Given the choice, I will always choose fun!

This was such a social week and I have decided I am way too old to go out three nights in one week. Never mind that most nights I was home by 9, this old girl is wiped out. Tuesday we had our book club and celebrated Casey's birthday at a new restaurant called Raviolis. It was marvelous and so fun to celebrate with her! Our next book is "The Zookeepers Wife"  I will be sure to share how it is!


Wednesday we had our moms dinner at Panera and that was fun too! A great evening chatting with the girls, and getting caught up. Two of our boys got engaged and it's so fun to hear the wedding and engagement details.  We have known each other since kindergarten and I adore that we're still friends all these years later!   
I truly believe we will still be meeting and sharing grandma stories one day


Friday night was our Redhawk work dinner and that was a blast!  There was eleven of us girls and our old boss Kirk.He seems perfectly happy to sit with us and chat the night away and we love that he comes! We are all scattered now, but for one night time stands still and we are together. And I love it ! 


Saturday Kenny and Lindsay came out to spend the afternoon and we were all tired. We were laying on the  couches like the grandparents from Willy Wonka ! We cracked up calling each other Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina!

So since I had been up since 4am I suggested we all take a little nap before dinner. That's the BeSt part about family,  It's quite OK to suggest a nap smack in the middle of a visit.So we all slept for an hour then got up and went to a  fabulous Jewish Deli for dinner. Good grief what has happened to our Saturday nights?? We were the Seinfelds & Costanzas and had a fabulous time. We are so thankful for such great, comfortable friends! {yep we used a coupon,the girls rode in the back seat with the boys up front, we brought home doggy bags but I promise no one ordered the Borscht }  


Then today Chad surprised us by coming home to spend Halloween with us old folks. We watched football, handed out candy and played cards. Now we are cozy on the couch with the fire roaring watching scary movies! 


Sometimes its a boring life.... 
But its a good life and I am most grateful! 

Bragging Rights....

                                                 ~ Behind this great man is a sweet wife cheering him on~ 

The title " Bragging Rights" has been used a lot which means we have much to be thankful for! Indulge me one more time while I brag about Travis Paul~ We are sooo very proud of him for so many reasons. The person and husband that he is, his love for the Lord and commitment to follow Him, and his incredible sense of humor and love for laughter. But his biggest attribute I believe is his incredible drive for excellence.  
He was simply born with it!

He has always wanted to learn and pushed himself in sports and academics. And now he is pouring that drive into his work with such passion that he surprises us constantly with his achievements. When he applied at Irving Hughes they were not even hiring. But he walked right in and told them he wanted to work for them. He had studied all about the company and knew that they were the number one company in San Diego.They told him he would be a liability because he didn't know enough about the business to represent them. But he sold them on his idea of learning from the best and after a two hour interview left with the job. They had NEVER hired someone off the street before! I will never forget him calling us after, telling us the story of them firing questions at him about how he would handle certain situations and he never backed down. He held his own with such confidence and at 23 began working in his dream job learning from the very best! {because he was 23 they did have to endure fart sprays in the boardroom, cornhole games in the hall, dart gun shootings and all kinds of pranks and jokes.{ he is successful ,but I never said he was boring } 

They have been so good to him! They treat him like a son, and have wanted him to work his way up little by little so he would not become spoiled.  

They always have had his best interest at heart.

Two days ago one of the owners handed him  new business cards that said Travis Carter "Vice President"   Of course we are thrilled  about the earning potential that comes along with it but mostly we are thrilled that after a few short years he has proved himself worthy of the risk they took hiring him. He has made the company thousands of dollars, knows San Diego like the back of his hand and has become a huge asset!  
Travis we never had any doubt you would !

If you want to visit the company website click here.

With a very thankful heart, Karen 

              aka June Cleaver

Memory Lane~

Uncle Pete sent this to me today out of the blue and I love it!  My mom, us kids and our uncle Angelo ~ We look like we had never seen so much money before and you can almost feel the excitement of what we would buy with our HUGE windfall. Such a simple time ~ I love our dorky little tree with the huge bulbs, the Christmas pajamas, the boys darling hair cuts,  but mostly I love my moms smile ! I can hardly wait to see it again in heaven

 
Hey did I get jipped? Mine looks like a blank piece of paper? I'm going to call Angelo now and get to the bottom of this .........Someone owes me ten bucks!

