Rachel and Austin http://rachelandaustin.com Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:45:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Red Tide and Bates Nut Farm http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-10-10/red-tide-and-bates-nut-farm-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=red-tide-and-bates-nut-farm-2 http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-10-10/red-tide-and-bates-nut-farm-2/#comments Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:45:31 +0000 aellis1 http://rachelandaustin.com/?p=680 It’s been a busy month and it’s not even half way through. A few weeks ago we heard the red tide had come to San Diego. For those of you who don’t know, the red tide is a natural phenomenon that occurs every 6 or 7 years in San Diego. Algae turns the water red during the day, but at night it glows blue. Last weekend we decided to go on a treasure hunt/wild goose chase. We were unsuccessful. We did bottle some of the water up and try it at home. If you put it a bottle, and shake the bottle in a dark room, you can see the same thing at home. Worked like a charm. We tried to get some pictures but it didn’t work out.

This weekend we went with our nieces to Bates Nut Farm to get the biggest pumpkin Rachel could carry. Once again, we left with a nice small pumpkin.

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For those looking closely, that is a look of true terror on Rachel’s face as Colin passes her the pumpkin

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-10-10/red-tide-and-bates-nut-farm-2/feed/ 0 We now have a Chief in the Family! http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-20/we-now-have-a-chief-in-the-family/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=we-now-have-a-chief-in-the-family http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-20/we-now-have-a-chief-in-the-family/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:50:53 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/?p=655 We want to congratulate Colin Anderson for becoming a Chief Petty Officer! For those of you that are on the Ellis side, Colin is my sister’s husband. Many of you already know but Colin has been undergoing many, many weeks of grueling training to become a Chief. It is a huge honor to be selected to become Chief and Colin did it is SEVEN years! For those of you who are not familiar with how prestigious this honor is (I am one of those people) I have been told that making Chief is akin to becoming a partner at a law firm. It is a BIG deal! Out of something like 5000 applicants Colin was one on the 27 that were chosen. Congratulations again Colin! We are extremely proud to call you our brother!

Colin recieves his anchors! from Austin Ellis on Vimeo.

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-20/we-now-have-a-chief-in-the-family/feed/ 0 Black out! http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-08/black-out/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=black-out http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-08/black-out/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:09:09 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-08/black-out/ Many of you already know but there is a major black out in San Diego. We have been told it may last until tomorrow afternoon.  Boo … until then we are eating cold food and playing card games by candle light.  We are both in good spirits since this may mean we don’t have to go into work tomorrow.  Traffic is a serious issue. It took close to two hours to get home. That is all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Enjoying a candlelight dinner

UPDATE (Austin): Power was restored around 10:45. Much quicker than we had hoped, we were both looking forward to not going in to work today. For more details, you can read this article on KPBS. We had a nice night visiting with our neighbors, actually seeing the stars, and watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-08/black-out/feed/ 1 A Weekend Together http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-05/a-weekend-together/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-weekend-together http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-05/a-weekend-together/#comments Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:00:58 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/?p=616 We started our weekend with a little get away to France… by France I mean The Bleu Boheme which is this charming French restaurant down the street. Think rustic wood beams, stone walls and candle light. It was Austin’s idea to take me out so I could wear the new dress he bought for me. I have been DYING to wear it! For about a week and a half, I was putting it on everyday after I came home from work just so I could twirl around in it a few times. Yes, I am aware this makes me a bit pathetic… but I digress. The food was delicious except for the shrimp I found staring back at me. Someone please explain to me why the more you pay for food the more difficult it is to eat. Here I am in my new dress prying various types of sea food from their shells. I think the waiter thought I was ridiculous when I started tearing apart my shrimp, which to my dismay still had feelers and eyeballs. It is difficult to act like a lady when you are reduced to tearing, prying, and dismembering your food before you can eat it! Other than that the atmosphere was romantic, the food was delicious, Austin was charming and the dress was beautiful so all in all it was a great night.

Today we continued the fun with an early morning hike/exploration of the Cabrillo National Park. We scampered around the tide pools for a bit then headed up to the light house. Many of the wildflowers are in bloom so the air was full of a sweet floral scent. After our excursion, we had a relaxing lunch on the bay at the restaurant we went to on our first date, The Fish Market. It has been a wonderful weekend together and it isn’t even over! Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!

Labor Day Weekend from Austin Ellis on Vimeo.

Cabrillo National Monument DSC00462 IMG_4315 DSC00466 DSC00437 DSC00446 DSC00461 Cabrillo Lighthouse At the Top of the Market DSC00413 Rachel's shrimp Dinner at Bleu Boheme DSC00426 ]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-09-05/a-weekend-together/feed/ 0 A Full House! http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-08-13/a-full-house/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-full-house http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-08-13/a-full-house/#comments Sat, 13 Aug 2011 20:48:15 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/?p=591 A couple weekends ago, Austin and I played host to our two nieces, Emily (age 4) and Katie (age 1); my younger sister, Martha; and my eldest sister’s dog, Bella. To say the least it was a FULL HOUSE!  Quite a change from the quiet weekends with just Austin and I. My eldest sister, Liz, took a mini vacation with her husband, Colin, for the  weekend so Martha, Austin and I were put in charge of watching the little one’s and their dog.  Adults outnumbered children so we thought it wouldn’t be too tiring… well we were wrong.  By the time the weekend was over we were all ready for another!

Here are some of the highlights from the weekend with the girls. Listening to Emily pray for our meals. She made sure to pray for everyone including Bella and all the animals at the zoo. Watching Katie jump up and down on Martha’s back as she was taking a nap. I have to admit that Austin and I let this go on for a while because it was hilarious! Everyone piling into our bed to watch Planet Earth and to eat popcorn. Snuggling with the girls, which happened randomly through out our days. Seeing Austin’s face when he had to take out the trash with a poopy diaper. And there were so many more!

