An Amazing Week!!

Wow. We had so much fun this week with Gerald and Bekah. We did so much. For more detail...check out their blog. But we ended the week with a bang at DISNEYLAND! That was so cool. I am so glad we went. We are missing them so much already.

Well, It is Christmas Eve! It is hard to believe. There is no snow, no family and it is sorta weird. But its good. We are hanging out today, waiting for some packages (that we are very excited for!) and we are shopping for food for our Christmas feast.

Mike and Joni are coming over tomorrow to eat Christmas dinner with us, That will be great. I hope that everyone has an amazing Christmas and we are missing you!


P. S. We have a lot more pictures at http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2031432&l=91efc&id=11402844

Gerald and Bekah!

We are getting ready for Gerald and Bekah to arrive!! They are coming to visit for the week and we are sooooo excited. For those who don't know, Gerald is Nate's cousin and Bekah is his super sweet girlfriend. We are very excited to see them and have a chance to have visitors!

Last night we spent some time with some new friends, Crystal and Sean. They are really cool. We had a lot of fun with them! We got dinner at an overpriced Mexican restaurant (we will never go there again!) and then went back to hang out at his apartment. It was a good relaxing weekend.

Maddi is sick. She has an ear infection. Yuck. She is pretty miserable, so we brought her to the vet yesterday morning. They gave her all of her shots and did an exam and it was so expensive! I think vets here are more expensive too!

I don't think Nate ever wrote about the huge waves we had. About a week ago their were 15 - 20 foot waves...it only happens about once a year. It was amazing. I will add a picture of that!

Well, we are going to get ready to pick them up at the airport! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Christmas is coming!

It sure doesn't feel like it here! No snow...but there are plenty of Christmas decorations and even a Christmas Parade. We went to the OB Christmas parade...It was very interesting, but fun! There were lots of crazy people and floats! And of course lots of VW buses :)
We also had lunch with Mike and Joni. Not too much else new, we just hung out this weekend and relaxed!
What did you do this weekend?

Birthday Fun!

We had a super fun day yesterday. Nate got me some beautiful flowers and planned a day to Julian. It is a little historical town about an hour away. It is crazy because you have to take all of these little winding roads to get there. We parked and got lunch then walked around the shops. They are famous for their pies and apples, so we got some Cider and Apple pie. It was a really fun place to explore. I have pictures on facebook, the link is http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030366&l=5b6bc&id=11402844

We went out for dinner with Mike and Joni and spent some quality time with them...with Thanksgiving and the busyness of it, we haven't seen them all week and we missed them!

Thank you so much for all of the birthday calls and messages...I miss everyone!!!

Busy Busy!

So this weekend we had a very fun impromptu trip to LA. We were hanging out with our new friend Kelly, who is from Grand Rapids and went to Calvin! We met her at Church and she is super sweet. We went to Church, then to Soupplantaion for some lunch. At lunch Kelly mentioned that the American Music Awards with in LA that night, so we decided to go. It was cool...we stood across the street from the Nokia theater, which is next to the Staples center where the Lakers play, and watched stars get out of their cars. We saw Beyonce, Rihanna, Kid Rock, Ryan Seacrest...who else...oh Slash? I didn't know who he was but Nate did. Anywho, it was cool. I have never done anything like that before. We decided next time something like this happens we will get tickets and go! We are also (we meaning Kelly and I, Nate might not be into this) going to try to go to Ellen, and any other shows we can find. It is really cool being close to such a big city!

Tonight we went to Dave and Busters, which is a giant Chuck E Cheese for adults. We went with some fun people from work and got dinner and played some games. I tried dance dance revolution and was terrible. We did trivia, boxing, racing and won some tickets. It was an experience!

Thanksgiving is coming up! What is everyone doing? We are going to spend it with Wade, Michelle and the kids. We are excited to spend some time with them! I am going to make Mashed Potatoes (your recipe mom :) ) and Applesause (Also from you mom). Maybe I will try some sweet potoatoes. We will see.

Hope everyones Thanksgiving is wonderful!

Habla Espanol

I started my Spanish class on Monday...it is hard! I really enjoy it, and i think I will learn a lot...but it is so much to take in! I have the class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:30 - 9:30, so I work until 6 and go straight to class. It makes the days really long, and by now I am exhausted and want to sleep! So that is what I am going to do!

