xmas 2009 @ obrien house

so on the heals of colds and saylor getting over pneumonia we started xmas break with stomach flu! saylor started the sat night before xmas and into that sunday. i started monday and so did storie. Scary thing is tue morning we were supposed to get in the car and drive 6 hours to vegas! i was weary of how this was all gonna work out! The cougs gave us tickets to the bowl game and saylor really wanted to go watch "her boys" play football one more time this year. I was sure the boys would get it, such a viscous virus ... but they didnt. and though storie and i still didnt feel great we got to vegas without any chaos.

the game was fantastic! it was so windy and cold. all of us girls gave into the wind eventually, the boys hung tough but really it was such a great game and we had so much fun. saylor got to kiss cosmo again ... she couldnt have been happier! we didnt do any of the vegas usual. just spent good family time at a non vegas type hotel! love embassy suites! kids got to swim and play. drive home went smooth as well. and still no boys throwing up.

christmas eve we spent eating just like the rest y'all! storie was in a little bible story play that we went to that really made me realize how chaotic our lives had gotten and how the focus of the season was not focused for us at all. oh the guilt of a mother. thanks storie for some spirit! kids got pjs and actually went to bed! no waking up to bug us etc.. it was nice. they did wake up early {6am} but no bug during the night and went to bed at 10, for their age not so bad!

I really tried hard to stick to $100 max budget on each kid. aint no small feet! but finances are tight and i think toning it down a bit is just due, especially in thinking about what i want my kids to think and learn about xmas. so lets start with the babe!


saylor doesnt usually want something typical for a 6 year old, or for any age she has been for that matter! this year it was touch n brush and has been almost all year. she wanted it a while ago and hasnt forgotten. i guess this proves that infomercials work. she was so excited when she got it! but she instantly told all of us we could use it! what a girl. i still cant grasp that this angel is mine! she got a sweet kid size metal grocery cart from grandpa murph thats been a hit as well as a special horse blankie from grandma lulu. lots of tinkerbell stuff too. and i did stay under $100 for this one!

next stock the rock!

this kid is so easy! he just wants sports stuff not kid stuff. so he wanted new receiver gloves, new singlet, new wrestling shoes. and thats pretty much all he got besides snow gloves, $5 year long subscript to sports illustrated kids and stuff from grandparents! i did go over the $100 here but i have to say that wrestling shoes were a must regardless his old ones were falling apart and those were $75!!!! but if i took those away i so came way under $100.


the older this one gets the more she touches my heart. one incredible spirit. this girl really went above and beyond. got us all even grandparents thoughtful gifts on her own and made us some too! she made rice babies with grandma gayla and gave them to all of us! what a doll. she wanted big girl stuff like earings, perfume, and clothes. and she got it. and i stuck to my budget. she is growing up so fast. its making me sad. i want so badly to stop time sometimes. she had her first boarding lesson just before xmas too and she is loving it, taking to it well and i think we will be boarding together soon enough!


this is the kids opening rock band from gpa murph! that has been the hit of the whole family. we have had so much fun playing rock band as a fam and with some friends.

as for nate and i! well i got nate subscript to espn mag, some pants, some shirts, a trader joes orange, a movie & some love! He got me an owners chair {kind of like a managers chair right, but owners!} its black leather with white stitching, so me! and the perfume i wanted, iphone accesories and apps and love of course. mom got me lots of meyers! my fav! and dads really helped financially this year!

it was a great peaceful holiday. love being together with my little fam.

the weekend brought a lot of work for me, had HUGE wedding monday that went off with HUGE success. it was a great one. check the studio blog in a few weeks for pics. but now things are calm and i am just enjoying veg time with my kiddies and hub. girls arent feeling great, they both have colds. we just cant escape it all. but i hope to keep it under control enough.

i cant believe its nearly 2010. i have been thinking a lot about where we have been and who we have become, what we have experienced and with that thought comes thougths about what is to come for us this coming year. i remember clearly the interesting feelings i had last year at this time. the sense of no peace and what came after that. i feel peaceful this year but maybe thats just hopeful. in the end i (we) can handle it all and through all the challenges happiness is still what i feel. so much gratitude too. i am so happy with things. not to say i dont have some goals ..oh the goals the long list of goals. may i accomplish some of them!

