Tehachapi Time

A little over a week ago, Scott & I drove down with the kids to visit Scott's parents for a few days. We were lucky enough to have Mark & Joy (Scott's brother & his wife) visiting at the same time. While in Scott's hometown, Will had a great time digging in the dirt, chasing birds, playing with the water hose, & "helping" Grandpa, Uncle Mark, & Scott in the yard. Ruby spent most of the time indoors playing with toys (her favorites were the cars that Will wouldn't let her play with when he was around), rolling around, eating, & sleeping. We had a great visit! It always feels so good to spend time with Scott's family, & we're always grateful when Will & Ruby can spend more time with their grandparents.

What a roadtrip to Tehachapi looks like

This last week, we braved a fairly long roadtrip down to Tehachapi. While looking through some photography blogs earlier in the week, I was inspired by a project that many of them were participating in: "What _________ looks like." I decided to give it a try & document our roadtrip down to visit Scott's hometown. As it turns out, these ended up being my favorite pictures that I took of the entire trip. It was such a fun project to work on!

We started out with a stop to McDonald's to get Will a "cheese-booger," in other words, a cheeseburger with nothing on it but a bun & cheese - no condiments, & definitely no meat. This kid is seriously the pickiest eater ever!

After a couple of hours of being on the road, we hit a traffic jam. It took us about an hour to drive 7 miles. Thank goodness the kids were asleep, or it would have been Hell.

Every time we drive down Highway 99 or Highway 5, we always pass a bunch of stinky cows. If you don't turn the air on recycle, you will pass out &/or gag for a good 5 minutes. The stench is disgusting.

The sky & landscape were beautiful as we drove past (minus the cows). The vineyards looked like they were glowing in the sun. I just couldn't get over how pretty they were.

After driving about five hours, Ruby finally woke up & wanted a snack. By this point, we were 30 minutes from our destination, so we made it a quick stop & then hurried on our way. 

It's always such a peaceful & relaxing feeling to arrive in Tehachapi. It's so secluded from everything else, & we have many fond memories of the place. We had a dream roadtrip, apart from the earlier traffic jam, & continued to have a wonderful stay with Scott's family throughout the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tehachapi Visit

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Tehachapi. My battery died, so all the really good pictures were taken on Dennis' camera.
Grandpa Denny & Will4 generations: Great-grandma Lou, Grandpa Dennis, daddy & WilliamHolding the bottle like a big boy:

Belly, Bead Board, Visitors, & Trip

My pregnant belly 3 weeks ago - at 33 1/2 weeks.

Scott installing bead board in our dining room (with our wonderful neighbor's help - Allen always manages to sneak out of pictures, but he has been amazing with so many of our projects). That's my husband . . . aren't I lucky?

Scott's sister (Karen), her daughter (Kayla), and a family friend (Julie) came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. We got to go visit Scott at his new station, where he dressed each of us up in firefighter gear. We had a great time, and it was so much fun having everyone come visit us. We love them so much - they are truly amazing people.

Kayla & Karen Kayla, Karen, Julie, Scott Scott, me, Kayla, Karen Comparing bellies Kayla all decked out for a fire.

We then spent a few days down in Tehachapi. It is such a beautiful place, & it was so great to visit again. Our last visit was over a year ago.

The first night we were there, Scott and his dad got ready to play racquetball & came out of their rooms wearing the exact same outfit (minus the shoes). Like father, like son.

Why did the chicken sit on the pea?Te-hach-a-pi!

Scott hadn't been back to his booming hometown of Tehachapi in about a year, so this last four-day, we decided to go visit. Monday night, we went to the newest restaurant in town, called "Que Pasa," and then went back to his parent's home to watch "The Scarlet Pimpernel" (a great movie). The next morning, Scott woke up early to go squirrel hunting with his dad. We then went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum." The movie was really fast paced, and I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack during the car chase (I had to look away or peek through my fingers, so that I didn't get overexposed to too many visuals on the screen. I also plugged my ears a few times because the noise of crashing cars freaked me out for some reason. I was surprised that I responded like that during the car chase because I love action-packed "on the edge of your seat" types of movies.)

Anyway, back to Tehachapi . . . Scott and I just spent the majority of our trip relaxing and enjoying a break from reality back in Sacramento. It was also good to go visit some friends like the Gambels and the Smiths. (Mandi Smith was my roommate at BYU who made it possible for Scott and me to meet.) I'm so glad that Scott and I were able to visit his home. We had such an amazing time.

This is Scott with his grandma and dad (I'm pretty interested in family history right now, so I wanted to get a picture of the 3 generations . . . we're just waiting and hoping for the time when we can add a fourth in the picture.)

Being happy in Tehachapi.
Visit with the Smiths. Mandi and Chris have a really cute little girl named Peyton who was already asleep when we took the picture. Mandi's dad is holding Chris' and her two dogs. They are so little. The one without the scary eyes is extra small and can't even begin to jump on their couch. Her paws barely even touch the cushions . . . it's pretty pathetic, but cute.Just before leaving. We set the camera up on a nifty tripod and put the timer on for the picture. Pretty good, huh? I just wanted everyone to see that Tehachapi really is a beautiful place, even though it's generally associated with Bakersfield in its location.