Electronics Update

Well, after 5 or 6 trips to Best Buy I have both of my computers back (roman still hasn't take his in to get it fixed - he has a virus on his.) My hard drive on the new computer was unsalvagable, they couldn't get anything off of it. So I brought in my new remote hard drive (as the old one.....the one I hadn't used in about 2 years crashed also), but it didn't have much info on it. LUCKILY my old computer is still running and they could take most of the info off of that......BUT there are some things that are just lost.....my resume that I was working on, all of the pictures uploaded since about July. I have some of them still on my camera, but some were sent to me, or I got them off of Facebook or something......some I probably won't even know I am missing. Bummer! I hate losing any pictures.....but life is so crazy right now I don't have any time to work on them, let alone re-do stuff like 3 times. Sigh......................................I really want to have time to work on them, but I just don't. Somehow I've got to figure out a way to do it all.....I'm not sure why things have gotten so out of control......probably a lot has to do with trying to set up new computers again and again and again! I also got a new phone.......a smart phone!.....but I think it's a lot smarter than me, LOL, cuz I can barely figure out how to call people, and it's hit or miss on being able to figure out how to check my voicemail......and I don't know how to retrieve my texts : ( Plus, I downloaded a bunch of games for the kids, which they are VERY eager to play, even though they don't know I did that.....they just see me playing with a new toy, but they filled up the memory, so I am trying to figure out how to delete some of them.....which is proving to be difficult. I need my own personal IT professional to follow me around.............I think I would get A LOT more done : )
Not else much new........Roman hurt his finger two weeks ago playing baseball and it's still swollen.......I need to find what I did with the papers from urgent care, so he can go see the specialist. The boys seem to be fighting constantly these days......and the messes are growing with them. I have tried everything........I've even throw away a few things and made sure they were watching while I did it.......it didn't even phase them. Yet they are constantly asking for more toys.......they have a MAJOR obsession with monster trucks right now!
I am so far behind.......and going between two different computers......I like to keep my in box in my e-mail below 20................and now it's over 200! And that's counting the junk I've already deleted that I know I don't want.
Ok, I'll keep it short, I've got SO much to do. I will get back to this when I can : ) It's always something I WANT to do.

Me & Electronics

Sigh......it's happened again! Yet another example of how electronics & I do NOT get along. My new computer (only a couple of months old) is down......I called and the tech support guy on the phone and he seemed to think it was something with the operating system, that I didn't need a new mother or.....something else......I can't remember.......I thought, Ok, my data is safe! : )
Nope, I get the call today........it's a bad hard drive.......my heart sinks to it's lowest depths. While I have the the pics & video backed up on a flash drive, and the most recent still in the cameras, it took a lot of work to go through and delete bad pictures and edit (you all know how addicted I am to editing my pictures) from our trip to Cali, among other things. Just putting me even farther behind with my pictures.......then I will have to reload from my flash drive again I think and try and go through all the duplicates & like I said before, re-edit the pics......I do have a new remote hard drive, and I'm hoping I can get the info back from that. Needless to say, I'm going to need someone to come back out to my house to set everything up again.......and it takes so dang long to get everything set up the way you like it. I really hate getting a new computer! I just want to turn it on, have it work and have my stuff there! Really, is that too much to ask for? Grrrrrr!!!!!

Other than that, we have been incredibly busy lately. You would think with the boys in preschool a couple of days a week that I might actually have a little extra time to myself......so far that has not proven to be the case. Sigh.........
The boys have been going more on the potty lately, but only if we forcibly make them go. They still don't tell us ahead of time that they have to go (well, Cameron did once!) I am getting so frustrated and tired of the whole potty training thing...........and my husband goes about it the wrong way, putting them down for going in their diaper, or punishing them.

I'm sure there's more to tell......I just can't think of anything at the moment. I'm still trying to find the time to load more "popular" songs on to Sidney's MP3 player (so she stops taking mine!)

So again, I think about how much I would like to work on my pictures daily.......it's just life getting in the way. I can go back and post from where I left off (around February I think), if I get the time.......I will try to work on that! I need like a weeks vacation to myself to just work on editing, organizing, labling and blogging my pics! Aaaahhhhh, I can dream, right????

Playing at the Cove Park

We took the kids over the to the shoreline by La Jolla cove one day. It was nice & sunny inland, but overcast at the beach, which it seemed to be quite a lot when we lived there also. La Jolla cove is special to us.......we used to go down there and watch the fireworks on the 4th of July each year, and this is where we got engaged.

There were a lot of people there that day......a lot of people in the water swimming, diving and kayaking.

I just love to watch the waves crash up along the shore and spray the water up.

There were lots of these little tide pools with neat sea life in them......the kids were just fascinated by them!

Here they are looking for a fish, or a crab , or anything exciting. (Carter is in the green, Cameron is in the red.)

