Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Home for the Holidays
10:00 PM | 
Posted by
Derek
We love this time of year! Christmas is our fav. We're traditionalists. We buy a REAL tree. We try to put up a bunch of lights on the house. Derek cooks his famous turkey for dinner. We love it! So Derek changed the look of our blog to celebrate.
Derek is working on uploading all of our family photos to Picasa. So far, he has completed all of 2004 and is starting to work on 2005. Please note that we've locked all of the albums down. We've gone through Derek's address book and added people we have email addresses for. So if you can't access it, shoot us an email and Derek will add you - derekr44 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Derek is working on uploading all of our family photos to Picasa. So far, he has completed all of 2004 and is starting to work on 2005. Please note that we've locked all of the albums down. We've gone through Derek's address book and added people we have email addresses for. So if you can't access it, shoot us an email and Derek will add you - derekr44 (at) gmail (dot) com.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Back to School
Matt has moved on to 1st grade and Joshy has joined the fun by heading to Kindergarten this year. Matthew was excited because this year, he gets to bring his lunch with him. Mom made him a special star sandwich. Joshy was so excited to start school this year. He goes to PM Kindergarten, so he was a little upset when Matthew went to school first. Both of them were up, dressed, backpacks on and ready to go at 6:30AM. Mom is trying to get used to having a lonelier house.
Summer Fun
We've had an eventful summer! Patrick came to stay with us for awhile and the girl's got to come down and spend time. The boys had a blast swimming and playing with their cousins. We had a very full house on the 4th of July, with family coming in all the way from Georgia. We know we are loved when people decide to come to Arizona right smack in the middle of summer. :) Needless to say, the kids were in the pool from sunup to sundown, and the adults spent most of the time eating and playing Catan. Summer was fun!
Joshy's Birthday
We know we are way overdue, but we wanted to share pictures of our sweet Joshy turning 5 years old. He wanted to invite his friends over and have a nice spaghetti dinner. Dad made him a Transformers cake. He got a lot of great presents and got to stay up late. We love you, Joshy!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
2010 Ninth Anniversary Cruise
We just got back from our Nine-Year Anniversary Cruise to the Mexican Riviera! It was a fabulous 7-day cruise out of Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Rebekah and I had such a fantastic time, we were sad to have it end earlier today. Here's a little summary:
We left the kids behind with Grandma and Grandpa Rose. Thanks a million to them for holding down the fort and keeping their house from burning down. Not only did they watch over the kids, but Grandpa had an entire week of activities planned out for them; things like a Memorial Day Fair, beach trips, trips to the park, petting zoo... they even made Rebekah and I an anniversary plate. The boys were in good hands, and we didn't have to worry. Thanks!!! We love you guys.
Like every cruise we've been on (I'm pretty sure of this), Uncle Mike took us to the port on time and picked us up as well. Thanks for taking the time, Mike!
Our first port was the beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The rusty Spanish from both Rebekah and I kicked in and came very much in handy. We did everything and more for less than half the price everyone else on the boat did. We walked all the way around the Cabo San Lucas bay, took a boat taxi to Lover's Cove and spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling in the warm sun. We then had the best authentic Mexican lunch (Paul would be so proud) complete with Pina Coladas (virgin of course) before heading back to the ship late in the afternoon.
Our next port was Mazatlan, Mexico. We started out on a 4-5 mile walk from the port to the Lighthouse. If any of you know that hike, you know how steep it is. It's a 515 foot vertical climb across switchbacks that lead to one of the highest lighthouses in the area. We were blessed with a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city of Mazatlan and very proud of our hiking achievement. After that, we ventured out to the Zona Dorada for some shopping and lunch.
Our last port was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico... by far our favorite of all the ports we visited. It reminded us of Hawaii. The mountains were right up against the coast and were a lush, deep green color. The beaches were a sandy white. And some of those houses on the coast were huge. We hopped on a 30-passenger Zodiac boat (the same kind the Navy Seals use) and flew (literally) across the ocean down the southern coast. We stopped off in a small fishing village that was only accessible by boat. From there, we hopped on these old Mercedes safari trucks and drove up into the jungle-covered mountains, seeing tons of coconut and mango trees along the way. Arriving at our destination, we hopped off the trucks, strapped on our rapelling harnesses and rode donkeys further up the ridge to the top of the mountain range. It was there that we began our adventure by strapping ourselves to eight zip lines over the jungle canyons, rapelling twice down waterfalls into pools of water. By the end of the six hour journey we were drenched, tired, sweaty and wanting to do it all over again. Senora Ana greeted us with freshly made quesadillas and salsa. The best way I can describe that trip was that it was an absolute blast. Can't say much more than that.
