Before and After Pics of my side yard

So, I finally got around to ripping out all the hideous Aloe and Agave that had taken over my yard and I put in a sod lawn today. It was quite a bit of work getting it ready and putting it in, but I'm very happy to finally have a lawn. Now I just need to get a lawn mower....Quite an improvement, eh?

Drowning doesn't look like drowning.

I was just reading a blog post about water safety that I think everyone should read, so I decided to post it here. Very informative and eye-opening. Drowning doesn't look like drowing. Please read it if you spend any time around water, have children, ever care for children, etc. Thanks!

Good Things to Come

I wanted to share a story that I really like. I first heard this story over a decade ago, but it has stuck with me all that time. Recently, I looked up the talk that it was from and read it over again. It really has a wonderful message. I've had some tough times this spring and I've found myself thinking of this story a lot and have found comfort in it. I hope you'll like it, too.

Here's a link to a video with just the story:
Good Things to Come

Here's a link to the text of the entire talk:
An High Priest of Good Things to Come

The Great American Road Trip

A few years ago--four to be exact--I was feeling rather restless. I hadn't seen my grandparents or certain friends in quite some time. My grandparents had not even met Russell, though he was over 6 months old. We were prevented from going and seeing them by Charles' lack of vacation time. We had used our vacation that year to go to Disneyland and do some other things. I finally decided that there was no reason why I had to stay trapped in the Bay Area all summer just because Charles didn't have any more vacation time. So, I started plotting. I looked up where I got coverage with my cell phone. I talked to friends and family. And I researched all the McDonald's restaurants between here and Utah that had playgrounds. And I set out on my own with my two kids, ages 3 and approximately 10 months. Thus was a tradition born: The Mom and Kids Summer Road Trip.

The first year, we just visited Utah. We went across I-80 into Salt Lake, stopping overnight in Elko en route, and I stayed with my friend Alison and visited with my friends Natalie and Lisa. Then I headed down to Cedar City and stayed with my grandparents and visited my aunts and uncles that live there. I drove home via Las Vegas, stopping overnight in Barstow. It was a trip of approximately 2 weeks and 1,740 miles. We had such a great time and it was such a success that we decided to do it again the following year and make it longer.

The three of us at Thanksgiving Point, Utah in 2006.

The second year, my friend Alison was living temporarily in Wyoming. This threw a wrench in my plans, but I decided to roll with it and visit her in Wyoming. After all, it only added a half day of driving to get there. So, I packed up the kids and set out. We were much more comfortable that time around because we had recently changed our family car from a small sedan to a minivan. We still stayed overnight in Elko, as it was about half way, and drove on to Lander, Wyoming the next day. We had a great time visiting with Alison and her family and visiting the site where the Willie Handcart Company was rescued.

Here we are with a handcart in Wyoming in 2007

From there, we headed back down into Utah. I stayed in Springville with my friend Lisa for a few days and then headed on down to Cedar City and stayed with my aunt. My cousin and I had arranged things so that she was there with her kids at the same time I was there and we had a great time. From there, we headed North again to visit my mother-in-law in Nampa, Idaho. I know this order doesn't make a lot of sense, but I had to consider the schedules of the people I was visiting. We drove back to California after that, extremely glad to be home after four weeks of traveling. We covered approximately 3100 miles on that trip.

The kids with Granny Spud in Idaho in 2007

The third year was the year of the great gas price crisis. With gas prices around $4.50 per gallon and other financial constraints, we had to limit ourselves that year. We ended up just going to Cedar City for a family reunion. My brother Steven went with us to help defray the costs and we drove straight through, saving the price of a motel stay. That was significantly less enjoyable, just because I really don't like driving straight through. We really enjoyed the family reunion, though.

Family reunion festivities 2008

We had to forego the trip last year. We moved last July and spent the entire summer either packing or unpacking. And we spent all our money buying a house. Plus we had planned a family trip to Disneyland for this last December and that also sucked up all our money.

Disneyland was worth it

So, this year I'm rather itching for a road trip. I will allow that I was recently on a road trip to Utah but, as it was neither enjoyable nor a vacation and I really didn't get to visit with anyone for more than an hour, I'm not counting it. We do have some constraints this year, though, especially since we'd like to take a family vacation. So, I'll probably end up limiting myself to Utah and, perhaps, Idaho. However, I'm already plotting for next year.

