Palm Desert timeshare!

* (Really quick though...) I'M ALMOST 100% CAUGHT UP ON PRINTING FAMILY PHOTOS! This is the biggest deal in the history of mankind. Right before leaving for the Palm Desert timeshare, I swung through Walgreens to pick up the rest of 2014 - I KNOW, I'M FREAKING OUT, I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS DAY HAS COME. So now I just have the last two albums to print up from 2015, one of which I'm still adding to: Beginning of 2015 and End of 2015. IT.IS.A.MIRACLE. Then maybe 2016 will be the start of Shutterfly books? THE OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS.

* But anyhoo, I've hooked up the computer for the day to have a broader access to the world wide internets than just my phone's screen. Eventually we'll permanently hook this big beast up, but only whenever we've found the perfect spot. I really think we are going to have an electrician come out and wire an outlet into one of the closets, then we'll set up a mini desk/office space behind closed doors. There is just no space for a computer! Of course we could just bear through the ugliness and place it in our bedroom, but I feel like I'm done with the days of forcing something ugly and trying to be okay with it. Done with it, I say! If I'm not obsessed with the way something looks in our house, it's not flying. So yes! Glad to have come to that conclusion in life! It shall save me lots of convincing of my own self in the future! Woo! But first post of the day... I just may hit up the ol' blog more than once on this glorious cold November 2nd, the Palm Desert timeshare!!

Ain't nothin' better in the world than those timeshare weeks. After learning from the Newport week of this year, we decided against enjoying the wonderfulness in the beginning of the allotted time, opting instead for Carter missing school on Friday (versus Monday. Newport timeshare screwed up our lives for a short time!). So after we picked up Kota from school at 4:15 Thursday afternoon, we took off!

 ^^^She was so excited to be with Grandpa that she stripped down and started rolling on the floor with her blankies while screaming "YES! YES! YES!" Just normal Kota stuff.

 ^^^Give them all the chocolate.

 ^^^This is how she rolls when watching TV. In fact, she's doing it right now watching Sofia the First.

 ^^^It was so fun being in the desert Halloween weekend!

 ^^^She has perfected the art of completely ignoring me whenever the words "smile for me!" come out of my mouth.

 ^^^P carving on Friday night!

 ^^^Traditional "Chad's cooking at the timeshare" picture.

 ^^^People. Since I've been printing up 40,000,000 pictures of 2006-2014, I've realized the importance of getting some good old fashioned "posed" pictures with family members. Candidness is a great thing, but telling the kids to go sit next to Grandpa and take a picture really equates to a big deal in the long run. Example: I have a few pictures of Chad's grandma and I'm so glad that those were taken! I didn't know her long enough to be particularly close with her, but those pictures are invaluable to say, Ernie! There really is value there!

Thursday night Maggie, Justin and doggy Maya came for dinner and fun. Friday OH MY GOSH. Chad and the FIL took the kids put put golfing, so I went to READ BY THE POOL. I know... After chillin' there for awhile, I decided to move my reading party to the patio of the room. Then I realized I was going on 2.5 hours of alone time and was rarin' to do something, so I briefly debated taking the Zumba class that was going to start in 15 minutes. Then rationalized myself OUT of working up a sweat by telling myself "eh, better not start working out today. You don't want to be sore for Halloween, afterall." Totally logical, if you ask me. Then the kids, Chad and FIL came back and we all headed to the big pool for family fun. Cannon balls were executed by all, so I would say it was a success. Next Maggie and Justin came back over, books were read to the kids, pumpkins were carved and all was merry! Saturday morning we packed up and headed out to our second destination: the SIL and BIL's house!

This trip was great. I just love the desert, thanks to this timeshare. Newport is fab, of course, but the desert makes me think of GREAT food, GREAT sleep and lots of pool fun. It's just so relaxing! Anyhoo, we left on Saturday morning (Halloween day!) and went to Auntie Maggie and Uncle Justin's house for H Day festivities, trick or treating and to continue the fun! It was so wonderful!!!! Fo sho doing the H Day post a little later because recordation is the best! (New favorite word: recordation.)

Our children SHALL flip through photos of their childhood!

