... another river trip...

shells by the shore...

we went to Lake Mead for 4 days. We had such a great time... to relax, get away for a while, shop at the outlets a little, time in the sunshine and playing in the water. I am so glad we went. We hadn't been since April and this is something we usually do pretty often. Eric's parents have a "second house" out there which has been fun to have quality family time to spend together with them as often as we can! We love the time there. There is nothing like being out at the river....

Mary ( Eric's mom ) with our girls.
Mary took the pix below along with a hundred more that look just like this.... :) i think we all got so excited that she didn't realize how far out she was on the frame of the camera... but i swear this is me. and my reason for posting such a pix, well i have tried to ski for 6 years and have had so many attempts to ski it could make someone sick, well i finally got up... i stayed up until a wake came and i crashed hard... i hope next time i get right up again and don't crash so hard. but anyhow, yeah i did it! finally. it feels good to accomplish this....

Eric is amazing. mike and Mary don't have a tower but with a simple wake board rope Eric is able to still do quite a bit! he is amazing with both water skiing and wake boarding.... the kids and i love watching him, you never know what he'll do next! he's crazy.

the coolest site ever.......... mike tried wake boarding after a 2 second verbal lesson from Eric..... guess they make a great team cause he got up! and even crossed the wake......... how cool.... a trip this was........ with me skiing and him wake boarding..... we are all still learning new and exciting things out there after 100's of trips out there. the fun never stops!

... summer birthdays ...

... keeping things simple we had a back yard party to celebrate the summer and a small portion of this time was taken to have a happy birthday for the girls... we had only a few people come over...its been busy lately with selling our house, or having tried to, my surgery, my sister moved to Brea to a condo she and a friend are renting, Mike and Mary moved to Fallbrook, Katie and Mike moved to Virginia... it just felt like soooo much has been going on that we just need to make life simple and quiet for awhile. i am sure all of you can relate that life gets like that sometimes.... anyhow here are some fun pix from the day....

my best friend Kelli and her son Gavin......... next one is Caelan and her cousin Alexis..... they look so much alike!

alexis, riley, caelan and zachary.... all cousins!

abby, caelan and kate eating and riley and caelan's new table and umbrella set

kellen sutton, erics cousin, julie's son...

this year we taught our kids to give gifts.... so Caelan and Riley gathered tons of stuff and put it in these cute bags for the kids that came... they were "party favors" and the kids really seemed to like them!

... klossners move to washington...

a little background information.... :) Amy and Alissa are Eric's cousins, they both have little girls Riley's age, in fact Amy's little girl was born 2 days after Riley was and they share the same exact middle name... its pretty cool. well, Alissa and her husband live up north in concord and they have Kate Eleanor and one on the way... Amy and Kelly just moved up to Washington and their daughters name is Abby Rae.... Anyhow, right before they moved we went over to Amy and Kelly's for a little good bye which worked out good since i wouldnt be able to go to their going away party since my surgery.... We hope to be joining them one day on the northwest, but, for now we will have to wait since the market is so tough..... anyhow here are some pix from the day.... the kids all had so much fun together...

these kids are hilarious! trying to take a pic of 3 toddlers.... impossible but how cute the fact that they are all in their own little world... abby is interested more in her new doll she unwrapped early, riley is cracking up at who knows what and kate seems to be just smiling away thinking, " i sure would like that doll right about now."

this is kate eleanor.... she will be 2 in a few months... on the right is our riley of course.

family.... we have such a great expanding family.

tim and alissa are expecting a second child in january- a girl!

tim and alissas daughter kate

abby rae

kelly, amy and abby rae

caelan louise! 4 years old now!

... caelans first official hair cut...

other than a little trimming i have done or mary has done for caelan... this was the first hair cut in a salon for our caelan......... sad she is 4 years old, but she only needed a trim all this time since she wanted it long, but mandee added lots of layers...

