Visit with Montgomery Family

Our good friends of many years, Nathan and Laura Montgomery, visited CA in January from their hometown of Iron River, Michigan. Nathan has recently been accepted as a full-time missionary for Friends of Israel and their hope is to relocate back to their native CA to minister in the L.A. region.

Nathan is a gifted electrician and we always have a few projects for him when they make their annual trek to So Cal. If he knew what we had in store for him this year, however, I think they would have made an excuse not to visit the Tracy casa!! See below...

First, here are the kiddoes enjoying the heated spa...the older boys actually went in the freezing pool water, since after all, they are from Michigan and have a whole different temp. range!

My lovely friend, Laura...nice smile Katelyn

Okay, so here are Nathan and Jonas, about to attempt an insane lighting project. They used an extension ladder to ratchet up an 18' sport court light, which had to be inserted into the base. So this super top-heavy light was lifted by these crazy men, under cover of darkness, about 20' or so, with Jonas on a ladder trying to line it up with the base. My job was to stand back and shout if the light started to lean or fall over...hitting the men and Laura who were lifting it up. Nerve-wracking!!!

Thank you Nathan & Laura for everything!!

Happy New Year's 2010!

My brother's family came down for New Year's weekend and it was a blast hanging out with them, as always! Jonas and Matt always manage to fit in every possible sport within whatever time frame they have. Kari and I finally got to escape to the mall for a few hours for some rare shopping time together.

My niece, Megan, playing with Miss Katelyn

Caleb and his beloved cousin, David

Katelyn decided to apply a little lip color for the occasion...

Once again, the karaoke machine provides lots of entertainment...

Christmas Day

After opening gifts at our house, we piled in the car and headed to Corona to continue the festivities with the Pendletons and Jassos!

Here's a noteworthy picture of my Dad and Uncle Ronnie...their many surfing adventures are described in the Surf Story my Dad wrote and distributed this Christmas. He and Uncle Ronnie were part of the pioneering generation of surfers in California...and they're still surfing!

I found these two (above) in the garage...Katelyn thinking she's going somewhere and Megan (12), wishing she could take her for a spin!!

Oh boy, I am loving all these presents!!

Christmas Eve

We began the day by having the kids each open a new Christmas book...

Then, the Tracy family arrives and it's time for gifts, food and fun!







We ended the night singing away on the Karaoke machine. Courtney (above) is a gifted singer and showed us how it's supposed to be done! Katie stole the show with her dance moves...

More Holiday Memories

Baking cookies with friends...

Could my smile be any bigger, jeez! Probably Beth's fault...her dry sense of humor makes me laugh so hard...
Tracy is a kid magnet!

These are from the night we decorated our tree...

And these are from the "Breakfast with Santa" we went to for the first time thru Parks & Rec...Katie loved it!


Finally, this is the night of the kids' Christmas performances through school. Caleb's kinder class sang "Must Be Santa" and Emma's third grade class performed to "Jingle Bell Rock". I choreographed the 3rd grade dance (with lots of help from Joey Snow), which was such a blast.
Thank you everyone who came to watch the show!!
Katie waving to Santa at the Breakfast...

Night Out with our Little Men

Some of Holly's extended family were involved with a Christmas show in El Cajon, so we took the younger boys to see it. What a great experience...I was totally impressed. Here we are with our handsome escorts...I look at these pictures and just want to freeze time!!

Christmas Baby Shower

The Pleasnicks have been blessed with their second daughter, Elizabeth Anne (Izzy). She was due on Dec. 25th but (thankfully for Beth's sake), arrived a bit early! These are pictures from the intimate shower I hosted with the help of her Discipleship group friends. Everyone was told to dress comfy and we kept it very simple...cinnamon rolls & coffee. I love that Beth is a no-fuss type of gal:)...and who wants to get dolled up anyway when you are 9 months pregnant!

Congratulations Pleasnick family!!