Shakin' Surf!

Yesterday I experienced something that I have never experienced before. We had gone to Zuma to enjoy another great day at the beach here in sunny California. We had only been at the beach less than an hour, kids were in the water having fun and I was sitting on the shore with my friends (Lori and Kaye) chatting away when all of a sudden we felt the earth moving. We were having an earthquake! Now I have experienced many earthquakes, living in CA all of my life but I have never felt one while I was at the beach, this was a first for me. It was a very different feeling having no buildings around, at first I thought what a great place to be in an earthquake. But then panic set in and I am thinking "How big was the earthquake? and "Where was it centered?" and "Doesn't earthquakes in the ocean cause huge tsunamis?" Yes, these are the things I was thinking of as I was trying to get through to Adam on my cell phone but found there was no service. The thought crossed my mind that maybe we should leave but that thought quickly passed and we stayed at the beach and had an enjoyable day. It was a very different experience and I thought how ironic that while I was enjoying the beach, one of the things I love about living in CA I was also experiencing an earthquake, one of the things I hate about CA. But all in all the great day at the beach outweighed the panic from the earthquake. This time!

So little time....

So much to blog about...so little time! Since I use this blog as somewhat of a diary I thought I better list some things that we have been up to. Just a quick summary of items I have to blog.

Matthew and his best friend went to EFY in Santa Barbara and as he says it was the "Best week of my life!" He loved it and is now getting phone calls from new friends that he made. So much fun!! Zack saying goodbye to Matthew! He was missed!!

Zack and I had a great week together besides the fact that we were missing Matthew. We got a couple of beach days in and doctor and dentist appointments. Oh boy! Here Zack is buried in the sand....you should have seen when he got up. Yuck!!

Every year our stake celebrates July 24th with a Pioneer Day celebration. This year it was held on July 19th and it is always a fun time but always very HOT! This year it was nice though because they held it in the morning so it was much nicer. Here are pics of the boys enjoying the Tug of War competition and of Adam enjoying his time in the kitchen making scones. I was at the Primary Cub Scout Booth where we had a Vegetable Derby, putting wheels on vegetables and racing them on a pinewood derby track. The cucumber made the fastest vegetable! The kids had a blast!!



Now this week we are enjoying my neice and nephew being with us. Taylor is 12 and Hayley is 8 and they will be with us for 5 days. Zack and Taylor get along so well and so far they have had a blast. I will have more pictures to come but here they are today enjoying the jacuzzi-


Oh I do love summertime! I never want it to end! Oh yeah though, here is a picture of me that Zack took of me right before he threw my camera down to me. I was furious as it hit the floor, he was suppose to bring it down to me not throw it! Luckily it did not break because it was in the case...but I swear they do so many things without even thinking. Very frustrating!! I should have had him take a picture of me after he threw my camera...lets just say I was not smiling!

There is Nothing Better.....

There is nothing better than looking for your son and finding him already in bed, reading his scriptures. Love it!! There are just some moments that you want to keep in your mind so I thought I would take a picture. I will need to look at this picture when Zack is being Zack and remember the feeling that I had at this moment when I felt like I was looking upon an angel( or a stripling warrior with his shirt off and all)! He is such a good kid with a great heart!! The creepy tiger looking on is his stuffed tiger, Rocky. Zack got this from his grandpa when he was 8 years old and he loves it. He uses him as a pillow and has even tried to take it on vacations with us, claiming that he could not sleep without it but Rocky has to stay home because Mom is so mean. Rocky looks very life-like sometimes and he kind of creeps me out but Zack loves it!

18 Years and Counting!

Today is our 18th Wedding Anniversary! How time flies! I remember the day well because it was the hottest day, record heat to be exact! Adam and I could care less because we were so happy and only had eyes for each other that day but our poor friends and family that were in our line were pretty much miserable in their black tuxes and taffeta dresses. It was a beautiful day for us though and we could not be more happy!

Adam and I have known each other since 1979 where we met at Hillside Junior High in Mrs. Rahnama's 7th grade English class. It was the same year that Adam became a member of the church and we grew up being in the same Ward. Was it love at first sight? No, it was not but we had been friends all those years through high school. It was not 'till Adam came home from his mission and he followed me up to BYU that we realized that we were oh so much more than friends! So I have truly married my best friend!

Opposites truly do attract because Adam and I could not be more opposite but I think that it is a great thing. He has a way of bringing out the best in me and vice versa. We have had some wonderful times together and humor has gotten us through the rough patches. We do have a great time together and I am glad that laughter fills our home! Even though I was young I am so glad that I made the right decision when I married Adam. He is a great man who is a loving husband, a wonderful father, hard-working provider, amazing leader and a true friend! Love you Adam and I am looking forward to the eternity that we have ahead of us-

Adam's Other Family

Adam has been in the Young Adult Wards Branch Presidency for about a year now, which keeps him very busy! Sometimes it is really hard because he is never able to come to church with us so the boys and I go to our ward and Dad goes to his. I am sure that many new people in the ward think that I am divorced or widowed because they never see me with my husband which is sad ): About twice a month we will attend the Young Adult Ward sacrament meeting so that we can see Adam and we do enjoy it. Now this would be a very hard thing except for the fact that Adam LOVES his calling and believes it to be the best calling anyone could have! He really enjoys working with the men in the branch presidency and he loves the young adults. I have never seen him happier in a calling especially one that requires so much of his time. I am so happy for him and we (our family) have been blessed with meeting so many wonderful young adults and our activity schedule has been added to with the many events that they have. What a blessing it has been in our lives!

