The Wery's visit

Tami up and moved away a few months ago but got the chance to come back and visit family and friends for Christmas. It was good to see her, wish she could have stayed around longer.

Now if only we could get her to keep her eyes open for the flash.

Lights

And that is all.

All about Isabella

Christmas this year was all about Isabella:) She was just a couple months old last year so she had a little more fun this time. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. She had fun but didn't pay attention to any one thing for too long. Even her new little piano only got played for a couple minutes.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Gift exchange

Sunday evening a few of us got together to do a gift exchange. We did this in college so it was fun to do it again with a new group of friends. We all went to Target and put our name on a $10 bill then we all drew one and had an hour to buy a gift for that person. Luckily Redlands has a great selection of stores in the Target shopping center so we had plenty of stores to choose from. Duncan got Jenn, Jenn got Duncan. Christina got Brad, Brad got Stephanie, Stephanie got Matthew. Then Erica and I got each other. It was fun to hang out and do something fun. And you don't have to feel obligated to buy presents for everyone. Erica and Matthew are off to Hawaii tomorrow so we had to do it before they left. Here are a few photos from the evening.

Trip to Catalina Island

Stephanie and I had a wonderful weekend on Catalina Island. It was our first time there and we deifinitely want to go back. It's such a beautiful little place. If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. On our hour boat ride over, we saw a whole bunch of dolphins. They were all jumping out of the water which was very cool. They seemed pretty small and darker than what I normally see. Maybe I need to study up on them.

Catalina Island

Stephanie and I are going to Catalina Island this weekend for our 6th anniversary. It's supposed to rain this weekend but hopefully I will be able to get some photos of the island. I hope you all have a great weekend and I will talk to you next week.

70 m.p.h. winds

Yesterday morning we were woken from our sleep at 7:50. Our neighbor was calling us to let us know that our tree had fallen in the front yard.

Luckily it's not a really big tree, but it was a pain to get upright again. One of the few times we tried to get it up, some guy jumped out of his car and ran over to help us. I was buried under the limbs so all he saw what Stephanie trying to lift this tree by herself. He was a huge help and we appreciated it very much. I was able to get some strap on it to hold it to the fence. Later that night, one of the straps broke and it fell over again. So I went to town with the trimmers and was able to get it back up by myself. It's amazing how heavy all those small branches can be. It was still standing this morning so it should be good. But it may take a while for the roots to take again. Time will tell. Hopefully the Santa Ana winds won't last too much longer.

Crystal Cathedral and the CHP

Saturday after church, Stephanie and I drove to the Cryatal Cathedral for their Glory of Christmas play. It was a nice production even though I am not much into song and dance. But if you get a chance to go, you should.



While we were waiting for it to start, we got the chance to view the Ken Duncan Exhibition. What a great photographer. Dr. Robert H. Schuller has done some writing in his books so it was a fitting place to show his work. This was one of my favorite photos from the whole exhibit.



On our way home, we were driving on the 91 in the fast lane when all of the sudden, the road got really rough, or so we thought. Then it occured to me, we have a flat tire. So I made my way to the shoulder and got out to find this...

What a great way to finish off the evening. But that wasn't all...

I was almost done putting the spare on and in the process of getting ready to go when Stephanie and I heard some screaching tires really close to us. We look up to see a car and an SUV braking in order to not hit the stopped Jetta, yes, stopped car in the slow lane. Southern California interstates are not the place to just be stopping on. It seems this couple was having an argument in the car and he, with all the intelligence in the world, decided to stop. And when he did, she jumped out and started walking on the shoulder. He proceeded to pull out of the lane of traffic, jump out through passenger door and start chasing her around the car grabbing her trying to get her back to the car. At that point, I started running toward them just in case. I got about half way there when he let go and started walking back to his car. He saw me and with all the noise, I can't tell you what exaclty he said to me, but I don't thank it was thanks for watching out for my girl. Anyway, by that time, Stephanie was dailing 911 and I was running back to the car to take the air compressor hose off of the spare tire. It was already at 50 p.s.i. The last thing I needed was another blown tire. We threw the rest of the stuff in the car, jumped in, and started off toward the Jetta who was now driving on the shoulder next to the girl trying to talk to her. She didn't want anything to do with him. Mind you, he was in a suit and she was in a dress. We followed them for about a 1/4 mile or so into a weigh station when the CHP showed up. I was trying to wave them around me but they weren't about to just jump into this one. They told all of us over their loud speaker to keep our hands outside the car. So we sat there for a few minutes while the two CHP officers crept up the to Jetta with guns drawn. They got the guy out of the car, frisked him, put the cuffs on, then put him in their cruiser. The one car drove ahead to find the girl while the other one got our statement. After that, we were free to go. For some reason, we think we were in the right place at the right time. I don't enjoy buying new tires but I think it was worth it since we have no idea what could have happened. Hopefully we don't get any calls to be a witness in some civil dispuit case. And I'm hoping the guy didn't get our licene place number. :)

(PRODUCT) RED

While I was in Vegas, I went by gap and picked up a (RED) t-shirt and a photo book. You can read more about the fight against AIDS in Africa here.

Las Vegas

I spent the last week at the Paris/Bally's hotel in Las Vegas for a work convention. It was fun to get out of the office but it is very nice to be home. Not much to say about the week. Here are some photos I took of the city.



This is what people start seeing when they play the slot machines for too long. I'm not a gambler so none of my money was put in any machine.

Loch Leven

In order to work off some of that food we ate at the Woosley's, Brad, Jenn, Stephanie, and I went for a bike ride on Friday, the 24th. The first half was all up hill and I'm way out of shape to be doing it, but it was a very nice day and well worth it. Besides a few bumps and bruises the girls acquired on the ride, it was a good ride. Here we are at our half way point. Thanks goodness for down hill.

Thanksgiving

I have been out of town for the last week so updating my blog was not possible. Now I get to play catch up.


On Thanksgiving day we had the pleasure of going to the Woosley's house. Christina, Duncan, Isabella, Eric, and Laura also came. It was fun hanging out and eating way too much yummy food. Although I greatly missed my dads pie:) Here is the whole group. It took a few tries to get everyone in the shot.


Below is one of the tasties parts of the holiday season, next to Pepperment ice cream. This is what we call Fat Jello because if you eat too much of it, you get fat. Simple enough, right?
And of course, Christina's yams. I'm not usually a big fan but when you add olive oil, rosemary, and garlic, mmmmmm.

While we were waiting to eat, we all helped Brad get started shooting his first short movie.
And below is the star of the movie, Duncan.
I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. Only 3 weeks till Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Be safe and enjoy your day.

My new Jeep

I had to share pictures of my new TJ. Pretty sweet huh. I'm ready to fight all these fires here in Southern CA.

New cell phone

I finally got a new cell phone. I didn't think I would like it at first but it's turning out to be a nice phone. And of course, it has a camera:) Stephanie didn't think I would use it. What camera don't I use?

Sabbath Afternoon

This past Saturday a few of us drove up to Camp Cedar Falls. It is on the way to Big Bear for us, just past Angelus Oaks. We wanted to go for a hike to the apple orchard, but didn't make it and it's a good thing since the rain rolled in on our way back down the mountain. But it was nice to get out. We don't have the fall colors that some places but our's will do. I will start off by showing you some nature photos. I just got a new lens and I had to try it out. Yes there are a lot of them but I couldn't narrow it down to just a couple. I will have to break it up into a few entries.

Gotta love a happy log.

Nature continued

Nature continued...people edition