8/31/09

A Day in the Bay

Some friends of our's, the Graff family, were going to be in Martinez on Saturday and asked if we would come and visit them (they live in Arizona now and we haven't seen them since they moved), so we made a day of it with the family. We had lunch with the Graff's in Martinez, then headed over to Oakland and spent some time at the Oakland Temple.


We went to the visitor's center, saw some beautiful artiwork by Arthur Frieburg, the many many different volumes of the Book of Mormon in languages that I've never even heard of, the Christus statue, and then went for a walk on the roof of the temple and saw the beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay. It was a blazing hot day... you would think it was cooler in the bay area, but not on Saturday!



Then we took a little drive over to the North Bay area to Stinson Beach. We aren't sure we can endure the drive again... Highway 1 is soooooo twisty and curvey! We all got a little sick to our stomachs. But the beach was wonderful and so much fun for everyone! Too bad we couldn't spend more time there. We needed a few more hours!










It was a lot of hours in the car but worth it! We had a good time together!
We need more day trips....

8/19/09

Summer Update

I've been a HORRIBLE blogger lately! It's more of a way for me to journal our family's "happenings", but I just haven't made it a priority this summer. So here is a recap of our summer "fun times"...

• Earl and I went to Spain! I know, I already blogged about that! But it was definitely MY favorite part of the summer!

• Earl was called as the new Bishop of our ward. We found out the day before we left for Spain, so needless to say, we had a lot on our minds the whole time we were there. It was great, though, because we knew we needed to "soak up" as much rest and relaxation as we could before REAL life hit us back at home. He is slowly but surely getting used to this new position and all of the many responsibilities that go along with it. He's not home very much anymore :( but we are so grateful for his dedication to his calling and the example he is to our family. We ♥ our Bishop!

• I took the boys to Fresno for a week in July. We stayed at my sister Aimee's house for most of the week and the kids LOVED being able to spend time with their cousins 24/7! It was fun for me too... I can't remember the last time I stayed up late at night chatting with my sister. She's wonderful and I wish we lived closer to all of them! We went to Wild Water Adventures, The Fresno Met Museum, swimming every day, and much more. It was nice to be able to spend time with some of our family there.


Fresno Met Museum... Bob the Builder Day!


Bath time after swimming with pretty cousin Maycee!


Making gumdrop castles with the cousins

• We took a little weekend trip to the bay area and went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, stayed in a HOTEL (the kids LOVE sleeping at a hotel!), then spent the next day roaming the streets of San Francisco with our good friends the Gomez family. Walked Pier 39, ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, walked along Baker Beach, got lost in the Presidio for a little while, then drove home late at night. It was a fun, fast get away for the weekend.








• I took the kids for a little day excursion with our friends the Knudson family to Bridgeport - a nice area along the river about 45 min. northeast of Marysville. The kids loved swimming, playing in the sand, jumping off the huge rocks into the river. It was such a great day full of friends, sun, relaxing in the water, and fun! We can't wait to go again... hopefully soon!



• School has officially started as of Monday this week. That's why I am blogging... I actually have a little bit of peace and quiet before they come home from school! Jonathan is in the 5th grade and has the same teacher he had last year, Miss Irvine (he loves her! She is great!). Joshua is in the 2nd grade and has Mrs. Faringer (he really wanted her for his teacher too! He looks so excited to start school, too. Doesn't he?!). We are all so glad to be back into the routine of school and looking forward to another great school year!


James HAS to be in the first day of school picture. He's sad that he doesn't start preschool until September :(