About a year and a half ago, one of my brothers was planning to move to Kentucky or Illinois. I started looking at taking a trip that far to visit him. His plans changed and he stayed here, but I've kind of had it in the back of my mind for a while. This past winter, my friend Natalie moved from Utah to North Carolina. I followed her family's adventures driving across the country and have been looking at the pictures she's posting of how beautiful it is there. So, lately, I've been bouncing the idea around in my head of taking a cross-country road trip. I've now got friends and family in North Carolina, I've got family in Texas, I've got friends in Illinois and Montana, there's genealogical research to be done in North Dakota and Tennessee, and there's plenty of this country that I haven't seen yet. I've been thinking that, if I am going to make this trip, I might as well make the most of it. Of course, there's the issue of making it affordable and a reasonable length of time. Then again, why not spend most of the summer traveling?

So, this is just an idea I'm bouncing around right now, but it is something I'd really like to do in the next few years (not this year, of course). But I'm wondering: If you were going to take a trip across the country, what are the sights you would want to see? Or, what would you recommend including in such an itinerary? Do you think it makes more sense to try and see as much as possible in one long trip or spread the sights out over a few years? Please, peanut gallery, make some comments...

An interesting couple of months

Well, I haven't posted anything in a couple of months, but I've definitely been busy.

My youngest brother, Jacob, got married January 23rd. And the eldest of my three brothers, who is still younger than I am, got married this past weekend. I am very happy to say that I really like both of my new sisters-in-law and am pleased that they are now part of the family.

Steven and Annalisa

Jacob and Cecilia
(I snagged this photo from my dad)

At the end of January, Ruby came down with a pretty bad fever for several days. Then she seemed like she was getting better and then got worse again. I took her to the doctor and it turned out she had a double ear infection. Just as she was starting to feel better from that, I came down with the fever and was sick for several days. I am happy to report that we are all currently healthy, although Ruby has come down with another ear infection in the mean time. She's winding down her antibiotic regimen now.

We recently figured out that we need more money. (Who doesn't these days?) So, in an effort to remedy that situation, I have taken to working more. I've been working Saturdays for about 2 years, but I recently started going in a couple of mornings a week while Ruby is at school. This has been made possible by my very good friend Sara, who is babysitting Russell while I work. We're doing a swap where she babysits Russell and I either babysit her kids or do sewing projects for her. We've also been having her and her kids over to do laundry since their washing machine broke. It's been working out well and the kids are loving all the play dates. It's really good for Russell to be able to play with another boy. I think he's really been getting bored being home with just me. It's been sort of an adjustment for me, though, because now I have to really pay attention to when I get things done since I'm now busy in the time I used to set aside for stuff like paying bills, etc. I don't know how moms who work full time do it.

Russell and Nolan

(photo from Sara)

I took Russell in this month for his Kindergarten physical and immunizations. It went pretty well until it was time for the shots. It's a good thing he's still small enough for me to physically restrain. He does need to go have a follow-up appointment with an optometrist, though. His vision is only 20/40 and one of his eyes kind of turns inward when he's focusing hard on something.

We were very happy that Happy Hollow re-opened this past week. Russell and I went to the members preview last week and had a great time. I anticipate many fun-filled days will be spent there in the near future.

I've been very happy that the weather has FINALLY turned nice. I went out last week and did a lot of weeding and cleaned up the yard. Now if I can just finish up the last details on our new shed we built last fall--I couldn't paint while it was raining. Then I can move our old shed over to my brother's house and get the yard situated the way I want to and start planting some things. I think a lot of what I want to do will have to wait until next year, just because of the cost, but I can get started on some of it now. I'm always itching to get out and dig in the dirt and plant things come spring. And now that I've actually got a yard, I'm really excited to do it. First on the list of things to plant are tomatoes and strawberries. YUM!

My Mom has finally decided to make her move to Utah official and I'll be helping her move her things in a couple weeks. After that, maybe I'll have some time to breathe before school gets out for the summer. Then again, maybe not. I realized today that there's only a little over 2 months left of this school year. It seems like school just started. How can it be almost over already?

Wind and Lightning and Hail, Oh My!

This is shaping up to be an interesting day. Pooring rain, I expected that. Wind, I expected that. I had planned to spend the day cleaning the house. Maybe I'll get to that later. Pretty much everything else that's happened today I wasn't expecting.

Took Ruby to school in the car today and parked about half a block away and walked her to class. The wind was catching our umbrellas and turning them inside out. The wind grabbed my umbrella and knocked the support pole on it into my forehead. Ouch. Tried going to the ATM to make a deposit, but was thwarted in my effort because the ATM wasn't working and the bank didn't open until 10:00 today. It was about 8:30 at that point.

