Merry Christmas!

Well, as I'm sure you all know, Yogurl and I spent this Christmas in Ohio. All of Yogurl's family was there, including two new little babies! Needless to say, Yogurl was super excited about all the diaper changing and screaming and spitting up. Well, maybe not those parts, but she was sure happy to see brand new little babies. I was more nervous than anything. Being around babies is really good for me. I have very little baby exposure time, so the more I get the better I'll be prepared to have my own.

Anyway, Christmas was a lot of fun. It wasn't too cold, thank goodness. Yogurl actually was sad that it wasn't colder. Then she was sad to come back to California where it is warmer. I guess somebody has to enjoy the cold.

We just want to thank everybody for all the wonderful gifts we got. We really feel good and spoiled every Christmas. I just have to mention one gift specifically. Yogurl's dad got all his kids these super reflective shirts. And as you can see from the picture, they really are very reflective. Yogurl wants to keep them in the back of the car so if we have to do something on the side of the road we will be more visible, but I plan to wear it to every time I go outside. You never know when Dick Cheney might be hiding in the bushes.

The Ranch House

Well, this is being posted a little behind schedule, but oh well. Several weeks ago, Yogurl and I got to go visit the "historic" ranch house on Camp Pendleton. It was the first time it was open to the general public, which we only knew about because Yogurl works with a lady who is a docent there. Anyway, just to give you a brief background, Camp Pendleton was a giant ranch which the military purchased in the 40's. The Ranch House was used as various things through it's history. The small chapel next to it for example was used by blacksmiths then something else I don't really remember then after the Marines had taken over it was converted into a chapel. After the government bought it, the commanding general of the base lived in the Ranch House. This continued until last September, when the current CG of MCI West decided that he didn't want to live there any more. You see, the Ranch House is literally across the street from the airstation and I can easily imagine why living there would get real old real quick. Plus, the whole thing is adobe, which is really cool to visit, but wouldn't be that great to live in. Anyway, it was a pretty neat and ummm, educational trip. Just because I've already forgotten most of the stuff they told us doesn't mean it wasn't educational I guess.

Riding Fool

Hey, just wanted to post a quick blog saying I passed my motorcycle course last week and I have my license now. I actually got to bring the bike home for the first time which was really exciting. I felt like I could be in a biker gang riding down coast highway, though they probably wouldn't take me with such an old clunker. I still haven't ridden around much, so I spend a lot of time thinking about my route ahead of time and potential hazards I know of in the road. When I got it up to 60 for the first time today I was so nervous. I thought the bike might fall apart, but it held nice and steady. I need to find a new seat for it or a seat cover at least, since mine has started ripping pretty badly.
Yogurl had a great experience on Friday. We went to a retirement party for my Master Sergeant at a sports bar. Yogurl got to see her first really plastered Marine. He wasn't belligerent at all, fortunately. He was kinda cross eyed and he kept saying "live" when he meant leave. "You guys don't live, liive, leeive, leeeve, leave here." I thought he was entertaining, but Yogurl seemed a little nervous. Afterwards she kept asking if he was going to be okay and if he might die from alcohol poisoning, but I assured her that he wasn't that drunk.

Vacuum and Tree Party

Hooray! We just added a new member to our home....a brand new vacuum cleaner! You may not be as excited about it as we are, but it's a great vacuum. Manburger and I had been scanning sale ads for the last few months looking for good bargains and finally came across a special at the local hardware store. So the weekend after Thanksgiving we drove over there and picked it up. And imagine our luck, it was the last one on the shelf. Here's a picture of Manburger assembling it. Don't you just love the bright yellow color? And here's a picture of me using it to suck up the 1 year accumulation of dirt that our old vacuum couldn't get. I never thought I'd get so excited about household appliances.

Can you believe that it's already December? Since last Monday was the first one after Thanksgiving, we set up our tree, listened to Christmas music, and drank homemade eggnog. Fortunately our tree is super easy to set up. All we have to do is plop it in the stand, fluff the branches, and plug it in. You'll notice the star on top is proof of my handiwork with some poster-board and foil.
Oh, I just have to share one of my huge accomplishments for this week. I have finished all of my Christmas shopping!! Well, except for stocking stuffers. I never thought I'd be one of those people, but I was starting to have nightmares about how much scarier the area around the mall will get as Christmas gets closer.

Also, this Friday, it rained all day. I was so excited and also extremely grateful at the end of the day that I didn't die in a car wreck b/c Southern Californians have no idea how to drive in the rain. There were people flying past me on the highway, and I just kept thinking, "Hey, at least I'm the one who's going to make it home without getting in a wreck."

Manburger and I also attended a Tamale Festival out in Indio yesterday. We don't have pictures yet, but it was a lot of fun. We took one of my "co-workers" from where I volunteer along. We tried pork, chicken, beef, strawberry, caramel apple, chocolate-raspberry, sweet corn, and chile-cheese tamales. I doubt we will ever see so many tamales in one place. Oh and Manburger learned his lesson about Mexican corn on the cob. He bought one (just think of the ones Steven eats in Nacho Libre), and it was totally disgusting. Something about mayonnaise and that weird cheese stuff on corn makes for one gross combo. So if you were curious about how it tastes, take our word and don't bother. However, everything else we tried was delicious and I got to have a mango on a stick (they peel it for you and then cut it so it looks sort of like a flower). I hadn't had one of those since the Latino Festival in Provo that I attended with the siblings in 2005.

That's all for this week. We love you all.