Soccer

Soccer

Bagels and Grass yummy!

Nolan and Taryn watching Dylan play soccer

Twins can even swing together


Go Dylan...

My thoughts Feb 2001 (she titled it)

So oddly enough i found the below in my folder of docs on my computer. My grandma must of written this sometime while she was visiting. So i thought i would post it to remember her and the life she lived...so sweet at the end...

Written by Mickey Beck

"I was thinking today of the area in which I was raised, the San Joaquin Valley. My grandparents settled there in the very small town of Hanford, California. Strictly an agricultural area.

The town had one high school, one theatre. The weather was, and is, very hot in the summer, 100 degrees, and above on ocassions. It is cold in the winter, lows of 28 degrees, foggy, and raimy at times. We did not have a car, but the bad thing about having a car in the foggy season, and driving in it was there weren’t any lines down the middle of the streets. If you were on a country road you couldn’t tell if you were still on the road or not. One time after I was married, my husband had a l934 Ford convertible, I had to get out on the running board, and direct him so he would know if he was still on the road.

Being the foodbasket of the world, if the weather wasn’t hot the fruit wouldn’t open. Also in the winter if we had hail after the blossoms set on the trees the fruit was inedible because the hail made pock marks in the fruit even if it was just in the blossom stage.

There wasn’t any air conditioning and many of the houses had screen porches so that we could sit out there in the hope that a breeze of some kind would come up to temper the summer heat. There were also a lot bugs, gnats, flies and mosquitos. I remember out at my stepfather’s ranch trying to play when they were butchering the hogs in order to make linquesa, there were so many flies you couldn’t sit any place and be comfortable. The mosquito bites were many because we had no way of getting away from the mosquitos. We got used to persperation running down our faces and our clothing sticking to our bodies. They have mosquito control in the valley now, but you also have the side effects of the pesticides.

I love figs, but have you ever harvested any? The leaves are sticky and the juice from the figs even worse. Its gets all over you and you itch all over. You have to climb up into the trees to get the figs because if they are allowed to drop to the ground they mash. Add to that the flies, mosquitos, and hot weather and you find you do not have a very pleasant day picking figs. But the figs are delicious there, and very, very sweet. My brother had a fig tree, and I’m sure it was in memory of the hours he and I spent picking figs at the ranch.

One thing I did growing up was stand on a box and cut apricots with my grandmother. This is something she did for extra money because there were no jobs, and money was hard to come by. We went to the farmers property where the apricots were grown . They gave us lugs of apricots, which we cut and laid out on trays to go to the processors to be dried. The pay for a lug as I recall was 10 cents a lug. I thought I worked hard, but I know I was allowed to rest if I got tired. Apricots are ripe in the summer time, so there was no school.

Of course there were happy times when we were given a penney to go to the store for a candy . When the ice man came by on his truck, and just accidentally dropped ice so we could get ice to suck on. Occasionally a house would be having a new tar roof, and we would get some and chew it. When I went to high school we used to go to one of the trees near our school and dig up the roots, which were licorice roots and made good chewing.

There were concerts in the downtown park next to the County Courthouse. It would be in the early evening in the summer and grandma would take blankets to put on the ground, and a picnic lunch to eat while we listened to the music. Of course we children didn’t listen much. We would play games, hide and seek, mostly. The teen agers would find places where they could hang out and neck.

The good thing about those days was that no one was afraid to be out on the streets after dark. Everyone felt safe, secure and loved. The important thing in any household is to feel loved. If you have that you are rich."

What Dylan enjoys doing these days...

The twins just adore Dylan. Anything he does is such a treat to them.

Kiddos...

It's such a treat when someone else takes pictures...

Jason with the kids down the street from our place

The Kids with Dylan trailing in the background

Dylan with of course his in n out hat...classic...

Babies in the bathtub

Taryn and Nolan on the Tricycle...so cute...her little feet are just tucked in behind Nolan...they were loving it!

RAIN...it must have rained for a week straight up here...okay i purchased this jacket a long time ago thinking it was so cute, but it is so NOT a big boy rain jacket so he never wears it to school...o'well Nolan will probably be in it when he is three... In any case Dylan loves the rain.

Catching up on Pictures

Nolan and Taryn playing in Dylan's room while he was at school

Bathtime...

Nolan with his favorite thing...a hairbrush

Hiking

Hiking with the kids. It's amazing we used to take Dylan on this same hike in Los Gatos when he was a baby and now we are taking the twins. We got comments from people all the way up the hill and all the way down about how brave we are as parents to take so many kids on a hike...so silly...

It's sad to Jason and i that there are not more families out doing stuff together in this area...nonetheless we enjoy the hikes together. Jason with Nolan and Dylan in the front after we got to the top...

