The Great Outdoors: Take Two

The first councilor in our Bishopric shared with us an invaluable piece of information. It is a book called "Trails of the Angeles."

This book guided us to one of the "best kept secrets of Southern California." A place called chantry flats. I'll admit, it was a wonderful hike. Shady, tons of green plant life, beautiful little cottages along the way, and a pleasant little waterfall at the end.

A great day.

The Great Outdoors

Azusa Canyon

So this is a beautiful picture, right?

Last Friday, we decided to explore the canyon near us. We found a great little pull out near a river and started our adventure. I was excited to see that So Cal had some trees and solemnity, but wasn't really surprised to see what's in the pictures below.

Yes, the rocks and trees are all "tagged" and the river was filthy. There were jeans and a bathing suit just sittin' right there in the river amongst all the other trash and debris! It was actually pretty sad to see. There's just no respect for Mother Nature around these parts.

It's impossible to not have a good time with Jason though. We explored everywhere, he even found a tee pee!! We crossed the river on fallen logs, and we took many deep breaths of much fresher air. It was a wonderful Friday afternoon.

My dear Boris the Taurus

I am sorry to have brought you here. I held out as long as I could, but the change had to be done. You and I, together will make it through this time. I too miss the clean, crisp Rocky Mountain air, the beautiful winter mornings, and clean streets with no traffic. We have been promised that this sacrifice will be worth it. For now.....let's enjoy this place for all it's worth.

Weekend Fun

Jason has been super busy with his rotations so we don't get out much during the week. He has fortunately had the weekends off so far, until this past week. So for the month of March we filled each weekend with fun-ness. Sadly, we are terrible picture takers, so there aren't pictures for each fun event.

March 7, Jason's good friend Nathan Scott and his wife, Ester came and stayed with us. They were here for the wedding of another friend that just happened to be 15 min. from our house. It was fun to play with them and eat doughnuts. We sure do love these two people. Thanks for visiting friends!

March 13, for Jason's birthday we went to California Adventure. We ran around as fast as we could to as many rides as possible. It has been years since I have been to an amusement park, so it was fun to act like a kid again.

March 14, We left bright and early to meet Jason's family in Solvang, CA. Driving up the coast was beautiful. We even got to stop and watch some dolphins. Jason's Dad and Uncle were part of the Solvang Century and Half Century bike race.

These two men are such pure entertainment. I've never seen such close brotherly love. We had so much fun walking around the beautiful town of Solvang. It is a little Danish town with horse-drawn trolleys, windmills, and bell towers. They even sell Aebleskivers like ice cream. These delicious pancake balls are a family tradition in my home, so it was fun to see a city who actually appreciates these delicacies. I absolutely love Jason's family. They have always made me feel so loved and like one of their own. Even though it was a quick trip, we enjoyed every minute.

March 20, Our friends Sarah and Ryan Darby invited us to go beach camping down at Doheny Beach. We had a great group of friends together making tinfoil dinners, s'mores, banana boats and laughing a lot. The $64 ticket on our windshield in the morning wasn't a welcoming sight, but the great company makes up for it. That evening, our Bishop had given us tickets to see a concert in Pasadena for the Pasadena Pops. They were unable to perform but a group called "Cherish the Ladies" performed instead. They are a Celtic group from Ireland and they were fantastic!! Penny whistles, guitar, fiddle, accordion, piano, singing, and river dancing......I LOVED them. It was a very fun evening.

Just when we thought our month couldn't get any better, we get a call from Jason's best friend, Alan, down in San Diego inviting us to a Martin Sexton concert on the 26th. I'll admit, I am not too familiar with Sexton, but we decided this would be a last "Hurrah" before we calm things down for awhile. Jason had to work a 30 hr shift the night before and only got 4 hrs of sleep before the concert and 4 hours that night before he had to be back at the hospital at 6:00 am. I hate his schedule, I feel so bad for him. Anyway, we had the best time at this concert! The Darby's were there again, and Alicia, a long time friend of Jason's. Martin Sexton was amazing! We had dinner reservations, so we were at a table right next to the stage. A very enjoyable night with some of the best friends in the world.

We finished the month with a much needed visit to the Temple. A relaxing but rejuvenating evening. I sure do love having Jason around to join me in so many fun things. He is so much fun and makes me smile all day long. Life has been real good for us.

Hooray for Birthdays!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON

A tribute to my Husband

Jason turned 28 last Friday and I wanted everyone to see some sides of him maybe you haven't seen before.

