We’ve had some recent get-togethers with new friends at our home. Last weekend Liz & Drew & kids, Nicole & Mike, and Catherine & Tyler came over for pizza, Wii, and MST3K. We’ve had them all over before for lasagna or shish kabobs and anime, games, and MST3K previously as well. It’s nice to spend time with other couples and I’m so glad we’re getting to know people over here. Mostly everyone we spend time with right now we know from church. Everyone has been so great to us there and I’m really enjoying getting to know other people in the church. Matt’s ushering and I’m working in the nursery now and we’ve opened up and are being more sociable than we ever were in California. There have been some fun picnics and fellowship potlucks lately that have been really good times.

Rhino is doing well. He’s making a lot of really funny faces lately and flashing us huge, toothy grins. He flails his arms all the time, both in joy and frustration. I think he’s getting ready to get mobile — he thrashes around more when he’s on his stomach or tries to climb up me if I’m sitting with him. He sits up on his own flawlessly and is now gently leaning forward and getting onto his tummy on his own from the sitting position. He’s eating yummy mushed peas, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes mostly along with some baby oat cereal. He’s practicing pinching and self-feeding with sweet potato puffs. He’s doing really well with picking them up between his forefinger and thumb (or thumb knuckle) and putting them in his mouth. I had also been giving him chilled baby carrots for a while to teethe on. He really enjoys holding the little carrot, holding it up and showing it to me, waving it around like he’s conducting an orchestra, etc. He’s getting so much better at chewing, he will pretty much demolish (and eat!) a baby carrot. Of course, I’m always sitting with him to make sure he doesn’t bite off a chunk that he could choke on, but really he just kind of grates the side of the carrot with his teeth so the pieces are really small and he can swallow them easily. He really has the best time with the carrot, too — I think they’re his favorite toy!

We haven’t really been doing too much else lately. Matt is back on a day schedule. His new term is starting up this week (he’ll be taking a math class online and hopefully tomorrow will be signing up for another class to satisfy his CCAF requirements.) Tomorrow through Sunday our church is having a world missions conference, which we’re looking forward to attending. School is going slowly for me, but it’s going. And that’s about all! We’ve been pretty dull lately. It’s been raining a lot, so we haven’t gotten out too much. I’m really itching to go on a hike soon and get some pretty pictures before it starts to get too cold. Hopefully we have a nice, dry weekend someday soon!

Matt and I have talked a lot about Tal and Gabby and decided that it just doesn’t make much sense to try to bring them. We have to get them microchipped, rabies shots, a FAVN test (will probably take a month or so before we can do that), then a blood test followed by 180 days of quarantine before they can enter Japan. Well, I’m not sure we’ll have the time. Plus, it will be such a drag getting them out there on a long flight then the 12-hour pet shuttle trip up to Misawa. And temporary lodging doesn’t allow pets and our housing options would be limited with them. I think it would also freak them out a ton and who knows how they’re going to handle a newborn on top of all that. We’re going to try really hard to find them a good home and maybe (hopefully!!) they’ll get to stay together wherever they are. It’s sad and we’ve grown really attached, but I think it would just be crazy (and expensive) to try to move them out with us. It will be quite the stressful time without dealing with pets. They’ve been so sweet with us and we love them so much, but so long as they’re with loving new parents, I’ll be okay with it. Maybe someday when we’re settled in we can get another kitten, too!

The following week, Danielle took Matt and I hiking up Madonna Mountain in San Luis Obispo. It was a nice, short hike right in the city. More plant information and a tasty lunch at the top with a hiking dog. And of course, Matt is a goof with the pretty cacti.

The next week, Matt and I took a nice hike by ourselves in Los Padres National Forest from Red Rocks up to Gibralter Dam. We hung out with a friendly snake, took more plant photos, attempted to cross the river and I fell in, and hope to return soon.

Danielle and I hung out a few more times. We went back up to SLO to go camping-supply shopping, to meet some of her plant-nerd friends, and to watch the movie Miss Potter. I heard this movie wasn't well-received, but I really enjoyed it. We went to the Lompoc Fine Arts Festival where we fell in love with so many cute, knitted, animal finger puppets. We met up with her friend who was doing some plant research in Los Osos and walked around a lovely grove of oaks, where she believes we contracted some icky poison oak. I think it was from a later adventure on base.

