Goodbye Tony Stanza

We have said the first of many sad goodbyes.
Tony Stanza has left our family and gone to the great junkyard in the sky.

After 20 years of hard work and over 200,000 miles, Tony finally needed a repair that he just wasn't worth. What a hard working car! For the last few years, we expected this car to kick the bucket at any moment, but it just kept chug, chug, chugging along. Only one window would go down, the back corner was bashed in, the radio would sometimes turn off in the rain, and so on, but he wouldn't die. He finally did, and the tow truck came to take him away last Sunday.

I have to explain our sentimental attachment to this car. Greg picked me up for our first date in this car. This was "my boyfriend's car" back in the day. Then I learned to drive stick in this car. We drove it on many a road trip to Phoenix, and have so many memories in it. For a long time it had a loose belt and made a little whistling sound. I loved that sound because I'd be cooking dinner and hear Greg drive in when he got home from work.

Well, Tony had sat in the garage for a few weeks, and when we found out we were moving, it was time for him to go in a hurry. So he's gone and we are glad for the good timing of not having to move two vehicles to Texas. But we sure are thankful to have had such a good car for such a long time!

Packin' Up and Movin' to Texas! (and the bucket list)

It is time for a very overdue blog update regarding the status of our family!

WE ARE MOVING TO DALLAS, TEXAS!

We have been exploring this option for years now, and on July 7th Greg interviewed with the Dallas branch of his company for a new position out there. Early the next week they offered him a position, and we accepted.
He'll be working as the Sales Manager at the Hilton in Grapevine, Texas- a suburb just North of Dallas. He is excited for some new challenge in his career, and we know he's going to do GREAT!

So now it's time to get our family out there!
We threw the kids in some boxes and we're ready to go.












OK, seriously.
We don't yet know when we are going for sure. The Dallas people wanted Greg to start in 30 days, but his LA boss isn't promising anything before 60 days. He wants time to find Greg's replacement and get him trained before Greg goes. All we know is that we are going sometime between 30 and 60 days.
We don't yet know where we will be living when we get there. We will be renting, but can't really get a rental yet until we know when we are arriving.... so.... we're packing what we can live without for a few months, and trying to be ready to move fast when we get word.

In the meantime, we are set to enjoy all we love about Southern California while we have the chance. We made a "bucket list" that looks like this:
-time with friends
-time with friends
-Summerfest at church (every summer Sunday night after service we have food and fellowship on the lawn)
-Disneyland (we haven't gone since Addie was little!)
-the beach & Andria's- for great fish and chips
-Santa Barbara & a favorite romantic restaurant there- Stella Mare's (planned for my birthday next week!)
-the Getty (where we got engaged)
-Pinks in Hollywood for hot dogs
-Porto's in Glendale
-Pasadena with my cousin Heather and her husband Matt
-the Hollywood Bowl (we bought tickets to see Harry Connick Jr. in a few weeks)
-local eateries: Stonefire Grill and Daphne's for cheap yummy Greek food
-Santa Monica Pier
-Our favorite thrift store off Lankershim. (*sigh*, I will really miss that place)
-Descanso gardens (Addie requested this one)

Between packing and planning and living it up, we barely have a spare moment! I think that will help us though, since leaving here will be one of the hardest things we will ever do. There are so many things we love about Southern California and so many wonderful, wonderful friends. We have great memories here, but a great future ahead of us there too. I never thought that when I came here to go to college, I'd stay here for the next 15 years! It's hard to believe it's been that long!

Stay tuned for some blog posts showing all the fun we're going to have in the next few weeks!

Scotty's First Steps

While hanging out poolside during Addie's swim lessons, Scott decided to take his first steps! We had just happened to bring the camera that night- thank goodness!

Here he is, reaching for the stroller!
He took one or two steps toward the stroller several times.
If you look closely in this picture, you can see little mr. sticking out his tongue.
And here we are trying to coax him to walk to daddy and the camera for another picture.... not happening.

Addie Swims

After two weeks of swim lessons, here she is! It may havebeen somewhat pathetic swimmnig, but she was SWIMMING nonetheless!

A little swimming on her back...
A look at the gracefulness of my daughter... :)
swimming to the stairs on her own...
Diving for a ring.
In this shot, she reminds me of a duck, diving to look for something to eat.

Fourth of July

A few pics from the 4th of July.
We spent the evening going to church, then a fellowship time and picnic on the lawn after church, then off to see some fireworks with the Murrays. We all went to the local mall, where they put on a big show.

The kids had a great time. They got to throw down some snappers and do a few little poppers. They also liked the big show a lot.
















Sadly, this sweet night was overshadowed by sadness when, during the fireworks finale, a car plowed into a large group of pedestrians just down the block and across the street from us. We were glad the kids were blissfully ignorant of the whole thing, but we adults were literally sickened by this terrible accident which took the life of a local mother and injured three of her children, plus three other children nearby. Not the way you want to always remember a day, but there you go. It was a go reminder of the brevity of life, no doubt. We put the kids to bed that night with extra hugs and kisses and thanked the Lord for another day.