Handy Man

One of the projects Justin has been working on at the house is Plumbing Improvement. The plumbing at our house is so old and poorly constructed in today's standards that tree roots have made their way into the pipes providing for many clogged sinks, bathtubs, showers, and toilets. Justin has been digging for the bathroom pipe for a couple of days with no luck of finding it. He finally rented a trencher to help him do the digging and sure enough, he found the pipe. With the aide of his handy-dandy machine he actually went right through the pipe.


When he told me that the pipe was busted and that both bathrooms were out of commission I started to think of which neighbor's bathroom we could ask to borrow, how long I could go without showering before my own stench would drive me crazy, etc. To my amazement, my highly skilled, intelligent husband had the pipe fixed in a matter of hours, saving us $800 the professional would have charged. I'm so impressed when he can just figure stuff out like that. It's definitely a talent that I lack.

Teva loves working with Justin. I'm pretty sure she thinks he couldn't do it without her.

San Fran

This post is the first of three from our family vacation.  I couldn't figure out how to switch the order of the posts, but San Francisco was actually our last stop.  

Mmm...Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, a San Francisco MUST

I love all the street performers in S.F.  They are all so talented!

Two lovers in love

I always think of the Rice-a-roni commercials when I see trollies.  "Rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat. *Ding, ding*"

 

We ate at this neat restaurant, The Rainforest Cafe.  The whole place is decked out like a rainforest.  It reminded me of The Mayan in Utah.

 

I love cousins.  What more can I say?

We got a little bored waiting for our food.  What better way to kill time than...

Whoa!  Jamie and Doug skipped the innocent peck and started to steal 2nd base.  Luckily our food came, so things didn't get too out of hand.

One of my favorite stops in S.F. was H&M.  I discovered this store while living in Austria and have since been to one in N.Y. and now S.F.  It's so great!  I bought a cozy scarf that will serve me well in England.  *Side note:  I've been strangely loving scarves lately.  Loving scarves is not strange in and of itself, but the fact that I'm loving them in the middle of summer constitutes definite strangeness.   

Santa Cruz

The beaches in Pescadero were pretty windy, overcast, and cold all day, but Santa Cruz (only 30 miles south of Pescadero) was warm and sunny.  

  

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

That's one ripped 6 year old!

Silly boys

There was a Chinese acrobat show on the beach.  They did some pretty wild stuff.  Who can balance a table on their toe??  That's crazy!

More acrobatic wonders

The boys had fun playing football, and we, along with many other spectators, had fun watching them. 

So cute!

Justin and I stole away to San Jose to catch a Glenn Beck performance later that night.  It was funny, informative, patriotic, and ultimately quite inspiring.  During the show we learned that our little hometown recently passed a law that states "no person is allowed to detonate a nuclear weapon within city boundaries".  Uh...duh.  But get this...the penalty for breaking this law is a $500 fine.  $500 fine for detonating a nuclear weapon.  Are you kidding me?  

During the show Glenn quoted his favorite line from the declaration of independence.  It is the last line of document and it reads, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."  Isn't that beautiful?  I've since re-read the entire declaration and am so impressed with it. I truly feel honored to live in a country founded on the principles it establishes.  I have a new desire to learn more about the founding fathers, the great authors of our Declaration of Independence.  What inspired men.  May God continue to bless America.  

Pescadero

We just got back from a great vacation with my family.  We camped on the coast in Pescadero for a couple of nights, spent a day in Santa Cruz, stayed in a hotel in San Francisco one night, and wandered S.F. attractions (including H&M!) for a day.  Whew!  

The whole fam-damily (minus those who weren't there, obviously.  We missed you guys!)

Cody's gadgit legs were a bit too long for the tent.

Hot Mama modeling on the beach...ow! ow!

Casey challenged Knox to a game of chess and got a little more than he bargained for.  Notice how intensely he and Cody seem to analyzing the game.

Showing off our bellies that all the scrumptious food helped to grow during the trip.

The raccoons also found our food to be scrumptious.

A print the thief left behind.

A couple miles down from our campsite was a popular kite surfing spot.  Kite surfing is so amazing!  I could watch it for hours if it weren't so darn windy!  Unfortunately the wind is an essential element of kite surfing.

  

Don't you love this quaint lighthouse?  It's said to have severe structural damage and could topple over at any time.  Luckily that time wasn't while we were taking this picture.

The beautiful Northern California Coastline.  For some reason I loved this worn picket fence.  It made me wonder, "If this fence could talk...what kind of storms would it tell about?  How would it describe the people who built it so many years ago? Etc."  So maybe I'm weird, whatever.      

Okay, so I'm now realizing that there are a ton of fun pictures to share from the trip.  I'm going to try to narrow it down, and I'll break it down into sections.  This was the Pescadero portion of the trip.  Look for additional posts: Santa Cruz and San Francisco.

Evacuation #2

We returned home today from an extended evacuation to my mom's house.  We received our second mandatory threat evacuation notice on Tuesday night.  Since our last evacuation I had organized all of our important documents and belongings so it was much easier to know what to grab this time.  We loaded up the car and headed down to Chico.  My mom's house quickly turned into a mini evacuation center since we, my sister-in-law and her family, and Justin's parents all showed up seeking shelter.  My amazingly generous and hospitable mom put us all up without a moment's hesitation.  (Thanks, Mom!!)  It was actually kind of fun to all be together.  We played games, watched movies, etc.  Don't you love when the best is made of non-ideal situations?  

The evacuation for our area was lifted on Friday, but the smoke was still pretty bad so we opted to continue our stay over the weekend.  The fact that my mom's house has A/C while ours does not also added to our persuasion to stay, considering the temps have been 100+.

I'm now faced with the question of whether or not to re-unload the car??  Is there an Evacuation #3 in our future?  I sure hope not!  

Lake Juniper

We spent the 4th of July week/weekend camping at Lake Juniper in Lassen Park with the Malden Family.  Justin and his family have camped at this lake since he was a little kid, but it was the first time for all the in-laws and grandkids.  The lake is amazing.  It is spring fed from holes in the bottom of the lake, so the water is crystal clear till about 30 feet deep.  After that is is the most beautiful blue/green color--it reminded me of the color of the Caribbean.  Also, there are no fish!  I guess there's not enough gunk for them to feed off of and no areas for spawning, so they can't survive.  Can't complain about a big, beautiful lake to swim in that is entirely fish-free!  (I must mention, however, that I did not swim because it was too cold!!)  It was the perfect temperature for hiking and canoeing, of which we did both.  Unfortunately there were no fireworks, but considering all the fire fiasco it was probably for the best.  We had a great time and hope that the family tradition of camping trips to Lake Juniper continue for years to come.  

Smoke, smoke go away; come again...NEVER!

It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  My heart has never been more fond of having clean air to breathe than during the past week and a half when it has been absent from my life.  I can't wait to see the sky when I wake up, drive with my windows rolled down, and go for walks in the park again.  In the pictures it looks like it could be a cold, foggy day calling for a good book and a warm fire.  But it's not.  It's hot, humid, and smokey.  Try burning something in the oven and letting the charred aroma fill your house to get a fuller effect of what the pictures encompass.