Not sure why the photo is rotated but we are trying to figure out how to rotate it back to the original position before I load any more. But this picture is just one of the many hens on the ranch. Ross and I think she looks like she is wearing pants because of all the feathers on her legs.

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What a Week

Well these last two weeks have all sort of blended together. Two weeks ago we got the news that my grandfather had lost his fight with cancer. After receiving the news there was no question as to whether or not I wanted to attend the funeral. The question that needed to be answered was whether or not I would be able to get time off from work since I was technically still in my 90 day introductory period. Thankfully, I was in my last week and my boss made the exception. The only disappointing part was that I had to go alone. We couldn't afford for both Ross So the next step was finding a flight out and making sure I had transportation. Thankfully I was able to fly from Santa Ana into Denver early last Wednesday and hitch a ride with my parents. We stopped in Deadwood, SD and spent the night there and continued our journey north to my uncle's ranch in Cooperstown, ND. After enjoying a night on the ranch, it was time to continue north to St Thomas, ND, just south of Canada. The ceremony was very nice and it was great to spend time catching up with family.

My flight back home was Sunday evening and I was scheduled to land in LA around 9:15pm. I ended up sitting in the airport in Grand Forks, ND for a few hours before I could go through security and wait to board the plane to Minneapolis where I would take a connecting flight to LA. Well just as I was getting ready to board the first plane, I received a text message that my flight to LA was cancelled. Once I got to Minneapolis, it took over 3 hours to get a flight rebooked that would get me home early Monday morning. My original rebooked flight wasn't scheduled to leave until sometime Tuesday. So after running around the airport for over 3 hours, I finally made to the hotel a little after 11:00pm. I only got a few hours of sleep because I had to be checked out of the room and waiting in the lobby by 4:50am to get back to the airport so I could get checked in for my 7:15am flight home. Thankfully all that went well and I flew home in first class with free breakfast. It was nice to see Ross waiting for me at the airport and to come home to a very clean and spotless house! But I didn't get to enjoy it long because I had to go to work in less than an hour of arriving home. After 5 1/2 hours of work I was back home and ready to sleep in my own bed and try and catch up on lost sleep. And with work being busy, needless to say this week has been a long and hectic week and I am very ready for the weekend.

This coming Tues, Aug 3, will be one year that we have been living in California. On that date last year we pulled into the parking lot of our apartment and started to unpack and settle into our new home. And on Thurs, Aug 5, Ross and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary! To celebrate we are going to Las Vegas the following weekend where we will meet my parents and celebrate my dad's birthday as well. Once we get back from Vegas, Ross' mom will be coming to visit for a few days, and then it's back to school for Ross at the end of the month. This next month is going to be a busy one but also a fun and relaxing one....hopefully.

I'll try and post some pictures from the ranch and North Dakota but it might take me some time because all my pictures were taken on my cell phone and I'm still trying to figure out how to post them.

New Slideshow

Now that it's July, I finally decided to update the pictures on our blog...and by update I mean remove the Christmas photos. In June we went up to Disneyland to try and see the new World of Color show. Well, needless to say it was PACKED! We got to see the show but only from the side so we were not able to see all the video and extra stuff that goes along with the music and color. But it was still an amazing show. We plan on going back soon to get better seats. So until next time, enjoy the new photos!

First 4th of July in So Cal

To celebrate our first 4th of July in California, we asked around to find out what place had the best fireworks display. That place just happened to be Disneyland! So after a morning of relaxing, we headed up to the park in the late afternoon and enjoyed an amazing fireworks show to music. Below are some pictures I took during the 15 minute show.

I had Monday the 5th off from work so we decided to go on a bike ride along the coast. Even though it was overcast and windy the entire time, we still had fun. We ended up riding 10 miles total round trip.

Ross has his last final this coming Tuesday the 12th and then he is offically done with summer classes and will have 5 weeks of summer vacation before classes start again for the fall. Not much else going on. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Top Third Percentile

These past two weeks have been busy…which is kind of out of the ordinary for us. First want to say Happy Belated Father’s Day. Also want to wish Aileen a Happy Belated 21st birthday! Can’t wait to celebrate with you in Las Vegas. So back to the past two weeks. Summer classes are just about done. One more week of class and then finals and then Ross is free for the summer! What he is going to do with his time off is a mystery in and of itself. With no real house projects to work on I think he is going to get really bored really fast. I’m sure I could always put together a small “to-do” list for him…we’ll see.

Last Friday we had our first game night with some friends from school. Dinner, wine, margaritas, a game of Spades, a game of Catch Phrase, a game of Apples to Apples and then of course a few songs on Rock Band made it a very enjoyable night, and late night.

Last Saturday we stayed home and watched in disbelief as the USA was knocked out of the World Cup. So after the disappointing game we turned our sites on baseball and the Colorado Rockies….who just happened to be playing against the Los Angeles Angels whose stadium is 20 mins from us. So off to the stadium we went to cheer for the opposing team…which is a first for us. And boy did it feel weird walking into a stadium knowing you weren’t there to cheer for the home team. And even though our Rockies weren’t able to pull off a win either, we still had a good time!

Sunday we went to a potluck BBQ with some friends from church. We brought potato salad, deviled eggs, and jalapeno poppers. This was our first time making homemade potato salad (recipe courtesy of Ross’ Grandma) we ended up making a larger batch than we thought we did. We also learned a few things with the jalapeno poppers. First, WEAR GLOVES when handling jalapenos. Second, people in California have NEVER had these before!! We made enough poppers so each person could enjoy 2 poppers. We left with almost half left over (which just meant more for Ross and I). As for the lesson of needing to wear gloves next time, I got to scrap out the seeds during the preparation process. So….all the juices decided to soak into my hand….and give me the worst chemical burn I have ever had! We tried everything to stop the pain….cold water, ice, Neosporin, calamine lotion, rubbing alcohol, milk, baking soda, and finally peanut butter. After a few hours the pain and redness and swelling finally went away, only to come back after I took a shower. Finally after a full day had gone by, my hand went back to normal.

And now to get to the subject of this posting. At the end of each year, the school does a ranking of all the students in each class and drops the lowest 10% (if your GPA was below 2.4 you were dropped). The ranking also helps the school determine scholarships. So, last night after Ross got home from playing basketball, he got an email from the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs telling him that he is in the top 3rd percentile of his class and will receive a full scholarship for the 2010-2011 school year!! And not only is he in the top 3rd percentile, he is number 8 out of his entire class of 280 students!! I am so proud of him. His hard work and dedication paid off!!

Below are some pictures from the Rockies game.