Our Wedding Video

One of our wedding guests was gracious enough to take a movie of our wedding and here it is.... in all it's glory.

Also.. our favorite creation, our wedding announcement!!!

Thanks for visiting!

Honeymoon Holiday

Chris and I were lucky enough to get to take a honeymoon right after our wedding and we chose to visit Kauai, Hawaii. We stayed on the north shore of the island and greatly enjoyed the beauty of the island, a horseback ride, some snorkling and touristing around the island. We only wished our rental condo had been kept cool by an air conditioner.

Below are some photos from around the island and our journey!

Salt Pond Beach, South Shore

Private Waterfall on Princeville Stables Property, North Shore

Above Waterfall on Princeville Stables Property, North Shore

Horseback Riding at Princeville Stables, North Shore

Sunset Outside Condo, Princeville

Northeast Tip of Tunnels Beach, North Shore

Waimea Canyon, West Central Shore

Chris and Mark outside the Sheraton Inn, Poipu, South Shore

Kilauea Lighthouse, North Shore

Shining Through the Clouds, Over Central Kauai

Surfer at Sunset at Haena Beach State Park, North Shore

Rain Clouds Passing By at Haena Beach State Park, North Shore

THE WEDDING

The wedding date finally arrived and what a beautiful day we had. On October 13th, Chris and I were joined by our immediate families for a simple, sweet ceremony overlooking Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe in California.

The week leading up to our wedding was dreary and rainy and almost gave us some concern for our outside wedding but we were determined not to let it get us down.

Mark's Father and his wife as well as Marks' sister and her twin boys few in on the 11th so we had some time during that evening to visit and reminisce. On Friday we met up with Chris's mother and brother and drove to Lake Tahoe.

On Saturday we awoke to clear blue skies and 50+ degree temperatures and had a great day for a wedding. Our wedding limo, supplied by our wedding service showed up at 1pm and we headed off to our ceremony at Emerald Bay on the west side of the lake. Our ceremony was a nice sweet 20 minutes with beautiful backdrop and great family, a great way to start our lives off together!!!

Our families joined us for a nice dinner overlooking the lake that evening to complete the perfect wedding day!!!

Just something important!

We (Chris and I) have set a date to get married for October 14th most likely here in California. The plans are to still have a nice small wedding with our immediate families followed after by some well deserved R&R in Hawaii....

The other new news is I start a new job right after Memorial Day. The company I consult for has decided to bring me in-house to manage the company's own network/servers and so on. It will be a great break after the last 9 months on my current contract with a startup company which has serious growing pains (but I never said that). Ther are some great people but the company as a whole has a lot of growing up to do.

It's nice to have some great news to share!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers Mark & Chris

Scoping out new places to play...

Today we took a leisurely trip to Fremont and pulled Atilla around the park at Lake Elizabeth. It's a 450 acre park centered around a small lake where people can rent paddle boats, kayaks and spend time with their family just playing in the park. We took Atilla there for us all to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We spent a couple hours wandering around the park, playing in the water with our "kid", sniffing other dogs and trying to chase birds. It was a nice day out in the park.

How can it get that hot?

Just a simple thought for today... How can that microwave apple cobbler desert get hotter than the surface of the sun in 5 minutes or less?

Atilla's First Ocean Visit

Three weeks ago Atilla made his first real outing since his pace-maker surgery. We drove to Monterey/Carmel and went for a few short walks. We stopped in Monterey on our way to the "Doggie Beach" and walked along the rocky coast in Monterey. The weather was nice, almost 70's and the area was crowded already. The Fisherman's wharf area and Cannery Row were just packed with people so Atilla just enjoyed the view out the window while we drove past them all to the shoreline. Atilla, Chris and I went for a couple short walks and Atilla met a new buddy, a black and white cocker spaniel..... I think the picture says it all!



The weather was great so Chris was busy taking pictures.. thanks Chris!




After enjoying the rocky shore along Monterey we drove to Carmel where the public beach allows dogs... and dogs off leash. Poor Atilla though, he's such a baby and a wanderer we didn't dare let him off leash. He did however get a chance to dip his paws in the Pacific Ocean. If you didn't know, Chow Chows don't like water and though the waves looked enticing, when they rolled in and the paws got wet the dog was not happy (we had a delightful jump in the air however). It was enjoyable for us all, some of us laughed more than others.



Even though we're living for our dog right now we all enjoyed our trip and Atilla found out the taste of salt water and he was allowed to sniff a little!

New Subscriber Link

I have added a subscriber link for those that want to know of updates. Thanks to the Sawatzky's for the idea!

I wanted to stop spamming everyone and this way those of you that would like to know of updates can be aware of the udpates without my spams!

BTW, if you haven't noticed, Valentines day is Wednesday!!!

