181: pechanga pow wow

The Pechanga Pow Wow is held every year on the weekend leading up to 4th of July. In our 9 years of living in Temecula, we have never seen it! Because of our trip to Utah, we are getting a late start to Catalina so we were fortunate to catch the firework show. We just drove down the street {we probably could have seen them fine from our house} and the boys got on top of the car. It was a fun show. Who can ever tire of fireworks? Certainly not the Geddies'!

180: alien jerky

The town of Baker has nothing to offer and is merely a potty stop! I have passed this funky place so many times, and despite a bleak curiosity, have never stopped..until today! As we got off the freeway, all the gas stations looked overly crowded. I continued driving, looking for a gas station that didn't have a hundred cars in the lot. Couldn't find one. Then I saw Alien Jerky and the parking lot was pretty empty. I figured it had to have a bathroom so we pulled over. Not only did it have a bathroom, but it had a penny smasher right there in the entrance! So as the boys made their pit stops..I smashed a penny and sampled some jerky! This is what I call a win win scenario!

179: exploring utah

 Ryder..Jayden..Kate..Carter..Truman

We said goodbye to the Bullington's this morning. My boys were very sad about that. Skyler's camp ended at 5:00, so I decided to take the boys to Temple Square and to Park City. It was miserably hot and Ryder let us all know just how uncomfortable he was so our Temple Square stop lasted all of 15 minutes. We headed up the mountain for a little relief from the heat. We stopped at Olympic Park first. I had never been there. We watched some freestyle practice..which was amazing and took a look at the museum. They had a penny smasher, so naturally I got my penny. This machine was a high roller..$0.75 to smash your penny. Then it was off to the alpine slide near downtown Park City. Ryder fought me all the way up the mountain. He did not want to do it! I pretty much made him because I couldn't have him waiting at the bottom for 1/2 hour while Jayden and I did it. I should have just let him stay put..what usually takes a minute or 2 took Ryder nearly 20! He held up the entire track until a kind gentleman helped him down. Ryder might seem to be wild, but he is terribly conservative and cautious in his adventurous side.

178: cowabunga

 COWABUNGA BAY..the newest water park in Utah and day 2 of our friends and fun!

A little chill time with Lisa, Truman, and Ryder

I love fireworks. Unfortunately they are illegal in California so it's been a long time since I've had fun with fire. Surprisingly, with all the fires, they are still legal in Utah so I partook! We had the whole neighborhood out for our firework spectacle. It's amazing how quickly $70 burns up into smoke..but it was worth it. It was a new experience for my boys and I quickly learned that Jayden is a PYROMANIAC! 

{this is him with a roman candle in one hand while swirling a sparkler in the other!}

177: fun with our friends

While in Utah, we were able to stay with my childhood friend Lisa and her family! It was built in fun! The boys loved hanging out and playing with Lisa's kids..it was a perfect match. They took us to all their fun spots..today was Trafalga for laser tag, bumper boats, rock climbing, rides, and arcade games.

Later that night, we had some sparkler fun! I was practicing with my camera settings to capture the fun designs of the sparklers.

176: byu basketball camp

Getting a little taste of college life! We checked Skyler in to his basketball camp and his dorm {Merrill Hall}. He and his best friend Brody are roommates..that can only spell trouble! It looks like it's going to be one big PARTY for these two! They have 4 other friends from Temecula that are at the camp as well! Too bad we couldn't arrange for them to all be in the same dorm.

175: on the road again!

A beautiful Sunday drive up to Utah. I love wide open spaces and big, white fluffy clouds!

174: packing up skyer

Skyler will be attending a week long basketball camp at BYU next week.  I've been trying to come up with ways for him not to forget about his mean mom and miserable brothers! Hopefully he will appreciate these little treats when he finds them hidden in his suitcase!

173: temple night

Ward temple night!

172: finally..a beach day!

Yay!! Finally we're home for a beach day! It was a perfect day with lots of friends to hang out and chat with!

{I'm noticing that my pictures have been slacking..I'm finding that I'm using my phone camera more than my actual camera. It's summer and I think everything is slacking!}

171: this little piggy got rubbed!

I was suppose to have a hair appointment this morning but my hair dresser put the wrong date in the computer. No use letting a free morning pass me by..I went and got a much needed pedicure instead!

170: jayden goes to art camp

Jayden and his buddy Thomas started art camp this week! It's 3 days of art and fun..exactly up Jayden's alley!

169: lazy day of summer

Just decided to do nothing today..and I'm loving it!

168: happy fathers day to the best dad ever!

One of our favorite things to do on Sunday mornings is turn on the Apple T.V. and stream our family pictures with church music. It brings a nice spirit in the home, plus, we get to reminisce about our fun times together.

Being Father's Day..Jim got an extra cheat day! I made him his favorite..a giant oversized red velvet cupcake with layers upon layers of creamy frosting!

{somehow I failed to get a picture of Jim with the boys}

167: cheat day

1 month ago, I decided to test my will power and try out Jim's 4 hour diet. He has had phenomenal results with it.  Basically you cut out anything good: pasta, rice, bread, sugar, fruit, dairy for 6 days. 1 day a week you get a cheat day and you can eat anything and everything you want! The cheat day is part of the science. Everyone I know who has tried it has had success..everyone that is, but ME! 

