Aliso Canyon "Wilderness"

Hiking in California is a different experience than hiking in Utah for sure.

It's still pretty and so fun to have a little adventure.

We went to Aliso Canyon Wilderness along a bike path that turned to a hiking trail that led to some caves.

When I hear the word "wilderness" I don't really picture neighborhoods all around

but, for California, this will pass for "wilderness."

We loved finding all the little caves, and it turned out to be a really fun hike.

 Mackayla ran most of the way along this hike and then the last half mile back she cried.

Fairly so, because that night she got a fever.

 We loved it so much that on Monday the "holiday" (Ben had to work, bummer) we decided to go again!

This time we started on the other side of the Wilderness at Top of the World and did a reverse hike, starting at the top and going down.

This hike overlooks the ocean. It was a little too cloudy to get a picture of it, but the view really is great.

I brought the stroller since Mackayla was over her fever but still not 100%.

This way we all win:)

 We hiked down a steep rocky trail (awesome off-roading with a stroller) that eventually led to some more caves.

 

Signs about Mormon leader Brigham Young and the Mormons. ;)

 

  Throwing this in here real quick. Cody's class parties all the time, seriously.

But this time it was Mr. Steed's birthday. They had pizza, soda and cupcakes for lunch.

One girl said no thanks to the treats and I felt a little guilty sugaring all these kids up for their parents...but we did:) Valentine's party is next!

Focus

FOCUS /'fok-es/ noun: 1. the state or quality of having or producing clear visual definition; the center of interest or activity.

2. verb: to adapt to the prevailing level of light and become able to see clearly.

In the family pictures I took, this was the one that turned out "focused" the best:

A friend in the photography business told me you can tell a picture is professional depending on the quality of the focus in the picture, above all other qualities.

It's a good application for life, too.

Focusing on what you want to "see" most clearly, will enable you to create the best life picture.

In my defense on these pictures, I was RUNNING back and forth to set the timer.

Trying to look casual and not sweaty or out of breath in heeled shoes is harder than you'd think!

While you enjoy my not-perfectly-focused pictures, think about this:

Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk called "Focus and Priorities."

Everything that has been floating around in my head about life and busyness and chaos was answered right in this talk. It's just what I needed to read!

"In terms of priorities for each major decision (such as education, occupation, place of residence, marriage, or childbearing), we should ask ourselves, what will be the eternal impact of this decision? Some decisions that seem desirable for mortality have unacceptable risks for eternity. In all such choices we need to have inspired priorities and apply them in ways that will bring eternal blessings to us and to our family members."

"Faced with an excess of information in the marvelous resources we have been given, we must begin with focus or we are likely to become like those in the well-known prophecy about people in the last days—“ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). We also need quiet time and prayerful pondering as we seek to develop information into knowledge and mature knowledge into wisdom."

Maybe this isn't so much about WHAT I need to focus on as 

WHO

I need to focus on.

Christ.

That should put everything else into focus.

I keep going back to the rocks in the jar analogy: put the big rocks in first. 

What are my priorities?

My goals this year are simple.

They have to do with a few things:

SIMPLICITY
PRIORITIES
and 

FOCUS

What are your goals?

Favorite "Things"

These are some of my new "favorite things" from last year:

And by favorite, I either mean a good price and good quality or amazing quality for reasonable price.

Kat Von D

Tattoo Liner Eyeliner

This was life changing for my eyeballs.

It never comes off, but it washes off easily. Perfect.

Boys' Dress Shirts

from frenchtoast.com

Why are boys' white dress shirts so hard to find in a normal material outside of Utah? People go to church around the world, they must wear them. These are only $10 and are the best material and fit I've ever been able to find.

Rugs from RugsUSA

I did a strange amount of research into finding a rug I liked and this site had the best prices and best selection.

That reminds me:

Canvas from EasyCanvas 

was only $30 for a 20x30. 

Not that I'm anywhere near an expert, but it seems as good as the $100 Costco ones.

Sonnet James Dresses

I could buy one of every design...and I will when I harvest my money tree, if it grows. 

I got one for Christmas.

I don't like dresses. Never have.

Last Sunday as I jumped into bed to watch AFV with the kids, still wearing my dress because it is so comfy

Ben was appalled and asked me if I was still going to hang out in such a nice dress.

And I happily told him these dresses were made to play in

and that includes curling up in bed.

Then you wash them and they come out looking brand new again with little to no work.

It's kind of a dress miracle.

New Year New Adventures

 New Year's always seems like it should be the biggest party of the year and I always end up thinking it's kind of lame, especially since having kids. So this year I had little to no expectations, and we had thought about driving up to the rose parade and camping overnight but nixed that idea. But then we last minute decided to go to a friends' nearby and celebrate the New York new year!

Two things, aside from fun friends of course, made the night: Root Beer taste testing (maybe only my family can appreciate how much I appreciated that!)

and Scattergories (again, maybe only my family will understand how much I appreciated that!).

Now that we all know how big of a nerd I am, I have to say New Years was so much fun!!

 Faygo Root Beer was by far the best, if you were dying to know.

And here's our yearly New Year picture, taken by the talented Cody.

I kissed Ben first at midnight (9pm est thankyouverymuch!), then my other little buddy, who was sitting next to me:) 

Fun night.

 We went on a bike ride over the break. I pushed the littlest one 90% of the way (luckily I didn't have a bike)!

We got up at 5 am the next day and drove to Pasadena to watch the Rose Parade.

(We posed in front of the city building just as the blimp was passing over; perfect timing)

 We had no idea what to expect, so we went with low expectations on what would play out, but it ended up far exceeding those expectations. I think we'll do it again next year!

We got great seats near the grand stands, thanks to some sweet people who camped out overnight and ended up not needing as much space. We were right behind them on the street.

 It was chilly in the morning but once the sun came out we all shed all our layers cause it got toasty! 

Ben's favorite, naturally: 

Macey wanted me to take a picture of every single float and it was tricky to even see what I was aiming at.

They are terrible pictures, but the floats were amazing!

It was either sit facing the sun or freeze the whole time in the shade. I choose sunglasses for sure!

I didn't get a picture of the bachelor in the bachelor float. Darn.

Our friends held up posters for them where they were at and he threw them a rose...next time! 

 This was random: five jets flew by in the middle of the parade and left this message: America is Great, Trump is Disgusting.

Another happy surprise was that because we went so early and were near the front of the parade traffic wasn't bad at all coming home, and we made it in time to have a nap and watch a football game or two:) 

I feel so rejuvenated after that school break.

Graduating was the most relieving thing I ever did. I never realized that I would kind of be doing school all over again. and again. and again.

I tried to keep my New Year's Resolutions easy this year

and one of them was to wake up before Cody at least three times per school week. I usually get up at 7:10 but he prefers I get up at 7:00. ha!

I'm really not a morning person and it's ironic that I have two morning people kids

because I'm really, not a morning person.

It's good though, I love morning people! And I definitely think it's way better to wake up early.

I'm just a lot more alert at night...

I was loving Mackayla's outfit this day:)

One of these years I'm going to be super cool and wake up before the kids and exercise or something. 

Not this year, keepin it real.

and hopefully keeping things simple.

One thing I love this time around is Ben and I set goals to do together.

One is read the Book of Mormon this year.

I finally discovered the BEST running trail EVER I can run to from home. It's like I'm not even in an overcrowded city!!