My little Sis in Africa...

Just got off the phone with my sister to hear about here trip to Cape Town, South Africa. Wow, Wow, Wow...
Really inspires me to go on a mission trip this year...
Here's a few pics of the gospel in South Africa...





Check out all the pictures HERE
Absolutely Incredible!!!!

Get Elved...

Do yourself a favor and click on the link...
Courtesy of my awesome Mom...

Elf Freakin' Tastic!!!!!

New Reading Material for You...

For those that are very observant, you've noticed several new blogs on the right hand side that are pretty cool...Well, at least to me they are. You should totally go check em' out.

But I wanted to highlight one that you should really go read. It's www.changetheworldwithlove.blogspot.com...And none other than the wee Burns of Shannon is the author. That's right, Shan is a blogger. And she is phenomenal. She started this thing because in December she is headed to South Africa for a couple of weeks on a mission trip.

Seriously, go read it. She's funny, she's eloquent and so transparent and sincere....You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hug the person next to you...

Great stuff...Go here now!!!

Labor Day PC Trip

The parentals, Amanda and I headed down South to Panama City on Thursday after work...We are staying at some family friend's pad and it's been a blast...

We are about to bounce but I wanted to throw up a few pics before we headed back to the ATL...

We had to hit up the Lotto place right when we got out of Alabama into Florida. We're still poor...
This is some model we saw on the beach...Actually my mom...

On Saturday morning, the boys headed out to catch some meat for the evening. We got so lucky as the weather was phenom and the Gulf was like a lake...We slayed em'...

This is the scene on the way out to the first hole....Huge boil of Bonito...We had to stop and catch a few for bait...
This is Jacob getting absolutely schooled by one of those Bonito...He was a trooper and caught a bunch of fish...
Here's Pops with a nice Amberjack that smoked him for a little bit...
Jacob probably had the biggest snapper of the day with this bad boy...It was consumed on Sat. night inside of a tortilla with salsa...So good...
Here's my poor attempt to be like Jake...Not bad though...They all eat the same...
This was the night before on an evening cruise we took...
While we were fishing on Sat, the girls went and spent some money...
These are our hosts...

And these are the host's kids...
This was taken this morning...The house is off of St. Andrews Bay and the storm surge from Gustav covered the dock...Apparently it's still coming up...

The Parentals...

My lack of blogging lately is solely attributed to my parents being in town...They've been staying with Amanda and me since Friday of last week...It's been fun...The weather has kind of sucked during the week but we've kept pretty busy...We're waiting for Amanda to get out of work to head down to Panama City for the long weekend.

Back at the blogging thing hardcore next week...

Here's some visual enjoyment from the week...

Brave's game on Tuesday night with my buddy Mike and his family and the Doche...


No trip to the South is complete without taking it to the House...

Rehearsal (Drama) and Dinner...

Throughout the entire week leading up to our wedding, it was fairly stress free...Busy but not crazy stupid tear your hair out stressful...Until Friday...

It started off with a somewhat hectic morning with more taping, picking up wedding gifts, dropping off rental cars and then off to dance rehearsal and taping...Once again,,,all gravy...

The gang ripped off several rehearsals and were looking tight...Right about lunch time as we sit down to grub, my sister is wincing...This doesn't appear to be good...Finally, we talked her into telling us what was wrong and apparently her bum knee had popped out of place and was not going back in...No bueno...Shan's supposed to be in the dance the next day and she has a leg dangling out of place. After a few phone calls, producers being all up in our face trying to catch the ensuing drama and me finally about to lose it, I say "I'm taking her to the hospital." So Shan and me hop in the car and head to the emergency room to get her leg fixed up. Mind you, we have our rehearsal in just a couple of hours and for any of those that have never been into an emergency room know it's not a quick process...Oh yeah, my sister is not only in the dance but is a bridesmaid as well...And, I'm the groom and kind of have to be at the rehearsal...

After a couple of hours at the hospital with the sis' my parents relieve me so I can go to the rehearsal. Rehearsal starts at 4 and I'm way late...I'm stressed needless to say...My parents aren't able to come to the rehearsal, my sis' is down with a bum leg, people are waiting on me and to top it off one of my groomsman calls me at 4:30 to ask "What time he needs to be there?" I'll be honest, a few four letter words were uttered at that point...

Once I finally arrived, everything ran pretty smooth. Our Pastor and wedding coordinator did a great job on keeping everyone on track...Truthfully, it was tough to keep my cool throughout the entire time because my dad, mom and sister weren't there...

