Happy Couple

But each enjoying their pleasures seperately.  No, don't go shutting down this page, it's totally appropriate, let me explain...

Today I am happily drooling over my newest acquisition:

 




Yes, that would be LOTR Extended Edition on Blu-Ray!!!  Oh, me SO happy!!!

I pre-ordered it a few months back, then waited.  It was released yesterday, and I figured it would take a few days and at the earliest I would get it this weekend.  Imagine my thrill and surprise to find it on my doorstsep today!!!

It is so beautiful.  My precious!!!

Meanwhile...  Ryan's researching fireworks for our annual 4th of July celebration, in which he is the resident pyro.  I just heard him say, "Pyro Universe."  I said, "That sounds right for you," to which he answered, "Yeah, I'm familiar with it, I've been there before."  I am sure he has! lol

The next few days will be wonderful: I will be feasting my eyes upon all things LOTR in even better picture and clarity than ever before, and then we'll watch Ryan blow up cakes, mines, and mortars in a big Patriotic tribute.  Everyone will be happy.  Win-win! :)

Twelve

Acadia turned twelve.  TWELVE!  Can you believe it?  I can't.

I did want to post on her birthday and reminisce about the last 12 years, but when it came down to it, we were too busy!  It was a fun-filled day and I think she was very happy. :)

Before we headed out to begin our fun, I gave Acadia a few special gifts.  The first one was a little photo album of Ryan's and my wedding which included a letter to her.  Now she will always have her own album full of photos from our wedding.  (I made a second, identical album to give to Rori when she is older, as well.)  Another special gift I gave her was an inexpensive hardcover copy of the Book of Mormon.  It wouldn't be much of a special gift since she already has her own leather bound copy of scriptures, but this book was one that I had read out of for the last several months, taking notes, highlighting, and writing my thoughts and testimony as I went.  It is one of a kind, created with her in mind, my scripture journal so she will always know of my testimony of the scriptures and the gospel.  She loved them both and has commented several times since then how much she is enjoying the Book of Mormon, reading my thoughts and messages to her as she goes.

The last gift I gave her before we started the day was a selfish one.  A waffle maker.  She had often mentioned wanting one, so I figured she would be happy about it, but I thought it might be a lame gift for a 12 year old.  I mean, getting excited over kitchen appliances usually doesn't happen until you're an adult. lol  But she was!  She was thrilled!  And I was thrilled when she announced she would make waffles for breakfast the next morning!  Just what I had been hoping for. ;)

After those gifts, we got ready to go to lunch with my aunt and cousins.  It was a girls lunch, accompanied by Trey, what a stud. lol  Acadia had requested soup, salad, and breadsticks at one of our favorite places - Olive Garden!  YUM!  My aunt and cousins had some gifts for her, too: water balloons to use for our big water balloon fight on 4th of July and a purple unicorn pillow pet - exactly what she wanted and she was thrilled!

After lunch, Sami came with us to spend the rest of the day, birthday party, and sleep over with us.  She later came with us to Acadia's piano recital on Saturday, where Matthew and MaryJane also attended, then we went to their place to have a family dinner/party celebrating birthdays/father's day/graduation.

Most of the afternoon consisted of getting ready for the party but we did squeeze in some visiting out in the sun on the deck. :) 

Acadia wanted anther evening party so we could use the fire pit, so the kids played fun/silly games for awhile, ate yummy treats that Sami and Cadi had made that afternoon, and of course there were gifts, cake, and ice cream, followed by marshmallow roasting and helium talking. lol 

It was A LOT of fun!  Acadia got some great gifts, including the bike in the pics, lots of gift cards/spending money, another pillow pet, and a cute little purse.  That night, she and Sami stayed up watching movies and true to her word, Cadi woke up to make waffles for everyone - they were DELICIOUS!  Best selfish gift ever! lol

I may be almost two weeks late in posting this, but Happy Birthday to my baby girl who has grown into a beautiful young woman!  Acadia is such a wonderful, sweet girl.  She is so good, always striving to be righteous and obedient.  Humble, submissive, yet strong and confident.  I am so happy for the wonderful young woman she is becoming and I'm so excited for her to begin the next chapter of her life.  This summer she will get the chance to partipate in some wonderful experiences with other youth in our church and I know time will fly by even faster now.  Not too happy about that part, but so thrilled for the opportunities that lie before her.

