304: happy halloween

We all got into the Halloween spirit this year. I dressed up for seminary as a pioneer {I thought that might be a little more appropriate than a kitty cat, or 80's rocker chick}. The boys were totally into the MORPHsuits this year. And Jim..scary as ever as skeleton man. Another successful year of scaring children to tears.

303: pumpkin patch..never too old

We made it to the pumpkin patch this year by the skin of our teeth. Life has been so busy, but we were not going to let a year go by. We needed to see, "How tall this fall?" Skyler was sick. It was dark. There were hardly any pumpkins left. We took our token pictures and were in and out in 15 minutes..a new record for us.

302: haunted trail

Jim had an extra ticket for his work party to the Haunted Trail in Balboa Park, so naturally I joined him. It was a fun night..even more fun to watch his department heads scream and squirm.

301: thank you pinterest

Another fun Pinterest idea that I actually did! I made these for my seminary class and for my visiting teachers.

300: hell's angels

As we were driving home from Skyler's soccer game on the Ortega Hwy., I spotted this sign. I was going pretty fast, so I turned around to read it. It was even better than I thought. The greatest part about it was, it was in the Hell's Kitchen motorcycle bar parking lot! Who knew bikers were so conservative!

Yes..they spelled your wrong {you're}..don't worry though, I called them up and told them how much I like their sign but wanted them not to look stupid or ignorant themselves and if they would please add an E. They seemed kinda baffled and said, thank you. Not sure if they ever made the change, but as an educator, I can feel good knowing I did my part.

299: tony tobin jog-a-thon

The anual Tony Tobin Jog-a-Thon! 

298: arrow of light

This was the best I could get! Thanks to Carl and Instagram, I have a picture of Jim speaking at the arrow of light ceremony.

297: highway robbery

Ridiculous!!!

Pure torture to have to pay this at the pump..but what can you do? A mom's got to drive!

296: fun times at the doctors

Whirlwind of annual doctor appointments today! I schedule them all together because I still drive down to Scripps in San Diego. I took this one, with my cell phone, while waiting for the dermatologist! I'm sorry, but if you're 15 minutes late, what else do you expect me to do but play on my phone!!

295: finally..our 72 hour kits are done!

We have been counseled by church leaders to have a 72 hour, emergency kit for every member of our family! I've known this for years. I have wanted to put one together, for years! I even got as far as buying 5 matching backpacks {which were stored in the closet I just cleaned out}. I just never finished the job..until today! I feel so accomplished and obedient..finally!

As we were putting them together for family night, the boys made comments about how they were totally looking forward to an emergency so they can use them. Hmmmmm..I don't know if I'm that anxious, but I do know we will be prepared! Jim just laughed at me because he doesn't think anyone will have near the supply of candy that we have!! They always tell us, "store and pack what you eat!" If I'm in an emergency, I'm surely going to want some comfort food!

294: a couch full of boys

We had the Lums over for dinner tonight! They are the sweetest family and the dad is serving in the military over in Afghanistan. I'm pretty sure their 3 boys are thinking our 3 boys are pretty crazy!

293: another day at the soccer field

Ryder, with his left over rock star hairdo, was a rock star on the field today!  He scored 2 goals today and brought him team to victory!

Just thought I'd add this one..I think I have one handsome husband!! He's feeling pretty great with his 2 new teeth!

292: rock and roll day..temple baptisms

Today was dress like a ROCK STAR at the elementary school. We had drama, like a rock star, before the day even began! Ryder, who was the most excited for this day, refused to wear the outfit I put together for him. Frustrated, I told him fine..wear what you want to wear. But of course, I couldn't handle what he was wearing {ordinary, everyday clothes}, that I remembered Skyler's shirt that had lights that lit up with the volume of noise. Ryder loved the idea and strutted down the red carpet on TONYWOOD, staffed with "POP"arrazzi and dad's dressed like body guards. I love that the school has so much fun with dress up every other day of the week, but doesn't allow the kids to dress up for Halloween! Once again, we are catering to probably about 2 individuals with the no celebrating holidays! RETARDED!

That night, Skyler and his friend Bryce came with us to ward temple night and did baptisms!  I love seeing these boys' keep each other in line! I'm so grateful that my boy's have such great friends!

291: gohs freshman football

Took the boys to the freshman football game at Great Oak H.S. One of my students plays and another cheers, so we got to see them both.  It was an exciting game! Great Oak finished with the victory!!

290: turn and burn

It was a quick 24 hours!! Back on the highway, headed home!

289: last minute plan to see the material girl

My friend Jenniffers' mom had bought some Madonna tickets {in Phoenix, AZ.} earlier this year and asked if we wanted to go. We said sure! Fast forward a couple months ago..Jenn decided it probably wasn't worth the money to drive all that way, stay in a hotel, and then drive right back, so she put the tickets up for sale. Fast forward to now..the tickets hadn't sold, but her mom said that she would just eat the cost. Then, on Monday night, as I was driving Skyler home from soccer, a Madonna song came on the radio. Then jokingly, I texted Jenn.."it's not too late!" To which, she replied, "should we?" That's a very loaded question to ask someone as spontaneous as myself! Umm...Yes..lets do it! Let's be totally irresponsible and go! Heaven knows how much longer she'll be around {at least performing}. So at around 8:30 Monday night, I booked a room and we made plans to drive the 380 miles to Phoenix right after elementary school dropoff! 

