Die Botha Blad - Nuusbrokkies vir die fynproewer

M.S. SLP (YEAH!!!!)

2009-06-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

It's official! Sara is done and gradumuated ;) SO proud of her!

Here we are at Sara's end-of-year banquet which was held the week before graduation.

With her buddies - Cheri and Jenica!

Sara's class and the Speech Department faculty held an afternoon tea at our place the week before graduation as well. All the girls had to wear a "splash of red" - hence all the red you see in the picture! Check out Sara's Facebook page for more pics of this.

The only pic we got of us on graduation day! Clark bought the lei (to make sure Sara had a "real" California graduation) and at home there were two BIG bunches of roses and the best graduation present EVER - an Amazon Kindle!!! YEAH!!!!!

Thanks to aunty Viv, aunty Yvonne, Carly and Jesse who provided familial support (and lots of screaming and cheering when Sara accepted her diploma)! What would we do without a family close by?

It's official - there she goes Miss M.S. Speech-Language Pathologist!

Goodbye to our dear friends :(

2009-06-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

Carlindo and Jeni-Joy have left for Indiana :( Carlindo has accepted a fellowship position at a hospital there and will be super-specializing in opthalmology. We are going to miss them so much!

A chilly Sabbath picnic lunch at their favorite spot in Oak Glen to say goodbye a couple of weeks ago.

what is going on with this weather?! It's June and here we are wearing our sweatshirts and jackets and wrapped up in sleeping bags!

Having a good chat :) and giggle!

After Sara's graduation on Sunday we stopped by to say goodbye again because they were leaving Monday morning :( Precious family - they've really been a HUGE blessing in our lives.

Happy Birthday to Sara and LA Marathon

2009-06-18T15:16:00.001-07:00

Sara turned 29 (YIKES! only one year left of the twenties!) on May 24 but it was a bittersweet weekend for her because the day before her birthday her sister got married in South Africa and we could not go because of the fact that Sara had to be done with school 2 weeks later and graduated the week after that.

We had a lovely birthday lunch with the Lansdowns (no photo - we are becoming so irresponsible with photos!) and then headed off to Bel Air (yes, Bel Air!!!) for a birthday weekend in a fancy-schmancy hotel :) We were also killing "two birds with one stone" because Clark was running the LA marathon on Memorial Day (May 25).

Here is a our lovely suite!

and here is Clark up bright (well, more like "dark") and early to head off to LA to run the marathon! He did great - took a little longer than he anticipated but he did it! He even made it onto TV! :)

Recent Happenings!

2009-06-18T14:58:00.001-07:00

Hi friends...

Long time, no see! Been very busy lately - Sara has been working and studying (but that's over now since she graduated last Sunday! more on that a little later). So guess the easiest way to do this is to put up some pics of the few highlights in our lives the last few months.

Clark took part in his first triathlon which was held in San Diego (in March or April - don't remember!). That was exciting and a real accomplishment for him!

Here he is with his friends Jacques and Natasa (who are veterans at the triathlon game by now!)

Ready for his chilly swim!

Off for the bike race...

Coming in at the finish line! So proud of him :)

So after that first triathlon (which was pretty serious business) - Clark convinced our friend Carlindo to join him in the Possibilities triathlon in Loma Linda....

Clark played photographer so here are some pics of Carlindo :)

Stretching before the race....

It's all done! Now we can head to Carlindo's little girls' (Bianca and Gisella) birthday party!

Girls Weekend in New York!

2009-03-19T19:54:00.001-07:00

In Time's Square :) We went trying on wedding dresses on Sunday and Wayne's girlfriend was in New York on business from Australia so she came and hung out with us too :) She is a lovely, sweet girl and we all had a great time together!

Checking out Janine's wedding venue! Here we are in the bride's dressing room.

and this is under the gazebo where Janine is going to hold the ceremony - it's really pretty and it's going to be gorgeous in summer with all the greenery!

The bride-to-be with her mom and her mother-in-law-to-be!

Aunty Viv snapped this photo of Carly and I when we went out to eat dinner on Friday afternoon after arriving in New York. We ate just down the street from where Janine and Mike work waiting for them to finish!

The view from Janine's apartment - looking towards New Jersey. She lives just over the George Washington bridge.

New York is tiring! especially when you are trailing your bags around with you everywhere you go! Here we are on the subway.

Carly and Janine in the kitchen! Carly organized her sister's fridge for her :)

Hanging out in the apartment...

Did I mention that it was tiring?! Here I am resting my weary, ever-so-slightly-jet-lagged body :) nothing like a nap to revive you!

Just look at our cute big girl!

2009-03-17T13:16:00.001-07:00

Thought this picture was too cute - we had to share! (stolen off Tracey's Facebook page! thanks sis!) She's getting so big!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Kaitlyn!

2009-03-01T18:38:00.001-08:00

Our adorable little niece turned 1 on Jan 25th this year and we are so proud of her :) We're just sorry that we couldn't be there to join in the celebrations!

Cute as a button!
Our pretty girl with her mommy and daddy.
Mommy made Kaitlyn a beautiful "Winnie the Pooh" birthday cake and she also held a beautiful "Winnie the Pooh"- themed party!
Opening pressies - this is from Aunty Sara and says: "Don't make me call my aunt" (that's right - she'll sort you out!) Love the expression on her face :)
This one is from uncle Clark and says: "My Goal: To be as cool as my uncle!"
Little girls love their dollies :)
Uncle Clive drew this picture of our beautiful girl - obviously she is pleased (or amused!) with the result :)

We love you Kaitlyn! You are very precious to aunty Sara and uncle Clark and we can't wait to meet you in person and give you tons of hugs and cuddles! xxx

R & A: Eating! Eating! Eating! Vol. 2

2009-02-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

The computer gremlins strike again! I'm trying to finish off this eating post thingie but keep encountering problems. So, anyway - here is the next installment of our holiday eating pics :)

Paris Buffet.

Rain Forest Cafe.

Luxor Breakfast buffet.

Luxor breakfast buffet.

R & A: Las Vegas Vol.2

2009-02-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Stratosphere...

Audri was the only one brave enough to go on those CRAZZZZZY!! thrill rides on top of the Stratosphere! We're so glad she made it out alive :)!!!

A romantic ride on a gondola in Venice (well, at least the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas!)

Brunch buffet at Paris - our favorite :)

Chilly evening after a day of snow.

Las Vegas apparently hasn't seen snow in 30 or 40 years! and we happen to be there when it does!

The night-time lights.

R & A: Las Vegas

2009-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

Managed to get these pics up but then the computer was not co-operating again:( anyhow - we travelled from the Grand Canyon to Vegas and brought the snow with us! so here are a few pics for now and I will try to put up some more later.

On top of the Stratosphere.

Ruben with his favorite actress - Julia Roberts.

It's snowing! Look at our hotel - the Luxor.

Audri is a fan of American Idol's Simon Cowell :)

R & A : Grand Canyon

2009-02-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

Once again, I apologize for the formatting - pics are a bit out of order! Our first road trip with Ruben and Audri was to the Grand Canyon! They arrived on Sabbath and early Monday morning (4am) we left for Arizona. We were at the Grand Canyon around the same time with mom in 2006 but we had a totally different experience that became the theme of the holiday - SNOW!

This was actually our last day in the Grand Canyon and it had snowed over night so everything was covered in a thick blanket of white :)

Audri trying to make a snow-angel :) we don't get to do this kind of thing in sunny South Africa!

That's our aunty and uncle for ya!

Look at how deep that snow was!

First time we've experienced this! Our poor car is not used to sleeping in the icy cold :(

Takes quite a bit of work before you can get going in the morning!

Totally different Grand Canyon experience - visibility on the first day wasn't even as good as this.

Winter wonderland...

It's snowing!

The only time the skies were clear - for the first 10 minutes that we were in the Grand Canyon...as soon as we drove through the gates of the park, the snow started and it didn't let up!

Loma Linda University

2009-02-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

So one of my classmates has been documenting our final year of grad school in photos so I decided to "steal" some of her pictures and show you a little bit of my life at Loma Linda University :)

That's Dr. Shaughnessy - our graduate advisor.

Our resident "head-less" skeleton!

Our class LOVES potlucks :)

Off to class...

Chatting as usual!

We usually try to make it out to lunch together if we have class on a Friday.

There's me...yapping again! Steffi (girl in pink next to me) commented that she obviously has excellent listening skills - as you can tell by her body language :)

Studying for comps! We wrote our big exams about 3 weeks ago - all day Thursday and Friday.

