we made it

We are here:

Grandpa's house in Newport Beach, CA. We come here every year and love spending time with Grandpa and at the beach. Grandpa will be 90 this year and is a World War II hero. We went to church with him yesterday and it was so awesome to hear the other members tell us how honored they are to have this hero in their ward.

If you step out of Grandpa's front door and turn left, this is what you see.

The ocean... I am so grateful to grandpa for giving us the gift of the beach, because without his generosity, there is no way we would have these wonderful vacations. This year, it is very cloudy and actually not that hot. The high everyday is 75 and the low is 64. Perfect weather, we were even a bit chilly the first night with the breeze.  I just wish the clouds would go away.

On Friday, we drove to Palm Springs to visit Grandma before coming to spend the week at Grandpa's. It is always fun to see her and chat. This is the one time we have been hot so far. It is still 90 degrees at 8pm there in the desert. One thing I love looking at on the way to Palm Springs are all of the windmills that are on either side of the highway. They look so cool with the many rows and all of them turning.

Our new car was wonderful on the drive here. Since I tend to have the worst luck ever, we did have a mis-hap and someone is coming to replace the windshield today. While driving past the windmills on the way to Newport, there was a wood piece in the road. Jake swerved and missed it, but the car in the lane next to us chose to switch lanes at just the right time that they hit it and made it hit our windshield. Bummer. It's definitely a vacation expense we didn't expect, but that's life.

Here's hoping the clouds go away and we have a sunny, warm, amazing week at the beach!

bittersweet

Today we sold this wonderful car.

I have absolutely loved this car for the 2 years we have had it. However, since we drive down to Salt Lake a lot,  (Most friends and family are down there and don't come up to visit) and it is an older car, we decided to get a newer one to save on gas mileage.  Since we can't afford to buy a new RX like this one (a girl can dream right?) ,  we are going with a small car instead of an SUV.
I will miss having this car to drive in the snow, the power windows, sound system and everything else wonderful about it.  The one thing about life is that we can always count on change.
Good thing Jake has already found another car for us... one we will be taking on vacation tomorrow to the BEACH... the vacation that I can't wait for each year.

cute buttons

These are so cute!! For those of you out there who have baking abilities that I lack, you can get the instructions here.

a new favorite

James and Sarah introduced us to this wonderful drink.  Ever since, we have purchased some whenever it is on sale. I love it, even though I have never been a limeade girl in the past. I recommend trying it the next time you see it on sale this summer.

produce

We got this lovely produce box a few weeks back (although the pic isn't that great and you can't see everything). If any of you have ever heard of click2pickproduce.com or bountifulbaskets.org, it is a great thing. For those of you who aren't, basically you order a produce basket on Monday and pick it up on Saturday if they offer it in your neighborhood. Someone at a boutique told us about Bountiful baskets back in April and a friend used click2pickproduce and shared it with us. Depending on which site you use, the basket price varies but is around $15. You get a variety of fruits and vegetables, most of them are from local farms and a lot is done by volunteer work. If you haven't tried it, I recommend it.

sneak peak

Here's a picture of our main room in our new place for those who requested it.  All other rooms are currently too messy to show any pics :)

This is taken from the doorway of our little "den". The front door is on the left and the kitchen is to the right. Jake picked out our cool lamp (Christa, you know how excited he was)

life

Life seems to get busier as I get older and time seems to pass more quickly, especially summer. We have had something going on every Saturday from the beginning of June until the end of August and it makes me sad to see that summer will end then.
This weekend we have a boutique in Woods Cross (near Bountiful) on Saturday from 12-5. Anyone who wants to come, we would love to see you there. The address is: 601 W 900 S and below is the flyer.

hello world

this is my absolutely favorite song right now.




Traffic cars, cell phone calls
Top video screams at me
Through my tender window I see
A little girl, rust red minivan
She's got chocolate on her face
Got little hands, And she waves at me
Ya, She smiles at me

Hello World
How've you been
Good to see you, my old friend
Sometimes I feel, cold as steel
Broken like I'm never gonna heal
I see a light, little hole
In the little world

Hello world
Every day I drive by
A little white church
It's got these little white crosses
Like angels in the yard
Maybe I should stop on in
Say a prayer
Maybe talk to God
Like he is here
Oh I know he is there
Ya, I know he's there

Hello world
How've you been
Good to see you, my old friend
Sometimes I feel as cold as steel
And broken like I'm never going to heal
I see a light
Little grace, little faith for the world
Hello world

Sometimes I forget what living's for
And I hear my life through my front door
And I'll be there
Oh I'm home again
I see my wife, little boy, little girl
Hello world
Hello world

Oh, the empty disappears
I remember why I'm here
Just surrender and believe
I fall down on my knees
Oh hello world
Hello world