Green Friday Hunting

we don't partake in black friday shopping, instead, we partake in green friday hunting. after a tasty thanksgiving meal and a restful night's sleep...we awake early and head out into the cold. and it was very cold...frost-on-the-rooftop cold.

after we drive about an 1 hour and a half...we arrive at harris tree farm. snow is everywhere. the kids eyes are twinkling. mine, no so much. i'm thinking i have my ugg's on, hannah has her ugg's on...there goes our uggs. i know, i'm lame. after i was pelted in the face by a rock hard snowball, i get over the uggs getting ruined.

the kids had a blast and were running all over making snowballs, singing "this is the greatest day ever" & eating snow...they could care less about finding a tree. so when big z found one, it was approved by all rather quickly. i was even fine with it.

after we got our tree and took our pictures, we headed over for some hot chocolate and hot apple cider. the new fire pit was a great addition. we enjoyed sitting around the fire, surrounded by snow and the beautiful sun above.

the tree farm had some sleds, so the kids made themselves at home and had fun sledding through the trees.

and to top it off, santa came ho-ho-hoing in and stopped and hung out with our younger kids and fed them candy canes. he answered lots of their questions, too. phew...now i'm off the hook! and i am ever thankful that he had a real white beard, because being that up close and personal- he could have ruined it all!

after our long stay at harris tree farm, we headed to our next favorite stop. high hill ranch. got some lunch, some apples & apple treats, and some honey sticks... then we headed home.

it was a great day!!

YIKES

for real??? i haven't posted anything since july?!

our Xtreme gymnast

hannah had a great first season of competing. she had fun and loved every minute of it. for me, it was so exciting to watch and cheer her on. she was so close to making it to zones. hopefully next season!

and p.s. this might be the only video you get because it is taking forever to upload, just sayin'!

p.p.s. i don't even know what video i uploaded.

okay, so the first one is from her second meet and the second is her first...got it?!

and, this is kind of why i don't blog as much...because it bugs me that my pictures are not in the order i want them in and i can't get them to where i want them. oh well.
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yosemite 2010

well, we didn't get into yosemite when we normally like to go...but we did make it in for a long labor day weekend.

we have great friends...the seiferts...who are always blessing us in some way. this time, they offered us their RV. it was fantastic, if i don't say so myself.

we did have a little trouble getting to our destination because the RV is quite, um, mature, if you catch my drift! but once again, brent(seifert), came to our rescue, with a mechanic, late at night, in elk grove, while we barged in on my brother and sister-in-law, who just had a baby a couple weeks prior. i didn't mind--i got to hold my niece while i waited, worked out perfectly.

so once we were all fixed up and done being laughed at by colin and jess for being all griswald-ish, we were on our way.

and let me tell you-- pulling up into lower pines in the middle of the night in an RV...TOTALLY AWESOME! we pulled in, kids already sleeping in their beds and we went right to sleep. and guess what, morning came, and we were already set up!!

the kids had a blast, as always. no bear sightings...but lots of deer. zachary and his 2 older cousins, emily and isabella, were given a little more freedom this year. we let them ride their bikes to the village to get a candy bar or just hang out. they loved feeling all grown-up.

now of course, i am freaking out because oprah did a show on her visit to yosemite AND she stayed in lower pines--which is our spot. oh oprah, don't you know when to keep a secret?!

our newest family member

on friday, august 20, right around rush hour traffic...i get a call from my brother to hurry to the hospital. which, by the way, is in elk grove. yay. a little stressful, and i was preparing myself the entire way, that if i did not make it to see her born, it would be okay.

but, after a long drive and lots of traffic, i walked in the room as her head was appearing. i JUST made it.

this was the second birth i saw, the first being this one's brother. i'm so thankful that my sister-in-law included me in the festivites. thank you so much, jess! what an amazing thing seeing a baby be born.

camryn lea was born at 5:29pm and weighed (barely anything) 6 pounds, 15 ounces. hmmm, i wonder what that is like...all my babies were big 8 pounders.

congrats to my baby brother and sister-from-another-mother...i love you guys so much!

movin' on up

hard to believe another school year has come to an end, but it has. the kids finished the year great and we couldn't be more proud to be their parents.

galgan family pictures

the coloring of the easter eggs

every year we head up to mima and pop-pops house and color our easter eggs. we always have a great time and make a big mess!

happy birthday, buggie girl!

the second week of spring break started with hannah's 7th birthday. we did her party on her birthday at the stroke of magic...a little painting studio in town.

she had all her special friends there, along with daddy, mommy, auntie jessie, joey and mimi. it was a fun day indeed!

the girls painted some beautiful masterpieces, watch out picasso!

isabella, bella, birthday girl, alexis, and kaylee-- school bff's

rachel and hanna: very special friends

bella and hannah: painting away

bubbies and mea

all the little masterpieces

thanks for all the presents!

the worker lady whipped up this big birthday "card" and the all the kids got to sign it

the crew!

Arizona

this year, the kids had 2 weeks off for spring break. so with that, we took a trip to scottsdale, arizona for a few days of some r&r.

the kids had a blast swimming every single day. there was just one rule, they could NOT swim from 2-6...that way the older ladies could tan without kids messing up their fresh, rolled curls. i think that's a good rule to implement at mimi and papa's pool this summer...hee, hee!

so when we weren't swimming, the kids rode their bikes, ran errands with papa, went to cracker-jax- which is basically like a scandia, went to rawhide- a western amusement town, went on a desert tour in a big hummer, ate, shopped, slept and hung out.

we had a blast!

here they come!

the beauty of the desert

one of our beautiful princess'

such a character!

what we need for the backyard

mimi, buggie, and papa

on march 18th, some great friends, including my prego sis-in-law, took off running for our 2nd 1/2 marathon.

a pair of good shoes and new custom inserts, for my flatter than flat feet, helped me beat my time from first 1/2.

i had a great run up until mile 11 when my body started cramping, but i pushed through it. i loved having my family there and was so excited when i saw our car driving past me to find parking! and then seeing their faces along the streets was the coolest! little zach ran the last mile with me and coached me to the finish line-- priceless!

we all did great!

m is for mea...

it's snow-eautiful!

donnor lake, gorgeous

the little seifert cabin

our three snow bunnies

there goes the jacket....

LOVE

in january, we were invited to go to donnor lake with our good friends, the seiferts. they have a family cabin up there. the last time we went, hannah was just about 9 months old, so basically the boys were pretty young, too.

thanks to special friends, we were able to borrow most of our snow gear and not spend a fortune on all of that.

the big kids had a blast. although it didn't snow while we were up there, there was a ton of snow left from the previous storm. the kids were bummed that they didn't get to see it actually snow, but they were still thrilled with the snow that was all around.

mea wasn't excited about the snow at all. she hates wearing a jacket, shoes, hats, gloves...so we would find her stripping down to her bare feet and clothes most of the time. there's always next year, right?!

one afternoon, we took a drive to reno, nevada and went to cabella's and boomtown. we had fun going to both of those places and the kids are able to say they have been to nevada now.