I took a last-minute trip out to Colorado to see Mama for Mother's Day. Matt didn't come, but it was only less than 5 days away from home. I just recently went on active duty status at my guard unit and will be working full-time for quite a while, so I saw it as my last opportunity for quite some time to just pick up and take a trip. And it's Mother's Day and I wanted to see her new puppies. It was a relaxing few days gabbing with Mama and spending a lot of time at the dog parks. I cooked a little bit for her and Ron every night, which I feel very privileged to be able to do. After all, before I moved out I had been permanently banned from the kitchen for my incompetency. It's nice to prove myself! I made desserts, of course, including the scrumptious baked pear pastries that turned out fabulously! We did a bit of gardening, which was wonderful, and I took plenty more flower photos. I'm obviously getting fond of taking pictures of plants — thanks, Danielle! Since Delilah, the dog I received for my 11th birthday, passed away in the winter, Mama had her cremated and held on to the ashes until I could return. We played the Grateful Dead's "Samson and Delilah", said a few words, and scattered her from the balcony, her favorite lounging spot.

Little Melissa and I are still spending time together as well. Next week she'll finish her first year of high school! All ready! This month is our 3-year anniversary and things just keep getting more fun! We went to a BBBSA bowling day, ate a lot of pizza, (re)met another great match of girls, and took home certificates for our most amazing bowling forms (under the legs, backwards, lying down, etc. etc!) We also visited the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival, where we spent too much on sugar and dizziness. I also bribed Little Mel into getting on a ride that goes upside-down for the first time. Ohh, it was a blast! We have done a little hiking of our own, as well. We planned on taking this loop trail in Gaviota State Park. I guess we missed something very early on in our hike because we traveled far from the loop. It was still a nice, 2-hour hike through tall weeds, drenched in sun.

During the May guard weekend, I got to talking to an ex-I-Labber who had extensively explored the abandoned missile sites all around base. He drew me a crude map marking all the great spots to crawl through tunnels and down silo ladders. Matt, Danielle and I set out one day to find all these amazing sites. We all ready knew about the Titan site that exploded in the 70's. I learned the real story of how that happened, dispelling all the more interesting rumors I had been told over the years. I think we hit every road and dead end on this huge base, but we didn't find any of these great old missile sites. I blame the map, of course. So we went back to the Titan site to crawl around it a bit more and see if there's anything interesting we'd missed. We saw a badger, a wonderful spiky lizard of some sort, lots of pretty bees on ice-plant blooms, and I think this may be where we got our case of poison oak. Just like last time, but not as bad. I got medicated early on. I learn.

Since then I've been at work filling in for a bunch of people. I was almost on my own, but it went pretty well. I like my unit and I think the work is interesting. It's fairly quiet and not too stressful. They're unsure exactly how long I'll be on orders, but I'm told they're hoping until at least the end of September. The paycheck really will be nice. It's been too long since I've really contributed financially! Danielle and I go to the gym whenever we work at the same time and get a little exercising in. I'm starting to stress out about that a little more, as my annual fitness test is this Thursday. I'm not as lazy as I had been last year, but I think I'm still not up to where I'd like to be for this test. We'll see how it goes on Thursday, I guess. Friday Danielle and I went to a great Total Body Conditioning class on base with her friend, Stephanie. Boy, did that surprise us! The instructor had absolutely no mercy! It was a great time, but hard work. Stephanie seems like such a great gal and she and her husband live here in town (and he is a World of Warcraft junkie … I'm sure the men will get along fabulously once they meet!) The there of us and Matt went out that evening to see the local grandpas pickin' country tunes on their guitars upstairs in the Lilly building. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was a good time! We didn't know too many of the songs and I think the old men got a kick out of us. I took some horrible videos of Danielle and Stephanie singing along to some songs. It inspired Matt and I to actually pick up the guitar we bought last year. Hopefully we'll be strumming out something soon. Danielle had told me this get-together would be bluegrassy, but it wasn't exactly. What I love most about bluegrass music is the mandolin. I struggle with forming chords on a guitar, which I know is my own fault which I can overcome, but I've convinced myself that I'd have a much better time with a cute little mandolin. I'm watching eBay for them this week. Danielle has a fiddle, though wants to learn the upright bass. Maybe someday we'll have a little band of our own!

That's all for tonight. Matt will be on nights this week, so he will be coming home from work right as I wake up, then I'll take the car and get home just in time for him to leave for work. It will be a long week, but that's just what we have to do. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to myself to blab to this blog. Be expecting it!

I’m sitting in the school parking lot, wiping sour cream off my Taco Bell order, and waiting for my computer science class to start. School is going pretty well. Next week I have my first exams in math and physics. Physics is pretty tough, but Mr. Jorstad says it gets much easier from here. Math is extremely boring. I took this class (particularly) with spastic Mr. King before dropping last semester. Now Dr. Mesri very slowly over explains everything. It’s better than being too difficult, I guess. My programming class is just an introduction to C and it’s not too tough. some of my days are long (M/W: 9a-7p; T: 830a-3p; R: 830a-930p), but I never have classes on Fridays.

