California Travel Log

We have been Internetless for the past six day while we have been settling in here in CA. I have been keeping daily logs about our goings on. You are welcome to read, but it’s not very interesting. Maybe pictures will up the interest level. Maybe.

May 5, 2011

We drove all day (12 hours) to Sacramento, CA. We left UT just after 7 a.m., but before we left we noticed our swamp cooler was leaking onto the roof. Because it was still too cold that morning the roof was icy and Stephen was unable to climb onto the roof to fix it. We emailed our home teacher, Michael Bishop, asking him to fix it for us. Luckily his wife showed up on our doorstep just before we were leaving and we were able to tell her of the situation. She came over with her son Phillip who wanted to give Mally a stuffed animal (a white bear wearing a crown and holding a heart that says “princess”) of theirs that she has always loved. That was very sweet of Phillip. Mally has since carried the bear around with her everywhere we go.

Our drive was uneventful. The girls were able to make it until Reno to hold off watching movies on the iPods. We let them watch the movies through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We stayed the night at the Suggs’ house. Once we got to the Suggs’ the girls disappeared to their playroom and gladly found all of the toys that they fell in love with the last time we visited. We all went to bed around 8:30 p.m.

Friday, May 6th

Early the next morning we went to their neighborhood park and then walked to the levy to walk by the river. Sacramento is such a beautiful area. When we got back to their house we watched a home video of the Suggs kids’ latest opera, Egbert. It was very creative. We had to cut watching the video short so that we could leave to drive down to San Mateo in time to meet the lady to move into our apartment.

Around 10:30 a.m. we left Sacramento to drive San Mateo. It took us about an 1 ½ hours to get there. We met the apartment manager, Teri Penpraze, to go through the apartment. We are very blessed that the apartment was just redone before we moved in. We have all new carpet, flooring, paint, and appliances. Since we have little to no furniture we literally live on the floor, so clean new carpet is such a blessing. The apartment is very clean and basic. It’s about 700 sf. We don’t have a dishwasher or microwave. I think we can get by for 3 months without those conveniences. We had planned on renting furniture here, but that doesn’t look promising. The nearest rental company charges $200 to deliver, plus we would have to spend a minimum of $224 a month. That makes for expensive rental furniture. Especially, considering that all we wanted to rent was a table with chairs and a couch. I just can’t bring myself spent so much for furniture I really don’t want to invest in. We decided to buy a plastic card table with 2 chairs and 2 plastic garden side tables to be used as stools for the girls. The combination is just the right size and they are things I would like to have back home in UT for when we have guests for dinner. To act as our couch we have decided to buy camping chairs. They are inexpensive, easy to transport home and for the most part comfortable. Hey, they are more comfortable than the floor.

Life on the floor. Mally eating breakfast without a table or chairs.

Once we were unpacked we went to Costco to have a late lunch of pizza and hotdogs and to stock up with a three month supply of food. Our trip to Costco was mostly successful, though I couldn’t find all the items I am used to buying back at the Lehi Costco. After Costco, we still needed items from other stores so Stephen stayed home with the girls and I went to Trader Joe’s and Safeway. I am so used to buying at Walmart and price matching and using coupons that I was unhappy to pay full price for my groceries. I always want to feel like I bought something for a deal. And I don’t think I am going to find any deals here in CA. I got lost driving home from Safeway. I drove down a dead end street, scraped the underside of the car while trying to turn around and swore during my frustration. I had to tell myself, it’s just my first day and I’ll understand how to get around soon enough.

That night we went out to eat because although we now had food, we didn’t have a table or chairs to use and I didn’t have the energy to deal with making dinner. We went to IHOP. Stephen’s and my meals were fine and the girls seemed to like theirs, but we think they got food poisoning because that night Eva awoke crying in the night. She complained of throwing up in her mouth. I thought she was just whining about boogers, and I told her to just go back to bed. Later that night she awoke crying again. This time I woke Stephen up to deal with her and this time she really did throw up. We changed her clothes and brought her bed (the girls are just sleeping on mats on the floor) to our room and let her sleep with us and a bucket near by. We all mostly got a good night’s sleep.

