I am so sorry I haven't written in so long - December/the beginning of January was totally crazy, and I'm just now starting to have time to write! I'll make the catch ups brief, but I wanted to let you all know what we've been up to.
On December 13, my sister Ann got married in Sundance, Utah, at the Sundance Resort. The wedding was beautiful, and was equally as beautiful and special as the other two Collier girl weddings in '08! Aside from the massive dumping of snow the day of their wedding (which prevented Katherine and myself from getting ready with the bride, since we were staying in a different house than she was), the wedding went off without a hitch. It was so great to see relatives and old friends right before the holidays. We loved it!
The week after Ann's wedding, the same storm that hit Utah made its way down to California, where the biggest snow in 30 years arrived. Yucca Valley got 13 inches in one day, closing down all roads "down the hill" to Palm Springs! Needless to say, I got a snow day from work, which happens almost never around here, and was able to introduce little Rocky to the snow. He loved it, but once it iced over, he was not such a big fan. Because it never snows here, our neighborhood was never plowed, so we had to trudge our way through the snow until it melted - it was definitely scary!
The next three weekends in December/January Greg and I spent in Wickenburg, where my parents were. We went out the weekend before Christmas to set up the tree and decorate the house (it was our first Christmas in AZ ever), then went out again to spend Christmas with Mom, Dad, Ann, and Tyler, and then again for New Years' with the same crew, plus Kat and Jacob. We all had a great time, and it was fun to relax together after only really having family time during crazy wedding weeks all year! Rocky enjoyed his extended vacation in Arizona, where he had morning walks on the golf course off-leash every day. Once we arrived back in California, he slept for almost a week!
After New Year's, Greg and I returned to Yucca Valley with Katherine, who came to visit us for a few days. We had a blast! Kat went on a tour of historic Palm Springs houses on Friday, then we went to Joshua Tree, followed by dinner and drinks in Palm Springs on Saturday. On Sunday Kat and I went to Two Bunch Palms, a spa in Desert Hot Springs, for massages. They were amazing. Two Bunch Palms also has natural hot springs, which were so relaxing! We were so sad when Katherine left, but hopefully we'll get another visitor soon.
This weekend Greg and I went to Santa Barbara for the first time. It was the first trip we've made within California without Rocky, and it was great! We've decided to try to do more trips like this, since we may not live out here after our stint in 29 Palms. Santa Barbara is amazing - literally one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We arrived on Friday night, and on Saturday we ran down to the beach, and watched the surfers and families with dogs. Saturday afternoon we went wine tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley, and then went out to dinner at a great restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara. Today we went on a hike in Montecito which is a beautiful part of Santa Barbara filled with gorgeous, million dollar homes. After our hike we checked out and drove back to Yucca Valley (about a 3 hour drive), on the PCH. The PCH is beautiful - it's classic California, just a drive along the coastline.
Today we arrived home to our new temporary roommate, Frank Furman! Frank is a great friend of ours from Navy, and was in our wedding. He is going to be in Greg's unit in 29 Palms, and just arrived on Friday. We are SO excited he is here, as friends have been hard to come by out here. I am definitely so grateful.
So that's the update! I will post pictures now, so you can see what we've been up to, if you're not up to reading this much!
PS - I promise I'll better about updating going forward :)
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