I'm dreaming of a White Christmas....

The closest thing to a White Christmas for me is a trip last week to Tahoe. We Californians get rain, fog, and sometimes warm sunshine on Christmas but not snow. Going to the snow was fantastic! (except for driving in it, of course!) The place we stayed made us feel spoiled, and the weather cooperated with us to get plenty of snow to play in! It had been a long time since I had been in the snow, and it was my niece and nephew's first time.
So much fun!!!


Love eating snow, but snocones...even better!


Taking cover from the snow under the trees


So fun to make a snowman, but boys just love to demolish it after....
Take that Frosty!


Such a cute little snow bunny!

Say 'Hola' to vacation!

Oh the relaxation I had...
I went with my parents and sister to Playa del Carmen for a week of R & R. And boy did I get it!!!
We started out with an excursion to the ruins in Coba. We even got to climb up the tallest pyramid. What a view from the top!
On another day we had a fanastic snorkeling adventure on a boat with a guy named Charlie Brown. Hilarious! He was all of 5' tall, in his late 60's, and full of spunk. He made it so much fun!





But most of the time, I spent doing the relaxing thing. Lounging by the pool, reading books, napping, ordering drinks by the pool, lounging in the palapa, walking on the beach, getting a massage....what could be better?!?!?
The weather was fantastic, and it was painful to come back to cold (and I do mean cold!) weather!

Walk down memory lane

So, I haven't had anything cute or funny happen lately that is "blog-worthy". But I have been quite nostalgic, so I thought I would share some cute memories that have made me smile lately. And since I am so in the holiday spirit, a lot of those memories are of Christmastime!


Nothing like birthdays with the cousins (Laura, Mike and Kari!). Look how cute we are...especially those styling clothes!


The holiday season was so sweet with the homemade chocolates from Idaho. What a labor of love! (and better than See's to me!)


Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa. Oh the traditions we have continued...


And, just an average day of Dad and his girls. We are such a serious bunch! My family can sure make me laugh!

And I dressed up as a what???....

Happy Halloween! Hope you all had a great time. I have pretty much been neutral about Halloween, but this year, I decided to try and come up with a cool costume. My boss has a party every year, and these people go all out. So I decided to go as an 80's roller skate girl (you know, like Crissy from Three's Company). I was so stoked to find a pair of skates on ebay, and then the leg warmers were 'awesome'! I went to the party (and let's just say, getting around on roller skates all night was challenging but no injuries. Laughed so hard sometimes I was crying!). I was loving it! I was SUPER tall and everyone kept saying "Hey Rollergirl!" Yeah, I still got some roller moves!

So here is the twist.... on Monday, I was describing my costume to someone else at work, and one of the doctors said, "Don't blush, but I thought you were Rollergirl." I blew it off, but then went into my office and called my sister, panicked. Andrea looked it up on line. Rollergirl was a character in "Boogie Nights" who was a porn star. Yeah, that's right...all the people at the party thought that's who I was! This good Mormon girl accidently dressed up as a porn star!!!! HILARIOUS!!! But come on... I don't think I look porn star-esque at all!

I've been tagged!

Okay, so I guess it is my turn to share 7 random facts about myself. Ready or not, here it goes...

1. I have already started listening to Christmas music (I know, scary!) I just can't help myself!
2. Current favorite shows: Bones, America's Next Top Model, Dancing with The Stars, and Heroes.
3. I am a sugaraholic. It's official! And not chocolate... just straight sugary stuff like licorice, gummies, those mellowcreme pumpkins...mmmmm!
4. I clean the hair out of my brush after everytime I use it. Not sure if I have always done it, or if I picked it up from a roommate :)
5. I can't stand nail polish on my fingernails. I swear it feels like they are suffocating!
6. I believe everyone's feet are functional but NEVER pretty. I paint my toenails bright colors to make my feet look as good as they are going to get (and, no they don't suffocate like the fingernails!)
7. My middle name is Nannette. I was named after a girl my parents liked when they were in charge of the youth in Castro Valley.


Thanks for tagging me Crystal! The lucky people I am tagging are:
Michelle
Heidi
Megan
Becca
Elise
Melissa
Callie

Birthday Fun at the Oakland Zoo!

I am safe and happy on the ground once again!

What a fantastic week off! (Well, of course, why wouldn't it be...I wasn't at work!)
But really.... Our first stop was Bryce Canyon National Park. We stayed with a friend who is working as a ranger there. That canyon was gorgeous!!! We only stayed 24 hours, but was able to do a quick hike around the rim, and watch a climbing video on the visitor center's big screen. Cool to have connections!



Then our true adventure began. The whole reason for the trip.... the BIG WALL in Zion National Park.

Andy and I awoke before the crack of dawn, and loaded up all our gear (no small feat. There were 3 bags of stuff and together it probably weighed 100lbs! No joke!) We rode the shuttle with all our stuff. Pretty funny actually, because the only other 6 people on the bus were from Louisiana and were on the self-proclaimed "seeing-not-doing tour" and so we were very entertained by their comments.


Our first challenge was crossing the river. Thankfully the water was low. After putting back on the shoes, we hiked uphill with all this heavy gear to the base of our climb. I tell you, looking up at the climb at that point, I was quite overwhelmed. After 8 hours of climbing, we made it to our sleeping ledge. What a long day! There was a little ledge, kinda like a bench. Must say that it was quite a relief to sit instead of hang by my harness. Wait, I must also say that Andy made me the best belay seat ever! I will never do big wall climbs without it! :)

So, it was time to eat dinner (oh, did someone bring utensils?), bundle up against the chilly breeze, use the restroom (kind of a challenge!), and get into a bed suspended off the edge of the wall (yikes!). I conveniently waited until it was dark to get onto the port-a-ledge. Why, you ask? So I couldn't see that there was NOTHING BENEATH ME! I must say, it was like a comfortable hammock, with the constant reminder to not move too much. Yes, I did actually sleep, and I did prefer my spot to Andy's small rock ledge.