Headed back home, trying to avoid waterlogging the car in the giant puddles and dodging the palm fronds that were all over the road. Got home to discover the asphalt roofing on one side of my shed had blown off in the wind and was hanging down the front of the shed, while water pounded down on the sheathing and went into the shed through the exposed ridge. I tried to deal with this myself, but only had a small step ladder and that stuff is heavy (and we are talking about a 16 foot long sheet of it). It ended up getting torn down the middle. Argh.

I called my brothers and my dad and ended up going to get some tar paper and a ladder from my dad's house. Stopped to pick up a second ladder at my brother's house. Got home to discover that the roofing, which had formerly been hanging in a sheet down the front of the shed was now completely detached from the roof and was laying in two pieces crumpled on the ground, with more tears in it. Luckily one of my brothers had just gotten off work and showed up just then to help me. And, luckily, the rain took a break just then.

We managed to get the roof at least patched up enough to be waterproof and stop the deluge into the shed. Just as we finished up, the thunder started up again and it resumed raining. Well, Jacob tried to leave and discovered he had left his lights on and his battery was dead. We maneuvered the cars out into the street so we could get them in the proper position to jump his battery and while we were doing so it started to hail, and I mean HAIL. We did get his car started, though. So now I am drenched and rain and hail are alternately pouring down upon the house, intermixed with some very loud thunder that is rather close to us. I actually saw the last flash sitting here at the computer, not even looking out the window. I'm guessing it was about 2 or 3 miles away. We got that roof done just in time! It still needs some tar and some further fixing, which I'm hoping we'll be able to get to later if there's another break in the weather.

I'm feeling mighty glad I bought myself some rain boots last month. And I'm glad I got the tires replaced on our car last month, too, or this day could have been much worse. How's your day going?

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Some House pics

Today was an interesting day. Happy Birthday to Joseph and Renae, by the way.

Russell has outgrown his church shoes. They have been difficult to get on his feet and he complained that they hurt the last few weeks. I intended to get him some new ones last week, but forgot to do it. So, I set out this morning determined to get him some new shoes for church. We decided that we'd also get him a Halloween costume while we were out. We headed off to Target. Well, they only had one style of shoe that would work and Russell said they hurt his feet. So, we got his costume and some other stuff. He picked a Spider Man costume. He's never seen any Spider Man shows or read any related books, but he likes Spider Man. He even chose this over Buzz Lightyear, Woody, The Incredible Hulk (which he seriously considered), AND Thomas the Tank Engine. I thought for sure he'd want Thomas, but he wanted Spider Man. It's one of those ones with the padding to make fake muscles. Despite not finding the shoes we wanted, we managed to spend a full two hours at Target. Russell was looking at everything and having a great time.

Well, we headed over to WalMart next. I had great hopes that they would have some good shoes for him. I have gotten some there before. They had two styles of dress shoes. Russell said they hurt his feet. So, off we went to another store.

Part of the problem we have with getting shoes for Russell, particularly dress shoes--they tend to run narrow, is that he has very wide feet. We reach the point of not being able to get his feet into them before they are too short. This makes sizing a little difficult. Well, I went over to Kohl's. I lucked out. They had about 4 or 5 styles of dress shoes. Not a fabulous selection, but better than I'd seen. And they carried them in wide sizes. And the shoes are not lassoed together, so Russell could actually walk in them when he was trying them on. At first he said they hurt his feet, but I suspected at this point that he was just saying that because he was having fun trying on shoes. I had him run up and down the aisle a few times to try them out and he thought that was great and then said his feet felt fine. I lucked out because they were having a semi-annual shoe sale, too. Then I wandered around the store for a bit just to look around since it's been about 5 years since I've been in a Kohl's. I found this really awesome collage picture frame that is just perfect for the wall by my front door. All the frames were half price so it was only $20. I couldn't resist.

Well, by the time we got home from Kohl's, it was time to go get Ruby. Russell wanted to show Ruby his costume, so he insisted on changing into it to pick her up. I figured there was no harm in it and you can get away with running errands dressed as Spider Man when you are three. When you get into your 30's it's a little problematic. So he wore his costume and loved it. As we were walking past the play ground, some of the older kids were out there doing PE and they were yelling, "Spider Man! Spider Man!" as we walked by. Russell loved it. I asked him if he thought Ruby would think he was Spider Man. He said, "No. She will think I'm Russell in a Spider Man costume." He took his mask off and thought he had ripped it because there were holes in it. He was just too cute for words. I explained that the holes were for his eyes and nose so that he could see and breathe. He thought that was a good idea. He just came in from playing outside, so I snapped a picture of him in his costume to include. Those are blue rain boots he's wearing with it.