Going a little nuts!

Girls hitching a ride across campus with me!

Walking to our religion class (Care of the Dying and Bereaved)

Aural Rehab professor dresses up! - yes...we do serious work!

serious work like counting syllables for stuttering...

you see, hard at work and bent over our books in concentration :)

This is the sight that usually greets us when we get out of class at night.

R & A vol 2: Eating! Eating! Eating!

2009-02-20T19:36:00.001-08:00

Okay....since it is too complicated to try to break the photos into chronological albums - we're breaking them into themes :) We ate out a lot so here are some pics of us chomping here, there and everywhere!

Sara dishing out do-nuts (American spelling!) on our first road trip!

Chocolate Lava Cake - Rain Forest Cafe, Las Vegas

Breakfast in the Grand Canyon (Grand Hotel)

Lunch on a snowy day at El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon National Park

Famous Daves (Relands) on 2nd day of vacation (initially planned to go to Idyllwild but couldn't make it up the mountains because of the snow!)

Some highlights of our December vacation with Ruben and Audri

2009-02-20T19:11:00.001-08:00

Okie dokie...been neglectful of our blogging duties especially since we literally have something like 2000 photies on our desktop of Ruben and Audri's holiday in December!!! yip - it was very convenient for Clark and I to not have to worry about taking photos since we had 2 such enthusiastic (and VERY good) photographers with us :)

anyhow - I am doing this on the Mac since I am being lazy on Friday evening and so just want to sit downstairs under cozy blankets and blog :) that being said, the pics may be a little mixed up because my Mac (I'm a very inept Mac user) is not co-operating with my formatting efforts!

Rubs and Auds arrived on a Saturday afternoon/evening and we picked them up at LAX and took them to Manhattan Beach for Starbucks (very quickly becoming our tradition with visitors) to miss traffic and stretch their legs a bit. But, as soon as we returned to Casa Botha - we started exchanging gifts! Here Ruben is trying on one of his gifts from us - a plush robe.

They put us to shame with TWO full suitcases of gifts and goodies from South Africa! and that was just the beginning - we were so spoiled on Christmas AND on our anniversary (more on that later!).

Okay - so here's where the formatting gets a bit wonky! in the middle of our gift-opening pictures - here is our breakfast laden table for R & A's first morning in California (Sunday)!

Our lovely guest-bedroom...

We welcomed them with a Starbucks gift basket on their bed (it just also happened to color co-ordinate perfectly with the room! - Sara is so obsessed with aesthetics!)

Dried Mango!!!!! YUMMY!!!!! You don't get it better than in South Africa! Mom knew just what to send me :)

Opening gifts from Tracey and Kelvin - lovely DVD of our little niece Kaitlyn (who, by the way, turned 1 the other day!)

Ma - we knew straight away this gift was from you!

Thanks to all our precious family for spoiling us rotten - we loved receiving goodies from home :)

Congratulations Janine and Mike!

2009-01-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

Congratulations are in order for Janine and Mike who got engaged just before Christmas! The Lansdowns and soon to be Schneiders (I hope I spelt that correctly Mike!) visited us for a late Christmas lunch when our plans to go to Big Bear with them fell through due to rainy/snowy weather.

Stunning ring - you did well Mike!

The happy couple:) We are so excited for them! and we look forward to the privilege of sharing your special day with you in the New Year!

Samantha also got engaged during the holidays - the day before Janine actually so we will have two weddings to attend in 2009!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-12-31T08:30:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy these past few weeks entertaining Ruben and Audri and taking them all over the place! So just a quick few posts to tide you over til the New Year (which, incidentally is only a few hours away - so you don't have long to wait!)

We celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary on the 28th of December so here are some pics of us happy to be together 3 years down the line...

We took our visitors to Hollywood, Santa Monica and drove a bit of the Pacific Coast Highway and then were treated to dinner by Ruben and Audri in Burbank. First pic is of sunset near Malibu on PCH, second pic - a kiss over dinner and the others are self-explanatory! :)

Solvang

2008-11-11T11:26:00.001-08:00

This previous weekend we decided we needed to get away from the house and so we went to aunty Viv in Camarillo on Sabbath. Sara had a lovely afternoon with the girls and Clark and Jesse went to putt a bit on a nearby golf course (they are both "energizer bunnies" so it's good when they can get out and do something while their wives relax!). On Saturday night we all went down to the Ventura Harbor and had fish and chips at one of the restaurants..mmm! On Sunday morning we had breakfast with the Lansdowns and Currans and then went off to Solvang - about an hour and a half's drive from Camarillo.

Solvang is a little Danish village - very cute with all the windmills etc. Here Sara is on one of the streets.

One of the main attractions of Solvang is all the Danish pastry shops so of course, we had to stop and try some pastries for lunch:) Here we are in a quaint little shop with four different pastries to try out and hot chocolate!

Clark taking a break in one of the lovely little courtyards amongst the shops and restaurants.

Looks like something out of a story-book, doesn't it?

Horse-drawn tourist bus passing yet another windmill.

Big Bear with the Newlyweds!

2008-11-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago (yes, we know - we really have to update more regularly!) we went up to Big Bear with aunty Viv and uncle Phil to visit the newlywed Currans! Jesse and Carly have been camping non-stop since they got married in July - we're glad that our wedding gift for them (a tent) has come in so handy!

The little Curran family:) Jesse fashioned a little basket on his bike for Angie...very cute.

Sara always loves visiting with the girls cause she can chat and chat and chat to her heart's content!

Mr and Mrs take a stroll along the lake at sunset...

Aunty Viv briefly reunited with Angie! she misses her little "grand-doggie" who has gone to live with her real mom (Carly).

Two young couples (only other married couple in our generation is Nick and Vicki but the others are catching up fast!) We really enjoy spending time with Jesse and Carly:)

A stroll along the shore at sunset.

We suspect the camping is going to come to an end now for a while since it is finally starting to cool down around here!

The Big 3-0!!!

2008-10-10T20:56:00.001-07:00

A belated birthday post! Clark turned 30 on the 14th of September and we've just neglected our blogging responsibilities since then!

A Coldstone Creamery custom-made ice-cream cake:) Clark wanted an ice-cream cake for his birthday...this is the ONE and ONLY picture that we have of his birthday celebration at our house!!! Clark was too busy entertaining and Sara was too busy serving/cleaning/hosting that no other photos were taken:( but we had a good time anyway and we have memories:)

Sara also surprised Clark with a trip to Temecula for a weekend getaway...we stayed at the Temecula Creek Inn and thoroughly spoilt ourselves...you only turn 30 once right?!

Delectable desserts...mmmm

The view from our room...when Sara books hotels she doesn't skimp! that's why Clark's usually the vacation planner in our family :)

Clark's getting into the swing of being an older, more mature man - it's important to read the newspaper in the mornings to keep up with current events and he has decided that he should take up golf! so his birthday present was a set of golf clubs:)

The view from our balcony was of the first tee. The golf bug has officially bitten Clark again who hasn't swung a club since he left Uitenhage seven years ago!

The most adorable niece in the world...

2008-10-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

...in our very humble, unbiased opinions anyway!

Little Kaitlyn is now 8 months old and such a cutie and her auntie and uncle are dying to meet her - videos and pics are not enough:(

Out for the count!....too too precious :)

Giggling with her mommy and daddy - she just adores her parents!

Update on Clark's landscaping project

2008-08-22T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest on the landscaping underway in our backyard....

Clark's quickly developing another favorite hobby:) He's really enjoying this project - he said the other day that he briefly entertained the idea of throwing in the pharmacy towel and landscaping full-time! Must say - he's really good at it:) plus he's the sexiest garden boy I've ever seen! :)

Few weeks ago, all the rocks were finally laid for the path...

Then Clark started filling up the spaces around the rocks with pea gravel and bought these bamboo sheets to cover the plastic fence and give the garden a more rustic feel...

Then he made "flower" beds and the planting started...

This is the latest picture - we now have 4 palms, two other little bushes (Clark needs to come edit these posts and put in relevant information like plant names!) and a strilitzia (hope I spelt that correctly!) aka "bird of paradise". Clark was insistent on a strilitzia somewhere in the garden because it reminds him of home ie. Uitenhage. I think it's a nice idea to put personal touches like that into our garden:) He also started planting some Korean grass (that he doesn't have to mow) on the side of the pic. Next on the project list are the water-feature and the table and chair/outside eating area.

We'll keep you posted:)

A relaxing spa day with a good old friend!

