An afternoon at the Lake

We moved, earlier this year, to yet another place that has VERY hot summers.

Luckily this nice area also has several lakes nearby.

Since today was day number two of 100 degree weather we decided it was high time to check out one of the local swim areas we've heard so much about.

An invitation from a friend was all the encouragement we needed for a little family adventure.

Our morning was a bit of a bust.

Leaving later than we had planned I was fairly sure I'd remembered all the important stuff.

Lunch.

Water.

Towels.

Sunscreen.

Kids in car.

Camden insists on putting on his own seat belt.

He's pretty good at it.

But it still takes awhile.

And we were off!

Only a few wrong turns..

the kids fell asleep.

Quick stop at the Visitor's Center for a Park Pass.

We've got to be legal ya'll!

And we finally arrived.

Nice beach, fine rocky shoreline.

Mountains jutting upward all around us.

Trees shading lots of the beach.

Making the 100 degree weather not quite so bad.

Belen quickly made herself at home.

Challenging herself to keep up with her friends.

Swimming from the beach to a floating dock perhaps 50 yards offshore.

Yes, there are lifeguards!

She swam back and forth about four times during our visit.

Do you see Belen WAY out there on the dock? Sitting. Blue floatie.

Camden took awhile to 'warm up'.

Choosing instead to sit with me in the shade.

"Me no swim in lake."

Just for a bit.

Then he wanted more than anything to catch up to Belen,

on the floating dock.

I tried the water.

It was cold.

I don't do cold water.

I told Camden I wouldn't swim with him to the floating dock.

Perhaps next time we go we'll bring daddy to take him.

Campout

These are the pictures the boys brought home from their camp out earlier this month

You remember, the one conveniently scheduled for my birthday.

I really didn't mind.

Belen and I had a unique opportunity to spend a special evening together.

Just the two of us.

And when Saturday night rolled around,

(The day after my birthday)

Zak took me out on a birthday date!

Dinner, birthday burger at Red Robin.

You too can get a free birthday burger if you sign up for their Red Royalty card.

Did you know that they will put a veggie patty on ANY of their burgers?

I did.

It's amazing.

I got the classic burger (veggie patty) with A-1 sauce added.

OH MY!

Then we went to a movie.

While waiting in line to purchase our tickets a gentleman announced, standing nearby, that he had tickets (for the movie we'd wanted to see, in 3-D no less) that he was giving away.

FREE.

We took the tickets.

He walked away. 

We entered, and gave our tickets to the ticket-taker.

He directed us to the correct theater.

We chose seats (there may have been only those two seats left, together even. Lucky us).

We enjoyed our movie,

in 3-D,

FREE!

But I digress.

Here is what the boys did while Belen and I had our girls night:

Early morning by the fire.

Sharing some warmth.

Exploring a cave during an early morning hike.

Just hanging with Dad.

Here's what I heard about the trip

They stayed up WAY late.

Camden slept like a rock.

Not surprising, this kid will sleep anywhere!

Dad didn't sleep much at all.

They woke up at the crack of dawn.

Several hours before Camden normally wakes up.

Camden cried when it was time to break camp and load up the cars to go.

He slept the whole two hour drive home.

Then cried again when he saw me.

AND ran away from me.

I think he would have ran all the way back to camp if he could have.

JAX Air Show

See the tear on Belen's cheek?

In early November, 2011. We drove the hour and some odd minutes down to

 Jacksonville, Florida

 to see the Air Show at 

 "NAS JAX" the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville. 

We were excited to take the kids because the Blue Angels 

originated there and would be performing . 

It was completely free and open to the public.

 They had food booths 

and a large kids play area 

with several different types of 

bounce houses and a

huge 

inflatable slide. 

Mom wasn't allowed to go down with her. She cried the whole way down.

The weather was less than ideal for complete enjoyment though. 

Blustery and VERY cold. 

Not something we'd been expecting.

We didn't have coats with us. 

Because the kids had a truly miserable experience 

I got very few pictures 

but what I love about this experience is 

that regardless of the difficulty we experience planning 

and trying to execute family adventures we refuse to quit trying. 

 
We will keep planning and forcing the kids to come along and sometimes we have a wonderful time with irreplaceable  memories and sometimes they end up like our trip to the Air Show, not so fun.

P.S. As I was publishing this post to the blog Belen told me that she wishes we could go back to Jacksonville to play in the slide and jump in the bounce house. When I reminded her that she hated being there and cried the whole time we where there she said simply, "Why, Mommy?" Another reason to keep planning and doing because even Belen remembers only the good!

Loves Within

In retrospect I seek balance.

