California Trip! Part 3

So, we finally made it back to Bakersfield.

When we first talked about moving back to Canada, I was elated and sad. I had been praying for a long time to make it back closer to family, and the day had finally come...

yet, I was really sad.

Mostly because of friends like these ladies...

They are beautiful aren't they?

Two of the best neighbors a girl could ask for. Especially when that girl tends to be a hermit that hides in her house most of the time. We spent many a hour sitting on the front lawns watching these crazy kids run around.

I miss that. It was a simpler time. I think life in Canada, in Magrath especially, life is simpler in that I don't worry about my kids as much. They can walk to school or friends' houses by themselves. I leave them to run the three blocks to the Post Office, my house may or may not be locked all day...

But life in Bakersfield had a nice simple routine.

Kids go to school, they come home, we sit and play, we have dinner, we go to bed.

Ball season was about the only interruption to that.

So I miss that time. I miss those extra kids. But I'm glad I got to see them again!

They are cute!!

And the kids were SUPER excited to play with old friends again.

I really should have taken more pictures in Bakersfield, but I was too busy enjoying the visits with old friends. It was so good to talk to them, hug them and just be with them again.

I remember thinking to myself...

"I am truly myself here. They have never known my past etc. They have never judged me or expected anything of me because of the past or where I come from or who I belong to. 

They just accept me for me."

I need to remind myself more often that I need to be myself. That is who my friends love and respect.

Look at these three. They were quite the set in Kindergarten.

Brody loved Bakersfield. He was quite teary and didn't want to leave. He had more fun here than in Disneyland. I felt so bad for taking him away so soon.

Gracie said there were too many boys...

Sorry hun, all my friends had boys!

She did enjoy going to church and seeing her old friends there though.

And these two just grew enormously!! Its amazing how when you leave, you know you have changed, you know your kids have changed, but you forget how everyone else changes too!

It was a quick visit, but a wonderful time connecting with old friends. 

I never realized how much I would miss California...

and my California family...

I hope the next visit can be a bit longer!

California Trip! Part 2

So the next big adventure was Disneyland...

I love Disneyland, I really do. Its so neat all the detail that is put into every attraction. Its fun to watch your kids' faces light up when they see a character they love.

And it was pretty fun to get to go with some cousins again!!

Look at this group of hooligans!! 

It was fun, but 8 kids at Disneyland under the age of 10, is CRAZY!!

The first day we spent at Disneyland. The kids had a hoot, and Cooper even tried a couple of scary rides. Ryder had him all excited about Space Mountain, and he even convinced Coops to sit with him instead of Mom or Dad. Which he did, though he nearly hugged Ryder's arm off! 

It was a little fast for him!!

We hit California Adventure next...And the same with The Tower of Terror, Cooper was all pumped to go on. Jumping around, "Oh ya man!" My other two BIG kids were nearly hyperventilating by the time we got on. I had made a rule before we came on the trip, that everyone had to try each ride they could measure up to at least once. So, they were trying to be brave, and not doing a very good job of showing it! After, Dad asked Cooper what he thought and he said, "That was NOT Awesome!"

The Third Day, I got to spend the day at Disneyland with just my Cooper!! It was so much fun. The big kids when with Dad and Uncle Scuba to Universal Studios. Kelsey and I decided to keep the littles with us and enjoy a Little Kid Day! It was very relaxing and we didn't rush anywhere. We spent alot of time in A Bug's Life and seen a couple of shows. It reminded me of when we would go to DLand with our passes and just go for a couple of hours and enjoy some Little time with the kids.

(And the big kids had a HOOT at Universal with their Dad!)

Gracie said her favorite ride was California Screamin', the roller coaster. We all went as a group the first time. Then on our last day, it was just our family. We got 5 fast passes. First she went with me, then her dad, then ALL BY HERSELF!! She was pretty proud. And, all three times right in a row.

Brody said his favorite ride was Soarin' over California. Cooper really liked it too. And he talked the whole time. Brody said he liked Space Mountain and Screamin', but he didn't want to try them again!

