Delta Memories - July 2008

Faith's Fishing

Water-skiing

At The Cabin





Water Tubing and Boating

More Cute Pictures!




At Uncle Jess's House
Water-skiing and inner-tubing are some of my favorite pastimes. I wanted my kids to have an opportunity to enjoy water sports. While Evan stayed at home and worked, the kids and I went to the Delta with my parents. I rented the cabin and my dad brought the boat. My mom helped keep an eye on Luke and Faith.

The kids had lots of fun and mastered some new skills.

• Samantha learned to water-ski! I was proud of her effort. The water was pretty choppy, but she stuck with it.
• Noah had great form when trying to ski, but he couldn't put the skis on himself. It was exhausting as they kept falling off. Plus, the water was choppy.
• Faith got potty trained! This alone was worth the trip!
• Faith also learned how to tell her own fish tale!
• Luke had his first real boat ride.
• My mom freaked out a bit, but I let Faith inner-tube with Sam and Noah. They all had a blast! I did give it a second thought, but I felt that it was safer because both Sam and Faith could fit in the tube, whereas I would have to lay on top of it and hold Faith. That's right, my bottom was too big!

We were able to enjoy sometime visiting with Tom and Cornelia Chancelor. The visit was great, but our trip to IHOP was a little unusual. Faith vomited all over her food and didn't even loose her appetite. The rest of us got a little grossed out! To top the diner off, the restaurant was freezing.

We also got to have diner with Uncle Jess and his girlfriend Sandy. It was great to visit! Sandy is so good with the kids and we like her a lot. Being at my Uncle Jess's house really made me miss my Aunt Shari. She passed away several years ago. I have many fond memories of her (even if I spelled her name wrong) and the rest of the family. She use to call my sister Mindy and me Cindy. We called her Sherry.

Looking Back

Visiting the Delta was one of my favorite summertime traditions! Many fond memories were made with family and friends as we camped (mostly at Tower Park Marina in Lodi), rented houseboats,, and enjoyed countless activities on or around the river. I thought I'd list a few memories off the top of my head. Being the first mate of the Christy Dawn while my dad was the captain.

• Sharing the good times, house-boating and hanging out with my cousin Sheryl. We did a lot of flirting with the boys, put lemon in our hair and helped push/pull the broken down ski-boat to the houseboat.
• Always having family and friends join us at the Delta, some on a houseboat (Cole, Lovelace, Young, Coates families), some came camping (Grant, Adam, Eppler families and Jay Ingram) and others visited for the day (Strong, Akin families,etc).
• Boating out to Helen and Herman's for breakfast.
• Watching fireworks from the boat on the fourth of July.
• Dreaming of owning one of those homes along the water.
• Dying of heat stroke in the long 5mph sloughs.
• I can also appreciate the body that I had during some of those years. I know it sounds petty or vain, but I looked pretty good.

Parenting is No Easy Job!

Yikes! In an effort to keep things real and honest, I plan to share some things that make me uncomfortable. I have fallen so short in the parenting department lately. I have found myself exhausted and weak in spirit. I have been impatient and have uttered words I regret.

Lately, I have been particularly hard on Samantha. Her main struggle is time management. She is trying to balance a very demanding course load (honor classes) while participating in extra-curricular activities. I do not want school to take over her life (or mine) at the age of twelve! She spends hours upon hours doing homework (or getting around to doing homework). She is a perfectionists and lacks confidence. She is completely unorganized and scattered. She is me! When I watch her struggle, it kills me and to be quite frank, it also eats away at our family time. Homework has taken over our lives!

She has asked us to drop her out of honors, but we won't be doing that. She is one of the smartest girls I know. Last year, she actually had the highest overall grade in her Honors Language Arts class. She is still hanging on with mostly As. Some people struggle with academics, but she needs to learn time management. While she loves history and language arts, all the projects and tests demand long term preparation. She has to learn to use her time more efficiently. She can take hours on an assignment intended to be 30 minute Do remember how long I said it took to write my Christmas letter? Again, she got it from me! Poor thing, her primary role model (me) is a terrible disorganized mess and a perfectionist to boot. I admit when I am overwhelmed I do not know where to begin. I think this is Sam's problem. I want to be kind and firm! Instead, I turn into a big, bad, mean mommy when the homework is not done (as the clock strikes 10pm, ll pm and sometimes midnight). I better start praying for both of us!

Just to be certain that you all know, I love my first born baby girl. She has so many wonderful qualities. I am so proud of her! She is caring and compassionate towards others. She is very conscientious about her work and always turns out a quality product. She has so much good to offer the world, I do not want her to waste more time. I also am feeling like our time together is slipping away as she enters adolescents. I just want to enjoy spending time with her and her siblings.

A Couple of Cuties!

Faith and Lei Lei wore matching sweaters for their school pictures on September 17th. Did I mention that it was about 80 degrees outside? Gotta love southern California! They are both enjoying being in Mrs, Deanna's Middle 3's class

Luke was looking mighty cute on picture day! How do you like his hair?

Luke and Wyatt Get Dedicated!

The dedication ceremony and prayer that Pastor Bruce gave was beautiful. It was nice to have so much family take part in this special ceremony. As you can see Luke was hiding behind the podium stand. You can only see his legs and feet in this picture. I decided to post it anyways, as there wasn't a better one.

Pastor Bruce with our family
Mommy and Luke
Aunt Mimi, Wyatt, Luke and me
Gramps, Gram, Mam, PopPop, Ryan and the Masyr 6
Pastor Bruce holding the boys
Pastor Bruce with the Larson Family
Faith and her Daddy
Justin and Samantha

Justin baptized Samantha at church camp!
Luke waiting for lunch
PopPop and Faith at Maria Callenders

Samantha's Soccer Party!

Samantha's team had a mid-season party. Perfect timing for a pool party! Thanks Coach George for hosting this shindig. Speaking of coaches, we scored big!! Coach Joe rocks! Anyways here are a few pics.