A nice little page...

Here's the article that goes with it:

Complete Cowboy

He's baaaack

I don't think this is really Kyle's brain (duh) but his is all better and has been cleared to play...just in time TCAL conference play...please no more bonks on the noggin Kyle!

Merry Christmas 2009!

We have had a great week of Christmas!

Nathan and Liesel shared Kendyl with us for a whole week! She wasn't too sure about all of us but has warmed to us all nicely!

We were able to talk to Elder Vasher in Mexico. He was very excited not to be sick anymore and that he and another American companion were roasting a turkey! He sounded great and gave us his release date of March 15. Can't wait!!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Santa Cruz Dad's Club Tourney

Congratulations to Salinas Boy's Basketball - Repeat Champs at Santa Cruz Dad's Club Tournament!

Congrats to Kyle - repeat MVP!

It's THAT time of year!

I sure like this boy. Hard to believe he is a Senior.

Look what I saw on the shelves this week...

Now, they line my shelves. Yah, its that time of year! Sweet! (no pun)

Everyone's getting in on hoops!

Happy Birthday Madre!!

November 16 is a special day. It is my mom's birthday. I am so thankful she gets to have birthdays. We had a scare earlier in the year and I have never seen such courage before. She had such fierce faith and bravery and I admired her more than ever - and still do. She doesn't think she was brave, but she was - and is. I hope we get to see you soon.

Just about four months to go!

Hard to believe! Joey is down to almost four months! He sounds great and is working hard doing all kinds of crazy things!

Happy Halloween!

Some tricks and treats!

Great night together with our annual Tripp/Vasher Halloween party. But what's the deal? We went around to our neighborhood and there were so many fuddy duddies hiding in the back of their house with all their lights out. It's a bag of candy people!!!

Kyle and his friends hung out at our house to hand out candy, but didn't do anything clever this year. It must be that senior thing. Kyle was dressed up as a beach volleyball player, I wish I would have taken a picture of Chandler's pink shorts. That was a site to see.

I think he has two personalities...

Yes, that's a cape.

Elder Vasher meets Elder Christofferson

Joey meets an apostle or look what I found in the 7 - 11 (see post below)

I bet this meal is expensive! All these hungry missionaries!

A Nike Store right next to Chili's - who could ask for anything more? The Vasher family would be just fine!

Part of this week's email

"Hey so this week was crazy. I'm still here. Oh on Tuesday we went to go see elder Christofferson - it was like a 5 hour bus ride to guadalajara. but we stopped at a 7 11 to use the bathroom and buy snacks and i was in there and in came this white guy, i went to say hi ( he was in a white shirt and tie) and he asked me why i was there - i told him we were going to a conference to see an apostle. he laughed and said i came with the apostle he's in that van, go say hi to him. so everyone goes running out and ya- elder christofferson came out and shook my hand and asked for a picture with me in it was really cool ill send u pictures. this week was good..."

Guess what happens next...?

It's a M I R A C L E !! Nothing happened...he made it home in one piece!

C R E A T E

There is a video by Dieter Uchtdorf, a member of the twelve apostles for our church, entitled CREATE. I will share this with this post in case you haven't seen it.



It always lifts my spirit and soothes my soul. I experienced that again today.

Gracie received a Christmas gift from her Grandma Vasher that was a scrapbook kit. She has wanted to make her own scrapbook since that time and I have been saying no not today, not today - the mess it would make once she started. Today was the day. She found some pictures and sat down and got busy. She had the spirit of creativity and her joy was infectious. She created the most beautiful scrapbook complete with contrasting papers and embellishment. She is so proud of her creation. And she should be.

Her joy brought me joy. My heart is happy. She has a bounce in her step. All seven year olds should always have a bounce in their step. So should 46 year olds.

Hey old man!

Happy (early) Birthday to Andy!

We whisked away on a little getaway -it has been a while since we had a getaway. We drove to San Jose Tuesday evening after work and landed in all the twinkling lights of Las Vegas.

We saw some great shows and had some great food. We saw Terry Fator at the Mirage on the recommendation of Kyle - "mom, he won America's Got Talent!" He was great and super funny. I had a side show with the lady at the end of our row. She had a little to0 much to drink and tripped up the stairs when she left and then stood with all those who had served in the military. When her friend asked why she was standing, she said "I don't know, everyone else is". We laughed pretty hard and all we had was a Diet Coke and a pretzel.

We were lucky enough to snag some tickets to the Jersey Boys at the Palazzo. The show was fantabulous. The language was harsh, but we were stuck in seat 32 and 33 with no where to go. We stomached the first bit of rough language and then it was fine. I think we represented the average age of attendees, which made me feel a bit old. The music was fabulous and the play was great!

We had our fill of Gonzalez y Gonzalez, cold stone and Krispy Kreme. Thanks Andy for a great few days! Ready to take on this last semester of school and Kyle's senior year!