Visitors!!!!

Baker came in town Saturday and stayed until wednesday. We (jared, Adam, and I) picked Baker up at LAX and headed to dinner at Ketchup. We payed big bucks for smaller versions of american classics; hot dogs, mini burgers, fries, and PBR. We then went to a show at the Groundling's comedy club. Sunday we enjoyed a day at Huntington beach. The guys spent a lot of time on the water getting knocked around by the waves. We also played Bocce ball...Jar and I lost. Monday we took it easy and went to an Angel's game. Tuesday (Baker's b-day), Jared and Baker went to six flags. Later that night we went out for birthday drinks! Happy 28th old man!!!! We then took Baker to the airport Wednesday morning.

Birthday Boy!

A few hours after Jeremy left Amy and Paul came into town. On Thursday we hit the outlet malls (Jared was the only successful shopper). We then headed to L.A. where we saw Rodeo Dr. and many other things recognized as "L.A.". We passed by the Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Hollywood sign. We had tickets to The Jimmy Kimmel show, so we stood in line for about an hour before realized we weren't getting in! Little did we know tickets aren't an absolute...you need to put in your fair share in the line too. After not getting in we walked around the kodak theater and attached mall. We then ate at Bella on the strip.

Friday we started out for Universal Studios but hit a problem. The discounted tickets we planned on purchasing through the student union were sold out. Lucky for us...Paul has a Coscto membership. We headed out, purchased the tickets, and ate at In and Out Burger. Universal was a lot of fun!


Saturday we hung out at the pool and did a little shopping. Sunday we drove to Huntington Beach. From there and with the generous donation (of bikes) from Adam the four of us rode to Newport Beach. We rode along the boardwalk. It was fun, but one look away from the sidewalk could cause a collision! There were a ton of bikers and walkers! The ride was long but worth it! Once in Newport we stopped for lunch and a drink at Sharkies...great food! We rode back to Huntington were we relaxed and soaked up the rays. We ended our day with some yogurt from Yogurtland.

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Farmers Market

Jared and I went to a farmer's market/concert/vendors deal in downtown Fullerton on Thursday. They have these every Thursday from April to Nov. Unfortunately Jared got a job at school every Thursday night starting in september, so he won't be able to enjoy it every week. I found a flower vendor who sold cool bouquets for only 3 bucks a pop.

Shaken up!

So it happened...we were in an earthquake. Of course it would happen! Jared and I attract natural disasters :-(

It happened at 11:42 a.m. this Tuesday. It was a 5.4 located 2 miles southwest of Chino Hills, which is about 7 miles north of Fullerton, where we live!

Jared had just gotten home from working out. I was sitting at the computer and we were talking. It started as a low rumbling sound with a little vibration. Jared and I both thought a truck was driving by, or someone was ascending the steps to our apartment (we can feel people coming up the steps). But the vibrating turned into shaking and rolling. It is hard to describe what is felt like, but here goes...the ground felt like it was rolling under our feet while the apartment and everything around us was shaking back and forth.

I grabbed Elsie and ran to the door way in-between the hall and family room (apparently this is not the correct way to respond in an earthquake. You need to seek cover under something sturdy. I will remember that for next time.) Jared stood frozen in the family room watching the TV shake.

When it was over we felt 2 after shocks with a magnitude of 3-3.6. Apparently over 30 aftershocks were recorded.

