Halloween was fun. Danny didn't dress up. He went to a teenager party hosted by a family in our ward. Rachel and Ruby were both Pikachu. Pokemon go is big in our house. Aaron was his scream costume again and Seth was a Ghostbuster. The new ghostbuster movie came out and Seth has been on a kick ever since. Actually I guess he was before it came out. He really liked 1 and 2 also.
Rachel started volleyball with a friend from church. It's just a lesson once a week. It's been really nice. She likes it. I think it would be really good for her to be able to try out for volleyball in high school. Now they just tried out for a club team that lasts January to May and it is so expensive. So we're trying to decide now if it's worth it and if she really wants it.
Aaron finished flag football. He has such a good time on that team. We were so glad his coach decided to do flag football again this year. Danny finished ballerz for a while. They take off the winter while they play for the school team. His school team is talking about practicing year round. So that will be a hard choice for him if he has to choose between school and club. He's been with ballerz for a long time and they are so great. Seth just started basketball. He didn't do a sport in the fall. He's loving basketball because he's one of the better players since he's older and his brothers have worked with him a little. Ruby and Rachel are doing dance again. We love their close, little, low-key studio. Ruby is starting to do really well. She still complains a little when I pull her away from playing to take her to class. But she memorized their dance months ago and she practices it everywhere. It makes me so happy!
We went to Austin to visit Casey and Kami over Veteran's day weekend. We had a great time. That must be a slow time for travel because it's the same weekend I found great tickets to go to San Francisco last year. We left Wednesday night and flew over night and came home late Sunday night. So we had 4 full days there. Thursday when we got to their house, we slept most of the morning. Then we went to the State Capitol in Austin and did a little tour. It was pretty. Then we went to a military museum. It was cool, but we only had 20 minutes before they closed. We walked around outside and saw the tanks. Then we found a workout playground place. The kids thought that was great and we stayed there a while. Then we ate barbeque for dinner. Friday we went to San Antonio. We went to the Alamo, which was impressive and fun, but very crowded since it was Veterans Day. Then we went and saw the River Walk. That was really fun. We had great weather while we were there. We ate ice cream there. Then we drove back and ate at our favorite monte cristo place, Cheddars. And we picked up a cake and ice cream and went back to Casey's to celebrate Ruby's birthday. Saturday we went to a fun park with Casey and Kami. Then the kids babysat and the adults went out to dinner that night. Sunday we went to church. We did our vacation church and had a testimony meeting with them in their backyard. After lunch we went of a long walk on a trail by their house that went by 2 parks. A man at the park introduced us to pineapple guava that were growing there. We took some home and tried them. They were good.
Danny tried out for high school basketball and made varsity as a freshman. Their coach is new and he came from coaching basketball at a regular high school so he runs everything just like a regular school would. It's so great. The only problem so far was that Danny had 2 F's and a D. So he's had to work really hard to get those grades up. I'm glad for some more motivation for him because Bob and I have been working on getting him to do better all year and it hasn't helped.
For Thanksgiving we got the whole week off this year. That was great. We stayed home monday and Tuesday and those days were full of taking kids to extra practices and I took a group of girls to do baptisms at the temple. When I was at the temple a little while ago I was praying about when the Lord wants me to do and I felt prompted to help the youth get to the temple and to help Bob's sister get to the temple more.
We left Tuesday night for Ryan's house. Wednesday we went to Magic Mountain with them because they had free passes. We had a lot of fun, but it got really cold and windy toward the end of the day. It's nice that it's so close to their house and we don't have to pay anything to go. Thursday we made the food and went to the park. We ate around 3 when Kristal and Dan got there. Then we went to see the new Disney movie Moana. Friday we went to the beach. It was a really nice day there. Aaron and Seth got in the water. It was hard to keep them out when it was as warm as it is some days in the summer there. They played on the playground too and we ate a picnic. That night we went to Chuck E Cheese for Ella's birthday. Saturday morning my kids babysat and all the adults went to the LA temple. I've never done a session there. It was nice. Then we had plans to go ice skating that afternoon before we headed back but we were too slow and then it started raining and we didn't want to get into traffic so we just drove home.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
October 23, 2016
Bob, Danny and Rachel are in Virginia right now. They went to go visit Bob's grandparents. They're having a great time. Since Bob was going to be gone, I asked my mom to come visit. She came Monday night and Bob and the kids left wednesday night. She left Sunday morning and they come back sunday night. We've had a great week. She was here for Aaron's birthday. He chose to go out to TGIFridays for dinner and and target and we had donuts in the morning. My mom and I went to the temple and went shopping and did some family history and all my regular stuff, but it was fun to have someone here to do it with.
