A Completed Kitchen

This past week my dad and I completed the work on the kitchen, which included painting the ceiling, painting the walls and finishing the recessed lighting. We made a great team and now Damon and I are finally enjoying our new kitchen. What a difference!

This weekend I am working on more house projects, Damon is certainly glad that I am "retired!"

Another Big One

After a long and exciting hunting season, Damon finally scored his big deer on the last morning of the season. Unfortunately, I was not with him as I decided to sleep that morning, but Tyler and Loren were there to help with the excitement. It was definitely a group effort that paid off. Damon's three pointer is almost 23 inches wide!

Super cute picture of Loren and our favorite yellow lab, Cassie.

Now that A zone hunting is over, Damon will continue to hunt in the B zone with Randy at his grandparents house, followed by time with pheasants, chuckers, sturgeon and the list goes on. I have been informed that I will get my husband back after the seasons in February :)

More Pics of Past Places

During this "non-working" time in my life, I have had many moments of reflections. One area that I keep referring to are my four fun-filled years at Chico State. I went away to school with my Ursuline friend, Dana, and during our Summer Orientation program we met two girls in the ID office, Howli and Lisa. Our moms all got along well and we were hoping to see each other again once school started. It turned out that Howli would live 4 dorm doors down from Dana and I, and Lisa was paired with Lindsay on the second floor. The five of us turned into quick friends and lived together during the rest of our days in Chico at 943 Normal. Unfortunately, digital cameras weren't too mainstream during the first few years of college (I know, I am dating myself here!) so I don't have many pics to upload, but I will share a few censored photos. Here is the last picture of the five Chico Chicas...from December 2004 during a visit. (Left to right: Howli, Me, Lisa, Dana and Lindsay)

Besides the roommates, the next best part of the house was our decorations. Howli's parents purchased our house during October of our Freshman year, so we had plenty of time to decorate before moving in Sophomore year. We decided to create a colorful house (not one wall was printed white) and use all of our tastes in decoration. Some highlights that I don't have pictures of include two vinyl high heel shoe chairs, an old fashion telephone booth with a working phone, a diner style kitchen table to seat 10 and a fireman themed red bathroom. The first picture is of the collage toilet seat cover in the fireman bathroom, boy guests just loved having to use that bathroom...heehee.

The road side sign was " borrowed" from a barracade that we stumbled upon on a walk home one night. We decided that we needed it and returned to the scene with a toolbox to help decorate. Not sure where this one ended up...wherever it is, it carries its story!.

The next picture is of Howli's headboard in her bedroom...it is made of a grid of frames. Howli and Lisa were quite the decorators. I definitely learned to think out of the box from them.

Another unique idea, Lisa found old window shutters, spray painted them and we used for a bulletin board. Gotta love the red paint against the blue, it is actually the "in" color palette for weddings this season.

The next picture is of another collage item, a huge mirror that was in the front room. The ledge holds a classic photo of the four of us (after Dana moved to Ventura to live with her boyfriend - and now husband). Obviously, we loved to entertain and enjoyed themed parties. For Lisa's 21st (she was the first to turn 21), we turned our entire house into a bar and our guests had to dress up in drink/cocktail costumes. People were so creative! I was sake with a kimono, Howli was a mud slide with "mud" all over her clothes, Lisa was a bloody mary in red with celery in her hair and Lindsay was champagne with a sparkle outfit and champagne bottle crown. Too fun!

Cheers to good friends, good times and good places. More Pics of Past Places next week, I really enjoy this blog down memory lane, its food for the soul.

Friday Night Giants Game

Damon, Randy, Michelle and I ventured down to San Francisco on Friday night to attend the Giants game. It turned out to be a phenomenal evening (great weather), an interesting game and, of course, good company. Two hours before the game, the Giants held a press conference stating that they will not be renewing Bonds' contract in 2008. After 15 years of watching him play in SF, I was hoping to see him play last night...but he never left the bench. Here are some pics...

The Straubs....

The Morelli's...

The Girls...friends forever...

It was great to get out of the house and enjoy "date night!"

Family Farewell Dinner

Miss Chelsea is moving to Southern California to start college, so my Uncle Hughie and Aunt Michelle had a family farewell dinner at my favorite spot, Mary's Pizza. It was wonderful to see everyone and to celebrate Chelsea. I am so thankful to have such a great family that lives so close...my dad's brothers and sisters are the greatest!!!

Chelsea and her dad, Uncle Hughie...can you see the resemblence?

My cousin and I....

Good luck Miss Chelsea....we will all miss you, but we know that you will have a wonderful and memorable time!!!

Goofy Kids!

This video just cracks me up...this is what Shasta and Cy do when they hear the Tahoe or the truck pull-up when Damon gets home from work. I swear, if you had a bad day you forget about it once the doggies give you some welcome home lovin'! On this particular day Damon was chatting with the neighbor outside, so it took him extra long to actually walk in the door and the kids don't have a lot of patience when they are excited!

