Time flies...

I think this past month has gone by way to fast.  So much has happened that it seems crazy the changes that are coming our way.  We found out some great news that is making us both so happy!  Jon was accepted to BYU-I and will be starting in January!  We are so excited to be able to move to a new place and meet new people.  It will be a different way of living life, but we are ready for it!  I think my biggest adjustment will be the snow... I am a total Southern California girl who loves the sunshine and the beach... not snow and ice.  I will just have top trade in my swimsuit for a snow suit!  We are excited to be able to get school going again.  We both have been waiting to go back to school, and now is the time.  There is so much to do and so little time to do it in!  I guess I should get off the blogging world and go and do more packing!  Woohoo for new chapters in life!  And the best part of it is that I get to have new adventures with my husband/best friend!

November...

Ahhh the month that I have grown to love more through the years.  As a child I remember November being the month where we made turkeys by tracing our hands and then coloring them to have pretty feathers.  I remember that in school I was on a track system (B track to be exact) and that this was the month that we had been waiting for.  We had been in school since August and now it was our track's turn to go on a longer break.  So we had off from around Thanksgiving time to about January.  It was so much fun.  I remember doing so much stuff like playing with my sisters dress up; playing house and store with my sisters; pretending that I was the teacher in our cool backyard play house with a big chalk board.  I remember one time one of my parent's asked us to clean up the back yard, part of that was raking all the extra grass up.  We did it, and I remember pretending that the back yard was the top of an old man's head and that he was loosing all his hair so I had to clean it up for him (Gulliver's travels kind of thing where he was a giant and I was one of the super small people).  Oh the imagination I developed as a child... reality has definitely taking it's place.  I will always love going back in memories and thinking about how I viewed the world through my eyes as a child.

I love November because the season changes and you can feel the change from warm Summer weather to the chilled crisp air that comes with Fall.  It is the month of thanks giving.  I have so much to be grateful for this year.  I am most grateful for the blessings that God has given us.  As we have had an interesting year so far with so many new experiences, we have come to rely on the Lord and His timing.  Things happen when it is the right time, not because of our desire to have them happen right when we wan them to.  I am so grateful for my husband and his hard working self to provide for our family.  He is my rock and an amazing person.  I am thankful for my dogs.  They are so loyal and happy to see you when you come in from a day of work.  They are definitely part of my support system too.

I love the change in colors as I look around at the hills of the area where we are at.  I love the reds and golden colors that are coming.  One thing I am looking forward to is the rainy season.  Not the rain itself (because that drives me bonkers) but the smell after the rain and the clean freshness to the air is amazing!  I wish I could capture it some how and have it with me, but then again it might not mean as much to me if I could have it at my finger tips to enjoy so much.

I am grateful for this month so that I can make a conscious effort to count my blessings.  I have so many and am truly blessed.

Here a little and there a little

Color that is!!  I found this new blog about color and how it can impact the life of not only your home, but your clothes, accessories, parties... you name it, color can impact it!!  Love it!!  I just painted our bedroom a beautiful color and am so happy with it!!  I didn't realize how much having white walls affected my likeness for my own room!!  Now all I want to do is be in my room because of the wonderful warmth that the newly painted colored walls give to it!!  I also think that this poster would look amazing in it!!  How inspirational!!




Check out where I found this lovely piece of art work click here!

Getting C

So I know this is very late, but this is our tip to get Carolyn from school in like... July. It was during the summer I know. It was my first time going to Idaho and I think it was a cool experience. Road trips are always fun... especially in the heat. I can tell you that I will not be living in Nevada!! Yuck! I think over all we had a good time. I Loved seeing the St George Temple. I hadn't been there for a long time. The Rexburg Temple is super nice too! Over all we were successfull at our mission of picking up C. Love you C!!

August 2011

August just started... or so it seemed.   It flew by way too fast!  Here are some photos from August of this year to sum it up shortly.

It was my birthday!!  Woohoo!!  I had a very nice day full of kind wishes and happiness!

We have gotten to spend time as sisters reunited... we love shoes!

