Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was a nice time to just relax. Every month they offer a free round of 18 holes of golf at the local golf complex. They offer it on one flex Friday a month and it just so happened that this past weekend was the day it landed on. So a friend of mine here, Brian, and another friend from work, Kennie, and his wife, Cindy, all went and got to play 18. It was a nice relaxing time and I actually won the whole game by one shot. It was a nice accomplishment but it was even nicer just to get out on the green and be able to just relax. Don't be alarmed by the photos of me and Brian golfing there was actually a thing available on the phone to try to capture us in motion. So what you are seeing is the golf club being swung and you can kind of see a before and after portion of the swing! I thought it was kind of cool! That and you see Brian's finger in the photo of me swinging. The following day I actually mustered the courage to finally tackle climbing a mountain. I climbed our local mountain, which is only 3,000+ feet, and it was a nice challenge to make it up there. The pictures that are included are of us playing golf and the view from "B Mountain". It was a great weekend and it provided a much needed distraction, for me, to the events that have been swirling around our newly developing family. Hope you guys can enjoy the view as much as I did. It was breath-taking to realize that all the hard work I put into climbing was rewarded with the miraculous view of the land that was laid out before me! Enjoy!

Outside of Ridgecrest

We made our second venture outside of Ridgecrest this weekend. We headed down to Bakersfield to see the sights and just to get out of the town for the day. Bakersfield is about 2 hours away but what we didn't expect was the gorgeous journey that the road would take us on. We decided to drive through Lake Isabella and through the wooded area. We climbed mountains and drove along the river. It was an amazing sight! We decided to take a stop to get some pictures and because the curvy roads and roller-coaster ride was really getting to Kim's stomach. It gave me the opportunity to climb down a little to get to the river and it gave Kim the opportunity to try out being a mom by lecturing me on being careful. All in all it was a good time and we were even able to go to Buck Owen's Crystal Palace which was a museum/restaurant that had stage in it for concerts. They had a lot of neat memorabilia on the wall and they even had a Cadillac that Buck Owens won in a poker game in Las Vegas that originally belonged to Elvis Presley. I hope the pictures do the actual environment justice. Too bad I couldn't include a sound clip of the rushing water to help to paint a better picture! Enjoy!

Flex Friday's

Every other Friday is an off day at this command. It sounds like it's a good deal but we work 10-12 hour work days each day so a full week is actually 50-60 hour work week. Which isn't much fun. Last Monday we got the latest ultrasound of Rafe and I wanted to share some of the pictures with you guys. The doctor even wrote on one "Rafe Endicott I Love You Mommy XOXO" and then for the next one changed mommy to daddy. It was really nice. We seem to like our Dr. I made the mistake of wearing my Texas Longhorns hat into there and apparently he is from Texas so then we had stuff to talk about. It always is an awkward moment when people ask if I'm from Texas just because I wear Texas things and then I have to say no I'm actually from Indiana. Which is always a surprise to people. Oh well, just figured that I would share these pictures with you guys!

Rafe's Room

One day I finally decided to bear down and get Rafe's room started. So I got into the Focus and traveled to the local K-Mart and picked out a crib that would be good for the little guy. After loading it into the trunk of the Focus and seemingly straining my back getting it in and out of the car I finally got it into Rafe's room to start the building process. I was very surprised to find out that this crib required a degree in engineering to put together. After about three or four hours I finally got the thing together and I was able to relax and see the finished product as a whole. I also picked up some paint at Home Depot earlier and we were able to give Rafe's room an accent wall of some type of orange color that has a sophisticated term to describe a pale looking orange. Included are some of the pictures of assembly and the painting process that Kim and I went through.

California Snow

When trying to get out here we went through a hassle trying to avoid the snow that the Mid-West was accustomed to. Little did we know that when we reached the dessert we would not only encounter a week and a half of rain but that it would eventually lead to two days of snow. As you can see from the pictures we had about 2 inches of snow which is very not normal for this area. I even got a "2 Hour Delay" from work due to people around here not knowing how to drive around on the "snowy" roads. All it took was about half a day and most of the snow had melted away. Once I saw that the snow was coming down I ran out with the camera and started taking pictures. The days start out pretty cold (20-30's) and around noon it is around 50-ish. It's pretty comfortable so far but in the back of my mind I keep thinking of the heat the the summer with have in store for us.

Our Move Out West

We have finally made it out west for our life for the next three years. Things are good and we are finally settled into our new house. We have about three more months until our son is going to be here. I started my job out here this past monday and really believe that I will enjoy this command. For those who don't know I will be working for the VX-9 squadron in Ridgecrest, CA. This place is beautiful with mountains surrounding us on all sides. We have a three bedroom house with a garage and a backyard for Delilah to run around in. Ridgecrest is a small town and it's been nice to get out of the bigger city. There isn't much here but we do have a Wal-Mart and a K-Mart. We hope to keep you guys informed with everything that we can let you guys know about.