DSHN candids

11-13-07: These are just some shots and video clips from the Desert Sierra Health Network that I belong to. Not really connected to my family life, but it was the easiest place to post these, so enjoy!


Our fearless leaders led us in an invigorating exercising routine.
PA expert Cinthia shows us how it's done, in a suit, no less!
Choose the correct answer to complete this sentence:

Rodney Taylor is ...
A. ...sleeping because he watches Leno
B. ...admiring the fresco painting on the ceiling
C. ...doing neck stretches
D. ...is lulled to sleep by Eddie's voice
Check out these 2 video clips of these DSHN members, Erin and Pam. They show us how to groove to the music!!! Pam would've looked really good in her baby blue boxing outfit while busting this move.

Claire turns 5!

Nov. 10, 2007: Claire Elias has been celebrating her b-day for the last week, but she wanted to celebrate it one more time with her "girl friends", so we gathered at the Elias home to help her celebrate. Here are the girls pointing to the b-day celebrant!

Thomas "Rasheed" can't wait to dig into the food!Holly "Do I look like Martha" Elias displays her baklava, the first time she's ever made it! It was so flaky and yummy...it was hard to believe that this was a fat-free, sugar-free, calorie-free baklava.
If you want, you can check out more pictures on Claire's b-day at Summer's blog, http://summyspics.blogspot.com/, as soon as we update it!

Alicia & Jon get hitched!

Nov. 3, 2007: It was a big day for Alicia and Jon! We know Alicia because she is Summer's Jazz teacher and she also works at the XRtainment Zone.
Some of the teachers from the School of International Ballet. The lady at the far right end is Candace Carbajal, Summer's tap teacher.
Here are some candids from the wedding....
Kim made the cake , which featured a cool "sheet" effect with the icing. (I can't remember the technical name for this effect!). Here , Kim and Keri pose with her creation.Many were impressed by the cake. Kim is explaining how she made the icing. The guy in the suit was particularly interested--he's a cousin of Alicia's and is currently attending culinary school and specializes in baked goods.

The happy newlyweds are off on their honeymoon, and we hope to see them after Thanksgiving. Congrats to Alicia and Jon!

Swim meet in Temecula

Nov. 4, 2007: Had another swim meet, hosted by Team Inland Valley Gold Aquatics. At this meet, Summer qualified for another event for the upcoming Dec. AA meet. The Redlands Swim Team (RST) dominated at this meet, taking the top spots in almost all the events! Summer did well at this meet, getting three 1sts, a 2nd, and a 3rd place in her events.

RST had so many swimmers that we fielded 3 10&under girls freestyle relay teams! You can see Summer in the front row. The teams were all pretty even in strength, and took the top 4 spots. (Summer's team took 1st out of 7 teams).

The girls love to hang out away from the pool as well. A fave post-meet place to re-fuel is Souplantation. All the girls crammed into this booth here, while the moms sat another booth and I sat with the only 2 other guys (brothers of one of the girl swimmers).

So ends another successful meet. On to the next meet in a couple of weeks!

Escaping the fires & smoke

Oct. 27, 2007: With the fires raging and smoke filling Loma Linda, we decided to head to the ocean to get some fresh air. What better way to relax at the beach, sitting in our natural "porta-potty" reading a good book? (I'm reading "The Caleb Quest", an excellent book!)

The all-girl gang had a great time hanging out at the beach, doing their thing.

Some of us were seeing if we could make the Cirque. Check us out and see if you agree!

Is Carly helping Daddy Dee stay on the pole?

Ok, Holly is still trying to figure it out...
That's more like it, Holly!

The Makowski family shows that they're up for the parts, too!

Go Gaby!!!

Even us Medinas might be able to join, too!
Does Summer's pony tail help balance her out?


For sundown worship, the girls stump us with their skit. Turns out that it was a "fictional" Bible story that could have very well happened!

Summer and Carly are happy because they just finished eating at Spaghetti Factory!

And so ends an afternoon at the beach, a small respite from the smoke-filled Inland Empire.

Nov. 4, '07 Swim Meet hosted by IVGA

Just got back from another swim meet, hosted by Inland Valley Gold Aquatics down in Temecula. RST was the largest team there, and they took most of the top spots in all the events and age categories!

Here's just a short clip of 2 of the races. The first is Summer's 100 yd IM. She is the one in the middle, next to her teammate and friend with the pink goggles, Melissa. There were 2 other RST teammates on Summer's right.

It was a very close race, but Summer's lessons on her freestyle are paying off, as she powered ahead in the freestyle leg (not her strongest stroke!)

The 2nd clip is the 200 Free relay and RST fielded 3 girls' teams! Coach Audy made the teams evenly balanced, so the race was very close. Summer is swimming the final leg on her relay team. Check it out!

Overall, RST did an awesome job, taking most of the top spots in all the events. Go RST!!!