The Post You've All Been Waiting for

Yup, God blessed us with a baby!

We're due late May/Early June =)

Thanks for all who prayed, we so appreciate it, and ask you continue covering our little one in your outpourings to God.

  

Pretty soon, little monkey will be running around the house!

Love, Lauren

Wild Animal Park

Saturday, we were encouraged to visit the Wild Animal Park in Escondido by Meline Akashian, a fellow English teacher at TVHS. Rik and Meline thought it would be fun to geocache part of our wedding gift in the Wild Animal Park, and since they have memberships, they would check up on their gift, hidden in the park. After about 10 months, Meline mentioned that we hadn't yet picked it up, and I told her that she had underestimated how busy we were =) So we decided to go, the weather has been warming up again, but a little south into San Diego county there was a nice breeze which made the day lovely and pleasant. We also met Karen, another teacher at TV, and her husband Mark at the park.

We wandered around the native plants area and the bonsai tree exhibit before heading over to the tigers, lions and cheetahs.

 

It was around this area that we pulled out our GPS and started tracking the gift. I punched in the coordinates and tried to head off in the right direction,

 

I did my fair share of wandering, and Tim eventually lead the way for a while, but in the end, we found it together. On the postcard Mel gave us she wrote that our marriage "be gracious and spirited in sentiment and deed" and when I saw the dedication placard, I knew where to look. 

Under a very realistic rock was hidden a little vase that matches the pottery thrown plate they bought for us. It sits on our counter holding fruit and now I have a vase to put little flowers in that matches. So, thank you again to the Akashian's. We ate a relaxing lunch and after the kangaroo encounter, where we met Ruby,

 

we wandered around the warthogs, gibbons

 and okapi (of which Tim told me he wanted a baby one.)

We ended up petting a few deer and then called it a day because the park was closing. It was a relaxing workout, for the park is built on quite a few hills, and I enjoyed spending time with colleagues outside of school. 

Thank you! 

Love, Lauren & Tim

Delights

"Cock's Comb"

Tim and I haven't had a Saturday together for a while considering he is still working hard to repay all the shifts he took off so we could go on vacation together 3 out of 4 weeks during the summer. So it was a real blessing to enjoy this Saturday together, we decided to go out to breakfast. Even before we had left the house, Tim asked me where I wanted to go, and I had said Penfold's, at which he balked because he had chosen it as well. Then he questioned me what we should do after breakfast, and again I read his mind by asking to go to the Saturday Farmer's market in Old Town. We gave each other our ubiquitous Bergon high-five as Tim exclaimed, "dude!" Of course, this reading of thoughts, answering each other's questions before asking, finishing the other's sentences and general being-on-the-exact-same-pagedness is not new, but it is so fun! We headed off to the Temecula staple: Penfold's Cafe. Tim ordered an omelet with orange juice and I had pancakes and eggs with coffee. It was perfect. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and just talked, about our upcoming day (two birthday parties), our future mountaineering plans, our heart's desires, and who we would be voting for in the election. These days are blissful and I am so blessed because they are not few and far between- Tim makes almost every day a joy I don't deserve. I still thank God for His grace that lead us together to this place. We walked to Old Town and wandered around the farmer's market. A week ago, I had bought strawberries here and made a pie for Tim, but he didn't get more this time, later that day he regretted it; he did buy some peaches though, and those make lovely snacks. He also bought me fresh flowers. Tim has bought me flowers just about every other week ever since we were married. Usually he'll pick them up from a roadside florist in San Marcos on the way home, or sometimes he gets them at Trader Joe's while I'm at work. Today he let me choose them, and I chose some sublime pink "Cock's Comb" and a mix of exotic bromelias, or some "B" flower. I arranged them at home and they now brighten my kitchen.

Tim is gone to work today, but I am at home enjoying the cooling temps, my flowers, the leftover biscuit from his breakfast, some chai tea and actually getting up to date on my grading. It is one of those lovely lounging-productive days, because for it to be a good day, I must be productive in some way. And here I sit, enjoying some chill music and puppies sleeping lazily and cats yawning under windowsills. I feel just as the woman yesterday described when we walked by her on the way back to the car from the market: we were laughing, my arms were full of flowers, Tim's hand was in mine and she commented, "...what a lucky girl!"

I managed to mix some "Cock's Comb" with the bouquet, with what I had left over, I made this little bouquet.

Guy's Night Out

Desi, Aaron and Tim had a nice little weekend while Desi was in town to "relax". On Friday, the 12th Tim and the guys went down to hang out, smoke some pipes, drink some brews and explore PB.

 

As I was leaving for work that morning, Tim was laying down and put his hands behind his head. I went to sit next to him, just having a nice quiet moment before the busyness of the day started when he asked, "Is it weird that I'd rather spend time with my wife than my guy friends?" Now of course I knew that he wanted to go, but it was still so sweet for him to express his heart. So don't be hurt guys, he still loves you...he just loves me more =)

After I left for work, I guess he picked up Desi and headed down to meet Aaron at Stone Brewery in Escondido.

