Christmas 2010

Christmas morning begins with the traditional "picture in front of the tree" - except that you can't really see much of the tree in this shot. Austen is annoyed and not much on tradition, but then he is always annoyed and has never been much on tradition.

I think I am standing in a hole. Either that or Austen has grown. As you can see, he is still annoyed.

We really do need to read the directions on how to take a picture using the timer. We did get everyone in though, so for now, it will have to do.

Using a timer?

You might remember us using a timer in pictures we have taken in the past. That was before we LOST our camera about six or so weeks ago. Held out buying a new one, knowing that we would find it. Held out some more (and some more) and then finally gave up and bought a new one. About one week later, we found the old one. Didn't get any pictures of the BBD Family Christmas Celebration on the 19th of December. These are all pictures of actual Christmas on December 25th.

Life in the fast lane.

Moving right along though!

Santa was practical this year.

Mr. & Mrs. Clause went to Costco.

Santa saw these and put them in the cart and Mrs. Clause saw a set of drinking glasses that she wanted and put them in the cart.

No fuss, no muss, no regrets and no returns. Not much excitement, but like I said, practical.

Now this is excitement!

After her other top got broken and no one was able to make it spin and hum like a proper top does, Gramma and Grampa came to the rescue. Lilly now has a spinning, humming top and she seems pretty pleased!

(Shoot! This is where that cute little picture of Lilly goes but I can seem to move it!

So, scroll up to the top, take a look at that sweet smile, and then come on back down to continue on.)

You needent even guess what is making Ethan smile. A dinosaur, of course. He has quite a few and knows the 8 syllable names of each one of them and couldn't have been more pleased to add another few "saureses" to his herd.

Both of them concentrating deeply on leveling up.
It worked.

They both leveled up.

Morgan is figuring our her little present-topper peg game. Has anyone ever won that thing?

Kendall is pleased to have a camping set for her Liv dolls. I am pleased that it is all at her house. The coffee pot for heating water is no bigger than a small thimble and the knives and forks are as big around as a stick of spaghetti and about 3/4 of an inch long. It was a suggested gift though and I've come to realize that grandparents don't worry half so much about pieces as we did when we were parents.

Then there is the ever fun part of being a parent on Christmas and reading the directions so you can figure out how something is put together. Kendall is being ever so patient and Jody is being the perfect mom, as usual!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

-Santa Clause

BABIES & SOCCER

It sure is fun to have a baby in this neck of the woods again. This is William, my little great nephew. As you can see, he won't be little for long. He almost doesn't even look like this anymore, he is growing and changing so fast!


It's especially fun to have William because we don't get to see this baby half enough! Eleni is taking a break here at her 1 year old birthday party, getting in a quick nap with her snake (no teddy bears for this girl!) as her nap-mate.


Not to steal Jody's thunder or anything, but she won't get this posted until the girls are in high school anyway and you will have forgotten all about my post by then.

Is this not the neatest, most creative banner you have ever seen in your entire life!!?!? (Mom's can still brag about and be proud of what their adult kids do!)

Kendall and Morgan, coached by their dad, are on the Sparklers. Kendall is #4 and Morgan is #8. Can you see them writing their names with sparklers on a 4th of July evening? Have you ever seen anything so neat? Ever!?!


And then Grandma's can brag about their grandkids, too.

Have you ever seen a better looking crew at a soccer game?

This year is a breeze for Jody and Scott - both girls are on the same team. Next year they will have 3 games a Saturday and 3 sets of practice during the week. Then the fun will really begin! Beck is a little more enthused to play now. We went around looking at banners and when he realized that there are teams with names like The Ferocious Tigers and The Storm Troopers
with cool banners to match he felt a little better. All he had ever seen were things like The Strawberry Shortcakes and the Pretty Purple Princesses.

Go Lightening McQueens!

SUMMER'S END 2010

Summer is quickly wrapping up for the Kossub Klan.

We know that we won't make any headlines for the most exciting family on the block as we are pretty happy with what most people think of as small potatoes, that is if they were even going to give it any thought at all.

Consider.

Every summer we like to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. This year was no exception, except that we did buy season passes this time(which will get us into the winter festival too!). First trip we made, we looked a lots and lots of neat things and kind of made a list of what would be fun to have. $2000.00 later, we knew that wasn't going to happen, so we went home and decided which of our heart's desires we could afford.

Not much, actually.

Did I mention that the Sawdust Festival takes place at what is known as an artist's colony in Laguna Beach?

Bit I digress.

After careful thought and discussion, and since we had passes and could get in for free, we went back a few weeks later and bought.........

A doorbell plate!

Like I said, we're pretty easy to please.

