It's That Time of Year

 Sometimes I'm in denial about the change of seasons.

But nature makes sure that you pay attention

Almond trees on the way to work in March 2011 

Almond trees on the way to work August 2011.

They are so heavy the branches are pulled down and the trees are so droopy looking.

And on the way home in this field they are already harvesting them.

Can you believe that whole trailer is filled to the brim with almonds?

They have several more lined up behind them.



Have you ever seen how they harvest almonds?

It's quite a sight.

They have the strangest looking harvesting equipment.

When you see them going down the road you'd think we were being invaded by some kind of aliens.

They go up to the tree, grab ahold and shake the "L" out of them.

That's why the farmers call them

AMONS

(They really do, all of them!)

Then later they have another piece of equipment they drive come and sweep them all up in rows.

That thing above the trailer is sucking them up and spitting them out into the trailer bed.

Are the seasons changing where you live?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesay

Good Guys Car Show, Great way to spend a Saturday!

Saturday we went to the Good Guys Car Show in Pleasanton, CA. A guy Scott knows through work (he works on the guy's race car engines) gave us free tickets to get in. I thought for a bit that we were actually going to go with no kids but Trevor came home from my brother's house bright and early.

I actually had a really good time walking around looking at all the cars. And there were A LOT of cars.  We walked and walked. I wish I would have thought to bring some water bottles in my bag.  We were so thirsty! We started filling up our cup from a soda we bought at the drinking fountains. And the bathroom sink. Beggars (and people on a budget) can't be too picky!

I LOVE this car. I think  I might have to make a banner out of it. Although that guy is in the background. Wish I would have noticed that.

We have one of these cars. In our garage. Scott's been working on it for about 18 years now. He's even painted (most of it) black.

I still want to shudder when I see station wagons like this. Memories, scary memories.

Here's a real version of the car mine was modeled after.

The paint job on this truck was AWESOME.

This is the car that Scott's nephew painted. It was in a magazine. Which we had one of but the dog ate it. BAD DOG! We need to get another one. Sadly his nephew wasn't there. I would have liked to get a picture of him with it.

This car was at our little River Club car show. (Same kind as the one in our garage)

The car show was at the fair grounds and they had this model railroad exhibit open. It was pretty cool! Lots of big boys enjoying those "toys" in there.

I got completely sun burnt. Next time I go out in the sun I should probably put the sun screen ON instead of just carrying it around with me.

Lunch Room Fun

I'm totally convinced that I could heat up a can of dog food at work and people would walk in the break room and tell me how good it smelled and ask me what I was eating.

Today I was eating a SALAD and mulitiple people say how good it smelled. How does a salad even smell like anything?

I'm really tempted to try out my theory...

Pismo Beach I :HEART: You!!

We went to Pismo Beach on the way back from the wedding. 

None of us had ever been there before. 

We found a place to park for free on the street 

and then walked towards the ocean, 

down the stairs and on the beach.

It's GORGEOUS! 

I wish we had been prepared 

and wore our suits, 

brought a beach blanket, 

a book for me 

and a picnic.

I think these guys would have liked us to bring a picnic too.

The kids entertained themselves by burying each other

And then braved the ocean sans suits

Trevor found a piece of seaweed 

that made the perfect Indiana Jones whip. 

You can see that Jessica is 

less than thrilled about that.

 And Melissa 

found a whole sand dollar in the sand!

I definitely want to go back there. 

Most of the time when people talk of Pismo

it's to go four wheeling. 

We don't have four wheelers 

but I could go for a few days of hanging out right here.

Comments To Live By

There's a young gal at work who sits in the back area with me (and a bunch of other people). We call the area "the cave" since it's basically a big storage area that they put cubicles and a bit work station in. No windows. It's very "cave like".

She's been working on trying to get a grant for some educational garden things. Today she proclaimed

"I'm so excited! I'm finally doing something to make a difference!" 

or something to that nature.