The funny thing is that we took my brother to SLO for a day of fun and we (my sisters and I that is) ended up at Ross there trying on shoes while the boys went off and did manly bonding things :)

Me showing off my dirty arms and face from good ol' fashion hard work!

I have done lots of out door things and look tan... for a person who stays inside 90% of the day.  ;)  I pulled super big weeds from our yard!!!  So proud of myself for doing that!!!  I also had my family over to help move our pool from under the tree to out in the sunshine so that we could have it be a little warmer!!

We love our pool and the ability to swim whenever we want to.

I think the biggest thing that happened in the month of August is adopting the newest member of our family.  Her name is Olivia and she is nothing but love!

~Miss Olivia~

They think that she is part Vizla and part pitbull.  We just love her to death and are so happy to have her be a member of our family!  Belle and Indie are adjusting to having a new member of the family nicely and they think they themselves are big dogs anyways... so they are doing well!

As for Jon and I we are working hard at our jobs and living life to the fullest!!

August zoomed right past us and hopefully I will be able to keep up with September!

Love and hope all is well!

Pucker-up Lemon Sugar Cookies

My cousin has a blog that she just started.   She also happens to have great culinary skills (lucky for her husband!)  She has a recipe of the week and I made it tonight.  I just have to say that it was amazing!  You should try making them!  They are so simple and the results are over the top!  Here is her blog and the link to the recipe: YummY to myTummY cookies!

Enjoy!

July 4th 2011

I know this is like a week late, but it is ok with me.  My sister had a brilliant idea to have a 4th of July BBQ at our place this year!  We mainly agreed because of two reasons: we had gone to the beach the day before and noticed that it was packed with people (can't blame them, it was a gorgeous day!) and the second reason is because of this:

We got our own pool!!!  I am so excited about this!  I can swim whenever I want to now!  This has been my childhood dream since.... well forever.  I love to swim and will enjoy our pool so much!

We had a lovely time with family here.

And we ate super good food!

We had a fantastic day!  Thanks for the idea Leann!

We love you!!!

We were also able to attend a breakfast that the Stake puts on every year.  It was nice to see so many people there and to honor those who have served and are serving our country.  We love being Americans!

   

~Dance to Your Hearts Content~

I went a a photo shoot yesterday.  I wasn't the one in the photos or the photographer.  Our good friend Jeremy Wirth (click to view his facebook page) took the photos and my sister was the beautiful model!  Here are some sample photos of the fun time we had!

You have to sign in to facebook to see them since I don't have credit to them.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

I really had a lot of fun!  He is a great photographer and she is a great model!

You should ask him to take pictures of you!

Catching up

Here are some things we have been up to of late

There seems to be some sort of dog attractions to our house because I have saved 5 different dogs that have come and hung out around the front yard.  This most recent pair was a daddy/daughter pair.  They were the sweetest pitbulls!  I know that the breed has a bad reputation, but these two were just adorable.

We have been relaxing at the beach!

Taking in the sun that we so dearly love!

My dad celebrated his 52nd birthday!  We got him a 1,000 piece puzzle from Spain!

We have been able to enjoy going to the temple!

This is a hotel in Avila that we wish we could stay at!

We love to walk or bike this trail!  It has some pretty views as you can tell from some of the following pics

This tree on the trail was growing sideways!

This tree was growing through the rocks!

This is just  one little stream that was on the trail.

Oh and this tree had a skirt to make it look pretty!

We are also working a lot and making the best of life as it is!  We hope to do so much more now that it is officially summer time!

A lovely thought came to mind today...

I saw it on my sister-in-law's blog and it says, "We might not have it all together, but together we have it all."  Today it has new meaning to me and it made me feel better about the situation I find myself in.  So I say thank you Kathy for having that posted because today it was my inspirational thought that kept me going through the day.

Prayer

I know that the prayers of many can help people through tough times.  If you would keep this family in your hearts and prayers to help lift their burdens and make them light, that would mean everything to them.

I think this picture speaks for itself

I don't even know this family personally, but if I was in this same experience, I would want the support, love and prayers of any who would be willing to do so.  I was touched by this family's ability to gather together and hold tight to their faith as they go through this.  May we all strive to live our lives so that we will live with no regrets and be a happy people.

