Well, since the last post, Tristan has turned two, Thomas had his birthday and turned 4, we took a two week road trip out to California (by way of New Mexico and Arizona)- more on this in a minute, we had a wonderful gospel meeting with George Slover, took a weekend trip to Houston for the 4th of July, Faith turned 6, kiddos spent a week with Mimi and Pawpaw in Oklahoma, and now it is hard to believe that our summer is drawing to a close!!!

Our trip was so wonderful! The kiddos did great in the car and were so excited to see more of this beautiful country that we live in. Our first stop was Albuquerque- although it was just for the night, we did enjoy seeing some Billy the Kid related things on the way and the kids first glimpse of some mountains! From there we headed to Williams, AZ where we went through a wonderful drive through animal park called Bearizona. IF you ask my kiddos- they say this was their favorite thing that we did on the whole trip! We were able to drive through and see donkies, bison, white bison, wolves, mountain goats, a ram, and of course the main attraction- the BEARS!!! After driving through and seeing all of that they have a place where you can park and walk up to the cub exhibits where they have the really little cubs (which were SO cute) and the "teenage" cubs which were SO playful! Then we went into downtown Williams (which is off of Route 66) and found the spot where they were going to have their nightly gunfight. My oldest two really enjoyed that and the gunmen were pretty funny and interacted with the audience a lot! The next day we headed out to the Grand Canyon!! It was such an awe-inspiring thing to see! It left me speechless and with very sweaty palms!! ;)

Next we headed to the Anaheim/Los Angeles area of California. We enjoyed worshipping with the Tustin church and getting to see a good friend from our college days. On Monday we headed to Disneyland!! It was a wonderful day and the kids had so much fun meeting their favorite characters (Tristans- Mickey, Rapunzel and Flynn, Faith's: Rapunzel, Flynn, Tianna, and Ariel, Thomas': Mickey and Goofy) and Ethan loved riding the Indiana Jones ride and also Star Tours!

On our way north we hit Hollywood and the kids got to take their picture with a storm trooper, Darth Vader, and Spiderman! We also discovered how truly scary the winding roads are the lead up into the Hollywood hills!! From Hollywood we headed north to our camping spot on Sunset State Beach which is off of Monterrey Bay. It was so beautiful just watching the scenery as we drove through the state that it made the hours pass quickly!

We were going to check out the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, but we had so much fun exploring the beach where we were camping that we didn't make it there.

From the beach we headed a couple of hours north to San Franscisco and had so much fun walking along fisherman's wharf, seeing the sea lions at Pier 39, and driving across the Golden Gate Bridge! That night we camped among some redwoods at Samuel P. Taylor state park. Our campsite was beautiful and had a little creek running along the back of it.

From there we headed further north to the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt County. Here Josh and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary!! The kids loved camping here and playing Star Wars among the trees. We saw some truly amazing trees!

After camping here a few days we dropped back down through the middle of the state to Coarsegold. From here we had quite the adventure in Yosemite National Park (let's just say it is not a good place to lock your keys in your car), but I was able to get some beautiful family photos with the amazing waterffalls in the background.

After leaving Yosemite, we headed to Las Vegas. We got there pretty late (thanks to those keys!) and so we decided to drive down the strip to see it all lit up before we checked in. I kinda wish we would have left the strip at that. The next day we just rested up and toured the Hoover Dam, and our second day in Las Vegas we tried to check out some of the free attractions on the strip (such as the MGM Lions exhibit and the Bellagio fountains.) aside from those two things though- we really didn't enjoy the strip at all. Too much junk everywhere and of all the places that we went it is certainly the only one that I have no desire to ever return to.

From Las Vegas we headed to Roswell, NM. We were planning to see Carlsbad Caverns on our way home, but their automated message said that they were closed due to wildfires, when later I found out they were infact open.
=( We were pretty dissappointed about that, but have hopes for seeing it sometime in the future!

