fun in the sun

friday ben took me on a hike in torrey pines.. it's a great hike that has an awesome view of the ocean..



the whole time i felt like i was in an episode of lost.. i kept look around to see if i could find 'the others'

happy hikers

and for the perfect end to a perfect day - my friend danni - who is an amazing massage therapist- came over to give me the most wonderful hour and a half hot stone massage.. i could not have been happier or more relaxed..

taking advantage

sometimes ben and i forget how lucky we are to live in southern california.. today was a gorgeous warm day -
so we took advantage and met up with our friend stacey and her fam - and we all headed down to moonlight beach and had us some beach fun, and ended up with with great food around a bonfire..

carson running from the waves..


ben and carson making a sand castle

ben, maddison, and carson - ben was the king of making smores tonight..

at night it got a little chilly - so we snuggled up by the fire..

nice sunset

click on the picture to see it full screen and see the sail boat in the sunset.

we are just cute...

This picture requires no explanation.

It is done...

The major remodel of 2008 (and a little of 2009) is done...mostly

Still have to put up blinds, but thats about it. The shower door was installed yesterday and now we can use our awesome shower. The room looks great. We are very happy with it. It was A LOT of work, but it came out really nice.

Here are some more pics

More fun with Brandon and Chelsea

i think i'm still recovering from our adventures with Brandon and Chelsea. But it was so much fun. Here is the gang at Disneyland outside of our new favorite ride "Midway Mania" and if Brandon and Chelseas kids are reading this, No your parents did not go to Disneyland without you and they love you very much.

we are so cute. and Chara is pretty too.

Brandon and Ben working on a turkey leg

and before all of that we hit up our friend Mike's birthday poker party where Chelsea kicked ass and took 4th place out of 47 people. Here she is at the final table going all with aces and getting beat by the guy next to her with an off suite jack eight. Yeah he took out the next guy with an off-suite ten four. He was just lucky.

10 happy years

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary. Yep. 10 years. can you believe it? We are going on a cruise for our anniversary but are waiting for it to be a little warmer. So for a quick getaway we headed up to Solvang for a little visit and some wine tasting.
Our friends Brandon and Chelsea decided to come down for last minute visit and crash our anniversary. They just keep inviting themselves along places and we can't stop them. (actually we love them) Here they are tasting some wine.
and some more.
and then we hit the "As Seen On TV" store and bought some crap
and we ran into a HUGE dog. 170 pounds and growing.
walking down Solvang
then we hit Santa Barbara on the way home
a bird
a bigger bird
and then i took my wife out to a nice romantic dinner at In and Out. Yep i'm a classy guy. we took Flat Stanley with us.
10 happy years. Here is to 10 more.

lost and found..

ben and i adopted keaton about 10 years ago from a humane society - and we were never really sure what kind of dog she was.. after years of having her we guessed we had a rodhesian ridgeback - but were never really sure.. a couple weeks ago i was walking around a flee market in la - when i saw someone walking a dog that looked excatly like my dog.. so i had to ask - what kind of dog it was..turns out these people had what they called a 'boerboel'


when researching boerboels - i learned that this breed is a mix of Rhodesian ridgeback, bull dog, and bull mastiff - which all look a little like my puppy - and all the research said that boerboels are very good watch dogs, loyal, and loved children - which are all very true of my puppy - but - when i read that these dogs 'require an extraordinary amount of human attention and companionship' - i knew i had found my dog..



yep. Thats our 100 pound lap dog that must be sitting on your lap at all times

New Years Eve 2008

Twas the party of the year. Or at least the end of the year. Poor Chara had to work that day so we did not get to the party until very late, but there were still many good times to be had.

Here is Chara, Rhianon and LoanJosh, our gracious host, and Chara
Earnest, Daniel and Chara
Rhinanon with all her drinks
a nice kiss for me
Earnest and his milk dance
Josh and i dueling it out with our cameras. Mine survived the night. His...not so much.
Earnest and Chara
late in the evening everyone crashing on the couch
it was a great party. we are all really tired today.

Happy new year everyone!