I've been working at the school a couple of days a week. I don't love being on call, but it's nice to be at the school sometimes and it's so much better than working full time!
We had stake conference last weekend. Several people talked about going to the temple once a week. I was kind of thinking I'd get to the temple twice a month now that I'm not working, but it made me realize that I should definitely go once a week. I'm excited for that goal. Also Elder Cornish came to our stake conference. I loved his conference talk and his talks at stake conference were so good too. Very similar to the things Valerie talked about in her seminar that I just finished.
We had another girl incident with Danny. Apparently he held a girl's hand at school. I got all kinds of reports from people that it happened, but when I asked him he lied to me repeatedly. We had a pretty miserable 2 weeks where he was so grumpy and mean. He gets like that every time something like this has happened. Bob always tries to tell me it's regular teenage boy stuff, but I'm so thankful for the Spirit that keeps at me to figure out what's going on. We had a great talk once he finally told the truth and it was so great to get to share some of the things I have learned from Valerie with him. He hasn't ever done anything horrible with girls, but they are sure a temptation for him and after he does it he has such guilt it just tears him apart. Parenting teenagers can be so hard, but I can't imagine how much harder it would be without the spirit.
I've been working at the school a couple of days a week. I don't love being on call, but it's nice to be at the school sometimes and it's so much better than working full time!
We had stake conference last weekend. Several people talked about going to the temple once a week. I was kind of thinking I'd get to the temple twice a month now that I'm not working, but it made me realize that I should definitely go once a week. I'm excited for that goal. Also Elder Cornish came to our stake conference. I loved his conference talk and his talks at stake conference were so good too. Very similar to the things Valerie talked about in her seminar that I just finished.
We had another girl incident with Danny. Apparently he held a girl's hand at school. I got all kinds of reports from people that it happened, but when I asked him he lied to me repeatedly. We had a pretty miserable 2 weeks where he was so grumpy and mean. He gets like that every time something like this has happened. Bob always tries to tell me it's regular teenage boy stuff, but I'm so thankful for the Spirit that keeps at me to figure out what's going on. We had a great talk once he finally told the truth and it was so great to get to share some of the things I have learned from Valerie with him. He hasn't ever done anything horrible with girls, but they are sure a temptation for him and after he does it he has such guilt it just tears him apart. Parenting teenagers can be so hard, but I can't imagine how much harder it would be without the spirit.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
October 1, 2016
We had a good conference weekend. Now we're having Sandy over for dinner because May is out of town. Friday night I went to St. George with Stephanie Gunnell. She was running the marathon and her family didn't want to go with her. So Bob took care of all the crazy kid carpools and I drove to St. George. It was a quick trip. We got there around 5:00 that night and had dinner and then Saturday she got up and did her race and I stayed in the hotel and watched the first session. It was nice to have the long drives to get to catch up.
I'm now an on-call aide instead of full time. I was still struggling with the job. And this week they called one of the other aides in to talk to her because she'd missed 19 days last year while her sister was sick. They wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss that much this year. It was a little surprising. So I went to talk to my supervisor because I think I'll miss that much this year easily, with sick kids and trips and appointments and then a few days I might need just to keep up on my life. I thought it would be better for her to know ahead of time instead of getting mad like with the other aide. She didn't like that and thought the job might not be for me then. They were in need of someone reliable to be on-call though, so I will do that. They are working to get a replacement for me now. I'm so relieved to not have to work everyday. It was just so hard. But it'll be nice to work a little still so I can see the kids there sometimes. I hope to volunteer a lot in the classroom now too. And I plan to try to get my websites so I can work about 12 hours a week. That will make it so I earn a similar amount to when I was working full time for the school. I'm so relieved it worked out ok and I don't think I've made anyone mad at me. Well, there were a couple, but I think I've explained things to them. I just really didn't know what I was committing to do when I agreed to work full time.
