61: skyler's birthday trip to catalina

We decided to take a quick trip to Catalina for Skyler's birthday. We let him bring 2 friends to celebrate: Brody and Bryce! We had an incredible boat ride over with a virtual Sea World show. I don't think I have ever seen so much wildlife in one ride. There were whales breaching, flying fish, and pods and pods of dolphins riding the waves. It was pretty amazing. The weather was phenomenal! Gorgeous, clear, and sunny. As soon as we got there, we did the normal circle island tour. The boys wasted no time climbing rocks and chucking rocks down the mountain. Good times!

60: boy scout poster

I have the unofficial calling, at church, of creating invitations, posters, fliers, and anything of the such..I even have that unofficial calling in my sister's ward too. Today, it was for the boy scout auction. The poster looks rather simple, but this took me a loooong time in photoshop!  It looks even more impressive in poster size and laminated on foam core {which ended up being free because Staples messed up the first order..love when that happens}.

59+1: we've got fire

Our outdoor fire hasn't worked in over 9 months. I don't know why it took me so long to call the gas company to check on it, but it did. I finally called and they gave me a service window of 7 a.m.-8 p.m.! Ridiculous!! So I was homebound all day..which actually wasn't that bad. The service guy got there around 2 and within 30 minutes he had cleaned out some gas lines and we had fire! 

59: city council..boring!

Skyler needed to go to a City Council meeting as part of his Citizen in the Community merit badge. It was held in our new City Hall, which is pretty amazing. It was long and it was boring! They talked about obtaining liquor licenses for nearly an hour and a half. Finally, at 9:15, I told the boys we were leaving. 

{top picture..look in the top left corner..it's me, taking the picture. I think the boys entertained themselves by watching themselves on the screen} 

Today was also the talent show auditions at school. Ryder desperately wanted to be in the talent show, but with no true talents..no Ryder, arm farting is not a well received talent..I didn't quite know how to tell him, he couldn't. Until my good friend Jennifer said she could use him in a dance she was putting together for a bunch of girls. He could be a COP! Perfect! A small role..but executed with lots of personality!

58: freezer paper

I volunteered to make the boys' shirts for the talent show. I remembered my sister making Skyler a shirt using freezer paper, so I looked up tutorials and tried it myself. It was surprisingly simple. I may just have to make some more fun shirts.

57: a visit from our friends

Tammy and Jason and family were in Cali for the weekend and stopped by on their way back to Arizona! We just love visiting with them and reminiscing our old Hawaii days! They have a lovely family and our boys love playing with them. I couldn't believe that Kameha was 17!! What an amazing girl. She had a very rare form of cancer diagnosed when she was only 3..they gave her about a 10-20% survival rate! Look at her now!! The Lord answers prayers! It's crazy because Alex was 6 months when they were going through all the Chemo and Tammy had just found out that she was, surprisingly, pregnant with Madeline! It was insanity, but they not only survived, they triumphed! Skyler and Alex had their way with the trampoline..the trampoline lost! {don't worry..no one was hurt in this wreckage}

56: beautiful winter day

We finally had a Saturday with nothing on the agenda..bonus, it was beautiful, sunny weather! Jim and I got up, went for a run, then I walked with my Young Women another 3.6 miles. Afterwards, we decided to pay a little attention to our neglected backyard. We actually spent more time driving around to nurseries and Lowe's then we did in the yard. It's hard when you don't find what you want, but we managed to get a few new plants to fill in where winter death took over. 

55: mishaps of art

I was checking Skyler's grades online the other day and it showed that he had a F in home economics. I was perplexed and a little angry with him. He told me not to freak out because he hadn't turned in his sewing project yet. I emailed the teacher, out of concern, and she assured me it would go up as soon as he turned in his project. He has been complaining about this sewing project for the past 2 weeks. They couldn't bring it home, it had to be done in class {smart teacher..she probably knew the parents would find a way to do it for them.} He went in during lunch and pride period and finally finished. Honestly, I can't be mad at him for not knowing how to sew! Sewing is hard, especially for a boy who has zero desire to learn. It takes time, certainly 2 weeks is not enough time to learn how to thread a machine and use the various stitches. So when he came home with his finished project, I was floored. I thought it was pretty dang good for his first time. He told me he had trouble with the seam tape! What's seam tape? So his stitching is a little crooked, I'm still impressed. She only gave him a B on it, but in my book, I'd give him an A. Why don't they teach him a more practical skill like sewing on a button or hemming something?

Today was also Meet the Masters..the art class I teach for Jayden's class. I was really excited to teach this lesson and do this project, but from the get go, the kids were out of control. It was Friday, right after lunch and compound that with the fact that they had a sub..It's usually a very good class! I was very patient but they were crazy! It was taking them so long to do the most simplest tasks. They were screaming, running around the room, and I just about lost it when someone threw their paint cup at the trash can but instead it splattered all over the wall. I think I turned the lights off 4 times to get their attention. Nothing was working so I told them we were finished! They would not get to continue with the project and they would have to go back to class.