It was such a lovely vacation- and the first true vacation that we have ever taken as a family. I am already starting to plan our next one!! =)

In other news, I'll start back to school at the end of August. After this semester, I will be half-way finished with grad school! I am really looking forward to my Young Adult Literature class that I am taking this fall. I am hoping to get our reading list soon and get started on it!

Well I guess I have sufficiently caught up on posting all the goings-on of the Everetts! I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer- although if you're in Texas like me you are probably wishing it would end already and bring some cooler weather and some rain!!

That this little booger will be TWO on Saturday!!! We will be having a Mickey Mouse birthday party for him on Saturday and so I'll try to post some pictures of it soon! We had his renal ultrasound yesterday to see how he is doing from his surgery last July and I am not sure how to feel. They said that there wasn't any improvement in his right kidney, but at least it hasn't gotten any worse. (Before the surgery it was consistently getting worse.)




In other news I have started my second semester of graduate school and I must say one of the classes will definitely be stressful! I am very much looking forward to spring break when my sister in law, Krista, and two of my good friends, Deanna and April, are going to go to Seattle and Forks, Washington with me!!

It is officially the Holiday Season! Tonight I had my annual ornament exchange party! Every year I make homemade hot chocolate for my party and this year I decided I wanted to make two different kinds. So I made a pumpkin spice hot chocolate and a peppermint mocha hot chocolate- both were yummy but the pumpkin spice was my favorite!!

I am SO ready for the end of this semester! I have really enjoyed my classes, but I am ready for some down time and to be able to read some of the books that I have been adding to my "read over Christmas vacation list"!!

On this past Saturday I convinced my family to let me take some photos for our Christmas card and also to give to grandparents for Christmas presents. Here is the Christmas card that I designed for this year... now I just need to get it printed! Hope you all have a wonderful, stress-free, holiday season!!

October 21, 2003 at 3:19 in the early morning Ethan made his entrance into the world. It is hard to believe that he is so old and that I have been a mommy for that long!! I love my Ethan and am looking forward to celebrating him today!!

Yes, I realize this is a Christmas song, but since fall is my favorite season and Halloween my favorite holiday- I am going to sing it now! =) I finally got all of my fall decorations put up on Friday night. Ethan and Faith were so excited when I told them that was what we were doing on Friday. They were both really good at helping get it all out. The weather is starting to cool off and it is beautiful today! I opened the windows and lit my fall smelling candles (What is a fall smelling candle you might ask? Well is is anything that smells like apples or pumpkins with some spice thrown in!). I have all the stuff ready to make Taco soup for tonight!

Several of the ladies from church and I have been walking every Monday and Wednesday morning at 7:30 up at CTC. We have decided to do the "dots" on Mondays- this means that while walking our two miles up the hill and around the school- we do 10 squats at every green dot and 10 jumping jacks at every red dot. By the time we finish the 2 miles we have done about 175 jumping jacks and squats. Then on Wednesdays we just walk 3 miles up the hill and around the school. I am also taking a Fitness walking class at CTC on Tues/Thurs evenings. I love that the class isn't just strictly walking like it was when I took it at A&M, the coach here incorporates strength training as well (push-ups, crunches, bicep curls with weights, etc...). I can really feel myself getting lots stronger and I feel so much better. (Of course losing some weight and toning are just added perks ;P).

Can't believe I'll be 32 on Thursday!!! I don't feel 32... of course I'm not sure what 32 is supposed to feel like. You know they say the 30's are the new 20's right??? =)

I am loving my Children's literature class that I am taking. It sounds weird to say it, but I actually really like the textbook for that class. So much so that I told Josh I don't want to sell it back!! My Instructional Design class is okay- seems a bit easy and kinda pointless at times, but I'll take easy and pointless over hard and stressful any day! I also volunteered to serve as a LSSA (Library Science Student Association) officer. I haven't heard back yet, but I really hope I get to be an Area Representative. I am planning on applying for some scholarships later this semester and I know that being involved and showing leadership qualities are two things that they really look for- so we will see!

Things are busy, busy but I really do prefer it that way.