"Beary Scary"

This brazen black bear decided to make a visit to the Roney household yesterday. When I first noticed him he was outside my office window on the back patio. I was FREAKED OUT because I had JUST read an article in our daily newspaper about a hiker who was killed by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone. So, after my initial scare, I grabbed my camera. He was constantly on the move, not too fast, but he never stayed in one place but a few seconds.

He decided to head up this aspen tree....there is a bird feeder out on it's limb, but he never even swatted at it or try to go out on the limb...guess he figured he was too big to try.

After coming down out of the tree, he was checking out the yard for more treats...we've got tons of berries in our bushes all over the area he was scouting around. I eventually lost track of the bear and hoped that he would find greener pastures elsewhere.

I'm back!!!!! The bear makes another appearance on the other side of the house several hours later. Here, Kirk is demonstrating WHAT NOT TO DO!

Salt Lake City

On our way home from Lake Tahoe, we decided to make a stop in Salt Lake City so I could investigate some shops for shoes for Miss Lea. We stayed in downtown Salt Lake where we could walk to Temple Square. The flowers were GORGEOUS!

I'm sure Kirk and I have this exact picture from 26 yrs ago!

Ok--so Kara wanted to pull Lea up the stairs and have her touching the doorknob of the temple....this is as far as we got! Lea is a good sport.

I checked out this shop in Bountiful and this shoe was displayed! Amazing yeah? It's a 32 DD!

And here we go playing around with Lea again...we just couldn't resist putting her in this sculpture in downtown Salt Lake!

Week 4: Lake Tahoe

Week 4 was spent in Lake Tahoe! We stayed on the California side at the Resort at Squaw Valley. This area was made famous for having the 1960 Winter Olympics. I've also heard that this was the first televised Olympics.

As if we couldn't get enough beach time, we headed over to Sandy Harbor State Beach. This wonderful "sandy" beach is on the Nevada side of the lake.

The temperature was wonderfully hot and then you could cool off in the very cool Lake Tahoe. I could've stayed at this beach all day. It was SO pleasant.

Being at a ski resort, we had to take a gondola ride up to High Camp.

Imagine my surprise to find a swimming pool up here! I wished I'd a brought my swimsuit!

It also had an ice rink in the winter and a roller rink in the summer!

Then we went out on the lake on this little number--the Tahoe Gal. We went on a 3-1/2 hour lunch cruise around the lake. It was GORGEOUS!

And of course, we just had to buy the photo they took of us! (sorry--it's so much better, but I took a picture of the photo!)

There was a ceramic painting store at the village at Squaw and we all got our creative juices flowing...even Kirk participated! We were all wondering how his splattering effect was going to turn out.

It turned out AWESOME! And yes, it will grace my countertop at home!

Maya could have LIVED at this place...she totally got into designing and creating a one of a kind bowl.

Here's her bowl with a mug she also painted.

On our last day in Tahoe, the girls went parasailing! Sage said it was the funnest thing that she has ever done! I didn't get very good pictures cuz the boat was cruising so far out on the lake.
And then we came home.....ahhhh.

Week 4: Guess where?

August Celebrations

As you can see we have quite a few things in August to celebrate. Besides Ty's birthday on the 1st, Kirk and I celebrate our anniversary on the 8th. Twenty-six years!!!

Kirk surprised me with my "own" MacBook Air...and himself with an I-pad 2!

And these two cute-patooties celebrate their 17th birthday on August 11th! Happy Birthday Star and Sky!

Week 3......C*A*Y*M*A*N

Week 3 of our nomad life found us traveling to Cayman for our annual Roney family reunion. It's SO much fun to travel all together as a family. Sitting on the floor of the plane and playing cards with a group of cousins is a ton of fun.

Somebody had a birthday while we were in Cayman. Happy 25th Birthday Ty Kekauoha Roney!

Lea had a BLAST playing in the pool with her newest sister, Sloane and brother Ty.

The sunsets were stellar...

Mom and some girls enjoying this sunset.

Cousins came to play with us and hang out...here's Jarom at his best!

We all did a lot of reading in Cayman. I actually read 3 books while there! (A Stolen Life, Joy for Beginners and The Hiding Place)

Miss Lea sure enjoyed her music

and some of us enjoyed taking naps!

Ty had a great time sharing Cayman with his new wife, Sloane. Here he shows her a cool red starfish.

A family photo on our last night in Cayman.
Bye Cayman....see u soon!

Week 2 in Encinitas

So, now we'll let you know what we did the 2nd week in Encinitas. This is the beach we went to pretty much everyday. It was called Stonesteps Beach.

And here's why it's called stonesteps beach....here's the view from the beach looking up to the road!

And here's the view looking down to the beach! There are 127 steps total...what a workout!

Went to Balboa Park one day to go to the IMAX theater. Here is a cool building in Balboa Park.

The IMAX theater is housed in the Reuben J. Fleet Science Center and after the movie "Born to be Wild", we explored all the fun, interactive exhibits.

Mari and Maya were "torturing"...oops, I mean helping Lea with a cool aging exhibit.

Maya checking out an exhibit.

As we would be out on our back deck, we would always see flocks of pelicans fly overhead....and sometimes, they would be rather close overhead.

Just couldn't get enough of these astounding sunsets--just gorgeous!

Kirk and I also made the drive to Newport Beach to go to the temple with our good friend Justine. (San Diego had just closed for their 2 week cleaning)

Our good friend from San Francisco, Mary Katharine flew down to play with us for a couple of days.

Here's the girls playing in the surf.

Here's Kirk and me with a good friend we met while Kirk and her husband (ex-husband now) were getting treatment in Loma Linda. It was fun to reconnect with her.
Stay tuned for week 3 of being a nomad! (Ok, I"ll give you a hint...it's VERY HOT where we are now!)