Saturday, May 7^th 2011

After breakfast the next morning we ventured off to Target for more supplies. This time Mally was complaining about a sick tummy. I let her sit in the cart while we shopped and I gave her a plastic bag to carry around just in case. Truly I didn’t believe that she was really sick. I figured Eva’s sickness was attributed to all the junk food we have been eating the past few days and not actual bacterial sickness. Sure enough the plastic bag came in handy. Mally ended up throwing up. We were able to handle that situation pretty inconspicuously. She threw up in the bag, I threw the bag away, I took her to the bathroom, got her washed up and we went back to shopping. We were able to fill our cart up with more supplies when all of the sudden Eva threw up. This time we did not handle situation so nicely. She threw up all over the aisle floor, her clothes and my leg. Then she cried as loud as she could as if to tell everyone around us that she threw up and to look at us. It was a huge gross mess and I had it all over me. An employee, off duty, cleaned it up. We stripped Eva down and out of her soiled clothes. Stephen took the girls to the car while I went to buy Pedialyte and purchase all the items in our cart. When we got back home the girls got a bath and stayed with Stephen while I went back out shopping. This time to Kmart.

I can’t remember all that I bough at Kmart but I do remember that I went there twice in one day. On my second trip while I was checking out and using my credit card my credit card was “flagged.” I had to have the manager verify that I was the owner of the credit card and call American Express and tell them the transaction could go through. I guess American Express has noticed uncharacteristic purchases being made at a different (CA not UT) location. It was a weird situation and I wasn’t sure if the manager would believe that I really was who I said I was.

Saturday night the girls were feeling mostly better and we had our first home cooked meal in our apartment. We ate at our new plastic table. It will be just fine for our time here. We drove to church that night to see how to get there. The building is in Foster City, the town to the east of San Mateo. It is in a very nice neighborhood right across from a river with a park. It looks like the building was built in the 80s.

Sunday, May 8^th 2011

We went to church. Our meeting was at 9 a.m. It is a big ward and since it was Mother’s Day there were lots of visitors and lots of confusion. It wasn’t until RS that anyone said hi or introduced themselves. Our RS lesson was cut short so that the sisters could enjoy a wonderful chocolate fondue buffet. Once we were all mingling some of the sisters came and introduced themselves. I met another “Jeana.” She is also new but she spells her name with two “n’s.” It seems like there are very nice people in the ward. It will be fun getting to know them.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the day. We had pancakes for lunch and I got a Mother’s Day midday nap, a favorite gift. That evening we drove to Central Park to see where it was and if it was a good park. It is a great park. It has plenty of playground area with enormous shade trees. In the summer they have a train kids can ride. There is a wonderful rose garden with gazebo. I really liked the park and we’ll definitely go back.

Each of us choose our favorite rose at the rose garden in San Mateo’s Central Park.

Monday, May 9, 2011

I went jogging around 6 a.m. It was a beautiful morning. There is a park with a track nearby. The neighborhood seems safe to go jogging in. We went to Kmart again today. Hopefully, I don’t have to go there for a while. We bought our “summer couches” AKA camping chairs. We also bought an inexpensive stroller. Then we went to the city’s main library and got library cards. It is a beautiful library. I think we will make weekly trips. It is near Central Park. We just hung around the apartment this afternoon while Eva napped. Around 5 p.m. Stephen decided it was warm enough to go swimming. So, we all ventured down to the pool. It was actually NOT warm enough to go swimming. Mally and Stephen braved it, but not me and Eva. We all lasted about 10 minutes. Once back in the apartment the girls warmed up with a hot bath. We had dinner and FHE then reading and bedtime for the girls. Later that night Stephen and I watched “Goonies.”

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I went jogging again this morning but a little later, around 7 p.m. There were more people out this morning. It feels like this is a safe neighborhood. The scariest thing I have run into has been the Canadian geese in the park. Someone needs to deport them back to Canada. I took the girls to Dollar Tree this morning. I realized I should have gone there first to buy a lot of the house supplies. Stephen stayed at home to wait for the man to install our Internet. On the drive back home I tried to find some more parks. I wasn’t too successful. We did stop at a park I was already familiar with and I let the girls get out and play. We then drove home and had lunch. After lunch Stephen took the girls swimming while I stayed back and deleted through the 200+ emails that have been filling up my inbox while we have been Internetless. I also made a few calls about buying AFLAC supplemental insurance. Since AFLAC no longer sells certain policies to Utahans, we had planned on buying the policy while living in CA. The AFLAC guy came over later and we got that all taken care of. We had a yummy dinner of fish tacos and then walked to the train stop to see where Stephen will be catching the train to commute to work. The stop is just a 6-ish minute walk. Now we need to find where to buy monthly passes. I have to say it has been really nice to have a few weeks to get settled in before Stephen starts work. I have needed him to help set up home.

