Enduring to the end...

This summer has flown by too quickly, it's going to be gone before I even know it. It kinda feels like it's all been one big blur, like my life is just speeding on by...and I am standing still. This summer feels different than any other, it's not as easy and carefree. I try not to daydream of what could of been...but that's easier said, than done. Our lives would of been so different, but I'm still in the same spot I was last year. Some days it's hard to remember the simple joys of life. But...we are still trying, with everything we got, to enjoy life. We just have to keep moving forward...and I hope soon, Heavenly Father well bless us. I just have to remember, it's on the Lords time, not mine. (But that patience is a killer.)

We just have to endure.

"Peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high..."

"Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

My dreams will come true (I HAVE to keep reminding myself that over and over)...but until then, I am really trying to remember today's blessings. One day at a time...

So, some of our happy moments this month include celebrating the 4th of July. This holiday is one of my favorites...it's filled with family, bbq's, watermelon, boating, and fireworks!

I'd consider myself a very traditional girl...I love anything that reminds me of my childhood. Every year since I can even remember, on the 4th...we go to a family reunion on my mom's side. We always eat the same thing, at the same time, at the same place. And we're always with the same people, but that's the best part...cause it's my cute family. I always love to be with them.


My beautiful sisters....



The kids always go swimming after lunch. As you can see...they can't wait to get in that pool! When I was little, we did the same thing...wait and wait to go swimming. I swear...it always took the grow-ups for-evvvver to get ready.
That night, we hung out with my brother and had a bbq on the boat. Never done that before...but totally want to do that again!
Love that sunset, but love that Ryan more.
The parents-to-be

I adore him.
It was such a fun night. I love fireworks...and watching them from the boat was an experience I hope to do again. We got to see 2 different firework shows from the boat, and tons of other boaters shot up their own fireworks as well.

July was a busy month...my niece got married, a new nephew was added to our family, and Pioneer days! So, there is more post to come...

California !!

I had to start out with this picture, as you can see....we really had a great time on our Cali trip!

This is the exact house from the 1982 "Poltergeist" movie!

Apparently the house really didn't get sucked into hell, like the movie shows....it's actually just like 5 blocks away from where my brother Jeff and his cute wife Vanessa live, in Simi Valley, CA.

And that's where we stayed for a whole week...at their cute new house.

And this is Harley...the horse (Okay maybe not...he's a great Dane).

He is the biggest doggie I have ever seen! But also one of the cutest ones too.

He's so sweet and loves attention. I'd like to say he's all bark...but that's not true. If he doesn't like you, he can be a little intimidating...the Mail man and the Vet better watch out.

*Jeppie*

That's what I called him when I was little :)

Venice beach/aka Muscle beach

Venice Beach has to be where all the crazies go in California, seriously! We went and ate at a outside cafe along side the boardwalk...and we were entertained the whole time. I have dozens of stories of what we saw, and we were only there for a little over an hour. One guy...was riding his bike, suddenly stopped and hopped off the bike to yell and slap a statue. Then he stood there for 10 minutes talking to the statue...sticking his tongue out at it and slapping it, like the statue was talking back to him. Haha...it was quite the experience.

Ryan loves body building, so muscle beach was a place we had to visit. Ryan's dear friend Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia (yes...I'm name dropping :) worked out here back in the day.

Would anyone really ever wear a shirt like that?

Wait...at Venice beach they would! They'd fit right in.

The beach...

Yay...for SIX FLAGS!

This place is fun...but man, it's exhausting! It's roller coaster after roller coaster! No tiny little rides to rest on...just all the hard core stuff (alright, not really that hard core, it's not like jumping out of a plane or anything. I have never done that, but it's on the bucket list). They do have some of the FUNNEST roller coasters I'd ever been on! I'd totally go again.

The Superman ride: Funnest and tallest ride in the park!

Waiting in line stinks...but at least I have my Ryan to keep me busy.

Santa Monica Beach
I wish I could say it was a nice hot day with a light breeze. Instead it was like only 65-70 degrees with lots and lots of wind. I was so cold! It was a nice day...it was sunny and all, but not enough for me. We didn't even get in the water, except our toes...and only for pictures.

