Merry Christmas, from the Clarksons'!

It's Christmas time and to get you in the Christmas spirit, we made this fun video!  Just click on the link and enjoy!!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/aQNYTPE7TMeOrb31mdUj

Study Break

As I mentioned in my previous blog we had a great time in San Diego, but Rob had midterms looming.  When Rob first mentioned his midterms, I thought he would have to take tests.  I was wrong.  His midterms consist of writing papers.  Lots of papers.  The Friday we were in San Diego, Rob spent most of his time reading and researching for his various midterms.  Originally, the midterms were due the Friday following our trip.  That didn't really leave Rob much time for preparing his papers since he was just assigned the papers the week of our trip.  Thankfully, the due dates for the midterms were extended to this past Sunday.  That gave Rob the whole week last week and the weekend.  That was great for preparation, but poor Rob was cooped up in the house all week and the weekend.  To make matters even worse, it's been beautiful outside.  Blue skies, and the weather has been in the 70's.  By Sunday, Rob was itching to get out.  We decided to go to Cannery Row for lunch and walk around for a bit.  Cannery Row is right near the water and there are a ton of restaurants and shops.  Cannery Row used to be littered with sardine fisheries, as depicted in John Steinbeck's novel, but now its just a cool place to walk around.

We had lunch at a place boasting 'the best fish and chips in town'.  Rob said the fish and chips were excellent, but I say the popcorn shrimp wasn't so good.  We ate lunch outside and then walked over to see the water.  We stood on the boardwalk for a while, just watching the people and looking at the water.  It was so beautiful outside!  Afterwards, we walked over to a candy shop and I got a caramel apple and Rob got dark chocolate covered graham crackers.  Yummy!

We had a nice afternoon, but then it was back to the grindstone.  Rob's midterms have since been submitted.  Now, we have finals to look forward to, oh fun!

On a side note, Annabelle wasn't able to go with us to Cannery Row, but she decided to have some fun without us....

San Diego

This past weekend one of my good friends, Karen, got married.  I've known Karen since high school, and she was one of the bridesmaids in our wedding.  She asked me to be in her wedding and I accepted.  Karen had been planning her wedding for well over a year!  When Karen asked me to be in her wedding, I wasn't sure where we would be living.  It worked out nicely that we were in the same state!

I arrived in San Diego on Wednesday evening.  A couple of the other bridesmaids (Nicky and Diana) are close friends of mine, so we all decided to get to San Diego a little early for some fun.  Rob had class on Wednesday and Thursday, so he wasn't able to arrive until Thursday evening.  Wednesday evening I made plans to meet some of my friends, from my San Diego high school, for dinner.  I hadn't seen Jessica, Lavina, or Shiela since I was 16!  We've kept in touch through Facebook.  It was so crazy to see them again and catch up!

Thursday Nicky, Diana, Danny (Diana's husband) and I got up bright an early for breakfast.  We wanted to explore San Diego.  First, we walked around Coronado for a little bit and then we decided to take one of those SEAL tours.  It's a sea and land tour, you start out on land and then the vehicle goes into the water.  It was pretty neat.  There were a lot of waves at one point, I started to worry I might get sea sick.  I pushed it out of my mind though.  Rob would have been so disappointed in me if I would have gotten sick!

Nicky, Diana, me and Elvis

 Danny (he thinks he's so cool with this hat)

 Our transportation

On the SEAL 

 Sea lions!

 More Sea Lions!

Later that evening, we (me, Diana, Danny and Nicky) met some of my friends (Katie, Beau and Anna Cross) for dinner.

 Anna Cross, smiling for the camera

Me, Anna Cross, Katie and Beau

Rob finally arrived around 8:00 PM on Thursday.  He missed dinner with our friends, but he was able to meet Beau the next day for lunch.  Friday, I was busy with wedding stuff all day!  First, Nicky, Diana and I had to get a pedicure (hard work, I know!), then we had a bridesmaid's luncheon with Karen (the bride!).  After lunch, we had to hurry back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal and the dinner.

