Brett put lights up today, they look pretty neat! Mostly I think he had fun because he got to go hang out up on the roof. The boys liked it too. The kids decorated the tree all by themselves, after I ran out and got all new ornaments. Brett threw out the ones I had when we moved into this house. I guess lots were broken.
Brett on a hot tin roof. Or wood shingles. I don't know, I didn't go up there.
Balcony is all lit.
He even lit the turret. Is that a turret?
Matt and Cody, chilling by the tree.
Tried to take a few pictures for Christmas, this one turned out okay.
It's a struggle to get these boys to sit still long enough for pictures anymore.
This might be the winning Christmas card photo this year.
I didn't take a whole bunch of pictures during Thanksgiving this year. We went to Brett's sister Michele's house, up in Apple Valley. I think there were about thirty family members there, including Brett's dad and step mommy Priscilla. It went by so fast, I can hardly believe the holiday is already over.
Today, Brett got up at butt o'clock in the morning and attempted Black Friday shopping. He said it was dumb and came home empty handed. Well, not totally, he went by storage and got our Christmas tree, so we put that up today. He's also putting lights up outside tomorrow. I'm really excited about that, mostly because it's so dark in the canyon and I like coming home to a little light.
Here's my sweet hubby. I like him.
Brett's sister Michele.
Miss Candice, niece and pain in my booty. Literally. She beats me up on a regular basis.
Grandma Priscilla, and her new great grandbaby Deegan.
I'm in my second season of playing soccer this year. It's hard pretending I can keep up with a bunch of twenty something year olds. I mean, it's hard chasing a bunch of twenty something year olds. Actually, I just stand there and pick the grass. But it's definitely fun!
I just remembered I had these pictures of Tyler and Matt volunteering for the dunk tank at the Founders Day Fair this year. Our church ran the dunk tank booth as well as the churro stand. It must have been over a hundred degrees that day, which made for a long line of volunteers to be dunked. Even when people threw the ball and missed the target, Brett was right there to pull the dunk lever, insuring that the volunteer would hit the water.
Tyler, he took some persuading to get up there the first time, but after that you couldn't keep him out of line.
I like how Matt is ready, nose is plugged.
A week after I got back from Oregon, we packed up and drove to Gorman, Ca, near Bakersfield, for a weekend of camping and dirt bike riding. We went with good friends of ours from church, the Sclimentis', and some of their family. My aunt and uncle kindly lent us their travel trailer to use, and I am so glad they did. It would have been miserable in a tent. It was cold, and camping in a place that is meant for dirt bike riding can be loud at all hours of the day and night.
We had tons of fun, rode lots of trails, ate yummy food, and got to see our friends the McNaughtons', who had recently moved to Bakersfield. They drove into camp to share some smores and hang out. It was a really inexpensive weekend away, something we would like to do again in the future.
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10:36 AM
This year I was in Oregon on Halloween, so Brett had the full responsibility of getting the kids organized, dressed up, and off to our church's yearly outreach program, Fall Fest. It's a huge event, they have games, In-N-Out, candy, rides, all for free. I think they said we had over ten thousand people attend this year. All the boys volunteered to run a game booth and then got to hang out and play for a bit.
Brett dressed up for the event, which shocked me. Actually, he is standing here telling me that he didn't dress up, he always looks like this. Rugged tough cowboy man. James grabbed one of our ghillie suits, as he didn't want a costume this year, Tyler was a cop, Matthew was a banana.
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10:26 AM
I'm doing a few blog posts at a time to catch up on all the stuff we've been doing lately. Brett got Tyler and Matt signed up for Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts recently. Brett is Matthews den leader, and we have a group of five boys right now. Scouts is right up Brett's alley, all his favoite things, shooting, camping, outdoor activities. We are excited to see if this is a good activity for the boys this year.
Living in the canyon has broadened my horizons in regards to creepy crawling bugs. Gone are the days of a few ants in the kitchen and daddy long-legs building webs in the corners of my ceiling. No, out here we have a new struggle between man and insect, it's a daily battle to see who will be king of the hill. So to speak. I fight ants almost every day. They come out of nowhere, they eat not only food, but clothes, trash, dirty dishes, you name it. Spiders, centipedes, flies, moths, bees, wasps, beetles, stink bugs, so many different species I get to see everyday. I have stopped killing spiders, otherwise I'd spend my whole day doing it. I've learned that the house centipedes help out with eating other bugs, so I don't kill them any more either. Not to mention, centipedes explode with goo when you squish them.
One of the first fun bugs we found, eating outside on the deck one day, a tarantula hawk. Scared Brett and I both, we jumped when we saw this one. It took Brett four good stomps to kill it! The darn thing kept bouncing back to life. Apparently, they are a wasp that lays eggs in a tarantula. Yum!
House centipede.
Giant Beetle.
