Matthew just updated his website with a great photo shoot he did of one of his roommates and his girlfriend. You might want to go check it out, because as usual it shows Matt’s ability as a photographer to make taking a great picture look easy.

I’m late posting photos, but as the saying goes, better late than never.

I had just gotten home after taking our houseguest Valerie to the airport (she went home to Illinois for the holidays) when I saw Jerry’s car in the driveway. I was so excited to see him home for lunch! I was sure he had come home to see me so I rushed in the front door to say “hi sweetie”. When he walked out of his study and I saw the look on his face I knew there was a different reason for him being home in the middle of the day. You know the rest of the story, another job lay off with the holidays right around the corner. This short story line leads up the photo of me with a very special person in my arms, baby Jack L. Hord. Carol’s daughter Teresa, husband Jeremy, and daugher Emily welcomed Jack into the world a few days after Thanksgiving this year. Jerry had gone back to work after telling me about the job lay off news, and I was on the phone with my girlfriend Pauline boo-hooing about it. I was in no mood to break away from my conversation with Pauline, despite Carol’s persistance. She called my cell several times, then the home phone. I finally gave in and took her call. She didn’t tell me that Teresa and Jack were with her, she didn’t know about Jerry’s recent job status. She just knew how much I loved her girls and T’s kids. I hung up with Pauline and waited for Carol to come over like she said she was going to do. When I answered the door I was so tickled. I also knew that I needed a baby’s love at that very moment to lift my heart. Thank you baby Jack, Teresa and Carol.

We started our festivities by having good friends Terry and Karen over to enjoy the Christmas vibe. Karen brought over hot chocolate and we enjoyed that while we opened our gifts.
It was Jerry’s year for all things Coke related. Maybe next year we’ll put up a small tree in his study to show off his Coke ornaments.It was the year of the fairy for me. I was blessed to receive Tink in many different forms this year and loved it. This was a Mary Cicely Barker calendar, another favorite artist of mine who illustrates exquisite fairies.

Terry’s gifts came in the form of Disney. Not too big of a surprise because that’s his mantra, his main thing, what makes his heart go thumpedy-thump. Karen and I went to an estate sale this last year that had a awesome amount of Disney items for sale. We found out as we were purchasing our items that the estate sale was due to a foreclosure which made it very sad. But in the end Terry got this shirt and a cool Disney blanket, so I was thankful for those gifts.

Next on our holiday festivities was spending Christmas eve with good friends the Bennets. Jill made everyone a wonderful mexican feast with delicious margarita’s, and Matt joined us for dinner that evening which was nice. In a festive mood Jill placed celebratory New Years eve crackers on each table setting which was a lot of fun.
Inside each cracker were crowns, a joke, and a prize. Each end of the cracker was tied up with twisty gold ball ties. Those ended up being the most entertaining, something akin to the box, not the contents. Patrick made “knuckle-cracking-beaters” out of his. Steve proudly shows off the paper crown. It seems to fit him just right, don’t you think? Jill bravely shows there is more than just 1 thing you can do with the New Years cracker ties thank you, while Matt tries not to notice that mom did not have her focus set right!

We had a nice treat this year with having both boys home for Christmas. Jason and his good friend Christina, better known as Chuck, made the long trek down from Arcata, Ca in his dependable blue Honda. Since it is about a 14 hour drive one way, they decided to stop over in San Fransico on their way down. It had been almost 2 years since we’d seen Jason last, so we were all very excited. Christmas morning was nice. We slept in a bit, and Matt drove down from Newport Beach to open gifts with us. Matt appreciated his gifts as did Jason, of course, yet the best part for Jerry and I was the fact that we had both the boys home for the holidays at the same time.
As part of our family tradition, we traveled down to San Diego for Christmas day dinner at Patty’s cousin’s house. Greg and Doreen make the best prime rib known to mankind and are the most gracious of hosts. Getting to see Greg’s parents, and Patty’s closest aunt Lou and uncle Jim who live a stone’s throw away, is another part of the wonderful tradition, as is seeing a whole host of other family members. It is time spent with great food and spirits, lots of wonderful stories around a long table, and best of all simply the best family a girl could ever wish for.

