So since we moved here two years ago, Ty has been dying to feel an earthquake. They are pretty common here. I mean, as a kid, you have big fire drills in school, and big earthquake drills. It's just how it is because we are surrounded by active fault lines.
Well, today Ty got his wish. Just about 20 minutes ago there was a 5.8 earthquake in Chino Hills, California (in the LA area). We felt it up here. I was parked in my car and it felt like someone was shaking the car. Ty says it was like he was on a boat.
We are fine here, and thankfully so far there are no major injuries or accidents anywhere from this earthquake.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Joey's b-day
As ya'll know, it was Joey's B-day this past week... These are some of my favorite pictures from them, and she and her friends enjoying the sip and slide we got her.
Laying in the pool at the end of the slide.
Just having a blast!
It wasn't so much a slip and slide as it was a commando crawl through the water to get to the little pool at the end.
Joey and "N" saying cheese before we cut the cake. We forgot to get candles (actually I thought I had some but it turned out I didn't) so she blew out my scented candle three times.
This is Joey's birthday Princess costume (well, and a dress that we didn't put on her because she had been playing in the flood water).
Joey's beads that Nana Staheli gave her. She even sleeps with them in her bed.
The scooter that Nana and Bop-Bop Ross gave her. It has been well used already!
Laying in the pool at the end of the slide.
Just having a blast!
It wasn't so much a slip and slide as it was a commando crawl through the water to get to the little pool at the end.
Joey and "N" saying cheese before we cut the cake. We forgot to get candles (actually I thought I had some but it turned out I didn't) so she blew out my scented candle three times.
This is Joey's birthday Princess costume (well, and a dress that we didn't put on her because she had been playing in the flood water).
Joey's beads that Nana Staheli gave her. She even sleeps with them in her bed.
The scooter that Nana and Bop-Bop Ross gave her. It has been well used already!We decided to adopt
No, not a child. We adopted a puppy. He's a Lab/Shepherd mix. He's got brick colored fur and the cutest blue eyes. He's Ty and Joey's dog. Oggie, the white and brown big dog, was Joey's b-day present two years ago, but he listens to and obeys me more than Ty, so Ty says he's my dog. Lately Ty has been saying that Oggie is lonely and needs a friend. Hence, Maximus. We call him Max. Joey calls him Maxi. He definitely is a bundle of energy and wears Oggie out. Sunday, July 20, 2008
When it rains it pours...
Blessings come in may forms. As you guys may know, so. cal is in a major drought. Our desert is in a huge one! People around here regularly pray for rain. I think it's time to tweak the blessing a little bit, so that the rain comes slower than it did today. We woke up from our Sunday afternoon nap around 3:30, apparently just in time for the second wave of thunderstorms to hit. By about 5 it had dumped over on inch of rain, probably close to an in and a half. The real problem for us is when you realize that three sides of our yard are concrete, and the fourth side is higher. So everyones water from the block, ran into our back yard. I really started panicking when the water started coming over our back porch. It was within and inch, inch and a half of starting to flood our house. My parents finally come over, and my brilliant dad finds the only way to drain the water. It was an amazing site to watch the water drain. All in all, we had about 5 inches of water in our back yard. So what blessings did we have, well, obviously the rain. But I'm really grateful for my dad's thinking outside of the box to ensure the saftey of our house. And I'm really grateful that they were willing to come over because I know my mom was busy making sure everyone else in the ward is safe since she's relief society president. We also liked the rain because it washed our cars. That was nice. And it lessened the pollen count in the air, so hopefully my allergies will ease.
BTW-- in case you didn't notice, the pictures are of our backyard over the course of the rain showing how much it started flooding and the last one we took shortly after we started draining it, so the water is a little lower off the porch than it was when it was at it's peak, but you get the idea.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
What a week
For those of you who don't know Ty buzzed his head. This picture was actually taken a few minutes ago while he's sleeping, and he won't appreciate it, but oh well.
Joey's bikeJoey did something the other day that made me think of the song I've been watching you by Rodney Atkins. I was chewing on a piece of plastic (Yes, I know it's a bad habit, and Ty hates that I do it) and Joey picks up another piece and goes "Look! Just like Mommy." Now I know that she really watches us and picks up on things, but man. For some reason, that phrase just really hit home that she really does watch and pick up things from us!