The good amongst the challenges.

I feel that I can be honest now.

In case it was a mystery, 

We lived in Georgia for awhile this last year.

It was a challenge for me.

A completely different culture than what I am used to.

Not bad.

Just different enough that after several months I'd yet to find my place.

Looking back we had some great times. 

Moments of joy. 

Even loves within our time there as a family.

It was difficult but it was where we needed to be. I will be posting a blog series that include my "Loves Within". My hope is that by looking back on the good times that my heart can heal and I can move forward with life in yet another new city.

Summer FUN!

Zak surprised us by coming home from work early last Friday so we decided to make good use of our time together! We went to the mall so the kids could play while I got my hair cut SHORT! I had been growing it out just for a change but I really hated it....Now that it is short once again I can recognize myself in the mirror!

After the mall we found a terrific park! We parked our car in a virtual forest, walked down a winding path pushing the kids in the double stroller. We emerged from the forest to a beautiful, sunny and warm but well-shaded clearing with lush emerald-green grass that stretched and rolled gently to another cluster of thick trees and foresty growth. As we entered that next growth of trees we walked across a bridge that spanned the distance between shores of a naturally occurring stream and into another clearing. First we could see a couple of large play structures, and to the right was a great spray park where children's squeals of joy emerged. Plenty of nearby trees to provide shade for parent's who carefully watched their young ones playing in the busyness that was obviously the most popular part of this large, beautiful park.

Camden slept peacefully in the stroller 

as Belen quickly made friends and took turns chasing one another in and out of the spraying water. 

As we left, the opposite way we had come, tummies grumbling wishing we had brought a picnic dinner so we wouldn't have to leave quite so soon, we noticed that up-stream ever so slightly were a series of potholes large enough for older children to swim in that stair-stepped their way from a large swimming hole to more shallow water below. What a great thing is was to explore and discover such a beautiful park that is sure to become a favorite haunt for this family!

Belen's First Fishing Trip!

March 19th

Time to Catch Up!

Oh my! This summer so far had been quite an adventure! We had the opportunity to go to southwest Washington to visit my family. It was so nice to be there especially since Belen hadn't seen her MiMi and Granpa in a YEAR! I know, sad! Belen absolutely LOVED all the space to run around in at my parents house, playing with Sadie the dog, chasing down a skittish Shadow the kitty, and watching the birds play in their cage.

While we were there Belen took every opportunity to disappear....ahh EXPLORE... One second she was in the room with us, the next she was in the neighbors fishing boat, or standing at the side of the house talking to Sadie the dog through the fence with her discarded poopy diaper on the ground beside her wearing NOTHING else but her shoes! The really yucky thing was...no one ever found the poopy!

I got the opportunity to spend my birthday with my twin sister! I don't know what you've been told, but after spending every birthday your entire life with someone as close as a sibling (especially a twin) when you move off on your own and start having birthdays to yourself...it feels like something, or someONE, is missing. It was nice not to have that feeling this year!

We also got to take Belen to the Children's Museum out there. She has an amazing time and so did Zak and I...chasing after her from one activity to the next. It was so much fun just watching her explore everything!

Driving a car at the Bob the Builder exhibit.

Helping Daddy with a bit o'face paint!

Gettin' wet!

"Do I want to put my head in there?"

Back for a touch up.

The clay art exhibit.

One last trip down the slide back at the Bob the Builder exhibit.

A chat with the locals.

And apparently this trip to the NW just couldn't be complete without an up close and personal visit by a Brown Recluse spider...it just gives me the heebie-geebies thinking about it!

P.S. More to come, keep checking back in the next few days!

Spokane, WA

We have some really great friends in Spokane and decided that since we were going to be as close as Moscow, ID to them that we should really take the opportunity to spend some time up there as well. Spokane is one of the most affordable places to live in Washington State and actually has trees, waterways, hills, mountains, and from what I hear great family hiking trails and parks as well.

We stayed with a really great family that Zak had known from his teenaged years in Ohio. The Frerichs! This couple were newlyweds when they joined Zak's family ward in Ohio as Dennis completed the requirements to become a Physicians Assistant. He now specializes in Orthopedics. I had such a great time getting to know Janyse and meeting their two kids. She schooled us all on the Wii. I am terrible at video games of any kind but I enjoy the time with good people so that's all I really care about.

