My Favorite Birthday Cake Ever!!

Last Friday, my dad took Ryan and Katie for the day. They took time out of their day to make me a birthday cake. It tasted and looked great! Thanks to Ryan and Katie for their outstanding work!

Salute to Kids Day

On Saturday, I took the kids to Woodley Park for the Salute to Kids day. Everyone in the entire San Fernando Valley must have showed up for this event! It was packed! There were rides, entertainment, and of course, firetrucks and police cars. After about an hour, the kids were done because it was so crowded. Oh well, at least it was free!

Annual Christmas Pictures

A few years ago, my friend Ingrid had beautiful pictures taken of her son and daughter. She told me they were taken at Hooper Portraits in Newbury Park. They recently moved to Thousand Oaks, and are well worth the drive. We have used them for the past few years for our Christmas pictures of the kids, as well as some outstanding black and white photos of Ryan and Katie 2 1/2 years ago. Valerie, the owner, is great with the kids and always manages to make them laugh. What I love most, is that she seems to capture more of their natural smile, and not some phoney "cheese" smile. My plans are to go back next summer to have a family picture taken as well as individuals of the kids. These two pictures were taken while we were waiting for them to set up the studio. Natalie isn't in either one, because she was too busy exploring. You will see one of their photos in our Christmas card in the next few weeks.

Under a Blanket of Smoke

We woke up this morning to a blanket of smoke that was over our house. Since the Sylmar fire started, the winds put the smoke right over us, along with a great deal of ash and dirt. We are not in the line of the fire, which is about 3 miles away into the hills. I just hope that we can get some relief from the winds and heat soon.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Former Bruin, now Laker Jordan Farmar

That's right...it's basketball season. On Friday, UCLA had its second exhibition game against Biola. It wasn't much of a game, but still a lot of fun. Natalie stayed home, as well as Ryan, who decided he wanted to stay and play games with our neighbor Michelle. So Katie went along. She was excited because she wanted to go down on the floor and take pictures with the team. That is her favorite part! Now remember Katie's love from last year was Kevin Love. She still says that she misses Kevin, but from the looks of things, she's moved on. Of course, Ryan's favorite Bruin, now Laker, Jordan Farmar showed up to the game. Afterwards, he stayed and signed autographs and took pictures with the fans. Needless to say, Ryan was a little bummed when we told him the next morning. When Katie took her picture with Jordan, I told him about Ryan. Luckily, he will be at a few more games this season. I'm sure Ryan will not miss another game this season!

Alfred Aboya

Josh Shipp

Drew Gordan

Jrue Holiday

Election Day

I bet you can't tell who we voted for? The kids really got excited on election day, especially after going to the polls with me. Ryan kept asking all day when we would know the results and then sat and watched the returns with me. They were both excited when Barack Obama was announced as our next president!

Halloween

Natalie in her Minnie Mouse dress

Wonder Woman

Optimus Prime

Natalie decided she had enough trick-or-treating and
just wanted to sit on the sidewalk and eat!