We can’t all be California girls

I posted this on my blog earlier but thought I’d share it here too.I think in my heart I will always be a California girl.  Even if I never live there again.  When someone asks “Where are you from?”  I’ll invariably answer, “Well, originally from Southern California.”   Perhaps I have too much salt water in my pores, but nowhere else truly feels like home.  Texas has definitely started to grow on me though.  I occasionally slip into my lazy southern drawl and who can live here and not help but become a Dallas Cowboys fan (without suffering pain of death)!  It shocks me that none of my children were born in California.  It helps that my parents still live in the same house I lived in all of my childhood.  The same green linoleum lines the guest bathroom, the dark wood-paneled den, the carpeted “office” where I hold dear memories of rocking in the lay-z-boy with my Dad listening to Beethoven.  Most of the rest of the house has been updated (I kind of miss the green shag carpet), but going to my parent’s house still feels like going home to me.

As mentioned in a previous post I utilized questionable sanity when deciding to attempt a week’s vacation with my children without my eternal companion.  He complained of loneliness but I know for a fact that he saw multiple movies, slept in daily and watched every sporting match available through our measly digital antennae signal.  We did get to talk everyday and I was surprised at first that it was Dan who usually called and often kept the conversation going with questions and comments.  You have to know him to understand, but Dan’s phone etiquette is passable at best.  I realized after not long a common theme at the end of each call.  “So where’s my present?”  I had started a 12 days of Christmas gift giving before leaving and hid (pretty darn well) most of his gifts.  He had to call each day to find out where the next one was.  It was fun and good incentive to get him to call.

So apart from a couple crummy flights (which I’ve blocked from my memory now but you can see previous posts to know what I’m referring to) and maybe a day or two of crummy children.  Oh, did I say crummy!?!  I meant to say crabby!  Anywho, it was a fun trip and good opportunity to see family.

Caleb and Abby were both entranced by the singing tree in the front yard.  It sang “Jingle Bells” so loud I wanted to deck it’s halls a couple times!The kids get along well with their cousins and there was only one time that Parker came to ask me to play with him.  Apparently all the girls were playing dress-up.When Grandpa is available he always makes the best horsey!We spent one lazy afternoon roaming around El Dorado park watching the ducks and other wildlife.  Grandpa found some fishing line and rigged up a pole for Parker to fish with.  I’m not sure that fish could even live in the murky water of that tepid pond, but he gave it a great effort, even offering up a prayer for fishing help before we left. Caleb and Seth were bosom buddies. My older sister who somehow still looks 20 and her 16 year-old husband.Some cute cousins. The Grandpa we adore. Charlie’s Angels!?!For family night the kids acted out the nativity as Uncle Spencer read from the scriptures.  The boys, if you can’t tell, were the kings complete with gifts for the infant Jesus. And we had some angelic little beauties.