First post of 2011...Tahoe!

We originally planned a girls getaway to Tahoe for the 25th of February but as luck would have it, a huge storm came in and we were unable to leave until the next morning. About half way up we were still seeing signs saying chains required but by the time we got to the pass, it was clear.

The gas station we stopped at in Placerville

I had to 4 wheel out of the parking lot.

6 of the 7 girls (Teresa is missing)

The huge icicle hanging outside the kitchen window

 We had a great time in the snow. It was me, Terri, Gail, Leah, Whitney, Teresa and Ali. We shopped, ate, danced, watched movies and went hot tubbing.  It was a great break. I had a hard time leaving Ty for the first time and I cried for the first few miles of our trip but was thankful I had the opportunity to spend an entire weekend with friends.

Buffet at Harrah's was delicious!

Sweetest picture of Teresa

My poor baby was so dirty!

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Whitney trying to make a snow angel

Christmas 2010...

We had a wonderful Christmas as usual. We have so many wonderful memories and great traditions we have created over the years. We had our dear friends, the Ricks and the Youngs, come over for Christmas eve dinner. Our kids opened their Christmas jammies together and we all had a great time.
Christmas morning was wonderful. No one was sick (I was so afraid because we had a stomach virus come through the week before) and everyone enjoyed their gifts. Ty was thrilled to FINALLY have his own tool set and mom was grateful he would no longer need to use her home decor as a hammer! Long after my kids have left home, I will always remember the quiet Christmas mornings that we spent around the Christmas tree.

Per our tradition, we went to see a movie on Christmas day. This year we saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. It was WONDERFUL! I love the connection the Narnia movies have to Jesus Christ. In one of the last scenes, Aslan said, "I shall be watching you always. In your world, I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there." It was beautiful and I cried.
We ended our day with a delicious (not hardly) dinner at Chevy's and dessert at Tim and Gail's. Now on to a wonderful 2011!

Our Tree

Stockings!

All of the rascals: Kellie, Jordan, Morgan, Brooke, Olivia, Payten, Troy, Ty, Connor and Cody

Brandon & Terri, Tim & Gail, Kelly & Brian

He's going to be a Calvin Klein underwear model one day...

"Tody"

Cody (and his iPhone)

Morgan (and her iTouch)

Ty was so excited to get his tools

Brooke (and her first cell phone)

Introducing Captain Brian Addington...

FINALLY...after many years of budget cuts and high hopes, Brian was finally sworn in as the newest (and only) captain of the Pittsburg Police Department on December 13, 2010.
Brian's oral board was on December 2nd and on my birthday, December 3rd, he was offered the promotion. What a great birthday for me!

Swearing in

Brian and the Chief

Our family

 

The Chief, only half joking, said that he didn't think it was a great idea for him to get sworn in on the 13th of the month. He said that one day it was going to land on a Friday, we laughed. This is the funny part: we planned on going to my favorite Mexican restaurant, New Mecca Cafe, after Brian's swearing in. We woke up on the morning of his swearing in and Brian, after reading his emails, said, "The Mecca burned down last night." OMG...maybe we should have heeded the Chiefs warning!

Brian's mom came up and his sister Joy just happen to be in town so they were also able to come. Ty was ill with the tail end of a stomach virus so he was clingy and tired but other than that it was great.

Since then his work load has increased exponentially because, due to budget cuts, he is the only captain at the department and acts as chief when the Chief is gone. Brian has been very successful with his career and I am very proud of him. He's a hard worker and his Chief has been excellent at mentoring him. He truly loves the department he works for. Way to go babe!

Oh excuse me, it must be the cheese, ornament exchange party!

For the last couple years I have hosted a cheese/ornament exchange holiday party. Everyone brings lots of delicious cheese to eat and we usually have a pretty vicious ornament exchange. Last year the fight was on over a Raggedy Ann ornament which I eventually won but not before being physically assaulted by Melissa. Leah brought another Raggedy Ann ornament this year which will probably be a tradition now. We always have a great time eating, socializing and love the crazy stories that come from the exchange. I'll never forget the exchange we had that had Sabra Allen in tears (literally) over a musical jingle bell ornament...so funny! Oh the memories we are creating!

Jenny, me, Leah, Tammy and Terri

Leah, Gail and Tracie

Teresa

Rebecca, Carrie, Leanne, Coral and Melissa

The whole gang (not pictured previously: Susanne, Lisa and Julie)

A little makeover...

Before

 Our house needed a little sprucing up so this summer Brian and I took a weekend and gave our house a new paint job. I picked three colors and ask several friends to come look at it and give their opinions. No one picked the darker one; they all thought it was a little too bold. Brian and I decided to throw caution to the wind and went for the darkest paint color and it looks fabulous!!

The paint choices

The new look

I'm finally 8! Brooke's baptism...

Brookey's first year of summer camp!

Morgan's 11th Birthday

4th of July

The fourth of July was really fun, especially the part when Richard had a scorpion crawl up his back and we were too interested in looking at it then saving him from it. Hahaha...

Richard and Olivia's cake

Addington and Ricks chicks

Terri, Gail and I

My boys

Scout Camp 2010

Troy, Cody and I started preparing for scout camp by building a sign for the troop's campsite. It came out awesome. Brian was suppose to go for the whole week to scout camp but Command College conflicted so he drove up on Wednesday after class and then went up again on Friday and stayed until Saturday.

They have an award called the polar bear award that can be obtained by jumping into the lake at 6am for three days. Troy informed me that he was going for the polar bear award no matter what the temperature of the water was (and he did!)  So you can understand my nervousness when I found out it was still snowing with only two weeks left before camp was to start. The scout leaders decided that the boys were going up regardless of the conditions and rented some snow plows to clear the road that led to the camp. Thankfully, the Lord heard my prayers and the weather cleared just in time for camp and Brian said it was absolutely beautiful up there. I wasn't there so I don't have a lot to say about it but here are some of there adventures in pictures:

Leaders went up to prepare camp and this is what they found...

Our cool sign

My handsome boy...

My other handsome boy (in need of a haircut)

The lake

Brian and Cody preparing to scale down a cliff...

Brian...

Cody

Lake Sterling

Beautiful

Lemonade...

The tree was down, I was sad but here is the upside: my plants are growing like CRAZY because of all the sunshine they are suddenly getting! The arborist said the rest of the trees are going to fill in and grow about 4 feet a year now that the big oak is gone; we are going to plant an even larger lawn, and lastly but most importantly...the tree house went up!!
My Grandpa, Brian and Tim all pitched in and built an awesome tree house. I am very thankful to Tim and my Grandpa for there diligence because it was HOT out there. Tim showed up like clock work every time my Grandpa came down to work on the tree house. All the boys: Cody, Troy and Ty worked really hard with their dad to get it done. They painted, put up siding, moved wood and worked as great assistants. Ty is now addicted to anything related to tools and uses my home decor as a hammer any chance he gets. It took about three full weekends and an injured knee to complete it but it is built to code and ain't goin' anywhere!
I'm so thankful for my lemonade and the men who took my tribulation and made it a triumph!

The foundation!

Grandpa doin' his thang

The floor

The men

Grandpa "schooling" Brian.

First wall goes up!!

...and the second

Hi Guys!

The roof...

The siding...

Almost done including the door from Grandpa's house!

My Lemonade