Almond Blossoms

The almonds are in blossom. There is an almond orchard at the end of our street. We can smell the blossoms in the morning. It is pretty spectacular. A week ago these trees were bare. Next week is the Almond Blossom Festival. More to come!

February Happenings

So, February is already almost over and life for the Jungs in Ripon is beginning to find a rhythm. There have been some good stories along the way as well... and just some fun moments captured.

Kara had been wanting a beanie that tied for AJ to wear when we are in Carmel, or in the mountains. Lyndsay got her one to match Morgan's for her birthday. I am pretty sure that Annika is smiling more because she is with her cousin than the fact she has something on her head, because she only likes something on her head when she is cold.

So these three little rascals have become best buds. Morgan and Annika are much more calm around each other than a few months ago (translation: they give each other some space when together and do fine, if not, they get a bit territorial) and Ethan loves playing with them both.

Funny story, I am babysitting all three this week for a few hours, Ethan and I are talking about animal habitats. I ask him where a dog's habitat is, he replies, "A house." I say, "What about dogs that are not pets that don't live in houses?" He is silent for a second then replies, "Their habitat is a dog house." Touche Ethan, touche.

Our living room has a bunch of windows that in the afternoon floods light in, Annika wasn't really cooperating, but we caught a couple shots.

Kara is now a pizza chef. She has tried multiple doughs, and has nailed the thin crust (all have been good save one, which she knew was bad when I could only stomach one slice). Homemade pizza has become a weekend tradition, which is awesome (and cheap!).

The one downside... our pizza stone has absorbed a lot of grease. This morning Kara tried to clean it by placing it in the oven and then cleaning the oven. She leaves for a run and 10 minutes later I am startled to hear the smoke detector go off. Enter the kitchen and smoke is billowing out of the oven. After opening every door, window, garage in the house, we finally got the smoke out. The best news, Annika slept through the entire ordeal, smoke alarm and all. Bad news, the pizza stone is now a lovely charcoal color, we will see how the next round of pizzas taste!

Last weekend was the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am. I was very happy with the Pro Am officials for moving the third course played from Poppy Hills to Monterrey Peninsula CC (the other two courses are Pebble Beach and Spyglass), mainly because Kara's parent's house is on MPCC. Last Saturday we went for 24 hours to watch golf and hang out. AJ liked playing ball in the back yard as we were able to watch the golfers pass by.

Some of you golfers are saying, "Is that Stephen Ames and Woody Austin?" Yes, yes it is. The majority of you are saying, "Is that Vince Gill?" Yes, yes it is!

So later in the day we went out on the course and chased down Adam Scott. (My wife could name more of the hot professional golfers there than amateur players, which made me very proud. We did watch Josh Duhamel and Sergio Garcia at Pebble on Sunday, so... at least my wife has good taste in both worlds!)

On our way back we ran into Vince Gill and watched him tee off. As we are waiting I all of a sudden hear my wife singing, "Are you living in an old man's rubble, are you listening to the father of lies..." (this is an old school Amy Grant song, but you already knew that). He tees off and as we leave we see a lady in an orange hat, which Lyndsay had told us earlier in the day was the lady walking with Amy Grant. While I can't confirm it was her, I am pretty sure Kara sang Amy Grant to Amy Grant. Legen- wait for it -dary!

Naked or clothed, Annika is working on her high five.

Due to scheduling conflicts, we went to my parent's today to celebrate AJ's bday. Yes, this is 4 celebrations/ cakes. She definitely has this figured out by now.

"What?"

Annika and Grandpa are good friends, Grandpa loves to play with AJ.

She is getting better at opening gifts, too. "Thanks for the cute outfit Grandmama!"

Annika's first outdoor toy! We have it inside right now and I think she went down the slide about 30 times tonight before bed.

I apologize for the long post, these little stories are the fun memories that brighten our day. Next up, spring is in the air!

We survived!

Well we have all officially survived one week of me being back at work full time. After having been able to spend almost one whole year at home with Annika I was really anxious about leaving her to FINALLY start my nursing career, BUT the first week went really really well and I am excited to keep going back.

One of the reasons it has been so easy is that I know that she is in the best hands ever. Her nana, grandmama, auntie lyndsay and her daddy are all taking turns watching her while I complete my grueling 5 day a week new graduate training. I can't thank you guys enough for watching my baby girl! I'll say it again THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Another reason it has been so easy to go to work is that for the first time I am loving what I am doing. I have barely even started, but I can just tell that this is going to be a good fit for me. However seeing all those babies being born is only going to increase the number of little ones I want...sorry babe!

After our first full week of work/baby duty Eric, Annika and I headed to Pebble for a night to catch some of the AT&T pro-am. The weather was gorgeous and we even got to go out a couple of times and walk MPCC and Pebble and catch some of "our" favorites... adam scott, sergio, phil...good times.

Needless to say we were exhausted after a fun-filled week.

New Video, Annika is now 1!

Lot's of new video, lot's of good memories. We can't believe our little peanut is already 1, what a great year we have had.