Jimmy and I thoroughly enjoyed the season this year. Here's a pic of us and our babies by the fireplace on Christmas day. 
Here's a pic of all of us on Christmas Day. Top from Left to right: Florence, Slavin holding Callin, Michelle holding Ava, Matt, Mollie, Mark, April, Richard. Bottom from Left to right: Norm holding baby Kale, Phil, Marissa, Corky, Jace Arrana holding Hayden, Jimmy and Mel
Aranna with her great-grandbabies. Ava was not into it at all!
The kiddos made out like bandits!
It's Christmas Eve! A most excellent recipe here for you! Oreo Truffles! All you need is:
To get our furry children ready for Santa, we took them to the dog wash today. We have been going to the dog wash for the last couple of years and today I took my camera and got some pics. 
For about $8.00 we can wash both dogs. The nice part about this is that it's close to home and the only supplies we bring is a wash mitt and towels, There is even a blow dryer for them there. 
The dogs love going to the dog wash!
Rosie likes to bite the blow dryer so I had to restrain her. 
Well, we just harvested a crop of Jalapenos. This plant was planted back in April with the rest of our garden. The light green peppers in the basket are Asian Peppers and that plant is still going strong as well. I made salsa last night for Mollie with a few of the Jalapenos. I used 4 pounds of Roma tomatoes, 1 onion, cilantro, salt, pepper and 4 roasted jalapenos. Youza it was HOT! James kept eating it, even though his lips were on fire! Thinking about making another batch of salsa for gifts. I have some jars, cute holiday ribbon, thought I would give it a go. 
We had a nice turkey day with the family. I am embarrassed that this is the only pic I have of the day. We had 10 people for dinner and we all sat at one table. Next time I need to recruit a photographer..... It's difficult to cook and clean AND take pictures. Can't wait for the Akins to post pics of the new family member that was born ON THANKSGIVING!
On 11/11/11, James and I celebrated (not really), rather we realized we had been married exactly 4 years, 4 months and 4 days. When we went on our honeymoon we visited the Kauai Coffee Plantation. We bought a burlap sack and finally decided to get it framed. Here it is! We have it prominently displayed and absolutely love that it says '2007' on it. 
Now that we have wood floors, the pups who are the royalty of comfort, cuddle together on their dog bed. We have 2 dog beds that usually stay in their room. We put one in the living room and here they are. 
It's so hard to resist a photo opp like this.
They are so cute.
After I took the first pic Rosie sat up and snarled at me. She likes to get up when I get the camera out for her close up. Oh and also if you look closely, you can see a CLEAN firebox as we got our chimney swept yesterday. We have wood, a clean chimney and all we need now is cool weather. 
Here are the stairs before the carpet was ripped out. The walls and banisters had aleready been repainted. 
Here's the carpet in the dining room. Not a smart idea to have carpet right under the dining table. 
Living room with the same light colored carpet, a nightmare if you have dogs, kids, etc.
During! The crew arrived on Monday and immediately got to work. It took 3 men, 3 days to complete the project. We were thinking about doing the work ourselves but after it was all said and one, we are so happy we got the crew to demo/install everything. This picture shows the underlayment that was placed between the concrete and the wood.
Brazilian Cherry wood. So rich looking.
We are trying to get everything back to normal. It's been a slow process since we have been working so much.
Here's a good pic of what it looks like. We are still going to be tweaking our wall art, etc. It's very clean and we have already invested in a dust mop. I have the best steam mop but unfortunately we cannot use that on the wood, only the tile. We are looking forward to have friends and family over to see our new 'place'.
Phoenix and Rosie are canine soulmates. These buddies are so sweet, I just adore them. They are the best guard dogs, you wouldn't tell by this picture but my money is on them if a bad guy were to cross them. 
We trekked up to Flagstaff on 8/19 to celebrate the marriage of Alex Akin and Abby Evans that took place on 8/20 at 10:30 Am. It was a most beautiful day. Abby and Alex are a beautiful couple and had such a fun wedding. 
Jimmy and I spent an overcast day at the Beach in Oxnard. The beaches there are quiet, clean and familiar. We both fell asleep on the beach listening to the waves. There was also this random guy on a horse with a colt following him. Jimmy also explored down by the power plant and saw a dead dolphin on the shore, that was sad. We always enjoy our beach time and look forward to going back!
I am barely getting this blog post up after about a month. Jimmy and I went to Santa Ynez and went wine tasting. We visited 6 Vineyards in this order: Gainey, Buttonwood, Bridlewood, Fess Parker, Firestone and Zaca Mesa. The first 3 we have been to before and are our faves. Buttonwood also has a peach orchard with the largest, yummiest and juciest peaches. We stopped at Trader Joes in Westlake and packed a pic nic. One thing I love about California is everywhere we went, THERE WAS A TRADER JOES, or a Gelsons, or a Bristol Farms, or a Whole Foods! Our first stop was Gainey and they had a beautiful pic nic area overlooking the vineyard. Firestone is a new fave, their tasting room and folks working are awesome. The region has probably about 20 more wineries/tasting rooms that we could have visited. Last Sunday we had Bridlewood's six barrell syrah. SO GOOD. 
Fess Parkers
The lawn area outside of Fess Parker
Jimmy went fishing yet again on a boat called the Erna B out of Channel Islands Sportfishing in Oxnard. He had a ball and even said that he is done fishing in San Diego. He said that the crew was nice, helpful and professional. He caught more than his quota so he was able to pass all of the fish that he caught to the crew and other fisherman on the boat. He did the full day trip from 7a-4p and can't wait to go again. 
On Saturday night we went to the Terranea resort for some live music and dinner.
On Sunday, we went out on the boat for Tam's birthday. She got this idea to borrow this kayak from a friend and we would tow it and then her and I would get in it and paddle to the shore where the terranea resort is for bloody marys. Too bad there isn't picture evidence of the story I am about to tell you. 
We only had 1 oar and it wasn't even the correct kind. The kayak flipped us into the ocean twice in deep water and the 2nd time I freaked out. We were in a kelp bed and the kelp all over my legs was freaking me out. We got back on the boat then decided to go tubing! It was fun but I was happier in the boat rather than on the kayak or tube. 
Jimmy and Pierre went fishing and there's about a 1/2 dozen pics just like this with Jimmy grinning from ear to ear because he caught fish after fish. I know him and Pierre had a great time. 
When we got to Cali on our first day of vacation, we got to Tam and Pierre's and took a nice nap, taking in the ocean air. Both Tam and Pierre had work stuff going on so James and I got to hang with Sebastian. We went to the park, took some pics at home and really just enjoyed this little buddy. He is going to be 5 in November and I am so impressed with how thoughtful and loving he is. 
