4th of July, 2010.




4th of July.

We usually go to Park City with the Blake family for fireworks on the golf course. This year, we went with the Blake family (partial) to the Andersen's home overlooking the Rose Bowl fireworks. What a view of the entire Pasadena valley. Fun dinner before at the cutest house in America pretty much. Kind of like Melinda Welch's. Eye candy everywhere you look. I wish I had taken more pictures. I was so grateful yesterday for being included in the Ballard family gathering, or it could have been a rough weekend for us. Instead, yesterday was wonderful.

Interestingly enough, the enemy to us could be facebook. It is hard for the kids to log on and see what their friends are doing each day with pictures of smiling faces waterskiing, at concerts, fireworks.. We're making it though. Spence is going surfing this week with the same kid who took him shooting. We are going to Newport tomorrow and Wednesday to beach it up with Julianne. I have to get to a museum this week too. We want to hook up with Tara Bingham and hubby, hopefully at the end of the week. If we keep busy, we do better!

Brett should have a car today after renting for two weeks.

Shell: found in the backyard

Picture of us at the beach: from thoughtful Julianne

Roses: from cute old neighbors James and Edna introducing themselves

Retro Picture: from Julianne's mom, Melanie. I love it so much. Couldn't love it more.

I know I know, it's only the entryway, but we still need to hang pictures so be patient. Fireworks at the Rose Bowl tonight. We are going to a dinner at the Ballards and then to watch the fireworks from the Andersen home. We get to see Mark, Julianne and boys. We are excited. I went to Trader Joes and stocked up on tons of healthy, organic, unique food yesterday. I'm going to love that place. There is no high fructose corn syrup laden stuff there baby. And it's cheap. Off to make Laurie Cutler's great pasta salad for the dinner tonight.

Happy Fourth of July. e

Super long but way fun post

My friend Laura just called me and wanted to know if I wanted to go out to lunch. Ha ha. But I loved hearing from her. Her son Ben, one of Spencer's best friends, just got his mission call to Colombia! I'm so excited for him! Another friend just got called to Paraguay. It is so exciting that Spencer's close friends are now getting their calls. Spence will get his mid-October while at college in Utah.

Now that I'm thinking about Utah...

The night before we moved, Brett and I took an hour or so and went around Bountiful. We visited and took pictures of the spots we frequented most and were a part of our lives. We took Syd and Kate, who we call our 2nd family, because they still like hanging out with us, and it was perfect.

Bountiful High School. The neighborhood high school where wackiness is encouraged and memories are made daily. Not too big, not too small. Well, maybe too small. Everyone knows everything, for better or worse. Scariest parking lot ever. Highlights include football games, every dance, the choir program, high school musicals, and the fun kids who go there.

All Tucked In. Think, "You've Got Mail." Perfect bookstore with unique gifts and the occasional, unique homerun sweater or skirt. Bonnie, the owner, knows everyone and can help you with just about everything. Cute cupcakes and even every flavor of big lollipops for the little ones.

A Bountiful staple, Nielsens Frozen Custard. This is a smooth treat and a local hang out after any event in Bountiful. The night we went, there were two families from our neighborhood having concretes.
Dick's Market. Dick's Market is the little neighborhood grocery store where you ALWAYS see someone you know. My family has a game where whoever sees the most people you know while in the parking lot or store, wins the super awesome prize of just knowing you won the super awesome prize. This is bagger Dan who has worked at Dick's Market for 20 years. He knows every statistic about anything sports and if you have shopped there once, you assuredly remember Dan the super nice bagger.

Cutler's cookies. We got some cookies for the drive. I made the nice worker below act like Vanna White. I know she really liked doing that for me.

I couldn't believe my luck when I happened upon old trumpet guy at his home. He is a war veteran who is a GREAT trumpet player. He pulls his van up to parking lots, events, and opens his trunk, which is equipped with a sound system. He turns on 1940s music, sits in his chair, and starts kicking it on his trumpet. He is the cutest and he still sounds awesome. We were driving, and I thought, wait, I hear a live band playing. Of course I said, "Stop the car!!! I hear live music!!" I turned around and there was old trumpet guy playing in his driveway. I got out, told him how much everyone loves hearing him play, took this picture and we were on our way.

