Kendall and Daddy's Big Afternoon!

Kendall and I had our first "Non-Mom" afternoon today. Crystal went out to get her hair done in preparation for tomorrow's newborn photo shoot. Things went so smoothly for the first 2 minutes. Then the reality of what was going down set in - for both of us...

No mommy!

For, like, 2 hours!

We withheld sending text messages to Crystal for the first hour or so, as to let her enjoy her hair appointment... But by the second hour, Kendall and I had to reach out...

Here's the text conversation to give you a flavor of our big afternoon!

We had such an adventure! Hopefully next time we get into our groove a bit more... ;-)

Wedding Photog's Blog Photos

It's been a while since the last, full official blog post was written. But obviously things have been really great for us. We got married last month on the 16th, and left quickly for our honeymoon in Fiji for two weeks. While we have some really amazing photos from our honeymoon, our wedding photographer just put up a new blog post from our wedding. Tyra is so talented and she captured some really amazing photos from the day. You can see the blog post by clicking here, or going to http://www.tyrableek.com/. :-) Enjoy! Photos from the honeymoon to follow soon!

On this Valentine's Day

As C and I get ready for our wedding, and it being Valentine's Day and all, I decided to share this article from the Huffington Post today. As we plan, C and I look to each other to stay grounded and focused on what's truly important...

You can find the original story here.

My Worst Wedding... Was My Own

By Rachael Hollis

I've been thinking about writing this article for a while, but pride may or may not have kept me from it. You see, I'm really proud of the reputation I've built up over the last eight years as a high end, stylish wedding planner. I have been known to, on more than one occasion, look down my nose at items I deem to be tacky wedding fare... carnations, tulle, DIY invitations. And yet, the wedding I'm most embarrassed of having planned, the one I'd never put into my portfolio, is my own.

A little back-story... I got married eight years ago this May at the ripe old age of 21. Back then we didn't have a ton of money, or a ton of taste for that matter. I set about planning a wedding that was nicer than what I'd grown up with but it turns out, lacking in several key areas. We picked a gorgeous locale on a cliff overlooking the ocean but I was hesitant to spend exorbitant amounts of money on items I didn't think were crucial. I can admit to you all now, albeit sheepishly, that we had plastic folding chairs at our ceremony... can you imagine? The "upgraded" chair was in our reception and even then it was white wood folding. The reception itself had ficus trees with twinkle lights, the cake table was skirted and piled high with fabric, the bar served beer in plastic cups, and yes, there may or may not have been tulle swathing each exit. Dear Lord, I shudder to think of it now!

I often joke with my husband that if we were getting married today I would put us into financial ruin with all of my choices. I would insist on custom everything and have my favorite wedding photographer flown out from New York. The floral costs alone would rival the annual operating budget of a small island nation and the bar would be top shelf with vintage wine flowing like the Nile. But, at the end of that lavish spectacular day, we'd be exactly where we are now: married. You see, as much as I can't stand to look at décor shots from my own wedding, I still wouldn't change a single thing about it. Our friends and family couldn't tell you what chairs we had or even what "skirting" a table means. They remember our hand written vows that made total strangers stop and listen on the bluff and then end up crying with everyone else. They remember the French fries and champagne we served during cocktail hour and that everyone danced and danced until the wee hours of the morning. They remember seeing two kids in love who might not have known what "high end" was, but who were so grateful for that sunny day and the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives with each other.

I think of this now when I have an indecisive bride who's paralyzed about something simple like whether or not to serve champagne at the toast or which shade of pink is ideal. Choosing elements for your wedding day should be fun, but these choices won't make any difference in the stuff that matters. For better or worse, you'll end that day married to your partner and that's the truly exciting part. Chances are in a few years your dress choice will be out of style, and the centerpieces you thought were so modern might look outdated. But the timeless photos, the ones that will always make you grin, are those of two people in love in their Sunday best ready to take on the world together. Those pictures are always in style.

