Orem All Stars

After a great season with the Padres, Derek was excited to be chosen to play on the All Star team. Orem won their first 2 games and then lost 2 and were eliminated but Derek had alot of fun and we had fun watching them play.

AAH. . .Warm Summer Nights and Baseball

Well not exactly----it's been more like cold, rainy nights and baseball this year!! Seems like every game so far has found us wrapped in a blanket to keep warm with our umbrella handy but we are die hard fans and wouldn't miss a game because of bad weather !!
Derek is playing on the Padres again and has really improved on his pitching and hitting this year, in fact in one game he had 16 Strike-outs and last week he hit a home run.


Mo loves to come to the ball park and watch "Uncle Dies" play baseball, the only problem is he doesn't want to stay on the side lines, he wants to run out onto the field where Derek is.

Congratulations Derek!!

Last week was Derek's 6th Grade Graduation at Lakeview Elementary. At the program he received the Presidential Award for Educational Excellence, the National Physical Fitness Award, an Award for Fantastic Attendance ( He only missed 2 days of school ) and he is a graduate of the DARE program. Way to go Derek !!! He is excited to be moving on to Jr. High but his Dad is going to miss seeing him at school every day.

Spring Break

For Spring Break we decided to head to California one last time before Jeff and Julie move to New Mexico. We have loved being able to visit them several times while they have lived there and will miss our visits to the Bay Area!!

We came across this peace sign just a block away from the "Haight-Ashbury" area of San Francisco which was famous in the 60's

Jeff and Julie have a friend that works at Pixar and so he arranged for us to take a tour of their studio. It was really fun and amazing to learn about what goes into making an animated movie. One movie takes about 5 years to complete!!



The fact that the Red Sox were in town to play the Oakland A's was also a factor in our decision to come to California. The night we went however just happened to be one of the coldest games in A's history! It was still fun to be there though and Gary, the die hard A's fan, came home the winner!!

We spent the last 2 days of our trip at Grandma and Grandpa Chem's in Windsor. Our visit there is never complete until we make a visit to Powells Candy Shoppe!

Returned With Honor

March 18th was a red letter day for our family as Nic returned home from his service in the Kentucky Louisville Mission!

Waiting anxiously were 2 nephews Nic had never seen before and Trey who was beginning to wonder if Nic was ever going to come down the escalator.


As every parent who has ever sent a child on a mission knows---this day is one of the best days of your life!!!

One "Wicked" Week-end

Not everyone would be thrilled to have their Mother-in-law call and say "I'm coming for a visit and by the way, I'm bringing a friend", especially when your husband (her son) wasn't even going to be in town!! But Julie was VERY sweet to not only let me and my friend Liz come and stay but she chauffeured us all around the Bay Area as well.

The highlight of the trip (besides getting to see my grandsons) was getting to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. It was amazing and every bit as good as the New York Production.


On Saturday we got a break from the "heavy misting" that the Bay Area is known for and took Liz into see the sights in San Francisco. We enjoyed some famous Sour Dough Bread on Fisherman's Wharf and some chocolate at Ghiradelli Square.

Thanks to my friend Liz for a fun week-end and to Julie for putting up with us!!

An Early Christmas

Since Jeff, Julie and the boys aren't able to come for Christmas this year, Gram just had to fly to California and "hand deliver" the presents!! We let Trey and Kaden open the "big one" from Gram & Grandpa, mainly because it was taking up too much room in the apartment.




Kaden is THE cutest 16 month old!!

Trey loved this Polar Express display at the mall. Merry Christmas you guys, we love you so much!!