Little Getaway

 Gary and I took a little beach trip over the weekend. It was sunny and beautiful- and we had a great time.

 The place we stayed at was- meh. It was pretty and had a nice Jacuzzi in the bedroom, but it was still a cheap little place that had some maintenance issues. At least it was quiet and a half-mile from the ocean, so in the end, it wasn't all that bad.

Anyway, we spent the first part of the day relaxing in the Jacuzzi tub, doing a little walking, and watching some TV on the 55" plasma by the Jacuzzi. There wasn't really anything on, and besides, it was a beach vacation- not an at-home vacation with the television.

Saturday, we spent time at the ocean. We visited the Channel Islands Beach and Silver Strand Beach. It was warm and so beautiful. It was also quiet. There were several beach-front homes and we sat and planned which home we'd want and how we'd want it to be. It was fun. Our goal is to own a vacation home on the beach so we can spend the weekend there. But, that's in the future.

  We also hit up the Pacific View Mall for some shopping in Ventura- then spent the rest of the night back at the hotel, leaving this morning.We also just missed the rain- good timing!

 In the end, it was a fun and relaxing little getaway we needed. Husbands are the best!

Spring Cleaning

  Yesterday, despite my less-than-sunny mood while battling this flu, I decided to start spring cleaning anyway. I deep cleaned the bathroom so it's all white and shiny, disinfected pretty much everything, cleaned the carpet and couch (not just vacuumed, but washed), dusted everything down, cleaned the mattress and all the bed sheets (I do that weekly anyway, but the mattress itself needed a good wash), gave the cats a spa-day (nail trims, bath, brush), and tidied up the apartment. I also did a little spring decorating by laying out fresh fruits and vegetables in a cute bowl from Target and brightening up the rooms by opening the windows- not to mention some of the cute cheap spring decorations I had stored away. I also love having beautiful and colorful live plants around the home. Not only do they filter the air, they smell good and bring lots of springtime color. So later today, I'm hitting up Home Depot to buy new flowers. We have one large green plant in our bedroom, but I want smaller ones to stick around the place. We also have two small air filters set up- one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Gotta be prepared for allergy season!

I had finished cleaning and showering and freshening up just in time for Gary to arrive home. I then made him one of his favorite meals- pork sliders. So good! I buy reduced fat ground pork, and cook it as well as onion soup mix, over the stove. When it's close to done, I add a small amount of low-fat mayonnaise and cheddar cheese, and lightly season it with fresh herbs. With the oven set to 350, I get sweet Hawaiian bread rolls, cut them in half, and place them on a cookie sheet. I add the pork to the bread, close them to make a sandwich, cover the top with foil, and pop them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. Delish! Low fat, low calorie, low sodium, and meat? Works for me.

Anyway, yes, the spring cleaning and preparedness helped tremendously with the mood (and I slipped in a scenic walk). I'm feeling much better this morning. Now I am super duper looking forward to General Conference coming up soon- and Easter! Many more reasons to be happy.

Welcome to Spring

 Hey, everyone. The best season of all started yesterday. Spring is just awesome!

 Unfortunately I wish my mood was just as sunny. I've been kind of down lately, but I believe it's from this flu I'm still getting over (you can read more details on my fitness blog on the right). I'm hoping the mood will lift soon when I'm feeling better.

 However, I'm ready to start cleaning today and make everything look beautiful and spring-like. This should boost my mood a bit, right?

 Anyway, we've been good, minus the flu part. We're both healthy and happy.

 Well, this was a tiny update since I didn't really know what else to say- just to welcome y'all to spring and awesomeness. Have a fabulous day!

Emilee and Her Dreams Again

 I'm pretty sure I'm crazy. So we'll start there.

 As you know, I'm a crazy dreamer. Lucid dreaming is common, sleep paralysis, always able to remember my dreams, etc. Lately, they've been a little different. I've been having several dreams in the night that actually wake me up because I believe I'm hearing noises in the bedroom.

 Let me explain. Two mornings ago, around 4am, I woke up because I thought I heard the door rattling loudly. I thought Gary was being a little brat by shaking the door to wake me up at my usual time. I tried to ignore it, and said, "I get it, I'm awake. Stop." When I opened my eyes, I noticed it was dark in the room. Too dark. I sat up a little and looked at the door- closed. Still tired, I shrugged it off and laid back down. However, when I closed my eyes and started dozing off again, I heard the door again rattling rather loudly. Super tired, I forced my eyes open again and waited, starting to worry at the possibility of somebody being in the apartment. I sat up this time, noticed the time was 4am, and looked over at my sleeping husband next to me. So, once again, I laid down, closed my eyes, and started to doze off. There it went again. Finally, I sat up in bed, got out of bed, and opened the bedroom door to explore. I guess I should have been more equipped, but for some reason I was really tired. Nobody was there, of course. Now since I was more fully awake, it didn't happen again. Clearly it was a dream.

 Last night I had several similar episodes. I had a few random, normal dreams about camping, my mom playing Halo with me (awesome), and a few other things. However, this time around the same time, I heard my name being called. "Emilee! Emilee, wake up!" I opened my eyes and asked, "What? What is it?" I then heard a mumbled response from Gary, "Huh? What?" as he rolled over and went back to sleep. Realizing it was a dream again, I went back to sleep. Only this time, when I "opened" my eyes, I saw somebody crouched next to my bed, calling my name again. I could swear it was Sarah when she was younger, but if not, she was a blonde girl. I went to sit up this time again, but of course, nobody was there and nobody was calling my name. Gary was mumbling again about something, probably wondering what I was doing. This happened a few more times in the morning, before Gary's alarms went off. I didn't see anybody else, just noises and my name forcing me awake. I think I was forcing myself awake to respond to the noises. I don't know.

