Operation Demolition.

The sugar overdose is sure to set in... I don't imagine these kids quietly reading a book or minding their manners for at least 3 days. I'm glad they are my new family and it's nice that at the end of the Christmas adventure I was able to go home to my lonely house. It's a weird thing that getting married means I automatically am adopting 3 nephews, a niece, and whatever other children Anna's siblings can bring into this world. I really love these kids and enjoy being called 'Uncle Sauce' (a dirivitave a my nickname 'Cam-sauce').

I admit there is some serious emotional adjusting going on for me; aquiring all of this excess family. I come from a pretty simple 2 children home with only a couple cousins that I barely know and lots of passed away members. It has been a dream of mine from childhood to have large family Christmas' again with kids all over the place, presents under the tree, wine flowing like milk and enough food to feed an elfin army. Anna's family has made me feel more than welcome and has been patient enough to allow me to adjust in my time. I am excited to adopt and be adopted into this loving family. Christmas was really good for me to just saturate in their presence. My mom and dad even came over for Christmas breakfast and we had a great time introducing them to each other.

Here is a fun video of the gingerbread house's demolition. This is one of those silly traditions that they do every year, which I kinda made fun of them for at first. However, after seeing just how it brings everyone together in the creativity/destruction, I really have begun to understand and appreciate it. It is so much better than just plugging into television and sacrificing intimacy during one of the greatest divine celebrations of our year.

Thanks to the Kriwinskis and Delmores for loving me into the family and reminding me all that CHRISTmas is about. I feel closer to Christ's love because of you guys.

I wish I were 2 inches tall.

This is the amazing gingerbread house that my Fiance's cousin and mother made this year. Anna's brother Joel even got into it and did a bit of structural engineering work on the layout. It's a yearly tradition and a pretty cool one at that. Just wanted to share a little Christmas Eve love with you all!

Tacky Office Christmas Party

Friday night we had our 2nd annual Tacky Christmas Party. This year's theme was extended to 'Tacky OFFICE Christmas Party'. Anna and I have become big fans of 'The Office' recently with their outdated clothing stlye and frequent awkward moments. Jeff & Kim Newsom were the couple of the night and Jeff never broke out of character. His 'office name' was Herb. Herb is a simple man. Herb doesn't say much. Herb just kinda stares at you through his bifocals until his moustache creeps you out and you have to get up and make an excuse as to why you are leaving the conversation. Herb has an arm that doesn't go down and no one has the nerve to ask Herb why. Herb also won the white elephant trophey of the night, a sweet new Mac SE. Herb is one proud Mac owner.

Merry Christmas!

These are my friends Brandi & Elisha. I don't typically d0 family photos because they can be so stale and awkwardly contrived. But my arm was twisted and I agreed to help Brandi out for her Christmas cards. I photographed Elisha when he was a just born. He is the sweetest kid and I'm sure someday will pull off a pretty amazing afro. Can't wait for the day. Pictures to come. I loved making the Christmas card all yellow-saturated. It is just a real contrast from Christmas greens and reds.

Follow you into the dark...

Some amazing friends Jeremy & Sarah bought me a birthday ticket to see Death Cab for Cutie last night in Santa Barbara. It was an amazing show and a lot of fun to hang out with our good friends. Here is our blurry photo outside The Arlington Theater. We are pretty much concert buddies. We've gone to San Fran to see Gillian Welsh and also Jeff Tweedy. This is our first Santa Barbara adventure. Jeremy just bought a bakery in Arroyo Grande called Eclair. Check out his wedding cake website. I will post some photos and video of his place one of these days. He is an amazing dessert chef and makes the bestest wedding cakes in all the land.

Death Cab was rocking! I really loved being able to experience them in persons. I hope we can be good friends someday soon.

Under Construction!

I feel like my life has been turned upside down, shaken together and poured out all over the table and now I'm trying to reassemble the peices into a new almost married orderly fashion. So I might be a little melodramatic, but getting engaged really has ruined my life!... and I know it is all for the better. Since coming home from New York a month ago we have hit the ground running with wedding planning. Within the first week we booked our venue and the rest of our vendors. We even began looking for houses to move me and my business into until Anna joins me after the wedding. The first place we found we fell in love with! A 100 year-old house downtown San Luis Obispo complete with hardwood floors, broken fireplace, dining room, 3 bedrooms, rickety garage, front porch, and a couple of lemon trees barely making it in a suffering brown front lawn. It was really hard to walk through it and not plan out where my office would be and how we could fix up the guest room AND it has a garage for our scooters too!!! Well, we applied for it with one other couple before us on the list and prayed as many times as we either thought or talked about it, which was a lot! We didn't even want to look at anything else.


About a week later we got the call, 'Do you want to live on Toro street?!' We just couldn't believe it! Everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place. God was really blessing us with instant provision. Just 2 weeks after getting engaged we got this house that would be perfect for both of our businesses and our brand-new-ly-wedded-selves. We signed the lease just a couple days before going on a week's thanksgiving trip to my friend's house in Bend, Oregon. We were welcomed across the border by a Oregonian posing as a hot-air-sumo-wrestler. We thought it weird but people just do things differently in Oregon. It was an awesome week spent with family and friends at my friend Jesse's house. I was awoke every morning to the sound of munchkins screaming and playing or calling my name, 'Tio Cameron!' I love being an uncle, even if I am just a funkle (fake+uncle=uncle). Here are some pictures and videos from my time in Oregon. The breaker is my bro-in-law, Toby. He and my sister are amazingly good at break dancing....for white people. ;) And a little love from my good friend from high school, Andy Weber. This is his 'sexy dance'.






Since coming home from Bend I have been moving my belongings and office and cleaning up the old Cameron Ingalls headquarters and trying my best to make this 100 year-old house into a home. I actually hate moving. Reason being that for the month or so it takes to move I suffer from Displacement-Syndrome. What is Displacement-Syndrome, or DS, as we call it? It is when I pack up everything that makes my current dwelling a 'home' into boxes and drive these possesions across town. Then I fill this new house with all my stuff and it doesn't really feel like home until everything is set up and has its place. After a couple weeks of stumbling around looking for things I finally develop systems and habits that make the house into a home and by then the DS usually subsides.



Anna has been amazing help as always and is even particular about what 'stuff' I bring into 'our new home.' It has really been an adjustment of perspective. Kinda hard and awkward at times but it is also very good. It is comforting and exciting to know that I will never have to move into another 'new home' alone; that Anna is more my home than any house or condo. I have a lot of learning to do with all of this engagement/marriage stuff. At times I feel like I don't know who I am anymore, being so newly and emphatically engaged, but I think that it is a really important step for me and for us.

I really want to post some pictures of my vacation in Bend and also the progress of the new home, but Blogger is being difficult and I think a bit grumpy since it's cleary past bed-time. Maybe tomorrow I will add the necessary illustrations. Oh, yeah! And I believe my website is temporarily floating lost in cyber-space while my web-master works out some changes before finishing the new site. Did I say NEW WEBSITE?! Stay tuned.