Cedar Point. Sandusky, Ohio.

Just a couple photos from my trip to Cedar Point, the Midwests favorite amusement park.  This roller coaster went from 0 to 120 miles an hour in 3.8 seconds.  I did not go on it because my vision blacked out on one that went 97 mph, so I figured I would take a picture of David, Chris, and Misty on it instead.  You can see David just before the red flag, and Chris and Misty just after it.

 And the rollercoaster shoots you up 420 feet and then back down again.  Pretty sweet.

Wonderfully Exhausted

Tuesday: Flew from California to Indiana.  Had a 3 hour layover and an additional 3 hour flight delay in Phoenix.  Arrived in Indiana at 2am.  Went to bed at 4am.
Wednesday: Woke up at 5:30am to drive from Indiana to Ohio and Cedar Point amusement park. Arrived at the park at 12:30pm and rode roller coasters til 10pm. Went to bed at 11:30pm.
Thursday: Woke up at 8:30am. Hit the amusement park until 8:30pm.  Then drove from Ohio to Indiana.  Arrived in Indiana at 3:30am. And I went to bed at 4am.
Friday: Woke up at 9am.  Job interview at 10:30am.  Got the job.  Then finally went to the Miller home where I will be living for the summer.  Then I helped clean the church for a few hours.  Went to bed at 12:15am.
Saturday: Woke up at 7:45am.  Drove from Indiana to Illinois at 9:15am for a big firework show with the extended family.

Needless to say, it has been a crazy transition! But it has been entertaining, to say the least!  Here are a few noteworthy things from living in the Midwest with the Millers:

-You must love humidity
-Traffic means a 5 minuted delay in your travel (please, as if that is even worth complaining about!)
-Never chop wood while wearing sandals
-Lightning bugs really exist
-Deer can be seen on a daily basis feeding in the corn and bean fields.
-Amish grocery stores have the best food, and only take cash
-I need more sleep
-Trips to Walmart are a whole day affair, and must be planned out
-Check for ticks, or else
-Miller boys hog the bathroom and take way more time to get ready in the morning than the women
-When the TV is on anywhere, it is shows like "Swamp Logger" and "Factory Made" that get watched.  Growing up with all brothers...
-You have to drive to the local library to get internet

So far it has been an adventure, more stories to come.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter are Best

Did a little baking yesterday with Carley.  Her mom was having an end of the school year party for some teachers and staff.  So we were recruited to make some goodies.  And seriously, who would turn down the opportunity to eat cookie dough, chocolate and peanut butter?

Here is our stand-alone mixer, circa 1970.  Vintage is totally hip, and totally still functional.  Take that Kitchen Aid.

Besides the classic Chocolate Chip, we made some Peanut Butter Cup Cookies.  I am honestly not sure if there are many combinations in life that are better than chocolate and peanut butter.  I unwrapped 40 mini Reeses.

And then I probably had to unwrap another half dozen since they mysteriously kept disappearing from the plate..... 

They were wonderful. Especially when the peanut butter cups were still warm.

Then we made Haystacks/Chinese Noodle Cookies.  Which usually remind me of Christmastime.  But I think they are fabulous any time of the year.  So here is the best part, melting the chips!

The beautiful mixer.  Who shortly after this shot said her arms were too tired and had me finish. Im buff. No big deal. JK

And the finished product!

Sooooooo good!  

I probably gained 5 pounds.  But baking with 3 sticks of butter and numerous bags of chocolate chips and Reeses.  Now I must go and run a few hundred miles.

Holding My Breath

I leave in less than two weeks! To be exact, I have 13 days left to enjoy the cool breezes and dry air of Southern California.  Then it is all days filled with dripping sweat and feeling like every breath is actually a drink of water.  Yet, I can't wait!  Sometimes I need to remind myself to stop holding my breath in anticipation and inhale.

But I am still trying to live in the present. I want to soak up all God has planned for this time before I go.  This is difficult, though rewarding when I can keep that mindset.

There has been room for some sadness this week though also.  I am beginning to grieve the temporary loss of my community that is about to happen as soon as I take off from John Wayne Airport.  Last night at my young adults group at church I felt a sinking in my stomach as I looked around at all the people I will miss and thought about the memories they will be making this summer.  And having my brother home for summer to complete our family unit again reminds me of the times I will miss at home with three of my most favorite people.

But I am still giddy with excitement at this adventure. So much so that I may already have been compiling packing lists and essential items I do not want to forget.  Hey, like I said, I am a detail oriented crazy planner.  This should not be a surprise to anyone.

Ta Ta For Now!

I think she is going to miss me too.  Every time I go up stairs while Sadie is in the house, she waits like this with her head on the bottom step until I come back down again.  Leave it to a dog to show you just how much you are loved.

The Big Move!

Yes, this is quite delayed....

I am moving to the rural countryside of Southern Indiana at the end of June.  Bring on the heat, humidity, and rural roads through corn fields!  I am so excited, and a bit nervous, but mostly stoked out of my mind.

I am excited to get to live within driving distance of the bf.  I am excited to slow things down and live in a more rural setting for a season.  I am excited for all that God has in store for me on this new adventure.  I am excited to get to know bf's family and be with him in his home setting.