After rehearsal, we headed off to Buco di Peppo for dinner...Great time...Something like 60 people...Shags and my dad put the whole thing together with a great menu and lots of great wine. My parents and my sis' finally showed up about an hour into dinner...

We had a great time telling stories to everyone about the members in our wedding party and had lots of awesome Italian food...

Needless to say, it was a somewhat stressful day that ended on a high note...We all headed back to the Hyatt where mostly everyone was staying and was able to see a bunch of friends that had gotten in for the ATL...I headed home with the folks that night to try and get some sleep while Amanda and the bridesmaids had a suite and stayed at the hotel...

More pics...

My bride and pops in law...
The ladies...
My boys...
Our ring bearer Mason and Flower Girl Ally...
My voice of reason while I was kind of wadded up...Pastor Isaac...If you live in So Cal, go see him at Rock Harbor in Costa Mesa...Great place...
Shags came up big by telling everyone the menu and wine selection for the evening...
Homeboy Dave from Vegas...
Mims and Pops...Freakin' love them...
Amanda, Amira and Sarah...
Just entirely too cute to not show...He's a cool little dude...

More stuff and pics to come...Playing catch up ball big time with this stuff...

I'm actually in Sarasota, FL right now missing the living crap out of my wife...Be home soon baby doll...

Part 1 – Week before the wedding festivities…

First of all, planning a wedding in Southern California while living 3000 miles away sounds like quite a feat, but it really wasn’t…It was a tad more expensive primarily due to flights but overall not that bad. Plus, I have a rock star wife that was stupid organized and have family (new and existing) that pulled so much together so we didn’t have to worry about it…

All being said, we went to So Cal a full week early, not for planning purposes, but to hang with the family/friends as well as do the taping for the show…

We originally bought our tickets for the Tuesday before but had to change those up to Sat. instead. I had called Delta a few weeks prior to see if we could change and the lady said that we could fly same day confirmed for only a $75 upcharge…SWEET!!! We got killer deals on our tickets so a few more bucks to get our there three days earlier sounded great…So after our manicures and pedicures (did I say that out loud) we had in Atlanta we started calling Delta to see if they had seats available…This is where the story gets somewhat lame…Apparently, when talking with the lady a few weeks prior, I didn’t catch that we could fly only same day as our ticket…Not a few days earlier…This deserve a big giant boo bears…So dumb Burns…Needless to say, we had to totally rebook our tickets…That certainly wasn’t cheap but it had to be done since we had a full day scheduled for Monday and Tuesday…Once again, boo bears…

Nonetheless, we arrived into LA safely…As usual, the weather was perfect and seeing the parentals, Shan and the dogs is always awesome…We pretty much just chilled through the weekend…We did however eat Del Taco and In N Out a few times…Please move to the ATL guys…Amanda and I alone with the help of Mac will keep you in business…I promise…

Monday began the taping, which I get more into later as well as the arrival of Mac and wee little rye rye…

Tuesday was a lot of taping for the show and the beginning of our rehearsals…This was also the time that we told some of our wedding party that they were going to be in the dance…Long day…Ended at Sushi where my dad must have dropped a his 401 (k) buying everyone in the place some raw fish and Sake…Great night…

Wednesday was more taping and then it was on…Brownman arrived from his first ever leave the Eastern time zone flight from the ATL. The boys, consisting of wee little rye rye, Robby, Shags, Mac, Brownman and myself headed downtown HB…We then hooked up with my buddy Mike and his wife who has just arrived from Southern Louisiana. Rob introduced my buddies to “Rainbows” at Aloha Grill where we proceeded to drink more than one. In fact, Brownman and Mac had several. My bro Dave showed up from Vegas and met us there and then Amanda, her mom, Amanda’s sis and Schumann showed up…The party was getting expensive so we made the decision this show need to be taken back to the Burnsarosa…

This is why I love home…Within an hour, we had over 30 people at the house having a great time BBQing out…No plans, it just happened…

During the deal, Rob and my mom pulled out the 1998 High School Grad video of Rob, Shags, Blainer and I doing Madonna’s Vogue…Wow is all I have to say…Everyone was on the floor laughing at this debacle…Great stuff though…