I'm still having breathing and sleeping issues. That's another reason the job was so stressful. I've been to see Valerie a few times over the summer. She said I had some "false precepts" and "apparently noble thinking". I've realized that I didn't fully understand the atonement. I kind of thought I should try my hardest not to use it. But she helped me realize we all need it all the time because we are imperfect (not finished) and we live in a fallen world. It's just a fact. I always had some guilt because I thought I know about the gospel and all the things I should be doing. So since I know better I should be doing better. But I still mess up or am lazy. But Heavenly Father knows me and created and finished his plan for me before the world was (Heb 4:3 JST). So he knew I'd be right where I am right now and it's ok because I'm trying. That is why I need to keep using the sacrament. I didn't have complete faith because I didn't really know if the path I'm on was agreeable to the Lord (Lectures on Faith definition). I was afraid to ask in case I wasn't, or I had mock humility or something. I realize that I am in just the place the Lord knew I would be and that has helped me have more faith and peace. So I guess my anxiety was because I thought I had to do it all myself and that if I didn't I wouldn't get the best reward or I would miss something. But I can't miss something if I'm looking to the Savior.
Anyway, I went and saw Valerie by myself 3 or 4 times and then she recommending I take her Universal Truths class. It's 7 weeks. I really like it. It's all about the basics of the gospel but it doesn't use all the regular church phrases so that helps it sink in better. I feel like I've found most of my false beliefs. And I feel a stronger understanding of our place here and what the Savior has really done for us. My breathing and tension and bad sleeping are still going strong. It's frustrating and uncomfortable. During the day I'm not too bad and I'm able to do most everything just fine, although I hurt most of the time. But at night it feels like mental illness or something. I had Bob give me a blessing. It talked about patience and understanding the body and spirit connection better. I don't know if that means I have more false beliefs or messed up subconscious or something or if I've just really messed up my body's reactions and it'll just take a while to get better. I have 3 weeks left of Valerie's class. And it'll be nice to work less so I can have time to really ponder some of this stuff and get to the temple more.
I'm now an on-call aide instead of full time. I was still struggling with the job. And this week they called one of the other aides in to talk to her because she'd missed 19 days last year while her sister was sick. They wanted to make sure she wouldn't miss that much this year. It was a little surprising. So I went to talk to my supervisor because I think I'll miss that much this year easily, with sick kids and trips and appointments and then a few days I might need just to keep up on my life. I thought it would be better for her to know ahead of time instead of getting mad like with the other aide. She didn't like that and thought the job might not be for me then. They were in need of someone reliable to be on-call though, so I will do that. They are working to get a replacement for me now. I'm so relieved to not have to work everyday. It was just so hard. But it'll be nice to work a little still so I can see the kids there sometimes. I hope to volunteer a lot in the classroom now too. And I plan to try to get my websites so I can work about 12 hours a week. That will make it so I earn a similar amount to when I was working full time for the school. I'm so relieved it worked out ok and I don't think I've made anyone mad at me. Well, there were a couple, but I think I've explained things to them. I just really didn't know what I was committing to do when I agreed to work full time.
I'm still having breathing and sleeping issues. That's another reason the job was so stressful. I've been to see Valerie a few times over the summer. She said I had some "false precepts" and "apparently noble thinking". I've realized that I didn't fully understand the atonement. I kind of thought I should try my hardest not to use it. But she helped me realize we all need it all the time because we are imperfect (not finished) and we live in a fallen world. It's just a fact. I always had some guilt because I thought I know about the gospel and all the things I should be doing. So since I know better I should be doing better. But I still mess up or am lazy. But Heavenly Father knows me and created and finished his plan for me before the world was (Heb 4:3 JST). So he knew I'd be right where I am right now and it's ok because I'm trying. That is why I need to keep using the sacrament. I didn't have complete faith because I didn't really know if the path I'm on was agreeable to the Lord (Lectures on Faith definition). I was afraid to ask in case I wasn't, or I had mock humility or something. I realize that I am in just the place the Lord knew I would be and that has helped me have more faith and peace. So I guess my anxiety was because I thought I had to do it all myself and that if I didn't I wouldn't get the best reward or I would miss something. But I can't miss something if I'm looking to the Savior.