USDAA Trial in Turlock

Crystal and I took the dogs to Turlock, CA for a USDAA agility trial this past weekend. Both West and Sonoma competed, and if you're wondering, yes they do compete against each other. The concept behind many of the agility organizations is that the dog starts at level 1, then moves to 2 when a certain set of criteria is met, then on to level 3 when that same criteria is met at the second level. Once in level 3, the dog competes to get its agility champion title of that organization by accomplishing a rigorous set of criteria. So for example, in AKC, the dog starts at Novice (level 1), then moves to Open (level 2), and finally competes in Excellent (level 3). Once you're in Excellent, you work towards your Master Agility Champion (or MACH). Sonoma started her agility "career" in AKC, and has achieved an Excellent title, and is currently working towards her MACH. We had heard that USDAA trials were a bit of a younger, more competitive crowd, so when West started competing, we decided to give them a try. So even though Sonoma is in Excellent in AKC, she has to start over again in Starters (USDAA level 1), alongside West, who has no titles in any organization.

So, this weekend we competed with both dogs in Starters. There are a lot of different "games" in USDAA agility, which means about 5 runs a day for each dog. In AKC agility, the dog typically only runs 3 different events. So if you think about it, we were used to sharing Sonoma's three runs per day in AKC, and now we have two dogs, running about 5 runs per day each in USDAA - a much different ballgame!! Overall, we had a lot of success (and a few learning opportunities). We walked away with a bunch of qualifying runs, and a few 1st and 2nd places. Both dogs are just one run away from their Starters title, and will hopefully be competing soon in Advanced (USDAA level 2). Here are a few pictures from the weekend. I must say, we have some really good looking dogs - but not that I'm biased...

West and Crystal competing. He doesn't knock this bar over, believe it or not, but he's taking a very short path around the course by jumping on the inside of each jump. Ideal placement for the dog over the jump in this circumstance :-)

You can see on the same jump, that Sonoma isn't hugging that inside of the jump as much as West. While she successfully completed the jump and made a nice turn, she probably lost a split second of time by taking a slightly longer path. And those split seconds add up. We'll work on our rear crosses (where the handler crosses behind the path of the dog to signal a turn) to tighten up that behavior.



Here's West and Sonoma each getting ready to launch! The "Sit, Stay" at the beginning of the course is probably the hardest behavior we ask of them out there. They get out on the course, the leash taken off (see it in the grass there??) and we lead out into the course somewhere. They are ready to RUN! West loads his legs up, and just wants to explode......... but he has to stay until we say the magical release word, "OKAY!"

At this point, Sonoma's "Sit, Stay" is much more reliable than West's... but rest assured, her heart is beating a million times a minute right now and her brain is firing like crazy! She's one step away from just letting her adrenaline take over...



Sonoma and me somewhere along the course. She's pretty serious.

One of Sonoma's best obstacles are the weave poles. To do the weaves successfully, the dogs must enter in between the first and second weave poles from the right to the left. They must alternate through each pair of poles, until they exit on the 12th on the left... Hmm, okay, I'll draw it out:

Sonoma having such reliable weave pole entries, allows us to be anywhere remotely close to the weaves and still have trust that she'll cleanly enter the poles and complete the entire set, without popping out somewhere a long the way.

And S coming out of the tunnel and making a nice tight right turn... Again, the tight turn out of the tunnel shortens the dog's path and keeps them from exploding out of the tunnel, adding distance (and ultimately time), and then finally turning yards away from the tunnel exit.

S jumping over the same jump (as before) a second time in the run, but this time heading straight instead of turning.

Before each event starts, the judge responsible for the ring will hold a "briefing". They will quickly review the rules of the game, answer competitors questions, and those types of things. In this particular briefing, our agility friends Matt and Penni, who both run border collies (Buzz and Einstein), are listening too. They are both in our Monday night class with West because their BCs are young, beginner dogs as well. Actually, their two dogs are siblings from the same litter and they just happen to train agility at the same place. It's fun to see the difference in the two dogs as they grow up with different handlers but are from the same pedigree.

Bark and Lunge

Last night, Crystal and I went to the first class of a six part series for dogs that bark and lunge. Sonoma has, over the years, not reacted wonderfully to other dogs in an on-leash situation, especially small, white, fluffy dogs. She tends to pull on leash anyway, but with the added stress of meeting another dog, she tends to, well, misbehave. So we’ve done a lot of research on how to fix this behavior and have really tried a lot of different approaches. Our hopes were that taking this “Bark and Lunge” class (which, mind you, is way up 101 in San Mateo at 6:30 on Thursdays) would expose us to really solid techniques to change her behavior. After the first class, we aren’t so sure we’ll get what we need.

