Jonah and Michelle

So Long 1st Trimester!

2012-01-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well I've officially made it to the 2nd trimester!! I'm pretty excited about being a third of the way done and being that much closer to meeting our little lemon (that's the size of the baby this week)! I'm in the irritating stage of my old clothes not fitting like they should (or at all!) and not really being big enough for maternity clothes. I'm sure that will soon change since now I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week, I haven't had any problem gaining weight thus far so I'm sure this won't be hard for me :)

A friend just gave me this shirt that says "make way for the bump (baby under manufacturing process)"

Snow + Sun =

2012-01-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

MUD!!! And ice both of which are slippery and make walking around a little more dangerous. This is the path we have to walk down to go anywhere! Snow, ice or mud it's very slippery and I'm a bit nervous to walk it as I get bigger or even now.

The sun is out today and melting the snow from the weekend creating a lot of dripping roofs.

Monty hanging out on the porch.

This little girl decided to climb a big oak tree and get herself stuck.

This morning while we were having a staff meeting in the dinning hall and Jonah and I suddenly noticed Posey outside climbing up the tree. After the meeting we went out to check and see if she was still there and sure enough she was except now she was even higher. Jonah got a big ladder but she was still too high and didn't want to come close enough for him to get her. Not having much choice we left her and hoped she would get down herself or get lower so we could reach her. Sure enough about 20 minutes later I looked out our kitchen window and saw she was within reach. Jonah was able to pull her claws out of the tree and carry her down. Silly cat. The best part of the whole thing was Monty, he was very concerned for her and kept going over to the tree to check on her and meow back to her. What a sweet guy!!

Yellow Blob

2012-01-13T17:51:00.000-08:00

Jonah and I needed an activity for the afternoon....

Pookie

2011-12-30T18:01:00.000-08:00

Meet our baby! I had my first appointment today and it went great. We were hoping for an ultrasound and obviously we got one! It was so exciting, our little baby was waving its arms and legs all around while we were watching! I am officially 10 weeks and have a due date of July 28th, 2012. Little Pookie (Jonah gave me a baby book called Night Night Little Pookie so that is what we are calling the baby for now) and I are doing well, so far I have been very blessed with an easy pregnancy. I've had a little bit of nausea but it's been minor and haven't thrown up (yay!!). Of course I've been more tired than usual but I've been able to take a lot of naps since we are off work for about a month and a half.

Sorry this is sideways, I'm not sure why it's doing that!

I've been very hungry lately and have a hard time keeping myself from feeling like my stomach is about to eat itself! I had a fast metabolism before but now that I'm pregnant it has kicked into super high gear. So far I haven't had cravings or aversions, I just need to eat often or I start to feel nauseous.

The Big News

2011-12-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

This year on Thanksgiving we were very excited to be able to announce to both our families that we are expecting a baby!!! We found out the day before and were thrilled to have such a perfect opportunity to share our news and that we wouldn't have to keep our secret long. Baby Trevino is expected to join us in July and we can't wait to meet our little one!!

After taking the first test I almost didn't believe there were two lines, I'd imagined two lines before but this time was real! I called Jonah in and immediately he said I should take another one just in case. That one came out positive too! We didn't have time to go to the doctor "just to be sure" before heading to Santa Maria for Thanksgiving with Jonah's family so we went to Target and bought another test and sure enough it was positive. We felt a little more confident after 3 tests confirmed it and began sharing the news!

Fall Is Here

2011-11-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Fall has arrived up at camp and is quickly leaving, I almost missed my chance to take pictures of some the trees by the staff houses.

Jonah and I took a long hike on one of days off to Nelder Basin. We took a detour to go on the Shadow of the Giants trail to look for fall Dogwoods but it was a tiny bit too early for them.

We did find some interesting mushrooms

There were a few Dogwoods that were changing color.

In Nelder Basin there are a lot of Giant Sequoias, we had fun spotting all of them and marveling at just how huge they are! We explored for a while, made a fire, ate our lunch and roasted apple slices over our fire (really yummy!). We hiked back to camp and then headed to Fresno to do some shopping and had some delicious pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen.

And just in case you were wondering how Monty and Posy are doing in the mountains? Well they love it! Posy even caught her first mouse the other day, we were so proud.

Calvin Crest So Far

2011-10-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

We thought we would have internet in our house at camp but unfortunately that's not the case so blogging isn't as easy as I had hoped it would be. Combine that with our broken computer and you get no blogging at all. So here is a quick update about our time at camp so far.

I have gone on lots of walks with Rachel and Colby (notice the mosquito on my forehead!)

We have eaten and picked lots of blackberries

Gone on hikes in the beautiful forrest

Painted the art/music room in our house

Gone on more hikes

Had pancakes and homemade syrup for breakfast when my family was up for a visit

Took the Nickell's fishing and caught lots of fish. Everyone caught at least one (although I missed getting a picture of Evan and his fish).

Lunch with the family

Breakfast burritos in Sherwood cooked by Sarah and Josh

It has been wonderful being in the mountains, we love the mountains and the people up here with us. Not all of it has been good though. On the 26th of September one of our staff members had an accident while working on the climbing wall and didn't survive. It was a tragic accident and we all had a pretty rough week as we grieved. We've had so many people praying for Calvin Crest and those of us on staff and have been able to take time to talk about and process what happened and that has helped a lot. So thank you if you have been and continue to pray for healing and wisdom as we move forward.

Goodbye Watson House

2011-09-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday my parents, the Nickells, and Buck and Jamie came over to help us move our stuff up to Calvin Crest. We managed to fit everything into my dad's van and trailor! With everyone's help it went pretty quickly and we were soon on our way up to camp. The unloading went even faster and we all headed back down to my parent's house for pizza.

