Trip to the Fair

The last two weeks have been the most exciting of the whole year for Bakersfield. The Kern County Fair was going on and it is the only fun thing that happens all year here in Bakersfield. I have been looking forward to it because when I was little I used to go to the Idaho State Fair every year with my family.

We decided to go yesterday and then we went to a Rodeo yesterday evening. Hobbs went with us to walk around the fair but stayed home during the Rodeo. He was such an angel!!! There were a ton of people there and we were walking in close quarters with a lot of people.

One of the reasons I wanted Hobbs to go with me is that I wanted him to see all the livestock and animals. He did amazingly well with all of it! He was a little wary of everything because the cows were really big and the pigs kept squeeling, but the only time he really got freaked out was when we first walked into the Chicken/Rooster barn. So we just sat there until he relaxed and then we walked around the barn. The only animal that he felt comfortable getting close enough to touch was surprisingly the sheep!

After the animals we went inside to see all the booths and exibits. Hobbs was great even laying down and staying while Robert and I both got a free Massage. Everyone we met was very impressed with hobbs and we even bought a new toy for him. Well just a new Kong but he goes through his pretty quickly and he needed an new one. Here are a few pictures of Hobbs meeting the Animals.

Hobbs and the pigs & Hobbs and the cows

Hobbs and a goat

Hobbs and the sheep that he finally had the courage to touch

We couldn't get a picture of the brief moment he touched this one but you can tell he isn't stressing about the animal.

The other animals Hobbs got to meet were two Elephants!! I got to ride on one and he watched and was completely facinated but not afraid. Though I think if one the them had stuck its trunk over to say hi it would have been a different story. Lol! Here is a picture of me and the Elephant "Kitty" just for fun:

Hobbs didn't understant why mommy was up so high! Lol, he kept cocking his head from side to side while he looked at me.

Background on Me and My Husband

Because I hope that other people besides my family will be reading this blog I am going to give some background about Robert and me.

Robert Ricks and I met almost three years ago when I was a student at Utah's Snow College. He was a friend of one of my roommates and we be came friends very quickly. He is the oldest of five children and lived in West Jordan UT at the time we started dating. Just for those who don't know I am the second oldest of four children. We dated on and off for a year and eight months when he asked me to be his wife. He proposed by covering the floor of my Orem UT apartment and then hiding in a big box to surprise me when I got home from work. He had been living in Bakersfield CA for eight months and hadn't told me he was even going to be in town to visit! It was a wonderful day that I will never forget! I had already picked out my ring but had not seen it in person yet. Here is a picture of the ring:



The day we picked for our wedding (February 9, 2007) was the day we officially started dating so we would be getting married on our two year dating anniversary. Planing was a breeze because my family was so very helpful as was our decorator (a family friend of Roberts). About a month later my sister announced that she was also engaged to a mad my family had met once! He is a great guy and I was really excited for both of us to be getting married. I don't know how my mom stayed sane planning two wedding one right after the other but she did. My sister's date was March 16! Here are a few of my favorite bridal pictures:

The wedding was amazing!! I was so happy with the way that it turned out but I am a bit disappointed with myself for being so nervous before and during it. The only thing that was messed up was during the ceremony we almost forgot to exchange rings!! We had the ceremony at the same church as the reception which made it nice to just be able to relax before the reception started (I actually laid down and took a nap!) Here are just a few pictures of the wedding:

The Ceremony

Our first Married Kiss

My side of the family (any my sister Jenetta's soon to be Husband)

Robert's side of the family

Me and all my sisters - right are Robert's left are mine)

The Men! I don't know why Robert's brothers weren't in this....

A shot of our rings

The picture/Memories table at the reception

My center pieces

Guest book table

The entry decoration

The cake

Our first dance - "I swear"

A great shot of the dancing!

