66 months

Today my wife and I have been married for 66 months.  I believe that that is the equivalent to 5 and a half years.  My, the time has flown by.  I still remember celebrating our 1 year anniversary on the beautiful 18th hole at Pebble Beach Country Club, and then having a delicious lunch at The Fish Wife, still the best shrimp pasta I've endured in my life.  The funny thing about that place is that a former co-worker of mine suggested we go there since we were going to be in the neighborhood, and I had actually forgotten about it until we happened to stumble upon it.  Anyway, so happy 66 months to us, hoping for another 66 fabulous years together!

BUSY day today as we ran all over the place trying to take care of life's business, mostly with the subtitle of paying bills.  You'd think that even bills would be willing to take a summer holiday.  Oh wait, that's only for residents of Monaco.  Despite all the running around, we had a lot of fun and the two little ones were with us the entire time, and behaved very well.  Shane especially has realized that exploring supermarkets is a lot more fun than sitting confined in a trolley (shopping cart for the US readers).  The race is on!  

I had the worst time getting to sleep last night, and even though Tricia continues to inform me that having a coca-cola at 10pm at night was probably the reason for it, I deny it.  Tossing and turning, switching beds, moving to the couch (a place I'm thankfully not all that familiar with), playing a game of FIFA '11, watching some test cricket (England/Sri Lanka, just before it began to rain), nothing did it.  Finally at 5am I decided that perhaps a phone call to the east coast (it was a business call, I'm not in the habit of calling random people in NYC) where everyone was awake would help.  And sure enough it did.  My chronometer read 5:45am when I realized that it was almost awake time for Californians...and finally I dozed off.  Lesson learned....no more carbonated drinks that late at night.  

Tricia made the most delicious shrimp alfredo pasta this evening, just divine.  I cannot wait to have some leftovers for breakfast (you breakfast traditionalists, pretend you didn't read that).  I'll make sure to hang out with Jenny McCarthy first, though, or else I know that I won't be up for our engagement after eating.  On the note of Jenny M, she was kind to me yesterday, and even to Tricia.  Hoping that despite her increasing of the intensity of our workouts, that she will still remember that we are human beings who don't enjoy aching muscles.

Looking forward to tomorrow where we will be installing a swing set in our backyard.  Kyle and Shane are going to love it, and I'm especially looking forward to it because that will hopefully keep them out of the front yard where they like to tease us by playing too close to the driveway and road.  Pictures hopefully tomorrow!


PS: It is now 11:30pm and my 2-year old is glued to the screen with me as we watch England's 4th day performance in the 3rd test against Sri Lanka.  Love it!

Horses, tennis, and workout

Kyle and Shane at the Osumi ranch

Today was so much fun.  After taking Michael and Matthew to the Dewsnups house for their trip to high adventure camp, it was time for the epic battle (refer to yesterday's post for more information) between Christa and I.  Poor gal, I caught her right after her two hours of tennis practice, so I know that she wasn't fully in it.  The scoreline of 6-1 to me didn't mean much because I was fresh and she was probably a little tired.  So we're due for a rematch when both of us are fresh.  We took Christa home afterwards, and that meant Kyle and Shane were able to play with the horses.  They LOVE playing with the horses, and they especially love to feed them.  Shane decided that because he could not reach the horse's head to stroke it, he climbed up the railings to reach it...and he was indeed proud of himself until the horse began to lick his shorts...then it was time to get down very quickly.

Jenny and Tricia push themselves to the limits

This evening we decided to finally pull out the Your Shape exercise program for Wii, presented by Jenny McCarthy.  Wow, after 5 weeks off from rugby refereeing, I realized how lazy I've been since then.  She hurt me, so I know I have a lot of work to do.  Tricia did it too and she did extremely well for someone who has a bunch of plates, screws and rods in her neck.  Looking forward to this everyday throughout the summer so that I can be even more on top of my game at pre-season in October than I was last season.  

Closing the evening with The Bachelorette.

