Happy Mother's Day

May 10, 2009: 7 hours of preparation, 4 hours of cleanup, dozens of helping hands, 2 wonderful meals with moms.

Mother's Day brunch found the extended family in my backyard celebrating my mom, Christy's mother-in-law, and our aunt. The next meal found me at the local Ronald McDonald House preparing Mother's Day dinner for the families staying there with a dozen other LLUCH colleagues representing almost all the peds units. Both events were equally inspiring.

Mothers are amazing. I like mine the most of course, but kudos to all moms out there. Your love, patience, sacrifice, persistence, humor, generosity, resourcefulness (etc., etc., etc.) are awesome in my eyes and sometimes nothing short of miraculous considering the trials that life, or your kids, put you through sometimes. I imagine I'm not the only one hoping I can do my mommy proud by being a great kid :-)

Beginner's luck . . .

yumminess :-)

Happy Thanksgiving :-)

Funny how sometimes it takes getting sick to make you miss work and get anything of real value done in life . . . like catching up on blogging :P

Backpacking the Grand Canyon over Thanksgiving weekend fell through at the last minute, but a turnaround trip to Red Rock Canyon near Vegas salvaged my hunger for (mis?)adventure. Temps reached the 70s by mid morning, but dashing back and forth to take self-portraits with the camera's handy self-timer quickly made it feel like the 90s. Luckily, I held true-to-form and strayed off the beaten path so no one was around to see me laughing at my escapades to get in front of the camera lens in less than 10 seconds!

So the mountains, the ocean, or the desert? It's a toss-up for me so luckily all three are within an hour of my home. I still need to get this summer's Half Dome pictures up soon . . but despite the indescribable beauty of the granite masses of Yosemite that Ansel found so appealing, there's still something intoxicating about the redness, the texture, the rawness, and the warmth of the desert that mesmerizes me.

Link to more photos on the right :-)

14, 501 footsies up, up, up!

the perfect way to finish up year #32 . . . enjoying the tastiest lunch (because it was hard earned!) up above the tree line with old and new friends where the sky is the bluest i've ever seen it, the air is thin, and each breath is sweet and exhilarating . . . . San Gorgonio summit, July 6, 2008