Anyway, I went and saw Valerie by myself 3 or 4 times and then she recommending I take her Universal Truths class. It's 7 weeks. I really like it. It's all about the basics of the gospel but it doesn't use all the regular church phrases so that helps it sink in better. I feel like I've found most of my false beliefs. And I feel a stronger understanding of our place here and what the Savior has really done for us. My breathing and tension and bad sleeping are still going strong. It's frustrating and uncomfortable. During the day I'm not too bad and I'm able to do most everything just fine, although I hurt most of the time. But at night it feels like mental illness or something. I had Bob give me a blessing. It talked about patience and understanding the body and spirit connection better. I don't know if that means I have more false beliefs or messed up subconscious or something or if I've just really messed up my body's reactions and it'll just take a while to get better. I have 3 weeks left of Valerie's class. And it'll be nice to work less so I can have time to really ponder some of this stuff and get to the temple more.
Friday, September 16, 2016
September 14, 2014
Summer is over. Rachel and I went to girls camp. It was great. We camped as award and it was so much fun to spend more time with our girls and leaders. There was a meteor shower one night and a few of us leaders stayed up past midnight to watch it. It was so fun. We saw at least 100 shooting stars in an hour.
The week after we got home we were released. I miss the girls so much. But I'm happy they are all Rachel's age so we'll continue to see them. I am on the enrichment committee now.
It's funny because the RS president has been asking for me for that calling for about a year. Bob told me and my friend who is the RS secretary told me. They asked what I thought about it and I said if it's just to fill a spot and not inspired then I totally don't want it. Bob and Stephanie both tried to get me out of it. But at girls camp I got all these ideas about how I can get sisters to come and then I knew it must be inspired. It is nice to have a calling that requires so much less time.
We had our end of summer party with dry ice and water balloons in the pool. We also took each of the kids on their own date with us before school started. We had been trying to do one a month, but hadn't gotten to it so we crammed them. It was really nice to get to spend that time with each of them.
School started. It's so great to have Aaron at the same school. Danny had a bit of a rough start because so many of his friends left for other high schools. He's settling in now. The nice thing is he has friends all over from kids who've left Somerset and basketball and stick dances. So he goes to football games he has lots of friends to hang out with. Everyone else is doing great at school Seth and Ruby are both sad when it's not a school day. Which is saying a lot because in Kender and half of first grade Seth didn't like school.
My job started also. So now all six of us are at Skypoint every day. Full-time work is so hard. It's been three weeks now and 90% of the nights my body aches because I'm so tired and I'm crying because this is so hard. The people are all really nice and I love seeing Ruby, Seth and Aaron at school every day. But I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I don't know how working moms do it I've been really conflicted because I want to be someone who does what they say they will. But I had no idea it would feel this hard. And I feel like it's hard to be a good mom when I'm stressed and tired. We'll see. I am going to give it a few more weeks I think while I try to figure out what I want to switch to – like being on – call or volunteering A day a week or something.
The garden has had a rough time. Squash bugs killed my zucchini and watermelon. It started on the pumpkin, but they left it alone in the end. The crickets became a problem at night the dirt would look like it's moving because of so many crickets. I stopped watering the whole garden and just hand watered the tomatoes and pumpkin I had left in there. And I threw diatomaceous earth all over everything. That helped. But then there are still a ton of baby crickets. So small they look like ants. But they were eating any new things I put in. I went ahead and planted a bunch of things for fall hoping that they won't eat all of it. So far carrots and green onions have come up and are not eaten but the first night I put a kale plant in the whole thing was eaten two sticks the peas are eaten as soon as they come up. Half a cauliflower was eaten and even an entire marigold plant. So I finally bought some seven pesticide and sprayed it on everything I figured not quite organic is better than no plans at all. And the plants I buy at the nursery probably have pesticides used on them early on. I am hoping to not have to use it again. Then our pumpkin vines were getting big and finally getting lots of female blossoms. But then one day I realize all the blossoms were gone I was going to Google what could cause that when I saw a mouse run away and down the wall. So now Bob is working on getting rid of mice.
The week after we got home we were released. I miss the girls so much. But I'm happy they are all Rachel's age so we'll continue to see them. I am on the enrichment committee now.
It's funny because the RS president has been asking for me for that calling for about a year. Bob told me and my friend who is the RS secretary told me. They asked what I thought about it and I said if it's just to fill a spot and not inspired then I totally don't want it. Bob and Stephanie both tried to get me out of it. But at girls camp I got all these ideas about how I can get sisters to come and then I knew it must be inspired. It is nice to have a calling that requires so much less time.
