Camping, Riding, Shooting... Oh my!

We rung in the New Year this year at Joshua Tree Dry Lake. It was the first time we had been to this campground, but I doubt it will be the last. Any place our family can camp with a gorgeous view, where we can let the kids ride their quads, where we can have dark skies for telescoping, where we can take the van out in 4-wheel drive, AND where we can shoot.... well let's just say we will be going back.

Here are a few highlights from the trip...

Seems both the boys enjoy riding!

Playing with the glider on the dry lake.

Looking for meteorites.

The sky was beautiful! Cold, but beautiful.

One tired boy, one happy mama.

Lukey getting his first shooting lesson with sissy's bb gun.

Zachary using his new pellet gun.

Girls RULE!

Fun for the whole family :)

11 Awesome Years

Danny and I just celebrated eleven years of marriage last weekend. I have been so blessed the past eleven years to get to grow and spend my time with my love. He is truly a special gift to me. Not an anniversary or birthday pass without him doing something special (or out of the ordinary) for me. Our past anniversaries have included planning surprise picnics at our wedding location (including kids, kites, and beach toys!!); taking me to Starbucks after secretly calling the pastor who married us and having him and his wife meet us there; a two night get-away at a beach hotel in Carlsbad; the list goes on...

This year was a little different in that I'm not too comfortable these days, which is probably making me a little difficult to live with. Dan surprised me once again by getting a reservation at Bolsa Chica State Beach. We (he, did I mention how uncomfortable I've been) packed up the camper and off we went for a one night excursion with our two kiddos. The weather was beautiful, the food was yummy, and spending that time as a family was priceless. BUT... the best part (for me) was Danny showing me once again just how much he loves me...


My love packed the lazy boy for me. The lazy boy is the only way I've been able to sleep for the past 4 weeks. So when we got to the beach and put down the back door (right on the boardwalk) there I sat watching my family play in the sand while I knitted lazily in my comfy chair. Ahhh, now that's love : ).


11 Awesome Years!!

Can't wait to meet Luke.

My view of my feet in the sand.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a beautiful New Year. We celebrated up at Silent Valley. We celebrated EST New Year, that's Eastern Standard Time. We were in bed by 9:00 : ). Dan had the week off between Christmas and New Year so we headed up for an extended camping trip. It was cold, but we had beautiful days. My parents came up and spent an afternoon with us, and we spent another day further up the mountain playing in the snow. It's so nice to have such a fun family camp ground so close to our home. Dan's parents have been members there since 1988, and we really appreciate being able to get in on their membership.

Here's Hairy the Snowman (iceman is more like it)

We lucked out and found a piece of plastic that made a great sled.

Zachary is turning out to be quite the photographer.

We had a wonderful week together as a family (doggies too). A little relaxing, a little reading, a little knitting (I finished two hats, my first ones), a lot of watching the kids on their bikes. We really were not ready to leave, even after 5 nights in the trailer, but life does go on. This week brought back work, school, dance classes, BMX, Bible study... Yes, the new 2009 calendar is already filling up.

Life right now...

Today we schooled!! Two days in a row! I was starting to wonder if it would happen. Things have seemed very crazy lately. Things are always crazy, but lately its been very hard to slow down. I'm not saying life is slow right now, but I think I'm starting to put some things in perspective.

Our family started a new Bible study last week. It's on Wednesday nights and there's something for all four of us. The kids both have their own classes, Dan is in the men's study, and I'm in the (huge!) woman's study. My former Bible study had about 8 people in it. This one has at least 200!! Luckily we are broken down into tables of 8, so it will be nice to get to know the women at my table this year. We are studying the book of Psalms, which I am very excited about.

I've also joined a MOPs group which starts next Tuesday. I've been going to T-Mom's the past year and a half which is basically a MOP's group, but put on privately by a church in Redlands. I've loved T-Moms, but the drive is long, and with gas prices it just doesn't make since. I'm looking forward to meeting a whole new group of women and seeing what the group as to offer.

I've also just found out that the church that has the Bible study and MOPs group, also has a group of homeschooling families. I've been looking into that too. I probably sound crazy, but there is something different about having scheduled activities with Christian groups than to have a busy schedule that is all over the place. Anyway, I'm hoping this year is a great year of growth for me and my family.

My last week of work was very busy, and while there is lots of work scheduled for the rest of the month, nothing can be as busy as the last week. I am very thankful for the work, and I'm so happy to be able to do it all from home so my kids can be with me. I'm looking forward to really getting school running regularly. This is what we've been called to do, and not doing it is disobeying the Lord. I must make it a priority. With that said, we are almost done with our leaf unit. Monday morning we should be starting our apple unit, and just in time. It's apple season up at Oak Glen and we have plans to meet friends up there on Thursday. We had a beautiful time there last year, and have been looking forward to going back since then.

We were hoping to go camping this weekend, but it didn't work out. So, my head is still in Idyllwild from Labor Day Weekend. I've decided to share a few more photos from that great time. (the header photo on my blog is from that weekend).




Here's Zach with his first catch, ever!! A blue gill.



Lucky for us Emma caught one too!!



Dan got a little bit of rest in (don't let this photo fool you, this was a rare moment!)



I thought for sure we would need a case of Bandaids when I saw them doing this...



but there were no falls. They had such a great long ride down the hill from our camp site. Dan tried to get me to go with him, but I was chicken (besides, then who would be in charge of the camera?).

We can't wait to go back to Silent Valley. Hopefully next time Grandpa with go with us!!!