It's finally Autumn!!!

So with Fall being our favorite time of year we were excited that it's finally October. The Fall decorations have gone up around the house and we even decorated the dog, Edelwesis.

See?

She didn't like it much, but she was rewarded with a pig ear afterwards. We had fun though. The paint will come off her fur within the next few days.

Earlier in the day we took her to the park. It had drizzled a bit all throughout the morning, so the slide was a little slick. Usually she'll just try to walk down it, but she couldn't really do that this time...

We're Engaged!

So last Saturday I had lunch with a friend, Jenn, from high school. She had moved away to go to college, but she came back into town for the weekend, so she invited me to go to lunch with her at Red Robin. I had also met up with another friend that was in town for breakfast that morning, and was gonna be able to see yet another mutual friend of doug and mine's from Hume (Megan) that afternoon. And I wasn't feeling well. I've been sick lately, and my stomach was giving me problems. I almost canceled on Jenn. Good thing I didn't.

We're sitting there eating lunch and all of a sudden our waiter walks up, asks, "Is your name Rochelle?" And then gives me this:

It was a giant poster size card. On the inside there was a message from Doug pretty much saying that I was going on a scavenger hunt and to bring Jenn along. Right then everything clicked into place for me. Jenn. Megan. And other clues that I had noticed that week. I knew what was coming.
Also on the inside of the card was a clue for the next place. There were some blanks and some clues for those blanks and also a polaroid picture taped in flipped over. I pulled it off and figured out the next place to go:

Century 16 Movie Theatres. So we left for the movie theatre.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town...

From the movie theatre I got another poster card with another clue and another picture. As we were pulling out of the parking lot and trying to make a left turn, a car got into a turn lane to make a U turn. I thought, "That looks like Jay's car" (I knew that he and Doug were "hanging out" today) Sure enough as he made the U-turn I saw that "Joshua Wilderness Institute" Decal on the back of his car.

The next clue brought us to our friend's beach house that her family owns. We've spent many days hanging out there and enjoying the beach.

Jenn found the next card, which directed us to Corrales, the only place that I like Mexican food and one of Ventura's food gems that I introduced Doug to

All the time I was looking for people that I might know that were watching us. I knew Jenn was in on it even though she kept denying it. And I knew that Jay was in on it, and Megan too. But who else? The next clue took us to the supposed location for a new Wood Ranch. The closest one to us is in Camarillo and that's where Doug and I had had our "UnValentine's" date. At first I couldn't figure out the picture, but had figured out the place from the clues and thought, "No way am I driving out to Camarillo!" But then I saw the Macy's sign in the background and figured out that it was the old run down Fresh Choice.

We found that card taped to the sign and found that the next clue was Ventura High School where Doug and I had gone to listen to some singers for our music class last spring. So back in the car we went.

The last card directed us to the cross up on the hill downtown. The ACLU had tried to tear it down a couple of years ago, but a church bought the property, so now they can't touch it.

As we pulled into the parking lot I saw Doug's truck there and knew I had come to the end of the hunt. He didn't seem to realize I was there yet as I walked up. He was talking to some people nearby. But Megan was there with him and taking pictures.

Me coming from the parking lot down to the cross

I walked up behind Doug and touched his back to get his attention. He gave me a hug and then told me that he loved me. He made a small speech but neither one of us can remember exactly what he said because both of us were so nervous (Jay had bet Doug $10 that he would throw up.)

Then he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.

I said yes!

While we were still up at the cross Devonna called me so I got to share the good news with her first (besides all of the people that already knew that had helped Doug out)

I was then told that people were at the house waiting for us. So we went back to my house

Proud dad

Happy mom


Pretty much everyone that had helped out

The ring. Saphires and a diamond. I need to get it resized though cause my fingers were smaller than even I knew!



So there you have it. That's the story.

BUBBLES!!!

So Walgreens is having their end of summer sale where all of their summer stuff is 75% off. Beach balls, nerf guns, pool mats, a bunch of stuff all in an aisle. We found bubbles and decided we wanted to see if Edelweiss likes them or not. Plus we're just big kids on the inside so we wanted to play with them too (and they're cherry scented!) So today we took her out back to try them out.

She wasn't so sure at first. She just kinda ran away from them and we had to keep calling her back. I think she was nervous being out in the back also cause of the pool, and Doug constantly teases her with the pool.

There were a couple of times where she kinda bit at them but otherwise she wasn't that interested still. She just didn't get how fun they could be. Finally at the very end she started playing a bit...

Doug here: Ok so Friday's destination was Hurricane Harbor. Since we have coupon books from our Magic Mountain season passes so we thought we should use the "Free Hurricane Harbor pass" before summer ended. We had a blast there however the adventure wasn't just merely being there. It was the process of getting there that made the day a true adventure.

Lets quentin tarantino this:

Lets go back, lets go back to the beginning

It all pretty much started about 8 O'clock when I awoke and left early to go to Rochelle's house to make her breakfast in bed. I like to half surprise her with those kinds of mornings. Anyways, I cooked her breakfast, and everything seemed fine. Until Chelle asked if I remembered my coupon book. I didn't. So I drove back to my place and tore my room apart for about 20 mins or so trying to find it. Since my move I have yet to find anything I want to. Well since I couldn't find it, I had to bite the bullet and pay the 15 bucks it would cost me to get in. Well since we were on my way and I forgot my sunglasses at a friend's house the previous week we had to stop by a Von's on the way to pick me up a pair of sunglasses that looked at least decent. After that we made it to Valencia and decided to park down the hill from Six Flags to save us 15 dollars for not parking in their parking lot. We did. and walked a good mile or so to Six Flags up hill to the entrance gate just to realize we forgot Rochelle's Coupon book in the car. So we had to walk back. Fortunately we hitched a ride down, got the book, and walked all the way back to six flags. Finally making it to our destination, much, much later than we meant to.



