Our Sunny (NOT) trip to Cali

YOSEMITE FALLS

HIKING TO HALF DOME

OUR "INSPIRATION"- OUR JAPANESE FRIENDS



We were young, naive, full of promise. "Let's get out of this crappy Utah weather and go to sunny California! We'll do a road trip through Yosemite, Monterey, San Fran. We'll come home with a suntan!".

Weather Check Day 1: Cali 70, Utah 27
It was day two trying to find an open entrance to Yosemite that should have served as warning. The ultimate optimists, we drove around the perimeter of the whole park to finally get in 5 hours later--other entrances closed due to snow. We should have given up the next morning when the sleet came down and the only people brave enough to try hiking were the 2 dozen Japanese tourists huddled in their bright yellow rain ponchos. "Hey, the waterfalls will be GREAT with all this rain!." We trudged on...until we hit 9,000 feet and it started to snow horizontal (thought: Uh-Oh. Honda. No snow tires.) We did a brisk 3 mile jog down the mountain, through the mud, and made it to the hotel on snow-packed roads.



Weather Check Day 3: Yosemite 25, Utah 70

The ultimate optimists, we socked in for the night with a fire and a rousing round of Scrabble. We awoke to 12 inches of snow, no entrance to the park, and no plan. "Hey, I'll bet it's nice in Monterey. Let's go golfing!". Mother nature thought it sounded like so much fun, she tagged along and followed us. Kevin got a round of golf in just as the downpour started!



Weather Check Day 5: Cali 45, Utah 55

In short, it rained on and off the rest of the trip. We adapted each time. We came. We saw. We conquered. Pebble Beach. 17 mile drive. Fresh seared Ahi on the pier. Seaspray and seals on the beach. Tennis. Hikes to waterfalls. Early morning breakfast of steel cut oatmeal with dried cherries, brown sugar and cream while overlooking the 14th hole. Banana Republic outlet store (!!)


Bottom line--here's my beef: This whole commercial with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his cronies talking about sunny California while laughing and sipping Sangria on the beach? False adverstising at it's finest. You should be ashamed Arnold.

And in the cruelest form of irony. The day we get home: Cali 60, Utah 37

Looking Back Over a Decade

I couldn't have written a book with these kinds of twists and turns in it. Ten years ago I was 32 years old and a single mom with three young kids, and no clear cut plan on how I was going to provide for them. I had big dreams of international travel, and a hope that my future life would be brighter than where I had just come from. Oh, and I had big hair.




About the same time I was hired as head of HR for PowerQuest, I began one of the happiest periods of my life. I was paying the bills, the kids were a real joy to raise, I loved deeply, and I fulfilled a life long dream of traveling the globe. I was able to travel through Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Africa and found a passion for the people and land of of Argentina. I remember sitting in church one day as they were talking about daily trials and thinking, "I must be lucky. I feel like life is near perfect." I knew it wouldn't last,but it was a special time for me and my little family. And I didn't have big hair anymore. Just hair in many different styles and colors depending on my mood.

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The next 5 years were a blur. I worked ALOT--too much. I met and married Kevin who has been my partner and best friend through challenges I never could have anticipated. Little kids turned into big kids. Little problems morphed into big problems. The way we got through it was just a lot of committment, a healthy dose of patience and learning to laugh instead of cry. My hair got better, my wrinkles got worse.

Even though the past few years have been hard, I have learned to appreciate the compensatory blessings that came our way: Our children our alive and happy. I have almost concluded my degree in Art. I have found great joy in simplifying my life. I am beginning to trust love again. I am a kindler and gentler version of the me I used to be.
In a decade, there are ways I haven't changed. I still have to read the paper before I do anything else each morning, I still reach for "impossible dreams" (and sometimes one of them comes true), and I find my solace in the outdoors adventuring down new roads and discovering new rivers.


I have changed in other ways. I sag more in all the wrong places (which drives me crazy). I am less worried about the future and have a lot more fun in the moment. I am careful with love. And I'm getting better at letting go, whether it's about letting my kids choose their own path, realizing there are things I can't change, or forgiving myself for a hundred things I could have done better.

In my 30's I wanted to climb a ladder of "success" and it was all about growing and stretching. In my 40's it's about slowing down to savor the moments as they come and becoming comfortable in my skin. I am less interesting in achieving for myself and more interested in seeing my children achieve and wanting to reach out to others.
And for the record, I stopped caring that much about what my hair looks like. You can love or leave it.

