Well, Matt got a new job working for a company called Berry Aviation. They have a military contract, flying Navy personnel out of Coronado Island. He had to go to a month of training in TX before starting his new job, so Skylar and I went and stayed with my family in Colorado. When we got there, she was saying a lot of words, but was only linking two-three words together. By the time we left there a month later, she was saying crazy things like "Don't you get it, Papa?" and, "that was a big moose, I'm going to say it again, BIG!" It has been so fun to see her learn so quickly and be so proud of herself :) Some of the other words/things she learned while there were: Cydote (Coyote), Antedope (Antelope), Calf, Dobby (my sister's horse), C.B. (my brothers horse), Brodda (Little brother - My mom's horse), Kratch (My Dad's horse - Scratch), "G.G" (Great Grandma/Grandpa), Mance or Manta (Samantha - Bryce's girlfriend)...etc. While we were there we had the pleasure of having my Great Grandma Jan and Grandpa Don come visit us from Minnesota. It was so great to have them there and see my Grandpa Don meet Skylar for the first time. :) Jan met Skylar last summer when she came to visit us in Camarillo. We were also able to spend time with a lot of old friends, made new friends, helped my mom and brother feed animals at the barn they've been managing, put up some hay, drove tractors, went swimming at the Rec center in town, went to Tot Gymnastics ("Ticks" - as Skylar says), met up with the girls from my old Bible study, and got to spend lots of time together! I didn't bring a camera with me, only my iphone. Somehow when I uploaded the photos off my iphone something happened with the file properties and it won't let me change anything about the pictures. Won't let me rotate them or anything. So, until I get that sorted out, no pictures for now. Please let me know if you know how to fix that issue! We are home now, Matt started his job on Monday and has loved his first week. :) We only have one car and since Matt starts so early in the morning, Skylar and I have been carless all week. We are trying to make the most of it by walking to our nearby park (1.5 miles away), playing in the grass around our apartment complex, going swimming in the pool and taking stroller and wagon rides all over. Its not ideal, but it'll work for a while. We are so excited that Matt has a normal schedule with weekends OFF. Now he will be able to come to church with us and meet all of the cool people we've been hanging out with for the past 8 months. :) Not only that, but we are so excited that he is climbing the ladder in aviation and we couldn't be more proud of him!

Summertime

Skylar has started talking a bunch more and some of the words don't quite come out right. Currently my favorite word is "Fla-go-go" aka Flamingo. :) There are others, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Here are a few recent pictures for the visually inclined. (Note: I dispise blogger because it always messes up the format of my posts...so please excuse the messed up format that I don't have time to fix). Feel free to click the pictures for a larger version.

Iphone photos

Real life = bullet point blog post

I give up on telling a story about each event that happens in life. However, I saw a blog the other day that seemed more feasible for me. The woman simply stated all of the events/happenings/changes/normal day to day life things/etc. on her blog. I think I can do that! Its not that I don't want a blog or that I don't want to have something to look back on, but somehow blogging is never at the top of my "to do" list. I'll give a bullet-point blog a try. :) Here's what is currently happening in this Chisum house. -Matt is working at Pacific Coast Skydive in San Diego, CA. -He has been trying to build hours for the past 5 years and we are hopeful that he is almost to the point of having a steady job that we can stick with for a while. -I am staying home with Skylar. -Most days we find ourselves at the Park, Beach, San Diego Zoo, Water World, or out with friends. -Skylar is 18 months old and as busy as ever. -Sky is a chatterbox and will repeat anything (watch what you say!) -Matt's Grandma Betty passed away on July 5th, but we are rejoicing that she is now in heaven dancing with the angels! -We got to see most of Matt's family when they were in SoCal for the funeral. -Skylar and I went to Colorado last month for a week. -We love our church (Shadow Mountain Community Church) and have gotten really involved in their Young Marrieds group (YMC). -We are enjoying living in such a temperate climate, but are itching for a good thunder/rainstorm and are already ready for fall! :) -This spring we were fortunate to have Matt's parents in San Diego for 5 weeks, Lance and Val came for a visit, my sister Mackenzie came for a visit, my parents came to visit, and Matts sister Jenn and her family came for a visit. I think I'm forgetting someone, but we have had a lot of company and its been great! -Tomorrow my college roommate Hannah, her hubby Joe and their 6 month old baby girl Ya'el are coming to visit. :) -I'll try to update more often!

Summer wrap-up

I was going to devote a post to each event that happened this summer; however, time got away from me and here we are in the end of November just now posting pictures from August.