 

Tim texted that it was a cool place, and that I would like it (Tim's not a drinker, but I am). He tried a pale ale and then they headed to a place called the "Abbey" in San Marcos, I guess it's in the same place that Stone used to be, but Tim said it didn't look up to code exactly. The boys continued their adventure at Pizza Port in Carlsbad and then finally down to the Pacific Shores hotel in PB. That night they went to Henessey in PB and smoked pipes on the beach. 

Tim had a great time the next day at the exotic car showroom the next day.

 

After a trip to Desi's grandma's house, he returned home and napped. A nice day, and if any of you guys wants to add some details, let me know. Thanks for the GNO guys. 

Radiohead & Padres Game

*Sigh*
once again I find myself not posting due to the overwhelming volume of fun adventures about which to blog. I haven't really even finished the Mt. Shasta post, nor the two weeks on an Oregon road trip. I haven't managed to load all the pictures from a week at Lake Powell on the houseboat, but I will attempt to publish one little night.
A long, long time ago, Jared bought tickets to Radiohead and invited us to come. So we planned on going, Aug. 27th with him, Christy and some guys from church. It turns out that Radiohead's concerts sell out in pretty much five minutes, so I was excited that we were going to go. I had seen them twice before and wanted to see them again considering their music is awesome.
We drove down to San Diego area and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that I cannot remember the name of, but it was pretty good. When we got to the ampitheater, the line was wrapped around the arena. The concert was really disorganized, and we weren't sure what lines led where, but we managed to get in pretty fast considering the staff opened the far side of the gates. We laid out our blankets on the grass and I proceeded to grade papers while Tim made jokes and, as always, acted goofy. We paid $12 for a "premium" beer and were settling in when the worst band we had all ever heard opened the show.
The Liars were only lying to themselves that they could actually play any type of music. It was so horrendous that we seriously almost left. If we had to hear one more terrorized note from those idiots, I would have vomited. I hope anyone who searches The Liars gets routed to this page just to see:
THE LIARS SUCK !
Anyways, Radiohead came on and suddenly, our peaceful little stakeout on the grass was bombarded by obnoxious people from all sides. All of a sudden it was a free for all for the space around us. So not cool. We also had a group of border hoppers from TJ stand right behind us the whole show talking and laughing so loud in Spanish that we seriously could not focus on the chill sounds of York and Co. I have pretty much decided that I won't attend enormous concerts anymore. Unfortunately, they didn't really play any of their older stuff until the end, but by then Tim and I just wanted to leave. Between the high dancers to the left, the cussing Asian dancer in the front, the illegals in the back and the amount of marijuana and smoke in the air, we headed out to our car. I like a good concert every now and then, but this was kinda dissappointing, even Jared admitted that their set seemed lackluster. Oh well, back to listening to them at home. Music clear and crisp, $1 Coronas and no annoying people anywhere. So, I guess this wasn't the most fun post, but at least it's something? Check out some pics below, and Desi, Tim was going to keep his fumanchu for you, but it was annoying him, just like the people, so it left, but he looks amazingly hot with it, so enjoy!

So after the let-down, we went to San Diego again to see a Padres game. We met Dan and Christina Kalberg there and we had a wonderful time. Again, the beer was overpriced, but we had great seats that were free, and the company was wonderful. The Padres won over the Rockies, and we got to check out Petco Park, which is very cool. Sometimes when we're downtown, we think about moving to a big city and living in a nice loft 13 stories up, just to have that experience for a while; however, I don't think we are going anywhere because once we have our first baby, all our family is right here, there would be absolutely no sense in picking up and moving away. So, we just need to hold on to the two houses, wait 'til the market turns, make some dough and buy a house in the country for our bunch.

Thanks to Dan and Christina for the invite- we'll see you soon hopefully. 

Can't Keep Up

Needless to say, we have been on vacation all summer! I can't even begin to keep up with what we are doing on this blog. Being the wife of Tim is more fabulous than anything I have ever done or heard of or even thought of before. In the span of 9 married months we have been to Hawaii, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, hiked Mt. Shasta, Lake Mead, Lake Powell houseboating, a two-week roadtrip to Oregon and toured the Eastern Sierras. All of these trips are stories and stories within themselves. We're bursting with travel adventures and love! It's insanely amazing!!! Now we are preparing for another great adventure: work. Tim and I have been talking more about being better citizens at work. I suppose this is the best thing to do since we're still sans baby and falling apart into tears (mostly on my part) about returning to the working world is just not beneficial for anyone. Therefore, back to routine. Yet, in that routine, I hope to find more time to write. For now, the first day back to school was long. I'm working 6/5ths to bring in some extra money but it makes for a tiring day. I currently have 208 students and about 130 of them will write 4 essays this semester. I simply cannot drudge up the motivation or energy to pour myself into work. I believe people who are able to work wholeheartedly are either stupid or have a bad marriage. There is no way in the world I would devote any more time than is necessary to work because it takes me away from my Tim. I pray God will bless us with a baby, but now that I've started work, I suppose I'll have to finish this year out. More on our adventures soon...maybe.
Love, Lauren

