Best of Summer 2009

So as my summer begins its, much to quick, descent to my life being over I am reflecting on how amazing it has been while it lasted! As you can see by my previous entry San Diego was definitely the highlight of the summer; however, I can't underestimate the days filled with absolute nothing! My number one goal this summer was to be useless. Like one big relaxing vacation at a Spa minus the facials, massages and pedicures and plus the energetic, sassy and bored kids.

Some of my favorite useless moments of Summer 2009:

1. Reading, reading, reading! I haven't read much since last summer when I finished up the Twilight series. Although, those books were written for high school girls they were the most captivating books I had read for awhile and it was difficult to find anything else that held my attention. My favorite books are typically historical fiction (i.e. The Red Tent, The Other Boleyn Girl, Memoirs of a Geisha and Pillars of the Earth to name a few) but I haven't come across any lately that are worth my time. My father-in- law, Dan, introduced me to Harlan Coben (suspense novelist) and although my life is not enriched by these books I can't stop reading them! I have read three of them in the last month! They are definitely page turners and although some of the books struggled with a well correlated ending they are still entertaining!

Presently, I am reading the sequel to Pillars of the Earth, the World Without End. So far it is pretty good but just a warning to those interested, the book definitely has rated R content so I should probably not be recommending (or reading) it! However, the story takes place in the Medieval times and they didn't know any better! Hopefully you will agree that the offensive material can be overlooked...???

2. Cricut, Cricut, Cricut! For my birthday I was able to get a Cricut Expression. This is the best invention ever! If you are a school teacher or scrapper you have probably used the lovely die cut machines with the blocks where you press down the handle and it cuts the paper one shape at a time. . . Well, the Cricut cuts the paper electronically with just the push of a button! Cutting shapes and letters onto paper or vinyl isn't even the coolest part. By Googling Cricut ideas I have discovered on other blogs it also cuts fabric and you can make these cool stencils using freezer paper and then use the stencils to make cute custom shirts. (I will attach information on these tips and techniques or show you myself at a later date!). I have learned so much cool stuff that I have yet to finish one project before I start another (hence useless moment #2). Fortunately, my "bat cave" as Trent calls my craft room, is right next to the playroom, so my overly dependent kids will play for hours so long as I am nearby and I can just craft away! Plus when they have friends over I get to eavesdrop on all of their conversations because they think I am too busy to be paying attention!

The only problem I have with the Cricut is I have to do stuff for other people (mom) because I told them all the cool things it does. So my only non-useless moments all summer have been spent cranking out crazy projects for my mom to take to girls camp (more on that later).

3. Swimming, swimming, swimming! I have never had a swimming pool before and since I am not much of a swimmer anyway I haven't ever cared. But now that I have children I know that having a swimming pool is the best thing ever! Thanks to great swim teachers (and living at the beach in Hawaii) my kids are awesome swimmers and they love it! So whenever they start whining about how bored they are and how they have no friends (thanks to the Cardon's being in Del Mar for 3 1/2 weeks) they are easily swayed when I let them go swimming. And this actually helps me reach my goal of absolute uselessness because I have no intention of getting in the pool myself and since I have to be out there to supervise I have another opportunity to sit around and read (while I watch them of course!).

4. Grey's, Grey's, Grey's! I have been listening to people talk about Grey's Anatomy for the last 5 seasons and I have felt very left out! So I decided to take action. Since summer began, I have rented the series, one disc at a time, starting with season 1. My first impression was, what is all the hype??? But I can't stop watching it! I am now on season 4 and like all those that came before me, I am hooked. I have wasted more time on this show this summer than probably anything else so this should have been useless summer moment #1!

5. Food, food, food! What else goes hand in hand with laziness then getting fat! Not that I can blame all of my latest weight gain on this summer (I was already at a steady incline since moving back to AZ last summer) but this summer has definitely added the last 5 okay 10 pounds! The ironic part is I actually started the summer on Weight Watchers and lost 6 pounds, than Mission Beach happened and a pound of peanut M&M's later and I am right back up where I started plus some...OHHHHH the frustration of being a yo-yo dieter. I have long come to realize that of all of the problems a person can have in their life being chubby is probably one of the better ones. After all I still have a really hot husband who thinks I'm not so bad, we have amazing healthy children and a roof over our heads. Plus the eating part that makes me fat is really fun. All in all, a lot of the memories and useless moments of this summer included food! I will always remember that our family went through 8 (1 lb) bags of peanut M&Ms in a week! But as the summer comes to an end hopefully so will my binge eating (or at least I will try my very best :)!

SD

This year we spent the 4th of July in San Diego! We went with my parents, Christian and Emily and their cutie pie baby, Paisley. My parents rented a beach house (thanks mom and dad) just a few feet from the beach and we spent pretty much every minute living as complete beach bums. It was very relaxing and went by way to fast.