Note: This move is so far from being anything normal for me to do.  I don't take risks. I don't step out of my comfort zone.  I do not go anywhere where I know hardly anyone.  I never go far from home for more than a quick trip.  And I certainly never do things without having a detailed thought-out plan written down and kept in my pocket.

All these are perfect reasons why God would have this temporary move to Indiana in his plan for me.  IT requires me to learn how to better trust him in everything I do.  I am a planner and a details-oriented person.  So of course God is taking control of all that and not allowing me to have everything planned out.  Yet, strangely counter to my normal self, I am excited for the unknown of this adventure!

I am literally leaving on a jet plane and don't know when I'll be back again in California.  I will be back (according to my plan).  And I think that is in God's plan too.  But who can say what the next few years have in store for me.

More to come as the move day gets closer and I then settle in to being a Hoosier.

Thunder Storms

I have officially experienced my first legitimate thunder storm.  Well at least to this souther California-raised girl it was legit.  Because it was way more of a storm than anything I've ever experienced in my beach-bordering habitat.  I recently returned from another trip to Indiana and the Miller family (more to come on that later).  It was in this state that I had a sleepless night listening to big booms and watching the walls of my room light up every minute or so.

It was the kind of thunder storm that shook the whole house.  No, that is not an exaggeration.  And it also sometimes thundered for a good 10 - 15 seconds without stopping.  And the lightening was blinding and frequent.  Oh, and there was golf ball-sized hail too.  Again, this does not happen in my neck o the woods. The biggest hail I have ever seen was so small it melted as soon as I blinked and hit the ground.  So I would guesstimate that it was about the size of a grain of rice, or less...

So here is the Indiana hail.  It could eat California hail for breakfast.  While I am not afraid of thunderstorms, and in fact find them quite exciting, I wish this one would have come earlier in the day.  The loud booming of thunder made it impossible to sleep.  So I, being completely unselfish and ever so thoughtful of other people, made bf David wake up and hang out with me in the wee hours of the morning so I was not sitting up alone.  I have no memory at all of what we talked about since we both were in a state of sleep-deprived delirium.  But I am sure it would have been entertaining to listen to the next morning had we recorded our conversation.  No matter.  I am ever more convinced he is a good guy since he did not complain in the slightest about being awakened in the middle of a nice sleep simply to be a second awake person in the house.  I figured waking up his mom or dad might lose me some brownie points.  Or maybe it would confirm that I actually am a stereotypical high maintenance California blonde who is going to brainwash their sweet perfect country-raised baby boy.  Ok, maybe that is a bit over the top.

Who Am I??

Today started off very uncharacteristically.  I woke up sometime between 6 and 6:20am, without an alarm!  (Oh, and its Saturday!) And I was quite awake.  I knew I was picking up Jessica from the airport shortly after 7, so waking up early was expected.  But not THAT early!  And the amount of energy I had was strange.  I actually made my bed, throw pillows and all.  Then I swept the downstairs (our black lab Sadie slept in the kitchen and seems to shed enough fur to create another dog) and vacuumed.  Then I started to clean the bathroom, my regular Saturday chore, which I usually do at the last minute before bed!  I checked and it was not even 7 o'clock yet!  I texted my mom to tell her of my productivity, and I also asked her to tell me who I was.  Because the real Erin would never have done all that before 7am on a Saturday.  Weird.  But I felt good and was wide awake and smiling to pick up Jessica at the airport at 7:15.

She wanted to go back and take a nap.  But soon discovered some other person had taken over the body of her friend and created a chipper morning person.  So instead we made egg scrambles, more French Breakfast Puffs (to replace the ones that flew away a few days ago), and started a blog for Jessica.  Then I let her take a nap while I showered.  How nice of me.  We have much more planned for our sunny weekend.  But here are some more Oklahoma pictures.  I need something to do because she is still sleeping!

Its  76 degrees.  Yes, thank you, I would love to be getting some sun on a quad in Oklahoma.

The sun is shining with a light breeze. A relaxing fishing session by the pond would be fabulous.  (Do not be deceived into thinking Courtney is holding this fish.  She is simply holding Mike's thumb to give the allusion she is touching something so wet and slimy)

Ah, how I loved having to open and close gates each time we entered or exited a pasture.  It would probably be a tedious and boring job to a real farmer.  But I loved it!

I wish that my shadow could be seen on this grassy pasture again instead of on the tile of my kitchen floor.  And I haven's seen a hay bale in far too long.

Another wonderful summer activity: Hay bale jumping!  But in all honesty, I jarred my back pretty good when I landed.  I had not anticipated the ground to be so far away.

This.  Oh this picture.  It is by far my most favorite.  This is Mr. LaBash.  An Oklahoma neighbor.  And a cranky, cantankerous, skeleton of a man at that!  Mike's cows had escaped into Mr. LaBash's yard on accident.  So I got the pure joy of getting to experience rounding up cows for the first time in my life.  I did not do much, there weren't many cows and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  So i stood back and took it all in.  While taking pictures of Mr. LaBash unbeknownst to him.  He surely would never have allowed me to do that.  I miss the smell of the cows and the hay, and even Mr. LaBash barking orders and complaining.