Taryn and Dylan at the top

Los Gatos (Part II)

The closest little town to us is Los Gatos, which if you've never been is a elevated SLO town, although SLO is changing every year, i doubt SLO will every have a Ferrari dealer like Los Gatos. Nonetheless, Los Gatos is adorable. It's tucked into the mountain side and has a old world charm versus modern day appeal. It's very ritzy though, you don't want to forget your fancy car and pure bread dog if you come downtown... In any case driving the back way from our house into downtown Los Gatos you come across this beautiful old building set against the hillside. My camera does not do it justice...(side note: unfortunately Jason and i bought a nice non-digital camera right before the digital ones came out, so we are in transition on the camera side of things...will work it out in due time.) The setting below is so beautiful on a clear blue day.

This is a shot going into town, again the camera does not due it just nor the shot from my moving car with two sleeping babies and one tired six year old...you get the picture...

For the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles & Cousins that we miss...

January Highlights & Part I

Places I love...Part I

I decided since i'm limited on activities these days that i would document with camera and journal (not an actual journal in hand these days due to the limited amount of "free hands", but my mind) some of the places around here and elsewhere that i really enjoy seeing or being. The below is the first.

Avilia Beach with Kids

Growing up in SLO I used to think Avilia was beautiful, but the beach itself wasn't exactly my favorite beach to sit and hang out at...when i was in high school there used to be a family side and kids side and it just felt weird parking a beach towel with friends there...I really disliked going there due to all the out of towners... So... I used to only go there for bomb fires and high school events or other occasions. Now that i'm a mom i have a whole new perspective on it (plus it's been completely re-done), it's perfect for the family. Parking is easy, you can hang out at the park and just enjoy the ocean in the background, tide pools, clean beach and everything is just close so kids can enjoy it all, another plus the people are usually extremely friendly.
These are pictures of the new park they put in awhile back...

The downtown renovation
Tide pools, such a beautiful day for January
Turning 34 in SLO

Dylan and I with ice cream cake (my favorite on my birthday)

80 degree weather in SLO over Martin Luther King weekend...twins cooling off...

98 % of the time they just play by each other without bothering each other at all; it's so interesting...it's such a normal to them to be near each other...they find comfort in it.

Twins at home with Devcon overalls on...

Park Days in January

Park Days in January

You wouldn't know it was January, the weather here has been so great. We headed out to the park, while Jason was hiking up the hill we stayed behind to explore the sand. Dylan was so thrilled to be at the park i couldn't even get a picture of him...

This was the first time the twins had been in the sand.

So i decided to start running distance again with some friends...the twins are just thrilled about it and my new shoes to the right... time to toss the old ones...

Funny Nolan

Dylan was standing Nolan up and he ended up like this it was so funny. Nolan wouldn't move...sorry about the position of the camera...it happened so fast...

Sunglasses...

A New Ornament on the Tree

I don't remember seeing this ornament on the tree last year??? Just goes to show you how clueless we are these days...i have no idea how long this was on the tree and since it is a reflection of the times we just left it there for the remainder of Christmas.

Understanding Christmas

All along I was wondering if Dylan was understanding the true meaning of Christmas and this Christmas it was so cute he ran out into the living room first thing in the morning anxious to open gifts. We came out and before he opened his first gift he said very sweetly,

"Happy Birthday Jesus".

Taking Photos of Three kids

Here's Nolan screaming when I placed him close to the tree. So funny. I would move him away and he would be fine, close and he would cry...Dylan and I thought it was so funny.

So then I decided to try and take photos by themselves...Taryn

Nolan

We had to go out with a bang

We had to finish 2008 with a bang; a lot of great things have happened to our family in 2008, but in the last ten years of marriage we have never spent so much time in the doctor/hospital. We are praying 2009 we stay away from the ER a little more...sorry about all the typos i have a injured finger.

Jason and I had a bunch of fun things planned for Christmas this year. It was going to be our first year since we got married we were going to stay home. Although the house setting isn't our favorite we wanted to stay home nonetheless; so we decided to do so. The weekend before Winter break started Nolan and Taryn came down with a cold, which turned into RSV...before even this Dylan had a cold, which turned a little ugly...okay now we can move onto RSV; so the babies came down with RSV, which moved quickly into Pheumonia. While the kids were sick I was sick...as well. Christmas afternoon Taryn and I spent in the ER with a 103 fever and a chest x-ray...which led to Pheumonia. The day after Christmas Jason came down with a sinus infection...back to the doctor again...

It was crazy we went from the doctor, to the pharmacy, doctor to the pharmacy...all week. It was just crazy. No one could come on Christmas because by that time we were so contagious...

To top of the week I accidentally slammed my finger in the door going into the garage and pulled some legiment, which has to be splented on Monday.

So i've gotten a lot of comments on our Christmas cards this year. I was a little limited in time and tried my best to take photos of the kiddos. The day I took these pictures the tree had just been put up and NOlan was scared to death of it. Every time he looked at it he would start crying...three kids, one mommy and one camera makes it extremely difficult to take a photo. Next year i'll start a month in advance, but this year i'm behind in everything.