So what is your favorite thing about Fall? I miss fall...the leaves and cool weather, but tomorrow is suppose to be 77, so I cannot complain! I think my favorite part is apple picking.

A whole new world!

Here are some pictures of our life! I hope you like them!

http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029937&l=72782&id=11402844

Home Sweet Home

So things are really starting to feel like home here. We are settling into a routine with work and exploring the area. Nate has gotten to know the area better by traveling around for work. I have made my first good girl friend (other than Joni of course) which is great for me. We went to Target tonight and shopped! I am feeling really good about my job, I just am starting to feel like I am a part of it and not just a spectator. I really love the people I work with and am enjoying it more everyday!

We don't have much planned for the weekend yet, I would like to go to Julian, which is a town close to here that is famous for it's pies, and we could go apple picking there. We will see! There is a newcomers lunch at the church we are going to that we are going to check out. Anyone have anything cool planned for the weekend?

Mexico!

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to TJ yesterday with Flood Church. It was so wonderful to get to see the culture, and to walk to Mexico! We parked on the America side of the border and walked across to the Orphanage. It was so different once we crossed the border. It is horribly sad the need that so many people have.

At the orphanage we played with the kids, did face paint and some arts and crafts and cooked them lunch/dinner (they only eat twice a day...so it was somewhere between the two) I read many Spanish books to a little girl, although I don't know Spanish, so I don't really know what I was reading, or if I was saying it even remotely right. She seemed to not care. That is her in the picture, the kids love having their pictures taken, because they get to see them on the screen!

The orphanage was a very nice orphanage. The one that the church goes to usually is in much worse shape apparently, I hope to go to that one next month. Going to Mexico makes me want to learn Spanish even more!

We ate in a taco shop on the way back, it was good! While we were eating 4 little kids walked up to our table and asked for money at different times. It is so sad and hard, because how do you give money to everyone? There were so many people asking for money or selling Chiclets or some other small candy...also, you don't even know that the money goes for food or something for the kids...So I offered one a taco. He said no.

It was wonderful to have the opportunity to go, we are so close to Mexico! I got to meet a lot of cool people my age from the church, and that was so fun! To see pictures, go to http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029601&l=ca6f5&id=11402844

Other news...Nate got up on his board in Del Mar on Friday and has gone a few more times since then with a few different people he has met. He is really enjoying surfing!

We had a great Halloween party for the kids at school on Friday...we postponed it because of the fire. We had a costume fashion show and contest, lots of food and dodge ball. The kids play Dodge ball every Friday...I love Fridays! They are so much fun. This is a picture of the staff I work with on the right, and kids on the left :)

Today we are just relaxing...maybe watching Transformers...going to church tonight and hopefully going to American Gangster with Mike and Joni tonight!

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Surfing!

Nate went surfing for the first time yesterday. It was a beautiful night!

That is him coming up with the board!

I don't think there is anything else new....

Have a nice night!

The Flood Church

Today we went to a church called the Flood (http://www.diveintoflood.com/) . It was great. We have been to a few churches, and none have felt like it was right...like we fit...something like that. From the first moment I felt like this was the right church for us. It meets in a high school...couldn't get away from that apparently :) But the people were great, it is small feeling, but has a lot of people and history....they have great small groups and lots of impact teams doing things like fire relief, and trips to TJ (Tijuana) to orphanages. The worship was great, the pastor gave an amazing talk on suffering, and yeah, it was great. We will definitely go back!

Yesterday we went out for breakfast and hung out...this is a picture of a sign in OB. I just thought it was cool...I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot, so its in two pictures.

Stir crazy....

So this whole no working/staying inside thing is hard! I have already cleaned the house, and I am getting ready to do some crafting...Maddi is giving me this look like 'I need a long walk and I want to go to the beach, why are you making me stay inside!'

I found out school is cancelled on Monday too! But great news is that the Y is amazing and they are paying me even though I am not working. I think that is so sweet!!

Well, Hope that you all have a wonderful day!!!

Today...