I met a girl at work named Danielle who recently moved to Lompoc (the same street as us.) We’re going to the gym together Mondays-Thursdays before class/work. She picks me up at 4:40 and we do weight training or spinning until Matt picks me up on his way to work. Danielle used to be a Marine and loves to work out, so she is the perfect motivator. This is only our second week into it, but I feel fantastic all day long! I’m very sore and hopefully soon I’ll start toning up. I’ve put on entirely too much weight over the past year.

We also started going back to church after about three months. We were going to a small group at Jim’s on Thursday nights, studying Acts, but we hadn’t been able to attend since school started up. He found a group for us on Friday nights at Wayne & Rena’s, studying marriage. They live right across the street from us and are so great! All of the other four couples in the group have children older than us, so it is interesting to hear about their experiences.

Last weekend Answers in Genesis, a group that teaches creation backed by science, came to Calvary for a two-day conference. We took in a few lectures about apologetics, astronomy, and our foundations. Matt had heard Ken Ham, the founder of AiG, speak many years ago. He believes in intelligent design, a six day creation, that we are the center of the universe, that there was a worldwide flood, and that dinosaurs lived at the same time as man, to name a few. Some of it still sounds pretty out there to me, but some of their evidence was pretty convincing. And science aside, there’s a lot said in the Bible that I never knew about. We picked up some DVDs and a book to research these ideas further.

Andrea sent me a really cute new journal the other day, which I suppose inspired me to pick up the pen again. I’m not letting myself start new journals without finishing the old ones anymore.

Last month we decided what we’re going to do when Matt leaves the Air Force. The plan was: I’d move out to Colorado over Christmas ’07 and go to CSU in the spring. At the beginning of March he’d follow and find a job around Fort Collins. I have two years left in my physics degree and we would try to buy a house. The last time I went to work I learned that many people in my shop will be leaving, another squadron is moving out with us, many full-time positions will be opening up, and they want to promote at least one SrA. The full-time job will be a GS-11 position and we’re getting new equipment that someone needs to learn and teach to everyone else. It’s extremely tempting to stick around for another two years after signing on full-time

We had a good time walking up and down the beach and sunbathing. The water was nearly freezing, but Matt and Jason jumped in anyway. They got a tad sunburned and Matt has been suffering all week, but we plan on going back hopefully every weekend. Good times. I also finally got a chance to upload the photos I took while TDY. I have an album up of visiting with Andrea. I said earlier that we did some origami and crocheting while I was there, here are a few of our finished products.

I also got a chance to do a bit of crocheting while I was hanging out by myself in the hotel room. I started working on a baby afghan and worked on a bunch of squares for Mama's afghan. These are the squares I completed:

So there's that. Jason and I played a bunch of pool today. I never really learned how to play, so today was sort of instructional. Of course, I've played plenty of games before, but I learned today that I've been doing everything incorrectly. We practiced for almost two hours and had a grand ol' time. I got an email from Andy yesterday saying that he had been sailing from San Diego to Santa Barbara as part of some crew, proving his seaworthiness in order to be part of some large Mexico –> New Zealand trip. I was so excited to hear he was in Santa Barbara and sent off an email immediately making plans for today. Alas, he called today from Colorado as soon as he received my message. I was a little bummed that he was in California and didn't even think to get together. He's a world-traveler now and I'm not sure when our paths will cross again. I'm sure they will. I think sometimes I just get nostalgic for times in my past. College in Colorado was fun most of the time and I do miss the friends I had then. Being that they're all males, I often feel it's inappropriate to keep in touch or be as close as I'd like to. They're good guys and I think of them often. It's always good to see someone or get an email hearing about all the great adventures. Matt and I are planning a quick trip next month. Neil Gaiman will be up near San Francisco, about 4 hours away from us, for a book signing. He's cutting back a lot on his appearances and I don't want to miss an opportunity. I've never been to a signing before, but I think it sounds like a good time. And of all the famous people I know of, I think he is the one I'd like to meet the most. Matt will take a day or two of leave and we'll probably stay the night up in the bay area. We had only been once, for a Switchfoot concert, and didn't get to explore the city at all. So maybe we'll make a big event of it. Anyhow, I'm excited to pick up Neil's Fragile Things and get to say hello. Wednesday was my first day of math class. I was really nervous about the whole thing and ready to drop the class that day. I received a text message from Erick earlier reporting that they just started chapter 5. I had just finished chapter 2 and started freaking out about how I'd never catch up. It really bummed me out a bit because I've been struggling on my own with the coursework. Then I received another text informing me that they had skipped chapters 3 and 4, renewing my confidence. I went to class and found I wasn't really that far behind. I just have to do some super-studying for our first exam two weeks from now. I'm not working (though I am researching some exciting jobs) and this is the only class I'm taking, so I shouldn't have any excuses not to do well enough. I went to the dentist today for a first exam and cleaning. It went well enough at first and I really like my dentist. Before going to Georgia I had toothaches and learned I needed a root canal due to decay around some poorly installed Air Force filling. Bummed about that, got over it though. I still need to get a crown on my tooth-stub. Today they found another filling that had improperly bonded and didn't do it's job. So I have some deep decay in that tooth as well and will go in to look at it again next week and see if we can avoid another root canal. And another Air Force filling cracked and will need to be redone. And my gums are receding around the implant I got when I was sixteen, exposing the metal. It could get worse and become a bad thing, so I need to go to someone else to see about some bone grafting. Fun … and cheap, I'm sure. Ughh. So it was somewhat of a disheartening day at the dentist, but that's life I guess. I'm just wondering how our wallet is going to take to all this work. Well, that's my overly wordy update for the week. Jason starts work on Tuesday, then I'll be home alone during the week. I have class at night on Mondays and Wednesdays, but during the day I'll be alone … studying, crocheting, and most likely blogging. So ta ta 'til then.

