Living in a Snow Globe

What a Crazy Holiday! We left Cali on Sunday and drove over 88 in the snow - love that 4WD! We arrived in Winnemucca and it began to snow and did not stop for 4 days! No matter - there were lots of family to visit with and cooking and eating to do and my Mom had a handyman-to-do list for Joel.

Amelia's gift from Santa was to be a kitchen. After opening the box and dumping the contents out - it took 7 adults and about 2 hours to asseble the toy. But, Amelia loves it! The back burner makes sizzle noises and the front one boils! Very cute - we've been eating all kinds of fake foods! Alyssa and Ryan kept the girl quite entertained and they played in Nana's "hot pool" every day!

One evening, on my Dad's rounds to check on the cars, Sue and I visited the General Lee for a photo op - nice!

Over a foot of non-formable snow fell beautifully on the landscape and we had to stay an extra day as both 80 and 88 were closed and we could not get home. Good thing my Dad got a wii for Christmas - Guitar Hero is my weakness!






We finally made it home to find that Santa had visited our house as well - Amelia's new golf clubs had arrived! SpongeBob gold balls were in her stocking and she's well n her way to becoming the next Tigris Woods!

We had a wonderful visit with Aunt Kerry and Uncle Don before they left for home thismorning! We missed Momma Gwynne's birthday but the family held off on the first-ever Secret Santa gift exchange until we were able to participate - Thank you! It turned out great and we all chose our names for next year. My family calendars turned out nice and I'll start working on next year's soon so feel free to send new pics throughout the year!

Christmas Plans

It looks like the weather is going to dictate when we'll be able to travel to Nevada and when we leave there to come home. There is a large mountain range between us - The Sierra Nevadas - and they are the reason that we so much of our visiting in the summer months. But, it's Christmas damnit and we have family to see! We hope to leave here on Sunday or Monday and plan to head home on Christmas Day. This will give us lots of time in Winnemucca to visit and be home to celebrate with Joel's family as well. This will be the first time I'll miss MamaGwynne's birthday dinner - Christmas Eve. It's always a fun get-together. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, especially my brats, Alyssa and Ryan as they are coming all the way from Tennessee. This may be my last blog before the big holiday so...
Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

Happy Holidays!

On Friday evening, my friend Chelsea and her son, Troy along with myself and Amelia went to Tuolumne City's light parade and to see Santa Claus. As you can see in the picture, Amelia wasn't into sitting on a strange man's lap. She did request "golf clubs and a treat" so we'll see what happens.
We brought home a tree on Saturday and spent the evening decorating it. I moved a few of the ornaments around after Amelia went to bed as she put 3-5 on a single branch in a few places.
Sunday was Joel's brother, Thomas's birthday and we celebrated with family, pizza, cake and a few shots of Jager. "Happy Birthday Worm!"

It started yesterday and by thismorning we had about 4 inches of the white stuff. Amelia and Joel built a little snowman on the deck. We named him Marvin. The snow continued throughout the day and we now have about 7 inches and are looking forward to a White Christmas!

We'll be finishing our baking tonight and will be making deliveries to the neighbors unless Joel eats all the cookies.... again.

Aaaaahhh Chhhhhuuuuu

After 6 weeks of going full speed ahead my body decided that we've had enough and I need a break so, I have a cold that really seems to be kicking my ass. Jager and Alkaseltzer Cold help a bit. I spent the month of Novemebr delivering the mail, helping prepare for Amelia's school's annual Christmas Shop fundraiser, putting the annual SPNS cookbook together, studying for my Real Estate exam and being mother and wife, not to mention hosting Thanksgiving. I guess I deserve this. Now that most of those things are finished, I can concentrate on my Real Estate studies and prepare for Christmas. Here's where the new stress begins. Joel has family arriving here on Christmas day, I have family coming to Winnemucca and now we're trying to figure out how to be in two places, 6 hours away from each other, at the same time. Plans are still in the making on this adventure.

I have already finished my Christmas shopping and have begun the baking! I really do like this part. The other night, I finished making homemade dog cookies for all of Honey's friends and Amelia wanted to try one, I explained to her that they were for dogs but eventually gave in a let her have one. It only took one bite for her to realize that she and Honey do not have the same tastes in cookies and Honey happily chomped down the remainder of Amelia's dog cookie.

Last week, Joel brought home the greatest thing ever.... a giant cardboard box from a hot water heater. He cut a door and some peep-holes and let Amelia go to town on it with some markers. It really is fantstic - she spend minutes in there at a time!

At the moment, Joel and Amelia are curled up on the couch, sleeping through a football game. I would be too but the cold medicine is spinning me out a bit. Maybe I'll go hang up some Christmas light sor something!