California

We have been in California now for almost 7 weeks. We left Utah on Thursday the 12th of April. We got in late that night and the next morning we got up to drive to Grants Pass, OR where David's parents live. We hadn't seen David's dad since spring 04 and David's mom we saw in September of 05, when she came out for Carson's baptism and Lucy's blessing. It was really good to see them again. There is also David's brother, Tony and his three children. Two girls, Kristi and Koral, both now married and his son Garrick. David's brother Matt and his family was living in near Monterey, CA but is transitioning to go to Korea for the military these next few weeks. We are grateful that we were able to spend some time with them before they left.

We are renting a home from a couple who have gone on a mission in Arizona. It is a roomy "A " frame home on 2 1/2 acres in the woods. It is really nice to have the room for the kids. It already had a swing, slide, fort, two hammocks, and a garden spot. Along the back of the property is a creek that we can fish in. We haven't really tried it. There is a few lakes not far from us so we have gone there. David and the three older kids caught these two rainbow trouts a couple of weeks ago. We cooked them up that Sunday. We have seen lots of deer, blue jays, wood peckers, and squirrels. David saw the back side of a bear the other day as he was driving home. There was some trash in the road and as David came up on it the bear ran off. The kids and I saw a dead rattle snake on the side of the road about a 1/4 of a mile from our home. The picture is from my cell phone. Its hard for me to walk in tall grass now.
We had some more visitors this weekend. Carson left the outside door open after taking the garbage out. It was about 4 hours later till we realized it. David and I were just going to bed when David saw something scurry under the bed. He debated about worrying me with it. I jumped into bed and tried not to think about it. About three in the morning we both woke up hearing little noises. David grabbed the flashlight and could see them in the next room. The door to that room was closed so he went another way upstairs to go outside. The room they were in had a sliding glass door. David looked in and could see two mice. He opened the sliding glass door and one walked out. Whew! The other one went under the door to our bedroom. That was Sunday night. On Tuesday night we had been gone and came home where Carson found the little guy upstairs. We all cornered him behind the TV cabinet. Each of us got a bowl while Callie shewed it out. We all pounced on it and David caught it. It was a funny sight to see I'm sure.
I'm glad we were able to let the little thing outside without hurting it. We had put a mouse trap out for Monday and Tuesday but it didn't get the little guy. The cheese disappeared once but it didn't go off. Lucky! Most of all, I am glad it is out of the house!!