We Heard a Little Rattling in the Engine...

Yesterday we were driving home from church and Rob and I heard a little noise from the engine. We weren't sure what it was and hoped it was coming from the car in front of us. When we got home Rob popped opened the hood and to our suprise was a "nest"! We are not sure what kind of nest (we think it was a mouse), but this is what we found. When Rob lifted up the nest, there was Caesar's dog food and other pieces of trash. Rob inspected the car wires and other parts of the car and believe we were able to catch it all. Let's hope so anyways...

A Beautiful Day for a Drive...

This next Saturday is the first day of the 2009 Douglas County Ski Club. Rob is the President of the club and has worked real hard at getting everyone signed up and paperwork all completed. Well today Rob wanted to take a long lunch and drive up and see the conditions of the mountain and to pick up some things for the club. He asked me to tag along and it was a beautiful day for a drive. So we got in the car and of course we brought Caesar with us (he wouldn't dare want to stay home if he knew we were going for a drive). Besides, Emily and John left today and he was mopping around the house without them here to keep him entertained.

As we drove we noticed the temperature was 58 degrees as we started up the hill. It was 45 with a wind chill once we made it to the lodge. Let's just pray the nights are really cold so we can keep the snow on the mountain and to have a some more snow storms to help with the snowpack. I took a few pictures and I must say it sure is pretty and we are pretty blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

A Family Send-Off for Emily and John

Daniel, Diego, Madison Emily John and Hayden

Daniel being goofy with Grandma

Caesar getting in on the loving with John

My girls! They make me proud

Samantha, Janey, Pamela, Emily and Sarah Jane

Diego hamming it up with Auntie Em and Playing with his buddy Caesar!

Diego and Madison... Kissing Cousins?

Daniel playing with Madison with Samantha holding her and Sarah Jane taking a turn and sharing stories with her.

She said "Cheese"! I knew it... I think that is her middle name!

She sure knows what the camera is!

Until we meet again... hopefully soon!

We all got together again but this time it was to say goodbye to Emily and John. They are headed back to school after a great 2 week visit. Rob made everyone spaghetti and garlic bread and Patsy brought a great salad. I just love these precious times and treasure all of them!

Happy New Years... Let All Be Fine in 2009!

Our Host and Hostess Jeff and Kim

Chuck and Karen

Kim and Ron

Barry and MJ

Brian and Peg with Jeff looking on

Emily and John

The Girl Band vs. the Boy Band

Emily and John... I think we'll hire them for our next event!

The Mom's and their Emily's ... Here is a little story about this... Rob and I try to get together monthly with the Schnitzer and Tuggles and play cards. It occurred to all of us at one of those card nights that all three couples have a youngest (or only child) named Emily, hence the picture of the Mom's with their Emily's. Cute huh?

Some of the gang that came to celebrate

We had a great time we had! The Schnitzer’s invited us over for a New Year’s celebration. Kim had prepared some great food and desserts and provided Rock Band. So once again John and Emily entertained all of us with their singing and playing. Then we all got involved… we had the girls band against the boys band. I can’t tell you who won. If there was really a winner I would say it was all of us who participated. It was great fun and a great crowd. Thanks everyone for including us and Happy New Year to all of you and your families. May we all be blessed this year of 2009!

Grandma and Grandpa

Michael Competes in Wrestling

My nephew Michael came to Reno to compete in the Sierra Nevada Wrestling Meet. He was in the Heavyweight catagory and as much as I don't know about this sport, I do know that he is well known in the circuit and did very well in his catagory! It was great to see him and to go and support him at this event. Thanks Michael for hanging out with your Aunt and sharing a lemonade with me.

Janey and Michael 12/30

Great Times with Great Friends!

The Witt's were having a post-Christmas/pre- New Year's Party and we were invited. Of course it is always a great time when we get together. Their boys had guitar hero so Emily and John jumped in and showed us how they play. They are very good and I was impressed with them. Conner entertained us on the piano from tunes he had learned on YouTube...his talents always amaze me. I hope he keeps it up!

Emily and ColtonConner and JohnConner playing pianoCraig, Caren, Janey and Rob
Ahhh... Grandma and GrandpaEmily and John and Janey and Rob
The view from their front yard.

Happy Birthday Patsy!

Kaitlynn showing Eleya how to color.
Pamela, Patsy and SamanthaEmily
Ellen, Janey and Sarah Jane Singing Happy Birthday to Patsy
I caught Kaitlynn feeding baby Eleya some dessert!

Kaitlynn polishing off the ice cream...
Opening gifts... this sign says it all!

Kaitlynn posing with Grandma Patsy.

It is tradition for all of the girls in the family to get together and go to lunch and shopping for Patsy's Birthday. Her birthday is the day after Christmas, so we try to go somewhere to celebrate. This year we went to BJ's Brewery. It was great and of course we all had fun being together once again.

After we had a great lunch it was time to do some shopping... we stepped into Pottery Barn (one of my favorite stores) and next thing I knew I caught Samantha posing with these prehistoric bones! The store clerk thought I should label these "bone-head". Pretty funny huh? We always find a laugh wherever we go!... it is not hard with this family!