A Day at the Beach

Have you ever had an "What in the world do I do now?" kind of moment? I had one of those today. Let me start at the beginning. :)

Erica and Eric Lehman had come to stay with us while they apartment hunted and Eric had a job interview. As their last day here before they had to jump a plane back to Illinois I asked Erica what she wanted to do today. She responded with, "Walk along the beach". In my brain that equated to strollering Abigail with Rachel at my side...along concrete. :) Foolishly I did not pack swimsuits, towels, a change of clothes, nothing. :) It was like I was a new mom or something. lol So we headed to the Hotel De Coronado because it has the best beach that I know of with a little path right next to it. We get there with no hiccups and as soon as she sees the water Erica tears her sandals off and proceeds towards the water. Abigail was asleep in the stroller so I stood at the edge of the sand and waited while Eric, Erica, and Rachel headed to the water. They had a great time and by the time they got back Abigail was awake and wanted some water action as well. I rolled up her pants and mine as well and we made our way to the waves, or "whales", as Abbey calls them. :) No sooner had we gotten past the first wave when Abigail's little body was overtaken by the sheer force of that "whale"...and down she went. I, of course, scooped her up thinking that I could somehow save her from the drenching that had just occurred only to find myself also dripping wet. I could not help but laugh out loud at the humor of the situation and how poorly equipped I was. lol Here are some pics of our beach adventure. Enjoy!

Erica, Rachel, and Erica at the beginning....

Abigail before the chaos ensued...

Abbey just LOVING the sand

Rachel could not get enough of the water!

Big, brave girl of mine. :) 

We taught Rachel how to jump the waves

Mommy and Abbey having some fun

Momma and her girls in the waves. :) 

What a beautiful picture!

Abigail after the water, sand, and fun. :) 

This is Abbey after we stripped her down, washed her off in the foot shower, dried her with the shirt off Eric's back, and slapped her diaper and shoes on. :) 

What a morning to remember!

A Poem

So there I was last night, sleep evading me, lying in bed just thinking of all the things that I've gone through in the past month. It seems unreal that Dave has been gone for over a month and even more unreal of the events that have unfolded. As I was lying there I realized how big God is and how much I needed him to carry me because I was unable to hold myself up under all this pressure of health, doctors, money, and children. He gave me this poem and I had to write it down. Believe it or not, within minutes of getting it down, I was sleeping. He is a good God. 


"This Time Around"


With each passing day
I learn more how to pray
With each passing hour
I learn more about his power
With each breath of life
I learn how to deal with strife
With each glimpse of his face
I learn how magnificent is his grace
With each tear that falls
I learn how to break down the walls
As I listen to the sound
this time around
I can't help but believe
That he made you and me
Wrapped in his love
Protected by angels above"

Summer Fun

As many of you know, Dave left for an international exercise that takes place every 2 years in Hawaii called RIMPAC. It's a total of 8 weeks and it's right smack dab in the middle of the summer. So, the girls and I have had to be creative while he's been gone. One awesome event that did happen was my mom (Grandma) and Aunt Dort came to visit us surrounding Rachel's 4th birthday. We did many things together, but most importantly we celebrated Rachel turning the big 4 by taking her to the San Diego fair and eating some delicious GF chocolate cake! She was showered with presents and had a glorious time sharing her room with Grandma. :) Here are some pics from their visit.

Here we are at the SD fair eating some yummy corn and fruit. 

Aunt Dort wanted Rachel to celebrate her birthday with a face painting that has a big "4" in the middle!

Rachel's yummy birthday cake!

Here Ray is opening an awesome water toy for the backyard from her Aunt Erica and Uncle Eric

Aunt Dort teaching helping Rachel put together her very challenging 100 piece Strawberry Shortcake puzzle.

Little did I know how much fun can be had with fluffy skirts from Aunt Vicki!!!

Grandma thought it was high time for Rachel to have her own bike! She practices on it almost daily now. 

The clan on the 4th of July! 

Here we are posing again. I just couldn't get Abigail to hold that flag! 

I love this picture of Rachel and me by the water near Seaport Village. 

There were a few nice sunny days while Grandma and Aunt Dort were here. We got the pool out and had some good fun!

