Family Picture 1993

Christmas 1993

Kelly, Amy, Craig, Kristi, Tanner

Moving to Australia Street.

Since we now had an income and five children, we definitely wanted to find a permanent home to raise our family. My father was a real estate broker and occasionally his clients would end up with houses that they had invested in and the owners defaulted on. There was a beautiful yellow, four bedroom, 3 bath home on a cul-de-sac with a pool and a large yard in El Cajon that one of his clients was getting back. It was perfect for our growing family. We didn't have any kind of down payment and certainly couldn't qualify for a loan in the traditional way, but my father was able to do some creative financing and we moved into this beautiful home just after Tanner was born, in October of 1993. This would be our home for the next twenty years!

Tanner Scott Born August 16, 1993

We went into the hospital in the late evening/early morning to break the water and start pitosin. Things were slow going up until I got to 5 centimeters. At that time I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and feeling a lot of pressure. We summoned for the anesthesia doctor to come in and start the epidural. While we were waiting for him, the pain during contractions and the pressure started to get really intense. It wasn't very long that I started to tell the nurses that "he's coming, he's coming". This was my fifth baby and I know what the pressure feels like when the baby is coming. They didn't believe me. By the time the anesthesia doctor finished getting all his needles in and the epidural going, I was at 9 centimeters and ready to push Tanner out. I don't think the epidural even had time to do anything. Tanner was definitely the most painful childbirth, but he came fast, so that was good. A beautiful baby boy!

Big Bear with the Hardy Family

One of our traditional vacations included going to Big Bear with Grandma and Grandpa Hardy. They owned two timeshare units at Logonita Lodge and loved to get as many of us together as possible to enjoy some quality family time. One of grandpa’s favorite things was to rent a pontoon boat and get some Kentucky friend chicken and eat out on the lake. The grandkids all loved fishing from the pier, swimming in the lodge pool and playing pool in the community lodge. In May of 1993 we were able to get all of the Valko family, Megan, James’s family and us with Grandma and Grandpa. It was quite a family reunion and happy memories for all.