Gratuitous Rob Post

It's been awhile since I posted anything about Rob Thomas so I think it's time!  Here he is on last night's Kennedy Center Honors with an incredible performance.  He was there as part of the performers honoring The Who and I must say his portion of it was the most powerful.  He closed with 150 NYFD and NYPD members singing backup to thank Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend for playing at a concert in New York City to honor 9/11 responders. 

Mini Ski Trip

We made a semi last minute decision to take a couple days and go up
to Mt. Shasta for some skiing and relaxing....turned out to be a great decision.  We were a little worried because the weather forecast was iffy and Monday was pretty ugly but Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous.  We toured the town of Mt. Shasta and it is really such a cute town I don't know why we don't do it more.  The weirdest thing ever is we ran into an old friend and co-worker of Aarons on a street corner...he worked with him down in Concord and he now lives in Napa and just happened to stop in Mt. Shasta to stretch their legs on the way home from Oregon.  So weird! 

We had a great dinner at our hotel and did some swimming and hot-tubing in their indoor pool.  And guess what?  At dinner we ran into another old co-worker of Aarons!  This guy he worked with doing water testing on Iron Mountain.

Today we enrolled the kids in full day ski school and got to ski on our own...it was great!  The kids had a busy and productive day with 2 lessons, lunch, and fun time with their instructors.  Ella had a blast and didn't want to leave, Jacob had fun too but got a little upset that we weren't going to come back.  He said next time he doesn't want to take a lesson, he says he's got it down and just wants to stay with us.  We shall see.  Next time.  Ella need to works on her stopping...she just wants to to go FAST!  Jacob needs to work on his turning.  His idea of stopping is to fall down.  Oh and guess what?  Aaron ran into more co-workers, on 2 separate occasions on the mountain!  This time current guys he works with now.  Can't take Aaron anywhere, I tell ya!  Click here for pictures from our adventures in Mt. Shasta

Guess where we are?

Christmas Festivities

Whew, another year of Christmas has come to a close!  All month to prepare and bam, it's over.  It was definitely fun while it lasted!  Let's see a brief synopsis...Christmas Eve was spent at my Mom's house.  Aaron was working that day so it was the kids and I, plus Grandma and my brother.  We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of crab, salad and sourdough bread.  Pizza for the kids.  I let the kids each pick a present to open as well. 

On Christmas Day, the kids were up before 7 and begging to open the Santa gifts but they had to wait for Aaron to come home around 8am.  After the first round of gift and stocking opening commenced, we prepared a big breakfast and Uncle Jeff and Grandma also came over.  The rest of the day was spent opening gifts, playing with toys, and watching movies (Fred Clause--skip it, Enchanted--a favorite, Step-Brothers--inappropriately funny)...there was also lots of eating going on.  Jeff made the entire dinner and like all his dinners, was completely gourmet and delicious.  He made a Tur-duck-en which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey.  Each bird had a different stuffing that went with it and it was quite an ordeal!  Grandma made a DE-licious peanut butter and chocolate pie for dessert.  Needless to say bootcamp plans are in the works and starting SOON!

Click here for more photos

Merry Christmas to All!

Ella's turn to be a SUPER STAR!

Last night was Ella's Christmas dance performance and it was a great success!  This was the 3rd show she's performed in and is becoming more and more comfortable with everything.  This time her class performed a ballet to "Where Are You Christmas?"  I wasn't able to get photos at the show but I did take some at rehearsal.  I'll post video and professional photos here in a couple of weeks. 

Ella's Big Day!

On Friday Ella did something she's been wanting to do for quite some time...got her ear's pierced!  She was so excited both before and after the big event and has been proudly showing off her pink diamonds to everyone she sees.  Afterwards we celebrated by getting a pink donut with sprinkles...could life be any better?!

Here's some video we took of this milestone event in a girl's life:

Jacob's a star...SUPER STAR!

Thursday night we attended Jacob's school play, The 12 Days of Christmas.  It had to be the cutest thing ever!  All the first graders performed and the teachers kind of kept the details a secret from the parents so we didn't fully know what to expect.  Boy did we get a treat!  Jacob not only sang and had lines, but he danced too!  We were so proud and impressed at how great he did. 

We ordered the professionally recorded video but I couldn't wait to share.  This is a Flip video recording off the TV from the video that Aaron took with our camcorder.  Not the best but hopefully you get the idea!  Jacob was one of the 'six geese a laying' and was the one in white sleeves and black pants. 



Christmas Cheer

Wednesday night I hosted a Christmas Party for my friends and had plenty of fun and a lotta Christmas cheer.  I had the most Christmas cheer of anyone and hope I wasn't too embarrassing!  None the less it was really fun...everyone brought an appetizer to share and a white elephant gift to exchange.  I had a couple different games to play for prizes and there was lots of good conversation.  Oh and don't forget that Christmas cheer!






Remember the Christmas Cheer!

Aaron can't stay out of the paper!

So I never did hear back from the reporter about the picture on Monday so we're not sure if that was Aaron or not but we know he was definitely in the paper this morning.  A reporter did a ride-along with him yesterday to get some info on a story they're doing about the layoffs at Station 8.  He wanted to see how the layoffs will affect the workload at Aaron's station.  The following are the Record Searchlight photos and captions....

