School Days

Today is the first day of school at La Sierra High School...and I'm not there. Weird. This is actually the first time IN MY LIFE that I have not had a 1st day of school. And I miss it. Not in a can-I-go-back kind of way but a that-was-a-good-time kind of way. And I did look in the school website to see the name of the individual who replaced me but they haven't updated their site so...my name has not yet been replaced; which is nice.

I guess this is a cheers to me for finally getting beyond the "first day of school" phase. I feel kinda bad for the future kiddos, I'll be "schooling" them from birth. :)

As a completely unrelated side note: today is also my Dad's birthday. I wonder if birthday's are celebrated in Heaven. You know, like hey-you got your mortal body day? I don't know. But mom's made his favorite cheesecake dessert and Mark and I are headed to the temple. So I feel its a good celebration here. 'sigh' - I miss that man!

America's Past Time

Take me out to a Ballgame! Especially if it is in the city! Giants vs the Cubs. Mike and Spencer invited us to join them in the action down at the AT&T Park in San Francisco. We always seem to have a riotous time with these guys and are thrilled Mike lives so close (for now).Parking was a bit of a challenge. Mark already doesn't like driving in the city; too many cars and people - and the bikers! Seriously they feel they own the road which can be annoying when there is no room for them! We ended up passing up the THIRTY DOLLAR lot (what?) and opted for a more affordable free 2 hour parking just across the street. 2 hours seems like plenty of time being the weather was cold and it was baseball-lets be honest. After meeting up with the boys, we headed up to our glamorous seats; just barely missing the last row by a hair.

The game went really well. The boys enjoyed their garlic fries and hot dogs like any good fan would. I was enamored with the game the young girl in front of us was playing - something really weird with cooking. When they weren't eating, the boys checked their facebook status and other features on their phones. And every once in a while we'd look up from our electronic/ediable distractions to this view:

We left on a great note with 2 runs back to back by the Giants in the 4th inning. A splendid evening in the ballpark. Splendid company to boot. And I must add, my sister forgot her giant hoop earrings at my house and I keep *forgetting* to send them back...as seen in this photo. :) Nice.

Big Trees

I know my previous post on the family reunion was a little sparse. Such is the result of a very busy life. I apologize. To try to make up for it I've added a few more pictures of Mark and I and our little walk through the North Grove.I have been to the Giant redwoods a few times so was excited when mom said we were going to go again. I have vivid memories of the Banana Slug band and making necklaces in the little campers activity days. Not to mention the giant tree stump that has been made into a dance floor and the tree that was carved years ago to drive through. I have always loved camping here and this weekend was no different!


It must be mentioned that the above picture is a copy of what Trent and Jennifer did. I thought it was so clever and cute that I made Mark pose with me near the small shrub as I pointed to the Giant sequoia.


Check out this root system! CRAZY! Many of the trees had been hollowed out from fires and such so there were tunnels and pockets of hiding places everywhere. We climbed and ran through and enjoyed these majestic beauties for hours!


We had such a great time relaxing with the family and each other. Now I just need to find some time to scrapbook all these memories!

A touch of Wright

Oh how I love my family. They are just the roots of me and all that is good. I love how when we get together we laugh at just about everything and mom is in bliss. It is fabulous. We went to the Calavaras Redwood trees to camp for a few days and had a lovely time. I had forgotten how huge these trees are. The kids especially had a great time running through the hollowed out trunks and the around the huge trees.

Please don't forget:

-The Amazing Race-Season 2: Mom and I did it for the second time. Some things were a little different with larger teams and more stops. We had them swimming for puzzle pieces, eating ice cream, searching the stadium seats, and collecting cans to name a few. The boys won but only by a hair. Another great memory maker.

-The camping trip detour to Walgreens/Target: we realized fairly quickly that we needed to purchase water and a few forgotten items before we headed into the forrest; therefore a quick stop to Walmart was planned while passing through Stockton. If we had only known this little detour would have taken an hour! We were all a little uptight (except for mom who was in vacation mode) when we finally settled down to Chiptole for dinner - 1.5 hours later we were back on the right road toward the campground. The VERY NEXT TURN, we passed a Kmart. Nice!

-Chipotle eventually turned into Chipootle - for the rest of the trip.

-Charades: what a riot. we couldn't get what everyone was doing. My favorites was when Dave drew washing a fliter and Lesley and I could not get it. The Dennis Rodman choice probably created the most laughs-I was chewing gum and slapping my arms and chest to show the tattoos intermitted with spikey hair motions-back to the bouncing ball gum chewing motions. Lesley got it really quick-because naturally it was Dennis Rodman. Dave still thinks I was trying to dance.

-The kids in the dirt - DIRTY! There was no hope.

-The river-we swam upstreem to the giant boulders that we use to jump off as kids. Dad showed us how so we knew we could do it. Tessa and I started and a few of the onlookers soon joined in. I can't lie, it made me smile that we had started it. A very fun trip floating down was probably the best part.

-Rice Krispie Treats-amazingly delicious. Probably ate too many.