2008-08-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

We posted a while ago about Sara discovering that one of her best childhood friends was living in LA. Well...about 2 weekends ago, Sara and Tania decided that they needed to see each other again and that they were also due for some R&R:) So they took themselves off to Indian Wells (near Palm Springs) and spent the entire Sunday at a fancy hotel enjoying a spa day with all the trimmings:)!!!

Here we are just chillin! We drank chamomile tea, some water conconction with mint, melon and some other good stuff, ate dried cranberries and nuts (mmm!), went for a massage, spent the afternoon by the heated pool and had a lovely (healthy - the spa only serves "spa" approved healthy meals) lunch poolside and chatted up a storm!

Tan posing by the pool.

The little massage "huts" around the pool.

Pampering and primping:)

Putting my feet up while Tan dozes off a bit! don't worry - I had a little nap too:) bliss!....

and then we went to the Cheesecake factory afterwards! you gotta throw in a little sinfully sweet stuff after we were so good all day!

A VERY belated birthday celebration!

2008-08-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Clark is turning 30 in September but we celebrated his 29th birthday earlier on this month! You see, Sara's birthday present for Clark last year was a dinner cruise in Marina del Ray harbor. Well, we didn't cash in on the gift certificate and remembered (just in time!) before it expired to book it! So we enjoyed a lovely evening out in the harbor with good food and each other:)

That's our boat - "Horn Blower"

The "birthday" boy with his delicious piece of cheesecake.

Enjoying the experience and the lovely summer breeze and salty air up on deck.

Some really really really wealthy guy's (Clark would know his name if he was posting this! - I'll get him to get back to you!) impressive yaught. You should've seen all the bells and trimmings! including it's own helicopter and landing pad!

Recent comings and goings...

2008-07-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we decided to take off to Dana Point (near Laguna Beach) for a night. We had a lovely time relaxing and exploring and rode our bikes along beaches of the Pacific Coast Highway. We ended off with a cycle along Manhattan Beach.

View from the Marriot Hotel in Dana Point (where we did NOT stay!)

We had some SA friends over for Sabbath lunch a while back too - the Fosters, Uncle Robin (Baxter), Vaughn and Lorissa Grant and Celeste (Powrie from Helderberg/Silverleaf) and her American hubby - Jim. It was a good time and Sara put on a yummy spread for everyone including tofu pastries which were absolutely scrumptious!

We are always so happy to visit with Ken and Crystal when they are in town:) They were on their annual vacation recently and spend a couple of days in Loma Linda so we went out to Mimi's Cafe for breakfast with them and had a good time catching up! Thanks for the visit guys xxx

Carly's Wedding Vol. 4 (Reception)

2008-07-18T18:48:00.001-07:00

Janine and her boyfriend Mike (Mike - this is for you - you're first on our page!)

Aunty Jen, Uncle Derek, Neil and Wayne checking out a video of Barry and aunty Viv doing "the twist" on the dance floor (hence the laughing!)

Carly's ready to throw her bouquet!

Our first pic with Mr. and Mrs. Curran :)

Jesse and Carly listening to speeches

Yummy (and beautiful) cake

Jesse smooshed some cake on Carly's face - not too bad though (Clark wouldn't have gotten away with it if he'd done it to me!)

Uncle Phil all dressed up!

Heather with LeAnn's (da Silva nee Swenson) little girl, Sophie - she's so beautiful!

Janine's speech (if you know what softies these girls are you would be proud of them for getting through the day with as little tears as possible!)

Aunty Viv's speech - really beautiful and very heartfelt

Uncle Phil's "Father of the Bride" speech

with our Aussie cousins - Wayne, Neil and Barry

The rest of the family

Sam with her boyfriend, Steven. They are both going to be at Loma Linda University one of these days.

First dance...

Table settings (we got up early Sunday morning and met aunty Viv, aunty Jen and ALL the Lansdown men and helped set up tables)

Our two Cali aunties - we love them!

Carly's Wedding Vol. 3 (Ceremony)

2008-07-18T18:29:00.001-07:00

Ceremony pics...

Aunty Viv being escorted down the aisle by her new son-in-law. She looked lovely in her buttercup yellow chiffon dress...the elegant mother of the bride:) and we were so proud of her - she was very strong, we didn't see her cry really but there were definitely moments that she was choked up and her eyes were teary!

Janine - lovely maid of honor:)

The ring bearer (cutie pie!) was Logan (aunty Muriel's [Swenson] daughter, LeAnn's little boy) He was bribed with candy:) if you look closely you can see him holding the candy in his little hand!

Just to give a glimpse of the back of Carly's dress - really pretty.

The front of the church (the arrangement in the middle was made by Aunty Shirley)

Heather (talented young lady she is) played the harp while the guests were waiting - she's really picked up the instrument very quickly - I think she's only been playing for a year or so!

Jesse's sisters lighting the candles.

Wayne escorting aunty Yvonne down the aisle - it's so great that she could be there for Carly's special day!

Carly's Wedding Vol. 2 (Rehearsal)

2008-07-18T18:16:00.001-07:00

Okay...Friday's finally here and I have some time to breathe! so I'm going to try and put up our pics of the wedding (and other recent photos if the computer co-operates!) This bunch are from the rehearsal....

The lovely decorations on the pews - a combined effort of all the aunties and aunty Nat and aunty Jen put them up during the rehearsal with Sam, Sara and Jason helping to stick double sided tape (yes, a very important job!)

Jesse and his boys! what a fun group:)

Here comes the bride with her dad:)

Aunty Shirl working hard on the flower arrangement for the front of the church.

Aunty Nat and aunty Jen decorating.

Carly's Wedding Vol. 1

2008-07-13T22:50:00.001-07:00

We have just gotten home from a lovely (but busy!) weekend in Camarillo where amongst visiting with overseas family, the highlight was seeing Carly Lansdown become Mrs. Jesse Curran!!! I am exhausted and need to get to bed (it is 11pm and I need to be up early since I'm starting a hospital internship tomorrow) so I am just posting these tidbits quickly and tomorrow night when I get home and have some more time, I will post more:

As you can see, Carly was a stunning bride....just look at that radiant smile!

Mr. and Mrs. Curran:)

The first dance....that's Janine and Jesse's brother (maid of honor and best man) on the left.

Cutting the cake... that cake was DELICIOUS! Carly used to work for a shop called "The Bread Basket" and they make wedding cakes and her old bosses gave her this cake as a gift. It had real white chocolate icing and was filling with assorted berries and cream.....mmmmm!

Carly's Bridal Shower

2008-06-17T10:08:00.001-07:00

A little less than a month to go before Carly becomes a Mrs! Janine held her shower this previous Saturday evening. I want to get some better party pics for the blog since our camera ran out of batter power but I have this pic of the South African contingent! As you can see, aunty Jen arrived last week as a surprise for Carly! also, aunty Nat and girls came down from Sacramento for the weekend as well a Sandy Birkenstock. Sam is going to be doing dental hygiene at Loma Linda come fall and we are looking forward to being her "home away from home" and seeing aunty Nat and uncle Merv more often because they will be visiting her:) Heather has grown up so much in just a year and half! - she's shot up (literally) - she's going to be a tall girl - almost as tall as me already (and at 5.9 I'm pretty tall for a girl!)

Clark's Latest Home Improvement Project

2008-06-17T10:03:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we received a notice from our HOA to say that our backyards are supposed to landscaped within 3 months of moving in and we've been here since the end of November! so...Clark's been busy with his very own landscaping project.

Just some pics of the progress he's making...these are actually a bit old - he's now starting laying stones on the path - looking good! We'll keep you updated with progress and show the finished project as soon as it's done:)

Sara's Birthday Brunch

2008-06-17T09:57:00.001-07:00

Sorry...we've been a little slow with our blog updates! couple of weeks behind...so here are some pics of the brunch surprise that Clark gave Sara for his birthday at The Castaway Restaurant in San Bernadino...

Lovely view

Great ambience

all in all - a great surprise!

Happy Birthday Sara!!!

2008-05-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sara turned 28 today:) We had a lovely day and tomorrow Clark is taking Sara out for brunch (mmm) There have been so many messages and phone calls and it's been a great day...the weather even played along (Sara likes the cold! and we definitely got some of that!...read on...)

Sara busy chatting to Mom - miss her too much:(!!!! Love you mom! xxx

Aunty Viv, Uncle Phil and aunty Yvonne came over for lunch...we had yummy soup, Italian bread, avo spread, garlic spread and pesto salad:) then aunty Viv made strawberry and cream cake for us:) Yummy yummy yummy:)

We took everyone for a ride in the afternoon to the apple orchards in Oak Glen and then decided to go and see if there was snow in Forest Falls...and there was! This picture doesn't do the snow justice - there was lots more of it!!! Lovely weather for Sara:) in May!

