Mister - Captain - Sir

A few months ago Uncle Caleb
Skyped us while he was on the MEU where
he's been training for this next deployment.

Here's his view just as he left cell reception!

 And here's his grinny-grin-grin

And, as much as I can barely believe it,
he has already deployed again!

This is his fourth deployment in five years,
and this one feels like it "cuts deeper" than the last few.

I feel at-a-loss as to how to pray for him,
how to pray for his wife, Nancy,
how to pray for his baby girl, Sophia.

So, today I'm going to look through photos
and celebrate how God has been present
in every little step in Caleb's life so far,
and choose to trust:
trust that God does things with intention and purpose,
trust that the next 7-10 months
are part of His plans for Caleb, for Nancy, for Sophie
trust that He will provide the grace, strength and mercy
necessary for them during this time.

Look at this cute Babe!

I feel like I could go for a swim in those
big ole' chocolate brown eyes!

 

Hanging out at Punta Carnero
Our favorite family vacation spot!

Handsome boy at elementary school in Folsom

Never "too cool" for his Mom- even at school!

At the Butterfly Farm outside Quito
hanging with the Morpho Blue Butterfly

Celebrating my BIOLA graduation in La Mirada!

 Hanging with his first in-law in Salinas!

And willing to pose for a picture before heading into the water

Takin' a boatride out to Isla de Plata
and making more and more memories!

Cheering in the Estadio in Quito

Vamos Ecuador!!

  

Supporting Neil as he gets married in Arkansas

 Displaying his love of Ecuador in his dorm room

Hiking a volcano in Guatemala

 Third-time becoming an Uncle,
and a natural with a newborn

Dating this lovely woman, Nancy

 Married and loving life,
visiting family in Wisconsin

Now a Da-da!

 And loving her so well!

I love you brother!

Am praying for you many times per day.

 And choosing to trust God to carry each of you forward!

You-Cah

Yesterday,
I was in our corner store
where they sell so many fruits and veggies
for a much better price than the "real" grocery store,
and while I shopped I chatted with my mama
(the magic jack is FANTASTIC and allows me to talk to her
for FREE from my cell phone!)
and while we swapped stories about the weather
I glanced at the spices and teas
while Greg went to grab the veggies we needed
and my eyes darted over to a frozen cooler
with odd looking frozen veggies
and I saw that they had frozen yucca!!
(Bobby Flay from food network
pronounces this wonderful latin american root veggie
as the 'yuck-uh' plant,
but that just sounds yucky and makes me grit my teeth,
so please read that as frozen you-cah, okay? *smile*

So I bought a bag, got good tips from my mom on how to best prepare the yucca, and brought it home to defrost. Today I plopped the thawed clumps of yucca into VERY salty water, and boiled them for 15 minutes.

Then I filled the skillet with lots of canola oil, heated it, and cut the slightly boiled yucca into slices (about the size of home fries). I did 3 minutes on each side, and then pulled them out, blotted off the oil, salted them with Sea Salt (definitely a new favorite for me!) and then served them up.

They turned a beautiful golden brown, and they tasted incredibley wonderfully salty and crunchy.

If you haven't tried this before, you'll just have to come visit us here, and I'll buy some more frozen yucca, and fry it up for ya!

It's like a tastier, crispier, flakier french fry.

There's proof you need to come visit us *wink*!

Movin'

We've had this video
since MONDAY
and have not had the time to edit/post it.
It is edited into just three minutes
from a big 42 minutes of raw footage!
It was hard to choose which is the best,
but I think I've come up with a good highlight reel.


Remember, you will need to go to the site to view the video.
Click on the side ways triangle to make it play.

We are enjoying a somewhat lazy day today
and we are SO close to summer vacay!
Yay!

(I'm releasing my inner Dr. Seuss,
can you tell?)

I spent several hours last night
beginning to scan in pictures
cuz we need pictures
for my class reunion
for the slide show.
Kinda fun to reminisce and ooh and aah
over how much we've all changed.

