Family
Janis great niece Aurora Ember came into this world at May 31, 2018 @ 12:03 A.M. wearing 7 lbs, 10 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. At first she didn’t have a name, Mommy Nicole and daddy Justin were very happy.
Footprints
Nicole and Aurora
Justin’s family, Grandma Debra, Aunt Keely, and Grandpa Mike
Grandparents with Aurora
Janis with Grandma Susan
Tom and Janis with Aurora Ember
Nice time at Nicole’s baby shower and meeting Justin’s 100 family members. (I guess a few couldn’t make it!!)
We bought an easel/chalkboard for the boys for Christmas and today we did a FaceTime video and Ryan showed how well he is writing.
He wrote his name, papa, nana, Bailey so clearly. Great job Ryan!
My daughter Jennifer sure can plan an event. I had no idea there was going to be a surprise 60th birthday party at her house, since my birthday was on the 31st, it made it even bigger surprise. My brother Jack came out from Dallas, and few friends from El Segundo PD came.
She had a blackjack table set up, and lots of food. Great time had by all!
Happy Halloween 2017 and 60th birthday to me. Had a good time with the grandkids walking the neighborhood.
Ryan at age 2 years. 1 1/2 months
Took the boys to the ocean in Redondo Beach.
Phil came back out to stay with us for about 6 weeks, as Nicole and Susan decided to give him a makeover, so there wouldn’t be a lot of Roberta memories. This is what they came up with, they did an incredible job.
Took Janis dad Phil to the Flamingo Hotel to see the plaque that they have up in the pool area for Bugsy Siegal. Very nice hotel and pool area.
Michelle and Kelsey Rindler came to Vegas so we were able to go to lunch with them and Phil. Good to catch up with them. They lived in Colorado but I think we only got together about 5 times while we were there.
Today was Janis’ birthday, and coincidentally, our good friends Tim and Sue came out to Vegas from Colorado with their friends, so we met them downtown for dinner and to hang out a bit.
Jenn and Neil, Howard and Eryn, Kyle and Emi, all came out for the weekend, as Jenn, Emi, and Eryn were all going to the Brittany Speers Concert at the Palms Hotel.
Nice having everyone here, and wish they had more time.
Just shy of her 90th birthday, Roberta passed away on April 9th She had a couple strokes in Las Vegas last week, and was able to travel so we took her back home to Temecula. She went into the hospital and had another more severe stroke and passed away peacefully.
She had a rough last couple of years with daily dialysis for failing kidneys.
Jenn and Neil came out this weekend and Bobby and Phil were here, so they were able to spend time with the boys. Little did we know that this would be the last time Roberta would see the great grandkids. She passed away less than 3 weeks later from a massive stroke.
We took Ryan to his first Kings game yesterday. He had a great time and enjoyed meeting Bailey the Kings mascot.
Jenn and family came out for the day after Christmas and we went to see the Christmas display at the Bellagio casino.
Had Thanksgiving in Moorpark with Nancy, Matt, Lisa, my brother Jack, and Jenn, Neil, Ryan. Nice time with family!
Great Uncle Jack feeding Derek
Happy 2nd birthday to Ryan Ichiro, who is going o be the best big brother to Derek.
Came out for Halloween as we had to see what Ryan was this year. He’s a construction worker, as he loves watching the videos of excavators and construction.
Jenn is 2 weeks from giving birth to our grandson and walked the neighborhood also, what a trooper!!
Leaving Las Vegas was the name of a pretty good movie. Leaving for Las Vegas is the new title to this movie called life. Time for another new chapter in the book of life. My life began in LA, and then went to Denver for 9 years, and now it's time to get closer to LA without actually living in LA. It's just too expensive, and too much traffic. That’s the reason that we left Los Angeles in the first place. But then again, Las Vegas has traffic, but its not like we're moving to the strip!
So what brings us closer to LA and not actually living in LA?
This little guy!
My daughter Jennifer was pregnant with Ryan and said “you have about 2 1/2 years to move back here as he’ll need his papa and nana around more often”. I went out to CA every month the first year he was born. I had to work and travel so much for work, that I accrued a lot of comp/time off, so I flew out about every month to see them. Janis had just started working for the state, so she didn’t have a lot of vacation/time off. At the beginning it was ok (not really) but later on in the year, Janis would just take leave without pay, as seeing Ryan was more important than the money lost.
Low and behold, Jennifer told us she was pregnant with our next grandson, and we decided we would have to move closer sooner than expected. We decided in May 2016 that we needed to move and quick.
Our neighbors from down the street bought the house (30 day escrow) so we had to pack up a 5000 sq ft house in 30 days (while working) and go out to Las Vegas to look for homes (1 weekend).
We flew to Vegas, looked at about 10 developments, asking for a house that was move in ready in 30 dqys with a 30 day escrow. We found 3 possibles, and on Sunday Jennifer and Neil came out to see the 3 possibilities. We needed to be 1) close to the strip, as they gamble (as do we), and closer to the south end of the valley, so we are are close to I-15 and driving out to see them.
We ended finding a home in Rhodes Ranch, which has a golf course, a built in water park, a HUGE lagoon like pool, and a rec room with basketball courts, pool tables, weight rooms, etc.
We sold our house in Commerce City and had to move within 30 days! That was fun!
