Photos: A Weekend in Los Angeles

My cousin Kevin got married a couple weeks ago in his hometown of Los Angeles, and all of my Mom's side of the family flew south to attend. Amanda and I had a little time outside of wedding festivities to sightsee. We crashed at Stay on Main, which was a hostel-like setup with private rooms and shared bathrooms. It wasn't luxurious but it was cost-effective for staying downtown.

We didn't waste time exploring.

We ate a couple times at the Nickel Diner.

Mmm...Bacon maple donut...

Amanda loved the Flower District.

Amanda scored some new shoes for the wedding.

After the wedding, the extended family went out in Santa Monica.

This is what the Pacific Ocean looks like.

This is Amanda framing herself between strangers.

This is Old Lady-attire in SoCal.

Our First 5K: The Seattle Mustache Dache

On Saturday, Amanda and I ran our first 5K -- The Mustache Dache -- with Courtney, Jorge and some REI friends.

This wasn't the kind of 5k to take seriously, but we made an effort to run the entire 5k and finished in just over 31 minutes with 10:05 mile splits. Flannel wasn't an ideal performance fabric to run in, so I think I could easily shave (pun!) a couple minutes off my time in more comfortable clothing and perhaps without the fur on my upper lip.

Here are some photos by an event photographer of our home stretch. Amanda and I raced out the finish.

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Sean and Caitlin Engagement Photos

I had the privilege of shooting some engagement photos for my friends Sean and Caitlin for their wedding save the dates. Here are some of my faves from our Tacoma waterfront shoot.

New Zealand in Photos: Part 2

Ah ha! I knew I'd find the remaining New Zealand photos (See Part 1)! Here are the last remaining shots, mostly from the Parnell suburb of Auckland and Cornwall Park/One Tree Hill. Obviously, Sergio took many of these.

First, this was the winery directly underneath our lodging.

I believe this was in the Ponsonby suburb.

Here I am in Parnell.

Enjoying coffee and free WiFi (hard to find!) in Parnell.

This is Sergio's happy place: Renkon.

These next photos are in Cornwall Park, which is something like a hilly Central Park.

Did I mention it got stormy?

On our last day, we figured out logistics for the flight home and I had a chance to catch up with Amanda over Skype. As much as I loved New Zealand, I was looking forward to getting home and seeing my wife!

Gianna's Post-Bath Crazy Run

Whenever we give Gianna a bath, she gets a little sad during the process. She must be thinking, "Guys, I worked hard to get this odor right and now I have to start all over!"

When we take her out of the tub, we unleash a little monster. Border collies don't like to be still, and she must save up so much energy in those 10 minutes of standing that she's ready to burst when she sees a straightaway. Unfortunately, that straightaway is the distance between our kitchen and front door. It's her own little post-bath autobahn.

We don't wonder why our fir hardwoods have so many scratches.