We always have a nice time when our youngest son Matt comes down from his place for a visit. Being the amateur photographer buff that I am (which doesn’t compare at all to the professional photographer that Matt is) I snapped a few pictures of him while we sat on the patio. He is most always quite patient with me while I take multiple photos of him from every possible angle and position. Someday I hope to be as good at photography as he is, for now I guess I just have to struggle with showing him the photos I take. You have no idea how humble that can make you. After brunch, Matt and I ran a few errands, TJ Max, car wash and Target. It’s always fun to shop together, listen to his music choices, I do like some of his pics, and chat while we are out and about. I am so very blessed to have such great sons!

During a recent outing with girl friends Jill & Karen we decided to drive by our old rental house here in Mission Viejo on Sadaba. The house on the left is the one we rented when we first moved out here to the O.C. We rented it for about 8 months and loved it. It was 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, with a formal dining room and a pretty good sized back yard. It would have been nice to be able to afford a house that size back when we bought our current home, but we just couldn’t afford it. The photo on the right is the same house with a few major upgrades done to brighten it’s curb appeal. Jill and her husband Steve used to own and live in their house right across the street from us back then, in fact that’s how we met them. Jill was pregnant with their oldest son Patrick and our 2 kids were kindergarten age and almost 2 years old. Their “old” house has been spruced up quite a bit too now so we oogled and awed over the changes in both telling Karen how they looked way back then. It was nice to see quite a few other homes on Sadaba that have been upgraded as well since we once lived there.

When I was over visiting Matthew the other day I also was enjoying the enthusiastic and loving dog Koosh. She is Matt’s landlords dog, and loves company. Her white bearded face is full of expression even when she is just standing still, which is usually never. I wanted a photo of her with me which turned out to be a big order. Koosh simply will not hold still, her tail wiggles and so does her body, back and forth with excitement. She is happy to be with someone new and wants to show her joy. It makes me love her even more!

This photo of her and Matthew was taken in our backyard several years back when Matthew decided to bring her by to enjoy our big yard. In a rare moment or possibly in a moment of exhaustion she decided to be a good girl and sit contently with someone who she knows adores her.

Matthew drove down here to Mission Viejo recently and we went for a walk in the gulley across the street from Temple Eliat. I’ve always wanted to go down there and wander around, so taking our cameras and documenting the walk was interesting.

There were a lot of unusual items down in this dark and damp gully. It looks as if people visit often and don’t have a second thought as to vandalize the area. Matt found pieces of a umbrella and stand, broken and scattered everywhere. There were the usual old bottles along with discarded remnants of chair parts and other miscellaneous junk.

It makes me sad to see the large oak trees spray painted along beside the natural beauty of the wilderness glenns that grace Mission Viejo, though I doubt the city’s landscape and cleaning crews come down very often and clean up. There are more obvious areas that they need to tend to.

I was tickled to see a fairy ring in the wilderness glenn, though I didn’t see any fairies on this trip. Matt and I got stuck in a sudden down pour on our walk home and had to put in an emergency call to Jerry to pick us up. We made the best of the wait and took photos of an old truck that is frequently parked beside the road.

]]> http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/28/hidalgo-gully-walk/feed/ 1 http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/24/cuts-for-less/ http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/24/cuts-for-less/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2008 08:18:28 +0000 Patricia http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/24/cuts-for-less/ Jerry recently asked me for a haircut. I’d like to think it was because he’s knows I have been cutting mine and thinks it turned out nice. It could be though he just wants to save some money. In any case I said sure, and hacked away! And when Matt came out I cut his. If you can stop staring at Jerry’s gorgeous blue eyes long enough you might notice his haircut. Not bad I think, though he did sound a little jealous when he said “wow, you didn’t cut Matt’s hair as short as mine”. ha! Sorry sweetie. The price was right though. Any takers?

]]> http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/24/cuts-for-less/feed/ 1 http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/20/my-disneyland/ http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/20/my-disneyland/#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:16:46 +0000 Patricia http://patriciaafuller.com/2008/02/20/my-disneyland/

Just looking at the pictures of pictures taken on our recent visit to Disneyland with son Matthew and friend Terry makes me sad to think we might not renew our passes come later this year due to finances. While Disneyland doesn’t “hold the magic” as much for Jerry, it really makes my inner soul sing with a light hearted happiness I don’t seem to find much anywhere else (with exception of being with my sweetie or kids). The parking rates were raised from the initial “low” price of $40 yearly fee when we first joined to the current $56 a year, not to mention the $169 price tag for a So Cal Select pass (you could opt for the $129 a year Cal pass). Hopefully times will change, until then I keep looking at the pictures we’ve taken, including Matthew’s awesome Disney photo’s found here. I suppose comments are welcome for the clever one he took of me hiding behind the camera!

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