Front Porch Finished

A few posts ago I mentioned that we were finally doing our front porch area.  Kyle put a lot of work and effort into it and it looks great.  He bought a flag pole at the LA County Fair back in Sept and has been just waiting to be able to use it, and now he does.

Finished front porch with concrete slabs and grass

Kyle's new flagpole, he even hooked up a light to the house to shine on it

Principal of the Year

My mom is the coolest!  She was the Principal of the Year for the entire district!!  Love you mom!

Dumont Dunes Thanksgiving 2011

This trip didn't turn out as planned but we made the best of it anyways. 

The plan was for all of us to drive up to Dumont Monday morning, stay 5 days, have Thanksgiving all together and then come back home Friday afternoon.  Well...my mother-in-law woke up Monday at 3 am with extreme pain in her side and abdomen.  So much so that she decided to go to the hospital.  Turns out she had kidney stones.  Kyle's parents told us to just go without them and they would head up when the kidney stones had passed and she was feeling better.  Turns out they released her from the hospital around 10 am and she was doing much better, so they decided we would all head up as planned. 

The kidney stones reared their ugly head twice more while we at the dunes, and then it was decided that she needed to leave and get to a hospital again.  Kyle and I stayed behind seeing that it wouldn't do any good to have 6 people in the hospital room staring at her waiting and waiting for them to pass.  My family came up on Wednesday and spent the day riding and hanging out, Kyle and I had Thanksgiving with friends, and then brought the motor home and trailer home.



Kyle pulling Kaleb



My sister Erin enjoying the ride

My brother Brian tearing it up

Our friend Troy let my brother Brian give his bike a go

Brian getting some air

Kyle teaching Zeke how to ride

My dad Mark putting around with his grandson Zeke

Zeke better learn to love the dunes with his Auntie Cheryl

Zeke getting a better view while driving the Rhino

Thanksgiving dinner with the Andersons and Hickens

Last Pack Meeting

Kyle and I had our last Pack Meeting last night and it was kind of sad.  The boys earned tons of awards and are really doing well, but I guess it is time to move on.  Kyle was called to be the Scout Master, and I was called to be the Relief Society President, so we are both going to be super busy and had to give up the Cub Scout and Sunbeam Teacher callings.

JUSD Picnic

Recently my school district put on a BBQ/Picnic for all employees and their families.  We decided to take our nephews and had a great time.  There were jumpers, a Choo Choo train, a petting zoo, crafts, a band, a creepy looking ventriloquist, and some decent food.

Front Porch

Kyle and I have talking and talking and talking about what to do with our front porch area, seeing that it was just dirt and rocks.  We finally had it narrowed down and had been discussing it for a month or so, but when our neighbor down the street asked for the phone number of the guy who did the concrete on the other side of our house, we jumped to action.  These neighbors bought the house directly across from us and are going to rent it out and wanted to have some concrete work done in the back.  Kyle talked to the concrete guy and worked a deal to have him form and pour at our house on the same day as our neighbor to save delivery costs.  So within the week Kyle had the area prepped, trenched and ready. They workers showed up early Saturday morning, put in the forms and poured the cement. 

Now we have to get Kyle's flagpole in place, the rest of the area prepped and ready for large pavers with grass in between.

BYU vs Pepperdine Volleyball

My very tall cousin, Emillie Toone, who used to play volleyball for the University of Utah and on the Slovenian National team, is now an Assistant Coach for BYU.  Sat, Oct 8 BYU played Pepperdine University, so my mom, brother Brian and I drove out to Malibu to surprise her at the game.  I bet as a coach now she doesn't get too many fans who come to watch her, so we thought it would be fun to show up. Unfortunately BYU lost 3-1 and totally could have won the 4th game but....somehow they just didn't.

Brooke & DJ's Wedding

Last month I was able to attend the wedding of a dear friend in the San Diego Temple.

  I think I will always remember this wedding because she called me at midnight the night before the wedding saying that they had forgotten the petticoat at home and they were already in San Diego for the night.  She asked if I could stop by her parents house on the way down to SD, "break into the house", retrieve the petticoat and bring it to the temple.  I did all of this with ease except getting there on time.  On the drive down the I-15 through Temecula there had been a CHP involved accident that caused traffic to back up for 45 minutes.  When we arrived at the temple, Kyle pulled up to the curb, I literally jumped out of the car and ran into the temple, where I handed the petticoat off to a Sister that was waiting for it.  They quickly ushered me up to the sealing room and I sat down right as the sealer was beginning.



Cheryl & Brooke (Brooke wore her mother's wedding dress and looked fabulous in it)



The reception was held at the Mission Inn in downtown Riverside and was gorgeous.  I love it when LDS receptions are NOT held in a church building.

