Sun Valley 2

Only a few months late. Snowshoeing. It was AWESOME!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you you?

A couple weekends ago, we took our nephews to the Los Angeles zoo. It was quite the adventure with a 6 month old! We had fun and saw lots of monkeys and some cool spiders. Of course, I forgot to charge our camera before we left, so we only got a handful of pictures before the camera died. Please excuse the absolutely horrible picture of me. We had watched the kids the night before and the little one was up at 5am and I never was able to get back to sleep. Guess that's what's in my future, huh?

Happy 29!!!

Happy Birthday my love! I love you lots lots!

10 things I love about you:

1. Funny

2. Smart

3. Caring

4. Your smile

5. The way you look at me when you think I'm being funny

6. Your kisses

7. The way you treat your family

8. That you're conscientious

9. The way you love your niece and nephews

10. The way you love ME.

Happy Birthday Kate!

You are my best friend and I love you. Happy 21! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

Sun Valley - Part 1

Sorry for the lack of updates. My computer bit the dust and I'm not getting a new one until Sunday or Monday. So, I still don't have a complete Sun Valley update since only a few pictures are on this computer, but I'll start anyway.

We took two cars, four people in each, on the 15 hour drive. I have to say, I've done the drive so many times now that I completely know what to expect, which is awful food at truckstops, fairly ugly scenery through Nevada, and the possibility of crappy weather. And we got it all.

We left on Christmas Day and drove to Vegas. It was kind of fun to spend the night at The Palms for $89. We had dinner at a Thai restaurant (no idea of the name) with my uncle and his girlfriend who lives in Vegas. It was a different Christmas dinner than we normally have but still fun. Miles won a little at poker, my mom won $25 on the nickel slots and I didn't gamble as usual. We were all in bed by midnight since we were leaving at 7 the next morning.

This is what we saw on the drive from Vegas to the Idaho border. Note the Suburban we're following. That's our other car...fun fun. And that's pretty crappy weather to drive in since it consists of a bunch of ice...ick. Luckily, my dad drove one car and my brother drove the other car the whole way so I didn't have to drive. We finally got to Sun Valley in time for dinner and it was COLD. I mean, it was so much colder than usual (way below normal). It was 2 degrees without windchill. It's normally in the high 20s, low 30s. And it stayed like that for most of our trip.


Since that's all the pictures I have on this computer, I'll update more later. However, the rest of the trip consisted of snowboarding, visiting with family (live in MN, but were in ID for vacation too), and snowshoeing which was SO MUCH FUN and gorgeous. Oh, and then there was New Year's which I do have a picture of, albeit not a very good one. Why do I look exhausted?

Happy 2008!!!


Since, I can't leave you with just pictures of the road through Nevada, I will leave you with a bunch of pictures from previous trips to Sun Valley.

2004

2004

2005

My parent's property - 2005 - you can't see because it's snowing, but Baldy (the ski mountain) is in the back

2005 - White out conditions. This is when you really shouldn't be on the mountain because you can't see anything in front of you or the cliffs on the sides. But, we had to get down the mountain. On the way, I got stuck in powder and couldn't stand up.

2005 - So Ryan came up to help me, he and Miles laughing the entire time (Miles is taking the pictures)

2005 - But I finally got up on my own, where I proceeded down as quickly as possible. Miles and Ryan went to go do "jumps" in the powder.

2006

2006

Happy 16th Birthday Con!

And good luck at the DMV! I love you tons and can't believe you're 16!!!

Happy Birthday Ry!!!

You're a wonderful brother, and a great man. I love you!

Uggg...

My sister's apartment was broken into and they took a brand new tv (and the box that was in the closet), new dvd player (and its box), her laptop and her ipod. They broke in through a window. She just moved in a couple days ago and now she's scared to stay there (I don't blame her). And get this, none of her roommate's stuff was stolen, probably since her room is on the street side and her light was on, so people might have seen something. At least nobody was home when they broke in and my mom is still there with her. I feel so bad for her.

Augie's Quest

I don't think that I've ever mentioned this on my blog and I'm not quite sure why. It's probably a little too emotional for me, so I avoid it most of the time. Not today.

