Our Trip to California - Part 1

We jetted off to Sacramento a couple of weeks ago. We loaded the new family truckster with kids and a dog and off we went. The dog normally travels well but for some reason not this trip. He sat in the middle seat and breathed on Anthony and I. Steve stayed home and flew up later to see us. He spent the day with us then off to his parents for a few days. I will post those pictures tomorrow. I will admit, it was nice Anthony could drive. I even fell asleep for a little while.



We had grand ideas of things we wanted to do. The most important thing that we all agreed on was: There would be no cooking. Here in our little town we don't have much in the way of restaurants or fast food places. So we made plans to hit them all. I bought the cutest pair of shorts to wear while we were visiting. I couldn't wear them because of the extra weight I put on. The picture above is in front of Jelly Belly. The lines where long, the kids where crazy but it was a good time.



The boys playing video games. His room looks clean here.


When we left Oregon, our temperatures had not yet hit 80 degrees. Oh man, they hit that high and higher in Sacramento. Jason lived in the neighbors pool and my parents jacuzzi. Poor Cheddar, he is say,"Dear God, it's hot. LET ME IN!!!!"




The pool, thank you Dave for the unlimited use of your pool.

I did some shopping at stores we don't have around here. Jason was not pleased that one of my stops was at a teachers store. I really loaded up. Can't wait to start the new school year. HaHaHa


These next couple of pictures will be called "Was that my phone."

Anthony had to be away from his girlfriend. The actually hardly saw each other the first 6 weeks of summer break. She had her camps and he had his. Then both where off to see grandparents. This week they have made up for lost time.


"Is that my phone??"


"Maybe it's my Moms."


"No one calls my Mom. I better go check."


My birthday cake. This is a wonderful cake from Cheesecake Factory. I wish I could say it was the only cheesecake we had this trip but it wasn't. We celebrated Andrews birthday to. Two birthday's, two cakes. I also had a cake at Steve's parents house. No wonder why my shorts don't fit. This is half peanut butter and chocolate and the other half is white chocolate and raspberry. Ummmmmm.


Not a good picture of me, but gotta love Megan.


Megan and her pale Danny. I think Danny was glad to see us go.



We had such a great time. My Dad fixed computers and sent us home with a couple of new ones. I love his face when he sees just how many pictures I have on these things. After he added the second hard drive I asked if he could put in a third. He said, no one could fill up the 2 hard drives. Oh yes I can. I didn't get the 3rd hard drive, just a couple of eye rolls.

Tomorrow I will post pictures from our visit with Steve's parents and his sisters family.

Lazy Days Of Summer

I don't think so. We just got back from a trip back to Sacramento. I have lots of pictures to share but not today. I am uploading them as I speak.

I do have some soccer pictures to share. Megan is only going to play in 4 soccer games this summer season. I didn't realized that that U15 and U19 only play in July. It's a crazy season with 3 to 4 games a night. Then you need to add Jason's game's into the mix.

Anyway, we had planned the trip to Sac not realizing she would be missing most of her games. However we will be making up for it come fall with select soccer. We will be back in Walla Walla every weekend.

Any way here are some pictures from the last game.

Jason is doing really good. He first was ready to drop out but has changed his mind.













As I go to post Megan's pictures I realized that I didn't upload them. It's going to be one of those days.

DJ update. It took awhile but the two of them got together. He hasn't changed much just gotten taller. I have some pictures of them as well, but those are still hanging out in my camera.

Anyway, that is all for today. I am catching up on emails, doing laundry, dishes, Moms Club stuff and VBS starts next week. I am doing the snack station and need to get that stuff together.

Enjoy your lazy days of summer.

4th of July

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July. This time of year always makes us miss our families back in California. It also made me a little sad. Steve wasn't here because he had to work. But it really wasn't that. It really made me realize just how much my kids are growing up.

Jason still sat in my lap and watched the fireworks with me, but best friend Joey was sitting with us. Megan totally blew us off and sat with some of her friends. Anthony, who as a little guy had to sit in my lap while I covered his ears. This year sat on the blanket with us, but behind me with his girlfriend.

I know it happens, they get older. That means that I am getting older as well. I don't like that.

