Just Add Water

I don't like writing.....

2011-08-11T14:44:00.002-07:00

Yep, there it is, I am finally coming to terms with the reality of why I do not keep up on my blog, or any other various "writing" projects (such as my daughters' baby books).

I simply do not like to write!

I wish I did, I really, really want to like writing....

Kind of like I wish I enjoyed running; ...no... more than that....

I know...it's preposterous...I should love writing, it is a way to tell my story, it is a way to connect....but I just don't.

Oh, and I feel guilty about it....I actually do!
Most of my friends and much of my family likes to write, at least they seem to...and are very diligent about it!
I admire people who enjoy writing and are good at it....and I love to read what others have written.

Mind you....I actually LOVE what I have written, after I write...it is just the whole process of writing that I don't really enjoy....

I LOVE the IDEA of writing...in fact I write in my head all the time! I have a romantic idea of all the things I want to write. All the things "worth" writing that are floating in my head at any given moment! It's just the typing it out, or the putting it on paper that gets in my way.

I also LOVE to journal...um; ...but that is to personally process and no one could read it anyway as it is illegible.

I also have ADD when I write, I think of all kinds of things to say, but then having to put them in some sort of order so that the rest of you will know what I am talking about causes an issue...

Why don't I like to write??? Am I too visual? Is it the ADD??
Maybe it's the 100s of 5 paragraph essays through high school and college...maybe they wore me out....

Hmmm....but... I DO LOVE to TALK....so I could try using voice recognition software...if it really works...THEN I might like to "write" !!

So if I ever write a book, I won't be "writing" it myself...

All that to say...I do want to keep up this blog, in fact I have a few blogs I want to do (the romantic ideas continue)....but I need to rethink how to tell a story....

I'm 40...I must start living in reality ;)
Facing what I am good at and love, and what I am not...
Does it ever get easier? Will I know myself better when I am 60?

A Few more Europe Photos

2010-12-18T19:00:00.001-07:00

So here are a few more photos of our journey!

These first ones are all at a bombed out abbey in Cherbourg

In front of the Mona Lisa Eating croissants in Cherbourg

In front of Ann Hathaways cottage in Stratford Having tea in Stratford

Chocolate on the ferry

The traitors gate at the Tower of London....Elizabeth the first entered here when imprisoned by her sister Mary (Bloody Mary)

The engraving on the monument to Latimer and Ridley

Pub where C.S. Lewis and the Inklings met

The courtyard outside Christ's Church College

This video is rather funny...it is end of the ceremony of the changing of the guard at Windsor....notice how the one guard is awkwardly tries to put away the folder behind the other guard.

2010 Trip to Europe (France)

2010-12-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

So we took a ferry, which was more like a cruise ship, across the english channel to Cherbourg where Doug and Nicole live. It took about 5 hours, but it is was very enjoyable, we got to watch the sun set into the ocean.

In the couple weeks that followed we visited a ton of things in northern France...in the Normandy region.

Of course we also ate our body weight in croissants and baguettes! Doug and Nicole live in a furnished home that sits on beautiful wooded property and overlooks the channel, I spent a great amount of time at their dining room table enjoying the view.

The whole town looks like it is from a WWII video game, (I guess b/c it is used for them as Cherbourg was close to ground zero during the Normandy invasion) It is all stone buildings..in fact there is village after village of stone homes and buildings. (pix below)I just want to drive around and take pictures of them. One of Nicole's friends who has lived there her whole life once remarked to Nicole that she heard in America that homes are built out of "sticks"...she told Nicole she would never want to live in one of those!! How funny!!

We visited:

The American beaches, Omaha and Utah...Omaha has the famous cemetery and memorial. It is actually American soil. We learned all about the invasion and the involvement of England, and the French resistance...it was really cool.

Pont du Hoc...this was a beach that was invaded by army rangers, and they have left it as it was, including the huge artillery holes and barbed wire. Amazing!! (pix below)

Etretas...huge white cliffs.

Rouen...city of spires and double timbered buildings (think tudor) This is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and where Monet painted his cathedrals (pix below)

St. Michel...a huge fortified city/island with an abbey on the top. Looks like something out of a movie. You actually climb the winding cobblestone roads to the top. There are shops all the way up...loved it because you feel like you are stepping back in time to the medieval period. (2 pix below)

Loire Valley...Nicole and I took a girls trip to the Loire valley which is south west of Paris to visit the chateaus (2 pix below)...these are where the kings and queens of france lived during the Renaissance. They are over the top gorgeous...there are probably about 20 of them along the river valley, but we only visited 3. We stayed at an authentic french bed and breakfast out in the middle of the country. We actually were given old fashioned keys that got us into the home and our room. Beyond quaint!!

At the end of our time all of us, minus David, went and spent the last weekend in Paris. We were concerned about the greves (strikes) going on, but in France they are very orderly. In Paris we did all the usual stuff...I think the girls liked the Eiffel Tower the best...they went all the way to the top. I finally got to go to the Rodin museum (it was closed last time when David and I went).

The girls and I took a train back to London and then flew home from there...fortunately it all was very easy.

Above...in Cherbourg

Above...Omaha Beach
Above...Notre Dame in Rouen...yes, it seems all french cities have a notre dame
Above...view from the top of the Eiffel Tower
Above...view out Nicole's window of the English Channel

Above...Pont du HocAbove and below...St. Michel

Driving through the cherbourg area

Chanting in the abbey that is at the top of St Michel

A wall of chocolate in the grocery store...yes, the french take their chocolate seriously!!

Approaching the Eiffel Tower...

2010 Trip to Europe (England)

2010-12-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am not going to write about every day in Europe...If you want to see lots of pictures, log onto facebook :) It is so much easier to deal with fb than to blog...for me anyways. We went the last week of Sept and returned mid October...since my kids have a 2 week fall break, they only missed 3 days of school...worked out fabulous!

A few bits and pieces...I spent 3 weeks there with the girls and David could only spend 2, because of work. We went to England for the first week and then down the France to stay with Doug and Nicole. Highly recommend England...especially the time of year we went. It was a little rainy but not too cold and there were hardly any tourists!! So we could totally take our time seeing all the sights, with no lines.

We learned a ton about English history before we went (didn't want to repeat the same mistake what we made when we went to France last time...not understanding what we were looking at!!) And more while we were there. American history makes a lot more sense when understood in the context of English history, I might add.

Everything in England costs money...even the churches...so it gets pretty expensive really quick.

BTW we spent a night in NY on the way out and back...will always try do this in the future, as it seriously helps with jet lag and grouchy-ness.

In England we saw (not in order):

Buckingham Palace (just the outside...the park/gardens are beautiful)

Windsor Castle (could not take photos inside...saw the changing of the guard, actually is pseudo-cool, it kind of felt hokey...although lots of britian seems hokey!)

Stratford upon Avon (super quaint town...but the sights weren't worth the $)

Tower of London (crown jewels were pretty cool and standing in the site of where lots of people were beheaded was pretty crazy)

Tower Bridge (this is the one you probably think of when you hear "london bridge"...london bridge is plain and ugly, this one is the tall beautiful one)

St. Pauls Cathedral (went to evensong and heard the boys choir! The best way to see it and then it is free :)...again was not allowed to take any photos...I don't get it, it is not that way in France, just England....go figure!!

Westminster Abbey..my favorite! We went at the end of our time in London, perfect, so after we understood the history we could appreciate it. The history there is insane...been there since 960 AD...ALL the kings and queens have been crowned there, and many of them are buried there, along with a hoard of other famous peeps, such as Chaucer, Darwin, Dickens, Handel...in fact Messiah was first performed there...the whole thing made me overwhelmed and emotional!! But go when there are no crowds, otherwise it would be difficult to enjoy.

Oxford...a personal pilgrimage of sorts. I wanted to see the pub where C.S. Lewis hung out. Which we did...the food looked typical yucky english, so we didn't eat there, but went to the very seats that he and Tolkien and the others hung out for years and wrote many of their books. Super cool for me. We also saw where Latimer and Ridley were burned at the stake, and on a lighter note...Christ's Church (college) the great hall where Harry Potter was filmed. Oxford was beautiful, but it felt too touristy for a college town...next time I go to England I want to see Cambridge which is supposed to have less of a tourist feel.

We also, of course, saw Big Ben, Parliament, rode a double decker bus, and took our pictures in red phone booths...which, by the way, can be functional...We also ate lots of fish and chips (note: old cool looking pubs serve yucky slimy fish and mushy peas...where as new, not as cool looking pubs, serve yummy fish and chips and fresh vegetables :) And we rode the Tube (the underground) everywhere....everything is very spread out!!

Another note, take trains when traveling outside London, buses may be cheaper, but they are a slow nightmare!

Christ's Church College...the hall that was used in Harry Potter

Above...Windsor Castle

One of the girls favorite things in England was the British voice on the Tube reminding you to "mind the gap" here is Abigail's rendition of it!!

Once while we were waiting for the Tube there was an announcment over the loudspeaker at the station telling everyone that the train was delayed due to "a man under the train"...what the heck??!!...they would never be that blunt in the US... We were all pretty aghast and then Abigail says..."well, I guess he didn't Mind the Gap" that was actually pretty funny...

