Christmas Day

What can I say about Christmas. It was family time at Christina and Duncan's once again with more family from Georgia. Isabella was bombarded with presents while Duncan and I played with our new Nerf guns:) We were eventually told to settle down:(

I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to remember the true meaning of the day.


These are the faces of video game addicts. This is was the introduction of Nintendo Wii will do to you. Like father like daughter. And theres not a competetive bone in either of them.
And a special Merry Christmas from Duncan and I:)

Disneyland

I'm not the biggest fan of Disney. Yeah, it's cool and all but I'm not a roller coaster guy, even though I've ventured out since meeting Stephanie, and personally I feel they have too many witches and ghosts and stuff to be the happiest place on earth, but whatever. My in-laws were in town for Christmas so Duncan, Christina, Isabella, the in-laws, Stephanie, and I all made the hour trek to Anaheim. First things first, we rode Small World three times in a row for Isabella. They have it all decorated for Christmas and they even sing Christmas songs. Oh what fun it was:) Mind you, I'm keeping an open mind here so stay with me. We got to ride the cars, and the new Nemo submarines. It was fun and all but those speakers in the sub were crazy loud. Next time I'm taking ear plugs like Duncan. After a while, Stephanie, her dad, and I ventured off to ride Pirates, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain did it for me and my stomach. Every time I'm reminded why I say no. It was fun though. At the end of the day, a few of us went to see the 50 years of Disney video done by Steve Martin and Donald Duck. If you go to Disney, check it out, it's pretty neet to see how it all started. Then we finished the day by riding the train around the park. It was a fun day...and I'm sure it will be repeated soon because the in-laws got us season passes for Christmas:)

This is Isabella's first ride on Small World. It took about a third of the ride to warm up to it. She went on it a total of five times that day.

This is Gampa on the Nemo ride.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us!

Chattanooga, TN

I had not been back to Chattanooga since me moved to CA three and a half years ago so it was nice to go back for a visit, even though CA will always be home. My mom was having a surgery so I surprised her. She actually had it while I was in San Diego but five days after had to do. I took the red eye flight from Ontario, CA to Atlanta, GA on Friday evening. It was only a three and a half hour flight so that was really nice. I was scheduled to be in Atlanta for about four hours before my next flight to Chattanooga but Stephanie suggested I ask if there was an earlier flight. Since I only had a carry on, I was good to go and got to Chattanooga before my original flight was supposed to take off. My sister and her family came and picked me up and took me back to their house in Ooltewah. It's nice to see so much of the I-75 construction done. A couple hours later we headed downtown to the hospital to see my mom. Needless to say she was very surprised to see me. The week was spent hanging out, seeing friends, eating at restaurants I have missed, etc., etc. While I was there I got to take some photos of my sister, niece, nephew, and mom.

This is the Morrisons and I before Tim headed out in his truck.

Thanks for the hospitality, it was great to see you all and just hang out and do nothing, but a lot all at the same time.

And to my Unum peeps, it was great to see you all, sorry I missed a few of you and sorry you have to be back in the tiny cubicles. Keep in touch.

San Diego

The Sunday following Thanksgiving, I dropped Stephanie off in Calistoga for her early recruiting trip for Loma Linda University and headed home. I was pulling a trailer for a project I will be starting soon so I had to drive slower than normal. On the grapevine I lost both fenders and my magnetic stop lights. I drove two hours home with my hazards on making sure everyone around me saw me. Then when I got home I realized I had lost the nut to the ball on my hitch. Needless to say it was a long trip home and one I hope to never repeat. But I made it home safely. I got about four hours of sleep then headed down to San Diego for a conference for work. I spent four days there then headed home to meet up with Stephanie for a day before my next adventure started.

Here is the view from my room on the 18th floor of the Marriott.

Thanksgiving 2007

Lets go back a month to Thanksgiving. Stephanie and I traveled up north to spend Thanksgiving with some of my family. It was cold in Healdsburg but it was very nice. If it wasn't for the rain, I wouldn't mind living up there. I think I could get used to the cold again. But for now, S. CA will have to do:) We spent Thanksgiving day at my step-sisters in St. Helena. They live on a beautiful piece of property and it was warm enough to have dinner in the front yard. It was really fun spending time with Karen, Haley, and Michaels family.