We are still working on landscaping the house, so this time we went to Batavia Gardens (in nearby Orange) and bought a Carribean Copper Plant. It has beautiful red leaves that will be even brighter because we planted it in a location that gets full sun.

And that is about all the excitement we had while Austen was on his

Scouting High Adventure Trip.

High Adventure Scouting Trip you ask??

Austen paddled down the Colorado River in two man canoes for 51 miles. It took them four days. Each evening they would unload the canoes of the equipment they carried with them and camp overnight. They carried tents, sleeping bags, clothes, all their food, stoves - you know what it takes to camp!

Then each morning, they would break down camp, load the canoes and head off again.

Austen's first description of the trip upon returning was that it was row, row, canyon. Row, row, canyon. He felt it was a bit boring but I'm sure that he will remember it in years to come as a pretty neat adventure!

Here he is, beginning the delightful chore of unpacking and sorting. Sorting, meaning this is Isaiah's plate and a lot of the stuff that should have been in his backpack isn't - it's in Isaiah's.
Other than the fact that he has a pretty good cut on the bottom of his foot (didn't think his water shoes would be necessary that time), they arrived home at 4:30 a.m. and his sunglasses got stepped on it was quite a successful trip.

And with tomorrow being the first day of school, yup!

Summer is pretty much over.

Great Auntie Faye

Since my sister (a.k.a. Gramma/Janet) doesn't have a blog, and neither does my neice (a.k.a. Mommy/Mitsi) I feel that I can post this and not be accused of stealing any thunder.

I am officially Great Auntie Faye.

Blessing day for William (Japanese name) (Hawaiian name) Kekouhah. (Geez, I hope I at least got the last name spelled correctly...!) He was so handsome in his argyle sweater vest and gray slacks. He was really cute in his dress black shoes until he pooped big time and his socks were in no condition to put back on so he had to go the rest of the day Polynesian style - barefoot. (We were all jealous.)

Proud parents and handsome baby boy.

Mitchell doesn't let go of him very much.

Proud grandparents, too!

It was a great day and he received a beautiful blessing from his dad. Scott and Dave were asked to join the circle for the blessing. We then had a yummy luncheon at Mitchell's parent's home and had a warm and friendly time visiting with them.

Lots and lots of people sure do love you William!!!

Formal BBD 2010 Pix

Somehow we accidentally got Austen to smile. Shadow was looking away, but Austen smiling was such a rarity that I had to post this one.

Eric and Leanna and kids. Ethan is a little camera shy (he is 3). This is one of the only pictures we have of him sort of looking at a camera. I could say I used it on purpose so everyone could see what the backs of our beautiful BBD tee shirts look like? Lilly is 18 months. She truly became one with the dirt this trip.


Tracy and Chip. Taylor is 15 (yes, 15 YEARS old), Aubrey is 13, Hannah 10 and Jackson 8. Gunner - well Gunner is loveable and like the rest of the family, has learned to pose for pictures perfectly!!

Beth and Fo'ou. Ilai turned 10 about a week after this picture was taken. Eden is 8 (and coming to California in August for her cousin's baptism!) and sweet little Anela is 4.

Jody and Scott. Morgan is 7, turning 8 and being baptized in August! Kendall is 6 and Beck is 3.

Ellen and Danny. Waiting for an announcement. Any day you guys, any day.

Kelley and Tyler. Eleni is 10 months old and already a pro at dirt campin'! Duke was everybody's friend. (Broke two water bowls while there - or was it three?)

Gramma Janet (William couldn't make it being only 7 days old and all) and Papa Mario.

The Lord really had a good idea when He organized families the way He did. Makes for lots and lots of happiness!!

BBD 2010

As the saying goes, "You've gotta break some eggs to get an omlette!"

You've also got to get a little dirty if you're going to have fun campin'!

Eleni says, "Hi folks! We're campin'!"

Lilly is diggin' whatever it is that she is chewing on.

Beck couldn't scoot over one foot and do whatever he's doing on the mat.....

Purely an accident. This was the second before we took pictures. Ethan made short work of the shirt and his face in just moments.

The beginnings of an irrigation ditch.

Riding scooters can be pretty tough on knuckles and knees. Good thing for princess bandaids.
Injuries heal so much faster if you have them on hand.

Cousins having some fun. Shirts are getting more of a "worn" look to them.

Cousins finding out how much they have in common.

Four different families represented. (Five if you count the dogs.)

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart. You'll never find a better 3-stove kitchen anywhere! (Four if you count the BBQ in the back!)

Can't even begin to tell my family how much I love and thank them all for coming. I was in heaven for 7 days. If Brandi and Jesper ever make it back here from Sweden with their two daughters it will be too too perfect.