Day 1: Took some time off school to pick her up. Met the kitties. Looked through photos of her Martha's Vineyard internship. Listened to recordings she and friends did there. Cooked dinner. Watched Alias. Chit chat. Day 2: I had to go to school. Matt and her hung out and played Halo 2, Monkeyball 2, and some other games. Mystery Science Theater 3000. Went out to Sugar Magnolia's for dinner. Watched more Alias. Played with the kitties. Relaxing and more chit chat. Day 3: Turned in keys to the old apartment. Early Bird miniature golf special at Boomer's. DDR (man, are we out of practice!) Ordered pizza. Watched more Alias. Day 4: The self-proclaimed cat-hater falls in love with our kitties. Gabby didn't want Jen to leave (or she wanted to go with her!). Drove down to Santa Barbara. Walked along State Street. Watched some guy play the drums. Saw the beach. Strolled along the pier. Ate enchiladas and burgers at Ruby's. Saw her plane off. Spent half an hour watching the cool clock at the Santa Barbara Airport.

Jen is such a cool chickie. I wish we could have spent more time with her or at least see her more often. We'll fly out to New York for Thanksgiving this year, so we'll have some time then. Matt and I had an awesome time visiting with her. I think we're a little boring to come and visit, but she argued that we aren't. I'm glad she enjoyed herself. My mom and Ron are out on the east coast spending time with my sister and cruising around the little states. I'm so jealous. From the sounds of everything, Andrea and Michael are doing pretty well. Work is a bit of a strain on her eyes (being that she just sits and looks at screens non-stop), but it sounds like she enjoys it enough. Michael is working at Olive Garden now and it sounds like a good job. I found out what dates I'll have long weekends this summer when I'm down in Georgia so we can coordinate a time to visit. Andrea needs plenty of advance notice to apply for leave and I need to get plane tickets to Virginia whenever she gets it approved. I'm not especially looking forward to six summer weeks in Georgia, but having a weekend to visit with Andrea and Michael will be worth it! My classes are canceled today and I've been a bit under the weather anyway, so I'm taking the day off. So far I haven't done much: a little bit of math studying, chatting with my brother for a tad, updating my photo gallery, watching part of The Squid and the Whale, and hanging with the cool cats. It's nice to have lazy days. School is school. Still haven't heard back about my second math exam, though I don't have high hopes for it. I'm trying to get a head-start on the third exam at the end of this month because I hear it's the toughest and all this doesn't exactly come easily to me. It's getting more interesting/fun, though. I'm just having my doubts about whether or not I can handle future math classes. Physics is fun, as usual. The school is hiring a new full-time physics professor and they're in the interviewing stage right now. The picked ten candidates to do a short teaching demonstration of Gauss's Law. I attended three of them yesterday to give my feedback. It was actually a lot of fun. I'm not really allowed to discuss the candidates … physics teachers are just funny people. It was kind of neat because I aspire to be a physics teacher one day (high school preferable, then possibly moving on to college eventually) and I got to hear critiques of how all these teachers presented the material. It was pretty informative and hopefully somewhat helpful when I'm up there one day. Matt is almost finished with his first week of Airman Leadership School. He was really dreading doing this class, but it seems like things aren't nearly as bad as he had expected. The material seems pretty easy and he can get all his homework finished during class breaks. I wouldn't say he's making friends, but there are a few cool guys in there that he chats with and maybe could turn into something more. It would be nice to have some couple-buddies to hang out with. Today he had to attend in full service dress, which is very uncomfortable. It seems men have it worse than women on account of their neck ties, but they look much more striking than women do in blues. So he's at work right now getting choked, then in a few hours he'll have to do his PT evaluation. We've been pretty lazy lately and haven't run all that much, so he doesn't expect to do so well. But come the end of the month when he has his final exam, the difference will be quite significant. I'm sure he'll do perfectly fine, as he has long legs and is built to run; he'll probably just be sore this weekend. That's all for today. I'm off to download some more MST3K and lounge around lazily. Woo!