spirit days forever!!!

I always loved spirit days in school...when we got to dress up in crazy ways! A bonus of working with kids is that i still get to participate in the fun!!! This last week was "Dress like a candy cane day!" At first i figured I'd just layer one red and one white shirt...but then i realized how much further i could go!!! It's amazing how an outfit can make an entire day more enjoyable! hmm, maybe i should get more creative every day....of maybe not! :)

Fall as Favorite??

I've ALWAYS loved the Summer far beyond any other season! Since moving to Folsom, though, things might be changing. Seasons are different here than in Portland. Summers are hotter, which i don't mind, but fall.....fall is still sunny, warm AND the trees are like God's art everywhere!!! It's like He got excited and started painting! I'm LOVING it! So fall is not in competition for first place...we'll see.

Before sharing some of the colors...i still must include a palm tree since i don't think i'll ever get over the fact that i now live next to these tropical, what i've always seen as "vacation trees." This particular tree is along the path on my walk to work.

My favorite colors in one place....BEAUTY on the sidewalk!

The tree that the leaves fell from...which is also FABULOUS!!! The photo doesn't do the colors justice.
All of these pictures are taken on my walk to work and next to the building where i work. i am daily stunned by the beauty!
if i knew how to use the camera better, this picture would be more brilliant and show that this tree was truly glowing against the blue sky!
Again, you might be able to appreciate the beauty, but in person is always best! There are just so many colors mixed together in one place! WOW!!

i wish i could capture the many more views even as i drive the bus to pick up the kids from school. From flaming red that makes a bunch of trees look like they are on fire, to a full rainbow of colors displayed by a variety of trees all in one place! It literally takes my breath away every time i see it!

....another good reason to come and visit us so you can see for yourselves! :) can you tell that i'm ready for visitors! :)

happiness on my porch

i find a lot of rest and joy spending time on our porch. It's the simple pleasures, isn't it? Here are some pictures....

YAY!!! The goldfinches are back from their summer vacation!!!

And the sparrows are down below.

This is the view walking up the path to our apartment. Maybe next summer I can invest in some hanging baskets! :) The goldfinch feeder is around on the left where you cant' see here.

My pepper plant!!! If you enlarge the photo you can see more clearly that there are maybe 6-8 peppers waiting to turn red!! I just don't have enough stakes to keep it from falling over! :)

This is my favorite planter at it's best!

i love these flowers! SO pretty and they've lasted for months now!

And these are the hardiest flowers of them all! Some of these have lasted for over a year now! I just trimmed them back a couple weeks ago and put the trimmings in a vase inside where they also continue to thrive simply in water!

Some days this little guy comes for a drink just about every 10-15 minutes!

I just wish he'd bring his girlfriend since the females are SUPER pretty!

And our latest visitor is this little cutie!!! We think that someone must have moved out and left her here. We and the neighbors have been taking care of her, but we've GOT to find her a home since i'm already quite attached.

COME VISIT MY PORCH!!! :)

We'll sit, talk and enjoy life together!!

Those of you from PDX can escape the rain...we even had 80 degree weather just a week ago and have only had bits of rain! REALLY!!! Come and see for yourselves!!

a fun date

Why haven't i posted in so long? Life...you know how that is...and i've been taking some online classes for work, which have taken most of my free time. I have a break for a month so i think i'll try to catch up a bit.

How about some pictures of a fun date a month or so ago?

One thing that I've quickly learned about California is that there was GOLD here! The grade schoolers that I work with often go on field trips to the nearby historic town of Coloma, which was the first gold mining town in this area. Matt and I decided to venture out to see it for ourselves.

