Merry Christmas To All!

Our Tree

Our Christmas Weekend

We stayed in San Diego this year for Christmas and spent our time with friends and Mike's grandmother, Enid. We went to see How The Grinch Stole Christmas in Balboa Park, which is an annual event in San Diego. It was a fantastic performance. Mike and I also broke in our new wetsuits today scuba diving in the La Jolla Cove. We stayed nice and warm until the end of the dive, but only our hands and feet started to get cold. It also helped that it was 77 degrees outside today!

At a dinner party

Mike & Enid outside the Old Globe before seeing The Grinch

Santa Came Early

Santa came early for us this year! We got new wetsuits for diving! They are super cool! I think we are going to try and break them in Christmas Eve.

T-Bird's Pictures

Hello Everyone! A while back, Theresa had some super cool bridal photos taken. Since WE (yes, I was involved) were planning a Kansas wedding from California, this was one of the things that didn’t quite fit into the schedule during all the madness. Anyway, we finally got the pictures and I think they are awesome!!! This is my favorite one but check em’ out here if you have a sec.

Winter Camping in California

The campgrounds along the beach in Carlsbad (about 15 minutes from our house) are usually pretty crowded and reserved far in advance. We decided in Sept to camp at Carlsbad State Beach this weekend. The campsites are on a bluff overlooking the ocean.

We happened to chose the weekend of the winter storm that is dumping rain, ice, and snow all over the U.S. San Diego was being warned that monsoonal rain and mudslides were possible. While packing the car, a neighbor thought we were crazy to be going camping in this weather! We had to cancel our last camping trip, because of the wildfires, so we didn't really want to cancel this trip.

We were supposed to camp all weekend, but Mike didn't get back from his class in Vegas until Friday evening. When we first arrived at the campground Saturday afternoon, there weren't too many people there. We set up camp and started a fire.

It was COLD! In other words, it was 50 degrees and there was a strong wind coming off the ocean. It sprinkled on us a few times and finally rained for a while once we decided to turn in for the night. But, we managed to stay dry in our tent.

For dinner, we had hot dogs and smores roasted over the campfire.

Instead of packing up the car in the morning and heading to the local coffee shop, we made our own coffee over the campfire! We weren't prepared enough for breakfast, so we settled for a breakfast burrito on the way home.

These are the stairs that go down to the beach. This picture was taken during high tide, so there wasn't much of a beach Sunday morning.

Freedom and Love Swim

Hello all, I wanted to give a quick note about my bro Joe. He’s doing great and he and his wife, Sarah, always have some sort of adventure/great idea in the works. His latest endeavor is called the “Freedom and Love Swim”. Enjoy!

http://thefreedomandlove.com/index.html

KU Basketball in Cali!

We went up to LA for the KU-USC game with Zac and Jama this past Sunday and enjoyed a KU win!

We are in The Knot Magazine

Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We visited Mike's family in Missouri for the long weekend. It wasn't a good weekend for Kstate or KU football...no bowl for Kstate and no national championship bowl for KU....bummer!

After the holiday weekend, I extended my holiday a little and went to Las Vegas with my mom for her 50th birthday. I won a little on the slots and we went to see "O" at the Bellagio. The Vegas Strip is on the upgrade, there is a lot of construction. There is a new mega resort going up next to Monte Carlo and lots of current places are adding more towers to their resorts.

Now on to something fun! Our wedding was chosen to be featured in the Kansas/Missouri edition of The Knot a while back. We filled out a questionnaire and submitted our photos. We just received our copies today, so they should be up in the stores soon. It's the Spring edition. Check out our article below. You should be able to read the print by clicking on each picture and then clicking on open.

Cruise to Mexico

We made it back from our cruise, fully rested and a couple pounds heavier! We really enjoyed our cruise and found it to be very relaxing as well as fun. We had no cell phones or internet for a whole week!! We also ate a lot of food. You can have a 5 course meal for dinner every night. We had lots of dessert too!

