Crazy Thunder & Lightning Storm on October 29th, 2007

Bakersfield had one of the coolest lightning storms just two days before Halloween and it came with everything from huge car-denting sized hail to down pours and 60 mph wind gusts. The radio even came out with there emergency warning for fear of cloud-to-ground lightning, advising people to stay indoors and away from windows! Now, where was I when this warning is being broadcast...oh yes, on the way to the dog park on one of the only days that week I'd left work before dark. I could see that the storm was clearly over the northwest side of town and up above the dog park appeared to be blue skies so I rebelliously ignored the warning (of-course I called mom to let her know where I was in case all hell really broke loose!). It ended up to be one of the most enjoyable days at the dog park because all the "regulars" were there so I had friendly faces to talk to, but better yet I got to watch the storm from afar and just listen to the non-stop roaring of thunder...seriously, it sounded like a starving belly growling insatiably! Once it got dark we headed home and then I sat out on the back porch with my camera listening to the rain and thunder while trying to capture the incredible lightning in a snap-shot! Sadly, I have yet to read the entire book that came with my camera so rather than using it's national geographic open shutter technique (which I'm sure it can do if only I knew how to find such a function) I, instead had to use the routine point and click method. This was actually quite challenging because you almost have to click the button before you see the lightning otherwise you'll miss it. After a little over an hour I had one prize winning shot and a few mediocre ones and by this point I was cold and a bit stiff from trying to hold completely still while anticipating lightning strikes...anyways these are my successes...oh yeah, and I included one photo of a lightning bolt that I captured last summer coming back through Utah after Mindi's wedding...Tori was driving so I passed the time taking pictures, enjoy! (PS...remember to click on the photos so that your computer will open them up bigger in a separate window for your viewing pleasure!)

I Bought My First House!!!

Sorry that it has been forever since I've updated my blog but late this summer I began working with a realtor while the housing market was crashing to see if there was anything out there that I could afford. I had bid on and lost the first home I fell in love with and just as I was sulking, the realtor called me and said she'd stumbled upon something called a stagnant property. Not having any idea what she meant by this I began asking a million questions and found out that it was a home still going through construction in a wonderful neighborhood that just hadn't held down a buyer yet. The builder was offering maximum incentives and well...long story short, I signed all the necessary papers because it really was a deal I couldn't pass up! However my bubble was burst when I realized how AWFUL mortgage loan game was. I'd gone through a total of 4 different places to "shop around" for the best program. I was sure that by being a first time home buyer and a teacher I should easily qualify for a couple of good loan programs, right? I was becoming quite frustrated with the process because each program listed their fees and conditions with completely different verbiage and it seemed truly impossible to compare. After getting jerked around by the BofA no fees mortgage program who offered me a crazy 8.1 interest rate, I finally settled in with a local broker that my Realtor had recommended. He was able to do all the comparing for me to find the best program and I was happy with his results. Unfortunately for BofA, they have this $250.00 guarantee that says if you close a better deal with another lender they'll cut you a check! I made them uphold that fine print and a couple of weeks ago to my brokers shock and awe I received that $250 dollar check!!!

Just after moving in my first order of business was getting a back yard put in because with a dog...a backyard of powdery dirt and fresh new cream colored carpet would've been a catastrophic combo! Thanks to mom's connections I hired a co-worker of hers who does landscaping as a side job to put in my sprinkler system and help me map out the proper distances for trees, plants, and grass. He did a great job and charged at cost for parts and did all the trenching by hand! I got my keys on September 18th, painted the interior of the garage each evening, then called in the Calvary to help me get moved in on Saturday the 22nd and he had the sprinklers and the bend board (the rubber tubing that acts as cheap curbing until I can afford to pour cement) completely finished by mid-day on Sunday. The sod had been delivered early Saturday morning so there was some pressure to get it laid in place before it dried out! I was given the option of laying my own sod if I wished to save the labor fees of approx. $300 so I took him up on that challenge. Between Mom and I we had the 4 palates of sod moved from the front yard to the back in just a couple of hours and I'd gotten the sod laid down by around 7:30pm Sunday night...then it was just Mom and I doing the fine-tuning with the crazy grim reaper looking scythe-style knife to trim up edges. So boom...I moved in and put in a back yard in just a couple of days...sadly the process of uncovering my belongings from the scads of boxes was a whole other chore! It has been just over a month now and Baylie and I have gotten settled in...I've even made my first scary mortgage payment and lived to tell the tale!