Devo and Leilani gave us a nice surprise when they came over in the afternoon with their precious girls - it was great to see the Kritzingers again - the cherry on top of a lovely birthday:)

Lia is turning into such a pretty young lady:) She's a girl after Sara's heart - they were absorbed in "The Sound of Music" for the evening (as you can see if you enlarge the above photo - Sound of Music's playing in the background!) We heard all about Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (we mustn't watch that one cause it's too scary!) Gotto love little girls!!!

Unfortunately Leilani is not in the picture - since she was taking it:) but don't those girls look so cute and cuddly???

Freaky Weather!

2008-05-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

We are supposed to be entering summer but we have had the wierdest weather since Thursday afternoon - torrential rain, hail, snow and even tornados!!!! This is Southern California in May! What's going on????

Recent Comings and Goings

2008-05-24T22:21:00.001-07:00

A few Sunday's ago, Clark was bored sitting around the house and so we decided to get out to Oak Glen and go for a little hike in the apple orchards...beautiful scenery, lovely weather - was a nice impromtu outing for us:)

Last weekend, Janine was visiting from New York and wanted to spend Sabbath on the beach! so of course, since it was like 100 degrees out in Loma Linda - we were all to happy to comply with her request:) The beach was MUCH cooler than anywhere else - the place to be on a sweltering hot day!

Clark and Jesse had fun boogy-boarding...I think Clark is going to enjoy having another young man around in the family! The two of them are always game for something - so much energy!!!

It was nice to see aunty Yvonne again (she arrived the weekend before for Carly's wedding in July - VERY exciting!)...here are the Lansdown girls with aunty Yvonne...we miss Janine:(

Clark's Crinkle Cut

2008-04-27T18:46:00.001-07:00

Sara always think it's funny whenever Clark has gone for a MTB ride that his hair crinkle-cut from his helmet! We're posting this one just to show that Clark is secure within himself and doesn't really care what his hair looks like after a ride in the hills!

El Capitan State Beach

2008-04-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping with our Loma Linda friends at El Capitan State Beach just north of Santa Barbara - it was good to get out for the weekend and smell the fresh sea breeze again!
Our Campsite - in total we were about 20 people camping on 3 campsites. We got together on this one for all our shared meals. That is our blue tent in the background.
Going for a leisurely stroll to the beach. Really very pretty and peaceful!
Beautiful beach but really cold seawater!

Pioneer Town

2008-04-27T18:24:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a drive to Pioneer Town - just 4 miles outside of Yucca Valley. It's in the desert, and the scene for a Hollywood-style old wild west town.
Actors playing out a gun-fighted western scene - complete with drama, intrigue and blanks! Ofcourse you know which 2 things were the cause of this bloody battle: money and a woman at the centre of it all! This was a soap opera wild west style!
This notice says it all! What would a western town be without it's "Dead or Alive" rewards signs!
Many a prisoner has looked out of this cell! Even though it was only for short film stints! Funny, I always wondered what a bird must see looking out of it's cage!
Here Clark is standing at the front of the general grocer - every town had it local trader!
Quite a cute little town as western towns were back in the 1800's.

Garage cabinets

2008-04-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

What would a man be without his garage?!?! The garage is Clark's domain, the ONLY place where he is king and reigns supreme in the Botha household! So is it any wonder that he wanted to get cabinets and arrange everything neatly? We'll post the after pics later when they are all done!

Sara's ski boot!

2008-04-27T18:12:00.001-07:00

Quite a few of you wanted to see Sara's boot that she got from the orthopaedic - well here it is! Surprisingly it's not that difficult to walk in, even though Sara is only allowed to walk if she absolutely has to!
And here she is sitting on a bench in our residential complex - making the boot part of her stylish looks!

Kaitlyn is two months old!

2008-03-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl is already 2 months old! can't believe it! Here she is with her mommy and daddy:) Tracey is looking beautiful - motherhood definitely agrees with you Tracey! We miss you guys - give our girl lots and lots of love from aunty Sara and uncle Clark:) xxx

Miscellaneous pics

2008-03-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that have been taken over the last month or so - but just not posted. We have had a lot of rain in Southern CA during this winter, and the hills and mountain are beautiful and green again! Here is a picture that Clark took when going for a MTB ride in the hills of Loma Linda - all green with snow on the mountains!
One morning we took this photo on Mission Road while going for a walk...pretty and green - just a shame this wont last especially when summer starts!!!
Clark has done 2 half marathons in February - both with our friends Jacques & Natasa who got him into running again. Here they are posing at 6am just before they left to do the Huntington Beach 1/2 marathon - it was a cold and blustery morning by the beach, certainly not the best weather to do go and do some running, but fun none the less. Clark's time for his first 1/2 marathon was 1:48:00. He was pretty chuffed with an average 8:15/mile, especially since his initial goal was to run 2hrs.
And here he is running the Palm Springs 1/2 marathon 2 weeks later - much more suitable weather for running...but then what else would you expect with it being in the desert! Race started at 7:30am, and this time Clark ran 8:00 flat per mile with a finish time of 1:45:04 - bettering his previous time by 3 minutes over a more challenging course...Jacques finished this course in a good time of 1:32:00 - that's 7 minutes per mile over 13.1miles!
And here is a photo with Clark and the pharmacy staff at Rite Aid. Managing a bunch of women can be challenging!

By popular demand...:)

2008-03-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hey all! well, most of you have probably heard by now that Sara managed to break her foot in two places (not sure where yet - seeing the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow) and has had a temporary cast on since last Thursday - by now it looks like something resembling a mummy from a tomb!!! and she's managed to get it soaked twice in the shower when you're not supposed to get it wet at all!!!! thought the silver lining to this experience would be getting to find out what all the fuss is about over Vicadin:) turns out Sara is quite allergic to the pain meds - they make her horribly sick and so has been suffering in unalleviated pain for quite a few days now:( We're hoping the doc won't want to do surgery since next week is Finals week for Sara and she needs to be at school to finish up the quarter but we'll just have to take it as it comes. Our friends and family have been so wonderful with offering help and sending us messages of love and encouragement - we feel so very blessed:) Okay - enough jabbering - so first pic is of how swollen my foot is in comparison to the unaffected one and the second pic is a glimpse of my bruises and swelling through a gap in the bandages - enjoy (these pictures ARE posted by popular demand!)

More pics of our baby niece:)

2008-02-07T22:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the world little Kaitlyn!

2008-01-25T21:01:00.001-08:00

We are so excited to welcome our first little neice into the world! Kaitlyn Botha was born on the 25th of January at 9:06am by c-section. She weighs 3.4kgs and is cute as a button:) we love her to bits!!!!

Our precious baby neice...

She's already showing off her pretty outfits - you should see miss Kaitlyn's closet full of clothes and shoes already!

Tracey's parents with their first grandchild...

Kelvin's parents (well also Clark's!) with their first grandchild:) Pa is very excited to finally have a little girl around after raising all those boys!

We love you guys - we wish we were there to be with our favourite neice:) and I bet she also wants to meet uncle Clark and aunty Sara (her FAVOURITE aunty!) xxx Take care of her and send us LOTS of pics!!!!

Happy Anniversary:) to us!

2007-12-31T11:34:00.001-08:00

We celebrated 2 years of marriage on the 28th of December and enjoyed a lovely outing to Los Angeles to see the Dancing with the Stars live show - it was fantastic! Thanks to all our friends and loved ones who have supported us with your love and prayers for us over the time that we have been together...we appreciate it and love you all - Happy New Year! May 2008 be a blessed one for you filled with the realisation of many dreams and goals:) xxx

Christmas fun!

2007-12-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Christmas Eve and Day with our friends, Carlindo and Jeni-Joy. JJ organised a wonderful pancake feast at their house on Christmas Eve and invited a whole lot of folks to join in and enjoy:)

Sara with her two favourite girls - Bianca and Gisella

Clark has done something right recently to get into Bianca's good books - she only wants Uncle Clark!

Carlindo and Clark flipping pancakes

See, told ya - just wants Uncle Clark:)!

We spent Christmas Day snow-tubing in Big Bear:) snow-tubing Sara can handle - when it comes to skiing she gets a bit unstuck (or rather STUCK!)

See - comfy and fun:)

The girls:)

Our wonderful friends - the Perieras:) We love you guys!

