My Christmas Eve Date

God was so good to me. I had been thinking that the last 3 Christmas's I'd spent time in Arizona and this year I wasn't. So I was just under the mindset that I needed some new memories especially some memories for this Christmas because of last Christmas. And look what happened? What are the odds? I can't give details, they aren't mine to give. But for all of Christmas Eve I had this precious baby to snuggle with and love and take care of. I know it was a gift from the Lord and that He was totally aware of my heart and mind and was so gracious in allowing me this amazing memory.

We Are Nearly Famous

Me and Nate. This is not the only song in our repertoire. And Ashley.. mad filming skills at work. And if anyone can find the pickle hidden in the tree ... you get a present.

Morgan

This is our new baby. We've had her for a few weeks now. Got her at the Pasadena Animal Shelter (which is an amazing shelter). She is a German Shepherd mix. Generally we would say she is black but in reality she is extremely dark brown. She has a brown eye and a blue eye. She's got the German Shepherd ears but she has short legs. She's 1. We love her. She has been so fun to have around and already makes us laugh so much.

ok

so i was eating a banana the other day and you know how you go to pull the last bit of banana off the seed at the bottom of the peel? well i pulled the banana off and look how HUGE the seed was! i thought it was the sickest thing!!














because i thought it would be good to grasp the full measure.. here it is with a quarter.

Happy Halloween

I've Crossed Over

Into the Land of Old Ladydom.

Yesterday I went with Susan Coudsy to Magic Mountain. Their family got passes this year and Susan wanted to take a day (use a free friend pass) for her and I to go together... just the two of us. We got to the park, (it's all decked out with spider webs and such - looks cool), took a picture with my boyfriend Batman, and proceeded to ride roller coasters. The park was empty, there were no lines. We rode Viper, Superman (2 times in a row), Scream (2 times in a row), Riddlers, Circus Wheel, Scrambler, Tatsu, etc etc. Now here is the old lady part:

I love roller coasters, I love spinny rides. They never really affect me. Yesterday was different. There are so many HUGE coasters there now, they are bigger and better and that equals a lot more force. Well. Almost every single roller coaster - due to the force of the ride - like going through a loop backwards and upside down - made me black out (NOT to be confused with pass out). Due to the consistent blacking out, my stomach got nauseous. So with Susan getting nauseous from the spinny rides and me getting nauseous from the force of the rides.. we had to stop and sit in a restaurant for like an hour to calm our stomachs down. I couldn't believe it. But what I also realized was.. there is definitely a grace period that you give your body as you wait in those lines. The lines are a good thing. They let you recover a bit before being flung around. So I learned that next time I go to a theme park and there are lines.. I will not complain because they are beneficial to me.. at least now that I'm an old lady.

'If you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it right.'

My Uncle Jim visited from Arizona this weekend. Last night we all had dinner together at my grandparents. When dinner was over and the kitchen cleaned up my Grandpa, Uncle Jim, Dad and myself headed out to the back porch so Uncle J and Gpa could smoke their pipes. A nightly ritual for my Uncle. It was a neat time. My Grandpa began reflecting on stories from when he was in the military. Sounds like some good times, tough times, and funny times.

A Non-Military Story My Grandpa Shared:
When he was a youngster, the next door neighbors had a grape arbor on their property. Grandpa said he would go over to that arbor and pluck off the drying grape leaves. He kept a tin in his pocket and as he picked those leaves he would crumble them into the tin. He also kept some pieces of toilet paper and some matches and he would make little cigarettes. He kept his stock amidst a shelf of other tins. One day his Mother and Father discovered it. When grandpa got home from school his dad called him into his bedroom, showed him the tin and asked what it was? Grandpa said he played the idiot on it; "I have no idea?!" He said his dad then said, "Well if you're gonna do it, you're gonna do it right." He had my grandpa roll a cigarette and light it up and smoke it. Grandpa said he took fast little puffs and soon it was gone. His dad told him, "No, that's not the way you do it." And made him slowly smoke the cigarette. Grandpa said it cured him til he was out of high school.

My super cute new jacket.. last night I titled it my smoking jacket:

J n K

Friday, October 26, my brother graduated from Universal Technical Institute. So proud of him. He was part of a 13 month program where he was certified in a bunch of vehicle related things (smog, air conditioning etc) and learn how to be a person who works on cars, I supposed that would be a mechanic. He learned allllllllllllllll about engines and how to fix them, he workd on hot rods.. and did bunches of different things.

