My Birthday Weekend in SLO and Avila...Happy 29!

Ok...now if you've noticed the dates on my last three posts you'd see that they are all out of chronological order! So to stay in consistency...I'm now jumping forward to February 9th, 2008. Mom and I went up to visit Wayne on my birthday weekend...I really just wanted to get outta town and get someplace beautiful! The weather was beautiful and only the evening was chili enough to force a sweatshirt. We went out for fish and chips for lunch at a cute little place in SLO that had an outside patio so the pups didn't have to stay in the car. Baylie especially loves to people watch and she and Kailey both typically have pretty good manners when we're out in public. After lunch Mom, Wayne, Amy and I hit the dog beach in Avila to let the girls run and play. Baylie always plays until she is literally sick...I think she just ingests too much of the salty water and sand but she never lets that stop her! Both girls played for a solid couple of hours and slept all the way home! They even seemed slightly lethargic the next day so I know that they had as much fun as we all did watching! It made for a relaxing birthday weekend away from work and the grind of everyday stresses.

Babysitting Morgan 1-21-08

Morgan is just growing sooooo fast and Mindi had some errands to run down in Bakersfield and I was given the privilege to watch Morgan for a couple hours. Of-course the minute they walked in my camera popped out! Morgan has seemed to love dogs since she was born and as she gets bigger and more mobile it has become even more apparent! She crawls around after Baylie and loves to pet her and well, really I use the word "pet" loosely...it is much more of a pat and then a grab: two big fist fulls of hair...luckily Baylie doesn't seem to mind. Morgan loves to play with Baylie's toys (funny thing, dog toys look surprisingly similar to baby toys!). Baylie shares very well and is quite patient with Morgan...allows her to take toys right from her mouth without even a flinch! It is fun to watch them interact and Morgan has a beautiful curiosity about everything she does!

Winter 2008...Baylie's 1st Snow!!!

I haven't been able to update this in a very long time so I apologize to any of you that have checked my blog and been frustrated to find that nothing had changed. So let me now back-track to Christmas...I was dogsitting for Kailey while Wayne worked in San Fransisco at his internship and so we did some fun Christmas pictures and then went to the snow! This was Baylie's first trip to the snow and I'm not sure if Kailey has been to the snow before or not but what I do know is that they both had a great time! Baylie, who loves to fetch, got her first taste of a snowball! This was quite funny because when she caught the "ball" it then shattered and melted in her mouth and she looked a bit confused! Even better, when she missed the ball she would've been running at full speed ahead and then the ball would hit the snow and be untraceable...she'd turn in circles searching for it and finally look back at us with and expression like she'd been cheated or teased...although this wouldn't stop her from playing again and again!

Babysitting Sherry & Matt's Dogs

Now going back to Christmas Break...Sherry and Matt went on vacation for almost the entire two week break and so obviously their pups needed some extra TLC because they were really starting to get lonely! I went over each afternoon for the evening feeding and brought along Baylie and Kailey so that they could all run and play and expel some energy...it was like a mini dog park in their backyard! Kailey definitely has a "little dog" syndrome because she was happy facing off against Blue in a (mostly) friendly tug-of-war match that lasted like 30 minutes! In the meantime, Baylie and Liberty were occupied with Frisbees and balls.

Halloween 2007!!!

So Halloween...I typically go all out with my costumes becoming essentially unrecognizable, but this year I either didn't have the energy or the creativity because I just couldn't come up with ANYTHING! Everyone at work, students and staff alike continually asked me what my costume would be this year. They anticipate something impressive because of what I've transformed into for past Halloweens and even my various spirit week costume creations. This year I finally created something around 6:00 the night before and although it wasn't as extravagant as prior years it still made people smile and laugh...that is all that matters in the end! I went with the idea of nothing... and created a hobo! I searched for some old clothes and began ripping, tearing and cutting (even the shoes so that my toes could pop out!). Then in the morning i used various shades of brown eye shadows and bronzers to create a "dirty" face and neck look. The outfit was topped off with miss-matched gloves from the '80s I'd found in Mom's coat closet, a hat and a hobo bag on a stick. At work I was welcomed by "Lucy", of the show I Love Lucy who is really a friend/coworker of mine named Katie...she too tends to go all out with her costumes--never dissapointing! The best part of my day was after work when Mindi dropped by to show off Morgan's pumpkin princess costume!!! She is getting so big and she is completely adorable! Morgan is quite mesmerized with Baylie and continually grabbed onto her fur and one time she ripped out a couple of handfuls! Luckily, Baylie is easy going...she hardly even reacted when she was getting plucked and she was a good sport to pose for so many pictures with Morgan on her Halloween debut! Oh, yes and just for fun I've attached some of our past costumes just so you can see what I've been talking about when I say "all out"!

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!