Red Rock Canyon

Derek and I have been working so hard with our jobs that we realized we haven't seen much of the great outdoors lately. So Saturday we packed up the pups and journeyed to Red Rock Canyon for some fresh air - about 25 miles north of Mojave

Our attempt at 'family photo'...Shasta with her ever present tongue....and poor Monkey who has a hard time showing up in pictures...

Can you see the two people on the left of the picture? That's how huge these cliffs are!

Valentine's '08

For those of you who have known me for quite a while, you know that Valentine's Day has not always been my favorite holiday...I think there are some years when I even wore black....hey, I know it's childish, but when relationships are few and far between and the ones that happen seem to start after or end before the holiday of love....it can get depressing.

But, God truly is a redeemer...this year I got to spend my second Valentine's Day as Derek's wife...and how sweet and precious it all is! My wonderful husband, who is so incredibly busy (and so over-worked and over-tired) found a way to leave his class of 'hellions' (and I say that fondly!) to come over to my work and in person deliver flowers! I was so shocked (and so happy) to see him in the middle of the day! And needless to say, I think I was the envy of the office with my beautiful pink flowers! Thank you, honey!!!

A Snow Day

After 1 1/2 years of living in Tehachapi, Derek and I finally got our first 'snow day'. We woke up to 4-5 inches of snow with our cars stuck and the 58 freeway closed early in the morning. It's been snowing off and on all day and so we both called into work have been working from home.





Here is our beautiful, snowy backyard...you can barely see the dogloo next to the tree:

There's something neat about seeing snow piled on the fence rails:

Seasonal Creek

Saturday night and Sunday we got quite a bit of rain. Here's our "seasonal creek" out back - it's turned into a babbling brook!

Derek's handy work - some racks for our new supply of wood:

"Snain"

This is my new word for the Tehachapi snow/rain combo we've been getting. I know, many people might believe it would be called 'sleet', but I felt creative. "Snain", I've decided is much less heavy then ordinary sleet and perhaps a bit more whimsical as it wafts on the breeze/wind....(plus,it helps ease my guilt when we have to go to work and leave the pups outside in it).

The Snow Arrives

Finally, winter-wonderland comes to Tehachapi! Here is our snow, our beautiful, white snow...
I had the dickens of a time getting out of our driveway this morning. Because the snow had iced over, I couldn't back out at first, the wheels just kept spinning. So I waited about an hour for the sun to melt some of the hard ice and then headed into work.



Even the car had baby icicles on the bottom:

Getting My Baby Fix

Saturday I got to visit my good friend, Susan. She had twins about 5 months ago and this was my first time visiting with them. Susan and I graduated from CSPP together and her husband was the DJ at our wedding...they are awesome friends.

Gotta say that I was in heaven holding these little guys. They were so cuddly and content and smiley (just no smiles for the camera)! Just too darn cute for words ...

Here's the first-born, Luke:


And here I am with Matt (after I got to feed him his bottle):



Thanks, Susan, for letting me get my baby fix!!!

Another Little Critter...

This one's supposed to be a baby pig. This one is also crochet...the right arm I sewed on a little crooked, but, hey - it looks like he's waving!

Snow Dogs

Here are the pups frolicking in the first snowfall of the season (a couple of weeks ago):

Cool action shot:

Here they are later that night:

My First Critter

As most of you know, I've taken up knitting and am trying a variety of new projects. Here's my first stuffed animal. I can't believe I knitted this little penguin all by myself....you can't see his wings, but he's got them...he's kind of cool - so I wanted to send out a picture....I'm going to try different animals next, but I like having a couple of different projects going at the same time so I don't get bored.

Holiday Journey - Postlogue

Well...it's probably a good thing that Derek and I made sure to come home Christmas night. That night, after such wonderful days of festivities, Michelyn woke up in the wee small hours of the morning feeling nauseaus and throwing up. Just to be followed the next day by chills, achy muscles, and fever...yep the flu. My wonderful husband was very supportive and nurturing, bringing me fluids, etc. as I lay curled up in the fetal position on the couch. I truly felt like the only way I would get anywhere was to crawl. Then....about 4-5 hours later, Derek started with the same flu stuff. So from the 26th until today, we've pretty much been out of commission - quite pathetic...and the poor dogs just don't understand why we just sit, lay around, and moan. Thankfully fevers broke night before last, but we're still just wiped out. I was planning on going into work Thursday and Friday but never got there. Today is the first day we feel much better but neither of us has a great appetite and we're just trying to get energy back.

