Where Did September Go?

 

It's been almost six weeks since my last post.  We had a very busy end of the summer.  Les traveled to Philadelphia for work the last week of August.  We then enjoyed Labor Day at home - we even made s'mores in our backyard!

The day after Labor Day we flew to Hawaii.  DRC (Decision Research Corporation, Les' employer) celebrated 50 years of business and Les spent about 10 days in the office.  This was our first trip to the island this year - we've definitely missed it and our many friends, especially our First Church Hawaii Ohana.

 

 

We also enjoyed running and cycling.

 

Beautiful sunsets.

 

 

Friday night fireworks.

 

And a double rainbow!

We did not enjoy the fact that our Hawaii car broke down.  But God definitely led us to the right mechanic.  Sanchez Mobile Car Care came to us.  Jon was such a pleasure to work with and I immediately felt that I could trust him.  He had to replace the alternator and the starter, but his prices were completely in line with what we read online.  He had quite an office/diagnotics setup in his truck!

We got home from Hawaii Saturday morning, September 17th.  Victory Tabernacle Sunday school department hosted a Fun Day Sunday the next day.  The theme was Safari and our Sunday school department did an outstanding job!

We spent the afternoon outside - eating, fellowshipping and playing games.

The dunk tank was quite a hit!

Les had to fly to Las Vegas for a work conference the next day.  We decided I would go to Fresno on Thursday and he would fly from Las Vegas to Fresno on Friday morning when his conference was over.  We then drove home together.  I enjoyed some sister time!  I also saw my nieces and the sweetest little boy, my grand-nephew Bo!  (If you're local and want to see what he looks like, please don't hesitate to ask!)  Les got to meet Bo for the first time and Bo was fascinated with his great uncle!

No trip to Fresno is complete without a stop at Bravo Farms.  We had lunch there, then stopped at the fudge counter.  Whoever makes their fudge is a master!  The flavors are amazing.  We got Heath, Strawberry shortcake, Pralines, and Lemon meringue, because they always have "Buy Three, Get One Free."  Again, the flavors are amazing!

Last week we started revival with Evangelist Mike Truck and his wonderful family.  God is moving at Victory Tabernacle and we are thankful!

Grandparents Day

Happy Grandparents Day to any of my readers who have grandchildren.  I was blessed to know five of my grandparents.  Both of Mom's grandmothers were still living while I was growing up, along with Mom's mom and Dad's mom and dad!  I think the bond with grandparents is very special and I'm grateful for mine.

One of my earliest posts was called, "When Mom Became Grandma."  Mom wrote in her Grandmother's Memories book:  "When I first became a grandmother, I felt like a Queen. I couldn't stop grinning; I got 3 grandbabies in 10 weeks! Ryan, Krysten & Lauren."  Ryan was born on January 11th (his daddy's birthday) and Krysten and Lauren showed up 7 weeks before their due date on March 20th.

 

Grandparents Day has brought a new emotion this year.  It started with a text I received about a month ago from my niece, Lauren:

My heart is overflowing with excitement!  Lauren and Jordan got married in January of this year and now they are going to make my sister a grandmother and I get to be Great Aunt Kathy!  It seems like yesterday that they were this tiny:

2015 Magical Moments

Happy New Year's Eve!  I know I'm not the only one saying, "I can't believe how quickly this year has gone."  2015 was the year of travel for us - Les traveled 25 weeks - 22 were for business.  Thankfully, I was able to tag along for 14 of those weeks - 13 were for business, our only vacation together this year was our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving.  Les took two cycling trips with Lance - I'm glad they can do that together and I'm happy to stay home during those trips!  Along with traveling, it's been a great year.  I thought I'd highlight one thing from each month:

January:
On January 1st, I embarked upon a new Bible Study - Women of the Word.  While I didn't reach my goal to study one woman a week, I did study 33 women and learned SO much.  My life has definitely been enriched with this study.

February:
Our first of four trips to Oahu this year.  We celebrated a delayed Valentine's Day on the North Shore.

March:
Les was gone 16 days during the month of March.  He was in four states and I didn't go at all.  Brianna Miranda and I were twins one Sunday, so there's my highlight!

April:
I turned 51 and we took our second trip to Hawaii.  This time we celebrated my birthday at Sea Life Park.  I also got to hang out with Levi Bentz for a while.

May:
We celebrated our 24th anniversary at Disney's California Adventure.

June:
Les was home almost the entire month of June!  We took one short trip to Las Vegas for a business conference, but it was nice to stay home for a while.  The only highlight about Vegas was when it was in our rear view mirror!  Funniest picture was this "compare at" price...

July:
July was looking like another stay at home month until about the 15th.  We got word that Les needed to be in O'Fallon, Missouri for two weeks!  I found a cheap ticket and was able to go along.  I saw the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis for the first time.  Truly spectacular!  I also started training for marathon #4 while in Missouri.  Extreme heat and humidity didn't kill me, so I knew it was going to be a good training cycle.

August:
Les traveled to Utah for a week long bike adventure with Lance.  While he was gone, Kim, Krysten and Lauren came for a short visit.  We enjoyed a quick trip to Santa Barbara.

September:
We took our third trip to Hawaii.  Guava chiffon pancakes.  That's all.

October:
Early October we were still on Oahu and I ran the Brio Ice Cream 25k race as part of my marathon training.  Les had another busy travel month.  We flew home on a red eye on October 9th, getting home on Saturday morning.  Les flew to Philadelphia on Sunday morning - a six hour time difference!  He was home for a week then flew to Scottsdale, AZ.

November:
November was a big month!  I ran the Revel Canyon City Marathon and had a 7 minute PR!

At the end of the month, we traveled to Florida for the McElhaney family reunion.  Seven of us ran the Mexico Beach Community Garden Turkey Trot 5k.

December:
We took our final trip to Hawaii.  Les was one of the wheelchair cycling escorts for the Honolulu Marathon.

We had a super mellow Christmas at home, just the two of us.  My final picture is from a mountain bike ride a couple days before Christmas.  We have had a busy, but healthy and blessed year!  God's favor has shined on us.

June 6th ~ Friends (Photo a Day)

I took this picture on Wednesday night.  Les and Brianna, or "Baby B" as he calls her.  She turned one on Thursday.  I love her little hand on his!

Birthday Celebration at Sea Life Park

My birthday celebration lasted for several days... just as all birthday celebrations should!  Les told me repeatedly "whatever you want to do on Saturday..."   I thought about going to the North Shore, then finally decided that a return visit to Sea Life Park was in order.  I visited there in April 2013, but Les wasn't able to go with me.

Sea Life Park isn't very large, I think the biggest draw is the opportunity to swim with dolphins.  We chose to stay dry, but still enjoyed ourselves. The Shark Tank:

 

Dolphin Cove with both Pacific and Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins:

Hawaiian Rays:

Giant Sea Turtles:

A Not-So-Giant Sea Turtle that hatched at Sea Life Park:

Another dolphin show:

With a guest appearance by a penguin:

A couple of smooching tourists:

 

Church babies on Sunday.  Isaac and Levi:

Sunset on Monday night (my actual birthday) after dinner at Duke's:

The end of a beautiful day, the start of another wonderful year!  I have always enjoyed birthdays, getting older has not bothered me yet.  I'm blessed and I know it!