The Williamsons

Ben's Shark Party

2008-06-24T15:50:00.001-07:00

Ben asked for a shark (pronounced "shike") party for this 4th birthday so, of course, we had to comply.

Our front lawn.

Here is the cake. My first attempt at cake decorating. It was going really well but the icing on the shark, including the eyes as you can see, started to run immediately after being taken out of the freezer. Any cake decorators out there can let me know why and how to avoid it if I ever try it again. The kids loved it though.

Taking a break from playing to get a drink.

The Birthday Boy with Bear, of course!

The adults trying to stay in the shade and not get splashed by all the kids in the little pool.

Cool present Uncle Brian!

Nice form!

Notice Ben's posture. Hmm. It isn't that bad to be hugged by a girl!

Nana seems to be blown away by something Ben is saying. Good job Nana!

And the lifetime of being coached begins...

It was a great day. A little chaotic with 10 kids to entertain but all had fun and that is what matters. Maybe next year an easier cake...

Ben is "FOY!" (four)

2008-06-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday! We started the day with special Birthday pancakes.

So many phone calls!

And then presents.

We ended the day with coldstone ice cream in a cone! It was serious business...

Daddy had to help a little.

All Done! What a big boy!

We have grass!!!

2008-06-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dad 1, Dad 2 and Peter S. we have grass for Ben to play on! YEAH!!

Ben's Mothers Day Pics

2008-05-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

Well, Mothers Day has come and gone, yet we still need to thank our mothers more often than once a year...so thank you mothers. There two days in a row...that should do it. I'm kidding.

For this year Ben and I worked together to surprise Krista, Nina and Nana with a gift from the two of us. So my buddy Josh, who will someday be a top tier photographer if he isn't already, met Ben and I at a local park near my office for a photo shoot. The first task was to get Krista to bring Ben down to Irvine without her knowing anything. Enter good friend #2 in the plot, Leah, who took Krista to dinner in Costa Mesa, while we were at the park taking pictures.

So that portion went smoothly and Ben never said a word to Kris. So, Sunday rolls around and all three mothers are surprised with their gifts. To see the pictures and some of the others from that day please go to my friends blog below:

http://www.liftmylife.com/blog/2008/5/10/lifted-bens-mothers-day-gift.html

Hope you all had a good Mothers Day, whether you are Mother or not. God Bless!
J

House pics...

2008-04-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well its been a while, I was hoping to have some grass down before this post, but my Uncle Bill wants to see some updated pics, so here we go! (Love ya Bill!)

Here is our house at night...

Here is our front entry way with our street numbers...

Here we are inside of that front entry way, at some point we will have a formal living area here..

Here is the dinning room that is need of some chairs, but my wife, the seemstress, has made a very nice table cloth. Her next job is some window treatments (only 14 windows to go...)

Here is the kitchen, this picture turned out a little yellow, not sure why, but you get the idea...

Here is the family room off of the kitchen...

Here is the back of the family room with freshly hung family pictures...
Say goodnight to Ben in his bedroom...

Here is Ben's/guest bath...

Here is the master bedroom...

And the master bath, with the much anticipated vanity...

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and may God Bless you all.

Some pics...

2008-02-11T10:28:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics of the house for those of you that are interested. Krista, of Williamson Design, wanted to let you know that none of these rooms are completely decorated, so do not hold her or her firm accountable for these pictures as they are not a complete representation of her and her firms abilities. Ok now that the legal stuff is out of the way....

Here is the front of the house at night...

Here is the front door...

Here is the dining room, with table, w/o chairs...
Here is the master closet w/o doors

Master Bed

Guest/kids bath...

Here is Ben's room...

Master bath....

Master bath part 2 (no vanity yet....4 months and counting...)

Laundry...

Front bedroom (aka staging room...)

Family room...

Kitchen...

Pantry...

Pantry w/ door open...

Phone/family schedule station/desk...

Well thats the virtual tour...we hope to be ready for live tours soon. We will keep you all posted...

Mark it, Feb 7th move in day!!!!

2008-02-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight will be the Williamson's first night in our new home! Words do not discribe the feeling of this, but it is AWESOME! Here a just a couple pics, more to come once we have cleaned up a bit and unpack the camera charger. Feel free to stop by anytime and check things out.

Bye for now...

House Update Jan 16th

2008-01-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

First off, I have no pics to show you today, but use your imagination.

The last blog was when we started laying the hardwood floor on Monday the 7th and finished the dinning room. On Tuesday Ron, Brian and Brian and I extended the hardwood into the kitchen and family room. On Wednesday Brian D and I finished the kitchen and family room. On Thursday Brian W, Blair, Steve and I finished the front room and started the hallways. On Friday Krista and I finished the hallway leading to the master bedroom (fitting that Krista and I did that together). On Saturday Steve, Dave, Brian D and I finished the rest of the hallways and front bedroom to complete the laying of the hardwood. My best guess would be a total of 88 man hours went into that flooring, all of which was after hours or weekend time.
Special thanks to all those who helped on that project, and the wives & girlfriends that let them help (Marcy, Sarah, Karen, Beth, Tina and Avery).

