BetterMe Coaching Tool

THE SAMPLE FAMILY...at Mel Sr's Birthday dinner at Babettas. We were all very grateful to be together as a family. Last December Mels dad had a heart attack and gave us all a huge scare and now here we all are celebrating his birthday! We all feel very fortunate to have each other and we all know how very special family is!♥

The Bowling Family









After our morning Easter brunch we went to my brother and sister-in-laws house later that afternoon. Tosha and CJ had a wonderful dinner with ham and all the fixins. It was delicious! We had a egg hunt for Chloe, Jesse and Paige. They had so much fun! Then we had an egg derby race...very fun! Loved having all the family together...still missed mom not being there but we all felt her spirit there with us. The food that was made, was food my mom would fix and the decorations all around reminded me of how much she would decorate. My brother CJ takes after my mom in that way...he loves to decorate the house for holidays...just like mom. I'm glad she was such a great example to all of us♥

The egg derby race.

Our Easter morning started off with a fabulous brunch at our son and daughter-in-law's house. Hanna made a awesome breakfast and then we hunted for eggs. Paige had her own egg hunt and then the big kids (us adults) had our own egg hunt. (I think I won!)

Our granddaughter, Chloe, had her 7th Birthday party at Flips for Kids and she had a Hannah Montana theme. She had a great time and lots of friends and family came. I made her a Hannah Montana guitar cake and it was so much fun

So just a few new pictures. Paige is walking now! Chloe just received an Academic Award at school! So I am a very proud Nana needless to say! Bret is receiving an award next week for his 4.0 grade point average...so I'm very proud of him also! He is graduating in June and is enrolled in College of the Redwoods. FIRST one to go to college (besides his mother of course...haha)! I'm planning a trip to England in May so I am very excited. I hope everything works out so that I'll be able to go.
Bret and I on the plane...Bret heading to Redding and I'm heading to Portland.
Kyle hard at work
Chloe receiving her Academic Award
Chloe and Paige

This is just a quick blog with some photos from Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas and we were very fortunate to even have a Christmas. We had a scare about 3 weeks before Christmas when Mels Dad had a heart attack. Luckily (thanks to some very Heroic people) he made it and after Open Heart surgery, made it home in time for us all to be very thankful we could all be together. We all felt so blessed to be be spending the holidays together because we all knew how different our holiday could have been. Mel Sr had just ran a dog on the dog agility course at Redwood Acres when he fell over from a Heart attack. Mels Dad was very fortunate to have a doctor and nurse there when he fell and they immediately started CPR and the fire department happened to be at Redwood Acres with their new machine that helped save Mels life! It was the first time they had used their new machine and it worked!! We are all so lucky...everything was in his favor. So these pictures reflect a very happy family that are very thankful for each other










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So we decorated our tree and the boys made some FANTASTIC fudge! It really was awesome fudge! Paige and Chloe were really into decorating the tree. Well, Paige was really into getting into all the totes! They had their matching little outfits on that Nana got for them and of course they were as cute as ever! I love having being a grandma...it's the greatest thing ever invented!!

SO...November was huge milestone again in the Sample family. Paige had her first Birthday and it was on Thanksgiving day! She was so adorable and loved getting all her presents! She got her first quad (in true Sample fashion) and of course took off across the living room floor like a genius child! We were all so proud! She also ate her first Thanksgiving meal like a trooper.

I had Paige stay the night last weekend and she was so much fun! She is growing up so fast! She will be a year old in two weeks. I can't believe how time flies. She is such a precious baby. She is always smiling and happy! I just loved having her and playing with her. Being a grandma is the best thing ever invented!!

Last Weekend my friends mother was given a 90th Birthday Tea Party. She is from England and is VERY English! All the ladies attending were to wear hats and gloves. Chloe went with me and she had so much fun. All the ladies (most of them old enough to get the senior discount) thought Chloe was absolutely adorable. We went to the discovery shop and found her long white gloves and a hat. She wore a pearl bracelet and a pretty dress. It was fun to actually attend a real tea party!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

October has been a very busy month. Mel and I went to Los Angeles with his sister and her husband and we went to a taping of the Dr. Phil show. That was fun but the show was on a depressing subject, suicide. So that was kind of a bummer but it was still a fun experience. We had a great time with Teresa and Wes. We walked around Hollywood on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Then I went to Seattle with Lauren Freemantle and we met up with her siter Kelsey (who was coming home from Alaska). We all went to a Sara Bareilles concert that was AWESOME!




Then of course there was HALLOWEEN! Chloe and Paige were SO cute! Paige was a Raggedy Ann Doll and Chloe was a Candy Corn Witch.




We had a wonderful month and a great Halloween. This was Paiges first so she was so interested in all the crazy costumes! Next year Chloe said she wants to be at home to pass out candy. We didn't get home until late and all the kids were done trick or treating. She insisted on sitting out on the front porch with the candy bowl in her lap and the pumpkin lit up...just waiting for someone to come trick or treating. Finally we convinced her to come inside and told her if anyone was coming they would ring the doorbell. In the meantime Kyle went outside and found some teenage neighbors and asked them if they would ring the doorbell and trick or treat our house because his daughter had been waiting for someone to come. They did and Chloe told them to take as much as they wanted and they did! She was so excited and she finally went to bed!