Vegas Thanksgiving.

Well, it was a high time in the desert. Jennifer and John were excellent hosts for Thanksgiving 2007 and we had a blast. Jennifer surprised us with a trip to Baby's First Image and a chance to see my granddaughter live for the first time. The image is done with a sound wave that captures the image of Samantha in 3D. It was a great deal of fun and she had her eyes open and was sticking her tongue out at David and Daniel and I think she even flipped off David at one point. She is a feisty little girl. Jennifer found out that Samantha is already 6 pounds, 5 ounces and still has another three or four weeks to grow. I think that got Jennifer's attention a little bit.

The turkey was great and the leftovers as great as we ate turkey sandwiches and leftover pie and dressing for two days. Darla and Jennifer made Nanaimo bars for Dad and Shirley's arrival on Saturday and we enjoyed those with pizza and games on Saturday night. I'm glad that Dad and Shirley were able to join us and see Jennifer's apartment. John and Jennifer have made a nice home in Vegas and have a good life. Jennifer, I think, is still a little homesick as she has only a few friends in the area and when John is gone traveling, she is a bit lonely. She has her cats and snake to keep her company and soon Samantha will grace their lives and then the fun will really begin. John and Jennifer have the nursery all set and decorated to the nines in anticipation of little Sam's arrival. The thought is that Sam may come sooner than later as she is getting bigger and pretty active. I think Jennifer is ready to give birth and is really looking forward to being a Mom. John is equally excited and prepared to be a good father. It is heartwarming to see them so committed and focused on being good parents.

We had a good time playing games at John and Jennifer's. We played "Catchphrase", which is an electronic game like "password" played in teams and is exciting and fun. Shirley kept looking at her word and patting her head and saying "Ohmigosh!" before giving her clues. Jennifer was more demonstrative. She would start to give a clue, then look up and say, "nope" and change to another word. We had a lot of laughs. Jennifer bought a game called "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" and we all proved not to be. The signature question was "What is the product of a horse and a zebra?" a. donkey, b. zorse, c. zebra, d. horse, e. mule. The answer is zorse. Now, how would a fifth grader know that? A zorse? We also played dominoes and the boys, John and Jennifer played a Playstation game of Grand Prix motorcycles. We watched a video, went to bowling alley and didn't bowl (the wait was too long), went to a car show at the Vegas convention center, had lunch at Pei Wei in Vegas, went to breakfast at Aces, a 24 hour bar right outside of Jen and John's apartment complex, and met the gang for breakfast at Bill's Gambling Hall on the strip Sunday morning before we left town.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express near Jennifer's apartment and it proved to be a nice home away from home. We got rates of $103 for the first two nights and $113 for Friday and Saturday. That was for two queen beds and a nice breakfast buffet each morning. The Inn is brand new and very nice, but one of the elevators smells like an animal died in it. i blamed the boys for the smell when we got there Wednesday night, but it was there every time we got in the elevator.

The drive home yesterday was nothing short of brutal as we hit traffic about a half hour out of Vegas in Jean and was in stop and go traffic until we finally got thru the stop light intersection on Highway 58 in the Mojave desert. It took us 8 hours to get from Vegas to Bakersfield, a trip of about 290 miles. It is close to the halfway point from Vegas to Roseville so we were concerned. The trip is about 9.5 hours generally, but the traffic thinned and after dropping Daniel back at his buddy's in Lemoore, we were home by 9:45 PM. Still a twelve hour marathon and if I were to do the trip again, I would stay over Sunday and drive back Monday or Tuesday. Cars were a t a dead stop in the desert in the Mojave and people were going off road in the desert to get around the backup. We saw more cars in Mojave and Tehachapi that were white from the sand of the desert. we could always tell the offroaders. We just hung in there and waited it out. We did drive from 9:30 until almost 5:00 PM before stopping for dinner. We were going to stop sooner, but had the 49er game on radio which went into overtime and the boys wanted to listen to the game rather than eat. We finally stopped in Tulare at Sonic and had dinner.