Fill in the blanks~

{one}
When I get a day to myself, I like to...
Putzy! ,clean, cook, a long walk with Brody and lunch with a friend is always a fun treat too! 
Of course I always vacuum cause I feel so much better with clean floors? I have so many weird quirks and that for sure is one of them!  Gotta start the day with clean floors?

{two}
High School was...
Three years too long but it did give me some of my bestest friends! After my brothers all left I was ready to leave too.So I gradated early as a junior and started real life.

{three}
A little dream I have is...
To travel... a lot. I'd like to see America! I also dream of taking a cruise with ALL the family. The Greeks , all my brothers and their families, We could just take over that darn ship and have seven days of pure fun and laughs! 

{four}
A big dream I have is...
To be retired with Steve. I think we would have so much fun! We have talked about getting a RV and just taking off. Who knows if the reality of that is as fun as the dream but it sure would
be fun to try. I can see us packing up and  driving up the coast. Of course we would bring our pup and  bikes. Just typing this gets my heart racing with excitement over the idea of it. This working thing is getting kinda old. 

{five}
If I could drive any car it would be...
I'm not really a car person. But I have been lusting after the new Toyota Venza! I have been to the car lot three times to drool and dream. I also love the Nissan  Murado.  But my practical side always kicks in and I love being "car payment free" more than the smell of that nice leather. 
But soon we are going to make it happen!

{six}
A time that I felt truly beautiful was...
I felt beautiful being pregnant. I was so proud of that baby bump and LOVED all the attention you get! And I loved to hear Steve talking to the boys while they were in my tummy. 
And I know it's a mega cheesy answer, but I feel most beautiful when I'm around Mr Carter.He really does see me as cute?? We can joke about how old and pudgy we are and feel so comfortable in each others presence. 
I think that's when I'm happiest and Happy is always beautiful.

{seven}
Tomorrow I will...
Be at my old store for a couple days for work! Its always such fun to be with my buddies and the laughter is always good for my heart. 

So play along and fill in your own blanks! Its always fun to have a format when life gets busy and you feel like you don't have much to blog about!

I wish you all a great week, filled with love and giggles!!

More birthday fun & more of my village~

I refer to the friends and family in my life as my 'Village' because I have always said it takes a village to raise good kids and to have a balanced life. People who know you well, share the struggles you have with marriage, kids etc and are always there to listen and give good advice. Well my book club girls have become such good friends and another vital part of my life. I look so forward to seeing them every month, and we often meet for breakfast and coffee in between. Last month we all met up at Seau's for happy hour and they celebrated my birthday. It was so fun! Complete with sweet gifts, and little mini cupcakes home made by Nancy. I love you all so much and am so happy Nancy came through my line at work one day and asked "Since you love to read you should try our book club sometime"  I remember being so nervous about meeting up with people I didn't really know, but excited about a new opportunity. Feels like a lifetime ago now! You have pushed me to read more and have nourished my love of books .
But mostly you have become such wonderful, fun friends! 

I think you can tell we are a very intellectual group? 

Here's to more books,more time to laugh,and many more birthdays to celebrate!

Memories of my Mom

When Sara calls lately she has really been wanting to share memories she has of her YaYa. My mom of course loved Sara with all her heart. Even more because Sara was the first grandchild and my mom spent so much time with her. They had a precious relationship and  Sara LOVED her YaYa .

One of the blessings of autistic kids is that they remember everything! And we love to hear the stories of my mom that we have forgotten but Sara remembers . Last week this letter came in the mail for me and Steve 

She wanted me to post on my blog what a good grandma she was, and how she took such good care of her. She also wants all the grandkids to share their favorite stories too! So I am going to be sharing stories from each of them over the year.She was such a precious YaYa and I agree we need to keep her memory and funny stories  alive in all our hearts.
Thank you Sara for asking auntie to do this!

I also got a text this week from Dave that read.....
Gods gift to me today. GEAR foundation right? GERA....I never saw that till today!

Dave named his foundation for the kids the "GEAR"  foundation and it is the exact letters of our moms name,Gera~ Such a sweet serendipity! We love you Momala and thank God for continuing to show  your love to each of us in such sweet unexpected ways.