Chariots of Fire Cousins

There were other amazing things we got to experience as well. Lots of running and frolic, sea lions perched on the beach, and tar beach. Isn't this a cool bridge?

Carpenteria Beach

For me, this was my favorite day of this whole summer. We visited the Lanes overnight at the beach house they rented. We woke up and went to the beach at 8 ish for low tide. It was so foggy and cool and misty when we got there. It felt wonderful! We walked to the tide pools and found tons of crabs and other sea life. The kids found so many interesting shellfish, rocks, and sticks, all sorts of things they wanted to bring home. Aunt Liz brought a picnic basket and we filled it to the brim. Is that legal? Oh well, it was amazing! Magical! The wind, the smell, the fog, the beauty of the ocean and all Heavenly Father has to offer for our enjoyment. I always feel of his hand in the creation when I am at the beach.

The Annual Lake Webb Trip

Everyone really enjoyed themselves this year again. Grandpa always has the latest gadgets and this year's big hit was the three man. The kids loved it because they could be together and have fun with their cousins. Even Robin had fun. What a chunk!

Patriarchs at Zion National Park

"There is an eloquence to their forms which stirs the imagination with a singular power and kindles in the mind ... a glowing response ... Nothing can exceed the wondrous beauty of Zion ... in the nobility and beauty of the sculptures there is no comparison."

-- Clarence E. Dutton

Weeping Rock and Court of the Patriarchs

On the last morning Willie and Maddie got up early and took off to a couple more sites. Weeping rock was refreshing and cool and the Patriarchs are immense! The three mountains are named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Downhill

Gorgeous everywhere we went. The kids were amazing! Such troopers! It was a very long and streneous hike and over 110 degrees by the time we finished. It's a 5.5 mile roundtrip hike.All we could think about was jumping in the river. We finally did after we got back to camp and it felt amazing!

Refrigerator Canyon

I think this was my favorite area of this hike. Maybe because of the relief from the sun. Actually, it was because of the greenery found along the canyon. That greenery set against the red rock and the canyon carving its way through this mountain is simply spectacular. We found such cool formations and caves and coutouts. They were so fun to crawl into and relax.

Only for the Bravest!

We had decided we would only take the kids to the lookout. Willie really wanted to go to the top, to Angel's Landing, but I wasn't budging. When we got to the lookout, I looked at all the people continuing the ascent of the last half mile and my boys giving me puppy dog eyes and I thought, "it doesn't look too dangerous. So I decided to let them go. I later regretted it and prayed for them several times. When they got back an hour later, Zach said, "That was the best hike Ive ever been on in my life." He was so excited and proud of himself and so was Wes. We gave them the talk before the hike and told them, "No funny business, this is a hike to take seriously. Follow directions, stay on the trail, etc." The tree boys loved it. As far as the girls go, well, we decided to stay behind and take a break and enjoy all the chipmunks and the panorama.

Willie said it was pretty amazing up there! What a view! Now it's time to head back. Hot!!!

Zion's Hike

We never finished putting up our pictures of this day. On our way to Scout's Lookout we had some relief from the sun at Refrigerator Canyon. Walter's Wiggles is tha name of this insane ramp. Wow! Talk about workout! You can see me struggling there. Everywhere we turned the views were incredible!

Wilcox Family Christmas List 2010

This person buys for        this person

Liz                                           Sallie

Andrea                                   Jen

Sallie                                      Susanna

Jenny                                      Shelly

Shelly                                      Liz

Jen                                          Andrea

Susanna                                 Jenny

Willie                                       Ray

Brent                                       Mike

Ray                                         Q

David                                      Willie

Q                                             Rusty

Mike                                        Brent

Rusty                                       David

Andrew                                   Zach

Scott                                       Boyd

Claire                                      Wes

Warren                                   Kate

Robin                                      Maddie

Wes                                        Scott

Maddie                                   Robin

Zach                                        Garrett

Carina                                    Chase

Aiden                                      Alex

Aubrey                                    Emily

Chase                                     Claire

Emily                                       Carina

Kate                                        Hanalei

Sara                                        Andrew

Boyd                                       Aiden

Alex                                         Aubrey

Garrett                                    Sara

Hanalei                                   Warren

Source: Email from Sallie McArthur dated Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 6:46 AM