Then she went on to talk about how when she was in 5th grade she had a teacher who told her mom at at conference that she'd

"never live up to her full potential"


Obviously this has stuck with her for her whole life to this point. Always in the back of her head a teacher telling her that she'd never be anything, do anything, and wanting to prove her wrong.

She said she wished she could call up this teacher and tell her what she was doing.

Isn't it funny/sad how one sentence that someone says about you can make or break your way of thinking about yourself? I wonder if all these years she's just wanted to prove that beotch wrong! I'm guessing!

I once had a teacher that told my mom that if I could learn to apply myself I could be President some day.

That just makes me laugh!

Cousin Al's Wedding

My "Cousin Al" got married on Saturday to the girl we met in Vegas.

They got married outside at the Santa Ynez Inn. 

It was an outside wedding.

The last outside wedding we went to we were on the bride's side 

and it was in the full sun while the groom's side was in the shade.

This time? Reverse. Everything.

It was freaking hot. 

The wedding was at 4:00 which means really that it happens at a quarter to 5. 

My sister in law got up and stood in the shade with my niece while we were waiting for it to start. 

We soon followed.

Eventually the wedding started. Both of my brother's were in the wedding. 

I was a bit surprised at the gals they were escorting down the aisle. 

I think they might have been a tad bit surprised too!

 After the wedding we moved over to this little reception area.

The wedding had a peacock theme to it. Check out the super tall centerpieces.

My niece did pretty good through it all. 

For some reason I wasn't allowed to take her picture for awhile. 

She'd scream NOOOOO!! 

and cover her face. 

Too funny.

The fancy looking dinner. 

Looked better than it tasted. 

The girls chicken was RAW.

 I asked for a new piece for them. 

I felt bad since it was a wedding but this was our dinner. 

They still didn't end up eating much of it.

Late night McD's run anyone?

Once the music started Trevor and his cousin started dancing.

It was so cute! 

They danced and danced. 

My brother took a video on his phone. 

I still haven't seen it though.

My baby brother and his family

Trevor dancing his butt off! 

He complained that his arms hurt for two days afterwards!

Little brother and my sil/niece

Me and mini me

And me having a good time on the dance floor. 

I danced a lot. 

It was SO.MUCH.FUN.

I love to dance :)

A Trip To Solvang, California

Last weekend we traveled down south for my cousin's wedding. The wedding was in Santa Ynez. We went down Friday night after school was out for Jess and I got off of work. It's a FIVE HOUR DRIVE. That's why we went a day early. FIVE HOURS in the car. Everyone did surprisingly well on the trip down. AMAZING.

So Saturday morning we got up and had our free breakfast at our hotel. I LOVED this about our stay. Free breakfast for five people two days in a row saved us at least $100. After waiting two and a half hours for my oldest to get done getting ready we hopped in the car and took the short ride over to Solvang.

Solvang is the cutest little tourist town. It's "Danish", which must mean lots of adorable little places with windmills :)

Here's a big windmill with two pretty girls in front of it.

This is my  family looking oh so happy.

Love this store front!

My brother and his family met up with us, look how big my niece is already. She calls Melissa La La. How adorable is that?

Check out this building. Loooveee it!

 I think we need to get one of those smashed penny books, that would be a fun cheap collection for the kids. If only I had more quarters.

This is a cool pelican with a fish in it's mouth. 

And this is a very expensive bench. Right after we took this Trevor broke something. The shop owner was nice enough to only charge me half price. ($6 something). I was hoping she'd be nice and just say it was ok. Thank God it wasn't more expensive.

We ate lunch at the Big Bopper Drive In. Almost $50 for our family of five to get a drink, burger and fries each. The burger wasn't all that special but the fries were DELICIOUS! I'd stop there and just get fries next time. It did seem to take a really long time to get our food too, so don't stop there if you are in a hurry.

Walking back to try and find our car we had to stop for this photo op. Kids loved it!

There were a lot of people waiting to ride the horse pulled trolley.

I made the kids take a picture of me before we left so there was proof that I was there too. 

I wish I would have had more time to hang out and go through all the shops. There was so much to see!