Merry Christmas with love:)

2007-12-25T20:15:00.001-08:00

Congratulations Sonia and Bruce:)!!!!

2007-12-24T21:14:00.000-08:00

Just want to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Sons and Bruce because they have just gotten engaged! YAY!!!! Bruce took Sonia to a lovely spot in the Kruger National Park and proposed to her yesterday...just in time for Christmas:) We love you both lots and are soooo happy and excited for you!

Another lovely visit with Ken and Crystal

2007-12-24T14:34:00.001-08:00

We really enjoyed our time with Ken and Crystal - we picked them up at LAX and Ken treated us to breakfast in Manhattan Beach. Then, (we are so thankful - especially Sara) Ken helped Clark lug our armoire upstairs and finally, on their last day here in Loma Linda (which just happened to be their third wedding anniversary) - we inaugerated (spelling???) our dining room table with a breakfast party in honor of our friends:)

Thanks for the visit guys (and for the photo Crystal!) - we hope to see you again soon:) maybe this time we'll end up in Saipan:) xxx

Carly's graduation

2007-12-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Congrats go to Carly for graduating from her nursing program last weekend...we were so glad to spend the weekend with her and be proud of her as she received her diploma and was pinned:) Well done Carly - we love you xxx

The soon-to-be newlyweds...well still a few months to go but we are all so excited!

It was great that Janine could make it back from New York to be there on her sister's big day:) It was also a treat for us to see Janine again - probably not gonna see her for a while now:(

Carly surrounded by her family who love her very much and are VERY proud of her:)!

Check out the cute cake:) Janine's artwork:)

Coming soon...baba Botha:)

2007-12-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

We are getting more and more excited when we see pics like these - in about a month's time we will officially be an aunty and uncle:) Tracy sent us these pics of what mama and baba are looking like at the moment and Uncle Clive has been busy again painting murals...it's too cute! (notice the signature at the bottom of the painting:)

This baby is going to be spoilt rotten! especially since she's the first baby girl born after an entire generation of boys!!! We can't wait:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T19:24:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely thanksgiving dinner with our friends Dylia and Julio...Sara's kind of thanksgiving meal:) - completely vegan! Last year we didn't do anything special for thanksgiving but it was great to share this special holiday with friends and reflect on the blessings in our lives and give thanks.

Here's Sara talkinig with Jeni-Joy - who just happens to be one of the best blessings in our lives - we are really happy and thankful that God has blessed us with such great friends:)

and here with one of our favourite little people - Bianca:) she's too cute! she was telling all her "friends" (us) stories on Thanksgiving day and she also made lovely cards for each family to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving - we love Bianca and Gisella!

Working on the house:)

2007-11-23T19:13:00.001-08:00

We will be moving into our house over the 28th and 29th of this month but for now we are busy taking measurements for blinds and dreaming about paint colours etc. etc. It's really a lot of fun to have our own place and plan for how we are going to pretty it up:) We're really having a great time!

Here's Clark with all his "paper-work" - he's made his own blue-print of the house which he uses to write in measurements and has a file with all the different kinds of blinds and things that we are looking at - he's really organised:)

Sara couldn't resist picking up paint samples at Lowe's and taking them to the house to plan future painting jobs:) she's the interior decorator in our little family:)

Clark, on the other hand, is very excited about his garage???? Sara doesn't get it...maybe it's a guy thing:) anyway - here he is washing the garage floor so that he can epoxy-coat it (basically like a special paint that you put on concrete floors and then they don't stain with oil or anything like that).

We'll keep you posted with more of house fix-ups and probably next photos we post will be moving pics:) we're really excited!!!

We have a housie:)

2007-11-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here is our brand new, very own home:)

This picture was taken while they were still finishing off the house so you can see the porch and balcony bannisters haven't been painted yet but it still looks pretty:)

The kitchen.

My favourite part - the jacuzzi bath tub with a wonderful view:)

The view from our front garden...we look onto a putting green and the San Bernadino mountains are in the background:)

The entrance to our new neighbourhood - Mission Creek.

We hope to see you soon - we've got plenty of room:)

What we've been up to lately!

2007-10-16T15:58:00.000-07:00

Some of our regular blog viewers have complained that we haven't updated the blog in a while - and the reason for that mainly is that Sara is pre-occupied with school work most of the time so we either don't get a chance to do anything interesting or if we do - you only hear about it a while later:) Sorry faithful family and friends - we will do our best to be more consistent about posting new happenings in our lives.

Two Sabbath's ago we went to the University of California Riverside campus to visit their botanical gardens. Here's a couple of shots of Sara (as usual she ends up being the model!) walking through the gardens. We had a good afternoon and got a mild amount of exercise:)

Back to School

2007-09-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

Sara officially started school this week with orientation on Monday and classes the rest of the week. So far, so good:) she's having a lot of fun and enjoying her assignments etc. - just glad to be occupied with something beside dishes and washing! The top pic we pouched off Loma Linda University's website - it is the building where the Allied Health Professionals (speech, OT, PT etc. etc) hold their classes - so that's where Sara is going to be spending a lot of her time:)

More of Clark's Birthday:)

2007-09-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

Last Sabbath, Clark went cycling early in the morning with Jacques and Natasa and then we headed off to a picnic lunch with some other friends. Jeni-Joy and Carlindo were kind enough to make Clark's birthday extra special by giving him a real "man's" cake!

Clark with his special birthday cake;o) Thanks C and JJ for such a great surprise!

Sara with little Gisella - she's such a pleasure to be around and she's growing so much - those little legs are getting stronger and stronger and she's sitting now - too cute and precious!!!

Enjoying a lovely Sabbath afternoon with friends:)

Just wanted to show a pic of the latest addition to the Botha household:)!!! This is our new Apple Macbook and we are loving it! the plan is to buy each other iPod nanos for Christmas:) at least Sara now has a functional computer for school - which starts officially with classes on Monday.

Happy Birthday Clark!!!!

2007-09-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Clark's 29th birthday:)!!! Happy b-day my precious boytjie! Sorry we don't have a pic to put on the blog today - but tomorrow we are doing some more celebrating and will post pics after that. Today Clark woke up to presents in bed, including a voucher for a dinner cruise sometime soon:) We then took Clark's bike to get fixed in Palm Springs and met Jacques and Natasa for brunch - we missed (much to our dismay and embarrassment) Natasa's recent birthday so we celebrated both of the birthdays together:) we rounded off the day with a trip to Victoria Gardens where we bought ourselves a new Apple Mac computer (with Sara's student discount of course!). Happy Sabbath all - watch for pics soon!

Climbing Mt Whitney

2007-09-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

On Labour Day weekend we took off in different directions - Sara spent her weekend with Aunty Viv and family in Camarillo (Janine came home from New York) and all the girls went pre-lim wedding shopping for Carly. Clark had to juggle his work schedule and was able to have Sunday off - and was invited to go climb Mt Whitney with Carlindo. Here's some of the shots of that trip...
Driving 70miles on the SR-395 from the I-15 interchange from Loma Linda Clark came across this little "dorpie" - Johannesburg!!! Population 165! Had the sign in the background read "Really good fresh BILTONG - 75miles", he would have been thoroughly convinced that this was indeed South Africa and not Southern CA!!!
Saturday night campsite...It was a great 2 nights of camping at the foothills of the eastern Sierra's. This is the night before the great climb.
Carlindo and Clark got up at 4am to meet up with the rest of the group and were supposed to start hiking up the mountaineers trail at 4:45am...but the rest of the group were late and we only started hiking at 5:45am - and here is sunrise about 10 minutes into our climb.

No - that tall peak on the right is not Mt Whitney - it is in fact more towards the right and even higher- this was at about 11 000 feet elevation (roughly 3300 metres above sea level) and the air was starting to get thin! The sky at this stage of the climb was already incredibly blue! Can you spot the moon just above the right peak???
This was taken at about 10 000 feet - saying goodbye to all the natural foliage - from here and to the top there was no greenery! Just rocks - a completely desolate and rocky world!!!

The last 1500 feet of the climb was a real killer! Here Carlindo and Jeff look to scale the last 600 feet of the climb - quite a steep gradient (at some spots definitely close to 60degrees!!!). We were really huffing and puffing at this stage - 5-steps-take-a-breather, 5-more-steps-take-a-breather! Luckily none of us struggled with altitude-sickness...

This is not trick photography! Here you can get a closer view of the actual steep climb - I scrambled ahead to get this photo of Carlindo (left) and Jeff (right) - one false slip and you can slide quite a few feet!!! Lots of loose sand and rocks here made the climb very difficult - took about 1 hour just to scale the last 600 feet.

