Daddy-daughter campout

Earlier this month, Evette and I went on our first Daddy-daughter campout. It was actually Evette's first camping trip ever, so Heidi was pretty jealous. We'll have to do a family trip soon!

We went to Lehi Park, near Santa Cruz, CA. It's a church owned campground high in the foothills - only 20 or so miles from the ocean as the crow flies, although the trip would take you over an hour. Here's the view from our campground toward the ocean. You'd be able to see the water if it weren't for the cloud cover.

Evette scoping out the scene as we're getting ready for dinner.

Naturally, we had camp-fire songs and tales after we got drunk on a few too many s'mores.

In front of our tent in the morning! We both slept great - Evette eventually scooted off of her mat and ended up snuggling right up against me. It was adorable. She also used glow-sticks [her favorite toys ever] as nightlights.

Another attempt to take a picture of that elusive ocean.

Sleepy eyes.

Breakfast!

(This is the ring of glow-sticks we used as the nightlight. They worked really well!)

Exploring the forest!

These girls caught newts

Seriously. They fished them out like pros. A group of teenage boys had been trying all morning to catch some with their bare hands and were foiled at every attempt. One of our girls was a pro - she caught 11 in an hour or two - with a grasshopper tied (with grass!) to a stick. Don't believe me?

Tying the grasshopper onto the grass

Baiting the newt

She's got his interest... 

He bites...

And pulls him out!

It really was a beautiful weekend with my wonderfully fun daughter. Evette is a serious trooper - always looking for new adventures and willing to try new things. And she makes me laugh a lot, which is a bonus.

{Little bit of life}

I love living in such a beautiful area.

 

Look who learned to sit up this month!! She's so happy she can interact with her world in a whole new way now!

Melts my heart.

 Had dinner with the Chois - some friends from back during our BYU life. They're in the Bay area, too! They have to little babies as well.

Our girls became fast friends! So good to catch up with them!

Evette went on a daddy-daughter date to the Aviation Museum near our house - they had a blast! Evette's been talking about it ever since!

Went to the first concert in the concerts in the park series this summer. It was awesome!

Evette tore up the dance floor! Busting out some moves like you wouldn't believe! She loved it and it was so fun to dance with her!

And delicious food :)

We went on a date in Chinatown in downtown SF to get some delicious dim sum and have our fortunes told!

We also went down to the San Mateo county fair. We had a good time, but probably wouldn't pay to go back. Evette had a great time, though.

 

This was Evette's favorite part! She played around in a big bubble on the water - she thought that was totally awesome!

{Where the Wild Things Are}

We went this last week to the library, as we like to do. I found an old childhood favorite of mine and knew we had to bring it home. I hadn't read "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak for years and years.

We walked home from the library and Evette and I sat down and read through all the books we brought home. I saved "Where the Wild Things Are" for last, like dessert. It gave a different taste in my mouth than I thought it would though.

For those of you who have not read it, first of all, REPENT! 

Anyways, it's about a little boy, Max, who causes mischief, yells at his mom, and then gets put into time out in his room. His room turns into a forest and he travels to where the wild things are.

He was pronounced king of the wild things and led them in wild rumpus.

But when the wild things go to sleep, Max is still awake.

And then the book says, "And Max the king of all wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all. Then all around from far away across the world he smelled good things to eat so he gave up being king of the where the wild things are."

This is when I lost it. This is when I started crying. Suddenly this book became much more than just a children's story to me.

Max decides to leave.

He sailed back "into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him...and it was still hot."

This book touched my soul. It was a tender mercy from the Lord. 

1 Nephi 1:20 "...But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

The Lord grants us tender mercies to help us through difficult times in our lives, if we are faithful, so that we can come out stronger on the other end.

This book transformed into a book about the atonement for me. Sometimes we fight back against our parents, or get mad, or are put into situations that we don't want to be in.

And we rebel. We travel far away and do all sorts of wild rumpus things. It seems like fun at first, and we have a good time. But, when we are alone with our thoughts, we know it's not right. We are desperately in need of someone to love us "best of all."

And it is possible to say "no!" and to turn away from the wild things, no matter how terrible their roar, or terrible their teeth, or how terrible their eyes or claws.

And no matter how long it takes to get back, "a day", "in and out of weeks", or "back over a year", our supper is still warm and waiting for us. 

It reminds me of the scriptures in Isaiah 9 where it says 3 different times, "but his hand is stretched out still".

I have a testimony of the atonement and the all healing power that comes from it. But sometimes life, and my pride, gets in the way and I forget, or I doubt. But through this simple book during story time with my beautiful daughter reminded me that we are all wanted back home where the Lord has kept our supper warm.

This whole week now Evette has brought either Sean or I this book and says, "You read this book mommy/daddy? It be ok - it ok if you read this book. It not a sad book." Sweet baby. It is not a sad book, it's a book of hope.

Warrant for arrest

In Dallas I rode the DART – Dallas’ surprisingly decent light-rail system – to work. Daily passes ($5) were available but I got in the habit of buying them per ride ($2.50) because tickets were easy to buy (thanks to an almost decent mobile app) and I got picked up from work by Heidi for random reasons at least a couple times a month. So, to save $2.50 on those occasions, I bought piecemeal.

The problem with this approach was that I often forgot to buy my ticket on the way home (probably once a week). In early April, I got caught and was handed a $50 fine. She didn't care that I’d forgotten. I didn't have a ticket, so I got fined.

Ugh. In my effort to save $2.50 roughly once or twice a month I’d lost any savings with that fine.

But then it got more fun. I tried to pay online as soon as I got the ticket, but the system hadn't received the ticket yet so I had to wait a week or two to pay. 

Then I moved to California and completely forgot about the whole thing. 

Then my mom got a letter in the mail with a warrant for arrest, addressed to me (which didn't specify who was actually included in the warrant, but I assumed it was me, nor what the cause was). Naturally, I got this letter Friday afternoon after the Dallas constable’s office had closed, so I had the privilege of worrying about it throughout the weekend.

First thing this morning, I called in and confirmed that the warrant was indeed for my “fee evasion” antics in Dallas. My court fees to close this whole thing out? $330. The clerk asked me if the charge was acceptable – my response: “Do I have an alternative?” She laughed.