This week Jeremy and I celebrated 20 years of being married.  I have now been with Jeremy as long as I was single.  Crazy to think about and yet hard to imagine my life before him.  I cannot think of anyone who has blessed my life more.  Sometimes we look at each other and just say For.Ev.Er.  And the other person replies, I know, sometimes happily, sometimes with an eye roll.  But I am forever grateful we took that leap of faith and built our life together.

For our anniversary all we wanted to do, or should I say I wanted to do and Jeremy is just that nice, is sit on the couch and hang out all evening and eat some cheesecake.  Spencer and Allison were off at youth conference, Robyn and Taylor were sick with a cold and Jeremy showed up with roses and cheesecake.  It was great to just spend some down time together alone.

Spencer and Allison were gone Tuesday through Thursday to a youth conference.  They had a great time hiking and playing.  I had come down with a head cold at the end of our vacation and shared it with Robyn and Taylor.  But despite the sniffles we were determined to do something fun and little kiddish while Spencer and Allison were gone.  So Tuesday we took Robyn's friend Raquel and checked out the new kids' museum at Thanksgiving Point.  It was the $2 Tuesday deal they offer in August so we were there with a few other hundred people.  It was an amazingly well done museum and after 5 hours I had to drag them away.


This week was filled with all the getting ready for school and normal life routines.  Back to school haircuts, getting new shoes, getting locker and school supplies, filling up the fridge again,touring the junior highs and high schools, meeting Robyn's teacher, tons of yard work etc.  Last Sunday we realized that while we had been gone our plums had all ripened.  My kids enterprising minds got to work and they bagged up all the plums I wasn't making jam with, made signs and tables and set up shop on a nearby street.  They spent all Monday afternoon sitting outside trying to sell bags of plums and sold a few.  Then Jeremy came to pick them up and taught them the value of location.  They went to a very busy street and sold out in an hour.  Who could resist two little girls jumping around with signs with Spencer running out plums to cars?  I had a very peaceful Monday afternoon tackling vacation laundry and cleaning, we all thought it was a great summer activity.

Saturday night we left Taylor with a sitter and went to the Utah county fair to watch the demolition derby.  Jeremy was taking pictures but the three kids and I wondered around seeing all the animals (we learned what a turken is - ugly, ugly animal), 4-H projects, and the lego city that had been built.  A carnival worker offered to let Allison jump for free on the tramp, hoping I would pay for the other kids.  She said it was better than the derby!  The girls and I had never been do a demolition derby before.  I wasn't sure whether to be horrified or awe-struck but it was definitely an experience to be there!  Spencer was in pure boy heaven.


Kids are excited and stressed about starting a new school.  Spencer almost was stalking the high school corridors as he tried to memorize the lay out.  I am always grateful for those neighbors who say hello to Spencer by name and aren't put off by only getting a grunt in return.  Saturday morning Spencer and I got up at 6:30 to go on a hike together.  It took him awhile to wake up and talk but it was good to hear about how he is feeling as he tries to deal with the new transition.  Tough classes this year, and a new school have him feeling overwhelmed but he was able to do it last year so he keeps telling himself he can do it again.  Allison toured the junior high with two friends.  I think she is more worried about the new school and new friends situation more than anything else.  We went to Robyn's back to school night to meet her new teacher.  Allison saw all her school friends who are staying at the same school and it was pretty bitter-sweet.  She will do awesome at the new school but its a big transition too.  So tonight we start the early bed times and early morning alarms.  First week is always a bit tough but then things settle down.

We just got back from our every other year reunion at the beach with my family.  Every single person was there which hasn't happened for awhile and we got to enjoy beautiful Newport beach - doesn't get much better than that.

The week before was spent getting ready including fixing a punctured sprinkler line (we now know how to to this very muddy, messy project) and Spencer freaking his mom out and getting his learners permit and going for a spin with Jeremy.  I have turned over the whole driving thing to Jeremy, I just don't think I can handle it!


Robyn and I got to even enjoy some pool time in there with Taylor.


We drove out to California two days early so we could meet up with my brother Daniel's family at Disneyland.  Jeremy and Taylor spent a day working by the hotel pool while we played away.


We got there at 7:30 am and left at midnight.  We skipped fantasy land and cartoon land and did everything else first which was really fun.  It seemed like we skipped all the big lines that way and then tried to squeeze in some little kid rides at the end.  It was a super fun time.  Part of the reason we were so late is that Allison left her purse on Star Tours so we went through the whole lost and found business.  Some nice person had turned her purse in with all her money still intact - I love honest people.

Disneyland wore my kids out a little bit.  Spencer couldn't even leave the car when we first arrived at the beach not even to see the U.S. Open surfing championships.  What a zoo!  My girls kept commenting that they were definitely not in Utah anymore - I think all the thongs gave it away.

We hung out watching the circus at Huntington and getting food at Ruby's till we could check into the beach house.  Then we had a week of non-stop fun.  We played on the beach every day, had thoughts and prayers every night, rented paddle boards, learned how to surf thanks to a patient David and Griselda, blew some bubbles, listened to our neighbors throwing nightly parties, Allison and Lathan got fried on the poor faces the first day, ate lots of treats including walking the beach to get shakes at Ruby's and Balboa bars, and just loved being together.  Spencer had a problem at the beginning with opening his mouth when he shouldn't and lost his Touch.  He had to go 48 hours without saying anything rude.  He set an alarm on his watch.  During our paddleboarding he was convinced I made him tipped over.  He told me that although he screamed a bunch he was biting his tongue because he wanted to make sure he didn't say anything rude.  He and the girls were a little freaked out about turning around against the current and getting back to the dock as ships were trying to go by so I let that one pass.  But...I definitely will keep that consequence in mind for the future.

And now for Jeremy's amazing photos to tell the rest of the story:


Now how do we wait another two years to be able to do this again?