If you like Little House on the Prairie, you'll love Taylorsville, CA, population 140. I don't even remember how I learned of this small northern CA town, but I had to incorporate a stop (or more accuately, a drive through) on our trip this past weekend. It was out of the way, but worth the drive to simply say I've been there. And it was so cool to see this place that seems almost frozen in time.

 

Now can't you just see the Ingalls living here. And you know Pa would have a pickup if they lived in the 2000s.

 

And just down the way, we have the Edwards home.

 

This building housed the Taylorsville Fire Dept, Jobe Taylor Flour Mill, Vernon House (I'm going to have to find out what exactly that was) and the town blacksmith. It is now home to the Indian Valley Museum, which was unfortunately closed when we visited on Labor Day.

 

And then there is Taylorsville Church. This one does not also serve as one room school house, as there is a small elementary school.

This was such a nice drive and a glimpse back at another time. I can't say that I would want to live there, but it was fun to visit.

Brian and I were fortunate enough to sneak away this weekend...ALONE. We have a fondness for waterfalls, as you may have noticed from wedding pictures. But, this time of year, our beloved Yosemite Falls all but dry up. So, I planned a trip to visit a waterfall that doesn't dry up. Burney Falls is spring fed and flows at the same level year round. Here are pictures from our adventure today.

This was our first view of the falls. The park entrance and parking lot is nearly level with the top of the falls. So, our first view was looking across and down at the falls. Beautiful perspective.

 This explains how the water is attained and maintained to keep the falls flowing year round. Some of the water spills over from Burney Creek at the top, some spill right out of the rock about half way down the wall.

 In this photo you can really see the line where the water comes out half way down, the two main falls are pouring over the top.

 We decided to hike down to bottom of the falls. It was beautiful from this angle too.

 See, we really were here :-)

 Then we crossed the river (Burney Creek, I think) and hiked up the other side to see the fall from the top, behind the fall.

 We hiked up...and up

 Then we decided it was time for lunch.

 This was the view from our lunch spot. The black arrow shows where the first photo was taken. The white arrow is about halfway down to the pool at the bottom.

 Crossing back over the river, looking toward the falls. This water has no idea what it's in for. This is a prettier view than the other waterfall I climbed to the top of.

 Because I love signs

 



Then we did some letterboxing. We found 4 out 5 we looked for today, not bad. I will post more about that soon. I have a few more to look for tomorrow before heading back home. Awesome 3 day weekend. I think we need more of them :-)

Greetings friends. Remember me? I have a few minutes. And another Spin Cycle post from Aimee was just what I needed to get me to blog.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation
By: Me

Since I married to a teacher and I work a regular job, everyone in the family got a summer vacation...but me. We did manage a couple of fun mini vacations to break up the summer. Fortunately, we live close enough to some awsome awesome places to squeeze in a weekend here and there too.

Mini Vacation 1: The 4th of July fell on a Thurday, so I was able to pull out a four day weekend and we spent it at the beach. The firework over the beach were beautiful. The weather was perfect, warm, but not as warm as home.

 

4th of July barbeque lunch at the hotel

 

The family on the beach

 

 

Mini Vacation 2: A few months ago I was supposed to go to WA to visit friends and participate in Relay for Life with them. I ended up with a nasty bug and had to reschedule. The reschedule also allowed for me to bring Nate along. We have some great friends in WA and it's always great reconnecting with them. It helps that WA has so many awesome parks too. We hit 6 different parks in 3 days.

Nate and WA friends (my other favorite boys)

 

Me my newest other favorite boy

 

We also had the opportunity to visit the museum of flight. Nate was particularly interested in the space areas. Here he is learning about the space station.

 

My little astronaught!

 So, what did you do during summer vacation?



Aimee has been writing posts following a fun prompt called spin cycle for a while now. And the most recent of Aimee's spin cycle posts got me wanting to share. The prompt, in honor of Valentine's Day is to share about your honeymoon.

We had a lovely wedding in one of the most beautiful places in the world, lovingly decorated by the Creator himself (just for our day, mind you). We were married at the base of Lower Yosemite Falls, in Yosemite National Park. The water was rushing so fast, I could barely hear what I was agreeing to, and the mist had us all drenched and freezing before it was over. Good thing we did photos before. But, the most important thing is that we became husband and wife (and nearly 13 years later, we still are).

After a looong, lovely day, our guests left and we were alone to celebrate our wedding night. We had booked a room at the beautiful vintage Wawona Hotel. Now, by beautiful and vintage, I mean OLD. It was built in the 1800s. Some of you may remember (personally or from stories) that they didn't have indoor plumbing in the 1800s. That said, our charming little wedding night room, DID NOT have a bathroom.

This is one of my favorite photos, Wawona in the background.So, we disrobed from our wedding attire in our room, slipped into our bathrobes, and padded down the hall to shower in separate (gender specific) bathrooms. How romantic. I did bring along a little something to change into. There wasn't enough of it to tell under my robe (wink). Then in the morning we headed back down the hall to prepare for our fist day of married life. Oh the memories.

We spent the day together, enjoying the sights and sounds of Yosemite, which is still one of our favorite places. Then we drove home. It was a lovely honeymoon on a college student budget. And I wouldn't change a thing...well, maybe I'd opt for indoor plumbing.