Like my new shades?

I hope all is well with you and talk to you soon.

Reading time

Last night we finally finished the 5th Harry Potter book. We've been working on that one for a few months. Since last December or so we started on the series. I'd read them a few times before but Doug never had. I'll read aloud to him, and in return we're supposed to read Lord of the Rings next. It's a fun activity for both of us though. I don't think many couples read aloud to each other. I'm hoping to get us through the 6th book in time for the movie to come out, but I'm not sure how it'll go with our busy fall schedule. Last night we set up some blankets on the front balcony and Edelweiss joined us to listen too. Now on to the next book!

South Carolina

So we figured we'd finally update our trip to South Carolina. We had a blast the two weeks that we were there. There is just something about the South that is so beautiful and captivating. It was hot, peaceful, and restful. We enjoyed having breakfast every morning on Nana and Papa's porch, walks on the dock, days spent on the beach, thunderstorms, soft sand, warm water (and this time no jellyfish stings!), making sweet tea, and trips to the frozen custard shop. Here's some of the things that we enjoyed:

The Clouds.

We don't often get them like this. We could actually lay on our backs on our rafts in the ocean and say which shapes we saw.

The scenery.
You can't see it really in any of these pictures, but the spanish moss on the trees just gives the South it's own distinct feel. Along with the rivers/waterways, small islands, and wildlife, no other place compares.

Alligators!!

Yep, we saw an alligator again! It lives in a lagoon in my Nana and Papa's community. In the evenings it'd lay on a bank in the shade. We finally got a picture of it after scaring it before. It was about 6 feet long.

Lazy Days

It's true that everything runs a little slower in the South, including us. We loved how they had rocking chairs everywhere. Airports, porches, restaurants, and just outside of shops.

We went to a little community area that was on the river. There were gas lit lights lining the streets, Southern style homes, and the ruins of a huge mansion that used to stand there. There was a swing set that we enjoyed for a bit in the shade.

Even Nana and Papa got in on the swinging action

As we were swinging Doug suddenly jumped up and said, "Come on!" and took off down to the dock. I followed him and he pointed out two dolphins that were passing through. They were hard to get a picture of, but the best one we got is below. No, it's not a shark. It is a dolphin haha.



A really old, really pretty church on the river's edge in Bluffton.

Here you can really see the Spanish Moss. We took this path along the road to get to the beach.

Last year we tried to see the turtle nests hatch but we had no luck. This year there were a few nests that were ready to hatch so we thought we'd try again. We went out onto the beach to wait for nightfall and realized we forgot a book we were gonna read in the car. At first we were bummed we had to walk all the way back to the car to get it, which was about 4 blocks away. Upon returning though, we discovered it was a blessing in disguise. While in this parking lot...

We found this...

Now we know that it's a felony to touch them. At the most you can help them find the water by blocking out surrounding lights with a towel or something, but as you can see, it wasn't dark yet, we were 100 yards from the sand, and the sand spanned 300 yards to the water, and who knows how long he'd been wandering around the parking lot...

So we carried him back to the ocean

Only one in 10,000 of the turtles that hatch per year live to adulthood. Once they hit the water, they will swim to the gulf coast and then across the atlantic to the waters of Europe. They will swim down the coast of Africa to Morrocco, and then back across the Atlantic up through the Caribbean waters. The females will come up on shore to lay eggs, but the males never touch land again.

After the turtle discovered that he had flippers instead of feet that didn't work too well, he washed the crusty sand out of his eyes and then took off.






As we came back up the beach to set up our stuff by the nests we noticed another little guy upside down next to one of the nests with ants crawling over him.

Doug tipped him back over, but the little guy struggled to make it down towards the water; he was just too tired. Another couple who was also looking for turtles came over and after a bit the husband scooped him into a cup and carried him to the water. It took him a while to get past the waves, but eventually he made it out into the water also.

The night was definitely one of our highlights of the week.

We went miniature golfing with my Nana and Papa on the last day we were in town. Normally I don't like miniature golf, but I wanted to play...as long as we didn't keep score. So we didn't.

The courses were a little different than we were used to. Some of the edges didn't have anything keeping your ball from going over the edge into a pond, and others had water hazards in the middle of the greens, rough spots, bunkers in the middle of the holes, etc. But we did quite well if I do say so myself.

It was cool though cause the place seemed to be owned by a Christian. On the little stands that are there for you to use to write down the scores on each hole were Bible verses.

Birdie!

We can't forge the whole reason that we went out to South Carolina in the first place. We celebrated my Nana and Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary. We had a cake made with their wedding picture on it, had flowers delivered that morning, and enjoyed a fancy restaurant dinner on the river that evening.

At the restuarant...



The guys...
(Dad, Uncle Keith, Papa, Doug)

The ladies
(Mom, Devonna, Nana, Rochelle, Aunt Barb)

Papa teaching me the tango pose

Doug and me practicing

Well, that's the trip in a nutshell. Now we're home, resting up, and getting back to life. We start school in two weeks, except for our ballroom dancing class which starts next week.
Doug moved into a new room at a house the day after we got back. He's still getting settled in.

That's about the news from us right now.

We'll try to keep you posted.

-Rochelle and Doug