On Sunday Jonah and I spent the day cleaning. That was probably the hardest part of the whole process it took a long time and we were exhausted by the end. I decided that it was probably good that we had to clean because I was really starting to hate that duplex as the day went on, so much that I hoped I wouldn't be sad leaving it. Unfortunately that was not true. When we were finally finished and ready to leave it hit me and I was very sad to be leaving the first place that Jonah and I had been able to call our own (even though we were renting). I cried and Jonah comforted me and that was that.

Quick Trip

2011-09-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

We got one last trip in during our week of packing up the house and getting ready to move to camp. We went and saw our good friend Caitlin and met her boyfriend Jack. We had a wonderful visit, the only bad part was leaving!

Dinky Creek

2011-09-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

We went camping with Jonah's family the last weekend of August. We camped at Dinky Creek, a favorite from Jonah's childhood. It was a great trip and fun for all of us who had never been before but have heard so many stories from.

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August 6th

2011-08-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Jonah celebrated his 26th birthday this month.

We had a nice morning together which included breakfast and presents. Then Buck and Jamie came over and we went hiking at the Kaweah Oaks Preserve.

It was a little warm so we got in the river and found a giant tadpole!

We passed through a section of trail that was filled with spiders, yikes!!

We got in the river again and if felt so good!

We finished the evening up with movies, coffee, and ice cream!

On Sunday we had breakfast with Jonah's sisters and their families. Sarah made homemade tortillas just for Jonah! After breakfast we headed to Mill Creek to hunt for crawdads with my sisters. Unfortunately there was too much water in the creek and despite our best efforts we didn't get any crawdads. We still managed to come up with a feast at my parent's house.

We had a "feed" outside on the picnic table

As per his request, Sarah made Jonah a chocolate coffee ice cream cake for dessert!

Calvin Crest

2011-08-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Jonah has had some Saturdays off so we've been trying to take advantage of them. One of them we drove up to Calvin Crest and spent the night Saturday night. We had a nice time walking around and visiting with people, we especially had a good time talking with Rachel while she worked in the laundry room.

Jonah loving the mountains

Hanging out with Rachel

We are going to be moving up to Calvin Crest in about 2 1/2 weeks to live there for the school year. I'm going to be working in the kitchen and Jonah will be on the accommodations team. We're a little nervous about the move but also really excited for the change and to live in the mountains again!

"Stay"cation

2011-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

My parents, sisters and the kids went on vacation and we've been taking care of my parent's house. We've enjoyed the pool, TV, internet, big kitchen, and tempur pedic mattress so it's almost been a vacation for us too. The negative part was battling the ants in the kitchen, fortunately for the majority of the time I felt like we were winning. If you want to know what my family was doing you can check it out here and here on my sister's blogs.

Yummy dinner

Working on our moves

Dinner with Isaac Sunday night at Orange Blossom

The sweet potato fries after we devoured them

An awesome castle we built!

The Weekend of Weekends

2011-07-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Fourth of July weekend we had a blast!

Waiting for the fireworks to start on July 3rd at the Rawhide stadium. Natalie shared her head band with everyone.

Natalie took this picture of me all by herself

Notice Dad and Natalie in the background

The sisters

Enjoying snow cones

On the fourth we spent time at my parent's house for dinner, dessert, and swimming.

Sarah's tart

The Nickell's house for fireworks!!

Over the weekend we also hung out with Buck and Jamie almost the entire time. We floated, made sushi, went to a show at the Cellar Door, rode our bikes after the fireworks at the Nickells, and just hung out together. Despite all the time we spent together I somehow ended up with no pictures of all our excursions.

Newest Addition

2011-07-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Meet Bella Janae, the newest member of the Trevino family. She was born June 2nd but due to Jonah's work schedule we were unable to meet her until Saturday. We instantly fell in love with her!

Alanna Rose

2011-06-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

My beautiful niece

Tea Time

2011-06-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

Evan, Micah and Natalie starred in our photowalk as the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Alice.

Happy Anniversary!

2011-06-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, May 31st, was our 3 year anniversary!! I am so blessed with the husband God has allowed me to be with. The past years of being married to my best friend have been better than I thought possible and I look forward to all the years to come.

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Always an adventure

2011-05-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

Our 3 year anniversary is coming up so Jonah took a couple days off work so we could go on a trip to celebrate. However, we could never decide what we wanted to so of course it ended up being last minute plans. We left on Saturday after sleeping in and packing and headed north toward San Francisco. The plan was to camp outside of the city and go for day visits and hangout at the campground. I got us directions for a few campgrounds so we'd have a few options if some were full. Well, I didn't check the directions that I printed directly off of the campground website and so instead of a campground we ended up at a street and then had no idea how to get to the campground. We called Isaac and he got us some directions but the site was full so then after searching for more campgrounds nearby he ended up booking us a room at the Days Inn in Redwood City. We had to back track a bit but we were just happy to have somewhere to stay! After checking into our room we drove down the main street and found some dinner at a local restaraunt that claimed they had everything you could want to eat. We were a little dissapointed with the food but had fun trying a new place anyway. The next morning we checked out at 10:30 and headed toward San Fran. Jonah wanted to stop and take pictures at the Maserati and Ferrari dealership that we had seen on our way to dinner.

We made it to the City and found an $8 all day parking garage without too much trouble! We left the car (with a little bit of apprehension about ever finding it again!) and started walking to find some food. Before food however, I needed to go to the bathroom but of course we couldn't find one! Finally we went into Starbucks and waited in line with other people who had as much trouble as we did finding a bathroom.

Once that was taken care of we focused on our quest for food. We found plenty of places to eat but unfortunately they were all closed which we found very odd. We ended up walking quite a ways and made it to Pier 39 where once again we had to search for a bathroom! After finally discovering one that actually had doors on the stalls we were once again able to look for food. By this time it was already after 2:00pm and we wanted something fast! We saw a crepe stand and it looked SO good!! So we got hot dogs which were yummy and then split a banana, Nutella crepe with whip cream. It was DELICIOUS!!!! We felt much better after getting food in our tummies and resting for a while.

