Spring in the Desert

Welcome to the Southern California desert in springtime! It was raining as we set out this morning, but look what a beautiful day it is on the other side of the mountains! First we headed out to Joshua Tree National Monument for a picnic and some rock scrabling (that's rock climbing without all the rock climbing gear). Jim and I used to come out here and camp a lot when we first got married. It's beautiful in the spring
when the wild flowers are in bloom! We set the kids loose on the rocks with warnings to be careful and watch for rattlesnakes. Cheryl is such a nut... She found a perfect sized hole in the rock and decided to park it and rest. Chris loved rock scrabling! He has to make it to the top... I wish he'd apply some of that determination to his school work, lol!
Here they are at the top of the hill again!


After a late lunch we got back in the car and headed towards Anza Borrego. We entered Anza Borrego from the east side and found several off-roading rental shops... My family can't resist a chance to play! The off-roading area in Indian Wells was HUGE, but we only had an hour rental... Do you see Chris driving his own bike? He was so excited... Yep, he's 16yrs now!

We only saw one type of cactus in bloom (we call them prickly pears), but there were lots and lots of wildflowers!

On the way home we stopped in Julian and picked up an apple pie. We MUST have Julian apple pie! YUMMY!!!

Believe it or not, it started to rain on our way through Julian... it was so cold that it was falling as slush. They were expecting snow that evening and the town was closing early... we got there just in time to get our pie and get out of there before it started snowing!

It's been a fun week... my last week of being unemployed! Yep, Panasonic called me this morning (while we were on our way to the desert) and made me an official offer. I start on Monday!

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Carlsbad Flower Fields

Welcome to the Carlsbad Flower Fields, just right across the street from Legoland. We haven't been here for YEARS and it's as beautiful as I remember it! Here is the must-take photo of the flower field with the Anderson's windmill and ocean in the background. It's too bad it wasn't a clearer day. The flower fields are mainly a huge field of ranunculus planted in rows of colors. The flower field plants the flowers for seed, not the flowers themselves... though you can buy the cut flowers in their gift shop. Even with the lens flare, you can see how HUGE the field is. That's not even the entire field!

They added a sweetpea maze. It was bigger than we thought! The little kids had maps, and we had to stop one to ask directions, lol! I LOVE the smell of sweetpeas! Chris thought that getting lost in the maze was, "very annoying," LOL!

I tried getting a top view of part of the maze... That's the best I could do...

They also had a beautifully landscaped garden. It was kind of crowded when we were there (lots of kids on spring break field trips). So, I couldn't get a good picture of it. Here's a few more pretty pics! Thanks for stopping by!

SD4U Blog Hop!

Have you heard of blog hopping?
Everyone who is signed up makes a post with a project, and link to the next blog. We travel from blog to blog gathering ideas and inspiration.

I think we should give it a try!
SD4U is hosting it's first ever Spring Scrappin-ings blog hop!

Date: Saturday, April 25th
Time: 11:00 am EASTERN (POST READY) noon EASTERN (Blog Hop Begins!!!)

Since it's our first, let's keep this simple.
Your post must consist of:

1 - a Spring-related project
2 - the materials used
3 - favorite quote
4 - LINK TO THE NEXT BLOG.

Nothing wordy. Just Short and SWEET and SIMPLE. This way people will get through.

Keep your post up till 10:00 am Sunday, April 26th.

Why do it? Cause it will be fun, Fun, FUN! You don't have to have a blog to participate... there will be a prize drawing for all BLOGGERS and COMMENTERS.

Bloggers SIGN-UP HERE
If you are NOT blogging, you don't need to sign-up to play...

Weekly Sports Report

I'll start with Chris this week (since I don't have any photos of the poor guy). Chris has been sick all week with lots of congestion. He didn't run in the track meet on Thursday and didn't play in the soccer game on Saturday. He played a little today, but I wasn't there to take photos. His team lost on Saturday 0-1 and tied Sunday 2-2. There was another red card today when a boy on the other team raised fists to a boy on Chris's team... Soccer is getting dangerous!

Cheryl missed her game Tuesday night because of mid-terms. Team Bob won 3-0, after a player on the other team was red carded for dangerous play. Saturday, Cheryl's team could only field 10 players, against 11 on the other team. They tied 3-3, and Cheryl scored with a long ball from outside the 18yd line.

Today, the girls were bushed from yesterday. Cheryl shot 2 balls off frame and one straight to the keeper. They ended up losing 0-1.

Galaxy played terrible this weekend! Colorado scored in the first 15 seconds of the game! A Galaxy player got red carded for dangerous play, and Galaxy ended up losing 2-3. BUT they have a chance to play Colorado again on Tuesday night... with a better outcome, I hope...

Next week's sports schedule:

Chris:
NO SPORTS

Cheryl:
WED - soccer at 7:00PM (Bonita Park)

Friday Rambling...

Only one more month to the OC Half-Marathon! I pulled a glute muscle running 11 miles today, bummer! I'm hoping it's not serious. We'll see how it is after a couple days rest...

Running quote of the day: "We can't all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." Will Rogers

I love the quote! Every runner needs their support crew... the ones that get up in the morning while it's still dark to drop us off at the starting line, take photos, cheer, and bring the car around when we're too tired to walk to the parking lot after the race... I love you Jim!