My parents and my Grandma Jan came to visit us in Camarillo for a week. We had such a good time. It was so fun to see my Grandma with Skylar for the first time. "GiGi Jan" taught Skylar how to make noise going over bumps in the car (which she still does to this day), she helped her learn how to crawl on hands and knees and not only on her belly like an army man. It was also really cool to have 4 generations together and be able to get pictures of that. While they were there we were able to go to the beach a couple times, we also went to the Wings Over Camarillo Air Show, and made our way around the greater Ventura County area. It was so fun to spend time with them.




Our little Family at Emma Wood Beach



Grandpa Hal and Skylar at the beach



Skylar thinks her "Gran-B" is pretty funny. Love this full-body laugh




4 Generations: (l to r) Chisum, Chisum, Simmons, Niskanen


My Aunt Sally and Uncle Doug also came to visit us in Camarillo. Unfortunately, Matt had to work the whole time they were there, but we had a great time exploring the area. We went to the beach each day, we also ate at Neptunes Net, which has great people watching and lots of greasy, yummy food.



Great Aunt Sally and Skylar at the beach
(Can't seem to find my picures of Uncle Doug and Skylar, but they had a blast together. We went to the Camarillo Farmers Market and Doug showed Skylar all there was to see...she got to touch most of it too!


My Sister also came to visit. We had a great weekend full of girly stuff. Stamping, Gilmore Girls, Nail Polish, etc. Sadly it was grey the whole time she was there so the beach was a little chilly. We did go, but we didn't stay too long and we don't have pictures to prove it.



Auntie Mack and Skylar in the courtyard at our house.

As I look at these pictures I'm reminded of how nice it was to live somewhere warm for a time. Love the green grass, flipflops and sand. However, I am thankful to be where we are now, in Colorado, because we are much closer to my family.

One day perhaps I will be a blogger....

Until then, I'll have random blog posts that usually only happen when some BIG event occurs. Like this one!

We moved, again, back to Colorado.

We are now living in a cute farmhouse that sits in the middle of a field....currently planted in Winter Wheat. (pictures to come....if I get around to it, haha!)

Matt is working for Walter Angus and Walter Farms. He will also be doing some flight instructing on the weekends.

So far Matt has been working a TON and Skylar and I have been trying to get our house set up.

This weekend my aunt and uncle, Sally and Doug, are comign to visit. The following Friday is Matts brother Jon's thesis defense! He has been studying Microwave Engineering at CU and will be graduating SOON! A good portion of Matts family will be in town for that, and we are excited that Mama and Papa C will be staying with us for the following week. :)

Skylar is doing so great these days. A little update on her...she has 6 teeth in, she sits, stands, "cruises" around furniture, she loves to play, she loves the heat vents in our house, she is still a bad sleeper, she still hates naps, but she has started taking an occasional "long" nap...which is SO nice. She loves to laugh, she hates when Matt goes to work, she loves to drive the truck (yup, learning young)....

I will try to get some pictures up soon. That's all for now!

City Fair

I have a bit of catching up to do as far as the ol' bloggity blog goes...so, I guess I've got to start somewhere!

Matt, Skylar and I heard on the radio that the Ventura County Fair was happening. We also heard that they were having $1 admission day, so we chose to go.




Being the cheapskates that we are we chose to park where it was free and walk. Now, not that I don't enjoy walking and all, but it seemed to be quite a walk (on the way back I clocked it on my jogging app and it said 1.75 miles, ONE way).

Well, we walked in, paid $2.00 total...headed straight past all of the vendors and the rides in search of the animals. Much to our dismay there weren't very many there...and, as you can imagine on a day when admission is only $1/person (usually something like $13/person) the place was PACKED. We found ourselves a little overwhelmed and chose to escape out a back gate we found.

Our total time in the Fair was probably no more than 40 minutes. However, what this did do was give Matt the bug for a corn dog. So instead of spending $6.50 for one corndog, we (cheapskates, again) chose to go to the store and buy 16 for $4.99.




One thing we saw on the walk home from the fair was this trailer who was obviously there for the week, "camping." We generally see the people who are staying in their trailers for fair week stuck in some nasty, dusty, back lot where nobody would want to really live but its the best places they've got. This guy had a sweet location, about 25 feet from the sand! Definitely not something I've seen before!




A shot of my cute boy and pretty little girl on our walk back to the truck.


All in all it was a very different "county fair" experience for us. However, it was pretty cool to see how they do it around here! I'm sure our time there would have been a bit less hectic if we hadn't gone on dollar day!