-Thrifty Ice cream cones-3 stories high. A definate tradition. And why stop at 2 scoops when you can have 3!

-Mercer Caves-we were a little timid to take those little kids down so many steep steps. And they were steep! But the stalagites and stalagmites were amazing. Mark said Mt. Timps were better but I was quite impressed. Plus this one comes with Gold Mining history...bonus!

I so love my family. And we're quite a good looking bunch if I do say so myself.

Running...again

I've been inspired.

I get the Runner's magazine every month and love reading it and pretending I'm all hard-core like the runners they talk about. I know I'm not, but I like to be.

So I am back into my good running patterns. Thanks to a visit from my sister, we're up and jogging before work. It's a good day.

I am even seriously considering the marathon in Sacramento...perhaps.

Pool Man

This is the kind of stuff Mark is into these days.
We've had several big jobs with plumbing, mastic, and electrical panneling. Mark is learning a lot! We appreciate Dave and his efforts in coming out to teach us so much! What a giant learning curve this business has been. But things are going great. Being your own boss is such a different life then what Disney was providing.

Cook Book Craze

I made a goal at the beginning of the year to cook every recipe out of a cookbook. I've struggled finding the perfect book to do this out of mostly because all the books I had weren't exactly what I was looking for.

Then came this. With the suggestion of my Brother-In-Law; we purchased the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook to try some of their ideas. And what do you know - it is amazing. We've made about a dozen different random recipes (even some that didn't have pictures) and we LOVE them. I couldn't choose a favorite but I just love the Mango Smoothie Surprise and the Pork-Pineapple Tacos.

D'lish. Pretty sure we will be fixin' out of this book for a while.

Favorites

I love the laugh of my little nephews. I love these summer evenings with my husband at home. I love my little car Edna. I love living close to my mom. I love living close to Winco. I love that my friends want to visit me. I love that my new friends have the last name of Wright. I love my new calling. I love my husbands new calling. I love planning vacations we might be taking this fall. I love road trips. I love talking on the phone to distant friends. I love babies. I love family reunions. I love playing the Amazing Race at family reunions. I love fine tip pens. I love ice cream. I still love grocery shopping. I love trying new recipes. I love my husband. I love being his wife. I love reading "self help" books with great ideas to organize your life. I love the Food Network and HGTV. I love unpacking my boxes that have been in storage for months to find goodies I've lost inside. I love fancy cameras with effortlessly splendid photography. I love the word Splendid.

Look at my Baseboards!

Who knew that baseboards were such a project. I can not say I have ever really paid attention to baseboards in my life. Well, now I will. After having our floors installed, the next step was to do our baseboards. To save us some money, we opted to install them ourselves. Now it is just another on going project that may take us the rest of the year to complete. Although my mom was a trooper and cut almost the entire house, and they are all nailed in, I still have to go around and putty the tops and nail holes as well as touch up with paint.

They do look nice though, don't you think?

Newer Home

As promised, here is a very overdue update of our home. We finally had our new floors laid about 3 weeks ago and what a beautiful change it has been You remember when the room looked like this?

And when we had to pull up the old floor. That was a treat! I threw my back out on this chore just before the Morrell reunion; therefore I will always have a special disliking towards peel and stick tiles. No matter how often HGTV tries to sell me on them.Well ladies and gentlemen, our home now looks something like this. (Pardon the random bits and pieces. This picture was taken while the project was still in process.
We just love them. The only thing I need to learn now is how to care for dark laminate floors. They show everything! Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE my choice and wouldn't go with anything different, I just need to figure out what product I can use to clean it; keep it shiny; and yet doesn't require a ton of money. Any bloggers out there know of anything?

Love!

I just love acrylic nails. I love how they make me feel more put together. I love how thin and pretty my fingers feel. I HATE how they ruin my real nails underneath and it'll take me years to get strong natural nails again. But in the mean time, I LOVE my new fingernails.

Thanks honey for the extra cash that made this indulgence possible.

I use to be a blogger

It is true. I use to be a really good blogger. And several times these past weeks I have thought about needing to blog about this or that. But alas, with no Internet in our house until yesterday and a busy life in between nothing has been documented. Here are a few random things that have been going on with more pictures to follow. (This way I keep you hooked...)

--I hate to admit it but there is a Baskin Robbins shop just down the road from my office building. A perfect walk during lunch ends me right at their doorstep which isn't entirely bad in my opinion. One particular day last week I stopped in just after a rather large group of summer camp kids; all now sitting outside the door with their one scoops of ice cream. I proceed to go inside and order 2 scoops of heaven on a cone and leave to saunter around the square with my treasure. As I leave the building, one small group of little ones stare with amazement and exclaim to the adult standing near "She has TWO". to which the adult responded, "she's an adult so she can have two." Yes, I love that part of growing up. I now can have 2 scoops of ice cream if I want.

--Mark has had another tragic phone episode. This time it has mysteriously disappeared. Not sure where it went to but somewhere between the movie theater and home it has vanished. Now we are sharing my phone between the 2 of us until we decide what step we want to take next. Ug!

