Winning!

I received a very pleasant and unexpected phone call on June 1st. I was at work when my cell phone rang. It was Trader Joe's in La Quinta calling to tell me that I won the monthly raffle! As everyone knows, I shop there a lot and I always bring my own bags. So I've been entering my name into the drawing for the past 5 years and it finally paid off! They even put my picture on the wall. I was so excited, I took a picture of my prizes when I got home:

May 30 - Devin's Birthday

For Devin's birthday, we spent most of the day hanging out in our backyard. Our friends Mike and Christian came over to celebrate with us.

Kayla played with her bubbles while we BBQ chicken and corn-on-the-cob.

Then we had ice-cream cake AND banana cream pie!

Memorial Day Weekend

We usually go camping during Memorial Day weekend, but we were lazy this year and didn't plan for it. Instead, we just took a day trip and had a picnic. We picked a new trail out of our SoCal 4X4 book, packed the cooler, and headed out to Lower Coyote Canyon. This is a picture of "The Badlands" off the S22 on our way towards Borrego Springs. It reminds me of a mini Grand Canyon.

Arriving at the trail entrance.

It was a great day to enjoy the natural beauty of desert.

The book said we'd pass through 3 water crossings. Here's the first one.

And the second stream...

Then we approached this. See the arrow on the sign pointing right into the river? Yup, that's our trail! We started to go in, but then it got deeper so we got scared and backed out.

We pulled over and got out to explore while Devin contemplated whether or not we could make it through.

After watching 2 other vehicles drive through, we decided to go for it. But not until we took a family picture!

We took a detour off the main trail to check out this historical landmark.

Here's the open view from the landmark point.

At the very end of the trail was a small area designated for camping and a hiking trail that led up to an oasis. It was pretty cool so I'm sure we'll go back again sometime.

Girls Night Out

The Saturday after my birthday, I went to Fantasy Springs Casino with my friends Sonya and Debbie. We ate dinner at the seafood buffet and then hung out at the Rock Yard and listened to the Rick James tribute band. We had a good time and I even won a T-shirt for Devin!

May 18 - Sarah's Birthday

My birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, but at least it was a fun easy-going day at the office. I basically ate my way through the day. First, we had cake and ice-cream for breakfast! Mike and Joanne made me a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and berries on top and it was yummy! Then, Nick and I had sushi for lunch at Musashi.

After work, Devin, Kayla and I went to Fisherman's Grill for dinner. (I was really craving seafood that day.) I'm so lucky that Kayla is a good eater. She ate ALL of her broccoli and a few bites of fish and chips.

Kayla was eager to get home. After all, she patiently waited all day to have a piece of chocolate cake that she and Daddy made!

Mother's Day

We had a delicious breakfast at the Shield's Date Garden Cafe.


The neighbor kids across the street were selling flowers. So Devin bought this bouquet for $5. He also helped Kayla color this card for me!

We went to Yogurt Island and brought home yummy treats!

Another Beautiful Day In the Desert

We've been taking advantage of the below average weather lately and spending alot of time outdoors. I met my friends Sonya and Valerie and her son Roman at the Palm Desert Civic Park for a picnic one Saturday.

The kids had fun feeding the ducks by the pond.

Easter Weekend

We drove up to Sacramento and visited with my family. Last time we were there, we went to Fairytale Town and Funderland. So this time we went to the Sacramento Zoo. We even got a 50% discount on the entry fee with our Living Desert memberships! Kayla was excited to see monkeys.


She loved going down the slide at the playground.

They had a huge reptile house, so of course we had to go inside! Kayla loves to look at snakes and lizards.

Saturday morning, we all went to Aunt Irene's house to dye Easter eggs.

Kayla really got into it and created some awesome designs.

On Easter Sunday we went to Aunt Irene's for dinner. Kayla and Daniel were showered with lots of Easter baskets and treats!

Then it was time for the Easter egg hunt!

They searched for eggs in the front yard.

And all throughout the house.

There were more eggs in the backyard.

Thanks Paw-Paw, Bock-Bock, and Bock-Gung! We enjoyed our stay.

Bank of America's Spring Softball Tournament

Full of Bull played in our second tournament on April 9th. This time it was at the Big League Dreams in West Covina. We drove up early in the morning and stopped at the Baker's in Beaumont for breakfast on our way up there. A cold storm hit the area the night before. Devin took a picture of these palm trees topped with snow as we were coming out of the drive-thru.

Then we got back on the freeway and we couldn't believe our eyes! Just a little ways further near Yucaipa, was even more snow! From the edge of the road all the way as far as you could see, it was a white wonderland. Everyone was talking about it because it was so weird to see in Southern California in the middle of April.

We recruited a few more team mates since the last tournament. And we even got cool jerseys! After our shameful performance last time, FOB was ready to kick some butt!

Here I am playing on second base.

Kayla was so tired by the end of our second game, she started falling asleep while we were eating pizza.

We won two out of three games! Our team has really gotten better and we even started a Monday night league at our local Big League Dreams park. We are determined to make the playoffs next tournament in July.

Sarah's Black Eye

So I came home from a rough day at softball practice looking like this...

The ball hit my glove and bounced into my face. It swelled up immediately. The laces on the ball left red marks which made it look worse. I had a black eye for a week. At least my co-workers witnessed it happen so they don't think Devin beats me.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

I can't believe it's June already! I have a lot of blogging to catch up on. These pictures were taken the last weekend in March. We had so much fun the first time, we decided to go back up to Whitewater and have another picnic at the park. This time, our friends Mike and Christian joined us!

We played frisbee, catch, and even horseshoes!

There was a nice breeze for Devin to fly the Princess kite.

Kayla is fascinated with rocks and likes to collect them.

I took cute pictures of Kayla by the fish ponds.