Cooper liked the Lady Bug ride in Bug's Life. I think he went on it 6 or 7 times. He also liked the bumper cars and the Catipiller ChooChoo. He was funny. Every ride was "Awesome!" 

I think my favorite was the new Cars Land. It looks just like the move when you walk around. The cars ride is sooo cute (100 minute line wait cute!!) And at night they light up the neon just like the movie. We even ate at Flo's V-8 Cafe!

It was really fun, but I do have a confession. I was really excited to go, but when we got there, I was not nearly as excited to be there as I thought I would.

 I kind of had the feeling like, "Been here, done that." 

It was fun to hear the kids talk about "Hey, remember that!" 

And fun to see the new things I hadn't seen yet, but next time I think I would only spend 2 days, 

one at each park. Just enough to get a taste again. 

And the rest of the time at the beach!!

California! Part 1

We made it to California! Oh, I didn't realize how much I missed it till I got there!It was a LONG drive through snow and ice, but my kids are sooo awesome, that they didn't complain AT ALL!!

(disclaimer: I don't count the occasional "Are we there yet?" from the four year old, because he was actually really good, and only said it about 32 times on the way down...could have been alot worse!)

I'll have to do this in a few posts, because there was so much going on. 

First stop, my favorite, the beach!!

It was a little on the cool side, though it didn't really stop the kids from playing in the water. We hit at low tide and explored the rocks and tide pools and the kids had a blast finding hermit crabs...

Once they realized they weren't going to hurt them!

Gramma had to show them they weren't so bad!

They dug in the sand, built a 'city' for the hermit crabs and played a bit in the waves. Like I said, it was a little cool, even for Canadians, but it didn't stop the Blasco brothers from swimming in the sea!

It was so nice to be back. I have always loved the ocean, the sound of it is soo peaceful to me. I could sit there for hours and just listen...

And I think the kids could have sat for hours and just played in the sand.

Note to self: next time, more beach time!!

Even little dude got a little wet! He HATES cold water, and at first wouldn't even get his toes wet without freaking out. So I was very proud to see him chasing in the waves with the other kids.

So Day one of the trip done....

Do we look like we are having fun yet?!?

Recovering Memories...

I want you to think of how many pictures you take on any given day...occasion...in a year...

Think of that number for a minute. Now times it by 10...

Now some it may not be very high. I know there are some people that don't take pictures, that only have a camera phone, and that great for them! I, on the other hand, am slightly obsessed with pictures. I take my camera almost everywhere, now I have a camera phone and it fills in! And I take pictures of just about everything and just about everyday. 

I take pictures of weird things my kids do, of weird things that happen to us, of special times, of places we go...our lives have been pretty well documented on film/digital copies. My husband thinks I'm nuts because who actually needs that many pictures...

I do.

I'm not sure of when it started, I guess I've always liked pictures. I loved looking through photo albums as a kid, and I loved when mom and dad would let me use the camera. My friends and I, loved taking dumb pictures of ourselves and our adventures. My mom and I loved finding old pictures of past family members when they were young. When we lived in California, I loved to send pictures of my kids through the mail, and internet, so that my family could watch them grow from afar. A picture freezes a moment in time, holds that memory in place...

So if I have somewhat explained my love of pictures (which has now leaked into other avenues of photography...) I'll explain my predicament. Since I take pictures of everything, I highly value my beloved CDs full of memories. They go in my fire safe when I am away from the house for extended periods of time. I have a lot of pictures. A LOT. Just to give you an example, we went to San Francisco in February of 2011. In total I took over 800 pictures, and that was a weekend trip. Now not all were great, not all were kept, but it gives you an insight to my memory collection I have accumulated since our marriage.

When we moved to Canada, the pictures went into the safe. The safe went into the storage unit. Safe and snug, because we live in Magrath, right?! I mean, there are a lot of people here that don't even lock their doors! So my pictures are safe, protected, waiting for me to put into DVDs, books etc.

Then, we were robbed.