Oh...and Hannah wanted me to post one with her too :)

Our naughty beast...

2010-09-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Charlie, as it turns out is a very, very naughty kitty. He has waits till night time when no one is looking and jumps on tables and counters (when we can't get him with the spray bottle), so now he sleeps in the utility room for the night.

He also decided to find the places in our new carpet that weren't completely tucked in and claw them to death. Even with those little claw covers you put on. I have smacked him and sprayed water on him and he still does it, again...he waits till I am not looking and runs away as soon as he sees me coming!!! I have actually chased him around the house with a spray bottle.

So our very naughty beast got de-clawed. I know it is "inhumane" but... he can't go outside in arizona and I think it is just as inhumane that I would have to replace my carpet!! :)

Here he: His Naughtiness..so he can't lick his healing paws!!

New House

2010-09-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

So here are some pix of our new home. We love it! It is smaller, but is working out great. I am getting to purge us of lots of un-needed stuff!

Hannah's room, the industrial look...it will have a corrugated metal head board...but havn't gotten there yet :)
I must say this electric blue is the most difficult color I have ever painted, (after red)...so hard to get coverage! Those of you who ever ever used red paint know what I am talking about!

Abigail's room...going with the bright modern look...hopefully will last into her teen years

Her not yet on the wall art work...
Our back yard and view of the golf course...I fell in love with the view :)

View looking out our french doors, I can see it when I sit at the kitchen table

Our apple green office...I wanted to go with a fun color that I have never used and have nothing to match. I love it!!
family room...to the right of the pix (can't see :) is the french doors to the patio
Living and Dining...not quite done with all the walls, but slowly getting there

Anniversaries and Injuries

2010-09-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Ugg, so our 18th anniversary was Aug 22nd. The kids were away at a friend's house and we had a nice weekend planned. Spending the day together, going out to a nice dinner and staying at a hotel in Fountain Hills. Well....David has been coaching a soccer camp and this was his last day....he walks in the house dripping with sweat and looking like someone ran him over, and announces "I think I did something really stupid, and I can't move"

That something "stupid" was showing the kids a bicycle kick and he landed on his upper back, neck and shoulders and couldn't move...guess he hadn't thought that one through..hmmm -"I am forty and already have 2 shoulder injuries" didn't cross his mind (do men ever grow up?).

So there he is standing in our bathroom and can't move his upper body. We promptly went to urgent care, hoping nothing was broken. After many hours of mostly waiting, and xrays and poking and prodding, we were told he had nothing broken and nothing dislocated, just a very inflamed back, neck and shoulders and got some potent painkillers.

Thank goodness it was nothing more than that! It made for an interesting weekend. We still made it to dinner and to the hotel... but he kind of walked like Frankenstein, which would have been humorous if he wasn't in so much pain.

I have to admit I wasn't very happy, given he couldn't lift anything for a couple weeks and we were moving...but he gradually got motion back and was able to help on moving day. That would have been good, him ordering around our friends to move our crap...haha....

I think he is finally starting to admit he is growing old....:(

View from our balcony

View from restaurant

My yummy brie cheese in phyllo appetizer....

hmmm...where is my husband...? haha...no pix together this year...I guess we have not only gotten old, but lazy ;)

Photos!

2010-08-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so here are some pictures that relate to my most recent post :)

First Day of School!! July 26th...yes we start in the middle of summer!

It was a tad windy....

Oh yes, I almost forgot...Nicole and Micah and Rebekkah were able to come and visit for 2 weeks in July. The cousins love eachother so much and it was great for them to see eachother again!! We had fun bowling :)

Hannah getting her braces off.....it actually didn't hurt, it just looked like it did to me. And then to Sephora for make-up! My sweetie is growing up!

AND our new kitty Charlie....he likes to sprawl on the floor and have his stomach statched like a dog!!!

Planning, Packing and Starting School

2010-08-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

These last couple months have flown by!! Once we got home from our trip the first order of business was to fulfill my promise to my children to buy a cat. So now we have a kitty named Charlie. I need to find a picture to post! I was not a huge fan of having an animal, but I am happy for my kiddos...I guess every kid needs a pet :) Abigail's two goldfish weren't cutting it!!

(I will find some photos for everything and post them later)

In July I went as a leader to camp with Abigail...wow, I was exhausted! Being 40 is way different than being 20 something and trying to keep up with middle schoolers!

Hannah also finally got her braces off!! It has been 3 years...felt like forever... and she looks beautiful! She was so excited. I took her to get her make-up done as well. She looks all grown up!

We also found out this last spring that our landlord is selling our house to a family member, so I started to process of trying to find a new home. Originally I thought I would find a home that we could maybe buy at some point...but seeing as how every home we looked at was smaller and cost more $$$, I lowered my expectations! We found a beautiful home in a neighborhood a few miles away that is in the school district we wanted. We move in Sept first! It is smaller and a couple hundred more dollars a month, but it will work :)

Once we found this house I registered Abigail for the neighborhood school just 3 days before school started!! Craziness!! Hannah was already going to attend the junior high there. They are both so happy in their new schools, it is such a blessing. AND they even get to ride the bus!! For the first time ever!! Yeah for me not having to drive!!

On top of that...we are traveling to England and France in October and I am furiously planning that. There are so many moving parts, it has actually been kind of a headache, even though I LOVE planning vacations. In England we will be visiting London, Oxford and Stratford upon Avon. Then we head to Normandy to spend time with Doug and Nicole. We will also go visit the chateaus in the Loire valley. Then the kids and I will end up in Paris for the last few days. The kids and I will be gone for 3 weeks, during their fall break, and David will be gone for only 2. One side benefit is a very long layover at Seatac and getting to see everyone who lives in Washington still!

Days: 7,8 & 9

2010-06-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Driving, driving and more driving....Modesto CA, to Nevada....8 hours...yawn.....spent the next two nights at the Avi resort/casino which has a beach on some river at the corner of CA/AZ/NV. It was a cheap way to relax for a couple days. Just hung out at the beach and pool.

Then we drove home...we stopped at London Bridge in Lake Havasu along the way. Oh my goodness, totally stupid, in case you were thinking of bothering, don't....thank goodness it was on our way...

The girls found clay along the beach and decided to mold bowls and other various devices out of it. Then I had to take these lovely things home....they are sitting outside on the back patio table, as I refuse to have them in my house. The girls think the sun will bake them enough to use...I tried to explain a kiln to them, but they don't believe me...

London Bridge.....yep, there it is...

Day 6: More Napa Valley

2010-06-21T13:02:00.001-07:00

The second day we drove up to Calistoga to start off at Chateau Motelena...a beautiful ivy covered winery. Then we took a fabulous tour at Beringer. We have a friend who works for the company and he was so kind as to get us a complimentary tour with extra tastings. Beringer was beautiful, the grounds, the estate... all of it. The tour was quite informative and included the caves where the barrels are stored. My girls even enjoyed it, and we gave them a sip of the wines when no one was looking...shhhhh don't tell :) The final wine on the tour was a sparkling white zinfandel, haha...that was my favorite...I am so not a wine drinker, can't you tell!!??

Then we got to pick more wines to taste at the main estate. They had a $115 a bottle of reserve Cabernet Savignon...but neither of us likes cabs, so we went for the lesser expensive varieties, including my favorite....a dessert wine :) I know, we are so lame! I did purchase a cabernet chocolate sauce and a coaster style fridge magnet.

Had lunch at a place called Taylor's refresher (Gott's roadside, now). Had very overpriced but seriously yummy food. Some of the best shakes I have ever tasted...
Spent the rest of the afternoon at: Close Pegase (nothing to write home about, the kids found a snail...), and then Castello Di Amorosa...ok that was facsinating! The same guy who owns V. Sattui decided to take his money and build a hand built castle that took 15 years, It is made of stone and has a draw bridge, moat, dungeon, dining hall...you get the picture. It is really quite impressive, although a little “Disneyland-esque”. Great photo ops and views of the valley!

The last winery was V Sattui, they have a great deli and picnic area. Across the street was Dean and Deluca, I have never been in one and so took the opportunity. The most exciting part for me is that they had Mariage Freres tea which is found in Paris...this probably means nothing to most of you, but being the tea snob that I am I was super excited. So instead of expensive wine, I bought expensive tea in Napa. We also we excited to pick up a Yunnan tea...it is hard to find.

Ahhh...so glad we went, wine country is truly beautiful....one more place to check off the list :)

Drove that night to Modesto.....wanted to get started on our drive back south...

Chateau Montelena

Beringer Estate

Hmmm....today's events at Beringer.....

Waiting for lunch at Taylor's Refresher!

A snail that the girls wanted to take home.....arghhh...why don't they want to believe that the snail will certainly die if we take it in the car....

Castello Di Amorosa

There is a chapel in the castel....complete with a confessional. We explained the idea of the confessional to the girls, which they thought was ridiculous...Abigail promptly gets inside pretending to be the priest and has Hannah "confess". Abigail loudly proclaims, "Nope, you're not forgiven, your sin is too bad!!" They cracked me up!!!!...I wonder, would a catholic see this and think it was sacreligious...hmmmm....

