Belated Thanksgiving/Early Christmas

This past weekend we headed to Brentwood to celebrate the holidays with my extended family. It seems like it's gotten harder for everyone to get together on the actual holidays, now that some of us are married and have in-laws, kids, etc. So instead we get together on a weekend in December, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were lucky to have everyone in attendance this year- the group is growing!

Here is the newest addition to the family- my cousin's baby, Mateo. He was born last November.

The family with Grandma

Cameron with his buddies, Abby and Paige. These are my other cousin's kids. I swear they think that Cameron is actually their cousin instead of me. Cameron is the fun guy that always plays with them, so they were super excited to see him again. Here they are working intently on a puzzle.

Soon they got bored working on the puzzle and decided to play a game of horse. Can you see the sweat on Cameron's face? Ha! How many more can pile on?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cameron, me and my parents headed over to the Hylands for Thanksgiving this year. We are lucky that our families get along so well and that they both live close by! Nance and Matt enjoy some appetizers before the big feast.

The Hyland family photo: Cameron, Alta, Greg, Cat, Erica, Frankie, Beanie, and Matt. It only took like 16 tries to get everyone looking at the camera (we gave up on the dogs). I'm guessing this might be the Hylands 2008 Christmas card!

Frankie was so exhausted after his Thanksgiving meal and running around with Beanie, he snuck in a quick cat nap before heading home.

It's Eve!

Introducing the newest Copeland! Now, before anyone gets any ideas, Eve is Jen and Ryan's new baby girl. She was born on November 23rd and is adorable! I had suspected that she might arrive when Cam and I were in Kauai, and I was right- 1 1/2 weeks early! We couldn't wait to meet her when we got back.


Mommy, Cat and Eve at 3 days old.

Uncle Cam and Eve. Isn't Cam a natural?

Congrats, Jen and Ryan!

Cameron and I headed to Kauai recently for a much needed vacation. What a beautiful place! We had the best time relaxing, hiking, kayacking, rafting, and snorkeling. The first minor bummer was that it rained A LOT. I had always heard Kauai was rainy, and it certainly lived up to its reputation. This didn't stop us from having fun though, and somehow for the most part we seemed to avoid the rain. The bigger bummer was the camera... or lack of. As luck would have it, our camera (which maybe was 6 months old) broke on our second day of the trip. Always the positive guy, Cameron said not to worry, he would take pictures with his cell phone (since it actually takes pretty good pictures). That was working just fine... until Cameron went snorkeling with his cell phone in his pocket. Doh! Needless to say, the pictures you see below don't do justice to how pretty Kauai is or how much fun we had.


Here we are at Shipwreck Beach where we saw the best sunsets.

Waimea Canyon, which looks like a smaller Grand Canyon.

Hiking in the North Shore on this really cool trail with stunning views down along the Napali Coast.

Snorkeling

This was one of my favorite activities we did- rafting along the Napali Coast. Here we are on a beach we stopped at for a bit on the way back. We had the whole beach to ourselves (except for the sea turtles and monk seal which you can see if you look closely).

I love vacation! Cam, where are we going next?!

Sunny Days

This past weekend was amazing! It's the middle of November and 80 degrees- thank goodness for living in California, right? Frankie was so excited about the weather that he insisted we hit up Ocean Beach for some fun in the sun. Here he is buckled in and ready to go!

Once at the beach, Frankie couldn't decide if he'd rather work on his tan or go skim boarding with Cameron.

After people watching for a bit, Frankie grew distracted by the sand crabs running around. Here he is digging in mad pursuit of one that got away:

Sunday night the girls headed over to Jen's house for the annual holiday potluck. This is always a fun time and as we've gotten older, the food has only gotten better! What's happened to us that we now compare stuffing recipes? Geez, welcome to your 30s huh? The hosts (Nicole, Syd, me and Jen) prepare the main courses.

Take note of this picture here because it is the first and last pregnant picture I have of Jen! Apparently the feast was so good that Eve decided to come a bit early less that one week later.

The rest of the crew showed up later and decked out in their finest Thanksgiving headresses. Bon Appetit!

Happy Halloween 2008

Having Halloween on a Friday used to be something we could only pray for. With not having to go to class or now work after celebrating was like the most awesome thing ever. Nowadays we just try to muster up the motivation to go out even though Frankie just wanted us to stay home with him. Frankie-doodle made his best effort by putting on his cutest monkey hat costume and posing with mini-pumpkins. But the house parties of San Francisco just needed to be attended.



4 Hylands in full effect on All Hallows Eve. A Jacked and Tan My New Haircut Douche, Amanda Beard, the party Jersey Douche, and a Jersey Douchette tried their best to win the costume contest.

Cat and Shirley filled their blue solo cups to the rim with juice and booze. This brings the question to mind of who would win a 400 medley race between gold medalist Amanda Beard and Wonder Woman? Hummmm.........

Tommy and Cam took so much Muscle Milk that they couldn't even stand it.

Our friend Pablo won best costume of the night, in our book, for his Pablo Escobar impersonation. I mean, just look at the incredible stache!

Though Erica's vote went to the Sarah Palin look-alike who was so popular that this is as close as she could get to take a picture with the former Wasilla, Alaska Mayor.

Cal/UCLA Game: 90 degrees in October!

Many of our friends went to either Cal or UCLA or have a friend/family member who went to one of the two fine universities. This lineage led to us being part of a group that enjoyed Cal football's destruction of UCLA in late October at Memorial Stadium. Thankfully we remembered to wear sunscreen with the temperature getting into the 90's.

Enjoy this picture of our street stompin' crew of hardcore Cal or UCLA fans getting ready to cheer on one of the teams.

Cocktails + insane heat in the Fall + a complete blowout = a struggle to make it through the game. Brian and Cam were happy to say that they watched college football until the clock ran dry.

