Abby in the Nutcracker

Christmas 2008. Abby on her tippy-toes with her hands high. Prepare for cuteness.



Side note: Men in tights should be illegal. I'm just saying...

Cindy Lou Who

Along with her fellow Beach Stars gymnastics buddies, Abby sang a solo in the Carpinteria Christmas Parade! They put on a quick drama of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Abby was Cindy Lou Who.

She really belted it in front of a ton of people. We weren't sure she'd have the guts to do it, but she came through! Obviously, Angela and I were prouder than bees are of their honey!

Some pix by Tad Wagner.

Christmas Tree 2008

We got our tree on Saturday. It was quite entertaining with the kiddos! They even had a petting zoo and pony rides!

I've put a bunch of pix up on Flickr and Facebook. Check 'em out!

Thanksgiving 2008

Here's a video and photo collage of our Thanksgiving fun with the Lundgaards! Hopefully I'll get to the Disneyland stuff next...

Facebook Info

I decided I needed to update my Facebook info since so many old friends are finding me...

I am Andy. My shoe size is 9.5. I am happily married to Angela in a small SoCal Beach town. I love my daughter Abby (5) and my son Aaron (2) more than words can explain. I can't wake up unless I shower and drink coffee. It's a bit pathetic but God loves me anyway. I lead worship at SBCC which is humbling and challenging yet often very rewarding. I teach third graders every day at Elmo. It's a difficult yet highly rewarding job. Every day goes by quickly and I drive home in my old Saturn feeling like my time was well spent. I'm thankful for soda, especially Coke. I started my own guitar teaching business about seven years ago. I've helped somewhere around 100 kids and adults learn to rock. I love music so I try to help others love it too. It's called "Good Times Guitar" and my friends wear the t-shirts too. My Mom and Dad have loved me for 34 years and I love them back. It's very cool and I hope my kids love me when they're 34. I don't have an iPhone yet. God deserves more of my attention. I have always been friends with my sister and I love her family. My wife got me hooked on coffee, beer and spicy food. I regret not drinking coffee during my college years. I would have learned more. I have the world's best friends. I like deep, authentic conversations. I eat too much grease. My daughter and I have recently taken up boogie boarding together. The ocean is healing to my soul because I feel God's nearness when I'm in it. I want to become a better person than I am today. Let's do lunch.

What did I forget?

Abby Diptych #2

Having fun with these...thanks Greg Lawler!

Abby Diptych

Abby and I went on a nature hike today down by the bluffs. We had a great time as we wandered our way down the trail and onto the beach. I had fun snapping lots of photos and thought these two would make a good diptych. :)

October 31 Fun

Thanks Papa Ron for snapping this one!


Aaron was Bob the Builder. This helmet stayed on all of 2 seconds...


Abby was Olivia the Jockey by day...


...and a Princess by night!


Bob the Builder is NOTHING without his trusty sippy cup!


It was fun to have Papa Ron join the fun last night!


Coolest third grade class in the west!


Peace out!
Willy Wonka

Lawler's Diptych Action

My buddy Greg Lawler over at Zinkwazi.com, is one smart fella. He invented a Photoshop "action" for making a photo Diptych as easy as pie. While I have no idea how he did such a thing, it was fun to use! Here's my first dip into his Diptych action...

Drum Movie

As promised...enjoy!

Little Drummer

So, I added an electronic drum kit to Good Times Studio! I've been wanting to have a set to bang on for a long time but have waited for a good ebay deal to come around. Getting the chance to play whenever I feel inclined is great fun. What I didn't expect was Aaron's absolute obsession with playing 'em! He wants to groove every single chance he gets! I know what's gonna happen...he's gonna be drumming circles around his old man by age 6!

Look at that form!


Yesterday, I had an impromptu lesson with groove master, Dave Granada! He was stoked on the sound of my fakey Roland drums. ;)


Pork Pie drum throne in honor of Matt Steele...


Coming soon...a video of Aaron on the kit!

Aaron is Two!

My little buddy Aaron turned two this weekend. He had a "Bob the Builder Gymnastics" party. (Obviously Bob still needs to get his heart rate up too, right?!) It was fun to see Aaron smile and have so much fun. Here's a few pictures from his party...you can see a bunch more on my FACEBOOK.

Cute Aaron with disturbing expression on Dad in background...


Blowing out the candles...


Lil' Birthday Monkey...

Tully's Birthday

Tully had a pirate party at Padaro to celebrate his fourth birthday.



I put a ton of cute kid pix from the party HERE on Facebook.

BBQ Fun

Elmo had a 50th anniversary last Friday night. It was crazy fun...Dixieland band, cotton candy, popcorn, games, singing, inspiring speeches. It was like a potluck of good times!

Thanks to Karen & Matt Yonally for sending us a couple good pix from the evening.






Here's a great pic from Peter Trabucco...

My Buddy Matt Steele

Matt left us two years ago. I remember so many good times together. One day we will hang out again...

Funny Politics

Photo by Greg Lawler.



You won't find a lot of political wisdom on this blog...however, if you want to laugh, go see a HILARIOUS political video from Senator Mundell right HERE.

Don't forget to vote "thumbs up" for him so he wins a free trip to New York!

Here's the video...

My Kids

Here's a couple snapshots from this week...

Surf's Up

Abby and I have been on a major Boogie Boarding trend lately. We drug the whole family to the fun on Saturday.



Gramma was there too and we got to celebrate her birthday! More pix HERE.

Apple Farm Field Trip

Our school took its annual field trip to the Apple Farm in Solvang today. Basically the whole school spends the entire day picking apples and playing at the park. What's not to love?!

The trip allowed me to actually get some time to mess around with our new camera...I had a blast shooting pix of the students. I posted about 50 on my Facebook. You can see them all HERE.

Here's a few of my best shots...I like our camera. :)

Serious Kiddos

Sometimes they're very serious. I love 'em then too. They're pretty cute when they're thinking...

Silly Kiddos

I have silly kids. I love 'em.

Day 2...

I'm stoked to get to take Abby to school some mornings! Who wouldn't want this view from their desk before school starts?!


Elie and Abby ended up at Old Navy at the same time last week so they bought matching shirts! Pretty cute, eh?

Having good buddies that are older makes school even more relaxing!


I let Aaron take the wheel tonight. He really liked it...


Angela almost walked right into this guy tonight but her spidey senses saved her!

Abby's in Kindergarten!

I'm amazed by how she's grown so quickly...


I'm amazed by how confidently she swung into things today...


Angela has a bunch more about Abby's first day HERE.

New Cam, New School Year...

Our 5 year old Canon point-and-shoot started acting really funky this weekend. So, we decided we needed to get something reliable before school starts. This was my first shot with our new Nikon D40. I'm excited about the potential for better pictures!


Abby starts Kindergarten at my school tomorrow! I can't believe it!


We still had time for some waves today...


Aaron's happy about all the new fun too!


More new pix on my FLICKR page. I'll keep stashing pix there...

Stoked

Abby and I scored some wetsuits at the Channel Islands sale this week. We're mainly stoked to not be cold after a long boogie boarding sesh...



We ARE having a lot of fun in the water too! She's getting pretty brave with the waves...even starting catching lil baby ones by herself yesterday.