What I Love About California....

Enough said!

California Update...

I seriously DO NOT know where to begin. There is so much to tell. I guess it'd (is that a proper contraction for "it would") be best if I just picked a topic/subject and write a little bit about it. But let me just say that I could not be happier with Collin's decision to come to CA for graduate school. (I hope I will not be choking on those words later!)

Saying Goodbye to Dear Friends...
The boys and I got together with some of our homeschooling friends for one last final hoorah.

LBJ also planned a very special "(insert our last name) to Davis" party with our buddies. It was not a "goodbye" party...she made that very clear. :0)

The Gang at Camino Real

The sweet LBJ and her beau, Nathan.

FRIENDS!!!!!!

Packing up the truck and heading West...
This was no fun/easy task. We had a 22 ft. truck and were still unable to shove Magnus' mattress in the back. Even after getting rid of SO much stuff!


We were blessed by our dear friends...LBJ, Nathan, Steph, and Eric...helping us out. Thanks y'all!! (Had to say it at least once!)

Palm trees and bright blue skies! Isn't this amazing!!! The weather has been great. Apparently the 100+ temperatures we have been having are above normal for this time of year, but we haven't really minded. There is NO humidity!! We can breathe when we walk outside and don't sweat in the shade. It is unbelievable! CA is agreeing with me!



Davis, CA...
I LOVE this town!!! It is fantastic! It's clean, safe, family oriented, cute, ect. You can learn more about this great town at the Davis wiki site. This site has everything you could possibly want/need to know. It has helped us a great deal. I will refer more to this site as I post more about our life here.

Old Sacramento Gold Rush Days...
This was the first event we went to in our new area. There isn't a whole lot I want or need to say about it, but I did want to share some pics.


There were several re-enactors there doing their thing from the Civil War period. It looked really strange and then it dawned on us...they are all wearing blue and not gray! It was really strange for us to see that since we have been to several Civil War Battlefields in TN.

Magnus and Thane panned for gold and then took it to the "bank"...

They were a little disappointed to find out that they were not receiving real money for their efforts.

Me and my buddies.

The Little Tiny Baby Pretend House...
Our 594 sq. ft. apartment really isn't that bad. Seriously. I haven't cried about it yet. They actually planned the space out well and I feel like we have more room here than in the 1000 sq. ft. apartment we just left in TN. I know you are anxious to see pics...all 3 of my faithful readers!...and I hope to have some up this week once we get settled more.

Alright...that is about it for now. Life is good here in CA!

We Made It!!!!

After 4 1/2 days on the road, we finally made it to CA! I will post more about our new town...which I already LOVE!...and pictures of our Little Tiny Baby Pretend House...which is not as bad as I had anticipated!

Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts!

Packin' It Up! Packin' It On Up!

The past few weeks we have been wrapping things up here in Middle TN.

I have tried to say goodbye to various friends, but have been unable to do so. We keep saying, "How about next week?"

This coming Monday is our going away party with our college buds (just struck me funny to refer to them as that since I have been out of college for 15 years!), but we aren't calling it that. It's our "(insert last name) to Davis" party. It'll be the last time we hang out with "our group". Sad, yes.

I have spent my Dillard's gift card on Calphalon frying pans and Clinique make up since there isn't a Dillard's store out there.

Changed over our utilities and changed our address.

Have sold and given away a ton of stuff. Still have a chocolate fountain that has become a thorn in Collin's side. Maybe LBJ will want it?

What do we still have left to do?

Packing, packing, and more packing. We got a pretty good start though. The boy's room and our room are pretty much done. Just have the bathrooms, living room (which is almost done), and the kitchen. Guess that is the advantage of living in a 1000 sq ft. apartment. Have I mentioned yet, in this post, that we are moving into a 594 sq. ft. apartment? Still can not wrap my mind around that...which should be easy since it is so small! The apartment, not my mind!

Tuesday we pick up the truck. We'll start packing it then and finish up on Wednesday. This should seriously be our easiest move yet. I haven't even begun to panic yet!

Thursday...the wagon train is heading West! We are planning to do a total of 9 hours drive time a day. This will be very doable even with all of the stops and breaks we will take. If you have to have kids travel with you, you want our boys. Seriously, they are fantastic! They keep themselves busy without a tv in the car. We like listening to music and books on tape (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit are this trips picks), talking, and telling stories. The boys read, draw, play, you name it! We just make sure to take breaks and stop at playlands or parks. This trip I made special travel binders with cool coloring pages, activities, roadside bingo, ect. I am also planning to give them a special "treat" to unwrap every morning and afternoon. I got things like bubble gum, a coupon for an ice cream cone, silly putty, and collective rocks. One is going to ride with me and the other with Collin in the moving truck. We'll switch periodically.

We should pull into Davis on the 24th or the 25th. I am excited to explore our new town. I think I am going to like it there very much.

We are scheduled to move in on the 26th. I am going to try very hard not to be overwhelmed by the size of our new home. We will make it work and it will work great. Not really planning to spend much time inside anyways. We'll be in Northern California!

So, if you are reading this and you are the praying kind, please pray for safety as we travel across America next week. And maybe throw one in there about us being able to settle in quickly and make friends. :0)

Separated At Birth

***WARNING...DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS SEE THIS!***

Asian Singer

Kuato from Total Recall

***I have to give Collin full credit for this one! He found the cd in the dumpster at our apartment and instantly thought of Kuato! Way to go, Honey!***

Big Water + Boat + Good Friends = My Happy Place

We spent a beautiful afternoon and evening on our friend's, Nathan, boat on Percy Priest Lake. The air temperature was 85 degrees while the water temperature was 86. Clear, blue skies and no humidity. It was perfect.

The Crew

My dear friend, LBJ...she is as beautiful on the inside too!

The boys had a great time swimming. Magnus was fearless. He was jumping off the boat, swimming away from the boat, and by the end of the day he was diving! Thane was a bit more cautious, but I was just happy he wanted to go in!




After a bit of swimming, we got the skis out. Collin had not been skiing since he was about 12. He was able to get up, but then the lake got the best of him.



I had skied before, but I am by no means good. The last time I had skied was about 15 years ago. I was able to get up and stay up for about 5-10 seconds. A victory! However, there are no photos to prove it.


LBJ's fate was much like Collin's. She was able to get up, but then...


Nate, on the other hand, grew up on the lake. Here he is wake boarding...

Wanna see who else tried it...

He completely surprised us! You have to understand, this is the same kid who, at the beginning of the summer, was afraid to jump into the 3ft. with a life vest and a floaty ring!
He, however, was unable to control the skies, so Nate pulled him in...


Here are some great photos from our day...




Check out the cool effect the water created behind me and Collin. By the end of the day, we were pooped!