{Happy 2010!}

Happy New Year!

We hope you have a wonderful 2010! 2009 was very good to us and we hope it continues on into the new year. Wow...a decade into the 21st century already, how strange. How fast time flies! If we didn't see you in '09 we hope to see you in '10! Everyone gets busy, but it's nice to have some "face time" with our family and friends!

♥ to you all!
M, M, M

{Merry Christmas to All!!}

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends! We did Christmas early this year to accommodate everyone's work schedules! So we opened our gifts 2 days ago! We all got wonderful things that we'd asked for! Meghann got a dressing table for her room from Grandma & Papa. I had one growing up and LOVED it...Meghann will too as she'll be able to do her makeup and hair in her room instead of leaning over the sink in her bathroom! She got some art supplies since she loves to draw and accessories for her dressing table to keep it all organized! She got a 32 inch flat panel HDTV and the wall mount from Mom and Dad...so she'll be super happy to be able to play her games and stuff on the big screen! Mike got a new watch, a new wallet, a new Gerber knife, some grillin' cookbooks, an iPod touch and some Truefitt & Hill shaving soap refills. I got some new Rodney Kent pieces for my collection, candles, outdoor speakers, and Mike gave me a coupon for a Mexican cruise for the 2 of us! We plan on doing it in February when he has 3 weeks vacation and it's a birthday gift for Mike too. It'll be a blast!

It's a nice relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for us! Meghann went to the Hernandez family bash last night while Mike worked and I chillaxed. Today we're just going to hang out and relax...since we had 4 days of Christmas fun @ my parent's house, we're happy to just enjoy each other's company. We hope you all are enjoying your Christmas day...and remember that we are celebrating the greatest Gift of all, a Baby in a Manger that came to be our Saviour!

♥, MMM

{ ♪♫♥ PARAMORE CONCERT!! ♥♫♪}

Mike and I took Meghann and 4 of her friends to go see the group, Paramore, @ the Hollywood Palladium yesterday. The original concert was scheduled for 1 October, however the lead singer, Hayley, lost her voice on the first stop of their tour. So they had to reschedule. We were originally the 2nd stop of the tour and with the reschedule, we were now the LAST stop on their American Tour! WooHoo! It was a GREAT show...wish I had more pics of Paramore (thankfully Hayley came out and sang with one of the opening bands, The Swellers, so I got a few shots of her!), but since I have a "professional" camera (aka, detachable lens), as soon as they caught me shooting photos, they "perp walked" me to the coat check and I had to check it in. I was one of about 30-40 that had the same issue. So you're not allowed to bring a "good" camera in...but anything else is okay. Weird! So for the next concert, I'll go back to the Canon PowerShot S1IS instead of the Nikon D5000! The Canon has a good zoom and takes video too, so it's really no different, just not as high megapixels and not QUITE the zoom as the Nikon. So now that'll be the "Concert Cam"!

Freedom isn't "Free"
Thank a Veteran!

Happy Veteran's Day to all our military brethren! We are proud to have served with you and proud how others have served for us. It is an amazing thing to CHOOSE to serve others in your country. We are so grateful that we have an ALL VOLUNTEER military! We'll be celebrating Veteran's Day @ the ♪♫ Paramore ♫♪ concert tonight with Meghann and 4 of her friends!

"The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid down so
costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom" -Abraham Lincoln

{Halloween Decoration Pictures!}

{We ended up putting a piece of black fabric over the light on the left of the garage so that there was light but it was darker. We had to have the lights on since all of Mad Mike's electronics were plugged into the one by the front door!}{Mike had all his "potions" and stuff on this shelf with black lights on them so they glowed @ night. I had mad scientist sounds on a loop on the computer plugged into Meghann's speakers right behind the bookcase. So it sounded like the potions were bubbling, etc.}{Mike made this sign to show the kids how he takes Trick-or-Treaters, adds some of his potions, takes out their brains, and they become evil pumpkins for his evil pumpkin patch like in the pictures below!}{Ahhh....Mad Mike! He did a great job! Not too scary, but made it fun! He actually had quite a few kids that "volunteered" to let him turn them into evil pumpkins! I loved the candy cauldron! It made me happy!}

Mike had such a wonderful time decorating the house for Halloween this year! It was a lot of fun to see him so excited about it! He made paper mache evil pumpkins, my cool spider and some skulls. We had a lot of fun this year...can't wait to see next year!

{Los Al High School Football}

The Hernandezs' and Walkers dropped the teen girls off @ the Los Al vs Edison game @ Huntington Beach High's new stadium last night and then went off to enjoy some LOVELY Mexican food @ El Ranchito (one of our favorite downtown HB restaurants!). Since Mike and I had gone to Buffalo Wild Wings with Curt for lunch, we ate a very light supper...so it was PERFECT! We then went back to catch the last half of the game. It was 13 (Edison) to 10 (Los Al) @ the half. Los Al proceeded to make some DUMB mistakes and poor plays and lost 27 to 10! YIKES! Edison is #8 in the COUNTRY though, so we didn't feel TOO badly. The new stadium is GORGEOUS! Nice place to spend a Friday night!

Tonight we look forward to having friends over for trick-or-treating and can't wait to see all the neighborhood kids in their costumes! We're hoping against hope that our neighbor, Rudy, feels better. He came down ill yesterday and Val is freaking out 'cause she has NO idea how he sets up all his stuff! So Mike is going to go over and help out! That's what neighbors do! But it would be better if Rudy felt better...he worked SOOOOO hard this year on lots of new stuff! Happy Halloween to all!

