The Daring Camping Journey

You know its bad when even your husband notices you haven’t blogged in awhile.  Horrible.

So instead of trying to catch you up I will instead just start with our big vacation last week.

I realized on Wednesday morning that I had nothing ready for a week long camping trip other then a ton of mental checklists of things I knew I would forget.  I decided to make what I believed was the wise choice and actually write down my checklist and take a few hours off of work on Thursday morning to complete the checklist before we left on Friday.

I deem this plan a success.  I like success.

I packed (and repacked and repacked and repacked) all of our stuff and piled it in a corner to prep for Justin’s car packing job the following day.  I repacked a couple of suitcases several times since Elijah loved the idea of taking everything out of a suitcase when I left the room to hide in it.  Cute, but insanely frustrating.

I barely finished my day on Thursday at work and headed home to clean.  Travis graciously accepted our offer to watch our apartment for us while we were gone and he had to stay in a clean house!  Friday morning came and I packed the last minute things and Justin and Travis loaded the car.  We headed to my parents house around lunch time and slept their for our early morning drive.

Day 1:

We left around 4 AM from Montclair and headed to Grant Lake (Near Mammoth/June Lake) only stopping for Gas and Breakfast a couple of times.  We got to Grant right around lunch time and began to unpack.  We needed to keep the kids occupied so they spent a lot of time that first day in the dirt.  We gave Elijah a LONG leash to keep him in the campsite since we were all very distracted with unpacking and didn’t want to risk him running off.  My Mom and my Dad went out that night for a ride in the boat and some fishing while the rest of us enjoyed nice evening under the stars roasting marshmallows.

Day 2:

(Father’s Day) Justin got up way early the next morning and went fishing on the boat with my dad.  The rest of us hung out for awhile at the site just spending time together as a family.  When the boys got back Taylor got her first chance to clean (gut) some fish.  She was enthusiastic until my dad made the first cut... then she decided to just watch.  We headed to Mammoth for a few supplies we had forgotten (and ended up not finding) and stopped to get some ice cream at Thrifty’s.  Yum!  When we got back to camp then a few of us went back on the boat for some fishing (Taylor and Jordan’s first time).  The girls go bored after a few minutes and decided leaning over the boat and touching the water was far more exciting.  We headed back and spent the rest of the night just hanging out and watching movies.

Day 3:

The kids were still enjoying playing in the dirt and my attempt to keep them clean for at least one day resulted in a plan of going back to Mammoth and letting the kids play in a play place at McDonalds for lunch.  We headed back to Mammoth and had a good lunch before heading to the Fish Hatchery to let the kids see a TON of fish and feed them.  Seriously you drop 1 bit of food in there and the whole area goes crazy, it was pretty cool to watch.  We headed back to camp and spent some time blowing bubbles and hanging out at camp. Later that night Taylor and I went night fishing with my dad.  Like she should – she crawled into the front of the boat and fell asleep to the sound of the water (my favorite camping pastime).  The winds were pretty horrible that night and it woke up the kids several times with large gusts.  At one point Justin even had to re-stake part of the tent.

Day 4:

(My Mom’s Bday) We had a pretty normal morning, but for lunch we headed to Mono Cone (AMAZING ice cream and burger place).  We had lunch and then split up.  My parents and sister headed back to camp while Justin and I took the kids to a gorgeous park nearby.  We had a lot of fun a the park!  The girls and I made their first flower crowns and we discovered a drinking fountain with insanely high water pressure that Justin decided should soak the kids.  They had a great time and we headed back to camp.  When we go back we spent some time by the lake shore getting wet and tossing rocks in (maybe Taylor’s favorite thing ever)

Day 5:

During this whole visit Justin had been in pain due to a month old ear infection that is “gone” according to the Doctor, but still bugs him.  We decided that we were running out of distractions for the kids and Justin’s pain was causing him lack of sleep and headaches so we were heading home a day early.  We packed up our stuff and spent one more afternoon on the boat with the whole family before heading home.  We stopped for gas and lunch but other then that it was a non stop race to get to our own beds.  Elijah did not like the ride home and cried a good chunk of the time.  Once were home though the girls were knocked out and Elijah was in heaven.  He ran around the house grabbing and playing with ALL of his toys he could get his hands on.  We brought toys with us, but apparently he missed the ones he left behind.  Around 11 PM we finally had to get the kid in bed so Justin and I could sleep too.

