Great friends

Paul & Paula came all the way to Texas to visit us in Odessa. This is miraculous! I mean, who would want to take "vacation" time just to be with friends who live in the desert? Our kids loved being with their girls--and I can't wait for Ashley & Olivia to be able to talk to each other in the coming years! Thank God for friends like that! We got to spend a few hours at the lake and it made me so excited to think about this summer with the Wall family! Woo-hoo!
***by the way, I tried to upload a really cool picture, but blogger is freaking out--I'll try later

Michaela's Play

Michaela starred as Wendy in Brookside Elementary's Spring play, Peter Pan. Enthusiastic reviewers gushed about her performance: "A sparkling performance..." "Terrific job..." "The perfect Wendy..."

Well done, Michaela!













Michaela and a few of her fans!

PV United: Blake's Team

Blake's team took 1st place in their pool of Spring Select Season this past Thursday eve. I thought they won it all, but I now understand that they have a better position in the playoffs because of their 1st place slot. Silly me! So, in today's playoff they won 4-1. Go PV United!!!!

Picnic at the Park

With springish temperatures returning, the Wall five mounted their bikes and cycled to nearby Chaparral Park where they enjoyed a picnic lunch and a rousing game of "Lava Monster" tag on the park play equiptment. We're grateful to have a day of sunshine sandwiched in between two weekend storms.

Lots of Laughs!

Ok, I am crazy about Olivia. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks. This one is with Ashley Giboney. Olivia is grabbing for everything, so we had to make sure Ashley wasn't the latest pinch victim!

Breakout Grand Prix

Garrett's car won 1st place in the Grand Prix event at church on Saturday. Blake's car won 3rd place in that event. Mike takes grand prize for all the work he put in to helping the boys build their cars!!!

Oh yeah, the picture!

See the 1st place ribbon in the corner??

5th Grade Science Fair

We are proud of Garrett for taking 1st place in the Science Fair at his school. That is out of about 150 entries...

Oak Park Easter

There were 13 cousins present at Easter this year -- here are all the girl cousins except for Ashley (a girls' gotta feed sometime!).













Here are the boy cousins -- four in all.
















There must have been 25 pictures of Ashley on our camera, including ones of her with nearly every member of the family. Here's one of Grandma Wall w/the youngest Giboney clan member.

















Food was a wonderful part of our family Easter festivities this year. This pesto-dip bunny creation by Paula G. garnered the most "oohs," "aaah," and "yums" in the apetizer division. Oh course Grandma Wall's strawberry pies were a big hit in the dessert department.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

Happy Birthday from Islands! Mike pointed out that he has mostly been to Islands with Ben, so we haven't eaten there in a while. Seemed like the right place to honor Ben's b-day, since we aren't together physically.

Dancin' Jenna

Well, you already suspected it. Now here's proof positive that we have a teenager living in our house. Jenna doctored up this photo to show us a bit of her crazy side. Yikes!

The Great Race of Agoura

Jenna & I ran the Great Race of Agoura on Saturday morning. Jenna ran the 5K and I ran the half marathon (13.1 miles). We both posted PRs (personal records).

Jenna completed her 3.1 miles in 23:16, placing 4th (out of 29) among 13-15 year old girls and missing the medals by 10 seconds! She came in first for 13 year old gals. We are very proud of her.

I improved on my previous best for the Agoura half-marathon course by about 8 minutes, posting a final time of 1:56:28! I was thrilled to make such a marked improvement. I placed 271st out of 1001 racers and 42nd out of 102 in my age group.

Jessica's 11th Birthday

Last Saturday, our Jessica officially turned 11! To help celebrate, she and some girlfriends from school went to Golf-N-Stuff at Ventura, followed by dinner & playtime at our home.
















Girls and Boas
















Michaela & Dino, Chillin'
















Dinner with the girls!

Soccer Tournament

Garrett and Blake participated in a local tournament this weekend. They each had 3 games on Saturday, with Blake's team earning enough points to advance to Sunday's games. Our boys all played great - we were proud of every one of them. Blake's team earned a 3rd place medal after the games on Sunday. We are off for Spring Break this week, so that was a fun way to start our vacation.

Pepperdine Associates Dinner

Robert and Loretta invited us to join them at their table at the Pepperdine Associates Dinner on Saturday night. Thanks to mom's help in getting the boys all fed and settled, we had a lovely evening! Walter Cronkite was one of the guest speakers (he's getting very old!)