Practicing Patience and Compassion

My Beautiful car was rearended by a teen. It was my dream car and I planned on having it for another 10 years at least. I was forced to deal with the underinsured and various shops and insurances. In the end I was happy with how things turned out. Was it better? Yes. Was it difficult to wait and wonder? Absolutely. This replacement car was hand picked by me and Celia rather than my husband which was how the first one was found. I did feel like it was the one and I did get extremely happy seeing it pull up to test drive just as I did before when I drove my First Audi. I know it sounds silly, but it really does make me happy, almost as happy as the first. I feel blessed to have gone through all the hardship of waiting and wondering and dealing with banks to get the funds. I feel a tiny bit stronger for it. I also repaired some relationship with a family member and that was good too. Was it stressful? Yes, but I made it and it went better than I thought that it would. I need to remember things work out and being anxious about it isnt going to help anything. What a beautiful end to August, I can't wait to see what the next months bring.

Best Birthday Ever

Emmy and Jordon were supposed to visit me for my birthday to go see a waterfall. Jordon traded places with Joe and wow I loved having all my kids in town. I couldnt believe how happy I was on the Sunday after my birthday when we went for a ride with Spencer and all our family of origin. My mama heart could burst. I celebrated my birthday the Friday before seeing the Movie Superman, Play ing pickball with friends and picking up the kids from the airport. On Saturday we traveled to Burney Falls which was so beautiful. We were blessed with a close parking spot despite how busy it was. It was unqiue and mesmorizing. The colors of the water and spray seemed tropical. I'm soo glad we went. I loved going out to eat that night in Redding and the next day with my folks at La Huaca. To have an anniversay so close too was fun. We had a beautiful yummy cake from Nugget to commemorate the raspberry topper cake from opur first year married. I'm blessed to be loved and to enjoy my life.

Another Great Cabin Year

July started out great with a ward picnic with my folks for fourth of July. We saw fireworks on the third at Rah Rah's house and saw many fun friends for the month. Joe included his friend and roomate Ethan on our cabin trip this year. We had a vehicle that could seat 7 so we picked them up in Utah and headed for the Cabin. Each day we did something different that we wanted to do. Some highlights were seeing Platoro and the two waterfalls we see each year. We made it to Quincy's for Filet Minion and Chili's the day before. We saw the Top of the World and visited important family sites including the horray for granddad davis memorial, the Sandford Museum and Thee cemetery.Taos was good and all loved the Lotta Burger even though we got a nail in the tire when we went off road to shoot targets for a little. There were slowdowns and road blocks to the vacation, but overall we had a fantastic time and had new experiences. The stars were amazing the first night we were there and we talked and connected with each other as family. I Cherish this time together with our children as many don't live with us anymore.

Walks and Yogurt

June was filled with walking and going to get yogurt time, or boba at Senpai Cafe or Jamba juice. We had Murphy for 8 days and 7 nights. He was starting to get restless by the end, but we enjoyed so many walks with him. We walked all through parks and shopping centers in Sacramento County and even in Loomis in Placer county. When we weren't on duty for the Dog Celia spent time with Friend Joseph. They went to Insitute and church and we even had the missionaries over for dinner and friend Joseph came. It has been a change to have Celia have someone around all the time, but its good. We have been so busy with vacations, it is nice to stay around here. We had a great Fathers Day with yummy steak and enjoyed apricots from the backyard. I've just been hosting new people and family and getting out and about with Celia in the meantime. Brian and I hosted 5th Sunday at church and Brian did a great Job. I'm grateful for a fun filled life with responisblitlies that give me strength to do harder things. I feel blessed and am glad for all the experiences we have.

My Oh My, May

I am suprised how much I wasn't home in May. Same with my son, Joe. He traveled from Utah, to Cali, to Hawaii, to Utah, to Arizona, then Texas and back. I may not have been in that many states, but my vacations were much longer. Helping out the grandparents to travel, we went to Hawaii for Wakiki to a week then changed to the west side of Oahu for Ko Olina for a week. We added more family Members as the week went on. There were so many walks and views of nature and the sea and sunsets. There were so many conversations about life and death and what to eat next. It was defintely a grand time tinged with a little drama, but that is to be expected when youre dealing with so many family members. I was able to show Jordon and Brian the main fun activities on Ohau. We had a excellent family time at the Polynesian Cultural Center and ended it off with a wonderful buffet and show that included the World Championship Fire knife Competition. We went to pearl harbor as well. We saw the Laie temple and visited north shore a few times. We had fresh coconuts, saw many mongoose and I got to kayak in Tanya's marina. Dole whips at the plnataion were had with a train ride and a few rainbows were seen. The highlights of the trip were the Fia Fia luau and swimming a the Waimea Valley waterfall. The water was so warm near the rock waterfall from the sun hitting it that we couldn't stop our fun to move on to other things. I drove us around in a big rental car and we all fit nicely in the Wagoneer. Just a few days later form getting back from Hawaii, a few of us went to Arizona for the Holmes family reunion. I felt we all were unified and each felt strionger family ties from attending that reunion. John's house was greast and I was glad to see the kids from Arizona again. Many normal things happened in May like Ebay sales, and pickeball, and helping out with Spencer's stuff, but it was a vacation month where we really got to go out and do fun things and be with the family. What a wonderful blessing.