Wow...it's been a while. And I can't really claim that I've been too busy, this time, either. I just didn't really feel like doing this and then time got away from me. :-p. I realized, though, in the past moments of racking our brains to try and figure out what we actually did in the time I didn't post that it's actually somewhat productive for me to do because then it's harder to take for granted the things we've gotten to do.

So that it doesn't take you 2 weeks to read about the last two, I'll just try and give you some of the highlights.

A couple weekends ago, we took Lacy to "Bark at the Park" in Lancaster. She loved it. From the moment we pulled into the parking lot, she must've known it was something for her because she got obnoxiously excited. We should record it, sometime...it's really quite amusing...for the first 5 minutes. (Unfortunately, we had a really hard time finding a parking spot, so it got old.) While there wasn't THAT much to do, we stretched the event for all we could and ended up staying for about 5 hours. We watched a performing dog show, "clocked" Lacy (though it was run by over-zealous, disinterested cheerleaders, so we're not sure how accurate Lacy's 34 MPH was), tried Lacy out on the agility course, picked up a bunch of free stuff, had some lunch, watched a friend's dog run the lure course, and people watched. Lacy was pretty tired that night...I'm pretty sure she actually slept.

Sunday, we were invited to go to lunch with some of the people we used to go to church with at Wayside. It was nice to see them...but that's about all we got to do since we were the last ones there, and Heidi and the boys just beat us in that, so we ended up at a table together and none of us got to talk much to any of the Wayside people...Oh well.

Last week, we did a lot of the usual...Adam worked and I did stuff at home and hung out with the Lucas'. I did get to go with Heidi and the boys to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." Parts of it were a little scary for the younger ones, but it was fairly good. I would probably say rent it. I am excited to see "Where the Wild Things Are" eventually, though. Other events of note...we had dinner at Heidi's, Heidi and Sandra came over for dinner here on Thursday, and on Friday, I got to go to Family Day at Adam's job. That was interesting, but kind of unorganized and confusing :-p.

Also on Friday, I had my first visit to the dermatologist...and my last to that particular one. I guess I got what I needed accomplished...but in addition to that, he prescribed me two medications for things I didn't go in wanting or needing to address (bascially a breakout....) with some pretty serious and scary potential side effects...which I am not going to use. I also had a very severely deflated ego. I spent most of the afternoon feeling dejected and miserable...but found some resolve in the fact that I found only bad (and very coincidentally similar) reviews about this doctor, so I knew it wasn't just me and that I am going to move on.

This past Saturday, we headed into Tehachapi for a trip to the pumpkin patch. I didn't realize how much I'd miss having one around until we moved here and their idea of a pumpkin patch is renting an empty lot, having some inflatables and pony rides, and putting out hale bales with pumpkins stacked on them and around them. I was very grateful to Sandra for finding us a map with all the u-pick orchards and patches in the area. Unfortunately, they were falsely advertised, and while we found and partook in u-pick apple orchards, we'll have to compensate for the lack of pumpkin patches on our very short return to Champaign in a couple weeks. On the way home from the fairly disappointing trip, we stopped in Mojave and the Space Port and saw Space Ship 1. Adam can tell you more details, but the Space Port is where Burt Rattan built and launched the first private civilian space crafts and still has a company working there, today. You can, undoubtedly, find plenty of info about that online, and we'll post pictures of Adam by the ship soon (but no promises I guess :)).

Sunday, we went to church and then set on a mission to play tennis. Apparently, though I have NEVER seen ANY of the minimal courts in town occupied, plenty of other people in Rosamond had the same idea, that day. We decided to go buy some baseball equipment and hit balls, instead. Even though the bat, balls, and glove we bought ended up being far more than we thought, it was good therapy and felt good to get out and do something (though I've been pretty sore for the past few days.) Adam told me that I was a lot better than he thought I would be...I guess I'll take that as a compliment.

Yesterday, since Adam had the day off for Columbus Day, we decided it would be a good day to go to the dentist. Adam hadn't gone in 2 years or so...and I hadn't been in over 7...gasp. I knew that they'd tell me I need to floss...and that I needed to come more often, but I definitely wasn't prepared for them showing me 14 cavities and telling me I'd need to come back for a series of deep cleanings and irrigations where they'd have to give us shots and clean under our gums. And yes...our....Adam has about 8 or 9 cavities and needs the deep cleaning, too. Let this be your lesson not to skip your annual appointments. Sigh.

Adam was pretty spent after that visit. He hates dentists, anyway, so the fact they had to do excessive scraping and picking didn't do much for him, either. So while he took a nap, I made apple butter with our orchard harvest to surprise him. Most of the recipes were for the slow cooker and/or took over 20 hours to completion...so I opted for the 20 minute microwave version. Adam laughed at me when he found out I made it in the microwave, but it still turned out well (despite also eliminating the cloves and the apple cider since we didn't have any.)

So now, it's back to the grind. Adam went back to work early this morning, and I spent most of the day uploading and editing wedding photos to try and make some headway on having an album. I'm very grateful to have so many pictures to commemorate the day...but it is going to take me a long time to get this together. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. It's hard to believe it's already Wednesday tomorrow. I'm also not really liking how dark it's getting earlier everyday...and definitely not looking forward to going back to Standard Daylight Time or whatever it's called. No wonder people get more gloomy in the winter. We do get to meet Chuck Yeager on Thursday, though...so that gives us something to look forward to. It's also the Edwards Air Show and Open House this weekend, so that should be fun, if not somewhat chaotic and busy, too.

We can't wait to make our valiant return to Illinois in less than two weeks, now. While it won't be a very long visit, it will be nice to see some familiar faces. I just hope it helps me and doesn't make me more homesick. For now, though, I'm still struggling through trying to find purpose and balancing that with being motivated to do what I need to get done.

Until next time....