A Summer Visual Escape

I went on several adventures this summer and wanted to share a few of my favorites with you.

The first shot is my very first trip to the Grand Canyon.

Below...I loved capturing my hubby (who still skates at 50) with our son Adam. 

I stopped right in the middle of my bike ride, walked back to capture these beauties peaking over the wall. Because super-sunflowers like these are meant to be captured!

Lazy summer days and bubbles at the beach.

This adventure to Antelope Canyon was on my "Must See" list and I wasn't disappointed!

"Chasing Light"

"River of Sand"

"Beam of Glory"

This shot was captured on my way out after they told us to put our cameras away. There's only one way in and then you travel the same way out so they want you to be quick on the way out. With my Nikkon in my bag, I was able to pull out my iPhone just in time to quickly snap a shot of what appeared to be an Angel hovering above the crowd. It was a site to behold!

My hubby captured me conquering my fear of heights at "Horseshoe Bend"

View from our campsite at Lake Powell.

One of my favorite local getaways in "Laguna Beach".

Our hike to nowhere. We never found our caves but still saw amazing beauty!

I love summer days, vacations and even stay-cations that get me outdoors. 

Vacation #1 Reno, NV-Tragedy in the Midst

I usually only get one vacation a year (if I'm lucky.) This year however we had 3. Two mini vacations and one big one. Our first vacation was a trip to Reno to see my dad and a family reunion/camping trip at their property up at Frenchman's Lake where I spent every summer growing up. Little did I know the tragedy that was about to unfold.

It's been a long time since my cousins and I have been together, so I was really looking forward to it. Also, I wanted our new foster son to get to meet the family and go camping for the first time.

I made my hubby stop several times at beautiful, picturesque spots. What's a trip if you're not looking for adventure along the way?

 We've never been able to spend time with my dad on Father's Day (we grew up in CA with my mom & he lived in Nevada) so we planned to bring him a homemade present from my sister and I. She read an amazing life memories story for him and then presented him with the present...it was a hit!

My sister Stacy and my dad after she read her beautiful tribute letter.

THE PRESENT!

The next day it was off to the property. Hiding in the thicket along the road was this mama and her baby. Bambi? I stopped and slowly crept up to get a good shot without scaring them away. It was short lived.

As we turned down the dusty road, all my childhood memories came flooding over me. What fun and adventure we had here.

We walked down to the creek (It's become very small from the drought...no more swimming holes.) We walked across logs, rode ATV's, sat around the campfire telling story's and reminiscing about "the good ol' days." We walked down to the lake, watched the kids swim, rowed in the raft, and then returned to camp.

 

Our new son got to drive all by himself on his 14th Birthday! He said it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

 

  

Then tragedy struck.

My sister went into a full Grand Mal Seizure. I'd never seen one before. I jumped up and held her by her neck and head as her body went stiff as a board. She was now sideways in her folding chair. Panic set in as my sister-in-law ran all the kids into the trailor. I tried to talk calmly to her, but quickly noticed her lips turning black. I began to yell, "is she breathing?" No one responded. Everyone seemed frozen and unsure of what to do. My husband was standing above her and I yelled, "Pray for her!" My cousin had dropped to her knees and was praying. My sister was fading away. I literally watched the color drain from her face, starting from her neck and moving up until she was completely gray. As I held her head, I knew she was passing away. She had stopped breathing. Her now dead eyes were blankly staring at me. I knew that I needed to get air into her. I haven't had CPR training since 7th grade. But as clear as someone was talking out loud, I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, "BREATHE FOR HER NOW!" I breathed three times. After the 3rd breathe, she gurgled, sucked in air and began seizing again. It finally stopped. SHE WAS ALIVE! Our prayers were answered. The Lord showed up mightily right there in the middle of our campsite.

After everything calmed down and my sister was doing okay. I ran into our tent, dropped to my knees and sobbed. I thanked the Lord for answered prayers; for saving my sister. I read some scriptures and let Him fill me up. My hubby took a walk with me down by the creek and prayed that the memory of my sister's dead eyes would be removed from my mind. I couldn't get the look out of my head.

