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!!!

ESCAPE TO IDAHO

Got away to Idaho again and got to see some "firsts".

My first time seeing Eleni roll over.

Go Baby Girl!!



Not really my first time seeing Ilai play basketball, but certainly not any less enjoyable! This was the last game of their season - they went undefeated.

Notice the score in the background? We were the visitors.

Go Orange!!

Look closely and you will recognize the same two kids - eight years apart.

Not only were Eden and Jack blessed on the same day, they were also baptized on the same day.

The proud moms.

The proud dads.

The proud Gramma.

My heartfelt thanks to my daughters, sons-in-law and sweet grandchildren for delaying the baptisms and waiting for me to get well enough to be able to come and be there.

The musical number for the baptism was sung by the cousins. Not wanting to take a picture in the chapel, we re-created the musical number in one of the classrooms for the camera and had an awful lot of fun doing so.

I'm also grateful to another daughter and son-in-law for having the confidence to send Morgan with me to Idaho so that she could be there for this special occasion. It was a wonderful time for me to get some rare one on one time with her.

I think just about the most fun time I had on this visit was in the kitchen on Friday night. It was our task to make dozens and dozens of cookies for the baptism "reception" the next day. So between Me and Tracy and Beth and Taylor and Kelley and Aubrey and Hannah and Eden and Morgan and Anela, we pulled it off!! We made the best sugar, lemon, chocolate chip, spice and chocolate fudge cookies in town and of course there weren't any leftovers to be found anywhere! (Note to self: Beth could use another set of measuring spoons....)

Morgan became acquainted with Eleni.

(Morgan! Let's not tell Mom that you are barefoot in this picture!)

Had an awful lot of fun playing outside.
As you can see by Kelley's squint, it was sunny and warm.

As usual, the trip was wonderful. When it was time to go home, quoting Dr. Seuss helped tremendously. "Don't cry 'cause it's over. Smile 'cause it happened."

TAHOE OR BUST 2010!!

Frogs in the Pool

Ribbitt. Ribbitt

My sister and her husband are ceritified SCUBA divers. They are going to Maui in April for a much deserved vacation and plan to do a lot of SCUBA diving. It's been a while, so they have to re-certify. They decided to try it out in the priviacy of our backyard before embarrassing themselves terribly in their re-ceritfication class. It worked, because they passed with flying colors!

Congratulations Mario and Janet!!

Mario reminding Janet of some important things.

Even with a wetsuit on the water is cold!!

Who dat?

Interloper.

(Actually am quite proud of Dave for taking advantage of an opportunity that he might never get again!)

Of course I am cursing my sister and her husband at this point as Dave has been on Craig's list browsing - you guessed it - Diving Equipment.......

Saturday Mornings

Shadow and I have to figure out a better way to spend our Saturdays. This is a him in action on any one of the last 3 Saturday mornings in February.

This is what is becoming of my dresser. I am down to one little pile left to sort through. For a while I had forgotten the color of the wood. The entire surface was covered with very very important piles of paper. I'll get to the dust, too.

Our laundry is so caught up it's ridiculous. A pile of towels will take no time!

And you're probably wondering why there is so much flexible time for me and Shadow on Saturday mornings.

It's because we have a new Scoutmaster and Dave and Austen are either on campouts or at merit badge clinics.

You must admit that his sash is looking pretty good though! (Note to future mothers of Scouts: The Merit Badges that are edged in gray are required Eagle Scout merit badges. Gotta have 'em. The ones edged in green are the ones you can pick and choose according to your interests or the interests of your Scoutmaster...)

He'll be getting the Art merit badge today. So relieved! Then I can fill up that pesky blank spot. Next time I will leave the blank spot in the middle so that it is at least symetrical.

Two weekends ago sure was fun though!!

We saw Janet and Mario's newly remodeled, absolutley gorgeous new bathroom and kitchen. We all got to mess it up pretty good too because everyone was there for a 1-week-delayed FSAK
where everyone go to meet Eleni as a bonus!

Eleni and Lilly with matching hats. (Really admire those photographers who can get an entire family to smile nice for the camera. I could only get 75% of my subjects to cooperate. Dirty faces don't count.)

Austen found out that he was allergic to cats. He itched and his eyes watered all night long. Beck and Grampa had fun though!

After about 150 laps of Beck and Ethan running back and forth through the kitchen and living room Ethan took a break for a drink. No one was assigned to bring hair gel.

Grampa always manages to have a good time when the grandkids are around. They seem to like him, too!

Look alikes?

First I had to wait until Eleni turned 3 months old, and then that shot right past and I forgot all about doing this until now.

Here is mom and daughter both in their 3 month pictures. Does anyone think they look alike? Kelley has a California tan and is dressed a bit more modestly but then Eleni had her hair done a bit more stylishly.

Both are definitely sweethearts though!

Birthday Buddies

January is a very full month when it comes to family birthdays. We celebrate Lilly, Janet, Granny, Eden, Kelley, Austen, Scott, Laila and Mitchell. Nine birthdays. Wow! (We only need to remember 7 dates though, because Kelley and Austen share the same day and Scott and Laila share the same day. Nothing personal Mitchell, but I bet Brandi is glad that Laila didn't pick your birthday to double up on!)

But I digress.

I'm briefly going to talk about Austen's and Lilly's birthday celebrations in this post and the difference 14 years (and an attitude) makes.

It even rains at the Happiest Place on Earth. Doesn't stop people from coming though. These soaked folks are entering Downtown Disney. It was a rainy, windy, blustry, cold stormy day - got about 4 inches of rain that day - but we, along with lots and lots of other people, didn't let it stop us from having a birthday lunch with Austen.

Went to the Rainforest Cafe, where inside and outside you heard thunder and the pitter patter of raindrops - constantly. This is the biggest smile I could get from the newest 15 year old on the block. He did seem pretty happy to be there though.......

On the other hand, this is what the newest 1 year old on the block looks like when she turns one and has a new sun hat to wear on walks! Gramma's going to have to put a strap on it however. For a few moments, she forgot that she had it on, so it stayed, at least for the picture. Good Girl, Lilly!!!

Note: Do not have a birthday party for a 1 year old from 2:00 - 5:00. Prime nap time. (Lilly missed about 85% of her party!)

Brothers love birthday parties, no matter who they are for. He knows that he will be able to get Lilly to share EVERYTHING!