Family Brunch

Last weekend my sister and Geoff were in town for a wedding of one of her high school friends. It was a busy weekend and I hardly had time to visit with them. We were able to end the weekend with a yummy family brunch on Sunday morning. Alicia made my mom's famous french toast...

And I tried to make the table as pretty as possible with limited time...

On Saturday night I made my great grandmother's sweet bread, I still don't have the frosting down yet, but it gets better every time.

We all admired my dad's *beautiful* (heehee) trophy from a car show that he attended on Saturday...

My grandpa is just too darn cute...

And Alicia spent some time trying to teach grandma Sudouku (or however you spell it.(

Gotta love Sunday full of good family and your family.

We Heart Gary Allan

Last night Damon and I enjoyed a long awaited night away at Konocti for the Gary Allan concert. We love Gary Allan, he and his music hold a special place in our relationship. Konocti also holds a special place in our relationship. My first present to Damon was for Christmas 2004, I purchased tickets to Blake Shelton up at Konocti. I was nervous giving him the gift...I had only met him 3 months prior and I didn't know if it would be "too much too soon." Turns out it was one of the best moves I made. Months later, Damon told my mom that that was when he knew that I was a keeper, because of the amount of thought that I put into it (of course, I wrote a poem to go along with the tickets to make him guess what we were doing.) The Blake Shelton concert was a blast, and we have returned to see Gary Allan in 2007 as well. Our first time seeing Gary Allan was in Las Vegas in December of 2005. This time, I surprised Damon for his 29th birthday. I wrote him up at midnight on his birthday with the new Gary Allan CD playing...and told him that I was flying him to Vegas for the weekend to see Gary at the House of Blues. It was a wonderful weekend, a much needed weekend after a stressful surgical procedure that I had just had completed the Thursday before. The music was awesome, and I just really enjoyed the performance. So, needless to say, we were looking forward to Friday night and another night of music from one of our favorite musicians.

Ready for the entertainment...


The opening band was the Shawna Lynn band. I had looked her up on myspace before to learn a little bit more about her and her band. They were pretty good during the first 7-8 songs that they played. You could tell that she has performed alot, but just hadn't had a big break yet to mainstream. They have opened for Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean and Josh Turner.

Then, the last two songs blew the audience away...here are some videos to show the talent.

After a set change, it was time for Gary to take the stage. He is so adorable and his music is so raw and emotional. Plus, his personal story just makes everything heightened (his wife committed suicide in October of 2004, and he has used his music as therapy.) Plus, he is a cutie!

Notice the middle guitar player...he is wearing a kilt!

Can you see the bottle of Jack on the piano, these guys were just having too much fun. It was contagious!

Some videos...you probably don't want to view it (I was all over the place and my camera video doesn't focus very well at a far distance.) Hope you don't mind hearing Damon and I sing along as well...we were just having too much fun!

There was also news last week that Konocti is closing, which makes us sad. We love going to concerts of there. I have seen Faith Hill, Clint Black, John Michael Montgomery, Diamond Rio, Blake Shelton, Gary Allan (obviously!) and Jack Ingram up there. (I think that I might be missing a few.) It is a great place, close to home, but far enough away to make a difference. Hopefully someone will come along and purchase it, I would hate to miss all the music in the future.

My Friend Trenton

Sometimes I get little phone calls from my little friend Trenton. He will start asking his mom questions about me to the point that she asks him if he wants to call. So he does. He calls at work, at home (and gets sad when Damon answers and I am not home) and on my cell phone. When he is at home all he has to do to pick up the phone and press the button that has a photo of Damon and I and it calls our house (greatest phone invention ever!)

He remembers I told him he could spend the night and we finally set a date. I was nervous. I am not going to lie. I was most nervous about driving him, driving someone else's most precious item has a lot of related stress. Anyways, we met up for dinner before the switch over. Damon and I were in separate cars (I was down in Marin for a doctor's appointment), so I really did need to drive alone with my little friend. Yikes!

But first, dinner, here are Casen and Alex (who were having their first sleepover that night) being goofy with the mustache they received from the quarter toy machine.

Goofy boys...

To prove how cute a 4-going-on-5 year old looks in my car, I tried to take a photo during the two mile drive home. Super super blurry, but you can see that Trenton was excited!

When we got home we made cupcakes...

I loved having a little one in the house...

