Coastal Charm ~ One Sweetheart, the Ocean, Flowers and Birds

As we were leaving Trinidad to head home, mom remembered a place that she would go with her mother and we turned around and headed back to a turn off that took us to the Trinidad State Beach where I took these pictures.  Because I had grabbed some chairs to sit on, mom thought we should at least use them once.  We headed down to the beach, but decided it was a little far and decided to "plant" ourselves on the hill.  Rob found this beautiful place and we planted our chairs and sat down to enjoy a few moments of listening to the sounds of the ocean and the sounds of the birds...When we first got there it was cloudy, but the clouds eventually dissipated and I got some great shots...

Rob enjoying the view...

The little field where we planted ourselves...

A closeup of the flowers

One last view of a beautiful flower...

A view of the ocean as the sun came out behind the clouds and fog bank.

Another view of the Trinidad State Beach and rocks...

Mom and I were always trying to get some pictures of birds in flight...These are two that I liked...

Coastal Charm ~ California Redwoods

While we were over to the coast, we decided to head up to the California Redwoods.  The weather was a little cool and we were encountering a little rain as well.  We figured we would travel up the coast, take a quick look and then head back to Trinidad.  When we reached the Redwood forest, the rain had stopped, but it was still overcast.  Here are a few pics I took in this awesome display of vegetation.  The trees were, of course, massive as you can tell by this picture of Rob walking next to one of the redwoods...

Mom standing by the trunk of one of the trees...

Mom and I tried to take a full picture of one of the trees, by looking up and taking a picture without getting dizzy.  We still couldn't get the full tree and we did get dizzy!

Rob took this picture of me by the knobby tree trunk.  The green ferns were just beautiful as well.

Rob checking out the rings on a fallen Redwood...

Rob and I as we were heading back to the car after our .2 mile walk through the Redwood Forest with mom.  We couldn't get dad to join us...

When we got to the  Big Tree there was a park ranger there sharing her knowledge about the Redwoods...She answered our questions and I learned something new about the Redwoods...A few answers she gave us were ~~ Redwood roots do not grow deep, but go hoizontally and connect with other tree roots and this is how they manage to keep from falling ~~ the wind is one of the Redwoods worst enemies and if a tree falls, many times it will sprout new life and you may see many trees sprouting up in a line just from that one fallen tree ~~ one of her comments was a no-brainer ~~ you don't want to be anywhere close to a Redwood when it falls!

Coastal Charm ~ Trinidad Vacation

Rob and I took his mom and dad to the coast for their father's and mother's day gifts.  Great idea as we got to enjoy the coast as well.  We asked Colleen and Bob where they would like to go on the coast and they picked one of their favorite spots, Trinidad.  We arrived in Trinidad, had lunch and then visited with some family that lived in Trinidad.  We then went to the lighthouse and took some pictures.  This was my favorite of the lighthouse...

We headed to Trinidad Beach and took a few shots there and then went on the road that Rob and I jogged on for the Trinidad to Clam Beach 8 3/4 mile run early in 2009.

Mom and Dad

Mom and I had such fun taking pictures....It was wonderful to have a camera enthusiastic along....

Thanks for taking some pictures of me, Mom -- sometimes the photographer gets lost in the shuffle...but Mom made sure that I had a few pictures of me taken as well...

This was one of the pictures taken along the road Rob and I jogged along - I don't remember it looking so beautiful -- could have been that I was trying to plant one foot in front of the other and hoping that I would be able to finish that I didn't look up and see how beautiful the view was.  It was amazing how the weather  changed almost in the twinkling of the eye... I took one picture looking one way and then took another looking in the other direction...Interesting to see the difference in the sky.

Of course eating is always an important part of the day and Bob and Colleen remembered eating at this restaurant.  I remembered it as well once I got there.  I remembered bringing my young family here and we ate at big tables, no menus - you just got what they were serving that day and it was all you could eat.  The food was very delicious   We had soup and salad, ham, meatloaf, a baked potato and peas (Rob's favorite) and then yellow cake with chocolate frosting!

After eating I wanted to go to the beach so that we could all watch the sunset.  It was 7:30pm - I figured the sun would be setting fairly soon after that.  Wow, how wrong could I be!!!  We waited and waited and waited.  It finally set around 8:38pm.  Here is the before picture....waiting, waiting, waiting....

....and then two of my favorite pictures that I was able to get of the sunset...it was well worth the wait and the cold!  (Mom, Dad and Rob sat in the car and watched the sunset from the comfort of the car, but I braved the cold to get these shots for my blog!!!! :)

It was a wonderful ending to a beautiful day at the coast. 

BFBA Golf Tournament

This is the only picture I got at the BFBA Golf Tournament this year, June 21, 2010.  My group consisted of me, Rob, Craig and Bob Chapman.  We had a great golf experience and I was so happy that I was able to play as well as I did.  We didn't win the prize, but we were competitive not to mention having a great time.  It was soooooo fun to golf with Rob and it made the tournament even more enjoyable for me!