Top Hat Video. This is a mom and pop video rental. They always have more foreign films and documentaries than the big box places. And you just know people there. Case in point: Out of these three workers, the guy on the left took Maddie to Homecoming and the guy on the right was in classes with Spence growing up.

Random Sightings. While leaving Top Hat, who do we run into but Maddie and those no good, rotten friends of hers.

Costa Vida. This is the restaurant that we built, right in the corner of Colonial Square. We owned this one for about a year? before someone bought all 3 of the restaurants and we were officially done with that short span of restaurant ownership. We still all hate Cafe Rio though and have good memories of eating WAY too much fattening food here.

Creative Arts Academy. It's hard to imagine where every little girl in Bountiful danced before Jana Monson opened this studio. In a few short years, it is the place for dance and was a 2nd home for Ali for many years.

Special Syd/Mom Lookout Place. This is the place we like to drive to, watch the sunset, pick out buildings and guess what they are. "I think that's the hospital over there." "No mom, I think that's the library. The hospital is that one over there." "Oh yeah, because that one has to be the high school right? Yeah that makes sense." Brett let Kate steer up the mountain. JK

Firehouse Car Wash. This is the place where Spencer worked the end of his senior year. I will never forget being stopped at a stoplight on 5th and 5th and looking straight in the eyes of a dalmation dog waving a Firehouse Car Wash sign. Something about that dog looked eerily familiar. He was staring me down, that masked 6 ft. dalmation. Finally, just before the light turned green, the dog started doing the Jerk, a popular dance jig and I realized it was Spencer. "Spencer!!!" I called out of my window as I saw the familiar white high tops jumping up and down. Man, that moment was priceless.

Bountiful Temple. I love the temple, especially the Bountiful temple. I miss it already. It has been a huge blessing to live so close to a temple of God. I loved that my kids loved it as much as Brett and I did. Having temples dot the earth is one of the blessings of living in a time of history when all of the blessings of the restored Gospel have been returned to the earth. How lucky are we to be alive today and not in the Middle Ages? I love this picture of Sydney with the sun setting behind her.

Misty's House. It has been so great to live by my sister Misty. Misty's house was probably Sydney's favorite place to be in the whole world. All of her cousins wanted to play with her and she would have stayed there for days if I had let her. Misty adopted her many times when I was sick with Kate, home with new Kate, doing stuff with older kids. We could have taken a similar picture with Misty's kids in front of my front door. I love that they always wanted to be at our house too with or without Syd.

That last picture pretty much is the definition of all things good.

I am realizing here that I still have all of these places and memories with me. I haven't lost any of them, and I will gain a whole slew of new places and faces here in La Canada, California. I can't wait to discover them.

This is the place we have to go to when you come visit. Santa Monica Pier and 3rd street Promenade. I love it. We saw the guy who plays coach Ken from Glee there, but couldn't figure out who he was until about 10 minutes later. "OH! Coach Ken! Dang! He is such a superstar tv star!" Here we are eating a funnel cake with strawberry stuff on top. Must have on the pier.

Super Darcy with daughter Katie and cutie son Ben

Seriously love this picture.
BFFs Brett and Kate

In front of the ferris wheel that I am making all our visitors ride, even adults who think they are too old or it is too expensive. Don't mess with my plans.

See how romantic it is? You'll kiss your husband too.

I hope Spence didn't wish to be big like Tom Hanks. He's way too big already. Slow it down.

Greetings from La Canada

I am excited to write. I have my computer back, although something is still wrong with our internet connection or our computer, and it is SUPER slow. Super, meaning UBER slow.

Sydney used the word uber today and I liked it.

Anyway, I have a few pictures that I will post here. The rest I will take tonight or tomorrow once we hang pictures on the wall and then post them.