I have been so strict and followed this diet to a "T"! I made cupcakes and frosted them and didn't even lick my fingers.  I watched the boys eat all sorts of candy and I withstood! I didn't notice any amazing health changes like Jim did {I never had indigestion, heartburn, acid reflux to begin with}. I did notice I had a little bit more energy around 3-4:00 p.m. and didn't have that sugar crash. I have never owned a scale in my life, until I started this diet. I couldn't wait to stand on it after my trip to see how much I had lost, considering I hadn't eaten hardly anything. To my utter shock, in 1 month, after cutting out all the bad stuff, I have only lost 2 pounds! I feel frustrated and disappointed. It seriously depressed me to think of all the things I've been depriving myself of for ONLY 2 POUNDS! Not worth it! Saturday is my cheat day and I went big! I topped off the day, around 9:00 p.m. with a visit to Rite Aid! It made me so happy to enjoy this simple concoction of sugar and milk!

I'm pretty much done with the 4 hour diet. I believe moderation is the key! Plus, after doing some research, I have found that a low-carb, high protein diet will actually do more harm than good for me and my kidney disease. See..my body was protesting! Maybe I won't have 2 heaping bowls of sugar cereal with sourdough toast for breakfast, but I won't live on celery and peanut butter either!!

166: day 6..going home!!

 I strongly disagree with this statement!!

I was thinking I could drive home Thursday, but because we decided to go see the caverns, it through our time off a bit.  We got finished with the cave tour by 6:00 and we were still about 7 hours from home. We drove for awhile, but Jim didn't feel comfortable with us driving that late. He knows that once the sun goes down, I naturally become a sleepy driver! So we stayed the night in Fresno. Not one of the "must see" spots of the trip, but the hotel had comfortable beds, a pool, and free breakfast {which wasn't so grand}. While the boys ate waffles and cereal and hot chocolate, I dined on hard boiled eggs, celery and peanut butter. 

I did not time our drive well as we hit L.A. Friday rush hour traffic :(

It tacked on about and extra 1 1/2 hours! We rolled into Temecula around 7:30 p.m. and were so happy to see Jim! He had Rubios waiting for us on the kitchen table..he's a great man! We sat in the spa and I relaxed my weary driving bones!

2,234 miles

6 gas stops {1 of which I did not pump}
2 states

5 different hotels

1 camping site

filthy car

Amazing adventures and sights

1 tired mom!

165: day 5..the gold rush!

 I always have to stop for a temple!! Sacramento Temple

 James Marshall statue..founder of the gold rush!

 Today we set our sights on Sutter's Mill and Marshall's Gold Discovery State Park. Again, bringing to life Jayden's school year and his studies of the gold rush. I can totally understand why the gold rush started in January..it's hot out there! The area looked very familiar..I think we may have passed it on our way to white water rafting a couple years ago with the youth from church. I even remember saying, "this would be cool to bring the kids to". Fast forward 2 years, and here we are. We walked around  and the boys panned for gold. I don't think the Geddie family would have made it through the gold rush..we are not patient panners.  Ryder just about chucked his pan because he wasn't finding anything quick enough! We saw enough to get the general idea. Luckily a store was smart enough to sell ICEE's, because it was a saving grace! 

Our last adventure was going deep into the ground in some pretty awesome caverns/caves. It was about an hour out of our way, but it was so worth it.  I guess there are several different caves in the area, we chose the Moaning Caverns. They had rappelling, ziplining, and a walking tour. We did the walking tour as 2 of our 4 were too young for the other adventures. We climbed down about 260 ft and it was pure awesomeness. Unlike anything I had ever seen before. The formations were so cool and had been there for millions of years. I asked what would happen if there was an earthquake..being in california that was a big concern of mine. Her answer was simple, these caves have been there for millions of years and there have been earthquakes for just as long. In fact, when the big earthquake of 1989 happened, they had a tour down in the cave and didn't even know what happened until they got to the top. The only sign was the ropes were swinging a bit. So it may jut be one of the safest places to be..go figure!

One of the coolest thing they did in the tour was turn out all the lights. We had a complete blackout..not a smidgen of light anywhere. I can only imagine what it must have been like for those Chilean miners, stuck in that black darkness for so long! 

164: day 4..our states capitol

We said good-bye to train 14 and headed south. We stopped in Redding at the Sundial Bridge and got our token picture and smashed penny {I think I got over 20 pennies this trip}. Then it was on to Sacramento. The scenery was now brown, dead and hot! We're not on the coast any longer :(

It was 95 degrees when we pulled into Sacramento! Miserable..but it did not stop us.  We headed down to Historic Old Sacramento and walked the streets. This trip was a bit of an extension of Jayden's 4th grade school year.  We were going to many of the places he learned about and studied in California history.  I believe the greatest learning happens when you can actually visit the places you read about and see them in context!

After a very hot and lethargic walk down old town, we drove past the state capitol building. If it weren't so hot, we would have walked around, but it was stifling so we headed back to the hotel to go swimming! Picked up some Jamba Juice for dinner and called it a night!