Marmaduke

Marmaduke

he had the heart, courage & bite of a Lion.

An LA Story.....

Go back 17.5 years to this address.....608 South St. Andrews...Los Angeles CA...where it all started. This was our 1st apartment together....we got it 2 weeks before we got married...it was so small but it was the ONLY place in ALL of LA that allowed dogs. Everyone there had dogs, everything from toy poodles to great danes. During our time there, we experienced several elevator malfunctions, 3 earthquakes that we felt and one fire. The fire was set by a crazy lady (lots of these in LA) anyway she decided to kill herself by setting her apartment on the 1st floor on fire. Then she changed her mind after realizing the seriousness of the situation. Thankfully she called the fire department. The time was 1AM and we had been living there for 2 months. We woke to someone pounding on our 4th floor apartment door, screaming FIRE. We jumped up, I grabbed our little dog Marmaduke, he was a little terrier with the heart & attitude of a LION. Jason looked at me and asked "what do you want to keep?" Now....most newlyweds don't have much and we were no exception...there was not much to keep (no big bridal showers in those days)...but our wedding pictures were important....even though we had a small simple wedding at the home of my grandparents, the pictures were by far the most important thing we had with us....outside of Marmaduke. So out the door we go in our pajamas with our little dog and several envelopes full of pictures. Down 4 flights of stairs and out the front doors into total chaos. People in PJ's and dogs everywhere. Word got around quick as to why we all were gathered outside on that fine April morning. The crazy lady tried to kill herself again....no big deal expect this time she was affecting hundreds of others. We were just thankful that we were on the 4th floor and not the 8th, those people were not able to make it down the stairs in time and had to be evacuated by fire engine ladder.....a very long ladder that they had to crawl down in PJ's (and one who was not in PJ's) carrying their dogs and trying not to look down from 90 feet up. Ok....so now it 1:30 and everyone and their dog is standing outside...now what. We wait. Hours pass. 2 dogs fights later we get the ok that everyone one floors 2 - 8 can return home, so up we all go, it's now 5:30AM. Back up the stairs, back into bed. Then the alarm goes of at 6:00...time to get up! Just to give you an idea of where in LA we were....if you went to the end of our block and turned right onto a street called Wilshire, drive for about 10 minutes and you will be on Rodeo Drive. It's amazing how much LA can change in 10 minutes....we lived in a area called the Mid-Wilshire district....it was like the Tower is here, only older. Oh....the crazy lady was checked out and she was fine....in fact she went on to have her own morning show.

Only in LA!

Build A Bear....I mean Elephant

Mia & Ellie the Elephant
Mia was nominated (by me) for the Build a Bear Huggable Hero's Contest, it's a contest for kids who volunteer and think of ways to help the community or non-profit groups.....such as the aquarium. She was selected as a semi-finalist and won a gift certificate to Build a Bear. We are very proud of her! Here are a few shots of her building her newest animal...(she has 12 now)....& loves them all! The contest is international and ranges from ages 5 to 18.....needless to say she was one of the youngest....and some the the kids did really amazing things like raising $100K for charities....Mia's work was on a much smaller scale, but it's great that Build a Bear is recognizing their efforts because it encourages her and other kids to continue to do good!!

I love flowers & these are some of my favorites

click on picture to enlarge

Aquarius Aquarium Institute's

Earth Day Run for the Reef

AND

Water Planet Adventure

Waiting to see DEEP SEA 3D at the IMAX

Nathan & Freddie

Gigi & Mia

BUBBLES!!!!!

Be Good!

HOPPER DID NOT OBEY THE

GOLDEN RULE

And he got eaten alive by a bunch of baby birds!

Remember:

life is a gift, don't screw it up!

you get what you give

what goes around comes around

do unto others as you would have them do unto you

AND

life is like a Disney movie....the good guys ALWAYS win!

Princess

Pricilla (Puggy)

Jason & Alexandria

21 years ago

Fresno High Senior Prom 1988

Jason & I on our wedding day...17 years ago..we were

married at the home of my grandparents in a very small & simple

ceremony....after 5 years of dating...to the day!

Mia learning to scuba dive at

Swim for the Shore

Swim for the Shore is a children's swim-a-thon

held in the summer that benifits AAI.

Mia with Billy Hill & the Hillbillies in Disneyland

Mia took this herself!

Mia set the timer on her camera and then jumped in front

of it and started hula hooping like crazy.

The new Fresno State Bulldog Mascot

I snapped this shot while we were waiting for Mia to perform at Peach Blossom at FSU. I don't like this new mascot...he looks nothing like Time-Out.

Easter came a bit early this year!

We have a little tradition of getting together with our friends and coloring Easter Eggs..the girls colored 102 eggs and only dropped one!

After church on Sunday, we were happy to see the Easter Bunny had indeed made it to our house to hide our eggs. (we leave them on the porch when we go to church)

Jason's 40th Birthday

Jason turned 40 at the end of March. To celerbrate, we decorated Mia and had her do balloon tricks!

One of my favorite pictures.

Mia at Shell Beach CA

the ZOO

My, what big ears...

Have you seen the movie Racing Stripes??

We went to the zoo on Thursday for the 2nd time in the past several weeks, it still needs a lot of work but we love the animals...were looking forward to having a great zoo again someday.

While there, Mia and I visited the anteaters & to our surprise the baby had found it's way out of the enclosure and was about 12 inches from us, he was in between the wall of the enclosure and the wall that the visitors stay behind. We could have petted him if we wanted...I was just getting my camera turned on when some other moms wondered over and freaked out and ran & told the zookeepers who of course made us all leave the area.

WELCOME

If all goes right, I'll post pictures & updates here and you, our WONDERFUL family & friends can check in whenever you like and see whats new.

So....Welcome to our blog!