LYNN TURNED 50 - TY TURNED 1

Happy birthday to Lynn and Ty (and Robin and Chris)!

Lynn has stretched out this milestone birthday in ways that would make Sabrina proud.
Part 1 - Shortly before his birthday we went out to dinner with his parents in Sac.
Part 2 - The week before his birthday we had a combined birthday BBQ dinner with the Meraz family (close family friends). Joe Meraz, the dad, also turned 50 very recently (and is practically a god when it comes to cooking meat!).
Part 3 - On the day of his birthday Lynn, Em and I went out to Chili's with Steven, Tiff and the girls. The wait staff even sang to him. You can be sure he loved that. ; )
Part 4 - The Saturday after his birthday we had a great party with about 30 friends and family in attendance. Rest assured he got all the 'old man' teasing he should, including not one, but two tricked out walkers! That was way fun. We really need to have parties more often.
Part 5 - Lest you noticed the lack of a gift thus far, not to worry, last week he got something he has been wanting for several months now - an iPhone. He even got the lastest, fancy pants iPhone 4. Now, if he could just remember where he put it. (kidding)

This last weekend we enjoyed a beautiful time at Monterey for Ty's first birthday party. Lynn, Em and I joined Lynn's parents, Robin, Emma Mae, Robin's boyfriend, Brad, Steven, Tiff and their girls, as well as Cassandra's family and a few friends for a fun BBQ lunch and party. The company was great. The weather was perfect. The food was good, and nice memories were made.

The beach and lots of family all in the same place? That's my idea of heaven, right there!

I will try to post some pics from my phone later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL OUR SEPTEMBER BABIES!

Where Did the Summer Go?

Yet again school is back in session. Now life is slowing down -- or speeding up. Really, who can tell? Either way, I'd thought I'd post an end of summer update.

Em - She is starting her junior year with a very full plate. She has a total brainiac schedule this year (AP, honors, the whole deal) with only one period of reprieve (a drawing class). She is also playing on the school tennis team for the first time and is part of the Key Club (the school's community service club). Needless to say, with all that and church and early morning seminary, too, the child has no time to get into trouble - even if she were the type, which she isn't. She's doing great with it all, though. Big surprise there.

Dev - He's still deciding what he wants to do - toying with the idea of joining the Air Force.

Thomas & family - Stationed in Monterey for language school. Thomas is doing really well in his classes and working hard. Cassandra is having fun planning Ty's first birthday party. And Ty is being an almost one year old - getting teeth, walking like a pro, learning new things every day, and making his parents laugh a lot.

Steven & family - Steven is no longer working at Home Depot as of last Friday and will be starting a new job with Venoco on Sept 1. He is almost fully recovered from his recent appendectomy. Tiff is as busy as - well as busy as a young mom with two kids who runs a daycare business! Ava is two in all it's glory - learning like crazy, saying and doing surprising things, using her imagination, and, yes, throwing fits. (She wouldn't be two without that, right?) Our little Sage is almost 5 months old. She like to smile and laugh - and TALK, in her own way of course. My, this girl is not going to be quiet and serious like her sister.

Tracy - Just started another year of teaching early morning seminary - freshmen this time. Also just signed up to attend my first writer's conference in Nevada in October. Can't wait! I think I'm about ready to start looking for an agent. (Don't get too excited. From what I hear that process can easily take a year or more.)

Lynn - All I can say is he survived this summer. It was more brutal than usual. Use your imagination. I'll leave it at that. AND...he's turning 50 in a couple of weeks!! Oh my goodness, what am I doing with someone so old? I must say though, he has aged very nicely!

That's it for now. I really will get the picture thing figured out before too long and post some here.

I'm Baaaccckk.

Oh my gosh, If there was a dork award I believe I could be nominated and possibly win it. As is quite apparent, I haven't posted here since my one first post. Part of the reason for that is I really wasn't ready to start blogging when I made that first post. That's not so dorky, right? The dorkness comes in when I get to the other reason I haven't posted here again. I couldn't figure out how to get to the page where I could write a new post. Ack! What a dork. I made a few feeble attempts to navigate back to this page, but gave up too easily and didn't take the time to ask anyone who might know. Second level dorkiness, not using ones resources.

Anyway, tah dah! I finally figured it out. (BTW, I LOVE 'tah dah.' I even downloaded a ringtone for my new phone that makes the 'tah dah' fanfare. I think everyone needs a good 'tah dah' every now and then.) I promise I will figure out how to download pics (without Tiffany by my side telling me every step of what to do) very soon. This sight will become a veritable treasure trove of all things Astle.

I also recently started a blog which is more for the general public. If you want to come check it out that would be great. You can find it at tkastle.blogspot.com - So Many Dreams.

Be back soon.

Day one

This is a pic from last Christmas. I'm just playing around learning how to do this whole blog thing - being tutored by Tiffany. So, here we go.

I will add more later. I just wanted to learn how to do this real quick while Tiff was here at the house.