It was another fun-filled awesome year at gualala. I just love that place. No matter what the weather is or how many bugs there are it is still one of my all-time favorite places. And I know it is because it holds so many fond memories of growing up. Everytime we drive into the park, I think of being a kid and itching to get out as soon as my parents would stop to check in. We would beg and beg to get out and run to the playground or campsite. Its as if as soon as I see the river when you make the turn off stage coach road a flood of memories come back like a tidal wave. From exploring in the ferns behind campsite 208, wars in ewok village with heidi, micah and I vs. Amber tyler and Jared, sleeping in the trees, hunting banana slugs (and seeing who would kiss them or watching my dad eat one), finding frogs at the river (and then roasting them ove the fire...I know not very animal friendly, but we were young), grandma smith with candy or sparklers and always some kind of "treat" for the weekend, christmas lights at grandma's camp to find our way back, jumping off the log in the river, the HUGE rope swing that isn't there anymore, ab diving, bike rides on the tandem, biking in town to get the yummy ice cream at the "house", church in the little house... and so much more. It is part of my childhood. Part of my family memories. It is where so many of us cousins connected and bonded!!! I love that place! And it is even better now to see my kids making the same memories. Brooke talks about it even more than disneyland. There is something about being in such a beautiful setting for a few days that just rejuvanates you!
This year it was beautiful weather and no too many mosquitos! We got to go up thursday evening and came home tuesday afternoon! It was so relaxing and fun. We played at the river almost everyday, went to point arena to meet the guys after diving and got a ride on Boppy's boat, had many fun bike rides and walks around the park with Brooke on her bike, many hours pushing Livia on the swing, eating such good abalone (for some reason this year it seemed to taste even better than the last few years), campfires and more stories! It was a great weekend. Brooke was so sad to leave. Thank you grandma smith for making gualala a priority trip in our family and starting this awesome tradition. Thank you mom for keeping it up and organizing it for everyone!! I am so glad my kids will get to have similar memories of my childhood!!!
Our mac is still down, so i can't post pictures, but you can check out Melissa's or Melanie's blog for some pictures. Hopefully I will get some up soon!!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Young Again
Thursday was Ben's Birthday!! We knew it was going to be a crazy day, I had a baby shower that my friend and I were giving for another friend and I had two volleyball lessons. Luckily we had a fun birthday breakfast and Ben opened his gift from the girls (waterguns). Aunt Gloria and Dana stopped by in the afternoon and we had so much fun visiting and seeing baby Jillian that I didn't get a chance to make a birthday dinner that I was going to try to squeeze into the hour between getting home from work and getting to the shower. So I stopped and got Chipotle for Ben (I think he liked that better anyway. When you never go out to eat, it is such a treat to get take out from your favorite place!!) So needless to say it was a crazy birthday, but Ben is such a great guy that he enjoyed it anyway. His seminary students played a joke on him and had cake for him too!! So all-in-all he had fun!
But since we knew ahead of time that we wouldn't have much time to celebrate, we planned to go to dinner friday night for his Birthday, just the two of us! When i went to get Amanda and Megan (our unbeliavably, awesome babysitters that both girls absolutely adore...you know your girls are well taken care of and loved when they ask you to leave if you are taking to long to say goodbye! and when they are constantly saying, "when do we get to see Amanda and Meghan"), Ben called the Hess', our neighbors, and asked if we could borrow THE JEEP for the evening!!! It was so much fun! Now if you just look at this jeep, you would think 'why in the heck would you want to take that thing on a date, or why do you think that jeep is so great...' But it is AWESOME!
Let me just fill you in on some background with this jeep. This was the jeep ben drove in high school. It was his brother Sam's before that and then Aaron drove it for five years, too. A few years ago Ben's parent's were going to get rid of it because it was pretty much falling apart. It leaked, it needed new tires, the mirrors were all off, most of the time you couldn't get it into second year, and nobody was driving it anymore because Aaron had gotten a new car, etc. We took it for about two years and Ben drove it to bart or to Mervyn's, if he was driving to work that day. It was our second car for a little while. But right before Livia was born we sold it to our friends, and now neighbors, the Hess'. It wasn't practical at all for us since the kids couldn't ride in it, we didn't have anywhere to park it and it needed a bit of work. It was a sad day, but we were happy for the Hess' to have it. We knew Ashley would love it and at least we could still see it around!