We were able to meet John's dad and step-mom and his 4 year-old sister, Olivia. Olivia is a precocious little girl and she is very enamored of her older brother. We had a nice visit on Thanksgiving and it was nice to meet John, Sr. My only comment on marriage was when John, Sr and his family left on Thursday night and I told him we'd see him at the wedding next year.

Well, work awaits. I've greeted the gang as they have all wandered in as I was writing this. I have a visit from the Underwriting Manager of our Los Angeles office today, who was in town for the holiday and wanted to come in and see my office. Tomorrow I will take the day out of the office. I have several things to get done for the RGC Christmas party and will then meet Neil, Boyd and Robert for a golf outing at the Auburn Country Club. I have to get my golf fix. It's been ten days. I hope all are well. Be good and keep walking in the shadow of the LORD. Ciao.

Thanksgiving Week and we are Vegas bound

We will be in the car for ten hours on Wednesday driving to Vegas and my first Thanksgiving with my new granddaughter. Well, sort of, she is still a bun in the oven, but she is real. Samantha Paige is on her way. Daniel will join us about mid-trip as he will get a ride to Kettleman City and we will pick him up and drive on to Vegas.

Darla got concerned that the whole Thanksgiving dinner was causing Jennifer too much stress so we decided to order the dinner from a local grocery chain and Vons will prepare the meal now. Jennifer's apartment is just too small for a major dinner production and Jennifer was worrying about it all a little too much. Now we will simply reheat the turkey and perhaps make some fresh stuffing (as Von's has cornbread stuffing) and we will be in. Jennifer is making some sort of yam pudding or something with pecans and such. I'm not a big yam guy, but I'll give it a try. Darla is bringing some pumpkin pie and we will be in hog heaven come Thursday. As long as Jennifer and John have a working television, I'll be set. I look forward to the visit and to Dad and Shirley's arrival on Saturday. I'll give you a call tomorrow night, Dad, to confirm your flight times and will be there to pick you up at the airport. Saturday night will be game night at Jennifer's house with pizza and soda on tap. We will join Dad and Shirley for Sunday brunch at one of the casinos Sunday and will be on the road home after that.

The pictures above are cell phone camera quality as I forgot my digital camera at home and wanted to record our trip to Santa Cruz and the fantastic Pasatiempo golf course. Pasatiempo was built in 1929 by Alister Mackenzie, one of the truly great golf course architects of the twentieth century. His other courses include Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia (site of the Masters). Interestingly, Pasatiempo was Alister's favorite course and he lived in a home off the sixth fairway for the rest of his life after the course was finished. Our day at Pasatiempo was perfect with a temperature of 70 degrees, no wind and perfect conditions on the course. We could see the ocean off the first tee and there was some fog over parts of the ocean, but it never pushed inland. I played great on Thursday and shot 39+41=80 on a very difficult course. Bob shot 83 and Boyd had a fantastic day with a 33+39=72 and his round included a hole-in-one on the 195 yard fifth hole. Coincidentally, it was the hole where we chose to take pictures of the group, so where I am pictured with Boyd he actually had a hole in one moments after the picture was taken. Both Bob and I saw the ball bounce and disappear into the hole. It was Boyd's sixth hole in one and his second this year. I had to harass him as I was the first to the green and looked in the hole and said, "Nope, it's empty, you must have gone over the green." Boyd didn't fall for it and we celebrated with drinks on the course when the cart girl made it around to us. It indeed has been a magical year of golf at some world class venues and I hope to continue the trips next year. I'm looking at Bandon, Oregon for our next trip and would also like to get out to Myrtle Beach, SC for a trip in the near future.

I played in the Turkey shoot on Saturday and shot 42+42=84 for a "could have been better" round of golf. I was five over par after 12 holes after birdieing 10, but fell apart and shot seven over in the last six holes. I've played a lot of golf recently and will take about ten days off now before playing again.

