July Fun

We stayed home from the river for Independence day this year due to some other events we attended and scheduling of an extended trip/conference in Boston. The day was warm, so we barbecued and enjoyed the pool. I had wanted to try a recipe for Summer Shortcake which I found in Martha Stewart Living. It was very good although I modified the recipe a bit. There was no cinnamon to be found in the ingredients (what's up with that?) and I am quite certain that cinnamon is an essential seasoning for practically all desserts, so I added it to the buttermilk biscuit. Here it is: The next weekend, Lauren, Alex and I traveled to the wedding of a friend that we met in our neighborhood on Yardley. Christopher and his sister Jennifer were home educated and came often to Temecula from Anaheim to visit their Aunt who lived down the street from us. Whenever they visited, Jennifer and Christopher would come and play at our house with Alex. We stayed in touch over the years and Christopher joined us on our houseboat trip to Lake Powell a couple of times. We went to see him perform in several plays with Biola Youth Theater. So we couldn't miss his wedding to a beautiful young lady he met in the theater group. Their wedding was in Malibu (which is a long way from Temecula) and it was lovely.

Mid-July found us back at Lake Mead. This time we were joined by Tim's parents, Gary and Cindy, as well as, his sister Kim and her 4 children. Joel and Jill also came & Jared....It was a nice trip...the weather was great and the water excellent! Tim's family enjoyed seadooing. I got up on a wakeboard this trip. YAY! Don't have a picture though, Tim took one with his camera and I haven't seen them. Life has been very busy!

This was a fun party. These three friends decided to celebrate their right to the senior discount years together. Wonderful ladies! A celebration of 165 years of life! And then, one more Beach Bonfire with the MOMS.....unfortunately, Bo couldn't join us this time. We missed her! Di was able to catch a wave on the boogie board and rode for a long time. Up next.......Boston and Baptism.

Inspiring Couple

Just a quick promotion, on the girl talk blog, (you can click here or on "girl talk" under my links in the left column) there is a touching story of CJ and Carolyn Mahaney. CJ was the pastor of Covenant Life Church. Josh Harris is the current pastor and narrates the story. It doesn't take much time, it is a you tube video. So follow the link and enjoy. I am so blessed by Carolyn's love of husband and family because that is where my heart is....she was the matron of honor for each of her three daughters! How precious!

Cabo San Lucas

Now back to the current summer.....I am so behind! The last week in June, Paul, Lauren and I flew to Cabo San Lucas to stay at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort where we bought a timeshare last year. My sister Pat & her husband Larry scheduled their week to coincide with ours and brought along my niece Desiree, her husband Rob and son Avery. We arrived late Saturday night and so we met on sunday for brunch at the La Nao Restaurant there at the resort. After brunch, we headed poolside. The weather was beautiful! Sunny but not too hot. That evening we took a cab into town to shop at Costco. In order to keep expenses down, we decided to do some dinners in our mini kitchen and not eat out every night. Monday morning we did the timeshare presentation in order to get the "gift" of a reduced price on a fishing charter and dinner at a restaurant in Cabo as well as, a sunset cruise. So that night, we went to Desperado's Cantina to use one of our presentation gifts. After dinner, we walked to a little open courtyard area by Cabo Wabo to finish the evening and take in the atmosphere Tuesday found us poolside most of the day, in fact, we spent quite a lot of time by the pool. That afternoon, we headed over to the marina to do our sunset cruise. Last year we did a cruise that included dinner and had an upper and lower deck. This year we did a catamaran cruise. I liked it even better because there were fewer people and I like the sailing : ) The crew threw a line in the water and caught a fish Pat and Larry enjoyed dancing on the deck Wednesday Tim flew down to surprise Lauren. She was very surprised! We had dinner at La Nao that night and you can see how happy they both were to be together. Thursday we took a bus to Todos Santos (about 45 min. drive) The town has many little shops with silver jewelry and decorative items to buy. Hotel California is located in Todos Santos Lunch was at the Tequila Sunrise Bar and Grill....YUM! Paul, Lauren and Tim posing with Dr. Margarita Friday, Paul, Larry, Rob, Lauren and Tim went fishing while Pat, Desiree, Avery and I went over to enjoy the beach at Pueblo Bonito Rose and to swim in the Sea of Cortez. Lauren and Larry each caught a Dorado. Avery enjoyed playing in the sand on the beach....and I did some reading Sorry, I know this post is lengthy...it's just so hard to choose only a few photos. Here are a couple shots from the beach on the Pacific shorebelow PB Sunset And now, a few pool shots... This is the Skypool which sits high atop the hill above the resort. It's a great place to be at sunset. Thanks for staying with me on this long post. Needless to say, it was a great week. If you see any photos that you think are really great shots, you can bet that Tim took them...he has a talent for photos (Thanks Tim)