Quakes Stadium Laughs

Last Saturday Lu & I went to Mormon Night at Quakes Stadium.  To start off, let me introduce you to one of two very awesome mascot dudes.  This guy is called...wait for it....wait for it....

TREMOR!!! 

I know right?  I even got two shots of him.  He had some great moves.  I wish I would've taken video of him.  He actually was really fun to watch.

This was one of the most exciting moments of the game.  Do you see a bunch of guys in white standing on the field?  It was wicked awesome!

Meanwhile, here is an unfortunate picture of me and always photogenic Luis.

Then...we got up close and personal with...wait for it...wait for it...

AFTERSHOCK!!! 

This is mascot #2.  He saw me with the camera and threw me a "you rock" pose.  It was thrilling. 

You know how sports arenas always play fan games between innings?  Well, Rancho Cucamonga is no different.  One of my favorites was when they challenged two contestants to seperate their garbage pile into trash vs recyling bins.  I can just picture a bunch of event staff behind the scenes 5 minutes before "go time" saying, "Okay, we're short one game, can anyone think of anything?" 

Someone suggests shoe tying.  "No, too complicated for our crowd."  Someone else suggests speed knitting.  "No, remember the granny that grew wild and attacked the other one with her blunt needle?

 So someone else says, "Well, we do have plenty of trash cans.  Let's have the players sort the garbage."  "Brilliant!"

My idea?  Obviously, I would have suggested drinking water out of a cup using licorice.  It's a fav.

We got to sit with some members of our ward and it was nice to get to know them better.  Afterwards, there were fireworks.  They lasted a grand total of 5 minutes, but were an unexpected surprise to us.

Licorice!!!

Wouldn't you agree that there are so many wonderful things one can do with licorice? 

Serious endless possibilities. 

However, the best, in my opinion, is using it to extract liquid from a cup.  I call it "using the licorice as a straw." 

Preposterous enough, Luis had never had this experience.  The good news was: we had licorice, a cup, water, and my expertise.  AND...I documented the proceedings.

He enjoyed the experience and even discovered the magic of holding the water in and then slowly letting it trickle through the air. 

I couldn't be prouder!

And to finish my post, I have this picture of licorice that I just took.

Newport Beach Temple

This is yet another beautiful California temple called the Newport Beach Temple.  I had to look up the name just now since I wasn't sure if it had the word beach in there, but alas, it does. 

It is amazing how peaceful it is on temple grounds in the midst of busy cities.  As we were walking around, I felt like we were in some kind of country gardens.

Look closely...we even saw bunnies on the lawn!

Megan & Blake

I tried to be the first to blog about the wedding, but Jennie beat me to it...AND she has more pictures.  C'est la vie!  It was an awesome day.  Lu and I were so glad we were able to come down for the weekend.  I loved this pose Steve Barrus, her photographer, took.  It was a bit uncomfortable for Megan though, as you can see from picture #2.  She slid right off the wall.  Blake looks unconcerned.

It was nice to get some pictures of us that are not taken by ourselves at point blank range.  Amber was gracious enough to snap these.  For a full narration of events, see Jennie's blog.  She did a fabulous job!  (If you are Jennie and you are reading this...you've already seen the blog.) 

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.