I can't believe we live here now! It has been an interesting process. Days 1-3 were complete chaos. Notice the kids hands and faces in these pictures. I felt like that too. We all wanted to scream and faint and then punch each other. Brett had to go to work and so we were all totally lost trying to scoot around boxes, etc. When he came home at night, for a few days he was greeted with blank exhausted stares and silent "YOU! You made us do this! You have been gone all day!" from everyone.

Finally, around day 3, we turned a corner. I was able to apologize to Brett on behalf of all of us. We had a little family council/meeting and decided we were not going to be negative anymore. Things were going to get better if we decided to make it work. Then it really did happen. I can't explain what it was other than enough stuff got put in enough places to get enough boxes out of the way that we could function. We finally had a table that was clear enough to eat on. We could find forks, sheets and Kate's toys. Enough to live.

Then the girls went to Youth Conference and Spencer found a job. When I picked the girls up a few days later, they were happy. They had met great girls who they really liked and they have been facebooking, going places, texting, etc. ever since. The girls in the ward here all hang out together and have welcomed both girls right off. Sydney has two instant "cousins" her age!

Spence works at a baseball camp throwing balls to little kids. Luckily, the main requirement is being fun with little kids, so even though he never played baseball, he is qualified. Brett is trying to get used to the commute. It takes an hour. He leaves at 8 and gets home about 7:30. He is still coming home and attacking the boxes, setting up internet, or other non-relaxing stuff. I can't wait until he is coming home for a swim before dinner or to swing in the hammock with Kate. I can't wait to have a hammock.

Then Darcy came. Cue angels singing as sunbeams break through the cloudy sky. Every day this week has been organizing, throwing away, decorating, cleaning, more organizing, and then swimming. We also have been to Santa Monica Pier and 3rd Street Promenade and the "best hamburger place in L.A." dubbed by Brad Kofford. To get there, we drove through South Pasadena and San Marino, which has the most picturesque homes and streets I have seen in California, maybe even America (minus the horse farms of Kentucky on the Blue Grass Parkway or the homes in Lexington, MA).

Our house seems so much bigger now that our furniture is in it. I know that seems opposite, but it is true. I am being creative with storage, with Darcy's immense help, and things are fitting. The yard is the best part. The first layer has a patio for eating and grass for more outdoor seating. The picture below shows the stairs going to the second level, which has the swing set and slide, and then the pool is on top. In the front yard, there is yard enough for the tramp and lots of parking. I love it. One funny thing....upon perusing the grounds, I have probably found 30 various yard um, objects? yard statues? peeking out from under bushes, around trees. These have included ducks, frogs churning butter, porcupines, wheelbarrows, kneeling deer, a bear and little people. You name it, it's in this yard. It has made me so happy to stumble upon find after find. The only thing missing was a gnome. Most of them are now happily in a pile in the garage.

Finally, the ward has been awesome. We have had food from the very first day, playing invites, dinner invites, visitors with brownies, etc. There are lots of great families close by who I know we will get to know better. A lot of the guys in the ward go surfing on Saturday mornings, kind of like guys playing basketball in Utah. Brett and Spencer want to do this, maybe starting this Saturday.

I realize this sounds so cheer and happy. Believe me, there are moments of loneliness, mostly when I'm driving in my car in this new town by myself listening to a song that reminds me of home or memories, which is pretty much any song on my playlist. Those are melancholy sad little moments. But the human spirit wants to be happy and I am happy.

I GET THE INTERNET TOMORROW. I WILL DOWNLOAD PICTURES AND BLOG! I WILL BLOG ABOUT LIFE HERE AND THE NEW HOUSE AND TRADER JOES AND THE TREES AND SKUNKS AND SWIMMING AND SADNESS AND THEN HAPPINESS AND ALL OF THAT FUN STUFF. TOMORROW...

Just slow danced with Kate to James Taylor's Bartender Blues and Neil Young's Harvest Moon. Sweet slow dancing songs. Kate snuggled tight into my neck, her little arms clutching the back of my shirt. 7:17 a.m. Bring on the movers. I am now ready.