Maybe next blog)

Labor Day Weekend

Okay, I did it again! Labor Day Weekend we went to California to spend it with Dennis' Mom. I flew down so I could get me free ticket on Southwest, and Dennis drove down on Thursday night. On Wednesday, when I got there, I went with Karen, Jason, Haley, and Mom to the Oakland Temple where they had a special exhibit in the Visitors Center. It was sculptures done by a woman who had just started sculpting. They were incredible! They were all about the Saviors life and one was life sized of the Savior. He had his hands reaching out to you and you were able to put your hand in his. What an incredible experience that was. It was kind of emotional too, to realize that you will someday be able to do that when you see him again face to face.

It was also fun to go to the Oakland Temple Grounds. That was where 30 years ago Dennis and I were Married. It is still a beautiful Temple with a great view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. What a fun day. Thanks Karen for seeing the advertisement about the exhibit. We spent one day driving to Jenner by the Sea, and stopped at all the fun places along the way. One was Sebastopol. We went to a farmer's market they had there. It was a fun day and not too crowded for Labor Day weekend. The rest of the weekend we relaxed and Dennis did some work on his Mom's house. Oh, did I mention that it was hot? It was 106 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It cooled off to the 90s on Sunday and Monday. We love to go to California!

I've Been Tagged

Oh my gosh, my first tag! Beth, tagged me on this so I will try to do it.

3 Current Goals

1. To lose weight (Traveling, Age and Moving has really done me in)
2. To make a Quilt (I have always wanted to do one, even took some classes, but have not had the time to make one yet.)
3. To get into geneology. I would love to get going on this!

3 Current Obsessions

1. Reading, I love, love, love to read!
2. Traveling with Dennis, We love to explore all of Oregon; especially the coast
3. Sewing and Crocheting, I guess that is not current, but ongoing.

3 Fears

1. Losing a Family member
2. Getting really sick myself
3. Economy

3 Random Facts

1. I really miss not seeing my kids and Grandkids all the time.
2. I get emotional really easy. (Dennis can't believe the things that make me tear up)
3. I really like living in Oregon, except for not having any family up here.

Okay, Beth, I did it. I guess I can tag everyone else now.
Consider Yourself tagged!