Camping at Tehachappi

When are we going Camping?

We made it through the week, Hooray! The only thing is, we told our kids that we were going to go camping at the end of the week so we had to hear, "When are we going Camping?", all week. So every day we counted down how many sleeps until we got to go camping. When Friday finally came we packed up the car and took off for Tehachappi, California, which is a little over an hour south west of us. It was so nice and beautiful there. We were happy that we had gone. We relaxed, talked with friends, went for a hike, and let the kids get as dirty as they wanted. It was great!
When asking my kids what their favorite part about camping was T said, "building a fire", go figure, the kids a pyro thanks to his grandpa. MJ pointed out that the big hollow in the middle tree was his favorite part of camping. I think it was my favorite too, it kept the kids entertained for hours. J loved the hike that he took us all on. I actually really enjoyed being lazy and sitting around talking with friends.
We keep telling ourselves we need to go camping more, so we are going to have to try and do just that, because it really wasn't much trouble to put together and for one night it is great entertainment.

Sunday's Thoughts

I have been thinking about the post that a friend put in her blog about Inner Beauty. I didn't have time to comment on this earlier so would like to start a new thing for myself and those who care to read, about writing about thoughts that I have during the week every Sunday.

Anyway when I was thinking about Inner Beauty I remembered a fireside that I went to when I attended Utah State University. This lady, who lived a ruff life and ran a bar, joined the church or was reactivated and was talking about visiting teaching experience that she had. She was assigned to go and visit a sister who lived in a care facility in Logan. When she first met the sister she was taken back by her appearance. This lady was old, didn't have much hair, had a large mole on her face, and very wrinkled. As she got to know her she said that she was able to see her spirit and that this sister had the most beautiful spirit. Her Inner Beauty was able to shine even though her outward appearance didn't show it.

I think it is important to look at people in that light and not judge by the outer appearance, which is easy to do, and look and see these precious spirit that are inside. After all we are all sons and daughters of God and he loves us very much. I watched "The Little Princess" last week with my sons and in there it mentions that all girls are princesses. So I told my boys that they need to remember that and treat all girls with respect because they are all princesses.

I will just leave on that note...

T's Birthday

August 20th was T's Birthday and we started the morning by opening presents of course, what better way to start a birthday.
It is crazy to think that he is already 5 years old! It doesn't seem like too long ago when we got the much waited for call from LDS Family services telling us that we could have an addition to our family if we so desired. Of course the answer was an enthusiastic yes! To our surprise though we only had two weeks until he was to be born, which was exciting but also made us busy fast. Mackay and Tyler have the same birth mother, she really struggled to know whether she should place Tyler for adoption or not. She decided that he needed to be with his older brother. We are sure glad she did, because they really are best friends and I don't know what they would do without each other (except fight less). Anyway, on with the story, We were able to visit with our birth mother the next week and then the following week we got the call that Tyler was born. We took off to pick-up or brand new baby boy. We visited him the day after he was born in the hospital and then were able to take him home the next day. It was so hard leaving the first day because deep in the back of my mind I was thinking, "Maybe she will change her mind". We are blessed though and have had the opportunity to raise these kids.
For T's birthday he wanted a knight theme. He received a knight costume for his Birthday and then a few days later we had a few friends over to our castle for a knight's bash.
This is the castle cake that I made for his birthday.









Tyler only wanted boys at his party, for some reason, so we dressed them all up as knights. We went for a dragon hunt, pinned the sword on the knight, Fought each other and the dragon with our inflatable swords and shields (made out of cardboard). The kids loved being knights for a day. They sure were cute!







We then fought the green fiery dragon to get some treats. Unfortunately I didn't tie the rope to the dragon on very well so it was instantly lost its head and tail at the first swing of the sword. Poor dragon! So we let the kids punch the dragon instead to get the candy out. (Kind of violent, sorry!)

First Day of School

The first day of school already, August 18. Where has the summer gone?

MJ's Teacher

TJ's teacher

We had a really great first day of school, the kids love their teachers. When I asked how MJ's first day was he just told me all about recess. I guess we can see what he really likes about school.

TJ on the other hand just had an hour orientation, so his first day was today and he absolutely loved it. I was feeling sad myself, my baby off to kindergarten, whaaa! I did okay though, but felt a little lonely while getting a few things done around the home. He loved school and everything he did, he especially loved treasure chest, the reward system his teacher uses. He even liked doing homework, I sure wish it was the same for his brother.

Anyway, we all survived the first day -- all is good here!

Blonde's Have More Fun

You have heard them more than once yes those blonde jokes (my favorite being how does a blonde spell farm -- e i e i o) and the silly comments people say. Well this week I feel like I have been a true blonde. I feel as if I could be the star of Clueless. I do have a brain and I know that it works most of the time but this week I have felt like I was in a total fog.
Anyway, I will share with you my top "Clueless" moments.
1. Driving around in my van with the back hatch open.
2. Getting out the dusting stuff and forgetting where I put it then finding it two days later out by the laundry. (So much for dusting)
3. Cooking something in the microwave for dinner, then totally spacing it and finding it the next morning (gross).
4. Making banana muffins and forgetting to put sugar in them!
5. Talking to friends and having a total feeling of I have no idea what they are talking about, but then having the light bulb eventually come on and feeling stupider than ever.
6. Walking straight face on into an open door (luckily that didn't leave a mark).
7. Putting the milk in the cupboard instead of the fridge.
8. Dialing a number twice on the telephone to finally figure out I was calling my own number and kept getting a busy signal! (I was inwardly embarrassed about that)
Oh, there are more - but I will just leave it at that!
Luckily my husband always makes the comment, "I am so glad that I married a blonde, because blondes have more fun!
The thing is I am so unobservant that I don't even take offense to that comment, I think he just likes teasing me!!!

To be a Pioneer

This is a bit late, but while we were in Utah we were able to visit the Heritage Village, which is by the "This is the Place" Monument. They have quite a bit of things to look at and do. It was so interesting to see how life was back in the time that Utah was settled in. It really made me think of my ancestor's and also made me grateful for all of our modern conveniences. I would highly recommend going there for a family outing.


















MJ and TJ showing off their muscles from pulling this handcart.

JT seeking education at the school



Mackay having his first shave in the barber shop.