7/4/01--Happy Fourth of July! I hope your fourth went as well as mine did. Bryan and I spent the day with his parents in the Bodega Bay area. We checked out a beach, watched some whales, and collected some shells. Then we had lunch at a little mexican cafe that none of us were real impressed with. Then we saw a lighthouse at Reyes Point that is one of the best preserved on the Pacific Coast. Bryan and I had kind of a bet going with Mike (his dad). Mike said that the lighthouse would have 149 steps. When we got to the trail, that led to the lighthouse, it consisted of several steps. I asked Mike, if those steps counted in the 149. He said, "No, just the ones in the lighthouse itself count." Anyway, we counted the steps. It was 302 steps that led down to the light house and about 25 that led from the lighthouse floor up to the lamp. I guess Mike lost. We ended the evening by having dinner at a little pizza place in Dixon then watched the Dixon fireworks show. The show wasn't as great as Cal Expo, here in Sacramento, but it was good enough to create a perfect ending to a perfect day.

7/3/01--New Pets The next night after Tiger's surprise, Bryan told me, "Go look for those kittens, I miss them. In fact, tell them that we will keep that female. He had pretty much fell in love with her the night before. So I went to the neighbors house and sure enough all the kittens were playing in the front yard. I quickly found which was Bryan's female (the most sociable of the bunch) and carried her to the front door. I told the man about Tiger's surprise and asked if he still wanted to give the kittens away. He said, "Let me ask my wife". He came back to the door and told me that his wife said I could have her. I carried her back home to Bryan and dropped her in his lap. I said, "Say hello to your new kitten." Shortly after that, Tiger came home and I gave both the new kitten and Tiger a flea bath. As we were trying to think of a name for her, I discovered that both her front and back paw pads on one side were pink and on the other side were black. Bry says, "Then we will call her Blinky, a combination of Black and Pink." I objected to the name but he said that if we find something better, then we could change it. So far it has stuck and now she seems to be answering to it, so I think it is now permanent.

A few days later Bob called. I had mentioned to Bob when he picked us up from the airport, that we were looking for a new kitten, preferably a black female. He had told us that his neighbor had a black female kitten that was about 6 weeks old and wanted to know if we wanted it. Bryan asked me, and I said it was ok with me if that's what he really wanted. He said it was, and I figured it would give Blinky a playmate. At first, Blinky didn't get along with the new kitten, but she quickly got over it and now they have been getting along fine. We named her Rachel.

Our last new pet is a tarantula that be bought at our favorite petstore that we have name Rosie. Bryan said when I got the second rat that he would get an animal that I don't care for such as a tarantula or a scorpion. Since he said this, I have kind of psyched myself up to the idea. Well, when we went to the petstore for animal food, he decided to get a tarantula. What's funny, is that since we've gotten her, I've had more guts to hold her then he has.

6/29/01--Tiger's Surprise When we came home from Hawaii late last night, my cat Tiger was on the front porch with a female siamese/gray tabby mix and her 3 kittens. The kittens were about 3 or 4 months old all three were gray tabby with a hint of orange. Right away, I knew where they came from. They belonged to the neighbors that live behind us. Tiger, sporting some fresh scratches from fighting, rubbed his cheak against the momma cat's cheak, obviously proud of his accomplishment. We opened the door to start bringing in our luggage and all 5 cats came into the house and made themselves at home. Later, after everything was settled, we realized that Tiger and his new girlfriend had left the scene and had left the 3 kittens behind for Bryan and I to babysit. It was alright though, we enjoyed watching them bounce off the walls and each other and play with anything they could find. Toward 1 am, they started settling down and one of the little females got in Bryan's lap and fell asleep. It was really cute. Tiger's surprise was a good relaxing ending to a pretty stressful tiring day.

6/17/01--Getting ready for the big day. We are leaving for Hawaii tomorrow Soon I will put a link at this point that will give you a day by day journal of where we went and what we did. (never did do this, sorry!) But here's a picture from the trip. Us and the birds

6/10/01--Happy Birthday Vera!! Today Vera's daughter Connie, threw her mother a huge surprise birthday party. I was in charge of part of the decorating. We decorated Grandma's house with streamers and balloons. We set up buffet tables in the backyard and put vases wrapped with ivy with floating candles in them as center pieces. Then we waited for all the guests to arrive. I giggled as I watched them park their cars around the corner or down the street to avoid having cars parked in front of Grandma's house. When time came for the big surprise, everybody gathered in the living room. I've never seen that living room so packed with people. We pulled the drapes all but a crack and turned out the lights. Grandma took her place by the door. We heard the doorbell and as Grandma opened the door we turned on the lights. When Vera walked through the door, everybody yelled Surprise!. She was so surprised. I think the biggest surprise was that we had a lot of people there that she hadn't seen in a long time. Whatever the case, she really was surprised and everybody seemed to have had a good time.