A Christmas to Remember

What a special Christmas this year. Departing from my usual lightheartedness, I'm touched by what a special week it has been. I'm less interested in telling you what we did and more interested in sharing the feeling I felt this Christmas. It was peaceful, happy, easy, wonderful. All the things you want Christmas to be. There were grateful hearts--least of which was mine--for just the simple things like being together as a family with all of our children. Those peaceful moments don't come along everyday, which makes them all the more special when they make an appearance. I took a simple after Christmas road trip with my kids that was worth it's weight in gold. What a wonderful way to end the year.

Disneyland For a Day!

How has a month gone by? It seems impossible! Not much to report other than a few lukewarm grades in school, some nicely drawn dead animal skulls in art, and a rockin' trip to Disneyland with just Kevin and Gentry. Now that's the way to do a trip. Cut costs to nothing by taking 3 instead of 8. Let's do some simple math here: 3 x $250 = $750. 8 x 250 = $750 PLUS 2 new Sage TCR limited edition fly rods with large arbor reels, gas money to Montana and 10 cans of Cheese flavored Pringles.

Forty day countdown before I start my new job...excited for the change of pace and to see Hannah more.

More to come after Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday of the year !

Halloween Cookie Decorating Contest

HANNAH AND PAIGE

THE FRANK COOKIE

THE COLLECTION

THE CHAMPIONS

THE JANIS COOKIE

ZAC'S MASTERPIECES

HANNAH AND MOM


The results are in! It was the best contest yet with new, young blood coming in as the darkhorses and stealing the show. In 30 years of this tradition, why had no one ever thought of making a long ponytail out of red licorice? Lils stole the show.

My minimalist cookie, called "Candy Corn" should have won. It was just too ahead of it's time in it's simplicity. I tried to sell them on the "Andy Warhol was a genius by doing the same thing" argument, but nobody went for it.

The Frank and Jan cookies also fared well in the competition. Let this be a lesson to the male football fans and hunters who thought they didn't need to come--watch out. You just might find yourself the subject of mass produced cookies...and it ain't pretty to see your face decorated in orange icing.

Thanks to Paige for hosting the event yet again.

Tennis, Fishing and Art..in that order

This past week Kayla and Whitney played in region and state tennis tourney. We couldn't have been prouder of them. Kayla placed 3rd in region and Whitney placed 2nd in State. I think by the end of the tourney, I could keep track (sort of) the score. It was pretty tense a few times. Whit will move on to Utah State and play at a D1 school. See...all those tennis lessons paid off after all!

As for fishing, it's the last of the last of the season. Kevin and I payed homage to the fish by catching each one individually and telling them to get used to our faces, because they only have 6 months off before we'll be comin' a callin' again. So much fun!

And art....ughh. Did I say I wanted to major in art? I said that? Was that before or after I realized I couldn't draw? It's killin' me but I am sticking with it. I HATED the drawing of stuffed animals assignment. Who wants to spend 8-10 hours on a picture of a stuffed animal? Plus, just how do you make the fur look fuzzy? These are the questions that plague a 42 year old such as myself. However, there is hope. I am now drawing giant 4 foot tall flies from my flyfishing collection. Now THAT'S an art assignment I can sink my teeth into. Only one more semester and I graduate with my Associates degree ! Caveat--must pass math. Help mom.

Maybe art is what is driving me back to work. I am going to take on some more work again. I miss using my left brain. It feels left out. Human Resources, I'm Baaaack.

Lastly, I want to formally apologize to my Dog, Dazy for accidentally almost choking her to death. I thought she was going to jump out of the back seat window after some wild turkeys so I rolled the window up. I don't even need to tell you the rest, except that I know now when I panic I do the wrong thing...like roll the window up tighter. Sorry Dazy. We're even now. We haven't spoken since she busted the tip of my Sage rod a few weeks ago. I guess almost killing you puts us at even again. But barely.

Arizona Adventures

Things we love about Arizona:

1. 85 degree days, 70 degree nights
2. Playing in the pool
3. Smearing our opponents in football (44-0)
4. Seeing friends and family
5. The Grand Canyon
7. Pizza Parties at Dan's house


Things we don't love:

1. Car rides with teenage girls
2. Speed traps in Flagstaff
3. Anonymous farting in the car
4. Figuring out where to eat with a vegetarian and meat lover
5. Gassing up a Yukon