Simple Pleasures

We had a fun experience this weekend. We had some of my friends from my high school come from Arizona to California to see the musical Wicked.
We all stayed overnight in Hollywood and went out to dinner, went to the show, walked around Hollywood and Santa Monica a lot and just generally had a nice time. It was really neat to visit with old friends and get to know them again as well as their other halfs! I had a great weekend!

The group is (from left to right) Tom and Tammy Taylor, Ladd and Janet Williams, Lisa and Brad Wallace and Scott and I. This was at the Santa Monica pier where we went walking around. Cute huh???

Last night I couldn't stop thinking about how this experience effected me. I have that problem you know, I analyze everything 100 times over. But it was good this time. For those of you who know me you will know that I worry about everything too. So before the weekend I was worried about not really knowing everyone very well, and how we would interact. Would we all have a good time, would we have stuff to talk about, would we have stuff in common, would everyone feel included, would blah, blah, blah, and on and on.......

Here's what I learned. First of all, we are really blessed. "We" being plural... I don't mean just our family, I mean everyone. It doesn't matter what we have, we are SO blessed! We really are. We have wonderful experiences all around us. Some cost money, some don't. Some are right in front of us, some we have to go out and find, but if we look around there is so much to be thankful for!

The Second thing I re-learned is that people are good. It was nice to meet up with people I havn't seen in years and years and learn about them and find out that they are kinda like we are, just living day to day, trying to do our best raising our kids and finding what makes us happy in life. It is fun to learn about people. I love knowing what their lives are like. What makes them happy. I love people.

And the third thing I learned is that we really aren't much with out the people we love around us. I wanted to share my children with my "old friends". I am not just me alone. I am who I am because of who is around me. They are a part of me. It almost felt empty not being able to share my children. On that note, I also wanted to share the experiences we were having with my kids too.

So those are some of the things I took away from the weekend. It was a really nice time and I enjoyed it! I was glad to have this opportunity to reconnect with friends and just relax! It was great!

What happens...

What happens in my life all week? I ask myslef that often. Here's some of the things we have done this week...
Here's some garden picts. I just hope I don't kill it. doesn't my corn look pretty right now though?


We have been having concerete poured around the garage this week. It's not done because yesterday was so windy they couldn't pour! It will be done tomorrow or after the long weekend on Tuesday. I love it. There is a huge breezway between the house and the garage. I love it!


And last night Baillie was in a school talent show. She sang a song with her friend Reegan that goes something like this... "My sister fights with me, we always disagree, and it's her fault!" It goes on from there and is just silly. They were brave to do it and it was cute! Kids can be cruel, so good for her!

Week in Review

Notice the title didn't say, "Week in Pictures". That's cause I don't have any for this post... But I wanted to get off that Mother's Day post... something else to read would be nice!

Obviously there wasn't anything eventful enough to take pictures of this week. Actually there were two very eventful things happen in Scott's family, On Sunday, (Mother's day) his grandmother died. She was 2 weeks from being 90. She was in a home and not doing very well, so it was not unexpected, but still nothing like that is easy. Scott and Kendahl left on Wednesday to drive to Salmon, Idaho to be with the family for the funeral. Scott has been able to spend some time with family that he never sees, so that has been nice. His older brother lives in Salmon and they got to take some walks together and have time to talk. That never happens, so it was good for him. There was other family around to visit and Scott always love just being in Salmon and reminiscing about the childhood days!

The other eventful thing is that Scott's parents finally got their mission call!! They are going to Tacoma, Washington to work in the mission home there! They have two daughters and two granddaughters who live just minutes from there, so that will be great to be with them. They had kinda said they would like to be in the pacific northwest, but they didn't realize that it would be quite so close the the girls. We are so excited for them. I got to open their mission call (which came to California while they were in Idaho) and read it to them while other family members sat nearby on both ends of the call. It was pretty cool. I got choked up and kept having "technical difficulty" with my reading abilities due to cracking voice and tears, but it was still very cool. I am so happy they are going on a mission and the example it will be for our kids! I don't think there is a better example than that! We are grateful for them!

So on to the rest of the week. We got the heat wave like most of you did I'm sure, so I am dying right now. We are getting concrete poured tomorrow on our garage, so the place the air conditioning was sitting will be new concrete, so they came Thursday and unhooked our AC! And to make matters worse, the swamp cooler isn't working, I don't know why, but it's not good! Hopefully Scott will come home tomorrow and save the day when he fixes the swamp cooler! I'm waiting, patiently...

My garden is looking good, I'll have to take a picture of it tomorrow. I have corn that's about 5 inches tall. That may be a fish story, it may only be 4 inches tall, but either way, I'm just surprised it is growing at all. Everything has come up in the garden now. Cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, onions, garlic, beets corn, egg plant, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe and sunflowers. I think that is all. I could of missed something though. I love having a garden. Every day when I go out there it makes me so happy. If it never produces anything, just watching the growth will be joy enough. (I hope it grows something we can eat or it may not really make me very joyful!) Pictures to come soon, I promise.