McKenzie is 8 weeks old!!!

I hadn't seen McKenzie since she was just over a week old and it was amazing how much she'd changed in two short months! She has gotten bigger obviously but she has also become much more expressive! Recently she went on her first camping trip and she's even begun to find her personality! She can make so many faces now and she makes herself quite clear that she hates her back to be scratched or tickled because she instantly scrunches up her nose and tries to squirm away.

McKenzie is all decked out in her camping outfit...cute, shaded, and comfortably napping in her little Hawaiian
hat!

The "WE" Reunion!!!

It has been almost 6 months since the three of us have gotten together at the same time and place! It is difficult to get three schedules to match up now that everyone has moved 1 to 4 hours away and has husbands and/or babies (except for me...still working on that) but the"WE" (Mindi, Tori and I) made it happen last Saturday (7-14-07) in Lake Isabella. Besides visiting each other, we of-course had ulterior motives to visit with Mindi and Nick's new baby girl. Since I live much closer and Mindi comes into Bakersfield for baby Morgan's doctor checkups I have had the pleasure seeing her every week or two since she was born, but this was Tori and Steve's first visit so it was extra special for them! We invaded Mindi's new house (which is BEAUTIFUL by the way) for like 5 hours just enjoying each other's company...catching up, laughing, taking pictures, and watching Morgan's every move and new facial expression. It was a really good day...enjoy the photos!

Steve and Tori holding baby Morgan for the first time!

Kailey's first Dog Park & River Walk Park Experience!

Kailey is super friendly with humans to the point that some people get sick of her always wanting to be in their laps being held like a baby...but with other dogs this is not always the case! Kailey has a bit of the "little-dog syndrome" and will growl, snarl, and or bark at other dogs...especially if they try to take her toys! Luckily 99% of the time Kailey and Baylie get along extremely well thanks to Baylie's laid back nature, she normally just ignores Kailey's unnecessary aggressiveness. Anyways, I took Kailey out to the Kroll dog park on Friday morning when I knew there wouldn't be too many dogs and she had a blast running around freely! Then as the morning heated up I drove the girls out to River Walk park (one of Baylie's favorite places to go...a park with WATER--oh yeah!). Aside from a few people here and there, the girls essentially had the whole lake to themselves and they seemed to thoroughly enjoy it! Kailey had no trouble at all keeping up with Baylie's long distance swims out to retrieve the tennis ball. After the park we went home for naps and lunch then back out to Sherry's house for a photo opp. with the "cousins" (Blue & Liberty...NOT as easy as it looks!!!).

A day at Lake Buena Vista

Saturday July 7th, 2007 the temperature in Bakersfield was expected to reach a not-so-comfortable high of 103 (according to the paper) although, my car it was a few degrees hotter than that! Regardless, we decided to beat the heat and get up by 6:30 in the morning and pack up the "Golden Shower" (our ancient, but tough yellow and gold boat that has a custom fitted tower that Wayne built and welded himself, complete with speakers and just last summer Amy used her a artistic abilities to hand paint the back end...proving that our boat is just as good, if not better than all the hyped-up name-brand boats)! We were on the water by 8 am and off again a little after 12 o-clock. Had we stayed much longer we'd have all been completely sun burned...as it was we all came home pretty pink! We had pretty good water for the first hour or so, but the lake was packed with people by 10 in the morning (thanks to the residual 4th of July camping crowd)...luckily, most of the wakeboarding and skiing had happened by then and we'd decided to move on to tubing...if you can't beat the waves join-em I suppose! Anyways, this was the first time Amy wakeboarded and she did really well! She was able to pop up almost every time and it only took her few tries to stay up...now the toughest part...learning to maneuver the board. Wayne of-course was still the highest jumper in the buch, even though his ankle surgery was just a few months ago! Laurah is getting much better at not only jumping the wake but landing on the other side too...now she just needs to work on keeping the rope down so it doesn't block her face in every photo! All in all it was a good day at the lake...no boat trouble or catastrophes!

