September Acres

Well, hello there! By the end of next week, most schools will be out and many of us will be itching to hit the road for a little vacation.  With extra time, many of us look no further than the family hot rod as our mode of transportation.  Make your road trip less painful and, dare I say, fun with these tips. Pack Right - Make sure each family member has all the comforts of home in the back seat.  Blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, books, toys, snacks & drinks make the hours fly by.  A backpack or tote bag for each family member is the way to go.  Don't forget a cooler and lots of water and charging supplies for phones, etc. Stop Often - Stopping every 3 or 4 hours may sound like you will never. get. where. you. are. going.  But you'd be surprised how a stop can put everyone in a better mood - especially the driver!  Rest stops are great places to stop - everyone can use the rest room and stretch their legs. Make a Game out of it - ...

It's taken over a year but we were finally able to pay back the kindness of strangers yesterday on our way home from Phoenix. You may remember in December of 2012 we had a breakdown in the Virgin River Gorge on the Utah/Arizona border. Yesterday afternoon my husband noticed a truck & U-haul stopped on I10 about an hour out of Phoenix.  He didn't think too much of it until he saw a girl (probably in her twenties) walking along the side of the highway heading towards the next exit (about a mile away).  He pulled over and asked me to get out and meet her to see what she needed.  Luckily, she just ran out of gas so we took her to the gas station to get a can of gas and drove her back to her car. As it turns out, she is a newlywed whose husband was deployed right after their wedding last year and she was headed to their new duty station.  It was sure nice to be able to help her out and even better that we were able to help someone whose spouse is serving our c...

Well, it's been a while.  We made it through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas with lots of fun memories.  The 31 Day Challenge took it out of me, I must admit.  Challenging it was for sure.  Lots of debate in my head was going on about continuing to blog or not but I decided I don't really need to make a decision, I can just do it when the mood hits.  So here I am with my year-end re-cap.  I have a love/hate relationship with these re-caps - I love the idea of looking back on the year - seeing what was popular with readers, what was a dud, looking at the pictures I took, getting re-inspired, etc.  But I hate them because I think they're kind of a lazy way to create a new post. So, here goes, some of my most popular posts of 2013: The first day of any 31 Day Challenge is always a biggie and this year was no exception. The overview of 31 Days of Making your House your Home can be found here.  This is where all the other 31 Days posts ca...

LM and I planned to drive back to Utah with my sister after Christmas so she wouldn't have to drive alone.  A few hours into the trip and along the only 15 mile stretch without cell service, we had a tire problem.  We were lucky that a nice lady and her daughter stopped while my sister was walking to get cell service and was able to call her husband (after 10 minutes on hold with AAA) to have a tow truck come pick us up and take us to St. George to get the car fixed. Deciding to make the best of the situation, we took a few pictures while we waited.  We could have been stuck in a worse place, don't you think? I have always wanted to stop here for a photo shoot and lunch (we were within walking distance of the picnic area) but this wasn't quite the way I had planned it. It was a chilly but beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. And below is our ride to St. George.  Yes, four of us were stuffed in the cab of that truck. After  lunc...

I just spent four days with LM and her girl scout troop at Disneyland so I thought I'd share some do's and don't's with you.  These tips aren't necessarily specific to Disneyland so use them as needed.  I'll spare you the usual 'wear comfortable shoes' & 'don't forget the sunscreen' because I believe these are just common sense.  I won't even mention that I personally think four days is too long to spend at any theme park.  Oops, I just did.  Sorry about that. DO get a park hopper ticket. This is Disneyland specific, obviously.  Even if you think you only want to go to Disneyland, get the park hopper.  You will likely regret being stuck in one park.  And your kids will want to go to 'Carsland' (more on that later), which is in the Disney California Adventure park (also referred to as 'DCA'-see what you learn in four days?) DON'T eat breakfast at the park.  Unless that's the meal you want to splu...

We found out we had to make a quickie trip to St Louis a couple of weeks ago. My mother-in-law had to go into the hospital for open heart surgery and my husband was on a plane a week later while LM and I followed the day after him.  The timing couldn't have been better since LM was out of school the Thursday before we left (we left on Sunday). The surgery was on May 31 so we had some time to see my mother-in-law at home before she went into the hospital.  She was tired when we saw her but I think it was good for everyone to see her at home and not just after the surgery.  The surgery went well and the doctors were pleased with her recovery.  She is now out of ICU, no IV, walking a bit each day and eating solid food.  We felt comfortable coming home yesterday since she was doing so well.  That and the fact that there are 12 other siblings there to keep an eye on her! We were able to squeeze in a few fun things while we were there since, as you might...

Most people are thinking about something like this for Spring Break... Here at September Acres we're headed to this... The thought of 120 degree July days make it very appealing. Looking forward to walks in the snow, hot chocolate by the fire, skiing , and ice skating. No doubt we'll be happy to come home to the 80 degree weather we're leaving. But we'll have those memories come July...

