Big 13

Happy 13th Anniversary to us! Justin and I are celebrating our 13 years of being married today. Actually our true celebration will be tomorrow when we go to the Tuachaun and see Footloose and out to dinner. Justin did surprise me with taking me out to lunch today while a friend watched our kids. It was very nice.

In the 13 years that we have been married and am so grateful for a husband who loves me and knows when to give me a break, cheer me up, or just make me feel special. I really appreciate all of these times. He also is mostly great with the kids and provides so well for all of us. We are able to do so much together and with our family. It really makes living here on this earth wonderful and fun. Thanks you sweetheart for all you do and here is to many more years together learning and growing.

Ho, Hum!

My wonderful husband decided that I needed a break today so he is off with the boys and I get to do whatever I want. So I thought what should I do. Well, I don't know! So I am here reading blogs and writing my own. Pretty lame eh!
Well, there are a lot of things I could do but just don't feel like it. I did look at my lesson for nursery tomorrow, I need to organize my file cabinets, I could read the book I am reading, I also could clean my closet out. Oh the garage also needs to be cleaned, but it is too hot to do that, good excuse eh! Anyway, I am sure something will come to me.
As for this week, it sure did go by fast and we were so busy with visiting teaching, a birthday party, swimming, and of course doing a craft with Tyler. We can never get away from doing that. We made cookies with the frozen colored cookie dough. It was fun, but they don't taste that good to me. We also did a bit of yard work, boy did our back yard need it. After all it is pine needle season. They were everywhere. It is crazy how many needles those trees can drop and still have needles on them. We also had a window place come and do a quote on all of our windows and doors. We are now trying to decide if we will do them or wait. All we know is Home Depot is way more expensive than getting them down through a place out of town. I am sure it would be cheaper if we were doing them ourselves, but we want to make sure something like that is done right the first time. Anyway, maybe we will have some new windows and doors here in a month or so.
We are now just gearing up to see family in Utah. We are excited for our upcoming trip and hope it will be as fun as we expect it to be.

Ratatouille

Have you ever thought of making the dish that Disney named one of their movies after. Yes "Ratatouille"! http://dinner-recipes.suite101.com/article.cfm/ratatouille_recipe Well last Sunday when we were trying to decide what to make for dinner I said well how about Ratatouille because I had eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes from the garden. The kids thought that would be great. I told them everything that was included in the recipe and told them they would have to eat it if I made it. They were persistent about me making it so we did. It was actually not to bad. The kids didn't like it of course (way to many vegetables for them, also I added a chile pepper so it was kink of spicy). They promised that they would eat it so they sat at the table for quite some time and were told that they couldn't leave the table until they did. It was a quiet afternoon for Justin and I. They did finally did eat it though.

Also some quotes from the kids for this week:
Mackay was doing some school work during the week and started to space off, he exclaimed, "My mind just got subtracted."

Tyler was frustrated about something one day and said, "That makes me annoying!"

Today Mackay and I were talking and he said, "Why is it that parents are sometimes always right." I told him if he took the sometimes out of that statement it would be a correct statement.

Beach slideshow

Boogie Boarding, collecting shells, playing in the sand, and more

We just spent 7 fabulous days on our family vacation to Refugio Beach near Santa Barbara. My husband was so excited to get there that we left at 6 a.m. and found our spot and some friends who were already there. Lucky for us the people who had our site had already vacated so we set up our home for the week. We were all set and went down the the beach with the Agren's for a few hours. It was a bit chilly but we enjoyed our time down there then headed back up to camp to shower and welcome all of our fellow campers. We had the Agrens, Jensens, and Carricks who all used to live near us and the many of our ward members who also joined us for our fun filled week. It was said that there my have been about 130 or so of our group camping there. Yea, we pretty much ruled the campground.
During the week we enjoyed :
being buried in the sand, more than once
morning walks to collect seashells and look at the tide pools
sand castle building
searching for sand crabs
Boogie Boarding (Justin more than the rest of us)
Hanging out with friends
Campfires with tons of marshmallows and dough boys
Going on a date with other couple to a nice steak restaurant
Getting sunburn more than once
Lunch with the gals to celebrate Kathryn's Birthday (she said it was for mine too, but it was really just for her)
Sleeping in a tent full of sand
Visiting the Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara with our favorite exhibit being a room full of butterflies.
Eating at a fabulous Italian Restaurant
Lots of time at the beach
Lots of girl chat time
Watching the Surfers (Way to go Brent and Taryn)
There was much, much more I am sure. It was so much fun and now we are back in the hot, hot desert we would like to go back.

Turner Family Reunion

I has taken me awhile to get around to posting this. Last weekend we spent a wonderful weekend in Zions National Park with Justin's Family. It was relaxing and fun. We hiked part of the Narrows, played in the pool, went tubing down the river, and just enjoyed each others company. The kids had so much fun with their cousins and they miss them when they are away from them. Anyway, Horray for family!

Inkubook Photobooks