Well I am glad that you are still reading, so I will keep writing! This is an aerial of the area so you can see where we are to the fires, they are not close! So don't worry! We are right by the water...the little peninsula there on the left hand side? That is us (Ocean Beach/Point Loma area) The ash is definitely around...my skin is itchy, I missed the announcement on the news to wear long sleeves...
Today I went to the school and organized my site. It was nice to get stuff put away and clean so when the kids come back on monday we are ready to go.
We watched a movie with Mike and Joni last night, It is so wonderful to have such good friends here! Joni might cut my hair tonight, if she does I will post pictures :)

Is anyone out there?

Hey! Just wanted to make sure that someone is still reading this, because if not, I will stop updating it. If you are, just leave a comment/let me know, and I will keep updating!

Thanks! And everything is still okay with us...The fires are still not in our area. There are a lot of people being evacuated...it is very sad to see. The schools are all cancelled all week! This means no work for me! But it gives me a chance to catch up on stuff I have been needing to do around the school, so I can do that!

Have a great night!!

Wildfires!

So there are lots of fires all around San Diego, but we are far away from them, so if you were worried, don't be :)
There is ash in the air, so the school I work at is closed (along with all of the other schools) and we are not really supposed to be outside. There is a layer of it on our car and everything smells like smoke. The sky is all hazy, but it has made the sunsets extra beautiful!
250,000 people have been evacuated from SD county. It is definitely a big deal...For work tomorrow all of the site supervisors might go to Qualcomm Stadium where they are having all of the evacuees go.
I have gotten a few calls from people, so I just wanted to say we are alright!
love you all!

Pictures!

I put more pictures on facebook! These are of the area around us!

It has been a nice weekend! The weather was great today, we went to the beach with Maddi.

Enjoy the pictures!

http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029025&l=d81fd&id=11402844

Martin Sexton Concert!

We saw Martin Sexton play at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. It was an AMAZING show. We were so close! It was about a half hour north of us. I am going to attemt to add a video of it!

Things are going really well with us! I love my job and get to learn more everyday! We will post more when we have time :)

Pictures from the trip!

We have internet at home! YAY!

I finally posted the pictures from our trip on Facebook, for those of you not on facebook, here is the link!!!

http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028586&l=ae844&id=11402844

It's all coming together!

So Nate got a call back and is starting his new job tomorrow! He is working for a guy named Mike who specializes in installing Ikea Kitchen Cabinets. He also makes skateboards! Cool, Huh?

It has been so great to see how everything has come together. Nate and I have both found great jobs that we think we will enjoy, and I am close enough to mine to ride my bike! I am really excited to start, and I should be starting Wednesday after I get my fingerprints taken!

We went to the House of Blues Gospel brunch this morning with my Mom, it was so cool. We got to eat amazing food (and lots of it!) and listen to some great, passionate musicians! We had lots of fun!

My mom and I are going back to the zoo today, and Nate is practicing with Mike Morgan. He is playing electric guitar in Mike's band! That has been really fun for him too.

Well I think that is enough for now. We are trying to get Internet, and so soon we will post pictures!

YMCA!

So, I had gotten a job at the YMCA as a part time youth leader. It was working at the after school program. I had gotten a better offer hour-wise at a coffee shop, and so I called the Y to tell them I could not take the job. She told me that she had a full time supervisor position come up, and she would like me to interview for it! I was in the interview an hour later, and she called me back soon after to tell me I could have the job! I was thrilled! It is a perfect job for me!

My mom is here this week, we have been having lots of fun! We have been very busy, so it has been hard to blog! Today we are going shopping (YAY!) :) Yesterday we went to the zoo. My mom has always wanted to go to the zoo here, so it was lots of fun! We are planning on going to the Wild Animal Park which is part of the zoo kinda. Nate and I have not been there yet, we have heard it is great.

Hope to update soon with pictures!! Have a great day!

Adjusting!

So we are getting adjusted! This is a picture of our relocube when it got here...a bit of a difference, but not too much. and not too much was broken, so that is great! We did have excellent packers though!!

I am trying to get pictures up, but the computer is not cooperating! So here is one of Mike and Nate cleaning the windows the first day, and boy did they need it! The whole place needed

quite a cleaning, but after a little help from our friends, it was much better. It is very different here. We do like the experience, it is just a big

learning experience. People are so laid back, Ocean Beach, where we live, it known as the hippee town. It is a lot of surfers!

Mike and Joni have been wonderful! I do not know what we would do without them! We have had a lot of fun hanging out, cooking dinner together and going to Ikea! Woo Hoo Ikea! It is so close, I love it!

