Solo Trip To Utah!

Troy was generous this weekend and I got to fly to Utah to see my Grandma, Aunt and Cousins for a few days. It was so weird and great to be solo. Thursday night my Grandma met me at the airport with my cousin Diane. My grandma is 94 and had no idea I was coming. It was the best! She was so excited and had to touch my face over and over again. She is so sweet and seems really great.

Friday morning I went on a brisk 6 1/2 mile walk with my Aunt Ann and cousin Diane. I found out one of my Aunt's lifelong goals is to always be able to out walk me. That is one she will no doubt achieve. After walking I had lunch with Diane and relaxed for a couple of hours. I was able to tag along to a wedding dress shopping extravaganza for my newly engaged cousin, Sara and got the photo of the year. Sara was having a difficult time picking between two dresses. So she called her fiance to come and help. He really needed to see the two dresses side by side and so my aunt was nominated to try on the other dress. It was AWESOME!

This picture is no longer available!

Friday night we went to Cafe Rio with Callie, Andrew, Sara, Scott, Grandma, Laura, Ann and I. It was delicious and really fun.
Saturday I went skiing for the first time in 15 years. I have been snow boarding but not skiing since I was a Senior in High school.

After we got to Alta my aunt realized that she left her pass at home and left me skiing while she went home to get it. At first I was pretty freaked out not having been skiing forever. Afterward I was so glad I got a few runs in before she came back. It was a perfect day and even though I suck, I am so glad I did it! I met one of my dear friends Becca Jean for lunch and meant to get a picture but was a little tired. Saturday night my aunt made dinner for anyone who could come and we just hung out.

It was a short but awesome trip!

I love you Troy!

Gavin's Valentines Party

Gavin's teacher Mrs. Dulle is awesome! They have parties for everything and siblings or extended family are always welcome. Warner, Gavin's cousin who lives in Idaho surprised us with a visit along with his family. He was a little hesitant to go to a new school for the day but he and Gavin had a great time!

This was the lunch time sock hop because it was raining outside. Such a great idea and Gavin and Warner rocked out!



A Memorable Valentines Day Celebration!

RLP Valentines Day!

COLBY'S DAY OF LOVE!

Berkeley Lawrence Hall of Science

On February 6, Gavin and I went on his school field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science. I had never been there before and it was awesome. Gavin was all eyes, ears, hands and running from station to station. His favorite of course was handling the California King Snake!

It is always hard to get either one of my boys away from something they can build and drop balls down.


Gavin thought we stayed too long looking at the floating Earth. Obviously

This was one of the Animal Grossology stations where the kids were suppose to identify different kinds of animals poop. I was not that surprised that Gavin was really good at this one.

My animal lover could not get over how beautiful and soft the dove was.

His moment of true glory was touching the California Kingsnake.

Long Monterey Weekend!

Not a cloud in the sky from Friday-Monday! Possibly the most beautiful weekend ever in Monterey. What a treat for our Denver, Colorado extensions who made it out for the weekend. Scott, Danielle, Dane and Amanda MacDonald traded 15 degree weather for sunshine, sandy beaches, blue skies and mid 60's to mid 70's in Monterey. Good trade off especially for the end of January beginning of February.

It always amazes me how kids don't feel the cold. By the end of this beach trip Mazzy was stripped down to her diaper and the happiest clam of all splashing in the freezing cold Pacific at 4:30 pm. Both Gavin and Colby were whining and crying about being cold and itchy and Mazzy couldn't have been more content!

We got a few cool sunset pictures. We are far from good photographers so some shots looked better in theory.

We tried something new this trip the Surrey Bikes. Super fun not very fast and not the best turning radius...Super fun. We biked out to the end of one of the Piers and actually saw a baby humpback whale breach right off the pier. I was in shock hence no pictures. I couldn't pry myself away from the event to document it with photos, but AWESOME!
Pacific Grove is famous for it's Monarch Butterflies and January is the best time to see them. We walked down the Butterfly Sanctuary with the kids and saw hundreds of Butterflies flying around the tree tops.

Butterfly Extracurricular Activities.

Gavin and Amanda were instant friends.

Daddy/daughter shot!

Still Newly Weds after 4 years!

It is so nice to pick up right where you left off! I love Dani! Till next time sista!

TroYYYYYYYYYY

So let me give a preview to the previous entry by Troy. Saturday night Troy and I were picking out a movie to watch after the kids went to bed. His usual rules have been, "No Harry Potter or any form of Pride and Prejudice, of which we have 3". This night he said, "Why don't we watch the 6 hour version of Pride and Prejudice". Of course I thought he was cracking a Troyism. After I realize he is serious, I jump on the idea! So over Saturday and Sunday nights he watched Pride and Prejudice in its entirety. So when he asked me if I wanted to go shooting I did feel a little obligated.

Monday morning we dropped the kids off at Merrily's house and it was off to the Baypoint Shooting Range in Concord. I was so out of my element, intimidated and nervous. I don't think I have been that nervous since I was an 8 year old in ski school for the first time and a bully in the class told me he was going to flush me down the toilet. That is the first experience that comes to mind anyway. I was totally out numbered men to women ratio and surrounded by people who like, buy, and enjoy shooting weapons on a regular basis. The most disturbing thing to me was that one wrong move here by anyone likely would result in death. So I was not this tough, heat packing, cool chick that Troy illustrates.

The mandatory orientation I received by the people who run the range did make me feel a little better. At least there were distinct rules that had to be obeyed. I was still nervous that I would be the one who fired in the wrong direction. Troy gave me very little instruction as he was new at this activity as well. So the first few rounds fired were very poor to be generous. I wholly missed the target at all. Troy kept looking at me like, "Wasn't that cool and isn't this fun?" . I kept looking at him like you are crazy and I am not happy.

Finally, an older gentlemen next to us probably noticed that I was not hitting anything and asked if I wanted to use something a little easier like a .22 revolver. He said that his wife first hated automatics but enjoyed shooting a revolver. At this point I felt like I would try anything once. So he gave me a few pointers like how to actually line the gun up with the target. I will say shooting is much more enjoyable when you can actually hit something. By the end of our session I felt a little more confident and heaven forbid the occasion occur, I can protect my family.

My children are ignorant of this event and I hope they will remain ignorant until they have families of their own that may need security.

I guess the thing to come away with from these two very different activities is that maybe after 10 years of marriage Troy and I have learned a little about adaptation and comprimise.

Loraleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

This was the first time taking Loralee to the range and she did pretty well. Between her new-found ability to shoot very straight and her cowboy boots, I have learned to harass her a little less than I used to, just to avoid being kicked or worse. She claims the boots are the most comfortable shoes she has ever owned, but personally, I think she wears them to kick me and the boys when we are out of line.




Here is a picture of her target.