Thursday brought some actual wedding stuff. Amanda and I went down to the court house to make things almost more official and got our wedding license. For 61 bucks, we were in...From there, a few of the boys headed to Mens Warehouse to get our tuxes. After that, my small group homies (Jeremy, Jim and Charlie) showed up and we were off again. A huge mob of us headed to downtown HB and rented beach cruisers. From there it was off to Newport. This turned out to be one of the funnest parts of the week. We ended up at Sharkeez in Newport and met a few more peeps there and had a blast. When Amanda and I got engaged, this was one of the first things we planned. A lot of our friends were somewhat skeptical of the whole deal because they thought that it was going to be Tour de So Cal…We didn’t let them down…

After a few hours in Newport, we headed back to HB and met another huge mob of folks at Freds. We must have had 80 people in our group there…Another buddy of mine from the ATL was in town for the wedding and he was having his B-Day celebration there as well. Great freakin’ time is all I have to say…It was such a diverse group of people that was have an awesome time. We took it deep that night…A few romances were started that night which I won’t get into…

So, that’s five cent tour of the week prior to the wedding…Here’s several pics to enjoy…

Next post…Friday’s Rehearsal Drama (kind of) and Dinner

Sushi-san!

Slurricanes with the homeboys...Lil' Mike with his Bride and his Gene Simmons tongue

Burnsarosa Backyard BBQing...
Everybody in the living room watching Jeremy, Rob, Shags and I making fools of ourselves from Grad Night 98'...
61 bucks for a piece of paper saying we can be married in the great state of California...
Sharkeez - Newport Beach...
The Ladies at Freds after the bike ride...

I'll get all the pics up soon to a public gallery...

i love hb...

Amanda and I got into So. Cal on Saturday evening and things are coming together...I'm so stoked to be getting married on Sat. Yeah, Saturday of this week...5 days...I'm marrying my best friend...

Great day of golf with rob, shags and pops yesterday. You seriously cannot beat this weather with a stick...

Already have had Sugar Shack, Del Taco and In N Out while I've been here...Gaining weight before the wedding probably isn't the best thing to do but I seriously love this grub here...

Mac and wee Little Rye Rye get here in a few hours...And Amanda have a huge surprise for all of you that you'll get to see on Saturday...Off the chain awesome is all I have to say...

3 Reasons my Dad Rocks...

1) Married my Mom
2) Raised my sis and me
3) Got tattoos of his dogs (Dick and Bailey)...Actually, the dogs were inherited when my sister and I moved out...That makes him rock even more...

Scotty in the House...

My future bro in law is on team blog...Check him out at www.scottsalazar.blogspot.com...He's a beast, he's a rock star and he likes the Lakers...Yeaaahhhh Brah!

Love You Mom

I have no idea how Moms do it...They're incredible and they are the backbone of families...And my mom epitomizes this...

Mom, you are the glue that holds things together and makes things happen. Dad, Shannon and I are better because of you.

All my self-esteem and confidence is a direct reflection of you...

Whenever I was down, you picked me up...
Whenever I screwed up, you loved me...
Whenever someone gave me crap, you wanted to kick their tail...

You're awesome Mom and I love you...

Thank you Mom for everything that you've done for me and for our family.

Happy Easter...

Happy Easter To All!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying this incredible day. I'm personally so thankful for the incredible amounts of blessings God has poured out on me...Especially the blessing of our Savior, the reason we celebrate this awesome day...

We miss you guys...

A message from Jonathon and Amanda...

Holland Baby...

Once again, I apologize for the tardiness of this post. I just got back from Jersey and haven't any time to get this thing dialed in...

First and foremost, thanks to everyone that asked how my dad was and for the prayers that went out on his behalf. Everything on that front is looking good. Call the big man for more details.

As for our travels...What a great trip! None of us have ever been to Europe so this was an adventure for all of us.

Our first destination after meeting in the Amsterdam airport was a small Hansel and Gretel town called Hoorn. It was about an hour train ride from Amsterdam. What a great place this was. Very small and not very touristy. There were lots of looks at these four Americans. The couple of days we were there we just did a lot of walking around and patronizing of the local watering holes and cafes. The little hotel that we stayed at was run by this cool dude and his wife. Rob (owner) was a big time fishermen so we got along well. Him and his wife are probably going to be in Miami in October so I might get a chance to go fishing with him as I should be there at the same time for work.