See, the problem is this. You can read books, attend classes, watch DVD’s and so forth, all geared towards helping your dog’s reactivity. And believe me, we’ve done all that. But the methods taught in these arenas are simply ways to distract your dog to avoid having an over-threshold reaction in a certain social situation. For example, let’s say your dog is fearful of skateboards. You’re walking her down the sidewalk and you see some kid on a skateboard coming your way, off in the distance. You use this time to prepare a treat or reward of some sort, and distract the dog as the skateboarder goes by. This distraction essentially forces the dog’s attention away from the scary skateboard and onto the delicious treat. But the skateboard is still scary! The dog still doesn’t know what to do when a scary skateboard is coming, and still doesn’t know what the best behavior is in an encounter with a skateboard.

We need a class that gets to the root cause of the issue. I’m an engineer, and part of my work is to find corrections AND corrective actions to problems. There’s an important difference between the two. A correction is a way to fix a symptom of a problem. If your dog is fearful of skateboards, a treat in the face will distract the dog from turning that fear into barking and lunging. A corrective action is a way to fix the root cause of the problem. The root cause in this case is the fear of the skateboard. People with dogs that bark and lunge need to learn to fix the psychology of the dog, the root cause. And unfortunately, this class at the Peninsula Humane Society is only adding to or (at this point) refining our toolsets for dealing in corrections. There’s an actual business opportunity out there to provide a class where you address the root cause of the fear and practice techniques to change the dog’s internal wiring. There’s Behavior Adjustment Training (or BAT) where you can teach the dog how to release their own stress by giving themselves space between the trigger (the skateboarder in this case) and themselves. They learn to keep themselves below threshold, instead of the handler forcing them to stay under threshold. Either way, the result is a calm, nice dog that’s not creating a scene on the public sidewalk, but the difference is the dog internally is feeling better and less stressed. The dog’s learning to cope with scary situations and could even possibly transfer the techniques to other triggers (bikes, cars, small fluffy white dogs).

We’ll see where this class goes. After all, it’s only been one class out of six (and the first was without the dogs present). We’re hopeful that the discussion starts to take a turn towards science and behavior modification, but using the first class as a baseline, the content is “fluff”. Otherwise, Crystal and I have been self-educating. We’ll fix Sonoma’s barking and lunging once and for all. As we do this, we’re becoming well equipped to help anyone else who’s finding themselves in a similar situation. And if we’ve learned anything from these other classes and books, it’s that we’re not alone.

Volunteering at HSSV

Crystal and I recently started volunteering at the local Humane Society of Silicon Valley. There’s an incredible amount of training you have to do just to become a “Cuddler”, and that’s the level we’re at. Once we’ve put in 10 hours of cuddling, and passed the test (yes, a written test) we can become a “Dog Walker” and we’re allowed to take the dogs outside on leash! Anyway, the road is long to get fully trained, but here’s a picture of the dog we got to play with at our training on Tuesday. I already forget her name. She was so gentle with her mouth when taking treats from our hands. Perfect behavior for a pitbul.

I’ll put up more photos and talk about the training and volunteering experience in later posts.

Our Hike up Half Dome - Yosemite National Park

Crystal and I were planning to hike Mt. Whitney this past weekend with a couple friends. We got permits from park services, got some new gear, and trained hard. It's the highest peak in the 48 states and the summit sits at 14,400 ft, hike-able via an 11 mile trail. However as the weekend approached, the snow still hadn't melted from the trail, and the last, steepest portion of the trail was closed. This would force us to climb the "chute" to the top, which would require crampons, ice picks, and helmets. Gear and skill sets we just don't have (yet). So last minute we changed our destination, and planned a trip to Yosemite to climb Half Dome instead.

Half Dome is a famous peak in the Western states which sits at about 8,500 ft. It's an 8.5 mile hike from Yosemite Valley, and is a total elevation gain of about 4,700 ft.

It was intense.

