Beach thoughts

I was thinking today as I was perusing my friend's blog (who still lives in California) how much I miss living close to the beach. It's such a fun and relaxing way to spend the day. I miss the beautiful drive over Hecker Pass and through Watsonville's "strawberry fields forever". I miss the smell of the salt air and the Eucalyptus trees. I miss collecting shells. I miss playing in the water and going out as far as I dare into the waves. I miss spotting dolphins and whales so close to shore. I miss nighttime fire pits. I miss digging for sand crabs. I miss burying my feet in the cool sand. I've never been bothered by the sand getting into everything. You learn how to make do.

From where I live now, the beach is a least 3 hours away. You can't just decided to go on a last minute trip for the day. You actually have to plan ahead of time or it never happens. Plus, I don't know if I would really want to live any closer to the beach here. There is a little thing called a Hurricane I would rather avoid by living inland. This is why I want my parents to never move.


But there is sooo much to do on the ocean!!! How can I NOT live near? Whale watching, scuba diving, snorkeling, tide pools, playing on the dunes, days at the beach, kayaking, beautiful sunsets, the list goes on and on. There are so many reason to live by the ocean, I guess Russ will just have to accept the costs because it's outweighed by the benefits. (obviously I'm learning something in my econ class).

New CD

If you don't like country, this post is not for you.

I just go the new Dierks Bentley CD Feel That Fire. I'm excited.




















I haven't had the chance to listen to it yet but I'm suuuuuper super excited!!! Other songs I like from his past albums are "Every Mile a Memory", "Free and Easy (Down the Road I go)", and "Long Trip Alone". Russ and I went to his show last year at the Houston Rodeo. I really like his voice. It's easy to pick out from all the other country singers.

Woops

I locked myself out of facebook today on accident. I was deleting old emails that I don't use and deleted the one I use to log in. So now I can't log in. The help page says that you can use any of the emails listed on your account to log in, but I found this to not be true. So now I'm facebookless until this problem gets solved. It's probably a good thing. Maybe I'll actually study for my Macroeconomics test thats tomorrow since Facebook isn't there to distract me like it did on Monday when I was supposed to be studying for my nutrition test that was yesterday. I ended up waking up at 4 yesterday morning to study because of it. So while I'm frustrated right now, it's probably a good thing.

Weekend trip

Russ and I got back from a relaxing weekend last night. Our trip was totally spur of the moment and everything just worked out perfectly. It all started last Wednesday when Russell finally decided I needed new shoes. While we were at sketchers, we found these strawberry covered shoes.


My mother in-law is obsessed with strawberries. If you don't believe me, just take a trip with me to Houston to look at her kitchen. They were only 10 bucks. $10 is an easy and inexpensive way to buy your way into your mothers heart (not that we needed to or anything). So we called her up to make sure she wasn't going to be out of town (as she often is). We were in luck!!! Not only would Russell's mom be there, but his dad was flying in from Nigeria that weekend too.

I don't have class Fridays. Russ had just taken his test Wednesday. Conditions were perfect (Flight of the Concords anyone?). So Thursday night, we took off for Spring, Texas. Of course mom oooed and awwed over the shoes when we got there.

Raelene just spoils us the whole time we are there. Friday we spent the day visiting, laughing, and just enjoying the company. Of course a trip to visit mom just wouldn't be complete without going out to dinner and a movie. Not only were we well taken care of and loved, but we got to relax more than we would ever do at home. At home, you can always think of something you should be doing.

Saturday she took us to the grocery store and tried to buy all our favorite foods. (mmm asparagus). Saturday evening we had delicious homemade pizza's at our friends house (Russell's old mission companion). It was fun visiting with them and seeing their new house. But, the best part was almost giving Russell's dad a heart attack in the car after picking him up from the airport. We hid in the back seat and then grabbed his shoulders with a big "HA!" after he got comfortable. Oh man, that was THE highlight of our weekend. Sorry Normy :)

I know from all this is sounds like we just like to visit Raelene for all the perks. But thats not the case. My favorite part was that we got to spend time with just her. No other family around (until Norm flew in Saturday night) that you have to please and moderate between. We could just focus on her, getting to know her, and building a firmer more loving and understanding relationship with her. It's hard to do this at big family gatherings. While no relationship is perfect- there are always differences, history, annoyances, and frustrations,-I am grateful for opportunities like these where you can look past all those things and just love a person for who they are and appreciate the things you can learn from them. I wish we could visit all our family members this way. I'm grateful for those random shoes for inspiring our trip.