Marshmallows and sea glass

I love to stay at home. Especially on days like today, when I can not see the sun and it's cold enough inside that I don't even want to open the front door, let alone go outside. I love to curl up with a good book and sing to Maggie while she plays with her toys and tells me all about her favorite animals. Yes, I can sing and read at the same time. I've sung the same songs so many times I don't have to think about the words anymore.

I also can't stand the idea of being stuck at home. I need to know that I can leave if I want to. It is such a blessing to be able to have two cars, not that I go out that much, but the knowledge that I can is very comforting to me.

Pictures to come (which is why I don't blog as often as I should, because I never want to go to the trouble of finding and editing and whatnot the right pictures to go with it. I am off the hook for right now though because all the pictures from this weekend are on Jon and Jenna's camera.)

This weekend was fantastic mixed with a little bit of horrible if I'm to be honest. We went camping up at Gualala River Redwood Park with Jon, Jenna and Katelyn. We got there late Friday night and stayed til Monday morning. There was a fun little park for the girls, and almost half of Jon and Jenna's ward was there too. It's a tradition for them all to go up for Memorial Day weekend. So there were other kids to play with and people to meet. We go down to Jon and Jenna's every Wednesday night for Brandon to go play basketball with Jon and his ward. The guys had fun getting together and playing bocche ball and wiffle ball. It's so fun for me to see Brandon around other guys, because it's been a long while since we've lived near people that he wants to hang out with.

Sadly it rained almost all Saturday, so we spent the afternoon in our tent playing games until the girls were making us so crazy we had to put them down for naps. We took breaks when the rain would let up and played at the park and visited other friends campsites. We went down to the river for a bit and Jon got to row Katelyn around in a little canoe for a while. We had dinner with some friends and enjoyed sitting around the fire, roasting marshmallows (which we put on Fudge Stripe cookies-best idea ever!) and starbursts. I did not drip melting candy on my hand like I did last time. That night Maggie woke up like 4 times. One time for about 2 hours during which she was totally awake, wiggling and talking and laughing and screaming and all around super annoying for it being some time in the middle of the night. Brandon does not do well without sleep and I take naps very well. This is why a family is meant to have a mom and a dad. I am much more patient in the middle of the night than in the evening, and Brandon the opposite. Even with the little patience I have been granted, it was really a hard night. I had a headache most of the rest of the weekend from lack of sleep. In fact...I'm going to take a bit more ibuprofen...brb. And I'm back.

Sunday we were able to have church! We had a sacrament meeting in a bigger clearing. Since the bishop was out with us, and there was a big enough group we had gotten permission for the sacrament as well. It was a great experience to be out in nature and thinking of the blessings that we've been given. We relaxed, had yummy tacos for lunch, napped, and had a big potluck with most of the campground for dinner. I had a taste of Abalone, some rare clam like thingy that people had gone out diving for on Saturday. Not bad, but not the best thing I've ever eaten, by far. I'm not a fan of seafood. We never made it through the rest of our marshmallows, but we had some fire roasted corn and hot dogs. We snacked on twizzlers, reminding me of my mom. Katelyn didn't fall in the fire, which I was pretty sure was going to happen, but I did totally wipe out tripping over a rope. I've got some pretty bruises to prove it, the one on my palm being the worst by far.

Monday we packed up and headed further north to the Glass Beach. On the ridiculously windy road Katelyn woke up from a little nap to start throwing up. It was just wonderful/nasty. She just kept looking at me like, "why is this happening to me?" Then throwing up some more in her little blanket I held in front to catch all the...yea, anyway. We still made it to the beach. It was windy and cold, but so fun! The boys took off climbing up all the rocks and cliffs, while Jenna walked along the shore with Katelyn pointing out all the animals, crabs and anemonies, little fish, hermit crabs, squirrels, seals, and lots more ocean-y things. She's a true biologist, she was having so much fun! Maggie and I sat on the beach and sifted through the little rocks finding the coolest pieces of glass to keep. Ok, Maggie was just picking up and throwing the glass and rocks, but we all had a lot of fun.

The ride home was long and uneventful aside from some cricked necks on mine and Jenna's part from trying to nap and a serious meltdown from Maggie when she woke up twenty minutes from home and we had no milk to give her. Silly baby. All in all, we had a really great time! A lady we were camping with even told us about a house for rent in their ward if we wanted to move in. Alas, it's too expensive, but it's nice that they wanted us to be a part of their group. They obviously have a lot of fun all together. I hope to be able to get closer to the people in our ward too! I need to throw some sort of party so that we can all get together outside of church and have fun together. Anyone up for a BBQ at the park this week?

Ugh. So much for drying out our tent on the porch...it's raining. A potluck inside somewhere?

I am Rosie!

That's right, Rosie the Riveter here. I really feel great! You know how some days it feels like you've gotten absolutely nothing done? You're house is a mess, you haven't showered, you've watched more TV than there are hours in a day, but learned nothing, and not only have your kids eaten chips all day, but they're somehow covered in chocolate as well.

Yesterday was NOT one of those days! (Today isn't so bad either)
We've been in California for about 3 months now and I finally feel comfortable showing off my apartment. This is how we started: And this is how we finish! Ok, not finished. I still have lots to do, but SO much better! Oh, and how do I accumulate piles of stuff when I've only been here 3 months? Whatever. PS: Can you find the baby? She's in both the messy and the clean house. So, we've got (from the top left, read it like a book) the living room, the kitchen, the dining corner, the craft corner (they're the same "room" just opposite corners), then our room, and Maggie's room.
And here's a corner of Maggie's room. One of the places that still need work. Sigh. Oh well.So yesterday was a fantastic day. I will only brag a little. I started by exercising for 45 mins (Thanks again Brian and Ruth for the Kinect!) Showered myself, then bathed Maggie. Planted some lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers in big pots, and parsley, basil and little zinnias in tiny pots. I'm starting a little porch garden. Maggie and I walked to Target to get some apples, where I found a bunch of stuff on clearance. I love clearance! We got home and read books and sang songs, then I did the dishes, swept and mopped the kitchen and vaccumed the rest of the house. By the time Brandon got home from work, we were reading more books. Maggie really likes to read and sing. She would have me talking with her all day if she could. Oh wait! We do.When Brandon got home we went to the park to "slide to the gwound" and "swing wif Mommy." She finally likes to play at a park! Which is nice since we live down the street from a great park.

We watched the Scarlet Pimpernel for FHE and talked about what we need to do to get into a different apartment. There are some in our ward boundaries that are $400 a month cheaper than we're paying now. We snacked on this deliciousness for dessert (no bake cheesecake and strawberries) and had an all around fantastic night.Today we (Maggie and I) got to go to the quilting club in our ward. It was fun to get to know more people and get super awesome free fabric.

Anyway, it has been great. So I am going to try and keep up this motivation and find more things and ways to make my life more accomplished. One of those things will be to get all the pictures together from Neil and Karen's wedding. It's a work in progress, as is the rest of my life. :)