Happy Thanksgiving!

Dude aka Deet da dee checking out the view from Phone Booth Hill


As is our annual tradition for close to the last 10 years, we are enjoying Thanksgiving out in the Desert. This year will be the biggest crowd yet. We are pot lucking with 28- 34 people from our Salton Sea Neighborhood. We've been emailing each other for the past 2 weeks on who is going to bring what. How many Turkey's we'll have here and I think we're going to have 28 pumpkin pies. ;) Everyone is bringing their favorite family dish or dishes. We'll be sharing Sweet potatoes, Stuffing, Scalloped Corn, Brussels sprouts and pearled onions with White Sauce. I will also be cooking a turkey. But mine will be for the sole purpose of Turkey sandwiches over the couple of days. That's the best part of Thanksgiving right? The leftovers!



The phone booth is on top of one of the highest "plateaus" in Truckhaven. The views from up here are AMAZING

We've been out here since last Sunday in the Desert. We went on a ride to the phone booth day before yesterday. We took Dude and Roxy with us. We let them off leash to run down the hill from the booth and Dude aka Deet da dee gave everyone a good laugh. He has NO experience with Sand and wasn't sure what to make of it. He was leaping, spinning, taking two paws at once to get the sand out of his eyes.....but then he would leap down a hill and just prance in pure joy. He absolutely LOVED it. Dogs are amazing how much they make you smile.



The gang all up on Phone Booth Hill.

Yesterday was a down day where we ran into Indio to the grocery store to get last minute items for the BIG dinner. Then baked pies, sat around and talked, watched a movie. I also went on a mini ride with the teenage boys. What a blast! The only part that bothered me was the dust. But I quickly got over that. Always a great feeling to be out!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!! I will post some pictures from our big dinner.



Roxy LOVES the desert!

Disneyland AND California Adventure

I have to admit, I am blessed that I live in Southern California. There is SO much to do here. We live an hour and a half south of Disneyland. I haven't been to Disneyland or California Adventure in close to 7 years. So when I found out that Veterans day is a holiday at my job and that Kevin had the day off from school and football practice, we took advantage of this and went north. Kevin also invited his girlfriend Cierra to join us.

I went to Vons the night before and picked up the 1 day park hopper passes for us. These allowed for us to go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure as much as we wanted too. Plus having the passes in hand mean't that we didn't have to wait in line for tickets there. We started off at Disneyland, rode Space Mountain, Star Tours, Splash Mountain and Matterhorn (in that order). We then went over to California Adventure and had lunch, then went on California Screamin, Soaring over California, Tower of Terror, back to California Screamin, then back to Tower of Terror. Then we went back across the way to Disneyland. Boy did Disneyland pack up BIG time while we were at California Adventure. We were headed for the Castle when Kevin and Cierra found two fast passes for Indiana Jones on the Bridge and the window of time that was slotted on the fast passes was that very moment. So they went on the ride. I watched the parade in honor of the veterans.

To cap off our fun day, we stopped at Fuddruckers on the way home in Lake Forest and had some yummy burgers.

I did not carry the Nikon camera around with me, instead I brought the Canon Powershot. Which is small and compact. I am including a couple of my favorite photos.

Cierra and Kevin got a little wet on Splash Mountain.


So I took a picture of the picture that was posted after the ride.


This picture just cracks me up. And it was PURE luck that I was able to get such a good shot. This was on the Matterhorn and I was sitting in front of Kevin and Cierra and just happened to hold the camera behind me and click....of course check out the faces I got.


Another picture of a picture. This is Tower of Terror in California Adventure. Our 2nd time on the ride that day and Kevin and I decided to pose. Cierra decided to hold on for dear life. We're in the last row on the right. That ride is great! So much fun! The big guy sitting next to me, said that was the first ride that ever lifted him out of his seat...and he was a BIG guy!

Quote of the Day - Nov 5, 2009

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.

- Robert C. Gallagher

Halloween 2009

This year was a fun Halloween. There are quite a few of us that bought houses out by the Salton Sea and we are all neighbors out there. It's a lot of fun and an escape to go out there and be with your friends and just relax, ride, eat, watch movies, whatever your heart desires.

This past weekend, one of our Salton Sea Neighbors threw a Halloween party. My husband and I had a blast! The theme was 70's Halloween. Greg set up a dance floor on the lot next to his house. A few of his friends had the wagon train circle with their trailers around it. The disco light was strung up over the dance floor and Debbie and Marion brought some fantastic Halloween deco to finish off the look.

