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.