..it stopped my whining for a day...

I admit, I have a recurring complaint about this beautiful Southern California. Actually, I whine a lot about this----

...any time you choose to get away from it all and go somewhere "special" like a perfect beach, or a perfect campground, you must fight tooth and nail for a secluded spot to truly enjoy the atmosphere (and not the crazy people in their habitat).

If you get a tip on the radio or TV stating the promised Best Kept Secrets, you know that means your desired getaway is no longer desirable because 5 million people just got the same tip.My family and I were pleasantly surprised when we chose Friday to visit the snow since we were out of school and James took the day off. We drove 1 1/2 hours North to find snow. Mt. Pinos is at 8,800 feet. Long story short...the parking lot was nearly empty and we had the sledding hills to ourselves.
Very satisfying! Tempuratures were in the upper 40s, and despite the lack of snow gear for most of us, the sunny day was....awesome. Monica crashed badly into a tree. Jenna's toes got too cold--but what do you expect when you're wearing uninsulated rain boots?

I had to endure a mischievous 12-year-old trapped inside a 44-year-old body and become his moving target for the better part of the day.
I hope my girls remember this day as much as I will.

EDIT: James said, "Whats with the penguin?" Does anyone else need clarification regarding how close penguins congregate? Raise your hand...

Its my birthday...so I won't even lift a finger to blog...

...so I'll let my sister do the damage!

Go to her blog to check out some funny photos of us

Or more aptly titled..."It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

Happiness and Hot Chocolate

Enjoy Your Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate. When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: 'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

And enjoy your hot chocolate in 2008!