Of course the next day was spent doing 500 loads of laundry and unpacking.  The next day (Friday now) we had the guys over for a game in the afternoon before Justin and Sam headed to a Five Iron Frenzy concert.  After that we have our typical weekend activities.

So that was our week last week. Busy, Fun, Amazing. 

THEN I came back to work on Monday to this in my cubicle. 

I love my coworkers so much!  And not love like “Hey you are awesome”, but love like “I cherish our relationship and the blessing you are in my life”.  I mean seriously…they’re awesome.  I know I was missed and loved while I was gone.

P.S. Sorry for my lack of blogging recently, hopefully I can get the energy to get back to it on a regular basis.

The Place I Work

So I’ve been meaning to tell you all about where I work for some time now.  Because I love it.  Not just my job (which is awesome).  Not just because my incredible coworkers (which are even more awesome).  But most specifically how gorgeous our “campus” is.

I work at a bank.  It doesn’t look like a bank at all.  If you walk into our first building it is all office/bank like, but its everything else I felt the desire to share with you.

All around the buildings are gorgeous plants and flowers with places to sit everywhere.  You have the option of sitting on the side of our first building near flowers and bunnies hoping around.

You have the option of sitting in the “picnic” type area that consists of a mini amphitheatre type layout with covered tables and lots of shade.  And what’s that you hear? Running Water?

Yes it is, because the other option you have is sitting in one of the many tables surrounding a waterfall and small pond type thing with ducks swimming around and all.

I work here! At any point during my day I can eat lunch in a relaxing environment or take a stroll on my break through trees, flowers, and grass.  AWESOME!

There has been more then one occasion where I have been walking between buildings for whatever reason and I just stop to admire the beauty of our “campus”…not just the “hey nature is pretty”, but the “God created this and I get to enjoy it”. 

There’s also the fact we have a “sanctuary”, but that’s a story for a different time.  Enjoy some stolen pictures of what I get to enjoy Mon-Fri every week.

Over Planning

There is such thing as over planning.  There really is.  I have a problem with over planning things in my head.  I make these mental checklists of the things I need to get done.  The problem is they tend to be huge lists and then usually 3 or 4 of them going on at the same time so I just forget to get stuff done.

So with Friday fast approaching and this being the day we load up our car to head to my parents house for an early morning departure of around 4 AM I am beginning to FREAK OUT!

I have SO much to do this week!!! AH!  First of all we have an apartment inspection today so we had to clean the random parts of our house like the walls and doors to make it look like we don’t have 3 kids…::sigh::

The worst part is we DO have 3 kids and they do stupid stuff like color on the walls…on walls that have SUPER cheap paint on them (with led) so we can’t clean the walls because the paint just comes off when we try.  Yeah…it’s true.

So I’m pretty sure we’re going to get in trouble about the state of our house and if you’ve been there you know we aren’t pure slobs…we just have 3 kids with a lot toys and energy.  And I don’t know what getting in “trouble” looks like.

On top of that I have a dinner thing I have to do followed very closely by an Open House to meet Taylor’s teacher which we only found out about last week.  That’s just tonight so that means no time for getting ready.

Then we have Wednesday which is youth night so I get home early, but then Justin leaves and trying to get all the pack done with the kids running around is just asking for trouble (forgotten things or things just taken right out of the suitcase as I pack it).

That leaves Thursday.  Just Thursday night of course which means there’s no room for any double checking or triple checking.  I mean we’ll have 5 people in a tent for a week…we don’t want to forget something since its not like a Target is down the street.

All that to say I’m finding it awfully difficult to concentrate today.  I think I need to make an actual written checklist to get my stuff in order.  I’ll spare you those details.

One Person's Food is Another Person's Artwork

So I really like food.  Aside from eating (which is awesome) love to look at, smell, and just enjoy food.  That sounds weird I know, but its true.

Lunch time is one of my favorite times at work since I sit really close to the galley (where people prep their meals for consumption).  I love to sit and just enjoy the smells wafting out of galley.  Its pleasant.

