Wedding venue

Not much blogging recently! Oops! Well, I think it's excusable. Jon and I have been busy wedding planning. The three biggest priorities were guest list, dress and venue. Check, check, and check. I can't tell you the guest list and I can't obviously show you the dress (Jon might see!), but I can share our excitement over our venue for both the ceremony and reception. It will be at Chamisa Hills Country Club. Here are some pics!
Pretty cool, huh?

Oh Happy Day!!!!!!

Does that give it away?

Woohooo!!!!! Jon asked me to marry him yesterday and I said yes!!!!

Here's how it went down - Yesterday, Jon and I (and, of course, Ole and Lucky) went on a hike to one of our favorite spots in the foothills of the Sandias - on top of the first hills at the top of Menaul. We climbed a steep hill and got to the top of the hill. When we were up there, Jon asked me, "What time is it in Kenya?" and I said, "3:45 am - it's probably not a good time to call. Maybe you could call on the weekend." So we talked a little bit about calling them and what they might ask him etc. Then we climbed on top of some boulders that gave us an excellent view of the setting sun over the city. I was helping Ole get down a large step, and when I turned around, Jon was on one knee with a ring in his hand.

He said, "Just kidding, I already called them. Shaila, I love you. Will you marry me?" And I didn't say much of anything for a minute! I was so excited that I just hugged him and kissed him and shook and cried, and then I finally said yes, and he put this beautiful ring on my left ring finger. I hope I remember that moment FOREVER!

How handy that Jon's watch was facing up! 6:55pm on September 23! I was totally not expecting it, since it seemed like he hadn't even called them yet. In fact, he had called them the day before, and had received their blessings to ask me. I was really glad I had my camera!

The warm glow from the setting sun, and the dogs, and the big granite boulders, and the surprise, and the most amazing man in the world. It was perfect!

I am still this happy now!

Here are the puppy dogs, who look equally excited :)

The sun setting over Albuquerque, as I called Jon's dad.
We called my parents too as soon as it wasn't 3:45 in the morning!

For those of you who like rings as much as I do (now!), here are some additional pictures. I love it - it is so beautiful, and so ME. Way to go, Jon, for picking out such a great ring!

I am so excited to be marrying my "favorite parts guy", my best friend, my Jon, in less than a year. All I can say is Praise God! (And I hope I can sleep tonight!)

Dogs + Water = Fun

Soon after Ole went to live at Jon's house, we decided to see how he would like swimming. It turns out it is his all-time favorite activity, and he has even helped Lucky conquer (slightly) his fear of the water.

Here are some fun pictures to show the Rio Grande, the favorite playground of our two happy dogs. As you can see, Ole's favorite game is fetch, and it doesn't matter whether it's on land or water!

My favorite picture ever! Anyone want to guess what they are saying to each other? They are our babies, and we love them.... what can I say?

Almost bus camping

I believe it has been well established on the early pages of this blog that I have always wanted a camping bus, or for my truck camper to be outfitted for actual long camping trips. I am one (or two) steps closer to the dream.

One, Jon has a split window that is going to be my camping bus. He is restoring it right now. It is beige and white and has all the original westfalia camping accessories. I LOVE accessories! I want all the little cubbies and cupboards and tables and whatnot. I want my bus to be decked out!

Second, Jon has many other friends who also have Volkswagen buses. One friend, one of the Mikes, also has a split window camping bus. Mike is hard-core and actually lives in his bus. He has all the accessories and stuff. I love his bus! So now, here's the story: A couple of weeks ago, we went "almostbuscamping" with the two Mikes. I say almost because Mike brought his bus on the camping trip, so it was present, but I wasn't in it. Anyway, we had a spectacular time with three dogs, 4 people, really good brats from Sunflower Market (my favorite grocery store ever), and a guitar. Um, there were bears too, but we only heard them. They were probably scared of Lucky and Ole.

Here is the fully accessorized bus: Ole and his favorite activity Lucky, and his favorite activity - getting love

Bus mike and his dog, Button, also getting love.

It's our "family"! awwwww. Check out this crazy bus and it's mad off-roading skills. Whew! It made it down the hill!The mikes, very happy, in the busA blast from the past. But seriously, how cool is this shot?
Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. hmm.

Introducing Ole

We have had a new addition to the Office of Lucky. No I am not pregnant! But we did go down to the local animal shelter, and Jon picked out a puppy.We first met Ole on July 22, 2008, and he came home to my house after a very traumatic surgery on July 24. He stayed at my house for three weeks while he learned some important skills: peeing outside, walking on a leash, going into his cage, and not chewing his people or their stuff. Well, he managed two of the five, and they were not the most important ones. He must be a "late bloomer". All grievances are easily and readily forgiven when you see this face, though. Take a look. Here is his first photo shoot.

In case you were wondering, Ole is 7-9 months old, weighs about 52 lbs, and is probably almost purely yellow lab. His favorite activities are eating, swimming and playing fetch, and he has now moved into his "branch office" at Jon's house.

Hypermiling - the continued story

The update on my hypermiling adventures: I have gone from 15 mpgs to 20.9! I have been able to get roughly 50 more miles out of each tank. All I have to say, is Praise Jesus! I am more relaxed while driving, and I still get everywhere I need to go just as fast. I am pretty excited.

Polar bears and electric cars

No, this is not a post on climate change, but it does combine two of my very favorite things: polar bears and electric cars. Two weeks ago, Jon and I went on a date to the zoo, and this is what we saw!

A friendly emu.

A sleepy kitty. (Oh, how I just WISH I could see a moutain lion in the wild - maybe from the safety of the car!)

A very cute family of hippos - one of my very favorite animals.

The hippos go for a swim.

The polar bear goes for a swim. I actually cried when I saw the polar bears. They were too hot in the Albuquerque heat. And it's getting too hot in Alaska too.
The very last thing we saw at the zoo was not behind bars. We saw two rare species of electric cars, which I correctly identified as being from the Miles EV family. Yay for electric cars! They both had California plates, but I hypothesized that they were perhaps show-off vehicles of the Albuquerque Q program or run-around cars for the zoo, or maybe both. Who knows? Now I would just like to spot an NMG in the wild. :)