Nae’s Heart

Well, the new year is here and it brought tiredness and work with it.  I am doing good, just tired from to many late nights on vacation and traveling.  On New Year’s Eve, James, Ruth, Daniel, and I stayed up playing Wii until midnight and then went out onto the porch to watch some of the fireworks across the bay.  We said our Happy New Years… finished our game and went to bed.  Mom and Dad had been up playing games with us but went to bed around 10.  It was a very nice and relaxing vacation.  We didn’t really go places, We did the whole “I am going to the mall, Does anybody else want to come?” We never all went the same place together.  It was much more fun to stay home and enjoy the time together.  We got home on Saturday night and have been going none stop ever since.

I have been back at work for 2 days and I am already getting some extra hours so that is nice.  I am also coaching jr. high girl’s volleyball and the first game of our season is on Thursday.  I am looking forward to it… I am also hoping for a winning season, but I don’t know if I will get that.  Yesterday was James’ 24th birthday.  One of his students brought him a cake and we went out to dinner with my parents, Tim, and Ruth.  TGI Friday’s has good food and after we had stuffed ourselves we got our dessert to go and headed to our house to play some Wii and hang out.  It was a great ending to my vacation.

I am back to being busy.  I have volleyball practice Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri from 3:45-5:00.  The extra time is nice for James since it gives him time to work on stuff at school and church.  I am also able to volunteer in the school office and I really enjoy that.

I hope you all had a great vacation.

Well… I am on Thanksgiving vacation and it has been fun but tiring all ready.  It started on Wednesday around 12:45 when we left Bethel and headed up to San Francisco.  James, Ruth and I had a good trip and it only took us 7 hrs and 42 min.  This means we made really good time seeing as it was the day right before Thanksgiving.  On Thursday morning we headed out to Oroville, which is where Grandpa Richardson lives.  We had a great afternoon eating turkey and pie, playing games, and really just being with the family.

We left Oroville at 10:00 at night… Yes, that late!  We arrived at the Vacaville Outlets at Midnight. It was packed and crazy.  Some of the stores had lines down the side of the building and lines around the whole inside of the store.  It was so much fun… we left the outlets at 3:00 and headed to the JC Penney at Hilltop Mall we arrived there at 4:00 and did a little more shopping.  We went to Nations for breakfast and then headed home to get a few hours of sleep before we did more shopping. It was 6:00 and we were all tired, but we were back up and headed out shopping again at 11:00.  We hit Target, Kohl’s, Fry’s and Wal-Mart.  We arrived back home at 4:00 and we are definitely having a lazy evening at home.  Ruth fixed dinner and we are watching a Christmas movie as a family.

Good deals you ask. Of course we got some good deals, but I can’t reveal any of them since that is classified information until Christmas.  James and I did get a 4′ Christmas tree, a tree topper, and some ornaments.  Our first Christmas tree.

Tomorrow we are going to be decorating for Christmas and James and Dad are going to a car show.  We are having a great time and have had many good laughs.  Like today in the car I opened a bag of gummi bears and the bag exploded sending gummi bears all over the backseat.  We picked up as many as we could find and then dad decided to flick them out the window while we were sitting at a stop light. So he did… I found out that my family gets crazy when they are tired.  Check out Pictures here

Yesterday Ruth and I took a mini road trip to Fresno.  It was Ruth’s 21st birthday and we were going to have dinner with Mom A.  Mom A was doing a WASC visit at a school there and she had Ruth’s car.  Since Ruth had Daniel’s car we  were switching vehicles and what better day then Ruth’s birthday.  We left my house at 10:30 am, grabbed some breakfast, and hit the freeway.

We had a great trip… Lots of laughter, fun, and coffee.  We hit heavy fog going through the grapevine but Ruth handled it like a pro. We decided that Pixley is a very interesting town name and that California cows are happy because the smog makes them high.  We also decided that we like the 99 better than the 5 because of all the houses right by the road.  We got to the hotel where Mom was staying around 3:00 pm.  Mom got there just after 3:45 and Mom and Ruth opened birthday presents.  We went and walked around the small mall there.  It made Montclair Plaza look hugongous. We went to Red Robin for dinner and then back to the hotel.  All of this took 2 1/2 hours, but it was a great time with mom.

We headed home at 6:15.  We stopped for Starbucks in Delano and made the rest of the trip with no stops.  We started the trip in a Ford Focus Wagon and ended it in an ‘09 Versa with 600 miles on it when we left Fresno.  We arrived back at my apartment at 10:30 pm.  It was an 8 hour day in the car… 4 hours there and 4 home.

I missed James but enjoyed having a day off and spending time with Ruth.  It was nice to be home and my bed felt so good.  Check out the pictures here

Well my last 2 weeks have been extremely busy. I went to Oregon, San Francisco, Home, and San Diego.  I only spent 2 whole days not in a vehicle the whole week I was in Oregon/San Francisco.  On Thursday when we drove back to So Cal Daniel came to stay with James and I for a few days.  It was a great visit. We went to the beach, the Fullerton Arboretum, Ontario Mills, Sonic, and San Diego.  We enjoyed our time together. Daniel left yesterday and James and I have just been getting back to “normal” James  is at a meeting at school and I am relaxing at home.  Next week is teacher in-service and then school starts on the 30th.  I am going to be working in morning daycare from 7:15-8:15 and then doing my regular teacher breaks and such.  I am looking forward to a great school year.  Hope you all have had a good couple weeks!

Well, my vacation is almost over.  Tomorrow I am heading home with Ruth and Daniel.  I can’t wait to be back with James.  I really enjoyed the wedding in Corvallis, OR and driving down the coast on the way back to Portland.  I REALLY enjoyed seeing my niece, Melissa… She is so cute and has a ton of personality.  Although I did get upstaged my my frog, Jake.  When I went to get a hug good-bye she said “frog” grabbed Jake and gave him a hug.  I did get a kiss though.  I am a little sore from spending 2 days in the middle seat of the car on our trip to Northern California from Oregon.  It will be nice to have only 3 of us in the car tomorrow, but we will miss Mom and Dad.  I have enjoyed all of the family I got to see and including a cousin that literally flew in from Iraq the day we saw him.  He was doing good and was really happy to be able to see lots of family so soon.  I have taken lots of pictures and will have a link up soon.  When I get home tomorrow Daniel and I will be heading to Costa Mesa with James, while Ruth stays in Pomona.  We will have a busy weekend with Daniel and Ruth and then Daniel will be heading back to SF.  I hope all of you have had a great vacation.

Well, I figured I should probably post today since I am leaving this evening to go to Oregon.  I had a great time in Delaware… We got to go to DC, experience a few thunderstorms, go to the beach, and just spend time as a family.  I miss Rebekah and Matt, but am glad that I did get to see them.  I have lots of pictures so check them out here

We had a little bit of an adventure coming home.  Our flights all went smoothly, but when we landed in Ontario, CA only James’ bag made it.  Mine came in on a later flight so we had the airline deliver it to our apartment.  It came at 10:30 pm Cali time.  So yesterday I unpacked and repacked it.  I am ready to go and my flight for Oregon leaves at 5:30 pm from Long Beach.  I will be gone for about a week and will be in the land of no internet for most of it.  I hope you are all having a great summer!

So I am in the Greenwood Library in Delaware and I am having a great time.  So far we have been to the Delaware State Fair, the Dover Mall, and Now I am visiting my sister’s work.  I have taken many pictures and am looking forward to sharing them with you soon.  I have been doing great and we are all enjoying the time spent together.  Our plans for tomorrow are to go visit the Smithsonians in Washington DC.  I hope you are all having a good week.  I will blog again soon!