We started walking back toward Mission St. but took a different route than when we walked over. This route was a little less direct and had a lot more hills. I started getting pretty tired (we had walked pretty much all afternoon) but we didn't know where to go. We decided we should try to find the car and to check and see what time the garage closed for the day.

Once we got to the car we decided to just leave San Fran and find somewhere to stay for the night. We settled on Pinnacles National Monument and headed that way. Of course things wouldn't be that easy. After driving the couple of hours it took to get there we discovered that the side of the park we were entering (west) was a day use only and the gate closes at 8:00pm (it was past) and there is no through road to get to the other side. Once again we had no place to sleep and were tired and frustrated. We back tracked (again) and found a motel in Salinas. The next morning we checked out and went to Denny's for breakfast. We got on the road and decided to just head home. The trip wasn't turning out like we had wanted and I've forgot to mention until just now that the whole time it had been either raining or a chance of rain. So we were headed south on the 101 when we decided that we were so close to the beach that we might as well go and if it rained on us then who cares?! We stopped in Cambria and walked around the town and then went on a walk through a beautiful field where we found lots and lots of birds flying in the air. We were dissapointed that we hadn't been able to camp on our trip so we made the decicion to go to Montana de Oro and spend the night there. We stopped at a store to get some soup, bread bowls, and wine for dinner and then went to the campground. We were pleased to find it nearly empty and picked out a nice spot and got set up.

We made and ate dinner and were ready to start our fire when it started raining. We headed to the tent hoping it wouldn't last too long so we could have our campfire. We busted out the DVD player and watched the Office....... until the battery ran out. The rain was still falling and spending the entire evening in the tent wasn't what we wanted so we threw everything in the car and went home!

Jamie the Model

2011-05-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

This was my week to take pictures and Jamie's turn to model!! Of course we had fun and I'm happy with the results....

Hairspray and lipstick

2011-05-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I have decided that we really like photoshoots not just photowalks so we got dressed up, did our hair and makeup and took pictures of ourselves again. Really Jamie took pictures of me, next week it's her turn! I did get a couple shots of her so as to not post without any pictures here is the best one....

A Special Photowalk

2011-05-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I have been waiting for a while to get to do this photowalk..... WEDDING DRESSES!! Unfortunately for us we waited until the day with the hottest tempature so far. Despite the heat and sweat we had a lot of fun getting dressed up, doing our hair and makeup, making bouquets, and of course taking pictures. My sisters even got in on this one and joined us! Sarah was a model and Heather took pictures. As soon as Heather posts you can see what she got here and check out Jamie's pictures here

South Fork Adventure

2011-05-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we headed out to Three Rivers with Buck and Jamie to go on a hike.

The drive up South Fork was rather bumpy and curvy so we had to stop for a little while to let our stomachs settle a bit. There were these beautiful trees with purple flowers that Jamie couldn't resist photographing.

Once we reached the campsite with the trail head we set out! We pretended that we needed to survive in the wilderness and hoped to catch some fish to cook up for dinner.

Instead we found salamanders! Lots of salamanders. Buck found a pond that had close to 10! The boys had fun catching them and Jamie and I had fun watching our husbands.

It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately we didn't catch any fish for dinner so we had to settle for our second choice which was Pizza Factory back in Three Rivers.

Easter

2011-05-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

For Easter the Trevino's were all able to gather on Saturday in Santa Maria. We spent the day on the beach and had an Easter egg hunt, good food, hikes, fishing, and a lot of fun.

Here are the siblings in age order

The whole family

We left Saturday night so we could be back for church in the morning and my parents house for Easter dinner.

Patterns

2011-05-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

Photowalk number 11 was patterns or repeating things....

I tried to get fancy with my editing to make it more interesting. Jamie had to help me out a little with some new tricks!

Some Interesting Things

2011-04-21T22:46:00.001-07:00

Sarah, Heidi, Jonah, and I recently went and saw Celtic Crossroads at the Fox Theatre. It was a really good show, they are awesome musicians, singers, dancers and they were funny too!

Jonah and I have been making some pretty good pizza recently.

And the cats continue to entertain us with the personalities.

I've been trying catch Posy doing some her quirky antics but whenever I get the camera out she stops. The last time I tried she suddenly got scared of the camera.

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Photowalk # 10

2011-04-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

For last week's photowalk we didn't have a theme picked out in advance which usually turns out bad. This week however turned out to be an epic fail! Jaime wanted to take pictures of people so we decided to use long lenses and and zoom in so that we could be far enough away that people wouldn't notice us. We would find a place to sit down and put our cameras on our laps and aim as well as we could without being able to look through our cameras It turned out harder than we thought and we ended up with a lot of pictures of the top of buildings and other things besides people but we had some good coffee and good company at least!

Letters

2011-04-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

Last week's photowalk with Jamie was finding "letters." My sister Sarah suggested this theme and we had fun doing it. We walked around the COS campus for a change of scenery while we searched for our letters. Here are some I came up with...

Girls and cameras

2011-04-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

We had a special photowalk last week out at my parent's house. We had 3 cameras, 3 tripods, lots of changes of clothes, and a beautiful day. Unfortunately Heidi and Jamie were being a bit camera shy and didn't want their pictures taken so I ended up being the model for a lot of it and so I didn't get too many pictures. But it was still fun....

Rain, rain, rain

2011-03-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

The photowalk this week was rain themed. We walked with umbrellas and cameras but ended up with only one picture that Jamie took that didn't turn out. It's hard to be inspired and take pictures when you're holding an umbrella and trying to keep your camera dry. We ended up just taking pictures once we got back to my house and the rain had let up long enough for us to snap some shots.

Whatever

2011-03-25T20:55:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I ended up doing 2 photowalks one week because our boys wanted to play video games and we needed something to do. Our theme turned out to be "whatever we felt like" which basically turned out to be flowers....

