Las Vegas or Maybe Not

Tucker and I were suppose to go to Las Vegas this past Wednesday, however due to the snow here we were unable to go. Yes it finally snowed, just not close to me all I saw was rain, everything was packed, the car was loaded, traffic had been check (always wise when traveling in SoCal) and we were ready to enjoy a wonderful little vacation. We got on the road and not even ten minutes later the road was being closed right in front of us. So we headed back home to check for ways around the I-15. We would decide on one way than check the roads only to find that they to had been closed due to the snow. It is funny I grew up with snow and have driven in it several times and yet so many people haven't. There were reports of motorists sleeping in their cars on the interstate because it was ti slippery to get off. I just hope the had plenty of blankets and things to keep them warm. So sadly we had to cancel our trip to Vegas but we had a wonderful staycation instead.

Our Latest Adventure

Two weeks ago, Tucker had Monday off so we decided to go check out the local ghost town. By local I mean it was about an hour an a half away, which isn't to bad. So we got a few things to gether and headed out to Cailco, CA. In the late 1800s it was a very productive silver mine but as the prices of silver dropped it slowly became deserted and now it is a ghost town. It was nicely decorated for Christmas and it was interesting learning about the history and walking through the old mine at least the parts that were safe. After this trip I decided that I am very happy to be living now and not back then.

The Tree

Now that our tree is decorated I wanted to share the pictures with you. It is even complete with a train running around thanks to my wonderful sister Miranda and her family last year.

As a child I remember a few times when my father would pull out the train and place it around the tree. We could never leave it alone so I don't remember if the trains always made it to Christmas, and they definately didn't get placed around the tree every year.

Snow

Like I mentioned in my previous post I love snow. Sadly here in Southern California it does not snow, unless you go the mountains and as every Southern Californian has told me that is where it belongs so I get to admire it from a far as it beautifully covers the tops of the peaks. I also had to add some to my blog so it felt dressed up for the season.

December

I love the month of December. In my mind it means some of my favorite things like snow, cold weather, baking, Christmas, tree hunting, wrapping paper, wrapping gifts, hot chocolate, Christmas ornaments, decorating, the list could continue but I should stop there.
I have numerous memories of bundling up and headed out to the tree farms to select the perfect tree. Know with nine children and a picky mother it always took awhile to find that tree we would walk all over the farm to the far back corners up and down the rows, looking back I think my parents wanted us to be worn out for the rest of the day. Once the tree was selected Dad would cut it down and he and my brothers would lug it back to the car and we would take it home, to decorate with in a day or two. Tucker and I went Christmas tree shopping on Friday and wow we found the tree in less than 10minutes. Of course out here if you go to the tree farms they don't really have a traditional pine tree they have cedar trees or Monterey pines which oddly enough reminds me of the tree in our backyard growing up. So sadly we had to settle for selecting our tree from Lowe's but at least it is a real tree and we didn't have to resort to an artificial tree. The tree isn't decorated yet because it is tradition to decorate the tree for Family Home Evening so we will decorate it tonight.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Fire from the Tower

Here are some pictures of one of the fires that happened out here about 2 weeks ago. Tucker happened to have the camers with him so he was able to take a few photos. The area that is burning is Chino Hills State Park we have gone hiking in the park a couple of times before, however I don't think we will be going anytime soon. This was part of the freeway complex fire as it was called out here it stretched across two or three freeways. The fire broke out Saturday morning and these were taken Saturday night. Driving home from work I could see a lot of smoke coming from the fires.

An Afternoon at the ER

I got home from church around 2:30 this afternoon expecting a normal quite evening while Tucker was at work. I turned on the computer and started making a snack forgetting it was fast Sunday when Tucker called asking if I got his message. No, why there has been an accident and I need you to look up an emergency room I will be home in about 15mins. My first thought was how hurt are you but than realizing if he was driving home first it shouldn't be too serious. He got home and I saw the blood pooling under his fingernail. So I drove him to the nearest ER and expected a nice long wait. He was able to see the doctor within an hour and after his X-rays the doctor came back not sure if he had broken his finger but he had split the nail bed and that was causing all of the blood. She had to remove his fingernail and stitch up the nail bed, the bleeding still would stop so tthey applied some special dressing to help with the clotting. After the finger was dressed the radiologist confirmed he had indeed broken his finger. The poor guy he was just trying to keep the door from slamming behind him instead he got his finger flattened, and he has me to chauffer him around for the next couple of days because he can't drive with the pain medicine the prescribed.

