Our So. Cal Trip

We were able to go out and visit family for the first time in over 3 years in the middle of June. We were so thankful to Mr. A's father who helped finance the trip. We couldn't wait to meet our nephews who were born in the last year and see the rest of the family whom we miss like crazy.

We left after work on June 16th and arrived in San Diego late that night. You gotta love the time change leaving from the east coast to the west coast. After a good night sleep and a lazy day catching up on a few zzz's, we hit the ground running.

The first major stop was the Del Mar fair, which is now called the San Diego County fair. Most locals still call it the Del Mar fair. You really can't change tradition. While we were there we met up with both sides of the family. Mr. A's family met us along with my parents. I felt like a cruise director or a travel guide with a huge crowd following us. Literally there were 11 of us in total trying to stay together as a group. We had a ball...fried food, games, rides and beautiful weather. We finished the day with a bite to eat with Mr. A's immediate family where we were able to catch up with each other and discuss plans for later in the week.

The next big event was my sister and her family coming down for the weekend. We were able to hang out with my nephews and take family pictures. This was a production with 2 small children under the age of 5 around lunch time. They were both well behaved just a little antsy. We got some great shots even with fidgety kidlets.

On Sunday, we were able to celebrate KA's birthday and Father's day as a huge family. KA only birthday wish was for everyone to be together at the beach. We went down to the bay and did a bbq and bonfire...a great San Diego tradition. We had a blast roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. KA was able to have both sides of the family with her on her 14th birthday. That was the best gift she could have ever asked for.

The last week as more of just running around trying to hit up the restaurants we love and seeing familiar spots that we love. We did a small trek up to the local mountains for apple pie and bread and a day at the beach. All in all we just hung out with family and enjoyed just seeing people face to face vs. phone calls.

At the end of the week we headed home on the red eye. We ended up with a layover in Newark, NJ and were able to watch the sunrise over NY city. That was awesome! We had a fabulous time with family unfortunately there wasn't any time to hang out with friends. I suppose we could have made a bit more time in our schedules, but it was so nice not having to run around like crazy people all day every day.

To our friends...we sincerely apologize. We love you all very much and appreciate you allowing us to take the time with family that we needed. It was a great time to just love on the people who love us unconditionally.

Off to camp

OK...I have to laugh at this graphic for this post. KA hates the Jonas Brothers and Camp Rock, but it is the only thing that came to my mind when I was typing this post. It's not like it's her blog! ;)

This afternoon I put KA and Mr. A on the church bus to head off to camp for a week. They aren't going to far, about 1 1/2 away, but far enough to have an adventure. This is KA's first youth camp. She went to Kid's camp back in the 3rd grade and I about lost it. She had never been away from home for more than an overnight with friends or family. Today was much better. One she is older and two Mr. A is going to be on the campus. Trust me he will give her more than enough room to spread her wings. He would practically ignore her if that is what he needed to do to make sure she had a great time.

I know KA will have a great time once she gets there. She is my cautious child. She has to analyze everything. She is not one who likes change or disorder and unfortunately that is all camp is. Luckily we had a schedule of events by day and walked her through what would be happening so she could at least have an idea and won't be caught too off guard. Hopefully it helped and did not scare her more. I just want to make sure she makes friends how will stick by her and not cause drama. She really needs some good girlfriends. Some of the best friends I have were established in the youth group and I want the same for her. I hope she can break free of some of her fears and withdrawn side long enough to meet some really great people whom she can have a great time both now at camp and when they return.

Poor AJ is stuck at home with me. She is not eligible to attend youth camp until next year. I thought we could have a girl week watching HS Musicals, Jonas Bros, etc, but so far she has no interest in that. We will see how the week will progress.

Since they can't have cell phones (or any other electronic devices) I wil have to let you know what happens when they return on Thursday. Keep Mr A in you prayers. He is going to be extra cautious but I am praying that his back will cooperate and not cause any problems this week for him. He is not doing any of the activities but is going more as an extra hand to help the youth pastor.

I hope camp rocks for both KA and Mr. A. They both could use this time!

Just call me the real life scarecrow...oh, what the neighbors must think!

