Many Vintages Later...

Too bad I'm not getting better at posting once a week, eh? HAPPY MAY!

I hope everyone had a wonderful, joy-filled Easter weekend, as we celebrated Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Kel and I were blessed to spend our Easter here with a camp family. Dan and his wife Kelli, and their four children, invited us to spend the day with them. We ate lunch with their family and a few other staff members, played Apples to Apples, and Kel played on the trampoline with the kids. We ended our day by watching a musical and had a small "leftover-meal" dinner. Kel and I didn't get home until about 10pm. We had so much fun!

     *Kelly and Dan just completed their first go at training some of the full time staff to be lifeguard/cpr/aed/first aid certified! They said he did a great job teaching/training them. :) In a few weeks his summer staff team will come and Kelly will be doing his second round of training people.
     *I was able to Skype with Alissa and Brian awhile ago. Maya is the cutest puppy in the whole world.
     *Kelly had his high ropes and zip line inspection. There was a guy here inspecting the course and all of the equipment, making sure everything is up to the codes and safety standards.
     *We had a pull down ladder installed in our ceiling so we can now access our attic. This is very exciting!

Ladder being installed.

All done!

 *I was recently trained to be a barista at the coffee shop here at camp. Last Sunday I was scheduled to work at the coffee shop ALL BY MYSELF! Sunday mornings are typically slower... but this one was not. I had to call for a helper because there were so many people that came to order coffee drinks. Too many people for one barista!

*Kelly and Dan had to seal all of the high ropes poles with some kind of sealant/stain to keep them protected from the sun so they won't crack. At the end of the day, all of the poles were sealed, and the majority of their clothes needed to be thrown away.

Kel and Dan staining the poles.

25 hours old.

*All of us staff ladies had a baby shower a few weeks ago for our dear friend Kiersten. Her baby arrived two days later! Sarah Isabella is her name. Look at all that hair! Just three hours after Kiersten delivered, she had me and Kelly come over to see their newest addition. They even let me hold her! It was fantastic.
*Due to the fact that Sarah was born at home and obviously had to get a birth certificate, Kiersten needed hand-written proof that she was pregnant and that she did indeed deliver Sarah in her home. Kiersten asked me, along with two other people at camp, to each write a letter proving those specific things (along with a few other important points). We then met with a lady who notarized the letters, signed some papers and stamped our fingerprints in a book.

April was a very exciting month, but the most FANTASTIC part was getting to see my brother NATHAN!!!!!!! We went to the La Brea Tar Pits... I had never heard of them before, but they were suuuuuuuuper cool!  We also went inside the museum and saw fossils that the paleontologists had already found in some of the tar pits. The three of us went to the ocean for a while. That was super fun! There were starfish!!! We found quite a few geocaches while we were out, which was quite exciting. Some were easy ... some were not so easy. I'm sad to say that I do not have any pictures of us climbing up the side of a steep hill on half of an old metal ladder.

Starfish!!!

Kelly and Nathan Geocaching.

First ever In-N-Out burger!

Other news...

     *The camp cat, Chaos, likes to visit us. It is probably because we fed him once. He now occasionally meows at our door in the mornings until we let him in and then he comes and goes during the day. He watched a movie once!
     *Our new neighbors have officially moved in next door, so that's been fun! Jesse and Daniel are 27 & 29 and their son Leif is two and a half. He's so cute! He loves to play with Caleb, too. Laef calls Caleb his "best buddy". The two of them are also learning how to take turns and share. It's a good thing!
     *Kelly and I hosted a paintball birthday party. A lady from a church in the area wanted to play paintball for her birthday this year, so her and 12 of her friends came out and played for two hours! A typical game is twenty minutes long, and we'll let a group play two 20-minute games. But because this was a special occasion, they played for a very long time. It was fun though :) Kelly was the ref. and I was the scorekeeper. He got marked with paint about four or five times. I won because I didn't get marked at all!
     *Have I mentioned how the weather is almost always wonderful here? We LOVE going to the beach!
     *Kelly and I just bought a couch! It is our first official piece of furniture. Almost everything else that is in our house was either already here when we moved in, or was given to us from staff families.


Get excited for our VIDEO blog post... COMING SOON! 

Spring has arrived!

March is ending!  Wow, has time flown by or what?

Let me TRY to recall what has happened since our last post.