Jason's in his third year of Medical School. I am amazed daily with what he has to do and everything he knows. He is going to be an incredible physician someday. He makes the best TA for microbiology too!

Jason has been able to do some traveling to India and Peru and other countries for some service opportunities. He has some hilarious stories and great memories. I know he feels greatly blessed to have been to these beautiful areas of the world.

He's a rocker at heart and has introduced me to a new world of hair bands from the 80's!

I think Jason could also be a model...He is so handsome. I couldn't feel more blessed to have such a fun and wonderful husband. He has been so patient with me and I will do everything I can to be the best wifey for him. I love you Jas.

Home Sweet Home

So... to get to the current news, we have our first apartment in Glendora, CA. We chose this city because Jason is in the middle of his 3rd year rotations and travels all over to different hospitals. I am going to Citrus College here in Glendora, so why not cut down on my commute?

It has been a fast adjustment to living in this area, and we struggle in SoCal a little, but we have really found a few ways to enjoy it.

Only about a half a block away from us is a Pay-N-Play Racquetball court. We love this place because it is pretty much like a racquetball vending machine. It's open 24/7, you put your dollar bills into a machine and it buys you so many minutes of light. It's a total cement room, complete with cob webs and black widows. This has been one of our best "bonding" activities. Even though on many occasions I have either thrown my racket, threatened Jason, or stormed out before we even finished (I'm a bit competitive) I do love playing with Jason and appreciate his patience!

The next best thing we have found around here is Mt. High. Since both of us grew up around snow we miss a cold winter tremendously. We have both had our last 3 winters of beautiful snow stolen from us because we have been here in SoCal, so now we escape to Mt. High as often as possible. We go night boarding because it is a whole lot cheaper and I think night boarding is as close to heaven as you can get. I'll even admit that we have had some decent snow. Ok 1 out of 5 days was good snow, but we have so much fun up there.

Honeymoon

We got married in November because Jason had 4 weeks off from rotations. November 15th was the first day of his break, and we used the entire break to have fun. Our first stop... HAWAII! This was my first time to Hawaii. We spent the entire time in beautiful Maui. We did everything touristy possible. It totally surpassed every expectation I had and I couldn't have asked for a better Honeymoon.

This is the Blowhole. It was huge! We went and stood by it and got soaking wet and freezing cold.

We went snorkeling just about everyday. There were so many beautiful spots right off of the beach. We saw incredible fish, coral and some HUGE sea turtles. I am not a huge fan of salt water, but we just couldn't get enough of snorkeling. It was so so fun. I must admit....we look pretty dang hot in the snorkel gear too.

We spent one whole day on the Road to Hana, which was definitely not enough. There are so many hikes, waterfalls, beaches, and snack huts to visit, we just couldn't do it all in one day. Some essential locations were the black sand beach and Seven Sacred Pools. They were so beautiful and fun. I'll admit, I was a bit of a chicken when it came time to jumping off one of the waterfalls. Not because of the height of it, but because of the insecurity of what was in the water. I thought for sure I would land on some huge boulder under the water and be paralyzed forever. With some nice encouragement from Jason and a small push (jk) We jumped off together. I'm glad I did it. The water was that fresh, cold, mountain water that sucks out all your breath the moment you jump in. Loved it. Jason jumped a few more times and became a crowd pleaser with all his flips and tricks.

One morning we even decided to wake up at 3:30 am and drive to the top of the Haleakala Crater to watch the sunrise. I had no clue it would be so frigid cold. We got a good 15 minutes in before we headed back to the car. It was however, totally worth it.

We really got to do SO many fun things in Hawaii. One of the last big adventures I wanted to try was surfing. I'm not exactly the most coordinated individual, and I was still scared of what I would potentially land on in the water. The waves break right on top of coral, and I was just not too excited about getting all cut up when I fell. When it came time to do it I was ready and excited. On my first run though, I did slice a huge chunk of my toe off. It was a dumb fluke but I wanted to keep surfing. I got a few more runs in and I had a really fun time. Thanks to Jason for coaching me the whole time and pushing me into the wave so I could actually ride it. (By the way, the waves were only about a foot tall, I had a huge Styrofoam board and neoprene booties on...I know, I'm pathetic.)

Hawaii was good to us. There is just so much that we did I can't post it all. I can't forget the wonderful Johnson Family who let us stay at their house while we were there. Thank you SO much. It could not have been more perfect. Oh yeah, and my sister Carolyn was able to come visit us. She provided some unforgettable entertainment!! I love her so much.