I would love to say I have a green thumb but I have a feeling it is more olive green/brown than true green.

I just knew when I purchased my first house after living in apartments for most of my married life, I would plant every plant imaginable around my house and make it my oasis. I was going to have a house like one of the magazine covers with gorgeous colors, lush leaves, green grass and the perfect gazebo/sitting area to gaze upon my wonders. Fast forward 5 years and we have patchy grass with large bare spots, a couple of trees that look like a 3 year-old's family tree craft project with a few leaves here and there, and some bushes that are about 2 inches larger than they were when we first planted them almost 4 1/2 years ago.

Now that we have decided to stay in our home after a year of having it on the market, we are trying to finally get started on our ambitious plans to make the yard of our dreams become a glimmer of reality.

For instance, tonight I went outside and decided to plant one of the 4 Crepe Myrtle trees we bought late in the fall. We bought them when they were just twig looking things with no leaves on them and were a buck at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. By the way, if you have one of those near you, check it out. That is one of my favorite home decorating places now. They have been sitting in the original pots we picked them up in back in November and I felt like it was about time they were planted in a more permanent setting.

Anyway, the trees really aren't that big now so it shouldn't have been a problem except for our soil which is rock hard clay. I mean rock hard! Literally as you dig into the ground, it breaks up into larger rock like mounds of clay. My parents had this type of soil growing up and I dreamed of owning a house that had lush fertile soil. I moved across the US and what do I get...red clay!

This shouldn't be a big deal...just dig a hole, plant the tree and water. However in the last few years you can say I have relaxed a little on my physical fitness so I am not in great shape to be digging large holes in rock hard earth to plant a group of twigs with some leaves on them.

Some of you are saying, "Where's Mr. A?" Besides at a men's bible study tonight which I definitely feel is more important that planting twigs into the soil, his back is extremely bad right now (a protruding disc with a tear in it) and has been out on medical leave since January so the thought of him even picking up a shovel is out of the question.

Feeling ready for the challenge, I grabbed the wheel barrow, a couple of shovels, my work gloves and my mp3 player and attempted to look like I knew what I was doing. I strapped the mp3 player to my left arm and began to dig. Clank! The shovel didn't even break the soil. This was not looking good! I moved over a couple of inches and stood on top of the shovel. Break through. It actually cracked through the soil. I began to dig some more. This was going pretty well and I began to figure out why. I was digging a hole where there was a hole previously. See I attempted this gardening thing once before with dwarf crepe myrtles called 'Razzle Dazzles.' They were suppose to be like the crepe myrtle trees but in a bush. Unfortunately the 'Razzle Dazzle's' fizzled but the soil from where the plant use to be was loose and had mulch/planting soil mixed into it. Yeah God! I might actually get two holes dug up instead of just one.

I finished digging all of the good, rich soil that had been in there previously out and into the wheel barrow and started trying to make the hole a little wider since this tree was bigger than the previously dazzle-less bush had been. Here is where I started running into my issue. The shovel wasn't even making a dent in the ground. I was literally standing on top of my shovel bouncing up and down and all I was doing was just stayed there. Cars were driving by and I must have looked like a real life scarecrow with my whole body perched up on this shovel trying to make the earth move from under my feet!

At this point I surveyed my hole and deemed it ready! If this tree couldn't make it in this hole, I don't know what else to do. I got the tree ready to go and place it in the hole. Now all I had to do was fill it in, water and I would be done. I moved the wheel barrow closer to the hole so I could get the soil into the hole and began shoveling. This was taking way to long so I decided to be efficient and up end the wheel barrow into the hole. This is when I noticed my twig of a tree start to disappear. I dropped my wheel barrow and made a dash for the poor defenseless sapling of a tree. This lightening quick ninja-like reflex, which if were caught on camera would be more like a slow motion crawl, caused the wheel barrow to topple over on its side dumping what was left of its gold like quality soil all over the grass.

It was upon this last event that I took my rightful place of defeat on the grass next to the twig like tree shoveling in what little soil I could into the hole with my hands and the large shovel that I once bounced on. The earth had won this battle and I hung my head in defeat!

