Yosemite Adventures

Tanner just got home from backpacking through Yosemite for 6 days. What an adventure they had! Upon  arriving home, he said "that was the hardest thing I have ever done to date", referring to climbing Half Dome. He has amazing leaders who took time away from their jobs and their families to take these boys on this great adventure. Those leaders helped Tanner get to the Top of Half Dome, something he did not think he would do. It scared him. 

They hiked all of the days they were there and even had to slow down for a few hours while it rained. Upon coming home, he also shared that his only  hope for the trip was to see a bear. What??? Well, they saw a bear. There was one about 30 feet from them. They sat and watched him eat. He said he wanted to take a selfie with it! Oh my!!!! Thank goodness there  is no selfie...15 year old boys!!!! He learned some good lessons along the way. Things like rationing your food out so it lasts  the entire trip. Those 9 hours stuck in a tent while it rained got the best of those bored boys. 

It really was a fun trip for these cute boys/friends. A trip they will remember forever. 

Back Streets Back...alright!

Another fun concert is in the books. My friend Amy found an awesome Groupon  deal for tickets to see the Backstreet Boys. We jumped on it and decided it would be a fun date night. Super glad that I have a husband who is willing to go along for the ride. If you ask him, he will tell you that he had a good time and that he especially liked Avril Lavinge, who opened the show for them. 

We stopped for burgers on our way out to the show and enjoyed visiting. We listened to some BSB on the way to the concert to get us pumped. We got there and could not believe how long the line was to get into the venue. We has never seen the line so long. It was hot, the hottest day to date. We jumped in line and made our way to our seats, which thankfully were in the shade. Amy texted our friend Luseane to let her know we were there. Luseane's son works for the BSB. She told us to meet her after the show and we could say hi to Andrew,( her son) and meet some of the BSB. 

When we met up with Luseane, she told us to meet her after the show and we could go Backstage. So much fun!

We had to get lots of photos.

Avril was good. Wished she had played more of her older songs.

Up next, the BSB!!! The crowd went wild. I don't think I have ever heard so much screaming...and I have been to a lot of concerts -LOL! Those boys still have the moves and were so much fun to watch. It was fun to sing along and dance to their fun music. Not gonna lie, kind of felt like a teeny bopper, like I was 19 years old. Then, reality set in, realizing that I am just months away from turning 40. 

 Here are some fun highlights.

The boys left the stage and the crowd starting chanting "BSB. BSB. BSB!"

And they came back on stage for their encore.  At that point, Luseane came to get us and told us we could go down to the front row. She said she misunderstood Andrew and we could have been down there the whole time. What??? We loved the time we got to

be down there. So close and it was so loud -ha!

After the show, we got to head backstage and hang out. All of the tour buses were lined up and people were coming and going. 

One by one, the BSB were making their way to an after party with fans. It was so cute and very sweet,  they would stop and talk to Luseane and tell her how great her boy was and give her a big hug. We were able to get our pictures taken with a few of them.

Up first:

Howie. How stinkin' cute is he?

He was super nice and friendly. So much fun!

Then we got to meet AJ.

Again, so nice and so cool that we are taking photo with AJ from the BSB. 

Next, Nick came walking by. So cute and so nice. 

After meeting the boys, we got to chat with Andrew for a little bit. Seriously, he is one of the nicest people ever. John and I are huge fans, we love and admire Luseane and the boys she has raised. I hope I can do half the job she has done, with my own boys. I snagged this photo off of Luseane's  FB page( hope she doesn't mind). Some of the nicest people I know. 

Such a fun date night, with Awesome friends and fun music. We agreed that we need to do it again, soon. 

As Sunday morning rolled around, and I had to get up for an early morning meeting, I realized that I  getting too old to stay out so late and that I am not 19 years old anymore. 

Mother's Day 2014

Happy Mother's Day!

My Mother's Day started with church...just how I like to start my Sundays. I think it could have been a little more enjoyable had I not been asked to give a talk on Mother's Day. I  told John that I could really enjoy my day, once the talk was given. Honestly, it wasn't so bad. I was just happy to have checked that off of my "to do" list.