Mom's Scary Moment

It occurred on Thursday, July 24, 2008. From the mouth of my mom:

"I was startled awake about 4:00 am or so with what I thought at first was a very bad dream but yet not; something different. I’m wondering if I had stopped breathing or something, it was very weird and I can’t explain it. At that time, I just didn’t feel right but went back to sleep. When the alarm went off at 6:00 am, I got up but felt different; like I was getting sick. Just felt funny all over but I continued to get ready for work. Approximately 7:00 am or after, a funny feeling came over me and I knew I was going to “black out” and before I could do anything (like holler for your dad); I was out and just remember waking up on the bathroom floor. I couldn’t tell you how long I was out; probably just minutes at the most. I got up and went and laid in bed feeling very light headed and dizzy. I still planned on going to work after the dizziness passed but it kept up; your Dad called our doctor’s office and the doctor on call said go to the emergency room; so off we went. While in the ER, I blacked out twice more under the observation of the ER doctors. What was happening was, my heart rate was dropping well below 40 beats/minute. Due to lack of oxygen in my blood, I would black out. The doctors have no idea what caused it. Before I left the ER at St. Luke’s South by ambulance to St. Luke’s in mid-town, the dizziness and light-headedness had passed and I felt fine. But because the doctors couldn’t say it would never happen again, I received a pacemaker. It’s just a backup; it may never “kick on” but I have it if I need it."

My mom rested for a few days and was back to work sooner than she should have been! All is well. She has not had any more incidents.

Sequoia National Park

For our 4 year wedding anniversary Jared and I decided to explore one of the many fascinating places our new state has to offer. He took a four hour drive to Sequoia National Park Wednesday, July 16th. We camped in the bear infested forest! Prior to our trip we did the research necessary for a successful outting...we used the internet and Jared's brother Jason. During our preparations we were warned about the black bear population (which included bears of a variety of colors, not just black...interesting).

As we arrived in the forest we drove to our campgrounds. Once there were had to have "the bear" talk by a ranger. This is when I became scared and new I was in for a couple sleepless nights! She told us to EXPECT to see or hear a bear at our campsite...that the previous evening the bear made its rounds in EVERY campsite! She also told us that a mountain lion had attacked a deer in front of a family at their campsite...ahhhhhhhhhh!

Each campsite was equipped with its own "bear box", which we were instructed to keep "ALL" scented items in. We were told we shouldn't leave the box open unless we were standing in front of it and to only have a few items out at a time. Once we were unpacked and settled we enjoyed our 1st night with hot dogs and s'mores. The night continued with Jared and I (me with my pots and pans for scaring off a bear) lying wide awake in the tent...listening....and sure enough a bear made his appearance. A bear huffed through our site, shook our bear box, and huffed away. I was SO scared!


Jared sitting in front of our bear box.


Day two of our camping trip was fun. Our first stop before hitting the rangers station was General Grants Tree. This tree is the 3rd largest in the world (definition of largest is widest). With the advice from a ranger we then drove to Kings Canyon. We drove to the furthest point that cars and hikers could go (unless you registered for backcountry hiking). We got to a place called Zumwalt Meadows Trail, where we hiked around a meadow with a stream running through it. Surrounding the meadow were mountains. It was beautifu! From there we headed back to our camp site, stopping at waterfalls along the way. Once back at camp we went on a hike in search of a bear...and we found one! Night two was less eventful, but still a sleepless one for me.

Zumwalt Meadow


Day three we woke up early and started making our way out of the park. We hit the tourist spots this day. We started at "The Giant Forest Museum". We learned about the age and distribution of the Sequioa trees.

Some Interesting facts:
*A young sequoia is really skinny
*Largest tree in terms of volume
*They only grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in 75 different groves
*Sequoia/Kings Canyon are the only places in the U.S. Sequoia's grow.
*The fully grown Sequoia trees are called Monarchs
*Monarch Sequoia's bark is fire resistant
*Sequoias live to be over 3,000 years

We continued making our way out of the park, stopping at the "Giant Forest" whcih is home to the General Sherman Tree. We drove under "tunnel log" and hiked to crescent meadow. It was in crescent meadow that we encounted a black bear and a rattle snake! We climbed hundreds (I wish I had counted) of steps to the top of Moro Rock.


General Sherman Tree is the largest tree (by volume) in the world. It is 275 feet tall and has a trunk circumfrenece of 103 feet.


We had a great trip and a wonderful anniversary!