V. Sattui
My lovely teas :)

Days 5: Napa Valley

2010-06-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Another area I have always wanted to visit in CA is the Napa Valley. Whenever people tell me about their vacation to that area I have beautiful romantic pictures of what it must be like...well...it isn't quite as romantic as I pictured it, but it is very beautiful!

To start the day off we told the girls we has a suprise for them! We took them to the Jelly Belly factory and did their free tour. I knew they would be bored at the wineries, so I thought this might help their attitudes :) It was fun for them and vaugly interesting for us... a been there, done that, kind of thing......

We started off in Napa at a cute little bakery called Sweetie Pies, where we had lunch. Then we went and saw a few wineries. I must admit I am mostly into this for the achitecture and photo ops...I am not a huge wine drinker. But somehow wine always tastes better to me at a winery :) There are wineries all up and down the main roads in the Napa and Sonoma Valley....you could spend days here tasting wine.

The wineries we went to the first day were: Darioush (looks like a persian castle), Domaine Chandon (beautiful grounds, not much else), Mondavi (here we decided to do a tour...since it was inexpensive!) The tour guide was very relaxed, and since it was the end of the day, he took us on a longer tour. We got to see all the barrels at each of the stages, and taste a couple wines.

Spent the night in Vallejo, everything in Napa area was WAY too expensive!

Me letting Abigail hang her head out the window for the sake of a photo! I got teased that I allow many things for the sake of photography :)

Darioush

Mondavi

Day 4: Monterey and Gamie

2010-06-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

The next day we got up and went down to Cannery Row in Monterey. We had reserved kayaks to take out into the bay. Hannah wanted one of her own, so I rowed with Abigail, and Hannah and David each had their own. This was a fantastic experience, my favorite of the trip!! Abigail was freaked out to begin with as you launch from the beach and there were waves crashing...but it was suprisingly simple! She quickly relaxed and was rowing away. We rowed all down the waterfront area, over kelp “fields”. We saw otters, seals, sea lions and plenty of birds. Some of the sea lions were so close that we could almost touch them. We weren't trying!!! They just float with their heads just above the water, and sometimes you don't see them till you are right over them. They just sit there and stare at you...so cool!! The girls did awesome at rowing, and after about an hour and a half we were all pretty tired and ready to go in. It is kind of an awkward position, to sit in a kayak...so for most of us our backs and legs hurt long before our arms and shoulders. So glad we did this...highly recommended if you ever have a chance either in Monterey or anywhere for that matter! :)

We then walked around the shops in Cannery Row and had lunch at Bubba Gump's ... it was overpriced ok food...but we had never been...and now we have.

After lunch we drove to Los Gatos to visit Gamie and Tom. It was really great to see Gamie again, she has definitely aged since the last time we saw her, but she is doing really well. Her mind is more engaged in person than on the phone, so I was really glad to see that! I had an old photo album of her family that I needed people identified in, and she happily did so! That was a fun conversation...it brought up old memories for her that she was happy to talk about.

We then went out to dinner at a great family pizza/italian restaurant. It was cute as Gamie very much wanted dessert after dinner. Then she got all worried as she was the only one who ordered it...but she was very happy once she started eating her chocolate cake.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and drove to Sunnyvale for the night.

The kelp "field"

Day 3: PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) and Carmel

2010-06-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

So today consisted of driving up the PCH..Pacific Coast Highway...a drive I have always wanted to do.

First stop was Hearst Castle...which is the residence built by William Randolf Hearst, the newspaper baron. The tour was expensive...$72 for all of us, and I was hoping it would be worth it! It was :) The home/castle and the grounds were amazing!! It sits perched on top of the hills overlooking the ocean. Once you arrive at the gift shop you take a 10 minute bus ride up to the house on switch back narrow roads...I can see why they don't let people drive it themselves!!
The tour is guided, and so you learn a bunch about Hearst along the way. There are guest houses, manicured grounds, a tiled pool with columns imported from Greece...and views that are insane! The castle itself is breathtaking...complete with in indoor pool that looks like how I would picture roman bath houses.
What I came away thinking is what a heck of a lot of money to spend on oneself, and now it just sits there for others to gawk at. Hmmmmm.....

Then we continued up the PCH to Big Sur....David drove; which was a double edged sword...I did get to look around and take photos, but I had no steering wheel to hold on to around all the hairpin curves. A couple hours of very winding road and I was ready to be done. The views, as promised, were to die for....absolutley breathtaking!! We stopped at a fabulous restaurant for lunch: Nepenthe. It had an outdoor patio seating that overlooked the ocean. There was a “cheaper” area that served brunch...and we chose that....still expensive..haha!! Paying for the views!

Got into Carmel that evening, and took a walk down to the beach and around the cute downtown and art galleries. We also drove around and looked at all the interesting houses with names :) I love this area, so quaint! The kids had fun playing on the beach, the weather was perfect and the sand is awesome. Last time David and I were there, about 6 years ago, there were painters everywhere set up outside...I was hoping for the girls to see them, but they were nowhere to be found this time.

The guest house!!! Yes, for real....this is just ONE of the guest houses at the Hearst Castle
The Neptune pool with imported columns....

The view!
The main castle
The dining hall

The indoor pool.....it was all blue tiled with actual gold leaf
Some very fat and well fed squirrels at one of the view points
View along the drive
An awesome brunch at Nepenthe...and great views

Soaps at Lush in Carmel

The beach at Carmel

One of the many quaint shops in Carmel

Day 2: Santa Barbara

2010-06-19T09:17:00.001-07:00

The next day we got up early and drove up to Forest Home camp at the base of Big Bear Mountain to pick Hannah up from junior high church camp. It was her last day and we decided to pick her up on the way instead of having her ride home on the bus. The camp was in such a gorgeous wooded area near a river. We drove through Yucaipa on the way there...there was a dense fog and it was lightly raining...it kind of reminded me of Washington, more green than I had expected. Maybe it was just because it was overcast and rainy..haha

With Hannah now in tow, we drove on through LA and out to Santa Barbara. The southwest area near Malibu was beautiful....I had never been in that area and was pleasantry surprised. We got to SB in the afternoon and first headed up to see the SB Mission. Wow, it was amazing...it was built in the late 1800's and overlooked SB and the water.

Next we went into the downtown to do the “red tile” walking tour, where you walk past all the the red tiled buildings....duh...
I am into architecture and so have been looking forward to going to SB for such a long time!! It did not disappoint.

First we went to the courthouse and climbed up the tower where you can see in every direction. Awesome. We even got to watch part of a wedding :) Abigail wanted to stay and watch the whole thing!

The whole downtown is filled with quaint white buildings with red tile roofs. We learned that the style comes from the early missions. The roofs were originally made with straw, but the indians kept burning them down, so the catholics got smart and started using tile roofs!!

After our walk downtown we went out to the pier...which we could drive on...and had some yummy chowder. Abigail freaked out that we were driving our car on the pier and kept wanting to know how well it was built!!
Then we went to the beach and let the girls play in the sand. We meant to stay longer, but it was pretty cold.

Of course I had to do the thorough cleaning of sandy feet before anyone was allowed in the car.

After and not so great italian dinner, we got in the car and headed up to Santa Maria for the night. I had an impossible time finding an inexpensive hotel anywhere near SB or SM for that matter, even using priceline; which I used for every other night. So we stayed in a crappy old motel that cost way too much for what it was. It was our most expensive night at $85....and by far the cheapest I could find!! The Motel 6 was around $125 if that gives you any reference! We were just glad to go to sleep!! :)

If you have ever driven through Palm Springs these will be familiar! There is a huge "windmill farm" outside the area along the freeway. They look bizarre, like something out of a sci-fi movie.
Yes, even Starbucks has a red tile roof

The Santa Barbara Mission

Views from the top of the courthouse

Abigail found her favorite store...it was filled with glitzy jewelry...it was quite overwheming and difficult to capture in a photo!!

Yummy chowder.....

Road Trip to Cali: June 10-18

2010-06-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

I thought during this vacation I would blog while I am on it, therefore I might actually keep up with it!! I also hate trying to move the photos around with the text, so they will just appear at the end.

We decided to take a road trip to California to visit Gamie and on the way to see parts that we have always wanted to see, but had not made it to, as of yet. So our general loop was as such: palm springs, out to santa barbara, up the coast to san jose, up to napa, and then back down the 99 to arizona.

First stop was Palm Springs. An interesting town...it is known for its mid-century modern architecture and I had always wanted to see it. Other than that though, there is not much worthy of seeing. It seems to be a town that is still existing in it's past. Where it is not built up, there are dusty old empty lots that seem to be lost in time. It has a strange vibe.

But we did have some really good Thai food for dinner :)

Hannah was not with us at this point, we would be picking her up at camp the next day.

Some notable structures we saw....the house of tomorrow where Elvis had his honeymoon, Bob Hope's house....from a very far distance, and Elvis's vacation home.

We went to a street fair in the evening and got to see lots of overly tan old gay men out with their dogs. So bizarre....