Tim, Eric, Crystal and I camped Saturday night just outside of Yosemite National Park in Stanislaus National Forest. We packed up our campsite at 4:30 AM and drove into Yosemite to the trail head. We started off on the trail at 6:00 AM to get an early start because the hike is expected to last 10 - 12 hours. Not to mention there are fewer people in the park so early, and the weather was only going to get hotter.

Here's a picture of us just as we started out along the trail.

Most of the valley was still in shadows because the sun wasn't high enough in the sky to peek over the mountains that seem to explode out of the valley floor. Notice the waterfall cutting through the rocks back in the distance.

The snow pack in the Sierra Nevadas are at the highest levels in many, many years. This lends towards amazing swollen rivers and waterfalls throughout the park. Here's a picture of Crystal at the first water crossing on the trail. In the back where the water cuts through the forest you can see the edge of a waterfall.

Here's the whole group a little further along the trail. Half Dome is the peak in the background that is washed out in the photo. Again, we were taking pictures in the shaded areas, where the peaks of the mountains were out in the morning sun.

Crystal and me with Half Dome in the background.

Nevada Falls is in the background of this photo. Our trail would take us along the edge of this ravine and ultimately along the top edge of Nevada Falls.  

This photo is taken at the top of the falls. You can see how the water level is even beyond the viewing area on the left. The river was extremely swollen (and LOUD!). If the camera swung around to the left, you'd see the top of the falls as it drops in to Yosemite Valley...

... and that's where this picture was taken. There's a footbridge across the top of Nevada Falls to get hikers across the river safely.

I was really amazed at the lack of safety measures around the park in general. I can't believe people are able to stand right on the edge of the falls, without railings, supervision, or warning signs posted everywhere. I like the feeling of freedom out in the wilderness and I think that's what the park services try to foster.

But, of course, there's a few jokers in every crowd that can make things dangerous! 

Nevada Falls roughly marks the halfway point to the peak. The second half of our ascent started off nicely with a deer walking the path ahead of us. Unfortunately, a lot of the animals (especially the birds and squirrels) in this area of Yosemite are accustomed to humans (and their food).

Here's a few pics as we get very close to the last, and hardest, part of the ascent. You can see that the view is getting a little more impressive as we climb in altitude.

The final section of the hike to the top is a STEEP rock section. From the earlier photos, you can see that Half Dome is exposed rock. To hike this last portion, the trail makes many switchbacks and climbs at a very steep angle. At this point, you've hiked roughly 8 miles up, and very exhausted. This is the "eat your heart out" part of the hike... Here's Tim working his way upward.

Eric and Crystal as we climbed the last part to "Sub Dome". Sub Dome is a little part of Half Dome, just below the summit (see drawing below).

Crystal, Eric and me on our way up to Sub Dome. Many stops for rest were essential in this area. Our legs were shaking, our lungs were burning, and our hearts were racing! 

Here's a Post It note diagram of the summit of Half Dome. We are currently on the left side of the diagram, just below Sub Dome.

Here's a picture of us on Sub Dome, with the summit of Half Dome in the background. Notice the little ant looking things climbing the final portion? Those are people using the cables to climb the final portion to the summit.

Cables (literally 1" thick steel, wound cables) are setup along the final ascent to the summit. It would be impossible to hike the final portion without them. During peak season, park rangers set the cables up on 2x4s to help hikers get to the top. Once the cables are officially installed, you need a permit to go up. This is simply to restrict the number of people because it can get too crowded, causing unsafe conditions. Because we were there the week before the cables were officially installed for the season, we didn't need a permit, but all we had to work with were the cables laying on the rock face. Some people were still attempting the cables, picking them up by hand (there's a small pile of gloves at the bottom to protect your hands and provide additional grip as you go up).  As I mentioned before, we were so tired at this point (getting to Sub Dome) that we weren't sure we could safely make it up the cables without them being fully installed. So we rested for about 20 mins and watched people attempt the final ascent. Out of about 10 people, we watched maybe 3 make it to the top in less than 15 mins, 3 go halfway and turn around, and 4 take their time and get partially up. At that point, we started to feel the sun on our skin and knew that either we get going up the cables, or get down to the treeline to get some shade (below Sub Dome). We decided we had come so far, and rested long enough, that we should try the cables. The group agreed that if we felt unsafe, there's no problem turning around. So off we went - crossed the saddle, picked out gloves, and started the ascent...

