Things are looking good!!!

It's always fun to start the year with a birthday party!  Tom did say the cake I made looked like it had rabbit turds on it - also know as little blobs of chocolate frosting dabbed around the edge of the cake.  It was fun to have everyone over for pizza and cake - plus the creepy eye patches and glow sticks that entertained at least the youngest for far too long.  We sat in the dark listening to music, while Sofia (& I) danced and twirled glow sticks, until the birthday boy cried that it was his party and he wanted the lights on - really a funny scene!

We've also been working on setting up a work shop in the old carport.  More to come on this...

I thought Tom looked so cute surfing on the back of the tractor while Pop scraped it out.

 Pop and I spread new gravel on Thursday afternoon.  It is hard to believe that space used to be so full of sh!t just a month ago, but all the work has paid off.  Next up we'll be putting up walls and a door and running electricity out there down the road.

So spoiled!  New gravel where we park - bring on the rain and snow - I'm ready!

How I Spent My Christmas Break by tori

It's been too long since I have posted any news.  No news is usually good news, and so it goes for us.

We had a good Christmas.  Really it was a GREAT Christmas, though our joyfulness was tempered by our worry for loved ones.  We took a long trip and saw some great places!  We took the southern route to Oregon via the HOOVER DAM!!!  I've been over the bridge once before, and it was dark - like one of those cheesy postcards that are all black and say "Hoover Dam at Night".  I was super-bummed out that we didn't stick around to see it that last time, so we made a point of stopping and taking lots of pictures.

  Yeah - I know - he's a stud, and he's mine!

The water level was really low - we saw pictures from when the water was up almost to the gangway that connects the tower to the dam.

looking down the other side at the power plant

We didn't pay for the cheesy green-screen picture they take and hang all sorts of backdrops down the dam.  This one's pretty nice, though.  It would have gone on the photo Christmas card if I actually made one.

We went on the power plant tour - very cool stuff!

 The spillway was pretty fascinating - that would be one heck of a water tube ride!

 We traded the sun of southern Nevada for the snow up north!  I happily took pictures while Tom drove.

We arrived at Lincoln City at night, but the waves were so wild, we could see and hear them from our room.  Those pictures didn't turn out, but this one did as we headed down for our annual walk on the beach.

Lots of foam all over!

Whoops - after going back for a lost shoe, I got doused with a lot more ocean than I planned!

We ate lots of yummy seafood, some Tillamook cheese (at the factory - those pictures are on Tom's phone), and then braved the rain to my parents' house.

 Tom & Isaac hit it off great!  Isaac's brothers were a whole other force to be reckoned with - best captured with video, so no pics.  Ollie and I did get to make pumpkin bread - another time not suited for a camera.

We saw all the kiddos on Christmas Eve with Mom and Dad, followed by a showing of Christmas Vacation.  It was a very mellow Christmas Eve, quite different from the parties of past years, but just right for this one!

After all the fun, we headed home on the more expedient route, sneaking across the country between storms.  Idaho was a welcome vision - or at least the 80 MPH speed limit!  We rolled into home as the clouds rolled in over the mesa - not sure you can really see it in the picture below.  What a trip!  What a year to remember!

The year ended with a party - friends from Denver marking it the second annual NYE party weekend. 

And THAT'S how I spent my Christmas break!