We missed my neice Mitsi and her husband Mitchell. Their son, William, who was supposed to have been born on 22 June took his sweet time getting here and wasn't born until the 30th. In their wisdom, they didn't make the trip with a 7 day old infant. Raymond (my nephew) - we need you!! You are missed.

Next post will be of all the individual families. Can't figure out how to get the big group picture off of my sisters Costco CD (or is it a DVD?). Besides, this way we can show the dogs, too!!!

BBD 2012. Will it ever get here??? CAN'T WAIT!

Spring: It's a Wrap!

Kossub's are wrapping up spring with some fun accomplishments.

Mom got her name in lights!

Austen shined at the swim banquet.

It was held "on deck" at the pool. A bit of a change for a banquet venue but it was kind of neat, too! For one, it didn't have a $20.00 per ticket price tag that having it at a restaurant sometimes brings.

Don't know if any of you remember O.J. Vazquez, but he was Austen's J.V. swim coach this year. He and Austen would banter back and forth and even if Austen won't admit it, I think they both enjoyed the season.

As you can see, the J.V. team wasn't very big in numbers. As you can also see, Austen didn't even come close to being one of the tallest on the team, but that really didn't matter at all. What he lost in height, he made up for with something else that he has inside of him because he was able to take home a very nice piece of hardware.

Austen received this because his times were simply better than everyone else's!

Dave is working working working on the house. Practically every day after work and all day on Saturdays and half a day on Sundays. In this picture, he's taking all the old wood down and turning it around so that it has nice sharp edges to paint among the many other things he is doing. All the eaves have been sanded and double primed and double painted up to this point. Yes. Double. So by the time it's all said and done, every square inch of the house will have been "painted" four times. And all of it by Dave with a roller or a brush.

This is what the side of the house now looks like. All we need to do is get the black shutters put up on the windows (not these windows - the ones that are further down) and I think the side of the house is then finished except for the landscaping.

Then there's the front of the house. All that's left to do is replace the mailbox (with a black one) and paint the wood on the left there (it will be green). There will be black shutters on that one window just to the right of the front door. We will be removing the artfully displayed hose and hose box.......and hopefully replacing it with a little black ice cream table and chairs set. Just where is that item at a garage sale when you need it! And then of course there is the landscaping. (Just where is the Publisher's Clearinghouse winnings when you need them!)

We are looking forward to having the Boberg Golden Anniversary Wedding celebration at our house on July 5th. (50 years!!)

Nothing like a party to get you going on some long needed projects!

Of course the best part will be BBD 2010!!!

Swimming & Spring

Pretty happy campers these days around the Kossub household with it being spring and swimming season and all.

It has been a lot of fun.

Austen has particularly appreciated Jody, in that she is letting him use her swim parka. Not only is it good for swimming, it's just as good for early morning seminary. He wears it every morning and is cozy and warm, just like he is when he on the pool deck.

Austen doing the backstroke. His specialty though is the 100 yd and 200 yd freestyle. He placed first in both of his races in league finals. Was so exciting!!

Of course I cried.

As all you swimmers know though, most of the time is spent waiting for your next race. And usually after you're done waiting, you wait some more.

Swimmers are patient people.

Picture perfect dive!!



Austen is in the lane in the middle of the picture. Notice how far ahead he is of the guy in 2nd place?!

Swim season was a lot of fun and we look forward to the fall when water polo starts up again. Looks like he is going to participate next year as well. We'll see what happens when he is a junior and his P.E. requirements are filled. Will he still want to participate???

I know I have mentioned Joan to most of you. She is my A.P. "boss" at work - the one who headed up the Knight's Fighting Cancer faculty photograph. And no, she is not wearing heels. She is just tall!! And I am just short, so the two of us together look ridiculous!

This is a picture of us at the dinner for "Classified Employee of the Year". I was the representative from Katella this year.

Our back yard is a source of never ending pleasure. I have always loved flowers, but Dave really does a masterful job back there taking care of things and it is just nice to walk around and look at things!

This is a special treat! It is our lemon tree. There is a teeny little nest in it and if you look closely, you can see Mama Hummingbird sitting on it and being a good mom.

This is my favorite thing that has been in that little border along the garage. So far so good, but once summer comes and the chlorine water runs out of the pool and gets under the bricks they don't do so well anymore.

These are just growing under a little palm tree that is over where the loquat tree used to be. Shadow will often lie in the shade of that tree when it is warm. Such a bright red color!

Whether they be in the ground or in a pot, Dave can do all sorts of magic with flowers. He says it helps a lot of you water them regularly.....

Anybody making lemonade? I know where you can get some lemons!

Is your mouth watering?

We have picked and picked and shared and shared tangelos this year. I was literally afraid that some of the branches were going to break off, they were so heavy with fruit.

And the thing that will truly make me the happiest this year is BBD.

Really really looking forward to it!!!