Sunsets and Siblings

As is customary when I get together with my brothers, we go out to eat.  This visit was no exception.  We went to my favorite place, "Outback Steakhouse" and had a delicious steak.  Then went outside for a few pictures before heading back to Dan's place.  (Dan had graciously put us up for a couple of nights unexpectedly as a result of the death of Rob's close friend and despite Dan having "critters" running up and down the inside of his walls to his dismay!!! -- he took care of the problem before we got there :)

Here is a picture of my wonderful brothers.  We always laugh 'cause when we have pictures taken I am usually in the middle!

Here is a picture of John and his wife, Cher.

Then Rob and I posed for pictures.  Unfortunately, we got more of the car than the pretty flowers as the background for the pics - oh well!

These are two of the pictures I took of the sunset looking out Dan's balcony.  After I took the pictures we were watching the news and they said that the sunset was very unique because some of the clouds actually looked like the waves on the ocean.    I then checked out my pictures and I got a few showing the waves in the sky - pretty cool!!!

A Few Pics of Judy, etc.

Had a chance to visit with Judy and Paul at their lovely home.  It was wonderful to see them again.  Rob and I stayed with them for a couple of days and here are a few of our pics (memories) of them.  Rob took this pic of Judy and I in front of Judy's lovely home.  Judy is wearing the necklace I gave her and I am wearing the necklace she gave me -- True Friendship!!!!!

I wanted to get a picture of Judy and Paul.  Paul looks so happy because he will soon be retiring and then Judy will really put him to work!  JK

As we were getting ready to leave to head to the Salt Lake Temple for a session, Judy's grandson took this picture of us.  I thought he took a great picture of us although it's the  "Little" looking up to the "Bigs"

This has to be one of my favorite pics.  Judy has at least three hummingbird feeders in her yard and it was so fun to sit and watch the birds come to the feeders.  I decided to see if I could get a picture of one of the hummingbirds and this is what I ended up with --

Here is a picture of Princess, Judy and Paul's little dog...an inheritance from one of their grandchildren!  She's a beautiful dog and fun to play with...

Another post coming soon of my brothers....

Farewell to a Good Friend

Rob and I went to the funeral of a very dear friend, Doug Bassett.  Doug was the same age as Rob and so his death really brought us to the realization of our own mortalilty.  Even though Doug and his family lived far from us, we still considered him one of our good friends...Doug knew that he was dying and so he and his wife Arlene, planned his funeral down to selecting the wood for his casket - "naughty" knotty pine.  Rob and I were so touched during the funeral as we listened to his children, his wife and several speakers share their memories of this dear friend.  Music was provided by a choir from the university where he taught institute classes.  At the cemetery, after the dedication of the grave, we were given the opportunity to pay our last respects to Doug by writing a special message to him on the casket...The death of a loved one is such a difficult time, but it was amazing how this small act was a way to help in the grieving process.  It seemed to help the grandchildren say goodbye to their Grandfather.  I took a few pictures at the cemetery and thought I would share a few here...

Arlene writing a note next to her grandchildren...

Family and friends at the cemetery...

Two of Doug and Arlene's grandchildren saying good-bye...

Farewell, Doug, you will be dearly missed.

Ethan's Birthday #5

Well, I'm finally getting to Ethan's birthday celebrations!  Poppa and I took Ethan to Chevy's for his birthday lunch.  Why, you might ask?  Of course, for the sombrerro!  Ethan posed so nicely for me as the waiters came and sang to him...

Poppa and Ethan

Ethan, Chase and me (Summer took this photo and I snatched it off her Facebook page!  Thanks, Summer!

Summer and the birthday boy!  I think this was when Poppa was talking about eating bugs or snakes or something dreadful like that and Ethan knew he was teasing!

Summer and Princess Bella (Even when she isn't feeling well she still looks cute)

This was a unique picture.  Ethan was taking a picture of me while I was taking a picture of him and this is what I got!  Pretty funny!

Here is Ethan's birthday (brownie) cake...One side had a two on it for Bella and this side had a five on it for Ethan's birthday...

Ethan with his birthday hat...

This picture was really dark and so it is a little grainy.  I was able to lighten it and Ethan is blowing out the candles on the brownie cake.

We helped Sum and Steve pay for the WII they got for Ethan, but I couldn't not give Ethan a toy to open and so I got this car/truck/hummer that moves on batteries and makes lots of noise (I am sure it's a favorite of Summers)  It will probably lose its batteries accidentally!

For Ethan's birthday, they went to a bounce house and had soooooooooo much fun.  It was tiring just watching them play.  Their faces were all red by the time they finished playing...

They were moving soooooooooo fast that it was hard to get many pictures -- I thought this was a cool shot of Chase...