As I slowly gathered my wheel barrow, gloves and shovels, I stood back and looked at the tree that now leans a little to the right. I put my hands on my hips and decided that despite this little lean, I didn't do a half bad job. I was just about to beam with pride when I looked to my left and noticed the 3 areas still awaiting their new trees.

I decided right then and there that those trees might be the most expensive $1 trees ever bought as I hire some youth to come dig holes in my yard and plant them! :)

Happy Mother's Day 2009

First of all...

As I am sitting here typing currently, my two girls are making themselves breakfast. When did they get old enough to make their own breakfast! The time has flown by extremely fast.

It doesn't seem like almost 14 years ago when I became a mom for the first time. A couple of young kids having a kid is what it truly was. She was, and still is, a precious gift that two young kids didn't quite know what to do with. Two years later, I became a mom for the second and last time to another precious bundle blessed by God. I am truly blessed by both of my girls.

On Mother's Day, I am also thankful for my own mother who is across the country this morning probably still asleep in her bed. She is a great mom. We have had our ups and downs as most mother-daughter relationships go, but we still love each other. I don't take my relationship with my mom lightly. Having the possibility of losing her twice to cancer makes me treasure every day I have the ability to talk with her. We talk at least once a week on the phone just to catch up. Not much changes in a week, but it is nice to hear from her.

The other mom I would like to honor is my mother-in-law. She is a great lady. She welcomed me with open arms into her family. I never had to question whether she liked me or if I would fit into their family. I want to thank you for raising a great son. He is a pain in the neck at times but I love him dearly. He is the guy that everyone likes to be around. He is a great leader, great friend, handy man, thinker and dad. You did a great job with him and you should be proud! He is a great man! I wish we lived closer so he could spend more time with you, but know that he loves you.

To my sister, sister-in-law and friends, treasure those precious babies you all have. They grow up too fast. There are times I wish I could go back and spend some more quality time when my girls were younger. I let some of those days fly by too quickly without taking time to really enjoy them. Now with my girls enter high school and middle school my time with them is short and I am realizing that more and more.

I have no idea what the rest of the day holds but I wanted to make sure I took the time to acknowledge all the mom's in my life and the one's who made me a mom!

Happy Mother's Day 2009

TSMS - Speaking Louder than Before - Jeremy Camp

This song has become my anthem this month. Not only is it where my heart is on a personal level, but we are really challenging our youth to make this their personal declaration too.

In fact, we are working on a human video to this song for the end of this month at church. I am really hoping this song will be a starting point to speak louder in their christian faith than they have before.

Crazy 8's

I haven't been blogging that much, so when a long time friend (practically my little sister) tagged me in this game, I couldn't say no.

8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Possibly going to San Diego to visit family and friends (still trying to work out the details.)
2. Watching my oldest graduate from middle school in June
3. Watching my youngest graduate from elementary school in June
4. Meeting my nephews for the first time face to face (they were born in May 08 and Aug 08)
5. Vacation - regardless if it is in San Diego or not in June
6. My husband's back being healed
7.
8.

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Made sure the girls were ready to go to school
2. Dropped AJ off at the bus stop
3. Went to work
4. Met the family for dinner
5. Headed to church to get ready for youth group
6. Popped air popcorn and put them into bags for the movie night with the youth group
7. Watched Princess Bride with the youth group
8. Came home for the first time since 7 am and crashed

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Sew
2. Work from home
3. Visit my family more
4. Actually make myself exercise
5. Clean my house more often (really clean, not just pick up)
6. Be one of those cooks who can make something without a recipe
7. Travel the world
8. Spend more time with friends

8 "Grown Up" Shows I Watch

1. Greys Anatomy
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Amazing Race
4. Chuck
5. Heros
6. The Unusuals
7. Castle
8. Dancing with The Stars

I am suppose to tag some people, but I really don't have a bunch of blogging buddies due to the fact I am really not on here as much as I use to be. If anyone would like to do this and let me know, that would be awesome!

Hello there!

I am here. Just bear with me. Things have been so busy around this house that I haven't just had the time to sit down and blog. The other reason is our laptop is dying. I use to blog a lot while watching tv at night. Without that laptop, I am having to make an effort to slow down and say "HI!"