The town was tiny and pretty run down, but was still fun to see. We came across what looked like some abandoned gold panning troughs and decided to look through the tiny rocks for gold...and we found some!!! I figured it was just fools gold, but we later found out that it's real and that the troughs are still used today for events and field trips for kids.
Since we finished exploring Coloma pretty quickly, we decided to drive a little further and visit the small town of Placerville, a.k.a. "Hangtown." The name gives it's history, but this town is actually lived in and more than just a historical site.
I found my new favorite shop!!! Mom, i have to take you here when you come again! My favorite thing about it is all the tiny little birds of different varieties!
We also enjoyed trying some vintage and some strange types of SODA!! (i can hardly say "pop" anymore...i've just gotten too many strange looks and comments. it almost sounds funny to ME now. NO, I WILL NOT LET GO OF MY OREGON ROOTS...it's POP!!! anyone with me?). Almost every tourist shop had at least a few varieties.
We ended the day at a great little cafe with some Gelato! YUM!

Big Red

At long last we decided to cut our one big red pepper from the plant! It was a momentous occasion! It was the first pepper I'd ever grown and the first one I've ever SEEN grown!

It was a wonderful deep red and tasted just okay.

As soon as we cut it off, the plant started growing more than ever before. Flowers started showing up and now there are several tiny peppers showing their bottoms. :) Hmm, I wonder if they will all grow large and red or if we'll just end up with lots of baby peppers.....just wait....I'll let you know The REST Of The Story as soon as it happens! :)

Sly Park Adventures!

Last weekend we got to go camping for the SECOND time in one year!!! That's a first for us! AND we were so excited to get to go WITH some friends- the Searles. We've gotten to know them through our church and they are quickly becoming great friends.

Here's our campsite (i don't know why this is blue and underlined). The campground is less than an hour from Folsom and well known around this area. It was the craziest set-up I've ever seen in a campground. Each site was crammed right up next to the ones around it. We were pretty much camping with the two sites next to us. It actually didn't end up bothering as like we thought it would.

This is Gabe- husband and dad! He and Matt enjoy playing around on guitar and have lead worship together at church.
And this is Jaime. God has definitely directed our paths together as we were both in need of a good friend. We enjoy getting together to just talk about life every few weeks.

And here's the kids!!! Can you tell that they are full of fun!

They are helping to get the corn ready to cook in the fire!

This is London. I think he's in 2nd grade this year. It was especially fun to watch him discover all kinds of new things on his first ever camping trip! Playing with sticks in the fire was the most exciting....and of course giant s'mores!
This is Adalaide (spelling is off I'm sure), or Addie, who is just as adventurous as her brothers! She's in kindergarten this year and is very social and full of love.
Porter is the youngest and quite the spitfire! We really enjoyed getting to know and spend time with the whole family! Lots of fun and far more entertaining than when we camp alone! :)The first day I was REALLY grumpy since the weather went from being 104 degrees on Wednesday to about 68 on Saturday! BLA!!! As you most likely know, I get pretty miserable when I'm cold, so I spent lots of time by the fire, took a nap in warm blankets or tried to be a bit active...skipping rocks is always fun! Again, this was a first for London and he LOVED it!
Gabe found some wood on a trail and Matt enjoyed chopping it up to use for the fire! The group and their finds!

And I fully enjoyed the results with Addie!

Gabe brought along some harmonicas and Porter joined in with his dad!

They were all quite entertaining!

We all went on a hike before they had to leave on Sunday!

One last pose for the road...all with their "staffs"!

Matt and I had the afternoon left, so drove around the lake to check out the other campgrounds. Here's a view from the end of the lake.
Havin' some fun campfire time doing some Mad Libs! The campground was pretty eerie since it was almost totally empty Sunday night. Hmm, not sure we like that feeling, especially in bear country.
I was SO glad that we had one more day, since camping just doesn't feel complete without sun and swimming! We spent the afternoon on the beach with just the sun, water, a bit of wind, and the ducks!!!
and MORE ducks! They weren't shy at all. Here's mama with her teenage ducklings!

And some good time to worship and get our perspective on track.

Even though the sun and heat was absent for the most part, we're glad we went and are thankful for a break from normal life. We hope that next time we'll get to go with some family!!:)