The second day of climbing brought challenges in route finding. We got a little "lost" and by the time we got back on track, we figured we would not be able to make it to the top by the end of the day. Being the safe people that we are, we decided to rappel down. We made it halfway up, and we did some really cool stuff, but it feels a little anti-climactic not make it to the top.

Shockingly enough, I think I will give this crazy type of adventure one more try. I gotta completely finish one of these climbs!!!!
The next day, I had to hike Angels Landing to actually make it to the top. The view was spectacular.
I also had to show off the battle wounds (the only time I would purposely take a picture of my thigh!). Yeah tough girl!!!!



This is the wall we were climbing. We are actually on the wall. The fact that you can't see us tells you how big this thing is!!! If you can pick out a white or red helmet in the middle-ish.... more power to ya!

Nothing like backyard camping...

I was so lucky to have Nathan help me make sure my tent is ready for next week's adventure. He was so helpful! And of course, camping is about sleeping in a tent (we pretended), stories, flashlights, and scary monsters and bears!



Even Andrea and Jason got in on the fun!


Nathan as the scary monster outside my tent... just too cute to be scary!

I must be losing my mind...

I am getting ready to do something I thought I would never do (I guess this teaches me to say never to say 'never'!)

I am heading to Zion National Park in 10 days to do a big wall climb. That means that I am going to climbing a wall large enough to take more than one day. (the Angel's Landing wall, if you know Zions) So guess what that means... that's right, I will be sleeping on one of those crazy port-a-ledge things off the side of the wall.

WHAT AM I THINKING??? I honestly don't know. Well, I figure you gotta try new things sometimes, and this is definitely a new thing. Be adventurous while I have good people to be adventurous with!

The scenery will be spectacular, the company will be good, and I will be workin' pretty hard so I might even lose some of this "30 fat" (always a great side benefit!).

Wish me luck! I'll post some great pics when I get back...

Happy Birthday Fireman Nathan!

Nathan, my adorable nephew, turned 3 and it was all about being a fireman. Who knew there could be so many fires to put out??? Everything was on fire for hours, and hours, and hours...(pretend fire, of course)


Who says you can only dress up on Halloween!?!

"I have a fire hat and fire clothes!"

Every fireman needs a fire engine... Auntie Hoot's car will have to do!





The party was a big success! Fire engines, bubbles, playing outside and even a fire engine cake (well done Andrea!). Good times!

Paint by numbers...

Okay, so I didn't use paint by numbers to paint my room, but it worked out anyway! It took so long for me to find an orange color to paint on my wall. Yes, I did say orange. (Not the most common color to use, but my current favorite anyway!) One was too sherbet, the next one bright pumpkin.. finally found a warm terra cotta like color. It makes me sooo happy! Almost like a warm italian place.

The picture is the best I have. Please ignore the edge up by the ceiling that still needs to be done. Ah, the homeowners jobs are never done...

Back to my potato roots

I had a great weekend in Idaho visiting my wonderful Grandpa. My Dad and I enjoyed a weekend of doing odds and ends around the house, great stories of days gone by, and good company with family. Dad decided Grandpa needed a new flagpole. This wasn't any old flagpole either. We were on a mission....
we searched the East Idaho State Fair (so exciting!?!)for the right flagpole. I then supervised as we dug in Grandpa's yard and broke out the cement.
It looked so great! Dad has such a good eye for this stuff. Anyway, I really enjoyed getting back to those Idaho roots of mine and enjoying the more simple life with two great men....my Dad and Grandpa.

Fun Summer Memories....

Is it September already??? There were just too many fun things going on this summer. Since this is my first 'blog entry' I thought I would write my summer highlights....


I guess the first event was going to Marine World. I love the fact that we all took off on a Tuesday and played hookey! It was also Michelle's birthday, so we celebrated and just loved watching the 2 kids, Nathan and Audrey, have a blast! Mostly we spent time with the animals, but we big kids rode a couple rides too. Yahoo!

I got the greatest picture of my nephew Nathan making friends with a walrus. He was talking to him and the walrus was just staring back like he was listening. So cute!



I also got a chance to rock climb at Lover's Leap for the first time. The boys and I took off on our adventure, and soon became known as 'Midnight Train', 'Small town Boy', 'Shameless Desire', and 'Wildfire'. We climbed a fantastic and frightening (to me!)climb called Corrugation Corner. Great climbing, and I provided the entertainment by doing "the beached whale move" onto a ledge, getting my back pack stuck, and kicking my feet in the air to try and propel myself while laughing! I can say I have never done that move before! I have to give props to Andy for the fabulous lead! What a great view and,of course, the company couldn't have been better. Yet another experience that tells me how much I love climbing!

Hiking Half Dome in Yosemite was not on my list of things to ever do again...ever. But, never say never! Natalie and I embarked on a crazy day of adventure. We woke up early, drove to Yosemite, hiked Half Dome in 90+ degree weather, and drove home. What a day! We decided 3 days previous to suck it up and just go for it. We knew it would be hard, but the heat added a second level of difficulty.
Once I got close to the top, exhausted and a little lightheaded, I remembered why my sister Andrea and I vowed never to do this again. But, we succeeded and got to the top of that mountain! Spectacular view!! And who would have ever guessed that Natalie's cell phone would have worked up there??? (hi Daddy-O!) I wish I had a picture that could do this place justice, but these will have to do for now...



So much summertime fun. Can't wait to see what the fall will bring...