A Christmas Eve night out

Chris and I both worked on Christmas Eve, so I had the night free. My holiday chum Carolyn always knows the scoop of where the happening things are, and what the seasonal treats are. We went to Dovewood Court in Orangevale. I have heard about this place, but have always thought it was Dougwood! I was expecting a few homes sporadically lit up, but there was around 15 homes on a court, and they were all lit up. It is a pre-requisite to live there, or something! This one was actually downtown later in the evening!

This was off of a person's rooftop, and must have been at least 15 feet diameter!

This was inside a person's garage, and the carousel went around and around.

Dovewood actually has operating hours, something to the effect of 5-10pm, and early december until December 28th. Over for the year!

Christmas at Mom's

After 5 days of 12 hour shifts, Chris was sure ready for some celebrating! We drove up the hill after his day (left the house after midnight!) and made it to Mom's. The Prius did suprisingly well in the sleet and snow. We nestled into a wonderful slumber in the wee hours of the morning. Christmas morning always has a special feel, it doesn't matter what day you are celebrating it on, you are remembering the traditions, the feelings, the family, and the memories. Ava and Lily enjoying the "reindeer" on the front lawn.

Leave it to Uncle Chris to bring in nature for the girls! Making a snowman in their Christmas dresses, very creative Uncle Chris! They were using craisins and popcorn seeds and kitchen gadgets to carve into the snowy figure.

There definatley were more "reindeer" than usual--mom says usually about 6. I couldn't fit the whole family in the picture. See the snow? It added to the festivities!

Not too shabby of a picture, sure helps to have a cutie pie for a subject.

A peaceful view of the valley.

Dave and Chris playing Chris's present from the Aubins. We had one growing up and played it in the game room! Who would think 15 years later it would still be an appropriate gift?

We had two wonderful meals cooked mostly by Court and Robert. We all had a hand in the meals one way or another, but they were the top Chefs of the day. We relaxed and played and ate and enjoyed. Who could ask for anything more??

Our First Christmas

We have always had a seperate Christmas with Lori, Brian, Michael, and Erik. It was at the Aubins again this year, with the theme soups and salads. We all really liked the lighter fare--or did we just eat more??? Dad made a chioppino complete with clams, here is showing everyone how they open and close!

Aunt Lori and Uncle Brian made a matzo ball soup! It was nice to see Brian, he is pretty busy with duties for the American Leigon.

Lily and Ava were really being serious kids while consuming their dinner. They are so boring, really!

The crew, with Wynt taking the photo... Aunt Lori wrote and read a really cute poem about everyone to the lyrical rhyme of Twas the night before Christmas. Very special and creative, Aunt Lori.

Cuzzzzzzzzzz Erik and I. Erik brought down from Tahoe a huge tupperware of photos from his mom's house. We all looked through them for hours. Pictures that some of us had never seen before, and pictures that some of us hadn't seen for a long time. Memories were made looking at memories from the past. That was a very special treat to look back 50+ years in time.

Dad now plans on leaving for Iraq February first. We were sure glad that his trip got delayed (selfishly!) for the holidays, but he is super excited to beat feet as he would say!

The Work Party

It has been a few years since we attended one of Chris's work par-tays but we had a great time. It was at the Hilton, and it was definatley more lively than last time since we knew more people! Jane, Jenn, Jen, Jeremy, me, and Chris

We were at the kid's table so-called by the Hasseys. Food was decent, all Chris and I could talk about was our previous jumping experiences at Sky High!

Tea and Birthday Celebration

We went out to tea with the ladies to celebrate all of our birthdays for the year. Mom is very particular about what pics I put on her of her, so I left off the ones of her trying on her goggles that we got her for swimming at the gym! After tea we went to see Four Christmases. Very funny and kinda raunchy as per Vince Vaughn's usual. I think that this is a first for me, taking pictures inside the movie theater. Dont worry, the previews hadn't started yet!

Grammy had room for a kiddy drink, popcorn, and candy. She kept trying to get Court and I to try some, "Come on, it's real tender!" She was hilarious!

We all do love tea and each other muchly!

Sky High Sports

To celebrate the inner child in us, Chris and I hung out with Bryce and Austin. We went to Sky High sports, and indoor, huge trampoline arena, and jumped our hearts out. We were all sweaty and tired by the end of the, er, 45 minutes! We have a whole hour, but I bailed at the 50 minute mark!! Motion pictures were kinda neato lookin'.

