Peace . Love . Joy ..............this holiday season

We have truly been blessed this year and I have so much to be grateful for. No matter how hard times can be, or frustrating a struggle may be, there is always so much to be thankful for.  Reflecting on such, makes the difficult things seem not so difficult anymore.

I am grateful this year for

our health

education

good friends

HUMOR

having our kitchen back

my girls

a husband who loves me and adores our kids

strength and energy

A loving Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ

Wishing you all  Peace . Love . Joy

J U M P

Kennedee with her friend Benjamin. They have a lot of fun together. We went to dinner as families, then to the LA Temple to see the lights and Hot Chocolate after, yummy.

Orlando 2011

We just got back from Florida. We took a red-eye last Sunday, which by-the-way Tayvlee stayed awake during the entire midnight-5am flight. She was way quiet, but never fell asleep, so of course I didn't sleep and was quite tired once we got to Orlando. But we went straight for the pools which was realy refreshing.

Is was just the 4 of us and my mom, my sister and her husband.  We stayed at Calypso Cay Resort and Summer Bay resort.  It had several pools and ponds throughout and even a Lake that you could rent jet skis from.

This is Kris (my BIL) and Ryan on the flamingo paddle boat.

 Jumping into the pool.............did you really need a caption for this pic?

Ryan and Kennedee

Look CLOSELY, Tay has a frog in her hand. Ryan caught it for her to play with.

At Sea World on the carosel (how do you spell that?)

Shamu!

Tay loves slides sooooo much. I don't have pics, but she especially loved the water slides at the resort swimming pools. She went down them for hours.

Great time of year, the weather was high 70's and we walked on all the rides.

The shows were AWESOME! However Kennedee was quite upset when the whales splashed water all over her, although I found it quite hilarious.

 One of our friends has a friend who is a trainer at Sea World, so she got us a private up-close look at them.  They were really fun and playful. The trainer would give them a fish and they would spit the fish at us.

 I think the best show was the dolphin show. It is amazing what they can do.  Look closely and you can see the trainer flying in the air after the dolphin pushed her off his nose.

Halloween at Knotts

We have season passes to Knotts Berry Farm, so we went right before Halloween. Grammy and Grandpa Roberts came with. Here they are on the ferris wheel.

 Kennedee loved all the halloween decor and the fun trick-or-treating in snoopy land.

naughty halloween costume

I figured I would just recycle Kennedee's old costumes to Tayvlee, so here she is as a bee. Kennedee being a 4-year old, I figured she want to be something like a princess or fairy...........so I was really excited when she said she wanted to be a witch, and not just any witch, "mom, I want to be a NAUGHTY witch."   I started laughing sooo hard. Throwing the word "Naughty" before a Halloween costume implies something completely different than "wicked".  Let's just hope this is the only 'naughty' costume she ever ever ever wears. And the little pose she is in below, ALL HER. She is such a natural poser for the camera, I never give her any directions.

My Christmas wish list and my RECENT READS

I've had the d50 for quite some time now and honestly, I love it. It works great and I have never had problems with it. But it is time for an upgrade. Welcome the D7000. At $1,200 for the body only, it's a step up from my D50, but offers a lot more. I'll go from 2.5 frames per second to 6fps, from a 2" LCD to a 3", from ISO 200-1600 to an ISO of 100-6400 (and I hear even at 3200, the pics are pretty noise free,wow), and from a 5 pt. focus to 39 pt. (that's insane). Oh and it has dual SD card holders (genious) and 2 user settings.  And all these higher end models now come with video, not that I need it, but I will try out th 1080p HD.  And I'll go from 95% viewfinder to 100% (that's what I'm talking about)

 So that is for Christmas this year, and next year, I really want this beautiful lens.

NIKKOR 24-70mm 2.8G ED  (breathe Ashley)

My similar focal length lenses I own now have a variable aperature. I would love to have a fixed aperature of 2.8. I will never ever buy a lens that doesn't stop down to 2.8. I use my 50mm 1.4 if I want to open up further. This puppy is a whopping $1,900. This hobby of mine is getting expensive, but I sure love it. But I think I'll have to earn this before I buy it.

Now onto books.

