Introducing:

MABEL JEAN TROXELL!

We drove all the way to King City, CA and back today to pick up our new little family member!

We named her Mabel because I (Heather) really wanted to name our dog an "old lady" name-- I just thought it was funny! Jean is my Mom's middle name and I think it's funny when dogs go to the vet and have middle names on their paperwork. Troxell well, that's just obvious! :)

We just call her Mabel... which we found out tonight with a quick search on Google means lovable! And boy is she ever lovable!

Mabel is a pure bred Yellow Labrador. Her parents (Princess & Cash) are both Yellow Labs with brown eyes but they had puppies that ranged from all yellow & golden colored to bright white in color. Princess had a litter of 9 this time, 7 girls & 2 boys. Mabel and one of her sisters have brown noses and light blue eyes, it's pretty neat looking and that's why we picked her!

We're excited to train, love, walk, and show off our new little puppy!

na na na na-- na na na na HEY HEY HEY

Goodbye.

seeing the fire

We went to the High School this evening for the SLV Booster's meeting (which was apparently had been canceled because of the fires but we didn't know that!) Anyway, we saw the smoke bilowing from the Mtns of Boony Doon... it was very quite in the Valley, you can definitely tell people are worried and for good reason too.

FIRE UPDATE #2

Santa Cruz County, Calif. -- Homes were evacuated Wednesday afternoon in the Bonny Doon area after a 50-acre wildfire began threatening nearby buildings. CAL FIRE officials said the fire was first reported just before 3 p.m. just off Martin Road in an area of heavy brush. Fire officials said they expect the fire to grow to as many as 1,000 acres before it's contained.

More than 1,400 residents have been evacuated from the Bonny Doon area. The Red Cross has set up a shelter at San Lorenzo Valley Middle School on the Felton campus. Julie Haff, superintendent of San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District said the cafeteria, gymnasium and administrative offices have been left open for residents fleeing the area."The size has grown considerably," Haff said. "The smoke covers the entire length of the football field at the high school."A Riverview High School graduation that was scheduled to take place this evening has been canceled, school officials said.Red Cross workers said 12 families have arrived at the evacuation site as of 6 p.m.Santa Cruz Animal Services workers are available to assist in evacuating livestock and domesticated animals. People needing assistance can call 831-454-7303 and press 1.The Scotts Valley Animal Shelter will be taking evacuated pets and animals and housing them free of charge until residents can return home.The shelter will remain open until 9 p.m. on Wednesday.More than 175 firefighters are working to battle the blaze.CAL FIRE officials said seven airtankers and more than 30 fire engines were at the blaze trying to defend nearby homes.This is the second major wildfire in Santa Cruz County in less than three weeks.The Summit Fire destroyed more than 30 homes and scorched more than 4,200 acres along Summit Road near Mt. Madonna over Memorial Day weekend.

Road Closures

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Alba at Empire Grade
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Empire Grade at UCSC
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Felton Empire at Ashley
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Smith at Bonny Doon

FIRE UPDATE #1

Wildfire forces evacuations in hills north of Santa Cruz

June 11, 2008 6:24 PM ET

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - About 1,500 residents in the heavily forested hills north of Santa Cruz are being told to leave their homes as a quick-moving wildfire spreads through the area.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the 300-acre blaze broke out in the Bonny Doon area of Santa Cruz County just before 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen says there have been 500 mandatory evacuations and 1,000 voluntary evacuations. About 1,000 residences are threatened by the fire, which has set several structures ablaze.

Van Gerwen says the fire could spread to as many as 1,000 acres before firefighters are able to slow down the flames.

A thick plume of smoke can be seen rising hundreds of feet above the rural hills as air tankers and helicopters race to the scene.

Fire. Please pray.

Fire. Close.

We've got a fire raging close to our house... about 6-8 miles as the crow flies. THIS IS WAY TOO CLOSE. Please pray for the Valley and the families that are in Bonny Doon, CA.

Thanks.

A typical Heather day

So my friend Katie "tagged" all of her blog reading friends to do this... so here it goes! :)

A typical Heather day: (typical, what's that? ha!)

7:00 - 7:35am wake up/ get ready-- depends on how tired I am!
8:00- 8:10 get to work (notice no commute time 'cause I work like 200 yards from my house! :) -- go ahead, be jealous!)
8:20 walk over to the Dining Hall and get breakfast (it's a perk of working at a camp! I do the same for Lunch and Dinner a lot too!)
8:30 - 4:00 or 5:00 (depending on the day) sit at my desk-ugh, do work, check e-mail, answer calls, look out my window, watch people drive WAY TOO FAST over the speed bump, chat & laugh with Greg-- my "cubical brother", try and figure my life out-haha, check the calendar to see how many more days until payday, etc etc (also once a week I have a Chiropractor appt... lately my appointment has been on Tuesdays at 12pm... THAT'S TODAY-- yippee!)
**After work**
...here's where things change "seasonally"

February 1st - May 1st:
4:30pm - 6:15pm go to the High School Pool and stand on the deck and coach the JV Girls swim team! Matt coaches the JV Boys swim team at the same time, so that's fun!

May 2nd - August 25thish:
I can usually do what ever I want in the afternoons! :) Except during the week of 4th of July... this is our busiest week at camp... I worked like 86 hours in 5 days last year! :) whew!

August 25thish - November 5thish:
At least 2x's a week I go to the High School pool to watch Water Polo games since Matt coaches Varsity boys WP. I like to go to his tournaments on the weekends too!

November 6thish - January 31st:
This is when I lay low, do the whole holiday season thing, sort of hibernate, and gear up for swim season... that's pretty much it.

We also Lead Young Life Club every Monday night from 6:30pm - 9:30pm.

I don't know if this daily schedule actually does my life justice or not... but that's all I can think of for right now. We definitely keep busy, that's for sure! :)