Summer is over. SIGH...

Summer is over. Big sigh... After six years of working during the summers, I LOVED having the summer off. Though I didn't get all my projects done, it was still very enjoyable. Now I realize that I can't complain about going "back to work" since most people in the real world don't get their summers off. And, I am very grateful to have a good job. Enough about that.

Before school started we got together with some college roommates, Debbie & husband Brandon and Shelly & husband Lele. (We got together with Debbie and Brandon in Dec. You may have seen that post.) It's always fun to hang out and catch up. The last time the six of us got together was quite memorable. We sat down to eat our tasty steaks and John got a piece of steak caught in his throat which sent him to the hospital. This time was much less eventful. Debbie served sloppy joes just to be safe.
This was supposed to be our skinny pose. It didn't really work for me.
Shelly & Lele have five girls. Debbie & Brandon have two. They played so well together all night.
We had some ping pong matches. It was great fun!

A week ago we got together for an impromptu picnic with John's parents and his sister Julie & her family at Vivian Park up Provo Canyon. Apparently a gazillion other people had the same idea. Julie & Travis brought fishing poles. G'pa Bob taught Jyson how to cast and he loved it.We didn't have a table, but no problem for Johnny.Ty, Kaden, Julie, & Jake just relaxing.
I have to throw this in because I just love hair day. Bye, bye gray hair. Plus, Michelle (my hair stylist) always straightens it for me. It's always fun to look different for a day or two.
Yesterday I took Jyson down to my sister Tanya's house so he could hang out with his cousins. He had a great time! My brother-in-law Eric is building a big shed in his backyard and had lots of helpers:
Luke, Jyson, Adam, Caleb, and the good sport, Uncle Eric.
John came over after he sealed our driveway and patio, just in time for dinner. Thanks for the fun afternoon and a tasty dinner Tanya!

This could be my new addiction...

A few years ago, a neighbor invited me to a "party" where they were introducing books made online from digital photos. The company was Heritage Makers. I thought they were so cool, but expensive, plus I was really into scrapbooking.

Lately I haven't had (or made) any time for scrapbooking. Well, several months ago, while looking at photos in iPhoto (my computer is an iMac), I discovered an icon at the bottom of the screen that says "book." I was intrigued and discovered I could create a book from my photos. I decided to make one for McKelle for graduation. I got started.

Meanwhile, my sister Tanya, who uses Shutterfly for her photos, had also decided to create a book about our Oxborrow family reunion last year to give to our dad for Father's Day. (The 4 sisters helped pay for it but Tanya did all the work.) We gave him a 12"x12" and I ordered an 8"x8" copy for our family. The book turned out incredibly well. Everyone has enjoyed looking through it many times. Thanks again Tanya!
Here's a sample page:Seeing that book in print got me motivated to finish McKelle's book. I didn't get it done in time for graduation so I decided to give it to her for her birthday. Due to some unforseen complications, her birthday party was postponed for several weeks. This gave me plenty of time to finish her book. I love it. I just want to keep making more of them. I also want to get back to scrapbooking. I have a craft room, now I just have to clean it up and get started.There is very little text but lots of fun photos. I included several of her and John when she was younger, but most of the book includes photos from the past 5 years. This page has our first family photo (after John & I were engaged), wedding photo, and first Easter together.
The first two photos on the page were taken on two of McKelle's birthdays. They decided to try the pose again at the party.
Here is McKelle looking at her book. It was fun to see her reaction to all the photos.
We just had a small, simple party: Jyson, John's parents Bob & Joy, McKelle & Jake, their mom Nancy & husband William and their kids Ethan & Liam, and Nancy's mom Gayle. Here are McKelle & Jake with their three siblings. Yes, Jake needs a little sun. It looks like he's the adopted one.
So, Happy 18th Birthday McKelle. I hope your future is bright.

a natural high

Selling things on ksl.com. Who knew it could be so exhilarating. I have had the best luck so far. Two years ago I sold our kitchen table & chairs and I thought it was pretty easy. In the past few months I've sold 3 cell phones, big speakers, my first road bike, and today I sold a bookshelf. Everything has sold within 24 hours of being listed. Maybe I need to raise my prices but I love getting money for things I'm done with. So now I'm thinking, what else can I sell?

One Saturday in August

Yesterday Jyson & I got up early and watched John do another (much smaller scale) flag raising ceremony as part of the Lindon Days celebration. This was followed by a pancake breakfast. Have you ever had a chocolate-chip pancake? Quite tasty.

An hour later we were joined by Jake and Hailey to wait for the Lindon City Parade. It's my favorite. Okay, it's the only one I attend because it's the shortest and Johnny marches in it.
Jyson trying on Hailey's sunglasses. It's a good look don't you think?

Here is Lindon's Honor Guard. Yes, they keep those serious faces the whole time they march. This is serious business.
(John is the far left, closest to us.)