Augie Nieto is a close family friend. And, for those Claremont people, he graduated from CMC (Clare.mont Mc.Kenna College.) He went on to start Life Fitness (the company that makes all of the equipment at your gym.) So, needless to say, he's done very well for himself. However, about 2 1/2 years ago he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease.) Unfortunately there is no cure, and most will die in 2-5 years. In the past 2 1/2 years, Augie has gone from being absolutely fit and in-shape, to being in a wheelchair full-time, barely able to move his arms and legs. Even so, he has used his time and money to fight this horrible disease that we know so little about.

Please watch the following video and pass it on through your blogs, email, etc.
Augie's Quest

He has also made several TV appearances and has a new book if you're interested.

Magic Castle

We went to the Magic Castle last night for the in-law's anniversary. Very fun. Dinner was very expensive and not so great, but the show was amazing. One of my father-in-law's co-workers was performing there with his mathematics act. He does all of this math in his head faster than the guests can do it on calculators. (like 2348 squared). Amazing. Then, if you tell him your birthdate, including year, he'll tell you what day of the week you were born on. Truly impressive. Anyway, no pictures were allowed...sorry!

Gavin's Bris

Miles and I went to our new nephew's bris on Tuesday. We had fun although it was a really long day. We drove to Orange County on Monday night, spent the night at my parents, left their house for the airport at 7:15 Tuesday morning, got back to their house at 10:45pm, and finally got home around midnight. I spent the actual bris watching my niece which was probably a really good thing. Poor little boy! Anyway, here's some photos to enjoy.

Uncle Miles and Chloe read a book.

Chloe - always in motion

Aunt Meme and Gavin. Poor little guy slept the entire day.

Uncle Miles and Gavin. Isn't he going to be a good daddy someday?

Merry Chrismukkah!

We just got our tree last night after waiting in the Home Depot line for 1.5 hours! So...it's not decorated yet, but we do have one ornament on it that Miles' aunt gave us to "merge" our holidays.

Family Drama

Family drama...I could stand to do without it. At least it's not my side of the family! Anyway, that's what's on my mind today. The phone calls from sister-in-law, mother-in-law - Miles and I really don't need to be in the middle. Poor Miles has spent the morning apologizing to me for all of it.

On a happier note, we get to meet our new nephew on Tuesday. It will be for his bris (yuck!) - don't need to see that. However, I've never been to a bris since obviously my family doesn't do them and actually Miles' family doesn't normally either. Will post some pics next week...well...not pics of that!

An Aunt Again

I am now the happy aunt of 4. Gavin was born today and I think he's adorable. Oh, and she did it completely naturally!

The Tod.ay Show

Sister-in-law is going to be on The To.day Show on Friday talking about potty training. I, on the other hand, am going to be at her house watching the two kiddos!

Pictures!!!

Going home

About an hour old

At home

Meeting his big brother. The smile lasted about 5 seconds before Avrick started to push him away saying, "NO MORE!"

I'm an aunt again!

Co.llen Bau.er was born on August 9th. I was in the delivery room and it was amazing. After a crazy scare of a possible C-section, everything went well. Mommy and baby are home and doing well. I'm exhaused and I didn't even have the baby...I only watched the 2 year old! Pictures soon...they're not uploaded yet and I have to "edit" them!

P.S. The salad didn't work...but 3 miles of walking did and she didn't end up having to be induced.

The THE Salad

Funny story... So, my sister-in-law is due with baby boy #2 any day now. She heard about this place in the valley that makes a salad that is supposed to induce labor. It's called Caioti Pizza Cafe in Studio City (http://www.caiotipizzacafe.com/). Apparently, if you eat The THE Salad (no, that is not a typo!), then you'll go into labor soon after. There are books and books that pregnant women write in when they eat the salad. Many are updated with stories that they went into labor within 12 hours. Crazy!

So, I met her there for lunch today. We'll see if it works. If not, she'll be induced on Wednesday.

I wish...

I wish I didn't remember when my mom had cancer. I wish I could say with the ease of Connor, "Mom's at City of Hope." I can't. I remember. I get scared EVERY TIME she goes in for a routine check-up. She went yesterday. Everything looks fine, but until the results are back for sure, I'm still scared.

Surgery complete!

Miles' mom is out of surgery...not awake yet but the surgery went well.