Water, Sand, and Sunshine…

What more do you need to make a perfect ‘summer’ day in fall??  Family of course!! 

Last weekend I needed to make a trip to pick up some ceramic supplies, so we packed up the fam and off to Orange County we went.  Great weekend to go… the studio was having a big event… lots of sales, demos, and free bbq!!   Of course while we are in the area we have a couple other stops to make… Ikea and the beach!!

Rylan has had this recent obsession with water! Every time he sees a running sprinkler or the little canal on our way to take sis to school all I hear is “water, water, water!!” Even when he goes potty he calls that water!! Since he has never seen the ocean before I was really looking forward to his excitement when he saw the BIG water!!  After we scored the perfect parking spot right next to the beach access area, the big moment I was waiting for….

This was NOT the reaction I was expecting! I think it was all just too BIG and loud!!  Brooksie on the other hand was more than excited to be at the beach!!

Maybe he just needed a little pep-talk from mom…

and some guidance from dad and sis…

It wasn’t long before he was chasing birds….

 

and eating seaweed…

That doesn’t taste so good… BLEH!!!

And splashing with big sis!!!

Another beautiful day in sunny California with my family!!!

School Days…

I can’t believe summer is finally over!!  (I just wish Mother Nature would follow suit, I’m done with this heat!!)  As summer comes to an end a new school year begins… welcome to 2nd grade!!

It seems like we were just starting kindergarten, where is the time going?!

Brooksie and Rylan became really good buddies over summer… I was worried about how Rylan would adjust to his sister not being home.  So far, it’s been ok.  He would cry a little when we would drop her off at school, but it wouldn’t last too long.  He still asks for her as soon as he wakes up from his nap.  It’s definitely become more challenging keeping him occupied without Brooksie around to help entertain him.  Maybe we need to start a gymnastics class or something!

Purple Belt…

So Brooksie has been in taekwondo for a while now and surprise she SILL loves it!!! We weren’t too sure how well a 3 year commitment in black belt club was going to go after our disaster with only 1 season of soccer (which she also begged to do)! Last week she had a test for her purple belt, her 4th belt. She did awesome!!! She was really excited to have Granddaddy, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Kathy, and cousin Jesse there to watch!! I’m so proud of how hard she works and how great she is doing!!

great kick!!

Such focus!!

Breaking a board!!

Goodbye orange belt, hello purple!!!

A Day with the Animals…

We decided to celebrate Brooksie’s 7th Birthday a little early this year at the San Diego Zoo. Granddaddy and Uncle Jesse were coming for a visit from Utah (Uncle Travis had to work so he didn’t get to come this time) Aunt Kathy and cousin Jesse were also in CA visiting from Texas! Her shock when she opened the door to find Granddaddy and Uncle Jesse standing there was priceless!! The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, Brooksie had her taekwondo belt testing the next day! She was very excited to have them there to watch her test!! (that will be a post for another day) After TKD Brooksie’s buddy Jayden came home with us to go to the zoo the next day. The kids had a blast having a big sleepover in the living room! Reminds me how much I miss having family close to us.

Uncle Jesse, Jayden, Brooksie and Rylan at the San Diego Zoo

Uncle Josh, Aunt Shelia, and the kids met us at the zoo too! They brought us some YUMMY Submarina sandwiches for lunch. After sandwiches and cake pops we were off to see some animals!!

Rylan really enjoying his sandwich!!

Brooksie loved the kangaroos and Jayden thought the flamingos were really cool, Rylan kissed a sheep in the petting zoo, and Jared and I saw the jaguar up close, what a gorgeous animal!! We saw lots of cool things we hadn’t seen before! Brooksie was brave and decided to ride the sky tram with Granddaddy and Uncle Jesse!! The kids had a great time and were so good!! It was a perfect day at the zoo!!

Monkey see, monkey do… Brooksie and Jayden just hangin’ around!!

