It's been a while....

Football season is almost over and since I resigned as head wrestling coach I will have plenty of time to blog all winter long. Alot has happened since my last post after our family vacation so I'll try to do my best to mention everything that has gone on in the suite. Football is going well, my team is 6-3 and fighting for 2nd place this week. It is a little disappointing since we have been league champs for 2 years in a row but we have a good core group of kids that have worked hard and have been over matched all season but have fought with the best of them. I am going to miss coaching wrestling but I am looking forward to my first winter off in 7 years. I know Christmas shopping will be alot easier this year. My brother Eric got married last month and is moving into his second brand new house. I am jealous but really happy for him. It has been so nice to have my big brother back again. We haven't been this close since before he left home. His new wife Gina is great and I am happy to have her as a sister in law. Bella had her 1st birthday party last weekend and she made out like a bandit. It was the one day this year that was cold and drizzling so the party was cut short but still fun. Papa got her her very first Coach purse. I figured she is already a Diva so I might as well spoil her like one. The girls are doing great too. We are having a combined birthday party for Sophia and Mia this year. Sophie just turned 9 and Mia is going to be 7. They are both doing good in school and in soccer. Michelle is not playing soccer this year but doing good in school and adjusting to Jr. High. Remarkably, I am doing ok adjusting to her being in Jr. High as well. Until next time, here are a couple of pictures from the suite.

Papa and Bella

Graham Family at Uncle Eric's wedding

Bella with her new Coach purse

The Graham Canyon

As promised I have a few pictures from our family vacation. The trip was a blast. First we went to Laughlin to play on the river and to visit great grandma. From there we took old route 66 to the grand canyon and stopped in a little town to buy some souvenirs. It was the cutest little barber shop converted into a store. We stayed in Williams which is about an hour from the grand canyon and that was a cool place in itself. When we left for the grand canyon I was amazed by the drive. I had always thought that the grand canyon was in the desert so really we would only see a lot of dirt, rocks then a big hole, but about 20 minutes into the drive we started seeing a lot of forest areas that just kept getting thicker. I had know idea the area around the grand canyon was so beautiful. When we got there we loaded up my back pack with water and snacks and hiked a couple hours along the rim. We took a ton of pictures, ate our snacks, saw a couple deer and a cute little squirrel that tried to attack me. He was actually going for some crackers that were on the ground right behind me. A group of tourists from Australia got a big kick out of me jumping like a little girl when he was running right at me. I could have sworn I saw some foam coming from his mouth and a crazy look in his eyes. Anyhow, when the girls got tired of walking and I got tired of carrying Mia on my shoulders we headed back to the hotel. The next time I think we will stay for a week or so to really get the full experience. Then we went to Vegas. The girls have always wanted to see where Isella and I got married so we stopped in Vegas. We stayed at Circus Circus and only left the hotel to see the wedding chapel other than that we stayed there at the hotel. We swam, ate at the buffet, met Sponge Bob and played some games in the arcade. Sophia didn't understand why she couldn't play the slot machines because they looked so fun to her. And when I tried to explain that they were games for mommies and daddies she gave me this look like "You're kidding me". We went home from Vegas and after week 1 out of the way we rested over the weekend. Week 2 we went camping at Green Valley Lake near Arrowhead. It was beautiful as you can see in one of the pictures. Daddy hit a minor speed bump while building the tent but after a few cuss words and a couple of thrown poles I finally got it. We also learned that no matter how many flies buzz by the girls ears, each can produce a blood curdling scream. I thought that would get better as time went on and into the next day but....nope. After the camping trip we came home and did some fun stuff around town. We went to the park, the farmers market (A big carnival in Fullerton), the movies and golfing. Well it was just the driving range but the girls had fun anyway and Isella dropped a 30 foot putt on her first and only attempt at putting. After she sank her first try she didn't want to play anymore. Finally at the end of my vacation Isella and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary. We stayed on the Queen Mary and had a great time. The restaurants were excellent and the tour was great. We went on the Daryn and Isella just walk around trying to open doors tour. It was way better and way cheaper than the guided tours. So it was an action packed couple of weeks and I am so happy we got to take this vacation. Now it's back to work for me but I know we will have a lot more fun before the girls go back to school.