Visit with friends

2011-03-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago Heidi moved back from Colorado. She road tripped back with some friends and they stayed at the Steinman's house for a couple of days and we were able to spend some time with everyone. Saturday we hiked on of the hills behind their house and had a fire that evening. Sunday we went to the beach for the day. We had fish and chips, clam chowder, and beer for lunch while it was raining and then it cleared up and we went out to the beach.

Natalie helped us do some acro yoga on the beach. I loved it and am now hooked, unfortunately Natalie isn't around all the time to be a great solid base.

On Monday we hung out at the Steinman's again and finished the evening with pazookie!

Photowalk

2011-03-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I chose circles for our theme this time. It was fairly easy and but not very exciting except that I found a dollar on the sidewalk!!! We've been walking downtown for our walks so we've been getting a little bored with the scenery but we are planning something different and fun in the near future!

Sickness

2011-03-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've been sick with a cold and then the flu for the past 3 1/2 weeks. I'm feeling much better and hopefully I'll be healthy again for a long time. I am behind in my blogging so I'll be doing some catch up soon!

Jonah brought me flowers one day after work and my mom, Sarah, and Jaime stopped by with some iris' from the garden. I was bed (or couch) ridden from the flu so the flowers were a nice reminder of what the outside world was like.

Colors

2011-03-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

This week's photowalk is brought to you by the colors red and yellow. Jamie and I started out by picking one color each and we had to find things to take pictures of in that color. I chose red and Jamie picked green. After walking for a while Jamie felt uninspired by green so we decided to both pick another color. Here are the results....

Flowers

2011-02-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

This week's photo walk with Jamie was probably the easiest one we will have. We walked downtown and came upon a plethora of flowers in a variety of colors. The sun was shining, the company was good, and the subject beautiful!

A Much Deserved Break

2011-02-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend Jonah had three days off!! For the past 5 weeks he has been working Saturdays and a couple 12 hour shifts per week. Needless to say he has been tired and we were very excited for this weekend. Saturday was beautiful so we went for a walk downtown and ended up on top of the parking structure to check out the view.

We got some drinks and free music downloads at Starbucks.

Enjoying our drinks on a bench.

We got free tickets to the Fresno State basketball game that night. We got some Jamba Juice on our way up to Fresno.

Our tickets were for the 5th row!

Excited about our seats and waiting for the game to start.

Go Dogs GO!!

After the game we were hungry so we stopped at the store to get some snacks. We had mushrooms, smoked gouda, kielbasa, and wine!

The rest of the weekend was good too. Sunday we went over to my parents and got to see a long time friend Brenna. Monday morning I wasn't feeling well so Jonah made me breakfast and we watched The Office. Later we went to lunch with Buck and Jamie, watched a movie and then to dinner at Alejandra's.

Be Mine

2011-02-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day Jonah and I didn't have any big plans which turned out to be a good thing since he had to work a 12 hour shift and didn't get home until 7:00pm. I spent most of the afternoon making dinner and had it ready when he got home. We had cornish game hens, mushrooms, rice, garlic bread, and meringue key lime pie. It was so delicious!! I had never eaten let alone made cornish game hens but thanks to some tips from my father-in-law they turned out better than I had hoped. We finished up the evening by watching a few episodes of the Office.

Photo Walk #2

2011-02-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Jamie and I went for our second photo walk on Tuesday. We thought it would be fun to do a walk every week and come up with a new theme each time. This week our theme was buildings and then grew to become building/industrial. We are hoping that this was one of our harder themes.

We thought this wall was funny, notice it says ''amigo row"

Aryn Mae

2011-02-06T19:12:00.000-08:00

My little niece Aryn is turning 3 this week! She didn't want to hold still for pictures so I mostly followed her around with my camera and just took pictures as she picked at moss, got grumpy, made faces, and ran around. She's so cute that it doesn't really matter what she is doing, she's always cute!

Photo Walk

2011-02-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

My friend Jamie and I went on what is hopefully going to be one of many photo walks. This week we took turns modeling for eachother.

After our walk we went back to my house and Jamie gave me some editing "secrets." I've been having fun messing around with them and it has made editing a lot easier. Thanks Jamie!!!

Baby on the way...

2011-01-21T13:05:00.000-08:00

This photo session was in the rain and it proved to be a little difficult but I think we still got some good ones.

The First Adventure of the New Year

2011-01-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

For New Years Jonah and I drove to Colorado to visit our wonderful friend Heidi. We hit storm after storm on our drive causing the supposed to be 18 1/2 hour trip to take 26 hours instead. It was beautiful but long. We slept in our car when we got tired which works well for us because we fold the backseat down and fit nicely. Most of the drive was pretty nice but towards the end we were past ready to make it to the Fightmaster's house (where Heidi is living). We had fun and enjoyed seeing where Heidi is working, living, and meeting her new friends. We explored downtown Fort Collins, tasted beer at the New Belgium Brewery, thrift store shopped, nearly froze, drank lots of tea, and ate some delicious food at the Fightmaster's. The storms were gone by the time we had to leave so our drive home was a lot shorter. Here is a video with some of the highlights....

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A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas started on Friday evening with some of Jonah's family at our house for a present exchange and a movie. It was a fun evening and a good way to kick start the holiday. Christmas morning we opened our stockings and then got ready for our church's Christmas morning service at 7:00. Jonah and I lead the carols for the service.

Eating waffles after the service

It was fun to have friends together who haven't seen each other for a long time.

We went back to our house to open our gifts for each other. This was our first year that we actually were in our own house on Christmas morning so it was nice to spend that time together.

After our house we went out to my parents house.

After presents and lunch some of us went into town to watch "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

When we got back from the movie we ate dinner which Mom and Heather had made while were gone. We finished the evening by playing one of Jonah's presents "Settlers of Catan," a board game that he has been wanting to get for some time.

