Home Sweet Home

Well, we (Stevie and Reno) are home from our quick vacation to Mexico. We were actually gone for more than a week, but only on the cruise for four days. Reno spent the week with a colleague of mine, and seemed sad to leave her this morning.

Logan and I started the week with a bull sale in San Luis Obispo on Sunday, then drove to Ventura Beach, where we stayed at the Crown Plaza on the beach. Too bad it was a little foggy.

This picture is of us after dinner the night before the cruise after dinner in Ventura Beach.

This is an early morning shot of the beach off our hotel room balcony.

Monday morning we drove to the port of Long Beach to the cruise terminal, where we boarded the ship and got a massage (thanks Debi). The masseuse told me she had never felt deltoids with such severe knots...which explained why my back hurt for the remainder of the trip. Thank goodness for hot tubs. Despite the deltoid pain, the massage was very relaxing and Logan love love loved his massage. He will now be requesting a massage gift card for every holiday, in case any of you ever want to get him a gift.

Tuesday morning we arrived on Catalina Island.

the ship from the island

 us riding the boat from the cruise ship to the island.

the island

more of the island

While on the island, we did some sight seeing and some window shopping. We also decided to go parasailing. It was kind of cloudy, but was still fairly warm.

Up

Up

Up and away. It was sooo much fun.

We also did some sight seeing, shopped and had lunch while on Catalina.

more of us

Logan enjoying his cheeseburger and pepsi

Wednesday we went to Ensenada...which is a little less than desirable as far as clean and safe cities go. Luckily, we found a tour bus to take us to the shopping district on the other side of the peninsula, where there is also a blowhole in a cave near the ocean. When the tide comes in, it fills the cave with water, then the next wave pushes the water up through the hole.

This is the blow hole doing its thing.

Us hanging out near the blow hole.

The city of Ensenada from the tour bus.

Thursday was our "fun day at sea" as the ship headed back to Long Beach. We lounged around by the pool, went to the comedy show that night and just took it easy (Logan even shut his phone off)

Us at sunset on the last night of the cruise

For those of you who have been on a Carnival cruise, you know they put a towel animal in your stateroom each night. I didn't think to get pictures of them, until the last night, but the last night was my favorite anyway.

All in all, it was a good trip. I really appreciated Logan taking some time off to go away for a few days. We both really needed it. We hit a couple of cow sales on the way home and got back late Sunday, Logan took just enough time to switch out his suitcase for a freshly packed one and he was back on the road within about 15 minutes. He will be gone on and off through Thanksgiving. Hopefully he will be home for a day here and there. Fortunately, I have more than enough to keep my hands full. A week off from work has me pretty swamped.

 

Wake Me Up When September Ends

So, I have been MIA for a couple of weeks. It has been kind of a whirlwind. But I am glad I have been busy; otherwise, I would just be sitting home with Reno waiting for Logan to come home. When I say September is a busy month for him, it is an extreme understatement. He is on the road nearly every day, but luckily he is usually within a couple of hours. This is what he has kept him so busy:

These pictures are from a few years ago at a bull sale, but you get the idea. 

He is really great at his job and he loves working sales, but I think even he is ready for a break. He has been running a ton to keep himself sane. He looks AMAZING. We are thinking of running in the Run to Feed the Hungry, a 10K race, in downtown Sac on Thanksgiving -- which means I need to get busy.

As for me, I have been running around like crazy as well. My busiest time of the year is from July through November, so I have been on a magazine roller coaster but have also kept busy with photography, bridal showers, baking and weddings, weddings and weddings. All of the events were so much fun and were so beautiful, but it can't help but make one lovesick for their significant other. I am definitely there anyways.

I didn't get to take many pictures of my sister Ashlee's wedding because I was busy, but I got a few of the beforehand behind-the-scenes and the cakes. It was a really great day with a fabulous venue, beautiful weather, tons of friends and family, great food and one really cute set of newlyweds. They were both so relaxed. I don't know many brides that are like, "eh, whatever you think" about everything. It made everything go by so smoothly. Here are a few pictures that I did take:

We wanted to do lots of different cakes with different flavors, so we did a lot of baking! Ignore the diet coke in the picture. 

These are from inside the barn when we were still setting up.

It was a good thing we had more chairs, because we had to set up twice this many. They had so many people come to share their day.

