49 Palms Canyon

Gearing up to go. No, that is not a tall Heineken bottle Ian is drinking from. We don't start 'em that early!

Our dirty little desert town looks so much prettier from up here. 

The Oasis

Family photo. The Langdons just might as well be part of our family!

Star Party

We went to a star party in the Joshua Tree National Park to see the Perseid meteor shower. It was amazing. You can read about it here!


We had so much fun! A totally different kind of fun than star parties we had in college, but this isn't an appropriate place to talk about that :)

First Beach Trip of the Summer: June

It's hard for me to imagine that some people have never been to the beach. I LOVE the beach, it's one of my favorite places. If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying myself a bungalow on Coronado Island and I'll refuse to wear shoes or real clothes for the rest of my life. 


We took our cousins from Reno, Paige and Riley, to Huntington Beach. It was pretty chilly, but we had a great time anyway. I even spotted a few of my favorite sea creatures... California surfer boys!

The Orchard in May

Hard to believe that this gorgeous orchard is in the middle of the Mojave desert.

We had more apricots than we knew what to do with. We ended up with a ton of muffins and smoothies :)

Suzie's Graduation

We had the most amazing time in Maine and in Boston for Suzie's graduation from UNE. It's still hard to believe that my little sister is a doctor! Very weird, but we're insanely proud of her. Anyway, we took in the sights, hung out with her amazing friends, and partied on the beach. I really may never drink sangria again!

We also ate lobster, had Irish Car Bombs at a real Boston Irish pub, and took in a Boston Red Sox game. Good times!

In even more exciting news, Suzie shared with us that she is pregnant. It didn't take her long to find out that it's TWINS.

That's even harder to wrap my head around than the fact that she's a doctor.

...the Champagne Kicks In

You can tell that Bunny was the DD. She was amused by our antics.

Thankful our table was fairly isolated...

...because we took full advantage of the "all you can drink".

New Year's Eve

My OCD is going to kill me, but these posts may be out of order from time to time. Anway, my brother and his lovely wife joined us on New Year's Eve to celebrate. We drank ourselves silly and played Beatles Rock Band. Just because PJ is a stellar guitarist in real life doesn't mean he can beat us on the game :)

And this was pretty cool too...

The Living Desert

I think the best part of this little adventure was dinner afterwards at PF Changs!

Decorating the Tree

So this is the tree that we almost didn't even get. We were seriously plagued by a case of the bah-humbugs this year and we tossed around the idea of not even putting up a tree. Luckily the midgets in the household convinced us otherwise.

I only like real trees, but Kelly fell in love with this little pre-lit guy. It wasn't traditional, but it was fun!

Palm Springs Light Parade

This year's parade was MUCH more eventful than last year's. We had a two bathroom emergencies and a bloody nose! We also discovered that there IS such a thing as a parade that is just too long...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were fortunate enough to host six US Marines for Thanksgiving this year! They were so cute helping the kids put a Hannah Montana puzzle together while they waited for us to get the food ready. I realize that we have a lot to be thankful for. Sure, we don't have a house yet, I face an uncertain future in my career, and Shawn is patiently awaiting a much-deserved promotion. Our credit is going to be ruined thanks to the economic climate and we haven't had the opportunity to visit our friends and family in Kansas since we moved here. However, we all have our health, and as long as we're all together, we have every reason to give thanks.

Sara and India Came to Visit...

and of course we had a fantastic time! I was so excited to show them our desert, and share in all the fun we've been having. We went to the beach, to Disneyland for TWO DAYS, and to a rock concert in Hollywood. We hiked the National Park, ate yummy Thai food, explored LA at midnight, and shopped in Palm Springs. To top it all off, the day they had to leave... I got to see Stevie Wonder perform at Disneyland for the Disney Christmas Day Parade special!

It's too bad they missed it.

So, look out for me and Anna on TV Christmas Day :)

And BTW, Stevie is the MAN!

Olvera Street... Dia de los Muertos

I decided that it was about time I headed down to Olvera Street. I grew up in Southern California and never been! We had to go to LAX anyway, so we made a day out of it and participated in the Dia de los Muertos celebration. It was quite the spectacle! I've always been fascinated with Hispanic culture and it was a blast to be part of it. I even received the Novenario blessing, which is a sacred cleansing that dates back to the ancient Aztecs. Unfortunately I missed the procession, but the people on the Go Los Angeles website caught all the excitement! http://golosangeles.about.com/od/losangelescalendar/ig/Day-of-the-Dead-Novenario-Phot/ Check it out!

Pioneer Days Parade

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We're trying to buy a house and between that and trying to stay caught up with "life", we literally have no time left! Anyway, these are from almost two months ago....

I was really excited to take my kids to the pioneer days parade in town. When we were kids it was something we always looked forward to! Of course our parents used to take us to the carnival, but ain't no way in hell my kids are riding one of those death traps ;)