Camping Trip

So this last weekend we jumped in the car (truck) and went camping with our really good friends the Wrights. Unfortunately, we decided a little late to go camping and so the only place we could find a spot was not very high in the mountains and so it was very hot and desert like. We still had a good time though. There was a very nice lake there and so the second day we were there we rented a house boat and went out on the lake. We had a good time relaxing and hanging out. Other than an incident regarding a flip flop and a life vest we had a great time on the water. That night once we got back to camp our friends ended up leaving because their kids weren't feeling so well. Their baby hadn't slept hardly at all and wasn't eating so they had to head home. We spent that night there camping and the next day we went back to the lake to do some fishing. We had fun, I spent most of the time untangling the fishing line that Craig and the girls got tangled but we still had fun. We headed home that afternoon and it felt so good to take a nice shower without wearing flip flops and worrying about dropping something on the floor.

Back to the Drive In

So we love summer time partly because we get to go to the Drive In Movies on weekday nights. This week we went to see Wall-E and Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian. Tyler had had a rough day and by the time we got to the movies he was already asleep with his blanket. Sari had spent the night at Grandma's so Craig, Ashlie, & I ate pizza and popcorn and relaxed. Tyler slept through half of Wall-E then woke up. I figured he would go back to sleep after Wall-E but he didn't. He loves the other Chronicles of Narnia movie so he actually stayed awake through the whole thing. In fact, Ashlie, Tyler, and I all stayed awake through the end. Craig is the one who fell asleep in the back of the van snoring. Lol!! Of course he had worked that day so he had been up since 5 am. It was about 2 am when we got home and got the kids to bed. Kind of a late night but we managed:)

Boo Boo Turns 1

When my little niece Brooklyn was born Tyler nicknamed her Boo Boo. So Boo Boo just had her first birthday on 7/13. Jennifer did it out at the Adventure Park which has a pizza buffet, arcades, bumper (squirting) boats, miniature golf, race cars etc. So Jen, Ashlie, & Sari rode the bumper boats. Boo Boo couldn't figure out why she didn't get to ride since it was her birthday party!!!

More Vacation Pictures

Our Trip to Utah/Idaho

We had a great time on our little vacation. The kids got to see most of their cousins and had a good time with them. We started out in Idaho and hung out there for almost a week. We played at Grandma and Grandpa's, saw Wall-E, went to the zoo, watched the fireworks, and relaxed. After we left Grandma & Grandpa's we headed to Utah to see some friends from college. Wow, time flies. We had a great time. Thanks Chris & Lori!!! After that we headed to Craig's sisters house and spent a couple of days there. We all traveled together and went to Bryce Canyon and to the St. George Temple. We had so much fun we didn't want to come home. Especially when the thermometer read 113 on our way home. We had a really fun time. Here are some pictures that show a few of the fun things we did.

Fun Times

I was going through the camera today and found some pictures we've taken over the past month or so. They are mostly just random shots of the kids being cute so I thought I would post them for you to all enjoy. The one of Craig and Tyler is at Ashlie's dance recital while we were waiting for it to start. For Father's Day we took pictures of the kids and put them on aprons for Grandpa and Papa and anytime you try to take a picture with Tyler you can never be quite sure what you are going to get. We took about 6 pictures and finally got one we could use. The other was another shot that was typical Tyler with his arm in front of Sari's face pushing her away. Then the one in the pool is our three with a couple of Sari's friends from school. We've practically adopted them since they do FHE, scripture and family prayer, go to church, and eat 2-3 meals a day at our house.

13 Years

Well, today is our 13th anniversary. It is crazy to think we've been married for 13 years. I'll give you guys a sappy little love story for those of you who don't know it. I had just started my second year at Ricks and my roommates and I needed a ride to Utah for a friends mission farewell. A friend of a friend knew this guy who had a car (insert Craig) and he'd be thrilled to drive 3 girls to Utah for the weekend. So on Friday afternoon Craig shows up at our doorstep with his friend Chris McCabe to pick us up. One of my roommates actually had a crush on Craig so he was off limits to begin with but so not my type. He was so quiet and reserved. We all had a great time that weekend just hanging out. Craig and I started hanging out a little bit after that and before we knew it we were really good friends. We went on a lot of drives and just talked, a lot! I asked him out first to Preference. At Thanksgiving he asked me how I felt about marriage and by Christmas we were engaged. We got married the following June in the San Diego Temple. Fast forward 13 years and 3 kids later and here we are. We have most certainly had our up's and down's but we've managed to work through them and I think we are better because of it. Over the last year or so we've learned a lot about ourselves and each other and we have a much stronger relationship now. It's nice we can both say we are married to our best friend. It's kind of crazy to think where we might be in another 13 years.