catch up. wrestling. house

ill start by catching you up. so no matter how hard i try to avoid saylor becoming ill it cant be done. she ended up with a bad case of pneumonia and she is just now really starting to feel better. a cold for her is no simple thing. i appreciate all your prayers, thoughts, phone calls, texts etc.. it really makes me so grateful for an amazing support system. when people ask me how we "do it" well we dont do it alone!

so i know you likely need some visual at this point in following this blog ... so here is the tree for this year!

so i never have been able to get an astounding pic of any of my xmas trees (ok well of any tree period) but i am not photog and i can embrace that. so this year i wanted a slightly flocked look on our new little tree and an orange theme so for the most part the colors are shades of orange. one of my fav colors + it compliments so well with our wall color. getting excited for xmas. just a few more things to take care of. its stressful as always. we did set a goal this year to not spend more then $100 on our kids. for those of you shopping for kids you know this is near impossible! and i have to say after lots of leg work and research we accomplished it. at least for presents. the kids have a lot of extras going on right now ... wrestling, snowboarding, and medical bills of course. is that part of xmas? then we have gone wayyyyyy over! but really just gift under the tree wise i did it. and i did it well and with plenty to open.

so i know i havent been great about posting pics of the house. here is a pic of my room.

the color scheme is my favorite room scheme of all time. this room is ittty bittty. but its serves its purpose and is really functional thanks to some clever and thought out solutions. i heart it.

we never have posted wrestling pics so here you go, great shot of stock taking one down with a great shot.

so last four tourni stats on stock 3 first place and one 6th. the 6th was at salt lake slam, a bigger tourni where kids come from all over the US. and let me tell you, you dont travel to another state for wrestling unless your kid rocks! so there were some really really good kids there. i can barely fathom the travel to richfield and making that worth it. but as it turns out stock and nate will be traveling a lot this year for wrestling, some ops have fallen in their laps they cant pass up. such athletes.

ok thats it for today. have way to much to do!

miriam

We heart this girl. What an amazing spirit. so glad she is our friend!

not sure what to say

i have no great picture to add to this. and i am not even sure what will be the end result of this post. i feel combobbled to some degree. but i thought i would post an update.

nate - so busy coaching wrestling and gone every night of the week. had tons of fun over thanksgiving break off of work, spending time with his brothers and family, playing tons of football, hunting and of course the BYU/Utah game. his aunt passed away the week of thanksgiving. not sure he even remembers her but always bittersweet on some level. happy and healthy as always!

Me - well i am so spiritually, physically, mentally overwhelmed. i feel like i need to share the gospel more on this blog, or at least share my testimony and the spirit that accompanies so much of my life. but i am having a hard time finding the words. i have been really impressed to work harder on being a better mom to my 3 kids who are very much in need. a kinder more patient & loving wife, and have more spiritual consistency in my life. i am healthy and as of late (knock on wood) have been thinking how nice it is that i havent been sick in a while, i catch everything it seems. christmas is so fun but overwhelming. i am struggling to seem at home for some reason too. i have this weird surrealness surrounding me right now. getting my blasted english class finished up is what i really need to get done in order to lift some pressure and ease my mind a little. refocus. i need to be more careful about the way i speak. another goal. and YW is great i taught a simple floral design class to them all last night and felt really happy during those hours.

studio stems - lots of fun things going on here. on the heals of my learning experience in SF i have put some marketing strategies to work and you know what they are working. i am so pleased. also soon the publications for the year come out and i am so thrilled to be in nearly every single one editorially. and also i hear from a bird that one of my bouquets from a UTB&G shoot is on the cover! cant wait. also new logo change and site/blog uplift as well as cards and promo stuff. some great stuff going on with UBB and lots of writing writing writing.

