We received our mission call...

But we aren't home to open it.

A Brief Intermission...

I'm jumping ahead to today while I've got a minute. We left Sonia's this morning and drove up the coast. First, we got lost at a detour in Palos Verdes, which turned out to be serendipitous because it was a beautiful place to be lost in! Look how pretty that is behind us. And right near there the road had "sluffed off"(the cause for the detour, Yikes!)

Then we drove up to Santa Barbara then to a cute little Swiss Town called Solvang, and had dinner at Pea Soup Andersens. Man, I look as tired as I feel!

There are vineyards all over the place. It was so pretty, we stopped to snap a quick picture.

We are headed up to San Simeon to Hearst Castle in the morning. Upon recommendation, we made a stop in a little town called Cambria...probably a good thing, because by the time we reached this town the highway was closed beyond here until tomorrow morning. We turned off the highway, with the fog rolling in off the Pacific Ocean and no moon, it was pretty dark as we drove down the windy road following the one sign that directed us to this town. No street lights, no houses, no cars in front of us or behind us...I see a Wes Craven movie in the making. Finally we see a little town up ahead! (Thank heavens) We'd kinda been joking that our situation sounded like something out of The Twilight Zone, or a Hitchcock movie, but at last we saw a place we could lay our weary heads for the night, and there is a vacancy!

I'll write more tomorrow. It's my turn in the shower. ******************************************************************** Next day... Let's take a little tour of our room, shall we? First, the toilet:

Everyone feels safer and more "sanitized" when there's a strip of paper across the toilet seat, right? I know I do. ****************** Next, the soap: Do they really think this is a deterrent?

How am I supposed to "steal" the little soaps and shampoo's when they bolt it to the wall?? ****************** Nothing says "you are the first person to ever touch this-never been used-half roll of toilet paper" because it has an envelope-flapped point.

...and....the Pia de resistance:

If this doesn't conjure up memories of Janet Leigh's Psycho shower scene, I don't know what would! Ha! It is RED marble in the shower...the only person who should be killed in this scenario is the decorator, for having insanely bad taste! Actually, I kid about this being a bad motel. Although this is what it felt like last night in the foggy darkness:

It really was quite clean and sweet:

And now, we are off for more adventures!

Our Road Trip Continues

We are having so much fun on our first real, no-deadlines-no-real-need-to-be-home-for-anything road-trip! This leg of our trip has brought us from Utah to Southern California. What's not to love about sun, sand and the beautiful ocean...Not to mention we've had lot's of family time too and nothing in the world is better than that, right? Here are just some of our 4th of July activities:

******************************************************************** The day after... we just chilled all day. We went to the park and rode bikes and scooters and layed on the grass, it was heavenly! One of my favorite pictures of the day: Landon with Angela. Such a good mommy!

Amy, Elly, Owen & Emmett all dressed up for the party at Abuela's!

Chris, Ron, Patty & Larry paid tribute (and told some funny stories) about their mom.

Robert's cute wife Reese, me & cute little Amy, before the party.

Making last minute tweeks. Todd was our DJ for the evening and he did an amazing job with the music!

More behind the scenes work from Chris, Reese, Lorrie & Amy.

Part of the after-party party. We watched family videos that Patty had put together on a disk for everyone. It was fun, and everyone is exhausted.

Gracie turns ONE

Little Miss Gracie was havin' nothin' to do with this animal business on her first birthday! I'm sad we weren't able to be there for the party with it's cute wild animal theme. Gracie is our youngest of only four grand-daughters. She's a little out-numbered by fourteen boy cousins! Happy Birthday Gracie!

Utah trip...

We made it to Utah in a day.

The next morning we had Ella's baptism...Ella is the oldest of our 16 grand children, and the first to be baptized.

Shannon, Dave & Ella

Nessa, Sean & Gracie. Kinda fuzzy, 'cause I really shouldn't have been taking the picture in the chapel.

Dave and Shannon took us to a Japanese restaurant. Here Ron is teaching Cole some mad chopstix skills.

Sunday Morning was Cooper's blessing. Afterward, we had yummy lasagna dinner at Shannon & Daves.

Then Ron & I drove up to see the Brigham City Temple which will open next month.

We were able to see my newest great-niece, Harper, Dan & Heather's newest addition. Isn't she beautiful? So sweet!

The next morning we got up early and drove down to Erin and Ben's. Nathan, Ron and Tyler are looking at a Lego magazine.

Here is cute little Erin. She's just as tiny as ever, except for the basket ball right out in front and man is she carrying that baby low. Must be a boy. :) The Utah part of our trip was a whirlwind, but I'm glad we were able to fit in as much as we did in such a short amount of time. After we left Erin's we headed to California. But first a little detour..."just ten minutes off the freeway" to Bryce Canyon.....

A great shot of Chris & the canyon.

We made time to stop and visit the DelToro's in St. George. Their new home is lovely. What a great family...we miss them being in our ward already! Now on to California!

And then there was one...

One hundred days ago, Shannon, Ella and I made a chain for Ron to count down his last one hundred days at work. We draped it across the windows in our family room. (see March 20th post) Each day he would remove a paper link that would bring us closer to his retirement. Today is the last link. Today is the last day I will pack him a lunch to take to work. The last day of a routine he has had for over 24 years at the Prosecutors Office. Each day for the past couple of weeks he has been bringing home framed family photos, memento's, little pieces of his life as a Prosecuting Attorney. His office, which looks out over the Sound will be cleared out by days end. There will definitely be an unfillable void in his office...Ron, as I've been told, is "one of a kind". So on to a new chapter in his life. This will be the first summer he has had "off" in over forty years! ...........Well deserved my love..................... ......................................................now let's go play!

Last night was Ron's retirement party for work. There were lot's of important people there to wish him good luck and everyone had glowing things to say to him and about him. Attorneys who had worked with him, some county workers and people in law enforcement who he defended, some judges who he tried cases in front of, and even some lawyers that he went toe to toe with in the courtroom, came to wish him well. It was very touching when his co-workers (and his bosses) got up to tell of experiences when Ron took the time to do something special for them or when he assisted in making something in a trial work that no one else thought of. Many stories of Ron going the "extra mile", doing significant things for others in his quiet, unassuming way. Treating everyone with respect and kindness. This is why I love my Ron the way I do. He is so genuine.

This is one of my favorite photo's of the night. Of all the important people there, Ron's family was the most important! Ron is so proud to have his little grandson Logan share the evening with him.