Vegas baby

Vegas was great. The Muse concert was amazing. Chara and i both getting sick was unplanned for and not all that appreciated. But we had a good time and are happy to be home

Christmas Desserts

Despite cutting my thumb with our new knives that are WAY too sharp, i still made some awesome desserts

Chocolate Eclair Dessert
Eclair Dessert recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 individual packages graham crackers
• 2 (3 ounce) packages instant french vanilla pudding mix
• 3 cups milk
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (16 ounce) package prepared chocolate fudge frosting

Directions

Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with graham crackers. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Stir well. Stir in whipped topping to pudding mixture. Spread mixture over graham cracker layer. Top with another layer of graham crackers (you can frost these too) and remaining pudding. Top all with a final layer of graham crackers and frost with chocolate frosting. Refrigerate until serving.

Apple Crumble Pie

This was just some apple crumble mix thing i bought at the store and added butter to. no recipe.

December Nights

December Nights in Balboa Park was awesome. We had a great time with friends, had some great food and just had a great time.

More Pumpkins

Pumpkin Carving party

The Nail and Sail

OK here's the gist. You get 2 hours, a limited ammount of materials (wood, nails, caulk), you bring your own tools, and you build a boat, and then decorate it, and then sail it against the others

this was our first year of entering the Nail and Sail which was apart of Oceanside's Harbor days and it was a blast. We had so much fun...despite the outcome of the boat.

The 3 man build team consisted of myself, Joe and Kevyn

I know how to work a caulking gun

Joe rocking some lumberour boat coming together

Kevyn was the man with the woodworking

and this is what we made...

The team by our creation
All you need is love people...


And here was our epic sailing adventure caught on video:




And then our boat was in the dumpster...

next year we will win it all..

I love this...

Epic camping trip 2009

A little late in putting these up. so many good pictures from the trip.

We are home now from our epic camping trip of 2009. We went back up to Lake of the Woods OR and camped out there for about a week with all of our friends. Some came up from San Diego with us, some from OR and some from WA drove down. We had an amazing time hanging out with friends and enjoying some great weather and beautiful scenery.

Here I am hanging out in a new hammock i bought. Carson and Madison were helping me test it out.

Wrestling in the hammock did some fun things with static electricity.
Beautiful sunset on the lake our first day there. We had great weather and no rain.
Scotty and Manessa looking out over the lake.
Joe and Sophie Helen by the lake
All the little kids caught frogs
Chara with Carson
Joe rented a pontoon boat and we toured around the lake
Chara and Riley looking so cute
everyone on the boat having fun
All the kids had a great time
Stacey had to do a bit of work so she had her phone out a lot.
the kids loving the water. Actually it wasn't horribly cold.
see! not too cold. we all went swimming
we even bathed in the lake as there were no showers, much to Charas shegrin and desparate attempts to find one.
Stacey jumping in.
Stacey and Madison
the gang looking good
and the whole swimming gang
Then came the pie eating contest. Staceys aunt Sherie brought us up some amazing food and a couple of pies
the kids dug right in
even Riley
Then it was the boys turn...
we showed the kids how to do it
yummmmm
Joe was to not be outdone
i think James won though...
Staceys mom attacked Stacey with a piece of pie
Chara was not happy about the bug situation. There were no mosquitos thank goodness, but the gnats were not pleasant around dinner time. Here she is keeping them out of her cup
cute picture of Jerry and James around the campfire
and just a fun picture of James
Me telling stories around the fire
Chara and Chelsea by the fire
And the big group picture
the big group silly picture
the big group serious picture
Family picture - Stacey, Carson and Madison
Family picture - Scotty, Manessa, Marissa, and Hallie
Kids picture - Jonathan, Marissa, Cameron, Carson, Madison and Hallie
Family picture - Brandon, Chelsea, Jonathan and Cameron
Family picture - Joe, Sophie-Helen and Riley
Family picture - James and Jerry
Family picture - Ben and Chara
Family picture - Ben and Chara the rock star
Riley and Chara
James and Carson
and some wood chopping action
so strong
even stronger
teaching the boys
super tough
he's going to hurt himself
And our last day at the lake we had some beautiful mist and a nice cool 41 degree weather when we left.
and yes we went for a dip in the lake in the 41 degree weather before we left because we are hard core like that.
Awesome trip. Long drive home. Can't wait til next year