Well, besides cleaning up projects that will continue for me for a while yet, there's not much else to share. Honestly, if I wanted to go on forever, I could. I'm sure I could come up with lots of things to share, but then I may scare everyone away. So, I'll leave it at that and I'll put pictures of stuff on soon!

Have a great week everyone!

Happy Mothers Day

Hi, and Happy Mothers Day.
I had a nice day and my children and husband were very gracious. I got lots of neat little gifts and food cooked for me and lots of hugs and kisses. Our Sacrament meeting was great, the Bishop's wife spoke on the divine nature of women. It was one of the best talks I have heard in a long time. Awesome meeting. I have so many great women in my life and I am so grateful for them.

It was a busy and really good week.
The boys went on a fathers and sons outing and really enjoyed their time there! In our Stake thats what they do... father and sons outing on Mothers day weekend. Imaging that. It must be planned by men. Here's some pictures of the festivities. Notice the "No Trespassing" sign in the back!

Brodric decided he'd try the water, but he was "freezing!"


Kendahl had an exciting weekend. She started a 3 day workshop with Young Americans on Thursday. They are a group based out of Southern CA like the Young Ambassadors. They travel around the world like YA. They come to schools to do workshops and they always stop in Apple Valley. Apparently they have some roots here.
Anyway, she had a wonderful time. There were some solo's and she got picked to sing in a quartet. She has a good voice. At the end of the weekend they did a 2+ hour preformance. I wish I could put some video on here and if Scott can figure out how to do it I may, so check back to see if I have added video. Here are a few picts of the performance on Saturday.



The last news of the weekend was that I broke my diet Dr. Pepper drout on the 22nd day! Saturday was a diet Dr. Pepper kind of a day! It was SOOO good!!! It was just like we had never left each other! I had to have it, but I'm going to go another 21 days!

Have a great week all!!

Buh Bye...

We've been the proud renters of a 40 foot metal ugly shed for the last 5 years or so... Today we said so long, buh bye, see ya, hasta, get the heck out of here!!!
It was awesome! The most awesome part is that we cleaned it out on Saturday and got things put away in our garage!!! Yay!!!
It was funny cause I was out taking pictures and the driver said, "what are you doing?" He thought I was crazy for taking pictures! I told him that it was like a party! I was so excited to have this thing OUT OF HERE!
Revel in the dumb picutures!
See Ya!

Buh Bye!!!

Baillie did it!!

Well, she did it!! Baillie went flying! Or paragliding I should say! She LOVED it! What a trooper, she was up on that hill for hours and when she finally got back home (at midnight) she said she would do it all over again! Thanks to Ken, the instructor, who is a wonderful man and made it a big deal for her. It's so great.

There were a few dramatic moments on the mountain. After her flight when she was finally at the bottom, all three men went back up on top to try one more flight, leaving her alone on the bottom. Baillie fell asleep waiting for them and when she woke up, not knowing how long she had been asleep, she panicked and she said she was screaming and screaming for her dad, but he couldn't hear her on the top of the hill. Good thing she stayed with the packs, and in time her dad came flying down the hill to rescue her (from her own fear!) That was kinda sad and traumatic, but even that didn't make her not love the whole day!
Getting ready

Just waiting for her turn!

Baillie's first flight ever. She said it felt like the ride "Flying over California" at California Adventure Theme Park.

Coming in for the landing, I guess this is when the instructor says to "stand up"

On solid ground again, getting unhooked.

All done, going to Dad with that big smile!! How awesome is that?


Scott had a great day flying too, they really got some good flights in today because I guess the weather was great. He said there was so many more people out flying than there usually is. It's kind of like when the ocean has good conditions, and the surfers come out of no where. Everyone wants the good stuff! I'm glad they got in on the action!

What a great day for the both of them!

I'm an addict

I'm in rare form today and I don't know why I want to be addicted to this blog, but I do!!! So I guess I need to post a hundred times today.
Here's my message...
Don't mess with a caffene withdrawn, sugar craving, sleep deprived woman! It's not pretty!
The poor checker at WinCo Foods can attest to that! She got some of the edge of it! I need sugar, but I don't want it. Wow, that was a reversal if I've ever seen one!!! When in my life have I ever said that? Never!
I miss caffene, and I'm sure it misses me! We were a good team, but then caffene started to mess with me and I said... Enough Already! We've divorced...
Water and I have become better friends, I need to learn to appreciate it more. I'm not too good at it yet. I was for a day or so, but something happened...
And as for sleep... I really need to do it more! The night owl thing doesn't work for me anymore. Early morning seminary killed that! Ahhhhh.....
There, you think that will be enough "getting it out" for me? I just don't know!

Friday

It's Friday, I can't believe it! It's already May, I can't believe that either. The weeks fly by!
My Clara Baillie is going flying with her dad today, I'm nervous. She is excited because she want's me to blog about her! Well, that's not the only reason she wants to go, I guess there are lots of reasons. I'm worried about her climbing that hill. I'm not worried for her flying down with the instructor if she gets the chance... I hope she does.
I love her, can't wait to blog about her.