This is officially my last post on this blog. Why, you ask?? Holly and I have just launched our joint blog where we will be posting what is going on in our lives! Here is the address:
http://KyleandHollyLerman.blogspot.com
Please visit our new blog to keep tabs on us and our adventures. Thank you for all of your thoughts and comments on this, my old blog. We look forward to hearing from you on the new one!
Take care and God bless. This is Norcal Adventures signing off....
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Saturday, May 2, 2009
End of an Era
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
What a weekend!!!
Sometimes when God brings things together, he brings things together in a really big way!!
That's how I felt about this past weekend on my trip down to the valley. The trip started off in a big way. After going out to dinner, Holly and I went to the Chris Tomlin concert. Wow, what a blast! The only downside to the concert (other than the volume!) was the fact that they wouldn't let me take photos inside, even though I carried the camera in with the strap over my shoulder! Still, it was so much fun.
One of the 4 photos I got of the concert before I was asked to turn my camera off.
Holly's dad was leaving for a hunting trip in Africa, so on Saturday we dropped him off at his friend's house so they could carpool to SFO. Afterward, we hung out with Holly's mom for the rest of the evening. We went to church (I got to play again for the first time in a while!!), and then took her out to dinner at BJ's in Folsom.
Sunday morning, Holly and I went for a walk and explored her old middle school. Afterward, we headed down to Folsom, where Sam and I played a game of 1-on-1. We have been playing these games (12-minute quarters) for years, and so far I had won zero games and lost 75 in a row! In this particular game, with time winding down, I found myself behind once again. With only 3 seconds left and down by 3 points, I missed a shot and fouled Sam. Amazingly, he missed both free throws, and I got the ball back and called a timeout. I passed the ball in, dribbled once or twice, and fired a 3-pointer, which dropped through the net with half a second to go. Sam called timeout and tried a half-court shot at the buzzer and missed, so we went into overtime tied 89-89. In overtime, I eventually took the lead by 5 points, before Sam battled back hard and scored 6 in a row to take the lead 103-102 with less than 15 seconds to go. On my final possession, I used a little time, and fired in a 2-pointer with one second to go to take the lead 104-103. Sam tried another half-court shot at the buzzer, and as the ball was in the air, he said, "It's over." I actually won a game finally! OK, so my record is now 1 win and 75 losses (0.013), but still, at least it's a start! It was a lot of fun. We'll see if I can back it up with another win sometime in the next 76 games!
Holly and I and Sam and Amy had a nice turkey dinner with my parents and grandparents after the game, and us 4 "kids" headed down to the Kings game against the Nuggets. This was Holly's first Kings game, and the Kings actually won! Wonders never cease, right?!
Wrong!! Here comes the highlight of the weekend. This event could not have been timed any better, even down to the minute!! I drove down to Sacramento on Monday to meet with Holly and go for a 45-minute walk on her lunch break. We were only 2 minutes into our walk when I got "the call." I had told her that I was waiting for my phone to ring and say the word "Missouri" on it, since the place within the Weather Service that makes the job offer calls is in Kansas City. This particular call was labled "Missouri" on my phone, so of course I interrupted our time together and answered the call. Holly's reaction was priceless when I told the person on the phone that I would accept the job offer! She backed up, covered her face with her hands, and said, "Thank You, God!!!" We had the rest of her lunch break to celebrate the incredibly happy news!! Just another example of God's perfect timing! I am sooo glad that Holly got to be there by my side when I got the call! I will be starting work in Sacramento the second week of May. Later that afternoon, my sweetie sent me an amazing gift and had it delivered to my parents' house. Check it out!:
Thank you, Sweetie!
Here's a few details about the job - it is within the National Weather Service's California Nevada River Forecast Center in Sacramento, currently located on El Camino Ave. near Watt. My job will consist of forecasting rainfall amounts and snow levels for most of the states of California and Nevada, and a small portion of Oregon. We have the opportunity in the winter time to brief state water officials in person and live over the Internet. Oh yeah, and even though we are open 7 days a week, it is a 6am-2pm day job!!! That's right, no more evening or night shifts, except for rare occasions when there are extended operations due to flooding potential! WOO HOO!!!
Holly and I had dinner at my grandparents' house on Monday evening, where I took this photo. We don't look happy at all, do we?! ;)
Every trip down to the valley is incredible! God has certainly shown Himself to be good and faithful to us! So what's up for the next trip? Holly's first trip to the races (and my 24th season!), and maybe a trip to Tahoe, we'll see. Oh yeah, and In N Out Burger. Sounds like a winning weekend to me - I can't wait!!!
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Monday, March 9, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Official Date!!!
I would have to say last weekend turned out to be very productive! Holly and I managed to find the location for our wedding (we officially reserved the date yesterday), book a photographer for that day, and purchase both of our wedding rings! First off...the date - August 1st. Hey, when you want to get married in August, why wait till later in the month when the 1st is on a Saturday?! Besides, the 1st will be an easy anniversary to remember. I'm just kidding - there is NO WAY I would forget my own anniversary, no matter what the date!!! You do believe me, don't you sweetie?!