storie - couldnt be more extatic to be learning to board this year. got her a whole season rental at sports authority. she is taking lessons at sundance through her school. amazing program its making me like rock canyon more! she is doing well in violin and loves choir. doing really well in school as always but needs more attention i sense. she recently got an email account. great is all i can think. she is growing up. not ready for that. she wants clothes, jewlery, and girl things for xmas and i am loving that.

stockton - has taken 1st in the last two wrestling tourni's but has a big intense one this weekend, salt lake slam. still cant hardly be caught with out a football in his hands. he is ready for all things sports related for xmas. i struggle to help him with expressing his frustration and anger. well his emotions all together. we continue to butt heads a little and i really want to work this out so that we can have a golden relationship. doing well in school and healthy though.

my little miss saylor - she has had such a high for weeks now. so many great things happening in her life. good friends. great experiences. and relatively healthy. she is struggling with daily headaches and stomach problems that now are wearing thin on all of us involved in her care. i cant seem to find good grounding for how to help her or what to do next. we are working on some diet changes for now. but we anticipate that tethered cord surgery is in the not to distant future. but otherwise school is going ok. she has an amazing support system of friends and teachers that adore her! it didnt take long. she wants to start skiing again and i sincerely hope that works out this season.

and for now that is all i have to give and spit out. so much to do, so little time. warm regards and gratitude for all of you.

san fran my place of growth

san francisco seems to be the place where i grow, the same held true for my recent visit. i went there to participate in a floral design workshop (WFA) with the talented and famous nancy liu chin. i went on the basis that i was to help assist nancy and teach a little in exchange for free tuition. an opportunity i couldnt pass up! i took my assistant julia with me for some good times!

we drove, or i should say i drove which was fine jules would have if i had asked her to. but the last 3 hour leg of the drive left me with one of the most intense migraines i have ever had. when we arrived at the hotel all i had left in me was a hot shower and stillness in order to avoid all out chaos bursting from the brain. the morning brought some typical san fran fun and some non-typical. in fact most of the time we were there the weather was very non typical, clear and warm. it was really nice but i kind of missed the expected. in the morning jules wanted to go for a walk but we were in civic center area so i wouldnt let her go alone so i got my bum out of bed and went on a walk with her. first sight out of the hotel doors ... human poop on the ground. how do i know? well only a human would attempt to wipe with napkins, and only a bum would leave it all there. fun stuff. made us both dry heave.

then we got ready and headed out to oakland to do some temple work. next to sd t this is my fav. what a gorgeous place. amazing view. they were decking things out for the holidays. that was fun to see. i really needed a temple visit and it felt so good. we wandered the grounds and the visitors center after our session and visited with missionaries. i had told jules about the non member brides who often take their pictures at the pretty mormon temple ... and just as we were leaving she got to glimpse of this akwardness.

that evening we settled into where we would stay for the duration of our visit at jules good friend emilys place. a great house in a great area of san fran full of 6 single mormon girls. interesting place for me a married mom to be. but i adored these girls. emily was so fun and sweet and took us to some great places and showed me what icecream should taste like @ bi-rite. the best view of the city at night and so much more. non the less it took some strength to reach out of my comfort zone to be in this strange environment for a few days. it caused major inner reflection about where i am at in my life, why and where i am going. so good for my soul. so much gratitude for my life and experiences. its just so beautiful.

WFA started sat night with a cocktail party, that also too was akward. since i dont drink. and either does jules or emily. so .... not much to drink on our behalf. shirley temples do not rock.but it was a fun and interesting night.

sun was business day. and perhaps were i learned the very most. still overwhelmed with thoughts to implement into my business and ideas on how to make studio stems more successful in every aspect.

mon, tue were both floral design days at the best flower market ever! i so wish we had one of these. its just so different then how the flower wholesale industry runs here in utah. and soooo much cheaper. nothing in sf is cheaper then utah except maybe this! such an eye opening experience. full of new resources. working with nancy was so worth my time, she pushed even me and took special care to take the advanced version and push me individually. out of my box, out of my typical thinking and into something new. amazing growth artistically. and amazing knowledge.

