Memorable moments:

And the best moment of this year's Silver Creek Plunge camping trip was, by far:

Linda Jackson spraying her cooking pan with OFF! instead of Crisco.

Vanessa: "Did you just spray that pan?!?"

Linda: "Yeah." As in, "What do you have a problem with cooking spray?!?"

Vanessa: "With OFF?"

Linda: "What?!?"

Of course the two cans looked almost identical, so it was a good thing Vanessa saw it. At least the scrambled eggs wouldn't have had any mosquitoes in them. :)

Summer: Part One (the part that includes Vanessa)

My wonderful sister decided to spend May and June at home before returning to Bible School to help with kids ministries through July and August. After that she'll be the domestics coordinator for the campus during the school year. She won't be home until Christmas and after that not until the end of August. It'll be so hard to not have her here, but we've made some wonderful memories this summer.

We just took Esther on her first camping trip this last weekend. Several families from church go up every year, but this is the first time we went. Joining us were: The Kalouseks, Hughes', Jacksons, Dunhams, Vierths, Arnolds, Glovers, Brynea Goldsmith, and Bodie Drake. That's 37 people in all, plus 4 dogs. We had a blast fishing, riding bikes, swimming, playing games and laughing around the campfires. Esther had a bit of a rough weekend. I think it was a combination of lots of people holding her, new surroundings, smoke, and huge temperature differences. All in all though, she was fine. She loved the pool (fed by warm springs), and looking at the fire.

Mommy and Esther getting ready to swim (I LOVE her swimsuit!) :)

Auntie Nessa with Esther

Daddy playing in the pool with Essie



Essie staring at the creek from the bridge

Taking Essie back to camp

I love camping! :)

CALIFORNIA

So, I haven't updated in a while because I have some very sad news...

...I lost my camera. :(

After a heavenly trip to California I left my camera and all my precious pictures on the plane. I have still not heard from the airline, so I'm sure someone out there is enjoying their "new" camera. Bastards!

Sorry... I hate the world we live in sometimes.

So, all I can do now is talk about my trip. It was wonderful though...

Esther did so well on the plane. She was her usual delightful self and hardly fussed at all. When we got into San Diego on Saturday, Aaron's friend, Brett, and his two boys, Dilan and Trevor, picked us up and we all went out to lunch. Then we visited the Marine Corps Recruit Depot where Aaron spent 13 weeks in boot camp (BEAUTIFUL by-the-way), walked along the coast in La Jolla, and drove back to Brett's place in Wildomar. Sunday we went to church with Brett and spent the afternoon with his Dad and Step-mom.

The whole reason for this trip was to attend a wedding. One of my dearest friends, and roommates, from Bible School, Deanna, married the love of her life on May 3rd. It was a beautiful wedding and it was such a joy to see her so happy. I also got to visit with some other friends from school that I hadn't seen in three years. Marjorie (a roommate), and Rachael and Ashley, and their 7 month old son, Israel (Ashley is the dad). It was great to catch up with them. :)

After the wedding Brett picked us up and we all drove down to Oceanside. Brett's family owns a condo on the beach and so we were able to use it for two days. It was wonderful! We spent the afternoons on the beach, swimming and boogie boarding, and then we'd go to the pool to shower and swim some more. The condos also had a really nice spa, and barbeques. The weather was perfect, about 80 degrees both days we were there. We grilled steaks, made fresh lemonade (from the lemon tree in Brett's backyard, YUM!), walked out on the pier to a 50's style diner and got fries and shakes, and we went over to the harbor for fish and chips, ice cream cones, and to watch the sunset. Ahhh...

The next two days we spent at Brett's house, hanging out. We went on a short hike, got In-N-Out burgers, rented movies, and ate more ice cream. (I think I gained 5 lbs on this trip, haha)

Needless to say we were sad to leave, but at the same time I was excited because Vanessa got back from school at the same time we got back from Cali. My parents picked us all up from the airport at the same time. (camera-less) :(

So, since we've been home I've been wanting to put up pictures (waiting, in case the airline called me to say they found my camera). But now, alas, I think it is gone forever. And I'm left with only my memories. But they are wonderful.

Maybe now is the time to really learn how to use my Nikon N75 film SLR... hmmm...