Tahoe City Vacation

It has almost been a month since our week long family vacation in Tahoe City and I am just now getting around to posting photos :) These posts will be very out of order, starting with the last day that Damon, my grandma and I spent. We ended up leaving on Thursday, since I needed to get back to work on Friday to prepare for payroll. It was lovely just working one day and then having a weekend! My grandma decided to come home with us as well - she missed her hubby (Geoff and grandpa left on Tuesday). We decided to have a glorious lunch at Sunnyside - one of my favorite restaurants in the area. Miss Avery enjoyed the fabulous view...

And playing with her grandpa...

And her mimi...

I love the scenery in Tahoe - I think it is one of my favorite places...

We took a few photos before departing...

More later!

Number 77: Completed

Last night Damon, Shasta and I headed up to the top of the wedding hill for a fourth wedding anniversary picnic. We sat on the tailgate of the truck, ate deli sanwiches and listed to my ipod music. The first song that played on shuffle? Our wedding song, 'Best Friend' by Tim McGraw

We talked about our past and dreamed about our future.

We know that the best is yet to come...

I am headed out of town for girls weekend - be back on Monday :)

Four Years and Counting...

4 years.

48 months.

1,460 days.

2,108,160 minutes.

Today my Damon and I celebrate four years of marriage.

Last night while he was out taking a client hunting at the ranch, I started cleaning out my boxes of cards kept over the years. There was quite an assortment. Cards from my Papa Hugh (my dad's dad) and his wife sent to me in college - it was good to see their handwriting again. I smiled reading their detailed notes to me and I thought about how much they would have loved my husband if they had the chance to met him. Cards from my mom missing me while I was away at school - with motherly advice in every paragraph regarding sleeping enough, not working too hard and walking the fine line between being proud of my accomplishments and being worried about me taking too much on. Cards from my grandparents with more motherly advice - my favorite was reminding me to wear my seat belt on my freshman year spring break road trip. Cards from my wonderful college roommates to cheer me up, cheer me on or just because (last night, I spent all of my time dreaming about Chico and the wonderful memories made).

And, there were many cards from Damon and to Damon. From our first Christmas in 2004, first anniversary, from the wedding day, and from many holidays in between. There were cards from Cy with his paw print outlined as a signature, and then cards from Cy and Shasta, and then, just cards from Shasta. There were funny ones, silly ones, sad ones and goofy ones. They each represented a special time in our lives. And, the cards we exchanged today will join their predecessors in my card boxes and will bring back memories when I re-read them in the future.

We are headed up to the wedding hill for a picnic tonight and will rewatch our wedding video. Unfortunately, our cake bakery is no longer in business, otherwise we would be feasting on the best cake that I have ever tasted.

Three years and counting...

Two years and counting...

One year and counting...

Update on the 101 List

In the last few months I have been successful at crossing off two more of my 101 goals in 1,001 days. I have plans to complete about 5 more of them, but I will blog about them once they are complete, plus I will also be updating a few more of the goals due to some good reasons (like, Alicia and Geoff no longer live in Carlsbad so it'll be a little hard to go go-cart racing with them.)

#17: Send someone a 'just because' gift.

In Arizona our friend Bri gave Lisa a wedding gift that included the Pioneer Woman's cookbook (here). I had heard of her in the blog world before and drooled over her recipes. She uses about 20 photos per recipe, which is great for visual learners like myself. The weekend in Arizona was a great trip for Morgan and I, and as a token of that fun, I purchased matching cookbooks for the two of us. Just because. And then later, I realized that I could cross of a goal - what an unintentional surprise :)

#90: Host game night.

On Saturday night, Damon and I hosted a family game night with my parents, grandparents, and the Hildebrandts. We played Skip-bo, Pass the Trash and ate yummy food. Surprisingly we didn't play any card games while everyone was in Tahoe - so we had to make up for it. I only took two pictures...and guess who they feature?

Happy 4th Birthday Ryanne Marie

Today is Ryanne's 4th birthday - I am not quite sure where time flies, but it does. The cute birthday girl is celebrating at Six Flags/Marine World today and I cannot wait to hear the stoires that she is going to tell me about the animals and the 'scary rides.'

