More fires

For the last few days, California has been on fire...again!  This time it hit much closer to home.  Our old neighborhood was evacuated along with many of our dear friends.  We are still waiting to hear from everyone, but so far our best friends homes' were left intact. We have heard about a few other families that we knew through school or sports activities that have lost their homes.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in California right now.  We miss you all and hope and pray that everyone is safe.

This is one of the things I do not miss about California.  The Santa Ana winds are just horrible and can bring hot hurricane force with them.  Our neighborhood was beautiful, up on a hill away from the city but with that beauty we were surrounded by brush.  The light of one single match could mean mass devastation to all.  Apparently, this is what happened this past weekend.  Someone was careless or maybe even spiteful and now 50 apartments are gone as well as over 30 homes, the homes of our neighbors.  

I am so sad about the destruction I cannot even begin to explain.  I just pray and hope that the loss of these buildings did not include the loss of life.

It's been a while!

What a month!  October was just busy, busy, busy.  The family came in for a visit the day after my last post and I have not been able to organize myself again until today.  

Jnet and Dad came in for about a week and we had such a great time.  We went to the zoo and we went to Vala's.  We carved our pumpkins ( a bit early because they were rotten by Halloween) and we shopped and ate and had lots and lots of fun.  

Since they left, Ian has finished the official soccer season.  We had to squeeeeeeze games in at the last minute because we had over a week of rain here.  He starts his indoor session tonight.  He is playing futsol for the winter to help him gain strength with his foot skills.  I think it will be fun for him.  We also had a really warm two weeks (now it is gone) but it was nice to just be outside and enjoy the warm weather.  Halloween was spectacular because it was still pretty warm out.  We all wore long sleeve shirts with no jackets.  Awesome!

Today, we were supposed to get some of that snow from the north blizzard but it never came.  I am a little bummed, the first snow is so pretty and it doesn't stick!  I guess we will save that for another day later this month.  We are getting ready for holidays.  I put away all the Halloween stuff and will start decorating for Christmas this weekend.  I know it is early but we will be gone for a week during Thanksgiving, so I can't do it then.  

It has been a very busy month for us, too much to write about.  But today is a nice relaxing day and I wanted to catch everyone up.  Enjoy the pics!

Fires

Today as the weather chills - literally - I am reading the news about the fires in California.  Cali is beautiful when the days are 80 degrees and it is February.  But the brutal side of Cali can be ugly.  The Santa Ana winds are like nothing you have felt, the hot air is hard to breathe in and of course super dangerous to the dry areas.  I went to school for a year at Cal State Northridge and lived in Chatsworth while I was there.  So these fires are just around the corner from where I used to live.  I just wanted to share this photo of the fires.  It is devastating, but beautiful in an ugly way. 

We hope that everyone in Cali is safe and that you are all stocked up on some Zyrtec!  Be safe!

I got tagged

Beckie tagged me and I am supposed to post a new photo, although I don't know which one so I am just going to grab a random new one.  Hold on.....

I don't know if it was supposed to have the whole family or me in it but no one takes pictures of me much.  I just take pictures of them.  This is a the Arbor Day Farm.  Kayla is in the tree house with these wonderful fabrics that you can move and tie together to make different the tree house look different.  It was very cool, but sort of hard to describe.  Oh well, here is my picture.  Tag Jnet, Rho and Tiya go post some photos to your facebook and myspace!

Nothing Really

Hi there!  You know for as much as we have going on in our lives there is really nothing to report this week.  We are getting ready for our fall break next week, which is exciting because my Dad and Jnet are coming to visit.  But other than that we are just moving along right now.  I guess that is good,  no news is good news, right?

The weather is changing, but much slower than I expected.  It has cooled down some but we are still having very pleasant days, over 70 degrees and rain maybe once a week.  The geese are still hanging out in the yard in the early morning and late afternoon and the leaves are slowly changing.  

That's about it folks.  Soccer is almost done - well outdoor soccer that is.  We start Futsol indoor soccer next month.  That is something new for us and we are excited to see how the boys react to a heavier ball.  

Have a good weekend everyone and maybe I will have something exciting to tell you about next week!

Boobs!

Go get your boobs checked!!

So, did you think I was going to write something terrible after that title??!!  Nope, not today anyway.  If you don't already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and I say go get em checked!  I have my appointment set for later this month so I hope all of you have already done it this year or have it on your calendar too!

This month you will see all sorts of products out that promote B.C.A.M. and I hope that you will take some time out to purchase one or two of those items and notice what organization the funds will benefit.  I personally love the Yoplait lids, I have been saving for weeks and I also love the pink M&M's that are on sale at Target and most grocery stores.  Also, the Susan G. Komen online store usually has some fantastic goodies to buy this month so go check that page out too.

So, go have those "girls" checked out, go buy some great stuff to help support breast cancer research and may all of you be healthy and happy as you eat your pink M&M's this month!  Love you!

Do you know what time it is???

I do, it's fall!  I am reluctantly getting excited about the seasons changing.  Winter was really hard for me last year so you can understand why I am not ready for ice, snow and sub-zero temperatures.  

But, I do love fall.  I always have loved fall; the changing of the leaves, the crisp cool nights, the football season, and of course Halloween.  I have told you that the geese are a singing the leaves are a changing, right?  Well, tonight we have about 50 or so geese in the field behind our house.  For those of you who don't know what our yard looks like, we have no house behind us yet so we have four vacant lots directly behind us.  These geese are walking through the field getting some goodies before bed time.  I know from experience that they will keep coming back to the fields for a week or so and then get ready to take flight.  

I love the geese and the beauty of their majestic flight.  They are so graceful when they land and so hypnotic when they fly in their perfect "V".  I am glad we are here and I can experience something new.  Hey, maybe I am ready for it to turn cold after all.  Hmmm, we will see when that first snow comes how I am feeling.