Oh look, it's all over and they do know how to smile.
From there it was on to Jyson's soccer game. He's playing with a new team this year. It's always entertaining. It's fun to see how much progress he's made from the first year he played soccer and everyone stayed in a clump on the field. He's really got some great skills now.Jyson has a major sock fetish. He pulls them up regularly during the game. This also makes us laugh. Go Jy go!
We finally have furniture in the basement. (Now we need to give it some color and warmth.) So, we ended the day sitting in our new recliner couch watching "Marley & Me." I cried. I'm embarrassed to admit that I cried during a movie about a dog, but now it's out there.
And that was one Saturday in August.

California, here we come...

(Longest travelogue by far. Groups of photos are in the form of slide shows for your viewing pleasure.)

California, here we come in our 30 ft. Cruise America RV. This is the 2nd time we've rented one. It's not fancy, but we enjoy it. We stay seat-belted the whole time unless someone needs to use the bathroom, but it's nice to have everything you need within reach. We ate all of our meals in the RV, even coming out of Sea World & Magic Mountain to eat lunch. Except for the first night, we stayed each night at a KOA camp. Everything went quite smoothly.
After loading up the RV, we left Monday afternoon (July 20) and drove to Mesquite, NV. We got in quite late, found the spare key, went in and slept in G'ma's house. Sweet G'ma O had the table set and was waiting to cook us breakfast when we woke up. Yes, this is the same amazing 94 year-old grandma I wrote about recently. She wanted to come out and check out our "outfit."
I love having a timer on my camera. Quick group shot and we were on the road.
First stop: Mojave National Preserve. Every summer we try to visit a different national park. This one was less exciting than Yellowstone or Mesa Verde, but still beautiful scenery and a few stops at some very small "towns" (if you can call one building a town).

Slide Show #1: Mojave National Preserve

From there we drove to Barstow, thinking we'd check out the outlet malls. Half of the shops were empty and there were very few people. You could definitely see the direct effect of the poor economy. It felt almost eery. We were hungry and tired so we passed up shopping (and since none of us had money) and drove to the KOA. After dinner we played foosball (which incidentally is a word that can be spelled multiple correct ways) and ping pong. Quite entertaining.

We got up Wednesday morning and headed to our next stop: the San Diego Zoo.
I'm not sure how many miles we walked, but it was a lot. I think we checked out almost every animal in the park. We especially loved the flamingos, orangutangs, koalas, lions, and camels. We rode the sky tram across the zoo. It was quite an enjoyable day at the zoo.

Slide Show #2: San Diego Zoo

That night we stayed at the San Diego KOA. Thursday's destination: Sea World.
This was my favorite day of the trip. I LOVED the Shamu and dolphin shows. They are just incredible animals! I also enjoyed the few rides. The weather was perfect. A great day from start to finish.

Slide Show #3: Sea World

We stayed at the San Diego KOA again that night. Friday morning we got up and drove to Long Beach. We got on the Catalina Express ferry. It took just over an hour to get to Catalina Island. We sat at the back of the boat and enjoyed the view.
We spent our time in Avalon. While there were a few cars, the main mode of transportation is by golf cart. We rented one for an hour and took a scenic drive. Jake found a scenic spot for some fun photos. After an ice cream break, the boys played on the beach. We forgot to bring Jyson's ear plugs so he couldn't get in very deep, but they had a good time. Another enjoyable day with beautiful weather.

Slide Show #4: Catalina Island

After getting back from the island, we headed to the L.A. KOA. It took us forever. We were caught in the Friday rush hour and it was ugly. John was so happy to get out of that! Saturday morning we got up and made it to our final stop in California: Six Flags Magic Mountain:We, along with a gazillion other people, spent the day waiting in line and going on rides. Jyson wasn't tall enough for several of the biggest rides so John went with Jake on a few and Jake went by himself on a few. Jyson and I rode several water rides together. With all the separation that day, we didn't get any group shots. Here's all I have:After a full day at Magic Mountain, we drove to the Barstow KOA and spent the night. (This was the first KOA we had stayed at on Tuesday night.) They had a cool train so we got one last group photo on Sunday morning before the long drive home.We stopped in Mesquite on the way back and got to see my mom for a few minutes - always a treat. Dad was still at church. We were sad that McKelle wasn't able to join us, but alll in all, it was another great family vacation. We'll definitely rent an RV again, but probably not for a few years.

There are just a few more pics I must include. Yes, they are almost all of Jyson, but let's face it - he enjoys being photographed the most.

Each morning Jyson & I tried to do a little reading together:The nasty part of the RV experience - emptying the waste & water tanks. Thanks for doing that job Johnny!Almost every night we made s'mores over the stove. Pretty tasty!And last but not least: Jyson in his many sleep positions. Good night.