At the top - Carlindo, Jeff and Clark finally manage a smile :) It was a great sense of accomplishment to scale this mountain and by tackling the mountaineers trail!
Well here is the sign on the summit of Mt Whitney - 14 500 feet is about 4400 metres. We didn't stay too long on the summit since the storm clouds were coming in from the west and we already could hear thunder rumbling in the distance...

Lake Arrowhead

2007-08-26T21:29:00.001-07:00

Today we went cycling at Lake Gregory en route to Lake Arrowhead where we had Belgian waffles and walked around the "waterfront". It was a lovely day spent together and we ended it all by enjoying some Teriyaki tofu with Carlindo and Jeni-Joy in Redlands.

Posing with our bikes:)

At Lake Arrowhead - lovely day up there.

Sabbath lunch with the Kritzingers

2007-08-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely lunch with Devo, Leilani and the girls. We haven't seen each other for ages so it was great to see them and meet little Amelie:)

Sara with Amelie - what a lovely smile and big blue eyes!

This is probably what our little family will look like one day:) Lia is at such a precious, talkative age - we really enjoyed her this afternoon and we often say she reminds us of Sara when she was little.

Clark feeling a bit broody:) Trying to get Amelie to smile:) Doesn't he look good with a baby???

Carly and Jesse are engaged!

2007-08-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Carly and Jesse got engaged recently (actually round about the first week that Sara was away) so we only got to see them last weekend. Here they are posing with some of their first house-warming presents....we're so excited to see the wedding!

Back in Loma Linda

2007-08-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

Sara arrived home safe and sound and happy! on Tuesday afternoon. We headed straight home where she took a shower and then were out again to see Ken and Crystal (who were only here for 2 days) and then off to Ray and Di Cloete for dinner.

The Bothas and Piersons...thanks for the surprise gift on our doorstep guys! We really appreciate it - wish we could have seen more of you:)

We ate a lovely dinner with the Cloetes. Di's parents were here from South Africa and wanted to see Clark since Clark worked with them on health presentations at Fishhoek church during his time there.

Back in the Fairest Cape

2007-08-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

The last few days of Sara's vacation were spent back in Cape Town where they didn't get to do much sight-seeing thanks to a week of cold fronts which brought torrents of rain and freezing cold weather!

Uncle Mark was in Cape Town on business checking out the emergency services available in different cities in SA in preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. It was great to be able to see him again.

Did we mention it was freezing cold! Here's Sara snuggling up with a hood over her head hoping that it will improve matters:)

Sara with her good friend, Bianca. They had a great time together watching DVDs, going for massages at the spa and out for coffee. Wish I could have seen more of you Bi but we're looking forward to you guys coming over to visit next year!

Sara took her mom, gran, Ruben and Audri (Clark's aunt and uncle) out for a fancy Indian meal at a restaurant in Stellenbosch. We really enjoyed the yummy curries and mango ice-cream. It was an enjoyable evening.

Sara with Rubs and Auds - we love you guys! Thanks for spoiling us so much!

Durbs

2007-08-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

After visiting PE Sara headed for Durban to visit her sister and grandmother and other family there.

Mom, Sonia and Sara at Valley of a Thousand Hills - one of Sara's favourite places in Durban.

Sonia and Bruce while we were having lunch in the hills. Sara and Sonia - doesn't the restaurant just look African??? and Sara's drinking red Grapetiser - mmmm!

Sonny and Bruce on top of the hill where they live - great views of Durban:)

Sara with little Jenna - look at those beautiful eyes!

Ben is growing up fast!

Vicki and Jenna opening presents from Disneyland:)

Sara and Sonia at Umhlanga - the boardwalk has been completely destroyed in places from the storm they had some months ago.

Mom wading in the waves...it was winter so we didn't swim!

Sara also visited her friend Kirsten who is now working as a speech therapist in private practice in Umhlanga.

Spending time with the Bothas

2007-08-01T17:49:00.001-07:00

Sara spent about 5 days with the Bothas in Uitenhage. Ma thoroughly spoiled Sara and there was no shortage of food or conversation!

Flowers, Ferro Roche chocolates and an African themed bedroom were only the start of all the surprises! Ma really went out of her way and made Sara's stay very comfortable and enjoyable...breakfast in bed every day - what more can we say?!

The Botha brothers - minus Clark:( It was sad to see them all together and know that Clark was sitting in Loma Linda by himself:( Sidney was visiting from Taiwan.

Kelvin and Tracy took Sabbath school and involved all the family - Clive played piano and gave the mission's talk and Sidney and Sara were each asked to say a few words about their church experiences abroad.

Waiting for our dinner at Admirals - a lovely buffet-style restaurant in Port Elizabeth.

Ma and Pa proudly showing off the gifts that we bought them.

Lots of silliness went on...above are Clive and Sidney fooling around with their presents from Clark and my brother-in-laws have INSISTED that I put in this hideous photo of me (below) over-doing my smile as Ma and I were showing off our hard work - melkterts!

Looking at all the baby presies with Tracy - we are so excited that we are going to be an aunty and uncle in January:)

Our third set of parents (Clark's god-parents) - Oom Vivian and Tannie Gertjie.

Saying goodbyes...Clive, Kelvin and Tracy and Sidney (at the back). Thanks for a wonderful time ma, pa, broers en susie! xxx

Sara is back!

2007-08-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

After almost 7 weeks in South Africa, Sara is finally home and the best thing of all - she's happy to be here! Since Sara was so homesick last year, we were a bit nervous about how she would feel once she'd gone back to SA but life for her is here now and she doesn't want to be anywhere else but at hubby's side! It's good to be home:)

Sara's New Bike

2007-06-05T19:29:00.001-07:00

We finally got around to buying Sara a bike that fits! Here she is proudly posing with it before our cycle this morning.

Gisella's Dedication

2007-06-05T19:23:00.001-07:00

On Sabbath, we attended little Gisella's (Carlindo and Jeni-Joys 2nd daughter) dedication. It was really beautiful and touching and we really appreciated sharing their special day with them.

After the dedication Carlindo and Jeni-Joy hosted a HUGE picnic in celebration of, not only the dedication, but Carlindo and Lorissa's birthdays. Happy Birthday guys! Thanks for a wonderful Sabbath:)

Jasmine bushes

2007-05-29T19:51:00.001-07:00

Been promising to show off our blossoming jasmine bushes:) Obviously the one in front needs some tending to since it's blocking off the path but it's so great to see all the little flowers and have that lovely jasmine smell to welcome us home:)

More B-day celebrations

2007-05-29T19:45:00.001-07:00

We went out to the Lansdowns this weekend to celebrate Sara's b-day with some family:) It was a great time with great food and we all enjoyed it! Clark went home on Saturday night because he had to work on Sunday but Sara stayed for the rest of the long weekend (Monday was Memorial Day here in the States).

Yummy birthday cake with strawberry ice-cream inside:)

Happy Birthday Sara!

2007-05-24T10:43:00.001-07:00

My beautiful Sara is 27 today! Thanks my luvie for being the ray of sunshine in my life! And I know that with everyone else who follows our blogs (thanks to you all!) we want to wish you a happy birthday and a wonderful 28th year! I love you very much and I thank God that we can share our lives together. Enjoy your day my hoenderboutjie!!!! :)

Sara's B-day Weekend Surprise!

2007-05-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sara is turning 27 on Thursday but Clark decided to surprise her with a lovely, romantic weekend away in the Napa Valley at a resort and spa:) Clark knows that his wifey loves to be pampered so she was treated to a full body massage at the spa as well. Clark was going to surprise her by waking her up at 3am on last Thursday morning and telling her to pack her bags cause they have a plane to catch! However, fortunately for Clark (!) one of his co-workers told him he should warn Sara - so he told her the night before!

Napa and it's surrounding winelands are truly beautiful - made us feel very homesick for Stellenbosch and Franschoek:(

We went up to Pacific Union College to take a look - it's a really pretty campus.

This was taken at Elmshaven (The home where Ellen White spent her final years and died). That's Sara sitting outside on the stoep. It is truly an amazing experience to visit Elmshaven - we learnt so much and there is really a peace that pervades the house and property.

What a lovely quote from one her famous writings.

In the Petrified forests.

Sara giving a bear hug!

California's very own "Old Faithful" geyser.

St. Helena Adventist Hospital....stunning surroundings! wouldn't mind being sick and having the beautiful hills and winelands to look at:) who knows - maybe one day we could end up working at a great hospital like that!

