Aranna Has Arrived on Kauai

Aranna arrived safely on Kauai. Jace met her with a beautiful lei.

The 2nd night here, the weather changed and we ended up with a tremendous storm and no electricity. We enjoyed dinner by candlelight.

After two days of rain, the sun is finally peeking out this morning.

Happy 55th Marla Irene Green!

Mom, Matt and me Summer 2002

Mom with the dogs- they adored her and they were basically like her children

Today would by my mom's 55th birthday. She was born November 23rd 1953 to Carl and Marjorie Green in Oxnard, California. I feel lucky to have had her as my mom. She would always tell me that before babies were born, they pick thier parents when they are in heaven. She said that my brother and I picked her and my dad. It's been almost 5 years since she passed and I still think about her everyday. I still miss talking to her on the phone. See- I lived in California for the last 4 years of her life. I talked to her almost everyday. She was my biggest fan. She wasn't perfect but she loved my brother and I more than we deserved. She was hilarious, accepting, forgiving, generous, a great cook and the giver of the best mom hugs. I don't know what I miss the most. Whenever I was sick, whenever anything awesome happened to me, whenever anything bad happened to me- she was the only person I wanted to talk to. Losing her was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through but it has made me who I am today and I like myself better today.

Birthdays were always special. No matter the number- she would always make you feel like you were the most special person on the planet. She would tell me the same story every year- she would usually start 3 weeks before the birthday and say, "23 years ago today I was...". She finished by saying what she was doing on the day before I was born. She did the SAME to my brother. We would laugh and say, "Mom, I have heard this story every year".

Often times, I felt like the parent. She told me before, that in a past life I was the mother and she was the daughter. I would say, "That explains a lot". When I would tell my friends that I was going back to AZ to visit my mom or that my mom was coming to visit me in Cali- my friends would wait for me to complain- I never did. I actually liked spending time with her. We were friends and enjoyed each other. That seemed to be a foreign thought to some of my friends because they didn't like their mothers. I will always miss her and be so thankful for the time on earth we had. I do wish she was still here to meet my husband and family- she would LOVE James. I am so grateful for the 25 years we had together. In that time we experienced a lifetime of love and memories that I will always cherish.

Who knew heaven was a paved road?

Once you have had 2 flat tires on the dirt road you are on, once you hit a paved road- you can finally start to relax. We made it home and took some pretty good pics on the road. Here's some pics I took on the way back from hell, I mean Crown King. I told James that I was hoping that I would wake up from the nightmare and be in bed. If you've seen the movie 'The Hills Have Eyes' you know what I am talking about. Anyways- I had to get the pic of him and the 'baby' sprite. I was making fun of him for that purchase.

Crown King Adventure

Lots of cattle in this area

Flat tire #1

Flat Tire # 2

James and I decided last week to go to Crown King this week on Wednesday- our only day off together. He's been telling me how much fun I was going to have but all day I kept wondering when that was going to happen. The day started out pretty good. Woke up, had some coffee got ready to go, stopped at Fry's to get stuff for our picnic. Then we hit the road. The road to Crown King is a 26+ mile drive of very primitive dirt/rock road. We got our first flat tire about mile 20. When I say first flat tire- that means there was a second one only this time- no spare. It was like a scene out of a movie- a horror movie. Our 2nd flat tire was about mile marker 23. Both rear tires of the truck are toast. As you can see from the last pic we kept driving because there was no other option. The road is not very travelled on a Wednesday. We did get lucky and a very nice Crown King Fire Dept. Employee named Bonnie happened to be 'jogging' right where we were stopped. She offered to run back to her car and come back and help us. She was so generous with her time and services. She wouldn't take money for helping us so we donated to the Crown King Fire Dept. in her name. Crown King doesn't even have a gas station or service station or anything for us to get help. I bought a plug kit at the general store. James plugged the tire and it was still leaking. I was beyond cranky since I hadn't eaten. He still wanted to explore despite our tire woes. So we drove around more dirt roads. You will see James old 1 room school house, the old cabin (with new addition) that started the whole Crown King Adventure. So we stop in the forest to finally have our long awaited picnic. After we were done eating we walked around and stumbled upon a very old cemetary (of all places). It was pretty indicative of the day we had. I told James that if we got another flat tire I was going to stab myself right in the heart (thank goodness we only had a plastic knife). We stopped at the Saloon and had a beer and then decided to make our way back home.

The Lady with all the Answers

Last night my assistant Rossana and I went to a play at the Herberger theatre. It was called, "The Lady with all the Answers". It was a 1 woman show about Eppie Lederer the person who the world knew as Ann Landers. It was autobiographical and she shared a lot of her letters to and from readers. I enjoyed it, Rossana slepted during the first half. It's been a long time since I have seen a play. Rossana and I are also going to "It's a Wonderful Life" at the Herberger in early December.

Aunt Fran

My Aunt Fran is my Dad's older sister. She is the person on the right hand side of this pic. Can you guess who the little gal is to the left? Yep, it's me. This is one of my favorite pics. It is candid and tender and just illustrates the love between her and I so long ago. Aunt Fran used to live in Canoga Park, CA- she moved in the late 90s to Weatherby Lake, MO. I miss her. She is the BEST seamstress, quilter, knitter, crocheter, I know. She is a dog lover, and a fun all around lady! I haven't seen her since 2004 when my Mom passed. She flew out to lend support to my brother and I.

In fact, I have been begging James to come with me to visit her and Tom. My Aunt Fran is my only living Aunt. My husband hasn't even met her! I know that James, Aunt Fran and her husband Tom would hit it off. Tom is just as awesome as Aunt Fran! Some of my best childhood memories involve Aunt Fran and spending time at her house in Canoga Park. So, next time you see James- encourage him that a trip to Kansas City Missouri would be fun! Please leave a comment on this post and give me some selling points for a trip to Missouri. I am convinced- I just have to convince the hubby. I was trying to make it an Oklahoma/ Missouri combo since they are fairly close. We could fly into MO and rent a car and drive to OK to visit other family.

Mourning the weekend

We had a nice weekend at home. Sunday we cleaned, did stuff around the house and had a much needed trip to COSTCO! I love that place. Ever since we have had firewood in the backyard we have be "jones'in" for a fire in the fireplace. The only problem- it hasn't really been cold. Sunday morning James said, "you want a fire?" I was like heck yeah! It was so nice. Then we had breakfast of Pancakes and bacon. I took a pic of breakfast and Mollie was like, "Why did you take a picture of that?" Shouldn't she know by now that I am a blogging dork! Doesn't it paint a nice picture of the morning to know what I ate for breakfast? HELLO??