This one above is Bob Hope's house...the one that looks like a dark black dome...you can only see it from a far distance. I was glad to have a good zoom on my camera

6 months in 10 paragraphs...or so (and some photos)

2010-06-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

So I will admit it, I don't like to blog...I like to have the blog, but I really wish munchkins would come in the middle of the night and do it for me! I also think that uploading photos to blogger (as compared to facebook) is a big pain in the butt!! I think I will just put photos on at the end, instead of trying to be all fancy!! I am just too lazy!! So I will attempt to wrap the last six months...January to June of 2010.

I am continuing to work as an admin assistant to our junior high pastor...which now involves grades 4th -8th...and I love it. I have been helping out since the fall and finally feel like I have found my niche in serving. I love youth and admin...so it is a perfect fit...it doesn't even feel like work! Ahhhhh....

It is great to get back working with youth, I did it for 12 years, and I have missed it. I thought I might be too old....but not yet I guess :) I went on the junior high mission trip and I will be going on 5th-6th grade camp in July...I just don't want to sleep in a top bunk anymore!!! haha!!

I also read the book “The Hole in Our Gospel” by the CEO of World Vision....wow!! The best book I have read in a long time. Great down to earth convicting book without being guilt-driven. Changed the way I think about the world and what I need to do about it. I pray I will not be complacent and forgetful, because that is what I tend to do. On that note, I was excited to find out more about the little girl, Fatuma, that we sponsor through World Vision. You can call WV and have extra money given to the family for a specific need. A World Vision staff member will personally meet with the family and help them decide best how to spend it and then send you an update letter and pictures. So I went ahead and sent money...then this last month we got a letter from the grandfather (Fatuma lives with her grandparents) explaining that her family was able to buy a heifer and an outfit and shoes for Fatuma with the money... and how they are so thankful to God because their lives are changed. Now they can have milk and maybe someday baby cows...I also got two pictures of her and her grandmother standing with the cow and her in her new outfit and shoes....it was extremely emotional.

We went skiing and sledding in February up in Flagstaff....they had great snow this year and the conditions were fabulous! My girls miss the skiing in Spokane, so we try to make it up once a year. We spent a couple nights up there and had such a great time together as a family enjoying the snow.

Hannah turned 13 in February; wow, I now am the proud parent of a teenager! It is actually awesome watching her grow up and putting into practice so many things we have taught her over the years. She is making her relationship with God her own, and we go out and talk about very real and deep stuff...it is fulfilling for me as a parent. I am so proud of the young woman she is becoming! For her birthday she invited her whole small group from church to go play laser tag and then out to pizza....everyone had a blast :) She even invited her small group leader, Amanda, who made it to the pizza. I was really touched that she wanted to invite her, as I remember working with junior highers and I think mentors are so important!!! All she wanted was Aeropostale gift cards...such a teen, she will only wear one type of shirt....well, it makes it easy!!! Our special gift to her was a Nintendo DS, which she was not at all expecting and made the surprise so fun!!

Hannah also took a test for gifted students and made it into the program. It is a similar test to what she took when she was younger, but I wondered...would she still be gifted? Why yes, she is, phew....the program will be awesome for her, because the way she learns is different from other students. So this next year she will be going to a large junior high, Payne, in the Chandler school district. So excited for her! She also went to the county spelling bee in January again, and came in somewhere around 15th...she got out on “perennial”....yea, I can't spell it either :) Abigail also participated in the spelling bee and won for her 4th grade class..her goal was to get further than last year and she did! :)

Hannah also tried volleyball for the first time this spring and loved it!! AND she went on her first Mission Trip to the Navajo reservation and I got to go with her. See video below! Too many details to write but suffice to say it was an awesome, life changing experience....I am sure there will be many more to come!!

One last Hannah item, she has been swimming “pre-competitive”since the fall, and loves the sport. She had her first swim meet in April. It was a learning experience, and she enjoyed it!! She so loves the sport and has great strength and form. I am excited that she has found something she is passionate about!

Abigail played soccer for another season with Dad coaching her. She had gone through physical therapy for her injured ankle over the winter break and so was able to play again. She is now trying out volleyball for the first time...she enjoyed watching Hannah...and is loving it too!

The girls wrapped up 4th and 7th grade....they are just growing up so fast.....

Family visiting was a big theme this spring!! My Dad and Rita came down in April for my 39th birthday (I know, how is it that I am this close to 40???) It was wonderful as I had not seen them in 2 years.

Then Seth came to visit while he was at halo school out in Yuma...we talked Angel into coming and staying with us for 3 weeks while Seth was in Arizona, so at least they could see each other sometimes ;) It was really great getting to know her better and having Levi in our home, my girls had a blast having a toddler around. I forgot how fun they are to just watch at that age!!! My girls taught him lots of lovely tricks like blowing on bellies...so now he will come up to you and just lift up your shirt to blow on your belly...I am sure Angel is thankful for this one!!! hahaha!! We also found out that Angel was pregnant and so I had the privilege of taking her to her first ob appointment and seeing the ultrasound :) Yeah!!

While Angel and Seth were here, Josh and Jordan and kiddos came to visit too!! We had a fun and noisy full house of 13 people! I looked around at all the children and realized that was how many kids were in my family growing up..wow!!!! We got to meet Seri and Taye for the first time....they were so much fun, it was great to see how they are already so integrated. It had been a long time since we had seen Austin and Micah too...oh my goodness, how much they had grown up!!!! Time goes by way too fast!! We all had a blast hanging out by the pool swimming and enjoying the great spring weather!

We love having family come down.....we have a guest bedroom and still have not gotten a visit from some of you, so just remember, you are always invited. Chances are (unless it is July and August) that our weather is better than any of yours!! hahaha!!

Thanks for reading about the last six months of our lives :)

Christmas!

2010-01-01T17:31:00.001-07:00

David's parents were flying in and joining us for Christmas Eve, their plane was supposed to arrive at 5:15PM, but instead they arrived at 9:00PM...so we decided to go the the Christmas Eve service at church and then come home and prepare dinner. We had dinner around 9:30 and then opened gifts...so we ended up having a very late night, but it was really wonderful :).

Our "santas"...the girls always get to pass out the gifts...:)

Yeah for Aero t-shirts!! Thank you cousin Austin and Seri!

Abigail being very excited about Hannah's gifts, a hair flower and zipper earings!!

Abigail opening her Nintendo DS...thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hoxworth

Hannah's new camera!! :) She loves to photograph, and now she can quit borrowing mine!

Aero sweatshirts...thank you Grandma Debe and Grandpa Martin!!! :)

Abigail bought Hannah this really cool wooden puzzle...her comment when she bought it was:

"Hannah will like this because she is patient and it has so many pieces, it would drive me crazy!!!"

This was our big present to Abigail, a sewing machine...she is so excited!!! I am going to be showing her how to use it this week....I see many shopping trips to the fabric store in my future!!

Hannah's lego set

Grandma and Grandpa opening their photo book

Christmas Morning stockings

The aftermath :)

Family Photos 09

2010-01-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

This year's family photos :) I took the ones of the girls, and a friend of mine offered to take the ones of our family so I wouldn't have to use a tripod. The first few are my favorites and therefore made the cut to photoshop editing.
I would love to edit all my photos, because it is fun AND they look sooo much better...but alas, I do not seem to have the time!!

ooooo...isn't this one awesome?!....this one was my favorite of the girls and I especially love it in black and white....

......hmmmm a little too serious! :)

The shoes they wore (Abigail left, Hannah right)...Hannah proclaims that Converse are "dress" shoes because they are flat...yes, I believe I now am the proud parent of an irrational preteen.

Ok, these next few were taken the day prior. Needless to say they didn't work out, just when we decided to head out, the wind kicked up and then it started to rain.....

Abigail and her best friend Taylor

This would have made a great Christmas card...yes???!!!

Making Snowflakes

2010-01-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Another tradition that we do at Christmas time, that is from my childhood, is making snowflakes. I remember sitting in Gamie's living room and cutting out enough to fill the windows. Not that you needed them in Wisconsin! I remember being so amazed at the snowflakes that Gamie and my mom could make. Being about 4 or 5 years old at the time, mine were not so amazing :)
This year it was Hannah's turn to outdo her mom's snowflakes :), she made some of the most intricate snowflakes of any of us!! I think she has the most patience :)

don't, ask... I don't know.....she wanted this picture...so I took it!

Abigail's best friend Taylor was over, so she joined us in making them too.

Gingerbread Houses 09

2010-01-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

Every year we make gingerbread houses....well we don't "make" them, we just buy a kit and put them together. Yes, this is the easy (yet fun) way to do it!! The girls have gotten pretty good at them over the years. We used to buy one, and then realized they just fought way too much so the whole event was not so very cheerful. Since then I have spent the extra $10 and bought two...much happier for everyone!!

Abigail getting into it!!

We have to help hold the roof so it doesn't slide off!!

Abigail's icicles :) wow!!

Hannah's scalloped roof :)

The aftermath!!!

The finished product!!!!

Hannah on the left, Abigail on the right.

Luminaries

2010-01-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks before Christmas one of the local parks (actually a small wildlife preserve) hand lights luminaries in paths that weave all around the perserve and along the shore of the lake. It is so beautiful to just stroll through the preserve, and best of all...it is free.

