Surprise get away

For Dan's birthday this year, I went out on a limb and packed our bags...without him knowing, and hired his mom for help. First stop, we headed to San Clemente to go to Javier's for dinner. He had been craving it for months and I was too. I secretly got his brother and his wife to meet us there. Surprise number one accomplished! Next was surprise number two. We headed to the Hyatt in Long Beach for night. It was an.....interesting excursion. I'm pretty sure the couple in the room above us were on their honeymoon. I've decided that the Hyatt in Long Beach needs to invest in some DW40. Needless to say, we headed out of there fairly quick that next morning and entertained ourselves in a game of tennis at a local tennis club. It was really fun playing together. Dan is really good. I am not. It was fun to be active together though and to do something fun with just the two of us. It was pretty hot, and I got pooped pretty quick. We then headed to lunch and the next plan was a bike ride on the beach. As we got to the bike rental, Dan got this great idea to rent a double surrey and explore the boardwalk that way. It was pretty entertaining but MAN was it a workout. I felt like I was on the easiest speed of a 10 speed bike and was pedaling 30 times to go 5 feet. After a while made the long trek back, and sustained our tired bodies with a large order of funnel cake with ice cream on top. Nice lunch eh? People were staring at us while we ate it. It was pretty indulgent.
We then decided to say goodbye to the beach and do a little shopping at IKEA. We spent more than we needed to, crammed all our purchases into Dan's tiny car, and headed for our last stop- Ruth's Chris. We had some gift certificates there and used them up quickly. After an enjoyable early evening of dining, we rolled ourselves out of there and headed home. It's a amazing how just a night and day away together can.

Obedience Garden

That's the name my mom so perfectly named our little garden we started this year. I've been wanting to have a garden really ever since we moved here but our house is situated on our lot so that the sun hits our backyard weird and is mostly shaded in the flowerbed areas. So we resorted to using our side front yard. I know, sounds totally white trash right? But it is somewhat hidden by the pillars of our portacashere. So I asked my parents who created their own garden when I was in high school, to come help us get started.

Dan and Cole were on their way back that morning from the Fathers and Sons camp overnight...which looked fun when we skyped each other before going to bed. Shannon and the girls spent the night and Shannon and I sewed until the wee hours of the morning. Little did we know that as we were going to bed, Dan was waking up to Cole puking in the tent....and even better, Andrew woke up and put his hand right in it. They spent the next 45 minutes cleaning it all up with paper towels . EEW! OF course Dan pointed out that the lantern he got from Costco...the one I was going to take back after convincing him is was an unneeded purchase, came in quite handy during the clean up. So Cole was quarantined inside when he got home.

Meanwhile, we started by mixing in tons of soil amendment everywhere like 6 inches deep. The soil is very clay based here so it was a must to a successful garden (and it's the key to why my parents' grass has looked amazing for 20+years while all their neighbors have replanted their grass over and over. They tilled it all and took out all the rocks before planting their sod.)
So the kids had fun digging around in the dirt with us...except for Cole whose flu landed right on the weekend we FINALLY get my parents to come up for their first over-nighter (seems silly when they live only 30 minutes away but we were getting jealous of my sister in Utah getting all these sleep-overs from Grandma and Grandpa that we wanted one!)

Mom came with me to Home Depot and we got small plants of Cucumber, Zucchini, bell peppers, watermelon, strawberries, and some tomato plants. Oh, and my parents brought two tomato plants from their garden to transplant into ours. We then bought seeds for growing beans, corn, and radishes (which we don't eat- we just thought it would be a rewarding thing to grow since they don't take long. ) I know, when stalks of corn start growing in my front yard...it's gonna be crazy? Crazy but fun!

So here's where the name comes in. Our Prophets for years have counseled us to have a garden. Being self-sufficient is the motivation, and of course, we can't grow everything we would need to live off of, but this was my attempt at following our Prophet! I assumed that since I have no green thumb, I would plant this stuff and maybe the zucchini would make it because zucchini pretty much grows no matter who's taking care of it. I'm not expecting much so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised!

