McComb Family

This weekend we spent most of our time outside working on the landscaping. It seems like we should be done by now, but there is always more to do. We had to finish planting everything and get the water system in.
We also had a rock wall to build (which means, first going around the property finding rocks and then stacking them up in to a wall once you've hauled them over).It's finally coming together though. I can't wait until they start getting bigger and filling in the area. (And, of course, we've still got the patio to do in the middle which will make a huge difference!)

Anyways, while we were spending all this time outside this weekend doing the landscaping, getting the pool ready, etc. etc., the dogs were constantly around. Tyger shows up with what the kids called a "skeleton" in his mouth. I didn't see him, but he went off and started gnawing away on this thing. I was imagining maybe a rabbit or gopher, so I asked Bret about it. He said it was a skull and entire backbone. I went over to take a look and the thing was huge. What kind of animal could it be? Then both of us got the same idea....

Bret: Do you think it could be....?

Me: Uh, yeah. I was just thinking the same thing.....

Bret: Do you think we should.....

Me: Umm yeah, I think I'll go for a little walk.

Ick, yuck, gag.....could they really? Had enough time passed for her to be to the point of just bones? A million thoughts were running through my mind.....

Luckily, for all, her grave was still intact and untouched.

The mystery remains though......what kind of animal was that?

Posted in: on Friday, May 29, 2009 at at 7:11 PM 4 comments  

Posted in: on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at at 7:33 PM 1 comments  

There are lots of things I'd like to do, but I don't actually do all of them. And guess what -- nobody ever knows!!! : ) I want to organize and rearrange my bedroom, but it looks exactly the way it did 5 years ago. I keep telling myself that I need to scrapbook, but Briana's baby book is still not done. The list could go on and on. Unfortunately the only person who knows about these plans is me, so when they don't happen the only one who is disappointed is me. And you can tell by the length of time that has passed since I've started some of these projects, that I'm not that disappointed! : )

So I thought that if I really want to do something, I better tell everyone and that way I will have to do it. (Guilt works wonders on me!) So, here it is......I'm running a half marathon in October.

I know what you're thinking.......Seriously Amy? You? You can't run 13.1 feet, let alone 13.1 miles. What are you thinking??

Trust me, I know.....I feel the same way! But, it's too late now. I've already set my mind to it. And bought running shoes. And jogged for 30 minutes on the treadmill this morning. It's a start!!

I'm counting on all of you to kick me in the butt to keep it up (or even better, come running with me!!!).

Posted in: on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at at 11:00 AM 5 comments  

Here's the birthday boy....
You can't see the candle on the top of the hat (too cute!), and he kept making silly faces when I took the pictures, but you get the idea!!! : ) The family came over for dinner to help him celebrate.
Of course, the highlight of the party was presents!!! Here he is sitting with his mountain of gifts.
Tissue paper, tissue paper, everywhere!!!
Adam and Bret in battle!!! This was his favorite gift (and by him, I mean Bret of course).
Finally, here is his cake. He requested strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and fresh strawberries on top. Briana made the entire thing herself! What a sweet sister. I kind of envisioned cut up strawberries outlining the border of the cake or spelling out "5", but Brie plopped five ginormous strawberries right on the top. Oh well, he was happy! : )
And now that he's 5, he can't wait for kindergarten. His preschool took a field trip to the school and they got to visit all the kindergarten classes (mine included!!). He thought he was hot stuff. (Actually so did all the girls!! I asked him what he thought about the field trip and he said it was great except that all the girls chased him. Yikes, we're in trouble!)

Posted in: on Sunday, May 03, 2009 at at 4:37 PM 1 comments  

So much to blog and so little time!!! Here is the 2009 edition of the annual father daughter dance. This year four families went together. We started with dinner and pictures at the Clifton's. Here are the men.
Here are the girls.
And here are the men with their girls. Bret and Brie were kind of the odd men out, because all of the other dads had two daughters to take. We thought of putting Adam in a dress, but that didn't go over so well! : )
Brie and Bret -- cute!!!
Bret drove the "date car", but all the girls decided they needed to check it out. Here are all seven of the girls in the Corvette.
And, of course, they had to take it for a spin. (Oh, the joys of living in the country!) Bret thought he was pretty popular!!!
Adam did a fantastic job as the maitre d', while the moms prepared and served the meal. Here he is seating the first party.
The table was set beautifully with each person being assigned their own spot. Here is Brie's.
Dinner -- yummy!!
They had a great time, yet again!!! I'm sure she's already looking forward to next year's dance!!!

Posted in: on Saturday, May 02, 2009 at at 9:59 AM 2 comments  

I finally made it to Adam's second baseball game, and I'll tell you.....watching a 4 year old play baseball is hilarious and frustrating at the same time. It's great for giving him some basic baseball skills, a sense of teamwork, and encouragement for others, but I'll bet if you ask him what he's learned about baseball he'll say, "Don't play in the dirt." And yep, that's what you have to teach 4 year olds!!! Here he is taking the outfield (and look, he's not playing in the dirt - yay!!!).
Taking a practice swing.
Look Mom, I made it to first base!!!! : )
Ready to run to third.
Getting a high five from his coach as he made it to home plate. He'd start about 5 feet off of third base with his hands extended to the sides so he could get high fives from everyone!!! Yeah, quite the ham.
There are a few more games if anyone would like to join in the festivities. He plays Thursday nights -- 5/7 6:00 at Northside, 5/14 6:00 at Northside, and 5/28 6:00 at Northside. Hope to see you at one of them!!!