Pumpkin Carving

Tucker and I had a blast carving our pumpkin this year. I was hoping to get lots of trick-or-treaters this year since we had none last year. You selected our specimen from Wal-Mart since there aren't really any pumpkin patches out here. We decided to go with a hand drawn faces instead of the pattern variety. I got to draw the face which reminded me of growing up. On the chosen pumpkin carving day I remember coming home from school and eagerly awaiting dad's arrival to past the time I would draw out the face I wanted. Even after dad got home we had to wait first cleaning out the guts and than waiting for my turn to have dad draw on the face and watch as I made the big easy cuts and then I got to watch as he finished and than we had to sort out the seeds so he could roast them. I loved the waking up to the smell of the freshly roasted pumpkin seeds. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays probably because of all the "free" candy. I was also happy that the number of trick-or-treaters tripled this year I got a total of 3.

Vacation

Tucker and I and his parents went on vacation two weeks ago. We had a blast, Brent and Marge flew in from Sacramento and we headed to San Diego. The weather was perfect so at first we just drove along the coast.

For our first full day we went to Sea World. Where we feed the sea lions it was fun watching them beg but you had to be quick or the seagulls would swoop in and steal the anchovy from your hand. Since we had so much fun feeding the sea lions we went and fed the rays I want to say they are bat rays but I can't remember. To be honest I was so scared of feeding them I dropped the fish when one came up to close to my hand. Tucker and his father had a much better time feeding them.

After spending the day at Sea World we decided to see all of San Diego so we rented a Go Car. It drives like a motorcycle but is a mostly enclosed 3 wheel car, ok instead of doors it had a side roll bar and no roof with a top speed of 35mph. The car was equipped with a GPS navigation system that told you about the area and the landmarks as you passed by.

Tucker did the driving I figured after the tandem bike mishap I shouldn't take the wheel besides I had enough trouble trying to navigate, when we got off course. While driving these cars we stopped and toured the USS Midway, and Point Loma. I learned all about trying to land on the deck and it doesn't sound like much fun.

After the tour of the Midway we cruised around town some more before going out to Point Loma and looking at the lighthouse.

For our next adventure we went to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. It was so cool not only did we walk around the park and see the gorillas and the meerkats, but we also took a photo safari around the African Plains where we got to see the Northern White Rhinoceros, there are only 7 of these animals left in the world and we got to see 2 of them. We also got to see and feed the giraffes which was a lot of fun. They have very long black tongues coated with thick spit that stinks.

We finally headed home on Sunday but not before seeing Imperial Beach and Coronado Island. After spending several minutes watching the surfers I am curious as to why so many people seem to enjoy it. You just sit on your board hoping for a decent wave to come along only to ride it for a few seconds. Maybe I should take a lesson or two so I can see what all the fuss is about.

By the end of the trip I think I was more tried and wiped out than my in-laws in fact I felt like I could use another vacation. I was also sun-burnt even though I applied plenty of sunscreen, I think it just attracts the sun.

Driving

So I have noticed a few people have mentioned bad drivers in their blogs lately. So I think I will do the same. While I consider myself to be a decent driver I have notice that out here in California I might be above average except when it comes to parking. I turn into the correct lane when turning and than proceed into the correct lane, however the norm seems to be, turn into whatever lane you need to be in even if you cross four lanes to get there. I am also grateful that it does not rain out here because if it drizzles sorry if water appears on your windshield you must immediately step on your brakes and drive no faster than 40mph for the rest of the drive. Now that I have complained about everyone else and their bad driving habits I can revisit my parking comment.