Bri, Jeremy, Jayden, Brooksie, and Rylan

Dad, Mom, Rylan, and Brooksie

So I don’t overload this post with pictures more than I have here is a video of some of the animals we saw…

San Diego Zoo 2011

Welcome to Hobby-land…

Wow, I feel like I’m living in hobby-land!! Everywhere I turn I’m reminded of all of the things I love to do!! Sadly, they are mostly unfinished projects!

First comes scrapbooking. I have a room FULL of supplies that are longing to be dusted off and used!! I haven’t done any scrapping since my girls weekend at OC Scrapbook Expo back in February!! I remember there was a time I would scrap almost every day! I’ve gotten a bug to scrap again but finding time and energy is a different story!! There is a big scrap event going on locally this weekend that I would LOVE to attend, but it’s just not in the budget. I am really excited to have gotten a ticket to the Grand Garden Tea, being hosted friday night as a kick off to the weekend long event!!! I hope this gets me back in the scrap groove, I have a LOT to catch up on!!

The Girls, Expo weekend…
(photo by cell phone)

Next is photography, which kind of goes along with the scrapbooking… have to have good pictures to go with those fun pages!! About a year ago I was super lucky to find a great deal on a Nikon DSLR camera!! Other than just using the ‘auto’ setting, I really didn’t know much (ok, anything) about the cameras functions!! I recently found a beginners DSLR photography class, for free, that I took with a friend! It was only a few hours long but I really learned a LOT in that short time!! I’m really excited about taking better pictures to capture those special moments that will one day hopefully end up in an album!! After getting more into photography I decided I needed a camera scrap cover not only to look cute but to be cozy and save my neck from the heavy camera and rough strap, which leads me into my next hobby here in hobby-land…

Some recent pictures…

Sewing!!! Let me back up just a bit. This started out by shopping online for one of those cute, cozy camera strap covers. After browsing for a bit I stopped and said to my crafty lil self, “you could SO make one of those!” After a google search, a trip to JoAnn’s, and dusting off my sewing machine, Voila! I have a cute, cozy camera strap cover!! My wonderful, business minded, hubby decided it would be a good idea to sell these puppies since they were ‘so easy’!! He sold one to a co-worker and that’s as far as that venture has gone! However it’s still living on my kitchen table waiting to make more!!

My Cute, Cozy Cover…

A newer hobby I was introduced to this last year, as a true business venture, ceramics. This came about after having Rylan. We had gotten Brooksie’s hand and footprint done in ceramics when she was a baby and I just had to get a matching one for her baby brother! While I was pregnant I started searching… Google hunting I go… no such luck… the closet place is about 90 miles away. If we are going that far we are going to travel the extra 40 or so miles back to the same person who did them before! Telling her my story of searching and searching with no luck locally, she tells us she offers training. Really didn’t think much of it at the time, having an 8 week old baby to care for and all a ‘job’ just wasn’t on that priority list. But, that business minded man I mentioned above kept that info in his data bank brain. Later while we were discussing what I could do to make a little extra money and continue to be a stay at home mom that wonderful husband retrieves that handy info!! After giving it a lot of thought I decided it was right up my crafty alley, and so 5 By 5 Ceramics is born!! Ceramic supplies quickly overtook the scrapbook storage and scrap tables became ceramic tables. But, I am really enjoying working with the clay!!

Just a sample…

My most recent hobby I picked up a few months ago is cake decorating!! I decided to take a Wilton decorating class through JoAnn’s and I had a blast!! I went through a phase making cakes like crazy, but I’ve slowed down, mostly because I want to eat what I decorate and it’s not really figure-friendly!! That wonderful hubby of mine and some great friends pitched in and surprised me with a stand mixer for my birthday!! I totally LOVE it!! I’d love to take some of the more advanced classes, some day!! For now I’ll just practice what I’ve learned so far!!

A cake I made for our church bake sale…
(photo by cell phone)

I really love all of these hobbies, I just wish there was a little more quiet time in the day to enjoy them!!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of Hobby-land!!