I told them that I don't like to get upset and that I volunteer to do art because it's fun, but they were being downright disrespectful. The sub took them back to the class, I cleaned up and waited in my car for school to be over.  When Jayden got in the car after school, he handed me a big stack of letters. Each one of the students wrote me an apology letter for their behavior. Some of them are quite hysterical. One said, "If I were you, I'd bench us for 3 months". I know they were sorry and I know next time they will be stellar students!

54: most intelligent cake

Ryder woke up this morning and told me his tummy hurt.  This time, unlike last week, I believed him and let him stay home from school. He didn't look that sick, but I didn't need the school nurse to call me again and tell me he was throwing up, so he hung out with me. Because he didn't seem that sick, I made him go to institute with me. He was equipped with his ipod and my ipad. I put a movie on, with headphones, for him to watch.  All of a sudden, during class, we hear a loud, "5,4,3,2,1.." He was watching Real Steel and the robots were in a fighting match. With the headphones on, he didn't even realize how loud he was. It was actually kinda comical. Afterwards, he told me he was hungry so we went to Rubios. While I was filling Ryder's drink, I heard some women laughing next to me saying, "look at the boy out on the car hood", umm, that would be mine. When I walked out there, he told me he didn't want to stand anymore and wanted to be warm. That's my Ryder.

Later that night, Jayden had his Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts. It is tradition to bring a decorated cake. Jayden's request this year: a brain cake! Actually the easiest blue and gold cake I've ever made. He took the prize for "The Most Intelligent Cake".

53: new hardware

I couldn't take the ping of dripping water into a bucket any longer! Our laundry room faucet has leaked since the day we moved into the house..3 1/2 years ago! I made a trip to Home Depot, bought a faucet and thought the famous last words, "How hard could it be?" The directions seemed simple enough! I hoped to have it in before Jim got home {he gets frustrated with me when I take on projects that he is fully capable of doing..I'm just impatient and stubborn and didn't want to wait a minute more}. It was the removal of the old, corroded faucet that gave me issues, particularly the sprayer hose. Apparently, while twisting the faucet to come off, I twisted the sprayer hose pretty badly inside, so much that the entire thing wouldn't budge! After a couple hours of useless trying, I called a friend. I only wanted to know if he had a tool I could borrow, but he insisted he come take a look. He ended up just cutting the old faucet out with giant metal cutters. And since he was there, he just went ahead and finished installing the faucet! I thought I'd have the project done in an hour..didn't work out quite that way, but it's in and silence is music to my ears!

52: we've got it all

Look what sign just went up in Temecula!!! Now we have everything! 

51: playday

No School today!! I had my friend Jenniffer's kids over for the day. We made the most of it with a trip to the movies, Rubios, and  a dip in the spa!

50: two new amazing friends!

Here is the story of Jessica & Amy:

A few weeks ago a few of my girlfriends and I went to a running retreat in St. George: Run Like a Girl. It was an incredible event and we went up to the creators, who were from the Provo area, and said, "You need to bring this to the San Diego area!" They told us it was in their master plan to do it by next year. Two days after getting home, we received an email from Amy telling us that they had bumped up their expectations and wanted to do one this summer and asked for any help we could give them: looking up courses, finding possible venues and sponsors, seeing as they lived so far away. I'm not big in the running world and know very little about what makes a great run but I did offer them my hospitality and told them if they were ever in California for an exploratory mission, they were more than welcome to stay at my house! They quickly responded back and said, "Really? Are you sure, cuz we booked our flights for next week!" Absolutely, I told them. So two strangers were basically coming to stay with us! I was totally fine with it because I got a good vibe from them at the retreat {it didn't hurt either that they were LDS}. They arrived on Thursday and had tons of meetings planned during the days of their stay, but at night, we just talked till the wee hours and laughed and giggled like school girls!

They are kindred spirits. You would never guess that we had just met by the conversations we were having. It was one of those feelings like you'd known them your entire life! They will forever be friends!! They are amazing and talented women {Jessica, the one  with brown hair has 7 BOYS..yes, I said 7! and is a pro runner, and Amy is a fitness fanatic teaching Zumba and boot camps and all other sorts of classes, not to mention, she was the mastermind behind Run Like a Girl.} I'm so excited about the upcoming event they are planning and I look forward to many more fun times with these girls!

My nephew Michael gave his farewell talk today in Glendora! Sadly, I wasn't able to make it up but Jim and the boys did. Jim said it was an amazing talk and he looked so excited to go on his mission! 

49: amazing wedding

Just one of many darling vignettes at my friends' daughters wedding last night. It was a party to rival any party! The food, delish. The decor, amazing. The people, beautiful. Flash mob, sadly I missed {but I'm sure it was fun}.

48: late night giggles

How many tries does it take to take an self-timing photo?  Tonight...it took several! We tried the X-shot with no luck. It was 2:00 a.m. and we were all a little punchy but I needed my potd! We never got a "great" one, but the one on top would have to do..bottom one..I just about broke my giant turquoise glass vase running to get in the photo in time..hence, the laughter!