I felt like a teenageer..it was so exciting! I really didn't know any of her new or even newer old stuff! I'm more a classic Madonna girl! The concert did not disappoint. It was definitely not for the faint of heart. The first set was terribly dark and morbid, but then she transitioned to the next set wearing a cheerleading outfit! I think that's exactly what Madonna is known for..her extremes! Looking around the crowd, I felt as if I was in Sodom and Gomorra. It was a very interesting crowd which led to amazing people watching.  Besides her being 2 hours late to perform, it was a once in a lifetime experience! She was pretty amazing, especially for being 53 years old! She didn't miss a beat and danced for over 2 hours. Her body was rock hard and I felt a little guilty as I was huffing and puffing just to climb the stairs to our seats. Now, when kids read in history books about Madonna, I can say I've seen her live in concert!

{I've got a great zoom on my camera}

288: see here..matter very unorganized!

 I have a problem..one might call it A.D.D. Yes, I had a billion of other things I needed to be doing, however, when I went into my office closet to look for something and had a difficult time finding it, it led me to a project that was not even close to my "to do" list! I began by emptying everything out of this closet..WOW, I had a bunch of junk! Why is it so hard for me to throw things away? Another illness is my nostalgia and sentimentality!! I had the kids' school work, Christmas bags galore, and every other miscellaneous thing that I threw in there thinking I'd get to it later! It took a long time, but I successfully rid myself of the clutter and boy, does it feel good!
{love those wings..part of my ragnar costume for vegas!}

287: amazing view

This was the amazing view we had from the backyard of the house we were staying in!

286: scrapbook weekend

It's been a long time since I have gone away on a scrapbooking weekend. I almost didn't know what to do! One might say, my scrapbooking muscles had atrophied! But I knew, with some time, it would all come back!

 Some friends from church invited me back in January and even though I don't really scrapbook anymore, I said, what the heck! I knew a weekend away, with no running involved, would be glorious! We rented a very large home in La Cresta..which is only about 30 minutes from Temecula. It was so spacious! Each of us had our own, 6 foot table with great lighting. Jim laughed at me and said I always say I'm going to get more done than I actually do, so this time, I armed myself with my weekend goal poster! I wrote down everything I wanted to accomplish and visualized crossing each one off! Some may laugh..but I think it worked! It kept me on track and by Sunday, when our trip was over, I had done everything I had set out to do!! Teachers Christmas gifts..CHECK! Other Christmas gifts..CHECK! Update my blog..CHECK! Clean up all the files on my computer and organize my computer..CHECK! Prepare lessons for seminary..CHECK! It was a weekend well spent..in my jammies!

285: keep calm, vote for rom

Proudly displayed on our yard!

284: rain, glorious rain!

A perfect rainy day! I can say this now because we haven't seen rain in months! It's nice to have a change!!

283: fog

What a glorious relief the weather was today! This was my drive home from seminary this morning! Could it possibly be? Is this fall trying to squeeze in an otherwise overheated California?

282: netti pot to the rescue

Woke up sick this morning! I pulled through and didn't miss seminary, but I'm not going to lie..I was hurting. I was terribly congested and my sinuses felt like they were going to explode! To the rescue..the Netti Pot! I swear by that thing. It's awkward and a bit strange at first, but it gives instant relief. Now if only there were a cure for the aches!

281: sky's 1st cross country meet

I was a little surprised when Skyler told me he was going to run in the Vail Ranch cross country meet and had me sign a permission slip. He typically doesn't care for running. Then I learned that they got to miss the entire day of school.  Immediately, I knew exactly why he signed up to run. The 8th grade boys were the last group to run. I was so impressed with Skyler. For someone who really doesn't like running, he was in the front of the pack! There were 12 school there and hundreds of runners.  Vail Ranch boys, 6th-8th, won all around 1st place! Way to go boys!!

280: feasting on the words of the prophets

What an amazing general conference!! I'm not sure if it's because I'm immersed in the New Testament daily, but several of the talks spoke of Peter {who we have been studying alot of lately in seminary}! It made me just giddy every time I heard the amazing stories of Peter and when I heard scripture mastery scriptures. I only hope that my students recognized the many references to that amazing Apostle of the Lord.

279: food truck festival

Theresa saw the billboard for the annual Food Truck Festival at Pechanga and knew we needed to go! She was correct! It was a sea of unique and incredibly delicious food, pumped out of basic trucks. We ate: bacon encrusted mac & cheese, pulled pork sliders, bainh mi {Vietnamese}, lobster corndog, basil lemonade, blackberry infused mint lemonade, cajun gumbo bisque, and I topped it all off with a shaved ice! I'm happy to report that no antacids were needed after our indulgent smorgasbord!

{Amazing announcement made during our churches general conference: missionary age has changed. 18 for boys and 19 for girls! This is HUGE!}

278: questionable packaging

It was date night with a bunch of our friends. We ate at a new place {for me}..Freebird Burritos! I found it to be delicious, but I was a little bit shocked with the packaging of their brownies! No..they were not actually "pot brownies"! But according to Jim, they were heavenly.

277: date night

Our season tickets had us watching this show tonight! It was a little dark, but had some powerful singing!

{downtown san diego was at an all time high for crazies walking around..we felt like we were in the twilight zone or something tonight. It was pure nuts!}

276: morphing

The boys are just a little too excited about their Halloween costumes this year! Skyler had a friend over and he even brought his matching costume over too! Ode to the morphsuit!

275: eviction day!

It's been a long month, but we finally got our renters evicted..the legal way! The house is ours again. The sheriff was there, but the renters had already vacated, so we didn't get much action! I was pleasantly surprised that the home wasn't damaged at all, just a little bit of junk was left.  What a blessing. Here is one of the remnants left behind..this speaks volumes about the type of people we were dealing with! PSYCHO!

274: heat wave

It has been the most miserable 6 weeks..if not more! This stifling heat needs to go! I'm ready for fall weather!