Oregon Coast

In July, I fulfilled a bucket list item in my life. I decided to pack up my kids (left Anna at home with Nate) and take Grandma EE to the Oregon Coast. It was magical. It was beautiful. It was absolutely amazing. I'm so glad that I didn't make excuses and that we made it happen. There were a few times where I thought to myself, how am I going all the way to Oregon, with 4 kids and an 80 year old Grandma? I'm blessed with little to no fear about traveling without a husband. I guess I have my Grandma to look to who teaches me how to be independent and follow through on making things happen in my life. I'm beyond grateful for a supportive husband who encourages me to follow my heart. Memories for a lifetime over those few days. 

My new calling

A few weeks ago our ward split. I knew this split was coming and I was so sad about it. I've had many moments recently where I had thought about how much I just love this ward and how many great people are in it. Problem is, when there are so many great people, that's always when the rug gets ripped out from under you. New ward boundaries were put into place and then I got the Sunday night phone call. "Sister Starnes, can you please meet with the Bishopric this Tuesday night, please bring your husband." Crap! I knew this meant it had to be a big calling.
The new Bishop (Bishop Godfrey) extended me the call to be the new Primary President. He told me after much prayer, he and his counselors had felt peace and no more stupor of thought when my name came up. When they asked me to read through the responsibilities of a Primary President I couldn't help but laugh through my tears because I had already read through them that morning.
So, the past few weeks have been spent with my counselors trying to fill the various teaching callings/scout callings/activity day callings in the ward. It has been rewarding, incredibly frustrating, and very time consuming.
I feel a lot of Satan around me as of late. I feel him telling me that I'm not good enough for this calling. He fills my mind with doubt, and fear, anxiety, and stress. I'm working through it. I knew where these feelings and emotions come from and all I can do is the best that I can. I'm grateful that this calling will require me to step up my spiritual game. I know that I need to be better. I know that I can be better. I'm grateful for peace and inspiration and guidance when I need it.

Aquarium

Right before we hit the long road home, we decided to take the morning and head up to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was SO much fun....and so hard to leave the sun and warm weather behind us! We loved seeing all of the animals and feeding the birds was a huge hit! 

Afterwords, we walked out to the ocean and took a look at the Queen Victoria. We were the only ones out enjoying the day. It was so incredibly beautiful. I just loved being with my own little family. 

The Duffy

As we rolled into CA our plans of chilling on the beach were being washed away literally as we drove through torrential downpour from Vegas to the ocean. This was the only day we were going to be able to hang out with James and Sierra so I was quickly trying to come up with a plan B. I got online and found a little boat rental place. We squeezed into the last tour of the day and we called Kelsey and Logan to come and meet up with us. It was literally such a blast. We rocked out to Johnny Cash as we cruised around Newport at a cool 5mph. It was so much fun to look at all of the huge yachts and multi million dollar houses. It was fun for all ages which was a huge plus as well. SO SO glad we went. Oh, and our boat was named.....The CODfather! Haha. 

Back to Disney! Day 3!

Day 3 we were hoping to do some park hopping and do our favorite rides at each park. It blew up though due to the fact that we weren't allowed to do a Magic Morning in CA Adventure because we weren't staying at the park. It all ended up working out in our favor though and we ended up getting about $40 refunded to us per ticket. No one was disappointed when we got to stay at Disneyland instead for the whole day. It was fun also because Seebs got to come and play with us for the whole day. 

Churros!!! O so yummy!!!!

Anna was a little bit scared of Tink!

 My very first Dole Pineapple Whip! I needed it after the stress of accidentally leaving Nate's backpack on the train with EVERYTHING he owns in it! Oops.

 Waiting for the parade! Yay!

 2 little cousins watching the parade with their animal backpack leashes on. Haha. They were so stinking cute together!

California Adventure! Day two!

I sincerely love Disneyland but man, every time we go to CA Adventure, I question my devotion to regular old Disneyland. It is SO much fun. I guess I just love them both.

Disneyland! Day one!

Needless to say, I have dropped the ball with blogging any and all events for the past 2 months. I thought I would take some time today and play a little catch up with life. I really don't want to get behind as I really love recording events going on in our family.

Let's throw it back to January. Because Logan and Kelsey are moving this summer they really wanted to take Kye to Disneyland and wanted us to come with them. We ended up renting the BEST house ever (and will from this point forward). It had a pool, 2 master bedrooms, a nice updated kitchen and it was SO nice to go back to a house instead of a hotel room every night. I knew I really wanted to do Disney this year because Anna was finally catching on with all of the princess stuff. Grandma and Grandpa Ric came with us too which was wonderful. It was nice for my kids to get some good one on one with their Grandparents. A rare treat!

From our house we could see the fireworks! Awesome!

Day one was Disneyland. We did the Character breakfast and loved the fact that lines were short and weather was exceptional!

Sun up to sun down Disneyland. I love this place. It really does make me SO happy!