California Trip

Date night at the Yellow Deli

      Hey friends! Most of you know where I've been, but if you missed us, we took this opportunity to thaw out in sunny southern California! My mother in law welcomed our family of five into her home, where we spread out and took over. We arrived the day before Waylon's birthday and we invited whoever was around for pizza and cake . It was so cool to celebrate with our extended family and catch up with friends. Ian got to surf, just once I think, on account of his missing wet suit, which sent him on a scavenger hunt in our storage unit . Funny how you forget what you've left behind, I like to keep if forgotten since we're all ready maxed out in here. We got our fill of  In-N-Out, sometimes several times a week. We made these trips our date with Grandpa Kevin. By the end if the trip,  I was eating my burger on a bed of lettuce "protein wrapped " but who am I to stand between my children and their beloved In-N-Out. I got to go to the botanical gardens with a friend and even squeezed in a beach day with the boys. Ian and I got to have a few dates here and there, which is always the best! We finally discovered " The Yellow Deli" in Vista, which Ian describes as having a trip in the Pirates of the Caribbean. I don't care how you describe the ambiance, it's definitely something to experience, I got the best yogurt parfait. Yes it was dinner time but the guy was really selling me on it and I'm so glad I got it. That and a weird green drink that I loved so much I went out and bought a magic bullet for the trailer which I still have only used to grind coffee beans, but that's another story. Actually, I'll tell you right now my father in law came to hang out with us and gave us some delicious Kona coffee. It was amazingly good and is seriously ruining my normal yuban routine .
       We spent one of our three weeks in a friends toy hauler. He was out of town that week and offered it to us to stay in. First of all,  he taught us the power of febreeze, this trailer smelled so good, even with all of our stinky boys staying in it. Secondly, wow,  how amazing it would be to have a full size closet but even more importantly was having an enclosed room in the back where Waylon couldn't hear us at nap time. These things seriously have us dreaming about toy haulers.

      The next thing we did was celebrate Ian's birthday! We kept it low key and had pizza and cookies with his mom and sister . We hung out and looked at pictures of little Ian when he was growing up. So proud of the man he has become. This tied in well with my present I got him . Not much I could do with the out of work budget, but I  managed to find a ton of pictures of Ian from over the past ten years,  we've been together and I compiled them in a photo album for him. He really liked it and I love seeing the boys (and us) age in the pictures. We also got to celebrate his birthday with my aunts and uncles and cousins. Again after being on the road and celebrating on your own, it was so fun to celebrate with family.

     We took the opportunities this trip offered  and Ian got to go to motocross with the guys and I got to take a hot yoga class and was able to run in the sun, what a difference! We spent the morning drinking coffee with Ian's mom and watching Waylon torture the cat and hide things in the bird cage.  We made dr appointments and tried to enjoy each others company while it lasted .
      Finally, it was that time of the month when Ian has to be in Salt Lake for class and I decided to come back with him. We had a lot of really good times in California but I really missed my own space, my own stuff, my own bed. It seems silly to miss a trailer but its mine and I've grown fond of it. So on Valentines day we set off for Salt Lake City . Unfortunately, this timing coincided with me fighting a major cold and Waylon teething . The boy made it through his birthday without a single tooth and now he's getting four at once! And this is how I found myself at a Motel 6 in St George Utah on Valentines Day. I like to think of myself as an easy going gal , but around Vegas I woke up with completely plugged ears and totally backed up sinus' so as I read my husbands lips when he mouthed "no porta crib, share bed with Waylon" I started to cry. He couldn't quite understand my distress but he offered to go to Target to buy a porta crib. I took him up on it because anyone who has had Waylon sleep or nap in your house can imagine that there is no sharing a bed with Waylon. I really needed a good nights rest with my head cold, so off we went to buy a porta crib after we had just left one behind at my mother in laws house. Am I  the only one who feels like a slow learner? We ended up having dinner at Cracker Barrel (I had soup) and as my husband looked around he said "today's Valentines Day and I got you a room at the motel 6" and I said "yes" and he said " we probably would've spent less money if we would've stayed at a nicer hotel" just knowing that he can realize these things gives me hope but the action of him buying another porta crib - that gave me rest which I most desperately needed.
       So the following day we made it to Salt Lake City . We got our trailer in at the park and  Ian thawed everything out. We were surprised at how warm it was here. It's in the 40s which isn't bad at all and there's just a bit of leftover snow on the ground. It was such a good feeling to be back in my own trailer, with all my stuff and a new change of clothes (we had 4 pairs of clothes each, for three weeks.) It made me want to deep clean and organize everything , but that feeling soon passed. Now we've been hanging out getting caught up on Wrex's schoolwork. It turns out he skipped over a lot of school work while we were in California. That's how we spent our three day weekend, hope all is well on your adventure. Love you all and we'll see you again real soon.