Because I'd like to remember July 4th, 2014

I know it's October... but I didn't want to forget that 4th of July we went to the Rose Bowl stadium, watched some wicked motocross, tried my first funnel cake, and sang in the fireworks to Hey Jude by a rather smashing Beatles cover band.

The irony of hearing a cover band for a British sensation on a completely American holiday was not lost on me. And it was fantastic.

 Afterward we all met up at Sonic for hotdogs and slushies.

Two thumbs up for America.

A little ode to camping on the beach, a farewell to friends, and an If You Give a Mouse a Cookie kind of day.

Since we moved to southern California we've created a bucket list of sorts, and as our time continues on and will come to an end next August (gasp!) we've decided it's high time to start checking some items off... Camping on the sandy shores of the beach was one of the top things on that list and we were lucky enough to share that experience with our favorite family of Anderson's we ever did meet, just before they packed up and moved all the way to Maryland.

The whole time we were there we all kept saying "Why did it take us so long to do this?" "We've lived here for three years... and this has just been here that whole time... what have we been doing with our lives?!"

Ohhhh, that's right. We've been wasting our lives away going to school and work and getting transplants and stuff.
Like a bunch of idiots.

We should have been camping at the beach!! (and this is coming from the couple who has been camping twice throughout their marriage of almost 6 yrs—well three times for me if you count Girl's Camp... and that was a week of roughin it in the mountains with like a million teenage girls, so yeah, we're going to go a head and count that.)

It was THAT amazing.

So was Jason's hair, which got crazier and crazier as the humidity set in—but don't you worry, he owned that fro.

There are so many awesome things about beach camping that I could go on and on all day (or for roughly 37 minutes, just ask my sister Audrey who got the prize of hearing allllllll of it because she happened to be the first one to call me while we were on the way home, you're welcome Hepburn) but that could get mighty boring and redundant... so I've made a list.

The top most awesome things about beach camping are as follows (and in no particular order):

5. being all "at one with nature" and stuff without all those sick bugs and creepy crawlers

4. waking up, opening the door to your tent, and putting your feet directly into the soft sand—no shoes needed... EVER! (can life get better?? I mean really...)

3. hanging out by the fire, telling stories, checking tide levels and times, roasting marshmallows and starbursts, doing the Carlton Dance in the moonlight with super cool party people, then laughing until your stomach hurts because theres just enough light to know you should be pretty embarrassed, but you're with your bffs and that's what makes you happy enough to be dancing like a fool in the first place.

2. campfire food is good food, with a side of ash

1. leaving the tent window open and falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves and the gentle sea breeze wafting through the tent

While we were packing up we were dragging our feet at the thought of just going right back home to Fullerton. One night just wasn't enough! The fun can't be over just like that, can it?! So we asked ourselves: If we drove all the way to Point Mugu... we probably better drive the rest of the short way up to Santa Barbara...

And if we drive all the way up to Santa Barbara... we might as well find Wheel Fun Rentals, rent a Double Surrey, ride up and down the beach boulevard, and take pictures of everything we see...

And if we ride around on the Double Surrey (that turns out to be a little bit broken and comically difficult to peddle) for a couple hours... then we're going to be pretty pumped to take our helmet off...

And after we finally get our helmet off... we might realize that the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley is right over the hills and it's probably breathtaking this time of year (because really it's breathtaking, no matter what time of year)...

And once we're getting our breath taken away as we drive through the Santa Ynez Valley... we'll come to find that the sweet and sleepy Danish town of Solvang is basically at our fingertips and if we neglect to continue our adventure on to the windmills and delicious bakeries we'd need a swift round–house kick to the face...

And if we do all this and see all that... then we'll have lots of memories to share with three of our best friends in the whole wide world and a few more checks for our bucket lists.

So I'd say you can give this mouse a cookie any old day.

a 32(.7) miler kind of celebration

Today was a good day. It started really early and included a 32 and .7 mile bike race (for Jason... who insistes the .7, which was neglected to be mentioned in the information page of the brochure, was very important). 

It was a celebration... It's been over a year since the double lung transplant, God is so good!! 

Jas is crossing his fingers he'll still have his legs attached to his body tomorrow morning. I guess the amount and size of hills were neglected to be mentioned in the information brochure as well. Actually, now that I think about it... was there an informational brochure? Maybe we should have looked into that a little further.

...and Jas still isn't sure I've properly explained how difficult this ride was, so here we go: It was an insanely hard ride with lots and lots of uphill and not so much downhill or flat—and at the end (after a quick congratulatory kiss) I had to help him half–tip over the bike so he could get off without falling on his helmet in front of his new friends. BUT he pushed through and would even do it again.

he says he's happy now and we can continue on...

Jas rode with Sharlie's Angels team for today's CF Cycle for Life event. Sharlie received a double lung  / heart transplant about 6 months before Jason received his double lung transplant. We watched and prayed for her and her family as they went through the long, exhausting process... Then she gave us words of encouragement and hope while we went through it ourselves. It was so wonderful to meet sweet Sharlie and her family in person and it was an honor to be apart of Sharlie's Angels.

There's something about CF, and something about lung transplants... makes ya family.  No matter who ya are or where you're from.

From oxygen tanks to bike races... so incredible. You both were amazing today! Well, probably most days—but today y'all went and made everyone cry about it.

Miracles do happen. They happen every day. It's our job to notice and be grateful.

Even if it's just the breath we take. Sometime's that's the miracle.

Home again and another cheap date to the local farmer's market

Our trip to the east coast went pretty well. Jason's lung function is back up to where it was before his crash in May, and he's feeling fantastic! But there was a complication with the bronchoscopy (when getting samples for the biopsy, the fellow snipped a pulmonary artery, resulting in a substantial amount of bleeding and no samples for any sort of testing... such a bummer. Jason's just fine, had a few yucky recovery days, but he's pretty much back to normal now) Sooooo we'll be heading back for another bronch in three months (instead of graduating to wait 6 months before the next follow-up)—and might be requesting a seasoned specialist for the procedure. TMI? probably. But just in case ya wanted to know... there ya have it!

More on the happy adventures of our trip later!

The day after we got home was filled with errands and laundry and a spontaneous date to the Fullerton farmer's market. We went right after seven, the sun was lingering in the beautiful golden hour and this week's band was full of good 70's hits and the fruit samples were delicious and the succulents were blooming... It was everything good. And we're happy to be home.

I've got a very small pot with 5 succulents in my kitchen, 3 of which died a very... natural... death. 

The 2 remaining, I'm afraid, are not far behind.

I've been told you're not supposed to be able to kill succulents.

So I guess that makes me pretty amazing. An inspiration really.

Adventures in climbing around rocks and trains and sand

Lately I've been hearing little voices. They've been insisting on going outside, finding trails, nearby lakes, parks, beaches, anything. They've also insisted upon Chipotle salads with guacamole and chips on the side. They say Don't worry about your hair, leave it fluffy, just hurry up and get going somewhere—maybe anywhere. So, like any slightly disturbed guacamole junky, I've been doing as I'm told and I've been dragging Jason along with me whenever his school/clinic schedule allows.

Last Friday was hot (ok everyday's been hot) so we decided splashing in the cool ocean water might be refreshing and a little hike around the beach trail of San Clemente at sunset might be the best cheap date we've been on in a while.

And we weren't disappointed on either account.

Famished, we set out looking for a burger and Biggie's Burgers hit the spot... but once we were less hungry and more able to make rational decisions on matters of taste we found ourselves bummed we didn't hit up Pedro's Tacos instead. Moral to story: in a street-fight between burgers and tacos, tacos always win. 

Sorry Biggies. You're totally cute though.