Memorial Weekend at the Beach

Living in sunny Orange County, CA., right by the beach makes me feel as though I'm on a constant vacation.

That is...until that annoying little thing called work gets in the way!

So whenever holidays arrive, I just have to grab my bike, and head down to the beach.


These busy weekends can be a bit of a problem for us locals. The traffic & crowd gets ridiculous, not to mention the bathroom lines!

MAIN STREET & PCH-by the pier...SEE!

I usually try to stay away from Main St., but this morning, I had my Zumba class and had to fight the crowds...even the class was jam packed.

There was the cutest little guy in there. He was probably about 70 or older. Jumping around, flapping his arms to the music yelling, "YEAH...ZUMBA....YEAH!" Then the whole class would scream out...he kept motivating us. If a 70 year old can hang through the whole class & be so happy, I can too! I love seeing happy older people like that, it just makes me smile.

I wanted to go to the back of the class, grab my phone & sneak a picture of him...I was too chicken though.

So this Memorial weekend will be spent having friends over for a BBQ, bike riding & maybe taking pics of my family surfing and enjoying our amazing sunsets.

I love holidays!

Celebrate, Reflect and Enjoy-4th of July

My family was all in Utah together for the 4th (we couldn't afford to go), but made the best of it here. It's always hard for us because it's the anniversary of my brother John's death. I usually start to get a little edgy and emotional the week leading up to the 4th. I try to make sure we have lots of plans, the busier I am the easier it is.

I decided to treat myself to a new bike this year...last year we were the Beverly Hillbilly's of OC with our crappy, squeaky, rusty bikes. I haven't had a brand new bike since I was 14 years old! I figured it was time...also I thought it would encourage me to get out and exercise more. I was going to get my usual boys beach cruiser in black, I'm such a tomboy that I don't usually like flashy. But I decided at the last minute to get a shiny purple and silver girl bike. What do ya think?


We rode down to the parade, stopped by to meet some friend's at a house party, but it was all adults and the little guys wanted to hang out with us for a while (we wont have very many years left of them wanting to be with the "parents" since they're 14 & 15. So we told them we'd be back later and rode around with the kids.

Anthony's sister's and all their kids ended up coming down and we met up with them, got some lunch and had a picnic at the park with them and some other friends who met up with us. The boys ended up leaving and me and Anthony headed home for a quick rest before we had to ride back down for the fireworks show.

I had to leave and go pick up Josh from work. I was sitting in the LONG line of cars waiting to turn, when a group of bikers came riding in between all the cars and some parked cars. Some girls were obviously drunk...one girl turned around to talk to her friends and ran smack into the back of a parked car and flipped over the top of her bike, denting the car. Okay now you are all going to know how mean I am...I LAUGHED so hard. I always do when someone trips or falls. I can't help it! I wasn't alone, all the other cars were yelling, honking and laughing too! I didn't feel as bad. She was okay, but she did a bike hit and run. The owner of the car came running out of the house party, but the girl was long gone. I'll take entertainment anyway I can get it.

When we got back down to the beach it was FREEZING. The little guys never came home and had only swim trunks and tank shirts. They were shivering and complaining...we brought them some jackets and I got these pics of them racing toward the backpack and then fighting with a friend for the warmest one.

Elijah, Adam & Friend racing to the backpack for sweatshirts.



The Boys fighting over the warmest sweatshirt.

Even Anthony was cold.






Crowd in the ampitheatre.

Crowds watching street performers.

More Crowds in the dreaded Out House line.

My hubby & me trying to stay warm.



Waiting for the fireworks to start.

YAY...FINALLY!

All in all it was a good day and I didn't even cry once...which was a first. We love and miss you John!

My brothers...John hugging Troy.

Family Day-San Diego Chargers vs. Indianapolis Colts

My husband's favorite football team is the Indianapolis Colts, and one of our friends has season tickets for the San Diego Chargers...they gave us four tickets to the game last Sunday. We took the two little guys (I know, I know, they're not little anymore, but we still see them that way). We got there about an hour early, ate some lunch and hung out in the parking lot throwing the football around. It was pretty cold out for us, probably in the low 60's...brrrrrrr...it's rough weather for us So Cal people, hahahha. So we bundled up in our heavy winter coats and headed in.

Now, I like the Chargers, Green Bay is my FAV team, but now that Favre is with the Jets, I like them too. It doesn't matter though, any team my husband likes I automatically root against just to get him riled up. We sat in a pretty rowdy section...especially for those people dressed in Colts gear. Anthony doesn't have anything so we were pretty safe. But I did rat him out to the people sitting behind us. They said, "What's up with all these stupid Colts fans?" Then looked at us and said, "You're Charger fans right?" I shot back, "OH, I AM, but he is a BIG Colts fan!" Anthony looked at me and said, "Way to throw me under the bus honey!" Everyone just laughed and the game started. People were throwing things at the people down below in the Colts jerseys as they stood up and antagonize everyone. The beer was flowing, with every new cup the crowd grew angier, louder and meaner.

I have a confession to make, I have a pretty bad temper and smart mouth. I can be very confrontational if I'm pushed. Since becoming a Christian and really trying to be a better person, I've been able to keep it under control...until this short, little weasle decided to cause trouble. Here's how it went down: We were in line to get something to drink when this guy pushes his way right next to me. The line starts moving and I can tell he is trying to cut. So I make sure I stay right up on the guy in front of me and position myself to box him out. He shouts, "Hey, I was here first...the line's back there." I said, "No you weren't and yeah the line is back there so get back where you're supposed to be." "NO I was here you get behind me." "No you weren't freak" (yes my mouth tends to have a mind of it's own once I let it loose). He yells, "I'm not a freak, you need to get behind me." I said, "Okay you little weasle, what kind of a guy cuts in front of a girl and then tries to cause a scene? You're a freakin whack job!" "No I'm not...I was here!"

By this time Anthony came walking up and the guy looked at him. He has now stepped in front of me. I said, "Pretty sad when you cut in front of someone just to get a beer one person sooner, you're an idiot!" I guess you can say I was really ticked off because I usually never would have let him win. Anthony just looks at me and said, "Let it go, he's drunk and I am going to end up hitting him and get kicked out of here."

So I make a motion like I'm slapping the back of his head and then walk away to watch the monitor of the game while Anthony stays in line. I walk back over and now the idiot is complaining that the line is moving too slow. "How long does it take to get beer...I've been standing here for an hour!" The mouth suddenly shoots back, before I can stop it, "Yeah moron, maybe you should cut in front of those guys too so you can get to the front even sooner." He didn't say another word. Definitely not one of my finest moments, but I hate to let people get away with pushing other people around (I feel like if I confront them, maybe they'll think twice before they do it again).

Fast forward to the end of the game...the cops are arresting people left and right. One guy wearing a plastic hat shaped like the head of a colt had about three beers thrown at him all at the same time, drenching him...the cops came and took more people away. I look up to see who they are arresting now, only to see the little weasle getting yanked out of his seat by two cops, hands behind his back and handcuffed. As he walked down the stairs, head hung low, stumbling, I started clapping and screaming "Yeah...get the little weasle out of here!" I looked at Anthony and said, "See, it wasn't just me being crazy, that moron was bugging everyone!"

Oh the game...it was exciting too, even though we lost in the last few seconds when Vinaterri (however you spell it) kicked a 52 yard field goal...WHAT A GAME!