Update: Can you guess?

Because I Love You Roses...

"Good Morning, Sweetness... Happy Anniversary. It has been six GREAT years. I Love You!"

Our Anniversary date started with lunch at my favorite sushi bar, Blue Nami. When you walk into this sushi bar, you will hear the chef say "Irrasshaimase," which means "welcome to our establishment." Eating there is such a unique experience. It's almost like stepping into the traditions and culture of Tokyo, Japan.

This picture was taken from our table side. The owner personally chef's his sushi bar. And he crafts his own tables, chairs, and waterfalls in his restaurant. Peaceful ambiance.

Sushi rolls: Chef's, James Bond, and Jason.

"Arigato goziamashita" Thank you very much!

"Gochi soo sama deshita" Really enjoyed the food.

After lunch, we headed downtown towards Old Sacramento and the K Street Mall. Walked around, people watched, shopped a little... then caught a movie. BATMAN. We both thought it was a great movie. There was an eeriness watching Heath Ledger play the Joker, the villian, for obvious reasons. BUT let me say, he played the character very WELL! Wouldn't be surprised if he wins the Oscars for that performance.

And to end the evening, we had a nice, quiet dinner of seafood at Fat City in Old Sacramento. (Our first dinner date together was here at Fat City.)

Thanks, Gramma Jackie for watching the kids for us so we could celebrate our 6th Anniversary!
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Origianl Post July 15, 2008

My wife and I were surfing the TV channels tonight... stopping to briefly watch Celebrity Family Fued. The celebrities were asked to: Name something men forget that women don't. One correct response was "Anniversary." Sharleen looks over at me asking (ahem), "Honey, When is our Anniversary?" After pausing for a moment, I replied "The same great day that I married you six years ago."

It turns out that our anniversary is THIS weekend, July 20th. Celebrating 45 Years, or so it seems. (Last year, she was 9 months pregnant with our son and due anyday. So we did not venture too far from the hospital. Braden was born 6 days later.)

Can you guess how we will decide to spend our 6th wedding anniversary?

a. Dinner: Rudy's Hide Away and a Movie: Get Smart.

b. Drive to the beach with the kids.

c. Go to the Silver Legacy and SLEEP for a few hours.

d. Stroll, hand-in-hand, around Old Sacramento and dinner by the River.

e. Fly to Edmonton, Canada to shop.

f. Night on the town in Vegas.

g. Spa day and a professional SF Giants ballgame.

h. Something spontaneous.

i. Just another day.

j. Other __________________

Any other suggestions???

Braden's 1st Birthday

"Fanks for coming to my 1st birfday. Wove you!"

Look who turned ONE...

(Party theme: Thomas the Train.)

Playing at the water park.

Pinata!

Lovin' my new toys.

Yummy cake!

Happy 1st birthday, son. We LOVE you, sweet boy!

Lovin' the pool

A little water play for the birthday boy! He loves to be close to his sisters no matter what they are doing. Splashing around the pool is no different.

Our "Betty Crocker" Princesses

The process is just as important as the product, right? (Maybe even MORE important.)

Baking is definitely not my forte, but I give it my best shot occasionally. With Braden's 1st birthday coming up, I thought it would be fun to have the girls help make their baby brother's birthday cupcakes. My girls turn down something sweet? No way! With aprons on, they were happy to help. Their favorite part was licking the "egg" beaters once the cupcakes were in the oven. I think they did a great job. What do you think? (Auntie Lisa and I finished with the tic-tac-toe decorations.) Very pleased with the end product. Not bad if I say so myself...

Updated post...Carnegie Mellon University Last Lecture

Updated post: Professor Randy Pausch lost his fight to incurable terminal cancer, on Friday, July 25, 2008. Thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children.

Click here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/

Original post June 18, 2008

I am like a "magnet" when it comes to inspirational educational moments.

For those of you not familiar with Professor Randy Pausch, here is some information I obtained from the Carnegie Mellon's website:

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch is dying from pancreatic cancer (and is married with 3 small children). He gave his last lecture at the University Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.

"I, like Moses, can see the promise land, but won't set foot on it. And that is okay." -Randy Pausch (Translation: He inspires students and his personal children to seek their "childhood" dreams. He can see them along the way through every step, but won't live long enough to see them attain their goal.)

Letter from the White House

His original "last lecture" is 1 hour, 16 minutes, 26 seconds long. You can view it by typing "Randy Pausch last lecture" on youtube. To view shorter version click here to watch video: http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=ithct48cqw

It is very moving and provides perspectives that we can all benefit from.

10 minute reprisal:



P.S. Professor Pausch's up-date: Randy is still with us but he is struggling with complications from chemo. To learn more about him, up-dates on his status, and information about pancreatic cancer, you can visit his website by clicking here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/

My prayer: You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. My fervant prayer is that you will defy all odds, Lord willing, and live to be a very old man and be able to see your children grow into adults. I admire your attitude and courage, while at the same time, inspired by the spirit you choose to live by on a daily basis. May God richly bless you and your family during this very difficult time.

The Loomis'

Swimming, swimming, and MORE SWIMMING!

Today, the kids and I were excited to spend the day with the Loomis family (Nanette, Jake, Heather, and Tracey) at the water park/pool for yet another nice day of swimming.

Picture below: Heather (left) and Tracey (right) doing hand stands under water! Looks like fun! Fourteen years of friendship with their mother, Nanette.
Nanette and I met in the Spring of 1994 while attending a college group at Sunrise Baptist Church. And ever since, we've managed to keep in touch over all these years.

Our memories include... (just to mention a few.)


...crashing at her studio when I was a commuting, professional student at CSUS. (Missy Homemaker made the best chicken cord on bleu!)


...proudly known as her singing answering machine.


...SNAC (which brings me to the next memory... read on.)


...ROAD TRIPS (My favorite on the road memory was the time we were driving to Prescott, Arizonia to surprise Amee for her birthday. Lets just say that we girls in the car were having so much fun beboppin', and singing away, that checking the gas gauge never even crossed our minds. You never heard a car full of girls get so quiet. We were in the middle of nowhere, really! The Tehachapi's. (Ever been there anyone?) We all sat in silence in what seemed like an eternity! We were all hoping and praying that a gas station was just around the next corner. Still driving on fumes, thankfully, about 15 minutes later... wha la... we had never been so happy to see a gas station. Didn't we pay almost $3.50 for THAT tank of gas? (That may be more of the norm now, but back then, many moons ago, that was a huge dip into our pocket books. Obviously, we didn't care.) Whew! Tank was full and our trip continued. Lesson learned.)


...starting our own families. She has three amazing kids. A son, Jake, who is 11 years old and going into the 6th grade. A daughter, Heather, who turns 9 years old next month and is about to be in the 4th grade. And another daughter, Tracey, who is 7 years old entering the 2nd grade this year.

Looking forward to many more years of friendship and happy memories!

A typical summer day with our cousins

Ages: Bryce (11), Austin (11), Caitlyn (5), Tiegan (4), Riley (3), Kennedy (3), and Braden (1)