Frogs

When the Rial family was visiting, we noticed a few little frogs by their wheels. Little did I know it was about to explode in frogs in my yard...

This one is taking a break.

It was really tired.
I was scooping out of the pool over 50 of these little guys the first day I noticed them. I say over 50 because at 50 I quit counting. I threw them over the fence into the neighbors yard, but I think he was throwing them back over with a few of the ones in his yard.

At night when the sprinklers come on, the grass in the front yard and the back yard turns into a frog party! Lots of dancing. The funny ones were the ones that made it into my shop and into the saw dust. To see lumps of saw dust jumping....ok, a bit freeky.

Rial Family

Memorial Day Weekend I had a wonderful surprise! My dear high school friend and her family came to see me. The Rial Family lives in Gresham Oregon. They were on a fun filled vacation that took them from Crater Lake to Yosemite, to Cambria to Montery and beyond. How great that they made "Where the Wildthings Grow" part of their adventures.



Douglas, Cambria, Lonie (holding Sierra) Morgan, and in back of Morgan is Jarom and in front of Cambria is Denica.

Fresno was warm when they got here, but it has not been warm enough to really make the pool comfortable. This did not stop the kids. They said that it was warmer than the stream that they had been in the day before in Yosemite. Sierra was in so long, her lips turned blue. When I wrapped her in a towel, she snuggle in for a few minutes, the shivering had not stopped yet, and she said that she HAD to get back in. She just Had to!

Love Denica's face! She loved swimming! But then, I think she had a smile on her face the whole time she was here! What a doll.

I had a wonderful visit with Doug talking about all the people that we both knew in Fresno. It turns out that Doug was raised in this area.
I loved talking to the Rial kids, getting to know them. What great people Lonie and Doug are raising. Jarom, the oldest, is getting ready to leave on his mission soon. I look forward to hearing about his adventures! (I hope that I am on the email list!)
Cambria is such a tender heart. She is so much like her mother at that age. She cares so much about other people.
Denica is such a performer. She will steal the show every time! She never ran out of things to say. She is quite entertaining.

Sierra, what a sweet one. She can have what ever she wants! She has me wrapped around her little finger.

I wish I lived closer to Lonie. I so miss spending time with her. She has always been such a good friend. She has a way of making me want to be a better person.

I'm a Survivor

May 16, 2009. Our Stake Relief Society had a Enrichment on "Surviving". We had 3 speakers and several booths set up with ideas on different topics.
The speakers had as their topics "Surviving the Pandemic", "Surviving with Humor" and "Surviving Money". These were great speakers!

The booths ranged from "Surviving beyond Cheerios", "Surviving the Clutter"...
"Surviving More than a Day"...to "Surviving pot planting" and more. (Sorry I can't remember all the booths that were set up...)

To my booth, "Tribal Feedings or "Surviving on what you have"
I talked about having a 6 week menu planned to help you to set up your shopping list, which helps you do see what you really use and what you need for 6 weeks. Then it is easier to add food for 6 months to 1 year. I had some different ways of rotating your food once you get it home from the store. I had examples of shelf life for many foods, and the life span of things in your fridge..(for example, Mayo should only be in the fridge for less than 2 months after you open it.) I also had a binder, I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) and what should be in that binder.
What do you take if you have 10 minutes to get out of the house? Oh, and where is it?
This was a great opportunity to bring food storage back to priority in our home. We get comfortable in the "Feasting" years that we forget about the "Famine" that could happen at any time from illness to job lay off to natural disasters.

I think for some the thought of starting food storage is a bit overwhelming so they just don't start. Others just don't know where to begin. I know for me, the idea of where to store it and then the possibility of MOVING it makes it so I don't want to do it. I HATE clutter. Everything needs a place and finding the place for it bugs me. I am trying to get over this.
I feel very blessed in being asked to do this booth. It is my goal to get our house organized with food storage. I have an incredible husband who helped me in so many ways to get ready for this one day, who supports me to get ready for the rest of the year. I am Blessed!

Wonderful Town

This year for Klaira's school musical production, Clovis North performed "Wonderful Town".

Klaira was what they called "Part of the Ensemble" but was very busy.

The kids worked for WEEKS, from after school until some times 9 at night. They even had one night were they practiced till late, then got up OHMYGOLLYITSSTILLDARK early to be on the morning local news, to go to school to practice after school again.