Christmas Cookies

2010-01-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

The girls help with cookies every year for Christmas, but this year they made all the dough by themselves. They read the recipes and I just oversaw the process. Granted it took the whole day to mix the batches of dough, but they learned alot in the process.
I have so many great memories of helping Gamie bake cookies when I was little. That is really where I learned to bake. I hope my girls will also grow up with a love of cooking and baking that was passed on to me.

Learning to scrape the bowl, this is actually very difficult when you are young...I think this part was the most frustrating to them, and scraping a beater is even more difficult. It is hard to stand back and not take over!!

Gamie's hand written cookbook in the foreground, to which I have added a few of my favorites. This year we made shortbread, spritz, molasses, cut-outs, peanutbutter balls, green rice crispy treats and peppermint bark.
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Measuring spices and learning the difference between a "T" and a "t" abbreviation.

Our finished batches of dough in the fridge. I always make the dough on one day and then bake them as needed later, it is way less stressful, and less painful to the feet and lower back!! :)

So here we go making our cut out cookies, they are flavored with mint this year. In order to make the frosting easy to use, we scoop some into a baggie, and cut a little tiny bit on the corner, then you can pipe it!

When I was little all we did is use a knife with a powdered sugar and milk mixture (instead of buttercream) I always was frustrated with not being able to make interesting designs :(!!

They rolled and cut out everything themselves

Yes, the girls decorated all these themsleves!! I didn't do a single one!

Abigail's Apron

2009-12-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

As many of you know Abigail's dream is to become a fashion designer. So I finally decided to sign her up for a sewing class. The project was an apron. She picked the fabric out herself, and sewed almost everything herself as well. I had to do some of the areas with multiple layers of fabric, and a little of the ironing...but that was about it. She did such an awesome job!! I am really proud of her!!

btw...the instructor was completely lame, I ended up showing her how to do everything, and decided I will take it from here, no more classes...I just need to make time to teach her!!

Abigail is Santa...haha!

2009-12-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

One of the things the girls love to do is video eachother doing silly things...sometimes it consists of Abigail just taping herself as in the examples below! They are so funny for me to watch...here are a couple short ones :)

They took my camera in the car with them on the way to school a week or so ago, and came home with some very choice footage..hahaha

The first one is really short...she did this same basic shoot a few times over..lol..

The second one cracked me up, David is trying to have a Bible study with them, which he does a couple times a week on the way to school...but instead of listening Abigail is video taping herself making faces!! way too funny!! :)

Our Christmas Tree!!

2009-11-30T14:56:00.001-07:00

I know some of you won't believe that I actually let my girls help me decorate our tree...but I do and here are pictures to prove it!!! Anyway, we put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Living here I am so thankful to have a pre-lit fake tree, it is from Costco so it actually looks very real, but now I can enjoy it earlier in the season, I don't have to water it, and it doesn't start to die in two weeks :) Being in the desert I think it would be really hard to keep a real tree alive...(although Costco was selling noble firs for only $45 this year and I was sorely tempted).

What I miss the most is the smell, so I put the little bath and body plug-in scent things next to the tree and all around the house, that way it still smells like Christmas!!

What I miss the least is lighting the tree....it used to take me about 3-4 hours and my arms would be a mess afterward...no sir, I don't miss that at all...

I usually put on the ribbon and then the girls and David do most of the ornaments. We alway break out the Christmas music and have it playing while we decorate...

The finished piece....this year the girls had been begging for "bright" ornaments, and I also felt like it was time for a change, so I used my copper/gold colors from previous years, and added teal...I love how it turned out!

Quite a few years ago I solved the issue of where to put my daughter's homemade ornaments by giving them a little tree of their own. This year we bought a new "bigger" little tree to make room for the growing collection. They strung the purple lights, and even have their own angel. Each year they pick out a new ornament to put on their tree.

One of our favorite things to do in the evening after the tress are decorated, is to turn off all the lights, except the tree, listen to Christmas music, sip eggnog and enjoy the tree as a family. I remember doing this all the way back when I was a little girl after we decorated the tree at Gamie and Papa's house. This year Abigail was so excited for this part...she poured the eggnog, added the nutmeg and served it all herself. It is so precious to watch them grow up and enjoy simple traditions that were started long ago.

I love Christmas-time!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Martin and Debe were able to join us for Thanksgiving this year, and we had such a good time. I prepared my pies and cranberry salad the day before. I bought my gravy at costco, and only had a turkey breast to cook, so everything went smoothly and without stress. This year I brined the turkey overnight with apple cider, orange juice and cloves (along with the salt water)...it was awesome! I think that will be my method from now on.

David didn't even have to out early for Black Friday...we have a tradition of him and his brother going out super early to buy inexpensive electronics. We miss you Doug!! They are usually home before anyone else even wakes up! This year, there was really nothing we desired to have, so he got to sleep in! So now hopefully my laptop will last another year! :)

Sorry..no pictures of the food...we were too busy eating it!!

Buring off the post meal slump by playing the Wii!!

the heart of my daughters

2009-11-30T14:24:00.001-07:00

Hannah and Abigail and I had a wonderful girls night out a few weeks ago when Todd Agnew was in town for a concert. The concert also had Building 429...and the girls were so excited because they had never been to a "real" concert. (I told them I didn't go to a concert till I was in college....but somehow that has not deterred them from begging :)

I decided to procrastinate and waited until the last minute to buy tickets. I was going to buy them in person so I wouldn't have to pay a handling fee...they were only $15 each, so not bad. Anyway, the day of the concert, they dropped the price to $5 for the balcony. (this is in a church, so the balcony isn't very far away!) I was so thrilled to get the tickets 3 for the price of one. Once we got our seats... which were awesome...anyone was allowed to go right up to the stage. So the girls did for the end of Building 429 and the beginning of Todd Agnew...so it really didn't matter where we sat. The moral of the story, it sometimes pays to wait until the last minute!!

During the concert the lead singer from Building 429 did a presentation for World Vision. Now, we have been thinking about sponsoring a child for a long time, but quite frankly the last year has been so hard financially. As he was speaking about the needs of children in other parts of the world, Abigail started crying. She and Hannah both turned to me and asked to sponsor a child, and to help with their own money. I asked them if they wanted to wait until we got home, so they could pick one from the website? They both were adamant that they wanted one that night...my heart was so moved to see their passion and care for children who have so little.

So Abigail asked me to come with her to get one of the cards that the band leader was handing out. I knew they wanted a girl and I prayed (quickly) that the child would be from a country that the girls have a connection to. But I knew we would just get whatever card we were given. Abigail got the card and I looked at it and saw it was a little girl from Ethiopia! I was in awe...of all the countries we could have gotten!!...for those of you who don't know, my brother and sister-in-law just adopted a brother and sister from Ethiopia, so my girls were already very interested in children from this country. So cool!! :)

To see God move in my daughter's hearts and to watch them respond was such a joy. I think these are the moments you hope for as a parent, when your children's hearts are in tune with God's voice, without the persuasion of mom and dad.

Science Center

2009-11-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

The Science Center was offering admission for free, so since I have wanted to take the girls there forever, but haven't wanted to pay the price of admission...I pulled them out of school early and went for the afternoon. They had a blast, esp in the physics area where they got to test out a bed of nails and
centripetal force.

There is a bike that is suspended on a wire, and Hannah was so excited to do it. Abigail sat on it and then turned white and got off, she definately takes after her mom and gets vertigo very easily!!

Abigail trying it out...nope!! :)

This is a video of these little magnetic filings that "danced" to music...it was pretty cool!

Halloween

2009-11-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some Halloween photos.
Hannah carved her own pumpkin this year, I was seriously worried she would cut her fingers, but of course she was fine! We first went trick-or treating with a couple of their friends in their part of the neighborhood. There was a home where they had turned their back yard and garage into a haunted house, Hannah loved it, Abigail wouldn't go in! :)
Then we came back to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood....needless to say we ended up with a bunch of candy!

Abigail's pumpkin

Hannah's pumpkin

Abigail and her friend Taylor :)

I got their costumes from a children's theater that sells their stuff every year or two. Hannah is a monkey from Jungle Book, and Abigail's dress is from the Wizard of Oz and she put some funkey fabric over the top of it to be a Zombie Princess

Abigail did most of her face make-up herself...including the lovely blody scars.

Abigail's 10th Birthday

2009-11-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

Abigail's 10th birthday was Oct 24th :) Double Digits!! Happy Birthday !!!

She wanted a monkey/jungle themed party this year, which mind you is hard to find just before Halloween! But I did my best. She had a friend party first and then we had a family party.

Abigail: I love you so much sweetheart!! You are growing into such a beautiful and amazing young lady :)

Yes, I made the cake, I think it turned out pretty cute, and Abigail loved it so that is all that really matters!!

Making door hangers

They were working on their door hangers, when the Macarena came on, and spontaneous dancing broke out... lol!!

Bobbing for bananas! yes...gross :)

Chocolate dipped spoons...these looked like a great idea on paper...they were actually a pain!

pin the tail on the monkey...Abigail drew the monkey :)

very much the wrong wall....for the monkey...

