We're Back!

Wow! We had a great week in Utah visiting with friends and family. We left early on Monday morning and came home on the following Sunday. What an adventure we had!
Our original reason for going was to return three young men to their home after their adventures with Gailon at scout camp, but we decided to extend the trip to allow for some visiting too.
We were able to visit the Adam, Caywood, Treto, and Alsup families. Not to mention our family members too. So much fun!

Now that we are back, we have had to get back into the swing of things! I can't believe that school starts next week! Where did the time go? My room is mostly done. I just have a few of the pretty details to complete, and were are off and running!

Other than that, everything is status quo. We are continuing to work on building our photography business. I can't believe how busy that keeps us! But it is fun and an adventure that we love doing! We have a wedding in a few weeks and have done several senior photos, as well as missionary photos. Love, love, love it!!

I must say we have truly been blessed with great jobs, a flourishing business, amazing friends and family, and the opportunity to do any and all of these things! What an amazing life we live!

the week in review

Wow! The boys are back from scout camp, I think that they brought half of it home with them too! I am so grateful that I have the blessing of having my own washer and dryer! Laundry for all of them would have been a beast otherwise!

We have been fortunate to have three of the greatest boys hang out with us for a bit before we take them home to Utah. Their mom was so funny when I told her that I was doing their laundry. She promptly told me that I didn’t have to, until I corrected her and told her that I did because I didn’t want to smell camp dirt, sweat, and yuck all the way to their house! She laughed and relented, understanding exactly what I was talking about.

They were able to have many great adventures this past week, some of them are encrypted in their conversations, but I am catching on quickly! And the pictures that Gailon took help to share their adventures too.

While they were gone, I was able to get some planning done with my projects, organize them, and figure out that there are more projects possible with all of the extra that I have collected!! BuSy, BuSy!!

Here is the picture of the month, I guess. I have been reminded that I forgot to post a picture , soooo here’s a couple from our adventure to the Aquarium of the Pacific.

This place has special meaning for our family. It is one of the last places we went to, as a complete family, before the passing of my dad. So we thought that it was fitting to go on his anniversary date, August 13. We enjoyed what we could because it was so busy with end of the season/year for day camps and kids camps. Since we have memberships, we will return and enjoy it often!

As we left the Aquarium, Isis said to grandma, “I am hungry! Let’s eat fish for lunch!” I thought that it was so hilarious! I reminded her we had just spent the morning looking at fish and critters of the sea, and her little seven year old response was, “I know, that’s why I am hungry!” Oh the minds and innocence of children. So we ate shrimp at Bubba Gumps. Max and Isis shared a quarter pound of peel and eat shrimp! Max ate about three and Isis ate the rest.

Yummy!

Another week, another adventure!!!

Well, here we are in the throes of yet another summer camp! Gailon is off to the wild wilderness of Lake Arrowhead with the scouts. He is there with an eighteen year old assistant, twenty-two year old part time assistant, and an on-again-off-again adult who is there to enjoy nature on his own terms. Oh the joys of being in the scouting “program”….

So where does that leave me? Busy, busy, busy!!! Of course! I am almost done with my classroom, now it is just a matter of getting all of the belongings of others out of the way and I will be done! Whew!

Next, I have been having a blast hanging out with my mom and the little ones! Today we are off on another grand adventure! Since I have slacked in my picture of the week adventure, (Thanks Teesha for the reminder!), I will have to post some of the adventures that we have had over the course of the last week.

Good Advice

I got this as an email today from my family email list. I thought that the message was very fitting, especially with all that is going on around us these days...

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: GOD
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day.
I love you.

P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME.. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours. Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it.. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

Thanks!

Thank you to all who attended last night! We had a blast chatting, card making, and of course, eating great yummies!!! How can you go wrong with peanut butter fingers, lemon bars, and freshly made cheesecake! Thanks Gailon! (He is already so busy with preparations for camp and still took the time to help me out! LoVe YoU!!!)

Thanks Teesha for a great card making adventure! More ideas for my stamps and stuff!

Stampin' Up

I will be having a Stampin' Up party this Thursday, August 7, 6:30 pm. All are invited to come and hang out, enjoy good food, friends, and a fun card making adventure! No pressure to buy, just come and have fun!
The presentation will be by Teesha Nocella!

"Summertime and the living is easy..."

...or so the song goes. When does it get easy?

Summer school is over and I have finished my week long class. This class was amazing! I tried to share bits and pieces through a couple of narratives and pictures. We were so fortunate to be taught by some of the local scholars and experience some of the sights. I received so many resources from many books to pictures of old Long Beach and the port. My how things have changed and amazing how so much is still the same. I won the raffle today, a book about one of the first African-American female pilots in Long Beach. Two wins in one week is soooooo unusual for me!

So now I am on to my classroom. That is going to be one crazy adventure!

Mix into that the preparation for the boys to go to Scout Camp, holy moley! Since Gailon and I are the ones that are pulling everything together, we have been running around to get the materials, checks, permits, and turn in the paperwork. I have been to the downtown L.A. offices so many times, I think that I should have my own parking space!
Even though it is tough and takes so much time, I am so grateful that I have a husband who magnifies his calling, who goes above and beyond what is needed to make sure that these boys have a good experience, who takes the responsibility he has been given as the Assistant Scoutmaster to make it happen! And he does it without the expectation that he will be thanked or given any of the "credit" he may be due.
Gailon, you are so amazing to me!!! Thank you for being a great example to these boys of a leader who does what they need to in order to have a program that will work for them! I love you!