Aubrie turns 8 !!

we celebrated Aubrie's 8th Birthday on Sunday (her actual birthday), Feb.22nd !! We had lots of friends and family to celebrate with us. Aubrie had a blast and even had an itinerary in place for the day. I just contributed financially and she took over from there. Is party planning in her future ? :)

opening presents and reading the cards to everyone... she is loving it !!

she chose a "jungle" theme for this party.. it was cute.

I cant believe she is already 8 !! Where does the time go ?

My Valentine's Day Present... Venice, LA

Scotty, Cheryl, Tom, Stephen, and I went on a 2 day fishing trip out of Venice, LA. We left Thursday night around 7pm and drove straight through.. about a 7-8 hr trip. We got there around 3am and quickly jumped in the beds and slept until 5:30am. Everyone got up.. ate some yummy breakfeast (thanks Scotty) and we were off on our first day of fishing. It was sooooo super cold on the ride out to the fishing spot.. I had on thurmals, jeans, ski pants, thurmal shirt, t-shirt, hoodie, and a ski jacket. Oh ya .. and of course gloves !! I was ready !!

poofy.. but really WARM !!

I hooked up the biggest fish/shark? I have ever had on my line.. this thing yanked and pulled and yanked and pulled, I probably fought it for about 20-30 minutes !! I got so tired during the fight i had to sit and use leverage to pull this thing in... even Cheryl came to help me out with the reeling !! I got this thing pretty close to the boat, enough to where Tom said.. "I see something!!" , I yelled.. "what is it ?" and two seconds later.. the line snapped !!!! NOOOOOOO... I couldnt believe it.. I wanted to at least see what I had been fighting for ever !! Oh well, It was fun anyway !!

here is one of the many sharks we caught that day

the biggest catch of the trip.. a 5+ foot Wahoo !!

It took Scotty and Tom to fight this fish and get it to the boat.

What a prize !!

here is what we came home with:

Huge Wahoo, 3ft Ling, several AmberJack, several types of Snapper (we caught lots of huge Red Snapper, but you cant keep those in LA.), and some Grouper... Thanks guys for a GREAT trip, I cant wait to go back in March !!

Payton's Basketball ... Jan - March 2009

Payton is playing basketball too this year.. he is on the Owls #24

#24.... .notice anything different ???

Payton asked to have his hair cut.. no more curls !!

it is a good baseball haircut.. its just taking some time to get used to it.

#24 going in for the points...

Aubrie's Basketball.... Jan-March 2009

Aubrie decided that she wanted to try basketball this year. With never playing before and never really even picking up a basketball.. we didnt know how she would do. But to our surprise.. she is turning into a good little basketball player !!! She is getting the hang of the game and has moved up in positions even ! I think she likes it more than softball, and she definitely has the height advantage too !!

action shot.. Aubrie trying to steal the ball

Go Cougars !!

point guard

really putting effort into that shot !! :)