Loves.

Happy Easter!

This is what comes to my mind when I celebrate Easter.  Click here to find out the true meaning of Easter.  It is a beautiful message.  I know that my Savior atoned for my sins and that I can repent and come to him to over come those things which I do wrong.   I am so happy to know that I can live with my husband and family forever because of Jesus' sacrifice and mercy.  It warms my hear to know that I will be able to kneel at his feet and thank him for all that he has done.  For now, my simple prayer of thanks is what I give today so that I might express my feelings to him that gave his life for me.  I hope your Easter was a great one!

It's gettin' hot hot hot!

I am so going to brag right now!!!  It is so nice here!  It was 80 degrees here today!!  I am so loving the warm weather!  I love the sun.  I love the warmness it brings.  I love that I get so warm in my car that I can roll down my windows and feel the breeze.  I love the fact that my dogs get to play outside and get their energy out.

I love love love that warm weather!!

This song totally describes what I want to do: Surfin' Safari (click to hear it!)  I love the Beach Boys and I blame my dad.  I love that my dad taught me all about the songs that he grew up listening to.  I find that I catch myself singing along to them when I hear them and people look at me like, "Aren't you a little young to know that song?"  I know growing up, it was "just what dad did" when listening to music, but I find myself loving some of the same tunes ;)

Thank you dad for establishing that love of the oldies for me!  

Avila Hike

Jon and I have been going on hikes when the weather is good!  On this particular one we walked the Bob Jones' trail up in Avila, CA.  It is a really beautiful place to go hiking and biking!  We have done both and loved both.

One particular part of the trail passes by a really cool tree that grew sideways and an apple orchard that looks really neat.  This particular orchard had a lot of apples that hadn't been picked for some reason or another.  I thought they looked beautiful, with the color they were and the way the branches were bare.  There was such a contrast of color that just made the whole field light up and look so "fallish" for around here.  There are not too many trees that turn color and loose there leaves here, so this was the closest of those colors, in a large amount, that I could get to satisfy my eye's desire.

On this particular visit we walked all the way out to the end of the pier.  We went down the steps to the loading dock for smaller boats and were able to see the ocean water just right under our feet.  The view looking back at the coast from the end of the pier is really a sight to see.  The coast was so green when we went and the water was so blue.  We loved every minute of it.

After our picnic lunch on the pier we walked over to the shopping area where we were able to get ice cream for both us and our dogs!!  This was the first time they had ever had ice cream and they ate every bit of it they could get their mouths on!  The art around the shopping area is very colorful and full of life! (as you can see by some of the photos)

We are aching for that nice weather to return to us so that we can go on more hikes just like this!!  Come on Spring!!

C~A~K~E

I love to make new things.  I also really like chocolate.  So one day as I was blog reading I came across Kara's cooking blog and found the recipe here.  I just had to make it because not only was it chocolate, but it had a chocolate cream cheese frosting!  It was super yummy!  It was also super rich.  Make sure to have your choice of beverage on hand to wash it down with.  My personal choice was milk and it was way good!

I had fun lovin' some chocolate cake!

My hair

I know I am really playing catch up here. I had decided that I needed a change of some sort a little over a month ago. I wanted something that would make me feel good inside but have personal meaning at the same time. I thought about it for a few days and decided that since I have the blessing of being able to grown such long beautiful hair that I would donate it. I had always wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love, but never had the 10 inches that they require. As you can tell by the pictures my hair was quite long... 13 inches long to be exact. Cindy, the stylist, cut 12 inches of it off and I got to send it off to make some little boy or girl very happy!

I felt so proud of myself for doing this because it took me five years (with some hair trims here and there) to grow my hair out that long. I was proud of myself also because going from such long hair to such short hair is an extremely weird feeling of.... well lightheadedness(if that is even a word). I even put it all out on the line when I told Cindy that I wanted bangs to go with the cut! I haven't had bangs since I was in elementary school!

I also felt like I was a trend setter because just a couple days after I cut my hair so did Jennifer Aniston! Woohoo! She totally copied me, but I look better with short hair!

For those who have the adventure in them!