It was a bitter sweet trip. The family time was incredible. The fact that we were able to leave the campsite with my sister, safely sitting in the backseat of our car, I can't put into word's what I was feeling.

When you get to carry a true life miracle with you...you realize, there is nothing more precious in this world than family and life.

I'm Still Here

I've been really busy and having so much fun. I haven't blogged in a while but yes, I'm still here. My parents are in town...YAY! I didn't want my blogging friends to think I disappeared. I'll be posting some pics of our adventures...because you know how I like to be on the go.

Short post because I'm heading out to run some more errands with my mom...Stay Tuned!

Let the Holidays Begin

Having five days off for Thanksgiving was AMAZING! I haven't had that many days off in a row in a long time.

What is it about staying home for the holidays that makes you so lazy? We didn't do much except eat, watch movies, sleep...A LOT, and do absolutely nothing. I guess you never realize how much you need a break until you get one. I was able to finally catch up on my sleep...insomnia seemed to magically disappear during the holiday too.

We went to my in laws house first, tried to limit our portions to be able to eat at my sisters a few hours later. We didn't do a very good job...I was still stuffed by the time we got there.

With tons of leftovers the last few days I've been getting my daily dose of tryptophan from the turkey...which I think has been contributing to my new love of sleep.

Today was my last day off and I slept in till 12:00 pm again...now this is what a holiday is all about!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Petrarca Familia

Our kids...missing my two boys-Josh & Jullien (we'll all be together at Christmas YAY!)


My hubby modeling

Mr. & Mrs. Moss- 1st Thanksgiving as a married couple!

My sister in law and kids

Man Cleavage

Random....
Me & my husband were walking at the beach tonight. A man & woman were walking towards us. The man had a flesh colored baby pouch on the front, carrying a new born. From a distance, my husband only sees the top of the bald baby’s head (giving the appearance of cleavage peeking out of a tight top). Before they reached us he looks at me shocked, “That man has boobs!”…LOL! I couldn’t stop laughing! Just thought I’d share!

VISUAL:
Kind of like this but with a smaller baby and tighter pouch.



More Random...
My sister is heading to Utah on Monday to visit our family for a week. She wants me to go and I immediately said, "YES!" Then I thought, "How can I miss a whole week of work?" I'm an independent contractor and never receive vacation pay. One week without pay will really put us behind. Now I need to decide...I'm torn, I want to go so bad, I feel like I need to get away and re-group! Help!! What to do? Am I selfish because I want some time to myself?

Bryce Canyon, Utah

New York, Cleaning & Graduation

We have a busy week ahead of us...luckily I finally got my massage yesterday, it was AMAZING! Now I'm ready for the crazy week. Jullien leaves for a quick trip to New York again. He has his last final tomorrow and then on Tuesday he has his MANDATORY graduation walk through. Which means he fly's out on Sat. at 7:00 a.m, may have a photo shoot on Sunday and then a HUGE audition on Monday (can't say who yet because I don't want to jinx it...LOL). Then jumps on a plane Monday evening to be back for his walk through.

I have tons of cleaning to do and I am the world's worst procrastinator. All the family and friends will be coming over for an Open House Graduation party next Thursday, immediately following the graduation ceremony. My house has gotten so out of control that I don't know where to even begin. Do you ever feel like that? You start cleaning and then get overwhelmed and think, "What's the use!" This happens to me just about every weekend. Now I don't have a choice, so Saturday I'll take Jullien to the airport and then come home and get started (window washing, dusting, shredding all the piles of stacked paper...you know, the fun stuff).

Is it time for my vacation yet?

Last Day of Vacation

I've been in Utah for the Holidays...first vacation in 3 years! I can't believe how the time has flown by. We've had such a great time hanging out with everyone, even though we ALL got sick. I was so excited because everyone else got sick and I thought I escaped it. But NOOOO my sickness waited until last night on my 9th year wedding anniversary.

We had booked a room in a hotel up in Park City. Just the two of us on a romantic mountain getaway. We had reservations at a great restaurant and then were planning on going to a jazz club after to ring in the New Year.