Also, this whole internet thing has been a challege. I just went to this really cute outdoor coffee shop and got some chai, and sat down to use the internet. And there was no internet. What coffee shop doesn't have wireless? Well this one didn't. So I walked down to Starbucks. Too bad i had to buy two drinks, but I learned! OB is all about supporting local businesses, so i was trying to, and not go to Starbucks. But I needed to update the blog! :) So here I am.

I got a part time job working at the YMCA at an after school program. It should be great, and I am excited to start! It is very part time, so I need to find another job too. There is a coffee shop that looks promising, but we will see.

Nate is talking to a builder on Tuesday about working with him, he is from Holland, which is sort of strange, but very cool...Nate got his name from Tom Pushaw. We will see what happens, but it is a good lead! Nate also signed up to take the USPS exam to be a postal carrier. I understand it is really hard, but it would be a great job.

Yesterday Joni and I went to the Swap meet at got some super cute cheap clothes. It is like a giant flea market, but cooler because there are lots of different types of stuff. It is like a Farmers market/garage sale/tjmax. We had lots of fun though. It was great to have some girl time!

My mom is coming Tuesday to bring our Ollie! We are very excited to see both of them!

Well that is all for now, I can't seem to get more pictures up, so click on the link below and that will go to my facebook pictures!

http://hope.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028033&l=aeb5b&id=11402844

WE ARE HERE!

Sorry for the large gap in blogging! We haven't had computer access, but now we are in the Ocean Beach Library! Our house is a mess, we have been unpacking and trying to find places for everything....We love the apt though, we met our neighbor, she is really nice and is letting us use her washer and dryer! They are in the shared storage room between our apt's and this way we get free and close laundry. I am thrilled.
I will start two days ago where we left off :)
We stayed in a campground about 2 hours from here. It was beauiful, there was a little lake, and people fishing, it was really nice and peaceful. That is until the trains stared coming by. Every 10 minutes. And we are not talking little slow moving trains...these were flying and were sooooo loud. We only slept for 10 minutes at a time and woke up to the trains. They were so loud. We were woken up at 5 by a pack of Coyotes howling, and that was it. We packed up in the dark and drove to Mike and Joni's. We got here Sunday morning. We spent the day with Mike (Joni had to work) and went to Ikea :)
We got up yesterday and went to get our keys! It was very exciting. Our relo-cube came at 12, and very little was broken. A lot shifted! When I can, I will get the picture on here. We unpacked yesterday and have been moving stuff since. It is starting to look like a house :)
We are going to Ikea now to pick up some stuff! We hope to post pictures soon!
I have a job interview today, please pray it goes well!!

Camping in Utah!

We just arrived in our campground in Cedar City, and we are loving it! It is a really nice campground and the weather is great. It will be much different from our 39 degree weather in Colorado!!!
We spent the morning at Arches National Park. It was really cool. It is interesting to watch the landscape change so drastically in a few hours. It has been very dry and colorless here...unlike Colorado. Everything is the color of red dirt. But it is still pretty! The Arches were very pretty, there are all of these big rock formations in all different shapes and sizes. It was hot, but not humid.
Funny story...Nate got directions to the park off of Google Maps. We were told to turn down a road that was a two track off-road type 'trail'. We followed it for a mile thinking, it can't be right, but that is what the directions say, and there were other cars...granted they were 4-runners and trucks. But we got to sign that said something about off-roading/extreme biking and turned back. I can't believe the Camry made it through!
Maddi has been so great. She is playing with a squeeky toy right now happy as can be, and she has slept pretty much all of the driving away.
We plan on setting up camp and then going to find something to eat before relaxing here for the night, maybe we will have to get some marshmallows for a fire! That would make it the perfect camping experience!
We are really excited to get to San Diego, but we are also enjoying ourlselves very much along the way. Pray that our transition is smooth, and that the job search goes well. I have an interview at San Diego Youth and Community services on Tuesday, and one at the YMCA on Wendsday...we will see!
Thats about all for now! We are downloading the Prison Break Premire that we missed and are going to watch it tonight...what would we do without wireless? Brad...I hope you watched it...I know you said you wouldn't, but maybe give it one last chance? :)
Thanks everyone so much for your support and the comments and phone calls! Have a wonderful night.

