Bittersweet

Do you ever feel like it can't stay good for long? It's been an AMAZING couple of weeks for our family. We've been so happy. We had our San Diego trip, BYU won, Thanksgiving, Ethan turned 5 on Thanksgiving, Ashton turned 8 yesterday, my sister and her sweet kiddos visited us this weekend. Oh it was just too good. All good things come to an end I guess. And now, I feel so low. Both sides of our family are having a hard time now. Greg's I can't really talk about. I don't really want to. My side is Bittersweet. My Great Grandma Lovell Lambson (Grumpy to me) died this morning at 10:15 am in Thoreau, New Mexico. He was 90 years old. It's bittersweet. He's been so frail for so long that I'm happy He's not in pain anymore. I'm happy He's with Grandma again. But sad I live so far away that I didn't spend as much time with him as I should have. I wish I could rewind to this past July. July 24th Grumpy turned 90 years old. My family planned this reunion and all this fun stuff but I didn't go. I don't even remember why. Why? Why didn't I go? Did I actually think He would be here forever? I feel so selfish that I didn't go. I wish I had gone and had one last visit with Grumpy. He wasn't a grumpy person by the way. In fact, He was the opposite. I love him so much! And so now, I'm sitting here missing my family. My heart wishes I was with my family right now. I wish New Mexico wasn't so far away! I miss you! But I'm thankful I knew and have fond memories of 4 of my Great Grandparents. Even though He was my last. I love you Grumpy and will miss you! I will miss you're awesome smile! Love you!

26 to 23

BYU 26 utah 23 GO COUGARS!!!!!

Nothing left to say! It's all right there! Go BYU! Utah who?

San Diego Days 5&6

Greg and I got up early and drove to LA to pick up the kids from Grandma Rica. It was so good to see them. We missed them but were so glad they got to spend time with their Great Grandma. Then we picked up Greg's parents from their hotel and just relaxed the rest of the day. We played at the beach for most of the day. The kids were in heaven. There were alot of vendors there and the kids got to hold some really cool parrots. They loved it! It was a great day!
Day 6- ugg! We had to leave our vacation and go home. It was full of stress, but we made it home safe and that's all I can ask for. Happy to be home!

Ashton caught lots of hermit crabs.

San Diego Day 4

Day 4 was our busiest but most amazing day. Greg and I went to a Good Neighbor meeting. It was so cool to sit around the table with past Good Neighbor winners. This year was their 10th year so the table was pretty big. We sat around and talked about what worked for our individual charities and what didn't. They also asked Greg to be a mentor for the next year. It was really cool.
After that, we picked up his parents and we got ready for the conference where Greg would be getting his award.

While Greg was backstage getting ready we decided to stop by the Good Neighbor booth and get a couple of copies of Greg's cover for Realtor Magazine. Penny was so excited she grabbed quite a few copies.

I'm kissing a picture of Greg here. He's so stinking handsome I couldn't help myself!

Here's a picture of the trophy. It's so pretty!

Greg getting his award.

The 2009 Good Neighbor Award winners!

After they got their awards Condoleeza Rice spoke. She was amazing!

After the conference, we went to a dinner where Greg and the other recipients were given their grant checks and Lowes gift cards. They also had to give a speech about what they were going to do with the money. Greg as always impressed me. He is always so calm and collected. He's amazing.

Getting his check

Here's Greg giving his speech. After, we had an amazing speaker. Her name was Liz. I can't remember her last name, but Lifetime did a movie about her life called, "Homeless to Harvard." Her story was Heartwrenching, but at the same time so motivating. She said something that I really loved. She was talking about giving back to your community and she said, "You don't have to fix the whole problem, you only have to do your part." She really opened my eyes to alot of things. Greg and I came home so motivated to keep going, keep trying to help. I will forever remember Liz, her story and what she told us about giving. And since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I want to end my blog by saying how thankful I am for my life, for my kids, my family and for my sweet sweet husband who has shown our family how to give back.

San Diego day 3

We started off the same as the day before. We got up early and fed the ducks. The kids could have done this all day I think.

Ashy, the duck hunter. She was bound and determined to catch a duck...

Oh yes She did! She was so proud of herself!

Ethan's trying to be as brave as his big sis.

Then, we had breakfast on the beach and played until it was time to check out of our hotel.

Ty wouldn't let Greg go very far. Daddy has a new shadow.

Don't be too worried, Tyson loves it! He just laughed and laughed.

Big brother on the other hand is a little scared of the ocean still.

Bestest buddies!

Goodbye Paradise Point Resort! This was by far one of our favorite hotel spots. Perfect for a family. We would love to go back someday! It was so beautiful! Well...Off to our next Hotel, the San Diego Marriot. This time the kids didn't check in with us. We drove into L.A and dropped the kids off with Grandma Rica (my Grandma Lewis). The kids call her Grandma Rica because She also lives in Costa Rica. She watched the kids so Greg and I could go and enjoy the Realtor Convention. Thank you so much Grandma! The kids had so much fun with her. It was fun to talk to them after and find out what they did and stuff. Ethan was hilarious telling us about how Grandma Rica says things funny. She still has a very strong spanish accent. I love it! We laughed when they showed us how she talked.

On our way back we picked up Greg's parents at the airport and went to dinner and had a very nice quiet evening. It was awesome!

Joe and Penny's hotel was across the bridge on Catalina Island. We walked along the beach behind their hotel. What a beautiful view of the city!

A much needed night out with my love!

San Diego day 2

The kids (Ty actually) woke us up at 6am. We decided to go explore the grounds of the resort. It was so beautiful! The kids had so much fun feeding the ducks and running on the beach.



Then we went to San Diego Zoo. It's our new favorite zoo. It was HUGE! Luckily they have a trolley that takes you through the whole zoo. The kids loved it!

Ashton's favorite stops were the Pandas, the Polar bear, the monkeys and the hippos.

We loved the petting zoo. Ty got scared by this cute goat right after this when it sneezed on him.

Ethan's favorite animals were the snakes, giraffes, hippos and sea lions.

Tyson's favorite stops were the hippo and fish tank, "timon", the playground and the petting zoo.









This was one of our favorite stops. It was so crazy to be so close to the hippos and crocs.


After the zoo we had dinner on the beach and watched the sunset.

We ended the night back at our hotel and had more smores on the beach. What a fun family day!