See, I'm crazy. Or haunted. Either way, I'm sure I'm not the only person who has had this happen. At least it's not the tall, dark, creepy guy I used to see as a kid that would send me to the bathroom to hide, cry, and eventually fall back to sleep. Several times as a kid, I thought I was ballooning and swelling, and I'd run to the bathroom and cry. At one point, my mom must have heard me screaming and came downstairs to find me in the bathroom in the middle of the night crying about how I was going to pop because I was a balloon. Oh, silly me.

Weekend Camping

 Gary and I decided to get away for the weekend and do some camping up in the Antelope Valley on the Thousand Trails campground. It was definitely cold, but enjoyable.

Um, we WOULD take you, but I don't think you'd like it

   We packed up Friday afternoon, and we were on our way. Luckily it's not that far of a drive (only about a half hour).

   Earlier in the day, we also decided to get a new tent. We bought the Coleman Instant Tent (6 man). Man, was it WAY easier and faster than our huge 9-man tent. We still have our giant tent, but plan to use it for longer week-long type trips and not so much weekend/smaller getaways. This instant tent is better for shorter trips because it only takes a couple of minutes to set up. So, we picked our spot and set up camp.

     It was a little windy and tad chilly when we got there and set up, but it wasn't too bad. We started a late dinner after setup, then headed to the adult lodge where we played pool and put together a 500-piece puzzle, which took us 3 hours. We arrived back at our camp around 11pm, and went to sleep.

     The night was pretty cold. We had our sleeping bags as well as other blankets, and I layered my clothes. The coldest part hit early in the morning, around 4-5 am. The wind was pretty bad at this point, and I heard a "whoosh!" sound. So, not happy about crawling out of the warm tent into the ice weather, I peeked outside and saw that our canopy had knocked over. The wind managed to pull out 2 of the stakes. So, I scrambled in the freezing wind around 5am and managed to put the canopy back together- this time pounding those stakes far into the ground to prevent that from happening again- and crawled back to bed, after a short jog to get my body temperature up.

     That morning, around 7-7:30, we realized a nearby sprinkler had busted and was shooting near us and the back of our tent. Luckily it's waterproof, but the sound woke us up and we decided to just stay up for the heck of it.

   Anyway, Saturday was fun. I later read the temperatures were in the 30's that night and the wind gusts were up to 50mph. No wonder it was so stinking cold. But the day got warmer, up to 70, so that was super nice; and the wind eventually died down that afternoon.

We camped near the railroad tracks- but it wasn't all that bad. There was only one that passed through the nights, but we were so tired we just rolled over and went back to sleep.

Our campground area. It was really quiet there, even though we weren't the only campers. But we did have a lot of space to ourselves since it's the off-season.

Snow on the peaks. There was a lot more the night we got there- which explained why it was so cold that night.  Yes, I did look at the forecast ahead of time, thus the reason we came prepared with warm everything.

Darling hubby

And this babe- trying to stay warm.

Us- at an odd angle with our faces looking long. Ah, well.

 We also took a nice walk/hike/stroll around the nature areas and enjoyed the warm, blanketing sun.

Old town Thousand Trails. When Gary was younger, it was very much alive. There was horseback riding, events,  and just completely entertainment. Now, not so much. It's old and abandoned. 

Gary enjoying his huge Popsicle. Mmm. I had one too-but smaller than his.

Hittin' up the arcade. By ourselves, of course. It's a little more alive during summer.

Concentrating on killing them zombies

  And, one of the cute ponds:

      Anyway, we had a great time together. We were so grateful when that mean, mean wind died down. The best part about the trip was the peacefulness. Being outdoors and enjoying beautiful nature is definitely relaxing. This area of Thousand Trails (as well as other locations I've heard) have become more of a retirement community. During summer, there are more tent campers and families, but off-seasons, and for the most part, there are RV's and seniors. Gary told me when he was a kid it was like an adventure land. The streams and lakes were swim-able (definitely not anymore), and there were so many activities, kids and people. It's as though the idea was abandoned (really kind of sad) and now it's just more like a place to go during retirement while living in your RV. But, even if we are the only youngsters, we enjoy it because it's close to home. Yosemite though was definitely thriving with all sorts of people and young-ins like us. I guess it just depends on the location.

      Last night was a much warmer night and the day today is gorgeous. We headed home this morning- and realized the temps in Santa Clarita will be up to the mid-80's. That's right, you better get warmer, weather.

    Besides our fun trip, all is well here in our home. Have a gorgeous Sunday!

  PS- Sometime early this summer, late Spring maybe (more likely summer), we'll be hitting the Santa Barbara campgrounds- one of the more active ones with horseback riding and everything. Anyone is invited to go with us. We'll get more info later. We have 2 extra tents and the only thing you'll have to pay is like $5 parking if there's a third car. Besides that, you're covered. We also want to hit the Las Vegas one as well- and well, same invitation. Apparently it's nice because it's 6 miles from the strip, but you can see all the lights from the campground (according to a camper we met yesterday).