{Happy Birthday Curt & Val!!}

WooHoo! Curt's another year older today! Next year will be an interesting birthday date that not many people get to experience. 10-10-10! How cool is THAT? Most people's birthdays will never happen like that. That'll be a crazy party next year! This year...a little Knott's Scary Farm tonight(no thanks!) and brunch/Oktoberfest @ the Phoenix Club tomorrow (HECK ya!)! Look forward to celebrating our wonderful Curtis with everyone!

Our next door neighbor, Valerie, already turned 40 earlier this month but was out of town so we couldn't celebrate! Tonight, however...is another story! We're having a Surprise 40th for her! I personally do NOT like to be surprised (thankfully Mike knows this!) but Rudy says that Val won't mind...good luck with that Rudy! Ha, ha! Gotta make a special card for her today...I LOVE making special cards for special people!

I get to make another one next week for our neighbor's daughter on the other side of us that has a lot of meaning. She's heading off to Army boot camp! Her parents are very proud...Julie (her mom) was in the Army too, but we won't hold that against her! Hee, hee! And then my October cards are all done...not many birthdays in October; August and December are my SUPER busy months! So maybe I'll get to finish the other wall plaque in our bathroom...I DID finish one last night!

That's all from Walker Central for today, I'm trying to get better about posting more often again, I realized that I was slacking off and it's SUCH an easy thing to do! (Posting on here, not slacking off!) I'll try and get some pictures up later of Mike and his spooky paper maché pumpkins that he's been making! Ciao!

{♥ Paramore...Rescheduled!! ♥}

Yeah! Hayley's recovering and they've already rescheduled our concert date! Veteran's Day! That's nice since the kids don't have school that day. Hopefully Mike can clear his schedule, otherwise we'll have to just get a refund on the tickets. I wonder if they'll give something special to the Veteran's that attend the concert on Veteran's Day? That'd be ME! :-D Mike won't be a vet for a little while longer...he's thinking about retiring soon, I think it'd be good for him. After 20 years, it's enough...especially when you have another full-time job as well!

So...we'll just have to listen to "Riot!" and "Brand New Eyes" until the 11th of November, when hopefully we'll be @ the Palladium rocking out LIVE to Paramore!

♥♪♫♪♥

{♪♫ Paramore...no more! ♫♪}

What a BUMMER start to the day! Mike and I were taking Meghann and 4 of her friends to go see the group Paramore tonight @ the Hollywood Palladium. Unfortunately, the lead singer, Hayley, has lost her voice and is having issues with her vocal chords right now...so the concert has been postponed! :-( Since they are on their Fall Tour, the dates are pretty packed...they have the month of November off before they hit Europe, so they may have to squeeze in a few of the postponed concert dates then, but POOP! We were all really looking forward to tonight. Meghann still doesn't know yet, and will be BUMMED out when we pick her up from school! :-( Luckily one of Mike's friends on Facebook posted on his status about it, or we wouldn't have even THOUGHT to check. I'll bet there are plenty of ticket holders that show up @ the Palladium tonight and are VERY disappointed! Oh well...gotta take it in stride, and hope that the reschedule date still works for everyone! Thankfully we know quite a few kids that LOVE Paramore, so if the original group can't make it, we'll see about getting others in on it!

♫♪ Feel better, Hayley...we can't wait to rock out with Paramore! ♪♫

{HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!}

WooHoo! It's your birthday...it's your birthday! Party like a rock star! FINALLY! Welcome to "Club 14" Kendall! :-D We've been waiting and waiting for you to join Megs! We TRIED to get you Nick Jonas for your special day, but...he ran screaming! Ha, ha, ha! :-D We love you Killer Kendall!

MMML

{A Little Living History & an Old Friend}

{The North with a Vintage & Color Spot feel added}
{Former GySgt Ken Serfass - Sergeant Major/Drum Major of the Band}
{Erin Serfass...Dad has her "banging plates" in the band}
{Uh...he DOES know what the South was fighting to KEEP, right?}
{SgtMaj Serfass}
{Took a large field shot of the "dead" & "wounded"...got home, cropped in and saw this dude taking pictures!}
{Ladies and Gentlemen...the Oscar goes to: THIS DUDE!}
{The Southern Line of Fire}

{Ahhh...the 69th! We head over @ night when the activities are over for the day and listen to the live music this group has...and partake of the FINE whiskey from the open bar! Gets better each year!}

{The band members participate in the battles too...as stretcher bearers}{Kelsey, Bethany, Abe Lincoln & Meghann}

{The President & The Sergeant Major - The Lincoln Reenactor is also a former Marine!! OohRah!}

Each year we enjoy going to the Civil War Days @ the Huntington Beach Park. It's entertaining and educational...and a beautiful setting! After last year's trip, we were looking up other ones and stumbled across the website for the one in Moorpark, CA. As we were looking @ the pictures, I recognized someone! What? Could it be? A former Marine Corps Bandsman that was leading a Civil War Era band and doing reenactments! How FUN! We found each other on Facebook and on Saturday had a reunion 14 years in the making! It was GREAT! We look forward to heading down to San Diego @ the end of October to go camping with the Hernandez family as well as going on the "Ghost Tour" that our friend is also a part of...he's a ghost that got hanged! Oooooh.....creepy! :-) Should be a LOT of fun! Here are some fun shots from the CWD @ HB!