funny cousins drawing together
the boys made a fort at grandmas house

yeah...

a little fam pic

kids got to stay up finishing work to go in the kiln

cleverly loaded and ready to fire, (thanks to tips from my ceramic teacher)

The kid's work survived the bisque fire, they have already started glazing...

Most of the stuff, some is on a shelf behind the table...

a little sample of our mother/daughter effort...

My first mixing bowl that has survived to this point.

A few of the other attempted mixing bowls, that will become serving bowls instead...(and my first sake set attempt)

If anyone ever wonders why large handmade bowls are never sold for less than $50, believe me, there is a reason...

*I can't imagine not working with clay, next semester is going to be hard :(

love when boys get along!
Josh has been helping grandpa transform our backyard. (out of selfish reasons, he is trying to earn money for a guitar so he can take lessons)

This is what I plan on repeating, at least once a year.

I really didn't think I would cry. I made it 13.1 miles with out stopping to walk once, and as soon as I saw the finish line and heard my name, I just lost it.

Jade said "awesome mom!" and "you smell like sweat, ew"

Jade and Josh both said they want to do some runs with me in the future after seeing me finish my first half marathon. Eddie kept saying over and over "mom! I saw you win the race! I saw you running and you win the race...and yeah, you were crying". Thank you to everyone who said I was crazy but awesome, I LOVED this!

Eddie loves helping! (and doing E V E R Y T H I N G himself)
When we watched Beckie's little Zane, Eddie took charge of "nap-time", which included putting Zane in his bed, giving him his bottle, reading him "3" books, and making sure he stayed there...that latter never happened once Eddie left the room. :) Sweet cousins!

Old pic of Jade and her best friend Natalie on our summer visit to Utah.

Josh and Eddie waiting in line on Joshy's first day of school. Eddie was ready for his school too, (that he LOVES to go to, next to "Mommy's big college")

On a visit to Aunt Jodi & Uncle Ric, the boys had fun driving the mini-version of ONE of Uncle Rics toys.

....and zipline fun at grandma and grandpas...

Yesterday I stayed home from school with "sick Eddie", and started to work on a new mother/daughter collaboration...
She is going to do some silly drawings on the white sections, something along the line of monsters, aliens, robots, or animals... and of course her 13 yr old humor captions.

yeah...REAL sick...

Apparently, the yogurt didn't like sitting in the refrigerator so long with out being eaten. "Eyes" grew in wonder...

Ok, I know it's not the best profile pic, but it more accurately shows my wrinkles. :)
These are all out of order, but they are of my trip to San Francisco with Josh for the Ceramics Annual of America expo. Good memories...

China Town fun...

lunch time at Fort Mason

Cool art in the parking lot. I think my dad would build stuff like this if he was an artist.

The ceramic art was amazing to say the least...

Kids 'n' Clay put on a workspace for kids. Josh LOVED it.

fun on BART

It was awesome. We decided we need to make a trip to the city at least twice a year together and stay with my good friend Paul. (they hit it off...the power of video games is a bond among men)

LOTS happening in my life......L O T S.

*have been making lovely new friends.....
*getting involved in the community....my hometown is not that bad! I actually like this place!
*starting school in 2 months....for the next 3-6 years
*kids on their first summer break from school in 2 1/2 years.
*enjoying the fact that you can love life/yourself, even when really hard challenges jump out at you
*ALSO love how unpredictable and unexpected life can be.....

So that's all about my perspective.
Kids are hanging in there as usual, enjoying my mom-dances, frustrated with mom room-cleaning nags, still missing Utah but getting used to this place, and LOVING their lazy summer.

As usual, not many pictures....

Josh enjoying clay.....it's in his blood....
A short visit from Bill

Jade's science camp trip to Albian, she fell in love and wants to move there.....
I will try to be better at taking pictures.......try ;)