When East meets West

The great thing about going out to CA is that we get to not only see my half of the family, but Paul's family too! Grandma Barbara lives in Escondido (about 1/2 hour from San Diego) and Uncle Mike lives in San Francisco. We all meet up at Mom's house and hang out for the weekend. Melanie, Michael's girlfriend, always comes too! This year Melanie was at her mom's which is close to my grandmother's house so she met up with us for the drive to Barb's. Poor thing the kids talked her ears off! One wouldn't even be finished before the other would cut in and start a new story. Paul and I both agreed that we didn't know that our kids could talk THAT much. I am surprised that Melanie didn't lock herself in a room for some quiet time after that! We played the Quiet game several times, but that was very short lived. Thankfully it was only a 2 1/2 hour drive.

Upside down sunglasses make Mike, Xander and Grandma look like flies.

We got to hang out and on Friday evening go for some good Mexican food and then to cruise night on main street. The kids kept wanting to climb on the classic fixed up cars and we had to keep reminding them that the people would be very mad if they touched the expensive cars!
The next day we tried to squeeze in as much as possible with the beach in the morning and the San Diego wild animal park in the late afternoon. It was a busy day, but lots of fun. The waves at the beach were breaking really far out and not as strong as the beach we went to earlier in the week so it was great boogie boarding. I even went in the water and body surfed for a bit. I can't believe how much the kids love it! They would take a tumble in the waves and ask to go again! After one big tumble I was done! I am so glad that we don't have wimpy kids!
At the Wild Animal Park we got to see some animals, but not as many as we would have liked. They made a big deal of saying the park is open late, but forgot to mention that it gets dark at 8 and all of the animals go to sleep. So the last hour is really a waste! The highlight of the park was the African safari and the Poop show. The actual "Poop show" was not so good so we left early, but believe me we saw many other "poop shows" from the ostrich and the deers. This age is really all about bodily functions and how amusing they are.

Cheeky monkeys- AKA Michael and Melanie

The following day we got to sleep late in the comfort of our hotel (we had been at my grandmothers in a very small room with 4 people) so it was so nice to stretch out and chill. We hung out with Barb for the whole day and spent some time visiting with her 90 and 91 year old cousins whom we hadn't seen since our wedding 17 years prior.
I hope I look that great when I am 90!

We had such a nice weekend with the West Coast Trueman's!
It is always so nice when East meets West.

First day of 2nd grade

Well here we are again at the start of a new school year. The morning went really well! Alexander was up and talking away at 6:40am and Alyssa followed shortly thereafter. It was so nice to be excited about the start of school and not to be so rushed and stressed out which I am sure will come in due time. We are always so eager at the start of school and then when it becomes routine and we slip into bad habits (-not getting lunches, snacks ready the night before, searching for things in the morning that MUST go to school that day library books, signed papers, tennis shoes etc...) and life becomes much more hectic in the morning. I am going to TRY and make it last for as long as I can!

I took the kids to school and got to meet each of their teachers. Alexander has Mrs. Parmley and she is so loving and kind. Right away I loved her! Alyssa has the only "boy" teacher Mr. Tittle and he was very nice. Not quite as exuberant being a man and all. Sorry not male bashing -just stating the facts! It was great to start off the day with meeting their teachers outside and seeing a few of their classmates. I am eager to hear how their day went, but not so eager that I can't wait until 3:40.
Here are a few pictures from this morning and then the past few years. Wow the changes in both! Where did Alyssa's precious curls go? Xander looks SO much older with surfer do.


First Grade (6 turning 7)
(No Alyssa is not wearing the same shirt. She just likes stripes)






Kindergarten (5 turning 6)

Second year of Preschool (4 turning 5)




First Year of Preschool (3 turning 4)

Nature walk

Yesterday Alyssa and I decided to go on a nature walk. We didn't need to go far just up our driveway and back. We saw so many different things. Some we were happy to leave outside and not go near!

The bees were happily eating away on the beautiful goldenrod. We have tons of it along the driveway and in the backyard. It sure does brighten up our yard!
Some creatures are more timid. Really how ferocious can a 14 year old dog be? Thurston is happy to join us since it is a short walk and his old legs can take him just about that far. I believe these are wild blackberries. I haven't tasted them yet...This is a first for our yard. Thanks to whatever birdie brought it our way.
Walks are always so much more fun when shared with friends- 2 and 4 legged.
This poor frog was rather ugly. His snout was pointed and his back legs extra long! What a nice walk and view of the lush greenery that nature has so kindly shared with us!

This afternoon I was working on updating the Primary newsletter for September. I love the theme for September! So simple and basic, yet so true!

"I can pray to Heavenly Father, and He will hear and answer my prayers."

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:24)

I have had many opportunities in my life to put this to the test. The biggest one was a 6 year long prayer while waiting for Alyssa and Alexander. I KNEW that they would come it was just a question of WHEN?? There have been many other instances in my life where the knowledge that my prayers would be answered were a great comfort to me and this will be a life long process. It is not always when, what or how I wanted it, but it has always been what is best for me.

Goodbye to Postum!

For months now I have been trying to buy Postum at our local grocery store. They used to carry it and I thought that maybe they just stopped since not too many people purchase it. When we were out in California and I saw some in my Grandmother's cupboard. I sent Paul for several jars. He calls me from the store and says he can't find it. I thought he just wasn't looking hard enough and to ask the guy who works there since my cousin bought it there a few months back. No such luck! So today I remembered to look it up online and see if I could order some. It is my winter evening chill out by the TV drink and since winter will be here before we know it (UNFORTUNATELY) I thought I 'd be ahead of the game for a change! Much to my dismay they discontinued it back in January! Now I know why I can't find it! What a big bummer!! I'll miss my cold evening favorite drink! There is a Swedish alternative called Pero. Maybe I'll give that a try. Something small and silly, but gives great comfort to my weary body on a cold winter night! Goodbye Postum! I'll miss you....

I guess I am not the only one who will miss it since they even had an article on it in the Deseret News back in March!

We're home! Oh it is so nice to be home after being away for 15 days! I am even happy about going grocery shopping, laundry and getting organized! It was wonderful to sleep in my own bed last night albeit we didn't get into it until almost 2 am. They even lost our luggage (which should hopefully be here after 12), but that didn't dampen my spirits last night. We had an awesome vacation, but we are so happy to be back to our own life! More posts to follow on our the rest of our vacation soon...

Life's a beach!

Today we spent a really nice day at the beach enjoying the simple joys the ocean has to offer. The kids had a blast learning how to skim board. Xander kept at it until he got it mostly right. He'll probably be sore tomorrow from some of the hard falls that he took on his bum and side, but he didn't give up!

They boogie boarded, caught sand crabs, (Which gave Paul the heebie jeebies! He wouldn't even hold one!)

saw lots of flocks of pelicans, several pods of dolphins swimming and diving along just after the wave breaks, and I believe the highlight was getting enormous amount of seaweed out of the ocean.

It was their goal along with some newly made friends to eradicate the ocean of seaweed! One rather large clump even contained about 10 crabs. One poor guy was caught and who knows his fate. One of the kids carried him off down the beach perhaps for dinner? I showed the kids how to stomp on the seaweed bubbles and they would pop like bubble wrap. Alyssa found a tiny star fish in the seaweed but, unfortunately my battery ran out by then.

Paul and I were so happy to be able to take the kids to the same beach we frequented as teenagers. This summer has really been about reliving our old haunts through the kids and watching the pleasure they have and we get out of watching them!

Makes us happy and feel old at the same time!