bye bye, Cali

Well, tonight is our last night in California.  Assuming no earthquakes occur in the next 12 hours, we'll have escaped unscathed.  This is also assuming our car can hold up long enough to get us out.  We've loved living here, the area is perfect.  Mountains, lakes, beaches, and baseball games all within a short drive.  We loved our ward and made some great friends.  Marie was born here and has a best friend that she gets excited to see every single day.  I'll miss the young men that I work with.  I hung out with them at least 2 hours every single week, plus a whole bunch of campouts on top of that.  I was too busy hanging out with them to remember to teach them anything.  But that's the way it goes sometimes.  It's kind of sad to be moving on, but mostly we are excited.  This next little move to Misawa should be a family adventure and hopefully we'll make some awesome memories.

Congrats Brett!

 

Recently, Brett's office threw him a going away lunch. He and three of his co workers are moving on. I dare say Brett has the best assignment of all. Here he is with his boss who is presenting him a plaque of thanks. It's inscribed "Third Times The Charm." Some inside joke, I suppose. But it's a very nice plaque he can remember Travis AFB by. It's got his name, title, and year of duty on it. And of course the best part is that there are 3 pictures of specific airplanes on the bottom- for decoration maybe. Or maybe they knew that I would never really know what a KC 10 was unless I had it inscribed on a piece of oak. That way when Brett points to a plane, which he often does, I can agree with him, "Yes, that is a KC 10, not a C 5." This type of acknowledgement is important to men.
However I digress...

 

Brett's boss gave a little speech about Brett. He's a nice guy. A really nice guy. He repeated that like 5 times so I guess he meant it. He also said Brett never had excuses for assignments, and always took things on and completed them thoroughly and accurately. He also noted him for being dedicated to his family (I totally high fived Brett in my head when he said that), and committed to his community as Brett has worked extensively with the Varsity Scouts this year. 
Brett had a lot of court-martials while here. Travis AFB is pretty much #1 in the AF for court-marshals. That means he and his co workers are always busy busy. But Brett wanted experience and that's what he got.
Marie and I are as proud as punch!

 

Marie was feeling a under the weather when we went the the party, but she managed to socialize anyways. She's always one for making friends with important people... or animals.

 

She also decided she wanted to go out for the WNBA. But we talked about it afterward, and she realized it wasn't really the career path for her. Instead, she will be a professional blanket snuggler. I think that's a good choice.

Presenting: "Busy Busy" with a our First Movie Clip

 

We have been so busy! A lot has happened and is yet to happen  in the next month. Marie got glasses! She started developing a lazy eye 4 weeks ago. The doctor she saw ( a nice LDS guy) said she needed glasses and have her strong eye patched 3 times a week. We are enjoying our new pirate lifestyle. We have yet to rob the neighbors, drink rum, or make anyone walk the plank, but I have a feeling you'll be seeing that soon enough on our blog.

Her glasses are adorable. Bendable, sturdy, blue rimmed. However, you will never see them because she has yet to keep them on her face, let alone get them on her face at all. She thinks they are fun to play with. We gave them to her and she managed to bend them within 5 seconds. We fixed them, but I'm confident they will be in the repair shop more than they will actually be on her face.

 

We are in the midst of moving. Which means a lot of eating out. Yay for me! (but not the check book)

 

And of course, we are "vacationing" in a week, so Marie got a fever of 105. This girl always gives me a good scare before we go on vacation. Maybe she doesn't want to travel. I don't know. But I definitely think she can sense that things are about to change drastically. However, we've been telling her good things, like they have water slides in Japan, and that it's illegal to make kids eat tomatoes. She appreciates that.

And finally- our first movie clip! Our blog needs to come alive. So hopefully I can put more of these up in the future. Here Marie is helping Daddy fix his bike. Now that I've sold the Honda we are biking fiends. Lance Armstrong watch your back!

Six Flags with Stefani

 

Free tickets to Six Flags? How could I turn it down? My good friend Stefani offered to take Marie and I to SF before we left. She had won a contest for tickets and was gracious enough to share her spoils with us.  

 

Marie had a pretty good time. We played in the park, rode the carousel, two trains, and saw a tiger show. That was about all we could handle. What can I say, I'm an old woman.

 

I would like to share pictures of my friend Stefani and her beautiful 6 mo old... but she was too busy waiting for me on the rides, and taking my picture.

How do I get people to be my friend? Oh well... just keep drinkin' the magic "friend juice" for now. It will wear off by the time I land in Japan. I hope the Japanese like homemade juice.

Humble Thyself

 

Well.... at least they said it tasted good.

Wedding Day!

Rachel's lost in the kitchen.  She got behind some pots, pans, and some heavy machinery and is trapped.  She's talking crazy, saying things like, "I'm making a wedding cake," and "measurement is everything," and "never measure too much, unless you do, and then you're just weird."

 I'm worried that Rachel will need my help in transporting the cake to the reception. I'm worried because everytime I have to do this it takes several miracles for the cake to not be destroyed.  I'm not cut out for such stresses.

And then there's Marie, she wanted to play ball with us.  She wasn't happy about being left out at first. 

 

But then she realized she can wield more power as the coach.