First, one of Greg's friends took the kids around the neighborhood for a hay ride to go trick or treating. They hauled in a pretty good load of candy.


Then we all returned to Greg's house for a potluck dinner. Very very yummy potluck dinner. Then, the dancing! At 11:30 Debbie duz Karaoke came over and we sang some tunes till about 1. What a GREAT time. Greg you can throw a party!!



Greg and JD



Paulette and JD (yup he shaved his beard off. I'm still getting used to it)



Check out Disco Granny! What a hottie! aka Debbie!



Paige and "Vietnam" vet Justin

Red neck hillbillies stopped by too!

Orange Glen High School Football

This is my 2nd attempt at creating a video with pictures. This time with the random pictures I took during the early part of the 2009 Orange Glen Patriot Football season.

Go down to my "pink" playlist on the right side, press the pause button so that you can enjoy the music associated with the video below.

Enjoy!

Our "roots"

As I sit on the couch here I can see out of our back slider window door down into the back yard and to John's shop. We have a back road that goes to his shop from the main road, and then a side driveway that goes through past the house to the street above, that takes you back out the main road.

This is looking down towards John's shop with is located in the right side.


So this past Saturday morning, I had an interesting experience. I was sitting here on the couch reading the paper, talking to Kevin (John had left earlier for the desert house that day) when Roxy and Dude aka Deet da dee starting barking at someone down on the back road. From time to time we will see folks down there, but mostly the neighbors walking their dog. This time is was a woman jogging (she was in her mid 30's) and I had never seen her before. She jogged down the back road and came up our driveway and stopped in front of John's shop. She starts walking around looking at the back yard.

Of course I get up and go out the deck and ask her if there was something I can help her with.

She responds, that her grandparents used to live here in the 70's and that she was in town for her High School Reunion from Arizona. Her parents lived over the hill and that she jogged over this way to check out the house.



Looking up at our house from John's shop

We talked for about 10 minutes. I think she felt a bit weird being approached...but of course I had to ask her the questions about what our house used to look like.

Back then, in place of John's shop, there were Avocado trees. There were also apricot, plum and fig trees. The deck was here, but the stairs went down on the other side. The back door to my office was there, but it was a dirt floor and just a storage area. She described to a 'T' the layout of the house upstairs. So nothing had changed inside.

Our house was built in 1968, we moved in during the late 90's. You always wonder about the history of your house, who lived here, what kind of people were they.

I'm sad she didn't stay long (she wasn't the talkative type of lady) Plus I wasn't prepared for all the questions I wanted to ask. Now of course, I can think of all sorts of questions.

I know a few years back when I went back to Canada to visit, I did the same thing. I stopped by a house I used to live in. It is an amazing experience.



One of the houses I grew up in, located in Canada. This house was built in the late 1800's. When I lived here the house was painted white and there were fields all around it. I almost didn't recognize the house because of all the trees that have grown around it

To see a house 20 years later and how much has changed. The ladies that lived there invited me to come in and see it. So I got to see my old bedroom, which seemed a lot smaller then I remember.



My old bedroom. My bed was in the exact same place

Our old Shed room was converted into a family room and in the living room they pulled up a big throw rug to show us the painted black wood floor. Which I was able to share that piece of history with them. My folks were hippies back then and they had some "interesting" parties. But I do remember them painting the wood floor back then. These women were able to strip the floor down on the outside but put a large throw rug down to cover the remainder of it.

It's interesting how we always will go back to our roots.

The boys and I with the family that lives at the house I grew up in now.

Last Home Football Game of the Season

So every chapter must come to an end and we turn the page to start the new chapter. Tonight is the end of the chapter for home football games at Orange Glen for 2009. Kevin is a Senior, so this will be our last home game as parents at Orange Glen.

I love home games. I love being up in the stands watching the boys warm up on the field, the music blaring from the speakers, watching everybody arrive for the big game, the national anthem and the student tunnel for the football team to run through. Just the excitement of it all is a blast.

As a parent, I will miss being able to watch my son as a participant in all of these festivities as a football player at Orange Glen. I will also mention that we have made some GREAT memories and the better part is that we have made some incredible lifelong friends as a result.



We have two more away games after the home game tonight for regular season. But I will say I can't wait for what the future holds for us and for Kevin. Let's live to enjoy every moment now and savor it all!






GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!