I've been saying for YEARS that I need to get my act together in regards to this whole physical-proof-of-photos-beyond-the-jpeg thing. From the shocked look on my mother's face when I said, "I literally have not printed out one single picture of Dakota's entire life," to my feelings of overwhelmedness when pondering the THOUSANDS of pics backed up on our external hard drive, it became clear that something needed to be done. Action needed to be taken! It's all good in the hood that we, as an entire generation, are extensively computer savvy with pictures, therefore saving everything in folders and on external hard drives, but what happens when your kids want to look back on when they were 5 years old? Are they going to log into the family Shutterfly account or something so they can click through their little lives? (Actually that isn't such a bad idea....) No! That is not what I want for them. I really enjoy flipping through the several photo albums my parents made of us three Paplia children when we are at their house, so the same must happen for our babies.

First thing was first. I knew that if I made the process of actually printing out the pictures even the least bit complicated, it simply was not going to happen (read: aforementioned ZERO pictures of Kota's life - she is almost 4!). For example, I've always heard that Costco has the best prints around, but our closest Costco is 15 minutes away. There ain't no way mama's driving that far for what was bound to be several trips of picture-picking-upping. Nope! The closest printer to us is Walgreens, so that's where I've been going. Also, I would ideally like to get everything in matte, but there's some weird thing with going that route. It's either more expensive or is only available via home delivery. Not going to happen. I just needed to be able to swing through Walgreens swiftly to retrieve my cheap prints given the massive amount I planned on developing.

I started with our external hard drive since it has the furthest-back recording. The only problem was that when we started our bedroom re-do, we disconnected the computer and hadn't plugged the whole thing back in because we weren't sure where we wanted to put it, which meant no ordering the selected prints from home. So I just took the darn external hard drive into the store to plug it into the kiosk. I found out that there were 8,342 pictures on there. EIGHT THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED FORTY TWO. And hey, here was one sign I had waited too long to do this: the kiosk would only allow me to download the most recent 5,000, which landed me somewhere in 2010-the end of 2013. OMG. So I started chugging along that way, printing out about 45 at a time from the kiosk.

Once I started nearing the carefully-selected end of my 5,000 pictures (2010-2013), I asked if Chad could hook up the computer somewhere in the house so I could get organized with the remaining almost 4,000 on the hard drive (2009-2010, marriage, wedding and Carter's birth years), and then upload the recent photo albums still saved on our computer (2014-present), and then go through all of our cell phone pictures and FB pictures. ORGANIZATIONAL NIGHTMARE (or dream, once I got going ;). So I went through the thousands of day-to-day cell phone pics of both mine and Chad's phones, categorizing them in 6 months increments from 2012-present. (I'm out of breath just typing this insanity out!) Then I went through our FB albums and tagged photos and uploaded the pics print-worthy enough to their respective albums (Beginning of 2009, End of 2009, Beginning of 2010, End of 2010...... THE MADNESS!). Finally, after a weekend of uploading to the Walgreens photo page, ALL HAS BEEN ORGANIZED! Now I just need to print everything out in batches and add those to the already printed-out-from-external-hard-drive stuff. I just sent 2006-2008's to the printer, thanks to FB's records, so I'll pick those up tomorrow. Next I'll carry on with the several 2009 albums, supplement the already large amount of 2010's printed out, then go on with 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. But wait! Once I get the 2006-2008's back, I'm going to order a nice, good old fashioned 4x6 slip photo album. Nothing flashy, just a nice way to go through pictures. Every time an album fills up, I'll get another matching one and continue on with my prints until all has been printed and slipped into their new homes within the albums.

In regards to 2015, I may switch over to the photo book route. There was just NO WAY I could rake through all the pictures saved over all the years to construct a nice, modern photo book, hence the simple 4x6 printing and old school album choice. But maybe going forward, since hopefully the photo beast will be a bit more tamed around here, I'll feel good about one swift order of a nice, aesthetically pleasing photo book.

Oh! Before I even think of permanently PHYSICALLY recording 2015 within the walls of this here house, our wedding album MUST be ordered. I know - gouge my eyeballs out. It's DISGUSTING THAT THAT THING HAS NOT BEEN ORDERED!!!!! PUKE ALL OVER THE SITUATION! So yes, that needs to happen first.

AND THEN.... there are the hundreds of cell phone videos that need to be dubbed into DVD's. THIS WILL TAKE FOREVER. But hey! I'm just so happy I started now. Can you imagine if this was started a mere 6 months from now??? In that case, I would have at least a thousand more pictures to rake through. THANK. GOODNESS. FOR. ORGANIZATION.

Phew!