Frankendog is Recovering

Atilla is recovering at a great pace and though you can tell he has some sore muscles, one would never know he has a pace maker. He wanted us to share a couple photos so everyone could see how he is half the dog he used to be.




Before his surgery his heart rate was in the 20-30 beats per minute and now with his new pace maker it is in the 80's and it is motion sensitive so it will speed up when he moves around. Amazing to see how easy it is for him to breath now, no more gasping to get enough oxygen to fuel his body. We're very lucky to have him still with us and now so healthy looking.

For those that are not familiar with pace makers, they are just like human pace makers. They implant an electrical device (in Atilla's right shoulder area under the skin) that sends electrical signals to the heart telling it when to beat. The pace maker has a lead which goes from the pace maker down through the carotid artery to the heart where the lead is embedded. The pace makers batteries will last about 5 years and he will need to visit the vet a couple times a year to have the device checked. Pretty simple as todays' surgeries go..........

The Bionic Dog Comes Home

Over Christmas holiday we found out Atilla, our black 7 year old Chow Chow has a heart problem. The poor dog was lethargic, quiet, completely listless and was panting/breathing hard all the time. So off to the vet we went to get the dog over his "cold". The vets had a different idea though.........the veterinarians said he has a 3rd degree heart block which means his brain does not send the right signals to his heart to make it beat at the proper rate. His heart rate was in the 40's around Christmas and would not speed up when his activity changed. The vets thought he probably had the heart problem most of his life and that we would have to watch his activity.

Since that time he got better, he got worse and better again but last week, he really got worse. Upon checking his pulse it was down to 28 beats per minute... note the normal resting heart rate for a dog is in the 70 beats per minute range.

We went back to the clinic on Monday (Feb 5th) and met the owner vet of our clinic, Dr Scharg. He checked Atilla over and said you have two choices, take your dog in for a pace maker or Atilla would die. Wow.....both options were scary. He referred us to UC-Davis Veterinary clinic.... which he said would be cheaper than a private veterinarian that does pace makers.


As soon as we got home we called UC Davis, our vet had already called and they got us in on Wednesday for a preliminary check. The vets reviewed our previous exams, did their own tests and said he needs a pace maker and they could do it tomorrow (Thursday).

Today (Friday) we drove to Davis and picked up our new bionic dog with his own little pace maker. He looks like a mess but he is not panting anymore and could even breath with his mouth closed. Amazing what a regular heart beat can do. Someday the hair on the right side of his body and his legs will grow back and he'll look like a normal dog again. Maybe even the cut on his shoulder where the pace maker is embedded will heal and no one will even know the bionic dog is on the loose.

If you cannot tell, we're now broke but happy as all that he's healthy and will be in our lives for many more years!!!

1st Trip of the New Year!

The new year arrived after a not so fun Holiday Season. The holidays brought with it a sick dog, a couple colds and lots of stress. Over the Christmas break we found out Atilla has a heart problem and we have been nursing him ever since. We were desperately in the need of a short vacation and our dog sitter was nice enough to attend to Atilla.

Last weekend we finally made it away on a short getaway and we headed north to the coast this trip. We stayed inland at Rohnert Park, CA which is a small college town and used that as our base for trips to the coast 30 miles away.

After checking in at our hotel we headed to the coast, drove by Bodega Bay (famous for Hitchcocks "The Birds") and enjoyed the view along the coast. Just north of Bodega Bay we stopped and viewed the ocean from one of the many turn outs and grabbed this photo of the coast.

A little farther north and Chris caught one of the actors from the movie practicing his moves.

The weather was overcast with a few sprinkles but winter is California is nothing compared to other parts of the country.
As you proceed north along the coast we crossed the Russian River where it dumps into the Pacific. Easy to imagine this peaceful looking spot is where some species of salmon spawn each year.

We continued along the coast to Timber Cove which is a popular place for scuba divers, stopped had a warm drink then decided to return to our hotel for the night.

On our trip back down the coast to the south we had what a person could call a "spectacular" sunset. We managed to grab a dozen fantastic photos before the sun dipped behind the horizon....here is one of our favorites.

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On Sunday we visited Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve just north of Guerneville, CA located along the sometimes scenic Russian River. What I mean by scenic? In so many places the river is a scenic wide river passing amongst the trees and in other places, the shoreline is lined in trash.. very sad.

This photo was taken inside the park among the redwood trees.
It was a great crisp 46 degree morning with few people, clean air and an almost secluded feeling. Unfortunately we were cold.......... so our visit was rather short.

We left the reserve and headed back towards the coast again, towards Jenner and back north along the coast.

The weather was much nicer but not gorgeous so we took a few photos but not a lots. One of the scenic shots from the day. We then enjoyed our trip home.......... end of the journey.