Ah-Ha! Jackpot! "Hello Mr. Crab : )"

Some of the waves would come spilling over from this side......the kids, especially Sidney, all wanted to go check them out. I did too.......so I would take them out there and depending how much the water was coming in, I was only taking one at a time.

Daddy wanted no part of getting wet and taking the kids out to the moving pools, but I was loving it! I could really see in Sidney the adventurous side, like me.......I'm always like "Yeah, let's go check it out!...... We're fine...... Isn't it amazing?!"

The kids were having so much fun chasing the seagulls.......sometimes they were even doing it with their swords and shield from Legoland.

OK, another picture of me....I don't usually get too many, but you can see La Jolla behind me.....such a great area of town : )

First Stop.........LEGOLAND!!!!!!!

Roman's friend invited him over to San Diego to go to the Chargers-Bears game.......he even offered his place for us to stay in, so we all went. On our first day we splurged and took the kids to Legoland. We got there right when it opened and stayed most of the day. We could have stayed even longer, but the kids were getting tired. We could have used another couple of days there actually. We ALL LOVED it!!!!!!!

A great family shot! Normally we don't buy these, but this one turned out so good with all of us.

Walking up the the entrance they have these people made out of legos that looked pretty life-like. At first glance I thought they were real : )

A beautiful entrance with this huge pond & legos all around it.

I loved this shot.

They wouldn't let us all go in the same boat, but we still enjoyed it ......the kids really wanted to go on it again, but we ran out of time.

It was so cute, Sidney was so cute.....she can't wait to see what's next.

The Three Little Pigs........

.....and the Big Bad Wolf

Look.......it's my prince charming........with a cell phone???? (okay, maybe it's a walkie talkie, but WTH???) I thought it was funny : )

Ahhhhhhh, I love the fairytales........sleeping beauty (or snow white I guess, since she has the dark hair)

I'd almost forgotten about Hanzel & Grettle

Loved the genie!

Little Red Riding Hood....."Grandma, you look a little different?!"

I was amazed at how beautiful it was there.....me, trying to be a little artsy : )

Gotta love it.....the little piggies rockin' out!

They had all these little water areas......plus, there's a water park within Legoland. (Sidney's pouting here because she wants another turn on the bike sprayer)

I thought that this was so cute........Cameron's getting "scared" by Daddy.

They had quite a few little playgrounds too that the kids wanted to just hangout at and play.......but Daddy was on a mission to try and see it all, so we let them play for at least a few minutes.

They had these cars that the boys could actually ride by themselves! This is Carter......Cameron was having a little bit of a rough time to get his going.

A moment where they are actually all getting along. YAY!

I didn't like this one because Cameron is covering up his face, but it's still cute! The kids had to wait and take turns on this one, as none of them were big enough to ride it by themselves. They did so great!

Mommy gets a shot in with Carter, who was LOVING the helicopter ride. (Who know they had rides?)

Finally, Sidney's turn!

I was just amazed and fascinated by all the things they had created and their intricacies. I took over 100 pictures that day!

Sidney got to get her face painted.......I was amazed that she sat so still and was ok with having her eyes painted. (although she does like me to put some of my eye shadow on her sometimes......but this was all around her eyes)

My beautiful girl! They had a full length mirror for her to look at herself in......and she was striking quite a few poses.....it was REALLY cute!

AMAZING!!!!!!!......that's all I can say.

So detailed. I loved just slowly walking by and taking them all in.

Look at this building.......INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Carter and I walked hand in hand and just really appreciated all the work that must have gone into all of these. How cool of a job would that be?!!!!!

A little break at the beach......hey, we're in So. Cal., what do you expect?

Loved this whole waterfront scene too.......they had like whole little towns built. This is where Carter & I caught up with the rest of the family.

This looks real, doesn't it?

You could put money in these and actually drive some of the boats around.

Don't tell anyone, but I think Daddy was having the most fun here ; )

It's a backyard fiesta!

A parade in China town. Such attention to detail!

A marching band at the capital......the band members actually moved around too.

It was really cute........we were walking down this path and Carter was zig-zagging back & forth to step-up and touch all of the busts.

So cool! This dragon was HUGE!!!

They had an area where the kids got to borrow some wheels and could make their own little car and race them in a couple of different places.

I know this one is blurry, but I thought it was so cute......Carter was so excited to race his he went down the track after it, to go up the other ramp (they have been watching a lot of extreme sports lately : )

Sidney's cool car : )

I thought this was too funny.........a life-sized Chia-Pet made out of legos.

Playing is hard work!!! We had barely left the parking lot and all three kids were out : )

I thought this was too funny........she REALLY wanted the whole outfit.....the pink sword, shield and cape.......Mommy would have caved (she wants to be Barbie from the 3 musketeers for Halloween), but Daddy was firm......only one item (which she was lucky to get cuz the face painting was pricey and Cameron wanted a spider on his face, but Roman was in a hurry to see it all, so he didn't get that.) She kept hanging it from her feet......even while she was sleeping. LOL.

I would SO love to take the kids back there again! (Hopefully someday soon : )