The Beauty of Home

As a teenager, I wanted to see the world.  I couldn't wait to go to college and move away from my little corner of Northern California.  Now that I've lived in the desert for almost 8 years, I see the ordinary beauty of my hometown with new eyes every time I go home to visit.  This park was always the source of negative memories as a teenager... I worked a summer job here that I hated, and my track coach liked to make us run up the hills here for training.  Needless to say, I didn't have fond memories of Pena Adobe.  

Cousins

My brother-in-law is now raising his family in my home town, so while we were visiting, they suggested hiking together in Pena Adobe.  Not only was it fun, but gorgeous too.  Early winter rains had turned the hills green and it was beautiful. 

There's many fire roads and trails that lead to the tops of surrounding hills, so we tackled one my nieces   and nephews are particulary fond of.  There's a super big oak tree with lots of low branches for swinging, climbing and playing.

          

             

 

               

   

Almost done with our hike, we made the kids pose on these rocks for a photo.  

 We had so much fun, I'll think we'll make hiking Pena Adobe a regular addition to our "must do" list while we are home visiting.  Maybe next time it will even be a bit warmer.  ;-)

Cousins

Now I know why I've slacked off so badly on the blog.  Now that I shoot photos in RAW format, it's so much more work to make them blog ready.  (But it's worth the effort...)

Here's some shots from a photo shoot we did just for fun in my hometown with Taylor and my niece, Ashlyn.  They are three days apart and super close.... despite the 800 miles of interstate separating them.  (Thank goodness for cell phones and Facebook, right?)

Ashlyn hasn't had any senior photos done yet, so we went Downtown and had some fun taking pictures of her and both of them together.  These are some of my favorites!

Next fall, Taylor will be who knows where serving a church mission, and Ashlyn will be going to college somewhere in Utah... if not BYU Provo, then I think Weber State is choice #2... then Utah State... can't wait to see where she ends up!  She's one talented and beautiful girl.  I'm so thankful we have her in our family.  

             

                  

 

More Cousins

The second half of our visit was spent with Eric’s family.  We spent the Saturday before the 4th of July at Stinson beach.  It was crowded, but the weather was PERFECT.  And when I say perfect, I mean it.  NorCal beaches have a nasty reputation for being foggy, having super cold water, and being plagued with frequent shark attacks.   The water was still cold (low 60’s I think)  but we didn’t have any shark problems that day.  It was also gorgeous.  We didn’t arrive till almost noon, but by that point, the fog had burned off and it was a perfect 70 degree day.  The perfect weather for sitting on the beach without getting hot and sweaty!  I did erase about half the pictures I originally uploaded to this post.  I didn’t want to overwhelm you with the millions of wave pictures I took.  But, the kids will never forget what a great time they had together that day!

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

BBQ in Benicia

I have almost as many fond memories of my aunt's house in Benicia as I do of my grandma's house in Concord.   So many get-togethers and sleepovers with our cousins.  Good times!  Now it's time for my kids to play with my cousins' kids in that same back yard!

When your back yard has two levels, it's automatically easy for boys to find a way to entertain themselves with some game or another.

And Uncle Stan has plenty of entertainment for the older generation of kids too.  Taylor was in heaven getting to go for a ride in the Cobra.

Goofy uncles... some things NEVER change.

Boys... check out how tall Jakob is... he's only 11!  Unfortunately, we didn't get this picture before Jayden had been put to bed, so we'll have to photoshop him into it later! 

Jakob gets the tall genes from his mom and dad... in this picture of Heidi and I, I am standing on my tip toes and she's still a bunch taller than me!

I'm so glad someone had the sense to make sure we got this picture.  Four generations of girls:  Grandma Bea, her two daughters Carol and Karen, then me and Heidi, and our daughters, Megan and Cami.

 It was wonderful to spend some time together with Heidi, Rob and their kids... even if it was just for a couple hours.  And I'm glad we got to squeeze in another afternoon with my grandma, even if we did wear her out!  I think she'd say it's well worth it!

This was our summer vacation grand finale... and I'm glad we were able to squeeze a visit in before having to get ready for the back-to-school rush.  I've learned that living far away from the family makes time visiting so much more precious and meaningful.  No one has a perfect family, but I am truly grateful for the families that Eric and I have been blessed with.  We love you all!