Now on to the job front. I am now unofficially an employee of a little company called "Panasonic." Just kidding about the "little" part... Panasonic is the largest company in Japan. Did you notice I said "unofficially"? The new fiscal year started April 1st (no fooling, lol!) and with it came a change to a different human resources computer system. Next week, they will have to open a new job rec and I'll have to re-apply for it, re-fill out a company application, and re-submit a background check. They want me to do all this next week Monday, so they can process it and have a formal written offer to me by Friday. THEN they want me to start full-time the following Monday... So Monday, April 13th, I will no longer be unemployed! I kind of wanted to wait until after the half-marathon, but I don't want to let this opportunity pass by. Jobs are really hard to come by right now!

Job News and fun stuff...

I interviewed with two groups at Panasonic on Friday and then again on Monday. Panasonic called yesterday... with "an intent of an offer..." LOL! Big companies... they can't just give an offer... they have to give an intent to give an offer before actually giving an offer. My friend Mary said,"It's like calling to say, I am going to call you but not right now." LOL!

Panasonic called again today and told me that they would call me tomorrow... What do you think of that, Mary? LOL!

Okay, enough of that and on to some fun stuff! Look what I made! I had so much fun during the Unity Blog Hop that I volunteered to organize a blog hop at SD4U (along with a new blinkie)! Mary is helping me. She is so good at getting an idea and running with it. The blog hop will be sometime after Easter... Stay tuned! It's going to be fun, Fun, FUN!!!

Scrapping the Music - Everyday

Here's my layout for this week's Scrapping the Music Challenge. I used the great embellies from the SD4U April kit and the song lyrics from "Everyday" to make a layout with one of my favorite candids.

Weekly Sports Reoprt

Lots of sports went on this week... We'll start with Chris. Capo tied the track meet with Aliso Niguel. Capo always loses track meets, so tieing was a BIG deal! Chris wasn't feeling well. He ran the 1 mile in 5:22, and came in last place in the 2 mile at sometime less than 12 minutes.

Chris lost his Saturday soccer game 1-2. It was a terrible game to watch.
The referee lost control... a fight broke out with 10 minutes to go where one of the San Juan players tackled a player on Chris's team (a football tackle, not soccer tackle). Two San Juan players were red carded including their keeper. That would have given Chris's team a chance to tie it up, but the fight took so long to settle down that by then the game was over. Sunday, Chris was amazing! I forget how well he plays when he doesn't run 10 miles in the morning. The team still lost 0-1.

Cheryl scored on Saturday and on Sunday! Saturday she was involved in a scramble in front of the goal. The other team's keeper lost control of the ball and she knocked it into the goal, but her team still lost 2-4. On Sunday, she chipped the ball at the 18 yard line. It looked like it was going over the goal, but it dropped right under the cross bar! She scored the first goal, and her team won 3-1! Team Bob was a loss... 2-4. They played another coed team whose women players were all from the Cal State Fullerton soccer team. Those women were really really good!

Next week's sports schedule:

Chris:
THURS - track meet at Capo
SAT - soccer at 8:30am (Laguna Hills Comm Ctr)
SUN - soccer at 3:25PM (World Cup)

Cheryl:
TUES - soccer at 8:30PM (Bonita Park)
SAT - soccer at 3:20PM (Melinda)
SUN - soccer at 11:00AM (Melinda)

Unity Blog Hop

Welcome Unity Blog Hoppers!

View the Inspirational Blog Hop by starting HERE!

Here's my project using Unity Gratitude = Joy kit. The card is kind of plain, but I wanted to show off the embossed transparency (I ran it through my Big Shot and sanded).

My Favorite Quote: It's not about talent, it's about ...

Your next stop on the blog hop trail is Carla in Canada:
http://scrappypug.blogspot.com/

THANKS FOR VISITING!!!
Joni (kix)

Scrapping the Music - White Horse

I finished a layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge this week. This photo of my kids was just screaming out to be scrapped! I used the lyrics for the song as inspiration.

This layout uses Scenic Route paper and a big FRIENDS bling.

Journaling reads:

Cheryl and Chris have been best friends from day one! They LOVE doing things together and have never fought. I trust you two to be the best two people you can be. I LOVE you two…Take care of each other!

Weekly Sports Report

Chris didn't have any sports this week. Cheryl on the other hand had three games scheduled. Her first game was Tuesday night. Team Bob won 3-0. The other team was very good and was giving Team Bob a hard game even though they only fielded 9 players (that's the perils of scheduling a game on St. Patrick's Day). One of the goals scored was off of Cheryl's corner kick.

Saturday's game didn't go so well. Cheryl made herself hoarse playing with her AYSO team. She said that everyone probably thinks she's a bitch because she yells at them so much. She was very frustrated on Saturday. The team lost 0-3.

Sunday's game was canceled because of rain. But we did see Galaxy play on Sunday. Galaxy scored 2 goals in the last 15 minutes of the game to tie DC United 2-2! At least the season didn't start off with a loss. Next home game is April 4th against Colorado.

Next week's sports schedule:

Chris:
THURS - track meet at Capo
SAT - soccer at 2:55PM (World Cup)
SUN - soccer at 5:00PM (El Morro)

Cheryl:
WED - soccer at 8:30PM (Arroyo Park)
SAT - soccer at 8:10AM (Crown Valley Lower)
SUN - soccer at 12:00PM (Wagon Wheel)