And us fleeing the scene

We went to Cancun Mexico for our honeymoon which was an unforgetable experience! We actually spent the first night at the Little America hotel in SLC and the second and third nights at my grandmother's Inn in Manti UT. Our trip to Mexico was very eventful. We decided to wear the "Bride" and "Groom" hats my friend gave us for the whole trip. We flew from SLC to Denver and there had I think 5 minutes to run from one end of the Denver airport to the other!! We actually held up the plane and when we got on it was announced that the newlyweds had arived and everyone cheered. They gave us bulk head seats even though our seats hadn't been even booked next to eachother!! When we got to Cancun it was discovered that our luggage hadn't made it yet and was possibly lost. Not a fun situation.

We made the best of the situation though and checked in to the Hotel Solaris . This is an all inclusive hotel which ment that all meals and drinks and activities within the hotel were included! Great for us not wanting to spend a ton. Our first dinner was AMAZING! It was Vallentine's Day so I got a rose and a special drink just for being there and it was gourmet food!

There was tons to do in cancun so we only went down to our beach once! Lol it wasn't as cool as I though and the water was much saltier than in Hawaii. We did get severly burnt on that one trip to the beach though. In the intrest of not making this a novel here is the list of the things we did and the places we saw and then I will post pictures.

Paddle boating & sailing

Horseback riding on the beach

Lots and Lots of shopping though we didn't buy a ton

Drove a lot:

Ok, for those who haven't driven in mexico just be aware. There are speed bumps on the freeways! Yep you're cruising along at roughly 80 mph (120 Klph) and Boom there is a masive speed bump which will take your axels off if you don't go over it very slowly. Oh and on our first trip we got a flat tire and had to have a mexican trucker show us how to use the mexican jack!

Ruins we went to:

Xel-Ha (not very impressive but worth the look)

Tulum (I loved this city, it is very well kept up)

Chichen Itza (A must see if you are in cancun...just fill up on gas before you go!)

There you have it! I don't know how we did just that but we did. One thing I wish we would have done is gone out to eat more. We ate mostly at the resaraunt in our hotel and while it was amazing food we didn't get any of the local food. I am going to just post a picture slide show and you can go look at the pictues if you want:



After our Honeymoon we went back to reality and back to Utah to get all our gifts, Robert's dog Dodge, and all my stuff. Then we made the 10 hour trip down to Bakersfield CA. We lived in a tiny loft for about the first four months and it was way too small so we moved into this apartment:

After about two months of marriage I decided that I wanted to raise another puppy for GDB and on the first of June (two days after moving apartments) we got "Hobbs" a male black lab who will be our for the next 14 months. For more about Hobbs please see my other blog Thru Labs Eyes

As for what we do here in bakersfield....not a whole lot. We have to be creative. But Robert works for his Uncle as a low-voltage electrician and I work for his Aunt at a LDS bookstore. I love being married and hope that everyone enjoys the tales of our adventures together!

New blog

So I have decided that rather than bore all of you to death with the other parts of my life, I started another blog about just that. It will soon be a private blog so if you do want to read it let me know. I may or may not approve everyone just because the things on this blog will be private and personal. Feel free to email me at britterbug84@gmail.com if you are interested in reading my new blog. For now though it is public and is linked to in my "other site's section"

Oh, just to update a little more, Hobbs' diarrhea went away on its own and now he is in the process of switching back to regular food rather than low residue. Also our Momma Kitty is no longer lost, she came back very hungry this morning and is contentedly sleeping on her chair now. Don't know if she is pregnant yet but hope to soon!!

Now for a description of the trip

Our trip to AZ was so amazingly refreshing! You don't realize just how much you need to get away until you do.

A little back ground for people who don't know me. This cabin has been in my mom's family for years and we made trips to the cabin with her side of the family a couple of times while I was growing up. I have a ton of great memories of this place and wanted to share these with my dear husband. The last time I was there I was no older than 13.

