Desiree's 30th Birthday

On Friday, a bunch of crazy girls descended on Disneyland to wreak havoc and have fun. It was one of my best friends birthday, Desiree, she turned thirty last week. The husbands were kind enough to allow us out of the house with no chaperone, and no curfew! Much fun was had.

Me, Sharon, Andrea, Lisa and Desi. We all go to the same church.

We took Des to eat at the Blue Bayou, inside Pirates of the Caribbean. Look how nice everyone poses, except for me because I couldn't wait to start on my salad.

Sharon and I. She's the prettiest.

We got Des a hat and gloves to wear, but she wouldn't do it! I wound up with the hat and Sharon wore the gloves.

Indiana Jones.

Quarantined

Not such a good week here at the Paulson house. Brett came down with the flu on Wednesday, fever, bad aches, deep cough, chills. Then Tyler went down Friday. This morning Matt woke up with croup, I raced him down to the emergency room, on the phone with 911 the whole way. He couldn't breathe, throwing up and scared out of his mind. They treated him with a mask of cold meds and a steroid shot. Now he's fine. They said croup gets triggered by the flu, but he doesn't have the flu, he's just around a bunch of people who do. I am ok, but I had the flu last month, so I should be fine. James is also well so far, he's at his dads this weekend.

Here's Ty and Matt, Matt made a "germ free tent" out of blankets. Obviously it didn't work so well. You can see the fever in Tyler's eyes here.

Matt at the hospital this morning. I told him he looked like Darth Vadar with the respiratory mask on. He wanted a picture to show Tyler. He was already much better at this point.

Airsoft Wars

Brett and the boys took half the neighborhood out into the hills last week. The purpose was to shoot each other up, for many hours, as much as possible. The goal was met, and there was much rejoicing. I have a feeling that this will be a recurring event, the boys had lots of fun.

Setting up perimeters.

Big Nick, unloading.

Preparing for battle.

I hear it was hot out there. I wouldn't know, I was at home reading and drinking lemonade.

I like how James decided to do a 007 pose, and I bet he doesn't even know who James Bond is.

Big Nick.

Targets on a tree.

They even set up a drink, reload, and relax area.

Tyler's First Game

Today was Tyler's first soccer game of the season. His team is the Galaxy, U12. Ty hasn't played since he was five, he did really well. I hope he holds an interest in soccer, we enjoy watching the games. They won today, score was 1-0! Chris and Kim came to watch too. Oh, and all these photos are compliments of Matthew, he was on camera duty today. Not bad!

Tyler is #7.

Oh Baby! A Little Hewel On The Way.

Did I tell you I get to be an Aunt? I do! Chris and Kim are almost 14 weeks pregnant, here are there ultra sound pictures from yesterday. The baby is perfect and healthy and Kim is doing great.

Side profile of the baby's head, sucking its thumb!Head, arm, torso.

Boy or girl? Not too long before we find out!

Sucking its thumb again.

I love these pictures, from the front they always look like aliens!

!

Candice

This is Candice. She's my 21 year old, cutie-patootie, pain in the butt, creator of half the bruises on my arms, favorite niece. I just love her to pieces. On Thursday she came up to spend the night, on her way back from Los Angeles where she was in the process of getting her passport. Last night Candice boarded a plane to Malawi, Africa, where she will do some missionary work for one year. This is her first trip on an airplane, first time out of the country, first time away from family and everything she knows. She only just got called to this mission less than two weeks ago. Candice will be substitute teaching preschoolers at the African Bible College out there, while attending the college herself. She is going to try and send me lots of pictures so we can start a blog for her, following her adventures this coming year. I'm also asking for lots of prayer for Candice, prayer for protection, guidance, wisdom, and for Candice to allow God to take complete control of her life, in every area. She's an awesome girl, I'm going to miss her, but I am so excited for her and this great opportunity that God is allowing her to be apart of.

Candice and Tyler, the day before she left.

Christmas 2008

Disneyland 2006, I think...

Laguna Beach, 2007.

Visiting My Reno

This is my town, I used to live here. Lots of times. As a matter of fact, if you asked me what I considered my hometown to be, I would say Reno. I miss it, I hate it, I love it, I would move there again if life permitted it. Don't get me wrong, I love Orange County, I am not moving for a very long time.

But I left my heart in Reno.

So my brother Chris and I drove up at the end of July, we had some things to take care of and people to see. Chris had a show to play, Brett flew to Las Vegas to help his aunt and mom drive a moving truck to Reno. His aunt was relocating to be closer to Brett's mom. I just wanted to visit everyone.

I got to hang out with my very good friend Julie and her kids at Lake Tahoe one day.

Lake Tahoe is a very good thing about Northern Nevada. No sharks in this water, no giant waves and undertow trying to hurt you.

I love the calm, clear, waters of Tahoe. So does Matt.

So does Julie. She's cute.

We had a little early birthday party for Matthew. Matt made his own pinata. He didn't want to ruin a perfectly good pinata, so he took a paper bag, colored it and filled it with candy. Totally worked.

This is April and her daughter Havannah. She drove up from Chico to see me. We have been bestest friends since high school.

My other best/favorite girls, Lori and Elizabeth. Can I tell you how happy I was to see these girls? They have been there for me for YEARS. Elizabeth watched Tyler's birth.

Sawyer, Elizabeth and Jim's first baby. So cute.

I just liked this picture. My puppet attacking a freshly woken April. Creepy.