It was recently brought to my attention that I need to update my blog. I often have these great ideas to blog, but I never seem to have the time to follow through. I changed jobs in October to my dream job as an oncology social worker in a breast cancer center, part time, making twice as much. In December, I was given the opportunity to cover for a social worker at another cancer center. So, for three days as week I am attempting to keep another full time job afloat. I love it, but it's exhausting. I don't think I like working full time though. I will be happy when she returns.

So anyway, here are some random moments from the last week that made me smile. I went to pick Nate up for grandma's house and he was asleep. I had to grab my phone and snap a picture. He was SO cute. He used to sleep like this when he was a baby. Awe... he's still my baby.
After the loss of Amy on Halloween, we agreed to get Jacob a new pet for Christmas. We originally decided on a hampster, but after talking to the guy at the pet store decided a rat would make a better pet. Apparently, they can learn their name and come when called. They can also learn tricks, although I have no idea what kind of tricks you teach rats. Plus, they are diurnal. He got another hairless pet. Did you know there was such a thing as a hairless rat? Sadly, the hairless pet curse struck again. Fortunately (for lack of a better word), he did not have a chance to get as attached. I think we had it for about 20 days.

We went back to the pet store to try again. Jacob held and talked to three different rats. When he held this one, she climbed up the front of his shirt and perched herself on his shoulder. And I think this is still her favorite spot. Jacob didn't choose her, she chose him. And she really is cute, and soft, and furry. He named her Brownie.

I bought Nate a new bed from someone at work. This was the picture I got from the co-worker. Nate will not have a TV in his room. Notice the "hiding place" which is billed as storage space to purchasing parents.

I came home to find that Nate had made it his own. Gotta love that kid.

I hope to be able to post more often. I miss it. I have so much to say and little time. I hope someone is still reading...

My computer is in the shop (again) so I wasn't able to post my 9/11 post. I did want to say that I remember 9/11/2001 like it was yesterday. I remember the early morning phone call from my dad saying "They bombed the pentagon", because that was the one of the first thoughts. I remember going to school and for weeks watching my 4 and 5 year old build towers out of blocks and knock them down with toy airplanes as they processed what they were seeing on TV every day. I remember holding my one year old a little tighter and telling my 9 year old I loved him one more time. To which he replied, "I know." This day is etched in history and in the minds of those of us who experienced it. We will never forget.

But, what I really want to share is 9/11/2011. This year I didn't wake up to the phone ringing, rather I woke up to Nate yelling, "Mia peed on the couch!" Mind you Mia 'was' pregnant and very well litter box trained. So, I didn't think she peed on the couch. I picked her up and loved on her and noticed what look like a small balloon protruding from 'below'. I yelled for Nate to get me a towel and put it in a box for her. I petted her, soothed her and loved on her. Nate was amazing too, encouraging her in the sweetest gentlest voice, "you can do it" and "don't stop."

My sweet girl Mia in early labor

My baby girl had a hard time with the first one. It took over an hour after her water broke (on the couch) until we saw a tail sticking out. I'll spare you that picture. Then a paw and a leg. In between contractions it would go back up. I had to help deliver the first one. It was nearly dry when it came out. It was amazing to me. This was the first time I had seen anything born.

What the heck just happened?

Baby one is all black. We named him (it) Justice. Baby two came out much easier still in the amniotic sac, but also breech. This one looks more like Mia with darker coloring. This one came out letting the world know it was here. It also fought the siblings for a nipple, even though there are only three kittens and 8 nipples. This one is feisty. Meet Baby Freedom.

Baby number 3 had a little trouble breathing at first and I got to wipe her (it) down and wiggle it to make it cry. Nice huh? Baby Liberty is the softest and has beautiful markings.

Nate was so sweet and gentle
My grand kitties: Justice (top), Liberty (left) and Freedom (right). My 9/11 babies.

Yesterday, my degree was officially conferred. So, last night we had reason to celebrate. And celebrate we did. We had a shredding party. After completing my project I had to destroy the data that I used. Here goes...
It was important that the kids be involved in the shredding party as well. They were very much impacted by the amount of time spent on this degree, especially in the last few months. One day, Jacob was particularly chatty and I kept asking him to be quiet so I could work. Eventually, I asked him if he needed to go in the other room to be quiet. He said to me, "I'm sorry if I don't like that I can't spend any time with you." OUCH! Later, I was telling my dad about it and he said, "I think a lot of us are feeling that way." This was truly a joint effort and they deserve to share in the celebration. I could not have done it without their support (even if they would have preferred not to give it).

Here Nate is helping me shred.

In keeping with the human protections requirement for my data (and a bit of personal satisfaction), I shredded the data myself. I did however have plenty of other things to shred as I kept many papers from the last four years or so.

Paper jam

We overheated the shredders (we had two) a couple of times. So to pass time while they cooled down, we played. Look at the form Jacob has playing badminton.

All the kids playing badminton

And no celebration of this status is complete without some bubbly (in this case cider). My dad joked about building a tower of glasses to pour it. IT WORKED! The kids were impressed.

A toast...to me.

Four years of work reduced to two inch strips.

And thus the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. Today begins the year of me. A year of learning to take care of me, as well as everyone else. A year of learning not to always put myself last. Please join me on this journey. I love to write and this blog is one of my outlets. Part of taking care of me is making time for the things I enjoy. So, expect to see more from me :-)