The day before "Wimbledon"

Today....aaah....today. My family were able to enjoy my pancakes I made this morning for breakfast (see yesterday's post for more information). All of the males in the house attended church today and I will be the first to admit that Kyle and Shane were SO well behaved. Sometimes they have issues sitting still for the duration, but they were very good today.

Sunday afternoon meant braai time (bbq time for Americans reading this), and what better way than to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon than a season tri-tip. I must say I'm getting very good at this tri-tip thing because this would be my fourth successful one in a row. I stayed away from tri-tip on the grill because I've had a history of burning them...but not this year! (knock on wood). And what would a delicious tri-tip be without roast potatoes. Now, I'm the only one in this family who seems to really enjoy roast potatoes, but when I was growing up it was something that went with almost every roast my mom ever made. Mmmm....divine!

Me with Jessica

Then off to the Dewsnup residence to celebrate Jessica's recent success as a high school graduate, and her preparation for a new adventure in Rexburg at BYU-I. Wow, Cheryl Hurst was naughty enough to make the most delicious home-made cheeseball which I could not get enough of. I'm thankful to my son Kyle for getting me to follow him outside so as to take me away from the cheeseball. Had a wonderful time talking to Charley, who to my detriment do not get enough chat-time with him. Before we ended the festivities I found someone to play tennis with tomorrow. Christa Osumi and I will be facing off tomorrow in what should be an epic battle (refer to the title of this post for more information), youth versus experience, who will triumph? Watch this space...

Saturday = busy day

The day did not get off to a good start with the Sharks drawing their must-win match against the bottom-of-the-log Lions.  Sharks needed a win to almost ensure a playoff place.  But with the Bulls beating the Stormers today (another wrong result for me), the Sharks will have to beat the Bulls in their final pool match to make the knockouts.  A tall order considering how poor the Sharks looked today.  


With that out of the way, it was time to look towards the positives of the day and that started with going to a baseball match which our friends' son, Darius, was playing in at Nipomo Park.  It was the final in their particular division and what a nail-biter it was.  The opposing Rangers took a 6-3 lead, but the Angels came back to get 1 behind in their final innings.  Darius was the last man up and it was all on him to find the gap and pull off an amazing comeback.  Being the youngest player in the team, one would expect him to crack under the pressure, but he placed a brilliant drive through the right side and all looked good until an excellent bit of fielding sealed the fate of the Angels, and the opposition won 6-5.  It was very exciting watching these pre-teens playing some very competitive sport.  Plus we got to spend some quality time with our friends, Dan and Eneida.  


Back to the house and we had to help in the preparations of Michael and Matthew's campout, mainly ensuring that they had all of their gear before departing to the Sierras on Monday morning.  It all didn't work out as planned as Matthew was AWOL for about 6 hours.  Towards the end of the afternoon, Tricia took both of them to pick up some hiking boots.  This was my perfect opportunity to get stuck into supper, and I was so excited to try enchiladas again.  I made them for the first time earlier this week and they were such a success that I just had to do them again.  I probably lacked enough sour cream, but otherwise they were deliciously tasty.  Can't wait to try this again!  


9:15pm and we've finally been able to review the camp checklist.  Still some items missing, so that means a trip to the supermarket before it closes at 10pm.  And to our bad luck, not many stores on the central coast carry winter attire during the summer, so not everything is complete just yet.  That means another trip to some specialist stores at 7am on Monday morning.  


And here's a secret, but don't tell anyone, I made pancake batter tonight so that I can make breakfast for everyone in the morning before church.  So that means up at 7am, but it will be an even better surprise because I secretly snuck some chocolate chips into the batter.....mmmm, talk about healthy eating!

