Escape from the stupid hot

It's hot here. Stupid hot as we like to say. 107 last week and is supposed to be 110+ this week. Hot enough that when somebody says, "Well, at least it's a dry heat" you want to punch them in the nose but are too hot to lift your arms. All you can do is give them a grumpy hateful look and even that needs a Popsicle to go with it. Having said that, when we were planning our vacation time this past January we had a couple extra days to use up. We decided to throw in a quick trip to the coast to cool off which happened last week. We packed the kids, the dog and the munchies and headed out for a trek to cool off. You have to understand we live in the middle of the North State. We are (as the crow flies) only about 60 miles to the coast. However, the road is more "over the river and through the woods" and takes us 3 hours because of the twists and turns. It usually takes us a lot longer because we have to stop multiple times for Ty who gets carsick at the word car. Also you have to understand at the coast in the North State it is ALWAYS cold. It's much like an Oregon beach since Oregon is just up the road. Back to our trip, we made it over with no puking (it was close but he made it). We grabbed lunch and headed to the beach. Since it was a Monday we had it all to ourselves and spent at least 5 hours there. My favorite beach is Trinidad with sand, tide pools, an arch, caves, SO beautiful. Carter loved the sand! The next day we didn't have our hotel to wash off in so we went to Patrick's Point which is a small hike and lookout off a bluff. It was incredible! We saw a whale (first time for me!), seals and pups lots of birds and tide pool creatures. The waves would crash against the rock and Ellie would clap, cheer and jump up and down. How about that outfit? After we went to the city park and hiked to a tree-slide we discovered a while ago. When we were sufficiently tuckered out we hopped in the car and headed home again. (That is red licorish on his face) We watched the thermostat on the car go from 62 to 105 and stopped a lot - especially when Tyler puked. Ah well. Each story - or vacation - must eventually come to an end.

Because we love mud and other adventures

We had our anniversary recently and Dee took me to San Francisco for a night on the town. He took me to see Wicked and I was blown away! If you enjoy Broadways and have not seen it GO SEE WICKED! It was incredible. It was also great to spend an evening just the two of us. Happy anniversary babe!


It's been terribly hot here (107) so we thought we'd head to the mountains Saturday. We went to Lassen which is only about an hour away and beautiful. It wasn't as cool as we had hoped but it was cooler than here!



We hiked around a lake, had a picnic then played in the water for a while. Dee snorkeled but the kids didn't like the mud...except Carter.


But when you play in mud - you have to get cleaned up eventually...

Independence Day fun!

I had a lot of pictures, I hope using Smilebox is easier. If you have trouble let me know.

We started celebrating on the 3rd. Suzanne and the boys came up and our neighbors came to help us celebrate. We had the birthday then went to our church lawn to see the fireworks (our town does them on the 3rd). After the fireworks we went to IHOP (I've been promising the kids we'd go at midnight for a couple of summers now). On the 4th our neighborhood does a parade and the "most creative" gets a trophy. We took it home this year and the kids were delighted. It was hot (poor Suzanne - Bay Area girl!) but fun. McKenna started the parade with "The Star Spangled Banner" and did a beautiful job. We are so thankful for the country/state/town we live in and the freedoms we have to celebrate how we want. God Bless America!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy birthday, Carter!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Carter turned one! I thought I'd post pictures of just him and his cake and on the next entry I'll catch you up on the awesome holiday we had.

