happy thanksgiving!

i hope you are eating turkey...or at least have eaten turkey already today. my fam took a very long drive in our van to get to our turkey...and it was worth it. good times were had by all.

i really hope that you can take a second...maybe even right now and count your blessings. maybe now that the tryptophan is wearing off, or maybe it hasn't quite set in yet...while you're clear headed...be content. enjoy the laughter, the the yelling...the smiles....all of it. because good and bad, stressful and relaxing...all of it equals your family. whether or not it's by blood...the people in the room with you right now...ARE your family. and you should value that. appreciate it. be thankful! take care.

less of me.

rejoicing with friends

hey all...just wanted to let you know about something cool that happened for a couple of friends of ours. sharon and i met mera and brian a couple years back and have really enjoyed hanging out (mostly on the internet) with them ever since. they are super giving...incredibly hilarious and two of the most sincere folks you'll ever meet. they launched their brand new web site this week and if you are interested in photography (i am) or you are a mom (i'm not) then you'll be super interested in what they do. be sure and stop by their new site and check it out. there are lots of videos and a cool blog and all sorts of goodies to see. tell them i sent you....they'll get a kick out of that! enjoy!

where is your hope?

when i got home from work yesterday, i walked into a hornets nest. do you know what i'm talking about? i had a normal day...left the office...sat through my commute home...pulled down my lovely street....shut my work cell phone off as i passed my white picket fence (no i'm not kidding), and walked up to the front door to open it and see my smiling happy family ready to great me with open arms.............SMACK!!!!!!

and then i woke up.

ok...all of it was true except for the bit when i got to the front door. what i discovered when i opened up the gateway to my own little piece of heaven was that my beautiful wife had been working on a project all day for Homegrown and hadn't had a lot of success. she would run into one hurdle...try something else...only to see another problem. all day long. pretty frustrating right? yeah.

as the day went on for her, she began telling herself that everything would be "just fine" once she finished this project. that "all would be right in the world" when it was completed. so, you can imagine her frustration when i walked in the door...signifying the final bell of the day and she hadn't finished yet.

later, we talked in the kitchen (my favorite place to talk) to catch up with each other about our days and she said..."the problem was that i rested my entire day in the success of this project....i put my hope in the wrong thing."

she put her hope in the wrong thing.

in this situation, she shrugged it off....we fixed the problem....the day ended. but it made me wonder how your life would be if you lived everyday with your hope....misplaced. how would you bounce back from that?

it's a good question....where is your hope?

take care....less of me.

surf report: cowell's beach

wow....so, it has to have been 2 months at least since i went surfing last. i was starting to feel like i wasn't even a surfer anymore....

:-(

so, to say that i was excited was a bit of an understatement when i put surfing down on my calendar last week...and boy did the ocean oblige. it seemed like it knew that i was coming and decided to turn on. winter swell is always a little weird at our surf spot...but we managed to get some good waves and good times. i brought my camera too! i know....all by myself. :-) well, i didn't forget how to surf....i thought i might have...but i didn't. it was pretty cold....but i felt so good when i got out of the water. invigorated! after wards, we grabbed a quick bite at a local favorite.

i'm really hoping that it won't be 2 more months before i post another surf report. so, i thought i'd post some pictures to tide you over until the next one. enjoy!

show time: scott riggan concert

so, i helped promote a show last week. our church had a special guest, scott riggan and his band come and play. they were super nice guys. i opened up the evening with a couple of songs and scott played a great show. afterwards, sharon and i got to share a meal with the guys and get to know them better. it was a good time. here are a couple of shots that sharon got. enjoy!

the wait is over

...the anticipation is gone. mr. fedex arrived with a present of joy yesterday....as you can see from the gargantuan grin on my wife's face. please forgive the dumb camera phone picture. it's amazing that i can never seem to remember to grab a real camera when we're at the homegrown headquarters.

the best comment so far about this picture came from our friend jody williamson. she said, "that's insane! does that thing come with it's own zip code?" and jody....yes...yes, it does.

i must say it's even larger in person than it looks in the picture. last night, i was up way to late trying to put the saddle and bridle and this new beast. ironically...in the process, i think i may have discovered what was wrong with our old computer....and then fixed the problem....

yes, i said it.

we may have purchased this behemoth for nothing. should i send it back?

it kills...

anticipation, that is. it's the worst....

soon. very soon. come on mr. fedex man!