I think I must be missing the parking gene the time I had trouble on my driving test was trying to parallel park, to this day I will park a block or two away and walk if that means I can just pull into a space. I also have the hardest time trying to park my car in the garage, I have scraped my front fender trying to pull in, I broke my mirror backing out and I have even backed in someone in a parking lot or they backed into me since I was further out of the space than she was. Here are some lovely pictures of the scrape on my car and the space I have to park my car in. Also please notice the wonderful shelf Tucker built to provide a little more space because... yes it is small. I have always heard that parking is the easiest part of driving I however think it is the hardest part so either I am missing that gene or I need a bigger garage, because I can't get a smaller car. Oh and the lady that backed into me she didn't cause any damage, thankfully she was also driving a small car.

There's always next year right?

After a wonderful season of Cubs baseball they lost in the first round play-offs to the ...dodgers. I am just glad that I had the opportunity to watch as many games as possible. I am thinking about heading to Arizona during spring training and maybe watch a few games. That way I will know some of the up coming players for the team come March. Hopefully we will be able to see a few more regular season games next year.

Simple Joys

I was so excited last week when the weather appeared more fall like. The temperature was in the mid 80's and the day started off looking like rain. While it never rained and most of the clouds/haze whatever you want to call it burned off by the afternoon it was nice to have weather more like Indiana. While I miss the beautiful colors of fall, I love seeing the mountains appear out of the haze, and I enjoy watching the color slowly creep back into the mountainside. I have also discovered pedicures. I don't remember getting pedicures before moving out here. But now a group of us try to to get together every other month or so and relax. It is one of the best things every. Just sitting there talking with friends and being treated like a queen, and your toes look great all for around $20. You can't beat that.

Finally Something

Well it isn't that exciting but still kind of neat. Tucker had to work Sunday night like usual and NASCAR was in town racing at the Auto-Club Speedway which is about 5 miles from us. The Goodyear blimp was of course at the race. As it was leaving the race heading back to Carson, CA the blimp flew through Chino's airspace and Tucker got to direct them through.


Growing up I remember always being so excited to see the blimp, as it would fly overhead. I also always thought there was only one, however that is not the case there are 3 located throughout the United States. The one Tucker talked to is the Spirit of America, based close to LA while the one I most likily saw growing up is the Spirit of Goodyear based near Akron Ohio.

Elk Burgers

Thursday night Tucker and I finally tried the Elk burgers, since I didn't like the Buffalo burgers I wasn't too excited about trying them. The were actually very good. They were juicier than the Buffalo, but the texture was pretty much the same. If I ever have to choose between eating Elk and Buffalo I would eat the Elk, but truth be told just give me beef and I would be happy.

Playing Hooky

A few words of advice, when playing hooky always have a good story and never do anything where you might be caught. For instance this past week I called in sick to work so I could go to a baseball game. By the way I can now say I have been to all the baseball fields in Southern California. The game was at 12:30pm, I applied tons of sunscreen at home before the game I apparently didn't apply enough. I now have funny tan lines because of the angle of the sun, and I roasted throughout the game because it was so hot. However the Angels won, so I guess that makes it worth it. And no I am not an Angels fan but the Cubs weren't playing and the were the home team. As for having a good story, I must have been believable when I called in because everyone keep asking me if I was feeling better and someone else wanted to compare symptoms. So always be prepared when you are "sick".

Return of the Curls

So as promised, here are some pictures of my hair with the curls. Thankfully I love my haircut and it is nothing like I originally thought it would be. Tucker loves the curls as well in fact when he first saw my hair straight he thought it I had straighten my hair permanently. He was happy to see that my curls came back. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the back, but that is hard to do when you are the one taking the pictures.

Haircut

So I finally did it. I woke up this morning and decided that I had to get my haircut, the last time I had a haircut was April of 2007. As I often do when I make a rash decision I don't really think about the end product. I knew I wanted it shorter it is just to hot in California to have long hair so off it went, and while I like it now when it is nice and styled. I am not sure what it will be like in the morning when it goes back to the usual curl. Maybe if it is not too terrible I will post a picture of the curly version, and if I hate I will cry for only the second time in my life over a bad haircut. But for now the verdict is still out.

Weekends together

For the past 4 months or so Tucker and I have been able to have weekends together, I had Sunday and Monday off while he had Monady and Tuesday off so we took a few trips to places by us. The place was Big Bear Lake,and I guess technically we took this trip before I started working.


