March 2009

This month went by so quickly! Here's the recap:

The first weekend in March, Megan flew back to St. Louis for our newest godchild's baptism. She got to meet Haven and enjoyed some much needed family time. While she was home she also got to see the shed her dad is building in their woods and help plant some trees. She also was able to scope out some apartments for when we move back to St. Louis in three months.

Haven Marie Palmer

Working in the woods

Planting black walnut trees

Having fun too!
A family that works together stays together

Godmother getting Haven ready for her baptism

Welcome to God's family!

The second weekend in March was Mount Olive's Women's Retreat at Redwood Christian Park. Megan got to go and spend relaxing time with some friends.

Relaxing on the rocks at Santa Cruz beach during our free time--watching the waves and surfers and enjoying the sun!

The Ark: our meeting room for the weekend

Cabin-mates for the retreat

The third weeked in March through the fourth week Matt's family came to visit. We kept them very busy while they were here. We took them to the San Jose Mission in Fremont, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco (Fort Point, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, Coit Tower, Pier 39, and Ghirardelli's), Monterey (17 Mile Drive, the Aquarium), Jelly Belly Factory, Sepay Groves olive oil tasting, and Napa Valley.

At the Mission

On the front steps of the Mission

Snow in Yosemite

Bridalveil falls

Giant sequoias from Tuolumne Grove in Yosemite

In front of a fallen giant

Lombard Street

View from the top of Coit Tower

Monterey Bay--on 17 mile drive, close to Pebble Beach

Frog's Leap winery in Napa Valley

And just to keep things interesting, Matt is helping coach Pastor Nate's oldest daughter Jenna's softball team. And Megan is one of the female chaperones. We spend an hour on Friday evenings practicing and watch the girls play on Saturday. It is so funny watching them learn to play the game.

Go Royal Highnesses! Oh yeah!

And a little excitement to close out March...we felt our first earthquake since we've been here! A 4.3 earthquake with an epicenter near Morgan Hill struck around 10:40 a.m. on March 30. I was just sitting down to update this page when it happened. No damage, it was a minor quake. Just enough to get the heart racing.