Roommates

So...this morning I had to fish Simba (the cat) out of the back of my roommates closet so that he wouldn't be locked in the bedroom all day long. As stood up with Simba in my hands, my head had barely popped back out of the clothes when I was pounced on by both dogs trying to get a good sniff of the cat! After having to catch myself from falling back into the cottony abyss while at the same time trying to protect Simba from a couple of overzealous slobber mouths...I decided the pups needed a lesson in getting along and controlling their urges to poke and prod at Simba. I took all three of them into what we call the "cat's room" (simply because his food is in there and the room isn't really used for anything other than random storage)...I sat them all down together and forced them to just sit there and enjoy each other's company while behaving like ladies! Luckily Simba is very easy going and nothing really gets to him. On many occasions I have come home to find the three of them all laying in the hallway together but if Simba runs or jumps...the chase is ON! Not really sure if this lesson will do any good
(probably not), but it was fun for me and a good photo opportunity too!

New addition to the Young family!!!

So I'm happy to announce that I am a proud "honorary aunt" as of June 27th at 7:00 am sharp! Mindi Young gave birth to her first baby, a beautiful little girl named Morgan Elizabeth this past Wednesday and I'm happy to say that everyone is happy and healthy. Morgan was 7 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long. Although the doctors and nurses were set to discharge the new family at the routine 12 hour timeline (after 7pm), due to the fact that they live over an hour away from the hospital they decided it was better to be safe than sorry and keep them overnight for observation just in case. By Thursday morning they were back in their home, greeted by a large number of family members in town from Idaho. Congratulations to all of them on welcoming their 9th immediate grandchild (niece, cousin etc...)! A week later Mindi and Nick brought Morgan down for her one week old check-up and everything was great...she'd even gained about an ounce! It's hard to believe how much she has already changed and it's only been a week! It should be exciting to watch her grow and become more expressive...but as you can see...she is already becoming quite the comedian!

Just before pruning all the palm trees...

Baylie loves to swim and then rub off any excess water on anything holding still, a towel draped on a chair, your legs, or even a low lying branch on a tree. For the past few weeks she has really enjoyed hiding her toys under the broken palm tree branches and rubbing in and out of their long fanned out fingers for a nice back scratch. Although this ritual was quite comical to watch, the branches actually hung low enough to cause an obstruction to people trying to walk around the pool. To tackle this problem last Saturday Mom, Laurah, and I decided to put together a brand-new pole saw, get out some ladders and start chopping up the trees. The tree in the middle wasn't too bad because it was short enough that I could climb up on the small but sturdy yellow ladder. The two outside trees are significantly bigger and I was forced to use the 12ft shaky brown creaking ladder...not so fun, especially because up above my head I was holding the pole saw at full extension! The tree limbs seemed fairly safe to cut because the blade could knaw throuth them fast, before my arms got to tired and they fell slowly. The big heavy torpedo shaped seed pods were a much different story...they took forever for the saw to slice through and then it was any body's guess where they were to fall! The smallest weighed probably 5-10 pounds and was 3 feet tall and the scariest must have weighed 40 pounds and stood as tall as my shoulders! I was afraid that it would fall on my head knocking me off the 12 foot ladder and into the pool with the electric saw to electrocute myself with...that didn't sound too appetizing so we came up with the bright idea to lasso the top of the pod with a rope so that we could try and guide the pod to fall away from me. As I stood on top of the ladder sawing, Laurah was holding the legs of the ladder trying to keep it from wobbling and Mom kept tension on the rope. I couldn't quite "go-go-Gadget" myself tall enough to completely saw off the pod so I ended up down the ladder yanking on the rope until the last portion of the pod cracked and broke itself out of the tree and luckily it missed all of us! So now Mom's back yard is cleaned up, nobody got injured, and the only one disappointed was Baylie because her low lying limbs are now in the garbage!