Spartan Race/Surf City 1/2 Marathon

Hey everyone! Its been a while since we posted a blog. June was our last update but we are back with lots to talk about. Its funny how 6 months can bring so much change in all of our lives. What happens in one day can change an outlook, priorities or even behaviors. Such is true for Lila and I. Its November and Lila and I have made choices in our lives that changed the lifestyle we live. We committed to healthier more active lifestyle and now is the time where we would like to see some payoff from that.
Back in June there was a post about the Spartan Race. This year its being held in Malibu, CA and is a 3+ mile obstacle race containing 15 obstacles with intentions on challenge every part of you mental and physical capabilities. Well, its here. I've lost close to 30 lbs and a week from Sunday I'll be participating and I have to tell you I'm really excited. I've been doing my best to work out as much as I can to prepare for something I really don't know about. It's not like they have a map of what the race is going to be like. In fact they pride themselves on you not know what is going to be expected of you until you finish. Literally, its their slogan. For more information or to do a Spartan race on your own you can visit Spartan Race Pics,Videos,Info  I'm not the only one in training. Lila and I also have decided to register for the Surf City 1/2 Marathon in February. This bad boy will take every ounce of our will to get through 13.1 miles down the coast of Huntington Beach. The plan is to do Surf city and hopefully complete the remaining beach cities 1/2 Marathons and receive our Beach cities 1/2 Marathon medals. We have team from my work which we'll be competing with but anyone can join the fun. Let us know if you want to particiapate too! Surf City Marathon Info We'll need your support from our friends and family to get through these things we can't do it alone! Thanks for reading see you next post.

La Jolla Sea Cave Kayaking

Hi Everyone,

So this weekend Lila and I woke up nice and early as usual, but instead of going to work we took the day off and headed to San Diego for some fun in the sun! Probably a little over 15 years ago I went to a summer camp with my cousin Manny in Folsom. It was a full week of nothing but water activities. Canoeing, Sailing, Windsurfing, Boat Safety and KAYAKING! Since that week I had never got back on a kayak. It was my favorite activity of the week and this weekend I got to experience it all over again with Lila. It was Lila's first time on a kayak so we were both a little nervous.I thought that we would just be kayaking in calm water behind a breakwater or something but this was a full on launch the kayak right from the beach. After a little crash course on kayaking and safety the question was asked, "Okay, who wants to go first"? Now, as soon as that was asked I was thinking we kinda see how other people were doing and then just sort of go from there. Not Lila, she raised her hand and said "We will!" Great make us look like the fools, thanks hun... We go into our kayak and off we went. We paddled through the waves doing our best to keep the kayak from tipping over. This was super fun because I was in the back watching the front of the kayak (with Lila in it) slamming down over the back side of the waves coming in! We made it out safely without any issues, this is where the fun begins. Because we were the first ones out we had to just sit and wait for the others. So we just sat back and relaxed while everyone came out. This where the story take a turn for the worst. Lila is not feeling so comfortable in her seating position. With out me paying any attention what so ever, as I'm looking down at the camera, she decides to adjust her bathing suit by leaning all the way over to one side as far as she can! Yup before I can even realize what was going on we were both in the water!We had a great time out there. The guides were super nice and knowledgeable, we saw tons of wild life, including the California state salt water fish (Garibaldi). From the surface these things look like just a spot of

orange floating in the water. It's really cool because you can see one then you see a lot of them all around. The one on the left is from a professional shot and the one on the right is from my camera, obviously. We also were able to see some sea lions up close, those guys are super fun to just watch and observe how they interact with one another. After kayaking we were hungry so we took off to old town San Diego and had a great meal at Cafe Coyote.
This is a great place to bring the family for a wonderful atmosphere and really great food. The restaurant is huge and service was great. I would definitely go back again.This was a perfect one day outing that led us to a great adventure, right here in our own back yard. I can't wait to get back out there and do some more fun stuff this summer. If you guys are interested I highly recommend La Jolla Sea Cave Kayaks as the place to go. There are a lot of kayaking tours but not all of them go to the sea caves. Everyone here was very friendly and helpful. For more info you can visit www.lajollaseacavekayaks.com . Let us know how your trip went!

A Spartan Update

What’s up everyone! I looked on blog-di-nez today, Wow it’s been since Valentine’s Day since we did a blog. Time has flown by. Log on to the site and check out some new movie and book recommendations.

No, Lila is not pregnant, that’s the number one question we get now naturally. So since it’s been a long time since we’ve done a blog that this one is probably going to be a general one to give an update on what’s going on.

So first thing is WE are not pregnant but there are multiple family members that are! A couple of my cousins are expecting babies to come soon and Lila’s brother and sister are also expecting a blessing to arrive this year as well. So exciting, there are times where the baby fever does take over me (I have to admit). We can’t to wait to see the little ones enter this world and we are praying for all baby’s health and strength.