And I didn't think anything of it. They didn't take anything of value, did they? Not that we noticed at first. Because we don't keep anything extremely valuable in the safe. Just paperwork, insurance records, that kind of thing. Oh ya. And my pictures. All of them. From 2003 - 2011, to that moment they went into the safe. 9 years worth of memories....gone.

I. WAS. DEVASTATED.

My heart broke just thinking about it. All those memories, gone. All the places we had been, the things we had seen, the family we had become, that I had documented...gone.

I figured they were gone for good. Because I always put the pics on CD and then erase them from my computer.

Or so I thought.

I started looking through my hard drive files, the stuff you never pay attention too unless you were super into technology and stuff. And they were there...hidden, just waiting to be restored to iPhoto.

I did a little happy dance right then and there in my office chair.

So...

I've been working on recovering some memories. I am lucky, because I had previously done some anniversary videos for both sides of the family and had uploaded a bunch of photos to the computer. Since I got the computer in 2009, in reality, I wouldn't have been able to get the other pictures from before that. And that would have been sad. Because my babies are in there...

 And how would I remember this tiny little girl! (Or the fact that Daddy had hair!)

Or this little boys first adventure to Disneyland?

Or the fact that once upon a time, i had a chubbers for a bitty baby boy...

They grow up too fast anyways, why can't I freeze those moments forever.

Oh, and of course, you come across beauties like this...

 And pray your kids will remember these special times as much as you have...

New Years Resolutions...

So, every year I make resolutions...and sometimes I keep them...sometimes I don't. Sometimes I am really good at it and accomplish a lot toward a particular goal, and other times...nothing.

Some people think New Years Resolutions are a bad idea because you just set yourself up for failure. You are unlikely to achieve the proposed goal therefore it is not in your best interest to set ANY!

WHAT?!?

C'mon people! If the world was full of people who NEVER set goals, would anything be accomplished? Small steps, small goals, working towards making yourself a better person. Isn't that what we need? Of course, I am just a s guilty as the next for slacking on my goals, but every year I set them...in fact I try every month or so and reset them...because if you fall down, you have to get back up!

So this year I am determined to reach a couple and make large leaps and bounds to the others:

1. My weight loss/fitness journey - 

This is such an ongoing, crazy thing. Its that phrase "I constantly struggle with my love  of food and my want to be skinny!" Though this year I finally feel i have made leaps and bounds in the fitness area. I am down 10 pounds since last year at this time, but I ran an 8k, a 10k and did my first triathlon in under 2 hours. I started playing hockey this year and I am WAY stronger than I was at this time last year and I don't want to puke every time we do a long run when we train...YA ME!

This year I can just get better. I am starting Boot Camp next week which will really kick my lazy winter butt in gear and I hope to shave some serious time off my Tri time as well as my 10k. I REALLY want to do a Tuff Mudder...girl's trip again?!?

2. Family Home Evening/Family Time

This has been hit and miss as for really great gospel doctrine/discussions with my kids, but we have spent alot more time together...or at least tried. Hockey is slightly interfering, but it can lend itself to some great family car rides as well! I also hope to have a few more one on one time with my kids...even just a few moments..they are getting so big so fast!!

3. My house - 

Really its not too bad. We moved into a larger home with fewer possessions because we purged so much before we moved to Canada. But there are certain things I want organized and accomplished. I need to get my office/photos/memory stuff organized. I have some end tables/dressers/headboards to finish, though springtime may have to come before I do that!

I also want to be better at getting my house/family organized daily. You know, getting my butt out of bed and getting something done in the morning so we are not rushing and panicking right before the kids head out to school. 530 am Boot Camp should help with that (wink wink)

I think those are some pretty reachable goals this year...I just have to stick with them. Mostly I just want to feel happy. Joyful about my life and my family. Peace with what I am doing as a wife, mother, sister, daughter, and friend. I will add a little quality ME TIME to the list as well. Time to relax for myself. Time to read and study for MYSELF. Because I can't take care of everyone else if I don't take care of myself!