Palm Springs Tram & Hike

My family decided to take advantage of the day off from work due to Labor Day and headed to Palm Springs, where we took the tram to the top of Mt San Jacinto for a hike. 

In all seriousness my dad spent 30 minutes the night before getting stuff down from the garage attic in preparation for this 'day hike' and his day pack must have weighed at least 25 pounds.  But fret not, he had every essential imaginable and was prepared, or so he thought.

When he got out of the truck in the parking lot at the base of the tram he remembers his boots feeling weird and then once we got to the the building he realized that the bottoms of his boots had come undone.  The rubber soles had disintegrated and the years of neglect of sitting in the attic had been too much for the rubber.  So we laughed and laughed all the way back into downtown Palm Springs where we found a Big 5 for him to buy new shoes at.  Then we were back to the tram and up the mountain. 

Kyle & Cheryl about to begin the 5 mile Round Valley Loop



Kyle & Cheryl under a large boulder




My brother Brian, the Zen Master




It started to rain at our halfway point and my mom quickly took one of the many ponchos that my dad had packed.





Kyle, Cheryl, Brian, Joan & Mark by one of the old trams.



Clark Dumont Dunes

Kyle created this video from photos of our family trips to Dumont Dunes.  Dune season will shortly be here and I'm excited!

Zeke Half Birthday

Seeing that my sister has a July birthday she puts more emphasis on half birthdays than I would.  Guess that is what happens when you have a summer birthday.  So....when her little Zeke (my nephew) turned 6 months, it was time to celebrate.  We had a little family dinner and then Zeke got to stare at a cupcake and have a small taste of the frosting.

Rock Climbing

Tonight we went rock climbing with some friends.  Great thing is that it ended up being free.  They have monthly passes to the climbing gym and didn't realize that they get a free guest pass every month.  Now they know, so it looks we could be going more often.....like every month:)

My forearms and hands are still sore.

Matisyahu

If you ever have the chance to go to a Matisyahu concert, I highly recommend it.  If you have never heard of Matisyahu or listened to his stuff, I say, "shame on you".

Jumping Jacks

We took the nephews to Jumping Jacks (an indoor inflatable place) a few nights ago and had a blast.  It could be considered exercise without much of a sweat I was working up.

LASIK

Since I was 14 back in 1994, I have been wearing contacts.  Put them in in the morning.  Take them out at night.  Repeat for the next 17 years.  This process was getting old.  Nevermind the fact that camping or swimming with them was a pain.  So, I decided to finally change that forever. 



Last day I will ever have to wear my glasses again.  Until my eyes get 'old' and I will have to wear reading glasses that is.



They put numbing drops in my eyes so I had to let them set in.

 

After the procedure I had to sit with my eyes closed for 20 minutes.



I seriously should have done this procedure a LONG time ago.  I wasn't that nervous going in but I shouldn't have even been a tiny bit nervous because it was much easier than anticipated.  I thought I would have a hard time not being able to blink, but I didn't even feel the need.  It was kind of a weird thought to know that he was slicing off a bit of my eye, and I could see him pulling the flap back, and could smell the laser burning my eye, but all in all it was really easy.  I didn't have any pain afterward, and just came home, slept from 11am-7pm, ate dinner and then went back to bed from 9pm-6am. Woke up this morning and could see clear as day without having to put any contacts in:)

San Diego for AVID Summer Institute

This coming year I will be teaching an AVID elective class.....so I got to go to San Diego these past 4 days to attend a conference about it.  It was held at the Town & Country near Fashion Valley, and most of the 3300 participants stayed there at the hotel, but I was a late add-on so they were booked by the time I tried to make reservations, as were all the neighboring hotels.  So I ended up booking a hotel in Old Town San Diego, which was fine by me because I like that area of SD. 



The Mormon Battalion in Old Town SD




Baby Del on Coronado



The Mormon Battalion has been completely remodeled and is done very authentically



Ocean Beach



Kyle hung out at the hotel during the day when I had class, but afterward we would explore Old Town, or Coronado Island



Megan Hall and Loretta Durkin from Michigan were in SD for a family luau, and I was able to meet up with them one night and have a fun Girls Night Out in Old Town



I took the trolley from Old Town to Fashion Valley everyday for the conference.  I was really impressed with the people of SD: 1. a girl in her 20's gave up her seat for an elderly man when he got on the trolley.  2. at the next stop a thuggish looking man gave up his seat when a lady got on the trolley. 3.  when a gentleman got off at a stop he picked up all of the trash from the seats and put them in the trash can.  Way to go people of San Diego!!!  You impressed me with your kindness.

I wish there was some form of trolley/subway/metro from my house to my place of work, I would totally take advantage of it.