The rest of our evening was spent in the beachside shopping district of Puerto Vallarta. We picked up some beautifully hand-crafted plates from a local artist. Each plate is different. We can't wait to use them! If you look closely in a couple of the pictures I linked below, you'll notice a guy we could not believe. Yes, those are extremely heavy rocks picked up right off the beach, and yes he is balancing them by hand. The hand-carved sand sculptures were fantastic.
Nine years has flown by. Three kids, a couple cars and a mortgage later, and I'm more in love with Rebekah now than when we first stepped on the boat for our honeymoon cruise. So I've linked our pictures below to share with all of you and hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.
We left the kids behind with Grandma and Grandpa Rose. Thanks a million to them for holding down the fort and keeping their house from burning down. Not only did they watch over the kids, but Grandpa had an entire week of activities planned out for them; things like a Memorial Day Fair, beach trips, trips to the park, petting zoo... they even made Rebekah and I an anniversary plate. The boys were in good hands, and we didn't have to worry. Thanks!!! We love you guys.
Like every cruise we've been on (I'm pretty sure of this), Uncle Mike took us to the port on time and picked us up as well. Thanks for taking the time, Mike!
Our first port was the beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The rusty Spanish from both Rebekah and I kicked in and came very much in handy. We did everything and more for less than half the price everyone else on the boat did. We walked all the way around the Cabo San Lucas bay, took a boat taxi to Lover's Cove and spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling in the warm sun. We then had the best authentic Mexican lunch (Paul would be so proud) complete with Pina Coladas (virgin of course) before heading back to the ship late in the afternoon.
Our next port was Mazatlan, Mexico. We started out on a 4-5 mile walk from the port to the Lighthouse. If any of you know that hike, you know how steep it is. It's a 515 foot vertical climb across switchbacks that lead to one of the highest lighthouses in the area. We were blessed with a spectacular panoramic view of the entire city of Mazatlan and very proud of our hiking achievement. After that, we ventured out to the Zona Dorada for some shopping and lunch.
Our last port was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico... by far our favorite of all the ports we visited. It reminded us of Hawaii. The mountains were right up against the coast and were a lush, deep green color. The beaches were a sandy white. And some of those houses on the coast were huge. We hopped on a 30-passenger Zodiac boat (the same kind the Navy Seals use) and flew (literally) across the ocean down the southern coast. We stopped off in a small fishing village that was only accessible by boat. From there, we hopped on these old Mercedes safari trucks and drove up into the jungle-covered mountains, seeing tons of coconut and mango trees along the way. Arriving at our destination, we hopped off the trucks, strapped on our rapelling harnesses and rode donkeys further up the ridge to the top of the mountain range. It was there that we began our adventure by strapping ourselves to eight zip lines over the jungle canyons, rapelling twice down waterfalls into pools of water. By the end of the six hour journey we were drenched, tired, sweaty and wanting to do it all over again. Senora Ana greeted us with freshly made quesadillas and salsa. The best way I can describe that trip was that it was an absolute blast. Can't say much more than that.
The rest of our evening was spent in the beachside shopping district of Puerto Vallarta. We picked up some beautifully hand-crafted plates from a local artist. Each plate is different. We can't wait to use them! If you look closely in a couple of the pictures I linked below, you'll notice a guy we could not believe. Yes, those are extremely heavy rocks picked up right off the beach, and yes he is balancing them by hand. The hand-carved sand sculptures were fantastic.
Nine years has flown by. Three kids, a couple cars and a mortgage later, and I'm more in love with Rebekah now than when we first stepped on the boat for our honeymoon cruise. So I've linked our pictures below to share with all of you and hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6 Years Ago
Here it is, 9:00PM on November 18th. Six years ago, Rebekah and I were getting back from chaperoning a youth scavenger hunt at South Coast Plaza. Rebekah had a terrible cough that night, and was getting really tired. Lo and behold, we were up in a matter of hours and on our way to Hoag Hospital at 3AM. Our little Matthew came into the world 9 hours later.
The time seems to have passed quickly. He's been perfect since the day he arrived. So here are a few pictures from six years ago and a few from now. Happy Birthday, Matt! We love you!
The time seems to have passed quickly. He's been perfect since the day he arrived. So here are a few pictures from six years ago and a few from now. Happy Birthday, Matt! We love you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Us
Around the World