we had a fantastic blog class thanks to stacie with the flirty bride that made me realize my co blog is not running the way it should.

kim and chu saylors nurses took me to dinner and the time just didnt last long enough. i wanted to visit with them for so much longer. makes my heart feel ways i cant describe. had mandarin pancakes and other yums. and cried and hugged. and cried.

visisted UCSF. expensive visit that came with parking ticket ..yeah! got to see tamara, jodi, bev, dr farmer, and of course stephanie. it was such a rushed visit that i barely was able to soak in the feelings. but i was overcome with how long its been. how much time has passed and how much growth has occured. i went to family house, not the same place, not the same people. let me let go a little. i needed to do that, it was the next step. sometimes i hang on to tight. but that all being said it looks as though we are going back very soon. and i cant wait!!!! study has put in for another follow up grant and saylor will be the first to be brought back.

all in all you dont want to read more and more do you? it was amazing. it made me stretch in every aspect of my life. i came home overwhelmed but rejuvinated, grateful and excited. and nate did a great job with the kids (with the help of our moms of course) but he really did fantastic. made it easier for me!

saylor the cougar!

ok ok i know your all anxiously awaiting this post. and we would have done this sooner had the computer genius of this household (me) not gone out of town. so here it is. but first ...

we really are consumed with thought on how to thank 125 football players, the coaching staff, bronco, cort, justin, cosmo, coach weber, and so many others. and i have come up with nothing that sufficiently express's our gratitude. so i just want to say publicly... how grateful we are as a family to be part of this, and to watch our daughter actually BE a hero outside of our home and be recognized, honored, and provide inspiration for people, a team, and an organization that is so dear to our own hearts. Words, food, little tokens just cant do our feelings justice. thank you. simply and so sincerely THANK YOU!


JUSTIN - thank you for being a good friend to nate, for loving him. for caring about what his life is like and for making this happen.



CORT - you rock. what more can i say. you were a pure delight. thanks for helping share our story and experiencing this with us.



C. WEBER - we adore you. you light up our faces. we miss living close to you! your such an amazing sincere kind man. thank you for stopping so we could spend a min with you.

BRONCO - there is no doubt that the powers above picked the very BEST coach on earth today to lead His team. thank you for pushing a program of this nature and all that comes with it, all the good on every side. for being an example and an inspiration!



COSMO - after being told that you have been requested so often by thursday heroes and knowing that you have never been able to make it but that by miracle you made it for saylor, our gratitude for your heart and time runs deep, so deep that a river of happy tears has been shed. saylor loves and adores you. she has been blessed enough to have had you visit her home and now even make this special appearance. it truly is a blessing, the big man upstairs must know what she needs to get her through a few more things. you will never not have a place in her little heart or ours!



MAX - thanks for spending sooo much of your valuable time with our family. for wrestling with our son, who pretty much worships you! like any other 8 year old boy obsessed with football (ok stock is more then obsessed you cant even catch him without gloves or a ball!) this experience was mind blowing! he is still in a daze! thank you.




HARVEY - i would say your the families overall fav. you just bring it every time! thank you. stockton looks so spaced in every picture, well because i think he kind of was. can you imagine, i cant. this experience was incredible for my kids. all of them!

and ultimately we want to thank our Father above for this amazing spirit in our lives and homes, for saylor! for who she is and what she does. for letting us learn and be with her. for providing a way, a better way.

ok onto the story. when we first arrived on campus we got to see all the trophies and team awards and tour the football offices. the kids liked sitting in bronco's chair! that was special. and i was so impressed to see open and read scriptures on coaches desk. how inspiring.


we also got to see our old friend amy who brought cosmo to see saylor the first time about 3 years ago just after a surgery.

the office tour was fascinating for us all but most likely for the boys. after the tour we headed to the practice facility. nate and i both were very nervous that saylor would get shy, and steer away from the players and people. we just watched them practice for a min and then they finished and all gathered in the middle and you know what she just cruised on those crutches right towards them. ahead of us all. this is when both nate and i lost all control of emotion and became crying parents.

