Soon after Terran and I moved into our house, we heard rumors of there being petroglyphs in the hills around our area. A few weeks ago we decided it was time to go looking and spent a productive afternoon hiking. At first we didn't find anything, but after several hours we came to a large group of rocks with abstract drawings carved into them. It was quite exciting and a nice way to end a weekend excursion. Easter weekend we went out again and found the sun rock. It was one of the few drawings we saw that wasn't abstract. It's one of my favorites. Enjoy!!

 

 

The valley we live in.

 

 

Exploring

The first petroglyphs we saw.

Very happy our hours of walking paid off.

Sun Rock

The other side of the hill ~ A dry lake bed.

 

A bold little fellow.

A very shy Antelope.



Easter weekend

 

Naomi

Cozy Little Nest

When we first moved into our apartment I felt like we had moved into a little nest. It is the highest apartment in the complex and is so small (780 sq. ft) after a house, that it felt quite cozy. Six months today we have been in our apartment and it has started to feel like our own place. At first when we moved in all of us, including the dogs, were hyper aware of everyone living around us. I was very conscious of intruding in others space and them in mine, but now we just wave and go on with our business.



The Living Room

 I have found out that not everyone just waves and goes on with their business. One day, while Terran was working out of state for 3 weeks, the downstairs neighbor waved and then asked me, " Are you living alone now? Did your man leave you?"  "No" I answered, quickly explaining that he was working out of town.  Yikes!

I can empty the dishwasher and put everything away while standing in one place.

There are several bright spots to our humble abode and one of those is a private deck. This has allowed the dogs to be outside and for me to leave the door open. Such a blessing!

Reading Corner

Watching the world below pass by.


The park just up the road is something else we've enjoyed about this place. Each evening the dogs and I go up there for some off leash time.
 

Kaia waiting for the stick to be thrown, while Kojo grazes on rabbit droppings.
 

As we in the coming weeks are getting ready to leave this little place for our own house here in Reno I see many ways that God has taken care of us these past months. This cozy nest is certainly at the top of the list.

Home is where the Heart Is,

Naomi

Summer Visitors

Summer is about many things; sunshine, sun burns, BBQ, long evenings, and visitors. Even though we are still adjusting to our new home city and finding our way around we had summer company. We had the joy of sharing some of our favorite things with members of both our families.

Terran's Mom, sister and nephew at our favorite breakfast place that served amazing artery hardening chocolate covered bacon with strawberries.

Kyz kept us all entertained while waiting for our meal.

Checking out the extreme sporting good store Scheels.

Tamara, Kyz and I trying our hand at an extreme sport. Terran and his Mom were right behind us.

Kyz impressing us all with his prowess at target shooting.

All You Can Eat Sushi

with my Mom and brother Ben. 

 

Waiting for you to come and visit, 

Naomi

Shake Your Tail Feathers

             Last year for our 10^th anniversary Terran and I took a trip to Santa Fe, NM to celebrate. One of the first things we did was join a morning hike with some birders at a local bird sanctuary. We felt a bit silly raising our hands announcing to the group that we had never before birded, while most of the group had gone numerous times and were old hands at it. We set out with our borrowed binoculars and a more experienced birder as our guide. We made it several feet before spotting our first winged friend and the hunt was on from there.  We walked the trails looking for some movement in the sky or the sway of a branch to lead us to our prey while listening to our guide call out, “Who cooks for youuuu” mimicking the dove call that echoed around us. We were both hooked, but haven’t done much birding since then other then lamenting every time we can’t see a bird clearly, because we didn’t bring binoculars on our hike.

This past month that all changed!!! We took our first camping trip since our move to Reno a couple weekends ago and headed out to California about an hour and a half up the road. Sunday morning we woke to a bird that sang nonstop while we breakfasted. After coffee and eating we set out to find the little fellow. The Winter Wren was the first bird of a successful day spent peering through binoculars and snapping pictures of small dark objects that were hopping around in trees; hoping that one picture would come out clearly capturing the beauty of our avian friends.

Winter Wren Singing

Winter Wren Dancing

Naomi

Loch Leven Lakes

Terran has done quite a bit of traveling during our first three and a half months here. He is home now and we have been taking advantage of him being around and our lovely weather by getting out and hiking each weekend. Loch Leven Lakes has been one of the most beautiful places that we have hiked so far. It is in California about an hour or so down the road. It is a 4 mile hike up hill, but is so worth the work ending at a series of three lakes.

Lower Loch Leven Lake

My inner Washingtonian coming out.

Middle Loch Leven Lake

Duck Family

Looking down Middle Loch Leven Lake

Terran's find

High Loch Leven Lake

Sweeties In-love



Naomi

All the Way to Reno

Moving in 7 weeks from the time it was a thought to having it be a reality is a bit of a shock for the system. We did it though and are now trying to find our footing in a new job, a new city, a new place we are calling home.

Terran found out about a job here in Reno NV at the end of January, applied by the first weekend of February and he took the job a few days after the interviewing the next week. We found ourselves packing, selling our house, quitting our jobs, me withdrawing from classes, saying good bye to dear friends and family and on the road to Reno by the end of March. It sounds like a decision made quickly and without thought, but we spent a lot of time in prayer and had so many things confirm to us that this was the move we were suppose to make.

Our house sold after three days on the market. We felt that was such a gift from the Lord and confirmation that our move was the right thing.

Packing the house. The poor dogs didn't know what to think of everything being dismantled and packed away.

Black Rock Desert on our way to Reno. A very boring part of the drive, especially after almost 10 hours on the road that day.

Unpacking the boxes that had only been packed the week before. We have a little 770 sq ft apartment to call home right now. Hopefully we will be buying in the next few months, but right now are quite cozy in our little space.

The view from our apartment kitchen window. The weather hasn't been the best to make it up to the mountains yet and we've been busy, but one day soon we'll go exploring, because we can hear them calling our names.

On the next great adventure,

Naomi