Tis the season for Christ

Reminiscing on last year I remember being so focused on our wedding that Christmas was pretty much overlooked. Wedding day was a thousand times bigger then Christmas day. It was such a relief when the semester ended and the Big Day went beautifully. We spent Christmas soaking up rays of sunshine on the beach in Mexico. For that reason it feels like it's been two years since Christmas. I'm in love with Christmas music! Yum hot chocolate! I helped Phil hang a string of lights on our little house even before Thanksgiving. It probably helps that I'm not in school so I have a lot more time to think about it.

Also, I work at Pier 1. They've had Christmas stuff up since before Halloween, which makes it a long time in coming. They have hundreds of ornaments, decorations, wreaths, and holiday candles. One thing that seems to be missing though is Christ. Like... where are the Nativity sets? They have Santa, Reindeer, and Snowmen galore, but nothing about Christ. I guess that works if you want to have a "Happy Holiday," but it doesn't fly with me. I'm an old fashioned believer in a "Merry Christmas."

What a beautiful sight. Lately I've been thinking about what kinds of traditions I want to start in my family for Christmas. Do you have any favorites? What do you do to help remember the true meaning of Christmas?

Happiness is a grateful heart

Hungry
Need help

I read this on a cardboard sign that was held by a man that on all counts was homeless. You know, tatered clothes, wrinkled face, a white beard. I usually look away and ignore people like him. I'm so ashamed to say that I often think negative thoughts like- "He just wants money for alcohol" without even thinking about what a hard life it must be. It was 10:30 at night and he was kneeling at the exit of a nearly deserted parking lot, on a night when many of us were getting ready for a big feast the next day- Thanksgiving. When I saw his sorry sign I was struck with sadness. I wished I had some food for him. It was hard to imagine how he lives with so little when many, including me, complain about trivial things.

So often I find myself getting caught up in wanting things without feeling grateful for what I already have. I hadn't been in a very "Thanksgiving" mood. Sometimes being surrounded by people that have so much just seems to highlight how little we have. We don't have a TV, or new cars, or a nice kitchen, or a big house... but that's okay.

Because we do have a LOT to be thankful for:

A warm house
Food to eat
Wonderful parents & family
Clean clothes
A beautiful quilt
An education in progress
A laptop
Kind neighbors
A hope chest built by my father
The gospel
A temple marriage
Love that will last forever
& much more
 
And that's plenty enough. Because happiness doesn't depend on how much you have.
Happiness is a grateful heart :)

My 22nd Birthday

This year my birthday was on a Friday! To make it even better, I'm not in school. WOO! Seemed like the perfect day for Six Flags Magic Mountain. We drove down to Valencia (Near L.A.) on my birthday and stayed in a hotel that normally costs $169 for $58 because we used Priceline. It felt like we had pulled a trick on someone, staying in such a nice hotel for a crappy motel price. The outdoor pool and hot tub were great and we were the only ones that even dared go close. Seriously people, the pool was HEATED. (But I was okay with keeping that a secret.) We ate at Olive Garden for dinner, and I even got a candle in my pumpkin cheesecake. I was feeling pretty spoiled :)

Saturday we got to the park just as they opened, and started a mad dash for the roller coasters. The first one we went on was called Goliath and had something like a 255 ft first drop. I thought my heart was going to stop beating it was so scary. Another of my favorites was Tatsu- which means dragon in Japanese. It is the world's tallest and fastest flying coaster (where you ride suspended underneath, and then the seats rotate 90 degrees so you are looking down at the ground.) It was just incredible, and it didn't make me feel nauseous at all. X2 was of course a blast- it's the first 4D coaster (?) All I know is the way my seat flipped independent of the coaster loops, as well as the flame throwers... well it just blew my mind.

I guess Viper is also one worth mentioning. It's the tallest multilooper in the world and has 7 to be exact. (Made me feel sick.) It especially made me feel sick when we realized that our keys had disappeared into it's jaws. This could have ruined the rest of our day, but we tried to stay calm thinking through our options. After several tries a few security guys were able to slim jim their way into our car. Alas, no spare keys. Our next option was to have someone make a new key, but that was pretty expensive. We decided to wait until the park closed and they searched under the coaster for us. But before that was necessary our keys were returned to the lost and found! So we dashed around and made it on a few more roller coasters- to the point where I could hardly walk straight. We didn't even have time to ride anything but roller coasters. Magic mountain is tied with Cedar Point in Ohio for most roller coaster in a park- 17, and we made it to about 9 or 10 of the biggest and best. No bad at all.

It was a good birthday :)

 A big thanks to my mom for sewing this quilt. It is absolutely beautiful. She started it for our wedding, but due to a crazy year I got it for my birthday. Definitely worth the wait. Thanks Mom! Also, thanks to Phil I got some sweet new boots.

 Hanging out at the outdoor fireplace by the pool at our hotel

And making candy apples! A gift from my sister. Thanks Karen! We had fun making them.

Happy Halloween!

"Thriller" by Micheal Jackson

I miss being a kid when it comes to Halloween. Nothing quite beats dressing up and trick or treating. Not to mention all the candy. But here is a video that is sure to get you in the Halloween spirit, whether you're wearing a costume or not. 

