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!

for fathers day i hate you...

10 things I hate about you:

1.you are a wonderful husband... I hate that I miss you everyday.

2.you are a great father...I hate that the boys don’t have you around to do fatherly things with.

3.you baby Katie to no end...I hate that she will not know you till you get home.

4.you take care of me... I hate that I’ve had to figure out photo shop (and not very well) all by myself.

5.you are the hardest worker I know...I hate that the boys don’t have you as a role model all year long.

6.you are a sponge for knowledge... I hate not having you spout off useless facts.

7.you are funny...I hate that when I laugh at something, it’s not something that you said.

8.you are eccentric at times...I hate that you are not here to complain that i am facing you at night in bed and my breathing makes your arm hairs sway back and forth.

9.you are super organized...okay well I don’t hate that one, you can be kind of annoying when you can organize to no end everything and then organize those things you organized into more organization. I guess I hate not being annoyed at your organizing skills.

10.you are not here...and I hate that.

happy fathers day hun from me and the crew

we had a blast

seaworld, pools, family, friends, legoland, beach and whole heck of a lot of driving... and i survived...but it sure is nice to be home again.

cattle rolls in while i get ready to roll out...

our next door neighbors are finally back...i love cow pictures
so my jam i made for my family to take as a gift is done with my hand written labels because being out in the middle of nowhere when your printer goes out of ink the only place you can buy ink is online, and well i just don't have time right now... i'm packed and the house just needs a little here and there cleaning up...i'm planning on spending ridiculous amounts of time hanging out by the pool and the beach and when i'm not needed by my children i'm going to be reading. no projects will be taken on this trip...i am relaxing and not doing anything productive...with that being said...

i am sad to say i don't have super cute luggage...i've had that adidas bag i think since before we were married and well the army bag was free. note to self: buy really cute luggage so when i blog about going on a trip again i will have a cuter picture to post. i love blogging.

we'll be gone for two weeks, and you know where i'm going there's no computer for the first part of the trip, and no diet dr pepper, (oh my gosh and with no projects either...what am i going to do? relax, you need to learn to relax.) so i guess this is good-bye for a while...i'll blog when i get home! so until then do what you do and i'll do what i do and i'll try to catch up with what you did while i was gone when i come back. see you in two weeks!

apple blossems crazy kids and getting ready to head out to san diego.

beautiful isn't it? my apple trees are all blooming! i'm so excited i can hardly stand it!!! last year we got a couple of apples that made for some good sling shots...nothing else...but i hear that around here (and everywhere else?) apple trees produce every other year, and if that's the case this is the year that i will be making some yummy stuff with apples!!! i really want to make apple butter, and can some of them for apple pie fillings, i don't even know what kind of apples they are but i don't care!!! i'm going to try!!!
julie's "it's my final baby" quilt is done...yeah i was dumb enough to stay up till 2 am watching arrested development episode after episode after episode, laughing hysterically and binding the quilt. but it's done!
now i have to get ready for my trip out of here! i'm trying to be all efficient by making sure i clean and pack today. i have a baby shower to go to tomorrow and i really want to just relax tomorrow so that i can be ready for the 10+ hours it's going to take me to drive to my mom's. but i've got my ipod all ready with new songs, and i finally got my favorite band All American Rejects albums put on there as well, so all is well.

i'll just leave you with a little "nateism" i heard the kids laughing hysterically and nate yelling "mom! QUICK!!! i don't know how much longer i can hold on! ----GET THE CAMERA!!!" i snapped the picture and then the next question was "are you going to blog it?" now there's a phrase i NEVER said to my mom...yup buddy you made the blog!!! woohooo!