Charlie Take Two!

Since Charlie is leaving soon after Paul got off of work tonight Morgan, Paul and I went to meet up with her for dinner at you guessed it Olive Garden. Paul and I had a gift certificate (Thank You Ric and Jeri!) I have never been there so it was a new experience for me. The breadsticks were good (I still like Pat and Oscars better), the soup was delecious some of the best I have ever had and the Cheesy Chicken with Pasta was excellent. They also gave us a sample of some wine which was good too.

We had a good time catching up and hanging out. After dinner we went back to Charlie's place to look at her 'yearbook' from Basic Training, videos of training and graduation and some photos from graduation. Wow, I have a huge respect for this girl! She is so strong and determined for making it through.

Stay safe Charlie and goodluck in the next portion of your training!
We will all miss you greatly.

Girls Gone Wild

From left to right: Cyndi, Manda, Charlie, Morgan and Moe

My friend Charlie is on Christmas leave from the Army so we decided to get together with the rest of the gang and have a girls night out. We headed out to The Block and ate dinner at TGIFridays. We ordered drinks and Charlie bought us a round of Scooby Snacks. Soooo Good!

We had a yummy dinner and then walked over to the AMC theatre to catch a flick. We saw 'Fun with Dick and Jane' I liked it more than my counterparts. I didn't expect much from it. It was an ok movie, the funniest part was the couples kid who spoke a combanation of English and Spanish. "Not my telemundo!"

After that we said fairwell to Moe and Manda as they had to head home. Morgan, Charlie and I decided to catch another movie. We saw Rumor Has It. Which I liked but I am not a big movie buff as far as rating things. I like a lot of films that many people would laugh at me for liking. I thought it was a cute movie. It took a little while to get started, and ended a bit fast but I would still go see it again. I am glad we got the chance to have some time for all of us to hang out.

Ouch!

The Day After Christmas

For fun and excitment on the day after Christmas we decided to go up to Mt. High and see if we had any snowboarding skills. I am still unsure if we have any skills. Paul and I started out by taking a snowboarding lesson but my boots were tight and about a half hour in I felt sick like I was going to pass out or lose my breakfast.

So back to the ski lodge we went. I could not find boots that didn't make my feet ache so, I decided maybe I should just go skiing since I know how. I found boots that fit great, and didn't make me feel sick, Paul however could not find any that were wide enough. Doah! So Paul opted to sit out since he didn't want to take a lesson by himself for snowboarding. So I went skiing for a little while, we ate lunch at the restaurant on the mountain and then I went skiing for a couple more hours.

On my last time down the mountain I went down a different part of the mountain and misjudged the jump and landed on my bottom. my right ski hit my left knee and I ended up with the lovely bruise pictured above. It was not an ideal day of fun in the snow but we had a good time.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day is spent with Cyndi's family. In the past we have driven up to Victorville but this year we went down to SD. We went down in the morning and opened stockings, then we headed over to the Robinsons house for brunch with old neighbors and friends. We decided to then go catch a movie, The Producers. It was fairly well done, a few to many songs for my taste. Not one of the top movies for me in 2005. We also opened our presents to each other and from family that could not be with us. Then we went home and had a fantastic dinner complete with pecan pie (Cyndi's personal favorite). We settled in watched some T.V. and played with our new toys.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is spent in Alhambra with Paul's family. We have a delicious dinner and good conversation. The Christmas Story is on the television. We exchange presents (we do a name draw since there are 12 adults and 1 almost adult in the family). It is always a good time. Sorry no photos... We forgot the camera, we will have to ask Paul's parents if we can borrow the memory card to load them on our computer.

Cyndi and Paul's Day of Fun

Tuesday the 20th of December

My mom scored us some free tickets to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. We got up in the morning time and drove down to the zoo which is only about 20min. or so from my moms house. We decided to shell out some cash to get the all day bus rides so we wouldn't have to do an enormous amount of walking. We had never done the tour before which is included also so we started the day off with that. We had a great time. We saw pretty much everything we even made it to one of their shows. We saw a baby giraffe, the koalas, lions, monkeys, polar bears and lots more. The coolest thing we went to see was the new baby panda. We were shocked that their was not a line. The last time there was a baby panda the line was a few hours long and we decided we didn't want to wait that long. This time the line was just past the gate to get in where the pandas were so we waited just a couple minutes. This is all we saw:the baby was sleeping up against the wall in the corner of the enclosure. So we decided since it was almost lunch time for the pandas that we too should go get lunch and maybe when we were done we could get a better look at the little one. We ate right next to where the pandas are. When we finished we walked back over and the line was significantly longer so we figured that the baby was awake. We decided to wait and see. Then we got to see this:
She is co cute.

Suprise

Monday, December 19th

I decided to go out and get my mom a Christmas tree today, since she was just not going to have one this year. I found a place that still had flocked trees and bails of hay which were the two things I had been searching for. The hay is for her nativity scene which sits in our front yard. So I got all the hay set up and the nativity plugged in. Then I set up the tree and decorated it while she was at work. Jyem came over to help with the decorating part. When we were finished we got the extra carpet my mom has been wanting to get rid of and took it over to Jyem's new place.

When my mom got home boy was she suprised to see hay in the front yard and a tree in the kitchen window. The kitty decided this should be his new hang out. As soon as the tree was put up he was checking it out, once the tree skirt was put down he began hanging out underneath the tree. He is a black kitty but now every time he walks out from under the tree he has spots of white. I am glad we will have a tree for Christmas day!

Happy 5th Birthday

Sunday, December 18th

Happy Birthday Hadley!