a few members of the team knelt down so they could be at her level and explained to her why she was their hero and thanked her for coming. they showed them their team flag, the one that is at every game and comes out of the tunnel ahead of the players. it looks so white from stands but its actually covered in names, signatures of players, coaches, and honorary team members. they then asked saylor to sign it so she could always be part of their team.


next they showed her a blank Y flag that they all were gonna sign for her to remind her of them. then the bag of goodies came and they helped her open it. she was in heaven. literally. we all were that night.


i think the best moment for nate and i was when the players, and staff all created a circle around saylor. enclosing her. so she could lead them in their "go cougs" end of practice send off. nate, the kids, and i were on the outside so we were expecting a team captain or coach to lead the send off. the room fell silent, and suddenly we heard our little angels voice, strong and soft say 1...2...3... does it get sweeter then that? oh man. then having video of it now from the inside just brings it all together. full circle. one team.


then came cosmo and cute explanations about how special this really was! she was smitten, as she always has been. pretty sure she wants cubs not babies at this point. there is this pic below i was so reluctant to post cause i seem to be the focus and i dont want to be. and i dont look my best at all. we are all laughing and looking to the side at something else but saylor her focus is fixed on cosmo!





we shook the hand of nearly every single player, all of us. then we chatted with a few that lingered and the coaches. max hung out, so did harvey & cosmo. then it was time for goodbye. the emotional high, that high lingered for days. its still kind of there. and it feels sooo good.

in case you missed the bronco show with video footage you can get to a link of the taping by going here.

how do i even finish a post about one of the funnest best days our family has ever had? i simply cant. so i wont.

SF bound

so i know today is our BIG cougar day and i know you will all be so anxious to hear all about it. i can hardly stand the wait. saylor is soooo excited. but your gonna have to cause i head to SF early in the morn for this ...


the long anticipated adventure in floral design. i have grown to love and adore NLC the lady who put this great venture together. She has spent a lot of time planning this event and i have had a finger or two dipped and cant wait to go out there and help. I am taking my fav intern ever with me jules.... a girl trip. design focused. in my fav city in the whole world (of course i am bias because so much of my heart is there) i find it difficult to leave the fam and also to go without them, isnt that OUR city, not mine? i cant imagine going there without saylor. but i am gonna have to. it will be a spiritual journey of rejuvination!

meanwhile nate is mr mom ... we shall see how he does. of course he has the two grandmas so i can rest easy. and promise when i get back to update you on thursday's hero and the trip. but be sure to watch the BM show on sunday night to catch a glimpse.

i have a feeling thursday is gonna be a good night!!!

but first halloweeeeen!


So miss storie was smarteeeeee pants! so true to her character, easy costume. fun too. stock doesnt like to dress up ... i tried to convince him to be a quarter back by just putting a quarter on his back. that way he wouldnt have to dress up. but he ultimately decided to be nate. kinda interesting because he doesnt look like thats what he is trying to be, he looks like just a football player to the average person ... we all know he doesnt even have to dress up to be nate. and miss saylor insisted upon being mary poppins! she was mistaken for little bo peep, miss muffet, and a few other things but never once did someone guess she was mary .. oh well.

now to the most exciting news of all. a once in a lifetime opportunity. one of nates friends has affiliation contacts with BYU's football staff. after having some discussion with nate about saylor he turned saylors name and our contact info into the football department for the thursday heroes program. a short time later cort trejo with the football department emailed us and asked for some information about saylor and some pictures. we sent it of course. yesterday i heard back from cort, and they have asked saylor to be their hero this week. i am filled with emotion, it floweth over. i am so excited for her and for us. there are so many heroic people out there and so few thursday spots, i am overwhelmed that we have been given this opportunity.

for those of you who dont know what that is, let me explain, what it is as far as i understand it. every thursday before the game the football department brings in someone inspiring to practice, to give the players motivation to play hard and for something. they share the heroes story and spend time with them and their family. they also ask them to sign the team flag and invite them to be part of the team forever. this flag is carried at every game and hangs in the facility.

