El Centro and the Blue Angels

Last Friday we drove over to El Centro, California with my parents for a quick weekend trip. Most people prefer to drive right on through El Centro on their way to beautiful San Diego. But for me this little town is home to so many of my favorite childhood memories. My dad grew up here and we came back all the time to see my Grandma and Grandpa Richter and go to the ranch. Both of my grandparents have now passed on. Though their presence is definitely missed, it was still so great to be back in the fields of the Imperial Valley. Saturday morning we got up and visit my grandparents grave. Crew loved helping with the flowers. My Grandma loved the color yellow so we thought sunflowers were good fit. These two were always the sweetest of sweethearts. It was so great to start the day visiting them. We also saw my great grandparents graves. This is my grandpa's father And his mother.

Then it was time to head out to the ranch. Love this place

One bonus of the trip was seeing our good friends the Ericksens. They made the long trek across the desert to spend the day with us and we were so excited to see them again. Crew and Jake wasted no time at all getting on the quad

Tom and Abby

Matt, impressive on this motorcycle isn't he?

Graham was so happy to have Abby around again. She is so good to him

Cheetos are pretty good to him too.

The gang watching the air show. There is a naval training center about a mile away so we had great seats for the air show.

Watching the air show

Proof that Mom survived the my grandpa's homemade out-house!

Oh Stacey, my long lost friend!

This little guy was a trooper! He finally zonked out for about 30 minutes but the rest of the time he was going strong. Thank goodness for Abby and Grandpa!

I love this picture because it reminds me of the good old days in South Pas. These three have so much fun together. I still am trying to convince Stacey to just let me keep them!

Finally it was time for the Blue Angels, or Green Devils as Stacey kept calling them. Man are these guys amazing. They flew for about an hour and we loved it!

I love this picture of them circling the ranch.

After the Blue Angels few we started loading up and heading for home. But first we had to get a couple group shots. We love you Ericksens and thank you so much for coming all the way out to spend the day with us!

And of course a huge thank you to my parents for making the whole trip happen. I love this place and all these people too :)

Crew

Sometimes I have to remind myself this boy is only 4. He is so stinking smart and becoming so independent. Crew is an animal around the house and it is no wonder to me why he sleeps so hard at night. We love this big boy!

Love those freckles

Still a very sweet brother too

Graham

This little guy is so full of personality. He just cracks us all up and loves riding the plasma car. He started riding it right after we moved here and he is now pretty good. He went all the way around the block the other day.

And he loves the bath. I was just playing with my camera one night and got some fun ones. We love this boy!

29

We celebrated Matt's 29th birthday last week. That's right, 29, but from the looks of his celebrating you may have thought he turned 15 :) Matt's brother Michael convinced Matt to get more into skateboarding about a year ago. So for his birthday, he, Michael and our nephew Taylor got to have a private lesson at skate place near us. It really was a blast for everyone. Here they are warming up.

Crew loved watching and playing on the ramps with his cousins Not too bad for a couple of old guys;)

Sweet little Sydney

Grandma and Sydney Saturday night we had a party for Matt out at his parents with a bunch of Matt's buddies he grew up with. Unfortunatley I forgot candles so Matt got a gigantic one on his cupcake!

Us with the Copples. We go way back with these guys. All the way back to the very first date! We played a dancing game on the Wii that was hilarious

We even convinced Matt's parents to do a song

Most of the gang that was there. It was so much fun to see everyone.

All in all, I would have to say it was a great birthday. We love you Matt!

President's Day

Over President's day weekend, both my siblings came home as well as a special treat, my Grandma Drake was visiting from Arkansas. It was so fun to be all together. Here are some of the highlights...

Of course, lots of time in the yard...

A nice day at the zoo, including camel rides and feeding our giraffe friend

Perhaps the best part of the weekend for the boys was the RV my dad borrowed from a friend. They slept in it, played in it, and totally loved it! (Although they did have to plug their ears when it pulled up!)

Crew's soccer game

Games

Fondue

Goofy golfing

And of course pictures

We took a week to recover but it was worth it!