Also going on on Saturday, Brian W hung our last door leading from the garage to the house and my dad and mom started our finished electrical. (If you need outlet and switch plates hung, my mom is pro at it.)

Sunday we rested!

Monday brother Brian and I hung our siding on the front of the house, while my dad kept moving on the electrical.

Last night was base board night. Justin, Brian, Brian and I blew through 98% of the baseboards. We would have finished but I under estimated by one stick. Mean while, but dad kept rolling with the electrical and Matt Ely came by and hung all of our registers HVAC.

Today between 1&4 we will have our counter tops installed and tonight we will install some closet doors and door knobs.

I'll post some pics as soon as I can.

House pics as of Jan 8, 08

2008-01-08T07:33:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of updated pics (low quality camera phone pics) of the latest happenings at the Williamson house...
Brian Douglas, Brother Brian and I started laying the hardwood floor last night...only the living room, family room, kitchen, hallway and front bedroom left to do...

The blur you see is Jaime finishing up the grout in our master bath...

House Pics as of Jan 3 08

2008-01-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since many of you have seen any pictures of the house, so here you go...

Here is the front of the house with a close up of the door. The door looks a little purple, but that is just the primer and will eventually be black.
Moving inside you can see the paint on the walls, which is similar to Restoration Hardware store colors.
Front entry area...

Here is the dinning Room...

Guest Bath...

Kitchen...

Family Room...

Master Bath Tile Floor...

Master Bedroom....

View from the back yard. Door on the right leads to the master bed, the door on the left leads to the family room...

We are hoping to be moving in the house within the next 4 weeks or so...assuming the weather doesn't hold us up...

Rose Bowl

2008-01-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

Jan 1, 08, Rose Bowl USC vs Illinos.
It was a great way to start the new year off...Thank you Brad!

We started the day off with a breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Waffles anyone?

Then we hopped on the bus for a relaxing, no-stress drive into the Rose Bowl, the only way to travel.

After bypassing all the general traffic the bus pulled right up to the front of the Rose Bowl and headed over to the Hospitality tents.

Of course you can't get in without one of these...

Once in we headed over to the ESPN tent and found a nice corner of the tent and got comfortable and watched Michigan take care of Florida in the Captial One Bowl...

Brian was able to catch a quick nap before the game.

Off to the game...

A fly bye is always a great way to start a game!

Thanks to our new friend Brian from ESPN New York for snapping this shot. Keep us posted when you come back to So Cal and we'll get you to an In N Out in a nice part of the state.

We left a few minutes early, but the game was clearly in hand by over powering USC team.

Good time had by all...unless you are Illini fan.

Thanks to ESPN, DirecTV and Bradly for making this all possilbe.

House update

2007-10-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally moving forward, after about a month of set backs. With any luck we will be able to get our framing final this week and get this house wrapped up. Here are a couple picks.

Front of the house with the front door...finally!!!

It's still wrong, but we are working on that....Here is a shot of the Family room...hopefully you will soon see a picture with a new plasma TV hanging over the fireplace.
After a long hard day it will be nice to take a dip in our master bath...6ft long and 3ft wide...plenty of room to relax...
Sorry for such a delay in house pics and updates, but this last couple of months have been VERY frustrating and I did not want to rehash all that frustration on our blog...so there.

Stay posted...
Jim

Bass Lake 2007

2007-10-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

I have just noticed that the formatting I am trying to do with the pictures and text is not working out too well. Sorry for the awkward read on the last two posts. I will get the hang of it soon.

Every year we try to go to Bass Lake with the Bentley/Williamson clan. We don't make it every year but this year we did and it was unlike any other year.

We always know that going in late September is a gamble. No crowds, great lake conditions for skiing, wakeboarding, etc. but we never know about the weather. We start checking the weather sites at least a week in advance, hoping that we can somehow control this factor by being aware early. This year there was to be a freak storm in the area for only about 3-4 days. Of course those were the 4 days we were to be there.

Jim and Ben on a walk.

So we started preparing for a "different kind of trip." Normally, we spend all day everyday out at the beach. We pack lunches and then we just do absolutely nothing planned. We float in the water for hours chatting, take boat rides when we feel like it, play beach games, nap--basically just enjoy the WEATHER and the water. Since we knew this year would be different we decided to lean into it and change our expectations. Allie (Jim's cousin-in-law if you don't know) and I decided to bring stuff to make cookies and Aunt Karen made all kinds of pumpkin bread. We roasted smores around a campfire every night and took long walks. It was a wonderful fall vacation. We relaxed and enjoyed the lake in a different way.