One of my coworkers called me the “Salad Admirer” the other day because aside from the wonder smell food produces it can also look so scrumptious.  A visually appealing meal is something I enjoy looking at.  Some people stare at works of art, I think food is just as gorgeous.  The bright colors and shapes.  Amazing.

So when I see somebody about to eat a meal or preparing their meal and it looks pretty – I tell them.  I fear I come across as creepy or a food beggar or something.  When I comment on how amazing your food looks its not because I’m passively asking you to share (that’s just awkward) I am really just commenting on a “work of art”.

Of course the best part of food is tasting the beautifully sculpted and delicious smelling items on a plate, but that’s not all I enjoy about food.

This is probably the same reason I have an addition to Food Network.  I don’t watch to be a better cook (although I could really use the help in that area), but I watch to look at the amazing presentations.  To just look and say…that looks beautifully yummy.

Don’t these look so gorgeous that you’d love to just take one bite?!

An Over Sentimental Thought

A friend of mine is renewing her vows this year and it got me thinking about how much my life has changed in the almost 6 years Justin and I have been married.


I’m not talking about the marriage part of it – everyone knows how that changes and morphs as you grow with each other, but the who is in my life part.
I’m not sure I’m a “renew my vows” kind of girl, but if I were, and if I did, I’d want to go big. Mostly because our wedding was thrown together with about 6 weeks of planning on a $2,000 budget so there were so many things I “wished” we could have done.

I’d want a beach “wedding” for sure. I love the beach. 6 years ago I struggled to think of people to be in my wedding…I wasn’t close to many people – especially female people. Now I think – can I have a wedding party (just girls) of like 6…and even that would be difficult to narrow it down to. If you are wondering right now “I wonder if I’m one of those 6” you probably are. If you just assume you are not then you are probably right as well.
I hope I make it obvious to the special women in my life how much I love and cherish our friendship. I hope they (you) all know what a special part you play in our lives. I try to express that as often as I can, but if I don’t. Hear it now.

I know…this is a little over sentimental today which is not usually my style, but today I was just reminded about God’s abundant blessing in my life of amazing friends. So thank you Lord for choosing me to bless with these wonderful people. I hope I can be even a fraction of the blessing to them that they are to me.

Two Year Old Coming Through!

We celebrated Elijah’s birthday a little early and he is only 2 so he really doesn’t even care about birthday’s yet unless there is a cake or a gift in front of his face at that moment.

So it’s easy to understand that until about 30 minutes ago when I was writing the date on a deposit slip I did not realize today is his actual birthday.  I was like “oh, wow today’s the 5^th? It’s Eli’s birthday!”

So here is some info on my handsome little man with the big ears:

I don’t have any of his statistics…so you’ll get those in a month when I get to actually have his 2 year appointment since I can’t go until July ::sigh::

What I can tell you is he’s a stick…a short stick.  Last time we went he was 5^th percentile for wait and only 40^th percentile for height.  Poor kid will have his older sister’s towering over him for a few more years at least.

He is a talker…but more so he’s a singer.  He loves music (making his daddy proud).  He sings along at the top of his lungs to songs he knows and wiggles his body (dances) to anything with a beat.  On Sunday’s after church the first then he does most days is run to the drum set on stage and pound away.  If Justin has his guitar out there is nothing that can hold Eli back from strumming.  An open piano puts a smile on this kids face.

He loves cars…anything with wheels really.  When he is really into it he lies on the ground on one cheek with his butt in the air and drives a car back and forth in front of his face making noises.  I think that’s his way of getting into the same “world” as the car.  It must look much cooler from that point of view.

His favorite foods are fruits of any kind, corn, carrots with ranch, and recently a love for scrambled eggs.  He eats ok, but playing with his food is much more interesting then making it to his mouth.

He sleeps well.  He’s in bed by 8 and wakes up around 7.  He naps well too.  If he isn’t in the mood to sleep he will quietly play with his train set in his room before crawling to bed.  He is by far the easiest toddler we have had as far as bedtime goes.  Not so much with temperament, but at least with sleep.

This boy has an attitude and energy to go with it.  I think it’s a mixture of being a 2 year old, the only boy, and the youngest that brings out his inner roar.  The girls (despite our best efforts) take advantage of his small young self and take things from him constantly.  This has spawned a new behavior in Elijah.  If he’s playing with something and ANYone walks close to him he screams and runs away with the toy.  Poor guy has had so much stuff ripped from his hands he has a phobia of losing his toys.  We’re working on his response, but for now we hear a lot of random screams throughout the day while he’s playing.