The Persian Pickle Club: by Sandra Dallas

This was an easy fun read. It was my first audiobook. I downloaded it to my ipod. There are a lot of characters and I had to really focus as to not forget who was who.  A story of a close group of women who are bound together by a hobby they love and a secret. I'd give it 4 stars.

a stolen life:   jaycee dugard

I hadn't planned on reading this, knowing what it would be about.  I watched the interview and was amazed at her story and how she came out of it seeming so level headed. Being kidnapped at 11 years old and not being 'found' until 29 years old. I had so many questions, why did she not try to run at some point? Giving birth to your first child (with the father being the kidnapper himself) at age 13 and then again at 15.............it's hard to even take this story in. 
My step mother had the book on our Lake Powell vacation. I picked it up one night out of curiosity and practically read the whole book that night. She really helped to explain why she did what she did and referred to herself often as a 'coward'.  She talked about the therapy sessions after she was found and how amazing her therapist was with the type of therapy she offered.  Rather than being in a room with just the 2 of them, most of their sessions included the use of horses in different exerises.
Although my curiosity wants to know more about her 2 daughters (who were 14 and 16 years old when found), I am happy that she has done all she can to protect their identity. I wish her the best that life can offer her now.

look me in the eye:  by John Elder Robison

another autobiography.  John describes his life as an aspergian, not even knowing that he had asperger's until he was an adult.  I was very intrigued to learn more about asperger's, especially now that I am watching NBC's Parenthood which has a character on the show who has aspergers.  I've seen history channel specials about savants which are just fascinating...............this is obviously not to that level, but it is interesting to see how they excell in a specific skill, yet lack basic social skills. It's more interesting to hear it from the source.  He explains that as he got older, and was able to better his social skills, his aspergian traits (such as high level skills in engineering) began to diminish some.  So it's like a trade off.  But he says he is much happier, now having better (not quite normal) but better social skills then he had when he was younger. 

Things I'm digging

A list of my fave things right now: Top Ten in no particular order

1.PHILOSPHY produts.  I purchased some of their products at an auction and one of my clients bought me more of their products and I am sold..............particularly 'the SUPERNATURAL'. It's a foundation primer or you can wear it by itslef on a light day. It's poreless, flawless tinted SPF 15. The texture is amazing and I love it.

2. FEKKAI shampoo. My mom gave me a bottle in my Christmas stocking last year. It gets the best lather and makes my hair feel sooooooo clean. They now sell it at costco for a ridiculously good price bundled with the conditioner.

3. I can't say I have any TV show obsessions right now, but for a good laugh, ABC's "The Middle" is pretty funny. A pretty querky family from somewhere like Indiana. Fave character is the oldest son, Axl. I hope I can laugh at my teenagers if they behave like that.

4. NBC's  'PARENTHOOD'.  After all my shows ended I asked around for a new drama and had several people suggest this show.  So I watched the first season online and am now all caught up to watch season 2. Airs at 10pm on Tuesday nights.

5. ABC's "Modern Family".  I've watched this from the pilot and it is hilarious. Now that I really know the characters personalities, it's even funnier. Fave characters are probably Phil Dunphee and...............actually they are all so funny.

6. My AAA TURKEY sandwich.  Made with Artichokes from Costco, Alfalfa Sprouts that I grow myself (thanks to my step-mom for the sprouting trays and guides) and Avocado.............all toasted on wheat bread. Fave Turkey meat is peppered.

7. Vons brand (safeway select) SALTED pretzel Caramel ICE CREAM........yum!!!!

8.  Clean feet.  This is not new by any means. I love clean feet. I can't hop into bed unless my feet are clean, and not just rubbed down with soap...............fully scrubbed, all the rough spots smoothed out, and well mousturized.  Turns out it is a family thing............I've heard numerous reletives say the same thing. I even make my kids wash their feet when they come into the house after being barefoot or in flip-flops.

9. New restaurant in Simi Valley:  Market Broiler located up by the mall...............well, I think it is closer to Best Buy. They had the best customer service, very clean and very tasty. The price wasn't even that bad.

10.  And for something casual.......out in Moorpark we found this cute place called Carli's Bistro.  The owner is french and all the recipes are his own. He makes his own potato chips and he is very friendly.  Love the tri tip sandwiches, too.  It's located on High Street.  Turns out his kids live in our neighborhood.....he has 5 kids, which includes triplets.