I finally finished the project of re-carpeting my front porch. The carpet was totally worn out and had worn through to the wood on the bottom two steps. I did it on Friday and Saturday. I did the steps Friday and then did the porch itself on Saturday. Ruby managed to draw on the carpet with a red sharpie even before I finished laying it. Argh! Oh, well. I'll have to get creative in what goes on that spot. So, now that the porch is done, I put up a couple of fall decorations and took a picture. And, when I was uploading those pictures from the camera, I noticed that Ruby has taken some pictures of her room, so I'll go ahead and include those.

The Front Porch

Just for Fun

Ruby's Room--Bear in mind that Ruby took these pictures.


Russell likes to hang out in there, too.

Jackpot!

Okay, maybe I didn't really hit the jackpot, but it sure felt like it today.

Today was the day I was supposed to help in Russell's preschool class. Part of the requirements of the program are that I help in the class twice a month. Well, due to sicknesses and stuff, there were only 3 kids today. So, they said I didn't have to stay. I asked Russell if he wanted me to stay or leave and he said, "You leave!" That's the answer I was expecting. Jackpot!

I now had a couple of hours without kids and I thought, "What should I do now?" And I thought of Charles and how nice it would be to go out to lunch without the kids. So I called him up and he was able to do that, so we went to Chili's for lunch. I had their yummy Quesadilla Explosion salad, which I only managed to eat half of, and we split a dessert. It was so nice!

After I dropped him off back at work, I still had some time before I had to pick up Russell. So I decided to hit the mall and get some new walking/running shoes. The ones I bought last fall were in pretty sad shape and I learned last year that I really need to have good shoes with good support for all the walking I do. I drove to Oakridge Mall, which is the one nearest our house and has an Earning for Learning program that supports Ruby's school, not really knowing where the Footlocker would be or even if they had one there. I just looked for a parking area convenient to a mall entrance. By the time I got there I had to go to the bathroom, too. I walked in the entrance to the mall and there was a bathroom right there. Jackpot! Then I walked in toward the stores and I was right next to a Footlocker. Jackpot! I went in, but they only had a small selection of women's shoes. I talked to the sales guy and he said, "Have you tried Lady Footlocker?" No, where is it? It was about four doors down. Jackpot! I walked in and was helped immediately. They had exactly what I needed for a reasonable price. I bought my shoes and some cross trainer insoles and wore my new shoes out of the store. They are very comfy by the way. Jackpot! I went back to the car and got to Russell's preschool right on time.

Don't you just love it when things work out perfectly like that?

Photo Highlights of the last six months or so

This was one of those days when the kids were playing a little too well. I went to investigate and Ruby was hiding under my bed. When I convinced her to get out, this is what she looked like. She said, "I'm a cat!" All I could do was bust out laughing.


And again, a couple days later....



This picture is classic Russell. All smiles and covered in his latest snack. He didn't get so tall by skipping meals.

Ready for Rain!

Russell, after sampling the chocolate fondue fountain at a friend's wedding reception.


Ruby and her Uncle Jacob after her kindergarten play last spring.
And with some of her classmates after the play...
The kids decorating an Easter house from Granny Spud
Ruby got a citizenship award at school last spring
Ruby and...Ruby. Ruby's class made cutouts of themselves for the school open house in May. Ruby is saying, "I liked when we made lemonade. I liked when we went to see Beauty and the Beast." I loved this cutout because it looked so much like Ruby.

Russell poses with his sister

At a field trip to Pizza My Heart. Russell got to tag along. All the kids got to make their own pizzas. It was an awesome field trip. And it didn't cost a dime!

Russell snuggles in his sister's blanket

Ruby took a picture of herself.

Ruby and I with Mrs. Viau on the last day of school.

Ruby and Mrs. Viau. We miss her!

Ruby pushes Russell on the swing at the park behind the library.

This year instead of having a traditional party, Ruby chose to have the family go to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. Here she is blowing out her candle. Russell wanted that cake so badly. My dad hid it and told Russell that he ate it all and Russell just about punched him.

Just before swim lessons

After the last day of swim lessons. We passed this park every day on the way to swim lessons. The kids really wanted to go there. I told Russell that we could go there on the last day if he did his lessons without crying. And he did! If only I had figured this out the first week instead of half way through the second one.

Charles, Ruby and Russell at our timeshare in Vegas.
This tub was one of the children's favorite features.