Popcorn and a movie

The next day we had our family party. She wanted to go to Outback for dinner, she loves the mac and cheese :) We got her a clothing designer kit, complete with a little model and fabric that she can drape. I have promised her I will teach her to use the sewing machine :) She is so excited, and I am so nervous!!

Trip to Boston

2009-11-03T16:38:00.002-07:00

We had such a great trip to Boston in October! Daniel and Jenny were so gracious to let us stay in their apartment...it was cozy and the price was right! :)

We got to see so many things, of course we did the Freedom Trail, I was moved to see the places where events I had learned about in US history took place.

We got to see the replica of the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, Harvard and Cape Cod.

Jenny and Daniel also took us to the North Shore where we visited Gloucester, Rockport and other super cute towns. We visited Salem too...it had one of the most perfectly quaint downtowns I have ever seen.

We of course tried fried clams...I did not like them :( but David did! :)
We went to an apple orchard and went apple picking and had apple cider donuts..yummm....
I have so many awesome pictures, but it is such a pain to load them one at a time (well 5 at a time) into blogger...(if anyone knows a better way I would love to hear it!!) so I am posting the link in shutterfly to all of them. http://bostoninthefall.shutterfly.com/

Be warned there are alot!! It is really for me to have back up photos, so all my kids photos are in there too!! Which means there are lots of pix of houses taken out car windows, lots of squirrels and lots of waves! ;)

We also got the chance to go to Chappaqua NY for the day to visit my Grandma for her 90th birthday. The timing was really perfect as she was up from Florida. I was thankful to see her again, and my aunt, uncle and cousin.

Gas lanterns in Beacon Hill

The Mayflower II....how did these people do it???

The Salem Witch House

Downtown Salem

yeah!! Fall Leaves!!

One of the many beautiful allys in Boston

The Freedon Trail

Beacon Hill

Inside the church where the famous laterns were hung (1if by land 2 if by sea)

The girls are standing in front of the building below...

One of the tour guides...that we didn't use, just used him for a pix

apple picking

our lovely hosts and tour guides!

Gloucester

Taking Daniel and Jenny to the airport for their trip back to WA

Grandma Ethel and her best friend Bert...they have been best friends since they were 18

My grandma Ethel :)

my cousin Lacey and my uncle Bruce

one of many card games my girls begged Jenny to play!

Cape Cod

" out of the movies" perfect beaches

The Nauset Light House

The sunRISE as we waited to board our plane heading home

Mini Golf

2009-11-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

A couple months back we took the girls mini-golfing one evening. Arizona has quite a few cool mini-golf courses...probably because they get used all year round. There are lots of interesting holes, and even water features...we lost a ball in one of them! Since it was Sept and still too hot in the daytime, we went at night.

Abigail started off being quite grouchy because she doesn't really know how to play, but she doesn't want anyone to teach her (this has been her since birth :)....but then she was losing, which needless to say, she is not the best loser in the world either. Anyway, she finally caved in and let us show her how to line up the putter with the ball and the hole, and started doing much better.

In a few holes she had changed her attitude and was having fun. I was really proud of her, because we have been working on this life skill!!! Yes, learning how to be taught something and keeping a good attitude are life skills for sure, and I think some people never learn them.

A funny memory of Abigail: when she was about 5 she took a kids hip-hop dance camp and was awarded the best "attitude" face! She is all personality!!

Anyway, here are some photos...

This hole had a post that you swung back and forth and would knock out the ball if it hit it.

David and Crystal Wedding website

2009-09-25T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I created a site in shutterfly where anyone can go view pictures of David and Crystal's wedding. I am finally getting close to being done....I just have the reception to go! So anyway, instead of posting a bunch of pictures, here is the site: http://davidcrystalwedding.shutterfly.com

The Parthenon

2009-09-22T08:02:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot....well,....actually I did forget....we visited The Parthenon while in Tennessee. Yes, for whatever reason they have a life size replica of the Parthenon (as in Greece) in Nashville Tennessee....we had to check it out!!

It was actually pretty cool, I was surprised at how huge it was. Anyway, here are some pictures .

A very ugly Athena....

( I am now adding more pictures...I couldn't find them because they were hiding inside my "wedding reception" folder...yeah, don't ask...although this would be kind of a cool place for a reception!

Ok....now for more posing children....

So now I guess I don't have to go to Greece.........haha

Our House Finally Closed!!

2009-09-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to mention...it has been so long in coming....but our house that we put up for sale last Sept finally sold. The people that ended up buying it have hung in there since March...the short-sale process was soooo long!! But it closed this Monday and now we are no longer the proud owners of any house! We are so thankful to just have it done and behind us. We went back to drop off the keys and garage doors openers, and I had very mixed feelings, in one sense relief and in another sadness. Sadness because we had picked everything for that house just how we wanted it, and the plan was to live in it for a long time, and sadness because we threw away so much money...well, that feeling actually is more like disgust! Many lessons were learned and for that, we are very thankful!!

Ahhhh..a four day weekend...

2009-09-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

So we have a four day weekend (the normal 3 day, plus my kids have Friday off) , I have no idea what we are doing, but my kids are both having sleepovers...one here and one at a friend's house. This is what is seems the weekends are about now that they are getting older! Maybe we will do really fun stuff like spray for bugs and mow the lawn.

Both girls are now back in soccer. Abigail has had practice for a few weeks (David is her coach as usual), and Hannah just started. Hannah is also starting individual swim lessons next week. I am not sure how all the sports will fit in with junior high homework...but isn't that what junior high and high school are about??: school, homework, sports, dinner, homework, sleep...wake-up....start the cycle over...fun stuff...

On the way home form Nashville...

2009-09-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

So when the girls and I got off on our layover in the Minneapolis airport, we discovered that there was a tram. Given that we had a substantial layover we could not pass up the opportunity to ride it back and forth. I personally very much enjoy airport trams, they are so nostalgic for me!! We flew out of SeaTac when I was very young and that airport has the underground tram (riding this meant vacation and the excitement of flying!!). I used to be able to sit on the platform at the end so as to have the best view of the tunnel. I think I am just a little too big for that now, but my girls still enjoy it!!

Speaking of small delights...during dinner at the airport, Abigail found this pepper packet that was three stuck together and was so excited that she told me I had to take a picture!! She wanted to show her dad her treasure :)

A Teaser....

2009-09-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here is just one beautiful picture of David and Crystal...just a teaser...

Rehearsal and Dinner...

2009-09-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here are a few pix of the rehearsal...much more later after they are really edited! Also if anyone has opinions about where to upload all the completed wedding photos to, I am open...I can't say I will do what you suggest :)... but I will try to accommodate!

I arrived to the rehearsal a little late, but found out I was earlier than the groom to be, who was stuck in traffic :)

The groom to be's grand entrance!

A very tired ring-bearer with his blankie and thumb....

Then after the rehearsal we drove back to Nashville for the dinner at the Spaghetti Factory...lots of pix here...no need to edit :)

Greta was not enjoying my flash!!!

After dinner all of us siblings took to perusing Nashville's very happening bar and music scene, complete with kids in tow....

Our "bar" of choice for the evening...

Late night ice cream....Yummers !!

David and Crystal's Wedding (part 2)

2009-09-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

So after a good sleep Thursday night we got up and met up with my brother Josh to go visit the Hermitage, which is Andrew Jackson's house. He was the president; not the civil war general ("Stonewall Jackson") for those of you who may have history confusion as I do. The Hermitage as a plantation and the grounds and home are beautiful. (In my opinion is wasn't worth the cost of admission....but still enjoyable to see. From there we went and picked up my sister Christin and had lunch in downtown Nashville at the Wildhorse Saloon, it looks like it would be hopp'n at night, but it was pretty mellow for lunch! Then it was off the Clarksville for the the rehearsal and back down to Nashville for the rehearsal dinner. There are only a few pix of the rehearsal b/c I am going to edit them and put them with the wedding photos :)

Some cute shots of the kiddos (and Josh :)

Lunch with Auntie Christin!

David and Crystal's Wedding (part 1)

2009-09-03T12:39:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Nashville/Clarksville last week for my brother's wedding to his beautiful bride Crystal. It was really wonderful to see most of the family again...it has been a long time!! I got to photograph the wedding...and yes, I am still working on the photos, I am waiting for my new editing software to arrive and so I should have them uploaded late next week:) But for now here are some of the trip photos and narrative!

The girls getting to eat a rare delicacy before the flight....DingDongs :)

A couple of the streets in Nashville...we got in late Wednesday night...actually the girls and I got in late, David got stuck in Detroit overnight (he was on a different flight)...but Thursday morning we went out and explored downtown. It is quaint, lots of old brick buildings, tons of bars and music! And for those who wonder, yes, Nashville is very humid!! :) I will take my dry Arizona heat any day!!

Inside the Union Station Hotel, it used to be a train station, the architecture was beautiful! That is me (Jennifer) and Abigail sitting at the bottom on the stairwell in this photo (by Hannah :)

Some other shots around town...

We drove up to David's awesome house in Clarksville and got to meet Crystal and little Levi (Seth and Angel's little one) for the first time! The home is at the end of the development and sits right next to a pasture and a stream, it was a really peaceful setting. I was very impressed to see it already furnished...at least way more than our first house was!!

