Monday, December 15, 2008

Doug and Shannon...Murphy!

As the sun cascaded upon him, Doug sang to Shannon, the song that the Lord gave him for the woman he would marry. This time, instead of asking her to marry him, he affirmed his love in front of all of us at his very own wedding.

Josh and I had a wonderful time at Doug and Shannon's wedding. It was decorated beautifully in the form of traditional Christmas, complete with lights and greenery with bright red vests under every tuxedo. One of those fancy tuxedos was worn by my handsome husband as you see below! He made the best best man ever!

Another treat was to be able to see our friends that now live in Israel, John-Michael and Abra. They were here visiting and had the pleasure of attending this wonderful event as well!

You can't forget the altar picture... I just love how the greenery frames the picture with scattered holly berries. It couldn't have been more festive!

I had to include this picture too! It is our friend Judy Cole, who took Shannon into her home for the month or two that she was back in the States from Azerbaijan. Judy pretty much looks like one of those Zoolander models in this picture!! :) Style!

We are blessed to have been able to attend this wedding. It was a treat to see such a couple who is united in God, be joined together.

Elf Yourself...

Since this is the ongoing fad right now... We would like to share with you what someone made for us :) Enjoy!
Us as Elves...click here!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Arctic North...

As I have learned to lovingly call it, the Arctic North (i.e. Sacramento) was home for Thanksgiving. Actually, the below picture is of Los Gatos, on our way back. It was a beautiful night to stop and have Pizza My Heart and Dolce Spazio (a local gelato shop). Still chilly, we parked a couple blocks away and bundled up for our short walk to dinner and dessert. The town was lit up for Christmas and it was quite romantic.
While in the arctic, we saw many adorable kids that I am proud to say I am now related to! The below are my sister-in-law and cousin-in-law's kids. Luke (left) is my nephew and to be honest, I have no idea what that makes Nola (right) in relation to me. Does anyone know? Is she my second cousin or my cousin once removed? Who knows!

Align Left

There the two are again only this time they are joined by the other cute little ones in the family. Rockwell (bottom right) is Nola's brother and Micah is my other sister-in-law's child. Pretty much the cutest kids EVER!

It was our first time meeting Micah and we couldn't stop holding him. He is SO cute! Also, he is a very well behaved child. Mostly, he slept and made cute noises (all the time).

And of course, there was turkey! That is Josh's dad by the barbeque, making it delicious in every way!

Here I am holding Micah. (I told you I couldn't resist!) Isn't he just the best?!
One of the more wonderful things about the Arctic north is that they actually have trees. Yes, T-R-E-E-S. They DO exist! I, for one, LOVE them! In fact, I would go so far as to say that I DESPERATELY miss them. (You can tell how passionate I am by all the capital letters!)

Here is cute Luke again with his dad, Tom on the swing in the park. This park was an attempt to get some of the wiggles out before sitting inside all day to eat food on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, some kids had gone ice blocking down the grass (and the slide) so it was super muddy! We ended up at a different park.

All in all, it was a very fun trip, reminding us of all of the amazing people we have surrounding us for family. We are truly blessed!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Josh turned ---- ...

For Josh's birthday, we took a sort of pre-vacation getaway. After an evening at Thai food with friends, and the subsequent morning helping Josh and Laurie move, I took Josh for his surprise. I had reserved an evening in a suite at the Cambria Pines Lodge. We even had a deck that overlooked the beautiful pines towering for miles before the sea.

There was a pool and hot tub that was a fabulous after dinner retreat.

And in the morning, we took a walk on Moonstone beach in the fog. God has created this planet as such a masterpiece. His creation continually testifies to us of the love that He has for us. What an amazing God that would sculpt such beautiful landscape for us to enjoy. It was absolutely beautiful; the perfect break from all of the pre-holiday rush to get everything done!

When we got home, we had Tom and Chloe over for some dinner in order to have them meet Lewis (the cat). They will do a wonderful job caring for him during Thanksgiving...and I am sure that Tom will be itching thoroughly afterward (what a sacrifice!). At this point, I finally remembered to give Josh his cake that I had bought him on Friday! It was a chocolate truffle cake from the Cakery in San Luis Obispo. What a treat!

Friday, November 21, 2008

a fuzzy addition to the bursons...

...you guessed it... This is no rabbit paw; it is the paw of the Burson's very first pet! A kitten that we call "Lewis."

The proud new cat owners affectionately named their cat after one of their favorite authors: C.S. Lewis. It is yet another experience to add to the list of adventures we get to share! Little Lewis is a darling little kitten... see how innocent and sweet.
That is...until he gets this devious look in his eye!

Then you know he is going to go for the plant or perhaps chase his tail. Or, one of our favorites, climb up the door jam. (I wish I had a picture of that one) Another devious game he likes to play takes place when I take a shower. He likes to come and stand in the bathroom and meow and then attempt to climb up our glass shower door via Josh's towel. Since when do cats beg to get in the water?