We had a good dive in Cabo, our second time diving there. This time we saw a school of manta rays, a sea turtle, and a seahorse as well as lots of fish! The water there is still warm this time of year. After our dive, we had lunch and then went to a tequila bar!

In Mazatlan, we hiked to the top of El Faro Lighthouse, the second tallest in the world. The lighthouse wasn't all that spectacular itself, but the views were pretty nice. We worked up a good sweat, which was needed to burn off some calories! After our hike, we had lunch and toured around the city in an open air taxi.

Puerto Vallarta is very pretty. We went into the canopy and tried out the zip lines. We also got to rappel down a waterfall. It was very fun and exciting, probably the best thing we did on the trip.

Besides the 3 ports, we had 3 full days at sea. There were always tons of activities to chose from. We, of course, had to play bingo. I can't believe Mike had never played before and asked me how to play! We met lots of people onboard and everyone was super nice. It was sort of fun meeting people and then seeing them later on the ship and waving at someone you sort of knew. We think it would be lots of fun to go on a cruise with friends, so if anyone wants to go on a cruise...

Of course, Mike and I always take sooo many pictures, so feel free to check them out here!

Getting Back To Normal and First Anniversary Approaching

Most residents have been allowed back in their homes in San Diego. The air quality is not very good, it's getting better now, but we have been told not to spend much time outside for a few days. We also have been conserving power to prevent blackouts. Mike is also out today with his co-workers helping move elderly back to the hospital he works for that was evacuated.

Mike spent most of the day back home cleaning up our balconies that were covered in ash. The cats all went back to their favorite spots and have been sleeping a lot.

We want to thank Matt for letting us stay at his house while we were evacuated. If it wasn't for him, we would have probably been staying at Qualcomm.

On a lighter note, our first anniversary is coming up and we are going on a cruise down to Mexico. Our stops include Cabo San Lucas, where we are going to dive; Matzatlan, where we are going to explore on our own; and Puerta Vallarta, where we are going rappelling and zip lining. This will be a first time cruise for both of us. We'll post some pictures when we get back.

We are cruisin to Mexico for our Anniversary!

Heartbreaking Video

A local reporter, Larry Himmel, reported his house as it was burning down. It is so sad that so many people lost their homes.

The fire did actually come within 10 miles north of our home. During our time being evacuated, we actually were talking about whether we'd stay and buy again or move out of state. Thank goodness it didn't come down to that. However, it is a little hard to be happy knowing others weren't so fortunate.

We are back home!

Just wanted to let everyone know we are back home and safe and sound! Thanks for all well wishes.

Still Evacuated

We've been receiving lots of messages from friends and family and we appreciate all your concerns and thoughts. I just wanted to update you on the situation with us.

We are still not allowed to go home tonight. Del Mar residents were allowed to go home, but only west of the 5. We are on the east side of the 5 and are not able to get back home quite yet. (I made a green dot and pointed an arrow at about where we live, click on map for larger view).



The officials seem to think things are looking up as far as the wind dying down and the humidity levels rising. Therefore, we are hoping to be able to move back home tomorrow.

I'll update when we get back home.

We Had To Evacuate

I would have never thought those pictures we took yesterday would have lead to such an enormous fire that would cause us to evacuate. Anyway, we went to sleep last night (Sun night) and the fire was still an hour away from us and woke up to it being a lot closer than we'd expected. Within a half hour of waking up, we were being evacuated from our home. I had to work and Mission Valley was in no danger, so we packed up the cats and a few belongings and headed there. I worked all day as Mike hung out at a coffee shop across the parking lot watching live streaming video online. The cats were with me in our private bathroom in the pharmacy and let me tell you, they weren't happy.

After closing the pharmacy, we decided to head to one of Mike's friend's place, in Vista, north of the fire that is threatening our area. We are staying the night here. Hopefully, we'll be able to go home tomorrow and won't have to evacuate anymore. I don't think the cats can take another transport...ha ha!

