Bryce asked if he could use a pen....

Can you guess what my answer was?




Can you guess what my answer will be next time?

40? Wh...Wha...What?

I think one of the first things I told my husband on his birthday was, "guess what babe? I can officially call you 'my old man'". Seriously...40? with gas prices the way they are...I guess we should be looking forward to that senior discount that's right around the corner...but man, the time is just flying by too fast.
I managed to pull off a pretty great surprise party at my parents house. He was clueless, which of course works out perfectly when throwing these types of events :) It was rather small...although the pictures might tell you otherwise. The original plan was to have it in Huntington Beach at my brothers house, but would have been a little chaotic with their recent move. So...we scaled back the guest list by LOTS of people. Mostly family with a few friends came out to help make his birthday a blast. Thanks to everyone who came!! Rich was really touched and truly enjoyed the day. I think everyone there had a great time too! The four of us headed to the Disneyland hotel on Sunday night and then spent Rich's actual birthday at the parks (thanks to some great friends) the sad part was I forgot my camera for that and the boys each fought Darth Vader with light sabers and I missed it. I guess we'll have to go back.
Well honey...hope you had a great birthday and that this next year is full of good health, love, happiness and success. You deserve it old man...I mean, babe. :)

Until next time...

A need for speed!!

Rich and I had the time of our lives this past weekend! He had purchased tickets for "A Racing Experience" a few months back, to use as sales incentives for his business. He just so happened to end up with a couple left over, so we decided to head out to Fontana Speedway to check it out.
To make a long story short...after a 45 minutes class and a couple times around the track in a van to get a feel for it, I drove 10 laps in a NASCAR while racing 9 other cars (all men) and went 155 mph. (Pheadra will love this...she loves going fast :). I think the toughest thing for me was making lane changes without signaling or checking my blind spot....not how it works in NASCAR apparently. It was insane!! It took me a couple laps to get the hang of it (and to breathe), but after that I was just getting warmed up when I saw the checkered flag.
Rich was next and was in his element! I think it came very naturally for him. He probably couldn't get over the fact that the person in the passenger seat was actually telling him to go faster...but I guess it would have been odd for that guy to have said, "Honey, slow down...you're not a race car driver."




In this picture, we are trying to tell if I need a different steering wheel or just a few cushions so I can see out of the windshield. Turns out I needed both. Hey you can't be to safe (or short) driving NASCAR right?


Rich is having his picture taken by the photographer before he takes off. They take one of you sitting in the window, one with your helmet on sitting in the car and one of you crossing the finish line. By the time we got out of the race car, the photos were developed, matted and framed. They turned out great too!



Here are the boys watching their daddy climb out of the #1 car. They were amazing and so patient all day. It was much longer than we had anticipated, but we only heard a few grunts and groans. Once they saw us in our race gear...they were pretty fired up. I do want to mention, that after I got out of the car, totally pumped at what I just did...Bryce said to me, "Mom, why were you going so slow?" WHAT?!? Apparently 155 mph wasn't fast enough for him. You can bet there wasn't a man on that track that was going to go home having let me beat them...so we'll just say I made them look fast.

Check out Brennen's homerun post below if you haven't already...

Until next time...

The "home run club"

On our way to one of Brennen's baseball games a couple of weeks ago, Brennen asked, "Mom, do you think I'll ever hit a home run?" I said, "well Brennen, it's not easy to do, but I'll bet someday you'll hit one." Then Brennen said, "What about the game ball mom, do you think I'll ever get that?" Okay moms, you know my heart was breaking just a little. I said, "Brennen you just try your hardest every game and I think you'll get it before the season is over." I knew the coach would make sure each child received a game ball, but if you know Brennen...then you know that he wants to earn the game ball...not just have it handed to him because it was time. Well, that game Brennen played his little heart out. He ran as fast as he could, made several great stops and throws. But this was not his time. Again, a little tug at the heart for mom...just knowing he was giving it all he had!
Last Wednesday, at the following baseball game, I was telling my friends Ashley and Heather this story about Brennen and his desires, and I said, "I just want him to feel good about getting the game ball." Just then my little man walked up to the plate and hit a line drive right.... Rich was 3rd base coach and told Brennen to "run Buggy". You know I was yelling! He was cutting it close, but Rich had him keep running to home plate as the ball was being thrown to the catcher. The catcher missed the ball, and Brennen was safe at home! Oh yeah, I cried. I ran over and gave him a big hug...and when I went back to my chair, my girl friends knew just what I was feeling, as they had tears in their eyes (for me I think). As you may have guessed by now...Brennen also got the game ball! As the coach handed it to him he said, "here's to the newest member of the home run club!" This was a great day for the Lenarth family! It's the little things that count sometimes...and that can bring so much joy to our lives. For these....I am thankful!

Until next time....

Celebrating 50 years!!

And we thought eleven years was along time. I guess it is in this day and age...but I think that as young couples we need to ask ourselves... are we making it count?
We went to Ramona this weekend to celebrate Aunt Della and Uncle Earl's 50th wedding anniversary. These two are amazing examples of what it means to "make it count." They are and have been a team in this life together. They were surrounded by so many who adore them and who hold incredible memories of times shared. It was an emotional day for all.

Here they are with their son, his wife and four boys. We grew up camping together as kids. It's hard to believe that we are all grown up and have kids of our own. I know mine had a blast this weekend!
The Dart and de Lachica kids together again. Can you believe I turned out girly with this bunch?
Aunt Jeni got a pretty good shot of us at Clint's house. Never know...you might see this picture at Christmas time. I always have the camera, so these photos are hard to come by :) My kids look relatively clean in this picture, but believe me...they aren't! Oh, and notice Bryce's "I'm so done with pictures" smile. Hey...I'll take what I can get.
These two could go on the road with their own comedy act. I had to get a picture of them together. They are both super blond, super dirty and super cute!!
Thanks to all the Darts for having us out. Sure hope it's not another 5 years before we gather again. So good to see all of you and your beautiful families. We'll have to get something on the calendar soon.

Until next time...

Check out more pictures below

Ahhh...sweet weekends

Spoiled much?

Hope you all had just as nice a weekend as the Lenarth boys!

Until next time...