Road Trippin'

Tim & I are off on an adventure. We left for Lake Mead with Mom, Dad, Uncle Chris, Aunt Sally, Doo-wah (Katie), and the Grittens for a few days in the stormy Arizona heat. I say stormy because we had thundershowers which rained on us on the second night, and low gray clouds that hung about intermittently. The storms kept temps cool (90s) and the water FLAT! We returned home from that lake and unpacked, just to re-pack for a three week road trip.
This trip was difficult to pack for considering that we have varied needs throughout the whole trip. We need car camping equipment including firewood and a stove and chairs. Then we need backpacking equipment for our hike on Mt. Shasta. Finally, we will be in some downtown areas in Portland and want to dress up if need be, so we're packing some town clothes too. We're both pretty laid back in our style, if we even have one. We tend to think there are FAR better things in life than being concerned with what we're wearing. We're like the lilies of the field in that sense I guess, though we do far more worrying about other things... So, we put everything in the car, packed the Playmate with cheese, grapes, yogurt, put my bike on the bike rack and drove for Northern California.
Mom gave us the Focus on the Family theatrical reading of C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles. Since Tim has been reading through them, he is on Horse and his Boy. But since I only read Prince Caspian after the movie came out, he was gracious to listen to Voyage of the Dawn Treader with me. It made the car ride go much faster! We pretty much just drove straight up the 5 and passed through the hills where we stopped at the Val Verde Museum. It is a visitors center that is huge and very well done; it details the life of water in California- it's passage from the Sierras to the central valley and all the pump stations and down the aqueducts and to our homes. Pretty awesome the way it works to create energy for us, and how we reserve it in places like Pyramid Lake, which is where the lavish center is located. (Seriously, Tim and I had never seen a visitors museum so well done and so massive!) We drove on through San Joaquin valley and finally crashed out in Red Bluff to sleep. In the morning, we were back on the road to see Castle Crags Recreation Area and hike around to stretch our legs. We stopped at the Castle Crags camp and proceeded to a trailhead. We got a good view of the Crags, which are granite pinnacles in the sky, and we did a little 2 mile trail run to Root Creek. We splashed some crystal cool water on our faces and necks and ran back to do a few yoga stretches at our car. We headed back on the freeway making two detours at a motel area where you can book a caboose for your family vacation. The whole campsite had a great view of Castle Crags and every "room" is a different train caboose. We love finding silly little areas like this when we travel- and there are more than you would imagine out there. Then we went to Shasta Caverns, but were unwilling to pay $40, just to see some caves, we decided our lava tubes in Hawaii could help us last until we go to Mitchell Caverns or Carlsbad Caverns on some other road trip. We traveled on, finally reaching our destination: Mt. Shasta City. Here we picked up some essentials and rentals at the 5th Season outdoors store and checked into our hotel. We bellyed-up to the Billygoat's Tavern where we won a free pint of New Belgium 1554 beer for answering 3 questions correctly:
1. On what street does Peter Griffin live?
2. What did the US purchase for 7.2 million dollars in 17xx. (can't remember)
3. What is the strongest bone in the human body?
Thanks to J. Mize, Lex and Mom for helping us out. We owe you one! Tim had "Possibly the best burger ever" with garlic fries and I had the "Tree-hugger" a yummy veggie burger with walnuts mixed in served with sprouts and cheese. So yummmmmmmmmmmmm.
Then we walked all around town- like most transient mountain communities, there are some weird people here and there are lots of new age book stores and tarot card readings and aura picture takings and dirtbag kids playing flutes on the street. People ride bikes, if you've lived here over a month, you know almost everyone, and most of the money comes from tourists- like us. Very organic, very existential, which I think is fun, but kinda sad. Many people in the area believe that Shasta is a mystical place (like Sedona) where powers and crystals bring healing or destruction if you are not in tune, or at least honor them. There is a strong crowd that even believes that the mountain is home to an alien race who return in the lenticular clouds that encase the mountain to refuel their ships with magma from the volcano (yes, Shasta is a volcano- we learned this when Tim took me to the Natural History Museum on our "use no gas" date) Later, we even squeezed in a 5 mile hike up Black Butte, just to help acclimate and get our muscles warmed up. Unfortunately, with all the fires in the area, the visibility is very low, though the sun looks awesome through all the smoke.
We went back to our hotel and packed for the next day- our attempt on the Shasta summit. I will post on our climb later, and add pictures, but for now let's just say we are back at Cold Creek Inn and definitely exhausted...
Love, Lauren