My life in the month of July

Things have been uber crazy for me this past month. Let's see if I can remember most things and enlighten you on them.

First, school. Summer semester is pretty difficult. Especially when you are taking 3 classes. I started with 2 for the Summer I session. This lasted until July 23rd. However, on July 6th I started Summer II, adding on one more class. Summer II goes to August 6th. What this meant was that every spare second at home was occupied with any one of my three courses. And they were College Algebra, General Business, and Managerial Accounting.

Finals week for Summer I was a little brutal. We had just come home from Colorado (more on that below). In 3 days I had 6 exams. I went into finals week feeling very unprepared. I had very little time to study for my exams and just went into them with a prayer that I at least get a passing grade. Thankfully, I did. So now I am down to just one class, my accounting. I will then have a wonderful two week long rest from school before Fall semester starts. Oy!

This month was filled with a lot of traveling. Jabon's grandma died on our anniversary and her funeral was on July 3rd up in Heber City, UT. We were able to drive up to UT for her funeral and spend time with his family. His grandma was being buried in a little town in Idaho called Geneva, so we also drove up to be a part of that. Jabon and Cody were pallbearers. It was really beautiful. Jabon's cousin Beth got to ride up from Utah to Idaho with us. They haven't seen each other for about 15 years, so it was great for them to catch up on things. Cody talked his grandparents Eagar into taking him back to Colorado with them, so he was on his own 'vacation' until we showed up two weeks later.

We went to Colorado for my little brother's temple sealing and reception. Peter and Genica married last year when he got home from his mission and were able to get sealed the 18th. They also found out two weeks beforehand that she is pregnant! So another niece or nephew is on the way!!

Jabon was asked to be their wedding photographer. So he took their pictures while I posed everyone. We had a lot of fun doing it and even joked about the idea of doing it professionally. We also took engagement photos for our friends Ben and Amanda, who are getting married in March. Here is a pic of my brother and his wife at the Denver temple:

Thankfully, Ashton and the other boys were great travelers.

We brought Jabon's mom down to AZ with us. Our sitter is having a baby soon and we needed someone to watch the kids. So, she came down to stay until October, giving our sitter enough time to recover from her scheduled C-section.

My sister Shelly, her husband Josh, and their 4 kids came down a day after we got back from CO. He interview and scored a job with a hospital in Scottsdale. He starts Aug 10th. I am extremely excited! My big sis is moving down from Montana to live by me! I am stoked to have our kids grow up together! While they were here we went to our grandma Pearl's house. Here she is holding two of her newest great-grandbabies:
Ashton is on the left and his cousin Millie, who is exactly 2 months younger, is on the right. They are pretty identical in a lot of ways. It will be a lot of fun watching them get older together.

While Shelly and her family were here, it was as hot as usual. So Jabon and the kids hooked up the sprinkler contraption and had fun in the back yard:
This was a long post, I realize. Sorry for that but it has been so busy that I can't seem to blog any sooner that every 3-4 weeks! Plus, I am working full time and Cody's football season begins in a little more than a week.

I really need a vacation at a spa. No phones, tv, school, or worries. Just me, hot stones, mud, and relaxation. I think I'm going to start a fund. Wanna pitch in?

California Adventures

Sunday morning we packed up and left bright and early to go to Monterey, CA. Jabon and I had a few days off work and decided to take the kids to the beach. After we checked into our hotel, we drove south down the coastline and stopped at a ton of beaches. It was the first time the kids saw the ocean; I have rarely seen it myself.

Monday morning we went on the 17 Mile Drive. For those of you that don't know, it is a drive through an exclusive neighborhood along the California coast and features a well known icon, the Lone Cypress. Jabon got some pictures of it, but since he hasn't been able to get through his pictures yet, here is one I snagged off the internet:

After that, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was really awesome and was exciting to see. Cody's favorite thing was the sharks and Brett swears that was his as well (but I think that's because he wants to be like Cody). We ate dinner at a local joint and then drove out to Hollister, a small town Jabon grew up in. We had some trouble getting onto the right highway but we eventually made it up there. He had a great time down Memory Lane!

Tuesday we got up early and headed to Big Basin Redwood State Park to check out the big trees. I have always wanted to see them and I was not disappointed! They are incredible! We went on a small hike and saw the Mother and Father of the Forest, two of the largest trees there. I think the Mother was about 320 ft tall, she was the biggest. She was 70 ft in diameter, while the Father was 66 ft. I asked Cody why he thought the momma was bigger. He didn't know, so I gave him my conclusion: after the momma has all her babies, she's usually fat. I was feeling bloated and crappy since I hadn't exercised in a few days and I guess that came out in my comments! We also went on another hike to see a waterfall. It was pretty, but the short hike we took was a killer: Straight up the hillside at about a 70 degree angle!

After the redwoods, we drove to Santa Cruz and started hitting the northern beaches all the way back to our hotel (we were staying in Marina). It was such a beautiful day! Sunday and Monday were both pretty foggy, but we could see the ocean for many miles on Tuesday. For dinner, we decided to go eat on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. We stopped at a small restaurant on the pier and Jabon finally got his seafood he has been craving since we decided to go to California! I actually tasted the lobster and was quite surprised by how good it tasted. That said, I would never order one for myself. I have too strong of a mental block about eating seafood. It was garnished with caviar, and Jabon and I both sampled it. It was really salty. Not too bad, but definitely not too good, either. After dinner, we walked the pier a bit and got cotton candy at a local candy shop.

This was Ashton's first trip, and overall he did pretty well. Of course he cried while we drove and I so badly wanted to just get him out of his car seat and set him on my lap! Normally, Ashton goes to sleep really easily at home: I just get him ready for bed, feed him a bottle, then lay him in his crib and turn on his music. Unfortunately, this did not happen at the hotel. I had to rock him to sleep the first 2 nights we were in CA. He got better the 3rd night, but I turned on the radio in the room to help him sleep. I read The Host, by Stephenie Meyer to Jabon during the drive. He enjoyed the story, but Ashton must not have. Anytime I started to speak, Ashton would talk back. If I stopped, so would he. When he got really grumpy and loud, we turned on a CD for him and he would fall asleep to Tom Petty.

Sadly, we had to return to reality and came home Wednesday so Jabon and I could get back to work on Thursday. Jabon's first day back to work he was going to be told if he would be affected by Intel's lay-offs. Thankfully, when he had his meeting with his boss today, he was told his job was safe and he would not be laid off. It's unfortunate that we had to go on vacation with the dread of possibly being laid off on our minds, but we are so grateful that he still has his job!

Below is a short slideshow of some of the pictures I took. Like I said, Jabon took some pictures (okay MANY pictures). When he's gone through them, he'll post them onto his blog, so check them out when you've got a chance. He does a great job!