I love you, Acadia! <3

Piano Recital

When I was growing up and took piano lessons, my teacher was a private teacher that never did recitals.  So, I never had this experience of performing as I learned and developed my talent.  At the time, I was SO glad!  But now, I wish I had.  You learn a lot when you are in a situation like this.  It's scary!  And even if/when it ever becomes less scary, it's always going to be scary.  I always shake when I have to play infront of anyone.  It's not easy to keep control of your fingers when they are shaking! 

Acadia never acts nervous, until the very last minute, and she always gets up anyway, never tries to get out of it.  I'm always so proud of her courage.  Usually, not always, but usually, she pulls off her performance beautifully and most people don't notice the couple little mistakes.  Once in awhile, she just loses her place or misplaces her fingers, or completely blanks out and it's noticable.  But she keeps going and stays poised.  I am REALLY proud of her!

This time, the first song is awesome!  Just like usual. :)  The second song, well, it's kind of funny because there was a part that she was really worried about messing up.  And ironically, she did great on that section, but messed up on a part that she rarely misses!  Her fingers just kind of got off a key and it took a moment to figure out how to get back to it.  But she handled herself so admirably! 

And when it came time for the teacher to pass out her awards, Acadia received another bust!  This time, she got Mozart.  This is her fourth time receiving this award (out of 6 recitals).  It is an award for earning the most stickers (earned by work completed since the previous recital) and indicates Acadia's diligence and hard work.  I am really proud of her!

And here is her recital performance:

So much to blog...

Coming:

• Acadia's birthday - TWELVE YEARS OLD!!!
• Piano Recital
• Family Party
• Father's Day
• Day Beach Trip

It has been so busy around here, I haven't had time to stop and think, let alone blog.  Every day is full, every night I'm exhausted... but it's been pretty fun!  Summer is here!  And with it comes so many great things, I'm just trying to figure out how to manage all that fun and still take care of the house, my body, and yes, my blog.  When I figure it out, I'll have loads to share!  So, stay tuned. :)

Spring Orchestra Concert

Tuesday night was Acadia's final 6th grade Orchestra concert.  Here are the songs that the 6th grade performed

Joust:



Antagonist:



Pachelbel Canon:



Crazy Train/Pirates of the Carribean Medley:



Acadia really enjoys playing the violin and has really liked being in the orchestra.  She's looking forward to next year!

Sami's Graduation

On Monday, we attended Sami's High School graduation.  She graduated with Honors, and also completed her first year of college at the same time.  We're so proud of her!

One of the best things about summer vacation.

I told Cadi to enjoy her last week of freedom this week, and she looked at me, clearly confused.  I knew what she was thinking.  This is the last week of school - it's the last week UNTIL freedom!  Oh how wrong she was...

CHORE TIME, BABY!!!

During the school year, the only chores Cadi has are to clean her room and do her laundry.  Occasionally I'll ask her to put away dishes or pick up the family room, but for the most part, I keep her load light since she has a heavy load at school and I'd rather her focus on that.

Acadia is funny.  She doesn't seem to mind, or at least she rarely complains about chores.  A year or two ago, she and I made up a chore chart for her for the summer that I felt was fair, but after thinking it over, she came to me and admitted that she didn't think there were enough chores on there.  She proceeded to add one more chore to each day!  lol

She's still the same; I asked her to make up what she felt like would be a fair chore list for her.  She put on more than I would have.  So I just smiled and said, "That looks good to me, Dear!"  lol

I love summer break. :)

Pool Video

Okay, we'll do ONE video...