With the bad economy and its effects on the Bevier household, we tried to make this trip as cheap as possible! The kids were pretty good about just hanging out around the house and on the beach but there were a few "I'm bored" moments. Fortunately we have the internet and a fabulous tool named Google. We found some places nearby that we had never been before. One such place is the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. It is very reasonably priced and there is plenty of interesting sea life to check out. The kids loved seeing the sharks and learning how shark babies are born. Anna was a little disappointed that she did not see an octopus but we were told the chances were slim considering its a nocturnal animal. She quickly recovered when she saw Dori and Nemo. Another day we ventured over to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park. It was something to do but I don't think we will go back. It is a little pricey and it only entertained everyone for about 30 minutes. We were going to go to the history museum while we were there but its also very pricey and we weren't sure how many exhibits the kids would actually be interested to see. Trent and I thought walking around the Park (which is free!) was the best part of the day. The grounds are beautiful and the architecture is amazing. The kids whined the whole time to go home so next time we will definetly go without them! To make it up to the kids for that "very boring" outing we took them to Belmont Park (located on one end of Mission Beach).The area has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there and the kids loved the overpriced 3 minute rides. We also met the Rodriguez family (friends we made while living in Hawaii) at Belmont and that was very cool! We all pigged out on "carnival" type food and played games in the arcade. Trent and Roslyn (age 11) rode the roller coaster while Olivia and I supervised the younger kids driving bumper cars. I was very disappointed that I was unable to ride the roller coaster because I love rides that were made in the early 1900's, make lots of noise and go really fast...not.






All in all this is one of the most fun times we have had as a family in a long time. The kids had so much fun flying kites, feeding the birds and making sand castles. We also took a kayak (one of the many things provided by the rental we stayed in) over to the bay. Although its hard work, its very calming (that is until Aiden tipped it over and I fell into the freezing water). My parents, Trent and I spent nearly every night playing dominoes (Mexican Train) and I won almost every hand (fun for me not so much for anyone else). And of course the highlight of the trip was having little miss Paisley Belle there. She is absolutely adorable and has such a darling personality. We couldn't get enough of her. I think Christian and Emily thought the novelty of having a baby around would wear off but none of us could keep our hands (or lips) off of her!

As awesome as it was to be in SD with our newest Fluhr it did not go unnoticed that there was another Fluhr missing. Last time we all went to SD together Clint was there. He was always so quiet and just chilled (typically had his Ipod in his ears) but he was always there. That last trip we had stayed in this tiny 2 bedroom and Clint had to sleep on the couch. He had absolutely no space of his own as the kids watched TV on his "bed" first thing every morning and everyone hung out in his "room" until late at night. He was such a good sport about it and never complained. One of my fondest San Diego memories is having Clint on that couch. During this trip I kept imagining Clint would be on the couch when I came downstairs (which was where he would have had to sleep since we took all the rooms again)!


In memory of Clint, Christian had shirts made with the logo Clint designed of his initials (he had it tatooed on his back). Christian thought it would be cool if we all wore our shirts for a family picture. I wasn't crazy about the idea but I am really glad we did it. It was the best way we could include Clint in our latest family photo.

I am really proud of my parents for planning this trip. There have been and continues to be many firsts without Clint and this was our first trip back to California as a family without him. I know it is not easy for them and they work really hard to find joy after their loss. I can say they are definetly doing their very best.

So I caved...

I was kind of against this whole blog idea for many reasons but after blog stalking everyone else and finding all sorts of good ideas, funny stories and recorded memories... I caved. I don't know how often I will update this and I can't promise it will be exciting or enlightening but I now concur (always trying to find a good time to use that word) that its a fun way to record all of the craziness around me (like one of the kids screaming in the background as I write this) and compile everything in one spot. So since this is my first day of this blogging stuff I thought I should do a quick update/bio...

1. I just turned 30 (some may think that's sad I think its whatever).
2. I am married to literally the best guy ever...Trent Bevier.
3. We have two kids: Aiden-7 in August and Anna-5 in September
4. Aiden is going into 2nd grade and is funny, sensitive, energetic, dramatic and very clever (not always a good thing).
5. Anna is starting kindergarten and is also very funny, sassy, dramatic, cuddly, cute as a button and she has an accent like she's from back east.
6. I am working as a Speech Technician (lame title for a bachelor's level speech therapist).
7. I love love love my job!!!!!
8. I am going back to school in August to ASU to get my masters in Communication Disorders (then I will lose my lame title and get my cool new title- Speech Pathologist!)
9. I love to do lots of typical things like read, watch TV, talk and craft.
10. I am definitely not going to win mother of the year any time soon, I often speak before I think, I don't always return phone calls, nothing I craft is ever good enough to sell, I swear occasionally and I gossip too much but overall I am in a place in my life where I feel like I am doing my very best and that's good enough for me!