when we tried to explain to saylor what would be happening this thursday she didnt really get it. so we started watching the bronco mendenhall show on the internet to show her. we did this while doing treatment on the potty and she chanted for about an hour cougar cheers. she is pretty excited. i dont know if she grasps the enormity of this for her and our family but someday she will and i hope that the memories stay strong enough to remember it all.

following sports beat sunday on KSL they feature the hero of the week on the bronco M show. so be sure to watch and spread spread spread the word so you can share this with saylor and us!

thank you for all your love and support. for being part of our lives.

holy jeans

so this is not a plea for charity but rather just information out there in case there are a few of you that have pants 4t-6t ready to go to DI or SAVERS or hand me downs

you see we have this problem with little saylor. she wears pants out at an extreme rate. since she became mobile this has been the case ... oh the things i have tried, different fabric types, patches, and so on and so on. difficult thing. she wears holes in them really fast because of the way she crawls, crutches around and moves. she is so mobile and we love it! but it has a few downfalls including this.

as of late this has gotten really bad. the kind of braces she wears now hit just under her knee and put that much more pressure on the fabric. not one pair of pants i got her for school this year is left now without holes in multiple quantities. the other day she wore a pair for only the 2nd time and by the end of the day they were so ruined it looked like the incredible hulk jumped out of them. many of the pants she doesnt seem to trash are capri or short type pants but its getting cold and as i gaze at whats left for her to wear for the winter i am depressed with frustration and exhausted with shopping and funds. i dont know how to stay on top this ... we simply cant afford to buy a new pair of pants for nearly every day or week.

so if there are any of you out there that know about an incredible deal somewhere on a good and decent looking pair of pants or have some that you no longer need and are ready to hand down please email or contact me.

a california adventure ...

so we have survived a week of nearly non stop fun. and here is what i have to report. its mostly based on the things you see in public, i saw so many things i did not capture in time that i would have liked to share. the vast array of souls out there provide me many smiles. i started our vacay feeling quiet ill and angry that i felt that way. luckily i wasnt to sick to enjoy things a little and no other soul in my immediate proximity joined me in this venture.

the drive was a bit comical considering our alternative sources of transportation.we shopped for a few weeks for a studio stems/travel van for better accomidations for both. we shopped to no avail. so we had to come up with another alternative to go on vacation for an entire week with 5 peeps, a wheelchair, golf clubs, medical supplies, clothes, and basic needs. so we purchased a roof rack and bag for our little scion. well nates clothes arrived in california rain soaked. fun times.

first we hit ..

where else but the most magical place on earth. it was raining and raining hard that day but it was nice ... not too hot and we were prepared thanks to my craftiness and creative packing. there was little to no lines (not that we wait in lines anyhow but it was till nice to not fight crowds!) we were so excited that saylor has finally reached the height of a regular 3 or 4 year old (you do realize she is 6 and if you didnt you do now) ... 40 inches yahoooo. this means more rides. we hit space mountain of all things first. and for the current season it aint called space mountain. it was her first time ...

she did well and was a really great sport. but professed to not go on it again .. even though she did later. we were constantly thanking saylor that we didnt have to wait in lines and for so much special treatment. how spoiled we are and have become.

we ate at ariels grotto. talk about sticker shock. before we left for the day we were getting our tickets and cash together etc.. trying to decide how much to take. i told nate we should take at least $150 for lunch. and he was like nooooo. it will be expensive but not that expensive. so we took $150 of course cause thats what i said we should take. Last time we went there not only did we get princess visits but we got a menu and a really great meal (perhaps the best that trip) but things have changed there for the worse on menu items, quality, and certainly value. while the changes have decreased elsewhere the prices have increased and dinner was more like $200 for the 5 of us. but saylor not eating her dinner at all to stare in amazement at the cess's was priceless.





snow white came equiped with a very annoying voice. sorry picture quality all throughout is so poor. i only took the mediocre point and shoot. and it was wet as well. not good.

