Miles and Miles . . .

The other day my 1997 VW Golf, appropriately nicknamed "The Tank", turned over 200,000 miles! We caught it on video for everyone to enjoy along with us . . .



TA-DA!
(Disclaimer: This video was obviously filmed while driving, something that I assure you we don't usually do, and something that we don't recommend trying on your own in the interest of your personal safety)
This car just keeps going and going and going and hardly ever needs any special attention beyond the usual oil change. Yeah Volkswagen! (Needless to say we are big fans!)

Mickey, Mickey Everywhere . . .

I bought a box of Mini Nilla Wafers the other day and this was the first one that I pulled out of the box

Can you believe that!! It looks just like Mickey Mouse! It must be a sign that we need to go up to Disneyland and visit him!

Valentine's Day Foils. . .

Gary and I started missing our beautiful rocky mountains so we decided that we would go up to the california mountains and hike around. I checked out a few hiking books from the library and found a place to go that allows dogs, so Jack could come too. So we headed out to Cleveland National Forest on Saturday morning (okay, who are we kidding! It was about 11:30 by the time we got on the road!). Maggie (our Magellan GPS system) said it would take about an hour to get there, but that was okay with us since it would mean that it would be a bit warmer when we finally started our hike (it was sunny, but kind of chilly that day, around 54 degrees). When we finally got up to the entrance of the Cleveland National Forest we were surprised to see there was snow everywhere! We had no idea that there was snow anywhere in southern California. Well, I guess that just shows how little we know about the area still. We obviously weren't dressed to hike around in the snow, no matter how sunny the day was, so we just drove around the forest instead and took some pictures.

(I love when Jack sticks his head out the window! His beard always gets blown by the wind and when he pulls his head back in the car he looks crazy!)

It was fun to see all the people there playing in the snow; sledding, throwing snowballs, filling their truck beds with snow (apparently some people fill their truck beds with snow and then lay it all out in their front yard to make it look like it snowed). It is a total novelty here. And yes, we drove an hour to the "mountains" and found a mere 6" of snow, but it still reminded us of home and it was cold enough there to remind us how thankful we are to have had to endure "chilly" 54 degree temperatures in February.

Well, since our hiking plans were foiled, we decided to visit the mountain town of Julian, which wasn't far from where we were. It is a cute little town that kind of reminded us of a smaller version of Jackson Hole. I guess we were too distracted to take any pictures, but here is one I found online:

It is an "old-timey" kind of town. It looks kind of like what you would see in a western. They even had a couple of horse carriages going up and down the street. It was VERY busy! There were cars and people everywhere. Julian is known for their apple pie and there were lines out the door at a couple of the famous bakeries there. We walked around for a little more than an hour, taking turns going into different stores because we had Jack with us. He had a great time, first because he got to get out of the car finally, and also because he loves to visit with all the people!

When we finally got home it was about 3:30 and everyone was tired from being in the car for hours on end. We made some lunch and took a nap.

Gary and I have started going to the temple on Thursdays, but we had pushed it off and decided that Valentine's wouldn't be a bad time to visit this week. However, by the time we woke up from our nap, got all dressed up and ready, and finally started down the freeway I noticed that it was already 7:50! The last temple session is at 8:00 and we still had another 20 minutes until we got there. So we turned around and headed back home, foiled again! Since it was Valentine's, and since we figured we had probably beat the huge rush by that time of night, we decided that we would go out to dinner. We ate at Dalton's Roadhouse Grill, which was pretty good. I'm sure Jack wouldn't mind if we went there more often, they sell "doggy-bones" $1!

Baby Update . . .

We went to see our midwife, Karly, on Monday for one of our monthly appointments. She said that everything looked great. I feel fantastic, no longer exhausted and starving like I was at the beginning. We heard the heartbeat, which is pretty much my main reason for going. It sounded loud and strong and fast, just like a horse galloping! It is always reassuring to hear it! I have been feeling the baby move for about a month now, but I can't wait for Gary to be able to feel it too. We might arrange to get an ultrasound the beginning of next month. I am just barely starting to feel like I look kind of pregnant instead of just thicker and fatter, which is so nice! Ivy sent me all of her pregnancy clothes, that has been a total life-saver. I am still at a transitional place though, my regular pants are too tight, but pregnancy pants have a hard time staying up. According to my pregnancy book that should change pretty quickly. It says the baby should gain about a pound over the next month!

Jack's Haircut . . .

It had been about two months since his last haircut and I'm sure you will agree that Jack was starting to look a bit like a homeless pup . . .

So I made an appointment with Maureen at "Ye Olde Poodle Parlor" (yes, you did read that right), which is on my way to work. She was able to get him in the next morning, thankfully. And now he is a handsome guy again!

The End!

Donuts, Donuts Everywhere . . .

We went to Peterson's Donut Corner this last Saturday morning.

I had heard that it was a pretty famous donut joint so we thought we would try it out.

We think it is famous mostly because they have GIGANTIC donuts!! But possibly because they are also open 24 hours, unlike other donut shops which close around 11:00 am.

Here is a picture of Gary with his maple bar

It is about the size of 3 normal maple bars! It is a maple bar LOAF!

We didn't really have to eat lunch that day, because we were full of donuts! We think that this place was pretty good, but that the Donut Star donuts, which is right by our apartment, have sweeter dough and are therefore yummier. It is hard not to live here and not become somewhat of a donut-connoisseur because there are TONS of donut shops here. We have been stock-piling pictures of all of the donut shops around because we are amazed at how many there are and we wanted to share them with you. Unfortunately I don't have those pictures with me today, so we will have to save the plethora of pictures for another post.

Happy Birthday to Bliss . . .

My birthday was on January 10th (and Ivy's was on January 9th, Happy Birthday Ivy!!), and my parents and Cozy came out to visit us for the weekend. For my birthday we went to the San Diego Zoo, which I had never been to before. It is a REALLY big place! We didn't even see the whole thing. But that is okay because Gary and I now have an annual pass, so we can go whenever we want! Here are some pictures from our zoo trip . . .

. . . .We saw the Seal Show . . . . And petted the goats . . . . . . And visited the pandas

. . . More Pandas . . . . . . . . . . . . . And the cute koalas . . . . . . . . And playful Bears

It was really fun, and now I can say that I have finally been to the San Diego Zoo!

We also went to this great sushi place called Kiki Sushi. They have a huge menu and really great prices, not to mention excellent sushi.

We hung out at Balboa Park too

And ate some yummy birthday cake

It was great to really go out and do some fun stuff for my birthday, and to have some of my family around to sing the traditional birthday song to me! I don't think my birthday would feel the same without it!

Well, family. Thanks again for coming out and making it a great weekend to remember!!