 

John and the boys spoiled me. I received very sweet cards from each of the boys. The fill in the blanks are my favorite. They also gave me a gift certificate to my favorite nail place so  I can get a pedicure. I also received a new swimsuit and skirt to match/cover up. I had finally found the perfect suit while out shopping with my Mom. I had put it on hold and told him about  it. He listened but forgot which store I had found it out. Poor guy had to hit a few of my favorites stores in the mall before finding the right one. I love him even more for going on the hunt until he found it.

They made me dinner and homemade peach cobbler. YUM!!! It was a wonderful day.

I am thankful for my own mother and her kindness, love and Christ like example. I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a mother. I love my boys and am thankful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to send these amazing boys to our home.

I love this quote from Gordon B. Hinckley. It reads as follows.

“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.” Gordon B. Hinckley, “Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 67

 

Thank you for being the quiet examples and builders of our nation. May you feel the love of our Heavenly Father and know how important each of our roles, as mothers and women are, here on this earth. Happy Mother’s Day to each one of you!



W.I.W.S. - What I Wore Sunday

 Here is the Mother's Day edition of W.I.W.S.. John is so good about catching me each Sunday(to snap some photos) before I change out of my church clothes. I am usually the last one home. Sundays are usually filled with meetings for me. I originally started these W.I.W. S. posts in hopes of getting back to blogging on a regular basis. I have the photos but not the consistent blog posts. I still love blogging and catching up with friends via their blogs. Hint, hint to those who need to update their blogs.  I am hoping to do better!

 

My Mom came up to visit, a week before Mother's Day. She insisted that we go shopping to find my Mother's Day present. She is my Mom, but always buys me a Mother's Day present. So fun! We hit Target and the mall. I ended up finding this new navy blue skirt at Down East Basics. She bought it for me and I bought myself the top. The cardigan in from Old Navy and the necklace is from, wait for it... Wal-Mart. They had the cute bauble necklaces on an end cap, in all of the super fun colors. They were only $5.00. I may or may not have picked up a couple -LOL! For $5.00, I was sold.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you fabulous women. Thank you for being wonderful examples to me.

Spring Break - part 4

We packed up camp and headed back to my parents  to visit for a little bit.

 After showers and clean clothes...our best orange and black, we headed to San Francisco. John picked up tickets for the Giants vs. Dodgers game. Our tickets were in our favorite section, upper deck. We love the upper deck because we have a birds eye view of the game and we can see the Bay and all of the action that goes on out there.

We got there early enough to watch warm up. The boys were able to get their hats and tickets signed by Gregor Blanco. I loved seeing Sergio Romo

 

 

 My nephews happened to be at the game that night. The boys loved hanging out with them before the game. They were hoping for a ball but the Dodger players were only giving them to the Dodgers fans.

 

This boy had the best time. He was up dancing to the fun music and shouting "BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA!" He was so into the game and was already asking when we could come back.

 

 

 Nothing like being in the  park with all of the other fans! This guy got the crowd going!

 

Family selfie...it has become tradition.

Our Giants beat the LA Dodgers. Go, GIANTS!

Spring Break - part 3

The boys were so looking forward to this day...the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. So much to do, so many rides to ride and so much to see...always good people watching on the Boardwalk, too.

While standing in line to purchase wrist bands, I ran into my sweet friend Marisa. She lives in Roseville, too. We have been meaning to get together for lunch(it hasn't happened yet) and we joked that we had to go all the way to Santa Cruz just to see each other.

Amber and her boys met us in the afternoon! It was so much fun to hang out and visit with them.

 This was one of my favorite moments of our day! Brody had agreed to ride the Double Shot with the big boys. This ride shoots you straight to the top(25 ft. up) and drops you like a bouncy ball until you get back to the bottom. Once Brody sat down to be strapped into the ride, he got scared. I could even see the tears welling up in his baby blues. I asked him if he wanted to get off and he said no. He looked terrified and other by standers were catching on. They began to cheer him on and give him words of encouragement. When the ride was over, everyone was clapping and telling him that he did great. Lets just say that this one the only ride that he did not ask to ride again!

The boys are making plans to head back to the Boardwalk this Summer...hopefully with their cousins in tow!