Here's a tarantula I ran over. I was too scared he might still be alive to roll the window down for a better picture. I thought he might be able to jump up and eat my face. You never know.
This here is my cousin/best friend/half sister Jennefer. We say we are half sisters because our mom's are identical twins, as lots of you know. Two weeks ago I flew up to surprise Jennefer with a visit in Oregon. She didn't know I was coming AT ALL. Her sweet husband drove two and a half hours to come and get me from the closest airport and then drove TWO AND A HALF HOURS BACK to their house. Five hours of driving so I could scare my cousin. I walked into their house with a sheet and pillowcase over me, so she couldn't tell who I was. She was definitely surprised. The reason for the visit is pretty yucky, Jennefer has been battling cervical cancer for the last few months. Surgery couldn't remove it, so she has been doing all kinds of radiation, brachytherapy, and chemotherapy. Its an ugly, tiring, time consuming, heart wrenching process. Her whole family has put their life on hold to support and help take care of Jennefer and her family thank God. Wednesday is Jen's last internal radiation therapy, and then we find out how successful everything was in about a month. Please pray for my Jenny Foo-Foo, that she would be healed, for her family, that they would continue to be supportive and able to help when they can, and that all their many needs would be met through this process. Love you stinky cousin.
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6:36 PM
My favorite beach this last summer was Strands. It's in Dana Point, just past Salt Creek. We spent quite a few days there with lots of different friends. I love summer.
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6:22 PM
In August, James went to summer camp with our church youth group to Lake Havasu, Arizona. I heard it was a little warm there. Ha! James had a blast, and decided during that week to become a Christian. An awesome thing for a mom and dad to hear, praise God! Revival indeed! Here are some lovely action shots from that week, and yes, James would be the kid that's flying off the tube most dramatically:
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5:52 PM
Down here in the canyon, there are lots of places to explore and hike. A few weeks ago, I mentioned to Brett that I had heard about a trail near our house that boasted a waterfall at its end. We decided to check it out.
The trail is called the Holy Jim Trail, and it was about an hour hike uphill, through dense forest, and zig-zagging across a creek. The drive back to the trailhead itself was all rocky and bumpy, taking about a half an hour to reach an area I didn't even know existed.
It turns out, Tyler hates hiking. He was not really sure why we would want to walk in the woods at a brisk pace, with no real goal except to look at a waterfall. Matthew, on the other hand, was a hiking monster, he actually set the pace and led the rest of us. Who knew? When we got to the waterfall, I will admit, it was a little anti-climactic. It was tiny! My imagination had pictured a large gushing, splashing, fresh water oasis, but all we got was a trickling stone wall that had created a black, muddy pool of water at its base. That's ok though, it was fun to spend time with my boys, and get some exercise.
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4:33 PM
Six months ago, we moved to the canyon. The house we had been renting went into foreclosure. I loved that neighborhood, so close to stores, easy walk to school, and a street full of friends to keep my boys busy. It was hard for me to leave. We took this opportunity to downsize, and lower our rent considerably. Not to mention, Brett has always preferred rural living.
When Brett found this house, he wasn't even going to ask me to come look at it. He was sure I would hate it, and that it was not going to be a house I could make work. I decided to take a look anyway. At first, I said no. No way. It was the opposite of everything I wanted. No pretty yard, no kids to play with, no convenient grocery store, a crazy drive to get the kids to different schools everyday, one shower to share, and it was old. I dislike old houses! I didn't realize how snobby I had gotten, spoiled and expecting certain amenities in my life to make things easier on ME. Wow. I had to rethink what was important here. After praying about it, looking at the savings in cost over and over, we both decided it would be stupid to pass up a perfectly fine house and start saving money. Get our finances in order. Living in Orange County does not have to mean living beyond our means.
The new house is only eight or nine minutes from our old place, but it seems much further. It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere. This house is round. It's dark. There are scary bugs and animals of all kinds visiting my property on a daily basis. Nevermind the fact that I have run over two tarantulas and I think we might be living on top of ant colony. I don't care that we don't have a garage and all five of us essentially share a bathroom. Mice live in my attic, snakes roam my yard, bunnies and squirrels scamper through the brush and hawks patrol the skies. We love it here.
The weiner dogs are in heaven, running amok, carving little puppy trails on the side of the hills. The boys have room to run all over and have airsoft wars, tons of places to hike, quiet evenings on the spacious deck, and a great view of trees and sky as we sit and sip coffee on the porch swing. It's been a total blessing to have found this home. Even when I was positive this was not where I wanted to be, I can look back and be reminded that God always has a perfect plan for my family.
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3:55 PM
I have neglected my blog. Thanks to Facebook, I have not felt the need to update my family blog page in months. My father kindly pointed out that there are some people who do not have a Facebook account (GASP!), and he can't see all the photo's I post on a daily basis. So, since we have moved to a new house in the canyon, and started a new way of life, I will endeavor to keep this blog updated regularly.
