Camping at the Kern, Garden Updates & Disneyland!

I can't believe it is almost November! Things have been fairly uneventful, other than work (we moved in 1900+ students into Mesa Court in September, so its been busy). However, our garden is going great (no thanks to us...Renee and John are out there every day and we get out there when we can, which isn't saying much). We've had okra, basil, green chili peppers, bell peppers and tomatoes. Our carrots are still growing and our strawberry plants are going strong!




A few weeks ago, Adam and I made the leap and renewed our Disneyland passes so that we could join Amy, Kevin and the family while they were out here visiting. I'm glad that we have our passes again, but we haven't had a chance to go out since. Luckily a ton of friends have passes as well, so it won't be long before we get to go again.



Adam and I also headed out to the Kern River over the past weekend to go camping with Jennifer and my other co-worker Mitch. It was an incredibly nice break away from Irvine and work. We got to relax along the Kern River and I also spent some time stargazing, which you can't really do in the OC...I forgot how easy it is to see shooting stars- that night I saw 4!

Can we can fit everything into the car...?

Dinnertime!

Mitch reading by the fire...I need one of those headlights!!

On our hike, Jennifer found the perfect rock on the river

Mitch is wearing purple, wearing purple...or something.

Flyfishing on the Kern River

Jennifer and I on our hike!

California's fall colors- yellow & brown =)

Part of the river in our campground

Eggy casualty

Our Garden

UCI has a community garden for faculty & staff and my friend Renee had a couple plots with her husband. She was totally amazing and set aside some of the garden for Adam, Jennifer and I to use. She has been teaching us all the tricks of the trade (she is an amazing gardener and always brings us things like garlic, tomatoes, peppers, etc. when she worked in our office). We went to the nursery and bought some seeds and plants and are now well on our way to getting some tomatoes, green onions, carrots and bell peppers of our own. Unfortunately, something has been getting into our strawberries!! So exciting!!

Absolutely love our plot! Renee and John made it beautiful (and not just a dirt mound!)

Adam and Jennifer getting into the dirt

Jennifer and John noticed they were twins in their Celebrate UCI shirts

Drew's Goodbye!

This morning we saw Drew off as he headed on to his next adventure- working on his PhD at University of Texas! It is super sad to see him leave, but also very exciting because he is going on to an amazing next step in his life! As a little memento for Drew, Jennifer and I (with Adam's supervision) made Drew a photo album and it was ASTONISHING how much the four of us have done in the past year together- from camping in Big Bear, Sequoia, and Yosemite to eating, eating, and more eating! I hope we continue our memories together. Road trip to Austin is in order!

Last "West Coast Family" Friday night dinner at Cham Sut Gol

The photo album for Drew- hilarious cover shot

First page of the album- it took us almost 20 hours to complete! That's 40 man hours!

Yesterday we helped him pack his truck. This man has sooo much stuff. Wow.

But amazingly it all fit in the truck!

Drew's last time at his house in Mesa Court

This morning in our classic West Coast Family order- Drew, Jennifer, Adam and Emily

Very last WCF photo in Irvine at 8am on 8/10/08

And away he goes from Mesa Court Housing...

The card for Drew (from someecards.com). So mean and so funny!

Canon Rebel XTi

Adam and I got the Canon Rebel XTi! We bought it yesterday and I am VERY excited about it. I am probably going to spend a lot of time taking photos and playing around with the camera in the next few weeks. It is a huge investment, so I hope it is well worth it! I have been wanting an SLR camera for a long time, and Adam decided to get it for me (I want to say for us!) for our anniversary that is coming up this week. So excited.

Here is one of the first pictures that I took on the camera. Of course it is of scrapbook paints. Haha. Hopefully I will have some amazing pictures to show in the future.

Utah in January- I forgot!

Today I was talking to our good friend Jared and I realized that I hadn't seen him since January when I went to Utah. I had forgotten to post up photos from my trip so I'll include them now. I had taken some time off to visit Susan & Paul, and I also got to connect with Jared, my friend Paul & his wife Chelsea, my friend Jeff, and of course, Amy, Kevin & the family!

It was a very fun trip, with snow, nighttime walk in Park City, snowshoeing with Susan, reading at the local coffee shop, scrapbook shopping, eating, and good laughs. Here are a few pictures from that trip.

Paul in shorts in front of their house...I was in a warm coat!

Jared, me, Chelsea, and Paul Schramm (with their new baby) in Provo

Susan and I went out in the cold snowshoeing. It was a lot of fun and good exercise!

Jeff and his cute daughter Breyer. His wife just had their 2nd baby a few days before, so she wasn't able to meet up with us since she was still in recovery.

Two of my cute nieces playing around (yes, one of them is a lion!)