We had our end of summer party with dry ice and water balloons in the pool. We also took each of the kids on their own date with us before school started. We had been trying to do one a month, but hadn't gotten to it so we crammed them. It was really nice to get to spend that time with each of them.
School started. It's so great to have Aaron at the same school. Danny had a bit of a rough start because so many of his friends left for other high schools. He's settling in now. The nice thing is he has friends all over from kids who've left Somerset and basketball and stick dances. So he goes to football games he has lots of friends to hang out with. Everyone else is doing great at school Seth and Ruby are both sad when it's not a school day. Which is saying a lot because in Kender and half of first grade Seth didn't like school.
My job started also. So now all six of us are at Skypoint every day. Full-time work is so hard. It's been three weeks now and 90% of the nights my body aches because I'm so tired and I'm crying because this is so hard. The people are all really nice and I love seeing Ruby, Seth and Aaron at school every day. But I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I don't know how working moms do it I've been really conflicted because I want to be someone who does what they say they will. But I had no idea it would feel this hard. And I feel like it's hard to be a good mom when I'm stressed and tired. We'll see. I am going to give it a few more weeks I think while I try to figure out what I want to switch to – like being on – call or volunteering A day a week or something.
The garden has had a rough time. Squash bugs killed my zucchini and watermelon. It started on the pumpkin, but they left it alone in the end. The crickets became a problem at night the dirt would look like it's moving because of so many crickets. I stopped watering the whole garden and just hand watered the tomatoes and pumpkin I had left in there. And I threw diatomaceous earth all over everything. That helped. But then there are still a ton of baby crickets. So small they look like ants. But they were eating any new things I put in. I went ahead and planted a bunch of things for fall hoping that they won't eat all of it. So far carrots and green onions have come up and are not eaten but the first night I put a kale plant in the whole thing was eaten two sticks the peas are eaten as soon as they come up. Half a cauliflower was eaten and even an entire marigold plant. So I finally bought some seven pesticide and sprayed it on everything I figured not quite organic is better than no plans at all. And the plants I buy at the nursery probably have pesticides used on them early on. I am hoping to not have to use it again. Then our pumpkin vines were getting big and finally getting lots of female blossoms. But then one day I realize all the blossoms were gone I was going to Google what could cause that when I saw a mouse run away and down the wall. So now Bob is working on getting rid of mice.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
August 21, 2016
Danny passed out when he had his blood drawn. He was fasting to do it. They didn't take very much blood. I didn't think anything about it. We walked out when he was done. He was behind me. I went out the door and his legs gave out and he crashed into the door. A nice man helped us get him onto the bed and he had to lay there for 30 minutes before he felt well enough to walk out. He got a nice bump and cut on his forehead and will probably have a canker sore where his braces smashed into his lip. I wish it would have occurred to me to watch him. When he had his ingrown toenail's cut out just watching it made him almost pass out. We talked about how it feels so he can remember next time he starts feeling like that. He's so big and strong. But when that happened he just looked like my tiny little boy.
This week was nice to get things done. I listened to 2 novels while I cleaned the house. We went to Ikea. I left my wallet in Bob's car when I went to camp and forgot to get it out after. We got all our food in the restaurant and then realized I didn't have money. Luckily Rachel brought $20 so we had to put some of our food back and then we shared while we waited for Bob to bring my wallet to us.
We went to the waterslides. Bob and Danny painted Danny's room. Danny did a 4th laser treatment on his face and a bunch of extractions. We're hoping that will be the ticket to really clear him up. I also started making cookies and muffins to freeze to have as afterschool snacks when I'm working. This week I will double some meals to freeze also. Bob is going to start getting up with Danny when he gets ready for seminary and then go to work when he leaves. Then he'll be able to get home at 5:30. I think that'll be so nice to have him to help me drive kids around afterschool.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
August 14, 2016
Girls camp was great. We just got home yesterday. We camped as wards. That was fun to spend time with all the girls I know and the ward leaders that I love serving with. And when we did levels, I was over Rachel's level. We saw an amazing meteor shower one night. We saw about 100 shooting starts in an hour.
We had a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We stayed with Wendy. We spent one morning with Kartrina, then had lunch at J Dawgs and then went to the BYU bookstore and spent the rest of the day with the Deans. We went to the blessing and then had a bbq with Amanda and Wendy and their families.
