Biggest Losers Celebrate

Our Biggest Losers weight loss group just finished 16 weeks of joint weight loss. For the 10 of us, we lost a total about 150 pounds. We celebrated when Craig and Beth took us to one of their favorite restaurants, Tokyo Wako. Even though Ellie and Gavin weren't in the contest, they got to come. . .and they had a great time watching the chef prepare dinner at the table.
Gavin and Ellie are shown here learning how to eat with chopsticks.
Lisa, Craig and Beth were some of the "Biggest Losers".
Bailey, who is a chef at the Disneyland Hotel, came with us and enjoyed watching other people prepare the dinner.
Both Ellie and Gavin's eyes really got big when the chef started flaming up the grill and cooking the food.

Ragnar Photos - Another Great Race!!

Pictured here is Team Big Kahunas. The race started in Ventura at approx. 8 a.m. on Friday and 31 hours, 55 minutes, we ended with the whole team running through the finish line at Salt Creek State Beach in Dana Point. Great effort!
Since Nemo is the team mascot, we got a picture of him jumping out of the water at Huntington Beach. He didn't let us down this year.
The Christensen girls did a great job running their legs of the race. . .thanks to Nicky and Ashley (and Nathan) for making the trip from Utah.
Ellie is pictured here with Grammie and Grampie at the start of the race. Way to cheer us on!
The picnic at Salt Creek State Beach was a real highlight. . .the day was lovely and best of all, we were done running the 200.3 mile Southern California Ragnar Relay for 2010. We had the best team in the whole race. . .if not in time, then definitely in spirit.

Wilderness Walk

When Vulcan Materials shut down the City of Duarte's ability to take people up to Fish Canyon Falls on the Wilderness Walk (which had been allowed for many previous years), LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich secured a helicopter to take Margaret, Congresswoman Judy Chu and Save Our Canyon reps. up to see the destruction caused to the mountains by the mining that has been allowed. We also were able to see all of the run off from Fish Canyon Falls from the air. One of the highlights of the day for Brielle and Gavin was to see the helicopter land and take off.
Gavin was pretty excited to see the "hullah" up close.
Gavin and Brielle watch with their moms as the helicopter was getting ready to take off from Encanto Park.
Margaret and Congresswoman Judy Chu prepare to take off to view the mining and the falls.
The beautiful Fish Canyon Falls from the air.

Easter Weekend, Volume 2

It was a beautiful Saturday before Easter when we went to the Ranch for the Easter Egg Hunt. Annie and Ian are shown here with Vov and Yogi just before the Easter Egg hunt.

All the girls got together for a picture - Nicky, Deirdre, Annie, Erin, Allison, Meg, Elise, Megster, Ellie and Stephanie.

We had a delicious lunch out on the lawn overlooking the ranch and the cattle.

On Easter Sunday, Brad and Margaret got up early to head over to Forest Lawn in West Covina, where the Southern California Mormon Choir sang for the Easter Sunrise Service. The music was beautiful, even though there wasn't much of a sunrise due to the cloud cover.
On our way home from the Ranch, we all stopped to see Bob and Julie Davey and their new home. They were as hospitable as ever and we loved seeing them. Their home is beautiful - just made us realize how much we miss them in Duarte.

Work, Fun and Kids at Morro Bay

We spent the weekend at Morro Bay. . .initially to fix James and Megster's car. But then we saw that the picket fence needed fixing so we started on that. Gavin and Ellie got new sleeping bags so they enjoyed playing in those instead of sleeping in them.

First it was the dogs that played in the planter area. . .and now the kids are taking it over. Elise and Ethan thought it was great fun.

At low tide, we took a break and went out to look for crabs under the rocks. Both Ellie and Gavin liked to hold the hermit crabs in their hands.

We took some of the wood pieces down because of wood rot and replaced them, after priming and painting the trim. We are pretty well done with the fence but are using vinyl this time instead for the pickets.

James and I took the kids to the Salt Water Taffy shop to get Uncle Evan's favorite flavor to send to him. As noted, both Ellie and Gavin have "sampled" some of the taffy while picking out Evan's taffy.

