Luis the Stud

Okay, so I've been a little dramatic about Luis starting school.  It is not my fault - I blame Mom and her emotions, which I inherited.  Needless to say, Luis has been so patient with me.  He understands this whole situation is hard for me.  Especially after this weekend trip to Utah and not knowing when we'll get to see everyone again.  So yesterday, he surprised me with these sweet flowers.  It was very unexpected and I loved it!  The best part?  Look carefully at the tag.  (I'm not sure which anniversary we're celebrating either.)  Isn't he a STUD?

All By Myself

Well, Lu has finally begun school here in California.  Technically, this week is only orientation, but it has still begun.  So, "What is Ashley doing?" you ask.  Well, yesterday, I bought dishwasher soap.  Today, I cleaned bird droppings off our balcony.  And tomorrow?  Let's just say other great things are in store.  Maybe I'll be lucky enough to rearrange the cords plugged into our surge protector.

Our Pet the Pig

Meet Wilbur.  He's our pig.  We decided to bring him into the family because of his groovy looks. Later, Amber gave us a great idea.  She has a friend who has a "family home evening" piggy bank that collects moolah until there's enough for a special activity or to buy a little something special.

He was getting pretty jingly, so we decided to count up our change to see what we could buy.

Sadly, after shaking out the coins, we found there was a large one stuck inside that required special extraction, so we had to perform surgery. 

After the whole ordeal, Wilbur was feeling a little under the weather; however, we had over $20 in change and were able to purchase Stratego, a family favorite amongst the Ferguson clan.

Krispy Kreme

Bad news:  there is a Krispy Kreme within walking distance of us - literally.  Pepper was craving these very doughnuts on Monday night, so we walked there.  That's right.  My husband makes me walk for doughnuts.  Normal doughnut-eating people would hop in their cars and drive on down to be sure they don't expend too much energy.  Then, they'd prop the doughnut box on their bellies and watch Food Network.  Not us.  I couldn't help singing "Pioneer Children" as we trudged down the nicely paved sidewalk the exhausting three blocks to our destination.  Remember that song?  "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked AND walked." 

One thing I learned from this trial:  Rancho Cucamonga Krispy Kreme has a wildly different assortment of doughnuts than Layton Krispy Kreme.  We ordered flavors such as Strawberry Shortcake, New York Cheesecake, Buffalo Bill Critters, Banana Creme, and Lemon Cake.  (Okay, one flavor in there I made up, but I'll never tell which one it is.)

A Warm Day at the Beach

Okay, so it doesn't look like a very warm day, but looks can be deceiving.  It felt really nice.  Before we headed off for the beach, we stopped by Costco and bought a beach umbrella so we wouldn't fry!  While there, my hubby coaxed me into also purchasing a body board aka boogie board.  He thinks I'm so kind in letting him buy one, but the truth is...I really wanted one too, but don't tell him that.

So, here's Lu posing with our boogie board.  He was so excited to try it out.  He was so fun to watch.

Then, Lu got me to try it out.  This picture's great.  I didn't purposely try to hide behind the boogie board, but am glad I did.  No one needs to see my thunder thighs.

It was wild and I had a lot of fun...right up until I lost control and went barreling towards a group of girls.  They had to run to dodge me.  You can see one teen fearfully running away from me in this picture.  It was embarassing but kind of great.  They were just standing there.

They call it the Quaking of the Earth.

I felt my 1st tremor here in California last week.  I was sitting on the couch and Luis was sitting close by.  I felt a little shake, and I turned to Luis because I thought he had shaken the couch.  He wasn't even paying attention to me and THAT is when I realized...that was no silly couch shaking by my husband...that was an EARTHQUAKE!!!  or at least a faint tremor caused by one probably a few hundreds miles away.  I suddenly had butterflies in my stomache as I texted my mom to tell her.  She got really worried and asked if we were okay.  Just so all 3 of you know (you 3 who read my blog), other than a few broken ribs, I think we'll be fine.  Spread the word though - California is hoppin!

Etiwanda Falls

One thing I love about Rancho is that there are mountains across the Northern horizon. That makes me feel like I'm in Utah still. However, they're not like my mountains. We went on a hike to the Etiwanda Falls and, unlike most trails I've been through, there was no shade along the way. Even at 8:30 in the morning, we were dripping!