Kelly had off of school for spring break a couple weeks back. That was great! We were able to hang out at home in the evenings together without Kel having to do homework. These pictures are of a beach that we went to while in San Diego. We had a blast hanging out on some sandstone cliffs and taking pictures of the ocean. We also went to the "Children's Pool"... which is a beach full of seals!!!!! For good reasons we had to stay at least fifty feet away from the seals, but it was still so cool to see them in their natural habitat.

Cache 2

Cache 1

     Kel and I have taken up the sport of Geocaching.  It is an "outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location." To learn more, go to: http://www.geocaching.com/
     So far, we have found eight caches... and two days ago we even placed our own!  Unfortunately, Kelly learned that our cache was too close to another one in the area. The rules are that it has to be 0.10 miles (528ft) away from another and ours was too close. Last night we went out and relocated it.

Cache 3

Cache 4

     Wednesday, the two of us went to a part in the national forest to hide our cache and decided to find a couple caches that were in the area.  Kel and I climbed up some large boulders in search of a trail. Instead of finding a trail, we seemed to be in an "untouched" area of the forest, and had a great view of the town of Pine Valley below us. There was also an old Native American grinding stone on one of the boulders we were standing on. It was pretty neat! We eventually found a trail and headed out to find our first cache of the day. It was quite easy, as we were familiar with the area. We had actually walked past it the previous time we were out there!!

Cache 5

     Our second cache we looked for that day was a bit more challenging. The problem started when the

Cache 6

trail we were walking on disappeared. We were soon surrounded by a bunch of bushes, trees, and other desert plants. The majority of our hike was spent bent over to get under branches, and in some areas where the brush was so thick, we had to crawl through on our hands and knees.  At first, we thought nothing of it because the cache terrain difficulty level was a four (5 being the hardest). There was one point where Kel looked at his phone (where he had the cache info.) and read that the people who hid the cache hiked on an actual trail. Yup. We were on the verge of going crazy. But after a bit of searching, we finally found a trail. However -dun dun dun- the trail ended. Again. And we never did get to the top of the mountain to find the cache. Oh well. We'll find it another day!

Cache 7

     After an afternoon crawling through brush, bouldering on moss covered boulders, sliding down sand hills on all fours, we came back to camp with some good stories. Kel had been impaled in the leg by a branch and I was stabbed (in three areas on my leg) by a Yucca plant. As awful as the story sounds, we had a fantastic afternoon together!! :)

Cache 8

 
Other good news!!!!!!!
     We bought a dresser for Kelly from Ikea using a gift card we got as a wedding present. A family at camp gave us one of their old dressers so I am able to use that one. We also have a coffee table in our living room, courtesy of another staff family.
     Kelly had a birthday!!! He turned 23 just this last Sunday.  He was gone that whole weekend for his Lifeguard Training Certification (he can now train people to be lifeguards- how cool!?!) and came back Sunday evening - just in time for us to celebrate a bit of his birthday together. Since then, five (out of eight) pieces of twirly crepe paper have fallen off our ceiling, and Kel has successfully eaten all of his Chocolate Banana cupcakes (with cream-cheese/nutella frosting). Yum.
     We were invited for dinner by two staff families in two weeks.  Lasagna was this week... steak was last week. Yum.

Our new bookshelf

     I finally finished my bookshelf project that I have been working on for quite a while. Kel found an old "bookcase" in storage that used to belong camp's gift shop. He asked if we could have it and was told yes! After sanding it all down and repainting, it is finally complete. Now we have a place for all of our books! We agree that it will look much better once our walls are painted so it's not one shade of white against another shade of white.

     A new staff family came today all the way from Idaho! Dan Gunderson and his wife (I forgot her name) and their 2yr old son, Laef, will be our new neighbors. Dan will be working in the maintenance department here at camp. Our old neighbors, Nathaniel, Kiersten and their 18mo. old, Caleb, moved into a house on the other side of camp. The maintenance dept. is working on renovating the Gunderson's new home, so the family is staying in a camp cabin for about two weeks.    

Kelly testing out the sling lines he made

     Kelly is making all new sling lines for the high ropes course.  Sling lines are what hold you on the course as you traverse different elements/obstacles. There are clips up top so it is easy to clip and un-clip from one rope to another.