Cat and Nicole enjoyed their canned light beverages outside of the stadium. Take it from us: Beer is the best way to battle the heat.

Moonshine & Whiskey: Welcome to Tennessee!

Cat and Cam headed out to Nashville, Tennessee for the Copeland Family Reunion 2008! We had a great time hanging out with 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, drinking whiskey, eating fried chicken and biscuits, and generally reliving Cat's distant Southern roots (seriously- she came home with a slight drawl). On day 2, the out of town crew drove to Lynchburg where Jack Daniels was born. The picture above is of Cat out front the JD Visitors Center. Would you believe that Lynchburg is a dry town? Isn't that weird?


Here's Cat's dad, Cat and Cam on the rocking chairs just taking it easy Southern-style. Rocking chairs were invented by southern farmers who would be done with work at 1:00pm and spend the rest of the day playing checkers and drinking whiskey. Sounds like the life for us!


The Jack Daniels Tour was great. Here's Cat and Cam with a life size statue of Mr. Jack himself. You might notice that Jack was pretty short, like 5'1" short. Thankfully he took his shortman's disease out on making delicious whiskey.

Cat's cousin Kelly, her husband Ken with their son Finn made the trip as well. Finn was sporting the Phillies hat just before the world series- what an intuitive little guy! The Deitch-Copelands live in Philly so it was great to see them and meet the newest Copeland. Yes, you read that correctly- he is a Copeland! Just when we thought Cat had killed the family name. Can you believe that Finn was only 5 months old in this picture? What a little man!

This picture was taken outside of Mary Bobo's Boarding House in Downtown Lynchburg. The family style meal of fried chicken, fried okra, cobbler, slow cooked apples with Jack Daniels, mashed potatoes, green beans and about 30 other things filled our crew up. Cat is sitting in between her mom Nancy and her cousin Kelly. Cam is in between father-in-law Jim and Jim's brother Dick.

All in all it was a great weekend and Cameron definitely enjoyed the relaxed Southern lifestyle. Anybody want to move to Tennessee with us?

Blue Angels 2008

Because we have a pretty amazing view, we have made it a tradition (3 years in a row!) to have a few friends over to watch the Blue Angels fly over the bay. Cam loves this picture above. The head belongs to Hyland friend Todd Tullis who is intently watching a few of the Angels fly above the city. Note the sailboats in the bay and the beautiful weather!

The "public" deck at our complex was full of people who live on the 1st floor. They all got letters because some idiot was using a mini-BBQ and was tattled on. It's totally against HOA regulations to Q on the deck, for some strange reason.

Christina, Lisa, Frankie, Nicole and Brian stayed long after the planes flew. Our party was just so fun that nobody wanted to leave, which made us feel kinda important.

The party got pretty crazy as the day wore on. Frankie and Cam got in a HUGE fight over the orange ball. Cam keeps arguing with Frank that it is his ball because he found it on the street but Frank-Dogg always tries to steal it. Needless to say, Frank won this battle.


Cat ended the day with Frankie and Cousin Beanie on her lap. The doggs had a great time with all of the people over and really enjoyed watching the planes in the sky.

Doin' Stuff

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party for our friends Sydnee and Meagan. We played Flip cup and totally dominated.

Here's Cam nailing yet ANOTHER flip after after drinking Tecate.

This party was funny. It started off as a more serious event. You know, 9 different types of cheeses, 5 different types of crackers and bread to put the cheeses on. We also ate figs! No bagel bites here (what Cam usually serves his guests, BTW). All of a sudden, we spot the ubiquitous red cups. That case of Tecate didn't stand a chance!

Cam played in the Bay Regional golf tournament over the summer. He didn't play that well but here is a picture of his 1st shot on the 2nd day of the tournament. Cam played much better (top 25) in the Santa Cruz City the following weekend. It is tough for him to beat all of the college golfers on summer break and the former touring pros who gave up their cards, but he gives it his best shot. Northern California amateur golf is probably the most competitive in the nation. This is why Cam wants to move to Montana and win the state championship.

10/4, Over & Out to San Diego: The Tullis Wedding

Cat and Cam jetted down to SD for the wedding of Todd and Juli which took place on the beautiful cliffs of Balboa Park. T&J found an awesome condo complex to rent for the weekend and were able to host most of their guests on the grounds of their wedding. Having a ceremony and a reception on the cliffs of San Diego is definitely a good idea. Give it a thought if you are planning a wedding in the future.



Cam was honored to stand as one of Todd's groomsmaids. Why he was separated so far from the rest of the guys he does not know. Cam's kind of a loner.


Here's a neat shot of Todd and Juli taking pictures on the cliffs after their ceremony. What a sweet spot for a photo, huh?


This is a pretty cool picture of the photogenic action taking place.



Cam enjoyed his tux with green tie. Cat just laughed at him all day long.


It was tough to keep the party people down this weekend. Here's the late-night shot of the stragglers trying to close out the bar and dance til the DJ ran out of songs.

Our Anniversary, Day 2

On day two of our Anniversary weekend (with Cam's family) we decided to have fun on the boat. Since Cat doesn't enjoy the cold temperature of Donner Lake, she is happy to be all time flag girl.

Cam's Dad Greg was first to jump in and waterski. Here's The Greger looking good with his ultra tight wetsuit on.

Erica tore it up on the wakeboard this day. She is definitely known as a "chick who rips" and all the dudes on the lake do a double take when they see her pass by.

Cam also slid into the wakeboard to show off his skillz. Cat took this sideways video of her man warming up to the water for the 2nd time in two years. The last two seasons haven't involved too many trips to the lake but hopefully next summer we'll be able to take a month or so off to perfect our style and relax in the mountain raddness.