My best friend since forever, Yvonne, also lives in Spokane with her husband and their two adorable girls. We had the opportunity to visit with them and I got to feed them some Spicy Black Bean Burgers (one of our family favorites) that weren't spicy this time because I couldn't find a fresh jalapeno. Now, of course I realize that I could have just bought a small can of jalapenos to use but at the time my pregnant brain got in the way. They were still quite yummy. We also made Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies which were yummy! Another of my favorite people moved to Spokane recently, Aeranee, and we got to spend time with her as well and get caught up a bit. I really miss those chicas! It's crazy that after all these years and life experiences that have taken us in many different directions, when I get together with these, my friends of my childhood it just feels comfortable...like a piece of home, love, friendship, childhood innocence, and all the good things I remember about growing up where we did returns and I remember who I was...who I still am. Our history keeps us bound despite the distance and changes life brings us. I feels good.

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, my camera remained untouched this entire trip. All except for this cute picture of Yvonne's cutie, Mia.

Graduate School or BUST!

Zak was invited by the College of Business and Accounting at the University of Idaho to visit campus, attend a few Graduate Accounting classes, and generally get a feel for the town of Moscow. And, since they offered to foot the bill we just couldn't pass it up!

We decided to drive out there after spending Easter in Utah. Belen stayed in Utah with her grandparents while we spent several days touring campus because Zak really wanted me to have the full experience. Not only that but she wont nap in hotels, not a good thing.

Our drive took us from Utah, through Boise, McCall, through the middle of nowhere (though it was pretty...not something that I've been accustomed to after living for nearly 3 years in Eastern Idaho...if you are thinking that I'm being particularly harsh in my assessment of Eastern Idaho please visit Southwest Washington and the Columbia River Gorge...that is where I grew up and is thus my standard by which I judge natural beauty...sorry Eastern Idaho, you could never really compete. You just don't have it in you), past Lewiston, over some mountains and finally, 10 hours later, Moscow.

When we arrived it was dark and had decided to snow a bit which was sad but as we drove through downtown on our way to our hotel I couldn't help but be charmed. The town immediately emanated a quaint, homey feeling. It made me instantly at ease and excited to see what it looked like in the daylight. I didn't take any pictures of my own (I don't know why, my camera just hung out in my purse all week) I am borrowing some from the internet.

Here is a pullback shot of Moscow (including the U of I campus), the surrounding rolling farmlands and treed mountains.

Here is a shot of downtown. Charismatic, old brick buildings appear on both sides of the tree lined, 4 lane street.

I was pretty impressed by the town, there are many parks that looked clean and safe for Belen to play in as well as a community water park, swim lessons, preschool, and other activities that I think Belen and I would enjoy doing together. I was able to locate all my favorite, but hard to find in Eastern Idaho, health foods in the local grocery store. There is also a small hospital and a couple of family practitioners who were recommended to me by people we met through the U of I.

After completing our drive out there on Monday April 13th, Tuesday was the true beginning of our exploration of the University of Idaho Campus and the Graduate Accounting program.

We were invited on a tour of the Business and Accounting building. It is only a few years old and hosts many technological comforts that Zak learned to love while working on his internship in California last summer. He was pretty happy about that! Since the majority of his classes will be held in this particular building it's "comforts" were very important to him. I was just happy that there was a lunch bar area that offered healthy options because I'm sure he is not planning on packing a lunch daily to eat between classes and study breaks.

Together we attended a Graduate Accounting class and that evening were treated to dinner at a local mexican restaurant.

Wednesday Zak attended a couple of other Accounting classes and was counseled on which direction to take with his studies based on his interest in Fraud Detection and Forensics. He was offered a generous scholarship along with a Graduate Assistantship that would require him to work 10 hours a week tutoring other Accounting students. The Graduate Accounting program is only 1 year. I can handle 1 year...especially if it will be paid for!

So, at this point it looks like we will be Vandals in the Fall! Wish us luck!

Moving Day

This day was Saturday April 11th for us. It was a long day full of heard work, sweat, and a touch of nostalgia. We brought our daughter home from the hospital into this apartment complex. Moving from it and all our friends we'd met and grown to love through our time there was laced with a touch of sadness but excitement as well because it marked the beginning of the next phase of our lives together, as a family.

Credit for artwork Belongs to Scott Samuelson, he was our bishop for a period of time while we lived at these apartments (pictured immediately below the temple) and is an English professor at BYU-I. If you would like to view more of his artwork please click here.

Los Angeles Zoo

This is how we spent our November 20th this year (I know we're backtracking here, just bare with me!)...in shorts and t-shirts in 75 degree beautiful sunny weather at the L.A. Zoo!  Zak was working at an office in Beverly Hills so Belen and I decided to explore the Zoo together and had a great time!

Above: This is her reaction to the stinky Flamingo exhibit.

Above:  Watching the "raffes" as Belen would say (a.k.a the giraffes). 