Zoo Lights

2010-12-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

We went with the Chandlers and the Nickells up to Fresno to check out the zoo lights. First we stopped for dinner at Bravo Farms and had sandwiches and burgers. They even had a firepit that we tried to stay warm by in between wandering around the outside area.

The zoo was fun although there weren't very many animal sightings so it was pretty much just for the lights. That was fine with me though because I LOVE lights!

With our admission tickets we got free hot chocolate and a cookie. Neither were very good seperately but if you dipped the cookie in the hot chocolate they were much improved.

Sting ray bay was open so we went inside and got a break from the rain that had started.

This tunnel of lights was one of my favorites.

Snugglers

2010-12-22T14:09:00.000-08:00

Our cats have been snuggling a lot recently.

They are the cutest when they sleep.

Despite what these pictures portray Posie is VERY playful and crazy. Whatever room you go into she will follow you whether you are paying attetion to her or not. Usually she will make you pay attetion to her by attacking your feet or whatever else she can get a hold of. However, once she has worn herself out she loves to find someone warm to curl up on.

More Maternity

2010-12-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

I took some pregnancy pictures for a friend of a friend at the end of November before all of the fall leaves where gone. I loved how these turned out!!

The Twins

2010-12-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

I had the honor of photographing my first set of twins! They were quite wiggly for most of the shoot but their adorable little faces made up for it. I hope you enjoy their cuteness...

Dustin & Chelsea

2010-11-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

On November 6th our friends Dustin Koobatian and Chelsea Smallwood tied the knot! We were pleased to be there to celebrate with them on their big day. It rained on the reception which was outside but it still turned out beautiful.

A New Addition

2010-11-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

There were 4 little kittens found at Jonah's work and he couldn't resist rescuing one. The 3 others were adopted as well so they all got homes. She was only about 3 weeks and had to be bottle fed.

I gave her a bath the second day we had her. Despite what the picture looks like she actually didn't seem to mind it too much.

After her bath

Since Monty is my cat, this little one is Jonah's. She's named Posie, after Buster Posie, the Giants' catcher. The day we got her we took her with us to Heather and Isaac's house to watch one of the world series games. Micah first suggested we name her Great Grandma Silvia, after my mom's mom. Even though that was a good suggestion we went with his second choice which was Posie.

I found her curled up in my basket of yarn, what a cozy spot.

Monty has been pretty good with her. He licks her, sometimes plays with her, and once I found them snuggling together. Other times though he gets pretty annoyed with her and doesn't like it when she touches him.

I couldn't resist posting this cute picture of my cat, he's such a sweetie!!

Sunday Drive

2010-11-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

Jonah and I drove up to Balch Park and were very pleased to find a lot of dogwood trees that still had fall colors on them. The drive was beautiful!!

Jonah tried fishing in the pond we stopped at.

The fog rolled in quickly, it seemed like every time we looked up more fog had come.

A Special Event

2010-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

For my birthday Heather got me tickets to see the Weepies at the Fox Theatre. The Weepies are one of our favorite bands and we were looking forward to this show for weeks. To make it even better our good friend Caitlin came to visit and go to the show. We were not dissapointed, we all loved the entire night!!

Pumpkin Farm

2010-11-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

One Sunday after church we went to the pumpkin patch with the Chandlers and the Nickells. It turned out be a cold and rainy day! Last year when we went it was hot and we were sweating so maybe next year it will be just right.

We looked at pumpkins and then rode the train

And the kids were cute as usual.

Pregnancy Pictures

2010-11-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

I took some more pregnancy pictures....

A Pirate's Life

2010-11-09T11:07:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just have to dress up like a pirate! We used my birthday as an excuse, although in my opinion you should never need an excuse to dress like a pirate. Sarah made this awesome pirate ship cake, it turned out great!! We filmed a video which if you haven't seen then please go watch it here on my sister's blog. And now enjoy some pictures from the evening...

Weekend With the Trevinos

2010-10-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

Phillip

We were able to get everyone from Jonah's family together for a camping trip! It was quite the accomplishment that we almost gave up on but then suddednly it all fell into place. We stayed at Monatan de Oro and had fun going to the beach, fishing, eating, and hanging out.

Aryn

Jacquelyn Niko

Alanna

Baking Days

2010-10-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

On and off on Thursdays I have been baking with my sister-in-laws and a couple of friends. It has been a lot of fun and tasty too!

So far we've made apple turnovers, cream puffs and pumpkin rolls, banana nut rolls and jelly rolls.

Since we've been home

2010-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

We've been back from vacation for a month now so here's a bit of catch up of what we've been up to.

Heidi, Jaime, and I took a trip up to Bass Lake for the day. On our way up we stopped in Fresno to see some good friends Amber and Emily who just moved here.

I had fun with Heather and the kids at the St. Johns river one Tuesday morning.

Monty discovered a new position he likes to sleep in.

Jonah and I took a day trip up to Quaking Aspen, it was very beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Also Jonah has been enjoying his new job at PSC and I have been enjoying a break from work. Although I have kept busy with cleaning out boxes and drawers, painting furniture, and various other things around the house.

Vacation!!!!

2010-07-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

For the next 3 weeks we will be on vacation with my parents and Sarah. Please check out our VACATION BLOG because that is where I will be posting while we are gone. Normal posts will resume here once we return.

Changes

2010-07-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I no longer work at Wildflower! He hasn't worked there for the past couple months and I just had my last day on Thursday. Jonah recently found out that he has a job at PSC (Pacific Southwest Container) and he will start work on August 9. We went out to dinner the night we found out he got the job to celebrate.

Throwing away my work shoes!

Ready for dinner at Brewbakers.

July 4th

2010-07-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our festivities began at Sarah and Ryan's house to hangout and decorate shirts.

I made Sarah's shirt and helped with Monique's because they were each making shirts for their daughters.

