newport beach!!!!

here's the totem pole picture for the year. we took this before we went to newport.

these are all the grandkids in my family minus cody (he was sleeping on a towel nearby.) cole was missing too.

all the "men" in the fam. from left to right: shaun, rick, jay, gary, scott, adam and jonathan

carson was hatching a plan that involved seaweed.



cody kept trying to balance on this bucket. it was so cute. he was so proud of himself.

here are our sandy feet

cody and i and my dad and carson on the merry go round at balboa's fun zone. carson's picture looks just like the one that was taken last year at the same place. it wasn't planned, but i'm not complaining!! i think both pictures emanate euphoric, wild happiness that comes with being a child that i miss in myself!!

here's carson as spongebob and jaden as a mermaid. carson is standing up in the sand. he was so excited to be buried standing up as spongebob. i buried him as spongebob last year too, but for some reason he thought it was my sister, tiffany who buried him. we actually got into a fight about it a few months ago!! so i had to prove to him it was i who made a magnificent sand-bob. as you can see, he was pleased.

family pic at balboa

the munchkins at balboa fun zone: roxcy, cody, jaden, carson and mckay

carson under the pier

i love this picture!! this is taken under the newport pier. we try to take pics here every year. jonathan woke up at 5:30 one morning and went down to the pier to get sea shells (it's the best time) and found me 3 sand dollars!! thanks, hun!!

also, love this picture!! codes under the pier

Workmans Creek Camping

So, day two after getting very little sleep from the restless boys, we got up and after breakfast, we took a drive up to the top of the mountain. The day was overcast and with the thick, lush dense surrounding forest, I felt like I was in a scene from Twilight. We finally reached to top and there was a fire lookout tower that we were invited to climb to the top of. It seemed like we could see the whole state from the top with 360 degree mountain and forest views.

We took a few more mile or so hikes that had marked trails towards the top of the mountain and headed back to camp. Along the road, we saw the waterfall that we were hiking to and knew about how far away it was at that point. After lunch, although very tired at this point, with the rain on and off all day, we decided to give it another go.

I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but Cody was asleep most of the hike to the waterfall. Carson, again after all the hiking was still being a big mountain boy and keeping up the best he could.

After what seemed like forever, we finally made it. The water was freezing, coming over the cliff, but it was beautiful. Jonathan walked under it a few times and the boys laughed at him for screaming that it was so cold.

We found a treacherous way out close to the 200 ft falls and stopped to see the view one more time. It was well worth it. We made our way back to camp walking on the road, enjoyed dinner and s'mores yet again. It rained hard all night. Jonathan and I were up talking with the lantern on for a few hours in the middle of the night as we remembered all of the flash flood warnings. I think we might have slept one or two hours. We were sore from all the hiking and decided to make our way over to Safford for some natural mineral hot springs to soak in before making the trek home. After being home a couple of days we wish we were still there.

Workmans Creek Camping

Sunday night we decided to go on a camping adventure. I always told Jonathan about camping at Workman's creek as a child with the family and the good times we had, so he decided we should take a trip to see what all the fuss was about. We headed out Monday morning and leisurely arrived at our campsite just afternoon. It was a great drive and the boys took naps along the way. We set up camp and had lunch and started hiking up the creek to find the waterfall we saw while researching the place online.

It seemed like forever walking in the cold water. Carson was a trooper and complained very little until he got soaked after slipping and falling in the water a few times. Cody was in the backpack on Jonathan's back and just wanted to get out and run around. There were a few fun little cascading waterfalls along the way. Fallen trees and broken down brush prevented us from going the whole distance and we turned back to make it in time for dinner.

Carson thought he was a real mountain man.

The boys had a ton of fun camping together, looking for firewood, and eating s'mores for two nights in a row.

new clutch posted at my etsy.com shop!

this is the newest clutch to go up in my etsy shop. i love these colors together and i am in love with it!! jonathan even thought it was cute so i put it up in my etsy shop!! if you're interested, look here. thanks!! new post to come later today or tomorrow about our fun 3 day camping trip to workman's creek!!

the results are in!!

the winner of the clutch giveaway, thanks to random.org is comment #7, JEN SHERWOOD!!! congrats jen and thanks!! just email me with your address and i will mail it to you before the week is over!!! thanks to everyone who participated and stay tuned...there's more stuff coming up and that just might mean another giveaway!! thanks again!!

ONLY ONE MORE DAY AND THE GIVEAWAY IS OVER!!

on tuesday night i will be drawing a winner for one of the clutches from my etsy shop!! i also posted a new clutch in my etsy shop so have a look, leave a comment and good luck!! i will post the winner either tuesday night or wednesday morning!!