Here is Santa Monica Peir and Point Dume Beach, we had a wonderfully day here although this was back in December which is why the beach was empty, we had it all to ourselves it was such a gorgeous day, although we only stuck our feet in the water because it was a little chilly.

And here we have our last big adventure, Santa Barbara I took a long weekend, and Tucker surprised me by renting a hotel right on the ocean. We rented a tandem bike to ride around the city, I think we had it for about an hour and than we were done. THe seats were not very comfortable and I got a bruise from a knob hitting my leg. I was also forbidden frim sitting on the front and steering, after I almost crashed into a park bench. In my defense Tucker didn't tell me wasn't ready. Anyway we had a great time and enjoyed watchng the sun set and than driving around trying to find someplace open that sold ice-cream we settled on buying pints at Albertson's when the lines were to long everywhere else.

I am going to miss having these weekends together but at least, Tucker will be able to attend church with me again for a little while.

Chino Hills State Park

Tucker and I hiked around this state park last year about mid July and here are some of the pictures we took.


Below are pictures from the same area but earlier this year I think it was sometime in March, it was almost to late to go since some of the green had already faded. It is disappointing sometimes at how quickly things go from green to brown. The mountains out here could be soi pretty if they were only greener.

The Lost Art of Pie

The stake had a big pioneer day activity for which I signed up to bring a double crusted fruit pie. I thought it would be fun to make a pie, so I did. When I dropped it off at the activity mine was the only one not store bought. Now I didn't stay for the activity so maybe some homemade pies were brought in after I left, I hope so because there is nothing better than homemade pie. Not to mention the smell of the pie baking what could be better?

Tagged Twice

So I was tagged twice in about 24hours so this will have to do for both tags because I don't think I have 12 random things to say about myself.

The rules are as follows for this chain letter:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Write six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your blog entry is up.

Six Random things:

1. I recently rode a tandem bicycle, what an adventure that was.
   
2. I love watching NASCAR on Sunday afternoons, and I secretly hope Tony Stewart will win.
   
3. My favorite place is laying in bed curled up in Tucker's arm.
   
4. I am known as Trina by about 1/3 of the clients I call at work. At least once a day Trina gets paged letting her know she has a phone call.
   
5. I miss SNOW!
   
6. I broke the side mirror glass to my new car about a week after I started parking it in the garage.
   

Since I don't know six people with a blog Gillian, since I don't think you have responded yet, Gigi and Zac because you always have fun things to say so consider yourself tagged. I would tag Miranda and Kerstin but since they tagged me I figure I will just let it go for now.

Buffalo

We had buffalo burgers for dinner last night. They weren't as good as I remembered them being, from the Feast of the Hunter's Moon. Maybe they were just more exotic when I was younger. We purchased the buffalo burgers along with some elk burgers from a local butcher Tucker found, they were on sale so we thought why not. I am not sure how I feel about eating elk but who knows maybe it will taste like chicken....ok maybe more like beef than chicken.

The CUBBIES

Baseball season is half-way now and the cub are still leading the NL Central. Yeah this might be the year after all. We have had the chance to see the cubs play twice so far this year. Once at Petco park where they beat the Padres 7-6 and than about a week later we were able to see them play at Dodger Stadium where they beat the dodgers 3-1. One day we would like to be able to say we have seen the Cubs play at every NL stadium, but we will see.

Tucker's new grill.

Summertime

Now that summer is in full swing what better why to celebrate than to grill. Well in order for us to do that Tucker had to buy a new grill. It is the perfect size for us; plus it has a light, warming rack and ignition start. He couldn't be happier unless he is eating the steak he grilled on it to break it in.

Old and New

Goodbye Green Monster

About two months ago we sold my first car ( the green mercury) it had just rolled over 200,000 miles to a place that will pick it a part. But we also bought our first new car, a cute little Honda civic ( the gas mileage is great).

50 weeks from knowing

So those of you who don't know, Tucker has finally completed his training at the Chino Airport here in Southern California. What this means for us is that in about 50 weeks he can start looking at other airports and applying for a transfer. So this is great news for us. Hopefully we can finally go somewhere where they have real weather and not the same sunny cloudless days all the time. While the weather is nice but we are ready for something different and maybe a little cooler.