Caelan and I went to get our hair cut by one of my friends Mandee. She has a chair in Salon Gregories, an up-scale salon in Newport Beach by Fashion Island. It was an amazing time. Caelan loved it, and her hair turned out adorable. Mandee has been doing my hair since high school... scary we used to dye each others hair and we didn't know what we were doing... anyhow, very fun times with Mandee. We have been very good friends for a very long time. Amazing these sort of people in our lives...

... tough times ...

my sister and the kids did this for me... so neat.

well.... here are some random thoughts... a little bit of rambling, okay probably a lot..... :)

after a long long time of struggles, it is finally over, I had a hysterectomy on July 25th.

I was very sad when I learned that my options were over... I always thought when I had Riley, that we would be able to have one more, but my body couldn't allow that to happen.

Please continue to pray as this journey goes on... recovery... and the emotional wars in my head. It is hard often times how much we want something so badly when we cannot have it.... Anyhow, life is good. Really, it is, actually, very good. God remains faithful and gracious towards our lives.

flowers from mike and mary and red roses with lilies from eric. my parents gave me a demdaco angel called thinking of you... and kelli came and brought a plant for my garden- purple campanulas, very cool! thanks!

We are blessed. And I am soooo very happy to start enjoying life without the struggles physically that I was having... Its all about enjoying the kids I do have, and remembering to Thank God for the ability to have them in my life. I am blessed beyond measures by them, and an ever-so-wonderful husband that is so loving and caring towards our very needs.

a picture painted by my sister for me... i loved it.

Thanks for your prayers. We will update our blog when things get a little easier after I feel a little better. There is so much to post on here...... the girls had a very small intimate birthday a few days before my surgery, Caelan went to my friend, Mandees, salon in Newport Beach and got a haircut- layers put in... gosh she is growing up fast....we also went to Lake Mead with Mike and Mary and I was able to SKI! I have tried for 6 years and I couldn't ever seem to get up... time and time again I would try, and this time I did it... Mike, Eric's dad was also able to accomplish something on the trip, he learned to wakeboard on Eric's wake board! It was amazing. Very fun times.... anyhow, I will post later on... i promise... it is just a lot of work and time and I cant do it right now...

hugs to all who have supported, we couldn't do this without your help! and those who have prayed... amazing thanks to you!

love you all.

-megs

Kai Luke............ we finally got to meet him..... he is One year old now... but coming on a plane from Japan is a huge process. a long flight for a little guy..... so we feel blessed to have met him this soon.... I wish we could see him more often.... anyhow. we saw him, and my Uncle jan and Aunt Mayumi for dinner the night I did Jolies Wedding... what a busy day. Anyhow, we met them at Parkers Lighthouse for dinner and gift exchange since it was all the kids' birthdays... then we saw them the next day at Corner Bakery for lunch after we helped my sister move out of her house into a condo she and her roommate are renting.... what a busy weekend!



what a view from the place we sat in the restaraunt.... we have always loved eating there, for years its been a favorite for food and atmosphere....

we celebrated caelans bday with them. they gave her nice presents. she loved each one... a japanese hellokitty doll. a purse... a "gym-bay" (spelling? a japanese outfit to wear around the house, shorts and a shirt that ties around, traditional japanese style...) very neat. they are always so very thoughful.

my mom, cheryl and caelan..... my uncle jan, cousin kai, and aunt mayumi

yikes i look tired. i dont sleep much. hopefully after my surgery i will start to feel better. im scheduled for a hysterectomy this month. : (

playing peek-a-boo with meg.......in japan they dont have "bibs" they have "slicker coats"

isnt he the cutest ever! his name... Kai Luke.... adorable huh? he is my 1st cousin... my moms first nephew! we've been blessed to have Kai! and now Kai will be having a brother come in November. Then I will have two cousins!

side note: My dad has a brother and he has 3 kids.... so I guess I will have 5 cousins total.... eric has about 30.... its funny the difference in our familes. Mine is so very small... and his is so large its hard to keep track of everyone. His mom is the youngest of 8 kids and his dad is the 2nd oldest of 7.......... you can imagine how many kids there are after that!

riley-rae and my dad.......... meg and her mom.....

so fun. riley rae, caelan, kai and jan.... so i guess they would be kai's 2nd cousins.