Thanks Karen for your hospitality, it was nice to see you all again.

So behind

I'm so behind on my blog right now. I traveled to Northern CA for Thanksgiving, home for a night, then traveled to San Diego for a 4 day conference, home for a day, then flew to TN for 8 days then finally made it home. I've since been busy with Christmas stuff, Disneyland, anniversary, trying to sell a car, etc, etc. I will be getting photos up soon, I just wanted to let you all know I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas next week and a very Happy New Year. May 2008 be a wonderful year for you all.

Jimmy Fallon

My friend in Maryland just forwarded me a photo and a little story. She was eating with a bunch of friends in Baltimore and happened to see Jimmy Fallon. He graciously took a photo with the group. She is two heads from his right shoulder. How cool is that.

Fog

The fog was ridiculous on our way to work yesterday. Between our dust storms and this, it can make it hard to drive at times.

Our Soldiers

This was forwarded to me via email and I thought it was a great idea. Take 5 minutes of your day, write out a note and stick it in the mail. And it doesn't have to be for Christmas, just send a thank you or a word of encouragement.

A truly great idea that was sent to me by a friend...

When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:

A Recovering American soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Cute little Bumble Bee

Isabella did a little trick or treating this afternoon...is she not the cutest little Bee you've ever seen?

She turned 2

Isabella's birthday festivities started at Sabbath School on Sabbath morning. She was sporting her new Gymboree outfit and looked quite cute. She loves blowing out candles so this was the perfect thing for her.
I love this picture, it just makes me laugh:)
Sunday morning we headed over to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out a pumkin and to go to the petting zoo. She loves feeding the animals and was quite friendly with the sheep. The goats were a little pushy, but the sheep were nice.
Then she headed home for a nap while we set up for her party. As you can see, she loved her cake. Spoons just don't cut it when you can put your face in it.
Next it was out to her new swing set. She loved it. I think her mommy and daddy made a good choice.
All in all it was a very fun weekend. I hope you had a great birthday Isabella. We hope you have many, many, many, many more. Maybe in the next couple years a little brother or sister can help you celebrate:)

Lots of Dust and Dirt

Last night we got home from Isabella's birthday party to lots and lots of dirt. It was all over our cars, it was all over our porch, it had blown over our BBQ, it was blowing in the cracks in our front door weather stripping, and the wind had blown our tree down...AGAIN. It was just nasty. Here is a video of what it looked like this morning.

Apples, Apples, Apples

So last night we all got together and ate the apples we picked last week. We had apple cake, apple crist, apple muffins, carmel apples, apple sauce, and sliced apples with some kind of yummy dip. And the kids had apple juice, but that was from a box, provided by Juicy Juice.

Here are a few food items from the evening. It was really fun trying new stuff, if you ever get bored, try it with a group of friends sometime.

Cedar Falls

This past Sabbath a group of us went up to Camp Cedar Falls for a hike. It was another beautiful S. CA fall day. Our goal was to pick apples in the apple orchard a mile or so down the trail. It was well worth the hike because this next weekend we are all getting together to share what we made with our apples. It should be very tasty.

Have a great week.

SD Wild Animal Park

We went to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego again. Isabella had fun chasing the deer around in the petting area, we got to see a cute little week old elephant from a distance, took the tram ride through the Journey into Africa, rested a little in the shade, then headed home. All in all it was a pretty good day.
And here is Isabella taking pictures. It's so cute, she takes off her sunglasses, takes off her hat, turns the camera the right way, and presses the button. She got a lot of great shots yesterday, but that finger kept getting in the way:)

Gina

This past Sunday I got to photograph Gina, my 3rd FREE photo session. Gina had not had any pictures done of her in a while and she wants to surprise her mom with some. She also took the opportunity to include a very special wedding present she received from a family member of her husband...a violin. I think it fit in quite nicely, don't you think.

Thanks Gina, I hope you like them.