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And really quick, because this was so gosh darn cool:


I really enjoyed looking at our lives over the last few years. I mean, duh, this is one human who enjoys documentation (blog over-thinker right here!), but it was very precious. I always had this idea that our furniture, decor and general way of moving everywhere really sucked. Not like our lives sucked by any stretch of the imagination, but like we were always flying by the seat of our pants - "this is cheap! Let's buy it! Who cares if it's ugly!" "Let's move because our rent increased by $75!" (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but you know).  But looking back, hey man! We had it great! Oh my gosh, thank goodness for the several Craigslist sellers who corresponded with us and sold to two newlyweds cheaply! Thank the good Lord for a roof over our heads - in expensive Orange County to boot! Thank you Jesus for how naive we were back in the day! Thank you, universe, for young, smiling parents and a happy toddler when it was just Carter, Chad and I! Thank you to our parents who helped us paint Carter's first room the darkest blue ever that should never have graced an apartment's walls! Thank you, hideous iPhone light, for allowing me to snap 10,000 pictures of Carter and Kota falling asleep right next to each other! Holy crap! What a life!!!!!!! It is DEFINITELY worth printing :) :) :) :)

Awesome thoughts

Well, how about this? My insane defense of anything Duggar related has lost it's intensity by 1/21th (21st?). I even defended him after that initial molestation scandal! "Hey guys, he was a young guy going through puberty. He just was interested in girls! He's said he's sorry, okay? BACK OFF OF JOSH!" Hahaha. But no, this guy needs help. The whole thing is scary! He's a legitimate psychopath. Maaaaaaaybe, just maybe, if his whole life wasn't centered around morality and the promotion of family life, it wouldn't be so deeply freaky. But to spend day and night saying you're one person and not giving off any clue that you have such demons????! Truly scary! Poor Anna! I wonder what she will do. Honestly, I wouldn't want this guy around my daughter. He can't control himself! Literally!

People, 105 degree weather. It's not okay. It's just not. So this last weekend I had a family friend's bridal shower, so the kiddos and I took off for OC around 9:30 in the morning, leaving Snow and the little white fur ball we're pet sitting at home in their respective crates. I didn't give Roony (Kota's Princess Pet) any water because my logic was like, "hey, Snow doesn't get water, so you'll be fine." About half way through the shower, I was thinking how nice the breeze felt there in the Covenant Hills community we were in. "Ahhh, this is nice. Too bad Corona is the devil's arm pit right now." And then it struck me: I hadn't left the air on for the dogs. If it was just Snow at home, I would know he was okay being the solid beast that he is, but we had ROONY THERE! He is the smallest, flimsiest dog I've ever come across! Oh my gosh, the seed was planted in my head: the dog will be dead when I get home. I may as well have left that little thing in a burning car. WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO?! I immediately texted Chad, "I forgot to leave the air on for the dogs! I forgot to leave the air on for the dogs! Do you think it's okay? Oh my goodness gracious!" He said it was all good, but I was still very stressed. Finally I came to the conclusion that people leave their dogs at home everyday while working 8+ hours, but still, it was very traumatizing. Once we arrived home, I sprinted from the car, leaving it on with the sleeping babes in their seats, swung open the door and THANK THE GOOD LORD, heard Roony's high pitched bark. My gosh!

^^^Carter, chowing down with his "king's spoon and bowl." Anyway, the Newport timeshare getaway screwed with all of our heads. Yes it was amazing, but I really don't know if we can do that again next year. I think one night max needs to be our cap. We certainly can't miss school and sports like we did this year. Not only did I FORGET about this mini test thing Carter had that Tuesday, I somehow missed a very important email from Carter's teacher! Talk about feeling incompetent! With the missing of sports, both Carter and Kota are like balloons that have been blown up excessively. Each one is a second away from snapping. Energy needs to be constructively run out! I know the heat has something to do with this, as we haven't left home in fear of the high temps coming into contact with our actual skin, but the "woohoo-ness" of that trip went too far!

 ^^^But it was still very awesome.

 I can't wait to do our master bedroom, I can't wait to do our master bedroom, falalalalalala!

 Okay, Kota does not want it to be quiet time anymore. Sofia the First is no longer holding her attention.

But here's a fun fact! I'm the official assistant room mom for Carter's class! I'm so excited, containment is necessary. It's so darn cool too because the room mom is this chick who I totally clicked with! Sooooooooo excited!

 I shall go switch the laundry now. The theme of this week is "normalcy." Nothing weird. No out of town trips (ever again during the school year), no forgetting about mini tests, no postponing the house work. Me likey normalcy.

^^^Isn't this mask hilarious? I'm not kidding, it looked so bizarre when Carter was walking around the house. Oh, my little super hero!

