CALIFORNIA!!!

Well it has been ahwhile and as always lots has changed! I am sitting in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea and ready to catch everyone up on all that has gone on! I am FINALLY in California and living with Brett! We are really enjoying spending time together and making our house into our home! I drove out to California after finishing my 3rd clinical in Stillwater, MN. My sister helped with the drive and it was so nice to have company and another driver. The drive was uneventful for the most part, we did sit on I-80 in Wyoming for about 30 minutes waiting for it to open again after a snow storm! Otherwise it was great and we had a nice time- we were ready to get out of the car though after 30+ hours of driving!!

We got to California on the first Friday in March and Shelly was able to stay til Tuesday which was great because on Saturday (not even 24 hours after we got to Cali) Brett left on his first mission to Europe and Quatar for 12 days. It was so nice to have Shelly around while I was getting used to being in Cali. We also had our friend Will Giles (who is a C-17 pilot we met while Brett was in pilot training at Vance AFB) staying with us while he completed his inprocessing and finding a place to live.

Brett made it back safely and has also gone on another 5 day trip since to Hawaii, Guam and Japan. He is enjoying flying and the guys in the 9th Air Refueling Squadron. He now has a job in the squadron and is helping to schedule trips for the pilots. Hopefully he will get his pick of trips that work best for our schedule:)

We now have a new addition to our family! His name is Cooper and he is a 3 year old Black lab. We got him from the Golden Gate Lab Rescue and he is a great dog. He is very energetic and likes to play and run, we took him to the lake today and he was fetching a stick in the water for at least an hour! He also does very well at being calm in the house, as I type he is sleeping in the front living room. He stays in the house when we are gone and hasn't even chewed on anything!

He is definitely a companion dog, he likes to be wherever we are. He had a hard time when Brett was gone on a trip a couple weeks ago and he followed me wherever I went, and I do mean wherever, bathroom and all! He likes to be a part of everything we do and doesn't even like to be in the backyard unless we are there. He barks when people come to the door and is protective of me. We were over at a friends place on Thursday and he would growl whenever their dog came close to me. He loves to play with other dogs and has a blast at the dog park whenever we take him. He is a great dog and is very gentle and loves any attention he gets.

The weather has been warming up here lately and we took a trip to Lake Berryessa today to go kayaking! We grilled and took a walk and kayaked and had a great time. It is so great to relax and enjoy the outdoors. I am loving my clinical at North Bay Medical Center, a local hospital. I am working on preparing for my national exam in May/June and applying for a license and jobs!!! Not much fun but I am looking forward to getting a paycheck for all of my hard work! We are really enjoying the Fairfield area and are making some great friends. Everyone is so nice and welcoming at our church and at the Air Force Base, it is a great place to live and we are so excited to be finally settled down for awhile:)