The sound is muddled because I had the camera setting on "underwater", so the mic is protected.  :)

Water Cam

I do believe this will be our final Yosemite photos post.  So if you're sick of all the pics, that's good news for you.  If you aren't, go back and review the ones I've already posted. ;)

On Memorial Day, you may recall, we spent a bit of time playing at the pool at the resort where we were staying.  I mentioned that I had taken pictures using our new water camera/camcorder.  The following are some of those pictures...

lol, that last pic of Rori flying from Ryan to Cadi makes me laugh everytime! hahaha

At risk of sounding like a commercial or something, I really like this little water camera!  We bought it because I knew we would want to take water pictures when we go to Disney later this year.  (Most particularly for the day we go to Discovery Cove to swim with dolphins!)  Last time we went to Florida, we bought 8 disposable water cameras, then had the film developed and 1) it was expensive, plus 2) the quality wasn't great.  I decided if we were going to spend the money to get photos, we might as well spend that money on something permanent that would produce better pictures.  This little Kodak I found does that and more - it has a zoom and it takes video!  So, for the same price that I expected to spend on cruddy one-time use cameras, I got a great new waterproof digital camcorder.  Our Yosemite trip was our first time testing it, and I'm very pleased! :)

This is the end of the photo posts, but I may still put up a video or two. ;)

Cadi Cam

As I posted our Yosemite photos earlier, I hadn't gone through any of Acadia's pictures yet, so now I've found that there are just a few more that I would love to share. 

The pic of the kids facing the fence makes me laugh.  It LOOKS like they are in time out or something, but I'm pretty sure they were just playing hide and seek with their uncles.  lol

Mariposa Grove:

Bridalveil Fall:

Valley Floor:

Volunteering with the Rangers at Cooks Meadow:

Yosemite Fall:

Oh deer...

Glacier Point:

Mirror Lake and Vernal Fall:

She took some pretty awesome pictures!  Thanks, Cadi!

Yosemite Day Four

Friday morning - our last day in Yosemite.  And finally, everyone was well enough to go at the same time!  Yay!!!  The weather was great!  It wasn't super bright and sunny, but the temps were pleasant and it didn't rain - so we were happy!

We went into the park seperately, agreeing to meet up mid-morning to take the shuttle to Mirror Lake.  Our family wanted to get in early so we could spend time seeing more areas we hadn't had time to stop at before.  We began at Swinging Bridge.  Which, actually, is not a swinging bridge at all.  It's a solid, firm bridge. lol  I guess there used to be a swinging bridge long ag, but it's since been replaced with the solid bridge but the name remained the same.   lol

But first, note the picture on the top right of the collage - I just LOVED how the lush, green floor covering looked like a soft carpet, blanketing the floor.  I could not let this, our last chance to get a picture of it, pass us by!

After Swinging Bridge, we decided to walk along the boardwalks in the meadow for just a few minutes.  It was so quiet and peaceful and it was so relaxing to be there, looking around at the huge granite peaks surrounding us.

But then it was time to meet up with the rest of our group, so we made our way to the shuttle stop.  We found my mom and brothers there, waiting, and Ben was sketching while he waited.  He is really good!

And then we were all on our way!  The shuttle dropped us off at the trailhead and it was a pretty easy 1 mile hike up to the lake.  It was beautiful, as we walked a long a rushing creek.

Mirror Lake was so still and peaceful!  This is a seasonal lake; later, it will be just a meadow, but we came at the perfect time.  While we were exploring the lake and surrounding area, we followed some stairs to an area completely covered in cairns that hundreds of visitors had made and left for others to enjoy.  It was pretty amazing.  Later, my sister read that some people feel that this was disrespectful, but everyone in our group, and it appeared also the other visitors there that morning, felt it was beautiful and something to honor the spirit of Yosemite.  It almost felt sacred!  Both of my girls, as well as others in our group, added their cairns to the collection. 

Mirror Lake is just such a beautiful background, we could not pass up the opportunity for a family photo.

The walk back, was just as beautiful and enjoyable as the walk up.  (Maybe more so because it was all downhill. lol)

We had a quick lunch, then headed over to Vernal Falls for our last big activity of the trip.  This was a hike.  Finally, a good, decent hike.  It wasn't especially long, even for those that went a little further than the footbridge, but it was all uphill.  It felt awesome!  And I felt it for the rest of the weekend. lol 