Although I am aware I'm the same person,
I feel like I look semi-different but AM so different
than I was just ten years ago.

Snow...Snow...Snow

Well this week
just about everyone
that's related to Greg
is livin' it up in Big Sky, Montana
skiin' the slopes,
snowshoeing til they drop,
and playing rook in lively tournaments!

So,
in an effort to
"feel like we're part of the family"
I have compiled pictures
of times when Greg and I have been in the
SNOW!

And,
being the SoCal residents that we are,
it didn't take me too long
to figure out EVERY time
we've been in the snow together!

Most recently, we introduced Taylor to the snow
Billings, MT 2010

And we've spent many holidays in the snow
Billings, MT 2008

And Greg has done his fair share
of snow shovelin' when we go back to Montana
Billings, MT 2008

Both of us are from Mountain Regions
and LOVE visiting mountains!
Here we got to be in Utah
and even though it was the summer
(for a wedding)
we could at least SEE snow!
Salt Lake City, UT

We've done our fair share of road trips through the snow
On the 15 still South of Vegas
with Cactus growing out of the snow

We got to be in Big Sky during the summer
and there was still snow on Lone Peak
Big Sky, MT 2008

And this is a common "view"
from the Hickle Back Porch during the holidays
Billings, MT 2007

Sometimes,
something has to be done
in order to warm us all up from the snow
Billings, MT 2007

We went on an adventure to Ole Yankee Stadium
and got snowed on!!
Bronx, NY 2007

Greg and Caleb enjoyed the slopes
during a Christmas in NorCal
Tahoe, CA 2006

We got to enjoy the snow of Billings
with my folks also there
at the Hickle Home
Billings, MT 2006

Back when we were just "subs"
and could take off work whenever we wanted
we got to be in Big Sky for Hickle time!
We built a snowman behind the condo,
and we went snow-shoeing
Big Sky, MT 2006

In Ecuador one summer
we drove down to the beach
and passed one of the many
snow-capped volcanoes
of the Andes
Cayambe, Ecuador 2005

Again, with the road trips.
We've driven through West Yellowstone
on many occasions,
and marveled at the fields of white.
Yellowstone, MT 2005

We got to go stay in Uncle Jay's Cabin
and enjoy the great winter outdoors.
Red Lodge, MT 2005

We made snow angels
even when there wasn't TONS of snow
Billings, MT 2005

We went sledding down the street
on Louise Lane
Billings, MT 2004

My first Christmas in Montana
was when we were dating
and we went on a "double date"
with Gary and Kathy
and snowmobiled our way
down into Old Faithful
Yellowstone National Park, WY 2003

And that's us and Snow!

We know many of YOU are in snow
THIS VERY MINUTE!
And although I don't necessarily wish upon myself
the months of snow and cold that you've had
I could use a dose of snow right about now...
But, alas, pictures will have to do!

Anyone wanna mail us a snowball?

Something Different

I did somethin' fun yesterday.

And then we still got to see Ecua-friends cuz Greg Collord came to do an alumni event at our church! Very fun. Let's see...
Tim Broach, Russ Cline and Rheanna, Lori Meehan and Dana, Jes Behal, Logan Payne and Natalie, (Amber was stuck at the border in TJ) Dan Coombs, a set of CMA sisters that lived in the dorm in the early 80's, the girls PE coach before Mrs. Ewan, Johnny Braun and wife, Andrew Campbell who married Melody Swift, and their little girl, and CALEB! =) Then we went to dinner, and then took Caleb to the Amtrak station to head back to San Diego... But we get to see him soon... As he will drive up on Tuesday spend the night here, sleep in while Greg and I finish up just a few parent/teacher conferences and then hop in the car, pick up Caleb, and head to Sac-town!

Fifty + one three hundred sixty fifth

My mamita turned 50 years old yesterday.
I love her.
Here's my tribute!