California Dreamin'

July 13-18, 2009Gaviota State Beach
Josh and Ben

Brennen loved the waves

Friday night with Wes - Wes and Ben

Brennen riding the waves

Run faster Ben!

Brookly loved the cold water

To the pier, Josh

Dallin and Ben are buddies

Wes and Nicole on Monday night upon arrival in CA

Jarom ponders

After a long drive we finally arrived in CA and in time to see the sunset over the ocean.

July 13-18

We drove with Wes to Lompoc, CA while he worked there a week and we played. With Wes's everchanging travel dates we didn't think we were able to go for a while and then it was straight from UT and then it was a week later. Oh, fun! More time in the car with our crew! DVD player was blessed! We got there late Monday night and our hotel had not booked us adjoining rooms and the pool was under construction. Mind you, we only paid more to stay here for the pool because the beach is a little drive away, and I checked twice to make sure we had the adjoining rooms. We stayed one night and went to the closer, cheaper hotel with no pool the next day. Closer to Wes's ride to Vandenberg Airforce Base for work that is. Lompoc was beautiful! 72 degrees was our average temperature there! I took the kids to the beach which they loved even thought it was pretty cold water! Ben was so cute when he'd run to the waves and as soon as they touched his feet he'd run away! The kids all jumped in and loved the pier and all the fish. They saw a ray and one fisherman caught a baby shark. It was just a lot of watching and worrying about the 6 alone for me so I enjoyed the Friday night beach trip with Wes much better. On the way down I told them to stay together and watch out for each other and when we got there they all jumped in except Ben. I put down our stuff and turned around and no Josh! Well, just as I was thinking I was going to dive into the kelp filled water to try to find him, Dallin spotted him over by the pier about 200 yards away! So we regrouped and reemphasized staying together and telling Mom when we want to explore. Brennen found a cool shell and the kids loved just being there.

The kids loved having 2 TVs with cable - a luxury we do not have or want right now!

Computer Crash!

July 4th Weekend, 2009

OK, so in July right after our Sheppard Family Reunion I lost everything on my computer! Yes, the new computer that all my pictures were on! I had already deleted the pictures from my camera in anticipation of our CA trip. I lost from March 09-July 09 which is hundreds of irreplaceable photos and memories. That is really all I

cared about losing! Here are some pics I grabbed from facebook from Becca of us at the reunion but I'm so sad and hope to get more from my family better quality to actually print. This is our car all decorated for the family parade on the 4th of July. The kids were so cute and patriotic! They loved the gross water in the spa with all their cousins - no adults braved it! Dallin, Josh and Brennen loved the pyrotechnics with Uncle Jeff and Uncle Jared and anyone they could get to supervise their own fireworks show. We stayed in a huge house all together and it was a blast! Another highlight for me was the Oquirhh Mountain Temple open house. It was so beautiful! I enjoyed getting to talk about sacred things with my children and knowing what I could tell them from the cards in each room. I hope someone has a picture of all of us there or of the temple I could get.

Funny Ben story though: While at the open house of the temple Ben was not quite the quiet, reverent child he should be. He was so loud that Wes took him out into the hall by the time we got to the sealing room. He ended up in a different sealing room with Greg with one of his kids as well. Anyway, you know how mild and quiet Wes is and he is very respectful to women. While sitting in the hall Ben began telling every woman that passed by, "Hey Baby, You're Hot!" Yes, Wes was moritfied and how do you explain that really? Dallin had thought it was fun to teach Ben this phrase so he will someday get all the girls. Well, you can imagine the little talk we had on the way back to the house about proper respect for women and girls and Priesthood duties. While funny, it's just not appropriate. Ben's antics need to be documented and a few more are coming as I catch up with my blog. Oh that sweet boy!