6/9/01--Congratulations to Cori and David!!. They got married today at Cori's brothers ranch near Stockton. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony. After the ceremony, there was pictures of the bride and groom and their families and wedding party. While the pictures were taking place, most of the guests snacked on Armenian sandwiches, mixed vegetable trays, etc. Later in the evening, they had the toast, the tossing of the boquet and garter, cutting of the cake and the first dance. They also did some other dances such as father, daughter; brother, sister; etc. One of the highlights of the evening for me is helping in the sabitage of Cori's jeep. They decorated it with the traditional cans, then raided the portapotty for toilet paper which they wrapped around the bars, and seat covers which they hung on the headlights. The best part was the "Just Married Sign" made out of cake frosting. Cori and David will be spending their honeymoon in Cuyucus CA. I hope they have a good time.

6/2/01--Congratulations to Kelly and Bob!!. They got married today in South Lake Tahoe, CA at the Mountain Lakes Wedding Chapel. It was a very lovely ceremony. The chapel was filled with lit candles and the sound of running water from a nearby fountain. It was a very beautiful setting for a wedding. After the wedding, Bob's aunt passed out bubbles to blow and gave each of the kids a stuffed animal for being good during the ceremony. Then of course there were the pictures. Kelly made a beautiful bride and Bob made a handsom groom. They looked very good together. Following the ceremony they had a reception aboard a riverboat that toured the lake. It was a dinner cruise that served Chicken Keiv with mixed veggies for the adults and cheeseburgers and fries for the kids. The food was excellent. During the cruise, the boat played a tape that talked about Lake Tahoe. I found it very interesting. Especially the parts about Emerald Bay, which we cruised through. On the trip back to where we started, they did the toast, cutting of the cake, and toss of the boquet and garter. Everybody says that my husband, who was the best man, said a very lovely toast "It was perfect for the setting". He said something along the lines of he hopes that their love lasts as long as this lake is deep. After the cruise, a group of us gathered in Bob and Kelly's motel room to watch them open presents. Overall, it was a very nice day.

5/28/01--Happy Memorial Day (Observed)!!!. How is your Memorial Day going? I went to a party yesterday. It was one of those "hanging out with the inlaws" parties, so it was a calm one as opposed to those wild parties you have with your friends, but it was nice. I enjoyed myself. It took place at my husbands, cousins, boyfriends parents house (If you can figure that out). We pretty much had a late lunch, early dinner then rode down to the lake. Mark (my husbands other cousin) and I stood with our feet in the lake while the kids (2nd cousins and my daughter) played on the jungle jyms and around the lake. Then we drove back, hung out for a little bit longer and chatted for a while. I'd say the highlight of the whole trip was finding a catepillar. The residents said they haven't seen one in years. Unfortunately, we didn't see any wild turkies or deer which the residents say that they see almost every evening. Oh well, I say the catepillar made up for it.

4/19/01--Today is my birthday. For the second year in a row, my husband has got me exactly what I wanted. Last year I wanted a diamond tennis bracelet and got it. This year I wanted more then anything to have a canary. Yesterday he surprised me by blind folding me and making me get into his mother's car, then we started our little mission. His mother tried her hardest to confuse me on where we were going by doing circle patterns in parking lots and taking out of route side trips. At last we arrived at our location and my husband took the blind fold off. There in front of me was our favorite petstore. He told me, "Pick out your canary." I was so happy. I picked out an orange and yellow male with a cinnamon colored head and wing. He is quite a singer. This morning he woke us up singing at 7am. Most of the time he makes these little chirping noises. He sounds like a little cricket. So that is what I decided to name him--Cricket.

My husband and I recently renewed our vows and had the wedding of our dreams. We originally eloped in Lake Tahoe, on June 22, 1999, at the Lake Front Wedding Chapel (the only chapel on the lake). It was a beautiful ceremony, but I really regreted having my family there. So my husband made me a promise that a year from then, I could have the wedding of my dreams and I could have my family there. So, almost exactly a year later on June 24, 2000, we renewed our vows at Capital Park in Sacramento. Following the ceremony, was a reception on a river boat called The River City Queen. After the wedding and reception we borded a plane and had the honeymoon of our dreams in St. John, USVI. It was the most beautiful memory of my life.

My husband and I are planning a trip to Hawaii for our second anniversary. We plan to leave on June 18, 2001 and stay 5 days on Maui and then 5 days on Kauai. It should be great.