Sara's Birthday

I forgot how much I love The Spaghetti Factory...good call, Sar! :)

Santa Catalina, the Island of Romance

For Margaret's "significant birthday" (I will not mention the age), the kids decided to chip in and surprise her and Dad with a trip to Catalina for their 6th wedding anniversary. Being the crazy Stillwell-Jackson-Murillos that we are, we had to do some sort of creative presentation of the gift. If it seems a little strange, there's a history to this song...don't ask. I thought you all would appreciate such musical and lyrical expertise...

Those Were the Good Ol' Days

Rachel, Mel and me together!!! When was the last time that happened? It was SO nice to spend time with Rach...she came down to celebrate her sister Becca's 30th birthday. So Mel got to join us for breakfast one day at Las Brisas and it was just like old times. We even sang the Star Spangled Banner together in 3-part harmony like we used to for our high school basketball games. It's hard to believe how old we are and how much time has gone by!
The former choir-singing, basketball-playing, mountain-climbing trio reunites at last. I really miss Rachel...it was so good to be together again. Even though we don't talk that often, it always feels like no time has passed.

Paul and I took Rachel and Becca Surfing and we put Rachel on the big banana. She did great...I think she got up 3 times! Although she has about as much upper body strength as I do, so the two of us only last for about 30-45 minutes on a 2-3 foot day at Dog Patch. I know...scary.

I'm thinking I should give this surfing thing another try. It can be really fun when you're arms aren't screaming in agony. I'm freshly inspired to build up strength and improve my surfing, so Paul's stoked.

Rachel and Becca at San-O

Summer Camping Trip

Camping in Big Bear every summer has been a tradition for us the past few years...we look forward to it and love every minute! Well, for my outdoorsy friends I must admit it's really only pseudo-camping. Paul has a bed in the back of his truck, and we bring all sorts of pillows and blankets. We even watch movies on my laptop. So we're not completely "roughing it," but we enjoy it immensely nonetheless. Although the first night I couldn't sleep because I kept envisioning bears tearing the sides off the truck in an attempt to get to our cooler. The ranger warned us that several large black bears perused the campground nightly. We were spared from any bear attacks and mostly just played guitars, read books, and hung out together. We did get caught in a hail and thunderstorm for a few hours, so being the true campers that we are, we drove to Starbucks and hung out there until the weather cleared.

Like I said: pseudo-camping.

One sort of depressing thing did happen. We spent several hours working on a new song and we were so excited about it--we even charted it out and everything. Then the next morning we realized our chorus was almost identical to the chorus of a Brian Doerksen song. Bummer...hate it when that happens. But the camping trip was still awesome despite the song-writing debacle! I love going up to the woods and smelling the fresh air...I feel so at home up there. I guess it reminds me of Mt. Hood.