My Garden

This is such a nice sight. The green house is empty. Well, except for the zucchini, but by time this post is posted that plant will be in the ground.

This is my new raised garden. It looks really nice in the yard. Steve built another one on the other side of the lawn for the zucchini plants.

Now if we can get the weather to cooperate it would be nice. We have had thunder storms and rain like you would not believe. The next week is supposed to warm up so we are keeping our fingers crossed. I want tomatoes this year.

We are excited

We are very excited for tomorrow to come. DJ is coming for a visit. As so as Megan heard her whole face lit up. If you have not been following my blog for the last couple of years you can check it out here. DJ'S Story


He is supposed to be here for the month and Megan is making plans like crazy. She just keeps telling everyone, my best friend is coming. I have to admit, I am going to be happy to see him again.

I love this picture of the two of them, and more important, I love Megans hair in this pic. I think I am going to make her have this hair style again. And for the record, DJ has that same stupid smile in every picture I have of him.

My New Toy

It started with this. A birthday gift from my parents a few years ago.

I always loved taking pictures. This turned out to be a great camera. I took tons of pictures and still carry this around in my purse.

Then we decided to go to Disney Land. My beloved camera was getting old and very slow. I upgrade to this one.

I really liked my first Fuji camera and decided to go that way. This one is a loaded up point and shoot. I could play around with aperture's and shutter speeds without having to make the big investment yet. I wasn't ready for that.

I learned alot with this camera. One of the most important things I learned, was what I really needed in a camera. I needed something I could shoot action pictures with and it would take good low light pictures. Let's face it, I spend most of my time watching some sort of sporting event. Jason is showing a real interest in the theater. I needed something that could do both of these.

I also had a real love for Nikon camera's and it started when I was a teenager. I always liked the way it feels in my hand and the buttons just make sense to me. I didn't read the professional reviews, I could care less. I would stop people at wrestling tournaments, football games, hiking and ask them what they thought of their camera's. Both Nikon owners and Cannon owners. I asked them what they liked and didn't like. What lenses they use the most and what they thought was a waste. I figured the best advice would come from people shooting the same kinds of pictures that I do. I even spent some time with the photographer from the sports department of the college and got his opinion. Each had it's pros and con's but it really came down to is, which one felt good in my hand.

Nikon won hands down. I ended up with the D3000 a entry level camera but one that will be perfect for me for now. Eventually someday I will upgrade but for now this baby is what I need. I have taken it every where and it has not failed me yet. With the camera came a very nice multi purpose lens but of course not one that would do the job I needed. I need to get good shots from a long ways away.


This baby is doing the trick. I absolutely love it. It makes the camera a lot heavier but the shots have been worth it. I have really gotten some great soccer shots and I can't wait until football season to start. With this camera comes some down falls. My ability to take a lot of shots fast, has given me hundreds of pictures to go through. And, there is a long list of lenses and other accessories that I now want to buy.

Here is a picture of my little actor. He is fresh out of a stage makeup workshop.

So for now, I will stop complaining about needing a new camera. At least for a week or two.

Hiking

One of the things I love about this area is it's surroundings. We are in a valley but all around us is the beautiful blue mountains. We try to take advantage of our hiking trials and mushroom hunting as often as we can.

We haven't done much mushroom hunting because of the weather. Jason, Megan and I did hike one of our favorite trails last week. I was a little unsure because our rivers have been so high and there have been a lot of flash floods. So after checking the local weather and the weather in the mountains, we set off.




This is one of my favorite trails. During the spring you can hear the baby owls and eagles in their nest's. I took our Christmas pictures here a couple of years ago. The picture above is one I used for my new heading.



This butterfly found a home on Megans shoulder. She found it by the truck as soon as we got there and it stayed on her shoulder until we left. We have seen lots of butterflies here, birds and evidence of beavers. I guess that's why we are the beaver state. HaHaHa



Jason wasn't feeling that great so we didn't stay long. Anthony was working the stock show so he wasn't with us. This was the second day of sunny weather that we had seen in months.




Megan remembering that it is tick season. Gotta love her pants.



Of course, none of us thought about ticks. As you can see from the way that they are dressed. We were so excited about being out in the sun that we forgot about dressing appropriately.



He is thinking, "Mom, stop taking pictures and lets go."