what i realized on my trip...

** my 6 year old can read REALLY well. well enough that i had to ban him from reading the billboards in las vegas.

**going cold turkey off of diet dr. pepper, projects, and blogging...after shakes and rocking back and forth in the corner for a couple of days...it was nice to see that going back to "simplicity" still drives me crazy and i need to have a million things going on, so while in san diego the first week of our trip i read 2 books, went to the pool, beach, and park on a regular basis with the kids, and went to legoland and seaworld. while in the central coast, i read some more, talked and laughed a lot with old friends from college, went thrift store shopping, and the kids had a blast with the kids who's house we stayed at. (thank you kate and brian! and thank you for stocking your fridge with diet dr. pepper!!!)

**i have great friends and family in california.a cute little farmers market style barn in san luis obispo

**flowers and gardens grow better and fuller when it's NOT 8000 feet high. i have pictures (still need to go through them all) of gardens from my uncle's amazing back yard and my friend's and sis-in law's gardens...i have been truly inspired, and am going to take bits and pieces from people and try to make things work up here in the high altitude. i'm going to research what will and wont grow . **california has a sick sense of what is not wanted stuff, but that just meant that i got to go to thrift stores and find things that made me sooooooo happy sometimes it hurt! this enamel ware and crochet hot pad was a great find. and exactly what i was looking for to hold katie's utensils.
cute little chair i got for 50 cents.
and oh. my. gosh. yeah i HAD to take this dresser cause it was $30!!!!! why would anyone get rid of that? i'm planning on slapping paint on it and am debating of just using that one for katie's room and using the big one (her great grandma's one) in the barn that jake is going to start working on restoring into our little get away when he gets home

**i have the the coolest church and people around me...seriously...i got a call while on my way to cali and it was my neighbors saying that the church (leaders) would like to know if i would mind if they had some youth mow my lawn while i was gone, and also that they heard through the grapevine (not a very long one in this town) that i had gotten rid of my goats and that i was concerned what to do about my pasture and the rapid growing grass in the area...they were wondering if i wanted to put a couple of calf's in there just to keep it down. first thought was "i don't think i want to buy any cows right now thank you" but noooo, someone would put THEIR calf's in there so they "mow"down the grass and they would come and take care of them ( get them water, and bottle feed them) i came home after two weeks and sure enough, my lawn was mowed and there were these two cute little calf's staring at me. my 8 year old finally has forgiven me for getting rid of the goats....there's even talk that the cows are even better than our goats...nice. thank you middle of nowhere people!

**i love my home no matter where it is, it's always nice to be back home.

**i am soooo ready to start working on my gardens (it's finally okay to do so up here without fear that it will freeze) and i am sooo ready to make stuff again! it was a great break, but i'm back with a vengeance!