 

Engineer Aaron Lee rides in the back of the fire truck to Station 8. Due to recent city council budget cuts Station 8 will go from a three person company to a two person company. Nathan Morgan/Record Searchlight

 

Firefighter Bryan Gibbons, left, and engineer Aaron Lee standby to help move an injured woman after a car accident Tuesday night. Once the cuts become effective, the company be limited in how it is able to respond independently from other trucks in emergency situations said Captain Jeff Vanatta. Nathan Morgan/Record Searchlight 

 

Redding Fire Department, Station 8, Tuesday afternoon. Due to recent city council budget cuts Station 8 will go from a three person company to a two person company. "It affects the department and the whole community," said Vanatta. Nathan Morgan/Record Searchlight

 

Redding Fire Department, Station 8, Tuesday afternoon. Due to recent city council budget cuts Station 8 will go from a three person company to a two person company. "It affects the department and the whole community," said Vanatta. Nathan Morgan/Record Searchlight 

And here's a little video too...

http://media.scrippsnewspapers.com/corp_assets/trinity_inline.swf

How Ella spent the first day of her winter break

Sadly it is all gone now though.  I love however, that snow in Redding is becoming a regular thing!  Global warming, huh?

Is this Aaron?

Posted on the front page of the paper today but we aren't sure...even Aaron is confused! The caption didn't give a name and said it was taken on Friday night.  Well he wasn't working Friday night and says he hasn't worn that yellow jacket for awhile. 


I sent an email to the Record Searchlight and hopefully they get back to me!

We got snow!

Yumm-O Recipe!

Christmas Tequila Cookies

-  1 cup dark brown sugar
-  1 cup (two sticks) butter
-  1 cup granulated sugar
-  4 large eggs
-  2 cups dried fruit (dried cranberries or raisins)
-  1 teaspoon baking soda
-  1 teaspoon salt
-  1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
-  1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
-  2 cups all purpose flour
-  1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila (silver or gold, as desired)

First, sample the Cuervo to check quality.

Take a large bowl. Check the Cuervo to be sure it is of the highest quality. Pour another 2 ounces in a measuring cup and drink. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of the butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon sugar. Beat again.

At this point, it is best to make sure the Cuervo is still OK. Try another 2 ounces, just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit, picking the fruit off the floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a screwdriver.

Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift 2 cups of salt or something.

Check the Jose Cuervo.

Now shift the lemon juice and strain the nuts.

Add one table.

Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

Cherry Mistmas.

Juella Designs Update

Christmas is coming fast and I wanted to let everyone know that if you were planning to purchase jewelry from me for Christmas to do it soon! I will not be taking any new orders after the 15th.  At that time I plan to close up shop for a bit until sometime in January.  Lots of ideas brewing and I want to restructurize and keep it fresh.  It's been an incredible year (well technically about 8 months) since opening my business and it has taken off beyond my expectations!  I am so grateful to everyone for all the support and to all my customers for their purchases!  Thank you!

new EtsyNameSpace.Mini(5120431, 'shop','thumbnail',4,4).renderIframe();

Guess who lost his first tooth tonight?

So how much does the tooth fairy bring in this day and age anyhow?

Redding Christmas Parade

Last night was the annual Redding Christmas Parade and the Fire Departments in the area were the Grand Marshals.  Which meant Aaron, Jacob, and Ella were in the parade!  It's an event we all look forward to every year and this year's parade was great, it was longer then years past with some neat new float entries. 

True Love

Christmas Tree Cutting Time!

On Saturday we went up into the mountains with the Nostrands to cut down our Christmas tree.  We have an artificial tree, but every now and then we like to still do it the old fashioned way...it's a lot of fun and we get to hang out with friends.  We were hoping to see some snow but guess not in 65-70 degree temps...LOL!  Never the less I still pretended with boots, hats, coats, and hot cocoa. 





Here's our almost 5 feet too-tall-to-fit-in-the-house tree!

RFD and Santa Claus

This morning Aaron had the great honor of delivering Santa Claus (and the Mrs.) to the Mt. Shasta Mall so of course we had to go and spectate that!

Thanksgiving Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We had a nice, laid back mellow Thanksgiving and had much to be thankful for.  We started out the day at the Annual Turkey Trot.  The kids participated in the Diestlehorst Dash and we all did the 2 mile fun run.  It's such a great community event and we love doing it...this year we ran into a bunch of our friends which made it all that more fun.  

Later in the day we had dinner at my Mom's house...all the delicious traditional dishes...that make you sleepy...and FAT!  But oh so good!

And it's not really Thanksgiving unless you meet a Stormtrooper right?

Little late on this but check it out anyhow

So this video isn't exactly timely but it's still pretty incredible to watch.  With a couple of wigs Ron Howard manages to look 30 and even 46 years younger...and that to me is incredible!

http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Cakewrecks

I came across this blog a few months ago and wanted to pass it on.  The blog is called Cakewrecks and it is a blog all about "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." 

This one is the one that started it all...


Ordered from the bakery at Walmart.... "...And underneath that, write 'We will miss you'. Got it?"

Here's a few others to give you an idea of some of the craziness on there:

Talk about a cheap mom...

Seriously?  A cake that matches the bride?

And this one is all kinds of wrong!
 

If you have a few minutes to kill it's a fun time waster!   Check it out here...Cakewrecks.

Twilight Funny

I LOVE the Twilight Series of books by Stephenie Meyer but for some reason I'm not that excited about seeing the movie. I will (and probably more than once!) but now that it's actually in theaters I'm not crazed to go see. Possibly because the guy they picked for Edward IS NOT MY Edward. I don't know who they could have possibly chosen to play Edward, I just know that guys IS NOT MY Edward. Anyhow I came across this funny parody of the movie and thought I'd share...

http://www.take180.com/player/Take180Player.swf?xmlLocation=/s/bx/bprmn&links=true