 Danny and Rob at breakfast

Sun, Diana, Nicky, Karen, me, Carmen, and Josie.  One bridesmaid is missing.

Saturday the bride, bridesmaids and I were busy getting ready for the wedding.  Rob and Danny were busy, too.  They were nice enough to drive a ways out of town to get the wedding flowers.  Karen made such a beautiful bride!

 Karen and Trevor

 Sword Arch

 The happy couple!

 Diana and Danny

 Rob and I

 Me and the bride

 Cutting the cake

Diana, me and our new friend Carmen

We had a blast in San Diego!  It was so great seeing Diana, Nicky and Karen.  We all live in different places now, but we always seem to keep in touch.  I wish I could see these girls more.  I love them with all my heart.  I would do anything for them and I know they would do anything for me.  I already can't wait to see them again!

Monterey

A lot of our family have been asking for pictures of our house.  I've been reluctant to post pictures because our house isn't 'finished' yet.  All of the boxes are unpacked and everything is put away, but we haven't hung pictures and we still need to get some things for the house.  This house is a lot bigger than our home in Virginia.  It has 1903 sqft!  That is huge for California and us.  We would never be able to afford something like this out in town, so we decided to live in base housing.  It's 2 stories, 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

 Front of the house

 The driveway is on the left, and there is a 2 car garage attached to the house.

 View when you enter the house.  The door to the left is the downstairs bathroom and the door to the right is a closet.

 From the front door, looking left.

 From the front door, looking right.

 Kitchen

 More kitchen.  Through the doorway there is the laundry area and a storage room.

 Attached to the kitchen is a nook.  We need either a small kitchen table or an island here.  You can see the family room just past Annabelle's bowls.

Family room.  AKA Rob's office.

I haven't posted any pictures of the upstairs, because it's a work in progress.  Our room is finished, but the spare bedroom furniture needs some work.  During the move, the legs on our chest of drawers and dresser snapped or cracked.  The furniture pieces are not damaged, they are just missing legs.  Also, the 3rd bedroom is pretty much empty.  In our last house, we used the 3rd bedroom as a storage area.  Well, here we have an internal storage room AND external storage space in the garage.  Once we finish the upstairs, I will post pictures.  If you want to see it sooner, you'll just have to come visit us!

More Road Trip...

As I mentioned in my previous post, we drove from Virginia to Florida and stayed in Florida for a week visiting family.  We got up bright and early on Labor Day to start our cross country drive.  We loaded up the car, got our baby girl and we were off!  I've made this cross country drive a couple of times as a child and teenager.  It's so much more different as an adult...it's boring!  Especially the drive across Texas.  Ugh, not fun at all.  The first day we made it to Texas.

 The start of our trip

 Poor Annabelle, she had to take 'medicine' to make the trip.

 The sun was just a little too bright this day...

It took ALL of the second day to get through Texas.  It rained a lot the second day.  A tropical storm landed off the coast of Texas and provided fun driving weather.  We ended our second day of driving in New Mexico.

The third day we made it to San Diego!  Rob and I were DONE with driving.  Okay, okay, Rob drove the whole way.  It's not that I didn't offer, though.  Anyway, we made it to Beau and Katie's house.  They moved to California last year.  Katie and Beau were nice enough to open their home to us for a couple of days.  They even let Annabelle stay, too!  It was definitely a nice break from the driving.

 Beau and Anna Cross

 Beau, Rob and Anna Cross

Me, Katie and Anna Cross

 Anna Cross and I at the USS Midway

Anna Cross, Navy Pilot. 

 This is the house I lived in when we lived in San Diego.

 This is the High School I attended my sophomore and part of my junior year

 This used to be a McDonalds.  It was my very first job!

 And FYI, I was employee of the month the first month I worked at McDonalds!

 It was a little bit cooler in San Diego than Annabelle was used to.

Annabelle LOVED Anna Cross, she was just the right size for kisses!

Thank you to Katie and Beau (and Anna Cross!) for letting us stay with them.  We had such an awesome time!

Up next...Monterey!