Gone, Baby Gone

Special thanks to Mom and Dad Anderson for spending a week of their time with us here in Texas and helping us lay tile in the kitchen and laundry room (photos to come). We appreciate you! We will let you out of the house next time... We promise.

And thanks to Dad Eichman for spending 2 days here helping us paint all of our kitchen cabinets from yellow to white. Thanks!

Tomorrow Kent and I leave for our Alaskan cruise! I hope to wrestle a polar bear and brew tea made from tree bark.

Just Kidding.

We just want to see the glaciers before they are gone... next week.

Be back Aug. 9th!

Kentie and Jana

I Know I'm in Texas Part I

I went to Hobby Lobby today to look for some fabric, and on the door there was a sign that said...

Business Hours

Monday-Saturday 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

Sundays we are closed so that our employees may attend worship

and spend time with their families

I Love My Dad

Always willing to do whatever is one of Dad's best traits.

I love you!

California Trip- San Francisco Portion

The start of my trip...

Jana and Elisse @ Powell Street Cable Car Turnaround

My girlfriend Debbie lives in Oakland, Ca- which is another eclectic city in the Bay Area; just minutes to downtown San Francisco. While I was there our other friend Elisse (we are all college buddies) drove in from Folsom and we had some good shopping/hangout time in the city. It was gay pride week, so that was interesting- I was RAINBOWED out! Not OUT- out, you know? (gay joke). They would have loved my cake! Anyway, we had fun. The three of us went to dinner at some hipster hangout called Cha-Cha-Cha for some sort of Latin cuisine. I ate fried bananas, which is way outside the box for this girl. And I had my first encounter with sangria... Interesting.

Debbie and Elisse

Debs and I, along with her boyfriend Matthew and other friends went to see a play called, "Tis Pity She's A Whore", which sounds dirtier than it was. It was written 400 years ago, so I only understood around 20% of what was being said, but the music was interesting- a lone chellist using a distortion pedal. The music was the best part. Oh, and the comic relief character rode a 1950's scooter half the time, in full Elizabethan-era costume.

I then took the train from Jack London Square in Oakland to Sacramento and then on to Folsom to see the Tweets. Folsom was hard to see because all of the smoke, but what I did see was really cute and quaint. One of my favorite parts of that trip was... In 2001 I made a pillow for my ex-roommates' (Elisse, Debbie, and Sarah) house, with pin-up girl fabric. Here 7 years later I went into 2-year-old Jack's bedroom, and he was using it as his pillow. It was really cute.

Jack's Pillow

While flying home to Orange County, the plane crossed over Yosemite National Park, and I had a direct view of some of the fires burning there- and more interestingly of Bass Lake. Look at all the smoke- Gross! This pic is looking down at Yosemite- Which was clearer from the plane, but not translating well on film.

Just typical air quality in California... Almost

After a few short days in Orange County, the smoke had cleared so we drove up to the lake- Finally!

California Trip- Yosemite Portion

Just a few miles away from Bass Lake is Yosemite National Park. Some years we venture the stomach lurching winding drive to the valley, and most often not. However, just a few miles into the park, and not too far from the cabin is the historic Wawona Hotel, built in 1879 and frequented by Teddy Roosevelt. On Saturday evenings they have an outdoor BBQ on the lawn underneath the massive pine trees. We went for dinner one night, and then explored the "Pioneer Village" just a short walk away. It was 80 degrees, quiet, beautiful, and thankfully, not on fire!!! (As seemingly half the state is).

California Trip- Bass Lake Portion

Every year Grandma Jo celebrates her birthday at the lake by having a weenie roast over at the Denver Church Campground on the other side of the lake. So, we pack up the chairs, food, wood (and now babies) and head over in various boats. This year was no exception, and so we grilled away and then played several games of Telephone**.

**Note: In my Brady Bunch-esque nuclear and extended family, this is normal behavior. Other things we have done that rate a 10 on the lame-o-meter include (1) a hula hoop contest, (2) a limbo contest, (3) a talent show, (4) and as a family singing "You Are So Beautiful To Me" to Grandma on her 75th birthday. I complain, but secretly I like it.

So, that concludes my trip to the Best Coast- Er, I mean West Coast :-)

Lazy on the Lake

Hello friends! Hello husband in Texas! I am posting this from Bass Lake, just a few miles south of Yosemite National Park in CA. I was having blog withdrawls- the shakes, blurred vision- and decided to post. I have been up at the lake for about a week now, and am enjoying the same old, same old. I have had some Forks burgers, gone for boat rides, kayaked around the cove where our dock is, had dinner at the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite, watched fireworks over the lake on the 4th, cruised around The Pines in the golfcart, and so on and so forth. I miss Kent a TON, and my doggies, but being with my California family is a lot of fun. Today I am going to play 9 holes of golf in Yosemite, and then float in the lake some more- laziness never gets old.

I come home on Wednesday- Yeehaw! XOXO