Now we're on the countdown to school. This week we can catch up with things and we've been trying to get to ikea all summer so we'll do that and the waterslides. Next week I'll have to work at least one day and we have one day that is full of open houses to meet everyone's teachers.
Today is Rachel's birthday. Mostly we celebrated at Kristal's. Today we had norwegian pancakes for breakfast. And we'll have cake and ice cream after church. She'll have some friends over for a party sometime this week.
We had a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We stayed with Wendy. We spent one morning with Kartrina, then had lunch at J Dawgs and then went to the BYU bookstore and spent the rest of the day with the Deans. We went to the blessing and then had a bbq with Amanda and Wendy and their families.
Now we're on the countdown to school. This week we can catch up with things and we've been trying to get to ikea all summer so we'll do that and the waterslides. Next week I'll have to work at least one day and we have one day that is full of open houses to meet everyone's teachers.
Today is Rachel's birthday. Mostly we celebrated at Kristal's. Today we had norwegian pancakes for breakfast. And we'll have cake and ice cream after church. She'll have some friends over for a party sometime this week.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
July 31, 2016
This summer has flown by! I'll try to remember by month what happened.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
May
The end of school was busy as usual. Aaron and Seth finished their soccer season. They both did great. We joined the Dinosaur park league, which was so nice to be so close. Aaron rode his bike to practice and Seth's practice was wedged between piano for Aaron and Rachel and Basketball for Danny. It wouldn't have worked if I had to drive to the other soccer park. Danny played with his club team and also played on an intramural basketball team for his school. I was the unofficial team mom for the basketball team because they had a hard time getting the team organized and communicated to the parents. The girls still did their dance classes at the cute studio close to our house.
We went to Ryan and Venessa's for Memorial Weekend. We went to the beach by ourselves on the first day because everyone else had work and school. We had a great time boogie boarding and playing. Aaron ate too much junk food, once again, and threw up in the rocks. Danny hit a sneaky squirrel in the head with a rock by accident. He didn't bother us again!
The next day all the cousins and Grandma and Grandpa joined us at the beach. We had a great time. Sunday we had our regular vacation church family testimony meeting. Grandma and Grandpa came with us for that. We walked to the HOA and went on a hike.
The week before Memorial Day a job opened up at the Elementary school for a Teacher's Aide. I applied and was interviewed that day. I have several friends who work at the school so that was really helpful. The interview went great and they said they'd get back to me in a week. They called the next day with a job offer. It all happened so fast. I called the Principal at the middle school to make sure he couldn't offer me the sports secretary job. He said they weren't ready. So I took the job. I'll be working the full hours of Elementary school. It's taken me most of the summer to adjust to the fact that I'll be working pretty much full time. It's going to be a busy year.
June
School ended. Yay! A few days after school got out we went to Visalia to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. Bob and I left for a few days for our Anniversary. We went to Cambria. We toured Hearst Castle, went for a bike ride into town for some French pastries, watched the seals and ate at some great restaurants. The weather was a little cold, but we had a nice, lazy weekend. And then Bob flew home and I stayed with the kids for the week. We had a great time shopping and swimming and going to the arcade. The kids hit some major jackpots there so it made it exciting. We also finally got to take Bob to Superior Dairy in Hanford. We did boys against girls this time. The boys took it seriously and downed their ice cream fast.
We brought Grandma back with us when we came home from Visalia. And we got back just in time for Danny and Bob to turn around and drive back to CA for a basketball tournament. This is pretty much the only tournament Danny's team travel's to (we love that they mostly just do the local tournaments) and we've never made it there. So this year Danny really wanted to go. Bob and Danny got to have a nice boys weekend. They stayed at Kristal's house about 30 minutes from the tournament. They had a game Friday night and Saturday night. So Saturday morning they got to go to the beach. They also found some awesome places to eat. After the Saturday game they raced home so Danny could go to the last 2 hours of the stake dance with his friends.
Grandma came back from Visalia with us so she could watch the kids while Bob, Danny and I went on our stake's Pioneer Trek. It was super hot that weekend in Utah, where we did the trek. But we still had a great time and really bonded with our trek families.
The month of June felt like a whirlwind. We didn't have any downtime to have a lazy summer day or catch up on things. As soon as school got out it felt like I just had to get through trek and then things would slow down. But when we got home from trek, we had 4 days at home to recover and then get ready for our 13 day trip to Oregon and Tahoe.