But even more than that history, that jeep was how I remember Ben! I used to watch for that jeep around town in high school (I was in love with Ben even in high school, although he didn't know it.) My hear would skip if I saw the jeep in the parking lot for a church dance. I would look for it at high school basketball and football games when we were playing mission. I always had my eye out for him and his jeep. We went to different high schools and lived on opposite ends of town. One time after a church dance, he took me driving in th eparking lot in the jeep. I was so nervous. I really didn't know how to drive clutch, and he showed me how. I did horrible, and i know it was because I was so nervous and giddy that he was actually touching my hand to help me shift (even back then, it was hard to get it into gear, you really had to muscle it in). I can remember when ben would stop by, which was rare, but you could hear the music from his jeep coming around the corner in the court, and my heart would kind of skip a beat. He was carefree with the doors off and his hat backwards!!! When we were a little older (seniors) he would let me drive the jeep around the block (I was better at clutch by then). My heart would just melt when I would see Ben in his jeep. And even when we had the jeep for that short time after we were married, I just felt so young and carefree whenever I would drive the jeep and especially when Ben and I would take it somewhere together! There is just something about an open air jeep that makes you feel a little more carefree! Especially when you have som many fond memories of such an awesome guy driving that jeep!!
Last night, except for crossing the dumbarton bridge, it was so awesome!!! (and even getting totally wind blown while driving across the bridge was great). Ben still new all the tricks on how to get it into gear and keep it from turning off (which it used to do quite often). Looking at him sitting in the drivers seat took us back 10-12 years to high school and I still got that same giddyness. He always looked so "hot" in his jeep and he looked even better now. (Although he still looks like he is 17 sometimes and last night you could tell he felt like he was 17 again!!) Ben was in his comfort zone again, back as a teenager and loving every minute of it! He even made the comment, when the Hess's want to get rid of this jeep, we are going to buy it back again.
Thanks Hess' for letting us have a great evening of being young again.
But since we knew ahead of time that we wouldn't have much time to celebrate, we planned to go to dinner friday night for his Birthday, just the two of us! When i went to get Amanda and Megan (our unbeliavably, awesome babysitters that both girls absolutely adore...you know your girls are well taken care of and loved when they ask you to leave if you are taking to long to say goodbye! and when they are constantly saying, "when do we get to see Amanda and Meghan"), Ben called the Hess', our neighbors, and asked if we could borrow THE JEEP for the evening!!! It was so much fun! Now if you just look at this jeep, you would think 'why in the heck would you want to take that thing on a date, or why do you think that jeep is so great...' But it is AWESOME!
Let me just fill you in on some background with this jeep. This was the jeep ben drove in high school. It was his brother Sam's before that and then Aaron drove it for five years, too. A few years ago Ben's parent's were going to get rid of it because it was pretty much falling apart. It leaked, it needed new tires, the mirrors were all off, most of the time you couldn't get it into second year, and nobody was driving it anymore because Aaron had gotten a new car, etc. We took it for about two years and Ben drove it to bart or to Mervyn's, if he was driving to work that day. It was our second car for a little while. But right before Livia was born we sold it to our friends, and now neighbors, the Hess'. It wasn't practical at all for us since the kids couldn't ride in it, we didn't have anywhere to park it and it needed a bit of work. It was a sad day, but we were happy for the Hess' to have it. We knew Ashley would love it and at least we could still see it around!
