Mammoth Lakes { Jeep Trip }

I now understand the appeal of Mammoth. Mammoth IS beautiful. Last weekend, Brian and I, along with the Mlakars and Andersons, drove up to Mammoth for a fun jeep adventure. On Friday, we took a 100 mile off road trip. Starting in Mammoth, we drove through the trees, around Mono Lake, and into Nevada to enter Bodie the back way. The views were amazing. On Saturday, we drove around looking at several points of interest: Obsidian Dome, Hot Creek geothermal area, Minaret Vista and a drive around Lake Mary and Twin Lakes. We had a wonderful time. Looking forward to going back to Mammoth.

An Original ghost town from the late 1800's, Bodie is designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park.

Hot Creek geothermal area.
Minaret Vista.
Our Jeep buddies: Marty & Patti Mlakar and Sue & Rick Anderson (with me and Brian).

Katie and Jim { Yuma, AZ }

On Monday, June 28th, Brian and I drove down to Yuma to meet up with our friends, Katie and Jim. They were in Yuma checking out their new winter quarters. We helped them clean and paint their 'casita'. We enjoyed our short visit and the best part was eating breakfast at Arizona Donut. Their breakfast burritos were just yummy! Looking forward to visiting them in January. :)

Here are a few snapshots of Katie and Jim.

Group shot.
On our way home from Yuma, we stopped by SMELLY Salton Sea.
A snapshot of the picnic area.

Emily Graduates from VVC { So proud of her! }

Our lovely daughter, Emily, graduated from Victor Valley College on June 11th with an AA and an AS. We are so very proud of her! Here are a few snapshots from that evening. Congratulations, Emily! We love you so very much!

My favorite snapshot. Here she is waving.
Yeah! She did it!!Emily with Billy.

Very proud parents! Here I am with Brian and Emily.

Wedding Anniversary { 31 years! }

On June 9th, Brian and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. We spent the afternoon walking around Victoria Gardens and had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. A real nice day. Thanks for being a loving and patient husband, Brian! I love you.

Our engagement picture taken at the Mission Inn, Riverside.

We were wed at Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Fontana.
Love our silhouette against the stain glass window.

After the reception, we had our formals taken at the Mission Inn.

Our photographer was Brian's brother in law, Richard Burnett (Photography).

Here we are now, 31 years later. :)

Downtown Los Angeles { walking }

On May 22nd, Brian and I met up with our friend, Antonio, for day of walking around L.A. taking snapshots. The day was beautiful- perfect for walking and we had lunch at the famous Clifton's. We had such a great time walking around, Brian and I plan on going back and doing it again. Here are a few of my favorites.

^ Beautiful 'sun purple glass' on a manhole cover.

^ L.A.P.D. building.

City Hall reflects off the L.A.P.D. building.

Disney Concert Hall

A T & T building

Brian reads while he waits for me.

Ruth Penn Retires { I'll miss her! }

Ruth and I worked together at Cottonwood School for 14 years! She is the best of the best. When she told me a year ago that she will be retiring at the end of this school year, I thought I would be able to prepare myself. Wrong. Our last month together was hard- for me. I have been blessed working with someone so caring and kind. We made an awesome 'team'. She was the good cop to my bad cop. She was an outstanding mentor, teacher and friend. I will miss her! Happy retirement, Ruth!

Dad turns 87 { Happy Birthday, Pop! }

On May 13th, my very handsome dad turned 87! We gathered in a restaurant in Fontana to celebrate with dinner and cake. Yum! Lemon- my favorite :) Here's a snapshot of my dad and my beautiful mom. Love you both!!

Christie Orendorff { Senior Snapshoot }

Here is the lovely Christie Orendorff. Christie is Billy's sister. *Billy is Emily's boyfriend. :) Anyway, we were to take Christie's snapshots in Redlands but a backed-up freeway kept us here in the desert. So we headed to the north end of town and got some fabulous snapshots. Here are my favorites. Congratulations, Christie on your graduation from HHS!

San Bernardino Co. Fair { winners }

Hello everyone! It's been a month since I last posted. I've been busy with everyday things and end of the year stuff at work. Sooo, let me start with my San Bernardino County Fair entries. This year, I entered five snapshots and four won ribbons! I'm very happy to say, one even won a judge's award! :) Take a look!

'Escalator Up'

Seattle Public Library

First Place - Best in Class

Judge's Award
'James Family'
Lydia, Christopher, Nicolas and Baby

Third Place

'Golden Tower'

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Third Place

'Lecture Seating'

Seattle Public Library

Honorable Mention

'Campground'

Ricardo Campground, Red Rock Canyon, CA

This is my favorite but, sadly, it didn't place. I'm guessing they didn't see what I saw. :)

Inscription Canyon { Jeep trip }

Early this month, Brian and I took the Jeep out to Inscription Canyon. We have been there before going through Hinkley. This time, we took Copper City Road. Spring time in the desert is beautiful! The weather was perfect and there where flowers everywhere! We had our lunch at Inscription Canyon and then walked around looking for petroglyphs. We had a great time. Here are a few snapshots.

First, we stopped to see the Desert Tortoise Intaglio located north of Barstow and driving along Copper City Road, we drove past loads of Joshua trees.

We stopped several times to take a few snapshots of the wild flowers.

Flowers were everywhere! Even on the dirt road to the canyon.

Petroglyphs at the canyon.

View of the area around the canyon and a close-up shot of a dry lake near by.

Katelynn's Party { A beautiful and fun day! }

I had a fun time at Katelynn's party. Lots of family and friends, lots of cake and lots of snapshots. Here are a few of my favs.

Katelynn with her mom, Erin and here they are dancing in the bounce house.

Katelynn had her own cake and a snapshot with her mom and dad.