Easter Weekend

We started out the weekend with Breakfast with the Easter Bunny for Rotary. Erin came down for a visit as did Ian and Annie. The little kids liked the breakfast but were a little bit wary of the big rabbit. Then it was off to the ranch for the Easter Egg Hunt.
Gavin got a lot of eggs and immediately opened them to check out the treats. We had to explain that he needed to collect all that he could first and then open them.
Ellie bagged a lot of Easter eggs in the hunt.
Ethan and Elise had a lot of fun playing with the eggs that someone else had collected. They didn't know that there was candy inside of the eggs though.

More Fun in Sacramento

Dad and Eileen are shown here together at Eileen's birthday party up in Loomis. The day was beautiful and we learned a lot about Eileen when many questions were asked about her days growing up.
A lot of family members gathered at the Costanzo home for Eileen's 80th birthday. As usual, Katie knows how to serve great food to a large crowd.

Gavin and Elise were at the party also. They are shown here playing on a slide at Fairy Tale Land the day before. Those slides are so much fun!
After the party, we went for ice cream at the famous Fenton's Ice Cream Parlor in Vacaville. Erin and Elise are shown here having fun on the toys outside the restaurant. The ice cream sundaes at Fenton's are incredible. . .can't wait to go again.

Sacramento Trip for the Eileen's 80th Birthday

Megan, her two children, Vov, Yogi and Margaret all went to Sacramento to visit with Auntie, Erin, and Uncle Dan. It is for Eileen's 80th birthday party. We decided to go to Fairy Tale Land this morning and the two kids loved all of the slides.
The next stop was Capitol Dawg's for lunch. . .best hotdog ever, with jalapenos, cheese sauce, coleslaw and chili.
We also went to Erin's work at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. Erin gave us a great tour and Gavin got to see the Chinese dragon.

She Said Yes!

This past Tuesday I made a secret trip to Utah to surprise Annie Anderson. Alana, Heather, Kristen, and Nate did a great job with the setup and the distraction. After convincing her that she needed to go down stairs to retrieve something from my duffel bag that I am storing at her house, I dropped to one knee and awaited for Annie to descend the stairs.

I don't know whether she was more surprised to see me or I was more nervous to say the exact right words. Whatever the case, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 will always be a very memorable day for me (not as memorable as May 29, 2010 though). Thank you to everyone who has helped make the past seven months possible.

While I could go into all of the details, I feel that the pictures will tell the best story...

Evan in Argentina

This first picture was just taken of Evan on top of a church member's building in Villa Crespo, a section of Buenos Aires.

Villa Crespo is a middle-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires, located in the geographical center of the city. It has a population of approximately 100,000 people.

Villa Crespo has been traditionally associated with the Jewish community, hosting several synagogues, Hebrew schools and youth movements, but it is actually populated by a mix of different peoples, just like the rest of Buenos Aires. Its traditional football (soccer) club is Atlanta.

Evan is pictured here with his companion and a member of their church.

Christmas and New Year Activities

We did a lot this Christmas break, starting with making Christmas cookies. Gavin and Ellie did a great job rolling out the cookies (and eating the raw cookie dough).
On Christmas Eve day, we all went down to the Holyland Exhibition and learned about life in the Holyland.
We all went into downtown LA and had lunch at the iconic Philippe's. They have a great French Dip sandwich.
Gavin and Ellie love being with Aunt Erin. All of us got to talk with Uncle Evan in Argentina on his mission. We talked with him for an hour and a half.
All of the kids got new pajamas from Santa Claus for Christmas. Gavin, Elise and Ellie are shown here with their great grandparents, Georgine and Bob, who came here for Christmas (and to get out of the freezing temperatures in Ohio.)
Megster made the cutest gingerbread houses - and we had the most fun decorating them. Thanks for giving us a new activity for Christmas, Megster.
After Christmas, we all took a quick trip to Morro Bay - and went out to the rock to see "ginormous" waves breaking over the jetty. We also visited Big Sur and Hearst Castle.
Alana and Margaret went kayaking on the bay on one of the beautiful days at Morro Bay. The otters came within about 20 feet of the kayak.
On New Year's Eve, we had the traditional dinner of Chinese food. Cousins and friends all joined us by the fire pit and then we went out on Colorado Boulevard for the New Year's Eve celebration.
The Redlands cousins had a great time celebrating on the parade route on New Year's Eve.
Ellie and Gavin watched the parade on New Year's Day on Colorado Boulevard. Their favorite floats always had airplanes on them.
All four of the kids enjoyed the activity and music at the parade. Thanks to Mardene for saving us the seats.