California--Here We Come!!

We arrived in SoCal on the night of July 12th, after driving for 10.5 hours. That doesn't take into account the fact that I was up at 7:15am, leaving my house at 8:30am, picking up Cameron from TImberline Scout Camp in Mt. Pleasant, UT, having an early lunch in Moroni, and then finally on the road by 12:30pm. We hit St. George approx. 4:30 and visited my great-aunt & uncle Faye & Byron Jordan until 6pm. We then got on the road again and made it into San Clemente at 1:30am Utah time. UURRGHH!! I definitely hit a wall (figure of speech) at around 11pm when Brynna kept waking up every 20 minutes as she slept in her carseat in the back. Cameron was a real help trying to keep her calm and happy and coax her back to sleep. What a guy!!
So my mom and I survived life in a minivan for 12+ hours with 4 kids, and slept happily.

We are very lucky to have a chance to come stay here at my grandparents condo on the beach by the pier in San Clemente. We got to celebrate Brynna's 3rd birthday (July 15th) and my brother James' little boy, Luke's 2nd birthday (July 26th) together. Shari and her three boys have come down too and we are having lots of loud, crazy, face-stuffing FUN!! We are having fun with James, Sara, Luke & Bella, who live here and manage things while he finishes school, and my Aunt Barbara's family who are vacationing and sharing time with us at the condo.

I had a chance ot visit my good friend Jeanine (Seeman) Campbell, and her new home and three cute kids: 2 boys, Dawson & Everett, and 1 girl, Sidney. I don't get to interact with her hubby Greg, but I can tell they are a happy little bunch! They are a great little family, and I appreciate the connection I have with her. We have been friends since our freshman year at BYU and it is great to know someone who knew me "WHEN" -- Thanks Jeanine!!

We have relaxed at the beach, had a BBQ/fire ring/wienie roast where I introduced my Aunt Barbara and her family to the delights of foil-wrapped bananas that are stuffed with Symphony (toffee & almond) and mini-marshmallows. Props go to Sonya's friend, Stephanie for sharing that campfire treat with us!! YUMMY GOOEY GOODNESS!! We decided to visit Chuck E Cheese's for the little kids birthday and it worked out pretty well, and we ended up having two birthday parties, so now Brynna keeps asking me for another birthday -- we like our birthdays! What's not to like? Cake, ice cream, presents, balloons, silliness, singing!! It's a recipe for happiness in my book!!

We are now waiting for Joe & Lisa's baby to be born! And not wanting summer to end!!

Love from Semi-Sunny SC,CA!
Heather

We're Here

Cameron and I landed in Norfolk in the midst of a major storm hitting the DC Area late on Wed. We stayed in the Airport for six hours and picked up our car to drive to a few diners from Wakefield to Richmond and then on to Monticello in Charlottesville. We then drove to Oakton to visit my cousin Ben and his cute little family, and had dinner with them and my cousin Erika and her new husband Brian. We played Ticket to Ride, and then pulled into our hotel around 11:30pm. We slept in until 12:30 and now are on our way to see some more sights!

LOL

Heather

Memorial Day

Well, it's been another stretch of time since I got to write. I was able to attend Women's Conference at the beginning of May. Treat Cameron's broken arm, attend Hannah's piano recital, attend Utah PTA Convention at BYU -- still trying to understand what that's ALL ABOUT! Then spent the next week getting my yard 70% more finished. We now have full sprinklers, an arbor, curbing and grading, and grass installed!! Now if I could just get someone to buy a kidney (or some other extra organ not essential for survival) from me -- I could make the place PHENOMENAL!! I'm practically joking!

This is the kids last week of school and all they are doing is playing -- Hooray - NOT! Still trying to figure this wasted last two weeks out. I think one of my new causes is to figure out how we can get the school year shifted back to going through the 1st or 2nd week of June and then not starting until after Labor Day. I HATE!! starting school so early (August 18)!! I don't say hate a lot -- but I really do HATE IT!!!!

My bro Joe graduated from the U of U Medical School and surprised us all with the fact that he was his Class Co-President, and was speaking at the ceremonies. He did awesome -- he credits assistance from a clever friend/ghostwriter, but he did a lot, and did it well!! I had been thinking about this moment for him and what it means to all of us, his family, to share in it with him. We were all able to attend, and I was touched to write a poem about it. I haven't decided if I want to post it here or not. I wrote it for him, and have sent it to my family, where it goes from there -- we'll see. But it was a truly transecendent moment of accomplishment and fruition of a dream, a goal, I remember him talking about when he was around 11 years old. I have posted the youTube link in my Sites I Visit section -- Check it out!!

Then we had our Memorial Day GreekFest. A Mortensen family tradition that we have continued since Curtis and I love to cook and with a good amount of family around we can have some fun! My relatives in Orem let our large clan come over there to swim, play, cook, and hang out for several hours on Monday. Curtis did another awesome job, and I helped a bit with salad, drinks and chicken-shredding. :) We had close to 25 people altogether and it was another great day!! Sonya missed out because -- BOO HOO -- she's in the Bahamas!! WHAAAH!! For 2 WEEKS!! Hope she comes back tan and with a young hottie-island loverboy!! You think I'm joking?

I know there's more to talk about but I'm tired and with summer coming maybe I'll have more time to drop notes here and there, or at least get more current pictures up. One can always hope ---

Love
H