NIGHT AT THE TEMPLE

This is the Week of Righteousness for the Murrieta Stake, where the Stake Presidency challenges the stake to attend the temple throughout the week. Brooke and I went last night and spent the afternoon and evening in the temple.  What a tremendous blessing we have to have a temple so close. This is the first time we have been to the temple since they have finished the construction on the exterior. No Scaffolding!

We didn't get any wedding pictures with the temple in the background so we took advantage last night and took some pictures.

DATE NIGHT----MINI GOLF

Friday night and nothing really going on so Brooke and I decided to use our Cold Stone gift card and go mini golfing. If you know me I am always up for some ice cream, especially if its free. Enjoyed our ice cream even though we almost used our whole 15 dollar gift card on one trip to Cold Stone. So expensive. Then we went to Mulligans and it was crowded. We walked in and right away we saw someone working that we know and he hooked us up with putters and balls to play mini golf.  Free ice cream and free mini golf. It took awhile to get through the course because it was so crowded but that gave us time to take some pictures. We didn't get that many good shots because the lighting was so bad. But here are a few.

Classic Ridley tongue.... Concentrating! ha

Scrunchy Nose!



9-11 MEMORIAL/ 1st RIDE ALONG

Yesterday  I was able to go on my first ride along with the fire department.  I have been planning and looking forward to this Saturday for weeks. Jeff Wilkins is a captain at the Garden Grove station 3 and was happy to let me tag along. I decided to do a 24 hour shift to see what it is really like at the station for a complete shift. I was up at 4:45 Saturday morning and left at 5:30 to be at the station by 7. Jeff showed me around and introduced me to the guys on his crew. They work a three man crew, a captain, medic and an engineer. Even though it was a slow day I had a great time and I am looking forward to doing it again very soon. We ended up only getting two calls but nothing crazy or exciting. When that alarm goes off and the call comes in, it is an instant adrenaline rush. I loved being in the fire truck going code 3 to these emergencies. Definitely exciting.

Riding in the cab of the fire engine.

Yesterday was the 9 year anniversary of 9-11 and i was lucky enough to be able to attend a firefighter memorial service in Santa Ana, recognizing the sacrifice of the many service man that died in the terrorism attacks as well as the firefighters that had served in Orange County and had passed away within the last year. It was a unique experience that I will always remember.

There was a really old engine and pump that used to be pulled my horses there on display. Many people took pictures in front of it representing a small part of firefighting history. There was also a Dalmatian that just sat on the seat the whole time. His name was Blaze.

I had to get a picture with him.

This is the memorial that was built and dedicated for the memory of the firefighters that have given up there lives in the fire service.

FORE!!!!!!!!!!!

Before my dad and my brother took off to Utah last week we were able to go play around of golf. We all like to play but rarely get out to play, so we took the opportunity to play all together. Even though we all ended up with terrible scores it was a lot of fun just being together and hanging out. Occasionally there were some great drive and perfect puts. We did have some unexpected weather conditions for a few holes. Wind, lightning, thunder and rain....people driving by probably thought we were crazy but the storm passed pretty quickly. Hopefully we will have more opportunities for all of us to play together. I will have to say that if we played more we would probably be pretty good. Just have to get out there and practice. Dad can still out drive us....sometimes. ha

A quick definition for those who don't know. "Fore!" is shouted as a warning during a golf game when it appears possible that a golf ball may hit other players or spectators.

Luckily none of us had to shout out "fore!"... but then again no one else was on the course.

RETURNING WITH HONOR

Skyler returned home a week ago from the Manchester England Mission. My parents, Cody and Shayna were in England for about a week before picking Skyler up. Brooke and I along with Paul, Ashley and their girls, Grandma Poulton, Grammy, Uncle Marc and Kyle Grieder were all anxiously waiting at John Wayne Airport for his return home. We were all so excited to see Skyler that we totally forgot to take a family picture at the airport with him, but Brooke and I got this one as we waited for him to come down the escalator. It was an awesome reunion with our brother. We are so proud of him and grateful for his service. He has grown so much in the gospel. He seems to have a permanent smile on his face and you can feel the love he has for others and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Skyler's homecoming talk was inspiring and incredible. All those that were able to attend were truly blessed. If you weren't there you missed out.

Skyler was only home for about 5 days before he had to leave for Utah to prepare for the fall semester at BYU. We know that he will continue to be focused and dedicated to everything he does. We wish him the best as he returns to school and also the football field.

We love you Skyler!

SWAP MEET, MOVIE, DINNER, SUNSET

We speant most of the day last Saturday in Orange County, waiting for my family to return home from England with Skyler. First, we went to the swap meet, with no success of what we wanted to get there but it was a lot of fun as usual. After finding out the the flight was going to be delayed we had a few extra hours to waste so we decided to go see a movie. We saw the new movie, The Switch, and we both liked it. It was pretty funny and entertaining. After the movie we went to huntington beach for dinner at BJ's. Their pizza is so delicious! After dinner we still had some time to kill and we took a drive down the PCH and caught a beautiful sunset. We pulled over and snapped a few photos.

PUPPY UPDATE

Well, its going on day 5 since we found the puppy and she has been great. We put up signs on all the main corners near our house on Saturday but still no calls about the dog. Not sure what we are going to do with her. Nothing to complain about, she is great. She doesn't bark at all, well behaved and house trained. We keep her inside at night when we are sleeping. She has a little bed made out of a sheet in the laundry room. She whines for about 10 mins when we put her in there and then we don't hear her at all. We keep her in the back yard while we are gone during the day and she just plays and roams around until we get home from work or school. She is crazy excited when she does see us. Yesterday she followed me all around the yard while I was mowing the grass. I think she would have sat  in my lap on the lawn mower if there was enough room.

Brooke has made it very clear we are NOT taking her to the pound. lol

We just call her "Pup" for now.