Moving on out.

We have now spent two nights in Colorado and are planning on checking out Utah today. Our first stop is Arches National Park. We stayed in a hotel last night, which was nice, but we plan on camping the next two nights, which will also be fun!!

It's a Beautiful Day!

Today we spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was so beautiful, we can’t explain it, and so here are some pictures to show you!!
We are picking Maddi up shortly and will head to Utah. We hope to stay just across the Utah border tonight.

Tappin' the Rockies.....nate and shyle style!

So here we are in Estes Park, Colorado. This place is just plain beautiful. We are completely surrounded by the rocky mountains and are just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. So far we have no regrets for going an hour and a half out of our way to see these sites.
Okay, so we left Jason and Judy's place at 7 am on wednesday morning and met with Dan Morgan for breakfast at 9am. We brought Maddi to his place in Manhattan (the little apple) to stay while we ate. It was really good to spend some time with Dan. We had great conversation over breakfast at Village Inn.
We spent a long day driving through the rest of Kansas and into Colorado. We made reservations for camping while driving towards Denver and really anticipated seeing the mountains.
The road to Estes Park was pretty sweet. Winding and climbing our way we pulled off for some pictures and caught some shots of chipmunks and a really neat bird.
We got to our site, set up camp, and went looking for food and fingernail clippers. That's right! Shyle started to get some allergy thing going on when we got here and then sick to her stomach last night. She felt better after some medicine and a subway sub.
The temperature here dropped to a very cold 39 degrees. It wasn't too bad. Maddi's body heat really helped. By morning Maddi made her way into Shyle's sleeping bag.
We are now preparing to go drop our baby Maddi off at a doggy daycare so that we can explore this beautiful area.

Spending time in Kansas!

We arrived at Jason and Judy's last night around 6. They took us to Smoke House BBQ for ribs, and made up for our missed lunch!! We were still full this morning. While we were gone we left Maddi in the fenced-in backyard. We got a call from a neighbor during dinner that he had our dog, because she got out!!! We were all worried, but she didn't seem to have any problems, she was just happy to see us :)
make our way to Colorado where we will be camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. We are super excited for that, it looksIt has been a great time to relax and recharge after a crazy week. We hung around today and are now in the process of cooking dinner (more ribs...Jason's are the best we hear!) Tomorrow morning we will head to meet Daniel Morgan for lunch in Junction City. The plan from there is to beautiful. Nate and Jason set up the tent in the garage to see how it went up, and it should be great! We may stay there 2 nights, it is only $20 a night compared to about $100 for a pet-friendly place, and I am sure that the park will be much more beautiful!
I have a few pictures from the BBQ place last night, and from Sonic today :) Enjoy!
We have loved the comments that have been posted, it is wonderful to hear from everyone! We love and miss you already!

Somewhere in Iowa!

We left my parents this morning at about 6:30 after about 5 hours of sleep, this week was so busy! We had so much fun at the good-bye partys all of our family's threw! THANK YOU!! So now we are on the road! It has been a pretty uneventful trip so far, I have slept a lot and Nate has been driving...I don't do well on 5 hours of sleep :)
Here are some pictures, Maddi has been great, sleeping a lot, and we have seen LOTS of cornfields, and Care, I have been thinking of you since we entered Iowa!
We can't wait to get to Jason and Judys and spend some time with them!! Only a few more hours.
Back to the car!
Shyle and Nate

All Packed Up!

We are using a relocube to move, Which is basically a big box (6x7x8) that we put all of our stuff in, and then the ABF people come and pick it up and bring in to San Diego for us! We got it all packed up over the past few days with the help of some great friends (Thanks Sarah, Wally, Jeff, Kim, and Drew!) and now it is on its way to SD! Our house is sadly empty and we will get started cleaning tomorrow, packing the car and getting ready to move on Monday morning. If you didn't hear yet, Nate's mom is having a goodbye party for us Sunday at one! Come if you can!

Moving to San Diego!!!

I was thinking about how to best keep everyone up to date on our adventure, and I decided to start a blog! I have never had one, so bear with me, but I hope this will help keep you up to date! We are leaving the 17th, and plan on taking about 7 days to drive out to CA. We want to stop and see friends, and also see the sights. Hopefully I can get some pictures on here too!I will add more as we go!

Shyle