Next we headed over to my parent's house for swimming, dinner, and dessert.

Last but not least we went over to the Nickell's house for the big show!

The last firework gave us quite a show, even catching on fire at the end!

July 3rd

2010-07-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

We are starting a new tradition of going to see fireworks on July 3rd. Last year we were dissapointed when we didn't think we would be able to see fireworks because we were going to a wedding on July 4th. Fortunately for us the Visalia Rawhides started doing a firework show after their July 3rd game so we went to the first one last year. This year we just wanted to see as many fireworks as possible so we went again!

Enjoying snow cones before the show.

FIREWORKS!!!

A Visitor

2010-07-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Our niece Jacquelyn has been in Visalia visiting her relatives here. We've had her over for a couple of nights.

Decorating sugar cookies before the Fourth of July.

Jacquelyn's mom said she could get a kitten so we got her one and she named him Tiger.

Just Because

2010-06-22T20:13:00.001-07:00

I felt like making some collages with some of my pictures...

Yosemite Birthday

2010-06-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

For my Dad's birthday my family took a day trip up to Yosemite to celebrate.

Jonah and I in front of the first view of the valley.

Picnic lunch by the river.

Delicious chocolate cake!

Some nice pictures of the sights in Yosemite....

We had fun with Isaac's sunglasses.

Happy Birthday Dad, we all love you!!

May 31st

2010-06-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary at the end of May. We didn't have anything big planned because I couldn't take the time off work. However we really wanted to do something so Saturday night we got in the car and started driving up north. We spent the night in the car and continued driving in the morning. We ended up on the 49 and it was beautiful! Here are some of the hightlights....

Eating pizza for lunch at a Pizza Factory we found.

A cool building with colors we liked.

Some pretty yellow lupine!

And some geese we found as we went walking around a large pond in the middle of a city.

We had fun and it was good to get away and enjoy each others company.

My Sister the Graduate

2010-05-26T14:25:00.001-07:00

Sarah graduated from Fresno State!

Sarah graduated summa cum laude (with highest honor) with a Bachelor of Science in Publice Health and she was also named valedictorian of the public health department for her 4.0 GPA!!

Congratulations Sarah, we are all so proud of you.

A Great Surprise

2010-05-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning I recieved a call from my dad saying that Garrett Ghent was there at Midtown! The Ghents and the Chandlers have been friends since long before any of us kids were ever around. Jonah and I rushed over to Midtown to say hi. Garrett and six of his friends are on a road trip and were heading up to the Sequoias for the day and then would have dinner and sleep at my parent's house that night. We were graciously invited to go along with them so Dad, Jonah, and I were happy to accept (everyone else were already gone to go blueberry picking).

Notice the shorts and flip flops and then the snow in the background!! It was much colder (around 35 degrees!!) than we thought it would be.

The boys with General Sherman

We saw 2 bears while we were there! This guy was just across the road from us.

Trying to reach around a redwood (they didn't make it)

The view from atop Morro Rock

We made it home to have dinner and yummy blueberry cobbler! The next day they headed to Yosemite to spend the night there and Jonah was able to go with them.

Spring Dance

2010-05-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

The COS dance show has come and gone once again. This semester the theme was "Movie, Movies, Movies." I thought the overall show turned out to be one of the better shows we've done.

Sarah was in tap and their movie was "Saturday Night Fever"

My ballet class performed to a song from the new "Alice in Wonderland"

Waiting with friends before going on stage..... we had over 2 hours before our numbers

1st of Many

2010-05-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

I made my first pie!! I felt like having pie one day so I decided I would just make one. I realized after I had already started making it that I didn't have a rolling pin or a pastry cutter. The pastry cutter wasn't a big deal but the rolling pin was a little harder to go without. We had a wine bottle that I used instead and it worked good enough to get the crust at least some what circular and thin. Plus I figured it didn't need to be perfect since it was my first one. I was pleased with the overall results, however the peaches themselves weren't very good so the pie would have been excellent if the peaches had been better.

Our Neighborhood

2010-05-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

We've had some interesting things happen around our house recently. One day when I was sick we had just finished watching a movie and I was about to take a nap when there were suddenly cops chasing someone in our backyard! Some guy drove through the park that is across the street from us and hit a tree and started running. The cops cornered him in our cement parking area in the back and beat him up pretty bad, he ended up going to the hospital from that. Here is the view from our front window. The car he was driving is on the far right.

Then a few weeks later we were coming home one night and there were cop cars all around our neighbor's house that is right across from us.

We ended up finding out that the son of the lady who lives there set himself on fire in the front yard and our neighbor to the left of us ran over and put him out with the garden hose. He had 2nd and 3rd degree burns over 80-90% of his body and last we heard he in the hospital in Fresno.

The Month of March

2010-05-02T16:40:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the highlights from March....

One day after work Jonah and I went for a drive to enjoy the scenery.

We had to pull over to allow the cattle to pass.

We also enjoyed bouldering with our good friends Sam and Sierra and their new baby.

Introducing slacklining to Sam for the first time.

Sierra and baby Ava.

We went on vacation with my family to Monterey during spring break. This included time on the beach...

The Aquarium....

Of course a stop at Ghirardelli!

And lots of beautiful ocean!

Adventures in Solitude

2010-03-03T14:19:00.001-08:00

Monday we had the day completely off so we decided to do something exciting. We checked on the internet for cool places we'd never been to and come up with Pinnacles National Monument. It's about a 3 hour drive from our house and looked like it would have lot's of hiking, climbing and pretty senery. The drive itself was beautiful enough to make the whole trip worth it.

Stopped along side the road to take some pictures.

We made it to Pinnacles and started hiking right away. Jonah heard there were caves so we took a 5 mile trail that was going to end at a cave.

Starting our hike and soaking up the outdoors!

There were so many brightly colored rocks all over the ground.

