273: random shots from jayden

I often go to my phone and find the most random pictures taken on it. Jayden's favorite..Google Earth. He loves to see the earth from high above.

This looks like the elementary school behind our house.

272: halloween time

Time for Halloween..Jim's most favorite holiday!

271: service

Helping one of my students with his Eagle Scout project

"...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of you God."

Went to a beautiful wedding in San Diego at Mission Bay of one of Jim's employees. It was quite a fancy affair.

270: jj and cal state long beach

Long Beach..undefeated!

{Jayden made 3 touchdowns in his first game}

269: waterpolo

Supporting a few of the boys in my class. Funny thing..they played Damien High School..my High Schools' rival.

268: the trials of technology

Jim got me this awesome camera for our anniversary and for our trip. It was the latest and greatest..it could send pictures straight to facebook and instagram from the camera, you could access your email, and all sorts of other apps. It had the functions of a smartphone {except for talking and texting} but with a greater camera. It took great pictures and served us well on our trip, however, I couldn't download any of my pictures for over a week. Come to find out, Samsung and Apple are not very compatible. I had to jump through hoops just to make it work, plus, I couldn't figure out all the extras. I need my camera to be fast and easy. The idea of all those components are great, but I have an iphone..I don't need a camera that does everything my phone does. I just want a point and shoot, for times I want a better quality than my phone.

I'm BACK!!!!

Yes..I know, I'm more than 2 months behind! With good reason, I must say!  I've been busy creating lots of memories. The task before me now, is to catch up!  It may be a slow process, but I am making an effort!

267: rain gutter regatta

Rain Gutter Regatta..Book of Mormon style.

266: nephi's boat

"Nephi was commanded to go and build a boat..Nephi's older brothers said it would not float..Laughing and Mocking they said he shouldn't try..Nephi was courageous and this was his reply..I will go and do the things the Lord commands..I know the Lord provides a way, he wants me to obey!"

One of our activities in seminary this morning.

265: my baby is 9!

Happy Birthday to my baby..where have the 9 years gone?

{he was sure to let us know on several occasions, just how much it stinks to have a birthday on Sunday!}

264: cross country saturday

This meet was down in Costa Mesa and it was an evening meet..perfect to escape the heat. There were thousands of people..it was pretty crazy. Proud of Skyler..he medaled again!

263: jaydens first campout/ birthday

 

Jayden's first boyscout campout..camporee!

 Let the party begin..it was me and Skyler to manage these 8, crazy boys!

It was a perfect party! We watched the movie, ate some junk, opened presents, and then the boys found the water fountain..BONUS! Sent them away with their little goody bags and the party was done. My house was spared, as well as my sanity. I think I like the, "plan the birthday party in 4 days" idea! We'll just call Ryder's parties, from now on, the FURLOUGH PARTY!

262: flat tire

This is what I walked out to after seminary this morning!

261: lehi dwelt in a tent

If it's good enough for Lehi, it's good enough for us, so our class dwelt in a tent for a few days. 

260: ryder's invitations

Just found out yesterday that there is no school on Friday! Perfect, I will throw together a birthday party for Ryder. 4 days should be plenty, right? We decided we'd have a movie party and go see Percy Jackson Sea of the Monsters. Easy enough. 

259: free

I had a free, 8x8 shutterfly photo book coupon that was about to expire, so I took the entire morning and created a book of our summer adventure! 

258: out of balance

This is laundry imitating life! 

I've been having the hardest time getting caught up on everything and feel like I'm totally off balance.  I'm trying to stick too much into each day..lessons learned from a washing machine. 

257: skyler's first cross country meet..mt sac

MT. SAC Invitational

{one of my 5 colleges}

Grandpa doesn't like to miss anything his grandkids do! He is a great supporter of athletics, scouts, music..anything they do, he tries to be there!

We were so impressed with Skyler.  We knew he could run, but didn't know just how well.  It was a tough course, with some hills I don't think they were prepared for. He got a great time and even medaled.

256: fnl

Another Friday night on the field.

255: still unpacking

Still unpacking!! 

Picked up this one of a kind creche in Capri, Italy. I knew I had to have it the second I saw it in a little artists' studio.

254: high school art project

Naturally, Skyler knew about this project a week in advance. When did he wait to ask me how to make paper maiche? Around 4:00 p.m., the day before it was due. I told him good luck with that! There is so much drying time in this project. Of course, I couldn't just stand by and watch him fail..I helped, a little! He had to make a letter shape out of a cereal box and paper maiche and paint it. I helped make the letter, he paper maiche two layers, and Jim painted it around 11:00 p.m. Teamwork!

253: tree of life

We learned about Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life..better than reading about it, we lived it..complete with the iron rod, the big and spacious building, the filthy water, the tree of life {with delicious fruit}, and mists of darkness. I did not get a picture of my mist..the fog machine shut off as well as the power to my lights. We had people mocking others from the big and spacious building and those who stayed firm. My hope for these kids, is that the next time they read in Nephi of the Tree of Life, they will remember this day in seminary.

252: jet lag

Can't sleep! It's 2:20 a.m. {but my body thinks it's 11:20 a.m.} and I'm wide awake! So naturally I went to Walmart to get some treats for seminary! Had the place to myself!

251: attendance headache

The part of teaching seminary that I don't really enjoy..the administrative stuff. There is a new computer program for attendance and it was suppose to be incredible..I struggled with it for hours tonight{and I can typically figure out computers!}

250: science experiment

My mom is from the era of "want not, waste not"!  While this is a wonderful skill to have, I draw the line at week old leftovers. I felt as if we had a science experiment gone bad, growing within the fridge. Time to start over and clean it out!

249: friday night lights

Friday Night Lights has begun!  This year both Jayden and Ryder decided to play flag football instead of soccer. This is great..this makes our Saturday free! We haven't had free Saturdays in over 9 years!

Ryder's team:  Oregon State Beavers

Jayden's team: Long Beach

248: reality

We found one of these signs on every toilet! My mom was desperate. I asked if it worked, she said, "nope"!  Boys will be boys!

247: flying home

Day 15:

A long day of flying

We got off the cruise ship around 6:30 a.m. and shuttled off to the Barcelona airport for our flight at 11:00. Of course, I was one of 6 to be randomly selected for extra security. It just so happened that 4 of the others were tall, blonde, American women. There was 1 Spainsh man. One of the other women to be detained was a Sister missionary on her way home to Utah. We sat and talked and I could feel the joy she had from serving the people of Spain. I could only imagine how excited her family was, waiting on the other side of the world for her to return. I got a little teary just thinking of it. The flight was long! We had to stop in NYC for customs, and then arrived home at LAX around 9:00p.m. Our trip was officially over!

 Always memorizing scriptures..why does it take me so long?

  

246: last day at sea

Day 14:

Last day at sea

Realizing that reality is about to loom it's ugly head!

The Belly Flop contest winner..we also had the privilege of having him eat at our table one night, earlier in the cruise. He was drunker than a skunk. Still not sure what he was talking about, but he cracked himself up.

 Jim and I were thinking we'd work on something like this for our Christmas cards this year..wowzers..super human strength. 

The sun is setting on a trip of a lifetime! We still marvel at all the things we saw and all the things we were able to do. It's hard to believe 2 weeks could go by so quickly, but from the sounds of our phone calls home, 2 weeks didn't go quick enough.