Derek and I found a treasure right in our own backyard. Saturday, we drove 15 minutes up the Tehachapi mountains to Tehachapi Mountain Park. We took the pups and went on a nature trail hike and then checked out the campsites they have up there! What an awesome place! It was beautiful and peaceful. 
Friday brought the birth of a brand, new niece....Tegan Winter Gould. I couldn't stop myself from driving down the same day to see her. What a precious angel she is!
Time for presents!
Siena gets her second wind...
Aubrey and her imagination!
Memorial Day weekend was low-key but very much needed and appreciated to have a day off of work. 
Derek spent much of the weekend creating "defense-able" space - June 9 is the Tehachapi deadline for trimming back weeds and brush. We need to get the poor guy some boots - these shoes were basically shot - we weren't even going to try and pick off the foxtails
I knitted a sock! Go figure! It ended up being a little crooked but I can work on that -- I was just thrilled it actually looked and fit like a sock!
Wednesday morning, my sweet little Isabelle passed away. She was not doing well the day before so it was a bit expected...yet sad nonetheless. She had a good 4 1/2 year piggie life. 
I got her several months after Amelia so that they could be sister pigs. 
I quickly found out that she must have already been pregnant when I got her -- she was gracious to let me feel the cute little babies kick inside her tummy - and I was even at home when they were born. She was a great little mother and she was a pig with immeasurable sweetness. 
I will miss her.
This weekend we got to sing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Martha (Derek's step-mom). It was a fun
Mother's Day weekend is the unofficial start of Tehachapi's growing season - we're pretty sure of no more frost. I continue to shape our "garden"- although I'm convinced that much of it still has to mature for it to look truly garden like. 
This is a new butterfly bush out front. The old one suddenly fell over seeming to have rotted. When I dug the hole for this one, on the right was a perfect underground tunnel -- yep! that pesky gopher must have been the cause of the problems. So when I planted this one, I surrounded it with chicken wire underground. 
Yay! My roses are starting to bloom!
...and the deer have returned (there are rosebuds missing from the stems!) I started seeing them last week. Yesterday Derek and I were at our computers at the kitchen table, I'm facing the main living room window. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and thought I saw a small child before I realized it was a deer walking in our front yard. Derek and I jumped up and peered out the small octagonal window by the front door and there was the deer munching on my rose bush! I love our local deer but I also want roses! So I opened up the front door which 'convinced' it to go across the street with it's four buddies. Derek grabbed his camera and was taking photos and they just stood there with the "deer in the headlight" pose -- except for the one that was eating my rosebuds which kept on chewing the few roses he did get as Derek focused for his pictures!
Well, here's my latest attempt at "exercise". I've always wanted to try DDR, and now that we have a Wii, I broke down and got it for myself. So now at night, I practice "dancing" although right now it's mostly me 'stepping' on the arrows to the beat of the music....but hey, I gotta start somewhere. I'm still on beginner mode but it is fun!