This entry will be just about him. I'm going to copy Shally and list a few things he's learned and what I love about him this past year.
- The basics: how to eat, crawl, laugh, play peek-a-boo
- He learned he loves the cat food but hates the cat (she actually got moved to be an outside cat because she didn't like him either. Sorry, Zelda, the baby wins.)
- He loves to head-butt and thinks it is a form of affection.
- He learned if you crawl with one knee and one foot you can really haul.
- He LOVES to sing. Loudly. During church especially.
- He's learned he can make pretty much anybody laugh with his cheesy grin.
- His favorite food is fruit and bread with peanut butter and jam. He's also learned if you just lick off the jam and throw the rest on the floor the dog will eat it.
- He loves to crawl over your legs and over the dog. He thinks they are speed bumps.
- His first word was "uh-oh".
- He loves balls. He will hit it up and down the hall and chase after it.
- He loves taking naps in the car but will always wake up as soon as we get home.
- He adores his brother and sisters and can pretty much make them do what ever he wants.
- He loves when we go to the grocery store and the older ladies fawn over him.

I can't believe he's already one but I am so thankful he's in our family.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!

Summer fun

We went to the lake with my best friend and her kids the other day. It has been so hot here and we're trying to take in all the summer we can as it flies past. I realized there is only 6 weeks left and made the mistake of telling the kids. Tyler's whole body slumped and I thought he was going to need to lay down!

The lake was great and we didn't even get sunburned (yay mom!)

Perspective and gratitude

I know my blog is generally kid updates or travel reports. However since I don't keep much of a journal anymore I am going to use this as a bit of an emotional outlet today - so be warned.

I have had one of those months. One where I feel unbalanced in my personal life to the point of I am not happy with the house (too small and why does it ALWAYS seem so dirty?!) not happy with the kids (seriously, there are four other babies in the ward, why is mine the ONLY one who screams all through church?!), myself (when did all my clothes get so tight? When did the bottom get so big and the top get so small?!), health (diabetes sucks rocks - it affects EVERYTHING!), furniture (screw being out of debt, let's go get matching bedroom sets then maybe my clothes that don't fit me will fit somewhere!), etc. etc. etc.

During this time I went to get my hair colored. I did my normal color then put purple streaks in it because I'm 33 and have never had purple hair. I tried to get pictures but they didn't turn out well. Can't really see the purple.

For the next part of the story, I met up with my roommates from college on Facebook. We haven't really talked for years and haven't seen each other for at least 15 years (feeling old...). So we reconnected on Facebook and decided to meet in Vegas in June. Suddenly it was June! I was a little nervous - and really I don't know why. Stupid girl thing, I'm sure. Probably because I felt super inadequate in those days and although I've changed at least 4 lifetime size changes since then I tend to revert to whom I once was. To continue on, we had a great time. It was fantastic to see them and see what the years and children, sadness and happiness and just life in general has turned them into. We laughed about old times, talked about new times and stayed up too late and still got up too early. It was so fun and I hope we can do it again next year.

Having said that, it didn't help the "nothing is good enough" fix I was in. I saw all their big beautiful houses and my house became even smaller. Not only that but it seemed to matter SO MUCH!

Then I got an email from my very first friend in Kindergarten. Back before objects mattered or image mattered or what I looked like mattered. She is going through a hard time. No, that is not the right word. She has gone through hell and back and her story is tragic and unfair, but it pulled me back from my selfish spinning. How grateful I am suddenly. How grateful I am to have what I do have. To have my four healthy kids and a husband whom I adore and who adores me. For health, the gospel, for the beautiful place we live. For family far and wide who understand and love us. For the past - for whom I've become. For the future - for the potential I have to see who my kids become. To have a healthy body. To have friends, even friends as far back as Kindergarten!

I cried and laughed as I read her email. Cried with her in her pain and laughed because she is still the friend I remember. She still is full of hope and love.

Thank you for the perspective you've put back into my life, Steph. You are still there for me after all these years changing my life for good.

I am grateful. I am thankful. I am content. I am happy. It is enough.

Burney Falls

We went to Burney Falls last weekend for fun. It is an amazing place with a mild hike the kids can do. Or maybe I should say parents because Ellie RAN the entire way. I'm not exaggerating either, she ran until we couldn't see her then she'd stop and wait. Then she'd run again. I wish I had just a piece of that kid's energy!!! The weather was beautiful (low 70's) and we had a great time!






My favorite photo...