While the cupcakes were baking we watched Trenton's new favorite movie, Mall Cop, until it was time for bed. Damon and Shasta slept in the master bedroom, and Trenton and I slept in the guest room. It was fun to have my little monkey snuggle with me. But, the fun didn't last too long. At 6:00 Trenton woke up and I told him that is wasn't morning yet and that he should go to sleep (that's what Michelle told me to say, promise!) About 20 minutes later I wake up to a ear piercing scream about six inches from my head. He wanted his mom and nothing, nothing that I tried could get his mind off of her. So, I got my butt out of bed, grabbed my glasses and drove him home. Good thing there wasn't any traffic at 7:00 on a Sunday morning so I wasn't too nervous for the 15 minute car ride.

Damon jokes now that we won't have to worry about having Trenton come and spend the night anymore...but, I think that he is scarred forever (but we aren't quite sure why). I haven't received another phone call since that morning. :(

Hopefully we will have better luck next time!

Ranch Photos

Just taking a moment at lunch while my JC photoshop assignment is uploading to share some photos that I took at the ranch on Monday night. I swear, the property never ceases to amaze me. When Damon and I were first dating, I remember telling him that I wanted him to know me like he knows the 500+ acres up there. It is amazing, he knows exactly were rocks are hidden in the tall grass and each ditch in the "roads." The other night I reminded him about my comment when we were dating, and he told me that he thinks he is doing a pretty good job at knowing me just as well. And, I would have to agree. Enjoy the beauty of Morelli's corner of Sonoma Mountain.

These photos are all unedited, I will share a few edited ones later that I decided to get blown up for the house.

Weekend Trip to Reno

A few weeks ago Damon and I joined Randy and Michelle for a quick weekend getaway to Reno. I love quick getaways. They are the best form of relaxation for me. We stayed at the Silver Legacy, a hotel I always used to admire as a child going to Reno each year with the fam for Hot August Nights. Here are Damon and I looking goofy in the window reflection:

We didn't get in until late on Friday night (lots and lots of traffic), but we still made time for cocktails and gambling. Ah, what a deadly combination! Damon and Randy stuck to the three card poker tables where they sat down with someone from Rohnert Park who ran in some of the same crowds back in the day (its such a small world). Meanwhile, Michelle and I went to the penny machines. I gave her a dollar and what does she do? Turns it into $100!!! I was so amused and excited about the whole situation. We didn't know what the heck we were doing at the machine, we just kept pushing buttons and she kept on winning. It was hilarious and we just couldn't get over it all weekend, so, of course, we kept on playing the penny machines all weekend long.

She is going to KILL me for posting the following picture, but it is too cute!

On Saturday Michelle and I slept in (just cannot drink like we used to) while the boys went scouting for deer where Michelle and Randy are going to go hunting in October. I brought my laptop, did some editing, a few hours of work and watched the movie Mean Girls, it was lovely. After the boys got back we went to the Peppermill lunch buffet and did a little shopping. After the boys took an afternoon nap, we got ready and headed to a comedy show at the hotel. But, first, a quick photo op on these big funky chairs in the lobby.

There were actually three comedians, so we had a variety of comedy styles. The best part of the evening was the drunk man in the front row who kept commenting on the comedians during their set. It was inappropriate and totally embarrassing, but he just kept doing it and kept a' drinkin', Gotta love Reno people watching!

After the show we went to Mel's Diner who some classic snacks, yummy!

After all of our weekend trips and excursions together, this was actually the first time away with the Straub's without the boys. We missed them, but it was a different experience not having them around! I think Michelle liked the being able to not worry about bathroom breaks, snacks, bedtimes and hand holding through the casino!

Belated Birthday Party for Ava

It has been WAY too long since a good long blog post filled with photos. Ready, set, go! These are from almost one month ago, when Ava was in visiting her grandparents in Santa Rosa for her second birthday. It is so great to see the Gomes family expand...my mom and Paulette were neighbors growing up and my dad and Rick were neighbors growing up. Eventually they all ended up meeting up, getting married, having their first born children (both girls) together and having their second children within two years of each other (that is where I come in.) Growing up they were our vacation-ing family (aka: camping and fishing) and our parents-get-together-to-play-cards-and-kids-just-try-to-stay-out-of-trouble family. It was been so great to see them grow and welcome the next generation...Ava and Gavyn. The whole family has been "featured" on the photography blog in case you need a refresher.

Anywhoo....here are some photos from Ava's small family birthday celebration. Ah, to be two again!

Love the GIGANTIC cupcake idea!

Ava has never really had sugar like that before, she wasn't quite sure how to handle everything in the beginning.

Blowing out her individual cupcake, she almost kisses the buring candle!

My mom and Paulette...

Opening some presents before the sugar festivites began...two years old and she already has a pink laptop. Love it.

"There is that pink and chocolate thing again, not quite sure what to do with it..."

Starting to warm up to it....

Sold!

Rick and Gavyn...

Another cool gift...

Hopefully I will be getting back into the swing of blogging :)