The girls all geared up for swimming.

Tomorrow we plan on driving to Half Moon Bay to see tide pools. The AFLAC guy told us about a great farmer’s market on the way out there and we hope to stop by.

Sooner Than Later

image by Seb Lester

At the top of my “To Do List” for preparing to move for the summer has been to find an apartment. I am glad to say I can cross that off my list. We got an apartment. Of course finding one in the right area, that we could afford and with the features we wanted (a pool for entertaining the girls) didn’t come without its share of stresses.

A while back when we went to CA to check out the area I knew we won’t come back with a lease agreement signed, although that would have been nice. We looked at a few places and as we told them we only needed the apartment for 3 months the monthly rent went up about $400. Which was NOT helpful. Rent there is already ridiculously high.

I found out about a management company that manages 9 different apartment complexes in the area. They offer month-to-month rent, meaning we don’t have to sign a lease and the price won’t change even if we only stay 3 month. Yes! And their prices were the most affordable I could find. So, I kept calling and checking in with them as we got closer to our move in date. An apartment became available and I jumped on it and applied. I called back the next day to see what I needed to do next, only to be told that we had been denied. What?! Why?! Because their company has a policy to only rent to people who’s grossly monthly income is 3 times the rent. And that’s not us. Stephen’s intern hourly wage doesn’t add up. I began to panic worrying that all the apartments in the area would have a similar policy. If so, then we couldn’t afford to live anywhere.

I told her of our situation and that Stephen left his career to go back to school. We had planned for his time in school and had saved up so we could live off of our savings. After faxing bank statements, writing a letter arguing our financial stability, and praying that their hearts would be softened they were convinced and agreed to rent us the apartment. Phew.

Then as we were going over the details about it, the manager said that the apartment would be ready at the end of April. But we don’t need it until mid-May. All along I had told this lady we didn’t need one until mid-May. Somehow this was over looked. She said she could hold it for us for 10 days. So, that forces us to move 2 weeks earlier. This isn’t a big deal it will just speed up the moving process a bit. Right now we are waiting to hear back from Stephen’s work to see if he can start work a few weeks earlier. If he can that means we can come home earlier which would mean I would be able to see my brother and his family while they are visiting UT from overseas. Oh, I hope we can be back to see them. If Stephen can’t move up his work start date then we get to have two weeks of true vacation time.

I have to say, although we have had bumps along the way of trying to prepare to move, the Lord has ALWAYS stepped in with His miracles. I find that with nearly every situation in my life the process to accomplish something stays the same. I have in mind a goal I want to achieve. I do all I can to make it happen. I face some unexpected stumbling block. I pray for help and a miracle to make that situation work in my favor. And the Lord creates that miracle and everything works together for my good. The Lord has always helped me along.

P.S. Another blessing: Stephen was able to find a renter for our house without any problem. A friend of his from school is doing an internship for the summer in our area and our place is perfect for him. He even asked if it would be okay for him to pay us all the rent up front and in cash. Sure! Sounds perfect!

Well, I better go and do more of my “to dos” like go to bed.

Bohemian Rhapsody in Motherhood

A group of ladies in my ward put together a parody lip sync about motherhood to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. We performed it for our ward's “American Idol” activity. Check it out.



It was so much fun to do. We copied what these ladies did.

Here is a mock press release fellow lip sync mommy Stacy Henrie wrote about it:

(Disclaimer: All quotes in the release are the creation of the author and named persons are not liable for the views expressed therein.)

MOMS WIN IDOL LIP-SYNC COMPETITION
Eight Women “Rhapsodize” On Their Journey to Stardom

Lehi, UT, April 10, 2011 – In a sweeping victory last night, a mom group of seven idol hopefuls took first place in the Bull River 2nd Ward’s American Idol Competition. These moms of indeterminate age – none would confess to being older than twenty-five – rocked the crowd with their lip sync and dance number to the mom version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

“We liked the original choreography,” Abby said. “But we wanted to take it up a notch with the dancing. We showed the audience that although we’re moms, we can still rock it like teens.”

The use of creative props added to the ambiance of the snappy number. “I thought the idea of toilet bowl brushes for microphones worked perfectly with the song,” Jeana said. “And the extra bonus is we walked away with a first place title and a new cleaning tool.”