Katie waking up Martha from Austin Ellis on Vimeo.

We had a great time!  We also decided that we are glad we don’t have to do it full time yet…  Thank you Liz and Colin for letting us have your little rays of sunshine for the weekend!

Austin and Emily monkeying around at the San Diego Zoo. Snuggling on the couch. Katie is a bull and she will charge! She kept us on our toes. IMG_4291 Katie is such a ham when the camera comes out. She is also wearing the 4th of July dress I made her. Emily in the 4th of July dress I made her. The girls love their dog, Bella.

 

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-08-13/a-full-house/feed/ 0 New Website Design http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-30/new-website-design/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-website-design http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-30/new-website-design/#comments Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:05:00 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/blog/?p=585 So I have an incredibly talented husband who always seems to surprise me with the amount of projects he can take on at one time.  Furthermore, he always finishes them!  Lately, our website has become another of his pet projects and now it is done!  Austin designed and built our new website design.  I love it and I hope you will too.  Maybe it will make us better blog owners… we will see.

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-30/new-website-design/feed/ 0 On the Hunt for Butterflies http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-18/shhh-be-very-quiet-we-are-hunting-butterflies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=shhh-be-very-quiet-we-are-hunting-butterflies http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-18/shhh-be-very-quiet-we-are-hunting-butterflies/#comments Tue, 19 Jul 2011 05:10:03 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/blog/?p=556 Emily on the hunt for her first butterfly. We caught a few Morning Cloak butterlies. IMG_6546 IMG_6516 ]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-18/shhh-be-very-quiet-we-are-hunting-butterflies/feed/ 0 The 4th of July!! http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-09/the-4th-of-july/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-4th-of-july http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-09/the-4th-of-july/#comments Sun, 10 Jul 2011 05:19:13 +0000 rachel http://rachelandaustin.com/blog/?p=547 For the 4th of July Austin and I spent the weekend at my parents.  It was a jam packed! On Saturday all the girls went butterfly hunting, including Liz and myself (never too old to hunt butterflies).  Surprisingly we caught 14 butterflies! We may have caught the same one twice on a few occasions… apparently butterflies don’t learn very quickly…  Even Emily caught one; she was beyond ecstatic.  After taking a few photos with the butterflies we let them go so next year we can do it all over again!  I don’t have those photos yet but I will be sure to put them up soon.

The rest of the weekend consisted mostly of swimming, eating, and hanging out.  On Sunday I spent a good portion of the day finishing up the two 4th of July dresses I made for Katie and Emily.  The girls looked so adorable, which isn’t that hard for them.  They enjoyed dancing around in their new dressing while singing songs they made up about how much they love America.  It was beyond cute!

The 4th was full of FIREWORKS!!  One of my favorite things about my hometown is that it is one of the few that still allow fireworks and we made sure to take full advantage! In fact we were up until 11:30 setting them all off.  We did a synchronized dance with sparklers (yes we are that ridiculous), kicked around smoke balls, and jumped over these little fire crackle snakes.  My little sister Martha almost set herself on fire… apparently screaming and waving your arms doesn’t  mean immediate danger to her…but other than that there was no mishaps. The weekend was a blast, quite literally! Our synchronized dance! DSC00353 Martha getting a little too close to the fireworks... Austin and I dancing with the sparklers

]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-07-09/the-4th-of-july/feed/ 1 Happy Birthday and Happy Father’s Day! http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-06-21/happy-birthday-and-happy-fathers-day/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=happy-birthday-and-happy-fathers-day http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-06-21/happy-birthday-and-happy-fathers-day/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:12:14 +0000 aellis1 http://rachelandaustin.com/blog/?p=525 We’ve had so much going on lately to blog about, but the irony is that the more blog worthy events in your life, the less time you have to blog about them! We spent a wonderful weekend at Rachel’s parents’ house celebrating my birthday and Father’s day. Rachel’s parents bought me a hatchet (we’ve got a fireplace in our new apartment but the bundles of wood don’t come with kindling). I got money from my parents and grandparents (for my big summer computer project, the details are a bit geeky so I’ll spare you).

Of course I can’t forget the camera which allowed me to take all these wonderful photos. Rachel bought me a Sony point and shoot camera since we’ve been talking about getting a one for a while. We have a wonderful SLR camera but it’s a bit unwieldy and I wanted something that would fit in my pocket. Also, we were getting tired of handing it to people who couldn’t figure out how to use it and we have lots of blurry photos of the two of us.

The cake She even put candles on the cake Blowing out the candles Rachel's wonderful wrapping Nothing says Father's day like a floral cake, right? More cake. My hatchet! ]]> http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-06-21/happy-birthday-and-happy-fathers-day/feed/ 0 Easter and the End of the Semester http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-05-16/easter-and-the-end-of-the-semester/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=easter-and-the-end-of-the-semester http://rachelandaustin.com/2011-05-16/easter-and-the-end-of-the-semester/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 03:57:03 +0000 aellis1 http://rachelandaustin.com/blog/?p=514 School is out! I finished my MBA career with a bang. I had two weekends of almost non-stop homework (with a day devoted to Emily and the Wild Animal Park) and a full week of homework. A fourteen page term paper, 9 page final exam, and a day spent on a business simulation and then it was finished.

But, before all that we had Easter! My parents came down Thursday night and hung out with Rachel on Friday while I worked since she had Good Friday off. On Saturday we drove up to Huntington and stayed the night with my parents before the rest of Rachel’s family came and joined us on Sunday for Easter. Somehow we managed to not take many photos but here are two of the girls looking for Easter Eggs.

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