The Roseville Golf Club Christmas party is a week from Saturday and I'm in charge of the festivities this year. I'm gathering prizes and setting up the music and meals. I've also ordered some trophies and a few gifts for the outgoing President. I have yet to buy a new blazer which will need to have the club crest sewn on the front. All of the former presidents have the blazers and the only time they are worn is at the Christmas party.

Darla repainted the kitchen and breakfast nook on Saturday as I was golfing. She changed the color from blue to a lighter shade of the chocolate brown that is in the family room. For some reason she is on a painting kick and said that she couldn't find any fabric that would complement the brown and blue for the window coverings, so repainted the kitchen. Go figure.

I talked to Randy and Christopher yesterday. Chris' football team lost on Thursday night at Texas Stadium 24-21 and is out of the Texas High School playoffs. Their strength this year was defense and ultimately, the offense couldn't score enough to keep them alive to move on. Chris is ready to now explore his options in college ball and will put his energy into visiting teams and deciding where to spend the next five years of his football life. Good luck, Chris.

Well, work awaits on a short week so I better get to it. Have a blessed Thanksgiving and surround yourself with family. That's my plan. Ciao.

Torrey Pines, San Diego and Continuing to Live the Dream

Wow. Another great trip is in the books and I REALLY enjoyed Torrey Pines. The weather was partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid sixties. The course is absolutely beautiful and the venue is breathtaking. We flew out at 7:30 AM on Friday and arrived at 9 AM in San Diego. By the time we got our rental car (a Chrysler 300 instead of a Chrysler Pacifica SUV by the way. Now, why do we make reservations again? Perhaps only the car companies' know.) and over to the course it was about 10:30. Our tee time of 12:40 was too late to get in 18 holes and I'd tried to call and move us up, but to no avail. The guy on the line said, "Just get here early and let the starter know you'd like to get out ASAP. You'll have no problem as we've had so many cancellations because of the fires." Sure and pigs fly. We finally teed off at 12:30 after enjoying a nice breakfast in the Grille room and hitting balls at the practice range and putting. While I was on the putting green, a Japanese gentleman approached me nodding and bowing. I couldn't quite make out what he wanted and finally he pointed at my rear end and I had the paper safety seat from the rest room tucked into my pants and trailing behind me. I wasn't sure what the weather would be when I left home and had worn shorts covered by Reebok work out pants. Apparently, when I'd visited the men's room after a hearty breakfast, I'd brought the paper toilet seat cover with me and couldn't feel it as it was between my shorts and the exercise pants. Classy dude, eh?

The courses we played over the two days were tough, championship style courses and it makes me realize that my handicap is artificially low because of the level of courses that I regularly play and how well I know those courses. I shot 45+42=87 on Friday at Torrey Pines and finally figured out the speed of the greens on the back nine. I managed a birdie 3 on number ten and will watch the pros at the US Open to see how many can't match my score on that hole. The glider port off hole number three is interesting and you can see a picture of one of the human kites flying by on the tee at number 4. At one point there were about eight kites in the sky at one time flying by the beach off the cliffs next to that hole. How they keep from whacking into each other as they twist and turn in the air current is beyond me.

In the pictures above, the first picture is Mel and I. Mel is the husband of my personal lines renewal underwriter, Cora, and we have played golf together for 4 years. The second picture is of me and Boyd. Boyd is a 4 handicap and a regular in my golf group on weekends and in tournaments. Boyd is 67 years old and shot his age in a round this past May. Boyd also joined me at Pebble Beach in April. The third picture is of the course at Barona Creek in Lakeside. Barona Creek is at an Indian Casino outside San Diego and was the home to the Nike Tour Championship event in October. The course is beautiful.

