2014 Annual letter

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Beloved Friends and Family,

2014 has been the Lake's year for building memories.  

Brandon, Ashia, and I kicked off January at the Jesus Culture conference.  In February Brandon dressed up as Batman, and we hosted the 2nd annual Girls Night in for COCC. March included the Oak Grove Fishing competition, as well as a weekend trip to Daffodil Hill and Indian Grinding Rock. Also in March, the Cordova's, moved into our spare bedroom.  Creating a grand total of 9 people living under our one roof for 6 months!  Over Spring Break we traveled to Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, en route to a week's stay in San Diego.  Along route, we bought season passes to Disneyland.  Each day we woke up to the beautiful beaches of Ocean Beach, drove the distance to Disneyland during the kid's nap, and stayed through the fireworks display  before returning back to the San Diego hotel. Tabitha got to celebrate her 2nd  birthday at Disneyland, and Hannah celebrated her birthday the weekend after our return with a princess themed party.  In May,  we escaped work and routine to go camp at Wright's Beach.  In June, Shelley completed her MIAA course (15 units) at SJTC, Hannah completed her first year of Preschool at VO, and Brandon's sister Miranda graduated Highschool.  To celebrate Our families ventured to Disneyland.  In July Both Hannah and Zechariah learned how to swim, we watched the Independance Day fireworks on the roof of our car with Uncle Robie and Aunt Tiff, and Zechariah celebrated his fourth birthday at BOOMER's driving go carts with friends. The middle of July included a Castle sized project of VBS at COCC, and the week later I concluded the month hiking atop mount Dana, Yosemite, at 13,000 elevation with uncle Mark and cousin Jenn.  In August, Brandon and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary-moon away in the beautiful Puerto Vallarta.  There we stayed at an All-inclusive resort and occupied ourselves with adventures such as Hippo Feeding, Monkey holding, Tiger Wrestling and Deep sea fishing, oh, and a little sight-seeing as well.   Two days after we got home, I swapped positions at MB teaching 7/8 math, Hannah started kindergarten at MB and Zechi started preschool at VO.  Within the first week of school Hannah lost not one, but two of her teeth, both bottom middle, since then, she has lost one more and her top middle two are currently wiggling. Hannah also got her first ER visit after splitting her head open along the corner of a church pillar while dancing to the service's worship music.  3 staples later, and a week out of school, proved sufficient healing time. Brandon returned to Delta college in pursuit of his AA, in September and we took the kids whale watching in Monterey, along with Uncle Robbie and family, to witness the"best whale watching viewing for years." And it was! Or so I am told, as I got violently sea sick and have vowed to never set foot on a boat again. Also in September I crossed off a bucket list item and was Published in a Women's Devotional through Group publishing. In October the kids and I traveled to Lathrop for our annual pumpkin patch visit, Hannah joined Girl Scouts, and we celebrated Halloween with the Groom family. In November, I left the kids with Brandon and traveled to Gig Harbor, WA for an extended weekend to meet the newest addition in the Brown family: Charlotte Ann Brown was born to Kevin and Andrea on 10/17/2014.  Upon return, Brandon and I celebrated his 3 years of sobriety and then, one week later, we traveled to Disneyland once more to see the Park in holiday decor with Ommie, we met Peter Pan, who is claimed to be one of Shelley's former babysitting jobs, and Tabitha decided to potty train herself at the Happiest place on earth! We spent Thanksgiving in Bakersfield and enjoyed 4-wheeling through the drought dried canals. A week after returning from this trip, Izzy gave birth to her litter of 5 puppies, all male, the same night as the Carson Oaks boy's night in filled with video games and tractor tire rides.  December brought rain and the storm, claimed to be "the worst storm since 2008," some schools even shut down in full anticipation. But all that was proved was that Californians have no clue what storms are, and we braved through rain and wind.  For Christmas, we stayed home with our annual breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's. For Shelley's and Grandpa's much belated birthday we went to Marysville to learn how to hunt with hawks as they did back in the medieval days, and then Brandon snuck Shelley away for a surprise birthday weekend away in Vegas.  All in all, it has been yet another amazing year rich with blessings and no complaints.  We continue to serve God and praise him in all we do.  Have a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year.