He graduated with perfect attendance which is a big deal at that school and looks great on his resume. Perfect attendance when class starts at 5:45am - 5 days a week - 13 months straight PLUS coming back from every single break and lunch on time. Go Jeremy! He had an interview/meeting with Power Ford on Monday and also a meeting at Honda. He was offered jobs by both places. This is such a huge thing for my brother and Kim. Jerm loves cars and working on them and I'm excited that he will be able to make a career out of it.

In other news, I've not announced that Kim is pregnant again. She is due on May 28. They say at this point they don't plan to find out the sex, but they also admit that decision could change. No matter.. this will be so fun.

Jerm and Kim will now be moving back from Rancho Cucamonga. I'm excited about that. I like having them close by. So pray for them as Jerm decides where to land his feet - which dealership to choose for employment. Also pray for them to find a place to live. Affordable and big enough to bring a baby home to.

Take A Lookity Look

Stumbled across this.

It's satellite pics from when some of the fires started. The first pic was taken by a satellite then a second satellite passed by 2 hours later and took another pic and there was HUGE increase.. its kinda visualizes just how fast the fires took off.

This website is pretty cool. It lets you see satellite pics of all natural disasters worldwide.

what IS this?

what in the world is going on here? there has been so much going on in santa clarita that is just out of anyones control.

3 weeks ago there was a huge traffic jam on the freeways when a big rig spilled his entire trailer of watermelons at the 5 and 118 merge. 50,000 pounds of watermelons i heard.. all over the lanes.. i didn't know about that accident til i was already on my way.. i had to go from here to pacoima... normally takes me a half hour.. took me nearly 2 hours to get there..

then that saturday.. i give violin lessons every saturday in sylmar.. at 7am my mom comes in my room and said the 5 is closed.. and i said AGAIN? what is going on with the freeways? turns out that was the 15 big rig pile up inside the 5 and 14 truck tunnel that trapped some rigs inside in a huge fire.. closed the freeway for days.. and backed up traffic like none other.. took me an hour to get to the lessons where it normally takes 30 minutes.

now the winds are gusting like crazy.. and there are fires everywhere.. yesterday placerita canyon was under voluntary evacuation during 3rd service because there was a fire at the oil rig right at the opening of placerita canyone. there are fires in castaic, san francisquito canyon, canyon country, the one in placerita is out, there are 2 in agua dulce, and others in southern california. the smoke was so thick yesterday it was like dusk at 2:30 in the afternoon. the ash was blowing in the wind making it nearly impossible to be outside.

in light of all the fires.. church last night was amazing. there were 10 baptisms.. it so so amazing to me when there are that many testimonies.. to hear how each person was saved.. and they all share the scriptures that stuck out to them and helped guide them and it just made me love God's word so much more. it is fitting for every person. it speaks just what needs to be said. it convicts and it shapes and helps. we had a time of prayer, like usual, but prayed for the people in our church especially who were evacuated from their homes. many many many were evacuated. when church ended we heard the fire was in the backyard of a fellow church member. haven't been able to talk to him to hear how he and his house are.

so santa clarita has been quite a mess lately. between all the freeway accidents with the big rigs.. and now these fires..

we are safe. trying to be helpful to those who need it. we've made many phone calls to let people know they are welcome here if they need a place. but for now i'm just sitting back and thinking.. this is crazy.

Eat Fresh

I laughed so hard.

courtesy: rhett and link

2 Years

2 years ago at this exact time I was in the middle of my wedding ceremony.

ow my heart.

Ceasing Chaos with Compromise

To fellow Pibb Xtra and Dr. Pepper drinkers I offer this picture as a solution that the world is just fine, and all the more happy when Pibb Xtra and Dr Pepper come together in harmony. I submit that it is possible for the two to be in close proximity to each other and no great disaster occurs. As far as I can see the only thing separating us is Fanta Orange.

I took this picture in Carpenteria when I was visiting Shannon and her family while they were on vacation. It was in a local liquor store.

Pibb is Far Superior

My friend Josh sent me this link. Pibb Xtra .
There are some pretty cool facts and now I love Pibb even more.
Sorry David, Pibb is far superior.

I..