Holiday Journey - Part 4 - Final Installment

Tues. Dec. 25 - Well, we made it to Christmas Day! Today we got to see Derek's family and it was a lot fun for everyone. Last night we spent the evening with Kip, Mandy, and Kyranda. We just unwound from the travelling and I think Kyranda showed me every one of her toys...she is just so much fun. Then Christmas morning, we all caravanned down to Macky and Angela's house in San Diego, where we got to open gifts, played Randy and Staci's guessing (torture) game and eat a wonderful Turkey dinner with all of the fixings.

Late afternoon, Derek and I trekked back to Tehachapi. We got home about 8ish in the evening and exchanged gifts with each other. Derek got me a gorgeous crystal necklace from his trip to Utah that I can't wait to wear!! We felt so blessed to have a wonderful Christmas with family and that it got to last several days.

The Holiday Journey - Part 3

Mon. Dec. 24 -- The night before and Christmas Eve morning, Derek and I got to visit his step-mom, Martha. We don't get to see her as much as we'd like so it was a special treat.

Here's Sabina.....

In the afternoon, Derek and I stopped to visit Grandma Van Etten, Pete, and Brian and Mary. It was good to see them all. We then stopped quickly by the rehabilitation center where Grandpa Van Etten is for a few more days and then he'll be coming home.

Since the next day would be my grandpa's birthday, Derek and I stopped at Riverside National Cemetary. It was the first time I'd seen his memorial marker and the tears just came flowing. But what a beautiful place to go to remember him --- we miss you, Grandpa!

We also got to see Derek's dad's grave-stone which was really special too as he and my grandpa are buried at the same cemetary.

The Holiday Journey - Part 2

Sun. Dec. 23 -- We ventured to see more of Michelyn's family at the Gould Christmas gathering at Grandma's house. I gotta say...my grandma rocks!!! She bought herself a Wii for Christmas...you go grandma!!!

The Holiday Journey Begins...

Christmas 2007 for us was a literal journey....across several hundred miles and at least four counties...it was worth every moment to spend time with our wonderful families...

First up was Christmas with Michelyn's family -- Sat. Dec. 22

It was a lot of fun to see our nieces and nephew enjoy Christmas -- kids can teach us so much. Dad made a delicious "roast beast" dinner (Aubrey is into the Grinch story), we got treated to a cookbook of family favorite recipes, and Randy and Staci also taught (or should I say 'tortured') us with a new guessing game...and we're all getting ready to see Phantom in April.

Michelyn's Dog Rescue

This morning I got to play animal control. As I rounded our street corner on my way to work this morning, I saw a big chocolate lab trotting down the street and this little long black and white puppy running to keep up with it. Now I don't normally stop for loose dogs, but they both looked at me and had collars on...and there was just something about them. (Don't worry, we haven't adopted them!)

So I pulled over and they came right up...they were extremely friendly and wanted to be petted. The lab had a tag on so I called the number and got a hold of the owner, who then called his wife to come pick up the dogs. So I opened up the back car door and let them go inside because it was cold out and they were breathing hard like maybe they had been running a while(we already had the dog canvas cover over the back seat). They both jumped in immediately -- the lab (Finnigan) staring at me wanting more pats on the head and the little puppy flopping down, trying to curl up, and making puppy grunting/whining sounds like she was tired, had too much of an adventure this morning and just wanted to take a nap.

A short while later, the lady came and picked them up - she was appreciative (they think they dug out of their backyard) - but concerned because there's apparently a third dog who also got loose -- I felt so bad for her because she was still worried about that one, but I only ever saw these two. I had to get going to work and so she was going to drive around trying to find the third one -- I feel good that the dogs are back with their family and hope the third gets found soon.

Our First Winter Dusting

This morning we woke up to our first bit of snow on the Tehachapi mountains for the season. It was only on the highest parts - not in our front or backyards...but nonetheless, it was quite pretty to see the area look like it's been dusted with powdered sugar. And with the cold nip in the air, it reminds us of the 'winterizing' we've got to do around the house. Well, I'm off to go put more wood on the fire!