Snowy Palm Springs

This is the view from our condo today - we had a rainy week in the desert. Last night we waited in our front-row seats at the Pacific Life Open for about an hour while they tried to dry the court off enough to play (Andy Roddick was scheduled) but they finally gave up so it was a total waste of time. But, from all that rain came all that snow pictured above, so it's all good.....

CAMP PENDELTON CALIFORNIA

PICTURED (Lto R): Janelle, Rachel, and myself
OK, I am staring to feel a little guilty that Shawn has to work every weekend while I get to enjoy traveling with my girlfriends. Here we are at Camp Pendelton, where a friend of ours rented a cabin on the ocean for two nights. It was very very very cold, but a ton of fun. I didn't get in the ocean, but a few friends braved the bitter cold and tried using our surf board a little. Overall it was a beautiful weekend with amazing views.

FUN IN ARIZONA

Janelle, Rachel, and myself spending a lazy day at a hot tub in Lake Havasau Arizona!

Surgery Success

Mac has recovered nicely from his neutering, and is back to his happy puppy self. And in a big learning step, he has discovered that the vacuum actually does not want to eat him alive.

Trees grow big

Not much going on here this weekend, so here's another old blog-worthy photo..May 2005....this was the first sequoia I had ever seen...the tree is healthy but the inside had been burned out from a fire in years past......

Furious Farva

For the Super Bowl, we went to Alex & Kristen's place in Bakersfield. We also celebrated Alex's birthday and the fact that he passed his Registered Nurse test. Hooray for promotions! We also got to meet their new puppy, Farva, who is a little handful of yippin' dog. He is going to be a great watchdog, and he tried his best to eat Mac! But they ended up playing nicely, and Mac discovered if Farva had a rope in his mouth it was a lot harder for him to yip...

Mac & Grandpa

Who enjoyed Mom & Dad being in Palm Springs more?

It's tough to tell from this picture!

Old Blog-Worthy Photos

Not much going on in Palm Springs this weekend besides our dog tracking his poo through our house. Good times. Here's a photo from our road trip through the Grand Tetons this summer.......

1/22/06

Hey everyone, this weekend we went to the Bob Hope Classic, a golf tournament here that raises money for charity. There were a lot of celebrities out and great pros as well. We saw Phil Mickelson, Justin Timberlake, Samuel Jackson, Carson Daly, Roger Clemens, and lots of others...

Last weekend Alex & Kristen came to visit us (our friends from Bakersfield). A couple pictures below....

Shawn, Sarah, Mac & Kristen hiking to Eagle Canyon Oasis

The Palm Springs golf team - Shawn, Sarah, & Alex

Grapefruit anyone?

The trees around our house are loaded with grapefruit...let us know if you (local only) want some!

Christmas in Cali

After flying back to MN, we had a little more celebrating to do with Mom & Dad Norton and Audra, who were all at our place for the week. We also took a trip to the ocean, but it was cloudy and cool so we didn't stay too long.....

Mac ready to hit the beach!

Mac enjoying a holiday lolli.

Sarah gets lots of scrapbooking stuff!

Christmas in MN

We spent Christmas in Minnesota and stayed with Sarah's side of the family. Lots of fun was had, and we even got to see some of our friends while we were back......

Spencer & Sam on Christmas morning

Mom, Dad, Carl, Spencer, & Sarah - Sarah is getting an overdue birthday present.

Birthday Weekend!

It's Sarah's birthday today, and we've had an eventful weekend! Yesterday we drove all the way to the Grand Canyon and back with Mom and Dad Norton! The panoramic picture below is courtesy of Dad's new digital camera (Merry Christmas!), that allows you to stitch multiple photos together....

The view from the Grand Canyon's South Rim.

Shawn, Sarah, Dad, and Mom at the park entrance (it was only 40 degrees).

For Sarah's birthday, this morning we took our first ever hot-air balloon ride! There was about 9 of us in the balloon, including our friend Janelle. It was a smooth ride from start to finish and was amazing to hover over the valley for an hour, drifting with the winds....I highly recommend trying it at least once....

Shawn, Janelle, and Sarah wait nervously for the balloon to inflate!

Liftoff!!!!

Sunrise over the Coachella Valley.

Holiday Party!

Above: Janelle(my Cali. Best Friend) and I at the Wenzlaff Elementary School Holiday Party.

"Teachers just wanna have fun!"
L-R...Janelle, 2nd grade/Joey, 1st grade/Rachel, 1st grade/Angela, 3rd grade

NOTE: For all the sinlge guys...the 2 available gals are Janelle and Joey...

;o) Contact me for more details!

Shawn and I dancing at the party.

I was already putting my gift to use. Yes, I got Elmo slippers!! Aren't they so cute? Mac loves to attack them when I am walking around at home.

Holiday Party Weekend

Sarah and I are going to Christmas parties for both our jobs this weekend....so the over-eating season has begun! Nothing much else going on...Sarah's birthday is next weekend so everyone get their presents in the mail....Mac is now big enough to put his front paws on Sarah's shoulders when he stands up....

San Diego Trip

On our last trip with Sarah's side of the family before they headed home, we went to Mission Beach, Seaworld, and the San Diego Zoo. The weather was a little chilly, but at least it was sunny for the most part. Now it's back to Sarah and I holding down the fort with Mac....

Shawn, Sarah, Spencer, Sam, Mom, & Dad @ the SD Zoo

Shawn & Sam before Sam went out and caught a couple waves....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

For the first time ever in the history of this family, we had Thanksgiving dinner outside - guess what we were thankful for!?! Pictured above is Sarah, Mom, Dad, Shawn, Sam, and Spencer. Hope you all had a great day as well - it's almost time for a dip in the hot tub...I'm out!

Disneyland & Universal Studios

Well, we took about 200 pictures over the past weekend, but here's a couple photos to prove where we were....

By popular request, a picture of Mac with his new best friend.

The family at Universal Studios.

The family at Disneyland.

The whirlwind tour begins!

Sarah's side of the family arrived in CA late last night - they had to wait for an hour at LAX for me to pick them up after the van we borrowed had electrical problems 5 miles from town. So we all squeezed into the Escort, which nearly overheated coming through the mountains, and safely arrived in Palm Springs at about 2 am Pacific Time. After a little sleep, we went to the zoo in town (pictured below - thanks boss for the tickets) and went out to eat downtown. Tomorrow it's off to Disneyland .....more pictures to come!

Mom, Dad, Sam, Spencer, Sarah, and Shawn @ the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, CA.

Shawn, Sarah, Mom, Sam, Spencer & Dad in downtown Palm Springs. We're standing in front of the Sonny Bono statue which you can barely see between Mom and Sam.

Shawn's 28th Birthday

This weekend we spent Shawn's birthday with some friends on our new patio.

Shawn looks pretty happy to be 28!

Yep....he got 'em both, no girlfriends ;o)