We had Mother's Day picnic and family get together at the Pioneer Park in Cerritos. Jim's, Merry's, Mom, and My Family were there. We laughed so hard and played even harder. It was a fun. We have a very good family!

Vegas with the Portreys

Since Joseph works for Marriott Hotels in the reservation department - he won a free night stay at a hotel of his choice. Joseph and Sherylee invited Steve and I to go to Vegas and stay for free in this luxury hotel. He had so much fun. We went out to visit Vegas for a bit but decided we would rather enjoy the surrounding of the hotel and the no cigarette smell. We played games and reminisced. What a great get away. Dan and Susan watched Andrew for the weekend so we could go without worries. Thank you Joseph & Sherylee for inviting us and Dan & Susan for watching Andrew. It was so good to relax and have no worries! (Happy Birthday Joseph!)

Foster Family Campout

Stephen and Becky rented this cool Bicycle and shared it with everyone. I got to ride it too. I was very hard to push with everyone on it. We took our dog camping-he had a blast. Grandma was sick and could not go. We missed her but the kids had fun with the little toys she sent up for them to enjoy. As far as camping- this was fun just being together.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had so much fun this year for Easter. We went to Aunt Ethelene's home with all the cousins. The kids played in her huge back yard and went motor crossing on their trails. He found so many Easter eggs. Andrew's can't wait to to motor crossing again!

Dad called his children together and let us know that he decided that he was done with Dialysis - which means, according to his doctors, he only has 1 week left. We convinced him to continue until we could all gather together in Idaho and all be together again. He was in the VA hospital in Boise and was pretty alert (most of the time.) We talked about old days, good memories, some not so good memories, he gave each of his children a father's blessing, and gave is final words of advise. Jim had made a slide show that was to be used at his memorial and presented it to him as a living memorial. We laughed, cried, and leaned on each other. The day we went back to our homes - Dad stopped doing dialysis.

He died in the hospital on April 21, 2008.

Andrew's playing Rocky baseball

Andrew was on the Rockies this year and is doing really well. He finally got his first hit and has been hitting ever since! I am so proud of him willing to give baseball his all and go out to do his best. His games are so intense - "Go Rockies!!!!"

I had let my CPR/First aid certification laps and was in jeopardy with my day care license. I found a place in Palm Spring that was holding a class so I paid for it. Steve, Andrew, Joshua, and Christian came with me and went to the Living Desert while I was in class. They love the different animals and especially the butterfly house where the butterflies just landed all over them at one time. The day was a success - the boys had fun and I got my CPR/First aid certification (and I didn't even have to drive+)