Here are some pics from the climb up the cables. I gotta give credit to Crystal for managing the camera during the climb...

Every so often we were able to stop for a breather and let our muscles cool a bit on a crack or rock ledge. This was one such occasion.

Finally, seven and a half hours after we started - the view from the summit!

I have to be honest, my eyes welled up with tears when I got to the top. I can't fully explain why; something about the relief of finally making it to the top, coupled with the majestic views of God's creation, and the clean, crisp air - it was almost a religious experience (I even took the time to pray).

The view South...

... and East (that's Eric)...

Notice the rivers and waterfalls.

... North (and C)...

... and West (Eric looking towards Yosemite Valley where we started our hike).

Notice the layer of snow still on top of Half Dome. The summit is so big you could practically play a game of football up there (of course, it's not recommended in case someone gets pushed out-of-bounds).

The four of us on the summit with Yosemite Valley in the background.

An attempt at a panoramic shot. West to East.

And as all things in life, what goes up, must come down. (and this time I had the camera...). The guys on the right are coming up. They started the upward climb 10 mins before us with a harness and friction holds. I think their use of equipment was slowing them down and probably didn't make them much safer, as they had to continuously hook and unhook their harnesses from one cable to the next. We made it up and down before they even got up.

You can see little tiny people on Sub Dome near the little snow patch. That's where the first picture with the cables in the background was taken from.

We made it back safely to the bottom of the cables and a fellow hiker took this picture for us in the saddle.  You're looking at four very fulfilled humans.

Us.

We ran into a group of about 10 twenty-something hikers when we got back down to Sub Dome. They had watched us climb up and descend back down the cables. They were contemplating the climb like we had done. Our advice to them: do it! It was easier than it seemed from the bottom looking up, and completely worth it!

This is the extent of the warning signs on and around Half Dome.

We descended Sub Dome and got back into the forest. This is where we sat and ate lunch and took a few more photos from high up on the mountain.

Here's Tim with Half Dome in the background. It took us about an hour and a half to get from here to the summit, and about 20 mins to get from the summit back to here.

Fast forward.... Back down at Nevada Falls in the daylight. Half Dome is the mountain on the left with just a little portion of Sub Dome visible.

Crystal and Me from near Nevada Falls. At this point it was late afternoon and there were SOOOO many people on the trail. We were really booking it back into the Valley, going down is much faster than going up (but not necessarily easier - in fact, it was painful) and everyone else around us was like meandering around. It was a strange experience. Here we were, intense hiking for like 9 hours at this point, and getting back into civilization where people are running around with their kids, yelling, laughing, playing... It's not to say we weren't enjoying ourselves, but at this point we were like, "GET US OFF THIS MOUNTAIN!"

Notice the water that fell on us from up above, which is why the trail is named "Misty Trail".

This is the final picture we took, before putting our heads down and really nailing out the last mile and a half.

We made it back into the Valley 10 hours after we left. Our feet, ankles, calves, knees, thighs, and hips were all beat. It felt amazing.

This was (by far) the most incredible, strenuous hike we've ever done. I was so proud of the group, of Crystal (who actually hadn't slept well, or at all, the night before the hike), and of myself. This isn't a hike you can do in one day without proper preparation. But if hiking is something you like to do, get in shape and do Half Dome. You won't regret it. Looking back, I can't believe that we almost didn't take on the cables. It easy enough, and the feeling of simply making it to the summit (and ultimately back down) safely on the cables is something I'll never forget. Thanks to the three amazing people I got to hike this with. We all kept each other motivated through the challenging areas, the dangerous areas, and enjoyed a magical experience together. I hope you enjoy looking through these photos one billionth as much as we enjoyed taking them.

"There is pleasure in the pathless woods; there is rapture on the lonely shore; there is society where none intrudes by the deep sea, and music in its roar. I love not man the less, but Nature more." - Lord George Byron


Oh, and one other thing that we noticed - we're only like a three hour drive from Yosemite! We had been once before, but didn't realize the potential of what was really in our "backyard". You can be sure to see more posts about our trips to Yosemite in the future....