-I ate hemp cereal for breakfast and it was delicious! It is from Trader Joe's and the flavor is not something I can describe. I just know that I enjoyed it and will eat it again tomorrow for breakfast and when it runs out, I will buy more. I've heard that hemp is good for you. And the box explains how hemp and marijuana are two seperate things.
-I turned 24 a week and 1 day ago. Spent the day in Bakersfield. Yes, it was hot. I had been craving the Coconut Cream Pie shake that Sonic's has to offer and the closest one is in Bakersfield. So Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma and I drove on up to Bakersfield. We also stumbled upon an amazing store. Probably more amazing to me than to the rest of my family since I love thrift stores. It was a Consignment and Antiques and Thrift store. We walked in the front and there were some racks of clothes and some shelves of odds and ends and jewelry. In the back I could see there were some dishes so I wandered back there and when I got there, there were more rooms off to the right. So I entered them and browsed only to find that they led into more rooms. So I went in only to find that they led to a huge ramp down where there were a bajillion more rooms. It was the most awesome place! It had been a huge building all converted into one store. They had tons of props from the Flinstones movies. Tons and tons of furniture, a room filled with wedding dresses, another room filled with formal dresses, there were quilts, tons of dishes, a most awesome 1950's vintage table etc etc. At one point I was standing in some sort of vault.. perhaps an old bank vault. It was so rad. Then we went to Dewar's. It's a famous old soda fountain/candy place. They are known for their peanut taffy chews. It's just a simple white taffy on the outside and then inside is a crushed peanut mixture. It's kinda dry - very peanutty - and salty. The perfect combination of salt and sweet and oh so addicting.
-I spent labor day in long beach with great friends. drove down to help drop off lyndsey as she moves there to work in the youth group at bethel grace. It's been an interesting few months in meeting lots of new friends and the more we meet the more we all see that we are intertwined. I'll have to write more about that at a later time because it's been a very neat thing and for sure because God is working. So Lyndsey moved and Susan, David and I went down for the day. We hung out with Donovan and Heather and a bit with Mallory and Jinger and another awesome family who have 9 kids (7 girls, 2 boys) and a dog that just had puppies. The houses there that I experienced had no air so we opted to hang out in a coffee shop and then chipotle for dinner.
-I love volunteering at CHF. There will be a job opening up there in a few months. I don't know if I am capable of it, but I would love to have it. I love CHF. I love that they work with the local church worldwide. I love that the gospel goes out with everything they send. They have volunteer opportunities on Wed and Sat. Since I give lessons on Saturdays that leaves Wednesdays for me. So I go from 9-12. Sweat a lot. Then go get lunch with David and Jon. I'm having fun there though because in the weeks I've volunteered I've done lots of different jobs inside the warehouse and I'm beginning to get a feel of what goes on there. I'm trying to establish relationships with the people there and become a familiar face.
-I have a dumb cell phone. I silenced it for church on Sunday and when I went to adjust the volume back up it wouldn't let me. Instead it just restarted the cell phone. I've tried many times to get the volume back up and every single time it just restarts my phone. So if you call me, don't expect me to answer because the phone doesnt ring.
-I have to get a smog check on my car. Since the Honda is a '91 every other year before I can send in the registration I have to get it smogged. Boring.
-I have sweated everyday for the last 2 weeks - or however long this heat wave has gone on. It seriously has not been under 110. Hot.

Introducing The Speedo Man

Went to the Santa Monica Beach.. and there was a lovely sight to behold. This guy was wearing a string bikini bottom.. navy and white stripes with a HUGE fanny pack.. He did this slow motion run in the sand up by us.. then went down and did the slow mo' running by the water. It was so disgusting and so hilarious.

Out at the Ol' Ball Game

So I finally remembered to take my camera with me somewhere so now I can post about something and have pictures to go with it (though I've been so out of the habit that I didn't take a ton of pics, but I'll work with what I have).

Placerita had a church night at a minor league game last night. The Lancaster Jethawks vs. the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. It was bring your dog night and also dollar hot dog night. The Hawks lost. The game moved slow, but hanging out with everyone was fun.



Here are Shannon and I. Love her. Pregame.



Uncle Kelly and Susan being cute.



Mikayla stepped in the empty nacho thing.








Aubrey eating cracker jacks.
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Paul learning how to shell a peanut:




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Mikayla got bit by a dog - check out her finger.



Anna and Clara




Shannon and I postgame.



The game was fun. They had a lot of involvement with the audience. There were people there who had cowbells and the Will Ferrell cowbell SNL clip would be played on the big screen. SO funny. Their mascot would race the children around the bases, and danced to Sweet Caroline, they had John Augusta hit a ball over a banner and he won free tickets, George and Luella Howe got moved to "The Best Seats in the House." The mascot shot Tshirts into the crowd. Good times.

Me and Shannon

I Miss My Kitty Cat

She is just the COOLEST cat ever.