One of the guys wakeboarding. Justin, Luke, and Brian enjoying the boat ride.

The most amazing thing about it for me was experiencing the beauty of the lake in a way I didn't expect. Threatening a downpour at any moment the sky would change from ominously gray to bright blue with cotton-ball clouds. Nobody was on the lake (except for our crazy boys who still took a few runs a day on the wakeboard and skis) so it was completely calm and glassy and the gray sky made it look almost charcoal in color. On our walks we hiked around the lake on barely visible paths through tall grass and mud, sandy beaches and pine trees experiencing the beauty of God's unspoiled creation.

future wakeboarder

My favorite part was the thunderstorm that we got to watch all together through the huge windows of Duecey's grill at the Pine's Resort. The lightning would crackle and snake across the sky in the most brilliant ways and we just sat at our table eating dinner and talking while we watched. It was pretty amazing! But God didn't stop there. The next day we took a boat ride and got to enjoy two complete rainbows over the trees on the banks of the lake.

Allie, Foreman, and me on a walk. Ben liked sitting on the special "chair rock."

Needless to say it was one for the books. Next year I hope it will be hot and we can lay out and float in the river like we always do but I wouldn't trade this year at Bass Lake for anything.

The annual dock picture with the Forks Resort in the background.

Camping

2007-10-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

We camped again this year at San Clemente. Last year, our trip was in November so the weather was much nicer this year!

Avery brought Sam's firetruck playhouse which was hours of entertainment.

Ben officially loves to camp. I asked him if he would rather camp or stay in a "vacation house" (hotel or condo) and he said camp. I guess I am out of luck.

So it is a good thing that I went and bought the big air mattress. It's huge when it is just Jim and I but it ended up being a bit cozy for three.

Can't a guy get a little privacy? Ben's makeshift potty room made for an accident-free weekend. It also saved us trying to keep him clean in the camp restrooms--yuck!

Sam felt that Ben needed a little help riding his bike and probably so since Sam can walk and even crawl faster than Ben can ride forward.

We had so much fun and the boys loved getting dirty together. It just showed us that we need to camp more. Wish us luck!

DISNEYLAND!

2007-10-08T14:49:00.001-07:00

The Meguiar's company picnic this year was at Disneyland--good choice!

Ben didn't want anything painted on his face but loved his arm paintings of Mickey Mouse and a football.

For all of you who were worried, Ben informed us that he is no longer afraid of the hippo in the Small World because he "is a big boy now."

Thank you to Libby, a coworker of Jim's, for these light-up ears!

If you see him, ask Ben about his favorite ride. He will give you a full rundown of the Matterhorn complete with hand motions and sound effects! Did he like it--YES! Does he want to go on it again--NO!

We stayed to the very end and saw the fireworks. It's a good thing we brought bear!

More Pictures!!!

2007-08-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

I just recieved these pictures this morning from our photographer, check them out...

If you want some to print out let me know. I will be getting the disc with all the high res copies later this week and I can email you some if you'd like.

Just visit the link below and click on galleries...

http://www.paperwhitephotography.com/williamson2/

J

Family Portraits

2007-08-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

Round One of the family portraits are done and available to view on-line @
http://www.paperwhitephotography.com/krista/
Just click on the "Galleries" button and view the three different settings.
We are going back for more pictures later this month to finish the shoot.
Thanks to Eric Slay @ http://www.paperwhitephotograpy.com/ for the terrific and professional quality pictures of our family.
J

The House

2007-08-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

As you know we are in the process of building a new house, however some of you may not know all the details or have been able to see it since we started.
So here's the short summary to help you catch up.
May 6th we started by demoing the back patio...
After we poured the new footings layed out the new sub floor we demolished the existing house down to the subfloor by mid-June...

As of today we are done framing and my dad and I are installing all the electrical...
More pictures will follow this post, but that should get you up to speed.
I want to finish by thanking all those that have help so far, I don't know where I'd be without you...
My stud younger brother...do work,son!!!

My dad, from digging to running wires, thanks for all the moral support too.
Efrin and Juan from Garcia Bentley Construction, Professionals!
Bruce Garcia for helping to raise the roof...
Matt Ely of Ely and Son Heating and Air, Warrior Pride!
Steve, Dave, Johnny, Blair, Douglas, Mike D, Johnny Saleman, Craig with the Bob Cat, Uncle Ron, Ed, and my wife for priming the facia boards.

Thanks again to all, I try to update you all more than just once every 4 months...

J

First Post

2007-08-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogging world,
My name is Jim Williamson and I am honored to be married to my wife (Krista) of 8 years and father to my son (Ben) who is 3.
Like the title implies, this is my first post, so I hope I am doing OK.
I am going to try and add a picture now...

not bad, took less than 2 mins.
Stay tuned for more posts in the future from Krista, Ben and I about our house remodel and upcoming trip to Bass Lake.
J