From then until now in a Flash!

Well apparently outing yourself as a lazy blogger doesn't work as a motivational technique to get you to update your blog. We shoot hundreds of photos with every intention of posting them but then they stay unsorted in "My Pictures" until some unfortunate hard drive crash erases them for all eternity

So for this entry, imagine you are in some cheesy SciFi time-machine movie where you see various flashes of time going by until you reach the present, or future or whatever. The following is the last 9 months from Dec 07-Aug 08 in a flash. There are lots of things left out and much longer entries that could be made about each series of pictures but this is to get you started. I will be retroactively blogging about past adventures in the near future.

Christmas 07

We start with Christmas of 07. It was the first Christmas that we had not traveled to be with Family.

As hard as that was, it gave us the opportunity to participate in the illuminary in our neighborhood, and our house was in a tour of homes.

It was so much fun, and the weather is so mild we were able to set up a table with gingerbread and cider in or English garden. Sid only bit one person, and it only left a red mark on her face...

Its times like these that make us really appreciate our old house.

Not Much Climbing this Year...

It has been a bit crazy this year so there hasn't been much climbing going on.

Anne did send me to Ouray again this year where I met up with Matt and an old friend Kelly who lives in Ouray with his wife and two kids. That trip is a post all on its own.

Diving, my new obsession

Instead of climbing, diving has been my obsession. I was able to get my advanced open water certification and gained a couple new dive partners.

While diving at Manatee Springs State Park, I found my first artifact (which I left in the spring for others to enjoy). It was a pottery shard. You could actually see the markings were made on the outside. I actually found about five nice pieces that day.

Nieces and Nephews

We have been blessed with a niece and a nephew. One we have seen and the other we will see in person this week for the first time.

They are both amazing and beautiful.

One even has his own blog...www.brandnewshaw.blogspot.com where you can watch him play the guitar with his dad.

Amani Massage Therapy

As you may know Anne opened her own massage studio, Amani Massage Therapy in Dec. 07.

She is so modest. When people ask her what she does she says that she is a massage therapist. Then they always follow with, where do you work? She responds with something like, "I rent this little room ..." Her place is awesome! So don't let here convince you that its a shack back in the woods.

She has done some great advertising in local magazines, newspapers and has been feature on the local business spot light on FOX and in a recent article in our newspaper. Business is booming!

Darton College Center for Adventure based Leadership

I'm still at Darton College teaching students about the outdoors and using adventure based activities to teach them about themselves, others.



Recently my program became a Department of its own. We are now the Center for Adventure Based Leadership. As the program has evolved in the past year, my overall job satisfaction has increased.

The Kitchen Remodel

In addition to work, we took on a huge project this year, remodeling the kitchen. Thanks to the help of my dad we were able to get all of the cabinets in in about a week. The rest of the kitchen took me about three months of blood, sweat, and tears. I am sure to update with a "Remodeling" entry in the near future.

Snorkeling with the Manatees

Although the kitchen monopolized every free moment I had, I still managed to get away for some adventures.Early spring I took a group of students snorkeling with the manatees in Crystal river Florida.





Those who were SCUBA Cert. were able to dive the rainbow river and then at King's Spring Cavern.




If you have never seen a manatee in the wild, it is quite a site. Every year the manatees come in from the salt water and congregate in the constant 70 degree waters of the springs.

Reef Tank Hobby

The fish tank hobby is still in full swing. Nano-reefing requires quite a bit of time and thought. I built this tank set-up about a year ago and continue to tweek it. The corals have grown to the point that I need to prune them and start trading.


I continue to sell algae online to supplement the reefing hobby. That's right, people pay money for me to ship them different types of algae I grow. They use it in their tanks to feed certain types of fish and to use in their filtration systems. It's not a lot of money, but its money for something I am going to throw out anyway.

Visits to and From

In between work, the kitchen, and hobbies, we had some great visits and some great visitors throughout the year.

More Diving Adventures!

I did my first deep water cavern dive this year at Blue Grotto.



One of my dive buddies David (who happens to be a dive master) took me.



As we entered the mouth of the cavern, I must admit I got a little wigged out. We descended into the darkness to 100'. This is the deepest I have been in a cavern to date.


As we ascend , the blue glowing light from the mouth of the cavern is like nothing I have ever seen. There is an erie calm too it. Dives like these make all of the preparation and training well worth it.

The Garden

This spring has been a great year for the garden. We tried our hand at some vegetables in a different more sheltered location with some success.





Last summer all of our produce dried up and died despite the sprinklers.



It is difficult to keep a garden as elaborate as ours while under water restrictions.


I have turned to using mostly low pressure sprinklers and timers and the results have been good as you can see.


One of the nicest things about our garden is that something seems to be in bloom all the time. Even in the winter the Paper Whites will bloom in January!


The front garden has very much the feel of an English cutting garden complete with Crape Myrtles, Roses, and Dwarf English Boxwoods with their colonial fragrance. The Back yard is a whole different story, it is more lush and tropical with palm trees ferns, and orchids.

Fishing on the Boat

Anne says I have too many hobbies, But this is a hobby I can share with some of my guy friends. We enjoy a good afternoon on the river or local lake. This is the first season where I finally started catching fish in our lakes! Last summer was quite disappointing.

The Poppy Seed

Recently, Anne and I went to a local Chinese Restaurant we like, to celebrate. Amazingly Anne's fortune cookie could not have been more dead on! It says "A pleasant surprise is in store for you tonight." NO kidding!



Anne had called me at work that afternoon to tell me she was pregnant! Here is our Poppy Seed at 8 weeks! Anne looked up a website that explains the babies development and size by using various vegetables as descriptions. When we first found out, it was the size of a poppy seed. The nickname just stuck.

Don't worry, we aren't really going to name our baby poppyseed....or are we?

Love to all who have been patiently waiting for our updates.