Angel and Levi

Levi chugging his bottle over lunch!! He is such a cutie!!

After lunch we went to Dunbar Cave Park where David and Crystal were going to get married, so I could scope it out....

David and Crystal.....I think this first shot is the best.... :)

Abigail with Uncle David's glasses look'n cool...

So....the Grand Ol'Oprey is just this concert hall...nothing to write home about! The hotel next to (pix below) is amazingly huge and looks beautiful, but my kids were too tired to deal with walking to it and through it!

So after a long first day we ate dinner and went back to the hotel to sleep!

Back at School!

2009-08-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

School is in full swing and we are back to getting up at 6:00 (well I get up a little later :)...

Hannah has 7 classes and loves switching classes and teachers for the first time. I was worried she would have trouble focusing and it would confuse her, but it actually seems to be working better for her than when she had to be in the same class all day. She says she is better able to focus, and she has been really responsible with her homework and keeping track of everything. I am so proud of her!

Abigail loves her class because her teacher is really nice and of course... pretty...that always helps in Abigail's book :) She usually has her homework done before she even gets home. She wants to take full advantage of her free time and is always very motivated to get her work done quickly...which is a good thing :)

Hannah and Abigail have both been really into their future hopeful vocations lately. (Hannah wants to be a game designer and Abigail a fashion designer) I often wonder how and if these paths will play out. They are both so passionate about their interests.

I took Hannah to a free class for kids on computer programing just a couple weeks ago. We used a program called Scratch from MIT that is really cool and created for kids. It is pretty basic and completely visual, but it teaches the basic underlying concepts of programming. Hannah loves it, and has been working on some cool projects. Basically you have a little "sprite" that you can change and make do all kinds of things, you can add "if, then" statements and change what the background does, add sound etc....and best of all it is free! The class we went to is talking about offering more advanced programming and robotics in the future, and Hannah is so excited about that!!

Abigail has created a very large notebook for her fashion designs. She got this huge 3 inch binder and didn't know there was a cool thing called a "3 hole punch" so started punching holes in paper one sheet and one hole at a time to start to fill this thing. I had to stop her after a small stack of sheets and encourage her to use what she already had to begin with:)...and to show her a 3 hole punch! (she thought that was a very cool invention) She has announced that she is starting her portfolio of designs! She actually has some really great ideas, she still gets frustrated because what is in her head, she has trouble putting on paper. She is a great artist, but I have tried to encourage her that drawing people and clothing is really hard for anyone! I guess the next step is I need to teach her to sew...I have been procrastinating...I am not a good teacher of anything...:(

Abigail has also informed me that she planned out her whole birthday (which is not until the end of October!) in a monkey theme...she loves to plan (esp her birthday)...takes after someone I know, maybe ! She has got the cake, decorations, give-aways, games, time, invitations etc, everything all planned out and just waiting for me to execute...we'll have to work on the cost!

Hannah decided to get contacts and loves them! She is doing a great job of remembering to take them out too...she is so excited to see again! (the eye doc. told her she is legally blind without correction...Hannah was impressed...takes after her mother unfortunately!) Her glasses broke a few months ago, but we had to wait until we got insurance and money to get new ones!

Here are some recent photos of making brownies...and the best part...eating the batter

July

2009-08-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

So I am almost caught up!!!

July: Yes, the girls went back to school in July! July 30th to be exact...photo:

David also started his job on July 6th and we have full benefits right away! Yeah...Hannah can finally get new glasses! My kids are mostly ecstatic that we will have money so that they can have TV once again :)

David spent a week of training in Kansas City...he says the BBQ there is by far the best he has ever had!

We had a huge monsoon in mid-July that knocked down a couple huge trees in our backyard! We were really glad we are renting :) as the landlord paid to have them cleaned up and will plant new trees in the fall.

Doug and Nicole and the kiddos came to visit for a week just before they moved to France...we had an awesome time and are missing them already! Hooray for Skype :)

Just before school started we spent a couple days at a resort called The Pointe at Squaw Peak. It was nice to just relax by the pool for a couple days before we launched back into life!

Abigail started soccer clinics that David is running for her team every Saturday. She is learning to juggle and is doing headers for the first time! There were a few bloody noses the first week...not Abigail's...

Epiphany...

2009-08-11T17:28:00.001-07:00

I have decided that maybe if I post more often the posts will be more interesting, and I won't have to spend the whole day working on it! (and I won't misplace my photos somewhere that I can't find)

June

2009-08-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

June: The girls ended school and I couldn't believe that Hannah would be a junior higher in 8 weeks! They just grow up so fast!

Hannah went to summer camp in California and missed the last couple days of school :) It was her first time being gone for this long at a distance...she has gone to northern Arizona the last couple years. It is getting easier though (for me) it is just amazing to watch her grow up and become more and more self sufficient.

David got a job offer with Assurant at the end of the month. We were so thankful that God had provided this job at a time when the economy has been so horrible! We continue to be amazed at God's care for us through everything. I can say though, that is was such a good learning experience in so many ways. Yes, it has been hard and we are still catching up financially, but it really was good.

The girls had fun this summer experimenting with the video portion of my camera...Abigail loves to perform and Hannah loves to be behind the camera :)

Here is a couple fabulous examples of their fine artistry.

April and May

2009-08-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

April: hmmm, well there was my birthday, we had some of my close friends over just to hang out.

Ok, this was really cool, Hannah won the Spelling Bee for her school and got to go to the Pinal County spelling bee. She did great and got into the final few kids. I had photos, but I cannot find them :(

We also took the girls to an outdoor concert with Jonnie and Brookie, they are sisters who are up and coming with Disney. This was the girls first concert experience and they had fun being in the pre-teen "mosh pit" and seeing the artists up close. They also got their pictures taken with them (only on my crappy camera phone) and had them sign a photo. Fun stuff!

Here are some Easter egg hunt photos too :)

May: The kids put on plays at school as part of the end of the year stuff. Both girls had parts in the plays for their classroom. Abigail played Beethoven's mom and put on a great performance pretending to die! Both girls also played a short song on the keyboard.

I finally found a job and started working for the Art Institute as an admissions advisor...it ended up being so horrible that I quit shortly after training! By this time David had sent out hundreds of applications and resumes. He had been contacted by the company that would eventually hire him, and we were hopeful that there would be light at the end of the tunnel!

Spring Hiking

2009-08-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Near our house is a small range of "mountains"...the San Tans (more like large hills) that we went on a few hikes this spring. You get up high enough to look over the valley...it is beautiful...esp in the spring with the desert in bloom.

Hannah trying to make a "sundial" and checking it with her watch :)

March: part 2

2009-08-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

After the "fun" boat ride on Canyon Lake we drove up over the lake to a viewpoint and then onto a couple old real ghost towns....Tortilla Flat and Goldfield...

Though Tortilla Flat sounded cool..it was pretty lame, just a strip of old buildings with an ice cream shop and tacky souvenir place.

There was an interesting area where the water was running over the road into a rocky area that the kids went climbing in.

Goldfield was much more picturesque...it is a tiny mining "town" that still has a bunch of stuff around from the mine. Lots of great photo ops!

March: part 1

2009-08-11T11:00:00.001-07:00

So the winter seemed to fly by, and I am also not sure where the spring went either, I think we were emotionally absorbed with finances and trying to find a job...by May I was realizing my kids were almost done with school, and it felt like it just started...

March: Hannah had her delayed birthday with her friends...they went ice-skating! :)

Hannah also did a report on Aristotle for a major project at school called the Wax Museum...here she is in her toga :)

We went to a really cool airshow out at Luke Air Force base, it was the first time my kids had seen planes like that. We also got to watch the Thunderbirds, which was a huge hit!

Here is a pathetic video of the Thunderbirds...they were so hard to get... the bottom plane is actually flying upside down...which I know you can't see! :)

Spring Break was during March so we tried to do a few fun cheap things as a family. We drove up to Canyon Lake and took a little boat out on the lake, Hannah had a blast...Abigail was scared to death. She only wanted me to drive the boat and hated the wakes from the other boats!! We had to go so slow so she wouldn't scream...in the end she said she liked it "ok" but doesn't want to do it again. Here are some pictures of us trying to have fun :)

Yeah...look at those faces!

Abigail feeling ornery, but better now that she is out of the boat!

Updating the last 6 Months!

2009-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok...Ok...I am finally updating our blog for the last 6 months! They have been a blur it seems, and no we did not fall off the face of the earth. So I will try to briefly recap since January :)

January: After we moved in David got this nasty growth on the end of his finger that kept bleeding all over...it was lovely...so he ended up having to have surgery to have it removed.

February: Hannah was sliding over the banister and fell head first onto the stairs below and broke her lower jaw. It was really scary, there was blood everywhere and we had to take her to emergency. It ended up that her braces held everything together and she didn't need surgery, praise God! She just couldn't open her mouth for a few days and had to "eat" protein shakes through a straw :) Her teacher brought balloons and cards over from all the kids in her class, it was really sweet. This happened right before her birthday party, so we had to have a belated friend party in March. She was also taking iceskating lessons, which she had to quit and then go back and finish later:( poor thing :( It was a rough few weeks of recovery.