For more info on the fires out here, visit http://www.cbs8.com/. They have pretty good maps of the areas burning and under evacuation. Our condo is located in the lower left corner of the mandatory evacuation zone right above the 56 and east of the 5 for the Witch Creek Fire.

Santa Ana Winds = Fires!

Here are some views around our condo today as the Santa Ana Winds are causing several fires across the state. The fire is an hour away, but the winds are pretty strong today, bringing smoke to our area with ashes falling in the sky. Pretty crazy!

Kansas Visit

Mike and Brant drinking schooners at Louise's Downtown

I realized how beautiful Kansas can be while I was there visiting last week. I spent some of my early years growing up there and also spent my college years there. I would always say that I never wanted to live in Kansas after college, because I hated summers there. It gets so hot and muggy! But, while I was there last week, I noticed that you could see hundreds of miles all around you and see different weather patterns building up or moving across the state. I saw some great sunsets, farmland, cows, and I even got to ride a horse. I'm not saying I'm ready to move back to Kansas at all, I just realized how cool Kansas can be.


Mike's name on the wall at Jock's Nitch, where he used to work in college

I got to spend some time with my mom and sister and friends from Pharmacy School. I went to the Kstate-Colorado game with an old roommate that I hadn't seen in several years. Mike got to spend some time with his friends from KU also. We also walked around KU campus on a Sunday afternoon and realized that we had both been going to classes in buildings across from one another. The Pharmacy School and Business School are right across from each other on campus.


Mike standing in the KU Campanile

Fishing and Football

Since I'm on vacation for 12 days, I have a couple of minutes to update the blog.

We went sea fishing and to a Chiefs game (at the Chargers Stadium) last weekend. Saturday we went on a 1/2 day fishing adventure and had a lot of fun. I caught the first fish of the day, even though Mike will say he doesn't remember who caught the first. And I caught the most, 2 to his 1. They were just Mackrels, but it was a lot of fun reeling them in to the boat.


We are fishing off the back of the boat

Bait tanks and everyone's bags for catches, ours was empty :(

Sunday, we went to watch the Chargers-Chiefs game. As usual, Mike and I were cheering for opposite teams. There were a lot of fights and people getting kicked out around us, the Chargers fans are kinda mean. I can't imagine how it is when the Raiders are there, because I hear it gets pretty bad. I think I'll watch the game on TV next year. The Chiefs won though, yay for me.




This weekend we are off to Kansas for a wedding and I'll be staying all week while Mike comes back home for work. He'll meet back up with me in Kansas the following weekend for KU's Althletic Club's Alumni weekend.

P.S. It's my sister's 16th birthday today! Happy Birthday Brittney!

Brant's New Ping Pong Table

This picture is a couple of weeks old. We were back in Kansas for a Kstate game. Brant got his new ping pong table just in time for Mike to come break it in and run the table!

A Random Post About a Bird

So, I'm laying in bed this morning and I hear some commotion coming from the living room. I just assumed the cats were chasing each other. I heard a bird chirp and thought what if they have a bird in the house? We leave our balcony doors open all the time, for the breeze and so the cats can go in and out on the balcony. A few minutes later, I get up and come out and see some feathers on the floor. Our cats do like feathers and have toys that have feathers. I then look behind the door in the spare room and see a bird laying there. I assumed it was dead, but Disco decided he wanted to play with it some more and started patting at it.

All the sudden, the bird is flopping, and Disco picks it up in his mouth and takes it into the kitchen. I try to tell him to take it outside, but for some reason, he didn't listen to me. Mike tells me through IM (because he was at work) to sweep it up and take it outside. I bend down and the bird is still alive, but I can't tell if it's hurt. I slowly started to sweep it into the dust pan and he got up and flew over to the window and was dangling on the cord to the blinds. Disco at this point is definitely interested in playing again! I'm trying to keep the cats away and get this bird outside. I grab the broom and get the bird to get on the end of the broom. By the way this bird is very small, about the size of my palm (and I have small hands). He gets on the end of the broom and I take him out on the balcony and try to put him on a ledge. He ends up flying off the broom and back inside! I think he's above the kitchen cabinets, but they are too high for me to see above. So, I decide to let him rest and come out on his own.