Last night they had their 4th Annual Cover Band Concert on the back lawn of the Cochran Bldg. How fun was it to set up our lawn chairs and rock out with these talented young people! They were amazing! All the bands were made up of young adults and it was one of the best concerts I have been to for a long time. Very fun!! I took these pictures very early on in the evening. We were rockin' until 10 pm and by that time there was a mosh pit in front of the stage!!

Adam with President Anderson...loving his calling!

Zack and Branden chillin' to the music-

Great Music!

Funny Emcees!! Good Time!

Beach Day..Finally!

We finally made it to the beach! Yeah! I learned my lesson from the other day that punishing the boys by not taking them to the beach just does not work, it just made a bad day for me. Thanks for the great ideas about different punishments because next time I am not going to be punished also. I liked Heathers idea about just going to the beach myself. Sounds good! But today we finally made it and I loved it. I really would go everyday if I could. The boys had a great time and it is always nice to have other people there to hang with. Some pictures from our beach day-

Spoiled Plans!

Today after I finished what I needed to do in the morning, I had totally planned on taking the boys to the beach to meet some friends there. Yeah! Love the beach! Now usually I am not very good at punishing my children by taking away something fun that we are going to do but today I just had to, even though I think that it is punishing me more than them! They went out to play a little one on one basketball and a huge fight broke out between them with hitting and mean words being thrown around! Whats with that?? They just would not stop and I had had it so therefore we cancelled our plans to go to the beach and they are going to help me finish what there is to do on my to-do list! There! That will teach them but boy am I bummed! I think in the end I was the one who was punished. I really needed a beach day today and it was one of the things I had on my to-do list! Oh well I think that I am going on Thursday now, with or without them! They will just have to deal with a very unhappy Mom today and hopefully that will get my point across!! Grrrr!

To Do, To Do, To Do!!

Adam has made me a firm believer of to-do lists! He has always kept a list of things that he needs to accomplish, short term and long term to-do's and if there is one person that I know who really accomplishes alot I would have to say that someone is Adam. So I have now become a person with an ongoing to-do list and I have got to admit it really has helped me accomplish the things that I need to. I think because of my lack of memory it is helpful to me to write things down so that I won't forget because most of the time I just forget to do things. Honestly!

There is nothing better than finishing something and then being able to cross it off your list. I love that! I have got to admit that sometimes I even put on my list easy things such as wake up, brush teeth, etc, just so I can cross it off. OK not really...but I have been tempted! Now I don't always finish everything on my lists in fact sometimes I carry a certain item on my list for months for example, paint the bathrooms. But the idea is that it stays on my list and eventually I will get the satisfaction of crossing it out. I love to-do lists!!

Happy July 4th!

I have got to admit that July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. First of all, I love our country, I love the patriotic colors of red, white and blue, I love the decorations, always fun hanging with friends and chilling with the family. In fact, when I think about it, I don't think that we have ever had a bad 4th of July....its always good and this year was no exception.
Day started off with a good workout at the gym (sorry Kaye I missed your class) but it was a good workout nonetheless. Then we went and got our family picture taken and had fun making goofy poses together but ended with getting this casual shot. Sorry it is a little off center but it was not easy scanning a 11x13 picture.

Then we spent the day swimming and having fun at our friends house. We came home and jumped on the trampoline together..trying new tricks and seeing who could jump the highest. Ok we are dorks but we have a great time! Then we were off to watch the fireworks from the church building. Now in the past I have been heard to complain that I do not want to watch the same old fireworks again and because of my complaining we have gone to other places to view their fireworks. Places that include Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Provo, Santa Barbara, Lake Powell, etc. But now I have to admit that the firework show is not all about the fireworks, it is about hanging out with people that I enjoy to be around and our dear to me. I was exactly where I wanted to be last night with so many people I know, at the church building, having a great time laughing and socializing. My kids having fun with all of their friends and Adam having fun serving up popcorn to the masses. And besides that, the fireworks were awesome! Here are some pictures I took when I realized that my camera was in the truck. We didn't take many though because the flash was so bright and it was blinding everybody...in some of the pics you can see people in the background shielding their eyes. Pretty funny!!

I hope that everyone had a fantastic 4th of July!!!!

Utah Vacation

The boys and I were able to spend a week with my parents in St George and we had a BLAST! You can check out pictures below. Adam had to work and we missed him terribly, but the boys were ableto spend some wonderful quality time with their Grandma and PaTa. Everyday we were off doing something new and everyday we made sure to cool off in some kind of water...it was a balmy 108 degrees (actually a very dry heat). My boys just love their grandparents and I have got to admit they do have the best around! It was so good to see my parents doing so well especially with all the health problems they have been experiencing this last year. Just an update on my Dad who is battling cancer....the latest body scan shows that he is responding very well to the treatment and he has had dramatic results! The doctor is amazed! We sure have been so blessed in our family! My Dad is doing wonderfully and so is my Mom! Thanks for a GREAT time, we miss you tons already!

We were sad to leave my Mom and Dad's place but we were anxious to see Dad (Adam) again. Well when we arrived home we realized that Adam was still in the shopping mode. We came home to find a new mattress on our bed, a new cool shower nozzle in the boys shower and a trampoline in the backyard! Remember the "white trash" pool that we got a couple of months ago (news from an old post), well we got rid of it already. It was crap! (Excuse the language) The filter on it was way too small and it took so many chemicals to keep it clean...more than a regular pool! So we took it back...Sam's Club is great that way. So after removing it from our backyard we had a big patch of dead grass so what better to cover it but with a big trampoline! The kids are loving it! They make me nervous but Adam did get a net thing to go around it, its just not up yet. I guess I will have to plan another vacation without Adam because who knows we might come home to new leather couches in the Family Room???? hint hint

Our Trip to Utah