We were supposed to have a foursome for the weekend, but one of Boyd's friends has a father who was just put into hospice and he had to bow out of the trip. He is a member at Barona Creek and set up the golf for us there. Unbeknownst to us, he had comped the $160 per round golf for us on Saturday, so that was a nice surprise as we arrived and were treated royally by the course. We had a 10:40 tee time and as our names were called and we were receiving instructions from the starter, one of the golf club managers approached the starter and drew him aside. I happened to overhear their conversation and the club manager told the starter that they had a VIP that wanted to get out earlier than his 11:50 tee time and to fit him in. It turns out that the "VIP" was the best friend of Oprah Winfrey's boyfriend. Hopefully, I am never that desperate that I have to use my status as the best friend of some nobody to get on a golf course.

Barona was in even better shape than Torrey, but it is located in a valley surrounded by rocky hills and is definitely second rate to the Torrey Pines venue. Again, i struggled early with a 45 on the front side, but pulled it together and had back-to-back birdies on the backside and shot 40 for an 85. Boyd, who shot 85 at Torrey, struggled to a 42 on the front, but played lights out on the back with a one under 35 for a 77. Mel shot 96 at Torrey and 91 at Barona.

I traveled with a 55 year old and a 67 year old and when I suggested that we go out to dinner in La Jolla on Friday night was shut down. Boyd didn't want to have to get back in the car and instead we opted to eat at the Sheraton. It turned out o be a good choice as we had their Prime Rib and scallops, a glass of wine, the Cajun corn chowder and a salad and paid $30 each. The hotel gave us a voucher for 50% off our dinner tab. We finished dinner at 9 PM and headed back to our rooms. Mel roomed with me and we watched the Kings-Cavaliers game on ESPN. I had to give up my tickets to the game to go to San Diego and wanted to enjoy the game. I was hooting and hollering and finally Mel rolled over and said, "Ken. I'm tired. Aren't you tired?" I was out with the party animals this weekend. I quietly watched the rest of the game and went to bed at 10:30. Wild times in San Diego.

I came home to rain and overflowing gutters. The rain was over by yesterday and I spent part of the day raking leaves and the other clearing the gutters. I have gutter guards over the entire length of my rain gutters, but small leaves and dirt still get into the gutters and mulch up and finally clog the downspouts. I hosed out the entire length of gutters and refitted the gutter guards and hopefully will be good for the rest of the rainy season. This last storm knocked down a lot of the leaves and it will take a final cold snap to knock out the remaining leaves. The city is good at collecting the leaves when I rake them and leave them in piles in the street.

Daniel was home this weekend and Darla's brother, Steve, was here from Hawaii, so the Westra clan had a Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday. I had to miss it because I was in San Diego, but the group had a great time. It was quite a storm on Saturday night and Darla and the boys had to traverse the route home from Paradise in a downpour. There was ground fog in Paradise and it was slow going coming home. They got home about 12:30 AM and I was fast asleep.

Darla has ordered a new laptop. She got in trouble at work for using her company laptop to conduct Silpada business. The lady in HR that handled the meeting is one of Darla's Silpada customer's, strangely enough. She has ordered a new HP laptop and is getting an employee discount through her friend, Missy, who works for HP.

Work awaits. it is Veteran's Day and the city of Sacramento is in Holiday mode as this is a government town and most of the population is off on a holiday. It took me about 25 minutes to drive the 18 miles to work today and the on ramps didn't even have the carpool lanes in operation today as the traffic was so light. I will close the office early today and send everyone home to their families mid afternoon. I hope you all are well. I'm off to Santa Cruz and Pasatiempo on Thursday for golf with one of my agents. My assistant, Dinda, had a premature granddaughter born on Friday with induced labor. Camille Elyse is only 2 lbs, 10 oz and has a rare vascular malformation. She is only given a 2% chance to live, so please pray for Dinda, her daughter Gina and little Camille. Ciao.

Indian Summer

It is a staple of Autumn in Sacramento and we love it. Indian Summer is back and the weather the last two days (where I spent part of both days coincidentally on the golf course) have reached the mid-eighties. The temperatures for the rest of this week will be in the mid seventies and I leave Friday morning for San Diego/La Jolla and the majesty of the Torrey Pines South golf course. It has been a tour of outstanding golf venues here in my 50th year of life and I'm not ready for it to end. I also have a tee time at Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz next Thursday courtesy of Charles Schwab. Pasatiempo is a Class A golf course and their midweek rounds cost $200 with cart. I'm taking one of my agents and making it a marketing outing. Nice. Hopefully the weather holds.

