Honor Roll

Good Job Girls!  

Honor roll begins in the fourth grade in our school district, and all three of the girls were included on the list!  Hard work pays off . . . great job.

Here is the list published in our paper this week

Amber circled their names . . .

My Trip part 3 { Oregon }

{ Oregon }

An inviting place to sit and relax. . . .

We enjoyed a comfortable stay at Leslie and Sherm's beautiful place in the country.  The days were just gorgeous and relaxing.  It was a nice feeling to be in Sweet Home again, even if it was just for a few short days.

This is the apartment they have all fixed up for Grandma out at their place.

Memories came flooding back as I saw things from Grandpa and Grandmas home in Chula Vista.  Grandma painted this and it used to hang in the dining room over the old antique hutch.

Here is a photo of the dairy

Dad's old erector set!  I remember pulling this out of the closet at Gram's and playing for hours with this!

I had never seen this photo of Great Grandpa Fenders service station.

Sweet Grandma Patty. xoxo

Foster Lake

Leslie, Gram and Dad

My trip part 2 { the bike ride }

{ the bike ride }

Before daybreak we were up and off on our bikes . . .

Loved this bike rack!

The pier before dawn.  The lights were still on . . . 

Here she comes

A new day

A local 

California poppies at North Coast Village

Ahhh . . . The Electra.  The boat we went shark fishing on a few years back.  

A view of the railing where I looked eye to eye with a shark that thought it looked better INSIDE the boat with me as dinner!

  A long story . . . maybe I'll tell you sometime 

The harbor 

Sleeping seals.  

My trip Part 1 { the arrival }

Well here goes!  I am going to post some pictures from my recent trip to California and Oregon.

{the arrival}

Sannie picked me up from the airport. It was fun to stay up way too late visiting and giggling. 

 Here are some beautiful things around the Dingman home

.

The next day we met up with Dad.

The sun was shining an the weather was just right . . . the citrus groves were in bloom and smelled so good.

Mmmm . . . I took a deep breath and felt like I was home.

A beautiful time of the year in sunny southern California.

That evening Dad took me for fish tacos by this surf shop

The sunset.

I guess you can't take So Cal out of a girl . . . it still feels like home.

Stay tuned for part 2

A few photos . . .

Me.

I'm usually the one taking the photos, so this is a rare shot! 

Our pretty girls.

Little bits of progress . . .

Well, we have this BIG project we call "Home", and although progress comes in small spurts any progress is a good thing in my book!  So the little house in the back we call the "granny flat" got a bit of a makeover the other day.  

So, a couple of hours and some paint later we look a wee bit more presentable!

Lots more to do, but we're gettn' there.

Amanda's 8th Grade Graduation

Along with her friend, Amanda was a host for the 8th grade graduation.

The theme of the graduation was "Reflections", so the students were asked to write a reflective essay about their time in school thus far.  There were 3 winning essays and Amanda won 1st place.  In the video below she reads the essay to her classmates, parents and administrators for the first time.

(Sorry I did a poor job videoing this!  I should have had it turned the other way . . . oops.)

Great Job Amanda!!!!

Here is what was printed in the Hot Springs Star