I know, I know. It's about time!! Yes, we are here safe and sound in sunny southern California!

Yucca Valley is in an elevated basin surrounded by mountains. When you drive west out of town, you pretty much go down the side of a mountain to get to sea level. It is sooo sooo pretty here! I never thought the desert could be so nice.

As for our trip out here - not so nice! We left Mankato at about 7pm last Friday night packed like sardines, with great energy and high hopes. Whoo, boy did we need that energy. I don't think we would've had nearly that amount of oomph had we known what lay ahead. Quite literally, the only states we traveled through without snow, sleet, and ice were Minnesota and California. Saturday was the longest 48 hours I've ever known. I know - there are only 24 hours in a day. :-) Basically from Kansas City, KS until Flagstaff, Arizona was a feat of endurance. Snow, snow, and more snow. I'm pretty sure the road we chose was the exact same road that the storm traveled. Texas was the worst!!! For 2 hours we braved a skating rink. There were numerous semis overturned or completely haulted on the highways. Our average speed about 10-20 mph. Yikes. Longest drive through Texas - ever.

The payoff though - wow. Once we started to begin our descent to sea level - the mountains, the rock formations (Red Rocks Park), the sky, the absence of snow - SO worth it!!! We were giddy. Half from sleep deprivation, half from the sheer beauty! A well earned reward.

We pulled into Yucca Valley on a very windy, but sunny Sunday afternoon. The house is great, the scenery is even better, and this town is so dang cute. There's just a ton of cute places to shop and eat.

My dear friend Annie was an absolute saint - helping with driving, herding children, settling in, cooking, more herding of children. I could not have done this without her!! It was just fun to be together, see the town, etc. What an amazing friend she is. She left for Anaheim last night, and I'm still in denial that I'm kind of ...well... here. We were sad to see her go. She's so much fun.

Adam moved in on Wednesday. As he says, this has been the busiest week in his entire USMC career thus far, so not the best timing, but still good to at least be in the same house!! He's had quizzes and a TON of difficult homework this week, so we think he might be able to resurface this weekend. :-)

I have my office all set up and have been pretty busy playing catch up. It's to my advantage that my clock isn't totally switched around, so getting up at 5 and getting into the office is not too hard of a task. I'm sure I'll still be catching up over this weekend, and am really looking forward to some additional normalcy in our routine when the girls start back at school next week. Bryna's school, Onaga Elementary, has the most amazing view of the snow-capped Little San Bernadino mountains. Livi's daycare is run by a Christian mom who's background is in preschool. They have the cutest little classroom addition to their house and I think Livi is feeling mighty cool about getting to go to school just like big sister.

Well, that's all for now - but check back soon for more updates and pictures!

Thanks to all who prayed us through our journey so far. We have felt and appreciated them!!!