Family birthday celebration pictures:)

In January David also started looking for a new job. Our income had been seriously declining since May, and we knew it was time to make a change, but it ended up being a much longer and harder process than we thought it would be.

The big move...not really...

2009-02-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks after all our family left, we moved into a new home on Jan 24th...it is less that a mile away, so not a very big move at all! :) We have been trying to short sell our home before it forecloses, but the banks are being quite difficult and we still (as of Feb 26) don't know if they are going to ever come to an agreement. But anyway, we needed to find someplace to rent and God totally provided much more than we imagined! We found an amazing home almost the same size as our old one, with a pool even (the girls had been praying for that :) ! The home is even painted in my color scheme of chocolate and beige. The price is incredible, and we feel so thankful and blessed! So here are some pictures of moving day and our new home! We had lots of friends come and help and we were so thankful because we have some really heavy furniture...we are not sure if they want to be our friends anymore :)

The part of the wall I never painted because it was behind the entertainment center! lol

After the home was all cleaned out, we took our kids back to say goodbye. We got to pray together and just thank God for the 2 years He gave us in that home and for all the good memories. We realize there are so many things that we God gives us to enjoy for a just a season, and we are thankful even when that season is shorter than we expected!

Our new home!

This is the front fomal living and dining as you come in the front door.
The family room has an opening to the office, which is a little funky, but maybe someday I'll put some interior shutters up.

I didn't take pictures of the upstairs, but there are our room which is huge with a 5 piece bath, the 2 girls rooms and a play room. We even have a guest bedroom downstairs again! It is really a wonderful home.

My grass..err, weeds :) We will need to get a lawn mower again, as our old home had no grass, poor David, he now has to mow this small patch of grass! :(

New Years Trip: Sea World

2009-02-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

On Jan 1st, after Legoland, we drove down to San Diego to go to Sea World on Jan 2nd...this was where Rebekkah was so excited to go! The hotel that night was ridiculous! Doug and I thought we could save an extra $10, and wished in the end we had spent the extra $10. (We are the planners in each family, so good or bad the blame goes to us!)

There were people outside and in the rooms next to us yelling into the night. Most of us were asleep (all 8 of us shared a room) ...but it was bothering Rebekkah and so she started yelling about the people yelling and about how she couldn't sleep. Well, of course that woke more of us up!! She was so freaked out, and just as I would start to doze off again, she would yell about it again! (This went on for quite some time) Oh my goodness, it was hysterical (well, not that night, it was irritating, but the next morning we were all cracking up)...so the room is totally dark and I am trying to turn on the fan by the window so that there will be some "white" noise, so we can all go to sleep and not hear the people. Doug and Nicole's i-phone was in reach and so I was trying to use the light from it to find the switch for the fan, so I wouldn't wake anyone up further with turning a light on. I tried to explain to Doug what I was doing, but he was out of it, and when I gave him the phone back, he promptly set the phone to making "white" noise....which sounded like the hideous static on a TV, and very loud. This woke more people up... and I am trying to ask him to PLEASE turn it off, and he keeps thinking I just want a different noise .... and David keeps waking up and asking, what the heck is that noise? It was a zoo...!! The only person who slept through it all was Nicole...she must have been deaf!

So anyway...back to Seaworld. It was very cold that day, unfortunately, but we did all the shows and fed the dolphins and pet the rays...etc.

The shows were pretty good, I seem to remember them being better when we went to Orlando, but that could be because it was the first time I went, or it could be because we went in the summer, and they do more in the summer time.

We went to a show later in the day that had been recommended to us, and we ended up enjoying it the most. There were all these trained pets, of course dogs...but then there were also pigs, and cats and ducks...who knew you could train a duck?? The picture below is a cat on a tight rope.

I don't have any pictures, but at the end of the day everyone decided to go on a roller coaster that had a log type ride at the end....so it was in the water. All the kids were cold and we warned them they might get wet, and we were driving home that night, so wet clothing might be uncomfortable. They went anyway and loved it, and they didn't get wet (the first time)....so they went about 5 more times in a row....of course on the very last run they all got soaked! Abigail, is so upset and wants to find someone to blame it on, so of course that person is me, good old mom! " Mom, why didn't you tell us we would get wet??" "What? I did!, you didn't listen" "But Mommmm, you didn't tell us it would be this wet!" "Abigail, the ride is in water...of course you can get wet!" Hello??? It took her awhile, but eventually had to deal with the fact that it was her choice to go on the ride!

New Years Trip: Downtown Disney and Legoland

2009-02-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

On Dec 31 we piled all 8 of us in our SUV and drove to Disneyland for New Years Eve. Since Downtown Disney is free, we decided to go there and have dinner and then watch the fireworks from the parking garage. It was quite cold and we were seated outside for dinner, much to my frustration...and of course it was Disney pricing...not cheap! The kids had a great time in the stores and then we headed over to the garage. We were all so tired that we watched the early fireworks, pronounced it a Happy New Year (because it was somewhere...like in New York...) and then went to our hotel to get some sleep.

Playing red light, green light while waiting for the fireworks

The next day, New Years, we drove down to Carlsbad and went to Legoland. Hannah and Micah are both into Legos and all the kids had a great time. We were pleasantly suprised by the lack of people at the park, so the kids got to go on certain rides over and over. Their favorites were the roller coaster and the "jousting" arms.

These roller coaster pictures made my laugh hysterically, notice David and then Nicole grabbing his arm! I hate heights, so I just take pictures...no roller coasters for me!

Then here are the kids on it for the first time, it cracked me up, notice the dread and pain in their faces...then of course they get off and exclaim that it was sooooo fun and run to go on it again and again!

They even have Lego art!

The very scary fairy tale ride....woo hoo!

They have an area that is different cities around the world all created with Legos, it was pretty impressive.

Photo Shoot

2009-02-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

We were trying to get a family photo for Linda's mom (Doug and David's Grandma) while everyone was here. That proved to be harded than it looked. Nicole has a fabulous new camera that I just had to try out as well :) We both actually took a ton of photos of everyone, and got some really good shots. I think there was over 1000 photos by the time we were done....we would have gone on but the sun went down. Here are some of my favorites of eveyone.

The Marriott

2009-02-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

We all also went up to the JW Marriott in Scottsdale to see this huge gingerbread house. It wasn't as amazing as we had expected from the write up, but never-the-less we had a good time . The day was beautiful and we made use of the huge grassy lawns!

Micah behind the palm tree :)

The family trip to the Grand Canyon!

2009-02-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

A few days after Christmas, while eveyone was still here, we piled into our 2 cars and took a day trip up to Sedona and the Grand Canyon...it was a very long day trip. We had a great time seeing northern AZ in the winter..since it does snow up there!

First we are in Sedona...for some great scenery and photo ops.

Micah in the back of my SUV....ok, take note, and then notice the picture at the end of this blog...Rebekkah and Hannah in the sculpture garden.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon, it was so gorgeous in the winter! The kids had had enough sight-seeing in about 10 minutes and promptly started enjoying the snow.

What a beautiful photo of Mark and Linda at sunset at the canyon

Ok, what is this!? Micah sees a hole in a pile of snow and decides it would be great fun to stick his head in it! Hmmmmm....

Christmas Eve and Morning

2009-02-09T10:02:00.001-07:00

Here are pictures from dinner and gifts on Christmas Eve. I forgot to take a dining table photo till halfway through dinner...oops :)

We went to Christmas Eve service at our church, and since the Christmas story was already read, we decided to have the kids take turns ready Twas the Night Before Christmas...they all did a great job!

Our team of Santa's anxiously waiting to pass out gifts

The opening of the gifts...this year the kids spent their own money on gifts for each other and mom and dad. Part of me felt bad because they have so little money to begin with, but I realized something really special happened because of it. They were so very excited to watch as others open the gift they had purchased for them, in the past it hasn't mattered as much because mom and dad bought it...but there is something about sacrificing your own money to give....what a good life lesson!
This is a fun story....my kids had been begging for a Wii and we knew that Micah and Rebekkah were getting one from their mom and dad, so we asked Grandma and Grandpa for one, as their gift to our whole family. We didn't want our girls to know, so we lied to them and told them that they just cost way too much money (which they do!) and it wasn't going to work out this year. (Since we try to always tell our kids the truth... they totally believed us) They were sad, but ok about it.

So on Christmas Eve Micah and Rebekkah open their Wii and you can tell my kids are trying so hard to be happy for them :( I was proud of them and yet laughing inside :). Then they open the Wii game (shown below) from Josh and Jordan and family...in the picture you can see how excited they are because they believe this means they also are getting a Wii. I am so horrible...I say, "Well you know that doesn't mean you are getting a Wii, you can just play it on Micah and Rebekkah's". Their faces got so sad, we all started laughing and had them open the box with the Wii in it next. They were incredulous....Abigail yelled..."mom, dad...you lied to us?!! how could you?!!"

Way too much fun at the expense of having fun with my children. The "Wii Wii" Christmas!!We all got Grandma and Grandpa Hoxworth a photo album of the grandkids over the years... Christmas morning!