"The Old Days"

My sister Katrina got some family pictures on CD from my brother Carl for Christmas and posted them on her facebook. I couldn't believe I had never seen them and was excited to see there were other child pictures of me. To my knowledge there aren't many out there. Our parents weren't known for having or using a camera. My grampa "E" always took pictures but when he died in the 80's we had no more documentation of our lives. lol. Anyway, I decided to post the new and some photos I already had (including one of a younger Michael) for your pleasure. ;) Some of you knew me when... lol.


My mom is apparently pregnant with me, her 5th child and 2nd girl. I was born one day before her birthday (feb 8th) on February 7th, 1974 so I'm assuming this is a sunny California winter picture in 1973. I personally LOVE my moms dress and think she really looks amazing for having her 5th kid! This is also around the time my parents were sealed to each other in the Los Angeles Temple then to all these siblings. What a great time in my parents lives, I know.
Pictured: my siblings & mom: Wade, Mom-Karla, Katrina, Vincent, Carl

I am the adorably cute chubby baby with my oldest brother Carl. My Aunt Angela (dad's baby sister who incidentally has a son named "Evan") is holding me. She loves children and I'm sure was so happy we had so many for her to hold! ;). I don't know how old I am, I would assume it took me a few months to pack this chub on. lol.

Pre-Kindergarten in Woodland Hills, California circa 1978 or 1979?

Maybe Michael's family can enlighten me but I'm gonna guess he's 4 or 5 himself in this picture. Wouldn't we have been a glorious couple, even then?! lol.

My parents built their current house in the Santa Rosa Valley in 1979-1980 and I can only assume these two pictures were us on our way to see the progress after church one day.

Pictured: Me, Katrina (we are wearing our flower girl dresses from my Aunt Angela's wedding, we loved those dresses!), Bennett, Vincent and my Dad in the background.

Yeah, this is just the ground breaking kind of. I can see the view we are looking at is from our driveway through the 'breezeway' towards our back landscaping. Those trees are our uphill neighbors (the Myer Family) Avocado Orchard. So pretty sure there wasn't even a foundation poured at this point. We made many visits as a family to 'help' build our "compound". We used the extra leveling sand as play mounds and turned scrap wood into teeter totters. We had the best time. Thanks mom and dad for great memories!

Pictured: Katrina, Vincent, baby Jesse, grandpa "E", toddler Bennett, Me, Wade & Carl

I hope you liked this pictures. Of course they mean more to me than anyone else will care but still, I wanted to share. I wish I had more pictures from my past and wish I was better at documenting our current life in journal etc.