Salvation Mountain

On our way home from Encinitas we stopped in Niland. It was a good 45 minute each way "pit stop" to/from I-8. We spent an hour there with Leonard Knight, the creator of this awesome colorful place. Salvation Mountain is the name of this very cool place devoted to God. I saw this place in an article online, then on the movie "Into the Wild". Everything he uses either comes from the desert or donations. The hill is made of adobe and straw. Then painted with donated, or found, cans of paint. He does this all year long and lives in his old brokedown 1939 firetruck. He has no eletricity or running water. Since 1984 he has been there working on his expression of faith. He is 77 years old......and boy, did he light up when we arrived! In the winter time he gets up to 400 visitors a day since "Into the Wild" was released. In the summer he gets maybe 12 a day. The moment we pulled in he jumped up and greeted up with a big wave and a "hello, make yourself at home". Then he took us on a personal tour. His life is his devotion to God and getting the word out, and so this was the path God gave him to get the message in the public eye. Oh, and he LOVES when people video and photograph. It is all about spreading the word. Everything he is, and does, is dedicated God. No material possessions, except for some awards and trophies for his mountain that are in his "museum", which is a replica of an old balloon (that read "God is Love") he tried to make once, but rotted in the desert sun. The donations people leave go right back into buying paint and supplies. He gives out a picture puzzles to the kids, and a dvd about the mountain and his faith to everyone who comes to visit him. Which I am sure was donated. Donations or an admission fee is not expected. We did give him a donation to continue and he was happy and accepted it, as long as it came from the heart. He does receive $250 in Social Security I read in an article, which I assume feeds him and clothes him. Since he is rent free, out in the desert, by "the slabs" (an old military base, now bulldozed). The mountain is a national treasure and now protected, so it will be there for years to come.....ok, enough rambling, take a look at the photos we took :)

http://www.salvationmountain.us/

He lives what he teaches.......which is humbling :)








We walked the "yellow brick road" to the top of the hill by the cross and took this photo by the GOD letters.













Up next, the surprise party photos!

Good to be Home

(View from our back porch, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at sunset)

I am back :) A week in Encinitas just flew by!!! Pictures to come!! My "big thing" was a surprise birthday party my siblings and I threw for my dad on his 50th birthday (July 15th) on the beach in front of the Hotel Del Coronado. He had NO IDEA!! We pulled it off and had about 75 people there. Everyone but 4 party guests were from Az. What love, huh??? Also we had 2 beach days, went to Disneyland, shopped the outlets and stopped at Salvation Mountain in Niland, Ca on the way home today. VERY COOL PLACE. I have TONS of photos and video of "all the above". Busy week, but relaxing and we all got some color at the beach. This was our 3rd year of going to Encinitas with my dad, siblings and their families. This year was extra special with my 2 aunts' families and grandparents there also!!!

Pictures coming soon..........now onto packing for Alaska...like my blog's music? I am giving the music a "theme" :) 3.5 weeks until school starts!!!!!!!!!!!

Our (lack of a) Fourth of July

Our fourth was nothing major this year. Evan got picked up from camp in Payson and I took the kids to see Wall-E. No pictures at all. So instead of digging for pictures from past years (to fill a void on this blog for this WONDERFUL holiday) I am choosing to post a photo I found awhile back in a magazine. It shows rocks in La Jolla North of the Beach and Tennis Club on the beach. I remember these rocks from a fourth of July over a decade ago..........thought I'd share. I think my memory is too good, I can remember the smell of the ocean and the sounds, still, of that whole week.

Beyond the Sea

I've been so busy lately :) Getting excursions booked for 36 of my family members!! FUN TIMES..........so excited for Alaska. I have some really fun excursions booked. I am looking forward to this cruise a lot.

Summertime, and the Livin is Easy...

This time 1 week from now I start my CA vacation. I LOVE going on vacation!! Just recovered from Powell and Disneyland, ha ha! I have some stuff up my sleeve for my trip, so you all will see MUCHO photos when I return. I plan on staying in my bathing suit for most of my days....but hope to get to Disneyland 1 more time before my passes expire (not renewing this time, since we really did not use them until a month ago). My week is going to be sooooo flippin busy this week. Evan goes for an ortho appt, I have a dentist appt, hair appt, soccer try outs for both boys, summer day camp for all 3 kids, normal work out classes daily, 2 dance classes for Paris start up, a self defense class for myself, a new kind of "work out" class (wink), and Paris' kindergarten test...whew!!! Happy July you all!!!! Next weekend BIG BROTHER starts on CBS. My addiction begins!!! Mwhahahahahah......I also started cleaning my closet. 5 hours today and I am not done. I could not walk into the closet and I was playing hopscotch over shoes, belts and piles of clothes to get dressed every morning. So far I have 2 bags to donate and 2 bags of garbage I guess I was collecting. My shoe collection dropped from 100 (give or take) to about 40 :) No joke, Goodwill is going to love me.

