Ouch!

Grace had trouble with her braces this week while we are at the cabin and a long way from her orthodontist. The wire on the bottom slipped and was constantly poking her in the back of he mouth. She lived with it for a couple days but it became too painful to leave it.

Being a full service Dad, Jim proceeded to do some ortho work - he removed all the rubber bands and the wire and solved the problem. Now its the orthodontist's problem to fix it all up next week.

Rescue Mission

When we stopped for a snack on our snow shoe hike, Murray decided to run down a steep hill chasing the snow he was knocking down the hill. When he got about halfway down, he got stuck in the deep snow. Grace and Marty headed down to help dig him out.



They got him out and pushed him up the hill. But then they needed help getting Gracie unstuck! Drew went down to help dig her out. All were saved!

Snow Shoe Clark's Peak Trail

Yesterday we went into Yosemite to do a little snowshoeing. We went on a trail that was 3 miles round trip but we only did a little over two. The powder was about 2 feet deep. So you had to take a step, sink two feet, lift up your foot two feet and take another step....just to sink two feet again. It was rough going. And I was worried about the dogs. Daisy is getting old and its hard on her. And Murray kept getting snow packed in his feet. So we made the good decision to stop and turn around - but not before having a snack and a beer.




Ahi has the best spot for snow shoeing - look at the back pack on Jim's back! It's too cold for her and she high centers in the deep snow, so she rides on Jim's back. She just sits there and looks around the whole time. She is a good little dog.





Murray was all ready to go before we even got out of the car. He loved it!




The views out on a trail after a fresh snow are unbelievable. And it is so quiet and peaceful....except for the antics of crazy Mur-dog.

Post snow shoe

After our snow shoe trip, we had a little picnic and played in the snow.




Grace and Drew dug out a fort and made an escape tunnel.



Drew seemed to be coming out the escape tunnel the same way he tried to be born.....butt first!

Snow Play

We went and played in the snow in a rainstorm earlier in the week. This is a pic, during a break in the rain, of Tina and 4 of the kids she took care of in her daycare. They are now teenagers and friends of Tina's!



This is Mad Dog and Grace hanging with the snowman I made. All these kids have been friends since birth. It's so cool to have friends that far back in your life.

The Dirty Life

I just finished the book, "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. It is about a lady who is a writer living in NY who interviews a farmer and falls in love with him She leaves everything behind to start an organic farm that provides fresh meat, eggs, dairy products, fruits, herbs and veggies to their members. It was a super interesting book and well worth the investment of time. I learned a lot about farming, farm animals and life in a small community.

It is amazing that a book can make you think so much. It really made me more committed to not buying things just because you "want them". There is so much waste in that. We all need to use our "things" until they are worn out. It's hard on the busy life we all lead, but if we can all do small things, they add up.

Anyway - give the book a read - its well worth it!

Black and Tan

The El Dorado Hills Gang gave Jim and Grandpa Tom this for xmas. They are waiting for it to get cold!

Xmas Eve

We had fondue for xmas eve dinner.

* Oil for beef fondue
* Mushroom fondue - dip in sausage
* Crab fondue
* Cheese fondue

We also had spinach salad and chocolate fondue for dessert!

Fancy!

My mom gave Mimi this outfit for xmas. She looks so cute in it that a little boy came up to her in Walmart and said, "I like your dress"! She is 4 years old and already has a stalker!

Oh Murray....

Last time we were at the cabin, Murray was visiting and there was that unfortunate incident involving the dishwasher. Remember? The bottom drawer got caught on his collar and ended up being dragged halfway across the cabin....Murray thought it was chasing him.

Since then, the dishwasher has not been getting the dishes cleaned. Today we emptied it, got out the manual and looked around at what might be wrong. We couldn't tell for sure but thought that it might just be getting old. Jim did some research on the internet and we thought it might cost $200 to get someone to take a look at it. It's about 15 years old, and although it does not get much use, it is an elderly dishwasher. So Jim started researching new ones.

This is where I come in....queue the music and picture me in my rescue hero cape..... I start looking and I use my spatial relationship skills (those who know me, know that those are my weakest skills of all!!!!) and I realize the bottom drawer was in backwards!!!!!

APPLAUSE!!!!!

I fixed it! And I earned some respect after the Christmas tree debacle.

Francis

This is Francis, our xmas tree. Drew and I put it up by ourselves, while Jim sat and watched --- and shook his head. We ended up getting it stuck in the stand, broke the stand getting it out and got needles EVERYWHERE!

Jim keeps forgetting his name and calls him Fernando. I think poor Francis is having an identity crisis!

Dog status

My lab is getting old....

She is getting more and more tired from hikes and we have to give her pain medication even after a short hike. Then she likes to lay in front of the fire and soak up the warmth.

My chiweenie is getting younger....

She is crazy! We go out hiking and she disappears --- off chasing wild animals. She comes back when we call her and she is huffing and puffing! She has no sense. Plus she sleeps thru all the danger of giant waves!

New Melones

We are up at the cabin for a little R and R. On Tuesday, when there was a break in the weather, we went fishing at New Melones Lake. When I say break in the weather, I mean it was not pouring rain, but it WAS windy and cold.