PINKS HOT DOGS

There's this little hot dog joint in LA, called "Pinks".

Apparently it's a hot spot for the stars (so I was on the look out) and has the best hot dogs around. I really don't like Hot dogs, but since it seems to be so famous, we decided to try it out. As you can see...there was a mile long line. While we were standing there, a reporter from LA's channel two news interviewed me! All I can say is....I hope that doesn't count for my 15 minutes of fame. I was so nervous...I probably sounded like a babbling idiot! Oh well. It turns out...it was worth the wait and it was the best hot dog I've had, ever!

The "Lord of the Rings" dog...

complete with one hot dog and onion rings coated with Braque sauce! YUM!

I like to think that everyone is a NERD in some kind of way. I have many nerdy qualities...one of them is that I tend to obese over things (Twilight, Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc.) My very first obsession was...BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the TV series. When I was in Jr. High...I couldn't get enough of this show!

So, now that I am all grown up...I still love it. I own all 7 seasons on DVD. The whole series was filmed around LA, so...because Ryan loves me so much, we went and saw as many Buffy sites that we could.

Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery

But in Buffy's world...it's called the Sunnydale cemetery. Being the nerd that I am, I scanned lots of Buffy episodes in hopes to find some of the headstones and mausoleums we took pictures of! And I was in luck...almost all of them are in one scene or another!

Kinda creepy (but totally cool, right! )

Santa Monica Pier

Happy Anniversary to us.

5 years and loving every second.

This looks like a good place to sit...

What a good boy...

We love Harley.

The Queen Mary

Supposely it's haunted...

Katie was so excited to visit the Queen Mary because...

She LOVES The X-files, and one episode was filmed on this ship! In the episode, the ship was called the Queen Ann...and everyone went missing while sailing on the mysterious Bermuda Triangle.

I have actually never been on a big ship before....so this was my first time.

I plan on going on a cruise one day... maybe that can be next years trip :)

It was soooo high...

Sunnydale High

Buffy's High school was my most favorite to visit out of all the Buffy sites! There is so many episodes that take place here...seeing it in person was so exciting! The courtyard felt smaller in person and it definently wasn't as clean as in the show. The school is located in a city called Torrance, and to be honest...isn't so pretty either (at least to what I imagined). The old 90210 was also filmed here as well.

Thoes steps were filmed alot in the Graduation episode, in season 4. The whole school gets blown up in that episode...haha.

The front of the school. Buffy and her friends hung out there in some episodes.
We tried to find still shots to show the cast and the back ground together...too bad they are so small.

I'm sure Buffy sat here...hee,hee :)

Buffy's House

It looks almost exactly the same...except the yard. The yard is completely different, but the house isn't....everythings the same color, and even the door is the exact one from the show.

Angels House

This place is actaully now like a musem, but it used to be somebodys house at one time. It's huge! Not only was it Angels house...it was also in the orginal 1959 "House on Haunted Hill" movie.

The Crashdown Diner

Another TV series I liked when I was younger was called Roswell. The whole series was only 3 seasons long...but we enjoyed them. It seems every TV series has a main hang out where all the charcters go, well for Roswell's main hangout, it was the crashdown diner. AND...we got to eat there! It's no longer the crashdown diner of corse, the shows been off the air for like 10 years. It's now a Mexican Resturant....with the yummiest food! And the cool part is that the inside is pretty much laid out the same way as in the show, there's just a few minor differences.

Love him so much!

Welcome to the city of Roswell...

okay, it's really a city called Covina in California.

Most of Roswell was filmed here, not actually in Roswell, New Mexico.

Griffth Observatory

That big telescope there...MADE Katies whole trip.

She couldn't stop talking about how cool it was.

Oh, a scence from Transformers was filmed here.

And last of all....

The Scrubs Hospital

This was our last site we visited! It was pretty late and the whole hosptial was gated, it wasn't as easy to get good pictues. Scrubs has been me and Ryan's latest hobby. Almost every night after work, for the last 6 months, we watched Scrubs. Just last week we watched the last and final episode. Now, 9 seasons and 182 episodes later, I'm kinda sad we're done. What are we going to watch now? Any suggestions?