Friday fun.....for the most part

Shane and Kyle enjoying washing the car

Yes, it is true, we watch the Casey Anthony trial regularly.  My excuse is that it helps me see the practical version of what I've been studying for the past 16 months (criminal justice)...haha.  Past that, the morning was definitely a moment for washing our vehicles.  And wow, what a treat that I did not have to do them by myself.  I had two little helpers, a 4-year old and a 2-year old who were more than willing to volunteer their time to put soap and water to good use.  I was actually very impressed with Kyle who did very well in applying the soap accurately and effectively.  Both vehicles looking sparkling, oh, and they were both waxed too.  Then off to the graduation party for Amika Osumi who was awarded a full scholarship to the distinguished Cornell University in Ithica, New York.  We are extremely proud of our friends who graduated this year: Amika, Jessica Dewsnup (a new member of our family, my brother's wife's sister), Sharae Sharp and Tara Anderson.  Jessica has been accepted to BYU-Idaho (enjoy the cold), while Tara has been toying with the BYU idea too....we hope she goes.  (on this topic, I'm reminded of my dad's best 3 years of high school being 9th grade. Hopefully he's learned that if you tell the same joke enough times, people to start to believe it :) )

Mr. Smarty-pants over here was not very smart by eating a full-fledged meal just minutes before stepping up to the challenge of a racquetball match against our friend, Dan Rogness.  Definitely felt heavy at the beginning, although with a lack of serious ventilation on the court, I lost those temporary kilos very quickly (come on, I'm sure unscientifically that's possible).  We had a lot of fun and we're currently tied at 1 game a piece with a resumption to occur hopefully within the coming weeks.  Been about 2 years since I last played, miss it.  

Kyle's delicious triple choc-chip cookies

Right before bed time, some wiseguy thought it would be fun to bake cookies (biscuits for those Saffens reading this).  Hold on, not just a regular batch....we had to do a double batch!  At 10:20pm the last set finally came out of the oven and it was definitely time for our slumber.  Kyle loves to bake, and I love to bake with him.  And of course we don't believe in the instant "just add water" packages that one can buy at the shop...we do the real deal with original ingredients and follow a recipe (something which I know is completely 20th century to many).  

Today was a lot of fun, I love spending time with my boys.  On a downside, Tricia was not feeling well today...emotionally.  Someone was not very nice to her, and I know that because of her big heart she took it very hard.  I hope that she can find a solution to this current saddening issue, but knowing Tricia like I do, she will do everything she can to turn this brief setback into a positive.  

Oh, and if you want a taste of our delicious baking, you may log onto e-bay and post your bid.  Haha, okay, just kidding!

Happy birthday, Shane!

Today was Shaney's 2nd birthday (hooray), and even though he is only 2, I think he finally began to understand why today was an important day for him.  He began in the morning by opening his presents from us and from his grandparents, but to him it was more exciting to rip the wrapping versus the reason for the presents.  The most amazing transformation for a 2-year old occurred in front of our eyes as he fell in love with one of his presents...a noise-making Buzz Lightyear toy.  It is one that he has played with at friends' homes, and one that he was never been willing to dispense with when it was time to leave their homes.  Finally, he has his own and he did not let it out of his sight except for the hour and a half that Kyle "stole" it and fell asleep on top of it (yes, he literally fell asleep on top of it so as to hide it from Shane).  Cute indeed.  At the tail-end of the evening we enjoyed some cake and ice-cream, and Shane had his first experience at blowing out candles.  When I brought the cake home, he knew instantly that that cake was for him, hence my earlier statement that he finally began to understand why this day was HIS day.  He was so excited for the cake, and looked at home when blowing out the candles.  Here's to many more birthdays, my dear prince!  

Kyle's summary of Shrek 3

Shrek 3.  The trees are bad.  They are brown.  They pull the stick out of them and the leaves come out and they fall down.  They also  put the sticks back in them.  The trees turn into parachutes.  The big dragon blows fire.  Donkey has children.  They are flying donkeys.  Four of them.  They blow fire.  Donkey says, "Give your dad a hug".  Shrek says about babies, "they poop and they cry".  The baby came to his house and Shrek slammed the door.  He said, "where's the baby?"  The king was a frog kingy.  He says, "ribbit, ribbit".  He died.  Boots had a sword, and he and Shrek wanted to have a fight.  Shrek used a sword.  There were lots of cats on the rocks, they were Boots' friends.  The movie ended when they were sleeping.  Shrek swam away off the boat and he got home...and he said, "home!".