But even more than that history, that jeep was how I remember Ben! I used to watch for that jeep around town in high school (I was in love with Ben even in high school, although he didn't know it.) My hear would skip if I saw the jeep in the parking lot for a church dance. I would look for it at high school basketball and football games when we were playing mission. I always had my eye out for him and his jeep. We went to different high schools and lived on opposite ends of town. One time after a church dance, he took me driving in th eparking lot in the jeep. I was so nervous. I really didn't know how to drive clutch, and he showed me how. I did horrible, and i know it was because I was so nervous and giddy that he was actually touching my hand to help me shift (even back then, it was hard to get it into gear, you really had to muscle it in). I can remember when ben would stop by, which was rare, but you could hear the music from his jeep coming around the corner in the court, and my heart would kind of skip a beat. He was carefree with the doors off and his hat backwards!!! When we were a little older (seniors) he would let me drive the jeep around the block (I was better at clutch by then). My heart would just melt when I would see Ben in his jeep. And even when we had the jeep for that short time after we were married, I just felt so young and carefree whenever I would drive the jeep and especially when Ben and I would take it somewhere together! There is just something about an open air jeep that makes you feel a little more carefree! Especially when you have som many fond memories of such an awesome guy driving that jeep!!
Last night, except for crossing the dumbarton bridge, it was so awesome!!! (and even getting totally wind blown while driving across the bridge was great). Ben still new all the tricks on how to get it into gear and keep it from turning off (which it used to do quite often). Looking at him sitting in the drivers seat took us back 10-12 years to high school and I still got that same giddyness. He always looked so "hot" in his jeep and he looked even better now. (Although he still looks like he is 17 sometimes and last night you could tell he felt like he was 17 again!!) Ben was in his comfort zone again, back as a teenager and loving every minute of it! He even made the comment, when the Hess's want to get rid of this jeep, we are going to buy it back again.
Thanks Hess' for letting us have a great evening of being young again.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Favorites of the morning
My three favorite things of this morning were Brooke's pitter-patter feet out to the family room, cuddling on my lap and saying, "Mommy I slept so good. Don't you think, too."
When we went into my room to change for walking, Livia was sleeping on the bed, and she started opening her eyes and stirring and brooke slowly got on the bed and layed next to her and said, "Good Morning, Lu-Lu." I don't know where she got it from, but lately Brookelyn has been calling Livy, Lu-Lu. It is actually really cute!
Livy was really cranky when we got back from our walk, so i was trying to read her books and play with her and she lifted her arms up and showed me her belly button. I poked it and she makes the cutest little "pppah" sound and then giggles. Everytime you change her diaper, she points to her belly and wants you to poke it. She makes the same sound and then laughs. She likes to poke Brooke in the belly and tries to get her to make the sound as well. It is sooooo cute. I just love it. I was really trying to soak in the cute things this morning.
When we went into my room to change for walking, Livia was sleeping on the bed, and she started opening her eyes and stirring and brooke slowly got on the bed and layed next to her and said, "Good Morning, Lu-Lu." I don't know where she got it from, but lately Brookelyn has been calling Livy, Lu-Lu. It is actually really cute!
Livy was really cranky when we got back from our walk, so i was trying to read her books and play with her and she lifted her arms up and showed me her belly button. I poked it and she makes the cutest little "pppah" sound and then giggles. Everytime you change her diaper, she points to her belly and wants you to poke it. She makes the same sound and then laughs. She likes to poke Brooke in the belly and tries to get her to make the sound as well. It is sooooo cute. I just love it. I was really trying to soak in the cute things this morning.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Happy and Sads
Happy: I had a great Mother's Day. Ben made me eggs benedict and gave me an hour to myself to write letters to my girls! It was great, thanks Ben. We went to my parent's house for dinner and the guys made filet mignon and an awesome meal. Luke Champion is a great Chef! Vanessa and Vai Lousi gave me the sweetest Mother's Day Card also! Just them giving me a card made me cry.
Happy: The Cruise was unbelievably AMAZING! I'll post pictures later. (Our mac computer kicks you off the internet after 5 minutes, so i can't upload any photos. If anyone knows why that is happening...any help is needed). Brooke and Livy had so much fun at the Serex's and ben and I had such a nice break that it was really fun to come back to the girls.