July
We left July 1 for Oregon. We drove straight through to get there. 16 hours. The kids did great. There were 40 people staying at the farmhouse this year. We were celebrating Grandma Monte's 85th birthday.
The first day in Oregon we went to Portland. Ryan's family and Grandma and Grandpa came with us. We went to VooDoo donuts first. It was ok. Then we went to the International Rose Test Garden. It was amazing. Such beautiful flowers everywhere. Seth and Ruby really got into it and took our phones around to take pictures of all the flowers. They actually got some pretty good ones. After the rose garden we split up and just our family went to the Nike Store since it's based in Portland. And then we rode the Arial Tram that connects two parts of the hospital. The kids thought it was pretty cool.
Sunday we went to church and celebrated Grandma's birthday. We had cake and took pictures in our matching Barnhart Family Reunion shirts. That night my mom and dad took pictures by the creek on the farm. We got some really great ones. Danny and the other kids went fishing every day. And we picked blueberries all the time. It's amazing how many of those blueberries you can eat every day when you don't have to pay for them!
Monday was 4th of July. We drove to Lincoln City. That morning when we were getting ready to go I took a step and all of a sudden my ankle was killing me. It felt like I pulled a tendon or something. So I had to limp all day. We went to the 4th of July parade. That was fun. Then we went over to the beach and played for a while. We did fireworks in the backyard. Danny and Aaron helped Grandpa with tons of fireworks. The close museum was doing big fireworks too so we could watch those at the same time.
Tuesday we went back to Portland and rode a ferry up and down the river. Wednesday we went to the indoor waterslides. I wasn't feeling very well when I got up but I thought it would wear off so I went to the waterslides with everyone. I took it easy for a while and then Danny really wanted me to ride a slide with him so I decided to try it. I got most of the way up and started feeling light-headed. I sat down and hoped it would stop. But it didn't. I threw up blueberries all over the stairs. Danny ran and got Bob to help me. But then some lifeguards came and said they'd clean it up. I went and got cleaned up and then I felt great. We had a fun rest of the day at the waterslides. Aaron really wanted to go to the aviation museum so he talked Grandpa into taking him halfway through the day.
Thursday we drove to Tahoe. Friday we played at Sand Harbor. We always have such a good time there. Saturday we went to the Air show. The kids really enjoyed sitting in a Tesla and getting all the free stuff from the vendors. We left the Smith's at the air show and we went to hike along the Rubicon trail. Ruby really liked that it was like her name. We had a good time, even though there was some whining at the beginning. It's just so beautiful there! The blue lake is amazing. Monday we went to Donner beach and we took the jet ski. Danny was old enough to drive it and take the kids on rides. Bob loved that he didn't have to be out there the whole time. It was a little cooler there than it has been sometimes so we had a harder time getting in the water a lot. We also played games at night and had smores and expoded a watermelon by putting hundreds of rubber bands around it. We had a great time in Tahoe once again. This was our 7th year in a row going there. We're so grateful the Smith's let us come stay with them every year.
The week after our big vacation was Scout Camp. Bob had to go help also. It was nice to have a week to be home and get things done. I cleaned all the carpets upstairs and the stairs.
This weekend Rachel and I went to stay at Kristal's with Grandma to celebrate her 13th birthday. We had such a great time. The weather was perfect. The first day we went shopping most of the day. It was very successful. We rode bikes to the beach that evening and got dinner. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach. Rachel can stay in the water forever. We found a fun part of Huntington beach that has a sandbar just a little way out. We had a lot of fun there. Then we rode bikes around the beach. We got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory that night. Rachel loved it. Saturday we were lazy in the morning. Then Kristal taught us pilates and we went back to our sandbar spot at the beach for a few hours then we drove home.
August seems like it will be just as busy as the rest of the summer. We're going to Utah this weekend for Sarah's baby's blessing then Rachel and I go to girls camp as soon as we get back. Then there is only 2 weeks until school starts. But I assume I'll have to start work earlier than that to get a little training.
I also have been having weird anxiety stuff for a while with my breathing and muscle tension and sleeping problems and now I think my tingling hands might be related too. I went to see Valerie. I think it's been helpful. I'll write more about it next time.
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