Mia's Trifecta and The Family Vacation

With the last day of school on Thursday we had our end of the year assembly at Raymond School. I am so proud of all my girls for all of their hard work all year but today I am mega proud of my baby Mia. Mia won THREE awards for her hard work. After seeing the pictures you might think that I am proudest of the athletic award she got but really it is the Citizenship Honor Roll award that I am doing cartwheels over. The citizenship honor roll is for students that got all O's (Outstanding)in all citizenship categories for the entire year. I am at a whole new level of proud, not just because it seems she didn't inherit daddies smart alec gene or because I didn't see my last name on many citizenship awards. Nope, I am so happy because that is exactly what I have been praying for lately. I've been praying that my girls would be a good example to others in school and the citizenship honor roll sounds like an amazing answer to prayer to me. It can be very difficult for a kid to be a dedicated Christian in school now a days and that's why it's been on my prayer list for some time. In addition to Mia's Hat Trick, Sophia won an award for reading and we can't forget Michelle's big graduation tomorrow. Michelle will be going to Jr. High next year (another big item on my prayer list)and I can't figure out where the years went. Tomorrow also marks my last day at work before my vacation. I am really looking forward to our vacation this year. We're going to visit Great Grama in Arizona, visit the Grand Canyon and Vegas, go camping, go to the beach and Knotts and I plan to do a lot of golfing. Isella and I are also going to be celebrating our 11 year anniversary during my time off. We are going to stay aboard the Queen Mary then visit the Natural History Museum the next day. I hope to have a lot of pictures to blog about after our family vacation but for now here are some of Mia's awards and her dressed up for her Variety Show performance where her and a couple friends all sang "I am a Wildflower" by the Jane Dear Girls. And since I haven't blogged in a while here are just some random pictures I had on my phone. Me , Nino and Jose at Angels opening day Uncle Dan and Janelle Girls with cousins Robert, Taylor and Danny Girls at Danny's Birthday Party Mia Wildflower This one is a picture of the Harley I want since Father's Day is coming up. Just in case the kids can't think of what to get Daddy

Precious Moments

I am going to break a rule of mine by posting on my blog WITHOUT any new pictures. I usually like to write about the pictures I post but this story has no pictures and really doesn't need any. The other day I got home after a rough day at work and found Sophia in the kitchen with the cutest little apron on washing dishes. I made my normal rounds around the house to say hello and get my hugs from everyone and when I saw Isella I asked her what was up? Was Sophie in trouble? Did she lose a bet? Why was she doing dishes? Isella told me that when Sophie got home she immediately got her homework done and started helping out on her own so I gave her a big hug and high 5. Later I was sitting in my chair and Mia came up and gave me a piece of paper, then I saw her go give one to Isella too. As I was opening up the folded up piece of paper I saw her going into Andrews room to give him yet another folded up piece of paper. When I opened it, it read "You are invited to a Graham Family meeting at 6pm". I asked Isella what it was about and she didn't know much but that the girls wanted us to get together that night. So the girls got busy setting up all the TV trays in rows like school desks and filling them with coloring books and other supplies. Mia called the meeting to order and even made me move from my lazy boy to the couch so we could all face each other in a circle. I was however allowed to keep the Laker game on as long as I kept it on mute. Then the first assignment was to draw a picture of ourselves and label all of our parts. I made sure to draw a very detailed picture including all of my muscles, my beard, my shades, and even a few tattoos. I was already the class clown. The next assignment was a coloring project. Mia handed out coloring books to everyone and Sophie was in charge of the crayons and markers. Whenever we needed a new color we had to ask her for them. I colored a picture of Pumba from the Lion King and after I finished I realized that I had not colored in a long time. After coloring the girls had planned for each of us to read a story but only had time to hear Mia read about the birth of Jesus. It was the cutest thing ever. She is sooo good at reading now and hearing her say things like Bethlehem, manger and Wise men with a lisp made me melt. After the story it was time for bed. We all prayed one at a time but each of us thanked God for the time we had in our meeting. Thank you Lord for giving us these precious moments to spend together as a Family and don't ever let us take them for granted.

HEY!!! OUT OF MY CHAIR

Since Andrew moved back home I had to move my Lazy Boy chair to the living room and it is never empty. The girls love to sit in it, usually at the same time and even baby Bella gets cozy in it when she is over. Here are pictures of Sophie and Mia in my chair with my Nebraska blanket and neck pillow given to me by the bestest sister in the whole world for Christmas.

Career Day

Ms. Lee, who has been all 3 Graham girls 1st grade teacher asked me to come and tell the kids what I do as a wrestling coach. I thought it would be a lot more fun to show them instead of tell them so I brought a warm up mat and a couple of my wrestlers to show some cool moves and the kids loved it. Mia said the kids loved us way more than the chef and the police man who also were asked to come. Isella even went out and bought some little medals to give out to the kids. We were also able to get Sophia out of class to come watch.

Baby Sitter's Club

The girls just can't get enough of baby Bella. They love to hold her and fight over turns. Great, great Grandma had to sqeeze in a turn while she was visiting for Christmas. Luckily Bella loves to be held.