We spent last weekend in Phoenix so my husband could play in an ice hockey tournament at the Jobing .com arena, home of the Phoenix Coyotes. Kind of a dream come true for a hockey player who didn't quite make it to the big leagues. It was fun as a spectator, too. There weren't too many of us so we had front row seats. We also got a tour of the Coyotes locker room area. This is their workout room. They have inspirational quotes painted all over the room. I love the one below. 'The price of greatness is hard work.' So true. Here is LM in front of the doors that lead to the locker room, workout room, trophy case and hot/cold tub area. They had to radio up to have the doors unlocked. I think it looks so sophisticated. I kind of expected some non- descript door. Here's the hubby in action. He's the one in the red jersey with the orange leg warmers. Apparently, players call them socks although there is no foot in them. Sounds like a leg warmer to me! ...

Our trip to the zoo this summer... Looking for adventure. In a dinosaur egg. Mama and Baby. Carousel Ride. Time to go. With a memento, of course!

Since I am the only one up now I thought it a good time to come back to the blogging world after a small summer break. While it is technically still summer, and it was 114 today, summer is officially over at our house. LM went back to school on Monday. I have yet to figure out why they go back so doggone early but it is what it is. We had a good summer although it seemed REALLY short. Really, really short. But we did pack in a bit of activity. LM went to Sea World with her Brownie troop. My hubby and I went to see Rick Springfield (and just for the record, he did not think it would be fun to go on the Rick Springfield and friends cruise this fall - darn!) We went to No. Ca. twice to see family. The second time my husband, cousin, dad and I went to a couple wineries for a little wine tasting . When we got back to our hotel my cousin and I proceeded to quickly fall asleep and have little naps - too MUCH wine, perhaps? LM , my mom and I left the bay area and headed East to hit every ...

Well it's not likely that I will go fishing (tried it a few times and found it thoroughly boring!) but I am taking a little break. LM goes back to school the first week in August which is right around the corner. We'll be doing some traveling, making our way by car through a bit of the wild west. Reno, Virginia City , Elko , and on to Utah. If all goes as planned we're going to spend the night at a dude ranch & hopefully have lunch one day at one of my favorite places on earth . LM is a little unsure of what to expect but I know she'll end up having a really fun time. Right now she is just dealing with the fact that we will NOT be taking in a Justin Beiber concert this summer (thank goodness!) I want to get a little closer to nature than that! It is Africa hot here now. They keep saying it's going to cool down this weekend but frankly, going from 114 to 110 isn't really cooling down, is it? We'll be spending lots of time in the pool. I have a ...

Last weekend LM & I tagged along with my hubby to Las Vegas (my parents also went). Bill and my dad had a race (work related) to go to on Friday night & Saturday night. I knew that Rick Springfield was performing at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night (what a coincidence that I would be in town that night!) I pondered going to the show alone since none of my friends could go. One was leaving for Hawaii on Sunday, one was in Moab on vacation and my sister, whom I can always count on, is in Australia. Well, as luck would have it, the car my dad & hubby sponsor lost and they were finished & back at the hotel around 7 pm on Saturday. Talk about one door closing and another one opening - now Bill was free to join me at the concert! We had just enough time to check with the concierge to make sure there were still tickets, give a room key to my mom so she could get LM ready for bed and hop a cab to the Mandalay Bay. The concert was SOOOO good! It was on the beach @ the Mand...

Soccer isn't the most boring sport on the planet after all. I mean, look at these players. Actually, there was a time, way back in the day , that I kind of liked it. We lived in Scotland for a few years when I was younger where soccer, I mean 'football', is a big deal. I think I was 11 or 12 the summer my friend Diana came to visit. Unbeknownst to either of us her visit coincided with a soccer tournament taking place in our little town . A soccer tournament that brought boys our age over from America. They must have been there for a couple of weeks. We followed those boys everywhere, including watching all their games. We could walk just about everywhere in town and if we couldn't we took a cab. Can you imagine letting your daughter catch a cab across town with friends at 11? We got to be friends with the boys on the team and Diana & I even 'liked' 2 of them. We were pen pals with these guys for a little while. Until the novelty wore off, I guess...

Since I so often 'complain' about poor customer service I thought it only proper to mention some good customer service (since it happens so rarely anymore). When I went to my sister's in December we flew instead of driving. Flew on Delta . The flight home was delayed about 2 1/2 hours due to weather. Not horrible. I got home later than I wanted but it could have been much, much worse. Over the weekend I received a letter from Delta which I thought was going to say my frequent flyer miles were about to expire or something. Imagine my surprise when I opened the letter and I got an apology for the delay (again, weather realated - beyond anyone's control) and 1000 miles credited to my Skymiles account. The Delta employees at the Salt Lake airport were really great through this, too. People yelling at them left & right for something over which they had no control and they were courteous and calm the whole time. Have you had any good customer service experiences...