We got good news last night and that is that Dad and Shirley will meet us in Las Vegas over the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Unfortunately they don't fly in until Saturday, so we'll only get one night with them. They couldn't get into the Polo Towers until Saturday and they are averse to paying for hotels. Jennifer is thrilled and we are planning a pizza and game night for that Saturday at Jennifer and John's house. Jennifer is doing well with the pregnancy although she told Darla she often feels like a turtle when she sleeps on her back and tries to roll over to get out of bed. I've never been pregnant (imagine that) , but Darla has and could relate to the experience and had a good laugh. I know that is hard to imagine, Darla having a good laugh, but try.

Our dog, Buddy, is getting older and spends a tremendous amount of time sleeping and he tends to stretch and hobble when he first gets up from lying down. There is a dog on the golf course who is about the same age as Buddy. He is a black lab and we used to play games with him as we waited to tee off on number 3. He'd bring us his knotted rope and pass it through the fence and we'd throw it and he'd run. Now he sits at the window of his house and slowly looks at us as we call for him. It seems at times that he gives us a little nod, but his spirit is no longer there. It's sad, but I see some of that in Buddy as well. Occasionally he gets excited about something and jumps up and down, but then sleeps for two hours afterward as if it took all of his strength to put out that energy. We still take him on walks every once in a while and he used to pull us and it was struggle for the whole length of the walk. Now he walks right beside us and is anxious to get back home when we are done. I think Darla and I will take him out tonight as we have a night off from life group.

Darla continues to work hard at her Silpada sterling silver business. She has parties all of this month and won't slow down until the first of December. In the mean time, as she has parties, I'm out playing golf. I played Saturday with the RGC board members as we had a Saturday morning breakfast meeting and then golf afterwards. I set up a high -low best ball golf game with 16 players. The split for high handicappers to low was 16 and we ended up with eight teams of high-low golfers and took the net best ball of the team. Everyone threw $5 in the pot and we had $80 which was split $50 to the winning team, $20 to second and $10 to third. The winning teams both shot 62 and we had to go to a card playoff to determine the winner. They both had the same score on the back nine and it came down to the last six holes to determine the winner. My team shot 65. I shot 40+42=82 which is right on my handicap. Sunday was the Past president's golf tournament and I shot 40+40=80 for a net 70. I had to leave for a meeting at church, but it should be in the money. I have a goal now not to ever have a double bogey. If however, I do have a double I have to manage a birdie to counter the double-bogey. Sunday, after a 40 on the front, I had a birdie on number 10 only to follow that up with a double on 11. It's not suppose to work in the opposite. I then doubled number 13 and covered that with a birdie on number 16, which was our last hole as we started on number 17 in the shotgun start at 7:30. It was a great weekend weather wise and golf wise. Bob shot a 73 yesterday for a net 68, so I was playing in high cotton with my group. Boyd had 78 and Bud shot 77.

The office continues to shine. I was talking to Dad last night and shared with him that momentum is an amazing animal. When it is going bad, it seems impossible to turn it around, but likewise, when it is going good, the momentum seems to carry over from one month to the next. I am often criticized because our expenses in Sacramento are high compared to Modesto (we are their back office and type the policies, handle the accounting, do all the file work and claims activity, etc.). Well, we just had our highest net retained month ever for the Sacramento office in October, bringing in almost $155,000 after expenses. Modesto brought in another $57,000 and we came close to our biggest month ever as a combined profit center. I'm taking the gang out to lunch on Wednesday.

Well work awaits. I've had three underwriters in my office as I was working on this chatting me up, so the salt mine awaits. I'll have tales of La Jolla and Torrey Pines next Monday. Ciao.