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Moving again?!

As you know, Jared and I like to keep life interesting. So...we are moving... again! Back when Jared interviewed with SCCO he put his name on a wait list for reduced rent student housing. For obvious reasons there was a long wait list. Well, we received a call on Friday telling us we were next on the list. We will move into the apartment complex next to our current one. We move at the end of August.

Positives:
Balcony
$$$ savings
washer and dryer hook-ups (which we will not be using, but some day we might!)
gated community
more grass for Elsie
closer distance to SCCO
noise reduction (the noise at our current apartment is out of control...)


Negatives:

smaller square footage
we have to purchase a refrigerator
no storage
less counter space in the bathroom :-(
only one pool

'The OC' through the eyes of Jared

Here is an update from 'the OC'. We finally have internet and a second to breath while we avoid rush hour traffic...

We like our apartment, it actually feels roomy for a 1bd 1 bath place. We are just a few blocks from the school, and about 1 mile from downtown Brea and 2 miles from downtown Fullerton. The beach is anywhere from a 20 min to 40 min drive depending on the traffic, we are currently experimenting on the best routes to take and what times of the day to avoid certain highways. I have heard it takes awhile to get this down to an exact science. So far the traffic hasn't been too bad...

The weather has been fantastic. Sarah and I have yet to see one cloud in the sky (will we get sick of this?!?). It is confusing watching the weather, because the news channels list a 5-day forecast with three different columns including 'beach', 'the valleys', and 'downtown'. Sarah and I have figured out Fullerton doesn't fall into any of these categories, and our temp here is a few degrees warmer than 'beach', and a few degrees cooler than 'downtown'. We are preparing for a 3 day 'heat wave' - newscasters are 'warning' of weather hitting the mid to high 80s. I'll take it. My favorite part, it gets down to the 60s every night. It is nice to open the windows and have the cool ocean breeze flow into our apartment at night.

I love walking outside and seeing the palm trees/flowers/crazy gnarled tree-like plants all around. The large park across the street is a great oasis. Elsie loves taking walks/runs over there and harasses the ducks who hang out at the lake. You can easily see 'the hills' from Fullerton with a backdrop of beautiful mountains. Interestingly (and to my disappointment), the mountains are occasionally covered by a blue haze in the sky. I first thought 'SMOG!'. The locals have corrected me that this is called 'June Gloom'. This occurs in the summer when the moisture from the ocean avoids cloud formation and rushes towards the mountains. From there it just hangs out - usually clearing by the evening. 'Smog is yellow' I was told. 'Go to LA to see that.' Excuuuuuuuuse me.

I am sure you have all heard about our adventures driving to southern cal, and to new mexico, and back to cali. On the way back I decided to take a route south of flagstaff through sedona and west of phoenix. If you ever have the chance, DO IT! Never seen such scenery driving through the dessert. Fields of those classic cacti and other dessert plants backed up by rocky dry mountains. Very cool!

So far we have been to L.A., newport beach, huntington beach, etc. Today we ran some errands and stopped at a farm about 3 blocks up from our apartment. We bought fresh strawberries, cantaloupe, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches, and avocados. All very cheap and VERY GOOD! We decided to take Elsie to 'Dog Beach' today. It was great! She was very confused by the sand and ocean. HUGE waves were pounding the coast today, and we would throw the ball out into the ocean. Elsie would reluctantly go after the ball and try to beat the next incoming wave. Sometimes she would successfully reach the ball in time and book it back to the beach while glancing behind her in fear when she heard the wave coming (VERY FUNNY). Other times, the wave would win, a five foot wave would swallow her, she would disappear and reemerge with a sand and seaweed covered head. The look on her animated face was priceless.

Thanks for reading! Attached are a few pictures of the courtyard at our apartment, one of the stairs leading to our apartment (we are the one directly at the top of the stairs), and some more pictures of our little wet one at Dog Beach.

Enjoy,

Jared