Some of the group stopped here, but the rest of us wanted to continue up the trail to the base of the falls.  Ryan, Rori and I were pulling up the rear and arrived at the fall last.  The others had gone ahead to the top, and Ryan really wanted to go, too, so I let him, while Cadi and I turned back.  The steep, wet stairs were making us nervous and we didn't want to go any higher on shaky legs. ;)  Ryan had been carrying Rori though, and wanted to take her with him.  I was nervous about it, but I trusted his judgement on what he was capable of, and he had done this hike before, so he knew what he was up against, so I let him take her.  I regretted it pretty soon after we parted, though.  All the way back to the footbridge, and until he finally returned there with her, I worried about their safety.  I wouldn't have worried so much if someone hadn't just slipped and fallen do their death just a couple of weeks earlier.  Of course, everyone made it back safely.  They all had a great time, loved the view, and even Rori said she was glad I let her go with Dad.  So, even though part of me wished I hadn't let them go, now I'm glad I did.  I was a nervous wreck for awhile, but once I saw she was safe, I was just so relieved that I didn't care about anything else. :)

By the time everyone made it safely down the trail, it was getting late.  We stopped by some stores so Debi could do a little shopping since she had missed out earlier in the week, then we headed home.  Exhausted, and sad that our time in Yosemite was over, but so happy and grateful for the time we had spent there.

Yosemite is a special place.  It is absolutely beautiful and has so many things to enjoy and explore.  I could easily spend a good couple of weeks there and still feel like I didn't get to see/do everything there is to offer.  I hope we get to go back someday!

Yosemite Day Three

Debi was still sick on Thursday morning and this time, she decided to just stay home instead of having to endure the long, twisty ride in and out of the park just to stay in the car the whole day.  But the rest of us enjoyed a beautiful, bright, and sunny day in Yosemite.  We decided to split up in the morning, allowing each person/group to do what they wanted until early afternoon when we would meet back up at the Lower Yosemite Falls trail.

Our family headed into the park, taking time to stop at lots of the places that kept grabbing our attention each time we drove past but didn't have time to stop for before. 

We made our way down to the valley floor and the girls and I dropped Ryan off at Yosemite Falls so he could hike the Upper Falls trail before we all went to Lower Falls.  He knew he wouldn't have time to make it all the way to the top before having to turn around to come down and meet us, but he wanted to get as far as he could, hopefully making it to the base of the upper falls.  While he hiked, the girls and I drove the loop around again, stopping to take pictures along the way.

We stopped in one of the meadows to have our lunch, then circled around to Cooks Meadow to park the car and take a walk.  The view from the meadows are spectacular, especially on such a beautiful day!



Turns out, Ryan did make it to the base of Upper Falls and since he had the camcorder with him, we have some pics of his hike.

As the family gathered to head towards Lower Yosemite Falls, I began to worry that Ryan wouldn't make it back in time.  Since they are completely seperate trails, I knew that if we left before he got there, we weren't going to see him until we got back.  But as it turned out, just as we were leaving, I saw him making his way toward us - Perfect timing! :)

I was surprised to find out that the "hike" to Lower Yosmite Falls is really just a nice walk.  But it was still a nice walk and of course, beautiful.

The trail loops around, so you can go back a totally different way than you came, which we did, and got to see even more beautiful scenery.

We all decided to head up to Glacier Point because we knew it was the perfect day to take in such a great view of Yosemite.  It meant getting home really late, but it was SO worth it!  See for yourself!  The first group of photos is from Washburn Point, just before Glacier Point.

The rest are from Glacier Point, but this first group was taken near the parking lot, which is not quite all the way to the point.

And finally, the view from Glacier Point:

On the way back to our cars, we stopped at this little lookout.  Rori had fun pretending she was Rapunzel up in her tower, while Cadi had fun playing with Half Dome. lol

We headed home excited about the gorgeous day we had just experienced and looking forward to coming back in the morning, but sad that when we did, it would be our last day in Yosemite.

Yosemite Day Two

Wednsday morning was beautiful.  Jared was feeling better, but this time it was Debi who was sick.  She took some cold medicine and came along anyway in hopes that once the meds kicked in she would be able to enjoy the rest of the day in the park.  As it turned out, the meds wiped her out so much that she spent the entire day sleeping in the car.  We all felt horrible for her. 