Above: leading the way...for those of you who don't know...Belen is the most fiercely independent little girl I've ever had the privilege of knowing...let alone raising...hence the much needed leash and harness. I used to think they were so cruel, NOW... well, lets just say I've changed my mind!

Hemet with the Howards!

Belen and I took a trip down to Hemet, CA to visit the Howards last week.  We had a great time! Belen and Damen played so well together that other than some minor refereeing between the two from time to time they pretty much occupied each other the whole time we were there! Maybe I can handle having two kiddos after all!  Melanie (Damen's mommy of course) is a great friend of mine from our days back in the 'Shoug.  We went to middle school, high school and 1 year of college (at Rick's) before she and Dustin got married.  Melanie was the second in our group of girl friends to get married...just to put that into perspective I was the 4th, followed shortly by Julie, and 2 of our pals have yet to tie the knot.  I believe I have been quite blessed in the "great friends" department.  To explain a bit of what I mean...this group of girl friends I'd mentioned...we are all very different people who led our own individual lives, participated in our own clubs, athletic teams, and social groups but were always able to come together as though no time had passed and truly enjoy one another's company.  Now, as adults, our lives have taken us in many different directions; circumstance and miles separate us but despite this it is wonderful to know that we are still great friends.

San Clemente & Laguna Beach

We had the opportunity last weekend to go down to San Clemente and visit one of Zak's ol' mission companions. Not only was is heaven just to get out of the sweltering heat of Bakersfield to spend some time in the cool ocean breezes of San Clemente BUT we had a great time, too!

We left at about 8 p.m. on Friday, drove through L.A. and continued southward...in some places on the freeway there are 8 lanes of traffic on each side!!! I know...I'm a hick but at first will all that traffic and people merging all around me I almost lost it and made Zak drive BUT I didn't!

We arrived in San Clemente at about 11 p.m., Belen had been sleeping soundly the entire trip.  We drove up a steep hill that sat back off the beach and into the city by a few short miles.  Beautiful homes seemed precariously perched on either side of the street with expensive cars lining the curb on either side of the street and filling the driveways as well. We parked in front of one of these homes and it was where we stayed the night and spent sporadic periods of time on Saturday.

After getting Belen re-situated in a room of her own inside the house we ventured out to the back patio to take in the view.  The house was built on the steep hillside overlooking the lights of San Clemente below, and the Pacific Ocean ahead.  We took all this in while relaxing in the hot tub.  After a long car ride and an even longer week it was magical to just sit in the bubbling, frothy water and let the jets massage away any hint of tension remaining in my body. It was also a perfect start to a great weekend!

Saturday everyone slept in except for Belen, of course. We then had a late breakfast at a very quaint little restaurant, Antoines Cafe. While Zak and Bryon (mish. comp.) ate chicken fried steak, I created my own meal by asking the waitress to see if the cook could mix an order of hasbrowns up with the omelette veggies (minus the omelette) and toast. The special order was accommodated with an easy smile and boy was is delish!

Later, after Belen's nap, we took lunch, from Pedro's Tacos, to the public beach where Zak and Bryon boogie boarded in the surf, Belen made friends, and I relaxed and watched it all!

Daddy is being buried in the sand!

Belen wants to help!

But then Mommy has to help!

After spending a few hours basking in the sun at the beach we returned home to clean up before taking a beautiful drive down the PCH to Laguna Beach.  The boys had a specific place in mind for us to go, The Candy Baron. A candy store that specializes in selling any and every candy you have ever heard of...I even found Razzles!  You know, from "13 Going on 30"...which of course we HAD to try! As you can see, it is very easy to walk out of this store spending some cash... Here are some pictures of Laguna Beach...

There were several rows and aisles that looked just like this one!

Is it a candy OR a gum?

Hey, we girls don't want to blow 367 calories on one candy bar!!! Yup, you heard me right, this candy bar

 (made by Nestle, boasts a whopping 367 calories PER BAR!!!

I'll take this instead!

After wandering around a bit window shopping we decided our tummies were ready to be filled once again and headed off to a "green" restaurant also in Laguna Beach called, "La Sirena Grill."  I LOVE that every section of this mexican resaurants menu carries a Vegetarian option! It made my choice all that much more difficult to make, though I settled on a Vegetarian Quesadilla with the works! I didn't realize until I was eating that "THE WORKS" means also jalapeno peppers which I never willingly eat but I was glad for this minor oversight of mine because it was fantastic!

We embarked on the 3 hour drive back to our tiny apartment in the blazing sun shortly after dinner to begin yet another week chock full of responsibility.

And, thanks for the invite, Bryon!