PS~ Never go to the grocery store hungry. I bought double the food since everything looked good to me on Thursday. It's really bad when the check out girls asks if I am going camping.....I replied "ah, no". I felt like a piggy leaving :) My kids are in heaven though. 75% of what I bought was from the bakery, junk food aisles and ice cream freezer section. My kids gave me the mom of the year award. Robb, though, was not happy. He reminded me about sugar and our kids (does not mix well) and how we as parents snack on their treats. 5 weeks left of summer, so why not ENJOY.

Our Saturday Night Movie

"When you forgive, you love, and when you love, God's light shines on you"— Into The Wild

Happy 232 Birthday America!!!

Happy Fourth of July............Evan is home from camp. A whole 5 nights away from us, boy does his laundry stink. Wow, P-U :) Then we saw Wall-e today at the theater and I am not impressed. I just kept getting this weird feeling of not being entertained as much as Pixar had all this other stuff (propaganda) hidden in it's story. The theater was full and I heard other people on the way out say they did not like it either. My kids kept asking questions. They did not get what was going on until 1/2 way through it. My head hurts thinking about this movie. Should have seen Kung-Fu Panda I guess....anyone else not like it???
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Last night was tons of fun...Almost 5 hours of fun at dinner. Claim Jumper seems to be our stomping grounds for group dinners with these wild girls. Liz came in from Ca, so of course she rounded up the "SS Girls" to meet for dinner and lots of chatting!!! Here is the highlights......hope to see all of you at a crop soon, or in Sept for the convention dinner meet up!

Dinner + Scrapbooking Friends - Scrapbooking = Dinner with Friends









Saying goodbye at almost 11pm.....


Ok, the story goes I think I met my "personality twin" (if that makes sense??). Natalie and I ordered the same meal, same dessert and were talking about the same stuff. Things people don't normally talk about, like the fact J.Lo named her kids after the 2 kids on Dragon Tales (Max and Emme) we believe. Ha ha ha....I finally met someone like me!!!! Can't wait to hang out with my twin again......I wonder if we scrap alike too??






I told Liz it would be a CRIME to not try this Red Velvet Cupcake....it surprised her (as it did Natalie and I) that it was warm in the middle...YUMMO!!! Oh and Teresa's new haircut rocked.
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Last weekend my sister and I took our girls to the Highschool Musical play at Gammage Theater in Tempe. It was just ok for me, as I did not get into the whole HSM hoopla that has been around for the past 2 years. The girls loved it, so did Leah :) I only knew 1 song out of the whole play. This is the first official Broadway play the girls have been to!! Many more to come. I think she'd like Wicked. I did! It is coming back to Tempe June 2009 at Gammage. Everything about Wicked was great!!!!





We did get a firm talking to when we took these photos. No cameras allowed, which is fine, but we did not take any during the show, just intermission. Gheesh!
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Lastly, this is the coolest piece of artwork I have seen in a long time. Fresh and different. Photography mixed with art. The artist's name is Hisham and he is based out of NYC, even though he is from Tokyo. I just love it and it inspires me!!




Happy 4th of July everyone. 1 week until Encinitas, Ca, 3 weeks until Alaska, 5 weeks until school starts for the kids (yikes!!).....xoxoxoxoxo

I LOVE mondays......I do!!

Well, the latest around here is Aiden lost another tooth, so this is tooth #5 :) The tooth fairy only had a $10 bill, so that is what he got under his pillow. I use to get $1. Lucky kid. Then our beta fish Ally went to fish Heaven. So Paris was very sad about that. Evan is off at camp until Friday. Oh and I am going to meet up with some scrapper friends on Thursday for dinner, yay!!!!! So that is the latest!! Hope your Monday is going well. My other 2 kids are at a day camp and I am off to my cardio class in a few minutes. Hope everyone's summer is going well......

xoxoxox

A Catch Up Blog...

Lots of pictures to catch up on........I can't believe how the summer is flying by! 2 weeks until our CA trip and 4 weeks and we are on the Alaska cruise....then school starts back up!!

Paris' preschool water day






Aiden's Kindergarten Olympics




Evan's 11th birthday with the soccer team. With the Game Truck, which was a hit.







Aiden graduates from Kindergarten..