Big Pine.

A few months back we went camping at Big Pine campgrounds. It was a really beautiful campground.We are so spoiled from backpacking with not having a lot of other people around or noise. But this camp wasn't too bad. I'm sure it depends on who is at the campground, but our experience was a good one, thankfully! We hiked a trailhead down the road that was super pretty and we're thinking about backpacking it next summer.  It was a fun little trip and so amazingly beautiful.  

Dont mind my huge bruise. It's from my giant dog... we found out he doesn't like pools...

My Happy Place.

One of my most favorite things to do is to go backpacking. There's something about just being outside with NO crowds and experiencing all that was created. Confession, I'm still pretty new to backpacking...the first time I ever backpacked was about 3 years ago maybe 4. But after that first time my husband and I were hooked and there is no going back.

 We hiked to Baboon Lakes which in the Sabrina Basin in the Eastern Sierra Nevada recently. It was amazing! It was a pretty high elevation, with some pretty steep sections but it was well worth the burn! Some of the "steps" reminded me of Frodo and Sam climbing to Mount Doom. (You know, from Lord of the Rings... duh) We've gotten caught in thunderstorms and hail before but this time the hike up was perfect. The weather is always so unpredictable in the mountains so it was nice not getting rained on. The water from the lake was probably the best water I've ever had. I get weird about my water, like I hate Arrowhead water it tastes weird to me. So I'm always worried about what the water will taste like, well this was the best water ever! So fresh I wish I could filter it straight to my house.

 The day we left it did hail on us while hiking down, it was pretty cool... it doesn't hail much in Southern California so we welcome crazy weather. (When we're leaving)

Our house, in the middle of the Street.(Not really)

Two years ago(whoa, time flies!) my husband and I bought our first home. Buying a home is a pretty crazy/scary experience. I mean, it's a lot of money! It definitely gave me major anxiety, and was stressful at times. It took us about 8-9 months to find a house we liked AND get our offer excepted. That was the hard part! (Dang people who would buy houses for cash and flip them!) There were times I just wanted to give up and rent for ever! I mean, renting is so much easier than owning something, right?! If a pipe burst you just have to tell the owner, ya know... So, we had to broaden our search on cites...We wanted to be in Costa Mesa/Huntington Beach area(by the beach). So we decided to come inland a bit and boom we found our home in Orange, California. It's a big fixer upper and I love it.
I'm hoping to share our experience as new homeowners & do it yourselfers though this blog. And I hope you enjoy reading and seeing our home as we DIY our way through it! In the below photos is our home with a new roof. There was a shake roof(wooden shingles) before and we had to get it redone to get our home insured! We also had to get it repainted to get it insured too :/ We figured, well we wanted it done anyway so oh well. But there's something annoying when you HAVE to do something. It all worked out though, it always does.
We also got our lawn & driveway redone.The driveway had a big crack in it from the cypress trees next to it. And the lawn didn't have a sprinkler system in it.  We did this last year.
The house has come a long way and I'm very pleased with how it's coming along!

 If you have any DIY home experiences please share them with me! It's one of my most favorite things!