aurora took a special interest in saylor and was very sweet. at the end they did bring out a chest of fun stuff for saylor.

california adventure was hard, there wasnt much saylor could go on but she really enjoyed soaring! it felt so real to her ... its why i love that ride myself. but to a child who doesnt feel what we do when it comes to movement i am guessing this sensation is exagerated. the other kids really wanted to ride the raft ride so while they went and did that saylor and i took some california adventure pictures ...



you can see how wet my pants are from the rain and wet ground in the car pic. saylor is really into creating bunny ears for herself in pics. its strange but ok whatev. she loved the san fran bridge ... and why wouldnt she?

so then there was splash mt. and this great face stock made ...


Day 2 was another day at disney. but much sunnier. saw lots and lots of utahns and finished up the ride fix. its also when it suddenly occured to me that i should be documenting all the peeps that brought a smile and laughter to my soul. too bad that i didnt think of this sooner and to bad its hard to discretely take pictures of strangers ... but here is 2 from day 2.


hot pink damaged frizzy hair IS cool! and where can i get me some of these?
at the end of day 2 we drove thanks to our yahoo map on 3 freeways to go see my great aunt becky for dinner. we met my dad, glen, randy (beckys daughter), and becky. it was well worth the old people food we had at pollys to see becky cry with a smile. oh how i love her. turns out that yahoo maps sucks because my aunt becky lives on katella just 6 miles down the street from disney. no freeways needed. took us 20 min to get there and 5 to get back. silly yahoo.

day 3 we woke up and drove to san diego. gorgeous drive and SD is my new fav place. we ventured over to sea world to visit my beloved beluga whales. the kids and visited this world of the sea once before but this was nates first trip. i had to beg him to go. he had some weird idea of what it would be. of course he loved it!!! i couldnt get him away from the dolphins and he loved the shamu show.

my own terrible picture hardly does the beauty of these animals justice!
we had a great time and i really appreciate the child disability discount that this great park has to offer. and for your entertainment ... the best find of the day ..

the only way i could discretely snag this was when she walked away but the front was so much better then the back cause that shirt was holy and see through! doesnt get better then that!

nate and i both aquired mind numbing headaches by the end of this fun day and it was nice that the park closed early evening so we went back to our hotel and crashed for a few hours while kids watched TV and eventually fell asleep themselves. that evening brought pei wei for dinner ... consistent and good. it also brought a sign near our hotel elevators that read

"only 6 players on the elevator at one time please"

this is when we realized that there was some type of team staying at our hotel. and because we also were in SD for the BYU vs SD game we got excited. well it was SD football team. we got to ride the elevators with them ironically enough. and they actually liked our team spirit and enjoyed stocktons Y hawk. nice guys. but big!!!

Day 4 started with a little bit of a sleep in .. it was delightful. we packed up and headed to the temple. along with every other family visiting SD from utah.



then we ventured to la jolla and the beach. this would be the bel air of SD. but a family like bel air. i didnt want to leave. either did nate. darn ....

then onto the game. it was hooooot. and turns out the tickets we had were assigned to seats that did not really even exist in the stadium. good thing its a huge stadium and no where near sold out! a nice manager showed us to a section that would work for us and saylor. it was a good game. SD played well, better then anyone expected i think. then we drove out to palm springs and got there kind of late.

palm springs was nice and relaxing i love visiting my dad and glen and spending quiet good old family time away from the chaos of our regular life. saylor was doing well and we had no hiccups with her health, cathing, or treatments. my illness was still lingering and my ears had been full of fluid the entire trip and it was beginning to wear on me. i spent much of my time in PS resting and reading a great book. kids played with grandparents, watched the nightmare before xmas over and over, and swam swam swam. nate golfed. if i wasnt sick it would have been much harder to come home because it was already hard. i love california.

home brings reality of much that needs to be done around the house. much that needs to be done with studio stems. school, groceries, laundry and just over all catching up. work work work. and i dont even think i wrote everything i planned to ... are you as exhausted as me?