These are from her bridal shoot at the wedding venue that we did a couple weeks before the wedding. It is amazing that my mom's wedding dress fit perfectly and suited her so well, nearly 30 years after my grandma made it for my mom.

Taylon was such a good sport.

My personal favorite. Two of my favorite people. Yes, Smokey qualifies as a person. If you know him, you understand why.

He is such a sweetheart. Ashlee and I both showed Smokey and even though he has only been ours for a few years, I told her if there was one thing I regretted about my wedding, it was not getting some bridal pictures with him. Granted, I got married in December and it would have been very cold and very difficult, but I wish I had done it all the same. 

After such a CRAZY month. I am sooooo ready to go here next week:

Catalina Island

and here:

Baja, Mexico

and here:

Ensenada, Mexico

Even though Logan vows to he will have to work on our vacation because it is still his busy season and even though we aren't going very far for very long and even though I had to twist his arm to leave for a few days, I am really looking forward to getting back to here:

before all this chaos began.

The Great Outdoors Update

So, I really owe Logan an apology. I whined and complained about this poison oak rash of mine all week. He was gone to the Oregon State Fair for work and had told me his got worse, but on the day he came home I told him I was thinking about going to the doctor. He told me his was actually getting much better. So, when he got home (when I was taking a sick day from work because of this terrible irritating rash), he looked at my arms and told me how much better they looked. So, I asked to see his arms and he shows me this:

The picture doesn't show how terrible and blistered it really is. It looks like there are only four scratches, but doesn't account for the other side of his arm...and its all over both arms...and this is after it's "much better."

Sorry, Logan. It must have been an itchy week for you. Glad you are back for a few days though. 

The Great Outdoors

Before you decide to help your spouse and your co-worker prepare to build a fence by cutting down a few harmless trees, I would read the following stories and decide for yourself if the risks are worth it. As for me, I will think twice about it next time.

The Great Outdoors: Part One

I guess city life has made me a bit of a wimp. Normally spending a couple hours cutting down small oak trees wouldn't have been a big deal for me. However it would have been nice if my colleague had mentioned two simple words -- POISON OAK -- which he now admits his property is crawling with. Had I known, I may have worn long sleeves, or probably opted not to help at all. For those of you as unfamiliar with this devilish plant as I was, it is obnoxious to say the least. It itches like a mosquito bite times a million. Luckily, I am not suffering alone. Logan was a naive as I was about poison oak; for good reason -- neither of would have any idea about it because it simply doesn't grow in elevations over 4000 feet. He got it a little worse than I did.

This is a picture of my forearm and I hope you won't take this little red mark lightly...it is terrible. Two weeks after exposure, I am still not sure I will recover.

Below is the other arm, each day I keep waking up to more little welts that pack a mean itch. Awesome, they are pretty too.

The Great Outdoors: Part Two

Before you start thinking that the third member of the Ipsen family escaped the excitement, take a look at these little beauties. I found them on Reno today. They kind of turn my stomach. Oh, and no, California ticks don't come in hot pink, that is fingernail polish. I tried to suffocate the big tick out of Reno's neck...I wouldn't recommend that method of tick removal. I pulled them both out with tweezers. yuck.

poor little dog. If I had to choose between these two fence-building tragedies, I would pick the poison oak.

Isn't that sick.

Tan the Man

First of all, let me say I love love love my little (not so little) brother in-law. He is funny, charming and works really hard....he is a lot different than his brothers (just kidding, they all actually work really hard:) Tanner won showmanship with his steer at the Bear Lake County Fair and his steer was reserve grand champion. I'm really sad we couldn't go watch. I laughed for a long time when I got this thank you card in the mail today.

Have I mentioned I love Tanner. He is a stud. I think that is supposed to say fund...but maybe not...maybe he takes after his brothers afterall.

Beautiful Day by the Bay

So, today I spent the afternoon at the Oakland LDS Temple, where one of my favorite young families became a forever family. It was great to see how happy they all are. I hope to see them again soon. See for yourself. It was a beautiful day...

This is the view of the temple grounds from up on the temple terrace. 

This is  a view of Oakland and the San Francisco Bay from the temple.

I would love to post some of the adorable pictures of this lovely family, but it really isn't my news to share, so I will wait until they have their photos before I share them on my blog. Stay tuned...

I had the best day with...

This man. 

I am glad to see his sweet face again. It's been a while.