Newly painted brake platform

 
     The picture to the right is our brake platform for the zip-line. It is located at the end of the zip. When the zip-line is in use, a staff member is designated to this spot to help the participant make a complete stop as they near the end of the cable. The staff member also helps them get off the course safely. Last week, Kelly and the intern painted the platform! Prior to the brown being there, the platform had gross green paint that was chipping everywhere and part of the deck had been stained. This looks much nicer! :)
   

Testing out the water

     One of Kelly's many jobs is to test the chemicals in the pool. Kelly is so fun... he taught me how to do the testing... it's pretty fun! We'll go out once a week and do all of the chemical testing together. The picture below is of me testing the waters for the first time.

Cutting some Manzanita

     Kelly also taught  me how to use a little chain saw. The tree I am cutting is called a Manzanita. They are very special trees here in California... not sure why. I'm not too fond of them due to the fact that their flowers attract bees. Anyway, this silly tree was growing all around that brown structure you see in the picture. Inside the structure is where all of the horseshoes belong (ya know, for the game of horseshoes). Kelly did the majority of the cutting, but I did get to cut a few little branches. It was very fun.

Caleb and the doggy

     One staff family had a bunch of us over for dinner on Saint Patrick's Day. Kelly taught our little friend Caleb how to lay down on a dog. It was the cutest thing to watch!
     Here is a list of some other things Kelly has taught (or tried to teach) Caleb:  How to... 1) Steer a golf cart. 2) Turn on the golf cart's lights. 3) Open the screen door of his house by pushing the button with one hand and pulling the handle with the other.          4) Play "swords" with sticks. 5) Scrape off the white filling off the Oreo cookie using his teeth. 6) Dance on bubble wrap to make the popping noise.

Just looking for a cache!

Prayer requests: 

-Continue to pray as we search for a church.

-Part of my right eye is quite red. It hurts occasionally throughout the day, mostly in the early mornings or later in the evening. Kelly says that part of it looks raised/there is a small bump, so I might have a scratch or something. I've been wearing my glasses (instead of contacts) for three days now. We have been putting re-wetting drops in my eye, but they don't help much.

-Our friend Kiersten is due to have a baby any day now. She could have her little girl any time within the next few weeks. Pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby. This will be Kiersten's second in-home birth here at camp. 

We love you all so much and are so thankful for all of your love, prayers and support. 

A fun week :)

Hello friends and family!!

This week was pretty eventful.

Kel and Dan on the "Giant's Ladder"

     Kelly went up to the city of Big Bear, which is a little over three hours north of us. He went with his supervisor, Dan, to do some high-ropes training. The elevation is about 7,000ft... a little over 3,000ft higher than where we are (notice the snow).  Kelly told me that he could definitely feel the difference in elevation- he was huffing and puffing doing some of the activities (blame it on the elevation- not the fact that we know we need to get back into shape). Participants were taught multiple things during this two day training. Things like learning how to tie different types of knots in rope, how to perform safe belay techniques, how to rescue someone on a high ropes course if they are injured, etc. Kelly knew how to do the majority of the things he was "being trained on" because he learned it all while working at Timber-lee. Dan, however, learned something new: he learned that Kelly knows how to do all of this stuff! Kelly and I knew that he knew how to tie knots, perform different belay techniques, and rescue someone from a high ropes course, but before the trip, Dan never knew how "capable" Kelly was.  This trip was a good thing. :) Hopefully Kelly will be able to have more freedom in his job instead of people telling him what to do/how to do things.

Haley working

Kelly working

     Friday/Saturday/Sunday was our first Women's Conference Weekend.  About 250 women came to Pine Valley for a women's retreat. Normally, our camp is an outfitter- where church groups rent our facilities- most groups bring their own "speaker" or pastor, and do their own music. However, this weekend was different because as a camp, we hosted the retreat. We had a speaker and band come up for the weekend and we put together all the different activities for the ladies.  Staff men were supposed to be "invisible", hence the title of the event: "women's conference".  Kel, since he is the Rec. Manager, was still in charge of high ropes and paintball.  He was also asked to be in charge of Power Point for all of the chapel sessions (because he is better at it than any of our staff ladies- it's okay to chuckle).  I was able to do some decorating in the dining hall, help with high ropes, go on a 4 mile hike in the national forest (where we live!), and help out staff if they needed something. We now have our 2nd women's conference tomorrow! It is supposed to be rainy and much colder than last weekend. Pretty gross, right?