I had a blast with so many interesting things to take pictures of...

Our trail crossed over this stream many times. Sometimes it was easy (when there was a bridge) but most of the time we had to jump from rock to rock and we both ended up a little wet.

Stopping for lunch

There was such a variety of landscape that we were always discovering different types of rocks, trees, and flowers.

We found this sign that reads: "Caution falling rock. flashlights required. low ceilings. dangerous when wet." Yikes! But don't worry we brought head lamps.

After the sign we found these stairs, but once we climbed them we had a hard time figuring out where to go.

Finally after crossing the stream a couple more times and pushing our way through thick brush this is what we saw....

Were so confused because we knew we had come the right way to get the cave but there was no cave in sight or any way to get there. So we decided to climb up the rocks! I felt a bit like Bear Grylls! Our effort paided off because we finally found the entrance to the cave.

Ready to go in.

Inside the cave!

It was pretty small and didn't seem very "cavy" to me but there was a waterfall at the end so that was cool, but anticlimatic compared to what we did to get there.

Jonah and the waterfall

We climbed back down and headed back on the trail.

We made it back to the car and decided to just head back home because we were feeling tired and didn't want to get home late because we had to work the next day. Once we got reception on our phones we found out our good friends Sam and Sierra had their baby Ava La Ree!! We had heard the day before that Sierra's water had broken so we were thinking about them all day so it was a perfect ending to a great day to hear that everything had gone well.

Yearly Favorite

2010-02-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Spring has been in the air recently and the flowers are blooming. We were surprised to discover daffodils sprouting in our backyard!! They are some of my favorite flowers so I was excited and inspired to take some pictures.

Photo shoot

2010-02-19T20:36:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure to take pregnancy pictures for my boss and good friend Sierra. She was a perfect model and we had fun taking them. Jonah helped me with some of the ideas and poses and I am very pleased with how they turned out. Here are a few of my favorites...

Be Mine?

2010-02-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

Jonah and I spent an very nice Valentine's evening at home. Together we made NY steak, scalloped potatoes, and rosemary garlic cheese bisquits. It all turned out delicious, better than eating out in a crowded restaraunt.

For dessert I made truffles and chocolate covered strawberries. YUM!!!

It was very pleasant and we may have started a new Valentine's Day tradition!

Truelove

2010-02-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the 13th my family headed down to Torrance to help celebrate the wedding of Katie Cox and Jeremy Truelove. The coxes are long time family friends and Katie was Sarah's good friend when they were little.

With the bride and groom.

Rain, rain, rain

2010-01-23T21:51:00.000-08:00

It's been raining.

Here is what has happened...

2010-01-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving morning I ran a 5K with my mom and sisters.

Jonah and I spent Thanksgiving lunch with his siblings and then dinner with my family.

We picked out the Chandler Christmas tree the next day.

And made gingerbread houses.

Sarah and I were in the COS dance show.

We took a couple trips up to Sequoia National Park.

And finally, Monty learned to read.

2010-01-10T21:10:00.001-08:00

Don't worry we're still alive, just busy and fighting many colds. Life is settling down after the holidays and we're finally healthy so hopefully some more interesting posts will be coming soon!

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

We had the day before Thanksgiving off school so we took advantage of it and made a trip up to Calvin Crest. Most of the people we know up there have moved on so we said hello to the Gists and then went on a hike.

Most of the fall leaves were gone already but we found a few trees that still looked beautiful.

Sarah and Jonah at the Crestview campfire.

Hiking on the Shadow of the Giants.

After our hike we headed down to Sherwood and found our perfect Christmas tree!!

Jonah and Sarah cutting it down.

Getting our tree in the car was a bit tricky but we managed.

Sarah was cozy with the tree on the way home.

That night Jonah and I decorated the tree and house.

The first ornament!

This is our second Christmas since we've been married but since we were living with my parents last year this is the first time we've been able to decorate our own house and have our own tree!

Snugglers

2009-12-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

Our kittens have turned out to be quite the pair of snugglers! Whenever they get a chance to sit in our laps they seize the opportunity.

Rosy taking a nap with Jonah.

Monty "helping" me paint.

The jam and the climb

2009-11-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

A Few nights ago one of my long awaited hopes came true. Some friends of ours gathered with us in downtown Visalia for good jam session. Jesse and I played guitar while a few others rocked drums. It was pretty fun and mostly was just good getting together.

Preparing to rock.

My hand dissappears when i'm jamming.

Greg, Jesse, and I living the dream.

Then a few days after that even more of those long awaited hopes came true. We went bouldering with another couple we know from work. It was alot of fun to climb again and the weather could hot have been better for it.

Michelle working on a problem.

This was a good one we found when we noticed the chalk from previous climbers.

Michelle and Sam after solving a pretty tough problem that both of them named their nemesis.

Wild(flower) Halloween Party

2009-11-08T15:35:00.000-08:00

The Saturday before Halloween we had a party at The Wildflower Cafe where Jonah, Sarah and I all work. Most of the people who work there are a lot of fun so it was cool to do something besides make sandwiches with them.

We had a costume contest (I was first runner up), pumpkin carving contest, and a wrap the mummy contest.

Sarah, mine and Sierra's pumpkins

David and Jonah's pumkins

Hanging out after the games

The Accident

2009-10-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Michelle and I were in a car accident. We were headed to JoAnn's Fabrics to get some material for Michelle's costume. As we were approaching the intersection we had a green light and were expecting to drive through as you would usually expect to do in the given situation. This particular time however a man driving a van in the far left lane ahead of us changed his mind as to where he was headed and decided to turn right. This, of course, meant he would have to cut across several lanes. A daring move to say the least. Needless to say, we were not anticipating his venture into our particular path and we hit him dead center. Our car was pronounced dead at the scene and had to be towed away. Michelle was briefly in schock and we both suffered minor scrapes and bruises. Other than that we were both alive and well. The thwarted effort to make Michelle's costume did not go unredeemed. So as to have you better understand the event I have drawn a diagram pictured below.