As you can see, we are still working on Shasta's manners with jumpin' up and Cy's barking!

Babysitting Update

I am proud to write that I have baby-sat for my little niece three times in the last month. I swear, I do like little babies, but I haven't watched Ryanne at all in the past. Truthfully, babies kinda scare me...I think that I am going to break them. But, as soon as they start talking and creating their own personality, I am all about kids (just ask my "boys" Trenton and Casen!) Last week I watched Ryanne while her mama got out of the house for some alone time. Ryanne and I got along well, and I actually think that she had fun. This past Sunday, Damon and I watched her for almost 8 hours! (Well, Damon wasn't there the whole time, he ran up to the ranch to go hunting with my dad.) It was a good evening, but the poor thing missed her mommy and daddy! She was so tired, but didn't want anything...she ended up sleeping in my arms while I rocked her and stayed laying on my chest for the rest of the night. It was quite adorable and Damon was amazed at my motherly-instinct!

In these pictures, she is holding an Alaska moose that Damon and I gave her for her 1st birthday. It is also fun watching her, because we get to visit our old house...isn't it adorable? Great tree in the front yard and, of course, lots of rocks!

I cannot wait until Ryanne gets a little older and we can go on lots of adventures together!

Memories of Past Places

Today I started one of my many projects, organizing the office. Since we got married, we actually haven't "merged" our paper files...so, I am taking this time to shred lots of old papers, redo our folders and undo the separate drawers. It will take me a few days to complete everything since I cannot just stick to one project. While in the office, I decided to start organizing scrapbook materials, photos, media CD's, etc. In the process I ran across a CD filled with photos of my first place after college. I took the pictures for my renters insurance (what a good insurance holder) and am so glad that I found them! I loved loved loved living at that little house. It was my first time truly on my own...I had just started working at the paper, I had just started grad school and, although I missed Chico State, it was the beginning of great things. It was the location where I met Damon, three years ago on 10/02/04. For those of you who shared memories at 913 Spencer (I know there are alot of you out there!) enjoy the following pictures:

First Day of School

Tonight Damon and I started the first of many courses in the Construction Management certificate program at Sonoma State. It felt great to be back on campus and learning in a classroom. Plus, it was fun to sit next to Damon in class! Truth be told, he was a little nervous...it is good that I am a pro at parking, buying permits and finding my way around the campus. The class is "Construction Law" and tonight we learned about the legal statues regulating the construction industry. This is us in front of Salzar Hall after class got out....

I am also taking an online Real Estate course through SRJC, the first of two courses before I can take my real estate license. Since it is an online course there is a lot of work, but no face-to-face interaction, which I have been missing. Stay tuned for more info from both subjects...it will be a fun semester, we are both going to learn alot!

Here's Johnny....

After several weeks of endless hunting, my quest for a buck ended on Saturday night, 9-8-7. It was an extra special night, because my mom and Uncle Dave joined my dad, Damon and I on the search around the property. Within minutes, we spotted the 4 pointer who we had been watching for a couple of weeks (I even have several videos of him.) The 175 yard shot went perfectly, the deer is already being processed into hamburger meat and it is even big enough to get mounted for a wall in the house (which, if you don't know how picky Damon is about mounting deer, let me tell you, it is a big deal!) Without further ado, here's "Johnny"...

My dad and I...we were both wearing our American Cancer Society "Fight Cancer" camo shirts (Kathy- aren't you proud?)

A photo of me and the Rev, it so great having him be a part of the evening. Him and my mom are my good luck charms!

This is the chalkboard that marks all the "hunting activity" on the ranch since the 1980's...it is pretty phenomenal to see the history in that barn.

This is my 4th deer, the 3rd on the Morelli Ranch, and each deer has been named something symbolic of the time in my life. The first was Bob, then Murray, who was followed by David. It is an odd quirk of mine (gotta love my quirkiness)...stay tuned for next years name.

If you are interested in viewing more pictures, click on the link below and "view pictures" for a slideshow of Johnny.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=5nsdf0v3.2bzwegmv&x=1&y=bubnz2

Damon and Cy

We took Cy dove hunting this week (he was getting jealous that Shasta was receiving all the attention.) Of course, I just followed them around taking video and pictures.

People have been asking me lately what I have been doing with my time off of work. It is amazing how busy I am making myself! I don't know how I had time for work three weeks ago! There is a huge list of house projects that are slowly starting to be completed (cleaning out closets, reorganizing everything, editing old videos and the list goes on.) I have also been making efforts to spend time with folks such as my grandparents, parents, friends, etc. And I have had several great interviews with some amazing employers, and I apply for new jobs on a daily basis, but I haven't found the perfect match yet. This is a great lesson in patience :)

Walking on the Beach

My dad's birthday wish was to take a walk on the beach to get a Slurpee at 7-11 in downtown Carlsbad. As usual, there was a beautiful sunset and we got some great pictures...the only thing that we were missing was Damon (who was having fun in Cedarville hunting doves with Shasta.)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!