Surfers EVERYWHERE! It was neat to see their skills. Hard to imagine how it feels for the wave to wipe you out and under the water at the end.


Sunset at Laguna Beach. Just like the picture books. We don't see how you could ever get tired of living on the Pacific Ocean.

Our dear friends Kelly and Seth! This is at gardens in Encinitas.

Jamba Juice - definetly got introduced to these great conconctions. Thanks for a fun trip!

Conference in California!!

CALIFORNIA!
Congratulations Bret on all your hard work researching the ocular biometry of the crystalline lens thickness. Whew. He received an award there for his hard work! You go boy.
This was in Anaheim. We hiked Mount Baldy, a peak in the San Bernadino mountains, 10.000ft elevation. It was very challenging and very rewarding. And luckily, 6 hrs later, we got out before dark. But we almost didn't make sundown...!
We drove down Highway 1 "The One" through various beaches - Sunset, Huntington, Laguna - until we got to Carlsbad, home of the Williams! We love being with you Seth, Kelly and Bou. They showed us all around Encinitas and Carlsbad, and we also got to go to their church service (also their place of employment). We miss you so much. Thanks for all your loving hospitality!

You da man Bret! Best soon-to-be-Optometrist ever!!!!!!!

Mountains are his best friend. He was thriving!

And I thought they were pretty AMAZING myself. We reveled in God's beautiful creation.

Our favorite worship song as present has in it's chorous "Savior, He can move the mountains. Our God is mighty to save. He is mighty to save. Forever, author of salvation. He rose and conquered the grave." We couldn't help singing it out as we hiked. Breath taking.

Bret's belated birthday treat!

Columbus half marathon 2008!

COLUMBUS HALF MARATHON!
And Happy 26th Bday Bret! What a fun weekend filled with friends and fall and r-u-n-n-i-n-g! We couldn't be more proud of EVERYONE who completed the race. Friday night, we celebrated Bret's actual birthday by going to a high school football game and dinner. Then Caitlin's parents hosted a pre-race pasta dinner on Saturday night, getting ready for the 13.1 mile race Sunday am through Columbus. After taking a significant nap, Bret and I went to Sharon Woods in Westerville to enjoy the nice day - it's right next to our church, the Vineyard. So it worked out well.

The entire crew of runners. Many first-timers - and we all did it! How fun.

Runner Chicks! You go girlz!

Sharon Woods - our after the race, before evening church serenity moment :)


Check out our new shirts -- that definetly means you ran it :)

Fall trip to John Bryan State Park

JOHN BRYAN STATE PARK!
Bret had the day off for Columbus Day (thanks Chris for finding our country in the fall -- it's pretty then!) and I do not work on Mondays, so we decided to make a fall day of it. Packed up the Element tight and went to John Bryan State Park near Dayton to go hiking, repelling/rock climbing, biking, and picnic. We even got to stop and go rasberry picking! Fall is our favorite.

The colors were BRILLIANT!

Color swap pic - the camera will only pick up the green if you ask it to, and all else is captured in black and white. Very neat.

Thought this is a neat picture. We did a camera timer and it got the foreground with us as a hint of the background.

After a LOT of convincing, Bret helped me repel down this cliff. The scary thing is that you hold your own rope for that. In other words, my life is in MY hands. Kinda scary! When in mid-air, I trust him more than myself. And we rock climbed up. Crazy.

Nature rocks!

The Element holds all..............

Spears reunion in Columbus

SPEARS IN COLUMBUS!
Special thanks to Michael for coming ALL the way down from Canada. We had our reunion in Columbus, which is fun since Nicole/Adam live here and so do we. We had plenty of room for our plenty of family. Thanks for making us feel so loved by coming to visit!


Thanksgiving Dinner - Canadian American style. Michael is doing an exchange from WestPoint to Canada's military school, RMC. This weekend was Canada's Thanksgiving weekend, so we cooked for it! And Michael brought home a nice friend Derrick. Yummy.......

The WHOLE family at Highbanks!

Nic, Mom, Me, and ACE! Love that pup!

SVOSH to Ecuador

Welome to Ecuador!

This was an trip through SVOSH - Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity. We had the privlege to deliver eye care to a region of great poverty in Ecuador: Manta. We treated many eye diseases and dispensed over 2.000 pairs of glasses, treating 3,000 patients in just 4 days. Very rewarding, very tiring. Our "reward" for this hard work was a "fun trip" to Puerto Lopez, a more resort-esque region on the West coast of Ecuador.
Group shot of Bret's classmates on the trip - this is just the 4th yrs. There were 40 volunteers on the trip with us. Soon to be doctors!

Live sea turtle! We got to see humbpack whales and nemo fish too!

Puerto Lopez coast. Before leaving for the boat ride.

On the fun trip,we got to stay in cabanas. On the service portion, we were in group room bunks. A little different :)

Bret treated many patients like this woman. Ecuadorians are very personable people.

I particularly loved the children. They were so friendly and helped me with Spanish while I charaded my communication to them :)

We were able to celebrate our FIRST wedding anniversary here - very special.

Laguna Beach...Enough said.