Our car at the tow yard.

The End!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

We went with my family to the Hillcrest Farms Pumpkin Patch.

Natalie playing with Uncle Jonah's sunglasses in the van.

The kiddos with the pumpkins.

Walking on the shakey brigde

Eating snow cones for a cool down treat.

Riding on the train.

New Addition

2009-10-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

We became aware of some kittens who needed rescuing so we opened our arms and welcomed them in. However, at first they didn't want to come near us. They had not been in very much contact with people so at first they were quite scared and hid most of the time. After a couple days they warmed up and now snuggle, purr, and love to play!

Bella Rose and Monty

Birthday part 2

2009-10-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday after my birthday we had dinner at my parent's house to celebrate. Everyone was there including my Grandpa and Eleanor. We had yummy swiss steak for dinner and Sarah made 2 delicious cheesecakes for dessert!!

Putting the finishing touches on the chocolate swirl cheesecake.

Micah took care of the extra chocolate toppings.

The finished products!!

We love cheesecake!!!

Thanks to all of you for helping me celebrate!

Birthday!!

2009-10-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

For my birthday I was surprised with a trip to Disneyland!! I got in free for my birthday and my family helped pitch in for Jonah's ticket. The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded, the longest we waited in line was about 4o minutes.

Our first ride was the teacups, Jonah wasn't sure what he would think.

We stayed late even though we had to be at work at 6:00am the next day. The firework show made the less than 4 hours of sleep that we got worth it!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fall Fun

2009-10-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late. We don't have internet at our house so it makes blogging a bit more challenging. But please don't give up on our blog, we will continue to post!

The weather has taken a turn for the cooler and we've been enjoying riding our bikes to the park and slacklining, playing frisbee, or just hanging out with friends...

On Sunday the 5th we had a very good friend come and visit us. Caitlin was our first guest to come and stay at our new house. It was great to see her and we had a wonderful time catching up.

We had fun light painting the first night

After which we watched a movie and roasted marshmallows over candles.

On Monday we went thrift store shopping and found some great deals, Caitlin even found a pair of cowboy boots!

Thanks for coming Caitlin!

A Great Escape

2009-09-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening after a crazy day at work Jonah and I needed to take a little break. We got in the car, made a quick stop at the store for some rotisserie chicken and french bread, and headed up to Morro Rock to catch the sunset. We were worried we might not make it in time but as you can see we got quite a show...

Morro Rock as we approached it in the car.

The sky was beautiful, the air smelled wonderful, and the night was peaceful as we were serenaded by crickets.

I didn't have a tripod so here is my best attempt to catch the city lights without one...

It was so relaxing and wonderful to be up in the mountains. We have both spent a good deal of time living in the mountains in the past and it always makes our hearts happy to be up there.

Good and the Bad

2009-09-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Due to a lack of fence around our yard we've had to keep Sahani tied up or inside the house if we're there. He's chewed through or slipped out of his collar and leashes multiple times so we made the hard decision to give him away. We gave him to our friend Tiffany, who took care of him while we were on the bike trip. She will provide him with lots of love, more room to be a dog, and other dogs to play with. Even though it's a better situation for him, we were sad to have him go.

However, since we no longer have a dog to trample plants we decided to spruce up our yard a bit.

Clearing out the side planter.

Planting new flowers!

We had fun working in the dirt together and felt a sense of accoplishment with how it turned out. There's still more work to be done but it's looking better.

Katie & Warren

2009-09-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Katie and Warren had a beautiful wedding on Sept 5, 2009.

Heidi signing the certificate

Me and Natalie after the ceremony

Congratulations Warren and Katie!

Heather, Sarah and I with the bride.

Wedding Gifts

2009-09-13T16:22:00.001-07:00

It's been fun using wedding gifts for the first time over the past few weeks in our new house! The food processor was broken in with some salsa!

Training

2009-08-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

Jamael and I started running together. We're working towards the Thanksgiving 5K that my sisters and Isaac ran last year. Here we are before our first mile...

and after...

Beach Day

2009-08-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday of last week the Chandler/Nickell/Trevino clan took a trip to Morro Beach for the day. We had lunch at Giovanni's and got a big bucket of fish and chips. It was quite tasty.

Looking for crabs and starfish

We split some very yummy cinnamon rolls before hitting the sand.

A lot of us decided it was a good time to take a nap. I felt like I was getting sick so I slept most of the time on the beach.

The kids had a blast and got covered in sand!

So did Heather....

Jonah and Evan digging a tunnel.

Building a sand castle

Our Place

2009-08-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

Jonah and I have our own place!! It's a one bed, one bath duplex near downtown Visalia. Our friends lived here before us and were ready to move out so we were able to put our application in as soon as they gave their 30 day notice and we got it! It was built sometime between the 1920-40's so it has some character to it but we love it. We are so excited to finally get to use all of our wedding gifts. It was great fun unpacking all the boxes with our dishes, silverware, bowls, knives, etc that we now get to use!

Our first time opening the door with the key.

Mom and Sarah helped us paint our first day.

True Calling

2009-08-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

Heidi and I discovered our calling in life.... mannequins

Our baby

2009-07-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

We adopted a pitbull puppy!! His name is Sahani which is Cherokee for "lucky."

Beach Day

2009-07-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Monday we took a trip to the beach with Buck and Jamael. We started things off with a little crab hunting...

Next we stopped at Avila Farms and got some super good ice cream and candy.

At Pismo we found Jerry, the sting ray

The boys digging Jerry out

Poor guy had been attacked by a shark and both his wings had been chomped off as well as a big piece of his under side.

We ended the day by eating dinner with Matt and Jenna Sarr at their house. It was a great day and nice to be away from the heat of the valley.