We were planning to leave Thursday evening after both of us got home from work, but it didn't work out like that. Robert smashed his hand in a ladder and had to go get it x-ray . It wasn't broken but the doctor said that it should have been and that it would be sore for a while. So we ended up leaving Friday morning. It was about a 6 1/2 hour trip, but with books on tape and Hobbs to keep us entertained it wasn't so bad. It was dark when we finally got there but we drove through to Sedona (only about 15 more minutes) to get food and things we needed. That evening was pretty uneventful, we ate dinner and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of rain pouring from the sky! Are you serious?!? It rained really hard most of the morning but we still made a trip out to see the "Bat cave" and got poured on going there and back. So we hung out in the Cabin, playing games and watching a movie until around 12:00 when it stopped raining and the sun made an appearance. Yeah!! We quickly got everything we needed to hike up the West Fork of Oak Creek. Little did we know that the break in the rain was going to be brief. Hobbs loved the hike and went crazy every time we had to cross the creek. We had been hiking for almost an hour and a half when we both realized that Hobbs was tired and getting cold from all the water. I am sooooooooooo glad we decided to head back then! After about a fourth of the way back we heard the sky groan and thunder roll. The torrents of rain started soaking us through as we raced back down the trail. The trees provided some protection, but there are no trees where you cross the creek a good 8-10 times. By the time we got almost to the head of the trail the downpour had lightened a bit. Hobbs was miserable! He was visibly shaking and just wanted to go home. Back at the cabin we changed and gratefully drank our hot chocolate as we listened to the pounding rain start once again. It continued into the night and we were afraid it was going to last the weekend.

Sunday morning we awoke to sun shining down from above. We were so grateful that it looked like the rain was gone at least for the day. We decided to go window shopping in Sedona that morning and all three of us had a wonderful time. Our favorite store was this bakery for dogs!! Hobbs met three new friends there. A boxer mix, a Pomeranian with a casted leg, and a Siberian husky named Summit. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and fishing at the trout farm down the road. How is it that as a child I didn't notice how bloody fishing can be? Is it because children don't notice those things or is it that I just didn't think about it? Either way the blood really grossed me out. We caught 5 beautiful trout and ate them for our Sunday dinner. Later that evening we explored the part of the creek near our cabin, climbing up and down the mountain, and weighing our warmth against the spontaneity of swimming in the pond below the bat cave. We chose the warmth after my calf cramped from being in the water for about a minute.

After a rough night of sleep, we woke Monday morning wanting to stay but needing to go home to reality. Our other animals needed us (Dodge, our other dog was kenneled for the weekend and Momma Kitty was locked in our second bedroom) and we both had work to get back to. So after chopping wood, cleaning the cabin, a frantic search for the tool shed keys, and a last visit to the bat cave, we packed up everything and headed home.

We found everything almost as we had left it. The only thing missing was Momma Kitty who had somehow squeezed herself out the open window, through the screen, and jumped down to the ground from the second story. After searching for the rest of the evening and on into the night we finally found her this morning and she is unharmed if not very hungry!

Arizona!

Robert and I just got back from a weekend trip to a family's cabin in Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona. Here are some pictures from the trip:

This is our guide dog puppy Hobbs. When he is concentrating on something or is worried or excited he will suck his lip in like this....I think in this picture he saw a bird and wanted to go "wrestle" with it.

Another picture of Hobbs

Hobbs and his "Daddy"

Happy family!

Robert pretending to be asleep

Me sitting between the bed and the wall

Good picture for first thing in the morning!

Me getting ready to go fishing at the Trout Farm. Realy it is like shooting fish in a bucket but oh well it is still fun!

Robert being silly with his fish! We actually caught 5 but this was the biggest one...I think.

Pictures of Arizona

Here are the pictures of our trip to Arizona that I promised to post. There are a lot less blurry ones now that we have a camera with "Action mode". First some pictures of where we were.

These next ones he is all wet both from the rain and him playing in the creek we hiked along.

When Hobbs is consentraiting on something or is worried or excited he will suck his lip in like this....I think in this picture he saw a bird and wanted to go "wrestle" with it.

A very nice picture....after 12 tries!

I LOVE this head shot!

There was a ton of this tall grass and Hobbs loved walking through it with is head down looking like a bird dog. We couldn't get a good picture until he stopped to pee but you get the general idea of what he looked like.

Hobbs and his "Daddy"

Hobbs was very apposed to actually sitting on the sand in this little cave we went in to. He would walk on it just fine but didn't want to sit in it. Then he climbed up onto this tiny rock (it was only big enough for him to sit) and curled into a little ball and layed down. The second picture is his face when he sat back up and almost fell of the rock.

Happy family!