Jon and I wanted to go on a hike and spend some time out doors.  It was a cool morning so we decided around 10am that we would take our dogs to the dog park to get some wiggles out.  So, we get the dogs ready to go and we head to the dog park.  It was cold, cloudy and gloomy but that didn't stop us from wanting to have fun!  Near by the dog park there was a sign that said, "Hiking Trail".  We decided that we wanted to see where it lead to, so we took the trail.  It ended up being super short and not even a ten minute walk up a short little hill.  We got to the end, which was the entrance road to the whole park, and said to each other, "That is it!?  That's LAME!"  So, I suggested that we try going to hike Point Sal trail.

First off, we didn't even know where it exactly was...I just knew the round about area where to locate it.  After only one wrong turn we found it!  Woohoo!  We were so excited!  Our dogs even seemed like they were excited to be out in the fresh air.  The sun was just starting to peek through and it was now around 11am.  We climbed out of the car and found the entrance to the trail, just as we were walking through we asked a small family if they hiked the area often, they did, and so they let us know to take the "Sissy Trail" since we were first timers. We were for sure sticking to that advice!  We didn't want to strain ourselves too much since we are not in the best hiking shape.

Our hike was going along really well until we noticed that the sun was completely out and we still had sweat shirts on... off the with those layers.  We enjoyed the wide trail and the wildlife around us.  There were the green rolling hills; cows grazing near by; birds chirping and singing along the way; lots and lots of horse poop; and a wonderful ocean breeze that was able to help us stay cool as we warmed up hiking the steepness of the trail.

As we got further and further in to the hike we would pause to take a moment and reflect on if we had the energy to get back from the point we were currantly at.  We concluded that we should continue since we had gone that far and that we didn't want to leave disappointing ourselves.  We wanted to see the ocean view that everyone talks about at the end of this hike!

Well, we got to the end!  It took us about an hour and a half to hike 2.8 miles of the 5 mile trail and boy was the view worth it!!!  We sat down at the top of one of the hills that over looked the ocean and marvelled at how beautiful the sight was.  Here are some of the views we saw out there!

Looking south while hiking the trail...almost to the end...we can see our goal!

We reached our goal!  Looking north!

Looking south

The small beach is actually the end of the trail... but that was another 2 miles or so

The point we were there... ha ha ha... Point Sal

Gorgeous!

Come one! Come all!

If you ever come to visit us, I will probably mention taking you to this amazing local inn.
It is called the Madonna Inn.
It is an amazing place to go and look at decorating that is extremely beyond anything normal.
To say that it is over the top is just hitting the tip of the ice.
To say that "there are no girls aloud in the boys bathroom" would be a lie.
To say that you would have a "beyond great" stay here would be 100% true.
Come and visit us! We'll take you there to see this "little house on the side of the road".

My little sister...

She is all grown up now. She's a big girl out at college and transitioning well to living out on her own. I am so proud of Carolyn because she is the first in my immidiate family to go to a 4 year university. She is studying English and probably would love to teach it some day too.

I remember growing up together that we always said that we would live close to each other because we couldn't stand to live far apart. I would have to say that we still feel that way. With her living in Idaho and me living in California it is hard to physcially meet up and hang out. We are so grateful for Skype, Facebook, emailing, texting, and cell phones. I think both of us use at least one of those means to talk to each other on a daily basis.

When we were growing up, all three of us girls shared a room. Some might think that that is a bad idea, and I would have to agree because at times it was hard. Over all, I would have to say that I wouldn't change a thing about sharing a room with my younger sisters. We have a bond that cannnot be broken by anything or anyone. I believer that the bond that we have comes from living in and sharing the same space for so many years. My sisters are not only blood related to me but they are tied to me by friendship. We might have our times where we are mad at each other, but there is never a fight that has lasted for more than a day with us. We can't be mad at each other for long at all.

This year will be a year wher our relationship will grow on different levels than we have known before. We will not only grow because we are apart, but because there is a new chapter in Carolyn's life that will affect us as well. I hope that she is having tons of fun! I hope that she is learning a lot about herself! I most of all hope that she is finding in life what she needs to better herself as a person... and sister!

Love you Carolyn! Miss you bunches!