Joshua Tree

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  Today I saw my good friend Shaela and we went for a hike at Joshua Tree.

It was really a great day.  I'm so glad I got to take a photo for them.

This happy family is truly kind, and absolutely amazing.

Girls Girls Girls

Look what I got to do last week!

My favorite gaggle of girls came to visit.  Life doesn't get better than spending time with these sweeties.

Love love love you all!

Smiles & Scissors

Today I got my teeth cleaned...

and my hair cut.

These are two of my most favorite ladies in my life.  I love their work.

(I think the light over the dentist's chair was still on.)

Dear Brooke...

I went to the mailbox and I was surprised to find a letter addressed to me from you.  I thought there would be lollipops, cupcakes, or thingamiboos, but instead there was a "stone arch", ...yahoo!  

Thank you for this beautiful drawing.  I can tell you are a talented artist, but I have no idea what it means.

Will you please tell me why you drew this "stone arch" and sent it to me?

I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.  

Love,
Aunt Charlynn

Happy Birthday Chandler!

Tonight I had the pleasure of celebrating my brother Chandler's 26th birthday at the Golden Horseshoe.  Disneyland is putting on a shorter version of the old can-can show we grew up on.  They stopped performing it in 1986 and it was cool to see it again.

Chandler is full of energy and always fun to be around.  He is super talented, overly generous with sharing his talents and patiently helping/teaching the rest of us.  I am so blessed to have him as my brother.  Looking good birthday boy :)

Happiness

Teaching in Primary has to be among the top five things I currently love about my life.  I owe that to my mom.  Teaching children is probably her greatest talent.  

Our Sharing Time Lesson was on the plan of happiness.  I used Skittles as "drops of awesome" to fill Gavin's "bowl of awesome".  Brooke put a "drop of awesome" into the bowl for every good thing Gavin has done.  Even though Gavin is an awesome kid, the bowl wasn't anywhere near full.  

Gage is a holding a large vase labeled "atonement".  It was filled with Skittles at the beginning of the lesson and after Gavin listed every good thing he had done, Gage poured the vase of Skittles into and overflowing over Gavin's bowl to demonstrate how the atonement makes us happier than we could ever be on our own.  These are fantastic kids.

This wasn't my own idea.  I got it from here  http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

Happy New Year!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted anything in months.  I went through my second divorce last year and I just wanted to hide-out for a bit.   I could see that you kept checking in on my blog.  Thanks. :)

With my new single status comes changes including, this blog is now public. Yay!

So, I want to start off the new year on the right foot and share this Christmas morning photo of me showing off the new shoes my brother gave me.  They are fantastic.  I’m sure you will see them again as I use them throughout the year.  It's great to be back. :)

Bear Lake

 

Fireworks were banned at Bear Lake this year, but we still played like kids.  We were dragged behind a boat, golfed, hiked Minnetonka cave, swam in the lake, and played games every night.  I love hanging out with family.

Best Bud Brooke

Happy Birthday to my Best Bud Brooke.  Love you a million bagillion gazillion :)

Les Mis

I am slow to post this photo, but last weekend, my friend Cheri and I attended Les Mis at the Segestrom Center.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The music is breathtaking.  I didn't want it to end.

Mish Mosh May

May was a bit of a whirlwind.  First, three of my favorite friends came to visit for two weeks.

Then, we had to move, but I am so grateful for my dad and brothers who made it a breeze.

Then, we took a quick trip to Utah for a funeral.

I'm still not put together from the move, but I will get there (eventually).

Audi R8

This is the Audi R8.  It starts at about $115,000.

The only cars that really excite me are over $100,000.  The rest just seem like wanna bees. 

So, I figure if I can't drive a car I really like, I'll just stick with what's practical.  I'm not interested in driving a wanna bee.  :)

Cupcake Queens

Here is the real news for the weekend.  I got to spend Friday night doing arts and crafts, baking cupcakes, playing games, and watching Sleeping Beauty with Spencer and Sharon's happy children.

 
It was a joy to be with them. 

This picture gives you a better idea of how fun they are.

That's a zombie impression, if you couldn't already tell. :)

Ferraris in the Garage

Here are a couple of Ferraris in the garage where we live.

You can see that they are parked across from one another.

They have separate owners.  The owner of the red one also owns a yellow Lamborghini and a silver Mercedes.  He is my age. 

I drive a 10 year old Civic.  :)

Last of the Saturday in DC

I spent Saturday with my brother in DC.  I had never been to DC before.  He went out of his way to show me more than I ever expected.  We had a beautiful morning of walking around to see the monuments, took the Metro to Georgetown for pizza, spent the afternoon at the Spy museum, saw the video game exhibit at the portrait museum, and went to Annapolis for dinner.  It was wonderful.  He is so awesome.

More Saturday in DC

Still Saturday in DC

Saturday in DC

Island Cars

I walked around the Island tonight with my visiting teacher sister. It felt like every other car was a luxury car, so I chose one to share with you.

It's a Maserati.


And this was a cute little car someone made to get around the island.

More to follow...

Ditch 4 Disneyland

It may not have been the most responsible decision, but after being anxious for the past 5 days over what would happen at this morning's court appearance, I decided I needed to have a little fun. So after I finished my early morning hearing and a few other things for work, I ditched for Disneyland.



It was a light crowd and beautiful weather. :)