Props and dancing weren’t the only “wow” factors to this lip sync number. Of her rock guitar solo, Annie said, “I’ve always wanted to be a rock guitarist and this gave me the chance to show off my hidden talent. Maybe someday I’ll take my act on the road.”

Commenting on her stunning hitch kick skills, Jennie said, “I had a blast doing that kick. The whole act encompassed the things an audience loves in this sort of competition – singing, dancing, and showing ‘em how much fun you’re having.”

“I didn’t want the night to end,” Elisabeth added. “The seven of us worked so hard and we saw that pay off.”

Squelching possible rumors of an impending pregnancy, Angela said, “No, I’m not pregnant. I did have a fabulous time representing a common stage of motherhood and bonding with these other moms.”

Hours of preparation indeed proved worth it when Paula Abdul announced the mom group as the evening’s winners. “I couldn’t stop jumping up and down and screaming,” Julie said. “To see all our hard work culminate in that moment was truly priceless.”

Not all the work occurred on stage, though. The group’s tech person and director kept things running smoothly from the get-go. “I was there almost from the inception of the idea,” Sarah said, “encouraging excellence and polishing their performance. It was rewarding to see our time and efforts result in something so well-done and funny.”

When asked if these women would pursue their lip sync careers further, Stacy said, “Not at this time. We’re busy, especially being moms, but last night will live on in our hearts and memories for years. Like the song said, we ‘wouldn’t change a thing’ about this whole experience!”

Keeping our “Pot of Gold” for March

Since in March we celebrate the leprechaun and his pot of gold, we decided to challenge ourselves and try to keep our “pot of gold” by only going on free dates. Our experiment went well. I think I would like to do this again in the fall. It promotes dating creativity.

First of all, this would not have been possible without our weekly and always FREE babysitter, Stephen’s mother. She has graciously treated us to a date a week for the past few years. She is wonderful.

Ours free dates:

March 5th- FREE food at Burger King (got coupons in the mail) and then a session at the temple. We have made it a tradition to go to the temple every month around the 10th since we were married on the 10th of the month.

March 11th- Ward couples dinner/games date night. Luckily, this Ward activity was planned in March. Great food and fun chatting with friends.

March 18th- Again FREE food at Burger King (we got more coupons in the mail). The weather was too cold for the bike ride we had planned, so we did a little grocery shopping for our trip the next morning. Then we drove around town trying unsuccessfully to find the trailhead to a bike trail I read about. But we did see some parts of the city we have never seen.

March 25th- Picnic dinner in the SWKT and a FREE movie at BYU’s International Cinema. We saw the documentary Freedom’s Fury. It was eye opening and we enjoyed it. It makes me realize “the good old days” people talk about really never existed at all. Every generation has their struggles.

Additional FREE/super cheap activities for kids:

Chuck E. Cheese’s birthday club. I’ve signed all of us up on their Website and every birthday we get 20 FREE tokens. We are moochers and just go use the 20 tokens and then go home. It makes for a good outing on a cold Saturday afternoon.

.25 cent ice cream kiddie cones (3 and younger are FREE) at Thanksgiving Point. This is another easy outing for my girls when we just need to get out and go somewhere. We then go to their indoor tropical garden and let the girls run wild while I sit.

Hutchings Museum. It’s not FREE, but when we went this month, luckily their computers were down and we were told we could go for FREE. Nice.

The Church History Museum. They have a new kids play area. We will have to go back, because we didn’t get a chance to see everything. The girls loved it.

Story time at the library. We go weekly.

FREE skate night at Classic for Mally’s school. We went on Monday thinking that was the school’s night to be there. We got in for FREE and had a great evening. We thought it was weird that we didn’t see anyone from the school that we knew. When I got home I reread the flier about the activity and saw that it said Tuesday, not Monday night. Whoops. Oh, well, we got in for FREE and had fun.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade. I think we will make a tradition of going. FREE and totally enjoyable. My girls loved it. Plus it gives me an excuse to go into one of favorite shops, Anthropologie.

Do you have any good FREE activity suggestions? Do share.

CA Weekend

We just got back from a weekend in CA to scope out the area we will be living in this summer. Although we didn’t come home with an apartment lease signed like I wanted to, we did have a good and productive visit.

Stephen will be working in Redwood City. The city’s known for its perfect climate, which I am REALLY looking forward to. The city’s website says, Redwood City “has an average high temperature of 77° from April through September, and 63° from October through March, with over 160 sunny days per year.” Sounds better than Utah’s HOT and DRY July weather.