Sad: The Cruise is over. It was so fun to look forward to. All the excitement and anticipation and getting ready for it was so fun!
Happy: GUALALA IS NEXT WEEK!!! (ever since Grandma Smith passed away sometimes I get a little sad thinking about her not being there), but the incredible memories there and all the fun we have overrides that tiny corner of sadness.
Happy: Brookelyn's favorite thing right now is to hug...especially me! She has said to me a few times this week, "Mom, do you know what my favorite thing is?" Mom: "Rolly-pooly bugs?" Brooke: "no." Mom: "Livy?" Brooke: "No" Mom: "What?" Brookelyn with a big smile and her arms wide open: "Big, tight hugs!!!"
Sad: I have finally come to the conclusion that I really hate folding and putting away laundry. I don't mind sorting it, srubbing spots, washing, rotating....but I hate actually folding it and putting it away. (I have a few great pictures of pile ups that I will post when I get the picture thing worked out.) One time Ben helped me fold 8 loads of laundry in one night. And the reason it is even more sad when I think about it is because....it will never go away. I will be doing laundry for the rest of my life, even when my kids are grown and out of the house.
Happy: We planted our garden finally. The backyard is starting to look a little bit better!
Happy: Safeway and Smart and Final had awesome sales this week on meat and produce!!!
Happy: I love the stage Livia is at. I get such a kick out of just watching her. She loves to wrestle with her sister, play dress up, ride bikes, jump off things she climbs on (not such a great thing), and even better is that she is a cuddler!! She loves to lay her head on your shoulder for about five minutes to help her wake up from her sleeping!! I eat that up!!
Sad: Probably the saddest thing in the last week is that Mike and Elisha moved to Boston. We miss them so much already!
Happy: I really have the Best Husband Ever!!! I am really trying to notice everything he does. He is amazing!!!
Happy: The Cruise was unbelievably AMAZING! I'll post pictures later. (Our mac computer kicks you off the internet after 5 minutes, so i can't upload any photos. If anyone knows why that is happening...any help is needed). Brooke and Livy had so much fun at the Serex's and ben and I had such a nice break that it was really fun to come back to the girls.
Sad: The Cruise is over. It was so fun to look forward to. All the excitement and anticipation and getting ready for it was so fun!
Happy: GUALALA IS NEXT WEEK!!! (ever since Grandma Smith passed away sometimes I get a little sad thinking about her not being there), but the incredible memories there and all the fun we have overrides that tiny corner of sadness.
Happy: Brookelyn's favorite thing right now is to hug...especially me! She has said to me a few times this week, "Mom, do you know what my favorite thing is?" Mom: "Rolly-pooly bugs?" Brooke: "no." Mom: "Livy?" Brooke: "No" Mom: "What?" Brookelyn with a big smile and her arms wide open: "Big, tight hugs!!!"
Sad: I have finally come to the conclusion that I really hate folding and putting away laundry. I don't mind sorting it, srubbing spots, washing, rotating....but I hate actually folding it and putting it away. (I have a few great pictures of pile ups that I will post when I get the picture thing worked out.) One time Ben helped me fold 8 loads of laundry in one night. And the reason it is even more sad when I think about it is because....it will never go away. I will be doing laundry for the rest of my life, even when my kids are grown and out of the house.
Happy: We planted our garden finally. The backyard is starting to look a little bit better!
Happy: Safeway and Smart and Final had awesome sales this week on meat and produce!!!
Happy: I love the stage Livia is at. I get such a kick out of just watching her. She loves to wrestle with her sister, play dress up, ride bikes, jump off things she climbs on (not such a great thing), and even better is that she is a cuddler!! She loves to lay her head on your shoulder for about five minutes to help her wake up from her sleeping!! I eat that up!!
Sad: Probably the saddest thing in the last week is that Mike and Elisha moved to Boston. We miss them so much already!
Happy: I really have the Best Husband Ever!!! I am really trying to notice everything he does. He is amazing!!!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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