I'd say about an hour goes by and I look up and see the bird sitting at the edge of the cabinet. I grab the broom and slowly try to get him to fly towards the balcony door. He ended up flying into that window again, but I was able to finally get him outside. I immediately closed the door so he wouldn't come back in again. He flew over to one of our plants outside and sat there a minute. Finally, he chirped and flew away. I hope he said Thank You!

That was one lucky bird. To have come into a house with 3 cats and survive!! Hopefully he'll make a full recovery and not ever come back again.

Labor Day Weekend in Cabo San Lucas

We stayed at the Hilton. Our room was really nice and had a spectacular view of the ocean and pool. We ended up spending quite a bit of time at the hotel. Most of the beaches in Cabo are not swimable due to the rough surf. We lounged at our pool a lot, it was really hot. Mike ended up getting a little sick the first day also, so we didn’t feel comfortable leaving the hotel until he was a little better. Our hotel was about a 25 minute drive into Cabo San Lucas, which was the only bad thing. We wished we would have rented a car.

Sunday, we were finally able to leave the hotel and go venture into Cabo. Our morning started with a dive. We dove out at 2 different places near The Arch; they were called Cortez’s Finger and Pelican Rock. The water was warmer than we are used to in San Diego. We saw lots and lots of fish, eel, starfish, and manta rays on the surface jumping out of the water!









We went on a dinner cruise Sunday evening. We actually hadn't seen The Arch yet, so I'm really glad we went on the cruise. The Arch is the end of the Baja peninsula where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. The cruise lasted about 2 and a half hours and took you down around The Arch and up the Pacific side a ways before coming back to the harbor. We met another couple from Texas, Adrian and Mary, and spent the whole time with them.

After the cruise, we went with Adrian and Mary to the Giggling Marlin and Cabo Wabo. These are 2 very popular places for tourists to visit. At the Giggling Marlin, there is a lot of crowd entertainment. Every so often, they come around with shot trays and stick a sombrero on your head and pour 2 shots down your throat. Aye Carumba!















I also felt my first earthquake in Cabo! We were in our room watching TV and the armour and everything in the room started shaking. We went out into the hall and no one seemed to have noticed. We asked 2 ladies that walked by if they felt the earthquake and they thought we were kidding. We almost thought maybe the whole thing was the result of something else until we heard later that La Paz had a 6.4 earthquake. La Paz is about an hour north of Cabo.

I'm glad we made it back home before the hurricane hit!

More pictures of Cabo here!

Weekend in Illinois

Seth's dad, Tejada and Mike in a corn field.


We were in Illinois over the weekend for my step-brother's wedding. We flew into Chicago on Thurs and landed 2 hours before their worst storm of the season hit. After landing at the airport, we drove down to Joliet and as soon as we got to our friend's house, it started raining and thundering. Living in San Diego, we don't get to see much of this action, so Mike and I grabbed a couple of chairs and a beverage and went out on the porch to watch the storm. The first round wasn't that bad, a little heavy rain, a little wind and a little thunder and lightning. A couple of hours later, it started up again, but this time, the tornado sirens went off and we all headed across the street to a neighbor's basement. For some reason, having to do with the land in the area, my friend's house didn't have a basement. It was a nice welcome back adventure!

The rest of the weekend consisted of attending the wedding and visiting with my dad and friends. Mike headed down to Decatur, Illinois to visit with Seth's parents and Tejada, who had flown in from San Francisco for the weekend.

Catalina Island

We went to Catalina Island with our friends, Zac and Jama, on Saturday. It's about an hour and a half boat ride from one of the LA area ports. We had lunch and went to a beach club where we snorkeled and relaxed in the sun most of the afternoon. We later checked out Avalon and had a few drinks at a local bar, Luau Larry's, where Mike got his cool straw hat. For dinner, we went to a little place on the pier that had fresh swordfish that was absolutely awesome.









More pictures here.