We spent a couple hours fishing and hiking. And then we started heading to another spot in the lake. As we were going full speed, we hit a submerged log! It was like an earthquake on the boat! We quick, drove close to shore in case it punctured a pontoon. All seemed well, but we decided it was time to head back.

As we turned the corner, we were taking on 3 foot waves! It was scary! I was starting to consider waking Gracie up and having us all put on our life vests. Luckily we made it back safe.

Grace and Ahi never woke up thru the waves!

Crazy place

My work is the craziest place. In the last week, I have seen:

* A guy walking aroudn the offie in his socks
* A guy practicing his juggling in the cafeteria
* A woman dressed like a hooker

I might as well be at an airport!

Wins!

Drew's high school soccer team has won all four games they have played so far this season. Sure beats the Jr High team last year, that lost every game! They have three games this week, so let's hope for more wins.

In the pics, Drew is the goalie in grey and black.

Upside Down Dog

Jim went upstairs this morning and was greeted by an upside down dog on our bed! The dogs had a doggie play date last nite and were extra tired this morning!

Girlie Friends

A very brave mom brought her daughter, Grace and two of their other friends (Bug and Kayla) to a local farm that has sledding, ziplines, ice skating, etc, last nite.

When I asked the mom for an update on how it went, this is what I got:

"They skated, tricycle raced and sledded. The indulged me and went on a horse drawn carriage through the lights display….YIPPEEE. It was so cute... we were buggying along with our hot chocolate. I think they had a blast with the tubing.


The real hilarity is their conversation. A carful of girls and no Justin Bieber, shopping at the mall, cute boys… It was:

---isn’t Couture having an amazing rookie season (a SJ Sharks player)

---we need to kick some butt in indoor soccer

---who suffers from constipation!"

I couldn't be prouder of Grace - she picks some GREAT friends!

Murray the Houseguest

Mur-dog is with us today because his mom and dad are working from 9 to 9 today and that is too long for a doggy to be alone.

This morning it was WWF wrestling between him and Ahi. This afternoon it was tug-o-war with Daisy.

Happy Wokday

For Drew's bday next week he wants a Chinese Banquet for dinner. So I purchased this wok so we can have:

Fried rice
Schezuan chicken
Eggplant and tofu
Chow mein
Egg rolls
Wonton soup
Napa cabbage Chinese salad

We are fired up about our new wok - lots of discussion about why we need one and how it cooks differently. Can't wait to use it!

Denied!

I went to give blood today and was DENIED becasue my iron was low - that never happens!

Not sure what to think about that....

Ripples of Kindness

This morning I came into work extra early so that I could work a secret mission...

My company encourages random acts of kindness. And to encourage the ripples of kindness, they have a few employees place gift cards all around the campus. The cards come in bundles of two....one for the person who found the bundle and one for that person to give away!

So at 6 am, I was wandering around in a building and placing the gift cards in place for others to find them, including:

* Taped to the back of a conference room door
* In a copy machine
* In a microwave oven
* In the fridge
* In a phone booth

I have another whole bag of them to hide at lunchtime!

All things goofy

The Thursday Nite Dinner Club had a white elephant party this week. The instructions were:

1. Dig to the depths of your closet, pantry or garage and find the most hideous item you can locate!
2. Give it a little spit shine.
3. Wrap it in beautiful paper and bows to disguise is heinous nature.
4. Bring it with cheer to the white elephant party.
5. No money could be spent on the items.

The gifts and the stories related to them were hilarious!

A beautiful fur jacket came from my mom who recently purchased it thinking it was great! I took one look at it, declared it hideous and identified it to be perfect for the white elephant party! It was a hit with lots of stealing action. In the end, Cindy won it but said she would share it with anyone who wanted it for future pimp costumes.

The butt pic is of Kyle's new cans of skoal coppenhagen tobacco! We found four cans of it in our outside fridge! We can only guess that it came from one of Jim's fishing buddies. This gift led to stories of everyones first try of chew....and the subsequent vomiting stories! And around Kyle's wrists are his new sleeve holder uppers - beautiful gold in color, you push your sleeves up and these devices hold them in place.....they also rip off arm hair! Which led to random screaming coming from Kyle.




A freaky mexican marionette was my prized gift for the nite. And imagine my surprise when I went to bed and found it UNDER my covers! Thanks Marty and Drew.

Lucky Alex became the proud owner of a box full of used tupperware...some with and some without lids! She found one with multiple compartments and decided it was a gem and was using it for her lunch!

A good time was had by all!

Straight?

Yesterday I was at the gym and when I got done working out I went into the locker room and saw this gal all dressed and ready for work but she was still working on her hair. It looked like she was straightening it.

Then I went and tool a shower - came back and she was still straightening it.

Then I put on my makeup - she was still straightening it.

Ironed my clothes and got dressed - still straightening it!

Dried and curled my hair - still straightening it!

Put on my shoes and jewerly - still straightening it!

By that time, I left. Didn't have a chance to go back at lunch and see if she was still there.