Friday afternoon Joey earned her bike. Some of you may know what she had to do to earn it, but most don't. It was a big deal and a big sacrifice. She threw her pooty (pacifier) away. Actually put it in the trash! She was only using at night, not even for mid-day naps. But yesterday she threw it away to get her bike. The night was tough because she told us to take the bike away so she could have her pooty back, but we told her we can't do that. I'm hoping after a few days she gets used to not having it and things get easier and she gets to sleep quicker.
It may not seem like a whole lot happened, but it sure was a long week for us.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Weekend Activities
Kristi thinks I need to "blog". So here is my two cent contribution.
As a side note I feel blogging with out an instructive purpose is actually quite lame, but here we go anyways.
These pictures include an over view of my weekend activities this past month.
In fact here is a picture of those ugly drums. By the way these are 13" drums. In other words-Massive.
Here is the after picture. Notice how the ugly, massive drum is gone and instead we see a beautiful disc rotor from a Chevy K20 front axle circa 1972 - 1979 ish and a lovely orange Caliper from a 1977 Cadillac ElDorado. The orange paint was a personal touch.
Hope you enjoyed this little presentation of personal progress brought to you by Ty. Stay tuned for future updates as I feel they are necessary.
As a side note I feel blogging with out an instructive purpose is actually quite lame, but here we go anyways.
These pictures include an over view of my weekend activities this past month.
This is Joey and my bi-weekly yard keeping activity.
Here is my GM Corporate 14 bolt full-floating axle. Gear ratio of 3.73 : 1 Detroit Locker. It's a beauty. Problem is that I really hate drum brakes.
In fact here is a picture of those ugly drums. By the way these are 13" drums. In other words-Massive.
Here is the after picture. Notice how the ugly, massive drum is gone and instead we see a beautiful disc rotor from a Chevy K20 front axle circa 1972 - 1979 ish and a lovely orange Caliper from a 1977 Cadillac ElDorado. The orange paint was a personal touch.
This picture is just to toot my own horn. You can't see it but the axle tubes have a nice fresh coat of black paint. The differential cover is removed for cleaning/painting purposes.
Hope you enjoyed this little presentation of personal progress brought to you by Ty. Stay tuned for future updates as I feel they are necessary.
The best mornings...
I have to tell you guys, the best mornings in the world are, in my opinion, the ones after a night of rain. Last night we had a BBQ at the C's house. There were a whole bunch of us there and we were having a blast. Around the time we finished dinner, it started raining. It was a welcome sight for all! It had been so muggy and hot that day. I was wondering if we would be getting a storm because it looked like one was on it's way. I could smell the storm about an hour before it hit. That is the one thing I missed more than anything when I first left Ridgecrest. To me there is just nothing like the smell of rain. The wet creosote and sage. I don't even know how to describe it. Anyway, it was so nice. The rain cooled the valley down about 30 degrees to a comfortable 75 degrees in less than two hours. That night it rained again (I'm not sure how long because I fell asleep while it was still raining, but I think it rained for quite a while). This morning was great. It was still cloudy, so it was gray outside, and everything was damp and so quiet. The desert just seems full of color after the rain washes the dirt off. Oh, and it was cool. Most mornings lately it's almost 100 by 9 am, and on the way to church it wasn't even 80.
At the BBQ last night, the kids ran and danced in the rain. I forgot my camera and coulda kicked myself. Here is a picture from one friend's blog but I am going to get the pics from all our friends who had cameras and load some of the best. Here are some cute stories from last night.
(Besides Joey, I'm just using initials of our friends and their kids)
~Joey's pants got so heavy that they started falling off her bum. I kept telling her to pull her pants back up, and even did it a few times to make sure they stayed up. (The picture is Joey pulling her pants up) Well one time she comes over asking for help. I looked back at her and her pants had finally got so heavy that they had fallen off. I think that's about when we took the kids inside to dry off.
~N would pick up everything to start brushing her hair. Several times we took watermelon rinds from her that she was using as a brush. Once she had a piece of wood that she was using and I was about to take it from her when she goes, it's not a brush this time, it's a phone. She then held this long conversation with whom ever she thought was on the other end of the line.
~N and E would run around in circles in this puddle. Several times they crashed into each other and fell on the ground. It never seemed to phase them. I think they were on a high from the rain.
~A found it fun to just stand there and try to catch raindrops in her mouth.
~Last night we found out that Diet Pepsi has an experation date. And that if you drink expired Pepsi, it's nasty. Ty had one that he made me taste to make sure he wasn't going crazy. It was like there was no more syurp in there. R had one later and she said the same thing. I think it put her off diet sodas forever since she doesn't especially like them to start with.