The location: Lake Natoma Inn in Folsom. They are having a really good "All-Inclusive Wedding Special" that includes the ceremony and reception locations, buffet catering, no-host bar, champaign fee, set-up, clean-up, etc. That makes it much easier to plan things, especially since I live so far away and can't always be around to help with the planning. There are a couple of choices for ceremony and reception locations, and here's some photos of the ones we chose (click for larger versions):
Ceremony site - these tables and chairs will be gone and replaced by white chairs.
Panoramic of ceremony site - the building on the far right is the reception room.
Reception roomWe've also been working on getting places booked for the honeymoon too, especially since places book up fast over the summer. We are planning on staying a few days near Yosemite (already booked), and then a few days near Tahoe (still looking for a place). There's nothing like a trip to the Sierras to get away from the nasty summertime heat in the central valley!
Here's a photo of the rings:
Holly's wedding and engagement rings on the left, and my ring on the right.Getting this stuff taken care of has been a huge relief to us since it is a lot less we have to deal with in the coming months. Still, we have plenty to do!! Save-the-date cards will be going out soon, we still need to find the entertainment, get a cake ordered, etc. Oh by the way, Holly found her dress already and blogged about it here.
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Awesome "Adventure" Drive
On January 19th, Holly and I took advantage of a holiday we both had off work and decided to take a nice drive through the Sierras. *WARNING - weather geek talk ahead!!!* An unusal stretch of sunny weather (big ridge of high pressure parked over the west coast) meant we knew we would have fair conditions for the trip, plus the roads would be clear of any snow and ice. However, the snowpack in the Sierras is nothing like what it should be this time of year, thanks to the ongoing drought conditions in northern California. OK, enough weather talk for now....
I picked up Holly from her place in the morning and we headed on out toward Jackson. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we caught Highway 88 in Jackson and headed east. Here is the first little turnout where we stopped, probably up around 6000-7000 feet in elevation (notice it was a comfortable, mild day, despite all the white stuff around!):
We continued up the hill and stopped at another vista point, which I think was somewhere near the summit (up around 8000 feet). Here's the view from up there - notice frozen Silver Lake down in the valley:
Can you say, "cutie pie"??? :)
We headed up the hill further and stopped briefly at Hope Valley. We had hoped to drive down Blue Lakes Road to Upper Blue Lake, where Holly's family likes to camp, but as we were afraid might be the case, the road was closed for the winter. We mosied on over and caught Highway 89 and headed north and hit Hwy 50 at Meyers. We drove east and crossed the Nevada line and came back and stopped at a couple places on the south end of Lake Tahoe, which is gorgeous in the winter time!
Sledding fun at Tahoe:
I was really impressed how this photo of a seagull came out, with its wings spread against a pretty cloud background:
Next, we drove down 50 over Echo Summit and through Kyburz, and took Ice House Road north to Ice House Reservoir. (This was my first time driving on Ice House Road, and I must say I was proud of myself! If you know how steep and windy that road is, you'll understand why!) The lake was pretty, but again, there is not nearly enough snow up there.
My mom posts regularly about her adventure drives with my dad, and I wanted to post about mine with my sweetie! (Although, technically this wasn't an "adventure" drive because we planned ahead of time where we were going.) I'm looking forward to a lifetime of these drives through the hills with my girl too! When can we go again, Sweetie?!
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Engagement Photos
I finally had a chance to download some photos I wanted to share from Friday. You can click on any of them for a larger view.
Check out this ring:
And if you thought the ring looked pretty before, just look how much prettier it looks on Holly's finger!
My beautiful future bride:
And last, but not least, check out the happy couple!
In case you haven't seen my blog in a while and this post doesn't make much sense, you might want to check the previous post from Friday night! God bless!http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Friday, January 23, 2009
Do you know what this picture means?!?!?!
It means...she said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, so it's true she already told me that she would say yes when I did finally ask her, but still - wow, so exciting! With all the wedding plans we have already been making for a while now, it's nice to finally make things official.
Here's an engagement prayer I found online. I wish I could take credit for writing it - I really like it, and I pray it for Holly and I:
Lord God, we ask for Your presence here with us as we prepare for our marriage. We thank you, Lord God, for being an integral part of our lives and our relationship. We ask that You continue to bless and guide us in Your calling to us to be Christ to one another and to those that surround us. Help us to remember You are the center of our lives and to keep us turning to You in times of sorrow and in the times of joy.
Lord, we ask that You bless and guide our married family and the children that You give us. Help us to instill and exemplify Your teachings in our family, so that we may never stray from Your love. We love You, Lord, and we thank You for blessing us with one another. Amen.
As for the big date...we're shooting for August. Take care and God bless.
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
Monday, January 12, 2009
Everyone, meet Holly!
It's about time I posted about one of the most important events in my life: meeting someone very special to me. Meet my girlfriend Holly:
Holly has got to be the sweetest person I've ever met. I'm so thankful she is in my life. The hard part about our relationship is that we live around 350 miles apart, but that will only be temporary. Oh, and in case Holly happens to be reading this right now...I love you Sweetie, and I miss you! See you this weekend! :)
http://www.outdoorsphotos.net/blog
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