Posted in: on Sunday, April 26, 2009 at at 9:03 PM 1 comments  

We celebrated Easter up at my parents' house. Here are the kiddos with their baskets. Brie really wanted one with a ball, and Adam was all over the water guns!!
They stayed with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Tom the night before, so here are the eggs they decorated. Pretty!!!
Adam found an egg!!
They had 36 eggs each to find in their own designated colors. Inside was either money or a clue. Here they are solving the first clue which led them each on their own scavenger hunt. Each new place had a small present and another clue, until they finally arrived at another Easter basket!!! Fun, fun, fun!
And here is Adam trying out that new water gun. "I'm just cleaning the windows," he claimed. He doesn't know yet that that evil glint in his eyes gives him away every time!!

Even though we had a very nice day, we were very saddened by the loss of one of our family members. At a time of year when you think of birth and new beginnings, Kayla lost her battle with a very aggressive cancer. She turned 8 this month and will be terribly missed by our family. Rest in peace Kayla.

Posted in: on Monday, April 13, 2009 at at 4:14 PM 3 comments  

Being as spring is my favorite season and vacation is my favorite part of work - this week has been fantastic!!! We went to South Lake Tahoe for 5 days with friends and had a great time! The Reeds stayed all 5 days with us, but the Cliftons and Brusts were only able to stay for the weekend. Wish they could have stayed the whole time, but we enjoyed ourselves plenty while they were there! Here is the whole gang in front of the cabin we stayed at.
Here are "the girls" while we were getting dinner ready the first night we were there. We had plenty of time to pose for pictures.....
.....as evidenced by the sad, sad faces of our starving children....
.....who were finally served dinner at 10:00. Yep, there's Bret in front of the clock (hard to read, but trust me it says 10:00!!) with the chicken fresh off the grill. I'm sure the 40 in his hand has nothing to do with why dinner was so late. Hmmm....just thinking!! : )
The next day we went to Sierra and went tubing. It was so warm we were stripping out of our sweatshirts and working on our tans! Ahhh, the joy of springtime in California!! This is Brie and Megan.
The next day we headed back to Sierra yet again, but this time to do some skiing!!! I literally haven't been skiing for probably at least a decade! Luckily it was just like riding a bike! Scott and Kathi are both great skiiers, and Scott used to be an instructor, so they helped our kids learn to ski. It was so much fun, and the kids absolutely loved it!!! Here are Scott and Adam.
Then Briana got in on the harness action. She was a little more cautious than Adam, so I think she liked having the straps holding her more than just riding between someone else's skis with them just holding her.
Here are Scott and Brie, Kathi, and Bret and Adam. Abby and Emma are really good skiiers -- I'm not sure where they are in the picture, probably off in the trees taking some jumps!! : )
Brie was able to get off the lift with just a little help from Bret. Yay!!
Here comes the 6-legged skiier (aka Amy, Adam, Kathi)!!!!
We thought we'd go up Sugar and Spice one more time before the day was over, but what we didn't realize was how long it takes a first time skiier to go down that run. I was hanging with Brie, who was going down the hill all by herself. Everyone else took off and were going to catch the lift again and meet up with us, but it was closed by the time they got to the bottom. So, they waited and waited and waited for us, until we finally showed up at the bottom on a snowmobile!! I guess just because it was an hour past closing all the employees wanted to go home for the night, so rather than let us finish our run they made us ride down on the snowmobile. Sheeesh! Actually, Brie was thrilled that we got to ride on a snowmobile, so it just topped off her day. We didn't want it to end, so here we are tailgaiting out in the parking lot. We were the last souls there and security finally came and parked near us, so we took the hint and eventually went back to the cabin. What a great day though!!!
It turned out we had other friends who were up there as well, so we ended up meeting for dinner at Chevy's later that night. Good food, good company, and yummy mango margaritas -- how could you go wrong!!?!!
The next day Kathi and I thought we should do a little shopping, so the boys took the kids hiking near Emerald Bay while we set off in search of a good bargain! Here are the kiddos above the lake.
Boys being boys, of course they have the kids posing on the edge of a raging river. It's a good thing we didn't know what they were doing!!! All I know is that all four kids returned back to the cabin at the end of the day, so I guess that's a successful trip!
Scott and the kids by Emerald Bay -- beautiful!!!
When they got back, they went up the road to Kathi and Scott's timeshare to swim and go in the hot tub!! We got dinner ready, and it started snowing for the first time since we had been there. When we left the next day, everything was covered with snow and it was just gorgeous. The Reeds went skiing again and said it was fantastic, but we headed home. We're thinking of heading back up this weekend after the storm has passed through and there is fresh powder. We've got the bug!!!! All in all, it was a great way to spend Spring Break!!!!

Posted in: on Thursday, April 09, 2009 at at 6:30 PM 2 comments  

Posted in: on at at 6:21 PM 2 comments