Shayla turns 9!

  9 YEARS OLD! 

9 years ago at 8:19 am my baby girl came into this world!  From the get go she was transverse (sideways in the womb) and despite multiple attempts to help her turn -from a medical procedure to acupuncture to laying upside down on an iron board while holding ice to one side of my stomach and a speaker playing music to the other - she would not budge and so came into this world sideways via c-section!  The doctor said that means she would be either very stubborn or very laid back and not easily ruffled.  It seems she is both of those!

Just as she came into this world different than most, she already seems to be leading a life on her own terms  - she is determined and smart and a bit too sneaky sometimes! She is kind and passionate and sensitive and strong at the same time.  She has these characteristics that are still being molded and strengthened so that she will be a leader someday, a friend always, and an example to others throughout her life!  I have no doubt of that! Shayla, I am not exactly sure what the world has in store for you, but I have an idea what you have in store for the world – and watch out world because this girl will bring goodness to all those she touches!

 

She made me a mom and that’s the greatest thing I could ever be or ever hope to be and brings me the greatest joy and hope! As I was making her annual birthday slideshow/collage, I just loved seeing most photos had an animal, tree or something outdoorsy in it!  That is my gal and she is a product of nature and her heart is bigger than I often recognize! And I look forward to the many adventures in store we have together with our family as we continue to explore our amazing world together!

HAPPY 9^TH BIRTHDAY TO OUR BLESSED AND BEAUTIFUL SHAYLA!  

We love you to the moon and back!

More pics of her year here!

https://goo.gl/photos/s8EQdDuDsgoTqRU18

15 years!

Jon and I celebrated 15 years of marriage today!  Time sure does fly by!  Wow!  We were lucky to be able to go last weekend on an anniversary trip to celebrate our marriage to Lake Arrowhead!  Such a beautiful place to be and to be close to nature!  I am blessed to be married to such a supportive, dedicated, loyal hubby and father and we support each other and compliment each other in many ways!

 The Lake

We went on a tough mountain bike ride at Rim Nordic Bike Park that reminds me of marriage - ups and downs, twists and turns, mud puddles and beautiful views - and we were with each other the whole time encouraging one another to push it a bit farther and work a bit harder and make it to the end! That's what marriage is about - pushing each other to be better and sticking with each other - and I look forward to the rest of my journey with my eternal companion!

   

We got to kayak as well - the lake was very cold still!

 We had a half spa day at Glen Ivy and got to do Club Mud - exfoliating and cleaning that skin!  I know now why Spa days are best for gals day out!  Jon was over it very fast - but we still enjoyed our time there! 

Bye Bye Lake Arrowhead!  Until next time! 

 

Spring Break 2016

Spring Break 2016!  

Jon had a few days off during Spring Break so we headed to Las Vegas.  Originally we were going to go hiking and exploring in Red Rock canyon, but a day before we left, Mitchell ripped his toe open (by running with no shoes by beach path - and of course 2 seconds after I told him to put his shoes on he tripped and ripped his toe open and toe nail off).  Anyway so hiking was out for us, so instead we did Las Vegasy tourist things that were kid friendly. 

We went to the Car Museum and checked out some of the cool cars!

"Mitchell" Version of this car!

Fun times seeing a variety show

Say cheese!

Mitchell loved the drummers from Recycled Percussion. Their part of the show was amazing!

And more cars...to the Shelby Museum to check out our fav car man!

A Cobra is in our future...

Then we went to the Mirage to see the dolphin show and meet up with my friend Adrienne and her new baby!

We ran into Seigfreid who comes often to check on his tigers and see the visitors. 

It was a fun trip and not too far from home!  The kids even got a bit of swimming in with Mitchell's toe all wrapped up!

Fillmore love!

We live right next to the beautiful start of the Sespe mountain range - a few minutes walk!  When it rains we get some of the Sespe river too! One of the kiddos favorite things to do is walk or catch tadpoles and play by the creek or dry creek bed when no rain!  I can't resist taking photos here as it is especially pretty this time of year - here are photos from a few of our river walks lately!

Dusk my favorite time of day! 

A boy and his dog

The kiddos! 

Exploring with friends!

Rock hopping! 

 Colt loves the flowers too! 

My running buddy! 

The view from walking path!

My favorite photo by the river!

Happy St. Pattys Day!

We love celebrating our Irish Heritage and St Pattys day requires green and shamrock and IHOP?  

The kiddos off to school!

Shamrock pancakes at IHOP! Shayla's favorite restaurant!

Shayla and one of her best friends Lindsay

Mitchell and one of his best friends, Todd

Even Colt had to wear green!

Shaylas shamrock says "Your lucky to have me as your kid" !  And I am!

Science Fair Time!

I love how Shayla really took the initiative to plan her own Science project and see it through and do it all herself! She even typed up every section!  She spent days thinking of ideas for a project and she knew she wanted to incorporate dogs into it as she loves her pets!  She did a science experiment at school to see which soap cleans bacteria the best, and this gave her the idea for her science project!  She measured the bacteria levels in three dogs and three humans and found that humans mouths are definitely cleaner than Dogs mouths!

Great job Shayla!

Colt's first vet trip

Aww we love having a dog in the house again!  He is so much fun!  Of course as a puppy he still gets in trouble a bit, but he is a fast learner and good listener!

Oops no shoes for you Colt!

We were having a play date with our cousins dog and they were running around our backyard and Colt came running in yelping in pain.  I immediately saw he had a large gash on his side  Upon discovery we found that he had run into (or was pushed by the other dog maybe while they were playing as it was more of a puncture wound) a metal rod that was growing out of our palm tree that was a remnant from the previous owners garden fence!  So random! So off to the closest vet that was open (of course it was 5 pm on Friday when this happened!)

Yay we loved them at this Vet Center!

Many stitches later and he is on the road to healing!

Cone of shame - poor pup!  But he is healing well!

Aww getting better every day!

Mammoth Adventures!

 Does anyone read this blog anymore ?  I still love to try to keep my blog up and although I don't post super often, I still like my blog for journalist purposes and sharing photos and adventures...

and oh how we love adventures and love to travel and love to do new things or fun things or new fun  things!

This year we had planned a trip to mammoth with friends and we were excited to finally take the kids on their first real trip to do snow sports!  Jon is a big snowboarder - well he used to be - he used to snowboard almost every weekend in college (in Utah).  When we got married I joined him on his trips and I learned how to snowboard (well am still learning...) . We have not been to the snow together since having kids since Jon was so used to Utah snow resorts he doesn't really like any near by resorts like Mountain High or Big Bear, so it is only Mammoth or Tahoe he will go to in California. So we finally were able to get away on a trip and bring the kids too! We had a wonderful trip and Shayla started on snowboard and Mitchell started on skiis!

And we are off...

If going up north we always stop at Schats bakery for monkey bread and sourdough bread! Yum!

Arriving in Mammoth at the same time as a storm!

The kids weer excited to try on their gear!

Snow angel time!!

Off to the snow adventures!

Taking a gondola ride up the mountain while Jon and Shayla are snowboarding! 

We got to meet female Olympic Snowboarder Kelly Clark!  Very cool!

Jon and Shayla on the mountain! 

She's getting the hang of it!

There she goes!

Shayla and Ella

We stayed in Mammoth with our close friends the Meyers and had a great time!  Here I am with my dear friend Sierra!

Shayla and Mitchell and Ella and Kelsea!

The resort we stayed in - Juniper Springs Lodge! We loved it!  Ski in and Ski out and rentals on property and super comfy!

A fun family vacation!  See you next year!