At the BBQ last night, the kids ran and danced in the rain. I forgot my camera and coulda kicked myself. Here is a picture from one friend's blog but I am going to get the pics from all our friends who had cameras and load some of the best. Here are some cute stories from last night.
(Besides Joey, I'm just using initials of our friends and their kids)
~Joey's pants got so heavy that they started falling off her bum. I kept telling her to pull her pants back up, and even did it a few times to make sure they stayed up. (The picture is Joey pulling her pants up) Well one time she comes over asking for help. I looked back at her and her pants had finally got so heavy that they had fallen off. I think that's about when we took the kids inside to dry off.
~N would pick up everything to start brushing her hair. Several times we took watermelon rinds from her that she was using as a brush. Once she had a piece of wood that she was using and I was about to take it from her when she goes, it's not a brush this time, it's a phone. She then held this long conversation with whom ever she thought was on the other end of the line.
~N and E would run around in circles in this puddle. Several times they crashed into each other and fell on the ground. It never seemed to phase them. I think they were on a high from the rain.
~A found it fun to just stand there and try to catch raindrops in her mouth.
~Last night we found out that Diet Pepsi has an experation date. And that if you drink expired Pepsi, it's nasty. Ty had one that he made me taste to make sure he wasn't going crazy. It was like there was no more syurp in there. R had one later and she said the same thing. I think it put her off diet sodas forever since she doesn't especially like them to start with.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Smoke Pictures
This picture was taken about 30 minutes after the others. The sun looked so cool. It looked like an orange ball hung in the sky
The little clearing in the sky
The start of the smokeThese were taken on Saturday. Sorry if you can see the water spots from the car window. Most nights that smoke settles in the valley so you can't see the mountains that are 20 minutes away.
We're melting!!
Thursday
110° / 81°Friday
108° / 77°Saturday
104° / 75°Sunday
104° / 73°
I have some cool pics of the smoke from the fire on my phone and as soon as I get them downloaded I'll put them up.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Lazy Weekend
We had a fairly lazy weekend for the fourth this year. We didn't even buy fireworks due to the fact that Joey is terrified of them this year. On the third I lit a few sparklers, and Joey ran in the house crying and screaming "I scared. Stop please." She was ok watching the fireworks from a safe distance as long as there were no loud noises. If there were noises, she would just hide behind Ty.
So to start off our Fourth, we woke at 5:30 because Ty had to be at the meeting house to set up chairs for the flag raising ceremony they do every year. Joey and I went to it and Ty went back to sleep. It was a good ceremony and the speaker said something there that really had me pondering. We live here in a town where scores of engineers, physicists, computer science majors, and such build bombs and missiles. The guy who talked said how fortunate we are to live in a town that has many people in the armed forces, but has many more doing everything they can to keep those in the armed forces safe and armed so they can do their duty. I had never thought of it that way. It makes me appreciate them more. After that we stayed inside for several hours due to the extreme heat here (it was like 110+ that day). We had an annual BBQ at a friends house that included swimming for an hour. I was assigned to bring my Spiced Peach Jello Salad. Ty also asked me to bring my Fiesta Black Bean Salad since he doesn't especially like jello salad. One of the people at the BBQ told me I was a salad wizard. I still am not sure if he meant it or if he was just saying that. I like to think he meant it and liked my salads. (Let me know if you would like the recipes.) Later that evening we went to my sisters to watch the big firework display the city had because she lives like .5 of a mile away, so it's not sooo crowded, but still good seats. Joey occasionally would watch, but mostly just hid. They had some cool fireworks. Some were shaped like a cube. It was a really good show. For the first time they had it programmed on a computer instead of having Pyro's going and lighting them individually. It doesn't make sense to me that it took us so long to get to this point. Especially due to the fact that our town is full of computer geeks. Oh well.
Sunday was my dad's b-day. We went and had a nice family dinner at my parents with my sister and her family as well. The food was good. My poor mom though melted the knobs on her bbq though and will likely have to just replace it, but it's been a good bbq that's lasted like 10-15 years. As we were getting ready to leave for the night Joey and her cousin Rissy were out riding a little bike together. I'm going to have to get the pictures from my mom and post them up here. It was so cute watching the two girls together.
So that was our lazy weekend. It was nice just relaxing at home and hanging with family.
