Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 - At the San Bernard River house with the Kasper's. In the picture in no particular order - Corey Chierighino, Chris Kasper, Mark Kasper, Jo Kasper, Christi Beard, David Beard, Kelsey Beard, Lauren Beard, Patrick, Amber, Rusty Kasper, Candace Chierighino, Amanda Vadon, Valerie Vadon, Veronica Vadon, Meagan Kasper, Kaley Chierighino, Ryan Chierighino, Dylan Kasper, Conald Chierighino, Karen Chierighino. The kids rode the 4 wheeler and everybody had a great time. We also scattered Mom Jean's ashes in the river.

Adoption Day!

November 20th was a very special day. We officially adopted Kaley and Ryan. They have been with us since Jan 3, 2003. Now they have a second birthday.

Our Black Lab (Sadie) Fun Day in the kitchen

I know the video is poorly lit and I held the camera wrong but I have learned from my mistakes. We came home one night in November and Sadie apparently took her anger out on the feather pillow that I have had in the dog kennel for 6 years. All I could do was laugh. What else are you gonna do. We cleaned feathers for days. Feathers were embedded in the poodles fur. Sadie was just glad we were home. We never know what she is going to tear up next. Last week it was my $400 plantation shutters. :-(

Opening a sandwich Shop in Friendswood

Just to let you know. I don't have any pics yet but today I go pick up a sampler tray of bakery items from El Hornito Bakery off Hwy 249 and then off to Friendswood to pay 3 months rent on the building. I can't express in words what this all means. I have such high hopes. You know it's not about the money. I want to make money and pay bills but I just want to do something satisfying. Glorify God. I think I can do it this way. I pray I am not outside HIS will. I will try to grab some pics and little videos along the way so I can document our growth. I hope you are excited for me and Sherry and that you will pray that we succeed. Love to all,
Karen

Lanie and I went to see Jackson at Red Rocks Amphitheater in August. Flew in to Denver on a Tuesday, went to concert Wednesday, Flew out on Thursday. This a truly magnificent natural amphtheater. The first concerts were performed around 1908. During the depression, our government sponsored the build out. We were in awe. Jackson was great as usual and the venue was out of this world. I love traveling with Lanie, she is my best bud. We stayed at very nice hotel, Courtyard by Marriott. I hope we make this an annual thing. Karen

My beach babies. I miss Julian and Quentin so much. They are all such a joy to me. Quentin, Valerie, Julian, and Veronica. QVJV

Swim Day at Springhill Suites

Valerie n Veronica

Papa Gino
Kaley n Ryan

Me

Saturday I woke with a sincere desire to go swimming. I have only a few options since I had to give up my pool 3 years ago. My daughter has a community pool that is absolutely disgusting. Everytime I have swam there, floating slim has collected in the corners and the water burns the heck out of your eyes (chloramines due to the unsanitary condition of the water). There are never any seats and no shade. My sister has a great community pool in Wharton and there is hardly anybody ever there. I called and she said Emily was staying at her grandma's for another week. They don't like to swim much so I guess without Emily there was no reason to go to that pool. Swim parks are 1) expensive, 2) long drive, 3) crowded. My only other option was to rent a room in a hotel and swim. So that's what we did. Springhill Suites just opened up less than a month ago. We felt like we were the only guests. The pool was great! The hotel was so nice and clean. Springhill is a division of Marriott and it was obvious. Amanda had parties to go to with the girls but she told me they would come later. They hadn't showed up as of 8:30pm. So I went to her house, less than 2 miles away, and I abducted them. We swam for about another hour and then went nighty night. The room had 2 Queens beds and a sofa pullout. So everybody got to sleep on a bed. All was well as we drifted off to sleep. Thank you God for all the many blessings you have allowed me to have. Especially all these punk kids...Karen

Goin to the movies

Harry Potter movie was so bad. I was so dissappointed. We rarely go to the movies, so it makes it even worse when the movie is bad. We ate at Los Potros before the movie so the day wasn't all bad. K

Chicken Feet and my French Bulldog Frodo

Conald went to Fiesta today and bought chicken feet for the dogs. I read on the yahoo rawfeeding group that chicken feet are treats for dogs. Frodo loved them! We laughed so hard. As he was chewing it was so funny to watch the chicken feet sticking out of his mouth. I guess you had to be there. It looked like the whole chicken was in his mouth, feet sticking out...

Trip to Pueblo Colorado to take Ricky the Boat

July 4th weekend, Conald, me, Kaley & Ryan drove to Pueblo, Colorado. We were shooting for Denver because that would be a halfway point for Ricky to meet us. Ricky lives in Moses Lake, Washington. I inherited my dad's boat in January 2002 and have only used it maybe 4 times. Ricky has always wanted the boat but he lived so far away. We ended up staying at a hotel the first night without seeing Ricky. It was 1100 miles one way for us and for Ricky it was about 1400 miles. We made the swap in Pueblo and ate at the Cracker Barrel. We headed home after dinner but stopped at a hotel at about 8pm. Pizza and beer in the hotel room. What can I say, I'm easy to please. It was an incerdibly long drive but it was a huge weight off me because I wanted Ricky to have the boat and I wanted it out of my garage!

If you look closely at the picture of the valley you can see a young Grizzly Bear. What a treat to see a bear in the wild and be a very safe distance away frim him...

Hopefully when we get the adoption final we will be traveling to Tennessee. See ya!

Corey's New Job

Well, my middle son Corey started his new job with Silver Eagle Distributors this past Monday. He is so excited about it and the fact that they offer benefits after 3 months. Here is pic of him in his UNIFORM! WooHoo way to go Corey!

Conald's Bo-Bo

As we were getting ready to take My dad's Boat to Ricky Joe in Denver, Colorado, Conald tripped over the tongue of the boat trailer. It caught the back of his right leg and I thought it was broken. Since Conald is so manly, he did not hardly even make a sound. The next day the entire upper portion of his leg was black. In addition, there is a huge gash. This pic was taken about 3 days later. Owweeee!