Craig turns 30 something again!!!

Craig is getting to where he doesn't exactly enjoy his birthdays as much anymore. Unfortunately this one wasn't great because I was sick and he even had to do the dishes!!! I tried to make the day fun for him but I don't know how successful I was. We just kind of hung out most of the day trying to get me feeling better, which it worked!!! In the evening Ashlie had her dance recital so after it was over the family all got together and we went to Olive Garden (Craig's favorite) for dinner. We had a party of 22 so it was good to go later in the evening so it wasn't so crowded. He had a good time and we had Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream Cake for dessert.

Ashlie's Dance Recital

Well, the big finale has come!!! Ashlie spends all year going to dance classes for her one night of glory!!! She loves the dance recitals and the costumes. She was in three dances this year: tap, jazz, and ballet. This is a picture of her in her ballet costume with flowers from her some of her fans!!! Flowers are also another highlight of the dancing season!!! She did a great job!!!

It's Summer!!!

So we celebrated the beginning of summer vacation by doing one of our favorite family activities - swimming and the drive in movies!!! Well, actually, I didn't even attempt the swimming, I stuck my toes in and that was enough for me. Craig actually changed into his suit and then decided against it. It didn't affect the kids at all though. The girls swam and swam. Tyler swam for a bit and then when he could no longer feel his toes decided he was done. Craig turned the heat on in the hot tub and so Tyler got in there and hung out for a bit. Then we all went in and got changed and headed off to the movies. They closed the drive in down in Visalia so we have to go to Hanford about 30 minutes away. But we figured out the cost of gas, the admission cost, and snackies and for all 5 of us it cost less than $40. A few weeks ago we all headed out to the movies at the theatre and for tickets and popcorn for the 5 of us we spent $90. I think we'll keep driving to Hanford. We saw Speed Racer (again) and had a blast. The weather was perfect for a sweatshirt. We folded down the back of the car and the kids hung out in there and Craig and I had our lawn chairs right in front of them. Tyler enjoyed being able to run around in the back of the van and then he could climb out and over to Craig and I saw he thought that was pretty cool. We had lots of fun and are already planning our next movie!!!

I can't believe it!!!

I thought you all must know that I woke up this morning to an email from my english teacher. He accepted my paper, although he didn't say why, and gave me 17/20. Life will go on in the Dixon house!!!!

English Vent

Okay, so I don't use my blog as a vent very often but I felt like I needed to share a little. If you don't want to read just skip! I'm so bummed. I started my online english class last week and my teacher is pretty strict. He took the same work you would normally do in a 4 month semester class and condensed it into a 5 week summer class. So I have assignments due every 2-3 days. I'm spending hours (5-7) a day working on my english homework. So my 2nd assignment was due Tuesday at midnight. I managed to get it all done and even a little early. I had an extra assignment to do because we each have to take a turn doing the summary of our group discussion. I got to go first so I worked about 6 hours on it yesterday and about another 3 on it today to get it done. I did all of that on top of the regular assignment that is due tomorrow night. So I just went to email my teacher the assignment and I realized that it was due at noon today and not midnight. If you refer to the beginning where I discuss how strict the teacher is, in the orientation he specifically said that since this is such a fast moving class the assignments are due exactly at the time specified. Not one minute later. And if they come one minute late he will not accept them but just delete them. ugh!!! So I'm in tears. After working so hard and for so long and the silly paper is worth 10% of my grade!!! So I just dropped to a "B" in a heartbeat! I'm so frustrated. I still emailed it to him and we'll see I guess if he accepts it or not. It is so confusing when the times are different for different assignments. Try telling him that!! So, I guess that is my vent. Sorry you had to take part.

