Wheel Of Fortune

Rocky's new favorite show is Wheel of Fortune. For the past 2 weeks, every night at 6:30, he cozies up with his bottle and a couple pillows to watch it. He's so relaxed and snuggly it's becoming my favorite part of the day. If he's still awake at the end of the show he waves to Vanna White after she says, "Goodnight!"

Bear, the Dog.

We got a puppy! We named him Bear, as in Grizzly Bear, Papa Bear, or Bear Grylls- whichever you prefer. Right now he's baby bear, he's only 3 months old. His breed is a Bull Mastiff- so he's eventually going to be bigger than me. I think he's pretty cute, even though he's already more than doubled in size since we got him about 3 weeks ago! He's VERY well behaved and has already found a best friend in Rocky. They rip it up (literally) in the backyard together like two little puppy dogs. I found them behind a bush digging holes together once. That made me laugh a little. Sometimes exposure to humans makes dogs think that they are human- (for example, my inlaw's dog Rosco thinks he is a human) but not this little Bear, he's turning my little guy into a puppy dog. I'm fine with that until I see rocky on all four's drinking out of the dog dish.

Rocky is typically performing some sort of mild torture on poor Bear, as shown here.

The Boys...

Lucky Guy

I realized that Rocky hangs out with some pretty cool gals- and I thought to myself, 'What a lucky guy he is...'

(side note- he never ventured further than this picture shows at the fountains, he didn't want to get very wet, just little splashes.)

The other day his cousin Natalie and he were such good pals- they were buddies all day long.

How Green Was the Valley

It's been soo rainy here Joe and I were impressed with how green the desert could get. It's unlike anything I've ever seen and really quite beautiful.

This hike is only about 5miles from our house.

Rocky wasn't as impressed as he was tired.

Something about this picture reminds me of Baloo in the Jungle Book.

Our little guy LOVES to sit in puddles.

Home to CALIFORNIA for a week

Rocky and I went home to my parent's house in California for a week. In one week we crammed in a wedding, 2 baptisms, 4 birthdays, 2 beach trips, a hike, and obviously, A LOT of good memories.

Emmy and Madeleine were helping grandma cook- I took this picture because the girls are in my sister Lizzy's and my old aprons that we used to wear in the kitchen. It's a blast to have the next generation around doing many of the same things I and my sisters used to do.

Like playing jewelry dress up :)
BEACH TRIP #1

Me and Jennifer

Grandma and Rocky

Rock loved being at the beach as long as he didn't get too close to the waves, they made him really really nervous.

He sat down in the water with his pants on.

This beach had everything! Including tide pools with tons of star fish and sea enenemies. I have no idea how to spell that, but they suction your toes, and that can be a little creepy but also very entertaining.

Check out the erosion of the California coast! My Aunt who lives within walking distance from this beach has named this "Roman Beach"because these foundations look like Roman pillars.

A pond from farther up creates a stream that flows in to the ocean. The kids loved playing in it.

caption: "I love this beach! I love being here with my family! I'm so happy La de da da da..."

Hiking in Sunol- This is called Little Yosemite. My family hiked this and a lot more of the Sunol wilderness 10 years ago when I was in high school- it was great to come back and see it. I think it is one of the prettiest places to be.

Rocky plopped down here and threw in about 100 rocks into the stream.

Lunch with Grandma

On the drive back from Sunol there is this impressive Water Temple that we always see but have never stopped, we finally did, and it was awesome. Should have done it a while ago!

BEACH TRIP #2

Ramona's 1 year birthday!

Rocky is eyeing those waves... he doesn't want anything to do with them.

There is a lot of drift wood on this beach. Some previous beach goers made an awesome fort that was a little bit of shelter from the wind. Sometimes there's nothing colder than a day at the beach in Northern California.

Ladies in Leggings.

Grandpa is a good cuddle buddy.

Abigail and Collin- Cousin Buddies on their baptism day.