Big Weekend

Last weekend was an eventful one for us - mom and dad came to Santa Barbara, mom's birthday was on Saturday and I had two baby showers. Despite all the fun, I only ended up taking two pictures the entire time!

Dad was exhausted after the long drive down from Sacramento...here he is "resting" :)

On Saturday evening, we were planning to celebrate mom's birthday at one of our favorite restaurants, Opal, but there were no available tables. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since we had one of the best meals we've had in Santa Barbara - at Petit Valentien. Great french cuisine made with fresh local market produce. We started off with an amazing salad, pate (made in-house), a good bottle of white and seafood dishes for our entrees. Our food was so good that we couldn't pass up dessert and, for those of you who know us, you know we had to order one of each dessert. Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

I'm hungry now....

The Cone

Various uses for an "e-collar" (aka: "the cone"):

1. Protective medical device
2. Doggy torture device
3. This year's halloween costume
4. Bark amplifier
5. Toy catcher

Poor Little Maya

We brought in Maya to the vet yesterday to get a mast cell tumor removed. Unfortunately, the vet found 4 more that they needed to remove. So she now has five 6-inch sutures across her body. Her new name is Frankenstein's doggie.

(That's not bone - that's a drainage tube)

She was really out of it when we picked her up and seemed to be in a lot of pain but she surprised us and ate dinner last night which was a good sign. After a long night of crying, she seems to be doing much better today. Honestly, I think she hates the cone the most.

On another note, we invited Max, Nathan, Heather and the girls over this afternoon for a BBQ. Francis made enough food for 20 people but we somehow managed to eat everything...

Our New House

Finally! After many years of dreaming and saving, Francis and I have finally made the jump from being renters to home owners. It is truly a dream come true for us to be able to do this in Santa Barbara. We absolutely love our new home and cannot wait to fill it with many happy memories.

Here is a quick video of the house. Keep in mind that we still have empty walls and spaces to fill and Zoe's room to complete but the house is coming along nicely!

Happy 4th of July!

This year we spent 4th of July with Jorge and Paty and the doggies. We had a great time...our first "holiday" in our new house! We spent 3 days BBQing, playing Wii, going to the beach, chatting for hours and overall having a great time.

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July dinner...we made homemade fish tacos and Paty made some "Z" napkins for Zoe :)





We walked to the Mission afterwards ... it was a little sketchy since the street that took us there had no streetlights but it was well worth it. The view of the fireworks above the ocean was amazing.