Ashlie's Pool Party

Ashlie came home from a month or so ago and informed me she had invited some friends over to swim and she gad given them my phone number so they could call when they were on their way over. After talking to her a little bit we decided that instead of just inviting friends over individually (they are only 7 and 8) that maybe we could just have a pool party. So the planning began. We ended up with 9 little friends here on Friday night. We barbecued hot dogs and had chips, cookies, jello and lots of capri suns. The kids had a great time and many of them left their phone numbers so we could call them to come back again. Most important, Ashlie had a great time and it made her feel really good to have a party with her friends. Since Sari is older it seems that she is always the one having the parties and having friends over. So it made Ashlie feel good to be big like Sari. Here is a picture of Ashlie with a couple of her friends.

Excitement on our way to Hearst Castle

Well, any of you who know much about California have surely heard of Hearst Castle. It is this spectacular mansion (castle) built by William Randolph Hearst who was this huge newspaper publishing guy back in the 20's and 30's. It is located over on the coast near Morro Bay. Sari's class went there for their field trip this year and I got invited to go as a chaperone. So after much work I was able to secure a babysitter and get my schedule cleared so I could spend the day with Sari at Hearst Castle. We met at the school at 5:30 in the morning and finally got on the road around 6am. All of the 5th grade classes went so we were in 3 different chartered buses. We were about half way there and our bus driver pulled the bus over to the side of the freeway. We were in the lead and had just merged onto a new freeway so we thought she was just waiting for the other buses to catch up. After a minute she merged back onto the freeway and about 30 seconds later she pulled back off to the side of the road again. She immediately stepped up and told us she wanted us all to get off of the bus and follow the teacher to a road sign a few hundred feet away from the bus. We then noticed that there was big black clouds of smoke billowing up from the back of the bus. The kids all remained very calm and we were able to get off of the bus and down the freeway to the road sign. It was then that we turned around and saw the flames coming from under the bus. Indeed, our bus had caught fire while we were driving down the highway. Luckily we had just come into a town and so within about 2 minutes the highway patrol and the fire department had already responded and they were able to quickly put out the fire. The bus driver and the firemen were able to get all of our belongings off of the bus. Luckily, there were a few children who hadn't been able to go on the trip so we had extra seats on the two remaining buses, enough so that we were able to all fit on the other two buses once we split up. The whole incident only put us about 45 minutes behind schedule and Hearst Castle was able to split our touring groups up so we were all able to get through the tours and were able to get back on schedule. After the Hearst Castle tours we were able to take the kids on a tour of Cal Poly, a well known 4 year college located in San Luis Obispo. Sari found this especially enjoyable because it is very close to Cuesta College where Craig went through nursing school which is also in San Luis Obispo. We got back to the Visalia about 7:30 that night without further incident. It was funny while we were all standing on the side of the road watching the firemen work on the bus the only thing the kids were talking about was their games, cd's, mp3 players, etc. that they had left on the bus. No mention at all how lucky we were that we all got off of the bus without any problems and that no one was injured at all. Funny what matters most to 11 year olds. Unfortunately, I left my camera on the bus and so I was unable to take pictures of the fire or of Hearst Castle. We were unable to get to our belongings until after Hearst Castle when we finally had time to sort things out, :(

We did it!!!

Well, our college semester is officially over!! We both managed to complete Statistics with better than "just passing" grades. I ended with an A in the course and Craig got a B in the course. A little unfair I think because I worked my behind off to get my grade and Craig just cruised along not studying or doing practice assignments and still got a B. Oh well, maybe it's better he didn't work at it because I would of been bummed if he hadn't gotten a A easily. Oh well, we are both very happy with our grades. I am still waiting to find out my final grade in Psychology. I think I did good but I still feel in limbo until I see the final grade posted.

We have a busy week coming up with the end of the school year. Plus I'm starting a summer course this week too. I get to go to Hearst Castle with Sari on Wednesday as a chaperone for her field trip. Ashlie is having a pool party at our house on Friday for all of the kids in her class. I will keep you posted on all of the fun stuff we are doing.

This is for Chris!!!