The little gem of Exeter, CA

The charming town of Exeter is only a short drive away from us. We spent an almost perfect Saturday afternoon enjoying the place. It may be small in size, but certainly not in personality. This place takes pride in their 29 murals. After lunch at the Wildflower cafe we were off to see them! (Sadly, I'm only posting a few.) I love that I was able to learn so much about the history of the area just from seeing and learning about these beautiful murals. I wonder how much time was spent painting each one. 

"Orange Harvest." This mural was the first one painted. This looks like it could be a
part of the scenery- when you get out of town this is what you see 

"In Our Backyard"

"Men+Mules+Water=Power"

"Hometown News." To Phillip's delight he found a real wrench attached to this one

"Yokohl Brand"

"Golden Harvest"

"Passport to Paradise"

"The People Behind the Label"

"Our Town, Circa 1925"

Dedicated to the veterans- "Freedom Fighters" 

We had fun seeing them all from our bike despite the 90 degree weather. Ice cream was necessary!

Rocky Hill Ice Cream Parlor. This place made a fun trip SUPER

This older gentlemen retired and thought he'd try the ice cream business. He made us the best milkshakes we have ever tasted! They were made with local ice cream and milk (Tulare is actually the top dairy producing county in the country, 2nd in agricultural production after Fresno.) I never thought a lemon milkshake and a banana milkshake could be better then anything with chocolate, but they were. We must go back for more!

What the ultimate* camping trip has going for it

A great location

Wildlife

A campfire and marshmellows 

Mountains and a lake

Yummy food

Especially tin foil dinners!

Perhaps a waterfall

And a hike to an old wildfire lookout

Elevation 8502

 

But most importantly- your favorite person!

                                                                                                                                                                           
This ultimate camping trip happened at Hume Lake two weeks ago. There was even some snow up there so apparently they weren't lying- it does snow in CA. Yay for camping! What does your ultimate camping trip have going for it?



*Although fun camping experiences have been known to occur in unsuspecting places such as the back yard, sagebrush infested Nevada, and beneath the Christmas tree.

Breakfast dinner gone wrong

Oh the glorious breakfast dinner. Can't think of anything to make? Hungry for an omelet? Breakfast dinner to the rescue! This is awesome because 1. Breakfast foods rock. 2. It's easy to decide between say breakfast burritos or pancakes and skip the debate and 3. Breakfast breakfast is turning into too much cereal and as we all know, breakfast foods ROCK.

So the other day I got home from work and I was really hungry. If you know me well, you know that when I get hungry I can get pretty grouchy. So to combat that I made some waffles, cracked some eggs in the frying pan, and pretty pretty please asked Phil to sit in his seat NOW. Phil knew what to do. He sat right down and offered to say the prayer too. (I have the best husband.) Somewhere in the middle of the prayer there was a clatter. This was the clatter of my frying pan falling off the hot plate and my still raw eggs being catapulted into the carpet. And there they sat until I had eaten my waffles.

My husband doesn't read this blog

Sometimes when I ask him to he might skim through a post. But most of the time he has no idea what's on here. But here is a post he will not want to miss. These pictures were taken BY HIM or OF HIM, and today I'm talking ABOUT HIM.      
                                                                                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                        Here's a harbor at Monterrey. Which is an absolutely beautiful place. It's a shame that we didn't have our new camera yet so we only took a couple of pics on Phil's phone. We watched a friend compete in a triathlon, and enjoyed the day at the wharf and the beach. I love vacations with Phillip Montour :)

(By the way our friend is the bishop from this post. He's in his 50's and did an awesome job on his first Tri ever- Olympic distance!)

                                                                                     

We rode our banana bike around by the beach and got asked where we'd rented such a sweet bike. We OWN this bad boy. We picked it up about a week after we got to Visalia. Phil saw the FOR SALE sign as we were driving by someone's house. He turned the car around and said "If that's less then $150 I'm buying it." And I'm all like WHAT?!  Best $30 we've ever spent.
 

Phil planted these carrots and beet in a flower pot back in April. He was on a gardening kick. (I think he just wanted me to make him Russian Borscht .) We got nervous at the CA border, but luckily they didn't confiscate them. WHEW haha.                            

And this is me painting the walls he built on our trailer. Phil loves it when I help him with projects. I swear it's one of his love languages. He's always like want to help me on the car? Want to help me drill some holes? Sometimes I grumble... but I'm trying.

And then I saw this good looking picture of Phil the cowboy and it was too cute to not include. These two are old- from last fall when Phil was working his mechanical bull job. He would travel to fairs or private parties and set this thing up and then buck people off. Whenever I would ride I would beg him not to dump me. Good times.

Think he'll want to read this post?

Pool House Bungalow

We live here. 

We're completely surrounded by a pecan orchard so it's pretty quiet. We feel like we're in a forest. It's nice.

                                                                                         

We also don't mind the pool and golf either :) The biggest downside is the kitchen- it's not really a kitchen at all. We cook on hot plates and a two burner camp stove. But I'm getting creative! 

Hey family, if you come visit we can camp right there on the golf green :)