Happy 40th to me.... Dec 5, 2010

Wow...it's weird to say "I'm 40". I can't believe I have been around for 40 years. I have seen bell bottom pants, used Aqua Net for my hair, listened to Depeche Mode, visited Europe, graduated from college in the 90's, got married at 30 years old, had 3 kids and much more. I have certainly lived a memorable life so far. I have traveled to some great places, made lots of good friends along the way and have a wonderful family to share my joy with.
The kids and KC made my "big" day very special. They made me breakfast and while we ate I opened their gifts. Seth gave me some chocolates and Cali had cut out tons of snowflakes for me. It was so sweet of her. I even strung them together to made garland. KC got me an iPhone and I am wondering if it is for me or him?!?!? I'm not very techy and simple is better. However, a good friend told me that sometimes the gifts we get from our husbands may be things we one day can't live without. I am excited to learn my new phone and see what it does.
The next day we went to dinner at a new restaurant to us....Hula's in Monterey. Some friends from here came with us and that made it more fun.
So far the first 40 years have been pretty good and I know the next will be even better.

Boys!!!!! Sept 2010

Today Seth said something pretty funny. "So mom, you know the story of Lot where he and his family flee their home and Lot tells his wife not to look back? But she does and then she turns to salt." "Yes, Seth I know the story." Seth-"Well in those days the men had like 9 wives so it really didn't matter to him that she did that because he had 8 others...." Oh....kids will say the darndest stuff.
I guess I should just be happy that he is paying attention to bible stories...right??!!??

The Andersons Visit Aug 2010

It is so funny because we have had more visitors while living here so far than we ever had in San Diego. This month grandma and papa Anderson visited us for a weekend. We went downtown to the wharf where the kids got to hold a parrot.....pretty cool. Then, we drove the famous 17 mile drive where we stopped at the fancy shopping center and had lunch in our car. It was fun to have mom and Jack here to show them our new house, the kids new school, KC's new base and all the cool things to do around the town.

Our New Home.....Monterey

We are getting settled into our new 3 bedroom, 2 story, big front lawn, huge garage, great area home. We love it here and all the space. The kids got a tree swing for their birthdays and it fits perfect in the front tree. We have awesome neighbors who are friendly and helpful. We got the kids into Olson Elementary and things are looking good. This weather will take some getting use to (a bit colder than SD) but if that is the worse then we will survive.

We leave San Diego.......and live in Monterey.......

What a bitter sweet day, Aug 1, 2010. We woke up Sunday morning, packed the car and said goodbye to family (mom, jack, becky, rob, sherry and frank). They had all come in town for the kids party and Seth's baptism. We all stayed at the Anderson's house. I cried as we said our goodbyes and gave hugs (picture below). I know we will be back but it is still hard to leave home.
Once we got to Monterey we all felt much better and knew that our new journey would be fun. KC found us an AWESOME home and we all fell in love with it. We just might love this Monterey place.

Seth's Baptism

What a special day. KC had worked the whole month of July in Monterey and the kids and I stayed in Oceanside. However, at the end of the month KC flew home for the kids annual combined bday party and then Seth's baptism. Seth was so excited about this day and very proud.....and so were KC and I. It was a very nice program with lots of songs, a talk by Jack and a few other talks. It was a very emotional day because we were so happy for Seth but we were also saying goodbye to so many close friends (this was the day before we all drove to Monterey). After the baptism/confirmation we had dinner at Chili's. We sure do love you Seth.

Knoop Summer Family Vacation (end of June/first of July)

Well, we knew the boxes were off to Monterey and we had time to spend as a family (this was before the kids and I made our home at the Anderson's). We went on a week road trip. We visited with Aunt Chris and Uncle Irv out in Palm Desert and then off to the Meekers. We stayed with them for a couple of days where we got to spend a day on the water jet skiing and playing in the sand. Then, we all caravaned out to Deming for the annual Frank Knoop 4th of July. That is always a fun time with hometown get togethers and Frank's famous fireworks. We also got to see Travis and Stephanies home in Las Cruces. It is very nice. We had so much fun with family and friends.