Next, it was off to Nijmegen for my dad's test. By the way, the "j" is silent in Nijmegen so we were totally butchering the pronunciation when telling people where we were headed. Anyways, my pops had his test over Monday and Tuesday of the week. Like I said, everything went good with his test. All in Nijmegen was pretty cool. It was much bigger than Hoorn and had several more places to shop and eat. The city is on the Waal River so there was lots of great scenery and commerce up and down the river.

Wednesday morning was off to Amsterdam. Things couldn't have worked out better once we got off the train. Right when we got off, we found our buddy Dean who had just landed a few hours earlier and to our surprise we saw our friend Milko from Hoorn. So back trackin' a bit...While in Hoorn at this cafe, some locals befriended us to see how we ended up in Hoorn. Needless to say after a few hours and a few cold ones, we were the best of friends and they were all about cruising down to Amsterdam. We truthfully thought that was all beer talk and it wasn't really going to happen but Milko manned up. And it was a great thing that he did because he got us to our apartment rental place and showed us around Amsterdam a bit. His buddy Chris that we also met cruised down as well later on in the day. Great dudes. Hopefully they'll cruise to the states so we can chill here.

Anyways, the rest of the trip was awesome. We had a cool apartment above a famous coffee bar in the middle of the city. Overall we walked 1000 miles and had lots of laughs. The biggest tourist thing that we did while there was the Van Gogh museum. I'm not an art dude but I have to say the museum was totally cool.

I learned on this trip a few things:
1) Starbucks Coffee has nothing on coffee in Europe
2) I love Ham and Cheese Toasties
3) I never want to travel in Europe again without Amanda
4) If I never see the Red Light District again that would be OK with me

Call me for more details about the trip.

Oh yeah, click here for a bunch of pics...

So Cal Style

I apologize for not getting this up quicker but you know how it goes....

This past weekend I was hangin' in Huntington Beach and oh....What a blast it was.....

Mac and me (Funny alien movie) took off Friday night to LA where the parentals picked us up and we immediately picked up Del Taco......

Saturday was the day of family as we grilled out all day long in the Burnsarosa backyard. The Mims and Pops cruised over all well as several other folks throughout the day. Robby Rob hit up the Meat Palace and brought over some amazing Kabobs to kick things up a notch. Thanks buddy.....Then Carol and Deblyn cruised over with some Bloody Mary stuff and it was on from there.....We had a great time in the backyard and it resorted to some hardcore jacuzzi fun with everyone....

Sunday, after Church, we cruised downtown to show Mac what all the hype was. After a perfect lunch at my favorite place ever....WAHOOS Fish Tacos...we chilled about downtown and hit a few local watering establishments. Rumor has it, we met David Silveria from Korn...Highly doubt it....But rumor does have it....After a little downtown action we chilled at Rob's place for a little bit and watched him scale the big ladder so we could hang on Nick's balcony for a while...

After my persuasiveness I talked the boys into going to Long Beach to watch the Shags play with his new band Thunderscore. They agreed only because I was a guest in town but they along with myself thought the band sucked. Not so much the music but both the singers. From what I understand there were going to be some changes after my complaints. I have to admit it was cool seeing my best friend up on stage rockin' out in his first gig.....And of course, we hit up Del Taco after the show....See pics at end of page....

Monday saw us taking Bailey to Dog Beach and then driving down south to show Mac some other parts of So. Cal. We had lunch down in Dana Point and headed back to the house.....We then proceeded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Southern California of Orange County of California of the United States of the World of the Universe play and get smoked by the Mariners...They couldn't help it because they just smoked the Yankees during the weekend and needed a break from beatin' other teams up.....

It was a great weekend and I hated leaving....Love you Mom and Dad and Shan and Mims and Pops and Grandma Burns and Bailey and Dick and Rob and Jeremy and anyone else I didn't see but wanted too.....

Here are a few pics from the trip with a crap ton right here..

Throwin' down at Thunderscore

Macadoche cruisin' along the HB Pier rockstar style The real rock star they call Shags.....

The Mims and Pops and me.... The Menu at Del....Anybody that hasn't experienced has missed out on life.....

The Ma Dukes and me at Dog Beach...... The thing they call Huntington Beach Pier which I have swam around...Although it took me 30 minutes
The homeboys and me chillin' atop Nick's Balcony...See the rest of the pics to see Rob scale like ladder like Romeo

Me and my two giant friends...What's crazy,,,,I'm 6'3".....Freaks of Nature...Go play Basketball for petes sake...
Here's the 3 biggest reasons I come back to HB...