I don’t know what more I can say about how much I adore this little man in my life.  God gave us a great blessing when he gave us Elijah.  I love you Elijah Corbin!

And here’s a timeline of how much he grew up over this last year:

Where Oh Where Have The Davis' Been?

I could come up with a hundred excuses as to why I haven’t blogged in like 500 years AKA 2 weeks.  But they really wouldn’t be very good ones.  I’ll tell you a few anyway just for some sympathy.

• We’ve been crazy busy – which is really a good reason TO blog, but…well you get it.

• I wanted to post pictures with my blog but Facebook for some reason is not letting me post pictures and I always get my blogging pictures from Facebook.  I know there are other ways, but that’s just how I roll.

• I have things I want to blog about, but since I have neglected doing the Family Blog night I felt like I should get that done first (obviously I’ve gotten over that).

So here I am 2 weeks later trying to fill you in on all that has happened.  Without pictures! I still feel that is so super lame ::sigh::

I told you all awhile ago about our upcoming Vacation Season.  The first part of Vacation season has passed and it was such a wonderful time to enjoy my family.  I spend so much time working sometimes I forgot how much I can thoroughly enjoy my children.  As I have mentioned before I do try to spend some constructive time with them every night of the week, but by the time I get to them I’ve worked all day, I’ve made dinner (most of the time), cleaned up a little and although I enjoy my time with them I do it rather exhausted.  So my few days off was really nice.

Saturday was rather gloomy so we stayed indoors most of the day.  The girls had their final gymnastic class of the season in the morning and we spent most of the rest of the day cleaning – I know not fun.  However, the point of clean house is to have company so once everything was cleaned I all of sudden became determined to have somebody over.  This ended up being Sam and Travis and we played some games and had a jolly ol’ time.  I even had a bucket of candy tossed at my face.

Sunday we had church followed by Elijah’s 2^nd birthday party.  Oh boy is that boy spoiled.  He got a ton of fun toys and some cute clothes and shoes.  And in case you were wondering his obsession with cars has not changed in the slightest and he spends time everyday with a car in hand or lying on the floor with his butt in the air watching his cars “drive” passed his face.  After the party we had some friends over for games (Sam, Travis, Matt, Kim, and baby Sophie).

Monday we drove out to the Webster’s to have a BBQ for Memorial day and enjoy some good grub and company.  The Keys’ and Pfeffer’s were there as well.  Tawni cut up a huge watermelon and all the kids ate a ridiculous amount of watermelon with red juice dripping from their chins and running down their bellies.  It was pretty darn cute.

On Tuesday we spent the day at Disneyland with Uncle Sam, Aunt Tracy, and Quinn.  The kids had their share of meltdowns, but overall I think it was a good day.  A special thanks for the other 2 adults that did join us and help provide us some sanity on the long day.  It was very crowded so the lines were longer then usual so having the extra hands was a nice way to help distract the kids.  FYI Jordan still love roller coasters – she went on Space Mountain twice.  Yay.

Wednesday was going to be our 2^nd day at Disneyland, but as Justin and Sam pointed out I was being way over ambitious.  Instead I got my blood drawn in the morning.  Taylor sat with me while I was doing it and was very concerned despite my constant reassurance that I was fine. We also picked my car up from the Shop (Fox Auto Care – you should use them, they are amazing and honest and fabulous) for a hefty little bill (Praise the Lord for our emergency fund!) and then grabbed some lunch.  We watched a movie together while we ate then spent the rest of the day relaxing.

And that is only 1 week! Are you still reading?? I know it’s hard without pictures.  I really like pictures.  If you dare continue there is more…

The rest of the week was pretty chaotic for me at work, but I made it through. 

Then came Saturday and we cleaned the house and headed to Montclair for my nieces 2^nd birthday where the kids got to play in the play in the water and enjoy some burgers.

Sunday involved church and then lunch before Justin and Travis headed to the Webster’s for nerd game night.  The kids and I played a few games and just hung out.

So there you have it.  That’s the last 2 weeks or at least the important part of the last 2 weeks…without pictures.