This is Kyle...who was in the play...a friend of hers.
Klaira is in a new school that opened up (This is her second year) with 7,8 and 9 graders. (Klaira was in 8th grade now finishing up the 9th grade) so the oldest kids are in the 10th grade. Most people who saw the show could not believe that there were not any Jr. or Sr. in the cast.

This is Bee...she is really cute! She was also in the play!

Yep...with me! This was my second time seeing the show. On this night they had 2 interpreters so the deaf and hard of hearing could come and enjoy the program. What a fun night! I hope they do more! I work with one of the gals that did the interpreting and then several of the other interps. from work came! I don't have enough sign language to know all that they were saying, but oh how fun to watch them!

What a great experience for Klaira. She is already planning on the production for next year! I think she has the performing bug.

Love Living in Fresno

During this time of year in Fresno, in the early morning and the early evening you can smell the orange blossoms. It is an incredible smell! I also have Jasmin growing in my back yard and it is all in bloom. I have not been able to find these smells in bottles yet and probably never will. Oh what a smell! LOVE IT!

EFY

Sooo...Klaira got back from Anaheim and her choir festival on Monday, April 6. Jeff and Klaira washed laundry like crazy and Klaira fell asleep for most of the rest of the afternoon. The next morning Klaira got back on a bus. I know..how crazy is that!

(Pretty Crazy)
She took a 2 1/2 hour trip up to Sonora to the Learning Center that Clovis Unified School District owns and the Stake (Church group) uses for EFY (Especially For Youth) every year. The kids were put into groups. Klaira was put into the orange group.

(I think there was about 7-8 different groups).
Klaira went up Tuesday and came back on Thursday.
The time was spent with activities, games, dances and special speakers.

One of the special speakers this year is a great singer/songwriter name Kenneth Cope.

(We are so thankful for Brother Cope for his time, energy and testimony that he shared.) Klaira came home very uplifted. This week is a spiritual high for the kids and the adults and they look forward to it every year. ( The youth run the whole camp! They did an amazing job!) Jeff and Colton were able to go up at night since it was just up the road from where Jeff and Colton are working. It was wonderful that Jeff could spend some time there with Klaira.

I hope that next year I can attend also with Klaira. Now we are looking forward to Girls Camp in June.

Disney Land

Klaira's choir had the opportunity to go the Heritage competition in Anaheim California. Since Jeff has not been a chaperone on these outings...I thought it would be fun to sign him up so I had a buddy in crime. We left April 3rd, ohmygollyitisstilldark early, and rode one of these for 4 hours.

Jeff really had no idea what he was in for!

The kids had to wear their Choir clothes since there would not be time to change before we got there. That is a long trip on a bus for these outfits.

After the kids performed and had a mini class with the judges, we went to the hotel to change our clothes to go to a dinner/show called "Pirates".

This was ok..a bit long and a bit loud..(I must be getting old)
After we went back to the hotel to get the kids settled in for the night, lights out at 11:00 but you know kids were up way past then. We got up and got back on the bus by 8:45 am to head to Disney Land/ California Park. (We had hopper passes)
Now the great thing about this age is that everyone has cell phones and can text you for check in time! It was perfect. So Jeff and I were off to fend for ourselves. We did all the rides we wanted and then hopped over to California Park to get a start on the rides we wanted to do over there. We had to be back over to Disney Land at 8:00 pm to meet up to go to the award ceremony from the Choir competition. We didn't get out of the award ceremony until almost midnight. Our kids were soooo tired, cold, and just done. We headed back to the hotel to get kids asleep before 2 am (some just would not give up!) to get back up and be on the bus again by 8:45. Jeff and I were one of the first people in California park and went right up to the Screaming California rollercoaster. Jeff had never been on it. IT WAS THE BEST..No wait...as soon as we got off, we noticed that the line was still short, so we got right back in line and within 5 minutes were back on the ride again! THAT WAS THE BEST!!!! I love that rollercoaster!
Needless to say, we did all the rides we wanted before 3.

(We went to Bugs Life)

Klaira even met up with us for lunch and did Soaring Over California with us. (love that one too!) We headed back over to Disney land and by 5 we were so done. Jeff and I are just old people now. We spent the rest of the time sitting on the platform of the train station at the entrance, watching the people and the parade. We got on the train and road the rails for hours.
When it got dark, Klaira came and joined us on the train. Again, traveling round and round. I think I dozed off a couple of times.
We finally got the kids back on the bus by 11pm to get back to the hotel, to not hear a peep from the kids. We were back home by 2 the next afternoon.

Then.....

EFY