Snow, Snow and More Snow

The week before Easter Neal, Dad and Andrey made a guy's trip to Mammoth and Lake Tahoe. They had a blast and later on in the week, Mom and I flew up to join them.

Andrey chillin' in the snow with his morning coffee

Dad in his element

The boys at the top of the mountain

A fence made out of old skis. We found some

really old school ones!

Dad found some Volants - the ski of choice in the

Stallcop-Bailey family.

By the time Mom and I arrived, there was only one

day left to ski before the long drive home. Unfortunately,

this is what the day looked like. Nevertheless, we took

advantage of it and conquered the mountain in a white-out.

Neal did so well this trip, skiing several black diamonds,

that he felt courageous enough to ski the Face at Heavenly -

a double black diamond.

Just don't look down

And he's off...

The pictures don't do this mountain justice, but the

moguls are truly ridiculous. After you ski a run like this,

every part of your body hurts for several days.

After a cold and challenging day of skiing, it was only

right to have dinner at our favorite Tahoe restaurant -

Villa Roma.

Back at the resort, we cuddled up by the fire and Neal and

I enjoyed our first glass of wine after a loooong Lenten season.

Easter Sunday Mass

On our way home, I requested a quick stop at Andersen's

Pea Soup for a warm snack. They only have two of these

in the state and their soup is soooo good. It had been

years since I had it and it was just as good as I remember.

Matthew Kelly!!

For a number of years now, I have been listening to the CDs and reading the books of Matthew Kelly. A brilliant Catholic author and speaker, he has changed literally millions of lives, including mine, and he is doing incredible things to positively affect the Church and the world. He has been, for me, a hero of sorts and I have dreamt about meeting him the way others dream of meeting movie stars. Today, after years of hoping, I finally got my wish.

Matthew was holding an all-day workshop in San Diego, so we made the trek down there to see him. We arrived an hour early and got a front row seat.

During one of the breaks, I approached Matthew, gave him a hug,

thanked him for doing the good that he does, and asked if we could

have our picture taken with him. It was seriously one of the

most memorable moments of my life.

Touring with Matthew was Elliott Morris, who has

opened for musicians such as the Counting Crows and

John Mayer.

St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, where we attended

the workshop, was one of the most beautiful parishes we've

ever seen. Both the inside and outside were gorgeous, and

it was the perfect place to hear such a dynamic speaker.

A very inspiring day!

After the talk we drove to La Jolla (la-hoya) and visited

Casa Beach to see the seals. There were so many of them, but

our eye caught one in particular. Can you pick out the

cutest seal of them all?

Here he (or she) is! Looks like he's waving to his

buddy who is inching his way over.

For dinner we had Chicago style deep dish pizza at The Spot.

I highly recommend it if you are in the area!

On Sunday we had brunch with my good friend Joanna,

who lives in the area, and her beautiful family. We don't

get to see them nearly enough and it was so good to

spend some time together.

Wedding Weekend!

A good friend whom I've known since college tied the knot this weekend! It was a beautiful ceremony over which Fr. Dave (our priest from St. Mary's) presided.

I had never been to the Orange County Mining Co. and

we were glad to have the opportunity to go. What a neat

location, with a view of the hills. And even though

Disneyland is a few miles away, you could see the

fireworks from here. So, the bride and groom got

their own show.

So great to see you guys so happy. Congrats Sean and Mindy!

The next day we figured that since we were already in the area, we couldn't pass up a perfectly good chance to go to Disneyland! This was a particularly special trip because while Neal had been to the Magic Kingdom in Florida, he had never been to Disneyland in California. I think that Tinkerbell and the other fairies conspired to make this a good first experience for him because we didn't have to wait very long in any of the lines, Indie broke down but miraculously opened again within an hour, and after a drizzly morning, the sun ended up making an appearance and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Thank you fairies!

Okay, here in California we might have the better

Pirates of the Caribbean ride, but Florida has so got us

beat on the castle.

The Jungle Cruise

On Pirates. Ever since I was a kid, I have ridden this ride

and passed by this restaurant a hundred times. I have

always wanted to eat there and yet, have never done so.

One of these days!

Haunted Mansion

Neal's face says exactly how he feels about this ride.

The Matterhorn - another first for Neal!

Inside the Innoventions dome is this program that predicts

what you will look like when you're older based on your

lifestyle and habits. Amazing, I never knew your skin

actually started to fall off your face in old age. I also never

knew that your glasses got old right along with you!

I'm just glad Neal will still have hair at that age, and

that it will be the same color it is today.

The Submarine! I hadn't been on this ride in at least a

decade or two. It's now a Finding Nemo themed adventure

but still pretty cool.

Congress

One of the largest Catholic conventions in the country, the Religious Ed Congress draws thousands of people to Anaheim every year. We have always enjoyed this event as sort of a mini retreat to rekindle our faith.

This year our favorite talk was given by Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, a speaker, author and columnist for the Tidings. Years ago I read his book, "The Holy Longing" and have been an admirer of his ever since. His talk this year was entitled, "Giving Away Our Deaths" (all about the three stages of discipleship as outlined by John of the Cross) and was excellent.

The arena

After our first day of Congress we headed down the street

to Downtown Disney for dinner.

It was a beautiful night - full moon and all.

Disneyland fireworks over the House of Blues

On Sunday, after our morning talks, we gathered in the

arena for Mass with our new Archbishop, Jose Gomez.

Coincidentally, he was the Archbishop of San Antonio

for a number of years and during our time in Texas, we

had the opportunity to hear him speak. We were very

impressed with him then and are thrilled to have

him here in L.A. with us now.

A great way to conclude our weekend retreat.