Newport Beach timeshare week

These in-law's of mine, they really know how to family-time-it-up. When Chad was 1 or 2 years old, they got themselves a nice little week at the Marriott in Palm Desert where they would be forced to chill out each year together. Then, much later on, they got another one in Newport Beach for it's point value around the world. I'm tellin' ya, best decisions those 'laws ever made... for me! Hahahahohoho.

No but really. We love the timeshare weeks. The four of us only go for a few nights while they stay from Saturday to Saturday each time, but those couple of days are magical! Great meals, hot weather, bathing suits for days, sun screen, fabulous views... those are just a few of my favorite things.

This year the four of us were reeeeeeeal determined to turn our Saturday night to Monday evening into the best, most amazing beach trip of all time, probably due to the increased shore obsession around here. So for Saturday, the sister and I made plans to hang for the day at a beach in Newport, then when they left we would head over to the 'share for night 1's festivities. We all arrived at 20th St, took a dip in the water while going nuts watching 5 kids between the 4 parents, then Chad left to help his daddy-o set everything up at "home." Shortly after he left, the Fitch's had to go, so it was just me and the kiddos! I'll tell you what: Carter is shaping up to be the creature from the black lagoon given his deep commitment to stay in the water at all costs. I couldn't get him out! I had to settle for standing knee deep to keep an eye on Kota and be within yelling distance of him lest a boogie boarder came rompin' toward his head. It turned out to be 2.5 hours of solo time with the kids, which was equal parts beautiful and draining.

Anyhoo! Once Chad came to get us, we were off to timeshare amazingness! This year I really stretched my legs and unpacked my little ol' suitcase - really going for it, ya know (I'm now totally hooked on doing that. Why crouch over a suitcase mixed with your own clothes, possibly your hubby's or your kids'?? I loved my own dresser for our few days! Oh, the discoveries). So night 1 saw lots of aloe (but hey-o for preventative aloe measures! No one had burned!), the lasagna I had made and frozen a few days prior, and fun drinking games once the littles went to sleep.

Sunday was Crystal Cove beach time where Chad and I snuck away for a quick brewskie at The Beachcomber thanks to the FIL and Sonja's offering of their childcare skills, and then it was off to the pool. Chad handled the babes as he does and I boiled in the ridiculously hot spa. It was amaze balls.

Monday, our final day, came around. We went straight to the pool because the beach just seemed too much after 2 all day trips. Auntie Maggie joined us and the whole thing was fab. I had this nagging thought in my head that we were either going to need to leave Newport at 1:00 to avoid traffic, or wait until 7:30. Both thoughts sounded horrendous. Getting home around 2 pm made the rest of the day seem laborious, but getting home around 8:30 just seemed like it was going to be the pits. So I flippantly said, "I wish we were staying the night tonight," which Chad picked up and ran with: "IF CLAUDIA CAN WATCH SNOW TONIGHT LET'S DO IT. WE WILL LEAVE AT 6 IN THE MORNING TOMORROW!!!!!!"

I spent an hour trying to make myself feel better about arriving home from a mini vaca the MORNING of Kota's first day of preschool, but eventually gave in to the more relaxing idea of just straight chillin, yo. The logic used was that even if we left on Monday night, the kids were still going to be exhausted on Tuesday, so why not just stay another few hours, get them to bed early (HA!) and heave-ho in the am?! I might even have gotten lucky and would have been able to get Kota down for a nap before first-day-of-school go time (BAHAHA!). So it was decided!

Chad went to his hockey game that night, leaving Sonja and I to relax. I experienced my first viewing of The Bachelor Paradise that night and wrestled the youngin's into crying, very sad sleeps (DADDY! DADDY! I MISS SNOW! I MISS MY BED! IS OUR HOUSE STILL THERE! I WANT TO STAY WITH GRANDPA FOR THE WHOLE 7 DAYS! WHY DO WE NEED TO GO HOME! I MISS HOME! I WANT TO STAY HERE! I MISS HOME!). It was all very dramatic. Finally they slept, and I followed shortly. At that point my brain had stopped working due to extreme sun exposure and awesomeness - there was no way game playin' and cocktail drinkin' was happening. So off we left for Corona at 6 in the am Tuesday morning and it worked out. Everyone made it to school in good spirits and I totally went into beast mode - laundry was done, house was cleaned, meals were made. It was awesome!

Now we just can't wait for the Palm Desert 'share, my favorite ever. Oh, family time! Nothing beats it!