Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Birthday Visitors

Now that high school basketball season has ended, I have the time and energy to write about my parents' visit to SoCal! You'll have to ask them but I think we have some snow birds in the making...

Our school had a 3-day weekend to remember MLK Jr which happens to fall near my birthday, so Dad and Mom came and took advantage of the long weekend to celebrate my 24th birthday. They flew in Thursday night and had the SoCal experience by staying in Newport Beach before heading out to the desert Friday morning. They were even able to watch me coach a basketball game that evening.

We spent our Saturday taking the aerial tram to Mount San Jacinto, window shopping in downtown Palm Springs, visiting the Palm Springs Air Museum, mini-golfing, and dining outdoors complete with live music.

This is only my parents' second time visiting us since we've been married so it was fun to see them "kid free" and in vacation mode; a side of Jeff and Tracy I have never really witnessed!

All in all, their entire visit was the perfect mix of sightseeing and relaxation with so much catching up throughout! The guys even did some home improvement things while us ladies were actually able to go out with shopping companions! Emil and I can only look forward to a future visit :)

Here are just a few snapshots of their sunny visit:

From 800 to 8,400ft we go!
We convinced them to do some great scrambling - worth the view!
Checking out the Coachella Valley and Salton Sea

Pioneertown

The Arch - Joshua Tree National Park

We couldn't keep the guys off the rocks!

SO happy to be reunited!!!

Taking in the "Mars-like" scenery

Cholla Cactus Garden - JTNP

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (A Fall Semester Reflection)

(For this post, we've decided to take a D. Talen approach and provide you with an informative and hopefully entertaining dialogue.)


Karisa: Emil, can you believe we’re sitting here on the couch sipping hot chocolate while snow falls outside?

Emil: It sure makes California feel like the winter we’re used to back East!

K: Right? Christmas break wouldn’t be complete without a little snow.

E: Well we did already see a little snow when we visited Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear last week. 
K: This Christmas break has been so relaxing. Can you believe it’s almost 2015? We’ve been residents of California for almost 5 months!

E: [Counts on fingers, then re-counts]
K: That means we have been “grownup” teachers for almost 5 months too. My goodness, think of all the things we have learned that they didn’t teach us back in college?!

E: Like what to do when a student places their booger in your hand in the middle of class, or when a student comes down off the risers in the middle of your first Christmas performance to hand you a tooth they just lost!?

K: Teaching is turning out to be anything but boring, that’s for sure. Remember that time a student insisted that we had children just because we are married? Or that other student who demanded you be called Mrs. Talen?

E: They seem to need more than one man in the elementary school… Now you have had an interesting time figuring out whether or not you can be in the gym, your classroom, on the field, or anywhere else on campus including my classroom.
K: Let’s just say I didn’t get the Gumby Award for nothing! It’s the beauty of a church-school relationship and I’m happy to negotiate :) . Emil, we’re trying to write a blogpost for our poor readers who haven’t seen an entry in over 2 months, enough with the ukulele.

E: But it’s just so fun to play and it’s been great learning new songs together over this low-key 2 week break.

K: I’m afraid your ukulele abilities have surpassed my own since you began playing every day at school.

E: Well YouTube tutorials have definitely helped me out since you’re always at basketball practice after school.

K: Who knew 10-12 hour days on campus could be so enjoyable? You know how much I love my high school girls! Are you ready for all of them to invade our little house for a homemade pizza night later this week?
E: As ready as I can be to make a few pizzas and be completely outnumbered. Then again, maybe I’ll just go out to the garage to work on another woodworking project.

K: You really are enjoying your space out there to create all kinds of neat things. Thanks for the new coat rack!

E: Anytime, my darling. The house needs to be presentable before your parents visit too.

K: YAY!!! It’s almost the New Year, which means it’s almost January, which means it’s almost my birthday month, which means my Dad and Mom are coming to California!

E: …are you excited? Because I can’t tell with that giant smile on your face.

K: You were equally excited when your parents visited back during American Thanksgiving. Talk about a great time!
E: We did so much over that short amount of time: Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree NP, hiking, the aerial tram in Palm Springs, and more. I can’t wait to show your parents some of the area.

K: Me too. For now though, let’s enjoy the odd winter scene outside and the remaining 5 days of break!

E: Do you wanna build a snowman?

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Tarantula

Oh, if you wanted to see a video of the tarantula here it is.

Our Home

Karisa here, and I'm equally if not more excited about our new camera! It's been so sad not being able to take pictures of the past month (first world problems!) so here are some long overdo shots of our rental here in California. It is definitely still a work in progress but most certainly feels like mine and Emil's home :)

(You Facebookers have probably already seen these outside shots)


Backyard

Entry with washer on opposite side

It may not look a guest bedroom YET, but in under a month, our first visitors - Emil's parents - will lodge here!


Master bedroom has a ways to go

Living/Dining area. Love our tall ceilings!



There you have it, a tour of our cozy home. Again, we love hosting and having visitors so if you're visiting Southern California, Arizona, or Vegas, we're not too far! There's room for 2, or more if you don't mind tenting in our temperate climate :)

Some Pictures of God’s Magnificent Creation



“FINALLY!” we both exclaimed as our new camera was unboxed and marveled at, "we can take pictures again, our blogposts will be more numerous and prettier!"

We took so many pictures in the last two days because of our new camera and we want to show you some of what we did!

Pronounced Choy-ya, these things look like teddy bears, but are something you definitely do not want to touch, as evidenced in the next picture.
As Karisa was trying to take close up pictures of these cuddly plants, one tried to hug her foot!


This is a desert wood rat's nest, basically just old cholla bits and pieces scattered around so larger predators don't try to get them, snakes however aren't deterred by them.

This is what the inside of the trunk of the Cholla looks like when the "bark" has fallen off.

Another picture letting you see God's engineering side come out.

And they're hollow
These things are big too!

They have flowers as well. The natives in older times would take sticks to get the flowers off the plants, then they would steam and eat them.



They were everywhere!

Pinto Mountian off on the horizon


A very cool rock formation, known as the Arch


A 360 view of behind the Arch

The shadows were fun to play with!

Some neat bright green, something we aren't used to anymore!


The next few pictures are of these



Miniature effect on the camera is neat

On the way home we saw this fun creature crawling across the road! That is a water bottle next to it for size comparison. 

So, these are just a few of the pictures from yesterday I hope you enjoy them.