Canoeing down the Russian River through the redwood trees.

Clark taking a swim during our lunch break.

San Francisco...that's Alcetraz in the background. San Fran is CHILLY!

At Pier 39 - a lot like the V&A Waterfront.

In front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Have you noticed how Sara often ends up being the model in all these pics???? - well, that's because we are both too shy to ask someone else to take a picture of both of us - so it's usually Sara who gets snookered into posing:)! It's okay this time - cause it was her b-day present:)

Picnic Lunch with SA friends

2007-05-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Sabbath afternoon today with SA friends. The weather also played along wonderfully because it's been so hot but today there was a nice cool breeze blowing.

Clark and Carlindo.

Quite a big group!

Sara with little Gisella (Carlindo and Jeni-Joy's new little one) - she's so precious:)

Our friend, Lorissa, actually organised the lunch for her mom who is visiting from SA. I'm posting this pic cause mom will probably recognise aunty Anne from Benoni church.

Medieval Times

2007-05-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

After Miami, we headed back to spend Tuesday night in Orlando since we were leaving from Orlando early Wednesday morning to come home. Tuesday night we went out for dinner at a themed restaurant called "Medieval Times."

The castle.

The King and Princess were there to pose with before dinner and the show.

We took a tour of the Medieval village before dinner.

In the kitchen area of a Medieval house.

Before dinner, each person is given a crown for the section that you are going to be sitting in (we were sitting in the red section right in front) and then out come the knights and you have to cheer for the knight whose colour is the same as yours.

Dinner consists of vegetable soup (drunk out of the bowl for authenticity - there are no eating utensils) and garlic bread. Dinner is chicken, spare ribs and a potato....well for Sara - dinner was just the potato and Clark had two chickens! Neither of us had the spare ribs. Desert was a pastry with peach filling. As you eat your meal the knights joust and compete with each other for your entertainment.

Miami

2007-05-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

We drove from Key West to Miami late on Sunday afternoon and got caught in a horrific thunderstorm! It was really scary and got us thinking we would rather face the threat of an earth-quake than have to deal with that sort of thing on a consistent basis! Needless to say - our first day in Miami was a bit of a dud since the weather was overcast, gloomy and cold and there was a tremendous wind blowing. So - we went to the movies! Exciting hey?

The view from our hotel room on our second morning in Miami - much better weather.

We went for dinner at Bayside after the movies - very much like the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Enjoyed a bit of shopping and had an early night.

The second day were in Miami - we had to leave early to go back to Orlando in order to fly back Wednesday morning. So, once again, we didn't get to swim:( but we went to South Beach and had a lovely brunch and then took a long walk along the beach.

We would both like to see Miami again sometime.

Key West

2007-05-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

Key West was stunning! We were so disappointed that we couldn't spend more time there and didn't get to lounge around on the beach and go for a swim. We arrived (after a LONG drive) on Saturday evening and then we only had Sunday to tour around a bit before heading to Miami. Stupid - we know now! Next time we will definitely make time to just relax and soak up the sun:)

What a lovely picture:) Key West is just like you would imagine an island paradise to be.

We only had a short time to stroll along the beach and feel the water - it was so warm and inviting!

We went out to the reef on a glass-bottom boat to see what we could see. We can now safely say that Clark and Sara will probably not be going on any cruises any time soon! We were both soooooo sea-sick!

About to start our nauseating adventure on the seas!

Leaving Key West behind...

Just an example of what we saw - we actually saw some interesting things - a sting ray, a baracuda, different types of corals and other beautiful fish.

After our boat-ride we took a tram tour through the town of Key West - there's lots of history and many interesting tales to tell. It was SO hot though!

The official start of US highway 1 which leads all the way from Key West to the Canadian Rockies. That's the zero-mile marker and it ends approx 2500 miles later!

Lots of little stalls to shop at.

An old ship-wrecked boat in the town.

At the Southernmost point of the USA.

This is the pool area at our hotel - you can see the ocean in the background.

And this is what a hotel room looks like once the Bothas have hit it!

Boggy Creek Airboat Ride

2007-05-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

On Sabbath morning, we went on an airboat ride in the swamps of Orlando. That's one thing we can say about Florida - there is SO much water!

Here's Clark standing in front of the airboat with his brand-new Super-Man t-shirt which proved to be quite a hit with the toll gate operators when we travelled to Key West that afternoon.

Waiting for our boat-ride.

Boggy Creek.

Riding the air-boat looking out for alligators!

We only saw one 4 ft alligator because it was very hot and they try to hide in the shade. However, we came across a bunch of little babies - you may be able to see them if you enlarge the pic.

Vol 3: Kennedy Space Centre

2007-05-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we spent the day at the Kennedy Space Centre (about 45 mins from Orlando). It was an interesting and informative day and we both enjoyed the experience.

The Rocket Garden showcases different types of rockets through the years.

Clark standing next to a model of an astronaut in his space suit.

This is where scientists are assembling parts for the International Space Station.

Clark in front of a rocket.

Sara standing in front of the "sleeping quarters" that the astronauts use when they're in outer space.

Clark looking at someting interesting in a model of the International Space Station.

More models of the International Space Station.

Sara touching a moon rock.

We snapped this photo of ourselves with the NASA launching pads in the background. It was kind of unreal to stand there and think of how many monumental missions have started from that very place.

This is the NASA building where the shuttles are assembled and dis-assembled upon landing. They are thoroughly inspected for any faults so that they may be safe for re-use. The building is so big it is said that it's the largest building by volume in the world.

This is the very control room where all the Apollo missions were launched from including the infamous Apollo 13 rescue mission.

A real space-shuttle on display. It was HUGE!

This is an example of the vehicles that are used to roam the moon.

Some fun pics:)

2007-05-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

We played around at the Kodak centre at Epcot and just thought we would share these pics with you:)

Vol 2: Epcot

2007-05-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Our second day in Orlando was spent at Epcot - one of the four Disney World theme parks in the area. Clark had already been to Epcot on a previous visit to the States and so he thought that would be the best park to go to. Orlando was hot! It reminded us so much of Durban with the humidity and all the greenery.

Basically, Epcot is all about future technology etc. and there are some interesting rides and exhibits. We were quite impressed with ourselves because we took part in a game at the Innoventions exhibit and we won ourselves free "fast passes" which allowed us to skip to the front of the row for all the rides:) Clark LOVES winning stuff! You can see us proudly displaying our "fast passes" in the second pic above:)

The rest of the park show-cases different countries in the world and each country has unique shows, cuisine and an atmosphere reflective of the culture of that particular country. We haven't included pictures of all the countries because some of them we only hit in the evening and the pictures don't do them justice. Here Clark is standing in Germany.

Also in Germany.

A little Italian restaurant.

Sara in front of a Myan (spelling???) pyramid in Mexico.

Look at this handsome amigo!

China. Here we watched a marvellous street show of Chinese acrobatics - really amazing the things that the human body can do!

This is in Morroco outside the Marakesh Restaurant where we decided to eat some lunch.

Inside the restaurant we were treated to real Morrocan music and even a belly-dancer! Sara was excited that she could have a dish of cous-cous with vegies and chick-peas (it's always exciting when there's vegie choices on the menu!).

In the Morrocan market-place.

In the US of A!

Watching a display of old-fashioned patriotism.

These were the liberty singers who treated us to a concert - they sing really well together. The whole experience reminded Sara of one of her favourite movies - "Gone with the Wind"

Japan.

The Vikings.
Sara standing in Japan.

We stayed at Epcot the entire day and only left after 9pm once we had seen the awesome fire-display that rounds off a fun-filled day.

The Epcot lights by night.

Florida Vol. 1: The Holy Land Experience

2007-05-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday night we left on an overnight flight to Florida. We had a great holiday but are happy to be back home:) We spent three days in Orlando, a night and day in Key West and two days in Miami before driving back to Orlando to fly back to LA this morning. We've learnt our lesson though - won't try to fit three cities into a few days again cause we regretted not being able to enjoy more time in Key West and Miami.

Anyway, we landed at around 6am in Orlando and went straight from the airport to have breakfast and then headed to "The Holy Land Experience" - a kind of "theme park" based on the holy land - Israel and the old customs and traditions of Biblical times. Here's Sara standing in the entrance of the market place.

A replica of an old Jewish market-place.

A replica of the temple.

This is one of the Biblical archeologists standing in a large model replica of the Holy Land - very interesting and informative.