From our drives around the town it seems to be a very beautiful and well maintained city. I didn’t see any rundown areas. We looked at quite a few apartment complexes. Of course none were able to tell us if they would have vacancies, since we need it two months from now. We got a good idea about the different areas. We found out that they have a good public transit system, so Stephen will probably be able to get to work without me driving him.

We went to church and really enjoyed the meetings and the folks we met. When I introduced myself in RS and told them we would be moving there in the summer the sisters clapped and cheered. Only to sigh an audible “oh” when I said, “but just for the summer.” It was funny and caught me off guard. The ward seems really nice, but that’s to be expected.

There is a sister in the ward that works for DreamWorks too. It was good making that connection with her. She was the one that told us about the shuttles that take people right to Stephen’s office building. From a map his office looks like it is in the middle of no where in marshy reclaimed land right on the bay. I was a little worried no public transit would drive out there. It’s good to know that’s not the case.

Speaking of driving, we did a lot of that. There and back from Lehi to Sacramento. And there and back from Sacramento to Redwood City (twice).

The girls were good passengers. Especially when they were like this watching movies from our IPods.

The drive through California was BEAUTIFUL! These are pictures traveling through Dublin, CA. Can you see why they named it Dublin? So green, green, GREEN! I couldn’t get enough of it.

Blurry but happy California cows.

We stayed in Sacramento with Stephen’s sister’s family the Suggs. We were there to celebrate Erika’s birthday. The Suggs are a great family. The thought of living in CA is made even sweeter knowing the Suggs are just 2 hours away. In CA time that is relatively close.

We passed through a lot of snow and traffic over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The drive through the mountains getting there was actually worse and scarier but faster than coming home. Coming home we were in better weather, but snow chains were required and traffic was heavy. This made for a slooooow trip. I think we maxed 18 miles per hour. The billboards advertising for Reno were right with their slogan “Reno, the longest little drive on earth.” It took us over 2 hours just to get through the mountains.

We didn’t take any pictures through Nevada because, well, it’s Nevada and ugly. The drive from Wendover to Tooele in the dark nearly killed me from boredom.

The Suggs supplied us with plenty of CA oranges. Seriously, these just grow in people’s yards. I am so amazed at how fertile and green the land is. If/when we move there for good I will need a yard with room for a garden and some fruit trees.

We had a good trip. Can’t wait to go back.

Our 2nd Recites the 1st

For FHE we have begun teaching the Articles of Faith again. We taught Mally when she was younger and now it's Eva's turn. I was quite impressed with how quickly she learned it. Check her out. I got another video of her saying it perfectly, but I liked this ones because it is always cute to see the girls help each other.

Contact Our Senators and Help Save Public Broadcasting

The U.S. Congress approved a bill that will eliminate federal funds to PBS and NPR, both of which are very important to me and my family. PBS children's shows are the only TV shows my kids watch. Not only are PBS shows entertaining but educational. "Curious George" and "Super Why" are a set part of our day’s routine. KUER and Classical 89 are my favorite radio stations. These are where I get my daily news and my Saturday morning entertainment. I LOVE so many programs public broadcasting provides: informative documentaries, cultural events, "All Things Considered," "Car Talk," "BBC," "Fresh Air," "Morning Edition"... In the days ahead, the U.S. Senate will take up debate on this bill. I know I will be terribly upset if the Senate follows the Congress' lead and eliminates federal funding for PBS and NPR. Now is the time to speak up! That is why I called my senators about this issue. I hope you will do the same.

Orrin Hatch's Washington, D.C. Office- (202) 224-5251

Mike Lee's Washington, D.C. Office- (202) 224-5444

Call your Senator TODAY!

Here's what KUED's General Manager Michael Dunn has to say about it:
Federal support provides an important share of KUED's funding. It helps us deliver trusted programs that expand children's minds, documentaries that open new worlds, balanced news programs that help you understand the bigger picture, and front row seats to the best performing arts in the country.

At only $1.35 per person a year, many viewers see public broadcasting as one of the best investments of federal dollars.

Whatever your position, I hope you'll call your Senators today and make your voice heard. You can find their contact information at kued.org. Additional background and updates on this issue are at 170MillionAmericans.org ».

Again, action on these cuts is imminent. The future of KUED and public broadcasting is at stake. So please, act now.