We are going tomorrow night, Sunday December 28th at 8:30 if anyone wants to go, gimme a call!

The California International Marathon Relay Challenge

The youngest member of our running team, Elly Kay! She cheered us on at every stop along the way!

Team Run for Fun AABB accomplished their first Marathon Relay! Wynter, Dave, Chris and I completed 26.2 miles together. We had a blast and hope to do it again. The finish is at the state capitol. Pretty sweet view!

Wynter ran the first leg, around 6 miles. She passed off the microchip to Dave, who passed off Elise to her! Elise sure was a trooper, she even managed to fall asleep at one point in between being loaded up and unloaded.

Chris finishing his longest run ever! He did great, under 55 minutes for almost 6 miles!

Nice work team run for fun! We were famished afterwards and everywhere had a wait (Sunday after church time) so we went to In & Out and replaced the calories that we expended! (Yes, Dietitians do eat occasional hamburgers.)

Breakfast for Dinner

For Ava's 3rd birthday, she wanted pancakes for dinner. Chris and I cruised up to Folsom after work and had some delish pancakes made by grandpa Ron. Kim and Lily

This little princess got a ton of dress up clothes! She pulls it off well, don't you think? I particularly like the shawl... It is so fashionable for preschool!

The clip on earrings and the bling ring also complemented her get-up. Ava was very good, and offered to share all of her new toys with Lily.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We started a little early this year, due to Chris getting picked for jury duty, as well as his work schedule having some stretches of days together. We ventured out to home depot (ohhh, ahhh!) and picked out a noble fir tree. Arthur wasn't into decorating the tree, but he put these on and wouldn't take them off!! Didn't make it in time for the Xmas photo!

The tree is a little crooked on top, but so was our star. Better go get a new one that's marked down after the holidays.

Our kid, so cute!

Mat decided to come over to check out our tree. He was a little serious, but he enjoyed looking at the lights. I dont know if I would like people putting silly headbands on me and smiling really big either!

Thanksgiving

A Carmichael celebration! Court, Robert, and I did the run to feed the hungry along with thousands of other people out there to raise money for the Sacramento food bank. Chris worked all day, came home to a turkey dinner, and was asleep by 830!

Persimmons, bell peppers, onion, garlic, orange/mango juice, honey, sage, and chives. Next time I will invest in another baking tin... The dollar tree version barely held out for the 4 hours of basting and baking!

A chilly race photo!

Celebrating and giving thanks the night before at Grammy and Gramp's. Elise is sure growing.

A classic pose, Ava is always SUPER excited for a scoop of ice cream! We are so thankful for our health, family, friends, and lives. We are very fortunate and feel blessed to have a place in this world.

Our Trip to Glamis Dunes

We ventured down all 620 miles to Glamis dunes for 5 days. It was a long drive but always worth it. The weather was in the 80's to 90's out in the dunes, and we are talking about the week before thanksgiving! It was nice to escape the cooler weather that was coming to Sacramento. Here are Paul, Sharon, and Brody with his doggles on.

Watching the drag races you can't help but enjoy the desert sunsets!

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday before Thanksgiving! We had 3 trailers lined up, 3 ovens and stoves going to boot!

There is always an ice cream truck that drives around the campsites, blasting "It's a small world" and Sharon had downloaded the original Disneyland song that is over 12 minutes long in all different languages. She blast that out of their trailor! It was hilarious!

It was very relaxing, I was able to start and finish The Shack (Read it!!), and go for runs in the mornings before it got too hot! We went on some great rides with Paul and Sharon, and did some riding on the quads as well.

Buds!

A Special Event

My girlfriend Jaclyn has a passion for Africa. And kids. So she connected with an orphanage in Africa, and a non-profit Solace International, some connections in the community, and wah-lah! A benefit with silent auction and live auction to boot! Plus a personal chef from Vegas! Tashina was a superb helper with Desmond and Isaiah.

I worked the door, collecting the admission fee and handing out bidding numbers. Chris watched the door for me while I checked out the african dancers, drum music, and the party getting a little wild on the back deck!

Inside, the walls were packed with supporters.

Good friends for life!

Jaclyn did such an amazing job raising funds for Solace. The event itself made over $7,000, and her total to date is over $9,000! We are so proud of you, Jac! What a special channel for your talents!

For more info, Check out YGC/ Solace International:

http://www.solaceinternational.org/sp_kenya.html