A: Attached or Single: attached
B: Best Friend: Cragi
C: Cake or Pie: Cake with lots of yummy buttercream frosting.
D: Day of Choice: Any day Craig is off
E: Essential Item: cell phone
F: Favorite Color: blue/yellow
G: Greatest Accomplishment: ??? Surviving married life?
H: Hometown: Visalia, CA
I: Indulgences: ???
J: January or July: January, I love cold!
Where did K go?
L: Life is Incomplete Without: friends
M: Marriage Date: June 23, 1995
N: Number of Siblings: 1 sister
O: Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P: Phobias or Fears: little black dogs and balloons in ceiling fans
Q: Quotes: "Mothers of little boys work from son up til son down"
R: Reason to Smile: My kids
S: Season: Fall. Halloween.
T: Tag Four Friends: Anyone who wants to answer
U: Unknown Fact about Me: My fingers swell at night
Very Favorite Store: Target!!!
W: Worst Habit: Taking on too much
X: X-ray or Ultrasound: ultrasound, i like the cold jelly stuff
Y: Your Favorite Food: lasagna
Z: Zodiac: Scorpio

Life is Crazy!!!!

Hey Everyone!!! I know it's been awhile since I've posted. I haven't forgotten I promise. Life has just been so crazy!!! I'll give you a short glimpse into my life the past month. First of all my sister and I took on this crazy idea of making tiles with the vinyl craft lettering and selling them at my dad's bookstore and also entering craft fairs. So we spent most of the month of April making tile after tile after tile. So far we've done 3 craft fairs and we've done okay. We've got 3 more on the books, one this Saturday. So I've eating, sleeping, dreaming vinyl!!! We also carry them on the bookstores website so you can go check out our work if you'd like. It's www.zionbooks.net. On the left is a list of categories and we are at the bottom under Vinyl Craft Lettering Products.

I have also been trying to keep up on my school work. On top of my regular weekly classes and homework I had a powerpoint presentation on a Psychological Disorder due this week for my psychology class. I chose ADHD. I'm not sure what my grade on that is yet. Stressful!!!! In my statistics class I had another test last week (97/100, yes!!!) plus we have a huge research project due next week. I'm still in the middle of my survey for that one. It is so scary to go up to people and ask them questions. I'm trying to find out how happy peoples marriages really are. Funny for me to be doing that I know!!! So I've been soliciting all of my friends help trying to get this stinkin' survey done so I can get my paper done. After I finish the survey I still have to do all of the work to figure out the statistics on it and figure out how to get it in this paper! Yikes, I'm stressed can you tell?

Then, I still have the regular "mommy" stuff. Tennis for Sari (we just finished, whew!), dance for Ashlie (in overload right now getting ready for recital), Tyler is general is a handful, plus all of the kids extra activities they have going on getting ready for the end of the year. Assemblies, field trips, extra projects, reward parties. Then Ash springs it on me a couple of days ago, she invited a bunch of friends over for a pool party. She did tell me though that she told them to call before they came. Lol!!

So, as you can see, I've been a little busy and while I've had lots of stuff to put on my blog I just really haven't had time. Plus, I'm sad when I can't put a picture on cause I think it's fun. So that's why this one is just plain old boring :( I'll work on that.

Sari & Ashlie Make the Cut Again!!!

Well, I found myself at the assemblies once again for more awards!!! The month of March both girls were recognized at the assembly. Ashlie got an award for creative writing. Actually it was a letter she wrote to the Easter Bunny, lol!!! Sari got an award for her reading points. That girl, she has already made the millionaires club and she is over half way there again. She had the most points for books read in her entire class for the month of March. It's wonderful how much our girls love to read. Of course Craig always has a couple of books he is reading so they come by it naturally. Good job Sari & Ashlie!!!

Statistics Test #2

Well, I thought the first time was just a fluke, so when I aced the second test of the semester in my statistics class I felt it was blog-worthy!!! These scores did not come from sitting back and not doing my work, I have earned every point given on every assignment!!! So, pat myself on the back and I can go to sleep happy tonight :)

Just in case you can't see the scores clearly enough, Test #1 was 115/120 +2 bonus points and Test #2 was 138/140 + 2 bonus points!!!