The Cook

So, we've been busy... But, just so you don't have to keep looking at the pancakes, here's the guy who cooked 80 lbs. of bacon and a million pancakes and his cute wife!

Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser - April 26th

Ryan and I would like to invite you ALL to the academy Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser! I am putting on the event with the help of some people on the family support group. Stacey made the cute tickets, which you'll have to see in person. We are selling $5 tickets for individuals and $20 family tickets. We realize you all won't be able to attend, but we'd love to have you if you can! (Or you can just make a donation even if you can't attend!)

The Pancake Breakfast will be held at RUSH PARK in Rossmore on Sat. April 26th from 9am - 10:30am. Please let us know if you would like to purchase ticket and/or attend.

All proceeds will go toward Academy functions and events, including graduation.
THANK YOU for your support through the academy thus far! Only 14 more weeks to go... ;)

Ryan's Academy Update

Well, I have been so busy taking photos and updating the academy site that I have neglected our own. Ryan has been doing great in the acadmey and he really loves it! He is currently ranked 4th in the class! He really wants to move up, but the adivise of his mentors is that he shouldn't be in the top 5 otherwise they will expect too much out of him when he starts working, and that isn't realistic... Hard to not want to be at the top when you can do it!

Anyway, here are just a few pics of the 5k run he and his class did this past weekend. They did great! They ran in their formation the entire time! Ryan often ran in the very front or very back as a road guard - to protect their group from the traffic. They did great and looked pretty good too!

 

Elephant Seals in December

These are Elephant Seals. I was inspired to write about these huge and amazing creatures when I heard that a whale had washed up on the beach here in Huntington. Last December Ryan and drove up the coast to Cambria and Morrow Bay for a little vacation. We visited some neat places like Hearst Castle, and this beach which is a known breading area for the unusual elephant seals. There were SOOO many elephant seals. My parents had been several months before us, and advised us to take binoculars to view all the seals. We weren't sure what to expect, but we sure didn't need binoculars! There were so many of them, and a lot of babies - which were still quite large for a baby.

Well, while we were there we witnessed a fight between two of the larger males. The photo above is the beginning of the fight. They both reared the heads back and made these horrible noises that sounded a lot like a huge belch. (Maybe Sydney can swallow some soap again to show us how it sounded...) Anyway, it was pretty amazing to watch and the only sad thing was that a little baby got trampled under the large males as they scurried back and forth at each other.

Amazing animals, huh? Wish I was brave enough to get scuba certified to actually go into the ocean and take a closer look at those amazing ocean animals! Next time you drive up the coast, make sure you stop to take a look at the elephant seals. You won't be dissapointed!

Thanksgiving 2007

Better late than never! We had such a fun time this year in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving! First, Ryan, Jenn and I ran a 5k race. They were nice enough to stay with me the whole time. My bum knee didn't help us keep a very good pace... BUT, we had fun, and we even had fans! Dad, Tiff and Eric came and watched up and cheered us on! It was cold though, and we were glad they came.

After the race we went and visited several family member's grave sites - all at the same cemetary. It was good to be there.

Of course we had Thanksgiving dinner with all the family and that was nice.

The next day we got all dressed up and too photos at the park. Unfortunately it was windy, but it sure was fun trying to get some good photos. We must have taken a million family photos, and only ONE of them turned out. Lucky for my mom she was able to use this family photo for the Christmas cards.

Later on Ryan and I kidnapped Grandpa and took him out to see some horses. He really loved it! It was still cold and windy, but it was fun to see him with the horses.

We barely made it back in time to rush over to the Las Vegas temple. We attended a session where my cousin took his son's name through. His son passed away one year ago, at the age of 16. It was wonderful to be there with so much family!

Happy Thanksgiving last year!

February Birthdays

Happy Birthday to ME! Tiffany and I got to celebrate our birthday's together with the family! We had such a fun time! We went to the park, the boys went on a mountain bike ride, and we had cake, ice cream and presents!
It was a super fun birthday, even if it was the big 30... :(

Another Trip to Big Bear

Right before Ryan started the Academy, we decided to take another trip up to Big Bear! It was so fun! We rented snow shoes and off we went! This was our first attempt at snow shoeing and we loved it! It was kind of hard, yet fun, trying to go down some steep hills but we made it work! Plus it was a great workout! We drove to Lake Arrowhead after that, but the fog was SO thick that it took us forever to get there. Arrowhead is small and there isn't much to do there, but we stayed in a beautiful resort. We ate at a little Mexican place and then headed back to the resort to enjoy the mountain atmosphere. The next day we both got massages. It was so nice and relaxing. The weird thing about the massages was that Ryan's girl was mostly blind. She had her seeing eye dog in the room... Weird. Oh well! We had a blast! On our way home we stopped and had lunch with Tiffany in Redlands. It is such a cute town!
Had to get in one last trip before the 6 month torture, I mean academy started. ;)