One not so devious, but quite endearing maneuver that Lewis loves is when I work at home, he likes to get as close to me as possible. You can't get much closer than this...

This picture is of Josh napping on the guest bedroom bed while I was sending in my timesheets for work. Lewis decided to join him.

All in all, we have lots of fun. Lewis was completely trained for not only the litter box, but a scratching post when we got him, so we have had no accidents. Hooray! He is pretty much the cutest cat we've ever had! Hope you get to meet him soon!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Family Wedding #4 for the year...

Amongst the beach aspiring flowers, we settled in the Scotts Valley Community center for Uncle Dave's wedding. Dressing for the occasion, my cousin, Sean, classically glanced at the camera. It was one of the very few pictures that the kids let me take! He could easily be a young member of the rat pack, I think!

There they are... the newly-wedded couple. I think that Liz is happy! She is Greek and really enjoys a good Greek Wedding!

I have no idea who this little boy is, but he had one of the cutest little faces. The jarring scar on his forehead took some 15 stiches!

My mom, enjoyed the ceremony, the candles, the fall leaves, the crisp air... and the Peet's coffee that we brought her mid-reception!

I wanted to get some outdoor pictures of the couple, but they were not quite as enthusiastic as myself. The tree turned out to be so fascinating. I love how it towers above their heads with two commanding branches that unite at the bottom.

My husband is so strong... strong enough to break even the most durable of fake metal silverware!

Wow, a serpant around the bride and groom!

This is my cousin Cole (Sean's younger brother). He clearly has a gift.

We think this will be the last in the series of family wedding posts for the year. Let me tell you about this tree... Climbing up was fun. Jumping down, in heeled shoes... not quite as free-spirited! However, I did manage to land without a broken bone. Hooray!

Friday, October 3, 2008

If I were to like cake...

I would like this one...
A cheesecake is something I have learned to like. This one, from Upper Crust, went so far as to congratulate Tom on his oldness (sorry Tom - you know I am joking)! Truly, it was an art form... AND it came accompanied by roughly 11 or so spoons.

At this point, Tom is thrilled. Italian food. Good friends. Brian looking confused...
One must never forget to give a canned good as a birthday present. With the economic crisis, you can never be to careful, plus, its easy to chew on when you are old! Don't worry... Kristen made sure to cross out the "young" in "young peas" and correct its misprint.
Speaking of old... oh wait a minute... I mean YOUNG... We found ourselves playing a classic YOUNG person's game of scrabble one of these weeknights. It was probably the best game of scrabble ever played. Josh was the winner by TWO points! The score was 249 to 251!!!
The remaining letters of course!!! Where else would you put them?

Monday, September 15, 2008

Yet another family wedding...

It seems as if us Hoffmans (or formerly Hoffmans) have been saving up all or our marriages for this year. This time it was my cousin, Erik (completing the third marriage in the year). His lovely bride is Olga. Taking place at the Monday club in San Luis Obispo, Josh and I attended this rather casual but meaningful wedding. My cousin and his bride have been dating for "5 years". I say this in quotes because I wasn't counting the 4 years before that they started dating that one or both of them liked eachother. I will never forget my cousin's first comment to me about Olga. It was his freshman year in college at Cal Poly, where him and Olga lived in the dorms together, 1999. I had come to stay in his dorm room during Thanksgiving with him and noticed that there were a few stuffed animals beside his bed. "Erik, wow, stuffed animals!" I teased. "Oh..." he said fake non-chalently, "those...I am babysitting those for a friend." As I didn't try to hold in my laughter, I asked which friend. And that was when I first heard Olga's name. It was also the day that I figured that they would probably get married one day. And look at this...9 years later and they have rings!

Isn't she beautiful?

...And he handsome?

I couldn't resist putting in yet one more picture of us... We are newlyweds... What do you expect?!!

Their first dance. I love the look in Olga's eyes.

The kids at the wedding were very endearing. The above photo is one of Olga's family members and the below is of my little cousin Alex, who refused to give me any face forward pictures. I was glad for this one. What beats an action shot. She looks like she could be off chasing some sort of bad guy. Go Alex!!! You can catch him!

What would a wedding be without a pinata? My cousin Reed really knew how to swing his pinata stick.
The next morning, all of us went to breakfast at the Madonna Inn. Gee, can you tell by the pink chairs and the rediculous goblets on the table?!! My dad really was having a good time. He looks stoic in this picture. I like it.

Last but certainly not least (in price at least...) is my grapefruit. No, this was no ordinary grapefruit. The Madonna Inn successfully charged me $3.75 for this HALF grapefruit. I wanted a whole grapefruit, but who pays $7.50 for one grapefruit that you could buy for $.50 at the store. So, of course, it deserved documentation. I want to at least give it publicity so that I can make the price worth it. Enjoy it.