So to start off our Fourth, we woke at 5:30 because Ty had to be at the meeting house to set up chairs for the flag raising ceremony they do every year. Joey and I went to it and Ty went back to sleep. It was a good ceremony and the speaker said something there that really had me pondering. We live here in a town where scores of engineers, physicists, computer science majors, and such build bombs and missiles. The guy who talked said how fortunate we are to live in a town that has many people in the armed forces, but has many more doing everything they can to keep those in the armed forces safe and armed so they can do their duty. I had never thought of it that way. It makes me appreciate them more. After that we stayed inside for several hours due to the extreme heat here (it was like 110+ that day). We had an annual BBQ at a friends house that included swimming for an hour. I was assigned to bring my Spiced Peach Jello Salad. Ty also asked me to bring my Fiesta Black Bean Salad since he doesn't especially like jello salad. One of the people at the BBQ told me I was a salad wizard. I still am not sure if he meant it or if he was just saying that. I like to think he meant it and liked my salads. (Let me know if you would like the recipes.) Later that evening we went to my sisters to watch the big firework display the city had because she lives like .5 of a mile away, so it's not sooo crowded, but still good seats. Joey occasionally would watch, but mostly just hid. They had some cool fireworks. Some were shaped like a cube. It was a really good show. For the first time they had it programmed on a computer instead of having Pyro's going and lighting them individually. It doesn't make sense to me that it took us so long to get to this point. Especially due to the fact that our town is full of computer geeks. Oh well.
Sunday was my dad's b-day. We went and had a nice family dinner at my parents with my sister and her family as well. The food was good. My poor mom though melted the knobs on her bbq though and will likely have to just replace it, but it's been a good bbq that's lasted like 10-15 years. As we were getting ready to leave for the night Joey and her cousin Rissy were out riding a little bike together. I'm going to have to get the pictures from my mom and post them up here. It was so cute watching the two girls together.
So that was our lazy weekend. It was nice just relaxing at home and hanging with family.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Mommy Tag
Joey got tagged a couple weeks ago, and we are finally getting to it. Here it goes
1. What is something mom always says to me? You're a silly one.
2. What makes mom happy? Hugs and kisses
3. What makes mom sad? When I whine too much.
4. How does mom make me laugh? Tickling me
5. What was mom like as a child? I'm told by Nana Ross that she was just like me (or I'm just like her).
6. How old is mommy? Mom is 3.5 and Joey is 2.5
7. How tall is mommy? Bigger
8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? Kisses
9. What does mom do when I'm not around? Jump
10. If mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Her cooking
11. What is mom really good at? I dunno
12. What is mom not really good at? I dunno
13. What does mom do for her job? She works at mommy's work (she's a nurses assistant)
14. What is moms favorite food? Chocolate Chip Pancakes
15. What makes me proud of my mom? When she's smiling and laughing with me
16. If mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? I dunno, Kristi Lu
17. Do mommy and I do together? Take walks, swim, play with Oggy, and jump on the trampoline
18. How are mommy and I the same? Nana Ross says that I act a lot like mommy did as a kid.
19. How are mommy and I different? I'm Jordan Staheli, she's Kristi
20. How do I know mommy loves me? Hugs.
I only modified a few answers because at first all she said was "Hugs." But 90% of the answers are straight from her mouth.
We tag Kylie Duris, Emily Powell, Rees Comeau and Caiden Christensen,
1. What is something mom always says to me? You're a silly one.
2. What makes mom happy? Hugs and kisses
3. What makes mom sad? When I whine too much.
4. How does mom make me laugh? Tickling me
5. What was mom like as a child? I'm told by Nana Ross that she was just like me (or I'm just like her).
6. How old is mommy? Mom is 3.5 and Joey is 2.5
7. How tall is mommy? Bigger
8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do? Kisses
9. What does mom do when I'm not around? Jump
10. If mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Her cooking
11. What is mom really good at? I dunno
12. What is mom not really good at? I dunno
13. What does mom do for her job? She works at mommy's work (she's a nurses assistant)
14. What is moms favorite food? Chocolate Chip Pancakes
15. What makes me proud of my mom? When she's smiling and laughing with me
16. If mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? I dunno, Kristi Lu
17. Do mommy and I do together? Take walks, swim, play with Oggy, and jump on the trampoline
18. How are mommy and I the same? Nana Ross says that I act a lot like mommy did as a kid.
19. How are mommy and I different? I'm Jordan Staheli, she's Kristi
20. How do I know mommy loves me? Hugs.
I only modified a few answers because at first all she said was "Hugs." But 90% of the answers are straight from her mouth.
We tag Kylie Duris, Emily Powell, Rees Comeau and Caiden Christensen,
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