This was at Old Town in San Diego. Pretty chilly day out, but fun was had by all. :) 

Rachel's new haircut

Until very recently I was a big believer in long hair. I think it came from the horror I felt when I looked at a picture of myself when I was young and I had what I would consider a "butch" haircut. From then on I grew my hair out to the point of being able to donate to locks of love and still have plenty left over for own head. :) In Monterey I decided that I needed a new look and lopped off more than I ever had before and surprisingly I loved it! So now my hair is what I consider to be very short (for me) but it looks okay so I'm good. :) Now, on to Rachel. Since I had this aversion to short hair, I didn't believe in cutting Rachel's hair unless it became apparent to others that it had gotten a little unhealthy and mangy. This was the case recently. I think I got her hair cut when she was 2 years old...in Davenport with my parents. It was the first time she got a haircut and it was much needed. As you can imagine, her hair had grown quite a bit in 2 years since that first cut. It had become slightly unmanageable so we asked her if she wanted a haircut. She agreed and off we went to a cute place called PigTails and CrewCuts. She picked the cop car to sit in and watched Little Chicken "The Sky is Falling!!!!" on TV while the hairdresser did her magic. :) Afterwards the lady asked if I wanted a "heart braid" put in her hair. Not knowing what that was I hesitated, but eventually agreed. I'm glad I did. :)

Backyard Camping

As some others may profess, part of childhood is camping right? Real, out in the woods, roughing it, camping. Well, we did one Yosemite trip when Abigail was about 6 months old that sort of showed us that the kiddos needed a few more years on them before we could try that again. So we decided to try for backyard camping instead. Now, I know it doesn't really come TOO close to real camping, but Dave did get the tent up and we did put the sleeping bags and blankets in the tent, so we're getting there. :)

And Dave got the fire pit going even though he didn't have Duraflame. I'm so proud!!! :)

Another thing, Rachel roasted her own S'more! Almost 4 years old and she's doing it herself. I can't believe what a big girl she is! :)

And yes, for all those Gawenkas out there...Abigail had her first S'more!!! I had no doubt she would love it- she ate the whole thing! haha

What an amazing sugar high Mom!!!! 

Right now Dave, Ray, and Abbey are in the tent reading books and enjoying the smell of the smoldering fire. Is there a bedtime in sight? None that I can predict. :)

The ice cream truck

I love the ice cream truck. I mean, c'mon, ice cream sold in a truck that comes right to your house? Who couldn't LOVE that idea? We have money set aside on the desk for those rare occurrences when the ice cream truck comes our way. Rachel and I have run out numerous times in anticipation of that musical truck to roll down our street...and it never does. And then it occurred to me. We live in a cul-de-sac! Argh! So today when I heard that music I grabbed Abigail, yelled for Rachel (who was in the back yard), swiped the money, and went running down the street trying to catch that truck. We didn't make it. It was all the way down the street without a glance our way. I looked at Rachel and told her we would try again next time. I didn't realize that the next time would be right after dinner. Thankfully Dave was home and I could go tearing out into the street alone, as any parent who wanted ice cream for their child would do, and managed to flag down the truck before it turned the other way. Whew! It stopped right in front of the house and Rachel and Abigail's eyes glistened as they got to pick out an ice cream to share. We proceeded to the back yard where all rules and cleanliness were tossed out the window. :)

This is what makes it all worth it. :) 

Amy's Visit

Have you ever thought about your life and picked a time in which a turning point happened? For me it was in Pensacola, FL. Let me back up a bit.

When I graduated from college, UNI, I moved in with my sister who lived in Chi-town, otherwise known as Chicago. Well, really in the suburbs, but same thing to me. I had a good job, good friends, and loved the lifestyle there.  What I didn't like, and anyone who knows me well will understand this, was the snow. I hate snow. I hate the cold. And I'm not sugar coating it...I really dislike the winter months. That being said, I decided that I was going to move. Somewhere warm, somewhere sticky and hot, somewhere that I could roll down my windows in my car most of the year...Florida. :) My decision intrigued my best friend/roomie at the time and we proceeded to save money to move there. It took a year to earn what I considered enough cash, and then we made our move. I chose Pensacola because there was a school that I was interested in attending to obtain my biology degree and become the shark biologist that I had always wanted to be. The University of Northern Florida. What had originally looked like a dream soon became somewhat of a nightmare. I began signing up for classes when I discovered that I couldn't get in-state tuition and I would have to wait another year to start school. Also, my best friend/roomie decided that life was calling her in another direction and she moved to Tallahassee with her sister. I found myself alone, and although I had my nice hot climate, I had no friends, no job, and no school. And then it happened. I found myself on my knees begging God for an answer to what I should do. He lead me to a church where I met a girl who needed someone just as badly as I did. That girl became my best friend and has stood by me for over 7 years now. The good, bad, and ugly, this person accepts me for who I am and loves me regardless. How often do we find that in this lifetime?

So Pensacola was a sweet time for me. I found Amy, Dave, and countless others that have changed my life and made it better. Now that I think back it was only a few months, really only about 9 months, but those 9 months meant more to me than all the other months of my life. :)

Amy came to visit me recently and here are some pics of our time together.

These two little girls absolutely LOVE their Auntie Amy!

Eating cheesecake and enjoying the sun with great conversation. :) 

This picture just makes me smile. :) 

I love you Amy. :)