--Biggest news: WE HAVE CARPET! We moved into our new house 2 weeks ago and have been slowly getting stuff actually inside the house. I use to be really good at moving in a day or two but I still have a ton of boxes in my garage. Reminds me when my friend Lauren moved and she talked about boxes in her garage. For whatever reason, I just leave them there. It is easier then going through them and finding homes for everything. The master bathroom is still a wreck, we are mostly furniture-less, and the kitchen cupboards under the sink have a rancid smell that I can't get rid of. But its home and we love it.

--The hill behind our house appears to be a genuine wildlife preserve. We've seen coyotes, rabbits, a myriad of birds, and field mice galore. A perfect compliment to our dinner time.

--America's Next Top Model was holding auditions in our city. While going to the movie theater the other day, the swarm of young laides with packets and high heels were causing quite the stir. I jokingly said to Mark my assumption that Tyra Banks was there and although she herself was not their, casting agents for the CW were! Fantastic!

--Work is going well. I continue to work on the staffing for the BP Oil Spill response. They have put me on point in the Health and Safety department which I really like doing. The Pool Service company continues to do well. We've added several more customers and Mark just keeps on keeping on. He has become quite the fix it man which will come in handy when we go to redo our bathroom.

Life continues to move forward with good things. I will try to update with photos soon. I know I've been terrible-here's to doing better.

Together-ness

Family Reunions are just the best thing. And nothing beats a crowd of people that will laugh at your jokes and love you even if you haven't showered in a few days. Burley, Idaho was just the place for such a gethering of the Morrell clan. And - double bonus - everyone made it! All 7 of the original Morrell Bunch and all 9 of the Morrell Bunch 2.

We enjoyed a slip-n-slide in the only way Idaho can provide. One long tarp down the side of a hill. It all started primitive until the boys got more grandiose ideas on how to go faster and get every tube in the train. The poor little boys took quite a beating that last run. I guess that is why it was the last run.

The Amazing Race - Idaho Edition couldn't be duplicated any more fun. Dan and Krista had us all over Burley with a GPS and our Racing skills. The Blue team (Kay's team) may or may not have won. And Mark's team, the Red Dragons showed a good effort. We threw hatchets, milked cows, tasted cheese curds, ate at Dairy Queen, and hunted for answers at the local Historical Society Museum. What a game it was!

Good Highlights to remember:

--Kaden ran up and down that hill probably 40 times more then all the adults.

--How many soda's did the little boys consume?

--The White Dragon

--The Red Dragons

--The flat air mattress vs the teeny trailer beds

--Food, Food, Food, Food, Food

--Mike's Amazing Race interview. (of course that's on video forever now)

--The car ride games. Licence plate states (only missing 14); Construction cones and train cars guessing game.

--going grocery shopping in the den.

--Malissa's job interview story

Newer Toy

These past couple weeks have been hectic to say the least. We've been driving back and forth from the new house to my mom's house as we wait for the carpet to be installed; mostly just taking care of loose ends and picking up the mail. On a routine trip out to the house one afternoon, Mark found a not-so-friendly welcome to the neighborhood in our mailbox. A white piece of paper on which was typed: "PLEASE MOW YOUR LAWN. THANK YOU". I guess they thought this was getting unacceptable.

Although we were planning on this purchase as soon as we moved in, we were somewhat forced to make an early purchase. So-happy-new-house-and-therefore-need-a-lawn-mower day. I hope our neighbors forgive us and still want to be friends. Whoever they are.

First Day of Summer

Ahh..summertime. I can't say summer is my favorite season, but it is my favorite time of year. As a teacher, I have carried on the traditions of my youth having oodles of free time during the summer months. Although this year is a little different as I am sort of between professions right now, we are still looking forward to a great summer season. Highlights this year will include:

--Family Reunions: both the Morrell's and the Wright's will be getting together for several nights of fun! I can't lie, the Candy Cannon has been the talk of the town for some time now. Bring it on!

--Moving In: We will be officially moving into our new house this summer! We've been working on it for what feels like forever, but now we are officially moving in. (sans Master Bathroom but lets hope that is finished soon)

--Camping Time: I certainty want to make a trip to the Calavaras Redwoods and show Mark the splendor there.

--Gold Country: Nothing like a good history trip to see Sutter's Mill and do some panning ourselves.

--San Francisco: The coldest winter I've ever spent was the Summer in San Francisco. (Mark Twain) There will be a few trips here. Hopefully we can bribe some friends to visit us for this highlight of a city. Pretty sure we eat an entire loaf of SF Sourdough Bread daily.

--California Academy of Sciences: Great exhibits of extreme and unique animal life.

--Sun Bathing: Okay, so Mark is already ahead of me in the tanning department. But I am hopeful I will get some exposure so I don't have to rely on the tan-in-a-can method. Don't judge. Some of us pale girls just have to go to extreme measures.

Now that Mark and I have nights and weekends together it's almost like we get to date for the first time. It is delightful to have so much time together. Having a companion to spend moments in life with really is such a blessing. So bring on the summer and all our summer plans.