Back to School

We are in our second week of school. We have done well with time every day so far. It's getting pretty busy already. Wesley started early morning seminary yesterday. It starts at 5:50 am. After that he has time to come home for 40 minutes. Then we are off to school. This year we have three schools to take kids to. I feel so grateful to have worked out a carpool for Maddie. One of the moms we carpooled with last year has volunteered to take Maddie and bring her home every day. How lucky is that? Now I only have the high school and elementary school to go to every morning. It helps tons!

Wes is gone until 6:30pm because of Waterpolo practice. He made the J.V. team and is pretty excited. He is loving high school and has great teachers. He says they are so different than middle school teachers. They are so cool with the kids. He comes home so wiped out from practice. He says all he thinks about is food and sleep.
I'll post some first day of school pics later today.

Maddie is enjoying 7th grade and most of her teachers. Her Algebra teacher is comparable to Mrs Savage(Downey High) Know what I mean? Luckily, there is Mrs. Snell, her band teacher whom she adores. Maddie is playing the french horn again this year and is praying her teacher comes back from maternity leave.

Zachary is in 5th grade and has the awesomest, most sought after teacher in the school. I am so grateful. I have been praying for this. Hopefully she will inspire him and help him to like Math and English and prepare him for middle school. Zach is happy to have some friends in his class.

Carina is in 2nd grade and has a male teacher who is the nicest and most soft spoken man. I've heard tons of great things about him and kids say "he never yells" Love it! She has many friends from last year and is enjoying playing with her friends in the playground.

Blessings of the Gospel

I am so thankful to have the priesthood in our home. Last night Willie gave the kids their annual "beginning of the school year " blessings. I love to listen to all the wonderful and inspired words. This year seemed especially focused on spititual things more than temporal. I know that they have so many challenges that they face each day. But it is so reassuring to know that we can always turn to Heavenly Father for help. When we feel alone, when we are the only one standing up for our beliefs, for our standards, He will always comfort us. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so simple and so beautiful. We just have to do our part by giving it our best and the Lord will make up what we lack.

100 Things

 We have way too much STUFF!
 A few days ago Willie told me about an article he read about what makes people happy. The article spoke of a couple who sold their home and most of their belongings, including their cars, and now live in a 430 square foot apartment. Wow!! So cool!
I also read a blog called guynameddave.blogspot.com. He decided to start a "100 Things Challenge". He owns 100 things. These are his owns personal belongings. No shared items. His furniture, dishes, or other things he shares with his wife and kids don't count. Anyway, you should check it out. Very cool!

We have such an overabundance of "things" in this country. We are extremely blessed. We neglect to sit back and look around and realize how much we have. I am guilty myself. As most of you know we have really downsized since moving to California. We don't even own a home yet. Sometimes I wish a had more space or I miss my brand new fancy houses from Arizona, but the truth is, we don't need huge homes and more and more stuff to be happy. I still struggle with the fact that it is so expensive to live here, but overall our life is so good. We live close to grandparents and cousins, Willie has a stable job with a 12-minute commute(extremely rare in L.A.), our kids go to great schools and have made wonderful friends, and our ward building is one mile away. Pretty awesome!

I am now working on my "100 Things." It's not easy because I have many hobbies and like everyone else, I have lots of "stuff." The last few days I have filled up two laundry containers full of my clothes and I am getting rid of most of my scrapbookking supplies. I never thought that day would come, but the digital age has taken over. I blog way more than I scrapbook.

 Like Dave says, this is about "stopping the habit of unnecessarily buying things that inevitably caused me to be stuck in stuff." I will break free of this American-style consumerism!

I challenge you to declutter your homes. It's such a good feeling! I still have everything that I need and can see the floor in my closet.