     Our week was complete when we found out that my aunt and uncle were in San Diego for a work conference!  Kelly and I drove an hour down the hill and met up with them for lunch.  It was absolutely fantastic!!!!  Although they weren't down here specifically to visit us, I give them the honor of being our first visitors. My only complaint is that we didn't think to have a picture taken of the four of us!!! Next time, Sue and Terry!

Oh. And I buzzed Kelly's hair.

     While Kel and I were down in the area that day, we went to Ikea and got a dresser. Yay!  We also went to the beach on Coronado Island for a few short minutes to look at the pretty ocean. And had free Chick-fil-A for dinner. :)

*If you would like to read about how I won free Chick-fil-A for a year, there will be another blog post specifically about that coming later today.*

Prayer requests:
*Still looking for a church - Kel and I were busy last Sunday and will be busy this Sunday because of the conferences... so we will continue our search Sun. the 17th.
*Kelly specifically- dealing with the busyness of camp, while staying focused on the Lord and our marriage.

First Real Update

My "one post per week" goal has been going too well.  I'm hoping to get better at this... fast!

Hmm... what has been going on with the Holden's?

     We became Costco members!  That has been fun.  We get free samples of food throughout the store. Yum! And the savings is pretty good, too.  Especially on gas!  We were able to get it for 4.07/gal.  Aside from Costco, the cheapest gas was 4.11/gal.

This is what I made today. 

Close up

     I have been starting to get back in the swing of being crafty.  This is what I painted today.  Not the door-- just the H. :)   I'm also working on sanding a bookshelf that Kelly found in a storage building.  Once I'm done sanding, I'll paint it, and then we'll finally be able to put our books away.
     Kelly has two days off during the week.  One day we normally designate to going to church, grocery shopping, and hanging out in our favorite town, Santee.  The second day we normally stay around camp, Kel does homework, I do crafts, and sometimes we'll walk around grounds and do random things.  A couple weeks ago we played disc-golf.  Within the first few throws, Kelly lost his frisbee in a tree.  He took my frisbee and I got stuck with using a putter the whole game.  No worries... it was still fun :)
     Last week we went on a hike through the Cleveland National Forest (we live in the National Forest!).  We didn't get very far away from camp, or high up the hill/mountain, before I started having an asthma  attack.  I guess my lungs aren't used to hiking in thin air at such a high elevation.  We had to go back home :(
     Kel and I are trying to figure out where to put shelves in our kitchen, laundry room and bedroom.  We do not have much storage space, so we are trying to make our own.  One of my friends gave us a gift-card to Ikea as a wedding gift, which is such a blessing.  Kel and I went down to San Diego on Sunday and looked around the store, getting ideas of what might work in our home.  We walked out of the store with a better idea of what we would like in our home, and a family membership (that means we are able to get some deals, and a free cup of coffee whenever we go to Ikea).
     We have gone to five different churches... none of them were real great.  Next sunday... church number six. A couple weeks ago, we stayed home and listened to a Podcast instead of trying another church.  That was the best church service we have had since coming to Cali.
     I'm getting a bit discouraged by not being able to find a solid church.  Please pray for us as we continue to search for a solid church that teaches the deep truth's of God's Word.

-Haley

First Post Ever!!!

Hey friends and family!!!

This is Haley speaking...

Welcome to our blog!  I'm new at this, so I apologize in advance if I mess something up on here... because it's probably going to happen. :)

Anyway, it's been about a month since Kelly and I have been in California.  Both of us have talked to our parents a bit and they keep saying, "everyone keeps asking how you two are, etc. etc."  So this is my solution!  Of course, you are free to call us or ask our parents how we are, but I think a blog would also be helpful.  So instead of hearing, "Oh, their good!" all of the time (or something similar), you will be able to find out directly from us how we are doing and what we are up to.

I am going to try to do one post per week.  I think that's a good starting goal, right?

Some posts might be more detailed than others depending on how exciting or eventful the week has been.  Others might be just a general update.  I guess we'll see!!! Maybe I'll even learn how to post pictures on here...
I will also write any prayer requests we have. :)
Kelly might post things too, but probably not as much (since he works more than I do). So you are welcome to imagine me verbally speaking these things to you unless I make it clear that Kelly is speaking.  Then you can put his voice in your head.

Feel free to comment on posts, ask questions, give us your prayer requests, etc.

Here we go....!!!!!