Weeds galore, prickley bushes with lots of roots, to abundant rocks, we faced it and overcame it.
By the way, these pictures hardly show the transformation that has taken place.
We have now turned our attention to the back garden.
We celebrated Lavona's 80th birthday for a whole weekend. I am sure we all gained some weight as we shared some "beautiful" meals together. Family from out of state and out of town flew or drove in to be here. There were special audio-visual put together of her life, a special song sung by Natalie, amazing food and great stories. This was a spectacular weekend marking a woman's history and legacy.
Thank you everyone who made this weekend so special! And mom, we love you so very much!!!
Our boys met family members for the first time. How sweet is that!!!
On October 14th, Prestin turned sweet 16. He is such a gentle giant, now standing over 6'2". We ate some sort of Thai meal. Presto's cake was a mud pie (made of fudge, coffee ice cream, sprinkled with crushed english toffee and an oreo cookie base). Notice Prestin is enjoying one of his favorite drinks, sweetened iced tea.
It is so nice to be able to celebrate holidays and birthdays with family. We love you guys!!! 
One of the things that we have done since arriving is head to the mountains for some hiking. We have been trying to get up there every week (it's only a 20 to 30 minute drive to get there), but we have been well below that goal. Still we have loved the new adventure of going higher than we could in Australia. It is also a great opportunity to get some fresh air and exercise!!! From the steep climb at Baldy Smmit to foresty valley climb up through Ice House Canyon we have just begun to explore the vastness of these mountains. Jasen is usually the first amongst us to find a stick.
Praise the Lord for the beauty of His creation. It truly displays His majesty!!!
Jasen's new cool glasses (that he got from our friend Paul in Huntington Beach in September) inspired Scott (Jasen's cousin) to get a pair just like them!!! We are loving being around family!!!
In the second half of September we took a day adventure to the LA County Fair. An very interesting experience for the boys who had never been to anything like this before. The smells, the things being sold and the exhibits provided several hours of memories!
In September Shellie had the sweet opportunity to attend her first Arbonne conference, which was held in Palm Springs, California. It was a lovely time for her to meet more of the people who are a part of this great company. Steve and the boys hung out at the unit where they ate, swam, watched TV and played tennis all while Shellie did her Arbonne stuff. We all had a blast!
Thank you Matt & Debbie for letting use your condo!!! Thank you Sheryl for introducing us to Arbonne!!!
