Vacation Teaser

Dave and I took some time off in the end of July for a little "vacation" to Northern California to visit our families and some great friends. We usually do a marathon weekend trip where we try to cram as many things into a 48 hour period, so it was nice to spread it out and spend some quality time with more people! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I'm a little short on pictures at the moment. As my friends and family post them elsewhere I will borrow them and tell some stories.

In the meantime, here's a little teaser of what Dave accomplished on his time off:

That's Half Dome in Yosemite! My sister Sarah convinced Dave to chaperone a trip to the mountain with her best friends with only four hours notice. Good thing he's in great shape! They had a few hiccups along the way but made it to the top with a total round trip time of about 11 hours. Here is a picture of Sarah, our cousin Bradley, Dave, and Sarah's best friend Natalie preparing to climb up the cables to the top of Half Dome. Way to go you guys!!!

The was the most thrilling part of the the Norcal vacation. The rest of it was filled with great food, hot days by the swimming pool, the Stanislaus County Fair, a quick trip to Redwood Christian Park, Santa Cruz beach day, three year old wedding cake tasting, catching up with great friends and lots and lots of laughs.

I promise more pictures from our adventures soon... just waiting on Sarah's return from Australia with her handy little camera.

A 26th Birthday & A 3rd Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday was the best! Dave took the day off of work and we celebrated my 26th birthday and our 3rd anniversary at the Happiest Place on Earth. We started off our day with a coffee and free pastry from Starbucks (they must've known it was my birthday) and then headed over to Disneyland. The weather was HOT but it wasn't too crowded and we had a blast!

We only brought my phone to take pictures on so they're not great, but here we are in front of the park before the heat set in.

Here is my cute button so that everyone would know it was my birthday. Hearing strangers wish you a happy birthday by name really is a great way to spend your day!

Jonathon & Lacey came out with their season passes and celebrated the rest of the day with us. We went to the House of Blues for dinner, rode some fun rides and watched the fireworks.

Here's our bootleg picture from Space Mountain!

And my lame attempt to take a picture of the fireworks as we were walking/pushed by the castle. Still, it's pretty awesome to have a fireworks show just for your birthday! :)

What a great day of celebrating with my husband who loves me and placated my desire to spend my birthday at Disneyland. Oh, and did I mention that we are now season pass holders too?! We were able to upgrade our tickets (even my free one!) to a Southern California pass. It has a few blackout dates, but we are ready and willing to visit the park with everyone in the near future!

Dave's New Do

With the summer officially here, Dave decided to update his look. It's low maintenance and he can do it himself. Here he is placating me with a picture on our patio. Looking good!

Concert in the Park

Concert in the Park has officially begun! Dave and I love packing up our picnic backpack, riding our bikes and meeting up with some good friends at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach. Lots of good music, fun times with friends and, did I mention, we get to ride our bikes!

Dave & I enjoying our crackers and cheese and the warm weather!

July 4th--My Favorite Day of the Year!

July 4th really is my favorite holiday of the whole year!

Think about it... it's a great excuse for a bbq, there are always friends and family looking to celebrate, the cost is relatively low because there are no presents to be bought, it's summertime so the weather is usually great and you get to end the night with FIREWORKS! And most importantly, it's a day to think about the great country that we live in. We truly are the most blessed citizens in the world to claim America as our home even if we disagree with the way things are run sometimes. Go USA! :)

This year, Dave and I celebrated by going to Sheri's parents house for a carne asada bbq and swimming. Then we cleaned up and headed over to Matt and Becky's house in El Segundo to watch the city's firework show. At the last minute we climbed onto the roof of their apartment for the best view ever. We all agree that El Segundo puts on a great show that maybe even rivals Disneyland! (I'm still not sure if compares to the amazing street show put on at 1809 Cardigan Way, but who can even come close to the fireworks on the ladder technique?!) Thanks to Sheri & Tim for inviting us to the Walsh home and to Matt & Becky for hosting the fireworks show at their house and letting me take this picture of the rooftop viewing!

Dave's Rugby Glory

This post is a little late in coming, but we just got a great new picture to show off!

After 4 years of playing rugby for the LA Rugby Club, Dave finally had a big injury this year. He ran his face into another guy's face while going for a ball back in March. His eye immediately split open, blood everywhere, and he calmly marched himself off of the pitch. (Rugby apparently has a rule that they call a "blood time out". When a player is injured and there is blood he must leave the field to clean it up. The player only has 10 minutes to get the blood cleaned up and get himself back into the game, otherwise he's out for the rest of the game. If you want a more detailed explanation than that you'll have to ask Dave!) Because of the blood rule, Dave didn't have much time to worry about his eye. The team doctor sat him down on the training bench and proceeded to give him six (blue!) stitches right on the side line. He cleaned him up, taped his whole head to prevent further damage and Dave ran back into the game--all within ten minutes! What a stud he is!

Here's a great shot of Dave's stitches and the shiner that came with it. He had a rugby buddy pull the stitches out a week later and he never missed a game.

Family Time with the Lockridges

We went up to Merced to visit Dave's family this last weekend. His brother Charlie was in town from Virginia for two weeks and we wanted to make sure to get in some quality time with the Lockridge clan. We got to go up to Mariposa to see Christina's (Charlie's GF) parents house -which is AMAZING- go fishing in the pond where Dave caught his first fish in 20 years, go rafting on the Stanislaus river, and just enjoy time spent together. We had so much fun!

Here is Dave's brother Charlie, Charlie's GF Christina, Dave's dad (also Dave!), Dave's mom Sue, Me & Dave. Charlie got to kayak down the river and the rest of us worked together to get us through the 8 miles of river. Despite a few close ups with some trees and a continued zigzag pattern, we managed to finish the trip and had fun doing it.

Special thanks to Bryan for getting us on the river!!!