Before going to Yosemite, Ruth contacted the park rangers and signed our family up to volunteer on Wednesday morning.  It is a new program where every Wednesday, whoever wants to can show up in front of the visitor center and will get put to work for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  We learned we would be helping to remove baby conifers from Cooks Meadow.  Mom gasped!  You mean to tell her that she came to this beautiful national park, she who cried everytime she set a Christmas tree out on the street once the holidays were over because she hated that it had died, she who loved nature and animals as much as most people she knew, SHE would be killing baby trees???  Yes, Mom, that is exactly what they were saying. ;)

Turns out, we were asked to play the role of fire.  Nature has a way of taking care of its own needs, but when an area becomes protected and cared for by humans, we might actually get in the way of it's preservation.  So, to make up for that, we became the fire which the rangers were so careful not to allow into the valley.  And we killed baby trees.  Cooks Meadow will remain a beautiful meadow and not become overrun by non-burned conifers that threatened to turn it into just another part of the forest... and it's all thanks to us. ;)

We worked hard, but some of us did manage to take a break from time to time to snap a photo or two, so here is evidence of our baby conifer slaughter, all done on federally protected land, and within eyesight of 3 park rangers and one park fireman.  As my brother said, it takes stealth. lol

As soon as we finished, it started to sprinkle.  In fact, Ranger Tom had predicted before we began that the rain would arrive at 12:15.  At 12:08 it was sprinkling and by 12:20 it was raining.  He could pull off a pretty decent meteorologist. ;)  We ate lunch and discussed our options.  Originally, we planned to visit Yosemite Falls that afternoon, but we decided instead to do that on Thursday and hit some shops while it rained.  It worked out perfectly!  So, we headed to Yosemite Village, checked out the movie at the visitor center, then checked out all of the shops.  We found some great deals, too! :)

We were all pretty tired by the end of the day.  Working in the meadow totally wiped us out!  Plus, Debi was still pretty sick.  So, we all turned in early and looked forward to a beautiful, sunny day in the morning.

Yosemite Day One

We knew that with the holiday weekend, Yosemite would be packed through Monday, so we chose to have fun hanging out at the lake and around town before heading into the park.  But Yosemite IS what we really came to see, so we were all looking forward to Tuesday morning when we'd finally head in.  Unfortunately, on Tuesday morning, Jared woke up sick.  That put a damper on things.  Tom stayed home with him and the rest of us headed to the park.

We began at Mariposa Grove, the largest grove of sequoia trees in the park.  It was a short hike (about a mile or so) to the tunnel tree we were aiming for, and it was beautiful!

Yes, that is a cute little snowman. lol  We were waiting for some of the group and Ben and Miriam decided to create that adorabe little guy.

 
At one point along the trail, there were these five tree stumps in a row, so we decided to put one person on each and had them all do a yoga tree pose.  then we switched it up and had everyone do a different pose - even Rori did one! lol

I don't know if you can read the sign or not, but Ben and the girls are all standing with Bachelor and Three Graces.  Get it?  Ben's a bachelor, and he's also standing with three graceful young ladies... ;)

Finally, we reached the tunnel tree:

The sequoias are beautiful!  And the walk was really nice.  It was a great way to start our visit to Yosmite.

After Mariposa Grove, we drove to Tunnel View, where we stopped for a breathtaking view:

Gorgeous!   El Capitan is on the left, Half Dome is in the center off in the distance, and Bridalveil Falls is on the right.

And after Tunnel View, we headed to Bridalveil Falls.  It was awesome!  This was the PERFECT time of year to go to Yosemite if you like waterfalls.  They were all full and powerful!  There were more waterfalls present than any other time of year.  Later, the big ones will slow to a trickle and the small ones will disappear entirely.  The downside of big, full waterfalls, is that you get DRENCHED whenever you go near them! lol  But that is also fun, so I didn't mind!

After Bridalveil Falls, we went the rest of the way into the valley and just took a shuttle around part of the valley floor. 

When we were in front of the visitor center at Yosemite Village, a deer crossed our path.  He was totally unafraid of humans.  Though, he did show a little concern for the dog that was present. ;)

And then, the day was over!  It went by fast!  Thank goodness we still had the rest of the week, and thank goodness the drive out of the park was just as beautiful as the drive in.