Coronado Island

Question: How awesome is your job when the company pays for a family retreat to the Del on Coronado Island? Answer: super awesome. 

Years ago, when all of Matt's family lived in San Diego and Noah was just a baby, we visited Coronado Island. I loved it! It has such a romantic vibe, especially the old & historic Hotel del Coronado.  Now none of Matt's family lives in San Diego and we have no babies. But Coronado Island is still just as amazing as I remembered. 

Everyone loved staying at the Del, but Zack was in heaven. This hotel is totally his thing--what with the fancy lobby  

and what not.

The biggest score for the boy who always ends up stuck sleeping on the floor was getting his own space (and tv) in our room. 

He also enjoyed the various reading locations.

For the end of October the weather was beautiful. 

 We spent all afternoon and evening on the beach. 

 

The weather was warm but the water was cold, don't let Matt's confident expression convince you otherwise. 

Everyone from the Firm met for s'mores and to hang out. Matt works with really great people (many of whom we are related to) which makes for a fun night. 

 

  

Perfect evening.... perfect place! 

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Happy birthday to our favorite aging rocker.... :)

Klingler Time

An added perk of Wacy's wedding was a quick visit from the Klinglers. We only had one Saturday afternoon, so we did our best to show them some of our favorite places. The weather was perfect and we had a really great time. 

M&M store & free 3-D movie

Our favorite form of liquid torture--the infamous Coke Around the World tour. (It's not all bad, but beware of Beverly!)

 

 Bellagio fountains-this time to a little Frank Sinatra. My favorite show yet! 

 

 This guy was awesome. I am not usually one for street performers, but this guy was really good. 

  Mr. Muscles is a reason I am not a fan of street performers.  

You may think he is a friendly body builder who likes to get his picture taken with random people. But really, he is a pushy guy who won't let you go until you take a whole bunch of pictures. You end up like this--on instagram!

When your embarrassment is complete, he demands money. What? It was a weird way to end the evening. But I guess it could have been worse, on the strip, at night, in Vegas. Mr. Muscles and all, we loved spending the day with the Klinglers. 

A Wedding for Wacy

and Kat, but I am a fan of alliteration, so she didn't make the title. 

We didn't go to California just to tour the Fender factory. The main purpose of our little trip was to attend Wacy and Kat's wedding in the San Diego Temple. 

I am not, nor do I ever aspire to be, a wedding photographer. But you would think I would try a little harder. I just don't want to impose, so here are my horrible photos of the big day. 

Another plus of this trip was spending a little bit of time with my mom and Lacey. 

 Unfortunately it was a rushed trip for me. We had time for lunch at CPK then I hit the road for home. Matt stayed in California for a work retreat. While I was home with the kids, Matt and Co. were partying with rock stars. Maybe up and coming stars is a better term, but still...

Jake & Jammin Orrall of Jeff the Brotherhood. 

 

We Totally Rocked that Fender Guitar Tour...

Are you aware that Matt likes guitars? He does. A lot. When we were first married I found a poem he'd written about his true love. I was touched until I found out it was about his guitar. True story. But I am not jealous. To prove it, I went with him to tour the Fender factory in Corona. 

Fender builds guitars in Mexico too, but the nicest, and more expensive, guitars are made here in the USA. The tour was actually really interesting. 

Of course everything I learned went straight into my short-term memory so I may have some details wrong. The guitars start out as wooden planks and are carved by that machine in the background. 

Here's a better look at the transformation from board to body. 

These are the necks and there is a machine for that too. 

There are lots of neck choices. 

I didn't take very many pictures but we saw every step of the process and it was all really interesting. It takes a lot of work to get to this point. 

These are some of the expensive custom guitars from the custom shop. Some of these can cost as much as a car. A used car, but still a car!!  

They make a lot of custom vintage guitars that are distressed (or Matt says "road worn"). They looked super old and well played even though they were brand new.

If you find yourself in the Corona area try to go on the tour. It's definitely worth it. And you can get a free pick, or several free picks. If you found my tour information lacking, ask Matt and he can tell you more than you probably want to know.  Need another reason to stop in Corona? Well, there is a really great Chik-fil-A nearby...delicious chicken and free butter mints. 

Halloween Decorating

Zack was extra excited that I was back from my two week trip. I was flattered, until I remembered that I promised him we could decorate for Halloween when I returned. His goal was to have the best decorations in our neighborhood. 

The next morning he gave me a shopping list. I only needed to pick up a coffin, skeleton, mummy and tombstones. That was it. What I didn't know was that he also gave Matt a list to buy pumpkins, a witch, spiderwebs and ghosts. He's sneakier than I suspected. Instead, I gave him a budget and took him shopping.  He fiddled with it for the rest of the month and here are the final results. 

 

 

 

  

 

It doesn't look that great in the daylight, but it was spooky enough for him to be happy about it. The first few days it was out he thought he saw more cars than usual driving by our house. He figured that people saw our house and told their friends to come check it out.  Love that optimism!