More photos from Mexico

A new family member

Exciting news! Lauren and I are engaged! After dinner we took a walk to a private cabana in one of the pool areas and after sipping on some wine we walked over to the railing, which was overlooking the ocean waves crashing onto the shore. I got down on one knee and asked my wonderful sweetheart if she would marry me. She said yes! We are making phone calls now to celebrate the news and soon it will be time to start planning the wedding.

Hola from Mexico

What a difference a few hours in a plane can make. Lauren and I escaped the rain and cold of Seattle for the warmth and sun of Mexico. It was in the low 40's when we left and a balmy 82 degrees after landing. We are loving every minute of it. Since I have a little extra time on my hands (with no school or work), what better to do with it than share some photos with family and friends. By the way, just got my grades for winter quarter. A 3.9 in U.S. Economics and 3.7 in Terrorism. Next Tuesday begins another grueling session of school. I also will likely be taking classes this summer so I can graduate next summer. Anyway, enjoy the photos!

My gorgeous, wonderful loving girlfriend Lauren... and me. Don't worry, I am super happy but taking an 18 month hiatus from showing teeth during smiles because of ugly braces put on last week.

View of Sunset Plaza Resort (our home for a week) with swim up bar at lower right.

Enjoying breakfast on our balcony.

A sunset view from the other side of our balcony.

Three pools and three jacuzzis. Life is so hard!

Private cabanas in the adult pool.

Self explanatory.

Getting tan... okay, a little burnt.

The living room/kitchen area.

A few pics of a very lovely woman.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Lauren and I piled into my Honda and attempted the drive down to Eugene to visit Mom. I knew it was going to be quite the long trip, because only two days earlier we had been hit with four inches of snow, which had subsequently melted and then turned to ice in the sub-teen temperatures. For some odd reason no one up here knows how to drive in bad weather, which is very ironic considering the weather is bad 350 days out of the year. Add that to the fact that the day before Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for traffic and the conclusion is that my car better be very comfortable. Lucky for us the maintenance light came on about 80 miles into our trip. Getting down to Oregon was the worst by far, taking the majority of the 8+ hours of driving. Once past the border, it wasn't bad at all. Of course we did stop at Burgerville on the way down, which has become a tradition for Lauren and I on our trips down south. Who can pass up the best fast food on earth?!

Mom made a great Thanksgiving dinner with everything one could eat. After eating to our hearts content we played Take 4 and Cribbage. Of course Mom won on the first game, and Lauren dominated Cribbage, leaving me to watch football in my defeat.

The following day it was off to the big game. #1 Oregon v. #24 Arizona. And what a game it was! All of us went shopping before the game to get our "spirit" on. We yelled and screamed for hours, which all payed off as Oregon ran away with a 48-29 romping.

The Dunes at Florence, OR

Yep, this happened back in September when Lauren and I drove down to Eugene to visit Mom. The weather worked out perfectly and during one of the days we drove to Florence so have a little fun in the sand. First we walked around Honeyman State Park, then our journey got a lot more exciting with a ride in a sand dune buggy, driven by a very interesting character.... to say the least. As you can see from the photo of us in the buggy before we head out, Mom does not look to pleased with the scenario. But we all survived and after taking some time to get the sand out of every nook and cranny of our clothes, nose, ears, and hair, it was off to a burger joint where we sat in classic car table. A great weekend and a lot of fun!