A replica of the 10 Commandments in front of the Wilderness Tabernacle which showcases the religious ceremonies of old including the High Priest entering the Most Holy Place. It was a really moving experience...even though we were dead tired and trying to keep our eyes open!

Outside one of the authentic eateries - the food was lovely and simple (things like olive bread dipped in garlic and olive oil and vegetable stew...mmmm!)

The stone's been rolled away...

and this is why we have a blessed hope - inside the replica of Jesus' tomb there are these empty clothes and the proclamation that He's not here...

...He is risen! Praise God that we serve a living Saviour who ever intercedes for us and who has promised to come back so that we may spend eternity with Him who loves us beyond all understanding!

The Holy Land was a really awesome experience and we recommend that if you are ever in Orlando - you make this part of your itinery - you will be blessed for it:)

Gaither Concert

2007-04-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

We were so excited about attending a Gaither concert in San Diego last night! and boy - was it worth it! :) The concert was unbelievable! It's so strange to see all the singers - they all seem so much larger than life. If Gaither is ever in your area - we HIGHLY recommend that you attend one of their concerts!

The Cox Arena in San Diego. We arrived at about 5:30pm (the concert was scheduled for 7pm) and there were already loads of people gathering. It was nice to get there early and shop for DVDs and CDs - we really stocked up! and of course, Clark got some great song-books too:)

It's a massive arena - there's Sara with our smoothies:) We were quite close to the action as you can see!

The Gaither Vocal Band with "Ernie Haase and Signature Sound" - they sing well together and are very entertaining. We will post a video sometime soon so keep watching:)

You Rock Gran!

2007-04-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this pic:) That's Sara's gran with her cousin, Christopher in Australia. Granny - you sure are a hip old gal! Keep it up!

Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

2007-04-08T19:27:00.000-07:00

This morning we packed up and headed for the grove of Sequoia trees in the Yosemite Forest. We had to take a bit of a hike but it was worth it when we saw these big trees! Really impressive.

In front of the first big tree to cross our path.

Just look at that massive trunk! Imagine counting all those rings!

Jesse and Carly climbing on the roots of a giant Sequoia.

The girls taking a break...

...sharing a joke:)

That's us standing "inside" the tree trunk.

Yosemite Vol. 2

2007-04-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is on the porch of our A-frame cabin on Thursday afternoon just after arriving and settling in.

Lovely scenery...

Yosemite Falls.

Having a picnic lunch again on Sabbath.

On the "beach" in front of our picnic site...in the background is El Capitan - a famous granite rock face - the largest in the world!

Two little chip-munks:)

Mirror Lake. We hiked up to the lake on Sabbath.

Some well-known Yosemite landmarks - that's El Capitan on the left and Half-Dome in the centre.

The Easter bunny paid us all a visit this morning:) Janine and Sara got up early and put together some yummy easter egg surprises and hid them all around the cabin!

Yosemite National Park

2007-04-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

We went up to Yosemite National Park this weekend with the Lansdowns and stayed at the SDA camp there - Camp Wowona.

The group at the river on Friday evening.

After our picnic on Thursday.

Doesn't this look like a scene out of "The Sound of Music"?

Beautiful view. That's all of us on Thursday - Nick (Janine's boyfriend), Janine, Carly and the Bothas. Jesse and Uncle Phil had to work and study so only came through on Friday.

At the river near Bridal Veil Falls.

Happy Birthday Janine!

2007-04-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Janine's birthday is on Monday and we are all going to Yosemite next weekend to celebrate:) but she had a birthday party yesterday and we went through to join in the fun!

The girls...and Angie!

A Barbie cake! When last did you see one of those? Carly did such a good job on the cake:)

Look at aunty Viv's beautiful flowers from her garden...she really has a talent with her gardening. Wish some of it would rub off on us - we had another plant die on us this week!

Jesse, Carly, Janine and us.

Joshua Tree National Park

2007-03-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

We were a little sun-burnt (from skiing) and a little sore (also from skiing!) so we gave church a skip today and spent the day at Joshua Tree National Park. It's in the Mojave Desert and has its own rugged sort of beauty.

Enjoying the view.

A Joshua Tree - they are scattered all over the place!

Taking a hike!

Clark had to go climbing trees again!

Skull Rock.

A lovely day spent together in nature.

Big Bear

2007-03-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

We went up to Big Bear on Thursday evening to spend the night and then tried out our skiing skills on Friday...needless to say, Clark was up on his ski's taking the chair lift and coming down the mountain with absolutely NO prior experience even before he had his first lesson! Sara got "kicked out" of the first lesson to have an individual "TLC" lesson with another instructor since it became clear that she needed special attention!

This is our cabin at the lodge that we stayed at in Big Bear.

Here's Clark confident on his skis:) We'll post pics of Sara another time after she gains a little more confidence in her skills!

Skiing in Big Bear

2007-03-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is Clark coming down the slopes...we love the ending the best! Those are strangers that he ends up with!

Back to School

2007-03-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our best news is that Sara has been accepted at Loma Linda University for her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology! She is starting late September but there is much excitement in the house these days as soon she's going to have to give up her "Lady of Leisure" routine:)

Kritzinger Baby Shower!

2007-03-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Sara attended another baby shower today...more of this and she'll be getting very broody! Clark had to work unfortunately. Devo and Leilani are about to have (really soon!) another little girl join their family.

The Kritzinger clan. Little Lia is getting so big:) Soon she's going to be a proud big sister!

Look at how cute Lia is:)! Sara looked a lot like this when she was little.

A Baby Shower for Jeni-Joy!

2007-03-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

Jeni-Joy's sister-in-law threw her a surprise baby shower today and it was so much fun:)

Opening all the presents:)

A delectable Mediterranian feast - Jeni-Joy's favourtie food.

Hitch DIY

2007-03-09T23:06:00.000-08:00

After the tram, we stopped in La Quinta and Jacques helped Clark fit the new hitch (towbar for the South Africans!) for the bicycle rack on the RAV4. Clark preferred to do it DIY-style with a little help from a friend since taking it to a fitment centre would have cost money! Now we can hitch up our bikes and head to Santa Monica and Venice beach (and many other destinations!).

Palm Springs Tram

2007-03-09T22:46:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Palm Springs and took the tram up the San Jacinto Mountain. This is an activity we have been intending to do for some time and we're glad we did. At the top of the mountain there are hikes, panoramic views and a lovely restaurant.

The old tram at the bottom of the moutain.

The top of the mountain is actually a nature reserve so it is really pretty.

Out in the fresh mountain air:) We both enjoyed our little hike. As you can see, there is still some snow and ice in patches.

On top of the world!

Look at the lovely view.

A familiar face from SA

2007-03-05T15:57:00.000-08:00

One of our church friends from SA - Brian Neuman - was around the Loma Linda area this weekend so invited us over for lunch. Brian is an evangelist/speaker and is giving meetings in Canada soon so it was nice that we got to see him on his short stop over in our neck of the woods. Also nice to enjoy his guitar-playing again:)

Dr. Phil

2007-02-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today was our big day out to the Dr. Phil show:) It started off early - up at 4am to make sure we got in line and we were the first there! It didn't do us a lot of good though cause even though we were first, we didn't get the greatest seats but we got to sit where Robin and Dr. Phil walk out so they were close enough to get a good look!

We weren't allowed taking cameras or cell phones in with us (had to leave them at the door) so these pics are the best we could get!

You see - at the very front of the line!

Our show will air in the US sometime this week - the guy said definitely before Monday because it's was a topic about big celebrity news these days...Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears.

Ventura Beach and Pier

2007-02-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

We went out to Camarillo on Friday afternoon to spend some time with the Lansdowns as aunty Yvonne is leaving soon to go back to South Africa and Clark wanted to say goodbye (Sara is still going to see them this Tuesday & Wednesday when she goes out to watch a taping of the Dr. Phil show with the girls!).

We took a long walk yesterday along Ventura beach and the pier...a little chilly but it was nice to be out in the fresh air:)

The girls enjoying the view.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

This photo was taken at Strand beach in Somerset West the week after our honeymoon...just thought it was a cool photo to put on the blog for a romantic day like Valentine's:) We haven't done anything special this Valentine's day because Clark had to work but we will do something soon.

Sara got up early this morning (she had to get up REALLY early to beat Clark to it!) and finally made him breakfast in bed:) So, for a change, wifey spoiled Clarkie!

Clark's Valentine's breakfast feast - looks good huh? and healthy! The yoghurt is fat-free, the waffles are whole wheat and the "bacon" is actually Stripples (a fabulous vegie treat!).