I headed over to Erin and Jon's house on Sunday to celebrate their eldest daughters birthday. She is absolutly adorable. I cannot believe she is already 5. Where does the time go. I had a great time catching up with Erin, seeing her parents and grandparents. Their newest addition is growing so fast, I can hardly believe it.

Congratulations!

Saturday, December 17th

From left to right and top to bottom: Charlotte Carpenter, Electra Carpenter, Erika Carpenter, Grandma and Vivian Carpenter.

Today my mom and I attended Ericka Carpenters Bridal Shower. My mom and Vivian have been friends for many years, they attended the same church for a long time and continue to remain close as they took a cruise to Alaska just for fun the summer before last. The three Carpenter sisters have watched me grow up (they are about 10 years older) from the time I was just a baby. I am so happy for Ericka and I wish her all the best as she begins her life as a wife.

Late Night

Friday, December 16thOn Friday I met up with Jyem, we just hung out at her place looked through photos, talked and played with her puppy, Frank. We were up way past our bedtimes (3am) I didnt get home until about 3:20am. We decided to take a photo before I headed home and this is how the photo came out.

Go White Boy, Go White Boy, Go!

I was going to wait until I got my big break, but I guess I can share this with you all now. I made my first music video and I think it's going to be huge! You can check it out here. No, I can't teach you to dance like this...it's all natural baby!

Busy! Busy!

This weekend is will:

Help my mom clean and organize
Finish Christmas shopping
Go to a wedding shower
Go to a birthday party
Hang out with Jyem

Who knows what else I will have time for
Photos and details will be coming within the week.

Merry Early Christmas

I took angela to Disneyland today for an early Christmas gift. She has not been to Disneyland for a few years. We walked around, rode Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, and Haunted Mansion. We watched the holiday parade, and fireworks. We also enjoyed some ice cream at the ice cream parlor on Main Street. We left a bit early because I was feeling lousy and we were tired from lack of sleep and getting up early. All in all it was a good day and lots o fun.

Par-tay

Paul turned 29 years young yesterday and we celebrated by meeting up with family and friends at The Block. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant called Alcatraz followed by the viewing of Narnia. I have been told everyone had a nice time and enjoyed both dinner and the movie. I was worried about this since I had to change venue locations twice due to conflicts with seating availability. Those who were there included Paul's parents and siblings, his grandparents and great aunt. My mom came up and picked Angela on her way. Ric and Jeri met us there. Nick drove all the way out from River-dive and Sarah C.P. Tate came all the way down from Idyllwild! It was so good to see everyone and catch up. Sadly we missed Christine and Josh but hopefully we will be able to catch up very soon with them! Thanks again to everyone for coming out and celebrating with us.

O Christmas Tree

We bought our Christmas tree yesterday but we were heading out to the Askew's for Bunco so we decided to wait and put it up this morning. We had a bit of difficulty getting the tree to stand up, the trunk wouldn't sit right in the stand. Paul finally got it screwed in so it would stand up straight. Then the fun part began... putting on the lights and ornaments. Every year it brings back so many memories of where each ornament came from and we share the stories behind those we were given.

"Don't trust anyone over 30!"

Guess I'm trustworthy for one more year. Happy 29th birthday to me!

same ol' same ol'

Well I have just been subbing in Orange County. Yesterday I was at a Middle School, "teaching" 6th grade P.E. lots o fun. All the teacher was having them do was walk/run around the track for the entire period. So for 8 periods I watched them walk/run around the track. BORING! Lucky for me I bring my ipod to school to listen to during prep periods, and recess. So I at least had my tunes. During 4th period I had a fight break out... that was fun. A white boy and a few hispanic boys were not getting along so well and were making racial slurs at each other which lead to pushing which lead to hitting. OY. Come on now the directions were walk around the track, how difficult can that be. Other than that and catching a couple 8th graders making out behind the handball courts it was a pretty easy day.

Today I was back at an Elementary School doing what is called Roving which means that I am in a bunch of different grades throughout the day. Today I helped Kindergartners with Math, had 1st graders watch the Magic School Bus, took 5th graders to the computer lab, took 3rd graders to the Holiday Show (where they can buy cheap presents for their family for Christmas), lead 2nd graders through their math lesson, contained 4th graders in the classroom until the end of school. No problems with any of the classes. Pretty easy day. Still not sure if I taught anything which is the frustrating part of subbing for me because I dont feel as if I am making a difference. Oh well, the time will come when I have my own room.

Friends Forever

This weekend I went down to San Diego to help my mom clean out and organize her garage. My friend Jyem who has just permently moved back to CA needed some stuff for her new place so on Friday we moved a couch, coffee table, and other random things from my moms to her place. Jyem's mom took us out to eat at IN-N-OUT after we were done. On Saturday I got up early and started working on the garage, my mom and I ran some errands and Jyem came over in the evening and we went to dinner at Buca di Beppo, she had never been before. On Sunday she came over to help me out some more with the garage, then she went to meet up with her dad to show him the new place. Later on Jyem met up with us at the mall for a little dinner and desert at California Pizza Kitchen. I am so glad to have Jyem back in CA! I didn't realize how much I missed hanging out with her. This is the last photo I have of us together since she left for boot camp not long after Paul and I married. Hopefully we will soon have some more recent photos together.

The Sky is Falling!

The owner of our apartment complex came over and told me there was a problem upstairs, I said OK. He then told me that he needed to get in to our bathroom to fix the problem. The picture above is what happened next. Two men broke apart our ceiling and now we have this beautiful view. Oh the joys of apartment life. The main guy who was fixing it also dropped something in our bathtub and broke off a piece. Oy! We also have a drawer that is beyond repair unless it is completely replaced. Good times.