I woke up in the morning barely able to move and finally dragged myself out of bed at 12:00 p.m. We got to the hotel, after stopping to get me some cold and flu medicine. We ate a quick dinner at the hotel restaurant (too sick to get dressed up and go anywhere else) and then my romantic evening was spent layed out in my sick bed, while my husband had to make two trips out to the car in the FREEZING weather to get me water bottles! Poor guy, he wasn't to happy...but he always takes care of me.

Today I'm doing much better, and it's a good thing because we have a long drive tomorrow!

I'll post lots of pic after we get home.

I'm Naive

I had to take Elijah to the doctor's yesterday because an ugly mole on his foot came back pre-cancerous. The dermatologist wanted a plastic surgeon to cut out the area around the top of his foot where the mole was because it will leave less scarring.

We went in and I just assumed that she would take care of it right then and there. She took a look at it and asked, "What day would you like to have the surgery on? It will have to be early in the morning because he will be put to sleep." I just kind of sat there for a minute, feeling a little stupid for thinking that she was going to do it in her office and we'd be on our merry way. Then I got a little stressed, I hate when the kids have to be put under. You think, "Oh it's just a basic surgery, but what if something goes wrong." Then I stopped myself from going to that crazy place in my head.

He will have the surgery on December 16 at 7:00 am. Then the poor kid has to be completely off of his foot for 2 WEEKS! There goes his snowboarding on our Utah vacation. Poor kid will be sitting around the house with his foot elevated. He felt bad that he wont be able to beat up his little cousins...they are a rowdy little crew and love Elijah's rough housing. I guess everyone will have to suffer...at least they will be together. I told him he should be happy he isn't going to be at home because all of his friends would be calling him to do stuff over the winter break and he wouldn't be able to (see, mom's always try to look at the bright side to keep our little monsters happy...LOL).

So my quick little office visit turned into a full pre-op visit...yep...I'm Naive!!

Don't Cry At Work!

I had a pretty tough weekend, very emotional. It started on Friday at work, I have been struggling with the finance thing again (getting close to the end of the month, no money for groceries or gas right now and another payment is due.) I've been really trying to have faith and know that it'll all work out, but sometimes I just reach my breaking point.

On Friday I was already pretty down but trying to put on my fake happy face. One of my bosses was being kind of snippy all morning. I went in to tell him something and I guess I had a little bit of an attitude, he looked up at me and said, "What's wrong, are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine," I replied rather quickly. "No, somethings wrong, I can tell. Do you want to talk about anything? I'm a really good listener. Is something going on at home with your kids, or husband?" He asked with honest concern. "No, I'm fine, really," as the tears started to well up. Now, I NEVER cry in front of anyone, ESPECIALLY AT WORK!! Since my stupid emotions gave me away, I blurted out, "Just having some financial struggles, but we'll be fine." "I'm really good with money, I can help," he said, "Thanks, but we'll be fine." I rushed out and went straight into the bathroom, wiped my face off, regrouped, and went back to my desk.

I went home and cried to my husband, I was soooo embarrassed! I can't believe I broke down. I spent the rest of the evening laying around, took a nap, woke up, watched t.v. and went back to sleep again. Sleep sure does make things seem better, you actually stop thinking of your problems.

The next morning I got up, my son had left to go surfing and grabbed the wrong wetsuit, he needed us to take it to him. This forced me to get up and out of the house. I took my camera and drove to give Jullien the wetsuit. While my husband, Anthony, Jullien and his friend surfed, I tried to capture the moment with some pictures. I walked out onto the jetty's to get a closer shot. I had to be careful because some of the waves were big and I was afraid my camera was going to get wet. This is exactly what I needed to snap me out of my depression. My morning helped me get my mind off of myself...hope you enjoy visiting Newport Beach, CA on a Saturday morning (Double Click Pics For Close Up View).

Anthony (my hubby)

Jullien (Off The Lip)

Wave By the Jetty


Waves Crashing in Front of Me

Feeding Bird

Houses Along Newport Beach Boardwalk

Lifeguards on Duty

The Morning Line Up on the Weekend (it's a battle)

Surfing Has Rules...Must Know This Before You Enter the Line Up...

Jullien and his friend Josh...Good Waves=HAPPY BOYS!