California

Wow, I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted! I'm not on the computer nearly as often as I was before because I don't have to be, no more Blackboard to check or emails from teachers. I thought I would stranger for me to not be in school, but because we're here in CA and it is still really hot outside, it still feels like summer vacation. I'll probably start to miss school more a little later. For now, it has been nice to just spend time with the family, hang out with Rick and so some relaxing.

The last two days Rick and I have spent out in Pasadena, Downey, Hacienda Heights, Montebello and El Monte doing some house hunting. When we came out a few months ago we went to way more cities and highlighted the areas with apartments, and the nicer neighborhoods so we don't end up anywhere scary like where we lived in Long Beach. This time around we went to actual apartment buildings and had some appointments with real estate agents to tour some houses. One house we went to was totally gross, with goo of some sort splashed on the walls and ceiling and dripped all over the carpet. It was also missing kitchen cabinets, had an old, empty pool in the back and was just generally very much a "fixer upper". We definitely don't want to have to do so much work to a house just to make it liveable, so we passed. A condo for sale was much better, a little old fashioned but with a relatively new kitchen, two bedrooms, two bath and a fireplace, which Rick loves. We drove around to many houses with for sale signs in the front too. In Downey there were tons of for sale/forclosed houses, so we're definitely going to keep our eyes out in that area. We found one house that I really like, it had a nice look to it on the outside and was in a nice neighborhood, but when we called the realitor, they didn't have the info on it anymore because it had just been foreclosed. I told Rick we'll have to check on it again pretty soon to get the foreclosed price, I think I would really like it there. Pasadena turned out to be too expensive to buy in, but if we rent an apartment we most likely will do it there because most of the apartments are within walking distance to metro stations and it is a comparitively short drive to LA than from other cities. All in all, no decisions made, but we made tons of progress and are definitely a little more savvy than we were before.

There have been other exciting California adventures too. First off, we've eaten at El Burrito, which Rick just loves, so that is a good thing. Rick is also on book 9 of the Wheel of time series, and he checked out numbers 10 nand 11 already from the library, so thanks Caleb for suggesting them. We got to clean the Temple, which was pretty awesome. It was a little hard to do some of our assignments because it involved bending over, but it was still fun. We've also both been enjoying helping Kellie with her Spanish homework and getting to hang out with the girls. We've only been to the beach once so far, it was really fun and the water was so clear! I did get a pretty sweet sunburn too, which has turned into a pretty sweet tan, I'll have to put up a picture, it is very artistic around my ankles. That has been a fun adventure too - since being here I've had my first (and second and third...) experience with my ankles and feet swelling. It isn't as bad as I thought, it is just uncomfortable.

A big adventure we've had was this past weekend. We were helping do a fundraiser for Kellie to earn money for marching band. We each got $60 to help do work at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana during their big NASCAR races over the Labor day weekend. Most of the volunteers (including Mom, Dad and Rick) worked inside the stadium doing different jobs. Our family had positions as ushers. Pretty much they had to stand and look official, break up any fights they saw, take away any aluminum cans or glass bottles and remind people to smoke in designated smoking area. From what they've told me they really didn't run into any problems and most people were very understanding. The worst parts were the heat, the noise (race cars are LOUD) and the long day of standing there from about noon to 9:3opm.

Kellie and I had a different job. They were nice enough to find me a position driving a shuttle van so I didn't have to stand all day long. Kellie was my assistant/shotgun and her job was to open and close the doors of our 15 passenger van. I thought I was going to be miserable all day because I've never driven a van that big, I hate driving, and I thought the people would be hard to handle. Our route was from the furthest away RV lot, so they are the fans that camped for the whole weekend and are hardcore fans. I had a pretty good time though. It was airconditioned in the van and I learned to handle the car pretty well. Many people we met were very nice and helped teach us about NASCAR since I know absolutely nothing about racing at all. Some people were rude or annoying, but luckily it was only about a 7 minute car ride, so it was bearable. Kellie had some fun experiences though. Many people thought she was older than I am and they voiced some concerns about my legality to drive. She also got bribed by a guy for us to take him to a different drop off spot. She also got her first experience being around drunk people, which many of our passengers were after the race. Only a few were loud, obnoxious drunks, most were pretty tame. The funniest parts of the day for Kellie was that she got hit on a lot by adult guys. One guy offered her his shirt, one guy drew a heart in the air and mouthed "you're sexy" to her, and other guys were just telling her how cute she was. Pretty good for a 15 year old. I only thought I would have to tell one guy to back off her, because he was a little creepy, but the other guys were just flirting and I thought it was awesome. We drove our shuttle from about 12:30 to 10:30 pm, so it was a long day but not too bad.

Wow, this has been a long post, but a couple last things. I've been able to feel the baby move for probably about a month, but he usually just kicks once or twice and stops, so it has been hard to get someone to put their hand on my tummy fast enough to feel him. Just in the last few days has he been moving around more, and kicking a little harder. Tuesday Rick felt him kick for the first time and he was pretty stoked. In his words it was "really, really, really cool" and now he can't get enough of it. The baby still doesn't move an awful lot though, but that will probably change as he keeps getting bigger. In other baby news, Rick and I finally started playing the name game and have been coming up with some pretty funny ones, but also some actual possibilities. We've made some first and middle name combos, nothing is set in stone or anything, but here are some of the first round results: Jeffery Richard, Corey Logan, William Jett, Alexander James, Jason Howard, Jeffery Tyler and Joshua Stephen. We came up with a list of names and then just kinda stuck some together, so these are a very rough draft, but Rick has fallen in love with Jett as a middle name and thinks it would be a sweet nickname to call him, but we'll see what happens.