Last night we headed up to Leana and Tyler's to have dinner and birthday cake with the almost 4 year old. Damon and I got her a few puzzles (per her request - and then we proceeded to be the puzzle nerds who spent the rest of the evening putting them together), a dress from my favorite store, Cupcake, and a newborn Barbie nurse complete with a baby nursery. Oh my - she was in heaven. Here she is with Uncle Damon playing with the two baby Barbies and the nurse (complete with short skirt and pink high heels - seriously?) (And yes, I know that Damon's eyes are closed, but this was the only picture I got with him and just had to post it because he is so darn cute playing with Ry.)

The curly girl posing for pictures with her birthday cake...

You might be wondering what creatures are on top of her chocolate cake...

Yes, that is the sign of a true country girl...she requested a white cake with chocolate frosting with strawberries and coyotes on top. She loves living up 'on the hill' at the ranch and loves looking at the coyotes, so naturally, they would be on her 4th birthday cake. I am so looking forward to reminding her about this when she is in high school :)

Prior birthday celebration posts are here, here , here, here and here.

Dinner with the Straub's

I have about one million photos to organize and blog, so this next week or two will be a little 'out of order.' Damon and I joined the Straub's for a backyard BBQ the week before we left for Tahoe. Randy and Michelle moved to a house that is about two miles from Damon and I - we couldn't be happier having them 'close to home.' Plus, their house is fabulous with a great backyard for outdoor dinners. Michelle completely outdid herself with my favorite cupcakes...yummy!

Of course the boys (side note: can you believe how big they are getting?) were really excited for dessert.
Thankfully I will get to return the birthday celebration favor really soon for Miss Michelle :)

Clay Walker Concert

It is no secret that Damon and I love us a good country concert. We try to attend several each year - whether we travel far or just head to the local fair. This year, Clay Walker was playing at the Sonoma-Marin fair in Petaluma, and of course, we made time in our schedule to attend. I love fair food and walking around people watching with Damon - there are always interesting folks at the fair. We take our time walking through all the exhibits (like the cute cow above) and talk about how great it is to see young kids involved in the community. We laugh at the photos that were entered and the floral displays created. And then we find a spot on the grass, sit back and enjoy some good live music (and additional people watching.)

It was surprising what a great crowd involved concert that he put on - we were impressed.

The next concert will be Miranda Lambert at the Sonoma County Fair with my girls (and their guys), followed by Gary Allan (our favorite!)

A Little Kodiak Jack's

These videos are from a fun night at Kodiak Jack's with my girls on May 8th...here are some 'cute boys' as Meredith calls them in the video. Love me some country dancing!

This was towards the end of the night (as you can tell) and we are enjoying the entertainment that Kelly is providing on the dance floor during four corners...

And here is Kelly again, towards the beginning of the evening, riding the bull...I was very impressed with this feisty mother of two :)

Fathers Day 2010 - Part Two

We started Father's Day up at the cabin with my parents, the Hildebrandt's and my grandparents. As always, we had a great time staring at Avery...

I love this picture of Damon...it is so 'him' and he might just hurt me for posting it on our blog :)

Isn't this dress just adorable?

And just to prove that I was there...here are a few of me and my newest niece..

Whoohoo - look at those legs!

We tried to get a family photo and needed the reinforcements for help with Avery's attention. Enter Damon and my dad - she just loves them and their goofy faces and tricks...

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Father's Day talking about the important men in their lives. I know that I am blessed with fabulous fathers and father figures...and I enjoy spending a whole day celebrating them!

Father's Day 2010

Since I haven't been the best at updating the blog lately, it feels like Father's Day was forever ago, but I never blogged the photos. As usual, Damon and I had a busy day spending time with both of our families. The second part of the day was up at the Morelli's where I got to play hop-scotch with my favorite almost-four-year old...

Her hair is just too much, such a little beauty.

These days Ryanne's imagination is all over the place - she creates all lots of games for Auntie Lissa, Gramma, and Mom to play. I don't remember the details of this one, but the pictures are cute anyways :)

Relaxing with her Uncle Damon...

My sweet little Shasta tired from running around with her cousin(s)...

More later from the Cambra side of the celebration!