Women's Conference

I had the opportunity to attend a Women's Conference at BYU. It was cool to go back to my old college and see the changes. I felt that same strong spirit there that I did when I attended. It made me really wish and hope that my own kids will have the same amazing opportunity to attend there. It is really unlike any other college. A few of the messages that really stuck out to me were these: First...get back to the basics. We are told over and over by our Church leaders to pray daily, study the scriptures daily, have FAMILY prayer and scripture study together daily, and hold a Family Home Evening once a week. They seem like simple tasks. And they are simple, but just because they are simple doesn't mean they're always easy. It takes prioritizing. But I've decided they are easier than the alternative. I attended one class about effectual and fervent prayer. They described "effectual" as powerful and pointed out that the way to have effectual prayer us to express deep gratitude. Looking back, I can see great blessings poured on our family because of our expression of gratitude to the Lord, even during hard times, for the blessings we had. Since becoming a mother, I have struggled with having a quiet moment to communicate through prayer... oftentimes, my prayers are a quick check-in with my Heavenly Father, and while I realize that we have different seasons in our lives, I think that it's not about just having a quiet moment, but making one. I'm still trying. It's a work in progress. I got doinked when they brought up scripture study there because I have gotten in a good habit of daily scripture reading (even if it is in bed when I wake up, on my ipod touch.) But I realize that that is not enough to gain the protection and instruction I need for my day. I started feeling the need to improve after hearing a great talk in church by my friend, Wendy. She talked about how she felt like she was studying her scriptures rather than just reading, when she had something to write down her thoughts and insights, and a manual of some sort to supplement the reading. I got the best gift from my sister-in-law that is a great study guide and I bought myself a new cute little notebook to record my thoughts in.
In addition to all the amazing uplifting classes I went to, I was surrounded by great company. We ate...Shopped our hearts out...
And pampered ourselves...This is how we traveled around town....the car was a little full. Thanks goodness for some good Ford Flex trunk space :)We were almost all related one way or another--most were my in-laws' in-laws. But we are all family just the same and it was so enjoyable to chat with these amazing ladies that I truly love. Here's to hoping the hubby will be willing to send me off again next year!

The Best Getaway EVER

Did you hear that? That's the sound of silence. That's what we relished in on our 9th Anniversary getaway. Dan and I escaped for 4 days to Park City where we stayed in a beautiful home at the foot of the mountain. We shopped our hearts out at the Park City outlets, went to the movies, rented movies, slept in, stayed up late, sat by the fire, went out to eat, met up with great friends, went to the shooting range,



played Foosball and pool , and saw some close family members.
It was by far one of the best vacations I've ever had. The amount of quiet we experienced was priceless. I forgot how quiet it used to be before having kids. I felt like my brain was able to just rejuvenate. Spending time with my best friend, just having fun together and hanging out helped me realize really just how much I love him. There was snow in the mountains but not really much on the ground....until the last day we were there. In two days, it snowed about 3 feet. It just dumped on us. It made it kinda romantic sitting in a cozy warm house drinking hot cocoa, just talking and enjoying each others company....and enjoying the quiet. After that experience, I think we might have to make it an annual trip!
When we got back, we went out to dinner on our actual anniversary. I love this man!

Candy Day

We begged and begged to have a trunk-or-treat last year for Halloween. We got the shaft. BUT! We were promised one this year, due to the day falling on a Sunday. These things are the best. Dinner (that I don't have to cook), lots of candy in a short distance, with people I trust. Sounds pretty perfect to me! I wore my Jeanie outfit I made a few years ago before I had Kaitlyn, and Dan borrowed an Airforce uniform to be my Major Nelson. Allison was easy to please with a cheap witch costume, which I then had to enlarge the opening of the hat for day of. Cole went for the pirate costume, and Kaitlyn perfectly fit the giraffe costume I bought a year ago on clearance. We had Allison's school Festival the Friday before Halloween.....which she looked forward to and asked about almost weekly since the day after last years'. Then, we had the trunk or treat at the church which I was in charge of with the activities committee. That night before Halloween, we went to a Halloween party and I got a pretty good ab workout from laughing. I'm pretty sure Dan added a bruise or two to the thigh, and I contributed to a huge dent the the wall--doh! Needless to say, we had a pretty freakin' good time. The costumes were great, the company was even better, and it was topped off by my least favorite movie. The Ring. *Shiver* The next day (on Halloween) we had dinner with the whole family at Kari's house, and we played games and the kids handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. Shannon and I might have gone to see a haunted house or two in the neighborhood. The kids overall were really great about not going out that night and almost had more fun handing the candy out!

A Walk in the Park

We got a flier from some new church coming into town...and they were having some sort of kick off party at the park with a bounce house, free popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones. I'm all in for free fun on a Saturday so we headed over. The kids had a blast....but it was blasted hot that day. Kaitlyn had her first taste of cotton candy


and the kids tongues were blue from Snow cone overdoses. I had a nice chat with the lady who was starting the new church with her husband. She made some comment about the house they just moved to and how she thinks the previous owner must have been Mormon because of how many rooms there with the add-ons. She then added that she thought maybe they didn't believe in birth control. I chuckled and added that they do....and by "they" I meant "we." She then took her foot out her mouth and tried back peddling a little. It was pretty funny. That is one thing I love about living here in Temecula. There are so many family-oriented and God-believing people, I feel really blessed to be able to raise my kids here. So if you're thinking of moving and don't know where to go? COME HERE!! We love it....especially on beautiful weekends like this one.

Shiny Happy People

There is many a morning when I feel like my kids just take pleasure in teasing and torturing each other. So when I see moments like these....I feel like there is still hope. Dan and his sister, Shannon, have always been really close. I always hope for these two that they can have that kind of relationship. On Saturday mornings, something strange and wonderful happens. It seems like fairy dust has been sprinkled on the two and they go downstairs and play together for hours....no fighting, just letting us sleep in. It is the BEST. And that's when I think, "I'll take it." But then on weekday mornings, I want to hide under my covers and disappear. But I guess, for now, I will keep freezing moments like this one and hoping there will be many more like it to come...and maybe not so far in between!