Finally getting settled in : )

So we've been in our permanent home a week tomorrow, and thank goodness things are starting to feel a bit normal again! Brandon is enrolled in Kindergarten and he is really enjoying being around other children his age again. With him missing the first month and a half of school and having speech issues, we were not sure he was ready for Kindergarten, but with a lot of hard work at school and at home, he has made a HUGE improvement just in this last week and a half! As for Tom and I, we are having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the town of Ridgecrest itself. There is not a whole lot to do here during the week, and you better believe we are out of here on the weekends ; ).

Just this last weekend we went to a wine an chocolate festival in Oakhurst, and it was a lot of fun. There was supposed to be a Halloween costume contest, so we decked Brandon out in his caveman costume. He had a real chicken bone necklace and a paper mache' club! I also made faux fur bracelets and shoe covers; it sounds like a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun!! So, I'm glad that I enjoyed putting it together, because they didn't even end up

having the contest : (

This weekend Tom has a three day weekend thanks to the great flex Fridays he has; we might go see Death Valley, which we heard was definitely worth checking out.

There might not be a whole lot going on in good old Ridgecrest, but there is plenty of beauty and wildlife. The sunsets are gorgeous and I have seen plenty of rabbits and roadrunners.

We also got lucky and scored a house that has a beautiful view of the mountains, with a back gate that goes right out to the walking trail and the golf course (convenient for Pa ;)). Which reminds me, even though we ended up with a three bedroom house, we have decent sized rooms so the boys are sharing one of them and the other is a office/guestroom with a bed ready for visitors!

A lot to catch up on!!

Hey everyone :) So, I know there is a whole lot to catch everyone up on! I was waiting for the camera; don't like to blog with out adding cool pics. and honestly time has gone so quickly; I really am sorry for the procrastination!

Anyway, we obviously made it safely to California, and the trip cross country was not as horrible as we had built it up to be in our minds :). The D.V.D player was definitely a life saver as was the frequent stops! It was really nice to get to spend time with Gigi and Pa and Aunt Wilma and Uncle Cotton, who made us a great lunch! Wes even got his first hair cut at Sport Clips :(. Surprisingly enough he was not miserable the whole time, and she did a really good job on his hair, despite all the camera flashes in her face and nervous me stressing the fact that I still wanted him to look like a baby :).

We were able to stop and spend a night in our new home town. Here are pictures of the view from the town in the evening and right after sunrise.

Ridgecrest is actually a lot prettier than we thought it would be. There is actually green grass and trees in the yards, and the people seemed very nice and welcoming. We are all heading there for good on Sunday the 7th, so we're looking forward to starting our daily routine there! Tom spoke to housing and they told him that we will be able to get into our permanent home on the 11th, so we only need to stay in temporary housing for a few days--thank goodness!

Well, since we've been here we had a nice BBQ at Auntie Lina's house and the boys had a blast riding in the wheel barrel and rough housing with Lina's beasts she calls dogs!!

We also had a good time camping this weekend at Bass Lake. This was both the boys first camping trip and they both loved it! Brandon learned how to start a fire-- ha ha I guess we're just asking for trouble! He worked so hard creating the fire that he and daddy fell asleep by it's warmth :). He also found a golf ball that he just had to give to Pa because, "He will love it so much!" Bad thing for the golf ball though--it accidentally fell in the fire! But don't worry Pa, Brandon was determined to get it out with a stick and although slightly charred, it is safe and sound and waiting for you ;). Brandon also discovered frogs on this trip and like any good boy should be, he was set on catching one, but good thing he had no luck! Little Wes discovered stars; the mountain sky was just covered with bright stars, and enamored by them, Wes kept excitedly pointing to the sky and saying, "Woah!"

After our adventurous camping trip and way too many smores we took the boys to the Children's Discovery Museum and again, they had a blast! Brandon got to make a pizza at the pizza shop just like Auntie Tracy :). Wes was so impressed with the floating globe and the ride in the miniature EMS truck. After two and a half hours of fun there, we dragged them out for some good BBQ (bet you can't guess who decided on that :)).

Today we took the boys to the local pumpkin patch and went through the hay stack maze. Brandon picked out a few pumpkins for all of us to carve together. Wes didn't care about the pumpkins much, he just loved being pulled around in the Radio Flyer!

I hope everyone is doing great and I promise to Blog more often now that I got the camera back! I will also tried to send a photo album in the next couple days. Tomorrow we are going to be in the car all day, driving to L.A. to go pick up Tom's truck-- thank goodness Pop-pop volunteered to babysit :)