The big things going on in our lives are Lila’s work. Let me tell you this girl is working her butt off. I’m so proud of her. She is putting her head down and grinding it out (which is not easy). She is getting her business off the ground the best way she knows how and can’t say enough about the work she has and will continue to put in.

So, you can probably mark this next thing as the craziest thing I have ever attempted to do. I have entered myself into a mud run known as The Spartan Race. Named after the incredibly awesome movie 300, it’s your chance to be a Spartan. There are longer distance races associated with the Spartan race but this one is scheduled for a 5k of some of the toughest terrain and obstacles, testing your body to the limit. I’m not taking this lightly I have started training and should be ready to come December 2^nd. If this is something you think you would like to do check out the website www.spartanrace.com . My Step-father in law got me into it and I got a few people I know into it. We have developed a team, Team Atromitos which translates to “Fearless” in Greek. God is making changes within me and I’ll need His help to make changes to me physically to get me through this thing! haha Check out what I'm in for below. Tony you better not back out!

We feel the need...the need..for speed!!!

Hey everyone, its that time of the year again. I know its valentines day but that's not what I'm talking about. Yes, I love Lila and she loves me. Okay that's enough valentines day talk. What I really wanted to talk about is one of the funnest times of the year for me and Lila is getting ramped up as well. Gentlemen...START YOUR ENGINES!!! Its almost time for NASCAR season! This Saturday kicks off the season with the Budweiser shootout and then next week the Daytona 500! They call this the great American race because well, it is! Forty three cars going 190mph, paired up like the skinny friend pushing the fat friend around the track during P.E.. Oh man I can't wait. For those of you who didn't know, back when I was about 23 or so, I almost went to NASCAR mechanics school in North Carolina. I was already talking with the school admissions via UTI and wanted to get my hands greasy working with the one of the fastest teams in NASCAR. But after careful thought and deliberation. That 50,000 school loan to be paid off when I'm 45 didn't sound too fun. And... mom and dad said no, moving on..Edison it is! LOL. I didn't always like it. At first I was like, " I don't want to see NASCAR! It's a bunch of rednecks watching cars go around and around for 3 hours. Dumb." I was dragged to my first race about 6 years ago and man I was hooked! I didn't eat, I didn't drink, I didn't get up to go to the bathroom until the race was over. The sound, the power, the speed, is just overwhelming awesome. With time I got to learn the strategy and the terminology to now see much more than cars going in circles. Last year I took Lila to the race in Fontana. This was her first time. We showed up bright and early and it was raining!!! Those that know racing know rain is never good. We walked around the festivities as it was raining and were like, "Oh no, they are going to postpone the race." Luckily, the skies became clear and gave us a great race. So great it made Lila cry (that's not hard to do by the way). Kyle Busch (everyone hates him except Kyle Busch fans) was leading the race with less than 10 laps to go. Then, here comes Lila's favorite driver, Jimmy Johnson. The five time champion catches Kyle with only 3 laps to go and passes him. The crowd went crazy. With just a couple laps to go everyone is on their feet watching Jimmy (who's from California) take the checkard flag, but wait here comes Kevin Harvick who has been stalking Jimmy for the past couple laps. We all looked at each other like "Where did he come from?". Kevin catches Jimmy on the back stretch of the final lap and our seats could not have been any better as we watched Kevin Harvick pass Jimmy Johnson coming off of turn 4 for the win. Lila was heart broken. I could see it in her face. It was like someone took away her cotton candy or something. It was a great race. To make her feel better I took her to Hooters. She needed a pick me up. As we sat down to have our wings guess what's playing on all the big screens. That's right the final turn of Jimmy getting passed. And guess who walks in to Hooters, (not Jimmy,lol) about 7 Kevin Harvick fans yelling at the screen as if they were watching it for the first time. "Go Kevin! Go Kevin! Ya baby! Woo hoo!" Lila was going to kill them! Looking forward to some great racing this year.

Scotch and water please... hold the scotch...

Hi Everyone,

Its been a little while since our last blog. A lot has happened. One of the biggest things that has happen is we have decided to take a look at ourselves this year and do our best to put GOD and each other in front of our own selfish wants. We have quit drinking and making new friends at church. We stood infront of everyone on our wedding day and made a promise to a covenant marriage and Lila and I are doing everything we can to produce a strong foundation in our early stages of our marriage to be able to take on the challenges of marriage we know will show its ugly face down the line. We look to you our friends and family for help and support. Now don't jump to conclusions like awe man they are the new party poopers and the boring couple now cause we were just at Toyko Delves and had a crazy time! We were still singing along and still dancing on our chairs! We just did it sober (which is kinda werid now that I think about it) LOL. We are still the crazy peeps you know, the cool thing is we'll be able to remember everything! No hangovers and probably a little more cash in the pockets. 8 Jager bombs a night aren't cheep! LOL. We did stop drinking but we still tell jokes! Hope to see you guys soon.